Ahead of today's all-important qualifying session, the air temperature is 20 degrees C, while the track temperature is 25 degrees. The sun, which first broke through in the final moments of free practice, is still shining, with no threat of further rain over the next hour or so.

After a damp start this morning, conditions improved over the course of the hour and by the end of the session were at an optimum. This meant that we saw the fastest times of the weekend thus far and, interestingly, the trend that we witnessed yesterday - whereby Ferrari appeared to be the main threat to Red Bull - continued.

Despite restricted running - certainly in ideal conditions - McLaren is persisting with its new aero package including its controversial blown diffuser. Thus far however, despite the obvious optimism within the team it is unclear whether this is a gamble which will pay off.

Mercedes look to have improved this weekend, though time will tell if this for real, while Williams and Sauber continue to impress.

Timo Glock and Adrian Sutil have both incurred 5-place penalties after their teams opted to change the gearboxes on their cars.

The tyre choice this weekend is one of the strangest we've seen, hard (prime) and super-soft (option). However, thus far, contrary to expectations, the option tyres appear to be bearing up well, surprisingly well.

As we await the green light, Hulkenberg is told that there are a couple of rain showers in the vicinity but that they should hopefully miss the circuit.

When the lights do go green, de Grassi is first out, with Alonso and Massa are surprisingly early risers. Schumacher and Hamilton are also keen to get to work.

With di Grassi heading back to the pits, it is Petrov who posts the first time, the Russian crossing the line at 18.210, this is soon beaten by Alonso and then Massa (16.908).

Hamilton splits the Ferraris with a 17.140 as Schumacher posts 18.565 to go fifth.

Alonso improves with a 16.430 as Vettel sand Webber head down the pitlane.

The red flags come out when Liuzzi crashes heavily at the start of the pitlane. The replay shows the Force India running wide at the final corner and losing it on the Astroturf. The car careers across the track hitting the start of the pit-wall. The Italian is out of the car and fine but his session is over. The replay also shows that Glock was lucky not to be hit by one of the wheels which broke loose from the Force India and bounced back across the track.

When the session resumes at 14:13, the Lotus head the queue at the end of the pitlane with the Red Bull duo right behind.

Hamilton goes quickest in the first sector, while the Ferrari duo remain in the garage.

Webber posts 16.024 to take the top spot but moments later Hamilton crosses the line at 15.505. Alguersuari moves up to fourth, ahead of Massa, Button and Barrichello.