Button Clinches Top Spot in Second China Practice

Things got back to normal during the second practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix this Friday, as Brawn GP's Jenson Button topped the timing sheets ahead of usual practice winner Nico Rosberg of Williams F1 Team. The British driver scored a lap time approximately half-of-second better than last year's pole position.

Most teams focused on testing the much-controversial super soft compound tires during P2, and the lap times showed a sudden increase in performance. On the downside, however, tire degradation became a problem mid-way through the practice sessions, as considerable chunks of rubber were spread around the track after the first part of the 90-minute practice.

McLaren was expected to perform well following their good results in P1, but both the Mercedes works drivers, alongside Ferrari's, Renault's and BMW's failed to challenge for a Top 10 all day. Kovalainen eventually finished the highest from the aforementioned pack, setting the 9th best time of the day.

For the frontrunners, however, P2 was business as usual. Rubens Barrichello dominated the session from beginning to almost-end, as he was on top of the charts one minute to the finish line. Nico Rosberg had other plans, however, and grabbed the lead seconds before the end of the session. The Brazilian veteran hit back and topped the charts once again, just before Button edged him by 0.025 seconds in the dying seconds of the P2.

Red Bull Racing duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were the next quickest driver of the day, as they were the only drivers finishing the day less than half-of-second behind Button.

Here are the complete results of Friday's P2:

1. Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)                       1:35.679
2. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)                          1:35.704
3. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes)                1:35.881
4. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)                         1:36.105
5. Sebastian Vettel ( Red Bull-Renault)                   1:36.167
6. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)                                             1:36.217
7. Kazuki Nakajima ( Williams-Toyota)                    1:36.377
8. Timo Glock (Toyota)                                            1:36.548
9. Heikki Kovalainen ( McLaren-Mercedes)             1:36.674
10. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)          1:36.800
11. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)                  1:36.829
12. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)                                       1:36.847
13. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)                1:36.941
14. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)                                    1:37.054
15. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)               1:37.219
16. Nelsinho Piquet ( Renault)                                  1:37.273
17. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)                            1:37.491
18. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber)                             1:37.544
19. Fernando Alonso (Renault)                                1:37.638
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes)      1:37.750