F1, live: Belgian GP | Follow Formula 1 Free Practice 1 at Spa-Francorchamps

Carlos Sainz continues to ride on medium tires, as does his teammate Leclerc. Spanish is 7th. He told MD that he doesn’t expect his car to be on par with McLaren or Red Bull in the fight for victory at Spa because it lacks a package of updates that they are working on at the Maranello factory where he hopes to fight all type of tracks. In recent races, Red Bull, McLaren and sometimes Mercedes have seen two or three tenths more when they push their engine harder in Q2 or Q3.

Fernando Alonso added 7 laps with hard tires, testing his Aston Martin with the hardest compound of the weekend to continue taking data from the new package of improvements presented by Aston Martin in Hungary, in this time on a completely opposite track, full of straights and where you go deep for the most part.

Alonso is currently in 13th position, but the times are still not representative or not at all.

Max Verstappen improves his time at the top of the time table with hard tyres. But these were still unrepresentative times. It is hoped that at the end of the session everyone will try a less loaded thinking about a classification simulation for this afternoon’s ‘qualy’ sprint.

Expected McLaren is again the favorite after its double with Piastri and Norriswith the Verstappen had to be fitted with a new engine, earning him a 10-place penalty for Sunday’s race with a car that should do well here, although it has proven worse than McLaren in recent races. It will be more difficult for Max to come back if he punishes because he no longer has the superior car he used to have and things are very even at the top.

We’ll have to see how it goes Mercedes, which is expected to be very fast there again. AND Ferrari, with a modified background they tested in Hungary and that here it may be more important because it was introduced to reduce a rebound affecting Belgium here.
And Aston Martin? In the middle zone, Aston Martin is expected to be stronger on this trackwhich suits the characteristics of a very fast car in a straight line and has very good DRS.

Going through the curves, the F1 realization shows the front wings of the Mercedes, which are very flexible. But they don’t have cameras for FIA tests… Aston Martin’s do.

Accelerating into the first corner, Daniel Ricciardo, with cold rubber, spun and was miraculously saved from touching the wall.

The FIA ​​has announced that it will carry out tests to detect the distortion of the front wings, which have caused so many problems since last year. Both Alonso and Stroll have mini cameras on their front wings so the FIA ​​can check the flex.

Remember that this weekend is a sprint weekend, that is, this is the only free practice session that the drivers have to test and find the appropriate settings for their cars for the sprint classification this afternoon, which will establish the running order for the sprint race this Saturday at noon.

Free Practice 1 of the Belgian F1 GP is about to begin. Cars on the track. There is no time to lose, as there is only one free practice session this weekend in the sprint.

What happens at the Belgian F1 GP could make the World Cup even tighter before the summer break, with this race and 10 more to go until the end of the World Cup. Can Lando Norris challenge for the title? Here, the analysis and the keys to that battle: Norris-Verstappen, there is a World Cup: all the keys

Carlos Sainz has given hints about his decision for the future and the reason why he is still not acting about his team in 2025: Sainz has revealed his desire for his future F1 team in 2025

Lando Norris came clean days after what happened to Piastri in Hungary. This is how he explained it at the Belgian GP, ​​regretting his attitude towards racing: Norris regrets his behaviour: “It was stupid”

Max Verstappen recalled yesterday that he would “probably” choose to put his 5th engine of the year here. Belgian F1 GP, which will cost you a penalty of 10 places on the grid. It was a golden opportunity for Lando Norris, who was 76 points behind Max’s lead after the points cut in Hungary. And in the fastest car, Lando has a good chance of deducting more points from Verstappen in the World Championship here at Spa-Francorchamps.

Welcome to the Belgian GP of Formula 1. Everything is ready for the start of the first free practice sessions of the Belgian Grand Prix, the 14th GP of the F1 season out of 24 in total this year at the Grand Circus.