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Button, Schumacher Head Friday Practice In Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia- Following many weeks of small amounts of testing to get ready for the first practice of the 2012 Formula One season, the 25 drivers encountered something they did not want.

A mixture of rain and dry.

These were the conditions that the drivers had to face for Friday practice at Albert Park for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne, and for the first session, all entries had to approach the first half hour of the opening session as the water falling onto the track was mixed with an oily patch due to an earlier support race with leaky historic cars, especially at turn four. But the fun began when with 40 minutes left, Sauber’s Kamui Kobyaschi took a gamble and set a fast time on slick tires.

It did not take too long for the others to follow. Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg took the top two positions for a while, before McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton snatched it away. Button especially did well, as the Briton topped the timesheets with a 1: 27:560. Only Felipe Massa encountered any trouble during this period. The Brazilian spun his Ferrari into turn nine, touching the grass and revolving his car 180 degrees. Massa could not get his car out, and beached his entry for the rest of the session. The only other sorry drivers for the session were the two HRT pair of Narin Karthekeyan and Pedro De La Rosa. The former had his car break down on the circuit with engine problems, while the latter never got his entry out onto the track, as his car was being built while under scruitineering.

While the two Mercedes cars were just out of the top two in the morning practice, both made up for it in the afternoon. Schumacher topped the session with a 1:29:183 which was slower than the morning’s best time, but it was quite an achievement nevertheless. Rosberg could only manage ninth, while another German, Nico Hulkenberg took his Sahara Force India to second in the session. But after intermediate lap times, the session encountered a break while the teams waited a little while longer for the track to dry. The last 15 minutes of the session was a mess, as pit crew went through installing slick tires to try and achieve their performance before the end of the session.

Disappointments were both Button and Hamilton, who totally could not get their set up right, with Button only placing 15 th and Hamilton in 16 th , remaining most of the session in the garage. Kimi Raikkonen, back for the first time in a couple of years, had the same difficulties as Hamilton, with the Finn only taking his Lotus out for only seven laps, following his ninth place in the morning session.

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