F1 GP Malaysia, Free Practice 2: Vettel precedes Raikkonen and the two Red Bulls

Sebastian Vettel he is the fastest in the second session Free Practice for the Malaysian GP. The German of Ferrari he finished in the lead with the best time of 1:31.261, in a dry session which however ended early due to Grosjean. Second, at 6 tenths, is the Rossa Raikkonen, which preceded the two Red Bull, with Ricciardo before Verstappen. Alonso, Hamilton, Bottas – with the two Mercedes more difficult on the supersoft compound – Perez, Hulkenberg and Ocon complete the top ten.

News – Dry track in Spenag when the traffic lights come on in the pit lane. The air temperature was 29°C and the asphalt temperature was 41°C. Ericsson, Wehrlein, Sainz, Grosjean, Gasly and Raikkonen are the first to leave the pits. First time for Kimi Raikkonen, who clocked 1:33.486. Vettel is three tenths of a second, followed by Perez and Grosjean. Bottas makes him third fastest, Massa is behind him. The Brazilian rides supersofts, like Ocon and Alonso. Gasly Vandoorne and Sainz are on medium. All the others with the softs. Verstappen takes the lead in 1:32.739, while Gasly's Toro Rosso is stopped in front of the garage with the rear in smoke. Twenty minutes after the start, work was done on the bottom of Kimi's Ferrari. Vettel, on the other hand, fitted a new floor and aerodynamics immediately. The German takes the lead in 1:32.566, followed by Verstappen, Kimi, Ricciardo and Hamilton. Shortly afterwards he signed the new track record, 1:32.456. Thirty minutes from the start, Verstappen is second, 2 tenths away. Followed by Kimi, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Bottas, Ocon, Massa, Stroll and Sainz.

Fifth time for Hulkenberg, who switched to supersoft. Gasly is back on track. Ricciardo with the red tire gets ahead of the group in 1:32.099. With the softer compound, Raikkonen and then Vettel set the pace. Hamilton and Perez are the only ones still on soft tyres. Mid-session: Vettel, Kimi, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Hamilton, Palmer and Massa. The two Haas drivers complained of a lot of understeer while Sainz also struggled to keep his car on the track. Hamilton switches to the supersoft compound and takes fifth place. He is then overtaken by Alonso.

Both Hamilton and Bottas found a lack of grip with the red compound. Thirty minutes from the end: Vettel, Kimi, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton, Bottas, Perez, Hulkenberg and Ocon. Ricciardo and Vettel are the first to move on to the race simulation, with the red tyre: the German from the Red team is definitely on the ball even on long runs. But with just over twenty minutes to go the red flag waves, just when Vettel had just switched to the soft compound. Grosjean's Haas goes over a curb and hits a manhole cover raised by Bottas, ending up in the barriers after losing the right rear tyre. The session will not resume.

The two Ferraris finish in the lead ahead of the Red Bulls.

F1 GP Malaysia – Times, results and laps Free Practice 2