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Australia 2010 - Free Practice 2 highlights - Ninety minutes of running, interrupted by on and off rain

Published by Mr. C

The afternoon session in Melbourne started as it would continue, with intermittent rain disrupting the 90 minute practice. Check out the full results of Free Practice 2, but if you want to see all the highlights from FP2 as it happened, read on!

As it happened: 2010 Australia - Free Practice 2

  • 05:04

    Good morning everybody. On track action should begin in a little under 30 minutes.

  • 05:05

    Latest weather update from Autosport: "Overcast skies over the circuit with an increasing risk of showers this afternoon."

  • 05:08

    The BBC's Sarah Holt at the circuit: "Calm after a breezy break is replaced by, um, yet more breeze, cloud & 22C temps. To add to the swirling skies a fighter jet is at large."

  • 05:09

    Sidepodcast live commenting for this session can be found here.

  • 05:12

    The video stream fro UK viewers and text updates from the BBC continue from this morning.

  • 05:16

    from @eddstrawF1: "Petrov is fast...in the pits. Clocked at 94.6km/h, 34.6km/h over the speed limit! E7000 fine." oops!

  • 05:26

    Holly Samos in the pits is seeing some light rain.

  • 05:29

    Don't forget to keep an eye on McLaren's live data and F1.com's live timing.

  • 05:30

    From Force India: "On the programme this afternoon: longer runs and set-up work."

  • 05:32

    Buemi was the first man on track and the first man back in the pits.

  • 05:32

    Pedro continues past his installation lap to go around again.

  • 05:37

    Rain continues to fall. All cars return to the pits. Only seven drivers ventured out.

  • 05:40

    Gascoyne on the pitwall: "Not wet enough for inters but not dry enough for slicks so tricky conditions."

  • 05:42

    Sutil heads out for a sighter lap and back in again.

  • 05:44

    Lewis suggests the team try slicks.

  • 05:47

    Weather data from the circuit:

    • Track temp: 24 degrees
    • Ait temp: 22 degrees
    • Wind speed: 3.5 mps
    • Humidity: 71 percent
  • 05:49

    Cars are pouring onto the track now. Only Chandock, Senna and Glcok remain in the pits.

  • 05:50

    At the front, Rosberg tops the times with a 1:27.464.

  • 05:52

    Hamilton and Button are trading purple first sectors.

  • 05:55

    Renault are pleased with their chassis today: "The car seemed well balanced this morning and drivers happy with it."

  • 05:58

    The action at the front of the field has calmed down. Both McLaren's return to the pits, with Hamilton the faster of the pairing. The team are keen to go out for another run before the rain comes.

  • 06:00

    Chandock stops his car just outside of the pit exit. It was his first outing of the session.

  • 06:00

    Jenson again told to press the "big blue button".

  • 06:02

    Ferrari are pulling both drivers back in to the pits.

  • 06:11

    Alguersuari circulating the track on a set of inters.

  • 06:15

    Holly with Karun "There's something wrong with the gearbox."

  • 06:17

    Rubens team radio: "Weather could be like this everyday." Rubens: "I'm not learning anything."

  • 06:18

    Track temp has dropped to 21 degrees.

  • 06:20

    From Mercedes "Nico using the rain to do some practice pit stops"

  • 06:23

    Over half the session is gone, and four drivers yet to set a time. Glock, Senna, Chandock, di Grassi.

  • 06:27

    Gascoyne on the pit wall: "A few more drops again. Forecast says it will shower intermittantly for the rest of the session so may well stay wet."

  • 06:29

    Kubica on the radio: "Maybe we should stay out and live with the graining?"

  • 06:36

    Current fastest sectors:

    • Sector 1: Button (283kph)
    • Sector 2: Liuzzi (295kph)
    • Sector 3: Button (297kph)
    • Trap: Button (307kph)
  • 06:37

    An update from @VirginRacing: "Good news is that timo is getting ready. Only one car on track at the moment"

  • 06:39

    an update from @InsideFerrari: running with intermediate tyres would mean to sacrifice sets of tyres which could be helpful later on during the weekend.

  • 06:47

    With less than 15 minutes remaining and the rain holding off, cars are beginning to pile onto the track.

  • 06:47

    Glock finally leaves the pit lane.

  • 06:50

    Bruno Senna tweeting from the pits: Raining on and off in the second session. My car has a fuel pressure problem. Not a big deal to fix but will take too long to get out again.

  • 06:54

    Lucas di Grassi remains in the pits, along with the stranded Chandock. All other drivers out there doing laps.

  • 06:54

    Improvements down the field from Alonso, Vettel and Glock.

  • 06:56

    A picture from the grandstands from @caedwa.

  • 06:57

    Vettel heads off track and slides across the gravel at turn 6.

  • 06:58

    Vettel recovered back to the pits.

  • 06:59

    Button on the radio: "Traffic is a nightmare"

  • 07:01

    The clock hits zero and de la Rosa blocks Button.

  • 07:03

    Top 5: Hamilton, Button, Webber, Schumacher, Petrov

  • 07:19

    The final times from today's second practice session are now available.

  • 07:22

    That concludes coverage of today's on track action. Thank you to everybody for following. We shall return tomorrow for Free Practice 3 at 03:00 GMT.

All content in the series Australia 2010