Max Verstappen fastest in Belgian GP Practice 2 before crashing out

MAX VERSTAPPEN finished Practice 2 with the fastest time, but then crashed out, as did Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc

Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, got the better of Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton in Friday’s second practice at the famous Spa-Francorchamps race circuit, where the Belgian GP will take place this Sunday, August 29, clocking up the fastest time of the session before losing control of the back end of his car, and sending it into the barriers as he was taking the Turn 7, Malmedy corner, which brought the red flag out and ended the session.

It remains to be seen, but the car appeared to sustain damage to the right-rear suspension, as the Dutchman said after, “I just lost the rear, bit too much oversteer to correct and I hit the wall. Before that, we were very happy a very positive start”.

This is Formula One’s return after the summer break, and Verstappen will be hoping that he can make up the eight-point deficit that he currently has to Britain’s world champion, Lewis Hamilton, in the driver’s championship, and it will be interesting to see how their rivalry plays out after having had a few weeks in which to reflect on their apparent bad blood after the incident that saw the Dutchman taken off the Silverstone circuit by Hamilton.

The Spa circuit is a challenging one, located in the heart of the Ardennes forest, where the second session was not affected by the light rain so much, but Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc found out the perils as he crashed out at Les Combes, with Verstappen looking to be in full control of the pace as he notched up a fast-lap of 1:44.472, putting him just one-tenth of a second clear of the two Mercedes drivers, but still, fastest is fastest!

Spain’s Fernando Alonso came a very credible fourth in the Alpine – in the same week that he signed a new deal to stay with the team next season – putting him in front of Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri, and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, as reported by skysports.com.

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