Max in P3 after first day at Spa: 'We tried quite a few things'

Published on 26 July 2024 by Misha van der Kroon

After being fastest in the first practice session, the second session went a little less smoothly for Max Verstappen. Lando Norris set the fastest time in his McLaren, followed by his teammate Oscar Piastri in P2. Both Ferraris completed the top five of FP2 at the circuit of Spa Francorchamps, with Charles Leclerc in P4 and Carlos Sainz in P5. Max’s teammate at Oracle Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez, finished the session in ninth place.

“We tried quite a few things,” Max says after the session. “You have sector one and sector three where you have the top speed, and then a very long middle sector where you want cornering speed. So it is very tricky to find the right balance.”

Max continues: “We have the data and will analyse it. I think we started quite positive today. The second practice was maybe not as good as we wanted, so we have a few things to look at, especially with all the changes that we made.”

Looking forward to the rest of the weekend, Max comments: “We have to start a few places back because of the penalty for the engine, and therefore we still have to optimise some things.”  

When the lights at the end of the pitlane go green, Max immediately heads to the track. Pierre Gasly, Guanyu Zhou and Daniel Ricciardo follow him. Max heads out on a set of medium tyres, a compound he had not used in FP1.

The Dutchman immediately puts his RB20 on P1, and a little later Perez takes P2 with a time that is seven-tenths of a second slower than his teammate. Shortly after, both McLarens take P2 and P3. They do so on the soft tyres, Lando Norris being the fastest of the papaya duo. Lewis Hamilton claims P4.

After a short visit to the pits, Max quickly returns to the track. On a set of mediums, which he used earlier in the session, he manages to improve his own time and create a bigger gap to the rest of the field. Max then returns to the pits again. Approximately twenty minutes into the session it gets quiet on the track as most drivers are in the pits. Only Russell, Sainz and Gasly stay out.

That does not last long, because Max goes out on track shortly after. In the meantime, Sainz, on a set of soft tyres, has taken over P1 from Max. Not long after, Piastri takes over P1 from Sainz. Max is two-thousandths short of reclaiming P1 and has to settle for P2.

Halfway through the session, Norris climbs to P1 while Verstappen and Piastri are in the pits. A few minutes later, both men return to the track on the same set of mediums on which they started FP2. During FP1, Max drove a long run on a set of hard and a used set of soft tyres, and now it is time to for a long run on the mediums to collect more data.

In the final phase of the session, all teams are busy with race simulations for the race on Sunday. Max switches to a used set of softs in the final minutes. However, none of the times are improved, and the first day at the circuit of Spa Francorchamps comes to an end.

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Results second free practice Belgium: