Lewis leads title rivals

McLaren driver Hamilton set a time of a minute 40.888 seconds, 0.257s quicker than Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, who is third in the standings ahead of the Briton.

Leader Fernando Alonso was third quickest in the Ferrari, 0.426s off the pace and just a thousandth of a second faster than closest title challenger Mark Webber.

Compared with the slow-starting afternoon session, the evening began busily with the majority of the drivers setting timed laps.

The Red Bulls did not struggle but it was a surprise that they did not top the timesheets at any point in the 90-minute run-out.

They delayed their first serious run until many of the cars had ended theirs, with Hamilton and Alonso trading P1 blows after Nick Heidfeld's early benchmark.

Alonso sat top from 16 minutes in until the hour mark, when Hamilton took over in the near darkness - although there are floodlights, of course - with a 1:41.213.

Twenty minutes before that the 2008 world champion almost crashed into Bruno Senna as the HRT driver slowed and tried to get out of his way; he took evasive action and ran off the track.

Soon after Hamilton had set the pace, Jaime Alguersuari lost control of his Toro Rosso at turn 19 and had to abandon it. When the yellow flags were put away, the Briton improved to his final time.

Many of the drivers including the title contenders moved on to super-soft tyres in the closing 20 minutes, while the customary high fuel loads late in this session meant there were no significant changes in the order.

The Red Bull drivers had a mini contest despite lapping six seconds slower than their best efforts, Vettel coming out on top throughout.

The most dramatic incident as the circuit fell into darkness was Ferrari's Felipe Massa somehow running out of fuel and having to coast to a standstill.

He finished sixth in the standings behind Robert Kubica; the Brazilian separated the Renaults with Vitaly Petrov following.

Reigning world champion Jenson Button - no longer in the title fight - was eighth in the McLaren ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi of Force India and Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton will need something approaching a miracle to win the title, but will be heartened by his pace and hopeful that under the floodlights the Red Bulls and Alonso falter when it matters.