Red Bull reasserted their dominance over the chasing pack as Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber claimed the 1-2 in Saturday's final practice in Australia.
It was a grey and windy start to the final practice session at the Albert Park circuit as Heikki Kovalainen led out the pack for their installation laps. It remains to be seen whether Hispania will be out after putting in just one lap late Friday.
Tonio Liuzzi ventured out for Hispania but his run was short-lived as his Hispania F111 broke down on its first lap at Turn 15. Awful start for the team. "I touched the brake and the gearbox went into false neutral, I lost everything," said the Italian.
Jenson Button had a few problems of his own as the McLaren driver went off the track at Turn Three as he lost control of his car. He returned to the pits and his mechanics were quickly working on his brakes.
Vitaly Petrov, with a 1:27.709, and Sergio Perez were the early pace-setters, leading the way into the opening 20 minutes.
Pastor Maldonado's practice came to an abrupt end when he beached his Williams FW32 after taking too much speed down into Turn Six. Moments later, a piece of Nick Heidfeld's front wing came flying off his car as he went over some rumble strips.
Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg were the next to lead the way, taking control at the halfway point. The reigning World Champ lowered the benchmark to a 1:27.337. Back out on track, Button moved up to third place.
Mark Webber overhauled his team-mate at the front with a 1:26.993. Sebastien Buemi put in a great run to take second for Toro Rosso. Webber lowered his P1 time, however, could not hold onto the position as Button posted a 1:25.961. The McLaren driver, though, was soon dropped by Vettel's 1:25.327.
Meanwhile, a problem with his Williams put Rubens Barrichello into the pits and out of practice while Sauber's Perez suffered the same fate.
Hamilton climbed to third place ahead of Fernando Alonso while Narain Karthikeyan finally ventured out with seven minutes left in the session to complete his first lap in his F111. One lap, though, and the Indian driver was back in the pits.
Webber improved to second behind Vettel with Hamilton taking third off Petrov before Button also dropped the Renault driver down a position. Kamui Kobayashi improved to seventh ahead of Rosberg, Heidfeld and Michael Schumacher.
As for Karthikeyan, he came back out to complete a flying lap that was a massive 17.047s off the pace.
Time
01. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:24.507 15 laps
02. Mark Webber Red Bull 01:25.364 14 laps
03. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 01:25.553 15 laps
04. Jenson Button McLaren 01:25.567 16 laps
05. Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:25.906 18 laps
06. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:26.121 16 laps
07. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 01:26.417 17 laps
08. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:26.520 17 laps
09. Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:26.746 17 laps
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:26.856 15 laps
11. Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:27.008 17 laps
12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:27.011 15 laps
13. Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:27.066 14 laps
14. Paul di Resta Force India F1 01:27.087 15 laps
15. Adrian Sutil Force India F1 01:27.180 15 laps
16. Rubens Barrichello Williams 01:28.068 7 laps
17. Sergio Perez Sauber 01:28.077 9 laps
18. Heikki Kovalainen Team Lotus 01:29.772 17 laps
19. Jarno Trulli Team Lotus 01:30.003 18 laps
20. Timo Glock Virgin Racing 01:30.261 15 laps
21. Pastor Maldonado Williams 01:30.496 5 laps
22. Jerome d' Ambrosio Virgin Racing 01:30.704 18 laps
23. Narain Karthikeyan Hispania 01:41.554 5 laps
24. Vitantonio Liuzzi Hispania no time 1 lap
