Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are favourites to lock out the front row at the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix Getty

Mercedes look clear favourites yet again at the Malaysian Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton grabbing the fastest times in FP1 and FP2 respectively. The Briton is looking to end his teammate's run of three consecutive victories following the summer break and make up the eight-point deficit in the Drivers' World Championship.

The Ferraris look to be the best of the rest after posting the third and fourth fastest times, with a slight edge over Red Bull Racing. The Austrian-owned team, however, tends to show their true pace only on Saturday.

FP1 was red-flagged just 15 minutes into the session after Kevin Magnussen's car caught fire in the pit lane owing to fuel leakage on his car. It was restarted with just over an hour remaining and all the cars set a competitive time, but varied in tyre choices. The Mercedes and Ferrari cars set times on the soft-compound tyres, while the other cars in the top 10 used the medium or hard compound, which are the three choices available this weekend.

FP2 saw all the teams set their fastest laps on the soft compound tyres which revealed a bit of the pecking order. Apart from the top three teams, Force India and McLaren are the two teams fighting for the final four places in the top 10. The Vijay Mallya-owned team is in a battle of their own with Williams in the constructors' championship with the former ahead by just one point.

Where to watch live

The third free practice session begins at 7am BST, while the qualifying session starts at 10am BST. Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports F1 HD will provide live coverage of both events in the UK.

Real-time internet updates are available on the Live Timing section of the sport's official website.

Top 10 results of the second practice session from Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia:

POS.DRIVERTIMEGAP
1LEWIS HAMILTON1:34.944
2NICO ROSBERG1:35.177+0.233s
3SEBASTIAN VETTEL1:35.605+0.661s
4KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN1:35.842+0.898s
5MAX VERSTAPPEN1:36.037+1.093s
6SERGIO PEREZ1:36.284+1.340s
7FERNANDO ALONSO1:36.296+1.352s
8DANIEL RICCIARDO1:36.337+1.393s
9NICO HULKENBERG1:36.390+1.446s
10JENSON BUTTON1:36.715+1.771s