Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber may have finished Saturday's practice in the top two positions, however, they were made it work for it.
Vettel set the pace in Saturday's final free practice session, clocking a 1:30.916 around the Nurburgring circuit.
His time, which came courtesy of a late charge, put him 0.133s up on his team-mate Webber while Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was a further 0.089s off the pace.
Interestingly, though, the Spaniard cut short his final run, leaving questions about Ferrari's true pace ahead of qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were next in line ahead of Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil.
Report: Track temperature was 20'C as a chilly final practice got underway for most of the drivers. But not for Heikki Kovalainen, whose Team Lotus racer was in pieces as the team worked on a hydraulic problem. Jerome D'Ambrosio was the first out, leading the pack as they took to the track for their installation laps before heading back into the pits.
D'Ambrosio set the first lap time of the session, a 1:44.172, however, that will be better by more than ten seconds by the time the chequered flag falls at the end of Practice Three. He was soon overhauled by several drivers with Michael Schumacher the quickest after 20 minutes with a 1:35.937.
The German lost out to fellow German Nick Heidfeld while a third German, Nico Rosberg, took third place. Rosberg then jumped ahead of Heidfeld as did Schumacher while Sergio Perez moved up to fourth ahead of another German, Adrian Sutil. Schumacher returned to the front, 0.454s up on his team-mate, only to lose out to Rosberg again. Sutil took third.
Lewis Hamilton joined the action, taking fourht place while Felipe Massa went P6 and Jenson Button P7. Still no times from either Red Bull driver nor Fernando Alonso. Button improved to first place with a 1:33.646 while Hamilton took second, just 0.048s behind his team-mate. Sebastian Vettel climbed to fourth before being dropped as Perez took the P1 slot only to lose it seconds later to Alonso. The Ferrari driver posted a 1:33.302.
Rosberg put his Mercedes GP back at the front with a 1:31.911 while Webber claimed second place, a full second off the pace. Vettel improved to third. Sutil was the next to challenge Rosberg with Vettel again improving to third and Schumacher taking fourth place as the German's dominated. However, Paul di Resta put an end to that by taking third place while Alonso overhauled the Germans with a 1:31.138.
The two Red Bulls put in a late charge with Webber taking second and Vettel third ahead of the two McLarens. Webber went on to take the P1 slot off Alonso before Vettel then took it off his team-mate by 0.133s.
Times
01. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m30.916s 15 laps
02. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m31.049s + 0.133 16 laps
03. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m31.138s + 0.222 12 laps
04. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.578s + 0.662 13 laps
05. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.623s + 0.707 14 laps
06. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m31.694s + 0.778 19 laps
07. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m32.144s + 1.228 13 laps
08. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m32.391s + 1.475 20 laps
09. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.523s + 1.607 16 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m32.751s + 1.835 18 laps
11. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m32.777s + 1.861 18 laps
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m32.813s + 1.897 21 laps
13. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m33.072s + 2.156 18 laps
14. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m33.179s + 2.263 17 laps
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.531s + 2.615 20 laps
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.671s + 2.755 20 laps
17. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m33.948s + 3.032 21 laps
18. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.125s + 3.209 19 laps
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m35.385s + 4.469 13 laps
20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m36.724s + 5.808 21 laps
21. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m36.804s + 5.888 23 laps
22. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m36.894s + 5.978 23 laps
23. Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault 1m36.959s + 6.043 18 laps
24. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m37.554s + 6.638 22 laps
