» Japanese GP: Button quickest again in FP2

Jenson Button has enjoyed a clean sweep in Friday practice, once again claiming top honours on the timesheets after going quickest in the second free practice session for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. The McLaren driver was also quickest in this morning’s opening practice session.

The former World Champion used his softer Pirelli tyres to post a rapid 1:31.901 to outpace Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, while the Red Bull pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber rounded out the top-four.

As expected, the Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull driver traded blows in the first half of the session as the team continued to run on the harder Pirelli tyres, before the grid switched to the softer rubber as the Suzuka circuit continued to offer more grip. Barrichello crashed his Williams at the Degner curves

But before the teams switched over, the field was reduced to 22 cars with the elimination of both Williams cars, the team continuing its wretched season as Pastor Maldonado pulled off with another technical gremlin, while the under-pressure Rubens Barrichello binned his FW33 in the barriers.

Jarno Trulli was forced to quit the 90-minute session early when technical issues hit his Lotus, and the likes of Kamui Kobayashi, Bruno Senna and Michael Schumacher all had wild off-track moments, but were able to keep going.

As the soft-tyre running wore on, it was becoming apparent that the Ferraris and McLarens were rapid on shorter runs, while the Red Bulls were showing excellent pace on longer stints.

Felipe Massa finished the session fifth-fastest and half-a-second adrift of Button’s outright pace, while Michael Schumacher was sixth-fastest, impressively lapping his Mercedes within a second of Button’s best lap-time.

The top-ten was completed by Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Vitaly Petrov and Sébastien Buemi.

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2011 Japanese Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	1:31.901	32
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.174	33
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Renault RB7	+ 0.194	35
4.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault RB7	+ 0.246	28
5.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.547	34
6.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP W02	+ 0.809	26
7.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP W02	+ 1.081	27
8.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 1.344	26
9.	Vitaly Petrov	Renault R31	+ 1.545	36
10.	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 1.780	33
11.	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 1.804	25
12.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 1.889	36
13.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 2.492	35
14.	Bruno Senna	Renault R31	+ 2.656	27
15.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 2.700	33
16.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 4.137	33
17.	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault T128	+ 4.324	35
18.	Rubens Barrichello	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 5.222	14
19.	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 5.539	30
20.	Jérôme d’Ambrosio	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 6.192	30
21.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 6.486	16
22.	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 6.862	36
23.	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault T128	+ 7.899	24
24.	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 10.579	4