Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Sainz, Leclerc double up for Ferrari
CARLOS Sainz topped the times ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc as Ferrari delivered a one-two ahead of Red Bull’s world champion and series leader Max Verstappen in yesterday’s opening practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard clocked a best lap in one minute and 46.538 seconds to outpace his Monegasque partner by nearly a 10th of a second.
Verstappen, who leads the title race by 80 points, was adrift by 1.2 seconds in an intriguing session run in dry conditions until a late downpour.
George Russell was fourth for Mercedes in 1:47.396 ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alex Albon of Williams and Daniel Ricciardo who was seventh for McLaren, two days after announcing his early exit from the team later this year.
Yuki Tsunoda was eighth for Alpha Tauri ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes and Sergio Perez, who was 10th in the
second Red Bull.
The session began in dry, overcast conditions following news in the morning when Audi confirmed their entry as an engine supplier from 2026, anticipated to be with Sauber.
They presently race as Alfa Romeo with a Ferrari engine – though the Italian sponsor also announced that they would be terminating the partnership at the end of 2023.
After the ‘summer break’ the teams returned with upgrade packages, notably Mercedes and McLaren, as they eyed a continued upturn in results.
Once the action began Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc set the early pace and swopped places on top of the timing monitors.
An electrical issue for Kevin Magnussen in his Haas led to a red flag after 37 minutes and delivered a 12-minute pause before rain heralded the resumption of action for the final seven minutes.