2013 Australian GP Practice Two: Sebastian Vettel dominates as Mercedes show speed

Red Bull appear to have picked up where they left off at the end of 2012 after Sebastian Vettel completed a dominant start to the Australian GP in Practice Two - but Mercedes look to have underlined their emergence as a serious new threat to the World Champions.

"It's been somewhat of a horror day for McLaren, admitting that they just didn't have the grip in the car, they couldn't find the set-up that worked," reported Sky F1's Ted Kravitz. "Add to that the car is quite difficult to work on because of that revolutionary step they took over the winter, and you have a recipe for a very mixed up message for McLaren: 'yes, we have a car that at the end of the season that is going to be very quick, but we have to take the pain now early into the season knowing that we're really not going to be at our best until we know how to get the speed out of this car. "So really is it going to be damage limitation for the rest of the weekend." Many people's not-so-dark 2013 horses Lotus, meanwhile, quietly went about their Friday at Albert Park and ended it with encouraging fourth and fifth places on the timesheets, Kimi Raikkonen three tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Romain Grosjean. With Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa sixth and eighth respectively for Ferrari, Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) rounded out the top ten at the expense of McLaren's Jenson Button. At the back of the grid, Marussia confirmed their status as one of the winter's key movers by again outpacing Caterham - although Charles Pic managed to split the two MR02s this time - as Giedo van der Garde lost half the session after beaching his CT03 in the gravel. Practice Two Timesheet:
1. S Vettel, (Ger) Red Bull, 33 laps, 1:25.908.
2. M Webber (Aus) Red Bull, 31, 1.26.173.
3. N Rosberg, (Ger) Mercedes, 26, 1.26.322.
4. K Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus, 38, 1.26.361.
5. R Grosjean (Fra) Lotus, 32, 1.26.680.
6. F Alonso (Esp) Ferrari, 35, 1.26.748.
7. L Hamilton, (Gbr) Mercedes, 28, 1.26.772.
8. F Massa, (Brz), Ferrari, 32, 1.26.855.
9. A Sutil, (Ger) Force India, 35, 1.27.435.
10. N Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber, 34, 1.28.187.
11. J Button (Gbr) McLaren, 30, 1:28.294
12. P Di Resta (Gbr) Force India, 37, 1:38.311.
13. S Perez (Mex), McLaren, 33, 1:28.566.
14.D Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso, 31, 1:28.627.
15. E Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber, 33, 1:28.772.
16. P Maldonado (Ven) Williams, 36, 1:28.852.
17. J-E Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso, 36, 1:28.968.
18. V Bottas (Fin) Williams, 39, 1:29.386.
19. J Bianchi (Fra) Marussia, 32, 1:29.696.
20. C Pic (Fra) Caterham, 37, 1:30.165.
21. M Chilton (Gbr) Marussia, 36, 1:30.600.
22. G V-D Garde (Ned) Caterham, 11, 1:32.450.