Lewis Hamilton continued to lead the way during free practice in Australia despite the weather once again dictating the day’s running as more rain struck the Albert Park circuit.
After topping the opening session earlier in the morning, Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver Hamilton delayed his appearance on track until the final half hour when the track was at its best to set a best time of 1m38.841s.
Unfortunately for team-mate Nico Rosberg, the German was one of those to venture onto the track earlier in the session, and lost control at turn six, breaking his front wing against the wall and being forced to stop his car on track. Rosberg ultimately ended the session fifteenth fastest, ahead of only the drivers who did not set a lap time.
Nico Hulkenberg was second fastest for Sahara Force India, just 0.467s as Intermediate Pirelli tyres were the compound of choice and necessity throughout the 90-minute session, while Kimi Raikkonen ended third fastest for Scuderia Ferrari.
Home-hero Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest for Red Bull Racing ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr, who had been unable to post a time in FP1 due to a fuel system issue on his Scuderia Toro Rosso and was making up for lost time in FP2.
Fernando Alonso beat McLaren-Honda team-mate Jenson Button to sixth by 0.113s, while Sebastian Vettel finished just behind the two McLarens in eighth for Ferrari, ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat.
The two Manor Racing drivers were by far the busiest of the drivers throughout the session, with Pascal Wehrlein completing twenty-five laps and Rio Haryanto twenty-two; they finished twelfth and fourteenth respectively, with Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean eleventh and thirteenth for the new-for-2016 Haas F1 Team.
Neither Sauber driver nor Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso left the pit lane during the session, while both Renault drivers and both Williams Martini Racing drivers only completed installation laps without setting a lap time.
With both practice sessions being heavily affected by the wet weather, the teams will be busy in final practice on Saturday morning to perfect their dry set-up ahead of the new qualifying session on Saturday afternoon and Sunday’s race.
Albert Park Free Practice 2 Times
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