F1: Hamilton On Top Again In Malaysia Practice

Formula 1

F1: Hamilton On Top Again In Malaysia Practice

Lewis Hamilton's McLaren paced both Friday practices at Sepang International Circuit...

Jared Turner | Posted March 23, 2012 Sepang (MAS)

The rain held off and Lewis Hamilton held on to the top spot.

Such was the story from Free Practice Two at Sepang International Circuit as Hamilton backed up his chart-topping FP1 time by leading the way once again in FP2.

Despite being a shade off his best lap from FP1, the Briton's top FP2 lap of 1:38:172 was enough to easily beat out the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher (1:38:533) and McLaren teammate Jenson Button (1:38:535).

Hamilton comes into Malaysia carrying the momentum of a pole and third-place finish in last Sunday's season opener in Australia, while Schumacher hopes to rebound from an early-race crash that tainted a strong qualifying run in Melbourne.

Australian GP winner Button rebounded in FP2 from a difficult opening practice in Sepang where he clocked in only ninth quickest and spent the final 15 minutes in the garage with an oil leak.

Completing the top five in Friday's second 90-minute round were Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and surprisingly fast Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, RBR's Mark Webber, Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel filled out the rest of the top 10.

It was a troublesome session for both Paul Di Resta and Kamui Kobayashi as the Force India driver suffered brake issues and the Sauber wheelman endured gearbox problems.

To the surprise of many in the paddock, a significant threat of rain never materialized in FP2, allowing drivers to complete both of Friday's sessions in dry conditions at a track where wet weather is the norm.

FP2 concludes Friday's on-track proceedings at the 5.543-kilometer Sepang circuit.

The action picks back up with a final practice, scheduled for 1 a.m. ET Saturday.

SPEED.com will stream the one-hour session live.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.