Life with Mercedes has started well for Nico Rosberg and the German impresses again, pipping his illustrious compatriot Michael Schumacher to the second fastest time of first practice before Sunday's Malaysian Grand
The only man to go quicker than Rosberg is McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 champion flying down straights and handling slow and fast corners with aplomb to clock a lap of one minute 34.921 seconds
Sebastian Vettel could be going for a season opening hat-trick of wins in Sepang, but instead the Red Bull ace is hoping for a first win of 2010 after his Red Bull suffered problems in the Bahrain and Australian Grands Prix
An early photo gallery showing for this Malaysian Grand Prix staple, Fernando Alonso zooms past the Stripes of Glory flag in his Ferrari, as the cars get their first outings at the Sepang Circuit
Sebastien Buemi does not look like he is enjoying the hot and humid conditions in Malaysia, the Swiss puts in a decent display in his Toro Rosso to clock the 10th fastest time of Friday's opening practice session
Vettel has qualified on pole for each of the opening two grands prix this season and he is seen deep in discussion with Red Bull team principle Christian Horner ahead of second practice at the Sepang Circuit
The temperatures and humidity rise significantly in the afternoon and one track marshal goes into disguise in an attempt to evade the sun
More reliability issues for Red Bull - after spark plug and wheel problems put pay to Vettel's hopes in Bahrain and Melbourne, team-mate Mark Webber sees his FP2 come to an end because of engine failure
Schumacher is also outdone by team-mate Rosberg in second practice and the seven-time world champion - a three-time winner in Malaysia - will hope to improve his lap times in third practice and qualifying on Saturday
With Ferrari using FP1 and FP2 to work on race setup, championship leader Alonso is sent out for a long run on heavy fuel load, which explains why he was only seventh fastest and team-mate Felipe Massa 15th
World champion Jenson Button complains about both oversteer and understeer on the team radio but the 2009 Sepang winner finishes the day fourth fastest and girlfriend Jessica Michibata appears delighted
Renault continue to showcase their quick and reliable package, Robert Kubica following up his second-place finish in Melbourne with a solid couple of practice sessions on the opening day in Kuala Lumpur
But the day belongs to Hamilton, the Briton setting a new fastest lap of 1:34.175 in the second session to get his bid for a first grand prix victory of the season off to an ideal start
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