Practice Two: Schumi sets the pace

Michael Schumacher topped a relatively quiet session in Melbourne as the rain disrupted proceedings for the second time on Friday

With the rain coming down 30 minutes before Practice Two got underway, the majority of the field were found hiding in their respectively garages as the lights went green.

Once underway it was Sergio Perez, Schumacher and Pastor Maldonado who had the best times in the wet conditions.

But with the rain abating and the track drying out, the drivers were gifted 15 minutes of almost dry running on the slick Pirelli tyres.

Lap times immediately plunged in the 1:36s only to drop lower and lower as the track continued to dry out and the drivers made the most of the conditions.

In the end it was Schumacher who triumphed, clocking a 1:29.183 to edge Force India's Nico Hulkenberg by 0.109s.

Perez finished in third place, a full second off the pace, and ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi.

The latter had a near miss in the final seconds of practice as he had a major tank-slapper and only just held onto the car.

Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa and the very impressive Heikki Kovalainen completed the top eight.

Lotus had a tough time as they opted not to run in the wet, leaving Kimi Raikonen P18 with just seven laps and Romain Grosjean P14 with 11.

It was yet another disappointing session for HRT with Narain Karthikeyan breaking down in the final seconds - and over 13 seconds off the pace - and Pedro de la Rosa completing just one lap.

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

Source: Planet-F1