Red Bull driver Mark Webber set the fastest time in Saturday’s final practice for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix.
The Australian driver, in front of his home fans, posted a time of one minute, 24.719 seconds around the Albert Park circuit, putting him two-tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher of Mercedes.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest in the pre-qualifying session, with Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg fifth, ahead of the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton was taking part a day after he was pulled over by local police and had his road car impounded for reckless driving as he was leaving the Albert Park circuit.
Force India’s Adrian Sutil was eighth quickest, putting him in front of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa as teams concentrated variously on preparing their cars for qualifying and race distance.
Both Hispania cars of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok coasted to a stop with mechanical failures, as the new team’s teething problems continued after missing all of preseason testing.
The other new teams also remained off the pace, with Lotus pair Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli -- the best of them -- a full three seconds off the pace of the next slowest car.
Webber is seeking to become the first Australian to win his home GP, and has never finished on the podium of the Melbourne event in eight previous attempts.
