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

This one looks like another shootout between the Mercedes drivers, though Max Verstappen managed to split Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in FP3. There was about six tenths of a second between the pair earlier today, but expect that to come down in qualifying.

Realistically, it looks unlikely Mercedes will have much challenge over one lap. The long run pace between the top three looked much closer however, meaning there is a lot of value for Ferrari and Red Bull to be best of the rest in Q3 in case either Mercedes have one of their trademark slow getaways.

Behind the top three, FP3 suggested there will be next to nothing between Force India and Williams in the battle for fourth in the championship.

McLaren should be next in the pecking order, though we're only going to see a glimpse of Fernando Alonso today -- his hefty, 45-place grid penalty means he will come out for Q1 and do a customary lap to get himself within the 107% required to start. He spent all of FP3 focusing on race set-up.

Toro Rosso have looked decent all weekend, and over one lap they may well fancy their chances of a surprise Q3 appearance. However, this circuit is going to be a punishing one over race distance.

Both Haas drivers looked to be struggling in FP3. Some interesting radio messages from Grosjean where he notably held back from criticising his car when reporting problems, suggesting someone has had a word with him about the tone of his recent feedback.

Renault, Sauber and Manor have been solidly at the back end of the pack all weekend, true to season's form. The Renault looks particularly undriveable this weekend, with Jolyon Palmer sounding incredibly frustrated on the radio in FP3.

Fifteen minutes to go until Q1.

Air temperature is 30 degrees Celsius. Track temperature currently a whopping 42 degrees - the new black tarmac really absorbing heat this weekend, moreso than usual.

Risk of rain in this session is 20 percent.

Will be interesting to see which tyre Mercedes decides to stick on in Q2 - the race it will start the race on, assuming both drivers making it through to Q3. Look to be much more comfortable on the medium tyre.

The clock ticks over and the session begins. Wehrlein's Manor the first on track.

Hamilton and Rosberg head straight out for soft tyres. Hamilton stops for a practice start in a load of white dust, while Rosberg heads straight out to the circuit. Wehrlein also goes out for an installation lap after some engine gremlins in FP3.

The marshals have placed a lot of cement dust right down in the pit lane where the drivers do their practice starts.

"It's looking pretty dark out here," Hamilton says. Mercedes says forecast looks fine at the moment but its definitely more overcast than it was earlier.

"Just remember there is dust on the start-finish line, there's some on the right there," Hamilton is reminded. Replays show him driving straight through it on an earlier message. It's just off the racing line as the drivers cross the line.

Wehrlein's 1:36.999 the early pacesetter.

Both Ferraris have gone out on the medium compound, so they will be trying a vastly different strategy to Mercedes.

Rosberg goes P1 and then Hamilton slots in ahead on a 1:34.444 - just 0.016s between those two, closer to the margins we saw yesterday.

Replays show Button locking up and spinning at Turn 14.

"Car is OK but there's so much traffic, and they're not getting out of the way..." he tells McLaren.

Vettel does

Correction on below: Ferraris went out on medium compound. Vettel slots into third, 1.222s off Hamilton's lead time. Raikkonen goes fourth a further two tenths down.

Magnussen splits the Ferrari drivers to go fourth on the soft tyre.

Yellow flags are flashing on and off in this session as drivers continue to have little moments.

Hulkenberg slots into third, 0.3s down, before Verstappen moves into fourth, a second off the pace.

Perez then moves in behind Verstappen, but Ricciardo moves into fourth position on the medium tyre - six tenths down on Hamilton's best on the soft tyre.

Replays of several drivers sliding all over the place out there. Drivers struggling with grip.

Grosjean's right mirror has fallen off and hit him in the face.

"I can't see so help me with traffic," he tells Haas.

Big screech of tyres as Button locks up heavily into the final corner.

This is the latest session we've had all weekend, which could be why these conditions are catching the drivers out so much.

Raikkonen improves with the mediums and swaps places with Vettel, but that's only good enough for seventh.

Bottas climbs to fifth on the soft tyre.

Massa slots in behind his teammate.

Should point out Alonso has come out and done his customary Q1 lap. He will start last tomorrow regardless so we won't be seeing him again this afternoon.

Palmer fighting with the Renault on his lap, which is good enough to put him 16th, just out of the drop zone. But there's still a good seven minutes left.

Button complaining Ocon blocked him on a flying lap, which might have been why he locked up so heavily earlier.

Rosberg clambers out of his car, as does Hamilton. Wouldn't imagine either Mercedes driver will venture out again unless there's anything they want to test out there. Ferrari will definitely feel the need to go again with its drivers in ninth and tenth.

Replays show Alonso slipping and sliding through the final corner, which has been catching drivers out all weekend. Very little control as he came through.

The track is getting busier now, so drivers in danger of getting relegated to the next session will be out there again to try and improve on existing times.

Ocon improves on his latest time but only climbs to 18th. At the moment that's good enough to beat teammate Wehrlein.

Alonso is out of the car. Everyone from Verstappen, in eighth place, down to the Spaniard are on track.

The Ferraris are also out there.

Kvyat climbs to 13th on a 1:35.695.

Jenson Button improves to tenth position.

The clock expires but there are plenty of guys out there on flying laps.

Nasr climbs to 16th by 0.05s...

Sainz goes 12th. Ericsson knocks teammate Nasr into the drop zone.

Palmer can't improve after a big lock-up into the final corner! He falls three tenths down on the time he needed. Teammate Magnussen has gone through to Q2 in 12th...

Grosjean moves into 11th.

So, other than Alonso, its the usual suspects in the drop zone. Ericsson eventually dropped in there, ahead of Nasr, Palmer, Ocon, Wehrlein and Alonso.

Wehrlein, behind Ocon, being congratulated on the "fantastic" job he did today in difficult circumstances. Seemed to have problem after problem in FP3 and on Friday.

Replays of the Button-Ocon indcident looks pretty open-shut - Ocon was right in the middle of the racing line.

"The Manor, even though they are going to be at the back, he has to get a penalty. I had to overtake him!"

"People have got to be paying a little bit more attention," Button says.

Some great radio messages being replayed of Button just screaming "traffic!"

Q2 is under way.

No-one rushes out to the circuit, but the silence is broken by championship leader Rosberg.

Hamilton follows his teammate out to the circuit. Both on soft tyres.

Still super impressive that Mercedes is usually the first out of the garage in these sessions. Such a well-oiled operation, one which also happens to be far-and-away the quickest on the grid.

A few more cars join the fray as Hulkenberg, Ricciardo and Verstappen leave the pits.

A few more cars join the fray as Hulkenberg, Ricciardo and Verstappen leave the pits.

Both Mercedes drivers going very slowly on the out-laps in order not to overheat.

"Just remember, this is a potential race set," Tony Ross reminds Rosberg. The same will apply to Hamilton behind.

Hamilton has the quickest first sector between the two Mercedes drivers.

...And the second one.

Rosberg wobbles through the final corner and sets a 1:33.609...

But that target is obliterated by Hamilton, who crosses a full 0.563s quicker on a 1:33.046.

Replays also show Hamilton running a bit wide at Turn 4 and very nearly losing the rear end.

Hulkenberg goes third fastest, albeit 1.7s off the pace.

Ricciardo climbs ahead of Hulkenberg, before Verstappen moves into P3, 0.729s off the pace.

Button climbs into sixth position, 1.7s off Hamilton's best.

Bottas goes fifth, moving him ahead of Hulkenberg's Force India.

Grosjean climbs up to tenth, as Massa goes fifth - so it's Williams-Force India-Williams-Force India between fifth and eighth.

Lewis Hamilton clocks an incredible 1:33.046, the fastest lap seen at Sepang since the end of the 3.0-litre V10 era in 2005 #MalaysiaGP

— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) October 1, 2016

"Cracking lap," Williams tells Massa. He's 1.3s off the pace but crucially at the head of that battle. Williams will hope one or both of its drivers can replicate that in Q3.

Vettel can only manage fifth position, behind both Red Bull drivers...

Raikkonen has looked quicker than Vettel all weekend and he replicates that again, edging ahead by just under a tenth of a second. But, crucially, they are both behind the Red Bulls.

Rosberg must be looking over his shoulder a bit, he's just 0.1s ahead of Verstappen and a full 0.6s behind Hamilton. Lots of time to find in Q3. At the moment -- and I stress at the moment -- it's looking like advantage Hamilton, who has looked more comfortable this weekend than he did at all in Singapore.

Four minutes left in this session.

Everyone from eighth position, Perez, down to Kvyat in 16th out on the circuit.

Massa only has a tenth of a second in hand over Perez, so that's interesting that Williams have opted to keep him in the garage and Perez has gone out again.

In the drop zone head of these laps: Button, Grosjean, Gutierrez, Magnussen, Sainz and Kvyat.

Chequered flag falls...

Bottas locks up deeply into the final corner, he can't improve on his quickest time.

Button climbs to eighth position. Gutierrez can't improve on 13th.

Hulkenberg climbs up to ninth!

Perez improves but stays tenth fastest but he should be safe.

That Bottas mistake has cost him a place in Q3.

Dropping out: Bottas, Grosjean, Gutierrez, Magnussen, Kvyat, Sainz.

"That was a good lap!" Button tells McLaren. He sounds so enthusiastic out there... you'd never guess this was his 300th F1 weekend...

Kvyat swearing on the radio about something. He's still out-qualified teammate Sainz...

Button P8 between Massa and Hulkenberg, 0.02s separating the trio. Bolt the updated PU in his car, McLaren may be fourth-fastest!

— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) October 1, 2016

So it's nearly time for Q3. Hamilton looks in control out there but things can all change - though Rosberg has a huge deficit to overturn out there. Given his pace so far Rosberg will be slightly nervous of being caught by Red Bull behind, showing the cost for either Mercedes driver if they don't optimise their laps this afternoon.

Q3 is underway, but there's no rush to the track yet.

And that last statement is immediately reversed as everyone bar Button head straight out on track.

It looks even darker out there at the moment... but that might be down to the new shade of tarmac this weekend. Either way, a few people will be glancing up to the heavens as this session continues.

Perez sets an early 1:35.173 but there's more times to come.

Perez sets an early 1:35.173 but there's more times to come.

Hamilton goes purple through the first sector. Verstappen sets a 1:33.420 to go ahead of Vettel by nearly half a second.

Raikkonen moves ahead of Vettel, 0.2s down on Verstappen.

Ricciardo goes second fastest, 0.106s down on Verstappen. Rosberg can only manage fourth on his first run! He's 0.3s off the pace.

Wow. Hamilton crosses in a massive 1:32.850. That's 0.4s up on Verstappen and nearly a second up on Rosberg.

Replays show a very messy sequence of corners between Turn 4 and 6 for Rosberg. He's got it all to do in the final runs.

Hamilton on provisional pole but and I'd wager that will become actual pole unless Rosberg can pull something truly special out of the bag. Rosberg should have the pace to at least get onto the front row but we haven't seen him close to Hamilton's benchmark in qualifying so far.

Mighty impressive from Verstappen, as well, who is a tenth ahead of teammate Ricciardo. Would be a great race tomorrow if a Red Bull is leading into Turn 1.

So it's all going to come down to the final runs: but is that some rain we see?

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) October 1, 2016

Rain would be disastrous news for Nico Rosberg... he's currently down in fifth position.

Rosberg heads straight out onto the track. Hamilton goes out as well.

If it does rain, Rosberg at least was the first man out on track.

"Any rain at Turn 4, Max?" Red Bull asks. "Nope," the teenager replies.

Remarkable seeing how long Rosberg stays on his cool down lap, only really getting the power down as he leaves the final corner. Hulkenberg being told the weather is fine.

Rosberg's first sector isn't anything special, either...

His middle sector looks much better and he goes green through there. He's 0.147s down on Hamilton at this stage...

Hamilton looks to have backed off in that sector, Rosberg could be in with a shout here.

Big snap at the final turn and he just makes it onto the front row.

Rosberg ended up 0.414s off Hamilton and just 0.16s up on Verstappen. Ricciardo can't beat his teammate into third. Vettel climbs ahead of Raikkonen but both Ferraris are still behind Red Bull!

Raikkonen peels off into the pit lane and aborts his last attempt.

It's pole position for Hamilton - replays show him locking up and taking a huge chunk out of his tyre on his last attempt.

"Lewis, that's the quickest time ever round here, so well done," Paddy Lowe congratulates Hamilton.

Of course, the key remains how well Hamilton can get off the line. Rosberg still in a very good position to capitalise if Hamilton has another slow getaway. But Mercedes will be wary of those very punchy Red Bulls behind...