Hello and welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of the second practice session for the Indian Grand Prix

BREAKING NEWS: Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez have been handed three-place grid penalties for ignoring waved yellow flags in the first session

That penalty relates to their final laps of the session. The timing screen said that the track status was clear, and both drivers obviously had that information, but yellow flags were still being waved in the final sector and both improved their times

Now I know Hamilton had backed off on his previous two laps due to the yellow flags being waved for Maldonado's stricken Williams, so something must have changed for him to not do so on the final lap. Massively harsh punishment for both drivers if you ask me

More controversy surrounding Hamilton and the stewards then. The driver steward this weekend is Johnny Herbert, and his role will have been to look at that incident from the driver's perspective thanks to his experience

Now, we had actually started this commentary slightly earlier in order to address some more of your questions having received so many during FP1. First up is Akshay who asks: "Force india seems to have lost their straight line speed advantage...so any special aero package for them??? & also thoughts on Sutils future?"

The Force India hasn't had so much of a straight-line speed advantage this season as the car is more of an all-rounder, and neither driver has mentioned upgrades for this race. On Sutil, there have been rumours that Hulkenberg has signed a deal to partner di Resta next season, so his future does seem uncertain

Nigel asks: "India must be so interesting for F1. We need some top Chinese and Indian drivers, like we have Brazilian and Russians in F1. Is there an effective plan to get more drivers from the brics countries into f1?"

By the way, does Alsono have a girl friend? We hear about it for all of the other drivers, and when they go clubbing there are always 'flowers' around them, but even in the Amber Clubs, Alonso is always only with other young men. Just curious."

On part one Nigel, while China isn't displaying any real eagerness to get a driver in to Formula One, India certainly is. The most notable scheme is Force India's 'One from a Billion' campaign, which has just selected a winning Indian youngster who it will support in single seaters.

On Alonso, he's actually married to Raquel del Rosario.

Abhishek asks: "How many laps of practice session are the drivers allowed to do? and with all the issues with dust and paint, would it be possible for the organizers to do something about it at this juncture based on the feedback of the drivers after this session?"

Drivers can do as many practice laps as they like within the session, but you don't always see them on track as they change the setup of their cars and also try to preserve tyres. With regards any problems, the race organisers could theoretically make a number of changes. The dust isn't a major problem and will clear with more running, while the paint will have been swept up between sessions

Ashwin also asked earlier what the state of play was with regards to engine usage, as he wanted to know how many engines drivers have left. Each driver can use eight new engines throughout the season with out penalty, and Mark Webber has the luxury of having two brand new engines still available, the majority of drivers still have one new engine left, but Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Massa, Schumacher, Rosberg, Alguersuari and Buemi all have used eight. That means that on Sunday they will be running engines that have completed at least one race, but they all have a life expactancy of about three races

Neville asks: "By now the new teams should be making inroads into the top 15 surely ? Are they just underperforming or is the technology that is F1 such a huge mountain to climb?"

It's very difficult for new teams to establish themselves in Formula One, because unless they have huge backing the costs in setting up and going racing leaves them little to develop the car. The budget differences between those at the front and those at the back is huge, but experience will help the new teams move closer to the midfield, and it's no surprise that Lotus - with the most experienced driver line-up and technical team - leads the way out of the teams that joined at the start of 2010

And breathe. If you want to ask us any questions or send us your comments you can do so via the link above or via Twitter @ESPNF1_live which is being manned by Laurence in the paddock

The light at the end of the pit lane goes green, and there's a mad rush to get on track consisting of exactly zero drivers

D'Ambrosio is the first man to head out

Matt emails in to ask: "As an Aussie I'm really interested in Ricciardo's progress.. How would you rate his performances so far? I was well pleased that it only took a few races before he showed better pace than Liuzzi, but recently comparisons with Karthikeyan haven't made Ricciardo look like the superstar we'd hoped. At the beginning of the season it seemed like a drive for Torro Rosso was a certainty for him next season, how do you see that playing out now?"

Ricciardo was making waves before getting his race seat, but that seems to have stalled somewhat. The problem for him is this is the first time he's been in such an uncompetitive car, so it's difficult to read too much in to his performances. The first session today was difficult for everyone on a dusty track, but he will be expected to outqualify and outrace Karthikeyan at the very least. He did beat one of the Virgins in Korea so he's doing a solid job, but with Jean-Eric Vergne's increasing presence around Toro Rosso a race seat next year is not a certainty

Petrov tops the timesheets with a 1:35.418 on the hard compound tyre. An interesting quote from Pirelli's Paul Hembery on Twitter after FP1 saying that the "Hard tyre could last 3 races ...Tad conservative"

Buemi goes fastest with a 1:31.306

Hamilton's fastest time from FP1 (which got him in trouble) was a 1:26.836, but we're yet to drop under 1m30s this afternoon

Buemi dips under that mark with a 1:29.272

Alonso is already notching up the laps after his problems this morning, he's seventh quickest so far

Vettel clocks a 1:28.014 to go top of the timesheets

A very busy start to this session, with 21 cars out on track

Button goes second and Webber third

Maldonado has spun off at turn nine and beached it in the gravel trap

Maldonado has to climb out after the marshals are unable to push him out. That's his running curtailed for the second session in a row after his engine failure in FP1, not good for his weekend

With the yellow flags still out a lot of drivers are returning to the pits, just six left out there now - it took quite a while to remove Maldonado's car in the first session, as Hamilton and Perez well know

Ferrari (InsideFerrari) on Twitter: "Another yellow flag so Felipe and Fernando are using this time for a practice start at the end of the pit lane"

The track is clear again, and Hamilton sets the fastest middle sector

Mike Gascoyne says on Twitter: "Jarno saying just no grip on the hard tyre"

Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:27.261. Most of the running is taking place on the faster soft tyre because the teams have more sets of that available today

Alonso's latest lap is a 1:28.719 on the harder tyre, so the difference between the two seems to be somewhere around 1.5 seconds at present

Hamilton betters his time from this morning with a 1:26.618. That puts him 1.2s quicker than anyone else at the moment

It's a shame that Hamilton has a grid penalty, because he's looking very strong at this point of the weekend

Kovalainen is up in 16th place at the moment having regained his car from Chandhok for this session

Schumacher has completed just four laps so far this afternoon after a spin earlier in the session

Paul emails in to say: "I didn't know Hamilton had a grid penalty. What for?"

It's for ignoring yellow flags when marshals were on the track Paul, the full story is here

Vettel goes quickest with a 1:26.492

Stephen asks: "Whats the reason for Ricciardo replacing Luizzi this weekend? Did Torro Rosso pay more money to HRT for this weekend or do HRT believe Ricciardo is the better driver?"

I assume you mean Karthikeyan, Stephen, as he is the one who has replaced Liuzzi for this weekend. It's either because HRT really needs the sponsorship money from both drivers, or because it feels Ricciardo is the better bet to secure a higher finishing position after his Korea performance. It's most likely the former...

Button loses the rear end in the penultimate corner having been on for his best lap of the session

The contrast between Button and Massa is pretty marked as Massa needs two attempts to turn in to turn four and runs wide in turn nine, whereas Button was very precise through the high speed sections

Sev asks: "Could you please explain why at the beginning of every race the team principles all watch the start from the pit garage and not the pit wall?"

It's a safety issue Sev, in case of an accident on the pit straight at the start (specifically a car stalling and another one hitting it) causing debris, so all of the teams have to stay off of the pit wall

Satyajeet asks: "Looking at all the positive comments about the track, do you feel the track is good enough for teams to consider conducting winter testing here?"

Unfortunately not Satyajeet, not because the track isn't good enough, but because of the costs involved to ship all the equipment when all of the teams are based in Europe; that's why testing takes place in Spain, offering the best opportunity for good weather but keeping costs down

Steven asks: "If a drivers weight is lighter than another how do they compensate so he doesn't have a advantage?"

The cars and drivers have a minimum combined weight that they must be, so ballast is added and obviously the heavier drivers need less than the lighter ones

DB emails in to ask: "Any word yet on grip and tire-wear at the new track?"

Grip levels are still quite low, but improving all the time, while tyre wear seems good - the hard tyre has a very long life, and the soft tyre is also lasting well on the smooth surface, so we can expect a two stop race at the moment

Button has improved to third quickest on a 1:26.714

It's noticeable that there's a lot of paint coming off the kerb on the outside of turn ten

Muruga asks "Hi, how is Webber going?? Can he make to P1 this weekend??"

He can, although he's 0.9s off the pace at present. He was much closer in FP1 and has a nice new engine to run with

Shankara asks: "Can you please explain about the garage and the pit entry and exit? Is it safe?"

Yes, very. The pit lane entry is on the outside of the final corner

Big shunt for D'Ambrosio, he's ripped part of the rear off the car. He was exiting turn 11 and ran wide on to the kerb. The car speared across the track and as he collected it the right rear hit the wall

The session has been red flagged to recover the car

A lot of emails asking about Schumacher; he's been able to go out and do another four laps. He carried out a short run for data and then was rejoining the track when the red flag came out

Hitendra has asked which tyres are being used by the leading drivers. All have been running on soft tyres for the quickest times, with only Alonso's lap on hard tyres as mentioned earlier

The track is clear and the session has restarted

Nikhil asks: "I wanted to know if this event would help boost the Formula Student scene in India?"

The hope is that it will Nikhil, with young drivers becoming even more aware of how Formula One works and aspiring to race in their home grand prix

Prashant asks: "How many people have turned up for watching the practice session? Are the people excited? Are drivers & teams excited?"

The turnout is good, with more fans in the grandstands than in Korea two weeks ago and all the grandstands open. As for excitement levels, all of the teams have been looking forward to the race and have commented how great it is to enjoy the Indian culture. With this circuit, everyone's very excited about the prospects of a good race too

Massa has gone second quickest, 0.269s slower than Vettel on soft tyres, while Hamilton is now back on track

Buemi runs wide at turn six as he struggles for grip on the harder compound

Hitendra asks about the progress of the Mercedes pair and why they are off the pace. Both Schumacher and Rosberg were quick on the soft tyre this morning, but Schumacher hasn't completed many laps this afternoon to set a competitive time, while Rosberg is focusing on heavy fuel runs as is the norm for him on a Friday afternoon

Steven emails in to ask: "As a Belgian I'd like to know if the crash of d'Ambrosio was just a mistake or has it anything to do with the paint coming off in turn 10?"

Unfortunately Steven it was a mistake. He ran wide on to the kerb on the outside of turn 11 (apologies if the original entry was confusing, the two corners run in to one another more like a double apexed corner) and lost the rear end. It was a relatively small error but he paid a high price

Hamilton goes second on a 1:26.454, but still well off Vettel's 1:25.794. Alonso now third just 0.004s slower than Hamilton

Samarth emails in: "Just wanted to ask if the track is still very dusty or has it improved ?? BTW Great commentary guys . A big Thanks !!"

You're welcome Samarth glad you're enjoying it. The track is still dusty, but much less so on the racing line. The bigger problem now is when drivers run wide they lose a lot of grip

Massa improves to go second, but Alonso is flying...

Alonso goes second, 0.422s slower than Vettel. He had been set for the fastest lap time of the session having set the fastest first two sectors, but he was held up by Schumacher in the final two corners

Solid performance from Force India so far, with Sutil up in seventh and di Resta ninth

Massa's front wing is again flexing heavily on the run down to turn four, to such an extent that it is again touching the tarmac and sparking

Whatever the wing is doing for Massa, it is working: he goes quickest with a 1:25.706 on the soft tyre

Ali asks: "Is there a possibility of rain this weekend? And as always, thank you for the commentary."

No chance of rain Ali, all the forecasts are for a warm and dry weekend. And you're very welcome

Alonso's front wing reacting similarly but not quite hitting the track surface. He's slightly quicker than Massa in sector one and matches him in sector two...

Again Alonso catches Schumacher in the final sector, and loses time having run wide in the penultimate corner. He then passes Schumacher exiting turn three so will hope to get a clear lap in next time around

Shankar asks: "Where do you rate this track compared to the other tracks across the world? Your honest comment please..."

Obviously it's early stages, but from what we've seen the track is a challenge for the drivers and that's a big plus for a new circuit. You can't really compare street circuits and permanent tracks, but it is certainly one of the better permanent tracks on the calendar. Laurence left the media centre earlier in the session and said: "Track is absolutely awesome. View from the top right of the main grandstand is one of the best I've seen at a circuit."

Paul emails in from Melbourne: "Is there evidence of sector strengths for teams/ drivers yet?"

The one notable sector strength I've seen Paul is the Toro Rosso looks very strong in the middle sector

We're now seeing heavy fuel runs from all of the teams, and Webber is pulling away from Hamilton very easily. He passed him and then pulled a gap within a lap, causing Hamilton to radio in with a concerned tone in his voice

A brief yellow as Petrov spins at high speed in turn five. He manages to rejoin without much more than some flat-spotted tyres

Senna runs wide at turn six on the hard tyre. We've been seeing a lot of that today

Geoff emails in: "Hi guys enjoying the commentary here in Australia : are they running any support events at the new circuit and if so will the rubber on track be compatible with the pirellis ?? "

The two support races are the JK Racing Asia Series and the Delhi Championship with MRF, and there had only been one practice session before FP1, but it will help increase the grip levels as more laps are run on the track

Vettel comes close to colliding with Sutil as he exits the pit lane, but sees him just in time

Dileep asks: "Now that the 1min 26s mark has been broken, and the track conditions are improving, shall we expect the race pace to be under that mark? Even though it may be a bit early..."

The lap times we're getting now are closer to race pace, in the 1m30s, because cars will start on full fuel loads and burn it off. We should see laps come down below 1m26s by the end of the race though as the fuel is burnt off and grip has increased further

The chequered flag is out, with none of the headline times changing due to the high fuel loads that means Felipe Massa ends the session as the quickest man. Vettel is just 0.088s slower than the Ferrari, with Alonso 0.2s off the pace. Hamilton is fourth ahead of Webber and Button who are all within a second of Massa. Sutil, Senna, di Resta and Buemi round out the top ten

A final question from Samarth, who asks "What tyre strategy is expected from the drivers this GP if you can predict likely?"

The likely strategy will be a two-stop one based on the running we've seen today. The soft tyres last for a good length of time, and the large difference between compounds means that teams will want to run as little as possible on the harder tyre.

Thanks very much for joining us today, we've had an amazing amount of emails from you all and we're very sorry we couldn't answer every single one. It's been an entertaining day of practice and we've seen just what an great layout the Buddh International Circuit has, now make sure you stay on ESPNF1.com as Laurence is already out in the paddock to get you all the reaction to the running from the drivers and teams. Live coverage will be back tomorrow morning for FP3 at 11am local time and 5:30 GMT ahead of qualifying at 14:00 local (8:30GMT). We hope you'll join us again then