Early days we know, but such was Mercedes dominance in FP1, perhaps Ferrari's win in Malaysia was merely a blip and we were all being a little premature in thinking the German team's reign was coming to an end.

Despite a "will o the wisp error", Mercedes terms, Lewis Hamilton was 0.541s quicker than his teammate and 1.124s quicker than third placed Sebastian Vettel. Fourth placed Kimi Raikkonen was 1.6s off the Briton's pace.

In the wake of Vettel's Sepang win, Mercedes was quick to react, it promised updates and it has brought them. Indeed, a number of teams have brought updates here, Williams running a new rear suspension, but the German team, in particular, has learned a lesson from Sepang.

Along with the numerous updates, especially noses and wings, there were plenty of incidents this morning with T14 catching out almost everyone at some stage or another.

Interestingly, behind the Mercedes and Ferraris, Sauber's Felipe Nasr headed the two Red Bulls whilst the Williams duo was separated by just one-thousandth of a second.

Ahead of this session, the air temperature is 16 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 43 degrees.

Tyre compounds are medium (prime) and soft (option), whilst there are two DRS zones, one on the start-finish straight and the second on the back straight leading to T14.

Romain Grosjean watched this morning's session from the pit-wall, his Lotus handed over to reserve driver Jolyon Palmer. Sadly, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg also spent much of the morning as spectators... but due to technical issues.

Indeed, as we await the green light it appears McLaren's issues continue. Button's car is up on the stands whilst Alonso is (still) in his team jacket chatting to some mechanics.

The lights go green and as in FP1 Merhi first out. In the McLaren garage Alonso climbs into his car.

Stevens joins his teammate on track, whilst Raikkonen is also keen to get back to work, as is Grosjean.

Merhi posts 50.865 but this is soon beaten by his teammate who crosses the line at 49.573.

Due to the number of updates, a number of teams were trying back-to-back evaluations this morning and there is even talk of Mercedes splitting its strategies.

As Raikkonen talks of an issue with his brakes, teammate Vettel spins a full 360 at T4. An unusual incident at a corner that doesn't normally witness such incidents. "I'll check the tyres are OK," he says.

Brake issue or not, Raikkonen raises the bar with a 40.103 ahead of Grosjean (41.494) and Hulkenberg (42.287).

As Rosberg goes quickest (39.126), Raikkonen again com-plains of a brake issue when he first touches the brakes which causes the car to pull from side to side. Worryingly, his engineer admits that this is an issue they've had before and the team is looking into ti.

As Raikkonen pits, Hamilton begins his first flying lap. He is immediately quickest in the first sector. Meanwhile, Alonso goes fourth, the Spaniard 1.787s off Rosberg's pace.

Despite that strong opening sector, Hamilton posts 50.643 which puts him fifteenth. Elsewhere, Button posts 41.075 to go seventh.

Next time around Hamilton goes quickest in S2, finally crossing the line at 39.058 to go quickest.

TV cameras pick up on a man running across the track on the pit straight and jumping into a gap in the pit-wall. He doesn't appear to be a marshal.

A 40.781 sees Massa go fifth as Ferrari change the pads and discs on Raikkonen's car.

Next time around Masa improve his time (40.423) but drops a position as teammate Bottas posts 40.327 to go fourth. On the surface it's a scruffy lap from the Finn... but fast.

Twenty minutes into the session and all but the Red Bull duo have posted times. Sadly, it looks as though the Austrian team is trying to save mileage on its engines. A worrying sign of the times?

Massa complains of smoke in his cockpit... never a good sign. "OK, we'll have a look," comes the reply. He pits.

Coming up to the half-hour, Raikkonen is back on track... on the softer rubber. He is currently third on 40.103. As one would expect he immediately goes quickest in S1, maintaining the pace in S2. At the line the Finn posts 37.662 to go quickest, an improvement of over 2.4s.