Mercedes leave Ferrari trailing

British GP, Practice Two: Valtteri Bottas on top again for Mercedes ahead of Lewis Hamilton

Bottas on top again but Hamilton just 0.047s behind on slower soft tyres; Ferrari three tenths adrift of Mercedes

By Matt Morlidge

Last Updated: 14/07/17 2:55pm

Valtteri Bottas completed an impressive British GP double by topping the timesheets in Practice Two, though Lewis Hamilton was once again agonisingly close behind as Mercedes reigned supreme.

Much like in Silverstone's first practice session, Hamilton was within a tenth of Bottas' benchmark - but encouragingly for the home favourite, his fastest time was set on soft tyres while his team-mate's came on the optimum supersofts.

The outright lap record was also smashed by a W08 for the second time of the day, with Bottas' 1:28.496 four hundredths of a second faster than Hamilton's best effort.

Mercedes' dominance is ominous for the rest of the field, especially closest constructors' rivals Ferrari who did at least narrow the gap to the Silver Arrows.

Kimi Raikkonen finished three tenths adrift of Bottas in third while championship leader Sebastian Vettel was another tenth further back.

But Hamilton appears to be the man in control heading into Saturday's crucial qualifying session, as the four-time British GP winner also looked quick on his supersoft lap before making a mistake through the Village corners.

"He's probably the guy going into tonight who is looking favourite so far," said Sky F1's Paul di Resta. "Mercedes certainly look like they've got the best package compared to Ferrari."

Red Bull, after looking like Mercedes' nearest challengers in the morning session, had to settle for fifth and sixth as Daniel Ricciardo ended up half a second behind team-mate Max Verstappen.

On a chilly day at the iconic Northampton circuit, several drivers caught out by the gusty conditions. Carlos Sainz, Felipe Massa, Jolyon Palmer and Raikkonen were all lucky to avoid contact with the barriers.

"It's like balancing on a tight rope," said di Resta. "If someone gives you a little nudge, you tumble into the net."

Nico Hulkenberg was arguably the stand-out driver from the session as he maneuvered his Renault into seventh place, while Fernando Alonso - braced for hefty grid penalties at McLaren - will have been happy with ninth.

Their efforts were all the more impressive given respective team-mates Jolyon Palmer and Stoffel Vandoorne finished in 18th and 16th.

More to follow

British GP Practice Two Timesheet

Driver	Team	Tyre	Time
1. Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Supersoft	1:28.496
2. Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Soft	+0.047
3. Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Supersoft	+0.332
4. Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Supersoft	+0.460
5. Max Verstappen	Red Bull	Supersoft	+0.602
6. Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Supersoft	+1.090
7. Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Supersoft	+1.440
8. Felipe Massa	Williams	Supersoft	+1.510
9. Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Supersoft	+1.742
10. Esteban Ocon	Force India	Supersoft	+1.887
11. Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	Supersoft	+2.059
12. Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Supersoft	+2.066
13. Sergio Perez	Force India	Supersoft	+2.128
14. Romain Grosjean	Haas	Supersoft	+2.165
15. Lance Stroll	Williams	Supersoft	+2.199
16. Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Supersoft	+2.286
17. Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Supersoft	+2.339
18. Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Supersoft	+2.383
19. Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Supersoft	+3.120
Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Supersoft	+3.433

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