Raikkonen tops FP1 as Massa crashes out

F1 Grand Prix, GP Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps specialist Kimi Raikkonen topped the morning session at the epic Belgian race track, edging out Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the session. Sebastian Vettel completed the top three, less than two tenths down on the pace setter.

Hamilton seemed comfortable on the soft tyres, and went fastest before Raikkonen topped his time in the closing minutes. Both Ferrari's however used the faster ultra soft tyres to set their best times.

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo slotted into 4th and 5th, both 8 tenths down on the leading Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas completed the top 6, once again confirming how far ahead the top three teams are ahead of the rest of the field. The Finn though did have a needless off at Fagnes where he ended up in the gravel while slowing for another car. This sent him off into the gravel and made him brush the wall, triggering damage to his front wing.

Felipe Massa endured an extremely short session this morning, with the Brazilian crashing out at Les Combes on only his third lap of the day. The Williams driver went wide on the exit of the second right hander, went through the gravel and into the barrier, damaging the front left of his car. This causes damage to the chassis that would require his team to change it, forcing Massa to skip FP2 in the afternoon as well.

Pascal Wehrlein also had technical problems on his Sauber for much of the session, which began with a bang when Massa lost his Williams in the final part of Les Combes, the right-handed Turn 7, and clobbered the left rear suspension against the tyre wall.