Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel shot to the top of the timesheets as conditions dried out in Germany on Saturday morning. Ahead of qualifying later today, the local favourite was one of the last cars to cross the finish line as both Ferraris, Mark Webber and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg also made the top five.
Nearly a dozen thunderstorms were forecast to hit the track yesterday, with another heavy rain shower arriving just minutes before the start of final practice on Saturday morning, forcing the field to begin with Intermediate tyres prior to switching onto Slicks later in the hour.
With ambient temperatures of 19°C (66°F) as the track surface reached 20°C (68°F), conditions remained very much the same as a number of cars skidded straight on at the hairpin in the opening stages, not least 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher as his Mercedes’ left-front wheel locked up.
Adrian Sutil’s first lap saw him, despite coasting around, drop two wheels into the gravel upon entering the stadium although the Force India man experienced far greater troubles on his next circulation; with a broken driveshaft, the German took over 3 minutes to creep back from Turn 8, managing to return to the pits but missing two thirds of the session and therefore enjoying no qualifying setup work.
Virgin Racing also had technical difficulties to deal with; having been the quickest of the new teams’ cars on Friday, Timo Glock was grounded in the garage with damaged second and third gears as team-mate Lucas di Grassi endured rear brake issues.
Sébastien Buemi and Toro Rosso were first to switch onto the harder compound Slick tyre (Prime) as the final 20 minutes began, duly setting the fastest time in the process, although Mark Webber was the first man to dip under the 1:15.000 barrier with the Super Soft (Option) Bridgestones on-board.
With an on-track frenzy taking place in the final ten minutes, team-mate Vettel then snatched the top spot with 1:15.103, edging out Alonso’s Ferrari by just under three tenths of a second, much to the delight of home supporters.
Although Red Bull is generally feared once again, Ferrari have been in the top five all weekend and appear to be a genuine threat in Germany. However, as Vettel proved on an ever-improving and drying track, timing is crucial - being the last over the line to record a qualifying lap may be all it takes to spring a surprise this afternoon.
Qualifying for the 2010 German Grand Prix begins at 2pm local time (BST +1); all of the action can be followed via the GPUpdate.net live report
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