Verstappen tops second practice at Hockenheim

Max Verstappen maintained Red Bull's position at the top of the timesheets in the second Formula 1 practice for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, only to suffer a setback when an issue on his car left him in the garage for 20 minutes of the session.

After seeing Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo finish fastest in FP1, Verstappen continued to show the team's impressive practice pace at Hockenheim, setting a fastest time of 1m13.085s in the second 90-minute session of the day on the Ultrasoft tyre.

However, Verstappen's session came to an end with 25 minutes still on the clock after reporting an issue over team radio. The Dutchman opened the radio on his car before downshifting so the Red Bull pit wall could hear what the problem was, before pitting and only returning to the track with three minutes left on the clock.

Verstappen's time saw him edge out Lewis Hamilton at the head of the field, with the Briton finishing just 0.026 seconds behind in second place ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas in third.

While both Hamilton and Bottas were able to find a decent chunk of time when switching from the Soft to the Ultrasoft compound tyre, Ferrari failed to make the same kind of jump, leaving Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen fourth and fifth respectively in the final FP2 timesheets.

Haas emerged as the midfield leader once again with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen taking P6 and P7. The pair was followed by Sauber's Charles Leclerc in eighth, with Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon completing the top 10 for Renault and Force India respectively.

Sergio Perez finished just one place behind teammate Ocon in 11th, while Carlos Sainz Jr. took P12 ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. With a penalty resigning him to the back of the grid for the start on Sunday, Ricciardo opted against completing a qualifying simulation, instead focusing solely on long run pace, leaving him 13th overall.

Marcus Ericsson wound up 14th for Sauber ahead of the Toro Rosso pair of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, while McLaren had a difficult session as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finished P17 and P20. They were separated by the Williams duo of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, the latter escaping a trip through the gravel late in the session unscathed.

Running resumes at 12pm local time at Hockenheim on Saturday with final practice.

RESULTS: F1 German Grand Prix Free Practice 2