Australia 2010: Free Practice Two

The second practice session at Albert Park saw almost as much drama as the first with rain affecting play in Melbourne. While the morning session went uninterrupted with beautifully clear skies, the clouds soon rolled in and a light drizzle just before the second practice began got heavier and heavier. A small window appeared partway through which saw most drivers head out for track time, but the rain soon returned and sent the drivers scurrying back to their garages. The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button went first and second, making the most of the opportunity to run before the weather turned against them.

The final ten minutes of the session saw a dry line appear but only Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber could make the most of it and improve their times. Schumacher ended his Friday afternoon in P4 with local driver Webber in P3. Schumacher’s Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg had led the field early on before the McLaren’s took control and the German pilot eventually finished in P10. Sebastian Vettel was running well in the final dry spell but got a little too close to the wet grass and spun his RB6 on a hot lap. Vettel returned to the pitlane remaining in P16.

Force India returned Adrian Sutil to the car after they ran Paul Di Resta in the morning. Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi were separated in the afternoon by just 0.001s and Sutil was only 0.002s behind Sebastien Buemi. Pedro De La Rosa, who had a problematic first session, managed to set an identical time to the morning’s fastest driver, Robert Kubica, the pair each setting a 1m27.108s lap time.

Virgin Racing continued to repair the oil leak on Timo Glock’s gearbox, and combined with the wet weather, the German could only complete nine laps. Team mate Lucas Di Grassi fared even worse and only managed two tours of the Albert Park lake, a problem with his telemetry box being the cause of his woes. Lotus again did better with Jarno Trulli ending his afternoon in P20 while Heikki Kovalainen managed to get into P18 ahead of Jaime Alguersuari.

The Spanish Scuderia Toro Rosso driver completed the most laps on the damp track, touring the circuit 43 times, albeit with a scary moment exiting the final corner and resigned himself to pitting. Team mate Sebastien Buemi had a better time of it though and finished in a respectable P6. The Hispania duo suffered problems in the second session with Karun Chandhok parking his car up with a suspected gear box failure and Bruno Senna spending his afternoon in the dry surrounds of his garage, looking at an oil pressure problem with his car.

	Australia 2010 Free Practice Two	Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Completed
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m25.801s	13 Laps
2.	Jenson Button McLaren	1m26.076s	16 Laps
3.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m26.248s	22 Laps
4.	Michael Schumacher Mercedes	1m26.511s	16 Laps
5.	Vitaly Petrov Renault	1m26.732s	26 Laps
6.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m26.832s	29 Laps
7.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m26.834s	22 Laps
8.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	1m26.835s	17 Laps
9.	Rubens Barrichello Williams	1m26.904s	25 Laps
10.	Nico Rosberg Mercedes	1m26.956s	22 Laps
11.	Robert Kubica Renault	1m27.108s	28 Laps
12.	Pedro De La Rosa Sauber	1m27.108s	25 Laps
13.	Kamui Kobayashi Sauber	1m27.455s	23 Laps
14.	Nico Hulkenberg Williams	1m27.545s	25 Laps
15.	Fernando Alonso Ferrari	1m29.025s	20 Laps
16.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m29.134s	19 Laps
17.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m29.591s	21 Laps
18.	Heikki Kovalainen Lotus	1m29.860s	15 Laps
19.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m30.510s	43 Laps
20.	Jarno Trulli Lotus	1m30.695s	17 Laps
21.	Timo Glock Virgin Racing	1m32.117s	9 Laps
22.	Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing	No Time	2 Laps
23.	Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing	No Time	1 Lap
24.	Bruno Senna Hispania Racing	No Time	0 Laps