| 13:50:21
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of qualifying for the French Grand Prix. The session starts shortly. As ever qualifying is split into three sessions with five drivers eliminated after Q1 and A2 leaving the final ten to take race fuel and go for the pole in Q3. |
| 13:52:12
| Practice this morning produced a very mixed bag of results with some opting to run low fuel levels and some opting to run with fuel levels more representative of the conditions for the final pole position shoot-out. |
| 13:54:03
| Nelson Piquet topped the timesheets for Renault with a best time of 1:15.750s, second only to Felipe Massa’s Friday morning practice pace. Clearly Renault is pushing Piquet hard to try and qualify his R28 in the top ten. |
| 13:55:16
| Mark Webber was second fastest in his Red Bull Renault just a fraction slower than Piquet while Sebastian Vettel has impressed throughout practice and was third fastest ahead of Nico Rosberg. |
| 13:56:18
| Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton both take a ten position grid position penalty after qualifying due to the pit lane incident during the Canadian Grand Prix. The FIA has also told the driver they must keep two wheels on the circuit exiting the final turn. Should all four wheels take to the run off area, the time will not stand. |
| 13:58:20
| Kimi Raikkonen was fastest of the expected front-runners this morning in fifth position in his Ferrari ahead of Jarno Trulli, Hamilton, Sebastien Bourdais, Felipe Massa and David Coulthard. |
| 14:00:10
| The first round of qualifying is now underway. This is a 20 minute session. |
| 14:00:55
| Sebastien Bourdais heads out in the Toro Roso. He is on the harder tyre at the moment. |
| 14:01:05
| Based on this morning’s times, a time of 1:16.6 should be fast enough to make the cut. However, track temperature has risen, so that time may not be representative as the circuit slows with temperature. |
| 14:01:31
| Vettel and Fisichella head out for STR and Force India. |
| 14:02:10
| Glock and Button now on track as well for an early run. Many will try and use just the harder tyre to make the cut. |
| 14:03:13
| The back end steps out a little on Bourdais on his first lap. Sutil on track as well. |
| 14:03:40
| Bourdais records a 1:17.1, so not too bad. Fisichella moves second fastest. |
| 14:04:02
| Vettel moves fastest for STR ahead of Bourdais. |
| 14:04:27
| Glock moves second fastest in his Toyota. |
| 14:04:59
| Massa and Raikkonen both on track. |
| 14:06:18
| Vettel has remained on track but is not improving. Now he pits. |
| 14:06:41
| Nakajima moves third as the early runners are now pitting. |
| 14:06:57
| Hamilton and Kovalainen join the Ferrari duo on track. |
| 14:07:29
| Massa moves fastest and that is fast enought to make it into Q2. |
| 14:07:41
| Raikkonen moves second fastest. |
| 14:08:46
| Hamilton is on a fast lap chasing Massa's best. |
| 14:09:15
| Kovalainen moves fastest. |
| 14:09:30
| Hamilton is now fastest from Massa and Kovalainen. |
| 14:10:08
| Alonso and Piquet on track for Renault. Nakajima downwards are probably not fast enough as yet. |
| 14:10:25
| Webber moves P5 for Red Bull. |
| 14:10:59
| Most now on track with nine minutes remaining. |
| 14:11:13
| Coulthard moves seventh. |
| 14:11:42
| Raikkonen ran wide on that last run and needs to run again in case his time is deleted. |
| 14:12:05
| So Raikkonen may have to run again in Q1. |
| 14:12:28
| Alonso moves fourth. Many now on the soft tyre. |
| 14:12:43
| Vettel now sixth in his STR on the soft tyre. |
| 14:13:13
| Button moves 13th but that may not be fast enough. |
| 14:13:35
| Not a fast lap from Kubica who is 14th. |
| 14:14:18
| Button, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Sutil and Fisichella face elimination if they do not improve. |
| 14:15:06
| Kubica wide exiting the final turn. Let's see if that P9 time 1:16.0 will count. |
| 14:15:35
| Nick Heidfeld remains 18th after another lap. |
| 14:16:18
| Massa is back out. He doesn't need to be... |
| 14:16:29
| Another lap and still P18 for Heidfeld. |
| 14:16:43
| Raikkonen also back out. |
| 14:17:03
| Massa starts a timed lap. |
| 14:18:10
| Raikkonen and Massa muct be running again as they used to much run off exiting the final turn and face a possible penalty. |
| 14:18:25
| Massa moves fastest. All on track but Hamilton. |
| 14:18:44
| Heidfeld out on a soft set of tyres to try and improve in 18th. |
| 14:18:58
| Raikkonen moves second. |
| 14:19:13
| Kubica moves fourth fastest. |
| 14:19:53
| Webber held up by one of the Williams. |
| 14:20:01
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:20:31
| Heidfeld is on his final timed lap of the session and needs to improve. |
| 14:20:57
| Trulli moves third. |
| 14:21:10
| Heidfeld moves 12th. |
| 14:21:41
| Glock is up to sixth. |
| 14:21:50
| So the order is set. |
| 14:22:41
| Sutil is slowest behind Fisichella, Barrichello, Button and Najajima. They are eliminated. Poor for Honda, as expected for Force India. |
| 14:23:27
| Rosberg only just made the cut in 15th. Massa was fastest overall on a 1:15.0. The remaining 15 now prepare for Q2. |
| 14:27:40
| The second round of qualifying is now underway. This is a 15 minute session. |
| 14:27:57
| No one rushing onto the circuit. |
| 14:29:14
| A good session so far for STR with both Vettel and Bourdais through to Q2. |
| 14:30:39
| Twelve minutes remain and no one on track. |
| 14:31:13
| Sebastien Bourdais is now out in his STR3. |
| 14:31:27
| Piquet is heading out. |
| 14:31:53
| Vettel, Webber, Glock, Trulli and Alonso also on track. |
| 14:32:11
| Bourdais is straight out on the soft tyre. |
| 14:32:35
| Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen and others now out too. |
| 14:33:34
| Bourdais' first lap is a 1:16.0 |
| 14:33:54
| Lots of drivers on faster laps. |
| 14:34:21
| Vettel moves fastest only for Alonso and Webber to immediately beat the time. |
| 14:34:39
| Glock moves third ahead of Trulli, Coulthard and Vettel. |
| 14:34:51
| Hamilton moves second to Alonso. |
| 14:35:05
| Massa moves fastest and Raikkonen into second. |
| 14:36:30
| Kovalainen moves eighth. |
| 14:36:57
| The early runners are now in the pits. Heidfeld and Kubica on track and on the first laps of this session. |
| 14:37:48
| Kubica moves eighth. |
| 14:38:08
| Heidfeld moves tenth. |
| 14:38:26
| Four minutes remain and they will all be back out for a final run. |
| 14:39:00
| Rosberg, Piquet, Bourdais, Vettel and Coulthard need to improve or they will be eliminated. |
| 14:39:41
| Glock leads out the field for a final run. All will be on track. |
| 14:40:23
| I am not sure but I think Kovalainen did not pit and is on a long stint. |
| 14:40:57
| Kovalainen remains eighth and has backed off. |
| 14:41:25
| All on track but Massa and Raikkonen. |
| 14:41:49
| All on fast final laps... |
| 14:41:59
| Glock remains in sixth. |
| 14:42:03
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:42:20
| Trulli moves third. |
| 14:42:37
| Hamilton moves third. Rosberg does not improve. |
| 14:42:50
| Piquet moves P10. |
| 14:43:14
| Coulthard moves ninth. |
| 14:43:33
| Nick Heidfeld gets bumped to 12th and is out. |
| 14:44:04
| A poor day again from Rosberg wgo is 15th and eliminated. He will start last after his grid penalty. |
| 14:44:47
| Bourdais, Vettel, Heidfeld and Piquet also eliminated. A disappointment for Vettel and Piquet and sadly not a surprise for Heidfeld. |
| 14:45:30
| Ferrari remain dominant as race fuel is now added for the final battle for pole position. |
| 14:46:19
| Actually, in fairness to Heidfeld, he is within a tenth of Kubica showing that BMW is not suited to this circuit. |
| 14:50:11
| The final round of qualifying is now underway. This is a 10 minute session with race fuel now on board. |
| 14:51:13
| Glock heads out in the Toyota. |
| 14:51:34
| Glock is on the harder tyre at the moment. |
| 14:52:21
| Hamilton will of course take a ten position penalty so McLaren may opt to run him light to get P1 which will see him start 11th. |
| 14:52:49
| Glock is the only driver on track. He starts a timed lap. |
| 14:53:00
| Webber and Trulli head out. |
| 14:53:21
| Massa heads out for an early lap. |
| 14:53:52
| Others are now heading out and Glock backs off after running wide. |
| 14:54:00
| All ten on track. |
| 14:55:33
| Trulli spins his Toyota into turn eight. So a bad start for Toyota in Q3. |
| 14:56:16
| Massa moves fastest on a mid 1:16 ahead of Alonso, Kubica, Coulthard and Glock. |
| 14:56:27
| Raikkonen now fastest in his Ferrari. |
| 14:57:00
| Hamilton runs off track and loses time. |
| 14:57:31
| Webber lost time when Trulli spun in front of him. He and Trulli have both pitted. |
| 14:57:50
| They are pitting and taking tyres for a final run. |
| 14:58:08
| Hamilton is just seventh at the moment which would be 17th on the grid. |
| 14:58:31
| All on track for a final time. |
| 14:59:10
| All on warmup up lap and then one final qualifying lap. |
| 14:59:54
| Massa on the soft tyre as he runs wide and continues. |
| 15:00:06
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 15:00:23
| Massa remains second. |
| 15:00:50
| Alonso slides out of the final turn and remains third. |
| 15:00:58
| Raikkonen pits. |
| 15:01:06
| Hamilton moves third. |
| 15:01:17
| Kovalainen moves sixth. |
| 15:01:35
| Hamilton will now drop to 13th on the grid. |
| 15:02:06
| Kimi Raikkonen has secured pole position for the French Grand Prix, the 200th pole for Ferrari. |
| 15:02:50
| Massa starts second ahead of Alonso, Trulli, Kovalainen, Kubica, Webber, Coulthard, Glock and Piquet. |
