Belgian GP: Kimi Raikkonen fastest for Ferrari in final practice
Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in final Belgian Grand Prix Formula 1 practice as Lewis Hamilton focused on race simulation work given he will serve a 55-place grid penalty
Raikkonen clocked a 1m47.974s for Ferrari on the super-softs late in the session to finish 0.215 seconds quicker than long-time pacesetter Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull, with Sebastian Vettel a tenth further back.
After going fastest on Friday, Max Verstappen encountered gearbox problems and sat out most of third practice in the pits, failing to get a lap time on the board.
Mercedes fitted Hamilton's car with a new engine for each of this weekend's practice sessions, which has led to substantial penalties but allowed him to build up a pool of systems to use for the rest of 2016.
With the championship leader set to start from the back of the field, or potentially the pitlane, Hamilton chose to work on longer runs on the medium and then the soft for most of the morning.
The Briton then bolted on a set of the super-softs in the closing minutes and though he set the fastest first sector, he locked up into the final chicane and ended up fifth.
That was a tenth quicker than team-mate Nico Rosberg, who finished seventh after he failed to improve on his soft time after taking the super-softs.
Valtteri Bottas was fourth quickest, half a second off the pace, with Nico Hulkenberg sixth and Felipe Massa eighth and Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean completing the top 10.
Stewards are investigating two incidents from the session.
Pascal Wehrlein was furious with Esteban Gutierrez after the Manor driver had to take to the grass at the top of Eau Rouge and Raidillon to avoid the slower Haas.
Kevin Magnussen prompted anger from Vettel when he felt he was hampered by the slower Renault, saying on the radio: "What an idiot. Did you see that? It's free practice. It's called free practice, who gives a shit?"
Vettel was outpaced by team-mate Raikkonen through the hour, with the Finn pipping him by 0.096s as they set the early pace before Ricciardo went quicker. Then when they came back out for the final super-soft runs, Vettel did not improve while Raikkonen produced the lap that earned the top spot.
McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button did very little running, with the former not completing his first timed lap until the second half of the session. They finished 11th and 13th respectively.
Sauber also encountered what it described as "minor problems" with Marcus Ericsson's car but the team managed to get the Swede out in time to complete a handful of laps.
PRACTICE THREE TIMES
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m47.974s | - | 11 |
2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m48.189s | 0.215s | 18 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m48.297s | 0.323s | 12 |
4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m48.504s | 0.530s | 17 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m48.635s | 0.661s | 20 |
6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m48.739s | 0.765s | 12 |
7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m48.742s | 0.768s | 19 |
8 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m48.783s | 0.809s | 21 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m48.915s | 0.941s | 12 |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m49.272s | 1.298s | 16 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m49.453s | 1.479s | 9 |
12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m49.631s | 1.657s | 16 |
13 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m49.665s | 1.691s | 10 |
14 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1m49.716s | 1.742s | 11 |
15 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m49.761s | 1.787s | 15 |
16 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m50.023s | 2.049s | 9 |
17 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m50.078s | 2.104s | 9 |
18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m50.241s | 2.267s | 11 |
19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m50.420s | 2.446s | 13 |
20 | Esteban Ocon | Manor/Mercedes | 1m50.693s | 2.719s | 18 |
21 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m51.319s | 3.345s | 5 |
- | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | - | - | 2 |
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