Australian GP: Vettel stays on top in second practice

Vettel, who had also led the morning session, was quickest for the majority of the afternoon, leading by a second early on.

Webber nosed ahead briefly during the super-soft runs, before Vettel took the top spot with a 1m25.908s lap, 0.264 seconds ahead of the Australian.

The teams all switched to heavy fuel runs soon after. Tyre degradation appeared severe, with lap times on short runs dropping off dramatically after the first flying laps, and the pace on longer stints slowing considerably.

Tyre wear looked like it was a factor in a late-session spin for Webber, who lost grip on the exit of Turn 13 and slid sideways and backwards down the track.

Mercedes showed encouraging pace but also had issues.

Nico Rosberg took third fastest, before stopping on track in the closing moments with a suspected gearbox failure.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was seventh. A potentially better lap was interrupted with a trip over the Turn 9 gravel and grass, and he later ploughed into the gravel just minutes before Rosberg had his issue.

Also in trouble were Jean-Eric Vergne, who spun his Toro Rosso across the asphalt run-off, and Giedo van der Garde, who spun off at Turn 6 and got stuck in the gravel with an hour to go.

Lotus got both cars in the top five, with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Romain Grosjean in fourth.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa's Ferraris were sixth and eighth, followed by Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg.


Pos  Driver                Team                  Time       Gap     Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m25.908            33
 2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m26.172s  + 0.264  31
 3.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m26.322s  + 0.414  26
 4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m26.361s  + 0.453  37
 5.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus Renault         1m26.680s  + 0.772  30
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m26.748s  + 0.840  35
 7.  Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m26.772s  + 0.864  28
 8.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m26.855s  + 0.947  32
 9.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m27.435s  + 1.527  34
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m28.187s  + 2.279  34
11.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m28.294s  + 2.386  30
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m28.311s  + 2.403  37
13.  Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m28.566s  + 2.658  32
14.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m28.627s  + 2.719  31
15.  Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m28.772s  + 2.864  33
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m28.852s  + 2.944  36
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m28.968s  + 3.060  35
18.  Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m29.386s  + 3.478  38
19.  Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m29.696s  + 3.788  30
20.  Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m30.165s  + 4.257  37
21.  Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m30.600s  + 4.692  34
22.  Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m32.450s  + 6.542  11