Reigning Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton maintained his surprise Friday pace by setting the fastest time in final practice for the German Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver finished the session with a time of one minute 31.121 seconds, edging out former team-mate Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
Hamilton’s time was the fastest achieved by anyone at the Nurburgring so far this weekend. SkySports
Championship leader Jenson Button was down in 11th as the drivers struggled for grip in the cold conditions.
Local hero German Sebastian Vettel, 22, and his Red Bull team-mate Australian Mark Webber was 4th and 5th respectively.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen, in the second Ferrari, was sixth. Rubens Barrichello were content to work on final settings ahead of Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session and clocked 13th best times respectively.
That disparity confirmed that Hamilton was running with a light fuel load in order to clock fast laps and enthuse the German crowd packed into the circuit in the Eifel mountains to support Mercedes-Benz. Auto Racing Daily
Pos Driver Team Time 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:31.1 2 Fernando Alonso Renault 01:31.3 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:31.4 4 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:31.5 5 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:31.6 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 01:31.6 7 Jarno Trulli Toyota 01:31.6 8 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 01:31.7 9 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 01:31.7 10 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:31.9 11 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 01:32.0 12 Timo Glock Toyota 01:32.0 13 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:32.1 14 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 01:32.1 15 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 01:32.1 16 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 01:32.2 17 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:32.2 18 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 01:32.3 19 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 01:32.7 20 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 01:32.9
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