Good afternoon and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of qualifying for the eighth race of the F1 calendar in Valencia.
Jenson Button set the fastest time of final practice earlier this morning while McLaren teammate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton struggled, setting only the eighth-best time.
The Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen appear to have plenty of pace on the Spanish coast and could be the cars to look out for this afternoon.
14.08That's it from me, join us for live coverage of the race tomorrow. Our text commentary begins at 12.30pm, see you then!
14.07My pick came through so that's somewhat pleasing, while Maldonado is the surprise package in third. Button's miserable season continues as he starts ninth.
14.06The Lotus duo of Grosjean and Raikkonen will start fourth and fifth then. Not quite as good as they'd hoped I'm sure.
14.05Hamilton tells Vettel "Good job man" as both men get weighed on the scales.
14.03Here's the top ten for tomorrow's race: 1. Vettel 2. Hamilton 3. Maldonado 4. Grosjean 5. Raikkonen 6. Rosberg 7. Kobayashi 8. Hulkenburg 9. Button 10. Di Resta
14.02Hamilton delivered with his final lap to take second but his fellow Englishman Button can only go seventh.
14.01Vettel produces a 1:38.086 to blitz his way to pole!
14.00Di Resta's teammate Hulkenburg goes fourth and guess who's flying? Yep, Vettel.
14.00Maldonado goes fastest while Di Resta struggles in the final sector to go seventh.
13.59Just a minute left for the top ten to set their times.
13.58He's lost time in the middle sector but still manages to go quickest!
13.57The Lotus man's first sector is a whole tenth quicker than the rest of the field's. Looking good.
13.57Here goes Grosjean with his flying lap...
13.56Vettel, my tip for pole, is yet to go out and will have just one run at pole position. Confidence? Arrogance? You can't argue with his record.
13.55Grosjean is going out on a brand new set of softs, expect serious pace from the Frenchman.
13.54The Finn sets a time of 1:38.966 but is immediately bettered by Rosberg, with Button and Hamilton going second and third.
13.52Raikkonen will be the first to set a time in the final qualifying session.
13.51Both McLarens are already out on track.
13.50Q3 is underway!
13.49Plenty of unexpected names in that top ten, with both Force Indias, a Sauber and a Williams in the mix for pole.
13.48Ahead of us is the ten-minute top ten shootout. The ten cars battling it out for pole, in the order they finished Q2, are: 1 Grosjean 2 Rosberg 3 Di Resta 4 Vettel 5 Raikkonen 6 Button 7 Maldonado 8 Hamilton 9 Hulkenburg 10 Kobayashi
13.46Here's the seven cars eliminated in Q2: 11 Alonso 12 Schumacher 13 Massa 14 Senna 15 Perez 16 Kovalainen 17 Ricciardo
13.45Can't believe it but both Ferraris have failed to make the top-ten grade and will start the race 11th and 13th.
13.44Both Ferraris and Schumacher are eliminated in Q2!
13.43Grosjean goes fastest for the session and Alonso is down in 11th!
13.42And of course the German delivers by going third-fastest. It's now Alonso who could be knocked out!
13.42Vettel's now the big gun in tenth, he needs a big lap to secure a spot in Q3.
13.41McLaren make the decision to go out again despite being fourth and sixth. They probably would have been safe with their current times.
13.40Hulkenburg goes from 11th to fifth to relegate Schumacher to 11th. Hulkenburg's teammate Di Resta is also impressive and goes second!
13.39Alonso can only go sixth-quickest while Schumacher is in danger of being knocked out. He's currently in tenth place.
13.36Alonso and Massa are both outside the top ten and have come in for a set of the soft tyres. Just over five minutes of Q2 left.
13.36Button edges ahead of Hamilton into third with a 1:38.563, around five hundreds adrift of Rosberg.
13.34His first lap is only third-fastest, behind Rosberg and Raikkonen, with Kobayashi and Vettel making up the top five.
13.33Hamilton's on the soft tyre, let's see what the Championship leader can do.
13.32Webber has spoken after his exit and says a brake problem is the main reason for his elimination.
13.31Alonso sets the early pace with a 1:39.245 but is quickly pipped by Di Resta who again goes under the 1:39 mark.
13.30Both Ferraris are out on track and the crowd roar every time home favourite Alonso zooms past.
13.28So, 15 more minutes of qualifying where a further seven drivers will be knocked out, leaving ten to fight it out for pole position in Q3.
13.27Q2 is underway.
13.27It may seem odd to see the trio of Maldonado, Di Resta and Hulkenburg at the front but they were on the softer compound remember.
13.26And here's the top ten from that opening session: 1 Maldonado 2 Di Resta 3 Hulkenburg 4 Rosberg 5 Hamilton 6 Perez 7 Massa 8 Alonso 9 Schumacher 10 Senna
13.25So the seven drivers that were eliminated, in order, are: 18 Vergne 19 Webber 20 Petrov 21 De La Rosa 22 Karthikeyan 23 Pic 24 Glock (no time set)
13.23Kovalainen puts in an excellent lap to go 17th-fastest and knock Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne out at Q1. Kovalainen tells his team: "That's what it's about boys!"
13.22The Aussie backed off because he wasn't sure of fuel load and can't get inside the pace of the 17th-placed man. Surely there's a problem with the Red Bull car as Webber was on the softer, quicker compound.
13.20Unbelievable! Mark Webber crashes out in the first part of qualifying!
13.19This is really worrying for Webber, he has one chance to set a quick lap as the final minute gets underway.
13.18Di Resta goes fastest on the soft tyres with a 1:38.858. Good stuff from the Scotsman.
13.17Webber's again struggling on his second lap, is he saving himself for the final moments of the session or does he have a problem with the car?
13.16Just under four minutes to go in the first session and Webber can only go 16th-fastest. He'll need to improve that!
13.15Webber begins to set a time and he, interestingly, is on the softer tyre as opposed to most of the frontrunners who are on the medium tyre in this first session.
13.14Here's Vettel's first lap and he immediately is the sixth-quickest man after a sluggish second half to the lap.
13.12The Red Bull's of Vettel and Webber are still to set a time. A risky tactic leaving it so late but I'm sure they'll be fine.
13.11The Ferrari pair of Massa and Alonso slot in behind Hamilton with similar times around the 1:39.4 mark.
13.11Button goes second straight away and is followed by Hamilton, who goes fastest with a 1:39.169.
13.09Here come Webber, Button, Hamilton and Vettel.
13.08Schumacher goes quickest with a 1:39.577 as we have 12 minutes left of the first session.
13.06Raikkonen, Di Resta and Grosjean have also set times and sit in that order behind Massa.
13.05Plenty of locking up from drivers early on as Massa also fishtails slightly before setting the fastest time with a 1:39.634.
13.04Bruno Senna goes a quarter of a second quicker with his first attempt.
13.041:40.707 is the first time set by Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo.
13.03In this first 20-minute session the six drivers of the smaller teams, that being Marussia, HRT and Caterham, usually exit alongside one man from the midfield. Will this trend continue this afternoon?
13.00There goes the green light and qualifying has begun in Valencia.
13.00The two tyres available to drivers this weekend are the yellow soft compound and white medium compound. Manufacturer Pirelli are expecting a half-second difference, with the yellow-marker rubber the quicker.
12.57Prediction time and I'm going for a third straight Vettel pole position in Valencia. He'll be buzzing after Germany's bullish display in the football last night and is my tip for pole. Grosjean and Hamilton to fill the top three places.
12.52Lotus principal Eric Boullier says that he was impressed with the pace of his cars this morning. When asked if he is nervous ahead of qualifying, the Frenchman replies bluntly: "No."
12.51Glock is not well enough to take part in qualifying, which, in all honesty, shouldn't make too much of a difference as Marussia aren't quick enough to make it to Q2.
12.49The street circuit of Valencia is notoriously hard to overtake on so pole position is as important as ever. Vettel has taken pole in the last two years before going on to win the race.
12.47Ahead of this race Hamilton leads the drivers' championship by two points from Alonso, with Vettel a further point back. Fastest in Practice 3, Jenson Button, is already 43 points adrift of Hamilton after a troublesome last few races.
12.43So far this season it's been a truly up-and-down championship. Amazingly we've had seven different winners in the first seven races. Could we be on for an eighth?
12.42In case you're new to F1 qualifying here's how it will work: Qualifying is split into three sessions, Q1 lasts 20 minutes and sees the entire field set a flying lap, with the slowest seven being knocked out. The second session - Q2 - is 15 minutes long and eliminates a further seven, leaving ten drivers to fight it out for pole in a final ten-minute session.
12.39Booth tells Sky Sports F1 that they will make a decision in the next 10-15 minutes.
12.37Marussia team principal John Booth reveals that Timo Glock is suffering from a stomach bug and may not compete in qualifying.
12.36As always, the usual suspects of Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber and Button should also feature and will be expecting to get into the top-ten shootout.
12.32So we're just under half an hour away from the first session. As mentioned above, the Lotus's seem to be the cars to look out for.
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Pascal Lemesre
