Position | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 17 | 1:44.753 | |
2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 21 | 1:45.015 | 0.262 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 17 | 1:45.180 | 0.427 |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 16 | 1:45.225 | 0.472 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 20 | 1:45.235 | 0.482 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 15 | 1:46.072 | 1.319 |
7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 24 | 1:46.441 | 1.688 |
8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 19 | 1:46.473 | 1.720 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso | 19 | 1:46.561 | 1.808 |
10 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 23 | 1:46.670 | 1.917 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 20 | 1:46.743 | 1.990 |
12 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 18 | 1:46.984 | 2.231 |
13 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 15 | 1:47.285 | 2.532 |
14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 17 | 1:47.303 | 2.550 |
15 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 12 | 1:47.450 | 2.697 |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 15 | 1:47.556 | 2.803 |
17 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 13 | 1:47.861 | 3.108 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 12 | 1:49.214 | 4.461 |
19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 18 | 1:49.725 | 4.972 |
LEWIS HAMILTON TOPS PRACTICE IN BELGIUM
Lewis Hamilton made the most of the first half of the second practice session (FP2) to clock the fastest time before rain soaked the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium.
Hamilton locked in the time of 1:44.753 on the ultra-soft tyres, to hold the advantage over Kimi Raikkonen in FP2 after the Ferrari driver topped the FP1 earlier in the day.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas set the third fastest time, with the top five drives less than half a second off the pace of Hamilton.
Red Bull used practice to trial an experimental low drag set-up, which saw Max Verstappen fourth fastest, while Daniel Riccardo was sixth. However the team determined that the top end speed gains weren’t making up for what they were losing in the corners. Leaving Red Bull to revert to a more traditional setup.
“In the dry it was a difficult one, we tried to be a bit aggressive today with the set-up,” said Ricciardo after practice.
“We tried a good top speed set-up but we lost too much time in the corners, the second time in particular.
“We didn’t gain enough in the corner to what we gained on the straights. It was good to try but we couldn’t do much more with what we have.
“First and third sector were awesome, we were purple, but the middle sector I am probably in an F3 car. We tried. I would have liked it to have worked but it didn’t.”
The most notable moment from FP1 was the crash of Fillipe Massa. The Williams driver lost the rear end of his car at the right-handed Turn 7 (Les Combes) early in the session, with the car making heavy contact with the barriers.
Although Massa walked away from the crash without issue, the Williams team were left with a lengthy repair replacing the chassis which meant Massa didn’t take part in FP2.
Formula 1 – Belgian Grand Prix – FP2
Formula 1 – Belgian Grand Prix – FP1
Position | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 13 | 1:45.502 | |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 19 | 1:45.555 | 0.053 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 13 | 1:45.647 | 0.145 |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 18 | 1:46.302 | 0.800 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 22 | 1:46.352 | 0.850 |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 20 | 1:46.424 | 0.922 |
7 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso | 22 | 1:47.446 | 1.944 |
8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 27 | 1:47.670 | 2.168 |
9 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 20 | 1:47.851 | 2.349 |
10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 18 | 1:47.865 | 2.363 |
11 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 14 | 1:47.930 | 2.428 |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 15 | 1:48.037 | 2.535 |
13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 18 | 1:48.252 | 2.750 |
14 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 19 | 1:48.452 | 2.950 |
15 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 24 | 1:48.541 | 3.039 |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 20 | 1:48.615 | 3.113 |
17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 20 | 1:48.626 | 3.124 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 21 | 1:50.160 | 4.658 |
19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 13 | 1:51.263 | 5.761 |
20 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 3 |