SEPANG, Malaysia — Lewis Hamilton recovered from a frustrating morning session to lay down a marker to his Formula One rivals with the fastest time of the day in second free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix Friday. Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg had dominated the first session, in which Hamilton was unable to set a timed lap after suffering a major engine problem and stopping on the track. After mechanics worked to fix what his team deemed a “hardware issue,” Hamilton slipped on the quicker medium tires and clocked an impressive one minute, 39.790 seconds with 20 minutes remaining to top the timesheets. Ferrari will have been buoyed by its day's work with a resurgent Kimi Raikkonen finishing second in each session, lapping 0.373 seconds behind Rosberg in the morning and by the same margin adrift of Hamilton in the afternoon. Sebastian Vettel also looked quick in the other Ferrari, backing up his impressive debut at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with the third fastest time of the morning. The German also spun off while on target for a very quick time later in the day. Rosberg followed his earlier impressive run with a third-fastest time but a mistake on his flying lap on the medium tires prevented him from challenging Hamilton's best work around the sweeping 5.543km Sepang International Circuit. Fernando Alonso enjoyed a smooth return to action after missing the season-opener due to concussion caused by a crash in winter testing, the Spaniard racking up the laps in his McLaren to finish 14th in the morning session. Alonso did have a minor scare when he locked up and skidded into the pit lane entrance late in the second session but he and teammate Jenson Button remained firmly among the back markers with their Honda-powered cars showing just a slight overall improvement since Melbourne. It was also a notable day for Manor Marussia, which despite setting the slowest times of both practice sessions, was able to get its modified 2014 cars out on the track after failing to even manage that in Australia. Despite leading the way, Hamilton complained of “downgraded shifts everywhere” over the team radio on his return to the pits and will have lingering fears of the reliability issues that cropped up in a disappointing first practice. Of the other teams, Williams showed improvement as the day progressed as Valterri Bottas, also returning from injury, was fifth fastest with team mate Felipe Massa just behind. Red Bull also looked a little more competitive than it had in Melbourne with Daniel Ricciardo overcoming “weak traction” to finish sixth in first free practice and his Russian teammate Daniil Kvyat managing fourth in the later session. Italian GP in trouble Bernie Ecclestone, meanwhile, has said he was prepared to let the Italian Grand Prix follow Germany by dropping off the Formula One calendar, in a stark warning for organizers. The F1 supremo told reporters “What goes, goes” when asked whether the historic race at Monza, first run in 1950, could also fall victim after this year's German race was canceled. “There are lots of things we all would like, but we don't have them because we can't afford them,” said Ecclestone, in reply to a question about F1's European heartland. Ecclestone, speaking at Sepang ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix, could not confirm whether the German race would go ahead next year. Renault straight talk Renault says it is reviewing all its Formula One options, including quitting the sport or buying the Toro Rosso team, after stinging criticism of its engine. The French manufacturer has been at loggerheads with main partner Red Bull since Mercedes ran away with the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 15. Despite signs of improvement in Friday practice at the Malaysian Grand Prix, Renault Sport F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul did not pull any punches when asked at a news conference about the situation. — Agencies
