Belgian GP: McLaren strike back against Max Verstappen as Sergio Perez struggles

Lando Norris in the McLaren MCL38.

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. Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez meanwhile was 1.2 seconds off the pace.

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.

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.

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.

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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 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 woes 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

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