Malaysia FP2: Nico Rosberg ends on top but Kimi is there

Nico Rosberg ended the first day of Malaysian Grand Prix practice fastest for Mercedes, continuing his strong run of form at the start of the 2014 Formula 1 season.

The Australian Grand Prix winner was among the first of the frontrunners to switch onto the faster medium-compound tyre.

He knocked Felipe Massa’s Williams, 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 team-mate Lewis Hamilton went second fastest, a tenth-and-a-half slower than Rosberg, shortly afterwards but appeared to have the pace to go quicker but for a slow middle sector.

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, which suggests the RB10 is proving to be kind on its tyres in the heat of Malaysia.

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

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:39.909 30
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:39.944 0.035 30
3 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:39.970 0.061 30
4 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:40.051 0.142 32
5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:40.103 0.194 29
6 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:40.112 0.203 34
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:40.276 0.367 29
8 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:40.628 0.719 28
9 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:40.638 0.729 35
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:40.691 0.782 34
11 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:40.777 0.868 33
12 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:41.014 1.105 20
13 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:41.257 1.348 28
14 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:41.325 1.416 32
15 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:41.407 1.498 34
16 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:41.671 1.762 25
17 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:42.531 2.622 14
18 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:43.638 3.729 20
19 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:43.752 3.843 29
20 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:45.703 5.794 31
21 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault No time 0
22 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault No time 0

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