FP1: Verstappen kicks off his Belgian Grand Prix weekend in dominant fashion

Championship runaway leader Max Verstappen set the benchmark in the opening practice for the Belgian Grand Prix with Williams racer Alexander Albon also impressing with the thrid-quickest lap. F1Technical's Balazs Szabo reports on the Free Practice 1.

Following a difficult Hungarian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen returned to action in full force as he dominated the opening practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Dutch driver initially set the pace on Pirelli's hard tyres before he switching on to the softs to set the benchmark of the sixty-minute session with a 1m43.372s.

His closest rival was McLaren's Oscar Piastri, but even he was over half a second down. Williams racer Alexander Albon took a surprising third in FP1, suggesting that his FW46 might benefit from its aero efficiency at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

George Russell set the fourth quickest lap, from Lewis Hamilton in P5, Charles Leclerc in P6, Sergio Perez in P7.

Having finished second last time out in Budapest, Lando Norris finished down in P8. The Briton looked quick through Sector 1 and 3, but he was off the pace in the middle part of the track which was dominted by Verstappen.

Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz struggled for top-speed in Sector 1, and took only ninth ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

Daniel Ricciardo was 13th for the Visa Cash RB outfit, with Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and the Williams of Logan Sargeant following in 14th to 15th.

The RB of Tsunoda took P16, while the Haas pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were P17 and P18 ahead of the Kick Sauber of Zhou Guanyu in P19. Ocon, meanwhile, was unable to return to action following his reliability issues.