Whatever the this afternoon might produce in terms of excitement, the event will be overshadowed by yesterday's incident involving Felipe Massa, itself coming one week after the F2 accident at Brands Hatch in which Henry Surtees perished.

While we moan about circuits such as the Hungaroring and the tedium of some of the races, we must never lose sight of the fact that motor racing is - and always will be - dangerous, just as it says on the ticket.

In addition to Felipe making a full recovery, we can only hope that the sport learns from these wake up calls, much like it did in the wake of Imola 1994.

As for today's race, well, after the confusion if yesterday afternoon, when nobody appeared to have a clue who was where on the grid courtesy of the failure of the timing systems, we now know that it was Fernando Alonso who posted the quickest time, albeit on fumes.

In terms of fuel loads there is little to pick and choose with the other drivers at the front of the grid, Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Kovalainen and Raikkonen all covered by 5kg.

Hamilton, in particular, is sure to make full use of his KERS at the start of the race, though he will be hoping that there isn't a repeat of what happened in Germany, however, keep an eye out for Kovalainen also who has been looking good all weekend.

While we don't expect the McLaren drivers to be standing atop the podium this afternoon we do expect them to leave here with a decent amount of points, such is the progress the Woking team has made.

Red Bull have to be favourites today, and while Webber has had the edge for much of the weekend, Vettel looked pretty impressive in qualifying. Therefore, we have a feeling that the Austrian outfit will be heading off on its summer hols with another 18 points in the bag later today.

Fumes or no fumes, Fernando Alonso has looked sharp this weekend, and therefore we expect to see him add to his tally, as we do Rosberg, and maybe even Raikkonen, if he can take his mind off the 1000 Lakes Rally and WRC.

We haven't mentioned Brawn because we feel that the Brackley outfit is losing touch with Red Bull, and possibly McLaren, largely the result of the fact that the coffers are empty. Button hasn't looked confident this weekend, while Barrichello is sure to have part of his attention focussed on his fellow-Brazilian, Felipe Massa.

That said, much will depend on what happens at the first corner, if Hamilton, or Kovalainen, can get ahead of the Red Bulls it could well play into Button's hands, providing he too can make a great start, for as we know from experience here whoever is in front has the upper hand.

As ever, tyre management will be key, and therefore, bearing in mind what we've seen over the weekend thus far, don't entirely rule out Alonso, who, unlike the rest of the guys at the front is going for a three stop strategy.

As for the rest, one should never rule out Toyota from taking a point or two, even though Glock has appeared to go off the boil in the last couple of races. Also, now that Toro Rosso has its upgrades, so keep an eye on Sebastien Buemi and new boy Alguersuari, who would dearly love to prove the sceptics wrong and finish his debut Grand Prix.