Normally, ahead of today's German Grand Prix, halfway point in the 'busiest' season in the history of the sport, we'd be concerned with the weather, the track condition or the possibility of Bernie Ecclestone assisting the local constabulary with its enquiries into the Gribkowsky saga, or Bribegate as we like to call it.

However, while there is concern that the weather gods might play games with us this afternoon, that the track has returned to its 'green' state and that Berni is being fitted up for a grey suit with arrows all over it, it is actually Red Bull that is dominating the headlines.

Earlier this morning, the stewards, who include former F1 star and SportsCar World Champion, Derek Warwick, announced that Red Bull were under investigation.

In short, the Austrian team has been accused of playing about with its engine mapping, and should it be found guilty could be forced to start from the back of the grid, the pitlane or even excluded from the race. You can bet that Christian Horner's feet have been tapping away bit time this morning.

Normally only to willing to speak to the media, for once Horner is extremely reticent, along with Adrian Newey avoiding reporters and their questions as if caught sneaking out the back door of a Chelsea basement.

Putting the legal issue aside for now, and ignoring the Red Bull duo - never easy at the best of times - the improved weather conditions will have raised the spirits in a number of garages this morning.

Following the numerous penalties already meted out, the starting grid looks quite different to the timesheets at the end of Q3 yesterday, especially for Nico Rosberg who finds himself starting from 21st on the grid. While one feels for the German in his home Grand Prix, one also wonders how Sebastian Vettel must be feeling as the stewards ponder their decision.

With the weather having played havoc on Friday and Saturday, most teams have little to go on in terms of tyres. Though they have run both tyre options they will not have done the sort of mileage they desired and in the sort of varying conditions they like. Indeed, during final practice on Saturday morning Mercedes was one of the few teams to run on full tanks, thereby gaining valuable tyre data for the German team.

The improved conditions will probably suit the McLaren, Jenson button having looked good in the early stages of Friday's session, while Lewis Hamilton dearly wants to celebrate his one hundredth Grand Prix in style.

Providing he can stay out of trouble, Pastor Maldonado should be worth a good handful of points, he like teammate Bruno Senna having looked good for much of the weekend.

Same goes for the Force India duo, which, though like its rivals has little all round data to go on, is looking good here.

Having taken his second successive pole, Fernando Alonso must go into today's race as red hot favourite, whatever happens to the Red Bulls, though the Spaniard would likely fancy his chances even more so should the Milton Keynes outfit's cars find themselves demoted to the back of the grid.

To clarify, as we await information to the contrary from the FIA, the starting grid is as follows:

Alonso, Vettel, Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Maldonado, Button, Hamilton, Webber, di Resta, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Kobayashi, Massa, Senna, Vergne, Kovalainen, Perez, Petrov, Grosjean, Pic, Rosberg, Glock, de la Rosa and Karthikeyan.

Which, even without any penalties for the Red Bulls, offers up all manner of possibilities.

Although the grid positions are not as important here as at some circuits, the inviting nature of Turn 1, and its history, dictates that one would rather be at the very back or very front than packed into the midfield. Also, it's worth noting that Charlie Whiting has repeatedly warned that he will be paying attention to drivers who run wide in Turn 1, using the run off as 'extra' track, much as they do at La Source in Spa.

Tyre options are medium (prime) and soft (option), and with the leading ten all qualifying on wets they will have the choice as to which compound they start the race on. That said, with so little useful data available it will be a tough choice.

The DRA zone is on the back straight that dissects the old circuit. We should see some fun and games there today, certainly if Hamilton has anything to do with it. "The great thing at Hockenheim is the great big DRS zone along the back straight ," said the Englishman last night. "Hopefully Jenson and I will be doing lots of overtaking there tomorrow!"