Lewis Hamilton made himself the early favourite at the Malaysian Grand Prix when he shrugged off his mechanical failure in Melbourne to top the timesheets in opening practice on Friday.

The British Mercedes driver lapped the scorching hot, 5.5km Sepang circuit with the leading time of 1min 40.691sec in a 90-minute run-out – the first of two practice sessions on Friday – which could set the tone for the race weekend.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was second quickest followed by Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button and his McLaren teammate Kevin Magnussen on a hot morning with track temperatures at 48 Celsius.

Four-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel was seventh but he completed only nine laps, one of the fewest among all drivers.

Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo did 20 laps and was 12th.

Felipe Massa had the most spectacular mishap when he went sideways in his Williams, one of a number of spins with Sauber’s Adrian Sutil and Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson also losing control at different stages.

Hamilton stormed to pole position at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix but he lasted just a handful of laps before a misfiring cylinder ended his race, as his teammate Nico Rosberg enjoyed a commanding win.