So it appears the rain clouds have had enough and are drifting away from Sao Paulo. Warmer weather to come? How will that affect things?

Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

"When you've had a brake problem and you come hurtling down to a corner at 200mph, that'll test you!"

Image source, Getty Images

Kimi Raikkonen: "There is more rain now."

Image source, EPA

So, with eight minutes left the cars in the drop zone are Jenson Button's McLaren, the Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon, the Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson and the Renault of Kevin Magnussen, who clearly fluffed his lines in a big way on his first run. Expect him to improve.  

All cars in the pits right now bar the two Manors.

And you have to say it's all over bar the shouting for the front runners. The Mercedes, Red Bulls, Williamses and Ferraris - Vettel having now set a time good enough for sixth - are all into Q2 without doubt. 

After them comes the McLaren of Alonso and Haas of Grosjean, who will likely need to run again. 

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Gallagher
BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 analyst

"It looks pretty frenetic down at the Ferrari garage, as you'd expect."

Those menacing clouds mean none of the drivers want to delay getting times on the board, and straight away it's the Mercedes drivers to the fore. 

First blood goes to Lewis Hamilton. He does the best time of the weekend so far - a 1:11.511 - and you have to say that's him safely into Q2 already. 

Team-mate Nico Rosberg is second, 0.304secs back.

Image source, Rex Features

We're not going to see Sebastian Vettel any time soon. Tom Clarkson reports the Ferrari driver has a brake problem and his team are working on a fix. 

Clock is ticking.

Qualifying begins with Q1. Soft tyres on all the cars by the looks of things. They're not hanging around with rain in the air.

A reminder that we have commentary on this qualifying session from the 5 live team out in Interlagos. 

You can follow Jack, Tom and the rest of the crew via the website using the tab above, and over on 5 live sports extra from 16:30 GMT.

As always we want you to get involved with our live page today. 

The retirement of Felipe Massa not only makes me feel old, but also very sad that his F1 career never delivered the title he came oh-so-close to winning in 2008. 

What it did deliver, however, was hugely impressive wins on home soil in 2006 and 2008, and yet again this weekend the Williams driver is shining at Interlagos. 

So today we want you to tell us your home race heroes. 

Which driver always excelled at his home event, or which individual performance by a driver on home turf really stands out for you?

#bbcf1 please.

Image source, Rex

BBC Radio 5 live's Tom Clarkson visits the grave of Brazil's legendary F1 driver Ayrton Senna at the Morumbi Cemetery in Sao Paulo, and looks back at his incredible career.  

This from our BBC Radio 5 live team in situ 'between the lakes':

Image source, .