Vettel leads the way in second practice

The German - who is still clinging on to his remote title hopes - beat Fernando Alonso by 0.274s, as the double champion gave his under-fire Renault team some encouragement with second place.

Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW) were third and fourth ahead of championship leader Jenson Button's Brawn.

Mark Webber had been fastest for Red Bull as the early runs came to an end, but he had to sit out the second half of the session after spinning on the exit of the final corner.

The Red Bull crunched into the opposite wall and sustained significant left-side damage, causing a nine-minute stoppage and ending Webber's day.

Heidfeld knocked Webber off the top spot as soon as running resumed following the red flag, and the BMW driver stayed on top until everyone switched to super soft tyres in the closing minutes.

The usual flurry of late changes saw first Kovalainen, then Vettel move to the top of the standings - although Button and Lewis Hamilton set sector times that hinted at big improvements only to hit traffic on their best laps.

Alonso had the same problem, losing a lot of time behind Jarno Trulli's Toyota on the penultimate lap of the day, but he made up for it by jumping to second next time around.

Webber surprisingly remained sixth despite his crash, ahead of Nico Rosberg's Williams and Timo Glock's Toyota.

Practice one pace-setter Rubens Barrichello was only 11th in the second Brawn this time.

Giancarlo Fisichella had a quiet practice day for Ferrari, ending up 16th, but he was at least closer to his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who was 0.3s and two places ahead.

Romain Grosjean missed the early part of the session as repairs were completed following his crash in first practice, and only managed 19th.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:48.650            31  
 2.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:48.924  + 0.274   27  
 3.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:48.952  + 0.302   30  
 4.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:49.098  + 0.448   31  
 5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:49.311  + 0.661   34  
 6.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:49.317  + 0.667   14  
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:49.333  + 0.683   33  
 8.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:49.342  + 0.692   30  
 9.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:49.358  + 0.708   28  
10.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:49.609  + 0.959   24  
11.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:49.616  + 0.966   30  
12.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:49.710  + 1.060   31  
13.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:49.795  + 1.145   29  
14.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:49.941  + 1.291   29  
15.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:50.023  + 1.373   34  
16.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:50.253  + 1.603   31  
17.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:50.527  + 1.877   29  
18.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:50.605  + 1.955   28  
19.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:50.972  + 2.322   17  
20.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:51.423  + 2.773   31  

All Timing Unofficial