Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice 1 Formula 1


Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice 1

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Welcome to Sao Paolo in Brazil

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for the penultimate race weekend of the season.

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This incredible race track snakes through the hills

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high above one of the most populated cities in the world.

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Allan McNish, it's always such a pleasure to come to this circuit,

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but just look at it behind us. It looks like a rollercoaster.

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What's it like to drive?

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That's one of the reasons drivers like it so much.

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You've got a fast flowing section,

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but also in the middle sector here, it's extremely tight

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and it's also quite technical as well

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so it's hard for the driver, hard for the tyres

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and hard for the engineers as well to set up,

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but I think we're going to see extremely high top speeds here,

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over 210mph diving into turn one.

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But what are we going to see weather-wise?

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Because this race always throws up some real surprises.

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We've not actually had a dry Friday since the Singapore Grand Prix.

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I imagine the teams will be out on track wet or dry

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-just to get the experience.

-The sun's out at the moment

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and we know that Free Practice One is going to be dry.

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However, weather forecast is for thunderstorms

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and rain through the course of the weekend and this afternoon

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so I think they will be getting out onto track a lot this morning

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because if it is the only dry session

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and the track surface changed last year,

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we saw very high track temperatures

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and that had a big effect on the tyres

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so I think they'll try to gain as much experience as they can

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in the dry, but clearly in the wet as well.

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Lewis Hamilton has never actually won at this circuit

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and he's not really had a great week of preparation so far.

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He arrives here a little under the weather, he's been struggling

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with a fever, but you might have seen the headlines.

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In Monday night in Monaco,

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he managed to crash his £1.5 million supercar.

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He'll be hoping for a trouble-free session at the least, but hopefully

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he'll be here making the headlines for the right reasons this weekend.

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It's business as usual and, as you can see,

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for the second year in a row, he is the one who tops the table.

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The winner last time out in Mexico, Nico Rosberg,

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he moves back up to second in the championship after Vettel's DNF

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in the Mexican Grand Prix, he's now trailing by 21 points.

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The Finns who can't seem to keep apart on the racetrack

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are pretty close here, too.

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Bottas leads Raikkonen by three points

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and good to see Max Verstappen in tenth in his rookie season.

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Mercedes sewed up the constructors' title three races ago in Russia

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and Ferrari are in second.

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Williams come next, but it gets a little more interesting

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if we look further down that table.

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Force India seem in control in fifth,

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but could still be vulnerable to Lotus, who are chased by Toro Rosso.

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The only race McLaren are in

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is trying to pass Sauber in the championship,

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sadly, if not on track.

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The Mexican Grand Prix, the atmosphere was amazing.

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Nico Rosberg seems determined to finish this season in style

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and win every race and he dominated in Mexico.

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He certainly did and if we rewind last year here,

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he also dominated all the way through practice

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and he won the race as well from pole position

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and that was basically one of his strongest race weekends last year

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so he needs to do that going into Abu Dhabi

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because he needs to build himself for 2016.

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This year's clearly gone,

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he's only got the fight for second in the championship,

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but it is going to be a tough battle for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

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And what did you make of another coming together

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from Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen?

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They're both fighting for fourth in the championship

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and the reason they're so close in the points

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is because their cars are quite equal

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and they're equal in performance

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so it's no surprise they end up in the same bit of tarmac,

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but it's two Finns and this weekend, they've got a Finnish steward

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so I'm sure both of them end up there,

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there's going to be a lot of strong talking Finnish language coming out.

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They'll certainly all be able to understand each other.

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In the commentary box today, we have Ben Edwards and Tony Dodgins.

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We touched upon the fantastic atmosphere in Mexico,

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but this place certainly knows how to put on a party.

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It does indeed, Lee.

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There's always been great passion

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going right back to when Emerson Fittipaldi,

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the Brazilian driver, won the first Grand Prix held here in 1973

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and that's just part of the passion

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that has been created here over the years, Tony.

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They love it here. Emerson was a great global celebrity

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and he was sort of on the same level as Pele back in 1970

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when he won his fourth Grand Prix

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and so he brought motor racing to Brazil and they just love it.

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The session is just getting underway now.

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Cars heading down to the end of the pit lane and they've got to bend

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their way on the inside of the first corner to get out

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onto the track here, it's a left and right down the hill.

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Revised paddock facilities which we probably won't see much

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actual footage of because they're tucked in behind the pit garages,

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but there's been quite a lot of work done since the race here

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last year to build a new hospitality building for all of the race team.

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Not quite finished yet,

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so it doesn't look as immaculate as it might have done.

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There are a few rough edges around.

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It's not quite finished, but the press room's still the same,

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but who cares? It's a great facility and it's got real passion.

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-It's like Mexico, it's one of those venues.

-It is, definitely.

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Daniil Kvyat, one of the early drivers on circuit.

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Jolyon Palmer is on track,

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you just saw the Lotus heading down to do a practice start.

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I think he's the only third driver to be out this morning.

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I think all the regulars are aboard their cars apart from Jolyon Palmer,

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who of course will be a regular next year when he drives for Lotus.

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Again, Lotus have had a few problems this weekend.

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They weren't allowed access to their cars

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here at the circuit on Wednesday, but thankfully things were sorted out

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by Thursday and the mechanics could get to work on their cars.

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Nico Hulkenberg ready to come out for Force India.

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He's always gone well here in the past so he could be one to watch.

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He had a pole position very famously with Williams, but he's also

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led on a couple of occasions, including last year for a while.

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He was out of sequence in terms of pit stops with some of the others,

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but he always goes well here.

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He does, he had a fantastic race in 2012, battling with the McLarens.

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He was outbraking McLarens into Turn 1 and that was a fabulous drive

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and the pole position you mentioned, that was really good.

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It was changing conditions and you had to seize the moment

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and he did exactly that

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and served notice of intent and showed his talent.

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There's a big aero rake as they're referred to

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on the back of Kimi Raikkonen's car.

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It's a series of tubes just to measure the airflow

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that's really coming off the rear wheel.

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Of course, an open-wheel single seater Formula One car

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throws a lot of turbulence off the tyres

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and what they're trying to do is measure that turbulence off the tyre

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and how it affects around the rear wing

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and around the diffuser, the lower part of the back of the car,

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underneath the gearbox. The engine and gearbox right at the back

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and it's that airflow around that section that is so vital.

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Absolutely, it's the diffuser that generates

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most of the downforce on a Formula One car

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and there's a lot of gains to be made in that area

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and about getting the airflow

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from the front to the back efficiently

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and getting the downforce,

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but they want to know exactly what's going on in that area.

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The Williams of Felipe Massa on track,

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one of two Brazilians racing here this weekend, both called Felipe.

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Felipe Massa and Felipe Nasr were in the press conference yesterday,

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talking to the world's assembled media.

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He's won twice here, but it's a bit of a long gap

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since he last took a victory, that very famous win in 2008.

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Yeah, you had to feel so sorry for him on that occasion.

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I know it was Lewis's title, but it was the most dramatic conclusion

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to a season in Formula One history.

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But the way he handled that - for 20 odd seconds,

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he thought he was world champion

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and then Lewis got the required place -

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he got the point and Felipe had to swallow that disappointment.

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I think he handled himself impeccably.

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Yeah, and he spoke very well yesterday of the delights

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of driving here on his home track. It means so much to him.

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He was born in Sao Paolo,

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he grew up karting on the kart track,

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which is just over to the side of this main Grand Prix circuit

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so it means a massive amount to him to be racing once again here.

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So he's brought the car in.

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Most cars have been out just for their normal installation lap.

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Nobody completing a flying lap as yet.

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Fernando Alonso is also running some aero testing equipment

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at the front of the car so it's hanging down beside the cockpit

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and trying to check out the airflow around the front end.

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He was quite interesting, talking yesterday about this season,

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which of course has been really determined

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by the lack of performance from the Honda engine.

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But interestingly he made the point that perhaps he hasn't delivered

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his best game this year as well.

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He was quite candid about that.

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He said there had been odd laps here and there

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which had been sensational.

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He talked about a lap in Japan, he said his Austin race was great,

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but he said, apart from that, he said you get more motivation

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when you're racing in the front

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so perhaps he was on energy saving mode

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and needs to come back better next year.

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He's hoping that they make an advance over the winter

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and he's able to compete at the front,

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which is where he feels he belongs.

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I think a lot of F1 fans are hoping McLaren and Honda,

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in particular, make that big step.

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Allan's now with us from the pit lane.

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Allan, just talk to us a bit about those comments Alonso made yesterday.

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In terms of motivation, for a driver of his calibre,

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a double world champion, a man used to scoring wins and podiums,

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it must have been a tough season to keep motivated in.

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Yes, I think it was, but 12 months ago,

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that was one of the reasons he left Ferrari

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because he wasn't motivated

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and feeling that he had the chance to win a world championship,

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but now Sebastian Vettel's won three Grands Prix in the car

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that he vacated and he couldn't see the podium in the McLaren so far

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and so it's been a very tough year for him. He hasn't driven his best.

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I think that he's had very strong performances,

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but he hasn't dominated in terms of speed over Jenson Button.

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I thought he should have done with the reputation

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that he arrived at McLaren with and so, from that point of view,

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he's maybe right and so he's got to dig deep

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and we do know something about Fernando Alonso -

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when he puts his mind to it,

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he can dig deep and he can pull the performances out.

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Absolutely right. We're just over five and a half minutes

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into this first 90 minute practice session

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and it is just a practice session,

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it means nothing in terms of where they qualify,

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but it is all useful data gathering.

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Tony, Jenson Button hosted a media event earlier this week in Sao Paolo

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and you were chatting to him.

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He seems to have kept his spirits up pretty well throughout the season

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and of course the same difficulties at McLaren-Honda.

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Yeah, he's another one, obviously world champion in 2009...

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Just before we go into that, look at the front end of the Mercedes car.

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Where the number 44 is on the car,

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you'll see a little blister on the front of the car.

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This is a new duct that they're running on the Mercedes

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this weekend just to look at airflow.

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Allan, I know that you were intrigued by this as well.

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This is just in front of it.

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It's on both cars here, on Nico Rosberg's and Lewis Hamilton's.

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It's a development for next year, they're trying it out here.

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They've got the championship sewn up.

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What it does is increases the airflow

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underneath the front wing of the car

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so it speeds up the airflow under the car

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which then makes the floor more efficient,

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produce more downforce

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and in a ratio of downforce from the floor relative to the wing,

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it increases the efficiency of the floor,

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which means they can ultimately take some draggy rear wing

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off the car and still have the same cornering potential.

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It's been trialled and used by a couple of other teams,

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but this is the first time we've seen it on the Mercedes.

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OK, back to you, Tony. We were talking about Jenson Button.

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Yeah, he was saying driving against Fernando is enough

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to maintain your motivation cos no matter what Alonso may say

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and being a bit self-critical,

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I think he was overly self-critical, to be quite honest.

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You look at the season he's had and he hasn't been sensational,

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but you're talking about degrees.

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You're not talking about poor,

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you're talking about excellent minus, I think,

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and in the races, he's probably outpaced Jenson most of the time

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so Jenson's said that's all you need to keep the motivation up,

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a team-mate like that,

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and he is hoping for the same kind of progress.

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He said a win might be asking too much, but at least

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competing at the front he's hoping to be able to do next year.

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As I say, a lot of F1 fans will be hoping for the same,

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to see more battling going on at the top end

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and a great team like McLaren-Honda near the front again.

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Carlos Sainz focused as he prepares to come out on track.

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He's never driven this circuit before so he's one of the few drivers

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never to have driven a lap here,

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but certainly looking forward to it

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and feeling that the Toro Rosso should be reasonably good

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through the twisty sections.

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It will lose out on the long drag up the hill out to the final corner,

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it's a very long section as they come up over the line.

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Max Verstappen HAS driven here before

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because he did the free practice session here last year.

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After it was announced he would be joining the team,

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he put in a very good session, actually.

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He was sixth fastest in that first practice session here last year.

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Good weather throughout most of last year's event.

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We had some very high track temperatures on this new surface,

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which saw the soft tyre not lasting long in the race.

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Most top drivers went for a three-stop race.

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We won't see that soft tyre out until later, but it was interesting

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to note that it really didn't last that long in that first stint.

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No, I think last year we had the highest track temperatures

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of the whole season here

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and they were coming in after seven laps for the first stop

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and they were doing three stops and going soft-medium-medium-medium.

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You might get a couple of two-stoppers here,

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but depending on track temperatures and the weather,

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we'll have to see how that develops as the weekend goes on.

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Sebastian Vettel ready to come out.

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Allan, what are your thoughts on strategy,

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decision making at least if we get a dry race?

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It all goes up in the air if we get a wet one.

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The tarmac surface is going to be the determining factor

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if it's wet or dry

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because the track surface has got a huge amount of grip,

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but with that, it means it's also got a lot of wear.

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We saw a lot of blistering last year

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and that was the critical factor on that soft tyre.

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However, the tyre is a little bit more robust

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than it was 12 months ago with the carcass of the tyre spreading

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the temperature more evenly over the surface,

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but it still will be a factor.

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Yesterday, when they had cloud cover,

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it was still at 42 degrees Celsius.

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Therefore, I expect to see pretty high temperatures

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by the end of the session.

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But if it's wet, because it's such a closed surface,

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there's nowhere for the water to go at all

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and so you normally get a lot of rivers here anyway,

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but I think you'll also see some standing water and some puddles.

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The track is definitely going to create some engineering problems

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and maybe some driving ones as well.

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They'll have to be gentle on that right foot.

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We'll look forward to that.

2:10:172:10:19

It is a track that certainly means you can't take too many liberties.

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We're watching Max Verstappen in his Toro Rosso,

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heading down towards Turn 4,

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the corner that Lewis Hamilton spun at last year

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and actually it was an interesting weekend from the point of view

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of the two Mercedes team-mates

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because Rosberg actually dominated this event.

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He was fastest in nearly all of the sessions going through,

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he was fastest in all the practice sessions

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and then took pole position by 0.03 from Lewis Hamilton,

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but in the race, he led,

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Hamilton went on a charge around the pit stops, but he made a mistake.

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It is interesting because normally in race conditions,

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Lewis has the upper hand, but every so often,

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you come to a circuit a bit like the last race in Mexico

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when you see that Nico somewhere has got an advantage

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and he seems to tune in mentally and he's strong the whole weekend,

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gets the job done, doesn't make a mistake

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and, every so often, beats Lewis.

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It doesn't happen often,

2:11:152:11:16

but it happened here and it happened last time out.

2:11:162:11:19

We're on board with Max Verstappen.

2:11:192:11:21

He's climbing up the hill across the start/finish line.

2:11:212:11:24

Pit lane on the left-hand side and into the Senna S,

2:11:242:11:27

which is very demanding on the brakes,

2:11:272:11:29

just to get the speed of entry into the corner right.

2:11:292:11:32

Into the left-hand, it drops steeply downhill,

2:11:322:11:35

which doesn't come across so much on the TV screens,

2:11:352:11:38

but it does drop quite severely there

2:11:382:11:40

and then he's through Turn 3 and along the back stretch.

2:11:402:11:43

Sergio Perez, the star of Mexico in many ways

2:11:432:11:46

because there was so much attention on him

2:11:462:11:48

throughout the course of the weekend, came home with a points finish

2:11:482:11:51

and still relishing the whole experience, I think.

2:11:512:11:55

Very mature, Sergio Perez now,

2:11:552:11:57

appreciating just what a special event that Mexican Grand Prix was.

2:11:572:12:01

Won by Nico Rosberg, of course, who we see on track now,

2:12:012:12:04

but it was all about the passion of the fans

2:12:042:12:07

and the return of Formula One to a city that had enjoyed it in the past

2:12:072:12:10

-and certainly lapped it up on this occasion.

-Absolutely.

2:12:102:12:13

He's had a good season, I've been impressed by him this year

2:12:132:12:17

and the team are very happy with him,

2:12:172:12:19

he's fitted in very well there and we talked about that thing

2:12:192:12:22

with Jenson on the Wednesday night,

2:12:222:12:25

he took the whole Force India team out, almost 70 of them,

2:12:252:12:28

bought them a meal and they're having a good relationship there

2:12:282:12:32

and they punch above their weight in many ways, that team,

2:12:322:12:36

and with a bit more budget, which they're hoping to have next year,

2:12:362:12:39

it'll be interesting to see what they can do.

2:12:392:12:41

Lewis Hamilton makes his way down the pit lane now to put in a few laps.

2:12:412:12:45

Verstappen has set the first actual flying lap,

2:12:452:12:48

a 1:16.1, as Rosberg is already pushing on quite hard.

2:12:482:12:53

Don't forget, you can get in touch with us using the hashtag #BBCF1,

2:12:532:12:57

it'd be great to have your comments and we've also been asking you

2:12:572:13:00

some of your favourite memories of the races here in Brazil

2:13:002:13:04

and several of you saying

2:13:042:13:05

it has to be Lewis winning the world title in 2008,

2:13:052:13:08

a race that Tony mentioned a few moments ago,

2:13:082:13:11

but also where Jenson Button wrapped up his title,

2:13:112:13:14

another very special weekend for British motorsport fans.

2:13:142:13:18

It was indeed.

2:13:182:13:19

It was one of those races where he came in and he had it all to lose.

2:13:192:13:23

He had to get it over the line, he had to get the points

2:13:232:13:27

and he could have lost it and a very tense weekend.

2:13:272:13:30

His qualifying wasn't great and I remember those pictures of him

2:13:302:13:34

and his dad at the end embracing and it was just great to see.

2:13:342:13:37

The funny thing was that both Jenson Button

2:13:372:13:40

and Lewis Hamilton wrapped up their titles in 2008/2009

2:13:402:13:42

with a fifth place finish in those two successive years.

2:13:422:13:46

It was enough in both cases for them to wrap up their titles,

2:13:462:13:50

but very special memories.

2:13:502:13:52

Let's see what Rosberg's first flying lap is, it will be rapid.

2:13:522:13:56

Yes, puts him straight to the top of the tree.

2:13:562:13:58

Not by a huge amount, he does 1:15.9.

2:13:582:14:00

Verstappen's already done a 1:16.1, Sainz on a 1:17.0.

2:14:002:14:04

Sainz still learning the track, getting used to how it feels.

2:14:042:14:08

We are at a slight altitude here, it's about 800 metres

2:14:082:14:12

so we've got a little bit of that lower density air,

2:14:122:14:17

but nothing like as serious as we had in Mexico where Toro Rosso,

2:14:172:14:21

for example, were in quite a lot of difficulty in terms of cooling

2:14:212:14:24

through the race and I was talking to one of their guys yesterday

2:14:242:14:28

and, at some stages during the race,

2:14:282:14:30

the drivers were having to lift off the throttle for three seconds

2:14:302:14:33

at the end of the straight to ensure

2:14:332:14:35

that there was enough cooling of the engine

2:14:352:14:37

because they were really marginal.

2:14:372:14:39

As you say, it is 800 metres.

2:14:392:14:41

Mexico, we're talking about 2,200 metres

2:14:412:14:44

so a substantial difference, almost three times higher, Mexico.

2:14:442:14:47

-RADIO:

-OK, Max, we need to lift off for engine temperatures.

2:14:472:14:50

But here it is enough to influence things like aero set-up.

2:14:502:14:55

They do run a higher set-up than they otherwise would do

2:14:552:14:58

because of the thinner air.

2:14:582:15:00

That's certainly something hopefully in terms of temperatures,

2:15:002:15:03

although that was interesting that already

2:15:032:15:05

they were saying to Max, "We need to lift off

2:15:052:15:07

"o cool engine temperatures," so that was intriguing.

2:15:072:15:11

The track temperature is 38 at the moment, air temperature 27,

2:15:112:15:14

could easily be more than that.

2:15:142:15:16

Let's take a look at a replay of Carlos Sainz a moment ago.

2:15:162:15:19

He's still learning the track

2:15:192:15:22

and you can just see a little lock-up on the right front,

2:15:222:15:24

but that is a corner where we'll see a lot of that

2:15:242:15:26

as we go through the course of the weekend.

2:15:262:15:28

There's nothing unusual to see a little lock-up there,

2:15:282:15:31

so we'll see plenty more of that

2:15:312:15:33

throughout the course of the next few days.

2:15:332:15:36

Rosberg fastest then,

2:15:362:15:37

he's just gone a little bit faster on his second flying lap, 1:15.5.

2:15:372:15:40

We've got a yellow, now somebody's off.

2:15:402:15:43

Couldn't quite see who that was disappearing behind the wall there.

2:15:432:15:46

I don't think there's any major drama.

2:15:462:15:49

Ah, yes, it's just rejoining.

2:15:492:15:52

It's Max getting back on again so Verstappen just running

2:15:522:15:55

a little bit wide, but obviously sorting everything out.

2:15:552:15:59

Let's see how it looked from the onboard view.

2:15:592:16:01

He came down the Senna S through the right-hand part,

2:16:012:16:05

through the left-hand kick...

2:16:052:16:08

Oh, yes, he got a big oversteer through the left-hand part!

2:16:082:16:11

Big, big slide.

2:16:112:16:13

Then he had to try and spin turn it and that's when he obviously used

2:16:132:16:18

some of the extra part of the track to do so.

2:16:182:16:21

Sebastian Vettel kicking up the sparks in the Ferrari.

2:16:212:16:24

And did he have a spin as well? Oh, yes, he did. He went very wide.

2:16:242:16:30

Well, of course, he made a lot of mistakes in Mexico last time out.

2:16:302:16:33

Yeah, he definitely went off here, didn't he?

2:16:332:16:36

-RADIO:

-Locked the rear a little bit.

2:16:362:16:40

This is the corner where famously Kimi Raikkonen went off back in 2012

2:16:402:16:45

and decided to go a very strange route,

2:16:452:16:47

found the gate was closed and had to come back again to get on the track.

2:16:472:16:50

Yeah, he did!

2:16:502:16:53

But Vettel, of course, has had a lot of success here in the past.

2:16:532:16:57

He's had two wins, 2010, 2013,

2:16:572:16:59

and also won the title here in that remarkable race of 2012,

2:16:592:17:03

a race that Hamilton came closest to winning this Grand Prix.

2:17:032:17:06

He went out in a clash with Nico Hulkenberg and dropped places,

2:17:062:17:13

didn't go out completely, but that was a disappointment for Hamilton

2:17:132:17:16

who, as he said, really wants to win this Grand Prix

2:17:162:17:21

and he's gone fastest straight away, 1:15.1.

2:17:212:17:24

It took Ayrton Senna seven years to win this one.

2:17:242:17:27

This is Lewis's ninth attempt

2:17:272:17:30

so he said if he can get it done this time, that will be all good.

2:17:302:17:33

He's very determined, very fired up to try and win it this weekend

2:17:332:17:37

and that's a very good opening foray there with a lap time of 1:15.1.

2:17:372:17:42

Of course, the track will be still gaining some grip

2:17:422:17:45

and getting faster and faster as we go through this session.

2:17:452:17:47

But the early laps on this medium compound tyre are often the ones

2:17:472:17:50

that determine the lap time. Improvement there from Rosberg

2:17:502:17:53

to close within two-hundredths of a second of Hamilton's time,

2:17:532:17:57

but watch out for Hamilton,

2:17:572:17:59

I think he might put a series of relatively quick laps together here.

2:17:592:18:01

Alonso on track, Palmer pops in a lap time

2:18:012:18:04

that puts him seventh for the moment.

2:18:042:18:06

11 cars have so far established a lap time,

2:18:062:18:09

still waiting for several others to come out

2:18:092:18:12

and put in a series of flying laps,

2:18:122:18:15

but that's fairly conventional running on a Friday morning.

2:18:152:18:19

They might try and get a bit more running in

2:18:192:18:22

with that forecast of rain for the second session,

2:18:222:18:24

but I think generally you will see them

2:18:242:18:26

stick with the medium compound tyre.

2:18:262:18:28

They've got this extra set that they can use now

2:18:282:18:30

in the first half an hour so they've still got another ten minutes

2:18:302:18:33

or so of use on this tyre before they have to take that set of tyres off,

2:18:332:18:37

give them back to the FIA and then put on a new set.

2:18:372:18:40

Button's just gone sixth quickest

2:18:402:18:42

so that's a reasonably encouraging start

2:18:422:18:44

as we look at Marcus Ericsson...

2:18:442:18:46

Sorry, we're looking at Felipe Nasr,

2:18:462:18:48

we're looking at the other Sauber at the moment, the Brazilian,

2:18:482:18:51

of course, who is going to be racing on a home track.

2:18:512:18:54

He did race here in the Formula BMW days, his junior days.

2:18:542:18:58

He raced against Alexander Rossi here in Formula BMW.

2:18:582:19:02

That was the first race he ever did out of karts

2:19:022:19:05

when he came here and Rossi did that whole season

2:19:052:19:07

and won the BMW championship and Felipe Nasr did that last race,

2:19:072:19:12

which supported the Brazilian Grand Prix here.

2:19:122:19:15

-RADIO:

-It feels like we are weaving quite a bit.

-Yep, copy that, Marcus.

2:19:162:19:20

The radio from his team-mate. I think he had a podium

2:19:202:19:24

on that occasion so that was a pretty good debut, wasn't it?

2:19:242:19:28

It was a good start! There's obviously a keen rivalry

2:19:282:19:32

between those two, Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi,

2:19:322:19:35

and Stevens hasn't driven here whereas Rossi has,

2:19:352:19:38

-but it's a while ago.

-And I was talking to Rossi yesterday

2:19:382:19:41

and although it was a while ago and Formula BMW very different,

2:19:412:19:45

he did say he loved the track from his experience here.

2:19:452:19:47

He took two poles and two wins on that occasion

2:19:472:19:50

and he was up against some of the quick Europeans

2:19:502:19:52

that had come over as well so he said he was maybe a bit of the underdog,

2:19:522:19:55

but he had a fantastic weekend.

2:19:552:19:57

Alexander Rossi doing a good job,

2:19:572:19:59

his last Grand Prix for Marussia this year.

2:19:592:20:02

Looking at a replay here of Nasr's lock-up.

2:20:022:20:06

That left front as he went into the first corner.

2:20:062:20:09

Rossi will not race in Abu Dhabi because there is a GP2 race

2:20:092:20:14

and he is looking for victories to add to his tally in that.

2:20:142:20:18

We'll have Roberto Mehri back in the car,

2:20:182:20:21

but he is hopeful of securing a

2:20:212:20:22

drive next season full-time and there have

2:20:222:20:25

been stories linking Tavo Hellmund

2:20:252:20:29

who was involved in the Mexican Grand Prix,

2:20:292:20:31

he's been linked to an investment group in America

2:20:312:20:34

who are talking about buying that team.

2:20:342:20:37

If there were Americans behind that that would be good

2:20:382:20:41

for Alexander Rossi.

2:20:412:20:42

Lee, you are in the pit lane and you can see more

2:20:442:20:46

of the cars in action than at some of the pit lanes here.

2:20:462:20:49

Yes, it is interesting.

2:20:502:20:52

You are standing outside the Marussia garage and basically

2:20:522:20:55

inside Turn 1, which gives a great view to see who is locking up.

2:20:552:20:59

I saw the replay of Massa there.

2:20:592:21:01

We have had the Williams and Toro Rosso locking up.

2:21:012:21:05

It is a great place

2:21:052:21:07

to be able to see the cars on track.

2:21:072:21:09

Not often we can see them on track and be in the pit lane.

2:21:092:21:12

We're normally looking at a monitor as well.

2:21:122:21:14

So it's a fantastic circuit

2:21:142:21:15

where everything's on top of each other.

2:21:152:21:17

Lee, it is striking how much the road

2:21:212:21:23

drops away on the first section.

2:21:232:21:25

It never quite comes across on camera.

2:21:252:21:28

Absolutely, it's one of the tracks you always want to get out and walk

2:21:282:21:32

and see, because it is like a roller-coaster,

2:21:322:21:36

it is a cliche, but Turn 1

2:21:362:21:38

in particular really drops off.

2:21:382:21:39

It's interesting to see how different drivers

2:21:392:21:42

are approaching that.

2:21:422:21:43

We have seen mistakes there before

2:21:432:21:45

and I do not think it will change this weekend.

2:21:452:21:48

There will be mistakes in Free Practice 1

2:21:482:21:50

and we have seen minor mistakes already.

2:21:502:21:52

Hamilton not making any mistakes, going faster again. 1:14:06,

2:21:522:21:57

and he is on a good lap.

2:21:572:21:59

Rosberg staying within three tenths of him but Hamilton is putting

2:21:592:22:02

down a marker about how he intends to go about this weekend

2:22:022:22:05

in trying to claim his first victory on this track.

2:22:052:22:09

Massa, only tenth.

2:22:092:22:11

But Williams never tend to shine on the Friday,

2:22:112:22:14

they tend to put work into the race pace and don't tend to run the car

2:22:142:22:19

perhaps with the same amount of fuel.

2:22:192:22:22

That was a big over steer moment.

2:22:222:22:24

We only caught the end of that when we joined Massa but good

2:22:242:22:26

correction from Felipe Massa.

2:22:262:22:29

This is the replay.

2:22:292:22:31

He had to fight the wheel a couple of times to get the car

2:22:322:22:35

pointing in the right direction.

2:22:352:22:37

Williams are having a strong season, Tony, third in the

2:22:372:22:40

Constructors', where they'll end the championship.

2:22:402:22:43

It means they will have beaten Red Bull and when you look

2:22:432:22:47

at budgets, there is no doubt Williams do not have access to

2:22:472:22:50

the same budget as Red Bull.

2:22:502:22:53

It's been a solid season.

2:22:532:22:55

Perhaps no standout performances.

2:22:552:22:58

They led at the British Grand Prix for a while

2:22:582:23:00

but it has been a solid season.

2:23:002:23:02

They made a quantum leap last year and this

2:23:022:23:05

year has been about consolidation.

2:23:052:23:07

They're comfortably third,

2:23:072:23:09

130 points down on Ferrari but 70 points clear of Red Bull

2:23:092:23:14

and so a strong season.

2:23:142:23:16

They needed that because you are rewarded...

2:23:162:23:19

-RADIO:

-I am struggling massively with the overall grip on the car.

2:23:222:23:25

-We saw him sliding, didn't we.

-"Struggling with the grip", he said.

2:23:252:23:28

You are rewarded by the number of points scored

2:23:282:23:32

and they have had two seasons when they have been right up there.

2:23:322:23:36

Top three, so... That is what the doctor ordered.

2:23:362:23:40

When you talk about the battle between the teams in

2:23:402:23:43

the Constructors' Championship, one of the closest is between Lotus and

2:23:432:23:46

Toro Rosso, six points between them.

2:23:462:23:50

That's interesting.

2:23:502:23:52

Romain Grosjean was talking about that as being part of his target in

2:23:522:23:55

his last couple of races for Lotus, to help them stay ahead of

2:23:552:23:59

Toro Rosso, and he reckoned it could

2:23:592:24:02

be worth four million, the difference between

2:24:022:24:04

the positions in the Constructors' Championship.

2:24:042:24:08

Between finishing sixth and seventh.

2:24:082:24:10

It would certainly pay the hospitality bills!

2:24:102:24:14

That's right!

2:24:142:24:15

Quite a lot at stake.

2:24:152:24:17

Although the championship is sorted.

2:24:172:24:20

And all those drivers trying to be in the top ten.

2:24:212:24:24

There's a whole bunch of them.

2:24:242:24:26

Max Verstappen's in there at the moment

2:24:262:24:28

Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg, are only a couple of points behind.

2:24:282:24:31

So, who is going to be in that Top Ten?

2:24:312:24:34

There's been no Toro Rosso driver in the top ten since Sebastian Vettel

2:24:342:24:38

did it in 2008 with that team.

2:24:382:24:41

If Verstappen gets in the top ten, it will be a badge of honour.

2:24:412:24:46

Indeed, and Romain Grosjean said he is determined to get in there

2:24:462:24:49

and he is two points behind.

2:24:492:24:50

They all have their little fights to act on.

2:24:502:24:54

Look at Verstappen's season, it has been really good.

2:24:542:24:57

Nine points scored across the season in his rookie year.

2:24:572:25:01

Very impressive indeed.

2:25:012:25:04

Just watching a replay of Massa - he clouted the kerb

2:25:042:25:08

and that pushed him out wide.

2:25:082:25:10

Put too much of the belly of the car...

2:25:102:25:13

Yeah, really over the kerb too much and getting a bit carried away.

2:25:132:25:17

It looks like Felipe is trying a bit hard?

2:25:172:25:20

He's came into the pits to have that checked out.

2:25:202:25:23

I'm sure they will have a look underneath.

2:25:232:25:25

The thing about that Senna 'S', you have to attack the right-hand

2:25:252:25:28

kerb, there is a flat section but it goes up into a high bump,

2:25:282:25:33

and then it throws you to the outside kerb, but it's got

2:25:332:25:37

a raised section that you can't see when you are looking at it.

2:25:372:25:41

The only time when you feel it in the car is when you have gone

2:25:412:25:46

too far and it really hits the bottom of the chassis.

2:25:462:25:48

The critical thing is to be smooth through there so you can get your

2:25:482:25:51

hybrid boost as early as possible through the long left-hander,

2:25:512:25:55

which maximises your speed into Turn 4,

2:25:552:25:57

which is equally the fastest point

2:25:572:25:59

on the circuit in to Turn 1.

2:25:592:26:02

-TEAM RADIO:

-The tyres are shot.

2:26:042:26:06

The pressures have come up very high, Yellow G2 and box this lap.

2:26:062:26:10

Jenson saying the tyres are shot already.

2:26:102:26:14

He's done nine laps on them.

2:26:142:26:16

Certainly, this revised surface that came in last year does seem to put

2:26:162:26:19

a lot more stress through the tyre than the old surface that

2:26:192:26:23

we had here in the past.

2:26:232:26:24

They are about to use up this first set of tyres anyway, they will be

2:26:242:26:28

taking them off the car shortly, the half an hour mark coming up

2:26:282:26:32

in just over three minutes' time.

2:26:322:26:34

The track will go quieter when that happens.

2:26:342:26:36

Let's see what Bottas is doing, he is currently seventh fastest.

2:26:362:26:41

We were talking about Championship battles, we have already mentioned

2:26:412:26:44

he and Raikkonen are separated by three points, which is great fun.

2:26:442:26:49

They have had two incidents, one in Russia and one

2:26:492:26:51

in Mexico last time out.

2:26:512:26:53

It is stirring the passions of the Finnish fans, we gather, who,

2:26:532:26:57

at the moment, are more on Kimi's side than on Bottas',

2:26:572:27:00

that is because Kimi has been so long established in the sport.

2:27:002:27:04

That is hugely unfair when you look at the incidents.

2:27:042:27:07

Kimi came from a mile back in Sochi.

2:27:072:27:10

Valtteri saying, "What was that?"

2:27:102:27:14

Then, last time out in Mexico, he is right there and Kimi turned in.

2:27:142:27:18

I think to get blamed for that, I'm not surprised

2:27:182:27:20

he doesn't read to much of it.

2:27:202:27:23

Best to ignore everything on the Internet!

2:27:232:27:25

Bottas is certainly not dipping his head, he will go

2:27:272:27:30

on to battle throughout the rest of these last two races to try

2:27:302:27:33

and stay ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

2:27:332:27:36

It will be one to watch, I think.

2:27:362:27:37

Crossing the line goes Sergio Perez, that is an improvement

2:27:372:27:40

for the Mexican.

2:27:402:27:41

He goes fifth fastest in the Force India.

2:27:412:27:44

So a good effort.

2:27:442:27:45

Hulkenberg down in tenth place at the moment.

2:27:452:27:48

Now, a bit of news about Daniel Ricciardo, we are riding

2:27:482:27:51

on board the Red Bull.

2:27:512:27:53

Tony, explain what is going on with the power unit.

2:27:532:27:57

Basically, they have an upgraded Renault engine, the update they were

2:27:572:28:01

going to run a couple of races ago, they have taken the ten-place hit

2:28:012:28:05

here, and talking about it yesterday, he said he doesn't think

2:28:052:28:08

it will be a huge - he thinks it will

2:28:082:28:11

be a tenth or two of an improvement.

2:28:112:28:15

He said he's... Obviously, both Renault and Red Bull,

2:28:152:28:19

want to know what sort

2:28:192:28:21

of a gain that is and they have put that in and he said if it allows him

2:28:212:28:25

to stay in the tow out of Juncao, into the Senna 'S', if it makes the

2:28:252:28:29

difference, allows him to keep it in the tow,

2:28:292:28:32

the race might come back to him. He's going to do that.

2:28:322:28:35

Kvyat has the original motor in the car, but they may take a decision to

2:28:352:28:41

change tomorrow depending on how this session goes for Ricciardo.

2:28:412:28:44

It is quite a good opening gambit from Ricciardo,

2:28:442:28:47

he's gone fourth fastest in a 1:15.2.

2:28:472:28:50

Kvyat's gone well here in the past.

2:28:502:28:52

He did a free practice session a couple of years ago,

2:28:522:28:55

then raced here last year for Toro Rosso.

2:28:552:28:57

He's done a 1:15.7 so far.

2:28:572:28:59

They will have a direct back-to-back comparison, with Kvyat.

2:28:592:29:04

Allan, the point is, Ricciardo, he is running this revised engine,

2:29:042:29:09

but he will have a ten-place penalty. So gains and losses there.

2:29:092:29:14

It is. There is always that balance

2:29:142:29:16

between what you can actually do and overtake.

2:29:162:29:19

Here you can overtake but you need good acceleration out

2:29:192:29:22

of the final corner and the long pull up the hill.

2:29:222:29:25

And that acceleration and top speed has never been

2:29:252:29:29

Red Bull's strong point, even when

2:29:292:29:30

they were winning World Championships,

2:29:302:29:33

so I think it is going to be quite a tough one to achieve.

2:29:332:29:35

They have always been able to run a little less wing.

2:29:352:29:39

If we go back to Spa, remember they

2:29:392:29:41

went down to their lowest downforce setting,

2:29:412:29:43

their Monza wing, in first free practice,

2:29:432:29:45

as their chassis balance was very good.

2:29:452:29:48

So they have been able to get away

2:29:482:29:49

with things that other teams haven't been able to try.

2:29:492:29:52

In reality, they have little to lose.

2:29:522:29:55

They can roll the dice and try something different.

2:29:552:29:58

Do you think Red Bull are still experimenting on the chassis side

2:29:582:30:01

of things as well?

2:30:012:30:03

They are not actually doing very much, they have always got small

2:30:042:30:08

developments, but in terms of anything major,

2:30:082:30:12

I think it's more a case of just actually finalising the details,

2:30:122:30:17

we don't have any big upgrades.

2:30:172:30:20

They are always tweaking.

2:30:202:30:21

If you think about Red Bull, they are always at the aerodynamics and

2:30:212:30:25

changing them up to the final run in Free Practice 3 on Saturday morning.

2:30:252:30:31

Then they optimise it and they seem to get it right

2:30:312:30:33

nine times out of ten.

2:30:332:30:35

As for big developments, that will be 2016.

2:30:352:30:38

It's gone a little quiet.

2:30:382:30:40

We are into that slight pause now where they have been running

2:30:402:30:42

for half an hour, they have to give a set of tyres back to the FIA,

2:30:422:30:47

they get another new set of medium compound tyres to be used.

2:30:472:30:51

And Christian Horner, the team principal, is joining us.

2:30:512:30:56

What are the initial reports back from Daniel Ricciardo and the

2:30:562:31:01

Renault guys on this revised engine?

2:31:012:31:04

So far, OK.

2:31:052:31:07

We have done very little laps and just feeling our way

2:31:072:31:10

into a green circuit.

2:31:102:31:12

So far, OK.

2:31:122:31:14

Are we right in thinking it is just the, as we refer to it, the ice,

2:31:142:31:18

the internal combustion engine that is different, nothing else?

2:31:182:31:21

That's correct.

2:31:212:31:24

We have used 11 tokens on the ice, so that's what is running in

2:31:242:31:30

Daniel Ricciardo's car.

2:31:302:31:32

What about the thoughts in terms of Daniil Kvyat's car?

2:31:322:31:35

Will you go through today and look at the data and then decide?

2:31:352:31:38

Or have you made the decision that he will stick with

2:31:382:31:41

the engine he's got?

2:31:412:31:43

Pretty much made the decision that we will stick with what we've got.

2:31:432:31:47

There is no point strategically putting both

2:31:472:31:50

on grid-place penalties.

2:31:502:31:53

Daniel Ricciardo is running a little less downforce to try and

2:31:532:31:56

assist some of the overtaking that he will have to do during the race.

2:31:562:32:01

But it's a very useful exercise.

2:32:012:32:03

That tells us a bit about engines for this year.

2:32:032:32:07

What is the news on engines for next year?

2:32:072:32:09

Are you going to be around?

2:32:092:32:11

There's been a lot of talk about this.

2:32:112:32:13

Look, all I can tell you, we have entered the World Championship.

2:32:152:32:19

We haven't concluded an agreement with an engine yet,

2:32:192:32:22

or an energy supplier yet.

2:32:222:32:24

We are homing in on something.

2:32:242:32:26

As you can imagine, in Formula One, there are more scenarios that

2:32:262:32:31

have to play out that have to come to a conclusion.

2:32:312:32:34

We're getting close and hopefully, I will be able to tell you something

2:32:342:32:39

in the not too distant future.

2:32:392:32:41

That is good news.

2:32:412:32:44

Coming back to the challenge of this track, you have had a lot

2:32:442:32:47

of success here in the past, with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

2:32:472:32:52

Lots of victories and podium finishes.

2:32:522:32:54

What is it about this track?

2:32:542:32:55

What do you need to get out of the car to make it work here?

2:32:552:32:58

You have to have a good balance here, particularly in the middle

2:32:582:33:01

sector, so you try and trim the downforce as much as you can because

2:33:012:33:05

that pit straight is pretty long and uphill all the way to Turn 1.

2:33:052:33:09

It is about having a nicely balanced car through Turn 4, through the

2:33:092:33:14

middle sector, Turn 9 is important, and the last two corners,

2:33:142:33:19

particularly Turn 12 is really important to get a good exit there.

2:33:192:33:24

Christian, it's Tony. You mentioned there

2:33:242:33:26

that you were going to run less wing

2:33:262:33:28

on Ricciardo's car to allow him to get the overtaking done.

2:33:282:33:31

Looking back at Mexico, when you were ballistic

2:33:312:33:34

in Sectors 2 and 3, but lost that on the main straight, are you

2:33:342:33:37

confident that that will be able to happen and that he is going to get

2:33:372:33:41

that overtaking done in the race?

2:33:412:33:43

I think all we can do is try and help.

2:33:432:33:45

We were running a lot less downforce than others in Mexico.

2:33:452:33:48

We were still very quick in Sectors 2 and 3.

2:33:482:33:53

This circuit is quite power-sensitive.

2:33:532:33:55

You can see that run out of Turn 12 all the way through

2:33:552:33:58

the last corner up to Turn 1.

2:33:582:34:01

But you get a good tow here.

2:34:012:34:02

So, if you can get into the slipstream with the DRS

2:34:022:34:05

then you can have a go on the brakes into Turn 1.

2:34:052:34:07

Thanks.

2:34:072:34:09

Final question.

2:34:092:34:10

We saw some images of Max Verstappen,

2:34:102:34:12

who has been doing a blinding job for Toro Rosso this year.

2:34:122:34:15

We have been talking about him so much.

2:34:152:34:17

He is part of the Red Bull family.

2:34:172:34:19

Some other team also have their eyes on him.

2:34:192:34:21

You're happy that you have got him fixed under contract

2:34:212:34:25

for the next couple of years?

2:34:252:34:26

Absolutely. He is a product of the Red Bull Junior Team.

2:34:262:34:29

All credit to Red Bull for giving him the opportunity.

2:34:292:34:33

There was a lot of criticism when he came in.

2:34:332:34:34

People said he was too young or it was too early.

2:34:342:34:38

He's demonstrated that he's got a sublime amount of ability

2:34:382:34:43

and he is still very raw.

2:34:432:34:45

The pace that he has is fascinating to see him develop.

2:34:452:34:48

There's a few rough edges, but I'm sure they will be polished

2:34:482:34:53

off in the coming 12 months.

2:34:532:34:56

Great. Thank you very much, Christian.

2:34:572:34:59

Hopefully, we will have more from the pit wall

2:34:592:35:01

as we go through the weekend.

2:35:012:35:03

Let's get back down to the pits while it is reasonably quiet

2:35:042:35:08

and join Allan.

2:35:082:35:10

Ferrari have been changing front wings back and forward between

2:35:112:35:15

the two cars, and they have been doing this for a few races now.

2:35:152:35:20

They brought it out in Suzuka and it is a development that they had.

2:35:202:35:25

We see it going on to Kimi Raikkonen's car,

2:35:252:35:27

there are three main sections that are different on it.

2:35:272:35:30

On the top section, you have got, as the top area comes down, it is

2:35:302:35:35

sealed at the inner area, then if you go to the main plane itself, if

2:35:352:35:42

we can come round here, this area on the other wing is open all the way

2:35:422:35:47

here which allows more airflow underneath and the final point is

2:35:472:35:51

where the actual main plane comes down at the bottom, this is much

2:35:512:35:56

more curved which disturbs the air which means when it comes to the

2:35:562:36:01

tyre that sits here, it's got a nicer airflow all the way around.

2:36:012:36:05

All the time you're playing the balance

2:36:052:36:07

between the pitch sensitivity and the downforce level.

2:36:072:36:10

Ferrari have been doing that quite a lot through the last couple

2:36:102:36:13

of Grand Prix, deciding which nose is right for the circuit.

2:36:132:36:16

Because Kimi Raikkonen is still in that battle for fourth place.

2:36:162:36:20

For Sebastian Vettel, he has a hope of second, but it will be tough.

2:36:202:36:23

Thank you. Good to see Ferrari still working hard

2:36:252:36:27

on trying to bring improvements.

2:36:272:36:29

Sebastian Vettel, after that disappointing time in Mexico,

2:36:292:36:32

it was the first time he had crashed out of a Grand Prix since 2010.

2:36:322:36:35

A massively long time, but he didn't cover himself in glory, did he?

2:36:352:36:39

No he didn't, but he was very honest about it.

2:36:392:36:42

He came on the radio and said, "Sorry guys, it was..."

2:36:422:36:45

I can't remember the word that he said, but it amounted to rubbish!

2:36:452:36:49

After the race, a journalist who couldn't believe what he'd seen,

2:36:492:36:54

he said, "Did something funny happen,

2:36:542:36:56

"cos I couldn't quite believe that?"

2:36:562:36:59

Sebastian just laughed and said, "Neither could I!"

2:36:592:37:02

He is so honest.

2:37:022:37:05

He has a great relationship with that team.

2:37:052:37:07

When you have 12 podiums out of him,

2:37:072:37:10

they can forgive him a race like that.

2:37:102:37:13

And three victories of course during the year, which, although they put

2:37:132:37:17

that out there as a dream at the beginning of the year, they didn't

2:37:172:37:20

expect to get three victories.

2:37:202:37:24

We have been talking about how this is a special track

2:37:242:37:26

at Interlagos, why not hear from a man who has taken victory

2:37:262:37:30

here, who won his world title here about Interlagos, Jenson Button

2:37:302:37:35

talking to Tom yesterday.

2:37:352:37:38

It is difficult to say a favourite corner.

2:37:382:37:40

It's a great circuit, the atmosphere helps

2:37:402:37:42

if there wasn't any stadiums or people

2:37:422:37:44

it wouldn't have the same atmosphere, so...

2:37:442:37:47

It is a very special circuit.

2:37:472:37:49

Turn 1 is the most difficult corner on circuit.

2:37:492:37:52

It is blind, the cambers are all a bit iffy,

2:37:522:37:55

so it is easy to lock a front.

2:37:552:37:57

You arrive at a corner locked up, or you arrive,

2:37:572:37:59

"I could have braked later."

2:37:592:38:01

So that's probably the trickiest corner.

2:38:012:38:04

The best corner is the double right-hander,

2:38:042:38:07

the fast one, Turn 6, 7?

2:38:072:38:11

That is good fun. I've actually gone around the outside of someone there.

2:38:112:38:14

Which is a brave move, but a fun move

2:38:142:38:17

I enjoy driving here.

2:38:172:38:19

Last year was tricky. The asphalt was different.

2:38:192:38:22

Smoother, which is a good thing.

2:38:222:38:24

So, look forward to this year.

2:38:242:38:26

That corner, Turns 6 and 7, Ferradura, as it is known,

2:38:262:38:31

delighted to have pulled off some good manoeuvres there in the past.

2:38:312:38:36

Jenson Button, one of the most experienced Formula One

2:38:362:38:39

drivers of all time now, with that one world title to his name, and

2:38:392:38:43

a full season coming up next year.

2:38:432:38:46

Felipe Massa also has great feelings about this Grand Prix,

2:38:462:38:50

just seen Kimi Raikkonen go out.

2:38:502:38:52

Let's hear what Massa feels about going

2:38:522:38:54

into his home event this weekend.

2:38:542:38:56

It is an amazing race.

2:38:572:38:59

It is like a dream for Brazilian to race here.

2:38:592:39:03

I remember when I was in the grandstand standing up,

2:39:032:39:05

every lap a Brazilian was passing through, now I'm here racing,

2:39:052:39:10

with two victories in the pocket.

2:39:112:39:14

Maybe I should have managed to finish more on the podium

2:39:142:39:17

in my career.

2:39:172:39:19

Brazilian with more victories, with more podiums here,

2:39:192:39:24

the same victories as other champs, which I hope I can have a third one,

2:39:242:39:29

it is like a dream for me.

2:39:292:39:32

I will try everything I can to use all this energy,

2:39:322:39:34

use this amazing track,

2:39:342:39:36

amazing feeling that it can help me and in one of the most

2:39:362:39:42

incredible track and race for me.

2:39:422:39:46

He's now done 122 Grand Prix since that last victory

2:39:482:39:51

so it has been a long time.

2:39:512:39:55

Wouldn't it be something if he could?

2:39:552:39:57

We can hear from team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with Lee.

2:39:572:40:01

What has it been like on track?

2:40:022:40:06

It feels like less grip than last year, because last year with the

2:40:062:40:10

new tarmac it was gripping so we struggled a bit in the first one.

2:40:102:40:15

It was the first one. Just checking everything works.

2:40:152:40:18

Now we are tuning the setup and trying to get a bit more out

2:40:182:40:22

of the tyres.

2:40:222:40:23

You are in a big battle in the Drivers' Championship

2:40:232:40:26

alongside Kimi Raikkonen, where do you think Williams will be this

2:40:262:40:30

weekend in comparison to Ferrari?

2:40:302:40:32

Recently Ferrari have edged again.

2:40:322:40:34

I think it will be tight again.

2:40:342:40:37

They are strong here but no doubt we will be, as well, and

2:40:372:40:40

if we get everything right today and tomorrow, I think it will be close.

2:40:402:40:46

Hopeful it will be another nice battle on the track on Sunday.

2:40:482:40:52

There are a lot battles you have been having on track.

2:40:522:40:55

You two can't seem to keep away from each other, was anything said

2:40:552:41:00

after the last incident?

2:41:002:41:02

No, I do not think there is any need.

2:41:022:41:05

Everything is fine.

2:41:052:41:06

Well, the good news is there's a Finnish Driver's Steward as well

2:41:062:41:10

so if you need one you all speak the same language.

2:41:102:41:13

What's your plan?

2:41:132:41:15

What are you going to run through this morning?

2:41:152:41:18

Mainly focusing on the tyres.

2:41:182:41:20

That will be the key.

2:41:202:41:22

We have the medium and soft compound

2:41:222:41:24

and they both behave really different.

2:41:242:41:26

We have the compound and to get the most out of those will be the

2:41:262:41:29

key, that will be the target today.

2:41:292:41:33

Thanks for talking to us. Goodbye.

2:41:332:41:35

Valtteri Bottas about to get back into the car.

2:41:352:41:39

Looking at the times so far, Tony, Hamilton and Rosberg at the top,

2:41:392:41:42

but interesting to see the two Ferraris next best with Vettel

2:41:422:41:45

closely matched by Raikkonen after those initial runs.

2:41:452:41:48

Then Ricardo, but as ever

2:41:482:41:51

Valtteri Bottas and Massa further down the list

2:41:512:41:55

but, as I mentioned, they do tend to run the cars

2:41:552:41:58

with more fuel on Friday.

2:41:582:42:00

When it comes to qualifying, I'm sure they'll be much higher up.

2:42:002:42:03

And they impressed me last year.

2:42:032:42:06

Valtteri obviously hoping he can keep that battle with Kimi going.

2:42:062:42:09

Because, I mean, when you look at it,

2:42:092:42:11

Vettel has scored more than twice Raikkonen's points.

2:42:112:42:13

He's got 251.

2:42:132:42:15

Raikkonen's on, you know, 123.

2:42:152:42:17

Valtteri three ahead of him in a car which, quite honestly,

2:42:172:42:20

isn't as quick as the Ferrari.

2:42:202:42:22

So he's done a great job.

2:42:222:42:24

I mean, I'm sure he'd love to put one over on Kimi

2:42:242:42:26

and finish ahead of him.

2:42:262:42:28

He was asked yesterday if Kimi Raikkonen would be a bit embarrassed

2:42:282:42:31

if he finished behind and he smiled and said,

2:42:312:42:32

"I don't know, you'll have to ask him!"

2:42:322:42:34

But he's intent on making it happen.

2:42:342:42:36

Kimi Raikkonen has gone quicker,

2:42:362:42:38

a slight lock up on that lap,

2:42:382:42:39

but he's gone third fastest now

2:42:392:42:41

to go quicker than Vettel's time from earlier on.

2:42:412:42:43

But it's still half a second of what Mercedes are capable of doing.

2:42:432:42:47

Max Verstappen heading out.

2:42:472:42:49

That is the area where they can do their practice start.

2:42:492:42:52

So it's right down on the exit of the pits,

2:42:522:42:54

after they've come down the hill and through the twisty section.

2:42:542:42:57

That's where they can do their practice starts.

2:42:572:43:00

And Verstappen now on circuit.

2:43:002:43:01

And everybody I think has managed a decent number of laps so far.

2:43:012:43:04

It doesn't look as though anybody's had any major technical problems.

2:43:042:43:07

And at the bottom of the order, both Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi

2:43:072:43:11

have put in some lap times

2:43:112:43:12

and they're on the same tenth of a second, so it's very close

2:43:122:43:15

between Stevens and Rossi in the Manor cars.

2:43:152:43:19

You mentioned earlier that there is talk

2:43:192:43:22

of perhaps a change of ownership at that Manor team.

2:43:222:43:26

Perhaps an American group getting involved and investing in the team.

2:43:262:43:29

But we do know, of course, they have Mercedes engines for next year.

2:43:292:43:32

So there is a great deal of hope they will be a bit more competitive,

2:43:322:43:36

perhaps try to get into the midfield battles.

2:43:362:43:38

We've got the Haas team coming in next year,

2:43:382:43:40

the American team of the Ferrari power.

2:43:402:43:43

And with an awful lot of Ferrari technology, as well.

2:43:432:43:45

The team Romain Grosjean will be going to

2:43:452:43:47

and, as we know now, being joined by Gutierrez.

2:43:472:43:50

So lots of little things to be looking forward to next year.

2:43:502:43:52

Yeah, that's interesting.

2:43:522:43:54

The Haas team coming in with all that Ferrari technology

2:43:542:43:57

and importantly a budget.

2:43:572:43:59

And that has, you know...

2:44:002:44:02

It might not be a medium,

2:44:022:44:03

but that's got to be a thing that's going to be competing

2:44:032:44:05

at around top five, top six level.

2:44:052:44:08

Let's just ride on board with Verstappen.

2:44:082:44:10

He's going to take us around the lap.

2:44:102:44:12

He's coming along the back stretch now,

2:44:122:44:14

which is a DRS zone, as well.

2:44:142:44:16

Into Turn 4.

2:44:162:44:18

A tricky left-hander.

2:44:182:44:20

It drops downhill again here before it just bottoms out.

2:44:202:44:23

Now they begin t start the climb back up the hill.

2:44:232:44:25

This is the corner Button was talking about,

2:44:252:44:27

Turns 6 and 7,

2:44:272:44:29

fast approach.

2:44:292:44:30

It kind of tightens up

2:44:302:44:32

and then into Turn 8,

2:44:322:44:33

where it really gets tight.

2:44:332:44:36

Then Pinheirinho, the left-hander, again drops downhill a little bit.

2:44:362:44:40

He might lose camber.

2:44:402:44:42

That's right. And then climbs the hill up again into Bico de Pato.

2:44:422:44:45

The duckbill, a tight right.

2:44:452:44:47

That's where we often see a little bit of locking up.

2:44:472:44:50

Through Mergulho, the left-hander.

2:44:502:44:51

Now the corner that Christian Horner mentioned is so important,

2:44:512:44:54

this left-hander here, Turn 12...

2:44:542:44:56

Good exit there required,

2:44:572:44:59

because it's now flat out all the way up the hill.

2:44:592:45:01

You can see the gear changes on the graphic on the left there.

2:45:012:45:04

Pops it into eighth gear as he comes over the hill.

2:45:042:45:07

There's the pit-lane entry on the left

2:45:072:45:09

and then across the start/finishing line to complete the lap.

2:45:092:45:12

The speed - 330 kilometres per hour at that section.

2:45:122:45:17

Rosberg fastest on the fastest Speed Trap at the moment

2:45:182:45:20

at 338 kilometres per hour.

2:45:202:45:23

Again, Verstappen never afraid of the car moving around on him

2:45:232:45:26

and he has the fastest middle sector time of anybody.

2:45:262:45:30

Don't forget, he has just gone out on a new set of tyres

2:45:302:45:32

and so it's understandable why he's moved up, but that's a good lap.

2:45:322:45:36

Now 1:14.9 from Verstappen there

2:45:362:45:39

and that was only, what,

2:45:392:45:40

about two-tenths slower than Kimi Raikkonen's lap.

2:45:402:45:43

So a very impressive lap once again from Max Verstappen.

2:45:432:45:47

And he's on a bit of a mission once more, I think, to score more points.

2:45:472:45:50

Interesting when we were watching that lap

2:45:502:45:52

and we saw the last bit of the section,

2:45:522:45:54

that the longer acceleration right at the first corner.

2:45:542:45:57

When we were talking to Christian and he was saying

2:45:572:45:59

the fact you can get a tow there, because it's quite a slow exit,

2:45:592:46:03

you can get in a tow and slingshot pass.

2:46:032:46:05

Now, talking to Alonso earlier in the weekend,

2:46:052:46:09

there may be a problem with the energy recovery system deployment,

2:46:092:46:11

which gives you an extra power boost.

2:46:112:46:14

If you suddenly run out, suddenly lose that power,

2:46:142:46:18

we're thinking, well, what a nightmare for anybody

2:46:182:46:20

tucking into the slipstream of a car

2:46:202:46:22

that suddenly runs out of ERS deployment.

2:46:222:46:24

But Alonso interesting said he doesn't thinks that will happen here

2:46:242:46:27

because it's such a relatively short lap and they should be OK.

2:46:272:46:30

So that's something which was potentially a snake,

2:46:302:46:34

but should be OK and not cause any dramas, we hope.

2:46:342:46:37

Well, that's good news to hear.

2:46:372:46:39

In Japan it almost caused some problems.

2:46:392:46:41

We saw McLarens being overtaken left, right and centre

2:46:412:46:44

on the run down to the first corner.

2:46:442:46:46

Let's see what Perez' lap is.

2:46:462:46:48

He does a 1:15.4.

2:46:482:46:49

So it is an improvement on lap time.

2:46:492:46:51

And he gets to within a second of the fastest time

2:46:512:46:55

that has been set by Lewis Hamilton, so far.

2:46:552:46:58

Still both Mercedes cars are in the pits.

2:46:582:46:59

They haven't decided to come out and play just yet.

2:46:592:47:02

We are halfway through this first practice session

2:47:022:47:05

for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

2:47:052:47:07

We are at Interlagos, a track that has been used for many, many years.

2:47:072:47:10

In fact, it will be

2:47:102:47:12

the 43rd World Championship Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend

2:47:122:47:15

and the 33rd to be held here at St Paulo.

2:47:152:47:18

It was also held in Rio for some years at the Jacarepagua circuit,

2:47:182:47:22

but that is actually being built on now for the Olympics for next year.

2:47:222:47:27

So it won't ever be a race circuit again

2:47:272:47:30

and St Paulo is very much the place for Formula One

2:47:302:47:34

and, indeed, for a lot of top-level national motorsport here in Brazil.

2:47:342:47:37

Yeah, you mentioned at the top of the programme

2:47:372:47:40

the Emerson Fittipaldi effect,

2:47:402:47:41

effectively bringing motor racing to this place.

2:47:412:47:44

And that was 1970.

2:47:442:47:46

But since then, they've had five home winners

2:47:462:47:48

and multiple winners, as well, so they've done incredibly well.

2:47:482:47:51

Massa's won twice. Senna's won twice.

2:47:512:47:52

Nelson Piquet won twice at the other circuit.

2:47:522:47:55

And then, obviously, Emerson himself twice.

2:47:552:47:58

So the passion is like Mexico,

2:47:582:48:01

but they've also got the pedigree to back it up in terms of drivers.

2:48:012:48:04

Yes, in terms of winners. And that is crucial, of course.

2:48:042:48:07

Right now, you would have to say

2:48:072:48:09

Massa is in the best place to try and snatch a victory.

2:48:092:48:12

But it would be against the run of the green

2:48:122:48:15

if Williams were to take a win here

2:48:152:48:17

because of the performance of Mercedes,

2:48:172:48:19

because of Ferrari and, indeed, the danger of Red Bull, as well.

2:48:192:48:23

But, yes, the Brazilians have had

2:48:232:48:25

an awful lot to cheer about over the years.

2:48:252:48:27

Emerson Fittipaldi, the man who started it all.

2:48:272:48:29

He came from Brazil to the UK,

2:48:292:48:31

started his junior racing career after karting in Brazil

2:48:312:48:35

in the UK racing in Formula Ford

2:48:352:48:38

and he really opened the door

2:48:382:48:39

and then came back to Brazil

2:48:392:48:41

and taking those Grand Prix victories here.

2:48:412:48:43

Really igniting the passion for the sport in this part of the world,

2:48:432:48:46

which is wonderful to see.

2:48:462:48:48

Palmer there in the Lotus

2:48:482:48:50

doing his Friday morning session.

2:48:502:48:52

Of course, it means

2:48:522:48:54

that Romain Grosjean has to sit the session out,

2:48:542:48:57

as he has done on very many occasions so far this year.

2:48:572:48:59

But Grosjean is in a great place at the moment.

2:48:592:49:02

He's really looking forward to these last two races with the team

2:49:022:49:05

and he's looking forward to going to the American Haas team.

2:49:052:49:09

Interestingly, of course, the Lotus name...

2:49:092:49:12

It was the original Colin Chapman Lotus

2:49:122:49:15

that Emerson Fittipaldi won that first race here in 1973.

2:49:152:49:18

But as Enstone, I don't think they've had quite so much success,

2:49:182:49:22

even though Alonso wrapped up his championships with that team

2:49:222:49:25

at this very circuit.

2:49:252:49:26

Yeah, when you talk about Emerson,

2:49:262:49:28

what an achievement that was to win his fourth race which, effectively,

2:49:282:49:32

sealed the World Championship that year for Jochen Rindt,

2:49:322:49:35

who'd tragically been killed at Monza

2:49:352:49:37

and he was the sport's first posthumous champion.

2:49:372:49:40

I shouldn't say that.

2:49:402:49:41

Yeah, we won't go into that story right now.

2:49:412:49:44

But, er, yeah.

2:49:442:49:45

Hulkenberg crosses the line.

2:49:452:49:47

He's sixth fastest.

2:49:472:49:48

That's a good lap.

2:49:482:49:50

Just a little bit off what Vettel has done so far.

2:49:502:49:52

So both Force Indias running strongly

2:49:522:49:54

in the top ten at the moment.

2:49:542:49:56

I think they will also be hoping

2:49:562:49:58

that they can get a good couple of finishes

2:49:582:50:00

and if they can challenge Williams,

2:50:002:50:01

that would certainly be one of their targets.

2:50:012:50:03

It's interesting, Tony, when you look at engine use

2:50:032:50:07

throughout the year so far.

2:50:072:50:09

Of course, they are limited to four engines a season

2:50:092:50:12

and when you look at the list,

2:50:122:50:13

basically it's fundamentally just the Mercedes teams

2:50:132:50:16

that have managed to do that.

2:50:162:50:18

They've all managed to get through the season on four engines.

2:50:182:50:21

Even Ferrari. Although Sauber have done it.

2:50:212:50:23

Sauber have managed to get through

2:50:232:50:25

the season so far on their four engines.

2:50:252:50:27

Even Ferrari have had to go for more.

2:50:272:50:29

Vettel is on his fifth.

2:50:292:50:30

Kimi Raikkonen on his sixth.

2:50:302:50:32

You get grid penalties every time you go beyond the four.

2:50:322:50:34

But when you look at what Mercedes have done

2:50:342:50:36

in terms of reliability, it is amazing.

2:50:362:50:39

It is stunning.

2:50:392:50:40

I had to have a bit of a laugh yesterday, actually,

2:50:402:50:42

listening to Rosberg talking about his season

2:50:422:50:45

and he said, "We've had a few reliability issues."

2:50:452:50:47

I thought, "Well, most people would love your reliability issues."

2:50:472:50:50

Because Mercedes, for the last 56 Grand Prix,

2:50:502:50:53

they have been in the points.

2:50:532:50:55

Which is a phenomenal run, third best of all time.

2:50:552:50:57

I think the record's 81 by Ferrari.

2:50:572:50:59

I think McLaren at some stage did 64 but, I mean,

2:50:592:51:02

this is right at the start of a new engine formula,

2:51:022:51:05

so phenomenal reliability, I would say.

2:51:052:51:08

Yeah, incredible.

2:51:082:51:09

Just seeing Rosberg about to head out onto the circuit.

2:51:092:51:12

Looking again at that little blip on the front of the cockpit section.

2:51:122:51:17

The little S-duct that they are running here this weekend

2:51:172:51:20

for the first time.

2:51:202:51:21

So Mercedes might be World Champions

2:51:212:51:23

and they might have taken Lewis Hamilton to the drivers' title,

2:51:232:51:26

but they are not resting

2:51:262:51:27

when it comes to further development with the car.

2:51:272:51:29

And they know there could be more of a challenge from Ferrari next year.

2:51:292:51:33

There's a lot of optimism around

2:51:332:51:35

that Ferrari will take yet another step forwards.

2:51:352:51:37

And Jock Clear, who worked very closely with Lewis Hamilton,

2:51:372:51:40

winning the title last year,

2:51:402:51:42

well, he has been on gardening leave

2:51:422:51:45

pretty much throughout the whole of this year,

2:51:452:51:47

but he is an engineer with a massive amount of experience,

2:51:472:51:50

winning titles with Williams in the '90s with Jacques Villeneuve.

2:51:502:51:56

As I mentioned, very much a part of Hamilton's close crew last year.

2:51:562:52:01

And he is going to Ferrari.

2:52:012:52:03

He will certainly be there for all of next year.

2:52:032:52:05

I am not sure exactly which day he begins,

2:52:052:52:07

whether it's going to be for the test in Abu Dhabi, for example,

2:52:072:52:10

or whether it'll be January 1st.

2:52:102:52:11

But he'll be a very interesting addition to the Ferrari team.

2:52:112:52:14

Yeah, you have to look at the length of his gardening leave

2:52:142:52:17

to know that Mercedes know that will be a help to Ferrari.

2:52:172:52:20

And his garden should be looking fantastic!

2:52:202:52:23

That's right, yes.

2:52:232:52:25

They obviously were not able to negotiate an earlier start time

2:52:252:52:27

because, presumably, Mercedes were very keen he did not get to Ferrari

2:52:272:52:32

any earlier than it had to be.

2:52:322:52:34

So that's going to be an interesting change.

2:52:342:52:36

There will be other personnel changes, of course,

2:52:362:52:39

as we go over the winter,

2:52:392:52:40

but you do not want to break up a winning team.

2:52:402:52:42

And I would imagine that most of the Mercedes crew

2:52:422:52:45

will continue for next year

2:52:452:52:47

and try and just build on this

2:52:472:52:48

and see whether they can make it three rows of titles.

2:52:482:52:52

A little bit of the liquid going on the front of Rosberg's car.

2:52:522:52:58

They'll look at the airflow around that duct section

2:52:582:53:01

when the car is out on circuit.

2:53:012:53:02

Now, I was talking to Toto Wolff at the last race

2:53:022:53:05

about this season and Mercedes

2:53:052:53:07

and he was saying the thing that has really impressed him

2:53:072:53:09

is the culture within the team.

2:53:092:53:11

He said most of those guys that have been there

2:53:112:53:13

have been through a lot of iterations in that team, you know?

2:53:132:53:16

And it had a difficult time.

2:53:172:53:19

And he said they are all survivors

2:53:192:53:21

and they've got this culture now

2:53:212:53:23

where there, you know, there is no blame culture.

2:53:232:53:26

They are not afraid to try things

2:53:262:53:28

because they're not protecting themselves.

2:53:282:53:32

-RADIO:

-Massive understeer. Massive understeer.

2:53:322:53:35

And he said that's what's been the most impressive thing,

2:53:362:53:38

the advance that's gone forward,

2:53:382:53:40

they are all singing from the same song sheet.

2:53:402:53:43

And Jock coming into the middle of that,

2:53:432:53:45

you know, with people willing to try things and do things,

2:53:452:53:48

it's just going to make it stronger.

2:53:482:53:50

Well, yes, it will be interesting.

2:53:502:53:53

Sorry, I meant to say was Jock coming out of that,

2:53:532:53:56

the culture of that being there, it has made up for that loss.

2:53:562:54:00

Yeah, and they've got plenty of other people

2:54:002:54:03

ready to sort of step into the shoes. Yes, that's right.

2:54:032:54:06

Just seeing Vettel has gone fastest now on his new set of tyres.

2:54:062:54:10

A 1:14.2.

2:54:102:54:11

But look, Mercedes are back out there.

2:54:112:54:13

We've seen Rosberg just do a lap.

2:54:132:54:15

I think he's just backed off on that last one a little bit,

2:54:152:54:18

but maybe now building up to a lap.

2:54:182:54:19

As Romain Grosjean watches the monitors

2:54:192:54:22

and, of course, gets his chance a little bit later on today

2:54:222:54:25

to see what he can do on board the Lotus.

2:54:252:54:27

But the Ferrari fastest for the moment of Sebastian Vettel.

2:54:272:54:30

That will give them some encouragement.

2:54:302:54:32

Let's see what kind of response we now get from Rosberg, in particular,

2:54:322:54:36

as he heads down through the first sector.

2:54:362:54:39

The first sector point

2:54:392:54:40

is about two thirds of the way down this next straight.

2:54:402:54:43

So you will see the comparison.

2:54:432:54:44

18.4 is the fastest we've seen there and he does 18.5.

2:54:442:54:48

So he's just over one-tenth slower than the fastest.

2:54:482:54:51

But he was the fastest earlier on in the session,

2:54:512:54:54

when he was on his initial set of tyres.

2:54:542:54:57

So now he's into that mid-sector, through Ferradura,

2:54:572:54:59

and as the track climbs and tightens through this section now.

2:54:592:55:03

Uses a bit of kerb.

2:55:032:55:06

Interesting to see how many people use the kerb there

2:55:062:55:08

and how much the car bounces as a result of it.

2:55:082:55:11

Now the even tighter section.

2:55:112:55:14

This is one of the tighter corners on the track

2:55:142:55:16

Let's listen.

2:55:162:55:18

-TEAM RADIO:

-The tyres are really dropping off a lot

2:55:182:55:20

after one lap already.

2:55:202:55:21

And after four laps, they stabilised.

2:55:212:55:24

But now you are one second slower.

2:55:242:55:26

Good feedback from Max Verstappen to the Toro Rosso team

2:55:262:55:29

and how these tyres are reacting.

2:55:292:55:31

Allan, I'll come to you in a second

2:55:312:55:33

about the tyres and how they're working here.

2:55:332:55:35

I just want to see Rosberg across the line to see what this lap is.

2:55:352:55:39

To see whether it challenges the lap we have seen from Vettel.

2:55:392:55:42

Indeed it does, he goes quicker.

2:55:422:55:44

Pretty close. But it's a 1:14.0.

2:55:442:55:47

Allan, in Mexico, it was a very different story.

2:55:472:55:49

We had the new surface

2:55:492:55:51

and the tyre was barely being used at all.

2:55:512:55:53

They had to do a number of laps in qualifying to get their best lap.

2:55:532:55:57

Looks like we are on for a very different story here this weekend.

2:55:572:56:00

Yes, it's a slightly different scenario,

2:56:002:56:02

because that was a new circuit.

2:56:022:56:03

And it was very dusty and dirty.

2:56:032:56:05

We saw a tremendous amount of spinners,

2:56:052:56:07

especially at the beginning of the weekend.

2:56:072:56:09

But here, it's not due to that.

2:56:092:56:12

Here, it's due to the fact that they basically

2:56:122:56:15

have got the grip out of it,

2:56:152:56:17

but the performance goes out from the rubber part of it

2:56:172:56:19

the compound, it's overused.

2:56:192:56:21

So, therefore, you've got this degradation

2:56:212:56:24

and that is where the lap time goes, especially in that middle sector.

2:56:242:56:27

Because you go through Turn 4,

2:56:272:56:29

then you come up through the double right-hander 6 and 7,

2:56:292:56:31

and then it's all hairpins and acceleration

2:56:312:56:33

and that puts so much energy into the rear tyres.

2:56:332:56:36

And that's something these Pirelli rears don't like very much,

2:56:362:56:39

is when you put a lot of aggressive torque and energy into it.

2:56:392:56:42

And that finally finishes when you start on to the big, long straight

2:56:422:56:47

up towards Turn 1 again.

2:56:472:56:49

So a lot of energy being created.

2:56:492:56:50

Vettel, a slight improvement on that last lap

2:56:502:56:53

and, he's almost gone as quick as Rosberg, but not quite.

2:56:532:56:56

And Hamilton now is on a lap that should see him

2:56:562:56:59

mix it with the two of them, as well.

2:56:592:57:01

So this could be an improvement for Lewis Hamilton on this next lap.

2:57:012:57:04

Keep an eye on him. He is third fastest at the moment.

2:57:042:57:07

Kimi Raikkonen is currently fourth. Verstappen is fifth.

2:57:072:57:09

Hulkenberg is sixth.

2:57:092:57:11

Danny Ricciardo is seventh.

2:57:112:57:13

Sainz is currently eighth.

2:57:132:57:15

Perez, ninth and Maldonado is in tenth position for the moment.

2:57:152:57:18

Hamilton has backed off a bit, though, on this lap,

2:57:182:57:21

so, obviously, he will build up for another lap on the next one.

2:57:212:57:24

His first sector was good, but then he backed off.

2:57:242:57:27

It may well have been that he caught the traffic, of course, there

2:57:272:57:30

of Palmer in the Lotus.

2:57:302:57:32

So Hamilton now heads across the line

2:57:322:57:34

and this should be a more representative lap from him.

2:57:342:57:37

That was a slower lap.

2:57:372:57:39

A little lock up on that left front.

2:57:392:57:40

Oh! And he goes way wide.

2:57:402:57:42

So it won't be this lap

2:57:422:57:44

and that's a classic mistake.

2:57:442:57:45

A little bit like Jenson Button was telling us earlier in the programme.

2:57:452:57:49

Absolutely.

2:57:492:57:50

If you come in there and you think, "I've got to brake a bit later."

2:57:502:57:53

And it reminds me of the first race

2:57:532:57:55

Montoya did here when he arrived in 2001

2:57:552:57:58

and pulled that overtaking manoeuvre on Michael Schumacher,

2:57:582:58:00

which surprised Michael.

2:58:002:58:01

He was turning in and suddenly he was right there,

2:58:012:58:04

you know, the last of the late brakers.

2:58:042:58:05

Forced him wide on the exit.

2:58:052:58:07

And that laid down a marker.

2:58:072:58:08

So that's exactly what Jenson was talking about.

2:58:082:58:10

That was an interesting race for Montoya.

2:58:102:58:12

Of course, he ended up not winning that race, tangling with Verstappen.

2:58:122:58:15

Who went into the back of him, yeah.

2:58:152:58:17

Jos has had a bit of a traumatic time here.

2:58:172:58:19

He was involved in that shunt in '94 with Eric Bernard

2:58:192:58:22

and, you know, got Eddie Irvine's race ban, as well.

2:58:222:58:25

You remember that? A spectacular incident on the back straight.

2:58:252:58:28

That was Jos Verstappen's debut in Formula One.

2:58:282:58:31

I think Max Verstappen is very aware of the family history here

2:58:312:58:34

and he is hoping that things will be slightly smoother

2:58:342:58:37

from his point of view.

2:58:372:58:38

There is Max bringing the car back into the pit-lane.

2:58:382:58:41

If he makes a mistake this weekend, dad can't say too much, can he?

2:58:412:58:43

That's right, he can't complain. No, that's absolutely right.

2:58:432:58:46

So, Rosberg fastest at the moment.

2:58:462:58:49

Vettel has just come back out of the pits.

2:58:492:58:51

We said Hamilton might improve, but he's not going quickly on this lap.

2:58:512:58:55

So after that mistake down on the first corner,

2:58:552:58:57

he's obviously backed right off.

2:58:572:59:00

So whether he will stay out or whether he has damaged those tyres,

2:59:002:59:03

we'll wait to find out in a moment.

2:59:032:59:04

Raikkonen is fourth.

2:59:042:59:06

And then Verstappen is fifth.

2:59:062:59:08

Hulkenberg sixth and then Ricciardo.

2:59:082:59:10

And Hamilton, I think, has just gone past you, hasn't he, Allan?

2:59:102:59:14

I'm now down at the first corner.

2:59:152:59:17

Very, very early on to the throttle.

2:59:172:59:19

He turned into the apex of the left-hander,

2:59:192:59:22

but then the acceleration between Turns 1 and 2

2:59:222:59:25

into the right of the Senna S was pretty impressive.

2:59:252:59:28

He is much earlier on the throttle than anyone else

2:59:282:59:30

that has gone through since him.

2:59:302:59:33

That is interesting.

2:59:332:59:34

We're just watching Rosberg about to come across the line.

2:59:342:59:37

Let's just see what the lap time is for him.

2:59:372:59:39

It's a 1:14.2.

2:59:392:59:40

Not his best. He's done a 1:14.0 already.

2:59:402:59:44

But still very, very competitive with that.

2:59:442:59:46

Interestingly, not quite as quick as he was last year in FP1.

2:59:462:59:50

We saw them in the 12s last year, 1:12.7.

2:59:502:59:55

in FP1 last year.

2:59:552:59:57

So not quite down to that pace at this stage.

2:59:573:00:00

We still have a bit of time, we've got half an hour left

3:00:003:00:03

in this first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

3:00:033:00:06

And Mercedes up there.

3:00:063:00:08

But certainly looks as though Ferrari could be

3:00:083:00:10

a little closer than at some circuits.

3:00:103:00:11

Hamilton is on a quick lap this time.

3:00:113:00:13

He's got first and second sectors that are faster

3:00:133:00:16

than anybody else so far.

3:00:163:00:17

This is going to be a new fastest time, I think.

3:00:173:00:19

Let's just see what it is... 1:13.5.

3:00:193:00:23

Big chunk of time taken off what Rosberg had previously done.

3:00:233:00:26

Half a second faster and, as you can see,

3:00:263:00:29

he's gone fastest in every single sector.

3:00:293:00:32

That is the sort of performance he wants to put together this weekend.

3:00:323:00:35

Indeed.

3:00:353:00:37

It's a performance he will have to put together,

3:00:373:00:39

because you don't beat Lewis, even a slightly below par Lewis,

3:00:393:00:43

without doing that.

3:00:433:00:44

Daniel Ricciardo just warming the tyres up a little bit.

3:00:453:00:48

Just to remind you, he's running this revised Renault engine.

3:00:483:00:52

It was interesting that Christian Horner told us

3:00:523:00:56

that they are running less downforce on the car, as well,

3:00:563:00:58

because he will have to do more overtaking in the race

3:00:583:01:01

as a result of getting a ten-place penalty.

3:01:013:01:04

So it makes it difficult for us to know

3:01:043:01:06

the difference between him and Kvyat in that case

3:01:063:01:09

because some of it might be downforce level

3:01:093:01:11

-and some of it will be engine.

-Indeed.

3:01:113:01:12

They are able to do that because the chassis is so good

3:01:123:01:15

in the twisting sections that it's not going to be too handicapped

3:01:153:01:19

by actually doing that.

3:01:193:01:20

But it's quite interesting between the two of them.

3:01:203:01:22

Because they've got their own little battle going on, as well.

3:01:223:01:25

At the moment, Kvyat still has four more points

3:01:253:01:27

in the Championship than Ricciardo. It's 88 to 84.

3:01:273:01:31

And, you know, they both have had five DNFs.

3:01:313:01:33

And, in terms of bragging rights,

3:01:333:01:35

you want to be there at the end of the season. They both admit that.

3:01:353:01:38

Yeah, that's right.

3:01:383:01:40

Looking at the Speed Trap figures, Hamilton tops the Speed Trap

3:01:403:01:43

from Perez and Rosberg.

3:01:433:01:45

You're not seeing Ricciardo on there until you get down to 14th.

3:01:453:01:48

So, again, it's not a big difference.

3:01:483:01:50

In fact, Kvyat and Sainz, of course, both Renault-powered,

3:01:503:01:54

are actually ahead of him in the Speed Trap figures at the moment.

3:01:543:01:57

It is always difficult to read a huge amount into those figures,

3:01:573:02:01

but it just gives us the odd clue.

3:02:013:02:04

Allan, did you see Ricciardo go through that first section just now?

3:02:043:02:08

Just outbraking himself by about 20 metres

3:02:103:02:13

and ran straight off the circuit here, Ben.

3:02:133:02:15

Used the run-off area

3:02:153:02:17

on the outside of Turn 1 and then joined again at Turn 2.

3:02:173:02:20

He was so, so late on the brakes, locked up that inside wheel.

3:02:203:02:23

And the inside wheel, because the camber of the road floats down

3:02:233:02:27

into the apex of the left-hander, it's quite unloaded,

3:02:273:02:30

so it is quite easy to lock up.

3:02:303:02:32

But you brake very late into there, anyway. About 60, 70 metres.

3:02:323:02:35

And he just happened to brake that little bit too late.

3:02:353:02:38

Allan, who was that you mentioned?

3:02:383:02:40

Sorry, we missed the very start of that.

3:02:403:02:42

So who was that that did that?

3:02:423:02:44

The fastest man on the circuit at the moment - Lewis Hamilton.

3:02:443:02:46

He did a quick lap. Then he did a slow lap, cooled the tyres down,

3:02:463:02:49

take a little bit of temperature out of them,

3:02:493:02:51

but energy back into them

3:02:513:02:52

and then he was starting his next one again.

3:02:523:02:55

Yeah, we did see that.

3:02:553:02:56

And they are showing a replay now of... Was it that one?

3:02:563:02:59

Yes, it was.

3:02:593:03:00

Where he went too deep.

3:03:003:03:02

He was very wide, I can tell you.

3:03:023:03:04

But it was instantaneous.

3:03:043:03:05

As soon as he hit the brakes, he locked up the left front

3:03:053:03:08

and, at that moment in time, he was already too late.

3:03:083:03:11

Because he was doing 210mph, that is about 93 metres a second.

3:03:113:03:14

And so a tenth, you know, just a tenth of a second

3:03:143:03:17

and you have done basically ten metres

3:03:173:03:19

and that's exactly what happened.

3:03:193:03:20

He came through the corner and he's spotted the apex this time.

3:03:203:03:23

Much more gentle on the brakes.

3:03:233:03:24

We've just seen Carlos Sainz locking up coming into the pit-lane entry.

3:03:243:03:27

He's really attacking the pit-lane entry.

3:03:273:03:29

Let's just listen to Rosberg's radio...

3:03:293:03:31

-TEAM RADIO:

-A lot of understeer at the moment.

3:03:313:03:33

Do you think there's time to come in for a tyre change?

3:03:333:03:36

Affirm. If you want to do it, we'll do one.

3:03:363:03:39

So, Allan, presumably, a bit of change on the front wing?

3:03:393:03:42

Yes, yes. I think they're going to need that.

3:03:423:03:45

Because, at the moment,

3:03:453:03:46

you said about locking up coming into the pit-pane,

3:03:463:03:49

the pit-lane is massively dusty

3:03:493:03:50

and I think with all of the works that have been going on

3:03:503:03:53

in the paddock for the new buildings,

3:03:533:03:55

there's generally a lot of dust still on the circuit, as well.

3:03:553:03:58

And that pushes you into an understeer,

3:03:583:04:00

especially in that middle sector of the track

3:04:003:04:03

and you need to get a good front end grip there

3:04:033:04:05

to rotate the car, to pivot it round

3:04:053:04:07

to get then back on to the throttle.

3:04:073:04:09

Great. Keep an eye out on what's going on at Turn 1.

3:04:093:04:12

Let us know if there are any more dramas.

3:04:123:04:15

Right now, Hamilton is fastest in this session by over half a second.

3:04:153:04:18

A great lap from him.

3:04:183:04:19

Rosberg making a slight adjustment to the front wing.

3:04:193:04:21

We saw the guys go in and just make a little change

3:04:213:04:25

to the front flap angle, so he is hoping for a little less understeer.

3:04:253:04:28

Let's listen to Jenson Button...

3:04:283:04:30

-TEAM RADIO:

-The rear grip is much better this run, thanks for that.

3:04:303:04:33

I think the circuit's moved up a lot.

3:04:333:04:36

And that is where experience counts, of course.

3:04:373:04:40

Button able to recognise that

3:04:403:04:41

the grip is coming from the track itself in many ways.

3:04:413:04:44

As a little bit of rubber gets laid down,

3:04:443:04:47

it changes the characteristics of the circuit

3:04:473:04:49

and the car suddenly starting to feel a bit better

3:04:493:04:52

without perhaps making any major changes

3:04:523:04:54

in terms of actual suspension set-up or aerodynamic set-up.

3:04:543:04:57

This looks like a better lap from Ricciardo.

3:04:573:05:00

He's set personal bests in Sectors 1 and 2.

3:05:003:05:02

Just coming across the line now. And..

3:05:023:05:05

Yeah, that takes him up to fifth.

3:05:053:05:07

-Very close with Raikkonen, too, isn't it?

-Yeah.

3:05:073:05:10

He's on a 14.6 now and looking... Where's Daniil Kvyat?

3:05:103:05:13

He's right behind him on 14.69.

3:05:133:05:15

At the moment, just nine hundredths of a second

3:05:153:05:18

between the Red Bulls, with Ricciardo slightly quicker.

3:05:183:05:21

Yeah, not much to choose between them.

3:05:213:05:24

Kvyat sixth, Verstappen still seventh,

3:05:243:05:26

Hulkenberg eighth, then Maldonado ninth,

3:05:263:05:29

which is encouraging for Lotus, I would say.

3:05:293:05:31

Tenth place for Sainz, Palmer just outside the top ten,

3:05:313:05:34

ahead of Button and Perez, Alonso, who's down in 14th place.

3:05:343:05:38

Ericsson in the Sauber's down in 15th place.

3:05:383:05:40

Bottas only 16th. And Massa 18th.

3:05:403:05:43

So, we always note that Williams

3:05:433:05:45

don't necessarily show us what they can do,

3:05:453:05:48

but that's a bit of a surprise.

3:05:483:05:50

And Massa has only done eight laps.

3:05:503:05:52

I'm beginning to wonder whether Felipe Massa's a bit of a problem,

3:05:523:05:55

or whether they're having to do something a bit more major

3:05:553:05:58

on Massa's car than would normally be expected.

3:05:583:06:01

Bottas has done 12 laps.

3:06:013:06:03

It may just be that they're limiting their mileage

3:06:033:06:05

and they'll come out at the end of the session

3:06:053:06:08

to put in a sequence of laps.

3:06:083:06:10

A different run plan from Williams.

3:06:103:06:13

Whether that's due to a problem or part of the plan,

3:06:133:06:15

we'll have to find out.

3:06:153:06:17

At the bottom of the table,

3:06:173:06:18

Rossi now just a little quicker than Stevens,

3:06:183:06:20

but really very little to choose between them.

3:06:203:06:24

Lewis Hamilton there just coming back into the pits.

3:06:243:06:27

Fastest, of course, in this session so far.

3:06:273:06:30

We know how much this weekend means to him.

3:06:303:06:33

Let's find out what he had to say yesterday when we caught up with him

3:06:333:06:38

and asked him what's special here about Interlagos.

3:06:383:06:41

The track's really cool.

3:06:423:06:44

It was one of the first anticlockwise circuits.

3:06:443:06:46

Then I think just the undulations, lots of ups and downs.

3:06:463:06:49

The history and, for sure, the fans here.

3:06:493:06:51

The Brazilians are just crazy about Formula One, as you know.

3:06:513:06:55

And they really create that atmosphere.

3:06:553:06:57

You were late arriving, Lewis.

3:06:573:06:58

Are you well? Are you OK? You're ready to go?

3:06:583:07:01

I'm always ready to go. I was born ready.

3:07:013:07:03

But it's been a difficult week, but I feel good.

3:07:033:07:06

That was Lewis Hamilton speaking to Tom Clarkson yesterday

3:07:063:07:09

after his difficult week.

3:07:093:07:11

He crashed his supercar in Monaco earlier on this week.

3:07:113:07:14

He's also been fighting off a fever.

3:07:143:07:16

He didn't look at his glowing best yesterday.

3:07:163:07:19

But, hopefully, he's had a decent night's sleep.

3:07:193:07:22

It doesn't seem to be slowing him down. Let's listen in.

3:07:223:07:24

'This clutch feels weird.

3:07:243:07:26

'When I leave the garage, just start to feed it in,

3:07:263:07:30

'it's got this weird vibration.

3:07:303:07:32

'The same just happened just now. It's not good, really.'

3:07:323:07:36

Hand-operated clutch on the Formula One cars.

3:07:363:07:39

But the drivers very sensitive to any change in feel.

3:07:393:07:43

And that's something that Lewis

3:07:433:07:45

isn't quite happy about at the moment.

3:07:453:07:47

I'm sure there'll be a bit of research done on that.

3:07:473:07:50

Tony, looking ahead, not just into next year, but into the future,

3:07:503:07:54

there's a quite lot going on in the politics of Formula One.

3:07:543:07:58

One of the things that popped up just before the last race

3:07:583:08:01

was the idea that an engine would be brought into Formula One...

3:08:013:08:06

Let's just listen to Kvyat.

3:08:063:08:08

'..extremely poor...'

3:08:093:08:11

Couldn't quite catch what Kvyat was complaining about there.

3:08:113:08:14

Something's extremely poor. I think he might have said "grip".

3:08:143:08:17

Right, OK. Allan, did you manage to get any more of that?

3:08:173:08:20

-Yes, he said drivability is extremely poor.

-Ah.

3:08:203:08:23

He's just come through behind Daniel Ricciardo

3:08:233:08:27

and Ricciardo was changing down one extra gear into Turn 1,

3:08:273:08:30

whereas Kvyat, on two consecutive laps, has kept it a gear higher.

3:08:303:08:35

And I presumed it was because of them trying to keep more momentum.

3:08:353:08:39

But if he's got bad drivability

3:08:393:08:41

then he can't control when he goes back onto the throttle.

3:08:413:08:45

-So, it does tally up a little bit.

-Yeah.

3:08:453:08:48

We're just looking at Massa out there.

3:08:483:08:50

Tony, coming back to the whole idea of engines in Formula One

3:08:503:08:54

and the fact that there might be a tender process

3:08:543:08:57

for another engine to be brought in

3:08:573:08:59

that would be like a sort of 2.2-litre turbo

3:08:593:09:02

that would somehow go up against these 1.6 turbo hybrid engines.

3:09:023:09:06

-What are your thoughts on all of that?

-It's interesting.

3:09:063:09:10

I think it's a political issue and, to me,

3:09:103:09:12

it's about the control of Formula One.

3:09:123:09:14

At the moment, the manufacturers seem to have all the power.

3:09:143:09:17

They're producing these massively expensive hybrid engines

3:09:173:09:20

that a lot of the smaller teams can't afford.

3:09:203:09:23

And Ferrari recently exercised a veto that they have in the strategy group

3:09:233:09:30

which...the idea was to introduce a cost cap on these engines

3:09:303:09:34

and Ferrari voted against it.

3:09:343:09:36

The FIA president, Jean Todt, he said the thing he feels unfair

3:09:363:09:41

is that you can't expect teams on limited budgets,

3:09:413:09:44

with a division of revenue that's completely unfavourable to them,

3:09:443:09:47

to pay this amount of money for an engine.

3:09:473:09:49

And he's suggesting there should be a 12 billion euro cap

3:09:493:09:52

on what an engine is charged out at.

3:09:523:09:55

Now, the teams say, well...

3:09:553:09:57

Ferrari were saying, we're going to lose money at that.

3:09:573:10:00

He's saying, no, I think that's a fair figure.

3:10:003:10:03

I think this new engine might just be a lever

3:10:033:10:06

to try and force them

3:10:063:10:07

to provide these hybrid engines at sensible cost.

3:10:073:10:11

But if it doesn't happen, if they don't do that,

3:10:113:10:14

then Todt is putting out a tender process

3:10:143:10:17

for someone to produce this engine for 2017

3:10:173:10:20

and they'll come up with some kind of equivalency formula

3:10:203:10:23

to try and make it run at the same sort of level

3:10:233:10:25

as the current hybrids, at a cost that everybody can afford.

3:10:253:10:29

Now, that... When you've invested in all this hybrid technology,

3:10:293:10:33

the road relevance and all this kind of thing,

3:10:333:10:35

that's not the sort of thing you want to hear

3:10:353:10:37

if you're Toto Wolff or Ferrari.

3:10:373:10:39

Hamilton is fastest here at the moment

3:10:413:10:43

from Rosberg, Vettel, Ricciardo and Raikkonen.

3:10:433:10:47

Daniil Kvyat is sixth.

3:10:473:10:49

And then Max Verstappen seventh, Hulkenberg eighth,

3:10:493:10:52

Maldonado is ninth, and Carlos Sainz is currently in tenth place.

3:10:523:10:55

Just below that, we've got Jolyon Palmer,

3:10:573:10:59

Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, with Alonso...

3:10:593:11:03

Massa improved a moment ago.

3:11:033:11:04

We did see a bit of a slide from him down at Turn 4,

3:11:043:11:07

but he managed to gather it all back together again.

3:11:073:11:10

And he's moved up a little bit, but 15th, still further down.

3:11:103:11:13

I know Williams always...

3:11:133:11:15

don't shine a light on Friday,

3:11:153:11:18

but I would have thought...

3:11:183:11:19

would have wanted to see them a little bit nearer the top ten.

3:11:193:11:22

Going back to this engine issue,

3:11:223:11:24

a lot of people who don't know the details of F1 politics

3:11:243:11:29

will say, "How come Ferrari has this veto?

3:11:293:11:33

"How are they able to do that?"

3:11:333:11:35

And Jean Todt himself, the FIA president,

3:11:353:11:38

he said he was Ferrari team principal back in '93

3:11:383:11:40

and he wanted to know where this veto came from.

3:11:403:11:43

And he said it goes all the way back to 1980

3:11:433:11:45

when the Concorde Agreement,

3:11:453:11:47

which is the F1 governors document, was made.

3:11:473:11:49

Enzo Ferrari felt isolated

3:11:493:11:50

against the British teams that all ran a Ford Cosworth engine,

3:11:503:11:53

so he wanted that veto.

3:11:533:11:55

It's been in there ever since, so, you know, more than 35 years.

3:11:553:11:58

-Yes. It all becomes very political.

-It does. He said it's like having...

3:11:583:12:01

A veto's like having a gun in your pocket.

3:12:013:12:03

You've got to know when to use it.

3:12:033:12:05

And he said, legally, they can only use it

3:12:053:12:07

if something is done which is against their interests.

3:12:073:12:10

I think we could get into a fight about that down the road.

3:12:103:12:13

I just wanted to bring Allan in on this.

3:12:133:12:15

I know you've moved away from Turn 1. But the whole point...

3:12:153:12:18

You've been a world champion, the World Endurance Championship,

3:12:183:12:21

where there are equivalency formulas.

3:12:213:12:23

You have different technical rules amongst the different manufacturers.

3:12:233:12:27

Do you see that working in Formula One?

3:12:273:12:30

If they brought in this other type of engine,

3:12:303:12:32

do you think they could really equalise its performance

3:12:323:12:34

against what we have now?

3:12:343:12:36

It would be very tough, to be honest.

3:12:363:12:38

Yes, technically, they can do it, but then there's the political game.

3:12:383:12:42

You know, you mentioned about the veto.

3:12:423:12:45

If Ferrari were running with the current specification of engine,

3:12:453:12:50

you can bet they're not going to be very happy

3:12:503:12:53

if someone with a much, much cheaper engine,

3:12:533:12:55

something that they haven't had to invest

3:12:553:12:57

that level of financial commitment into it,

3:12:573:13:00

suddenly, just because of balance of performance,

3:13:003:13:03

basically enhancing the performance but in a non-technical manner,

3:13:033:13:07

and, basically, in a free manner, is able to challenge them.

3:13:073:13:10

So, I think it's a real tough one.

3:13:103:13:12

But I agree with Tony - this is purely a political argument

3:13:123:13:15

and it's something that's been going on behind the scenes

3:13:153:13:18

for quite a long period of time.

3:13:183:13:20

And I do not believe there is an easy solution.

3:13:203:13:23

The best solution is if we can hopefully have Honda and Renault

3:13:233:13:27

fighting a little bit more at the front,

3:13:273:13:30

basically improving their technology

3:13:303:13:32

in comparison to where they are today.

3:13:323:13:34

Then a lot of these discussions and problems

3:13:343:13:36

would go away pretty much instantaneously.

3:13:363:13:38

You're bang on there.

3:13:383:13:40

The other side of the argument is that this is a sport,

3:13:403:13:42

it's not a marketing exercise, and we should have available engines

3:13:423:13:45

for people to be able to go racing with,

3:13:453:13:48

to enable new teams to come in to Formula One,

3:13:483:13:50

to make it viable for that to happen, people like your ARTs, you know...

3:13:503:13:54

They can't make the step to Formula One at the moment

3:13:543:13:57

because it's so expensive.

3:13:573:13:58

But they could make the step

3:13:583:13:59

when there were engines available in the V8 era.

3:13:593:14:03

We've only got one of the three teams that came in

3:14:033:14:06

when they were looking at the cost cap budget.

3:14:063:14:08

I think that's probably the bigger part to a team coming in,

3:14:083:14:12

is, actually, the amount of money they can spend,

3:14:123:14:14

or is needed to spend to be competitive on any level.

3:14:143:14:19

And if it's engines today, aerodynamics before, in the V8 era,

3:14:193:14:22

when it was Red Bull that were ruling the roost.

3:14:223:14:26

Right now, though, I do think something has to be done,

3:14:263:14:28

but I'm just not sure of an easy way out.

3:14:283:14:30

What I do also believe is we can't go backwards.

3:14:303:14:34

We've got to be very careful we don't just say,

3:14:343:14:36

well, it was better in the old days and go back to that.

3:14:363:14:39

We've got to have something that is actually viable for today

3:14:393:14:42

and for the next generation.

3:14:423:14:43

-Yeah, I agree with that.

-You're stirring up people on Twitter.

3:14:433:14:47

The F1 engineers saying independent engines,

3:14:473:14:49

F1 was built on independent engines,

3:14:493:14:51

it's what allowed Frank Williams, Ken Tyrrell, et cetera,

3:14:513:14:53

to enter the sport.

3:14:533:14:55

So, it does stir up the emotions, there's no doubt.

3:14:553:14:57

Yeah, it's a valid point.

3:14:573:14:58

You should be able to progress into it.

3:14:583:15:01

You've got teams at the bottom end not performing

3:15:013:15:04

and teams that are class acts in other championships

3:15:043:15:07

that can't look at coming to the pinnacle of the sport,

3:15:073:15:09

and they should be able to.

3:15:093:15:12

Felipe Massa's doing his best to entertain the crowd here.

3:15:123:15:14

He's been more sideways than anybody else, I think,

3:15:143:15:17

throughout the whole of this session.

3:15:173:15:19

I'm not sure the Williams is giving him

3:15:193:15:21

the kind of performance he wants.

3:15:213:15:23

It seems to be sliding around a lot more than expected.

3:15:233:15:25

He's managing to hold it together each time so far,

3:15:253:15:28

but dramatic stuff from Felipe Massa so far in this session.

3:15:283:15:32

We're now watching Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard,

3:15:323:15:34

who's currently 11th in this session.

3:15:343:15:36

Only three-tenths off his team-mate,

3:15:363:15:38

who did drive the practice session here last year.

3:15:383:15:41

So, that's pretty encouraging.

3:15:413:15:42

Still waiting for official confirmation

3:15:423:15:44

that Sainz will be racing for Toro Rosso next year.

3:15:443:15:47

But I think everyone feeling it will go ahead.

3:15:473:15:49

Intriguingly, although he is a little behind Verstappen

3:15:493:15:52

in terms of championship points scored, some 29 behind,

3:15:523:15:56

he's still ahead in the qualifying battle,

3:15:563:15:59

nine to seven versus Verstappen, I believe it is, at the moment.

3:15:593:16:04

That could be sorted out in the last couple of races.

3:16:043:16:07

-I thought it was 9-8 to Verstappen.

-Oh, 9-8 to Verstappen now, is it?

3:16:073:16:11

-I might be out of date.

-Yeah, I'll have to revisit that.

3:16:113:16:13

-Yeah, OK.

-One of us has gone wrong!

-Yeah. It's very close.

-It is close.

3:16:133:16:17

It's not sorted yet, that's the point.

3:16:173:16:19

That one's still to be resolved as to who's going to be top qualifier

3:16:193:16:22

between Verstappen and Sainz, which is intriguing

3:16:223:16:24

when you think Verstappen's had such a strong season.

3:16:243:16:27

He's using quite a lot of curve as well, isn't he?

3:16:273:16:30

He's had the fair share of the coverage because of his age,

3:16:303:16:34

coming in at 17,

3:16:343:16:35

but you've got to say that Carlos Sainz has had a few incidents

3:16:353:16:39

and some of it's been a bit hairy, but he's done a fantastic job.

3:16:393:16:42

I was talking to Carlos Snr at the last race

3:16:423:16:45

and he's said he's pleased with the way the year's gone.

3:16:453:16:48

Notwithstanding the shunt he had in Sochi

3:16:483:16:52

when Carlos wasn't here, he was competing at another event.

3:16:523:16:55

But he was watching his TV

3:16:553:16:56

and said that was a very uncomfortable 17 minutes.

3:16:563:17:00

-That aside, it's been a fantastic year.

-It has indeed.

3:17:003:17:04

Kimi Raikkonen not having

3:17:043:17:05

quite such a fantastic time of it just recently.

3:17:053:17:08

Although he's involved in that battle with Bottas,

3:17:083:17:11

way down in terms of points scored compared to his team-mate.

3:17:113:17:14

But he is going to be part of that Ferrari team next year.

3:17:143:17:18

It will be the two world champions leading the way with Ferrari

3:17:183:17:22

and hoping they're going to have

3:17:223:17:23

a little bit more of a competitive car.

3:17:233:17:26

It's been a brilliant turnaround this year

3:17:263:17:28

from what Ferrari had last year, moving into 2015,

3:17:283:17:31

but how much more can they find for 2016?

3:17:313:17:34

James Allison is the man

3:17:343:17:35

in charge of the technical department at Ferrari,

3:17:353:17:38

and a huge amount of work going on

3:17:383:17:40

to try and just close that gap a little bit more on Mercedes

3:17:403:17:42

and make a real fight for it in next year's world championship.

3:17:423:17:46

A bit of a lock-up from Felipe Nasr. What are your thoughts on Ferrari?

3:17:463:17:51

Do you believe that they've really got what it takes to build a car now

3:17:513:17:56

that is going to challenge Mercedes next year?

3:17:563:17:58

I think the step they made this year has been impressive.

3:17:583:18:01

But when you look at that Mercedes group of people,

3:18:013:18:03

they've got an impressive group of people,

3:18:033:18:05

and I think that's going to be the hard thing.

3:18:053:18:08

You can produce the car and hopefully close the gap,

3:18:083:18:11

but whether it's enough to overcome them, I don't know.

3:18:113:18:14

If you look at it generally, I want to see Honda make a step.

3:18:143:18:16

I want to see the Renault engine better as well.

3:18:163:18:18

Because we all knew that when they introduced these new engines,

3:18:183:18:21

somebody would do a better job than the rest,

3:18:213:18:23

and that's exactly what's happened.

3:18:233:18:25

But as you go further down the road, people catch up.

3:18:253:18:29

Then, hopefully, we can get back to that real nitty-gritty

3:18:293:18:32

with three or four teams involved, rather than just one dominating.

3:18:323:18:35

Watching Fernando Alonso.

3:18:353:18:37

He's one that needs all those Honda improvements

3:18:373:18:39

to come through for next year.

3:18:393:18:41

The early testing's going to be very interesting

3:18:413:18:44

at the beginning of next season

3:18:443:18:45

just to see who's come up with the goods and who hasn't

3:18:453:18:49

and what effect that then has on drivers

3:18:493:18:51

and their happiness or otherwise,

3:18:513:18:53

going through the rest of the season.

3:18:533:18:55

Alonso currently 16th in this session.

3:18:553:18:57

His team-mate, Jenson Button, is 13th.

3:18:573:19:00

And the gap to the leaders is 1.8 seconds in both cases.

3:19:003:19:03

Interestingly, they've done very similar lap times.

3:19:033:19:06

It's very close in that section,

3:19:063:19:08

from Jolyon Palmer, who's 1.8 seconds off Hamilton's time,

3:19:083:19:12

then you've got Nasr, Button, Perez and Alonso

3:19:123:19:16

all on, basically, the same lap time,

3:19:163:19:19

which is very, very close indeed.

3:19:193:19:21

You talked about those first tests

3:19:213:19:23

and the fingers crossed all the way through the paddock.

3:19:233:19:26

It is anxious moments.

3:19:263:19:28

You turn up, you get in and you think, "What's it like?"

3:19:283:19:31

Development does happen, but you know if you've got a lemon

3:19:313:19:34

at the first test, you might have a lemon...

3:19:343:19:36

Oh! And off goes Raikkonen! Raikkonen in a big, big spin.

3:19:363:19:40

He's going through the gravel trap.

3:19:403:19:41

Hopefully, he's going to drag it back out

3:19:413:19:44

onto a little bit of tarmac, which he does.

3:19:443:19:47

Can he get home?

3:19:473:19:48

Yeah, that's the question. I think he probably can.

3:19:483:19:51

That's down at Turn 4.

3:19:513:19:52

That's where we've seen incidents in the past.

3:19:523:19:55

Looks like he lost it underbraking, perhaps.

3:19:553:19:58

We'll have to look at a replay.

3:19:583:19:59

But dramatic moment there for Kimi Raikkonen. Another one.

3:19:593:20:03

He's been having a few dramatic moments, hasn't he?

3:20:033:20:05

Crashed out at the USA Grand Prix on his own, of course.

3:20:053:20:08

He's in the background,

3:20:083:20:09

but it was down at this next corner that he's approaching

3:20:093:20:12

that something goes wrong somewhere along the lines.

3:20:123:20:14

Certainly not out by the white line initially.

3:20:143:20:17

-Oh!

-That's very strange.

-Yeah. That WAS strange.

3:20:173:20:20

Seemed to lock the left rear, or maybe both rears.

3:20:203:20:23

So, maybe it was just either a brake balance

3:20:233:20:26

or an energy recovery problem.

3:20:263:20:29

Of course, as soon as these cars go onto the brakes,

3:20:293:20:32

they're recovering electrical energy from those rear wheels,

3:20:323:20:36

from the rear axle,

3:20:363:20:37

and sometimes, if the settings are a little bit wrong,

3:20:373:20:40

that can kick out the back end of the car out.

3:20:403:20:42

Maybe it was something to do with that.

3:20:423:20:44

There's a decent amount of run-off down there

3:20:443:20:46

and he bounced his way through the gravel.

3:20:463:20:48

It was also the corner, famously,

3:20:483:20:50

that Sebastian Vettel ended up facing the wrong way here in 2012

3:20:503:20:53

in his championship battle

3:20:533:20:55

and ended up restarting right at the back of the field.

3:20:553:20:58

-Gave himself a tough afternoon.

-Yeah.

3:20:583:21:00

That was a remarkable race,

3:21:003:21:01

one of the best Formula One races of recent history.

3:21:013:21:04

But Raikkonen's limped back in.

3:21:043:21:06

I think there's a fair old bit of gravel through that car.

3:21:063:21:08

I wouldn't be surprised

3:21:083:21:10

if that's the end of the running for this session.

3:21:103:21:12

They'll want to clean the car out

3:21:123:21:13

before getting him ready for the second practice session here today.

3:21:133:21:17

Hamilton's still fastest,

3:21:173:21:19

but he's just gone back out onto the circuit, as has Rosberg...

3:21:193:21:23

No, Rosberg's still in the pit.

3:21:233:21:25

So, we'll wait to see if Rosberg's going to come back out.

3:21:253:21:28

Vettel, currently third fastest, is on track.

3:21:283:21:31

But he's not lapping particularly quickly.

3:21:313:21:33

And Raikkonen's been sent on his way again,

3:21:333:21:35

so they obviously feel there's not too much drama.

3:21:353:21:39

Now... Jenson Button joining as Palmer was waved out.

3:21:393:21:44

Ooh, dear.

3:21:443:21:45

Palmer didn't look at all,

3:21:453:21:47

but, obviously, it was more the mistake of the team.

3:21:473:21:50

He was waved out.

3:21:503:21:52

You can see the guy in front of the Lotus who waved him out

3:21:523:21:55

and obviously shouldn't have done,

3:21:553:21:56

because Button was already on his way down the pit.

3:21:563:22:00

I'm sure Jenson would have been on the radio quickly

3:22:003:22:03

to say, "What's going on here?"

3:22:033:22:05

Raikkonen has rejoined once again.

3:22:053:22:07

And there's Rosberg.

3:22:073:22:09

So, both Mercedes are on track.

3:22:093:22:11

I doubt they're going to be able to go quicker

3:22:113:22:13

than what they've done already.

3:22:133:22:15

That lap of 1:13.5 by Lewis Hamilton

3:22:153:22:18

half a second faster than team-mate Nico Rosberg.

3:22:183:22:21

But these tyres have now done...

3:22:213:22:23

Hamilton's done a total of 21 laps in this session,

3:22:233:22:26

although that's on both sets of tyres.

3:22:263:22:29

But the tyres will be past their best now

3:22:293:22:31

and it's unlikely, I would think, they're going to be able to improve

3:22:313:22:34

on the lap times they set slightly earlier on.

3:22:343:22:37

But still a pretty impressive run from Hamilton

3:22:373:22:40

to put in the time that he did.

3:22:403:22:42

Vettel still holding on to third place,

3:22:423:22:45

Ricciardo in fourth and Raikkonen in fifth position.

3:22:453:22:48

How much confidence do you think Nico Rosberg

3:22:483:22:51

will bring into this event,

3:22:513:22:53

based on what he achieved in Mexico last time?

3:22:533:22:56

Let's look at Massa. Did he have a lock-up into the first corner?

3:22:563:22:59

Yes, he did. Front left.

3:22:593:23:02

A little bit of a slide.

3:23:023:23:04

Again, he seems to be struggling for grip generally.

3:23:043:23:07

But how much confidence will Rosberg bring in to this even?

3:23:073:23:09

He's got to come here as confident as you can be against Lewis Hamilton,

3:23:093:23:13

because he knows what he did here last year,

3:23:133:23:16

he's taken the last four poles

3:23:163:23:17

and he seems to have reworked that equation between sort of

3:23:173:23:20

qualifying and race performance a little bit. You remember, last year,

3:23:203:23:23

he actually got the upper hand over Lewis in qualifying.

3:23:233:23:26

This year, Lewis has dominated, he's taken the last four poles.

3:23:263:23:30

He won here convincingly last year. He won convincingly last time out

3:23:303:23:34

at you know, in Mexico, so he can't be any more confident, I don't think.

3:23:343:23:38

Right, well, it should provide us with that good head-to-head rivalry

3:23:383:23:42

that we've seen so much of, of course,

3:23:423:23:44

that didn't quite electrify the championship as much as last year,

3:23:443:23:48

because, last year, it did all go down to the final round.

3:23:483:23:51

Rosberg managed to kind of stay right in the hunt, didn't he,

3:23:513:23:53

right down to that last round in Abu Dhabi.

3:23:533:23:55

Clearly, that hasn't happened this year.

3:23:553:23:58

But if Rosberg can finish off the season in style,

3:23:583:24:00

then you've got to feel he's going to go into next year with

3:24:003:24:03

a bit of a boost that Hamilton can be beaten.

3:24:033:24:05

The other thing, of course, is that, with the championships decided,

3:24:053:24:08

there's nothing restraining him, you know, you just go for it, don't you?

3:24:083:24:11

And I'm sure he'll get the gloves off a bit more than he has been,

3:24:113:24:14

you know, when there's been championships and titles at stake,

3:24:143:24:17

and he's got nothing to lose - just go for it and hope the best.

3:24:173:24:21

So into... Nearly into the final five minutes. Just ticking away.

3:24:213:24:25

5½ minutes to go in this - our first practice session from Brazil.

3:24:253:24:29

We're in this island of a circuit right in the heart of Sao Paulo,

3:24:293:24:34

a little bit away from the actual centre of the city,

3:24:343:24:36

about 13 miles from the actual city centre,

3:24:363:24:39

but it is such a spread-eagled city, this,

3:24:393:24:41

that it is developed all around this circuit.

3:24:413:24:44

Interlagos, meaning "between the lakes".

3:24:443:24:47

Two big reservoirs were originally built here.

3:24:473:24:50

In fact, this track has been around for a long time,

3:24:503:24:52

from the end of the 1930s.

3:24:523:24:54

It first sort of started being used in the 1940s in its original layout.

3:24:543:24:58

So it's been around for an awfully long time,

3:24:583:25:00

even if Formula One didn't come here until the 1970s,

3:25:003:25:04

but it is a very special place and what we've seen so far

3:25:043:25:07

is Mercedes again setting the pace.

3:25:073:25:10

Hamilton and Rosberg were very much trading times

3:25:103:25:12

early on in this session, the difference just a few thousandths,

3:25:123:25:15

but suddenly, Hamilton found half a second.

3:25:153:25:18

He'd gone wide on one lap.

3:25:183:25:19

The next time, he did a quick lap, he really put in a fast one.

3:25:193:25:23

Just watching Rosberg here and, yeah, he locked to the inside front

3:25:233:25:27

and had to take a bit of an escape road round the edge of the curve

3:25:273:25:31

through the second part of the Senna S, so, again, the grip level

3:25:313:25:33

just isn't there now on these tyres that have done a few laps.

3:25:333:25:37

So Rosberg is currently second, Vettel back in the pits now.

3:25:373:25:40

He is third fastest in his Ferrari and only a little bit off Rosberg.

3:25:403:25:43

Don't forget, Vettel can still claim second place in the Championship.

3:25:433:25:47

Rosberg moved back into second after that victory in Mexico.

3:25:473:25:51

But Vettel has not given up on beating Rosberg

3:25:513:25:53

to second in the points at the end of the season.

3:25:533:25:56

Ricciardo currently fourth, holding on well with the Red Bull.

3:25:563:25:59

Raikkonen fifth and Kvyat sixth.

3:25:593:26:01

And then, Bottas is seventh, so Bottas's lap certainly

3:26:013:26:04

putting Williams back up where we would expect them to be,

3:26:043:26:07

in that group with Ferrari and Red Bull.

3:26:073:26:10

Verstappen in eighth place, Hulkenberg in ninth, so again,

3:26:103:26:13

a Toro Rosso and a Force India and a Lotus all in the top ten there.

3:26:133:26:17

And, when we know how close it is between Toro Rosso and Lotus,

3:26:173:26:20

that could prove to be interesting as we go through the weekend.

3:26:203:26:23

Sainz in 11th place, in his Toro Rosso.

3:26:233:26:26

Jolyon Palmer in a good 12th, as he learns the circuit too, of course.

3:26:263:26:30

Button 13th, Nasr 14th,

3:26:303:26:32

and then, Perez in 15th place followed by Alonso, Massa,

3:26:323:26:35

who's been struggling for grip.

3:26:353:26:37

Kimi Raikkonen now out of his car and maybe they do want to try

3:26:373:26:40

and clear out some gravel from some tricky areas.

3:26:403:26:43

Ericsson is 18th, Rossi is currently 19th and Stevens is 20th.

3:26:433:26:47

Yeah, there's Kimi striding down the paddock there.

3:26:473:26:49

We got sight of the widened paddock

3:26:493:26:51

and the work that's been done here by the Brazilians,

3:26:513:26:53

cos it was traditionally one of the narrowest paddocks

3:26:533:26:56

and you were sort of winding your way between stacks of tyres

3:26:563:26:59

most of the time as you went down the paddock.

3:26:593:27:01

Yeah, it's definitely easier for the teams.

3:27:013:27:03

The hospitality areas have now got a bit more space, um,

3:27:033:27:06

but it needs a bit of finishing off, even Felipe Massa admitted

3:27:063:27:09

that it wasn't perhaps quite all it could be yet

3:27:093:27:12

and that there is still some work to be done there.

3:27:123:27:15

Perez crosses the line, then. Some of these guys will be running

3:27:153:27:18

a little bit more fuel in the cars now and, of course,

3:27:183:27:20

that's what we'll be looking for in the second practice session today,

3:27:203:27:23

when they come out again. And just watching, once again,

3:27:233:27:26

Carlos Sainz locking up on that pit-lane entry.

3:27:263:27:28

He's really been attacking that pit-lane entry,

3:27:283:27:30

trying to establish where the limit is.

3:27:303:27:32

There's a kind of swoopy chicane as you come in there

3:27:323:27:35

and it's very easy to just overcook it a little bit on the approach.

3:27:353:27:40

And Pastor Maldonado... Oh, a big, big slide from him.

3:27:403:27:43

Laying down some rubber!

3:27:433:27:44

And, again, as he went through the hairpin right-hander,

3:27:443:27:48

the Lotus sliding around a great deal.

3:27:483:27:51

But I think Lotus feel that this will be a relatively stronger track,

3:27:513:27:55

perhaps, for them, um, than the final track at Abu Dhabi,

3:27:553:27:58

so they do want to try and make the most of it here this weekend.

3:27:583:28:02

A couple of minutes to go. Still quite a few cars on track.

3:28:023:28:05

14 cars on track at the moment.

3:28:053:28:07

Six in the pit-lane.

3:28:073:28:09

And Sebastian Vettel is one of those six.

3:28:093:28:11

Yeah, looking at the Maldonado there, he's just put in 1:15.192,

3:28:113:28:16

which compares with Jolyon Palmer's 1:15.352,

3:28:163:28:19

so a decent performance there by Jolyon, who, finally,

3:28:193:28:22

has got a decent number of laps - 31 laps on the board -

3:28:223:28:26

-so about time!

-Yeah, it is about time.

3:28:263:28:28

We're watching Jolyon Palmer now,

3:28:283:28:30

um, with that seat lined up for next year,

3:28:303:28:33

so important to get as much mileage under his belt

3:28:333:28:36

and, as you say, with the conditions that we've had recently,

3:28:363:28:39

he's been hugely out of luck, in terms of getting much driving,

3:28:393:28:42

so this is a big bonus for him, a big boost,

3:28:423:28:44

and there'll be one more, of course. I wonder if he'll end up doing

3:28:443:28:48

some of the Abu Dhabi testing as well for the team.

3:28:483:28:50

Of course, there are some tests lined up after the final race.

3:28:503:28:54

-Yeah.

-Part of that's going to be Pirelli tyre testing as well,

3:28:543:28:57

-when they look forward to next year.

-Yeah, it is.

3:28:573:28:59

When you talk about those tests, you look at the Red Bull situation.

3:28:593:29:02

Christian said at the end of the last race, we need to make a decision,

3:29:023:29:05

we need to have it all nailed down in the next two weeks,

3:29:053:29:08

otherwise we're going to be marginal on some of that testing.

3:29:083:29:11

Yeah, that's right. It's, er...

3:29:113:29:13

The Red Bull situation is not easy for them,

3:29:133:29:15

when they need to build a car and they don't know exactly which

3:29:153:29:18

engine it's going to be running, but at least it's sounding a bit more

3:29:183:29:21

optimistic that they will definitely be there one way or another.

3:29:213:29:24

It's just a question of the format and which engine

3:29:243:29:27

and how much involvement they'll have in it themselves.

3:29:273:29:31

That's what's being looked at.

3:29:313:29:32

So Jolyon Palmer continues on around.

3:29:323:29:35

We'll see him come to the end of his bit of driving fairly shortly now,

3:29:353:29:40

of course, for the weekend. The rest of the weekend,

3:29:403:29:43

he'll have to sit out and watch Romain Grosjean take over.

3:29:433:29:46

But the reigning... Well, he WAS the reigning GP2 champion.

3:29:463:29:49

Of course, that place has been taken now by another driver

3:29:493:29:51

who is here this weekend - Stoffel Vandoorne - who is once again

3:29:513:29:55

on duty this weekend as the reserve driver for the McLaren team,

3:29:553:30:00

but he has already wrapped up this year's GP2 Championship.

3:30:003:30:03

Lewis Hamilton on track. The chequered flag comes out.

3:30:033:30:06

No improvements in times from the two Mercedes guys

3:30:063:30:08

on the last couple of laps. Again, last time around,

3:30:083:30:11

Hamilton was about three-tenths faster than Rosberg,

3:30:113:30:14

so there's no doubt that he's showing good pace here this time

3:30:143:30:17

and, having been outpaced by Rosberg here 12 months ago,

3:30:173:30:20

clearly, he is ready to redress the balance

3:30:203:30:23

and try and earn both pole position and take victory here.

3:30:233:30:27

He has had a pole position here. That was back in 2012.

3:30:273:30:30

But as we mentioned, although it was a race he led,

3:30:303:30:33

in the end, a clash with Nico Hulkenberg

3:30:333:30:35

denied him the opportunity to take victory on that occasion.

3:30:353:30:38

And he wants to put that behind him this time.

3:30:383:30:40

He comes up over the start-finish line to see that chequered flag,

3:30:403:30:43

complete his number of laps, that's 28 laps he's done,

3:30:433:30:46

a good session for Hamilton.

3:30:463:30:48

Rosberg's done a little bit more -

3:30:483:30:50

35 laps have been done by Nico Rosberg.

3:30:503:30:54

And I think, in terms of looking at who's done the most laps,

3:30:543:30:57

it looks to be Verstappen, who's done 38 laps in the Toro Rosso.

3:30:573:31:02

Yes, Sainz matching him, so, as ever, Toro Rosso not afraid of

3:31:023:31:06

sending their rookie drivers out to get as much track time as possible

3:31:063:31:10

and Sainz and Verstappen have done plenty of that.

3:31:103:31:13

So, most of the teams now will be going over the cars

3:31:133:31:16

with a fine-tooth comb before the second session.

3:31:163:31:19

It's the shorter lap here at Interlagos.

3:31:193:31:22

And, at some tracks, with a lap time of 1:13.5,

3:31:223:31:26

it's only 2.6 miles in length, in fact,

3:31:263:31:28

so that is an indicator as to why we have more laps completed here

3:31:283:31:32

than we would perhaps see at most of the circuits around the world.

3:31:323:31:36

And Williams' Felipe Massa didn't look that happy in the car.

3:31:363:31:41

Ended up down in 17th place there.

3:31:413:31:43

But a bit more encouraging - Valtteri Bottas was seventh.

3:31:433:31:46

There's not usually huge amount to choose between them,

3:31:463:31:49

so you would think that they'll find some improvements for him.

3:31:493:31:52

And Felipe Nasr, the other Brazilian who's here this weekend, of course,

3:31:523:31:55

he ended up the session in 14th position.

3:31:553:31:58

A respectable performance, he's faster than his team-mate,

3:31:583:32:01

Marcus Ericsson, by around four-tenths of a second,

3:32:013:32:05

so I think he'll be reasonably happy with that.

3:32:053:32:08

But, in general terms, Sauber doesn't seem to have got

3:32:083:32:11

as much out of the aero update that they had a few races ago

3:32:113:32:14

as perhaps had been hoped for, I think.

3:32:143:32:16

Oh, it looked quite promising initially, didn't it?

3:32:163:32:18

But, yeah, it's, er... That's a good showing, that,

3:32:183:32:21

to have four-tenths in hand

3:32:213:32:23

over your team-mate.

3:32:233:32:25

So Lewis Hamilton finishes

3:32:253:32:26

the first practice session here

3:32:263:32:28

with quite a margin over

3:32:283:32:29

his team-mate - half a second.

3:32:293:32:30

Sebastian Vettel, though, staying in the hunt for Ferrari

3:32:303:32:33

and Daniel Ricciardo up there for Red Bull.

3:32:333:32:35

Valtteri Bottas showing good form in the Williams, in seventh.

3:32:373:32:40

And really mixing up the different manufacturers and cars involved,

3:32:443:32:48

Pastor Maldonado rounding out the top ten for Lotus.

3:32:483:32:51

So we've got Toro Rosso, Force India and Lotus

3:32:513:32:53

all joining in to that top ten.

3:32:533:32:55

Outside the top ten was Carlos Sainz

3:32:553:32:57

in the second Toro Rosso, then Jolyon Palmer in his Lotus.

3:32:573:33:00

Jenson Button will be a bit more encouraged perhaps with 13th place,

3:33:003:33:04

but it doesn't always relate to that in qualifying.

3:33:043:33:06

Felipe Nasr 14th, ahead of Perez,

3:33:063:33:08

and Alonso, with Felipe Massa 17th, Ericsson 18th,

3:33:083:33:12

and Rossi just ahead of Stevens down at the back of the field.

3:33:123:33:16

It was an interesting session,

3:33:213:33:23

and we'll be talking about that in just a minute,

3:33:233:33:25

but I'm delighted to say Emerson Fittipaldi has joined us,

3:33:253:33:27

just sneaking in there at the last minute.

3:33:273:33:30

Emerson, you always come here, you always support this race,

3:33:303:33:33

does it ever lose that special feeling

3:33:333:33:35

when you walk back into Interlagos?

3:33:353:33:37

Every time I'm getting close to the gate outside,

3:33:373:33:39

I hear the racing cars... Goose bumps.

3:33:393:33:42

-Really?

-Oh, yes, it doesn't change.

3:33:423:33:45

I think Interlagos now is getting better, the infrastructure,

3:33:453:33:49

like Mexico, was fantastic.

3:33:493:33:52

We have to keep Latin America on the map of Grand Prix racing.

3:33:523:33:58

There's a lot of influence from Asia, from Middle East,

3:33:583:34:02

and the passion, the love for motor races here, like it was in Mexico.

3:34:023:34:07

Also, do you think what we saw, the fantastic atmosphere in Mexico,

3:34:073:34:11

that actually Sao Paulo and Interlagos

3:34:113:34:14

also needs to boost that as well?

3:34:143:34:16

There's never been a problem, but the stakes have been raised now

3:34:163:34:19

that we've had Mexico.

3:34:193:34:21

Mexico, it went to a different level.

3:34:213:34:24

It was a fantastic Grand Prix,

3:34:243:34:26

but, you know, the countries that love motor race

3:34:263:34:29

is the countries that really enjoy -

3:34:293:34:30

I mean, going back to England,

3:34:303:34:33

the heart of Grand Prix racing, the heart of racing -

3:34:333:34:35

These are the countries that enjoy and understand what is going on.

3:34:353:34:40

That's why you have this passion. You feel the atmosphere.

3:34:403:34:43

You won this particular Grand Prix, your home Grand Prix,

3:34:433:34:46

in '73 and '74.

3:34:463:34:48

What would it mean for this country if Felipe Massa, for example,

3:34:483:34:51

was to take a victory on Sunday,

3:34:513:34:53

or a Brazilian driver fighting for the

3:34:533:34:56

Formula One World Championship again?

3:34:563:34:57

The country would go crazy.

3:34:573:35:00

It nearly closes the World Cup!

3:35:003:35:02

We lost 7-1 to Germany, now we have to recover in Grand Prix racing!

3:35:023:35:08

And just A word on Lewis Hamilton, now a three-time World Champion.

3:35:083:35:11

What have you made of his season and his strengths?

3:35:113:35:14

He seems to have got even stronger than last year.

3:35:143:35:17

When I follow Lewis, I follow him since he was in Formula Three.

3:35:173:35:23

And he's growing, he's growing. He's a fantastic ambassador.

3:35:233:35:26

He deserved the Championship.

3:35:263:35:28

He drives on the edge that not many drivers are able to drive,

3:35:283:35:33

and he delivers what we expect.

3:35:333:35:37

And he's great for the fans, great...

3:35:373:35:39

I mean he has millions of followers in Brazil.

3:35:393:35:42

We love him in Brazil.

3:35:423:35:44

He's a fantastic ambassador for Grand Prix racing and for England.

3:35:443:35:48

There's a lot of young Fittipaldis out there racing.

3:35:483:35:51

When will we see them on the Formula One grid?

3:35:513:35:53

They are driving crazy!

3:35:533:35:56

They're driving quickly and crazy.

3:35:563:35:58

Pietro, it was funny,

3:35:583:36:00

I was in Mexico Grand Prix, Pietro won the race in Abu Dhabi,

3:36:003:36:04

and my youngest son, eight years old, was leading

3:36:043:36:07

and was winning go-kart racing

3:36:073:36:08

in Sao Paulo and Enzo, who's 13, was testing Ginetta in England.

3:36:083:36:14

I said, "Grandfather, father..." I was confused.

3:36:143:36:18

LAUGHTER

3:36:183:36:19

It's always such a pleasure to talk to you.

3:36:193:36:21

Have a fantastic weekend. I'm sure we'll catch up again.

3:36:213:36:24

-Thank you very much. Great to see you guys.

-Thank you.

3:36:243:36:27

But it was an interesting session out there and, Allan,

3:36:273:36:30

the one thing that we were talking about

3:36:303:36:32

-was just the lack of grip on this track.

-Yep.

3:36:323:36:34

Yes, that's the thing about it, the circuit was resurfaced last year.

3:36:343:36:38

Here is Max Verstappen coming through the Senna S and you see

3:36:383:36:41

it on his steering wheel, he was just as he made an upshift and he

3:36:413:36:45

lost the rear end of the car, went into a half-spin.

3:36:453:36:47

This is Sebastian Vettel coming into the last corner at the beginning

3:36:473:36:51

of the session, as soon as he turns in, that moment, he loses the rear

3:36:513:36:55

and he has to open up the steering and runs a little bit wide.

3:36:553:36:58

You see this from the onboard nose camera.

3:36:583:37:00

At the point he turns in, the apex, at that moment he opens up

3:37:003:37:03

the steering and that's it. It's a small, small mistake.

3:37:033:37:06

However, that's the thing about this circuit.

3:37:063:37:09

It's old school. If you make a small mistake, it is a big penalty.

3:37:093:37:12

Hamilton into Turn 1, he had just gone fastest

3:37:123:37:14

by half a second, trying to better that time and locked up.

3:37:143:37:18

Into 1, there's a lot of camber on the inside

3:37:183:37:20

and it falls away from you.

3:37:203:37:22

That inside left-hand tyre that locked up

3:37:223:37:24

has got very little load onto it.

3:37:243:37:26

Here's Kimi Raikkonen, the one that went through the gravel.

3:37:263:37:29

At the instant he touched the brakes, I think

3:37:293:37:31

the hybrid system was recuperating very aggressively at the end

3:37:313:37:35

of the long back straight. 210mph as he hits the brakes into there.

3:37:353:37:40

Locked up and he did a 360.

3:37:403:37:42

Came straight back into the pits, Lee, and immediately after that,

3:37:423:37:46

he was walking past us with a very grumpy face on.

3:37:463:37:48

Yeah, it certainly wasn't worth trying to intercept him for any form

3:37:483:37:52

of conversation at that point!

3:37:523:37:53

You say it was interesting, the car seemed to kick out

3:37:533:37:56

a little bit, from the front.

3:37:563:37:58

That's one of the things about this circuit.

3:37:583:38:00

They've got a load of road cambers, and into Turn 4, you do have

3:38:003:38:04

a little bit of a slope towards the left.

3:38:043:38:06

The car then jumped right because the rear's locked,

3:38:063:38:09

especially that left rear.

3:38:093:38:10

As soon as he touched the brakes, the hybrid system is recuperating

3:38:103:38:13

massively at the high speed at that moment in time,

3:38:133:38:16

and it just seemed to spit him off into the gravel.

3:38:163:38:18

It was an interesting day for Williams. Rob Smedley is here.

3:38:183:38:21

Seventh for Valterri, 17th for Felipe.

3:38:213:38:24

How would you sum that session up?

3:38:243:38:26

Erm, well, just taking Valtteri first,

3:38:263:38:29

I think it was quite a good session for us,

3:38:293:38:32

with the fuel that we normally have in the car for that first session...

3:38:323:38:37

..and the way that we run the engine,

3:38:393:38:41

we never expected to be very high up the order, but that was quite good.

3:38:413:38:45

We did a bit of a long run at the end and that was quite good as well,

3:38:453:38:48

degradation was good, we managed to get the temperatures under control.

3:38:483:38:52

We were playing about with tyre heating and we seemed to have found

3:38:523:38:56

the sweet spot on Valtteri's car. Felipe took the other direction,

3:38:563:38:59

so I'm sure we're going to correct him for the next session.

3:38:593:39:01

And the circuit itself seemed to be very slippery.

3:39:013:39:04

Was that with all the works that have gone on?

3:39:043:39:06

Maybe it put some dust onto the circuit.

3:39:063:39:08

Did it get better as the session went on?

3:39:083:39:10

It definitely got better, but it was very dirty.

3:39:103:39:13

It was the dirtiest I've ever seen it here.

3:39:133:39:15

The pit-lane is very dusty.

3:39:153:39:18

It's almost like they've ground the surface down

3:39:183:39:20

on the concrete apron out the front of the garages and there was a lot

3:39:203:39:25

of dust and it was getting better.

3:39:253:39:27

It'll be fine tomorrow.

3:39:273:39:29

And that probably comes from the building work going

3:39:293:39:31

on here are the moment. There have been changes.

3:39:313:39:33

Not quite complete in some places,

3:39:333:39:34

but certainly a lot of dust in the pit-lane.

3:39:343:39:36

Just one thing - the delta between Lewis Hamilton and your cells,

3:39:363:39:40

is that exactly what you expected?

3:39:403:39:42

Do you see yourself up there fighting with Sebastian Vettel

3:39:423:39:44

for the second row of the grid, where you were last year?

3:39:443:39:47

Yeah, I hope so, I mean, if...

3:39:473:39:49

We track ourselves throughout the sessions, obviously, and we can,

3:39:493:39:53

even from P1, we can pretty much tell where we'll be in qualifying,

3:39:533:39:58

so it looks like Mercedes will be a little bit in front, but then it'll

3:39:583:40:02

be a close fight between us and Ferrari for that second row.

3:40:023:40:05

Rob, thanks very much. You've got to go to debrief, but

3:40:053:40:08

-thanks for taking the time to stop by and join us.

-You're very welcome.

3:40:083:40:11

We were talking about how slippy it was on track, but it's also

3:40:113:40:14

quite an interesting pit-lane here as well.

3:40:143:40:17

Even the entrance into the pit-lane, as we can see with Carlos Sainz, Jr,

3:40:173:40:21

not an easy one.

3:40:213:40:22

No, it isn't. It's got a little jink into it.

3:40:223:40:24

You come into it flat-out in seventh gear,

3:40:243:40:27

and you've got that little moment.

3:40:273:40:29

He locked up here. Here is an unsafe release, though.

3:40:293:40:32

You've got the McLaren coming out

3:40:323:40:34

and Palmer was released by his mechanic. Basically...

3:40:343:40:38

Onboard here with Jenson and you can see that he's accelerating,

3:40:383:40:41

he's already in the fast lane. Palmer is released, the mechanic

3:40:413:40:44

doesn't seem to look to see if there's anything coming

3:40:443:40:47

and at the same time, Palmer's a little bit slow just getting away.

3:40:473:40:50

I think if it was a race, that would definitely be an unsafe release.

3:40:503:40:53

-Absolutely.

-However, in this situation I think they'll let it go.

3:40:533:40:56

And good avoiding action from Jenson Button.

3:40:563:40:58

-He's got a bit of experience!

-He does have a bit of experience!

3:40:583:41:01

In terms of this weekend - we were talking to Rob there -

3:41:013:41:06

Williams, Ferrari, they have been level pegging for a while.

3:41:063:41:10

Ferrari do seem to have edged ahead.

3:41:103:41:12

They're not quite McLaren, but they're more than Williams.

3:41:123:41:14

Ferrari are at an interesting time in their development,

3:41:143:41:17

heading into 2016.

3:41:173:41:18

Looking at the stats through the year, they've actually improved

3:41:183:41:21

in the second half of the season,

3:41:213:41:23

basically more than any of the contemporaries around them.

3:41:233:41:25

They've got closer to Mercedes

3:41:253:41:27

and that's really lifted them ahead of Williams.

3:41:273:41:30

However, on certain circuits like this, that big, long pull-out

3:41:303:41:34

at the last corner all the way to Turn 1,

3:41:343:41:36

the run down to Turn 4, their engine power and boost could help them.

3:41:363:41:40

However, one thing they'll all be doing is looking at the weather

3:41:403:41:43

because if it rains, that definitely doesn't suit Williams

3:41:433:41:45

and that was maybe an opportunity also for Ferrari

3:41:453:41:48

to try and steal something from Mercedes.

3:41:483:41:50

It'll be an interesting track, as well, for Red Bull.

3:41:503:41:52

So often recently we've gone to circuits Red Bull say

3:41:523:41:55

just won't suit them, and they've actually surprised themselves.

3:41:553:41:59

They've got a very good chassis. The way it works,

3:41:593:42:01

it should work in the middle sector, which is downforce relevant.

3:42:013:42:04

Where they'll struggle is the first and third sector which is

3:42:043:42:07

basically drag relevant, straight line speed, accelerations.

3:42:073:42:10

That's never their strong point.

3:42:103:42:12

But I think they'll be mixing in there,

3:42:123:42:14

but for me, Force India's one you've got to keep an eye on.

3:42:143:42:17

Nico Hulkenberg was ninth, little Max Verstappen was eighth,

3:42:173:42:20

but I think it's Force India that's probably

3:42:203:42:22

going to be charging up there, maybe sixth, seventh on the grid.

3:42:223:42:25

I'm not sure if we should call him little Verstappen, I'm not sure

3:42:253:42:28

-if we'll do that again!

-I raced against his father, remember!

3:42:283:42:31

So he's big Verstappen for me!

3:42:313:42:32

You mentioned Nico Hulkenberg.

3:42:323:42:34

In 2009 he had the fantastic pole position for Williams in

3:42:343:42:38

changeable conditions, but he's great round this track.

3:42:383:42:40

He is, and also he was leading

3:42:403:42:42

that race before he had an incident at the first corner

3:42:423:42:45

and I think he's in a position, and also Sergio Perez,

3:42:453:42:47

where they've actually got quite a bit of confidence,

3:42:473:42:50

Perez obviously coming from his home Grand Prix

3:42:503:42:53

and his podium just a few races ago.

3:42:533:42:55

Overall, they're a team that I think could deliver this weekend.

3:42:553:42:58

We're talking about the contenders,

3:42:583:43:00

but also we've got to talk about Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

3:43:003:43:03

It would be foolish not to.

3:43:033:43:04

Nico Rosberg is determined to finish this season in style.

3:43:043:43:08

Yes, he is, and he needs to

3:43:083:43:09

because he needs to get his confidence back up

3:43:093:43:11

and get his focus back for 2016.

3:43:113:43:14

But on the other side of it,

3:43:143:43:16

Lewis Hamilton has lifted off the throttle pedal a little bit

3:43:163:43:18

in the last couple of Grands Prix.

3:43:183:43:20

-And why was that?

-Because he's won the World Championship.

3:43:203:43:23

Because it's done and dusted for the season.

3:43:233:43:25

Because he's got nothing more that he can win.

3:43:253:43:27

Really, Lewis has got to be careful he doesn't allow

3:43:273:43:29

too much momentum to go to Nico.

3:43:293:43:31

Yeah, well, there's plenty more action coming up live on BBC Two,

3:43:313:43:34

and you can join us for Free Practice 2.

3:43:343:43:37

We're back at 3:45 this afternoon.

3:43:373:43:40

We're standing in a cloudy paddock at the moment,

3:43:403:43:43

but at least it's dry,

3:43:433:43:45

but we're not expecting that this afternoon.

3:43:453:43:47

This place changes at a click of the fingers.

3:43:473:43:49

It could be thunderstorms, but don't miss a thing.

3:43:493:43:51

Come and join us. See you in a couple of hours.

3:43:513:43:53

Thanks very much. Bye-bye.

3:43:533:43:55

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