The Australian Grand Prix - Highlights

:01:57. > :02:01.afternoon. Formula One is back, but today no team can afford to be

:02:01. > :02:05.caught napping. Today is all about building points, momentum and

:02:05. > :02:15.acceleration for the new season. Welcome to the 2012 Australian

:02:15. > :02:24.

:02:24. > :02:34.hand # He grabs me by my heart

:02:34. > :02:46.

:02:46. > :02:56.# Give me them gold coins # You are my one true love

:02:56. > :02:57.

:02:57. > :03:00.love # Alonso is in the gravel. He is out.

:03:00. > :03:05.He is furious. Where are Red Bull? They are on the

:03:05. > :03:11.third row of the grid? Michael Schumacher fourth. What a stunning

:03:11. > :03:15.effort from the young Frenchman, Romain Grosjean, but for McLaren

:03:15. > :03:23.qualifying has been perfect. Here we go again, the first of 20

:03:23. > :03:30.races in the company of DAVID COULTHARof David and Eddie.

:03:30. > :03:37.Yesterday was St Patrick's Day. What better day to celebrate St Pal

:03:37. > :03:40.pal trick's -- Patrick's Day. This looks like an exciting season.

:03:41. > :03:45.are off to Texas. It will be a long one, but it looks like it could be

:03:45. > :03:50.an exciting one, David, if judging by qualifying? There is a mix of

:03:50. > :03:57.cars in the first few rows and the time difference between those cars

:03:57. > :03:59.is a crucial thing. We saw a gap of seven tenths last year. There is a

:03:59. > :04:08.smaller gap than that covering the front-runners.

:04:08. > :04:18.We will be be finding out how the drivers are feeling. There are no

:04:18. > :04:22.

:04:22. > :04:31.changes at the top teams, but down the Iceman returns. Kimi Raikkonen

:04:31. > :04:37.is back and makes it six world champions on the grid. Here this

:04:37. > :04:46.season is Romain Grosjean. Force India enjoyed two sixth place

:04:46. > :04:56.finishes last year, but there have been changes. Adrian Sutil has been

:04:56. > :04:59.

:04:59. > :05:04.replaced by by Nico Hulkenberg. The mid-field battle was tough for

:05:04. > :05:06.drivers and construction and Sauber finished seventh behind Force India.

:05:06. > :05:12.Qualifying yesterday didn't show the steps ahead that had been are

:05:12. > :05:16.predicted. Tor owe Ross sew is seen as the

:05:16. > :05:26.training ground for Red Bull drivers of the future. Two new

:05:26. > :05:31.

:05:31. > :05:40.potential stars have been brought together, Daniel Ricciardo and.

:05:40. > :05:44.Rubens Barrichello had been dropped for Bruno Senna. He should be

:05:44. > :05:54.pleased with his performance this weekend.

:05:54. > :05:59.

:05:59. > :06:02.What was Lotus has become Caterham. Vitaly Petrov joins the team.

:06:02. > :06:07.Marussia ran a new car for the first time and they are starting

:06:07. > :06:12.this season on the back foot. Timo Glock finds the car responsive and

:06:12. > :06:16.fun, but Charles Pic becomes the third French driver on the grid.

:06:16. > :06:20.HRT have been running late with their programme and the cars are

:06:20. > :06:26.virtually untried, unlike their drivers who have a combined age of

:06:26. > :06:31.76! Unfortunately, they have failed to qualify here in Melbourne.

:06:31. > :06:36.It has been a tough winter and a tough qualifying sees season

:06:36. > :06:40.yesterday for for HRT. Outside the HRT garage, there is nothing going

:06:40. > :06:42.on. It is a difficult weekend for them, but a perfect weekend for

:06:42. > :06:48.McLaren. Lewis Hamilton is preparing to climb into his car.

:06:48. > :06:52.Last time there were two British drivers on the the front row, Damon

:06:52. > :06:57.Hill and David Coulthard. It is an exciting day for Lewis. Last time

:06:57. > :07:05.he was on poll position, he took the win and took the world title in

:07:05. > :07:08.2008. He has Nicole Scherzinger here today and his mum. How are the

:07:08. > :07:14.rest of the drivers feeling today? Let's find out.

:07:14. > :07:17.I'm here with Jenson Button. Only a tenth away from your team-mate in

:07:17. > :07:23.qualifying. How do you feel about your race set-up? We had a great

:07:23. > :07:27.day yesterday. I think it surprised us being three tenths in front of

:07:27. > :07:32.the pack, but today is the important day as we both know. So

:07:32. > :07:36.yeah, we will see what happens, but this place is normally difficult to

:07:36. > :07:40.get past into turn one, but you always got to have a go, I think.

:07:40. > :07:45.It is a long race. This is new to us. The tyres working on this

:07:45. > :07:49.circuit, no one really knows because we haven't had any long

:07:49. > :07:54.runs because of the weather. It will be interesting to see what

:07:54. > :07:57.happens. It is nice to be here. It is a good way to start the year and

:07:57. > :08:02.we will see what we can achieve today.

:08:02. > :08:06.Mark, it is not been the Red Bull qualifying, but the sun is shining

:08:06. > :08:11.and it is your home Grand Prix and the crowds are here today. What can

:08:11. > :08:14.you do for them? We have got some strong opposition around us, there

:08:14. > :08:18.is no question about it. We will need to have a good clean first lap,

:08:18. > :08:23.a good clean first sector and knuckle down. We need to be there

:08:23. > :08:27.with ten laps to go. There is a lot that is going to happen. It

:08:27. > :08:28.normally does at Melbourne and if we can get bubbles at the end, you

:08:28. > :08:32.know, leave here in reasonable shape.

:08:32. > :08:35.Have a begun one. Thank you.

:08:36. > :08:41.16th on the grid, you are the boss, it is not good enough, really is

:08:41. > :08:46.it? I am not happy at all, but this is something that we know and I

:08:46. > :08:50.have asked, you know, to my people to react straightaway. There is no

:08:50. > :08:53.time for crying, time to react. That's not the position of the car,

:08:53. > :08:55.but it is the position of the Australian Grand Prix and the

:08:55. > :08:59.Australian Grand Prix is one of the Grand Prixs of the championships.

:08:59. > :09:02.It is a difficult starting point and we need to do a better job

:09:02. > :09:07.today during the race. Does that mean building a new car?

:09:07. > :09:10.No, we know where we have to improve and we will do it and I

:09:10. > :09:12.have asked my people to do it as quick as possible.

:09:12. > :09:16.Thank you very much. I wish you well.

:09:16. > :09:21.Less than a second separates the top eight cars on the grid. We have

:09:21. > :09:27.six world champions, a British battle at the front and cars out of

:09:27. > :09:37.position up and down the grid. The Grand Prix starts this afternoon in

:09:37. > :09:41.

:09:41. > :09:45.Melbourne for the 2012 Australian within the teams as well as

:09:45. > :09:50.hundreds of suppliers from the outside world is now in the hands

:09:50. > :09:54.of 22 determined and very fired up drivers, all going for a perfect

:09:54. > :09:59.start to the season. We have had answers in qualifying as to how

:09:59. > :10:03.things might work out, but David, which teams do we really think have

:10:03. > :10:08.conquered all season? McLaren have learned from the troubled testing

:10:09. > :10:11.they had pre-season last year and they have come here, a solid

:10:11. > :10:16.winter's testing, great reliability and they have rewarded themselves

:10:16. > :10:20.with a lock out at the front row, but what I take encouragement from

:10:20. > :10:25.is if we look at the qualifying session, no one team dominated the

:10:25. > :10:29.sectors around this lap. We had McLaren fastest in the first and

:10:30. > :10:33.Mercedes second and Romain Grosjean quickest in the last sector.

:10:33. > :10:38.We are looking at the tyres that are being used this weekend and it

:10:38. > :10:43.is if you take a look, it is the medium and the soft and the dry

:10:43. > :10:46.weather tyres so the white writing on the outside means the harder of

:10:46. > :10:52.the two tyres being used. The yellow is the softer of the two

:10:53. > :10:58.tyres, but hopefully we won't be using the int ter meadates -- int

:10:58. > :11:02.ter meadates or the wets. An interesting statistic for

:11:02. > :11:08.youment only twice in the 16 year history of Albert Park has the car

:11:08. > :11:13.that started on poll position not gone on to be the car, the world

:11:13. > :11:18.champion drove. Jenson Button took poll in a BAR and didn't win the

:11:18. > :11:22.World Championship and Mika Hakkinen took pole in 2000 and

:11:22. > :11:25.Michael Schumacher won the championship, but it bodes well for

:11:25. > :11:29.the McLaren guys. It does, indeed. Both their drivers

:11:29. > :11:33.won around this racetrack. Lewis Hamilton looking, the Lewis

:11:33. > :11:36.Hamilton that we were used at the beginning of his career, it is

:11:36. > :11:41.looking forward and here he is, he has got full sight of how to

:11:42. > :11:46.prepare his tyres, his brakes, he will be doing final burnouts and

:11:46. > :11:50.clutch setting. Look at that, a little bit of acceleration to do

:11:50. > :11:55.the preparations as he runs up to the grade.

:11:55. > :11:59.Nicole watches. Romain Grosjean outstanding in third. Michael

:11:59. > :12:09.Schumacher is fourth. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel fifth and

:12:09. > :12:13.

:12:13. > :12:21.sixth. Nico Rosberg is seventh. Looking at the the tyres wet Petrov.

:12:21. > :12:28.The Australian is tenth. Alonso is twelfth and Kobayashi and Senna and

:12:28. > :12:32.Raikkonen is 17th on the grid with Kovalainen and Petrov and Glock. No

:12:32. > :12:36.HRTs on the grid. They failed to qualify for this first race of the

:12:36. > :12:46.season. That means we have 22 instead of 24 cars ready to take

:12:46. > :12:53.the start. It is a 58 lap Grand Prix here in Australia. Sergio

:12:53. > :12:56.Perez moving into place. It looks as if the grid is is ready

:12:56. > :13:01.and set. Now we are going to watch those lights and watch the the

:13:01. > :13:05.count down to the start of the first race of the season!

:13:05. > :13:09.Lewis Hamilton versus Jenson Button off the front row.

:13:09. > :13:15.Lights out. Away we go. Hamilton and Button going for the first

:13:16. > :13:23.corner and Button got a good start. Jenson Button is ahead. Button

:13:24. > :13:27.takes the lead. Oh, we have got cars spinning. That might have been

:13:27. > :13:31.Senna caught up. We will have to look at that in a moment. Alonso

:13:31. > :13:39.got through cleanly, but Button leads and Michael Schumacher is

:13:39. > :13:43.third and Rosberg is fourth. Rosberg up from seventh.

:13:43. > :13:48.The Mercedes is a fast starter. Jenson Button said he was going to

:13:48. > :13:52.go for it and that's what he has done and let's just keep an eye

:13:52. > :13:56.whether they are going to get that incident cleared away at turn one

:13:56. > :13:59.otherwise we can see the safety car being deployed. There is a high

:13:59. > :14:07.percentage of safety cars around this circuit.

:14:07. > :14:12.Alonso battling away with the Williams.

:14:12. > :14:16.Alonso in the Ferrari tucked in behind the Williams, trying to get

:14:16. > :14:24.alongside up to turn 11. Now into the fastest, one of the fastest

:14:24. > :14:29.corners. Look at Alonso's car! One other bit of news for the race

:14:30. > :14:34.fans, sector one is clear. There will not be a safety car, but Mark

:14:34. > :14:38.Webber, let's look at the front of his car and judge how much damage

:14:38. > :14:44.is there and how it will affect his performance.

:14:44. > :14:49.He is having a battle. At he is still there. He is in tenth place,

:14:49. > :14:53.battling with Kobayashi. Jenson Button leads and Hamilton by 1.3

:14:53. > :14:58.seconds. Rosberg under attack from Vettel. The debris flag being shown.

:14:58. > :15:05.That's for bits and pieces after the the incident down there at turn

:15:05. > :15:15.one. Vettel is fifth. Romain Grosjean is in sixth place

:15:15. > :15:31.

:15:31. > :15:41.Webber has dropped down to 8/9. He does not seem to find any luck in

:15:41. > :15:42.

:15:42. > :15:49.his home grand prix. Out front, Jenson Button knows he has to break.

:15:49. > :15:59.Will they touch? Beautiful driving from both of them. I was not

:15:59. > :16:00.

:16:00. > :16:10.expecting an attack but Sebastian Vettel has taken 4th Place. People

:16:10. > :16:12.

:16:12. > :16:20.are asking, can Sebastian Vettel race? He is trying to get past

:16:20. > :16:27.romance she -- Romain Grosjean. The race is over already for him. We

:16:27. > :16:35.are losing several cars in the early stages of the race. Fernando

:16:35. > :16:45.Alonso will come past us. Jenson Button leads, Lewis Hamilton second.

:16:45. > :16:58.

:16:58. > :17:07.Nico Rosberg is 5 position Macro -- an advantage to Mark Cueto birth.

:17:07. > :17:13.The speeds in qualifying were 10 kilometres an hour over the

:17:13. > :17:23.Mercedes. -- Mark Webber. Clean stuff from Jenson Button. Lewis

:17:23. > :17:25.

:17:25. > :17:31.Hamilton had to make way. Nico Rosberg went round the outside.

:17:31. > :17:35.Nico Rosberg was close nipping through. Jenson Button just had

:17:35. > :17:45.enough. He was attacked from the way it end and it all kicks off

:17:45. > :17:51.

:17:52. > :18:01.from there. -- rear end. It was not a great start. You could see the

:18:02. > :18:04.

:18:04. > :18:12.cars going past him. For Mark Webber, he started in 5th place.

:18:12. > :18:20.would have deployed KERS at 100 kilometres an hour. Both of the

:18:20. > :18:30.cars that came around, Mark Webber sandwiched him together. This was

:18:30. > :18:32.

:18:32. > :18:38.the Toro Rosso. We saw Nico Hulkenberg. He was in a Force India.

:18:38. > :18:45.Daniel Ricciardo went into the back of Kimi Raikkonen, I think it was.

:18:45. > :18:51.It is a very tight ran into that corner. We can see a replay of the

:18:51. > :19:00.coming together of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Romain

:19:00. > :19:06.Grosjean should have gone out of the power. He was unsighted. You

:19:06. > :19:11.have to do the sensible thing. Out front, Jenson Button seems to be

:19:11. > :19:18.controlling things quite nicely. Sebastian Vettel is honing in on

:19:18. > :19:23.Michael Schumacher. That is where the car went off. Sebastian Vettel

:19:23. > :19:33.is catching Michael Schumacher at the moment. The advantage for

:19:33. > :19:34.

:19:34. > :19:44.Jenson Button is 2.4 seconds. The two McLarens are both in front.

:19:44. > :19:50.

:19:50. > :19:57.Mark Webber is in 8th Place. Sergio Perez is 11th. You will see the

:19:57. > :20:04.black and gold colours of the Lotus. He started in 17th and now is in

:20:04. > :20:12.12th place Macro. We need to see if he sustains any damage. He would

:20:12. > :20:18.have opened the DRS up earlier. Gary Anderson will be able to give

:20:18. > :20:28.us more information on that later. We believe it is 160 kilos of load

:20:28. > :20:28.

:20:28. > :20:36.when you open up DRS. It is disappointing for Pastor Maldonado.

:20:36. > :20:42.He was having a good run in the top 10. They would have gone off the

:20:42. > :20:48.grid with about 160 kilos of fuel. That is why the lap times are

:20:48. > :20:54.several seconds slower. Let's find out a bit more about that with Gary

:20:54. > :21:01.in the pits. What about the prospective strategies? It is one

:21:01. > :21:08.of the warmest days we have had. I think the tyres will last longer

:21:08. > :21:15.than everyone is expecting because, it always happens here, it always

:21:16. > :21:25.gets better. People will aim at a two stop race, perhaps three big it

:21:26. > :21:28.

:21:28. > :21:36.is too quick. Oh! Sebastian Vettel went off at Turn One. Nico Rosberg

:21:36. > :21:43.was only just behind him. He is still battling. Meanwhile Fernando

:21:43. > :21:48.Alonso is going to join in. He is breathing all over the back of the

:21:48. > :21:54.Mercedes. The Ferrari is trying to make some progress. Behind them of

:21:54. > :22:00.course it is Mark Webber. This is a sign of how hard they are having to

:22:00. > :22:07.push in at Red Bull. Seemingly struggling to find their form

:22:07. > :22:13.around the circuit. That was a good recovery from Sebastian Vettel. He

:22:13. > :22:19.would have lost a bit of downforce. He has lost the Rea and had to

:22:19. > :22:25.correct. He was lucky to get away with it. That is where you are

:22:25. > :22:35.running in the dirty air of the car in front. You go through the wake

:22:35. > :22:35.

:22:35. > :22:40.of another plane or a cloud, and it shakes. Michael Schumacher is under

:22:40. > :22:50.attack from Sebastian Vettel. Two German champions about to go wheel

:22:50. > :22:54.

:22:54. > :23:01.to wheel. Look at this! This is the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi. The two

:23:01. > :23:05.of Saubers are running absolutely together at the moment. Those sort

:23:05. > :23:11.of under qualifiers, I feel, yesterday, and now they're

:23:11. > :23:18.beginning to show what they can do. They had very good winter testing

:23:18. > :23:22.and were looking very strong. We have Fernando Alonso in the other

:23:22. > :23:32.Ferrari and Filipe Massa is having to defend. It looks like he is

:23:32. > :23:35.

:23:35. > :23:44.holding up the entire pack. He was complaining he has Byrne that his

:23:44. > :23:51.rear tyre. We were expecting the first stop to be around lap 18, 28.

:23:51. > :23:57.Lap 11 and he has lost his tyres already. So bastion battle getting

:23:57. > :24:02.closer to the back of Michael Schumacher. -- Sebastian Vettel.

:24:02. > :24:12.Michael Schumacher has gone off and Sebastian Vettel is straight into

:24:12. > :24:15.

:24:15. > :24:24.third place. Michael has sun damage. Look at this! It will be better

:24:24. > :24:32.than that, this battle is for of forth. The battle for the two

:24:32. > :24:42.Germans has been in favour of Sebastian Vettel. When I saw him I

:24:42. > :24:43.

:24:43. > :24:52.thought he had parties on the left side of the circuit. -- party to --

:24:52. > :24:59.parted. It does not look like he made a mistake. Was that an issue

:24:59. > :25:05.with KERS? We will find out soon enough. Michael Schumacher was

:25:05. > :25:12.running strong. It does not look as though he whacked the kerb hard or

:25:12. > :25:22.pulled the front wing off or anything. There was no visible

:25:22. > :25:31.

:25:31. > :25:36.damage. He did not lock up. Kimi Raikkonen has gained another place.

:25:36. > :25:44.Into the pits comes Filipe Massa her. He was struggling on tyres and

:25:44. > :25:48.he comes in after 12 laps. This will be vital information for all

:25:49. > :25:55.the teams. That Ferrari is running not quite as quick as the front

:25:55. > :26:03.runners but it will give an indication. He came in so slowly.

:26:03. > :26:12.He has put the yellow band attack on again. He will make at least one

:26:12. > :26:19.more stock in the race. Jenson Button still leads this raised

:26:20. > :26:29.overt Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel is third. -- this race over

:26:30. > :26:32.

:26:32. > :26:40.Lewis Hamilton. Pastor Maldonado is still running really well. He is in

:26:40. > :26:48.7th place. It is a good effort. Michael Schumacher and his back in

:26:48. > :26:56.the pit lane but it is end of the day for him. The technical issue he

:26:56. > :27:01.has had he has been able to get it back to the start of the pit lane.

:27:01. > :27:06.The Mercedes again is very early and that frees up Fernando Alonso.

:27:06. > :27:13.We will be able to see what the Ferrari can do in clean air. The

:27:13. > :27:18.speed limit is 60 kilometres an hour. That is for the safety of the

:27:18. > :27:24.mechanics. We can expect a total time loss in the pit lane to be

:27:24. > :27:34.around 26 seconds, maybe a bit less if the pit crew concern us the car

:27:34. > :27:37.

:27:37. > :27:47.quickly. That is a nice piece of clean air. -- can service the car.

:27:47. > :27:48.

:27:48. > :27:54.Romain Grosjean, so disappointing for you. The start was pretty good.

:27:54. > :28:01.It was passed on -- Pastor Maldonado who broke and the race

:28:02. > :28:10.was over. How difficult was the start? It was your first race back

:28:10. > :28:16.for a while. I wanted to be really careful. I did not want it to shift.

:28:16. > :28:21.It is what it is. I have a race next Sunday and I would do better.

:28:21. > :28:29.Kimi Raikkonen is battling away with Kamui Kobayashi. It is great

:28:29. > :28:37.to see him back in Formula One. Filipe Massa made the early pit

:28:37. > :28:47.stop. That is a bit of a mistake. Kimi Raikkonen may have a chance.

:28:47. > :28:55.Can he take advantage? Into the pits for Kamui Kobayashi. Fernando

:28:55. > :29:03.Alonso as well is in the pits. He is getting this phase of the harder

:29:03. > :29:08.tyre - a new set of tyres going on. We expect, under normal conditions,

:29:08. > :29:16.to be a bit of difference between the two sets of tyres. What can we

:29:16. > :29:26.learn about the timing of the pit stops? It is very early. We

:29:26. > :29:28.

:29:28. > :29:34.predicted a three stop, I think maybe we will see some fours. I

:29:34. > :29:40.think everybody is finding their feet. We have seen how big a cliff-

:29:40. > :29:44.face it drops of. The rear tyres go awake so dramatically. That is why

:29:44. > :29:54.the teams are going to be alert in the pit wall. I do not think

:29:54. > :29:58.

:29:58. > :30:03.anybody knows how many stops there Kimi Raikkonen has just set fastest

:30:03. > :30:12.first sector. He had a huge amount of oversteer.

:30:12. > :30:17.He is using up every last part of his option tyres. Look at that 60

:30:17. > :30:21.kilometres an hour. He clears his visor.

:30:21. > :30:28.60 kilometres an hour because it is a street track. Normally it would

:30:28. > :30:34.be faster than that in a pit lane. You see the harder of the tyres

:30:34. > :30:39.going on. Kobayashi has set fastest lap. He

:30:39. > :30:43.has been into the pits. Now, we are going to see a McLaren pit stop.

:30:43. > :30:50.Now is this Jenson? It is Jenson. He entered into the pit lane and as

:30:50. > :30:53.you would expect the leader gets the priority of the pit stop call.

:30:53. > :30:57.That's why it is important to get in front in the front corner.

:30:57. > :31:05.I love it. When we spoke to him in the grid he said, "I'm going to

:31:05. > :31:08.have a go." We see the Red Bull guyss coming out for Sebastian

:31:08. > :31:15.Vettel. This is going to hurt Hamilton

:31:15. > :31:25.because Vettel coming in now will hurt Hamilton. Will Vettel close

:31:25. > :31:27.

:31:27. > :31:33.that gap up to second position. We could see a bit of a difference.

:31:33. > :31:39.Sebastian Vettel will have a new set of Hards. He has come out in

:31:39. > :31:47.front of Alonso so I'm wondering how that will pan out. Ahead of

:31:47. > :31:50.Rosberg, but Alonso there ahead of Vettel. It shows Alonso has been

:31:50. > :31:53.going well since he put the second set of tyres on.

:31:53. > :31:57.That is impressive. Now Button has got himself out and

:31:57. > :32:01.he has got himself out ahead of Raikkonen and that's crucial, but

:32:01. > :32:05.Mark Webber has just set fastest lap in his Red Bull. This is

:32:05. > :32:06.fascinating. We're still learning so much about the relative

:32:06. > :32:13.performance of the cars in race conditions.

:32:13. > :32:17.TEAM RADIO: Everything these tyres have got now.

:32:17. > :32:21.We know that Lewis Hamilton will be coming in, if not this lap, the one

:32:21. > :32:29.after. He lost a lot on the last lap. He

:32:29. > :32:32.did a 1.36.4 and it would have hurt him to have stayed out that little

:32:33. > :32:40.bit longerment Lewis Hamilton -- long. Lewis Hamilton comes into the

:32:40. > :32:44.pits. Vettel are having a great day. Hamilton should come out in front.

:32:44. > :32:50.Let's watch the stop. A set of the medium tyres going on.

:32:50. > :32:55.That will be a new set. Both Button and Hamilton qualified with the

:32:55. > :32:58.faster of the tyres. He lost a lot of time.

:32:58. > :33:02.He will come out behind Raikkonen. Raikkonen comes through.

:33:02. > :33:08.He had has to pit Raikkonen. But there is Vettel. That's the guy

:33:08. > :33:13.he is racing with and Alonso so he is still in front of them by a a

:33:13. > :33:17.reasonable chunk there, Hamilton and a little bit of a lock-up on

:33:17. > :33:20.the right-front for him. Vettel is having to work hard to keep that

:33:20. > :33:25.Ferrari behind him. The Ferrari looking better than I expected.

:33:25. > :33:30.Mark Webber fastest lap then. We are a long way off the qualifying

:33:30. > :33:33.pace and Felipe Massa is on the move on Vitaly Petrov. This is

:33:33. > :33:38.partly through the pit stops because Vitaly Petrov hasn't

:33:38. > :33:43.stopped yet and Massa claiming a position there and Vitaly Petrov

:33:43. > :33:47.continuing in the Caterham. Both Caterhams are running in the race.

:33:47. > :33:54.Kovalainen down in 17th. Bruno Senna still running despite the

:33:54. > :34:00.incident. There is Vettel picking his way through the traffic. The

:34:00. > :34:04.young Frenchman is making his debut in Formula One this weekend. Daniel

:34:04. > :34:11.Ricciardo going quickly in his Williams. He stopped and put the

:34:11. > :34:17.soft tyre on. The Williams, they have taken a big jump forwards

:34:17. > :34:22.compared to last year. Alonso has to deal with the traffic. This has

:34:22. > :34:32.cost Alonso a lot of time. He is being held up by the youngster.

:34:32. > :34:32.

:34:32. > :34:37.He is entitled to go racing at this stage.

:34:37. > :34:42.Look at speed difference there. He won't be able to make the pass into

:34:42. > :34:45.turn one. That corner is two tight. Look at that, deploying the KERS as

:34:46. > :34:49.well and this will be a straightforward pass for Alonso,

:34:49. > :34:59.but it will cost him a lot of time. He has dropped a fair bit to Vettel,

:34:59. > :35:00.

:35:00. > :35:06.you can see up ahead there, Alonso does get through and it is Vergne.

:35:06. > :35:11.They come past. It has allowed Alonso to brake free.

:35:11. > :35:16.Vergne on the older tyres. He is entitled to go racing, but you can

:35:16. > :35:22.see the influence that has. They were all all stalked up, but not

:35:22. > :35:32.anymore. Rosberg is on the attack. He is down the inside. Can he hold

:35:32. > :35:35.

:35:35. > :35:40.it? Vergne doesn't want to give it Vergne does give way and he

:35:40. > :35:44.probably is doing the sensible thing. Vergne staying out of

:35:44. > :35:49.trouble. He is in Torro Rosso to make a move

:35:49. > :35:55.into Red Bull Racing, probably a wise move not getting in the way of

:35:56. > :36:00.sister team. An impressive debut for the young Frenchmen. We have

:36:00. > :36:05.three Frenchmen and no Italians. Kimi Raikkonen, and what a great

:36:05. > :36:10.stint this has been, David, because he came from 17th on the the grid,

:36:10. > :36:13.there is his team-mate, Romain Grosjean, and the tyres have held

:36:13. > :36:22.up reasonably well. This has been a good performance

:36:22. > :36:25.from the Lotus Team. Kimi Raikkonen expected big things and it didn't

:36:25. > :36:28.work out, and his team-mate was the star.

:36:28. > :36:33.Remember what Sauber did last year. They only went for one stop and

:36:33. > :36:36.they are doing a similar strategy. They would try to do that. That's

:36:36. > :36:40.unquestionably what they are doing. This is costing Lewis Hamilton. He

:36:40. > :36:44.is almost ten seconds behind Jenson Button.

:36:44. > :36:49.Yes... Allowing Vettel to close that gap. You can see visibly

:36:49. > :36:52.that's down to a second. Vettel is in the background closing

:36:52. > :36:56.on the two. You have the young Mexican in his second year of

:36:56. > :37:01.Formula One in the black and white Sauber chased by Lewis Hamilton who

:37:01. > :37:05.is in third place, so second, third and fourth, all in shot together

:37:05. > :37:11.with Sebastian Vettel, the double world champion bearing down on them.

:37:11. > :37:14.Perez started at the back due to a change box problem and because of

:37:14. > :37:17.the pit stop sequence finds himself in second place.

:37:17. > :37:21.The back end of that car is sliding around. It will be tough for him.

:37:21. > :37:27.He is, indeed and this is the zone where Lewis Hamilton has to make

:37:27. > :37:33.use of his DRS, he is within the one second activation, the

:37:33. > :37:42.detection line we have just crossed. He won't be able to make the pass

:37:42. > :37:49.until turn one, but certainly... Well, he has got the speed and

:37:49. > :37:52.straight past and Vettel will surely use the second DRS zone.

:37:52. > :37:57.Let's ride with him and going down the inside into turns three, no, he

:37:57. > :38:01.can't because he had the outside of Perez. Perfectly justifiably,

:38:01. > :38:05.defended the inside and defends, this is good clean driving by Perez.

:38:05. > :38:12.There is no reason why he should get Vettel through and Vettel can't

:38:12. > :38:18.find a way past. What that shows is the ma McLaren

:38:18. > :38:23.top speed is speed with the DRS open is ten seconds faster than Red

:38:23. > :38:30.Bull. Vettel wasn't able to make it. I'm

:38:30. > :38:35.going to check. TEAM RADIO: Lewis Hamilton is freer.

:38:35. > :38:42.A bit of traffic there. There is settle. He gets through, he didn't

:38:42. > :38:46.need the DRA and Perez stuck to his -- DRS and Perez stuck to his line.

:38:46. > :38:51.Perez is running in fourth place. I wonder how long he will stay out

:38:51. > :38:55.there. Alonso is catching him now. Gary, where are we in terms of pit

:38:55. > :38:59.stops, strategy? What are your thoughts? Everybody is on different

:38:59. > :39:06.tyres and everybody is doing different things. I was surprised

:39:06. > :39:11.how late McLaren left it. We saw saw their lap times dropping.

:39:11. > :39:14.Hamilton had to do another lap and he lost four seconds. McLaren were

:39:14. > :39:20.two laps later than they should have pitted. It has been a very

:39:20. > :39:26.good race. Vettel 1.8 seconds behind Hamilton, it was 7.5 seconds

:39:26. > :39:29.behind before the pit stops, a big error there for McLaren with

:39:29. > :39:33.Hamilton. They have got to go racing.

:39:33. > :39:38.Here comes Alonso. Perez is holding his ground here.

:39:38. > :39:42.He is entitled to do that and this Sauber was very fast in a straight

:39:42. > :39:46.line during the qualifying sessions. Of course, he didn't have the drag

:39:46. > :39:49.reduction system available, but nonetheless Sauber going on the

:39:49. > :39:56.different strategy as you mentioned, it worked well for them last year.

:39:56. > :40:00.We expect Alonso, who has got a bit of speed as he was coming off off

:40:00. > :40:04.turn six, certainly around the next sector of the lap, we expect him to

:40:04. > :40:08.make a pass. This is where Sebastian Vettel was

:40:08. > :40:13.quick. Perez drives that car, we know it hasn't got great grip, but

:40:13. > :40:19.it is a lovely driving style Perez has. He doesn't work the car too

:40:19. > :40:25.hard. Behind Alonso is Rosberg who might put the Ferrari under

:40:25. > :40:33.pressure. We have Mark Webber and in ninth place is Kobayashi.

:40:33. > :40:40.Raikkonen is eleventh. A good bit of driving from Rosberg. Of course,

:40:40. > :40:48.you want to push to get beyond the car in front of you. Mark Webber

:40:48. > :40:54.just in the distance. Alonso will get DRA, Rosberg will get DRS. Look

:40:54. > :40:59.at the difference of speed. Alonso didn't use his KERS. We have a

:40:59. > :41:03.marker down the side, the battery bar. That means full KRA and no

:41:03. > :41:08.KERS. -- KRS and no KERS.

:41:08. > :41:11.He might try and get turned in ahead of the Sauber. Yes, he does!

:41:11. > :41:14.Perez was managing to get out of that. When you are trying to

:41:14. > :41:19.overtake, that is Nico Hulkenberg who is in the pits after making an

:41:19. > :41:23.early retirement. We have had two, three, in fact go out of this race

:41:23. > :41:28.already. Nico Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Michael Schumacher are retired.

:41:28. > :41:35.But we have 19 cars running. We are on board with Mark Webber as he

:41:35. > :41:43.runs around in seventh. This is impressive stuff by Perez.

:41:43. > :41:48.It is lap 23 and he is yet to stop. He did 32.52 on that lap. We are

:41:48. > :41:55.committed to that strategy as we see Alonso breaking free of the

:41:55. > :42:05.traffic. That is is Charles Pic. He is doing

:42:05. > :42:09.a solid job. The new - that is Rosberg going through. An all new

:42:09. > :42:13.car. There is plenty to do. They only got the car running in

:42:13. > :42:21.Melbourne on Friday. Just squeezing through was Mark Webber there,

:42:21. > :42:25.getting a little tight. Hamilton is second. 11.8 seconds behind Jenson

:42:25. > :42:31.Button. Vettel is now only 1.2 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton. This

:42:31. > :42:37.Red Bull is still a major threat for victory today. Vettel is going

:42:37. > :42:47.after Lewis Hamilton first. This. This Ferrari has race pace. Alonso

:42:47. > :42:53.has opened up the gap 177 seconds to Rosberg -- -- 1.77 seconds.

:42:53. > :42:56.TEAM RADIO: I am picking up vibrations from these guys.

:42:56. > :43:04.I understand. Well, if he is getting vibrations

:43:04. > :43:08.from the tyres, it could be a wheel. You do need to put a little wheel

:43:08. > :43:18.weight there to balance the wheels. Maybe that got knocked off during

:43:18. > :43:19.

:43:19. > :43:27.the pit stop. What I was going to say, this is Vergne, Alonso's lap

:43:27. > :43:32.time was quicker than Hamilton. Ferrari have overnight recovered

:43:32. > :43:38.their mojo. We saw Michael Schumacher go out of this race with

:43:38. > :43:45.some gearbox problem. Michael, you ran off wide. Was the damage to the

:43:45. > :43:50.car done then? No, the damage was in the braking in turn one and in

:43:50. > :43:54.the moment thaw don't have a drive -- that you don't have a drive, I

:43:54. > :43:59.can't stop the car properly. I opted to go straight on, not

:43:59. > :44:01.forcing the car into a spin or something spupd because I -- stupid

:44:01. > :44:05.because I knew already it was the end of the weekend.

:44:05. > :44:10.The race had been going well up to that point.

:44:10. > :44:13.We have positive points we take from this weekend. Considering

:44:13. > :44:20.where we came from last year, the boys in the factory at Mercedes

:44:20. > :44:25.have done a fantastic job to get us there and we never had any issue

:44:25. > :44:30.with the gearbox all winter long so it is a bit strange. I'm confident

:44:30. > :44:35.we can fix that easily. The other guys are still running, but those

:44:35. > :44:40.are prototype cars, it can always happen. You never have 100%

:44:40. > :44:44.security in these cars. It is a shame, but that's the way it is.

:44:44. > :44:48.We are watching Kobayashi and Raikkonen, ninth and tenth places

:44:48. > :44:51.and that was Raikkonen getting the ninth place from Kobayashi, I think,

:44:51. > :44:58.we just caught the end of that. Lewis Hamilton has done a great lap.

:44:58. > :45:08.Let's see if we can find out. Ferrari, Sauber, Lotus, watch

:45:08. > :45:16.

:45:16. > :45:20.Raikkonen the third of the three Ferrari holding position. Kimi

:45:20. > :45:25.Raikkonen said he missed racing and this is what he came back four. I

:45:26. > :45:33.do not think I have ever seen someone did that on this circuit!

:45:33. > :45:43.That is why so many of his fans are delighted he is back. Boy, can he

:45:43. > :45:45.

:45:46. > :45:55.race when he is in the car! Kimi Raikkonen is in 9th plates. --

:45:56. > :46:01.

:46:01. > :46:09.place. There is Fernando Alonso and there is Nico Rosberg. What tyres

:46:09. > :46:19.are they on? Mark Webber is on the medium, it yellow mark soft tyre

:46:19. > :46:20.

:46:20. > :46:24.and Nico Rosberg is on the soft. Nico Rosberg has the speed edge?

:46:24. > :46:30.The advantage should be slightly to the Mercedes in terms of the tyres

:46:30. > :46:35.at this stage. There is less of a difference in the Grand Prix than

:46:35. > :46:43.in qualifying. Roughly it halves the difference between the tyres.

:46:43. > :46:48.No big surprise that Sebastian Vettel is showing better pace at

:46:48. > :46:52.front. There is a speed disadvantage when you have the Red

:46:52. > :46:58.Bull against the Mercedes. Difficult times for Mark Webber. He

:46:58. > :47:04.is having to be patient with the tyres. The way these Pirelli tyres

:47:04. > :47:10.are, you have a gauge of rubber available before you lose sight of

:47:10. > :47:16.how much rubber is on top of the belt. That is when a fall off the

:47:16. > :47:23.cliff and the performance drop-off is huge. The performance of Lewis

:47:23. > :47:29.Hamilton is geared at the moment. Looking at the stats for own Nico

:47:29. > :47:39.Rosberg and Mark Webber. This is on board with Kimi Raikkonen. That is

:47:39. > :47:43.

:47:43. > :47:52.4 8th Place. Filipe Massa et is struggling. Has he got a problem?

:47:52. > :48:00.Filipe Massa has not appeared comfortable in his car or weekend.

:48:00. > :48:07.That is a bigger gap. It seems that he has one of the bigger gaps I

:48:07. > :48:14.have seen at any time during their time as team-mates. He goes to the

:48:14. > :48:24.inside and takes his defensive position and. That lays himself

:48:24. > :48:29.

:48:29. > :48:39.open for a DRS Motors. It is for the car behind Kimi Raikkonen, it

:48:39. > :48:42.

:48:42. > :48:50.is not for you. He was saying, why do I get all the time blue flags?

:48:50. > :49:00.That is the girlfriend of Pastor Maldonado. The Venezuelan is doing

:49:00. > :49:05.a fantastic job. He has caught the group of Nico Rosberg and Mark

:49:05. > :49:09.Webber. He thought about that. We have occasionally seen moves like

:49:09. > :49:18.that. I remember Mark Webber making a mistake at that very corn and a

:49:18. > :49:27.few years ago. The pace off Nico Rosberg is very poor. You would

:49:27. > :49:33.never imagine they would be in that position after last year. Mark

:49:33. > :49:39.where there is in the BRS then there he is catching that 0.2 late.

:49:39. > :49:49.-- Mark Webber is in the DRS zone but he is catching that point have

:49:49. > :49:51.

:49:51. > :50:01.too late. Mark Webber went outside. That was good opportunism but he

:50:01. > :50:16.

:50:16. > :50:26.was also sensible. Well done to all over the place. Here comes Mark

:50:26. > :50:36.Webber again. Can he get through? Can he do it? You need to be brave.

:50:36. > :50:37.

:50:37. > :50:46.Nico Rosberg has gone wide. We were holding our breath. It is the

:50:46. > :50:52.fastest chicane on the race track. Nico Rosberg has missed out the

:50:52. > :51:00.high-speed chicane defending his position. Is he coming in this lap?

:51:00. > :51:05.Yes he is. That was a cheeky move from Nico Rosberg. He would have

:51:05. > :51:11.gained that bit of that time by missing the corner. There will be

:51:11. > :51:21.no penalty for that. Sensible driving by Nico Rosberg. He should

:51:21. > :51:22.

:51:22. > :51:28.not lose out too much as a result. Nico Rosberg is on his way again.

:51:28. > :51:34.This is entertaining stuff. I was literally holding my breath. The

:51:34. > :51:41.last time we saw Mark Webber get so close to someone at high speed, it

:51:41. > :51:49.was Fernando Alonso and he pulled that off. Sergio Perez has had the

:51:49. > :51:56.fastest lap of the race. It is ahead of Nico Rosberg. That match

:51:56. > :52:02.is pretty much Jenson Button, just a little bit quicker. Sauber is

:52:02. > :52:09.looking really good for a solid points haul. Race leader Jenson

:52:09. > :52:15.Button crosses the line. 32 laps completed. He has an advantage.

:52:15. > :52:23.About 9 1/2 seconds over Lewis Hamilton. Hallaton protecting

:52:23. > :52:30.second place from Sebastian Vettel. -- Hamilton. It might be possible

:52:31. > :52:39.for some people to get through the race on just one pit stop. On board

:52:39. > :52:46.with Lewis Hamilton as he turns in. New curbing on turn four. We need

:52:46. > :52:51.to keep going for a few more laps if we can. He said the tyres were

:52:51. > :52:55.going. There is only about 2.5 mm of rubber before you get down to

:52:55. > :53:01.the bottom belt, which is the point where they fall off the cliff and

:53:01. > :53:07.lose their grip. We call the circuit a front end circuit. You

:53:07. > :53:14.need to be leaning on the front tyres. With so much fuel on board,

:53:14. > :53:23.it is like having two heavy passengers in the back of the car.

:53:23. > :53:31.We know that Sergio Perez is in 9th Place. We did wonder whether he

:53:31. > :53:36.would be able to make it a one stop race. We will have to wait and see.

:53:36. > :53:44.What are your thoughts? He managed it last year. Do you think he can

:53:44. > :53:52.do it? It depends when the cliff- face arrives. If it arrives on club

:53:52. > :53:58.-- lap 50, he might be in trouble. Hamilton is complaining about the

:53:58. > :54:07.rear tyres but we have not heard Jenson Button complaining. The

:54:07. > :54:17.harder of the two tyres seems quite durable. It looks possible for

:54:17. > :54:17.

:54:17. > :54:26.Peshawar. Fernando Alonso is in. -- for Shaw. There are medium's going

:54:26. > :54:31.on. That is interesting. Ferrari is declining to use the softer of the

:54:31. > :54:36.tyres. Fernando Alonso has new tyres available, having gone out

:54:36. > :54:42.and not made it through to the last part of qualifying. Is that an

:54:42. > :54:47.attempt to try to make it to the end of the Grand Prix? As the fuel

:54:48. > :54:56.massive burns off, at the club gets lighter and it takes more out of

:54:56. > :55:04.the tyres. -- the car gets lighter. Fernando Alonso is on his way up

:55:04. > :55:12.once again. Only the one stock for Jenson Button. We are wondering

:55:12. > :55:20.whether Sergio Perez might try to do a one stop. Mark where that is

:55:20. > :55:28.setting a good middle time. -- Mark Webber. Red Bull is looking after

:55:28. > :55:36.its tyres pretty effectively. As the fuel is burnt off, Mark

:55:37. > :55:43.Webber's tyres are working pretty well. At this phase of the race,

:55:43. > :55:48.Red Bull it does seem to be hanging in there. We had cars that are

:55:48. > :55:53.faster in qualifying. Other cars are looking up to their tyres

:55:53. > :55:59.better, which should make for tremendous racing for the season.

:55:59. > :56:04.The Lotus is running solidly for the moment. They had problems in

:56:04. > :56:14.testing. They had a chassis mounting problem on the car. It

:56:14. > :56:21.

:56:21. > :56:31.does seem a very fast car. Kimi Raikkonen was just down. He is

:56:31. > :56:31.

:56:31. > :56:41.doing better than yesterday. Push, push, push! He was told to get on

:56:41. > :56:45.

:56:45. > :56:51.with it. That could mean Peshawar and come in. -- push. That is lower

:56:51. > :56:58.than for some race tracks. The second pit stop of the day for

:56:58. > :57:03.Jenson Button. Hamilton is following him in. It will be very

:57:03. > :57:09.busy. Great pit work from McLaren. They need to be careful that they

:57:09. > :57:16.put the right wheels on the right car. If you put your team-mates

:57:16. > :57:26.will unlock Cup, you get thrown out. Mechanics have to be very careful.

:57:26. > :57:33.-- on your car. That will be a bit awkward for them to move the cup

:57:33. > :57:41.away. Petrol has gone out of the car. We will need to find out what

:57:42. > :57:46.the smoke is. That is a shame. Vitaly Petrov joins our list of

:57:46. > :57:54.retirements. The rest of the runners are still going. I do not

:57:54. > :57:58.want to see a safety car but we have won a. That will make life

:57:58. > :58:04.interesting. McLaren have the advantage because they are fresh

:58:04. > :58:11.tyres. This would be two, three laps of running behind the safety

:58:11. > :58:17.car. On this sequence, Sebastian Vettel has lost out. The safety car

:58:17. > :58:23.comes that as soon as it is called. It is almost as if McLaren sensed

:58:23. > :58:31.there would be a safety car. You do not see that very often. It shows

:58:32. > :58:36.how confident they are with their mechanics. Gary, what a real

:58:36. > :58:42.thoughts on this? What about the timing of the safety car? If it

:58:42. > :58:47.could be lucky, it could be unlucky. It depends whether Sebastian Vettel

:58:48. > :58:55.lost much time. His time is OK as long as they get the pit stop done

:58:55. > :59:02.pretty nippy. The other guys will be slowing down. He has a brand new

:59:02. > :59:08.set of hard tyres so he would try to go to the end. I think it will

:59:08. > :59:16.be OK for Sebastian Vettel. almost goes wide in the run damp

:59:16. > :59:26.for the first corner. It is about way Iraq on the track. -- where you

:59:26. > :59:28.

:59:28. > :59:34.are on the track. He should line up at worst in the same running order.

:59:34. > :59:40.Sebastian Vettel has emerged in second. The safety car appears to

:59:40. > :59:46.have helped him. He comes out in second position. How does that

:59:46. > :59:55.work? Sebastian Vettel was in the last section heading for the pits.

:59:55. > :00:01.He did not have to slow down. He could go at maximum speed. The

:00:01. > :00:09.section time would have made him look as if he was going too fast.

:00:09. > :00:13.Lewis Hamilton had to slow down. The way the luck of the draw. If

:00:13. > :00:23.Sebastian Vettel had been further back, maybe he would have lost out.

:00:23. > :00:24.

:00:24. > :00:27.It was just the right time for him. car. Sebastian Vettel took full

:00:27. > :00:30.advantage of the safety car and Lewis Hughes has work to do to

:00:30. > :00:40.reclaim second place. Mark Webber is in fourth. Then it is Alonso,

:00:40. > :00:45.

:00:45. > :00:49.followed by mel by - Button will dictate thes pace and off goes

:00:49. > :00:54.Jenson Button. He is on it straightaway. Out of that last

:00:54. > :00:58.corner. A great restart by Jenson Button. Flat out, straightaway.

:00:58. > :01:03.Sebastian Vettel will be under pressure from Lewis Hamilton. Mark

:01:03. > :01:11.Webber chasing them both as well and they can't use use DRS for the

:01:11. > :01:16.next lap or two because every time you restart the race the DR is not

:01:16. > :01:21.enabled it is down to pure racing. Hamilton will close the gap up to

:01:21. > :01:25.Vettel. Vettel seemed to be caught napping as Button let rip through

:01:25. > :01:29.the last corner. When he opened it out through the last corner then

:01:29. > :01:33.Sebastian Vettel was under pressure from Hamilton. That gap has opened

:01:33. > :01:36.out slightly as they run around the back of the circuit, but Jenson

:01:36. > :01:41.Button has gone. He has. Another amazing restart

:01:41. > :01:46.from Jenson Button like the start of the race when he was able to get

:01:46. > :01:52.past Hamilton into turn one. Alonso in the Ferrari chased by Maldonado

:01:52. > :01:55.in the Williams. Sergio Perez And Rosberg and Raikkonen, but

:01:56. > :02:05.Raikkonen just having a look at that. I think Kobayashi has gone

:02:05. > :02:15.ahead of Raikkonen. There might have been a change around there.

:02:15. > :02:16.

:02:16. > :02:24.Behind Raikkonen is De La scas Resta.

:02:24. > :02:29.Down the outside into turn three, Kobayashi was so impressive and

:02:29. > :02:35.once again he passes around the outside in turn three. It is a

:02:35. > :02:41.difficult difficult corner to to that, but great stuff from the

:02:41. > :02:45.Japanese driver. Jenson Button opening up a 2.5

:02:45. > :02:50.second advantage over Sebastian Vettel. A great first lap after the

:02:51. > :02:58.restart as well. A very impressive run from Jenson

:02:58. > :03:04.Button. He is confident in this car. It is tricky after a period behind

:03:04. > :03:14.the safety car to know where to position the the car and to know

:03:14. > :03:15.

:03:15. > :03:20.how much braking distance you have. Alonso was wide in the Ferrari. He

:03:20. > :03:24.did say after qualifying yesterday that his goal was top ten first and

:03:24. > :03:29.top five would be fantastic. Well, he is in fifth place and that is

:03:29. > :03:37.more than perhaps they they expected but will iamts were talk -

:03:37. > :03:43.- Williams were talking to us and saying they have a chance of

:03:43. > :03:46.beating Ferraris on current form. The difference between Williams

:03:46. > :03:52.between this year and last year, they feel they can qualify. In the

:03:52. > :03:59.case of Maldonado that was inside the top ten and what a year a --

:04:00. > :04:09.and what a difference a year makes. I take my hat off to Ferrari. The

:04:09. > :04:13.whole team stayed tight and Jenson Button with the fastest lap time.

:04:14. > :04:16.The Ferrari team are remaining tight. Alonso seems to be

:04:16. > :04:21.comfortable within that team despite their difficulties and

:04:21. > :04:25.that's what the drivers reresponsibility is --

:04:25. > :04:35.responsibility is to, to stay calm in difficult circumstances.

:04:35. > :04:40.

:04:40. > :04:44.Alonso is keeping calm, Alonso, you be has to keep watch out.

:04:44. > :04:49.DRS will be up and running again when they come around now. So we

:04:49. > :04:59.will have to see if that makes any difference. We have got Kobayashi...

:04:59. > :05:02.

:05:02. > :05:07.TEAM RADIO: Rear Rear wing is coming off.

:05:07. > :05:11.That's got to be a worry. It could be a worry or a bit of

:05:11. > :05:16.strategy from Kimi to get the stewards to look at that. If there

:05:16. > :05:21.is any issue, you know, any safety issue with the integrity of a wing,

:05:21. > :05:25.the team would be uncomfortable leaving a driver out there. Let's

:05:25. > :05:30.see if we can see what it is. It is the rear end plate. It is broken

:05:30. > :05:34.below. Now the trailing edge, we will get Gary to give us a word. My

:05:35. > :05:42.understanding is that the trailing edge of the rear wing is more of a

:05:42. > :05:46.regulation than a loading issue. I don't know if Gary has got his ears

:05:47. > :05:52.on there. I mean, what you have got to be

:05:52. > :05:57.careful of, they have an L-plate mounted upper wing as well. The

:05:57. > :06:01.back is only a piece of bodywork. It is not structurally required,

:06:01. > :06:06.but it depends how far forward that flapping piece is starting.

:06:06. > :06:10.What would you be thinking if you were sitting in the pit wall and

:06:10. > :06:16.you just saw that on one of your cars, would you bring it in for

:06:16. > :06:21.inspection? I would have a good luck at it going past. I think the

:06:21. > :06:26.structural, but it is the back piece that got damaged, maybe

:06:26. > :06:36.somebody touched them at the back and because of the aerodynamics, it

:06:36. > :06:45.

:06:45. > :06:55.has flapped backwards and forwards and cracked it.. We are watching

:06:55. > :06:59.

:06:59. > :07:03.Alonso and Daniel and Maldonado. His best position was tenth last

:07:03. > :07:08.year at Spa. If he finishes where he is now, it would be a career

:07:08. > :07:18.best. Button is still ahead and then Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber.

:07:18. > :07:19.

:07:19. > :07:23.Then that gap back to Alonso. Pastor Maldonado stuck with Perez.

:07:23. > :07:28.There is another world champion, Damon Hill, winner here in

:07:28. > :07:34.Melbourne in 1996 at the first event.

:07:34. > :07:39.He is looking like someone has stolen something.

:07:39. > :07:43.That's right. He has good memories. I remember the race victory. It was

:07:43. > :07:48.a significant win for Damon as he went on to win the title that year.

:07:48. > :07:52.So looking at this battle going on, Vettel, Hamilton and Webber. Last

:07:52. > :07:58.year the Red Bulls would have been disappearing a bit from the mac

:07:58. > :08:01.Clarence. Webber -- McLarens, Webber not so much. Interesting

:08:01. > :08:11.Interesting comments from Mark Webber talking about how he is

:08:11. > :08:11.

:08:11. > :09:51.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 99 seconds

:09:51. > :10:01.happier driving this car than last Massa and Bruno Senna as we we get

:10:01. > :10:02.

:10:02. > :10:10.up on the kerb, they run together and they are sort of of... They are

:10:10. > :10:14.welded together. The two Brazilians in the race, they managed to tangle

:10:14. > :10:20.together. They look as if they are out of it. We will see where Massa

:10:20. > :10:26.ends up. The other Williams is going quickly. He is only 0.7

:10:26. > :10:33.behind Alonso. Alonso has got his work cut out to make this

:10:33. > :10:39.Venezuelan behind him. Maldonado having his best Grand

:10:39. > :10:43.Prix to date. Alonso at this stage of the Grand

:10:43. > :10:50.Prix, he is 3.6 seconds behind Mark Webber. It looks he has given up

:10:50. > :10:56.that hunt. I don't think he will be too dissatisfied with his place

:10:56. > :11:00.over the difficulties he had in qualifying. This is a big moment

:11:00. > :11:03.for Maldonado. If Maldonado finishes where he is, he will get

:11:04. > :11:08.eight points which is more than Williams scored last year.

:11:08. > :11:16.That would be a good start. Points mean prizes! It is important where

:11:16. > :11:20.you finish in the constructors championship.

:11:20. > :11:24.Williams had a difficult year last year. There is Bruno Senna.

:11:24. > :11:28.I am amazed he managed to get that car back with the front suspension

:11:28. > :11:31.damaged. What are they going to do here? Have a good look around,

:11:32. > :11:34.please. They are sending him back out. I

:11:34. > :11:38.thought maybe it was just a puncture, but he is going to try

:11:38. > :11:43.and run for longer and and then he can report back to the team. Button

:11:43. > :11:48.continues to lead by 3.3 seconds from Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton and

:11:48. > :11:54.Webber as Senna returns to the fray after damage with Massa earlier.

:11:54. > :11:57.He is coming out in front of Raikkonen and there is Massa being

:11:57. > :12:04.pushed into his garage. It is difficult when the steering doesn't

:12:04. > :12:08.work to get it in the garage. They will wheel it in. The Williams

:12:08. > :12:13.guys sending Bruno Senna out. If the car can be driven, you want to

:12:13. > :12:16.get as much information and data during race time as possible. So he

:12:16. > :12:18.is not going to get points this afternoon, but they are going to

:12:19. > :12:24.learn valuable information. It might have been a puncture

:12:24. > :12:29.rather than suspension damage. A puncture can look the same way.

:12:29. > :12:34.On board with Maldonado. The back end of the Ferrari sliding around.

:12:34. > :12:44.Let's see them up into turns 11. Let's listen to how much power he

:12:44. > :12:48.is using through here. Pretty good. Nice and tidy. What we

:12:48. > :12:52.can be looking at, Ferrari have taken a pun and run less fuel --

:12:53. > :12:58.punt and run less fuel. We maybe in a situation like we saw with

:12:58. > :13:02.Rosberg in China where they don't have enough fuel on board to run at

:13:02. > :13:06.full engine board. We could be seeing a compromised Alonso. Would

:13:06. > :13:12.he be struggling more than what his performance showed at the beginning

:13:13. > :13:16.of the race? Williams may have, you know, fuelled this car up and run

:13:16. > :13:20.the car absolutely to allow them to capitalise in the top ten

:13:20. > :13:23.qualifying position. You You know you don't take the top ten

:13:23. > :13:33.qualifying for granted, that's giving them the advantage here.

:13:33. > :13:38.What I'm trying to say, we may not be seeing full performance Ferrari

:13:38. > :13:41.against full performance Williams. We will have to wait until after

:13:41. > :13:45.the race to talk to the guys. There is the damage from the

:13:45. > :13:49.contact with Senna. One of the Ferrari guys giving it a good old

:13:49. > :13:53.prod! There is the other Ferrari still

:13:53. > :13:59.out on track. Still hopeful of delivering points. Alonso, I know

:13:59. > :14:04.I'm going to speak too soon here. But he has a remarkable finishing

:14:04. > :14:12.record at Melbourne. He never failed to finish a race. I am bound

:14:12. > :14:19.to put a curse on him. It is a remarkable record. An update, we

:14:19. > :14:29.know that Alonso's tyres are three laps older than Maldonado which is

:14:29. > :14:31.

:14:31. > :14:35.significant. There is normally tun one tenth of a second degradation.

:14:35. > :14:43.It has been a quiet race for Paul di Resta, David.

:14:43. > :14:47.This is something involving Paul. Has there been a change? Jean-Eric

:14:47. > :14:51.Vergne going past. Daniel Ricciardo not far behind. So there has been a

:14:51. > :14:55.change around there. On board with Daniel Ricciardo and yeah, then he

:14:55. > :15:05.got past Paul di Resta as well. Paul di Resta lost two places. He

:15:05. > :15:18.

:15:18. > :15:28.Rosberg, Canary Kebbi ashy and Kimi Raikkonen. -- Kamui Kobayashi. He

:15:28. > :15:28.

:15:28. > :15:34.locks up and runs wide. He made the pass back into turn 14. We know

:15:34. > :15:44.that Kamui Kobayashi loves to have a go. The corner arrived quicker

:15:44. > :15:45.

:15:45. > :15:55.than he expected. He kept it on the tarmac. Nico Rosberg used his KERS.

:15:55. > :15:56.

:15:56. > :16:06.Look at high kick -- Kimi Raikkonen now! Can he find a way past the

:16:06. > :16:11.

:16:11. > :16:20.Sauber? John Eric Bana is only won a place out of the points. -- Jean

:16:20. > :16:29.Eric Bana. There he is, the young Frenchman Foster if he could get

:16:29. > :16:36.one more players can he could score points on his debut. -- one more

:16:36. > :16:44.place, he could score points on his debut. It is quicker on this lap.

:16:44. > :16:54.That is a really interesting battle. There is so much at stake for the

:16:54. > :16:56.

:16:56. > :17:02.rookie drivers. They know the pressure is on to perform every

:17:02. > :17:08.weekend. Mark Webber would love to get a good result. Currently he is

:17:08. > :17:17.in his best finishing position. I have got to think that Mark Cueto

:17:17. > :17:22.will go for it. I was going to say to get his first podium, they stuck

:17:22. > :17:32.him on the podium. They were celebrating that he got the cup

:17:32. > :17:39.into 5th. -- at the car. We saw earlier in the Grand Prix, Lewis

:17:39. > :17:45.Hamilton is not able to use his tyres as well as Jenson Button.

:17:45. > :17:55.Sebastian Vettel has just done the fastest lap of the race. Only eight

:17:55. > :17:55.

:17:55. > :18:05.tenths quicker than Jenson Button did last time around. -- print one

:18:05. > :18:09.

:18:09. > :18:15.of a second quicker. The Red Bulls are struggling. Is he right at the

:18:15. > :18:21.point of burning out on these tyres? We will have to wait and see.

:18:21. > :18:27.We are on lap 55 out of 58 and we're running out of time. What are

:18:27. > :18:32.you thought? We're in the latter part of the race. Give us a little

:18:32. > :18:40.bit of thought on what to have seen today. It has been very impressive

:18:40. > :18:45.by McLaren. Hamilton lost out with the safety car. It was a good

:18:45. > :18:55.recovery by Red Bull. They got their homework done last night and

:18:55. > :18:58.

:18:58. > :19:06.make the cut a bit better. Ferrari with 5th place will be a bit of a

:19:06. > :19:11.surprise. It was great racing. Very close. That is what we want. It is

:19:11. > :19:17.fabulous to see all the different cars fighting against one another.

:19:17. > :19:23.Three laps remaining and the advantage is with Jenson Button.

:19:23. > :19:28.Let's just remind you. We're looking inside the pits of Bruno's

:19:28. > :19:36.Senna. The car was damaged in the incident. He tangled with Filipe

:19:36. > :19:43.Massa her. It started with Lewis Hamilton on pole but Jenson Button

:19:43. > :19:53.made the better start and gradually eased away. Lewis Hamilton never

:19:53. > :19:53.

:19:54. > :19:58.seem to have the same level of pace. The Red Bulls had done well. Romain

:19:58. > :20:03.Grosjean went out very early and we lost him from the equation.

:20:03. > :20:10.Sebastian Vettel worked his way through the order. He gained under

:20:10. > :20:16.the safety car, which came out when we had the Caterham strop --

:20:16. > :20:21.stopped on the straight. Nico Rosberg has been disappointing in

:20:21. > :20:31.the latter part of the race. Mercedes looked strong early on but

:20:31. > :20:33.

:20:33. > :20:41.they faded away. No such problems for these guys up front. Jenson

:20:41. > :20:48.Button is leading. He has just set a new fastest lap. Hamilton is in

:20:48. > :20:58.their place. He needs to keep his focus to keep Mark Webber behind

:20:58. > :21:06.him. The Marie share is getting past by the Ferrari of Fernando

:21:06. > :21:14.Alonso. This is great stuff. There are some great battles going along.

:21:14. > :21:22.It would not take much for Pastor Maldonado to have a go. It is a

:21:22. > :21:28.remarkable drive from this young driver. Also a remarkable drive.

:21:28. > :21:35.Nico Rosberg has been overtaken by Kamui Kobayashi. We did not see so

:21:35. > :21:45.much of this by him lasted that he is going for it today. -- last year

:21:45. > :21:47.

:21:47. > :21:55.but he is going for it today. I am sorry, we got that wrong. It is

:21:55. > :22:01.calorie cobia she and Kimi Raikkonen battling. -- Kamui

:22:01. > :22:08.Kobayashi. It still is the case that the sad but is better. They

:22:08. > :22:18.did finish top 10 last cheerful start -- the Sauber. Let's have a

:22:18. > :22:18.

:22:18. > :22:28.look what happened. Kimi Raikkonen was still attacking. Kimi Raikkonen

:22:28. > :22:30.

:22:30. > :22:36.is the predator. He is also the prey. He is being chased. Daniel

:22:36. > :22:41.Ricciardo showed great qualifying yesterday. Very impressive.

:22:41. > :22:49.Hopefully he will finish his first home race. Do not do anything silly

:22:49. > :22:58.now. I think he might pull a pass on his team-mate. As long as he

:22:58. > :23:07.gets it damn cleanly. Daniel Ricciardo on his homes -- home turf

:23:07. > :23:13.wants to get past. That is the Williams and Pastor Maldonado.

:23:14. > :23:22.is the man ran to turn eight. That is a very unusual place to have an

:23:22. > :23:29.incident. -- the run round turn eight. He went down through turn

:23:29. > :23:34.six, on to the artificial grass and he lost the back end of the car.

:23:34. > :23:40.That is why they go through such stringent crash testing. Jenson

:23:40. > :23:46.Button wins in Australia. Sebastian Vettel is second and Lewis Hamilton

:23:46. > :23:55.in third. Mark Webber is in 4th place. Jenson Button takes his

:23:55. > :24:05.third win in Melbourne. Nico Rosberg has some damage to his car.

:24:05. > :24:07.

:24:07. > :24:17.Did they come together? That was the father of Jenson Button. Sergio

:24:17. > :24:18.

:24:18. > :24:24.Perez was under pressure. There are points at stake across the line.

:24:24. > :24:28.Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian, gets into the points on his first

:24:28. > :24:38.time raised was dug Mark Webber gets his best ever result here.

:24:38. > :24:44.That was fantastic. Great race, at great job. Fantastic! What a great

:24:44. > :24:51.weight to start the year. Fantastic! The cut is beautiful and

:24:51. > :24:58.she is quick. Brilliant stuff from Jenson Button. He has matched you

:24:58. > :25:06.in wins now. Thoroughly deserved. A fantastic victory from Jenson

:25:06. > :25:12.Button. He is saying, seriously, guys, that was a great afternoon!

:25:12. > :25:19.Pastor Maldonado was close to his best ever Formula One result. Look

:25:19. > :25:26.at it again! It does not look that wide. It does not look like he

:25:26. > :25:36.really goes over the kerb big time. Tyres have lost a lot of their cage.

:25:36. > :25:38.

:25:38. > :25:45.He may have deployed KERS or opened DRS. Nico us Beth was classified

:25:45. > :25:55.12th. Did he come together? -- Nico Rosberg. Did they tangle? He got

:25:55. > :26:04.through there. I do not know what was going on. Daniel Ricciardo was

:26:04. > :26:13.batting away. There was a lock up and he went wide. It was all going

:26:13. > :26:23.on between the Toro Rossos. Daniel Ricciardo has taken the honours

:26:23. > :26:26.

:26:26. > :26:33.between those team-mates. Stressful stuff. McLaren, for them, it is

:26:33. > :26:41.their 6th victory in Melbourne. That matches Ferrari. It is their

:26:41. > :26:48.11th victory in Australia a drawer. McLaren is definitely the winning

:26:48. > :26:54.team in Australia. It was not a one, two, which we thought it would be

:26:55. > :27:02.at one stage. Jenson Button went at it from the start but Lewis

:27:02. > :27:07.Hamilton did not seem to be able to make his tyres go as far as Jenson

:27:07. > :27:13.Button. Then with the safety car, Sebastian Vettel could jump Lewis

:27:13. > :27:18.Hamilton on the race track, rather than try to overtake him. Jenson

:27:18. > :27:28.Button tip victory over Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton was third,

:27:28. > :27:28.

:27:28. > :27:38.ahead of Mark Webber. Quite a list of retirements from this Australian

:27:38. > :27:38.

:27:38. > :27:45.Grand Prix. What a race that was! great stuck by Jenson Button. Just

:27:45. > :27:51.imagine the joy it on this podium right now. McLaren will be

:27:51. > :27:59.delighted. We were discussed by Lewis Hamilton finished third. He

:27:59. > :28:05.does not look very happy at the moment. Red Bull, after a difficult

:28:05. > :28:09.qualifying yesterday, Sebastian Vettel will be very happy. He

:28:09. > :28:16.finishes second at the first race of the season. Australia has a

:28:16. > :28:21.habit of just producing these kind of races. It is a fabulous venue.

:28:21. > :28:26.If they keep doing races like it, we will be here for ever. It is

:28:26. > :28:32.strange will stop this kind of circuit should not really. Drama

:28:32. > :28:38.should be hard to come by. We had overtaking and drama by the bucket

:28:38. > :28:48.load. We have had the introduction of KERS and DRS. Pirelli has given

:28:48. > :28:58.us a lot more strategy to play -- play with for the drivers. There

:28:58. > :29:00.

:29:00. > :29:05.were two or three cars separated by 0.1 of a second. That is quite a

:29:05. > :29:15.nice indicator of how the midfield will be this season - and at gate

:29:15. > :29:19.

:29:19. > :29:23.this season. It was very close and bury tight at the end. -- very

:29:23. > :29:31.tight. Fernando Alonso, and a lot of the big teams, got themselves

:29:31. > :29:37.out of trouble today. I guess out of the two of them, Jenson Button

:29:37. > :29:43.would have expected to be on the podium. Maybe Red Bull were

:29:43. > :29:49.surprised at how quick the car was today. Where are they? They felt

:29:49. > :29:54.they had good race pace through the winter testing. No one was doing

:29:54. > :29:59.that type of running. What was the performance when you have DRS for

:29:59. > :30:04.the whole track? What we have discovered is that McLaren have the

:30:04. > :30:10.upper hand with qualifying. You would say that Sebastian Vettel was

:30:10. > :30:15.fortunate with the safety car to be able to jump Lewis Hamilton but we

:30:15. > :30:21.have a great season and lined up. very glum looking Lewis Hamilton on

:30:21. > :30:28.the podium. If he had nailed it at the start, he would not have been

:30:28. > :30:34.jumped by Sebastian Vettel and he could have won the race. This was

:30:34. > :30:39.the turning point. Jenson Button made a fantastic start. He becomes

:30:39. > :30:44.stronger. In the first couple of laps he pulled away such a gap he

:30:44. > :30:49.probably caught Lewis Hamilton by surprise. I was disappointed with

:30:49. > :30:56.the demeanour of Lewis Hamilton on the podium. The great thing about

:30:56. > :31:01.the start for Jenson Button was he said, I am going to have a go. That

:31:01. > :31:06.showed his mind set. On the clean part of the track, Lewis Hamilton

:31:06. > :31:14.bob down initially. On the first corner, at once on the inside, you

:31:14. > :31:22.are stuck. It was almost a Sebastian Vettel type start by him.

:31:22. > :31:29.Lewis Hamilton was trying to get back straightaway but it was not to

:31:29. > :31:37.be. Let's start at the beginning. Tell us about the start of the race.

:31:37. > :31:43.It was a shocking start. I am not sure what happened. I let out the

:31:43. > :31:49.clutch and it followed on with the spin. I lost a lot of ground, which

:31:49. > :31:55.is unfortunate. After that it was impossible to overtake. It was

:31:55. > :31:59.about keeping my spot and the safety car did not help. It was a

:31:59. > :32:05.brave and inspired double pit stop but you ended up in the wrong place

:32:05. > :32:10.at the wrong time. I am often like that. It was a great job by Jenson

:32:11. > :32:17.Button and it is great for the team. We were very quick. The go forward

:32:17. > :32:21.to the next race in good shape. is any race or one. Do you feel it

:32:22. > :32:27.has been a good step over the winter and it might sneak your head

:32:28. > :32:34.of Red Bull, or is it too early to tell? In qualifying we were quick

:32:34. > :32:44.and competitive but they were quick in the race. They are still a force

:32:44. > :32:46.

:32:46. > :32:51.to be reckoned with. If you are on pole position it is your

:32:51. > :32:56.prerogative to do with the car what you well. I thought he stayed a

:32:57. > :33:01.fraction too long. Jenson Button had the impetus to go into the

:33:01. > :33:08.first corner. Normally it is a titanic battle. It was a subdued

:33:08. > :33:18.Lewis Hamilton and he will have learned from this. A very popular

:33:18. > :33:25.

:33:25. > :33:31.We will always say every win is special. But this one does mean a

:33:31. > :33:34.lot to the team because we have started the last two years and it

:33:34. > :33:38.hasn't been the easiest. The first couple of races has been tricky. To

:33:38. > :33:45.come into this race and win, I would say we were dominant today.

:33:45. > :33:51.It really does mean a lot. I spoke to my chief me me Khanic yesterday,

:33:51. > :33:55.Luke. I said what's the matter, mate? He said "it has been flat

:33:55. > :34:00.out." He said, "I'm looking forward to Sunday night when we get a

:34:00. > :34:03.rest." I am not sure he is going to get one tonight! I don't think so.

:34:03. > :34:07.You said that you were going to have a go into the first corner. So

:34:07. > :34:11.you let out the clutch and you feel the traction build. Was that the

:34:11. > :34:15.moment you knew you could win this race? I did react well to the

:34:15. > :34:19.lights and then I got a little excited when I got alongside Lewis

:34:20. > :34:26.and I pulled for second gear too early and when that that happens,

:34:26. > :34:30.you get a poor shift. You see my head. It moved forward? You get a

:34:30. > :34:38.poor shift and that really hurt me and it was a drag race. I wassen

:34:38. > :34:41.the inside inside -- was on the inside. I spoke to your dad. And he

:34:41. > :34:46.said you were very nervous this morning. But he said with

:34:47. > :34:50.excitement. What does excited, nervousness mean? It is the first

:34:50. > :34:58.time I have told anyone that I get nervous before a race.

:34:58. > :35:03.He told me. No, no, it is true. I was in the

:35:03. > :35:10.hotel room with my girlfriend and I said, "I am nervous today." I get

:35:10. > :35:19.nervous, excited, and more so today. I don't know why it is. Yesterday

:35:19. > :35:22.the old boy said, "Well done for qualifying." After the race when I

:35:22. > :35:29.won the race, I did say that on the radio.

:35:29. > :35:34.How were the nerves when you knew a safety car was coming out? We had

:35:34. > :35:40.been pacing ourselves most of the race. Pushing as hard as we could.

:35:40. > :35:45.Saving the the fuel and Saving the tyres. It is always tricky and when

:35:45. > :35:48.you are the first one into the unknown, it is tricky. The car went

:35:48. > :35:51.really well on the restart. I pulled out 2.5 seconds on the first

:35:51. > :35:56.lap and that was really, that was key to the victory I think today

:35:56. > :36:00.and then I could really hold that gap to Sebastian Vettel.

:36:00. > :36:04.And those Red Bulls have pace, haven't they? They have. I said

:36:04. > :36:09.that in the first corners yesterday. They didn't have a good day

:36:09. > :36:14.yesterday. Seb put it in the gravel and didn't get the best lap in

:36:14. > :36:19.qualifying. It is a role rehearsal from last year with Red Bull and

:36:19. > :36:23.McLaren, you know. They had the pace in qualifying, but we couldn't

:36:23. > :36:29.match them in the race. We have got to keep that.

:36:29. > :36:35.If it was a one race championship, you would be the world champion so

:36:35. > :36:37.there is another 19 to go. Well done, Jenson.

:36:37. > :36:39.APPLAUSE A round of applause for you from

:36:39. > :36:43.the crowd. There was no need for those nerves.

:36:43. > :36:47.I imagine that the Red Bull drivers would have been nervous as well

:36:48. > :36:53.because they looked shell-shocked after qualifying yesterday, Eddie.

:36:53. > :36:57.Well, I think they qualified OK. Their qualifying was, if you like,

:36:57. > :37:02.it was a mirror image of what the testing was, I don't think they

:37:02. > :37:07.were good enough and they know they are not good good enough and they

:37:07. > :37:14.are unhappy about the the interpretation of the rules. There

:37:14. > :37:16.maybe protests, but there are certain rum, rumblings that Red

:37:16. > :37:20.Bull don't think that some of the cars are running to the

:37:20. > :37:23.specification that they understand. Let me go to David and talk about

:37:23. > :37:32.Sebastian Vettel, because there were a couple of moments in that

:37:32. > :37:36.race, uncharacteristic slips from him? Yes, he ran wide into turn one.

:37:36. > :37:41.At the early stage of the Grand Prix, they have a lot of fuel on

:37:41. > :37:44.board. He was hunting Michael Schumacher. A bit of oversteer. Out

:37:44. > :37:50.across the grass and that put him under pressure with Rosberg who we

:37:50. > :37:55.see coming up on his left-hand side. He loses the rear end as he goes

:37:55. > :37:58.through the corner. He got lucky when it came to the safety car and

:37:58. > :38:02.that's probably why Lewis Hamilton wasn't looking as satisfied as

:38:02. > :38:06.maybe he should have been with the result. But nice to see that there

:38:06. > :38:11.is a bit of a mix there, you know. Much as Red Bull would love to

:38:11. > :38:16.continue their dominance, McLaren is a quality team and further down

:38:16. > :38:21.the grid, Ferrari coming back up. And Mercedes slipping away. Let's

:38:21. > :38:27.just hear from the current Formula One world champion, Sebastian

:38:27. > :38:33.Vettel. A strong race and an eventful race for you. How are you

:38:33. > :38:36.feeling? I am happy to be honest. I think starting sixth. I was

:38:36. > :38:41.surprised yesterday with the questions I got and the answers I

:38:41. > :38:46.had to give so yeah, I think it was not, you know, the preferred

:38:46. > :38:53.position to start, but it wasn't disastrous. I think we had a good

:38:53. > :38:58.start at the race. I was able to find the rhythm quickly and got

:38:58. > :39:01.past a couple of people, especially the Mercedes because to get them is

:39:01. > :39:04.tricky. They are quick on the straights. We have seen that last

:39:04. > :39:09.year a couple of times that many people got got frustrated behind

:39:09. > :39:12.them and that was crucial and pace was good. I was happier with the

:39:12. > :39:16.car. It was an important race for us to understand more about the car

:39:16. > :39:20.and learn about the car. The potential seems to be there. Surely

:39:20. > :39:28.today, Jenson Button deserved to win. Congratulations, but to split

:39:28. > :39:33.the me clarns the McLarens and to finish ahead of Lewis was great.

:39:33. > :39:37.did fear the worst for Mark Webber. He is unlucky in Australia and he

:39:37. > :39:41.came on the radio talking about the fact that he had damage to his car

:39:41. > :39:44.and you think not another disappointing Aussie race for Mark

:39:44. > :39:50.Webber? He didn't get off the line clean. He lost a number of places

:39:50. > :39:54.and then you see two cars, it was the Force India, yes it was the

:39:54. > :40:04.Force India and another car who I couldn't catch, they closed the gap

:40:04. > :40:10.

:40:10. > :40:15.thinking he was going to disappear so he takes a hit. It was recardio.

:40:15. > :40:23.There is contact and it kicks off. Is that an accurate view from

:40:23. > :40:27.inside the cockpit? It is off centre, of course. Looking down too

:40:27. > :40:32.much at cockpit, but it gives us another movement feel to what the

:40:32. > :40:36.driver is is doing in the car. EDDIE JORDAN: I have a problem with

:40:36. > :40:41.Mark about this. He is an sheernsed driver. He is one of the --

:40:41. > :40:44.experienced driver. He is one of the oldest in the group. It is like

:40:44. > :40:49.penalty shootouts, you have to go and he has shown us he is not good

:40:49. > :40:53.enough at starting. So what do you do? You go to Silverstone or some

:40:53. > :41:00.circuit and you just perfect it and do it time and time again. We did

:41:00. > :41:03.it so many times, drivers where they couldn't hook it up together,

:41:03. > :41:08.you do it so often that it becomes second nature. Mark hasn't learned

:41:08. > :41:13.that. He wouldn't be ignoring the fact

:41:13. > :41:16.that he struggles with starts. He was talking about his starts

:41:16. > :41:20.becoming an Achilles heel. They practise starts during winter, but

:41:20. > :41:23.times you want to go away and do nothing other than start after

:41:23. > :41:27.start after start, we did it at McLaren over several years and

:41:27. > :41:31.clearly, it is an issue he has to work on because if you do the good

:41:31. > :41:39.work in qualifying and lose two or three places into the first corner

:41:39. > :41:43.P And in this case more. Well done to to Mark Webber his best result

:41:43. > :41:51.at the Australian Grand Prix. To a man who came from the back to

:41:51. > :41:54.the front. He started 17th and finish sixth. He hasn't lost his

:41:54. > :42:00.flair and pizzazz. There was disappointment after

:42:00. > :42:05.qualifying yesterday. He was and upstaged by his team-mate, Grosjean.

:42:05. > :42:12.This was inspired driving. He takes the car around the outside in turn

:42:12. > :42:17.four and nice driving from Kobayashi and the Sauber. He has

:42:17. > :42:21.not lost any of that. He has only been away a couple of years. It is

:42:21. > :42:25.not like he has been sitting on a beach. He has been in a rally car

:42:25. > :42:28.and anyone who has followed rallying will know that's scary

:42:28. > :42:34.stuff. The sport moves on so much, Eddie,

:42:34. > :42:38.but one thing that stays the same is marshals waving flags. Just as

:42:38. > :42:46.David was saying he is not race rusty, he said this over the radio.

:42:46. > :42:49.He gave us all a giggle. TEAM RADIO: Why do I get all the

:42:49. > :42:56.flags? Blue flags are for cars behind Kimi,

:42:56. > :43:02.they are not for you! It is a classic. This is the, "Why

:43:02. > :43:05.Me?" Syndrome. Honestly, the why me? It is the same race for

:43:05. > :43:08.everybody and everyone feels victimised, but that's never the

:43:08. > :43:16.case. It goes around and comes around.

:43:16. > :43:20.What he has forgotten, of course, if it is a Blue Flag for you, a

:43:20. > :43:24.blue light will come on in your cockpit. Of course, the marshals do

:43:24. > :43:28.it the old-fashioned way with a Blue Flag. Kimi has been so focused

:43:28. > :43:33.on what is happening out of the cockpit, he has not been looking at

:43:33. > :43:37.the lights on his dashboard. Clearly feeling persecuted. We are

:43:37. > :43:43.glad to have him back. Let's talk about Ferrari and Fernando Alonso.

:43:43. > :43:47.Bad qualifying yesterday and let's ride on board with Fernando Alonso.

:43:47. > :43:51.Well, he gets the car hooked up nicely away from the inside part of

:43:51. > :43:54.the track and the Ferrari form, it seems to be linked to what colour

:43:54. > :43:59.flag and what name is on the side of the cockpit and in this case, it

:43:59. > :44:05.is like the C has opened for him and the cars ran wide and that's

:44:05. > :44:09.where he was a bigger through the early kerfuffle in turn one. The

:44:09. > :44:14.pace of the Ferrari on testifyy tanks was good. He seems to be able

:44:14. > :44:18.to find group in a way that Massa isn't at this stage of the season.

:44:18. > :44:21.This is a huge relief to Ferrari after what happened yesterday in

:44:21. > :44:26.qualifying. Let's hear from Alonso and we will

:44:26. > :44:34.get Eddie's thoughts. Fernando from a great start, was it

:44:34. > :44:42.a better race than you hoped for? Yeah, I think so. I think think it

:44:42. > :44:46.is a better result regarding how - it is a good result. Being twelfth

:44:46. > :44:53.in qualifying and one second off the pace. We didn't lose too many

:44:53. > :44:57.points. We were far from pole position yesterday. Today we had

:44:57. > :45:01.some interesting fights, but not at the top so we need to improve

:45:01. > :45:06.quickly, but overall, quite happy with the points we get from this

:45:06. > :45:11.crazy race. Crazy race indeed. Sending a

:45:11. > :45:16.message back to Maldonado. I am not sure with the facial harp. Let's --

:45:16. > :45:20.hair. Let's talk about the team- mate. A big coming together with

:45:20. > :45:25.the two Brazilian drivers. Massa struggled for pace all weekend.

:45:25. > :45:29.In this case, you cannot blame the car. Massa for me, a second off a

:45:29. > :45:34.lap mate off his team-mate. He needs to up his game immediately.

:45:34. > :45:38.We spoke before the race and I called to question where was

:45:38. > :45:41.Ferrari going? The amount of money, �400 million a year to spend on

:45:41. > :45:45.promotion and advertising to promote a product that actually is

:45:45. > :45:48.probably at this moment damaging their product because what they are

:45:48. > :45:52.doing on the track is not good enough for Ferrari.

:45:52. > :46:02.It is no lack of money, no lack of talent, they have trawled Formula

:46:02. > :46:05.

:46:06. > :46:11.One for the great and the good over is as drastic for them in terms of

:46:11. > :46:15.lack of performance. The pace today during the race, it was within the

:46:15. > :46:22.same second as the McLarens in front. The performance level during

:46:22. > :46:27.qualifying left a lot to be desired. I take a lot of heart pull them out

:46:27. > :46:32.of their performance at the beginning of the Grand breeze. You

:46:32. > :46:38.do not expect to see a Ferrari battling with the Williams of old.

:46:38. > :46:45.It is a bit too early to be putting the male in the coffin. They have

:46:45. > :46:49.got away with this weekend. If they had had a bad result today, the

:46:49. > :46:55.knives would have been out. mentioned the battle between

:46:55. > :47:01.Williams and Ferrari. Let's have a look at that moment. Is someone

:47:01. > :47:11.being a bit naughty, do you think? Let's have a quick look. What is

:47:11. > :47:13.

:47:13. > :47:17.different? We saw Kimi Raikkonen on the outside. I really do not see

:47:17. > :47:24.how the stewards are going to do much about at the start it was a

:47:24. > :47:32.racing incident. Both cars were unwilling to give way. -- much

:47:32. > :47:42.about that. I have only ever seen Kimi Raikkonen overtake round there.

:47:42. > :47:46.I understand Bruno's Senna wanting to hold the position. We have seen

:47:47. > :47:52.this a lot with Filipe Massa at last year. Is it because he sits

:47:52. > :48:02.lower in the cockpit that he does not have good vision? That was a

:48:02. > :48:07.bit clumsy. Was it a racing incident? The only difference is

:48:07. > :48:15.that there was another car in front. They were not going into the corner

:48:15. > :48:22.at the same speed. Do I blame Filipe Massa? I do not. Do I blame

:48:22. > :48:28.whoever? I think this is a racing incident. I do not known who to

:48:28. > :48:37.blame. One man who was plainness in parts was Pastor Maldonado. Not

:48:37. > :48:42.blame us for the way his race ended. He had a dramatic weekend.

:48:42. > :48:52.fantastic performance for him, right up -- right up until it

:48:52. > :48:56.really counted. It was a racing incident. Possibly Romain Grosjean

:48:57. > :49:02.should have backed out of it. This was the last lap and Fernando

:49:02. > :49:11.Alonso was in front. This is a difficult corner as the sun goes

:49:11. > :49:16.down. He rolls through the corner nicely. Humidity on the kerb. Old

:49:16. > :49:22.tyres. A lack of concentration. Maybe he opened the DRS. It is

:49:22. > :49:29.difficult to see on a monitor if it was open. It was a fairly

:49:29. > :49:35.spectacular crash. Could I ask the question? Do you think Pastor

:49:35. > :49:42.Maldonado was going to have a go on the next corner? Pastor Maldonado

:49:42. > :49:48.has the message, he is in trouble. The Ferrari is in trouble. It is a

:49:48. > :49:52.mindset thing. It is not to take out the racer. You need to look for

:49:52. > :49:56.opportunities. Perhaps today should have been a case of saying, that is

:49:56. > :50:06.a good enough result to start the season. I'm sure we as a happy to

:50:06. > :50:08.

:50:08. > :50:13.see a Williams car fighting with a Ferrari. Sadly, it was not to be.

:50:13. > :50:20.Pastor Maldonado, tell us how you are feeling. I'm OK at the moment.

:50:20. > :50:28.I am disappointed. I was doing a great race. I'm was consistent. It

:50:28. > :50:32.was a good pace. I'm happy for that was do it is looking strong for the

:50:32. > :50:40.season. -- I am happy for that. We need to take positive things for

:50:40. > :50:43.the weekend. The car was strong and consistent. You were on course to

:50:43. > :50:53.score more points today than William Scott and the whole of last

:50:53. > :51:01.season. Yes. -- Williams got. I feel confident. We are very

:51:01. > :51:05.competitive. We need to keep pushing like that. The last lap of

:51:05. > :51:11.Pastor Maldonado was not the only drama we saw at the end. Write to

:51:11. > :51:16.the line in the midfield. This was a real scrap for points and a good

:51:16. > :51:22.indicator have these young drivers are feeling. They are desperate to

:51:22. > :51:27.impress, particularly this guy. This gives a lot of heart as to

:51:27. > :51:32.whether mind sets of these young guys are. Team-mates are racing

:51:32. > :51:39.will to wheel. He goes for the cutback. He loses the wreck of the

:51:39. > :51:48.car. He runs into the setting sun. -- at the rear. Then the run-down

:51:48. > :51:54.in to turn 15. It is right into the eyes of the driver. We have the run

:51:54. > :52:01.for the line. It is encouraging stuff but they were able to battle

:52:01. > :52:09.it out. This is a much better camera angle. He was able to use up

:52:09. > :52:13.any of his DRS and KERS and pick up that vital point. It was more like

:52:13. > :52:17.Formula three or four minutes for at Silverstone on a dark winter's

:52:17. > :52:24.night. Everyone going hell-for- leather just to get over that line.

:52:24. > :52:31.That is what makes Formula One exciting. You love racing talent.

:52:31. > :52:36.am excited. They just want to perform. They get such a buzz out

:52:36. > :52:41.of it. Yes, points for the team, they think about that later. They

:52:41. > :52:51.just want to be the closest Guide to them. That is what that is a bad

:52:51. > :53:05.

:53:05. > :53:09.and that is why I want to watch fantastic end to this race! It was

:53:09. > :53:14.crazy. I do not really know what happened from start to finish. The

:53:14. > :53:21.first corner was a bit disappointing. I do not know if I

:53:21. > :53:28.was to blame. It was a decent start. I went to the outside. There were

:53:28. > :53:36.too many of us. I think we had some damaged to the Left Front. It is

:53:36. > :53:43.great to finish 9th. I am extremely happy. The car was very good. It

:53:43. > :53:48.could have been much better. To come 9th was really good.

:53:48. > :53:56.Congratulations. In the thick of what he described as the Crazy

:53:56. > :54:03.last-lap is Paul di Resta. Give us your thoughts. I think today week

:54:03. > :54:10.of is the struggle for pace, trying to get the tyres switched on. -- we

:54:10. > :54:16.obviously struggled. On the last lap, we thought we would get points

:54:16. > :54:21.if we could keep our nose clean. I saved a bit of KERS, trying to get

:54:21. > :54:27.out of the last corner. I was able to use a bit more than everyone

:54:27. > :54:32.else managed. We would have liked more. It was the KERS Button that

:54:32. > :54:38.its cue from the back of the pack? It probably was. I positioned the

:54:38. > :54:43.car well. It is quite a long run in Melbourne at the finish line.

:54:43. > :54:48.During the race, there was any point where I could have lost the

:54:48. > :54:56.front wing and stuff. In terms of performance, we are not where we

:54:56. > :55:05.need to be. In Malaysia, Prix should be in better shape. White is

:55:05. > :55:11.it's so tough here? -- why is it so tough here? The temperature will be

:55:11. > :55:16.a bit different. I will not go into details why we think we are

:55:16. > :55:22.struggling. In qualifying yesterday it I'm just 20 seconds on about lap.

:55:22. > :55:27.That was the difference. It puts you in among the pack. With a race

:55:27. > :55:34.car, it looks strong. My second last lap was the strongest of the

:55:34. > :55:39.race. Everyone else was falling off the pace. The fire has to go out at

:55:39. > :55:46.some point. Doesn't that says something about the strategy or the

:55:46. > :55:52.way the car is set up? When I saw you go back to 13th, having been as

:55:52. > :55:58.far as 10th, there was nothing in the tank. What happened? How come

:55:58. > :56:05.you've finished in 10th? I think the safety car was not best. It got

:56:05. > :56:12.the Toro Rossos back in the game. I saw I could concentrate on the ones

:56:12. > :56:17.in front. They had soft tyres at the end, which were quicker. We

:56:17. > :56:22.were on the mediums. Everybody dropped off and it allowed me to go

:56:22. > :56:26.stronger at the end. Everything was there. We need things to switch on

:56:26. > :56:32.a bit quicker in the next few races before we get upgrades, which hope

:56:32. > :56:38.we will be a big package before the European season. Thank you for

:56:38. > :56:44.joining us. I think the midfield battle will be interesting. Paul is

:56:44. > :56:51.disappearing off. The drivers will be debriefing with engineers after

:56:51. > :56:59.the race. A bit of a chance for a celebration with McLaren. You know

:56:59. > :57:06.how it is to celebrate a win in the Australian Grand Prix! This is a

:57:06. > :57:14.big victory for GBE. It was the straight fight. Benny had his first

:57:14. > :57:22.win for McLaren, it was in changing conditions. -- when he had. There

:57:22. > :57:29.was good tyre management. They were extremely happy. Lewis Hamilton was

:57:29. > :57:35.smiling there. He can be different -- disappointed with the way the

:57:35. > :57:39.safety car worked out. Last year was Red Bull doing all the

:57:39. > :57:44.celebrating. They are getting ready to pack up for Malaysia. I would

:57:44. > :57:49.not rule them out yet. Given the circumstances, it was important

:57:49. > :57:55.that they did not have the fastest car for a change. I thought

:57:55. > :58:00.Sebastian Vettel was very promising and very strong. What happens is -

:58:00. > :58:06.what makes me excited - his McLaren have traditionally always been a

:58:06. > :58:12.team that can develop best. If they can do that again this year, then

:58:12. > :58:18.Red Bull have a big fight on their hands. Eddie is excited and so

:58:18. > :58:21.should you. We return next weekend. Only a few days between this race

:58:21. > :58:26.and the Malaysian Grand Prix. You can see all the highlights from

:58:26. > :58:30.qualifying on Saturday, 24th March and a full race highlights