Vettel pips Alonso in second practice

It was another quiet session, with only minor incidents and little drama, but the issue of the afternoon appeared to be tyre wear, with many drivers reporting extreme graining.

Lap times went up to six to eight seconds slower during stints on the softer tyres as many drivers' rubber started looking extremely unhealthy after a relatively small number of laps.

Vettel went quick enough on the soft tyres to take the top spot with a 1m16.877s just before the one-hour mark, deposing previous pacesetter Rosberg, who was then nudged back to third by Alonso.

Championship leader Mark Webber put the second Red Bull fourth, ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari and a strong performance by Force India's Adrian Sutil in sixth.

Morning pacesetter McLaren was a low-key seventh (Lewis Hamilton) and 11th (Jenson Button) this time, split by Renault's Robert Kubica. Michael Schumacher's Mercedes and Force India's Tonio Liuzzi.

Most drivers managed between 30 and 40 laps during the 90 minutes, but Jarno Trulli had a frustrating afternoon, with an electrical problem jamming his Lotus in gear early on. He eventually came out to complete 11 laps and get ahead of the Virgins, while his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was the fastest new team driver by a second over the two Hispanias.

Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:16.877            32
 2.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:16.963  + 0.086   35
 3.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:17.151  + 0.274   34
 4.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:17.273  + 0.396   33
 5.  Massa          Ferrari                1:17.401  + 0.524   33
 6.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:17.415  + 0.538   28
 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:17.522  + 0.645   29
 8.  Kubica         Renault                1:17.529  + 0.652   36
 9.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:17.688  + 0.811   34
10.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:17.903  + 1.026   35
11.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:17.961  + 1.084   33
12.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:18.385  + 1.508   27
13.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:18.447  + 1.570   41
14.  Petrov         Renault                1:18.582  + 1.705   40
15.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:18.658  + 1.781   34
16.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:19.142  + 2.265   38
17.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:19.168  + 2.291   32
18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:19.274  + 2.397   41
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:19.969  + 3.092   35
20.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:20.879  + 4.002   29
21.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:21.097  + 4.220   31
22.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:21.346  + 4.469   11
23.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:21.488  + 4.611   25
24.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:21.577  + 4.700   30

All Timing Unofficial