Hamilton fastest in rain-hit Sepang testing

An overnight downpour meant the track was soaked for the start of the day and, although it eventually dried up just before lunch, another shower late in the afternoon meant there was only a few hours for drivers to set their best laps.

Hamilton stopped on the track once with an oil leak just after 12pm, but soon got further acclimatized to the Sepang circuit to set a best lap that was two tenths of a second faster than Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing car.

Ralf Schumacher was third quickest for Toyota, while Scuderia Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi was just one hundredth of a second behind him.

Felipe Massa, taking over duties from Kimi Raikkonen, was fifth fastest ahead of Nico Rosberg in the Williams and Jenson Button in the Honda - who completed a mammoth 92 laps.

Behind eighth fastest Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri, Nick Heidfeld had the most dramatic day as his car stopped on track in the morning with an oil leak - which promptly caught fire and damaged the bodywork.

With the mixed conditions limiting dry running today, the teams have decided to extend the test for another day.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:35.918   57
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:36.138   62
 3.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:36.700   69
 4.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:36.712   56
 5.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:36.947   64
 6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:37.070   71
 7.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:37.472   92
 8.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:37.606   44
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:38.551   35
10.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:39.654   20

All timing unofficial