Button tops day two as Mercedes rack up miles

McLaren Mercedes

Jenson Button set the fastest time on the second day of running at Jerez.

Button's time of 1.24.165s was comfortably faster than Kimi Raikkonen's time on Tuesday, although lap times remain unrepresentative.

The day was originally set aside for wet weather running as overnight rain left the circuit moist, with tractors brought in to add more water to the track. The delay in soaking the circuit meant that the session started 17 minutes later than planned.

While the morning was undertaken in damp conditions, it was soon dry enough for slick tyres to be used, with everyone switching to dry tyres. Times subsequently improved, although more important for teams is the amount of mileage that is clocked up with the new regulations for 2014.

Mercedes rack up the miles

Mercedes completed a comparatively substantial amount of running on a quiet first day of action and on the second day their machines were comfortably ahead of their rivals.

Pacesetter Button racked up 43 laps in the McLaren MP4-29, after the car failed to run on Tuesday due to a technical problem.

Valtteri Bottas was third fastest for Williams and completed 35 laps, although Nico Rosberg was in action far more regularly as he clocked 97 laps, which was more than the entire field managed on Tuesday.

Sergio Perez completed 37 laps in the Force India before he stopped at the first corner with smoke trailing from his car.

Ferrari run without dramas

Vettel managed only eight laps. Red Bull/Getty Images

Ferrari again had only two cars in action as Marussia's car only made it to the circuit late in the afternoon, with the team hoping that the MR-03 will make its debut on Thursday.

Raikkonen conducted 47 laps in the Ferrari while Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez completed 53 laps, although he interrupted his running when he spun into the gravel at turn six late in the morning.

Lack of running for Renault

It was a disappointing day for Renault. Reigning world champions Red Bull carried out just eight laps before a battery problem curtailed Sebastian Vettel's running for the week. Daniel Ricciardo is set to take over on Thursday, meaning that Vettel has completed just 11 laps - none of them competitive - in his RB10.

"Obviously we’ve not had a lot of running and have a few problems to sort out, but with such big rule changes it is usual to have some teething problems," said Vettel. "That's what tests are for, to sort those issues out. The next two days will be important to get some track time to prepare for the tests in Bahrain."

The other Renault powered cars also had limited running. Marcus Ericsson completed 11 laps in the Caterham CT05 before he stopped on track, while Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat failed to make it out of the pits.

Their problems means that Renault's new 2014 power unit has completed less than 40 laps across the opening two days of the test.