England's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton led the way with the quickest times in the first two practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix.
A revamp to Hamilton's McLaren helped the world champion to his best showing of the season in the first session.
But Button was quickest in the second session as Brawn looked pacey in bright and breezy conditions in Shanghai.
Button was 0.025 seconds clear of Nico Rosberg's Williams in second, ahead of the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello.
Jenson Button's second practice time was more than half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton's pole position time for the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old early championship leader trailed team-mate Rubens Barrichello for much of Friday's second session but posted his leading time with eight minutes remaining.
Earlier in the day Hamilton, who was running with a new interim diffuser and front wing in Shanghai, had provided a rare positive note for his beleaguered McLaren team.
The defending world champion pulled out all of the stops to clock a time 0.116 seconds quicker than Button, who was second quickest.
McLaren were quick to react to Wednesday's decision by F1's governing body the FIA to uphold the legality of the controversial 'double-diffuser' design.
Renault also have a new diffuser with them in China but will not use it until Saturday, BBC Sport understands.
Ferrari's frustrations continued as Kimi Raikkonen laboured to 11th and Felipe Massa finished 15th fastest with both drivers having problems with their tyres.
The Ferrari drivers were among a number of competitors who struggled with 'graining' - when small pieces of rubber break away from the surface and stick to the tread reducing grip.
Both Renault and Williams drivers, Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber and Toyota's Timo Glock all either spun or spent time off the track.
Neither Ferrari used their energy storage and power boost system (Kers) in Shanghai after they encountered reliability problems with the system in Malaysia.
Robert Kubica used BMW Sauber's Kinetic Energy Recovery System (Kers) for the first time this season in China, but the Pole struggled home in 18th position after first practice.
Mark Webber was fifth fastest in his Red Bull, while Toyota continued their encouraging start to the season with solid displays from Jarno Trulli in sixth and Timo Glock in eighth.
Williams' Nico Rosberg, who was quickest in five of this season's first six practice sessions, was seventh fastest in Shanghai.
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