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Vettel tops final European GP practice

Sebastian Vettel waited until his last lap of free practice in Valencia to reveal a glimpse of Red Bull's true pace ahead of qualifying for the European Grand Prix at Valencia

The German's time of 1m38.052s, using the F-duct-equipped RB6 on the option super-soft Bridgestones, denied a rapid Robert Kubica from a moment of glory just as the chequered flag waved for the end of the hour.

The Pole had made full use of Renault's new blown-diffuser system to throw his hat into the ring as a potential poleman, late in the session, but his 1m38.154s lap was 0.102s short of Vettel's best in the end.

Both men's laps had come in an intense flurry of activity in the last 10 minutes of the session as the cars, drained of fuel, were attached to sets of option tyres and released on to the track for qualifying simulations.

But even before that, the top ten had been covered by less than second for much of the hour, indicating an unpredictably competitive weekend. It still remains unclear which team has made the most gains with their upgrades.

Fernando Alonso looked quickest of all when the field was running the prime tyre, fending off advances from the Red Bulls and Adrian Sutil's Force India. Having already confirmed the potential of Ferrari's updated F10 chassis on Friday, he set the pace through much of the hour on the prime tyre - working down to a 1m38.513s.

But in the last 10 minutes, the Spaniard drifted down to fifth place, behind third-placed Mark Webber and a consistently fast Adrian Sutil.

Rubens Barrichello was a surprise sixth fastest, having pulled one out of the hat in a last gasp effort for Williams, ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi in the second Force India.

Felipe Massa was an unhappy eighth, as the Brazilian spent his hour clambering kerbs and catching the rear-end of his Ferrari.

The McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton completed the top ten - neither having troubled the fight at the front. Hamilton also spent some time in the pits dealing with a problem with the front left corner of his car.

Nico Rosberg was an early front-runner for Mercedes before dropping back to 11th ahead of Sebastien Buemi, Nico Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov. Michael Schumacher was a distant 15th.

Pos  Driver         Team                    Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:38.052            14
 2.  Kubica         Renault                 1:38.154  + 0.102   17
 3.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:38.313  + 0.261   13
 4.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:38.500  + 0.448   17
 5.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:38.513  + 0.461   18
 6.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:38.623  + 0.571   15
 7.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:38.676  + 0.624   17
 8.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:38.686  + 0.634   16
 9.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:38.769  + 0.717   16
10.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:38.816  + 0.764   15
11.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:38.822  + 0.770   15
12.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:39.050  + 0.998   16
13.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:39.105  + 1.053   15
14.  Petrov         Renault                 1:39.113  + 1.061   16
15.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:39.222  + 1.170   14
16.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:39.392  + 1.340   18
17.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:39.527  + 1.475   16
18.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:39.699  + 1.647   16
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:41.303  + 3.251   19
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:41.428  + 3.376   20
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:41.955  + 3.903   17
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:42.354  + 4.302   18
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:42.611  + 4.559   18
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:42.622  + 4.570   19

All Timing Unofficial

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