Very solid start to the weekend for Mercedes, with Hamilton taking first and Bottas second in both practice sessions. Romain Grosjean is best of the rest, behind the usual top six - surely he is going to get among the points sooner rather than later. Ninth time lucky this weekend?

We shall see. We've third practice and the thrills and spills of qualifying to get through first. We'll be live here on the site from 11:30 BST tomorrow.

Thanks for your comments and company today. I'll leave you with one final F1/pop crossover suggestion.

Kevin Prior: “U can’t touch this” by Lewis C Hammerton.

Stop. Hammer time.

Vaishach: Jennie is probably right there. Since the Ferrari engine upgrades they have looked incredibly competitive. To justify more, Ericsson did put the car in the points in Bahrain.

Toppertect: The ‘hype’ seems to have forgotten who Leclerc's team mate is. All credit is being given to Charles Leclerc, but maybe more needs to be given to Sauber. They have genuinely made significant improvements this year, and Leclerc is simply showing the teams ability.

Peter O'Sullivan: I make Jennie Gow right. The Sauber a much better car than it used to be. It has no doubt helped Leclerc stand out.

Jacqui Baker-Stubbs: Is Fernando Alonso just exhausted at this point? He’s had a lot of racing in the last few weeks and Le Mans would have been crazy for him.

Final two minutes of P2. Mercedes one-two once again as it stands - with Hamilton again in first.

Image source, Reuters

Kevin Magnussen has a nightmare of a pit stop there - the right front tyre isn't fitted properly and starts to wobble off as he exits. "Stop the car," comes the shout on the Haas team radio, and Magnussen does. He didn't quite make it out of the pit before stopping so it may not be a penalty... watch this space.

We had this with Sergio Perez's tyre coming off in France, for which Force India got a 15,000 euros fine, with an 85,000 euros fine suspended.

Image source, EPA

It is now more than an hour since Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in this session. Any chance of the P2 leaderboard in the final seven minutes?

Stoffel Vandoorne has an overheating engine.

Bit of a tangle as Max Verstappen tries to whizz past Sergio Perez - eventually getting past him after initially having to run wide to avoid a collision. The spark's still there for Verstappen. The spark is still definitely there.

Image source, Getty Images

Stoffel Vandoorne on his team radio: "I have no tyres any more. They are finished."

Stagnation in the times.

1) HAM 1:04.579

2) BOT +0.176

3) VET +0.236

4) RIC +0.452

5) VER +0.546

6) RAI +0.686

Image source, Reuters

So who's right there - Jennie or Jolyon?

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

In response to Jennie Gow: I would turn that around and say he is making the Sauber look better than it is. I think if you take Marcus Ericsson's lap times in the Sauber, you wouldn't be thinking it was as good.

Jennie Gow
BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

Charles Leclerc is incredibly talented and he will get into a Ferrari drive and will probably be a world champion.

But just to put it into context I would say he is very lucky to be in a very good Sauber at the moment, because that car hasn't been great in the past and now they have a car which actually is quite useful.

I think that helps Leclerc to look as impressive as he is, because if he was in an absolute dog of a car he might not have as much of a hype.

Image source, Getty Images

Tay-lo: How about Haas coveringThe Byrds "lost my drivin' wheel" for the f1 pop crossover?

Matthew Cole: How about Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” feat. Kimi Räikkönen (Team Radio Mix)?

James Brooks: Who can forget Michael Bolton's 'When a Mansell loves a woman'?

Very much stating yourself a child of the 1990s there, James.

Well, it seemed as if Pierre Gasly's session was over - now it seems it isn't. He's back in the Toro Rosso. Let's hope he can get back out there and get some more times in. For all the time he's been off the track, he's still ninth fastest.

Kevin Magnussen is having problems with the power unit in his Haas. He is told not to go up into eighth gear.

Image source, Getty Images

F1FL: Ferrari and Simply Red mashup?

Inge: Pop crossover (well, not exactly pop): Max Verstappen and Edith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien".

You say it's not pop, but I'm sure Calvin Harris (other producers are available) could remix it.

Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly, speaking to Sky Sports: "It was a bit strange after FP1, I felt some vibration of the front left and the team checked on the car and it was fine, and then there was some under-steer on the kerb and it broke my line - I don't know why. It's annoying not be able to finish the session. I did three laps this morning, so it's important for Brendon [Hartley] to get a clean run to collect some data, so we shall see this afternoon."

Image source, Getty Images

Pierre Gasly's P2 has ended early after his run-off. The wishbone pulled out of the chassis - and he was close to running into the back of the Force Indias. His front left tyre was towing out and gave up when he went off the track.

Gasly has been in the garage scratching his head and looking at the data with his performance engineer to see what went wrong.

We're still waiting for Fernando Alonso - who is back out there after his earlier car problems - to stick in a flying lap. The McLaren driver is currently down in 19th, faster only than Lance Stroll in the Williams.

Image source, EPA