(Motorsports news) Rain fell prior to the one practice session, and the drivers were met with a wet track as they attempted to compress their sprint weekend preparation into the hour-long running. As Lewis Hamilton made his maiden run with Mercedes’ new enhancements, Alex Albon was the first to brave the weather on the intermediate tyre, followed by teammate Logan Sargeant.
In the early stages of the practice, as rain started to gradually deepen, Albon recorded the first timed lap, clocking in at 2m08.394s. On wet tires, Hamilton’s first lap was 1.9 seconds slower than the Williams driver. The lead-up to theAlbon appeared to be on track to surpass his initial attempt, but he was unable to slow down in time to safely negotiate the Bus Stop chicane, so after pulling his car out of the run-off, he was forced to retire to the pits.
Hamilton was forced to cross the Raidillon run-off after Yuki Tsunoda passed him in the order by roughly 0.2 seconds and then maintained control of his AlphaTauri on his next visit to Eau Rouge as it twisted halfway up the hill because of wet track. Once the first 15 minutes of the practice came to a conclusion, Sainz, Lando Norris, and Sergio Perez decided to brave the conditions on the wet tyres, but the early running soon dried up as the standing water around the seven-kilometer Spa-Francorchamps rose with the deteriorating weather.
Sainz recorded a time of 2m09.081s to pass Albon as he proceeded to round the circuit, and Norris joined a number of other runners who were just starting out on the intermediate tyre as the track conditions appeared to be somewhat improving. Albon’s lap time had been beaten by Pierre Gasly, who had also entered the race on the intermediate tire, but Gasly became stuck in the Bus Stop. Instead, Charles Leclerc gained control at the summit of the wet compound, setting a time of 2m08.148s.
Oscar Piastri’s 2m03.792s overtook Norris’ 2m04.484s on the intermediate tyre, which was 3.7 seconds faster than Leclerc’s time. Then, Sainz, on the inters, found.207s on Piastri to set a 2m03.207s. At the end of the Kemmel Straight, Sargeant continued straight, claiming he “couldn’t turn” when he pressed the right-hand lock to the steering wheel without any apparent result. when the car approached Les Combes, Sargeant came to stop.
With 20 minutes left, the circuit was reopened for business, but no one showed up as the rain intensified and the track surface became even more saturated. The post-red flag standoff was eventually broken by Perez and Max Verstappen, who managed to get back on track using intermediate tyres despite the Ardennes being blanketed in a constant state of bad weather. Before heading back to the dry conditions of the pit garage, they were able to complete one installation lap each.
On the intermediate, the Aston Martins completed their own reconnaissance laps before reversing course and returning to the pitlane. At the very end of the practice, Lewis Hamilton and both Ferraris, Haases, and Alfa Romeos made an appearance on the track to complete one more practice lap. A total of 15 drivers recorded representative times, with Norris’ intermediate time putting him ahead of Leclerc, who had the quickest lap on the wet tyre, for third place in the standings.
Tsunoda was just over a tenth faster than Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, while Perez was seventh fastest over Albon’s session-opening time. Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth fastest among the Aston Martins, and Nico Hulkenberg finished ahead of Alonso, Hamilton, and George Russell to round out the top 10. After Zhou had an off-course situation at Malmedy, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou supported the order of those who had set times at the wet track.
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