[Monster Hesh]

Last of the free to air F1 on British TV. I am going to miss C4 coverage. I'm not going to miss the bloody BOSE sponsors advert of the clown on the bus moving the phone around as if he's going round corners, while the lass is trying to watch. It's trivial, but damn does it irritate me, lol. Going to miss Hips McKenzie, Sky should reunite her with the old BBC team and rid Rachel Brooks.

[Monster Hesh]

Stage one of grand slam complete.

[pennywise]

Wow yet another stunning lap from Lewis to secure pole....after the time he put in during Q2 he was always looking just that bit faster than the rest although Bottas ran him close.

Ferrari have had a great season but just couldn't quite get the better of Lewis...and I mean Lewis as at most tracks they had the beating of the Mercs but Ham just always seems to pull out a flawless lap to take the pole.

Le Clerc once again produced another sublime lap and I can't wait to see him in the prancing horse next year.

Roll on tomorrow and lets hope the season ends with a thriller....but my money is on Lewis securing yet another victory.

[Jody Barton]

I think Lewis' Q2 lap on the Ultrasofts confirmed what I saw yesterday, his pace on that compound was a cut above, and so it proved. If his car is set up as it appeared in FP2 for long run pace, then it'll be difficult to look past him for the race win. Signing out 2018 with two poles and potentially two wins would put one hell of a marker down for next season. Bottas' long run pace means he'll be vulnerable to both Ferrari's and both Red Bulls I think, hence the trimming out of some wing on his car to help with straight line speed. Might be a fun race to watch tomorrow, but we'll see.

[NeilP]

I cannot believe we are at the final race of the year, where does the time go to?

We have had 5 winners, some close battles throughout the field I think all in all it was a good season. Naturally as a Mercedes and Hamilton fan it has been extra enjoyable. BUT... I was disappointed in Vettels challenge as much as I wanted Lewis to win I was hoping to see a bigger and better fight than we did.

I think this last race will be good. I am expecting Red Bull to be better in the race than qualifying and I honestly think either of the top 3 teams could win. It will be sad to see some of the guys racing in F1 for the last time but I think that is somewhat tempered by the excitement of the next season and at the end of the day that is one of the great things about F1 it never stands still either with the cars or the drivers!

[Jody Barton]

NeilP on long run pace the fastest, or equal fastest car is starting 6th, the other is starting on pole. If Lewis gets off the line well then I expect him to control it, on Friday the long run pace pecking order looked like this:

Verstappen / Lewis (nip and tuck, Lewis quicker on the Ultrasofts, but Verstappen could make the Hypers work, but only Lewis looked like he could get the Super Softs fired up)
Ricciardo (right behind the top two, not much in it)
Kimi (quite a way back, but we know when Ferrari have a bad Friday they normally get a lot better by Sunday)
Vettel (actually behind Kimi for me as he killed his tyres after a few laps)
Bottas (Didn't look good, he kept having to come into the pits and make changes, so we didn't really get a proper look at his pace, but I think of the top 6 he looked slowest, obviously Merc could've fixed it)

So I think it is clearly advantage Lewis at this stage, the question is whether Bottas can keep his nose in front of the red cars, and just whether the Red Bulls can get past the others because they had the race pace to win it. On an aside, the TR's were damn quick down the straights today, if Honda really can provide a half decent engine next year we could be in for quite a season. Renault also saying they focused on next seasons car from as early as Germany... I really hope they finally come good next year too.

[Monster Hesh]

Tyres available, and potential strategies.

A bit low quality, but just about readable, quite insightful.

[Jody Barton]

Well, so far this is proving Bottas isn't good enough to be in a Merc, and Lewis' tyres might be shot.

[NeilP]

I like Bottas as a guy, seems nice, maybe too nice. However he does not belong in that Mercedes. I hope a miracle happens during the off season and he is replaced by Ocon, we can all dream!!!

Race ended up as many predicted, pretty boring which is disappointing.

[Jody Barton]

Honestly Lewis was in total control today, but Bottas just isn't good enough to be in that Merc. Honestly, if he doesn't hit the ground running next year Ocon will be in that car quick. If Honda get the engine sorted then RBR with Gasly and Verstappen they'll be strong, and Leclerc and Vettel (if there aren't any fireworks) will be very, very strong... So much so that Bottas Hamilton looks like half a driver line up.