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Nick Heidfeld’s Spa upturn continued on Saturday morning when he put his BMW Sauber at the top of the timesheets in the final practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix. An early rain shower interrupted proceedings, but gradually the track dried again and Heidfeld’s 1m 47.876s was close to Felipe Massa’s best Friday time.

Behind the German, Heikki Kovalainen lapped his McLaren in 1m 48.165s and was joined ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages by on-form Fernando Alonso, who took his Renault round in 1m 48.307s. Hamilton’s best was 1m 48.356s.

Massa was fifth on 1m 48.692s, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel (1m 48.768s), Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen (1m 48.815s), Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1m 48.836s) and Renault’s Nelson Piquet (1m 48.946s).

Mark Webber just failed to break into the 1m 48s for Red Bull, setting the 10th fastest time of 1m 49.054s. That literally just pipped Jarno Trulli’s 1m 49.057s for Toyota. David Coulthard was next up in the second Red Bull on 1m 49.125s, from BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica (1m 49.250s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais (1m 49.256s), Toyota’s Timo Glock (1m 49.535s), Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima (1m 49.830s) and Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 49.949s).

At the back, in the second Force India Adrian Sutil headed the Hondas with 1m 50.034s, ahead of Rubens Barrichello (1m 50.061s). Jenson Button did not set a time after his Honda stopped in Turn One on his out lap.