Button edges out Rosberg in FP2

After a gloomy morning, the Formula One paddock enjoyed some better weather this afternoon.

The track was drying as the second free practice session got underway at the Istanbul Park. This was a welcome development for the teams who could evaluate the updates they have brought this weekend.

Having sat out the morning session, the McLaren drivers set the early pace on the afternoon session. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher took over at the front with just over an hour remaining.

At this point, only two drivers had no time on the board: Pastor Maldonado and Sebastian Vettel. The World Champion had to wait for his Red Bull mechanics to repair his car after he crashed it in the morning. Some repairs also had to be done on Maldonado’s Williams.

The Venezuelan was able to join the action with just under an hour left while the German was sidelined for the whole session.

"The car is badly damaged and from a safety point of view we need to check everything," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told German broadcaster Sky. "We would rather be on the safe side, checking everything three or four times."

On improving track conditions, drivers found more improvement as the session went on. Shortly before the halfway mark, Felipe Massa, Schumacher, Petrov and Rosberg lowered the benchmark.

Rosberg reclaimed top spot with a 1’26’961. Mark Webber jumped up to P2 shortly afterwards. Fernando Alonso was also on track after a lengthy stay in the pits - his mechanics spent some time working on a suspected hydraulics problem on his Ferrari. He lost the rear of his car at Turn 6 and then stopped close to the pitlane entry.

The final part of the session was dedicated to long runs which meant there were very few improvements.

Maldonado rounded off a difficult day with another mistake. The Williams rookie went off and brushed the wall. Schumacher spun at Turn 11 a few minutes later but managed to recover his Mercedes.

With three minutes remaining, almost everyone was on track with only the Williams and Red Bulls missing. The Williams team said that Barrichello suffered a KERS water leak. They preferred not to send him back on track for safety reasons.

Jenson Button concluded the session on top. He was marginally quicker than Nico Rosberg. Both of them were half a second faster than their respective teammates. Mark Webber was fifth fastest in the sole Red Bull.

Massa, Petrov, di Resta, Perez and Sutil completed the top ten.