Practice 2 Report - Blowout

Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton in Free Practice 1, and he did the same thing again to his Mercedes teammate in Free Practice 2. Red Bull teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat ended up third and fourth.

Late in the session Rosberg had a tire blowout but he and his car escaped unscathed.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Centigrade).

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Red Bull Renault Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. Williams Mercedes Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren Honda Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Force India Mercedes Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Toro Rosso Renault Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Lotus Mercedes Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Marussia Ferrari Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Sauber Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

Bottas was the first out on the track. He clocked a 1:52.608, and then Vettel set a 1:52.606.

In FP1 the drivers had all used Pireilli's medium compound slicks with the white sidewalls. In FP2 they would also try out the soft compound with the yellow sidewalls.

7 minutes into the session, Raikkonen went ahead with a 1:52.292 as Hulkenberg took over second spot.

10 minutes into the session, Kvyat took the lead with a time of 1:51.135.

14 minutes into the session, Rosberg turned a 1:51.052.

25 minutes into the session the order was: Rosberg, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Hamilton, Nasr, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Massa, Vettel and Bottas.

Then Vettel tried a set of the soft tires and set a 1:50.940 to take over first.

31 minutes into the session, Rosberg was lapping on the softs, as was Ericsson, who went into first with a 1:50.709 only to be beaten by Rosberg with a lap of 1:49.385.

Now most of the rest of the drivers were using the soft tires including Hamilton who went second with a 1:49.687.

41 minutes into the session, Hamilton did another run on the softs but pitted at the end of the lap.

Just before the midpoint of FP2 the order was: Rosberg, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Ericsson, Nasr, Vettel, Sainz, Ricciardo and Verstappen.

With 42 minutes remaining in the session, Ricciardo took over third place and Kvyat took fourth.

The order was now: Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Ericsson, Nasr and Vettel. And it remained that way at the end of FP2.

With 27 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg had a left rear tire blowout. He spun but did not hit anything and ended up at the Blanchimont corner runoff area. Out came the red flags.

With 15 minutes remaining, FP2 was restarted.

With 10 minutes remaining in the session, the session was red flagged after Ericsson crashed at Pouhon. He was unhurt but the Sauber was damaged.

With 5 minutes remaining, FP2 was restarted, and the drivers everybody but Ericsson and Rosberg was out there managed to complete those minutes without major incident.