Malaysia FP2: Rosberg in front, Grosjean on foot.

Hamilton in EL1, Rosberg in EL2. Mercedes AMG F1 is indeed the scarecrow of this start of the season. The German set the best time (1'39"909) in this second free practice session, but with tiny gaps on his pursuers. Indeed, Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) finishes 35 thousandths behind Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) to 61 thousandths. This bodes well for the four-time world champion team, but Christian Horner's team will have to confirm in qualifying and then in the race, but reliability is currently not there at Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton finishes 4th ahead Fernando Alonso. The Spanish Ferrari driver is behind his teammate Räikkönen (twice second in free practice in Malaysia), but has accumulated the laps in these FP2. Felipe Massa (Williams) follows in 6th position ahead Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) author of a small off-track exit at the end of the session, Jenson Button (McLaren), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), the most diligent on the track in this session with 35 laps and Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) which completes the top 10.

For Lotus, the ordeal continues. After the turbo on the car of Pastor Maldonado, who did not take the track in EL2, and the MGU-H on the E22 of Grosjean in EL1, it was the gearbox which twice slowed down the Frenchman. Romain Grosjean immediately locked up with his engineers upon his return to the Lotus garage. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham) did not take to the track, following an oil leak detected on the CT05 between the two sessions.

The third free practice session will begin tomorrow at 6 a.m. French time and can be followed on AUTOhebdo.fr.

Malaysia EL2 ranking:

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1'39″909
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’39″944 (+ 0″035)
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1’39″970 (+0″061)
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’40″051 (+ 0″142)
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’40″103 (+ 0″194)
6. Felipe Massa Williams 1:40.112 (+0″203)
7. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1’40″276 (+0″367)
8. Jenson Button McLaren 1’40″628 (+0″719)
9. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1’40″638 (+ 0″729)
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1’40″691 (+ 0″782)
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1’40″777 (+ 0″868)
12. Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1’41″014 (+1″105)
13. Adrian Sutil Sauber 1’41″257 (+ 1″348)
14. Daniel Kvyat Toro Rosso 1’41″325 (+ 1″416)
15. Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1’41″407 (+ 1″498)
16. Sergio Perez Force India 1’41″671 (+ 1″762)
17. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1’42″531 (+2″622)
18. Max Chilton Marussia 1’43″638 (+ 3″729)
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1’43″752 (+ 3″843)
20. Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1’45″703 (+5″794)
21. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham no time
22. Pastor Maldonado Lotus no time