Oscar Piastri led the way in lone practice in FP1 in F1 Belgian GP sprint weekend, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
The lone practice session in F1 Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps saw sunny weather for the drivers to prepare for the sprint weekend. It was not so easy for all as straightaway, Williams’ Alexander Albon had a gavel brush, while teammate Carlos Sainz faced fuel system issue on his out lap.
The team managed to fix it during the session and got him about 30 minutes to run. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was forced to change his seat after the out lap, which hampered his running. The lock-up saga saw both Alpine drivers of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto had a big one.
Even Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli did so, while McLaren’s Lando Norris’ moment cost him time on his quick lap on the soft tyre towards the end. There was a yellow flag moment for Haas’ Oliver Bearman, who went deep in the gravel in the middle part of the circuit.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton had a wide moment and was also involved in a traffic chaos at Eau Rouge, which caught out Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque also had to take avoiding action against a fast approaching Albon at one point.
The soft tyre run saw McLaren’s Oscar Piastri take the top spot with a 1m24.022s lap in FP1 of F1 Belgian GP sprint weekend, as a late push from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put him in second ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who also undertook a second quick lap.
Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth on the medium compound, with Ferrari’s Leclerc in fifth ahead of the second Mercedes of Antonelli – also on medium tyre – and the second Ferrari of Hamilton. Russell had couple of moments too, which included an impeding clearance from the stewards.
The Aston Martin pair of Stroll and Fernando Alonso slotted in eighth and ninth, as Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar rounded the Top 10. The Frenchman also set his best time on the medium. Despite his early troubles Sainz was 11th ahead of Albon, followed by the pair of Sauber cars.
It was Bortoleto ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, as Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson was 15th on the medium tyre. Haas’ Esteban Ocon slotted in 16th from Alpine’s Gasly, Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, Alpine’s Colapinto and Haas’ Bearman in the Top 20, where the Japanese driver didn’t manage a soft tyre run due to yellow flags for Bearman, who also had his best time on medium tyre.
In terms of the PU element list for the F1 Belgian GP weekend, both the McLaren drivers took their fourth set of ICE, TC, MGU-H and MGU-K along with Stroll. Additionally, Piastri took his second ES and CE, with Bortoleto picking up his second CE.
Here’s PU element list: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_belgian_grand_prix_-_new_pu_elements_for_this_competition.pdf