Macau: Kubica tops final practice

Kubica had struggled with traffic throughout Thursday and had his chances of a decent showing in first qualifying dashed when he was caught up in an accident - but it all came right in practice as he was consistently fast throughout the 30-minute session.

"It was important not to crash in that session and we knew yesterday that we were fast, but it just didn't come together with traffic in free practice and my crash in qualifying," explained Kubica. "Lewis is very competitive and we hope to start at the front, but let's wait and see what happens."

Hamilton was far from unhappy about being edged out by his team-mate, however, and declared himself fully satisfied with his preparations before the afternoon's final qualifying session.

"That was good and there were no problems at all," said Hamilton. "We made a few changes to the car early in the session just to see what we needed to do and I am pleased with how things are going."

Brazilian Fabio Carbone set the third fastest time in the dying seconds of the session, while fourth fastest American Richard Antinucci had no chance to respond after coming into the pits before the chequered flag had come out.

"That session wasn't bad," said Antinucci. "I went into the pits a bit early, but the car feels quite good on old tyres, so it will be interesting to see how it performs on new rubber."

The session was marred by a few minor accidents. Christian Jones, the son of former world champion Alan, had a moment at Moorish Hill, while the same corner later caught out Giedo van der Garde and Adam Carroll - both of whom hit the barriers. TOM'S driver Kazuki Nakajima also crashed just before the Melco Hairpin.