Belgian GP: Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 in FP2

Verstappen set the pace with a lap of 1m48.085s, 0.256s faster than teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Neither Mercedes of Nico Rosberg nor Lewis Hamilton ran the supersoft tyres in this session, both having already run them in FP1.

Rosberg set the pace in FP1 on the supersoft tyres at 1m48.328s, with Verstappen beating that by 0.243s this afternoon.

Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India was third fastest, ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Story of the session

Valtteri Bottas’s Williams set the early benchmark of 1m50.412s on soft tyres, topped by fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari on 1m49.926s. He improved to 1m49.815s on his second flying lap on the softs.

Vettel went off at Les Combes, admitting he was “late braking” for the right-hander, and then caught the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz at La Source – much to his annoyance.

Hamilton started the session on the prototype soft tyres, setting a new fastest time of 1m49.782s after 18 minutes, 0.033s quicker than Raikkonen at the time.

Ricciardo took P1 after 30 minutes with a lap of 1m49.133s on softs, soon topped by Force India’s Sergio Perez on 1m49.100s on supersofts.

Perez’s teammate Hulkenberg beat that with a 1m48.657s, with Vettel going P2 at 1m49.023s on supersofts to split the Force Indias. Ricciardo then lowered the bar with 1m48.341s.

Verstappen had a radio rant at an ambling Raikkonen, who was “struggling to stay on the circuit – that’s the biggest issue”. The Finn suffered a big wiggle mid-way through Pouhon, that caused him to run wide at the second element of the double-apex left-hander.

Verstappen to the top

Verstappen set the fastest time just after halfway through the session, his 1m48.085s a quarter of a second clear of his teammate.

Vettel had a second moment at Les Combes towards the end of the session. Hamilton’s long run on the medium tyre included a big slide into the run-off at Pouhon.

Rosberg ended the session sixth fastest using soft tyres, 1.076s off Verstappen’s supersoft pace.

Haas’s Romain Grosjean reported a water-temperature alarm and “rear end is a disaster, just no grip”. He proved that by having a huge moment at Pouhon, but improved his balance later on to set the eighth quickest time, two tenths behind Raikkonen.

McLaren’s Jenson Button equalled Grosjean’s time for ninth, ahead of the second Haas of Esteban Gutierrez.

Pascal Wehrlein was an impressive 11^th for Manor, as he responded to the threat of new teammate Esteban Ocon.

Fernando Alonso’s McLaren was 12st quickest, ahead of Hamilton – with both of them consigned to a back-of-the-grid starting position due to engine changes ahead of Sunday.

Danill Kvyat was 14^th for Toro Rosso, ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Bottas and Felipe Massa’s Williams.

Sainz suffered brake vibrations early on, and was only 18^th fastest, ahead of the two Renaults of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer.

The latter was forced to pull off the track after reporting “vibrations” from the back end of his Renault, briefly causing a virtual safety car. He successfully managed to get the car going again using the MGU-K to start the power unit.

Ocon was 21^st for Manor, ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	27	1'48.085
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	27	1'48.341	0.256	0.256
3	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	30	1'48.657	0.572	0.316
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	27	1'49.023	0.938	0.366
5	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	27	1'49.100	1.015	0.077
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	33	1'49.161	1.076	0.061
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	30	1'49.244	1.159	0.083
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	20	1'49.419	1.334	0.175
9	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	23	1'49.419	1.334	0.000
10	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	23	1'49.648	1.563	0.229
11	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	31	1'49.716	1.631	0.068
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	30	1'49.772	1.687	0.056
13	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	33	1'49.782	1.697	0.010
14	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	25	1'49.916	1.831	0.134
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	27	1'50.083	1.998	0.167
16	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	19	1'50.151	2.066	0.068
17	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	29	1'50.157	2.072	0.006
18	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	25	1'50.194	2.109	0.037
19	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	34	1'50.375	2.290	0.181
20	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	32	1'50.562	2.477	0.187
21	Esteban Ocon	Manor	Mercedes	25	1'50.659	2.574	0.097
22	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	24	1'50.719	2.634	0.060