At the wheel of his McLaren, the leader of the Oscar Piastri championship signed the best time of the first free test session of the Belgian Grand Prix, a Grand Prix which will be marked by a sprint race on Saturday.
After three weeks of break, Formula 1 is back, on one of its most emblematic circuits, that of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. If the Formula 3 pilots could not compete in their first free test session in the morning due to the thick fog prevailing on the Belgian track, everything went well for the Formula 1 pilots, who were able to take part in the “EL1” in time, at midday. But the weather promises to be chaotic throughout the weekend.
Pending possible showers in the coming 48 hours, Oscar Piastri, the leader of the championship, signed the best time of the first free test session. The McLaren driver signed his 23rd and last round in 1,42 ″ 022, on soft tires, at the very end of the test hour. The Australian had the best time for seven minutes, after being ahead of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).
Oscar Piastri had already written his name at the head of the time sheet after eleven minutes of session on hard tires, improving the time made by Max Verstappen (Red Bull), but this same Verstappen, then Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), then did better. It was the Monegasque that has remained the longest at the top of the ranking, for 26 minutes, with its 1,44 ″ 148 time, successful in hard tires.
Tsunoda in great difficulty
In the end, Oscar Piastri has ahead of 404 thousandths Max Verstappen and 504 Lando Norris (McLaren). George Russell (Mercedes) and Charles Leclerc complete the top 5 of this first session, where no major incidents have been deplored. On the French side, Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) ended up with the best time taking 10th place in just over a second from Piastri, while Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) had to be satisfied with the 16th and 17th places.
At the wheel of the Red Bull, the stable now led by Laurent Mekies, Yuki Tsunoda ended up to a sad antepenultimate place. The pilots will now meet at 4:30 p.m., for the qualification of the Sprint race, which will take place on Saturday noon.
