SPIELBERG, Austria -- Red Bulls hopes for a triumph on its home circuit were dampened Friday as Mercedes regained its dominance in Formula One, clearly setting the pace on the opening day of practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. With Daniel Ricciardos maiden victory in Canada two weeks ago, Red Bull ended a six-race winning streak by Mercedes but the Australian driver and his teammate Sebastian Vettel did not come close to matching their rivals speed on the Red Bull Ring. Lewis Hamilton beat teammate Nico Rosberg to the fastest time in the second practice. Hamilton completed his best lap on the 4.3-kilometre (2.7-mile) track in 1 minute, 9.542 seconds, topping Rosberg by 0.377. Ferraris Fernando Alonso was almost a second off the lead in third. Vettel came sixth, more than 1.4 seconds behind Hamilton, while Ricciardo posted the eighth fastest time. Mercedes also came 1-2 in the opening practice, with Rosberg beating Hamilton by 0.140. "Its so close between the two of us," Rosberg said about the fight with Hamilton for pole position. "Im hoping we will still have the edge on everybody else. That seems to be the case today." However, Hamilton said he wouldnt mind if Rosberg started in front of him on Sunday. "Hunting definitely brings out the better side," the 2008 F1 champion said. "When you are in front, you feel vulnerable and any mistake you make you are going to be caught." In the morning session, Ricciardo and Vettel came only 13th and 15th respectively. "We clearly did better in the afternoon," Vettel said. "We are not there where we want to be when it comes to speed ... but it will be warmer on Saturday and Sunday and I think that will bring us closer." In the first session, Vettel brought his car back to the garage undamaged following a spectacular incident in the final turn. He came off the track and spun twice on the grass before the car came to a standstill on the track again. "That wasnt planned of course," the four-time champion said. "I went too wide and the wet grass was slippery." Ricciardo also spun on the same spot shortly afterward, prompting team boss Christian Horner to joke "they were just warming up the crowd." "We are trying to find out the limit, and both just came on the grass," said Horner, adding the track was still lacking grip during the first session. "There was also a little bit of rain in the air. Thankfully everything is fine." Rosberg quit his first practice after 19 laps with a minor problem to his hybrid engine, enabling his technicians to fix the problem in time for the afternoons session. The German, however, couldnt keep up with Hamilton this time and didnt hide his anger as he was unaware over engine tests his team was applying on his car toward the end of the second session. "I was suddenly losing power and asked over the radio what was happening," Rosberg said. "Only then they told me they had changed my engine settings." Rosberg leads Hamilton in the drivers standings by 140-118 points going into Sundays race, the first GP in Austria since 2003. Most of the 22 drivers knew the track only from computer simulation. Alonso is one of just four drivers who raced on the track before, alongside McLarens Jenson Button, Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen and Williams Felipe Massa. The track is one of the shortest on the F1 calendar and features fast straights and only nine turns. Weather conditions could become an issue in the race as strong winds in the second practice Friday caused several drivers problems, especially on the third and eighth turns. The second session was considerably faster than the first as temperatures went up and teams were able to test their so-called supersoft tires, which helped cut lap times by approximately 0.6 seconds. The third practice is scheduled for Saturday, followed by the qualifying. 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"Look what hes done all year," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said after a 7-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. "Whos pitched better in baseball?" Buehrle (8-1) has eight wins through May for the first time since 2002 and an ERA of 2.16. He gave up two runs in the first two innings, but by then Toronto had seven, starting with homers on consecutive pitches by Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista in the first inning. That gave the Blue Jays a major league-high 67 homers and gave Buehrle a big cushion. The 15-year veteran lefty blanked the Red Sox for his final five innings and allowed seven hits and no walks while striking out five in seven innings. Dustin McGowan pitched two shutout innings as the Blue Jays took a half-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East. "Its nice, obviously" to lead the majors in wins, "but Ive always said you can go out your next eight starts and (stink) and be under .500," Buehrle said. "I try to throw it out the window and get ready for my next start." Toronto improved to 8-2 in its past 10 games, while Boston lost its seventh straight. The Red Sox went 0-6 on their homestand, the first time since June 1994, when they also lost six in a row at Fenway Park, that they were winless on a homestand of at least six games. "Were in a stretch of games here where were giving up too many runs early and were scuffling to score runs," Boston manager John Farrell said. "Thats a dangerous combination." Red Sox ace Jon Lester (4-6) had his worst outing of the season, allowing seven runs and seven hits through 1 1-3 innings. Then he settled down and retired 12 straight batters before giving up a single to Kevin Pillar with one out in the seventh. But Pillar was caught stealing. Lester left with one out in the seventh after allowing 10 hits and striking out just three. He had averaged an AL-best 10.83 strikeouts per nine innings. "The list goes on and on of things that I just flat out diddnt do," Lester said.dddddddddddd "I just wasnt able to do it with anything. Pick a pitch, I wasnt able to do it." Buehrle retired 11 of his last 12 batters. He began the day tied with Zack Greinke, Rick Porcello and Adam Wainwright with seven wins each. The Dodgers Greinke was scheduled to pitch against the New York Mets on Thursday night. Buehrles only loss came at home against Boston on April 25 when he allowed seven runs in an 8-1 loss. Lester retired the first batter of the game, Jose Reyes, on a grounder. But Cabrera hit a 1-0 pitch for his eighth homer and Bautista followed with his 12th. "You never anticipate that because (Lesters) one of the best," Gibbons said. In the second, six of Torontos first seven batters reached base on five hits and a walk. Steve Tolleson and Pillar singled and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Gose. Reyes doubled in both runners and stole second. Cabrera walked and Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion followed with RBI singles. Bautista came across when Brett Lawrie grounded into a forceout at second, making it 7-1. The inning ended when centre fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. made a diving catch on a fly ball by Dioner Navarro. Boston scored in the first on a leadoff double by Dustin Pedroia and a single by Jonny Gomes then added a run in the second on Xander Bogaerts third homer. NOTES: Toronto manager John Gibbons lost a challenge in the sixth when the on-field ruling that Pillar was caught stealing was upheld. ... Bautista has reached base in 48 of his 49 games. ... Boston has been outscored 37-16 in its seven-game losing streak, its longest since dropping its last eight games in 2012. ... The Red Sox open a three-game series against Tampa Bay on Friday night with John Lackey (5-3) facing Chris Archer (3-2) of the Rays. Toronto returns home to start a three-game set with Oakland, with Liam Hendricks (0-0) pitching against Scott Kazmir (5-1) of the Athletics. The Blue Jays called up Hendricks on Thursday from Triple-A Buffalo, where he was 5-0. R.A. Dickeys start was moved from Friday to Saturday. ' ' '