Max Verstappen stole the show in the first practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix, leaving everyone else trailing behind.
Verstappen, racing for Red Bull, dominated the session with a best lap time of 1m43.372s, easily outpacing his competition. Oscar Piastri from McLaren followed him, but he was still 0.531 seconds slower.
Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s teammate, had a rough run, ending up almost a full second behind. Red Bull plans to assess his future performance post-summer break, making this a high-pressure weekend for him.
Meanwhile, Alex Albon proved Williams still has some tricks up their sleeve at Spa, clocking impressive sector times. Lewis Hamilton, however, wasn’t as fortunate, complaining about his car bouncing during late race simulations.
Verstappen took the early lead, setting his fastest lap on hard tires. He kept chipping away at his time, finally landing on 1m44.524s over three runs. While other drivers tried to catch up, none could surpass his time on the hard and medium tires.
George Russell had a brief moment of glory, leading with a time of 1m44.225s on soft tires before Verstappen zipped past him with his incredible 1m43.372s lap. Piastri managed to nudge Russell down to third with a good run on softs, finishing 0.531 seconds behind Verstappen.
Perez struggled through the session, wrestling with his car at every turn. He even dipped his left-rear tire into the gravel at one point. Meanwhile, Albon jumped into third place, pushing Russell down to fourth. Hamilton, Leclerc, and Perez followed in the standings.
The session finished with high-fuel long runs as cloud cover took over the once sunny sky. Esteban Ocon missed most of the action due to suspected water leak issues in his upgraded Alpine car. Daniel Ricciardo, one of Perez’s potential replacements, managed to finish 13th despite a rocky start.
In team maneuvers, Red Bull gave different staff a chance to gain race engineer experience, even switching Verstappen’s regular engineer. This mix-up seemed to work for Verstappen as he topped the charts.
The Belgian GP’s first practice session was filled with drama and excitement, setting the stage for an electrifying race weekend. Verstappen’s dominant performance has certainly raised the stakes.
