Kimi Antonelli finished fastest in Free Practice 2 ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver heading McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Antonelli, who leads the Drivers’ standings by 25 points heading into this weekend, occupied top spot for much of the session, which was red-flagged twice due to gravel on track and a late crash for Pierre Gasly.
Despite rain showers hitting the Spa-Francorchamps circuit between Friday’s two one-hour sessions, FP2 was held on a completely dry track and in sunny conditions.
It meant the majority of the grid headed out immediately once the pit lane opened at 1700 local time, although Oscar Piastri was delayed by 20 minutes as his McLaren was being rebuilt in the garage due to a hydraulic leak.
Drivers utilised Pirelli’s medium tyre initially, with Antonelli posting a 1m 46.911s on his first effort, which was immediately quicker than Verstappen’s session-best from FP1.
It left the Mercedes driver just 0.011s clear of Isack Hadjar, with Verstappen 0.031s in arrears from Charles Leclerc, Norris and George Russell, as Lewis Hamilton ran deep at the final chicane and was P9.
Russell’s second effort failed to move him up the order and still left the Briton more than one second slower than his Mercedes team mate, while a slow final sector after dipping a wheel in the gravel at Turn 14 prevented Verstappen from vaulting to the top of the times.
The moment dragged gravel onto the circuit, with a red flag briefly deployed to clear the track surface approaching the 15-minute mark.
Hadjar became the first driver to use the soft tyre once running resumed, the Red Bull man posting a 1m 46.714s which left him only two-tenths faster than his previous effort.
The benchmark was soon lowered further, with Verstappen and then Antonelli improving as the latter became the first driver to dip below the 1m 46s barrier – setting a 1m 45.944s.
The two Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc sandwiched Hadjar with their first runs on the red-walled Pirelli tyre, with Russell and Norris waiting until just before the halfway point before conducting a Qualifying simulation.
Russell only improved to P7 and 1.2 seconds slower than Antonelli, stating over the radio that “the rears felt too cold, but not 1.2s cold.”
Moments later, Norris vaulted into second and two tenths off top spot, with Franco Colapinto jumping up to P6 during a flurry of track activity as drivers and teams began to switch focus on long runs and race simulations.
A second red flag was deployed in the final 15 minutes as Gasly suffered a big off on the exit of Turn 13, the Frenchman bringing his Alpine to a stop with heavy rear damage.
Despite the session resuming with two minutes remaining, there were no further improvements, meaning Antonelli headed Norris and Verstappen at the chequered flag, with the top six completed by Hamilton, Hadjar and Piastri.
Alpine’s Colapinto remained ahead of Russell, as the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completed the top 10.
Leclerc was P11, ahead of Ollie Bearman (Haas), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), the second Haas of Esteban Ocon and the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.
The classification was completed by Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) in P17, Gasly, the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, with the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso completing the order but more than five seconds adrift.
