[NeilP]

A little nearer the time so the forecast for the race weekend:

Early weather forecasts for this weekend indicated that following a dry Austrian Grand Prix, F1 teams could expect quite a lot of a rain over the next three days. Those forecasts have been revised somewhat, but rain could still play a role in shaping how the Styrian Grand Prix unfolds.

Friday’s weather conditions are likely to be highly unrepresentative of what is to follow. Interestingly two teams – Williams and Alfa Romeo – have already indicated they will use the opportunity to run test drivers in their cars.

The two 90-minute practice sessions should see very warm conditions, comparable to Sunday’s race, with air temperatures nudging close to 30C.

This will change dramatically on Saturday when heavy cloud cover is expected at the track and much cooler air. The risk of rain is very high, though not quite the near-certainty early forecasts indicated. Final practice may dodge the rainfall, but as things stand there is a strong possibility qualifying will be wet.

Sunday is expected to remain dry and will clear up as the day goes on. However temperatures will remain much the same as Saturday, and considerably cooler than Friday, potentially not even reaching as high as 20C.

Hopefully we will see more cars finish the race.