Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of opening practice for the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton led the way for the majority of the session, however, Rosberg bettered his teammates time by just over two-tenths of a second.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was best of the rest, setting the third-fastest time ahead of the Ferrari duo of Raikkonen and Vettel.
Kvyat scored his best finish in Formula One last time out in Hungary and was sixth fastest ahead of the Toro Rosso pairing of Verstappen and Sainz. Perez and Bottas rounded out the top ten.
Nico Rosberg was the first man out on the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit along with Ericsson, Bottas and Vettel.
The German suffered a gearbox problem on his first flying lap which forced him to pit – Rosberg returned to the circuit with 43 minutes of the session remaining.
Rosberg had to wait to complete his first flying lap of the session after Pastor Maldonado crashed his Lotus at the Malmedy corner, he lost the rear end and spun into the inside barrier. The session was halted due to a red flag, allowing the marshals to clear the wreckage.
Despite crashing, it was a positive session for the Venezuelan as he finished eleventh fastest.
An upgraded McLaren-Honda was well off the pace. Alonso was fifteenth fastest, 2.4 seconds off the pace set by Rosberg.
Once again, the two Manor Marussia’s were slowest of the 20 runners. Stevens ahead of Merhi.
