Malaysian GP, ​​Free Practice 1: Hamilton the fastest

Best time for Lewis Hamilton in the first free practice session of the Malaysian GP. In Sepang the Englishman from McLaren started off on the right foot, preceding world champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and the two Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher by more than a second.

Jenson Button in the other McLaren is ninth, slowed by an oil leak.

Although the rain forecast encouraged the teams to complete many laps this morning, the first decent times arrived after the first half hour. Kimi Raikkonen and Schumacher battled for the lead before Hamilton and Vettel began the fight for the top.

After the first 34 minutes the McLaren driver took the lead with 1.38.598, beaten shortly afterwards by Vettel by 63 thousandths. Hamilton then responded with a 1.38.021, a time he remained unbeaten for the rest of the session.

Behind Vettel the Mercedes duo precedes Romain Grosjean (Lotus). At the beginning of the session, the Frenchman reported strange sensations from the rear of the car. Mark Webber is sixth with the other Red Bull ahead of Raikkonen's Lotus, followed by the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg in eighth and tenth place, separated by Button's McLaren. The Englishman completed 15 laps before suffering the problem which forced him to pit in the final part of the session.

Valtteri Bottas, Williams' third driver, is 11th, 59 thousandths faster than teammate Pastor Maldonado.

Ferrari back: Felipe Massa 13th, Fernando Alonso 15th. More problems for HRT: Narain Karthikeyan parked his car after eight laps due to a gearbox problem.

F1 GP Malaysia 2012 – Sepang – Times and Results Free Practice 1

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.021s 19 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m38.535s + 0.514 21 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.813s + 0.792 21 4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.826s + 0.805 19 5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m38.919s + 0.898 17 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m39.092s + 1.071 20 7. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m39.128s + 1.107 22 8. Paul di Resta Force India- Mercedes 1m39.298s + 1.277 23 9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m39.323s + 1.302 15 10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m39.440s + 1.419 19 11. Valterri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m39.724s + 1.703 23 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m39.783s + 1.762 23 13. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m39.896s + 1.875 16 14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.910s + 1.889 21 15. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m39.980s + 1.959 23 16 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 40.099m2.078s + 23 17 1. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 40.247m2.226s + 19 18 1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 40.469m2.448s + 23 19 1. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 40.857m2.836. 25s + 20 1 41.085. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 3.064m23s + 21 1 43.170. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 5.149m18s + 22 1 44.580. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 6.559m14s + 23 1 45.360. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 7.339m8 24s + 1 45.528 7.507. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 18mXNUMXs + XNUMX XNUMX