Bottas fastest, Hamilton 18th in Belgian GP practice as F1 returns
Following a four-week summer break, F1’s drivers were met with cold and damp conditions at Spa-Francorchamps as heavy rain fell just before the start of FP1.
When the track dried up and the drivers switched onto slicks, it was Mercedes’ Bottas that led the way on soft tyres as he posted a 1m45.199s to end the session 0.164s clear of Verstappen’s title contending Red Bull.
Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who comes into the weekend holding an eight-point championship lead over Verstappen, was only 18th after being blocked by Nicholas Latifi’s Williams on his fastest lap.
Hamilton had just gone fastest of all in the middle sector but had to back out of his lap when he attempted to get past Latifi on the run to the Bus Stop chicane, leaving him without a representative time and well down the order.
Mercedes opted to split downforce levels between its two cars in FP1, with Bottas running a slimmer rear wing, while Hamilton had a high downforce set-up on his W12.
Behind Bottas - who is carrying a five-place grid penalty for causing the Turn 1 chaos at Hungary - and Verstappen came Pierre Gasly, who was half a second off the pace in his AlphaTauri.
Charles Leclerc survived a big moment through the gravel to put his Ferrari fourth in the timesheets ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, who once again struggled to match the pace of Verstappen in the second Red Bull.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel took seventh ahead of Lando Norris’ McLaren, while the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso rounded out the rest of the top 10 order.
