Red Bull looked to have made the perfect start to the weekend, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber having covered the first and second positions in the final moments, but that was until Hamilton's charging 1m26.836s lap put him top. Though there was some suspicion that yellow flags had been waving when he set it.
The McLaren of Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes.
Perhaps appropriately it was Adrian Sutil's Force India that was the first Formula 1 car on track for the dry, sunny - and still dusty - opening session. He was followed out by the country's home-grown talent Karun Chandhok.
But no sooner had they got out on track but they were back in the pits again as the session was red-flagged to retrieve the canine.
The track was live again after five minutes and initially it was Chandhok, and his Indian rival Narian Karthekeyan who initially squabbled over the top spot. That was until Michael Schumacher came out and set an initial benchmark of 1m38.658s. That mark was set to shrink by 12s before the end of the session.
Indeed Schumacher lopped four seconds off it himself just before the half-hour mark.
Jaime Alguerusari moved to the top not long after Schumacher set that lap and would then spend the next 15 minutes improving his time as he fought off the attentions of Rosberg and Sebastien Buemi.
Eventually Button emerged from the pit for a proper run at half distance moving the goalposts significantly with a 1m30.794s. This seemed to trigger a flurry of activity from the top men as Vettel also joined in. But the world champion's attempt was scuppered by a trip off-track at the Turn 5/Turn 6 section – something that would happen to several drivers as they learned the new layout.
Button remained top through the second half hour as several drivers joined the fray, but Fernando Alonso wasn't one of them. The Ferrari driver managing just four laps before he parked up off track, sidelined by an engine problem.
Hamilton moved to the top with 25 minutes to go with a 1m27.515s lap, as Vettel too moved ahead of Button. Webber's arrival in second then bumped the Englishman to fourth.
The last 15 minutes saw the Red Bulls move into familiar position as Webber kept his foot in to set a 1m27.428s, only to then watch the world champion steal his thunder with a 1m27.416s.
Things may have changed again, but a dramatic ten minutes which saw Alguersuari thump the Turn 10 barrier with the rear of his Toro Rosso and engine problems for Pastor Maldonado render the circuit a yellow zone for much of it. Sergio Perez too made a run across the grass.
It was in the aftermath of all this, as the track finally cleared that Hamilton set his lap, with flags still apparently waving in the area of Maldonado's smoky Williams.
Behind the top six Felipe Massa was seventh fastest in the only operational Ferrari, sparking his way around the track with a new front wing. Sutil ended up eighth ahead of Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber.
Of the Indians in the field, Chandhok was 19th fastest for Lotus in the end, but was more than 1.6s off the pace of team-mate Jarno Trulli, while Karthikeyan was 22nd.
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Hamilton McLaren 1'26.836
2 Vettel Red Bull 1'27.416
3 Webber Red Bull 1'27.428
4 Button McLaren 1'28.394
5 Schumacher Mercedes-Benz 1'28.531
6 Rosberg Mercedes-Benz 1'28.542
7 Massa Ferrari 1'28.644
8 Sutil Force India 1'28.705
9 Buemi Toro Rosso 1'29.219
10 Kobayashi Sauber 1'29.355
11 di Resta Force India 1'29.700
12 Petrov Renault 1'29.705
13 Senna Renault 1'29.799
14 Perez Sauber 1'30.132
15 Barrichello Williams 1'30.367
16 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1'30.566
17 Maldonado Williams 1'30.669
18 Trulli Lotus 1'30.818
19 Chandhok Lotus 1'32.487
20 Glock Virgin 1'32.771
21 Ricciardo HRT 1'33.928
22 Karthikeyan HRT 1'34.113
23 d'Ambrosio Virgin 1'35.796
24 Alonso Ferrari 1'35.899
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