Seven time world champion Micheal Schumacher scores the fastest time in the second free practice in Melbourne to head the field after a turbulent and unsettled session. The German ace scored his time late in the session when track conditions started improving dramatically. Nico Hulkenberg came second inches away from Schumacher while Sergio Perez finished 3rd ahead of Alonso. Results in this session are by far not an indication of any performance advantage and we should wait until tomorrow’s Qualifying session to start taking a close idea of what to to expect. Nevertheless the field looks tight and the teams look very close.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:29.183 | 16 | |
| 2 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:29.292 | 0.109 | 19 |
| 3 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:30.199 | 1.016 | 23 |
| 4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:30.341 | 1.158 | 13 |
| 5 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:30.709 | 1.526 | 14 |
| 6 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:31.466 | 2.283 | 13 |
| 7 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:31.505 | 2.322 | 14 |
| 8 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:31.932 | 2.749 | 16 |
| 9 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:32.184 | 3.001 | 17 |
| 10 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:32.194 | 3.011 | 19 |
| 11 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:32.296 | 3.113 | 20 |
| 12 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:32.632 | 3.449 | 17 |
| 13 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:32.767 | 3.584 | 15 |
| 14 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:32.822 | 3.639 | 11 |
| 15 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:33.039 | 3.856 | 18 |
| 16 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:33.252 | 4.069 | 11 |
| 17 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:34.108 | 4.925 | 21 |
| 18 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:34.275 | 5.092 | 7 |
| 19 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:34.312 | 5.129 | 17 |
| 20 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:34.485 | 5.302 | 29 |
| 21 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:34.604 | 5.421 | 31 |
| 22 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:34.770 | 5.587 | 13 |
| 23 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:42.627 | 13.444 | 16 |
| 24 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | No time | 1 |