Kimi Raikkonen bounced back in style this afternoon in Malaysia following his KERS fire at the end of the morning session. The 2007 champion topped the timesheets at the end of the second 90 minute session with a best time of 1:35.707s, a tenth clear of team-mate Felipe Massa.Sepang traditionally suits Ferrari and after the poor start in Melbourne last weekend, the Italian team will be very much encouraged to find themselves at the top of the timesheets. There was however a second problem for Raikkonen right at the end of the session as the team instructed him to turn off his KERS.
Sebastian Vettel was right on the limit again for the Red Bull Renault team as he recorded the third fastest time. The young German racer had his fair share of off-track moments and almost came to grief for the second time when he tried to pass Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber in the run to the final turn. Heidfeld opted to give Vettel room and contact was however avoided.
Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima were fourth and eighth fastest for the Williams Toyota team with Mark Webber and the Brawn Mercedes duo of Rubens Barrichello slotting in between. Barrichello in particular seemed to have problems under braking for the final turn early in the session but made gains late in the session to pip team-mate Button.
Heikki Kovalainen led the McLaren Mercedes charge with the ninth fastest time, with the team again using flow visualisation paint around the rear diffuser. Team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 11th fastest.
Nelson Piquet recovered from his morning off to post the tenth fastest time while Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso had a low-key session on his way to the 15th fastest time. Alonso, suffering with an ear infection, completed just 20 laps while most completed nearly 40.
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were 12th and 14th respectively for Toyota with the latter surviving numerous off track excursions and a spin. The Toyota was well suited to Albert Park but seems to be lacking rear end grip in Sepang.
Sebastien Buemi continued to impress in his Toro Rosso Ferrari as the Swiss rookie recorded the 13th fastest time ahead of Glock and Alonso. Adrian Sutil was 16th best in the leading Force India Mercedes.
It was another difficult Friday for the BMW Sauber team with Robert Kubica just 17th fastest while Nick Heidfeld was slowest of all at some 2.2 seconds off the ultimate pace. As we saw in Melbourne however, the Friday pace from this team does not represent the true pace of the F1.09 package.
Sebastien Bourdais was 18th fastest in the second Toro Rosso while Giancarlo Fisichella missed the final 20 minutes of running after going off at turn ten and damaging the left hand side of his Force India Mercedes.
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