The last Friday practice sessions prior to Formula 1’s summer break came to a close with Max Verstappen headlining FP1 at the Belgian Grand Prix, before Lando Norris slotted in the fastest time of FP2.
Verstappen is guaranteed qualify without a chance of starting on pole thanks to a 10-place engine penalty for taking new power unit components for the Spa-Francorchamps weekend – as he has done in the past two editions of the race. In those races the Dutchman recovered to claim victory, but this will be an altogether more difficult feat to achieve given the competitiveness of the McLaren team this season.
But how do his chances stack up, and does anyone other than McLaren and Ferrari stand a chance? We’ve crunched the long-run numbers from FP2 to find out who’s looking good, and who’s in need of the arrival of an overnight silver bullet.
The story of the day
In FP1, Verstappen had broadcasted his intent to compete despite the encumbrance of a grid penalty and put over half a second on his nearest challenger Oscar Piastri to sit top of the earlier session.
Expectations of rain had subsided after an early morning downpour, and thus the teams could log plenty of dry-weather running in preparation for the sunny conditions expected on Sunday. Piastri, newly minted as a grand prix winner after standing upon the top step in Hungary, was two-tenths up on Alex Albon’s moderately surprising third-best time.
Verstappen set the early pace for Red Bull, showing his desire to put up a fight despite his grid penalty
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The rain held off into FP2 and the suggestion of late-session precipitation did not emerge to allow both long-runs and qualifying simulations on softs to continue unfettered. Verstappen set the early benchmarks on mediums but, on the soft tyre, the McLarens vaulted to the top. Piastri shattered the new benchmark set by Carlos Sainz on the soft tyres, going top with a 1m42.475s, and Verstappen could only manage a time 0.002s shy of the Australian.
Norris then put himself on top of the timesheets with a 1m42.260s, also on softs, to ensure McLaren locked out the top two spots at the close of FP2. A three-and-a-half tenth gap between the top three and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hinted at a gap between the top three contenders and the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes – although fuel loads remain unknown at this juncture.
The improved competitiveness at the front of the field suggests that…
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