Hello and welcome to ESPN's coverage of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. The session is about 20 minutes away and we are expecting a two-fight for pole between championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

In final practice Williams' Felipe Massa split the two Mercedes, but we suspect the W05s were dialled down as neither set a quicker lap on the super-soft tyres. The Mercedes engine is making the difference for the works team and Williams low-drag and efficient FW36 is also in good form here.

But McLaren and Force India, which are also powered by Mercedes, have not been so quick as they struggle to shed drag without leaving the car to skittish under braking for their drivers.

The biggest news since FP3 is that Esteban Gutierrez will not be taking part in qualifying due to chassis damage sustained in final practice. He lost the rear of his Sauber heading into Turn 3 before it turned 180 degrees and hit the wall. The rear end went in first but it was actually the knock to the front-left suspension that punctured a hole in the chassis. It's a big job to rebuild a car from scratch, so Sauber are aiming to have it ready for tomorrow's race when Gutierrez will be starting from the back of the grid.

Ferrari fans will be pleased to see both Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in the top six most of the time this weekend. The car has updates this weekend, but Mercedes is still a long way in front and in reality they may have only provided a row on the grid in terms of relative pace to the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, the need for power around this circuit has seen Red Bull and its Renault power unit struggling. After being clearly the best of the rest in Monaco, Christian Horner would be happy with the third row on the grid this afternoon.

One surprise so far in the practice sessions has been the Toro Rossos. They are Renault-powered but look set for a space in Q3 and are regularly featuring quite high in the speed trap. The STR8 is actually quite a nice little package and one of the advantages it has is low drag for the amount of downforce it produces - i.e. aero efficiency. That has put Kvyat and Vergne relatively high up the timing sheets this weekend.

The drivers are being strapped into their cars, just a couple of minutes before the session starts and the track is up to a toasty 46C.

The pit lane is open, all we need now is a car or two...

Marcus Ericsson is the first man on track in the Caterham. Bottas follows him out in the Williams as birds scatter from the sides of the track with the noise of the V6 turbos between Montreal's concrete walls.

Ericsson has opted for super-softs. After Mercedes supremacy in FP3, they could probably do the whole of qualifying on the softs, but they may want to save a set of fresh softs for the race if they are planning a two-stop here.

Bottas sets the early benchmark with a 1:18.270 on the soft tyres.

Massa immediately pips his team-mate with a 1:17.728.

Button has smoke coming from all four brake ducts, which is a bit worrying. The brakes take a real hammering around here and may have overheated if he was on a slow outlap.

Rosberg takes a second out of the best lap so far with a 1:16.690

Hamilton runs wide at Turn 1 on his first attempt, but takes to the run-off and keeps his tyres clean of any flat spots.

Perez hit 337km/h (210 mph) in his Force India on the back straight, which is what happens when you turn the wick up on a Mercedes engine and low-downforce package around here

Hamilton is now quickest on a 1:16.438, 0.033s quicker than Rosberg's most recent effort. Rosberg lost his time to his team-mate in sector two after being the quickest so far in sectors one and three.

Massa is only 0.2s off Hamilton at the moment after his latest effort. Williams looking quick.

Raikkonen saves a huge slide through the final corner as he comes within inches of the wall of champions. He still doesn't look happy with the rear of his Ferrari.

Hamilton demolishes his previous benchmark with a 1:15.750. Rosberg's best is a 1:16.471 and he's now sat back in the garage.

Button showing promise up in fifth place, so it looks like McLaren's struggles in practice were not entirely reflective of their true pace.

Force Indias of Hulkenberg and Perez have opted for super-softs as they get worried about the cut for Q2. Expect most of the midfield to follow suit.

Perez spins off at Turn 8. He just put his left rear on the grass on entry and it spun him round. Force India really struggling for grip around here, especially when the tyres are cold.

Vettel runs wide at Turn 1 as he attempts a quicker lap on the softs.

Raikkonen out on super-softs and currently down in a rather worrying 12th.

Raikkonen goes fifth, which quickly becomes sixth. He's still 1.2s off Hamilton despite being on the softer tyres.

Vettel is back in the garage and down in 12th but he is told he will not be going out again - a bit of a risk if you ask me.

Alonso goes eighth fastest ahead of Raikkonen.

But it looks like our bottom six is settled as Maldonado parks his car in the Turn 3 run off.

That looks as though its a technical problem on the Lotus.

That's officially the end of Q1 as Ericsson parks the rear left of his Caterham in the barrier.

A bit of an embarrassing one for Ericsson as he came up behind a McLaren and Marussia in Turn 8, ran deep and lost the rear. The spin pitched the rear of the car into the barriers and destroyed the left rear suspension. Plenty of work for Caterham ahead of tomorrow's race.

A replay confirms that Maldonado had a loss of power coming out of Turn 1. He then opted to run off the track at Turn 3 and park his car safely out of the way. However, in doing so he drops out in Q1 with Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi, Ericsson and Gutierrez, who didn't start this session dues to chassis damage sustained in FP3.

There were 16 seconds remaining on the clock after the red flag, but we won't get them back as there's little point. Q2 coming up next.

The Red Bulls, Williams and Mercedes all didn't bother with the super-soft tyres in that session, which helps explain why both Red Bulls were outside the top 10. However, it looks like Ferrari might struggle to make Q3 on that showing, it's possible the hotter track temperatures have worked against them since practice.

A decent lap by the Marussias of Chilton and Bianchi who were only a tenth off Perez in 16th. Although Perez did have that spin that will not have helped his tyres.

Sutil is the first man out at the start of this session.

Massa out on a fresh set of super-softs for the first time since FP3.

Hulkenberg sets the early benchmark with a 1:16.623, but it is immediately beaten by the two Williams, with Massa fastest on a 1:15.773.

Raikkonen and Alonso are within striking distance of Massa's time through sector one.

Raikkonen loses some time in sector two and then has the long straight where Ferrari's power deficit is exposed.

And both Ferraris are off the pace of Massa. Raikkonen by 0.5s and Alonso by 0.3s.

A replay shows Raikkonen just brushed the wall at the exit of Turn 4. Close but not quite disaster for the Finn. He appears to be pushing the limits as much as anyone round here.

Alonso radios to say he is happy with his lap, which suggests Ferrari will not be mixing it for the front two rows as Williams are comfortably quicker than him.

Rosberg is slower than Massa on the super-softs, as is Hamilton who goes third.

Massa set a 1:15.773, Rosberg managed a 1:15.832 and Hamilton a 1:15.882.

If that stands as the Mercedes pair's fastest time in Q2 then they will start the race on those tyres. Interesting that Mercedes don't seem to be able to switch on the super-softs in the same way they do with the softs.

Vettel is currently in 12th outside the top 10. Raikkonen is just on the edge with Vergne just 0.04s off in 11th. It's going to be tight in the scrap for a place in Q3.

Margins are so narrow here, one mistake can cost several places on the grid. Only 0.4s separate Alonso in 5th and Vettel in 12th.

Perez is out on track on the super-softs, he's been struggling all weekend and is currently 15th.

Perez can only manage 12th fastest but you suspect everyone else will improve on these second runs.

Sutil looks rooted to 16th and is 0.6s off Kvyat in 15th on his latest effort.

Bottas goes second fastest with a 1:15.806. Raikkonen up to eighth with a 1:16.245.

Vettel is on a decent recovery lap, but runs wide at the hairpin...

Vettel goes fifth fastest as the chequered flag comes out.

Vergne pops into the top ten now.

Rosberg goes quickest - 0.5s ahead of Massa. But Hamilton is 0.2s quicker again.

Hulkenberg, Magnussen and Perez all drop out despite having Mercedes power.

Button manages to put McLaren in the top ten as Raikkonen and Vergne also sneak through to the top-ten shootout.

Disappointing for Kvyat who was 0.5s off the pace of his team-mate Vergne and will start from 15th on the grid tomorrow.

So clearly the Mercedes duo had a little extra in hand on the super-softs than the initially showed, but the Williams pair are looking good to lock out the second row.

Ricciardo had just over 0.2s over team-mate Vettel, which is again massively impressive. Yesterday Ricciardo was a bit lost with his set-up, but as the track temperature has come and the rubber has gone down, he has again found the edge over his four-time champion team-mate.

Ricciardo is within a tenth of Bottas too, so he might still upset Williams' party. But this is a track that is very suited to the Mercedes-powered FW36 and not so much the Renault-powered RB10.

The Hamilton/Rosberg is still the one that really matters, though. Hamilton definitely has the upper-hand so far, but you never know with this circuit where it is so easy to make a mistake. All it would take is one slide wide on the exit of a chicane and Rosberg could have an opportunity to upset the formbook.

The green light is on for Q3 and the first runs for pole position.

Bottas heads out on track first. Super-soft tyres on the Williams. He was a surprise third on the grid here last year in the wet and has a real chance of matching that again this time round.

Hamilton heads out behind Rosberg on track. So that's the order we'll see them set their laps today. Not much opportunity for messing around in run off areas here, but you can bet Hamilton will push hard on his banker lap this time after what happened in Monaco.

Bottas sets a 1:15.550 to get us underway. A decent lap and 0.3s quicker than his Q2 effort.

Rosberg sets a 1:14.946 to take provisional pole and Hamilton can't match it. He only sets a 1:15.014.

Hamilton was caught up a bit behind a Red Bull towards the end of that lap, but it's advantage Rosberg with another lap and set of super-soft tyres remaining.

Bottas holds third ahead of team-mate Massa, Ricciardo manages the fifth fastest time and is a full 0.4s quicker than Vettel.

Alonso settle for seventh as Raikkonen opts not to set a banker lap, presumably because he has used all but one set of new super-softs.

Raikkonen now heads out on his fresh set for his one run in Q3.

The rest are now heading out with a fresh set of super-softs. Raikkonen starts his hot lap as Mercedes makes sure it doesn't get in his way.

Raikkonen comes up behind Button and gets off line through Turn 8 and 9. Not Button's fault as he was off the racing line, just poor timing for the Finn.

Raikkonen can only manage the eighth fastest lap. That one lap strategy backfired for him.

Rosberg has not improved in the first sector but Hamilton is quicker.

Rosberg is faster in the second sector and on for a quicker lap this time now.

Hamilton has a bit of a shoddy second sector.

Rosberg improves with a 1:14.874.

Hamilton can't match his team-mate and is 0.07s off as he crosses the line.

Vettel snatches third with a brilliant lap ahead of Bottas and Massa.

Ricciardo has to settle for sixth and was just 0.04s off Vettel to give you an idea of how close it was between third and sixth.

Alonso in relative no-mans land for Ferrari in seventh ahead of Vergne in eighth, Button ninth and Raikkonen in tenth after his miss-timed lap.

But what a result for Rosberg! Beating Hamilton in qualifying for the second time in a row and again after Hamilton had the upper hand in practice.

A replay shows Hamilton locked up into Turn 8 ran wide and that would have cost him the gap to Rosberg.

So Hamilton has no-one to blame but himself. Is it possible the pressure got to him on that final run?

But the good news for Hamilton is that this is a circuit where overtaking is possible and it's a long race here. Rosberg looked closer to Hamilton on race pace, it has to be said, so we should have a thriller tomorrow.

Make sure you join us for live commentary of the race, but don't forget to keep checking the website for all the reaction to that session this afternoon.