Steven Tee/Motorsport Images
Verstappen leads washed-out final practice at Spa
Max Verstappen topped a washed-out final practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix after barely 10 minutes of running.
The session began in consistent rain the grew markedly heavier around five minutes into the hour, quickly putting the track beyond the range of the intermediate tire.
Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda demonstrated the slipperiness of the circuit by skipping over the gravel at Malmedy, exiting the Les Combes chicane. Both continued unscathed. But it was Lance Stroll who found out the hard way that the circuit was too wet for inters. The Aston Martin driver had just started his fifth lap when his car aquaplaned cresting Radillon, spinning out of control towards the outside barrier.
Fortunately, the high-speed off resulted in only a glancing blow, smashing front-left corner but causing no more serious damage, allowing the Canadian to escape the crash unhurt.
The session was red flagged to collect the wrecked car for just over eight minutes, in which time the rain intensified further. No drivers returned to the circuit when pit lane reponed, and race control red flagged the session a second time just past the halfway mark owing to the increasing standing water on track.
Running resumed with two minutes remaining, but with no time to complete a lap, only seven drivers took to the track to evaluate the conditions ahead of qualifying. The decision was almost disastrous for Carlos Sainz, who understeered off the road after braking downhill into Bruxelles, though he was able to continue.
The session ended with Max Verstappen on top of the timesheet after his exploratory early laps in the opening minutes of the session. His best time of 2m1.565s was 1.433s quicker than Oscar Piastri in second, though the times weren’t representative given the conditions and limited running.
Pierre Gasly followed in third ahead of Norris, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, the crashed-out Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez completing the top 10.
five laps – Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen.
Neither George Russell nor Sainz set a time.
Michael Lamonato
Having first joined the F1 press corps in 2012 by what he assumed was administrative error, Michael has since made himself one of the few Australian regulars in the press room. Graduating in print journalism and later radio, he worked his way from community media to Australia's ABC Grandstand as an F1 broadcaster, and his voice is now heard on the official Australian Grand Prix podcast, the F1 Strategy Report and Box of Neutrals. Though he'd prefer to be recognized for his F1 expertise, in parts of hometown Melbourne his reputation for once being sick in a kart will forever precede him.
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