The 2008 world champion appeared to have put the disappointment of Melbourne behind him as he ended the day more than 0.3s ahead of the chasing pack, his leading pursuers Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button.

Hamilton dominated for much of the session as the two McLarens and the two Mercedes vied at the top of the times.

In contrast to his team-mate Button, Hamilton had a trouble-free day. He set the fastest time early on, then lost the top spot to Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso, before moving back to the top of the times at half distance.

Ten minutes later the 2008 world champion was usurped by Schumacher's 1m38.533s on a low-fuel medium-tyre run. Hamilton re-emerged from the pits and banged in a response of 1m38.513s - also on mediums. He followed that up with a 1m38.172s.

Button was in there too with the sister McLaren, just two thousandths slower than Schumacher, the Briton having lost more time in P2 to a minor brake issue - he spent a period in the pits during P1 because of an oil leak.

Nico Rosberg was the quietest of this quartet, and almost unnoticed he snuck into fourth ahead of Ricciardo, whose best lap was set on mediums.

There was some cheer for Ferrari as Fernando Alonso went sixth quickest, 0.7s second away from Hamilton's pace, and much less from the cluster of cars immediately in front of him.

Mark Webber was only seventh fastest for Red Bull, though his long run was much closer to the sharp edge of the race pace.

Jean-Eric Vergne was eighth fastest ahead of Romain Grosjean and world champion Sebastian Vettel – who didn't appear to be enjoying his day in the Red Bull, radioing into his team at one point that he was struggling with the tyres.

Several drivers complained about a lack of grip and Paul di Resta knew all about that after two separate trips into the grass. The first was caused by a front right brake issue at Turn 15 which necessitated a long pitstop, the second was a driving error at Turn Six as the Force India grabbed a bite of inside kerb.

Kamui Kobayashi spent at least half an hour in the pits with a gearbox issue, but still ended up placing 14th, one position ahead of Lotus ace Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn's former Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa was the next man along in 16th.

The only other incident of note was Narain Karthikeyan's spin at the final hairpin just as the session came to a close.

The feared rain never materialised.

Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.172             28
 2.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m38.533s  + 0.361   34
 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.535s  + 0.363   29
 4.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m38.696s  + 0.524   34
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m38.853s  + 0.681   33
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m38.891s  + 0.719   27
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m39.133s  + 0.961   29
 8.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m39.297s  + 1.125   33
 9.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m39.311s  + 1.139   22
10.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m39.402s  + 1.230   25
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m39.444s  + 1.272   35
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m39.464s  + 1.292   26
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m39.625s  + 1.453   20
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m39.687s  + 1.515   16
15.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m39.696s  + 1.524   29
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m40.271s  + 2.099   27
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m40.678s  + 2.506   34
18.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.947s  + 2.775   33
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m41.464s  + 3.292   25
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m41.681s  + 3.509   20
21.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m42.594s  + 4.422   18
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m42.874s  + 4.702   24
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m43.658s  + 5.486   18
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m43.283s  + 5.561   22

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