Formation lap done. Let's get this going.

"Don't know why but I've got a big different between the two front brake [temperatures]"

All of our top 10 are on the soft tyres. Watch out for some crazy passing moves early on from Charles Leclerc, who is down in 14th.

RegluarJon: on one hand I’d love to see a close, three way fight for the win, on the other I’d love to see Vettel and Verstappen take each other out first lap with Lewis cruising to victory!

A reminder of how we are set up today?

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
4. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
5. Alexander Albon (Red Bull)
6. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
7. Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)
9. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
10. Lando Norris (McLaren)
11. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)
12. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
13. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
14. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
15. Sergio Perez (Racing Point)
16. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
17. Lance Stroll (Racing Point)
18. George Russell (Williams)
19. Robert Kubica (Williams)
20. Carlos Sainz (McLaren)

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

We're live on 5 Live Sports Extra so listen to Jack Nicholls and Jolyon Palmer by pressing the play button at the top.

The ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is on the grid, and stops for a quick chat. His hopes for the race? He says: "There's no reason why it won't be a good race. I hope they all get through the first corner safely then it'll be a good race."

Ecclestone is asked who his prediction is for the race win: "Sebastian" he says bluntly.

Moving on, what does he think on Lewis Hamilton's sixth world title? The 89 year-old says: "Well I think..." he pauses. "What do I think? I don't know. He got the job done."

Philip West: I’m backing Verstappen for the win today. I expect him to be ultra-aggressive and feisty from the start, and this track really suits his driving style

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Interlagos

Image source, Getty Images

Some strategy chat now. Going into the race, it looks somewhere between a one- and a two-stop. The pre-race data is based on Friday running, when temperatures were much cooler than they are now, which might push teams towards a two-stop. Mercedes technical director James Allison said teams would be going into the race with an open mind on that one. Even the soft tyre is showing relatively low degradation and long life - because Pirelli has brought its three hardest compounds to this race, out of the five they have to choose from.

The pit-stop time loss is 22 seconds, because Interlagos has quite a long pit lane, but under safety car conditions - of which there is a 50% chance - that drops to 11 seconds. All the front-runners have one new set of both hard and medium tyres for the race. While Charles Leclerc, starting 14th on the mediums, has a new set of softs - and the temptation for him may well be to try to run long enough on those starting tyres to fit softs for a final stint.

Kimi Raikkonen starts eighth for Alfa Romeo today. Let's hope he sticks to the track today.

That's not always been the case here, as you can see below when he decided to make up his own track.

Pierre Gasly starts in sixth today, which is a great response from earlier in the weekend when both the Toro Rossos had engine problems, as you can see below.

Kayleigh: Hoping for a clean get away from Seb to take the lead. A good, solid strategy from Ferrari to keep the win. And maybe a few little points for Lando.

Karen Waddy: Pretty sure it'll be business as usual at some point during the race when Grosjean de-constructs his Haas for the umpteenth time this season.

Bad news for anyone wanting some wet race chaos.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Interlagos

Image source, Getty Images

It has been getting progressively warmer and sunnier through the weekend in Sao Paulo and the weather has taken another step day, with highs of about 24C and not a hint of the rain that fell heavily on Friday and ever so lightly at one point on Saturday.

Interlagos is perhaps not quite full, but the vast majority of grandstands are packed with noisy fans, horns blowing, shouting, chanting, creating the intense, carnival atmosphere that always accompanies this race. The grid is set up well for an eventful race, with Max Verstappen on pole, Lewis Hamilton - fastest on the race runs on Friday - in third, and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, who is expected to struggle for race pace, in between.

Hamilton needs to clear the Ferrari and set up what would be only the second serious battle for victory between Verstappen and Hamilton. A three-way fight would be great - but Hamilton v Verstappen is more than enough to get the mouth watering.

Robert Kubica's return to F1 this season, after an eight-year absence following a horrific crash, has not been the fairytale we had all been hoping for.

He's been out-qualified by his team-mate George Russell at every race and early this weekend was involved in this crash (see below).

Can Kubica do anything today in what is surely his penultimate race in Formula 1?

Tracey Pankhurst: I wouldn’t be surprised if Hamilton gave him a run for his money but it’s all dependent on whether they get a good start. Vettel has got form for having a terrible starts and not recovering well from them and even occasionally making some dodgy moves against other drivers too!

Gary: Hopefully Max Verstappen, if not then Charles Leclerc with a classic comeback.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Interlagos

Image source, Reuters

At Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel felt that, although he had made an error at the last corner on his fastest lap, Max Verstappen’s time was “a bit far away so I think we have to admit that we got beaten fair and square”. Charles Leclerc, though, was far from sure - and in fact he was angry with himself. Leclerc, carrying a 10-place grid penalty, had made a mistake at the last corner on his fastest lap - like Vettel, his first - and his was bigger. “I don’t think the pole was out of reach,” Leclerc said.

“I am very disappointed in myself. I have been stupid. I did a big mistake in the last corner which cost me at least 0.3secs. The car was good enough to be fighting for pole and I didn’t do the job in the car. It’s life, it’s completely my fault and I need to learn from it.”

This is becoming familiar with Leclerc now - he makes a mistake, he owns up to it and publicly berates himself. But the underlying pace is there and he said he was looking forward to fighting up from his now 14th place on the grid.

“Full attack mode,” said Leclerc, whose penalty allied to Verstappen’s pole, has made it harder for him to hold on to the third place in the championship he currently occupies 14 points ahead of the Dutchman. “This I enjoy, starting in the back any time. I enjoy a little bit less when I am fighting for third in the championship but it is like this and I will try to come back.”

Some football royalty in the McLaren garage. Brazil captain Dani Alves, a three-time Champions League winner, during his Barcelona days, has been spotted posing with Lando and Real Madrid-supporting Carlos Sainz.