The McLaren driver, a pre-weekend favourite to win Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, clocked a 1:16.058, giving him the upper hand ahead of Saturday's qualifying. However, he was closely dogged by his rivals with three drivers from different teams all vying for the top spot.
Mark Webber finished in second place for Red Bull, Fernando Alonso third for Ferrari and Michael Schumacher fourth for Mercedes GP - and all three were within half a second of Hamilton's P1 time.
Report: Final practice for the Canadian GP got underway under dark skies with the track once again green after overnight and early morning rain washed away any rubber that had been laid down during Friday's two sessions. However, the track was dry in most places with only a few damp spots still remaining. Track temperature was 21'C with the air temp sitting at 19'C as the drivers got their installation laps out of the way before returning to the pits where they waited for the track to dry out some more.
20 minutes into the session, Timo Glock posted the day's first lap time, a 1:24.902 for the Virgin Racing driver. Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari joined the action, slotting in ahead of Glock while Lucas di Grassi was right behind his team-mate. Alguersuari improved to first place, lowering the benchmark to a 1:18.862 while Fernando Alonso took second place, Jenson Button fourth and Robert Kubica fifth, bringing the grand total to ten drivers to have set times in the first half of the session.
With time running out and the track drying, more drivers ventured out with Alonso taking first place before being dropped by Lewis Hamilton, the Brit clocking a 1:17.689. Button followed his team-mate up the timesheets while Michael Schumacher put his Mercedes GP into fifth place on his first attempt, third on his second lap and then second. However, another spate of purple sector times saw Hamilton lower the benchmark to a 1:17.131.
A good run from Tonio Liuzzi put the Force India up into fourth place, although that did not last long as Sebastian Vettel, Friday's pace-setter, slotted in ahead of him. Button was the next to lead the way, going fastest with a 1:16.699. He was soon challenged by Vettel, however, the German fell short and had to settle for second. Second soon become third as Hamilton again went quickest, almost half a second up on Button before Vettel also overhauled the reigning Champ.
With twenty minutes left on the clock there was still no sign of Nico Rosberg or Karun Chandhok, the latter's car believed to be suffering with a hydraulic leak.
Alonso moved up to fifth place and then second while Mark Webber was another on the move, going sixth, then fourth and then second. Felipe Massa climbed to seventh place and Kubica to sixth. That was the followed by a few minutes of relative quiet as the majority of the drivers returned to the pits before their final charge of the session.
There was a flurry of activity in the final five minutes with Webber closing the gap to Hamilton, although not able to take the lead off him, Kubica almost met the Wall of Champions as did Pedro de la Rosa, Petrov moved up to eighth place, Webber again closed up on Hamilton, just 0.081s slower than the McLaren driver, Kubica got a bit irritated with traffic, Hamilton lowered the benchmark to a 1:16.058, Rosberg finally ventured out to set a time, Kubica overhauled Button for fifth, Petrov leapfrogged Schumacher, Sutil leapfrogged them both and Button, Schumacher took fourth place and di Grassi lost it at the Hairpin, sliding along the wall before spinning and beaching his car in the gravel nd bringing out the yellow flag and effectively ending the session.
Times:
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.058 15 laps
02. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.340 + 0.282 16 laps
03. Alonso Ferrari 1:16.495 + 0.437 19 laps
04. Schumacher Mercedes 1:16.536 + 0.478 15 laps
05. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:16.582 + 0.524 16 laps
06. Kubica Renault 1:16.653 + 0.595 18 laps
07. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:16.673 + 0.615 15 laps
08. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.699 + 0.641 16 laps
09. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:16.814 + 0.756 15 laps
10. Petrov Renault 1:16.982 + 0.924 18 laps
11. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:17.121 + 1.063 16 laps
12. Massa Ferrari 1:17.231 + 1.173 16 laps
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:17.331 + 1.273 22 laps
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.548 + 1.490 20 laps
15. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.609 + 1.551 16 laps
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:17.633 + 1.575 21 laps
17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:17.789 + 1.731 18 laps
18. Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.979 + 1.921 4 laps
19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:19.013 + 2.955 15 laps
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:19.447 + 3.389 16 laps
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:19.536 + 3.478 22 laps
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:19.844 + 3.786 20 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:20.325 + 4.267 18 laps
24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1 lap
Source: Planet-F1
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