McLaren’s Jenson Button was fastest in practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, edging Formula One points leader Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull in a slippery final session on Friday.
The British driver’s lap time of 1 minute, 23.399 seconds around the Catalunya Circuit was under two-tenths of a second quicker than two-time defending champion Vettel, who won the race last year.
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, teammate Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus were the only other drivers within half a second of Button.
A number of drivers ran off track as they grappled with tyres on the hot track, with Red Bull’s Mark Webber of Australia and Williams’ Bruno Senna performing the most dramatic spins.