British GP: Rosberg puts Mercedes on top in FP2

After the morning downpour and consequent dearth of running, teams wasted no time in getting straight out on a still-damp track at the start of the afternoon.

The circuit was dry enough for slicks within 10 minutes and Rosberg was among the pacesetters from the outset.

Force India's Adrian Sutil, morning practice leader Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso and world champion Sebastian Vettel all had multiple spells on top as the times settled down over the following half an hour.

But then with 40 minutes remaining, Rosberg put in a 1m32.248s to claim a first place he would not lose, as teams then made their habitual switch to longer runs.

Vettel was second at that point, but his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber demoted him to third when he rejoined after a long spell in the garage.

Force India took fourth and eighth on the first day of running at its home track, with Paul di Resta quicker than Sutil by the end.

Di Resta's fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton was just one place further back in fifth, but Jenson Button's McLaren was only 11th.

Ricciardo and Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne showed very encouraging pace in sixth and seventh.

Lotus duo Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen were down in ninth and 13th.

Ferrari had a disappointing session too. Fernando Alonso was only 10th, while his team-mate Felipe Massa crashed at Stowe after just seven laps.

The Brazilian ran slightly wide through the corner when the track was still a little damp and spun back into the opposite wall, mangling the Ferrari's front end.


Pos Driver                Team                  Time      Gap        Laps
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m32.248s             33
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m32.547s  + 0.299s   26
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m32.680s  + 0.432s   31
 4. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m32.832s  + 0.584s   34
 5. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m32.911s  + 0.663s   28
 6. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.171s  + 0.923s   34
 7. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.290s  + 1.042s   38
 8. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m33.313s  + 1.065s   34
 9. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m33.322s  + 1.074s   38
10. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m33.494s  + 1.246s   32
11. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.740s  + 1.492s   29
12. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.896s  + 1.648s   36
13. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m34.120s  + 1.872s   30
14. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m34.130s  + 1.882s   29
15. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.998s  + 2.750s   32
16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m35.070s  + 2.822s   29
17. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m35.127s  + 2.879s   35
18. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m35.802s  + 3.554s   27
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m35.984s  + 3.736s   32
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m36.079s  + 3.831s   35
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m37.329s  + 5.081s   33
22. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m43.466s  + 11.218s   7