Hamilton ended the day sixth 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 𒐪cool 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 co😼nfirm he wasn't running on heavy fuel in FP2. 

“We’re just not v♏ery🦄 quick. I don’t know why,” Hamilton conceded after second practice. 

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

“It could be 🥃tyres, could be ty🐟re temps, could be wing level, could be a multitude of things. 

“It doesn’t feel disastrous out there, it’s just we’re a long way 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 R💖ussell finished eighth, a couple of tenths behind Hamilton. 

Both Russell and Hamilton reported problems getting their tyres up to temp🔯erature ෴;in FP2. 

“I th✤ink it's something we're struggling with quite a lot this season to get the temperature into the tyres,🎉” Russell explained. 

“I struggled quite a lot today with that on every compound we used. So in these condition🤡s it is definit🐻ely something we need to work on. 

"But it's somethi♒ng I know t♈hat 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, the𒊎 gap to Max and the Ferraris is pretty extravagant.” 

But the Briton, who claimed his maide💫n F1 pole last time out in Hungary, remains hopeful that Mercedes can find improvements&n🌳bsp;in time for qualifying. 

"We're pretty used to having 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 performanc꧙e 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 looming grid ෴penalties for Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, both of who🐼m are set to drop towards the back of the grid for Sunday’s grand prix after taking new engines.