World champion Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the second practice yesterday for tomorrow's European Grand Prix in Valencia.

But there were also some encouraging performances fromthe Grove-based Williams’ team Driving a Red Bull car with aerodynamic updates, the German was 0.131 seconds faster than Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was third ahead of the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher.

Bruno Senna, in his Williams, was fifth fastest.

His teammate Pastor Maldonado had been the fastest in the first practice session.

But the Venezuelian, who who took his maiden win at the Spanish Grand Prix last mon-th, dropped down to 13th in second practice.

He finished between between the Mclaren’s Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton,who were surprisingly low in 12th and 14th respectably.

The mixed-up field was a reflection of a session that was disrupted by a crash by HRT driver Pedro de la Rosa, which interrupted several drivers as they tried out one-lap runs on the softer of the two tyres.

The Red Bulls looked quick as Vettel and Mark Webber ran new rear bodywork aimed at improving downforc.

The Enstone-based Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen were only eighth and 11th in the afternoon.

The tight field suggests another close race in a season that has produced seven different winners.

In the first session just 0.292secs covered the top nine cars. In the afternoon, the top ten were separated by just 0.6secs.