2009 European Grand Prix Race day in Valencia

There are five minutes to go until the formation lap begins at Valencia.

The drivers are beginning to move back towards their cars as they spend the maximum amount of time possible out of the fierce heat of the cockpit.

The teams have until three minutes before the formation lap to make their final choice of tyre compound for the first stint. Some of the teams are concerned about the durability of the super soft rubber on such a hot day.

The track temperature is 46 Celsius in a 31 degree ambient.

The spectators remaining standing the Spanish national anthem follows its European counterpart.

The crowd rises for the European anthem - 'Ode to joy' - as it rings out over the America's Cup Port in Valencia.

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

Michael Schumacher and Rob Smedley look on as Luca Badoer prepares himself for the race.

Jenson Button climbs out of his Brawn on the grid. The championship leader will be feeling much happier today with the strong pace demonstrated so far on a very hot track.

Badoer rounds the final corner and lines up on the grid for his first start in almost a decade.

Luca Badoer draws out of the Ferrari garage to make his way around to the back of the grid.

The pitlane is a busy place as the cars head out towards the grid. Luca Badoer and Romain Grosjean will be alive to everything in maximum concentration, as they get ready for this important event.

Nico Rosberg is one of the first drivers to head around to the grid.

Fernando Alonso is strapped into his Renault as the home hero prepares to head out.

The green light shines at the end of the pitlane signaling to all that the track is now open and the drivers are free to make their way round to the grid.

On the grid, the mechanics and technicians are heading out with the tyre racks and dry ice, ready for the arrival of the flying machines.

The pits will open in five minutes for the drivers to make their way around to the grid.

The teams will be eager to make sure the cars are functioning properly, and the drivers will hope that they don't encounter any surprises in terms of set-up, and that they can feel a neutral car underneath them as they set off on their reconnaissance lap around to the start-finish straight.

Fuel

Lewis Hamilton unusually took pole with his first run in Q3, aborting what looked to be an even quicker lap when it was clear he could not be beaten. At least he saved some fuel by pitting early, as the world champion has - marginally - the lightest car in the field. Team-mate Kovalainen looks to be pitting a lap later and it will be interesting to see how he gets on this afternoon.

The clear threat to McLaren dominance is Rubens Barrichello in his Brawn. The Brazilian qualified strongly with the fuel on board to pit a few laps later than the McLaren pair. Rubens will need to start well and try to remain in striking distance of the lead to take advantage of his longer opening stint.

Sebastian Vettel has a relatively light Red Bull and will have to work hard to keep championship rival Jenson Button behind him in a heavier Brawn. The pair will also have to contend with a well-placed Kimi Raikkonen in the KERS-equipped Ferrari.

Nico Rosberg is again in contention for a solid points finish, starting ahead of a relatively light Fernando Alonso and a disappointed Mark Webber.

On a street circuit where the safety car could well make an appearance, those outside the top ten have fuelled for a long first run with the hope of moving up the order if the race is interrupted at the wrong time for the leaders. Timo Glock starts 13th with fuel for around 30 laps, which is a long strategy that could work well for the German.

After disastrous qualifying results, Jarno Trulli and Kazuki Nakajima are running very heavy with the possibility of a single stop, but will have the option of a second pit visit for tyres if the rubber does not last well.

The following shows the weight of each car, fuelled for the first stint of today's grand prix: Pos Driver Weight (kg) 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 653.0 2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 655.0 3. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 662.5 4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 654.0 5. Button Brawn-Mercedes 661.5 6. Raikkonen Ferrari 661.5 7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 665.0 8. Alonso Renault 656.5 9. Webber Red Bull-Renault 664.5 10. Kubica BMW-Sauber 657.5 11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 677.0 12. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 672.5 13. Glock Toyota 694.7 14. Grosjean Renault 677.7 15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 688.5 16. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 692.5 17. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 702.0 18. Trulli Toyota 707.3 19. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 678.5 20. Badoer Ferrari 690.5

The final piece in the morning support jigsaw took place a short time ago when the drivers emerged from the pits for the traditional parade round the circuit.

Many more fans are at the circuit today, following patchy attendance on Friday and Saturday, and they are ready to support their local hero, Fernando Alonso.

As the traditional parade truck wound its way round the Valencia streets, the double world champion was enthusiastically waving to his supporters, but soon the tour was over and the 20 drivers are now back in the team hospitality units as they prepare for the race.

Rene Rast converted his fourth pole of the season into a fourth-straight win as the support action wrapped up with the Porsche Supercup.

Rast led away from pole and was tailed throughout by championship leader Jeroen Bleekemolen, meaning the Dutch driver remains on course for the title despite Rast's recent run of success.

Lance Arnold finished a lonely third, with the best of the action behind him as Patrick Huisman, Richard Williams and Stefan Rosina completed the top six after a race-long scrap that demoted Siso Cunill and Norbert Siedler down the order.

Once again there was incident at Turn 2 on the first lap as grid-third man Damien Faulkner was eliminated in a clash with Jiri Janak.

Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg triumphed amid the carnage that was this morning's GP2 sprint race, leading home another strong drive from Arden's Sergio Perez, who held off the challenge of Vitaly Petrov over the second half of the race.

With many front grid starters eliminating themselves in a first-lap clash at Turn 2, and numerous incidents in the early minutes, the safety car made a trio of appearances over the first eight laps. The stewards' room was also a busy place, with several penalties handed out over the course of the race.

Hulkenberg's win leaves him with a 20 point lead in the series over Petrov with three rounds remaining.

Hulkenberg wins chaotic sprint race

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 the McLarens simply blast off into the distance this afternoon, leaving the field trailing in their wake?

• Who will emerge on top between the Brawn pair and Sebastian Vettel, with championship points on the line?

• How about Mark Webber? The big Aussie needs something spectacular in the early laps to hold onto the shirt tails of Button and Vettel. Can he come through the top ten to grab valuable points and keep his form going?

• Adrian Sutil starts from 12th position today in a much-improved Force India VJM02. Will he make the points?

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.

All weekend the weather has been fantastic, and today is no different - clear blue skies, strong sunshine and warm temperatures beckon for the 57-lap race.

On Friday and Saturday the thermometer reached 30 degrees Celsius. We can expect to see that climb a degree higher today, with track temperatures once again nudging 50 degrees.

There will certainly not be any tyre temperature problems this afternoon.

While on the subject of weather, don't forget that the Belgian round of the series is just one week away, and tomorrow AUTOSPORT Live will have the all-important early forecast for the tricky Ardennes, at 15:00 GMT.

Luca Badoer

Romain Grosjean won't be the only driver providing new boy headlines once the dust has settled on the European Grand Prix, for another driver is making a surprise return to the sport after almost ten years away from the spotlight.

Ferrari's test and reserve driver Luca Badoer gets his chance to shine this weekend, following the horrific accident that befell Felipe Massa four weeks ago during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, and the on-off saga that was Michael Schumacher's much-heralded comeback.

The 2009 in-season testing ban has meant that Badoer is starting from a long way behind in terms of knowledge of the current spec F60 and, as he has been keen to point out, is treating this weekend as a test run to get to know the car in preparation for hopefully a better performance at Spa in Belgium next weekend.

The Italian has completed many laps of the Valencia streets this weekend, but qualified at the foot of the grid, well off the pace and with precious little chance of scoring points for the Scuderia today. After the first stint of the race, Badoer will have to spend a lot of time looking in his mirrors as the leaders bear down on him.

A good result for the 38-year-old this afternoon would be to stay out of trouble, try and keep pace with the rear of the field, and try to get to the flag.

Romain Grosjean

For the second event in a row, Formula 1 will see a young driver making his debut at a very difficult circuit.

Last month, at the Hungaroring, it was Jaime Alguersuari that was the name on everyone's lips. This weekend, it's one of the most exciting French prospects for many years - Romain Grosjean.

The Barwa Addax GP2 driver gets his chance at Renault, at the expense of Nelson Piquet, who has struggled to get near the pace of Fernando Alonso over the last 18 months. Ultimately, team boss Flavio Briatore lost patience with the lack of results and has put Grosjean in the R29.

So far, Grosjean has done a very respectable job given his lack of knowledge of the current-spec car. In the first round of qualifying yesterday, he was less than two-tenths of a second behind his illustrious team-mate Alonso, and then backed that up in Q2, finishing three-tenths down.

Grosjean may have spun a couple of times during the early practice sessions as he was finding the limits of both the circuit and the car, but he has kept it away from the barriers and all being well, he will cap a very solid start to his Formula 1 career by seeing the chequered flag later this afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton

Yesterday we had action and incident aplenty as the the 20 drivers ventured out onto the track for the final hour of practice leading into the knockout qualifying session.

The morning session was frenetic, with the times changing rapidly in the early stages. All that was brought to a sudden halt, however, when Sebastian Vettel blew a Renault engine in the back of his Red Bull. The session was stopped for almost half-an-hour while the track marshals laid copious amounts of dust down in an effort to clean up the oil trail.

This left the field facing a madcap five-minute scrap for track position and a final chance to improve their times. Adrian Sutil emerged quickest of all in the Force India, with Nakajima, Kubica, Kovalainen and Rosberg all close behind him.

Sutil fastest in final Valencia practice

Qualifying proved to be the McLaren Mercedes show, but a lot of things had to happen first before we got there.

Luca Badoer was off the pace in the Ferrari F60, and the Italian took an early bath. Kazuki Nakajima was another to find himself on the sidelines, but the Japanese was tremendously unlucky to suffer a cut-out of the engine that forced him to park the Williams while in a strong position.

The second phase saw little in the way of surprise, as F1 debutant Romain Grosjean joined Heidfeld, Sutil, Glock and Buemi on the sidelines at the end of a frantic 15 minutes.

That left the Brawns and McLarens battling at the front with Sebastian Vettel including himself in the party, following an engine change between sessions.

Rubens Barrichello was down in tenth after the first of two runs, but the Brazilian bounced back on his last lap to challenge Hamilton and Kovalainen. But the world champion had the situation in hand. A 1m39.498s lap was enough to claim his first pole position of the season, and he didn't need the comfort of an extra lap incase Kovalainen was able to better his time. The Finn ensured a McLaren lockout on the front row of the grid, with Barrichello third, Vettel fourth, Jenson Button down in fifth and Kimi Raikkonen leading the Ferrari charge in sixth.

Hamilton leads all-McLaren front row

Valencia

Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for the 11th round of the 2009 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Following a four-week summer shutdown, the teams and drivers are back on track at the America's Cup port in Valencia, Spain to start the final leg of seven races - the first of them being the European Grand Prix on a difficult 5.419 km circuit.

The race itself starts at 12:00 GMT, but before then we will review Saturday's action at the circuit incase you missed it, take a look at this morning's support races as well as updating the latest weather situation. We'll also analyse the weight of fuel onboard each car and what that may mean for the first stint of the race.