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NICO ROSBERG pipped team-mate Lewis Hamilton to set the pace in first practice at the British Grand Prix . The German went quickest in the final seconds after missing much of the session because of a loss of hydraulic pressure that stranded his car out on the Silverstone track.

Rosberg beat championship leader Hamilton’s time by just 0.07 seconds.

Max Verstappen, 17, was an impressive third for Toro Rosso, while Williams test driver Susie Wolff was 13th.

Hamilton – who leads the drivers’ championship standings by 10 points from Rosberg — set the early pace and was a second clear after the first runs, which for Rosberg were curtailed after just five laps when his car ground to a halt at Becketts.

Mercedes fixed the car in time for Rosberg to get out for the final five minutes and on fresher tyres and with the track in better condition he put in two laps slightly quicker than Hamilton’s earlier time. The two Mercedes were 1.2secs clear of the rest of the field, underlining the belief that the Mercedes drivers will be in a race of their own tomorrow from 13:00 BST, on a track that poses one of the toughest all-round tests of a grand prix car on the F1 calendar.

Hamilton was on an even faster lap, setting the fastest first sector time, before abandoning it after a snap of oversteer in the demanding, high-speed Becketts sweeps.

Hamilton had an incident-packed session, spinning at Stowe in the early part of the session and then running wide and off track at Brooklands.

Williams test driver Wolff was 13th fastest on her second practice outing of the season, 0.8secs slower than team-mate Felipe Massa.

Verstappen had claimed on Thursday that the Toro Rosso, in terms of chassis performance alone, was the second fastest in F1 behind Mercedes. And there was good evidence that he had a point, with the 17-year-old Dutchman beating Raikkonen by 0.058secs and his team-mate Carlos Sainz fifth fastest, only 0.139secs slower.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was sixth fastest ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Massa completing the top 10.

It was yet another difficult day for McLaren, for whom Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button ended up 17th and 18th fastest, the Spaniard faster by 0.638secs. Alonso had to limit his mileage because he was using an old engine, fitted after a brand new unit used at the last race was broken in his first-lap crash with Raikkonen.

The Spaniard also had problems with the boost of his hybrid section during the session.

Button missed all but the final 10 minutes of the session when his car developed a leak. — BBC Sport