MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — McLaren’s Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton have 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 performed strongly on the softer ‘option’ tires after being off the pace on the hard tires in the morning 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.
