Silverstone Free Practice Friday: Rosberg Flies as Hamilton Struggles

Nico Rosberg topped the times for Mercedes in both sessions on day one of the British Grand Prix weekend as team mate Lewis Hamilton struggled to ...

Nico Rosberg topped the times for Mercedes in both sessions on day one of the British Grand Prix weekend as team mate Lewis Hamilton struggled to match the German's pace.

Rosberg spent much of free practice one in pit lane with a hydraulic issue but his 12 laps still produced fastest lap on the hard tyre and a more productive afternoon carried him 0.347s clear of second fastest Kimi Raikkonen on medium tyres.

Rosberg did report rough gear changes and reported being "locked out" of his car's system on his way to 34 otherwise solid laps of afternoon running.

Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - British Grand Prix - Practice Day - Silverstone, England

Hamilton ended the day fourth fastest, the Briton admitting on his radio that he was struggling to match the pace of Rosberg, winner of three of the last four races. "The car's all over the place. I can't get any faster than I am now," said Hamilton during his long run when he was circulating over a second a lap slower than Rosberg.

Hamilton ended up just over a tenth of a second behind Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari, the two Maranello machines just two hundredths of a second apart.

The two Red Bulls were next up after a productive afternoon with Daniil Kvyat just over a tenth of a second up on team mate Daniel Ricciardo, the latter complaining, along with many others, of excessive oversteer.

Third fastest in FP1, Max Verstappen ended the day seventh, ahead of Toro Rosso team mate Sainz by just over a half a second while also complaining of excessive movement from the rear end.

Splitting the Red Bull juniors in his new 'B spec' Force India was Nico Hulkenberg, five places and almost a second faster than team mate Sergio Perez with both drivers providing the team with "positive feedback" about the upgrade package.

Felipe Massa was lead Williams, tenth fastest and 1.992s behind Rosberg on a typically quiet day for the Grove outfit. Valtteri Bottas was 12th, one position further up the order than team tester Susie Wolff had managed with the same car in FP1.

Lead Lotus Pastor Maldonado split the Williams cars while 14th fastest Romain Grosjean spent a portion of the afternoon helping his mechanics clean the dust and grime off his E23 back in pit lane after beaching it at Luffield after 17 minutes.

Fernando Alonso was the quicker of the two McLaren Honda drivers in 15th, his team mate Jenson Button describing his car variously as "unpredictable" and "horrible" on his way to 17th quickest.

Sauber languished 16th and 18th, Felipe Nasr the quicker of the two with Marcus Ericsson another afflicted with oversteer having watched Ferrari tester Raffaele Marciello use his machine in FP1.

At the back Will Stevens was the faster of the two Manor F1 drivers, Roberto Merhi briefly beaching his car at Luffield late in the session in his efforts to turn quick laps.

British Grand Prix Free Practice Two

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.155s - 34

2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m34.502s0.347s 29

3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m34.522s 0.367s 27

4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.621s 0.466s 23

5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1m35.009s 0.854s 25

6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m35.153s 0.998s 22

7 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m35.300s 1.145s 36

8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m35.387s 1.232s 34

9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m35.866s 1.711s 37

10 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m36.147s 1.992s 33

11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m36.164s 2.009s 32