Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was fastest in Friday afternoon’s practice session, in spite of a spectacular tyre blowout in the run up to Blanchimont, curtailing his track time.
World Champion Lewis Hamilton followed up his teammate’s best time in second position, 3 tenths of a second off the pace of his championship rival.
Red Bull’s promising morning pace translated into the second session, with Daniel Ricciardo in third and Daniil Kvyat fourth, who formed part of a trio who ended the day one second down on the time of Rosberg, joining Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg, fifth and sixth respectively.
They were slightly ahead of Romain Grosjean, who was back in the car after Jolyon Palmer’s mediocre display in the morning session, to take seventh.
Sauber finished eighth and ninth, with Marcus Ericsson the faster of the two, despite ending up in the barrier, after getting crossed up in the middle of the high-speed left-hander, Pouhon. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was just behind Nasr to round off the top ten.
Next up was Sergio Perez, followed by Carlos Sainz and teammate Max Verstappen, 14th was Valtteri Bottas, whose Williams team again lacked pace in Friday practice.
Pastor Maldonado had another problematic session in 15th, his afternoon was interrupted by his crash in morning practice, the repairs of which spilled over into the afternoon, and further mishaps with a front-left brake issue which forced him back into his garage.
Completing the standings were the two McLaren drivers; lacking straight-line speed once again, pouring water on Yasuhisa Arai’s claims that his engines could match the power output of rivals Ferrari from this weekend, and the two Manor Marussia’s who were slowest.
