Kimi Antonelli calls Carlos Sainz an idiot, Max Verstappen gear box, Oscar Piastri times

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc escaped any grid position penalties with Ferrari instead fined for a breach of sporting regulations at the Belgian Grand Prix.

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The Italian team were summoned to the stewards to explain an alleged breach of rules relating to the return of used tyres to Pirelli following opening free practice.

Under Formula One’s strict sporting regulations relating to tyres, every team has to return all used tyres to Pirelli within a prescribed time frame and before the start of the next session.

Ferrari complied with part of the regulations by returning their used tyres electronically – but not physically in time.

As a result they were called to a meeting with the stewards and fined 10,000 Euros, 5,000 for each driver.

It was just the latest flashpoint in a dramatic first two practice sessions at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Read on for a full wrap of each session and the big moments you need to be across!

FP2 WRAP: MAX FUMES AT ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ ISSUE, MERCEDES STAR BOUNCES BACK

World championship leader Kimi Antonelli topped the times for Mercedes ahead of defending champion Lando Norris of McLaren in the second free practice.

The 19-year-old Italian clocked a best lap time of one minute and 45.944 seconds to outpace Norris, who has a 10-place grid penalty for Monday’s race after taking a new battery, by 0.190 seconds with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull.

The four-time champion was 0.472 seconds adrift after a much-improved day using the team’s traditional rear wing after ditching the much-criticised ‘Macarena’ wing, described by Verstappen as very dangerous.

He had crashed at both the Austrian and British Grands Prix, but bounced back to go fastest in the earlier opening session on Friday.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari ahead of Isack Hadjar in the second Red Bull, Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren and Franco Colapinto who was seventh for Alpine.

This left George Russell down in eighth in the second Mercedes, more than 1.2 seconds behind Antonelli, ahead of Racing Bulls’ rookie Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson, the pair pushing Charles Leclerc down to 11th in the second Ferrari.

The session ended after an extended red-flag interruption after Pierre Gasly crashed into the barriers in his Alpine. He was unhurt.

After a light shower between the sessions, the action began with Antonelli setting the pace in 1:46.911 with Verstappen chasing his time before a brief red flag delay to clear gravel from the track.

The Dutchman, showing some frustration, grumbled colourfully about his gearbox.

“My god, these ******* (gear) shifts,” Verstappen said.

“Unbelievable man, why are they so ****?

“It’s unacceptable this, my god.”

On resumption, several drivers swapped mediums for softs as Piastri joined the fray, after repairs for a hydraulics problem, in a spell of qualifying simulation laps.

Hadjar swiftly went top on softs before Verstappen and then Antonelli regained the initiative, the Italian clocking 1:45.944 to soar nearly five-tenths clear.

Ferrari responded with both drivers setting personal-best times in the first and second parts of the lap, but Hamilton wound up third behind Verstappen and ahead of Hadjar. He was 0.747 adrift of Antonelli.

Russell, 25 points behind his ‘silver arrows’ team-mate in the drivers’ title race, tried a lap on softs, but was 1.285 seconds slower than the flying Italian as he settled for sixth.

Like Russell, Piastri was struggling to match his team-mate as Norris went second in 1:46.134, two-tenths off the pace. The Australian, last year’s winner, went sixth, but was 0.982 adrift.

With 15 minutes remaining, the action was red-flagged when Gasly lost control of his Alpine and brushed the barriers at the Fagnes chicane. He was unhurt and walked away from his damaged car, which had lost its rear wing.

The action was suspended for 13 minutes allowing the teams only two minutes’ action at the end of the session to complete their programme and engage in a few practice starts on the uphill grid.

FP1 WRAP: TWO DRIVERS CLASH OVER ‘INSULT’, PIASTRI TEMPORARILY HALTED

Earlier, Verstappen topped the times for Red Bull ahead of Hamilton in opening free practice while Piastri experienced a hydraulic setback and two rival drivers clashed.

Verstappen clocked a best lap in one minute and 47.070 seconds to outpace seven-time champion Hamilton by 0.145 seconds with Leclerc third in the second Ferrari, ahead of Hadjar in the second Red Bull.

Piastri was fifth ahead of Antonelli, Norris and Russell but ran into an issue late in the first practice session with a hydraulic leak that later required a gearbox change.

“The hydraulics issue that presented itself at the end of FP1 on Oscar’s car was disruptive, unfortunately costing him valuable track time in FP2 as the team continued to work into the second session after swapping the gearbox,” McLaren technical director of applied engineering Neil Houldey said.

“Overall, it has been a reasonable day,” added Piastri.

“Unfortunately, we were delayed going out in FP2 as the team worked to fix the cause of the hydraulic leak that appeared at the end of FP1. Thank you to them for working through to get that sorted.

“However, we made good progress in FP2, and our pace is looking reasonable. We are heading in the right direction, and we are in a good place to build on that in FP3 tomorrow and into Qualifying.”

It was the first time this year that neither a Mercedes nor a Ferrari had topped the first session.

Antonelli was uncharacteristically off the pace in first practice and clashed with Sainz, who he labelled an “idiot” after being blocked by the Williams driver at the end of the middle sector.

“I think he felt like I impeded him – I don’t feel like I did,” Sainz later said, per The Race.

“I guess nowadays with the SM [Straight Mode], if you don’t get out of the way exactly like [the other driver wants] – you cannot turn because you have no downforce with the wings open.

“Maybe he felt like I could have got out of the way in a better way.

“But I don’t think he should call me an idiot either, on the radio, I think that’s forbidden, to swear and insult a rival – so I think he should calm down a bit.”

In the opening set of laps, it was Red Bull — having reverted to their original conventional rear wing after ditching the ‘Macarena’ revolving wing — who shone with Hadjar, the only man on softs, and then Verstappen, on mediums, setting the early pace.

The Dutchman clocked 1:48.237 to lead by 0.227 seconds after 15 minutes with Hamilton third ahead of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc and Antonelli fifth.

Hadjar, who will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after Red Bull changed multiple components of his power unit, returned to the top with another fastest lap on softs in 1:47.778 before Mercedes responded.

Having switched to softs, Antonelli clocked 1:47.603 to go top until he was overhauled by Verstappen — the Dutchman clocking 1:47.070 with Hadjar going second and Leclerc third.

On the longest lap on the calendar, the top five were separated by only half a second as Ferrari emerged as the main threat to Red Bull with 20 minutes remaining.

At that stage, Norris who was on pole last year, was down in 11th for McLaren and facing a 10-place grid penalty after taking a new battery. He soon climbed into the top eight, made up of the ‘big four’ teams with a clear three-tenths advantage on the rest.

As usual, Aston Martin struggled for pace with Lance Stroll and rookie Jak Crawford, standing in for Spanish two-time champion Fernando Alonso, 21st and 22nd.

Alonso, sitting on the pit-wall, had made clear on Thursday that his “main focus” this weekend was to return home in time to watch Spain play Argentina in the World Cup final.