Lewis Hamilton fastest in Malaysia as Magnussen suffers fire

As if the Malaysian Grand Prix wasn't hot enough... flames burst through the Renault's bodywork and back into life after being extinguished several times

The world champion was 0.223 seconds faster than the German, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel 0.661secs off in third in front of colleague Kimi Raikkonen. 

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fifth fastest in front of Force India's Sergio Perez and McLaren's Fernando Alonso. 

The day started with a sensational pit fire including Renault's Kevin Magnussen. 

A spilling fuel breather pipe forced the Dane to jump rapidly out of his car after only two laps of the main practice session, and it tookrepeated attempts to extinguish the flame as fuel kept on getting away while the team hysterically attempted to empty the full tank.

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Magnussen was unhurt and the car was repaired in time for him to participate in the second session, in which he was 19th fastest yet acquired the fury of McLaren's Jenson Button for blocking the 2009 world champion on his fastest lap.

The was no such inconvenience for Hamilton, who delighted in a welcome and required come back to shape after a poor last race. 

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Hamilton completed third in Singapore two weeks ago as Rosberg won, losing the championship lead for the first time since taking it in July and dropping eight points behind Rosberg with six races to go heading into this weekend on the requesting Sepang track.

After an inconclusive first practice session that was hard to read, the Briton was on impressive form in second practice.

Admidst the foliage there is an F1 circuit. A palm oil plantation surrounds Sepang

As well as being fastest on the qualifying simulation runs on the softest tyre, Hamilton also set the pace throughout the first part of the session, by 0.399secs despite using the hard tyre while Rosberg was on the medium.

Behind the Mercedes, Ferrari seemed to have an edge on Red Bull as the two teams continue their battle to end the season second in the championship - Vettel was 0.432secs quicker than Verstappen.

Alonso's position in seventh place was a surprise fillip for McLaren.

The Spaniard was using an upgraded Honda power-unit, with a lighter block and redesigned exhaust, aimed at improving the car's qualifying performance.

The development is aimed at Honda's home race in Japan next weekend but has been introduced in Malaysia because taking it means a 30-place grid penalty for Alonso for using too many engine parts.

The plan at this stage is to revert to an older-spec engine for the rest of this weekend.

Button, who will not have the new engine until the US Grand Prix in two races time at the earliest because Honda does not want grid penalties at Suzuka, was 10th fastest.

Magnussen was playing catch-up after losing the entire first session and ended up seven places and 0.7secs slower than team-mate Jolyon Palmer.

The plan at this stage is to revert to an older-spec engine for the rest of this weekend.

Button, who will not have the new engine until the US Grand Prix in two races time at the earliest because Honda does not want grid penalties at Suzuka, was 10th fastest.

Magnussen was playing catch-up after losing the entire first session and ended up seven places and 0.7secs slower than team-mate Jolyon Palmer.