Welcome back to ESPNF1's live coverage of the German Grand Prix. After a downpour at the end of FP3 it is now dry again at Hockenheim, although there are still clouds over the circuit.

But dry or wet, we should be in for a thrilling session with McLaren looking strong again this weekend and Ferrari, Lotus and Red Bull in the mix.

Webber, Grosjean and Rosberg are all facing five-place grid penalties from wherever they finish. They have all changed their race gearboxes from the previous round and will be penalised accordingly on tomorrow's grid.

Ferrari's forecast for the session: "It looks like that rain is coming... Due to the big shower to the southwest extending suddenly over the track, light rain is expected, said Meteo France... "

That should make things interesting. But even if it stays dry it will still be a difficult session for the drivers as they have only had 50 minutes of proper dry running this morning and they have very limited experience on the soft tyres around here.

In Alonso's hands the Ferrari has looked consistently quick all weekend, while the Red Bull's appear to be a little bit off the pace compared to recent races. However, we've seen Vettel and Webber come good in qualifying several times this year so they should not be written off.

McLaren have definitely made a step forwards and appear to have closed the gap to the front. This session is crucial for their season as a repeat of Silverstone would be hugely demoralising after all their hard work to get the update on the car.

Benjamin asks: "Does it look like it is going to stay dry for Q3?"

Nobody knows at the moment! It's dry right now but there are several showers that could hit the circuit over the next hour. We'll keep you updated as and when the weather changes.

HRT on the changing weather ahead of Q1: "Weather uncertainty means that 3 strategies are being considered "

Hopefully we won't get a repeat of the rain we saw at the end of FP3 as the session would undoubtedly have been red flagged as it was at Silverstone.

Sauber are also a team to keep an eye on in this session after Perez finished FP3 just 0.188s off Alonso at the top of the timesheets.

Ferrari's latest update on the rain: "Not before the next 30 mn, but later, a large line of showers is heading to the track , said Meteo France."

Karthikeyan is reminded that there is a headwind down the main straight over his pit-to-car radio.

The session gets underway with the two Force Indias keen to exit the pits first.

The Williams, Marussias and HRTs are all on track too to get an early banker lap in.

Dark clouds are forming a formidable backdrop to the stadium section. It's understandable that all 24 cars are on track to get an early lap in.

Vettel runs wide at the haripin as he struggles under braking on medium tyres.

Rosberg is currently fastest on a 1:17.051

But the lap times are dropping quickly with Button and Alonso taking the top spot in quick succession. Both were on medium tyres.

The bottom six cars and the two Toro Rossos are the only ones to venture out on the soft compound so far.

The bigger teams will try to make it through this session without using the softs if possible.

Craig asks: "I've had to work this morning, what are the chances of a 45 minute red-flag delay so I can see Q3?"

Probably quite slim. We are expecting rain in Q2 but we're not sure how heavy it will be. Mind you, if it's anything like the storm at the end of final practice you might be in luck!

Hamilton now leads the way on a 1:16.383 on medium tyres. That's still a couple of tenths slower than he managed this morning on the same compound.

Vettel goes fifth fastest after a bit of a twitchy lap. The Red Bull doesn't look as comfortable here as it has at recent races.

Hamilton improves to a 1:16.221 at the top of the timesheets.

It looks like the Caterhams, Marussias and HRTs are going to struggle to get out of Q1 at this rate. They are occupying the bottom six places despite being on soft tyres compared to the others on medium.

The question is which driver will join them in dropping out? Hulkenberg is currently 18th but has just gone out on a new set of softs.

McLaren is confident Hamilton's effort will see them into Q2. It's hard to disagree with that. He's over 0.2s clear of anyone. And he gets out of his car to stretch his legs.

Raikkonen is back out on mediums according to our data but going quick.

Hulkenberg has jumped to second on the soft tyres. Is Hamilton as safe as he thought? Probably, yes.

Raikkonen goes fastest on his mediums and Hamilton is now being belted back into his car.

One of the Toro Rossos is probably the most likely to drop out with the bottom six. But Ricciardo has just popped up to seventh with a personal best.

The track appears to be developing quickly, which is no surprise as we have had so little dry running and a big shower after the last F1 session.

Webber has opted for soft tyres. Schumacher is going for another run on mediums.

Webber does need to improve, but will no doubt set a top ten time with the softs on his car.

Vergne looks like he might be in trouble as he is in the pits and will not get another run.

Webber only just beats Vergne. Looks like he made a mistake somewhere.

Schumacher is also under pressure and will get one last lap to get himself out of the drop zone.

Schumacher and Senna match each other in sector one.

Senna gets himself safe with the 10th fastest time.

Schumacher only just gets through by 0.055s. Vergne drops out.

But that was very close for Schumacher in front of his home crowd. On the plus side he saved a set of soft tyres by using mediums, but it was so much closer than Mercedes would have wanted.

Grosjean also only just sneaked through as he also opted not to use a set of softs. But meanwhile his team-mate Raikkonen was fastest of all on mediums. Kimi is looking good here.

To confirm, Vergne, Kovalainen, Petrov, Pic, Glock, de la Rosa and Karthikeyan drop out in Q1. All were inside the 107% time.

Mehul asks: "What tyre did Alonso use? Did he waste a set of soft tyres?"

He used the softs, as did Vettel. Rosberg was on mediums.

Siddhesh says: "Wrong setup for Schumi? Rosberg nearly .7 sec quicker on the same harder compound. This is disappointing."

Some very dark clouds are now over the circuit and there are signs of rain coats coming out in the crowd.

Thunder over the circuit now and it has started to rain.

Teams are trying to make sure they send their drivers out on the right tyres. Intermediates on the Williamses and Button.

Button is the first man on track. The two Ferraris and Mercedes were the last four out of the pit lane.

All 17 cars look as though they are on inters.

Button is on his first timed lap now and has a nice clear track. He's still struggling though and misses the apex at turn eight.

Conditions getting a lot worse with every passing minute.

Button sets a 1:39.010 and Maldonado is a tenth faster behind him.

Vettel sets a 1:38.505. Impressive in these conditions.

Alonso also clocks a good lap with a 1:38.521 after passing team-mate Massa on track.

Schumacher shows his class in the wet with a 1:38.010 to go fastest. Impressive stuff.

Rosberg and Massa appear to be struggling most at the moment. But all it takes is one locked brake to ruin a lap in these conditions.

Hamilton is now fastest with a 1:37.927. So we might see faster times yet. A lot depends on traffic too.

Massa has improved but it's still not good enough for the top ten.

Webber gets up to seventh.

Hamilton improves again with a 1:37.365. Very impressive stuff from the McLaren driver in these conditions.

Raikkonen is just clinging on to the top ten at the moment and is back in the pits. Team-mate Grosjean is only 15th.

Perez runs wide at the Sachs curve but manages to keep his car running and rejoins. He's 12th at the moment.

Rosberg has swapped to full wets, which is not good news for him as he's slowest in this session at the moment.

Rosberg is over a second off the pace in the first sector. Schumacher is also out on the full wets but it is unlikely he will improve on his lap.

Alonso is also out on wets but tells his team there is too much water on the track. It's really not worth risking an accident at this moment if you're in the top ten.

This is all very bad news for Grosjean and Rosberg who are currently 15th and 17th and both facing five-place penalties.

Raikkonen is also out there and struggling as his team-mate falls off the track at the Sachs curve.

Grosjean just about keeps it going but this is pretty hopeless. The only reason I can think to stay out there is so that the drivers that make Q3 will know what the track is like on full wet tyres. Big risk though.

The chequered flag comes out and nobody is about to improve.

Ricciardo, Perez, Kobayashi, Massa, Grosjean, Senna and Rosberg are out in Q2.

Raikkonen just put in a complaint over his radio that Perez was blocking him coming out of the pits.

Meanwhile, with the rain continuing to fall, Alonso says he thinks it is too wet to continue in Q3. Race director Charlie Whiting will have to decide when the top-ten shootout starts. As we know from Silverstone, it can be delayed until the track clears up.

The two Force Indias did well to make it through to Q3 in eighth and ninth.

The session gets underway despite the rain and Button and Hamilton get on the track first on full wet tyres.

There are now brighter skies above the circuit so we could see an improving track in this session.

Hulkenberg loses the car on the high speed straight down to the hairpin. He aquaplaned off at high speed but just about kept it out of the barrier.

Schumacher says to tell Charlie Whiting that the conditions are too bad. However, it has now stopped raining.

Button sets the first timed lap of the session with a 1:46.922. But Vettel is fastest with a 1:44.605 as the track appears to be improving with every lap.

Hamilton is slipping and sliding all over the place and leaves the track at turn seven. But he still improves on his middle sector so far.

Alonso returns to the pits. Surely it's too early to take on inters. he may be going for a new set of wets though.

The track is definitely improving all the time.

Raikkonen also pitted for a new set of wet weather tyres.

Hamilton is now fastest with a 1:44.186.

But it doesn't last long with Schumacher improving and then Vettel going even faster.

Vettel's best is now a 1:42.342

Vettel is being held up by Webber though and is waving his hands in the cockpit.

Alonso is looking quick on his new set of wets.

Schumacher can't improve on Vettel's best but will get one more go.

Webber goes fastest with a 1:41.680

Alonso also improves to go top with a 1:40.904. He will get one more lap too as he crossed the line before the chequered flag.

Vettel is on a very good lap now. Webber and Alonso are also on quicker personal bests.

Button can only manage sixth, Schumacher takes fourth.

But Alonso's time is safe. Vettel is second and Webber is third.

Alonso proves his point by improving on the final lap with a 1:40.621. Very impressive pace from the Ferrari driver.

A replay shows that Vettel made a mistake at the hairpin, but we're not sure if it was on his final lap.

With Webber's penalty taken into account the grid order will be Alonso, Vettel, Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Maldonado, Button, Hamilton, Webber, di Resta, Raikkonen

A thrilling end to another entertaining qualifying session, but for the second race in a row it's Alonso on pole in the wet. Vettel looked like he might have the pace with a clean lap but was over 0.4s off the Ferrari driver in the end. Webber was another 0.4s off his Red Bull team-mate.

Disappointment once more for McLaren in the wet but the car has looked good all weekend in the dry so we should see a strong fightback from both drivers in tomorrow's race.

Hulkenberg will start fourth as he confirms he's pretty handy over one lap in changing conditions (anybody remember Brazil 2010?)

And a great story for Schumacher, who will start third at his home race.

Thanks for joining us today. Make sure you check back in for all the news and reaction from the paddock this evening. And don't forget to join us for tomorrow's race, it should be an interesting one.