Sebastian Vettel has set the pace in the final practice session of the 2011 Formula 1 season, leading the way from Jenson Button and Mark Webber on Saturday morning at Interlagos. Conditions stayed dry, although there is a chance that rain could affect qualifying and an even greater threat of thunderstorms for Sunday’s season finale.
This morning’s result confirms that three different drivers have finished fastest in as many different practice sessions so far this weekend, with Webber having led the way on Friday morning before Lewis Hamilton moved ahead in the afternoon. Today, with the leading times having changed continuously, Vettel registered a final best effort of 1:12.460 to edge out Button by just 87 thousandths of a second, although third-placed Webber appeared to suffer blistered tyres.
A number of cars ran with modified components. At HRT, Daniel Ricciardo’s was fitted with new brake pads as the Lotus Renault GP pairing ran different front wings; Vitaly Petrov used the seventh version of the team’s latest wing, whereas team-mate Bruno Senna – one of three Brazilians in the field – used an updated form of a previous model. There was also a front wing change at Red Bull, as Webber was finally able to run the same version as Vettel after suffering a problem on Friday. Rear wings was the topic at Williams, with Rubens Barrichello electing for an older, firmer type whereas Pastor Maldonado used a new one.
Kamui Kobayashi was first on-track for Sauber, having headed the queue at the end of the pit lane, and soon after Button complained of a dirty visor which was duly changed. There were far greater problems for Toro Rosso, as Sébastien Buemi suffered a hydraulics leak which most likely affected his powered steering; the squad formerly known as Minardi is now hurriedly working to ensure that the car is ready for qualifying later this afternoon.
There were no significant dramas although Felipe Massa did narrowly avoid hitting the back of Michael Schumacher in the pit lane exit as Jaime Alguersuari ran wide and came close to spinning at Turn 4 in the closing stages. Fernando Alonso also took a somewhat agricultural line, at the Senna S, as his tough weekend continued.
Behind the leading contenders, Force India continued to impress and has seen both of its cars finish in the top ten all weekend so far; Adrian Sutil momentarily topped the timesheets before dropping to a respectable sixth, with Paul di Resta a solid ninth. Also in the top ten were the Mercedes cars of Nico Rosberg and the aforementioned Schumacher, plus Massa.
The overall lap times point towards an exciting qualifying session in São Paulo, although any rain could turn plans upside down. In a drying Q3 session last year, Nico Hülkenberg stunningly seized Williams’ first pole position since mid-2005.
Qualifying starts at 2pm local time (GMT -2) and can also be tracked through the GPUpdate.net live report
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:12.460 | 21 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:12.547 | 19 |
| 3. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:12.597 | 21 |
| 4. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:12.622 | 15 |
| 5. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:12.765 | 17 |
| 6. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:13.113 | 22 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:13.286 | 21 |
| 8. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:13.393 | 19 |
| 9. | P. di Resta | Force India | 01:13.419 | 19 |
| 10. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:13.583 | 18 |
| Full results | ||||
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