Ferrari laid down an early marker as Sebastian Vettel led teammate Charles Leclerc in Practice 1 at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The long straights of Spa-Francorchamps were expected to suit the Scuderia and that is proving very much the case with the German sat almost a second clear of Max Verstappen in third.
It would be the first flying lap on the second set of tyres when Vettel made his move, setting a 1m44.574s to finish two-tenths clear of Leclerc.
Red Bull changed between low and medium downforce wings as they tried to find the balance between top speed and grip in Sector 2 with Verstappen improving his original best by three-tenths with the low downforce approach.
Plenty of attention was on Alex Albon for his first session since moving up from Toro Rosso and the signs are good with the Thai driver less than a tenth behind his new teammate in fourth.
Mercedes have yet to really get going as they opted to use the medium compound tyre throughout Practice 1 compared to the top four on softs.
Newly re-signed Valtteri Bottas was fifth as Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult session blighted by an engine problem on his first lap out of the pits.
After a period in the garage, a telemetry issue then stopped him posting a time before eventually, he got to work but struggled with the tyres to sit only sixth.
Spa specialists Racing Point are living up to their reputation with Lance Stroll leading the midfield in seventh.
The Canadian might be in some trouble, however, after one side of his engine cover disintegrated on the Kemmel Straight, requiring a Virtual Safety Car to clear the debris.
Low downforce is certainly the way to go based on the early running as Daniel Ricciardo sat eighth ahead of Stroll’s teammate Sergio Perez.
This as Renault and Racing Point run among the skinniest rear wings of the 10 teams.
McLaren remain in the mix with Carlos Sainz 10th and Lando Norris 12th, either side of Nico Hulkenberg.
A four-tenths gap separated that group from Kimi Raikkonen in 13th, this as the Finn tested a pulled muscle in his leg with Marcus Ericsson on standby at Alfa Romeo.
Haas will be hoping to make gains in the afternoon after Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen sat 14th and 16th.
Pierre Gasly’s first session back at Toro Rosso wasn’t ideal as he finished three-tenths behind Daniil Kvyat in 18th.
Finally, Nicholas Latifi did his chances of a 2020 seat no harm by out-pacing Robert Kubica as the F2 racer stood in for George Russell at Williams.
Both drivers, however, were almost a second off the rest of the grid.
Full results from Practice 1 at Spa can be seen below:
