Australian GP practice as it happened

The time has come for you to rest those heavy eyelids and enjoy the sweet, sweet feeling of sleep. Thanks, as always, for your company and contributions - you were ace. More of the same tomorrow, please. I'll be back at 0230 GMT - so that's a lie-in compared to this morning - to bring you live text coverage of third practice. Qualifying kicks off later in the morning at 0600. Until then, it's a very good morning/night from me. See ya.

Here's Andrew Benson's report which sums up the action from second free practice, where Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was quickest. We'll have video highlights of that session up on the website later this morning, too.

Lots of you have had plenty to say about my study into F1 ticket prices, too. It turns out the British Grand Prix's cheapest race-day ticket is among the most expensive of its type on the F1 calendar at £145. That compares to £66 for this weekend's race in Melbourne, £30 for Monaco - yes Monaco - and £13 for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Check out the full table on our F1 pages.

If you're in need of some light reading today, may I point you in the direction of Andrew Benson's colour piece which sums up the sense of anticipation in Melbourne ahead of the new season plus some thoughts from David Coulthard - who will be a BBC Sport columnist this season - on the battle for supremacy over at Mercedes between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton trudges back to the Mercedes motorhome, his helmet still on, but the gloves are off. It'll be interesting to see how he reacts to this setback. Mercedes look good across both sessions, but an issue with both cars in the space of a few minutes is far from ideal...

And now Mark Webber is making a hash of it. The Red Bull driver spins on the exit of Turn 13, sending the rear end spinning round. He keeps the engine runing, though, selects reverse and then continues on his way.

It's all happening out on track as Nico Rosberg pulls off the track in his Mercedes with what the team think is a gearbox problem. What a miserable few minutes for Mercedes. After early promise, it's all started going wrong. Again. Dear, oh dear.

Hamilton is out of his car and leaning up against the fence but has refused to take his helmet off. That's a sure sign he doesn't want to talk to anyone...

IT'S LEWIS HAMILTON! The 2008 world champion has missed a braking point at Turn Six, where Giedo van der Garde went off earlier.

Lots of drivers are starting to complain about graining on the new Pirelli tyres. Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg over team radio: "Guys, I'm picking up a lot of vibration."

Sergio Perez is doing a decent job in his new office - the McLaren - lapping around three tenths of a second off the pace of team-mate Jenson Button. Only problem is, the car doesn't look to have the speed at the moment and is two seconds off the pace of the Red Bulls. Button has won in Melbourne in three of the last four years. Replicating that kind of form is looking unlikely at the moment, though.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa and one of the Saubers almost come to blows down at Turn One. Massa goes to take the racing line, but the Sauber, which has just come out of the pits after doing a practice start, just keeps coming and Massa has to take avoiding action. No contact is made, but the Brazilian will be less than happy with that his lap is ruined.

Remarkable performance by Adrian Sutil so far. The German has spent a year away from the sport and yet looks like he's never been away. As it stands, he's ninth fastest in the Force India, nearly a second quicker than team-mate Paul di Resta.

Sebastian Vettel's race engineer over team radio: "OK Sebastian that's the pace. Try to make it last."

The Lotus is looking good with Kimi Raikkonen fourth fastest overall, 0.453 seconds off the pace. Romain Grosjean has just improved, too, clocking 1:26.680, three tenths off the pace of his team-mate. Talking of Grosjean, BBC F1 commentator Ben Edwards thinks the Frenchman, who had numerous first lap accidents last year, needs to deliver this season if he's to stay in F1 beyond 2013.

Big lock-up for Lewis Hamilton, running wide at Turn Nine and bouncing across the grass. Next time around he clocks a 1:26.772 which is 0.864 seconds off the pace.

Nico Rosberg improves to third after his run on the super-soft tyres, 0.4 seconds off Sebastian Vettel's leading pace.

To rub salt into the wounds, Sebastian Vettel tells his Red Bull team over the radio that on that last quick lap, he lost Kers at some point and the tyres were going off.

Sebastian Vettel is looking good. Very good. Having got held up on his first flier, the German takes it easy on the tyres on his next lap and then puts the hammer down third time round. It works with the reigning world champion becoming the first man to get into the 1m25s.

Good news for the locals as home favourite Mark Webber deposes Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel at the top of the charts. The Australian - who is the oldest driver on the grid this year - goes one tenth clear at the top.

Vettel is flying on the super-softs, but after going fastest in the first two sectors, he encounters traffic in the final part of the lap and is forced to back off.

Caterham's Charles Pic gets his hand slapped as FIA race director Charlie Whiting informs him, via his race engineer, that the Frenchman performed a pit lane exit launch much too far down the pit lane - he was nearly on the circuit.

Former Toyota driver Allan McNish, who will be part of the BBC Radio 5 live team for selected races this season: "Sauber has historically been pretty good at picking out young drivers that other teams probably don't consider at that stage of their career. Their biggest single success is Kimi Raikkonen but there have been a few others such as Sergio Perez. Mexican Esteban Gutierrez has stepped into Perez's shoes. The speed is there, he's just got to prove he can be consistent. Sauber has gone with a strong team-mate for him in Nico Hulkenberg who had a good end to last year - and if Esteban is clever, he'll feed off the German's experience. It's a long championship and he's got to be at the end of races to get points."

There's a heavy lock up by Esteban Gutierrez, who will make his F1 racing debut on Sunday for Sauber. Talking of the Mexican, former F1 driver and two-time Le Mans winner Allan McNish reckons Sauber have pulled off another masterstroke in signing the 21-year-old....

Sebastian Vettel has just set a lap time which is only 0.5 seconds slower than his best on the 10th lap of a run on the medium tyres. Crikey, that's a more than a little bit concerning for his rivals.

Lewis Hamilton is earning his money, today. The Mercedes driver has clocked up 16 laps in this session, only Charles Pic in the Caterham has done more. It's all going rather nicely for the Brit in terms of pace, too. He's second fastest overall, 0.502 seconds shy of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. His old team McLaren, however, are struggling for pace, with Jenson Button best placed in ninth, two seconds adrift of Vettel.

It's a bit quieter out on track at the moment, with only Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Pic out on track.

Just 55 minutes remaining of this session, with reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel leading the way in his Red Bull ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Red Bull's Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, McLaren's Jenson Button and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg complete the top 10.

McLaren's Jenson Button over team radio: "I've got a loss of rear grip."

Giedo van der Garde is out of the car as the marshals descend on the stricken Caterham with a crane. The good news is the car didn't end up in the barriers, the bad news is the Dutchman will miss out on crucial time in the car.

Felipe Massa has looked on it all day and gets some reward with a lap time that is good enough for third overall, 0.668 seconds off the pace. The Ferrari driver is currently half a second quicker than his double world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Former Toyota driver Allan McNish, who will be part of the BBC Radio 5 live team for selected races this season: "Melbourne is a great race track that changes over course of weekend because it's a temporary circuit which is not used for the rest of the year. Friday is all about cleaning up the track.

"You'll see a lot of people running wide at Turn One and locking up at Turn Three. When it comes to Saturday morning, the circuit will have matured and this is when you'll see a big step forward."

Valtteri Bottas in the Williams is the first man out on the super-soft tyres. The Finn improves by one second - compared to his previous time set on the medium tyres.

Sebastian Vettel improves to go one second clear of the field in his Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton reduces the deficit to 0.5secs as he moves into second in his Mercedes. Mark Webber is third, Nico Rosberg fourth followed by the two Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

Marussia's Jules Bianchi over team radio: "Visibility is really low."

Rather ominously, reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has just gone quickest. The Red Bull driver clocks 1:26.604, to go 0.845 seconds clear of the field. We've only had 12 minutes of running, but 19 drivers have already set flying laps. That's what I like to see - plenty of action.

BBC Sport columnist Lewis Hamilton goes quickest in his Mercedes, clocking a 1:27.8 to leapfrog Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus. Nico Hulkenberg is third in Sauber, ahead of Paul di Resta's Force India.

While we had to wait more than 30 minutes to see a timed lap in first practice, Kimi Raikkonen has gets straight down to business in FP2. The Finn clocks 1:32.967 to go fastest of, well, just him.

Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus and Marussia's Jules Bianchi are among the first out on track at a very sunny Albert Park.

So this session is all about the long run which allows the teams to collect data for the race. We'll see the super-soft tyre for the first time, too.

BBC Radio 5 live commentary is up and running with James Allen in the box and Gary Anderson down in the pit lane. You can listen to their dulcet tones by clicking on the link to the right of this page.

Ahead of each race this season, legendary commentator Murray Walker will pick out his favourite memory. For Australia, he's gone for the spectacular 1986 race at Adelaide which he describes as "not just the finest F1 race I've seen in Australia, but one of the best of all time and the climax to one of the greatest seasons there has ever been." Read more and watch highlights on the F1 pages.

During the break, Olympic cycling legendary Sir Chris Hoy switched two wheels and pedal-power for four wheels and an engine as he took part in a Mazda celebrity race at Albert Park. Unfortunately, the Briton ended up in the gravel amid a plume of smoke. On your, er, bike, mate. (Sorry).

In other news, Marussia have signed Rodolfo Gonzalez as their reserve driver for the 2013 season. The 26-year-old Venezuelan, who competed in the GP2 Series for the last three years, will take part in selected first practice session this season as well as the young driver test.

Paul di Resta got it all wrong under braking in first practice, the rear end snapping and sending the Force India driver spinning off into the gravel.

If you're gagging to see some F1 action, I've got good news. Our multimedia wizard Tom has cut together a tasty highlights package of the first session for you to enjoy. It's available here or on the F1 pages.

Hello and a very warm welcome to our live coverage of second free practice for the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park. Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel finished fastest but Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso ran him close, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton right up there, too.

So use this little break to recharge the batteries with a little power nap or a spot to eat and drink and ready yourself for some more petrol-fuelled action in just under two hours' time. Set your alarms for 0500! See you in a bit.

Second practice starts at 0530, and I'll be back live at 0500 to begin building up to that 90-minute session. We'll have more BBC Radio 5 live commentary, too, from Ben Edwards with Gary Anderson and Jennie Gow patrolling the pit lane and scooping up the gossip.

So Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes looking pretty comfortable out there, but the McLaren chaps are around one second off the pace. Worrying times for the Woking-based outfit. Still, we're only one session down - one more to go today. Here's Andrew Benson with the lowdown from FP1.

So it took about 30 minutes for some action, but when they eventually did get their act together, the session (by first practice standards) came alive. Lots of slipping and sliding, dust spewing up into the air and just a hint of the state of play - with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes all looking good.

Felipe Massa, who finished second fastest, is already out of the car and all smiles. The Brazilian sips his drink as he chats to his father, race engineer Rob Smedley and team boss Stefano Domenicali at the back of the garage.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel finishes fastest in first practice for the Australian Grand Prix

Paul di Resta's race engineer over team radio: "We have a small amount of gravel at Turn 7, Paul. No oil."

Where has the morning gone? Just five minutes to go and the first session will be done and dusted. Crikey. Sebastian Vettel leads from Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen.

Felipe Massa is sliding that Ferrari all over the place. The Albert Park turf is getting a lot of abuse today. Chunks of the stuff flying up in the air as the Brazilian swings the rear out and then gets out of shape at the next turn, bouncing across the yellow gravel before rejoining.

Lots of mistakes out on track at the moment, the likes of Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Massa pushing the limits and kicking up the dust. As a result, the track is still pretty dirty.

Sebastian Vettel is back up on top, the reigning world champion creeps ahead of Felipe Massa by 0.078 seconds. Having a look at the timesheets, Williams new boy Valtteri Bottas is one place but half a second shy of team-mate Pastor Maldonado at the moment. Adrian Sutil is going well, too. The German is eighth in the Force India, four places half a second quicker than team-mate Paul di Resta.

Hmmm, I know it's early days yet but the McLarens aren't looking all that fast. We've got both Red Bulls, Ferraris, Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus occupying the top seven spots at the moment. Jenson Button and Sergio Perez are down in ninth and 10th at the moment...

Felipe Massa sets the fastest middle sector of all to go quickest, one tenth faster than Sebastian Vettel. It'll be interesting to see how the Brazilian gets on this season. After two seasons of mediocrity, he finally found his mojo again towards the end of last season, showing glimpses of the form which saw him contend for the title in 2008.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has brought Hungry Heidi out to play. It's not a great start, his first timed lap good enough for eighth, eight tenths off the pace, but he gets it all together next time around to go quickest of all in his Red Bull. Wonder how often we'll see him at the front this year...

Giedo van der Garde is the first man to tear across the grass at Turn One, bouncing that shiny green Caterham around the green stuff before rejoining the track after Turn Two, and dragging much of Albert Park with him...

Fernando Alonso is our a new leader, the Ferrari driver going quickest of all by two tenths of a second. Lewis Hamilton slots in second in his Mercedes, demoting Kimi Raikkonen to third.

Lewis Hamilton kicks up a huge plume of Albert Park dust as he runs slightly off the kerb. Crikey, it's only practice and the Briton looks like he's trying to get every ounce of lap time out of that car. This bodes well.

We've got 12 cars out on track, the fastest of which is the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen at the moment. The flying Finn has slashed his previous best down to 1:27.877, 1.5 seconds faster than Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber. Adrian Sutil, who rejoined Force India after a year out, is third ahead of Jenson Button in the McLaren.

Kimi Raikkonen slipstreams a Sauber down the pit straight as he crosses the line his Lotus to clock the fastest lap of the day - 1:28.095. That's two seconds clear of Pastor Maldonado in the Williams who sits second overall.

BBC Radio 5 live Jennie Gow is down at Force India and has spotted Adrian Sutil sat in the car, eyes glued to the screen and tipping his head from left to right as he mentally drives the lap. Wonder if he picked that technique up from those Jamaican lads in Cool Runnings.

Jean-Eric Vergne goes fastest with a 1:30.947, a fraction ahead of Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo with Jules Bianchi third in the Marussia.

Jean-Eric Vergne has a moment down at Turn Three, the rear end of his Toro Rosso stepping out on the dirty and dusty Albert Park track. The big teams are all sat in their garages waiting for the likes of Toro Rosso, Marussia and Caterham to clean up the track. Charming.

Marussia new boy Jules Bianchi - who was the last driver to sign for a team ahead of the new season - is out an about, along with team-mate Max Chilton and the two Toro Rossos. The track is starting to clean up nicely, and the times are tumbling. Daniel Ricciardo is down to 1:31.946 in P1, ahead of Bianchi, Jean-Eric Vergne and Chilton.

And we have our first timed lap of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, folks. Daniel Ricciardo clocks a 1:54.048 but was doing some constant speed running there. Next time around, the Toro Rosso driver clocks a 1:36.089 to go P1.

Boom. Daniel Ricciardo - one of two Australians on the grid - has smashed through the silence and headed out on track with 54 minutes remaining. Good lad.

Kimi Raikkonen doesn't look like he's going anywhere any time soon. He's propped up on a workbench, chatting to his engineers and nibbling on his ear piece. His Finnish counterpart Valtteri Bottas gives us more hope, though, as he's sat in the car, visor down.

Agh, that action was short-lived as Fernando Alonso peeled back into his pits before parking up in the Ferrari garage. The lack of cars on track doesn't seem to have dented the fans' enthusiasm, though, as there's smiles around. That might something to do with the 29C balmy conditions, though...

Hurrah, Fernando Alonso breaks the silence as he blasts out onto track in his shiny red Ferrari. The Prancing Horse pounds around the 5.303km 16-turn temporary circuit.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner echoes the general perception that it's that a pecking order is too tough to call. "I have no idea what will happen this weekend," he said. "But I think we'll be there or thereabouts. It's going to be so close. No one revealed their hand in winter testing so it won't be until tomorrow afternoon until we get the first glimpse of what the running order will be like."

Great to see the grandstands and patches of grass are absolutely rammed all around the circuit. Unfortunately, they have got nothing to watch at the moment as installation laps have been completed so tweaks will need to be made and it'll be a few more minutes before anyone is back out again.

Jenson Button is back in the McLaren garage after his installation lap, his chrome machine glistening beautifully in the Melbourne sunshine. His former team-mate Lewis Hamilton follows him in, the Mercedes lifted up onto the mini trolleys before being wheeled back into the garage.

Installation laps are the order of the day, as per usual. The teams will be hoping the cars travelled well and all the systems are working as they expect before we get down to the gritty business of data gathering...

Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes is lowered down off the jacks before the 2008 world champion eases onto the gas and powers out of the garage and onto the track for the first time this weekend. It'll be interesting to see how the Briton gets on with his new team...

Australian Daniel Ricciardo is the first man out on track in his shiny new Toro Rosso, closely followed by team-mate Jean-Vergne.

The Ferrari boys are busy putting a final polish on those shiny red Ferraris while over in the Mercedes motorhome, non-executive chairman Niki Lauda and Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Woolf are deep in conversation as we approach the start of practice.

Mercedes looked mighty impressive in testing, but will they be able to transfer that pace once the season gets under way? Ferrari look like they're in a better place, too, compared to last season, while you'd expect reigning world champions Red Bull to be up there as standard. Lotus look good again, too, but as Andrew says, McLaren look a little of the pace. What is the state of play? Just nine minutes until we start to get some answers...

Right then, here's how the morning will play out. First practice gets under way at 0130 GMT and will last 90 minutes. We get a little bit of a break for a power nap before we go again at 0530 for second practice. That's 90 minutes, too, so three hours of running on the cards today. And I'll be with you all the way

...so get that kettle on, grab your stash of midnight snacks and snuggle back under the duvet for our first taste of high octane of 2013 Formula 1 goodness. It's going to be a long night/morning - but I know it'll be worth it.

Good morning, afternoon, evening - choose a greeting which is applicable to you - and a very warm welcome to our live coverage of the season opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's luscious Albert Park. We're closer than we've ever been - mere minutes in fact - until the pit lane opens its doors for the very first time...

The wait has been a long one, but 110 days since Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won his third world title in dramatic circumstances in Brazil, Formula 1 is back. Back again. Oh yeah.