Silver Arrows dominate as Vettel crashes
Button emerged fastest on Friday in Istanbul
Mercedes-powered cars have dominated the opening day of running in Istanbul, with McLaren’s Jenson Button emerging as the fastest man.
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) rounded out the top four in the dry Practice 2.
World Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had the worst possible start to his weekend – crashing heavily at the feared Turn 8 during the morning’s wet session.
While Vettel walked away unharmed from the incident, the German’s RB7 was not able to turn a lap in Practice 2.
Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber finished the day fifth fastest, having been 11th in the earlier session.
The afternoon saw Turn 8 catch out Williams rookie Pastor Maldonado, with the Venezuelan finding the barriers after losing control on a damp patch.
West Australian Red Bull test driver Daniel Ricciardo again took part in Practice 1 for Scuderia Toro Rosso – impressing with the eighth fastest time.
See below for the Practice 2 result
| 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m26.456s | |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m26.521s | 0.065 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m27.033s | 0.577 |
| 4 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1m27.063s | 0.607 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1m27.149s | 0.693 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1m27.340s | 0.884 |
| 7 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1m27.517s | 1.061 |
| 8 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1m27.725s | 1.269 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m27.844s | 1.388 |
| 10 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1m28.052s | 1.596 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m28.069s | 1.613 |
| 12 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m28.153s | 1.697 |
| 13 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1m28.475s | 2.019 |
| 14 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m28.765s | 2.309 |
| 15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1m28.828s | 2.372 |
| 16 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1m28.946s | 2.490 |
| 17 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1m29.409s | 2.953 |
| 18 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m29.637s | 3.181 |
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1m30.281s | 3.825 |
| 20 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1m31.035s | 4.579 |
| 21 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1m31.221s | 4.765 |
| 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1m31.320s | 4.864 |
| 23 | Tonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1m31.989s | 5.533 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Turkish Grand Prix Race Guide