Ahead of today's qualifying session, the air temperature is 23 degrees, while the track temperature is 23 degrees. It remains unseasonably damp.

With this morning's free practice session disrupted by rain, which resulted in drivers managing little track time, there remains a question mark over the forthcoming session, with many predicting further rainfall.

Sure enough... as a couple of cars head down the pitlane, it begins to rain.

The lights go green, and there is a mad scramble to get out on track before the conditions worsen. Raikkonen, Trulli, Button, Barrichello, Rosberg, Ralf and Webber are among the first to go out. Alonso is also keen to get to work.

Raikkonen is the first driver to post a time (46.048), as Button goes second, ahead of his Honda teammate.

The only drivers not on track, are Yamamoto and the two Ferrari drivers, who appear to be taking a brave gamble.

That said, they both head down the pitlane, as Alonso goes quickest (44.128), having deposed his Renault teammate, who momentarily topped the timesheets.

Barrichello spins, and Sato goes wide, as the conditions worsen. Kimi also goes off, as Michael splashes his way round.

Halfway through this first phase, Liuzzi is in the top five, as Michael can only manage twelfth (47.176). Teammate Massa slots in right behind, in thirteenth. Albers grinds to a halt.

Ralf is on a good lap, which could spell bad news (again), for Webber. That said, the German can only manage seventeenth, so it is he who is in danger. Elsewhere, Monteiro has come to a stop, his session over.

With the Portuguese driver stranded in a "dangerous position", the session is red flagged, with just over three minutes remaining. Which means when the session resumes it will be absolutely crazy out there.

With both Spykers out, joining them in the 'danger zone' is the Toyota duo, together with the Super Aguri duo.

The session resumes, and sure enough there's a multi-million pound traffic jam in the pitlane, at the head of which is a very anxious Ralf Schumacher.

The top five, Alonso, Fisichella, de la Rosa, Raikkonen and Liuzzi opt not to run, clearly feeling that their times aren't under threat.

Rosberg runs wide, as Sato is really pushing, the Japanese driver, once again, excelling in the rain.

Trulli fails to improve, as does Ralf, therefore both Toyotas fail at the first hurdle, along with Super Aguri and Spyker. However, the bad news is tempered by the press release issued in the last ten minutes which reveals that the Dutch owned team will be using Ferrari engines next season.

The second phase gets underway, and though Renault had the advantage in the first phase, we now start from scratch. That said, at this moment in time, the Michelin-shod teams appear to have the advantage over the Bridgestone runners.