• Hungarian Grand Prix - FP3

Red Bull confirms status as favourites for qualifying

Mark Webber edged Sebastian Vettel for the first time this weekend © Getty Images

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Red Bull confirmed its status as overwhelming favourites for Saturday's all-important qualifying session by topping the lap times for the third successive practice session.

Mark Webber set the fastest time of the session with a 1:19.574 to finish ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel for the first time this weekend.

Ferrari, who opted to remove the F-ducts on their cars for the remainder of the weekend, remained Red Bull's closest challenger, Fernando Alonso finished third quickest ahead of the impressive Robert Kubica and team-mate Felipe Massa.

Lewis Hamilton finished his build-up to qualifying by setting the sixth fastest time but Jenson Button's struggles continued, the world champion languishing in ninth.

The front runners bided their time until 20 minutes into Saturday's hour-long session, Webber the first of the big guns to take to the circuit. And the Australian was immediately on the pace, setting the benchmark of 1:21.087.

Vettel, who dominated Friday's free practice session, lowered the mark to a 1:20.261 shortly afterwards before Webber became the first man over the weekend to dip below the 1:20s.

With ten minutes of the session remaining, a number of teams decided to run the super soft option tyres and the lap times dropped accordingly. But once again nobody could match the pace of the Red Bull duo and it looks increasingly like the other teams will be battling for the remaining places.

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Feeds: ESPNF1 Staff

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