Verstappen's deficit surprised F1 pundit: 'I don't think it's a given we will see the same picture tomorrow'

They are, of course, out in large numbers in the grandstands this weekend. Verstappen was fastest in first practice, but in second practice he ended up third - half a second behind Kimi Antonelli. Together with Lando Norris, the Dutchman completed the top three. Although he still had some complaints about the car, particularly the shifting, the pace seems to be there.

"Bigger time gaps than we are used to seeing. I know it's the longest track on the calendar but we don't have many corners here. The teams will be doing a lot of number crunching about the energy deployment and trying to find the best way.” It was already known before the weekend that Spa-Francorchamps would be tricky regarding battery management.

There are, after all, only two heavy braking zones: at the end of the Kemmel Straight and in the final chicane before the start-finish: "There will be a lot of work overnight in the factories. I don't think it's a given we will see the same picture tomorrow. I'll be surprised if Verstappen is that far away from Antonelli."

In the first ten minutes of the session, Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar immediately showed good pace. The four-time world champion was slightly slower than his teammate on his first flying lap - although the gap at that moment was only 0.020 seconds. The entire top three, consisting of Antonelli, Hadjar, and Verstappen, were even within half a tenth of each other.

Later, Verstappen briefly set the fastest time, but once again it was Antonelli who found more time and beat it by over four tenths. The session was interrupted twice by a red flag, one of which was for a heavy crash for Pierre Gasly. Gasly himself was fine, as he reported over the team radio. Since the track had to be cleared and the car recovered, the red flag lasted quite a while.