Hamilton sweeps Friday practice as Rosberg hits trouble in FP2

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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

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PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
01Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:31.66036
02Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:32.05130
03Max VerstappenRed Bull1:32.28636
04Sebastian VettelFerrari1:32.57040
05Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1:32.73638
06Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:33.04031
07Valtteri BottasWilliams1:33.49338
08Romain GrosjeanHaas1:33.61432
09Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:33.76320
10Felipe MassaWilliams1:33.80129
11Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:33.84027
12Esteban GutierrezHaas1:34.00032
13Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:34.13935
14Felipe NasrSauber1:34.15425
15Nico HulkenbergForce India1:34.32135
16Sergio PerezForce India1:34.35637
17Pascal WehrleinManor1:34.54940
18Jolyon PalmerRenault1:34.61041
19Marcus EricssonSauber1:34.72236
20Kevin MagnussenRenault1:34.95941
21Rio HaryantoManor1:35.84136
22Nico RosbergMercedes0