The AT&T Williams team would prepare for the third round of the 2010 Formula One season the Malaysian Grand Prix, with the opening Friday practice session. With the start of the session there would be the usual rush of drivers coming out for their installation laps. Nico Hulkenberg was out early returning to his pit joined by Rubens who also completed his installation lap. The first driver to set a timed lap was De la Rosa with a 1m:53.090. Rubens was out of his car and looking very relaxed. Lotus reserved driver Fauzy was out on the track and would set a time of 1m:43.456. He would improve with a 1m:42.390 as he continued to put in laps. His next lap was a 1m:41.745 while HRT's Chandhok was on the circuit. He was joined by team-mate Senna. Chandhok would set a time of 1m:45.811 while Fauzy was down to a 1m:41.552.

Senna had set a 1m:45.917 while Fauzy had pitted. Alguersuari was next out and was immediately fastest with a 1m:40.119. Senna had improved with a 1m:44.926. Alguersuari was down to a 1m:39.114 while Trulli and Di Resta had taken to the track. Chandhok would find another eight-tenths of a second to post 1m:42.551 to be third behind Alguersuari and Fauzy. Alguersuari was able to improve with a 1m:37.859. Senna was down to a 1m:43.812 while Trulli was now third fastest, 1m:41.647. Another few tenths would come off Alguersuari's time with a 1m:37.478. Di Resta would move into second with 1m:39.917, 2.4 seconds off Alguersuari's time. Di Resta was now fastest with a 1m:37.462. Trulli was still third with a 1m:40.670 followed by Fauzy, Chandhok, Senna, Petrov, and De la Rosa.

Nico had taken to the track for his first run and would move into fourth, 1m:39.244, to be behind Petrov who was now third. Alguersuari had complained about a problem with his engine and would pit but stopped at the beginning of the pit lane. Di Resta was down to a 1m:36.891 while Kobayashi was now fifth behind Nico. Massa was out on the track while Petrov moved into second, 1m:37.462. Nico was now fifth despite having improved with a 1m:38.363. Massa was up to fourth, 1m:37.653, from Kobayashi. Rubens, Kubica, and Button had taken to the track. Kubica was now fastest with a 1m:36.718 but was passed by Petrov with a 1m:36.712. Nico was now eighth with a 1m:37.802. Vettel and Hamilton had also left the pit lane as the circuit became quite busy. Button would go fastest with a 1m:35.464 from Kubica, Petrov, Di Resta, De la Rosa, Massa, Kobayashi, Alguersuari, and Nico in tenth. Nico had pitted while Rueben's was in thirteenth with a 1m:40.443.

Hamilton was up to third with a 1m:36.320 but would improve with a 1m:35.138 to be fastest. Kubica was third from Vettel in fourth with a 1m:36.658. Button was able to improve with a 1m:35.245 but remained in second. Nico and Rubens were now in fifteenth and sixteenth as Rubens continued to complete laps. Sutil was up to tenth while Hamilton was on a quick lap and would improve with a 1m:34.921. Rosberg was now fourth, 1m:35.937, from Vettel and Petrov in sixth. Webber would have a half spin at Turn nine but was able to continue. Kubica would pit while Alonso was down in twenty third. Schumacher had yet to return to the track with forty minutes left in the session. Hamilton would pit while Webber was now fourth, 1m:35.765. Rosberg was now fifth from Vettel, an improving Alonso, and Petrov in eighth. Rosberg would improve with a 1m:35.463 to now be in fourth.

Sutil was now in sixth, 1m:35.955, while the Mercedes team worked on Schumacher's car. Nico was back on the track while Rubens had pitted. Nico was now sixteenth and Rubens seventeenth. Nico would again pit joining the top four Hamilton, Button, Kubica, and Rosberg. Sutil was sixth from Webber, Alonso, Vettel, Buemi, and Petrov in tenth. Slowest was Senna with a 1m:42.144. Nico would quickly return to the track while Alonso would improve his time with a 1m:35.959 but remained seventh. Rubens time of 1m:38.278 which was 3.3 seconds behind the fastest time. Schumacher was to have a hydraulic problem which was fixed and he would get ready take to the track. Kubica would leave his pit for another run with thirty minutes left in the session.

De la Rosa would go off Turn twelve running wide and going across the gravel. Rosberg would join Kubica while Nico would return to his pit. Massa was down in fourteenth while Schumacher's was now in sixth, 1m:35.951. Massa would go off at Turn eleven, bouncing over the gravel before returning to the track. Massa would run wide again between Turn seven and eight, looking very messy. Schumacher was now third, 1m:35.395, from Kubica, Rosberg, Webber, Sutil, and Alonso. Rubens was back out on the track with just over twenty minutes remaining. Both McLaren's were back out on the track while Kubica and Rosberg had pitted again. Nico and Rubens were down in seventeenth and eighteenth, with Rubens back out while Schumacher had pitted. Nico was back out with eighteen minutes left. Massa had pitted after not having improved and was down in thirteenth.

Several drivers were out running with heavier fuel loads testing for their race setup. With ten minutes remaining it was very busy out on the track but Rubens was still in his pit. Hamilton was still fastest from Button, Schumacher, Kubica, Rosberg, Webber, Sutil, Alonso, Vettel, Kobayashi, Buemi, Alguersuari, Petrov, Massa, Di Resta, De la Rosa, Nico, and Rubens in eighteenth. Despite his lack of pace Nico at least was running faster than his team-mate Rubens. Rubens would return to the track with six minute remaining. Fauzy had pitted currently in twenty second. Buemi was up to ninth, 1m:36.100, while Vettel had dropped to tenth with four minutes left. For Williams the team it was reported that they were running through some planned setup changes and that everything was OK on a normal Friday. A 1m:35.275 from Schumacher but he remained in third. Hamilton would put as the final minutes counted down. Rosberg was able to improve to go second with a 1m:35.106. The session would come to an end with both Williams drivers failing to improve. Was it a Williams team struggling again or were they simply not looking for pace. It is early days.

Pos  Driver         Team		    Time      Laps
 1.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:34.921  19 
 2.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:35.106  19
 3.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:35.207  25
 4.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:35.225  14
 5.  Kubica         Renault                 1:35.402  22
 6.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:35.479  22
 7.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:35.955  20 
 8.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:35.959  20
 9.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:35.043  19
10.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:36.100  20
11.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:36.451  22
12.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:36.503  28
13.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:36.645  18
14.  Petrov         Renault                 1:36.712  9
15.  di Resta       Force India-Mercedes    1:36.891  25
16.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:36.899  24
17.  Hulkenberg     AT&T Williams-Cosworth  1:37.802  27
18.  Barrichello    AT&T Williams-Cosworth  1:38.278  18
19.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:39.460  21
20.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:39.755  17
21.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:40.159  25
22.  Fauzy          Lotus-Cosworth          1:40.721  19
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:41.832  27
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:41.966  24