2009 British Grand Prix Race day at Silverstone

Lap 5: Out of the points Felipe Masa is now ninth after losing a place to Button, with Glock tenth and Fisichella up in an excellent 11th place. The Italian has made brilliant progress in the early laps.

Heidfeld has been passed by the Force India and runs 12th, with the Alonso-Kubica-Hamilton fight raging for 13th place.

Lap 4: Vettel is steaming off into the lead and now will be extremely hard to beat with his heavy fuel load.

Lap 3: Feliipe Massa runs wide, allowing Jenson Button up a place into eighth.

Lap 3: Vettel leads by 2.5 seconds from Barrichello, who has Mark Webber's Red Bull right on his tail.

Lap 3: Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica fight eachother for 12th place and both go wide, allowing a fast-starting Fisichella up to 12th in the early stages of the race.

Lap 3: It was a great start for Kimi Raikkonen in the KERS-equipped Ferrari, vaulting up from ninth to fifth.

Lap 2: Sebastian Vettel leads into the second lap after a busy start at Silverstone.

Lap 2: Jenson Button has dropped down to ninth place in the Brawn. The championship leader has it all to do this afternoon!

Lap 1: Adrian Sutil gets away at the back of the field from the pits, as the field roar round the first lap at Silverstone.

Lap 1: Heading down to Vale it is Vettel from Barrichello, Webber, Nakajima and Raikkonen.

Lap 1: Vettel gets the jump on Barrichello into Copse, as Button loses several places after a poor start in the Brawn.

Lap 1: The five red lights go out and we are racing at Silverstone!

Lap 1: The grid is almost ready. The airhorns are sounding loudly as the crowd anticipate the start ...

Vettel arrives at his pole position grid slot, as does Barrichello. The field are forming up nicely.

The field enter the complex towards the end of the lap. Vettel begins to slow the pack down to keep them as tight as possible behind him, so that he is waiting for as short a time as possible when the grid forms up.

Sebastian Vettel leads the field down the Hangar straight and down into the Vale. It's a wonderful sight as the drivers weave around the circuit trying to get some heat into their tyres and brakes.

The formation lap begins at Silverstone. The 19 cars on the grid leave without problem, as the Force India crew are ready with Adrian Sutil at the end of the pitlane.

The softer tyre is the popular choice at the front of the grid.

Jenson Button - starting sixth today - receives instructions on the team radio from his race engineer Andrew Shovelin. Button puts his gloves on at the last possible moment as he finishes his preparation for the race.

The engines fire on the grid, a minute ahead of the formation lap.

Bernd Maylander rumbles away from the front of the field in the safety car to take up his position for the start.

19 drivers are down there, ready on the grid for the race. Adrian Sutil will start the race from the pitlane, after a big accident in qualifying yesterday.

There are just five minutes to go before the formation lap begins at Silverstone. We are scheduled for a 60-lap race this afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton puts on his helmet to prepare for the race. He is in for a long fight this afternoon from 18th on the grid and today is trying to move forward on a lighter fuel load than those around him.

The patriotic crowd cheers following the end of the national anthem. As they do so, the clouds are breaking slightly and the sun is making an appearance.

The crowd rises in unison as 'God Save the Queen' rings out over the public address system at Silverstone.

The pits are now closed, 15 minutes ahead of the formation lap.

The grid is packed at the moment as the VIPs and guests wander along the grid beside the cars, drivers, mechanics and equipment.

Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Richard Branson are among the throng, soaking up the atmosphere.

Lewis Hamilton chats with his engineer Phil Prew on the grid. The McLaren will start 18th today.

The track temperature is up to 24 degrees Celsius this afternoon with a chilly 16 degrees in the air thanks to the continuing cloud cover at the moment.

Kimi Raikkonen leads Rubens Barrichello around to the grid on the softer Bridgestone tyres.

Adrian Sutil was due to start from the pitlane in a newly-built Force India but the car has ground to a halt on a reconnaissance lap.

Lewis Hamilton makes a practice start at the end of the pit lane as the crowd applaud the 2008 world champion.

Sebastian Vettel heads out in his Red Bull. He has an excellent chance of taking his third career win today, and the first in dry conditions.

The pitlane is now open for the cars to make their way onto the circuit. They will go round for one lap to the grid.

Kazuki Nakajima's career-best fifth place on the grid may be a surprise to many, but one man will have been anything but surprised by the Williams driver's qualifying effort.

Fast circuits are what Kazuki's father - Satoru Nakajima - thrived on in his time in Formula 1 twenty years ago. At this circuit in 1987, the wild Japanese driver brought his actively suspended Lotus home in a fine fourth place, while all the talk that day was about the Mansell versus Piquet battle up front.

Satoru always said that he preferred the quicker circuits - a trait that has clearly rubbed off on his son.

The pitlane will open in ten minutes, releasing the cars for a reconnaissance lap to the grid.

An estimated 125,000 spectators are in attendance this afternoon in support of their home grand prix, as they enjoy the traditional air display from the Red Arrows.

Tyres

Tyre temperature has been a talking point all weekend and is set to be a factor on another relatively cool day at Silverstone, where Bridgestone have their hardest selection of tyres on offer to cope with the high-speed nature of the circuit.

Jenson Button was left disappointed yesterday with his worst qualifying result of the season in sixth on the grid. Afterwards he pointed to the struggle to warm the tyres on his Brawn, which has proven to be particularly gentle in its demands on the rubber this year - a factor in much of Button's success so far.

After qualifying, Jenson told AUTOSPORT about his struggle for pace: "I didn't think we would be as quick as the Red Bulls here, because we have struggled to get heat into the tyres over the weekend. But my team-mate is second on the grid, but he is not on a different amount of fuel to me.

"The reason is that he has about 10 degrees more tyre temp than me. I just can't get the tyres working and we are just out of the operating range. Maybe it's the style we drive, the set-ups aren't that far away from each other."

Looking forward to the race, Button is hoping to move up the order to minimise the damage to his championship lead. He said: "I think it is going to be very difficult for Rubens to beat the Red Bulls and especially for me. My aim is to move up the grid as far as I can. I mean it's sixth, it's not last, but I need a few more places than that."

Fuel Rigs

The car weights show that Sebastian Vettel pulled out an extraordinary lap to claim pole position with more fuel in his car than any of the drivers in the top ten shootout.

It was a remarkable performance from the young German in his upgraded Red Bull RB5, and he holds a significant strategic advantage for the race today.

Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello are closely matched on fuel loads and could be in for a race-long battle on the track. With the Brawn machine extremely gentle on its tyres, Rubens could have a pace advantage at times if Webber's car uses up the Bridgestones more quickly.

Jarno Trulli and Kazuki Nakajima qualified strongly, but both will have to be on the lookout for the race pace of Button's Brawn. At the back end of the top ten, Raikkonen and Alonso will have a fight on their hands to get past the heavier cars of Rosberg and Glock.

Many drivers in the second half of the field are planning a one-stop strategy, with Heidfeld, Fisichella and Hamilton aiming to make progress with lighter cars.