Sebastian Vettel topped the timing sheets in Free Practice 1 at the Belgian Grand Prix as Formula 1 returned from its summer break.
The Scuderia Ferrari was a tenth of a second quicker than the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing of Max Verstappen with Vettel’s championship rival Lewis Hamilton third.
Kimi Räikkönen finished fourth fastest ahead of his fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas, who it was confirmed will start at the back of the grid on Sunday due to engine penalties.
Daniel Ricciardo had a busy summer break with his announcement that he is leaving Red Bull finished sixth fastest but only had one flying lap after sitting in the garage for the vast majority of the session due to a suspected fuel injector issue.
Racing Point Force India F1 Team marked their first practice session as a new ‘team’ with Esteban Ocon finishing best of the rest in seventh with his team-mate Sergio Pérez sitting in ninth.
Nico Hülkenberg in the Renault Sport Formula One Team was sandwiched between the Force India’s with team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. rounding out the top ten.
Hülkenberg was the first driver out in the session but most of the attention was on Formula 2 driver Lando Norris as he replaced Fernando Alonso in the McLaren F1 Team. The British driver finished a tenth of a second faster than home favourite Stoffel Vandoorne, however, the Belgian did spend some time in the garage due to a car issues.
It was another tough session for Williams Martini Racing as Sergey Sirotkin struggled and spun on the exit of turn eight as he finished nineteenth fastest with Lance Stroll up in sixteenth.
Vettel currently sits 24 points behind Hamilton in the championship standings but the German has laid down the first marker at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.
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