First round goes to Ferrari

A Ferrari was at the top of the rankings in both the first and second free practice sessions. After Sebastian Vettel held the fastest time in the morning with a time of 1:44.358 minutes, teammate Kimi Räikkönen was the fastest in the afternoon with a time of 1:43.355 minutes. But the two Mercedes drivers remained close on the Ferrari's heels in the second free practice session. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton took second place, 0.168 seconds behind. Valtteri Bottas' second Silver Arrow came third (+0.448 seconds). Fourth place went to the faster of the two Red Bull drivers, Max Verstappen (+0.691 seconds). The second Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel only finished fifth with a time of 1:44.129 minutes. The 31-year-old's deficit can be explained by the fact that he did not complete a clean lap on the supersoft tires. The first pursuers of the three top teams are Racing Point Force India, Renault and Sauber.

There is bad news for Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) and Nico Hülkenberg (Renault). Both receive a penalty and have to start from the back. The reason: Both vehicles use completely new drives that go beyond the permitted quota. The Mercedes driver will start from 19th place on the grid and the German Renault driver from 20th. The decisive factor for this was that the Silver Arrows reported the penalty to the FIA earlier than the French racing team.

Since the two title rivals don't focus much on a fast lap or in the race simulation, we can look forward to an exciting Saturday and Sunday. However, if it stays dry, Ferrari will go into qualifying on Saturday as slight favorites.

Another program Saturday August 25nd 12:00 p.m.: 3rd free practice 15:00 p.m.: Qualifying Sunday 26rd August 15:10: Race

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First round goes to Ferrari

This weekend in Spa (Belgium) the fight for the world title between Mercedes and Ferrari continues. In the open exchange of blows between the two top teams, Ferrari was able to win the time hunt on Friday.