Kubica goes quickest in final practice

But the big news of the session was that Thursday pacesetter Fernando Alonso severely damaged his Ferrari in a crash.

The double champion was fastest already when 20 minutes into the session he lost control heading into Massenet and hit the barriers, removing both right-side wheels, and giving Ferrari a large amount of work to do before qualifying.

After the relative serenity of Thursday's sessions, final practice was significantly more fraught and eventful.

The top spot changed hands on multiple occasions, with Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) swapping first place several times early on, before Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, Alonso, Kubica, and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton all took turns up front.

Webber then moved to the head of the field with 15 minutes to go, and looked set to go further ahead on his late soft tyre run had he not been delayed behind Schumacher - who had himself slowed to avoid being blocked by Vitaly Petrov's Renault.

It was Kubica who deposed Webber going into the final minutes, the Pole going 0.4s clear despite having to dodge around two cars in the final corners.

Webber also improved but was not quite quick enough to beat Kubica, and the pair were then split when Massa found himself some space on his final lap and jumped to second, 0.046s behind Kubica.

Hamilton, Vettel and Schumacher ended up in fourth through sixth positions, followed by Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi.

Championship leader Jenson Button was only 10th, behind Adrian Sutil, and complained over the radio of a lack of grip.

Schumacher and Petrov were among the many drivers to have minor incidents during the hour, in their case taking separate trips down the Mirabeau escape road. Petrov also came close to running into Lucas di Grassi when caught out by how quickly the Virgin slowed for the chicane. Timo Glock missed most of the hour after the sister Virgin came to a halt in the chicane escape road with a mechanical problem.

Sutil required a new rear wing on his Force India after spinning into the Casino Square barriers, and Massa came close to damaging the second Ferrari with some lurid near-misses at Loews and the Swimming Pool exit.

Pos Driver         Team                    Time              Laps
 1. Kubica         Renault                 1:14.806            25
 2. Massa          Ferrari                 1:14.852  + 0.046   22
 3. Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:14.945  + 0.139   24
 4. Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:15.038  + 0.232   24
 5. Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:15.046  + 0.240   25
 6. Schumacher     Mercedes                1:15.236  + 0.430   21
 7. Rosberg        Mercedes                1:15.252  + 0.446   20
 8. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:15.537  + 0.731   21
 9. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:15.659  + 0.853   13
10. Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:15.682  + 0.876   22
11. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:15.691  + 0.885   19
12. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:15.769  + 0.963   26
13. Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:16.164  + 1.358   24
14. Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:16.232  + 1.426   21
15. Petrov         Renault                 1:16.240  + 1.434   26
16. Alonso         Ferrari                 1:16.266  + 1.460   6
17. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:16.644  + 1.838   25
18. de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:16.696  + 1.890   22
19. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:17.782  + 2.976   18
20. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:17.865  + 3.059   26
21. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:18.063  + 3.257   24
22. Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:19.720  + 4.914   25
23. Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:19.781  + 4.975   21
24. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth                              3


All Timing Unofficial