Ferrari ended the second practice session well clear of the two Mercedes' drivers, with Sebastian Vettel setting a time of 1:34.120. His time was almost three tenths faster than teammate Kimi Raikkonen who was P2.

The Mercedes' followed suit but were a long way off the pace suggesting once again that the Silver Arrows struggle to get the softest compound into an optimum working range. Valtteri Bottas was seven-tenths of a second away from Vettel, but ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton who finished fourth.

The two Red Bull's were fifth and sixth, but Max Verstappen's car hit trouble with 20 minutes to go in the session, as his car ground to a halt on track. Nevertheless, his fastest time was good enough for P5, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

Felipe Massa was only just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, as both men ended Friday practice seventh and eighth respectively. Kevin Magnussen set a decent lap to go P9 and avoided the brake problems suffered by teammate Romain Grosjean, who could only finish fourteenth.

Only half a second separated the two bright pink Force India's with Sergio Perez slotting into tenth and Esteban Ocon into eleventh. Fernando Alonso was twelfth, ahead of Jolyon Palmer in thirteenth.

Toro Rosso driver's Carlos Sainz and home favourite Daniil Kvyat ended the session fifteenth and seventeenth, and they were split by the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, who will take a fifteen place grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Pascal Wehrlein was eighteenth, ahead of Lance Stroll in nineteenth and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the timesheets by setting a time that saw him finish his first day of practice in twentieth. 

Fergal Walsh