Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes back on top of the times in the second practice session under the lights of Marina Bay on Friday evening, but the main story was the way in which his, and the runs of team mate Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, were compromised by circumstance.

Hamilton had complained bitterly about the wayward behaviour of his F1 W05 Hybrid on the soft Pirellis, and then of brake vibrations on the supersofts, but found it better when he put together his best lap of 1m 47.490s.

Rosberg, meanwhile, was fastest on the softs with a best of 1m 49.075s, and had just set the fastest first sector on supersofts when the session was red flagged after Pastor Maldonado crashed his Lotus into the wall at Turn 10.