World champion Sebastian Vettel responded to a sustained challenge from Ferrari so far in Valencia to move to the top of the timesheet for the first time this weekend in final practice.
The German’s best lap on the soft Pirelli tyres in the closing stages of Saturday morning of 1m37.258s beat Friday pacesetter Fernando Alonso’s previous benchmark by 0.420s, with Felipe Massa taking third in the second Ferrari.
Mark Webber was 0.810s back on his Red Bull team-mate in fourth, as McLaren showed little in the way of one-lap speed and trailed Vettel by over a second ahead of the German’s speciality of qualifying.
Indeed the McLarens, whether or not they were running with heavier fuel than their nearest rivals, showed about the same pace as Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton sandwiched between Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in sixth.
As at the end of Friday, Renault’s drivers were ninth and 10th – although Vitaly Petrov this time ahead of Nick Heidfeld – with the midfield runners all over 2s off the pace and currently unable to break into the top 10 positions.
Final Practice Times (top 10)
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m37.258 15 laps
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.678 + 0.420s 16 laps
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m37.840 + 0.582s 17 laps
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m38.068 + 0.810s 13 laps
5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.326 + 1.068s 13 laps
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.580 + 1.322s 15 laps
7. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.741 + 1.483s 13 laps
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.799 + 1.541s 14 laps
9. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m38.822 + 1.564s 17 laps
10. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m39.113 + 1.855s 15 laps
Fastest Qualifier
| Sebastian Vettel | 4/11 | Fernando Alonso | 7/2 |
| Mark Webber | 8/1 | Lewis Hamilton | 9/1 |
| Felipe Massa | 20/1 | Jenson Button | 25/1 |
| Nico Rosberg | 66/1 | Michael Schumacher | 80/1 |
| Nick Heidfeld | 150/1 | Vitaly Petrov | 150/1 |
| Paul di Resta | 750/1 | Adrian Sutil | 750/1 |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 1000/1 | Sebastien Buemi | 1000/1 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 1500/1 | Kamui Kobayashi | 1500/1 |
| Sergio Perez | 1500/1 | Pastor Maldonado | 2000/1 |
| Narain Karthikeyan | 5000/1 | Jarno Trulli | 5000/1 |
| Jerome D’Ambrosio | 5000/1 | Heikki Kovalainen | 5000/1 |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | 5000/1 | Timo Glock | 5000/1 |
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