#BelgianGP FP2 Report: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @danielricciardo. #F1

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets in the afternoon FP2 session at the Belgian GP with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo second and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in third.

 

 

After rain fell during Formula 3’s qualifying session before-hand, the hour and a half FP2 was held under dry conditions.

 

The damp Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the early stages of the session meant it was a lull before any running took place, by the end it was Verstappen leading the way, with neither Mercedes drivers being the quickest in sectors one and three, suggesting their power-trains were tuned down.

 

Ricciardo’s FP2 came to an end early after a hydraulics pressure issue along the Kemmel Straight forced the Australian to park his Renault R.S.20 racer.

 

It was a 15-minute wait for the first time to be registered on the time-sheets, when Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi – who missed the morning session due to a technical issue – and his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen kept swapping places at the top of the classifications on C3 medium and C2 hard rubber respectively with a 1:49.716 and 1:46.402.

 

Renault’s Esteban Ocon and Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon then lowered the benchmark on the mediums until Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas claimed P1 with a 1:44.658 – also on the yellow-marked tyre.

 

While Hamilton focused his early run on the C2 hards, Verstappen used his mediums to take top spot for the first time in the session just before the opening half and a hour mark with a 1:44.354.

 

Hamilton grabbed second on his second hot-lap on the harder compound to be 0.2 seconds adrift of Verstappen before the mid-point lull of the session.

 

When the drivers hit the track again, they put on the C4 softs to undertake their qualifying simulation runs.

 

Bottas reclaimed P1 with a 1:44.134, but moments later Mercedes team-mate Hamilton snatched top spot with a 1:43.840.

 

Albon and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez then split the Silver Arrows, while Ricciardo impressively took first on the time-sheets with a 1:43.792, setting the fastest time in sector two (whilst Renault team-mate Ocon was quickest in sector one.)

 

Narrowly behind Ricciardo, Verstappen was set to improve on his effort with a personal best effort on the softer red side-walled rubber, but gained a lot of time – particularly in the third sector – and the Dutchman moved to the top with a 1:43.744 despite not topping any sector.

 

Hamilton who suffered a massive slide exiting the pits in the final three quarters of the 90 minute session as the championship leader was adjusting a switch on his steering wheel and nearly lost the rear of his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer, fell to third in-front of Albon, Perez and Bottas, but set the quickest time in the second sector.

 

The rest of FP2 was spent on long race-runs gathering data, but featured two interruptions.

 

First the aforementioned Ricciardo’s car had to be moved behind the barriers under deployment of the Virtual Safety Car after losing drive in the first 15 minutes of the session.

 

The second was a red flag when an advertising board on the run-down the endurance pit straight fell onto the circuit – close to where F2 driver Giuliano Alesi crashed into the barriers at the start of Formula 2’s practice session, which was also stopped.

 

This lead to a nine-minute run to the end as drivers continued to focus on long runs.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who had to travel slowly back to the pits in the early stages due to an engine calibration issue, ended up seventh in-front of Ocon, team-mate Carlos Sainz and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.

 

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was 11th and 0.934 seconds adrift of Verstappen’s Belgian GP FP2 benchmark, and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat who took 12th, along with the two Alfa’s of Giovinazzi and Raikkonen who were 13th and 14th respectively.

 

Last season’s Belgian GP winner Charles Leclerc ended FP2 a low 15th place for Ferrari, with Williams Racing’s George Russell in 16th in-front of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, as the Scuderia’s power struggles on the long straights were exposed.

 

The other Mercedes-powered FW43 Williams of Nicholas Latifi was 18th and in-front of Haas F1 Team pairing Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen who brought up the rear with both drivers only completing 12 laps each after the American outfit changed their Ferrari power-units.

 

The full Formula 1 Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix 2020 Free Practice 2 Results Classification: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1051/belgium/practice-2.html

 

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You can catch up on Free Practice 1 here at the link:

 

#BelgianGP FP1 Report: @ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

 

Read this weekend’s race preview at the link:

 

#F1 @Pirelli #BelgianGP 2020 Preview. @circuitspa