#BelgianGP FP2: @Max33Verstappen tops time-sheets ahead of @CharlesLeclerc. #F1

Verstappen Belgian GP FP2 – Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets in FP2 at the Belgian GP by 0.862 seconds ahead of title-rival Charles Leclerc who was second for Ferrari and McLaren’s Lando Norris who completed the top three.

 

 

The reigning world champion and his closest points challenger Leclerc will start the Belgian Grand Prix from towards the back of the field due to power-unit component changes.

 

But the Dutchman looked to have the upper hand ahead of the first round after the traditional summer-break as he was the only driver to break into the 1:45’s bracket.

 

He was quickest in-front of Leclerc and Norris, whilst an impressive run for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton.

 

For the second 60-minute session of the weekend, Verstappen came to the front in the middle 20-minute block during his qualifying simulation run to post FP2’s benchmark.

 

With early pace-setter Sainz just having lapped the 7.004km Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps on softer rubber, Verstappen jumped to the top of the pile on the same red-marked compound.

 

The points leader set a 1:45.507 hot-lap to sit a huge 0.862 seconds over Leclerc’s one-lap flyer, all but with fuel loads and engine modes potentially hiding the actual gap.

 

Leclerc’s best effort of a 1:46.369 was good enough for second in-front of Norris, Sainz and Hamilton whilst the soon-to-be-leaving Alpine for Aston Martin driver in Fernando Alonso split the Mercedes duo in seventh place.

 

It was also Verstappen to set the pace in the opening third of proceedings, with the Red Bull driver ending the opening running 0.5 seconds clear of Sainz with a 1:46.850.

 

Initially with damp patches, only Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo began running on the Pirelli C4 red side-walled softs as the rest of the grid were split between mediums and hards.

 

Only Norris had not came out after five minutes, by which time Sainz registered the first lap time with a 1:48.818 before Verstappen moved to the top on a 1:47.699.

 

With Red Bull’s Sergio Perez jumping to third, the top three were all on the C3 yellow-marked mediums.

 

Meanwhile Ricciardo, was the quickest soft tyre runner at the time fourth as bar Hamilton in tenth, the hard running Mercedes of George Russell, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi ran up the order.

 

Leclerc was able to run fastest after missing the Les Combes apex before Ferrari team-mate Sainz fell to a 1:47.390 despite massively running wide through the gravel trap at the second sequence of the Les Fagnes chicane.

 

This came as Verstappen tried to remove a tear-off that became stuck in the rear suspension of his RB18 racer, but once it was taken out, he flew into the high 1:46’s after the opening 10 minutes.

 

Following the qualifying simulation runs, the final part of the session, traditionally dedicated to long race run data gathering, was interrupted by drizzle – although with only three minutes to go did anyone (Vettel) attempted to run the wet tyres.

 

The slippery conditions saw plenty of errors. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who gave up his AT03 racer for reserve and FIA Formula 2 driver Liam Lawson in Free Practice One, suffered a rear end snap to run-off through the long turn eight hairpin.

 

The Frenchman kept his AT03 rolling to re-join before Sainz did similar at the next corner and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen went off at Les Combes.

 

Hamilton, who struggled with the now usual Mercedes warm-up issues, suffered a lock-up into La Source, and was then correcting a wild-looking snap through Eau Rouge.

 

Norris then went off the circuit at Les Combes and Schumacher took an excursion through the gravel moments after and with six minutes remaining the entire field opted to return to the pits.

 

There was a late emergence in the final minute – AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Bottas and Schumacher on the green-branded intermediates, Stroll on wets and the others running slicks.

 

With conditions preventing any late improvements, behind Russell who placed eighth was Ricciardo, the Australian currently looking for a new seat for the 2023 season as McLaren pay him out for the remainder of his deal with the Woking-based squad.

 

Perez rounded out the top ten in the other Red Bull RB18 entry.

 

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon finished outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who placed 12th.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri pairing Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly were 13th and 14th respectively and in-front of Aston Martin’s Vettel who was 15th and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took 16th in the order.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Magnussen and Schumacher ended the day in 17th and at the rear respectively as Alfa Romeo’s Bottas and Williams Racing’s Latifi split the pairing in 18th and 19th.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1118/belgium/practice-2.html

 

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