Hamilton inches ahead in second practice

Mercedes AMG Petronas

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time during the second practice session ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

The Mercedes driver recorded a time of 1:18.341 to edge out team-mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.024s as temperatures soared at the circuit – air temperature hit 33c, while the track was measured at 58c.

Rosberg, who topped the first session earlier on Friday, held the upper hand during the first runs on prime tyres, but the German went wide on his first lap on options, handing the initiative to Hamilton. Rosberg’s second run was more representative, but he remained a few hundredths of a second down on his team-mate.

Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest for Red Bull, just 0.102s down on Hamilton, while Kimi Räikkönen was over half a second further back in fourth place.

Kevin Magnussen was fifth, with Felipe Massa in sixth position for Williams. Jenson Button was seventh, narrowly ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Valtteri Bottas, who handed over his Williams FW36 to development driver Susie Wolff for the morning session, rounded out the top 10.

Adrian Sutil briefly topped the times after becoming the first driver to switch to options and he ended the session in 11^th place, with Daniil Kvyat close behind.

Sergio Pérez and Force India team-mate Nico Hülkenberg were separated by 0.012s as they came 13^th and 14^th, ahead of Jean-Éric Vergne. Lotus’s troublesome season showed no signs of abating as Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean could manage only 16^th and 17^th, while Esteban Gutiérrez finished in 18^th as he returned to the cockpit of the Sauber C33 after Giedo van der Garde was given an outing in the first session.

Jules Bianchi was 19^th fastest, ahead of Marcus Ericsson, who was able to return to the track following an early stoppage when his car developed an oil pressure problem.

Max Chilton was 21^st, while Kamui Kobayashi’s session came to an end after 40 minutes following a small fire in the CT05. Marshals quickly extinguished the fire, with some assistance from Kobayashi, but smoke continued to trail from the car for some time.