Welcome to ESPNF1's live commentary of qualifying for the German Grand Prix. We're still looking for someone to break Red Bull's stranglehold on pole position, will today be that day? Fernando Alonso has been looking extremely competitive so far this weekend...

Something that all of the teams have been keeping an eye on is the weather this weekend. Showers have been forecast on all three days, but so far the practice sessions have remained completely dry. And right now it's sunny. But that can change very quickly in the Eifel mountains.

In the final practice session this morning it was Sebastian Vettel who was quickest, but his team-mate Mark Webber beat him to pole last time out in Silverstone and has looked quick this weekend. His best lap was affected by Vettel this morning too, so it could be a close inter-team battle at Red Bull.

Further back on the expected grid, Karun Chandhok is preparing for his first qualifying session in a year as he gets his chance with Lotus. The battle between HRT and Virgin could be close too, but Tonio Liuzzi will take a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

As always, if you want to get in touch with us with any questions of comments you can email the commentary team using the link above or drop us a tweet on Twitter @ESPNF1_live.

And right on cue, Heimo asks "Who can top the RB in Quali?"

Well if you're asking me Heimo, I'd say the only man that can do it today is Alonso. He's looked very good this weekend and is clearly high on confidence after his win at Silverstone. Unfortunately McLaren and Mercedes look the best part of a second off the pace over a single lap, although McLaren were competitive in race trim during practice.

The latest weather reports suggest no rain during the first part of qualifying.

And the green light is on for the first 20 minute session. Glock and d'Ambrosio are first on track, followed closely by Liuzzi

Ferrari (InsideFerrari) on Twitter: "Felipe is already firing up the car, he will do the first run on primes."

The prime tyre this weekend is the medium compound, and the option tyre is the soft.

A busy track already as the teams will want to get an early banker in just in case it rains. Petrov, Kobayashi, Perez and Buemi are the only cars not on track

Glock's first lap is a 1:38.486, with D'Ambrosio and Liuzzi going slowly

Heidfeld now fastest on a 1:36.098

Schumacher fans rejoice, Michael goes quickest with a 1:35.368.

Webber goes fastest with a 1:34.084 ahead of Alguersuari and di Resta

Petrov, Kobayashi and Perez yet to go out

Hamilton gets blocked off by Glock in the last sector but still goes quickest. Vettel now second ahead of Alonso and Massa

With three drivers yet to set a time, the drop zone is currently D'Ambrosio, Liuzzi, Chandhok, Ricciardo, Petrov, Kobayashi and Perez

We're yet to see lap times on the soft tyre from plenty of the midfield runners. Buemi is now on the quicker rubber

Hamilton loses time in the final sector and Alonso crosses the line behind him to go quickest

Perez is now on track as we see Schumacher cutting the final chicane after getting sideways.

Kobayashi joins the track too, only Petrov still in the garage. Kovalainen is ahead of Barrichello at present but both would drop out if beaten by the three yet to set a time.

Petrov on track now too, joining Vettel, Glock, D'Ambrosio, Chandhok, Kobayashi and Perez

Perez goes sixth fastest. Both Saubers on soft tyres

Eighth quickest for Kobayashi.

Petrov on soft tyres and the quickest man on track at present. He only goes fifth quickest as he loses downforce behind two cars in the final corner

Everyone well within 107% at the moment.

Maldonado out on soft tyres and quickest so far in sector two, he goes fourth

Heidfeld goes quickest, and Massa is out on soft tyres, oddly.

Schumacher goes second

Barrichello goes 12th on soft tyres, di Resta drops in to the drop zone at present

Di Resta jumps up to fifth, with his team-mate 2nd. Now Rosberg is in the drop zone

Kobayashi is in the pits and on the bubble.. Rosberg on a good lap...

Rosberg goes sixth, and with Kobayashi in the pits he will drop out. Chandhok improves to a 1:36.5 to just get ahead of Glock, still a second off Kovalainen. D'Ambrosio is 0.1s ahead of Liuzzi with Ricciardo a further 0.2s back.

Chandhok, Glock and D'Ambrosio pushing hard

Chandhok improves to a 1:36.422

Glock does a 1:36.400 to just beat Chandhok to 20th place

Liuzzi and Ricciardo on the back row of the grid are seperated by just 0.025s

So the seven to drop out, in order, are: Kobayashi, Kovalainen, Glock, Chandhok, D'Ambrosio, Liuzzi and Ricciardo. Liuzzi will start last though as he has that 5-place penalty.

Glock complains to his team over the radio about how unhappy he is with the car despite beating Chandhok to 20th.

Kobayashi dropping out could provide some great entertainment tomorrow as he scythes his way back through the field...

Q2 begins, and no-one is very eager to get out on track.

Perez decides he'll go for a drive and heads out on track, soon joined by Massa - who used up a set of soft tyres in Q1

It's a positively tropical 14C air temperature at the Nurburgring at the moment. And people complain about the British summer...

Massa already on soft tyres for the 15 minute long Q2, as is Perez.

Only Heidfeld, Maldonado, Buemi and Alguersuari not on track at the moment as Massa pushes on

Perez goes quickest with a 1:33.845, but is soon beaten by a 1:31.792 by Massa. That time is quicker than his Q1 effort on the same set of tyres

Alonso goes fastest with a 1:31.150 on soft tyres. Hamilton is 0.2s up so far...

Hamilton does a 1:30.998, and that's pace that we haven't seen from McLaren so far... matching Vettel's pace from this morning

Vettel goes second, just 0.019s slower than Hamilton.

Alonso locks up heavily in to turn one but lets the car run very wide to prevent his tyres from flat-spotting

Button and Webber are 4th and 5th at the moment on 1:31.5s

Sutil is 11th at the moment, with both Renaults in the top 10

Sutil is just 0.2s off Petrov and Schumacher in 9th and 10th. Buemi, Alguersuari and Maldonado on laps at present

Only 15th for Alguersuari, who backs off.

Buemi going quicker than his team-mate...

Buemi goes 14th ahead of di Resta and Alguersuari, with Maldonado yet to set a time but on a lap now

Maldonado puts in a good lap to get up to 9th and knock Schumacher down to 11th

Perez very close to pipping Petrov...

But he loses a lot of time in the final sector. Barrichello stays 13th but is less than 0.2s outside the top ten

A good lap from di Resta puts him up to ninth. Schumacher on a lap now and just 0.1s inside...

Schumacher gets up to eighth with a good final sector. That puts Maldonado out, it's a battle between the Force India's...

Sutil goes seventh, pushing di Resta out with a very impressive lap. Just Petrov, Rosberg and Barrichello pushing on now.

Heidfeld also on a lap, Petrov goes eighth and knocks Schumacher out. Rosberg goes fifth with a fast final sector, within 0.3s of Hamilton.

Barrichello stays fourteenth with his lap, so Schumacher stays in by just 0.035s. The drivers missing out are: Heidfeld, Di Resta, Maldonado, Barrichello, Perez, Buemi and Alguersuari.

The top ten that will battle it out for pole are: Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Button, Massa, Sutil, Petrov and Schumacher. Hamilton's time will have raised a few eyebrows, especially the first sector where he was 0.2s quicker than his team-mate Button and 0.3s quicker than anyone else.

Obviously those times mean nothing now, as they all get reset for Q3. On these first runs we'll see if Hamilton really can mix it with Red Bull and Alonso...

The final ten minute shootout for pole has begun. I hear an engine but don't see a car...

It's Alonso out first, followed by Petrov and Hamilton.

Massa leaves the garage, and Button is out on track too.

Vettel is visualising the lap in his mind as his team-mate Webber joins the circuit.

Everybody on soft tyres, predictably, although Sutil may stay in the garage to save a set of tyres and start tenth.

Alonso starts his first lap, with both Mercedes and Sutil still in the pits.

A good first sector from Alonso, beaten by Hamilton by 0.1s

Button 0.2s down on Hamilton in sector one

Alonso's first time is a 1:30.866

Here's Hamilton...

And he's quicker, a 1:30.725

Webber on a flyer, 0.1s up on Hamilton in sector one and 0.3s up in sector two

Provisional pole for Webber with a 1:30.251, outstanding lap. Vettel is close to his pace...

Vettel goes second, a 1:30.351. Red Bull has been hiding that pace, and Rosberg looks slightly disheartened as he pulls on his gloves for his one and only run

Massa went fifth on a 1:30.973, Button sixth 0.3s further back

Everyone who set times returning to the pits for a new set of tyres, as Schumacher and Rosberg head out for their runs

Sutil also goes out, so he is fancying the scalp of Petrov who is seventh on a 1:32.690

Alonso, Webber and Hamilton back on track as Rosberg begins his timed lap

Vettel and Massa the only two cars still in the pits

Rosberg is well off the pace in the first sector and will need a second lap

All 10 cars out on track with a minute to go... Rosberg backs off and winds up again

Alonso matches Hamilton's first sector and is within a tenth of Webber so far...

Webber goes even quicker in sector one

Hamilton goes faster than them all in sector one

Alonso a tenth off in sector two

Webber 0.2s up

Alonso goes third

Webber improves to a 1:30.079

Hamilton goes second with an amazing final sector. So nearly pole!

Vettel stays third. What a lap from Lewis Hamilton, absolutely stunning to get within 0.1s of the Red Bull of Webber. A great lap from Webber too, and the first time Vettel is not on the front row all season.

Hamilton says over the radio: "That was a good lap, that was a wicked lap. As good as it gets!" He was just 0.055s off pole, and to put it in perspective he was 1.1s quicker than his team-mate Button in seventh.

Apologies in all the excitement not to mention those further back, but Alonso is fourth, Massa fifth, Rosberg sixth, Button seventh, Sutil eighth, Petrov ninth and Schumacher tenth.

Vettel doesn't look too pleased as he walks in to the weigh room, while both Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton are smiling as they take off their helmets.

Button is very despondent as he is interviewed by the BBC, saying he doesn't know where the pace has gone. Admittedly, I don't know where Hamilton's pace came from but that was a stunning lap to get so close to Webber. And with Vettel third on the grid that sets us up very nicely for an exciting race tomorrow. Add in the threat of rain and I for one can't wait. Make sure you're right back here to follow all of the action from the German Grand Prix. See you then.