Ferrari driver Felipe Massa dominated both free practice sessions this afternoon in Malaysia, setting fastest laps during his runs around the Sepang circuit. In the first session, the Brazilian driver outpaced Fernando Alonso by just under 0.3s, who in turn beat his team mate Lewis Hamilton by a further half second. Kimi Raikkonen sandwiched the McLaren’s in the first 90 minutes by going fourth quickest. Heading up the end of the top six were Nico Rosberg in his Williams and a resurgent Mark Webber in the Red Bull.

Toyota saw some improvement with Italy’s Jarno Trulli ending the session in seventh, followed Williams test driver Kazuka Nakajima. Ralf Schumacher was next, 0.5s down on his team mate and 0.1s clear of BMW driver Robert Kubica. Renault appeared to struggle for lap times during the first 90 minutes, and finished the morning in fourteenth and fifteenth for Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella respectively. Heikki complained of serious understeer, but was later fixed for the second of the days running.

Honda also struggled and were outpaced by sister team Super Aguri, again. Takuma Sato powered his Aguri 0.2s a lap quicker than the leading Honda driver Rubens Barrichello, who in turn outpaced his team mate Jenson Button by a tenth. Anthiny Davidson and Christijan Albers propped up the first timing sheet of the day.

Free Practice One:
1. Massa – Ferrari – 1m34.972s
2. Alonso – McLaren – 1m35.220s
3. Hamilton – McLaren – 1m35.712s
4. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m35.779s
5. Rosberg – Williams – 1m36.308s
6. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m36.522s
7. Trulli – Toyota – 1m36.597s
8. Nakajima – Williams – 1m36.885s
9. Schumacher – Toyota – 1m37.052s
10. Kubica – BMW – 1m37.121s
11. Coulthard – Red Bull Racing – 1m37.484s
12. Vettel – BMW – 1m37.837s
13. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m37.882s
14. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m38.143s
15. Fisichella – Renault – 1m38.300s
16. Sutil – Spyker – 1m38.720s
17. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m38.966s
18. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m39.130s
19. Barrichello – Honda – 1m39.234s
20. Button – Honda – 1m39.331s
21. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1m39.357s
22. Albers – Spyker – 1m40.074s

Continuing his dominant form, Felipe Massa led the second of the days free practice sessions just as he did the first. Massa went just over a tenth quicker than his nearest rival, this time a much improved Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian drivers team mate wasn’t far behind either, finishing the day in third and a further tenth down on Fisichella. As in the first of the free practice sessions, Kimi Raikkonen completed the sandwich by placing his Ferrari in fourth, edging out both Williams who rounded off the top six.

The surprise of the second tour was McLaren, who after finishing second and third in the morning, could only muster ninth and twelfth for Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso respectively. Honda also struggled, but this was less of a surprise, and Jenson managed fifteenth while Rubens ended his session in 21st. Again, Sato outpaced Jenson, and Davidson improved to outpace Barrichello.

Free Practice Two:
1. Massa – Ferrari – 1m35.780s
2. Fisichella – Renault – 1m35.910s
3. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m36.106s
4. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m36.160s
5. Rosberg – Williams – 1m36.523s
6. Wurz – Williams – 1m36.621s
7. Kubica – BMW – 1m36.717s
8. Schumacher – Toyota – 1m36.760s
9. Hamilton – McLaren – 1m36.797s
10. Heidfeld – BMW – 1m36.862s
11. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m36.906s
12. Alonso – McLaren – 1m37.041s
13. Coulthard – Red Bull Racing – 1m37.203s
14. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m37.282s
15. Button – Honda – 1m37.578s
16. Trulli – Toyota – 1m37.712s
17. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m37.855s
18. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1m38.334s
19. Sutil – Spyker – 1m38.419s
20. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m38.650s
21. Barrichello – Honda – 1m38.713s
22. Albers – Spyker – 1m39.807s

Formula One, F1, Malaysian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa, Ferrari