Edward Taylor: Hoping for Rosberg to be out after being caught up in first corner drama. Lewis for the win. That would really set up a season finale.

Adrian King: Hamilton to dominate today and Rosberg to scrape a podium is my prediction. This title race has more twists to come.

The pit lane is open!

Nice getaway by Lewis Hamilton, but will he do it when it counts?

Image source, F1.com

It's Halloween tomorrow while Mexico is celebrating Day of the Dead so naturally the mechanics have got into the spirit of things.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Nico Rosberg has been taking a very down-to-earth approach to the title fight - taking it one race at a time, etc. And part of that is to accept that there will be days when Lewis Hamilton will be quicker than him because… well, because, as Rosberg puts it: “Lewis is Lewis. He is very tough to beat.” 

This allows him to relax into the season, to accept the days when he is simply slower, and to enjoy the times he has pulled one out of the bag and got himself out of trouble. As he did on Saturday, hauling himself on to the front row after struggling for pace all weekend, largely because of the difficulty he was finding warming up his tyres. 

“Lewis’ lap was brilliant, not so much mine,” Rosberg said. “I put it together when it counted in the end, so I’m relatively pleased with that, to definitely make sure I’m on the front row, even though it’s not pole position of course. But still that gives me a great chance for the race anyways.”

BBC Radio 5 live

The race starts at 19:00 GMT, with commentary on BBC Radio 5 live getting under way from 18:55 GMT and you can also listen online and via the app.

"This is the greatest crowd I have ever seen," said Lewis Hamilton during the drivers' parade. "They are making so much noise and I'm so happy we can be here to give them a good show.

"I think it's going to be a tough race. It should be close. I'm excited to give everyone here a good race."

Sebastian Vettel did suggest Ferrari would be in the mix by topping practice on Friday, but they failed to build on that in qualifying on Saturday and a challenge for the podium doesn't look particularly likely.

It continues what has been a disappointing season for the team, and Vettel has spoken about that in the above video. Press play to watch.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Fernando Alonso was in the unusual position of being glad not to make it into the top 10 shoot-out in qualifying. 

Beaten by another strong performance by compatriot and friend Carlos Sainz, Alonso said: “Yes! Fantastic!” when he heard he was 11th. “It’s probably the best position we could dream of - 11th, on the clean side and can choose tyres; many things went our way. We were not quick enough,” he added once out of the car. 

In the last two races, McLaren have explained away their slip in form as down to circuit characteristics. Finally, Alonso admitted it was more than that, and had become a worrying trend. “We need to understand why we were seventh, eighth a couple of races ago and now we are 11th,” he said. 

Jenson Button was not unhappy with 13th, feeling he could have managed only one place higher. He reckoned he’d lost most of his 0.391secs deficit to Alonso in the first sector, where he said his tyres were not up to temperature. But actually most of it was in S2, which he’d felt had been “good”, but where in fact he was nearly 0.2secs off.

Image source, .

What will the gap between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton be by the end of today I wonder? There's currently 26 points between them.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

What on earth happened to Ferrari in final qualifying? 

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in second practice. Kimi Raikkonen was second in first qualifying; Vettel fourth in Q2, despite running the soft tyre. And yet they are sixth and seventh on the grid, Raikkonen ahead by 0.005secs. 

It was yet another Ferrari mystery in a season full of them - and not for the first time it revolved around tyres. Vettel said: “The car is quick. That’s why I’m so annoyed. We start where the car doesn't belong. We are quicker than most people, we should start second row and even have a crack at first row if everything goes well. It wasn't the case today. It doesn’t make our race easier. We will have the chance to come back but it is a big handicap starting so far back. For sure there is a reason. There is a reason for everything but for now we don't understand what happened.” 

Raikkonen blamed an engine problem for costing him power on his second run in Q3, otherwise he felt he would have been quicker. As Ferrari have just said, his engine has been replaced.