Hamilton fastest in Sepang practice

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Hamilton had said earlier in the week that he was confident of winning a race in his debut season and his performance this morning suggested he will certainly be one of the contenders in only his second Grand Prix at Sepang on Sunday.

With track temperatures hovering around the 50 degrees Celsius mark, the McLaren driver topped the timesheets with a time of 1:34:811 from Ferrari's Felipe Massa, nearly four tenths of a lap quicker than the Brazilian and almost two tenths quicker than the fastest time set by his rival in Friday's sessions.

Defending world champion Fernando Alonso finished third, exactly half a second back from his 22-year-old team-mate, while Robert Kubica confirmed the BMW Sauber's strong early season pace by claiming fourth.

Kimi Raikkonen, who had looked extremely dominant in the opening race in Australia, could only manage fifth while Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six in his Williams.

Anthony Davidson produce an impressive drive to finish eighth in his Super Aguri with a time of 1:36:195, while David Coulthard's Red Bull continued to indicate he will be running in and around the midfield this weekend as he ended in 11th spot.

However, things do not bode well for Jenson Button after the Brit finished the 60-minute session well down the field in 17th in a Honda that has struggled to find any competitive pace so far.