Is this such a bad day for Button? Looking at the grid positions and qualifying weights, are the KERS cars the not goiing to throw a spanner in the works? Given the drag down to Turn 1 it would not be a surprise to see the Maclarens and Ferrari’s nicking a few places and forcing the Red Bulls back towards Button, and don’t we have to consider Alonso’s fuel load?. Am I just being overly optimistic? Also, are the Renaults running KERS?

James – you mentioned about McLaren going super-aggressive. What about Williams? I know they aren’t as risky as Renault or McLaren when it comes to strategy, but fuelling Rosberg and Nakajima light so they take the front row would surely have been better than Rosberg starting 5th and quite possibly behind all 3 KERS cars into the first corner

Quite the contrary James! Eddie Jordan drove in with Alonso who, on the way to the track, apparently told EJ that he would get pole today.

Any word on why it’s taking so long to publish the car weights? Obviously, it looks like Alonso is running very light.

Great run by Hamilton to get 4th. He’s not all that far off of the Red Bulls, and by his admission, he didn’t get a good lap in Q3. There was one lap in which he was up by 3 tenths through S1 on Webber’s original top time (21.85), but the car got away from him in Turn 4 and he lost a good second or more. If not for that, he may have beaten even Alonso’s lap.

In any event, the Macca looks like it’s close to competing for the front row and wins. I would say it’s clearly at least the 3rd best car on the grid now, perhaps even ahead of Brawn given that they’ve been faster than Brawn the whole weekend. This is obviously a great effort from the team to make such a big step in performance from where the car was as recently as Silverstone.

But it also does some great things for Hamilton’s reputation as a driver, IMO. For one, he’s stuck with it despite facing tons of adversity this year (Liegate, a dog of a car, etc.). But secondly, Macca has had to rely on the feedback of its race drivers, as they have been unable to utilize DLR (arguably the best development driver on the grid) in tests. Clearly, the feedback that Hamilton is giving the team has pointed them in the right direction development-wise, so this is a sign he’s rounding himself as a driver with improved technical ability.

Now if he would quit throwing away great chances at points in an underpeforming car with stupid mental blunders- like trying to win poles in Q1 or grands prix in the first corner- he would really cement himself as an unquestionably top driver like Alonso has. Once he takes that step, he’s going to be really outstanding.

Next year could be really, really, really fun to watch if we get Hamilton in an improved McLaren, Alonso in an improved Ferrari, and Vettel in presumably another supreme Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull. We haven’t had a legitimate 3-way team battle for the championship in a long time. On top of that, Button could be a factor again if Brawn can find some money, and we could finally see some activity from BMW if they could ever get their act together.

Secondly, I know many are talking that this may be Piquet Jr’s last race for Renault, but will Alonso’s pole and Jr’s 15th place be the final nail?
Should Jr find himself out of a drive, is there any rumour of any of the new teams looking at him for next season?

Looks like Brawn have got a lot of work to do. After so many promises they have failed to deliver. You would have thought that the introduction of a massive upgrade and the warmer temperatures of hungry.

Quote of the day goes to JB. Nothing better than some colourful language broadcasted live on TV on a Saturday afternoon…

Hope Felippe is ok. Can Gene, say, start from the back if Felippe is unfit to drive?

F1 racing’s recent helmet feature certainly helped put my mind at ease a little as we waited for news of Massa. Only a few years ago there would have been a significantly higher chance of lethal consequences.

Brawn have got to be ‘slightly’ worried now.