Malaysia – Free Practice 2: Hamilton fights back against Rosberg, Ferrari still hot on his heels and Red Bull making progress

At 2:00 p.m. local time, the second session began and the temperatures continued to rise, exceeding 33 degrees in the air and 60 degrees on the track. The high temperatures, combined with a resurfaced asphalt and new tires, gave the drivers a hard time during their out and preparation laps, as they were seen making many corrections in the corners.

The half-hour session approaching, the times of this second session remained well below those recorded during the first session. Similarly, the provisional ranking was entirely different except for the Mercedes still occupying the top spots, but in reversed order as it was Hamilton who held the best time of 1’35″956. But this calm at Mercedes didn’t last, as Sebastian Vettel took over the best time by putting three and a half tenths on the Briton. On the other side of the Ferrari stand, the program was focused on stint simulation for Kimi Räikkönen with the hard tires.

The first third of the session reached, it was finally Nico Rosberg who secured the best time with 1’35″177, improving his time from this morning. He was followed by Vettel and Hamilton, with Ricciardo and Verstappen’s Red Bulls behind them. But the standings quickly got shuffled, with Pérez taking the 4th fastest time, swiftly followed by Alonso who took the 5th fastest time, just 23 thousandths behind the Mexican.

It was difficult to offer a ranking at a given moment around the 35-minute mark of the session, as the drivers improved their times one after the other. However, it’s worth noting the performance of Lewis Hamilton, who managed to go under the 1 minute 35 seconds mark by setting a remarkable time of 1:34.944, putting two tenths on Nico Rosberg.

With only 50 minutes left in the session, here is an initial overview of the standings: Hamilton leads with 1’34″944, followed by Rosberg, Vettel, and Verstappen in the 35-minute range. Beyond that, Pérez, Alonso, Ricciardo, and Hülkenberg are within 1 tenth. Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer complete the top 10. A little further back, Bottas, Gutierrez, and Massa are 2 seconds off the best time, followed by Ericsson, Nasr, Grosjean, Wehrlein, Button, Ocon, and Räikkönen who has yet to perform a fast lap.

Good news for Renault and Kevin Magnussen, the Dane was able to take part in the session and 45 minutes before the end, he embarked on a fast lap before completely missing the braking at the hairpin of turn 15 to the point of being forced to take the pit lane.

FP2: @KevinMagnussen taking the scenic route on his out lap #MalaysiaGP 🇲🇾 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ybJtn7xTu0

— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 septembre 2016

Here is the ranking after 50 minutes of the session

FP2 PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (AFTER 50 MINS): VET chasing down @MercedesAMGF1 #MalaysiaGP 🇲🇾 #F1 pic.twitter.com/oOuvpT2Kg9

— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 septembre 2016

At the start of the last third of the session, the focus was no longer on improvement. After a mid-session improvement sequence, calm returned to Sepang. However, Kimi Räikkönen had put on soft tires to secure 4th position just behind his teammate and ahead of Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Jenson Button, who didn’t have a real reference time, was on a fast lap but had to abruptly stop his effort halfway through as Magnussen was slowing down on the track. The Dane’s first session was cut short, but that didn’t stop him from interfering twice with other drivers during this second session. Finally, the British driver secured the 10th time of the session.

The entire grid was on the track in relay simulation for the last 20 minutes, with the lap times of the most competitive drivers around 1 minute 40 or even 1 minute 39 for the fastest. Verstappen and Räikkönen were particularly informed of these best times in simulation, which were thus 4 or even 5 seconds off Lewis Hamilton’s reference time recorded just under the 1 minute 35 mark.

At the checkered flag, Lewis Hamilton thus retains his best time at 1″34’944, with Rosberg and Vettel completing the provisional podium. Räikkönen and Verstappen are close behind, with Pérez, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, and Button completing the top 10. Further back, we find Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer within 2 seconds of Lewis Hamilton’s time, while Bottas, Gutierrez, and Massa are within a tenth of each other, indicating that the Williams team is no longer in celebration. The 16th fastest time goes to Daniil Kvyat, trailing 7 tenths behind his teammate, ahead of the Saubers of Ericsson and Nasr and the Renault of Magnussen. The second session was more complicated for the French, with Grosjean holding the 20th time ahead of Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon closing the field.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP2): Hat tips to @SChecoPerez & @alo_oficial #MalaysiaGP 🇲🇾 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZSqUCGC2Zi

— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 septembre 2016