Lewis Hamilton finished in the lead of the second free practice session at Sepang ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.
The Haas F1 were the first cars to head out on track. Drivers continued their study of tyre compounds and their chase for the best set-ups as Lewis Hamilton was complaining about having his steering wheel not aligned with his tyres. That did not prevent him from setting the best time twenty minutes into the session.
Although Sebastian Vettel claimed the fastest time of the session just before the first half of the session, Nico Rosberg got it back on soft tyres. Hamilton got his fastest time back with three purple sectors and is the first one to dip under the 1:34’ laptime.
While Kimi Raikkonen was complaining about a problem in his car, Esteban Gutierrez estimated that the medium tyres lasting life was about thirteen laps. Around mid-session, Kevin Magnussen managed to go out on track. Kimi Raikkonen’s problem seemed to have been fixed as he was fourth with thirty minutes to go.
The last part of the session was dedicated to long runs. Hamilton was the fastest of the day ahead of Rosberg and Vettel. Raikkonen, Verstappen, Perez, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Button completed the top 10.