Red Bulls rule in final practice

The Red Bull Racing team once again asserted its authority on the field as its drivers set a scorching pace in the final free practice session.

Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel needed only one flying lap to go top of the field. There was nothing to choose between him and Webber as the Australian was only 0.084s slower.

None of their rivals was able to get any close to them and they concluded the session with a full second advantage over the rest of the field.

How the session unfolded :

As the light went green, cars filtered out of the pitlane for their customary installation laps. Most of them pitted after a single lap while both Mercedes completed two laps before making their way back into the pits.

Six minutes in, silence fell on the Circuit de Catalunya as Rosberg entered the pitlane. D’Ambrosio and Schumacher briefly broke the silence in completing another installation lap.

Jarno Trulli got the action going with nearly fifteen minutes gone. He set the early benchmark and was soon joined on track by the HRT drivers. More cars followed, bringing the session to life.

Petrov and di Resta traded fastest times until Sauber’s Kobayashi took over at the front. His tenure was short-lived as Schumacher upped the pace and lapped 1.2s faster than the Japanese. Rosberg did slightly better than his teammate to go top…but the bigger guns were yet to show up.

Mark Webber stormed at the front thanks to his first flying lap. Meanwhile Nick Heidfeld’s Renault caught fire. The German immediately pulled off the track and quickly got out of his car as marshalls hurried to extinguish the fire.

Up front, Webber hotted up the pace to keep a comfortable margin over Hamilton. Halfway through the session, the Australian was leading from the McLaren driver by 0.6s. Rosberg, Schumacher and Perez completed the top five. Vettel, Button and Alonso were yet to set a time.

The Spaniard’s first effort yielded him fourth place, albeit two seconds off Webber’s pace. Button jumped from dead last to 3rd. The Briton then moved up another place, shortly before Schumacher set the fastest time – on the softer tyre. Rosberg joined him at the front making it a provisional Mercedes one-two.

The hierarchy evolved in the last ten minutes as more drivers completed a run on the soft tyres. Webber reasserted his authority with a lap 1.2s quicker than Schumacher’s mark. Only one driver was able to match, and even better, Webber’s pace: his teammate Vettel.

The German came out very late – after his team detected an engine problem on his car – and completed a single flying lap in the session. He went 0.084s quicker than the Australian to top the timesheet.

Both Red Bulls were in an absolute class of their own as they were a full second faster than the rest of the field. Mercedes’ Schumacher was the best of the rest. Hamilton and Button completed the top five.

It was a rather difficult morning for Ferrari who had to revert to an old rear wing design after its updated model was deemed illegal by the FIA. Alonso set the 9th fastest time, 2.5s down on the Red Bulls pace. Massa was 11th fastest.