Ahead of today's all important qualifying session the air temperature is 30 degrees C, while the track temperature is 31 degrees. It is now 22:00 and the humidity is 70%. Despite claims that it might rain at some stage this evening it looks as though it wont happen.

Mark Webber was quickest this morning, and on the evidence thus far, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren have a clear advantage over the opposition here, even the Mercedes duo finishing over a second off the pace.

In the final stages of this morning's session, when the drivers switched to the option (super-soft) tyres, traffic was a problem, hence Lewis Hamilton only managing fifth quickest.

That said, McLaren doesn't appear as settled here as Red Bull and Ferrari, the Woking team opting to try new rear wings on both cars this morning. That's as nothing however, compared to Renault who have scrapped their new bodywork package for a later day, but are still floundering over 4s off the pace.

There are conflicting reports regarding tyre wear, some teams happy and some not. On the other hand, while Pirelli insists that it's not a problem here, suggesting that the heat is of more concern.

Everyone's got an opinion on who's hot and who's not here, however, with ten poles from thirteen attempts, who is really going to bet against Vettel? Many see Alonso as the dark horse but perhaps that's more about tomorrow than today.

Fact is, the title is decided, whether it happens today or in Japan, Korea… What is of interest, all that aside, is the battle for runner up, with Webber really needing to beat the McLarens and Ferraris. Then there's the fascinating battle in the Constructors' Championship between Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso.

The lights go green however, it is over a minute before Barrichello and Perez head down the pitlane. As Senna, di Resta and Kobayashi head down the pitlane, Vettel is another early bird. Indeed, Webber, Hamilton and Button are also out early, no doubt mindful of the traffic situation here.

As Barrichello begin his first flying lap, his engineer informs him that he will be doing three timed laps. The Brazilian crosses the line at 51.042 but this is soon beaten by Perez who posts 50.066.

A 49.087 sees Kobayashi go quickest but this is demolished by Vettel's 47.137. Webber goes second with a 48.118 only to be demoted when Hamilton posts 47.014 and Button 46.933. Game on!

Rosberg goes fourth and Massa fifth but it's that man again, Vettel re-takes the top spot with a 46.397.

Alonso goes quickest in S1, as Schumacher begins his first flying lap. The Spaniard goes fourth overall with a 47.054 while Schumacher posts 49.014 to go ninth, just behind di Resta.

Webber is pushing very hard, taking a huge gamble as he brushes the wall, nonetheless, the Australian can only manage a 47.332. Elsewhere, Hamilton runs wide at Turn 7 and Alonso at Turn 10.

Second placed Button complains of understeer, the McLaren driver told to return to his garage for an adjustment to his front wing. Petrov, in the danger zone with his teammate and the Toro Rosso far from safe.

With 4:00 on the clock, the leading seven - Vettel, Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg and Massa - appear to have settled for their times. All the other drivers, bar tenth placed Schumacher, are on track.

Perez improves to seventh with a 47.717 while Petrov remains nineteenth. Teammate Senna drops to sixteenth.

Buemi improves to twelfth, thereby dropping Schumacher to thirteenth. Senna fails to improve and drops to seventeenth while Petrov is informed that he has just one timed lap. The Russian responds with a 49.835 which puts him seventeenth.

Senna digs deep and produces a 48.861 to go fifteenth, however, his good news is bad news for teammate Petrov who is out at the first hurdle.

Quickest is Vettel, ahead of Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Perez, Massa, Sutil and di Resta.

We lose Petrov, Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, d'Ambrosio, Ricciardo and Liuzzi.

As he makes his way back to the pits, Senna is asked if he was held up by Alguersuari on his first flying lap. "Yes," is the immediate response.