Good morning (or afternoon/evening depending on where you are in the world!) It's almost time for the final free practice session for the German Grand Prix, and we're here to bring you live coverage of all the action

After a wet FP2 yesterday afternoon (when Pastor Maldonado was quickest) the teams are looking to make the most of what is currently a dry track in this final hour. The weather forecast appears to be changing all the time, but what I can tell you is that there's a threat of rain at the very least for qualifying

Red Bull broke the curfew last night as it worked on Mark Webber's gearbox, and there are now reports that the effort was in vain with Webber set to take a five-place grid penalty. We'll try and confirm that for you now

While we do so, it's an apt time to remind you that both Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg will take five-place grid penalties for changing gearboxes this weekend too

Red Bull has indeed had to change the gearbox after being unable to resolve the problem it had discovered after practice. That's a five-place grid penalty for Webber

So we're going to have an interesting grid today with three drivers who you'd expect to be in the top ten losing five places. If you want to get in touch with your thoughts during FP3 you can do so by either emailing us or via Twitter @ESPNF1

Siddhesh emails in to ask: "Aren't gearbox changes allowed on Friday? Isn't the grid penalty applicable only if you change on Saturday? Why are Rosberg, Grosjean and probably Webber going to get penalties?"

Gearboxes have to last for five races between changes, but teams can run old gearboxes in practice sessions. So changing an old gearbox after practice for the race one is fine, but if the race gearbox has to be changed then a five-place grid penalty is imposed (as is the case for Webber, Rosberg, and Grosjean)

The weather is continuing to hold as we approach final practice, and I've just seen a forecast that says qualifying will stay dry too (but I wouldn't trust it too much!). We also look set for a dry race, so a lot to be learnt in the next hour

Conditions were tough during FP2 yesterday, and Sebastian Vettel admitted that he didn't learn too much in the wet. He was impressed with McLaren's early pace in FP1, though...

© Press Association

So will McLaren continue to improve? We should get a clear idea of how much progress it has made during this session. It will also be interesting to see if Lotus runs its new DRS system today after Eric Boullier said it was "unlikely" it would stay on the car for the race:

© Sutton Images

Marussia has just sent out a press release informing us that Maria de Villota has left hospital in Cambridge and returned to Spain, 17 days after her accident. That's great news

Back in Germany, and the clouds are starting to build up. Jean-Eric Vergne is warned that no rain is expected for the next 30 minutes but maybe some showers later

We can expect a busy session then, and a number of cars are straight out on track for installation laps. One who isn't however is Charles Pic as there's a lot of work going on at the back of his car

Grosjean runs very wide at the hairpin on his installation lap. Raikkonen does not have the DRS device on the back of his car this morning, though the intakes around the roll hoop are still there

Not just an installation lap from Vergne, he's completed a time immediately with a 1:24.191

And Raikkonen is out there on softs; looks like some teams are really worried about rain later so getting as much work in as possible now

Raikkonen does a 1:20.927

Hamilton is out on softs too and goes third with a 1:22.800

Hamilton is not using his DRS at present so appears to be heavily fuelled looking for a race set-up

Button on soft tyres too and he goes fourth on a 1:21.808

Rosberg using DRS and doing a quick lap on medium tyres - he goes quickest with a 1:18.455

@InsideFerrari on Twitter: "Showers are quickly developing. Not on the track during the next 30 minutes, said Meteo France."

Rosberg improves again to a 1:17.971

Rosberg appears to be the only driver on low fuel - Raikkonen is second but 2.757s slower than the Mercedes

And another improvement from Rosberg to a 1:17.892

Some drivers are constantly lapping on higher fuel - Raikkonen, Hamilton, Grosjean, Ricciardo and Vergne already have completed nine laps - while the likes of Vettel and Alonso have done an installation lap but yet to go out again

Webber is on soft tyres and runs wide at turn one

Glock is on low fuel, because he's gone second quickest with a 1:20.476

Rosberg improves to a 1:17.491, and then Massa does a lower-fuel lap to go second with a 1:17.635

De la Rosa is up in sixth place so also looking at qualifying pace for HRT

Both Massa and Rosberg are on medium tyres as they set these quick times

Hamilton locks up and runs wide at the hairpin

Webber's on softs and able to match the pace of Rosberg and Massa but not completing a full lap at top speed

Senna goes fastest with a 1:17.391

Button has just flat-spotted his front right after locking up in to the hairpin

Webber now fastest on a 1:17.331

Maldonado beats Webber's time - dipping under 1m17s with a 1:16.940 before Webber does a 1:16.955

We're seeing some quicker laps now as Alonso goes third, just 0.111s slower than Maldonado

The fastest time we've had this weekend so far is Button's 1:16.595 in FP1

Vettel gets closer to it with the fastest time of this session - a 1:16.876

Kovalainen looks in his mirrors to see his team-mate Petrov sliding over the astroturf behind him out of turn 12

Marussia has changed Pic's engine but he's still yet to get out on track in this session

Grosjean complaining of too much understeer in his Lotus

Only Perez out on track right now, just the way the run schedules have fallen - no rain

Perez goes fourth quickest after setting the fastest middle sector

Vettel says he is "generally quite happy with the front of the car"

Perez pits but Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Kobayashi and Vergne had already gone back out

A helicopter shot follows Hulkenberg starting a flying lap on softs - as he approached turn two we could see the cutting in the trees where the old track went. If only we were still on it

Hulkenberg goes sixth with a 1:17.033

Grosjean has a broken front wing and is having to revert to the old specification of wing

Hulkenberg was set for the fastest time but backed off in the final sector

Chris asks: "Are McLaren sand bagging or just doing more race set up work on there new parts?"

It's been running on higher fuel trying to get a race set-up using its new parts. Schumacher also hasn't done a low-fuel lap yet so is actually the slowest man of those who have set a time - it's just the order in which teams are doing low and high fuel runs

Alonso goes quickest with the fastest time of the weekend so far - a 1:16.124

Raikkonen goes fourth on a 1:16.903

That was a very short run from Alonso, pumping in that lap on soft tyres before pitting immediately afterwards

Vettel is now on softs and with DRS open he's going for a qualifying lap - but he's gone very wide at turn one and backed off

Hamilton is on medium tyres and on a fast lap - he's up in sector two

And Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:16.091. A good time on the medium tyre

Alonso says the rear of his car is a bit loose after doing his flying lap

Raikkonen goes third with a 1;16.599

Hamilton was going for another timed lap and he locked up in to turn two so ran wide. Button then did exactly the same but made the apex

Webber's on softs but half a second down

Pic is in his car so should get some running in during these final 18 minutes

Perez goes third with the fastest final sector - a 1:16.202 on soft tyres

Vettel goes fifth - 0.384s slower than Hamilton and then runs wide at turn one

Work going on for Button, he's not yet done a qualifying run and is 22nd

Button seemed happy with how the car was evolving during a run - starting with a bit too much front end but then as the grip drops off a touch becoming more to his liking

Alonso sets the fastest first and last sectors on soft tyres and goes quickest with a 1:16.014

On board with Kobayashi and as he heads towards turn one there's some very dark clouds on the way

Pic is on track, now on his second lap on soft tyres

Perez pushing hard and he runs wide at both turns eight and one

Kovalainen's car is running a bit too low and he leaves a trail of sparks on approach to the hairpin

Raikkonen with a quick lap - he goes fourth on a 1:16.238

Big lock-up from Massa at turn two

Hamilton's now out on soft tyres, hopefully we'll get to see how much of a difference there is between the compounds

Massa's run very wide at turn 12 and bounced across the grass before pitting

Button's just headed out on track for a low-fuel lap on soft tyres but it's started to rain

Grosjean on the radio: "IT'S RAINING!"

Hamilton with a good first sector but then he backs off in the middle sector before winding up to start another lap

Alonso's work is done for the morning - 14 laps and he's out of the car at the back of the Ferrari garage

Button runs wide at turn eight

The rain is falling at turns one and two - Button just lost the rear at turn eight

Senna and Hamilton running wide at turn two due to the rain

Vettel returns to the pits as the rain gets too heavy for drivers to learn anything on the slick tyres

Button returns to the pits - he never got to do a qualifying style lap and is ending the session slowest

There's only one driver left out there in the rain - no prizes for guessing it's Kobayashi

Kobayashi returns to the pits and that will be the end of the running as the rain gets very heavy - the track is soaked now

The rain is really heavy right now, full wet conditions already

The chequered flag falls on an empty but soaked circuit. Alonso tops the timesheets while Hamilton is just behind him and didn't set a time on the soft tyres...

The likes of Button and Schumacher didn't get to complete qualifying simulations during FP3, but all of the teams got plenty of data during that session - aside from Pic who had engine trouble, Alonso did the next fewest laps with 14

With this rain, we could well be in for a wet qualifying session - I'd be surprised if the track was bone dry within two hours unless the rain stops very soon - so that could render this morning's running pointless! We're set for a fascinating qualifying, make sure you join us again when our commentary starts again in 90 minutes time. See you then.