Ferrari duo on top in second practice

Having recovered from the smoky cockpit dramas of the morning, the Finn eclipsed team-mate Felipe Massa, setting the fastest lap of the weekend so far - 1:35.707.

It wasn't a trouble-free session for the Finn though, as the team came over the radio at the end of the session reporting a problem with his Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).

Sebastian Vettel confirmed Red Bull's growing potential in third, while Nico Rosberg was fourth for Williams.

Unlike the first session in Malaysia, the teams got cracking straight away as dark clouds gathered and the omnipresent threat of monsoon conditions loomed.

McLaren wasted no time, having lost a great deal of it in the garage in the first 90 minutes, and Heikki Kovalainen was the first to go fastest, swiftly followed by Massa.

Within five minutes, 19 cars were on track and before long, Vettel, Kazuki Nakajima, Giancarlo Fisichella, Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had all enjoyed a spell at the top of the times.

The carousel effect continued through the first half of the session as Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil also shot to the top.

Forty minutes in, though, and Nakajima thumped in a fast one - 1:36.34. It was another ten minutes before Vettel eclipsed that.

But as clouds continued to gather, though they never produced more than a few spots of rain, with half an hour to go, Ferrari, having already suggested that Sepang might suit it better than Melbourne, turned up the wick.

Massa went out and set three consecutive laps faster than anyone had done all weekend, ending the sequence with an exceptional 1:35.832. Only to then see Raikkonen go faster still with a 1:35.706. No one got near that.

Behind Vettel and Rosberg, who both improved late-on, was Mark Webber. Rubens Barrichello was the fastest of the Brawns ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.

Nakajima eventually dropped down to ninth ahead of Nelson Piquet - who led Renault's challenge with Fernando Alonso limiting his running due to his ear infection.

Once again several cars ran off track, but none more seriously than Giancarlo Fisichella who swiped his Force India against the barrier at Turn 10.

It was a shame for the Italian who had shown strongly during the session, but ended the it 19th.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:35.707            40
 2.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:35.832  + 0.125   38
 3.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:35.954  + 0.247   40
 4.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:36.015  + 0.308   39
 5.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:36.026  + 0.319   36
 6.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:36.161  + 0.454   37
 7.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:36.254  + 0.547   31
 8.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:36.290  + 0.583   35
 9.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:36.397  + 0.690   40
10.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:36.401  + 0.694   35
11.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:36.515  + 0.808   30
12.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:36.516  + 0.809   34
13.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:36.628  + 0.921   32
14.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:36.639  + 0.932   29
15.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:36.640  + 0.933   20
16.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:36.875  + 1.168   36
17.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:37.267  + 1.560   38
18.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:37.278  + 1.571   30
19.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:37.432  + 1.725   27
20.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:37.930  + 2.223   37

All Timing Unofficial