Red Bull were quickest in the second practice session at Spa-Francorchamps after Mercedes avoided using the softest tyres during the session.
Max Verstappen pleased the large crowd of his fans who have headed to the circuit this weekend by setting the quickest time of the day. The Spanish Grand Prix winner ended up a quarter of a second quicker than team mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Unusually neither of the Mercedes appeared in the top five as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton did their quickest time on soft tyres. Rosberg was sixth-quickest, a full second off Verstappen’s best. Mercedes chose four sets of super-soft tyres for this weekend, fewer than any of their rivals.
Both Force Indias set quicker times than Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg in third with Sebastian Vettel separating him from Sergio Perez. Kimi Raikkonen, who angered Verstappen by slowing abruptly in front of him at the chicane, was seventh-quickest.
Romain Grosjean again sounded unhappy with his car on the radio but he took eighth while Esteban Gutierrez put the second Haas inside the top ten. Jenson Button’s McLaren separated the pair.
Pascal Wehrlein missed out on a place in the top ten by less than a tenth of a second. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were next, both having changed power units since the first practice session.
Second practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’48.085
+0.256 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’48.341
+0.572 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’48.657
+0.938 Sebastian Vettel – 1’49.023
+1.015 Sergio Perez – 1’49.100
+1.076 Nico Rosberg – 1’49.161
+1.159 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’49.244
+1.334 Romain Grosjean – 1’49.419
+1.563 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’49.648
+1.631 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’49.716
+1.687 Fernando Alonso – 1’49.772
+1.697 Lewis Hamilton – 1’49.782
+1.831 Daniil Kvyat – 1’49.916
+1.998 Marcus Ericsson – 1’50.083
+2.066 Valtteri Bottas – 1’50.151
+2.072 Felipe Massa – 1’50.157
+2.109 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’50.194
+2.290 Kevin Magnussen – 1’50.375
+2.477 Jolyon Palmer – 1’50.562
+2.574 Esteban Ocon – 1’50.659
+2.634 Felipe Nasr – 1’50.719
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
2016 Belgian Grand Prix
- 2016 Belgian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Alonso wins first Driver of the Weekend for two years
- DRS blamed as Spa race falls short of expectations
- 2016 Belgian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
26th August 2016, 14:39
hmm. seems a surprise race but we do not know the tires used to set those times.
@Keith, can we have the tires info added, please?
Bart
26th August 2016, 14:50
All times set on supersofts except for Rosberg, Hamilton and Bottas (softs).
Johnny H.
26th August 2016, 14:54
Top 10 where I believe all of them on super-soft, except Rosberg on soft.
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
26th August 2016, 14:45
Hard to see Renault and Williams forfeiting the rest of the season …
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
26th August 2016, 15:18
Does anyone know what the problem was with the Renault? I think it was Palmers? He stopped after Les Combes down the hill, backed into the safe area then got going again.
Phylyp
26th August 2016, 16:17
I almost wonder whether he was waiting for the 60 second timer on the Renault engine to reset (I recall Vettel having a similar issue with his Red Bull in the 2014 Austrian GP).
Jamie
26th August 2016, 15:47
Pascal showing that he is a serious talent, i know it was just free practise and not nessesarily reflective of quali or race pace. But none the less a good showing.
Sumedh
26th August 2016, 17:48
Esteban was a second ahead in first practice. And now Pascal is a second ahead. Nothing can be said about these two drivers yet
kpcart
27th August 2016, 9:13
his pay driver team mate that just got dropped because of money reasons, was often faster or a match for Pascal, so to Pascal needs to up his game in my mind to prove he is what Mercedes think he is.