Hamilton quickest in rain-hit FP2

In a session that was more about timing than pure pace, Lewis Hamilton topped the sheets with team-mate, Jenson Button, just behind him as the pair made the most of the short period of dry-running.

Hamilton managed a 1:25.801 with Button nearly three-tenths down, on a 1:26.076.  Their closest competitior, the Red-Bull of Mark Webber, who managed a 1:26.248 – suprisingly quick considering the wet track.

The session started dry but after only 5 minutes, the rain started to fall and this was followed by an action-less 20 minutes.  Teams then allowed the track to dry a bit before the installation laps started with only 15 minutes of the session remaining.

Nico Rosberg was the first to set a pace time, but Jenson Button knocked him off the top spot, followed just seconds later by Hamilton who knocked them down to second and third respectively.

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Timing problems at Ferrari, who seamingly managed to miss the best window, meant that Fernando Alonso only managed 15th and Felipe Massa behind him in 17th.

It was a bad session also for Sebastian Vettel.  The young German only managed to go 16th after a driver error which saw his RBR tyres slid onto the wet grass as he approached turn 6.

Timo Glock sat out the majority of the session with gear box problems, and a telemetry box problem saw Di Grassi and his Virgin-Cosworth sidelined for the entire session.

Karun Chandhock, who has only managed to drive his F1 car a matter of miles, was again forced to sit another vital session out as the HRT car lost all power, a suspected gearbox failure.  Bruno Senna, Chandhock’s team-mate, sat alongside the Indian in the garage as his fuel pump malfunctioned meaning the Brazilian couldn’t take to the track.

Times for Friday practice one:

All timing unofficial