Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 in Friday practice in Sepang

Sebastian Vettel still on intermediates

Dry conditions saw Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen set the pace from Red Bull in Friday afternoon's second practice in Malaysia. However, the session was stopped 10 minutes early after a loose drain cover punctured a tire on Romain Grosjean's Haas, sending the Frenchman into the barriers.

It was not a great session for Mercedes either, who were beaten to fifth place by McLaren's Fernando Alonso, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas sixth and seventh respectively. Completing the top ten were the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, split by the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg.

With just over 20 minutes to go, Bottas and Raikkonen had been lucky to go through Turn 13 shortly before Grosjean, without completely dislodging the drain cover, which was colored red and white like the curb. Grosjean was less fortunate, and the metal cover ripped his right rear Pirelli supersoft tire to shreds before spinning him across the gravel beds and into hard contact with the tire wall.

Ricciardo in the wet morning session was 3rd in the afternoon

Fortunately he was unharmed as the session was red flagged. Due to the nature of the incident, it was not restarted and FIA race director Charlie Whiting confirmed that all such covers will be examined and, where necessary, rewelded in place this afternoon. He put it down to the greater cornering forces being generated by the 2017 F1 cars.

Prior to that drama the Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen were comfortably ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

Alonso 5th fastest. McLaren is dropping Honda just when they are coming good.

Vettel lapped in 1m 31.261s on the supersofts, Raikkonen in 1m 31.865s, Ricciardo in 1m 32.099s and Verstappen in 1m 32.109s.

Mercedes' best runner, Hamilton, was 1.416s adrift in sixth place, Valtteri Bottas 1.459s in seventh. Both drivers had offs: Bottas had to go the long way around a slow Felipe Massa in Turn 10 and went through and over the gravel, Hamilton got a rear wheel over the curb in Turns 7 and 8 and had a prolonged sideways slide through a gravel trap.

Even more surprisingly, and tending to confirm suggestions that the silver cars are in trouble here where they were expected to be very quick, Alonso put his unloved McLaren ahead of them with 1m 32.564s, 1.303s off Vettel.

Perez pushed his Force India up to eighth on 1m 32.862s ahead of Hulkenberg in the Renault on 1m 33.060s and Ocon in the second Force India on 1m 33.096s.

The other surprise was that rookie Pierre Gasly out-paced Toro Rosso team mate Carlos Sainz. As the Spaniard complained of oversteer on his way to 1m 34.104s, the Frenchman lapped in 1m 34.043s to continue the good start he made this morning.

QUOTES

Ferrari

Vettel said he was a little surprised at Ferraris pace today, and admitted that Grosjean's crash had impacted on some of the things they had wanted to try. Like Raikkonen, he was happy, but under few illusions that Mercedes will get going properly tomorrow and offer better opposition.

Sebastian Vettel – FP1: 1:51.009, P5; FP2: 1:31.261, P1

"This morning we had a bit of mixed conditions and there was not so much running. This afternoon it was better and the cars seemed to be quite ok right from the beginning of the session. Then we tried something new, but unfortunately we couldn't complete our program as we had wished to, because of the red flag. We'll see what we can do tomorrow. It's only Friday, usually the day when you spend time trying various things on the car. We would have liked to drive a little bit more, but overall it was a decent afternoon. We have a good car and it's up to us to make it work in all conditions."

Kimi Raikkonen – FP1: 1:50.734, P4; FP2: 1:31.865, P2

"Today's been ok and everything ran smoothly. In the morning we had wet conditions and only managed a few laps, and in the afternoon the session was cut short because of the issue with the track. It's a pity that we couldn't use the whole session and do more timed laps, because for sure we could have further improved. But the car was feeling good: I made some mistakes on a new set of tires but apart from that it was a pretty straightforward day. Lap times don't mean much today, as obviously we don't know what everybody else was doing."

Red Bull

Both drivers were pretty happy, if a little surprised, at their pace on the intermediate Pirelli tires in the morning session, and resigned to the deficit to Ferrari in the afternoon's. But the gap to Mercedes has prompted some optimism that perhaps they can make something of that tomorrow in their quest for another podium on Sunday.

Sepang

Daniel Ricciardo – FP1: 1:49.719, P2; FP2: 1:32.099, P3

"It was interesting in these conditions but it was actually nice to get these runs in the wet and dry today. We were both looking pretty good in the wetter conditions and on the intermediates we were at the pace and significantly quicker than everyone else, which we'll take. This afternoon we weren't that competitive looking at Ferrari, but it looked like Mercedes struggled as well. If we can focus on ourselves we can still improve; on the short runs we needed to improve the front grip and on the long runs we needed to improve the rear, so we have just got to find a better compromise with the set-up. Just looking after that I think will be the key on Sunday. I think if we can find half a second somewhere then we'll be in the fight, we have still got a bit of work to do but we were OK. If we get some light drizzle across the weekend then we'll be looking pretty good; I won't complain if Qualifying and the race is wet!"

Max Verstappen – FP1: 1:48.962, P1; FP2: 1:32.109, P4

"I think today was positive. Of course, compared to Ferrari it can be better but it's not a bad performance and we still end the day ahead of Mercedes. From my side, I was trying quite a few set-up changes on the car but those didn't really work on the new set of Supersoft tires. I came in and changed the car but you always know that on used tires it's not fantastic to do a lap, but I still improved my time by four tenths. For sure tomorrow it will be better but we still need to improve to beat Ferrari. I missed out on doing a long run this afternoon because of the red flag, so I will see with Daniel how he is feeling and then we will decide what we can do tomorrow to improve the car. Tomorrow I'm hoping for rain, not too much that we aren't driving, but a little bit would make things interesting."

McLaren

Alonso was in superb form in both sessions, jumping up to third in FP1 despite running only in the final five minutes, and taking fifth ahead of the troubled Mercedes in FP2. Such positions are unlikely tomorrow, when others hit their stride, but were a reminder yet again of what the Spaniard could do with a fully competitive car.

Fernando Alonso – FP1: 1:50.597, P3; FP2: 1:32.564, P5

"We had a good day today. In the first session, we checked a few things on the car. We went out when the track was a bit less wet and managed to put it in third position… which was nice.

"In the second session, on a dry track, the car continued to behave well, and we had no big things we need to change for tomorrow.

"We tried several different configurations, and they proved all positive, so we need to go through the data tonight to decide what to do. The car feels good on this circuit, with a lot of grip when using the Supersoft tire.

"We missed some running due to the red flag at the end of the second session, but that happened to most of the teams. We'll try to catch up with that work tomorrow in FP3, if it doesn't rain."

Stoffel Vandoorne – FP1: 1:53.771, P12; FP2: 1:33.673, P13

"The conditions were a little bit tricky this morning, particularly this Tarmac, which felt quite slippery in the wet. This morning, there was limited running for everyone, because we were all saving tires – the weather for the remainder of the weekend looks fairly unpredictable, so we need to look after the wet-weather tires.

"The session was cut short this afternoon because of Grosjean's accident, so we lost a bit of track time. That meant we didn't really gain an understanding of our long-run pace – we only did some short-run prep and didn't do any long runs.

"Fernando and I tested some different-spec floors today. There was only one set available, and Fernando was running that today. It looks like a useful step forward.

"I'm looking forward to some more stable conditions tomorrow so we can carry our momentum forward."

Eric Boullier, Racing Director

"A very satisfying day, despite the curtailed running in both sessions. We trialed some new components on Fernando's car today, and they look to be a useful new addition. They perhaps also explain a large part of the disparity between drivers, as Fernando's package was slightly better suited to the characteristics of the particular circuit.

"The red flag at the end of FP2 meant we didn't get all the high-fuel running we would have liked – but we're not alone in being in that predicament – so we'll need to adjust our run-plan accordingly for tomorrow.

"In any case, a lack of practice time often makes the race more interesting, and that would certainly suit us."

Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co. Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer

"After such torrid conditions in Singapore, this weekend in Malaysia seems set to become challenging once again with tropical weather.

"As the start of the FP1 was delayed due to the heavy rain, we completed the session with somewhat fewer laps than usual. Despite this, we collected precious data towards the weekend as we ran with both Full Wet and Intermediate tires.

"Conditions were better for FP2 and both drivers showed stable running. Fernando's lap times were particularly encouraging for us.

"The high temperature conditions are tough not only for the members of the team but also for our PU, therefore it is positive that we were able to finish the sessions without any issues.

"The time gap between the competitors in the midfield is close, so small differences in our settings will make a difference in tomorrow's qualifying results. We'll analyze our data tonight in order to find the most competitive set-up."

Mercedes

Team boss Toto Wolff spoke of a "fundamental" problem, a "gremlin," in Mercedes' set-up, that resulted in both drivers finding their cars horribly imbalanced and lacking grip. There'll be a lot of midnight oil burned in the Silver Arrows' garage this evening.

Lewis Hamilton – FP1: 1:51.518, P6; FP2: 1:32.677, P6

Hamilton waves to his fans

"It's been a very difficult day. I've been struggling with the car today, so we have to review and try to understand where we have gone wrong with the balance. We're hoping that we're able to find our bearings overnight and regroup for tomorrow. I had a great group of people who were in front of my garage today all day long, sending really positive energy. So a big thank you to everyone there and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!"

Valtteri Bottas – FP1: 1:52.007, P7; FP2: 1:32.720, P7

"Those were obviously tricky practice sessions. We had quite limited running because of the rain in the morning. I also had a bit of an off in FP2 that cost us some time, we lost a few laps because of that. And then there was of course the red flag in the end. We didn't get all the test items tested today, but I think that is going to be the case with all the teams. We're definitely lacking some performance, it seems like Ferrari and Red Bull are very strong. So we have some work to do if we want to be on the front row tomorrow. The car balance itself didn't feel too bad; it's just a question of overall grip. The key area we are going to need to focus on tonight will be getting the maximum out of the tires over one lap."

Andrew Shovlin, Chief Race Engineer

"Overall it's been a very challenging day. The car wasn't working as well as it normally has done this year and the drivers were both complaining of very low grip and sliding. The car hasn't looked strong in any conditions, be it on Intermediates or in the dry conditions we had in FP2. So we're looking very carefully at the set-up and the configuration of the car just to try and understand what's gone wrong. We are clearly not getting the most out of the package here. We're going to be working very hard to unpick what we've seen today and come back stronger tomorrow. But at the moment it's clear we've got a lot of work to do if we're to present a good challenge to Ferrari and Red Bull this weekend."