Home F1 Belgian GP: Verstappen fastest in FP2 from Ricciardo, Hamilton

Belgian GP, Max Verstappen, F1 — SPA, BELGIUM - AUGUST 28: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB16 drives during practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on August 28, 2020 in Spa, Belgium. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202008280320 // Usage for editorial use only //

Belgian GP: Verstappen fastest in FP2 from Ricciardo, Hamilton

28/08/2020

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped FP2 of F1 Belgian GP from Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

The FP2 of F1 Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps started under cloudy conditions as well as Red Bull’s Verstappen (1m43.744s) headed the way from Renault’s Ricciardo and Mercedes’ Hamilton, where they were separated by a mere 0.096s.

Ricciardo with a 1m43.792s was just 0.048s behind Verstappen as Hamilton with a 1m43.840s was the last driver to be under the 1m43s barrier. The joy for the Australian ended early due to loss of hydraulic pressure as he caused a Virtual Safety Car period.

There was also a brief red flag period when advertising board at Turn 1 came off. Meanwhile, in a brighter show for Red Bull, Alexander Albon (1m44.134s) slotted in fourth with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m44.137s) in fifth.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas (1m4.162s) was only sixth as he had multiple off moments with McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m44.168s) seventh from Renault’s Esteban Ocon (1m44.208s), while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m44.474s) was ninth.

The Top 10 was rounded out by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m44.600s) as Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m44.678s) was outside in 11th after the Canadian set his best time on the medium tyres after he couldn’t set a clean run on the soft compound.

AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat (1m44.826s) was 12th with Alfa Romeo Racing pair Antonio Giovinazzi (1m44.861s) and Kimi Raikkonen (1m44.896s) in 13th and 14th respectively as the former was able to get good track time after missing FP1 of F1 Belgian GP.

The two Ferrari customer cars managed to beat the factory F1 outfit with Charles Leclerc (1m45.440s) in 15th from Williams’ George Russell (1m45.463s) in 16th, Sebastian Vettel 17th (1m45.683s) and Nicholas Latifi 18th (1m45.774s).

The straights at Spa-Francorchamps cost Ferrari a lot of times as they tried to run different set-up to gain time. Their other customer team, Haas, managed to get both cars out after changing engines as Romain Grosjean (1m45.834s) was 19th and Kevin Magnussen (1m46.242s) 20th.

Here’s how FP1 of F1 Belgian GP panned