Spa, FP2: Verstappen moves to the front in Belgium

Verstappen leads Red Bull one-two in second practice

By Franck Drui

26 August 2016 - 15:43
Spa, FP2: Verstappen moves to the (...)

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.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Max Verstappen Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:48.085 27
02 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:48.341 27
03 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1:48.657 30
04 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.023 28
05 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:49.100 27
06 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:49.161 33
07 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.244 30
08 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:49.419 20
09 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1:49.419 23
10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 1:49.648 23
11 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 1:49.716 31
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:49.772 30
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:49.782 33
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:49.916 25
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:50.083 27
16 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:50.151 19
17 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:50.157 29
18 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:50.194 25
19 Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 1:50.375 34
20 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 1:50.562 32
21 Esteban Ocon Manor Mercedes 1:50.659 25
22 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1:50.719 24

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