SEPANG, Malaysia, March 21, 2008 (AFP) - Ferrari bounced back with a demonstration of pace, if not reliability, in Friday´s opening practice session ahead of Sunday´s Malaysian Grand Prix.

Less than a week after their embarrassing exit from Melbourne, where both of their cars failed to finish the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Brazilian Felipe Massa and his team-mate topped the times.

Massa was quickest with a best lap of the Sepang circuit in one minute and 35.392 seconds, a time that lifted him more than a second clear of defending drivers champion Kimi Raikkonen on 1:36.459.

But Raikkonen was unable to complete the session. His car suffered another problem, causing him to cruise to a halt on the track before being lifted out of the fray by a crane.

The two McLaren Mercedes-Benz drivers, Finn Heikki Kovalainen and British Melbourne winner Lewis Hamilton, were third and fifth, their positions separated by German Nico Rosberg in his Williams.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso, twice world champion, was sixth fastest for Renault at the end of the morning session.

Raikkonen had set an early benchmark of 1:36.459 before his participation ended around half-way through the session.

The Finn´s car suddenly slowed and came to a halt in the run-off area. The Ferrari car was retrieved under the red flag conditions that followed when the session was halted because veteran Briton David Coulthard crashed in his Red Bull.

He ran wide at turn 12, tried to rejoin at turn 13, but hit the kerbs and shattered the front suspension as he went off into the gravel.

It was a desperately bad morning for the Red Bull team, with Australian Mark Webber coming to a halt 20 minutes later with what looked to be engine failure. Smoke poured from his car as he pulled into the pits.

Massa took over at the top of the times in the final half hour, improving with each lap as he set the pace that dominated the session.

Hamilton had a minor excursion off the track on his final run and decided to slow down and come into the pits. This resulted in him ending the session as a spectator on the pit wall as Rosberg used softer tyres to deliver a faster lap.

Alonso was sixth for Renault ahead of his team-mate Brazilian Nelson Piquet, who enjoyed a much better session than in Melbourne, completing 28 laps and clocking a time within 0.012 seconds of his vastly more-experienced partner.

Polish BMW driver Robert Kubica, Briton Jenson Button in a Honda and Italian Jarno Trulli of Toyota completed the top ten.

German Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso spun into the gravel after a brake problem at the final hairpin and ended up 15th, while Force India´s German Adrian Sutil completed just five laps before another engine failure ended his running.