| 13:50:52
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of the European Grand Prix qualifying session. |
| 13:52:39
| Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets once again this morning in his Ferrari, enjoying a two-tenths advantage over nearest rival Lewis Hamilton. With Fernando Alonso third fastest and Felipe Massa fifth, it is clear that the battle for the pole will be between Ferrari and McLaren. |
| 13:54:18
| BMW Sauber may be able to spring a surprise however. This is their home venue and with Robert Kubica showing well in fourth position this morning, the team may gamble on a light fuel load and try and mix it with the front runners. |
| 13:56:36
| The midfield battle between Williams Toyota, Red Bull Renault, Toyota, Honda and Renault will be a tightly fought contest which could produce a few surprises. The battle at the back between Toro Rosso, Super Aguri and Spyker will be to try and make it into the second qualifying session. |
| 13:58:14
| This is Marcus Winkelhock’s debut in qualifying having taken over Christijan Albers’ race seat. His target is to try and get as close as he can to team-mate Adrian Sutil. As ever, qualifying is split into three 15 minutes sessions. The slowest six are eliminated from Q1 and Q2, leaving the final ten to take race fuel and go for the Pole Position. |
| 14:00:04
| The first qualifying session is now underway. |
| 14:00:49
| Adrian Sutil is the first man on track. He and teh slower runners will all use the softest tyre straight away, while the faster runners will try and get through Q1 on the hard tyres. |
| 14:01:22
| Sutil is joined by Alex Wurz and Winkelhock. |
| 14:02:10
| Based on this morning's practice times, to make it into Q2, a driver will need to lap in 1:33.2 or faster. |
| 14:03:05
| Renault send out Fisichella and Kubica. Others now heading out. |
| 14:03:35
| The back end of the Spyker seems a little lose, oversteer into the chicane. |
| 14:04:07
| Sutil records the first lap of the session. He is a fraction slower than his practice pace. |
| 14:04:31
| Wurz moves fastest in his Williams from Sutil and Winkelhock. |
| 14:04:52
| That may be fast enough to make it into Q2 for Wurz. |
| 14:05:28
| McLaren and Ferrari remain in the pits. The rest are out. |
| 14:05:44
| Rosberg moves second fastest. |
| 14:06:07
| Hamilton is now on his out lap. |
| 14:06:55
| Ralf Schumacher moves fastest on the harder tyre. Job done. |
| 14:07:20
| Now Trulli is fastest from Schumacher and Rosberg |
| 14:07:49
| Sato moves fastest as Davidson slots fourth. |
| 14:08:09
| So Super Aguri look to make it into Q2. Impressive pace. |
| 14:08:37
| Hamilton now fastest as Barrichello moves second. Strange things happening here.... |
| 14:08:50
| Massa remains in the pits. |
| 14:09:30
| Heidfeld is safe as he moves second. |
| 14:10:09
| Alonso and Raikkonen move first and second. |
| 14:10:33
| Massa is now on his fast lap. |
| 14:11:11
| Rosberg and those slower need to run again in this session to try and improve their times. |
| 14:11:57
| Webber finds time in his Red Bull and is now safe. Same for Wurz. |
| 14:12:44
| The big names facing elimination at the moment are Fisichella, Button and Rosberg. |
| 14:13:15
| The slower runners are all heading back out with two minutes remaining. |
| 14:13:37
| Winkelhock runs wide but is able to continue. |
| 14:14:13
| Coulthard heads out, but he will not have time to start a flying lap. |
| 14:14:40
| All but the top few are out for one last run. |
| 14:15:05
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:15:12
| Many on fast laps now. |
| 14:15:49
| Davidson gains one position and is now 13th. |
| 14:16:01
| Rosberg moves seventh. |
| 14:16:19
| Button doesn't improve. Both Renault's improve. |
| 14:17:17
| So the Spyker duo are both eliminated as expected. |
| 14:18:10
| A terrible session for Coulthard. He left the pits too late to get a fast lap in at the end. He is 20th in his Red Bull. behind Liuzzi and Speed. Button is 17th and does not make it through. |
| 14:18:39
| Both Super Aguri Honda racers made the cut which is impressive. |
| 14:19:08
| At the front, Alonso set the pace from Massa, Raikkonen and Hamilton on a 1:31.074s best. |
| 14:19:29
| A short pause now before the second qualifying session gets underway. |
| 14:22:58
| The second session is now underway. |
| 14:23:51
| No one out at the moment. They will all use the soft tyres in this session. |
| 14:25:40
| As ever, they are all waiting as long as they can before running. They will aim to get two runs in. |
| 14:26:04
| Some dark clouds are moving in, but it is unlikley to rain for a while yet. |
| 14:26:25
| Ralf Schumacher is now on track in his Toyota. He has shown good pace in practice. |
| 14:26:37
| Mark Webber heads out in his Red Bull. |
| 14:26:56
| Trulli and Raikkonen now heading out. |
| 14:27:15
| It's time to go as the others start to head out. |
| 14:28:35
| Trulli gets some oversteer mid-lap and loses a little time at the hairpin. |
| 14:29:27
| Trulli sets the initial pace only for Rald Schumacher to better the time a few seconds later. |
| 14:29:49
| Now Kovalainen moves fastest in his Renault with Fisichella fourth and Webber fifth. |
| 14:30:23
| Raikkonen moves fastest. Massa is also on a fast lap. |
| 14:31:07
| Massa moves fastest now. Hamilton and Alonso on fast laps. |
| 14:31:48
| Hamilton moves second fastest. |
| 14:32:36
| Now Alonso moves second in his McLaren. |
| 14:34:10
| So as the first runs are complete. All but the fastest few will run again. |
| 14:35:57
| Fisichella, Barrichello, Webber, Wurz, Sato and Davidson all need to improve as they are currently 11th to 16th. |
| 14:37:07
| The chequered flag is out and most are on track looking to improve. |
| 14:38:06
| Fisichella remains 11th. |
| 14:38:17
| Kovalainen moves seventh. |
| 14:38:27
| Webber moves seventh. |
| 14:38:37
| Trulli spins his Toyota. |
| 14:38:51
| Barrichello is 14th. |
| 14:39:08
| Trulli spun at the NGK chicane. |
| 14:39:44
| So Massa is fastest in Q2 from Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen. |
| 14:40:06
| Despite his spin, Trulli is tenth and makes it into Q3. |
| 14:40:30
| Rosberg and Wurz are eliminated for Williams. |
| 14:41:11
| Fisichella starts 13th in his Renault ahead of the four Honda powered drivers. |
| 14:41:28
| There is a pause now before Q3 gets underway. |
| 14:44:40
| It has clouded over. They are lined up in the pit lane awaiting the green light for Q3. |
| 14:45:09
| They now have race fuel on board as the session gets underway. |
| 14:45:30
| Massa leads Hamilton and Raikkonen out of the pit lane. |
| 14:46:16
| This is the fuel burn phase of the session. They will burn some fuel off and then take new tyres and go for a time. |
| 14:47:08
| Hamilton is chasing Massa on the circuit. |
| 14:47:26
| This is race preperation at the moment. |
| 14:47:45
| Alonso left the pit lane last and has a clear circuit. |
| 14:48:35
| Massa is on the soft tyre and Hamilton the hard as they run nose to tail. |
| 14:49:16
| Nick Heidfeld sets the initial pace from Hamilton and Massa. |
| 14:49:26
| Now Alonso moves fastest. |
| 14:52:19
| They're all now pitting and taking fresh tyres for the first flying lap. Hamilton remains on Massa's gearbox. |
| 14:52:58
| McLaren hold Alonso in the pits to ensure he exits in clear air. |
| 14:53:37
| Massa starts his flying lap. Hamilton has dropped back to find space. |
| 14:54:37
| Hamilton is pushing hard as he locks his front right into the hairpin. |
| 14:54:47
| Hamilton is off! |
| 14:55:13
| Hamilton has gone off and damaged the McLaren. Front right impact with damage. |
| 14:55:20
| Red flag. |
| 14:55:55
| Hamilton is climbing out of the car. He seems winded. |
| 14:57:03
| It was a front right suspension or tyre failure. He went through the gravel at the newly renamed Michael Schumacher turn and a heavy impact. |
| 14:57:47
| So the session is halted at the moment while the badly damaged McLaren is removed. |
| 15:11:51
| The session remains reg flagged. |
| 15:14:03
| There is a lot of damage to the tyre wall which will need to be fixed before the session can resume. |
| 15:20:36
| Just over five minutes remain on the clock. That is plenty of time for one more run. |
| 15:21:12
| The session should resume shortly. |
| 15:24:12
| The session will resume in four minutes time. |
| 15:26:42
| So, we have Alonso fastest at the moment from Raikkonen, Heidfeld and Massa. |
| 15:27:01
| They are now lining up in the pit lane awaiting the green light. |
| 15:27:19
| The session is now back underway. |
| 15:27:59
| Hamilton of course is out of the session. He is currently fifth fastest and will be hoping not to lose further ground. |
| 15:29:15
| Massa and others head back into the pits and take a new set of tyres. |
| 15:29:48
| As they take new rubber, they have time for two flying laps. |
| 15:30:32
| Massa passes Heidfeld on his out lap. |
| 15:31:07
| Massa starts his flying lap. There is 90 seconds remaining. |
| 15:31:41
| A number of drivers now on fast laps. |
| 15:32:03
| Trulli moves fastest in his Toyota. |
| 15:32:25
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 15:32:35
| Massa moves fastest for Ferrari |
| 15:32:49
| Now Raikkonen fastest. |
| 15:33:02
| Alonso is on a hot lap. |
| 15:33:13
| Alonso moves second in his McLaren. |
| 15:33:37
| Heidfeld has improved and is fourth. Raikkonen has the pole position! |
| 15:34:38
| Kubica starts fifth ahead of Webberm Kovalainen, Trulli and Ralf Schumacher. Hamilton drops to tenth position. |
