Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was fastest in the second practice of the day showing that he is in real contention to battle the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team for the win this weekend. His team-mate Alexander Albon finished in fourth, showing signs of improvement for the young Thai driver.
The previous FIA Formula 3 qualifying was marred with rain however, that all cleared up before the session started. All teams will be running on a mixture of Pirelli’s C2, C3 and C4 compounds. The air temperature was 16 degrees C and track temperature 22 degrees C, making it a comfortable weather practice for the drivers.
Verstappen hit the top of the time sheets with a best time of 1:43.744, with the Dutchman completing twenty-one laps of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Friday afternoon. His team-mate Albon was less than four-tenths of a second down on Verstappen, and his time of 1:44.134 was good enough to place fourth.
Daniel Ricciardo continued his run of strong Free Practice two sessions. The Australian driver finished the practice in second, even though his car didn’t. His R.S 20 suffered loss of hydraulic pressure and stopped his car as a precaution. After the race, Renault DP World F1 Team said they don’t believe there is any damage to his engine after the incident.
Lewis Hamilton had a small lock up coming out of pits during the yellow flag for Ricciardo’s incident. He finished the practice in third while Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who had been quickest in the morning session, finished sixth.
BWT Racing Point Formula One Team had a mixed practice. Sergio Pérez continued to be in the mix of the Mercedes/Red Bull fight, finishing in fifth. However, Lance Stroll could only get eleventh fastest.
Lando Norris came into some difficulties early in the practice and had to come back into pits. After evaluation, his car had some calibration issues which was fixed by adjusting settings. He was able to continue and finished in seventh, while Esteban Ocon (Renault), Carlos Sainz Jr. (McLaren) and Pierre Gasly (Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda) finished the top ten in eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.
Scuderia Ferrari duo struggled and couldn’t break into the top ten. They were beaten by AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat in twelfth and the two Ferrari powered Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN‘s, with Antonio Giovanazzi and Kimi Räikkönen coming in at thirteenth and fourteenth. Ferrari could only manage Charles Leclerc in fifteenth and Sebastian Vettel seventeenth as the woes continued. Vettel was sandwiched between the two Williams Racing cars, with George Russell sixteenth and Nicholas Latifi eighteenth.
Haas F1 Team, who didn’t set a time in either cars in Free Practice 1 due to engine issues, managed to get both cars out in Free Practice 2 after having power units changed. Although, the practice deemed disappointing with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finishing nineteenth and twentieth respectively.
A red flag was briefly flown towards the end of the practice when a sponsor board came loose and flew onto the track just after the exit of the La Source hairpin. This was in the same area FIA Formula 2 driver Giuliano Alesi spun earlier in the day.
| Pos | NO | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:43.744 | 21 | |
| 2 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RENAULT | 1:43.792 | =+0.048s | 12 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:43.840 | =+0.096s | 23 |
| 4 | 23 | Alexander Albon | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:44.134 | =+0.390s | 21 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 1:44.137 | =+0.393s | 23 |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 1:44.162 | =+0.418s | 27 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:44.168 | =+0.424s | 22 |
| 8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | RENAULT | 1:44.208 | =+0.464s | 23 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:44.474 | =+0.730s | 23 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 1:44.600 | =+0.856s | 27 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 1:44.678 | =+0.934s | 23 |
| 12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 1:44.826 | =+1.082s | 26 |
| 13 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 1:44.861 | =+1.117s | 29 |
| 14 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 1:44.896 | =+1.152s | 23 |
| 15 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:45.440 | =+1.696s | 19 |
| 16 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:45.463 | =+1.719s | 25 |
| 17 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 1:45.683 | =+1.939s | 21 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 1:45.774 | =+2.030s | 26 |
| 19 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | HAAS FERRARI | 1:45.834 | =+2.090s | 12 |
| 20 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 1:46.242 | =+2.498s | 12 |
