Spa-Francorchamps, 27 August 2021: Max Verstappen set the pace in the second practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, narrowly beating Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton by less than a hundredth of a second, but the Red Bull driver’s session ended in disappointment when he crashed out in the final moments of the session at Spa-Francorchamps in the Round 12 of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Friday.

Verstappen lost the back end of his RB16B as he went into the Les Combes sequence at the end of the long Kemmel straight and he spun into the barriers on the left side of the circuit, causing substantial damage to the rear right of his Red Bull.

As with the morning session, the afternoon running got off to a slow start as drivers gingerly tested the damp conditions. Once the conditions proved suitable for dry tyres, McLaren’s Lando Norris got running properly underway with a lap of 1:48.219 on hard tyres. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi then took turns at the top as the track improved before Bottas then took a significant step forward with a lap of 1:44.513 on medium tyres.

Verstappen then took P2 before Hamilton went just 0.031 slower than his teammate to establish a Mercedes one-two.

The Mercedes pair were then among the first to make the switch to soft tyres though neither was able to improve on the red-banded Pirelli rubber. Verstappen, however, did make gains and he claimed top spot with a lap of 1:44.472, 0.041 ahead of Bottas.

However, his good work was then undone in the final moments when he lost the rear end of his car in Les Combes.

At the flag, Fernando Alonso set the fourth fastest time for Alpine, ahead of AlhaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Ocon finished in seventh ahead of the seodnde Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Pérez, newly confirmed for another year at Red Bull Racing, completed the top 10 order.2021 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:44.472 12 241.3502 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:44.513 0.041 14 241.2563 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:44.544 0.072 13 241.1844 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:44.953 0.481 15 240.2445 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:44.965 0.493 17 240.2176 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:45.180 0.708 14 239.7267 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:45.302 0.830 15 239.4488 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:45.336 0.864 16 239.3719 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:45.386 0.914 18 239.25710 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:45.404 0.932 13 239.21611 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:45.517 1.045 14 238.96012 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:45.758 1.286 17 238.41613 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:45.789 1.317 16 238.34614 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:45.967 1.495 18 237.94515 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:46.118 1.646 14 237.60716 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:46.198 1.726 17 237.42817 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:46.665 2.193 14 236.38818 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:46.836 2.364 13 236.01019 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:47.335 2.863 14 234.91320 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:47.529 3.057 15 234.489