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German GP: Lewis leads second practice

HOCKENHEIM, Germany - Lewis Hamilton denied Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg the satisfaction of lapping fastest for a second time at his home 2014 German GP on Friday (July 18).

With track temperatures soaring, Hamilton set a sizzling pace with a quickest lap of 1min18.341 seconds in the afternoon session.

F1 World championship leader Rosberg, who had been fastest before lunch with a best of 1min19.131, was second on the timesheets a mere 0.024 off Hamilton's pace.

Dominant Mercedes, seeking their first German GP victory as a works team since Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio triumphed 60 years ago at the Nurburgring, finished 1-2 in both sessions.

NO FRIC, NO PROBLEM?

Friday was the first chance to assess the performance of cars since the governing body ruled against a front and rear interconnected suspension (FRIC) system.

All teams had presented their cars for scrutineering without the systems on Thursday but the times showed no seismic change in the pecking order even if champions Red Bull appeared to have edged slightly closer.

Mercedes also made a rare pitlane bungle when they had the wrong tyres ready for Hamilton during a race simulation and Rosberg had to wait behind him with overheating brakes.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who has won the prevoious two races at the southern circuit which alternates with the Nurburgring, was third fastest in the morning - and 0.292 off the pace - and then ninth in the afternoon.

'START FIGHTING'

Brazilian Felipe Massa, the team's race regular, was only 11th fastest with a best time of 1min20.542 but was sixth after lunch with team mate Valtteri Bottas taking back his car from Susie Wolff and ending 10th quickest.

Wolff's session was not without stress during the first practice session, and she hit trouble on her opening lap out of the garage when the car suffered a sensor problem.

Whether she gets a chance to progress further remains uncertain and Wolff was under no illusions.

Wolff said: "The next step is obviously to do more and that's the difficult part, to get more opportunities. I was incredibly lucky to get the chance with this team this season and of course I have to try to get more opportunities, but as we know that's not easy.

"So I need to start fighting for that now."

Caterham, under new ownership following the departure of Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, had a torrid day with Kamui Kobayashi's car catching fire. The Japanese joined marshals in extinguishing the flames.

2nd Free Practice Session from the F1 German GP at Hockenheimring
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1min18.341
2. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1min18.365
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull - Renault 1min18.443
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1min18.887
5. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) McLaren 1min18.960
6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1min19.024
7. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1min19.221
8. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull - Renault 1min19.248
9. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1min19.329
10. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 1min19.385
11. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Sauber - Ferrari 1min19.417
12. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso - Renault 1min19.452
13. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes 1min19.581
14. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 1min19.593
15. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso - Renault 1min19.760
16. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Renault 1min20.158
17. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Renault 1min20.358
18. Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber - Ferrari 1min20.504
19. Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia - Ferrari 1min21.328
20. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Caterham - Renault 1min21.870
21. Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia - Ferrari 1min21.898
22. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Caterham - Renault 1min23.728

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2014 German GP this weekend.
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