Good afternoon and welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix. This morning McLaren continued to show its pace as Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time during a dry session, although it wasn't all smooth running as Jenson Button suffered an oil leak

There were four competitive teams during FP1 as Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus made up the next six places behind Hamilton, and all four are expected to be quick this weekend. We're yet to see outright pace though, with all the times set on hard tyres as teams focused on setup options

The weather is a major concern up and down the pit lane as rain tends to be sudden and torrential. The sky has darkened over the Sepang International Circuit, but so far the heavens have yet to open...

The sun is still out, but the wind has picked up. For the likes of HRT the more dry running it can get the better - Karthikeyan was the quickest of its two cars this morning but still 0.5s outside the 107% time

As always we really want to hear from you during this session, so if you've got an opinion or question then you can contact us either using the link above or via Twitter @ESPNF1

Mike Gascoyne on Twitter: "5 mins to go to FP2, lots of rain around but for the moment dry at the circuit"

We just had reports of rain in the area, but the radar at the circuit has just said that "showers in the West are decreasing, no rain expected for the start of the practice session"

Wet tyres are out in the pit lane in case they are needed, but it looks like the first half an hour will be dry at the very least

Just to update you on the one driver change from this morning, Bruno Senna is back in the Williams as Valterri Bottas hands over the car

Timo Glock waits at the end of the pit lane and is straight out as soon as the lights go green. Karthikeyan and Pic follow him, and Grosjean and Alonso are now out too

Webber follows Alonso out and passes him very quickly. Installation laps being carried out

Button is in the car and looks ready to head out for McLaren after missing out on some running this morning with his oil leak

Installation laps complete and we're yet to see a car come back in to the pits yet, everyone starting flying laps on hard tyres. That will be because of the threat of rain

First times are up, but we have a yellow flag already...

It's a yellow at turn four and it was de la Rosa who had spun. Perez also had to go off track to avoid a slow moving Alonso

All clear now and Webber quickest with a 1:41.144

Di Resta second on a 1:41.713

Raikkonen is the only car out on medium tyres at the moment, as Vergne goes quickest on a 1:40.529 and Schumacher second

Ricciardo is now quickest in 1:40.328

Button is out on track, only Vettel, Kovalainen and Petrov yet to take to the track

Paul di Resta has run off track but continued and now pits

Button taking it very easy on this lap as Schumacher goes quickest on a 1:39.867

Di Resta's left rear brake is smoking heavily as he's pushed back in to the garage, and the replay shows him locking up and bouncing over the grass at turn 15

Di Resta just couldn't slow the car down for the final corner because he had a right front puncture. It appears the left rear brake caught fire in the pit lane too

Nigel asks: "When will they give Kobayashi a car? Teamed with Vettel or Alonso, or even Kimi he would make a massive step ahead for F1, for the team, for himself. Doesn't Red-Bull Renault or Lotus Renault, given that Renault is in reality a subsidiary of Nissan want a Japanese driver at the top?"

Kobayashi is clearly a talent but he's unproven in a front-running team and is not exactly dominating Perez (Laurence next to me will not be happy that I'm even slightly criticising Kamui). As exciting as he is, Red Bull has a safe pair of hands in Webber and Lotus a quick French driver in Grosjean

Hamilton now quickest on a 1:38.921, 0.8s quicker than Button. He's on the hard tyre too

Alonso goes second on a 1:39.679

Subhadip asks: "Mercedes looks stronger than Red Bull... Is it due to F-Duct or they are really stronger at least on Friday and Saturdays?"

So far in the early stages of this season it appears to be a combination of the two. The 'F-Duct' as it's being called is helping the team in qualifying trim, as its ability to get the tyres working quickly. However, that hasn't translated in to race pace so far and Red Bull still has the better overall package

Vettel goes second, 0.7s off Hamilton's pace before Alonso improves to a 1:39.391

Vergne, Maldonado and Raikkonen on track on option (medium) tyres

Still on the topic of Kobayashi from Nigel: "Thank you for your answer. I am thinking 2013. Will there not Vettel and Alonso find themselves with new team mates? How do you see Kobayashi otherwise stepping forward to a higher level team?"

2013 would appear to be the best opportunity for a move to one of the top three teams, but I'm not convinced this will be Webber's last season. He already looks more competitive compared to Vettel and if he's in the title hunt I think he'll stay on. Perez is a Ferrari young driver so Kobayashi may struggle to beat his team-mate to Massa's seat

Raikkonen gets crossed up in to turn one, with his car looking heavily fuelled

Ricciardo goes fastest on medium tyres with a 1:38.853. Webber now out on mediums too

Maldonado goes sixth on mediums with a 1:39.444

Jay asks: "Are Mercedes running this session in race trim? Had read about their supposed plans a few days back.

If they are, how's their tyre degradation looking?"

Hard to tell so far Jay as Schumacher has only completed 8 laps and Rosberg 7, so no long runs for us to analyse

Oooh, Kovalainen outbrakes Webber in to turn one and Webber wasn't expecting the Caterham to be there, almost turning in to him

De la Rosa's set a 1:44.694, that's almost a second quicker than he went this morning. On hard tyres too and within 107% for now

The weather radar says there's a shower intensifying 20km away. It also says it is "mooving slowly" towards the circuit. Based on the cows lying down nearby, clearly

Sorry about that last pun. I'll stick to racing descriptions

Hamilton runs wide at turn four, while Laurence has noted that Webber is only 95% throttle through turn three and "very smooth" - signs of heavy fuel, although he's backed out of this lap

On the medium tyres, Webber is currently third on a 1:39.133

Stephen liked my cow pun, so I feel vindicated. I won't milk it though...

Luthando asks about Williams: "Williams have already started rotating their Drivers during practice, is there a contractual provision in the deal that VB has with Williams that dictates that he get Practice time so early in the season, I know that both Bruno and Maldonado have experience underneath them but I personally feel that Williams need as much experienced technical feedback as possible, especially at this early stage of the championship, and considering that the car looks like it has a good deal of potential, wouldn't they want to start off it's development phase particularly well?"

The short answer Luthando is that Williams has given Bottas 15 Friday practice sessions in his contract. He's come straight up from GP3 and the it's widely acknowledged within the team that he is the future at Williams, but it is trying to manage his path in to a race seat effectively. It told me in Barcelona that the more time he gets on Fridays should mean he doesn't push too hard and try to set headline times instead of focusing on doing the best job possible

Kobayashi's car is in two pieces in the Sauber garage. Work going on at the rear and we won't see him for a while

Grosjean now on medium tyres and he's a bit scrappy through the first sector. Not slow though - the fastest first sector so far

Grosjean goes fifth fastest but you feel he has much more in the locker

Adrian emails in to say: "Just wondering if Massa's new chassis has made any difference so far?"

Not a lot, although the Ferrari hasn't been quick generally. Alonso then makes a bit of a mug of my last comment as he goes second quickest with a 1:38.891 on medium tyres

Vettel a bit wide through turn four, he's on mediums too now

Di Resta preparing to get back in his Force India after that puncture and brake problem earlier

As Vedant points out, we are now seeing longer runs from the Mercedes pair - both are on hard tyres and both have completed 16 laps, the most of any driver so far

Rosberg's last lap time in the low 1m41s, so over two seconds off the pace which would suggest heavy fuel

Hamilton sets the fastest first sector on hard tyres

Rosberg pits after a slow middle sector but Schumacher does a mid-1m42s as his tyres start to degrade

Hamilton goes quickest on a 1:38.816 but Raikkonen is going quickly...

Kimi goes 10th, just 0.880s off the quickest time

Vettel is not happy with his car. He says it is all over the place and that he has poor balance

Schumacher pits as his tyres drop off too

Bruno Senna struggling to get the power down out of turn four and is turning left out of a right hander

Hamilton with the quickest middle sector. His first sector was a touch off the pace though

Don McKerracher tweets: "Cow puns, in Japan we would have Kowbayashi"

Hamilton locks up slightly in to the final corner but still makes the apex

Hamilton lowers the best time to a 1:38.617

Impressive pace on the same set of hard tyres from Hamilton

Button goes third on a 1:38.858 after setting the fastest middle sector. All his time lost in sector one on hard tyres

Di Resta is back out but has only completed six laps. Kobayashi still in the pits as the team confirms he has a gearbox problem

More cow-based banter as Stephen emails in: "In Australia we have Ricowardo". Hmmm...

Still no sign of rain. We may just get away with it and have a fully dry session

Button going quickly and he goes second ahead of Ricciardo - 0.057s slower than his team-mate

Di Resta's gone off again, he's lost the rear exiting turn six after taking too much kerb but managed to keep it out of the barrier

Mercedes has had enough of race pace and Schumacher is flying on the medium tyre. Nearly half a second up in sector one

Only 0.275s up now after sector two

Schumacher goes quickest, but only by 0.084s by the end of the lap

Vettel's on the mediums and he's on a long run

Tony asks: "What do we reckon the life of the softs will be at this race?? Also, what kind of things can the team control on the car from the garage while its on track?"

The softer of the two compounds is the medium tyre, and in the heat here we're probably looking at a life span of between 10 and 15 laps depending on how easy the car is on its tyres. With regards car control, the team can monitor everything but the driver has to make most of the changes using the very complex steering wheel

Rosberg up to fourth after the fastest middle sector

Button on medium tyres and quickest in the second sector. Hamilton on mediums too

Button ends up just 0.002s slower than Schumacher at the end of the lap. Second now. Hamilton is 0.001s off through the middle sector

And Hamilton just goes quickest by 0.020s

Vergne runs wide at turn four after outbraking himself on hard tyres

John asks: "If qualifying is dry and everyone runs a dry setup will they be allowed to make any changes if it is pouring with rain for the race start?"

Only to the tyres John, the car is under parc ferme conditions so can't be changed, but the front wing angle can be changed at the first pit stop. Teams say that the difference between a wet and dry setup is minimal nowadays anyway

Wynie is bullish over Ferrari's chances this season: "Alonso is the true fighter as you all know it….Look at the balance off Ferrari.; Looks not good for now!! But I can see it is a very aggressive car... The Aerodynamics will be shown later on this year( even some in Malaysia). I am a Ferrari supporter and not unhappy at all…. We are moving in the right direction… Anyway enjoy the weekends racing. And be afraid very afraid off Ferrari you know they are always a danger does not matter the conditions or scenarios..

Ferrari will go for Gold but will come back with Diamonds soon!!"

More animal puns, this one from mfbull on Twitter: "I prefer jenson mutton"

Hamilton finally gets some more pace out of the medium tyre, improving to a 1:38.172

With 23 minutes still to go Kobayashi looks like he's ready to get in to the car again

Kamal emails in to say: "It is a boon to have you guys on the web. No F1 without the ESPNF1 team. Praises apart! I think Ferrari should look at Kobayashi for 2013 (or even 2012) to partner the electrifying Alonso. How exciting would that be…"

It would be brilliant to see Kobayashi wrestling with that F2012, but as pointed out earlier it looks like Perez is the preferred choice from Sauber as a current Ferrari young driver. A strong season here could see Perez taking Massa's seat

Grosjean currently lapping on medium tyres but looking like he's carrying a lot of fuel

A bit more encouragement for HRT as de la Rosa has completed 18 laps and done a best time of 1:43.823

Deepak asks: "Has force india built a user-friendly car or an aggressive car...??..they seem to have reliability..but no race pace..??"

It's a similar story to last year Deepak. The car is solid, reliable and (the team hopes) good to develop. It will be looking to improve as the year goes on, but would have hoped to be a bit more competitive at this stage of the season

Fuel going in to Hamilton's McLaren so a heavy fuel run on the cards for him

Karthikeyan heads out to add to his 12 laps. Kobayashi has also completed a flying lap and is 17th on a 1:40.779 on hard tyres

Rosberg on heavy fuel has done a high 1m44s and then a low 1m45s. Another 1:45.3 from Rosberg, trying to find out the life span of the medium tyres

In comparison, Alonso on hard tyres does a 1:43.686s. If that car is as heavy as expected then that's a decent lap from Ferrari

Daniel says he "Would love Schumacher to win a race this year.."

You and me both Daniel. What a great story it would be. I'm not convinced Mercedes has the race pace yet though

Tim says: "I hope the younger drivers like Dan Riccardo, Vergne , Grosjean etc..keep performing well in practice and qualifying to spice things up bit because like or not they are the future of F1."

Button on medium tyres does a 1:44.803s. He had a bit of traffic but it seems that the hard tyre is the better race compound

Kobayashi going quicker as he finally tries the medium tyre after his earlier troubles. His personal best first two sectors and he improves to 14th, 1.515s off of Hamilton's quickest time

Interestingly, Glock is currently 0.3s quicker than Kovalainen. Petrov is a second ahed of the pair, though

Aside from the bottom five, only Vettel is in the pits

Hamilton runs wide after carrying too much speed in to turn seven. The tarmac run-off area spares his blushes though

8 minutes to go and no sign of rain. Or a car improving

Button does a 1m44.6s as he continues to work the medium tyres

Vergne is now on a heavy-fuel lap on medium tyres. The hards were letting him lap in the 1m46s and he matches it on the options

Dylan asks: "Which tyre is which? They both look white."

The white tyre is the medium compound Dylan, and the silver (which is designed to look black at speed) is the hard

After our Kobayashi/Perez/Ferrari talk earlier Jack says: "Just wait for Kubica, maybe later this year Perez but the ultimate team at Ferrari IS Alonso and Kubica."

Tyson says: "If it does rain on sat and sun...mercedes seems to be best in wets..especially schumacher..!!"

One problem for Mercedes would be a likely lack of DRS in the rain though

Shiv asks: "Can we see Hulkenberg getting a pole position for Force India in the future races? Will he deliver once again?"

I can't say I can Shiv. It's a very competitive midfield and similarly tight at the front, so I wouldn't expect any shocks unless we have a wet qualifying

Good and bad for Marussia. Glock improves to a 1:41.681 but a barge board fell off his car earlier in the lap

Schumacher locks up in to turn nine as his medium tyres start to give up

Hamilton and Webber with very similar long-run pace, while Vettel seems to be quicker than Button at this point

Karthikeyan outbrakes himself in to the final corner and spins

The chequered flag is out as Pic improves to a 1:42.874 on his final lap

Paul emails in: "Massa 1.3 seconds slower than Alonso, despite the new chassis which was supposed to be the problem in Australia?

New driver as well as new car for Ferrari by the start of the European races, maybe?"

Potentially, but Ferrari hasn't replaced a driver mid-season for 20 years. It's also only Friday practice and likely to be split programs

Bush asks: "Will there be a possibility that Adrian Newey will join Ferrari?"

It's very unlikely as Newey has previously said he doesn't want to live in Italy - similarly his wife doesn't want to relocate either

So, at the end of Friday's running it's Lewis Hamilton who is quickest in both sessions. He was actually quicker in FP1 than FP2, but in terms of race pace he was also a match for the Red Bull pair once again

Mercedes is quick too, while the Toro Rosso's appear to have some decent low-fuel pace.

A couple of final questions from you, Pratik asks: "who looks better between Hulkenberg and di resta ???"

Hulkenberg made the fewer mistakes during the second session, but despite his troubles and a tyre problem di Resta still managed to be very close to his team-mate. They're closely matched.

And Ashwin asks: "Can Alonso stay ahead of both the red bulls in sepang after today's performance in FP 2??"

I wouldn't put any money on it Ashwin. Red Bull carrying more fuel and better in race trim, although Ferrari might be more confident now that it was at the start of the day

So that concludes our coverage of the Friday practice sessions, but don't go anywhere - we'll have all of the reaction on the site as we find out how the drivers are feeling ahead of Sunday's race. Live commentary will be back for FP3 tomorrow morning, join us then.