Having topped the timesheets in all three practice sessions the smart money has to be on Lewis Hamilton to take pole position this afternoon. Whilst he suffered a hydraulic leak in FP2 the car looked good enough earlier today as he posted a best time 0.883s quicker than anyone else, including his Mercedes teammate.
Nico Rosberg, who was only marginally slower than Lewis yesterday was hampered by a brake issue this morning, prompting fears that the German team's reliability woes are far from sorted.
Once again, Williams appears to be the biggest 'threat', Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finishing third and fourth, just ahead of the very determined Fernando Alonso. However, will all of them at least a second off Hamilton's pace the Briton doesn't appear to have too much to worry about. That said, having had his own brake issue yesterday, one never knows.
With Sebastian Vettel scheduled to make a token appearance in F1, mainly for the benefit of the fans in the stands, the German doomed to start from the pitlane anyway after his team opted to change his entire power unit, Red Bull's hopes appear to rest firmly on the shoulders of Daniel Ricciardo.
Despite the support of thousands of countrymen who made the trip here, thus far Sergio Perez has been out-shone by his German teammate (Nico Hulkenberg), whilst a strong performance from Adrian Sutil (8th) put Esteban Gutierrez firmly in the shade.
McLaren was strong in the opening session but has struggled ever since, the silver cars not working with the option rubber. To add insult to injury, Jenson Button has incurred a five-place grid penalty after the team opted to change his gearbox.
Lotus is looking a little better here than in previous races, whilst, certainly this morning, the Toro Rossos have been uncharacteristically off the pace. Ahead of the session the Faenza crew has changed the engines on both cars, while Vergne has reverted to an old engine, hence no penalty, Kvyat takes a 10-place hit after using his seventh ICE of the year.
Due to the absence of Caterham and Marussia, the format today has been changed, with four cars being eliminated at the end of Q1 and another at the end of Q2. There is talk of a big name or two missing the cut in Q1, especially without the 'safety net' provided by Caterham and Marussia.
There are two DRS zones this weekend. The detection point of the first is 150 metres after Turn 10, with the activation point 320m after Turn 11, while the second zone's detection point is 65m after Turn 18, with the activation point 80m after Turn 20, on the start/finish straight.
Ahead of Q1, the air temperature is 16 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 32 degrees.
The lights go green and Perez leads the way followed by Hulkenberg, Gutierrez, Kvyat Magnussen and Rosberg.
It is only Saturday, but most of the stands are worryingly devoid of spectators.
Perez posts a 39.804 with Rosberg eclipsing it with a 38.848 moments later. The Mexican is already on options, as are Gutierrez, Sutil, Maldonado and Grosjean.
A 38.795 sees Hamilton go straight to the top of the sheets, albeit just 0.053s ahead of his teammate. Moments later Bottas splits the Mercedes duo with a 38.811.
On his first flying lap, Alonso goes fifth, behind Massa, as the camera cuts to Pamela Anderson in the Red Bull garage.
In the Mercedes garage... two genuine legends, Mario Andretti and Niki Lauda are seen chatting.
See what we did there?
Vettel heads down the pitlane on a set of options, he and his teammate the only drivers still to post a time.
A 38.599 sees Rosberg go quickest as Maldonado (softs) goes quickest in S1. Hamilton complains that he's flat-spotted his tyres.
Maldonado goes fourth (38.819) as Vettel goes tenth with a 39.621.
Rosberg is quickest in the first two sectors, finally crossing the line at 38.303 to consolidate his top spot.
Of the top five - Rosberg, Hamilton, Bottas, Maldonado and Massa - only the Lotus driver posted his time of options.
Ricciardo (options) goes fifth with a 38.969 only to be demoted when Raikkonen (options) posts 38.909.
Hamilton is back on track, now on options, leaving Rosberg the only driver yet to run the softer rubber.
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