Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lady luck keeps taking sides with ROS. He is on pole by a huge margin and his main competitors, VET and HAM will start several places behind him. VET was second fastest but will drop 5 grid positions for a gearbox replacement and HAM was hit again by a MGU-H problem - exactly the same as in Shanghai- he didn’t post a time in Q3 and will line up 10th. It was another opportunity lost for RAI to take a spot in the front row as he made  mistakes in his last flyer leaving the door open for countryman BOT in the very fast Williams. Only 2 tenths separate the next 3 drivers: MAS, RIC and the surprising PER, with KVY and VER closing the top 10.

In CFA results we were pretty much divided between the Benz drivers for the pole, but only Lorenzo, Ricardo and Uwe predicted VET taking second to score 2 points. The remaining balance for the rest of us is better to forget: nine with 1 point, eleven with zero, as in nada.

The grid for tomorrow:

ROS BOT  RAI MAS  RIC PER  VET KVY  VER HAM

Now that we have a race in which the drivers don’t have to worry about tyre wear, the restriction they face to drive the 53 laps flat-out is fuel consumption. At 1.9 liter of gas burned per lap they will have to be careful with their right foot. Strategy-wise there is just one way to go: one stop to switch to yellow/soft after the red/super-soft runs out of grip, that is the only alternative for the top 10 guys. Last year ROS did 52 laps in one set, so depending in track temperature the front runners will try to stay on the red compound as long as possible, unless temperatures rise and the yellow/soft gets in its operating range as an early option.

Passing is a problem around this Mickey Mouse layout and with no alternative pit stop strategies the start could well define the outcome tomorrow. This GP points out to be one of those with a very exciting start and final laps, and a very boring traffic jam in the middle. Let’s see.

Very tough forecast, just the way we like it, no?

Cato - ROS RAI VET BOT HAM RIC

Have a good race!