The two free practice sessions of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps left Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli as the fastest on Friday, one in each session. Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton by 145 thousandths in FP1, while Antonelli topped FP2 with 1m45.944s, ahead of Lando Norris and Verstappen himself. The change for Mercedes between sessions was drastic: in the morning the car was almost undriveable for Antonelli and George Russell, while in the afternoon the Italian found the balance that gave him the fastest time of the day.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull ran at Spa with a rear wing from the previous specification, after the updated component failed in Austria and Britain, causing two Verstappen crashes into the barriers. Pierre Wache, the team's technical director, explained that they have already identified the problem and are working to bring back the new part as soon as possible. "Our priority is to ensure the car is safe. This wing has a little less performance, but we can run with it," he detailed. Verstappen called the day "pretty decent" and acknowledged that the second session better reflects the real gap to the others. "Let's see if we can extract a bit more for qualifying," he said. Charles Leclerc was 207 thousandths behind Verstappen in the second Ferrari, which placed both its drivers in the top four in FP2, with Hamilton fourth, 747 thousandths behind Antonelli, and Leclerc 11th, 1.5 seconds off after not setting a representative lap on soft tyres.

Photo By Red Bull Content Pool

Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes' trackside engineering director, admitted that the team opted for a very low‑downforce configuration in the first session and that both drivers found the car difficult to handle. Antonelli, sixth in that first practice, described the behaviour as "a bit nervous" and asked to focus on long runs. The adjustments made for FP2 transformed the car. "We improved a lot, but there's still work to do as a team and also with my driving," said Antonelli, who arrives at Spa with a 25‑point championship lead. Russell did not set a clean lap in the second session and finished eighth, more than a second behind his teammate, a gap that Shovlin attributed to a lack of preparation in the first session. "He only had one run, and with very limited preparation," he explained.

Photo By Mercedes F1

Isack Hadjar, the only driver to use soft tyres in the first half of FP1, finished fourth in the Red Bull. Oscar Piastri was fifth in the McLaren, Antonelli sixth, and Norris seventh in a session where McLaren used the early minutes to test aerodynamic measuring grids. Norris carries a ten‑place grid penalty for a component change, and Piastri missed the first twenty minutes of the second session due to a hydraulic leak that forced the car to be rebuilt in the garage. Franco Colapinto used the session to put the Alpine in seventh place, ahead of Russell.

The second session was stopped twice with red flags. The first, fifteen minutes in, was caused by gravel that Verstappen dragged onto the track when he ran onto the run‑off at Turn 14. The second, with fifteen minutes remaining, came when Pierre Gasly crashed at the exit of Turn 13. The Frenchman's Alpine lost the rear, went through the gravel and hit the barriers, tearing off the rear wing and causing extensive damage. Gasly walked away unhurt. Steve Nielsen, Alpine's sporting director, confirmed that the team had already planned to change the power unit on that car for Saturday, so part of the extra work was already accounted for. "Pierre is fine, the car is not. There will be no problem being ready tomorrow," he said. Gasly had seen a competitive lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4. "It's not the end of the day we wanted, but the mechanics will have it ready," he said. The third free practice takes place on Saturday ahead of qualifying, where Norris will start with a penalty and where Antonelli will defend a 25‑point lead that Friday's two sessions left on hold.

Belgian GP FP1 

Pos.	No.	driver	team	Best Time	Gap	laps
1	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:47.070	-	24
2	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:47.215	0.145s	22
3	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:47.277	0.062s	22
4	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	1:47.322	0.045s	23
5	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:47.522	0.200s	21
6	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:47.603	0.081s	23
7	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:47.931	0.328s	19
8	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:47.959	0.028s	22
9	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:48.234	0.275s	24
10	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:48.406	0.172s	18
11	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:48.432	0.026s	24
12	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:48.962	0.530s	23
13	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	1:49.010	0.048s	21
14	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:49.337	0.327s	24
15	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:49.403	0.066s	23
16	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:49.449	0.046s	21
17	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:49.712	0.263s	23
18	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:49.839	0.127s	21
19	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:50.226	0.387s	22
20	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:50.862	0.636s	25
21	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:52.808	1.946s	19
22	#34	Jak Crawford	Aston Martin	1:53.199	0.391s	22

Belgian GP FP2

Pos.	No.	driver	team	Best Time	Gap	laps
1	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:45.944	-	18
2	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:46.134	0.190s	18
3	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:46.416	0.282s	21
4	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:46.691	0.275s	16
5	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	1:46.714	0.023s	20
6	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:46.926	0.212s	11
7	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:47.147	0.221s	20
8	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:47.229	0.082s	20
9	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:47.294	0.065s	20
10	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:47.434	0.140s	16
11	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:47.468	0.034s	18
12	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	1:47.792	0.324s	16
13	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:47.952	0.160s	17
14	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:47.958	0.006s	19
15	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:48.019	0.061s	19
16	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:48.256	0.237s	19
17	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:48.333	0.077s	16
18	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:48.955	0.622s	15
19	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:49.199	0.244s	19
20	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:49.596	0.397s	20
21	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:51.131	1.535s	17
22	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:51.418	0.287s	19