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FP2: Raikkonen heads both Mercedes

Published on 24 Aug 2018 16:30
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By: Fergal Walsh

Kimi Raikkonen has topped the second practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. The veteran Finnish driver set a 1:43.355, which was one second faster than Sebastian Vettel's fastest lap time from the morning session.

Raikkonen ousted both Mercedes, who ended up in second and third place. Lewis Hamilton got the better of Valtteri Bottas, with Hamilton's time just over a tenth and a half down on Raikkonen's pace-setting lap. Bottas was three tenths down on his teammate.

Max Verstappen ended up in 4th, ahead of Vettel who struggled to set a fast lap. The second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo was sixth, with the Australian attempting to make up time after an engine issue hampered most of his practice session this morning.

Force India's Sergio Perez was 7th, pulling out a gap of seven-tenths of a second to Carlos Sainz in 8th. Sauber will be encouraged by its pace, as it ended the session inside the top ten, with Marcus Ericsson edging out Charles Leclerc.

Nico Hulkenberg failed to get inside the top ten, losing out to Leclerc by just over a tenth of a second. Romain Grosjean was 12th, ahead of his compatriot Esteban Ocon. Kevin Magnussen improved slightly on his struggles from this morning, finishing in 14th.

Toro Rosso struggled somewhat during the second practice session, with Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley finishing in P15 and P17 respectively. Fernando Alonso found himself lodged in between the two Red Bull junior cars in 16th.

Sergey Sirotkin managed to end up ahead of his teammate Lance Stroll, while McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne rounded out the timesheets. Saturday morning will see one final practice session before the driver's qualify for Sunday's grid in the afternoon.

F1Grand Prix Belgium - Free practice 2

Spa-Francorchamps - 24 August 2018

Driver

Team

Time

Difference

#
1

Kimi Räikkönen

Ferrari

1:43.355

29
2

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:43.523

+0.168

28
3

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1:43.803

+0.448

29
4

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:44.046

+0.691

25
5

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1:44.129

+0.774

31
6

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull Racing

1:44.250

+0.895

31
7

Sergio Perez

Racing Point

1:44.662

+1.307

27
8

Carlos Sainz jr

Renault

1:45.481

+2.126

29
9

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber

1:45.537

+2.182

24
10

Charles Leclerc

Sauber

1:45.622

+2.267

25
11

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

1:45.753

+2.398

28
12

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

1:45.817

+2.462

29
13

Esteban Ocon

Racing Point

1:45.935

+2.580

24
14

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

1:46.078

+2.723

29
15

Pierre Gasly

Toro Rosso

1:46.080

+2.725

33
16

Fernando Alonso

McLaren

1:46.153

+2.798

28
17

Brendon Hartley

Toro Rosso

1:46.337

+2.982

35
18

Sergey Sirotkin

Williams

1:46.451

+3.096

35
19

Lance Stroll

Williams

1:46.470

+3.115

34
20

Stoffel Vandoorne

McLaren

1:46.496

+3.141

25

F1 News Max Verstappen Fernando Alonso Valtteri Bottas Romain Grosjean Daniel Ricciardo Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Marcus Ericsson Sergio Perez Kevin Magnussen Stoffel Vandoorne Pierre Gasly Esteban Ocon Sergey Sirotkin Charles Leclerc Lance Stroll Brendon Hartley Sauber Mercedes McLaren Force India