Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix 2012: Free Practice 2 (FP2) live blog
Roar Guru By The Roar, 16 Mar 2012
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- 2012 Formula 1, australian formula 1 grand prix, Australian Grand Prix, Formula 1, live blog, Mark Webber
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F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel drives in for a pitstop during practice for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit on March 16, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
The second Australian Formula 1 practice session for 2012 commences at 4:30pm (ADST), with blue skies hoped to hold out over the Melbourne track for Free Practice 2. Join us for a live blog and updates of F1′s FP2.
Free Practice 1 started slowly as rain fell on the track, but the Melbourne circuit at Albert Park dried out after some early running on intermediate tyres and the final minutes of the session saw a flurry as the drivers looked to gather data for their engineers.
The McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in the first practice, but those results don’t mean a lot just yet.
It’s encouraging for the team, but no question have been answered yet in a season where team and drivers aren’t yet sure where they stand.
The only confirmation is that the new teams are still struggling, the first race of the season seemingly coming too soon again for HRT and Marussia Virgin, who struggled.
The other two stories of interest were Felipe Massa, who lost his car into the gravel at turn nine, and Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus suffering reliability problems, with a broken steering column costing him some running time.
In FP1, the cars were free to use DRS, however, in the last 30 minutes of practice two, the FIA will switch to DRS race mode to test the system. This means it will only work if drivers are within one second of another car.
Full live timing is available here from Formula1.com – and check Melbourne’s weather radar here.
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The Crowd Says (70) | Page 1 of Comments
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6:12pm
Tristan Rayner said | 6:12pm | Report comment
Thoughts on practice two: Another session which didn’t really tell us anything – almost a repeat of practice one except it started a lot wetter after some serious downpours just before practice.
Most drivers had a few moments off track as it was slippery and hard going, keeping the crowd entertained with a few wow moments, but there were lull moments without a car on the track genuinely hitting the track in anger.
The end of the session saw all the cars on the track but the top teams were content to be heavily fuelled and putting in laps – most logging between 15-20 laps in the session.
Schumacher tops the times which might give him a little confidence boost, but it’s all academic for now.
Pos. Car Driver Car Best lap Gap
1 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1’29.183
2 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’29.292 0.109
3 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1’30.199 1.016
4 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’30.341 1.158
5 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1’30.709 1.526
6 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1’31.466 2.283
7 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’31.505 2.322
8 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1’31.932 2.749
9 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’32.184 3.001
10 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’32.194 3.011
11 2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’32.296 3.113
12 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1’32.632 3.449
13 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1’32.767 3.584
14 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1’32.822 3.639
15 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’33.039 3.856
16 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1’33.252 4.069
17 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1’34.108 4.925
18 9 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1’34.275 5.092
19 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1’34.312 5.129
20 17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’34.485 5.302
21 16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’34.604 5.421
22 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1’34.770 5.587
23 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1’42.627 13.444
24 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth No time
6:03pm
Tristan Rayner said | 6:03pm | Report comment
Schumacher will top the timesheets – he sets a 1:29.183 to head into Saturday as the fastest driver in practice two. Full times next.
6:04pm
Tristan Rayner said | 6:04pm | Report comment
Narain Karthikeyan stops out on circuit for the second time today. He did get in 16 valuable laps though, but some 13 seconds over the time limit.
6:02pm
Tristan Rayner said | 6:02pm | Report comment
SESSION OVER – final flying laps now
6:02pm
Tristan Rayner said | 6:02pm | Report comment
Wow! Perez joins the main straight and has some nasty wobble about his car, it goes left, right, left, right and he can’t quite catch it before he manages to keep it out of the wall. The wet grass astroturf was almost his undoing.
6:01pm
Tristan Rayner said | 6:01pm | Report comment
Kovalainen locks his front right into turn one and runs wide, goes through some puddles, then very nearly runs into some passing drivers as he rejoins the road. That could’ve been nasty.
5:59pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:59pm | Report comment
The intriguing part of this session now is that most drivers aren’t pushing for fast laps – most are improving their lap times but it seems to be more fuel burn than anything else. The big names in Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg, Button, Hamilton are content with sitting midfield and putting in laps for data collection.
Just over a minute to go now.
5:58pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:58pm | Report comment
Pastor Maldonado takes advantage of the run off area out of turn 14 and into turn 15 but keeps it together.
5:57pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:57pm | Report comment
Vettel goes wide but keeps it together.
5:56pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:56pm | Report comment
Hulkenberg breaks the 1:30s barrier with a 1:29.808. Just under five minutes in the session remaining.
5:55pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:55pm | Report comment
Schumacher continues to set fast times around Melbourne in these conditions – he sets a 1:30.643 to be close to a second up over the pack.
5:51pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:51pm | Report comment
Massa pushing hard and runs his slicks into some puddles but holds it together. Tough keeping up as the lap times fly in now – just three drivers not on track.
5:50pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:50pm | Report comment
Massa leaps to the top of the pile with a 1:34.001, but the flyers are coming in thick and fast, Di Resta immediately drops the benchmark to 1:32.302
5:50pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:50pm | Report comment
Grosjean momentarily had the fastest time before Vettel chopped half a second off.
5:49pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:49pm | Report comment
Webber into second, Glock jumps to third in a bit of a surprise for his Virgin.
5:48pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:48pm | Report comment
Vettel jumps to the top of the board with a 1:36.974 laptime. Plenty of ‘green’ on the board as drivers set personal bests here there and everywhere.
5:47pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:47pm | Report comment
Overheard camera showing us there’s still damp patches on the track as a dry line emerges. Fast laps starting to be set by the more brave drivers.
5:45pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:45pm | Report comment
We should see the times whittle down as the track dries. More than 10 seconds of improvement to be found with slick tyres.
5:44pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:44pm | Report comment
17 minutes in the session remaining and it’s back to action. Vettel, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Grosjean and more all joining the track
5:41pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:41pm | Report comment
Vergne joins Karthikeyan on the track after doing a few practice starts on his exit from the pit lane.
5:38pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:38pm | Report comment
Kathikeyan is out on the track. His HRT is some 14 seconds off the pace at the moment. Wow, he has a big moment of sideways sliding around turn five but manages to hold it together. He’s on slicks… it’s dry enough to do so now but drivers will need to be careful.
5:35pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:35pm | Report comment
Looking out the windows here on track, there seems to be no real chance of more rain. With around 25 minutes left, the final part of the session should be full of action.
5:33pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:33pm | Report comment
It’s a real lull period. Hamilton, Senna, Raikkonen, De La Rosa and Grosjean all yet to set a timed lap. Hamilton hasn’t been on track yet.
5:31pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:31pm | Report comment
Mike Gascoyne confirms that the teams are waiting for the dry.
5:27pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:27pm | Report comment
So we’ve entered into another lull period here – the track is no longer wet enough for inters but too risky for slicks just yet. Ricciardo comes in and now there’s just Glock on track.
5:25pm
Tristan Rayner said | 5:25pm | Report comment
I’m back from a walk around the track, it is amazing out there. Getting up and close with the cars never ceases to blow me away – the speed isn’t difficult to appreciate but the noise of the cars is phenomena. The aural experience!
5:22pm
The Roar said | 5:22pm | Report comment
Schumacher’s Mercedes teammate Rosberg is into ninth.
5:20pm
The Roar said | 5:20pm | Report comment
Schumacher on another quick one as he looks to improve his time but he can’t.
5:19pm
The Roar said | 5:19pm | Report comment
Replays show Webber going onto the grass at turn one but rejoining without significant damage… except for some grass he collected on his way that’s lodged in his Red Bull.
5:17pm
The Roar said | 5:17pm | Report comment
45 minutes to go in the session as Michael Schumacher goes to the top of the times – the renowned wet weather specialist must be loving these conditions.
5:16pm
The Roar said | 5:16pm | Report comment
Vettel’s first fastest lap puts him into third place.
5:15pm
The Roar said | 5:15pm | Report comment
World champion Vettel makes his first appearance of the session and starts his first flying lap.
5:14pm
The Roar said | 5:14pm | Report comment
But Webber’s bumped back to fourth by Vergne in the Toro Rosso.
5:13pm
The Roar said | 5:13pm | Report comment
Webber into third, displacing fellow Aussie Ricciardo.
5:12pm
The Roar said | 5:12pm | Report comment
Button now quickest with a 1:39.497 – first man into the 1:30s bracket.
5:11pm
The Roar said | 5:11pm | Report comment
Maldonado of Williams goes to the top with a 1:40.721. Times continue to come down.
5:10pm
The Roar said | 5:10pm | Report comment
Even though the sun is out it’s taking some time for the track to dry; still some big puddles in certain sections of the track.
5:10pm
The Roar said | 5:10pm | Report comment
He can’t better his own time and he stays in fourth, behind Massa, Alonso and di Resta.
5:09pm
The Roar said | 5:09pm | Report comment
Webber still out there but his sector times are no match for the leading Ferraris.
5:08pm
The Roar said | 5:08pm | Report comment
Webber comes around and slots into fourth on his first flying lap.
5:07pm
The Roar said | 5:07pm | Report comment
Number of cars joining the action now: Di Resta, Senna, Webber, de la Rosa.
5:06pm
The Roar said | 5:06pm | Report comment
Webber is out on track now as Massa goes top, just beating his teammate.
5:05pm
The Roar said | 5:05pm | Report comment
Weather update: no sign of rain, sun out, track slowly drying.
5:04pm
The Roar said | 5:04pm | Report comment
Massa joins his Ferrari teammate on track and starts his first flying lap.
5:03pm
The Roar said | 5:03pm | Report comment
Alonso is on it! He betters his time by 2.7 seconds – almost three seconds quicker than the rest. Still no sign of the Red Bulls.
5:02pm
The Roar said | 5:02pm | Report comment
Perez in the Sauber has an off-track moment but continues on.
5:01pm
The Roar said | 5:01pm | Report comment
Alonso quickest with a 1:44.912.
5:00pm
The Roar said | 5:00pm | Report comment
Alonso starts his first flying lap and is already setting fastest sector times.
5:00pm
The Roar said | 5:00pm | Report comment
Alonso is also on track in his Ferrari. Current order: Kobayashi, Hulkenberg, Vergne, Button, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Karthikeyan.
4:58pm
The Roar said | 4:58pm | Report comment
He starts his first flying lap of the session.
4:57pm
The Roar said | 4:57pm | Report comment
Button in the McLaren is the first big name out in the session
4:56pm
The Roar said | 4:56pm | Report comment
Spin for Ricciardo at the fast turn six. He is pointing the right way and there appears to be no damage. Meanwhile, Kobayashi jumps to the top.
4:55pm
The Roar said | 4:55pm | Report comment
Now Hulkenberg goes top with a 1:46.779. Times are coming down as the track dries. Let’s hope for more track activity.
4:54pm
The Roar said | 4:54pm | Report comment
Perez is also out in the other Sauber and sets the fifth quickest time of the session thus far.
4:52pm
The Roar said | 4:52pm | Report comment
Kobayashi in the Sauber is into second, ahead of Ricciardo, as replays show he went for an off-track excursion after setting that lap time at turn one.
4:50pm
The Roar said | 4:50pm | Report comment
Williams’ Maldonado is out there now and jumps into third, behind the Toro Rossos. Hulkenberg also on track – still a lot of standing water on track.
4:48pm
The Roar said | 4:48pm | Report comment
Only three drivers have set a time thus far: Ricciardo, Vergne and Karthikeyan.
4:47pm
The Roar said | 4:47pm | Report comment
Still not much action out there. Rather than risking damage in the wet conditions teams will wait for the track to dry out. Still over an hour in the session with no rain at the minute.
4:43pm
The Roar said | 4:43pm | Report comment
It’s very quiet out there as the sun comes out, but the track remains very wet. Red Bull’s Vettel and Webber are chatting in the pits, in no hurry to go out.
4:42pm
The Roar said | 4:42pm | Report comment
Ricciardo is slipping and sliding around and comes across the line 1.2 seconds off his teammates time.
4:41pm
The Roar said | 4:41pm | Report comment
Vergne comes around and is the first to record a time with a 1:52.220. Teammate Ricciardo is out also and on a quick one.
4:39pm
The Roar said | 4:39pm | Report comment
The sun is out but few drivers are out. Vergne has just left the pits – Toro Rosso teammate to Aussie Dan Ricciardo. Big spray from the cars as he heads around.
4:36pm
Tristan Rayner said | 4:36pm | Report comment
Sauber teammate Kobayashi joins Perez – the pair putting in an install lap.
4:35pm
Tristan Rayner said | 4:35pm | Report comment
Perez breaks the silence and emerges on track with full wets on. The sun is shining and he’s throwing up plumes of ‘rooster tail’ water behind him.
4:31pm
Tristan Rayner said | 4:31pm | Report comment
Green light – practice is underway. Not expecting too much action until the later stages.
4:30pm
Tristan Rayner said | 4:30pm | Report comment
Lenny Kravitz is in the McLaren garage, having a yarn with Lewis Hamilton. He’s here with F1 Rocks this weekend, but madness in scheduling means Lenny is playing nowhere near the track and not long after the end of the race on Sunda.
4:27pm
Tristan Rayner said | 4:27pm | Report comment
Still drizzling a little – the sky keeps on getting lighter and darker. We’ll be underway in around five minutes – expecting it’ll be light on action with the wet – perhaps an installation lap early on.
4:32pm
Tristan Rayner said | 4:32pm | Report comment
There is a massive black cloud over the track which stretches over half of Melbourne, it seems.
4:02pm
Tristan Rayner said | 4:02pm | Report comment
It really poured for a few moments just now, there was a legitimate river in pitlane – but it was just a shower and it’s getting brighter outside again.
3:47pm
Tristan Rayner said | 3:47pm | Report comment
It’s raining quite a bit at the moment. Properly throwing it down here. Ponchos and umbrellas are out and about. Not sure if it’s patchy rain or if it’ll stick around, but it’s not promising for a dry practice session, which is a shame.
Expect it may be a repeat of the first session, rain, drying and a final run as it dries.