Belgian Grand Prix: Leclerc leads Vettel as Ferrari reign in Spa: Belgian GP FP2 Results

Belgian Grand Prix

Leclerc leads Vettel as Ferrari reign in Spa: Belgian GP FP2 Results

The Scuderia back with a bang after summer break.

Martin Macdonald

Friday 30 August 2019 16:25 Updated: 17:01

Ferrari appear to have benefited from the rest and recuperation of the summer break as Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel finished as the two quickest drivers in the second practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix.

It was the same situation in FP1, too, but in the afternoon session they swapped places as Leclerc finished just over six-tenths of a second faster than Vettel, making up a huge amount of ground from the morning.

Before the weekend, Mercedes speculated that the track at Spa would suit the speed of Ferrari due to the long straights, and they turned out to be correct. Focusing on the Silver Arrows, both Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton bettered their FP1 result to finish third and fourth, just under a second adrift of Leclerc.

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Racing Point had two drivers in the top 10 in FP1 and their good performance continued in the afternoon as Sergio Perez was fifth-fastest, with Stroll in eighth. However, both drivers suffered from smoke billowing from their cars with time ticking down, with the Mexican's car subsequently causing the practice to be completely stopped due to its position on the track.

There were upgrades aplenty as Alexander Albon, Daniil Kvyat, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, and Nico Hulkenberg ran with new components - with all six drivers set to face a grid penalty on Sunday.

Max Verstappen, running on an old-spec Red Bull engine, was sixth, while his new team-mate Albon finished 10th after being fourth in FP1.

Belgian GP FP2 results

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:44.123
2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:44.753
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 1:44.969
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:45.015
5. Sergio Perez (Racing Point) 1:45.117
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:45.394
7. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) 1:45.708
8. Lance Stroll (Racing Point) 1:45.732
9. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) 1:45.735
10. Alexander Albon (Red Bull) 1:45.771
11. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) 1:45.999
12. Romain Grosjean (Haas) 1:46.120
13. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) 1:46.209
14. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1:46.214
15. Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:46.258
16. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 1:46.328
17. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) 1:46.374
18. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 1:46.399
19. George Russell (Williams) 1:47.887
20. Robert Kubica (William) 1:48.331