SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium: Max Verstappen oozed authority and calm on Friday as he topped the times in practice at the Belgian Grand Prix and dismissed concerns about starting Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.
Red Bull’s world champion and series leader clocked a best lap in one minute and 45.507 seconds to outpace title rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by eight-tenths of a second to delight his ‘orange army’ of fans at the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
“We’re pretty happy with that,” he said. “There’s not much to do or worry about, with the grid penalty — we were just looking at setting up the car in the best possible way.
“There’s some fine-tuning to do, but we’re pretty happy with the first run and the plan. The car is working well, which is positive, but we would have liked to do a bit more running.”
Both Verstappen and Leclerc are taking new power-unit components, that take them beyond their permitted allocation for the season, and will have grid penalties.
That means they will start from the back of the field along with another four drivers who have chosen to switch to new engines for the Belgian race weekend.
“I’ll have to try and work through from the back of the grid,” said Verstappen. “But at least we should have dry conditions. I think today was the worst of the weather.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained why they chose this race to fit a fourth engine, turbo-charger and other parts, saying it was a strategic decision because the long and high-speed Belgian circuit offers easier overtaking opportunities.
“We looked at the calendar and we were running out of options, but this is a good track to overtake and we feel we should be quick here,” he said.
On an inconclusive and slightly topsy-turvy day, Lando Norris was third for McLaren ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz, who was fifth in the second Ferrari after topping the times in the morning’s opening practice.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who is chasing a sixth consecutive podium position in Sunday’s race, was sixth for Mercedes ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Alpine and George Russell, in the second Mercedes.
Daniel Ricciardo, who on Wednesday announced he would leave McLaren at the end of the year after agreeing to terminate his contract, was ninth and Sergio Perez 10th in the second Red Bull.
Hamilton said Mercedes believed they could recover from a disappointing Friday performance and mount a challenge again, particularly if other drivers were taking penalties.
“We’re not very quick and I don’t know why, but I went out and gave it everything. It could be tires, temperatures or something else,” he said.
“But it’s not disastrous out there and we often find this on Fridays and things can change on Saturdays. I have hope that we can turn it round.”
Verstappen sets Belgian GP pace and won’t ‘worry’ over grid penalty
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Verstappen sets Belgian GP pace and won’t ‘worry’ over grid penalty
- Red Bull's world champion and series leader clocked a best lap in one minute and 45.507 seconds to outpace title rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari
- Both Verstappen and Leclerc are taking new power-unit components
Home hero Piastri edges Antonelli in second Australian GP practice
- McLaren’s Oscar Piastri powered to the fastest time ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday
MELBOURNE: McLaren’s Oscar Piastri powered to the fastest time ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday as drivers grappled with sweeping new engine changes.
The Australian sent 125,000 fans at his home track into a frenzy by blasting round Albert Park in one minute 19.729secs, 0.214 clear of Antonelli.
Antonelli’s teammate, pre-season favorite George Russell, came third, a fraction clear of Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“A lot of learnings but overall a reasonably good day,” said Piastri, who won seven times last year but could only finish the championship in third.
“FP2 ran smoothly and we were able to find a bit more consistency and the car behaved more as we expected, which was good.”
After a dismal debut season with Ferrari last year, an upbeat Hamilton was encouraged by what had been achieved so far by the Scuderia.
“It was challenging at times on track, but we maximized our laps and executed to the best of our ability, getting some good information,” he said.
“Lots of work to do but I’m looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc, in the other Ferrari, was fifth with four-time world champion Max Verstappen sixth after spending half the session in the garage having stalled his Red Bull.
McLaren world champion Lando Norris clawed his way to seventh, more than one second off the pace, after managing only seven laps in first practice due to gearbox issues.
“We’ve got some good bits of data to go over from the second half of FP2 and there’s plenty we can learn from what our competitors have been doing,” said Norris, while admitting to “a tricky first day.”
Racing Bulls’ impressive rookie Arvid Lindblad banked an eye-opening eighth, a place ahead of Isack Hadjar — the man he replaced and who is now Verstappen’s teammate.
F1 begins new era
It was the first proper test of far-reaching new engine and chassis rules with the hybrid power units now 50 percent traditional combustion and 50 percent electric.
With a finite amount of energy available, drivers had to carefully manage their batteries on each lap, working out when to deploy while building it up back through braking.
The challenge of Albert Park is its long sweeping straights, which deplete batteries, and relatively few twisty turns to brake and charge it up again.
There have also been changes to the aerodynamics of the cars, which are lighter and smaller.
On a perfect Melbourne afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg led them out, but it was Hamilton who set the opening time.
Verstappen had an inauspicious start, stalling in the pit lane, while Russell clipped Lindblad on his way out and needed a new nose.
Verstappen’s car was wheeled back into the garage, apparently stuck in gear, where he stayed for almost half an hour.
The drivers started on a mix of medium and hard tires and Russell soon upstaged Hamilton as they jockeyed for places.
At the halfway mark it was Italy’s Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton and Piastri.
Russell locked up and hit the gravel at Turn 3 as he pushed hard, as did Hamilton, but they both kept enough momentum to get back on track.
Piastri blasted to the top of the timesheets on soft tires with 25 minutes left as Verstappen began climbing the leaderboard.
But the Dutchman was trying too hard and careered into the gravel at Turn 10 with debris flying off his car, ending his day early.
Fernando Alonso clocked 18 laps and Lance Stroll 13 as the troubled Aston Martins battle extreme vibration caused by the new Honda power unit.
Newcomers Cadillac — the 11th team on the grid — also struggled with Valtteri Bottas 19th and Sergio Perez last.
In first practice, Leclerc outpaced Hamilton with Verstappen and Hadjar third and fourth.
