» British GP: Vettel fastest in final practice

As the ongoing rumbling over the exhaust regulations hammered on behind closed doors, championship leader Sebastian Vettel has once again declared himself as a favourite to take yet another pole position this season by ending the third practice session of the British Grand Prix as the quickest overall driver.

Although showers and drizzle continued to impact proceedings, drivers had their first opportunity for at least some dry-weather running this weekend ahead of qualifying, and today’s 60-minute session was frenetic.

A shower in the middle of the session looked as though it would put pay to any hopes of some late, low-fuel qualifying-style runs, but it passed the circuit quickly and the running could continue as normal.

With two minutes to go, Vettel clocked a lap of 1:31.401 to displace provisional leader Fernando Alonso by just 0.063 seconds. He looked set to post a quicker lap the next time round, but the heaven opened once again to thwart his hopes.

Despite losing some running mid-session while a mechanical issue was attended to in the team garages, Mark Webber went third-fastest – ahead of Felipe Massa – after being among the quickest in the first half of the session.

A quick run late in the session saw Pastor Maldonado take a surprise fifth-fastest on the timesheets, almost half-a-second quicker than sixth-fastest Jenson Button in the McLaren.

The sister McLaren of Lewis Hamilton was down in 13th-fastest, behind both Saubers, Mercedes GP entries and both Force Indias.

Michael Schumacher finished the session eleventh-fastest after also losing time in the pits with mechanical issues, while the Renaults continued their anonymous run this weekend: Vitaly Petrov was 15th-fastest, while Nick Heidfeld was only eighteenth-quickest, just 0.4 seconds faster than Heikki Kovalainen.

It was another Noah’s Ark formation at the bottom of the timesheets, with the Lotus’ leading the Virgin Racing and HRT entries. Vitantonio Liuzzi ended the session slowest behind rookie team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, having suffered a spin on his out-lap.

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2011 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Renault RB7	1:31.401	17
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.063	20
3.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault RB7	+ 0.428	12
4.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.768	20
5.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 1.095	20
6.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 1.555	18
7.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 1.613	20
8.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP W02	+ 1.643	23
9.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 1.863	21
10.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 2.022	22
11.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP W02	+ 2.150	11
12.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 2.259	22
13.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 2.441	16
14.	Rubens Barrichello	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 2.504	21
15.	Vitaly Petrov	Renault R31	+ 2.641	22
16.	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 2.928	20
17.	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 3.398	20
18.	Nick Heidfeld	Renault R31	+ 3.421	21
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault T128	+ 3.824	21
20.	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault T128	+ 5.504	21
21.	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 6.213	18
22.	Jérôme d’Ambrosio	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 6.667	20
23.	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 6.888	19
24.	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 7.167	17