F1 championship leader Oscar Piastri set the fastest lap of the sole practice for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, with the Australian beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by four tenths of a second and McLaren team-mate Lando Norris by a further tenth.  

At the start of the session, Carlos Sainz ran into trouble almost as soon as running got underway and he limped his Williams back to the pit lane where his mechanics began to work on what was later revealed to be a fuel system problem. 

Lando Norris took an early top spot but Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen moved to P1 on Medium tyres with a time of 1:45.545. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli got to within three hundredths of a second of the Dutchman but Oscar Piastri then moved past Verstappen with a Hard-tyre time of 1:44.979. 

The Red Bull driver was soon back on top as he put in a lap of 1:44.236 but with a little over 20 minutes gone Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc went 0.088s quicker to take top spot on Hard tyres with a lap of 1:44.148. On the half hour Piastri also moved past Verstappen to take second place, just 0.005s off Leclerc. 

With a little under 10 minutes remaining Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll bolted on a set of Soft tyres and jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:43.112. Piastri soon breezed past that time, going almost a second quicker with a lap of 1:42.123, almost a second clear as Fernando Alonso moved to third place in the other Aston, 0.997s off top spot. 

Verstappen then jumped to second place on 1:42.653, half a second off Piastri. Leclerc moved to third almost three tenths behind the Dutch driver, but the Ferrari driver was ousted by Mercedes’ George Russell and then dropped back a further place by Norris. 

The McLaren driver put in a lap of 1:42.426 with a later second flyer after being forced to abandon his first attempt when he dipped a wheel into the gravel. 

Piastri and Verstappen also put in late flyers and the Australian improved to 1:42.022 to seal top spot ahead of the Dutchman. The Red Bull driver outpaced the McLaren driver across the flat-out first sector, posting a purple time, but in the more technical second sector he shed eight tenths of a sector versus the Australian to eventually finish four tenths off top spot. 

Behind the top three, Russell kept hold of fourth ahead of Leclerc, with Antonelli ending the session in sixth place. Lewis Hamilton was seventh in the other Ferrari with Stroll eighth ahead of team-mate Alonso and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar. Sainz returned to the track in the second half of the session to eventually rise to P11 ahead of Williams team-mate Alex Albon. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:42.022 23 247.146
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:42.426 0.404 23 246.171
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:42.526 0.504 22 245.931
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:42.598 0.576 27 245.759
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:42.928 0.906 22 244.971
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:42.979 0.957 23 244.849
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:43.085 1.063 24 244.598
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:43.112 1.090 17 244.534
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:43.120 1.098 22 244.515
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:43.122 1.100 19 244.510
11 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:43.217 1.195 16 244.285
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:43.261 1.239 24 244.181
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:43.262 1.240 25 244.178
14 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:43.470 1.448 20 243.688
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:43.478 1.456 21 243.669
16 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:43.570 1.548 22 243.452
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:43.929 1.907 21 242.611
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:44.492 2.470 23 241.304
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:44.847 2.825 21 240.487
20 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:45.077 3.055 22 239.961