First Free Practice Results 2021 Belgian F1 GP
Event: Belgian Grand Prix
Track: Spa-Francorchamps circuit
Max Verstappen driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Weather: dry 13.0°C
Tarmac: damp/dry 17.8°C
Humidity : 88.2%
Wind : 0.7 m/s SE
Pressure: 970.2 bar
The tarmac was still a bit damp after a rain shower in the morning at the beginning of first practice for the Belgian GP. Carlos Sainz was the first who to get a taste of the circuit with a set of intermediate tyres and other followed his example.
After 9 minutes a lot of drivers switched to slicks, because the track was to dry for intermediate tyres.
Until 15 minutes into the session nobody had set a lap time. McLaren driver Lando Norris was the first who put a lap time on the leaderboard. His first lap time was a 1:50.191 min.
Yuki Tsunoda was the first to cause a yellow flag when he spun the AlphaTauri AT02 at La Source hairpin. The Japanese driver was able to go on, but was blocking the exit of the pitlane for a moment.
Fresh race winner Esteban Ocon was flying in the Alpine on medium tyres. 25 minutes into the session the French driver was the quickest with a 1:47.250 min. Pierre Gasly was second fastest on the hard tyres and only was 0.163s slower. This was until Max Verstappen got out on the track on hard tyres with the Red Bull. The Dutch driver's first quick lap of 1:46.879 min was right away 0.3s qiucker than Ocon's.
Lewis Hamilton's lap time was still 1.3 sec. slower with the Mercedes and was complaining about being 'massively' slow on the straights. One lap later Verstappen even improved by 0,4s and now was 0.744s quicker than his teammate Sergio Perez who now was second fastest.
Hamilton now was even 1.8 sec. slower than his title rival Verstappen. The next lap Verstappen improved another 0,5s and clocked 1:45.905 which was 1.2s quicker than Perez and now was 2.3s quicker than Hamilton who was only on P14.
Williams driver Nicholas Latifi was one of the first who tried out the softest tyres. The Canadian driver clocked the second fastest lap time, but he still was 1.196 slower than Verstappen.
With 15 minutes to go Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas went out to check out the soft tyres. He clocked a 1:45.199 min. Because a big cloud of rain was approaching the track in the Ardennes Verstappen and Hamilton also put in some laps on the soft tyres. Hamilton was slower 0,1s in sector 1 than Bottas, was quickest in sector 2 and got hold up by Latifi in the end of lap and was still on P16. Verstappen was quicker in S2 than Hamilton, but could not match the time of Bottas who was 0.3s quicker than Verstappen in sector 1.
With 5 minutes to go it started to rain in turn 1 which compromised the lap times of the drivers a lot. Verstappen did improve and managed to get into 0.164s of Bottas on P2. Hamilton had dropped now to P18 and still was 3s behind his teammate's lap time. Hamilton did go out on the red tyres again, but didn't improve and made practice start.
FP1 Times Table 2021 Belgian GP
| P | No | Driver | Team | Lap Time | 1st Gap | Laps | Tyres |
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:45,199 | 18 | ????S (C4) | |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:45,363 | +0,164s | 14 | ????S (C4) |
| 3 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:45,699 | +0,500s | 20 | ????S (C4) |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:45,818 | +0,619s | 19 | ????S (C4) |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:45,935 | +0,736s | 20 | ????S (C4) |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1:46,127 | +0,928s | 17 | ????S (C4) |
| 7 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:46,177 | +0,978s | 19 | ????S (C4) |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:46,336 | +1,137s | 17 | ????S (C4) |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:46,497 | +1,298s | 16 | ????S (C4) |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1:46,612 | +1,413s | 16 | ????S (C4) |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:46,949 | +1,750s | 19 | ????S (C4) |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1:46,683 | +1,484s | 20 | ????S (C4) |
| 13 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1:46,755 | +1,556s | 17 | ????S (C4) |
| 14 | 63 | George Russell | Williams | 1:46,772 | +1,573s | 19 | ????S (C4) |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:46,928 | +1,729s | 19 | ????S (C4) |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:47,101 | +1,902s | 20 | ????S (C4) |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo | 1:48,125 | +2,926s | 15 | ????S (C4) |
| 18 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:48,224 | +3,025s | 17 | ⚪H (C2) |
| 19 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 1:48,705 | +3,506s | 16 | ????S (C4) |
| 20 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 1:49,059 | +3,860s | 15 | ????S (C4) |
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I was disgusted by the decision to award points after two laps behind the safety car so that the fiasco could be regarded as a race . I'm sure that the loyal fans who paid for tickets and waited for so long in hope that the weather would improve will feel cheated if they are charged for their loyalty and patience. Hopefully a decent decision will be made on this and ticket money refunded.
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