The opening practice session for the 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix would see AT&T Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima finish in fourth and twelfth positions respectively.

Nico's time was set using the softer compound late in the session.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Massa        Ferrari              (B)  1:35.392  20
 2.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              (B)  1:36.459  8
 3.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:36.556  21
 4.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:36.578  23
 5.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:36.626  17
 6.  Alonso       Renault              (B)  1:37.022  18
 7.  Piquet       Renault              (B)  1:37.034  28
 8.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           (B)  1:37.218  9
 9.  Button       Honda                (B)  1:37.282  17
10.  Trulli       Toyota               (B)  1:37.540  24
11.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           (B)  1:37.649  17
12.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:37.649  18
13.  Barrichello  Honda                (B)  1:37.776  20
14.  Glock        Toyota               (B)  1:37.782  27
15.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:38.219  26
16.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:38.232  7
17.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:38.707  12
18.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:38.798  25
19.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:39.046  21
20.  Sato         Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:40.178  11
21.  Davidson     Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:40.351  14
22.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:41.269  5