Nico Rosberg edged out Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton during the final free practice session ahead of qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Rosberg's time was over a second faster than the best managed by the quickest non-Mercedes machine Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari, with reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel in fourth. Nico Hulkenberg put his Force India into the top five, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10. Lotus […]

Kevin Magnussen has admitted that he is struggling with preserving his rear tyres at this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Magnussen was 12th quickest during a second practice session in which the Dane battled oversteer in his McLaren MP4-29. "I’ve never driven a car in these sorts of temperatures – so I learned a lot today," he said. "As I say, the track temperatures are so hot here that the tyres are really suffering – but it’s the same for everyone, so we need to try […]

Lotus endured another difficult day during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix as both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado encountered problems with the E22. Grosjean was 17th fastest in second practice and stopped on track with gearbox problems after completing 14 laps in the E22. "We have to work and try to solve all our issues," he said. "We are focusing on every issue we encounter. This morning we couldn't do any laps, and this afternoon we burnt a cable which stopped the gearbox from […]

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas says that the prime tyre could present a limitation to drivers at this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Bottas was ninth quickest during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, although he squandered his best lap on options by running wide. "We tried many things with the car today and collected a lot of data on the long runs so on the whole it has been a good day," he said. "One challenge has been the difference in pace between the […]

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel says he is pleased with the progress made by Red Bull. Vettel was third quickest during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang on Friday. "I think we had a good day, obviously Friday timings are not the most important thing in the world but it’s good to be up there and in range of the top guys," he said. "I think we had a decent day, not a completely smooth day for both of us, there are still […]

Sauber driver Adrian Sutil says that the C33 is still a difficult car to control. Sutil was 13th quickest during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. "In comparison to Melbourne, we made a few steps forward," he said. "The things we had on our plan partly worked out. However, the car is difficult to control and it is not easy to drive. We have a lot work ahead of us. We made steps in the right direction and it is working better than […]

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari is still on a learning curve ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Alonso was fifth fastest in the second practice session at Sepang but was reluctant to make predictions for this weekend's race. "We are on a learning curve, which is not unusual for the start of a championship and, to find out how competitive we are, as usual we will have to wait until Saturday and Sunday," he said. "Usually, Friday is a very confusing day, because everyone is […]

Nico Hulkenberg declared himself content after practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix but remained wary about the state of the tyres. Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 in second practice but feels that Force India has work to do with regards to the tyre wear. "I think we can be satisfied with what we learned today," he said. "We worked through the programme and there were no big issues on my side. Of course, the hot weather here means conditions are tough and we found […]

Caterham's Kamui Kobayashi expressed his frustration after a lack of running during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Kobayashi's running in the first practice session was truncated due to battery issues and Caterham discovered an oil leak which forced him out of the second session. "FP1 started okay," he said. "We did the normal installation lap and then another three laps of the baseline run but then the power started cutting in and out and we had to box to take a look at the […]

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time for Mercedes during the second free practice session ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Rosberg’s time of 1:39.909 was marginally quicker than Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, with world champion Sebastian Vettel less than a tenth of a second down in third place. Vettel’s best time was set on his second lap on option tyres, compared to his rivals who managed their quickest lap on the first flying lap on the softer compound tyre. Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Mercedes, […]

Mercedes' early season strength was again evident with Briton Lewis Hamilton going fastest in Friday's first practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix in a session where many cars struggled for grip. The 2008 world champion clocked a best time of one minute 40.691 seconds at the Sepang Circuit on a scorching hot Friday where track temperatures reached 44 Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) during the 90 minute session. However, Hamilton was one of many drivers who encountered the Malaysian gravel after locking his wheels and the Briton […]

Williams driver Felipe Massa reckons that the FW36 is lacking downforce ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Williams has demonstrated good pace in 2014 but Massa revealed in Malaysia that upgrades were not ready in time for the second round of the year. "We are missing a little bit or rear downforce and we are working on that to improve," said the Brazilian racer. "Pieces were not ready for this race, so we have the same car, more or less, as we had for […]