Few F1-music crossovers give me more delight than the story of the wonderfully named Slim Borgudd, who when he wasn't driving cars very fast was a session drummer for Abba.

His music and racing careers largely dovetailed, the Swede working his way through lower formulas while also drumming for the Hootenanny Singers, who just happened to have Bjorn Ulvaeus as a member.

Image source, Formula 1/YouTube

When Ulvaeus went on to become one fourth of Abba, Borgudd went along for the ride, drumming for what would be come one of the most famous bands of all time.

Borgudd's racing career peaked when he made his F1 debut at the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix for ATS, complete with Abba logos on his sidepods. He would make 10 F1 starts across the rest of 1981 and the first three races of 1982, scoring one point at the '81 British GP.

Merciparadis: Don't forget Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews - ballad for Grosjean and Verstappen?

Roscoe DC: Lewis is... Complicated - Avril Lavigne.

Adam: MC Hammer - Can't Touch This sums up Mercedes performance at present.

The rain does not mean a permanent end to the action. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner tells the BBC that they will venture out to get some wet-weather data.

"We'll go and have a look but we want a bit more surface water than this," he said.

"The forecast for Sunday is dry but you never know."

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"Ferrari are one of two engine manufacturers to use up some of their allocated engine development tokens for this race, the other being Honda.

" Ferrari have used up three of the 10 remaining tokens they had on a combustion upgrade which they say amounts to 'not more than' 15bhp. Sebastian Vettel said: 'Hopefully it will bring performance. Obviously I can't tell you how much. One, because I can't, and two because I haven't been on the track, so I guess that's the answer.'

"The impression is that it will take a lot more than that to make them a major threat to Mercedes. 'The target is to be closer,' Vettel said, 'but it also depends on what other people are doing. The challenge to catch them is huge, but we are trying to make everything possible to try to close the gap, and hopefully we can be a little bit closer this weekend.'"

Mercedes team radio: "Expecting light rain to start and then just getting heavier."

Man these weather forecasters are good.

Just as the clock ticks round to 35 minutes past the hour, the heavens open and the brollies go up.

Pastor Maldonado is up in P5 and looking strong, just seven tenths off Lewis Hamilton. His performance backs up Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean's third place in FP1.

The Lotus and its Mercedes engine is coming into its own here. Can the team maintain their performance over the rest of the weekend?

1. Hamilton - 1:15.988, 2. Vettel - 1:16.304, 3. Raikkonen - 1:16.310, 4. Rosberg - 1:16.440, 5. Maldonado - 1:16.620, 6. Bottas - 1:16.849

No shock to report that Lewis Hamilton has just gone quickest on the super-soft tyre.

He's done a 1:15.988, three tenths clear of both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferraris.

Mark Carter: Francois Cevert was also a highly accomplished pianist.

That he was. Missed that one. Also wrongly said De Angelis was Spanish when he's clearly Italian.

I'm off for a lie down.

Image source, Getty Images

Just because you're a world champion doesn't mean you HAVE to bin it into the Wall of Champions, Mr Hamilton.

The Mercedes man went launching over the final-turn kerbs a few laps ago, drawing gasps from Allan McNish in the BBC commentary booth, but kept it on track.

He's pushing hard.

Nico Hulkenberg has cruised slowly back to the pits with a puncture on his Frce India.

He tells his team on the radio that he did not make contact with anything.

A scare for Lewis Hamilton under braking for the last corner.

The Mercedes man appeared to be distracted as he closed on the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and ran into the generous expanse of run-off opposite the Wall of Champions.

On he goes.

Image source, F1

James Allen
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

"The latest update from race control is that rain is expected at 14:35 local time [19:35 BST]."

Kimi Raikkonen has gone up to second place behind team-mate Vettel, by a couple of tenths.

Both Ferraris are on the quicker super-softs, while the Mercedes as this point remain on the softs.

With rain in the forecast in no surprise to see all the drivers - bar Daniel Ricciardo at this point - out on track.

Some are on softs, others on super-softs.

The Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel is on the quicker red-walled tyres and goes fastest with a 1:16.534.

Second practice is under way.

Tom Taylor: Aerosmith - Same Old Song & Dance.

Philip Lane: I'm bored by Iggy Pop.

James Gibson: The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now.

Image source, YouTube

Elio de Angelis was not only a fine F1 driver, he was also a concert-standard pianist, as this 1985 footage from German television shows., external

The Italian won two races from 108 starts between 1979 and 1986. Sadly he was killed while testing for Lotus at Paul Ricard in May 1986.

De Angelis is not alone in this piano-playing regard, as Williams test driver Adrian Sutil can also tickle ivories at Carnegie Hall standard.