Malaysian GP, ​​Free Practice 2: Hamilton still ahead of everyone

Lewis Hamilton also set the best time in the second free practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday. The McLaren driver was the fastest in the morning and repeated himself in the afternoon with a series of short runs. Hamilton was the first of the top drivers to repeat his morning performance in the first 15 minutes of Free Practice 2, setting his best time midway through the session.

The first fastest lap was achieved with option tires which many drivers described as "critical". Within seconds of setting the fastest time Hamilton told his team via radio that "the soft tires seem very poor and aggressive, causing spins".

Sebastian Vettel is second with Red Bull after fitting soft tires with 30 minutes to go. The German suspected a problem with the power steering but lapped in 1.34.4 a few minutes later. However, Red Bull continues to have reliability problems: Mark Webber was forced to park in the gravel at turn 9 after less than half an hour. The team hypothesizes an engine problem.

Mercedes in third and fifth place with Rosberg and Schumacher, separated by Button's McLaren.

Ferrari ran for most of the session with a lot of fuel, sailing from the back. Alonso and Massa then fitted soft tires at the end. The Spaniard finished seventh behind Kubica while Massa only moved up to 15th position.

Pos Driver Team Lap Time
 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.175 27 
 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:34.441 + 0.266 28
 3. Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.443 + 0.268 30
 4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.538 + 0.363 24
 5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:34.674 + 0.499 30
 6. Kubica Renault 1:35.148 + 0.973 34
 7. Alonso Ferrari 1:35.581 + 1.406 34
 8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:35.660 + 1.485 39
 9. Petrov Renault 1:35.872 + 1.697 20
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:35.957 + 1.782 32 
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.018 + 1.843 38
12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:36.221 + 2.046 34
13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.325 + 2.150 33
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.325 + 2.150 39
15. Massa Ferrari 1:36.602 + 2.427 30
16. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:36.813 + 2.638 26
17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:37.415 + 3.240 19
18. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:38.454 + 4.279 34
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:38.530 + 4.355 32 
20. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:38.786 + 4.558 13
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:39.061 + 4.886 23
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:39.158 + 4.983 29
23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:41.084 + 6.909 27
24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:41.481 + 7.306 32