Carlos Sainz topped the sole practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix in heavy rain as Formula 1 contemplates potential alternatives to running qualifying on Friday afternoon.
Rain fell constantly and with varying intensity through the sprint weekend’s only hour of practice, making it impossible to draw meaningful comparisons between the teams and drivers. Only 15 drivers were able to set a lap, but most were unrepresentative, with more than 10 seconds covering the spread.
Five drivers, including championship leader Max Verstappen, failed to set a time, with only a pair of installation laps to his name.
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The FIA released a statement partway through the session confirming that practice results wouldn’t be used to set Sunday’s grid if conditions were too wet to run qualifying later today.
The governing body said in the event Friday conditions were to deteriorate further, its preference would be to move qualifying to Saturday, with other sessions that day being cancelled if required to make space in the schedule.
In a worst-case scenario that Saturday is also called off due to weather, championship order will be used to set the grid on Sunday.
Sainz moved to the top of the standings with around 40 minutes to go, when the rain had eased slightly to make the track fit for intermediate tires for the first time since the start of the hour.
McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris likewise made the most of the temporary reprieve to finish second and third, with Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez following in fifth and sixth.
Alex Abon was sixth with a time set in the opening minutes of the session, before the rain had had a chance to intensify. Another 10 minutes passed with no running shortly afterwards as teams waited for the weather to settle.
Yuki Tsunoda headed Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Alfa Romeo teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
Logan Sargeant was the only driver to fall foul of the treacherous conditions, locking up into Les Combes and nudging the barrier with his front wing.
“I couldn’t turn. Something broke, man,” he protested over radio.
Unable to restart, a red flag was thrown to crane his stopped Williams off the circuit without having set a time.
Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Verstappen all ended without complete laps logged.
