McLaren fastest in FP2 as Verstappen takes grid penalty

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri showed the pace of the McLaren by securing a one-two in second practice at the Belgian Grand Prix – with Max Verstappen set for a 10-place grid drop for Sunday’s race.

A week on from the intra-team row in Hungary, Norris was the quicker of the two drivers by 0.215 seconds, with reigning world champion Verstappen in third place – all on the soft C4 tyre.

Red Bull’s Verstappen has taken his fifth internal combustion engine (ICE) at Spa-Francorchamps – exceeding his allocated number of power units for the season.

The two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth respectively, but the gap to Norris was more than half a second for Leclerc and 0.838secs for Sainz.

George Russell ended his hour in sixth place while Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 10th. The Silver Arrows have brought further upgrades for this weekend’s race but during the opening session, both drivers complained of balance issues with the car.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who only managed one lap in first practice because of a suspected water leak, was seventh fastest, with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez eighth and ninth respectively.

After topping second practice, Norris – who is 76 points behind leader Verstappen in the drivers’ championship after finishing second to Piastri at the Hungarian Grand Prix – said he still needs to find “rhythm” with his car.

“I’ve just not felt very comfortable today with the car, so hopefully I’ll just wake up tomorrow and feel a bit more comfortable with it,” said the 24-year-old Briton.

“We did try and improve a few things but I don’t know, we looked good on the timesheets but I did not feel super-comfortable with going out and doing it.”

Norris said McLaren had a “prepared well and had a good set-up on the car”, but added: “Just from my side, [in terms of] feeling like I could just go out and nail it, I’m not quite there just yet.”

Friday’s track action was run in dry conditions but the weather forecast predicts rain could visit the 7km circuit for Saturday’s qualifying session, which starts at 15:00 BST.

Verstappen faces a challenge to claim his first win since the Spanish Grand Prix in June, such is the improvement by McLaren this season. Last year he won with ease from sixth on the grid, after dropping five places from pole position for using too many gearbox parts.

Yuki Tsunoda has also been hit with a grid penalty and will start at the back of the field for the 44-lap grand prix. RB have changed a host of engine components on the Japanese driver’s car, including a fifth ICE and turbocharger, which accumulates to an effective 60-place grid drop.

During the break between practice sessions, Alpine announced Bruno Famin will move away from his role as team principal by the end of August.

The Frenchman took up the position at the start of the season, after an interim period in charge following the departure of former boss Otmar Szafnauer during last year’s Belgian Grand Prix.

In a statement, Alpine said a new team principal “will be announced in due course”.