(Motorsport-Total.com) – After Mercedes was not found far ahead in the first session, the Silver Arrows turned the tables in the second practice in Spa-Francorchamps (follow Formula 1 2026 live in the ticker) in the afternoon and took the best time.
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In a session interrupted by two red flags, World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli set a time of 1:45.944 minutes, just under two tenths of a second faster than Lando Norris, who took second place in the McLaren.
Only behind them came the two fastest from the first session: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was already just under half a second behind in third, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) was seven and a half tenths behind, which was still enough for fourth place.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc was found only in eleventh place with a 1.5 second deficit, while Oscar Piastri, after his hydraulic failure in the first session, only managed eleven laps and finished sixth behind Isack Hadjar (Red Bull).
George Russell (8th) was even 1.3 seconds behind his teammate, so he ended up behind Franco Colapinto (7th/Alpine). As often, the two Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson occupied the last two top-10 positions.
Nico Hülkenberg was only 17th in his Audi with a 2.4 second deficit. The big worry again was the Aston Martins, who were more than five seconds behind the top – 1.5 seconds behind Cadillac.
The session had to be interrupted by two red flags: first the track had to be cleaned of gravel that Max Verstappen had stirred up, later there was an accident involving Pierre Gasly.
The most important points in brief:
Result: 2nd Free Practice in Spa-Francorchamps
Photos: Belgian Grand Prix 2026
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Why was there the first red flag?
After twelve minutes, the activity was suddenly stopped. However, a stationary or crashed car was not the reason; instead, the track had to be cleared of gravel.
The (co-)culprit: Max Verstappen. The Dutchman had gone a bit wide in turn 14 on a fast lap and had shoveled a lot of stones onto the asphalt, which first had to be removed.
After a short break of about five minutes, it could continue normally.
Why was there the second red flag?
A quarter of an hour before the end, there was the first major crash of the weekend. Pierre Gasly suddenly rolled over the track without a rear wing and with a bent right rear wheel and parked his Alpine A526 between turns 14 and 15.
The Frenchman had gotten into the gravel at the exit of turn 13 and was pulled out. Before that, he had to countersteer briefly, which caused him to run out of space on the track. Gasly touched the track boundary with the right rear side of the car and then spun again. Fortunately, he was uninjured.
“I just lost it out of nowhere,” Gasly radioed to his team. “I must have lost the rear.”
“We just have to work through it and understand what happened in the second practice,” he explained after the session. “The car broke out strongly, and it just took much longer to catch the car again. When I had it back under control, I was already off the track and couldn’t get back on.”
“That was not the end of the day we wanted, but yes, I’m sure the guys will get the car ready again for tomorrow, and we will focus on getting into the top 10 tomorrow,” said Gasly.
What do the long runs say?
Due to the red flag in the final phase, the long runs in Belgium were quite short this time. Mercedes and Red Bull had been able to complete the most laps among the top teams before that. Antonelli was the fastest of the leading drivers with an average of 1:51.5 minutes, followed by Verstappen, who was three tenths slower at 1:51.8 minutes.
Russell was another tenth behind Verstappen, while Hadjar lagged quite a bit behind in this regard – although different stint lengths were driven. Mercedes also stood out again due to better tire wear compared to Red Bull.
At Ferrari, the first lap looked quite good, but their long run can hardly be evaluated due to the missing distance. So there are still some question marks to clarify before Saturday and Sunday.
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What was going on with Max Verstappen?
The Dutchman complained during the session about the gear shifts in his RB22. “My goodness, these damn gear shifts,” he grumbled on the radio. “Unbelievable, man. Why are they so bad? That’s unacceptable.”
However, the tensions seemed to have calmed quickly after the session: “I always react very sensitively to such things because I want to work on it and improve it,” he said when asked about the problems.
“I think there was a software update or downgrade, which meant it took a little while for the gear shifts to be learned, and in the end, it got a bit better again.”
In general, he had no problems with the car: “The car was in a pretty good window. In the second free practice, you probably see a bit more of the actual gap, but that’s nothing shocking or unexpected,” said the four-time world champion. “The balance was quite okay.”
Why was the gap between Antonelli and Russell so big?
In the end, it was just under 1.3 seconds between Kimi Antonelli and his teammate George Russell, who finished the day only in eighth place. Mercedes’ chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin tries to explain where the big difference came from.
“It wasn’t a great lap from George, but it was only a single lap,” he says. If that doesn’t go well, it immediately looks like you’re off the pace. But he felt the tires weren’t ready at the start of the lap, which caused a small time loss.”
“There are a few corners where he probably underestimated the grip level a bit, but given the first practice we had, that’s no big surprise. There are a few things he needs to work on, but we can see a lot in the data set that we need to work towards, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be fully there tomorrow.”
How does McLaren rate its rear wing update?
McLaren is using a new rear wing in Spa, which is a preview of the package to be used next weekend in Hungary. This is not the Macarena wing they wanted to try in Austria before postponing the experiment indefinitely.
In the second practice, the wing was fitted on both cars after different variants were used in the first practice. The conclusion: “We were satisfied that it delivered the performance we expected, and we adopted it for the second practice and, of course, for the upcoming sessions,” says engineering technical director Neil Houldey.
“So we are quite happy with this upgrade. They are small things, but of course every detail counts.”
What does Nico Hülkenberg say after 17th place?
Nico Hülkenberg had nothing to do with the top ranks on Friday. The Audi driver was only 17th with a 2.4 second deficit and was four tenths behind teammate Gabriel Bortoleto. “The top 10 are maybe a bit further away than in previous times,” the German admits.
Nevertheless, he speaks of an interesting day in Spa: “We tried different things with the cars and split the sessions quite a bit. I think there are some interesting lessons we have to draw overnight – process everything and then put together the best possible package and car for tomorrow.”
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“I think it will probably be a bit more difficult here this weekend,” he says, “but let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Hülkenberg also got into trouble because he was too fast under double yellow flags in the first session. Hülkenberg did not slow down enough behind the coasting Piastri, which earned him a warning from the stewards.
What’s next at the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix
Formula 1 Saturday (July 18) in Spa-Francorchamps begins at 12:30 with the third and final free practice. At 4 p.m., qualifying for the race on Sunday follows. Kevin Scheuren and Stefan Ehlen will report from 9 p.m. in the livestream on the Formel1.de YouTube channel and discuss all important topics about qualifying.
On Sunday (July 19), the race start in Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled for 3 p.m. At 8 p.m., Kevin Scheuren and Stefan Ehlen will start their Grand Prix analysis to be finished just in time before the start of the World Championship final between Spain and Argentina. As always, channel members can ask their questions live.
All information about streams and TV broadcasts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland can be found in our current overview. Details about the weather forecast are available in our preview.
After Spa, the calendar continues immediately with the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend. Then follows the summer break with three race-free weekends in a row. (View the 2026 race calendar here!)
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