2024 F1 Round 14, Belgian Grand Prix FP3: Stroll crashes in the rain as two red flags all but wipe out practice, with just 85 laps completed across the field

The third free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, round 14 of the 2024 F1 season, took place at Spa-Francorchamps at 18:30 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on July 27. Rain and Stroll’s crash brought out two red flags, effectively reducing practice to a session in name only: Verstappen topped the times with a 2:01.565, Piastri finished second, 1.433 seconds behind, and Gasly was third. The 20-car field completed just 85 laps in total.

The track was already wet when practice began, and Verstappen ran wide through the run-off area at Turn 8 on his out-lap. Warnings of “heavy rain in 5 to 10 minutes” soon came over the teams’ radios. As the rain intensified and cars began returning to the pits, Stroll aquaplaned and spun midway through Raidillon, hitting the inside barrier hard with the left-front of his car. Officials sent out the medical car—but fortunately the Canadian climbed out of his car unaided and returned safely to the paddock after checks at the medical centre. Aston Martin’s mechanics, meanwhile, faced a tough task, with around two and a half hours to carry out major repairs to the AMR24 before qualifying began.

The session resumed with 40 minutes remaining, but the poor track conditions kept every car in the garage, with no one venturing out. Officials had no choice but to bring out the red flag again because of the weather with 25 minutes left. It did not restart until just two minutes remained. Sainz, who went out alongside both Haas cars, slid into the gravel run-off at Turn 8, and the chequered flag fell shortly afterwards.

With so little useful running available, the teams were simply trying to make an initial assessment: McLaren’s Piastri was second and Norris fourth, while Alpine’s Gasly squeezed into the top three. Yuki Tsunoda, who will start from the back of the grid for exceeding his power-unit allocation, completed seven laps and finished 15th; his teammate Ricciardo reported a steering problem at one point and returned to the pits early. Russell, Sainz and Magnussen only went out in the closing stages, completing two laps each without setting a valid lap time.

Qualifying will take place at 22:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) that evening.