Mark Webber got his Malaysian Grand Prix weekend off to a flying start by topping both Friday practice sessions for Red Bull.
After a dismal performance at his home grand prix in Australia two weeks ago, Red Bull made several set-up changes to his car and so far they appear to be having the desired effect. However, the RB7 does not look as dominant as it did at Melbourne, with McLaren's Jenson Button getting within 0.005 seconds of Webber's best time.
The top four drivers -made up of the two Red Bulls and two McLarens - were split by 0.214 seconds on their fastest soft tyre runs, but whether the headline times reflect each driver's true pace remains to be seen. The longer runs that followed suggest Red Bull will be able to back up its one-lap pace with race pace where as the McLaren's times tended to drop away.
Ferrari appeared to show no interest in hunting for fast laps in the 32C heat, instead focusing on a number of aero improvements in the morning and longer runs in the afternoon. Felipe Massa was sixth fastest just behind the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher, but both were 1.2 seconds off Webber. Fernando Alonso was ninth, a further 0.5 seconds behind his Ferrari team-mate.
Renault bounced back from a worrying first session when both cars suffered upright failures. Vitaly Pertov's was more catastrophic than Nick Heidfeld's, pitching the Renault into the gravel, but neither car was ready for the start of the afternoon session as the team aimed to get a full understanding of the issue before sending the car's on track. But despite the limited track time, Heidfeld was still eighth fastest in the mix with the Ferraris and Mercedes.
Jaime Alguersuari rounded out the top ten as Toro Rosso looks to build on its solid performance in Australia. However, it will likely be joined by Williams this weekend, which set the 11th and 12th fastest time. Pastor Maldonado led team-mate Rubens Barrichello, but showed his inexperience on one of his in-laps when he spun into the barriers while attacking the pit lane exit. Fortunately the damage to the car was minimal and he rejoined the session towards the end of the 90 minutes.
HRT appeared to make some progress over both sessions as it comfortably doubled the mileage put on the F111 in Australia. However, problems were still evident as Narain Karthikeyan's Cosworth engine sporadically belched smoke and Tonio Liuzzi's car lost drive after clobbering a kerb at high speed. The team's main target is to qualify for the race by getting within 107% of the fastest time in Q1, but on Friday's evidence it could be touch-and-go. Liuzzi's best time was 0.3 seconds off 107% of Webber's best, although it's worth remembering that the top cars in Q1 will likely run on hard tyres, which should give the HRT's a second or so in hand using softs.
Lotus' times were also close hovering around and, in Heikki Kovalainen's case, outside 107% on Friday, but that was explained by gearbox and steering problems on the cars. Meanwhile, Virgin could not repair Jerome d'Ambrosio's suspension damage from the first session in time to get him out on track in the afternoon.
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