Raikkonen tops FP1 as Massa crashes out

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchampsbe

Spa-Francorchamps specialist Kimi Raikkonen topped the morning session at the epic Belgian race track, edging out Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the session. Sebastian Vettel completed the top three, less than two tenths down on the pace setter.

Hamilton seemed comfortable on the soft tyres, and went fastest before Raikkonen topped his time in the closing minutes. Both Ferrari's however used the faster ultra soft tyres to set their best times.

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo slotted into 4th and 5th, both 8 tenths down on the leading Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas completed the top 6, once again confirming how far ahead the top three teams are ahead of the rest of the field. The Finn though did have a needless off at Fagnes where he ended up in the gravel while slowing for another car. This sent him off into the gravel and made him brush the wall, triggering damage to his front wing.

Felipe Massa endured an extremely short session this morning, with the Brazilian crashing out at Les Combes on only his third lap of the day. The Williams driver went wide on the exit of the second right hander, went through the gravel and into the barrier, damaging the front left of his car. This causes damage to the chassis that would require his team to change it, forcing Massa to skip FP2 in the afternoon as well.

Pascal Wehrlein also had technical problems on his Sauber for much of the session, which began with a bang when Massa lost his Williams in the final part of Les Combes, the right-handed Turn 7, and clobbered the left rear suspension against the tyre wall.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
17Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:45.502-13
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:45.555+0.053s19
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1:45.647+0.145s13
433Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:46.302+0.800s18
53Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:46.352+0.850s22
677Valtteri BottasMercedes1:46.424+0.922s20
755Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:47.446+1.944s22
831Esteban OconForce India Mercedes1:47.670+2.168s27
926Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:47.851+2.349s20
102Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren Honda1:47.865+2.363s18
1130Jolyon PalmerRenault1:47.930+2.428s14
1227Nico HulkenbergRenault1:48.037+2.535s15
1314Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:48.252+2.750s18
1411Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:48.452+2.950s19
1518Lance StrollWilliams Mercedes1:48.541+3.039s24
1620Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari1:48.615+3.113s20
178Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:48.626+3.124s20
189Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:50.160+4.658s21
1994Pascal WehrleinSauber Ferrari1:51.263+5.761s13
2019Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes--3