08/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's second session the air temperature is 21 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 34 degrees. It is bright and sunny, about as bright and sunny as it ever gets during your typical British summer.
This morning's session was dominated by Mercedes - isn't every session - the Silver Arrows pair separated by just 0.33s.
A further 0.805s back was third placed Nico Hulkenberg, with the next six drivers covered by just under a second.
It was a pretty uneventful session, a few lock-ups and spins but nothing significant.
That said, Hamilton's fastest lap of 1:31.654 was half-s-second quicker than last year's pole winning time, so we can expect further improvements as the weekend goes on.
Tyres this weekend are hard, medium and soft, and while most of the top ten set their best times on the soft, other than Verstappen who was on the hards, again, depressingly, the Mercedes duo were on the medium rubber.
Having handed their cars over to their teams' third drivers this morning, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Gutierrez are back on duty this afternoon.
As the lights go green there is serious activity in the Mercedes garage, where a number of mechanics are working on Rosberg's car. Indeed, the floor of the car has been removed and team members are working on the underside of the car.
Unlikely that he'll be needed in the car any time soon, Rosberg is in the paddock playing football with a crew member, the Mercedes driver still disputing the penalty given against Schweinsteiger last night.
The lights go green and Wehrlein leads the way, followed by Gutierrez, Haryanto, Grosjean, Vettel and Raikkonen.
On his first flying lap, Gutierrez posts 38.681.
As the Manors, Saubers and Renaults post times, Raikkonen posts a 34.374 to go quickest, with teammate Vettel posting 35.404 moments later.
Alonso splits the Ferrari duo with a 34.952.
Nasr asks "should I keep the tyres hot or let them cool down," asks Nasr. "Sorry Felipe, we are not allowed to tell you that," comes the reply.
Vettel, Kvyat and Magnussen run wide at Copse in quick succession.
Despite running wide in T9, as foes Grosjean, Verstappen goes quickest with a 33.894. Moments later Hamilton bangs in a 33.505.
Camera picks up on a broken front wing on Kvyat's car after the Russian spun at Club (T18).
Onboard with Massa as he has a nasty wobble through the Maggots/Becketts sequence.
Ricciardo goes second with a 33.696, the top three all on mediums.
Twenty minutes in and Mercedes reveals: "Small water leak found and sorted on Rosberg's car. Bodywork going back on now."
Following Massa's wobble, teammate Bottas also has a moment which suggests the Williams duo could be suffering tyre issues.
Wehrlein is the only driver on track and a pair of marshals remove debris from the track following Kvyat's off. The German subsequently is joined by Haryanto and Alonso.
Alonso improves to fifth with a 34.507 as Vettel goes quickest in S1. The German, on softs, maintains the pace in S2 despite a wobble in Becketts, finally crossing the line at 32.570 to go quickest by 0.935s.
Now Hamilton heads out on the softs, for the first time this weekend, the Briton stopping the clock at 31.660 despite not being the cleanest of laps. He subsequently complains that he can's "sync first gear".
In the Mercedes garage, Rosberg, who was strapped into his car, has now climbed back out again, the issue clearly not resolved.
Softs are clearly the go-to tyre now, as Ricciardo goes second (32.051), ahead of Vettel, Raikkonen and Massa.
"All the drivers beginning to show what they can do on the soft tyres," says Pirelli. "Not a massive gain compared to medium so far."
Game over for Rosberg seemingly. "Sadly it's curtains for Nico's running today," reveals Mercedes. "Driver out, bodywork off, investigation beginning..."
Verstappen improves to third (32.286) on the softs, the Dutch youngster quickest of all in the first sector.
Rosberg's absence spoils the symmetry at the top of the timesheet, with a lone Mercedes heading braces of Red Bulls, Ferraris and Williams.
Kvyat in all manner of trouble as he appears at war with the Toro Rosso, running wide and on to the grass. "So ******* hard to drive," he moans.
At half-time, it's: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Grosjean, Massa, Sainz and Gutierrez.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.
A 33.040 sees Alonso improve to sixth, teammate Button still down in 21st having only completed 3 laps.
Hamilton heads out on a set of used softs to begin his long run programme.
As Raikkonen has a curious off at Becketts, Button is told to "back off, back off, we need to box", the Briton appearing to have a throttle issue.
On the long runs, both Red Bulls are quicker than Hamilton. All three are on softs.
While most are doing their long runs on the soft, Vettel is on mediums and Raikkonen hard.
Despite not getting any running in this session, Rosberg is in the Mercedes garage in conversation, with Toto Wolff, among others, and smiling. He doesn't appear particularly bothered at not being out there.
A big moment for Hulkenberg in Copse as the car twitches under braking and subsequently runs wide.
After a quick check, Button is back on track. "It's unbelievably low grip," he is soon complaining, "it is fighting the whole time."
Massa is also struggling, the Brazilian reporting "massive graining".
"Interesting that Ferrari is on a different programme to most," says Pirelli, "Kimi having tried hard tyres, Seb the medium."
Hamilton pits. Having completed 20 laps on softs he swaps to mediums, the Briton charged with doing all Mercedes data acquisition today now that Rosberg cannot run.
Button posts 33.763 to go ninth, the McLaren driver on a different programme to his rivals due to his lack of running in this session.
While the Red Bulls look to have the long run pace on softs, Hamilton is looking pretty good on the mediums.
As Hamilton has a massive lock-up. Ricciardo is told to enter the [pits very, very slowly and not change gear.
The different tyre strategies make it difficult to make any early comparisons, though the Red Bulls are looking very strong.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.