F1 German GP: Rosberg leads Mercedes team-mate Hamilton in FP2
Nico Rosberg set the pace in second free practice for the German Grand Prix, outpacing Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton by four-tenths of a second
The home hero had topped the morning session, but initially lagged behind Hamilton on the first runs using the soft Pirelli rubber by four-tenths.
But when the duo then bolted on the super-soft Pirellis, reckoned to be around 1.2 seconds faster than the softs, Rosberg took the upper hand.
First Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg and then Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen hit the top after doing their first super-soft laps, before the two Mercedes drivers.
But Rosberg had his first flier just after the 30-minute mark, setting a time of 1m15.614s to take top spot.
Hamilton then completed his lap, but was slower in all three sectors and ended up 0.394s slower after a slightly ragged effort.
Initially, Red Bull pairing Max Verstappen and Daniel Riccairdo were best of the rest after relegating Raikkonen.
But then Sebastian Vettel, who had a longer break between his runs, finally set his super-soft time just before the 45-minute mark to take second place, six-tenths off Rosberg.
Verstappen and Ricciardo ended up fifth and sixth, with the latter earning criticism from Hamilton late in the session for jinking into the pit exit while passing a slow Manor.
That led to Hamilton moving to the left and complaining over the radio.
Hulkenberg was eventually shuffled down to seventh ahead of Jenson Button, who only completed 16 laps and missed the second half of the session.
Both Button and McLaren-Honda team-mate Fernando Alonso looked to have the potential to go quicker, but ended up slotting into eighth and 10th, sandwiching Force India driver Sergio Perez.
The two Toro Rosso drivers, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat, were separated by just 25 thousandths of a second in 11th and 12th, ahead of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.
Romain Grosjean, who appeared to be battling the same problems under braking as he was in the morning session and had both an off and a spin at the Turn 6 hairpin, was 14th fastest, just ahead of Felipe Massa's Williams.
But the Franco-Swiss driver only completed 13 laps during the session, spending much of it in the pits presumably chasing the cause of the vibration under braking he complained about over the radio.
During 90 minutes, multiple drivers, including Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso and Perez, were reported for running wide beyond track limits at Turn 1 - early in the session, race control issued a message to teams that this situation was being carefully monitored.
This led to drivers being regularly warned by their teams, albeit with regular infringements continuing, particularly for Perez.
PRACTICE TWO RESULTS:
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m15.614s | - | 43 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m16.008s | 0.394s | 36 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m16.208s | 0.594s | 39 |
4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m16.456s | 0.842s | 40 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m16.490s | 0.876s | 38 |
6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m16.512s | 0.898s | 45 |
7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m16.781s | 1.167s | 43 |
8 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m17.087s | 1.473s | 16 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m17.148s | 1.534s | 44 |
10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m17.225s | 1.611s | 21 |
11 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m17.342s | 1.728s | 32 |
12 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m17.367s | 1.753s | 38 |
13 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m17.425s | 1.811s | 44 |
14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m17.602s | 1.988s | 13 |
15 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m17.686s | 2.072s | 40 |
16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m18.005s | 2.391s | 42 |
17 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1m18.056s | 2.442s | 46 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m18.130s | 2.516s | 28 |
19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m18.193s | 2.579s | 42 |
20 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m18.313s | 2.699s | 47 |
21 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1m18.591s | 2.977s | 47 |
22 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m19.295s | 3.681s | 41 |
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