» 2013 British GP: Rosberg finishes Friday practice on top

Nico Rosberg topped the table in what was a mostly dry second free practice session at the British Grand Prix, with the threat of rain looming throughout the 90 minute session.

Teams sent their drivers out on intermediate tyres at the commencement of FP2, as the track was still damp minus the standing water. It only took five minutes until the switch to slicks were made when Jean-Eric Vergne appeared on circuit with Pirelli’s revised manufactured tyre.

If rain were to play a part come Sunday, teams will be looking at a 1.43/44 lap time for the change to slick tyres, which is always imperative during a race.

The cars were struggling to keep off the grass and tarmac areas due to a very green track, which Massa proved as his run of free practice misfortune continued for a third weekend running.

After only seven laps, Massa got out of line entering Stowe and spun off the track into a wall as he tried to correct it. The front end of the car was mangled with the right front suspension taking most of the damage.

The Brazilian could only console himself at the fact team principal Stefano Domenicali, wasn’t there to witness the crash.

Alonso didn’t quite have the poor outing as his teammate, but accident aside it wasn’t much better. The Spaniard only managed tenth, over a second away from pace-setter Rosberg, who celebrated his 28th birthday the day before.

The day didn’t seem to go the way Lotus had hoped. After introducing their passive DRS, the team found their drivers out of the mix with Grosjean ninth and Raikkonen thirteenth.

Red Bull look comfortable with Webber and Vettel in second and third place respectively. The same can be said for Mercedes, who aren’t too worried about tyre wear as Silverstone is mainly harder on the front tyres, rather than the rears which causes them grief every other race weekend.

2013 British Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:32.248		33
2.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:32.547	+ 0.299	26
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:32.680	+ 0.432	31
4.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:32.832	+ 0.584	34
5.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:32.911	+ 0.633	28
6.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:33.171	+ 0.923	34
7.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:33.290	+ 1.042	38
8.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:33.313	+ 1.065	34
9.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:33.322	+ 1.074	38
10.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:33.494	+ 1.246	32
11.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:33.740	+ 1.492	29
12.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:33.896	+ 1.648	36
13.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:34.120	+ 1.872	30
14.	Sergio Pérez	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:34.130	+ 1.882	29
15.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:34.998	+ 2.750	32
16.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Renault FW35	1:35.070	+ 2.822	29
17.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW35	1:35.127	+ 2.879	35
18.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:35.802	+ 3.554	27
19.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Renault CT03	1:35.984	+ 3.736	32
20.	Charles Pic	Caterham Renault CT03	1:36.079	+ 3.831	35
21.	Max Chilton	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:37.329	+ 5.081	33
22.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:43.466	+ 11.218	7