Max fairly pleased with Spa FP1

Published on 26 August 2016 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen finished the first practice session to the Belgian Grand Prix in seventh. The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg continued where they left off before the summer with a front row for the German outfit. Max’s Red Bull Racing team mate Daniel Ricciardo finished FP1 in sixth.

“It went reasonably well”, said Max before heading to his engineers briefing. “We predominately worked on the balance of the car. It’s always a challenge to get that right at Spa due to the nature of the track. You’ve got long straights next to the fast, medium and slow corners. We’ll have to find the right balance and take it from there. Throughout the session we improved so I’m fairly happy.”

The first session after the summer break took place under a bright blue sky in the heart of the Ardennes Forrest. Along the legendary Spa circuit, the orange of the Dutch fans was clearly visible as the cars took to the track.

Rosberg, Carlos Sainz (Scuderia Toro Rosso), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) and Ricciardo all used the new halo device on their first run. Meanwhile, Max pushed from the start with a bit of oversteer in his second run. The Dutchman showed off his excellent car control and caught the rear stepping out before it all got too dramatic.

After some set-up changes, Max headed out for two stints on the medium tyres, the hardest compound available this weekend. His final run is completed on the new soft-prototype brought along by Pirelli. Max capitalised on the grip these fresh tyres provided and set the quickest of his FP1 laps (1:49.865).

In the end, it is Nico Rosberg who is the fastest man of the session ahead of Hamilton. The world champion mainly focussed on his race set-up as an engine change resulted in a 10-place grid penalty. The two Mercedes were the only two drivers in the top ten on the super-soft Pirellis. The other eight set their fastest laps on the soft compound. 

Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps - Friday 26 August

RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 1

01  6 Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                    1:48.348             27  
02 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:49.078   +0.730s   25  
03  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:49.147   +0.799s   24  
04 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:49.274   +0.926s   23  
05  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:49.768   +1.420s   19  
06  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:49.782   +1.434s   24  
07 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:49.865   +1.517s   24  
08 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Force India Mercedes        1:50.088   +1.740s   21  
09 77 Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes           1:50.394   +2.046s   31  
10 21 Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari                1:50.583   +2.235s   21  
11  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:50.899   +2.551s   18  
12 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:51.122   +2.774s   28  
13  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:51.125   +2.777s   16  
14 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:51.424   +3.076s   17  
15 12 Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari              1:51.768   +3.420s   19  
16 31 Esteban Ocon        Mercedes                    1:51.787   +3.439s   26  
17 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:52.308   +3.960s   19  
18 22 Jenson Button       McLaren Honda               1:52.407   +4.059s   18  
19 94 Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes                1:52.837   +4.489s   23  
20 20 Kevin Magnussen     Renault                     1:53.053   +4.705s   20  
21 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:53.089   +4.741s   20  
22 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda                                     3  

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