SPA-FRANCORHAMPS, Belgium -- Max Verstappen set the fastest time during second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix as Red Bull finished the session first and second.
Daniel Ricciardo was 0.256s off his 18-year-old teammate and 0.316s ahead of the impressive pace of Force India's Nico Hulkenberg in third. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest, 0.682s off Verstappen.
Mercedes took a leftfield approach to Friday practice, opting not to use the super-soft tyre -- this weekend's fastest compound -- in FP2. As a result, Nico Rosberg finished over a second off the pace of Verstappen, although his fastest time in FP1, which was set on the super-softs, was just 0.263s shy of Verstappen's best effort in FP2. Given Mercedes' propensity for turning the wick up ahead of qualifying, Red Bull's apparent advantage during FP2 may not continue into Saturday when the grid is decided.
In the knowledge that he will be hit with a big grid penalty after qualifying, Lewis Hamilton appeared to focus on long-run pace during the two Friday practice sessions. Reliability issues earlier in the year have finally caught up with Hamilton and ahead of FP1 he exceeded his season-long allocation of five turbochargers and five MGU-Hs. In order to stock up on new parts for the rest of the season and avoid similar penalties at future rounds, Mercedes fitted another completely new power unit to Hamilton's car ahead of FP2, bringing his total number of tubochargers and MGU-Hs to seven this year, and meaning his grid penalty for Sunday now stands at 30 places. With his penalty well in excess of the number of places on the grid, Hamilton is almost certain to start from the back row and Mercedes has the option to introduce even more components to its pool for the rest of the season if it wants.
With the Mercedes drivers out of position during FP2, the leaderboard had an unusual look, with Sergio Perez ensuring two Force Indias featured in the top five ahead of Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen was 0.903s off the pace in seventh place and just 0.175s ahead of the Haas of Romain Grosjean using the same power unit. Jenson Button finished the session ninth fastest in the updated McLaren-Honda ahead of the second Haas of Esteban Gutierrez in 10th.
Pascal Wehrlein impressed with the 11th fastest time in the Manor, which seems to be suited to Spa, ahead of Fernando Alonso's McLaren. However, Alonso also faces a grid penalty after a water leak in FP1 meant McLaren had to fit a second entirely new power unit to the Spaniard's car this weekend.
Williams also appeared to be out of position in 16th and 17th on a track that should suit its car. However, the order looks as though it could be fluid this weekend with just 2.634s separating Verstappen's fastest time and Felipe Nasr in 22nd.