McLaren reportedly held back in the first practice session and showcased their true speed in the second practice session, but it was a close battle with Verstappen in the Red Bull.
It is worth mentioning that the three-time Formula 1 Champion, who used a high downforce setup in the first practice session, switched to a lower downforce setup for the second session. This decision was made as Red Bull assessed their options for the race, where Verstappen will face a ten-place grid penalty due to using a fifth Internal Combustion Engine.
The first practice session for the Belgian GP was uneventful, with teams going about their usual business in FP1.
However, Verstappen emerged as a formidable force from the first hour of running, setting a time half a second quicker than Piastri in the McLaren. This performance is concerning, as Red Bull typically does not push their engines to the limit on Fridays.
It appears that the RB20 was not configured with low downforce, as evidenced by Verstappen’s exceptional second sector. This is a clever tactic by Red Bull, as their innovative DRS system compensates for any lack of straight-line speed.
Mercedes and Ferrari did not appear to be at their best, while Norris in the McLaren struggled during the session.
Apart from that, there was not much excitement, except for Esteban Ocon, who was called into the pits after the warm-up lap due to a suspected water leak. He remained in the pits for the rest of FP1.
Now, we turn our attention to FP2 to see if Verstappen can maintain his advantage, which will be crucial considering the ten-place grid penalty he will incur on Sunday for using a new Internal Combustion Engine.
Clouds gathered over Spa at the start of FP2, and the session began with a 40% chance of rain. The track temperature was 35 degrees Celsius, while the air temperature stood at 22.
The session commenced, and Ocon was eager to get some running done after missing out on FP1. All drivers were on Medium tires, except for Hulkenberg and Zhou, who opted for Hards, and Norris, who used Softs.
Esteban Ocon completed only one lap in FP1, but the Frenchman is making up for it by accumulating laps in the second practice session.
He is currently in 14th position.
Verstappen took the lead on the timing screens using the Medium tires, while Norris, using the Soft tires, was unable to go faster and ended up over a tenth slower than the Red Bull driver.
Leclerc later switched to the Soft tires but only managed to secure the fourth fastest time, over half a second slower than Verstappen. It was not a successful lap for the Monegasque driver as his teammate Sainz went faster than him on the Medium tires a few moments later, securing the third overall position.
Russell then surpassed Sainz to take the third fastest time, also using the Medium tires. However, he could have performed even better if it weren’t for a moment of oversteer. Meanwhile, Verstappen improved his time by a tenth using the Medium tires.
On the other hand, Perez was busy gathering information for his team and reported that Norris was experiencing a lot of grounding through Eau Rouge.
With 40 minutes remaining in the session, the other drivers started switching to the Soft tires, with Sainz, Russell, and Piastri leading the way. It should be noted that Norris and Leclerc had already used these tires earlier in the session.
Carlos Sainz is currently leading the session with just over 20 minutes gone.
Sainz managed to outpace Verstappen on his first run using the Soft tires, and Piastri then went even faster than the Spaniard. Russell secured the third position at this point in the session.
Halfway through FP2, Piastri is now setting the pace, just two thousandths ahead of Verstappen.
Verstappen later followed suit and used the Soft tires but could only manage the second fastest time, 0.002 seconds slower than Piastri. Piastri requested his team to check the floor of his MCL38 as he claimed to have felt like a “skateboarder at Turn 7.”
With over 30 minutes gone, Norris went for another run using the Soft tires and achieved the fastest time overall.
Now Lando is the quickest. McLaren is performing well in FP2. The top 5 are Norris, Piastri, Verstappen, Leclerc, and Sainz.
In the final 20 minutes, the teams focused on longer high-fuel runs, with some using the Soft tires and others using the Medium tires.
With 13 minutes remaining, Piastri had a moment at Turn 9, with one wheel dipping into the gravel after running hard on the kerbs.
Five minutes before the end, Ricciardo reported that something felt strange and returned to the pits. His engineer informed him that they had identified the problem.
