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If Max Verstappen's standout time in first practice at the Belgian Grand Prix warned of a return to his Formula 1 dominance, McLaren's drivers did their best to dispel thoughts of such a comfortable run for Red Bull with a 1-2 in FP2.
And while the headline times were only half of the story, the long runs were also encouraging for McLaren compared to a Verstappen-Red Bull combination that has won this race from compromised grid positions in each of the past two years.
Lando Norris ultimately ended the session fastest by 0.215 seconds, though there were caveats to note on his lap.
It was Norris's second run of the session on new softs - his closest rivals all used just one new set for their qualifying simulations - while he also ran later on in the session, with the added benefit of a clear run through sector two and a small tow in the final sector as well.
Team-mate Oscar Piastri had been the pacesetter until then with a lap that was two thousandths faster than Verstappen's.
McLaren then split its running between the softs and mediums when it came to the long-run simulations, with Norris using softs and Piastri primarily using mediums (though he too switched to softs for a four-lap run at the end of the session).
Long-run simulations
Piastri: 1m48.798s; 1m48.873s; 1m49.345s; 1m48.868s; 1m49.245s (medium)
Verstappen: 1m48.316s; 1m48.801s; 1m48.796s; 1m48.924s; 1m49.356s (medium)
Sainz: 1m48.962s; 1m49.690s; 1m49.012s; 1m49.987s; 1m49.523s (medium)
Perez: 1m49.025s; 1m49.028s; 1m49.146s; 1m50.040s; 1m49.750s (medium)
Leclerc: 1m49.525s; 1m50.319s; 1m49.748s; 1m49.858s; 1m50.633s (soft)
Russell: 1m50.395s; 1m50.235s; 1m50.626s; 1m50.096s; 1m49.906s (medium)
Hamilton: 1m49.143s; 1m49.394s; 1m49.684s; 1m49.845s; 1m50.035s (soft)
Ocon: 1m49.100s; 1m49.329s; 1m49.576s; 1m50.027s; 1m50.384s (medium)
Norris: 1m47.971s; 1m48.834s; 1m50.365s; 1m49.991s; 1m49.316s (soft)
Taking drivers' first five laps, with outliers removed
Verstappen wound up third, having been fastest in the opening stages with a laptime on mediums that was faster than everyone else's time from FP1 but his own.
His long-run strategy matched Piastri's, as he completed an initial nine-lap stint on mediums before switching to softs at the end of the session.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth in FP2 but nowhere near troubling the top of the times. Leclerc was 0.577s off Norris's benchmark, with Sainz more than eight tenths off. Their long runs - split between the soft (Leclerc) and medium (Sainz) - similarly did not look close to the leading trio.
Everyone else was more than a second off in terms of headline times.
George Russell was at least next in the queue for Mercedes but his long-run looked relatively uninspiring - if a little stronger as the stint wore on.
Three cars separated Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who also complained on his long run that "I've got big deg" on his set of softs.
Esteban Ocon sat out the majority of FP1 with a suspected water leak - he completed just one lap - but set the seventh-fastest time in second practice, his Alpine also looking competitive relative to the Mercedes on his long run.
Kevin Magnussen meanwhile was eighth for Haas, using a higher-downforce rear wing than Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who was four tenths worse off in 16th.
Sergio Perez was only ninth in the second Red Bull, more than a second off both Norris's benchmark time and his team-mate Verstappen's best effort.
