Daniel Ricciardo kept his Red Bull top of the timesheets in the second practice session by setting a lap time of 1:18.455 on the super soft tyre, only three-tenths of a second faster than the lap he put in in first practice which also saw him go quickest.

Ricciardo's former teammate Sebastian Vettel ended the session in second place, improving on the pace he showed this morning. He was only marginally ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas who got his Silver Arrow into third position.

Kimi Raikkonen ended his day in fourth place, exactly three-tenths down on Ricciardo. Lewis Hamilton was fifth, but did not set a time on the super soft compound, suggesting there is more pace to come from the three-time world champion.

Max Verstappen trailed Hamilton in sixth place, once again failing to match the pace of his pace-setting teammate. Seventh was Nico Hulkenberg,  showing the improved pace of the Renault, while Fernando Alonso ended Friday practice in eighth.

Carlos Sainz conjured up a strong lap to pull his Toro Rosso inside the top ten, ending up in ninth, while completing the top ten was Stoffel Vandoorne. The Belgian suffered issues late on in the session and limped back to the pits with a strange noise coming from the engine.

There was a heavy crash for Pascal Wehrlein who lost control of his car on the way into Turn 11. Despite catching the initial bite, the car snapped in the opposite direction, sending him into the barriers. The German stepped out of the car and seemed okay but was rushed to the medical centre as a precaution. 

Jolyon Palmer also ended his day in misery as he too slammed into the barriers. On the way into the final corner, Palmer's car reacted similarly to Wehrlein's as he lost control, which resulted in a trip to the tyre wall. The car suffered major damage at the rear which could result in a gearbox change.

Fergal Walsh