Those sentiments were echoed by the Woking-based outfit's team principal Ron Dennis, who is clearly keen to minimise the risk of anything untoward happening on race day given McLaren's 2007 experience – and, even more importantly still, given the 80 per cent chance of rain predicted for Sunday.

“We're comfortable with the outcome of today's qualifying session,” the 61-year-old underlined. “There may be rain tomorrow and, if there is, we may well see the deployment of the safety car. That being the case, it's possible that aggressive race strategies may be affected by those unpredictable variables.

“We've therefore opted for a race strategy that ought to allow us to protect against such interventions. Now, our focus is to avoid any trouble at the start, after which both our drivers should be in a position to put in strong, competitive performances.”

“With Lewis on the second row and Heikki on the third we have a good basis for tomorrow's race,” agreed Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Vice-President Norbert Haug. “We will probably see different strategies once the race unfolds, and I am confident about ours'. Our speed is good as we showed in Q1 and Q2 when Heikki was fastest of the day and, if our reliability and performance is there, we will get the job done.”