| 13:50:31
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. |
| 13:52:19
| Rain this morning made life tricky for the team, but ahead of the main rain shower in practice, Heikki Kovalainen set the pace for McLaren Mercedes with a best lap of 1:16.567s, half a second clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. |
| 13:54:12
| Kovalainen was on a faster lap when he spun and hit the barrier in the swimming pool complex causing the only red flag of the session. Like in 2007 however, McLaren seem to have the best suited package for Monte Carlo. |
| 13:56:10
| Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest for Ferrari in the morning session with team-mate Felipe Massa sixth behind the leading Williams Toyota of Nico Rosberg and the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica. Mark Webber was seventh in his Red Bull Renault ahead of Adrian Sutil in the Force India Ferrari and Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams. |
| 13:56:49
| Nick Heidfeld has struggled so far in his BMW Sauber. This morning he found himself 18th of the 20 runners. Nelson Piquet also faces a tough qualifying session in his Renault. |
| 13:58:18
| Sebastian Vettel is unfortunate to have a five position grid penalty. By bringing the new car to Monaco, the Toro Rosso racer has a new gearbox and therefore takes the penalty. Team-mate Bourdais did not finish the last race and so had no penalty. |
| 14:00:09
| The first qualifying session is now underway. This is a 20 minute session in which the slowest five will be eliminated ahead of Q2. |
| 14:01:03
| David Coulthard heads out followed by Adrian Sutil. An important session ahead for these two. Coulthard really needs a strong showing. |
| 14:01:52
| Sebatan Vettel is out in his Toro Rosso. He has not looked as comfortable as team-mate Bourdais. |
| 14:02:11
| Bourdais and Vettel out too. |
| 14:02:24
| Coulthard is on his first timed lap. |
| 14:03:11
| He locks the rear brakes and loses time. |
| 14:03:30
| Coulthard sets a first lap of 1:18.5. |
| 14:04:41
| Vettel is now fastest from Vettel, Glock and Sutil. |
| 14:05:14
| Coulthard improves on his second lap and is fastest again. The circuit now quite busy. |
| 14:06:38
| Vettel is now ahead of Coulthard. With this mornings session being damp, ut is hard to tell how fast they will need to be to make the top 15. |
| 14:07:07
| Kovalainen now fastest from Raikkonen and Vettel |
| 14:07:22
| Massa and Hamilton are now out. |
| 14:08:05
| Rosberg vaults fastest ahead of Kovalainen and Massa. |
| 14:09:06
| At the moment, it is Force India slowest. |
| 14:09:33
| Piquet runs off track at Sainte Devote. |
| 14:10:08
| Piquet was about to start his first timed lap, so that was a poor start. |
| 14:10:51
| Raikkonen and Hamilton on hot laps. |
| 14:11:11
| Raikkonen moves fastest |
| 14:11:19
| Now Hamilton moves fastest. |
| 14:12:13
| Kubica and Heidfeld on first laps. |
| 14:13:02
| Piquet gets in a second lap and moves up a couple of positions. |
| 14:13:25
| It does not matter who is fastest in Q1. All that matters is being in the top 15 to make it into Q2. |
| 14:14:01
| So Sutil, Nakajima, Piquet, Bourdais and Fisichella need to find time to make it into Q2. |
| 14:14:35
| Bourdais misses the chicane exiting the tunnel. |
| 14:15:06
| Coulthard moves seventh. |
| 14:15:49
| A gain for Kubica as he moves up five positions to fourth. |
| 14:16:29
| Kovalainen now fastest from Hailton and Raikkonen. |
| 14:16:42
| That lap was on the harder tyre. |
| 14:17:44
| All but the fastest five will be going for a final run with just over two minutes remaining. |
| 14:18:30
| Fisichella, Bourdais, Piquet, Sutil and Trulli need to improve. |
| 14:18:44
| Piquet runs wide at Portier. |
| 14:19:54
| A number of drivers on good laps. |
| 14:20:09
| Trulli improves to P9. |
| 14:20:13
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:20:44
| Piquet moves 16th but is out. |
| 14:21:04
| Massa has moved fastest |
| 14:21:25
| Vettel does not improve. |
| 14:22:27
| So a poor session for Force India with Fisichella slowest behind team-mate Sutil. Vettel, Piquet and Bourdais also fail to make it into Q2. |
| 14:23:14
| A short pause now ahead of Q2 where the remaining 15 fight for 10 positions in Q3. |
| 14:27:21
| The second round of qualifying is now underway. This is a 15 minute session. |
| 14:29:09
| Alonso is the first man out in this session. He was three-tenths quicker than Piquet in Q1 and that made the difference. |
| 14:30:03
| Raikkonen, Rosberg, Trulli, Glock and others heading out. |
| 14:30:35
| Alonso is on his first flying lap on super-soft option rubber. |
| 14:31:43
| Almost all out now. Just Honda and BMW isn the pits as Alonso sets the initial pace on a mid 16s. |
| 14:32:26
| A nice slide from Raikkonen as he moves fastest ahead of Alonso. |
| 14:32:52
| Hamilton slides through Massenet. |
| 14:33:08
| Massa now fastest from Raikkonen and Glock. |
| 14:33:28
| Hamilton moves third fastest |
| 14:34:09
| Kovalainen moves fourth fastest. |
| 14:35:20
| Heidfeld, Kubica, Button and Barrichello on first laps as Hamilton moves second. |
| 14:36:11
| Kubica moves sixth, Heidfeld just 12th. |
| 14:37:03
| Kubica improves and is fifth. |
| 14:37:43
| Heidfeld is struggling this weekend. He remains on track but remains in 12th. |
| 14:38:24
| Most have pitted but Hamilton and Kovalainen have opted to take a clear circuit. |
| 14:39:36
| Hamilton on a hot lap. Others now back out. |
| 14:40:26
| Hamilton improves but remains second. |
| 14:40:55
| Nakajima, Barrichello, Alonso, Heidfeld, Button need to improve as Roberg vaults second fastest. |
| 14:41:34
| Nakajima improves but not by much. |
| 14:41:52
| Alonso is on a fast lap and he needs it in 14th. |
| 14:42:17
| Trulli moves seventh. |
| 14:42:20
| The chequered flag is out |
| 14:42:37
| Someone has lost a wheel! |
| 14:43:30
| Coulthard crashed exiting the tunnel. A high speed shunt into the barriers. |
| 14:44:17
| So eliminated are Barrichello, Nakajima, Heidfeld, Button and Glock. Alonso's final lap moves him ninth a good effort. |
| 14:44:35
| Coulthard made the cut but he will not be taking part in Q3. |
| 14:45:38
| A heavy crash for Coulthard who seems to be okay. A pause now ahead of the final ten minute session. |
| 14:49:46
| A strange incident for Coulthard and he was lucky as his car shed the right hand side wheels. |
| 14:50:29
| Q3 is now underway. This is a ten minute session. |
| 14:50:52
| Kovalainen, Trulli and Rosberg straight out. |
| 14:51:40
| Hamilton heads out in the second McLaren. |
| 14:52:18
| Trulli and Rosberg out as well. |
| 14:53:05
| A number of drivers on first laps. |
| 14:54:04
| Hamilton sets the initial pace from Kovalainen, Rosberg, Trulli. |
| 14:54:43
| Alonso moves fourth |
| 14:55:09
| Raikkonen now fastest from Hamilton. |
| 14:56:07
| They now have race fuel on board but most will still be pretty light on fuel. |
| 14:56:39
| Kubica moves second fastest on the surviving BMW Sauber. |
| 14:57:26
| Three minutes remaining. Most are pitting for a final set of soft tyres. |
| 14:58:25
| Kovalainen is fifth and on a better lap. Rosberg is P8 and on a better lap. |
| 14:58:34
| Now Hamilton is pushing hard. |
| 14:58:57
| Raikkonen improves his own best. |
| 14:59:09
| Kovalainen moves second fastest. |
| 14:59:27
| Hamilton moves second. |
| 14:59:47
| Massa moves fastest but the chequered flag is not out yet. |
| 15:00:09
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 15:00:55
| No one improving so we have Massa on the pole for the Monaco Grand Prix. |
| 15:01:30
| Raikkonen starts second ahead of Hamilton, Kovalainen, Kubica, Rosberg, Alonso, Trulli, Webber and Coulthard. |
