Vettel stays on top in second practice

Once again the team enjoyed a comfortable margin over the rest of the pack, with Adrian Sutil - who took a superb third for Force India - lapping 0.6 seconds slower than Vettel.

Kazuki Nakajima was fourth in his Williams, ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello in the best of the Brawns. The Brazilian's championship-leading team-mate Jenson Button was only 13th.

Red Bull did not take long to resume the dominance it had displayed in the morning, as within 13 minutes of the session starting, Webber and Vettel had established themselves in first and second.

That would be where they remained, with Webber getting down to a 1m19.597s just before the half-hour mark and staying on top until Vettel edged ahead by 0.141s with 20 minutes to go.

Webber ended the session parked in the run-off at Stowe, having drifted slightly wide at the final part of Becketts and clouted a kerb hard with the underside of his car. The Red Bull immediately lost drive and coasted down the Hangar Straight before pulling off.

But with few drivers making significant improvements at the end of the session, Webber was able to stay second.

Sutil grabbed third early on and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, suggesting that Force India's upgrades had given the team a performance lift. The German's session came to a slightly bizarre end, though, as he clipped his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella's front wing when driving back into his pit area as the Italian's car was pushed into the garage.

Nakajima was 0.3s and five places clear of his Williams team-mate Nico Rosberg in fourth, with Alonso continuing Renault's strong morning form in fifth ahead of Barrichello, having been frustrated to be delayed behind the Brawn in the closing minutes.

Last year's winner Lewis Hamilton took an encouraging seventh for McLaren, with Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Rosberg and Nelson Piquet (Renault) completing the top ten.

Robert Kubica managed to take 11th for BMW despite his crew having to carry out an extremely rapid engine change after worryingly low oil pressure readings were noted.

Ferrari languished in 17th and 18th, both drivers one and a half seconds off the pace.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:19.456            39
 2.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:19.597  + 0.141   35
 3.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:20.141  + 0.685   41
 4.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:20.209  + 0.753   36
 5.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:20.237  + 0.781   36
 6.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:20.244  + 0.788   26
 7.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:20.417  + 0.961   35
 8.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:20.458  + 1.002   40
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:20.468  + 1.012   42
10.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:20.608  + 1.152   37
11.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:20.622  + 1.166   23
12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:20.733  + 1.277   37
13.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:20.762  + 1.306   37
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:20.767  + 1.311   28
15.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:20.932  + 1.476   35
16.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:20.945  + 1.489   36
17.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:21.005  + 1.549   37
18.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:21.132  + 1.676   38
19.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:21.413  + 1.957   40
20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:21.668  + 2.212   37

All Timing Unofficial