Hamilton leaps ahead in Belgian FP2
Lewis Hamilton was easily the fastest man during second practice of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. The Mercedes driver was 6 tenths ahead of team mate, who himself was closely challenged by Fernando Alonso.
Early on in the session, Pastor Maldonado crashed out on the short straight between turns 9 and 10, seemingly losing rear grip on the exit of turn 9. His Lotus E22 incurred too much damage for him to be able to go out again during the session.
For Sebastian Vettel, problems were even worse as the team were at work on his car during the entire session after having removed the entire engine from the monocoque. It may be that an engine switch will be needed, meaning an immediate 10 place penalty due to using a 6th internal combustion engine unit.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:49.189 | - | 26 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:49.793 | 0.604 | 28 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:49.930 | 0.741 | 19 |
| 4 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:50.327 | 1.138 | 24 |
| 5 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:50.659 | 1.470 | 31 |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:50.677 | 1.488 | 26 |
| 7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Str-Renault | 1:50.725 | 1.536 | 25 |
| 8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:50.977 | 1.788 | 16 |
| 9 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:51.074 | 1.885 | 31 |
| 10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:51.077 | 1.888 | 26 |
| 11 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Str-Renault | 1:51.383 | 2.194 | 26 |
| 12 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:51.450 | 2.261 | 29 |
| 13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:51.573 | 2.384 | 28 |
| 14 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:52.196 | 3.007 | 25 |
| 15 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:52.234 | 3.045 | 18 |
| 16 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:52.776 | 3.587 | 23 |
| 17 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:53.955 | 4.766 | 7 |
| 18 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:54.040 | 4.851 | 18 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1:54.050 | 4.861 | 30 |
| 20 | 45 | Andre Lotterer | Caterham-Renault | 1:54.093 | 4.904 | 24 |
| 21 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | No time | - | 2 |
| 22 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | No time | - | 0 |
