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

The early news to tell you about is that Ricciardo's engine failure in FP3 was "terminal". Red Bull had only fitted it this morning, so it switches to the old new engine it switched to yesterday. Make sense? Didn't think so.

Ferrari had moved to within two tenths of Mercedes in FP3. How much of that was genuine will become clear during qualifying but splitting Hamilton and Rosberg in qualifying would go down a treat with the tifosi. However, let's not forget just how dominant Mercedes looked during Friday practice.

News coming out of the paddock that Rosberg has been forced to switch back to Mercedes' Spa engine after FP3 problems.

As if Hamilton needed that kind of advantage in qualifying....

In FP3 we saw the traditional Saturday improvement from Williams, who looked to be the best behind Mercedes and Ferrari. Maldonado got his Lotus up to sixth, suggesting the team could be a contender for a good grip spot.

Despite a very good Friday, Force India could only manage eighth and 12th. Whether that was a true reflection of its pace remains to be seen this afternoon ... either way, anything less than an appearance in Q3 for both drivers would be something of a disaster with that Mercedes power unit.

On the subject of Rosberg's engine change, there is no penalty because its one which has already been used in Mercedes' race pool.

Less than ten minutes until the start of Q1.

The tifosi are out in force today. Will they see Vettel or Raikkonen spring a surprise?

Hard for anyone to dislike Monza. Great crowd, great circuit. How Bernie could even entertain the idea of dropping it from the calendar is baffling.

Air temperature 22 degrees, track temperature 34. No chance of rain this afternoon or tomorrow, according to the forecasts, making a Mercedes weekend look all the more inevitable.

The clock starts ticking and away we go. The Manors are the first to venture out on track.

Medium tyres on most of the cars I've seen leave the pits but a lot will switch to softs before this session is out.

Hulkenberg gets bery close to the back of Ericsson's Sauber on his timed lap but still crosses in a 1:26.130. "What's he doing?" asks Hulkenberg.

Hamilton goes top with a 1:24.649 on the medium compound.

Perez slots in behind Hamilton, but is immediately knocked down a place by Grosjean's Lotus.

Bottas moves into P2 and the Ferraris move in behind him, Vettel first and then Raikkonen.

Stewards investigating Ericsson for that spot of questionable driving I mentioned earlier. Replays show Vettel sliding all over the place on the exit of the Parabolica.

The gap at the front is three tenths between Hamilton and Bottas, but the world champion has just gone purple through the first sector.

Button's first time puts him 12th.

After going purple in the first two sectors, Hamilton increases his advantage to seven tenths. The benchmark now a 1:24.251.

Here's the story on Rosberg's engine switch - click here

"I was massively interrupted again by the Sauber into Turn 4. What is he doing!?" Hulkenberg still complaining about Mr Ericsson.

Rosberg, on that old spec engine, moves into second but 0.569s behind Hamilton.

Rosberg improves on his lap time but is still three tenths down on Hamilton. Replays show Massa locking up into Turn 1.

Alonso and Button currently 15th and 16th.

No sign of Verstappen so far, his car is on jacks in the Toro Rosso garage and they are running out of time to get him out. A little way down the pit lane, Ricciardo is climbing into his Red Bull so should emerge soon.

Five minutes left in Q1.

Worth noting that Manors drivers will line up, at worst, 13th and 14th tomorrow with all these penalties around them.

Soft tyres for Kvyat, who is currently in dangerous territory down in 14th.

Kvyat's team-mate Ricciardo emerges from the pit lane. He has just under three minutes to get a time on the board.

Ricciardo has switched back to the engine he had in the car yesterday.

Grosjean up in fifth, his team-mate Maldonado has just crossed to go sixth.

Nasr and Ericsson, with a set of soft tyres on, go seventh and eighth after Perez and Hulkenberg go fourth and fifth. Times tumbling all over the place.

Bottas has also felt the need to put the soft tyres on.

Everyone bar the Mercedes drivers out there currently.

Spaniards Sainz and Alonso on the cusp, but Sainz has just started another timed lap on those softs.

Their fate could hinge on whether Ricciardo can hook his lap together, and currently his times look good.

Verstappen heads out but there's only 20 seconds left, so he'll be there to just put in some strong sector times.

Sainz moves into 12th.

Ricciardo jumps up to 14th to relegate the McLarens into the drop zone.

There's some debris on the Curva Grande, looks like some bodywork and it's come off Verstappen's car!

Alonso improves on his time but can't beat Button. That is only good enough for 17th.

Chequered flag out so we'll have Button, Alonso, Stevens, Merhi and Verstappen dropping out of the session.

Replays show the engine cover tearing off the Toro Rosso as he started the Curva Grande. Remember, they had hurried to get Verstappen out after all those issues and the FIA might want to have a look at that.

"Looks like that traffic at Turns 4 and 5 hurt us," McLaren tells Alonso on missing out on Button's P16. I don't think he'll care too much either way.

This time last year, Alonso had gone 86 races without suffering a mechanical retirement. You can learn to miss the politics at Maranello....

— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) September 5, 2015

So everyone but the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers used a set of soft tyres in that session.

The lights go green and that means the start of Q2.

Ricciardo walking towards the weighbridge despite making it into Q2, meaning we are unlikely to see him in this session.

Hamilton heads down the pit lane. With that engine spec advantage, you feel he just needs to hook a lap together in Q3 to take pole. But will there be any concerns about Hamilton's engine going the distance?

Rosberg also one of the eight drivers out there.

Rosberg sets a 1:24.128 to go P1 on the soft compound...

But that doesn't last long, as Hamilton crosses seven tenths quicker to go P1.

Nasr moves into fifth, but is immediately displaced by Maldonado. Both Lotus drivers will expect to be comfortably into Q3 this afternoon.

Massa moves into third and is only two tenths off Rosberg.

Hulkenberg slots into fifth behind the Williams drivers. Force India team-mate Perez is just behind him.

Soft tyres from here on out, remember, as Vettel starts his first flying lap of Q2.

Mercedes have a chance today to beat Juan-Pablo Montoya's 2001 pole time of 1:22.216 with a 3.0-litre Williams BMW, set in a tyre war

— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) September 5, 2015

Siddhesh says: "How on earth will Rosberg even think about catching Hamilton with what is essentially an older engine spec?! Guess he better concentrate on damage limitation now and try protect 2nd..."

Vettel goes purple through the middle sector.

Well now... Vettel goes into P2 to split the Mercedes drivers. Raikkonen on a lap of his own.

And now Raikkonen goes P2! The tifosi enjoyed that one.

That's livened things up a bit. Remember, it's a long old run down to Turn 1 tomorrow....

"I had something handing off of my car," complains Raikkonen and he's right, there's some bit of plastic hanging off his rear wing.

Quite impressed the Iceman could even see that.

Four minutes left as the team's return to the garage. There will be a late flurry of activity for the teams hoping to get into Q3.

As the clock ticks past three minutes, Hulkenberg heads out on track.

He's joined by Bottas, Grosjean and Nasr and expect a few more to be out there soon.

Vettel also goes out for another run.

Williams tells Bottas his team-mate Massa will be practicing getting a tow off him down the backstraight. Memories of Ferrari getting that horribly wrong in years past.

Everyone bar Hamilton, Raikkonen and Ricciardo back out on track for another lap.

Currently Nasr, Grosjean, Sainz, Kvyat and Ricciardo in the drop zone. Three of those men have grid penalties.

Ethan asks: "If ROS hasn't used his 3rd engine in a qualy or race, does he get penalized for repairing or replacing his third engine? So if HAM has the same issue and needs a replacement, he'd have to take a penalty?"

No, penalties only start after fourth components have been used. This engine change doesn't end in a penalty because it's already in Mercedes' "race pool".

Grosjean climbs into eighth.

Hulkenberg in trouble...

But he gets away with it as Sainz can't rise above 13th. Hulkenberg edges Maldonado by just 0.01s and that was too close for a team who should be fighting for a spot on the third row.

So dropping out of that session are Maldoando, Nasr, Sainz, Kvyat and Ricciardo.

Ricciardo tells TV today's engine was actually a brand new one, rather than switching to yesterday's old new one. Confusing stuff, hey?

Maldonado the only Mercedes powered car not to make it into Q3, which he will be pretty disappointed about. Great job from Sauber's Ericsson to make it through in P9.

Ethan asks: "Just to expand upon my point, is the third (and newly upgraded) engine for ROS considered to be included in his race pool now? If he were to replace that new engine, would he be penalized, even though he has not used it in a qualy or race?"

I see what you mean. He wouldn't be penalised, because to change that engine again would mean moving on to a fourth power unit - the last one allowed before incurring penalties. However, it would be far from ideal for him if he moved onto a fourth engine as early as Singapore.

So here we go then, ready for the top ten shootout. Can Ferrari replicate Q2 and split the Mercedes drivers?

The clock is ticking for Q3.

Lots of activity early on. Both Mercedes drivers among the first men to join the track.

Rosberg slows almost to a halt at the start of the Curva Grande and Bottas waits behind him. Looks like Rosberg was hoping for the Williams to go past him.

Everyone bar Perez and Ericsson out on track.

Hulkenberg sets the provisional pole time, a 1:25.317.

Rosberg moves into P1 with a 1:23.942.

Hamilton goes into provisional pole with a rapid 1:23.397, Vettel and Raikkonen slot in behind him and even Massa has beaten Rosberg's time! Big trouble for the German out there.

Looks like Massa benefited from getting a tow from team-mate Bottas down the backstraight.

Hulkenberg reporting a loss of power as he coasts down the pit lane.

And Hulkenberg has stopped his car. He's stopped it just after the white line of the pit lane meaning the marshals can push it back to the Force India garage.

Just 0.007s between Vettel and Raikkonen in P2 and P3. Three tenths between Hamilton and Vettel.

Hamilton reporting his lap was "not the best", meaning he thinks he can improve further with his final run.

The clock ticks towards three minutes and we'll see the final runs very shortly.

Lots of action now as all the drivers bar Hulkenberg head back out on track.

Hamilton right at the back of the pack so unlikely Mercedes will try the patented Ferrari slingshot trick of a few years ago.

Hulkenberg climbing out of the car, so he won't have a chance to better his current time.

This should be fun. The Ferraris and Mercedes' have all started their timed laps in close proximity.

Chequered flag is out so this is it...

It's incredibly tight between the Ferrari drivers through the first two sectors.

Vettel improves on his time, but so does Raikkonen to go P2!

Rosberg can only manage fourth fastest!

Hamilton doesn't improve on pole but he doesn't need to, its pole number 11 for 2015! What a day for Ferrari and Raikkonen behind the world champion though.

"Nice job Kimi, nice job!" Ferrari tells Kimi. "Come on Kimi!"

This should make tomorrow's start absolutely unmissable, we've seen how fast the Ferrari boys have been getting off the line recently.

What must Rosberg be thinking in that Mercedes? Tomorrow could be tough for him, especially if he gets a slow start.

Surprised by the eventual margin for pole - Hamilton only taking it by three tenths of a second so Ferrari clearly holding something back on Friday.

Perez managed to jump above Grosjean for seventh in that battle behind Williams.

I said earlier pole would give Hamilton the pole trophy - I was wrong, he wrapped that up in Belgium.

That's all we have time for from qualifying at Monza. Please be sure to join us again for tomorrow's race.