Raikkonen quickest in rain-hit second practice

Kimi Raikkonen beat Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa to the top spot in a close second Formula 1 practice session in Malaysia before rain intervened.

A heavy shower approaching the hour mark ensured that the 1m36.569s that Raikkonen had done on medium tyres 36 minutes in would stand as the fastest lap of the day.

Raikkonen's Lotus, Vettel's Red Bull and Massa's Ferrari had all taken turns in front during the dry section, and they ended up filling the final top three, covered by just 0.092 seconds.

The rain did not mean the end of the action. With similar conditions likely in both qualifying and the race, teams swiftly sent their drivers back out to sample both the wet track and the crossover to dry weather so they had some experience in case of rain later in the weekend.

The warm ambient temperature swiftly dried the track sufficiently for slicks, but the track was never quite good enough for drivers to beat their early times.

Behind the top three, Fernando Alonso edged out Mark Webber for fourth, with Romain Grosjean next up.

The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were seventh and ninth, split by Paul di Resta.

Adrian Sutil held on to 10th despite a mechanical problem keeping his Force India in the garage during the rain delay.

Nearly everyone managed to avoid drama when the rain came, although Nico Hulkenberg did spin his slick-shod Sauber in the pitlane entry. Giedo van der Garde rotated on the track, spinning his Caterham onto the Turn 14 run-off.

Pos Driver                Team                    Time       Gap      Laps
 1. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           1m36.569             28
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m36.588s  + 0.019s  27
 3. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m36.661s  + 0.092s  33
 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m36.985s  + 0.416s  23
 5. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m37.026s  + 0.457s  29
 6. Romain Grosjean       Lotus Renault           1m37.206s  + 0.637s  26
 7. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m37.448s  + 0.879s  32
 8. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m37.571s  + 1.002s  30
 9. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                1m37.574s  + 1.005s  32
10. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1m37.788s  + 1.219s  10
11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes        1m37.838s  + 1.269s  21
12. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m37.865s  + 1.296s  29
13. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari          1m38.068s  + 1.499s  31
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          1m38.645s  + 2.076s  23
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m38.738s  + 2.169s  31
16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        1m38.801s  + 2.232s  27
17. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m38.904s  + 2.335s  31
18. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth       1m39.508s  + 2.939s  30
19. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        1m39.660s  + 3.091s  28
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault        1m40.757s  + 4.188s  29
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault        1m40.768s  + 4.199s  32
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth       1m41.438s  + 4.869s  23