Lando Norris topped the second practice for the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix with Oscar Piastri second fastest ahead of Max Verstappen as McLaren showed their hand.
McLaren apparently held back in FP1 and showed their true pace in FP2, but it was close with Verstappen in the Red Bull.
Worth noting that the triple Formula 1 Champion who ran a high downforce setup in FP1, switched to a lower downforce setup for the second practice session, as Red Bull evaluated their options for the race where Verstappen will serve a ten-place grid penalty for taking a fifth Internal Combustion Engine.
While clouds threatened to open up in FP2, the session ended up being a dry one, which is more tricky for the teams, as Saturday is forecasted at a rainy day for FP3 and qualifying which will also change the grip level on the track for the race.
That means the teams will have to do some head scratching as they decide the path the follow in setting up their cars.
Once again, both McLarens and Verstappen seem to be in a class of their own as the Charles Leclerc in he Ferrari led the second class over half a second off the pace in fourth.
Carlos Sainz was fifth fastest behind his teammate and ahead of George Russell in the Mercedes in sixth.
After missing out on FP1, Esteban Ocon was seventh fastest in the Alpine as Kevin Magnussen was eighth, Sergio Perez ninth and Hamilton tenth.
Buildup towards FP2
The first practice session for the Belgian GP was far from eventful as teams went on with their business, the usual stuff in FP1.
But Verstappen emerged in ominous form from the first hour of running, half a second faster than Piastri in the McLaren, which should be worrying as Red Bull usually do not turn their engines up on Friday.
The RB20 was not set up with low downforce it seems, evident from Verstappen's super fast second sector, as smart tactic by Red Bull whose trick DRS will make up on the straights.
Mercedes and Ferrari did not seem on it while Norris in the McLaren did not enjoy a smooth session.
Other than that, there was not much drama, except for Ocon who after the warm up lap was called into the pits for a suspected water leak and there he remained for the remainder of FP1.
Now we look at FP2 and see whether Verstappen can maintain his advantage, which he will need given the ten-place grid penalty he will receive on Sunday for taking a new Internal Combustion Engine.
FP1 Session Highlights
Clouds gathered over Spa at the start of FP2 and the session started under a 40% risk of rain, with track temperature at 35 degrees Celsius with air temperature at 22.
The session started and Ocon was eager to get out an do some running after missing out on FP1. All drivers were out on Mediums except Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu on Hards while Norris was on Softs.
Verstappen went to the top of the timing screens on the Mediums while Norris on the Softs couldn't go faster, over a tenth slower than the Red Bull driver.
Leclerc soon switched to Softs and went only fourth fastest, over half a second slower than Verstappen. It was not a good lap for the Monegasque as teammate Sainz went faster than him on Mediums a few moments later - Third overall.
Russell soon took third fastest from Sainz, also on the Medium tyres, he could've gone better had it not been for a snap of oversteer, as Verstappen improves on Mediums by a tenth.
Perez on the other hand was doing some investigative work for his team, reporting there was a lot of grounding for Norris through Eau Rouge.
With 40 minutes remaining, the other drivers started switching to Soft tyres with Sainz Russell and Piastri leading the way. A note that Norris and Leclerc ran those tyres earlier.
Sainz went faster that Verstappen on his first run on Softs and Piastri then went even faster than the Spaniard, while Russell went on third.
Verstappen soon followed on the Softs and was only second fastest, 0.002s slower than Piastri who asked his team to check the floor of his MCL38 claiming he turned into a "skateboarder at Turn 7".
With more the 30 minutes gone, Norris goes for another run on Softs and goes fastest of all.
Into the final 20 minutes and the teams set out on longer high-fuel runs. Some on Softs some on Mediums.
With 13 minutes to go, Piastri had a moment at Turn 9, dipping one wheel in the gravel after running hard on he kerbs.
Five minutes from the end, Daniel Ricciardo reported "Something feels strange" and returns to the pits. His engineer informed him they could see the problem.
How they finished
Norris posted a 1:42.260 to go fastest, 0.215s ahead of Piastri with Verstappen seventh thousands of a second further adrift in third.
Leclerc was 0.577s off the pace in fourth with Sainz 0.261s behind his teammate in fifth and 0.192d ahead of Russell who was sixth.
Ocon was seventh fastest, 1.141s off the pace and 0.084s ahead of Magnussen in eighth.
Perez was down in ninth, over a second slower than Verstappen as Hamilton rounded off the top ten, 1.259s off the best session time.
Belgian GP FP2 Classification
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