Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheet at the end of the second free practice session for the German grand prix.

The Mercedes driver out-paced teammate Hamilton by four tenths of a second to end the 90 minute practice session with a quickest time of :1:15:614. Lewis Hamilton, 0.394 adrift, finished the session in second overall ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Max Verstappen slotted his Red Bull into fourth ahead of Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo in fifth and Kimi Raikkonen in sixth. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh quickest in the Force India ahead of Jenson Button, Sergio Perez, and Fernando Alonso.

The long runs suggest an advantage for Mercedes especially on the red-walled supersoft tyre but the Red Bull of Max Verstappen was able to turn laptimes on the yellow-walled soft tyre not far off the Mercedes pace. At the end of Friday Ferrari is currently the third best team behind Mercedes and Red Bull. However, their pace should improve on Saturday as they bolt in some fresher engines.

McLaren’s Jenson Button made a trip to the hospital after complaining for an eye irritation but the visit is believed to only a pre-cautionary matter.

The issue of track limits was shoved into the spotlight as the stewards warned that they would clampdown on anyone who ran over the white line on the exit of turn 2 more than three times.