After a not-at-all restful summer break involving the launch of his biography, Kimi Räikkönen returned to racing at Spa-Francorchamps as the fastest man in Friday practice for the Belgian Grand Prix. His partner in crimson Sebastian Vettel took things at a more leisurely pace, his best time on Friday almost eight-tenths off Kimi’s best. Given the pair’s performance over the last few years, a reversal of this order in qualifying on Saturday is likely.
Right on Kimi’s heels is Mercedes once again, Lewis Hamilton almost three-tenths up on Valtteri Bottas. Following are the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, in that order, split by the Ferrari of Vettel. The effects of Red Bull’s new fuel reportedly worth 0.15 seconds have not yet been seen.
Resurgent Sergio Perez sits on the best-of-the-rest throne in seventh, closer to the Red Bull in front of him than the Renault behind. Perez’s insinuation that his performance would improve with the salvation of his team (newly-renamed Racing Point Force India) holds true so far—Esteban Ocon is more than a second adrift as of this point in the race weekend.
The bottom six are made up solely by three teams: Toro Rosso-Honda, McLaren and Williams, led by Pierre Gasly. Gasly may be spurred on by his promotion to Red Bull coming in 2019, his closest companion Fernando Alonso by announcement of his retirement from Formula 1 after the season. Alonso’s Belgian teammate Stoffel Vandoorne has no apparent home field advantage; he sits dead last at present.
A full index of best practice times can be found below.
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