Hello and welcome back to ESPNF1's coverage of Friday practice from Suzuka. After Jenson Button was quickest and Sebastian Vettel ended FP1 in the barriers, Vettel will be keen to get back out this afternoon to put a marker down.

Vettel's error was a small one, running wide at Degner 1 and not being able to bring the car back on track, going head on in to the tyres at low speed. The damage was minimal, so he shouldn't lose any running in this second session.

Here's the damage (or lack of it) to Vettel's car after his off

© Getty Images

As always we'd love to hear from you during the session, and there's a few ways you can get in touch. Email us using the link above, or you can tweet us @ESPNF1_live.

After Nico Hulkenberg, Karun Chandhok and Narain Karthikeyan got track time this morning, they will hand their cars back to Adrian Sutil, Heikki Kovalainen and Tonio Liuzzi respectively for the rest of the weekend.

For those who would like a quick recap of what happened in FP1, the report is available here.

It's a breezy afternoon near Nagoya, with a tail wind in to turn one, but there's a comfortable air temperature of 23C. Track temperature is up at 37C

Vettel is currently in deep discussions with his race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin in the Red Bull garage, and is probably still annoyed with himself for allowing everyone another look at the floor of the RB7

The session is underway, with Kovalainen wasting no time in getting back out on track

Both Kovalainen and Kobayashi continue around for a second installation lap. In fact nobody has pitted at the end of their first lap yet

The first timed lap from Kovalainen is a 1:43.930...

...soon beaten by Kobayashi's 1:37.384

Petrov's first lap puts him top: a 1:35.471

Di Resta and Barrichello vie for position on the run down to 130R, but the Williams backs off. Buemi has gone second quickest, looking to continue the strong pace shown by Toro Rosso this morning

FP1 pace-setter Button goes fastest with a 1:34.562, his headline time from this morning was a 1:33.634

Vettel carries out a practice start and leaves the pit lane

Tonio Liuzzi has parked his HRT on the inside of the track after appearing to have no drive exiting the Spoon curves

Hamilton informs McLaren over the radio that he is getting vibrations from his tyres, but is told to continue

Vettel safely negotiates the Degner curves, you'll be pleased to know

Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:34.529

Alonso blitzes the middle sector and goes quickest with a 1:33.854, already half a second quicker than he went in FP1 on his first flying lap

Webber is now second fastest, a 1:33.958 putting him just over 0.1s off Alonso's time

Alonso lowers his quickest time by 0.006s

It's been a busy start to the session, we haven't even had 20 minutes yet. Alguersuari is the last man to leave the pit lane, and he's got a quieter track to work with; just seven cars on the circuit at present

Webber goes fastest with a 1:33.782

Alonso jumps back to the top with a 1:33.503 - that's quicker than Button's best lap from FP1

Vettel has gone third, half a second behind Alonso. On his last lap he ran wide exiting the Spoon curves but kept the car under control

Satyajeet asks: "Hi, how is Schumacher's performance? Any significant update on the Mercedes?"

Schumacher is currently eighth quickest on a 1:35.211, 1.7s slower than Alonso. The Mercedes doesn't have a notable update, but the team is confident the circuit will match the car better than Singapore did, where Schumacher crashed out and Rosberg was seventh

And as we talk about Mercedes, Rosberg runs wide at turn one but rejoins without harm

Massa appears a bit annoyed with Rosberg as the Mercedes slows early in the pit lane. He makes sure his Ferrari is seen in Rosberg's mirrors

Almost half an hour in to the session, and it's not got much better for Williams. Barrichello and Maldonado only have the Lotus, Virgin and HRT cars below them

Bruno Senna has gone off at turn one, in to the gravel at high speed. He had the DRS open as he turned in to turn one

Senna saves his session though, by keeping the engine running and keeping the car out of the wall. He asks for a push from the marshals, who duly oblige, and he thanks them with a thumbs up as he pulls away

Conditions update: The sun has disappeared for a couple of minutes and the track temperature dropped a few degrees, while the wind speed has dropped slightly. Riveting stuff.

Back to the on track action and Webber completes a flying lap a second off the pace on the medium tyre. We're yet to see any soft tyre runs.

Toro Rosso is enjoying another strong session, with Alguersuari seventh and Buemi tenth

Lotus (MyTeamLotus) on Twitter: "Set-up priority at Suzuka is for the car to be well-balanced in high-speed corners, to cope with the multiple quick changes of direction"

Button asks McLaren if he can change the wing over the radio, and is told that can be done in the pit lane. He returns to make a pit stop and get a new front wing, so obviously some balance issues for this morning's pace-setter.

Webber sets the fastest first sector of the session and improves his time but stays second

Alguersuari is the first man we've seen on the soft tyres, and he goes third quickest, improving his time by 1.3s

On his second flying lap Alguersuari was improving again, but he then lost downforce behind a slow Alonso in the Spoon curve and ran wide

Massa goes quickest on the soft tyre with a 1:32.448

Petrov, also on the soft tyre, goes second. He's a full second off the pace but sets the fastest final sector

Senna goes ninth on the soft tyre

Barrichello has had a big shunt, putting two wheels on the grass approaching Degner One and losing the rear end, sliding at speed across the gravel trap and in to the tyres

After his comments yesterday that the advantage of employing him next season is that he doesn't cost the team money by damaging the car, that's a pretty rookie mistake from Barrichello

The car has quickly been moved away, but the whole left hand side of the car is heavily damaged and that's going to be a long night for Williams

Senna's flying lap was affected by Barrichello's off - the yellow flag in the middle sector breaking up a personal best lap - and exiting Degner Two the next time round he runs wide and bounces over the grass

Rosberg appears to be focusing on heavy fuel runs, as he improves to 13th quickest

Alonso goes fastest once again. He's on soft tyres and sets a time of 1:32.075

Buemi goes fifth fastest with a flying lap on the soft compound, beating his team-mate by 0.024s

Kobayashi runs wide in the Spoon curve, and it looks like there's wet paint on the outside of the corner as his tyres turn green

Webber goes second with a soft tyre lap, a 1:32.147 putting him 0.072s slower than Alonso having set the fastest first sector

Button is out on track on soft tyres, winding himself up for a flying lap. We should get to see the raw pace of the McLaren now

A fastest first sector from Button, 0.15s quicker than Alonso

A fastest second sector too, and goes top with a 1:31.901

Button's final sector wasn't the best, but he was probably a touch cautious as there were waved yellow flags for a slow moving Trulli on the pit straight

More yellows, and more woes for Williams. Maldonado parks his car on the outside of Degner One having crawled to the outside of the circut

Vettel is on soft tyres, but has to back off as he had his entry to turn one compromised by Massa exiting the pit lane. He would have had to ease off anyway as the yellows are still out in sector two

Hamilton set the fastest first sector, and then backed off - Maldonado's car still causing yellow flags

A sign of the lack of pace for Williams; d'Ambrosio is 0.3s quicker than Maldonado (admittedly due to a soft tyre run), and Kovalainen is over two seconds quicker. He's also the best part of a second quicker than Barrichello

Finally the track is clear again, but Hamilton is well off the pace on his currnet lap. He may have lost the best performance from his soft tyres

Hamilton just took 130R with the DRS open

Oooh Kobayashi! Kamui drops it in 130R as he tries to take the corner with the DRS open, but somehow manages to catch the car as it spears to the inside before it hits the wall. A great save

Williams on Twitter: "Pastor off now as well with a suspected mechanical issue. To be confirmed."

We were on board with Kobayashi as he lost the rear end in 130R, and I must admit I was ready for a heavily damaged car. It takes some really special instinct to recover the car from that position

Vettel went third quickest when he got a lap in on soft tyres, posting a 1:32.095. Hamilton was unable to complete a flying lap

Schumacher takes 130R with his DRS open, and sets the sixth fastest time despite getting blocked by a Sauber exiting the chicane. He's 0.8s slower than Button

Matt asks: "Why has Liuzzi done so few laps?"

He pulled off the track with a mechanical problem very early in the session, Matt.

We're now seeing heavy fuel runs carried out. Button is on the soft tyre but not using his DRS. The McLaren still looks quick though as he cruises up to the back of Sutil

Button completes a 1:39.7s lap on heavy fuel. He was held up by the Force India though as well as passing an HRT. Webber's first lap was a 1:38.1, and Vettel's a 1:37.9

Button's next lap is a 1:39.4, while Webber lowers his time to a 1:37.8. We'll reserve judgement until Button finds clear air

A 1:37.8s for Vettel, while Button does a 1:40.2. Running in traffic is clearly a problem as Webber does a 1:40.7

Vettel improves to a 1:37.5s as he burns off more fuel. Alonso is in clear air and can only do a 1:39.2

A 1:39.4 for Button, so it seems clear that the Red Bull still has a big advantage on heavy fuel

Schumacher does a 1:39.3, which is competitive with McLaren and Ferrari, but then runs wide in to turn one

A 1:37.8 from Webber, a 1:38.1 from Vettel and a 1:38.9 from Button, who is now in clear air

Button pits. He'll end the session as the fastest man but Red Bull will be the happier team

Kobayashi runs wide at the Spoon curve once again

Massa does a 1:38.8. Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes are fairly evenly matched on heavy fuel

Button pitted for the medium tyres a lap ago, and radios in to ask who else is on them. He won't get more than one flying lap though, as the chequered flag is out

Button's lap on the medium tyre is a 1:39.507, which was quicker than Massa on the same tyre

A sign of how confident Hamilton isn't: he carries out his practice start from fourth on the grid. Admittedly, Vettel does his from about ninth, and Alonso even further back

So Button tops the times once again, but there's no real surprise when I say that Red Bull looks strongest. Keep an eye on the site for all the reaction from the teams and drivers, and join us for FP3 tomorrow to see if McLaren can close the gap any further. Thanks for joining us.