By Ben Langley
Oscar Piastri dominated the only practice session in Spa-Francorchamps, as he looks to return to winning ways this weekend. The Belgian Grand Prix is a sprint weekend and so this gave extra precedent for the teams and drivers to perfect their setups ahead of sprint qualifying later.
Max Verstappen was Piastri’s closest challenger, but the world champion was a significant four tenths behind the Aussie. Lando Norris has some work to do ahead of sprint qualifying, as he finished third and half a second behind his teammate. Mercedes and Ferrari were lagging behind once again as they took the next four positions.
An interesting talking point from the session was the difference in setups between the top teams. McLaren opted for a higher downforce approach, compared to the low drag that was run on the Red Bulls and Ferraris. Verstappen set the pace in the first sector but lost huge amounts of time to McLaren in the twisty sections of sector two. It creates an interesting dynamic for the weekend, especially with rain forecast for race day.
Lewis Hamilton retirement plans
Towards the back of the times, Yuki Tsunoda continues to struggle as he ended up 18th. Alpine’s lack of car performance was evident once again with Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto 17th and 19th respectively. Oliver Bearman was slowest of all after finding the gravel on his soft tyre run towards the end of the session. Sprint qualifying is up next.
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