Rosberg was confined to the garage by what was described initially as a small water leak. Further work on his car, however, revealed an undisclosed problem which required longer remedial work.
Hamilton set the pace with 1m 33.505s on medium Pirelli tyres early on, then cut down to 1m 31.660s on the soft. That was not as fast as he had gone on mediums in the morning, however, despite (perhaps because of) a big jump from 21 to 35 degrees Celsius track temperature.
Giving Red Bull hope, Ricciardo was second on 1m 32.051s with team mate Max Verstappen third on 1m 32.286s. Ricciardo’s session ended on a slightly worrying note, though, as he was told to slow and avoid changing gear as the flag fell.
Sebastian Vettel’s gearbox dramas at the end of FP1 were rectified and he was fourth for Ferrari on 1m 32.570s, with team mate Kimi Raikkonen fifth on 1m 32.736s.
It was another good session for McLaren, with Fernando Alonso sixth with 1m 33.040s, but less good for Jenson Button, whose engine developed an unusual power delivery problem that kept him in the garage for some time, and then obliged him to pit again when he tried a lap. Eventually, however, he lapped in 1m 33.763s to take ninth and put both McLarens in the upper echelon.
Valtteri Bottas got his oversteery Williams into seventh with 1m 33.493s as Romain Grosjean made it a good session for Haas with eighth on 1m 33.614s, and Felipe Massa in the second Williams completed the top 10 with 1m 33.801s.
It was another relatively quiet session, though Daniil Kvyat damaged his Toro Rosso’s front wing after spinning over the kerbs at Club.
