Welcome back to ESPNF1's live coverage of the Korean Grand Prix. Qualifying is up next and the question is whether anybody can beat the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel was over half a second quicker than anybody else in final practice and looked especially peerless in sector three where downforce dominates.

The McLarens were second and third but on one-lap pace they appear to be off the pace of the Red Bull. Long-run pace looks like a different story so a second-row grid slot won't be a disaster for those two drivers.

Alonso also looks better in race conditions than qualifying, but he might struggle to put his car ahead of the Lotuses on the grid judging by final practice. That could be very bad news for his championship if Vettel is on pole and in a position to scamper off into the distance so this session is crucial for him.

Robert asks: "I maybe be speculating early, but with the recent media reports about Mallya's arrest warrant in India how will this impact team Force India for the rest of the season? I mean if pilots and engineers at Kingfisher Airlines are going on strike over complaints about unpaid salaries could this be a possible ending to team Force India for 2013?"

Mallya has made clear that his airline and F1 team are separate entities and the latter is part owned by Roy Sahara so is not entirely reliant on Mallya. It looks unlikely that Mallya will actually be arrested any time soon, but clearly the airline is in some financial trouble and has been for some time. Mallya's business empire is built around United Breweries, which is still a very strong company, but the news could be a little embarrassing if it's not sorted out before the Indian GP in two weeks time.

Red Bull has confirmed that Webber's car is now sorted ahead of qualifying after a mapping problem prevented it from firing up at the end of FP3. He missed out on a crucial super-soft tyre run but still has a very good chance of completing a front-row lockout for Red Bull over the next hour or so.

Brent asks: "Vettel's pace - is the car legal?"

It's interesting you should ask that. I'm sure you're not alone and people do often jump to conclusions with Red Bull due to the past questions over certain parts of the car this year. But the car has passed scrutineering and is almost certainly legal. The real question is what have they done within the rules to gain an advantage. We know they are now running a double DRS and that makes a big difference to qualifying performance when DRS use is unrestricted. But Red Bull has also upped the overall performance of the car in recent race and its rivals need to attempt to match that.

Kovalainen is the first man on track in the Caterham as we get the 16th qualifying session of the weekend underway.

Kovalainen is now joined by Maldonado and di Resta who have a nice clear track to themselves. That won't be the case at the end of the session when we'll see plenty of traffic on track.

Paul di Resta has a brake issue according to his team radio. We'll keep an eye out to see if it's bad enough to see him return to the pits.

Raikkonen sets a time but was already struggling with traffic and got stuck behind the Mercedes of Schumacher. He goes second fastest behind Maldonado.

Alonso pops up with the fastest time with a 1:39.543 but we've only seen soft tyre runs so far and not the super-softs.

Karthikeyan appears to have had a brake issue too and went spinning off at turn three. It appears as though he only had rear brakes and went into a high-speed spin. That must have been terrifying at what is the fastest part of the circuit where the cars are nudging 200mph. He said the brake pedal went "straight to the floor"

Raikkonen is fastest now with a 1:38.887 as we watch Hamilton lock up into turn one on his lap. He did that a couple of times on Friday and it can cause a nasty flatspot and ruin a set of tyres.

Karthikeyan has returned to the pits but hasn't set a time yet.

Hamilton sets the third fastest time with his first clean lap.

HRT confirm Karthikeyan had a front-right brake failure. Not good.

Vettel sets the fastest time with a 1:38.208 on his first lap out of the pits.

Button pops up to second but is 0.4s off Vettel.

The Force Indias have gone out on super-soft tyres. The Saubers are planning to do the same, so it's tight in the midfield if not at the front.

At the moment Bruno Senna is in the drop zone but is currently on a faster lap.

Di Resta sets the seventh fastest time on super-softs and that has prompted Alonso to head out on the softer rubber too.

Rosberg and Hamilton are staying in the pits and hoping their times will be quick enough to make Q2.

Perez and Kobayashi improve to fourth and fifth as the super-soft tyres show their benefit.

Ricciardo improves to fifth.

Senna looks like he might drop out as he's already done one lap on the super-softs but Hamilton is also in danger and unable to react.

Schumacher also needs to improve and does by going to eighth.

Senna returns to the pits and will drop out as a result, but that got very close to Hamilton dropping out in Q1.

Amazingly Alonso only improved to 16th on the super-softs when you would expect him to have gone fastest.

So Senna, Petrov, Kovalainen, Pic, Glock, de la Rosa and Karthikeyan drop out in Q1.

Pic has a ten-place penalty for going over his engine quota for the year and will start from the back of the grid as a result.

The green light at the end of the pit lane is on for Q2. No cars yet.

Perez breaks the silence and heads straight out on super-soft tyres. Kobayashi joins him.

Alonso has gone out on used super-softs - the same one he used in Q1. Ferrari tweets: "Q2 will be very difficult."

Kobayashi sets a 1:38.594, which is not a bad lap assuming he's on used super-softs.

Webber shows the way on a set of new super-softs with a 1:38.220.

But Alonso now gives a hint of Ferrari's true pace as he sets a 1:37.987 a couple of tenths off Vettel who is now fastest.

Hamilton sets a 1:38.000 but locked up again into turn one causing a slight flatspot on his brand new tyres.

Vettel is told to have another go despite topping the timesheets.

Schumacher's set a fairly helathy lap time with a 1:38.436 as he aims for the top ten. However, his place in Q3 is still under threat from the likes of di Resta, Rosberg, Perez, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Kobayashi.

It looks like Button might have to go out for another run too as he is only eighth.

Webber, Schumacher and Button have all gone out for another lap as well as all the cars from ninth to 17th.

Hamilton, Massa and Grosjean have also joined the fun.

Alonso too, Vettel is the only one confident enough to stay in the pits and save tyres.

Alonso too, Vettel is the only one confident enough to stay in the pits and save tyres.

Hulkenberg gets up to seventh ahead of Schumacher and Button.

Ricciardo has stopped in sector two so that could ruin a few laps with the yellow flags out.

Button is out. He didn't improve under the yellows whereas others did.

Raikkonen improved to go ahead of the McLaren and set a personal best in the yellow flag zone.

Button also had a lock up in sector one but appeared to lose the most time in sector three where Ricciardo's Toro Rosso came to a halt with a technical issue.

The two Saubers, di Resta, Maldonado and the Toro Rossos will drop out along with Button.

It looked like a transmission problem for Ricciardo as his car suddenly started revving without any drive to the rear wheels.

Button is straight out of the car and out the back of the garage. Not a happy boy. However, the FIA may look in to the drivers that set times under yellow flags after the session. If any of them are penalised Button could be elevated into the top ten on the grid, but that is still disappointing for McLaren.

The ten-minutes of Q3 is now underway. Rosberg is the first man out and completes a practice start at the end of the pit lane.

Button said a lock-up in sector three on his first lap meant he knew he could improve but on his second attempt he wasn't able to because of the yellow flags. Bad luck for him.

Vettel is the fastest man in sector one on this first attempt. Massa is also quick.

Alonso sets the fastest middles sector...

But Vettel is just so dominant in the final sector and he sets the fastest time of the first runs by 0.3s ahead of Alonso, who put in a brilliant lap. Webber is third ahead of Massa and Hamilton.

Hamilton was right in the middle of a bunch of cars so will be hoping for a cleaner second run to get in the mix for the front row.

Great lap by Alonso though, with a mighty sector two that was even faster than Vettel. He's just losing time in the first and second sectors.

Webber will be a little bit disappointed to set a time 0.4s off Vettel, but did lose setup time in final practice with an engine glitch.

The cars have been refuelled and have new tyres on them as they head out for their second run.

Hamilton nearly clobbers Rosberg in the pit lane as he comes out of his garage.

Webber starts his second attempt with a strong first sector, but not quicker than Vettel.

Rosberg sets a new fastest first sector with the Mercedes, but will struggle later in the lap.

Vettel's first sector is not that quick and Webber takes provisional pole off him.

Hamilton improves to third as Vettel loses more time in sector two.

Webber is on pole. Vettel is a tenth off overall and Hamilton is a couple of tenths shy in third.

Great lap by Webber with a fantastic second sector. Vettel had a poor opening to the lap and couldn't gain that time back despite setting the fastest final sector.

Alonso will have to settle for fourth, but that's not a bad result after struggling for one-lap pace all weekend in practice.

Raikkonen takes fifth ahead of Massa and team-mate Grosjean.

Hulkenberg beats the Mercedes for eighth place ahead of Rosberg and Schumacher.

A much closer session than we thought with just 0.383s separating the top five.

It seems as though Vettel was capable of more but couldn't hook the lap together when it mattered. It should make for an interesting race tomorrow that's for sure.

Thanks for joining us for the session. Keep checking the website for all the reaction from the drivers and we'll be back for more coverage of the race tomorrow.