Piastri leads Verstappen in Belgian GP practice

Oscar Piastri topped the Belgian Grand Prix’s sole practice session with a comfortable margin over Max Verstappen ahead of Sprint qualifying later today.

Piastri’s McLaren, loaded with downforce, was untouchable in the middle sector, setting a purple time 0.932s quicker than Verstappen to set him up for top spot. Verstappen – his Red Bull Racing car faster down the straights – was quicker in the speed-sensitive first and third sectors but not by nearly enough to overcome Piastri’s advantage through the corners, the Australian topping the time sheet with a 0.475s margin.

Lando Norris was third in the sister McLaren, but the Briton’s first lap on soft tires was compromised by him running wide and onto the gravel at Stavelot. A second attempt on the same set of tires moved him into third, but he was 0.504s slower than his title-leading teammate.

Norris was slower than Piastri in all three sectors. Combining his best splits across both laps would have put him only slightly closer, at 0.386s adrift.

George Russell slotted into fourth for Mercedes, the Briton also faster than Piastri in the first and third splits but no match through the twisty middle sector.

Charles Leclerc steered his upgraded Ferrari to fifth and 0.906s off the pace. Like Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, the Italian machine was set up for straight-line speed and lost bundles of times through the downforce-dependent corners.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fastest in the final split for Mercedes but 0.957s off the pace. He beat Lewis Hamilton to the place, the second Ferrari driver lacking to teammate Leclerc mostly in the final split.

Lance Stroll recovered from a 15-minute seat change early in the session – costing him around five laps of mileage – to end the hour eighth ahead of Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso, the two closely matched at just over 1s off the pace. Isack Hadjar completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls.

Carlos Sainz’s session got off to the worst possible start, the Spaniard forced to limp back to pit lane at the end of his first lap with a "critical" fuel system issue. It took his Williams team half an hour to fix the car, leaving Sainz down on laps, but his fastest tour was good enough for 11th ahead of teammate Alex Albon in 12th. Sauber drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg followed, 1.2 and 1.4s off the pace respectively.

Liam Lawson was 15h ahead of Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, the Red Bull Racing driver 15 places and 2.066s behind teammate Verstappen.

Franco Colapinto was 19th ahead of Oliver Bearman at the rear of the field, the British rookie more than 3s off the pace.

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