2014 Malaysia Grand Prix - FP2 Report: Rosberg quickest, Williams and Ferrari look promising

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2014 Malaysia Grand Prix - FP2 Report: Rosberg quickest, Williams and Ferrari look promising

Published on 28 Mar 2014 08:44
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By: Tom Brooks

FP2 got underway in Malaysia with the threat of rain abating for the time being, although it was cloudy leading to speculation that it may change later on with a predicted 40% chance of rain, however this proved to be unfounded.

The 90 minute session saw Romain Grosjean for Lotus as the first driver out on track, he was quickly followed by Nico Hulkenberg for Force India and Marcus Ericsson for Caterham, whose team-mate, Kamui Kobayashi would not take part after a serious technical issue halted his progress.

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Even before a competitive timed lap had been set, Max Chilton spun off coming out of Turn 2 and beached his car on the inside of the circuit, ending his session early.

Button was the first driver to break under the 1.42 barrier, setting a 1.42.445 which was quickly bettered by Hulkberg who set a 1.42.293, followed Grosjean and Perez. Jean-Eric Vergne was looking to better his laptime, however he also spun at the final turn but managed to keep the engine running and continue.

The times quickly came tumbling with Bottas, Massa, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Button all setting low 1.41's.

Lotus's problems continued, Maldonado was ruled out of the session after a problem in FP1 and Grosjean became stuck in 2nd gear which ended his running for the time being.

With an hour to go, the track began to rubberin with Alonso leading the field setting a 1.40.737, followed by Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Massa, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Vergne and Button.

However, most drivers then changed over to the Medium (Option) tyre, which allowed Rosberg to set the first 1.39 laptime, which Raikkonen quickly followed by slotting into 2nd place. Hamilton followed him with a 1.40.051, 4th was Alonso with a 1.40.103 and Massa rounded out the Top 5 with a 1.40.112.

With just over 30 minutes left Hamilton had a slight off-track excursion into Turn 3, which thwarted his potentially best first sector.

Most teams decided, with the expectant rain, to complete longer runs or race simulations with Force India, Williams, Mercedes and Ferrari all showing competitive pace which may prove useful for Sunday. Lotus also looked promising later on in the session after fixing their earlier faults.

It all appeared to be going too well for Lotus however, with Grosjean stopping again, this time on-track with another gearbox related issue ending his session with just under 20 minutes remaining.

Ferrari were suffering high rear tyre-wear, after just 18 laps Raikkonen began to complain of his being in rather poor condition. Marcus Ericsson also had very high front wear on his Caterham.

With less than a minute remaining, Ricciardo went off-track at Turn 12 for Red Bull after running wide out of Turn 11. He recovered and made it back to the pit-lane just as the session finished.

The running order did not change and it would appear as if Mercedes and Williams are once again in the best shape for the Grand Prix on Sunday, with Red Bull and Ferrari looking useful on one lap pace for Qualifying also.

FP3 gets underway tomorrow afternoon at 13.00 Local Time (05.00 GMT) with Qualifying taking place at 16.00 Local Time (08.00 GMT).

Tom Brooks
Chief UK Editor

F1 News Romain Grosjean Marcus Ericsson Lotus F1 Mercedes Williams Force India Ferrari