The Brazilian, who currently trails Kubica by four points in the drivers’ standings, was almost 0.7secs quicker than his nearest challenger in McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

Massa set a superb time of one minute 15.306secs for the 4.411km Circuit de Nevers, 0.071secs faster than Michael Schumacher’s 2004 race lap record.

Hamilton, who will start the race with a 10-place grid penalty due to his gaffe in Montreal when he ran into the back of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane, posted a lap of 1:16.002.

McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and reigning world champion Raikkonen, who is seven points adrift of Kubica after failing to score in the last two races, were both in close attendance.

Finn Kovalainen did run wide onto the gravel late on, just holding his car from sliding into a wall as he grappled with the steering wheel.

Outside of the Ferrari and McLaren duos, BMW Sauber’s Kubica was the best of the rest with a lap of 1:16.377.

The Pole was closely followed by Fernando Alonso, looking to put on a good show for a disappointing Renault team on home turf.

However, the Spaniard’s session did end prematurely – just two minutes from the close – when his engine blew, but with no penalty on a Friday.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel were seventh and eighth quickest, followed by the second BMW Sauber and Toyota of Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock respectively.

David Coulthard was 12th in his Red Bull, with Jenson Button 18th for Honda, leaving the Force India duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil bringing up the rear, the latter 3.367secs adrift of Massa.