Alonso edges Vettel in second practice

The Ferrari driver enjoyed a brief mid-session battle with his team-mate Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Mark Webber, as a sustained patch of drizzle moved away and the track effectively dried out.

The times all three set during this period, on the super-soft option tyres, were the best they managed and thus they ended the session first, third and fourth in the order.

Splitting them in second was Sebastian Vettel, who recovered from a heart-in-the-mouth moment that saw him run through the gravel at the entry to the stadium.

The German, composure restored, then had several attempts at Alonso's 1m16.265s, but simply couldn't quite crack it - eventually settling for a time 0.029s slower before moving on to the rest of his programme.

With Ferrari and Red Bull occupying the top four positions, it was Mercedes that was next fastest with Nico Rosberg ahead of Michael Schumacher. Both drivers damaged their cars during the session, Rosberg breaking a front wing on kerb bollards, while the former four-time winner ran-off track a couple of times and was forced to curtail his programme early.

Lewis Hamilton put on an extraordinary performance to go seventh fastest.

Having sat out 74 minutes of the session as his team repaired the damage he caused to his MP4-25 in first practice, the former world champion then thumped in 10 laps at the end.

Steadily improving all the while, his final attempt actually included the fastest middle sector of anyone during practice. Team-mate Jenson Button meanwhile, having done a very long run in the sister car, was 15th.

Robert Kubica fired in a late-ish lap to go eighth quickest for Renault, ahead of Rubens Barrichello, who had another harmless spin in P2, in the nevertheless consistent-looking Williams. So much so in fact that team-mate Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten in other FW32.

Adrian Sutil could not match his FP1 pace in the dry and was 14th fastest, while Timo Glock topped the new team times once again for Virgin.

Pos  Driver         Team                    Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:16.265            35
 2.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:16.294  + 0.029   26
 3.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:16.438  + 0.173   37
 4.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:16.585  + 0.320   40
 5.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:16.827  + 0.562   32
 6.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:16.971  + 0.706   20
 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:17.004  + 0.739   10
 8.  Kubica         Renault                 1:17.009  + 0.744   37
 9.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:17.056  + 0.791   37
10.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:17.204  + 0.939   44
11.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:17.336  + 1.071   44
12.  Petrov         Renault                 1:17.547  + 1.282   35
13.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:17.573  + 1.308   39
14.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:17.701  + 1.436   38
15.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:17.739  + 1.474   36
16.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:17.871  + 1.606   33
17.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:18.147  + 1.882   45
18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:19.327  + 3.062   48
19.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:19.553  + 3.288   30
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:20.008  + 3.743   34
21.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:20.106  + 3.841   31
22.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:20.377  + 4.112   37
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:21.988  + 5.723   37
24.  Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth            1:23.066  + 6.801   37

All Timing Unofficial