Lewis Hamilton's bid for a practice clean sweep for the first time in his Formula One career fell just short today in the final session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Hamilton topped the timesheet at the end of yesterday's two 90-minute runs and, with 15 minutes remaining in the hour-long outing today at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, again led the way.
Hamilton, however, had to settle for third come the conclusion, primarily as he failed to find a clean run after emerging on the supersoft tyres for a quick blast in the closing stages.
Instead it was reigning champion Sebastian Vettel who was fastest in his Red Bull by just six thousandths of a second from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the current championship leader.
The 24-year-old German posted a lap of one minute 14.442 seconds, aided by the conditions as blue skies dominated over Montreal, and with temperatures hitting 22 degrees and due to rise for qualifying.
Baulked on his supersoft tyre laps, Hamilton finished 0.270secs off Vettel, followed closely by Red Bull's Mark Webber, Williams' Pastor Maldonado, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes, the quintet covered by just 0.084s.
The top 16 in total, down to Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo, were split by a second as the session proved to be one of the most competitive of the year.
After a worrying day yesterday, the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen managed to force their way into the top 10, with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg 10th, 0.550 down.
The German had team-mate Paul Di Resta directly behind him, the Scot a further 0.075 down, whilst Jenson Button could only manage 15th in his McLaren, 0.885 off Vettel.
Button endured a frustrating day yesterday, managing precious little running due to an oil leak which required the gearbox to be changed on two occasions.
The speed is clearly in the car, as Hamilton is proving, but the 32-year-old faces another fight to make it into the top 10 based on his speed and performance so far.
At the bottom of the timesheet were Jean-Eric Vergne in his Toro Rosso and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.
Vergne managed 17 minutes, but on his fourth installation lap the Frenchman managed to catch a patch of grass which was enough to send him sliding into a barrier at turn one.
As for Rosberg, his session was over with less than five minutes elapsed, the German pulling his car over at the left-hander turn seven after suffering what appeared to be a mechanical issue.