FORMULA 1 Live

2' Kovalainen overtakes Alonso for fourth but then the Spaniard regains his spot as the McLaren man loses speed.

3' Bourdais' Toro Rosso has let him down at the last and he is on the grass.

4' Räikkönen's engine has gone and a bad day for the champ is completed.

5' Kovalainen who was badly affected by the timing of Glock's crash is trying to reach Alonso for sixth.

7' Seventh placed Räikkönen is now limping along.

8' Bourdais is fourth for Toro Rosso while Hamilton leads by 2.217 seconds.

9' The safety car has gone, we are back to normal racing with Hamilton leading Heidfeld and Rosberg.

10' Nakajima's front wing has disappeared and he loses loads of time while Kubica also has problems and is forced out.

11' Kovalainen pits for the second time and drops to the back of the crocodile behind the safety car. He is now ninth.

12' Barrichello enters the pit lane too early under the safety car and is served a ten second penalty.

13' A problem in the Honda garage as a mechanic lifts the lollipop with the fuel hose still in Barrichello's car but fortunately his colleague seems to have avoided serious injury.

13' Glock goes out at turn 12 at high speed and is airborne - the debris means the safety car is back out.

14' Hamilton resumes in fourth with Kovalainen, Heidfeld and Rosberg all yet to enter the pits for a second time.

15' Räikkönen attempts to go past Glock but spins - another mistake from the world champion - as Hamilton pits to switch to the softer Bridgestones.

16' 50 seconds is the gap between Hamilton and 11th and last placed Räikkönen.

17' Rosberg sets a personal best lap in fourth.

18' But he loses 1.5 seconds on the next to his team-mate as Kovalainen cuts the deficit to under six seconds.

19' Hamilton sets a new fastest lap to extend his lead.

20' Heidfeld is lapping at the same pace as second placed Kovalainen in front of him.

21' Bourdais, Kubica and Alonso are tightly packed for the final three points positions.

22' Hamilton leads by 4.5 seconds from Kovalainen as McLaren seek their first win at Albert Park since 2003.

24' Sebastien Bourdais is now sixth for Toro Rosso on his debut thanks to a well-timed second stop.

25' Takuma Sato's race ends and half the field is out.

26' Räikkönen takes on lots of fuel, enough for the rest of the race, but is at the back of the field. Piquet is the latest driver to have reliability problems, with his clutch, and there are 12 cars left.

27' Massa spun on the opening lap and his miserable race has now come to an end following the bump with Coulthard.

28' We restart on lap 30 and almost immediately Räikkönen is in the gravel track as he overtakes Kovalainen.

29' Räikkönen has opted not to pit and still has not stopped in this race.

30' Kubica, Fernando Alonso, Timo Glock and Nakajima have all pitted following the deployment of the safety car.

32' Räikkönen will be able to pit during the safety car period and that's a big boost for him.

33' Massa tries to overtake Coulthard and makes massive contact with the Red Bull, forcing the Scot off the course and the safety car is back out.

34' Hamilton has 13 seconds on Räikkönen.

35' Kovalainen is holding up fellow Finn Räikkönen whose last lap was 1.3 seconds slower than his previous one.

37' Kovalainen in the pits, a nine second stop, and he resumes in second just ahead of Räikkönen.

38' Jarno Trulli was sixth but he is forced out with a mechanical problem.

40' Räikkönen has finally got past Barrichello and is 15 seconds behind Hamilton.

41' Brand new tyres for Hamilton and after a 9.1 second pit stop, he rejoins the action in fourth.

43' kubica in the pits and he drops to eighth.

45' The Stevenage ace has 30 seconds over big rival Räikkönen.

46' 8.541 seconds is Hamilton's lead.

47' Kovalainen with a five second advantage on Rosberg for third.

48' Adrian Sutil out with a technical problem and that's the end of Force India's race.

49' Kazuki Nakajima overtakes Nelsinho Piquet for 14th.

50' Hamilton sets the quickest lap thus far, 1:28.1, 1.3 seconds better than Kubica.

51' Kubica is losing ground on Hamilton while Rubens Barrichello continues to hold up Räikkönen for seventh spot.

53' Massa down in 17th after two enforced early stops.

54' Nico Rosberg (Williams) is up from seventh on the grid to fourth.

55' The top three as the grid with Lewis Hamilton leading Robert Kubica and Kovalainen.

57' Mark Webber (Red Bull) is also out of his home GP while Kimi Räikkönen moved up from 15th to 7th with some great driving on the opening lap.

57' Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India) and Sebastien Vettel (Toro Rosso) are out after a major shunt on the first corner with the Italian going airbound.

58' The safety car is out on the first lap and two Brits have made super swift exits from the race - Anthony Davidson and Jenson Button. Felipe Massa has a damaged nose cone following an incident with Heikki Kovalainen.

04:30 The cars commence the warm-up lap. The track temperature is 51 degrees!!

04:00 It's a sweltering 37 degrees celsius and sunny at Albert Park and we are just 30 minutes away from the opening race of the 2008 season.