MELBOURNE: McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton set the fastest times in Friday's practice for the Australian Grand Prix, as the team profited from same late changes to the car's set-up following a frustrating Formula One offseason. Button posted the fastest lap of 1 minute, 28.854 seconds in the second practice session, 0.132 seconds ahead of Hamilton as the McLaren cars performed strongly on the softer ‘option' tires after being off the pace on the hard tires in the morning session. “Getting used to the new tires is giving me the lap time,” McLaren tweeted Button as saying during the session. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was third quickest in both sessions. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, who led after the first practice session, were fourth and fifth respectively. Sixth-placed Michael Schumacher of Mercedes led for much of the second session before the McLaren drivers traded the quickest times in the latter stages. Button and Hamilton had talked down McLaren's chances before arriving in Australia, following an offseason in which the team struggled to integrate a complex new exhaust system and get the best out of the new Pirelli tires. A last-minute decision to revert to a simpler exhaust and floor of the car clearly paid off. Button and Hamilton showered lavish praise on their team for conjuring a “massive” improvement in their cars. “McLaren have done a fantastic job — the boys have done a great job of bringing here an exhaust system that's reliable and has also got more pace than what we've experienced with this car before,” Button told reporters under leaden skies at the paddock. “I'm expecting a competitive weekend. I don't know where we will be but I'm looking forward to it. One of the most important things is that we have reliability, when you have that you can do solid work and improve the car.” Hamilton was equally effusive, saying their mechanics had delivered after being “pushed right to the limit” in the preceding two weeks. “I feel definitely a lot more positive, I think if we were on the exhaust system that we had on the last test, we would be in quite a lot of trouble but (it was) a good level, felt quite a big step forward, so massive improvement, great job by the guys,” he said. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was seventh after an erratic first session. Sauber rookie Sergio Perez was an impressive eighth, Williams veteran Rubens Barrichello was ninth and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg tenth. Despite cool conditions and occasional showers at the Albert Park circuit, the teams persisted with dry-weather tires throughout the day. The first session got off to a slow start when first man out — newly appointed Lotus test driver Karun Chandhok — spun on the third corner, damaging the front end. The incident prompted a suspension of practice and the Indian did not return to the track to post a time. Jarno Trulli took the car out in the second session, but he also managed to overshoot a corner into a gravel pit — also on turn three — as light rain fell and the street circuit lost grip. Hispania, which spent most of the night and early morning making modifications to its cars, also did not complete a lap in either session. Vitantonio Liuzzi emerged in the closing stages of second practice. He did not complete a lap but at least gave the team its first readings on the new car, having used the 2010 version in limited preseason testing. With the 107 percent rule back in place for this season — meaning cars that finish outside seven percent of the fastest time in the first qualifying session cannot enter the race — Hispania is facing an uphill task to have its car up to speed.
