Belgian GP: Rosberg leads Mercedes 1-2 in 2nd practice

Rosberg – note the new Mercedes spoon shaped rear wing.

Mercedes kept their 1-2 parade going in the 2nd practice under unusually beautiful conditions at Spa for the Belgian GP. Nico Rosberg set the pace before a big rear-tire blowout at high-speed ended his session early.

Rosberg, who led the way in first practice, clocked a time of 1m49.687s, 0.302 seconds faster than his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton on the soft tires with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo four tenths further back.

With a little under 30 minutes to go, Rosberg's rear-tire exploded, sending the German into a spin approaching Blanchimont. He managed to keep the car off the wall.

On what is F1's traditional track cleaning day, Red Bull proved to be Mercedes' closest challengers with Ricciardo third quickest, 0.751s off the pace, and teammate Daniil Kvyat three tenths further adrift.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fifth quickest ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.

After missing first practice as Jolyon Palmer was in the Lotus, Romain Grosjean was seventh ahead of the Sauber duo of Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, who are running the 2015-spec Ferrari engine for the first time this season.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel completed the top 10, ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez.

Carlos Sainz Jr nipped Toro Rosso teammate Max Verstappen to 12th.

Results

Pos Driver Car Time Behind Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes/Mercedes 1m49.385s 0.000s 19
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes/Mercedes 1m49.687s 0.302s 23
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m50.136s 0.751s 15
4 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1m50.399s 1.014s 18
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari/Ferrari 1m50.461s 1.076s 23
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m50.461s 1.076s 21
7 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1m50.489s 1.104s 21
8 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m50.709s 1.324s 18
9 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m50.928s 1.543s 24
10 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari/Ferrari 1m50.940s 1.555s 23
11 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m50.971s 1.586s 21
12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m51.037s 1.652s 24
13 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m51.117s 1.732s 25
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m51.250s 1.865s 25
15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m51.317s 1.932s 16
16 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m51.588s 2.203s 26
17 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m51.854s 2.469s 16
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m52.570s 3.185s 14
19 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1m54.065s 4.680s 17
20 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1m54.253s 4.868s 14