Max Verstappen went quickest in the second practice session ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, as Red Bull Racing turned a low key morning session into a headline-making afternoon outing with Daniel Ricciardo taking second spot.
In the first session Verstappen finished in seventh position, behind Ricciardo. Part of the reason for that was Mercedes’ decision to run the supersoft tyre in FP1, while their rivals chose to stick with tradition and leave their performance runs until the afternoon.
With Mercedes leaving the red-banded tyre alone in session two, the way was clear for Verstappen to push for P1 and the Dutch driver, cheered on by a sizeable contingent of his countrymen in the grandstands, duly set the pace with a time of 1:48.085, 0.263s quicker than Nico Rosberg’s morning timesheet topper. It was also good enough to see Verstappen finish 0.25s clear of team-mate Ricciardo, with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg half a second further back in third place.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth quickest 0.938s behind Verstappen. The four-time champion split the Force Indias with Sergio Perez in fifth place just over seven hundredths of a seconds behind the German.
After topping the morning timesheet with a lap set while using the Halo head protection device, Rosberg finished the afternoon session in sixth place. His best lap of 1:49.161 was set on the soft compound tyre. Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari was seventh quickest with a lap of 1:49.244 and the Finn finished ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean, McLaren’s Jenson Button and the second Haas of Esteban Gutierrez. Button’s time, using Honda’s new power unit, was encouraging for McLaren after a troubled morning session in which Fernando Alonso managed just three laps.
The Spaniard recovered in the afternoon turning 30 laps with a new power unit to set the 12th fastest time behind the impressive Pascal Wehrlein who set a time of 1:49.716. Alonso’s need for a new power unit means he will take a large grid penalty for Sunday’s race.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton ended the session 13th quickest as he only used a prototype soft Pirelli compound tyre.
2016 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 21 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:48.085 272 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:48.341 273 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:48.657 304 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.023 285 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.100 276 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:49.161 337 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.244 308 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:49.419 209 Jenson Button McLaren 1:49.419 2310 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:49.648 2311 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:49.716 3112 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:49.772 3013 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.782 3314 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:49.916 2515 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:50.083 2716 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:50.151 1917 Felipe Massa Williams 1:50.157 2918 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:50.194 2519 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:50.375 3420 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:50.562 3221 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:50.659 2522 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:50.719 24
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