Charles Leclerc’s pace matched the weather as he set a hot pace in second practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.
As teams completed their first qualifying simulations of the weekend, the Monegasque posted a 1m44.123s, to lead teammate Sebastian Vettel by 0.6s.
The Italian team were simply untouchable in Sector 1, completing the flat-out stretch from La Source to Les Combes over a second faster than both Mercedes and Red Bull.
Leclerc then stretched away in the second and third sectors over Vettel, capitalising on the German running wide under braking into the Bus Stop chicane on his best lap.
Their rivals were able to claw a little pace back in the more technical middle part of the iconic Spa-Francorchamps layout, but Valtteri Bottas would finish eight-tenths off the pace in third for Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton had a better session in the afternoon after a disrupted morning, but helmet issues niggled the Briton leaving him half a tenth behind his teammate in fourth.
The good news for Mercedes though was their long-run pace which was stronger than Ferrari, the question will be if they have the straight-line speed to get ahead.
Racing Point continued to show their prowess in Belgium with Sergio Perez the last driver within a second of Leclerc in fifth, as their low downforce wings helped them keep up down the straights.
There was a big concern at the end of the session, however, as the Mexican pulled over with apparent overheating issues with the engine, that engine being the latest spec introduced by Mercedes this weekend.
Red Bull had a tricky session as initial optimism faded as the others turned up the pace.
Max Verstappen couldn’t improve on his initial best using the medium tyre after a poor lap and complained of engine issues on every run, predominantly with the drivability of the Honda.
Teammate Alex Albon also struggled to put a strong lap together, finishing four-tenths down on the Dutchman in 10th.
Between them, Kimi Raikkonen reminded us why he is dubbed the ‘King of Spa’ in seventh for Alfa Romeo, while Lance Stroll backed up Racing Point’s impressive speed in eighth.
Like his teammate, however, the Canadian also reported a burning smell from inside his car, with the team set to investigate.
Daniel Ricciardo also gave Renault reason for optimism in ninth, but the gaps were very tight around the 7km circuit as less than 0.7s covered P7-P18.
McLaren then are very much still in the picture with Carlos Sainz 11th, although across the garage, Lando Norris has work to do to move up from 15th.
A good lap put Romain Grosjean 12th for Haas, while just 0.005s split Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat in 13th and 14th.
Pierre Gasly continued to lag behind the Russian in 17th on his return to Toro Rosso with Kevin Magnussen behind in 18th.
Finally, despite missing the morning to give Nicholas Latifi a run, George Russell once again established himself as the top driver at Williams, leading Robert Kubica by half a second.
The only concern for the British team is the gap to the rest would increase from a second in the morning to 1.5s in the afternoon.
Full results from Practice 2 at Spa can be seen below:
