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| 13:49:58
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying session. |
| 13:52:03
| Lewis Hamilton led the way in the final practice session this morning with a best time of 1:32.543s, just 0.006s ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. BMW Sauber looked strong with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica third and fourth fastest ahead of Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri Honda... |
| 13:55:20
| Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were sixth and seventh fastest but will both undoubtedly be a contender for the front row of the grid in this session. Red Bull, Renault and Williams all seem closely matched with three tenths of a second covering the teams, so qualifying should prove to be an entertaining session. |
| 13:56:05
| After failing to make the top ten last time out in Malaysia, Renault will be hoping for a better qualifying showing this afternoon. There’s no such confidence over at Honda who know it is going to be a big struggle. |
| 13:57:56
| As ever, qualifying is split into three 15 minute sessions, with the slowest six eliminated in Q1 and Q2 leaving the final ten to go thought into Q3 and the shoot out for the Pole. |
| 14:00:05
| The sun is out, it’s hot and the session is underway. |
| 14:00:53
| Alex Wurz heads out in the Williams. |
| 14:02:00
| Wurz, Sutil, Coulthard, Coulthard and others head out. The front runners will aim to run just one set of the hard tyres in Q2, saving the softer option for later in qualifying. |
| 14:03:08
| For Spyker, this is probably the only session they will run in. They have propped up the bottom of the timesheets again all weekend. |
| 14:04:35
| First lap times coming in. Both Renault's have had reliability problems today. |
| 14:05:38
| Looking at the practice times, a 1:34 will be needed to make it into Q2. |
| 14:06:09
| Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso, Kubica and Heidfeld in the pits, the rest on track. |
| 14:06:31
| Button pits, that lap time will probably not be enough. |
| 14:06:52
| A good lap from Tonio Liuzzi. That may be good enough for him in Q1. |
| 14:07:05
| Davidson moves fastest and should be through into Q2. |
| 14:07:45
| Fisichella and Kovalainen are third and fourth fastest just ahead of Webber. |
| 14:08:24
| Now all but Raikkonen either on track or have set a time. |
| 14:08:44
| Button is back out for his second run in the Honda. He is second slowest at the moment. |
| 14:08:59
| Barrichello moves second fastest. |
| 14:09:12
| Hamilton moves P1 and is safe now for Q2. |
| 14:09:54
| Sutil, Button, Albers, Coulthard, Wurz and Schumacher are slowest so far. |
| 14:10:25
| Alonso moves second ahead of Heidfeld and Davidson. |
| 14:10:40
| Button is on a better lap in the Honda. |
| 14:11:05
| Button moves into the top ten. He may have done enough with that lap. |
| 14:11:17
| Massa fastest for Ferrari. |
| 14:11:47
| The slower runners are starting their second runs now aiming to improve with three minutes remaining. |
| 14:12:06
| Raikkonen is safe with the fourth fastest time. |
| 14:12:37
| Rosberg is on a better lap and looking to move up the order. |
| 14:13:20
| Wurz needs to find time while in his Williams. |
| 14:13:39
| Coulthard pits his Red Bull. A bad session for him. |
| 14:14:21
| Ralf Schumacher is pushing hard and looking to move out of the bottom six. |
| 14:15:13
| The chequered flag is out out. |
| 14:15:34
| Ralf Schumacher improves to 12th ahead of Button. |
| 14:15:55
| Kovalainen is 17th and needs to improve. |
| 14:16:09
| The Renault driver moves tenth. |
| 14:16:58
| Albers locks his rear brakes and runs off track. |
| 14:17:23
| So Albers, Coulthard, Sutil, Speed, Liuzzi and Sato fail to make it into Q2. |
| 14:17:54
| Coulthard had a mechanical problem again on the Red Bull Renault. He stopped in practice as well so a bad day for him. |
| 14:18:13
| For the record, Massa was fastest on a 1:32.443. |
| 14:18:29
| There is a short pause and then Q2 gets underway. |
| 14:21:15
| Ralf Schumacher, the Honda duo and the Renault pairing now face the task of making it into Q3. They will all run the softer medium tyres in this session. |
| 14:22:22
| Q2 is now underway. |
| 14:23:11
| No one rushing on to the circuit at the moment although they are all in the cars and ready to go. |
| 14:24:18
| Ralf Schumacher heads out. He has struggled all weekend while Trulli has gone well in the sister Toyota. |
| 14:25:03
| Wurz, Webber, Trulli and Rosberg head out. |
| 14:26:00
| The rest are starting to head out as Ralf Schumacher starts his first timed lap. A low 1:33 will be the target. |
| 14:26:58
| Alonso, Massa, Kubica and Raikkonen yet to go out. |
| 14:27:36
| Schumacher sets his first lap time with Trulli immediately half a second faster. That may not be enough for Ralf to make Q3. |
| 14:28:15
| Hamilton, Heidfeld on fast laps. |
| 14:28:41
| Heidfeld moves fastest from Webber. Both good lap times that should be enough to make the top ten shootout. |
| 14:29:06
| Alonso and Kubica head out. |
| 14:29:28
| Hamilton fastest now for McLaren, the fastest lap of the weekend by some margin. |
| 14:29:58
| So Button, Barrichello, Wurz, Kovalainen, Ralf all need to make progress. |
| 14:30:32
| Rosberg is fifth ahead of Davidson who is runing well again for Super Aguri. |
| 14:30:51
| Fisichella is seventh but will probably need to improve on his second run. |
| 14:31:28
| Alonso is on his hot lap. Massa, Kubica and Raikkonen also on track. |
| 14:32:15
| Alonso moves third and that will do for Alonso although I'm sure he'd rather be fastest in this session. |
| 14:32:33
| Kubica moves fourth in his BMW Sauber. |
| 14:33:03
| A stunning lap from Massa as he moves P1. |
| 14:33:17
| Raikkonen moves third fastest in the second Ferrari. |
| 14:34:07
| The teams are getting ready for the second run. The top few will not need to run again in Q2 however. Honda, Williams, Renault, Toyota and Super Aguri will tun again. |
| 14:34:33
| Wurz heads out aiming to improve on 14th. |
| 14:34:57
| Kovalainen and the Honda duo back out. |
| 14:36:11
| The fastest six remain in the pits content with their time. The rest are all out. |
| 14:38:05
| They are start their second qualifying laps. |
| 14:38:32
| Wurz improves and is into the top ten |
| 14:38:47
| Fisichella improves |
| 14:39:16
| No one else looks like they will improve. |
| 14:39:38
| Wurz pits. He's 11th and done for the day. |
| 14:40:45
| So Wurz will start 11th ahead of Kovalainen, Davidson, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello and Button. |
| 14:42:36
| There's a pause and then Q3 is underway. |
| 14:43:30
| The clocks reset and it is now the battle for the top ten positions on the grid. |
| 14:44:12
| Renault have one car in the top ten. |
| 14:45:15
| Q3 is now underway. |
| 14:46:27
| They all head out to start the fuel burn phase of the session. They will burn off some race fuel and then have two runs on fresh tyres later in the session. |
| 14:47:03
| Hamilton leads the train of cars on the circuit. |
| 14:48:02
| This year in particular they all seem to push much harder in the fuel burn phase as they collect data for the start of tomorrow's race. |
| 14:49:18
| The first lap times are coming in - race pace laps as Hamilton's Mercedes puts out a big puff of smoke at the end of the straight. He continues, but something not quite right there. |
| 14:50:00
| Hamilton is fastest at the moment with a good margin over Massa. |
| 14:50:43
| Heidfeld pits and takes new rubber. An early stop really as there are nearly ten minutes remaining. |
| 14:52:20
| The front runners all pit to take on new tyres, Now the times will start to come.. |
| 14:53:22
| Heidfeld is on a fast lap |
| 14:54:02
| Heidfeld moves second fastest, but he is on the hard tyre at the moment. Massa and others on softer tyres. |
| 14:54:18
| Massa is on his first hot lap. |
| 14:55:05
| Massa is pushing very hard. |
| 14:55:39
| Massa moves fastest as Hamilton improves and remains second fastest. |
| 14:55:59
| Raikkonen moves third and seemed to be stuck behind a Renault. |
| 14:56:28
| Alonso moves fourth. Raikkonen nearly ran into the back of Fisichella under braking. |
| 14:56:41
| They will all pit again and have one final run. |
| 14:57:30
| Massa is the first back out on his final set of tyres. |
| 14:57:45
| They can all complete the lap they are on after the chequered flag. |
| 14:58:13
| So they all go for the softer tyres and get to go again. |
| 14:59:12
| Massa starts his final qualifying lap. |
| 15:00:20
| A good lap so far from Massa while Heidfeld is on a good lap. |
| 15:00:36
| Heidfeld moves third fastest |
| 15:00:46
| Massa improves and may have the pole. |
| 15:01:09
| Hamilton is second ahead of Raikkonen. |
| 15:01:34
| Alonso moves up one position and up to fourth. |
| 15:01:56
| So Felipe Massa claims his second straght Pole for Ferrari. |
| 15:02:19
| Lewis Hamilton will start second with his first front row grid of his career. |
| 15:02:55
| Raikkonen starts third ahead of Alonso, Heidfeld, Kubica, Fisichella, Webber, Trulli and Rosberg. |
