The last practice session of Formula 1 at the Belgian Grand Prix ended with Kimi Antonelli marked as the quick leader, after Lewis Hamilton suffered an accident just before the end, at the hemisphere of turn 13.
Antonelli recorded a time of 1m45.990s with his first attempt on soft tires, setting a challenging benchmark for his rivals during the first 30 minutes of the session. Hamilton, on his last attempt, sought to get closer to Antonelli’s time but almost identically replicated the accident of his track mate Pierre Gasly from the previous session, where he lost control in the Les Fagnes section.
This incident may pose a significant challenge for the Ferrari team, as they will need to repair the incurred damage, especially if the impact affected Hamilton’s vehicle gearbox.
During the first ten minutes, track activities were limited due to the restricted amount of tires. However, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit began to come alive soon. Hamilton was the first to drop below 1m47s with a time of 1m46.789s on his second attempt on soft tires.
Drivers Max Verstappen and George Russell were unable to surpass this record with their first attempts, but Antonelli did, finishing with a very competitive time placing him eight-tenths above Hamilton. Verstappen, in his second attempt, nearly matched Hamilton’s time but fell just half a tenth short.
The use of a second set of tires allowed Verstappen to recover some time, capitalizing on a slipstream from Valtteri Bottas to improve his times. However, he ended up 0.148s off Antonelli’s time. This mark was later surpassed by Lando Norris by a margin of 0.009s, after spending a large part of the session on a long lap with medium tires.
Antonelli could not improve on his second attempt with new tires, having made a mistake at La Source that compromised his next attempt. On his second lap, he was more than 0.25s off his best time, which was ultimately invalidated for exceeding track limits.
Thus, Norris and Verstappen ended the session in second and third place, respectively. Russell achieved the fourth-best mark with his second set of tires, while Hamilton placed fifth. Charles Leclerc also improved his standing to sixth.
Additionally, Oscar Piastri finished seventh, while both Audi drivers, Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, managed to break into the top 10, placing eighth and ninth, respectively.
Finally, Isack Hadjar finished tenth, despite overcoming issues in the pits, including a stoppage and a vehicle shutdown. He reported difficulties in warming up the front tires, ending the session just 0.08s ahead of Arvid Lindblad.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
