2 F Massa (Ferrari) 1:31.478

3 J Button (Honda) 1:31.549

4 F Alonso (Renault) 1:31.702

5 J Montoya (McLaren) 1:32.164

6 R Barrichello (Honda) 1:32.579

7 M Webber (Williams) 1:33.006

8 C Klien (Red Bull) 1:33.112

1210: Michael Schumacher takes pole for the first Grand Prix of the season with his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa joining him on the front row of the grid. Britain's Jenson Button is third.

1158: Honda duo Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello change their tyres early - possibly in order to get a lap in the bank early.

1150: The final session of qualifying is under way. The cars will burn off as much fuel as they can for 15 or so laps before coming into the pits, changing their tyres and probably putting in a single flying lap.

1145: The second session of qualifying ends, with David Coulthard among the six drivers to drop out.

1129: The second part of qualifying is under way.

1124: R Schumacher, Albers, Monteiro, Ide, Sato and Raikkonen are eliminated after the frist stage and will fill the final six grid places.

1119: Qualifying restarts and there is 4:34 remaining.

1110: Most of the top drivers are yet to post a time. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen knocks off a rear wing, possibly owing to suspension failure. He is almost certain to be eliminated at the end of the first 15 minutes. The session has been stopped in order for the debris to be cleared.

The session is running to a new knockout format. All 22 cars run for the first 15 minutes, at the end of which the slowest six will be eliminated and fill the final six places on the grid in order of their lap times.

The same elimination process will happen at the end of the second 15 minutes, with the next six slowest cars knocked out to fill places 11 to 16 on the grid in lap-time order.

Finally, the fastest 10 cars will shoot it out for the top 10 places for the final 20 minutes.