| 13:50:48
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of the Australian Grand Prix qualifying session. |
| 13:52:14
| Heading into the first qualifying session there are more questions than answers really as this morning’s practice session revealed very little in terms of what to expect this afternoon. |
| 13:54:05
| Ferrari and McLaren did not make the top ten this morning although Kimi Raikkonen topped the Friday morning session and Lewis Hamilton the afternoon session. Robert Kubica led the way this morning from BMW Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld... |
| 13:56:11
| Qualifying has changed a little this year with tweaks to the final part of the session. Q1 and Q2 remain as they were last year with the slowest six being eliminated in each session. Q3 is now just ten minutes long but more importantly, the cars are not re-fuelled at the end of the session. |
| 13:58:49
| This means that there is no more of the fuel burn we saw last year and that the more laps completed in Q3, the less distance they can cover in the first part of the Grand Prix itself. The result could be that some opt for just one really hot flying lap at the end of the session while others may have two runs of three laps. |
| 14:00:21
| Qualifying session one is now underway. All 22 drivers are aiming to get into the top 16 and therefore make it into the next round of qualifying. This is a 20 minute session. |
| 14:00:45
| Based on practice session 3 times, a lap faster than 1:27.3s should be enough to make it into the second round of qualifying. Having said that, the times this morning were far from consistent, so... |
| 14:01:10
| Vettel, Bourdais and Glock head straight out. This is Bourdais' first qualifying session. |
| 14:01:40
| Fisichella, Sutil and Davidson head out. |
| 14:01:54
| Bourdais starts his timed lap. |
| 14:02:20
| Some oversteer under braking. He is on the hard tyre. |
| 14:03:41
| A good clean lap from Bourdais but it is not fast, slower than he was in practice by two seconds. |
| 14:04:17
| Nakajima and Sato head out as Glock runs across the grass at turn one. |
| 14:04:39
| Sutil takes a trip though the gravel trap. Fisichella moves fastest from Vettel and Davidson. |
| 14:05:04
| Bourdais improves by a good margin and is fastest from Fisichella. |
| 14:05:33
| Glock runs too deep into the penultimate turn and moves P4. |
| 14:06:43
| Bourdais, Fisichella pit. Another wide moment from Glock. |
| 14:07:14
| Most have taken two hot laps for the first stint. |
| 14:07:46
| The early runners are all returning to the pits. 12 minutes remain. |
| 14:08:21
| Rosberg, Trulli and Coulthard head out. |
| 14:08:43
| Fisichella, Piquet, Alonso and others now heading out. |
| 14:09:06
| Sutil is opting for the soft tyre. |
| 14:09:22
| Hamilton and Kovalainen head out for McLaren. |
| 14:10:19
| Trulli on his first hot lap. |
| 14:10:42
| Only Ferrari and BMW Sauber yet to go out. |
| 14:11:11
| Trulli moves fastest on the hard tyre |
| 14:11:31
| Heidfeld and Kubica head out. Rosberg moves fastest. |
| 14:11:59
| Alonso moves second ahead of Webber and Trulli. |
| 14:12:15
| Hamilton on a hot lap as Kovalainen moves fastest. |
| 14:12:36
| A big oversteer moment from Hamilton but he moves second. |
| 14:13:44
| Nakajima moves fourth in his Williams. |
| 14:13:59
| Vettel moves third fastest |
| 14:14:19
| Massa and Raikkonen head out as Heidfeld runs wide. |
| 14:14:58
| The slowest six at the moment are Heidfeld, Davidson, Piquet, Sutil and Fisichella. |
| 14:15:24
| Kubica loses time stuck behind Raikkonen but is now second. |
| 14:15:57
| Heidfeld moves second and is safe now. |
| 14:16:45
| Massa moves third, Raikkonen on his first timed lap. |
| 14:17:06
| Raikkonen moves fifth. |
| 14:17:38
| All but the top five will feel safe as they all prepare for a final run. |
| 14:18:40
| Raikkonen is very slow on track. |
| 14:18:56
| Raikkonen is coasting into the pits with what seems a gearbox issue. |
| 14:19:29
| Raikkonen stops on entry into the pit lane. Ferrari now have only a few minutes to fix the problem for Q2. |
| 14:19:51
| All but the top six are on track. |
| 14:20:07
| The chequered flag is out, plenty of people aiming to move up. |
| 14:20:23
| Sutil has spun and stopped in the final part of the lap. |
| 14:20:49
| A big gain from Barrichello. |
| 14:21:27
| Trulli moves ninth. |
| 14:21:47
| So we have the slowest six. |
| 14:22:24
| Fisichella is 17th and eliminated. He is ahead of Bourdais, Sutil, Sato, Piquet and Davidson. |
| 14:22:40
| Raikkonen's Ferrari is now back at the Ferrari pit. |
| 14:23:03
| Nelson Piquet will start his first race from the back row of the grid in the Renault. Far from impressive. |
| 14:23:40
| A short pause now before the 15 minute Q2 gets underway. |
| 14:26:49
| Raikkonen is out of the car. It may be over for Raikkonen and he will start no better than 16th. |
| 14:27:23
| Raikkonen is out of qualifying for getting outside help back to the pit. He has a mechanical problem anyway. |
| 14:27:57
| Raikkonen may be 22nd, depending on what the Stewards rule. |
| 14:28:37
| The session is underway, no one on track as yet. |
| 14:30:33
| Vettel heads out in the sole surviving Toro Rosso. Team-mate Bourdais will start 18th. |
| 14:30:47
| Alonso, Coulthard and Glock head out. |
| 14:31:40
| Hamilton and Trulli head out. The target time is a mid 1:26. |
| 14:32:09
| Vettel runs a little wide but he is pushing hard. |
| 14:32:52
| Most of the surviving runners are on track. |
| 14:33:16
| A good lap from Vettel as someone is off. |
| 14:33:32
| Webber has spun off. He is climbing out of the RB4. |
| 14:33:55
| Webber was on his first timed lap. We have a red flag and the session is halted. |
| 14:34:17
| His front right brake seems to have failed. |
| 14:35:03
| Coulthard is fastest from Vettel. No one else has set a time. |
| 14:36:15
| Webber's Red Bull is being craned away. Just over eight minutes remain. |
| 14:38:20
| The session is back underway as they all head out. |
| 14:39:18
| Rosberg, Massa, Heidfeld and Kubica on track. |
| 14:40:11
| Massa uses all the kerbing at turn one. He is on the soft tyre. |
| 14:41:05
| McLaren send out their two drivers. |
| 14:41:17
| Massa moves fastest and is safe. |
| 14:41:42
| Barrichello moves fourth with a solid lap. It may not be fast enough though. |
| 14:42:11
| Kubica moves fastest, Kovalainen second. |
| 14:42:38
| Hamilton is on a hot lap. |
| 14:43:37
| Hamilton moves fastest. |
| 14:44:08
| Alonso, Webber, Trulli, Glock and Nakajim yet to run with less than three minutes remaining. |
| 14:44:32
| They are heading out now. |
| 14:45:04
| The fastest six should be safe and make it into Q3. |
| 14:46:53
| Barrichello moves seventh. |
| 14:47:11
| Kubica is second fastest. |
| 14:47:34
| Vettel goes sixth. The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:47:47
| Button goes 10th. A poor lap from Alonso. |
| 14:48:54
| So eliminated in a frantic Q2 are Raikkonen, Webber, Nakajima, Button, Alonso, Barrichello. |
| 14:49:27
| Hamilton is fastest from Kubica, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Massa, Vettel, Rosberg, Coulthard and Trulli. |
| 14:50:57
| A good lap from Timo Glock moves him tenth and he has joined his Toyota team-mate in the top ten. |
| 14:51:14
| A short pause now ahead of the ten minute Q3. |
| 14:53:00
| Our timing is not updating for some reason, so my apologies. I'll try and tell you the order through Q3. |
| 14:53:56
| Vettel is the standout performer so far in qualifying. He could go light and produce a surprise... |
| 14:55:24
| Q3 is now underway. They have race fuel on board now. |
| 14:55:38
| Vettel is the first man out. |
| 14:56:13
| Rosberg joins Vettel on track. |
| 14:56:26
| Nick Heidfeld is out in his BMW. |
| 14:57:08
| Kovalainen and Trulli head out. |
| 14:57:25
| Vettel is on his first flying lap. |
| 14:58:45
| Vettel heads straight back to the pit. |
| 14:59:21
| Hamilton, Coulthard and Kubica join the action as Rosberg posts a 1:29.1, the first lap of the session. |
| 14:59:41
| Heidfeld moves fastest on a high 1:27s. |
| 15:00:28
| A big twitch from Kovalainen's McLaren. |
| 15:00:43
| Hamilton moves fastest from Massa and Kovalainen. |
| 15:01:45
| Heidfeld is fourth ahead of Trulli, Coulthard, Rosberg, Kubica, Vettel and Kubica. |
| 15:02:24
| No time yet from Glock and Vettel. |
| 15:02:58
| Most are pitting taking another set of tyres for a last charge. |
| 15:04:49
| Kubica is on a hot lap looking to move up from P8 |
| 15:04:59
| The chequered flag is out, who can improve? |
| 15:05:18
| Kubica runs wide but keeps pushing on. |
| 15:05:45
| Kubica moves fastest but Hamilton on a faster lap. |
| 15:05:56
| Kovalainen is now second. |
| 15:06:07
| Hamilton moves fastest. |
| 15:06:16
| Massa did not improve. |
| 15:06:30
| Heildfeld remains fifth. |
| 15:07:05
| So pole position for Lewis Hamilton, but it could have been Kubica had he not run wide. |
| 15:07:35
| Kubica starts second ahead of Kovalainen, Massa, Heidfeld, Trulli, Rosberg, Coulthard, Glock and Vettel. |
