Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two in Malaysian Grand Prix practice on Friday with the world champions back up to speed after a difficult start to the season. Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion who won at Sepang last year, fired in a quickest lap of one minute 35.707 seconds in the afternoon to end Nico Rosberg's four-session run at the top of the timesheets. Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa was second fastest in 1:35.832. Neither Ferrari driver scored a point in the Australian season-opener in the Italian team's worst start to a season since 1992. “We had felt the situation here could be different to Melbourne but it is still too early to say where we are, up against the opposition,” said Raikkonen. Raikkonen had to overcome an early setback when his car's cockpit filled with smoke at the end of the first session due to a short-circuit in the new KERS kinetic energy system. German Rosberg, who was quickest in all three practice sessions at the Australian Grand Prix, and Williams team mate Kazuki Nakajima of Japan had finished one-two in the bright and humid morning session. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was third fastest in the afternoon, ahead of Rosberg. Brawn GP's championship leader Jenson Button looked quick in the morning on the circuit that brought him his first podium in 2004 but Rosberg and Nakajima pipped the Australian Grand Prix winner. The Briton was third and seventh fastest respectively with Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello, runner-up in Melbourne, fourth and sixth. But Barrichello was slapped a five-place grid penalty after the team changed the gearbox in his car following Friday's practice sessions. Formula One rules dictate a gearbox must last four race meetings, and any premature change results in a five-place penalty on the race starting grid. McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh quickest in the morning, a day after he was stripped of third place from Australia for “deliberately misleading” stewards at the post-race enquiry. To compound his problems, the 24-year-old was also fined 2,100 euros ($2,802) for speeding in the pit lane on two separate occasions. Teammate Heikki Kovalainen was ninth in the afternoon. Hamilton made an emotional apology Friday for deceiving F1 stewards, after McLaren suspended its long-standing sporting director Dave Ryan for masterminding the misleading statements at last weekend's race. McLaren said Ryan was to blame for the deception, but speculation continued about whether Hamilton would be disqualified from future races as well, or even the entire season. Race stewards ruled that McLaren deliberately misled stewards at last weekend's Australian Grand Prix, during a hearing about Hamilton's role in an exchange of third place with Jarno Trulli while they were behind the safety car. “This situation is the worst thing I have experienced in my life,” Hamilton said. “I have never felt so bad. It's right for me as a human being and as a man to tell you exactly what went on.” Hamilton, the defending champion, said he was “instructed and misled” by Ryan to withhold evidence. “I am not a liar and I am not a dishonest person,” Hamilton said. “I am a team player and every time I have been informed to do something I have done it. This time I realized it was a huge mistake, and I am learning from it. It's taken a huge toll on me.”
