The second session of frees represented a radical change to what was seen in Spa in the morning. Not in terms of the soullessness of some cars that do not seem to advance on a mythical route like this, but in terms of the order of forces. Andrea Kimi Antonelli returned to his most repeated position in 2026, first, to leave as the best of the day in The Ardennes and face the weekend with optimism.
As if it cost him no effort, the Italian is capable of knocking all rivals off their wheels, naturally and immediately, while his partner, George Russelhe looks uncomfortable at all times and trying to polish details that he doesn’t like in order to get closer little by little until you reach the qualy. This time it is 1.2 seconds in favor of the leader (big words) who has lost points in the World Cup, but not the fantastic sensations. The times flow out with an astonishing cleanliness.
First he dominated with the medium compound and then with the soft compound… and because the hard compound was not used. It is a track that measures and where it is measuring up as in the rest of this championship.
Behind the Italian appears Lando Norris, who with a flip was 0.190 and already behind, Verstappenno less than 0.473. The Ferraris, 0.7 seconds away in the case of Hamilton, It doesn’t seem like they are going to fight for pole this Saturday, unless they have been hiding it, which could also be the case. Some seem to be on the rise every weekend and others in the opposite direction.
Sainz improves to 16th
Carlos was able to get out of the hole of the first session and rise relatively to 16th, 0.3 behind Albon and testing setups for the rest of the weekend. Your grades are very good throughout 2026, but The poor quality of the car does not allow it to shine barely. The small improvements that have come here, especially in the part of the diffuserto make Silverstone’s front wing work, still does not give the expected results.
Alonso, last at 5.4 seconds
Having been out of free 1, Fernando’s fight with Stroll in such a technical place was very conditioned. There were 0.3 seconds in favor of the Canadian, which tomorrow will be nothing or the opposite.
Lance was second to last and Fernando 22nd and last, perhaps one of the last times this year, waiting as is for improvements to the chassis. I didn’t expect much from Alonso in Spa and even less so with this car.
Red flag to sweep
“This is unacceptable,” said Verstappen after going off and leaving the track littered with bugs from the Stavelot loophole. He complains about the bumps his car makes when downshifting, something that happens to Aston all the time. The red flag was raised with 47 minutes remaining, to clear the asphalt, in a decision that indicates that These are the new times of this ‘soft’ and ‘naive’ F1 that we have to live.
But nothing as unacceptable as the new and terrible control tower that they have perpetrated in Spa and reminiscent of Soviet architecture from 70 years ago.
The one who had a very strong blow against the barriers was Pierre Gasly, which went off in Fagnes and touched the rear wing on a guardrail. He had to go to the medical center, but everything remained an anecdote and a large piece of carbon flying through the air.
Final times of free practice 2 of the 2026 Belgian GP.
Times courtesy of ‘formula-timer.com’.
