Welcome to live commentary of the qualifying session for the British Grand Prix. It's surprisingly dry at Silverstone right now, but will it stay that way throughout?

It was dry for FP3, with Fernando Alonso quickest, but it did start to rain at the end of the session and Sergio Perez slid off the track despite being on an in-lap. All of the drivers will be desperate to get banker lap times in this afternoon in case of any further rain

It was an interesting session earlier, with Alonso just edging out Jenson Button, but Button was on a seven lap old set of hard tyres and looks in good shape. Lotus was competitive too with Grosjean third and Raikkonen fifth, while Vettel was quick in fourth. Predictions? Pointless. This is all based on 60 minutes of running

Weather update from Laurence in the paddock, and he says: "Spots of rain on the tops of the team trucks with qualifying just under 20 minutes away"

If you want to get in touch with your questions and comments during this session then we'd love to hear from you. Either email us using the link above or tweet us @ESPNF1

The rain is not falling heavily at the moment, so it looks like we'll have a dry start to the session. How long that lasts though is anybody's guess

So, who's willing to make a pole position prediction? I've backed Alonso for victory, but I'm going to go with Hamilton for pole. Let's see just how wrong I am...

A question that came in between sessions from Ben: "What are your thoughts on Charles Pic - does he have potential and will he get another season?"

I wasn't Pic's biggest fan at the start of the year after his GP2 spell but he's really impressed me this season so far. I think he's worth another season, but he needs to continue bringing money to the team too

It is raining.

Steady rain is falling in the pit lane and Petrov is told that conditions will get worse so they will head out straight away. Intermediates on the cars in the pit lane

Di Resta already out in the queue at the end of the pit lane, almost the whole grid waiting to go out

All on intermediates as the rain continues to fall

Raikkonen has no KERS

Pic and Hulkenberg have changed gearboxes and have five-place grid penalties

Button is told that he needs to "keep pushing at all times, even in traffic"

DRS has been disabled for the session

Stan asks: "Who do you think is the stand-out driver in the wet?"

There's plenty of very good drivers out there in the wet, but I'm yet to see a better performance than Hamilton in 2008 here at Silverstone. McLaren probably has the best wet weather driver line-up with him and Button

Spray on the run down to Copse, not so bad in the final sector though

Kobayashi quickest early on with a 1:50.411

It's a mess out there - Raikkonen goes off track avoiding Grosjean who was passing Perez - everyone desperate to find space and Kimi was on a flying lap

Schumacher goes quickest on a 1:49.935. Everyone on track

Alonso blocked by an HRT in sector one

Massa now quickest - these times will just keep changing

Ricciardo goes quickest with a 1:49.446

Hamilton now top on a 1:49.175

Massa does a 1:48.499 for top spot right now

The bottom seven are currently: Button, Petrov, Flock, Kovalainen, Karthikeyan, de la Rosa and Pic

Button has backed off on this lap, but if the conditions get worse then he's going to be in trouble

Kobayashi fastest on a 1:47.840 so the track is improving at present

Button with a quicker first sector. Vergne goes fastest with a 1:47.705

Track is getting quicker and quicker right now

Button gets up to only 15th place. Drop zone is now Petrov, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Glock, de la Rosa, Pic, Karthikeyan

Rosberg doesn't improve to get out of the drop zone and is then blocked by an HRT. Still very busy

Perez now top

Raikkonen goes sixth, Button only 13th. Rosberg still in trouble and 0.8s away from safety

Vettel is 13th and Button down to 15th now. Vettel is flying though with the fastest first sector

Maldonado goes fastest with a 1:46.449

Hulkenberg now top. 1:46.334

Button backs off and finds a gap as Vettel goes fastest by a tenth

Rosberg has just improved to 17th place and pushed Button back in to the drop zone along with both Caterhams, Marussias and HRT

It's drying out more now, so slicks could be the way to go...

No, it isn't. It's starting to rain harder

Button's in trouble here. Stays 18th and with four minutes to go it's raining harder. Rosberg is 0.3s ahead of him. Hamilton is only 14th ahead of them as well

Di Resta in 15th and he's told he needs "an almighty timed lap"

Button's in the pits for a new set of inters

And off he goes. He needs to get round quickly and will get one flying lap

Button is now on his second set of inters out of four available, not good if it's a wet race

Di Resta was on a good lap but struggles in the final corner and can't improve. It's too wet at the end of the lap for anyone to improve I think

Button starts his one flying lap. Rosberg in 17th is in the pits so that's all he needs to beat...

Button a tenth up in the first sector. Hamilton improves but stays 14th. A lot of time lost in the final sector. About three seconds

Button 1.5s up but there's a yellow flag in the final sector. Heavy rain has caused Glock to spin just beyond the line

Button is out. As I said, it's too wet to improve in the final sector

Button was a second slower than his best time in the end. He drops out along with Petrov, Kovalainen, Glock, de la Rosa, Karthikeyan and Pic. Pic is outside 107% but having made every other qualifying time should be allowed to race

Button returns to the pits. his dismal run at the British Grand Prix continues

It's not just Button who was struggling, Hamilton was only 14th

The rain is continuing to come down heavily in the pit lane and the final sector

Vettel was quickest in that session, incidentally

We're away again, I'd expect a number of cars to be on full wet tyres

It is lashing down in the first sector now. So wet

The Red Bull's are last out on track. Apparently both Ferraris are on intermediates - I wouldn't want to be in those cars right now

Indeed Alonso and Massa are on inters but will put on full wets, Rob Smedley says

Alonso straight in the pits as Vergne wrestles with his Toro Rosso through Abbey

Everyone except the Williams pair on to full wets now

Vergne will set the first timed lap and that could help him

Schumacher's spun and is reversing his Mercedes

Perez goes fastest with a 1:59.092. 13 seconds slower than Q1

Schumacher spun at Becketts but he's rejoined now

The standing water is getting very bad now

Schumacher again goes off, this time at Vale

That tells you how bad it is, Schumacher's wet weather skills are well known...

Alonso spins out of Chapel and JUST keeps it out of the wall

Alonso and Massa yet to set a time after their error with intermediates earlier

Schumacher off track again at Club. Alonso radios in to say it's red flag conditions

Current drop zone is Maldonado, di Resta, Grosjean, Schumahcer, Massa, Alonso and Senna

Only Senna and Maldonado improving

Grosjean runs wide at Vale

Massa is off

And now the red flag is out, so we're stopped with just over six minutes left

The clock does stop in qualifying, so there's still time for drivers to improve when we go green again

Red flag was the only sensible decision. It's horrendously wet out there

We could be here for a while, it is still bucketing down and there's a lot of water out there

Nigel asks: "Why is Sauber doing so much better this yr, at least in the practice runs, if not in the races?"

It seems to have moved to the front of the midfield having stopped its development on the exhaust blown diffuser mid-way through last season, allowing it to focus on this year's car much earlier. It didn't help in 2011 but certainly has this season

The rain continues to fall. We're just looking in to what will happen if we don't manage to get a restart - Paul di Resta just said on the radio that even if it stops it will take some time to get the track clear again

Jaydeep asks: "So is Kimi back to his ice creams?" We will investigate for you!

And Siddhesh emails in: "When did Toro Rosso become a front running team?! We might well see at least one of those cars going to Q3, the way it is right now"

We may well see one (or both) cars in to Q3, but it's only down to the weather - the Toro Rosso has traditionally been strong in the wet

The medical car is currently checking the track conditions. According to the radar this rain will continue for another 50 minutes

For those asking what will happen if we don't get a restart, we're not 100% certain at this point but are investigating. We do have times set already so theoretically have a grid order

We believe that this would be the grid order because the session has started and times have been set. We'll try and get that confirmed.

Carlo asks: "How could the circuit owners spend so much on the new track configuration and facilities and yet seemingly leave the track with inadequate drainage? Never rained in England before?"

I think you underestimate the amount of rain falling, Carlo. It's also not draining all that quickly also because of the levels of rain recently, with well above average rainfall

Caterham's Steve Nielsen doesn't seem to think that this would be the grid and that we may have to restart from the same point tomorrow if we run out of time today - we do have other categories to race today but if the rain doesn't ease enough for F1 then they won't be going out either

There's no deadline for qualifying, we'll just be here until it gets dark!

Most people seem to be focusing on a break in the weather in around 40 minutes time. It is still coming down heavily right now

Race control will give 10 minutes notice before a re-start

Gary Hartstein was out in the medical car and has just said on Twitter: "No secrets - its wet with significant standing water everywhere. This will take a while even after rain eases up."

Listening to various team members talking about what happens next. The first thing is we try and finish today at some point. If that isn't possible, Jonathan Neale just told Sky Sports that there's a number of options being discussed and names two potential ones: One is that the current top 17 line up in car number order, and the other is that the times at the end of Q1 make the grid.

If anyone is currently located somewhere within an hour or so of Silverstone, feel free to let us know what the weather is like by you! Can never trust these weather radars...

Laurence has been through the sporting regulations, and the only part that deals with this sort of situation says that the clerk of the course can red flag the session for such weather, and practice will not be extended but qualifying will

Charlie Whiting has just said that his estimate would be that we may get a start again at 3pm if the weather forecast is correct. He also said that the main thing he looks out for is aquaplaning, and that's what they'll try to ensure will be avoided before a restart

Arshdeep emails in: "Seems like the issue here is aquaplaning because car's are set-up so low. Why doesn't FIA introduce minimum ride hide that will eliminate aquaplaning? Seems like these days any time the cars are on full Wets the race/quali gets Red flagged soon after."

The aquaplaning isn't as a result of the car set-up, it's just that the tread depth of the tyres can't move the standing water when there's so much of it. Standing water is the biggest problem, and unfortunately heavy rain affects any sport - there's no way around it. If it rains heavily enough in football and rugby a game will be called off due to a waterlogged pitch. At least we're not in the same boat (excuse the pun) as cricket or tennis where rain always stops play automatically!

The medical car is back out and splashing its way through puddles. It does look brighter out there...

And the medical car is back in. Exciting

Good spirits at Red Bull as the mechanics do a Mexican wave in the pit lane

Gordon emails in to say: "In the lull in qualy, let's think about spectator conditions. It's especially bad for campers at Silverstone right now, but spare a special though for the marshals, without whom the race could not take place. I know from experience that the marshals sloping campsite can be tricky at the best of times but many will need tractoring out after this weekend. Although I still miss it, I'm glad to be watching from home this year!"

Now McLaren is getting involved in the Mexican wave to entertain the fans. Still raining though

Mexican wave watch: I've seen Caterham joining in, Mercedes and I think Ferrari too and definitely a few marshals

Still expecting this rain to end in around ten to fifteen minutes

One issue we may have is the fact that there's only six minutes left in Q2. To help clear the standing water we need cars to be running on track, but there's not really enough time left for that in order to allow cars to improve

Rosberg has been out in to the pit lane to wave to the crowd, and the noise coming back to him from the British fans was pretty incredible

Ross Brawn joins Nico Rosberg to start another Mexican wave to the fans

Jose emails in to say: "Why don't these folks carry official vehicles by the FIA like those in NASCAR with the jet engine track dryers. After it stops raining, they do a couple of laps and the track would be ready sooner instead of the driver taking his life in his hands and trying to traverse standing water at 120 mph!. Is it not silly that such a high tech sport just sits around and has to wait for mother nature to play nice?"

Unfortunately they are expensive units that would have to be transported, and only work in NASCAR because they help blow the water down the slope of the oval to help drainage. It's just not quite so practical in Formula One.

Adam says: "With conditions like these, how long before someone considers a indoor f1 track? (the sound would be immense!)"

The problem there would be the sheer size Adam - Silverstone is over five miles long and obviously you need the run-off areas etc. If someone's got the money to build such a facility though, you're right the sound would be awesome!

Out goes the medical car again. We've hit 14:40 and the sky is much brighter over certain parts of the circuit

As an aside, this rain will not be helping Silverstone's attempts to get all of its car parks usable for the race tomorrow...

Marshals are out on track and are sweeping water off the track with brushes, despite the fact that it's still raining

Schumacher goes out on to the pit wall and gets the crowd cheering again. Never seen so much support for German sportsmen in England!

Machines are out on track sweeping the water away, so we do have some technology speeding process along. They basically look like street-cleaning lorries

Once the sweepers have done their work then the medical car will check the track once more before we restart

What is encouraging is the fact that engines are being fired up

The rain has stopped...

The radar reports no rain for the next 30 minutes. Hopefully that means we can fit the rest of qualifying in quickly

Monisha Kaltenborn is sporting some Hunter wellington boots in the paddock. She came prepared

Here's a picture of Mark Webber out in the rain earlier, and that wasn't the worst of the conditions:

© Press Association

The medical car is back out there and the track already looks in a much better condition

TEN MINUTE WARNING: The session will restart at 15:07

Funnily, the FIA Wet/Dry graph says the track is dry!

Jason has emailed in to make some of us jealous: "Wow its 7.55am here in Calgary Alberta and we have glorious sunshine, I got up early to watch F1 qualifying and Wimbledon. Really feeling it for you guys, we are enjoying the 100th Calgary Stampede. I hope the weather gets better for you."

Thanks for the email Jason, and the weather has improved so we are now just eight minutes from a restart!

The sun is out at present and Vergne is told he's going out on intermediate tyres. That's how much it's drying out now, and you want to be on the right tyres right at the very end of the session

We will have 6:19 left on the clock when we restart in four minutes time

With four minutes still to wait Maldonado is already at the end of the pit lane on full wets

Grosjean on full wets joins the queue, as does Senna

Full wets for Hamilton it looks like too

Five cars already waiting at the end of the pit lane, Hamilton heads out to join them for a two minute wait. He's on full wets

Thanks for the sympathetic emails about the weather from you all - or not so sympathetic from some enjoying the sunshine elsewhere!

Kobayashi and Raikkonen on intermediate tyres

GO! Qualifying resumes after an hour and a half

Vettel heads out on full wets

There's still a lot of standing water around, but if it clears enough in the next five minutes then those on the intermediates could be sitting pretty

Hamilton says it's "definitely" the right call to be on full wets, as Grosjean starts a flying lap. He's 13th at present

Kobayashi straight on to full wet tyres

Grosjean with the fastest first sector - everyone should be able to improve on their earlier times

Grosjean the fastest man so far, but Alonso going even quicker behind

Grosjean goes fastest on a 1:57.634

Alonso goes second, 0.027s slower than Grosjean

Rosberg - currently 8th - has gone off at Vale but rejoined

Schumacher goes quickest with a 1:56.461 - a second quicker than anyone else

Webber goes top

Perez is out there on intermediates - could be an error as he's now tenth

Hamilton in the drop zone

Vettel now 11th

Hamilton goes fastest and Vettel isn't exactly flying...

Vettel seventh

Alonso in the drop zone needs to improve

Raikkonen down there too and he goes sixth

Vettel down to eighth

Di Resta could knock Vettel down further...

Doesn't, just ninth

Alonso under pressure, he's 13th and Grosjean is in the gravel at Vale!

Alonso goes ninth despite the yellow flags!

Vettel tenth and just through...

Rosberg is out

Out go di Resta, Kobayashi, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Senna, Vergne and Perez

Perez was fastest before we restarted. Intermediates were the wrong call

Grosjean spun at Vale and got stuck in the gravel. He's fifth but won't be able to take part in Q3

Vettel made it through by just 0.079s

Alonso didn't do his fastest sector in the final sector, so that should mean he's OK despite the yellows

So Hamilton ended the session quickest from Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Webber and Grosjean. Massa, Raikkonen, Maldonado, Alonso and Vettel also went through

It's still cloudy but not raining so conditions should continue to improve throughout Q3

Maldonado thinks so, he's already at the end of the pit lane on intermediate tyres

Maldonado is first out on the inters, followed by Raikkonen

Schumacher, Massa and Hamilton now on track too - haven't seen their tyre choices though

Maldonado is going to run constantly until the end of the session as the circuit improves

Vettel is on intermediate tyres

DRS is still disabled. Raikkonen is on full wets and has caught Maldonado quickly on the out lap

Hamilton on full wets but he's pitted for a set of inters

Raikkonen is 0.7s quicker than Maldonado in the first sector on the full wets rather than inters

Heavy rain is heading towards the circuit but not expected to hit until after Q3

Raikkonen is 1.5s up on the full wets, Schumacher is on full wets too

Maldonado does a 1:58.016

Raikkonen backed off in the final sector

Schumacher goes fastest with a 1:54.091

Alonso goes fastest on a 1:53.699 on intermediate tyres

Inters the right choice then as long as it doesn't rain again

Vettel goes third

Alonso is flying out there, fastest first sector from him

Schumacher and Raikkonen pit for inters

Massa goes fastest by 0.1s

Alonso should beat that though...

Alonso goes fastest by a second - a 1:52.544

The times are just going to get quicker and quicker

Hamilton only fifth so far

Vettel goes third ahead of Schumacher but still 1.3s slower than Alonso

Very dark clouds getting near to Stowe now...

Massa improving

Webber goes second with two minutes left

Massa goes second

Hamilton stays sixth, 2.1s slower than Alonso

Webber with two fastest sectors...

Hulkenberg up to sixth

Webber goes fastest by 0.8s

Thirty seconds to go

Alonso sets the fastest first sector

Webber then with the fastest first sector

Maldonado goes fourth as the flag falls

Still everyone else on laps

Massa stays third

Hamilton goes sixth after almost spinning at Vale

Alonso goes fastest

Here comes Webber... and Vettel...

Vettel goes fourth behind Schumacher

Webber stays second and FERNANDO ALONSO TAKES POLE!

The top three - Alonso, Webber and Schumacher. Everyone's completed their laps

Vettel will start fourth ahead of Massa and Raikkonen. Maldonado, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Grosjean complete the top ten

It might have taken a while, but what an exciting end to the session. Alonso beat Webber by just 0.047s

Alonso celebrates his first pole of the season as Hamilton checks the tyre temperatures of the Ferrari and Red Bull cars as he walks through parc ferme

Alonso seems happy but not overjoyed - a lot can still happen tomorrow. Make sure you join us for the race tomorrow, it promises to be a cracker once again. Thanks for all your comments throughout the delay and the rest of the session, and stay with us on ESPNF1.com for all the reaction to qualifying. Bye for now.