With the weather conditions looking so uncertain, tyre strategy becomes all the more important. This impacts not only on the choice of tyres – which compounds to use and when – but also an accurate assessment of the crossover points: in other words when it becomes quicker to change over from a wet to a dry tyre and vice versa. With all the free practice sessions up to now having been held in the dry, the teams will have to analyse whatever information they gain extremely quickly in order to succeed. We expect around a second per lap difference between the hard and the medium compound here, but for now nobody knows how much of a chance the teams will have to use them during the race. As well as ensuring the best possible start to the race, qualifying was also a valuable chance for the teams to gather information about tyre behaviour in variable conditions. This is data that could be crucial not only for the outcome of the race, but the whole championship. We saw lots of different strategies in qualifying today, with the teams having to balance their immediate needs against conserving the tyres that they feel will be most useful. With the two title protagonists four places apart in fourth and eighth, it’d hard to make any predictions. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and McLaren for pole position and the front row of the grid.