Postpublished at 02:29 GMT 23 March 2018
Brendon Hartley has sneaked back onto the track after a lengthy spell in the garage to gather some data in the final couple of minutes. He's currently 18th quickest.
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Image source, Getty ImagesHamilton fastest in second practice, but top teams appear close
Rain expected across qualifying and the race
Bottas, Ocon & Alonso all go off track
Brendon Hartley has sneaked back onto the track after a lengthy spell in the garage to gather some data in the final couple of minutes. He's currently 18th quickest.
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 Jolyon Palmer
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver
What's happening on the Ferrari and probably most cars now is a small, little tweak. All this now is data gathering and maybe a long run, we've seen Bottas on that.
Aileen McKee: Suddenly baby Evie’s 2am feeding doesn’t seem so hard! Got #bbcf1, external and P1 commentary to keep me company (and awake!). Let’s see Red Bull pull a win out of the bag this weekend!
Into the final 10 minutes of the session. Mercedes leading the way but Ferrari haven't yet sampled the ulrasofts.
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Kimi Raikkonen, on softs, is up to fourth after a 1:24.875, within eighth tenths of a second of Lewis Hamilton's benchmark time.
Fernando Alonso is making up for lost time. He's up to eighth after clocking 1:25.896.
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Image source, Getty ImagesKevin Magnussen locks up and goes wide, skipping over the grass before returning to the circuit. Magnussen currently has the 16th quickest time (1:27.035).
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Toro Rosso were looking good in testing but we haven't seen much of them today.
Pierre Gasly has the ninth quickest time (1:26.294) while Brendon Hartley, not on the track at the moment, is down in 18th (1:28.308)
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Image source, Getty ImagesMeanwhile, Fernando Alonso's first run sees him up to 14th with a 1:26.638. Solid.
And it is an improvement for Lewis Hamilton as a 1:24.026 increases the gap between himself and Valtteri Bottas to half a second.
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Image source, Getty ImagesStoffel Vandoorne is up and running with a 1:29.558. Fernando Alonso is starting his first timed lap now as Lewis Hamilton looks to be on the way to going even quicker.
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Image source, F1.comLooks like Fernando Alonso is ready to rock and roll now. He's strapped in his McLaren, a little shake of the head is a brief cause for concern but there's no drama as he rolls on out of the garage with 22 minutes left on the clock.
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Image source, Getty Images Andrew Benson
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Melbourne
McLaren say: We had an exhaust issue on Fernando's car but he should be going out again soon
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Lewis Hamilton is on new ultrasofts, by the way.
"A lot of traffic," reports Lewis Hamilton but it doesn't stop him from lowering the benchmark with a 1:24.147, increasing his advantage over Valtteri Bottas to four tenths of a second.
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