Hamilton turned the tables on the Ferraris in the second session
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Lewis Hamilton beat title rivals Ferrari to set the pace in Friday practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Fresh from victory in the season-opening race in Australia on Sunday, the Englishman's McLaren beat the Ferraris into second and third places.
Hamilton was 0.151 seconds clear of Felipe Massa, with Kimi Raikkonen a further 0.222secs behind in third.
Massa had been fastest in first practice, with Raikkonen second and
Hamilton down in fifth.
Scot David Coulthard was forced to sit out second practice at the Sepang track after a worrying suspension failure.
He ran off the track when a track-rod failed, and then suffered major front suspension damage when the car bounced over a kerb as it speared off the track.
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It's very, very close between us and Ferrari
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The team were faced with the threat of exclusion from the race after officials asked them to provide a detailed report to the technical delegate of governing body the FIA.
A statement from the FIA said the team must verify that "the suspension is such that the car should not be deemed 'of dangerous construction'" under article 2.3 of the technical regulations.
The article allows stewards to exclude a car if they deem its construction to be unsafe.
Team boss Christian Horner and chief technology officer Adrian Newey met race stewards after the second session to provide an explanation.
"It was a brand new component fitted after Melbourne," Horner said after the meeting. "You can see that the adhesives failed and it just looked like a human error. So we have absolutely no concerns about the car's safety."
Race stewards later not to take any further action following Red Bull's report and visual checks by a technical delegate.
Hamilton's lap of one minute 35.055 seconds in the second session was 0.237secs quicker than Massa had done in the morning session.
Massa's Ferrari was in front for most of practice
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The Ferraris dominated the morning's running, and were on top for the vast majority of the second 90-minute session.
But Hamilton pipped with a few minutes from the end.
"It's good to see that we have the pace," Hamilton said. "A few other teams are quite close so it should be an interesting weekend.
"It's very, very close between us and Ferrari so it's hard to say who has the upper hand. I guess it's similar to last Friday [in Melbourne] so we will see if we can challenge for pole [in Saturday's qualifying]."
There was no repeat of the reliability problems that afflicted Ferrari in Melbourne.
Raikkonen did coast to a halt during the first session, but the team blamed that on a miscalculation on fuel, rather than a repeat of the fuel pump failure that stranded the Finn in qualifying in Australia.
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We won't be fourth tomorrow - in qualifying we're not going to be that quick
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Massa said he would have been quicker at the end of the second session, but that he was held up by Hamilton.
"I am very happy with these two sessions," Massa said. "The car proved to be very quick and consistent on both types of tyre.
"It's a shame I was unable to get the most out of the second set of soft tyres, when I found myself behind Hamilton who was going slowly."
Raikkonen added: "The car seems to be going well and I'm pleased with what we've done. It's always difficult to say where we are but I think we can face the rest of the weekend with confidence.
"Probably we are not the strongest over one lap but I think in race conditions we have good speed and good consistency. But for sure we will try to improve on that issue."
Jenson Button's Honda was fourth fastest in the second session, to continue the team's surprisingly encouraging form from Australia.
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606: DEBATE
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The Englishman headed Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli.
Button said he was optimistic about the car's performance, but did not expect a shock performance in qualifying.
"We won't be fourth tomorrow," he said. "In qualifying, we're not going to be that quick. I don't know 100% but I can't imagine we'd be that quick. (Sebastian) Vettel was fifth quickest and he was in a Toro Rosso.
"I'm happy with the improvements we made for the car. It's a very interesting circuit and it's very difficult to be consistent around here.
"We've made some good steps forward with the set-up of the car. It's responsive and it's something I haven't experienced for a long time.
"You can work with it and you can see improvements throughout the day through set-up work.
Coulthard had to sit out the second session after a car failure
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"It was a good day but I don't think it's a day where we can say we are fourth quickest."
Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was third fastest in the first session, ahead of Williams's Nico Rosberg, Hamilton and the Renault of Fernando Alonso.
Double world champion Alonso, who was Hamilton's team-mate in a tempestuous season at McLaren in 2007, could manage only 14th fastest time in the afternoon.
The drivers have been fearing a draining weekend, with the typically high temperatures and humidity in Malaysia taking their toll.
But conditions were relatively cool in the afternoon session after clouds developed over the track - rain had been forecast to affect all three days of the race weekend.
BBC Radio 5 Live commentator David Croft said the forecast for qualifying was for a 90% chance of rain.
"Last year [in Malaysia] was one of the most demanding events that I have ever come across," Hamilton said.
"At the moment it seems to be quite cool, and looks like it may be raining this weekend, so it is a slightly different weekend. But we are here to win."
The cooler temperatures helped with tyre wear - drivers were complaining about how quickly their rubber was degrading when the sun was out and temperatures were at their highest.
Live coverage of qualifying will be on BBC Radio 5 Live and this website at 0600 on Saturday, with the race at 0700 on Sunday.
Times from first practice at Sepang track for Malaysian Grand Prix:
1. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari one minute 35.392 seconds
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:36.459
3. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.556
4. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:36.578
5. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.626
6. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:37.022
7. Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 1:37.034
8. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:37.218
9. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:37.282
10. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:37.540
11. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:37.649
12. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:37.649
13. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:37.776
14. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:37.782
15. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.219
16. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:38.232
17. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:38.707
18. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.798
19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:39.046
20. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:40.178
21. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:40.351
22. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:41.269
Second practice times:
1. Hamilton 1:35.055
2. Massa 1:35.206
3. Raikkonen 1:35.428
4. Button 1:36.037
5. Vettel 1:36.474
6. Trulli 1:36.493
7. Kovalainen 1:36.512
8. Kubica 1:36.671
9. Fisichella 1:36.671
10. Nakajima 1:36.838
11. Barrichello 1:36.879
12. Rosberg 1:36.908
13. Heidfeld 1:37.106
14. Alonso 1:37.328
15. Piquet 1:37.331
16. Webber 1:37.346
17. Glock 1:37.512
18. Sutil 1:37.614
19. Sato 1:39.021
20. Davidson 1:39.361
21. Bourdais no time
22. Coulthard no time
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Report: BBC Radio 5 Live's David Croft
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