With an hour to go before the start of the 2008 Malaysia Grand Prix it is bright and sunny. However, we know from experience that the weather can change very quickly out here, and usually does.

As ever, fuel and tyre strategies have us all second-guessing, however, the other big question is will it rain?

First off though, in case you are not aware - which mean you haven't been checking Pitpass on a regular enough basis - Kovalainen and Hamilton have both been demoted five places on the grid having been adjudged to have impeded Heidfeld and Alonso on the their final qualifying laps yesterday.

The McLaren duo, having completed their final times were slowly coasting back to the pits, when they were clearly seen to be on the racing line at a time when the BMW and the Renault were on fast laps.

Watching the incident at the time, and several times since, we were reminded of Zolder 1982, and the horrific accident in which Gilles Villeneuve, on a flying lap, collided with Jochen Mass, who was cruising back to the pits in similar style to the two McLarens yesterday.

We are not pointing the finger at either of the McLaren drivers, but we do feel the qualifying rules in order that incidents such as this do not happen. On the same theme, we are concerned that the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), which was extremely vocal over the Melbourne weekend, especially over Lewis Hamilton's failure to join, has remained quiet over this incident. May we respectfully remind the GPDA and Max Mosley that drivers aren't only vulnerable during races, over the years we have seen accidents, some of them fatal, in testing, practice and qualifying.

OK, so ignoring the weather, let's look at the form book for today's race.

The Ferraris look good, but we mustn't forget the reliability issues in Melbourne. Of the two, it is thought that Massa is running lighter, which will favour Raikkonen. Then again, Massa, who here last year, has been looking sharp for most of the weekend, especially after his Melbourne disaster.

The McLarens have been moved back to eighth and ninth, but only an idiot would rule them out. That said, Hamilton hasn't been looking consistently confident this weekend, which leads us to believe that Kovalainen could be the man to watch here.

BMW is getting on with it with typical German efficiency, and if anyone can take advantage of the McLaren duo's punishment it is the ever-improving Munich team. Heidfeld and Kubica both look sharp, however, we still have doubts as to some of the German outfit's strategic decisions.

No offence to Jarno Trulli or Toyota, but when we see the Italian on the grid - even with McLaren's demotion, the word 'fluke' comes to mind. Yes, the Cologne based outfit is showing signs of improvement, but we know from experience that Jarno can often pull these one-off banzai laps out of the hat. We also know that whenever he qualifies so far up the front of the grid he usually become a mobile chicane for the remainder of the afternoon, at least until the first round of pit stops.

While we don't expect Alonso to be challenging for a win, we do think Renault could get both cars into the points, especially since Piquet appears to have put his Melbourne performance behind him.