The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying Formula 1


The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying

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second. What?! You are in serious trouble! I don't really want to do

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Dhabi. Expect even more speed but lot less fear for the rest of the

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weekend. Catapulting you mortals around at Formula One speed is one

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of the attractions of this place, an example of what can be achieved

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with the dream. And a limitless supply of money. Two kilometres in

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90 seconds. With a great smile on your face, it must have brought

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back memories? It replicates the take-off. It was a real rush. I did

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not see your face until now. You should open a rise and enjoy.

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was all acting! There should be an embargo on over 60. 15 years over!

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We had a chance to see Abu Dhabi and have fun because we came here

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12 months ago and there was a huge title up for grabs. It is a

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completely different occasion this year. Last year, we did know who

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was going to win the championship and the teams and drivers did not

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know. It was a massive surprise to see Sebastian Vettel coming out.

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Ferrari thought they had it. Sebastien just pinched it from

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everybody and he has become the major start and anyone who thinks

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he has turned off the gas, forget it. He is the man to beat. Every

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one of these drivers will try to make sure they be 10. He knows what

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it takes to win. And what a circus! Korea and India have struggled with

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the infrastructure. You cannot say that about this? It has been

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impressive. Yes. I was a little bit De Beers when we first came as to

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whether it would be about the surroundings but seeing this track

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settling in, it is challenging. A lot of corners, it is like the

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third slowest on the calendar so third and second gears. But what

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the DRS back, the Kers, all of the non-racing, Fernando stuck in

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behind Petrov and Mark Webber, we will see a lot more overtaking.

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just because it isn't fast does not mean it isn't difficult. It has

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been quite a test for three relative rookies. One we have seen

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before but two of them have never sat in a Formula One car on the

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circuit. Formula One is always looking to the future later on.

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Racing drivers have sell-by dates, they're like light bulbs. But we

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have the opportunity. Grosjean was out for notice. The these guys have

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been running in the lower formulas. He is the most likely, he had a

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very quick debut, that he will get everyone's attention. People

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wanting to impress the teams but in reality it is the more established

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stars that have taken the headlines. For the wrong reasons? Some really

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surprising moments on the track. That is the first. Fernando Alonso,

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sliding backwards, hitting the rear wing, and I don't know what kind of

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damage that was. This was a surprise. Look how clever he was.

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He absolutely got his head together to make sure the impact with the

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Wall was minimised. He needed to save that front wing. Sebastian

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Vettel put that into the first barrier and his radio message from

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the manager told him to get himself back to the pits. He pushed the car

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back, dusted down and he finished that session. That is a great

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example of communication. That's what it takes. And to put that into

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perspective, he had three crashes on Friday, three times he went on

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to take pole position but winning has given him the championship. The

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important thing to point out is it is just one when separating two, 3

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and 4. And Schumacher five points behind his team mates. And the

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constructors championship. McLaren are runners up. Now there is the

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midfield battle with 10 points the difference and million surprise --

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millions of pounds the prize. Jarno Trulli knows a lot about Formula

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One. He said this man, Paul di Resta, has been rookie of the year.

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He came men and most people were sitting out last year, we know what

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we think and we have said it before. He has turned out. Fingers crossed,

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he will be rookie of the year. That is a great accolade. Something that

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all young drivers want to be because they want to keep up

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momentum going. He wants to know about the next team. I'm sure he is

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standing here and enjoying looking at this. Let's look at the car.

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Let's talk about the car. Nice to see you. How much pressure is there

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on the drivers from the teams to keep hold of this place? It is a

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large amount. Given what the team lost last year by one point. To get

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No. 6 in the constructors championship. We are in a stronger

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position than the boys chasing us. So far, the car has been working

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well and we hope we can continue that form. Really, going to Brazil

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with that comfortable margin. India, all the drivers were raving

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about what a great new venue it was. Here in Abu Dhabi, give us some

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feel about what this is like? It is below average speed? It does not

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really have a great flow. It all seems to be have happening,

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bouncing over kerbs and losing traction. If you lose the wheel

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almost one corner, there would be a lot of loss. But as a spectator, it

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is great. Great facilities and hotels. I'm going into the night,

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it has everything. Jarno Trulli talks about you. We had Eddie

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Jordan praising it. One more race to go. How would you summarise your

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season? From the outside, quite positive. Some good results but

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definitely there have been ups and downs and I would be critical. I

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have lost some great results but equally, some mishaps with the team.

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But you win and lose as a team and as long as we can get our ambition

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as 6th place in the constructors to a picture, job done. I am not

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asking the you this question because of your team-mate, that

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isn't for me to decide, but... contract is until the end of this

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year and the team bus will announce this whenever he wants. Thank you.

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You can jump into the car. And both Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta were

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right on the bubble for the final part. I liked that answer. Not for

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one moment did he give us any clue that he would be the one that was

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not going to be in the frame. He clearly knows that he is one of the

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drivers next year. Interesting. would be mad not to want to keep

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this considering his performance. They're just about going to make it

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into the final part what we will wait and see. The engines are being

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turned off. 31 minutes to go until qualifying. He was Ted Kravitz... -

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- here is. Lewis Hamilton rejects claims from his team bus that he

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has been put under pressure recently by Jenson Button's success.

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Rubbish. I do not know if he was misquoted, but for me, my issues

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have been much bigger than that. More personal. The fact that he is

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doing great is great for the team. He has stayed out of trouble, more

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than me, and has kept his head straight and has good people around

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him. He is in a much stronger position than me. Her Martin says

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he wants that similar support structure that Jensen Button has

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and he was happier and quicker when he was in his recent relationship.

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I do not plan on being single for long. Nothing to do with being

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single or not, when I was in my relationship, she was the most

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positive thing in my life. That maybe needs to be back. Jensen

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Button, he has joined a popular charity moustache growing up and

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what this attempt. How many days is that? I started at the start of the

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month, one day before. It just grow as fast. I am just a hairy monster!

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It is blonde so you cannot see it. Back to racing, he says the strike

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is unlikely to produce much overtaking, even with the DRS zones.

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I have played around on the long run, trying to overtake. In the DRS

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zone. It is very difficult. Probably the most difficult place

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for overtaking, considering there are two of them. Because the core

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of before both in first gear, to get in front and go on the throttle,

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the boy is gone. Really tricky. I qualifying a, Ferrari just need to

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understand why their front wing is flapping around. It was doing the

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same in India and they don't know why. It was a problem with that and

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we tried to fix it at home but apparently we haven't fixed it

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properly. It is the same specifications as the other wings.

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At their meeting of the F1 Commission, three teams have been

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allowed to change their name. Renault will be named Team Lotus.

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Are the owners about to buy North a's Lotus cars? All we are happy

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about is the name change. It integrates better with the car

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company in terms of moving forward but everything else is pure

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speculation. The current team Lotus will be called the Caterham F1 team

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and Virgin will be named after their Russian car company investors.

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So what about Sir Richard Branson? Sir Richard is going to stay

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involved in the team, he will be an important presence. I think it is

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important to make a statement for the major shareholders. The issue

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with the Bahrain Grand Prix was also discussed but the race stays

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on next year's Khan that, barring any further disruption in the

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kingdom -- Callander. Nico Rosberg has committed to Mercedes for the

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next three years, but Rubens Barrichello admits that the next

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race in Brazil may be his last in Formula One. He is in the same

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position as three years ago, going into the final race without a

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driver for the following season, but he remains hopeful. I will be

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doing my very best, and I will go to the Brazilian GP with the

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thinking that I had in 2008, to do my best and hopefully I will be

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back. At few fans already soaking up the evening sun here. -- a few

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fans. Just two more races, they will be cheering for Rubens

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Barrichello. We will talk about him soon, because he has even more is

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this weekend but before that, Nico Rosberg, only five points ahead of

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Michael Schumacher, what will it do to his standing to be beaten by

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Michael this season? He has got himself a long contract with

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Mercedes. He has been extracting the maximum in qualifying. But

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Michael has raised his game in a race performance, and we saw in

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India he was able to use a different strategy to go past of

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Nico Rosberg in the pit stop phase. It is a close thing, but you want

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to merge the two performances, at Rosberg's qualifying with Michael

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race. He would probably just love to win. He hasn't won a race this

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season, it must be alien to their work -- a driver who was strong in

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the Julian -- junior category. father was the manager at the time,

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he took him to Williams and many people thought that was a question

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of trying to grow and build its value in Formula One without any

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pressure. But the strategy hasn't really worked, at no victories.

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Rubens Barrichello, you can see him the team working hard -- you can

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see that he working hard. It has been a season to forget. He hasn't

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even made it through to the final part of qualifying all year.

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must be tremendously frustrating. This is the most experienced driver

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in the history of the sport. He has One Grand Prix is, he has a passion

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for driving and I just hope that he does not going to the winter

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knowing whether he is in Formula One or not, it might not give him

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the send-off he deserves. He has been a good ambassador for the

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sport. Tough times for the most experienced man in Formula One. If

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we look over there, you can see Eddie Jordan is with a man who is

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also having a tough time. He has to change the team name for next year,

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make decisions on his drivers and he is wondering why the form of the

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team has fallen away. No chance for Eric to enjoy the sun in Abu Dhabi.

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I am sure he can contend with all of this. Derek, at 163. Escort last

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year -- Eric. You scored 60 points in your first racist this year, but

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a paltry 12 since then -- in your first six races this year. We went

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for any desire Nishi and it has cost us quite a lot. Unfortunately,

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this is the price to pay on the sporting side -- we went for a new

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design that this year. And we lost Alan leading driver. All in all,

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very frustrating. Opposite, Robert Kubica you are referring to. We

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hadn't heard you refer to him much, is he coming back are you holding

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the seat for him? -- and are you? am holding the opportunity for him

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to come back. By would be kidding myself -- I would be kidding myself

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if we weren't trying to get an opportunity for him to get back. We

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are waiting to get some news. He is very quiet himself, he is putting

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himself in a difficult position. We have worked on the different

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scenarios as well during the course of the season and now it is pretty

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clear where we want to go and we are just waiting for him to

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communicate clearly if he can commit or not and then to decide

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about the communication plan, because I don't want to be the one

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who is not putting him in the car. Of course, we all want to know

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about Robert Kubica, but they keep coming back, six years ago, you

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were back to back world champions with Alonso and now we see what is

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going on at the moment. What surprises me and a lot of other

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people, not one of your senior staff from that time are not with

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you. Why is that? A senior staff? The engineers, the designers, they

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have gone. You have had a real exodus of people leaving. What is

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the reason? There is not so many people leaving as you said, just a

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couple of names who have left. Some of it was planned for them to leave.

:18:48.:18:55.

We have also been very quiet on allow recruitment. -- our. We have

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a couple of top engineers coming but we don't want to communicate.

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In 2005 and 2006, the team was the world champions, but we were very

:19:08.:19:14.

down in 2009. Since we took over, we have recruited 20 people, so

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that is 20 people more compared to 2009. We have more people now and

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we are still within the limits. Obviously, we have some people

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leaving because they don't feel secure a. We still have the name

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rule and we have to finance the team, we need to secure the future

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of the team and it is now all done and should be announced in the

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coming weeks and it is very important that people know they

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have a strong future. I can promise you this table last very long in

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Formula One. Eric, thank you very much for explaining that, it is

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very important. Indeed it was. We have just come around to the garage.

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42% of Renault's points came in the first two races. We have talked

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about the exhaust, how is it holding the team back? The way they

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are blowing the defuse there is out there sidebars, something we

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haven't seen before. There may be when you are energising the FO that

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far forward, maybe it loses some of the energy. Those people exploiting

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the double diffuser technology are doing it right at the diffuser

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itself. They stole a march early doors and then they have lost it

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later on. In final practice today, Bruno Senna was quicker than Petrov,

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we will see how it plays out in qualifying. Something else to keep

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your eyes then, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, six times they have

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 59 seconds

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come together on track this season. was quite a lot quicker than Felipe

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Massa. He was already turning in and I realised too late. I went

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inside and he turned so early. I tried to work with the kerb to

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avoid him and I was stuck there. try and do it up on the kerb, that

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is an error of judgment. He is ridiculous, it is stupid. Lewis had

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the best lap. I was stopping as fast as I could. Double top Lewis,

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no question. It was the last corner of the last lap. I was not giving

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him that position. That was a great racing manoeuvre. Lewis's fault,

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completely. He cannot use his mind, you know? How many times with me

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this year? Too many times. Lewis completely misjudged it. I didn't

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move. I was on the outside. Again, I don't think Lewis realised Felipe

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Massa was out there. I can't see anything through my rear mirrors.

:23:25.:23:30.

That something we can fix. I have no problem with him. There is not

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really much to say, is there? is nothing Lewis can do any more.

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tried to overtake. He tried to avoid it, but Felipe Massa didn't

:23:42.:23:48.

take care. Lewis had to drive into the corner. He didn't look like he

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was going to give me any space. came up straight across. Lewis had

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the right to be there. That is why Felipe Massa, to me, was to blame.

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And that debate went on long into the night. Good to see plenty of

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other Formula One drivers around here in Abu Dhabi, enjoying the

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little winter break. Let's talk, not about the clash, because we

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have discussed that until we are blue in their face. Lewis has said

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he is not driving as well as he could be, and the same applies to a

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Felipe Massa, not to the top four all season. You couldn't believe

:24:29.:24:33.

that when I told you. I thought you were lying as usual. It is a

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startling fact. It shows that Formula One today, there is

:24:38.:24:41.

incredible reliability and how strong the each of the drivers have

:24:42.:24:46.

been. You can say Felipe Massa has not been able to get higher up. His

:24:46.:24:49.

qualifying has improved over the last few races and he needed that,

:24:49.:24:53.

because a lot of questions were being asked. He needs a race result

:24:53.:24:57.

to build confidence. For we saw some words coming out of the

:24:57.:25:01.

Ferrari camp this week, saying Formula One needs to think about

:25:01.:25:05.

the way it operates if Ferrari are to remain happy, and then I saw a

:25:05.:25:11.

cartoon in a magazine saying "can't win, a wide by", but the Ferrari

:25:11.:25:17.

boss throwing his tools away. -- can't win wordplay. Has that

:25:17.:25:22.

distracted from this week? Ferrari are the master chess players. They

:25:23.:25:27.

know each little pawn being played at each moment. I won't say they

:25:27.:25:31.

had an inside track but they do have special privileges, financial

:25:31.:25:34.

and otherwise. They know what is happening and they are being

:25:34.:25:38.

trounced. They don't like it but they are being trounced by two very

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good teams and I think it is disappointing. We saw the win in

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Silverstone, it hasn't been replicated and it is disappointing,

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because they are refined team and I think they will be back. I don't

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think they need to put things out like they did, it is negative and

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doesn't help. Another thing the Ferrari boss said that -- is that

:25:58.:26:03.

Felipe Massa will be faster in 2012, that is a message to the driver. We

:26:03.:26:06.

think we can shed some light on the whole Lewis Hamilton and Felipe

:26:06.:26:11.

Massa situation. This is what Lewis told us. These are the worst

:26:11.:26:16.

mirrors that we have. We are trying to stop them flexing but they flex

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a lot. Imagine down the straight, that thing is doing that a pole

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time, at 200 mph, it is flapping like crazy. -- all the time.

:26:26.:26:30.

can't see the other cars, that is the problem. It is a nice feature,

:26:30.:26:35.

but who is going to feel sorry for a Grand Prix team that can't stand

:26:35.:26:38.

there -- stop their mirrors flapping there? I am sure they

:26:38.:26:42.

could do it if they wanted to. sure they could spend a few million

:26:42.:26:45.

on it. You can see more on the exclusive interview with Lewis

:26:45.:26:51.

Hamilton tomorrow at 12:15pm. But what about Toro Rosso? When you are

:26:51.:26:55.

owned by the same person who owns Red Bull, it is difficult to see

:26:55.:26:59.

him impressive. But after a few ups and downs, 2011 has been just that,

:26:59.:27:09.
:27:09.:27:19.

decided to buy the team, it was a completely different philosophy. It

:27:19.:27:26.

was the strategy to get all the cars from Red Bull, the technology,

:27:26.:27:31.

and to run them in Italy. We had two or three very successful years.

:27:32.:27:40.

Sebastian Vettel winning the Grand Prix! Here at Monza! Afterwards,

:27:40.:27:45.

our opponents were not so happy and it meant a change in regulations

:27:45.:27:54.

and then step number two. 2010 was the first year we had to build the

:27:54.:28:00.

teams, the wind tunnel, the office. Toro Rosso have got it horribly

:28:00.:28:07.

wrong. This year, progression has been very positive. He is coming

:28:07.:28:13.

from a very long way back. The team is growing up. Be made good

:28:13.:28:18.

progress from all sides, the tactical side, from the marketing

:28:18.:28:26.

side and also the drivers. remember speaking to after Valencia

:28:26.:28:31.

and you had a great race, that was a turning point. Does it feel like

:28:31.:28:35.

that? I absolutely, I knew at the beginning I had lots of problems

:28:35.:28:41.

with the tyres and adjusted some time to work. So we, the results

:28:41.:28:46.

came. A Alguersuari doing a great job. And a well earned its place.

:28:46.:28:50.

This year, the performance increased, especially in the last

:28:50.:28:58.

race. We have improved DRS. And we improved the aerodynamics. That is

:28:58.:29:03.

why we are so competitive. It is definitely good when you find

:29:03.:29:11.

yourself going into Q 3, like we both did, in India. We were in

:29:11.:29:16.

front of the most serious cars, Renault. The car is going good and

:29:16.:29:22.

you want to keep pushing. He had 26 points, last to finish with just

:29:22.:29:27.

five of them. What is the difference? As a driver, I am

:29:27.:29:32.

better because I was 20 years old last year, my first year, and now

:29:32.:29:38.

the car is much better. Toro Rosso has been mighty. We find our place

:29:38.:29:42.

in front of Renault and Force India and Sauber. Which we did not

:29:42.:29:49.

believe. Last year he won 9th, how important is it to come forward?

:29:49.:29:53.

The area. We're talking about serious money and that is the most

:29:54.:29:58.

important thing in Formula One. The more money you have, the more you

:29:58.:30:02.

can test and drive and the more successful you can be because it

:30:02.:30:06.

can bring in more people and I expect we will improve and I want

:30:06.:30:12.

Toro Rosso to do that. It is a permanent team. We are now it place

:30:12.:30:16.

with the same amount of points as Sauber, 10 points behind Force

:30:16.:30:21.

India so it will be difficult to get 10 more points. But in Korea,

:30:21.:30:25.

if everything goes well, we have seen that we can do it. The main

:30:25.:30:31.

objective is to finish in 7th place but we can still dream. He will be

:30:31.:30:35.

dreaming this weekend because the car does not look too bad. We are

:30:35.:30:38.

in the panic and the architecture is great, you know you are in the

:30:38.:30:43.

Middle East. India was mainly glass and steel. Toro Rosso, it seems to

:30:43.:30:47.

be working for them? Putting the pressure on young drivers. De

:30:47.:30:52.

Adrian Sutil has upped his game. No doubt that those guys at Toro Rosso

:30:52.:30:56.

are driving the season of their lives? It is curious because these

:30:56.:31:02.

guys have come all the way from karting, racing is in their blood.

:31:02.:31:07.

Go why were they any pressure to be motivated to want to perform? It is

:31:07.:31:12.

a gift to drive and the Formula One car. I am curious whether it is

:31:12.:31:16.

just the fact that they're under pressure or is it the fact that the

:31:16.:31:19.

team appears to have found some performance, which has allowed the

:31:19.:31:24.

drivers to show what they can do. You must imagine, going down the

:31:24.:31:28.

grid, performance gets worse, those cars are more difficult to drive.

:31:28.:31:35.

It is really busy here. The parting of the waves. Toro Rosso, you made

:31:35.:31:40.

the point that Red Bull have been helping them and that isn't allowed.

:31:40.:31:45.

Other teams think that they have had information on how to get that

:31:45.:31:50.

diffuser working well because that is the real strength of Red Bull.

:31:50.:31:58.

The bus is a very responsible man and I believe 10. He confirms that

:31:58.:32:02.

there is no collaboration at all. And on occasions like this, I do

:32:02.:32:07.

believe 10 and this team have found something, they're quicker. The us

:32:07.:32:11.

boys at Toro Rosso are in their 20s and another man making us feel very

:32:11.:32:17.

old is Sergio Perez, in his rookie season. Thank you for giving us

:32:17.:32:24.

your time. Here we are at the scene of the big race last year. We will

:32:24.:32:28.

go out and you will tell us what makes you special on this track.

:32:28.:32:34.

Shall we walk? Some fans are here. I make a priority of saying hello

:32:34.:32:40.

to the ladies first. That is what you do? Yes. Shall we get our leg

:32:40.:32:48.

over and get onto the track? Chubby Czech the tyres. What do you feel

:32:48.:32:57.

about the height of racing drivers? He is a driver? Yeah s! Take a good

:32:57.:33:00.

look at his face because you will see a lot of them in the future.

:33:00.:33:07.

Really sorry about the English really not recognising it. --

:33:07.:33:12.

English lady not recognising you. Right, leg over. What team do you

:33:12.:33:19.

drive for? You have a good feeling, you want to do the race here and

:33:19.:33:24.

the rest is history? You're a veteran of 17 Grand Prix is. Where

:33:24.:33:30.

does this it? In terms of the memories? Today's data I had my

:33:30.:33:34.

first day in Formula One and I really enjoyed that, it is a very

:33:34.:33:41.

nice circuit. Hopefully we can score a good points. -- two days

:33:41.:33:46.

later. Turn Number 10, very wide. Entering the longest straight on

:33:47.:33:54.

the track. Long apex. Fantastic, the setting in this track. Be it is

:33:54.:34:01.

definitely a nice place. Here there can be good action. I did some

:34:01.:34:06.

overtaking here. But a start of the Grand Prix, you can actually go to

:34:06.:34:11.

the inside to avoid the incident. Very low. You can afford to be

:34:11.:34:16.

quite aggressive. Det the DoE, you want to cut here, not all the way

:34:16.:34:25.

out. -- definitely. Here we have the barriers, now, you are a living

:34:25.:34:30.

example that those barriers to work. You had a huge crash in Monaco at

:34:30.:34:40.
:34:40.:34:41.

the corner I crashed on in my last year. It was quite a lot to me. It

:34:41.:34:46.

took a long while to get my head back into place. One thing that the

:34:46.:34:50.

public are not aware of perhaps his racing is in your family, your

:34:50.:34:54.

father was managing young drivers in the early days of the Grand Prix.

:34:54.:35:01.

Your brother is racing in at last car. We get on well. Do we live

:35:01.:35:07.

similar lines. We give advice to which other because he can see

:35:07.:35:13.

things from the outside and I can see things in his career so it is

:35:13.:35:19.

very good. Very good support. was a little incident last year

:35:19.:35:24.

weather was a television show called Top Gear, is that no-one

:35:24.:35:28.

Mexico? A very well known. Especially when they criticise the

:35:28.:35:38.

country. Is Jeremy Clarkson safe to go to Mexico on a holiday?

:35:38.:35:41.

country to do very seriously. I think you should wait before going

:35:41.:35:48.

to Mexico! -- took it very seriously. All the best. Thank you.

:35:48.:35:52.

Germany is said to have a holiday here. Plenty of people are doing

:35:52.:35:57.

that. Not only busy in the paddock but also around the harbour. David

:35:57.:36:01.

is enjoying educating the younger drivers about the perks. Sergio

:36:01.:36:05.

Perez showed us last time what you can achieve, even if you have a

:36:05.:36:10.

tough qualifying session? Cast your mind back to Australia, he has

:36:10.:36:15.

something, he knows how to look after his tyres and his car and I

:36:15.:36:20.

think he is a really cool talent. He has a very balanced head. We

:36:20.:36:25.

will see a lot of him. The less than one minute until the handover.

:36:25.:36:30.

Jensen Button said that overtaking will be difficult. The double DRS

:36:30.:36:34.

zone, that has not meant a lot so qualifying is just as important as

:36:34.:36:41.

last year. He is right. Qualifying is king. Sebastian Vettel last year

:36:41.:36:46.

had the advantage for him. Nevertheless, Jensen Button likes

:36:46.:36:49.

to talk down his qualifying performance because it isn't Israel

:36:49.:36:57.

star quality, his is racing. They are certainly ready behind us.

:36:57.:37:01.

Ready in the paddock. Abu Dhabi is ready. Jensen Button has described

:37:01.:37:05.

the current crop of drivers as the best he has ever faced. All of them

:37:05.:37:08.

are about to take to the track and the fight for pole position starts

:37:09.:37:18.
:37:19.:37:29.

the ultimate lap for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Round 18 of this year's

:37:29.:37:34.

World Championship. The Yas Marina Circuit. The third race at this

:37:34.:37:39.

spectacular venue. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have been on

:37:39.:37:43.

pole position before and they very much look favourites after the

:37:43.:37:49.

practising this morning. David Coulthard is in my commentary box.

:37:49.:37:56.

Three parts of the track over three seconds. The middle sector, lots of

:37:56.:38:03.

corners. Those too long back streets. The third sector is around

:38:03.:38:08.

39 seconds. The temperature is dropping. 5 o'clock in the evening,

:38:08.:38:14.

here. And we saw the free practice, well over 40 degrees on the track.

:38:14.:38:18.

That is a factor, as the temperature goes down through the

:38:18.:38:22.

qualifying hour. It did look seriously close between Red Bull

:38:22.:38:27.

and McLaren and Ferrari also looking on, as always. We expect an

:38:27.:38:33.

exciting session. Not just at the front. We have a tremendous

:38:33.:38:36.

championship battle going on between Force India, Sauber and

:38:36.:38:45.

Toro Rosso. They look close. Force India looking particularly strong.

:38:45.:38:49.

This is where the empty out all their fuel, they put these engines

:38:49.:38:55.

up to maximum power and the drivers thrash their car as within one inch

:38:55.:39:02.

of their lives to get that position. It is an amazing facility. Is it a

:39:02.:39:06.

great race track? It was very telling when we spoke with Paul di

:39:06.:39:09.

Resta and asked about this in comparison to India and he talked

:39:09.:39:15.

about the facilities! How amazing everything is. No question, they

:39:15.:39:21.

have created an incredible sight. Everything from multiple hotels to

:39:21.:39:26.

the ease of access has been first class. The racetrack, I do not see

:39:26.:39:29.

anyone putting this into their favourite tracks to drive on.

:39:29.:39:36.

That's it, it has interesting quirks. Underneath the hotel. The

:39:36.:39:39.

falling temperature all the way into qualifying, which poses a

:39:39.:39:45.

challenge. In Singapore, straight away under the lights. Here, they

:39:45.:39:49.

have a temperature that was at 40 degrees when down to one hour in

:39:49.:39:55.

practice session earlier today and it has dropped to 32 degrees.

:39:55.:40:00.

Roberto Mancini, there. We're taking him around the track on

:40:00.:40:10.

Monday. I thought he always wore his scarf?! Back to the business of

:40:10.:40:15.

qualifying. 32 degrees. As the temperature drops, the chemical

:40:15.:40:20.

reactions in the tyres changed. You get more life and for longer,

:40:20.:40:24.

bigger bang for your back within a stroke of the piston as the air

:40:24.:40:28.

temperature drop-zone more downforce. The cars will feel

:40:28.:40:33.

better and better. Interesting point as we look at the

:40:33.:40:38.

constructors championship. Red Bull have already won this. Williams

:40:38.:40:43.

down in 9th place. Just five points, which hurts them. Let's hope they

:40:43.:40:48.

have something better in store next year. Kimi Raikkonen Joining that

:40:48.:40:53.

team. That would give us six World Championship is on the grid. Quite

:40:53.:41:00.

something. Rubens Barrichello and some others might not agree with

:41:00.:41:05.

that enthusiasm. We saw the fastest ever lap this morning of the

:41:05.:41:15.
:41:15.:41:18.

circuit. By Lewis Hamilton. Bennett 38.976. We seem to have some pace

:41:18.:41:28.
:41:28.:41:29.

out there. It should not be surprising. Entering the paddock.

:41:29.:41:34.

Not surprised by the impressive lap times we have seen through practice.

:41:34.:41:38.

The kinetic energy recovery system is back on for this season, giving

:41:38.:41:44.

them an extra 80 horses. For 6.7 seconds. We have DRS, the drag

:41:44.:41:49.

reduction system, which they can use on every single street. Getting

:41:49.:41:56.

ready for the start. 20 seconds to run. 15 seconds to go. That is

:41:56.:42:01.

interesting. So many cars are dead keen to get out there and get a lap

:42:01.:42:11.
:42:11.:42:13.

under their belt. Five seconds to go. And... Qualifying is underway!

:42:13.:42:21.

Five cars taking to the track. All lined up. Kovaleinen is going out

:42:21.:42:27.

also for notice. Jarno Trulli, the second at Lotus. And they are

:42:27.:42:36.

fanning out of the pits. Renault, so many name changes. The pit entry,

:42:36.:42:42.

the exit onto the track entry. We briefly saw that. Fernando Alonso,

:42:42.:42:47.

waiting in the pits. Blowing cool air on him. That's looks like a

:42:47.:42:57.
:42:57.:43:01.

a wonderful feeling that, you lazily putt out a finger and say

:43:01.:43:08.

start might engine -- the power of that finger. Sebastian Vettel, you

:43:08.:43:14.

can see his trainer holding the bag, that is full of dry ice. He prefers

:43:14.:43:18.

to have the air through the dry ice and it calls the cockpit before the

:43:18.:43:28.
:43:28.:43:32.

qualifying session. They have Let's hear from Ted Kravitz.

:43:32.:43:38.

KRAVITZ: There very busy pit lane as people go out on the hard-up of

:43:38.:43:48.

the two tiers, the medium compound, -- tyres. Rubens Barrichello, you

:43:48.:43:51.

will have seen his car with about eight mechanics around it, they are

:43:51.:43:55.

close to getting it finished. They were worried they would have to use

:43:55.:43:59.

a new engine and get a penalty for that but that hasn't been a case.

:44:00.:44:04.

The oil was leaking out of it in practice three, so they are just

:44:04.:44:09.

putting the car back together and he will be out shortly. His team-

:44:09.:44:15.

mate Pastor Maldonado does have a penalty for this one. We don't

:44:15.:44:19.

expect him to use up many soft tyres, because that would

:44:19.:44:24.

ultimately be pointless, because he has dropped 10 places. He drops 10

:44:24.:44:28.

places because he is on his ninth engine of the season, you can only

:44:28.:44:32.

use 80 before a penalty, and there are gearbox penalties as well --

:44:32.:44:42.
:44:42.:44:46.

eighth. We are on board with Bruno Senna. In the Renault, this car

:44:47.:44:52.

will become a Lotus next year. I understand it will retain its

:44:52.:44:57.

colour scheme. The Lotus saga is finally over. That is the second

:44:57.:45:03.

apex he has not looked up with. enlisted by a country mile. That

:45:03.:45:08.

certainly won't help his exit -- he missed it. Past the support pit on

:45:08.:45:15.

the right hand side and hard on the brakes Macro. That breaks. He has

:45:16.:45:20.

not been eliminated in the first part of qualifying since he joined

:45:20.:45:27.

the team, he has been pretty salad. Bass solid. The car has slipped

:45:27.:45:33.

since the opening race in Melbourne but it is a very solid made-top 10

:45:33.:45:38.

car, so I think he has done a good job coming in halfway through the

:45:38.:45:43.

season, certainly enough to keep Petrov honest. His star has waned

:45:43.:45:47.

slightly since Bruno Senna came in. The difficult decision going

:45:47.:45:50.

forward as to which drivers they put in place. We talked about it

:45:50.:45:58.

before the show, we are waiting to hear about Robert Kubica. They have

:45:58.:46:03.

Grosjean, at Reading in Friday practice, and he was quicker than

:46:03.:46:07.

Petrov -- running in Friday practice. You would expect of the

:46:07.:46:12.

most experienced guide to be setting the pace. It must be a

:46:12.:46:15.

likely that Robert Kubica is coming back for the start of the season.

:46:15.:46:19.

That would be something. Mark Webber for Red Bull, he has been

:46:19.:46:24.

very closely matched with Sebastian Vettel. It looks as close as we

:46:24.:46:30.

have seen him to his young team- mate all year, I would say. This is

:46:31.:46:35.

a track that mark was very strong around, he slipped in qualifying

:46:35.:46:39.

last year, which was the crucial four-way battle for the

:46:39.:46:43.

championship which his team mate went on to win and he has backed it

:46:43.:46:47.

up with his performance this year. Mark has a contract in place for

:46:47.:46:52.

next year, he has had a reputation of being a great qualifier, so he

:46:52.:46:56.

needs to relax into this weekend. Fernando Alonso checking his

:46:56.:47:00.

mirrors, it is all about track position. Lewis Hamilton coming

:47:00.:47:05.

behind him, he will have to back out of it. Coming into the last

:47:05.:47:11.

corner, it is an anti-clockwise track. 12 left and nine are right.

:47:11.:47:15.

One of five anti-clockwise circuit, the last one in Brazil is anti-

:47:15.:47:21.

clockwise as well. They were both on their out-lap there. If you are

:47:21.:47:31.
:47:31.:47:31.

thinking, he will take a penalty, Lewis Hamilton won't. Felipe Massa

:47:31.:47:35.

is the fastest man in the first set at the moment. Make that Vettel now,

:47:36.:47:42.

he has just done a 1: 17.8. Still four-tenths of what we saw in

:47:42.:47:49.

practice, but they are still on a hard and tyre. We saw them having

:47:49.:47:53.

two or three laps to get the best time in practice, that might be the

:47:53.:48:00.

case again. And quite suddenly, the way the -- the way the tyres are

:48:00.:48:04.

performing, some of the top teams won't be putting on the yellow tyre

:48:04.:48:08.

until the last part of qualifying. But there hasn't been a great deal

:48:08.:48:11.

of difference between them and it is taking two or three laps to

:48:11.:48:15.

activate the tyres. What we saw in the morning practice was one of

:48:15.:48:20.

fast lap, and then another lap that was delivering the time. I am

:48:20.:48:27.

worried about Pirelli getting there act together. They are becoming so

:48:28.:48:32.

good and durable, I want the bubblegum tyres back, lots of

:48:32.:48:36.

shocks and surprises. But they don't want that for their product.

:48:36.:48:40.

It surprises me, because they took so much negative criticism at the

:48:40.:48:46.

beginning of the year, they took it on the chin and they said we want

:48:46.:48:49.

more exciting racing, we have brought in more pit stops, so why

:48:49.:48:56.

would you want to back away from that? Hamilton said the fastest lap.

:48:56.:49:04.

-- sex. Make that Vettel. We would expect all of these top teams to be

:49:04.:49:08.

able to get through this part of qualifying using the hard tyres and

:49:08.:49:14.

with one run. Fernando our using plenty of kerb, the front wing

:49:14.:49:19.

touching the ground. Michael Schumacher, who has taken quite a

:49:19.:49:23.

shine to the run-off areas through free practice, let's see if he will

:49:23.:49:30.

do the same again. I have to say, I really was concerned we were close

:49:30.:49:34.

to seeing a serious injury to Michael Schumacher last year, when

:49:34.:49:40.

and Tonio Liuzzi's Force India climbed up the front of his car --

:49:40.:49:47.

and Tonio Liuzzi's. Michael Schumacher was bouncing across at

:49:47.:49:57.
:49:57.:49:57.

kerb. He went very wide in tents 17, we saw he had been held up by

:49:57.:50:00.

Michael Schumacher -- turn 17. Could Michael Schumacher get a

:50:00.:50:10.
:50:10.:50:12.

penalty for that? That is a timed lap four menthe -- for Di Resta. He

:50:12.:50:19.

ran off the circuit in 18 and 19, which take you under the hotel.

:50:19.:50:25.

Webber has gone fastest from Vettel. Hamilton is on another flying lap,

:50:26.:50:30.

as we see Nico Rosberg, he has just extended his contract with

:50:30.:50:38.

Mercedes-Benz, he will be there till at least the end of 2013. They

:50:38.:50:43.

really cut across the inside. More than I have never noticed before,

:50:43.:50:48.

across turn 19. I am not aware of any changes to the kerb, but what

:50:48.:50:56.

is significant is that these defuses, -- diffuser ofs, it is

:50:56.:51:02.

giving them so much more downforce, they could use it by cutting over

:51:02.:51:09.

the kerbs. They will all be in a different situation next year and I

:51:09.:51:13.

suspect they will keep off the kerbs a little bit, because it

:51:13.:51:20.

excites the car. Hamilton is still on the slower at medium compound

:51:20.:51:27.

tyre, with the lighter colour markings. Vettel is quick as well,

:51:27.:51:32.

just about matched Hamilton in the first sector. Not a lot going on,

:51:32.:51:38.

very evenly matched. We watch Hamilton at the end of the back

:51:38.:51:48.
:51:48.:51:52.

straight. Another very fast middle sector. 10 minutes remaining of Q1.

:51:52.:51:56.

As ever, this is all about the drop zone. Rubens Barrichello still

:51:56.:52:06.
:52:06.:52:08.

hasn't made it out of the pits. 80 car the line and has got himself in

:52:08.:52:11.

in the Lotus at the moment -- Heikki Kovalainen has got himself

:52:11.:52:21.
:52:21.:52:22.

in there. He is just been. Michael Schumacher has just done a personal

:52:22.:52:25.

best in the first sector. Jenson Button is coming alive as well, he

:52:25.:52:33.

is in sixth at the moment. We waited to see, as we look at Ron

:52:33.:52:41.

Dennis of the McLaren team, if Jenson Button can beat a bit back

:52:41.:52:51.
:52:51.:53:02.

line and does indeed go faster. 1: 40.2, that is a very quick lap

:53:02.:53:08.

indeed for Jenson Button. It looks like he has enjoyed it so much he

:53:08.:53:16.

will take another one. Now, Michael Schumacher, a personal best in the

:53:16.:53:19.

first and second sector, he has decided he likes the racetrack in

:53:19.:53:24.

his lap rather than the run-off areas. Two corners to go, a

:53:25.:53:30.

sweeping right and then a tricky one into the pit straight. Over the

:53:30.:53:40.
:53:40.:53:41.

line he goes and Michael Schumacher goes straight into the top 10.

:53:41.:53:45.

Lewis Hamilton is on another flying lap. Jenson Button is out there as

:53:45.:53:51.

well. These tyres are going to last forever tomorrow. They will be

:53:51.:53:56.

using them in Brazil in two weeks' time, they have so much durability.

:53:56.:54:00.

I guess Pirelli can't get it right every time, this is their first

:54:00.:54:05.

time coming to Abu Dhabi. Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time.

:54:06.:54:10.

He was quickest in the morning practice session, and despite all

:54:10.:54:15.

the talk of there not been settled off track, he looks incredibly sure

:54:15.:54:24.

footed on the track -- all the talk of him. Lewis Hamilton was half a

:54:24.:54:28.

second quicker than everybody else this morning. He has a three-tenths

:54:28.:54:32.

advantage over Webber and half a second on his team-mate, Jenson

:54:32.:54:40.

Button. Hamilton surely looking favourite for pole position. Here

:54:40.:54:46.

is Michael Schumacher. Does he miss the chicane, by any chance? He

:54:46.:54:52.

doesn't. We have seen that several times in free practice way you go

:54:52.:54:57.

straight across the corner. One of the DRS detection zones is there

:54:57.:55:01.

for the race tomorrow. If you go through there and you gain an

:55:01.:55:04.

advantage, if you are further ahead of the car then when you went into

:55:04.:55:09.

the corner, you will hear from the stewards. Or if it gets you into

:55:09.:55:13.

the DRS zone by cheating across there, and you use the DRS there,

:55:13.:55:17.

you will take a penalty as well. That is the trouble with the

:55:17.:55:21.

supermarket car-park run-offs, it is too easy to make a mistake. Have

:55:21.:55:26.

I mentioned that before? You have, it is one of your bugbears of

:55:26.:55:32.

modern racetracks. There are acres and acres of run-off around this

:55:32.:55:36.

track. I agree with you, you shouldn't be able to just

:55:36.:55:40.

systematically use them. What they are really looking out for his car

:55:40.:55:45.

getting away with using it once, like when you are starting to lose

:55:45.:55:48.

a better performance from the tyres, you could easily miss that chicane,

:55:49.:55:52.

game park the second from your previous best lap, not go faster

:55:52.:55:56.

than your previous best sector and gain time when you come into a pit

:55:56.:56:02.

stop. It is like going down to Eau Rouge, we would fake the break

:56:02.:56:06.

going into the hairpin, and then had a better run into the next lap.

:56:06.:56:12.

Everybody did it. TED KRAVITZ: Rubens Barrichello is waiting for

:56:12.:56:16.

one run at the end but I understand he will do three laps on that run

:56:16.:56:21.

to get the best out of his soft tyres. Renault have also had to

:56:21.:56:27.

take the soft tyres, and I am looking to see if the Mercedes... I

:56:27.:56:31.

think Michael Schumacher considers himself safe enough in ninth

:56:31.:56:35.

position, even though the times has started to get quite close.

:56:35.:56:41.

Maldonado has gone out on a set of soft tyres. Any news on Rubens

:56:41.:56:47.

Barrichello? Still in the pits? I did say, he is going to do one

:56:47.:56:55.

run of three laps. That is the plan. Has he got enough time? Maybe it

:56:55.:56:59.

will be two laps. The team insists the car is ready to go and I can't

:56:59.:57:05.

see from where I am to look into the garage, but I will make double

:57:05.:57:11.

short and let you know. Thank you very much for that. Rubens

:57:11.:57:16.

Barrichello still waiting to see what he can do. Heikki Kovalainen,

:57:16.:57:21.

a Ricky ardour, Timo Glock, d'Ambrosio, Liuzzi and Jarno Trulli

:57:21.:57:31.
:57:31.:57:33.

in the drop zone. -- Daniel Ricciardo. Jarno Trulli missed a

:57:33.:57:43.

race... Heikki Kovalainen well ahead of Jarno Trulli at the moment.

:57:43.:57:48.

A huge performance from Daniel Ricciardo in the High HRT. Only

:57:48.:57:51.

one-tenth slower than Heikki Kovalainen, who has shown himself

:57:51.:57:56.

to be the qualifying the king of that group of cars. So I wonder

:57:56.:58:00.

where Daniel Ricciardo got that from. He was quickest as the young

:58:00.:58:04.

driver here last year so he has experience of the track. Maybe it's

:58:04.:58:14.
:58:14.:58:20.

is his driving. Ted is now at quite sure if he is going out are

:58:20.:58:27.

not. The team spokesperson isn't sure. He has time to do one fast-

:58:27.:58:33.

run. Well, the car is fixed. They sent them out, if they did, he

:58:33.:58:43.
:58:43.:58:44.

might get to flying laps. Looking pretty grim for Rubens Barrichello.

:58:44.:58:53.

And his team-mate, Maldonado, his 17th on and -- and on the cusp. The

:58:53.:58:58.

Williams form is really working. Paul di Resta, presumably what

:58:58.:59:04.

those yellow tyres, has gone up into 5th place. We can see Petrov

:59:04.:59:09.

on those tyres as well. Schumacher is down to 11th place. Will he feel

:59:09.:59:18.

the need to go back out or will be he under serious pressure? Petrov

:59:18.:59:25.

goes up in two P8. He needs to leave the pits and the last of --

:59:25.:59:31.

at the next half of a minute if he is going to go out and defend that.

:59:31.:59:36.

Kobayashi, Maldonado, Kovaleinen. Timo Glock. Jarno Trulli is also

:59:36.:59:43.

out. Plenty of runners. Schumacher down to 14th place. Only 17. He is

:59:43.:59:46.

probably OK with Barrichello still in the pits. Michael Schumacher

:59:47.:59:53.

stays in the pits. He feels comfortable that he already has to

:59:53.:00:03.
:00:03.:00:03.

join in your teens. Kovaleinen up into 16th place. Maldonado. One we

:00:03.:00:08.

locked up. They do not turn well when they're not rotating. Not at

:00:08.:00:18.

all, sometimes. Bruno Senna. And Schumacher, we think, is going out.

:00:18.:00:26.

He has gone out on the soft tyres. He had to respond. He is 17, now.

:00:26.:00:34.

Schumacher it needs to push. They seem to be waiting. Felipe Massa

:00:34.:00:41.

has to commit to the softer tyres. Down to 13th place. The drivers

:00:41.:00:44.

putting their tyres born to put the pressure on the expected front-

:00:44.:00:50.

runners. We predicted it would be just over one second faster, and

:00:50.:00:56.

Barrichello confirms he will not run. Is that the second last

:00:56.:01:05.

qualifying session of his career? We do not know. Anyway, the Walker

:01:05.:01:10.

Shane a cross to the pit wall. Paul di Resta find a massive 1.9 seconds

:01:10.:01:15.

between the hard, Prime tyres, and the option. That is why we have

:01:15.:01:20.

seen Felipe Massa having to respond. Schumacher currently 17th and on

:01:20.:01:29.

the cusp. Will he be under any threat? I doubt it. Builders, he

:01:29.:01:37.

churchy and Virgin only. Sir Paul McCartney comes into the paddock.

:01:37.:01:43.

Barrichello took the pressure off Schumacher and Felipe Massa. They

:01:43.:01:48.

could not rely on that happening and they had to go out. Schumacher

:01:48.:01:52.

had to go out in 17th place. Three- tenths of a second over Kovaleinen.

:01:52.:01:58.

And Kovaleinen has run out 1 lap. If d'Ambrosio is out there. They

:01:58.:02:04.

might pull Schumacher's straight in. Why do the wrong on this tyres? All

:02:05.:02:12.

that matters is he isn't 18. They can use those times in qualifying.

:02:12.:02:16.

The chequered flag has dropped at the end of the first part of

:02:16.:02:23.

qualifying. Just 20 minutes. It has gone so quickly. Petrov is on a

:02:23.:02:33.

better lap. Schumacher has gone for the laps. He does not feel

:02:33.:02:43.
:02:43.:02:45.

comfortable. They should not be able to get in front of him.

:02:45.:02:52.

will probably complete the second sector and then take the view on

:02:52.:02:58.

the first sector. I would expect him to put after this. He should

:02:58.:03:04.

not be getting beaten by Lotus, Virgin and he charges. None of

:03:04.:03:10.

their first sectors are within three-tenths of this current one.

:03:10.:03:18.

Jerome d'Ambrosio, currently in 23rd. Just to confuse us. We should

:03:18.:03:23.

just qualified that that middle sector is pretty much to Street

:03:23.:03:33.
:03:33.:03:33.

runs. Down into seven - it and then it - 11, wide, open alliance. --

:03:33.:03:41.

open lines. Jarno Trulli, 19th. He is on to personal bests. He has

:03:41.:03:50.

surprised Kovaleinen. He does not, he stays behind him. Michael

:03:50.:03:54.

Schumacher, coming towards the end of the lap and Pits. As he

:03:54.:03:58.

predicted. As soon as he knew he was not under pressure. It has

:03:58.:04:02.

taken the life out of those tyres. And the same with Felipe Massa. By

:04:02.:04:08.

having to do the out lap on those tyres. And that is only because of

:04:08.:04:15.

the changeover you're not allowed to go out on intermediate or wet

:04:15.:04:19.

tyres on a dry track. They will be getting those tyres into the black

:04:19.:04:26.

it's as quickly as possible. Indeed. Willow's Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno

:04:26.:04:32.

Trulli, Timo Glock, Ricardo, d'Ambrosio, Liuzzi and Rubens

:04:32.:04:39.

Barrichello, starting in 24th and last. Maldonado must take the grid

:04:39.:04:46.

drop from 16th because he had an extra engine. Dibble it to see if

:04:46.:04:48.

that is Pastor Maldonado steps behind Rubens Barrichello at the

:04:48.:04:52.

end of qualifying but let's not talk about that penalty, what about

:04:52.:04:56.

your difficult weekend? Explain the problems because we saw you sitting

:04:56.:05:02.

in the car with your helmet on. You were keen to get out? This morning

:05:02.:05:07.

we had a brand new engine which was looking very good because I saved

:05:07.:05:13.

the new engine to a later stage of the season and we went out and we

:05:13.:05:18.

had some difficulty after two laps. And we came back and try to review

:05:18.:05:21.

the situation and just before qualifying they told me there was

:05:21.:05:25.

no way. That was even more frustrating just before qualifying,

:05:25.:05:30.

you are so eager to go and you have the mentality to put in a very nice

:05:30.:05:35.

lap and the engine was not working. We know that the circuit is more

:05:35.:05:40.

difficult to pass on in others. This qualifying is particularly

:05:40.:05:45.

hard because of the possibility of a good points return? It has been a

:05:45.:05:50.

hard weekend in a way. I cannot remember myself doing so many

:05:50.:05:59.

little things. P2. That was it. I hope that the set-up is OK and I

:05:59.:06:04.

enjoy myself. I am on such a positive mood, I try to enjoy

:06:04.:06:10.

myself, but today is disappointing. We were there to celebrate you

:06:10.:06:16.

getting 300 races. Still a smile on her face. Apart from the period

:06:16.:06:19.

when you drove for Eddie Jordan! Is this the toughest season of your

:06:19.:06:25.

career? Death In Italy, we had a very tough season. Last year was

:06:25.:06:29.

tough but the team got together well and we sort the problems and

:06:29.:06:34.

this year, with all the News of departures and people coming I'm

:06:34.:06:38.

going, it was tough to keep the team organised. It is suffering. If

:06:38.:06:42.

they keep this going with the good mentality, they will sort

:06:42.:06:48.

themselves out. A with his top of different drivers coming I'm going,

:06:48.:06:54.

do you feel under any pressure or do you just want to keep going on?

:06:54.:07:01.

How do you cope? In the first or second year, this would have been

:07:01.:07:06.

tough. But after 19 seasons, you have to enjoy life. I am enjoying

:07:06.:07:13.

my life. I just put in 20 laps and tomorrow, I will go to race and

:07:13.:07:19.

that is it. You have to enjoy it as much as you can. I would love to be

:07:19.:07:28.

sitting in a car next year, just to pass on. It will be 48 years of age

:07:28.:07:35.

with 20 years of racing. I think it is a very... It is almost a must to

:07:35.:07:40.

be there next year. I am only doing this because I enjoy it. To Morrow

:07:40.:07:43.

will be difficult. Going to Brazil hoping to impress but once the

:07:43.:07:49.

season is over, what can you do until March to make sure you were

:07:49.:07:55.

still in the game? Every thing I can. I'm looking for all the things,

:07:55.:07:58.

such as sponsors, if that is what we need. Looking for everything to

:07:58.:08:02.

show that my passion is behind the steering wheel and I want to be

:08:02.:08:08.

there. I will be in charge of being in England as much as I can and

:08:08.:08:12.

trying to do my job. Thank you for joining us and you have the world's

:08:12.:08:18.

media to speak to. Thank you. Let's join David and Martin. What is

:08:18.:08:22.

interesting is that he said if he needs to find money, he will. He is

:08:23.:08:28.

a man driven to be in Formula One next season. I can relate. It

:08:28.:08:32.

really hurt when people were telling me I was not going to be a

:08:32.:08:36.

driver any more. Sometimes people outside can see this more easily.

:08:36.:08:41.

You desperately want to carry on racing. I cannot help but think,

:08:41.:08:48.

for Rubens Barrichello, it is time to move on. I would just like the

:08:48.:08:53.

opportunity to celebrate his 19 years. This is the 19th and final

:08:53.:08:57.

season of his career. We are in Brazil and what a fitting place? He

:08:57.:09:02.

grew up very close to the racetrack in Sao Paulo. He is the most

:09:02.:09:06.

experienced driver in Formula One. I don't want a winter of

:09:06.:09:15.

uncertainty. Back to qualifying. Underway, 15 minutes. Very eager to

:09:15.:09:19.

get out. What did we learn from the first part? We have learned that

:09:19.:09:24.

there is a bigger gap between the prime and the option tyres and the

:09:24.:09:28.

suspected going into this. The track temperature has dropped a

:09:28.:09:31.

further two degrees. If they do nothing different and just tried

:09:31.:09:37.

the same, they were naturally go quicker. More downforce and the

:09:37.:09:44.

tyres will hold on better. They are all keen to get out and line

:09:44.:09:47.

themselves up for the lap times. Because the tyres are not so

:09:47.:09:53.

critical, it is about trying to relay be perfect on every corner.

:09:53.:09:57.

It might seem an obvious thing to say, but when the tyres on the last

:09:57.:10:03.

for one lap, you might take more out of them on a certain corner

:10:03.:10:07.

than be more careful in the longer corner. You don't want to use up

:10:08.:10:11.

too much performance. It is about trying to get the maximum return

:10:11.:10:19.

for your investment. Ferrari World. In the background. In the

:10:19.:10:25.

foreground, seven cars on the track. Webber, Senna, Petrov, Kobayashi,

:10:25.:10:32.

Perez, Alguersuari and Sebastian Vettel has just joined. Paul

:10:32.:10:37.

McCartney, he has some ear protection on. With the Ferrari

:10:37.:10:45.

team. Spreading the love. I don't think I have ever seen him in 4 min

:10:45.:10:55.
:10:55.:10:59.

01. Ted has news. -- Formula One. Red Bull and McLaren are on the

:10:59.:11:05.

softer tyres. Red Bull were complaining that McLaren have the

:11:05.:11:09.

edge on the middle sector because of their strong Mercedes engine but

:11:09.:11:15.

in secretary, the slow corners in that qualifying, the McLaren gained

:11:15.:11:18.

even more up over Red Bull. Baby because they are running more with

:11:18.:11:26.

the wings. Red Bull are running with four of the skinny wings.

:11:26.:11:32.

Bull are full -- a full 10 kilometres an hour slower in this

:11:32.:11:40.

car. Once again, Red Bull, slow down the straight but into the

:11:40.:11:45.

corners they make it up. That is the game you always play. They will

:11:45.:11:49.

have some elation tools available and they will understand at this

:11:49.:11:53.

stage the relationship between the scimitar and the performance on the

:11:53.:12:03.
:12:03.:12:04.

track. It isn't all about top speed. This isn't the salt flats, this is

:12:04.:12:09.

about chasing lap times. It is about the potential for a driver

:12:09.:12:15.

and your car, that package. corners, 3.5 miles. The stopwatch

:12:15.:12:25.
:12:25.:12:34.

there? The new fastest qualifying through the first sector poor Mark

:12:34.:12:42.

Webber, but has just been out done by Vettel. TEAM RADIO: Michael, we

:12:42.:12:52.
:12:52.:12:53.

expect of the cut-off to be 40.5. Your time is 40.96. Could clear

:12:53.:12:58.

information. The delta time, the middle lap delta we refer to. You

:12:58.:13:08.

can see him on the right-hand side of the Scream. -- a screen. Mark

:13:08.:13:13.

Webber has picked up through this sequence, he is up to two-tenths as

:13:13.:13:21.

he comes through turn 19. He will be looking at best and thinking, I

:13:21.:13:27.

am going faster. One final turn and he is three-tenths up. Liz is a bit

:13:27.:13:35.

on the acceleration down to the start/finish line -- Liz is a bed.

:13:35.:13:39.

If -- and loses a bit. Michael Schumacher has been told what he

:13:39.:13:43.

has to aim for. The Wall fell slightly under pressure in this

:13:43.:13:51.

session. -- he will feel. Sebastian Vettel comes to register his first

:13:51.:14:00.

lap of the session. 38.5. Seven- tenths quicker than the Mark Webber.

:14:00.:14:05.

38.4 from Lewis Hamilton. Game on. They are close again. It is going

:14:05.:14:10.

to be something else in Q3. Hamilton is on supreme form. He

:14:10.:14:14.

looks like he has got Red Bull beating the pace. He looks like he

:14:14.:14:22.

has had it all through the event so far. Vettel some a six-tenths a shy

:14:23.:14:30.

of Hamilton's time. Somebody has had a go at the bollards. That

:14:30.:14:34.

second reaction from Felipe Massa has put another piece of debris on

:14:34.:14:42.

the racetrack. Petrov at the moment his ninth, so what do a Mercedes

:14:42.:14:50.

think? 40.5 will be ninth or tenth place. Michael Schumacher has done

:14:50.:14:54.

a 40.5, that is exactly what they asked him to do. Vettel is on an

:14:54.:15:01.

even faster lap, he is absolutely flying, he is than at turn 14. At a

:15:01.:15:07.

red flag, they have to pick the debris up, so they had interrupted

:15:07.:15:14.

Vettel's Flyer. That is the problem, the sort of speed they are doing,

:15:14.:15:23.

that: could do a lot of damage to a front wing or cut a tyre. You can't

:15:23.:15:27.

have debris like that on the track. It has been picked up by a couple

:15:27.:15:37.
:15:37.:15:38.

of cars, that is at the turn 11. Sorry, it is that turn poor 8 and 9.

:15:38.:15:46.

Will we see the flower wiry -- we see the Ferrari flicking it. If he

:15:46.:15:55.

hit it? Just kissed it. Who has that cost a set of tyres in that

:15:55.:15:59.

session? We know that Vettel was on a faster lap, so he has had to

:15:59.:16:06.

aborted. TED KRAVITZ: Just to fill you in on some of the midfield guys.

:16:06.:16:13.

The Renault, having been through their second set of softer tyres,

:16:13.:16:17.

and particularly Force India, we are looking at them as the team who

:16:17.:16:23.

are going to make up ninth and tenth and progress into Q3. They

:16:23.:16:29.

did have to take a set of soft tyres in Q1. But Adrian Sutil and

:16:29.:16:33.

Di Resta were on a run that have had to come in and that will cost

:16:33.:16:43.
:16:43.:16:50.

them. Not in team gear there, just observing this weekend. That makes

:16:50.:16:53.

such a difference to his input to the weekend. If you don't have your

:16:53.:16:58.

Superman outfit on, you can't be Superman. That is ridiculous, he is

:16:58.:17:02.

clearly working for the team, why not let him wear their gear?

:17:02.:17:08.

does seem churlish, but there you go. We are looking at Vettel, who

:17:08.:17:13.

was on a flying lap, and his front wing pass back oscillating nicely

:17:13.:17:20.

there, which we have seen on the Ferrari. Id Felipe Massa's Ferrari

:17:20.:17:25.

seems to do that, but at least the Red Bull once did seem to touch the

:17:25.:17:32.

ground and spark. We were going to speak to Stefano Domenicali in the

:17:32.:17:36.

pre-show, and he didn't turn up, he had another thing it going on, and

:17:36.:17:40.

he chased us down the pit lane as weak or walking down to Force India,

:17:40.:17:46.

saying that, sorry I was held up. - - as we were walking. How often do

:17:46.:17:50.

you have a team principal chasing you and apologising? Hopefully we

:17:50.:17:55.

will hear from him tomorrow in the race show. The session restarts at

:17:56.:18:03.

36 minutes past the hour. Wherever you might be in the world, of

:18:03.:18:10.

welcome to qualifying for this third Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The

:18:10.:18:16.

debris is out of the way and the moment has arrived. The man of that

:18:16.:18:21.

moment is Felipe Massa, and he is out there. Back row number at the

:18:22.:18:31.
:18:32.:18:32.

moment on a 40.2. -- sixth at the moment. 40.5, will that still be

:18:32.:18:36.

the cut-off point? We are yet to see what Adrian Sutil and Paul di

:18:36.:18:41.

Resta can do for Force India. They were serious contenders in free

:18:41.:18:45.

practice. It seems Force India are the team most likely to get in

:18:45.:18:50.

amongst the big ones this weekend. That red-flagged does appear to

:18:50.:18:54.

have cost Nico Rosberg a run on that first set of tyres, but he

:18:54.:18:58.

does seem to have shown better pace than Michael this weekend. He is

:18:58.:19:06.

going out as we speak. Anything quicker than 40.5 will satisfy him.

:19:06.:19:11.

In the absence of winning Grand Prixs, being in front of your team

:19:11.:19:15.

mate will do. But the two cars on track at the moment. The Felipe

:19:15.:19:25.
:19:25.:19:26.

Massa and Nico Rosberg. -- Felipe Massa. This is the time to get the

:19:26.:19:30.

tyres up to full temperature, and leaving your left foot on the brake

:19:30.:19:39.

pedal helps, getting some heat into the brakes. That is a pretty tricky

:19:39.:19:42.

section there, you take that sweeping right and you have got it

:19:42.:19:51.

sorted out, and then there is an even tighter one. You said it was

:19:51.:19:58.

the second scariest thing you had ever done. I don't remember what

:19:58.:20:08.
:20:08.:20:09.

the first was of a. -- was. Felipe Massa starts the lap. TEAM RADIO: a

:20:09.:20:12.

couple of mistakes compared to what you could do, you'd lost about six-

:20:12.:20:22.

tenths on that lap, so if you could do a 39, that would be sufficient.

:20:22.:20:27.

So all of your mistakes cost you on the previous lap. That message

:20:27.:20:31.

would have been relayed to him on the out-lap, not on this hot lap at

:20:31.:20:37.

the moment. Still only three cars on track. Nico Rosberg has done a

:20:37.:20:43.

couple of personal bests. There is lower in the middle sector, though,

:20:43.:20:48.

so he has obviously made a mistake somewhere on the lap -- a very slow

:20:48.:20:56.

in the middle sector. 39 was the request, we will find out what the

:20:56.:21:02.

delivery is. This is the second zone for the DRS of tomorrow, into

:21:02.:21:11.

their heavy braking zone. Look at that, he just... Almost four wheels

:21:11.:21:17.

off the racetrack. No wonder the bollard is missing. Which one of

:21:17.:21:20.

them is going to knock it down and then the rest of them can go across

:21:20.:21:30.
:21:30.:21:31.

the kerb after that? For Eau Rouge has to go, underneath a hotel. -- a

:21:31.:21:41.
:21:41.:21:51.

four chord hours to go. -- corn he got from Rob Smedley. Nico

:21:51.:21:56.

Rosberg is the fastest man now in the middle sector. We are about to

:21:56.:22:03.

see Felipe Massa completely launching the car. I think that is

:22:03.:22:08.

all of the wheels off the racetrack. You are supposed to keep two wheels

:22:08.:22:13.

the other side of the race live. That is playing it a little bit

:22:13.:22:19.

close to the edge -- of the white line. Some people get sensitive

:22:19.:22:24.

when they mention the rules but you have to follow them. 39.44 Nico

:22:24.:22:31.

Rosberg puts him into sixth place.,. TED KRAVITZ: Two people have gone

:22:31.:22:34.

out on you said. Michael Schumacher has gone out on a new set of soft

:22:34.:22:41.

tyres, so he doesn't feel safe -- on new sets. But where there is on

:22:41.:22:51.
:22:51.:22:58.

first. There are six corners on this racetrack that TAS lower than

:22:58.:23:08.
:23:08.:23:17.

60 mph. -- that TAS lower. -- are the unknown, what I like to call it,

:23:17.:23:22.

the fastest lap you will do on the Grand Prix weekend. Low fuel, new

:23:22.:23:26.

tyres, about a tenth better than his previous best. I love this

:23:26.:23:30.

moment when the floodlights just imperceptibly take over from the

:23:30.:23:36.

daylight. It reminds me of that magical feeling in the atmosphere,

:23:36.:23:41.

when it seems to double at that moment, and your reference points

:23:41.:23:46.

changed slightly as you use the artificial light. I thought you

:23:46.:23:50.

came in your Blackshirt looking like the Milk Tray man, you like

:23:50.:24:00.
:24:00.:24:02.

the dim lights. Paul di Resta, how is he looking? Sounds good. Lots of

:24:02.:24:07.

oversteer there, he had to get out of the throttle and it has cost him

:24:07.:24:12.

some time. As soon as you lift off the loud pedal, you are not putting

:24:12.:24:21.

750 horsepower through those rear tyres, it goes. That is 40.5, but I

:24:22.:24:26.

think he hasn't got time for another set of tyres, so let's see

:24:26.:24:32.

if he has enough fuel. Adrian Sutil beats it, so both Force Indias in

:24:32.:24:38.

the top 10 at the moment. Sebastian Buemi just ahead of his team-mate

:24:39.:24:44.

Alguersuari. Here is Paul di Resta, where he just had to back off the

:24:44.:24:52.

throttle on the outside edge of that kerb, I am telling you. I have

:24:52.:24:57.

not seen a car get back wide. We know now what happens if you get

:24:57.:25:01.

out wide, it really jumps as the car runs over the outside of the

:25:01.:25:10.

kerb. Pastor Maldonado, 17 that the moment, he has still got to take a

:25:10.:25:17.

10 place drop -- 17th at the moment. You might see him on the back row

:25:18.:25:23.

of the grid. Let's see what Maldonado can do in the Williams.

:25:24.:25:28.

It is so disheartening when you are out there... He knows he has got a

:25:28.:25:37.

penalty, so it is almost like... He has done his first best sector.

:25:37.:25:47.

wasn't full throttle. You will see the ship. For the driver and it

:25:47.:25:51.

won't quite tie-up with the audio - - shift of point. We are getting

:25:52.:26:01.

different audio played in. This is the longest straight on the track.

:26:01.:26:03.

Down into the breaking point for turn eight, a short flick through,

:26:03.:26:06.

struggle for traction as he comes through nine. Then passed the

:26:06.:26:16.
:26:16.:26:16.

support pits. Maldonado struggling in the tail end of this. If it was

:26:16.:26:22.

stopping right now, and we are just a minute away, we would lose Perez,

:26:22.:26:26.

Sebastian Buemi, Alguersuari, Petrov, Kobayashi, Bruno Senna and

:26:26.:26:32.

Maldonado. No great surprises there. Michael Schumacher was told 40.5

:26:33.:26:37.

was the cut-off point and right now, that looks absolutely right. He is

:26:37.:26:44.

in tenth place on 40.554. Paul di Resta tried to confirm his top 10

:26:44.:26:53.

shoot-out place. -- trying to. Maldonado cautiously through the

:26:53.:27:00.

penultimate corners. He is not on it at all. He could have just been

:27:00.:27:03.

bringing the tyres Inn. You would think he would go for it a little.

:27:03.:27:12.

He really was coasting through some of those corners. We just saw Frank

:27:12.:27:16.

Williams, very much one of the founders of the Williams team.

:27:16.:27:26.
:27:26.:27:29.

Struggling to turn it around at the go up to 13th place but that and

:27:29.:27:33.

the head of Petrov. The flag has dropped. Adrian Sutil and Paul di

:27:34.:27:39.

Resta, still out. Sebastien Buemi in the middle. This is Paul di

:27:39.:27:45.

Resta. Quite a long way to go, yet. Three tenths quicker than his

:27:45.:27:53.

previous best lap. Off the last turn. He moves ahead of Adrian

:27:53.:28:01.

Sutil. This isn't the grid position. Adrian Sutil is still to finish.

:28:01.:28:10.

40.2. What has Vitaly Petrov been up to? He can complete a lap,

:28:10.:28:17.

despite the chequered flag. Schumacher just hangs on to 10th

:28:17.:28:26.

place. 11th and Twelfth. Schumacher breathes again. Squeezing through

:28:26.:28:31.

on that. Pastor Maldonado has gone on to win it. It does not look

:28:31.:28:40.

particularly fast. One corner to go. It will be the last man on the line.

:28:40.:28:45.

Michael Schumacher could complete another lap, yet. Maldonado stays

:28:45.:28:51.

in 17th place. He will start in 24 up with that great penalty.

:28:51.:28:56.

Schumacher can complete this lap it does not need to. He can go into

:28:56.:29:06.
:29:06.:29:07.

the pits. Bruno Senna, 14th place. And not on a particularly quick lap.

:29:07.:29:13.

Michael Schumacher's saves another lap on those tyres. We lose Sergio

:29:13.:29:18.

Perez, Vitaly Petrov. Sebastien Buemi, Bruno Senna. Alguersuari,

:29:18.:29:24.

Kobayashi. And Pastor Maldonado. They do not have any practice pit

:29:24.:29:30.

stop. Mercedes, in the second best cricket this year after Red Bull,

:29:30.:29:36.

on average in pit stops. Very close, it is. Lewis Hamilton, remaining

:29:36.:29:43.

demand at the moment, the fastest yet again. Sebastien Buemi... Down

:29:43.:29:52.

in to turn number one. Here is how he decided to make that. There he

:29:52.:29:59.

is again. From another angle. Turn No. 2, the pit lane exit is just on

:30:00.:30:09.

the top. So, no Toro Rosso in the top 10. But we do have two cars

:30:09.:30:16.

from Force India, then McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes Benz.

:30:16.:30:22.

And an apology. What was wrong? Toro Rosso had both cars in the

:30:22.:30:29.

final part of qualifying in India. Berlin mind that this is in Titley

:30:29.:30:35.

different set of circumstances. Her in mind. Force India were quicker

:30:35.:30:43.

in Singapore. And Toro Rosso are locked in the battle for 6th place

:30:43.:30:47.

in the championship and neither driver has been confirmed for next

:30:47.:30:52.

season. Vitaly Petrov starts and 12 players, he says he is in the car

:30:52.:30:56.

next year. He is what quite lot of money to this team and he thinks he

:30:56.:31:01.

is secure but he struggled to pick up points. 42% of the point This

:31:01.:31:06.

team have won this season came in the first two races. The sun is

:31:06.:31:10.

setting behind us, the floodlights are on other drivers are struggling

:31:10.:31:16.

to see what they should be going. Felipe Massa smashed his wheels

:31:16.:31:19.

twice in India but he is still not scared driving straight into the

:31:19.:31:27.

Kers? I do not know what is going on. Between Hamilton and himself.

:31:27.:31:33.

That was a shocking mess. He climbed all over. You cannot

:31:33.:31:37.

imagine the disturbance that creates. Felipe Massa, clearly not

:31:37.:31:42.

in the flow, he does not have the confidence to let the car do the

:31:42.:31:48.

work and steered it to what was to be. This is a big battle. Bob's

:31:48.:31:52.

Smedley was coaching him, telling him the Times that he needed.

:31:52.:31:57.

Almost four wheels off the ground. They were. And for Wales outside

:31:57.:32:02.

the racing line. Outside the limits of the track. There has been a

:32:03.:32:07.

directive to the support Racers to say that on this corner, you cannot

:32:07.:32:10.

have all four wheels outside the limits but Formula One drivers are

:32:10.:32:17.

doing that. You might say there is one rule for one and another for

:32:17.:32:24.

the rest. They can do what they like? The stewards will clamp down

:32:24.:32:33.

immediately but they have to be clear. If they had the junior for

:32:33.:32:39.

Miller having it clear, that should apply to from a low one. -- formula.

:32:39.:32:43.

Force India are very close to making it through to the final part.

:32:43.:32:47.

We will talk about Paul di Resta in a moment. What happened at the

:32:47.:32:52.

back? An impressive performance by a record of. At no time has his

:32:52.:32:59.

team mate ever been in front of him. -- down your recorder. And he

:32:59.:33:05.

qualified have a second faster. Another strong qualifier. Did you

:33:05.:33:14.

enjoy it? I did. Good fun. With the sun coming down, it was a nice

:33:14.:33:22.

feeling. We made some progress from practice what I was concerned going

:33:22.:33:28.

into qualifying and we took Gambles and it has worked out. We had a

:33:28.:33:38.

good margin. In between Virgin. That is pretty strong. Yes, it was

:33:38.:33:42.

OK. The last and a manager do my best time. I had a strong first

:33:42.:33:50.

sector. - Maggot the last time I managed to do. I think I made a

:33:50.:33:56.

mistake in turn six And Turn seven and did his best. That could have

:33:56.:34:00.

cost me that extra time to get in front. Anyway, pretty happy with

:34:00.:34:05.

that. Good performers, he would love to be with Toro Rosso next

:34:05.:34:12.

season. The air conditioning does not mix well with me. Really grim.

:34:12.:34:16.

They have a lot of money out here but they're not air-conditioned.

:34:16.:34:23.

The might as well do. Pole position. Lewis Hamilton took first pole

:34:23.:34:29.

position in 2009, Jensen Button has not had pole position since Monaco.

:34:29.:34:35.

Will McLaren do it? There is a decent chance. One thing is the

:34:35.:34:39.

excitement, somebody other than Red Bull. I want to see somebody else.

:34:39.:34:43.

And it looks more likely to be Lewis Hamilton at this stage. We

:34:43.:34:47.

heard so many different stories about the management and people

:34:47.:34:51.

guiding him. This would be a welcome relief. Not just for him

:34:51.:34:56.

but all of his fans up and down the globe. Look at Mark Webber. He has

:34:56.:35:02.

been in the mix, he could surprise us. He needs something. Yes, this

:35:02.:35:05.

has been a pretty poor season by his standards. He came here this

:35:05.:35:10.

time last year and he had a chance for the championship and I do not

:35:10.:35:14.

see what has happened. He needs to raise his game if he is going to be

:35:14.:35:19.

a real contender. The sun has gone down in the desert but who will

:35:19.:35:24.

light up qualifying? Back to David Coulthard and Martin Brundle and

:35:24.:35:27.

let's hope the cars are going quicker than that one when

:35:27.:35:34.

qualifying gets going. It is a showdown time. Sebastian Vettel,

:35:34.:35:38.

Lewis Hamilton, will we see something other than Sebastian

:35:38.:35:43.

Vettel on pole position? Please. Sebastian Vettel would then match

:35:43.:35:48.

the all-time record of pole position in one season, Nigel

:35:48.:35:55.

Mansell, 1992, with 14. There are more races these days. Only 16 back

:35:55.:36:00.

then. Nonetheless, that shows you the kind of dominance that

:36:00.:36:06.

Sebastien Vettel has. Just a few seconds away. From qualifier number

:36:06.:36:16.
:36:16.:36:16.

three. The top 10 shoot-out is underway. Jensen Button, Lewis

:36:16.:36:23.

Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, on one so, Felipe Massa. Nico Rosberg has gone

:36:23.:36:29.

out on the median tyre. We will see what he chooses to do. Probably

:36:29.:36:33.

saved that set of tyres. Or maybe he will do six laps in this run.

:36:33.:36:37.

McLaren going out early because they wanted a those laps with three

:36:37.:36:42.

runs each. Does that suggest that Rosberg is going to try to set

:36:42.:36:49.

sector times and be satisfied with somebody at the back end. What is a

:36:49.:36:53.

point I'm going out on a tyre that is over one second slower in

:36:53.:37:00.

qualifying? He has another nine minutes to get back in and change.

:37:00.:37:06.

It could be a host of things. They might have a problem with Kers. He

:37:06.:37:12.

was fight -- we will find out. I would not be comfortable and aiming

:37:12.:37:16.

for 10th place by just setting a few sectors. They may be think

:37:16.:37:20.

Force India will not run as well. We have seen them saving tyres for

:37:20.:37:26.

the race. I would be more comfortable with 6, 7. Which is

:37:26.:37:30.

more often than not where he has found himself. Less trouble in that

:37:30.:37:35.

run to the first corner and workers strategy from there. Vettel and

:37:35.:37:39.

Hamilton have locked out the front row in the previous two races. That

:37:39.:37:49.
:37:49.:37:51.

is how it is looking today. Ferrari, they're just... The car has around

:37:51.:37:57.

two or on the option. So just be aware of that. You are the only car

:37:57.:38:07.
:38:07.:38:10.

on prime terms. He is coming straight back. Let us see if Ted

:38:10.:38:16.

Kravitz can get some information on way they need two laps and I'm

:38:16.:38:21.

going back into the pits. Or the other cars will try to qualify

:38:21.:38:27.

properly. All soft tyres. That will give us some pleasure in this

:38:27.:38:36.

qualifying session. They have to do something about that. That is

:38:36.:38:43.

Jensen Button. The first sector. Fernando Alonso is the fastest man

:38:43.:38:52.

at the moment in that sector. 17.49. That isn't what counts. The middle

:38:52.:38:56.

part is 41.5 seconds. That is where we can really see those floodlights

:38:56.:39:04.

beginning to dominate. Down in to turn Number 11. Let us see how

:39:04.:39:10.

Jensen takes this. He does not like the cars leaping about. He lacks a

:39:10.:39:15.

to B, and smooth. Jensen Button. It is almost as if they're not there.

:39:16.:39:21.

He picks the wheels up and gently goes across. As he sweeps through

:39:21.:39:30.

the apex. Four of them left. Lots of exhaust. Generating that extra

:39:30.:39:37.

downforce. And one corner to go. Hamilton even faster on the middle

:39:37.:39:43.

sector and just a little bit out of shape on the last one. Button, 39.0.

:39:43.:39:50.

That will be beaten. Lewis Hamilton dos 38.7. What can Fernando Alonso

:39:50.:39:58.

do? 39.5. It is down to Mark Webber. He has not really matched McLaren

:39:58.:40:08.

at the moment. Loads of wheelspin. He needs a spectacular run. If he

:40:08.:40:13.

is to get ahead of both McLaren cars. Sebastian Vettel is also out

:40:13.:40:19.

there, absolutely flying. Really pushing this Red Bull hard as he

:40:19.:40:25.

crosses the line. He goes second. 38.8. It is now down to the first

:40:25.:40:31.

part of qualifying. Sebastian Vettel, absolutely flying. No

:40:31.:40:37.

traffic around whatsoever. Two corners to go. The new world

:40:37.:40:41.

champion trying to get his 14th pole position of the season. Does

:40:42.:40:48.

he do it? He does not. Four hundredths of a second shy. How

:40:48.:40:54.

close do you want the top three? Covered by over one 10th of a

:40:54.:41:04.
:41:04.:41:05.

second. He has backed out of the slab. Cool or one more hot? Four

:41:05.:41:13.

hundredths of a second between them. So much roll on these tyres. Sorry,

:41:13.:41:18.

on the cars. The front wing, he opens his DRS at the end of that

:41:18.:41:28.
:41:28.:41:29.

oversteer. That cost 101 tent? It might have put him into third. Who

:41:29.:41:38.

will go for the second run? Jensen and Button are in the pits. If they

:41:38.:41:48.
:41:48.:41:49.

can get another run. 100 seconds. You need to get it right. Red Bull,

:41:49.:41:54.

the only cars out there at the moment. Ferrari in the pits. No

:41:54.:42:00.

sign that Mercedes or Force India are going to attempt any serious

:42:00.:42:06.

qualifying effort. They still have time to go out for just one run or

:42:06.:42:11.

are they saying tyres? Schumacher, circle and to rest dead have to use

:42:11.:42:19.

soft tyres to get to this position. -- Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta.

:42:19.:42:29.
:42:29.:42:35.

remaining. This is going to be some kind of spectacle. The finest

:42:35.:42:43.

drivers in the world, and wonderful bit of wheelspin, or breaking three

:42:43.:42:49.

metres early, is going to be the end of it. It is going to be a

:42:49.:42:53.

great qualifying battle. How close would you like it? Two different

:42:53.:42:59.

cars, two different drivers, for hundredths of a second, the battle

:42:59.:43:04.

between Hamilton and Vettel. wouldn't discount Jenson Button.

:43:04.:43:07.

TED KRAVITZ: Sebastian Vettel is back in the pits, it looks as

:43:07.:43:12.

though he will be the last one to run as he tries to challenge

:43:12.:43:15.

McLaren for pole position. Jenson Button is out first and Fernando

:43:15.:43:20.

Alonso snuck ahead of June -- Lewis Hamilton in the pit. That was quite

:43:20.:43:27.

snaky bike Fernando back row. Force India just going out now that that

:43:27.:43:35.

was a bit sneaky by Fernando Alonso. Maybe a three-stop but tomorrow for

:43:35.:43:40.

Mercedes. Adrian Sutil is out. We have six cars on the track at the

:43:40.:43:47.

moment. What I find incredible that this situation is you have six cars

:43:47.:43:52.

on track, Jenson Button just leaving turn seven, closely

:43:52.:43:56.

followed by Alonso, Ben Hamilton, then Felipe Massa, they are all

:43:56.:44:01.

closely bunched up, why wouldn't they do what Vettel is doing it,

:44:01.:44:05.

put themselves with a nice bit of clear track to play with? There is

:44:05.:44:10.

plenty of time, isn't there? They all have the same ideas that the

:44:10.:44:13.

same time and they are book-ended on the amount of time available,

:44:13.:44:23.

but I agree, it is all a bit silly. A lot and an Felipe Massa or --

:44:23.:44:25.

Hamilton and Felipe Massa at line astern down the back straight,

:44:25.:44:32.

which usually means fireworks. Adrian Sutil is in front of Mark

:44:32.:44:38.

Webber. We now have all 10 cars on track. Paul di Resta or, Schumacher

:44:38.:44:45.

is out. I don't care what tyres they are on. Vettel is in front of

:44:45.:44:49.

that particular pack. We think everybody is on the yellow marks

:44:49.:44:58.

off tyre. -- yellow marked soft tyre. There some reason the graphic

:44:58.:45:04.

is only showing four cars out on the track. There are definitely 10

:45:04.:45:09.

out there. Jenson Button starts his lap, and man who has been under

:45:09.:45:19.

tremendous form in 2011. -- A man. Hamilton, they must win one of

:45:19.:45:23.

these final races, to go out with some satisfaction from a very

:45:24.:45:32.

difficult season. 17.429 first sector for Jenson Button. Hamilton,

:45:32.:45:38.

17 Port -- 17.5. But as we said, that is not necessarily the one

:45:38.:45:42.

that really matters. There is a long way to go toward the end of

:45:42.:45:47.

the lap. Jenson Button is the fastest through there. Faster

:45:47.:45:52.

fractionally than Webber. We haven't seen Vettel's first sector

:45:52.:46:00.

at the Tyacke. They are reasonably nicely spread out now. -- first

:46:00.:46:05.

sector a yet. We will be getting Vettel's First Sec the time any

:46:05.:46:10.

moment now. Another quick middle sector. Jenson Button is flying in

:46:10.:46:16.

the middle sector. He is on it. He has still got a chance to spoil the

:46:16.:46:21.

party between Vettel and Hamilton. Hamilton, not a great middle sector,

:46:21.:46:26.

it is good enough to keep him in the action. There is Jenson Button

:46:26.:46:31.

towards the end of the lap. He has been driving beautifully. The

:46:31.:46:35.

fastest man in the first sector, the fastest man in the middle

:46:35.:46:39.

sector, two corners to go. Could he be on pole position for the first

:46:39.:46:45.

time ever for McLaren? Neat and tidy through the last corner. 38.6,

:46:45.:46:50.

it is good enough at the moment. Will it stay that way? Fernando

:46:50.:46:56.

Alonso stays there. Hamilton has done it, he has pipped him. McLaren

:46:56.:46:59.

are one and two. Vettel was the quickest man in the middle sector.

:47:00.:47:04.

Still lots of action to go. Here comes Mark Webber, he stays in the

:47:04.:47:12.

fourth. It is all about Vettel now. He is in turn 18 of 21, he could

:47:12.:47:17.

still spoilt by McLaren party. He has got every chance of doing that

:47:17.:47:25.

-- spoil the McLaren parted. Sebastian Vettel, one corner to go.

:47:25.:47:32.

He has done it! 38.4. A 14th pole position of the year. They tell him

:47:32.:47:37.

immediately. Sebastian Vettel gatecrashers the McLaren party. Red

:47:37.:47:43.

Bull, McLaren, McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Ferrari. Nico Rosberg has

:47:43.:47:51.

done a 37.7. Then Michael Schumacher. Then Adrian Sutil and

:47:51.:47:57.

Paul di Resta. Yet again, Sebastian Vettel, gets the job done. TEAM

:47:57.:48:07.
:48:07.:48:08.

RADIO: Good evening, Mr Mansell! Good evening! Good evening! That is

:48:08.:48:13.

the reference to matching Nigel Mansell's record of matching -- of

:48:14.:48:20.

a 14 pole positions in one year. Red Bull really public out when it

:48:20.:48:26.

matters in India three. There are a number of tools at their disposal.

:48:26.:48:30.

We don't know what you're level they are running it, we doubt now

:48:30.:48:37.

if they are deploying KERS, -- We don't know if they are deploying

:48:37.:48:46.

KERS. TEAM RADIO: Or cars have completed, at Vettel just pipped us,

:48:46.:48:52.

you are second on the grid, a great job. The last vital piece of

:48:52.:48:55.

information we will never get is how much a driver is holding in

:48:55.:48:58.

reserve and we have seen time and again, Vettel delivering something

:48:58.:49:03.

on that final lap of qualifying. Ayrton Senna had that ability. You

:49:03.:49:08.

can rattle of the drivers who have been able to have a very special

:49:09.:49:13.

talent on the final qualifying lap -- rattle off. That was a great so

:49:13.:49:17.

should be Abu Dhabi. Nobody would have said McLaren didn't deserve

:49:17.:49:22.

that of pole position if Hamilton had delivered it. Great racing by

:49:22.:49:27.

Jenson Button, when it came down to it in qualifying, there is $100

:49:27.:49:37.
:49:37.:49:40.

second between him and Hamilton. -- one hundredth of a second. We think

:49:40.:49:47.

they used Mal KERS in Q3, probably more engine power. Ashmore. We

:49:47.:49:50.

think that Vettel hold something back, so that Mark Webber can't see

:49:51.:49:54.

where he is finding the time. only compare with my career, which

:49:54.:49:59.

is a distant memory, but Mika Hkkinen, he would find something in

:49:59.:50:03.

quali that you hadn't seen all weekend. When you say that

:50:03.:50:09.

repeatedly, you go, hold on, there is a trend here. I have been a on

:50:09.:50:12.

the receiving end of that misery as Mika Hakkinen's team-mate. To

:50:12.:50:17.

remind you of the top 10, Sebastian Vettel on ball, from Lewis Hamilton,

:50:17.:50:23.

Jenson Button third, Mark Webber for, Fernando and Danso Fifth,

:50:23.:50:31.

Felipe Massa or six -- Fernando Alonso in fifth. Nico Rosberg in

:50:31.:50:36.

seventh. Then Adrian Sutil. The fastest of the Force India in ninth.

:50:37.:50:41.

Paul di Resta did not complete a flying lap in Q3 and starts in

:50:41.:50:46.

tenth. He is just ahead of Perez, who was the fastest to drop out at

:50:46.:50:56.
:50:56.:50:56.

the end of Q2. So Sebastian Vettel, it is his 29th pole position from

:50:56.:51:06.
:51:06.:51:08.

80 starts. There is confirmation. Vettel and Hamilton are still the

:51:08.:51:11.

only two men ever to start the Grand Prix on the front row of the

:51:11.:51:21.
:51:21.:51:32.

they want, from 11th place on words, will start with Sergio Perez, for

:51:32.:51:42.

Sauber. He has got a car that is very fast in a straight line.

:51:42.:51:49.

Maldonado will drop 10 places. He starts at the back of the grid with

:51:49.:51:59.
:51:59.:52:11.

Williams team, but this man, as ever, is all smiles. There the

:52:11.:52:15.

maestro, Michael Schumacher, his young protege is on pole position

:52:15.:52:19.

yet again. Jake back row and he knows how it

:52:19.:52:24.

feels to be there. I imagine Nigel Mansell is getting out the pen and

:52:24.:52:29.

paper -- JAKE HUMPHREY:. He wrote to Sebastian Vettel after

:52:29.:52:34.

the last race and now he picks up the 14th pole position. Nigel will

:52:34.:52:37.

be writing to him to say congratulations, and what a driver.

:52:38.:52:41.

EDDIE JORDAN: He just got better and better and there are no words

:52:41.:52:46.

left to say how much we admire this man. Absolutely magic. From that

:52:46.:52:51.

point of view, he is walking on water. It was a dramatic qualifying

:52:51.:52:55.

session and joining us now is Sir Paul McCartney. You were watching

:52:55.:53:00.

that on the garage -- in the garage, how was it for you? It was really

:53:00.:53:06.

exciting. I have only been to one before, but now I see what George

:53:06.:53:11.

was so passionate about. It is just adrenalin, it is fantastic. The

:53:11.:53:15.

guys were giving me the information and I am booked. George Harrison

:53:15.:53:19.

loved Formula One, didn't he? used to dress up in all sort of

:53:19.:53:23.

gear, hide at the back of the Jordan pits, and he was a huge

:53:23.:53:29.

Damon Hill fan. He loved it. He did, and I feel emotional today, it is

:53:29.:53:35.

like he is here with me. It is beautiful, I love it. The most

:53:35.:53:38.

important question, are we interrupting our honeymoon or you

:53:38.:53:43.

interrupting it to come and watch this? This is part of it. You are

:53:43.:53:47.

lucky man. Exactly. The British boys are going to win, hopefully,

:53:47.:53:55.

tomorrow, because we are in town. Think about motor racing for a

:53:55.:53:59.

moment, 50 years ago, I remember walking through the streets of

:53:59.:54:02.

Dublin getting through this massive crowd for the Beatles. Does it ever

:54:02.:54:06.

worry you 50 years later how big an influence the Beatles were on all

:54:06.:54:11.

of our lives? I am very proud of it. We could have put out a message

:54:11.:54:14.

that was a bad message and I think we put out a pretty good message

:54:14.:54:19.

and we are very proud of it. I am a lucky man. We know that as well but

:54:19.:54:25.

so are we, we are all very lucky. We know why you are here, there is

:54:25.:54:28.

Hamilton has invited you into their garage. He is a fan of music

:54:28.:54:31.

legends at the moment, Bob Marley was on his helmet a few weeks ago

:54:31.:54:36.

and now you are here. How did it come about? Somebody invited me, I

:54:36.:54:41.

didn't there it was Lewis. I'm very pleased to be here in Abu Dhabi

:54:41.:54:44.

anyway, doing the concert tomorrow and it is great to see this first

:54:44.:54:49.

and, right there at hearing that noise, seeing the cards. How does

:54:49.:54:54.

it compare to being on stage in front of a few -- a few 1,000

:54:54.:54:59.

people? There are similarities. I'll get the feedback from the

:54:59.:55:04.

audience that you don't get here, but it is pretty great. I am not

:55:04.:55:09.

sure why Eddie is doing this? Children In Need, we have started

:55:09.:55:15.

this, I wore this Dadaab art I saw you on the telly watching that.

:55:15.:55:19.

-- I saw you on the telly watching it. I am going to ask it decided.

:55:19.:55:25.

Every driver is doing it and if we add Paul McCartney,... I am going

:55:25.:55:29.

to ask you to sign it. We think we will add significantly to Children

:55:29.:55:33.

In Need. We will do this on live television so there is no doubt

:55:33.:55:38.

about the authenticity. This will have my father paying over the odds

:55:38.:55:41.

for this shirt. Sir Paul McCartney at the Grand Prix, performing here

:55:41.:55:46.

this weekend and signing a shared for Children In Need. Abu Dhabi!

:55:46.:55:51.

All right, man. We are even more impressed that he will -- that he

:55:52.:55:59.

would watch the BBC no less. Thank you very much. Good luck with that.

:55:59.:56:03.

So there you go, the shirt has been signed by Sir Paul McCartney, and

:56:03.:56:07.

if you are thinking, how do you get your hands on that or the script

:56:07.:56:11.

that we have donated or any of the other wonderful for me no one

:56:11.:56:16.

things, including the white jeans of David Coulthard, head to the BBC

:56:16.:56:21.

website and you can get bidding. Paul McCartney enjoyed himself, he

:56:21.:56:25.

likened this to be not stage and he knows what it takes to be on stage

:56:25.:56:29.

and impressed the crowd. -- on stage. How did the drivers find it?

:56:29.:56:36.

Let's hear from them. Sebastian, you equal Nigel Mansell's record,

:56:36.:56:40.

congratulations, but you had to dig pretty deep. Yes, especially at the

:56:40.:56:44.

yesterday. I wasn't happy with the car, and we weren't happy in

:56:44.:56:48.

general -- at the yesterday. We thought there was more in the car

:56:48.:56:54.

but we couldn't really get to it. Yet today, this afternoon, it was

:56:54.:56:59.

already quite a bit better. But to be honest, this place is tricky in

:56:59.:57:06.

many ways. We had the practice in day conditions, the sun is out, the

:57:06.:57:09.

track is a little bit harder, and then in the evening, you qualify

:57:09.:57:13.

and you race and the circuit is quite a bit different. The car

:57:13.:57:17.

behaves differently and the tyres come in different there. It is not

:57:17.:57:21.

easy to get it right all the time and in qualifying in particular, I

:57:21.:57:26.

had a much better feeling, especially moving on to the softer

:57:26.:57:33.

tyres, and in Q2, we looked much better than before. Yes, then the

:57:33.:57:36.

other difficulty around here is to get everything into one lap. It is

:57:36.:57:41.

a long lap that there is a lot of corners in the last sector. When

:57:41.:57:44.

she start to go into turn 11 after the second straight, it is

:57:44.:57:49.

basically left, right, left, right. Plenty of opportunity to gain time,

:57:49.:57:54.

but also if you take a lot of risks, it is easy to make the mistake. It

:57:54.:58:00.

is very easy to lose straight away a lot of time. We are talking about

:58:00.:58:05.

small amount, it is a tenth. So I was not so happy with my first run

:58:06.:58:09.

in Q3 but the second when I was much happier. I especially the

:58:10.:58:13.

first two sectors. I was buying myself a little bit of a cushion in

:58:13.:58:17.

the last sector, which was a bit tricky towards the end of the

:58:17.:58:23.

evening. But all in all, enough to jump ahead of Lewis, who looked

:58:23.:58:31.

very strong all weekend. It is good in that session, where it matters

:58:31.:58:41.
:58:41.:58:44.

on Saturday, we were able to be weekend. Did you think you had done

:58:44.:58:50.

enough? It was a good session and a good couple of days. Quite a big

:58:50.:58:56.

improvement for me. I feel from the last race at least. The car has

:58:56.:59:01.

been good but at the end, that was as fast as I was really able to get

:59:01.:59:06.

out of my lap. It was not a particularly great lap but the one

:59:06.:59:14.

in a Tutu was much better. That is the way it is. -- in the QE2. The

:59:14.:59:21.

race is tomorrow. Jensen, you pitted together on the final run.

:59:21.:59:26.

Is this result a surprise? Not a surprise but we know that the pace

:59:26.:59:32.

is in the car and it was finding the right balance. I have not felt

:59:32.:59:36.

100% comfortable this weekend with the balance but we have improved,

:59:36.:59:39.

we have tried a few different things and we're getting there

:59:39.:59:43.

through qualifying but Q 3 was very strange because there was less

:59:43.:59:51.

group because it was cooler. But the brake. The car was acting

:59:51.:59:54.

differently which was a good thing because they did not get enough

:59:54.:59:58.

front end into the car and I have been struggling with that nervous

:59:58.:00:03.

rear and into qualifying, I have an enormous amount of understeer. In

:00:03.:00:08.

the direction I like but towards the end of the lap you need a

:00:08.:00:14.

reasonably appointed car and I did not have that. As Lewis said, the

:00:14.:00:22.

car is working well around you. It isn't perfect. We will have to

:00:22.:00:28.

challenge from behind tomorrow. This weekend is all about making

:00:28.:00:31.

sure that you remember and we will remember for a while that pretty

:00:31.:00:35.

impressive fight for pole position here in Abu Dhabi added once again

:00:35.:00:39.

belongs to Sebastian Vettel, his 14th of the season. How much would

:00:39.:00:44.

Lewis Hamilton have loved to hold on to that? Jensen Button fighting

:00:44.:00:48.

on the way and Mark Webber in the next but behind his team-mate.

:00:48.:00:55.

Further back, Ferrari, to buy two, and behind them, both Mercedes

:00:55.:01:05.

fighting it out. -- 2 x 2. And behind them, Force India. They are

:01:05.:01:10.

not running on their spare tyres, which is very frustrating. Well

:01:10.:01:16.

done to Sergio Perez, at 20 at last time, he starts in 11th place and

:01:16.:01:23.

Vitaly Petrov out qualifies his team mate. Sebastien Buemi starts

:01:23.:01:27.

and 13th for Toro Rosso, they have scored points at every single Abu

:01:27.:01:32.

Dhabi Grand Prix, just behind his team-mate, Alguersuari, alongside

:01:32.:01:36.

Kobayashi and then backwards towards Pastor Maldonado. The 10th

:01:36.:01:40.

place penalty means he will start from the back, the worst qualifying

:01:41.:01:45.

performance in over 30 years for Williams. Timo Glock and Jarno

:01:45.:01:49.

Trulli share the grid towards the back and well done to Danielle, in

:01:49.:01:57.

front of his team-mate by have the second. The incredibly unlucky

:01:57.:02:02.

Rubens Barrichello did not get out at all. As David Coulthard arrives

:02:02.:02:07.

just as Paul McCartney leaves. That was a session befitting a global

:02:07.:02:13.

icon such as Paul McCartney? It was indeed. I think you called in

:02:13.:02:20.

George at the end of that! What a great session. I was watching

:02:20.:02:25.

Jensen Button, we had not seen much of him during this practice session

:02:25.:02:30.

so he looked like he was coming alive. So close to his team-mate

:02:30.:02:35.

but once again, Sebastien finds that pace. We have a very small

:02:35.:02:40.

monitor so I popped into the McLaren hospitality to watch the

:02:40.:02:44.

end and the roar whenever Jensen went past and then Lewis and then a

:02:44.:02:47.

complete despair when Sebastian Vettel stature that position away

:02:47.:02:53.

from both. How McLaren would have loved to have one and two on the

:02:53.:02:59.

grid? Of course. This was a titanic battle, every single person was on

:02:59.:03:04.

the edge of their Seat. We watched this small monitor because half the

:03:04.:03:11.

panic was. We soaked up the atmosphere. It was a great run. I

:03:11.:03:15.

will remember this for a very long time. We were very lucky because

:03:15.:03:20.

Formula One is using the new camera, facing towards Sebastian Vettel and

:03:20.:03:24.

when the sun comes down be clear visor comes out. We can see their

:03:24.:03:31.

eyes. This must bring back some memories? This is great. This

:03:31.:03:36.

street circuit section. Just watch his eyes. Someone said they did not

:03:36.:03:46.

see him blink at all. I don't think he is. That concentration. The

:03:46.:03:51.

shallow breathing. Absolutely focused on everything. His body is

:03:51.:03:56.

thrust down in the braking zone. And rushes towards the line. Looks

:03:56.:04:01.

up at the monitor. And he sees that he is on pole position. Isn't that

:04:01.:04:08.

incredible? That absolute focus until the line. We should note that

:04:08.:04:11.

Lewis Hamilton did a time in cute to to be fast enough to be on pole

:04:12.:04:14.

position but he could not bring it all together on the last part of

:04:15.:04:20.

qualifying. He said he would have been on pole position but how great

:04:20.:04:24.

to have as camera angles that show us not just that Sebastian Vettel

:04:24.:04:31.

is focused but he has the mental spare capacity to look at that big

:04:31.:04:41.
:04:41.:04:41.

screen the second he crosses the line? It gives you some idea.

:04:41.:04:45.

on top of the tallest summit of the world. That's his Everest. I did

:04:45.:04:52.

not want a say in case I was wrong. Nevertheless, the highest summit.

:04:52.:04:56.

And there is nobody who can take that away. Every time we think

:04:56.:05:02.

someone like McLaren can do it, they just miss out. The good thing

:05:02.:05:07.

for McLaren is it makes them fight harder. And I want to see a really

:05:07.:05:11.

strong McLaren next year. Last year Mark Webber almost managed to tame

:05:11.:05:17.

Everest. Where is he now? Base camp? He has been beaten all season

:05:17.:05:23.

by his team-mates. Pretty close for everyone at the end, 4th place, how

:05:23.:05:29.

do you feel? It's all right but disappointed in my last run.

:05:29.:05:37.

Scrappy. We hope to communicate more. Some things we were trying to

:05:37.:05:47.
:05:47.:05:47.

manage. That was something of a pain but in the end, yes,

:05:47.:05:54.

disappointment with the last lap. Sometimes you see the lap and you

:05:54.:06:00.

think, wow, but he did a good laugh. I do not feel that I that the most

:06:00.:06:08.

out of it. Or is in store tomorrow? Hopefully, McLaren will stir things

:06:08.:06:12.

up on the first lap and slit streaming and we have done that in

:06:12.:06:18.

the past so obviously, it will be interesting. Then we will get into

:06:18.:06:21.

the race from there. I do not know how exciting the race will be in

:06:21.:06:26.

terms of overtaking. You cannot tell the viewers that, we need them

:06:26.:06:31.

to tune in! I think this track is traditionally very hard to pass on.

:06:31.:06:39.

We will see. We have seen it being tricky in the past. We will see how

:06:39.:06:43.

we go. Jensen Button has said he does not think DRS will give the

:06:43.:06:47.

drivers any advantage and we are all this cheering on Mark Webber.

:06:47.:06:51.

But a very interesting admission, sometimes to look at what Sebastian

:06:51.:06:56.

Vettel does and you think, I cannot do that. I lived through that with

:06:56.:06:59.

Mika Hakkinen. It's very difficult to deal with in the middle of your

:06:59.:07:04.

career. And when he delivers performances through certain parts

:07:04.:07:09.

of the track, he thinks the same thing. On the strength of the

:07:09.:07:13.

season, it is like repeated body blows. This is the first time he

:07:13.:07:16.

has to deal with that. He was feeding the World Championship this

:07:16.:07:25.

time last year and since then, he has lost some of his motor.

:07:25.:07:28.

Qualifying was always one of his greatest strengths. He will go away

:07:28.:07:32.

this winter, another opportunity, he is a previous winner. He just

:07:32.:07:39.

needs to look at this and learn and move forward. The analogy is it is

:07:39.:07:44.

like boxing, too many heads, and he has had a lot from his team-mate,

:07:44.:07:49.

sometimes it just takes too much out of you. Right now, he needs to

:07:49.:07:54.

have a brake because he certainly isn't the man he was last year and

:07:54.:07:57.

we want to see him right up there next year. Maybe last year took

:07:57.:08:03.

more out of him and we thought and not winning the championship and

:08:03.:08:07.

being taken away cruelly on virtually the last lap, it took its

:08:07.:08:12.

toll and he is paying for that. races and he would get outbreak.

:08:12.:08:18.

Paul di Resta starts in 10th place. Tell us about your qualifying.

:08:18.:08:25.

You're very close to those barriers at one point. How did it go? It was

:08:25.:08:31.

quite good in the first sector. Up to the last three corners and I

:08:31.:08:35.

made a mistake, trying to improve on this morning. We made a small

:08:35.:08:42.

correction in the Eire Og balance and we struggled for balance. --

:08:42.:08:47.

aerodynamic balance. It should have been better. The main focus was

:08:47.:08:52.

getting into the third sector and into a strong position for tomorrow

:08:52.:08:56.

and having a good strategy to get ourselves into that position.

:08:56.:09:00.

and your team-mate alongside each other. Quite often used in two spit

:09:00.:09:04.

the strategy. Is that what you will do tomorrow? He will have to wait

:09:04.:09:09.

and see. We are in a better position than Adrian Sutil in terms

:09:09.:09:13.

of the life of the tyres but it has long tomorrow. Hopefully we get the

:09:13.:09:17.

numbers right and we can focus on what we want to achieve and that is

:09:17.:09:21.

what we want but the car set up so there is a compromise. There is a

:09:21.:09:24.

big difference between the tyres tonight. What do you think the

:09:24.:09:30.

strategy will be tomorrow? How many pit-stops? The tyres are not

:09:30.:09:35.

lasting long compared to normal. Also, the median tyres, the harder

:09:35.:09:39.

ones, seemed to have a very good performance. It is whether people

:09:39.:09:43.

choose that at the beginning or the end and I am sure you will see that

:09:43.:09:48.

split to cover the safety cars. In terms of what goes, it is hard to

:09:48.:09:51.

say because if you get that big track improvement you will see

:09:51.:09:56.

limited pit stops. Paul di Resta starts in 10th place tomorrow. It

:09:56.:10:00.

you stick with us on BBC One, it is the British Championships for the

:10:00.:10:07.

boxing, which means there are some spaces at 2012 up for grabs.

:10:07.:10:12.

Tomorrow, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, live at 12:15pm on BBC One. And it

:10:12.:10:16.

has been set up to be rather tasty. Some great pace from McLaren

:10:16.:10:22.

against Red Bull across this grand prix. Especially with the double

:10:22.:10:28.

DRS zone. They have extended the length of that, and all through

:10:28.:10:32.

practice, McLaren have been three and four times quicker. Even though

:10:32.:10:36.

they have not managed pole position, they definitely have the pace.

:10:37.:10:41.

will be hard to rule out Sebastian Vettel. He has that knack, pulling

:10:41.:10:45.

away, not the best of starters but I think it will be a very tough

:10:46.:10:51.

person to beat. I would love to see McLaren up there. Who knows?

:10:51.:10:53.

boys from McLaren fighting each other in the championship and

:10:53.:10:57.

alongside each other on the grid. That will be interesting. Thank you

:10:57.:11:02.

for joining us. Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. For all the

:11:02.:11:09.

reaction, head to the sport website. But what an incredible session that

:11:09.:11:14.

was. You must say, it was a hard day's night for Lewis Hamilton,

:11:14.:11:19.

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