F1: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola – live!

Something seems the matter with Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri. His team have removed panels from the car and are peering at … well, who knows.

Meanwhile, Red Bull – the only other team in mathematical contention for the constructors’ championship – would need to outscore their rivals by 34 points today to deny them the trophy. Or to put it another way, Mercedes would only need one of their drivers to finish fourth to guarantee the win.

And the second piece of existential pre-race reading sees Lewis Hamilton talk about the prospect of racing for the first time on the circuit where Ayrton Senna lost his life:

Andrew Goudie writes in to point out “that halloween grid is much better than this effort from McClaren”:

Faintly existential pre-race reading. First up, longtime buddies Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert open up about putting their lives on the line in the name of sport:

What’s eating Sebastian Vettel? An all-time great and winner of four successive titles seven short years ago. Yet today he starts in 14th, behind teammate Leclerc for the 11th time this season. A bizarre fall from grace and one that, at 33, he’ll need to recover from soon or not at all.

Here’s how they qualified:

1 Valtteri Bottas
2 Lewis Hamilton
3 Max Verstappen
4 Pierre Gasly
5 Daniel Ricciardo
6 Alexander Albon
7 Charles Leclerc
8 Daniil Kvyat
9 Lando Norris
10 Carlos Sainz
11 Sergio Perez
12 Esteban Ocon
13 George Russell
14 Sebastian Vettel
15 Lance Stroll
16 Romain Grosjean
17 Kevin Magnussen
18 Kimi Raikkonen
19 Nicholas Latifi
20 Antonio Giovinazzi

Mercedes Mercedes Mercedes! A seventh successive constructors’ championship is in sight for Toto Wolff’s super-team, and what better setting to clinch it than the autumnal splendour of Emilia-Romagna?

It’s one of the more glorious parts of the world and though Lewis Hamilton and pals won’t have been indulging in the ragu, mortadella and lambrusco the region is rightly famed for, they may well treat themselves to a glass of the good stuff this evening should things go their way.

They certainly did in qualifying, when Hamilton gave a rare glimpse of his fallibility with a sloppy final lap, seeing him pipped to pole by his teammate Valtteri Bottas. We’re yet to see a race this season without a Mercedes driver in pole.

In the drivers’ championship, Hamilton leads Bottas by 77 points with five races remaining, and looks a shoo-in for the title. He can’t claim it at Imola – the first race here since 2006 – but another victory would leave him in the position to do so at the next round, in Istanbul.

So that’s that, then: Mercedes Mercedes Mercedes, all set for glory, without a care in the world – right? Or who knows, maybe there’ll be a twist in the road somewhere. Chi dorme non piglia pesci!

Race starts at 12.10pm GMT