Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in FP2

F1 Grand Prix, GP Australia, Albert Park

Lewis Hamilton emerged atop of the timesheet during second practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Friday afternoon. The Briton clocked a best time of 1:29.625, leading his teammate Nico Rosberg, despite failing to complete a timed lap in first practice due to an oil pressure alarm.

Mercedes confirmed its strong pre-season testing pace with its times, ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who earlier said they could well be in the fight, admitting that Mercedes might just be a bit stronger than them. The Ferrari driver was fastest in the morning and now 5 tenths off of Hamilton's pace.

Reliability for most teams was fairly solid during this session, even though Lotus and Caterham continued to struggle badly. Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus stayed in the garage as power unit parts were changed, as did both Caterhams. Marcus Ericsson still had battery problems, while Kamui Kobayashi’s car required a change of its Renault powertrain after its problems this morning. None of the three set a time.

Kimi Raikkonen was the only man who had a stoppage on track, or basically in the pitlane, as the pit crew were able to pull his car backward into the box and get the Ferrari started again.