FP1: Bottas fastest in spa with Hamilton P18

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Valtteri Bottas recovered from the Hungarian Grand Prix crash to set the pace for the opening practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend.

Formula 1 is back on the track at the cold and wet Spa-Francorchamps, where many drivers have never experienced the Belgian circuit in a Formula 1 car while driving wet. This was about to change.

Ferrari and Mick Schumacher’s cars were the first drivers out, and they quickly discovered that while some parts of the 7km track were wet, others were completely dry.

📻 “I’m not sure it’s wet enough to overlap.”

The first time Mick learned about circuit conditions after his fix lap. #HaasF1 #BelgianGP #FP1 pic.twitter.com/cXUswQunRB

– Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) August 27, 2021

After 14 minutes of single laps, McLaren’s Lando Norris scored 1:50.191 over the average Pirellis. That sparked a flurry of activity with Sebastian Vettel turning purple, with a ratio of 1:49.324, and Kimi Raikkonen knocking out La Source.

Yuki Tsunoda also made a turn, blocking Sergio Perez when he stopped at the exit from the pit lane.

As the track dried up and the drivers found their footing, the P1 time slipped with Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, again Vettel, then Esteban Ocon ahead, 1:47.250 for the latest F1 race winner. George Russell wasn’t too impressed with Lance Stroll as the Aston Martin driver snagged him on a hot lap.

Max Verstappen, who runs a hard Beryllis, set the pace in the middle of the hour-long workout, 1:46.879. The Red Bull driver, who was using a skinny rear wing, cut his record time to 1:46,423, slipping back in the last sector due to yellow flags at the pit lane entrance. The yellowness was caused by Raikkonen, who hit the concrete wall while returning to the pits.

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Raikkonen hits the wall as he enters the pit lane

Not the best start to a Finnish weekend! #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/jOuHyYBLBe

– Formula 1 (@F1) August 27, 2021

Verstappen went faster, 1:45.905, as his teammate Sergio Perez moved up to second, down 1.262 seconds, while Hamilton, after being as high as P3, dropped to 14.

Unlike Verstappen, Mercedes decided on a larger rear wing down for the championship leader.

With 20 minutes left in the session, and rain forecast for the afternoon, the drivers began switching to the soft Pirellis with Bottas taking the lead with 1.45.199. Finn set up low thrust.

Verstappen responded with 1:45,363 as a few drops of rain started to fall. Hamilton was unable to respond, being hobbled by Williams and Nicholas Latifi. Charles Leclerc’s efforts were thwarted by a gravel ride at Turn 7 that also threw a pile of stones onto the track.

Bottas finished fastest of all time, 0.164sec ahead of Verstappen, while Pierre Gasly finished third. Hamilton was 18th with only the Haas team behind him.

times

1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1: 47.854 18 laps – soft2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 0.164s 14 laps – soft3 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 0.500 sec 19 laps – soft4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.619s 18 laps – soft 5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.736 sec 20 laps – soft6 Sergio Perez Red Bull 0.928s 17 laps – soft7 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 0.978s 17 laps – soft8 Lando Norris McLaren 1.137s 15 laps – soft9 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1.298s 16 laps – soft10 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1.413s 16 laps – soft11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1.450 18 laps – soft12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1.484s 18 laps – soft13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1.556s 17 laps – soft14 George Russell Williams 1.573s 18 laps – soft15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1.729s 19 laps – soft16 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1.902s 19 laps – Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing soft17 2.926s 15 laps – soft18 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 3.025s 17 laps – hard 19 Mick Schumacher Haas 3.860s 15 laps – soft20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 4.736s 15 laps – soft

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