Williams' Nico Rosberg grabbed the fastest time of Friday's practice sessions but Enstone-based Renault F1 team driver Fernando Alonso was close behind.
Both times came in the second session after McLaren's Lewis Hamilton had earlier topped a quiet first run.
Just over three hundredths of a second separated Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber and Brawn's Jenson Button in the second session, with the three drivers finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the timesheets.
Renault are sticking with the energy storage and power boost system (Kinetic Energy Recovery System)and Alonso improved by almost two seconds from the first to the second practice sessions, finishing just under two tenths of a second behind Rosberg's fastest overall lap of one minute 33.339 seconds.
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