Hamilton finishes Friday fastest in rain-curtailed FP2

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was the fastest man on track at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday, in a rain-hit second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton's best time of 1:44.753s was hot on the heels on the all-time best lap of 1:44.503s at Spa, set by Jarno Trulli during qualifying in 2009. He was 0.262s faster than Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas was third fastest, narrowly pipping Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Sebastian Vettel was fifth fastest in the second Ferrari.

Renault's Jolyon Palmer had been the first man on the timing screens with a lap of 1:48.846s. That was quickly bettered by Raikkonen, the Ferrari driver picking up where he'd left off in the morning session.

There was an early spat between Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Force India's Sergio Perez. Magnussen appeared to cut across Perez, earning a rebuke from the Mexican driver who called the Dane "so dirty, always" over the team radio.

Verstappen and Vettel briefly went top before the two Mercedes drivers took charge. Hamilton's initial lap of 1:45.634s on softs put him almost seven tenths faster than Bottas on supersofts.

• Kimi Raikkonen tops FP1 timesheet at Spa

Once he moved to ultrasoft compounds, Hamilton cut nearly a full second off his time to record the fastest lap of the day. It allowed him stay ahead of improved efforts from Raikkonen, Bottas, Verstappen and Vettel before teams turned their attention to long distance runs.

There was some mid-session wheel-to-wheel action between Magnussen's team mate Romain Grosjean and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg through the Bus Stop. Meanwhile Fernando Alonso's audacious trajectory through the apex of Eau Rouge raised eyebrows in terms of respecting track limits.

With half an hour remaining in the 90-minute session, raindrops started to make their presence felt in parts of the 4.352-mile circuit. The track turned increasingly slippery, and teams eventually recalled their drivers even before more serious precipitation commenced. It meant a subdued end to the session, with the chequered flag eventually shown to a now empty and thoroughly soaked track.

Earlier in the session there had been minor problems with the DRS on both Haas cars, while Daniil Kvyat reported power fluctuations on his Toro Rosso during his initial runs. Team mate Carlos Sainz had similar power issues mid-session, while Kvyat himself later reported his race seat getting uncomfortably hot.

Daniel Ricciardo's initial runs were slower than expected, earning him a recall to the Red Bull pits to sort out "a little bit of an issue" on the RB13. As a result of time lost in the garage, he was one of the last drivers to set a qualifying lap on ultras. He ended the session sixth fastest ahead of Hulkenberg and Force India's Esteban Ocon. Sainz and Palmer rounded out the top ten.

Felipe Massa had to sit out the session after his morning accident forced the team to change his FW40's survival cell. It will be scrutineered overnight before Saturday morning's final practice.

Belgian Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 results

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