03/07/2015
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's second practice session, the air temperature is 23 degrees C, whilst the tach temperature is 46 degrees. It remains hot, sunny and typically un-British.
Despite having been sidelined for much of this morning with a hydraulics issue - which necessitated a change of gearbox - once back on track Nico Rosberg went quickest, edging out teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.070s.
The Toro Rossos of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were third and fifth, split by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
It was a fairly nondescript session, punctuated by numerous yellow flags as drivers either ran wide or spun... Hamilton being one of them.
The session marked the debut of the Force India B-spec car with which the Silverstone-based outfit hopes to take the fight to Red Bull. Based on this morning's 'out of the box' pace the team should feel mightily encouraged.
Having handed their cars over this morning, Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson and Valtteri Bottas are in action for the first time this afternoon.
There was limited running for the McLaren duo, and while Jenson Button suffered a leak, teammate Fernando Alonso opted not to run to conserve his engine.
Tyre options this weekend are hard (prime) and medium (option), the softer rubber not seen this morning.
There are two DRS zone, the detection point of the first is before Turn 3, with the activation point after Turn 5, while the second detection point is at Turn 11 with the activation point after Turn 14.
The lights go green but unlike this morning there is no mad dash to get out on track. Indeed, it is several minutes before an engine fires up and a driver - Ericsson - heads down the pitlane. Shortly after he is followed by Raikkonen and Grosjean.
Ericsson gets things underway with a 1:43.551, Raikkonen posting a miserable 46.606 shortly after.
Unlike FP1, Alonso is an early riser, though teammate Button is nowhere to be seen.
Sainz goes quickest with a 36.523 but is quickly usurped by teammate Verstappen 36.469, with Rosberg (35.513) and Hamilton 35.055) demoting them moments later.
The Force India duo go sixth and seventh, Hulkenberg (36.695), the quicker of the pair.
Raikkonen improves to fourth (36.475) as Vettel and Bottas join in the fun.
A minor moment for Massa as he runs a little wide on to the grass, thereby causing the car to snap out but he holds it together. Vettel gets a grandstand view.
As Nasr is told that nobody is really improving on this morning's times, an unhappy Hamilton declares that his car's "balance has changed". Nonetheless, he improves to 34.877.
Oh dear, Grosjean has beached his car, almost literally at T7. His car is stuck in the sand run-off. Out comes the red flag.
The Frenchman suggests a brake issue, "something went wrong at the rear, I don't know what, it's completely inconsistent," he moans.
The car cleared, the session resumes at 14:23.
Surprisingly, there is no mad dash to resume duties, Button and the Red Bull duo the only takers. As it happens, these are the only drivers yet to post a time.
Ricciardo posts 36.369 to go sixth, whilst his teammate goes second with a 35.009. Poor Button can only manage 38.591.
Alonso is off track at T7, like Grosjean, and takes a long, difficult drive through the kitty litter. Somehow he is able to continue, much to the delight of the crowd, though the gravel he dumps on the track will not please his rivals.
"We see you've gone off, we need to box this lap to check the car," the Spaniard is told.
Elsewhere, Button is unhappy with his car. "It's pretty horrible," he declares, "it feels like something is not right, it's unpredictable, really bad." Asked if he wants to complete another lap, the response is a resounding "no!"
Mercedes reveals that it has been reprimanded for covering Rosberg's car in FP1.
Thirty-five minutes in and drivers begin to switch to the softer medium rubber, among them the Mercedes and Toro Rosso duos.
Rosberg improves to 34.155 on the softer rubber, whilst Vettel (option) goes second with a 34.522.
Vettel is unhappy, complaining that he nearly lost his cat at T9.
Having posted PBs in the first two sectors, Hamilton can only manage 34.621 and remains third.
Another moment for Massa as he runs wide in T1 and gets a bumpy ride over the kerb and grass at high speed.
The speed differential between the two compounds doesn't seem that significant at present, and nor does the grip level. Fact is, nobody looks comfortable out there.
At 'half-time', it's: Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Kvyat, Verstappen, Sainz, Maldonado, Hulkenberg, Bottas and Ricciardo.
Grosjean's car finally arrives back at the Lotus garage, albeit looking very, very dusty.
No sooner has Massa improved to seventh than he is emoted when Hulkenberg posts 35.300 to go sixth.
In the Lotus garage, Grosjean helps clean the dust off his car.
Complaining of a "big snap", Hulkenberg is told that his team is aware that it is very windy.
Raikkonen goes quickest in S1, PBs in the next two sectors see him improve to fifth with a 35.095.
Rosberg is suffering an overheating problem but the fact he is not called in, and instead told to continue his run, suggests it is not critical.
Drivers now switching to longer runs with an eye on the opening stages of Sunday's race.
Raikkonen improves again, closing to within 0.347s of Rosberg as he goes second.
Alonso runs wide in T15, the Spaniard sending up a great cloud of dust. "Box, box, box," he tells the team.
"The gap between the medium and hard tyre is looking to be around 0.8-0.9 seconds on average so far," reveals Pirelli.
As he heads out, Hamilton is told his target is high thirty-eights. However, his initial times are in the mid thirty-nines. Rosberg bangs in a 38.358.
As Hamilton posts 39.905, Rosberg improves with a 37.988, both on the option rubber.
"The car is all over the place," complains Hamilton, "I can't go any faster than I am now."
Merhi is stuck halfway in the gravel at the infamous T7, the car beached on the kerb. As he finally gets the car free and back on track the red flag is shown.
Replay shows him losing the back end as he turned in to the corner. Despite the fact that he is heading back to the pits the red flag remains in place.
The session resumes with around 11 minutes remaining, the drivers resume their long run programmes.
As the clock counts down all but Alonso are on track, even Merhi is back in business. Some are on primes, some on options.
The session ends with Rosberg quickest, ahead of Raikkonen, Vettel, Hamilton, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Massa.
Maldonado is eleventh, ahead of Bottas, Perez, Grosjean, Alonso, Nasr, Button, Ericsson, Stevens and Merhi.
As the cars line up to perform practice starts it's clear that Hamilton, in particular, will be burning the midnight oil tonight, like Austria, the Briton clearly isn't at one with his car here.
An impressive morning for the Toro Rosso and Red Bull teams, whilst Ferrari will be happy with its day's work.
A strong showing from the B-spec Force India also.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.