@Charles_Leclerc leads @ScuderiaFerrari 1-2 in #BelgianGP FP2. #F1

It was roles reversed in FP2 at the Belgian Grand Prix where Charles Leclerc lead from team-mate Sebastian Vettel in another Ferrari one-two.

Leclerc jumped to the top in the early running whilst the others around him were using the yellow-branded C2 medium compounds with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen coming the closest at only 0.017 seconds.

Vettel was the first of the front-running drivers to post a time in his qualifying simulation run on the C3 softs, which moved him to the top with a 1:44.753.

Leclerc then reacted by going 0.630 faster than team-mate Vettel to reclaim top spot, with the latter’s attempt to retake P1 on his second flyer diminished after a slow first sector gave the German no chance of improving.

Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were the closest to the two SF90 racers ending the day third and fourth respectively with only 0.046 separating the pairing.

As it was expected, Mercedes advantaged showed in the twisty middle sector, but was slower than the Ferrari’s strong straight-line speed advantage in the first and third despite the Silver Arrows running newly upgraded engines.

Bottas wound up 0.846 seconds adrift of Leclerc’s benchmark, with his pace advantage over championship leader Hamilton not matched after the latter was unable to equal his earlier pace in the final sector.

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez took a surprise fifth place, with the upgraded RP19 looking promising in the first and third sectors, wounding up as the last runner to stay within a second of the top four.

Perez’s session however came to a fiery end with five minutes remaining, when an engine problem hit his new-spec Mercedes power-train and forced him to pull off the track.

The Mexican’s failure saw the deployment of the virtual safety car before the session became red flagged and never resumed.

Verstappen attempted two hot laps on the softer rubber but could not improve on his first timed run, after a poor first and third sector included a lock-up at the final chicane as the Dutchman ended the day in sixth and 1.271 seconds adrift of Leclerc’s time.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen snatched seventh from Racing Point’s Lance Stroll with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo taking ninth.

Red Bull Racing’s newly promoted Alexander Albon completed the top ten as the Thai-Briton’s fastest lap was hampered by a lock-up into La Source – leaving him under four tenths behind team-mate Verstappen.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was 11th quickest on the time-sheets and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who took 12th.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg finished 13th and in-front of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat who was 14th and McLaren’s Lando Norris 15th as all three drivers were separated by only 0.049 seconds.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi was high as 10th on medium rubber but fell down to 16th when on the C3 soft compounds with the Italian 2.205 seconds off of Leclerc.

Toro Rosso’s returning Pierre Gasly was 17th and lapped 0.160 seconds adrift of Kvyat’s benchmark and at one stage the Frenchman reported hearing communications outside of the team over the radio.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was a low 18th after the Dane was forced to abandon his first run on softs and having another attempt again, which saw him 2.276 adrift of Leclerc.

ROKiT WIlliams Racing’s George Russell won the FW42 battle at the rear, ending up 0.444 quicker than team-mate Robert Kubica with the latter a whopping 4.208 seconds off of Leclerc.

You can read the full Formula 1 Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix Free Practice Two Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2019/races/1012/belgium/practice-2.html

You can also catch up on Free Practice 1, Driver Market, News in the summer break and this weekend’s race preview at the following links:

#Vettel heads @ScuderiaFerrari 1-2 in #BelgianGP opening practice. #F1

@ValtteriBottas retains @MercedesAMGF1 seat while @OconEsteban secures @RenaultF1Team 2020 drive. #F1

#Formula1 summer-break news round-up snippets

#F1 Johnnie Walker #BelgianGP 2019 Preview

Selected Driver Quotes

Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “It’s nice to be back in the car especially on a track like this, I had fun out there today. We got through our programme as planned, finding small gains as the day went on; it was pretty much business at usual on Friday. We always knew coming here that Ferrari and Red Bull would be quick on this track, but Ferrari have been particularly strong on the straights today. We’ll push hard overnight, trying to find every bit of performance we can for tomorrow. We need to make a big step if we want to battle with them, but at least we made some decent gains from FP1 to FP2.”

Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “It was obviously not a great start for us in FP1, we had a problem with the throttle pedal, I basically lost power and was idling. I managed to fix it with a couple of switch changes and got the car back to the garage, but when I went out we had another issue. It was a bit of a mess, but we got some laps in towards the end. We made some changes for FP2 and the car was feeling a lot better, but we still have work to do tonight. The Ferraris are particularly strong in the first sector, we gain some time back in the middle, and I think it looks quite close between us in sector three. They have been strong on the straights all year long, so I had a feeling this weekend might work really well for them. We will have to find a way to apply the pressure this weekend, if we don’t have it on pure pace.”

Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF90: “It was quite a good first day for us after the holidays. I really like this circuit and enjoy driving here. The track is quite long, has all types of corners and there’s a very unique flow to it. Despite our good positions in free practice, we do have to stay realistic and expect our rivals to be very competitive tomorrow. Our qualifying pace was strong today, but we still have some work ahead of us in improving it over the long runs. If we are quick on the straights, we will hopefully have some good opportunities for overtaking on Sunday, which is a positive. The last few Grands Prix have been great, with a lot of battles, so I hope that this race will be another exciting one.”

Sebastian Vettel, #5, Scuderia Ferrari, SF90: “It was a positive day and it’s great to be back in the car, especially at a track like this. The feeling from the cockpit was good, but I think there is still room for improvement. Let’s not forget it’s only Friday and it will only get serious tomorrow afternoon and then Sunday when it matters. On a quick lap, the performance was okay, but the race is not just one lap and so we have to work on improving our race pace, especially in the second sector. In today’s two sessions, we were sliding a bit too much in the middle sector and so for the race it will be important to optimise the tyre behaviour. We still have work to do tomorrow.”

Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB15: “The car felt pretty good today, especially the balance in FP2 and we are quite competitive in the second sector. We ran a slightly lower power mode on my side of the garage which lost us lap time, especially around such a long circuit, but tomorrow we should be back to normal and there is no point in risking anything on a Friday. It will be hard to beat Ferrari around here as they are super fast but that is no surprise as this track definitely suits them better than us. We should be closer to Mercedes tomorrow and we will see what we can do from there. We still have a bit of work to do but in general I was quite happy with how the car was behaving.”

Alexander Albon, #23, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB15: “Today was exciting, a bit like your first day at school, and it felt pretty good. I kept it on the black stuff and I’m enjoying it. I’m just trying to take it slowly, get as many laps as I can and understand the car as I’m still learning. There are obviously differences from Toro Rosso so I’m trying to adapt as quickly as possible, I can see it’s a nice car to drive and it’s quick, now I just need to get used to it. In the morning, FP1 was pretty good, it was just baby steps really, then in the afternoon we focused more on long runs as with the penalty, our focus isn’t so much on short run pace but more on Sunday. The Team have been very kind to me and so I feel quite at home with the guys. I don’t have any expectations or a finishing goal, I just want to do a good job for Sunday.”

Daniel Ricciardo, #3, Renault F1 Team, R.S.19: “It was a pretty good day and it’s nice to get back into it. The break didn’t feel too long and everything felt very normal on a whole. We were in the top ten for both sessions, so I think we’ve started on the right foot, but we have a little bit more to find. We probably didn’t make as much progress as we’d have liked in the afternoon. We’re there, with just a few bits and pieces to work on. Other than that, the track’s good, the weather is good and we’ll see what happens.”

Sergio Perez, #11, SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team, RP19: “We are still investigating the problem at the end of second practice, but it looks like a drop in oil pressure which killed the engine. Hopefully it won’t impact on the rest of the weekend too much, but we need to wait and see if anything is damaged and needs to be changed. Up until that point, things were looking good. The car was strong in both sessions and the new parts we introduced here made an immediate difference. There are still lots of areas to improve before tomorrow, but I’m feeling positive.”

Pierre Gasly, #10, Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda, STR14: “It was a busy day with the team, trying to get used to the car and learn all of the new procedures and the behaviour of the car. It was the first time working with this group of engineers, so there were a lot of things to get done today. We had a good plan and lap after lap I felt I was getting used to the car, so I think we are progressing. It’s been a bit tricky in terms of pace for us, so we need to work and find out which direction to take for tomorrow to be more competitive. Some drivers will have penalties this weekend, so we need to make sure we have a good race car for Sunday.”