Malaysian GP: Rosberg tops practice 2

Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg topped practice 2 of Malaysian Grand Prix for Mercedes, continuing the team's domination at the start of the 2014 Formula 1 season.

The Australian Grand Prix winner knocked Felipe Massa's Williams (with Mercedes power of course), which had been the first to top the timesheets on the quicker rubber, off top spot shortly after the 30-minute mark.

Rosberg's Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton went second fastest, a tenth-and-a-half slower than Rosberg.

The Mercedes were then split by the back-on-form Kimi Raikkonen, who was only 0.035s slower than Rosberg as he went second for Ferrari.

This was just enough to retain second ahead of Sebastian Vettel, whose Red Bull set its fastest time on his second flying lap on medium rubber, in the RB10.

Fernando Alonso ended up fifth fastest, half a tenth slower than Hamilton and just eight thousandths of a second quicker than Massa.

Nico Rosberg
It was crazy conditions out there. In the very, very warm temperatures, it's a huge challenge to get everything right. The cars are on the edge and the tire degradation was higher than expected today – we are sliding a bit more this year, perhaps because of the reduced downforce levels. We are still having some small issues and therefore we were not able to maximize everything today. The quickest teams seem to be closer together than in Australia, so we still have work to do overnight to improve our level of performance.

Lewis Hamilton
I'm happy with our progress over the two sessions today and we were able to complete our program. The car feels good and our focus was on trying to understand the tires and make sure the balance is right for the weekend. There are areas where we can improve so we're keeping focused on our own work, rather than being distracted by what the others are doing. It was pretty tough with the temperature and humidity and it's so important to keep hydrated here. We would love a good result this weekend, particularly as it is the home race for PETRONAS, but it's impossible to predict what will happen at this stage. It's one of the trickiest races of the year so we just have to make sure we tick all the boxes and that it all comes together for us.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL
"I think we had a good day, obviously Friday timings are not the most important thing in the world but it’s good to be up there and in range of the top guys. I think we had a decent day, not a completely smooth day for both of us, there are still some things to solve on the software side and the programming, but that’s the way it is. I think we have to learn a lot but all in all, I’m quite happy."

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