Jenson Button made the most of improved weather conditions to post the fastest time in the second practice for the Turkish Grand Prix yesterday, and his McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton was third quickest.

The two British drivers made the most of improving conditions after morning rain made the Istanbul Park circuit dangerous and slippery, causing Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel to crash unharmed.

“The car’s been working reasonably well,” Button said. “Trying to get the car to ride the bumps well into Turn 12 has been difficult, but we improved it through the session. Turn 12 is really bumpy, it’s like they put a motocross jump in there.”

Hamilton saw encouraging signs of improvement in McLaren, after a tough start to the season.

“I was really pleased with my long-run pace,” Hamilton said. “I think it was probably one of the best practice long runs I’ve ever had.”

Vettel leads Hamilton in the overall standings by 21 points after winning two of the opening three races. Vettel was second to Hamilton three weeks ago in China.

Vettel did not start the second practice as his car was too damaged and Red Bull took the decision not to run in a patched-up car, preferring to have another go today.

“Unfortunately it did quite a lot of damage, so rather than rush to cobble together a car, we decided we wanted to rebuild (it) carefully,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. “He got a little bit high on the exit to Turn Eight onto the kerb, (and put) the wheel on the Astroturf that’s claimed a few victims today.”

Temperatures improved slightly and the track dried out for the afternoon session, when Germany’s Nico Rosberg matched his impressive morning with the second quickest time.

Button, the 2009 F1 champion, completed 26 laps and set a best time of 1 minute, 26.456 seconds, while Rosberg clocked 1:26.521 and Hamilton 1:27.033.

Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber completed the top five.

It was a day of contrasts for McLaren. A bad morning session saw Hamilton fail to post a time after his clutch stuck as he prepared to join the session late.

Button managed only four laps and was nearly 22 seconds slower than Fernando Alonso, who was fastest in the morning to boost Ferrari’s hopes of finally getting a podium place this season.