As was the case in Melbourne, the first hour-long run of the weekend was a relatively dull affair at Sepang.

After 45 minutes only nine drivers had recorded a time with the major concern surrounding engines and not outright pace.

When the field finally did emerge from the pit lane the brief battle did provide excitement.

It was the Friday testers who again fought for the top position with Toyota’s Ricardo Zonta, McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa and Red Bull’s Viantonio Liuzzi all impressive.

But it was Zonta who ultimately secured F1’s top story when he recorded a time of 1:34.092 to top the timesheet by over a second.

De la Rosa, who had held P1 for most of the morning, was second and Liuzzi, who regularly menaced the Spaniard’s time, was third.

Of the race drivers, Michael Schumacher (fourth) was the fastest.

Ferrari’s seven-time world champion had a busy morning completing 13 laps with a best time of 1:36.011.

BAR’s Jenson Button was half a second down in fifth followed by Williiams’ Nick Heidfeld and McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen.