[KC native]

Wooooooooooooooo Getting closer.

nfiniti Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets in the second Friday practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.

Vettel, who was also quickest in first practice, set the pace with an afternoon lap time of 1m25.908s, 0.264 seconds ahead of the team mate Mark Webber.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg finished third despite hitting problems in the final minutes of the session, which resulted in both Rosberg and Hamilton stopping on track with a suspected gearbox failure.

As expected, tyre degradation played a factor in the afternoon practice session, causing a late-session spin for Webber who slid sideways and backwards down the track after losing grip on the exit of Turn 13. Lap times on the short runs also dropped off dramatically after the first flying laps.

Results for the Friday practice sessions are as follows:

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull – Renault 1’25.908 33
2 2 Mark Webber Red Bull – Renault 1’26.172 0.264 31
3 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’26.322 0.414 26
4 7 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus – Renault 1’26.361 0.453 38
5 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus – Renault 1’26.680 0.772 32
6 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’26.748 0.840 35
7 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’26.772 0.864 28
8 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’26.855 0.947 32
9 15 Adrian Sutil Force India – Mercedes 1’27.435 1.527 35
10 11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber – Ferrari 1’28.187 2.279 34
11 5 Jenson Button McLaren 1’28.294 2.386 30
12 14 Paul di Resta Force India – Mercedes 1’28.311 2.403 37
13 6 Sergio Perez McLaren 1’28.566 2.658 33
14 19 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso – Ferrari 1’28.627 2.719 31
15 12 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber – Ferrari 1’28.772 2.864 33
16 16 Pastor Maldonado Williams – Renault 1’28.852 2.944 36
17 18 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso – Ferrari 1’28.968 3.060 36
18 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams – Renault 1’29.386 3.478 39
19 22 Jules Bianchi Marussia – Cosworth 1’29.696 3.788 32
20 20 Charles Pic Caterham – Renault 1’30.165 4.257 37
21 23 Max Chilton Marussia – Cosworth 1’30.600 4.692 36
22 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham – Renault 1’32.450 6.542 11