Belgium – Free Practice 2: Hamilton ahead of Rosberg, Maldonado kisses the rail

The sun is shining above Spa, even though dark clouds are not far from the Ardennes. First information before the start of this session: Sebastian Vettel is not expected to participate due to an MGU-K problem.

The session is underway! After two minutes and thirty seconds, it’s the returning Max Chilton who is the first to head out for his installation lap. He takes back his seat after having given it up — for what was thought to be the entire Belgian weekend — to Alexander Rossi.

After less than 10 minutes, a first notable incident: Pastor Maldonado goes off the track at Pouhon. The Venezuelan lost control of his Lotus on the straight and then hit the barrier on the other side before coming to a stop a little further on. The red flag is immediately deployed. The driver is unharmed.

The session is back underway with 1h15 of track time remaining. Many drivers are leaving the pits, like Fernando Alonso who takes the lead with a 1:51.693, three-tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. No competitor has used the soft tires yet, preferring the mediums for now.

A small scare for Daniel Ricciardo at the Combes braking zone: when braking, his Red Bull is very unstable. He goes straight ahead at high speed, without much damage though. Gutierrez, on the other hand, spins at Blanchimont but manages not to hit anything. However, he is unable to restart due to a gearbox problem. Red flag, once again.

After half an hour, Lewis Hamilton took the lead, with a four-tenths advantage over Fernando Alonso and eight-tenths over Nico Rosberg. The session resumes and André Lotterer is alone on the Belgian track for a long time before being joined by the McLarens, notably. The Grays, in fact, take the lead, Button ahead of Magnussen, with the help of the soft tires they are among the first to fit today.

At mid-session, Rosberg, on soft tires, takes a commanding lead with more than eight-tenths of a second ahead of Button’s time, despite a mistake and going too wide. Hamilton improves on this time by six-tenths with a 1:49.189. Alonso is the third man to go below 1:50.0.

Half an hour from the end, it’s Hamilton, Rosberg, and Alonso who form the leading trio, followed by Massa, Button, Bottas, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Magnussen, and Hülkenberg. The entire field is currently running with fuel loads, so there are few improvements to note. Less than fifteen minutes from the end, Hülkenberg and Massa engage in a race simulation, with the Brazilian attacking the German at the chicane braking.

At the checkered flag, it is the Mercedes cars, Hamilton ahead of Rosberg, that finish in the lead, ahead of Alonso’s Ferrari.