Rain hits session again; Rosberg hits wall and breaks new front wing
Saturday 19 March 2016 09:28, UK
Lewis Hamilton continued the perfect start to the defence of his world title as he topped a rain-affected Practice Two ahead of the Australian GP.
The world champion set the pace with a 1:38.841 on the intermediate tyres, having already been quickest in the day's opening session.
"The car performed well and although we didn't get a huge number of laps in, they were still quite constructive sessions. I was lucky to get a couple of dry laps to get a tiny feeling for what the balance is like around here [in Practice One], which was down to some good work from the team to time my runs right," said Hamilton.
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But with rain falling throughout the afternoon session, none of the drivers ran on slick tyres - leaving the field acutely short of relevant data heading into the first weekend of the new season.
"There wasn't much we could learn," admitted Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
Nico Rosberg, however, fared even worse, crashing out in the early stages.
The Mercedes driver lit up the rear tyres on the W07 as he crossed the slippery road markings and the car speared into the wall, breaking the front wing which Mercedes hadn't used during Practice One to protect from damage due to a lack of spares.
"I just accelerated a little too much and I lost the car so that wasn't good. It was good for me that the track didn't dry out so I didn't lose out as a result, so the others didn't get an advantage for tomorrow," Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.
Team boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 that they team would ideally have called Rosberg in for a set of full wets, but the new radio restrictions meant they weren't allowed to.
Persistent rain during P2 prevented the drivers from venturing onto the dry tyres that had been used in first practice, with all of the best times posted on inters.
Williams only sent Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa out late in the session, but only so they could carry out pit stop practice, while neither Renault driver posted a time either. The two Sauber drivers and Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen stayed in the garage throughout the 90 minutes.
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McLaren duo Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were sixth and seventh respectively.
"For qualifying tomorrow, I think it's important that the fans know what's happening," said Button. "The fans are a big part of this sport, and it's important that they understand the reasons for the change.
"I reckon some teams and drivers will make mistakes in quali during the next few races, but I think we're well prepared."
Practice Two timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:38.841
2. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:39.308
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:39.486
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:39.535
5. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:39.694
6. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:39.895
7. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:40.008
8. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:40.761
9. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:41.256
10. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:42.411
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:42.981
12. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:43.401
13. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:43.731
14. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:44.304
15. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:47.356
16. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, No time
17. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, No time
18. Felipe Massa, Williams, No time
19. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, No time
20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, No time
21. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, No time
22. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, No time
