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General

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Friday - Practice

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Nico Rosberg is back on track after that early problem.
Button now sets the fastest time so far in the first sector.
Button goes third fastest for McLaren, 1.1s off Alonso.
Sutil and Kobayashi have put tentative laps in, while Ericsson has found 4s but is 6.1s off Alonso.
Speed trap figures so far, based on the main speed trap located 207m before the final corner:

1 Massa, 314km/h
2 Bottas, 313km/h
3 Vergne, 304km/h
4 Alonso, 301km/h
5 Gutierrez, 300km/h
Stopwatch
Alonso puts Ferrari on top with a 1m42.930s, 0.2s quicker than Bottas.
BEN ANDERSON: "Early days in this first free practice session, but to put the times into some context, Mark Webber led the way on a 1m36.9s lap in FP1 at last year's Malaysian GP. That's a difference of six seconds to our current pace. New rules and different cars this year, but let's see how close they can get."
Gutierrez improves and takes third place back from Vergne.
Chilton on a wild lap. A lock-up is followed by a dose of oversteer. Unsurprisingly he doesn't improve on his best time.
Massa improves but is now 1.5s slower than Bottas rather than 2s. Different agendas for the two Williams so far it seems.
Vergne goes third, 2.4s down on Bottas.
Bottas finds a second and does a 1m43.193s, putting him 2s clear of second-placed Massa.
Ericsson does a time 9.6s off the pace. He's been heard complaining on the radio about something "cutting out".
Bottas is improving on his next lap.
Chilton is fourth of the four cars to do timed laps so far, 3.7s off the pace.
Massa into second, but 0.8s down on Williams team-mate Bottas.
Stopwatch
Bottas beats Gutierrez by 1.5s with a 1m44.359s.
Alonso's Ferrari sets off again too.
But Bottas and Massa are beating the Sauber's sector times.
Stopwatch
Gutierrez kicks us off with a 1m45.851s.
EDD STRAW: "You might notice this season that it is far more obvious when the DRS rear wing is open. It's not an optical illusion, as one of the less talked about rule changes this year is that the gap that opens between the elements of the rear wing has been increased from 50mm to 65mm this year."
Gutierrez has been setting the fastest sectors of the session so far on his out-lap, so is preparing for our first flyer of the morning.
Also rejoining are Ericsson, Bottas, Massa and Chilton.
Sure enough, Gutierrez's Sauber is heading back out.
EDD STRAW: "It's been a relatively quiet start to the session, but remember that every driver has an extra set of the harder Pirellis for use in the first 30 minutes only so there should be some proper running soon."
Vettel heads back in. All 22 cars have managed an installation lap without anyone breaking down - that's already progress over Melbourne.
Now Vettel leaves the pits and has the circuit to himself.
Everyone now back in the pits. The McLarens did two laps, everyone else stuck to one.
EDD STRAW: "Sergio Perez is in the pits awaiting his second run. He had a difficult Force India debut in Australia two weeks ago, although after Daniel Ricciardo's exclusion he did end up scoring a point for 10th.

"He is boosted this weekend by the return of race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, who missed Australia because, in Perez's words 'he had a baby'. Senior performance engineer Robert Sattler filled in in Australia."
Nico Rosberg's Mercedes is being pushed back into the garage. He tells the team on the radio "there is a problem with the car".
Grosjean and Ricciardo have now joined the fray, so just Vettel yet to appear.
Nineteen cars out so far, just missing the Red Bulls and Romain Grosjean's Lotus.
As usual, we're starting with installation laps and many drivers are straight back in.
Also on track: Jenson Button, Felipe Massa and Esteban Gutierrez.
The Caterhams, Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, Valtteri Bottas's Williams, the McLaren of Melbourne podium rookie hero Kevin Magnussen, and both Toro Rossos rush out.
BEN ANDERSON: "Doesn't feel quite so humid at the circuit as it did yesterday, but it's still oppressively hot here in Sepang. Will be interesting to see which cars cope best with the heat in this 90-minute session."
Green flag
The session is underway, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari first out.
Engines firing in the pitlane, less than a minute till the Malaysian GP track action begins.
Just over 10 minutes until practice commences. Conditions are hot and dry at the moment.

By: Matt Beer, Ben Anderson, Andrew van Leeuwen, Edd Straw, Jonathan Noble, Dan Cross

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