Michael Schumacher set the pace on the second day's testing at Jerez as Mark Webber led the way for Red Bull in F1's 2012-spec cars.

Schumacher, driving last year's Mercedes W02 in full trim so that the team could gain as much information about Pirelli's 2012 tyres from a stable platform, set a one minute 18.561 second lap during the morning that no one came close to beating for the rest of the day.

"We made the most of a reliable car today to do lots of laps and learn a lot about the new Pirelli tyres, and how they perform on longer and shorter runs, and with different set-up configurations," said the German.

"It was a good and productive test, full of lots of useful information for the season ahead, and I am now looking forward to driving our 2012 car for the first time at the next test."

Webber's time also came in the morning as much of the paddock chose to focus on longer runs in the afternoon.

The Australian's 1:19.184 would remain the fastest time anyone has set in one of the new cars brought to Spain this week.

"The car was pretty competitive in winter testing last year and it's the same again this year," said Webber. "We know that Ferrari and McLaren will be there and Mercedes don't have a car yet but will bring it to Barcelona.

"We have an idea of what the car can do in terms of time. You are always anxious and nervous still. We are a long way from Melbourne and can't get excited about things today. "

Daniel Ricciardo impressed in the Toro Rosso, going third fastest in the STR7, having completed 100 laps of fairly trouble-free running. He set his best time around the same period as his compatriot when the track conditions appeared to be at their best.

Jules Bianchi began his Force India career with a fine fourth fastest in the VJM05 before handing over to Paul di Resta for the afternoon and the Scot would complete 69 laps in that time to set the sixth fastest lap behind yesterday's fastest man Kimi Raikkonen.

"I got used to the team and a new way of working," said Bianchi. "It has been a really important day for me. It's the first day in the car and a really nice sensation.

"The car felt pretty good. We still need some time to get on the limit because we are not pushing very hard at the moment. We are trying to find the set-ups and how the car behaves."

Raikkonen had a couple of offs in the Lotus. The first came early in the morning when he ran wide at Dry Sack and required a new plank. He then had another excursion very late in the day as he found the limits of this generation of cars.

He still managed 117 laps, and also got to try out a different steering rack after he found yesterday's one not to his liking.

Ferrari was again far from the top of the timesheet, and late in the day was employing flow-vis to study the effects of aero over Fellipe Massa's rear wing. The Brazilian's time of 1:20.454 was 1.893 seconds off the top time.

Jenson Button was eighth quickest in the McLaren, and like Ferrari, was not seeking any headline performance as it worked on improving the MP4-27.

Sauber's Sergio Perez was tenth in the Sauber ahead of Pastor Maldonado, who spent the day working on reliability with the Williams FW34.

Heikki Kovalainen was slowest of the drivers equipped with 2012 machinery but completed a whopping 139 laps for Caterham as he gathered plenty of information.

Pedro de la Rosa completed HRT's running by setting a 1:22.128, just 0.618 second off the pace of Kovalainen.

Day two testing times:

(position - driver - team - best lap - gap - number of laps completed)

1. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes - 1:18.561 - +0.000 - 132

2. Mark Webber - Red Bull - 1:19.184 - +0.623 - 97

3. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso - 1:19.587 - +1.026 - 100

4. Jules Bianchi - Force India - 1:20.221 - +1.660 - 46

5. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus - 1:20.239 - +1.678 - 117

6. Paul di Resta - Force India - 1:20.272 - +1.711 - 69

7. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 1:20.454 - +1.893 - 95

8. Jenson Button - McLaren - 1:20.688 - +2.127 - 85

9. Sergio Perez - Sauber - 1:20.711 - +2.150 - 68

10. Pastor Maldonado - Williams - 1:21.197 - +2.636 - 97

11. Heikki Kovalainen - Caterham - 1:21.518 - +2.957 - 139

12. Pedro de la Rosa - HRT - 1:22.128 - +3.567 - 64

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