Istanbul: McLaren's world champions dominated Turkish Grand Prix free practice on Friday with Lewis Hamilton quickest in the morning and Jenson Button lapping even faster after lunch.
Button, the reigning champion and last year's winner with Brawn at the undulating anti-clockwise Istanbul Park circuit, set the pace in the afternoon with a time of one minute 28.280 seconds.
That time was faster than Sebastian Vettel's 2009 pole position for Red Bull of 1:28.316, but Button felt the Red Bulls still looked the most menacing.
"The car feels reasonably good around here," said Button, whose labours in the afternoon heat were witnessed by only a scattering of fans in largely deserted stands.
"There are still some areas where we're not so strong and the Red Bulls will once again be the cars to beat in qualifying tomorrow. We can't get away from that. I just hope we're closer than we've been in the last two races."
Hamilton, the 2008 champion boasting newly pierced ears after a trip to the United States post-Monaco, had earlier led a McLaren one-two with a best lap of 1:28.653, with Button 0.962 slower in second place.
Red Bull's championship leader Mark Webber was second in the afternoon, but stopped on track five minutes from the end with a smoking car.
The Australian said the engine was a high mileage one that had been used before and was coming to the end of its life, so the failure was no surprise.
RANDY MANDY
Vettel, fifth in the morning, was third with the team experimenting with a version of the 'F-duct' that McLaren have pioneered to reduce drag on the straight.
Friday was the German's first chance to try out a different chassis, dubbed 'Randy Mandy' and used previously only in pre-season testing, at a grand prix weekend after a defect was discovered in the car he had used for the past six races.
"We still need to do some fine-tuning but it looks good," he said. "I think McLaren looks very competitive here, their system seems to be working well and they seem quite a bit quicker than everyone else on the straights."
Friday practice is more morale-boosting than indicative of true performance, although Webber had warned on Thursday that the McLarens could be a real threat after Hamilton had been close to their pace in Spain.
"But we're also mindful of the fact that Ferrari, and also if Mercedes have a clean weekend, there's lots of guys that can come towards us, so we're definitely not taking anything for granted," he added.
Webber is going for a third win in a row after his victories in Spain and on the winding streets of Monaco.
"We need to analyse the new F-duct system tonight, we know it's not the most straightforward of systems," said the Australian. "Whether we race it or not, we don't know yet."
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, third in the championship ahead of his team's 800th race, was ninth and fifth respectively.
"It would be a surprise if the Red Bulls were not ahead of everyone," he said. "We are thereabouts, behind them along with McLaren. That is my prediction."
Force India's German Adrian Sutil had the only accident of the morning session, the German losing control through the difficult Turn Eight in the closing minutes and spinning into the barriers.
Brazilian Bruno Senna sat out that practice for HRT, his place going to test driver Sakon Yamamoto. The Japanese was 7.4 seconds off the pace and more than a second slower than Indian Karun Chandhok in the other HRT.
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