Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It's daylight but the lights are on and we're just under half an hour away from the start of Q1

It was another Red Bull one-two in FP3, but the Mercedes pair were close behind and looking quick over one lap, while Lotus is fast in race trim. And FP3 was run in much hotter conditions than this session will be, so still plenty of unknowns

Jules Bianchi had a crash in FP3 as he spun at high speed at Turn 2 and hit the wall, which appears to have damaged his gearbox. Changing that will result in a five place grid penalty

As always, we'd love to hear from you during qualifying. If you want to get in touch with us, either do so via email using the link above or on Twitter @ESPNF1

As you can see from the local time on this page, it's early evening here and the sun is starting to set. We'll just about hit complete darkness by the end of Q3

There's a big delta here between the medium and the soft tyre - closer to two seconds than one - and that's likely to force all the teams to use softs from the first part of qualifying. Perhaps even Red Bull

We have had to change the gearbox on Jules' car following #FP3 but we're all good

— Marussia F1 Team (@Marussia_F1Team) November 2, 2013

The track temperature is already 11C cooler than it was in FP3, so it's a moving target for the teams

20 minutes to work our who will drop out in Q1. Realistically, a fight to avoid the final two places alongside Caterham and Marussia

We are go for Q1 and di Resta is first on track followed by Hulkenberg

CW Wong emails in to ask: "Any idea why the Ferraris are so much off pace?"

Alonso hinted yesterday that it was just a case of the track not suiting the car, but it looks like it could struggle to make it in to Q3

Only the Red Bulls and Alonso yet to go out. Both Marussias on softs but the rest on mediums

Rosberg goes quickest so far with a 1:42.567. He did have all four wheels off the track on both occasions in the final two corners, though, and the stewards have said they'll be tight on that this weekend

Bit of an incident between Grosjean and van der Garde - both with DRS open heading towards Turn 11 and the Lotus jinks towards the Caterham and cuts him off at the apex

Perez going very quickly - he may be on softs already

He isn't, and Perez goes third. The two Mercedes are split by 0.006s

Rosberg improves again - still on mediums. We're still waiting to see the Red Bulls

Plenty of cars staying out on track, running enough fuel for five or six laps and taking one lap to cool the tyres between flying ones

Alonso's latest lap brings him within 0.3s of the pace-setting Rosberg. The track gets quicker as the session goes on

Both Red Bulls out on track now and they're both on softs already

Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:42.231

I think we're going to see a lot cars switching to softs late on. Grosjean and Massa definitely as they're in the drop zone once the Red Bulls set their times

Grosjean heads out on softs, as does Raikkonen. I expect we'll see the same from Ferrari now too

Vettel goes fastest by half a second but then Webber beats it with a 1:41.568

Four minutes to go, both Mercedes back in the pits and probably needing to head out on softs as well

Current drop zone: Maldonado, Massa, Grosjean, Pic, Chilton and Bianchi. Van der Garde's up in 15th at present but he set his time on softs too

Maldonado goes fourth with his time ahead of Hamilton. Vettel pits, strangely. I'd have thought he could do with one more lap

Grosjean goes second behind his team-mate on softs

Still two minutes to go and both Red Bulls are back in the pits. Vettel is fifth but I don't think he'll be in serious trouble

Drop zone now is Sutil, van der Garde, Massa, Pic, Chilton and Bianchi. Massa will get one lap to try and get out of there

Solid first sector from Massa. Alonso improving too as is Perez

This will all change around very quickly. Button up to P8, I'd say Bottas is in trouble as he's in the pits

Rosberg goes second, then Alonso beats him

Here's Massa and he goes quickest. Hamilton and Sutil now in the drop zone...

Gutierrez is 15th and can't improve, he's in trouble too...

Maldonado goes third overall

Hamilton goes half a second clear of the field. Sutil is out and so is Gutierrez

Vettel ended up in 11th place but only 0.3s ahead of Gutierrez

Sutil wasn't happy with his car in FP3 and that's translated in to a poor session here. Di Resta was 0.4s quicker than him

OUT: Gutierrez, Sutil, van der Garde, Bianchi, Pic and Chilton

A good job by van der Garde. He's impressed me with his pace at times this year, and with his seat under threat it's always good to beat your team-mate

Big evolution in that session and we're likely to see more of that in Q2 and Q3. Last across the line could have an advantage

Hamilton's looking very quick here though and Vettel could have real competition for pole

Di Resta first out on track in Q2 and he's on soft tyres

Button's behind di Resta on track. I'd be surprised if we see anyone on mediums at all in Q2

#Kimi heads out for first taste of #q2 pic.twitter.com/ivPwqbrwUh

— Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) November 2, 2013

The floodlights really starting to take hold now as the sun starts to set. The track might not be the greatest test for the drivers but it's a spectacular setting

Hulkenberg heads di Resta and Button on their first runs

Hulkenberg found half a second just with track evolution

Raikkonen now fastest on a 1:40.971

It's a good lap from Hulkenberg, Grosjean fails to beat it

Rosberg goes fastest with a 1:40.473

Alonso a full second off the pace. This will not be easy for Ferrari

Hamilton goes second, 0.004s off Rosberg. Vettel P3 on used soft tyres and 0.3s off

Oliver emails in to ask: "Given that the stewards have thretened to discount any laps where the drivers go off the track with all four wheels, o you foresee anyone being affected in qualifying so far?"

No, it looks like the stewards are turning a blind eye to it. Most drivers are going off track at some stage, which makes it difficult to police, but the message needed to be clearer at the start of the weekend that it wouldn't be tolerated

Seven minutes to go and the drop zone is di Resta, Alonso, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Bottas and Button

Lotus thinks the cut-off time in this session will be a 1m41.1s lap time. Webber's done exactly that, as has Hulkenberg. Raikkonen on a 1m40.9s won't be sitting comfortably but the top three should be alright

Di Resta winds it up for his second run. It would be a great effort for him to make it through to Q3

Webber will put on a new set of softs to try and get through

Di Resta has gone early here so I'd expect him to back off after this lap and try to go again for one more lap. He's done a 1m41.1s

Grosjean goes fifth with a 1m40.9s. Rosberg and Hamilton looking in a good place right now - Hamilton has been sent back out and will abort at the last minute, according to Mercedes team radio

Alonso not quick enough on this lap and he's backed off for one final run. Not looking good for him here...

Webber with the fastest first sector. Vettel stays in the pits

Maldonado goes 11th - 0.08s off the time he needed

Bottas goes 12th - not enough for him either

Button first to take the flag and he goes 9th

Hulkenberg up to fourth and safely through

Ricciardo up to fourth! Good time. That's changed things a bit for the likes of Ferrari... Massa only P10

Button is out

Alonso in 16th, he's on an OK lap but is it enough?

Alonso ... is OUT!

Massa is through, Alonso is out...

OUT: Alonso, di Resta, Button, Vergne, Maldonado and Bottas

Button complaining over the radio that he can't understand how he's suddenly so uncompetitive. Perez in P5 looks in good shape, and a great job from Ricciardo in sixth and Hulkenberg seventh

Alonso's problem was that he lost time on his first lap on new softs and aborted but only had the final sector to cool the tyres and then had to go again. He missed out by 0.1s to his team-mate

How much of a shock is that? Well Alonso has been in the top ten every time this season and the last time he missed out was Valencia 2012. When he won.

Siddhesh asks: "Are Merc on used tyres too?" It appears so. Rosberg and Vettel left with two new sets of softs for Q3, Hamilton went out and aborted so that's all he's done on one of his

Christian Horner just told Sky that he thinks it will be tough to beat the Mercedes to pole.

We are green for Q3 and only Massa, Perez and Grosjean yet to head out

Hulkenberg first to start a lap

Only Massa not on track. Webber fastest in the first sector

Rosberg fastest in the middle sector but down on Hamilton overall... now Vettel fastest in the middle sector

Final sector is where Hamilton makes his time up...

1:40.501 for Hamilton, beaten by Rosberg with a 1:40.419

Webber only third but there's Vettel with a 1:40.091. Wow.

Grosjean only sixth and almost a second off the pace. Webber 0.7s off his team-mate and almost all that time came in the final two sectors

Ricciardo and Perez aborted their laps, so no time yet from either of them or Massa

Hamilton's time wasn't as quick as his Q2 lap, interestingly. Webber, Grosjean and Hulkenberg all failing to find time too

Webber lost half a second to Vettel in the final sector. Surely Mercedes has more to come?

Grosjean last to head out and he will have to be pretty quick round to the line

Vettel's time is mighty, but out of the Red Bulls and Mercedes he's the only guy to find any real time

Webber winds it up and sets off in pursuit of his team-mate. A very good first sector too...

Webber is flying. Fastest middle sector two. Needs to keep it together in sector three though

Webber goes fastest!

Webber in to the 1m39s

Rosberg... can't improve

Hamilton spins!

POLE FOR MARK WEBBER!

Hamilton was quick and looking for that extra time in the final sector but spun at Turn 14

Webber's time was awesome. I didn't think anyone could realistically beat Vettel but Webber nailed it. Vettel wasn't affected by the yellow flag either so that's pole on merit

Hamilton actually dropped it out of Turn 13 - he got a bit wide on the kerb, still tried to get the power down and after catching it once the car spun on him

What a great job from Webber. Brilliant stuff. It's another Red Bull one-two and Mercedes are third and fourth despite Hamilton's spin. Great job from Nico Hulkenberg to get P6 ahead of Grosjean - although Grosjean was affected by Hamilton's spin.

You sense Mercedes main hopes of victory have gone by not beating Red Bull to pole, but fifth is a strong starting point for Raikkonen with the pace he clearly has over a race distance. It should still be a close race so make sure you join us for that tomorrow and stay on ESPNF1.com for all the reaction from today's session. Sure to be some interesting quotes from the likes of Alonso, Hamilton and Webber...