Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Sainz ahead of the McLarens in a session disrupted by rain

The only free practice session of the weekend begins on a wet track with rain falling on the circuit. The drivers take off on the blue “full wet” tyres, even though most of them prefer to wait in their garage. In the first 15 minutes, only the Mercedes, AlphaTauri, Albon and Zhou have ventured out to test the tyres and weather conditions.

As the mid-session approaches, the drivers come out to set up their cars for wet conditions: the conditions are not expected to change for this Friday and Saturday. Some drivers venture out on intermediate tires, like Gasly or the McLarens. While the Frenchman struggles with them, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris set the best times of the session. Carlos Sainz, in turn, achieves the best time on intermediates. With less intensive rain, these tires are working well.

At the halfway point of the session, the red flag is deployed: Logan Sargeant is stopped after hitting the wall at the end of an endless aquaplaning. But during the red flag, the rain starts pouring heavily again.

Despite the resumption of the session with still twenty minutes remaining, no one goes out to drive due to the heavy rain falling. Max Verstappen decides to go out on intermediates with 10 minutes left in the session but immediately returns to the pits. The Aston Martins then go out as well.

Carlos Sainz is ahead of the McLaren cars of Piastri and Norris, but no one was able to truly push during this session. Logan Sargeant, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, and Max Verstappen did not set any lap times.

The ranking of free practice session 1