2011 Turkish Grand Prix The Turkish Grand Prix

The formation lap begins and polesitter Sebastian Vettel leads the field away from the grid.

The engines fire with a minute to the formation lap.

Rosberg now puts his gloves on with just 80 seconds remaining until the formation lap.

Virgin is trying to install a new gearbox in Glock's car but only has a couple of minutes left to complete the work.

Nico Rosberg stares straight ahead as he begins to focus on the job in hand. He is leaving putting his gloves on until the last possible moment.

Despite concern about the lack of spectators on Friday and Saturday, there is actually a decent crowd on hand today to watch the race.

Glock's car remains under repair in the Virgin garage after gearbox problems developed on his lap to the grid.

There are five minutes remaining until the formation lap begins at Istanbul Park. 58 fast and frantic racing laps await the drivers.

Alonso pulls on his helmet as he once again gets ready to start from fifth on the grid.

Track temperature is up to 35 Celsius - four degrees shy of the maximum temperature from yesterday. Air temperature is 17 degrees.

Fans

Motor racing fans 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 make it three out of four in 2011 and vanquish the memory of last year by taking victory this afternoon?

• What can Michael Schumacher do from eighth place on the grid? A strong weekend fell away completely in qualifying. Can he move up the field??

• And what about Paul di Resta? The Scot has enjoyed a great start to his debut season. Points on the cards again today?

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.

The spectators around the circuit rise in unison to respect the Turkish national anthem, as it rings out over the public address system.

It looks like Virgin will struggle to get that car back together in time for the start in 15 minutes

The pitlane is now closed. Any car that is not on its way to the grid by now will be required to start today's 58-lap race from the pitlane.

The complete rear of Glock's car has been detached as the team scramble to repair the gearbox.

Tyres

A three-stop strategy looks to be the popular choice heading into this afternoon's race, but as this season has already proved, the number of stops is hard to predict before the teams know exactly how the tyres are performing during the race.

Adding to the mix here is the fact that GP2, GP3 and Porsche Supercup supports have raced on the track since qualifying, which certainly could impact the grip levels.

Teams are keeping the option of a two-stop open, though will once again be wary of any rivals on a three-stop plan coming on strong in the latter stages, with the hard tyre again proving considerably slower than the softer option.

The Virgin mechanics are hurriedly trying to fix Glock's MVR-02 to try and start from the pitlane.

Virgin say the team has discovered a gearbox problem on Glock's car on the lap to the grid.

Here is the grid line-up for today's race: Pos Driver Team 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 7. Vitaly Petrov Renault 8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 9. Nick Heidfeld Renault 10. Felipe Massa Ferrari 11. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 16. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 20. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 23. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth * 24. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari * Five-place penalty for ignoring yellow flags in practice

There is a little more cloud around the sky than yesterday, but conditions on the whole are excellent for today's race.

Bright sunshine has blazed down over Istanbul Park since dawn, and although some cloud will continue to roll in from the west, conditions will remain bright and dry, with no threat of rain.

Temperatures aren't too bad either, with a maximum in the air reaching 17 degrees, while the prolonged sunshine will help track temperature move well into the 30s Celsius range.

Vettel has arrived on the grid and is pushed towards pole position.

Both Ferrari drivers are heading around to the grid.

Nick Heidfeld arrives on the grid in his Renault and steps out of the R31 as mechanics begin to work on the car.

Here's a reminder of the standings after three races: World Championship standings, round 3: Drivers: Constructors: 1. Vettel 68 1. Red Bull-Renault 105 2. Hamilton 47 2. McLaren-Mercedes 85 3. Button 38 3. Ferrari 50 4. Webber 37 4. Renault 32 5. Alonso 26 5. Mercedes 16 6. Massa 24 6. Sauber-Ferrari 7

Vettel's engine fires up and the polesitter drives down the lane and out onto the circuit.

The pitlane opened one minute ago for the drivers to head out onto the circuit.

Vettel

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for coverage of round four in the 2011 FIA Formula 1 world championship - the Turkish Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel leads an all-Red Bull front row today after playing things very cute in qualifying - many were anticipating one run on soft tyres in the shootout, but out they came at the start of Q3, only for Mark Webber and then team-mate Vettel to put in lap times so strong that they didn't need to go out again.

Behind them, Nico Rosberg has enjoyed a much more productive weekend and starts on the second row alongside Lewis Hamilton, while Fernando Alonso heads up the Ferrari challenge from row three.

Kamui Kobayashi has been allowed to start today's race from the back of the grid. The Japanese driver failed to set a time in qualifying, but the FIA stewards agreed that he should be allowed to take part after his fuel pump failed in Q1.

So two Red Bulls and a hungry chasing pack for 58 laps with plenty of overtaking opportunities - we are set for a thriller this afternoon.