Belgian GP: Antonelli puts Mercedes on top, Norris P2

Kimi Antonelli upped the pace in Friday’s second practice at Spa-Francorchamps, the young Mercedes driver topping a session interrupted twice by red flags.

The Italian produced a stunning lap of 1m45.944s on soft tyres, finishing 0.190 seconds clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris, while Max Verstappen completed the top three after another encouraging display from Red Bull.

On the other side of the Brackley squad’s garage, George Russell’s best effort left the Briton a lowly eight, 0.889s off the pace of his teammate, leaving work to do for the Briton.

• Belgian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Antonelli delivers the benchmark

The session got off to a stop-start beginning, with drivers initially heading out on medium tyres to evaluate overnight setup changes. Antonelli wasted little time asserting himself, posting a 1m46.911s to edge ahead of the Red Bulls and beat Verstappen’s fastest time from opening practice.

His early advantage was slim, however, with Isack Hadjar ending the opening exchanges just 0.011s adrift.

The first interruption arrived when gravel was scattered across the circuit at Stavelot, prompting a brief red flag while marshals cleaned the track.

Once the session resumed, attention turned to qualifying simulations.

Hadjar briefly climbed to the top with a 1m46.714s on soft tyres before Verstappen responded immediately, finding three tenths to clock a 1m46.416s and reclaim first place.

Antonelli, though, had the final say.

The Italian stitched together two purple opening sectors before stopping the clocks at 1m45.944s –almost half a second quicker than Verstappen at the time – and no one managed to improve on it for the remainder of the session.

Norris closes in as Ferrari shows mixed pace

Norris emerged as Antonelli’s closest challenger, falling just 0.190s short after a strong lap that showcased McLaren’s pace through Spa’s middle sector.

Verstappen ultimately retained third, while Lewis Hamilton slotted into fourth after his quickest lap was briefly removed from the timing screens before being correctly reinstated.

Hadjar finished fifth despite carrying a back-of-the-grid penalty into Sunday’s race, with Oscar Piastri sixth after missing the opening 20 minutes while McLaren completed repairs to the hydraulic issue that interrupted his FP1 running.

Franco Colapinto impressed in seventh, while George Russell endured a frustrating afternoon, ending the session only eighth and more than 1.2 seconds slower than teammate Antonelli.

Racing Bulls duo Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10, with Lindblad continuing to evaluate the team's revised roll-hoop intake.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was left down in 11th after a lap quick enough for seventh was deleted for exceeding track limits at Raidillon.

Gasly crash cuts race simulations short

The final phase of the session was disrupted by a more significant incident involving Pierre Gasly.

The Alpine driver lost the rear of his car through Les Fagnes before backing into the outside barrier, ripping off the rear wing in the impact.

The resulting red flag curtailed the planned long-run programs for much of the field, denying teams valuable race preparation ahead of the remainder of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

Despite the interruptions, Antonelli ended Friday with the psychological advantage, underlining Mercedes' pace as the battle for pole position begins to take shape at Spa.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook