Based on yesterday's qualifying session the FIA's attempts to halt the Red Bull/Sebastian Vettel steamroller has fallen at the first hurdle, what with the German and his teammate locking out the front row for the third time this year.

However, there is always this afternoon, when we shall see if the inability to change engine mapping between qualifying and the race has any impact of the Austrian team (and its rivals) failing which we will have to wait until Silverstone when the full ban on off-throttle use of blown diffusers comes into effect.

Based on yesterday's evidence - and with absolutely no chance of the weather gods having any say on the outcome - Vettel looks likely to make it win number six today, though Mark Webber might have other ideas.

One person who will be desperately hoping that Charlie Whiting has worked his magic will be Lewis Hamilton who has admitted that he needs to finish today. After his recent outings, particularly in Monaco and Montreal, the McLaren driver will be under close scrutiny.

Fernando Alonso has admitted that while Ferrari is making progress it remains several months behind Red Bull, not exactly what the fans in the stands will want to hear nor the powers that be back in Maranello and Turin. Nonetheless, both the Spaniard and his teammate Felipe Massa have looked thus far this weekend and should therefore be able to add another pile of points to the pot this afternoon.

Unless he gets in a mighty start, Jenson Button looks to be in for a long afternoon, what with the Ferraris ahead of him and the Mercedes behind.

Talking of Mercedes the car is clearly improving but there's still a long way to go. On the other hand, it's good to see Michael Schumacher raise his game in the last couple of weekends while Nico Rosberg remains a joy to watch.

Nick Heidfeld has come in for a certain amount of criticism in recent week though we're not sure why. While the Renault is a good car there are times when it flatters to deceive. In the great scheme of things it is exactly where it belongs, behind the front runners and ahead of the main midfield pack, trading blows with Mercedes. Providing Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov keep out of trouble this afternoon the status quo should be maintained.

No disrespect to Adrian Sutil but the German benefited from Paul di Resta's lack of running yesterday, out-qualifying the Scottish rookie for only the second time this year. Having failed to post a time in Q3, like Heidfeld, it will be interesting to see how Sutil uses his free choice, in terms of tyres, to his benefit.

Behind these it will be interesting to watch the Sauber/Williams battle, Kobayashi sure to have all those around him feeling extremely twitchy at the start of today's race and no doubt for the next 57 laps.