Belgian GP: Valterri Bottas fastest in opening practice session, Hamilton 18th

The excitement and drama of Formula One (F1) will return on August 29 when the Belgian Grand Prix (GP) kicks off at Spa. The last race before the summer break was the Hungarian GP which saw Alpine driver Esteban Ocon taking the win with Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin in second and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in third. Hamilton and Mercedes currently lead the driver’s and constructor’s championships. They will look to extend their respective leads over Red Bull and Max Verstappen when the season resumes. Friday saw the first practice session ahead of the race as the drivers look to get into the rhythm for the race after a fairly long break from the sport. The practice also gives them an opportunity to get familiar with the track.

There were a number of surprises but one thing that was not so was a Mercedes car recording the top speed in the first practice. However, it was not Hamilton, it was his teammate Valterri Bottas. He edged out Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who came second, by 0.164 seconds. It is definitely something that will give the Finnish driver, who faces an uncertain future in the sport, a massive boost of confidence. There have been a number of recent reports that have said that Williams driver George Russell could be the one who replaces Bottas at the silver arrows.

For Hamilton, however, it was not the perfect outing. The British driver currently leads Verstappen by eight points in the championship and he will need to finish ahead of the Dutch in the main race on Sunday if he wants to stay in that position. He ended the running three seconds of the pace after he was forced to abort his fastest lap following a close call with Williams driver Nicholas Latifi. He had just posted the fastest second sector of the one-hour session, approached the back of Latifi’s Williams on the 200mph drag to the Bus Stop chicane so it must have been quite a frustrating outcome.

The Canadian was caught unawares as Hamilton moved to his left to pass him but Latifi had done the same as well. This forced Hamilton to slam on the anchors to avoid a high-speed collision. On the other hand, his team-mate Bottas stole the early advantage for Mercedes by lapping the 4.34-mile circuit, which is the longest track on the calendar, faster than anybody else.

The weather was gloomy and at one point, the rain did threaten to disrupt the practice session. Thankfully for the drivers, it was just a light passing shower. The racers were able to run on slick tyres. The rain did arrive again as the chequered flag fell with Spa’s infamous changeable conditions forecast for the remainder of the weekend.

British driver Lando Norris, an impressive third in the standings after the opening 11 rounds, finished eighth for McLaren 1.1 sec down. Kimi Raikkonen spun at La Source and banged into the wall on his entry to the pits in a practice to forget for F1’s most-capped driver.