In temperatures of 31 degrees centigrade and with humidity at 56 per cent,
making driving conditions incredibly difficult, Hamilton set a time of one
minute 38.021secs.
Reigning double world champion Vettel was half a second adrift in second place
in his Red Bull, followed by Mercedes pair Nico Rosberg and Michael
Schumacher, the former 0.792secs off Hamilton, with the latter a mere
0.013secs further adrift.
Lotus again looked strong as Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth
and seventh, sandwiching Mark Webber in his Red Bull, the trio all around a
second down.
Force India’s Paul di Resta, after scraping into the top 10 in Australia, was
eighth quickest, 1.277secs behind, followed by Button.
Button, 32, saw his session come to a premature end as his McLaren developed
an oil leak that resulted in him completing just 15 laps, the third lowest
total of the session.
Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 in his Force India, with Williams test
driver Valtteri Bottas edging team-mate Pastor Maldonado as the duo finished
11th and 12th.
The Ferraris again appeared troubled as Felipe Massa was down in 13th and
Fernando Alonso 15th, the latter two seconds behind Hamilton.
At the rear it was again the HRT pair of Narain Karthikeyan and Pedro de la
Rosa, the duo 7.339secs and 7.507secs down.
Unfortunately for Karthikeyan, as in Australia a week ago, his car ground to a
halt in FP1, on this occasion with a hydraulics issue.
Malaysia GP first practice:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 1min 38.021secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:38.535
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38.813
4 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38.826
5 Romain Grosjean (Swi) Lotus-Renault 1:38.919
6 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:39.092
7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 1:39.128
8 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India-Mercedes 1:39.298
9 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.323
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:39.440
11 Valtteri Botas (Fin) Williams-Renault 1:39.724
12 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Renault 1:39.783
13 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:39.896
14 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:39.910
15 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:39.980
16 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:40.099
17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham-Renault 1:40.247
18 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:40.469
19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham-Renault 1:40.857
20 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber 1:41.085
21 Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia-Cosworth 1:43.170
22 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia-Cosworth 1:44.580
23 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-Cosworth 1:45.360
24 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-Cosworth 1:45.528