Welcome to Silverstone for qualifying ahead of the British Grand Prix. The sun is out and we are expecting an interesting session this over the next hour or so. It looks like Red Bull have the upper hand but Alonso has kept them honest in the free practice sessions and we still don't know if we have seen the McLaren's ultimate pace.

However, it has not all been straightforward for Red Bull. At the end of the final practice session Vettel's nose cone failed and he lost all front downforce. Also Webber's time was restricted in Friday practice with an electrical fault, so reliability is still a concern for the team.

There are a around 90,000 fans here all wanting Hamilton and Button to do well but at the moment things don't look that promising. McLaren had to ditch its blown diffuser overnight and as a result the team are a little bit lost with its set-up around here.

Another driver with a few problems this morning was Sutil, but Force India have confirmed that the car has now been repaired: "Update: Adrian's problem has now been diagnosed as a minor engine issue. No problems anticipated for qualifying."

Christian Horner puts Vettel's front wing failure down to the nose not mounting properly after a practice pit stop. He said they were lucky it didn't happen at a more dangerous part of the circuit but the car will be fine for qualifying.

Hamilton waves to the fans from the pit wall before heading back to his garage to get ready for Q1.

Lotus is hoping Trulli will have a straight forward session after reliability issues have restricted him to just 15 laps this weekend.

Alonso does a few stretches before getting into his Ferrari.

The green light is on and we are waiting for our first car to hit the track.

The first engine is fired up and it's the Virgin of Timo Glock that heads out into the pit lane.

Trulli and di Grassi head out and Schumahcer is the first of the front runners to hit the track.

It's very windy out there and that could create some problems as it has changed direction since this morning.

Liuzzi and Alguersuari come very close to a collision in the pit lane but are now both out on the circuit.

Glock sets the first lap time with a 1:35.951. We are expecting a pole position time of about 1:30.000, possibly dipping into the 1:29s.

Button comes up behind a Force India in Luffield and had to lift off quite a lot.

Rosberg is now fastest with a 1:31.684.

Hamilton makes a mistake on his hot lap and abandons that attempt.

Webber fastest with a 1:30.988 on the hard tyres. Vettel is second fastest but nearly 0.5 seconds off the pace of his Red Bull team-mate.

Hamilton sets his first competitive time of the weekend with a 1:31.297. That's good enough for second place. meanwhile Button is down in 15th.

Vettel sets the fastest time yet with a 1:30.841.

Massa just got held up by an HRT in the final corner.

Alonso runs very wide out of Luffield and that ruined his last attempt. He is currently third just over a tenth behind Vettel.

Alguersuari is currently 18th but is on a fast lap on soft tyres as he attempts to make it through to Q2. He just manages to move up to 17th, dropping Liuzzi to 18th.

So Liuzzi need a good lap otherwise this could be a little embarrassing.

The new teams are making up the bottom six positions as usual but its Glock in the Virgin that is leading that pack.

Button moves up to 7th in the McLaren.

Liuzzi up to 16th and saves himself from the drop. Alguersuari will go out with the new teams as he is still in the pits.

Kovalainen just gets ahead of Glock to lead the new teams on the grid.

Liuzzi is over a second off the pace of Sutil, which does not bode well for his chances this weekend.

The green light is on for the start of Q2, the top ten is very competitive this weekend so we could see a bit of an upset. Seven cars will be knocked out and we could see Schumacher, Liuzzi and possibly even Button failing to make the grade.

Both McLarens, both Ferraris and both Red Bulls are all out straight away. Massa is on soft tyres but Alonso is on the hards.

Alonso aborts his first attempt as does Massa and now they both start proper qualifying laps.

Both Button and hamilton are out on softs to try and ensure they make it through to Q3.

Hamilton sets a 1:31.286 on the softs but it was a messy lap.

Alonso goes fastest on hard tyres with a 1:31.019. Massa is about a tenth slower on softs.

Webber shows Red Bull's hand with a 1:30.436 on hard tyres - a brilliant lap.

Button says he has low rear grip in the McLaren - that's not good news for him.

Vettel makes a small mistake out of Club but is flat in seventh through Abbey.

Vettel heads for the pits but has a good enough lap to gaurantee a place in Q3.

Schumacher has set a decent lap for fifth, 0.4 seconds up on team-mate Rosberg.

Petrov returns to the pits without any drive and the Renault mechanics run down the pit lane to meet him.

Vettel is heading out for another run, which is a little surprising as he clearly doesn't need to. Webber is also out and they are both on soft tyres - expect very quick lap times.

Button has to find well over half a second to secure a place in Q3.

Liuzzi hold up Hulkneberg through Maggots and Becketts and could well be penalised for that.

Webber sets a 1:30.114 as Vettel heads back to the pits.

Button has one more chance to get into Q3. The first sector is good enough ... the second sector is just about there ... but the lap is not good enough and he will start 14th or lower.

Kubica pops up to 10th and Sutil is knocked out.

Schumacher and Rosberg go through comfortably in the Mercedes and de la Rosa impresses in the Sauber in ninth.

McLaren apologises to Button over the radio as they tell him he will be starting the race 14th. A terrible result for him.

Button had to lift in Abbey where the Red Bulls are flat out and then appeared to have understeer in Brooklands and Luffield. It wasn't a terrible lap but the car simply wasn't quick enough.

Button's time was over half a second off Hamilton and that difference is probably down to a lack of confidence in the rear of the car.

Button says that he thinks something is wrong with the car and that he had no rear grip. He said that he had to take off a lot of front wing angle to maintain a balance, but that reduced overall grip. "Something felt very wrong," he says.

Q3 is under way and the two Ferraris head out on track line astern.

All the front runners have gone out on soft tyres and should complete two runs.

Alonso is considerably faster than Massa through sector one ... and in sector two ... Alonso goes well over a second quicker than Massa on his first lap.

Webber is faster than anyone through sector one.

Webber sets a 1:29.758 in the Red Bull - by far the fastest time we have seen.

Vettel beats his team-mate with a 1:29.695 as they return to the pits for a new set of tyres and another run.

Hamilton has managed to clock the fourth fastest time with a 1:30.897.

Schumacher heads out for his first run of Q3 after using his other sets of soft tyres in Q1 and Q2. He warms his tyres down the Hanger straight, the Mercedes has struggled with tyre temp all season.

Barrichello is sixth but he may be beaten by Schumacher and Massa on their runs.

Webber has set a new fastest first sector but his middle sector wasn't great.

Webber misses out on pole and won't get another attempt.

Vettel goes even quicker and takes his fifth pole posiition of the season.

Alonso is third behind the Red Bulls, just a tenth up on Hamilton. Rosberg is fifth ahead of Kubica and Massa. Schumacher could only manage tenth.

Webber looks pretty upset heading to the scales to be weighed.

Thank you for joining us, we'll be back tomorrow for the race make sure you join us.