F1 Belgian GP: Bottas leads Verstappen, Hamilton 18th in opening practice
Following a four-week summer break, F1’s drivers were met with cold and damp conditions at Spa-Francorchamps as heavy rain fel🐼l ju🍨st before the start of FP1.
When the track dried up and the drivers switched onto slicks, it was Mercedes’ Bottas that led the way on soft tyres as he posted a 1m▨45.199s to end the session 0.164s clear of Verstappen’s title contending Red Bull.
Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who comes into the weekend holding an eight-point championship lead over Verstappen, was only 18th after being blocked by Ni𒁏cholas Latifi’s Williams on his fastest lap.
Hamilton had just gone fastest of all in the middle sector but had to back out of his lap when he attempted to get past Latifi on the run to the Bus Stop chicane🥂, leaving him without a repreไsentative time and well down the order.
Mercedes opted to split downforce levels between its two c🐼ars in FP1, with Bottas runni⛄ng a slimmer rear wing, while Hamilton had a high downforce set-up on his W12.
Behind Bottas - who is carrying a five-place grid penaltyꦐ for causing the Turn 1 chaos at Hungary - and Verstappen came Pierre Gasly, who was half a sec🌄ond off the pace in his AlphaTauri.
Charles Leclerc survived a big moment through the gravel to put his Ferrari fourth in the timesheets ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, who once ag🅘ain struggled to match the pace of Verstappen in the second Red Bull.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel took seventh ah💟ead of Lando Norris’ McLaren, while the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso rounꦰded out the rest of the top 10 order.
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