BELGIAN GP: MCLAREN STRIKE BACK AGAINST MAX VERSTAPPEN AS DANIEL RICCIARDO ENCOUNTERS ‘STRANGE’ ISSUE

McLaren issued the perfect response to Max Verstappen by securing a one-two finish in the second Belgian GP practice session.

Verstappen, who takes a 10-place grid drop at Spa after taking a new internal combustion engine, completed the top three two-tenths off Lando Norris, who topped FP2 from McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri. Daniel Ricciardo’s session meanwhile ended slightly early after reporting a “strange” issue with his “wobbly” VCARB.

McLaren on form in Belgian GP FP2 one-two

Just like for FP1, the forecasted rain was nowhere to be seen as the light went green to get FP2 underway.

And after dominating the opening hour of practice, Verstappen picked up where he left off at the start of FP2, setting a marker of a 1:43.456 on the mediums to go P1 on the early leaderboard.

Lando Norris, running the softs, slotted into P2 a tenth behind, with Mercedes’ George Russell on mediums completing the early top three.

Verstappen would soon unlock another tenth and then headed back to the pits with a quarter of the session gone. Norris looked for a swift response on his softs, but could not improve despite a personal best final sector.

Sergio Perez, perfectly positioned in his Red Bull at the bottom of Eau Rouge as Norris shot by, reported back a lot of “grounding” for the McLaren driver.

Catch-up on the key headlines from Spa

👉 Huge Renault F1 2026 engine update as Alpine team boss confirms withdrawal

👉 Significant Sergio Perez development emerges with two drivers in Red Bull contention

Now Carlos Sainz had red-walled softs on his Ferrari and quickly put them to use, shooting up to P1 on a 1:43.098, the pace starting to ramp up as the session approached its halfway mark, as Hunagrian GP winner Oscar Piastri soon demonstrated by going six-tenths clear in the McLaren. But, having “turned into a skateboarder at Turn 7”, Piastri was asking McLaren to check the data for any signs of floor damage.

All eyes were on Verstappen now as he delivered his first push lap on the softs. He fell just 0.002s short of Piastri. Perez was a full second down on Verstappen in the sister Red Bull.

No such issues for Norris though, who used the softs to take over P1, his 1:42.260 taking him two-tenths clear of Piastri to form a McLaren one-two, as Piastri moved over to the mediums to begin his race simulation, that including dipping a wheel in the gravel at Turn 11 which thankfully carried no consequences.

Piastri’s switch of focus proved the signal for a wider migration to race runs across the grid, with a few gremlins creeping in as Verstappen complained of clipping down the main straight, while Daniel Ricciardo reported a “strange” feeling in his VCARB. “The car feels wobbly, like I’ve got a broken roll bar.”

The team confirmed “we can see the problem” and called him back to the pits to end his session.

No such dramas for McLaren, who ended FP2 sitting pretty at the top with Norris P1 and Piastri P2, Verstappen completing that top three.

FP2 times

1 Lando NORRIS McLaren 1:42.260

2 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +0.215

3 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +0.217

4 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.577

5 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +0.838

6 George RUSSELL Mercedes +1.030

7 Esteban OCON Alpine +1.141

8 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +1.225

9 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +1.244

10 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +1.259

11 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +1.272

12 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +1.278

13 Valtteri BOTTAS Kick Sauber +1.415

14 Daniel RICCIARDO RB +1.563

15 Pierre GASLY Alpine +1.569

16 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team +1.586

17 Alexander ALBON Williams +1.632

18 Logan SARGEANT Williams +1.966

19 Guanyu ZHOU Kick Sauber +2.042

20 Yuki TSUNODA RB +2.088

2024-07-26T16:41:19Z dg43tfdfdgfd