Lewis Hamilton pulled off a major surprise by setting the fastest time in practice for Sunday's German Grand Prix.

The world champion had the number one alongside his name to match that on his car for only the second time in practice in what has so far been a season to forget.

The 24-year-old found himself out in front at the end of the two 90-minute sessions at the Nurburgring, the scene of the worst accident of his career two years ago when he ploughed nose first into a barrier at 175mph.

Hamilton had suggested on Thursday that little would change in the wake of a wretched sequence of results which has seen him fail to make the second round of qualifying at the last three grands prix. With just nine points from eight races to date, Hamilton currently trails title leader Jenson Button by a yawning 55, with McLaren's focus already starting to switch towards next season.

Despite a late spin, Hamilton brushed that aside and promptly put up a time of one minute 32.149 seconds no-one was able to better in the closing stages, pushing Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel down into second.

Vettel had looked set to thrill his home fans by taking top spot, only for Hamilton to have other ideas, leaving the 22-year-old just 0.182secs adrift.

Button was third in his Brawn GP, just 0.220secs down, whilst Mark Webber - fastest in the morning - had to settle for fourth in his Red Bull, 0.331secs behind Hamilton.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli again faired well as he was fifth, and with the gremlins taken care of after a truncated morning run, Adrian Sutil was sixth in his Force India.

For the team it has been an up-and-down day as Giancarlo Fisichella was also sixth in the morning, only to then crash out in the afternoon when he spun into a barrier, ripping off his nose cone.

There was also drama in the paddock when German police attempted to impound the team's assets due to a contractual dispute just before first practice. The situation was swiftly resolved by Force India officials, with the promise their weekend will continue without further disruption.