Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen led the way in second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Raikkonen set the session-topping time of 1m43.355s on his first qualifying simulation lap, with Hamilton the only man within four-tenths of the Finn.
The Mercedes driver set a blistering middle-sector on his own lap before losing time in the final part of the tour to set a time 0.168s slower than the Ferrari.
Behind the top two was the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, albeit nearly half-a-second slower than his compatriot’s time, while Max Verstappen again led the Red Bull charge in fourth just a further two tenths behind.
FP1 leader Sebastian Vettel was compromised on his qualifying run following a mistake at Stavelot on his first lap, the German losing the rear of his Ferrari on entry to the right-hander.
He was able to set a representative time on his second lap, but could only manage a time fast enough for fifth, nearly eight-tenths slower than his team-mate, before the field switched to running their race-sim programmes.
Daniel Ricciardo closed out Friday sixth in the second Red Bull, while Sergio Perez set a scorching lap for the newly-named Racing Point Force India squad to end up fastest of the midfield in seventh.
The Mexican recorded a 1m 44.662s to lap just 1.3 seconds slower than Raikkonen, and a massive eight-tenths quicker than Carlos Sainz’s Renault behind.
It was a strong second session for Sauber meanwhile as the Swiss squad’s pair of C37s rounded out the top ten runners – Marcus Ericsson shading Charles Leclerc for ninth place.
Haas continued their so-far sub-optimal weekend in FP2, with Grosjean ending the session as the quickest of the American machines in 12th position, while team-mate Kevin Magnussen could only net 14th, three-tenths behind the Frenchman.
