Nico Hulkenberg claimed the top spot in this morning's free practice, just ahead of Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado in a scintillating session which ended with the top three split by just one tenth.

With the top time swapping hands throughout the session it was the German who claimed the advantage with a lap time of 1:46.871, stealing it back from Petrov by just 0.009 at the end of the a session which saw the pace on track matching the scorching conditions.

Karun Chandhok and Maldonado set the early running, but Hulkenberg was soon equal to the challenge, setting the best lap so far ten minutes in despite stepping hard on the brakes at the final corner to avoid some drivers slowing for a visit to the pits. One minute later Petrov surpassed his championship rival, and the battle was on.

In a session that saw few driver errors - Edoardo Mortara spun twice but stayed out of the walls, while a few others went too deep at the Turn 13 but were able to cut across the run off to rejoin the track - all eyes were on the top three as they extended their lead over their competitors and claimed, then reclaimed, the top position for the remainder of the session.

But with Hulkenberg setting a lap half a second faster than Giorgio Pantano's equivalent lap last year with just two minutes remaining, and a desire to stay away from the unforgiving walls ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session, the battle was over for the time being, although the top three will be looking at the men behind them - Chandhok, Lucas di Grassi, Luca Filippi and Alvaro Parente - as much as at each other when the fight recommences in a few hours.