Sebastian Vettel started off the second half of 2019 F1 season on top in FP1 of Belgian GP from Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
Vettel set a 1m44.574s to top the FP1 session of F1 Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps, with Ferrari teammate Leclerc (1m44.788s) in second ahead of the two Red Bull Racing drivers.
Max Verstappen (1m45.507s) was third with new comer Alexander Albon (1m45.584s) fourth as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas (1m45.882s) slotted in fifth – his time though was set on the medium compound.
Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton (1m45.973s) was sixth – also on the medium compound, but the British driver’s session was limited due to a throttle pedal issue, which the team managed to resolve.
The best of the rest went to Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m46.198s), who cause a brief Virtual Safety Car period after his engine cover came lose on Kemmel Straight. He led Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m46.426s).
In a good show, Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m46.433s) was ninth with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m46.557s) rounding out the Top 10 ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
The German set a 1m46.669s with the British only 0.001s behind. Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m47.024s) slotted in 13th as he drove with a muscle pull on his left leg, like Norris had braces on his leg too.
With the latest spec installed in his car, Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m47.176s) was 14th from the other Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi (1m47.333s) with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m47.488s) in 16th.
The Toro Rosso duo Daniil Kvyat (1m47.636s) and Pierre Gasly (1m47.968s) were only 17th and 18th, with Williams’ reserve Nicholas Latifi (1m48.784s) in 19th from Robert Kubica (1m48.966s). Kvyat had a spin due to spark issue.