Williams boosted by Wurz display

First practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix was dominated by teams allowed a third driver as Alex Wurz went fastest for Williams.

Williams are one of those outfits allowed to have a ‘man Friday’ after finishing outside the top five in the 2005 constructors’ championship.

And Austrian Wurz made the most of his opportunity to shine, circulating in one minute 34.946 seconds, a time 0.7secs better than BMW’s Robert Kubica. Honda’s Anthony Davidson went third fastest.

As looks to be the case under the current regulations, the big guns limited their track time to conserve engines ahead of qualifying and the race, some not even coming out at all.

Juan Pablo Montoya set the fourth fastest time when he went out later on in his McLaren, with Red Bull’s David Coulthard fifth and Ferrari duo Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa sixth and seventh quickest, respectively.

Toyota twins Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher also set times, although some way from the best as they eased their way into the weekend.

Most of the expected front runners will be using their motors for the second of the two weekends they must last – with any failure resulting in a 10-place starting grid penalty.

Massa, Coulthard, in his Ferrari-powered Red Bull, Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella and BMW’s Jacques Villeneuve have already had to change their engines, although the latter two did so without penalty after failing to reach the chequered flag in Bahrain last time out.

The Friday testers are able to pound around without fear of reprisal, clocking up valuable miles to help the lead drivers decide the best way to go on set-up and tyre choice.

A number drivers did a tentative lap before heading back into the pits without setting a time on a slightly cooler day at Sepang, about 80km south of Kuala Lumpur.

Tiago Monteiro’s MF1 ground to a halt with an unspecified problem after completing eight laps.