Final practice - Webber edges out Button



Red Bull's Mark Webber took his turn at the top of the Singapore timesheets in the final practice session this evening, lapping the Marina Bay circuit in 1m 46.081s to head Jenson Button by 0.027s after the Englishman took his improved McLaren round in 1m 46.108s.

Sebastian Vettel, who had dominated the session on the soft Pirelli tyre, lost a little pace on the super-soft rubber and was third with 1m 46.345s just ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on 1m 46.396s.

Behind them, Lewis Hamilton came back from a trip up an escape road early on and then some more floor damage on his McLaren after running over a kerb, to take fifth with 1m 46.936s.

Kerbs remained a vexatious subject, and there had been further overnight work on them. The one on the exit to Turn 13 was removed prior to FP2, but those in Turns 3, 10 and 13, and the entry to Turn 14 were also removed overnight and the road painted to resemble the red and white kerbstones. Drivers were allowed to run over these areas, as some had already been doing where the kerbs were removed yesterday.

Behind the top five there was a big gap to the two Mercedes, with Nico Rosberg just ahead of Michael Schumacher on 1m 47.831s and 1m 47.837s. Felipe Massa, who had a spin, was eighth for Ferrari on 1m 48.711s, then Kamui Kobayashi was ninth on 1m 49.057s in the Sauber from Force India's Adrian Sutil on 1m 49.304s, Sergio Perez in the other Swiss car on 1m 49.583s, Sebastien Buemi on 1m 49.679s for Toro Rosso and Paul di Resta in the second Force India on 1m 49.816s.

As Buemi made amends for yesterdays error, team mate Jaime Alguersuari had a big airborne moment in the chicane as he bounced over the kerbs, and was only 18th on 1m 50.547s. Between the two Italian cars were the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello on 1m 49.851s and 1m 50.189s and the Renaults of Vitaly Petrov (1m 50.229s) and Bruno Senna (1m 50.523s).

Heikki Kovalainen headed the new teams with 1m 52.510s in his Lotus, from Jerome dAmbrosios Virgin on 1m 52.697s, Daniel Ricciardo in the lead HRT on 1m 53.728s, Lotus's Jarno Trulli on 1m 53.823s, Virgin's Timo Glock on 1m 53.829s, and HRT's Tonio Liuzzi who didnt get a run on the super softs, on 1m 55.203s.

Despite DRS, Hamilton said that overtaking will be very tough, and that qualifying will thus be crucial to ensure the best possible grid position.