The Red Bull driver’s best lap of 1:37.62s saw the Australian 1.67s clear of nearest rival Lewis Hamilton after 90 minutes of running.
Teams reported higher tyre wear than that experienced in Australia, with tyre debris leading to small offs from Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso during the session.
It was a difficult start to the weekend for Lotus Renault GP, which saw both Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov suffer wheel issues, with the Russian’s problem sending his careering into the Turn 9 gravel trap.
CLICK HERE to view Speedcafe.com’s 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix Race Guide, or see the embedded version at the bottom of this story.
See below for the Practice 1 result
| 1 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1m37.651 | 22 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m39.316 | + 1.665 | 16 |
| 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1m39.791 | + 2.140 | 29 |
| 4 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1m40.377 | + 2.726 | 23 |
| 5 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1m40.443 | + 2.792 | 31 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1m40.453 | + 2.802 | 22 |
| 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1m40.525 | + 2.874 | 6 |
| 8 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1m40.581 | + 2.930 | 21 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m40.601 | + 2.950 | 23 |
| 10 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m40.646 | + 2.995 | 29 |
| 11 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1m40.734 | + 3.083 | 21 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m40.748 | + 3.097 | 23 |
| 13 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m40.770 | + 3.119 | 24 |
| 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m40.872 | + 3.221 | 27 |
| 15 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m40.927 | + 3.276 | 16 |
| 16 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1m41.620 | + 3.969 | 21 |
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1m41.627 | + 3.976 | 18 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m41.642 | + 3.991 | 24 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1m42.154 | + 4.503 | 18 |
| 20 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1m42.540 | + 4.889 | 20 |
| 21 | Davide Valsecchi | Lotus-Renault | 1m44.054 | + 6.403 | 18 |
| 22 | Tonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1m45.228 | + 7.577 | 20 |
| 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1m46.267 | + 8.616 | 10 |
| 24 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1m47.932 | + 10.281 | 4 |
