Aside from the two Force Indias, big-hitters Jarno Trulli, Coulthard and Piquet were all looking in perilous waters with less than four minutes remaining, as a particularly evenly-matched field – all drivers covered by a scant 1.7 seconds – made getting into Q2 a supremely close-fought affair.

Massa's next effort was a Hamilton-beater by almost three tenths of a second, being the first man to dip below the 1m15s barrier and setting a marker some way out of reach of fellow world championship leader Raikkonen.

McLaren, by contrast, elected not to send either driver out for another run, whilst Coulthard saved his bacon by nearly half a second to move eighth, being immediately displaced by Sébastien Bourdais, with Trulli, Toyota team-mate Timo Glock, Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld all hoisting themselves up comfortably into the top ten in the closing moments of the session.

Those movements, indeed, would push former double world champion Alonso into danger in 16th spot, but whilst the Spaniard would haul himself to safety before the chequered flag flew, the same could not be said for team-mate Piquet, who will begin the race from 17th after claiming to have been baulked by Vettel on his final flier.

The young Brazilian rookie – who has made encouraging progress in the top flight in recent weeks – was joined in bottom part of the grid by Williams' Kazuki Nakajima (16th), Honda's Rubens Barrichello, who so memorably secured his maiden grand prix triumph with Ferrari from 18th on the grid at Hockenheim eight years ago – fans' favourite Sutil and Fisichella.

The top ten at the end of Q1 read Massa, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Vettel, Trulli, Glock, Heidfeld, Rosberg out of the drop zone and Webber.


A soft-rubbered Raikkonen hit the circuit first once Q2 got underway – albeit nearly four minutes in – and was followed by Massa, again suggesting that Ferrari is not entirely at ease in Germany this weekend. Hamilton was indeed rapidly quicker than both of the scarlet machines by the margin of a tenth-and-a-half, with Kovalainen four tenths slower in fourth.

The Finn pitted for fuel and new tyres and headed out again, with the BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld moving up to seventh and tenth respectively and Kovalainen improving – but only by one spot, and to within three tenths of pace-setting team-mate Hamilton.

Coulthard, Rosberg, Vettel, Bourdais and Jenson Button were at this stage in the drop zone, with less than two minutes to go. A lock-up from Bourdais destroyed his last effort, but team-mate Vettel was looking good to make the cut – and indeed did so, moving up to eighth, safe by 0.161s,

That pushed Heidfeld outside the top ten and left compatriot Glock in the bubble. Following a last-ditch effort that hoisted Coulthard up into eighth, two spots ahead of team-mate Webber, the three homegrown heroes Glock, Heidfeld – who dashed his final effort in much the same manner as had done Bourdais – were left down in eleventh, twelfth and 13th positions in front of their partisan supporters, meaning Vettel was the sole German representative in the final shoot-out.