Ahead of today's second free practice session, the air temperature is 30 degrees C, while the track temperature is 50 degrees. It remains bright and sunny.

The tyre options this weekend are hard (prime) and soft (option), though we didn't see the softer tyre this morning. What we did see was Adrian Sutil crashing heavily as he exited the notorious Turn 8, however, thankfully the German was unscathed. Which is more than can be said for his car.

The fastest time in this morning's GP2 practice session saw pace-setter Davide Valsecchi lap marginally quicker than the slowest of the F1 cars, Hispania's Sakon Yamamoto.

The lights go green and Senna is first out, the Brazilian having made way for (test driver) Yamamoto this morning. A coupe of minutes later he is joined by Kobayashi, Chandhok and Petrov.

Senna posts the first time of the afternoon (37.906), but this is soon beaten by Kobayashi (35.498), Chandhok (34.744) and then Petrov (30.049).

It isn't long before the big guns take to the track however, and soon the McLarens are mixing it at the top of the timesheets with Kubica. Once the dust has settled, Hamilton sits atop the timesheets with a 29.117 ahead of his teammate (29.339).

As Petrov improves to fourth with a 29.923, teammate Kubica splits the McLarens with a 29.284. Elsewhere, Rosberg and Alonso are on track.

Schumacher, pushing hard, gets wobbly in Turns 1 and 2, as Alonso posts 31.104 to go tenth. The German crosses the line at 29.328 to go fourth.

Out front, Hamilton consolidates the top spot with a 28.692, ahead of Button and Kubica. Elsewhere, a 30.969 sees Massa go eleventh, one place ahead of his Ferrari teammate.

Twenty-two minutes into the session, Webber goes sixth with a 30.476 though it is clear the Australian is not really pushing, saving the best for qualifying and Sunday. Kobayashi and de la Rosa hold seventh and eighth for Sauber, but in all honesty we've seen it all before.

A 29.313 sees Webber improve to fourth, while teammate Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil have yet to post a time. In the Force India garage the crew is close to finishing repairing the damage to Sutil's car.

On the half-hour, Vettel goes third with a 28.976, as Hamilton heads out of the McLaren garage.

Liuzzi runs wide at Turn 8, followed, moments later, by Massa. This corner - or series of corners - continuing to catch driver out.

Button and Hamilton continue to be the pace-setters in terms of the speed-trap, ahead of Petrov, Liuzzi, Chandhok and Senna.

At half-time, it's: Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Webber, Schumacher, Kubica, Petrov, Kobayashi, de la Rosa and Sutil. Still no time from Rosberg who has only completed 8 laps.

Alonso and Massa are fifteenth and seventeenth, ass Hamilton and Vettel are the first of the big guns to go out on the option (soft) tyre. However, Rosberg, on the hards, is on a fast lap, crossing the line at 29.154 to go sixth, slotting in behind his Mercedes teammate.

Hamilton posts a personal best in the first sector, as does Vettel. In the second sector, Hamilton maintains his pace while Vettel goes quickest. At the line it's 28.672 for the McLaren driver while the German goes quickest overall with a 28.590.

Alonso (option) posts a personal best in the first sector, and again in the second. At the line the two-time world champion posts 28.725 to go third, despite losing a few fractions of a second behind Schumacher.

All eyes on Button who goes quickest overall in the first sector, going on to post a personal best in the second. At the line it's 28.280, the German going quickest overall courtesy of a very, very quick final sector.

Quick as they clearly are, however, the soft tyres are only good for one hot lap.

Massa (softs) posts a personal best in the first sector, but then makes a complete pig's ear of Turn 8, ruining his lap and his tyres. Rejoining the track he gets in the way of both Schumacher and then Alguersuari.

A 28.464 sees Webber go second, just 0.184s off Button's time, with just under half-an-hour to go. Next time around, the Australian improves with a 28.378. elsewhere, both Hispanias are over half-a-second ahead of the Virgins.