Sepang, Malaysia  - Nico Rosberg lead Williams to dominate the first training for the Malaysia Grand Prix on Friday ahead of his teammate Kazuki Nakajima.

The 23-year-old German topped the timesheets at the 5.54-kilometre racetrack with 1:36.260 minutes, repeating his training dominance from last week's sessions ahead of the Melbourne race.

Melbourne winner Brawn GP's Jenson Button came in third at 1:36.305, his Brazilian team mate Rubens Barichello fourth, followed by Felipe Massa of Brazil and Finland's Kimi Raikkonen, both in Ferrari.

Raikkonen drove back to the pits shortly before the end of the training session, with smoke billowing out of the rear of his Ferrari.

Ruling world champion Lewis Hamilton returned to the racetrack Friday, after the McLaren-Mercedes driver was stripped of his third place from Melbourne the previous day. The 24-year-old finished seventh.

Hamilton was accused by racing stewards in a post-race enquiry of "deliberately misleading" remarks.

The McLaren-Mercedes driver originally finished fourth, but was promoted to third after race stewards penalized Toyota's Jarno Trulli for overtaking during a safety car phase. (dpa)