F1: Rosberg continues to set the bar high, leads in practice

Mercedes confirmed it is the team to beat at the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix by setting the fastest times in both of Friday’s practice sessions, although its rivals are closer than expected.

Mercedes confirmed it is the team to beat at the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix by setting the fastest times in both of Friday’s practice sessions, although its rivals are closer than expected.

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Nico Rosberg, coming off his win at the season-opening race in Australia, was fastest in the second session and overall with a time of 1 minute, 39.909 seconds around the Sepang International Circuit, bettering Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by just three hundredths of a second.

Although Mercedes was expected to dominate the early races of the season, and did so in Australia, the top six cars in Friday’s afternoon session were separated by just two-tenths of a second, indicating a competitive race on Sunday.

Defending four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel overcame some technical issues and was an impressive third fastest in the afternoon, while his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo was seventh.

The bad news for Vettel was that he needed to change his power supply unit —which distributes the power supply between the engine, the turbo and the battery-stored energy. That means he is onto his third of the season, with a limit of five all year before penalties kick in.

McLaren’s Jenson Button was eighth quickest, bettering Williams driver Valtteri Bottas and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. All drivers suffered with technical issues, ranging from the lack of downforce which caused several off-track excursions, high tire-wear, and fuel consumption issues with the new V6 turbo hybrid engines and the introduction of fuel usage limits.