FORMULA 1 Live

11:04 The rain stayed off - whether it will or not for the race remains to be seen. Either way, it's advantage Brawn once again - but those Toyotas looks as if they will be real contenders again at this circuit.

11:02 It'll be Button in pole followed by Trulli - Vettel and Barrichello in third and fourth have grid penalties that will put them down the grid ten and five spots respectively.

11:01 Trulli crosses the line - but no! He's 0.092 seconds slower than Button, an extraordinary less than a tenth, but unaccountably he drifted across the track on the finishing straight instead of coming dead straight down! He could have had it there, but Button is on pole again!

11:00 Nico Rosberg goes fourth - Raikkonen is down the field a bit now - and then Vettel takes second. But Trulli is still in touch!

11:00 Button and Vettel are both on flyers... Button crosses - and he's quickest by half a second! 1:35.181!! Astonishing stuff!

10:59 Barrichello goes quickest! 1:35.651 - though of course the Brazilian will have that 10-spot penalty to contend with.

10:58 Raikkonen loses it a bit on the final sector, but still takes fourth. He'd be happy-ish to start from there...

10:57 Raikkonen's back out on track now - and is fastest in the first sector!

10:56 Trulli puts in another flyer - and trumps Button by four thousandths of a second to sit in pole!

10:55 Sebastian Vettel comes in, and is second at this stage! Lovely lap from the talented Red Bull driver...

10:53 Everything changes now as the cars have more fuel on board in anticipation of the start - but it's still Button, Trulli and Barrichello who are at the top of the time board so far. rosberg is looking good too... but Vettel and Glock are on flyers...

10:50 The top-10 shootout begins, and it's Kimi Raikkonen who's first out on the track.

10:43 Last man over the line is Jarno Trulli, putting in a 1:33.9 to show Button that he's not far off the Brawn pace after all, and team-mate Timo Glock is just behind him in third for the session. The shoot-out looks like it could be anybody's - but Button certainly looks like the favourite at the moment.

10:42 Alonso pinches 10th place at the death, while Heidfeld isn't quick enough. And the McLarens are both out of the top 10!

10:41 Glock is up to 6th, while Hamilton looks like he doesn't have the pace to make the top 10 here.

10:40 Kovalainen is just slower than Hamilton for the moment. And then Button crosses the line in 1:33.784! An astonishing lap - Brawn GP are just showing off now!

10:39 Raikkonen improves to sixth place with a decent lap - but he's only two tenths behind Trulli, the top guys are jam-packed together at the top just now...

10:38 Kovalainen is out and looking solid - he could knock his McLaren team-mate out of the top 10 here. That'd make for fun and games in the team garage tonight!

10:35 Kubica is leaving it late once again, while Glock is also looking at an early exit. Hamilton is going back to the pits now and will come back out at the very end...

10:34 Lewis Hamilton comes through... and takes ninth place, but Webber follows him over the line and consigns him to 10th. The reigning champion is on the verge of missing the shoot-out!

10:31 Jenson Button puts in a storming 1:34.409, proving that once again Brawn have the pace of the field... but then Toyota's Trulli records a wonderful 1:34.250! Best lap of the week by a hefty margin; Trulli's team-mate Glock needs a good run, though: he's hanging on by his fingernails to 10th spot at the moment.

10:29 Nice start from the Japanese driver, who steers his Williams to a 1:35.118 that's a solid time... Raikkonen isn't far behind at 1:35.202, but he did so with a slide off the track! Where has it all gone wrong? Ferrari had been looking great this week...

10:28 The second qualifying session gets under way, and Nakajima is the first car out on a flying lap.

10:26 Ferrari news is that the team have been struggling to conserve their tyres this week, and didn't want to waste a set of softs when they thought they had done enough. But great laps from some of the guys down the field meant the gamble misfired horrendously.

10:22 Rubens Barrichello comes through at the end to record the fastest lap of the session, but that's an extraordinary turn-up for Ferrari.

10:21 Ferrari trying to conserve tyres have made a huge error of judgement: Raikkonen is safely through in 14th - just - but Massa will start 16th! Unbelievable tactical error by the Italians!

10:20 Felipe Massa has been overtaken in a flurry of cars at the end! He's outside the top 15 and will start from almost the back!

10:20 Kubica comes through to make 8th spot and get through... and huge relief for Hamilton who jumps to 9th!

10:19 Unbelievable! Hamilton now 15th in major trouble, Alonso 16th...

10:19 Vettel puts in the third quickest lap to guarantee moving on to the second qualifying stint; and is outdone by his team-mate a few moments later. Hamilton now down to 13th with Kubica and Heidfeld out there. The world champ might miss out!

10:18 Trouble for BMW as Heidfeld and Kubica are still outside the top 15... they've unleashed their cars on to the track, but each driver will only have one crack at this one.

10:17 Rosberg puts in a flyer - and gets up to second! Relief for the German; and then Trulli puts in the quickest lap, a 1:34.745 which is within spitting distance of the qualifying record!

10:16 Najkajima rises to second, but Rosberg and Heidfeld are both now outside the top 15 as things stand!

10:15 Piquet puts in a good sector two... and loses it a bit on the final sector, but is still good enough for seventh.

10:14 Nelson Piquet is on a flyer now - and given that he's yet to record a proper lap he needs to pull something out. But now he goes quickest in the first sector!

10:14 Reanult breathe again: Alonso survives his excursion on to the grass and puts in a lap that gets him 10th, and should be enough to make it through to the second phase of qualifying.

10:12 Alonso goes off the track! A disaster for Renault, with just 8 minutes left to get a flying lap in and get through! Can he get one in?

10:09 Renault's Fernando Alonso is still pottering about in the garage - no big drama for them - as Button buts in another flying lap to cut a further tenth of a second off his time. Then Barrichello comes in with a good lap, to edge Raikkonen.

10:07 Jenson Button storms through to blow Raikkonen's time away! Last week's winner puts an effortlessly pretty lap together to record a 1:35.173, comfortably quicker than the competition.

10:06 Raikkonen's choice of the soft tyres have clearly worked here... Hamilton has the same tyres, and is just crossing the line... in fifth place! Good result for the reigning champion.

10:05 Raikknonen hooks a great lap together - a 1:35.476 - which is the fastest lap of the week so far! Great start for Ferrari - can Brawn match their pace?

10:04 Almost every car is out on the track now - just four still in the pits - with Rosberg setting a 1:36.596 to take the early lead... but here comes Raikkonen!

10:02 Latest weather report suggests that rain is definitely on its way - and will likely hit in about half an hour, meaning that this first Q1 stint should be unaffected.

10:00 And qualifying is under way! Kimi Raikkonen is out on the track straight away, as is practice king Nico Rosberg. It looks like some of the big teams are trying to get banker laps in just in case it starts pouring.

9:58 A couple of minutes to go before the first qualifying stint gets under way...

9:52 It's hot and mostly sunny at the moment, but there are a few ominous clouds in the steamy tropical skies... It's not rained yet today, making the threat of a stormy shower even greater.

9:50 We're just 10 minutes away from the start of qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, and the talk in the pit lane is about the potential threat of rain.