Nico Rosberg’s golden run continued unbroken as he topped the times ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in second free practice session for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old German, who is 43 points ahead of defending threetime champion Hamilton at the top of the driver’s standings, clocked a best lap in one minute and 23.922 seconds.

This enabled him to outpace Finn Raikkonen by 0.254 seconds and Hamilton by seven-tenths, ample proof that he has the pace and edge to extend his winning sequence to five races this year at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“It’s great to be back in Europe and to be back in Spain,” said Rosberg. “It was a good start for us with two good sessions. Times were looking good on the long run and also on the shorter stints.

“Ferrari also looked very strong around this circuit so I’m looking forward to third practice and qualifying and to see how we perform.”

Rosberg’s confidence was as clear as Hamilton’s hesitancy on a day that supplied, as expected, a continuation of this year’s form to date.

Hamilton said: “I struggled with the car balance throughout the day – and this afternoon, in particular, it felt really tricky to drive. I had traffic on my quick lap, so the lap times don’t tell the full story, but it’s clear we have plenty of work to do.”

Elsewhere, Max Verstappen, making his debut for Red Bull after Daniil Kvyat was demoted to Toro Rosso, finished both practice sessions behind new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel went out of his way to slam speculation that Ferrari are set to dismiss team boss Maurizio Arrivabene after failing to win a race this year. The four-time champion said he supported Arrivabene, adding that he is doing “a very good job”.

Technical director, James Allison, has been touted, by the Italian media, as a replacement.