Lewis Hamilton took over from team-mate Nico Rosberg at the top of the practice timesheets at Austria’s Red Bull Ring circuit, eclipsing the german by almost four tenths of a second.
The pair had been evenly matched in the early part of the session on the Soft compound Pirelli tyre but when the pair moved to the quicker Supersoft compound rubber, Hamilton found a new impetus and his first flying lap ended with the Briton 0.7s ahead of Rosberg, who only shaved a tenth of a second off his best time on his first lap on Supersofts. Rosberg eventually found more time on the Spielberg track but in the end he could only cut the deficit to 0.377.
As with the morning session, Fernando Alonso was third-fastest, though the Spaniard ended the session almost a second down on Hamilton. Fourth place went to Mercedes-powered Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, with team-mate Felipe Massa fifth.
After a difficult morning session in which both its drivers struggled, the afternoon was much more productive for Red Bull Racing. Sebastian Vettel finished sixth fastest, though 1.265s down on Hamilton, while Daniel Ricciardo finish eighth, just behind McLaren’s Jenson Button. Vettel emerged late from the Red Bull garage after his car required a new floor following a big spin in the morning. Ricciardo, too, had the floor of his RB10 changed following his own morning spin.
As in the morning, Kevin Magnussen ended the session in ninth place ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, the Frenchman once again taking Toro Rosso into the top 10.
Austrian FP2
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m09.542s 37 laps 2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m09.919s +0.377s 50 3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m10.470s +0.928s 40 4. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m10.519s +0.977s 44 5. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m10.521s +0.979s 39 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m10.807s +1.265s 39 7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m10.813s +1.271s 44 8. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m10.920s +1.378s 36 9. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m10.936s +1.394s 45 10 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m10.972s +1.430s 39 11 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m10.974s +1.432s 45 12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m11.261s +1.719s 45 13 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m11.296s +1.754s 36 14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m11.491s +1.949s 42 15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m11.765s +2.223s 30 16 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m11.806s +2.264s 42 17 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m11.935s +2.393s 39 18 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m12.229s +2.687s 43 19 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m12.262s +2.720s 46 20 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m12.279s +2.737s 36 21 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m12.937s +3.395s 24 22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m13.596s +4.054s 48
