McLaren on top after wet second practice

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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#DriverCarBest lapLaps
12Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’25.80113
21Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’26.0760.27516
36Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’26.2480.44722
43Michael SchumacherMercedes1’26.5110.7116
512Vitaly PetrovRenault1’26.7320.93126
616Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’26.8321.03129
714Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’26.8341.03322
815Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’26.8351.03417
99Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’26.9041.10325
104Nico RosbergMercedes1’26.9561.15522
1111Robert KubicaRenault1’27.1081.30728
1222Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’27.1081.30725
1323Kamui KobyashiSauber-Ferrari1’27.4551.65423
1410Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’27.5451.74425
158Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’29.0253.22420
165Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’29.1343.33319
177Felipe MassaFerrari1’29.5913.7921
1819Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’29.8604.05915
1917Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’30.5104.70943
2018Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’30.6954.89417
2124Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’32.1176.3169
2225Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth2
2320Karun ChandhokHRT-Cosworth1
2421Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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35 comments on “McLaren on top after wet second practice”

  1. 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?

    1. I will do later, yes. You can already submit your predictions via the Community page (top of the screen).

  2. 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.

  3. Surprised by Ferrari’s pace.. hope they have good cards under their sleeves!

  4. 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.

  5. 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…

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

    1. The forum has been down for weeks now.

      1. I also face this problem for weeks.

  8. 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.

  9. mc laren looks super quick here….

  10. 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.

    1. 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.

      https://www.racefans.net/2010/03/14/bahrain-grand-prix-in-pictures-2/bhr_5049/

      1. Ah, anbd here I was thinking I had a global exclusive on my hands!

  11. 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 :(

    1. it wanst that wet!

  12. 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 ! :)

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

    1. oops

      *tomorrow, lol

      1. Magnificent Geoffrey
        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.

  15. 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 :)

  16. Interestingly, Hamilton set his fastest lap on the softer tyre, whereas Button set his on the hard tyre.

    I don’t think that there is much between the tyres here. Maybe some will use the hard tyre in qualifying?

    Also, I posted elsewhere that the FIA and FOTA have been talking about spicing up the ’show’. Charlie Whiting suggesting that only the two extremes of tyre (super soft and hard) be used for each GP. Also talk of rev limiting to 17,000 rpm and setting a fixed amount of time for drivers to use 18,000 rpm. McLaren also suggested success ballast to be used during qualifying only!

    P.S. originally posted in P1 thread. oops! :)

  17. Sorry to post this here chaps as its not directly linked to the topic, but I deliberately didn’t watch F1 last night because I thought i’d be able to catch it up on iplayer, yet I can only get radio commentary.

    Why is this? Surely the BBC has the rights to F1 around the world! I don’t want this to become a recurring feature

    1. They show qualifying + the races on the iplayer, but they don’t put stuff off the red button (like practice sessions) on tinternet

    2. For Bahrain I was able to get practice on iPlayer as I was at uni most of the day. maybe it’s changed.

  18. BBC does not have rights around the world. I know this because we (india) watch it on espn.

  19. If the race is wet, drivers won’t be forced to use different tyre compounds. With the reduction in pit lane speed limit from 100 to 60kph could we see anyone attempting the full distance without pitting? I hope so.

    1. That could be interesting. I doubt any rain will be heavy enough to cause the whole race to be run on wet tyres, but you never know.

      Also, can anyone name the last time a driver finished a race without pitting? If I am not mistaken, it has happened since refuelling was introduced in 1994….

      1. Hi, I think Mika Salo finished in the points at Monaco 1997 without refueling!

        1. Yep that’s who I was thinking of!

          Vikas (below), I imagine everyone had to pit at Sepang at some point. I think Nick Heidelfd was the last driver to go onto wets

  20. Does last year’s washed out Malaysian GP count??…or did everyone pit then too?

  21. strange that ferrari are so slow….

    1. Running with high fuel levels. They’ll be up at the front somewhere in qualifying.

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