Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fastest in FP1, which was interrupted by a red flag and rain, before Verstappen topped FP2 with the fastest time of the day.
Belgian Grand Prix FP1 results: Sainz fastest from Leclerc
What happened in Belgian GP Free Practice 1?
Lando Norris went straight out with soft tyres on his McLaren, setting the benchmark at 1m49.712s, before Verstappen produced 1m47.456s to grab top spot by over two seconds.
His team-mate Sergio Perez went second fastest, 1.6s off on hard tyres, before Verstappen extended his advantage with 1m46.755s, 2.3s ahead of the rest.
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) got to within 1.6s of that on medium tyres, before Alex Albon grabbed second place on softs at the halfway point of the session for Williams.
Sainz then set the fastest time at 1m46.538s on softs, 0.217s faster than Verstappen. Leclerc went second, 0.069s off his team-mate, demoting Verstappen to third.
The session was red flagged with 22 minutes remaining when Kevin Magnussen’s Haas ground to a halt with its ERS warning light flashing. That meant a lengthy recovery process as its high-voltage system was still live.
Practice restarted with nine minutes to go, but a rain shower on the far side of the circuit meant there would be no further improvements.
Esteban Ocon suffered a problem with his Alpine, crawling back to the pits in second gear early on. An issue in the drivetrain put him out for the rest of the session.
At least he got to set a time, good for 16th, as Valtteri Bottas didn’t even do that before his Alfa Romeo’s floor needed removing to fix a problem.
Belgian Grand Prix FP2 results: Verstappen fastest from Leclerc
What happened in Belgian GP Free Practice 2?
Verstappen set the early pace at 1m47.699s on medium tyres, which was briefly topped by Sainz – despite an off at the exit of Fagnes – on 1m47.390s.
Verstappen soon beat that with 1m46.928s and then 1m46.850s, as Sainz and Leclerc suffered big lock-ups approaching Les Combes.
Teams switched to the soft tyres for the second half of the session, with Sainz going fastest on 1m46.649s before Verstappen unleashed 1m45.507s moments later – 1.142s quicker. Leclerc moved into second with 1m46.369s, 0.862s off Verstappen’s pace.
Norris was best of the rest, ahead of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Sainz. Hamilton was the fastest of the Mercedes cars in sixth.
After their FP1 travails, Bottas, Ocon and Magnussen enjoyed a troublefree session but all ended in the…
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