Perez heads crucial last practice session ahead of Belgian GP qualifying

So, after one lap, drivers all came back into the pits to switch tyres which caused a delay in the first times being set.

However, eight minutes in, Sainz became the first driver to set a time with a 1min 51.622sec on the hard compound, while his team-mate could only achieve 0.050sec slower on his opening lap.

However, the Ferrari drivers soon started to fall down the order with the soft tyre clearly the quicker compound in the opening stages.

Norris went 1.9 seconds faster than Sainz, Alonso slotted in just behind the McLaren driver by two-tenths but Verstappen then stormed to the top, beating the Briton by 2.256 seconds.

However, Ferrari decided to stick with the hards while Red Bull also fitted the same compound to Perez and as time went on, they got themselves back up the order to go third, fourth and fifth after 25 minutes, with Hamilton was in second on the mediums.

During that time Esteban Ocon was forced to retire from the session following a transmission problem with a 1min 50.315sec being his best lap time at that point.

Then in the second half of the session, all the drivers decided to go with the soft tyre which caused changes at the top.

Sainz went first with a 1min 46.538sec in a Ferrari one-two, Verstappen fell down to third with Russell in fourth eight-tenths off the lead, while Stroll had done well to get himself inside the top five.

The session then came to a halt with 23 minutes left after Kevin Magnussen became the second retiree from FP1.

An engine issue suddenly struck at the exit of the final corner, before he eventually lost all power just out of Turn 1, leaving his car stopped on the sideline.

Despite the red flag, however, the time continued to tick and there was just nine minutes left on the clock when the session resumed.

Now with an increased risk of rain, all the drivers wanted to get out on track with a mixture of the soft tyre, or mediums being used.

However, conditions very rapidly changed before the session ended and it was not the weather for slicks.

This meant there was no change in the order as drivers all tumbled back into the pits before they could even start a hot lap.

The heavens opening towards the end of the session, meaning a bit of a shakeup in the order with Alex Albon in sixth, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in seventh, Yuki Tsunoda eighth, Lewis Hamilton ninth and Sergio Perez rounding up the top ten.

Sainz, Leclerc and Verstappen lead the way after first practice… 👊#BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZgIKhpIAL4

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 26, 2022

FP2

Despite the downpour at the end of FP1, the second practice session started off dry and drivers rushed out of their garages with all three tyre compounds being seen on track.

Verstappen set the pace after the opening 15 minutes with a 1min 46.850 sec lap, half a second quicker than Sainz, with Leclerc in third, 1.2sec off the Red Bull.

All three drivers started on the medium tyre and Perez was in fourth on the same compound, just one-tenth off Leclerc.

Mercedes meanwhile, who is expected to fight closely with the front-runners, struggled at the start with both drivers on the hards and Russell complaining about tyre temperature.

Hamilton was tenth after 15 minutes, with Russell six below as Tsunoda, Norris, Zhou Guanyu, Ricciardo and Alonso separated Mercedes from the two leading teams at the time.

With rain forecast, drivers were racking up laps while it remained dry, leaving the pitlane quiet.

The session eventually slowed down before drivers returned to the track with just over halfway to go and this time, most of the grid switched to the softs including Ferrari and Red Bull.

For this next set of laps, Verstappen went 1.3 seconds quicker than his previous best time while Leclerc managed to get within eight tenths of him.

However it wasn’t a great lap for Sainz, who found himself down in fifth behind Norris and Stroll, who had both set a 1min 46.589 sec and a 1min 46.635 sec, respectively.

The Mercedes drivers had got themselves up to sixth and seventh led by Hamilton.

Perez didn’t go back out until 20 minutes until the end, by which point drivers were not improving on their lap times with some going back to the medium tyre, or even hards amid cooling conditions.

Then the rain started to pour causing drivers to slide, while Schumacher had a trip into the gravel trap at Turn 7, causing the timesheet to remain largely unchanged in the final 20 minutes.

FP3

Less than ten cars ventured out under grey skies early on with Alex Albon heading the field on a set of softs on a 1min 50.050sec, before Zhou Guanyu saw this time off by 2.2sec, with his team-mate Valtteri Bottas 0.15sec behind.

George Russell tried to set a fast lap, but reported a “massive derate” over the radio. “These tyres are gone,” he said shortly later, as the Mercedes driver found himself 4.5sec away from the Alfa pace.

Lance Stroll, who appeared to show speed yesterday in practice, posted a 1min 48.959sec to go third, 1.1sec off Zhou, with his team-mate Vettel occupying fourth, 0.3sec further back.

Bottas set a purple first sector on the 15-minute mark, utilising the Alfa’s low-downforce package to close up 0.15sec off his Hinwil colleague.

Stroll improved to get within a second of Zhou, with front-runners still shying away from running – with over 20 minutes gone, neither Ferrari had set a quick lap.

Both Scuderia cars hit the track a few minutes later though, and Sainz went straight to the top with a 1min 46.461sec, whilst Leclerc posted a time 0.4sec further back.

Albon then went quickest in the final sector to file a lap 0.375sec slower than Sainz in what looked to be a qualifying simulation lap.

Hamilton improved to fourth with Magnussen fifth, as Perez then clocked a lap which was fastest by half a second on the 30min mark.

The pole fight looks to between the Mexican and Sainz with their team-mates taking engine penalties, and the pair were the quickest as the session wore on.

Confusion then reigned at Red Bull as Perez went off, before Verstappen apparently went through a yellow flag.

“There was no flag,” he told the team. “There was no flag in Qatar,” either replied his engineer, referring to the penalty controversy towards the end of 2021.

Verstappen went quickest on 1min 45.480sec before Norris clocked second, but half a second shy of the Red Bull.

Sainz then shuffled down the McLaren, as drivers started getting their final quick laps in.

Russell then finally improved to post fifth-fastest time, 0.591sec slower than Verstappen, but Hamilton could get no closer than 1.2sec off, good enough only for eighth at that point.

Latifi then set the fastest first sector to go with half a tenth of Hamilton, before FP3 suffered its most dramatic moment.

Leclerc lost the rear end at Paul Frere, went skating through the gravel and kissed the barrier.

The Monegasque was able to escape with just a broken front wing endplate, as the red flag was brought out with eight minutes to go.

Car went back on track with four minutes left as raindrops began to come down, not that it deterred anyone. Verstappen improved, but his team-mate Perez set the fastest time of all for the session: 1min 45.057sec.

Outgoing Alpine driver Fernando Alonso then impressed at the death, going 1sec slower than Perez to– good enough for fifth.

FP3 CLASSIFICATION

The RB18 likes this Spa circuit 💪#BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ygaj44YA09

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 27, 2022