Series leader Oscar Piastri outpaced defending champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull to top the times for McLaren in Friday’s opening free practice at the Belgian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Australian, reacting positively to his disappointment at Silverstone where he was handed a controversial penalty, clocked a best lap in one minute and 42.022 seconds to beat the four-time champion by four-tenths of a second in a keenly-contested session. Verstappen was driving for the first time since Red Bull dismissed former boss Christian Horner two weeks earlier. Frenchman Laurent Mekies took his place on the pit wall. Piastri’s McLaren team-mate Lando Norris was third ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and rookie Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari seventh.
Lance Stroll was eighth for Aston Martin ahead of team-mate two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Racing Bulls’ rookie Isack Hadjar and the two Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
On a cool misty morning in the forests of the Ardennes, Antonelli set an fast lap before Norris and then Verstappen took command on mediums as the heavy mist began to lift with intermittent sunshine lighting up the majestic circuit.
The champion remained in charge as he trimmed his time to 1:44.236 until Leclerc went quicker in 1:44.148, running his Ferrari on a hard compound tyre as Hamilton, his team-mate, complained of instability and ‘rear locking’.
Norris, bidding for a third consecutive victory to overhaul Piastri in the title race, laughed at suggestions that he had developed a ‘nose for success’ – the scarred result of a facial injury suffered after winning the British Grand Prix.
“It’s healing nicely,” he revealed. “I had a professional repair job. If I ever want to look in the mirror and think of something great, I look at my nose!”
His misfortune, when a photographer fell on him as a trackside fence collapsed, had no apparent effect on his upbeat mood at a circuit revered by the drivers.
With 10 minutes remaining, as most teams switched to race simulation work, some took softs and this resulted in Stroll going top in 1:43.112, a full second faster than Leclerc’s previous best to spark a spate of more late fast laps on softs.
Piastri and Verstappen led the gang with the Australian going top in 1:42.123, half a second faster than the Red Bull driver who went second, before the Mercedes of Russell and Antonelli climbed to second and fourth on mediums.
Norris made a mistake at Stavelot where he dropped two wheels into the gravel, as compatriot Oliver Bearman ran off, but he recovered to go third behind his McLaren team-mate and the Dutchman.
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