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British GP: Nico Rosberg leads practice, Lewis Hamilton only fourth

Nico Rosberg set the pace again in Friday afternoon British Grand Prix practice at Silverstone, with his Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton only fourth behind the Ferraris

Rosberg, quickest in first practice, clocked a 1m34.155s on the medium compound tyres to finish 0.466 seconds and three places clear of Hamilton, who made a mistake in the final sector on his low-fuel run.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who has endured torrid weekends at the last two races in Canada and Austria, was second quickest, 0.02s clear of team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

It was a frustrating day for Hamilton, who was unhappy with the stability of his Mercedes and reported during his long run that "the car is all over the place", although he had been quickest on the hard tyres at first.

The session, held in beautifully sunny conditions with air temperatures hovering around 23C, was red-flagged early on when Romain Grosjean beached his Lotus at Luffield.

On the resumption, Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat popped up into second on the hard tyres. Though he was unable to improve on mediums, that time still kept him fifth until the end, a tenth clear of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Toro Rosso's strong day continued as Max Verstappen finished seventh and Carlos Sainz Jr ninth with Nico Hulkenberg splitting the duo in eighth in the revised Force India after an early spell in third behind the Mercedes.

Felipe Massa was the highest-placed Williams, which does not traditionally show its true pace on Fridays, in 10th with Valtteri Bottas, who missed first practice as Susie Wolff was in the car, 12th.

Pastor Maldonado was 11th, two seconds off the pace, with Grosjean rejoining the fray after his earlier off to end the session 14th, one place behind Force India's Sergio Perez.

McLaren continued its plan to limit its running, after both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button changed engines to older units, with Alonso 15th and Button 17th and just 34 laps between them. Alonso had a minor excursion at Luffield but avoided getting stuck.

Sauber expected the sweeping turns of Silverstone to prove challenging for its car and so it proved with Felipe Nasr 16th and Marcus Ericsson 18th.

Roberto Merhi brought out a second red flag when he spun at Luffield, beaching the Manor in the gravel.

But he was able to get going again when marshals pushed him back onto the track.

The Spaniard propped up the timesheets, 5.7s off the pace and 1.6s slower than his team-mate Will Stevens in 19th.

PRACTICE TWO TIMES:

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.155s - 34
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m34.502s 0.347s 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 Jr. 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
12 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m36.183s 2.028s 33
13 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m36.351s 2.196s 29
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1m36.728s 2.573s 21
15 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m36.731s 2.576s 19
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m36.822s 2.667s 23
17 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m37.196s 3.041s 16
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m37.327s 3.172s 37
19 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1m38.279s 4.124s 21
20 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1m39.878s 5.723s 21

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