Yesterday, Fernando Alonso had to make do with perching on the barricade. At least this time someone has delivered him a comfortable looking camping chair. Maybe crack out the picnic basket, Fernando?

David Coulthard
BBC F1 co-commentator

"The difficulty is, Honda are a huge company but they don't have a bottomless pit of money. Whatever they budgeted within the Honda organisation, they must be haemorrhaging money and will come to interest of the Honda board."

So, Fernando Alonso will be out of qualifying. Only 17 cars have registered a time and the two in the drop zone are Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi.

Fernando Alonso: "Turn 11 - no power."

Fernando Alonso just can't buy a break at the moment. He's told on the radio to stop immediately and then we see him pull into the grass. The Spaniard is becoming very intimate with the outer-reaches of Interlagos after his McLaren stopped yesterday.  

Tom Clarkson
BBC F1 pit-lane reporter

"Mercedes want a hot track temperature. Last year it was baking and the medium tyre was the tyre to be on so they must have seen a forecast that suggest that will be the case."

David Coulthard
BBC F1 co-commentator

"It is unusual that Mercedes would go for broke so early on the soft tyre. No-one really got within a second of Mercedes in practice, so they don't need to run that tyre."

Nico Rosberg is straight out on the softs, which is a bit of a surprise. It puts the German straight to the top with a 1:11.746. He is quickly replaced by Lewis Hamilton on 1:11.682.

Nico Hulkenberg's first on the board with a 1:13.824.

How does Felipe Massa compare? 1:13.369 - the Brazilian is top, for now.

David Coulthard
BBC F1 co-commentator

"I don't quite know why everyone is allowing the clock to count down, the circuit won't evolve while we wait, you need cars running to put rubber down."

Ah, Nico Hulkenberg blinks first and is out of the pits. I was worried we were going to have 18 minutes of absolutely nothing.

There's a massive cheer from the grandstand, which cab mean only one thing. Felipe Massa is out.

Lots of steely-eyed drivers sat in cockpits, but none of them on the track yet. We're hearing that McLaren have gaffer-taped Fernando Alonso's car together and he's good to go.

David Coulthard
BBC F1 co-commentator

"The crowd here are always excited about F1 cars heading to the track, there's a huge support for the local drivers. There is a special atmosphere on what is a special circuit - short, but very challenging."

Interesting analysis on BBC One, showing why the lap times have dropped from last year at Interlagos. The kerbs are much harder to ride this year - as you can tell from these shots of Nico Rosberg in 2014 (right) and 2015 (left).

Image source, Getty Images

It seems a lifetime ago that Jenson Button secured hiss only world title to date. It came with a fifth-place finish, after starting 14th on the grid.

Briton Will Stevens finished almost four tenths of a second quicker than his Manor team-mate Alexander Rossi in final practice.

Ferrari technical director James Allison on BBC One: "It's unlikely we can challenge for pole. You've always got to have one eye on the sky here at Interlagos."