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 With intermittent showers blighting the day, the teams head into
the race weekend short of set-up work and lacking valuable data on
their tires, meaning qualifying could be a lottery.
Hamilton, bidding for a third successive title with Mercedes, could
at least be satisfied with his pace, having been fastest on
intermediate tires in the second session and with the soft set in
the first.
The Briton posted a lap of one minute 29.725 seconds in the opener,
more than four-tenths of a second quicker than Red Bull's Daniil
Kvyat, then 1:38.841 in the second session on an Albert Park track
rendered too wet for dry-weather tires.
"That was a good day. The car performed well and I was lucky to get
a couple of dry laps," Hamilton told reporters.
 "Hopefully it'll be dry tomorrow, so we can give something back to
the fans who braved the weather."
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was second quickest in the later
session, nearly half a second adrift of Hamilton, with Ferrari's
former world champion Kimi Raikkonen third. RED BULLS SHOW PROMISE
Rosberg, who won the final three races of last season, had a day to
forget.
Sixth fastest in the opening session, he skidded at turn six in the
second run and damaged his front wing in a collision with the
barrier.
The German rolled slowly around the track for a few moments before
being called to stop, as Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff glared
at a television screen in the garage. Red Bull had a better day,
with Kvyat's Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo third behind the
Russian in the initial run and fourth-quickest later on.
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"With the conditions like that and going into an interesting
qualifying format tomorrow, it could be an opportunity for us,"
Ricciardo said.
"Hopefully we can sneak up a couple of rows further up than we could
in dry conditions."
McLaren also had reason for cheer, with drivers Fernando Alonso and
Jenson Button posting the sixth and seventh fastest times in second
practice, just over a second off Hamilton's pace.
Four-times champion Sebastian Vettel, tipped to threaten Hamilton's
ambitions of a fourth title overall, was eighth quickest in the
second session after failing to post a time in the first as gusty
winds buffeted the street circuit all day.
Seven drivers, including all from Renault, Williams and Sauber, did
not trouble the timers in FP2, with teams seeing little value in
testing the car in the wet.
New team Haas, the first U.S.-owned F1 outfit in 30 years, had a
cautious debut with French driver Romain Grosjean and Esteban
Gutierrez posting slow times in both sessions.
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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