If Lewis Hamilton was surprised to take pole position yesterday, spare a thought for Sebastian Vettel. At the post-qualifying weigh-in, the German stared at the timesheets as though expecting someone to shout out “April fool in July!”

Having set the pace for much of the weekend, the world champion was odds-on to take pole, yet it was not to be.

As for Lewis, it’s been a peculiar weekend, the F1 side of the Englishman’s life as much of a rollercoaster as his personal life – if we are to believe the tabloids.

On Friday he as good as threw in the towel, proclaiming that the revised tyres had ended his, and his team’s season, while on Saturday afternoon it appeared the title fight was back on.

Although we’ve been proven wrong a couple of times of late, one cannot help but feel that the Mercedes duo is in for a frustrating afternoon, and that yesterday afternoon was merely a false start as the German team pretty much heads back to square one in terms of its tyre management, especially at the rear of the car.

Of course, Red Bull’s hopes took a knock not only with Vettel losing out on pole but also the KERS problem which left Mark Webber unable to post a time and therefore starting from the fifth row.

Romain Grosjean suffered a late scare last night when his car failed post-qualifying scrutineering however, the stewards eventually gave the Frenchman the benefit of the doubt and consequently he’s on course to score another podium finish if not his maiden win.

Strangely, Kimi Raikkonen has suffered here, though one suspects that he’ll come alive this afternoon when the chips are really down. Indeed, one cannot help but feel that the Finn has a lot more in reserve and that some of his struggles yesterday were more about making a statement. Either way, the Lotus duo will be very strong in these super-hot conditions.

Ferrari needs a strong result here not only to prevent the order going out that attention should switch to 2014 but also because another poor season will surely lead to calls for a management shake-up.

Rounding out the top ten, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez both did well to make it into Q3, the Mexican looking to turn tyre strategy to his advantage, what with him being the leading driver to start on the (more durable) medium (prime) rubber.

The battle behind the leading ten should be fun to watch with Sutil, Hulkenberg, Button and Vergne all under pressure from a Williams duo keen to secure the first points of 2013, while di Resta, starting from eighteenth, will be gagging at the bit.