Ahead of today's qualifying session for the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix, the air temperature is 23 degrees C, while the track temperature is 36 degrees. It remains bright and sunny.

Jenson Button has led the way in all three practice session, heading a McLaren 1-2 in two of them, however, there is a widespread belief that Red Bull, focussing on the forthcoming session and tomorrow's race, has not yet shown its hand.

Suzuka is a circuit almost tailor made for the RB7 and therefore many believe that while the McLarens have appeared to have the edge when the chips are down its Austrian rivals will have more than enough in reserve.

As ever, there is great interest in tyres with Pirelli predicting two possibly three stops tomorrow. The Italian manufacturer points not only to the fact that Suzuka has one of the shortest pit-stops on the calendar - around 21s - but also the speculation as to the dilemma in terms of the point at which the soft (option) tyres are slower than the medium (prime). Indeed, they suggest that some drivers might actually post their best laps on the harder rubber this afternoon.

While most focus on McLaren's pace and Red Bull's preference for holding back, others are intrigued by the battle behind.

Ferrari has already admitted that it is now going to concentrate on next year, though Fernando Alonso has made no secret of the fact that he would like to finish runnr-up to Vettel. While Mercedes will also be looking ahead, having seemingly wrapped up fourth place in the team standings, there is a great battle behind with Renault under increasing pressure from Force India which, in turn, has Sauber and Toro Rosso breathing down its neck.

Williams, which has had a dreadful weekend thus far, desperately needs to add a few more points to its tally, while Lotus still seeks that first world championship point.

In each of the three practice sessions at least three drivers failed to beat the 107% time, it will be interesting to see if anyone falls foul of this rule today. It's only happened once this year, when the HRTs failed to make it into the season opener in Australia.

Trulli leads the way when the lights go green, followed, shortly after, by Petrov and di Resta.

As Trulli posts the first time of the afternoon (1:36.571), more and more drivers pour on to the track.

Despite a minor mistake in the final chicane, Petrov posts 34.045, with di Resta going second with a 34.998.

Vettel is an early riser, the German unsurprisingly going quickest in the first sector. Teammate Webber is also on track.

Vettel goes quickest with a 33.051, onboard camera showing his rear wing fully open through 130R. Webber goes second with a 33.135.

In the Renault garage the mechanics are working furiously repairing Senna's car following his crash earlier this morning.

As Alonso goes quickest (32.817), Hamilton makes full use of the massive run off at the Spoon Curve. The Englishman subsequently crosses the line at 33.414 to go sixth.

Button posts 33.018 to go second as Vettel and Webber both fail to improve on their previous bests. Indeed, even though they are on the harder rubber, nobody attempts to improve their time on their next lap. That said, Button improves with a 32.947 while Hamilton is also on a hot lap. The 2008 champ crosses the line at 32.843 to bump his teammate down to third.

With 6:40 on the clock, Rosberg, Senna and Liuzzi have yet to post a time, indeed, all three are still in their garages.

With 5:30 on the clock Senna and Liuzzi head down the pitlane as Schumacher goes seventh (33.748) ahead of Petrov, Sutil and Buemi. Still no sign of Rosberg who is sitting in his car whilst his mechanics work on it.

Di Resta goes seventh (33.499) as Senna (softs) goes quickest in S1 and Sutil (softs) goes quickest overall (32.761). Senna goes eleventh with a 33.359.

The stands erupt when Kobayashi (softs) goes quickest (32.626), ahead of Sutil, Alonso, Hamilton, Petrov and Button.

With the clock standing at 1:00 Rosberg is still in the pits, therefore he will start from the back row of the grid alongside Liuzzi. It's the first time this year that the Mercedes driver has failed to make it into Q3.