Hamilton fastest in practice 1 - Europe

The Briton held the top spot for the majority of the 90 minutes. His first flying lap was spoiled when he ran wide at the RTL Kurve, but he moved to first position next time around.

Hamilton would remain there until the final ten minutes, when the lead contenders switched to the softer compound for the first time and he was momentarily pushed down to fourth behind Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld.

But Hamilton completed his own soft tyre run a few moments later, and returned to the top of the list with a 1:32.515.

That put him 0.236 seconds clear of Raikkonen's Ferrari, with Alonso holding third in the second McLaren.

The world champion had gone down the escape road at the chicane on his first run of the morning after encountering Felipe Massa on an out lap.

Alonso rejoined ahead of Massa on the exit of the corner, then rebuffed the Brazilian's attempt to pass on the pits straight, before Massa backed off and allowed the McLaren to pull away.

Massa ended the session in sixth place, behind the two BMWs, after a mistake on his last run.

Heidfeld and teammate Robert Kubica had held second and third behind Hamilton for much of the morning, and both lapped within a few hundredths of a second of the McLaren before the late improvements from the top three drivers.

As has been their practice in recent races, the Toyotas dominated the times for the first half hour as Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli were the first of the leading drivers to attempt flying laps. Schumacher was ultimately shuffled down to seventh, with Trulli in 11th.

Honda's newly re-signed Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello took eighth and 10th, sandwiching David Coulthard's Red Bull.

Renault had a difficult session, with Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella only 18th and 19th - the latter having spun through the gravel at the newly renamed Schumacher S.

Debutant Markus Winkelhock had a tough start to his first Grand Prix weekend in the Spyker recently vacated by Christijan Albers.

The German ended the morning slowest of all and 0.8 seconds adrift of teammate Adrian Sutil. He also had a quick spin in the final part of the stadium section, but was able to resume with minimal delay.

The weather remained dry throughout the session, but dark clouds were gathering towards the end of the morning, hinting that rain might intervene later in the day.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time               Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:32.515            26
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:32.751  + 0.236   24
 3.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:32.932  + 0.417   27
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:32.975  + 0.460   35
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:33.205  + 0.690   34
 6.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:33.605  + 1.090   24
 7.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:33.825  + 1.310   32
 8.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:33.936  + 1.421   28
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:34.062  + 1.547   25
10.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:34.142  + 1.627   25
11.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:34.152  + 1.637   34
12.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:34.345  + 1.830   32
13.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:34.563  + 2.048   32
14.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:34.567  + 2.052   30
15.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:34.683  + 2.168   22
16.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:34.708  + 2.193   36
17.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:34.907  + 2.392   31
18.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:34.921  + 2.406   21
19.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:35.077  + 2.562   22
20.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:35.643  + 3.128   15
21.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:36.340  + 3.825   22
22.  Winkelhock    Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:37.116  + 4.601   30