Rosberg quickest as Hamilton crashes

Nico Rosberg set a blistering pace to top the times in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver took advantage of a crash for team-mate Lewis Hamilton to post the fastest time of the weekend in Practice 2.

Rosberg, who has signed a new two-year deal with the Brackley squad, clocked a 1:20.435s on the super-soft tyres to end the day on top.

Title rival Hamilton had set the pace in opening practice but was restricted to just four laps in the afternoon session.

The reigning world champion suffered a high speed spin at Turn 11 which resulted in contact with the barriers, bringing out the red flags.

The Brit managed to limp back to the pits but he failed to reappear in the session.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo emerged as the best of the rest just 0.5s slower than Rosberg on the super-soft tyres.

The Australian believes his pace is genuine as he targets a podium finish this weekend.

“We are looking pretty good but we would like to be a bit closer to Mercedes,” said Ricciardo.

“We are sitting second best and I think we are more or less where we expected to be. If we can keep our nose in front that would be nice.”

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third fastest albeit almost a second shy of Rosberg on the same rubber.

The sister Red Bull of Max Verstappen was fourth ahead of Hamilton, who set his personal best on the soft compound tyres before the crash.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the day in sixth in front of the McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, who showed encouraging pace for the Woking squad.

Force India rounded out the top 10 with Nico Hulkenberg edging team-mate Sergio Perez.

Haas F1’s Esteban Gutierrez finished in 11th, while Williams struggled for speed with Felipe Massa only managing a time good enough for 12th position.

Result: Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Practice 1

Result: Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Practice 2