Vettel grabs top spot in final practice

The world champion had managed just three installation laps before an issue forced him to return to the Red Bull garage. Repairs were only completed with a few minutes to go, but his lack of running proved no impediment whatsoever as Vettel breezed straight to the top with a 1m21.707s on his only flying lap of the morning.

Until then, Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber had been in total command.

The Australian had been quickest in both sessions yesterday, and soon hit the front this morning as well, establishing a one-second margin over the field on hard tyres, and then doing the same when everyone switched to softs in the final minutes. But when Vettel emerged, Webber found himself deposed by just 0.084 seconds.

Mercedes' Michael Schumacher led the way for a while thanks to an early change to softs, and ended the session third - albeit a full 1.3s off Vettel's pace.

The McLarens were only fourth and fifth, ahead of Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Renault's Vitaly Petrov.

The latter's team-mate Nick Heidfeld had the most dramatic incident of the morning when his Renault caught fire after 25 minutes. Heidfeld quickly parked the car as flames took hold around the right-hand sidepod and exhaust, and while he was unhurt, the team faces a huge job to get the car ready for qualifying.

Local hero Fernando Alonso was only ninth in the leading Ferrari, and had to park in the garage in the closing minutes after appearing to get stuck in sixth gear.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m21.707s            6
 2.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m21.791s  + 0.084s  17
 3.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m23.057s  + 1.350s  16
 4.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.068s  + 1.361s  13
 5.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.214s  + 1.507s  14
 6.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m23.397s  + 1.690s  18
 7.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m23.669s  + 1.962s  17
 8.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               1m24.043s  + 2.336s  18
 9.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m24.270s  + 2.563s  11
10.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m24.318s  + 2.611s  18
11.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m24.322s  + 2.615s  17
12.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.329s  + 2.622s  19
13.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     1m24.399s  + 2.692s  17
14.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.535s  + 2.828s  16
15.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m24.695s  + 2.988s  18
16.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.722s  + 3.015s  14
17.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m25.223s  + 3.516s  19
18.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         1m26.236s  + 4.529s  11
19.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Renault         1m27.000s  + 5.293s  20
20.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1m27.706s  + 5.999s  20
21.  Tonio Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth          1m28.330s  + 6.623s  17
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m29.057s  + 7.350s  18
23.  Nick Heidfeld       Renault               1m29.200s  + 7.493s  6
24.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m29.562s  + 7.855s  16

All timing unofficial