Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.

So,do we have a three-way fight on our hands this afternoon? FP3 certainly suggested so, but let's not forget how often we've seen Mercedes turn the wick up in these qualifying sessions.

The rain has dissipated in the last 15 minutes. It is still cold and windy though. Air temp is 15 degrees Celsius, track 20 degrees.

Seems unlikely we will see Kevin Magnussen in this session. He had a rather bizarre crash at the end of FP3 while coming out of Turn 7 and clouted heavily into the outside wall, giving his mechanics a big fix job and probably meaning the majority of them didn't have much of a lunch break. Tut tut, Kevin.

Some will be wondering what happened to Mercedes in FP3. Rosberg appeared to encounter traffic on his two flying laps and Hamilton had a rather heavy bump over the kerb at the final chicane during the session which caused a bit of concern at Mercedes, though it did not appear there was much damage.

Another day, another pre-qualifying routine for Daniil Kvyat, who is bouncing tennis balls against a wall outside Toro Rosso.

Seven minutes until what could be the most open session of the year. But what of the battle away from the top three?

After its performance so far this weekend, McLaren will be disappointed with anything other than an appearance in Q3. It's looked good in practice but it remains to be seen how it stacks up when everyone is running at maximum.

Force India and Williams should be in the Q3 mix with Mercedes power. Haas still appears to be struggling with tyre warm-up but could be on the outer reaches of Q3 with a few good laps.

Confirmation Kevin Magnussen is out of qualifying after that shunt in FP3.

The lights go green and Q1 is under way!

Hamilton and Vettel vying for track position as the pair come down the main straight.

Lots of times being set and Alonso goes P1, 1:15.458 the early pace-setter.

Hamilton quickly climbs into P1 but Vettel immediately relegates him to second....

Then Rosberg goes P1 himself on a 1:13.001.He's eight tenths up on Vettel, who is one tenth ahead of Hamilton. Raikkonen two tenths behind.

Bottas moves into P2.

Alonso still finding time on his third lap on the ultra-soft, climbing from ninth to sixth.

Hulkenberg on the super-soft tyres goes third.

Hamilton goes second. Palmer gets very wide at the kerb Magnussen lost control at earlier.

The first laps from Red Bull see Verstappen go sixth before Ricciardo crosses in fourth, half a second off the pace of Rosberg.

Haryanto's had a messy session so far and he's flat-spotted a set of ultra-soft tyres. We saw something drop of his car earlier in Q1.

"Starting to get some drizzles into Turn 5," says Verstappen, presumably talking about rain and not cakes.

Vettel can't improve with his most recent lap and stays second.

So hard to know whether the best lap is second or third lap on the ultra-soft. Seems to be different for different teams.

Verstappen bails out at the final chicane and goes across the run-off area.

Ricciardo moves up to third, three tenths off Rosberg's benchmark. It's very tight at the top.

Replays showing Verstappen locking up before going across the run-off area at the final chicane.

Wehrlein currently in a great position, up in 15th and out of the drop zone. Still over six minutes left in the session, though, so plenty more time to be found.

The drop zone is currently - Ericsson, Grosjean, Nasr, Palmer and Haryanto. Magnussen is sitting out the session.

Palmer moves up to 18th so he's still in the drop zone. The Renault car really letting down the engine side - we can see the strength of the power unit from the Red Bull guys. Palmer said the team is struggling with kerbing at Montreal at the moment.

Perez the latest man to report rain, saying there are drops "pretty much everywhere". If it starts to rain heavier that's very bad news for anyone in the drop zone and wanting to improve.

Palmer scrapes the Wall of Champions. Clear to see specks of rain on his Renault's on-board camera.

Palmer clearly pushing like mad as he goes green in his first sector on this current lap.... and green in the middle sector!

Kvyat leaps up to 11th.

Sainz goes ninth, Palmer improves but only to 17th! That's the final position in the drop zone.

Drop zone currently - Palmer, Wehrlein, Ericsson, Nasr, Haryanto. Plenty of time for another lap but are the conditions good enough for a quick lap on dry tyres? Light rain in places.

Ericsson improves on his best time but stays 19th.

Haryanto having a nightmarish session and is now limping through the middle sector with a right rear puncture. Replays show why - he clobbered the wall at Turn 4 and the wheel has immediately shattered. He then spun across the track and tapped the wall on the opposite side of the circuit.

Haryanto has finally parked up on the long backstraight. The rain is starting to come down again.

The other Manor impressing, though, Wehrlein beating both Saubers.

Dropping out of the session - Palmer, Wehrlein, Ericsson, Nasr, Haryanto. Magnussen missed the session, but Ericsson has a three-place grid penalty after that collision with Nasr in Sauber so will start from the back on Sunday.

Penny for someone's thoughts at Sauber, right now? Collision in Monaco and now out-qualified by one of the Manors.

Nasr a whole second behind Ericsson in Q1. Palmer only 0.015s off Q2, but had a mistake-laden session. Tough times for Sauber and Renault.

— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) June 11, 2016

This will be a fascinating Q2. Can McLaren get both cars into Q3? Will Haas get closer? The American team was half a second off Force India in that last session.

The clock goes green and Q2 is under way.

Still a few drops of rain, grey skies around the circuit though. Very unpredictable weather still.

Lots of weaving as drivers try to get temperature into their tyres.

The Wall of Champions has claimed its first victim of the weekend - its Carlos Sainz!

Red flag.

Replays show Sainz tapped the wall but then lost control of his car, hitting the front right with a bit more force and then sliding down the grass adjacent to the wall. Debris and carbon everywhere.

That's a blow for Sainz, he looked well placed for a good grid slot today.

As that was happening, Kvyat had set a 1:14.639.

Lots of replays of Sainz's crash as his car is recovered. Very unlucky, really, he's tapped the wall in the same way Palmer did at the end of Q1 but it's enough to slam the front of the car into the wall.

The session has stopped with 11:52 remaining.

Wall of sons of champions. #CanadianGP

— Devin Altieri (@DevinAltieri) June 11, 2016

Both Williams drivers are the first men out as the clock starts ticking again. Hamilton's Mercedes follows.

Kvyat's 1:14.639 leads the session currently - he set that just before teammate Sainz clobbered the Wall of Champions.

Bottas the first man to start a flying lap since the restart. He's on the ultra-softs... interestingly Williams had kept both guys in the garage before Sainz's crash, so they effectively saved these tyres.

Bottas goes into P1 for a matter of seconds, with Massa moving up to lead the session on a 1:14.130.

Hamilton and Vettel on flying laps after taking one lap to get temperature into those ultra-softs.

Purple first sector for Hamilton, purple second sector for Rosberg...

Hamilton gets oh-so-close to the wall of champions and crosses with a 1:13.076 - Rosberg crosses just 0.02s behind. Great laps from the Merc boys.

Vettel crosses in fifth, 1.4s down. Raikkonen does better, going third, but still eight tenths down.

Ricciardo moves into third, half a second off Hamilton's benchmark. Verstappen slots into fourth briefly but is immediately knocked down by Bottas. Williams have suddenly emerged from nowhere in the fight behind Mercedes.

The Mercedes drivers have pitted after those mega laps.

Hulkenberg climbs to eighth, pushing teammate Perez into troubled territory in tenth. Button and Alonso drop to 11th and 12th.

Ricciardo and Bottas have also pitted. Lots at stake in these final three minutes for a lot of drivers, though.

Kvyat climbs back to tenth.

Williams clearly not feeling confident about Massa, in eighth, and have sent him out. Ferrari confident Vettel is OK in seventh.

Grosjean doesn't improve on his time and stays 15th.

Button has a small lock-up in the hairpin but both men are up on the times they need...

Chequered flag falls...

Button can only manage 11th but Alonso climbs to ninth!!

That lock-up at the hairpin costs Button dearly.

Alonso getting it done for McLaren when it matters.

Joy for one Force India is despair for another as Hulkenberg improves to go ninth, dropping Perez to 11th. Good way to respond to Perez's podium in Monaco.

So, dropping out of that session: PER, BUT, KVY, GUT, GRO, SAI.

"Woo!" says Alonso after being told he's made it to Q3. More signs of progress at McLaren and Honda, doing that here at a power circuit.

Mercedes turned the wick up in that session, clearly, opening up a healthy gap to the rest. Ferrari will be worried after that one - surely seventh and eighth isn't where its drivers will be come Q3...

Ricciardo was 0.4s down on the Mercedes drivers in that session. Christian Horner said earlier he thought a half-second gap to Mercedes in qualifying would be realistic.

We love the style of @carlosainz. "If there's a wall you don't mind hitting, it's the wall of champions." @ToroRossoSpy

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) June 11, 2016

Q3 is underway and Monaco poleman Ricciardo leads the Mercedes drivers out on to the circuit.

Hamilton weaves down the backstraight but has to bail out over the final chicane, clobbering that kerb again as he did in FP3.

Ricciardo crosses the line after his warm-up lap to start the first flying lap in Q3.

Mercedes' drivers exchange purple sectors...

Ricciardo's first lap a 1:13.521.

Hamilton crosses in 1:12.812.

Rosberg goes purple in sectors two and three but misses out on provisional pole by 0.062s!

Vettel six tenths down on Mercedes...

Verstappen jumps ahead of Vettel and Red Bull teammate Ricciardo, climbing to third -- but he's six tenths down on the Mercedes drivers.

Fine margins in the battle between Red Bull and Ferrari, with Williams looking ready to pounce as well.

Replays show Vettel clipping the Wall of Champions at the rear.

"The car is fine," Vettel says, adding that he probably took a bit of laquer of the wheels. Very precise!

Raikkonen out of sequence to everyone else, he's out there with former Ferrari teammate Massa.

Massa climbs to seventh, an agonising 0.007s off teammate Bottas.

Seems Massa locked up through Turn 6, which would explain where he lost some time.

Three minutes left in this session. All ten men on track.

Raikkonen can only manage sixth position for Ferrari. He's seven tenths down on the Mercedes drivers.

Massa pits for Williams, he won't get another run.

Vettel starts his latest lap on the ultra-soft tyre.

It's Ferrari v Red Bull again. Vettel does a personal best in sector one on his latest lap, and then another in sector two...

Hamilton goes 20.1 through sector one....

Vettel takes third! 0.178s down on the Mercedes drivers. That's more like it from Ferrari.

Hamilton has lost some time in the middle sector, but goes putple through the final one - does not improve however.

Ricciardo crosses in fourth and Verstappen can't beat his Australian teammate.

Rosberg pits so Hamilton is on pole! He claims it by 0.062s.

"I tried guys, I tried, lost a bit of traction out of the hairpin. [censored] not enough," Vettel tells Ferrari. Mighty, mighty lap from the German, though, that's an incredibly small margin for Ferrari.

But how much would Mercedes have had if it had nailed its final runs? We'll never know but it might have extended the advantage.

Replays show Ricciardo tagging the Wall of Champions at the rear on his quickest lap.