Vettel laments lack of track time

The Red Bull driver completed just 16 laps in the opening session before his Renault engine failed.

Vettel, however, had a better second practice and managed 33 laps on his way to the sixth quickest time.

"We had an engine failure in the morning, which cost us some track time," said Vettel. "Things like that are important for the driver, as well as the car, as you need to get into a good rhythm round here. Nonetheless the boys fixed the car, which I think was quite tricky as some of the parts arrived last minute, so it wasn't easy.

"But, we still managed to complete quite a few laps and get a lot of data - including a view on the different tyre compounds, so I think we're in decent shape, but of course we always want to be on top!"

Team-mate Mark Webber was left with mixed feelings after also having to cut his running short due to a problem with his car.

The Australian posted the 12th fastest time.

"It was a bit of a mixed bag today. We didn't have a great run, reliability-wise, which was a first this season," he said.

"There was a vibration in the rear of the car during this morning's session so we stopped early, but the boys did an amazing job to get the car back out for the afternoon. I think it was a good recovery for us to do as many laps as we did.

"We didn't get the ultimate lap time in the second session, as we were running under yellow flags at the end, but the long runs were good and we've gathered plenty of data to go through for Saturday. It looks very tight and competitive here, so it should be an exciting race."