| 13:50:25
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. |
| 13:52:27
| Rain ahead of the final practice session saw varying conditions this morning with the fastest six all recording their best lap times right at the end of the one hour session. Robert Kubica set the pace for BMW Sauber with a best lap of 1:25.087s, a tenth of a second clear of Friday pace-setter Timo Glock in the Toyota. |
| 13:54:45
| Nelson Piquet was third fastest in his Renault ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW Sauber, Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams Toyota and David Coulthard in his Red Bull Renault. Felipe Massa led the way for much of the session in his Ferrari but was bumped down to seventh in the final minutes of the session. |
| 13:56:20
| It was a case of limited running for championship leader Lewis Hamilton this morning as the McLaren Mercedes driver completed just eight laps and posted the 11th best time. It was a similar situation for Heikki Kovalainen in the sister MP4-23 as he set the 15th best time just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen – who did put in a number of laps. |
| 13:58:13
| As ever, qualifying is split into three sessions with the slowest five eliminated from the both the first and second session, leaving the final ten to take on race fuel and go for the pole position. There has been no further rain since the early morning shower but it seems the circuit remains damp in parts although predominantly dry. |
| 14:00:12
| The first session is now underway. This is a 20 minute session. |
| 14:01:24
| A number of drivers are straight out. The circuit is now pretty dry and will not be a factor. |
| 14:02:08
| Piquet, Nakajima, Button on first flying laps of the session. |
| 14:02:53
| They all seems to be on the full dry tyres. |
| 14:03:23
| Piquet posts the first lap of the session on a 1:19.3 with Nakajima second fastest. |
| 14:04:23
| Glock moves second on the hard tyre from Rosberg, Trulli, Button, Fisichella. |
| 14:04:33
| Hamilton heads out in his McLaren. |
| 14:05:13
| Trulli moves fastest as Massa is now on track. |
| 14:05:32
| Piquet and Rosberg pit. Most now on track. |
| 14:05:49
| All change as Massa moves fastest from Glock and Trulli. |
| 14:06:33
| Hamilton and Kovalainen are on fast laps. |
| 14:06:53
| Massa is currently fastest from Glock, Trulli, Piquet, Vettel and Rosberg. |
| 14:07:37
| Now Hamilton moves fastest by half a second from Massa. |
| 14:07:49
| Raikkonen is not fast at the moment. |
| 14:08:15
| Raikkonen is now on a better lap looking to move up from P10. |
| 14:08:53
| A better lap from Raikkonen moves him third fastest. |
| 14:09:14
| Hamilton has pitted and Massa is on his way back to the pits. |
| 14:09:32
| Kovalainen moves third and splits the Ferrari drivers. |
| 14:10:09
| The slowest five at the moment are Fisichella, Button, Sutil, Nakajima and Barrichello so few surprises there. |
| 14:10:44
| Kovalainen kicks up some dust exiting the final turn and remains third fastest. |
| 14:11:05
| Alonso and Kubica move sixth and seventh. |
| 14:11:48
| Heidfeld's first lap moves him 16th as Piquet moves a solid second fastest in his Renault. |
| 14:12:48
| A gain for Heidfeld as he moves P12. |
| 14:13:30
| Sutil is now slowest behind Fisichella, Webber, Coulthard and Rosberg. The slowest five are eliminated at the end of this session. |
| 14:13:47
| Trulli moves fourth fastest. Most of the front runners have pitted now. |
| 14:14:13
| Coulthard moves fourth and should be safe. He is on the soft tyre and it seems to make a big difference. |
| 14:15:00
| Glock moves fastest in his Toyota. Impressive. |
| 14:15:30
| Only Kovalainen and Glock now on track ahead of a final run. |
| 14:16:01
| Vettel is now in the drop zone in 16th ahead of Rosberg, Webber, Sutil and Fisichella. |
| 14:16:54
| Hamilton, Raikkonen and others now back out with three minutes remaining. |
| 14:17:11
| Kovalainen moves second fastest. |
| 14:18:19
| Heidfeld, 15th, is back out and seems to be on the hard tyre but it is hard to tell this weekend with all the green lines. |
| 14:18:30
| Massa moves fastest from Glock. |
| 14:19:07
| Hamilton now fastest ahead of Massa as Heidfeld moves P12. |
| 14:19:25
| Vettel moves eighth. |
| 14:19:44
| Glock takes over at the top with the fastest time. |
| 14:20:06
| Raikkonen moves fifth. The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:20:21
| Alonso is now in 16th and needs to improve. |
| 14:20:42
| Alonso moves P6. |
| 14:20:58
| Rosberg improves as does Nakajima. |
| 14:21:20
| Button stays 18th. |
| 14:22:27
| So the slowest five are Heidfeld, Barrichello, Button, Sutil and Fisichella. A poor effort again from Heidfeld who surprisingly has been retained by BMW Sauber for 2009. |
| 14:23:01
| Timo Glock was fastest in that session on a 1:17.9 from Hamilton and Massa. |
| 14:23:11
| There is now a short pause ahead of Q2. |
| 14:27:21
| The second session is now underway and this is a 15 minute session. |
| 14:27:38
| No-one heading out as yet. |
| 14:29:07
| Kimi Raikkonen heads out in his Ferrari. |
| 14:29:25
| Ferrari also send out Felipe Massa. |
| 14:30:20
| Timo Glock heads out in his Toyota. This is the Japanese car makers home circuit in a big way as they own it. |
| 14:30:33
| Hamilton and Trulli also on track. |
| 14:31:42
| I can't really see what tyres they're on as the green paint on the tyres make it very hard to see the white line. I assume most will run the soft tyres in this session. |
| 14:32:05
| Raikkonen's first lap is a 1:17.7 |
| 14:32:32
| Massa is half a second faster on his first lap. The circuit is now busy with most on track. |
| 14:32:49
| Glock moves third fastest on his first lap. |
| 14:33:23
| Hamilton slots into second position behind Massa. Raikkonen has pitted. |
| 14:34:02
| Trulli has moved fourth ahead of Glock, Bourdais and Webber. |
| 14:34:54
| Alonso's first lap moves him P8. It looked like he was going to pit without setting a time but then veered back to the racing line and completed the lap. |
| 14:35:17
| Kovalainen moves third fastest. |
| 14:36:07
| Kubica is on his first timed lap. BMW Sauber always leave the first run a little late. |
| 14:36:55
| Massa is fastest at the moment from Hamilton, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock, Bourdais, Alonso, Coulthard, Webber, Nakajima and Rosberg. |
| 14:37:24
| Piquet is on track but has yet to set a time in this session as Kubica moves seventh fastest. |
| 14:37:46
| Most have pitted, Kovalainen is the first front runner back out for a second stint. |
| 14:38:42
| Kovalainen locks his front right into turn one. |
| 14:38:57
| Piquet is on his first timed lap. |
| 14:39:50
| On the soft tyre, Kovalainen improves and is second fastest behind Massa as Piquet moves P12. |
| 14:40:29
| They're all heading back out. Piquet doesn't have time to pit for new rubber so just needs to stay out and try and find time. |
| 14:40:44
| All on track now apart from Massa and Hamilton. |
| 14:41:08
| The slowest five are Rosberg, Nakajima, Webber, Piquet, Coulthard. |
| 14:41:20
| Piquet pits so he is out of the session now. |
| 14:42:03
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:43:09
| There don't seem to be any major gains. |
| 14:43:47
| The slowest five are Coulthard in 11th ahead of Piquet, Webber, Nakajima and Rosberg. |
| 14:44:28
| Massa was fastest in that session on a 1:17.3 ahead of Kovalainen, Hamilton, Trulli, Glock and Vettel. |
| 14:44:51
| There is now a pause as race fuel is added to the remaining ten runners for Q3. |
| 14:50:09
| Final qualifying is now underway and this is just a ten minute session. |
| 14:50:43
| No-one rushing out as yet. |
| 14:51:18
| We don't know who is going to run light in this session which could spice up the grid order from the expected. |
| 14:51:43
| Glock, Raikkonen, Trulli heading out. |
| 14:52:26
| Bourdais, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton join the circuit. |
| 14:53:36
| All ten runners are on track now. Raikkonen has started his first timed lap. |
| 14:54:28
| Raikkonen sets the initial pace on a 1:18.9 |
| 14:54:49
| Glock slots in second ahead of Bourdais and Trulli. |
| 14:55:29
| Massa moves second with Hamilton up to third. |
| 14:55:55
| Alonso moves fifth fastest for Renault. |
| 14:56:33
| Kovalainen moves P4 with Kubica now fifth. |
| 14:57:13
| After the first run Raikkonen is fastest from Massa, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Kubica, Glock, Alonso, Vettel, Trulli and Bourdais. |
| 14:57:41
| They are all pitting for a final set of tyres ahead of a final run. |
| 14:58:07
| Raikkonen starts his final hot lap on the soft tyre. |
| 14:58:46
| They're all starting the final hot lap with 90 odd seconds remaining. |
| 14:59:19
| Raikkonen improves his own best. |
| 14:59:30
| Hamilton is flying. |
| 14:59:44
| Massa remains second. |
| 14:59:55
| Hamilton moves fastest. |
| 15:00:05
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 15:00:17
| Glock moves fourth. |
| 15:00:40
| Alonso moves third. |
| 15:00:55
| Kubica moves sixth. |
| 15:01:02
| Kovalainen vaults third. |
| 15:01:14
| So pole position for Lewis Hamilton. |
| 15:02:05
| Hamilton starts first ahead of Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Alonso, Massa, Kubica, Trulli, Glock, Vettel and Bourdais. |
