Jenson Button headed a McLaren 1-2 at the end of the second practice session in Melbourne with the two cars from Woking surprising the opposition, although one suspects that tomorrow there may be a little more aggressive strategies from the opposition. Fernando Alonso was third fastest in his Ferrari, just a fraction slower than Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel was right there too in his Red Bull. The session had a few spots of rain at the end of the 90 minutes which meant that final runs were not perhaps as good as they might have been.
Mark Webber was fifth in his Red Bull ahead of Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes, Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, the Sauber of new boy Sergio Perez, Rubens Barrichello’s Williams and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes. Jaime Alguersuari was 11th, ahead of Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld in the Renaults, Sebastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso, Kamui Kobayashi in the second Sauber and the two Force Indias with Paul di Resta faster than Adrian Sutil. Pastor Maldonado was 18th in the second Williams, while the two Lotuses were rather disappointing, with Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli 19th and 20th, ahead of the Virgins of Jerome d’Ambrosio and Timo Glock. In the final two minutes of the session there was a cheer in the Media Centre as HRT finally managed to finish its first car, allowing Tonio Liuzzi to complete one lap before the chequered flag came out. It had taken a huge effort, with the team working through Thursday night.
joeblogsf1 
Blimey your quick Joe thanks for the blog.
Joe, the local commentary has been going on and on about the amount of marbles just off the racing line after P2. Do you think this is likely to be a problem during the race in terms of the potential for overtaking?
Good news, I think, competitive times, McLaren back in the game (?), can’t wait for the qualifying and the race. It’s been a long winter.
Is it true that HRT wasn’t able to run in FP1 because of a fuel leak?
I thought HRT were ready last week apart from the dampers stuck in customs….
Chandhok-why are Lotus wasting their time with this guy..apart from money of course…
Joe, I see Ferrari have hired an Aerobatics Commander. Do you think this is to choreograph their formation finishes when Massa moves over to let Alonso win? 😉
Joe, how are the colour coded tyres doing – is there enough differecne at speed to tell who is on hard (silver ) and soft (yellow) or will Pirelli need to tweek this ?
Gotta say the new banner looks better with this blue backgroud!
The livery on HRT car looks really good.
Joe, do any of the rumours that HRT only have enough parts to build one complete car have any truth too them. Also is there any explanation as to why they are so behind schedule?
Was that a genuine cheer or an ironic cheer for HRT?
Robert McKay,
It was a genuine cheer
Joe, I normally read your site on a Windows PC but this morning I read it on my iPad. I like what you’ve done there, well done!
This is a HUGE improvement over winter testing! Do you think they can keep this up Joe?
Deja vu in the HRT camp. You’d think they’d have at least have improved sufficiently in a year to have a complete car ready on time.
The “true” Lotus shows its true potential.
Joe,
Any idea how long the runs were when the Maccas were setting quick times? There has been some suspicion, from others, that they were running on fumes. Do you know whether they were representative times?
A fascinating first day, i am crossing my fingers that we are in for a great year………… however, while i do not doubt the effort HRT mechanics and engineers have put in the teams failure to participate is not acceptable, it looks bad and has no place in F1, HRT owners and management need to have a serious and realistic conversation about their position and way forward…………….
I think Perez has to take the plaudits on day one………..
I don’t know what you blokes reckon, but I think the McLaren design seems overly ‘busy.’ Compare it to the Ferrari and the RB, both elegant and relatively simple. It seems to me that people are trying too hard to squeeze the last iota of performance out of something that is fundamentally flawed. Maybe chucking out the exhaust was the first step in correcting this. I dunno – I’m famed for my ignorance.
yes button up, a great drive through it was… looks like he some some BUTTONS TO BUTTON !