Welcome to live coverage of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. We have a new circuit, a slippy track and cool temperatures, but a familiar name on top...

Yup, Sebastian Vettel has been quickest in all three practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas. Will that translate in to pole position? We'll find out in the next hour or so

Non-Vettel fans shouldn't despair though. Vettel saw his advantage reduced to just 0.258s by Lewis Hamilton at the end of Q3, and the McLaren should find it easier to get its tyres working in qualifying with track temperatures higher than earlier this morning

A bit of news for you since the end of FP3. Sergio Perez was not penalised for his clash with Charles Pic, but Romain Grosjean has got a five-place grid penalty for an engine change

Qualifying is always a fast-paced session but we would like to hear from you with any questions or comments. Get them in to us either using the link above or via Twitter @ESPNF1

A few nice banners around in the grandstands. This one is a particular favourite:

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Plenty to look out for in Q1 today, with traffic likely to be a problem when all 24 cars are on track. There's also the chance that HRT might struggle to make 107% having done limited running on Friday, so we'll keep you up to date on that time

The 107% time comes from the end of Q1 rather than the end of the whole session, so HRT may be helped by the front-runners not using medium tyres in the first part of qualifying

Temperatures are rising and the track is now up to 32C - double what it was for FP3 - while air temperature is 21C

The light at the end of the pit lane goes green and Q1 begins

First out are the two HRTs and Glock in the Marussia

Straight in to timed laps except for Perez who runs through the pit lane and then back out

First timed laps from the two HRTs are a 1:45.573 from Karthikeyan and a 1:45.674 from de la Rosa

Raikkonen does a 1:41.058 on hard tyres

Glock is on the mediums and improving his best time. Everyone improving on their second run

1:41.629 for Glock, which is close to Raikkonen but not for long

De la Rosa locks up in to turn 15, which won't have helped this set of medium tyres

Grosjean's first flying lap is on the medium tyres and he does a 1:39.078

A busy track already with only Glock and Kobayashi in the pits right now

The front-runners will be heavily fuelled to make sure they find space at some point for a clear lap

Perez goes second with a 1:39.641 on medium tyres

Grosjean improves to a 1:37.865 while Webber goes second

Bruno Senna goes fastest on the medium tyres with a 1:37.850

Times are changing so quickly as Grosjean returns to the top with a 1:37.486

Vettel then goes fastest on the hard tyres with a 1:37.165

Karthikeyan in 21st is just 0.020s inside the 107% time. Petrov, Kobayashi and Schumacher yet to set a time within 107%

Maldonado goes third with a 1:37.572; he's looking relatively strong in qualifying trim

Petrov is yet to complete his time within 107% but Karthikeyan is improving to try and make life a bit more comfortable for himself

Karthikeyan does so with a 1:42.740 - over 1.2s inside the required time so that should be enough

All 24 cars still on track at present

That could be trouble for Petrov unless he improves on this lap - outside 107% at present

Ricciardo goes 17th ahead of Rosberg, so Rosberg is in the drop zone and unable to improve his sector one time significantly with yellow flags there

Vettel's been through the yellows and set the fastest first sector as he improves his best to a 1:36.558

Rosberg is in trouble here. He's got to make this lap count...

Rosberg jumps above Ricciardo with three seconds left

Ricciardo took the flag so he's out in 18th place along with Glock, Pic, Petrov, Kovalainen, de la Rosa and Karthikeyan

So the big shock there is both Marussias outqualifying both Caterham's, and very comfortably in Glock's case; 0.8s clear of Petrov and 1.1s ahead of Kovalainen

All drivers made it inside the 107% time. Karthikeyan was just under 0.6s inside the time

Kovalainen appears to be complaining about traffic in the Caterham garage. The losers in Q1 are Ricciardo, Pic, Kovalainen and Karthikeyan as they will start in even-numbered grid slots on the left hand side of the grid - which has the least grip

Quickest in Q1 was Vettel (who else?) by exactly half a second from Hamilton

Q2 begins but no rush to head out

Maldonado heads out along with Raikkonen and Rosberg

Just the three cars on track at present in front of what looks to be a full house

Maldonado pits as Senna and Grosjean head out

Kobayashi is set to do one run with four timed laps. Same protocol as Q1 where it's all about being out on track for as long as possible and as late as possible

Raikkonen sets the first timed lap of Q2 with a 1:37.672 on medium tyres

For Button it's a five timed lap run, while Mercedes tells Schumacher it believes the cut-off time will be a 1m37.2s

Button sets the fastest first sector; everyone out on medium tyres now

Alonso gets held up by Schumacher at turn 15, prompting Alonso to say "Unbelievable Michael, unbelievable"

Button goes second with a 1:37.616

The fact that nobody has gone below the 1m37.2s mark that Mercedes predicted shows how much the track will continue to evolve and laps lower as fuel burns off

Hamilton goes comfortably quickest with a 1:36.795

Webber does a 1:36.870 for second

Here comes Vettel...

Vettel goes quickest with a 1:35.971. Ouch.

That's 0.8s quicker than the rest of the field

Alonso is in trouble at present in 14th

Button radios in saying: "Got a loss of power, guys, loss of power"

Button is limping back to the pit lane

Alonso goes fourth with a 1:37.123

Button is down to ninth place and won't get another run

Button: "I've got a loss of power guys, no power, the throttle pedal is short"

Button makes it to the pit lane but needs to get out quickly if he wants to do another lap

Di Resta is 11th at present, just 0.05s slower than Button

Button doesn't get back out again and now he's down to 11th and out of qualifying as Schumacher goes 5th

Hamilton in the pits in third place with Vettel and Webber first and second

Alonso down to seventh and needs to get a lap in

Hulkenberg has gone fifth. Di Resta pits and is out

Raikkonen is on the cusp in 10th place

Massa goes second but Alonso doesn't improve

Nervy wait for Alonso now, but only Senna improving

Senna goes 11th, just 0.2s off 10th

Perez completes a lap but only good enough for 15th

Grosjean goes fifth and Maldonado sixth to knock Alonso down to 9th, but that's all the laps

OUT: Senna, Button, di Resta, Vergne, Perez, Kobayashi and Rosberg

Vettel absolutely dominant there, half a second quicker than Webber and 0.8s clear of Massa. Good work from Grosjean, Maldonado, Hulkenberg and Schumacher though to get through to Q3

Alonso had half a second in hand over Senna in the end so was comfortably through to Q3 in that sense

So, ten minutes to decide pole position (and the nine places behind), can anyone stop Vettel securing P1?

We are go for Q3 and Schumacher is first out on track

Massa and Alonso join Schumacher on track

Mercedes tell Schumacher that the rear left is going to be the limiting factor in the race and not to overheat it in turns two and 17

That tells you how tough tyre management is!

Schumacher starts his flying lap, while Vettel heads out followed closely by Webber

Massa is 0.8s up on Alonso in the first sector. The quicker laps come later in the run

Massa is reeling Alonso in as he laps behind his team-mate. Alonso does a 1:42.411 but Massa backs off in the final sector and goes second

Grosjean goes quickest with a 1:37.227

Vetetl on his first timed lap, but he's taking it easy

Alonso improves on his second lap but only to a 1:40.010

Grosjean backs off after getting turn 19 wrong

Webber does a 1:36.845 to go fastest so far

Hamilton now quickest with a 1:36.209

Vettel is 0.1s up on Hamilton through sector two

Vettel goes quickest with a 1:35.877

That looks like being enough for Vettel already. Hamilton needs to find a lot of time on his final lap

Just under two minutes to go. Alonso is only seventh and is three quarters of a second down through sector two

Alonso backs off in turn 19 after going in too deep so he's got one lap to improve in

Hamilton with the fastest middle sector

Hulkenberg goes sixth

Hamilton just 0.051s slower than Vettel. He'll get one more lap in

Hamilton does the fastest first sector...

Fastest middle sector from Vettel

Alonso is only SEVENTH

Hamilton matches Vettel in sector two. This is close!

Vettel improves by 0.2s...

Hamilton JUST misses out by 0.109s. Vettel takes pole, but who saw it being that close?!

Alonso dropped to NINTH by the end. He'll gain one place when Grosjean takes his grid penalty but that's only eighth to Vettel's pole

Webber was half a second of Vettel in third place, but that's the right side of the grid for tomorrow's race. Hamilton was mightily impressive to push Vettel so close, but he'll start on the slippy side in second

Good job from Raikkonen to take fifth but he was outqualified by Grosjean. He'll start fourth while Grosjean will drop to ninth

Hamilton lost all his time in the final sector, doing a 31.8 to Vettel's 31.6

So it's a familiar story with Vettel on pole position, but Hamilton pushed him all the way and was so close to stealing pole. The start will be crucial, because if the left hand side proves to be as bad as expected, Webber could still be sitting pretty in third place. Alonso has it all to do to stop Vettel becoming champion tomorrow - Alonso needs to finish at least fourth if Vettel wins the race. However close the race itself is, it's sure to be a tense and enthralling afternoon. Don't miss it.