Verstappen blows away his F1 rivals but grid penalty confirmed

Max Verstappen delivered an imperious performance in first practice for the Belgian Grand Prix to leave his F1 rivals trailing.

Fresh from the controversy of his radio ranting during the Hungarian GP and a late-race collision with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton that led to a fifth-place finish, after the opening 60 minutes of running at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Verstappen was head-and-shoulders clear of the field.

In an RB20 reverting to the bodywork package seen in the British GP, Verstappen finished 0.531s ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri, the Australian fresh from scoring his maiden F1 victory at the Hungaroring.

Verstappen posted a time of 1:43.372s on Pirelli's soft tyres, however, he will go into Sunday's race carrying a 10-place penalty as it was confirmed during FP1 that a new internal combustion engine has been introduced into the pool, the first beyond the permitted four allocated for the season.

Two years ago, Verstappen won from 14th on the grid following a plethora of PU penalties, beating team-mate Sergio Perez on that occasion by almost 18 seconds, even though the Mexican had started second.

Perez, needing a near-perfect weekend to ensure talks over his future over the summer go well, was seventh quickest, albeit nearly a second adrift of Verstappen.

In between Piastri and Perez, Alex Albon in his Williams, notably with strong straight-line speed, was third on the timesheet, 0.727s back, followed by Mercedes duo George Russell and Hamilton, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc 0.934s sixth.

Hamilton, though, curtailed his running five minutes early after complaining of bad bouncing with his W15 that is sporting a major upgrade package this weekend, notably a floor, diffuser and beam wing, whilst there is also a circuit-specific front wing.

After heavy overnight rain had dried out in time for the session, inside five minutes Daniel Ricciardo endured a slow-speed spin out of La Source hairpin. The Australian caught a damp kerb to his left, sending his RB sliding across the circuit. Fortunately, Ricciardo came to a halt just shy of hitting a barrier.

On hard tyres, Verstappen set the initial benchmark with a lap of 1:44.706s ahead of the medium-shod Piastri in his McLaren, and Hamilton, both just over a second down.

With early long runs the order of the day, Verstappen lowered his time by 0.156s, with Piastri drawing closer to lie 0.738s back before Hamilton's next quick lap saw him close to 0.657s. Team-mate Russell, however, then popped into second, 0.474s down.

When the soft tyres were introduced, just before the midway point of the hour-long session, Russell shaved three-tenths of a second off of Verstappen's time.

Moments later, however, the Dutch driver crushed the Briton's time by 0.853s, despite touching the gravel on the exit of the fast Paul Frere right-hander, with a time that would not be bettered, with Piastri his nearest rival but considerably off the pace.

As for the Australian's team-mate, Lando Norris was eighth fastest, but just over a second down, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin completing the top 10. The Canadian was followed by Pierre Gasly in his Alpine, the second Aston of Fernando Alonso and Ricciardo.

The second of RB of Yuki Tsunoda, who will start at the back of the grid on Sunday after taking a new power unit incorporating all six elements, was 16th.

For Esteban Ocon, his session was wrecked by a suspected water leak Alpine was unable to cure, leaving him at the foot of the standings without a time to his name.