McLaren driver Jenson Button was fastest in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday, with Russian driver Vitaly Petrov 20th.
Button posted a time of 1 minute 23.399 seconds, 0.164 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Sebastian Vettel, with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg a further two tenths of a second slower in third.
Caterham driver Petrov posted a time of 1 minute 26.740 seconds for 20th place, 0.444 seconds behind his Finnish teammate Heikki Kovalainen.
Almost all cars ran faster than in the first session earlier Friday, when Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso topped the time charts with a lap of 1 minute 24.430 seconds, ahead of Vettel and Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi.
Petrov was 19th-fastest in the first session with a lap of 1 minute 27.475, while Caterham opted to give track time to third driver Alexander Rossi instead of Kovalainen, and the U.S. driver was almost a second off the Russian’s pace.
Petrov has never finished in the points at Catalunya in Formula One, recording 11th-place finishes in 2010 and 2011, although he was second there in the GP2 feeder series in 2009.
