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Fernando Alonso set the fastest lap in the final practice ahead of British Grand Prix qualifying.

The Renault driver made light of the slippery track conditions early on in the session and then returned in the final seconds to post a lap of 1:20.740, two tenths of a second quicker than that of Mark Webber who was second fastest for Red Bull.

Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen was third fastest for McLaren just ahead of Toro Rosso's young German Sebastian Vettel.

Home favourite Lewis Hamilton was fifth quickest and will hope for better in qualifying in front of the packed grandstands.

Nelson Piquet completed a good morning for Renault by clocking the sixth quickest time but surprisingly the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were back in the middle of the time sheet.

The session began in patchy sunshine after a heavy downpour had thoroughly soaked the track.

Hamilton impressed early in the proceedings, slotting in at the top of the timesheet alongside the Ferrari duo of Massa and Raikkonen.

Alonso also took easily to the wet conditions: in his first stint the Spanish former world champion managed to squeeze enough out of his Renault to outpace Kovalainen and was only marginally slower than the other pacesetters.

Force India's young German Adrian Sutil was another driver to impress in the wet but as the cars finalised their set-ups for the afternoon's qualifying shoot-out, the track began to dry out and the times tumbled accordingly.

BMW's Nick Heidfeld was the first driver to attempt a run on dry tyres, the German immediately knocking four seconds off the previous fastest lap.

Over the last fifteen minutes of the session there was constant movement at the top of times with, amongst others, Raikkonen, Massa, Webber and Vettel all taking their turn to lead the way.

The McLarens emerged from the pits late on and it looked like they would top the times until Alonso and Webber surged through with late flying laps.

AFP