Sepang, April 2

A few minutes ago the second free practice session in preparation for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, the third round of the F1 championship came to an end. In the afternoon session Vitantonio Liuzzi and Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen returned to action, having lent their seats out to Scotland’s Paul di Resta at Force India and Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy at Lotus this morning.

Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren set the fastest time (1.34.175) ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull (1.34.441) and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg (1.34.443). Fernando Alonso, who completed 34 laps in 1.35.581, was seventh quickest, while the other F10 of Felipe Massa ended up in 15th with a time of 1.36.602 after 30 laps.
Even more as usual for a Friday, the team concentrated on working towards a race that looks challenging. That is down to the extreme tyre wear and the demanding layout of the Malaysian track, as well as the performance shown by rivals such as Red Bull and McLaren. The third and final free practice session is scheduled for tomorrow at 1 PM local time.