F1 Australian GP: Hamilton fastest in wet FP2 as Rosberg crashes

F1 Australian GP: Hamilton fastest in wet FP2 as Rosberg crashes - Mercedes suffered mixed fortunes in a damp second free practice for the Australian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton topped his second session of the day and Nico Rosberg damaged his car after spinning into a wall.

With inclement weather once again blighting the start of the session, the conditions would only marginally improve over the course of the 90mins, preventing drivers from fitting anything better than intermediate tyres.

Indeed, with seven drivers failing to set a time – and three not venturing out at all -, many teams preferred caution, particularly after Rosberg aquaplaned out of turn six and spun into the wall on the outside of turn seven early in the session.

Causing heavy damage to the front-wing of his W07, Rosberg attempted to nurse the car back to the pit lane but was forced to abandon it on the advice of the team with three bends remaining.

Forcing him out of the session, Hamilton instead flew the flag for Mercedes, turning in a best time of 1min 38.841secs, almost 10secs slower than the morning session but nearly half a second clear of Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.

Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard getting some much needed mileage in the Toro Rosso after technical issues in FP1.

Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button followed up in sixth and seventh for McLaren, ahead of Sebastian Vettel – setting a time in FP2 after not completing a timed lap in FP1 -, Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat.

Further back, Renault, Williams, Sauber and Max Verstappen chose to keep their cars dry in the garage in the hope of more productive running tomorrow.

Current forecasts for Saturday are still rainy at times but more favourable for FP3 and the new qualifying sessions.