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.