Leclerc pulls clear in second Belgian GP practice

Charles Leclerc led Ferrari to a one-two finish in second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Friday afternoon, pulling six-tenths of a second clear of the field.

After trailing Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel in FP1 at Spa, Leclerc managed to surge to the head of the field through second practice as he put in a fastest lap time of 1m44.123s.

Leclerc's time saw him finish 0.630s clear of Vettel in second place as Ferrari stamped its authority on proceedings at Spa across the qualifying simulations, leaving Mercedes and Red Bull trailing behind.

Valtteri Bottas managed to lead Mercedes' charge in third place, eight-tenths of a second shy of Leclerc's best time, while Lewis Hamilton took fourth, half a tenth of a second back from his teammate.

A mistake from Max Verstappen meant he could not improve on his qualifying simulation run, leaving him sixth-fastest, 1.2 seconds off Leclerc with his Medium-tyre time. New Red Bull teammate Alexander Albon struggled on the Soft tyres, finishing down in P10.

Sergio Perez managed to emerge as the midfield leader for Racing Point, finishing an impressive fifth as teammate Lance Stroll also made it into the top 10, taking eighth. But it was not all plain sailing for the team as both drivers reported issues with overheating at the rear of their cars, ultimately resulting in an issue for Perez that forced him to park up at the side of the track with five minutes remaining, flames flickering from the engine.

Kimi Raikkonen showed few signs of his pulled muscle affecting his performance as he finished seventh for Alfa Romeo, while Daniel Ricciardo took ninth for Renault.

Behind Albon, Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean finished 11th and 12th, while less than three-tenths of a second covered Nico Hulkenberg in P13 to Kevin Magnussen in 18th. Daniil Kvyat, Lando Norris, Antonio Giovinazzi and Pierre Gasly all sandwiched between the pair.

George Russell took 19th for Williams, making his first appearance of the weekend after sitting aside for Nicholas Latifi in FP1, with teammate Robert Kubica four-tenths of a second further back in P20.