Sebastian Vettel laid down a marker for qualifying in Saturday morning practice.
The reigning Champion set a fastest lap of 1:13.381 – finishing the session three-tenths quicker than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Vettel’s Australian teammate Mark Webber did not have the same luck. A failed battery pack in his KERS unit ensured he would set no laps.
Nico Rosberg assumed 3rd place on the time sheets. The Mercedes driver was the first to break the 1 minute 14 second barrier on his way to completing 29 laps.
It has been something of a positive weekend so far for Mercedes – whether the silver team can carry this pace through to qualifying and the race remains to be seen. Rosberg’s teammate, Michael Schumacher took 7th in the classification, having been pipped by Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and both McLaren’s, headed by Jenson Button.
A late session accident for Pedro de la Rosa brought out the red flag. The Sauber man lost his C30 exiting turn 3, although with the chequered flag thrown, it made little difference.
Following their accidents into turn 4 yesterday, both Jerome d’Ambrosio (Virgin) and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) received new chassis.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m13.381s 21 2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m13.701s + 0.320 21 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m13.919s + 0.538 29 4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m13.956s + 0.575 20 5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.335s + 0.954 18 6. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.469s + 1.088 16 7. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.488s + 1.107 23 8. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m14.917s + 1.536 23 9. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m15.217s + 1.836 18 10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m15.243s + 1.862 17 11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m15.312s + 1.931 19 12. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m15.350s + 1.969 22 13. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.138s + 2.757 17 14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.145s + 2.764 19 15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.236s + 2.855 21 16. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m16.438s + 3.057 21 17. Pedro de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.706s + 3.325 22 18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m17.093s + 3.712 21 19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m17.523s + 4.142 24 20. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m18.910s + 5.529 20 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m19.073s + 5.692 19 22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m19.213s + 5.832 22 23. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m20.475s + 7.094 19 24. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault No time
