Second session mishaps mar Friday practice at Spa-Francorchamps.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium—Max Verstappen might have set the fastest time of the day in Friday’s practice for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix. Still, a last-minute accident at Malmedy corner, which occurred minutes from the end of the session, halted any other driver from improving their times.
Nevertheless, the Dutchman time of 1:42:472 was good enough to finish ahead of both Mercedes drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, who were second and third, respectively.
The afternoon was still wet from the morning rain, which plagued the opening morning session, but a gap in the weather by the time the second afternoon period began gave the drivers a chance to find dry spots on the circuit. To adjust, all drivers changed to slick tires.
All was very smooth until the last 15 minutes when Hungarian Grand Prix winner Esteban Ocon spun his Alpine at Fagnes but recovered to pit and repair his damaged tires. Only minutes later, Charles Leclerc took his Ferrari into the barriers at Les Combes, and that incident brought out the first of two red flag periods. The grid returned to the pits and came back onto the circuit again with only 10 minutes remaining. When Verstappen had his accident that closed out the session with seconds left.
In comparison, the first session was trouble-free. The only incident occurred when Kimi Raikkonen nearly struck his Alfa Romeo into the pit wall, which was the only wet part of the circuit.
Overall, the Alpines continue to improve with Fernando Alonso and Ocon finishing fourth and seventh, respectively.
Qualifying will be televised live, Saturday, 9a U.S. Eastern Time, on ESPN2.
