Free practice 2

Welcome - or welcome back - to ESPN's live coverage of Friday practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Time for the afternoon session, and that means it's also closer to the daily downpour window...

We had a massive downpour at around 1630 local time yesterday, so not for another three hours, but when rain comes in here it comes in fast.

If you're just joining us, let us bring you up to speed on what happened in FP1, with Mark Webber just quickest from Kimi Raikkonen

So, a tight first practice session and this afternoon looks set to be more of the same. If you've got a question or comment for us during FP2 you can get in touch either by emailing us using the link above or via Twitter @ESPNF1

Tony asks: "What is your opinion of the tyres these day, do you think races should rely on who's tyres last and who's do not, I just do not see that as racing."

Personally I love them. Due to the complexities of the aerodynamics in modern F1 we've had boring, processional races in the past where one set of tyres would last for days and a driver can't pass despite being much quicker. At the very least, this opens up that potential. Don't forget, the drivers of the 50's, 60's and 70's couldn't go flat out every lap either, they had to look after the car and tyres too

Benjamin emails in to ask: "Which team has significant changes to their car since Australia?"

None I'm afraid; there just isn't time for significant changes between the races as parts have to be brought out well in advance. The front-running teams all have a small number of new parts, but no big updates anywhere

Williams and Force India both predicting rain soon...

Some dark clouds above the circuit and Vergne is told there are a few drops of rain

The problem is, when it rains in Malaysia it really rains, so nobody will want to be caught out in it

That said, in order to get some running in we have a queue at the end of the pit lane!

Chilton leads a queue of cars out on to the track

FP2 is 90 minutes long, so if we do get rain early in the session there should be time for the track to dry again. Rosberg is told "there's light rain at the moment"

Hard tyres the order of the start of the session, with Vergne fastest on a 1:39.399

Here's Alonso and he goes quickest with a 1:37.383

Rahulan asks: "Is it fair to say tyres this year are going to minimize the significance of Qualifying positions? Your thoughts on it"

None more so than last year, and who was complaining when we had seven different winners from the first seven races? It's still preferable to qualify on pole and disappear, and Lotus blames its inability to get the most out of qualifying as the reason for not scoring more than one win last year

Perez is told "turns one and two may be slippery"

Raikkonen now fastest with a 1:37.302 from Alonso and Vettel

Alonso runs a touch wide out of the final corner and only goes second with a 1:37.368

Webber with a lock-up in to the final corner

Raikkonen improves again to a 1:37.042 on the hard tyres

Interesting replay shows Gutierrez running a bit wide at turn 13 and over the kerb, which results in his fire extinguisher going off in the cockpit!

A huge flat spot on the right rear of Chilton's Marussia...

Vettek carries a lot of speed in to the final corner but can't improve and stays third

Paul di Resta is fourth for Force India, 0.529s slower than Raikkonen

Massa heads out on mediums, trying to beat the rain

Shahnawaz emails in on the topic of Vergne stopping at the end of the pit lane after the chequered flag in FP1: "Ain't these cars allowed to reverse in pit lane? Vergne's garage was not too far from the end of pit lane however the mechanics wheeled back the car. What's the rule regarding use of reverse gear?"

Exactly as you say, drivers are not allowed to revers in the pit lane

Here's Massa on the mediums... and he goes fastest with a 1:36.661

Rosberg is told rain is expected in ten minutes

Nitish asks: "What do the five red lights that go on and off just before the race signify?? Why 5 and why not 1 or 2 ? My ten yr old nephew asked me this. I have been following F1 from 2006 and I don't know:-P"

It doesn't signify anything other than the start of the race Nitish, and I can't say I've researched it but I think it's just a way of building tension!

On-board with Alonso and you can see a number of dark clouds surrounding the circuit

Alonso on the mediums and he does a 1:37.016

Ravi asks: "Unable to access live timing. Is there a problem for all?"

Yes, live timing only appears to be available at the circuit

Ravi emails in about the start procedure: "Is it part of the countdown? Remember there is a one minute hooter. So I assume five red lights are the last five seconds, maybe?"

I'm afraid not - the lights don't come on until the grid has formed and the whole procedure is operated by race director Charlie Whiting

It's times like these we're lucky to have Laurence in the paddock - no live timing available here

Vettel is on medium tyres now

Ravi and Marco both asking about McLaren's 2012 car. I think if it has a disaster here then the MP4-27 would be a viable option, but the team really won't want to do that. In FP1 last year's car did a 1:38.021 in the hands of Hamilton compared to a 1:38.173 today for Button

Vettel goes quickest by just 0.073s on mediums

Webber is fourth, 0.428s off his team-mate

Raikkonen within half a second of Vettel and Grosjean 0.6s off

Just under an hour to go and the rain is still threatening

A lock-up for Nico Hulkenberg in to turn 14 and he runs wide - Charles Pic just spun there

Rosberg heads out on medium tyres

Sector one is looking very sunny, but dark clouds are still looking

Marco emails in on McLaren: "One would think last years car had improved by about 8 tenths by the end of the 2012 season which would put it a lot closer to the front than the MP4-28?"

In theory, yes, but the front wing would need adapting to pass the load test and obviously this year's tyres are different

Tony asks: "Are the mercs really at the bottom of the pack or is that a glitch in the system?"

No, it's correct. Mercedes was doing high fuel runs initially and now has the medium tyre on

Rosberg goes 7th, 0.879s off the pace as Raikkonen goes fastest with a 1:36.569

Graeme asks: "Hi is a photo in FP1 there we 3 round objects on stands connected to electricity?? The look Like fans without a fan. Can you let it be known what they are?"

They are indeed fans, Graeme.

Di Resta radios in to say rain is coming in at the far end of the circuit

Salman asks: "how do they decide that which team gets which place to setup their garage in the pit lane ? and does it hold any significant advantage that u have your garage either at the start or the finish or in the middle when are doing your pitstops in the race ?"

The garage order is determined by the previous year's world championship standings, and being first in the pit lane gives you the easiest entrance in to your pit box.

Less than 0.1s covering the top three of Raikkonen, Vettel and Massa. Further back and Bianchi is just 2.9s off the pace and ahead of Bottas right now

Hamilton on mediums goes ninth, one second of the pace

Exhaust trouble down at Sauber, with Gutierrez out of the car and the exhaust off his C31

Webber starts a run on high fuel on the medium tyre

Button asked over the radio how the bottoming i and if the car is OK. He replies "it's much better"

Grosjean backs off at turn six as the rain starts to fall

Rahulan asks: "How much time do the teams require to switch from Dry to Wet setups. I'm guessing they would be requiring to do that in places like Sepang"

It's a question we get a lot, but by putting on the wet tyres the tread depth aitomatically increases and that's the main difference for a wet set-up

Di Resta almost drops it at turn seven on the slicks, while Alonso radios in "rain is coming"

Di Resta says "the rain is getting really bad now, getting very slippy" as Chilton continues despite more falling

The interesting thing we have in Malaysia is a track temperature or 41C which means the rain automatically burns off

A second covers Raikkonen in first to Hamilton in ninth

Nitish asks: "There is always this talk about tyre wear be it hard , medium,soft or supersoft. How long do the intermediate and wet tyres actually last?? Do they wear at all??"

Pirelli told me in Barcelona that they don't wear at all, but obviously if you're running them in the wrong conditions they will be ruined pretty quickly

Raikkonen backs off in the middle sector due to the rain

Hulkenberg has spun across the pit lane entrance. He's found reverse to move his car though

Properly raining now and everyone diving back in to the pits

Rene emails in to ask: "this week I read several reports of teams complaining about the rapid degradation of the tires but I also remember that at the end of last season, amongst others Martin Whitmarsh asked Pirelli to be creative on the tires in order to create a better spectacle. How do you all feel about the role of the Pirellis? Are they doing a good job, or do they spoil the show?"

I think the Pirelli tyres make the racing hugely interesting and exciting and Pirelli certainly should't be blamed. Having spoken to Paul Hembery on numerous occasions (nice guy but a Bristol City fan)he says it would be very easy for Pirelli to manufacture tyres which don't degrade at all

The track is empty with the rain falling

Ah, before it was raining. Now, it is RAINING

That didn't last long though, and it's stopped already

Wahey, live timing is back

Still half an hour to go and the weather radar says there will be intermittent, heavy showers throughout the rest of the session. For now it's not raining heavily and the track is drying out

I hear an engine... and I see a car

Perez heads out on track and he's joined by Gutierrez

Weirdly, Perez is on intermediate tyres but Gutierrez is on the full wet

The middle sector is very wet but it looks like intermediate conditions to me on the whole. Vettel and Vergne head out too

No surprise that Perez was first out in the rain - McLaren thinks wet weather is its best chance of a good result this weekend

Perez does a 2:01.123 - 24s off the pace

Gutierrez matches that pace on the full wets

Vettel quickest so far in the wet with a 1:58.8

Raikkonen fighting with his car in the final sector but he's quick and does a 1:56.092

Gutierrez runs wide at turn four ad pits for intermediates

Perez goes off at turn 11 and skips through the gravel

Vettel gets stuck behind Vergne and can only do a 1m59.0

Sutil is in the Force India hospitality unit and sat in shorts, so I think we can safely say his running is over for the day after just 10 laps...

Only di Resta, Sutil, Perez, Maldonado, Ricciardo and Bottas not out on track

Van der Garde spins at turn four. We're almost at the crossover for slicks again now

Rosberg asked how far away it is before slicks with no more rain expected and he says "still quite a long way away"

I definitely think we'll see slicks soon

And so does Webber, who says he'll come in and put on the hards

Salman asks: "Look like Raikkonen's Lotus has the upper-hand on Red-bulls and Ferraris this weekend…what say? Also what is the secret of Lotus being gentle on tyres compare to others?"

I think Raikkonen looks right in the mix again but it all depends on Red Bull race pace on Sunday for me. And as for the second question, if I knew that I'd be an engineer!

Out goes Webber on the hard tyre

10 minutes to go in this session

Rosberg may have said slicks were a little while away but he's already on to the mediums now, following Massa on the hards

Rosberg is still tentative though; over 6s down through sector two

Rosberg goes a 1:48.2 on the medium compound, compared to a 1:44.256 from Webber on hards

Ron emails in to say: "Ferrari has been consistently faster on the inters"

Vettel does a 1:46.6 on the hard compound

Alonso won't rejoin, his session is over. No problem with the car thoguh

Grosjean has to cut across the grass after running wide at the high-speed turns five and six

Raikkonen does a 1m40.2s on medium tyres, an impressive time

Grosjean back in the pits after that excursion, with lots of grass on the car

The chequered flag is out and Raikkonen will end the day quickest by 0.19s from Vettel

Raikkonen stalking Lewis Hamilton on his in lap and then using DRS to overtake

So the session ends with Raikkonen fastest from Vettel, Massa, Alonso and Webber

An interesting session with plenty to be learned for the teams in both dry and wet conditions. Looks like the same three teams will be competing for victory the weekend. We'll have all the reaction from today' running on the site shortly, and we'll be back with live coverage of FP3 and qualifying tomorrow. Bye for now.


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