Ahead of today’s practice session the air temperature is 18 degrees C, while the track temperature is 21 degrees. It is fairly bright but there are some worrying clouds in the distance. There is also a strong breeze.

Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari 1-2 in yesterday’s opening session, which was largely compromised by the mixed conditions, while Sebastian Vettel was quickest in the afternoon.

Clearly, Red Bull and Ferrari have the edge at this stage, with Lotus slightly ahead of Mercedes.

It’s raft of updates not having brought the results expected, McLaren has shipped over a couple of new wings overnight from its Surrey HQ, both drivers over 1.49s off the pace yesterday.

However, the big talking point is the tyre failure that Paul di Resta suffered in FP2, shades of the failures suffered by a number of drivers, most notably Lewis Hamilton, in Bahrain. As the drivers voice their concern, Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery has promised a though investigation. Initial report suggests debris on the track.

Talking of tyres, compounds this weekend are hard and medium together with a set of prototype hard tyres.

There are two DRS zones, the first one the main pit straight and the second on the back straight linking Turns 9 and 10.

Di Resta is first out, followed by Ricciardo, Gutierrez, Bianchi, Grosjean and a whole heap of others. Within moments there are 16 drivers on track, among them local hero Alonso who waves to his adoring fans.

Vettel’s car is smothered in flo-vis, Red Bull seeking to extract every last drop of information from every run.

Hamilton is the first drivers to post a time (28.350) with teammate Rosberg posting 29.468. Shortly after, Pic crosses the line at 25.635.

As the Mercedes duo continue their runs, Hamilton is told to consider managing traction at the exit of T10. Shortly after the Englishman locks-up heavily.

As Gutierrez goes quickest (25.013), Vettel goes quickest in S2 and again in S3, crossing the line at 23.920. Countryman Hulkenberg goes second (24.974).

With only 8 names on the timesheets, Raikkonen goes quickest in the first two sectors, the Lotus driver eventually crossing the line at 23.152. In the McLaren garage, Button and Perez are in deep conversation with their engineers.

Grosjean makes it a Lotus 1-2 with a 23.042, as the TV cameras pick up on the fact that both drivers are running very, very low to the ground causing lots of sparks. Unseen, Webber goes fourth (23.472).