Vettel on top in final practice

A late effort from Sebastian Vettel saw the reigning World Champion ending Saturday’s practice on top of the timesheets.

The German edged out his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber by one tenth of a second. Ferrari’s Alonso was a further tenth of a second behind, setting the scene for yet another thrilling qualifying session.

Both McLarens of Hamilton and Button completed the top five but were more than half a second slower than the Red Bulls. Rosberg was sixth fastest for Mercedes, ahead of Massa, Sutil, Schumacher and Maldonado.

How the session unfolded :

The weather conditions were still dry, chilly and windy for this final practice session, with rain expected to arrive in time for qualifying this afternoon.

Cars filtered out of the pitlane as soon as the light went green. They all came back in after an installation lap. Heikki Kovalainen missed the early part of the session as his team was working hard to fix a hydraulic problem on his Lotus.

Jérôme d’Ambrosio was the first to embark on a proper run. He set the early benchmark and was soon joined on track by Chandhok, Liuzzi and the Sauber pair. More drivers followed.

Twenty minutes in the session, the only drivers missing on track were Kovalainen and the three top teams’ drivers.

Nico Rosberg took this opportunity to set the pace, ahead of his teammate Schumacher. Pérez was third fastest with Heidfeld fourth. On ever-improving track conditions, Schumacher eventually edged out Rosberg for top spot.

With the halfway point approaching, the McLaren drivers headed out for a first run. Massa and Vettel followed. Friday’s pacesetters Alonso and Webber were the last drivers to leave the pits.

Hamilton immediately popped up in the top five and hit the front as the session entered in its second part. He was almost instantly beaten by his teammate Button though. As the Red Bulls were steadily building their speed, Sergio Pérez jumped in the top three thanks to a set of softer tyre.

Alonso then took over at the front with Webber not far behind. Both were overhauled by Vettel and Button not long after. Webber, Vettel and Alonso all improved to relegate Button to 4th place… until Rosberg jumped at the front. The Mercedes driver enjoyed a one second advantage over the rest of the field thanks to his softer tyres.

Still running the harder tyre, Vettel gathered a bit more speed and moved up to 2nd behind his fellow German. Schumacher’s first soft effort yielded him 3rd place behind Vettel. It was then Sutil’s turn to try the softer tyre and he slotted in 2nd place, 0.6s behind Rosberg. His teammate di Resta set the third fastest time.

The usual frontrunners were now back in the pits and readying for a soft tyre run. Ferrari’s Alonso was the first to blink and was half a second faster than Rosberg. His teammate Massa moved up to third place but lost one place when Button slotted in 2nd place, 0.4s behind Alonso.

Hamilton then demoted his teammate to 3rd place, but was still 0.4s slower than the leading Ferrari. The Red Bulls were yet to show and Webber’s first effort saw him closing within four hundredths of a second of Alonso. Vettel set the third fastest time.

Webber gave it another try and narrowly beat Alonso. As the Spaniard was back in the pits and out of his car, Vettel showed his hand and broke the 1’31 barrier to conclude the session on top. He was one tenth of a second faster than Webber and Alonso.