Hello and welcome to the qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix where the breaking news is that Lewis Hamilton has been demoted five places on the grid for having to change his gearbox.

The revised grid is Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Di Resta, Sutil, Webber, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Button.

The chequered flag is out and Nico Rosberg grabs a sensational pole to squeeze out Sebastian Vettel! Alonso is third from Lewis Hamilton but he will start from ninth with his five place drop. Webber was fifth but will start seventh behind Sutil. So Massa moves up to fourth from Di Resta, Sutil, Webber, Hamilton and Button.

Massa the only driver on the hard compound. Webber locks up into turn 8. It’s a mistake...

So Ferrari will start on different strategies as there are ten cars on track. A frantic finish after a slow burn!

Here we go. Webber is out followed by a gaggle of his rivals. Massa on the hard tyre, Alonso on the medium!

And it looks like the Red Bulls, Massa, Button and Raikkonen will complete just one run.

Everyone on a new set of mediums bar Sutil on hards.

The first laps of Q3 are in and it’s Rosberg from Alonso, Hamilton and Di Resta.

Remember that Webber and Hamilton carry three and five place grid penalties respectively.

He’s followed out by a gaggle of cars. Busy track now.

Paul Di Resta is first out on mediums and he’s been impressive.

Fasten your seatbelts, Q3 is underway!

Eric Boullier on Romain Grosjean: ‘He made a small mistake in the middle sector that cost him a couple of tenths.’

Vettel was quickest from Rosberg, Webber, Raikkonen, Alonso, Di Resta, Hamilton, Massa and Sutil.

Button cheers over the radio at making the top ten. ‘Hooray! Just what you said. Good job!’

The chequered flag drops and the big casualty is Romain Grosjean, squeezed out by 10th placed Jenson Button. Wow! Perez, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Bottas and Vergne also miss out. The top ten shootout coming soon.

Into the final minute and Button still very much in trouble...

Grosjean goes 7th fastest, two places ahead of Raikkonen who comes out. Button drops to 11th.

Button is safe in tenth by the skin of his pants but will probably need something better...

Rosberg pulls a lap out of nowhere to top the times. 1:32.867. A cracker.