Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was quickest in final practice ahead of qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday.
Current Championship leader sets pace ahead of qualifying
Fernando Alonso was quickest in final practice ahead of qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday.
The Ferrari driver, who currently leads the Drivers' Championship, lapped the 5.891km track in a time of 1:32.167 seconds in a session that was held in largely dry conditions.
Alonso edged out McLaren's Jenson Button by just over a tenth, with Lotus's Romain Grosjean third fastest ahead of World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams) were next up, with Sauber pair Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi completing the top 10 along with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.
After Friday's limited running, teams got straight down to action, with the threat of further rain in the air - a few spots fell but nothing more - also forcing their hands.
Yet the track was still damp in places and that was something that caught most drivers out during the course of the hour.
The most notable puddle was at Chapel Curve - scene of Bruno Senna's accident on Friday - where Paul di Resta spun early on after both Raikkonen and Perez had suffered narrow escapes.
Later, Perez lost his front wing and also suffered possible floor damage after leaving the track again, while Kobayashi also had a spin at Club.
Even Alonso was not immune, with the Spaniard briefly stationary, also at Club, after he ran wide exiting Vale - his car's left-rear wheel touching a patch of damp astroturf.
Nico Rosberg had set the early pace, but the Mercedes driver's session ended prematurely with what appeared to be an oil leak.
On hard tyres, Hamilton went half a second clear after 20 minutes - the track rubbering in quickly after Friday's bad weather.
Button switched to softs and went two-tenths quicker just past the halfway mark, with Hamilton doing the same shortly after and taking top spot back.
Grosjean and then Alonso lowered the benchmark further still - the Lotus driver's time set on the prime tyre.
Button then split the Ferrari and Lotus on used hard tyres with Vettel jumping up to fourth in the closing stages of what was a quiet session - Mark Webber was 13th fastest - for Red Bull.
"Red Bull haven't showed their hand yet. What have they got up their sleeve?" asked Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz of the World Champions, who appeared to make a major step forward with their car in Valencia.
Ferrari are seeking to close ground and Alonso, together with team-mate Felipe Massa - who finished the session in 16th - concentrated on testing a new front wing for the F2012.
The session was red-flagged after 21 minutes when Charles Pic stopped his Marussia on track at the exit of Copse after suffering a fuel pressure problem.
The same thing appeared to happen to Pic again with five minutes to go, this time on the Hangar Straight, although the session continued.
Meanwhile, Di Resta ended the session 12th, despite having no KERS power boost during the session.
