Jenson Button's been doing the hokey cokey in the session. He's been in, out, in, out. Once again he pops out for a solitary lap, complains about "unbelievably low grip" before heading back in.

"I have to fight the whole time," he says. 

Not good.

Allan McNish
BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 analyst

Kimi Raikkonen has just come in, taken off the hard tyres and put on a set of softs. We should now be able to see the time delta between Raikkonen and Vettel.

Image source, EPA

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, as is often the case this season, are on different compounds at this stage of second practice. Vettel is on the medium tyres, while Raikkonen has just completed a 16-lap stint on the hard tyres.

I've just been transported back to 2006 with this comment. Agree, though. That is a worthy punishment.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Silverstone

It is very interesting looking at the lap times here. Initially in the run, Hamilton is much, much faster than everyone else. He is one or more seconds quicker than everyone else on the soft tyre.  As the run goes on he drops off to 1:35-1:37 very quickly whereas the Red Bulls keep up a decent pace in the 1:36s. On average there is only a tenth or two in with Hamilton and Ricciardo and Verstappen. It could potentially be interesting.

Kimi Raikkonen goes straight off at Becketts. There's a crosswind there and it looks to be causing the drivers a bit of a problem.

All is clearly not well with Jenson Button's McLaren at the moment.

"Jenson back off please back off. We need to box," comes the message over the radio.

"Very strange power. It's holding me back," is Button's reply.

Pretty much everyone is cracking on with some long runs now, although the Force India pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez - 14th and 15th respectively - are yet to slip on the soft boots. 

Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

It is proof that McLaren are making serious inroads. McLaren are closing the gap on the guys at the front. Instead of being at the back of the midfield, they are now in the middle of the midfield.

Contrasting fortunes at McLaren. Jenson Button is propping up the timesheet and has only managed a handful of laps, but Fernando Alonso is going very well. Very well indeed. He is P6, within 1.3s of Lewis Hamilton and just 0.7s off Kimi Raikkonen's best time. 

After a disastrous season last season, McLaren appear to be making genuine progress.

Excellent work!

Into the pits everyone goes, signalling the end of the qualifying simulation runs. Here's the order:

1) Hamilton 2) Ricciardo 3) Verstappen 4) Vettel 5) Raikkonen 6) Bottas 7) Grosjean 8) Massa 9) Sainz 10) Gutierrez 11) Nasr 

12) Hulkenberg 13) Alonso 14) Perez 15) Wehrlein 16) Palmer 17) Ericsson 18) Magnussen 19) Kvyat 20) Haryanto 21) Button

Ah, Verstappen scuffs it through the second sector and he slots in P3 after a 1:32.286. He's behind Daniel Ricciardo, who is four tenths down on Lewis Hamilton.

A good weekend for Red Bull on the cards?

Image source, Getty Images

That's some crucial track time lost for Nico Rosberg. Not a good start to the weekend at all.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is on a fast lap. He's faster than Lewis Hamilton through the first sector...