German GP: Vettel closer to Mercedes as Rosberg tops FP2

Rosberg lapped in 1m15.614s, a tenth slower than he managed in FP1, but four tenths clear of Hamilton who suffered a scrappy lap on his low-fuel run.

Vettel was third quickest for Ferrari, almost six tenths down on Rosberg but a couple of tenths clear of the Red Bulls.

Max Verstappen pipped teammate Daniel Ricciardo by 0.034s for fourth, ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Story of the session

Rosberg lapped in 1m17.415s on the soft-compound tyre, quickly topped by Hamilton on 1m17.067s, which was 0.348s faster. Rosberg then set a new fastest final sector time on his second lap on the tyres, which Hamilton emulated moments later.

"They're going to be more strict with track limits, we need to be careful at Turn 1," Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was told, just before Perez's Force India got some air after running wide at Turn 1, the Nordkurve, and his car was launched by a hump in the run-off.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg went quickest on the supersoft tyre as the low-fuel runs began, with a 1m16.781s, before Raikkonen topped him with 1m16.512s.

Ricciardo briefly took P1, just shading Raikkonen with a lap that was showered with spectacular sparks, on 1m16.490s, before Rosberg set the new benchmark of 1m15.614s, 0.876s clear.

Hamilton only managed a 1m16.008s in response, after suffering a big slide under traction in the Mercedes Arena section. His time was almost four tenths slower than Rosberg.

Verstappen went third quickest on 1m16.456s to just beat Ricciardo.

Vettel shows Ferrari potential

Vettel was the last of the front runners to run with the supersoft tyre, and rocketed up to third on 1m16.208s, 0.594s slower than Rosberg and exactly two tenths off Hamilton.

That demoted the Red Bulls to fourth and fifth, ahead of Raikkonen.

Vettel's long run was spoiled by traffic, and he complained over the radio to his team about its strategy.

Hulkenberg was best of the rest in a Force India v McLaren duel, ahead of Jenson Button, Perez and Fernando Alonso. Button complained his cockpit was getting hot, and then missed a chunk of the session due to a trip to the medical centre.

Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniil Kvyat were just 0.025s apart, just outside the top 10, with Valtteri Bottas the fastest Williams in 13^th.

Romain Grosjean was 14^th for Haas, having run wide at the Spitzkehre hairpin early on: "Help me with the brake balance, I don't know what to do, nothing is working," he pleaded.

Felipe Massa was 15^th in the second Williams, ahead of Esteban Gutierrez's Haas, Kevin Magnussen's Renault, Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) and Pascal Wehrlein (Manor).

Jolyon Palmer was 20^th for Renault, ahead of Rio Haryanto's Manor and Sauber's Felipe Nasr.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	43	1'15.614
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	36	1'16.008	0.394	0.394
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	39	1'16.208	0.594	0.200
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	40	1'16.456	0.842	0.248
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	38	1'16.490	0.876	0.034
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	45	1'16.512	0.898	0.022
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	43	1'16.781	1.167	0.269
8	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	16	1'17.087	1.473	0.306
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	44	1'17.148	1.534	0.061
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	21	1'17.225	1.611	0.077
11	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	32	1'17.342	1.728	0.117
12	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	38	1'17.367	1.753	0.025
13	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	44	1'17.425	1.811	0.058
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	13	1'17.602	1.988	0.177
15	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	40	1'17.686	2.072	0.084
16	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	42	1'18.005	2.391	0.319
17	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	46	1'18.056	2.442	0.051
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	28	1'18.130	2.516	0.074
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	42	1'18.193	2.579	0.063
20	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	47	1'18.313	2.699	0.120
21	Rio Haryanto	Manor	Mercedes	47	1'18.591	2.977	0.278
22	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	41	1'19.295	3.681	0.704