- Malaysian GP - FP2
Rosberg: Tyres a huge challenge
Nico Rosberg thinks the perfect strategy in Malaysia will involve getting as much out of one stint on the option tyre as possible during Sunday's race.
Temperatures soared during Friday practice in Sepang, peaking at 34 degrees Celsius, which provided a stern challenge in tyre management for the drivers. The searing heat meant Rosberg was one of a number of drivers unable to improve on his morning time, set on hards, in the afternoon with medium tyres.
Rosberg expects tyre management to be an ongoing issue this weekend.
"We have different tyres this year and supposedly they suffer a bit less but it doesn't seem like it at the moment," Rosberg said. "Then again, we had record track temperatures out there - it was more than 60 degrees on the asphalt. You can imagine, we're sitting on the ground and I can actually feel the asphalt through the chassis. The 60 degrees comes straight into the cockpit and it's extremely hot in the car."
It was put to Rosberg the optimum race strategy would involve long stints on the hard compound, followed by a short run on the mediums, which the German agreed with.
"It's definitely going to be like that, yes. The prime is going to be the race tyre and we'll just have to see where we get with the soft tyre."
Rosberg saw Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton jump claim top spot in FP2 despite a lengthy delay with engine trouble. The German admits reliability, and the renewed form of Ferrari, is food for thought in the Mercedes garage.
"We had reliability issues with Lewis' car - well both cars really, but no problem on my car for now. That's not ideal and we'll need to find the solution overnight … It seems that again Ferrari is pretty close so we'll need to just keep an eye on them."
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