Follow the Us Formula One Grand Prix Live With Our Minute-by-minute Report

3 lap Button has had a shocking start, dropping down to 16th despite two drivers in front of him crashing out. Hamilton leads Alonso by 0.95 seconds - it's going to be another McLaren one-two.

2 lap Ignore what I think - Coulthard is out of the race! Barrichello is also out after a poor mistake which saw him fly off the track, while Fisichella also had a bit of a spin in eighth position.

1 lap And. It. Is. Go. Hamilton and Alonso both get off to steady starts. The Spaniard considered trying to take Hamilton on the outside at the first corner, but thought better than shunting the two cars off the track. Massa is third, while Heidfeld and Kovalainen have overtaken Raikkonen. Elsewhere, Ralf Schumacher is out of the race after colliding Coulthard. The Scot, though, has escaped into the pit lane and his car should be ok.

Parade lap Off they go, zig-zagging their way around the circuit. It will be a 73-lap race. "What would Australians make of Fernando Alonso?" asks, yes you guessed it, Gary Naylor. "Has anyone whinged so much so early into any sporting campaign? Can you spit out a dummy at 200mph?" I don't think I can, Gary, but then I got rid of my dummies during an emotional ceremony in Malta on my fourth birthday.

1 min 10 seconds?!?!? I've just noticed that this is the time of Barrichello's record lap-time around here. That's barely enough time for me to refresh the page, let alone tap out a credible lap report.

Will this literally be a lap-by-lap report? Not sure yet. I'm going to try, but my podgy fingers might not be able to keep up with the pace. I'll do my best though.

Full qualifying positions

1 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:12.331

2 F Alonso (Spn) McLaren 1:12.500

3 F Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:12.703

4 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:12.839

5 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:12.847

6 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:13.308

7 S Vettel (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:13.513

8 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:13.789

9 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:13.871

10 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:13.953

11 D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:12.873

12 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:12.920

13 J Button (GB) Honda 1:12.998

14 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:13.060

15 R Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:13.201

16 A Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:13.259

17 A Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota 1:13.441

18 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:13.477

19 V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:13.484

20 S Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:13.712

21 A Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari 1:14.122

22 C Albers (Ned) Spyker-Ferrari 1:14.597

Preamble Evening everyone. It's a huge day for British - no, let's not tarnish the Scots and Welsh with this - English sport. Our cricket team are struggling to get the better of a side that would finish near the bottom of the County Championship; the soon-to-be galaxico, David Beckham PR, could win his first trophy for the galacticos this evening, unless they bottle it, of course; the future of English football, the Under-21s, will crash out to the mighty Serbia after Leroy Lita misses another last-minute penalty; and two Englishmen will contend for the US Open title until Paul Casey records a double-bogey on the 17th, and it becomes apparent that Justin Rose's caddie was carrying one club too many when he reaches the scorer's hut.

But amid all this turmoil, the biggest story of the day is that Lewis Hamilton could win his second grand prix in Indianapolis, even if, according to his embittered team-"mate" Fernando Alonso, it is only because he is so favoured by the English team of McLaren. The last two winners of the biggest race in this city, the Indy 500, have been a Scotsman (Dario Franchitti) and an Englishman (Dan Wheldon), so we know our sort can triumph around here. And what is more, Lewis (as it is now fashionable to now call him) is on pole - and just as when Tiger Woods leads a major championship going into the final round, he wins, so when Lewis is on pole, he wins. Ok, so the sample of one race is perhaps a little small to judge this statistic, but you can't deny its truth.