Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the timesheet in the opening practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, beating McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by over half a second, with Williams’ Alex Albon third.

Verstappen, who is set to take a grid penalty for Sunday’s race after electing to take a fifth ICE, beyond the four allowed for the season, was quick out of the box in FP1, with the Dutch driver seizing control of top spot in the early running on Hard and Medium tyres, eventually working his way down to 1:44.524 on the C2 Hard compound Pirelli rubber. Mercedes’ George over three fliers, round which the Dutchman had to produce the very slow cool-down tours Russell and Lewis Hamilton slotted into second and third respectively with Piastri fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. All were running Medium tyres. 

Russell then emerged on the C4 Softs and he moved ahead of Verstappen with a 1:44.225. Verstappen though was also circling on the red-walled tyres and he powered to a time of 1:43.372 that returned him to a top spot he held on to for the remainder of the session. 

Piastri then crossed the line to bump Russell back to third down to third, but the Australian only managed to get to 0.531s off Verstappen. Albon then arrived to further drop Russell down the order with the Thai driver again demonstrating Williams’ strength on low downforce circuits with a time of 1:44.099, 0.727 off Verstappen and over a tenth clear of the Mercedes. 

Fourth placed Russell was followed on the timesheet by Hamilton, with Leclerc in sixth. Under pressure Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez finished the opening session in seventh place, just under a second off his championship-leading team-mate, while Lando Norris finished eighth in the other McLaren. Ninth place went to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the top ten order was rounded out by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who finished over a tenth clear of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

There was trouble for Gasly’s team-mate Esteban Ocon, however. The French driver who yesterday announced that he would be driving for Haas in 2025, missed almost the whole session after encountering a problem during his early practice start, with the team investigating a suspected water leak.

2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:43.372 23 243.919
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:43.903 0.531 24 242.672
3 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:44.099 0.727 21 242.215
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:44.225 0.853 23 241.922
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:44.279 0.907 21 241.797
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:44.306 0.934 25 241.734
7 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:44.329 0.957 22 241.681
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:44.415 1.043 24 241.482
9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:44.574 1.202 24 241.115
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:44.699 1.327 20 240.827
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:44.833 1.461 22 240.519
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:44.921 1.549 19 240.317
13 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:44.950 1.578 23 240.251
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:45.155 1.783 21 239.783
15 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:45.311 1.939 20 239.427
16 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:45.564 2.192 23 238.854
17 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:45.645 2.273 19 238.671
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:45.812 2.440 19 238.294
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:45.995 2.623 23 237.882
20 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault - 1