While his mood was subdued - to put it mildly - we have no doubt that having secured pole position, his first since Canada 2010, deep down Lewis Hamilton was punching the air in delight and whooping with joy… the sort of understandable jubilation one Pitpass forum user describes as "vulgar triumphalism" when executed by Sebastian Vettel.

For the last few months Hamilton has been living a nightmare, and while some of it was of his own doing, much of it wasn't. The eagerness with which some sections of the media have anticipated, almost encouraged, each new sorry twist has been sickening. However, this is what the media does, especially in the UK, build you up then tear you down.

There can be very few of us who have not felt as though everything we did was wrong, that every little mistake appeared to be magnified a thousand times over. How Lewis kept his cool yesterday, having finally laid some of the demons to rest, is a mystery and should be a lesson to us all.

Whether he can convert his superbly taken pole into a win remains to be seen, but no doubt he remains fully fired up and aims to see his critics eat some large dollops of humble pie today and in the weeks, months and years ahead.

However, a number of people, while happy to see the youngster rediscover his mojo, will be keen to spoil the party, not least Sebastian Vettel and Lewis' teammate, Jenson Button. Both are looking very good here, while there was something ominous about the way in which the German said today's race will be different, reminding us about the extra set of tyres at his disposal. And let's not forget what happened at Suzuka seven days ago, when the German moved across the track forcing Button on to the grass, surely the Englishman will be fully prepared for any such naughtiness today.

Behind these three we have Webber, the two Ferraris and Rosberg, and while the Australian's starts continue to disappoint it should be well worth watching Felipe trying to out-gun his Ferrari teammate once again. Worth noting also, in terms of this group, the one ahead and all those poor souls behind, that the run to the first corner is one of the shortest on the calendar.

It should also be worth watching the Force Indias again, especially in terms of the battle with Sauber and Toro Rosso for sixth in the Constructors' Championship, the Swiss outfit's tyre strategy possibly a key factor in today's race. Then again, having not posted a time in Q3, both Force India drivers are free to choose what tyres they start on.

Last year's race witnessed a number of retirements and accidents, not least the unforced error which ended Mark Webber's title hopes and Vettel's engine failure ten laps from the end.

Should today's race prove to be as demanding could we possibly witness Lotus or one of the other newbies score their first championship points or can Williams turn things to their advantage.

Although featureless and largely unchanged since last year's race - where are the hotels, the tourist hot spots - it's popular with the drivers. However, the empty grandstands - visible despite the best efforts of the broadcasters - have an ominous familiarity about them. Then again, with Bahrain still very much in doubt there is continued talk of Turkey returning to the calendar next season, another circuit popular with drivers and fans but unable to put (paying) bums on seats.

Tyre options are soft (prime) and supersoft (option) with Pirelli anticipating three possibly four stops. Indeed, there are claims that some drivers could be pitting within the first five laps. The DRS detection zone is half-way between Turns 1 and 2 and the activation zone around a third of the way down the long straight that follows.

It has been warm and bright all morning, however, as the pitlane opens the sky clouds over. There are conflicting reports from the teams, some claiming there will be no rain for the next couple of hours, others only willing to predict the next thirty minutes or so. Indeed, Ferrari reports that Meteo France, it's weather supplier, has "changed its mind" an is now predicting "a few drops" before the start. On cue, a few isolated drops duly begin to fall but nothing serious.

As the field heads off on the warm up lap the air temperature is 24 degrees, while the track temperature is also 24 degrees. As well as having clouded over, there is a strong head wind on the back straight, the straight that forms the DRS zone.

Of the leading ten only Sutil is on the prime tyre, Force India clearly splitting its strategy. Kobayashi, Senna, Maldonado, Perez, Glock, d'Ambrosio, Liuzzi and Ricciardo are also on the primes. Webber is warned that there could be a "few drops of rain at (turn) 13".