Lando Norris beat team-mate Oscar Piastri by two tenths of a second to give McLaren a 1-2 in second practice for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in third place, just 0.002 behind the second McLaren.
At the start of the second hour of practice, Verstappen quickly moved to the top of the timesheet, using the C3 Medium tyres to work his way to an early benchmark of 1:43.339. Norris, meanwhile, was in second place, on Soft tyres and two tenths off Verstappen on Softs tyres.
As the first quarter of the session elapsed the field headed back to the pits to prepare for qualifying simulations, which were kicked off by Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari driver duly took top spot from Verstappen with a time of 1:43.098, before Piastri moved well ahead of the Spaniard with a lap of 1:42.475.
Verstappen then emerged on the C4 Soft rubber but despite again looking quick, the championship leader couldn’t dislodge Piastri from P1 and the Red Bull driver slotted into second, just 0.002s behind the Australian.
Charles Leclerc then went almost three tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Sainz to put the Ferrari drivers fourth and fifth, before Norris at last reappeared on a new set of softs. The Briton put in purple times in the final two thirds of his lap to post a time of 1:42.260s that put him 0.215s clear of Piastri.
With the Ferraris four and fifth, George Russell took sixth for Mercedes, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen seventh and eighth respectively. Then came Sergio Pérez, with the Mexican 1.244s down on Norris and a full second off team-mate Verstappen. The top 10 order was rounded out by Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes.
Outside the top 10, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were 11th and 12th respectively for Aston Martin, with Valtteri Bottas 13th in an updated Sauber ahead of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo who had to return to the pit lane late in the session due to a suspected loose roll bar.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:42.260 19 246.571
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:42.475 0.215 23 246.054
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:42.477 0.217 26 246.049
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:42.837 0.577 23 245.188
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:43.098 0.838 25 244.567
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:43.290 1.030 24 244.112
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:43.401 1.141 23 243.850
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:43.485 1.225 21 243.652
9 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:43.504 1.244 24 243.607
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:43.519 1.259 25 243.572
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:43.532 1.272 21 243.542
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:43.538 1.278 24 243.527
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:43.675 1.415 24 243.206
14 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:43.823 1.563 21 242.859
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:43.829 1.569 24 242.845
16 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:43.846 1.586 21 242.805
17 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:43.892 1.632 23 242.698
18 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:44.226 1.966 24 241.920
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:44.302 2.042 23 241.744
20 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:44.348 2.088 24 241.637
