The good news was that the humidity level was relatively low at just under 80%. Air pressure, the Met Office reported, was exactly where it should have been: it's sea level so it's one bar.
But a wind of 2 metres per second, which translates to 7.5kph is worrying: the "concrete canyon" effect of the barriers, tunnel and buildings may result in that wind funnelling and causing unwanted and unpredictable handling.
The temperature 30C (air) and 29C (track). This is the usual way around for Europe but it's upside down for races in hot, especially tropical countries.
This means tyre choice will be even more critical. There is no doubt that soft-tyres will give better grip but even Bridgestone appears to be uncomfortable with the likely life of the softer of the two compounds, saying yesterday that they have a tendency to grain on the rear, in particular.
That is probably indicative of the fish-tailing referred to in our qualifying report which creates more lateral wear than is suffered when cars corner more normally.
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Race Report
There are some who might think that today's race was unexciting: and they have a point. If they don't like wheel to wheel racing, if they don't see technical problems developing and they can't work out how pit stops slot into the overall times that cars run.
The most surprising aspect of the race was that the tight qualifying times did not translate to similar times on the road: at one point, some back markers were running some four seconds slower than the front runners. As various factor shook up the back of the field, some quick cars were bottled up behind slower cars. Eventually, blocked for so many laps that his car was overheating, Sutil hit the back of Alguiersari, spun into the path of Heidfeld. Although he made it back to the pits, Sutil was retired, Heidfeld, three wheels on his car drove away from the crash site but was obviously going no further.
Webber had an interesting day: on the opening lap at Turn 7 he was on the outside of Alonso who drifted wide. Webber kept his foot in and went alongside the Spaniard. Webber had all four wheels off the track: it looked as if Alonso did, too. Webber, however, was instructed to give the place back. Unfortunately, Glock was tucked in behind Alonso - and so dropping back cost Webber two places.
Grosjean, who in qualifying complained that his brakes were not working but had been dismissed by the team, was called in with just four laps gone whilst running last. Bitterly, he complained that the team could not find the fault which was afflicting his car only.
Rosberg's day was ruined by the narrow, tight and slippery exit from the pits: he overcooked it and ran wide over the kerb. Although he pulled it back behind the white line long before the end of the pit lane, the line is sacrosanct for safety reasons and he was awarded a drive-through. That would have been bad enough - except that the incident was right before the Sutil accident and so he had to serve it as the cars were bunched up after the safety car session that resulted.
Sutil's retirement removed what could have been a good day at the office: for much of the race, Liuzzi in the sister Force India sat firmly on the tail of Fisichella, the man who left Force India to take the second seat at Ferrari - and who is now looking increasingly like a temp. as Massa has said he wants to try to make it back into his seat for the last race of the season at Abu Dhabi. But there should not be any criticism of Fisi: his vastly more experienced (in the difficult Ferrari) team mate Raikkonen was only three places ahead of him.
But the real drama of the race was unfolding behind the front wheels. Webber's right front brake developed problems. Despite a quick service in the pits, the brake soon let go, spitting him into one of the few soft padded areas around the track. Despite that, as he walked down the pit lane a few minutes later, he was clearly holding himself awkwardly, although no word has been issued on injuries.
But two laps later, both the Torro Rosso cars were withdrawn over fears for their brakes. Vettel , however, with the prospect of some points, stayed out, but did his best to protect his brakes.
Button, informed of Vettel's brake problems, pushed on as quickly he could. But then his team warned Button that his brakes were also overheating and told him to hold station and nurse the car.
Rubens' team told him to protect his position and look after his brakes, too.
Pit: Look after the car. Jenson has issues with his brakes.
Rubens: Can I catch him?
An almost exasperated pit message was that Jenson was ten seconds ahead and running at the same speed and there were concerns over the brakes on both cars. Rubens did what any good racing driver would do: put the hammer down, to finish 1.8 seconds behind Jenson.
With Vettel finishing fourth, the top three were Alonso, Glock and Hamilton.
And it's because of these latter three that one must have some sympathy with anyone who thought the race was a bit boring. The reason for this is simple: all three were millimetre perfect, on but not over the kerbs, close to but not touching the walls, fast but not so fast that their cars broke or slid around too much.
Alonso is a machine : we have often mentioned his ability to place a car in exactly the same place for lap after lap. And, once more, he did so. Having bashed the kerbs through qualifying, Hamilton stayed on the black stuff for the whole race. And, to be frank, Glock arrived in second, just ten seconds behind Hamilton, by being the invisible man. He did absolutely nothing to draw attention to himself for the whole race. And that's the mark of a real racing driver in the Jackie Stewart mould: drivers should win races at the slowest speed possible, he once, famously, said.
That isn't boring: it's masterful performance. And to be able to wonder at the skill of these these three is a privilege. In fact, trying to think back to someone who had the same kind of car control, who looked boring while making outstanding performances, I've had to think back to Ronnie Peterson. In the dry, Peterson was an oversteer specialist and late braking demon. But when he had a comfortable position, or in the wet, he was simply the smoothest of drivers. Alonso is nowhere near so smooth - but he does have the precision of a metronome. Hamilton has the ability to be smooth, but more often than not chooses not to be. And Glock, he's a mystery. He never seemed to be trying today, demonstrating that, given a car with pace and grip, he can make the Toyota sing and do it with stealth.
Alguersuari, however, was anything but invisible: he faces disciplinary proceedings for a pit lane incident where he shot off when the jacks were let down, without waiting for the lollipop: the fuel hose was still attached and pulled the fuel mechanic down, pinning him under the heavy piping.
And Sutil faces a stewards inquiry into his crash with Heidfeld. At first sight, it did appear as if he was trying to spin the car around regardless of traffic, but on a closer look it appears that he was simply trying to prevent a stall and not making significant - if any - movement into the course of the oncoming cars. The result of both of those will be known later.
Vettel was punished with a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane - which compounded a difficult day: as he came out of the pits on cold tyres, he ran over a kerb, ripping part of the rear-diffuser off his car. But as the only Red Bull / Torro Rosso to finish, and finishing fourth, he hasn't too much to complain about: except that the drive-through cost him approx 20 seconds: an he was less than that behind Hamilton at the end.
One safety car incident lasted for five laps. Had it been longer, the race would have been in grave danger of reaching its limit of two hours, running as it did for a little over 1 hour 52 minutes.
And for those that though it wasn't interesting enough: how many realised that it lasted almost half-an-hour longer than many races on the calendar?
With just three races left this season, Button has slightly extended his lead over his team-mate but Vettel took points out of both of them. Whilst Vettel has some chance of catching Rubens, his prospects of beating Jenson are mathematical rather than realistic.
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