The championship leader had rarely looked beatable throughout the session and ploughed a lonely furrow in pursuit of pole position, particularly as nobody had been able to beat his opening 1m33.977s effort - let alone his ultimate pole lap.
This set up a thrilling battle to join him on the front row, however, and a series of contenders all staked their claim to start at the front. Fernando Alonso ended the first runs with the second-best lap time, but the second cycle precipitated further improvements.
