2009 British Grand Prix Race day at Silverstone

The following shows the weight of each car, fuelled for the first stint of today's grand prix: Pos Driver Weight (kg) 1. Sebastian Vettel 666.5 2. Rubens Barrichello 657.5 3. Mark Webber 659.5 4. Jarno Trulli 658.0 5. Kazuki Nakajima 652.5 6. Jenson Button 657.5 7. Nico Rosberg 661.5 8. Timo Glock 660.0 9. Kimi Raikkonen 654.0 10. Fernando Alonso 654.0 11. Felipe Massa 675.0 * 12. Robert Kubica 689.5 * 13. Heikki Kovalainen 695.5 * 14. Nelson Piquet 682.5 * 15. Nick Heidfeld 665.5 * 16. Giancarlo Fisichella 668.0 * 17. Sebastien Bourdais 687.5 * 18. Adrian Sutil 692.0 * 19. Lewis Hamilton 666.0 * 20. Sebastien Buemi 672.5 * * declared weight

The final act in a busy morning build up to the grand prix took place a short time ago, as the drivers made their first appearance on track for the traditional parade around the circuit.

The airhorns blew and the packed crowd cheered enthusiastically in support of the drivers - and indeed Formula 1 - as the flatbed truck slowly made its way round the 3.195 mile Silverstone circuit.

The loudest roars of course were reserved for local heroes Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. They responded in kind, smiling widely and waving to the fans that have come to see them race this afternoon.

With the parade over, the drivers have headed back into their team hospitality areas to prepare themselves mentally for the race, which starts in one hour.

Rene Rast took a dramatic win in this morning's final support race - the Porsche Supercup.

Championship leader Jeroen Bleekemolen snatched the early lead from second on the grid, with Briton Richard Williams slotting in right behind him on the opening lap. Rene Rast edged Williams out onto the grass at Becketts on the second tour and his day went from bad to worse when he was handed a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.

All that left Rast chasing Bleekemolen throughout the 14 lap race, until they reached Abbey with just over a lap remaining. Rast dived up the inside of Bleekemolen with a bold move into the chicane and remarkably held on to his Porsche as they battled side-by-side through the apex.

Rast went on to claim a fine win, but Dutchman Bleekemolen has a healthy lead in the series and remains on course to take back-to-back championships.

Pastor Maldonado won this morning's GP2 Series sprint race at Silverstone after beating polesitter Andi Zuber into the first corner.

While Lucas di Grassi and Davide Valsecchi struggled to join the race, Maldonado surged away from the second attempt at a start and led to the flag, despite a restart on the final lap.

Edoardo Mortara's engine expired at Vale with three laps to go, laying a trail of oil on the circuit. Dani Clos spun on the slippery surface and his Racing Engineering car ended up stranded in the middle of the road.

A safety car intervention was inevitable, but the pack was eventually released for a sprint through the final corner, with Karun Chandhok only just holding on to third from Romain Grosjean in a scramble for the finish line.

Maldonado wins Silverstone sprint

Persistent cloud cover has been the main weather factor of the weekend so far, and we could get a bit more of that this afternoon.

Breaks did appear in the cloud base earlier this morning during the support races, but the clouds have returned in recent minutes.

Mainly cloudy skies and some sunny periods are the order of the day, with temperatures rising slightly over Friday and Saturday values, to a maximum of 20 degrees Celsius.

Vettel and Barrichello

A healthy 100,000-strong crowd turned up at Silverstone yesterday, and they were rewarded with a great battle in qualifying as the grid order was set for today's race.

World champion Lewis Hamilton was the first major scalp of the day in the opening 20-minute period. Leaving his final run late, the McLaren driver was on course to move out of the bottom five when Adrian Sutil crashed his Force India heavily at the Abbey chicane. The car was badly damaged, but the tall German was unharmed. However, the session was stopped, meaning that Hamilton was prevented from improving. The dominant winner of the 2008 race will start way down the grid in 19th this afternoon.

The second period saw more big names disappear from the reckoning. Felipe Massa was the most notable of these, ending up in 11th spot. He was bumped down the order by the Williams duo, who drove brilliantly to easily make it into the final shootout thanks to an updated aerodynamic package on the FW31 this weekend.

Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima would climb further up the ladder in the final scramble for the front end of the grid. Rosberg ended up seventh, with the Japanese in an excellent fifth spot. Up front, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel ran in close company on the circuit, with the Red Bull driver winning the battle for pole by over three-tenths of a second ahead of the Brazilian.

Mark Webber was third after a disappointing final lap - one that Kimi Raikkonen got the blame for - with Jarno Trulli fourth for Toyota, Nakajima fifth and championship leader Button down the order somewhat in sixth place.

Vettel storms to British GP pole

Fans

Motor racing enthusiasts love to debate and discuss the action on track, and the live forum at the bottom of the screen is your chance to let everyone know your thoughts on events as they unfold at the circuit.

• Will Sebastian Vettel or Rubens Barrichello take victory this afternoon, and begin chasing down the huge points advantage that Button has in the championship?

• What about the home hero? Jenson starts from sixth on the grid this afternoon after problems in qualifying. Can he minimize the damage to his championship lead?

• Kazuki Nakajima starts from a career-best fifth place on the grid today. Will he be a factor in the early laps?

• Can Lewis Hamilton make it into the points from 19th?

Tell the world what you think.

Click the SHOW LIVE FORUM link in the red bar at the bottom of your browser window if you'd like to join the debate.

Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for round eight of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The teams and drivers have come back to the birthplace of the world championship this weekend. Politics ruled the first part of the event at Silverstone, but today it's all about the racing as the race to catch Jenson Button begins in earnest at the Santander British Grand Prix.