A few moments later, the yellow flags were replaced by a red flag when Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin through Eau Rouge, snapped into the run-off area and thumped the inside wall, which caused significant car damage and put him out of the session.

After Stroll’s car was cleared away, and the Canadian got taken to the Medical Centre for precautionary checks, the session resumed with some 40 minutes left on the clock – Verstappen’s early effort of 2m 01.565s still the benchmark.

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No drivers were in a rush to head back out on track when the green light came back on at the end of the pit lane, though, with teams biding their time in the comfort of the pit lane as rain continued to fall and the track continued to get wetter.

But there was another twist with 25 minutes remaining when the red flag appeared again due to the track conditions.

The action eventually resumed with a couple of minutes left on the clock, allowing for some practice starts in the slippery conditions, but Verstappen remained on top via a time almost 20 seconds slower than Friday’s fastest lap in the dry.