BELGIAN GP – Hamilton tops the times by two tenths in second practice over Raikkonen and Bottas
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the second practice session for this weekends Belgian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver was two tenths faster than the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen with his team-mate Valtteri Bottas third.
Hamilton looked in strong form when he got going after fighting with Bottas and his championship rival Sebastian Vettel, who set the pace at early on in the session.
Hamilton looked strong across all three tyre compounds, his fastest lap been set on the slowest soft tyre, while Raikkonen set his best lap on the fastest ultrasoft. But, Vettel had to settle for fifth after being pipped by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen by .01 of second.
Vettel was half a second off the pace that the Mercedes set. While Bottas was third, four tenths of the pace of his team-mate. Thou the Finn locked up on his best lap at La Source, running his lap before it had really begun.
That allowed both Vettel and Verstappen to finish within six tenths of the Mercedes. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was sixth fastest, he had looked good in sectors one and three, but struggled in the aerodynamically crucial second sector.
Both Renaults finished inside the top ten with Nico Hulkenberg seventh and Jolyon Palmer tenth. However, the German lost his fastest time of the session after he exceeded track limits on the exit of Les Combes, leaving it uncertain whether he lost the position.
Esteban Ocon kept himself in the top ten for Force India, ahead of Carlos Sainz.
It was a troubled afternoon for Haas, both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen suffered almost simultaneous DRS failures. Things didn’t get better for the Dane, as he was involved in a weaving incident with Perez.
That angered the Mexican, as he was in his way at the Turn 9 left-hander and then weaving in front of him on the run downhill to Pouhon.
Felipe Massa failed to take part in the session, as Williams continued to repair the damage and change his chassis because of his crash during first practice.
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