Mercedes confirmed it was the team to beat at the Malaysian Grand Prix by setting the fastest times in both of Friday’s practice sessions, although its rivals – particularly Ferrari – were closer than expected.
Nico Rosberg, coming off his win at the season-opening race in Australia, was fastest in the second session and overall with a time of 1 minute, 39.909 seconds around the Sepang International Circuit, exceeding Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by three-hundredths of a second.
Raikkonen, who struggled in Melbourne, was also second fastest in the morning session behind Rosberg’s Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton.
“This was definitely a positive day and I had a better feeling compared to Friday in Melbourne,” Raikkonen said. “I was more comfortable with the car today… the handling seemed to be good.”
Although Mercedes was expected to dominate the early races of the season, and did so in Australia, the top six cars on Friday afternoon were separated by just two-tenths of a second, indicating a competitive race on Sunday.
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