Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez left the Spa Francorchamps circuit satisfied with their day's work as Verstappen topped the timesheets in the second Free Practice session.

In what had already been a busy weekend for Red Bull with the announcement that Perez would remain at the team for 2022 as well as the news that both drivers would have to potentially take on another power unit in the latter stages of the season, Verstappen and was quickly on the pace with the Dutchman setting the second quickest time in the morning session behind Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas.

Verstappen went one place better in the second practice session with the fastest time of the session, but his session ended early after losing the rear of his RB16B on the exit of Les Combes, causing him to hit the wall and damage the suspension in the process bringing the red flag out and ending the session early.

“I think we definitely had a positive start today but unfortunately I just lost the rear at the end of the second session,there was a bit too much oversteer to correct and I hit the wall.” 

“As a Team we were quite happy with how everything was going and we did some fine tuning between FP1 and FP2. Looking ahead to tomorrow, there are of course things to take into consideration including the weather but it’s difficult to say what the track is going to be like in the wet.”

On the day it was announced that his Formula 1 future was safe for another year, Perez went sixth quickest in the morning session before finishing the disrupted afternoon session tenth quickest. 

“It’s also great to have my contract for next year with Red Bull finalised so that I can focus my energy on this season. I really enjoy being a part of this Team so I’m really happy to continue for 2022 but my focus right now is on this weekend and delivering the best possible result.”

“The car is feeling good and I think we have strong potential for this weekend. It’s going to be interesting what happens with the weather tomorrow as that obviously affects how you configure the car but I’m looking forward to it. 

“I think we will be in the fight and able to have a good qualifying, the pace was strong out there today and it will be interesting to see who has what when they put it all together in Q3. We collected plenty of information over the two practice sessions, we’ll sit down this evening to analyse it so we have the best package tomorrow.”