- British GP - FP2
Hamilton top despite late issue
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the second Friday practice for the British Grand Prix, despite experiencing a technical issue towards the end of the session.
Hamilton clocked a time 0.228s faster than team-mate Nico Rosberg as both bolted on the softer medium tyres and completed a quick lap. Hamilton then returned to the track for some longer race simulation runs when his car lost drive coming out of The Loop, just four corners into the lap. Rosberg managed to complete a full programme of 35 laps to Hamilton's 14, which could provide an advantage in understanding the car in race conditions.
Fernando Alonso was third fastest for the second session in a row and 0.736s off Hamilton as Ferrari again showed good Friday pace. Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest but only managed 11 laps after failing to return to the track following his hot lap, 1.003s off Hamilton. Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel was another tenth off the Mercedes' pace but managed to complete a healthy total of 27 laps.
Valtteri Bottas was sixth fastest as Williams looks set for more of a struggle than in Austria, but suffered a bizarre incident at the end of the session when part of his Williams' engine cover came off. The incident happened on the Hanger Straight in the final ten minutes of the session and he immediately dived into the pits to return the car to the garage. A similar issue appeared to cause damage to the engine cover on Marcus Ericsson's Caterham earlier in the session, forcing him to pull into the old pit lane. Jean-Eric Vergne also suffered an odd incident when his left-front wheel came loose and he had to park the car shortly after Copse.
The McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen were seventh and eighth fastest ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, whose woes appear to be continuing this weekend in ninth place, with the Finn complaining about his Ferrari not driving straight at certain points during the session.
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