Belgian Grand Prix: Verstappen fastest in second practice

Clocks best lap of 1min 48.085sec, outpaces Red Bull teammate Ricciardo

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS: Dutch teenager Max Verstappen delighted his army of fans in the forests of the Ardennes yesterday when he topped the times in second free practice for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old Red Bull driver, who was born 50km away from the sprawling and majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit at Hasselt in Belgium, clocked a best lap of 1min 48.085sec.

That allowed him to outpace Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo by two-tenths as the Renault-powered outfit delivered a strong one-two showing.

It was the third time in Verstappen’s brief Formula One career that he had topped the session times and did so in front of thousands of supporters camping under the trees in the unexpected heat-wave conditions.

German Nico Hulkenberg was third-fastest for Force India ahead of his compatriot Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, Mexican Sergio Perez in the second Force India and championship contender Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.

Rosberg had been fastest in a Mercedes one-two ahead of championship leader and defending champion Lewis Hamilton in the morning session, but both men concentrated on preparation for the race with long runs on medium tyres.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, newly married during the month-long European summer break, was seventh in the second Ferrari ahead of Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Haas, Briton Jenson Button of McLaren and Mexican Esteban Gutierrez in the second Haas.

Hamilton, clearly focused on his race rather than qualifying, was 13th, one place behind Fernando Alonso, who was 12th for McLaren having missed out on the morning session due to a water leak.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2016.

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