Belgian GP: Verstappen edges ahead of Ricciardo in FP2

Max Verstappen ended up fastest in Free Practice Two of the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, narrowly ahead of the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo.

Verstappen was fastest in opening part of the session, when teams were running on the medium compound tyres, setting a best time of 1m44.354s to go ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, and he held on to that spot after the field switched to the soft tyres for the qualifying simulation runs.

The Red Bull driver set a best time of 1m43.744s to hold on to the top spot, while Daniel Ricciardo put in an impressive laptime, going fastest in sectors one and two to end up just 0.048s down on his former team-mate.

But, while Ricciardo will be pleased with his effort on his fastest lap, his afternoon was spoiled when he pulled off the track with just over 20 minutes remaining with after having a problem with his Renault.

Hamilton ended up third fastest, just 0.048s further back, while Alex Albon put in a strong lap to finish the session in fourth, ahead of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

Lando Norris had another strong session, despite having a concerning moment early on in the session.

The McLaren driver was complaining about having “no power” and “misfiring” early into the session but he was able to get his car back to the pits and returned to the circuit a short while later, going ninth fastest on his first flying lap back on track.

He was then able to improve further, ending the session seventh fastest, ahead of the Renault of Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz.

Lance Stroll had a difficult session, only managing to go 11th fastest in his Racing Point RP20, although his car does look to have good straightline speed, but Ferrari once again had a nightmare of a session.

Both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel struggled in free practice one, and things got even worse in the second session with the pair ending up 15th and 17th respectively, split by the Williams of George Russell.

Meanwhile, Haas were able to get both cars on track having had engine issues on both Romain Grosjean’s and Kevin Magnussen’s car in free practice one, but the pair ended up the slowest cars on the circuit at the end of the session.

The session was interrupted momentarily with 11mins to go when the session was red flagged due to an advertising board falling on to the circuit on the straight before Eau Rouge.

Free Practice Two Results