Hamilton goes quickest at Paul Ricard

With teams utilizing the short and tight 2D SC course, that simulates the requirements of the Monte Carlo circuit, Hamilton proved how well sorted McLaren are by setting a time almost 1.3 seconds faster than his nearest rival.

And it was not Ferrari challenging him this time, with Spanish Grand Prix winner Felipe Massa down in sixth place in the standings. Instead, Ralf Schumacher continued to show improved form for Toyota to set the second quickest time on the windy day.

Nelson Piquet Jr continued Renault's evaluations with the third quickest time, while Mark Webber put more valuable mileage on Red Bull Racing's seamless shift gearbox to set the fourth best time.

Nico Rosberg was fifth for Williams, with Christian Klien right behind Massa in seventh spot.

Timo Glock filled in for BMW-Sauber's race drivers in eighth spot, working mainly on set-up for the Monte Carlo race, also testing some new mechanical components that BMW said gave promising results.

Super Aguri's test driver James Rossiter got his first outing with the team down in ninth.

Scott Speed was 10th fastest for Scuderia Toro Rosso, with Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy the slowest man in 11th spot.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:05.699   98
 2.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:06.920   96
 3.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:07.056  125
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:07.161  120
 5.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:07.189  126
 6.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:07.271   93
 7.  Klien         Honda               (B)  1:07.357  114
 8.  Glock         BMW Sauber          (B)  1:07.712  114
 9.  Rossiter      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:08.026  129
10.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:08.143   53
11.  Fauzy         Spyker-Ferrari      (B)  1:09.443   73

All Timing Unofficial