Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets during Friday afternoon's second practice session at Sepang, moving to the front before a rain shower affected proceedings. The Lotus driver, who clocked a 1:36.569 on Medium tyres, finished just ahead of Sebastian Vettel, with Felipe Massa rounding out the top three.

In stark contrast to the opening practice session, when tyre conservation was the priority, the drivers were quick to head out on-track for the second 90 minutes of practice. With rain a threat from an early stage, plenty of long runs took place before a switch to the Medium rubber yielded the quickest times. Although the shower, which ultimately occurred an hour into the action, prevented any further lap time improvements, the track quickly dried sufficiently to allow for more slick running in the final few minutes.

Raikkonen took full advantage of the early hot and humid conditions, shaving almost half a second off his personal best morning effort and this time avoiding any costly technical problems. Second-place man Vettel finished just 17 thousandths of a second behind the Finn after a phase at the front, with Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, who also briefly set the pace, locking out the top four positions.

Morning pace-setter Mark Webber slipped back to fifth place this afternoon, having been unable to make a significant impression on the Option compound. The Australian wound up just ahead of Lotus's Romain Grosjean, whose E21 picked up plenty of grass during a late off-track excursion at Turn 5.

Nico Rosberg finished as the lead Mercedes in seventh place, holding off the attentions of Paul di Resta, team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Formula 1 returnee Adrian Sutil. Both McLaren drivers again finished outside the top ten, with Sergio Perez this time leading more experienced team-mate Jenson Button en route to 11th and 12th places on the timing screens.

Aided by the rain shower, Jules Bianchi was able to place his Marussia ahead of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas. A little further back, Charles Pic got the better of Caterham team-mate Giedo van der Garde, while Max Chilton completed the order.

Friday free practice (combined times)

1. Kimi Raikkonen Finand Lotus-Renault 1m 36.569s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 36.588s
3. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 36.661s
4. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 36.935s*
5. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 36.985s
6. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1m 37.206s
7. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 37.448s
8. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1m 37.571s
9. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 37.574s
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 37.769s
11. Sergio Perez Mexico McLaren-Mercedes 1m 37.838s
12. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 37.865s
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Sauber-Ferrari 1m 38.068s
14. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1m 38.645s
15. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 1m 38.673s*
16. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 38.738s
17. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 38.904s
18. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault 1m 39.208s*
19. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Cosworth 1m 39.508s
20. Giedo van der Garde Holland Caterham-Renault 1m 40.728s*
21. Charles Pic France Caterham-Renault 1m 40.757s
22. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Cosworth 1m 41.438s

all times unofficial

* denotes driver setting time in first of two 90-minute sessions