Free Practice at Spa began in the more traditional fashion, with Nico Rosberg leading the first session. He ran for a handful of laps with the new halo device on, as did Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo, all testing out the cockpit protection for a lap here and there. During the day, teams were also running prototype tyres for Pirelli, with the Italian manufacturer hoping to provide stronger compounds to withstand the new F1 kerbs better.