Belgium – Free Practice 1: Kimi Räikkönen sets record, Felipe Massa in the wall

For this return after the summer break, the 20 F1 drivers gathered at the Ardennes rollercoaster, in Spa-Francorchamps. For a change, the weather is clear, with a timid sun and a temperature of 18°C.

As usual, the drivers quickly take to the track for their installation lap. It should be noted that Lewis Hamilton, Marcus Ericsson, and Stoffel Vandoorne are sporting the halo, which is set to be implemented next season. Additionally, McLaren is taking the opportunity to install aerodynamic sensors on the Belgian’s car to measure the extra downforce generated by this new equipment.

But once again, reliability is lacking at McLaren as Fernando Alonso is informed that there is an issue with his car and he must bring it back to the garage at a reduced pace.

It should be noted that both Mercedes drivers also arrive with updates on their engine as they both have their 4th turbo, engine, and MGU-H. They are therefore only one unit away from a penalty, which would be the second time for Lewis Hamilton after the one he received in Austria.

The first to set a time was Esteban Ocon with 1:48:962. But while the other drivers were on track to also set a time, Felipe Massa, returning after his withdrawal from Budapest, lost control of his car in the Malmedy corner. He was then projected into the protective wall, causing the first red flag of the session and an early end to his return session.

The interruption was only short-lived as the session resumed after nine minutes, at 10:25 am. In a decidedly unusual session, Kevin Magnussen was also forced to return to the pits because his headrest flew off on his way out of the pits.

Meanwhile, another problem appears on Fernando Alonso’s McLaren: the DRS does not close quickly enough when approaching turn 1 and turn 5. The Spaniard has therefore suggested manually closing it earlier to avoid going off the track due to lack of aerodynamic downforce. To avoid losing valuable track time, McLaren then asks him to continue driving without using it at all.

Far from these issues, the other drivers began to string together laps and set their first time benchmarks. At the end of this initial session, Daniel Ricciardo took the lead with a time of 1:46.838, less than a tenth ahead of Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari. However, the Red Bull driver is on ultra-softs while the Finn is on super-softs, as are Valtteri Bottas (3rd) and Lewis Hamilton (5th). Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, chose to test the soft tires for their first stint.

Lewis Hamilton continued his momentum and managed to do better (1:46.439) than Daniel Ricciardo, pushing him back by over two-tenths, while Valtteri Bottas positioned himself between the Australian and Kimi Räikkönen. As early as this first session, last year’s pole time (1:46.744) has already been beaten.

But half an hour before the end of the session, Valtteri Bottas is able to outperform his teammate while only on soft tires. But on the next lap, the Finn went too much on the inside of the Fagnes corner, which unbalanced his car and sent him into the gravel trap. The contact with the tire wall is light but his front wing is damaged, forcing him to return to the pits to change it.

In the process, Lewis Hamilton makes a big impact by clocking a 1:45:555 on soft tires. Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo are thus pushed back by more than seven-tenths, and Mark Webber’s 2010 track record (1:45:778) is now erased from the records! This drives Sebastian Vettel to raise his game and climb to second place, 0.092 seconds behind the Briton, but the German was on ultra-softs.

Ultimately, it is Kimi Räikkönen who manages to do even better, with a time of 1:45:502 but still on ultra-softs. The performance gap with the Mercedes is therefore significant. The Toro Rossos managed to slip into the top 10 while Sergio Perez has to settle for 14th place.

From our special correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps