| 13:50:32
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of qualifying for the European Grand Prix. As ever, there are three sessions with the slowest five eliminated from sessions one and two leaving the final ten drivers to take race fuel on board and go for the pole position. It is dry, but it has clouded over since this morning. |
| 13:52:14
| The final practice session ahead of qualifying saw Robert Kubica set the pace for BMW Sauber with the fastest lap of the weekend to date on a 1:38.754s. Nico Rosberg was second fastest in his Williams Toyota ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in the faster Toro Rosso STR3s and Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams. |
| 13:54:21
| In practice, the teams often run varying fuel levels depending on what they expect from qualifying. Therefore Felipe Massa, fifth fastest, probably ran with fuel on board in preparation for the final round of qualifying. |
| 13:56:15
| Sebastian Vettel set the sixth fastest time, again probably on very light fuel loads, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the leading McLaren. Nick Heidfeld, David Coulthard and Nelson Piquet rounded out the top ten. |
| 13:58:16
| Other notables included Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen down in 14th and 15th positions while gearbox issues forced Jarno Trulli to skip the session in his Toyota. It remains to be seen if the team has changed the unit and if he will therefore incur a five position grid penalty. |
| 14:00:05
| The first qualifying session is underway. This is a 20 minute session and the slowest five will be eliminated. |
| 14:00:30
| Piquet, Fisichella and Trulli are straight out. |
| 14:01:27
| Others are now heading out. It is now quite overcast and rain is expected at some point this afternoon, but perhaps not in qualifying. |
| 14:01:49
| Half of the field is straight out. |
| 14:02:34
| Piquet is the first driver to start a timed lap. Based on the times earlier, a 1:39.8 will be needed to make the cut. |
| 14:03:51
| Piquet records a 1:40.0 lap on the hard tyre. |
| 14:04:02
| He hit a bird on his out lap. |
| 14:04:20
| The times are now coming in. |
| 14:04:52
| Kubica moves fastest on a 1:38.9 from Glock, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Trulli and Piquet. |
| 14:05:14
| All on track but Alonso, Kovalainen and Button. |
| 14:05:41
| The fastest times do not really count for much. All that matters is being in the top 15. |
| 14:06:43
| Trulli is now third fastest ahead of Coulthard and Rosberg. |
| 14:06:58
| Hamilton moves fastest by half a second. |
| 14:07:18
| Raikkonen and Massa just P6 and P8 at the moment. |
| 14:07:49
| Bourdais moves second fastst and will be safe with that time. |
| 14:08:26
| Vettel moves fourth in the second Toro Rosso. |
| 14:08:52
| Kovalainen is on his first timed lap. |
| 14:09:24
| Raikkonen is on a fast lap looking move up the order. |
| 14:09:39
| Kovalainen's first lap moves him ninth fastest. |
| 14:09:57
| Alonso and Button on track and about to set their first lap times. |
| 14:10:46
| Raikkonen moves up t fifth position. Hamilton remains fastest from Bourdais, Vettel and Kubica. |
| 14:11:23
| Alonso moves second fastest and will be safe with that time. |
| 14:12:31
| Button moves fifth fastest. So the slowest five are Barrichello, Webber, Sutil, Fisichella and Heidfeld. |
| 14:13:02
| Heidfeld is really under pressure. He needs to show good qualifying pace if he is to keep his seat. |
| 14:13:18
| Rosberg has moved second fastest. |
| 14:13:47
| Webber has moved up to 14th demoting Piquet into the slowest five. |
| 14:14:13
| Glock improves and is now second fastest. |
| 14:14:55
| Using soft tyres, Barrichello remains 20th and is way off the pace still. He ran wide exiying the bridge and lost time. |
| 14:15:29
| Most are in the pits. The fastest few will remain there and those under pressure will go out again. |
| 14:15:55
| Raikkonen and Massa are 11th and 12th and they are back out. Massa is on the soft tyre, Raikkonen the hard tyre. |
| 14:16:34
| There are some spots of rain. |
| 14:17:02
| Massa is on a fast lap. |
| 14:17:34
| The circuit is now busy with just over two minutes remaining. |
| 14:18:12
| All nut Hamilton, Rosberg and Kovalainen on track. Massa moves fastest. |
| 14:18:31
| Heidfeld remains 17th and is not on a good lap. |
| 14:19:20
| Heidfeld lost time behind Glock on that last lap. |
| 14:20:06
| Barrichello locks up into the final turn and does not improve. |
| 14:20:09
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:20:26
| Alonso moves second fastest. |
| 14:20:35
| Piquet moves tenth. |
| 14:20:54
| Heidfeld moves 11th |
| 14:21:01
| Vettel moves fastest! |
| 14:21:16
| Trulli now fastest! |
| 14:22:00
| So the slowest five are Button, Coulthard, Fisichella, Barrichello and Sutil. Not a good day for Honda. |
| 14:22:35
| Piquet made it in by a tenth of a second from Button. An important lap. |
| 14:23:11
| Heidfeld's final lap did the job to get him through as he set the 14th best time behind Raikkonen. |
| 14:23:58
| Jarno Trulli was fastest of all despite no running in practice this morning with a best lap of 1:37.9s. Vettel was second ahead of Massa, Alonso, Kubica and Hamilton. |
| 14:24:25
| There is now a pause ahead of Q2. |
| 14:27:10
| The second qualifying session is now underway. This is a 15 minute session and the slowest five will be eliminated. |
| 14:27:52
| Kimi Raikkonen is straight out in his Ferrari and there are more spots of rain now. |
| 14:28:12
| He is on the soft tyre as Massa, Kubica and Heidfeld head out. |
| 14:29:15
| The circuit is still dry as Raikkonen starts his timed lap. |
| 14:29:30
| Bourdais and Vettel head out. |
| 14:30:09
| Others are now heading out. |
| 14:30:50
| Raikkonen's first lap is a 1:38.2, a good lap. |
| 14:31:12
| All 15 drivers are on track. |
| 14:31:35
| Kubica moves fastest from Raikkonen and Massa. |
| 14:31:52
| Heidfeld moves fourth fastest. |
| 14:32:25
| Raikkonen pits his Ferrari. |
| 14:32:56
| Vettel moves fastest for Toro Rosso, impressive. |
| 14:33:20
| Massa pits his Ferrari as Bourdais moves fifth fastest in the second STR. |
| 14:34:11
| Alonso and Piquet move into the top ten for Renault. Hamilton locks his brakes but is able to continue. |
| 14:34:48
| All change as Trulli moves second ahead of Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen. |
| 14:35:10
| The slowest five after a first run are Webber, Piquet, Heidfeld, Glock and Alonso. |
| 14:35:31
| Most are now pitting for another set of tyres for the final run. |
| 14:36:23
| All 15 drivers now in the pit lane. |
| 14:36:55
| Kovalainen is back out on the soft tyre again. |
| 14:37:08
| Raikkonen and Massa follow. |
| 14:38:56
| Three minutes remain as Kovalainen starts a timed lap. Others now heading out. |
| 14:39:37
| Massa and Raikkonen are on fast laps. Heidfeld is the final driver in the pits at the moment. |
| 14:39:46
| Now Heidfeld is out as well. |
| 14:40:26
| Kovalainen remains fifth fastest. |
| 14:40:42
| Massa moves second fastest and Raikkonen drops to seventh. |
| 14:41:48
| Webber is slowest at the moment and on a final push. |
| 14:42:01
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:42:43
| Glock remains outside of the top ten. |
| 14:43:08
| Webber moves 13th, Alonso remains 11th. |
| 14:43:29
| Heidfeld vaults third fastest leaving it really to the final seconds. |
| 14:43:49
| Alonso ran wide on his lap and put the car on the kerbing. |
| 14:44:07
| So the slowest five are Piquet, Webber, Glock, Alonso and Nakajima. |
| 14:44:31
| Vettel is fastest in this session on a 1:37.8. Impressive. |
| 14:44:52
| There is now a pause as race fuel is added ahead of Q3. |
| 14:50:13
| The final round of qualifying is underway. The drivers now have race fuel on board as they go for the pole position. |
| 14:50:46
| The light rain from earlier has had no effect. The circuit remains fully dry. |
| 14:51:12
| Trulli and Bourdais head out first for Toyota and Toro Rosso. |
| 14:51:39
| The others are now heading out. |
| 14:52:11
| All ten runners are on track. |
| 14:53:09
| Trulli is on his first timed lap of the session. The times will be slower than in Q2 as they now have race fuel on board. |
| 14:54:25
| Trulli posts a 1:40.3, not a fast lap really. |
| 14:54:37
| Bourdais moves second fastest. |
| 14:54:54
| Vettel moves fastest as Bourdais moves third best. |
| 14:55:20
| All change as Massa, Raikkonen and Hamilton move first, second and third. |
| 14:55:42
| Now Kubica moves third fastest. |
| 14:56:06
| Bourdais is slowest of the ten as he pits. |
| 14:56:35
| Kovalainen is sixth best at the moment ahead of Trulli, Heidfeld and Rosberg. |
| 14:57:22
| Hamilton, P4, heads back out on the soft tyres again. |
| 14:57:41
| Massa is in the soft tyres and Raikkonen sticks with the hard. |
| 14:58:01
| They're all back out now. |
| 14:58:38
| They are now on the out lap with 90 seconds remaining. |
| 14:58:53
| Hamilton starts his final timed lap. |
| 14:59:31
| Hamilton is pushing hard as is Raikkonen. |
| 15:00:03
| Bourdais moves ninth. |
| 15:00:08
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 15:00:27
| Hamilton moves fastest for now... |
| 15:01:02
| Massa takes the provisional pole. |
| 15:01:10
| Kubica moves third. |
| 15:01:28
| Kovalainen moves fifth. |
| 15:01:58
| So Massa is on pole position for the European Grand Prix from Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen and Kovalainen. |
| 15:02:29
| Vettel starts an impressive sixth ahead of Trulli, Heidfeld, Rosberg and Bourdais. |
