SILVERSTONE, United Kingdom: Lewis Hamilton took full advantage of the absence of his Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg to top the times in Friday afternoon’s second free practice for the British Grand Prix.
The defending three-time world champion dominated the session while the German, who holds an 11 points lead over him in this year’s title race, was left on the sidelines as his car was dismantled for repairs in the team garage.
Rosberg’s misfortune allowed the Red Bulls of Australian Daniel Ricciardo and his teammate Dutch teenager Max Verstappen to shine during a warm and sunny session as they took second and third places.
Hamilton was fastest with a best lap in one minute and 31.660 seconds, three-tenths quicker than Ricciardo and six-tenths clear of Verstappen, as all the leading drivers witched to soft tires in improved warmer conditions.
Hamilton had been fastest in the morning, narrowly ahead of Rosberg, and continued to make solid progress with his preparations for Sunday’s race when he seeks to complete a hat trick of consecutive victories.
Four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari teammate Finn Kimi Rakkonen, who was confirmed as remaining with the Italians for 2017 earlier in the day, wound up in fourth and fifth places ahead of a resurgent Fernando Alonso.
The two-time champion Spaniard proved that he and McLaren Honda are making rapid progress and have improved dramatically since their forlorn display at last year’s British race.
Finn Valtteri Bottas was seventh for Williams ahead of Frenchman Romain Grosjean in the leading Haas car, the 2009 champion Briton Jenson Button in the second McLaren and Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second Williams.
Button’s progress was hampered power unit problems and he completed only 20 laps before being called in to the pits by the team while Raikkonen survived a dramatic off-track excursion at Becketts.
Hamilton tops second practice
Hamilton tops second practice
