The opening practice for the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix would see AT&T Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima finish in first and second after they set times in the closing moments of the session.

The Williams pair would push the Brawns of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello down into third and fourth. The Ferrari's of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth. For Raikkonen his session would see him jumping from his car in the pit lane when his cockpit extinguisher fired halfway down the back-straight.

Rosberg was on the pace right from the time that the cars started running on the Sepang circuit. It would take over twenty minutes before the first car took to the track. It would be Button who would hold the quickest time for most of the session only to be passed by both Williams drivers. During the session Trulli, Fisichella, Kubica, Glock, Bourdais, Massa, Hamilton and Alonso all either had spins or off-track excursions.

Pos  Driver        	Team			      Time       Laps
 1.   Rosberg       	AT&T Williams-Toyota      	(B)  1:36.260  27
 2.   Nakajima      	AT&T Williams-Toyota      	(B)  1:36.305  25
 3.   Button        	Brawn GP-Mercedes    	(B)  1:36.430  20
 4.   Barrichello   	Brawn GP-Mercedes    	(B)  1:36.487  22
 5.   Massa         	Ferrari              		(B)  1:36.561  21
 6.   Raikkonen     	Ferrari              		(B)  1:36.646  18
 7.   Hamilton      	McLaren-Mercedes     	(B)  1:36.699  16
 8.   Webber        	Red Bull-Renault     		(B)  1:36.703  23
 9.   Vettel        	Red Bull-Renault     		(B)  1:36.747  25
10.  Glock         	Toyota               		(B)  1:36.980  27
11.  Trulli        	Toyota               		(B)  1:36.982  26
12.  Fisichella    	Force India-Mercedes 	(B)  1:37.025  20
13.  Kubica        	BMW Sauber           		(B)  1:37.039  18
14.  Piquet        	Renault              		(B)  1:37.199  20
15.  Sutil         	Force India-Mercedes 	(B)  1:37.241  18
16.  Alonso        	Renault              		(B)  1:37.395  12
17.  Buemi         	Toro Rosso-Ferrari   		(B)  1:37.634  22
18.  Heidfeld      	BMW Sauber           		(B)  1:37.640  17
19.  Bourdais      	Toro Rosso-Ferrari   		(B)  1:38.022  19
20.  Kovalainen    	McLaren-Mercedes     	(B)  1:38.483  7