Piastri fastest in Belgian GP first practice

Belgian Grand Prix

Venue: Spa Dates: 25-27 July Race start: 14:00 BST on Sunday

Coverage: Live commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2 with race on BBC Radio 5 Live; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app

McLaren's Oscar Piastri set a blistering pace in practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Australian, the world championship leader, was 0.404 seconds quicker than Max Verstappen's Red Bull with the second McLaren of Lando Norris a further 0.1secs adrift.

Piastri was making all his time in the middle sector, the site of most of the corners on the demanding Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

He was nearly a second faster than Verstappen there, and although the Red Bull driver clawed back some pace on the straights of sectors one and three, the advantage was decisive over a lap.

Norris, using the same higher-downforce set-up as Piastri for speed in the middle sector, made a mistake on his first flying lap on the soft tyres, and set his time on his second lap, when the tyres were past their best.

The differences highlighted the classic quandary of set-up at Spa - trim the car out for the straights and better chances of overtaking, but lose time in the corners; or go for cornering pace but risk being vulnerable in a racing situation.

A forecast of rain for Sunday complicates the picture for the teams.

This is a sprint weekend, with sprint qualifying later on Friday before the sprint race starting Saturday's activities. Grand Prix qualifying starts later on Saturday before the main event on Sunday.

Mercedes' George Russell was fourth fastest, split from his team-mate Kimi Antonelli by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton was seventh in the second Ferrari, both cars using a new rear suspension design aimed at allowing them to run the car lower, ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso and Isack Hadjar's Racing Bull.

Verstappen, driving under new team principal Laurent Mekies for the first time following the sacking of Christian Horner, is using an upgrade on the Red Bull that includes new front wing and suspension aerodynamics and revised bodywork.

Williams - for whom Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were 11th and 12th - also have an upgrade, focused on a new floor.