• Monaco Grand Prix - FP2

Button quickest after rain interrupted session

Jenson Button was fastest before the rain fell © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Romain Grosjean
• |
• Felipe Massa

• Teams:
• Ferrari
• |
• Lotus F1
• |
• McLaren

Jenson Button made the most of a short spell of dry running to finish fastest after Thursday's rain interrupted second session of free practice.

Button, who won the race in 2009, posted a quickest time of 1:15.746 on the supersoft compound tyre, just before rain fell on the Monaco circuit. It meant that there was no chance of anyone else bettering his time, the McLaren ending the session ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado was fifth fastest but other leading contenders Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were 10th and 11th respectively as the weather played a big part.

After glorious sunshine had greeted teams and drivers for the morning qualifying session, the clouds rolled into the Principality during the afternoon. And with the forecast rain imminent it did not take long for teams to switch to the supersoft compound for the first time, Button immediately bettering Alonso's morning mark by over a second.

The predicted light shower caused a lull in proceedings, with the circuit slightly too slippery for slicks but not dry enough for wet or intermediate tyres. Timo Glock was the first to venture out again, tip toeing around on the soft compound. And as the circuit began to dry further, so others followed him out.

A further rain shower allowed teams to experiment with the intermediate compound, gaining valuable data for the weekend ahead. Both Williams drivers struggled in the conditions, both Bruno Senna and Maldonado running down the escape road at Mirabeau, Sergio Perez, Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa following suit shortly after.

Rain is forecast for both Saturday and Sunday, so the session ended with a number of drivers getting a feel for the circuit in the wet. While the race will be a lottery if rain does fall, a dry race will be equally unpredictable with the teams having been unable to complete any long runs on Thursday.

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