The drivers were preparing to begin the practice session. Mechanics put the tuning to achieve the objectives of the practice.
The first driver to set a time was Sébastien Buemi, times were very unevenly over the top 10. Gradually the time set by Sébastien Buemi was being improved, it showed that the track was also improving gradually.
The drivers were adapting quickly to the urban layout of Putrajaya. Nelson Piquet Jr was provisionally leading the timesheets with a difference of one second over the second placed.
The drivers had adapted perfectly to the layout and some goals were scored by the teams. It was time to pit for another round to provide their times.
Missing 45 minutes to the end, there was very little activity on track, nearly all drivers were in the pits to improve the set-up of the car.
Sébastien Buemi was placed in first position provisionally while his teammate Nicolas Prost was second. The Dams team was doing a very good free practice.
Jerome D’Ambrosio was now placed in first position, improving every lap. For the Spanish drivers, Oriol Servia was in the third position and Jaime Alguersuari in thirteenth.
Michela Cerruti caused the first red flag in the urban layout of Putrajaya. The reason for the red flag was that Cerruti lost a wheel on the main straight.
With a lack of 10 minutes, the free practice session got resumed. The drivers were quickly out of their boxes to improve the set times.
Sam Bird improved markedly and was put back in first position, he improved the time of the Belgian driver Jerome D’Ambrosio for half a second.
Nick Heidfeld made a mistake and that caused the red flag in the absence of three minutes to go, but have finally decided not to resume the practice sessions.
| POS | NO | DRIVER | TEAM | LAPS | TIME | GAP | ||
| 01 | 2 | Sam Bird | Virgin Racing | 20 | 1.21.496s | |||
| 02 | 7 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Dragon Racing | 19 | 1.22.043s | +0.547s | ||
| 03 | 9 | Sébastien Buemi | e.dams-Renault | 17 | 1.22.256s | +0.760s | ||
| 04 | 6 | Oriol Servia | Dragon Racing | 19 | 1.22.584s | +1.088s | ||
| 05 | 8 | Nicolas Prost | e.dams-Renault | 21 | 1.22.674s | +1.178s | ||
| 06 | 5 | Karun Chandhok | Mahindra Racing | 23 | 1.22.825s | +1.329s | ||
| 07 | 28 | Mathew Brabham | Andretti | 19 | 1.22.961s | +1.465s | ||
| 08 | 27 | Franck Montagny | Andretti | 10 | 1.23.287s | +1.791s | ||
| 09 | 99 | Nelson Piquet | China Racing | 25 | 1.23.370s | +1.874s | ||
| 10 | 10 | Jarno Trulli | Trulli | 12 | 1.23.414s | +1.918s | ||
| 11 | 21 | Bruno Senna | Mahindra Racing | 24 | 1.24.532s | +3.036s | ||
| 12 | 3 | Jaime Alguersuari | Virgin Racing | 17 | 1.24.671s | +3.175s | ||
| 13 | 11 | Lucas di Grassi | Audi Sport ABT | 22 | 1.24.825s | +3.329s | ||
| 14 | 66 | Daniel Abt | Audi Sport ABT | 21 | 1.24.826s | +3.330s | ||
| 15 | 30 | Stephane Sarrazin | Venturi | 17 | 1.25.287s | +3.791s | ||
| 16 | 23 | Nick Heidfeld | Venturi | 17 | 1.25.338s | +3.842s | ||
| 17 | 77 | Katherine Legge | Amlin Aguri | 13 | 1.26.174s | +4.678s | ||
| 18 | 55 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Amlin Aguri | 15 | 1.26.373s | +4.877s | ||
| 19 | 88 | Ho-Pin Tung | China Racing | 22 | 1.26.620s | +5.124s | ||
| 20 | 18 | Michela Cerruti | Trulli | 15 | 1.27.360s | +5.864s | ||