Lewis Hamilton had a difficult first practice session after the Formula 1 summer break when he almost fell on the track in the wet conditions at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas prevailed in the team despite the uncertainty about his future.
Hamilton ended up only setting the eighteenth fastest time as he had to swerve to avoid a collision with Nicholas Latifi.
The seven-time world champion tried to improve Bottas’ time on his hot lap and overtook the Canadian in the final chicane towards the end of the lap at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Williams driver didn’t seem to notice Hamilton’s attempt to overtake, however, and moved left into the Englishman’s path.
Hamilton then managed to brake fast enough to avert disaster but his time suffered as he was three seconds slower than his Finnish partner as he was ahead of his time prior to the possible incident.
Bottas took to the track in drier conditions than his team-mate and took advantage of this luck with a best-in-field time of 1 minute 45.199 seconds.
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Bottas’ W12 used a different rear wing than Hamilton when Mercedes was trying to figure out which setup would give them the most downforce for a rainy weekend dominated by a track that requires a good balance between straight-line speed and tight corners.
The 31-year-old’s time was even more impressive given the performance. Mercedes has not yet announced whether it will be next year alongside Hamilton Bottas or George Russell.
The first practice session was treated with some caution by a number of teams as the slippery track made for tricky work.
Kimi Raikkonen was involved in a bizarre accident when the 41-year-old veteran somehow crashed into the pit wall on the left. He was able to drive away from the wall, but did not return to the track.
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The Alfa Romeo driver spun out of the La Source hairpin during his training session.
AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda made an almost identical mistake in the same corner just moments after Raikkonen.
Charles Leclerc also had a narrow mistake on the Rivage corner where his car flew off the track, but the Ferrari driver managed to keep his car on the gravel and off the track walls.
Hamilton’s big title rival Max Verstappen finished training behind Bottas, his time just 0.164 seconds behind the leader.
Looking for his first F1 title in the drivers’ standings before the weekend, the Red Bull driver is just eight points behind Hamilton.
Despite his incident, Charles Leclerc finished the fourth fastest lap, with Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri in third place.
Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari completed the top 5.
The second practice takes place on Friday afternoon, the third practice on Saturday morning, before qualifying begins on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. BST.
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