Welcome to qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. We're fifteen minutes away from finally seeing wheels turned in anger to decide the grid for tomorrow's race.

After Red Bull finally showed its hand in practice this morning, with Sebastian Vettel eight tenths clear at the front, can anyone stop them locking out the front row? And how will the updated McLaren fare?

There are also questions to be answered further back; can Lotus get close to the midfield? Will Virgin and Hispania make the 107% qualifying time? We're going to find out in ten minutes time.

Just to clarify, the 107% time is calculated from the fastest time set in the first qualifying session, so we will know who has or hasn't made the cut off after Q1 has ended.

Christian Horner has just told the BBC they will try and get through the first qualifying session on hard tyres, but with the soft tyre being up to a second quicker he wouldn't rule out a run on the softer compound.

The track temperature has dropped a few degrees since third practice, but all the teams have been pleasantly surprised with the Pirelli tyres so far this weekend, so that shouldn't cause too much of a problem.

We've got four qualifying debutants today, as well as an HRT that has barely turned a wheel. It's bound to be an interesting and busy first session

And qualifying is underway. First out on track is Vitaly Petrov in the Renault

Lotus' Mike Gascoyne on Twitter: "5 mins to go. Still had big problems getting heat into the tyres in P3. Also both drivers struggling with the steering feedback"

Tonio Liuzzi is out too, as Paul di Resta heads out for his first Formula One qualifying session. Both Lotus', Virgins and Renaults are on track

Vitaly Petrov sets the first flying lap, a 1:29, which isn't all that quick.

Both HRT's are now on track, which is the first time we've seen that all weekend.

McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are also out, as are both Red Bulls. Paul di Resta goes second with a 1:29.7

Nick Heidfeld runs wide at turn six after locking a wheel. As Karhtikeyan gets in the way of Timo Glock. The HRT not looking very quick at this early stage

Sebastian Vettel goes quickest, as Karthikeyan and Liuzzi post laps over 10 seconds off the pace. It's all about getting through safely for the big teams.

Button goes third behind both Red Bull's, as Schumacher goes out on the soft tyre for his first run

Webber goes fastest by over seven tenths, as the times start to drop.

Hamilton lighting up the timing boards, and goes quickest with a 1:25,384. A good lap on the hard tyres

The current 107% time stands at 1:31.361, meaning both HRT's are currently outside but Virgin are through.

Vettel shaves another tenth of the quickest time. Alonso is working hard at the wheel of the Ferrari but is over a second behind the pace-setting Red Bull

On board shots of the Mercedes shows Schumacher working the moveable rear wing throughout the lap, as they are allowed to during qualifying. In the race it is restricted to a section of the pit straight, and within one second of the car in front

Six minutes left in the session, Perez still yet to set a time as his team-mate Kobayashi goes third

Perez now goes fourth. So the usual suspects of Lotus, Virgin and HRT are currently missing out, along with Paul di Resta

Buemi improves to ninth, as Fernando Alonso feels the need to go out on the soft tyre

Felipe Massa also goes out on the soft tyre, which is not the ideal situation for Ferrari, but the Saubers and Toro Rossos have set impressive times

Kamui Kobayashi slides his car through turn eleven on his way to setting the third fastest time

Current 107% time is 1:31.266, with both HRT's outside of that, with Liuzzi in the 1:32's and Karthikeyan in the 1:34's

Heidfeld and Massa on the brink at the moment with 20 seconds left

The time is up, with many drivers on a last ditch lap

Massa and Heidfeld both on laps, Heidfeld comes through a tenth ahead of Massa as it stands...

Massa improves to 11th to knock Nick Heidfeld out of the first session alongside both Lotus', Virgins and HRT's.

Paul di Resta sneaks through by 17 thousandths of a second. Oddly, Heidfeld's team-mate Petrov was third, almost two seconds faster than the German.

Both HRT cars are outside the 107% rule, but it is up to the FIA and other teams to decide whether they can race or not.

Replays show Heidfeld came across an HRT on his final flying lap which will have cost him a lot of time.

Timo Glock finished that session within half a second of Trulli, which will encourage Virgin, but is not close to where Lotus were aiming to be this year.

Jaime Alguersuari is eager, and waits at the end of the pit lane for the green light as the second qualifying session gets underway

Barrichello and Buemi join him on track, as does Kobayashi

Having lost seven cars we may well see everyone get a clean lap in this session. It promises to be very close in the midfield.

Vettel leaves the pits on soft tyres, showing that even Red Bull can't expect to get through on the hard compound.

Oh dear. Rubens Barrichello spins out of qualifying at turn three after putting a wheel on the grass under braking.

Waved yellow flags mean nobody can go quicker in the first sector. Barrichello will now start seventeenth unless anyone receives a penalty ahead of him.

Only Buemi and Alguersuari have set representative times at the moment, as both Red Bulls have to pit having gone out on soft tyres

The track is clear again

Lewis Hamilton is out on the hard tyre, and locks up heavily in to turn three

Both Red Bulls, both Mercedes and both McLaren's on track at present

Hamilton sets the fastest lap by two tenths from Rosberg, a 1:25.5

Button goes quickest with a 1:24.9, but neither Red Bull has set a time yet

Vettel on a flying lap, and he goes comfortably quickest with a 1:24.0

Alonso is already three tenths down after the first sector, so Ferrari can't keep pace with Red Bull as it stands

Five minutes left and only ten drivers have set flying laps

Replays show Rosberg brushing the wall coming out of turn eight

Both Toro Rosso's are currently in the top ten

Kobayashi goes seventh, pushing Schumacher out of the top ten

Just two minutes to go and Pastor Maldonado can't make the top ten with his latest effort

Alguersuari and Schumacher 11th and 12th at the moment

Adrian Sutil spins coming out of the final turn at high speed, and does brilliantly to keep it out of the wall. It was caused by him opening the rear wing as he put the power down

Hamilton sets a time half a second slower than Vettel on the soft tyres

Sutil won't get to set another time, so he's out. Di Resta can only go fourteenth as Schumacher only goes eleventh but has time for one more lap

Kobayashi goes quicker, up in to sixth place. Perez and Alguersuari are out

Schumacher still pushing on

A quicker middle sector from Schumacher, but he misses out by just under a tenth and will start from 11th. Buemi the man through in 10th

Dropping out are Schumacher, Alguersuari, Perez, di Resta, Maldonado, Sutil and Barrichello

Good laps from Buemi and Kobayashi putting them through. Williams will be slightly disappointed to have both cars miss Q3

At the front, Vettel was half a second clear of everyone else

Barrichello admits his mistake was "a silly one", and says that the pace was quicker than expected

Pole position may be out of reach for McLaren, but they look much more comfortable than Ferrari at this point

Before the final session gets underway, the drivers battling for pole are: Vettel, Webber, Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Kobayashi, Rosberg, Buemi and Petrov

Inside Ferrari on Twitter: "So both cars are in Q3 but have only one set of new soft tyres available while other cars have two"

Nobody out early in the final session

The track evolves throughout the race weekend here, so the later a driver can do a lap the better shape they will be in

Hamilton is first out on track, followed by his team-mate Button

Button also on soft tyres. They're expected to be up to a second quicker over a single lap

Hamilton begins his flying lap, and locks up again in to turn three. It's been a common problem for McLaren today

Hamilton sets a 1:24.5 as his first time, and Button a 1:24.8 behind him

Vettel comes through with a 1:23.5, Webber following him with a 1:24.3. Outstanding pace from Vettel

Buemi on a flying lap now, Rosberg is currently fifth but two seconds behind Vettel

A slow lap from Buemi with a 1:27

Alonso slows down on his first flying lap, having run wide at turn three. He'll need to keep some life in his soft tyres

Massa spins at turn one, which will ruin anyone else on a flying lap. He had just left the pits and took too much kerb

Everyone out on track now with one minute to go, Vettel looks to have secured pole but it's much closer for 2nd

Alonso on a quick lap, he crosses the line with a 1:24.9 to go fifth

Everyone on their final laps now, Vettel is flying again

Vettel's lap is within a tenth of his original time, Webber crosses the line in 2nd

Hamilton beats Webber on his last lap, and Button comes through in fourth

Petrov is sixth, with nobody on a lap anymore. ahead of Rosberg, Massa, Kobayashi and Buemi

Vettel very pleased with his pole time, telling his team over the radio: "We keep doing our thing, we are who we are."

Vettel was untouchable at the front, with Hamilton doing well to take second ahead of Webber, but still seven tenths behind the German

McLaren will be pleased with second and fourth, Webber less so with third at his home grand prix. Ferrari surprisingly couldn't get in the mix.

Only Hamilton and Webber within a second of Vettel. To show how quick he was, Buemi in tenth was 3.5s behind the pole sitter

So Vettel lays down a marker to the rest of the grid, Hamilton will start alongside him. Webber and Button make up row two ahead of Alonso and Petrov. Rosberg, Massa, Kobayashi and Buemi round out the top ten. The first man with the opportunity to start on hard tyres will be Schumacher in eleventh.

So that concludes qualifying, as we finally see some sort of definitive order. A good day for McLaren, an even better one for Vettel. Join us tomorrow to see how the race unfolds. Set your alarms!