McLaren on top after wet second practice
Webber took third behind the McLarens with a late effort on a drying track
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button headed the times after today’s second practice session in Melbourne.
The pair set their times in between the two rain showers which fell at the track early in the session.
The track dried sufficiently so that some drivers could improve their times in the closing minutes. They included Mark Webber, who managed the third-best time using hard tyres, and Michael Schumacher, who took fourth.
Despite missing the first session while Paul di Resta was in the car, Adrian Sutil managed seventh-fastest for Force India, one thousandth of a second faster than Vitantonio Liuzzi.
It was a tough session for HRT who failed to get Bruno Senna’s car on track and saw Karun Chandhok’s grid to a halt within metres of the pit exit on his first lap.
Lucas di Grassi was also unable to complete a lap for Virgin.
| Position | # | Driver | Car | Best lap | Laps | |
| 1 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’25.801 | 13 | |
| 2 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’26.076 | 0.275 | 16 |
| 3 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’26.248 | 0.447 | 22 |
| 4 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’26.511 | 0.71 | 16 |
| 5 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’26.732 | 0.931 | 26 |
| 6 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’26.832 | 1.031 | 29 |
| 7 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.834 | 1.033 | 22 |
| 8 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.835 | 1.034 | 17 |
| 9 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’26.904 | 1.103 | 25 |
| 10 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’26.956 | 1.155 | 22 |
| 11 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’27.108 | 1.307 | 28 |
| 12 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’27.108 | 1.307 | 25 |
| 13 | 23 | Kamui Kobyashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’27.455 | 1.654 | 23 |
| 14 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’27.545 | 1.744 | 25 |
| 15 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’29.025 | 3.224 | 20 |
| 16 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’29.134 | 3.333 | 19 |
| 17 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’29.591 | 3.79 | 21 |
| 18 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’29.860 | 4.059 | 15 |
| 19 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’30.510 | 4.709 | 43 |
| 20 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’30.695 | 4.894 | 17 |
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’32.117 | 6.316 | 9 |
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 2 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1 | ||
| 24 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth |
BasCB said on 26th March 2010, 7:16
So now it is time to get some predictions going, can you put the prediction competition on the main page, or link to it here?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 26th March 2010, 7:18
I will do later, yes. You can already submit your predictions via the Community page (top of the screen).
Nelson said on 26th March 2010, 7:16
Seems Ferrari is still keeping their cards under the rug. Everything is still premature due to the weather interruption. Better check out the times tomorrow at the quali seesion.
geo said on 26th March 2010, 7:40
Surprised by Ferrari’s pace.. hope they have good cards under their sleeves!
BasCB said on 26th March 2010, 7:42
I also think Ferrari will be quick. RedBull will be as well, Webber set his fastest time with harder tyres on a pretty cold track.
FlyGuy said on 26th March 2010, 7:50
Sad to see that HRT are not able to take advantage of this opportunity to get some miles under their wheels.
Fingers crossed that they’ll pull through…
silencer said on 26th March 2010, 7:51
I hope for the wet race weekend. :D
there’s report that Sauber is using the f-duct system as well. still hoping they’ll do well in tomorrow qualification round.
JV said on 26th March 2010, 8:05
For the 1st time Schumacher managed to beat Nico.
and Keith I’m not able to access F1 FANATIC FORUM. Is there any problem with the page or is it only me? Please let me know.
ajokay said on 26th March 2010, 9:26
The forum has been down for weeks now.
JV said on 27th March 2010, 4:55
I also face this problem for weeks.
PeterG said on 26th March 2010, 8:09
All the new teams are struggling with the gearbox and oil leaks. Although Lotus does seem to have less trouble with it. Is Williams also using the Xtrac gearbox or do they build their own?
Barrichello did good in this session. And Schumacher finally getting the best of Rosberg.
the reaper said on 26th March 2010, 8:10
mc laren looks super quick here….
GeeMac said on 26th March 2010, 8:12
Anyone else noticed that Renault are running with a device that looks remarkably like an “F duct” in the middle of the chassis, just in front of the driver? This is the first I have noticed it.
Have a look at the images next to the “Kubica puts Renault on top” on F1.com.
PJA said on 26th March 2010, 9:49
From the picture on Formula1.com it looks more like a nose scoop to help with driver cooling which teams have used in various forms for quite a while now.
If you look at this picture Renault had it at the last GP as well.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/03/14/bahrain-grand-prix-in-pictures-2/bhr_5049/
GeeMac said on 26th March 2010, 11:57
Ah, anbd here I was thinking I had a global exclusive on my hands!
spawinte said on 26th March 2010, 8:45
WET PRACTICE!? I was going to get out of bed again for second practice and decided I needed the sleep instead, sorry I missed it now :(
SamS said on 26th March 2010, 9:42
it wanst that wet!
Pat said on 26th March 2010, 10:39
If you watch the TV coverage – Hamilton set his time on the Softer tyre – Button set his time on the Harder tyre (they set their times whilst being on the track at the same time) – so only 2/10ths off Hamilton whilst on the harder tyre is a very strong comparative performance by Button and tyre adjusted would have probably been quicker ! :)
ivz said on 26th March 2010, 9:56
Only a few spots of rain, the track was by far not
“wet” but damp. Would make the race interesting, but we don’t like sitting in the rain! lol.
David said on 26th March 2010, 10:04
I was at the track today; will be again yesterday.
The track was wet – damp is a degree of wetness. It was actually at least drizzling for most of the second session. In fact, the last 10-15 minutes it was pretty heavy drizzle, verging on proper rain, at least where we were at the approach of 9/10. At least a couple times during the session the rain got pretty strong enough to send most people to the closest tree for cover.
David said on 26th March 2010, 10:14
oops
*tomorrow, lol
Magnificent Geoffrey said on 26th March 2010, 10:29
In the last few minutes the rain picked up again for us down at Turn 1 as well. Not enough for it to affect anything, clearly, but I was amazed at the times the guys were doing at the end.
sumedh said on 26th March 2010, 10:48
This is bad. Now we don’t have enough data to make a good prediction to enter for the predictions contest.
I will still put my hopes on Ferrari and Alonso though :)