Oscar Piastri dominated the only practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Formula 1 leader, Oscar Piastri, demonstrated impressive speed in the only practice session on Friday for the Belgian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen, for his part, started the new Red Bull era, denying McLaren, the champions, a one-two.
Piastri set a lap time of 1:42.022 on soft tires, beating Verstappen, a four-time world champion, by 0.404 seconds. Verstappen’s team is competing without Christian Horner in charge for the first time since they entered the sport in 2005.
Lando Norris, from McLaren, placed third in the time sheets, 0.504 seconds off the pace. Norris will have work to do if he wants to reduce Piastri’s eight-point lead.
Due to the sprint format in Belgium, the qualifying session for Saturday’s 100 km race replaces the usual second practice session on Friday.
George Russell of Mercedes, who won last year before being stripped of the victory due to an underweight car, was the fourth fastest. Kimi Antonelli, his teammate, was sixth, separating the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Lance Stroll, from Aston Martin, was eighth, with Fernando Alonso, his teammate, ninth. Isack Hadjar, from Racing Bulls, completed the top 10, while his former boss, Laurent Mekies, started working as Horner’s replacement.
Horner was fired after this month’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
