Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg all bowed out of German Grand Prix qualifying in the second stage at Hockenheim.

Nick Heidfeld's hopes of leading the German charge into his home grand prix evaporated with a mistake at the hairpin on a last-gasp effort to gain a place in the top ten shoot-out of qualifying at Hockenheim.

The BMW Sauber driver found himself in the drop zone with six minutes remaining after the team made its customary late appearance, but was unable to save himself when he dropped back into the bottom five after only finding enough time to claw his way to tenth. Running off line at the hairpin then scuppered any hope he might have had of improving.

In a disappointing session for the home nation, Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg both joined Heidfeld among those missing out, the Toyota driver pushed back to eleventh by David Coulthard's late improvement to eighth and Rosberg failing to save himself on his final attempt having been demoted by Robert Kubica with five minutes remaining. Jenson Button and Sebastien Bourdais - who made a bigger mistake at the hairpin than Heidfeld - completed the list.

Lewis Hamilton restored McLaren to top spot, setting up a likely battle for pole with second-placed Felipe Massa, while Heikki Kovalainen ventured out late on with another set of the softer tyres as he attempted to move up from fourth. The Finn survived a wild moment at the final corner to claim third....

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top five, while Kubica, Trulli, Coulthard, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber complete the qualifiers for the top ten shoot-out.