Max Verstappen heads Ferraris in opening F1 Belgian GP practice with Mercedes off pace
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was the driver to beat in opening practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen led the Ferraris in opening practice at the Belgian Grand Prix, while Mercedes was off the pace.
Four-time world champion Verstappen, whose future has been the hot topic in the F1 paddock going into the weekend, was 0.145 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari on the soft tyres, with Charles Leclerc 0.207s back in third during a dry first practice at Spa-Francorchamps.
It marks the first time this season that a car without a Mercedes or Ferrari engine has topped a practice session.
2026 F1 Belgian Grand Prix - Friday Practice Results
Red Bull has ditched its ‘Macarena’ rear wing for a more conventional design in Belgium after Verstappen suffered back-to-back high-speed crashes due to failures with the wing at the Austrian and British grands prix.
The Ferraris split the Red Bulls, with Isack Hadjar - who will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after changing multiple power unit components - fourth-fastest and 0.252s adrift.
A late improvement saw Oscar Piastri take fifth, ahead of championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was only sixth as Mercedes trailed more than half a second behind its rivals.
Piastri had late drama when he briefly pulled over at Les Combes with a hydraulic pressure issue, before managing to crawl back to the pits in his ailing McLaren.
Lando Norris was seventh in the sister McLaren, ahead of the second Mercedes of George Russell, who ended up 0.889s off the pace in eighth. Reigning world champion Norris will serve a 10-place grid drop after McLaren fitted his MCL40 with a new control electronics.
F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top-10 for Racing Bulls and Audi respectively. Bortoleto missed the final stages of the session after encountering an issue on his car.
The FP1 order was propped up by the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Jak Crawford, who stood in for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to complete his latest rookie outing for the Silverstone outfit.
Stroll damaged his Aston Martin with a late off into the gravel, leaving the camera connected to his car flapping around.
Tags:
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
