2010 Korean Grand Prix Qualifying

3 min: The key in this first phase of qualifying will be to get a clear lap and to make sure you stay on the road. An off-track incident here will kill the tyres.

2 min: Kovalainen is on his first flying lap.

2 min: Nico Rosberg joins the fray and he is followed out by Sebastien Buemi, bringing the total to 17 cars on track.

2 min: Traffic is expected to be a problem in this segment, with a queue through the tight walled section likely to cause some anger.

2 min: Sakon Yamamoto is followed out by Barrichello and then Schumacher as Vettel slowly gets ready in the Red Bull garage.

1 min: Kobayashi is now also out in his Sauber, with Glock in the Virgin also starting a run.

1 min: Nico Hulkenberg brings his Williams onto the circuit. He is followed out by Jaime Alguersuari and Bruno Senna.

1 min: Petrov joins Kovalainen on the circuit.

1 min: Many of the drivers are waiting for a minute or two before going out.

0 min: Heikki Kovalainen is the first man out of the pits this afternoon.

0 min: The qualifying hour is underway in Korea.

There has been no support action on track since final practice, with a local Hyundai championship only scheduled to run later today.

An estimated 60,000 people are at the circuit, as Sebastian Vettel gets ready to put on his balaclava and helmet ahead of the start of the session.

Workers have cleaned up and re-painted that additional concrete patch on the kerb at Turn 16.

The track temperature is up slightly to 28 Celsius this afternoon.

There are just five minutes to go until the qualifying battle gets underway in Korea.

McLaren's revised rear wing is helping take the fight to Red Bull here

McLaren's revised rear wing is helping take the fight to Red Bull here © Sutton
A fascinating qualifying battle is in store with McLaren, Ferrari and Renault all looking to halt Red Bull's charge to pole thanks to the contrasting nature of the circuit at Yeongam.

Red Bull's rivals are very strong through the first sector, which features three long straights, ideally-suited to an optimised F-duct. However, Webber and Vettel are clawing back much of the time through the twisting final segment that plays to the strengths of the RB6, meaning there is no clear favourite for pole heading in to the grid-deciding hour.

The teams also have to contend with a tricky tyre strategy for the race tomorrow. The softer tyre compound provided a considerable advantage for the best laptimes during final practice, but the slippery surface - thanks to clouds of dust emerging whenever a driver clips the surrounding grass - is proving a challenge for Bridgestone's rubber.

"When the dust gets on the racing line, then the grip drops too much," Bridgestone's Hirohide Hamashima told AUTOSPORT. "That is causing the graining we have seen. So the best story like that would make the race like Bahrain. But in the worst case, if it is still dusty, then it could maybe be worse than Canada."

Those in the pole position shootout will have little choice but to deploy the softer tyres, but they will go into the race tomorrow with clear concerns about the durability of the rubber on full tanks of fuel.

Here is how the qualifying battle is shaping up within the teams: Qualifying head-to-head Button 5 - 11 Hamilton Schumacher 3 - 13 Rosberg Vettel 9 - 7 Webber Massa 4 - 12 Alonso Barrichello 11 - 5 Hulkenberg Kubica 15 - 1 Petrov Sutil 14 - 2 Liuzzi Buemi 11 - 5 Alguersuari Trulli 8 - 8 Kovalainen Senna 5 - 0 Yamamoto Heidfeld 1 - 1 Kobayashi Glock 14 - 2 Di Grassi

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Conditions remain overcast but dry as we go into the all-important knockout qualifying battle.

The heavy cloud cover this afternoon will limit maximum temperature to just 19 degrees Celsius, while humidity climbs towards 80 percent.

Light rain is on the move towards the Yeongam circuit, but is not expected to reach the Korean peninsula until after dark.

Kubica was on top form this morning

Kubica was on top form this morning © Sutton
Robert Kubica threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the Formula 1 field by taking the fastest time as the soft tyre runs dominated the final minutes of practice.

Under heavily overcast skies, the cars rolled out onto the circuit this morning for the standard round of installation laps. A period of brinkmanship soon followed, but Jaime Alguersuari broke the silence and was the first to complete a serious run of laps in the Toro Rosso.

The benchmark time changed hands at least 10 times during the course of the hour, but it was the Pole - cruelly robbed of a race up front at Suzuka two weeks ago by a loose wheelnut - who blasted his way to the top of the charts with a lap of 1m37.354s during a final surge of soft tyre, qualifying simulation laps.

Lewis Hamilton once again underlined that he will be a threat this weekend by finishing just 0.048 seconds behind Kubica, with Alonso third for Ferrari after being balked badly by Rosberg on his final run. Championship leader Mark Webber was fourth with Rosberg fifth, Massa sixth, and Jenson Button in seventh position.

The top four drivers were covered by less than one-tenth of a second, setting us up for a potentially fantastic Q3 scrap this afternoon.

Kubica tops final practice in Korea

Korea

Korea © Sutton
Hello everyone and welcome back to AUTOSPORT Live as we continue blow-by-blow coverage of the inaugural Korean Grand Prix weekend from the all-new Yeongam circuit in the south west of the country.

The practice sessions have been completed and now it is time to qualify for round 17 of the 2010 FIA Formula 1 world championship.

Overnight track modifications were semi-successful this morning, during a frantic and enthralling final practice period. The drivers started off the session by altering their line into Turns 16 and 18 slightly, but as the hour continued they realised they could start taking more and more of a bite out of the apex of each of the corners, which began to damage the freshly-laid concrete.

With no time for further modifications, the final sector of the lap could be the most important place to keep an eye on as the session unfolds. Qualifying is always about gaining as much of an advantage as you can, and the drivers will have no choice but to cut these two corners as much as possible.

Up front the battle is extremely close between the Red Bulls, McLarens, Ferraris and Robert Kubica, who is continuing to perform heroics in the Renault. We are set for an epic battle between these top seven drivers this afternoon.