The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying Formula 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ferrari thought they had it. Sebastien just pinched it from

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

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

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

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

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

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

whether it would be about the surroundings but seeing this track

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

he wants that similar support structure that Jensen Button has

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

company in terms of moving forward but everything else is pure

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

next three years, but Rubens Barrichello admits that the next

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

must be tremendously frustrating. This is the most experienced driver

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

coming weeks and it is very important that people know they

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the double diffuser technology are doing it right at the diffuser

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

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

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

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

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 59 seconds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

incredible reliability and how strong the each of the drivers have

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

side and also the drivers. remember speaking to after Valencia

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

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

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

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

This year, the performance increased, especially in the last

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

is enjoying educating the younger drivers about the perks. Sergio

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

had the advantage for him. Nevertheless, Jensen Button likes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

spectacular venue. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have been on

pole position before and they very much look favourites after the

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

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

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

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

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

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

qualifying hour. It did look seriously close between Red Bull

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

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

championship battle going on between Force India, Sauber and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

have created an incredible sight. Everything from multiple hotels to

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

anyone putting this into their favourite tracks to drive on.

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

falling temperature all the way into qualifying, which poses a

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

temperature drop-zone more downforce. The cars will feel

better and better. Interesting point as we look at the

constructors championship. Red Bull have already won this. Williams

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

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

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

something. Rubens Barrichello and some others might not agree with

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

slightly since Bruno Senna came in. The difficult decision going

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

needs to relax into this weekend. Fernando Alonso checking his

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Button. Hamilton surely looking favourite for pole position. Here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

think Michael Schumacher considers himself safe enough in ninth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

probably OK with Barrichello still in the pits. Michael Schumacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Barrichello took the pressure off Schumacher and Felipe Massa. They

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

just qualified that that middle sector is pretty much to Street

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

that is Pastor Maldonado steps behind Rubens Barrichello at the

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

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

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

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

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

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

the situation and just before qualifying they told me there was

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

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

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

difficult to pass on in others. This qualifying is particularly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

suspected going into this. The track temperature has dropped a

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perez, Alguersuari and Sebastian Vettel has just joined. Paul

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

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

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

softer tyres. Red Bull were complaining that McLaren have the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

have some elation tools available and they will understand at this

stage the relationship between the scimitar and the performance on the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

sorted out, and then there is an even tighter one. You said it was

the second scariest thing you had ever done. I don't remember what

the first was of a. -- was. Felipe Massa starts the lap. TEAM RADIO: a

couple of mistakes compared to what you could do, you'd lost about six-

tenths on that lap, so if you could do a 39, that would be sufficient.

So all of your mistakes cost you on the previous lap. That message

would have been relayed to him on the out-lap, not on this hot lap at

the moment. Still only three cars on track. Nico Rosberg has done a

couple of personal bests. There is lower in the middle sector, though,

so he has obviously made a mistake somewhere on the lap -- a very slow

in the middle sector. 39 was the request, we will find out what the

delivery is. This is the second zone for the DRS of tomorrow, into

their heavy braking zone. Look at that, he just... Almost four wheels

off the racetrack. No wonder the bollard is missing. Which one of

them is going to knock it down and then the rest of them can go across

the kerb after that? For Eau Rouge has to go, underneath a hotel. -- a

four chord hours to go. -- corn he got from Rob Smedley. Nico

Rosberg is the fastest man now in the middle sector. We are about to

see Felipe Massa completely launching the car. I think that is

all of the wheels off the racetrack. You are supposed to keep two wheels

the other side of the race live. That is playing it a little bit

close to the edge -- of the white line. Some people get sensitive

when they mention the rules but you have to follow them. 39.44 Nico

Rosberg puts him into sixth place.,. TED KRAVITZ: Two people have gone

out on you said. Michael Schumacher has gone out on a new set of soft

tyres, so he doesn't feel safe -- on new sets. But where there is on

first. There are six corners on this racetrack that TAS lower than

60 mph. -- that TAS lower. -- are the unknown, what I like to call it,

the fastest lap you will do on the Grand Prix weekend. Low fuel, new

tyres, about a tenth better than his previous best. I love this

moment when the floodlights just imperceptibly take over from the

daylight. It reminds me of that magical feeling in the atmosphere,

when it seems to double at that moment, and your reference points

changed slightly as you use the artificial light. I thought you

came in your Blackshirt looking like the Milk Tray man, you like

the dim lights. Paul di Resta, how is he looking? Sounds good. Lots of

oversteer there, he had to get out of the throttle and it has cost him

some time. As soon as you lift off the loud pedal, you are not putting

750 horsepower through those rear tyres, it goes. That is 40.5, but I

think he hasn't got time for another set of tyres, so let's see

if he has enough fuel. Adrian Sutil beats it, so both Force Indias in

the top 10 at the moment. Sebastian Buemi just ahead of his team-mate

Alguersuari. Here is Paul di Resta, where he just had to back off the

throttle on the outside edge of that kerb, I am telling you. I have

not seen a car get back wide. We know now what happens if you get

out wide, it really jumps as the car runs over the outside of the

kerb. Pastor Maldonado, 17 that the moment, he has still got to take a

10 place drop -- 17th at the moment. You might see him on the back row

of the grid. Let's see what Maldonado can do in the Williams.

It is so disheartening when you are out there... He knows he has got a

penalty, so it is almost like... He has done his first best sector.

wasn't full throttle. You will see the ship. For the driver and it

won't quite tie-up with the audio - - shift of point. We are getting

different audio played in. This is the longest straight on the track.

Down into the breaking point for turn eight, a short flick through,

struggle for traction as he comes through nine. Then passed the

support pits. Maldonado struggling in the tail end of this. If it was

stopping right now, and we are just a minute away, we would lose Perez,

Sebastian Buemi, Alguersuari, Petrov, Kobayashi, Bruno Senna and

Maldonado. No great surprises there. Michael Schumacher was told 40.5

was the cut-off point and right now, that looks absolutely right. He is

in tenth place on 40.554. Paul di Resta tried to confirm his top 10

shoot-out place. -- trying to. Maldonado cautiously through the

penultimate corners. He is not on it at all. He could have just been

bringing the tyres Inn. You would think he would go for it a little.

He really was coasting through some of those corners. We just saw Frank

Williams, very much one of the founders of the Williams team.

Struggling to turn it around at the go up to 13th place but that and

the head of Petrov. The flag has dropped. Adrian Sutil and Paul di

Resta, still out. Sebastien Buemi in the middle. This is Paul di

Resta. Quite a long way to go, yet. Three tenths quicker than his

previous best lap. Off the last turn. He moves ahead of Adrian

Sutil. This isn't the grid position. Adrian Sutil is still to finish.

40.2. What has Vitaly Petrov been up to? He can complete a lap,

despite the chequered flag. Schumacher just hangs on to 10th

place. 11th and Twelfth. Schumacher breathes again. Squeezing through

on that. Pastor Maldonado has gone on to win it. It does not look

particularly fast. One corner to go. It will be the last man on the line.

Michael Schumacher could complete another lap, yet. Maldonado stays

in 17th place. He will start in 24 up with that great penalty.

Schumacher can complete this lap it does not need to. He can go into

the pits. Bruno Senna, 14th place. And not on a particularly quick lap.

Michael Schumacher's saves another lap on those tyres. We lose Sergio

Perez, Vitaly Petrov. Sebastien Buemi, Bruno Senna. Alguersuari,

Kobayashi. And Pastor Maldonado. They do not have any practice pit

stop. Mercedes, in the second best cricket this year after Red Bull,

on average in pit stops. Very close, it is. Lewis Hamilton, remaining

demand at the moment, the fastest yet again. Sebastien Buemi... Down

in to turn number one. Here is how he decided to make that. There he

is again. From another angle. Turn No. 2, the pit lane exit is just on

the top. So, no Toro Rosso in the top 10. But we do have two cars

from Force India, then McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes Benz.

And an apology. What was wrong? Toro Rosso had both cars in the

final part of qualifying in India. Berlin mind that this is in Titley

different set of circumstances. Her in mind. Force India were quicker

in Singapore. And Toro Rosso are locked in the battle for 6th place

in the championship and neither driver has been confirmed for next

season. Vitaly Petrov starts and 12 players, he says he is in the car

next year. He is what quite lot of money to this team and he thinks he

is secure but he struggled to pick up points. 42% of the point This

team have won this season came in the first two races. The sun is

setting behind us, the floodlights are on other drivers are struggling

to see what they should be going. Felipe Massa smashed his wheels

twice in India but he is still not scared driving straight into the

Kers? I do not know what is going on. Between Hamilton and himself.

That was a shocking mess. He climbed all over. You cannot

imagine the disturbance that creates. Felipe Massa, clearly not

in the flow, he does not have the confidence to let the car do the

work and steered it to what was to be. This is a big battle. Bob's

Smedley was coaching him, telling him the Times that he needed.

Almost four wheels off the ground. They were. And for Wales outside

the racing line. Outside the limits of the track. There has been a

directive to the support Racers to say that on this corner, you cannot

have all four wheels outside the limits but Formula One drivers are

doing that. You might say there is one rule for one and another for

the rest. They can do what they like? The stewards will clamp down

immediately but they have to be clear. If they had the junior for

Miller having it clear, that should apply to from a low one. -- formula.

Force India are very close to making it through to the final part.

We will talk about Paul di Resta in a moment. What happened at the

back? An impressive performance by a record of. At no time has his

team mate ever been in front of him. -- down your recorder. And he

qualified have a second faster. Another strong qualifier. Did you

enjoy it? I did. Good fun. With the sun coming down, it was a nice

feeling. We made some progress from practice what I was concerned going

into qualifying and we took Gambles and it has worked out. We had a

good margin. In between Virgin. That is pretty strong. Yes, it was

OK. The last and a manager do my best time. I had a strong first

sector. - Maggot the last time I managed to do. I think I made a

mistake in turn six And Turn seven and did his best. That could have

cost me that extra time to get in front. Anyway, pretty happy with

that. Good performers, he would love to be with Toro Rosso next

season. The air conditioning does not mix well with me. Really grim.

They have a lot of money out here but they're not air-conditioned.

The might as well do. Pole position. Lewis Hamilton took first pole

position in 2009, Jensen Button has not had pole position since Monaco.

Will McLaren do it? There is a decent chance. One thing is the

excitement, somebody other than Red Bull. I want to see somebody else.

And it looks more likely to be Lewis Hamilton at this stage. We

heard so many different stories about the management and people

guiding him. This would be a welcome relief. Not just for him

but all of his fans up and down the globe. Look at Mark Webber. He has

been in the mix, he could surprise us. He needs something. Yes, this

has been a pretty poor season by his standards. He came here this

time last year and he had a chance for the championship and I do not

see what has happened. He needs to raise his game if he is going to be

a real contender. The sun has gone down in the desert but who will

light up qualifying? Back to David Coulthard and Martin Brundle and

let's hope the cars are going quicker than that one when

qualifying gets going. It is a showdown time. Sebastian Vettel,

Lewis Hamilton, will we see something other than Sebastian

Vettel on pole position? Please. Sebastian Vettel would then match

the all-time record of pole position in one season, Nigel

Mansell, 1992, with 14. There are more races these days. Only 16 back

then. Nonetheless, that shows you the kind of dominance that

Sebastien Vettel has. Just a few seconds away. From qualifier number

three. The top 10 shoot-out is underway. Jensen Button, Lewis

Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, on one so, Felipe Massa. Nico Rosberg has gone

out on the median tyre. We will see what he chooses to do. Probably

saved that set of tyres. Or maybe he will do six laps in this run.

McLaren going out early because they wanted a those laps with three

runs each. Does that suggest that Rosberg is going to try to set

sector times and be satisfied with somebody at the back end. What is a

point I'm going out on a tyre that is over one second slower in

qualifying? He has another nine minutes to get back in and change.

It could be a host of things. They might have a problem with Kers. He

was fight -- we will find out. I would not be comfortable and aiming

for 10th place by just setting a few sectors. They may be think

Force India will not run as well. We have seen them saving tyres for

the race. I would be more comfortable with 6, 7. Which is

more often than not where he has found himself. Less trouble in that

run to the first corner and workers strategy from there. Vettel and

Hamilton have locked out the front row in the previous two races. That

is how it is looking today. Ferrari, they're just... The car has around

two or on the option. So just be aware of that. You are the only car

on prime terms. He is coming straight back. Let us see if Ted

Kravitz can get some information on way they need two laps and I'm

going back into the pits. Or the other cars will try to qualify

properly. All soft tyres. That will give us some pleasure in this

qualifying session. They have to do something about that. That is

Jensen Button. The first sector. Fernando Alonso is the fastest man

at the moment in that sector. 17.49. That isn't what counts. The middle

part is 41.5 seconds. That is where we can really see those floodlights

beginning to dominate. Down in to turn Number 11. Let us see how

Jensen takes this. He does not like the cars leaping about. He lacks a

to B, and smooth. Jensen Button. It is almost as if they're not there.

He picks the wheels up and gently goes across. As he sweeps through

the apex. Four of them left. Lots of exhaust. Generating that extra

downforce. And one corner to go. Hamilton even faster on the middle

sector and just a little bit out of shape on the last one. Button, 39.0.

That will be beaten. Lewis Hamilton dos 38.7. What can Fernando Alonso

do? 39.5. It is down to Mark Webber. He has not really matched McLaren

at the moment. Loads of wheelspin. He needs a spectacular run. If he

is to get ahead of both McLaren cars. Sebastian Vettel is also out

there, absolutely flying. Really pushing this Red Bull hard as he

crosses the line. He goes second. 38.8. It is now down to the first

part of qualifying. Sebastian Vettel, absolutely flying. No

traffic around whatsoever. Two corners to go. The new world

champion trying to get his 14th pole position of the season. Does

he do it? He does not. Four hundredths of a second shy. How

close do you want the top three? Covered by over one 10th of a

second. He has backed out of the slab. Cool or one more hot? Four

hundredths of a second between them. So much roll on these tyres. Sorry,

on the cars. The front wing, he opens his DRS at the end of that

oversteer. That cost 101 tent? It might have put him into third. Who

will go for the second run? Jensen and Button are in the pits. If they

can get another run. 100 seconds. You need to get it right. Red Bull,

the only cars out there at the moment. Ferrari in the pits. No

sign that Mercedes or Force India are going to attempt any serious

qualifying effort. They still have time to go out for just one run or

are they saying tyres? Schumacher, circle and to rest dead have to use

soft tyres to get to this position. -- Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta.

remaining. This is going to be some kind of spectacle. The finest

drivers in the world, and wonderful bit of wheelspin, or breaking three

metres early, is going to be the end of it. It is going to be a

great qualifying battle. How close would you like it? Two different

cars, two different drivers, for hundredths of a second, the battle

between Hamilton and Vettel. wouldn't discount Jenson Button.

TED KRAVITZ: Sebastian Vettel is back in the pits, it looks as

though he will be the last one to run as he tries to challenge

McLaren for pole position. Jenson Button is out first and Fernando

Alonso snuck ahead of June -- Lewis Hamilton in the pit. That was quite

snaky bike Fernando back row. Force India just going out now that that

was a bit sneaky by Fernando Alonso. Maybe a three-stop but tomorrow for

Mercedes. Adrian Sutil is out. We have six cars on the track at the

moment. What I find incredible that this situation is you have six cars

on track, Jenson Button just leaving turn seven, closely

followed by Alonso, Ben Hamilton, then Felipe Massa, they are all

closely bunched up, why wouldn't they do what Vettel is doing it,

put themselves with a nice bit of clear track to play with? There is

plenty of time, isn't there? They all have the same ideas that the

same time and they are book-ended on the amount of time available,

but I agree, it is all a bit silly. A lot and an Felipe Massa or --

Hamilton and Felipe Massa at line astern down the back straight,

which usually means fireworks. Adrian Sutil is in front of Mark

Webber. We now have all 10 cars on track. Paul di Resta or, Schumacher

is out. I don't care what tyres they are on. Vettel is in front of

that particular pack. We think everybody is on the yellow marks

off tyre. -- yellow marked soft tyre. There some reason the graphic

is only showing four cars out on the track. There are definitely 10

out there. Jenson Button starts his lap, and man who has been under

tremendous form in 2011. -- A man. Hamilton, they must win one of

these final races, to go out with some satisfaction from a very

difficult season. 17.429 first sector for Jenson Button. Hamilton,

17 Port -- 17.5. But as we said, that is not necessarily the one

that really matters. There is a long way to go toward the end of

the lap. Jenson Button is the fastest through there. Faster

fractionally than Webber. We haven't seen Vettel's first sector

at the Tyacke. They are reasonably nicely spread out now. -- first

sector a yet. We will be getting Vettel's First Sec the time any

moment now. Another quick middle sector. Jenson Button is flying in

the middle sector. He is on it. He has still got a chance to spoil the

party between Vettel and Hamilton. Hamilton, not a great middle sector,

it is good enough to keep him in the action. There is Jenson Button

towards the end of the lap. He has been driving beautifully. The

fastest man in the first sector, the fastest man in the middle

sector, two corners to go. Could he be on pole position for the first

time ever for McLaren? Neat and tidy through the last corner. 38.6,

it is good enough at the moment. Will it stay that way? Fernando

Alonso stays there. Hamilton has done it, he has pipped him. McLaren

are one and two. Vettel was the quickest man in the middle sector.

Still lots of action to go. Here comes Mark Webber, he stays in the

fourth. It is all about Vettel now. He is in turn 18 of 21, he could

still spoilt by McLaren party. He has got every chance of doing that

-- spoil the McLaren parted. Sebastian Vettel, one corner to go.

He has done it! 38.4. A 14th pole position of the year. They tell him

immediately. Sebastian Vettel gatecrashers the McLaren party. Red

Bull, McLaren, McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Ferrari. Nico Rosberg has

done a 37.7. Then Michael Schumacher. Then Adrian Sutil and

Paul di Resta. Yet again, Sebastian Vettel, gets the job done. TEAM

RADIO: Good evening, Mr Mansell! Good evening! Good evening! That is

the reference to matching Nigel Mansell's record of matching -- of

a 14 pole positions in one year. Red Bull really public out when it

matters in India three. There are a number of tools at their disposal.

We don't know what you're level they are running it, we doubt now

if they are deploying KERS, -- We don't know if they are deploying

KERS. TEAM RADIO: Or cars have completed, at Vettel just pipped us,

you are second on the grid, a great job. The last vital piece of

information we will never get is how much a driver is holding in

reserve and we have seen time and again, Vettel delivering something

on that final lap of qualifying. Ayrton Senna had that ability. You

can rattle of the drivers who have been able to have a very special

talent on the final qualifying lap -- rattle off. That was a great so

should be Abu Dhabi. Nobody would have said McLaren didn't deserve

that of pole position if Hamilton had delivered it. Great racing by

Jenson Button, when it came down to it in qualifying, there is $100

second between him and Hamilton. -- one hundredth of a second. We think

they used Mal KERS in Q3, probably more engine power. Ashmore. We

think that Vettel hold something back, so that Mark Webber can't see

where he is finding the time. only compare with my career, which

is a distant memory, but Mika Hkkinen, he would find something in

quali that you hadn't seen all weekend. When you say that

repeatedly, you go, hold on, there is a trend here. I have been a on

the receiving end of that misery as Mika Hakkinen's team-mate. To

remind you of the top 10, Sebastian Vettel on ball, from Lewis Hamilton,

Jenson Button third, Mark Webber for, Fernando and Danso Fifth,

Felipe Massa or six -- Fernando Alonso in fifth. Nico Rosberg in

seventh. Then Adrian Sutil. The fastest of the Force India in ninth.

Paul di Resta did not complete a flying lap in Q3 and starts in

tenth. He is just ahead of Perez, who was the fastest to drop out at

the end of Q2. So Sebastian Vettel, it is his 29th pole position from

80 starts. There is confirmation. Vettel and Hamilton are still the

only two men ever to start the Grand Prix on the front row of the

they want, from 11th place on words, will start with Sergio Perez, for

Sauber. He has got a car that is very fast in a straight line.

Maldonado will drop 10 places. He starts at the back of the grid with

Williams team, but this man, as ever, is all smiles. There the

maestro, Michael Schumacher, his young protege is on pole position

yet again. Jake back row and he knows how it

feels to be there. I imagine Nigel Mansell is getting out the pen and

paper -- JAKE HUMPHREY:. He wrote to Sebastian Vettel after

the last race and now he picks up the 14th pole position. Nigel will

be writing to him to say congratulations, and what a driver.

EDDIE JORDAN: He just got better and better and there are no words

left to say how much we admire this man. Absolutely magic. From that

point of view, he is walking on water. It was a dramatic qualifying

session and joining us now is Sir Paul McCartney. You were watching

that on the garage -- in the garage, how was it for you? It was really

exciting. I have only been to one before, but now I see what George

was so passionate about. It is just adrenalin, it is fantastic. The

guys were giving me the information and I am booked. George Harrison

loved Formula One, didn't he? used to dress up in all sort of

gear, hide at the back of the Jordan pits, and he was a huge

Damon Hill fan. He loved it. He did, and I feel emotional today, it is

like he is here with me. It is beautiful, I love it. The most

important question, are we interrupting our honeymoon or you

interrupting it to come and watch this? This is part of it. You are

lucky man. Exactly. The British boys are going to win, hopefully,

tomorrow, because we are in town. Think about motor racing for a

moment, 50 years ago, I remember walking through the streets of

Dublin getting through this massive crowd for the Beatles. Does it ever

worry you 50 years later how big an influence the Beatles were on all

of our lives? I am very proud of it. We could have put out a message

that was a bad message and I think we put out a pretty good message

and we are very proud of it. I am a lucky man. We know that as well but

so are we, we are all very lucky. We know why you are here, there is

Hamilton has invited you into their garage. He is a fan of music

legends at the moment, Bob Marley was on his helmet a few weeks ago

and now you are here. How did it come about? Somebody invited me, I

didn't there it was Lewis. I'm very pleased to be here in Abu Dhabi

anyway, doing the concert tomorrow and it is great to see this first

and, right there at hearing that noise, seeing the cards. How does

it compare to being on stage in front of a few -- a few 1,000

people? There are similarities. I'll get the feedback from the

audience that you don't get here, but it is pretty great. I am not

sure why Eddie is doing this? Children In Need, we have started

this, I wore this Dadaab art I saw you on the telly watching that.

-- I saw you on the telly watching it. I am going to ask it decided.

Every driver is doing it and if we add Paul McCartney,... I am going

to ask you to sign it. We think we will add significantly to Children

In Need. We will do this on live television so there is no doubt

about the authenticity. This will have my father paying over the odds

for this shirt. Sir Paul McCartney at the Grand Prix, performing here

this weekend and signing a shared for Children In Need. Abu Dhabi!

All right, man. We are even more impressed that he will -- that he

would watch the BBC no less. Thank you very much. Good luck with that.

So there you go, the shirt has been signed by Sir Paul McCartney, and

if you are thinking, how do you get your hands on that or the script

that we have donated or any of the other wonderful for me no one

things, including the white jeans of David Coulthard, head to the BBC

website and you can get bidding. Paul McCartney enjoyed himself, he

likened this to be not stage and he knows what it takes to be on stage

and impressed the crowd. -- on stage. How did the drivers find it?

Let's hear from them. Sebastian, you equal Nigel Mansell's record,

congratulations, but you had to dig pretty deep. Yes, especially at the

yesterday. I wasn't happy with the car, and we weren't happy in

general -- at the yesterday. We thought there was more in the car

but we couldn't really get to it. Yet today, this afternoon, it was

already quite a bit better. But to be honest, this place is tricky in

many ways. We had the practice in day conditions, the sun is out, the

track is a little bit harder, and then in the evening, you qualify

and you race and the circuit is quite a bit different. The car

behaves differently and the tyres come in different there. It is not

easy to get it right all the time and in qualifying in particular, I

had a much better feeling, especially moving on to the softer

tyres, and in Q2, we looked much better than before. Yes, then the

other difficulty around here is to get everything into one lap. It is

a long lap that there is a lot of corners in the last sector. When

she start to go into turn 11 after the second straight, it is

basically left, right, left, right. Plenty of opportunity to gain time,

but also if you take a lot of risks, it is easy to make the mistake. It

is very easy to lose straight away a lot of time. We are talking about

small amount, it is a tenth. So I was not so happy with my first run

in Q3 but the second when I was much happier. I especially the

first two sectors. I was buying myself a little bit of a cushion in

the last sector, which was a bit tricky towards the end of the

evening. But all in all, enough to jump ahead of Lewis, who looked

very strong all weekend. It is good in that session, where it matters

on Saturday, we were able to be weekend. Did you think you had done

enough? It was a good session and a good couple of days. Quite a big

improvement for me. I feel from the last race at least. The car has

been good but at the end, that was as fast as I was really able to get

out of my lap. It was not a particularly great lap but the one

in a Tutu was much better. That is the way it is. -- in the QE2. The

race is tomorrow. Jensen, you pitted together on the final run.

Is this result a surprise? Not a surprise but we know that the pace

is in the car and it was finding the right balance. I have not felt

100% comfortable this weekend with the balance but we have improved,

we have tried a few different things and we're getting there

through qualifying but Q 3 was very strange because there was less

group because it was cooler. But the brake. The car was acting

differently which was a good thing because they did not get enough

front end into the car and I have been struggling with that nervous

rear and into qualifying, I have an enormous amount of understeer. In

the direction I like but towards the end of the lap you need a

reasonably appointed car and I did not have that. As Lewis said, the

car is working well around you. It isn't perfect. We will have to

challenge from behind tomorrow. This weekend is all about making

sure that you remember and we will remember for a while that pretty

impressive fight for pole position here in Abu Dhabi added once again

belongs to Sebastian Vettel, his 14th of the season. How much would

Lewis Hamilton have loved to hold on to that? Jensen Button fighting

on the way and Mark Webber in the next but behind his team-mate.

Further back, Ferrari, to buy two, and behind them, both Mercedes

fighting it out. -- 2 x 2. And behind them, Force India. They are

not running on their spare tyres, which is very frustrating. Well

done to Sergio Perez, at 20 at last time, he starts in 11th place and

Vitaly Petrov out qualifies his team mate. Sebastien Buemi starts

and 13th for Toro Rosso, they have scored points at every single Abu

Dhabi Grand Prix, just behind his team-mate, Alguersuari, alongside

Kobayashi and then backwards towards Pastor Maldonado. The 10th

place penalty means he will start from the back, the worst qualifying

performance in over 30 years for Williams. Timo Glock and Jarno

Trulli share the grid towards the back and well done to Danielle, in

front of his team-mate by have the second. The incredibly unlucky

Rubens Barrichello did not get out at all. As David Coulthard arrives

just as Paul McCartney leaves. That was a session befitting a global

icon such as Paul McCartney? It was indeed. I think you called in

George at the end of that! What a great session. I was watching

Jensen Button, we had not seen much of him during this practice session

so he looked like he was coming alive. So close to his team-mate

but once again, Sebastien finds that pace. We have a very small

monitor so I popped into the McLaren hospitality to watch the

end and the roar whenever Jensen went past and then Lewis and then a

complete despair when Sebastian Vettel stature that position away

from both. How McLaren would have loved to have one and two on the

grid? Of course. This was a titanic battle, every single person was on

the edge of their Seat. We watched this small monitor because half the

panic was. We soaked up the atmosphere. It was a great run. I

will remember this for a very long time. We were very lucky because

Formula One is using the new camera, facing towards Sebastian Vettel and

when the sun comes down be clear visor comes out. We can see their

eyes. This must bring back some memories? This is great. This

street circuit section. Just watch his eyes. Someone said they did not

see him blink at all. I don't think he is. That concentration. The

shallow breathing. Absolutely focused on everything. His body is

thrust down in the braking zone. And rushes towards the line. Looks

up at the monitor. And he sees that he is on pole position. Isn't that

incredible? That absolute focus until the line. We should note that

Lewis Hamilton did a time in cute to to be fast enough to be on pole

position but he could not bring it all together on the last part of

qualifying. He said he would have been on pole position but how great

to have as camera angles that show us not just that Sebastian Vettel

is focused but he has the mental spare capacity to look at that big