Webber leads final practice in Australia

The Red Bull racer became the first man to break through the 1m25s barrier this weekend, thanks to a late run on the softer, option tyre, to lead the way after a dry hour of running.

Webber set a 1m24.794s lap with six minutes to go, and then improved to a 1m24.719s best to top the times by 0.210s from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher was the only other driver to lap below 1m25s. The German's Mercedes was fastest of all in the second sector, but couldn't hold on during the final part of the lap and he wound up third fastest, a further 0.034s back.

Webber's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel wound up fourth, while Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and McLaren's Jenson Button rounded out the top six.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa led the way early on in the session with a 1m27.190s, after briefly trading times with circuit newcomer Vitaly Petrov (Renault), but the Brazilian eventually wound up ninth fastest, over eight tenths off the pace.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who also took a turn at the top of the timesheet during the early harder tyre runs, finished up seventh fastest, 0.786s behind Webber and only 0.02s clear of Force India's Adrian Sutil. Sutil's team-mate Tonio Liuzzi rounded out the top 10.

After Massa's early pace-setting, Rosberg and Vettel both took turns at topping the timesheet, before Hamilton leapt to the front by becoming the first man to break into the 1m25s midway through the session.

Hamilton, under fire in the Australian press for his 'hooning' antics in a Mercedes road car yesterday, set a 1m25.706s best that remained unbeaten until Alonso shaved one and half tenths from Hamilton's mark with 22 minutes left to run.

The Ferrari driver suffered badly from traffic in the early part of the session, but a few tweaks to his car's rear suspension and front ride height, plus some clear space on the circuit, allowed the Spaniard to set the pace briefly.

Alonso stayed on top until the 42-minute mark, when first Schumacher (1m25.494s) then Webber (1m25.309s) vaulted to the top of the timesheet for the first time, thanks to the last of the laps set on the harder tyre.

Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:24.719            16
 2.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:24.929  + 0.210   19
 3.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:24.963  + 0.244   17
 4.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:25.122  + 0.403   19
 5.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:25.366  + 0.647   16
 6.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:25.399  + 0.680   20
 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:25.505  + 0.786   14
 8.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:25.525  + 0.806   18
 9.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:25.549  + 0.830   20
10.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:25.782  + 1.063   19
11.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:25.852  + 1.133   17
12.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:26.104  + 1.385   21
13.  Kubica         Renault                 1:26.184  + 1.465   21
14.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:26.275  + 1.556   21
15.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:26.368  + 1.649   17
16.  Petrov         Renault                 1:26.661  + 1.942   19
17.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:26.804  + 2.085   19
18.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:26.818  + 2.099   18
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:29.539  + 4.820   19
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:29.800  + 5.081   16
21.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:30.800  + 6.081   18
22.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:31.114  + 6.395   12
23.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:34.334  + 9.615   11
24.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:36.649  + 11.930   8

All Timing Unofficial