The Red Bull driver gave the chest C and took eight tenths to Charles Leclerc, his closest pursuer. Carlos Sainz briefly led before finishing fifth, and Fernando Alonso separated the Mercedes in seventh. The rain made plenty of appearances this Friday, limiting the last minutes of the session.
After assuming a much less prominent profile in the first training session, Max Verstappen He chose the second batch of the day to leave his mark. The championship leader gave a lesson in strength and speed at Spa-Francorchampsa circuit in which a tough comeback awaits him on Sunday from the bottom of the grid, as well as a Charles Leclerc who will start in similar positions for the same engine penalties.
We know that the effort exists, but the reigning champion made it almost seem as if it hadn’t cost him at all to score his time of 1:45.507, about half an hour of session. No one could get the slightest bit closer to that record, and Leclerc was the only one who finished less than a second, making your advancement narrative for the race win more integers. Without going any further, another sanctioned as lando norris He took third position in his McLaren, consolidating a very positive feeling from the previous session. We had to go down to fifth place to find Carlos Sainzwhose time of 1:46:649 was the fastest of the session until Verstappen dyed the table purple.
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In fact, the best of the unsanctioned turned out to be Lance Stroll, who finished for the second consecutive session among the top five, this time in somewhat less expendable conditions. Despite this, the rain did not want to stop being the protagonist and, as in the morning session, it unloaded on Spa to finish the dry running of the teams in advance. He allowed about 10 minutes of more or less mixed conditions until several scares, such as a correction by Lewis Hamilton in Eau Rouge or a gravel excursion by Mick Schumacher, sent an unequivocal message with ten to go.
Alpine this time did make an appearance in the top 10 thanks to the seventh position of Fernando Alonso, who led his teammate Esteban Ocon by nine positions and one second. He positioned himself between the two Mercedes, led in these free sessions by a Hamilton who had his first experience of the GP on the soft tyres. Beyond that, nobody experienced any more major setbacks, and even Kevin Magnussen was able to get out on track thanks to a battery change in the Haas car.
Free time table 2 Belgian Grand Prix
The third free practice will take place at 1:00 p.m. and the qualifying session from 4:00 p.m., as long as the rain does not alter the plans. Something that is never ruled out when racing cars enter the Ardennes…
Photos: Red Bull Content Pool