Welcome back to ESPNF1's European Grand Prix coverage ahead of the all-important qualifying session in Valencia. In the past overtaking has always been difficult at this circuit which means getting pole has been incredibly important ahead of Sunday. This weekend might be slightly different because its been easier to overtake on tight circuits such as Monaco this season, but all the drivers will still be giving it 100% over the next hour of running.

The big question is how much the ban on changing engine maps between qualifying and the race will affect the top runners. Put as simply as possible, the drivers will no longer have a qualifying mode available to them to optimise their blown diffusers. Many think it could hit Red Bull hardest but the evidence of the final practice session is that they still have an advantage as Vettel was 0.4 seconds faster than his closest competitor Alonso.

It's hot and sunny at the street circuit so the drivers should be able to get the best out of the tyres over one lap here. Tyre preservation will also be at the top of many of the drivers mind as they look to keep as many sets of fresh tyres for the race as possible. That could result in just one hot lap from the drivers in Q3, but if it's tight at the top between Red Bull and its rivals we might see someone take a second shot at it.

The drivers are now making their way to their garages. The first session is 20 minutes long so there's plenty of time to put together a decent lap, but as I mentioned everybody wants to do it while taking as little life out of the tyres as possible.

Ferrari says: "With five minutes to the green light, everything is ready for the qualifying session"

The track temperature is up to 44C and air temperature is 27C, so it's pretty hot out there right now and the temperatures are rising.

Heidfeld gets this 20 minute session underway and is followed by di Resta out onto the track.

For the midfield runners it's all about trying to get through this session and not becoming the one driver who joins the Lotuses, Virgins and HRTs in dropping out in Q1. Whether they use soft tyres to achieve that is another factor. So far most the midfield drivers are out on mediums.

Heidfeld sets the early pace with a 1:41.897 but we're expecting pole position to be in the low 1:37s or maybe the 1:36s.

Some drivers have been struggling to get the medium tyres to work and they certainly benefit from a couple of laps to get up to temperature.

Vettel is out on track on the mediums as team-mate Webber goes fastest with a 1:40.429.

Alonso and Massa are using different front wings due to different driver preferences, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. So far this weekend it has been Alonso ruling the roost at Ferrari.

Button goes fastest with a 1:39.605 but is still making several steering inputs per corner so could still struggling for abit of balance on the medium compound.

Vettel goes back on top by 0.249s. He's also on the mediums.

We're still waiting on competitive times from Maldonado, Perez, Buemi and Alguersuari.

Button is going fast again but still having to catch the rear end out of some of the corners, he stays second after losing 0.3 to Vettel in the final sector.

Hamilton goes top by 0.1s with a tidy lap on the mediums.

Perez is out on the softs, he's not taking any risks.

Vettel knocks another 0.1s off the fastest time to go quickest once more with a 1:39.116.

Perez pops up in fourth fastest on the soft tyres, underlining the advantage you can gain from the yellow-striped rubber here.

Schumacher is going out on the soft tyres too, so he doesn't feel safe either. The soft tyre is something like 1.0-1.5s faster than the mediums, depending on whether you can get the latter to work properly.

At the moment Kobayashi needs to improve as he is just 0.2 seconds faster than the Lotuses and in the drop zone.

Massa is also getting ready to go out on softs. Alonso is sticking with the mediums but having another shot at it.

Correction, Kovalainen is currently faster than Kobayashi, but we haven't seen a soft tyre lap from the Sauber driver. He's starting one now but has traffic ahead of him.

Webber is also under threat. He's on a quick lap now but has traffic ahead of him. Petrov also needs to improve.

Webber improves to 15th but Kobayashi is slower. Both have another chance to put a lap in.

Alguersuari is now set to drop and isn't on a faster lap. Yep, he's going to drop out after two slow first sectors.

Trulli spins in the final corner and puts an end top any other quick laps coming through.

Incidently, Massa went fastest of all in the last few minutes thanks to his soft tyres. But he is now unlikely to have any fresh sets of softs for the race.

Liuzzi outqualified d'Ambrosio's Virgin but was a full second off Glock, who was only 0.3s off Trulli. All the cars were within the 107% rule.

Lotus' Mike Gascoyne says: "Heikki saying less grip than this morning, maybe due to the higher track temperatures"

Q2 is underway and Massa is back on track for the start of this 15 minute session.

Alonso is also heading out on his first set of soft tyres. Each driver has three sets of each compound to use in qualifying and the race.

Webber is also out on softs, clearly the front runners want to get a clear lap in and then return to the pits so that the midfield cars can fight it out for positions 11-17.

Massa is out on the same set of softs he used in Q1 so expect his time to be slightly adrift of his team-mate on fresh tyres.

Massa clocks a 1:38.566, which is just over 0.1s slower than his Q1 time on the same tyres.

Alonso goes fastest but only briefly as Vettel takes the top spot with a 1:37.305.

Hamilton goes second fastest 0.4s off Vettel.

Massa is going even quicker on his latest lap with the fastest first sector yet.

Maldonado has stopped in the middle of the track between 19 and 20.

The race director stops the session so that the Williams can be moved. We don't know what happened as its not damaged but it does appear to be stuck in gear.

7:59 is left on the clock, which has been stopped so that the car can be removed.

Ferrari says: "It is a shame, because Felipe was doing a very good lap even on the 3rd timed lap on an used set of Options..."

The session is back on but no one is going out.

A replay shows that Maldonado's engine cut out as he was making way for traffic on an slow lap. He car then ground to a halt as he tied to find an exit road.

Barrichello and Kobayashi head out to attempt another flying lap.

At the moment Sutil is just inside the top ten but we would expect Petrov to improve and displace him based on the teams' practice pace so far this weekend.

Kobayashi just misses out on the top ten by 0.183s which is only good enough for 13th.

Barrichello makes a mistake in the final corner and blows a quick lap and a set of soft tyres with a nasty flat spot.

Petrov gets back in the top ten as predicted.

The top six are happy with their times and are not going back out.

Heidfeld gets up to ninth, the two Renaults still face a threat from Sutil and di Resta though.

Di Resta stays 12th but Sutil pushes Petrov out of the top ten, a great lap for the Force India driver.

Disappointing for Petrov and Renault who had hoped for an improved qualifying perfromance here.

Di Resta made a couple of sizable mistakes on his fast lap that accounted for his slightly slower lap. But still a great job after he lost out on a lot of Friday practice.

Force India says: "Great job by both the boys. Paul will start in P12, while Adrian makes it through to Q3. Bravo."

While Renault looks on the bright side: "Nick's through to Q3, Vitaly just misses out and will start P11, first car to be able to start on whichever tyres he chooses"

The pit lane is open and Alonso is the first man to leave the pits. Both Ferraris are going out on used soft tyres so will likely try to two runs, or possibly save a set if it looks like Red Bull are too far ahead to challenge.

Mike Gascoyne says: "Adrian Sutil just fined a total of 18,400 euros for two incidents of pit lane speeding in Q2, hope they have reset the limiter for Q3"

Alonso sets a good first sector ... he looks very smooth on this lap but Vettel has gone 0.2s quicker behind him ... Alonso sets a 1:37.454 but that won't be good enough for pole.

Hamilton goes fastest with a 1:37.380 with Webber back in third two tenths slower.

Vettel beats them all by over 0.4s with a 1:36.975. Impressive stuff.

Rosberg can't break the top six and goes seventh overall.

Rosberg can't break the top six and goes seventh overall.

A quick correction, Alonso was on new soft tyres for his lap. He has one set of new soft tyres left if he wants another crack at it.

It looks like they'll all have another crack at it as Vettel leaves the pits on new soft tyres.

Webber is winding up for a fast lap. He needs to improve by over 0.5s to beat his team-mate.

Alonso and Webber are on personal bests but Hamilton and Button look slow.

Webber is 0.2 off Vettel in sector two. Webber goes second and Alonso aborts his lap so its an all Red Bull front row.

Vettel aborts his final lap as he doesn't need to improve and Vettel is on pole by roughly 0.2 seconds.

Hamilton takes third behind the two Red Bulls with Alonso fourth and Massa fifth. Canada's winner Button is sixth ahead of the two Mercedes of Rosberg and Schumacher. Heidfeld and Sutil didn't bother to set laps in Q3 in order to save tyres and qualify in their order from Q2 in ninth and tenth respectively.

A replay shows that Alonso missed the apex at turn 17 and that could have been the difference between second and fourth today.

Thank you for joing us today. It looks as though Red Bull is still the car to beat in qualifying despite the new rules, but tomorrow's race could be a different matter. At the last three rounds we've seen McLaren and Ferrari much faster in the race than they have looked in qualifying so we could still see a close fight for the win. Make sure you don't miss a lap by joining us ahead of the race for more live commentary and keep checking the site for all the latest news and reaction from qualifying today.