Lewis Hamilton still on top

For the second free practice session, the storms were not invited but the sun played hide and seek with the clouds, while the temperature rose to 33°C in the air, and almost 50°C on the track. Tonio Liuzzi (Force India), after lending his seat to Paul di Resta in the first session, accumulates laps to catch up. It runs in 1?38?? before the big names show up.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) made his first competitive time in 1:36??575 but Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) takes the lead again and, from the start, almost equals his best time from the first session (1:34??954). Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) then climbed to third place, in 1:35:681. While Mercedes and McLaren occupy the top positions, Ferrari et Red Bull prepare for the Grand Prix and run their cars with plenty of fuel on board. So, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa ride 3 to 6 seconds slower than the best.

Lewis Hamilton improves his best time (1:34:765) but finds himself challenged by the Mercedes drivers, and especially Michael Schumacher. The seven-time World Champion put together a series of fast laps (1:35:309, 1:34:825) before setting the best time of the session (1:34:674). He only kept it for a few seconds since Lewis Hamilton immediately returned to P1, in 1:34??276, before improving (1:34??175). Nico Rosberg approaches (1:34:443) and, while he is not trying to get to the top of the grid, Mark Webber (Red Bull) is the victim of a loss of power and has to abandon his car in the Sepang gravels.

Sebastian Vettel, approaching the end of the session, showed himself at the forefront by setting the second fastest time (1:34:441). On the other hand, the last minutes of the session are not lively and the time will not go down any further. Lewis Hamilton thus maintains the best time of the session and, therefore, of the day, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg. On Saturday, all the teams will go into qualifying mode and the first free practice session, at 13 p.m. (7 a.m. French time) should allow us to get an idea of ​​the competitiveness of the different cars on the Sepang circuit.