SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Aug 27 — Red Bull’s Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen set a dominant pace on the opening day of practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday.

The Dutchman lapped with a best time of one minute 45.507 seconds, a comfortable 0.862 clear of Ferrari title rival Charles Leclerc.

Both championship protagonists are however set to start Sunday’s race from the back end of the grid after collecting engine and gearbox-related penalties.

The pair are among a group of seven drivers facing similar drops.

Verstappen leads Leclerc by 80 points in the overall standings with nine races to go and does not need to win again to clinch a second successive title if results go his way.

The winner of a three-lap, safety-car led washout at Spa last year, the 24-year-old still wants a proper victory in the country of his birth.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the long and sweeping Spa circuit, which is easy to overtake on, offered Verstappen the best chance of fighting his way through the field.

"You look strategically at the calendar, (and) we felt it was particularly tight to get to the end of the year with the engine allocation that we have,” the Briton told Sky Sports.

"Here and Bahrain are probably two of the easiest circuits on the calendar to actually make an overtake.”

Race pace

The penalty for Verstappen could have opened up the ideal opportunity for Leclerc to make inroads into his Red Bull rival’s lead.

However, the Monegasque — whose title challenge has come undone thanks to reliability woes, driver errors and strategic missteps — will instead be locked in a battle with his rival to fight through the field.

"Our main focus will be on race pace tomorrow,” said Leclerc, who is also 24.

"Qualifying will not be as relevant due to our penalty.” The grid drops for Verstappen and Leclerc could clear the way for Mercedes to score their first win of the season.

The formerly dominant champions looked lacklustre in practice on Friday but Lewis Hamilton is hopeful the team can turn it around.

"We often find this on the Friday and then things change a little bit more on Saturday,” said the seven times world champion, who was ninth and sixth respectively in Friday’s two sessions.

"I hope that’s the case,” he added.

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished third in the second session ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Ferrari’s Friday afternoon pacesetter Carlos Sainz.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was seventh behind Hamilton with the Briton’s Mercedes team mate George Russell eighth.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo, on his way out of McLaren at the end of the season, was ninth with Sergio Perez rounding out the top 10 for Red Bull. — Reuters