Of course we never got to see what Vettel would have done on his second run because Barrichello hit the wall and the session was stopped prematurely.

With all the intricate detail recently about how Renault fixed the result of last year’s race, the subject of safety cars is right at the front of everyone’s minds. We’ve had three accidents so far which have brought out the red flag and if they happened in the race, they would no doubt bring out a safety car. The big unknown is when?

Interestingly right at the back of the grid Tonio Liuzzi is hoping that lightening will strike twice and there will be an early accident – even when it isn’t premeditated -and he has followed what Alonso did last year with an early pit stop, on lap 17. I can’t really see the advantage of that as even if there is a safety car immediately after his stop, he still has plenty of cars in front of him who will be staying out for another ten laps or so, which means that they will be unlikely to pit under the safety car.

At the front everyone has tried to strike a balance between being aggressive for a good grid slot and at the same time having some spare capacity in case of an early safety car. It’s interesting that the teams are much closer together on strategy than they normally are.

Hamilton will go the longest of the front group, but I like the look of Rosberg this weekend. He finished second here last year and the Williams seems to be very fast. Strategy wise he is at a disadvantage to Hamilton, who will be able to look how much fuel his rivals go for and tailor his middle stint length accordingly, but I think Rosberg might fight him for the win and looking at Vettel’s long run pace I think he will too.

It’s Hamilton’s race to lose, but you never know on a street circuit…

Car Weight First stop

1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 660.5 Lap 19
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 651.0 Lap 15/16
3. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 657.5 Lap 18
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 654.5 Lap 16/17
5. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 655.5 Lap 17
6. Alonso Renault 658.0 Lap 18
7. Glock Toyota 660.5 Lap 19
8. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 650.0 Lap 14/15
9. Kubica BMW-Sauber 664.0 Lap 22
10. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 664.5 Lap 22
11. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 680.7 Lap 27
12. Button Brawn-Mercedes 683.0 Lap 28/29
13. Raikkonen Ferrari 680.5 Lap 27
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 678.0 Lap 26
15. Trulli Toyota 690.9 Lap 30
16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 693.0 Lap 31
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 683.5 Lap 28
18. Fisichella Ferrari 678.5 Lap 25/26
19. Grosjean Renault 683.0 Lap 28/29
20. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 656.0 Lap 17

It is alleged that the team conspired with its number two driver Nelson Piquet, to crash his car at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix to help its lead driver Fernando Alonso, win.

It is a very serious charge and one which carries a range of punishments from fines to exclusion from the world championship. McLaren faced a similar charge over the Ferrari spy allegations and was fined a record $100 million.

The way this works is a bit like the Crown Prosecution service in the UK, which liaises with the police service to assess whether there is enough evidence to prosecute. The FIA has had an enquiry force looking into the Renault case for some time, I understand. This is not something which has been launched in the last few weeks.

To proceed in this way the FIA must feel that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute. To get a conviction, the evidence must add up to prove that the competitor has committed, “Any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally.” This is quite a wide definition, but the burden of proof is on the FIA’s side, not on Renault to prove that it is innocent.

‘New evidence’ came to light recently which seems to have hastened the move to hear the case in front of the world council. With Nelson Piquet being dropped from the team amid acrimonious circumstances, there is a suspicion that he may have acted as a “whistle-blower”. But no evidence of this has been made public so far.

Interestingly both candidates to replace Max Mosley as president of the FIA, advocate a total change to the disciplinary system and will not use the World Council for hearing cases like this in future. So it could be the last time that an extraordinary world council is called for this purpose.

There are some suggestions that, as part of its investigations, the FIA has been looking at other instances, involving Renault, but these were not mentioned in today’s statement.

With Ferrari on the verge of announcing Fernando Alonso as one of its drivers for 2010, either in Monza next week, or possibly at the end of the season, it will be very interesting to see what whether Alonso was a knowing participant – should the case be proven – and what would happen next.