Malaysia FP2: 11 cars in the same second but watch the tires

Nico Rosberg /Mercedes AMG F1 Photo

Nico Rosberg finished the second practice session for the Malaysian GP just 3/100 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen but the time sheets don't tell the whole story.    All the fast times were set early in the session with the teams then concentrating on long runs and race setup.

TV pictures showed a lot of tire marble build up and Mercedes was not satisfied with their tire wear.   Ferrrari showed more promise than in Australia with Raikkonen looking more comfortable and Alonso about 2/10th behind but with slightly better long run pace.

Good result for Red Bull with Vettel in third and Ricciardo in 7th but there are many reports of nagging technical issues.  Helmut Marko complained about having to spend too much money on a bunch of new fuel flow sensors.   Red Bull, in the last couple of seasons. have opposed any attempt at a cost cap.

So for the race, it will be a game of who will dare turn up the wick on their engines the most.  Likely some teams will still play the conservative long game hoping  to survive the Asian leg of the championship without a major failure.      And, being Malaysia, rain is never too far off the radar.

Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari photo

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap      Laps
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m39.909s           30
 2.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m39.944s  +0.035s  30
 3.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m39.970s  +0.061s  30
 4.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m40.051s  +0.142s  32
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m40.103s  +0.194s  29
 6.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m40.112s  +0.203s  34
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m40.276s  +0.367s  29
 8.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m40.628s  +0.719s  28
 9.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m40.638s  +0.729s  35
10.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m40.691s  +0.782s  34
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m40.777s  +0.868s  33
12.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m41.014s  +1.105s  20
13.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m41.257s  +1.348s  28
14.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m41.325s  +1.416s  32
15.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m41.407s  +1.498s  34
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m41.671s  +1.762s  25
17.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m42.531s  +2.622s  14
18.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m43.638s  +3.729s  20
19.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m43.752s  +3.843s  29
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m45.703s  +5.794s  31
21.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault                           0
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault                              0