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