Max Verstappen will face a penalty of 10 grid places at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The reigning World Champion, Verstappen, began the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps with a commanding lead of half a second over his competitors.
Despite his dominant performance, Verstappen will start the race 10 places lower than his qualifying position due to a change in engine.
Nevertheless, he kicked off his weekend on a high note by setting the fastest lap time of 1:43.372s, leaving McLaren’s Oscar Piastri trailing by 0.531s.
A surprising third place went to Williams’ Alex Albon, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who struggled with a poor rear end and bouncing issues in the W15.
Charles Leclerc claimed the sixth spot, leading the Ferrari team, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished just behind him.
Lando Norris, Verstappen’s closest rival in the championship, could only manage eighth place, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completing the top 10.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly spearheaded his team’s efforts in the newly designed A524, as his teammate Esteban Ocon had to sit out due to a suspected water leak.
Ocon was only able to complete an installation lap before retreating to the garage for the rest of the session while Alpine worked on resolving the issue.
Fernando Alonso secured 12th place for Aston Martin, while Daniel Ricciardo recovered from an early spin at the La Source hairpin to finish as the leading Red Bull driver in 13th position.
Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas claimed 14th place, followed by Williams’ Logan Sargeant and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, who will start from the back of the grid after receiving a new power unit.
The final timed runners were the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, along with Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.
