Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel topped final practice for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim with a sensational last effort on a drying track.

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Vettel recorded a time of a minute 15.103 seconds after the chequered flag to trump team-mate Mark Webber (1:15.708) by six-tenths while Fernando Alonso of Ferrari slipped into second soon after with 1:15.387.

The Red Bull-Ferrari domination - also seen in second practice - was completed by Felipe Massa, who was fourth behind Webber.

There had been no rain all morning at the circuit when it began to fall five minutes before the start of the run-out.

That led to a minimum of activity in the early stages once all the drivers had completed a tentative installation lap.

Adrian Sutil was among those who ventured out a second time - only to become the sole driver not to record a time as a clutch problem forced him to crawl around the circuit and back to the pits.

The turn six hairpin in particular was holding water, as were all the recently re-laid sections of the track.

Vettel seemed keen to learn something about the RB6's wet-weather performance while Lewis Hamilton, who managed only 10 minutes of second practice after smashing up his McLaren in the first session of the weekend, again cut a frustrated figure as mechanics worked on a brake issue.

With the asphalt drying - despite a permanently-wet turn six - the Toro Rossos of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari adopted slick tyres and immediately slashed seconds off the benchmark time.

That served as a wake-up call to the pitlane and Webber was the first to lay down a timesheet-topping time with a quarter of an hour remaining.

The star drivers traded P1 as virtually every lap led to a much-improved mark. The McLarens of Hamilton and Jenson Button spent time at the top but fell away late on to finish sixth and 13th respectively.

Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher sandwiched Hamilton, with the younger German in fifth almost a second off the leading pace.

Rubens Barrichello was eighth and Nico Hulkenberg 10th in the sister Williams behind Renault's Robert Kubica.

Virgin were unable to take advantage of the drier and increasingly rubbered-in track surface late on as both cars suffered from mechanical issues - they finished 22nd and 23rd, eight seconds off the pace.

Lotus won the battle of the new teams with both drivers ahead of the Hispanias and at least a second quicker.