Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel fastest again in final practice

The German, who was quickest in both Friday sessions - having won from pole here last year - ended the hour more than three tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton's McLaren.

Fernando Alonso was third fastest ahead of the continually impressive Nico Hulkenberg. Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were next up.

Paul di Resta was seventh in the second Force India ahead of Nico Rosberg, Bruno Senna and Michael Schumacher.

Initially it was the McLarens that had the pace in the 60-minute session, while the teams were still using prime tyres with first Hamilton, and then Button setting an early pace in the low 1m50s.

Then halfway through the session, with Red Bull's Mark Webber having given a hint of the RB8's pace by splitting the two McLarens, Vettel went out and was seven tenths up on Hamilton when he was forced to back off for the yellows in sector three.

Those yellows were out for Timo Glock's stricken Marussia, the German having stamped on the brakes and dipped the clutch after his throttle stuck open.

The obstacle cleared, Vettel got straight back on it and became the first man to dip below the 1m50s barrier with a 1m49.614s.

Alonso, having up to this point completed merely an install lap, then went second quickest joining Vettel in the 49s.

Two thirds of the way through and Senna became the first man to try the supersofts, his flying lap putting him momentarily second on the board.

With just over ten minutes to go, teams then began thinking about their qualifying session simulation fliers, and it was just then that Webber replicated Sergio Perez's earlier error and clouted the Armco under the tunnel at the entry left-hander.

Both the Sauber - which spent most of the session in the pits - and the Red Bull needed attention as Webber also picked up a puncture.

With the last of the final yellow flags gone, Vettel emerged from the pits, having previously scattered photographers on the pitlane entry and seemingly suffering some KERS issues.

This time the German pulled out a stunning time of 1m47.947s, and that was that. No one got near it. Hamilton was closest, 0.325s behind the world champion.

But if anyone else had thoughts of a crack at Vettel's time, Vitaly Petrov denied them all by smacking the outside barrier at the penultimate corner in his Caterham, bringing out the red flags.

Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m47.947             15
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m48.272s  + 0.325   15
 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m48.623s  + 0.676   11
 4.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m48.859s  + 0.912   16
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m48.865s  + 0.918   17
 6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m49.458s  + 1.511   13
 7.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m49.684s  + 1.737   15
 8.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m49.699s  + 1.752   16
 9.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m49.715s  + 1.768   14
10.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m49.981s  + 2.034   14
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m50.110s  + 2.163   12
12.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m50.524s  + 2.577   10
13.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m50.664s  + 2.717   16
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m50.777s  + 2.830   15
15.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m50.840s  + 2.893   15
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m51.012s  + 3.065   15
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m51.059s  + 3.112   17
18.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m51.272s  + 3.325   10
19.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m52.290s  + 4.343   16
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m53.781s  + 5.834   12
21.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m54.326s  + 6.379   14
22.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m54.421s  + 6.474   14
23.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m54.630s  + 6.683    9 
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m54.875s  + 6.928   14

All Timing Unofficial