Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari 1-2 as Formula 1 returned to action during opening practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Vettel clocked a time of 1:44.574 in warm and sunny conditions at Spa-Francorchamps, 0.214s clear of team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull emerged as Ferrari’s main contender while Mercedes opted against using Soft tyres through the course of the 90-minute session.
Max Verstappen was third-fastest, 0.933s down on Vettel, while new team-mate Alexander Albon got his first taste of Red Bull’s RB15, encouragingly finishing within a tenth of Verstappen.
Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton took fifth and sixth respectively, 1.3s down on Vettel, with the Briton suffering an early loss of power through the middle sector.
Racing Point displayed typically strong pace in Belgium – where it locked out row two of the grid in 2018 – with Lance Stroll seventh and Sergio Perez ninth.
Stroll suffered one of the session’s most dramatic moments when his engine cover flew loose along the Kemmel Straight, but he was able to return to the garage for repairs.
Daniel Ricciardo split the Racing Point drivers as he took eighth, while Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top 10 for McLaren.
Outgoing Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg was 11th, ahead of Lando Norris and Kimi Raikkonen, whose respective minor foot injuries appeared not to impede their progress.
Haas was a low-key 14th and 16th, with Romain Grosjean in front of Kevin Magnussen, the duo sandwiching Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
Toro Rosso finished over three seconds off the pace; Daniil Kvyat was 17th, three-tenths clear of new team-mate and fellow Red Bull refugee Pierre Gasly, who had his first experience of the STR14.
Williams occupied its usual spot at the rear of the pack. Test and reserve driver Nicholas Latifi had his third FP1 run of the campaign, his best lap proving to be 0.8s slower than Gasly, and 4.2s down on Vettel.
Regular driver Robert Kubica was almost two-tenths further behind at the rear of the 20-car field.
Second practice is scheduled for 15:00 local time
