Mark Webber led the Red Bull fight-back against Fernando Alonso in the second of the Friday practice sessions at the Nürburgring, with his best lap of 1:31.711 just 0.168 seconds faster than the best effort of the Ferrari driver.
Sebastian Vettel finished the 90-minute session third on the timesheets, ahead of the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
The two Mercedes drivers, led by Michael Schumacher, were fifth and sixth whilst McLaren‘s difficult start to the weekend continued. Lewis Hamilton could manage only P7 and Button was down in P11 – 1.514 seconds slower than Webber.
It was a difficult session for Daniel Ricciardo, whose HRT began billowing out smoke after just five laps. Sebastien Buemi did not even set a lap time – a misfiring engine brought his day to an end prematurely.
Plenty of drivers had trouble with braking, and there was plenty of tyre smoke seen from locked-up wheels. A number of drivers had trips across the various gravel tracks that border the Nürburgring, but all managed to find their way back on to the tarmac.
