Welcome back to Suzuka for the second free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix. If it's anything like the first we should be in for a cracker. Both McLarens went off at Degner Two, Hamilton stuck in the barriers while Button managed to stop in the gravel. Kobayashi also had a wild moment there and all the drivers were struggling for grip at some point.

The man who found the most grip was Vettel in the Red Bull with a time of 1:32.585 but I don't think we have seen the best from McLaren or Ferrari yet. On soft tyres, which they will use in the upcoming session, they should be recording times in the high 1:30s.

This is a very improtant session as wet weather is predicted for tomorrow, so this could be the last dry session we have before Sunday's race.

Hamilton is still in his normal clothes so is not about to hop in the cockpit of his McLaren and go out. Obviously the damage to his car was fairly extensive. Very bad news as they were hoping to test a lot of new parts on the car during these two sessions.

Alonso, Vettel, Webber and Button are ready to go out so we should see some action very soon.

The session is underway and Alguersuari is the first man out on track.

Vettel lines up for a practice start at the end of the pit lane and gets his afternoon running underway.

We thought Red Bull would be quick heading into this race and after first practice they were 0.5 seconds up on the nearest competitor. However, Hamilton didn't set a decent qucik lap before his crash, Button was running heavy fuel and testing new parts and the Ferraris did their traditional long runs in the morning session.

Alguersuari sets the first competitive time of the session with a 1:35.875. However, we will see much quicker times as the session progresses. Heidfeld gets the ball rolling with a 1:35,053.

Kobayashi runs wide in the esses at the start of the lap and collects a load of grass and dirt on his tyres.

Hulkenberg sets a 1:33.800

Alonso clocks a 1:33.159 as this session gets off to a very active start. The best time from the morning session was a 1:32.585.

Neville says: I just believe it is ominous when the Red Bulls are fast early on....remember Hungary!

Di Grassi is back in the Virgin after taking over from d'Ambrosio and is settling in well. Virgin says: "Lucas settling in nicely now green sector after green. 1:38.2 so still a bit to come"

Lotus is up for the heavy rain predicted for qualifying: "Up to 50mm of rain predicted tomorrow. Excellent. Sounds just like Norfolk in the summer - we should be right at home!"

The Red Bulls have yet to show their hand in this session, although Webber is now heading out on track.

Di Grassi has a spin at turn six but keeps it out of the barrier. This track is still pretty tricky.

Schumacher is second fastest at the moment with a 1:33.299, 0.180 off Alonso's time.

Webber is now on a very fast lap... he sets the fastest time of the weekend so far with a 1:32.574. Vettel's latest lap is only good enough for third but his tyres are now up to temperature and he should start pumping in laps to match Webber.

Vettel now goes fastest with a 1:32.501, just 0.071 up on Webber. There is nothing to choose between the Red Bull duo so far.

Glock's Virgin looks like a rally car in comparison to the Red Bull as he slides it left, right, left through sector one.

Vettel has now improved to a 1:32.210. Webber is back in the pits.

Still non sign of Hamilton, but he is now in his overalls.

Sutil is still happy with car: "Adrian stays out for one more lap to go 10th quickest. 'I lost a little bit in the chicane with a bit of wheelspin but the car feels good'."

He is running a new diffuser and Liuzzi has also got it for this session but didn't have it in FP1.

Liuzzi says: "Better this time out, it was more balanced"

Rosberg is at the back of the garage as his car is being prepared.

Petrov has put in a decent lap to line up fourth fastest, 1.025 off Vettel but just a tenth off Alonso. The Renault looks quick this weekend.

Schumacher is also looking solid and is fifth fastest, 1.089 off Vettel.

Kubica is off the track at the exit of the esses but has rejoined. He came pretty close to hitting the barrier but just managed to stop in the gravel. We are waiting on a proper replay but it looked as if he lost the rear coming up the hill at turn seven and spun off.

Vettel is back on track to try and beat his time of 1:32.210.

Yamamoto runs wide at the Spoon corner but there is plenty of run off there for him to recover back onto the track.

James Wise asks: "Let's assume Alonso is ahead by 10 points going into the final race. If he qualifies P1 or P2 do Ferrari use a ninth engine just for the reliability standpoint and rely on race pace and strategy to give him the championship?"

Very good question. I suppose it depends where his competitors have qualified. Also Ferrari will knwo exactly how many miles are on the engine and will have analysed data on the previous ones. They continue to insist there is no problem and they will make the end of the season without a change.

Vettel and Webber are on track and Webber sets a new personal best, 0.203 off Vettel. Still no sign of Hamilton.

Petrov is a quick lap on the option tyre. And he sets the best final sector so far to go third fastest, 0.493 off Webber. So the option tyre is giving a fair bit of lap time around here, it'll be interesting to see what the Ferraris and McLarens can do on them.

The latest prediction is that it will be another 10 or 15 minutes before we see Hamilton on track.

The Ferraris should be heading out on the soft tyres soon: "Time for soft tyres is getting closer..."

Alguersuari is out on softs. Both Red Bull times were set on hard tyres.

Kubica is back on track after his mistake earlier in the session. He has gone back out on the same hard tyres he spun off on.

Sutil is out on softs so we could see a quick lap from him. Vettel is preparing to head out on softs too.

Sutil goes fourth fastest with a 1:32.842 on the softs, 0.632 down on Vettel.

Massa is now out on soft tyres, the first to do so of the front runners.

Buemi spins off at turn seven. It was nearly a very big accident but he completed two full 360 spins and continued on his way. That will ruin his brand new set of soft tyres.

Massa clocks a 1:32.519 to go third fastest. He is now 0.309 off Vettel but was on the soft tyre.

Expect a quick lap from Liuzzi: "Tonio now starts his qualifying style run on the option tyres."

Alonso is heading out on softs.

Liuzzi's time is only good enough for 16th, disappointing for him.

Schumacher is 0.621 off Vettel's benchmark with his soft tyre run.

Webber is now out on soft tyres, we are still waiting on Vettel and Hamilton.

Webber is now on a very quick lap as Alonso goes fifth fastest with his first soft tyre run.

Webber goes 0.350 up on Vettel with his fast run. So a new fastest lap of the weekend: 1:31.860.

Button clocks a 1:32.533 on soft tyres to go fourth fastest.

Vettel is now on his soft tyre run but is going to be held by a Virgin in the final chicane. He still sets a new fastest lap with a 1:31.712.

Alonso simply can't match Vettel but improves with a 1:32.503.

Button's soft tyres are now past their best and he is 0.821 seconds off Vettel. That's very bad news for McLaren.

Kubica is Red Bull's closest competitor and is 0.488 seconds off Vettel's best.

But Vettel is going even quicker on this lap... but gets blocked again in the final chicane, this time by Liuzzi.

Alonso improves to a 1:32.362 but is still back in fourth.

Vettel has finished his run and is now heading back to the pits. He currently looks peerless around this 3.6 mile track. Webber is 0.148 seconds off but its fair to say that neither got a perfect lap in.

It turns out Vettel wasn't heading back to the pits and he has now gone even quicker with a 1:31.465.

Still no sign of Hamilton with just 20 minutes remaining. As I type he comes up on the live feed preparing himself to get in the car.

Webber, Massa and Kubica are all back on track. They wil be running a heavy fuel load now to see how the option tyres react to race fuel levels.

Schumacher runs wide in Degna One and has a very similar accident to Jenson Button's in FP1. He ends up in the garvel but avoids the barrier.

With 11 minutes remaining, Hamilton is still in the pits. He has lost over two hours practice time as a result of his accident in FP1.

Vettel is out on heavy fuel and is 6.223 seconds off his best time as a result.

On the heavy fuel Vettel's front wing endplates are almost scraping along the ground through 130R, I wonder if we'll see the flexi-wing debate resurface this weekend.

Hamilton is finally back on track. He's gone straight for the soft tyres and I suspect a light fuel load. He's on a five lap run.

Hamilton takes Degner One a little gingerly on his first flying lap.

Barrichello has stopped with an engine issue and is out of the car.

Alonso's lastest time on heavy fuel was 5.907 off Vettel's best.

Hamilton is 4.293 seconds off Vettel's time so he obviously isn't on a proper low fuel run.

Just over a minute remaining now and nobody will challenge Vettel's time.

The chequered flag is out and Vettel's time is safe.

The Red Bulls end the session firmly on top while Ferrari and McLaren look as though they will be left to fight over third and fourth this weekend. Kubica will also be in the running and Schumacher has had a positive start to his Japanese Grand Prix.

Thank you for joining us for Friday practice, make sure you check back for all the driver reaction. We will also cover qualifying and the race when the weather is promising to shake up the order a little. We should be in for a good weekend.