Spa, FP2: Verstappen quickest in second practice at Spa-Francorchamps

Max Verstappen topped the timesheet in the second practice session for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, beating title rival Charles Leclerc by almost nine tenths of a second at Spa-Francorchamps.

In the early phases of the session, run predominantly on medium tyres, Verstappen led the way with a lap of 1:46.850, which put him 0.540s ahead of nearest rival Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.

The Spanish driver then made the switch to soft tyres as the halfway mark arrived and he jumped to the top of the leaderboard, but Verstappen was not far behind on track and when the championship-leading Red Bull Racing driver crossed the line it was in a time of 1:45.507.

Leclerc couldn’t get near that time and the Monegasque driver ended the session in second place, a sizable 0.862s behind the Dutchman.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll briefly held third ahead of Sainz thanks to a run of 1:46.635, but the Canadian was pipped to that place by Lando Norris who lapped just under five hundredths of a second quicker to claim P3 in a heavily updated McLaren.

Behind the top three Stroll clung on to fourth place ahead of Sainz, while Marcedes’ Lewis Hamilton who stopped the clock at 1:46.893.

Fernando Alonso finished in seventh place for Alpine with a lap of 1:46.975 and George Russell steered the second Mercedes to eight, a little under seven hundredths of a second off the Spanish driver. Daniel Ricciardo, who this week revealed that he will part ways with McLaren at the end of the season finishing in ninth place, 1.748s off Verstappen but just under a tenth of a second clear of the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez.