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

Red Bull has looked pretty mighty this weekend but we didn't get to see Vettel post a flying lap in FP2, the only session worth much reading into.

This is where we'll see just how real Red Bull's practice pace was. One team hoping it was legit might be Mercedes, as Red Bull locking out the front row might help limit the points on offer for Vettel in the title fight.

My prediction for qualifying during FP3 was Ricciardo - Vettel - Verstappen - Hamilton and I'm going to stick with that. Watch out for McLaren, too, after the team finished fifth and sixth in FP3 - another reminder about how much that chassis has been held back by Honda's troublesome power unit.

Grid penalty news - fortunately we don't have anything like the amount we had ahead of qualifying in Monza. The only one of note is Marcus Ericsson and it's a self-inflicted one - his thump into the barriers during FP3 means he'll get a gearbox penalty. Given that Sauber usually occupies the back row of the grid it's unlikely to make much difference.

Nico Hulkenberg once again put another strong performance in for Renault, something we've become used to seeing in the early stages of the weekend, though the team still seems to fade come race day. A strong qualifying performance here, a circuit where overtaking is difficult and we've seen a Safety Car in each of the nine races in Singapore so far, would put him in a great position.

So much intrigue ahead of this session. Are Red Bull for real? Are MCLAREN for real? What's Ferrari's true form? #SingaporeGP

— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) September 16, 2017

Away from the front, a few teams struggling this weekend. Williams still look to be out of sorts, while Haas has had one of the weekends where it struggles from the start of practice.

Lots of work still going on in Red Bull's garage on both cars. Leaving it late until Q1! Both drivers hit a bit of trouble in the closing stages, Verstappen having some weird moments with some gear shifts, while Ricciardo gave the wall a brush at Turn 10.

There's nothing quite like the site of the Marina Bay circuit under light. Glad this place has signed a new deal, it will be on the calendar until 2021.

Another team worth some attention is Force India. The pink cars have looked good throughout the weekend and will fancy its chances of getting both cars into Q3.

Q1 is underway! Ericsson, the man set to serve a gearbox grid penalty, the first man out.

Raikkonen goes straight out for Ferrari wearing some purple ultra-soft boots.

Quirky stat for you: This is the last chance for Max Verstappen to break one record, or landmark, in F1. There's never been a poleistter in F1's history and he turns 20 next week. What a chance he has to break it, as well....

Ultra-softs for all so far.

Raikkonen one of the first men to start a flying lap in this session.

Mercedes and Red Bull yet to emerge from the garage so far. Ferrari pretty much went straight out and both its drivers will have times on the board shortly.

Raikkonen crosses in a 1:44.060.

Kvyat's the next man across, 1.5s slower. Lots of time to be found from this circuit - Ricciardo hit a 1:40 in FP2 this time yesterday.

Grosjean has spun for Haas. Luckily he did so in a run off area down at Turn 7 and is able to get going again without damage.

Vettel's first attempt is six tenths down on Raikkonen.

Great seeing the amount of sparks from these cars. Creates some rather incredible shots of each session....

Alonso also on a flying lap. Let's see if McLaren can replicate the pace its shown so far this weekend.

Grosjean has a couple more spins on his latest lap, and the yellow flag icon keeps flashing.

Alonso crosses goes very wide through the final corner and sets a 1:44.120, good enough for P2.

But that immediately becomes P3 as McLaren teammate Vandoorne crosses the line in a 1:44.008, the quickest time of the session so far.

McLaren in P1 doesn't last long as Verstappen crosses in a 1:42.846.

But Verstappen is immediately displaced by Ricciardo, who has been on it all weekend, and he moves 0.185s ahead.

Both Mercedes on flying laps...

"Really, really slippery," Verstappen reports to Red Bull.

Hamilton crosses in P2, 0.038s off the pace set by Ricciardo.

Massa crawls back to the pit lane with a puncture. He's not the first man to graze a wall this weekend and I doubt he will be the worst.

Replays show a bit of oversteer into the penultimate corner and he's given it a fair old whack at the right rear. He immediately realises its a severe one and pulls into the pit lane, but that could be a damaged suspension for the Williams driver. The team has seven minutes to turn his car around and get him out of the drop zone.

Ferraris drivers both 0.4s off the pace at the moment, but it's only Q1 at the moment. What a turn up it would be if Mercedes out-qualified Ferrari here, given pre-race expectations...

Verstappen and Ricciardo exchanging fast times. Ricciardo's latest is 0.053s behind Verstappen, and the Australian crosses the line clearly looking up at the big screen on the run down to Turn 1. Those two have a great little rivalry going on this weekend, both of them know pole position is on the table. Imagine what they'll be like when a world championship is on the table....

Hamilton shaves four tenths off his best time to stay P3. He's still 0.4s behind the Red Bulls, which still looks like the team to beat.

Kvyat's Toro Rosso has returned to the pits and let out a puff of smoke as it did so.

Four minutes left and the drop zone is Wehrlein, Stroll, Massa, Grosjean and Ericsson.

The three at the bottom are yet to set a representative time due to errors on their initial attempts.

Grosjean grazes the wall again at the penultimate corner. He was clearly pushing hard and his time shows it, that's god enough for P10! Replays show it was a bigger hit than it originally appeared to be, too.

Everyone from Vandoorne down on the timing screen are out on track for a final attempt. Top eight in the garage.

Sainz does a purple first sector for Toro Rosso.

Massa and Stroll really need a good lap to escape here. It could be a fairly miserable weekend for Williams without one...

We could be in for a busy end to this session....

So here we go - Magnussen improves to tenth... lots more drivers to cross the line though.

Stroll climbs to 15th, Kvyat goes fourth.

That briefly dropped Sainz into the drop zone but he leaps into third position. Nice lap.

Massa has a very messy final sector and can only improve to 15th, pushing Hulkenberg down but the Renault driver is on a flying lap.

Palmer jumps into P5!

The McLarens both on a flying lap but are dropping down the order. The track changing with every passing minute, though, so being one of the last across the line might be a good thing....

And it is. Alonso goes third, Vandoorne goes fifth. Hulkenberg improves to P9.

Stroll sets a personal best first and final sector but can't improve. Both Williams' out of the session!

All of that late drama dropped out the first man who crossed the line in that late flurry, Magnussen. He joins Massa, Stroll, and the Saubers of Wehrlein and Ericsson.

Well that was exciting. If the final moments of Q3 are like that we could have a thrilling shootout for pole... But we have Q2 to come first. The top ten progress from this next session.

How much can Ferrari and Mercedes improve in Q2? Not unusual to see teams improve in Q2, when the track has a bit more rubber down and there is less risk of traffic with five cars knocked out of contention. But 0.4s is a big deficit to make up, especially as its unlikely Red Bull won't find some pace of its own as well.

Palmer, who could well be taking part in his final qualifying session for Renault if certain rumours are to be believed, one of the stars of that session in P7. He was struggling to match Hulkenberg's pace in the practice sessions so far this weekend so that will be a nice confidence boost for him.

Q2 is underway and again Ferrari are straight out of the garage.

Ultra-softs for both Ferraris. Remember, if you progress to Q3, you start the race on the tyres used to set your quickest time in Q2, so looking after these tyres as important as extracting good performance on them if you're in one of the quickest cars.

Ultra-softs all around again. Doubt any team would risk running a set of super-softs in this one, despite the fact it could give a strategic benefit for the race.

Assuming the top six get clean laps in, this one is likely to be a fight for the remaining four spots in Q3 and it's a hard one to call.

Super onboard with Hamilton from over his left shoulder. That car is running low, which is obvious from the juddering and bouncing images we're getting back. Hamilton pushing and his car sliding out of the heavy-braking left hander at Turn 13.

Raikkonen sets an early benchmark of 1:40.999. Hamilton crosses marginally behind, just 0.076s off the pace.

Riding onboard with Hamilton, he was really fighting with the car on the lap.

The engines have been turned up by Ferrari as Vettel crosses in a 1:40.529, 0.4s up on Raikkonen. How can Red Bull respond?

Verstappen goes P1 by 0.150. A lovely final sector from the teenager and that looks a lot more competitive at the front now.

Ricciardo crosses in third, 0.3s off his teammate.

Vandoorne with a mega lap for sixth position, which has seen him split Hamilton and Bottas.

Nine minutes left in this session.

Hulkenberg crosses eighth.

Ocon can only manage 13th, meaning both he and Force India teammate Perez are in the drop zone. Alonso is also there, languishing in 11th.

So now the top three covered by 0.3s. A three-way fight for pole? Q3 is going to be great.

Hamilton is 1.2s clear of the drop zone. Bottas only 0.8s clear, though, so we could see one or both of those Mercedes running again at the end of this session. The Mercedes does not look like great fun to drive at some parts there, Turn 13 especially appears to be a bit of a handful.

Verstappen asks Red Bull to keep his balance the same. Clearly happy with how his car was handling on that last run.

Grosjean the first man out for the final runs.

Alonso follows and now we have a bit of activity in the pit lane.

Hamilton has sent both its drivers back out. Raikkonen also there. Interestingly Red Bull has sent both drivers out, preparing for Q3.

And Vettel joins the party, too, meaning all 15 drivers are on the circuit. Gaining knowledge of the track evolution at the end of this session could be crucial in determining who gets pole, as we saw at the end of Q1.

Great onboard with Alonso through the first sector. Let's hope we see more competitive McLarens in 2018 with Renault power.

Alonso goes green in all three sectors to move into P8. Good lap from the two-time world champion.

Ocon can't improve, he'll drop out. Sainz stays 10th....

Hulkenberg improves to seventh and pushes Palmer into the drop zone, but he's on a lap of his own.

Perez pulls into the pits at the end of his pit lane. "Oh my God, what did you guys do with the tyres?" he asks. Both Force India drivers are out!

Palmer can't improve.

Verstappen sets a new benchmark, a 1:40.332. Ricciardo crosses just 0.053s behind his teammate!

That fight is going to be so close in Q3. Vettel can't improve on his lap, meaning the Ferraris are both within 0.197s of the Red Bulls. Hamilton 0.245s off Verstappen's pace in fifth.

Replays show Perez having a big lock up into Turn 1. He then had a nasty bump over the kerbs on the run into Turn 2, so he was playing catch-up with his lap from the very beginning.

"I'm fed up with this s---," says Kvyat, one of the drivers dropping out of this session.

Dropping out, in order: Palmer, Perez, Kvyat, Ocon and Grosjean. Vandoorne again ahead of Alonso in Q2. Bottas gets through in eighth, so far from a routine session for the world champions in that one.

Well this Q3 could be a bit of a thriller. There's such small margins between the top four. Mercedes looks to be out of the fight but Hamilton looks like the best prepared to snatch a place on the second row if either Ferrari or Red Bull slips up.

Green light and Alonso leads Sainz and Vandoorne out onto the circuit.

So in just under 12 minutes we will know who is starting tomorrow evening's race on pole. Who is your money on?

A reminder: Verstappen will become the first teenager to take an F1 pole position if he does it this evening. He'll still be the youngest if he does it within the next year, however, as Vettel was 21 when he took it at Monza in 2008.

Suggestions on social media that Vettel lifted over the line on his Q2 effort, suggesting he was hiding his true pace in the final stages.

Of the top six, Ricciardo the last man out. That might cause a bit of trouble in terms of track positioning. Big compromise between getting tyres up to temperature and driving slow enough to gain a nice bit of clear track in this final shootout. Being last also puts you at a greater risk of having a lap compromised by yellow flags.

Raikkonen the first of the big guns to start a flying lap.

"Tyre temps all over the place," Hamilton tells Mercedes. "I wouldn't trust the sensors at the moment, we have no confidence in them," is the reply.

That's exactly what you want to hear - your only reference point for tyre temps isn't accurate!

Alonso sets the early benchmark, a 1:41.944, puts him ahead of Vandoorne and Hulkenberg.

Vettel two tenths up on the Red Bulls through sector one... Verstappen then purple through the middle sector.

Raikkonen sets a 1:40.059....

Hamilton crosses 0.123s behind.

Verstappen takes P1, 0.3s up on Raikkonen...

And Vettel instantly beats his time by 0.145s!

Ricciardo can only manage third position. Tremendous lap from Vettel to go first there. There's the pace Vettel was saying still needed to be found after FP2 yesterday evening...

Replays show Hamilton going wide through the final corner. He's got a lot of work to do if he wants a spot on the second row.

So, there we go - what does Red Bull have in the bag for the final runs? Vettel the man on provisional pole.

The Red Bull drivers split by just 0.05s going into these final flying laps.

The tyre blankets are starting to come off, we're nearly ready for the late flurry of activity. Hulkenberg, Alonso and Vandoorne already out for their final attempts so they will be clear of the top six when they finish their laps.

And here we go. Raikkonen and Verstappen go out first, Ricciardo out shortly afterwards. Hamilton the first man out of the Mercedes garage.

This is going to be tense!

The circuit map tracker suggests Ricciardo is behind Vettel on track, meaning he will be the last man to cross the line at the end of this session.

Verstappen starts his flying lap. He needs at least 0.145s for pole, assuming Vettel doesn't improve of course.

Hulkenberg swaps places with Alonso for seventh, and Alonso can't improve on his lap time.

But our attention is now on the fight for pole!

Verstappen has had a very scruffy middle sector.

Vettel goes purple in the first and middle sector... this one looks like a Ferrari pole....

Verstappen can't improve on second...

Hamilton can't improve on fifth.

Ricciardo can't improve on third! VETTEL TAKES POLE!

Mercedes finishes absolutely nowehre, Hamilton will start fifth, 0.6s down on Vettel.