FP2: Ferrari stays on top as Leclerc leads Vettel

  • Published on 30 Aug 2019 16:30
  • 5
  • By: Fergal Walsh

Charles Leclerc has ended the second practice session from the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps on top of the timesheets ahead of Sebastian Vettel, completing a clean sweep of one-two finishes on Friday for Ferrari. 

Leclerc's lap time was a 1:44.123, which was six-tenths faster than the lap Vettel managed to set. 

Mercedes was third and fourth, with the newly contracted Valtteri Bottas beating his five-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton to third place.

Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull, but reported power issues throughout the session. Verstappen was behind Sergio Perez, who managed to go into fifth place.

However, Perez's encouraging session came to an end with a smoking RP19, as he was forced to jump out of his car towards the end, with flames spluttering from the rear of his car.

Despite the disappointing end, Racing Point can take encouragement from its pace as Perez was one second down on Leclerc over the course of the 7.004km circuit. 

Kimi Raikkonen was seventh, with there being no apparent danger of his missing the rest of the weekend, despite a muscle scare during the summer break.

Lance Stroll was eighth, but found himself in an uncomfortable situation towards the end of the session, as he reported that he was feeling a burning sensation on his back.

Daniel Ricciardo was ninth while Alexander Albon rounded out the top ten in his first FP2 session for Red Bull.

Albon's session was mainly concentrated on finding a race set-up, as he will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid due to engine penalties. 

Spa-Francorchamps - 30 August 2019

Replies (5)

Login to reply
  • abhidbgt

    Posts: 283

    Ferrari's race pace as awful.

    • + 0
    • Aug 30 2019 - 17:32
    • Kean

      Posts: 692

      And Perez's race pace was awesome, could be an interesting Sunday

      • + 0
      • Aug 30 2019 - 21:33
    • abhidbgt

      Posts: 283

      Yes, I was pleasantly surprised by his pace before that engine problem.

      • + 0
      • Aug 31 2019 - 01:09
  • Embarrassing how Nicholas Latifi came in FP1 and was faster than Robert Kubica. I love Kubica and really wanted him to do well. But he clearly isn't up to par. He's nowhere near that worst drivers on the grid. Although I think Williams deserves the worst drivers on the grid, it's a shame that they don't have a better pairing to help push the car forward. Russell is a great talent, but he has no experience developing a car. Williams needs a veteran. Maybe they end up snagging Grosjean who will likely be a bargain after this year

    • + 1
    • Aug 30 2019 - 20:42
    • Kean

      Posts: 692

      I've been thinking along the same lines. Clearly they can't keep Kubica, but going for a well funded rookie like Latifi won't help them develop the car, sure they'll get money, but they'll just tread water. Russell, a great talent, but they need someone with experience to help develop the car. But who, someone who'll get dropped this year, like Grosjean. Or someone who got dropped last year?

      • + 0
      • Aug 30 2019 - 21:31

Related news