(CNN) -- McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was in dominant form in Friday's practice sessions for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang -- heading both the morning and afternoon timesheets.
The 2008 world champion proved quickest in the morning, ahead of Nico Roseberg of Mercedes, before going faster again after lunch with a new time of one minute 34.175 seconds, 0.266 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.
Hamilton, who endured a frustrating race in Mlebourne last weekend, was naturally delighted with his car's performance.
"I've got a good feeling in the car -- it's probably the best feeling I've had in the car around this circuit," the 25-year-old Briton told the official Formula One Web site.
"We're still trying to get a better feeling for the tires, but we've made some positive first steps. This evening, I want to sit down with my engineers and make a couple of changes.
We don't yet know where the others are, so we need to keep focusing on our performance, but we're optimistic that we've made a small step forward. Hopefully the weather will be okay for qualifying," added Hamilton.
Vettel's second fastest lap was in sharp contrast to Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber's performance, with the Australian's car suffering suspected engine failure.
Rosberg got the better of teammate Michael Schumacher, finishing third to the former world champion's fifth position, with world champion Jenson Button separating the pair in fourth place.
Australian GP runner-up Robert Kubica finished sixth in his Renault, ahead of current world championship leader Fernando Alonso.
Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, Vitaly Petrov of Renault and the Force India of Adrian Sutil completed the leading 10 cars