Lewis Hamilton made it two from two in Malaysia to set the fastest time in both Friday practice sessions, once again proving McLaren are the team to beat.
Hamilton lapped over three tenths faster than Michael Schumacher in second, with the Brit’s fastest lap coming on lap two of a several lap stint on the medium tyre.
Schumacher proved Mercedes are in the mix for pole with their rear-wing F-duct (or super DRS) working brilliantly round the Sepang circuit.
Jenson Button recovered from an oil leak in FP1 to finish third ahead of the second Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.
Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso popped into P5 ahead of Fernando Alonso who battled with the F2012 to set an impressive time compared to that of his team-mate, Felipe Massa, back in 16th.
Several drivers reported much lower grip levels in the second session which saw a number of spins and off-track excursions. Hamilton himself took to the run-off twice, whilst Paul di Resta span at turn five, before recovering to the track.
The HRT cars improved on their FP1 times to slot in behind the Marussia and Caterham cars by just over a second, meeting the 107% for this session.
2012 Malaysian GP FP2 Results:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:38.172 | 28 | |
| 02. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:38.533 | +0.361 | 34 |
| 03. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:38.535 | +0.363 | 30 |
| 04. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.696 | +0.524 | 34 |
| 05. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:38.853 | +0.681 | 33 |
| 06. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:38.891 | +0.719 | 27 |
| 07. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:39.133 | +0.961 | 29 |
| 08. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:39.297 | +1.125 | 33 |
| 09. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:39.311 | +1.139 | 22 |
| 10. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:39.402 | +1.230 | 25 |
| 11. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:39.444 | +1.272 | 35 |
| 12. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:39.464 | +1.292 | 26 |
| 13. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:39.625 | +1.453 | 20 |
| 14. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:39.687 | +1.515 | 16 |
| 15. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:39.696 | +1.524 | 29 |
| 16. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:40.271 | +2.099 | 28 |
| 17. | B. Senna | Williams | 1:40.678 | +2.506 | 34 |
| 18. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:40.947 | +2.775 | 33 |
| 19. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:41.464 | +3.292 | 25 |
| 20. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:41.681 | +3.509 | 20 |
| 21. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:42.594 | +4.422 | 18 |
| 22. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:42.874 | +4.702 | 24 |
| 23. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:43.658 | +5.486 | 18 |
| 24. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:43.823 | +5.651 | 22 |
