Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel says his Red Bull team needs to take a step forward after the opening two practice sessions in Malaysia, having struggled to get a handle on tyre degradation throughout the opening day of track action.
The German, who finished second fastest to Kimi Räikkönen despite his under-par feelings with the RB9, says the outfit will experiment overnight in a bid to improve.
"I think it was unusual today as in the second session one part of the track was pretty wet and the other was dry – but it all dried out quite fast, as it was so hot," Vettel commented after his day at the wheel.
"This afternoon we couldn’t do so much due to the weather, but this morning it looked okay, although the tyres don’t last very long! We need to try a couple of things now overnight to improve and take a step forwards."
Mark Webber, who ended the day fourth on the combined timesheets, echoed his team-mate's sentiments and says tyre degradation is still a massive challenge.
"It was a pretty smooth run for us, but we need to improve and keep finding pace," said Webber. "The tyres are still the most important thing – it’s all about those!"
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 01:36.569 | 28 |
| 2. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:36.588 | 27 |
| 3. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:36.661 | 33 |
| 4. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:36.985 | 23 |
| 5. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:37.026 | 29 |
| 6. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:37.206 | 26 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:37.448 | 32 |
| 8. | P. di Resta | Force India | 01:37.571 | 30 |
| 9. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 01:37.574 | 32 |
| 10. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:37.788 | 10 |
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| Sebastian Vettel | |||
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