As the second race weekend of the 2010 season began, there was more on-track action in the first practice session alone than witnessed in the entirety of the Bahrain GP weekend. That and the news that wet weather is expected over the weekend makes for a highly anticipated Australian Grand Prix.  

Both the sessions today were highly disrupted. Rain making sure that there was reduced dry running in the second session after Kamui Kobayashi broke his Sauber’s front wing twice to bring about stoppages in the first session of the day. In the morning, Robert Kubica drove his Renault quickest around the Albert Park circuit, with Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and Jenson Button’s McLaren making the top three (full times). In the afternoon, the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Button made good use of the limited dry running to head the time sheets while Mark Webber was third in the Red Bull (full times).

While Renault’s quick run in the morning was surprising and possibly a low-fuel one, the McLarens have been expected to do well this weekend as the low downforce circuit will suit their cars more than in Bahrain. However it is too early to say if they will be on par with the Red Bulls and the Ferraris. Sebastien Vettel, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso didn’t really make an outright bid for pace in either session – evaluating tyre wear and grip on the green circuit in the first session while rain hampering any such intentions in the second. Even in Bahrain the Ferraris made their charge only on Saturday and that is something expected of them throughout the season.

Mercedes GP may be the garage where the most intriguing battle might take place. Michael Schumacher could only finish 14^th in the morning practice but in the last half hour of the second one, he was putting in some quick laps and even put his car at 3^rd before finally finishing up in 4^th place, when Rosberg finished 10^th. Now the only implication of it all is that the four-time winner here, Schumacher has finally found the sweet spot in his car and a most interesting battle is expected.

As concerns Indian interests, Force India gave Paul di Resta a run in the morning session as Adrian Sutil sat out. All is good with that except that Sutil might have some issues for he missed dry mileage due to rain in the second session. His own set-up work might have been affected but this will only be known for sure much later in the weekend. Meanwhile Karun Chandhok spent the second session in the garage as his car gave out just 200 meters into his first lap. However he had a much fruitful morning practice wherein he even lapped quicker than his team-mate Bruno Senna at one point. At this point though, his primary concern will be racking up mileage.