Belgian GP – FP1: Bottas ahead of Verstappen and Pierre Gasly – F1only.fr

This is the Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas who set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix in 1.45.199 in Tendres.

The Finn is just over a tenth ahead of Red Bull of Max Verstappen (Tendres) and by five tenths of AlphaTauri driven by Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Tendres).

Behind, Charles Leclerc (+0.619), Carlos Sainz (+0.736), Sergio Perez (0 + 0.928), Sebastian Vettel (+0.978), Lando Norris (+1.137), Esteban Ocon (+1.298) and Fernando Alonso (+1.413 ) complete the top ten of this session.

The final classification of this first practice session of the weekend is not representative due to the arrival of rain at the end of the session and which had the consequence of slowing down several drivers who had not yet signed a time with Tendres tires.

A wet track at the start of the session

The drivers went out on the track with Intermediate tires fitted to their single-seater at the start of the session. A downpour that fell just before the start of FP1 dampened the track slightly in places, but quickly, the drivers put on the slick tires with the return of the sun.

Raikkonen hits the wall at the pit entrance

Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen made a small mistake entering the pit lane when he touched the concrete wall on his left.

The left-hand steering link rod on his single-seater was damaged, as was the front wing. The team mechanics immediately replaced these parts to get the Finn back on the track.

Stroll and Bottas penalized

As a reminder, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas were both penalized on the starting grid for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix after crashing into other cars in the last race in Hungary.

After the qualifying session scheduled this Saturday at Spa, the two men will therefore have to drop five positions on the starting grid.

The return of the rain at the end of the session

In the last five minutes of the session, the rain returned to the top of the Spa-Francorchamps track. A few drops fell at the level of turns 2, 5 and 7 of the Belgian circuit, which had the consequence of making the pilots slow down appreciably in this very slippery sector.

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