Nico Rosberg narrowly beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the top spot once again during second practice for the Australian Grand Prix, this time by one tenth of a second.
Meanwhile Ferrari began to shrink the gap, with Sebastian Vettel getting to within seven tenths of his fellow German’s laptime, whilst team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was a further five tenths back in fourth.
Valtteri Bottas was fifth quickest, but his Williams team-mate failed to set a timed lap due to a water leak which required some attention in the garage.
Sauber’s drivers managed to escape the confines of the garage to post their first laps of the season following “constructive talks” with Giedo van der Garde’s lawyers.
Felipe Nasr was 11th quickest and managed 33 laps, whilst Marcus Ericsson lagged behind in 15th having posted just 14 with a best time 1.5 seconds down on his Brazilian team-mate.
Kevin Magnussen was the first driver to hit a wall during the session, ending his time in the car on Friday earlier than expected. He finished 16th, three places down on Jenson Button who reported a loss of power after 21 laps.
Meanwhile Manor’s drivers remained stationary thanks to ongoing technical problems.
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 01. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:27.697 | 29 | |
| 02. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:27.797 | 0.100 | 25 |
| 03. | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:28.412 | 0.715 | 33 |
| 04. | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:28.842 | 1.145 | 33 |
| 05. | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:29.265 | 1.568 | 32 |
| 06. | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:30.016 | 2.319 | 27 |
| 07. | C. Sainz Jr | Toro Rosso | 1:30,071 | 2.374 | 41 |
| 08. | P. Maldonado | Lotus | 1:30.104 | 2.407 | 11 |
| 09. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:30.205 | 2.508 | 37 |
| 10. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:30.473 | 2.776 | 30 |
| 11. | F. Nasr | Sauber | 1:30.755 | 3.058 | 33 |
| 12. | S. Perez | Force India | 1:30.980 | 3.283 | 32 |
| 13. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:31.387 | 3.690 | 21 |
| 14. | M. Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:31.395 | 3.698 | 6 |
| 15. | M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:32.303 | 4.606 | 14 |
| 16. | K. Magnussen | McLaren | 1:33.289 | 5.592 | 4 |
| 17. | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | |||
| 18. | F. Massa | Williams | |||
| 19. | W. Stevens | Manor | |||
| 20. | R. Merhi | Manor |
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