Rosberg stays ahead in second practice

 Nico Rosberg held onto his position at the top of the timesheets during Friday afternoon's second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, again edging out Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

After the initial Medium tyre runs, Rosberg produced a best time of 1:27.697 on the Soft compound, exactly one tenth faster than Hamilton.

Ferrari duo Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen this time finished as the best of the rest, seven tenths and 1.1 seconds adrift respectively.

Hamilton threatened to usurp Rosberg on his Option-tyre run, going fastest of all through the middle sector, but ultimately placed second.

Valtteri Bottas was 1.5s off the pace in fifth, acting alone for Williams after a water leak was discovered on team-mate Felipe Massa's power unit.

Red Bull was another team to field just one car in the session, with Daniel Ricciardo requiring an engine change after his troubled opening session.

Daniil Kvyat went on to place sixth, just ahead of Toro Rosso rookie Carlos Sainz Jr., who survived a spin at Turn 15 after touching the grass.

Lotus drivers Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean – who also escaped wild moments – followed in eighth and ninth, while Force India's Nico Hülkenberg completed the top 10.

Sauber made its first appearance of the event amid its legal dispute with Giedo van der Garde, with Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson the two drivers getting track time.

Nasr ended the session 11th, with Ericsson 15th after being forced to return to the pits with damage at the left-rear, picked up when he ran over the exit kerb at the final corner.

There were yet more problems for McLaren-Honda, as Kevin Magnussen lost control of his car and slid into the barriers at Turn 6 early in the session, bringing out the red flags.

Jenson Button wound up 13th in the sister MP4-30, between Force India's Sergio Pérez, and Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen, who was restricted to just six laps due to a battery issue.

Manor again failed to run either Will Stevens or Roberto Merhi, with work continuing to reinstall software wiped ahead of the team's planned auction, which was cancelled at a late stage.