The iconic figure-of-eight track has always been punishing on its rubber, but things could well be a bit more extreme this time around.
Race day is expected to be another scorcher, and complaints that George Russell mentioned on Friday about a "strange" sliding have been caused by a track surface that has had a 15% drop in macro roughness (so effective grip) compared to 12 months ago.
As Ferrari's Charles Leclerc said: "Especially with the very warm temperatures this year, the overheating is really, really bad. So, I expect that it [the race] will be all about the tyre management and the strategy."
A two-stopper looks nailed on then, but it comes with not all teams having the luxury of what appears to be the ideal tyre allocation to get them through without much drama.
F1 tyre supplier Pirelli thinks the best approach to the race is to start on the soft, run through until laps 12-18, and then split the rest of the grand prix up into two hard stints.
But that is something that only eight drivers can do tomorrow, as they are the only ones who have two sets of hard tyres available.
They are Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, plus Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen.
Everyone else has, beyond just their one new hard, a combination of mediums and softs.
For those without that second hard, it means guaranteed heavy thermal management over the final stint of the race – which could prove problematic if an earlier-than-ideal switch is forced because of a safety car or VSC. Drivers will not want to get on to a final set of softs or mediums before lap 36 of the 53-lap race.
Source: Autosport