2010 Turkish Grand Prix Race day at Istanbul Park

Track temperature has dropped a click to 48 degrees with air temperature at 28 Celsius on a hot afternoon.

Di Grassi will start the race from the pitlane at best - providing Virgin can fix a late oil leak with that car.

Feverish work continues in the Virgin garage as the mechanics attempt to ready Lucas di Grassi's car for the race.

There are just five minutes to go before the formation lap begins at Istanbul Park.

The drivers are now getting comfortable in their cars with the formation lap just over five minutes away.

A few more clouds are slowly moving in across the circuit, but conditions will remain mostly sunny and very warm for the race.

Felipe Massa pulls on his balaclava as the Brazilian prepares to climb aboard his Ferrari.

Kovalainen gets his final instructions from Lotus technical director Mike Gascoyne.

Enthusiastic applause for the anthem in the main grandstand as it ends. Meantime, the work continues to fettle the machinery ahead of the race.

The smallest crowd of the year rises to respect the Turkish national anthem, as it rings out over the circuit's public address system.

With the pits now closed, the Virgin will be forced to start from the pitlane.

On the flip side, it also means that once again we won't see 24 cars react to the lights at the start of the race.

Di Grassi had that engine change overnight and it may be that a problem has been detected with the installation of the fresh Cosworth.

This will be a great boost to HRT drivers Senna and Chandhok, who now have one less direct competitor to worry about.

There are problems for Lucas di Grassi in the Virgin and his car is up on stands in the garage.

Bernie Ecclestone patrols the grid as preparations continue around the cars.

With most of the cars now in position, the team mechanics are now working to keep everything cool in the warm conditions ahead of the race.

The Ferrari pair have also been practicing launches in the pitlane but are now in place on the grid.

Jenson Button is now on his lap to the grid with a set of soft tyres bolted onto the McLaren. He will be looking for a podium today.

Red Bull mechanics are once again protecting the rear of the RB6 from prying eyes as Vettel steps out of his car.

Schumacher's Mercedes is trollied out into the pitlane so the German can practice a launch from his pit box.

The engine fires on Lewis Hamilton's McLaren and he heads out to take up his first front row slot of the year.

Air temperature is up to 29 degrees while track temperature is now very warm at 49 Celsius.

Vettel has a brief dice with one of the Toro Rosso drivers on his way to the grid, with the latter peeling off into the pits.

Mark Webber heads out for a lap in the pole-sitting Red Bull, with a set of hard tyres on the car at the moment.

Many of the drivers will plan a couple of laps to the grid with a pause in their pit box to test a launch as there is no area for practice starts here.

Lucas di Grassi is the first man to head out with that new engine in his Virgin entry.

The pitlane is now open for the drivers to take their cars around on a lap to the grid.

Barrichello has work to do from 15th

Barrichello has work to do from 15th © Sutton
Continuing our look through the field, we switch attention briefly to the second half of the grid and who is likely to provide the entertainment.

Pedro de la Rosa starts from 13th place and is hoping to put an end to a terrible string of results so far in 2010. The Spaniard is in with a good chance of points, but he has to stay out of trouble and equally the Sauber C29 must get him to the end to have a chance.

The Williams and Toro Rosso drivers seem to be locked together this weekend. One to watch in this quartet will be Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian has completed in every race held at Istanbul Park and he knows more than anyone that this will be a race full of minor mistakes for the inexperienced drivers.

At the back we have the prospect of the closest battle so far between the three new teams - Lotus, Virgin and HRT. Heikki Kovalainen struggled in qualifying but still did enough to claim 20th place on the grid behind team-mate Jarno Trulli. The Italian looks for once to have the upper hand and seems the likely candidate to try and stay close to the established teams.

Bruno Senna achieved one small target for Hispania, out-qualifying Lucas di Grassi in 22nd place. Senna will bid to keep ahead of the Virgin driver in the early stages and we could see some spirited fighting for track position at the rear, with Karun Chandhok ready to pick up the pieces from any altercations. But Virgin has raised the stakes this morning by changing di Grassi's engine for the race.

Hamilton could challenge from the front row

Hamilton could challenge Red Bull from the front row © Sutton
While Mark Webber was clearly delighted with his third-straight pole position, the team most buoyed by yesterday's qualifying result was McLaren. With Hamilton second and Button fourth, the Woking-based squad has a great opportunity to deny the championship leaders a perfect result this afternoon.

"I think we are a lot closer to Red Bull than I expected this weekend," said Jenson Button after the grid was set yesterday.

Although the RB6 was dominant through the middle sector, with incredible aerodynamic grip around Turn 8, the MP4-25 in Hamilton's hands was quicker in the first and final sectors and is particularly strong on the long run down to the final complex of corners - where some of Hamilton's finest overtaking moves have been delivered in GP2 and F1.

"If I can get close enough to Mark then without a doubt I will be taking the opportunity," said Hamilton after qualifying.

Meanwhile, Vettel will be keen to make up for a disappointing qualifying and should be strong now the errant roll-bar on his car has been repaired.

Behind the top four is the prospect of an interesting in-house battle at Mercedes, chased by the ever-impressive Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa in the leading Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso will be the man to watch in the middle of the grid as he attempts to battle forward from 12th, but could face stiff competition from the likes of Sutil and Petrov on a weekend where the Ferrari F10 is clearly not working well.

The pitlane will open in 15 minutes, allowing the drivers onto the circuit for the first time today.

Numerous checks have to be carried out on the lap to the grid. The drivers will want to get an early feel for track conditions following the support races that have taken place since qualifying.

Also, they will run through the throttle, braking and gearbox functions, check the front-to-rear brake balance and, for those that have the option, check the F-duct to make sure it is working well.

Sebastian Vettel will have more to do than most, following the roll-bar problem that thwarted his qualifying effort on Saturday.

Battle resumes between Audi and Peugeot at Le Mans in two weeks

Battle resumes between Audi and Peugeot at Le Mans in two weeks © LAT
In two weeks' time, AUTOSPORT Live will take on two high profile events simultaneously for our biggest motorsport weekend yet.

The 78th Le Mans 24 Hours sees Peugeot and Audi lock horns once again at La Sarthe. Another wonderful battle is in prospect between the two giants of prototype racing, with a superb supporting cast featuring the likes of the Mansell family racing together for the first time. We will be on hand with round-the-clock commentary of the race on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th June.

Formula 1 travels across the pond to Canada and we will have the usual extensive service covering weather, all three practice sessions, qualifying and of course race day from Montreal, as Red Bull looks to hammer home its speed advantage over the rest of the field.

So plan your diary and stock up the food supplies for the biggest motorsport festival of the year with AUTOSPORT Live.

Alonso fans may be disappointed with 12th on the grid

Alonso fans may be disappointed with 12th on the grid © Sutton
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.

• Can Mark Webber do it again and take a commanding lead in the drivers' championship?

• How will Fernando Alonso get on starting from 12th position? The Spaniard needs to claw his way towards a podium spot today to stay in touch in the title race.

• Will any of the new team drivers get near the points this afternoon? This could be a race of attrition. When you factor in the off-track excursions that are likely here, then it's just possible that one of the Lotus drivers could sneak a tenth place finish.

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.

Here's how the grid will line up this afternoon: Pos Driver Team 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 5. Schumacher Mercedes 6. Rosberg Mercedes 7. Kubica Renault 8. Massa Ferrari 9. Petrov Renault 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 12. Alonso Ferrari 13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 22. Senna HRT-Cosworth 23. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth

The final piece of supporting action saw the Formula 1 drivers appear in front of the sparse Turkish crowd for the first time today for the traditional parade round the circuit.

One of the quietest tours ended without any major talking points, as the 24 competitors got the opportunity to chat to each other on the flatbed truck.

Once the lap had ended, they headed back towards the paddock and the team hospitality units to continue final preparations for the race.

Clos stormed to his maiden GP2 win

Clos stormed to his maiden GP2 win © Sutton
Dani Clos claimed his maiden GP2 victory with a dominant win in this sprint race this morning. The Spaniard held off the challenge of Racing Engineering team-mate Christian Vietoris into the first corner and eventually took the flag 8.8 seconds clear to become the sixth GP2 winner in six races this year.

Vietoris had looked on course to make it a comfortable one-two for the Spanish team but was forced out with a mechanical problem, which left Rapax driver Luiz Razia to take an easy runner-up spot.

Addax's Giedo van de Garde claimed third place after getting ahead of third-place starter Michael Herck (DPR) on the opening lap, but he had to absorb pressure from iSport's David Valsecchi throughout the race. Herck followed home Valsecchi to take fifth place, with race one winner Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) taking the final point for sixth.

Clos claims first GP2 win in Turkey

Rio Haryanto took the GP3 win this morning

Rio Haryanto took the GP3 win this morning © LAT
Rio Haryanto took a lights to flag victory in today’s GP3 Series sprint race at Istanbul Park. The Manor driver started from pole ahead of MW Arden’s Miki Monras and held his advantage over the Spaniard into the first corner, gradually building a gap to secure a winning margin of 2.2s by the flag.

Monras had an uneventful run to second, with ART’s Alexander Rossi completing the podium after passing the Jenzer Motorsport car of Nico Muller for third at Turn 1 midway through the race.

Daniel Morad (Status) and Felipe Guimaraes completed the top six.

Haryanto takes lights to flag GP3 win

Weather conditions are fantastic around Istanbul this morning, mirroring what we saw on Friday for practice.

Patches of mainly light cloud could drift over from the west as we move through the afternoon, but on the whole we expect very bright conditions for the race with no chance of rain.

Temperatures are on the rise once again over Saturday's values. The maximum in the air will nudge towards the 30 degree mark, but with much more sunshine than yesterday, track temperature will climb steadily to approximately 50 Celsius.

A pole hat-trick for Mark Webber

A pole hat-trick for Mark Webber © Sutton
Red Bull secured its seventh pole out of seven in 2010 as joint championship leader Mark Webber continued his dazzling run of form in qualifying.

The Australian, who seems to be driving better than ever, took advantage of problems affecting team-mate Sebastian Vettel and posted 1m26.295s to claim a hat-trick of poles. To compound Vettel's woes still further, Lewis Hamilton delivered a supreme effort to split the blue cars, landing a spot on the front row for the first time this season.

Vettel ended up on row two alongside Jenson Button, and was clearly displeased with the recent turn of events, as he sat in the post-qualifying press conference shaking his head.

Michael Schumacher took a strong fifth, around half-a-second off the pace, just ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg. Robert Kubica was seventh for Renault, but Ferrari is having a nightmare weekend at its landmark 800th world championship grand prix.

Felipe Massa could only manage eighth spot in the first of the F10s, but a sudden lack of speed in qualifying saw Bahrain GP winner Fernando Alonso unceremoniously dumped out of Q2. The Spaniard starts today's event from a lowly 12th place.

Webber secures third pole in a row

Blue sky thinking in Turkey

Blue sky thinking in Turkey © Sutton
Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for the seventh round in the 2010 FIA Formula 1 world championship.

Istanbul Park is the venue this weekend for the sixth Turkish Grand Prix, but up front it's a familiar story with the dominant Red Bull Racing team once again on pole position thanks to Mark Webber's superb qualifying performance.

The rarely used 5.338 km circuit has presented the drivers with a stiff challenge so far. Turns 1 and 8 have seen most of the action with many off-track excursions and we expect more of the same in this afternoon's 58-lap race.

The race itself begins at 12:00 GMT, but before then we will set the scene by reviewing yesterday's qualifying session, update you on today's weather conditions and support card activity, and focus on some of the major talking points heading into the race.