F1 News: Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in 2024 Belgian GP Practice 2

Regardless of the circuit, McLaren is the superior car in F1 right now. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were 1-2 in Practice 2 for the 2024 Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Norris turned a qualifying sim run of 1m42.260s, just 0.215s faster than Piastri and 0.217s faster than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who topped Practice 1.

Verstappen switched from a medium downforce setup in Practice 1 to a low downforce setup in Practice 2 to see which is the better setup for him to come through the field starting down in 11th or higher due to his 5th internal combustion engine change and the resulting 10-place grid penalty.

Verstappen continues to carry the inferior Red Bull on his back as his teammate Sergio Perez is a full second slower than Verstappen down in 9th.

3rd and 4th were the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., 0.577s and 0.838s behind Norris respectively.

George Russell rounded out the top-5 for Mercedes, 1.030s behind Norris and ahead of Haas-bound Esteban Ocon – who bounced back from missing most of FP1 with a suspected leak to finish a superb seventh for Alpine.

Kevin Magnussen was an impressive eighth for Haas with Lewis Hamilton – who has finished in the top-four in each of the last five Grands Prix – completing the top-10.

Advantage McLaren in the second practice session of the day, Norris running two sets of soft tires on his way to a 1m 42.260s. Piastri backed him up in second having run the mediums and softs, and Verstappen had to settle for third.

But tomorrow is set to be wet – and that could shake the order.

There is a third practice session to come before qualifying tomorrow, but both are forecast to be wet at the moment. That should spice things up no end, but will it mix up the order?

Norris and Verstappen are both brilliant in the wet, and the Mercedes duo won’t mind some wet stuff one bit.

2024 Belgian GP Practice 2 Results