The first session of the Belgium GP completed with Max Verstappen topping the timesheets and Hungarian GP winner, Piastri in second while Alpine and Ocon unable to run due to a technical issue with the car.
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Early Running and News
Prior to the start of the session, it was confirmed that Max Verstappen will take a 10-place penalty as a result of a ICE change, it was also confirmed that Yuki Tsunoda will start at the rear of the grid after RB confirmed that the Japanese driver will take a full Power Unit change.
Redbull also confirmed that the Hungarian GP updates for the RB20 have been benched, is this a track specific thing or have they realised that they weren’t performing as intended?
The first part of this test was pretty quiet for most that were running, however Danny Ricciardo had a minor spin in the RB, the Australian was able to avoid the wall and he continued with his run.
Further down the order, Alpine’s terrible form and luck has continued, with Esteban Ocon spending majority of the time in the garage while the team were looking for the source of a water leak.
At the front of the timesheets, Max Verstappen put in a decent lap on the Hard tyres ahead of Russell in the Mercedes and Hamilton in third.
The McLaren pair of Norris and Piastri ran the medium tyres for the majority of the session with Piastri sitting in fourth and Norris in sixth.
Esteban Ocon was chatting prior the the start of the Belgium GP weekend about his move to HAAS for 2025.
HAAS were a team in the news after confirming the signing of Esteban Ocon for the 2025 season and beyond, the current HAAS pair were sitting seventieth and eighteenth, Ayao Komatsu, HAAS team principal, confirmed that both HAAS cars were struggling with grip through sector two, he was able to elaborate further confirming that the new tarmac could be a contributing factor to the slower pace.
Final 10 Minutes
As we head to the final 10 minutes, it was confirmed that Esteban Ocon would not take part in the session after the team couldn’t fix the issue, not a good start for the Alpine driver.
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Max Verstappen remained at the top of the timesheets, with Piastri in second and Alex Albon in third. All drivers were using the soft tyre as the session entered into its final few minutes.
The top ten had Albon in third ahead of the Mercedes pair and Lando Norris, who put his McLaren eighth, more running later today, will the infamous Spa weather play a part in FP2?