2013 Italian Grand Prix Qualifying

6 min: Ricciardo also improves and moves into third position, sandwiching Rosberg with 1m25.447s.

6 min: Bianchi improves to a 1m27.427s on the mediums.

5 min: Button brings his McLaren out on track, along with the two Lotus drivers.

5 min: Sutil's first flier places him seventh with 1m28.347s.

5 min: Hulkenberg is now second on a 1m25.276s as both Ferraris start their fliers.

4 min: van der Garde then goes second, ahead of Rosberg, on a 1m27.207s.

4 min: Bianchi slots in behind his Marussia team-mate while Pic beats the pair on a 1m27.672s.

4 min: Di Resta, Maldonado and Bottas head out for their first run.

3 min: Chilton's first time is a 1m30.885s, which puts him third (for now at least).

3 min: Rosberg comes through into second place with 1m27.562s.

2 min: Both Saubers are out as Hulkenberg joins Gutierrez on track.

2 min: Sutil and Vergne are on track for their first run of the session.

2 min: Hard tyres on this first run for Rosberg and Ricciardo. The former crosses the line and this is an eight lap run.

1 min: Both Marussias and Caterhams are straight onto the mediums.

1 min: van der Garde makes it two Caterhams on track.

1 min: Jules Bianchi in the second Marussia and Caterham's Charles Pic are also eager for some early running.

0 min: Ricciardo also joins the track in the Toro Rosso.

0 min: Max Chilton brings his Marussia out early on as well.

0 min: Rosberg follows Gutierrez out onto the track. He needs to out there, after losing time this morning with a hydraulics issue.

0 min: Esteban Gutierrez is the first man on track in his Sauber.

0 min: The qualifying period has started.

Hamilton is strapped in and ready for action.

Across the other side of the garage, Webber clambers aboard his car and gets strapped in for action.

The leading light himself calmly strolls into the Red Bull garage, headphones on, listening to his tunes. He will become much more serious in a moment.

A fervent partisan crowd is on hand, hoping like crazy that Alonso and Massa can take it to the Red Bull duo this afternoon.

Track temperature is up to 42 degrees Celsius with just under five minutes to go until the start of the session.

Medium and hard compound tyres are the allocation Pirelli has brought to its home race, and though there's a pace advantage in the former it isn't huge.

Nonetheless, leading teams will try to get out of Q1 using the hard tyre and save the softer rubber for what promises to be an exciting final qualifying battle.

We expect a hectic Q3 having seen faster times set on the second or even the third lap, while Ferrari dabbled with slipstreaming tactics earlier this morning. Will anyone try that in the coming hour?

Here's how the qualifying battle stands heading into the final European event: Qualifying head-to-head Vettel 11 - 0 Webber Alonso 8 - 3 Massa Button 7 - 4 Perez Raikkonen 8 - 3 Grosjean Rosberg 3 - 8 Hamilton Hulkenberg 11 - 0 Gutierrez Di Resta 7 - 4 Sutil Maldonado 5 - 6 Bottas Vergne 4 - 7 Ricciardo Pic 7 - 4 Van der Garde Bianchi 10 - 1 Chilton

Conditions around Monza couldn't be better for the upcoming qualifying session. It is dry with clear skies, abundant sunshine and temperatures heading through the 30 degree barrier.

There is a light easterly breeze, but as this is similar to yesterday, then the race engineers and drivers are not set for any surprises in terms of downforce levels or gear ratios.

Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for continuing coverage from round 12 of this year's FIA Formula 1 world championship - the Italian Grand Prix from Monza, where qualifying will begin shortly.

Earlier, Sebastian Vettel continued his dominance from yesterday as he outpaced crowd favourite, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, by almost 0.3s in morning practice.

Mark Webber was third fastest, only fractions behind in the second Red Bull, ahead of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes. Sergio Perez in the McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso impressed in fifth and sixth, while Lotus struggled with Kimi Raikkonen the lead E21 in 10th.

Vettel keeps Red Bull on top in FP3

If Vettel continues in that vein, challenging him may well be beyond his competition this afternoon. But even if the German eases to a fourth pole position of the season, the battle behind should be fierce.

Little more than half a second covered sixth-place Perez and Romain Grosjean in 14th, which suggests both the battle to get out of Q2 and the best-of-the-rest fight in Q3 will be equally entertaining ahead of tomorrow's 53-lap race.