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Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus was fastest in the second practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix as he continued to give Red Bull a run for its money on one-lap pace. A heavy shower approaching the hour mark ensured that the 1m36.569s that Raikkonen had done on medium tyres 36 minutes in would stand as the fastest lap of the day.
After finishing the first session 0.068s off Mark Webber, Raikkonen was 0.019s clear of Sebastian Vettel in second practice as the teams bolted on the medium tyres for the first time. A brief rain shower also allowed for some running on intermediate tyres, which could prove useful if rainstorms continue to his the circuit in the afternoons, but by the final 10 minutes of the session most cars had reverted to running slicks.Ferrari‘s Felipe Massa was third fastest and encouragingly close to Raikkonen’s pace with a lap just 0.092s off the Lotus. Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, roughly 0.4s off his team-mate, with Mark Webber fifth and Romain Grosjean sixth.
Outside of the battle of the Lotuses, Red Bulls and Ferraris, the two Mercedes and two Force Indias were battling it out with Nico Rosberg seventh fastest ahead of Paul di Resta, Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil, who finished the session early with a problem.
The rain did not mean the end of the action. With similar conditions likely in both qualifying and the race, teams swiftly sent their drivers back out to sample both the wet track and the crossover to dry weather so they had some experience in case of rain later in the weekend.
The warm ambient temperature swiftly dried the track sufficiently for slicks, but the track was never quite good enough for drivers to beat their early times.
Nearly everyone managed to avoid drama when the rain came, although Nico Hulkenberg did spin his slick-shod Sauber in the pitlane entry. Giedo van der Garde rotated on the track, spinning his Caterham onto the Turn 14 run-off.
Malaysian GP 2013 Free Practice 2 Results:
1. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) 1:36.569
2. Sebastian Vettel (RedBull) 1:36.588
3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:36.661
4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 1:36.985
5. Mark Webber (RedBull) 1:37.026
6. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 1:37.206
7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:37.448
8. Paul Di Resta (Force India) 1:37.571
9. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:37.574
10. Adrian Sutil (ForceIndia) 1:37.788
11. Sergio Pérez (McLaren) 1:37.838
12. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:37.865
13. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1:38.068
14. Esteban Gutiérrez (Sauber) 1:38.645
15. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1:38.738
16. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) 1:38.801
17. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 1:38.904
18. Jules Bianchi (Marussia) 1:39.508
19. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1:39.660
20. Charles Pic (Caterham) 1:40.757
21. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) 1:40.768
22. Max Chilton (Marussia) 1:41.438
