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incredible first half of the season, the second half should be even more | :00:09. | :01:13. | |
dramatic. What a fabulous place to welcome it back. Spa is one of the | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
most iconic circuits on the calendar, in fact anywhere on the | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
world, and drivers and fans and occasional television presenters | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
absolutely love coming here. What makes this place so special? It is | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
one of the most natural circuits. It follows the contours. It is an | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
attacking circuit and every single driver likes a circuit that rewards | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
a certain attacking mentality. The teams and drivers head off to relax | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
for three weeks and we turn up at Spa and there are two new drivers | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
making their debuts. Alexander Rossi is in the Marussia for Max Chilton. | :01:57. | :02:11. | |
Kobayashi, There were a fuel rumours going around that he would be | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
swapped out of Caterham. A difficult task for him because he has never | :02:19. | :02:26. | |
driven a modern Formula One car. Alexander Rossi, he was the Caterham | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
test driver and now he has switched to Marussia and now he is suddenly | :02:34. | :02:43. | |
in the seat of... He was not prepared for sitting outcome he was | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
prepared for driving this weekend. We have seen some incredible battles | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. It was left in quite a | :02:53. | :03:02. | |
controversial way after the last race. I think they just turn down | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
the flame on that fire a little. Without doubt those two are going to | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
get into more situations this year because they are so close in the | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
championship and so close in performance on track. Sunday | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
afternoon it could get close again. It is so close, just 11 points | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
separate Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
Championship. Daniel Ricciardo has got two wins, that means he is in | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
third place. Fernando Alonso's impressive win in Hungary sees the | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
Spaniard move up to fourth place. Jenson Button is having a tough year | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
in the McLaren. And Kimi Raikkonen is not even in the top ten, he is | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
languishing down in 12th place. No prizes for guessing who leads the | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
way in the Constructors' Championship. In commentary today we | :03:56. | :04:10. | |
have Ben Edwards and Tony. Then, it is a big push now for all the teams. | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
They have recharged. Now the hard work starts because it is intense | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
from now until the end of the season. It is, and what a fabulous | :04:20. | :04:27. | |
place this is to come. A championship to be resolved between | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. There is so much else to look | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
forward to, not just the battle between those two? Indeed, there is | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
the Constructors' Championship battle going on between Ferrari and | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
Williams. Further down you have got Force India battling McLaren. There | :04:43. | :04:51. | |
is plenty going on. Lots to look forward to as we get ready for this | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
first practice session. You can get involved from the comfort of your | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
own home, leave your comments on the Facebook page or get in touch on | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
Twitter. We are heading to the pit lane. COMMENTATOR: Immediately we | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
have got some beautiful shots of this Spa-Francorchamps circuit and | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
the first cars heading down towards the pit lane. It looks like the | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
Caterham 's will be first down to the circuit. The regular driver for | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
Caterham going out onto the circuit but behind him is Andre Lotterer, | :05:27. | :05:50. | |
who makes his Formula One debut. All the Formula One factories had to | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
shutdown but now they are well on the way to bringing this new nose | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
section. It is part of what they hope will get them ahead of Marussia | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
in the Constructors' Championship. You often get four seasons in one | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
day in Spa and you might get rain, you don't know what you're going to | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
get. It might represent an opportunity for that team. Andre | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
Lotterer, what can we tell you about him? He is a three times winner of | :06:21. | :06:32. | |
Le Mans. In his early years he was very successful in the junior | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
categories. He raised in addition F3 -- in British F3 and he was seventh | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
in that championship. He never actually raised in Formula One but | :06:46. | :06:48. | |
he does have quite a lot of current single seater experience from Japan, | :06:49. | :06:56. | |
doesn't he? Indeed, he has been racing in the main single seater | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
category in Japan. He was doing that as long ago as 2004. He has been | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
driving single seater is so it will not be a shock to the system. With | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
his Audi experience, he has experience of fairly complex | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
technical systems on that car, so I think he is well placed. Andre | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
Lotterer, we will be keeping a close eye on him. And Alexander Rossi. But | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
we're now looking at Felipe Massa in the Williams. Valtteri Bottas was | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
out with the two Caterham 's. There is quite a lot of expectation | :07:30. | :07:42. | |
on Williams this weekend. They have had an incredibly successful season | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
by the standards of certainly last year and indeed the last couple of | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
years, much more likely Williams of old. This weekend people are | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
expecting them to perhaps be Mercedes's closest challengers. The | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
car has proved to be very quick in a straight line and you have got a lot | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
of flat out running here. In between the first corner and the top of the | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
straight it is something like 23 or 25 seconds flat out and open. Then | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
you have a very big sector three as well. I think Williams reckon | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
you have a very big sector three as really charge for a win. That tends | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
to count fall of the Mercedes powered cars. Force India could be | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
in good shape here. Force India is a team that has a pretty good record | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
at Spa anyway. It does. That is where we had -- they had a slightly | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
different car design philosophy. Going back to Williams, that car is | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
very slippery. We have seen the high straight line speed all year. That | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
in particular is why they are favoured, but it will help anyone | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
with a Mercedes engine. Nico Hulkenberg is about to go out in his | :09:00. | :09:05. | |
Force India on the medium compound tyre. The medium and the soft | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
available from Pirelli. Nico Hulkenberg is a bit concerned that | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
they may see some of the repetition of the problems they had at | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
Silverstone, where they found the car was very affected by breeze and | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
strong winds. The wind is not as strong at the moment. It is not as | :09:22. | :09:37. | |
blowy as it can be sometimes. We had a wet qualifying session here last | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
year although a dry race. Nico Rosberg missed out in that session, | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
you miss timed it a bit in terms of getting the best available lap at | :09:47. | :09:54. | |
the best available time. For a while we had an amazing situation with | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
Paul di Resta in pole position because he had chosen the best | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
tyres, and then all of a sudden the slick tyres worked out. You don't | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
know what you're going to get here. Kamui Kobayashi recently dropped by | :10:10. | :10:17. | |
Caterham, he was on the front row. We have adult source of things | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
happening here at Spa. It looks as though we are in for some dry | :10:23. | :10:30. | |
weather today, perhaps rain on Saturday and then probably dry on | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
Sunday but it is very difficult to predict here. The weather forecast | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
will tell you some things but it is very specific to the place itself. | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
Pastor Maldonado seems to be doing a couple of laps and so does Romain | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
Grosjean. They have gone out quickly for their second installation lap. | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
The Lotuses did not have a great time out last time out in Hungary. | :10:56. | :11:07. | |
Maldonado yet to score any points in this year's championship. Looking | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
there at Kevin Magnussen. He raced here in the past in the junior | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
categories. He has raised here in the Renault 3.5 series, one of the | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
levels just below. That green tape around the back of the Force India, | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
some of that is looking at the rear airflow. Kevin Magnussen has had | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
success here before. He has also won in Formula Three here at Spa in the | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
past. He has the experience of the circuit and now he just has to dial | :11:40. | :11:41. | |
past. He has the experience of the himself in in a Formula One car. He | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
and Jenson Button but of course relishing the prospect of stretching | :11:46. | :11:53. | |
the legs of the McLarens here. Jenson Button heading straight back | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
into the pits. They have both completed their installation laps. | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
It all goes quiet for a moment or two. James Alison, he is the | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
technical boss at Ferrari. He will be at the press conference this | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
afternoon. Can Ferrari make progress? There is another man in | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
the news but perhaps not for the right reasons as far as he is | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
concerned, Jean-Eric Vergne knows that he will not be driving for Toro | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
Rosso next year because we have had the announcement that Max | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
Verstappen, currently 16 but he will be 17 by next championship, he will | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
be driving for Toro Rosso next season. Jean-Eric Vergne has had a | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
pretty solid time. Do you see him getting a driver in Formula One? I | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
think it will be quite difficult to him. He has had an opportunity here | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
and he has done OK, but is he going to get a seat in a frontrunning | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
team? Now he probably isn't. Is he in a position to bring finance to | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
one of the poorly funded teams? I don't think he is. So it will be | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
tough for him, I think. We will have to wait and see. He's determined to | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
make sure to show us that he has got the ability. He has the remainder of | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
the season in which to do that. We mentioned Andre Lotterer who is | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
driving for Caterham, and Alexander Rossi is driving for Marussia this | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
weekend in place of the British driver Max Chilton. That was all | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
very last minute and we are catching up with the news. A few moments | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
before the session began, Tom Clarkson spoke to Alexander Rossi | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
about it. Today is a good day for you? Absolutely. Things came about | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
quite quickly and I think everyone is a bit surprised but I'm so | :13:45. | :13:47. | |
grateful for the opportunity and I can't wait to get started. When did | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
you first hear about this? Very late yesterday evening. Now it has | :13:54. | :14:02. | |
expanded a bit I guess you could say and I'm doing the race, it is what I | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
have worked for full kind of all my life. America has been crying out | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
for a Formula One driver for many years, you are the first driver to | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
drive one of these since Scott speed. How has the reaction been at | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
home? I think it has been very good. We have a lot of work to do | :14:24. | :14:30. | |
and we haven't all arrived yet, so I will just take this and grasp it | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
with both hands and see what happens in the future. What are the | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
objectives? We have seen you driving for a different team in a different | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
series. What can you achieve here? I will just have to take it | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
step-by-step and not get overwhelmed with all the intricacies. I will | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
expand on that come this afternoon and then I had of Sunday. Will we | :14:55. | :15:04. | |
see you in the car in Monza? I have absolutely no idea! Alexander Rossi | :15:05. | :15:17. | |
there. The first American to drive in Formula One over a full weekend | :15:18. | :15:23. | |
since 2007, when Scott speed was the last to do so. You have to go along | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
way since an American driver scored a podium. Not that I think he will | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
do that in a Marussia, but you have to go back to Monza 1993 when Marco | :15:33. | :15:46. | |
Andretti was on the podium. He is up against Jules Bianchi, who is highly | :15:47. | :15:48. | |
rated by Ferrari. He always seems against Jules Bianchi, who is highly | :15:49. | :16:03. | |
very controlled and an excited about any situation that arises. It's a | :16:04. | :16:15. | |
tough ask for him. He's a tall fellow, getting himself comfortable | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
in that car, then he's got to take on Bianchi. A big ask. We have just | :16:22. | :16:30. | |
heard some breaking news, Max Chilton will be back in the car and | :16:31. | :16:37. | |
racing this weekend. There he is. We have just heard that news. We gather | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
he will be in the car. What is that going to do to Alexander Rossi, who | :16:44. | :16:52. | |
has just psyched himself up, looking forward to a weekend in the car, and | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
now it looks like it will be the usual driver after all? He'll have | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
to go out with no fuel, fresh tyres and do a lap. It's all changed very | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
quickly. It must have been a long night for Marussia management. | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
Hopefully we will night for Marussia management. | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
soon. That is the latest we are hearing. We have some of your | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
comments coming in, a little bit of quiet time as the cars are prepared | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
from their initial installation laps. Many of you bringing up the | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
other subject about drivers which has caught everybody's attention. It | :17:29. | :17:47. | |
is all about Max the, currently 16, he'll be 17 next year. What are our | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
thoughts on him joining Formula One? It's remarkable to see a driver | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
quite so young getting this opportunity. You say 17, surely it | :17:57. | :18:07. | |
is too young, but I don't think it is. I think it depends on the | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
individual. He's got some incredibly good genes, Max Verstappen, as well | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
as his father being a Formula One driver, back in the 90s, his mother | :18:17. | :18:26. | |
is a very accomplished cart driver. I mean, world-class level. There is | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
a race in Italy, named after a pro-guy who killed himself when he | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
was 14, karting, and a lot of people do that. And his mother won that in | :18:40. | :18:49. | |
1995. Fantastic jeans. You couldn't do any better than that. His karting | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
record is sensational. If you can mess out of those championships | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
where it can go awfully wrong, things like GP to, you do. If | :19:01. | :19:07. | |
somebody comes along and says, do you want to drive Formula One? Then | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
you say yes. That's understandable. Jenson Button, who you are watching | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
here, he was talking about it yesterday, he said when he got his | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
chance he was not ready, he was too young, he was 20 when he had his | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
opportunity. Yet when you get a chance like that, and he was urged | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
by his father to go for it, initially he said to Frank | :19:31. | :19:32. | |
Williams, I don't think I'm ready. John Button said, bring him back and | :19:33. | :19:42. | |
tell him you are! Things have changed a bit. It's not as physical | :19:43. | :19:51. | |
as it was ten years ago. There was more downforce. If you had asked me | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
if a 17-year-old was ready ten years ago, I would have said no. But I | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
don't see any reason why not. Through the famous Eau Rouge corner, | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
with Jenson Button. It could be a bit more of a challenge this year. | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
Let's get down to the pits. Lots to think about with the various | :20:14. | :20:14. | |
different drivers we are mentioning. Max Verstappen is not | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
driving this weekend. The drivers out this morning are Alexander | :20:22. | :20:24. | |
Rossi, although we gather we might not see much more about him. As a | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
team-mate of yours, and we know he will do the whole weekend, what are | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
they trying to get out of it and what might the team benefit from? | :20:37. | :20:42. | |
There were rumours of a change, Kobe as she had been talking about it a | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
couple of Grand Prixs ago. It's a little bit of a surprise that it | :20:47. | :21:11. | |
came in the form of Andre Lotterer. In some ways it's a little bit | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
easier, coming back in this particular direction. He is just | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
pulling his visor down and he's about to go on his first run. For | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
him, a big smile on his face. He thought he was going to be a Grand | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
Prix driver about 12 years ago, in 2002. Back then it didn't quite | :21:28. | :21:41. | |
happen, but now he's back in Spa. He is that little bit older, 32, but | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
the same age you were when you were racing for Toyota, is that right? I | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
think it's a perfect age to start your Grand Prix career! Is not | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
looking to necessarily change his career path. But the opportunity | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
arose. When the opportunity arises, a Formula One team phones you up and | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
says are you interested in doing it, you grab it with both hands. | :22:07. | :22:14. | |
He's got an established career, I would expect that to continue. This | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
is a chance to get out in a Grand Prix and fulfil a dream in a lot of | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
ways. He grew up in Belgium, near to a Formula One circuit in the 70s. | :22:29. | :22:39. | |
That's where he grew up, even though Andre Lotterer is German, he has a | :22:40. | :22:49. | |
lot of association with Belgium. I think in terms of the team, they are | :22:50. | :23:00. | |
looking for a safe pair of hands but also a different direction. I think | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
he will surprise a few people. It will be a tough job, not having | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
driven a Formula One car before, this latter that he is out on now. | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
But he has strengthened the mentality and he has good technical | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
expertise. I think he will equip himself really well. Will be | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
fascinating to see how he gets on. Yesterday, Tom Clarkson managed to | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
catch up with him in the usual round of chatting to drivers that we get | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
an opportunity to on a Thursday. He asked him how this deal with | :23:29. | :23:43. | |
Caterham came together. They are trying to freshen things up, and I | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
think it was the best time to do. I raced for him in 2009, in private, | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
with Audi. It enabled me to become an Audi works driver straight | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
afterwards. I have a good relationship, I am really thankful | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
to Caterham to give me the opportunity and Audi for giving me | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
the freedom. It is a dream come true, but also is not an easy task, | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
something like this, in the middle of the season, with no experience. | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
Andre Lotterer, on track at the moment. Also on track is Nico | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
Rosberg, beginning to set the timing screens alive with a fast-paced | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
sector. Kevin Magnussen has just gone quickest of all at the moment, | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
for McLaren. Hamilton is currently second-fastest, 1:50 3.5. Daniel | :24:31. | :24:40. | |
Riccardo, race winner last time out. Sergio Perez is sixth. Rosberg is | :24:41. | :25:00. | |
seventh. Then I'll -- Daniil Kvyat is ten. | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
A revised section, we have seen a lot of incident there. 1:53.1, a | :25:07. | :25:17. | |
very fast lap time. We had a damp session last year. No real | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
comparison with that. It's a couple of years since we had a dry first | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
practice. We are seeing quicker times today than we have recently. A | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
bit of tyre smoke in the background. Fernando Alonso, a great second | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
place last time. A superb drive, a typical Fernando Alonso drive. How | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
he managed to conserve his tyres at the end of the Grand Prix, coming | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
under a huge amount of pressure from Hamilton and Rosberg in the last | :25:49. | :25:49. | |
lap. As you say, typical of the season he | :25:50. | :25:58. | |
has had. He's driving as well as ever, in spite of being in a | :25:59. | :26:01. | |
has had. He's driving as well as which has no realistic hope of | :26:02. | :26:04. | |
getting the kind of results he wants. He's only had two podiums all | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
year. So, it's not the kind of car he was hoping for from Ferrari. But | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
it hasn't told his passion for racing. I actually thought he was | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
going to hold on and win it in Hungary. Never had a win here, | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
though, a surprising aspect to his career. He's never had pole | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
position, never won. Had a strong second to Sebastian Vettel, not in | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
terms of closeness, but in terms of a big result of the time. But it's a | :26:37. | :26:45. | |
funny miss from his CV. Yes, it is a drivers' track, you would expect him | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
to excel. His team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, has won here four times. | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
It will be interesting to see if he can get on top of Fernando this | :26:55. | :26:56. | |
weekend. Let's look at the lap time. can get on top of Fernando this | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
Only 11th at this stage. All of the teams are on slightly different | :27:02. | :27:04. | |
programmes in this early part of first practice. We don't always get | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
a clear understanding of who is quickest. Paul McGuinness, asking | :27:09. | :27:21. | |
the question, using the hashtag #bbcf1. What are your thoughts on | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
the hybrid cars coming here for the first time? At a technical question, | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
when it comes to the race. If they use their hybrid boost coming out of | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
La Source, then they will reach Eau Rouge with a very high velocity. | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
Then they will probably have to lift. But they don't have the | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
capability to boost all around the circuit. A lot of them might be | :27:45. | :27:47. | |
saving some of that, so they can take Eau Rouge a little bit more | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
flat out, if not flat out. Then they can use the boost later in the lap. | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
In qualifying, I think it will be flat out. I don't think it will be | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
flat at the end of the race, but when the fuel load comes off, it | :28:02. | :28:07. | |
could be again. We will listen to the on-board. We are on board with | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
Fernando Alonso as he comes through the corner, towards the bottom end | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
of the track, through the right-hand and then the Paul Frere corner. In | :28:15. | :28:23. | |
fact, nearly 70% of this track is taken with the foot hard on the | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
throttle. Just watch him up through here and let's listen as well. Onto | :28:29. | :28:45. | |
the brakes hard, a big regenerative part for the electrical systems, the | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
hybrid part getting a big boost of energy under heavy braking to give | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
him more acceleration. He goes fastest, 1:51.9. Rosberg beats that | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
straightaway, with 1.57 .7. Bottas gets into third place with | :28:59. | :29:11. | |
the Williams. Again, Mercedes power showing well. The Ferrari engine is | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
looking reasonably promising at this point. Ferrari, battling strongly | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
with Williams. Alonso point. Ferrari, battling strongly | :29:19. | :29:21. | |
I'm not sure quite what has occurred. He is on the slip road, as | :29:22. | :29:31. | |
they come up through Eau Rouge. It's virtually where the second pit | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
excerpts from. Maybe there was some mechanical problem or technical | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
problem with the car? Still running, he is obviously hoping he can get it | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
back towards the pit lane. Going at a reduced pace at the moment. | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
Second-fastest in this session. We are yet to see Raikkonen do a | :29:51. | :29:54. | |
particularly representative lap. Rather strange? I was wondering if | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
we were hearing strange noises, it sounded very deep. He came from La | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
Source. This is where something would have gone wrong. You can see | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
the old pit on the left. He dives into the old pit exit. Very sudden. | :30:09. | :30:15. | |
Let's ride on board so we get the sound as well. | :30:16. | :30:26. | |
Can you hear that deep noise? Very quick. Whether he got a radio | :30:27. | :30:33. | |
message to say slowdown, there is something wrong, very peculiar. I | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
know that journey has been watching in that area, we will be hearing | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
from her in the second practice. She saw that and said it was very | :30:44. | :30:46. | |
strange, standing on the outside. They were wondering what he was up | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
to as well. Maybe we will get a take on that in a little while. Alonso is | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
slowly making his way back towards the pets. -- pits. Struggling to | :30:56. | :31:04. | |
getting to grips with the car. He has never driven the Marussia | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
before. He's done it for Caterham, but he's got a task to completely | :31:10. | :31:19. | |
learn about the Marussia. I wonder if he knows if he will be driving | :31:20. | :31:30. | |
later? Talking to Jenson Button yesterday, there have been opinions | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
passed that all the instruction we get from the pits to the car is | :31:36. | :31:39. | |
perhaps taking a bit of the ora away from the drivers and going forward | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
it might be better if we looked at banning those transmissions. I said | :31:44. | :31:50. | |
to Jensen would that make a difference? He said to right, a | :31:51. | :31:53. | |
driver would not be able to finish a race, the way things are at the | :31:54. | :32:00. | |
moment! That is right, not easy at all. Stripped and crazy steer. Good | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
gap behind. -- Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. This | :32:07. | :32:17. | |
is another track that will presumably be a challenge for Lotus. | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
They have had a tough time in recent Grand Prix. They scored some points | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
thanks to Romain Grosjean in the earlier part of the year. In Monaco | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
and Spain he managed to get a couple of eighth places but nothing much | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
has happened, in recent races he has had a string of finishing outside | :32:38. | :32:40. | |
the points, or several non-finishes, I think about five | :32:41. | :32:43. | |
non-finishes this year. A tough season for Lotus generally. It has. | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
You mentioned his eighth place finish in Barcelona, but there he | :32:50. | :32:57. | |
qualified the car of faith. People have said for years that Barcelona | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
is a good reflection of a chassis. They clearly haven't got the car | :33:03. | :33:09. | |
sorted though. It is a real shame for Roman Grosjean and Pastor | :33:10. | :33:12. | |
Maldonado, who is yet to score any points in this year's series. | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
Hamilton going in to the bus stop there, that looked like a slightly | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
odd one. He came off the brake very quickly. There is room to do that | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
and the last thing they want to do is put a big flat spot on their | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
tyres at this early stage. Let's see how it looks from the on-board view. | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
It is actually the rear that locked up. That caught him out in Austria, | :33:38. | :33:44. | |
when he spun in qualifying. That was one of a sequence of nullifying | :33:45. | :33:47. | |
sessions that have gone wrong for him. Despite everybody generally | :33:48. | :33:56. | |
reckoning that Lewis is the quicker driver over one lap, Nico has | :33:57. | :34:05. | |
qualified better. Very similar on Rosberg's car. Again it was the back | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
end I was a bit loose. An Fernando Alonso and stopping at the bottom | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
and then starting again, apparently he felt something more on the | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
engines and on the gearbox. Lifted off and stopped and then had a | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
little check and made sure it was OK to bring it back. We are in the | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
situation where we only have five engines, five systems, so they want | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
to be very clear that driving does not do any extra damage. They have | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
now taken the engine cover off and they are working in and around the | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
back of the car now. Fernando Alonso is now just getting out of his | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
cockpit. I think this is going to be a minute or two. There was a bit of | :34:49. | :34:55. | |
smoke from the back of the South heading in. The development driver | :34:56. | :35:02. | |
is in in place of Gutierrez this morning. - the back of the Sauber. A | :35:03. | :35:14. | |
few of your comments coming in. If you're watching the repeat, there is | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
no point in sending us messages! Graham says, is it reasonable when | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
looking at the whole Marussia situation, to mess professional | :35:24. | :35:26. | |
drivers around as appears to be going on with Rossi and Chilton? | :35:27. | :35:34. | |
Basic respect lacking in my opinion". I think there is properly | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
a lot going on that we don't know about, at Marussia. I don't think | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
they are just trying to mess the drivers around, mess with their | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
heads. Officially yesterday it was contractual issues, some money | :35:48. | :35:50. | |
involved as well. Who knows what is really going on. Perhaps we will | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
find out more from Graham later on. With Max Verstappen joining Toro | :35:55. | :36:03. | |
Rosso, where does that leave Jean-Eric Vergne? That is the | :36:04. | :36:12. | |
question. There aren't really many options out there in Formula One. A | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
lot of the driver market is resting on what happens at McLaren. What do | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
you see happening there? We have obviously got Honda coming in there | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
as the new engine partner. It will be interesting to see whether they | :36:27. | :36:29. | |
think they should retain Jenson Button for his experience and the | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
fact that he is a world champion, and he brings so much to that team. | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
Do they retain him and Kevin Magnussen? Do they bring in another | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
driver? Possibly someone like Valtteri Bottas. You might think why | :36:44. | :36:46. | |
would he want to leave Williams and go to what at the moment is an | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
unknown quantity, but he would be paid well. He is young, he has got | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
time. Let's see whether something like that is a possibility. Romain | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
Grosjean could be on the market. He has a good relationship with Eric | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
Boullier, racing director. Lots of questions about what McLaren want to | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
do. Once they make their moves everything else will settle into | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
place? Yes. Talking about Jean-Eric Vergne, there is often criticism of | :37:15. | :37:18. | |
the Red Bull driver programme for running these guys for a couple of | :37:19. | :37:21. | |
years and then leaving them high and dry, but the man who runs that | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
programme has a different view. He says we have given the guy is an | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
opportunity. Jean-Eric Vergne will have had two seasons. They are | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
looking for the next great thing, the next world champion. It is not | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
their job to look after drivers for the next ten years. They have had an | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
opportunity, they have built a market value, and who knows, he | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
could be earning 300,000 a year driving a sports car. He has had an | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
opportunity, so that is what they say about that. The Red Bull driver | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
programme is looking good when you look at what Daniel Ricciardo has | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
achieved. It certainly is but interestingly when Daniel Ricciardo | :38:05. | :38:06. | |
was signed, and we spoke to him about his move to Red Bull, a lot of | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
people were saying why did they not choose Jean-Eric Vergne? On Saturday | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
it seemed that Jean-Eric Vergne was strong and on Sundays, they were | :38:16. | :38:18. | |
almost evenly matched but there wasn't much in it. In fact Jean-Eric | :38:19. | :38:27. | |
Vergne was leading an points in the Drivers' Championship until the end | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
of last season, actually finishing ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. If he had | :38:32. | :38:34. | |
been given the opportunity at Red Bull, would he have been as good as | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
Daniel Ricciardo? Who knows. Trevor, who owns and runs the team, said | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
there was nothing between Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo. Who | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
knows if it is just the opportunity you are given. Now you have got | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
Jean-Eric Vergne who was battling and seemed on an even par with | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
Daniel Ricciardo adds Toro Rosso, now he has got no job for next | :38:58. | :39:06. | |
season. We will see if anyone calls takes Jean-Eric Vergne under their | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
wing. We have had a pause as the first set of tyres has been used and | :39:11. | :39:13. | |
we are now beginning to see a bit of track action once again. Pastor | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
Maldonado out on circuit in the Lotus. Let's have a chance to catch | :39:19. | :39:21. | |
up with some of the comments that the drivers were making yesterday, | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
as they prepare to race here at Spa. Lewis Hamilton coming into this race | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
second in the championship, still battling away with his team-mate | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
Nico Rosberg. The gap very realistic. Always enjoyed driving at | :39:37. | :39:45. | |
Spa. We asked him if he thought -- what he thought about the challenge | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
of driving here. It is a real question to think about, we get a | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
real downforce here. The tyres are harder and have less grip, so I | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
don't know if it will be flat out this year. Every year I have come | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
here, I have always set myself the challenge of the first lap being | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
flat through that corner. I don't think this year I will try doing it | :40:13. | :40:19. | |
flat, I will build up to its! Is a lap here, it is really about, like | :40:20. | :40:27. | |
one at Monaco, it is about using all the road. You have to have a really | :40:28. | :40:37. | |
good balance here. You have a couple of high-speed corners and you need | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
some traction, but otherwise you need to make sure you optimise your | :40:42. | :40:49. | |
aero package and then being on it. Lewis Hamilton speaking yesterday | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
and relishing the opportunity to drive here again at Spa. Rosberg | :40:53. | :40:59. | |
currently fastest, Alonzo second. Hamilton himself eighth quickest at | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
this stage, head of Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo. Quite a few of | :41:05. | :41:07. | |
you asking the question about these driving changes we are talking about | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
and the fact that Alexander Rossi is in the Marussia, maybe Max Chilton | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
will be back in it later, and of course Andre Lotterer has taken over | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
from Kamui Kobayashi. The roles say that teams can be permitted to use | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
for drivers during a season and changes may be made any time | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
for drivers during a season and the start of qualifying and | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
practice, provided any change proposed before 4pm on the day of | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
the scrutineering receives clearance from the stewards. You are allowed | :41:40. | :41:48. | |
to change drivers at an event. Once someone is in for qualifying that is | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
it, but you can change your drivers on Friday, like we have seen between | :41:53. | :41:55. | |
sessions one and two with the test drivers. We are with the team | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
principal of Red Bull, Christian Horner. Are you feeling recharged | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
and relax, are the team in a good shape now? Yes, I think it is a | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
great break for everyone, everyone has come back relax and recharge and | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
ready for the eight races ahead. Daniel is having a great season, two | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
wins. A lovely way to go into that summer break. Yes, the best way to | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
sign off, with a win. Daniel had an incredible Grand Prix and it was | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
great to get the win. The challenge now is that this circuit is a lot | :42:36. | :42:38. | |
different, so it will be an interesting weekend. We know that | :42:39. | :42:47. | |
this is where Sebastien started that incredible run. What is his | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
mentality like at the moment because no one likes to be beaten, | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
especially by his team-mate, and Daniel is doing an impressive job. | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
He is doing an oppressive job but Sebastien has been plagued by bad | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
luck. His qualifying performances have really stepped up a gear and he | :43:05. | :43:07. | |
is finding a balance with the car that he can work with, and I think | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
he is really set for a strong second half of the year and we should see | :43:13. | :43:21. | |
Sebastien back at his best. Do you think you have the card to take it | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
to Mercedes in the second half of the season? Not in the next two | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
races. I think they will be damage limitation. Singapore has to | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
represent a good opportunity for us and the rest is after that. We are | :43:37. | :43:42. | |
working hard to trying close down and the rest is after that. We are | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
the deficit and get as close to Mercedes as we can. Give us your | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
thoughts on Max Verstappen. Do you get involved in those sorts of | :43:52. | :43:59. | |
discussions? Not really. It was obviously an aggressive decision but | :44:00. | :44:01. | |
he has completely merited his position. He is an extraordinary | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
talent. What he has done since coming into Formula Three this year | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
has been exceptional. What we have seen with Daniil Kvyat is that he | :44:12. | :44:14. | |
jumped in Formula One doesn't seem to be so hard for the younger | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
generation any more. Whether that is because the cars are too easy to | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
drive or whatever reason, but we're seeing performances such as from | :44:24. | :44:26. | |
Daniel, that the youngsters really can get it in -- get in and cut it | :44:27. | :44:33. | |
with the best. A shame for Jean-Eric Vergne but he has done a tremendous | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
job over the next three years and hopefully that will be enough to get | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
him a drive somewhere else. We are riding with Pastor Maldonado on | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
circuit, what I can tell you that we are joined by the Marussia pit wall | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
by the sporting director of Marussia, Graham, great to have you | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
with us. Tell us what on earth is going on! Max Chilton out, Alexander | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
Rossi in, and now we gather Max Chilton, will he be in for the rest | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
of the weekend? Good morning. Good to be with you. Yes, these things | :45:07. | :45:15. | |
happen. The driver's job is to be flexible. They are both professional | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
drivers, Max and Alex. They will take this in their stride. It is a | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
reflection of how the industry has to work, sometimes. Surely it is | :45:28. | :45:36. | |
unusual for a driver to sign up for a season, and not be in the car, how | :45:37. | :45:42. | |
did that come about? Well, I can't go into too much detail on the | :45:43. | :45:49. | |
individual incidents, but, at the end of the day, we are running a | :45:50. | :45:55. | |
Formula One team here and there is a large number of commercial | :45:56. | :46:02. | |
agreements that are interlinked. Sometimes, just happens we reach a | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
stage that, for contractual reasons, it's not appropriate for a driver to | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
be in the car. We reached that stage and we talk that action. Equally, | :46:14. | :46:21. | |
things tend to change as well. There was a change in circumstance and, | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
under the rules of Formula One, you just request a change with the | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
stewards and that was granted. But, you know, Alex is our reserve | :46:32. | :46:40. | |
driver. He is there to help the team. He's there to be there and | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
ready when incidents like this happen. I have to say, in the short | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
time that Alex has been with us, I am thoroughly impressed with him. | :46:52. | :46:58. | |
He's a tremendous guy, he's done a fantastic job working with the | :46:59. | :47:01. | |
engineers, even though this is the first time he has been in the car. | :47:02. | :47:04. | |
He's a really tremendous first time he has been in the car. | :47:05. | :47:07. | |
the team and we are really happy to have him on board. I'm sure he will | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
get his chance. We have the US Grand Prix still coming up on the calendar | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
later this year, so presumably there are some opportunities around that | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
with you and Alex? It's a great chance for him to get seat time, | :47:23. | :47:28. | |
getting time in a Formula One car is incredibly difficult in the current | :47:29. | :47:36. | |
era. A great opportunity, and helps build for his career in future. | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
Also, it's a very useful for us to have his feedback. I'm sure Alex | :47:42. | :47:50. | |
will have a lot more opportunities. Can you tell us any more about the | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
plan for the next few races? Are we likely to see Max Chilton in the car | :47:56. | :48:05. | |
for those races? The plan, as ever, is stability. We operate a really | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
good racing team. If you allow me to say so myself! I can say that, | :48:10. | :48:15. | |
because I don't do all of the work. We have a couple of hundred | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
employees on track who do a tremendous job. One of our roles is | :48:20. | :48:27. | |
to provide planning and stability for the team. That is obviously what | :48:28. | :48:34. | |
we want to see, moving forward. In reality, the people that lose out on | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
these occasions, ultimately, are the fans. They want their drivers and | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
everything else there. We do everything we possibly can to do | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
that. The fans are the most important aspect of Formula One. | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
That side of it is really important. The drivers themselves | :48:55. | :48:57. | |
are professionals, based take this kind of thing in their stride. We | :48:58. | :49:06. | |
just hope, moving forward, we will have the ability to build on the | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
season so far which, for others, has been pretty good so far. -- for us. | :49:13. | :49:20. | |
Hello, it's Tony. A quick question, you are protecting your ninth place | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
in the Constructors' Championship. Are you looking at Spa as being one | :49:24. | :49:31. | |
of those races were it could go pear shaped, where you have to have your | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
experienced guys out there to protect against that? Hi, Tony. | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
That's a good question. All three of our drivers are very young, and they | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
make me feel very old, but they are very experienced. Alex has driven | :49:48. | :49:56. | |
here for six or seven seasons. We have a good range of experience. Spa | :49:57. | :50:06. | |
is a fabulous racetrack and it throws up some opportunities. We are | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
keen to try to protect our position in the Championship as much as we | :50:11. | :50:14. | |
can. It's one of those circuit that can throw up an opportunity. The | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
weather can be incredibly unpredictable. We just want to make | :50:21. | :50:23. | |
sure that we do everything we can to make sure our drivers have got the | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
opportunity, if it arises, to try to grab something and help the position | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
that the team has got. Thanks very much for joining us. You manage that | :50:35. | :50:43. | |
last year by getting your guys into Q2. It seems to have been a rocky | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
weekend so far, but we look forward to speaking to you again. So, riding | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
on board the Lotus at the moment of Romain Grosjean. Only three cars on | :50:54. | :50:59. | |
track currently, 19 sitting in the pets. Andre Lotterer getting a few | :51:00. | :51:06. | |
more laps under his belt in the Caterham. His team-mate, Marcus | :51:07. | :51:11. | |
Ericsson, is just up the road. Ericsson is currently the faster of | :51:12. | :51:18. | |
the two. There is a little bit of a gap between them, but you would | :51:19. | :51:25. | |
expect that at the moment. Alan, I think you have news on Ferrari? Yes, | :51:26. | :51:31. | |
both cars, two of the ones in the pits. On Kimi Raikkonen and's side, | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
they have changed the front discs and pads, only on the front axle. He | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
felt he didn't have the feel and consistency. You have to carry speed | :51:41. | :51:51. | |
to the apex, has the right wheel has a tendency to lock. Also into the | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
chicane, the last corner of the circuit. We know he has a particular | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
sensitivity to that area, especially with the Ferrari this year. So they | :52:00. | :52:09. | |
are changing the discs and the pads. Alonso, they don't seem to | :52:10. | :52:17. | |
have concerns and they are appearing for him to go back out. I think it | :52:18. | :52:20. | |
will be another ten minutes before we see him out on circuit. He's | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
sitting at the back of the garage with a big smile on his face. Kimi | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
Raikkonen and had some brake problems when he was | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
Raikkonen and had some brake Lotus. It ended the amazing sequence | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
he was on. Andre Lotterer has just gone across the line. He goes | :52:41. | :52:45. | |
quicker than Ericsson with that lap. In fact, Ericsson has spun in | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
front of him. Marcus Ericsson, not putting in quite... Well, he was | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
building up to a quick lap and he lost it at the hairpin just in front | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
of his team-mate. But no major dramas. Lewis Hamilton was coming | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
out of the pits. He might have just touched the grass as he was on the | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
brakes. No damage done, he's going to continue. At this stage of the | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
practice session, with 40 minutes to go, Rosberg on top, Alonso second, | :53:19. | :53:25. | |
Bottas third, then Magnussen and Vettel. Peres, then Hamilton. | :53:26. | :53:37. | |
Grosjean is ninth, Button is 10th. Raikkonen is 14. Felipe Massa is 15. | :53:38. | :54:07. | |
So by Ashley is ahead of Hito -- Van Der Garde. One viewer asks if it | :54:08. | :54:21. | |
hinders... RADIO: Understood. The comment from Coster was exactly the | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
same as you, for your information. Well, the tyres, the same as the | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
first run, whatever that is, something with Lotus is not going | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
quite right. It is typical for the driver that has to step out, any | :54:38. | :54:42. | |
mileage over the weekend is so crucial. Although this first | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
practice session, teams are often testing new pieces on the car, they | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
might not even run them over the weekend. Every lap helps the driver | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
get his eye in? Particularly on a place like this. You want to get | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
them into a flowing rhythm. Its high-speed, you need confidence on | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
the brakes. That increases the whole time you get in the car. Here, as | :55:08. | :55:16. | |
much as anywhere, you want that sit time. Kevin Magnussen is the highest | :55:17. | :55:29. | |
speed. We are open to 207 mph. There will be seeing higher speeds than | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
that, I'm sure. Very high-speed here and every lap does indeed count. | :55:35. | :55:41. | |
Some questions on Jenson Button, Mr Snowdonia says, any news on his seat | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
for next season? Not really, still waiting to see if a deal is done. | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
Jonathan Foster says, now we are halfway through the season, with | :55:51. | :55:54. | |
Hamilton stuck behind his team-mate, will he be willing to take more | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
risks? I think he's always willing to take risks. I think that is his | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
default. He's always willing to go for it and raise hard. Let's listen | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
again. OK. Yes, something with the rear. Too risky, something at the | :56:09. | :56:18. | |
rear, to carry on, presumably, he is coming into the pit. He's always | :56:19. | :56:33. | |
good to take risks, sometimes conversely, his team-mate takes less | :56:34. | :56:41. | |
risks? Sometimes you think, is he going to put a banker lap on second? | :56:42. | :56:47. | |
He wasn't interested, he was going for pole, locked up and ended up | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
ninth. That is the way he rides, winning or nothing. Always flat out. | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
You saw that in Hungary, the move that he did, there he is on track, | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
when he got past Jean-Eric Vergne, it was something that Rosberg can | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
manage to do. He got stuck behind Vergne for a good part of that race. | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
It was a risky manoeuvre, but he pulled it off. Is all Grosjean do | :57:13. | :57:22. | |
that and get penalised, when Felipe Massa pushed it wide. It was a | :57:23. | :57:30. | |
beautiful manoeuvre. You can really see the confidence in Lewis | :57:31. | :57:33. | |
Hamilton, coming into the weekend. If you look on the BBC Formula One | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
website, his latest column is also talking about the fact that he have | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
those problems leading after the summer break. He had a car breakdown | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
on him a couple of times. He allowed his team-mate to go on and take pole | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
position. He made a mistake in Austria. Despite all of that, he's | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
only 11 points behind Nico Rosberg. That's not a big difference. He | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
seems to have really gained energy from that. That's what he is saying | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
in his column, it has boosted him. Despite the setbacks, he is right in | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
the hunt. He believes he's going to have another run similar to the one | :58:11. | :58:16. | |
he had of the year. -- at the start of the year. Definitely. All to play | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
for in the race for the World Championship. Behind them, as you | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
mentioned earlier, Daniel Riccardo, and Fernando Alonso, they are | :58:29. | :58:32. | |
fighting over the place. You can see Sebastian Vettel coming through Eau | :58:33. | :58:38. | |
Rouge. Top of the hill, doing 297.1 kilometres per hour. Last year, | :58:39. | :58:42. | |
Sebastian Vettel, by being quick that part of the tracks, took the | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
advantage from Lewis Hamilton on the first lap. He was flat out to the | :58:47. | :58:54. | |
very opening lap. Vettel blew past him on the first lap and we didn't | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
see him again. Something wrong with the up shift, second to third, third | :59:01. | :59:08. | |
to fourth. On his car again. He's got Mark Webber's, hasn't he? I | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
think he has. He was making that point at the press Conference | :59:16. | :59:18. | |
yesterday. A mistake as he comes through the second apex of Pouhon. | :59:19. | :59:29. | |
One of the most dramatic corners on this track. Interestingly, one of | :59:30. | :59:33. | |
the comments that we had, saying, I'm courageous Bath for the first | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
time on Sunday, where should I stand for the best view? I can tell you, | :59:40. | :59:43. | |
the outside of Pouhon, where Sebastian Vettel almost went off, | :59:44. | :59:49. | |
that's a good place. Wherever you go, bring your umbrella! And maybe | :59:50. | :59:54. | |
some thermal underwear. It's been very chilly. Just put a wheel on the | :59:55. | :00:05. | |
kerb, and it was maybe a bit slippery. But no problems to gather | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
it back together. The point I was going to make, we went into the | :00:10. | :00:16. | |
summer break anticipating a close end to the season. Then Sebastian | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
Vettel won all other races. I am sure Lewis Hamilton is hoping that | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
is what he's going to do this year. It's quite possible. There he is, | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
also running wide. Through the same corner. Through Pouhon. Maybe he is | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
just checking the limits. Jenson Button has put in a better lap a | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
moment ago. He's gone for fastest ahead of team-mate. Rosberg and | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
Hamilton are one and two. Magnussen and Bottas. -- Alonso. It | :00:45. | :01:05. | |
is probably one of the most tricky corners right now in Spa because of | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
technology improvements. It is most likely not flat out this year but | :01:11. | :01:12. | |
this is a downhill left-hand and likely not flat out this year but | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
slightly adverse camber. You have two attack into the first apex of | :01:20. | :01:27. | |
it. You need to carry a lot of momentum in that first part. The | :01:28. | :01:36. | |
Astroturf is what caught out Sebastian Vettel. Once you get on | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
that you are highly loaded and the car immediately loses grip. The best | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
thing then is just to abort the corner, as we saw Lewis Hamilton do, | :01:48. | :01:54. | |
and Sebastian Vettel, and survive to fight another day. For me that is | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
one of the key corners at Spa. Nico found a lot of time in the last | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
chicane, probably aware of that. Also turn ten, Nico slower in, | :02:07. | :02:14. | |
faster out. A bit more information being given to Lewis Hamilton. | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
Hamilton quite wide out of the previous left-hander there. Let's | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
watch him into the left-hander, this long, sweeping left-hander. Again he | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
gets into the Astroturf and again he runs wide. That lost him the grip | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
that he was looking for and he basically had to bail out of the | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
corner from that point on. Nonetheless I think Lewis Hamilton | :02:43. | :02:44. | |
will be thoroughly looking forward to this weekend. 2008, he actually | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
won this race on the road, the year that he won the championship. He | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
then picked up a 25 second penalty. A lot of people felt it was a very | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
unfair penalty that he was given. They sell felt it was a bit of | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
creativity. It was Felipe Massa who may have put it on that occasion. He | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
had a dice with Kimi Raikkonen, a big battle. Kimi Raikkonen lead in | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
the early stages and then we got the rain and it made life difficult, and | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
Lewis cut the chicane. It was a classic race. Felipe Massa came | :03:27. | :03:29. | |
through to take the victory on that occasion. Lewis is one of the | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
drivers on the grid that has won this race in the past, his victory | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
coming in 2010, along with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, | :03:39. | :03:49. | |
one time a winner. Pole position for Jenson Button here in 2012, his only | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
pole position while he has been at McLaren since his World Championship | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
winning year of 2009, which seems pretty amazing. That was against | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
Lewis Hamilton in the same car, wasn't it? It was, and it was the | :04:05. | :04:22. | |
two eating episode as well. -- the tweeting episode. The team were very | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
unhappy about that! The tweeting thing, what it was about, there were | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
three very distinct sections to this circuit. You can set it with | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
slightly higher drag, for sector two, which is the one with the | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
twists and turns. That is one of the things to think about here. Yes, | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
that is the compromise. He got the wrong compromise. He wanted to know | :04:49. | :04:57. | |
it was not his skill that had caused the problem. Someone said to him, | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
can you tweet as the car setup as well please? ! That is a replay of | :05:04. | :05:13. | |
Felipe Massa. The car looking a bit difficult to drive at the moment. We | :05:14. | :05:23. | |
know the Williams has a fairly low drag setup. Jenson Button currently | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
fourth fastest in this session. Andre Lotterer still quicker than | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
his team-mate Marcus Ericsson. Alexander Rossi has gone 20th. He | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
has moved ahead of the two Caterhams in the Marussia. If you | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
missed the early part, it has been all change at Mauritius this | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
weekend, a bit of musical chairs going on. Max Chilton, who we | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
thought was going to change, has gone. -- we thought was going to | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
drive. Alexander Rossi is doing this morning's session but we gather that | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
Max Chilton will be back in the car this afternoon. This is a key | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
braking area for Ferrari. Not a major driver and yet so rates back | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
up across the line. That moves him up to fifth place now, a couple of | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
places behind team-mate Fernando Alonso. Generally Kimi Raikkonen has | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
been happier with the car in the last couple of events. He got his | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
best result of the season last time out in Hungary, only a sixth place, | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
but still his best result of the season. It is perhaps a little | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
indicator that Kimi Raikkonen is feeling at home back at Ferrari. He | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
said he was looking forward to the second part of the season, it | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
certainly couldn't be any worse than the first. He just sort of stopped | :06:55. | :07:03. | |
talking at that point! He was amused when he was asked about the fact | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
that with Max Verstappen coming in next year that he had raced against | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
his father, and how did he feel about that? We did get a big smile | :07:13. | :07:22. | |
from Kimi Raikkonen about that! Kimi Raikkonen the only driver on the | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
grid born in the 1970s. 1979 he was born. Now we have got drivers who | :07:27. | :07:35. | |
are being born in the late 1990s! It is scary, isn't it? It makes us feel | :07:36. | :07:43. | |
old. Grant Campbell, thank you for contacting us. He says is Kimi | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
Raikkonen's position under scrutiny for next year? He has had a pretty | :07:49. | :07:56. | |
torrid time, hasn't he? If that doesn't improve, they can't go | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
forward with that. But they have already paid him off early once, | :08:01. | :08:02. | |
when they took Fernando already paid him off early once, | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
do that again would be a huge slice... | :08:09. | :08:11. | |
It would be tricky, wouldn't it? You would think that Kimi Raikkonen and | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
Fernando Alonso is still a pretty impressive driver line-up. But | :08:19. | :08:27. | |
question to you here, Stephan writes in and says does Max Verstappen's | :08:28. | :08:34. | |
age reflect on these of Formula One cartons to drive -- cars to drive | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
now? -- the easiness to drive. They are certainly easier to drive | :08:41. | :08:49. | |
now than they were ten years ago. There is much less downforce now so | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
in the corners, if you just look at the qualifying pace and the race | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
pace, it is so much slower, so therefore physically it is a lot | :08:57. | :09:04. | |
easier. Mentally he has been brought up with this complexity of car in | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
mind, so you testing he will be doing between now and the race next | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
year will be with that mindset. I think he will be prepared that way | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
but what I think he will struggle with is the constants of Formula | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
One. When you start at the beginning of the year until you get that break | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
we have just had, you are on the treadmill. The Dutch fans will be | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
going nuts about it. That whole interest, suddenly he goes from | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
being a 16-year-old kid to a household name in his own nation. I | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
think that will be the hardest thing for Max Verstappen to get used to. | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
You did an interview with Max Verstappen which we will be showing | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
an BBC television over the weekend, how did you find him? I was very | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
impressed by him. I was not sure what to expect. He is not a young | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
driver who I have worked with before. We talk about carts and | :09:58. | :10:05. | |
cars, but he only got in a single seater car | :10:06. | :10:06. | |
cars, but he only got in a single he had only driven karts. By the end | :10:07. | :10:18. | |
of the interview I felt I could push him like I would a normal Formula | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
One driver. You didn't come across as being young and immature. He said | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
his father retired from Formula One racing purely to almost groom him | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
and create him as the next Formula One driver, which I felt was really | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
interesting. He said that whilst his father had been losing a lot of | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
sleep over the last few weeks, when it came down to contracts, he was | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
very relaxed! He was sleeping right up until the alarm, he told us! He | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
was very engaging and a wise head on young shoulders. Fascinating and we | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
will be able to see that interview on BBC1 tomorrow. It will be | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
fascinating to see how he comes across. Jos Verstappen come at his | :11:00. | :11:13. | |
father, you know a lot about his career. It started early in Formula | :11:14. | :11:23. | |
One. He was shot into Formula One is initially as a test driver but after | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
an accident for a regular driver at Benetton, he was suddenly a race | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
driver. He came up and did a very impressive arrows test. On the back | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
of that, he attracted the attention of Flavio Briatore and he was put in | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
the Benetton team, that was when it was Michael Schumacher's team. The | :11:44. | :11:50. | |
combination of circumstances did not work out for the best for Jos. Quite | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
a quick guy, an instinctive racer, and I don't think he got the | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
opportunities that his ability deserved. I was looking back over | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
his career yesterday and reminding myself of a few things, and he | :12:05. | :12:12. | |
replaced Jan Magnussen, when he was not delivering one season, and Jos | :12:13. | :12:20. | |
did not do much better that year. It didn't do either of them any | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
favours, that, really. Now Max will be racing in Formula One. A comment | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
says I can't get my head around Verstappen. I am 17 and I do some | :12:32. | :12:42. | |
karting occasionally, he is 16 and he has already signed for Formula | :12:43. | :12:49. | |
One! A lots of young people must be thinking you are too late to get | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
into Formula One, but it is not the only way, is it? Andre Lotterer is | :12:55. | :13:03. | |
debuting at 32 this weekend. Damon Hill was 31 when he died viewed. | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
Four years later he won the World Championship. You never know what | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
can happen. Max Verstappen is such a talent, there has been a bit of a | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
squabble to get his signature on a bit of paper. What can Red Bull | :13:22. | :13:23. | |
offer that Mercedes can't? Probably bit of paper. What can Red Bull | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
a race seat. I imagine that is what drove that. No major changes in the | :13:28. | :13:37. | |
order, was the first and Hamilton second. This is what Hamilton did a | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
moment ago, a little lock up forcing him wide and he cut the corner. He | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
missed the ramps that are there to prevent cars making any advantage | :13:49. | :13:49. | |
going through that section. Alan, we could hear you marching | :13:50. | :14:04. | |
along somewhere when we were talking to you last time, where have you | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
managed to get to and what are you seeing? Have we got Alan? Not just | :14:08. | :14:24. | |
yet. We will have to try again. Some problems for Kimi Raikkonen I think. | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
Some temperature related problems. He is being asked to come back | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
towards the pits very slowly. Not having a trouble-free time of it. | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
Interestingly, Spa is probably the hardest circuit in terms of tight | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
corners and heartbreaking, -- and hard braking. It is a tough | :14:48. | :15:02. | |
circuit, this one. A lot of tricks that they played to try and get the | :15:03. | :15:17. | |
most out of the cars. Let's see what he had to say yesterday, following | :15:18. | :15:23. | |
that second place finish in Hungary and what it might predict for the | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
rest of the season. Well, we finished good in Hungary, and we | :15:29. | :15:45. | |
know it is going to be tough, especially with the dried and the | :15:46. | :15:56. | |
speed, important for the lap time. That will probably favour Williams, | :15:57. | :16:04. | |
our main competitors. We have to defend, damage and notation for the | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
next two races and then attack. It has been rocking backwards and | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
forwards. They managed to snatch it away from Ferrari after the German | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
Grand Prix. Alonso retook third for Ferrari. Millions of dollars are for | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
grabs in the difference between third, fourth and fifth in the | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
Constructors' Championship. I think it means more difference for | :16:26. | :16:35. | |
Williams and Ferrari. They need Felipe Massa delivering the | :16:36. | :16:46. | |
consistency we have seen. He's had three first lap eliminations this | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
season. They need him to be scoring. He scored some decent points last | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
time. He finished fifth in Hungary. Bottas was out of luck in the timing | :16:57. | :16:58. | |
of the safety car and then when they had a slow pit stop. Everything | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
counted against him. You are right, we're waiting for Felipe Massa's | :17:02. | :17:11. | |
first podium of the year. Lee spoke to Felipe Massa and talked about his | :17:12. | :17:18. | |
hopes for the season, and his new relationship with Williams, which is | :17:19. | :17:20. | |
really burgeoning. It's lovely to see them back on form again. With a | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
driver like Felipe Massa, who has the experience to help them through | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
the next section? It's a good line-up they have got, and if they | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
can it will be good for them. They are no-nonsense guys. Felipe Massa | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
has been around, he's got a lot of experience. A lot of people feel | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
that Williams have their best chance here this weekend. They were strong | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
in Austria but this is another track that should suit them. Let's see | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
what they said yesterday to calm about it being one of their best | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
chances. I hope we can be really competitive here, I hope we can have | :18:04. | :18:13. | |
a great race. If we have the chance to win it will be an incredible | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
feeling. Everybody talks about the straight-line advantage of Williams, | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
you were fastest through the speed track in Hungary. Sector two could | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
be difficult. Just give us your thoughts about getting the most out | :18:34. | :18:34. | |
of a lap. I think it is maybe one where we suffering a little bit | :18:35. | :18:36. | |
compared to previously. Maybe the car can be competitive anyway in | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
sector two for whatever reason. We have a car that was competitive in | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
Silverstone as well. We need to believe, we need to see how the car | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
will behave tomorrow and also Saturday, in qualifying. So, Felipe | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
Massa, they are not showing particular form in practice one, but | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
that has been quite common in recent events. That is nothing different to | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
what they have been doing in recent events. We are talking about | :19:05. | :19:11. | |
favourites to watch, one viewer says the pit and start and finish | :19:12. | :19:19. | |
straight are good to watch from. You were watching, what did you see? It | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
is unfortunate that you could not hear me, I was in one of the nicest | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
places you could watch Formula One. The bottom of Eau Rouge. They flush | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
left, through the compression and up the hill to the right. The Williams, | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
we just heard from Felipe Massa, he seemed to take it with a big lift, | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
and then powered up the hill. That's the best way to do it. If you are | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
going to lift, you left early. On the other side, the Marussia was | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
flat out. It probably arrived about 15 kilometres per hour slower than | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
stop Kimi Raikkonen did not look that stable. He looked a bit | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
tentative. That's interesting. I guess the Marussia would be | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
Bianchi. He's only a fraction slower than Maldonado. He's still quicker | :20:14. | :20:24. | |
than Van der Garde. Alexander Rossi is quicker, and Andre Lotterer makes | :20:25. | :20:34. | |
his debut in Formula One. We are watching another driver that has not | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
had a chance to do much racing. Van der Garde. Perhaps another driver to | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
think of, another Dutch driver. A lot of interest in the Netherlands. | :20:47. | :20:55. | |
Especially now Max Verstappen has been announced. His sister is only | :20:56. | :21:04. | |
just behind as well. She is racing in carts. She tried when she was | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
eight and was eight and wasn't that interested, but they are going to | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
have another go. Obviously a racing family, very much in their genes. | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
He will be appearing in Austin and he may be doing a couple more. We | :21:24. | :21:31. | |
saw that last year, being brought into do some of the morning practice | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
sessions. A bit of slow motion action of Van der Garde and the | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
Sauber. They have been beginning to make some progress, but they are yet | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
to score any points in the World Championship. They have that task. | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
They are still being beaten by Marussia in the construction points. | :21:51. | :21:53. | |
This is a race where you have to think, you could have rain, | :21:54. | :22:08. | |
Gutierrez and Sutil have been good in the wet. We knew he was good, but | :22:09. | :22:16. | |
to win two Grand Prix in the last five, in a car that everybody knows | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
is not the best car out there, it has been stunning. What has been | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
impressive, apart from the outright pace, it is how composed he is in | :22:24. | :22:31. | |
racing situations. It has been commented on by Alonzo, Hamilton. He | :22:32. | :22:33. | |
does everything right. He is great in wheel-to-wheel combat. Star of | :22:34. | :22:46. | |
the year for me. He has been in several. The move in Hungary, very | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
decisive, on better tyres than Fernando Alonso by that late stage | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
of the race. But there was never going to be any doubt. Once he was | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
in second place he was going for the win. Some drivers get there and | :23:01. | :23:08. | |
can't make the move, he does it straightaway. Perhaps not expected. | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
It was Vergne that seemed to be the better racer, the more aggressive at | :23:16. | :23:22. | |
overtaking, the guy who lost fewer places on the opening lap? But | :23:23. | :23:25. | |
overtaking, the guy who lost fewer they've put that behind them now? To | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
an extent, it was Daniel qualifying higher up | :23:30. | :23:30. | |
an extent, it was Daniel qualifying have been and then going backwards, | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
which did not help him. But you are right. At the time the decision was | :23:34. | :23:47. | |
made, he had a couple of races were Jean-Eric Vergne had outperformed | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
him. Force India have had great results in the past. That remarkable | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
second place in 2009, eaten by Kimi Raikkonen, but a fantastic | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
performance plan. -- eaten. Struggled, because he moved to | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
Ferrari and could not get on with the Ferrari at all, but a team that | :24:10. | :24:18. | |
delivers strong results. In the Jordan days, Rubens barrack LO made | :24:19. | :24:29. | |
their first place. They had a poor Hungary. Nico Hulkenberg was the | :24:30. | :24:41. | |
only non-finish of his season so far and it was his mistake because he | :24:42. | :24:44. | |
drove into his team-mate. Then Peres went off in an incident where he | :24:45. | :24:46. | |
crashed against the pit wall. Not a good weekend for them? They have | :24:47. | :24:48. | |
only taken 11 points from the last races. They could have done without | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
that. They had been scoring consistently good points over the | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
last three races. So, that has hurt them a bit. There will be looking to | :24:59. | :25:05. | |
put that right. McLaren missed a trick. They are still a point | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
behind. If they had not gone for the tyre choice, it was all very | :25:12. | :25:20. | |
strange, they had a real chance to move ahead. A Laurel and Hardy | :25:21. | :25:28. | |
moment. The team boss at Sauber, that you saw a moment ago, they are | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
still waiting for the start of the season. Qipco, we will look. A lack | :25:36. | :25:57. | |
of power or power steering? Just power, power. I thought he said | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
power steering as well. He has problems with power steering as | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
well. Some of your comments are coming in, right of Sebastian Vettel | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
at your peril, I reckon he will destroy Ricardo in the Asian races, | :26:15. | :26:23. | |
barring any problems. You say that, but we have fewer Asian races. He's | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
always dominated some of those events, but they are not on the | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
calendar this weekend. But Singapore is always a great race for Sebastian | :26:34. | :26:36. | |
Vettel and they know they should be more competitive there. I don't | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
think he will destroy him anyway. He has the genuine pace. It might be | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
close, but I don't see them reversing. There is a gap of 43 | :26:48. | :26:56. | |
points between Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel. I don't think | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
anybody would have thought that going into the season. Magnussen, | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
maybe a little bit wider over the kerb, but I don't think anything | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
went wrong. He clipped the gravel with the rear wheel. The load was | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
off the car by then so he got away with it. Lewis Hamilton, through Eau | :27:19. | :27:26. | |
Rouge. That is a scary place to suffer a moment. The cars in pretty | :27:27. | :27:34. | |
much full compression. Pretty much just as well they have power | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
steering nowadays. Look at that, a fabulous shot. That gives you some | :27:39. | :27:41. | |
idea of the loading going through the car. In the old days, a snap | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
like that would have been incredibly difficult. The drivers were talking | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
yesterday about how physically hardly older cars used to be. I'm | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
not sure you would have got away with that. I don't think you would | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
have got that back. Jenson Button getting upset, I'm not sure who got | :27:58. | :28:00. | |
have got that back. Jenson Button in his way. I was talking to our | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
very own David Coulthard yesterday. He said when he was test driver for | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
Williams and had to drive Nigel Mansell's setup with the small | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
steering wheel he used to use, he could not adjust the line once he | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
was into a quick corner, with the downforce and heavy steering they | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
had, there was no way he could change direction. I remember seeing | :28:20. | :28:28. | |
a horrifying shunt in 1993, when they still had active ride. A | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
warning light in the cockpit came on if there was an active failure. It | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
came on when he was in compression, the car sat down on the deck and he | :28:40. | :28:42. | |
had the most enormous accident. He said had it been first race of the | :28:43. | :28:45. | |
season he probably would not have survived. He said his neck was a | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
stronger with the mileage. I saw him two weeks later and his eyes were | :28:52. | :28:52. | |
still bloodshot, both eyes. Sebastian Vettel having a good look | :28:53. | :29:01. | |
around his car. Six minutes to go. It has been a fairly quiet session | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
in terms of the number of laps. It is a long lap, which may have some | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
bearing. Engine mileage is key. We do think Sebastian Vettel may well | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
have had to change an element of his engine soon. Could incur a ten place | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
penalty when he does. They have five power units to use during the | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
season. Each individual element counts towards that. If you change | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
the internal combustion engine or the turbocharger, once you have used | :29:31. | :29:33. | |
five of those separate elements and move onto the sixth of any of them, | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
you get a ten place grid penalty. Quite a few drivers are in that | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
zone. You can still keep going back to one you have used and you don't | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
get a penalty, as soon as you go to number six, a new version that has | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
been used, you'll start getting penalties. Alan, I think you know | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
more this? One other factor is the number of miles the teams have done | :29:57. | :30:00. | |
this year. McLaren have done the most number of miles in all of the | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
sessions combined. As we go into the second part of the Championship, I | :30:07. | :30:09. | |
think this will be much more of a factor. You have a 25% difference | :30:10. | :30:17. | |
between McLaren's number of miles and the Caterham, which shows the | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
reliability problems they have had. I do think that Red Bull, with the | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
reliability issues they have had to the early part, and the Renault | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
engines, this is going to be gay key factor as we moving -- this is great | :30:32. | :30:38. | |
to be a key factor as we move into the end of the Championships. Saw | :30:39. | :30:47. | |
the other teams, Lotus team for example, they are close to incurring | :30:48. | :30:51. | |
penalties. A couple of quick collapse from Andre Lotterer and | :30:52. | :31:01. | |
Marcus Ericsson. Andre Lotterer was quicker than his team-mate. But | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
they've done 20 laps on these tyres, so it is unlikely they will improve | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
the lap time at this stage. I imagine that as part of the reason | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
why we have not seen many laps being set by some of the drivers. They | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
can't get much more life out of these medium compound tyres. In the | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
second session we will see the first use of the softer tyre to see what | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
the difference will be. Currently, the fastest time is 1:51.577. No | :31:27. | :31:38. | |
improvement on that last lap. He is still 22nd slowest. | :31:39. | :31:45. | |
Alonso, keeping Ferrari in the hunt. Raikkonen showing reasonable | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
promise, although his lap time is quite a lot slower. The Red Bulls | :31:51. | :32:01. | |
are a little lower down. This was always going to be a more difficult | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
track, but don't count them out yet. They will be fighting. If there are | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
changeable conditions you can imagine Red Bull would be eager to | :32:11. | :32:12. | |
take full advantage. Watching Rosberg year, let's just | :32:13. | :32:23. | |
see him as he comes through the last part of the lap. Down towards the | :32:24. | :32:30. | |
bus stop. We saw some braking problems here earlier from both | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
Mercedes, a bit unstable on the braking. Now things looking a lot | :32:35. | :32:44. | |
more controlled. 1.56.8. He is carrying a bit more fuel now and | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
those tyres are well past their best. The hairpin where we have seen | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
so many incidents in the past. It is a factor here that getting around | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
the first corner, as we have seen most recently in 2012 when Romain | :33:00. | :33:13. | |
Grosjean made contact with Hamilton and launched over Alonso, it is not | :33:14. | :34:16. | |
an easy first corner, one of the trickiest probably in Formula One. | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
You could hear that scraping sound, the bottom of the car being | :34:21. | :34:30. | |
compressed into the road surface. The plank at the bottom of the car, | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
there to take the impact. You could hear the blocks touching the | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
surface. Michael Schumacher was disqualified here for wearing that | :34:41. | :34:50. | |
excessively. The contact it is making with the road has to be | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
assessed all of the time. Another great corner here. But looks to be | :34:54. | :35:06. | |
the last chicane now. When they say the biggest loss, it has probably a | :35:07. | :35:11. | |
few hundredths of a second, they are so evenly matched. The chequered | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
flag is out on the session. We have seen the first hour and a half | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
completed here at Spa without any major dramas. One or two little | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
dramas. An unusual place to be suffering oversteer. It cost him | :35:27. | :35:33. | |
time as well. Maybe indicating the tyres are well past their best. We | :35:34. | :35:40. | |
will see that from the helicopter view as well. It's going to be a lap | :35:41. | :35:49. | |
time that is quite a lot slower than he achieved earlier on. We're | :35:50. | :36:03. | |
presuming they are running the same fuel set-ups, I think Lewis Hamilton | :36:04. | :36:29. | |
will be quite happy with that. I think they run a bit less fuel. | :36:30. | :36:36. | |
Let's quickly run think they run a bit less fuel. | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
times. Hamilton and Rosberg the think they run a bit less fuel. | :36:44. | :37:07. | |
two. Lotterer was 21st and faster than his team-mate Marcus Ericsson. | :37:08. | :37:24. | |
That has been the first practice session. We were just looking at the | :37:25. | :37:34. | |
Ferrari. A difficult session blighted by a lot of technical | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
problems. They have had a few technical problems but Ferrari are a | :37:41. | :37:55. | |
and he thought it was going to be a good circuit. Also, compared to | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
Williams, one of their strongest competitors. It will be good in | :38:02. | :38:04. | |
terms of straight-line speed, but it will be good in terms of | :38:05. | :38:06. | |
straight-line speed, but it's determined by if they can be | :38:07. | :38:09. | |
flat-out through Eau Rouge. If they can't, it harms the length of the | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
big long straight and their capability to extract the low drag | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
from the car. I spoke to Felipe Massa yesterday, he is desperate to | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
get his first podium. Bottas has had three. He's really keen for that | :38:25. | :38:30. | |
pole position. You can see Rosberg topping the time sheets. A good day | :38:31. | :38:39. | |
for Button. Peres is ahead of Hulkenberg. It isn't a surprise, if | :38:40. | :38:49. | |
you go back to Canada, the Mercedes runners were at the front and the | :38:50. | :38:52. | |
other guys will be struggling behind them. A good day for Andre Lotterer | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
as well. Will Max Chilton be back in? We think so. Join us on BBC Two. | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
We will see you later. MUSIC: "Black Skinhead" | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
by Kanye West This year's rugby league | :39:07. | :39:08. | |
Challenge Cup giants | :39:09. | :39:24. |