F1 - Raikkonen powers on in Malaysia NEWS
Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen, winner of last week's Australian Grand Prix, has maintained his fantastic pace in the first practice session for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.
The Lotus driver finished the first practice session just ahead of reigning champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and he seems a good bet for a second consecutive win, after winning in Melbourne last week.
Ferrari also showed well in practice with their drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, finishing third and fourth respectively, just ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber and the other Lotus car driven by Romain Grosjean.
Disappointingly for British fans perhaps was Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who could only manage ninth, although he's sure to improve on that tomorrow and in the race itself, and Jenson Button, who came in 12th, showing again that McLaren are some way off the leading pace early in the season. His cause wasn't helped by suffering two punctures on the same set of tyres.
The weather in Sepang played some part in the day's two practice sessions, heavy rain leaving parts of the track wet, whilst other areas were drying out. The prospects of a wet race on Sunday has left some drivers worrying that there will be an adverse affect on their tyres.
Vettel's comment 'I hope we have enough tyres to survive the race' perhaps suggest that the teams tyre strategy will be key in deciding which team has a driver on the podium come Sunday, as all struggled to some extent with excessive tyre wear and shredding.
In terms of overall performance though little has changed since last week which is perhaps not unexpected. Lotus, Red Bull and Ferrari continue to look the quickest teams with the best chance of scoring highly on Sunday. Mercedes aren't too far behind but McLaren persist in their struggle to close the gap between them and those four teams.
After Malaysia the F1 circus moves on to China with a three week gap before the race in Shanghai, which may allow McLaren to make some adjustments to increase their competitiveness.
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