Ahead of today’s qualifying session the air temperature is 33 degrees C, while the track temperature is 49 degrees. It remains hot.

While Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets in both of yesterday’s sessions this morning it was Romain Grosjean who led the way, though we wouldn’t write off the Red Bull duo just yet.

While the biggest – perhaps only – threat to Red Bull was ever only likely to come from Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen has not looked convincing thus far this weekend. Yesterday we thought it was due to traffic however, this morning it was clear that he was actually struggling with his car.

No such problems for Grosjean however, who comes off the back of a strong result in Germany, while let’s not forget his performance here last year.

Naturally, Red Bull have to be favourites, and while Vettel gets all the headlines surely Mark Webber is due to open his 2013 win account.

Both Ferraris have been ‘up there’ this weekend, Fernando Alonso fully aware that he must keep his – and his team’s – hopes alive or frisk attention switching to the 2014 car. At the same time, Felipe Massa knows that if he is to remain in F1 next season he must raise his game.

Lewis Hamilton’s face tells the story of Mercedes, the German team still suffering with its tyre issues, a situation not helped by its exclusion from the Silverstone test.

On the other hand, McLaren appears to have taken a step forward following the introduction of the revised tyres, while Force India equally appears to have lost out.

Sauber continues to suffer, a situation not helped by an engine problem which saw Esteban Gutierrez miss this this morning’s session as the team fitted a new unit. Williams also has much work to do, the Grove outfit yet to open its 2013 point account.

Tyre options this weekend are medium (prime) and soft (option), although 1 to 1.5s quicker, drop-off with the option is rapid meaning that drivers will want to run the prime as much as possible tomorrow when we are expecting two, possibly three, stops.

There are two DRS zones – one on the main pit straight, the other from Turn 1 to Turn 2 – but just one detection point, at the entrance to Turn 14, the final corner.

Moments before the green light, McLaren admits that a huge amount of work has gone into Perez’ car following his off at the end of this morning’s session.

The lights go green and Gutierrez is straight out of the blocks, the Mexican needing to make up for this morning’s lack of running. He subsequently crosses the line at 1:23.998.