Spa, FP2: Rosberg fastest despite dramatic tyre failure

Rosberg stays ahead before high-speed tyre blowout

Nico Rosberg continued to set the pace in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, despite a tyre blowout that brought his afternoon session to an early end.

The Mercedes driver, who went fastest in first practice, set a time of 1:49.385s during the afternoon period’s qualifying simulations on the soft tyre to run three tenths clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo took third place, with an option tyre time of 1:50.136 that was just over seven tenths down on Rosberg.

However, with approximately half an hour to, Rosberg’s rear right tyre exploded spectacularly on the run towards the fast Blanchimont corner and the German was pitched into a lurid spin. Ha managed to avoid the tyre barriers in the run-off area, however, and Rosberg emerged from the crash unscathed.

The incident brought out the red flags due to the amount of debris on the track but 10 minutes later the action resumed. It didn’t last long, however, as Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson was soon off the track as well. The Swede ran wide at the exit of Pouhon, lost control and hit the barriers hard.

There was a further delay as the Sauber was recovered and when the green light came on again there was little time for anyone to conduct any meaningful running. A stream of cars took to the track in a last-ditch search for data but there was little to learn in the final few minutes of congested running.

On the timesheet, Daniil Kvyat confirmed Red Bull’s good form in first practice by finishing in fourth spot with a best time of 1:50.399s to end the session one second down on Rosberg and 0.25s behind his team-mate.

Four-time Belgian Grand Prix winner Kimi Räikkönen was fifth fastest ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Romain Grosjean, who sat out first practice as Jolyon Palmer tested the Lotus, looked good as he claimed seventh place with a time 1.1s adrift of the lead Mercedes.

The upgraded Saubers of Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were eighth and ninth respectively, and the final top 10 place was taken by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.