Qualifying

Good afternoon and welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. After three practice sessions it's pretty clear that there are four teams harbouring hopes of pole position, but can anybody break Red Bull's Saturday dominance?

If you didn't catch FP3, Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time but Mark Webber didn't even get out as he had a KERS problem. It was a difficult session for Sergio Perez's replacement Pedro de la Rosa too, who hit the wall on the exit of turn four and damaged the rear of his Sauber. More work for the team to do before the session starts.


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So we've had a different driver quickest in each of the free practice sessions, making pole position tougher to predict than before this season. Who's your tip? Let us know via the link above or on Twitter @ESPNF1_live

The weather has been a talking point all weekend, with rain expected both today and tomorrow. Having kept an eye on various radars it looks we'll have a dry session, although there's still a chance of a shower at the end of qualifying.

Martin Whitmarsh has just told the BBC that he isn't expecting rain in qualifying, and that McLaren need it as they don't quite have the top-end speed to challenge for pole. He also said that McLaren would be going for a wet setup as there is a more than 50% chance of a wet race...

Mike Gascoyne on Twitter: "5 mins to go to qualifying, looks like the rain will hold of for qualifying, the predicted rain still being 50km away"

Mark Webber climbs in to his car, but he probably doesn't have the highest of hopes after his KERS problem this morning. We'll try and keep an eye on if he has the system available for qualifying.

Drivers appeared to have trouble getting heat in the super-soft tyres during FP3, with times being quicker later in the run. And the track temperature has dropped even further since this morning.

And we're underway in Q1 in Canada. Both Virgins and Petrov are first out

D'Ambrosio will be the first man to set a flying lap, it should be close between Virgin and HRT at the back. Seven drivers to drop out, and we can expect six of them to come from Lotus, Virgin and HRT.

D'Ambrosio is weaving from side to side on what should be his flying lap, such is the problem with tyre temperatures.

The front-running teams should be able to get through on soft tyres, as the difference between the two compounds is not as great here as it has been elsewhere.

Heidfeld sets the first comparitive time, a 1:17.120

His team-mate Petrov beats him with a 1:16.083. All 24 cars out on track now

Alguersuari locks up heavily in to turn eight, no such problems for Mark Webber - the BBC reporting his KERS is working.

Di Resta goes fastest with a 1:15.879, then beaten by Webber and Alonso with a 1:14.994

We've had four red flags so far this weekend, so we could well see another one today.

Vettel goes quickest with a 1:14.703, set on soft tyres. Quicker times are being set on later laps of each run

Hamilton goes fourth quickest, Vettel improves to a 1:14.318

D'Ambrosio and Rosberg yet to set a time within 107%

Alguersuari twice going off track, he''s 16th quickest at the moment

Vettel improves again to a 1:14.011

D'Ambrosio's time of 1:20.053 is outside 107%, Rosberg has jumped up to 6th

De la Rosa is currently on super-soft tyre and clips the wall on the outside of turn seven twice.

De la Rosa is currently on super-soft tyre and clips the wall on the outside of turn seven twice.

Alonso goes quickest with a 1:13.822, putting Karthikeyan outside with 1:19.081. 107% currently stands at 1:18.989

The top four - Alonso, Vettel, Massa and Hamilton - are all seperated by just 0.2s

As it stands, Alguersuari is in the drop zone, and he's actually behind Kovalainen in the Lotus. Kovalainen's 1:16.786 is just 0.3s off Maldonado in 16th

5 minutes to go and the men in most danger are Buemi, de la Rosa, Maldonado, Kobayashi and Alguersuari as Kovalainen shows good pace.

The top eight are all sat in the pits, as is Buemi. Everyone else on track

Maldonado can't improve with his next flying lap as he struggles to get heat in his tyres.

Alguersuari locks up heavily at turn one, he's on the super-soft tyre too and has improved to a 1:16.421 and 16th

Kobayashi is now in the drop zone, Karthikeyan's got himself inside 107% but d'Ambrosio is struggling

Alguersuari improves but stays 17th. Kobayashi still 18th and in danger

Liuzzi spins after putting a wheel on the grass at turn eight

All clear again, but that will have affected some laps.

Kobayashi improves to a 1:15.6s and goes 14th. Kovalainen comes through and stays 19th. Alguersuari is in the pits and drops out

Karthikeyan completes his lap and is just 0.04s slower than Glock. Trulli improves to jump ahead of Kovalainen in to 19th.

So, the men to drop out are Alguersuari, Trulli, Kovalainen, Liuzzi, Glock, Karthikeyan and d'Ambrosio. D'Ambrosio was 0.5s outside the 107% time, but with Glock inside the time he may still be allowed. That one's up to the stewards.

As pointed out earlier it was close between Virgin and HRT, with Liuzzi beating Glock by 0.1s, and Karthikeyan just 0.04s further back. They're still nearly 2 seconds slower than Lotus though, who were 0.5s off the pace of de la Rosa in 17th - just sneaking through.

(OfficialLRGP) on Twitter: "We managed to pass Q1 without using the supersoft."

That was also the case for Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari

The 15 minute Q2 session has started. Maldonado is first man out

Schumacher leaves the pits on a set of brand new super-soft tyres. No messing around from Mercedes. Rosberg does the same.

Maldonado is on the soft tyre to do his first run. He gets very sideways through turn three but does well to hold it and keep the car out of the wall.

Another seven drivers to drop out in this session. Only Massa is yet to go out on track.

Maldonado's first lap is slow, but Petrov does a 1:14.354 to go fastest

A 1:14.719 from Heidfeld puts him second, no-one else within 3 seconds.

Webber goes quickest with a 1:14.344 on super soft tyres. Jenson Button beats it with a 1:14.209, before a 1:13.690 from Vettel tops the times, also on super-soft tyres.

Massa blocks Schumacher on the run down to the final chicane, that could be looked at after the session.

Webber improves on his second lap, a 1:13.654. Alonso goes second within 0.02s

Vettel improves to a 1:13.486. The super-soft tyres lasting for longer runs. Massa improves to sixth fastest, and the top seven are now seperated by just 0.5s

Massa is going quicker again.

Massa goes quickest, a 1:13.431.

6 minutes to go and now the pace-setters are back in the pits. Those in the drop zone are Kobayashi, di Resta, Sutil, Buemi, Maldonado, de la Rosa and Barrichello

Only Buemi of those in the drop zone is not on track. Top 10 all in the pits.

Barrichello's first flying lap is a 1:17.336, a full 2.6s off 10th, but the tyres perform better later in the run

Heidfeld leaves the pits, and he needs to - di Resta is quick and threatening for 10th

Di Resta now 0.1s up heading towards the end of the lap

He loses some time in sector three though and can only go 11th, 0.3s off Heidfeld.

The top 9 will not leave the pits now, as they won't get enough heat in the tyres on one flying lap

Kobayashi outbrakes himself in to turn eight and runs wide on to the grass, he was out of shape going in so needs to clean his tyres and go again

Heidfeld on a quicker lap, he stays 10th but lowers the target to a 1:14.467

Di Resta comes through again but is still 0.3s off and backs off.

Maldonado goes 12th and Kobayashi 13th, Sutil stays 14th

Nobody on a quick lap this time, as replays show di Resta got out of shape in turn eight. Kobayashi also beautifully slid his car through the final chicane to within an inch of the wall, but couldn't improve.

So 11th downwards will be di Resta, Maldonado, Kobayashi, Sutil, Buemi, Barrichello and de la Rosa - he got within 0.3s of Kobayashi's time so a good performance from Perez's last-minute replacement.

The top ten shootout will be between five teams: Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Renault. It was Massa who ended Q2 on top.

Renault (Official LRGP) on Twitter: "Front wing adjustment for Nick"

Di Resta tells the BBC he's saved a set of tyres for tomorrow, hoping that it stays dry. Rain looks like holding off today, although it is overcast.

Right, time for business, Q3 is underway. 10 minutes is all they get. Heidfeld, Webber and Button are out

Only the Mercedes pair are yet to leave the pits

Heidfeld starts a flying lap, followed by Webber and Button

Hamilton quickest in sector 1

And in sector two

Webber does a 1:15.2s, a 1:13.945 from Hamilton is quickest so far

As we've said though, the tyres are taking a while to come in

Massa now quickest on a 1:13.820, Vettel beats it with a 1:13.014 - remarkable pace

Webber does a 1:13.636 to go 2nd, Hamilton just behind

Massa goes second with a 1:13.292, Alonso third on 1:13.412

Vettel pits

Rosberg is 0.5s off the top time on this lap at the moment

Rosberg goes 6th with a 1:13.814

Schumacher cruises through to start his flying lap

Schumacher is still trying to get his tyres up to temperature

Alonso goes quickest in sector one

Alonso has lost out in sector two, he's 0.3s down and Massa is 0.2s down

Neither Ferrari improves but will get another lap in

Webber going quickly but can't beat Alonso and stays fourth

Hamilton comes through fifth, Schumacher 8th

Vettel can't improve

Alonso goes 2nd

Massa stays third

Button and Hamilton on laps, but not going quickly enough for pole

Hamilton pits, Button stays 7th

That's all the laps, Vettel on pole yet again by less than 0.2s from Alonso and Massa

Vettel says thank you to the team over the radio, and apologises for "sticking it in the wall" on Friday

Webber and Hamilton are fourth and fifth within 0.5s, with Rosberg, Button and Schumacher next all on 1:13.8s. Heidfeld beats Petrov to ninth a further 0.2s back.

While it is another Sebastian Vettel pole position, Ferrari pushed them hard all the way as Massa in third is just 0.203s behind.

Massa looks a bit disappointed to not be ahead of Alonso as the front three pose for photos, but he looked strong today.

That's Vettel's first pole, and Christian Horner tells the BBC that Webber didn't have KERS for qualifying, so his fourth is a good effort all things considered.

If that hasn't whet the appetite for tomorrow's race, nothing will. It's close at the front, and usually even closer in race trim, plus there's likely to be the added variable of rain. You don't want to miss it, so make sure you join us tomorrow for the race. Thanks for following and stay on the site for all the fallout from qualifying.