Hamilton sweeps Friday practice as Rosberg hits trouble in FP2
Lewis Hamilton completes a clean sweep of Friday practice sessions for the British Grand Prix by topping FP2, as Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg sees his afternoon efforts cut short by a water leak.
The triple world champion’s 1:31.660 flyer set on the soft tyre was slower than his FP1 benchmark (1:31.654) clocked on the medium compound. It was still nearly six tenths quicker than his pole position time from last year (1:32.248) at Silverstone.
Rosberg reported some issues with his W07 right from the start of FP2, with Mercedes finding a small water leak following a round of extra checks. While the reigning Constructors’ champions initially thought they had the problem under control, it quickly appeared that the current championship leader would not be able to take part in the session anymore.
Second-placed Daniel Ricciardo was almost 0.4s adrift of Hamilton, with the Australian heading Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen. After sampling the updated version of the Halo cockpit protection system in FP1, Sebastian Vettel placed fourth again, nine tenths off the table-topping pace.
Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who has been re-signed by Ferrari for 2017, slotted into fifth ahead of the lead McLaren-Honda of Fernando Alonso in sixth.
Williams improved from his low-key FP1 performance: Valtteri Bottas finished seventh, three spots ahead of Felipe Massa. Sandwiched in between the two FW38s were Romain Grosjean’s Haas in eighth and Jenson Button, who recovered from a disjointed start of his session to make it two Honda-powered MP4-31s in the upper half of the field.
After placing its two drivers near the front in FP1, Force India had a quieter session in the afternoon, as Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez logged the 15th and 16th fastest times respectively.
It was a stronger session for Manor, with Pascal Wehrlein posting the 17th quickest mark to outpace both Renaults, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, and team-mate Rio Haryanto, who was 21st and last of the drivers having set a time.
AS IT HAPPENED: FP2 for the British Grand Prix
Chris Medland’s 2016 British Grand Prix preview
From the cockpit: Felipe Nasr on back-to-back races
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01
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:31.660
36
02
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
1:32.051
30
03
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:32.286
36
04
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
1:32.570
40
05
Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari
1:32.736
38
06
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
1:33.040
31
07
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
1:33.493
38
08
Romain Grosjean
Haas
1:33.614
32
09
Jenson Button
McLaren
1:33.763
20
10
Felipe Massa
Williams
1:33.801
29
11
Carlos Sainz
Toro Rosso
1:33.840
27
12
Esteban Gutierrez
Haas
1:34.000
32
13
Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso
1:34.139
35
14
Felipe Nasr
Sauber
1:34.154
25
15
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India
1:34.321
35
16
Sergio Perez
Force India
1:34.356
37
17
Pascal Wehrlein
Manor
1:34.549
40
18
Jolyon Palmer
Renault
1:34.610
41
19
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
1:34.722
36
20
Kevin Magnussen
Renault
1:34.959
41
21
Rio Haryanto
Manor
1:35.841
36
22
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
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