The McLaren man, returning to the scene of his maiden Grand Prix victory, put in a lap of 1:15.766 that was within an ace of his 2007 pole lap.
Then, with the matter already seemingly beyond debate, the Briton produced a spectacular final lap to lower his time to 1:15.752, getting airborne as he thumped the kerbs at the final chicane.
Until then it looked as if Robert Kubica would take the honours after hustling BMW to the top of the times.
The BMW driver set a 1:16.023 with just under half an hour of the session left, despite brushing the wall on the exit of Turn Four.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, but twice he looked as though he could have gone quicker had he not been forced to back off in the middle sector.
The first time it happened while track officials cleared away Timo Glock's Toyota - the German having clouted the same wall slightly harder than Kubica - and the second time when David Coulthard spun at Turn Six.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen also might have gone quicker as well but for a small error, but still managed the fourth fastest time.
Felipe Massa was fifth quickest, but missed the last 15 minutes of the session when his Ferrari appeared to suffer a technical failure on the exit of the hairpin.
Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld was fast early in the 90 minutes, but dropped back as the session continued.
Mark Webber was seventh, his attempt to improve further ruined by a spin, while Nico Rosberg put in a late effort to push the impressive Sebastian Vettel back to ninth. Jarno Trulli completed the top ten.
Both Renaults were in the wars. Fernando Alonso spun halfway through the session at Turn Two and couldn't get his car restarted.
Meanwhile, Nelson Piquet's woes continued as he suffered a gearbox failure.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:15.752 42 2. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:16.023 + 0.271 41 3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:16.093 + 0.341 39 4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:16.331 + 0.579 36 5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:16.413 + 0.661 27 6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:16.589 + 0.837 43 7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:16.604 + 0.852 39 8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:16.767 + 1.015 37 9. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:17.019 + 1.267 43 10. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:17.068 + 1.316 46 11. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:17.242 + 1.490 37 12. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:17.334 + 1.582 31 13. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:17.462 + 1.710 39 14. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:17.508 + 1.756 39 15. Glock Toyota (B) 1:17.549 + 1.797 31 16. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:17.559 + 1.807 38 17. Alonso Renault (B) 1:17.644 + 1.892 30 18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:17.813 + 2.061 37 19. Button Honda (B) 1:17.842 + 2.090 39 20. Piquet Renault (B) 1:18.076 + 2.324 17 All timing unofficial
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