Ladies and Gentlemen,

The most exciting QF session of the season. HAM came on top on the 2 Mercedes, but it was HUL in the Force India who surprised in 3rd ahead of VET, and the second biggest surprise was BUT in 5th in front of RAI. Rain arrived right at the start of Q3 for everyone to attempt qualifying in the intermediates, but the new surface dryed very quickly becoming faster and faster in the last moments of the session. It was a matter of timing to cross the line last to mark the best chrono. Manor driver Wehrlein deserves a special mention for his incredible performance in 12th place.

But the story of the day were the suspension-killer yellow kerbs. In order to go fast the cars must climb around the track boundaries outside the white line, but the combination of double kerbs -red and then the very high yellow ones- keeps causing accidents. Today’s victims included ROS that  after hitting the wall will need a gearbox replacement, PER that was out of Q2 when the rear suspension broke apparently from the kerb-induced vibrations, and then KVY that was violently sent out of the track when his Toro Rosso rear end collapsed on the very fast corner 8.

On CFA results this time we can blame HUL for our low marks, even though Fredrik remarkably picked the Force India driver in 3rd place! too bad he had the Benz boys in the reverse order.Seven of us collected 2 points from the HAM-ROS choice, and besides Fredrik single that’s all we got.

The grid for tomorrow - ROS and VET are serving 5 grid position penalties, and at the time of sending this, HUL is still under investigation for ignoring yellow flags in Q2 opening the possibility of BUT starting second!

HAM HUL BUT RAI RIC BOT ROS VER VET MAS

The key to the race will be tyre management, and right now the Ferraris have an Ace in their sleeve because they will start in super-softs. They outsmarted Mercedes and everybody else in Q2 sending both cars in the red-walled compound, by the time the Silver corner reacted it was too late and as the rules indicate, the tyre set used in the best Q2 lap will start the race. This move will possibly allow the Italians to make only one stop for the 71 laps, if they can stretch their super-soft until the fuel load decreases they could close the race in a new set of ultra-soft and make them last the distance. In contrast, the Mercedes cars are struggling to make the ultra-soft last more than a handful of laps, a situation that worsens under heavy fuel loads and higher temperatures. But the Germans are not the only ones in that predicament, most probably none of the top 10 starting in used purple ultras could make it in one stop with Red Bull the  most affected, as we saw in the last races the RB12 has a bad habit of destroying rear tyres. The ultras are about 0.7 secs faster than the super but they had shown a very irregular wear pattern and a propensity to ‘hit the cliff’ without warning. Drivers at the front of the grid trying to extend their opening stint on the purples are taking a huge risk.

This may not be the most racing-inducing circuit, but this starting grid certainly looks very intriguing, add the high possibility of intermittent showers and we have the perfect recipe for a super difficult forecast!

And here go again: Cato - HAM RAI ROS VET HUL BOT

Cheers