Qualifying for the European Grand Prix may well turn out to be a tale of the unexpected if a remarkable final practice session is anything to go by.
The Valencia Street Circuit with its long straights and sharp turns that force the drivers into a number of hard-braking manoeuvres, is clearly proving a tricky one to master.
In the final hour-long run, most had to use the sweeping run-off areas to good effect, notably Lewis Hamilton on two occasions after setting the fastest time in the first sector.
His mistakes compromised those laps, and a further error late on when he spun through turn four in his McLaren led to the current championship leader finishing a relatively lowly seventh.
With four minutes remaining Hamilton posted the fastest lap of the two days with a one minute 39.314secs, but a hectic finish saw him relegated significantly down the order.
In the end it was BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica who cracked a track that weaves through the marina and port of Spain's third largest city, and one that certainly is doing Formula One justice on its debut.
The Pole, who has slipped down the standings since his maiden win in Canada over two months ago to now trail Hamilton by 13 points, set a blistering time of 1min 38.754secs for the 5.440km circuit.
Kubica was joined by Williams' Nico Rosberg in posting a sub-99 second lap - the only two to do so - with the German just 0.123secs down.
To underline just how topsy-turvy qualifying may prove to be, the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais was third and the second Williams of Kazuki Nakajima fourth.
Even allowing for the fact the quartet were running on low fuel, it was an unusual top order, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa down in fifth and Sebastian Vettel in his Toro Rosso sixth ahead of Hamilton.
It should also prove to be a close battle as from Nakajima to Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber in eighth, a mere 0.65secs was all that separated five drivers.
David Coulthard finally found some form for Red Bull to wind up ninth, with Renault's Nelson Piquet 10th, followed by Mark Webber and the Honda of Jenson Button.
Rubens Barrichello, who complained yesterday of his team heading in the wrong direction with set up, again struggled as he was 19th and last of those who posted a time.
Jarno Trulli could only manage two installation laps in a Toyota that had gearbox issues.
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