Mercedes team radiopublished at 15:01 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Team to Rosberg: "Cool the car, Nico, cool the car"
Summary
Rosberg fastest in second practice, Raikkonen 2nd, Vettel 3rd
Hamilton 4th & struggling with car
Grosjean, Alonso & Merhi spin into gravel
Final practice & qualifying coverage from 09:30 BST on Saturday
Mercedes team radiopublished at 15:01 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Raikonen goes into secondpublished at 15:00 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Raikkonen has climbed to second place, three tenths down on Rosberg, while Vettel and Hamilton are third and fourth.
Battle joined between Ferrari and Mercedes so far....
Postpublished at 14:58 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Lotus on Twitter:, external Nothing like a good polish. Romain hard at work.
Image source, LotusSpit and polish down at Lotuspublished at 14:58 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Clearly feeling guilty for driving his sparkly Lotus through that gravel trap earlier, Romain Grosjean has been helping the team prepare the car for its return to the track by applying a bit of elbow grease.
Well done that man.
Dancing on icepublished at 14:53 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Feeling hot in the sun? Check out this little video teaser that will be aired ahead of qualifying tomorrow on BBC Two from 12:10 BST.
It's Valtteri Bottas driving a version of the Silverstone circuit on ice in Lapland.
You weren't expecting that were you...
Top 10published at 14:50 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Here's the top 10 with 40 minutes left:
1 Rosberg, 2 Vettel, 3 Hamilton, 4 Kvyat, 5 Verstappen, 6 Hulkenberg, 7 Sainz, 8 Massa, 9 Maldonado, 10 Bottas.
'Oooooh, Matron'published at 14:49 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
The new nose on the Force India has a rather 'nostrily' feel with those two holes set into it.
Let's go in for a closer look...
Sorry, wrong picture. Here we are...
Get involved - #britishf1heropublished at 14:44 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Nathan Tague: Aside from drivers, Adrian Newey. Absolute genius and the man behind countless title-winning cars.
James Humberstone: It has to be Sir Frank Williams. He created a legacy team that is ingrained in F1 history.
Jeremy Newlin: James Hunt - for all the wrong reasons...
Image source, Getty ImagesHamilton stays third on mediumspublished at 14:43 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Lewis Hamilton has been unable to match the times of Rosberg and Vettel on the medium tyre.
He's done a time four tenths off Rosberg and one tenth of Vettel on the quicker rubber.
Hulkenberg cool on Ferrari linkpublished at 14:42 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer"Nico Hulkenberg is on Ferrari's list as a potential replacement for Kimi Raikkonen, should they decide to ditch the Finn later this year. But the German was playing his cards close to his chest on Thursday. While Daniel Ricciardo - number one on Ferrari's list, but under contract to Red Bull until the end of 2018 - said on Tuesday he was 'flattered' to be considered, Hulkenberg said: 'You do two good races and that's what happens.' He added that it was 'still early days' but admitted he was looking at his options: 'I'd be silly not to.'"
Image source, Getty ImagesRosberg quickest on medium tyrepublished at 14:38 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
We've just seen drivers switch from the hard tyre to the medium for the first time, with Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel setting the ball rolling.
Rosberg sets a 1:34.155 to go top of the pile, with Vettel slotting into second place three tenths back.
Lewis Hamilton is third, another four tenths back, but set that time on the hard tyre.
McLaren team radiopublished at 14:36 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Team: "Do you want another lap?"
Jenson Button: "Nope. The stability is terrible - the car's bouncing all over the place."
Get involved - #britishf1heropublished at 14:35 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Gemma Webb: Easily Jenson Button. He's a Champion, down to earth and credits the fans and the team. Top bloke.
I really like Jenson Button for all the reasons that Gemma states above, but having stumbled on the below picture from 2000 earlier today I simply have to use it. Sorry, JB.
Image source, Getty ImagesThomas Knights: Professor Sid Watkins. Amazing man, did so much for the sport.
Tony Crowther: Graham Hill, without doubt the epitome of 'British' and the best ever ambassador for any British sport, not just F1!
Alonso also off at Luffieldpublished at 14:32 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
We've just seen the McLaren of Fernando Alonso sail off at Luffield, a la Grosjean.
It's odd for two cars to go off there, leading James Allen and Allan McNish in the BBC commentary box to speculate that gusting winds could be affecting things.
Toro Rosso impressing so farpublished at 14:30 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
Image source, AFP/GETTY"All season it has been apparent that Toro Rosso have produced a very good car this year. And this weekend Max Verstappen has revealed just how good he thinks it would be if only the Renault engine was competitive. 'P3, behind Mercedes,' he said.
"Team-mate Carlos Sainz did not go quite as far, but elaborated: 'We look at GPS data after every session and compare ourselves with Ferrari, Williams and even Mercedes. After watching our data from Barcelona, I'm convinced that this car, with a very decent engine, will be fighting with Williams and, on some occasions, with Ferrari. That's why I keep praising the guys and saying what a hell of a job they are doing, because to produce a car that is capable of fighting against these two teams is really impressive. We looked at the data and Turn 3 and Turn 9 in Barcelona, only Mercedes was quicker than us.'
"Of course the unspoken conclusion from this is that the Toro Rosso is actually better than the Red Bull, which was developed by Adrian Newey and on twice the budget. That can't be comfortable for Newey, Christian Horner and co."
Top 10published at 14:26 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Image source, F1McLaren looking for better after poor morningpublished at 14:24 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer"This is already turning into another difficult day for McLaren, with various engine-related woes emerging in first practice. Honda's difficulties are all the more frustrating because the McLaren chassis appears to be a very good car - around the level of the Ferrari. Fernando Alonso acknowledged this in response to a question from yours truly this weekend.
Image source, Reuters"'Yeah, I am happy with the car and the philosophy of developing the car,' he said. 'Happy with the next steps that will come. Happy with the progress of Honda. Obviously we had to use too many parts. In eight races five engines is a little bit sad. but if this means we are learning a lot, it is very well.
"'The steps that are coming are quite big but this is not too difficult when you are at the back two seconds off the pace. Every step you do is half a second or 0.8secs. when you are fighting for a podium you gain 0.1secs every two weeks. I think we will get much closer to the top guys in the second part of the championship and for next year as well.'"
Green lightpublished at 14:23 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
The Lotus is cleared away and we're running green again.
Meanwhile, a little earlier...published at 14:23 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Before Grosjean decided to explore the extremities of the Silverstone circuit, I was going to point out this messy moment for Williams driver Massa, who got a little loose through Vale but was able to continue.
Image source, F1Lotus team radiopublished at 14:19 British Summer Time 3 July 2015
Romain Grosjean: "I'm stuck in the gravel." Team: "Yep, I can see."
