Bottas sets the pace as Vettel trials shield

Valtteri Bottas emerged as the man to beat after topping Friday practice for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

The Austrian Grand Prix winner headed the field in both 90 minute sessions at Silverstone, with the Finn setting a 1:28.496s benchmark in Practice 2.

Bottas’ time, set utilising super-soft rubber, proved just 0.047s faster than Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who posted his best effort on soft compound tyres.

Hamilton switched to super-soft tyres during the session but ran off the road at Chapel, which left the Brit fearing he had damaged his car.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest just 0.3s shy of Bottas while Sebastian Vettel was fourth.

Vettel trialled the new shield cockpit safety device in opening practice where he ran an installation lap with the system fitted to his car.

The four-time world champion felt uncomfortable with the structure and elected to abort a planned practice run.

Meanwhile, both Mercedes and Ferrari introduced upgraded engines for this weekend’s race.

Red Bull proved the best of the rest with Max Verstappen comfortably quicker than Daniel Ricciardo.

The RB13, which featured more upgrades, proved well adrift of Mercedes and Ferrari, with Verstappen 0.6s off the pace, while Ricciardo was a further 0.4s back.

Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Felipe Massa (Williams), Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Esteban Ocon (Force India) completed the top 10, all using super-softs.

Massa encounters a spin at Chapel late in the session after setting his best time.

Carlos Sainz Jr had a major off-track excursion at the Maggotts/Becketts complex at the very start of the session, which consigned the Toro Rosso driver to the pits until the final 40 minutes.

He emerged to set the 11th quickest time, ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat in 12th.

Renault’s Jolyon Palmer also had a spin at Brooklands, ending up 18th ahead of only the two Saubers.