| 13:50:07
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The three part session gets underway in ten minutes. |
| 13:52:10
| Felipe Massa has set the fastest lap so far in practice, recording a best of 1:31.420s in practice session two yesterday. Ferrari and Massa seem to be the one to beat this weekend at the Sakhir circuit. |
| 13:54:09
| Practice this morning saw Nico Rosberg set the pace for Williams Toyota with a best lap of 1:32.521s ahead of Massa, Webber, Trulli, Coulthard and Nakajima. Williams are showing well this weekend after a tough event in Malaysia. |
| 13:56:14
| Oddly off the pace this morning was the McLaren Mercedes duo of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton – tenth and 18th fastest respectively. Hamilton is in a new car today, the team having built up the spare tub overnight following his shunt in practice yesterday. Expect McLaren to chase Ferrari today. |
| 13:58:11
| As ever, qualifying is split into three sessions with the slowest six eliminated after session one and then session two. The final ten runners then go into Q3 and the battle for pole position. A new rule this weekend is that each lap must be completed in one minute 39 seconds. This is to prevent drivers coasting back to the pits saving fuel while others are on fast laps. Good move from the FIA. |
| 14:00:10
| The 20 minute Q1 session is now underway. This is the critical session for the likes of Super Aguri, Force India and Toro Rosso. |
| 14:00:39
| Piquet, eighth fastest this morning, is the first driver on track. |
| 14:01:08
| Bourdais, Vettel, Sato and Davidson head out. |
| 14:01:42
| Others are all strapped into their cars and waiting the instruction to head out. |
| 14:02:30
| Piquet is now on his first timed lap. He is on the hard tyre. |
| 14:04:09
| Piquet sets the initial pace with a prett slow lap. He is 1.7s off his best in the morning session. |
| 14:04:44
| Others are now positing their first laps. Vettel moves second ahead of Davidson and Sato. |
| 14:05:06
| Williams send out Rosberg and Nakajima. Glock and Trulli out for Toyota. |
| 14:05:50
| Trulli runs wide into turn seven |
| 14:06:20
| All change with Rosberg fastest from Glock. |
| 14:06:44
| Trulli moves fastest on the harder tyre. |
| 14:07:32
| Hamilton starts his first lap and is also aiming to make it into Q2 using just thge harder tyre. |
| 14:08:36
| Kovalainen joins Hamilton on track. Fisichella and Sutil on track for Force India. |
| 14:08:59
| Hamilton moves fastest and is safe for Q2. |
| 14:09:29
| Kovalainen moves second fastest, three tenths behind Hamilton. |
| 14:09:55
| Fisichella runs too deep into seven and that ruins his lap. |
| 14:10:06
| Fisichella pits without setting a time. |
| 14:10:28
| Alonso, Button, Webber, Massa and others on track now. |
| 14:11:02
| Hamilton stays out for a second flying lap and improves his own best. He is fastest from Kovalainen and Trulli. |
| 14:11:17
| Raikkonen heads out. |
| 14:11:55
| Alonso moves third fastest and should be safe. |
| 14:12:30
| The times are slow. The fastest three should be safe but the rest could get bumped in the final minutes. |
| 14:13:15
| Webber moves third fastest with Rosberg next up. Good lap from Bourdais as Sato spins |
| 14:13:55
| Sato spun exiting the final turn after running wide. Rear contact with the wall on the opposite side of the circuit. |
| 14:14:10
| Ferrari move one two with Massa ahead of Raikkonen. |
| 14:14:43
| Fisichella has not set a time. He ran wide on his first attempt and pitted the Force India. |
| 14:15:19
| The slowest six at the moment are Fisichella, Sato, Davidson, Sutil, Coulthard and Vettel. |
| 14:15:39
| There is a red flag for some reason. |
| 14:16:43
| The red is out I assume to collect Sato's Super Aguri. A bit silly that as it was a minor shunt and is off the race line and out of the way. |
| 14:17:52
| Sato walks a short distance back to the pit. He was not going to make Q2 anyway. |
| 14:18:20
| Heidfeld improved just as the red flag came out and is now sixth. |
| 14:19:05
| Renault will need to improve or face being bumped out. |
| 14:20:12
| The surprise so far is Coulthard who is out if he does not improve. The session remains halted. |
| 14:20:54
| The session is back underway with just under five minutes remaining. All but the top six will probably run again. |
| 14:21:31
| No one on track. They are all waiting. |
| 14:22:00
| Vettel heads out on the soft tyre. He needs to improve or will be eliminated. |
| 14:22:35
| Others are now heading out. It remains to be seen if Massa set his time under waved yellows. He may have to run again afterall. |
| 14:22:56
| All on track as expected except the top six. |
| 14:23:35
| Vettel leads the field across the line to start his flying lap of the session. |
| 14:24:13
| Vettel a little wide into turn seven. |
| 14:24:34
| They are all now on hot laps with 30s remaining. |
| 14:24:51
| Vettel misses another apex. |
| 14:25:12
| Vettel moves 12th but the others will improve too. |
| 14:25:24
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:25:42
| Glock moves fourth, Trulli second. |
| 14:25:49
| Alonso moves eighth. |
| 14:25:57
| Nakajima moves 13th. |
| 14:26:11
| Barrichello moves ninth. |
| 14:26:19
| Fisichella moves 18th. |
| 14:26:32
| Button moves fifth. |
| 14:26:51
| So all change behind Massa. |
| 14:27:22
| Sato, Davidson, Sutil, Vettel, Fisichella and Coulthard are eliminated. |
| 14:27:51
| That is poor from Coulthard. Vettel has struggled all weekend. |
| 14:28:06
| Again the Force India team do not make it into Q2. |
| 14:29:05
| A short pause now ahead of Q2. |
| 14:32:16
| Q2 is now underway. This is a 15 minute session. |
| 14:33:02
| No one on track as they wait again. |
| 14:34:13
| A time in the high 1:32s or faster will be needed to make it into Q3. |
| 14:35:42
| No one on track still. Still some debate about Massa setting the best time in Q1 with the yellow flags out for Sato's stricken car. |
| 14:36:17
| Renault send out Alonso and Piquet. The others are now heading out as well. |
| 14:36:43
| Raikkonen heads out on the soft tyre. |
| 14:37:01
| Most of the remaining 16 on track. |
| 14:37:31
| The Renault duo are straight onto the soft tyre. |
| 14:38:00
| All but Kubica and Heidfeld on track. |
| 14:39:05
| Piquet sets the initial pace and is immediately bumped by Trulli, Glock and Alonso. |
| 14:39:34
| Massa is on his hot lap. |
| 14:39:48
| BMW send their drivers out. |
| 14:40:04
| Hamilton now fastest from Trulli and Rosberg. |
| 14:40:30
| Massa moves fastest by a mile, Raikkonen up to third. |
| 14:41:24
| Kovalainen moves second fastest. |
| 14:42:05
| Kubica moves third fastest. |
| 14:42:17
| Most have pitted after their first runs. |
| 14:42:32
| Heidfeld moves eighth. |
| 14:43:13
| So the slowest six who need to find time are Nakajima, Bourdais, Piquet, Button, Webber and Alonso. |
| 14:43:45
| The fastest five should have done enough and probably will not run again. |
| 14:44:26
| Bourdais heads out for a second run. |
| 14:45:09
| As expected all but the fastest five have gone back out for one last run. |
| 14:45:50
| All are on the softer tyre which gives better grip over a short run. |
| 14:47:12
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 14:47:26
| Bourdais does not improve. |
| 14:47:53
| Trulli stays sixth. |
| 14:48:02
| Alonso moves into the top ten. |
| 14:48:15
| Heidfeld moves fourth. Button moves tenth. |
| 14:49:26
| So Massa is fastest in that session again. Eliminated are Nakajima, Bourdais, Piquet, Glock, Barrichello and Webber. |
| 14:50:15
| Button made it into the top ten a hundredth of a second ahead of Webber. Alonso is a similar gap ahead in ninth. So close. |
| 14:51:06
| So disappointment for Red Bull with neither car making it into Q3. Toyota have Trulli into the final session. |
| 14:51:24
| A short pause as race fuel is added for Q3. |
| 14:55:07
| Q3 is underway. This is a ten minute session. |
| 14:55:47
| Button heads out in the sole surviving Honda. |
| 14:56:13
| Rosberg is out in the Williams. He is on hard tyres. |
| 14:56:41
| Others are now heading out. |
| 14:57:28
| All on track. |
| 14:58:10
| Rosberg passes a Renault which was on the out lap. |
| 14:58:30
| He has to negotiate a Ferrari too. |
| 14:59:32
| Heidfeld sets the initial pace from Rosberg, Trulli and Button. Most are on the hard tyre at the moment. |
| 15:00:07
| Hamilton moves fastest on the soft tyre. |
| 15:00:30
| Kubica moves fastest on the soft tyre. |
| 15:00:50
| Massa moves fastest, also on the soft tyre. |
| 15:01:12
| Alonso looks ragged on the hard tyre. |
| 15:01:38
| Raikkonen is fifth after his first soft tyre run. |
| 15:02:36
| They are all pitting for a final set of tyres. Soft for most. |
| 15:03:17
| They are all back out for the final run of the day. |
| 15:04:02
| Hamilton starts his final flying lap. |
| 15:04:36
| Hamilton's McLaren is sliding around a lot. |
| 15:05:10
| Hamilton is pushing very hard. |
| 15:05:16
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 15:05:31
| Hamilton moves fastest for now.. Others on hot laps. |
| 15:05:50
| Kubica moves fastest. |
| 15:06:24
| Massa improves but remains second. |
| 15:06:44
| So pole position for Robert Kubica! |
| 15:07:01
| That is the first pole position for the BMW Sauber team. |
| 15:07:35
| Kubica fastest from Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Trulli, Rosberg, Button and Alonso. |
