2 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 1:14.205

3 F Massa (Ferrari) 1:14.569

4 J Button (Honda) 1:14.862

5 G Fisichella (Renault) 1:14.894

6 R Barrichello (Honda) 1:14.934

7 F Alonso (Renault) 1:15.282

8 R Schumacher (Toyota) 1:15.923

9 P De La Rosa (McLaren) 1:15.936

10 D Coulthard (Red Bull) 1:16.326

Latest news (all times BST)

1410: So Raikkonen has held off the Ferraris to take pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix. The McLaren driver shares the front row with Schumacher, while Massa is in third position ahead of Button.

1405: The drivers are getting their hot laps under way and Raikkonen is giving McLaren something to smile about with potentially his first pole position of the season with 1:14.070.

1358: Ralf Schumacher and Pedro de la Rosa have run into trouble after rubbing up against each other, leaving both in need of work in the pits.

1352: The final session, shortened for the second time to 15 minutes, is under way with the remaining 10 drivers fighting it out for pole position. But the top contenders likely to use the first few laps to burn off fuel before making their bid for grid glory.

1347: Michael Schumacher sits pretty at the top after the second session as Mark Webber , Jarno Trulli, Jacques Villeneuve, Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld go out and take positions 11-16 respectively on the grid.

Renault seem to be struggling with Alonso squeezing through to the final pole-position shoot-out as eighth fastest.

1341: There are loud cheers in the Ferrari camp as Schumacher breaks the 1:14 barrier with a time of 1:13.778, just ahead of team-mate Massa. Meanwhile, Alonso is still seriously close to missing the cut and has yet another set of new tyres on his car in an attempt to make the final knockout session.

1337: Button continues his form from this morning to head a Honda one-two with a superb lap of 1:14.378 ahead of team-mate Barrichello. But Ferrari's Massa and Schumacher have still got to post hot laps to it remains to be seen whether he can stay at the top.

1334: The times are really dropping at Hockenheim and David Coulthard impresses with a blistering lap of 1:14.949 to temporarily lead the session.

1329: The second 15-minute session is under way with places 11-16 on the grid to be decided. Webber is again one of the first out on track.

1323: The first 15-minute session is over with Vitantonio Liuzzi, Christijan Albers, Takuma Sato, Tiago Monteiro, Sakon Yamamoto and Scott Speed eliminated and taking positions 17-22 on the grid.

1319: Felipe Massa leads Ferrari's charge with a pace-setting 1:14.412 in the first session with team-mate Michael Schumacher just behind.

1315: Kimi Raikkonen breaks the 1:15 barrier to go top of the timesheet and Saturday practice's pace-setter Klien is also up there.

1310: The qualifying session resumes with Honda's Rubens Barrichello and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen out on track.

1305: Mark Webber sets the first time of the session, but is soon pipped by Ralf Schumacher, who clocks 1:17.037.

But the session is suspended with just four drivers posting times after Scott Speed's loses control when running over the kerbs at turn one and hits the wall just before the pit-lane exit.

1300: The first period of qualifying is under way with cars going out to start their warm-ups. The track temperature is 44C and rising.

Midland's Christijan Albers will lose 10 places on Sunday's starting grid after an unscheduled engine change on Friday.

Jarno Trulli is expected to do the same.

1250: Sakon Yamamoto has suffered a disappointing blow to his Grand Prix race debut on Sunday as he looks set to use Super Aguri's old SA05 car for qualifying after crashing the new SA06 model in the morning.

1231: With 29 minutes to go before the start of qualifying, the weather is bright and sunny with an air temperature 27C and humidity of 56%.

Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso look to set give themselves a good start to the latest bout in their battle for the world championship in qualifying at Hockenheim.

Ferrari driver Schumacher has won the last two Grands Prix to close in on his Renault rival in the title chase and is optimistic of a victory in his home race.

But Alonso still has a substantial 17-point lead and the advantage remains very much his.

The two were evenly matched but an unusually long way down the field in final practice on Saturday morning.

Schumacher was ninth fastest, 0.2secs ahead of Alonso in 11th.

The role of the two drivers' respective team-mates could become increasingly important.

If Ferrari number two Felipe Massa can start to consistently beat Alonso, that could have a crucial effect in the title fight. Likewise if Alonso's team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella can do the same to Schumacher.

But neither man has looked like achieving that so far this season.

Meanwhile, Jenson Button will be hoping to build on his practice form after finishing second in his Honda on Saturday morning.

But Jarno Trulli faces an uphill task this weekend after looking set to drop 10 places down from his qualifying position on the grid.