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Hamilton fastest in Malaysia GP

Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, topped the time-sheets with a best lap of one minute and 34.921 seconds, setting his best effort early on as the McLaren team made clear that the wide open Sepang track is to their liking.

The 41-year-old Michael Schumacher, unimpressive in the two opening races in Bahrain and Melbourne since returning with the new Mercedes team, worked consistently on his car’s set-up for improvements and wound up in fourth spot.

It was good enough to prove he remains a force, but not good enough for him to outpace his team-mate and fellow German Nico Rosberg who produced a fast late lap to take second spot.

Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button was second fastest for most of the session before being pushed down to third by Rosberg.

Pole Robert Kubica was fifth for Renault ahead of Australian Mark Webber in the Red Bull, German Adrian Sutil for Force India and two-times champion and current championship leader Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari.

The top six were separated by just half a second on a day when it was difficult to know which cars were light on fuel — and looking for a qualifying set-up — and which were working with heavier fuel loads.

All this left German Sebastian Vettel ninth for Red Bull ahead of Swiss Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso and Alonso’s team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa in 11^th place, in a session that saw his car twice leave the track.

Malaysian local hero Fauruz Fauzy, the new Lotus team’s reserve and test driver, achieved his dream by taking over Finn Heikki Kovalainen’s car for the 90 minutes run in scorching hot conditions.