Expected rain makes qualifying a challenge

Overnight showers look set to continue all day, and this almost certainly means a more difficult challenge in the new knockout qualifying format.

"I think the showers are in for afternoon, so the track is certainly going to go through different stages," said Williams driver Mark Webber.

"It is going to be difficult to judge when to get your time in, but at least qualifying is not like with the old system, when you had an allocated slot. You are still going to be in the lap of the Gods though."

Honda Racing technical director Geoff Willis believes that the limited time in each knockout session in qualifying would put more onus on the drivers to perform and get their tyre choice right.

"The weather is going to make things quite difficult," said Willis. "If it is a fully wet session, then there is the risk of someone throwing it off, especially in the first session, so drivers are going to need to get out there and do the laps.

"But you are going to need to balance out getting the lap in and not using up too much engine mileage.

"There is definitely a bigger risk of making a mistake than there will be in the dry, and I think the drivers are going to have a bigger say on things.

"They are going to have to put the laps in and choose the right moment to go on to dry tyres. It is going to be quite busy."