Practice Two - Button and Brawn back on top in Shanghai 17 Apr 2009
After narrowly losing out to fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton in the morning session, Jenson Button continued his strong form by setting the fastest time in Friday afternoon’s second practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Button lapped his Brawn in 1m 35.679s to pip Nico Rosberg by just 0.025s. The Williams driver posted a best lap of 1m 35.704s, which left him just ahead of Button’s team mate Rubens Barrichello on 1m 35.881s. They were the only three to dip beneath 1m 36s.
Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and fifth for Red Bull on 1m 36.105s and 1m 36.167s respectively, ahead of Jarno Trulli on 1m 36.217s for Toyota, Kazuki Nakajima on 1m 36.377s in the second Williams, Timo Glock on 1m 36.548s in the second Toyota, Heikki Kovalainen on 1m 36.674s in the leading McLaren and Sebastien Bourdais, again quick for Toro Rosso, on 1m 36.800s.
The remaining runners in the 1m 36s bracket were Force India’s Adrian Sutil (1m 36.829s), Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (1m 36.847s) and Hamilton (1m 36.941s) in the second McLaren.
Kimi Raikkonen had an off-road moment in Turn 10 and was unable to better 1m 37.054s and 14th place for Ferrari, while Sebastien Buemi lapped his Toro Rosso in 1m 37.219s to head Renault’s Nelson Piquet (1m 37.273s), Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld in their BMW Saubers (1m 37.491s and 1m 37.544s), Renault’s Fernando Alonso (1m 37.638s) and Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 37.750s). Two seconds covered the field.
Besides Raikkonen, Fisichella spun in Turn 7 and Sutil in Turn 2 as well as going off the road in Turns 10 and 11. Alonso also went off course twice, in Turns 14 and 16.
