Image source, Reuters

The tiresome issue of grid penalties is already taking up too much of everyone's time, so all I will try and be brief here.

McLaren duo Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button each have 25-place grid penalties (a combined today of 50 places, of which they will serve seven. Go figure), while Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo both have 10-place penalties.

In addition, Ricciardo must serve a five-second penalty at his first stop, Alonso a 10-second drive through, and Button a 10-second stop-go.

Sigh.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Those who are confused or annoyed by the number of penalties that are handed out in F1 at the moment have a powerful ally, it has emerged.

"Bernie Ecclestone has expressed his frustration with the situation, too. 'I think we need to have a very, very, very good look at all our sporting regulations,' F1's commercial boss said. 'Don't go over the white line, don't do this, don't do that, if you change your engine you go back 20 places… The public don't understand and when they do understand they don't care.'

Image source, Getty Images

"Ecclestone also played down the threat of Red Bull leaving F1. 'I don't think so,' he said. 'I know Mr Mateschitz very well. There'd be more chance of him pulling out if he was winning than when he was losing. They're disappointed, aren't they? What they are saying is: 'It's not our fault that our performance is what it is'. He (Mateschitz) is a bit frustrated. He's spent a lot of money, does a good job and has been fantastic for Formula 1. It doesn't mean that because he's falling out of love he wants a divorce. He just needs a new girlfriend.'"

Lotus on Twitter:, external Weather update... Will it or won't it rain today?

Image source, Lotus

Here's a wonderful picture.

Gilles Villeneuve, six-time grand prix winner for Ferrari and one F1's most naturally gifted drivers, with his family in 1979.

The young scamp pretending to drive is an eight-year-old Jacques Villeneuve, who 18 years later would become world champion with Williams.

Image source, Getty Images

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean reminds us where it all began on Instagram, external with an image of his father pumping up a tyre on a kart in the Frenchman's early racing days.

"Happy Father's Day dad," writes Grosjean.

Image source, Romain Grosjean

Image source, Getty Images

Here's a few fellows that must have churned out a fair number of offspring between them.

Left to right we have Christian Danner, Riccardo Patrese, Gerhard Berger, Niki Lauda, Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost and Pierluigi Martini.

Danner (36 starts), Patrese (256), Berger (210), Lauda (171), Alesi (201), Piquet (204), Prost (199) and Martini (119) have a mildly boggling 1,396 F1 starts between them.

The eight men have been entertaining the Austrian GP crowd with a legends' race, a few choice shots from which are below.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

Image source, McLaren

McLaren tweet:, external "Fernando & Jenson will change gear 54 times per lap today."

Not sure about you but that's a standard trip to the Supermarket for me.

It takes more than a ludicrous 25-place grid penalty to wipe the smile from Fernando Alonso's mush.

Here he is on the drivers' parade this morning looking every inch at one with the world.

Image source, Fernando Alonso

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Would Nico Rosberg have beaten Lewis Hamilton to pole if he had completed his own final lap, after Hamilton's spin? It was too close to call.

"'Definitely gutted,' Rosberg said, 'but Lewis was 0.2secs up on the previous lap and I was 0.2secs exactly up at that point so I knew I had to go for it and I just exaggerated it.'

Image source, Getty Images

"Rosberg knows he has a chance at the start, but beyond that he did not sound too confident about beating Hamilton in the race. 'I just have to keep the pressure on and hope that somehow something will go my way,' he said. 'It is easy to make mistakes so if I am able to keep the pressure on that could be an opportunity.'"

No reference to F1 and father's day would be complete without reference to Graham and Damon Hill, the only father-and-son pairing to both win the world title.

Graham achieved the feat in 1962 and 1968, while son Damon followed up with the 1996 world title.

The two combined for a total of 291 race starts and 36 victories across 41 years between 1958 and 1999.

Image source, Getty Images/Allsport

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

If the snotty kiss and home-made card I received this morning are anything to go by, it seems today is Father's Day.

In honour of this, we're going to take a trawl through the archives in the build-up to today's race to take a look at some of the father-son, father-daughter combos to grace the sport down the years.

First up, two British F1 heroes...

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Three spins when trying to set a time on super-soft tyres in second practice, and an off-track incident in final practice, and lagging behind team-mate Nico Rosberg in the first and second parts of qualifying had all led to the impression that Lewis Hamilton did not feel quite at home on the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

Image source, Getty Images

"But then, as he so often has this year, it all came together in qualifying. Hamilton nailed a stonker on his first run in final qualifying and pole was his, a spin at the first corner on his final run cancelled out by Rosberg doing the same at the final bend on his. 'It was a difficult session,' Hamilton said. 'I was a bit surprised I even got pole.

"'I was off Nico for three or four tenths each session and each run, each lap and I just didn't have the confidence in the balance I had at the time, and the temperature of the tyres and the brakes.

"'So, I'm really grateful that I at least got one decent - Q3 first run lap one and then lap three. The third one being much better. I'm grateful that I got those two laps in. And then coming to the end, I don't know exactly what went on but obviously I locked the rears and snapped it around. A bit similar to what happened last year in Turn Two here so… yeah, I'm definitely do that quite often in this car. Not sure why. Got big feet I think.'"

Ian Fergusson (BBC Weather) on Twitter:, external A few showers expected around this afternoon but most likely a dry race (FIA forecast offers 25% chance showers).

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"One does not want to risk commentator's curse, but this could be a cracker. The two Mercedes drivers have been evenly matched all weekend in Austria. If anything, in fact, Lewis Hamilton appeared to be struggling a little - and even admitted it - until a typically storming pole lap.

Image source, Getty Images

"Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel is starting right behind them and has shown great race pace. And an already slippery track, which has led to many drivers spinning throughout the weekend, could quite well be doused with rain during the race.

"Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff admitted the team were 'not as confident' as they had been ahead of the last couple of races. And he said that, on race pace, he feared that the Ferrari might have the legs on them. 'You cannot really say what is going to happen in the race because the long runs look pretty difficult for us. The Ferrari was the quickest car on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.'"

Hello and welcome to live text coverage of the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, the eighth round of F1 2015.

Despite enjoying a definite edge over Hamilton throughout practice, it was yet another frustrating qualifying session for Nico Rosberg, who careered off track at the final turn on his final lap when pole was there for the taking, after his team-mate had already span off in turn one.

It left the German a frustrated second on the grid, two tenths off Hamilton, but in truth there is next to nothing between these two guys this weekend.

Throw into the mix Vettel's Ferrari, which finished quickest in two of the three practice sessions, and we have quite the race in store...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Well, since you ask it's Austrian Grand Prix pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and third-place man Sebastian Vettel.

These two chaps, plus 18 of their peers, will be doing battle in just over 90 minutes around the undulating sweeps and high-speed turns of the Red Bull Ring.

It's been an eventful race meeting so far, with cars flying off track, rain systems bubbling up from the Styrian Mountains, and Ferrari and Mercedes duelling for supremacy at the front.

What lies in store today, I wonder? We ride at 13:00 BST.