The Red Bull driver posted the best time of the weekend with a lap of 1m36.435s near the end of the session, outpacing Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton by 0.133 seconds and the Force India of Adrian Sutil by less than two tenths.
Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber was fourth fastest in a very evenly-matched session, the Australian just 0.178s adrift.
Yesterday’s pacesetter Kimi Raikkonen had to settle for fifth position after complaining about the handling of his Lotus.
Although all drivers jumped onto the track right at the start of the session, it was the Caterhams of Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde who set the early pace as the frontrunners took things easy.
Ten minutes in, Raikkonen moved to the top of the times as he posted a 1m38s lap, soon to be bettered by Mercedes’s Nico Rosberg and minutes later by Sutil in the Force India, the German the first man to lap in the 1m37s bracket.
Rosberg returned to first post briefly before team-mate Hamilton outpaced him by over three tenths with a lap of 1m37.527s, still far from the pace set by Raikkonen on Friday.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was the last man to complete a timed lap, the Brazilian not returning to the track until half the session was gone.
Rosberg fitted the medium tyres to move back into first position with the first lap in the 1m36s at the 32-minute mark as Webber and Vettel sat at the bottom of the times, the Red Bull duo still seemingly struggling with the durability of the tyres.
Hamilton’s first run on mediums with 20 minutes to go proved to be the fastest lap of the weekend, improving on Raikkonen’s best from Friday by 0.001 seconds. Webber left the bottom of the times moments later, using the medium tyres to finish 0.045 seconds behind Hamilton.
Vettel, still slowest with 16 minutes of the session left, completed his first lap on mediums to move into sixth position.
Sutil jumped up to second place with less than 10 minutes remaining, finishing just 0.020s behind Hamilton.
With just over three minutes left, Vettel set a new benchmark in the medium tyre-shod Red Bull, the world champion’s 1m36.435s putting him over a tenth ahead of his closest rival.
Except for a few off-track excursions, the session was incident-free.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.435 20
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m36.568s + 0.133s 17
3. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m36.588s + 0.153s 19
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.613s + 0.178s 20
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m36.806s + 0.371s 19
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m36.807s + 0.372s 18
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.822s + 0.387s 16
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m36.946s + 0.511s 14
9. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m36.949s + 0.514s 24
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.302s + 0.867s 14
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m37.359s + 0.924s 11
12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.538s + 1.103s 12
13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.685s + 1.250s 23
14. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m37.690s + 1.255s 14
15. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m37.936s + 1.501s 16
16. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.294s + 1.859s 17
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.376s + 1.941s 16
18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.425s + 1.990s 15
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m38.995s + 2.560s 18
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.717s + 3.282s 21
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m40.209s + 3.774s 18
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.495s + 4.060s 18
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