Antonelli Tops Belgian GP FP2 as Gasly Crashes and Russell Struggles

Normal service resumed at Spa on Friday afternoon. After Max Verstappen briefly had everyone excited by topping FP1, championship leader Kimi Antonelli reminded the paddock who actually runs this season with a commanding 1:45.944 in FP2, the only lap of the session inside the 1m46s bracket.

Antonelli Does What Antonelli Does

Two purple sectors on his opening soft-tyre run was all it took. Antonelli’s benchmark was nearly half a second clear of Verstappen and, crucially, no one came close to matching it once the dust, literal and figurative, had settled. Lando Norris got closest, chipping the gap down to 0.190 seconds, but the McLaren man will start Sunday ten places further back than he qualifies courtesy of a power electronics penalty. So that P2 comes with an asterisk the size of the Kemmel Straight.

Verstappen wound up third, 0.472 seconds adrift, which is respectable enough until you remember Red Bull were topping the sheets just hours earlier. Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari, with Isack Hadjar splitting the Scuderia and McLaren in fifth, despite the Frenchman facing a back-row start on Sunday after a raft of power unit changes. For context on that penalty, see our earlier piece on Hadjar’s grid drop at the Belgian GP.

Two Red Flags and a Furious Dutchman

The session was interrupted twice. The first came after Verstappen ran wide at Stavelot, scattering gravel across the racing line and forcing a brief five-minute clean-up. His radio response was characteristically measured: he called the gear shifts “unacceptable”, which tells you everything about how his afternoon was going.

The second stoppage was far more serious. Pierre Gasly lost the rear of his Alpine at the exit of the Fagnes chicane with 15 minutes remaining, tagged the barrier and shed his rear wing entirely. Gasly was unhurt, but the session was effectively over, denying teams crucial long-run data.

“I just absolutely lost it out of nowhere. I must have lost the rear.” – Pierre Gasly

Russell: The Elephant in the Garage

George Russell ended up eighth, 1.285 seconds behind his own team-mate. He radioed in to suggest his rear tyres were too cold to explain the deficit, but even he acknowledged that cold rubber does not account for 1.3 seconds. Russell has openly admitted he is overthinking his battles with Antonelli in 2026, and Spa on Friday did nothing to soften that narrative.

FP2 Full Results

Qualifying takes place on Saturday at 16:00 UTC, check the calendar for your local time. Friday at Spa delivered chaos, penalties and one very fast teenager. The real order of merit arrives tomorrow.