Massa sets the pace in Friday practice

Ferrari's Felipe Massa dominated Malaysian Grand Prix practice on Friday to leave his Formula One rivals feeling the heat.

Ferrari8217;s Felipe Massa dominated Malaysian Grand Prix practice on Friday to leave his Formula One rivals feeling the heat.

Massa produced a best time of one minute 34.972 in the first session and was also quickest in the afternoon with a lap of 1:35.780 as track temperatures at Sepang reached 49 degrees Celsius.

8220;All things considered, we can say it8217;s been a good day,8221; said the Brazilian. 8220;The weekend has got off to a positive start, I hope we can continue that way.8221; His teammate Kimi Raikkonen was second for much of the day8217;s final session before the Renault duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen dropped him to fourth in the final minutes.

However, champions Renault, winners at Sepang for the past two seasons with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and Fisichella last year, played down their times. 8220;It is always nice to see our drivers at the correct end of the timesheets, but it is relatively obvious that we were running lower fuel and new tyres at the right time of the session,8221; said engineering director Pat Symonds.

8220;There are no miracles in racing and we will only be able to assess our true competitiveness after qualifying and the race.8221;

Raikkonen, championship leader after winning in Australia on his Ferrari debut last month, was also fourth in the morning. McLaren8217;s double world champion Fernando Alonso and British rookie Lewis Hamilton had been second and third on the timesheets in that first session.

Alonso was 12th fastest for McLaren in the afternoon, three places below Hamilton.

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8220;The team tested here last week when most of the set-up was done so we had a good basis for today8217;s practice,8221; he said.

8220;I spent some time just getting used to Sepang again as I wasn8217;t testing last week, but there were no surprises and I really enjoy this track.8221;

Massa is looking to capitalise on Ferrari8217;s early-season superiority after finishing sixth in Australia, having been forced to start from the back of the grid following an engine change.