FORMULA 1 Live

16:05 "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" are the cries from the Ferrari pit. Felipe Massa is looking like he may just dominate tomorrow's race on the basis of that performance.

0' But Massa is even quicker on 1:44.801!! Some astonishing stuff from the Brazilian. Kubica is fourth, Kovalainen is fifth, and Heidfeld is sixth. The Ferrari man was a full 0.70 seconds faster than Hamilton, whom he trails by just one point in the driver standings, to go pole for tomorrow's inaugural Singapore Grand Prix!

0' Another fantastic final segment by Hamilton puts him on provisional pole!

0' Raikkonen second goes fastest!! Hamilton needs a brilliant final sector....

1' Massa, who won the European GP in dominant fashion on a very similar track, is looking very strong and is fastest through the first segment. Hamilton has tons of work to do.

2' Quite a slow outlap by everybody, but especially the Ferraris. Raikkonen goes sideways into turn two and right into turn three. The world champion has a personal best in the first segment, but is still slower than Hamilton.....

4' Massa was fastest in the first and second sectors, but as we indicated Hamilton was quickest in the final sector. And he's off, on hard tyres again!!

5' Vettel goes 1:46.614, but Riakkonen goes 1:46.037.... And Lewis Hamilton is driving like a mad man! And he goes top on 1:45.638. That's the aggressiveness we've come to expect from the championship leader..... But Massa is even faster! The Ferrari man leads with a time of 1:45.591 after the first lap. These final laps are going to be special. Kovalainen is 10th after his first run by the way.

10' And we're off for this final portion of qualifying!

0' Hamilton survives by 0.07 seconds!! He goes onto the pole position shoot-out as Massa and Kovalainen are fastest from Raikkonen and Vettel, followed by Rosberg, Glock, Kubica and Heidfeld, then Nakajima and Hamilton.... The five who go out are 11. Trulli, 12. Button, 13. Webber, 14. Coulthard, 15. Alonso.

0' Button goes 11th, but Nakajima goes ninth and Hamilton is on the cusp!!

0' Glock goes fifth! Hamilton drops to ninth....

0' Hamilton is making it slightly close for comfort but he should qualify if he does not make any mistakes.... The final segment of the grid moves him into eighth. Four or five times he had the brakes locked up, and the championship leader has been ragged today. Webber and Couthard need 0.30 seconds to nock him down, while Nakajima and Glock have far more work to do.

2' Hamilton is out on the soft tyre, Kovalainen went second on the softer tyre for McLaren. Trulli, Button, Glock, and Kazuki Nakajima are the guys in danger right now.

3' Heikki Kovalainen goes second at 1.272 seconds behind Massa. Hamilton is saying that he's got two laps in him if he needs them. There was apparently a fuel supply problem that did Fernando Alonso in.

5' Nick Heidfeld goes fifth right behind BMW team-mate Robert Kubica. Everyone seems to be having braking problems.

6' Hamilton still in the pit, he's got some time.... But this next lap is going to be crucial.

9' Felipe Massa goes quickest on 1:44.014 in front of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Monza winner Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton struggled on his first lap and is going to pit. Remember, bottom five, including Fernando Alonso, are dropped.

11' Something is wrong with Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard gabs his helmet in disbelief as he is out of this qualifying session!!! His car comes to a stop for an unexplained reason! He could have been at the front of the grid, but is now out of qualifying! It's been a year since the Spaniard won a Grand Prix.

15' Heikki Kovalainen is off now as this second session has begun!

15:25 The Ferraris looked much better in that session, as Renault's Fernando Alonso continued to look good. Not bad from the McLarens either. This is a bumpy circuit and it's really going to take a toll on these drivers tomorrow.

0' 16. Piquet, 17. Bourdais, 18. Barrichello, 19. Sutil, 20. Fisichella are eliminated in the end, as Coulthard just survives. Reigning world champ Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in the first portion of qualifying. Five more to go in the next portion.

0' Coulthard pips Nelson Piquet, fourth quickest in the fina free practice, and he may just squeak through! Sebastien Bourdais still on track.

2' That's better for Ferrari! Raikkonen goes quickest in 1:44.282. The world champion showing a bit of fight. Barrichello drops into the final bottom-five spot, as Red Bull's David Coulthard is giving it one more try, but it looks like it's going to be unsuccessfully.

3' Kovalianen was faster than Hamilton in both the first and second section, the Finn using the harder of the two Bridgestones..... And Heikki has gone quickest in 1:44.311. Kimi Raikkonen is really facing a test now. All of these times mean nothing at the end of the session by the way, this is just to get to the second phase of qualifying.

5' Kimi Raikkonen is in the final drop zone spot right now, and he is going to go for one final lap to try to make it.

6' Barrichello is blocked on his way to the pit lane, which is the same as the last corner, and it was Nick Heidfeld who was in his way, though the BMW-Sauber man did nothing really wrong. Just six minutes left to go and Fisichella is trying to have some work done before attempting a lap - which would be his first.

7' Right now, those in danger are David Couthard, Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, and Giancarlo Fisichella in that order. The two Force India boys, as always, are way out of their depth.

9' Hamilton's leading time is 1:44.501, but the fastest man so far at this event, Fernando Alonso, is coming in with some might confidence. But the Spaniard comes in 0.470 slower than the Briton and four tenths of a second faster than his leading time from earlier.

11' Lewis Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren, 13th quickest in the final free practice has gone quickest, but Italian GP victor Sebastian Vettel comes in even quicker, and Lewis Hamilton comes in quicker still. Nico Rosberg's first lap is third quickest and the track is just getting faster. Mark Webber looked like he was going to skid out as sparks were flying from his tyres, but he's okay.

14' Raikkonen is sixth fastest on his opening lap in front of Sutil. Glock still quickest.

15' Timo Glock's time of 1:45.717 is fastest right now, Kimi Riakkonen, who has just had a wretched time, was 17th quickest in the final free practice and is scraping now just to qualify.

20' Slowest five cars from this 20-minute section are eliminated. And they're off! Force India's Adrian Sutil, slowest in the final free practice at 3.221 slower than pace-setter Fernando Alonso, is on the track now. Humidity in 70 percent!

15:00 No rain is expected in the city state this evening, with a track temperature of 31 degrees Celsius and an air temperature of 30 degrees.

----- Welcome to LIVE text comments and timing of this Singapore GP qualifying session as Fernando Alonso set the pace in both the second and third free practice sessions.