WORLD Championship leader Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in practice to take the early initiative in what looks set to be a hard-fought Japanese Grand Prix.
The morning session had been a story of Ferrari dominance as Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets followed by team-mate Felipe Massa, with the McLaren pair of Fernando Alonso and Hamilton over half a second off the pace.
But the rookie Brit responded in the afternoon session by setting fastest times in all three sectors around the 4.563 kilometre Fuji Speedway track as he clocked a time of one minute 18.734 seconds, nearly four tenths of a second faster than his Ferrari rival's morning mark.
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