Schumacher tops Australian second practice

Schumacher topped another rain-affected session

Michael Schumacher put Mercedes on top of second practice for the Australian Grand Prix.

Like first practice, this session began wet, but slowly dried out over the afternoon.

As the track was even wetter than before, there was very little dry running for the teams. Schumacher pipped Nico Hulkenberg by a tenth of a second near the end of the day.

Sergio Perez spun his Sauber into the gravel at Turn 14, but was able to continue. Mark Webber, Jean-Eric Vergne, Heikki Kovalainen and Daniel Ricciardo all had off-track moments in the tricky conditions.

Marussia improved well compared to FP1. Timo Glock managed 12th, just behind the Red Bulls, and ahead of the McLarens.

However, HRT had another dismal session. Pedro de la Rosa did a single installation lap, while Narain Karthikeyan was 13 seconds off the pace after 16 laps. The team struggled massively with hydraulic problems.

Kamui Kobayashi had a spectacular end to the session, weaving manically for control exiting the final corner before spinning 180 degrees.

Times from FP2:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
 1.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1:29.183          16
 2.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes    1:29.292  +0.109  19
 3.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1:30.199  +1.016  23
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1:30.341  +1.158  13
 5.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1:30.709  +1.526  14
 6.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1:31.466  +2.283  13
 7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1:31.505  +2.322  14
 8.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault        1:31.932  +2.749  16
 9.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1:32.184  +3.001  17
10.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1:32.194  +3.011  19
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1:32.296  +3.113  20
12.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth       1:32.632  +3.449  17
13.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault        1:32.767  +3.584  15
14.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           1:32.822  +3.639  11
15.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:33.039  +3.856  18
16.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1:33.252  +4.069  11
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        1:34.108  +4.925  21
18.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           1:34.275  +5.092   7
19.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault        1:34.312  +5.129  17
20.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:34.485  +5.302  29
21.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:34.604  +5.421  31
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth       1:34.770  +5.587  13
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth            1:42.627  +13.444 16
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth                               1

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