James Allen
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

"We are going to have a battle royale in qualifying this afternoon. How many times had Rosberg surprised us this year?"

Image source, Getty Images

Good stuff from Valtteri Bottas who goes third quickest on his soft-tyre run, six tenths off the pace, but he is bumped down a place by Williams team-mate Felipe Massa, who slots in third, 0.429 seconds adrift of pace-setter Nico Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton is quickest of all in the first sector, but he makes a mistake in the second and again in the third. As a result, he goes second, 0.114 seconds off the pace.

Looks like Fernando Alonso's session is over. The Spaniard is out of his overalls and in his civvies with 12 minutes remaining. The Ferrari driver is currently fourth quickest after his soft tyre run, 0.953 seconds off the pace.

What a stunning lap from Nico Rosberg. The German's soft-tyre shod Mercedes looks glued to the circuit and he is rewarded with a lap of 1:10.446, which is nearly a second quicker than anyone else.

Nico Rosberg is out on the soft tyres while his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton is just putting his gloves on ahead of his qualifying-simulation run.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso bolts on a set of soft tyres and goes quickest with a 1:11.399, 0.160 seconds ahead of Williams' Felipe Massa, whose time was set on the medium tyres.

Maria: I've always been a fan of Nick Heidfeld's facial hair!

Matt Claypole: Best beard? Harald Ertl of course! Just look at it!

Image source, Getty Images

Felipe Massa continues to lead the way in his Williams, which his team-mate Valtteri Bottas just 0.159 seconds adrift. Massa's consistency is impressive, though, and seems to be the quicker of the two Williams, which has rarely been the case this season.

Mercedes have been changing the suspension settings on Lewis Hamilton's car, but BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter Jennie Gow reports that the work is done and their putting the front end back onto the car before sending him back out. Still 23 minutes to go.

Image source, Reuters

Lewis Hamilton is in the pits and tells his Mercedes team that he's unhappy with the balance. Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg reports that he has a vibration on the right front from a flat spot.

The BBC Sport development team have been working hard on Formula 1 alerts for our app, following on from the football goal alerts, and I'm pleased to say they're ready to go.

Simply head to the MyAlerts section from the Sport app's menu and choose the alerts you want to add. For F1, you'll receive results for practice, qualifying and the race itself as they happen.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo joins Williams' Felipe Massa and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen as the only drivers to have got down into the 1m11s this morning. The Australian's time of 1:11.977 is good enough for third quickest.

Jeremiah Kariuki: ‏Alonso has had a consistent beard, usually well trimmed and kind of defines who Fernando is in the last couple of seasons. The best!

David Winter: Lest we all forget John Watson had the best before he won his first GP for Penske

Alex Quick: ‏Best facial hair in F1? Got to be our Nige.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Daniel Ricciardo, Pastor Maldonado (pictured), Nico Rosberg and Sergio Perez have the track to themselves at the moment.

Mercedes:, external Fascinating radio chat in the garage - @LewisHamilton & @nico_rosberg picking through both their own & each other's laps with a fine comb...

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Interlagos

"The 2015 driver market is all falling into place. Mercedes was never a question, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg staying. Red Bull will have Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat following Sebastian Vettel's move to Ferrari to partner Kimi Raikkonen, which still has not been announced. That is apparently because there is still a bit of financial wrangling going on at Maranello to do with Fernando Alonso's move to McLaren, which will happen, as we reported earlier this week, but is not yet completely finalised.

"Alonso is very likely to partner Kevin Magnussen, with Jenson Button leaving F1, quite possibly for a crack at the world triathlon championship. Williams's line-up is staying the same. Force India have already announced Nico Hulkenberg and on Friday team owner Vijay Mallya said Sergio Perez was also staying but it had not been officially confirmed because they were discussing 2016 as well.

"Sauber have announced Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. Sources say both Adrian Sutil and Giedo Van Der Garde also have signed contracts, but Sauber are getting a lot more money - perhaps as much as 40 million euros combined - from Ericsson and Nasr, so Sutil and Van Der Garde will likely be paid off after a bit of a legal row and the team still remain in credit.

"At Lotus, Pastor Maldonado is staying, and the team may well keep Romain Grosjean, although there is a hint of tension in their relationship at the moment after the Franco-Swiss's recent outspoken comments about the car."

Here's how they stand: 1) Mas 2) Rai 3) Bot 4) Kvy 5) Ric 6) Alo 7) Mag 8) Ver 9) Sut 10) Mal 11) But 12) Vet 13) Gro 14) Gut 15) Hul 16) Ros 17) Per 18) Ham

Felipe Massa does a series of laps which are all within a few tenths of his fastest lap. That's good pace from Williams, although I suspect Mercedes have plenty in their pocket.

Kimi Raikkonen continues his good form this weekend, the Finn going second quickest in the Ferrari with a 1:11.946, fourth tenths off the pace set by Felipe Massa.