[7] In Friday practice 1, Williams, Ferrari and McLaren performed well, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Jarno Trulli posting the top 3 times.

Brawn, Toyota, Red Bull and Renault ran mid field during the session with BMW and STR backmarking.

In Friday practice 2, Williams, Renault and Red Bull were the most consistent performers, Heikki Kovalainen, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica posted the top 3 times.

Vettel's team mate Mark Webber then posted a 1:28.6, only for Button to go two-tenths of a second quicker after the chequered flag fell.

At the front Button began to open up a lead over Vettel but the action was in the midfield, Nico Rosberg getting past both Ferraris to move up to fifth by lap six.

The Brazilian dropped to seventeenth but quickly regained two places before losing part of his front wing in a clash with Adrian Sutil on lap eleven.

Barrichello pitted on lap thirteen, conversely teammate Button had serenely opened up a 5.6 second lead at the front of the race.

Trulli emerged from the pit stops in fourth, narrowly ahead of Rosberg, while Robert Kubica and Timo Glock had moved into the final points paying positions as Raikkonen struggled and Kazuki Nakajima was delayed by a left front wheel covering failing to attach in his final stop.

Although Vettel closed the gap to Webber to just 0.7 seconds as the chequered flag fell, there were no significant positional changes in the final laps as Button cruised to his sixth win from the first seven races, a feat only matched by Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark and Michael Schumacher – who all won the World Championship after achieving this feat.