SEPANG (Agencies) -McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in Saturday's pre-qualifying practice for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix. Hamilton edged Red Bull driver Mark Webber by almost three-tenths of a second around the Sepang circuit, with McLaren's Jenson Button third fastest, ahead of Renault's Nick Heidfeld. Defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who won the season-opening race in Australia, was fifth on the timesheets, ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. The practice times, both Friday and Saturday, indicated that qualifying and the race will be a showdown between Red Bull and McLaren, although the weather often plays a major role in Malaysia. Last year the grid was scrambled by showers during qualifying, while the 2009 race was abandoned mid-race due to a tropical downpour. It was a dry practice session, but the threat of rain will increase before the start of qualifying at 4 p.m. local time. Renault's Vitaly Petrov, who claimed a surprise third place in Australia, was seventh quickest on Saturday and Ferrari's Felipe Massa eighth. Kamui Kobayashi was ninth fastest for Sauber, while seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was tenth in his Mercedes. The Hispania cars _ as in Australia _ look at risk of not making the race due to the 107 percent rule. Cars which are not within seven percent of the best time in the first part of qualifying are not able to take part in the race. In final practice, Vitantonio Liuzzi was less than a tenth of a second outside that threshold, and Narain Karthikeyan was three-tenths outside. AFP adds: Britain's Lewis Hamilton Saturday insisted a move from McLaren to Red Bull "can work" said he would be happy to operate alongside reigning world champion Sebastien Vettel. The 2008 champion has been strongly linked with a move following the recent announcement of his new management deal with the XIX Entertainment agency run by celebrity svengali Simon Fuller. Fuller also manages Hollywood star Michael Caine, former England football captain David Beckham and tennis player Andy Murray. Hamilton, who spent a year deciding on a new manager after separating from his father Anthony as his manager, said a deal with constructors' champions Red Bull, to succeed Australian Mark Webber, 34, would work "in theory". "It can work. You saw me and (former McLaren team-mate) Fernando (Alonso): we were very competitive. You see me and (current team-mate) Jenson (Button), so world champions can definitely race together as long as there is equality in the team. "There is definitely not that at a couple of the teams around us. At my team you will probably see the most equality out of all the teams." The likelihood of such a pairing was played down by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, but Hamilton said he only did this to defend his current drivers. "The only reason I would imagine that he (Horner) would suggest that is because certain individuals don't like being beaten. Some individuals can take it. Some people are better losers or better winners. So it is just dependant," he said. "In this team, when Jenson beats me I take it on the chin and think, 'Next time I am going to beat him.' When I beat him, he doesn't whinge and say: 'Oh, Lewis has a better car than me or Lewis did this and I did that.' "There is none of that here, it is very equal. In some places you can imagine it could be different. I never have any complaints. If a guy beats me it is because he has done a better job." Hamilton topped the times for McLaren in Saturday's third and final practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, producing a fastest lap of one minute and 36.340 seconds to outpace nearest rival Webber by two-tenths of a second.