Page last updated at 10:18 GMT, Saturday, 23 July 2011 11:18 UK
By Sarah Holt
BBC Sport at the Nurburgring
Red Bull held sway in final practice for the German Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel beating team-mate Mark Webber by 0.133 seconds.
Fernando Alonso was close behind for Ferrari in third but the Spaniard was already out of the car when leader Vettel set his mark.
Lewis Hamilton was more than half a second behind in fourth for McLaren ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.
Nico Rosberg was sixth, with Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher ninth.
The fickle climate of the Eifel mountains brought dry but unseasonably cool conditions to the Nurburgring on Saturday.
Some drivers had expressed concerns about warming up their tyres in colder track conditions but Red Bull had no problem getting up to speed in the final five minutes of the session.
Vettel, who is targeting his eighth pole of the season, eclipsed Webber, who lost time with a slight error on his fastest lap.
With the tyres taking time to reach optimum performance, Alonso had enough time to set a faster lap but the Spaniard chose not to and instead watched with folded arms as the two Red Bulls bettered his leading time.
"The track is 'rubbering in' all the time and Alonso could have gone even faster on a second lap but he decided not to," added BBC 5 live analyst Anthony Davidson.
Alonso, winner of the last race in Silverstone, was 0.222secs behind Vettel, with his team-mate Felipe Massa seventh.
Hamilton and Button have been downbeat about McLaren's chances of challenging for their first pole of the season in Germany and found themselves leading the best of the rest in final practice.
Hamilton was 0.662secs adrift of Vettel, with Button just behind him in fifth.
Nonetheless, the English drivers are confident their competitive race pace will help them work their way up the grid on Sunday regardless of where they qualify.
"The McLarens are there or thereabouts which is really frustrating for the drivers because come crunch time in qualifying you see your opposition just pull away," commented Davidson.
Mercedes are hoping to show some improvement in front of their home fans but Rosberg was 0.778secs off the pace, with Schumacher, who had a problem with his Kers power boost system in the early part of the session, more than 1.5secs adrift in ninth.
Adrian Sutil bettered his German compatriot to finish eighth for Force India, while Pastor Maldonado was 10th for Williams just ahead of Scot Paul di Resta in the second Force India.
Karun Chandhok wanted to use final practice to get to grips with the tyres and brakes on the Team Lotus as he tuned up for his first qualifying session in more than a year following the team's decision to give him a chance in place of regular driver Jarno Trulli for this race.
The Indian's difficulties were brought into focus when he slid across the track and on to the grass at the entrance to the pit-lane, and his session ended with another spin, this time at the high-speed chicane at Turns Eight and Nine.
Credit: BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)
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