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Max Verstappen finishes on top in FP2 ahead of Charles Leclerc
- Toby McLuskie
Max Verstappen claimed the top spot in FP2, as he was able to find unmatchable pace during the hour and finish 0.862 seconds ahead of his title rival Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris trailed behind the two and was only 0.220 seconds behind the Ferrari driver.
Rain hit Spa towards the end of the session, causing a number of drivers to struggle with grip and lose more valuable track time.
Verstappen on a different level in FP2 compared to rivals
Verstappen managed to find pace that no one else was able to rival. The Dutchman found himself off the top at points but was soon able to improve consistently, whereas Leclerc and Carlos Sainz struggled after losing the top spot.
The Ferrari duo finished the session in second and fifth, with Leclerc leading over his teammate. However, there was only a 0.280-second gap between the two.
The issue for Red Bull in this session was Sergio Perez. The Mexican had an extremely quiet session and didn’t find himself anywhere near his teammate or the top of the timing charts. He finished the session in 10th, almost two seconds off the top and behind the majority of his rivals.
Mercedes struggling on hard tyre
Despite finishing the session in the top 10, both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled to find any pace on the hard tyre, due to a temperature issue. The drivers then switched to soft tyres and managed to find themselves in the top five, but teams were soon able to improve whilst they were not and ended the session in sixth and eighth respectively.
McLaren lead the midfield
Norris and Daniel Ricciardo had a strong session which will hold well within the team. The young Brit finished in third, whilst Ricciardo claimed the ninth spot but was amongst the likes of Russell and Perez. McLaren’s rivals Alpine had an up-and-down session on the other hand. Fernando Alonso claimed the seventh spot, but Esteban Ocon was only able to best a 16th-place finish.
Lance Stroll placed his Aston Martin in fourth, 11 places higher than his teammate Sebastian Vettel. The German was involved in a blocking incident early in the session with Sainz, but nothing was investigated from it.
Quiet session for Haas, Williams, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri
As for the teams at the bottom of the timings charts, it was an extremely quiet session. The highest place finisher was Alex Albon in 11th, followed closely by Zhou Guanyu, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly.
Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Nicholas Latifi and Mick Schumacher held the final four spots and were all over 2.7 seconds behind Verstappen.