Lewis Hamilton bounced back from a troubled first practice ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix to lead the way at the end of the day . The reigning champion , who began the year in stunning fashion just under a fortnight ago in Australia by claiming pole , fastest lap and victory , hit problems after just four installation laps in FP1 . Hamilton was ordered to pull his Mercedes off the Sepang International Circuit after complaining of ' a click in the rear ' of the car . Lewis Hamilton was fastest in second practice ahead of Sunday 's Malaysian Grand Prix . World champion Hamilton won the first race of the season in Australia and is looking for back-to-back wins . 1 . Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:39.790 . 2 . Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:40.163 . 3 . Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:40.218 . 4 . Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1:40.346 . 5 . Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:40.450 . 6 . Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:40.560 . 7 . Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:40.652 . 8 . Max Verstappen Toro Rosso - Renault 1:41.220 . 9 . Marcus Ericsson Sauber - Ferrari 1:41.261 . 10 . Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull - Renault 1:41.799 . 11 . Pastor Maldonado Lotus - Mercedes 1:41.877 . 12 . Felipe Nasr Sauber - Ferrari 1:41.988 . 13 . Sergio PerezForce India - Mercedes 1:42.242 . 14 . Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso - Renault 1:42.291 . 15 . Nico Hulkenberg Force India - Mercedes 1:42.330 . 16 . Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:42.506 . 17 . Jenson Button McLaren 1:42.637 . 18 . Romain Grosjean Lotus - Mercedes 1:42.948 . 19 . Will Stevens Marussia - Ferrari 1:45.704 . 20 . Roberto Merhi Marussia - Ferrari 1:47.229 . Hamilton hitches a lift back to the paddock after his car stopped during first practice . Although Hamilton stated his gears worked and he could have returned his car to the pits , he was told by his race engineer that 'we have no telemetry so we did n't want to risk the engine . It 's a race engine . ' Hamilton 's car was hoisted away from the scene and returned to the Mercedes garage , where his mechanics furiously worked on a fault with the power unit inlet system . Mercifully for Hamilton , with only four engines available to a driver over the course of the 19 grands prix , a complete engine change was not required . Hamilton did not return to the circuit until 38 minutes into FP2 , at the end of a red-flag session as rookie Roberto Merhi had beached his Manor in the gravel . Hamilton returned to the circuit 38 minutes into the second practice session . Hamilton had a new helmet design for the Malaysian race but , under new rules , was not allowed to wear it . Hamilton is given a lift back to the pits by a Malaysian Grand Prix marshall after his car stopped on track . Mercedes mechanics work on Hamilton 's car after he suffered an engine problem . Fifty-two minutes later Hamilton emerged the only man to dip below one minute and 40 seconds for the lap , posting a time of 1:39.790secs . As in FP1 , Ferrari 's Kimi Raikkonen emerged second quickest , with the Finn 0.373secs adrift of Hamilton , with Nico Rosberg third quickest in his Mercedes , 0.428secs off the pace of his team-mate . Red Bull 's Daniil Kvyat produced a strong showing to wind up fourth , with Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa fifth and sixth on the timesheet at 0.660secs and 0.770secs behind respectively . Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel was down in seventh for Ferrari , and the only other driver to finish within a second of Hamilton . Fernando Alonso , greets his former colleagues on the Ferrari pit-wall ahead of his second McLaren bow . The Spaniard locks up his tyres as he takes to the circuit during practice for this week 's race in Malaysia . Beyond that , the rest were some way adrift , with Toro Rosso 's Max Verstappen 1.430secs down , with Sauber 's Marcus Ericcson and Daniel Ricciardo in his Red Bull completing the top 10 . As for ailing McLaren , Fernando Alonso completed 45 laps overall for the day , finishing 2.7secs behind Hamilton in 16th position , with team-mate Jenson Button 17th and 0.131secs behind the Spaniard . For Alonso , it was his first outing in the car since his pre-season testing accident in which he sustained concussion , forcing him to miss the opening grand prix in Melbourne . After missing the race in Australia , Manor had something to cheer about as both Will Stevens and Merhi completed 34 laps between them . Although the South Yorkshire-based team travelled to Melbourne after being rescued from administration weeks earlier , they failed to turn a wheel in anger due to numerous issues . But in what was effectively the team 's first test session of the season , rookies Stevens and Merhi finally hit the track . The 23-year-old Briton was 5.9secs behind Hamilton and 1.5secs up on Merhi , whose run into the gravel cost him considerable track time . Jenson Button was 17th in the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix . Button in the paddock with his wife Jessica on Friday .
stew Hamilton missed much of the race , but still went fastest in Sepang . he did not miss a race in the race after engine troubles . But he returned to finish almost a third of a second faster than Ferrari 's Kimi , with his Mercedes team - mate mark Rosberg third . Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were 16th and 17th respectively . CLICK HERE for all the latest Formula One news .