Mark Webber set the quickest time of Saturday's final free practice session before qualifying as torrential rain made for limited running until the final half hour.
Webber, celebrating his 35th birthday and a new Red Bull deal, clocked a 2:08.988 to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Jaime Alguersuari and Jenson Button as further rain looms ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session.
If yesterday's early conditions were treacherous, the downpour that hit the circuit on Saturday morning left the track practically undriveable during the first 20 minutes. Drivers completed just one tentative installation lap before retiring to the pits, with the McLaren drivers leaving it late to go out as conditions worsened further, causing Hamilton to tiptoe around the circuit and report "lots of aquaplaning".
Conditions relented enough during the last half hour to allow more meaningful running, Michael Schumacher taking a brave gamble on intermediates and making for spectacular viewing on a circuit still more suited to wet tyres. As the circuit dried further so other drivers followed Schumacher's lead by donning inters, Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg suffering a puncture on his front right before recovering to set the seventh quickest time.
Mercedes had their noses put slightly out of joint by Toro Rosso, however, as Alguersuari set the third quickest time and Buemi the sixth at the same point of the session as Rosberg and Schumacher were lapping.
Unsurprisingly, the conditions provided a few incidents, Bruno Senna running wide and skipping the chicane at turn 5, Paul di Resta pirouetting at Pouhon and Rosberg running wide at the Bus Stop. It was still an encouraging session for Senna, though, as he finished the hour in ninth place, 1.7s quicker than team-mate Vitaly Petrov.
Another impressive performance came from the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen, who managed to clock the 12th fastest time in the wet conditions, ahead of both Saubers, Williams and Ferraris - with Fernando Alonso the only driver not to set a time during the session.
With the forecast set for further rain in qualifying, a fascinating scenario awaits with real potential for a mixed up grid.
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