Brendan Lines 29th Aug, 2020 10:00am
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen threw down the gauntlet to Mercedes topping the charts in FP2 just +0.048s ahead of a surprising P2 for Renault’s Daniel Riccardo, Lewis Hamilton was fastest of the Mercedes in P3 +0.096 off Verstappen’s time.
Rain swept across the surrounding Ardennes Forest during the F2 support race Friday session, F1 cars took their time in FP2 waiting for the track to dry.
“Personally, I think Mercedes are still struggling a bit with the balance and I expect them to be stronger tomorrow. You can see already that they are very competitive on the long runs and I don’t think I will be fighting them for pole because we can’t really follow when they turn it up in qualifying,” Verstappen said after FP2.
“If we can at least be a bit closer that would be good ahead of the race. It was important to get some decent dry running today, even if the conditions change over the weekend, so we can find a good baseline. It’s never easy around Spa to find the perfect downforce level and you can see everyone trying different things, but I think we are in a reasonable place and we will find out tomorrow exactly where that puts us.”
Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo’s P2 is an improvement on his run of P3’s in practice from previous weekends in Silverstone, but the Aussies FP2 performance was soured by a loss of hydraulic pressure parking his R.S.2O on the Kemmel Straight.
“It was another good FP2 as has been the case for us at the last few rounds. We have to do it tomorrow, though, as that’s when it counts. Today was strong, even with the issue at the end. For safety, we pulled the car over as there’s no point taking risks with mechanical issues on Fridays,”Ricciardo said.
“Our low fuel run was a good one. During the lap, I knew it felt good and sometimes you just know when the car’s working. I knew it was competitive and I wasn’t that surprised it was up there on the timesheets. It was a good day and we certainly understood a lot from it.”
Lewis Hamilton’s P3 came off the back of mixed runs on the Hard and Soft tyres, a slight wobble at the Bus stop chicane on his push lap cost the Brit, while teammate Valtteri Bottas put aside his birthday celebrations dropping from P1 in the morning session to P6 for FP2.
Alex Albon couldn’t quite keep up with his teammate Verstappen, but Albon’s P4 was an improvement from FP1 and his RB16 baseline setup is looking very suited to the Spa-Francochamps circuit.
Sergio Perez was the fastest of the Racing Point cars in P5, with just one car in the top ten for FP2, but Racing Point say they are finding new areas of improvement that will see Lance Stroll back in the fight come FP3 over one lap pace.
Lando Norris lead the McLaren’s after a power unit problem forced him to wind down his engine power to ‘Scenario 1’ under the teams instructions, his lap of 1:44.168 was enough for P7 some three tenths ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in P9.
Esteban Ocon couldn’t match Ricciaro’s pace settling for P8, while Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten for Alpha Tauri challeging for his fourth consecutive Q3 appearance in as many weeks.
Full FP2 Results:
| Pos | Driver | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:43.744 | 21 | ||
| 2 | 1:43.792 | +0.048s | 12 | |
| 3 | 1:43.840 | +0.096s | 23 | |
| 4 | 1:44.134 | +0.390s | 21 | |
| 5 | 1:44.137 | +0.393s | 23 | |
| 6 | 1:44.162 | +0.418s | 27 | |
| 7 | 1:44.168 | +0.424s | 22 | |
| 8 | 1:44.208 | +0.464s | 23 | |
| 9 | 1:44.474 | +0.730s | 23 | |
| 10 | 1:44.600 | +0.856s | 27 | |
| 11 | 1:44.678 | +0.934s | 23 | |
| 12 | 1:44.826 | +1.082s | 26 | |
| 13 | 1:44.861 | +1.117s | 29 | |
| 14 | 1:44.896 | +1.152s | 23 | |
| 15 | 1:45.440 | +1.696s | 19 | |
| 16 | 1:45.463 | +1.719s | 25 | |
| 17 | 1:45.683 | +1.939s | 21 | |
| 18 | 1:45.774 | +2.030s | 26 | |
| 19 | 1:45.834 | +2.090s | 12 | |
| 20 | 1:46.242 | +2.498s | 12 |
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