Hamilton and Button at the forefront

After a competitive first session on a dry track, the second driving session was disrupted by the appearance of a few drops. The pilots still go out to do their installation tours but return quickly. In fact, it dries out quickly after the rain stops and the different teams can send their cars on slick tires.

Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) is the first under 1?30??, in 1?29??835. His teammate, Rubens Barrichello (Williams), improved, in 1:27:585, before Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) is placed at the top (1?27??464). But the pilots McLaren come out of their reserve and allow the timer to go down very quickly. Lewis Hamilton takes the best time (1?26??648) then Jenson Button is ahead of him (1?26??076).

Meanwhile, the pilots Renault continue to push the R30 to its limits, joining the top four teams in terms of performance or, at least, in the ranking of the best times. Vitaly Petrov sets the fifth time (1:27??078), Robert Kubica the sixth (1:27??108). The Russian even improved further and moved to provisional third place (1?26??732). A few seconds later, Lewis Hamilton stood out and set the best time (1:25:801).

The rain makes its appearance again and, this time, stays on the Melbourne circuit for longer. The single-seaters go into the garage, come out with intermediate tires, go back in again, try slick tires? Finally, it was a quarter of an hour before the end of the session that, the track drying out, the drivers returned to the track en masse.

Some drivers managed to improve in the final minutes. This is the case of Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) which climbs to third place, in 1, before improving by eleven thousandths during its final lap. Meanwhile, Mark Webber (Red Bull) also beat his best time, taking third place from Schumi in 1:26??343.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) also tries to get on the podium but loses patience behind a Ferrari and leaves in the gravel. The session ended with this result, with a McLaren double at the top of the timesheet. The Woking single-seaters showed their effectiveness on this specific track but these impressions will have to be confirmed during Saturday's sessions.