McLaren set the early pace

Hamilton and Button impress in Melbourne

Hamilton: Leading time

British duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button headed up the fastest times after Friday's second practice for the Australian GP.

The McLaren drivers threw down the gauntlet to their rivals by recording the fastest lap times of the day in Melbourne after Renault's Robert Kubica had led after the opening practice.

Hamilton, a winner in Melbourne in 2008, defied the light rain to clock one minute 25.801 seconds, while last year's Australian Open winner Button was 0.275sec slower.

The duo, who both went on to lift the world championship title after their successes in Australia, finished the session clear of the chasing pack.

Red Bull Renault's Mark Webber and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher were the closest - although both were still well down on Hamilton's benchmark time.

Home favourite Webber was third fastest in 1:26.248, while Schumacher, who is chasing his fifth Australian victory, clocked 1:26.511.

Vitaly Petrov produced an impressive display to go fifth fastest in his Renault while Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi was sixth with the Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi seventh and eighth respectively.

It was a frustrating session for the Ferraris - with Fernando Alonso, a winner in the season opener in Bahrain, adrift in 15th after a fastest lap time of 1:29.025.

Scuderia team-mate Felipe Massa, who was second in Bahrain, was back in 17th after a lap of 1:29.591.

Massa had finished in fourth after the opening session on Friday, after a significantly better drive of 1:27.511.

Impressive

Renault's Kubica had recorded the fastest time at the Albert Park circuit after racing around in 1:26.927.

That saw him top the session ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and defending world champion Button.

Scottish driver Paul di Resta clocked 1:28.537 as Force India's reserve driver made an impressive start on his first official run for the team.

Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi had a session to forget, though, as he knocked off the front wing of his car when he hit a cone. The front wing then fell off under braking, with Kobayashi sent across the gravel trap.

Kobayashi's Sauber team-mate Pedro de la Rosa also was restricted in his running due to a technical problem, while Lotus had headaches of their own.

Jarno Trulli was left frustrated as his car suffered a hydraulic failure while Heikki Kovalainen ended up parking his car at the side of the track at the end of the session.

Unsurprisingly, the new teams of Virgin Racing and Hispania made up the bottom four places in both sessions - with them finishing some six seconds off the pace.

Practice One: 1 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:26.927, 2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:27.126, 3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:27.482, 4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:27.511, 5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:27.686, 6 Fernando Alonso (Spn) Ferrari 1:27.747, 7 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:27.793, 8 Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Toro Rosso 1:28.014, 9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:28.114, 10 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:28.192, 11 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:28.537, 12 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:28.550, 13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spn) Toro Rosso 1:28.572, 14 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:28.683, 15 Pedro de la Rosa (Spn) Sauber 1:29.465, 16 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams F1 1:29.712, 17 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams F1 1:30.249, 18 K Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:31.588, 19 J Trulli (Ita) Lotus 1:31.652, 20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus 1:31.654, 21 Lucas Di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 1:32.831, 22 Bruno Senna (Bra) Hispania 1:33.401, 23 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Hispania 1:34.251, 24 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:34.925.

Practice Two: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:25.801, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:26.076, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:26.248, 4 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:26.511, 5 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:26.732, 6 Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Toro Rosso 1:26.832, 7 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:26.834, 8 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:26.835, 9 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams F1 1:26.904, 10 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:26.956, 11 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:27.108, 12 Pedro de la Rosa (Spn) Sauber 1:27.108, 13 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:27.455, 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams F1 1:27.545, 15 Fernando Alonso (Spn) Ferrari 1:29.025, 16 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:29.134, 17 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:29.591, 18 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus 1:29.860, 19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spn) Toro Rosso 1:30.510, 20 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus 1:30.695, 21 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:32.117, 22 Lucas Di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing, 23 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Hispania, 24 Bruno Senna (Bra) Hispania.