Rosberg 5th fastest in opening Friday practice

On a hot and sunny day the first Friday practice session for the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix would get underway with Albers taking to the track in his Spyker. He would be joined by a both Nico Rosberg and Williams test driver Kazuki Nakajima, replacing Alex Wurz, would complete their installation laps. The fastest time set in recent testing was a 1m:35.268. With ten minutes of the session run there were only a handful of cars on the track. They would all return to their pits and it would take Vettel's appearance to see any cars on the track. With all the teams testing here recently it is not surprising that they are completing very few laps.

Vettel would set the first time of the session, 1m:41.919. He would be joined by Kovalainen. Vettel would improve his time with a 1m:39.082. Kovalainen's first time was 1m:39.633. Nico was also back out on the track. He was joined by several other drivers, including Fisichella and Hamilton. Nico's first timed lap would see him fastest, 1m:38.579. Trulli and Fisichella were fourth and fifth. Kovalainen was now fastest, 1m:38.442. But his time was passed by Trulli, 1m:37.930. Alonso was now also out on the track.

Hamilton would put in a quick lap, 1m:36.582, to be 1.3 seconds ahead of Trulli. Nico was third. Alonso would joined his team-mate at the front, moving into second with a 1m:36.675. Nakajima was now back out on the circuit. Ralf was now third, 1m:37.815. Nico was now down in sixth. Kazuki's first lap saw in his ninth, 1m:40.345. Nico would pit. Kazuki would improve with a 1m:39.479, but this was 2.9 seconds slower than the fastest time. Both Ferrari's would come out and they would quickly move to the top of the times with Massa, 1m:35.265, leading Raikkonen. Nico was down in eighth and Kazuki twelfth. Hamilton and Alonso were in third and fourth, followed by the two Toyota's.

Massa would improve with a 1m:35.107 to be 0.8 ahead of Raikkonen. Kazuki would pit. Alonso was now in second with a 1m:35.767. Nico had returned to the circuit, looking to improve on his tenth fastest time, 1m:38.245. Massa would drop into the 1m:34's with a 1m:34.972 with fifty minutes of the session
remaining. Webber was now in sixth, 1m:37.295. Kazuki had returned to the track, joining Nico. Nico's FW29 was 6kph slower than the Ferrari of Massa, 294 vs 300. Kazuki would improve was but still down in thirteenth, 1m:38.954. Only four drivers had yet to set a time. Kubica would move into sixth, 1m:37.121. Kazuki would spin his FW29 and would stop out in sector three climbing out of his car. Nico would pit. Kazuki's spin would bring out the yellow flags. There was now only a handful of drivers on the track with thirty five minutes remaining.

Massa was back out. Nico would also return to the circuit. The Raikkonen and Alonso would also leave the pit lane with thirty minutes left in the session. Nico would just as quickly pit again, remaining in twelfth. Alonso would have an off track moment but was able to continue. The top four drivers were all lapping the circuit but not setting any really quick times. With twenty minutes left the session only Hamilton was left on the track, with Massa, Alonso, and Raikkonen all returning to their pits.

Coulthard had yet to set a time. Hamilton would also pit. Slowest was Albers with a 1m:40.787. Both of the Honda's were struggling with Button and Barrichello seventeenth and twentieth. As the final fifteen minutes counted down there was little activity out on the circuit. Both Toyota's were out on the track with Ralf in fifth and Trulli eighth. Kazuki had been able to return to his pit and was back out on the track. With five minutes remaining there would be a rush of drivers coming out for their final laps, including Alonso, Hamilton, and Raikkonen. There was only a few cars left in their garages as the final minutes counted down. Massa was one of them. Webber was now in fourth, 1m:36.522. Kazuki had improved dramatically to now be in sixth, 1m:36.885. Nico was in thirteenth.

Alonso and Hamilton were now in second and third. Trulli was in sixth pushing Kazuki down one place to eighth. He would pit. Nico was now in fifth, 1m:36.308, as the session came to a close. Massa was still fastest from Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Nico, Webber, Trulli, and Kazuki.

Pos Driver       Team                    Time   Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1:34.972 17
 2.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:35.220 24
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:35.712 22
 4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  1:35.779 20
 5.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:36.308 21
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:36.522 20
 7.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  1:36.597 25
 8.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:36.885 15
 9.  R.Schumacher  Toyota                (B)  1:37.052 22
10.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  1:37.121 12
11.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:37.484 7
12.  Vettel        BMW Sauber            (B)  1:37.837 39
13.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:37.882 20
14.  Kovalainen    Renault               (B)  1:38.143 24
15.  Fisichella    Renault               (B)  1:38.300 26
16.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari        (B)  1:38.720 29
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  1:38.966 10
18.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:39.130 9
19.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  1:39.234 21
20.  Button        Honda                 (B)  1:39.331 17
21.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  1:39.357 9
22.  Albers        Spyker-Ferrari        (B)  1:40.074 25