Vettel leads Verstappen in opening Belgian Grand Prix practice at Spa
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in opening practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Friday morning after𝔉 edging out Red Bull's Max Verstappen by one-tenth of a second at the top of the timesheets.
After entering the summer break trailing Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton by 24 points at the top of the drivers' championship, Vettel made a strong start on the resumption of F1𒁃 activities at Spa on Friday as he led the way for Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in opening practice for th♍e Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Friday morning after edging out Red Bull's Max Verstappen by one-tenth of a secꦓond at the top of the timesheets.
After entering the summer break trailing Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton by 24 points at the top of the drivers' championship, Vettel made a strong start on the resumption of F1 activities at Spa 𒆙o🧸n Friday as he led the way for Ferrari.
A fastest lap of 1m44.358s saw Vettel finish one-tenth of a second clear of Verstappen at the head of the timesheets, with the crowd favourite being left to settle for second place in the꧃ final classification.
Verstappen 🌄was left to fly the flag solo for Red Bull for much of the session as teammate Daniel Ricciardo was sidelined due to an engine issue, only emerging to complete a flying lap in the closing minutes of FP1. He still managed to put in a lap time quick enough for sixth in the final standings.
Hamilton took third place for Merce♎des, three-tenths behind Vettel, with Kimi Raikkonen slotting into fourth place in the second Ferrari ahead of Valtteri Bottas in fifth place.
In the first official on-track action for the rebranded Rac🦩ing Point Force India team, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez both managed to finish inside the top 10, taking seve🎃nth and ninth place respectively. Nico Hulkenberg finished as the lead Renault in eighth, with teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. taking 10th place.
Fresh from being announced as a Red Bull driver for 2019, Pierre Gasly took P11 for Toro Rosso ahead of Haas' Romain Grosjean, with the Sauber🎐 duo of Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson following in 13th and 14th. Brendon Hartley finished the session in P15 for Toro Rosso ahead of Lance Stroll and Kevin♔ Magnussen.
Lando Norris made his F1 race weekend debut for McLaren, finishing three seconds off Vettel's time in P18 as he stepped in for Fernando Alonso. Teammate Stoffel Vandoorne suffered a gearbox issue and a suspected leak, meaning he could only complete 13 laps, finishing last in the stand🥃ings behind Williams' Sergey Sirotkin.
