Four drivers, including title hopeful Nico Rosberg, briefly ran with the device fitted to their cars in the opening 90-minute session at the Spa circuit, evaluating it for a possible introduction in 2018.
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Rosberg has remained within his planned usage of engine components and is now on his fourth allocation of each part, so will incur no penalty.
Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from the very back of the grid after serving a mammoth 30-place grid penalty following further changes to his engine on Friday.
No matter where he qualifies on Saturday, Hamilton is nearly certain to start from the back row of the grid for Sunday’s race after new power unit components fitted to his vehicle in Friday practice took him over his quota of turbochargers and MGU-H units for the season.
The Spa track, nestled in the Ardennes forest, is ordinarily known for its rather cool climate. Mercedes have won 43 of the last 50 races and all but one of the 12 this year.
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso has been hit with a 35-place grid penalty after his team installed a new power-unit in his vehicle yesterday.
Governing body the FIA had meant to introduce the “halo” next year but the strategy group of leading bosses voted last month to delay it by a year so further research could be conducted. Here is a look at the odds to win the race. I just hope I can get into points.
Organizers said 20,000 tickets were sold to Dutch fans.
Thanks to the impact Verstappen has made since joining five races into the season – securing three more podium finishes to follow up his win in Barcelona – Red Bull has overtaken Ferrari and sits second in the constructors’ championship.
In his nine previous seasons in F1, Hamilton has been involved in several collisions in the early stages at Spa, having been shoved wide by Alonso at La Source in 2007, taken out by Grosjean in ’09 and ’12 and, of course, hit by Rosberg on the second lap of the 2014 race.
“They have issues to deal with this weekend with one of their cars, so that gives us further opportunities”, Horner said.
Nico Rosberg said he did not even notice the Halo on his vehicle after testing the safety device in FP1 on Friday. Some also wore a protective halo device created to reduce the risk of head injuries, following the deaths of F1 driver Jules Bianchi and British IndyCar driver Justin Wilson past year.
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The halo was first tried by Raikkonen during preseason testing in Spain, but a definitive model is not yet ready for next year.
