Ahead of today's second free practice session the air temperature is 21 degrees C, while the track temperature is 32 degrees.

2012 winner Nico Rosberg headed a Mercedes 1-2 this morning, while Mark Webber took third just ahead of his bestest buddy Sebastian.

No big surprises or indeed shocks, though Sergio Perez was left red faced after carrying too much speed as he entered the pitlane at the very end of the session, damaging his nose as he headed straight into the barrier.

The dusty track surface caught out a number of drivers this morning, Turns 9 and 14 proving particularly tricky.

The lights go green and shortly after Esteban Gutierrez gets things underway. He is followed by Vergne, Chilton and Bianchi. Charles Pic is getting his first taste of the track having handed his car over to Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua this morning.

Gutierrez posts 1:41.876 but this is immediately beaten by Vergne who crosses the line at 40.951. After just a few moments there are already 18 drivers on track.

Grosjean and Van der Garde almo0st collide as the Caterham driver appears to lose the rear under braking.

At the top of the timesheets its business as usual as Rosberg heads Hamilton. Elsewhere, Chilton has stopped at T5 his session seemingly over.

Webber and Vettel are both on track, the pair trading fastest sector times on their way to second (Webber - 37.709) and fourth (Vettel - 38.591).

More problems for Perez who goes off at T7, the Mexican rejoining the track after a long track through the gravel. "I had a moment, I'm coming back to the pits," he tells his crew. Replay shows it to be quite a big "moment", the McLaren driver losing the car at a fairly substantial speed, destroying the tyres and clouting the wall for good measure.

Pace-setter Rosberg ups the ante, going quickest in all three sectors as he improves from 37.463 to 36.730. Teammate, Hamilton, goes quickest in S1 before losing a heap of time in the second sector.

Sixteen minutes into the session, all but Pic, Alonso and Bottas have been out.

Van der Garde runs wide at T2, the Caterham driver appearing overly aggressive.

On his first flying lap, Alonso can only manage 47.412, to go twentieth, subsequently improving to third with a 37.298… exactly the same time as Hamilton.