Rosberg leads Mercedes 1-2 parade in opening practice
 |
| Rosberg happy to be driving the Aldo Costa wonder |
F1 points leader Nico Rosberg turned the fastest lap in opening practice for the Malaysian GP with a time of 1m35.227s in his Aldo Costa designed Mercedes, an unbeatable car.
Lewis Hamilton was 2nd in the other Mercedes at 1m35.721s, 1/2-sec. slower than his teammate on the newly resurfaced Sepang circuit.
The Ferraris were over 1-sec. per lap slower with Kimi Raikkonen leading teammate Sebastien Vettel by 1/10th of a second.
Fernando Alonso rounded out the top-5 in his McLaren with Honda's latest powerplant.
The session was red-flagged for 15-min while firemen and crew members were trying to extinguish a stubborn fire on the Kevin Magnussen Renault in pit lane.
Will the Dane be able to get out this afternoon, or will a full fix take far longer than a few hours?
Results
| POS | DRIVER | CAR/ENGINE | TIME | BEHIND | LAPS |
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes/Mercedes | 1m35.227s | 0.000s | 25 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes/Mercedes | 1m35.721s | 0.494s | 25 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari/Ferrari | 1m36.315s | 1.088s | 16 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari/Ferrari | 1m36.331s | 1.104s | 18 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m36.510s | 1.283s | 18 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m36.753s | 1.526s | 27 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m36.973s | 1.746s | 26 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m37.513s | 2.286s | 26 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m37.601s | 2.374s | 27 |
| 10 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m37.613s | 2.386s | 20 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m37.847s | 2.620s | 29 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m37.861s | 2.634s | 17 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m37.886s | 2.659s | 22 |
| 14 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m37.921s | 2.694s | 20 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m38.055s | 2.828s | 25 |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m38.184s | 2.957s | 18 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m38.313s | 3.086s | 20 |
| 18 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m38.339s | 3.112s | 24 |
| 19 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault/Renault | 1m39.148s | 3.921s | 23 |
| 20 | Esteban Ocon | Manor/Mercedes | 1m40.036s | 4.809s | 28 |
| 21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m40.627s | 5.400s | 26 |
| 22 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault/Renault | – | – | 2 |