Spa, FP2: Rosberg fastest despite dramatic tyre failure

Rosberg stays ahead before high-speed tyre blowout

By Franck Drui

21 August 2015 - 15:33
Spa, FP2: Rosberg fastest despite (...)

Nico Rosberg continued to set the pace in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, despite a tyre blowout that brought his afternoon session to an early end.

The Mercedes driver, who went fastest in first practice, set a time of 1:49.385s during the afternoon period’s qualifying simulations on the soft tyre to run three tenths clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo took third place, with an option tyre time of 1:50.136 that was just over seven tenths down on Rosberg.

However, with approximately half an hour to, Rosberg’s rear right tyre exploded spectacularly on the run towards the fast Blanchimont corner and the German was pitched into a lurid spin. Ha managed to avoid the tyre barriers in the run-off area, however, and Rosberg emerged from the crash unscathed.

The incident brought out the red flags due to the amount of debris on the track but 10 minutes later the action resumed. It didn’t last long, however, as Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson was soon off the track as well. The Swede ran wide at the exit of Pouhon, lost control and hit the barriers hard.

There was a further delay as the Sauber was recovered and when the green light came on again there was little time for anyone to conduct any meaningful running. A stream of cars took to the track in a last-ditch search for data but there was little to learn in the final few minutes of congested running.

On the timesheet, Daniil Kvyat confirmed Red Bull’s good form in first practice by finishing in fourth spot with a best time of 1:50.399s to end the session one second down on Rosberg and 0.25s behind his team-mate.

Four-time Belgian Grand Prix winner Kimi Räikkönen was fifth fastest ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Romain Grosjean, who sat out first practice as Jolyon Palmer tested the Lotus, looked good as he claimed seventh place with a time 1.1s adrift of the lead Mercedes.

The upgraded Saubers of Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were eighth and ninth respectively, and the final top 10 place was taken by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:49.385 19
02 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:49.687 23
03 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Renault 1:50.136 15
04 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Renault 1:50.399 18
05 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:50.461 23
06 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1:50.461 21
07 Romain Grosjean Lotus Mercedes 1:50.489 21
08 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:50.709 18
09 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1:50.928 24
10 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:50.940 23
11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:50.971 21
12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Renault 1:51.037 24
13 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso Renault 1:51.117 25
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:51.250 25
15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus Mercedes 1:51.317 16
16 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:51.588 26
17 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1:51.854 16
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:52.570 14
19 Will Stevens Manor Ferrari 1:54.065 17
20 Roberto Merhi Manor Ferrari 1:54.253 14

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