| 13:50:21
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. It is a tricky session ahead with rain falling lightly one minute and stopped the next. |
| 13:52:22
| The rain hit practice session this morning saw a rather different pecking order with Adrian Sutil fastest in his Spyker Ferrari with a best lap of 1:36.612s. Conditions varied throughout the one hour session and it was the rookie who put together the lap as the chequered flag flew. |
| 13:54:15
| Kimi Raikkonen was second fastest in his Ferrari ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Giancarlo Fisichella, Scott Speed, Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg. |
| 13:56:09
| BMW Sauber and Toyota really struggled in the wet conditions and languished towards the back of the timesheets while Honda went well with Button fastest for some time before being bumped down to ninth in the final seconds. |
| 13:58:04
| Grid position is everything at Monte Carlo, with the front-row starters taking the win in eight of the last ten Grand Prix at the Principality. |
| 13:59:14
| The rain has now stopped, but it did rain for a few minutes. Tricky conditions although the circuit is basically dry. |
| 14:00:05
| The first of three 15 minute qualifying sessions are now underway. |
| 14:00:45
| Sato, Albers, Speed Button and Barrichello head out. |
| 14:01:02
| As ever, it is the slowest six that are eliminated and do not proceed to Q2 and therefore take up the bottom six positions on the grid. |
| 14:01:38
| Others now head out. A lap early on may be key if it rains again. Ten minutes ago there was a light shower. |
| 14:02:03
| They now start the first timed laps of the session. |
| 14:02:38
| The McLaren, Renault and Ferrari teams remain in the pits. |
| 14:03:08
| Button has hit traffic and backed off. It was one of the Red Bull cars. |
| 14:03:29
| Speed sets the initial pace from Sato. |
| 14:04:07
| Raikkonen, Fisichella, Massa head out. Almost everyone on track now. |
| 14:04:26
| Speed is pushing hard in his STR. |
| 14:04:52
| All change as Button is now fastest from Rosberg and Coulthard. |
| 14:05:09
| They are all opting for thehard tyre at the moment. |
| 14:05:35
| Now Kubica fastest from Barrichello |
| 14:06:35
| Raikkonen now fastest. The times are dropping by the lap. For the slower runners, they need to stay out and just try and find a clear lap. |
| 14:07:22
| Hamilton and Alonso move one two ahead of Kubica. |
| 14:07:41
| Albers is in the pits and has not set a time yet. |
| 14:08:18
| Alonso very ragged though the swimming pool there. He continues and is fastest. |
| 14:08:44
| Hamilton immediately faster as they trade fastest laps. Hamilton now backs off. Job done for this session. |
| 14:09:30
| Raikkonen moves second and Massa up to third. The slower runners now need to improve to make it into Q2. |
| 14:09:47
| Alonso regains second position. |
| 14:10:42
| Albers must have a problem as he has not set a time. Sutil, Davidson, Webber, Speed, Trulli and Coulthard need to improve. |
| 14:11:15
| Hamilton is on another hot lap and improves by a massive margin. There was no need to do that but he is trying to make a point. |
| 14:11:44
| Trulli and Coulthard are back out. Trulli has taken the soft and Coulthard the hard. |
| 14:12:27
| Trulli improves and moves ninth fastest. |
| 14:12:50
| A final run for the lower half of the field to try and make it into Q2. |
| 14:13:05
| Wurz has improved. |
| 14:13:40
| Coulthard moves into the top ten. |
| 14:14:05
| Kovalainen, Schumacher, Speed and Webber all pushing hard. |
| 14:14:18
| A good lap from Liuzzi. He should be safe. |
| 14:14:29
| Albers heads out but it is too late |
| 14:14:51
| Kovalainen improves. |
| 14:15:11
| Davidson is in the pits, so he is out. |
| 14:15:15
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:15:36
| Ralf Schumacher does not improve and will start 20th. |
| 14:16:06
| Liuzzi improves again to fourth |
| 14:16:19
| So Albers is out as he did not set a time. |
| 14:16:39
| A poor session for Super Aguri Honda with both Davidson and Sato out. |
| 14:17:27
| A dismal day again for Ralf Schumacher who really has lost the plot at Toyota. Speed with start 18th just ahead of Adrian Sutil. |
| 14:18:16
| For the record, Hamilton was fastest on a 1:15.685 from Alonso by half a second with Raikkonen third ahead of Liuzzi, Massa and Rosberg. |
| 14:18:29
| A short pause now before Q2 gets underway. |
| 14:21:21
| It is cloudy but the rain seems to be holding off at the moment. |
| 14:22:34
| Q2 is now underway. |
| 14:22:59
| Nico Rosberg is first out in his Williams Toyota. |
| 14:23:29
| Rosberg is on the soft tyre. Raikkonen, Massa and Wurz are also out. |
| 14:23:44
| It seems they are all going for the softest option. |
| 14:24:12
| Trulli, Fisichella and Kovalainen join the action. |
| 14:24:38
| Rosberg gets around Webber okay as the Red Bull driver leaves the pits. |
| 14:25:14
| Hamilton, Liuzzi and others are now out. |
| 14:25:34
| Rosberg records his first timed lap. |
| 14:25:57
| Raikkonen has clipped teh wall and stopped at teh same place as Schujmacher last year. |
| 14:26:15
| Now Massa gets blocked by the sister Ferrari |
| 14:26:31
| Raikkonen gets going again and pits. He has damaged the car. |
| 14:27:01
| Raikkonen has damaged the steering |
| 14:27:46
| While all that is going on some lap times have been set |
| 14:28:19
| It seems Raikkonen turned in too early and hit the Armco with his front right. |
| 14:28:42
| Massa has moved second fastest ahead of Fisichella and Coulthard |
| 14:28:52
| Alonso and Hamilton on track. |
| 14:29:13
| Hamilton moves fastest ahead of Rosberg |
| 14:30:14
| Alonso now takes the fastest time a fraction ahead of Hamilton. |
| 14:30:42
| The BMW duo are now on their first timed lap. |
| 14:31:20
| Kubica vaults third fastest |
| 14:31:43
| Heidfeld moves fifth so Kovalainen is the slowest runner so far in the Renault. |
| 14:32:27
| Kubica and Heidfeld have a nice empty track as they continue to push hard. The rest have pitted and will be back out soon. |
| 14:32:56
| We know Liuzzi can go much faster than he has so far in Q2. |
| 14:33:34
| Heidfeld improves and moves fourth. |
| 14:33:50
| Kovalainen is the first to head out for a second run. |
| 14:34:32
| Trulli and Wurz join the action. Expect all but the fastest few to run again. |
| 14:35:08
| They are all heading out again with two minutes on the clock. |
| 14:35:39
| All out but Alonso, Hamilton and Rosberg. |
| 14:35:52
| All on soft tyres for this final run in Q2. |
| 14:36:17
| Kovalainen gets stuck behind Coulthard. That's his lap ruined. |
| 14:36:47
| Bad driving from DC that as he could have made space to let him ahead. |
| 14:36:55
| Wurz moves into the top ten |
| 14:37:23
| The chequered flag is out. Who will improve? |
| 14:37:58
| Massa gains a spot and Kovalainen improves a little but it will not be enough. |
| 14:39:01
| It looks set now. Raikkonen did not set a time and is therefore 16th on the grid. |
| 14:39:36
| Kovalainen will start 15th, Trulli 14th and he will be disappointed with that after showing well on Thursday. |
| 14:40:29
| Jenson Button starts 11th while team-mate Rubens Barrichello has made it into Q3. Alex Wurz starts 12th ahead of Tonio Liuzzi. |
| 14:41:11
| Alonso was fastest in that session on a 1:15.431 with Hamilton second and close behind ahead of the BMW Sauber duo and Massa. |
| 14:41:33
| The remaining ten drivers now have race fuel added to the cars for Q3. The same amount of fuel will be added back after qualifying. Those already eliminated may chose any fuel strategy they like, but the top ten are now locked in. |
| 14:45:14
| Q3 is now underway and the remaining ten head out. Coulthard is under investigation quite rightly for blocking Kovalainen. Hamilton leads the field out of the pit lane. |
| 14:45:33
| Coulthard has been penalised and cannot take part in Q3. |
| 14:46:05
| So Jenson Button is allowed to take part. He was 11th fastest in Q2. |
| 14:46:33
| Hamilton leads the train around the field. |
| 14:47:32
| This is the fuel burn phase now. They will save two soft sets for two fast runs at the end of this session. |
| 14:48:14
| Hamilton records his first timed lap. |
| 14:48:54
| Alonso slots into second and the McLaren duo are much faster than the rest at this stage. Perhaps these are banker laps incase of rain or an incident. |
| 14:49:22
| Hamilton fastest from Alonso, Rosberg and Heidfeld. |
| 14:49:45
| Massa and Rosberg pit. Massa straight back out. |
| 14:50:26
| Kubica is on hard tyres. |
| 14:50:48
| Hamilton pits his McLaren. Heidfeld also pits. |
| 14:51:07
| Kubica, Alonso and Barrichello pit. |
| 14:51:46
| Soft tyres on board now as they head back out |
| 14:52:21
| Barrichello and Button make up ground. |
| 14:52:36
| Hamilton starts a hot lap. |
| 14:53:24
| Alonso is now also on his first hot lap. Fisichella moves fourth fastest. |
| 14:53:51
| Hamilton slides though the final turn and loses time. |
| 14:54:24
| There may be some spots of rain as Alonso stays second. |
| 14:54:59
| All on track but Fisichella. |
| 14:55:13
| Fisichella heads out again. |
| 14:55:36
| Massa is third fastest but some way behind the McLaren duo. |
| 14:56:49
| Hamilton has pitted. Webber moves fifth fastest. |
| 14:57:32
| All ten are back out now for a final run as Rosberg moves third fastest in his Williams. |
| 14:57:53
| Fisichella moves third. Massa has now pitted and heads straight back out. |
| 14:58:21
| Fisichella now third fastest. |
| 14:59:17
| Hamilton negotiates a RB into the tunnel. |
| 14:59:35
| Hamilton slides though the swimming pool really on the limit |
| 14:59:51
| Hamilton does not improve but has another lap |
| 15:00:08
| Alonso moves fastest as the chequered flag comes out. |
| 15:00:40
| Massa moves third fastest |
| 15:00:58
| Barrichello moves ahead of Button. |
| 15:01:25
| Rosberg remains fifth and the order is set. |
| 15:01:59
| So Pole Position for Fernando Alonso from Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella. |
| 15:02:36
| Nico Rosberg is an impressive fifth in his Williams ahead of Mark Webber and the BMW duo of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. |
| 15:02:58
| Honda take the fifth row with Barrichello ahead of Button. |
| 15:03:18
| It seems David Coulthard wil start back in 16th after his blocking penalty. |
