Mercedes' Rosberg clocks fastest time in 2nd practice at Malaysian GP

Mercedes has continued their dominance from the Australian Grand Prix in the second practice at the Malaysian Grand Prix, with team driver Nico Rosberg beating Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to set the fastest time on Friday.

Red Bull star Sebastian Vettel was third as the fastest three cars were split by just 0.061 seconds while Rosberg's teammate Lewis Hamilton was fourth from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, both of them within 0.2secs of Rosberg.

According to the BBC, Rosberg was just 0.035 seconds quicker than Raikkonen, while Vettel's lap was impressive as it came on the second lap on the faster 'medium' tyres.

The report mentioned that Williams' Felipe Massa was sixth, from Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren's Jenson Button, while the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Force India's Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10, from Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and McLaren's Kevin Magnussen.

The teams had to make changes to their cars to cope with the high ambient temperatures in tropical Malaysia - Mercedes and Ferrari both had increased cooling in their engine covers while McLaren having a new front nose to their car with a higher top to the bodywork to get more airflow under the car and increase downforce, the report added.