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Sebastian Vettel leads final European Grand Prix practice in Valencia

Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the final free practice session for the European Grand Prix in Valencia as things began to get serious on the dusty track

The world champion was 0.420 seconds faster than Fernando Alonso, with Felipe Massa third and Mark Webber in the second Red Bull fourth.

Jenson Button was the quickest McLaren in fifth ahead of Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. The two Renaults of Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld completed the top 10.

It was all about Red Bull and Ferrari again in FP3 as the balance of power swung between the two teams at different phases of the session.

Massa was the first serious player to hit the top of the times with a 1m40.891s just before the halfway point, but that lasted mere seconds before Alonso re-established the mark with a 1m39.743s. It was his second attempt having backed out in sector three on his previous run.

Just as it was beginning to look a bit like Friday all over again, the Red Bulls then emerged from the pits as the session moved into the last half an hour.

Equipped at this stage with the medium prime Pirelli tyres, Vettel moved the goalposts with a 1m38.999s. The world champion then re-emphasised Red Bull's prime tyre position with a 1m38.694s, comfortably faster than the Ferraris.

As the German continued imperiously on, his team-mate Webber moved to second in the sister Red Bull.

Not long after all this, teams began switching to the option Pirelli and Nico Rosberg proved the one-lap pace of the soft tyre by going quickest with a 1m38.580s, while Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher shot to third.

This signalled the switchover as all the frontrunners flowed out on the yellow-painted boots. First Massa, and then Alonso returned to the top of the times again - the Spaniard's lap of 1m37.678s actually standing until the last three minutes of the session.

That was when Vettel embarked on a red hot flying lap on the softs to go emphatically quickest with a 1m37.258s lap. That in spite of distractions from Narain Karthikeyan's HRT and one of the Lotus cars pitting in front of him.

The German went for it again as the session came to a close, but was slowed by yellow flags at the final corner after Kamui Kobayashi had a major moment when he lost the rear end and shot off down the infinite escape zone, damaging his Sauber's nose in the process.

Vettel's time then, four tenths faster than Alonso's best, would set the tone for qualifying. While McLaren - winner in Canada - was a second away at best with Button's fifth fastest lap.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m37.258s            15
 2.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m37.678s  + 0.420s  16
 3.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m37.840s  + 0.582s  17
 4.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m38.068s  + 0.810s  13
 5.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.326s  + 1.068s  13
 6.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m38.580s  + 1.322s  15
 7.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.741s  + 1.483s  13
 8.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m38.799s  + 1.541s  14
 9.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               1m38.822s  + 1.564s  17
10.  Nick Heidfeld       Renault               1m39.113s  + 1.855s  15
11.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m39.411s  + 2.153s  19
12.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m39.778s  + 2.520s  18
13.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m39.823s  + 2.565s  18
14.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m39.848s  + 2.590s  18
15.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m39.888s  + 2.630s  17
16.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m39.987s  + 2.729s  18
17.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     1m40.004s  + 2.746s  16
18.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m40.239s  + 2.981s  20
19.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         1m41.267s  + 4.009s  15
20.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Renault         1m41.690s  + 4.432s  18
21.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1m42.557s  + 5.299s  18
22.  Tonio Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth          1m43.243s  + 5.985s  17
23.  Jerome D'Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m43.309s  + 6.051s  18
24.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m44.630s  + 7.372s  19

All timing unofficial

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