2016 F1 Round 13 Belgian Grand Prix FP1 – Rosberg sets Spa pace, Hamilton faces grid penalty

First practice for the Belgian Grand Prix began at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday. The long straights and sequence of high-speed corners kept teams focused on both power-unit performance and stability in fast turns, while Pirelli also carried out tyre testing during the session.

Archive image: Rosberg drives a Mercedes fitted with a Halo test device during Friday practice for the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix

Rosberg led with a 1:48.348, with Hamilton second, 0.730 seconds behind. Mercedes occupied the top two positions, but Hamilton was already set to take a grid penalty following power-unit changes.

Räikkönen took third for Ferrari, followed by Pérez in fourth and Vettel fifth. Red Bull’s Ricciardo and Verstappen finished sixth and seventh respectively.

Manor rookie Ocon took part in the opening practice session in place of Haryanto. It was his first time driving a Manor during a Grand Prix weekend, and he completed 26 laps.

A cooling-system problem limited Alonso’s McLaren to just three laps. After a water leak developed, the team withdrew the car for checks and was unable to complete its planned programme.

Button ended first practice 18th and reported vibrations in the gearbox’s four upper gears. Alongside Alonso’s cooling-system problem, McLaren also needed to investigate the gearbox issue described by Button.

Pirelli tested unmarked prototype tyres at this event to further assess protection against repeated accidental impacts with kerbs or other objects. Each driver had two sets in total available for use across FP1 and FP2, with the resulting data to be shared with Pirelli.

Sauber’s Ericsson faced a ten-place grid penalty for using a sixth turbocharger. Mercedes confirmed new power units in both cars, while Hamilton faced a 15-place penalty for his particular combination of changes.