Hamilton ended the day sixth𓃲 and nearly 1.4s seconds off the benchmark pace set by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as Mercedes once again faced tyre warm-up issues amid cool temperatures at Spa-Francorchamps, with rain affecting both practice sessions. 

The seven-time world champion 🌄said Mercedes’ lack of competitiveness was not unexpected given the team's Friday form so far this season, though he did confirm he wasn't running on heavy fuel in FP2. 

“We’re just not very quick. I don’t know why,” H⛄amilton conceded after second practice.&n𒐪bsp;

Asked if Mercedes’ pace struggles are related to the conditions, 💝Hamilton replied: “I really don’t know. We’re going out, giving it everything, everything we’ve got. 

“It could be tyres, could be tyre temps, cou🌟ld be wing level, could be a multitude of things. 

“It doesn’t feel disastrous out there, it’s just we’re a long w♓ay off. But we often find this on a Friday and things change a little bit more on Saturday so I hope that’s the case.”

Mercedes teammate George Russell finished eighth, a couple of tenths behind ♏Hamilton. 

Both Russell and Hamilton reported problems getti🐠ng their tyre🅺s up to temperature in FP2. 

“I think it's something we're struggling with quite aꦦ lot this season to get the temperature into the tyres,” Russ𓃲ell explained. 

“I struggled quite a lot today with that on every compound w꧂e used. So in these conditions it is definitely something we need to work on. 

"But🧸 it's something I know that you can find a huge amount of performance when you get in the right window. 

“So there's a little bit of optimism there. But for sure, the gap to ꦅMax and the Ferraris is pretty extravagant.” 

But the Briton, who claimed his maiden F1 pole last time out꧟ in Hungary, remains hopeful that Mercedes can find improvements in time for qualifying. 

"We're pretty used to☂ ha꧟ving bad Fridays,” Russell added. “So let's see if we can turn it around. 

“I don’t think there will be any guarantees we can find the perf✤ormance step that we we found in the last race, let's say.

“But we'll all be working ♑flat-out tonight to try and get on top of it. But totally different day tomorrow conditions will be very different. So let'♔s see what it brings.” 

Mercedes’ chances are set to be boosted by lജooming grid penalties for Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, both of wh🍷om are set to drop towards the back of the grid for Sunday’s grand prix after taking new engines.