Paddock expects wet Saturday

The hilly forest venue has often provided some testing conditions, and often it will rain on one part of the circuit but not on the other. Symonds explains that even the threat of any inclement weather means much more work for his team.

"Our five-day forecasts have predicted rain," said Symonds, "We always do basic preparations for wet running at every circuit, but the weather situation means we have spent longer than usual on it in the past week.

"When we run in the wet, we do not make too many changes to the car, because in actual fact there is very little we can do. Under the current parc fermé rules, you would need to be certain of rain throughout the race in order to make significant alterations to the car set-up, and history has shown that a continuously wet race only occurs about once every ten years.

"Instead, our main priority is to determine the crossover lap-times when we can change from an extreme weather tyre to a standard wet tyre and from a standard tyre to grooved tyres. These periods of transition are often where wet-dry races can be won or lost as lap-times improve very rapidly on a drying circuit."

Race driver Fernando Alonso added: "It is all about getting used to the grip levels. Working out how late we can brake, which kerbs we can touch and trying different lines to find the best way round the circuit. While you are doing that, you also need to be thinking about improving the balance, because small changes to the car can make a big difference to your lap time.

"And then, finally, there is the inconsistency of the conditions - something changes every second, and you need to be adapting all the time or correcting the car. As a driver, when you see a wet track, you know it means you will be under a lot of pressure."