While Lewis Hamilton dominated the morning session, almost a full second ahead of Button, it was the reigning World Champ who seized the advantage in the latter session. With the track temperature of 50'C heating up the tyres, Button clocked a 1:28.280 to finish 0.098s ahead of Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber.
Webber, though, wasn't given the chance to attack Button's time in the latter stages of Practice Two as a suspected engine failure cut short his session.
Sebastian Vettel was next in line, outpacing Hamilton while Fernando Alonso found some pace on the softer tyres to take fifth place ahead of the two Mercedes GP drivers.
Report: Friday's second practice got underway with the track temperature sitting at a sweltering 50'C and Bruno Senna, who sat out the morning session, the first out for start of the installation laps. The Hispania driver stayed out on track, clocking a 1:37.906. His time, though, was easily beaten as Vitaly Petrov took the P1 slot, seven seconds quicker.
Unlike the morning session, the drivers were quickly into the action, putting in the miles with Lewis Hamilton dethroning Petrov before losing out to Robert Kubica. Kamui Kobayashi went fourth ahead of Rubens Barrichello, Jaime Alguersuari, Tonio Liuzzi and Heikki Kovalainen. The order again changed as Jenson Button overhauled Kubica only to lose out moments later to Hamilton, a 1:29.117 for the 2008 World Champion.
Button, though, continued to trade early blows with his team-mate, setting two fastest sectors on his way to the P1 slot while the two Renaults battled for third place. Michael Schumacher joined the action, continuing Merc GP's extensive test of their completed f-duct system. The German claimed fourth place, 0.4s off the pace. Hamilton returned to the front of the McLaren tussle.
Mark Webber put in his first flying lap, negotiatings traffic in the form of Felipe Massa on his way to sixth place. The Aussie, winner of the last two races, improved to fourth and then third. His team-mate Sebastian Vettel was one of only three drivers, the other two being Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil, who had yet to set a time. When Vettel finally did emerge the German shot to the front of the timesheets, taking fourth place behind Webber before taking third off him.
Petrov became the first noteable off-track racer of the session, running wide and onto the gravel at Turn Eight. Tonio Liuzzi was another to run wide at the four-apex corner while Kobayashi spun his Sauber as the drivers put in a lap after lap in preparation for Saturday's qualifying and the grand prix.
After numerous laps without setting a time, Rosberg put his name on the sheets, taking sixth place behind his team-mate Schumacher. Hamilton, using the softer option Bridgestone rubber, lowered the benchmark to a 1:28.672. A few minutes later, Vettel topped it with a 1:28.590. Alonso, also on the softer tyres, climbed from 15th to third, 0.135s behind Vettel. The trio, though, were all dropped as Button went quickest.
Felipe Massa came close to the wall at Turn Eight but damaged to avoid it and continued. Massa, in keeping with his tradition from the Monaco GP, forgot to use his mirrors and almost collected Schumacher as he returned to the track. Webber climbed to second place while Massa, using the softer tyres, finally broke into the top ten, taking tenth place.
The final five minutes saw all the drivers venture out but for Webber his last run was cut short as his Red Bull racer broke down on track with a suspected engine problem.
Times:
01. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.280 30 laps
02. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:28.378 + 0.098 24 laps
03. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:28.590 + 0.310 26 laps
04. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.672 + 0.392 32 laps
05. Alonso Ferrari 1:28.725 + 0.445 30 laps
06. Rosberg Mercedes 1:28.914 + 0.634 22 laps
07. Schumacher Mercedes 1:28.974 + 0.694 22 laps
08. Kubica Renault 1:29.225 + 0.945 34 laps
09. Petrov Renault 1:29.501 + 1.221 36 laps
10. Massa Ferrari 1:29.620 + 1.340 26 laps
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:29.629 + 1.349 16 laps
12. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:29.987 + 1.707 17 laps
13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.053 + 1.773 34 laps
14. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.176 + 1.896 34 laps
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:30.386 + 2.106 32 laps
16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:30.627 + 2.347 28 laps
17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:30.766 + 2.486 32 laps
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:30.933 + 2.653 37 laps
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:31.610 + 3.330 37 laps
20. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:33.013 + 4.733 28 laps
21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:33.081 + 4.801 11 laps
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:33.312 + 5.032 29 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:33.420 + 5.140 35 laps
24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:33.740 + 5.460 25 laps
Source: Planet-F1
