Alonso quickest in final practice - US GP

The McLaren driver, fastest in both of yesterday's sessions, completed a last-moment flying lap of 1:12.150 to outpace the impressive Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel, replacing Robert Kubica this weekend, stayed on top of the times until the final two minutes, but then had to settle for second when Alonso completed his final run on soft tyres.

Alonso's teammate Lewis Hamilton was third quickest, ahead of Renault's Heikki Kovalainen and the second BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.

The Ferraris finished over half a second behind Alonso, with Kimi Raikkonen down in sixth and Felipe Massa in seventh after making a mistake in the final part on his flying lap, just when he looked set to outpace Vettel.

Giancarlo Fisichella was eighth, ahead of David Coulthard in the Red Bull and Nico Rosberg in the fastest Williams.

The session was very quiet for over 10 minutes, with Toyota duo Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli being the first drivers to complete a full lap of the American track around 13 minutes into practice.

They were followed by the Renault's of Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella, the Finn moving to the top of the times with his first lap before being outpaced by Trulli moments later. Nick Heidfeld then moved to the head of the list with the first lap below 73 seconds.

The favourites to win this weekend's race waited nearly 20 minutes before making their appearance on track, first the Ferrari drivers and then the two McLarens jumping onto the track, with Hamilton leading the way quickly ahead of Alonso and Massa as the battle for the top spots was kicked off.

Hamilton later became the first top runner to use the softer tyres, with 20 minutes of the session remaining. The Briton, however, was unable to better his early laptime with on first attempt. Vettel managed to do it moments later, however, the German teenager relegating Hamilton to second with a lap less than a tenth quicker in his BMW Sauber fitted with soft tyres.

Alonso was the only man capable of going quicker than the BMW Sauber driver, the Spaniard outpacing Vettel with over a minute left in the session despite having traffic in front of him during his flying lap.

The session was almost trouble-free except for a few offs and for Fisichella hitting a bird at the start/finish straight.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:12.150            12
 2.  Vettel        BMW Sauber         (B)  1:12.321  + 0.171   27
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  1:12.378  + 0.228   14
 4.  Kovalainen    Renault            (B)  1:12.574  + 0.424   21
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber         (B)  1:12.646  + 0.496   24
 6.  Raikkonen     Ferrari            (B)  1:12.692  + 0.542   16
 7.  Massa         Ferrari            (B)  1:12.709  + 0.559   17
 8.  Fisichella    Renault            (B)  1:12.710  + 0.560   20
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:12.940  + 0.790   17 
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:13.031  + 0.881   18
11.  Trulli        Toyota             (B)  1:13.057  + 0.907   23
12.  R.Schumacher  Toyota             (B)  1:13.061  + 0.911   23
13.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:13.069  + 0.919   20
14.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault   (B)  1:13.289  + 1.139   14
15.  Button        Honda              (B)  1:13.318  + 1.168   20
16.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:13.415  + 1.265   23
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  1:13.476  + 1.326   19
18.  Barrichello   Honda              (B)  1:13.573  + 1.423   17
19.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota    (B)  1:13.626  + 1.476   18
20.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  1:13.979  + 1.829   18
21.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:14.142  + 1.992   24
22.  Albers        Spyker-Ferrari     (B)  1:14.402  + 2.252   24