Valtteri Bottas was quickest in a damp opening hour of practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
First practice started with a downpour in the pit lane and across the lower area of Spa. However, it was dry at the top of the track, and drivers emerged from the pits with caution.Carlos Sainz Jnr was the first driver out on track, taking a wary approach with intermediate tyres. Valtteri Bottas followed him out but both didn’t set a time, creeping around Spa to assess the conditions.
After quarter of an hour of first practice no one had set a time but finally, with eighteen minutes to go, Lando Norris put the first time on the board, though his 1’50.191 was obviously not representative of a dry-weather time. However as more drivers finally got stuck into the task at hand, lap times steadily began to fall.
At the halfway point conditions were improving and drivers and teams took advantage of the opportunity to set laps. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez led much of the mid-section of the session until a relatively late lap by Bottas took the top time.
There were a few instances of drivers impeding each other, most notably Lance Stroll getting in the way of George Russell through Eau Rouge. Stroll was reprimanded by his own engineer, telling him he had to “push through Eau Rouge, you can’t do that.”
Lewis Hamilton was also impeded by Nicholas Latifi approaching the chicane at the end of the lap. That cost him one of his few attempts at a time, and left him down in 18th behind the Williams drivers.
Several drivers spun early in the session – Kimi Raikkonen and Yuki Tsunoda showed no amount of experience will help you around a greasy Spa – and Charles Leclerc tested out the new gravel trap at turn seven. None of them suffered major consequences for the errors and the session was uninterrupted by anything but rain, which appeared again in the final minutes. Raikkonen also damaged his Alfa Romeo by hitting the wall on his way into the pits.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2021 Belgian Grand Prix first practice result
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’45.199 | 18 | |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’45.363 | 0.164 | 14 |
| 3 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’45.699 | 0.500 | 20 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’45.818 | 0.619 | 19 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’45.935 | 0.736 | 20 |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’46.127 | 0.928 | 17 |
| 7 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’46.177 | 0.978 | 19 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’46.336 | 1.137 | 17 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’46.497 | 1.298 | 16 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’46.612 | 1.413 | 16 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’46.649 | 1.450 | 19 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’46.683 | 1.484 | 20 |
| 13 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’46.755 | 1.556 | 17 |
| 14 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’46.772 | 1.573 | 19 |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’46.928 | 1.729 | 19 |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.101 | 1.902 | 20 |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’48.125 | 2.926 | 15 |
| 18 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’48.224 | 3.025 | 17 |
| 19 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’48.705 | 3.506 | 16 |
| 20 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’49.059 | 3.860 | 15 |
First practice visual gaps
Valtteri Bottas – 1’45.199
+0.164 Max Verstappen – 1’45.363
+0.500 Pierre Gasly – 1’45.699
+0.619 Charles Leclerc – 1’45.818
+0.736 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’45.935
+0.928 Sergio Perez – 1’46.127
+0.978 Sebastian Vettel – 1’46.177
+1.137 Lando Norris – 1’46.336
+1.298 Esteban Ocon – 1’46.497
+1.413 Fernando Alonso – 1’46.612
+1.450 Lance Stroll – 1’46.649
+1.484 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’46.683
+1.556 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’46.755
+1.573 George Russell – 1’46.772
+1.729 Yuki Tsunoda – 1’46.928
+1.902 Nicholas Latifi – 1’47.101
+2.926 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’48.125
+3.025 Lewis Hamilton – 1’48.224
+3.506 Nikita Mazepin – 1’48.705
+3.860 Mick Schumacher – 1’49.059
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2021 Belgian Grand Prix
- Spa spectators who saw no racing offered prize draw for 2022 tickets
- Ocon congratulated by past French F1 aces after breakthrough win
- ‘Wrong to award points for a couple of laps behind the Safety Car’ – Horner
- Hamilton offers “exclusive gift” to fans who attended Belgian GP wash-out
- Change rules to give points for qualifying if race can’t happen – Seidl
Mayrton
27th August 2021, 11:43
Looking at where Perez is vs Bottas this season might be over again and we will head to the ninth (!) year of Mercedes dominance. I hope the organisers are paying attention. This should never ever happen again. Such a pity, but I guess an even so big accomplishment by Mercedes (unfortunately)
someone or something
27th August 2021, 11:53
Looking at where Russell is vs Hamilton, I think Mercedes should go into 2022 with Bottas/Russell.
Three words:
– Free
– Practice
– One
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
27th August 2021, 12:11
Well, Mercedes have stacked the deck…
Including most funding and best drivers they could get.
Now it is obvious Red Bull is within striking distance, few slip ups and Verstappen can snag WDC.
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
27th August 2021, 15:23
Commenting late on P1 (recorded and watched later). I have a question if anyone sees my comment and saw this in P1. At the end of P1, actually after time was out, a replay of a Bottas lap was shown. I noticed that the small aero piece off the bodywork, just ahead of the centerline of the front tires (sorry, don’t know what the piece is called), the piece on the left side of the car was vibrating quite a bit while the piece on the right side was solid as a rock. Can any of the knowledgeable people on here comment??
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
27th August 2021, 12:29
Red bull don’t want the constructors championship, it’s all in on max winning the drivers.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
27th August 2021, 12:33
@emu55 Says who?
IAN M GONDWE
27th August 2021, 13:58
It was clear when they pitted Perez at silver stone, sacrificing a point that would have gone to Perez and Redbull in the constructors championship just so that Perez could take the fastest lap off hamilton. If they cared about the constructors championship they would never have done that.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2021, 20:18
Why don’t people consider EVERY aspect when something like this happens? Red bull sacrificed a point (perez’s) to take away 1 from hamilton and mercedes, no one benefitted from this in the constructors!
The thing you may have a point with is perez could’ve got more points, but to me he wasn’t convincing, he didn’t look like he was gonna pass anyone.
Manto
27th August 2021, 12:40
Wow, we have an f1 insider here
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th August 2021, 13:03
Like Mercedes doesn’t want to constructors championship it just happens but was not important…. Sure. Now i am not good enough with my english to tell if you are joking….
Red Andy (@red-andy)
27th August 2021, 13:36
Really this year should have been a free pass for Mercedes ever since the new regulations were deferred for a year, thanks to Covid. It is only because they botched their adaptations to the minor rule changes for this season that we’ve had a contest at all. As you say though, that looks to be over now.
Emma (@emma)
27th August 2021, 16:57
Free pass? I remember Red Bull made big gains during the course of 2020 and ended it on a high with a dominant win at Abu Dhabi. Why demean their brilliant work by putting their competitiveness this season down to Mercedes botching things?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th August 2021, 20:21
Isn’t this an over-reaction (for now)? You’re basing mercedes running off with the season on these fp sessions? Cause to me it doesn’t mean much, and I’d give hungary to mercedes and maybe silverstone to red bull, hence unless you’re drawing from a fp1 that a car is dominant, I don’t see what changed yet.
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
27th August 2021, 12:42
Merc has been quickest car on average this season.
Starting on the backfoot in Bahrain it has been on and off with RB, but Merc is clearly ahead since their Silverstone updates.
RB’s strength was generally in qualifying while Merc had racepace but in last few races Merc also the better qualifying car.
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
27th August 2021, 12:55
That and two Verstappen DNFs.
LB (@burden93)
27th August 2021, 14:07
It’s been pretty neck and neck all season, only races where there has been clear dominance is both in Austria
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
27th August 2021, 12:54
Any idea who’s ahead in the speed traps?