BELGIAN GP – Lando Norris leads a McLaren one-two going two-tenths faster than Oscar Piastri in second practice
Lando Norris was fastest in second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver set a 42.260 to put him two-tenths faster than his teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris set his fastest time with twenty minutes to go putting himself ahead of his teammate with his biggest rival Max Verstappen third two thousandths behind Piastri.
McLaren go into this weekend following the row about team orders in Budapest on Sunday, Verstappen who is Norris’s main rival for the championship will take a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his allocated number of power units for the season. Piastri was unable to challenge his teammates’ time after going slightly wide on the entry to Les Combes.
In recent races, the team has emerged as the benchmark with Verstappen’s penalty will be the favourite for victories. Verstappen’s penalty gives Norris and McLaren a huge opportunity to go into the summer break closing the seventy-six-point lead in the drivers and fifty-one-point lead in the constructors championship.
The Red Bull driver had dominated the first session but couldn’t retain the top spot, as Norris edged further ahead during his qualifying runs. While the running was dry which gives Red Bull the edge the unpredictable weather in the Ardennes is set to move in overnight for qualifying.
All eyes will be on whether Norris or Piastri can make the most of McLaren’s pace to earn his second win of the season and go into the four-week summer break with the perfect result.
Spa always carries jeopardy the hundred-year-old high-speed and downforce circuit has its own microclimate, with wet weather unlikely to affect the whole circuit. But its expected McLaren be the favourites this weekend but Verstappen is always one to watch in mixed conditions while Norris can also be a driver to watch.
Norris said, “I’ve just not felt very comfortable today with the car, so hopefully I’ll just wake up tomorrow and feel a bit more comfortable with it. We did try and improve a few things but I don’t know, we looked good on the timesheets but I did not feel super-comfortable with going out and doing it.”
Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari fourth, the Monacan was three-tenths behind Verstappen and more than half a second behind Norris’s session-topping time. He was ahead of his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz by a quarter of a second after pushing him down the order, with the Mercedes of George Russell sixth.
Mercedes has brought a huge upgrade for this weekend, including a reprofiled diffuser and floor edge, Russell was a second off the outright pace while Lewis Hamilton could only go tenths fastest over a second off. Esteban Ocon put his Alpine seventh eight hundredths faster than Kevin Magnussen.
The Frenchman earlier in the day didn’t set a time in FP1 after a suspected water leak, was seventh fastest. Magnussen was nearly two-hundredths faster than Sergio Perez with Lewis Hamilton completing the top ten, as both Aston Martins missed out on the top ten.
There is more upheaval for Alpine who have announced Bruno Famin will move away from his role as team principal by the end of August. The Frenchman took up the position at the start of the season, after an interim period in charge following the departure of former boss Otmar Szafnauer during last year’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Lance Stroll missing out by just over a hundredth as he went just over a hundredth faster than his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso. Valtteri Bottas put his Sauber thirteenth going nearly a tenth and a half faster than Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg.
Alex Albon put his Williams seventeenth going three-tenths faster than his teammate Logan Sargeant. Guanyu Zhou was nineteenth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda was last. however, the RB driver has a sixty-place grid penalty after the team and Honda changed a host of engine components on the Japanese driver’s car, including a fifth ICE and turbocharger.