F1 2022 results: Belgian GP – Second Practice session
Max Verstappen takes Eau Rouge in his Red Bull during FP2 for the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa-Francorchamps August 2022.
World Championship rivals Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc are facing grid penalties for the Belgian Grand Prix, but topped the timesheet for FP2 at Spa-Francorchamps.
Six drivers are set to fill the back three rows of the grid for Sunday’s first race after the summer break, round 14 of the season, for exceeding the number of permitted power-unit parts for the campaign.
Verstappen, 80 points clear of Leclerc in the title race, was 0.862sec faster in his Red Bull than second-placed Leclerc, with Lando Norris, another member of the grid penalty sextet, in third.
As FP2 began, Carlos Sainz immediately got on the team radio after venturing out to say the circuit was “a bit more damp than expected” following earlier rain, and later admitted to have done a bit of “rallying” – taking after his father – as he had a brush with one of the Spa gravel traps.
But the Spaniard, who was fastest in FP1, was again still among the early pace-setters as Ferrari and Red Bull maintained the superb pace they have been showing all season.
The rain was continuing to threaten but held off until the last 20 minutes of the session, at which point several drivers started having anxious moments and off-track excursions, most notably Mick Schumacher in the Haas, who went through the gravel, and Fernando Alonso who skipped over a couple of ‘sausage’ kerbs in his Alpine.
Schumacher, with his car upgraded for the first time this season, was slowest of all by well over a second, despite completing eight more laps than Nicholas Latifi in the Williams who was 19th.
Verstappen, however, ended the session with a potential infringement hanging over him for a practice start he had executed at the end of the pit lane.
The full FP1 timesheet is below and you can read the full report here.
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:45.507
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.862
3 Lando Norris McLaren +1.082
4 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.128
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari + 1.142
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1.386
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1.468
8 George Russell Mercedes +1.535
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1.748
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull +1.839
11 Alex Albon Williams +2.013
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +2.110
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +2.151
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +2.275
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +2.360
16 Esteban Ocon Alpine +2.437
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas +2.701
18 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +2.912
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams +3.105
20 Mick Schumacher Haas +4.434
