The Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying Formula 1

Good afternoon and welcome to another chance to see qualifying

for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix from here in Shanghai in this fast

paddock. We got used to last year, the same old man generally on pole

position at at the end of the race he tended to raise his finger in

celebration. What a difference a year makes. So goes the beat of

success, a predictable riddle, near impossible to break, pole position,

race to win. He has got a good start. Now that rhythm has broken.

They are stuck together. Batten wins in Australia. It is pouring

down now. Emergency, stop the car. Fernando Alonso takes the victory.

In the second plays his Sergio Perez. What a turnaround. The only

Formula One fan not enjoying the champion at the moment is the world

champion himself. At the moment he is not even the lead driver. This

is how it stands after a spectacular season so far. Fernando

Alonso dragged the car around the track in Malaysia in the rain. That

put him top of the standings. Lewis Hamilton has not yet won a race. He

says he is targeting consistency Let's see if Eddie Jordan can shed

any light on those standings. We have Ferrari struggling one week

and winning the next. Sergio Perez comes out of nowhere, and Sebastian

Vettel is not in the battle. What is going on? It is hugely intense

because no one knows what is going to settle down. It seems McLaren

have a particularly good car, so watch out for them. How do we go

from a metronomic 2011 to a season that is totally unpredictable?

is to our favour. Sebastian Vettel has not done poorly. He has had a

few spats. These are things that a driver who is on top of his game

should have dismissed at this stage. He is obviously concerned about

that or how the car is working. He is concerned about the overall

speed of the car because it does not have the same penetration as

before. Sebastien struggled in Malaysia. It was an unstable way to

work out the standings in Formula One. With your many decades of

experience, how do you see the pecking order? I would totally

dismiss Malaysia, Surrey, Ferraris. It was a fabulous victory for them

with a car that is not good in my opinion. Wet races are like things

that are thrown in the middle of the season to give us new

encouragement and excitement, but it is not a good barometer for the

season. Mercedes and particularly Michael Schumacher's seems to be

back all the time gaining momentum and he could surprise all of us

with a podium and a raise win very soon. Will he spring a surprise in

qualifying? In practice he was very quick, many people predicting

Mercedes could start this at the very front. Let's find out what

happened in the first start of qualifying with Ben Edwards and

Prix is going to take place on the dry track in misty conditions. It

is the 9th time at Formula One has come to this circuit, a track built

in 2003 to the highest standards. He still looks very impressive with

the bridges. We are in the third round of the series, which started

in Australia. We have been to Malaysia. In qualifying it has been

about Lewis Hamilton so far this season and it looks as if it could

be again today. He has a gearbox penalty that will be applied for

the race day. But he will be targeting the top spot in

qualifying. Michael Schumacher had 1.32 and I do not think they will

be threatening that lap record here today. We see speeds over 175 miles

an hour in four separate places. Up to about 200 miles an hour at the

end of the straight. It is light and nimble and they can go for it.

Of course at the race is where you get the champagne and the trophy,

but qualifying is all about showing your bravery and you're speed. When

they go out for their qualifying lap, presuming they only do one,

they will have seven or eight kilos of fuel to enable them to do a

flying lap and come back in again. But we have seen issues so far

where they are not getting their lap out of the tyres in the first

lap. If that happens today, we will see them do multiple laps. We have

got the soft Pirelli and the medium Pirelli. The softer have a yellow

writing on the side and the harder of that two tyres has the white

writing. Also available by the intermediates and the wets. When

the teams are referring to the prime and the option, the Prime is

the harder tyre and the option is the softer tyre. That is the system

I would like to run all year. The Prime is the slow tyre and the

option is that racier hard one. Otherwise it gets a bit confusing.

Amazingly Fernando Alonso is leading, five points ahead of Lewis

Hamilton. Jenson Button is only one point ahead of Mark Webber. It will

be interesting to see how Mark Webber gets on with his defence

specification to Sebastian Vettel. There have been some last changes

to Felipe Massa's car. There were changes going on to Fernando

Alonso's car. Gary, you were watching some of the technical

changes and they were taking quite some time. Yes, they were trying to

change the set-up of the front suspension. They had to change it

from underneath the car. Normally it takes a couple of minutes to

change. They just pull the nose off, but that torso by Argos in

vertically and it took them 15 minutes out of a one hour session.

Just for a small set-up change that is not good enough. It probably

functions quite well, but it takes too long to change it. Or Ferrari

the car is not quite fast enough. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher

have been near the top of the time sheets all weekend. We are also

looking at Hamilton and Jenson Button. We heard from Christian

Horner that he expects them to have an advantage in qualifying, the

McLaren. But Mercedes have been knocking at the door of getting on

the front row and it would only take a small mistake to allow that

to happen. Red Bull are coming in with a great qualifying record.

Sebastien has been on pole in the last three years in a row. If he

does it again, it would be an amazing four times in a row. The

best Michael has ever qualified his 6th, so he will want to do better

than that. The green light is on for the first 20 minutes session of

qualifying. All 24 cars will be going out on to the track and

getting ready to see whether they can make it through to the next

part of qualifying in to cute to, and to do that they have to be in

the top 17. The Lotus had the fastest lap last time out. He won

here in 2007, whether he has got a car capable of battling for pole, I

doubt it. But there is a feeling in the paddock that we have not seen

the best of the Lotus car so far. Kimi Raikkonen has lost none of his

speed in his two years away in rallying and Romain Grosjean had a

good speak. He is probably a little bit behind the curve in terms of

his preparation, Kimi Raikkonen. Felipe Massa is going to be out in

the Ferrari. Gary, I wanted to quote to you quickly about the

technical challenge for qualifying from an engineer's point of view.

What are they trying to get out of the car today? To get into the top

17. For the smaller teams their challenge is quite different. There

seems to be a big step between the soft tyre and the hard tyre. They

have to make sure they get into qualifying two at least. Quite a

few cars will have to put on the soft tyre to get through it and

that uses up one of the sex they have. It could easily knock out one

of the big teams quite quickly. You have got to be alert and thinking

during this session to make sure you get through. Felipe Massa has a

harder compound, but we have seen him go to the soft tyre already

this year to get through to qualifying to. If you can save a

set for race day, which is what Lewis Hamilton did last year, it

really helped him. How you use your tyres is crucial. It says. The life

you get out of a new tyre improves. If you have already used it all you

three sets of option and private qualifying, you miss out on an

opportunity to take your pit stop quite as far as you would have

liked. With his new parolee Formula One strategy is absolutely key.

Let's watch Paul di Resta as he goes on to a flying flag. Best

qualifier his 40th place in Malaysia. Using more kerb then I

would have expected. The would have been looking down into the cockpit

and he locked up slightly. He may have just allowed the car to drift

on to the kerb. There is no benefit in running wide in that area. You

will never go faster on a kerb then you will on the black stuff. Quite

a crucial section coming up next. Yes, into turn 11, second tyre and

this is the tricky part, coming out into 13. And then you have this

seemingly never ending corner. The difficulty is you are at the limit

of the grip of the car, but you want to get you do ers are open to

get the benefit of that extra 15 kilometres. We have been seeing a

number of cars touching 200 miles an hour. Paul di Resta not quite at

that point yet in qualifying. That rear wing flap, the DRS system, the

drag reduction system, is being used on all the straights in

qualifying. You are allowed to do that. We are on board with Felipe

Massa. When it comes to the race they will only be allowed to use

that ers system on a prescribed section. Let's take a look at what

happened to Paul di Resta on that lap. That is the lock-up into turn

six. Yes, that is. You do not see so much from the camera angle. That

is an element of carrying a bit too much speed and at the moment -- at

the last moments applying a bit of brake pressure. You lose downforce

and you are having to get off the brake pedal as you get closer to

the corner. Lewis Hamilton, one of the cars we are expecting in pole

position today. But all McLaren have to worry about at the moment

is getting there two cars into the second part of qualifying. He has

been the man on form around this racetrack this weekend, despite the

fact he has got a side plays penalty for a gearbox change. He

has handled that well and is getting on with the business of

driving this car as quickly as possible. We are coming up to the

end of the second sector. He is also quickest in that sector. He

looked like he went a bit wide in 13 and that may have cost him a bit

through the air and, it is a massive braking force, huge amount

of G-force. It is like being hit on the back of the helmet with a

sledge hammer, the amount of braking power. 120 Bara braking

power, maybe more, on that first hit, then as you go through the

breaking phase, you have to make sure not to lock the car up to much,

and an surprisingly, Hamilton was quickest. The difference is not bad

Corp Jenson Button, but Lewis Hamilton has done 1.36 0.7. Jenson

Button four-tenths of a second or that. Sebastian Vettel, the three-

time pole position winner in the last three years. He has just

started his lap. He is just going out on to his fast lap. A tricky

section requiring a lot of patience. You carry a lot of speed into that

first part of turn ano mac. -- one. I believe it was designed to

represent a character. He is doing not too badly on that first sector,

on the harder tyre. That pretty much matches what Lewis Hamilton

was doing. The small lift as he goes through the middle of turn

seven. A lot of patience through 9 and 10. Pretty tidy. There should

be a formality for Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull in the crossbar of

qualifying. Bus - the first part of. This is going to be around the 36

mark. Maybe a bit slower than the McLaren in this last sector because

of the high-speed nature of this long back straight. This is a good

lap was Sebastian Vettel and encouraging for Red Bull. A little

deep into the hairpin, at turn 14. The final sector might not be their

strongest. He uses a lot of road out of the last corner. Kobayashi

has gone second in the Sabbath. That is a good effort by the

Japanese driver -- in the cider. -- Sauber. Jenson Button is ahead of

Kimi Raikkonen in the positions at the moment. Currently, but got

Charles Pic, della Rosa, Rosberg, Webber and Michael Schumacher who

have not yet completed a flying lap. When you saw Kobayashi pop up

second, the first reaction was do think that he must be on the

auction tyre. -- auction tyre. -- option tyre. We know that the Red

Bulls are running slightly different set ups. Just explain

what is different. They have developed their cars and Mark

Webber thinks that different side pull in different exhaust

integration is the way to go. He has gone back to the older

specification. And he feels more compatible in it, he feels that he

can drive the car faster because he can push it more to the limit.

Driver confidence is everything, as David will explain. And Sebastian

feels better with that car. Getting some team radio from Sebastian

Vettel, we did not quite catch it. Sebastian Webber, fastest from

Hamilton at the moment. Michael Schumacher is currently end fiveth

place. And it looks as though Red Bull are going to be challenging

for top times. Not everybody going hard on it yet. Remember they are

using the harder compound tyre at this stage. A better time from

Jenson Button. He goes faster than Hamilton. This is Kobayashi,

currently 4th classes. -- fourth- fastest. The question is, which of

the drivers are going to have to use the softer tyres when they are

still using the harder tyres at the moment. We're looking at one of

them, Jean-Eric Vergne, sitting down in 18th place. Let's keep an

eye out for Felipe Massa, as well. He has got to be concerned with

that first one of the 7.9 that he did. He dropped out of the first

part of the -- of 37.9. Just what Gen Jean-Eric Vergne as he comes

down, the young Bridgeman, the youngest rider in the field this

year, with a point scored after that impressive performance in

Malaysia. He comes back into the pits. He will have to put on the

softer tyre, to try to get out of the drop zone which is from 18th

downwards. If he finished that lap he would have gone in a little bit

quicker in his first and second sector but with seven minutes to go,

the team have decided to bring him in and to bring the auction tyre. -

- option tyre. Gary, what are your thoughts on which teams are going

to have to go for the softer tyre? The first one I think to do that

will be Felipe Massa or. This morning in practice three, 37.6 was

17, so if you add in a little bit more effort and list your, you have

got to get into 36 to make sure you get to Q2. It looks like a pressure

at the moment for 38.0. There is a second to find there. Four people

have not done a 36, I think they are taking a gamble. Michael

Schumacher is on 1.36 0.7, it is incredibly close, the two top cars

separated by a two-tenths of a second. Felipe Massa is now on the

softer tyre, and we will have to see what is going on there. Do not

worry about the names coming up on the screen, I don't think they have

changed the names from their Porsche Carrera or race that was

going on this weekend. Maldonado and Kovalainen, 18 and 19, in

Formula One. That remains me of my schooldays, must try harder!

the game Assen on the ladder at the moment and he has set the past --

fastest first sector, but he should be because he is on that yellow

bald softer tyre -- yellow walled. For Ferrari to have to do it, it

shows that they are struggling with this car and there is no difference

this weekend, they have got to use every trick in the book just to get

into that second stage of qualifying. He is up again on the

fastest time of Mark Webber, that 1.36 0.6. The tyres are working

much better and it shows that everyone is going to start

improving massively when the match start using these diets. For the be

Massa as only marginally quicker than the first fastest man, Mark

Webber. There is a huge amount of time available in this last sector.

You think, what can the driver do? The entry onto that long straight

through turn 13 is vitally important for getting that height

of speed and splitting the breaking down into a 14, and then what looks

like a simple,, turn 16, is incredibly tricky because you are

trying to not take too much of the available for the next part of

qualifying. He found 1.4 seconds, which is a big game. -- gain.

Whether that means that he did not get a great lap in on the other

tyres, and there. There is no doubt Ferrari is not using his tyres as

well as some of the quicker cars, but you're not going to get 1.4

seconds between the tyres. A we have got Paul di Resta, 13th

fastest, Hulkenberg, at the moment, 16, the German. He qualified in

16th when he last drove in Shanghai for Williams, but he has qualified

as high as seven, in Australia, this year and he scored a couple of

points in that race in Malaysia. He is on the softer tyre, with the

yellow writing on the sidewalk. Not challenging what Felipe Massa did

end there. Kimi Raikkonen also out on the softer tyre, also, no, he is

on the harder tyre, still, that is interesting. We continue to watch

Hulkenberg on the latter part of his lap. Paul di Resta or sticks

his force in the up into second place in the second part of the

session. It is a reasonable indication of speed, relative to

the Ferrari, because you can compare it with the option tyres.

Hulkenberg seems not to be settled around this day's course, like Paul

di Resta it does, this weekend. -- this racecourse. That is a great

lap from the French driver, Romain Grosjean. He is on the softer tyre,

but he has gone two-tenths of a second faster than Felipe Massa or

in the Ferrari, so Grosjean, put in that lack of experience behind them.

It is interesting that Perez is on the softer tyre. With the pace of

this order are there, I thought they would get through this phase

of qualifying without the softer pad, but it is so competitive in

that midfield. -- the softer tyre. I think it shows a lack of

confidence in the pyre, from Perez, to go on that option, because

normally you should not be on the situation of being enacted Jobs's

own. You can see Fernando Alonso getting very wide there. He has

gone with the option tyres. Many teams are feeling under pressure to

gain that extra six or seven-tenths of a second that they get from the

softer tyre. Paul di Resta has been pushed back to sixth place. Mark

Webber has been pushed down to it let's see what this next lap is

like. He is going on to a quick lap now, hopefully, for him, on to the

softer tyre, and for that teams like Caterham, Marussia and HRT, it

is a huge achievement if they can get into Q2, from the drop zone and

that is what they are trying to do now. There is only 30 seconds to go.

That will be an uncomfortable wait as he sits in 13th place. You're

only talking two-tenths of a second down to the cut-off point. Some

brave decisions on tyre choices of fire. Watching Petrov with some

oversteer between turns 9 and then. A Petrov has been here before, and

the best qualifying for him was in 10th place, the car is moving

around quite a lot, and that is an indicator of the lack of downforce

that the smaller teams suffer from. It is all about aerodynamics and

you could see the car moving around. I think we have got an answer as to

who is the first of them it-would teams to drop out, it will be John

Eric Vergne -- Jean-Eric Vergne. I think he has pretty much given up

on this lap. There are the seven cars that are dropping out. Petrov

stays in 20th place and stays behind his team-mate, Heikki

Kovalainen, who wins the qualifying battle with his team-mate, 3-0.

Just watching Timo Glock in the Marussia, in 21st place, either of

his team-mate, Charles Pic, whose neutered body of one, so that is

team-mate as well. It is John Eric Verne of the cars and drivers and

that you might have expected to get through he misses out this time.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 47 seconds

His team-mate Danny are Ricciardo out. And disappointment cuisine

Eric Byrne. But he will take heart from his right in Malaysia where he

made it through to the points because fresh, soft tyres are still

so important. He was one of the stars for me and he has brought new

life into France. France has been struggling with drivers for a

couple of years. He is the bright new future. Of course, it does not

help if you go at the earliest stages. We know they have got some

money and they worked closely with Red Bull, but they are finding it

difficult. A You have to say they will be the team at this stage. If

you were to take a gamble and say, who is the one most likely to get

out, you have to go with them. They are getting the momentum. But Mike

Gascoigne said they would have 40 points last year. He is the

designer, so maybe he knows something we do not know. He was

never able to transfer that into reality and right now his owners

would like him to do something even close to that. We have not

disappeared from the racetrack. This is designed to look like a

traditional garden. It is at the back of the paddock. These glass

buildings, each of the team has two of these. It is a nice place to

relax, nicer than the commentary box.

We get ready for the second part of qualifying. There is a question

about whether there could be a little bit of rain in the air.

view from our commentary box, which is spectacular, it is the clearest

I have seen the horizon. There tends to always be a bit of a smog

around Shanghai. I do not know if it is this time of the year, or if

it is like that all the time. If it is spitting with rain, it is coming

from a very high cloud. Red Bull has been showing pretty well.

Daniela Ricciardo is showing here. Red Bulls were fast in that first

qualifying, using the harder tyre. These could be the ones to watch.

Indeed, they have not been far away in the first two Grand Prix is. It

is not a question of them having a car that lacks speed. They have had

the underlying race speed and it has been quicker on the Red Bull

than the McLaren. It is a question of unlocking the that performance.

A big factor is making the tyres work. We have seen a lot of

variation in track temperature over the last two days. We are currently

25 degrees track temperature and 21 degrees air temperature. That may

favour one team over another. Sauber is out on track. Kobayashi

out on the softer compound tyre. There is at the Japanese Rivett

with their yellow writing on the sidewalk. One of the early cars to

come out on track. This session a shorter. Gary, we have looked at

the times, have you got any idea of a ballpark figure for what they

have to do to get into the top 10 and they kick into the final part

of qualifier? They are leaving the pits on the softer tyres. The

battle will be getting into the top 10. I think we will have to get

into 30 sites. 36.7 was the 10th fastest in that session. Webber and

cannot and will have to get into 35. 35.9 before you fill comfortable.

Schumacher did 35.9 on Friday afternoon and Hamilton did that

this morning. Now they are in ideal conditions and they have got brand-

new tyres to play with. Alonso has been quite aggressive with his

movements on the steering wheel. has. They are showing they can do a

few laps with these tyres, so that is why they are moving around,

getting as much heat in the tyre. Another way of doing that will be

breaking. It radiates of their heat into the tyre and his stabilises

the tyre pressure and all of that has an effect on the aerodynamic

performance and the confidence of the driver feels when he launches

out of that last corner and starts at the lap. We are watching

Kobayashi. Kimi Raikkonen is already quicker to the first

sector.. Kobayashi has not made it into the top 10 yet this season.

That has got to be his challenge. Coming up to the second checkpoint.

It establishes the benchmark time. Kimi Raikkonen is behind. Kimi

Raikkonen was not as good to the second checkpoint. Kobayashi now on

to that long straight. Flat out all the way down. Up to just about 200.

Perez had the speed of 323 kilometres per hour. That is bang

on 200 miles an hour before getting on to the brakes and just over 40

miles an hour through their hair pen and back out. It is ever so

easy to overstep the mark. Kobayashi keeps it tidy. That is

exactly what Gary's said it should be! Spot on. We are hearing Perez

is out on a set of used option tyres. That might explain why

between Kobayashi and himself there is half a second difference. Let's

see what Alonso it does. He is three-tenths slower than Perez.

Presumably that is a used set of options from the first part as well.

35.7 is the new benchmark. Michael Schumacher is on track. The first

part of the lap completed. He goes second. 35.7, pretty much the same

time as Rosberg. Hamilton is on track. 1.3 6.14 Jenson Button. What

is Sebastian Vettel going to do? He has got a good little sector.

Michael Schumacher has just gone second. Not so much from Mark

Webber. It is now the two Mercedes see what went on with Felipe Massa

at turn 11. I would not have thought that would have cost him

too much time as he went through the apex. A replay of nothing much,

quite frankly!. Felipe Massa is in 16th place. He is down on his team-

mate Alonso. It is all about getting into the top 10. Danny a

Ricciardo is going to struggle to get into the top-ten. Romain

Grosjean has not set a time yet in the second part of qualifying.

Whether he has a problem, I do not know. Kobayashi has been pushed

back into the pit box. Gary, looking at these times and some of

these teams are using the tyre they used earlier on, are we going to

see big changes when they put a brand-new set on? We saw earlier in

the practice sessions that the second a lap was OK on the softer

tyres. They will use the same sets in at the second part of qualifying

to get themselves into the same schedule. That would be an ideal

thing to do. You see Jenson Button sitting at 36.1. He is a little bit

vulnerable. Webber is behind him and Perez is behind him and Alonso

could do that sort of time as well. We hour watching Romain Grosjean.

It sounds as if Red Bull think they have done enough. Mark Webber will

have to go again on another set of options. But the teams said they

did not feel it was enough for them either. It remains to be seen. That

is Romain Grosjean. He gets some oversteer in the middle of Number

11. That will cost him a lot of time. Once again you can see so

much oversteer in that car. He did not finish the lap, he has come

straight back into the pits and it is not looking good for Romain

Grosjean at the moment. He had some good qualifying in Australia. We

are watching Sebastian Vettel. He has just set a new, fast as the

middle sector. We are going to see an improvement from the double

world champion. Red Bull fighting to go for pole position in the

final part of qualifying. The final sector is a personal best, but it

keeps him down in sixth. Look how close it is. It is incredible when

you consider the length of this circuit and the range of the

corners. There are some meaty ones in the middle of the lap. We have

got four corners over 250 kilometres an hour. A lot of high-

speed turns. Alonso sitting in tenth. Just under five minutes to

go. You can expect them all to be gearing out there for one more run.

There is one-tenth to the best car. The best car is out there. My last

sector was not that great. Lewis knows he can improve in the last

sector. He will be confident there is more to come. 35.7 is the time

to beat. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher are very evenly matched.

But they are running out of time. 4.5 minutes remaining on the clock.

The battle to get into the top 10. It looks as if they are getting

ready to send that car again. Not going to plan for Romain Grosjean

so far. We have got Felipe Massa in the Ferrari. He has got plenty to

do. He has got to find himself at least one second. I think he will

struggle to find one second. One other person who might be

struggling a little bit if we believe the circuit tracker

information, it is Jenson Button. If he feels vulnerable to maintain

his position, he is going to have to use up his last set of options

and that would leave him nothing for the last part of qualifying.

That is a worry if that is the case decides to show random people in

the pit box is when one we want to see is the action. He is just

heating up the brakes, doing a little bit of weaving. His engineer

will be telling him where all the other cars are. The difficulty is

that you do not know who's coming out of the pit lane. It seems as if

you have got a clear track to play with, but if somebody weaves in

front of you, we will see Felipe Massa or, coming into shot, both of

these guys fighting for their place in the top 10. They are on the

track at the same time and the comparison between them will be

closely looked at. There is no hiding in Formula One, you're

always compare to your team-mates. We can get a good comparison now of

what they can do, at the first checkpoint, Alonso is just Brno

tenths of a second down on the best, that is promising, from his point

of view, there'd be Massa was a two-tenths of a second behind.

tenths of a second over a simple sector, you should not expect that.

Between each boat team mates, at worst, maybe Brno tenths of a

second. There we are at the second checkpoint, Fernando Alonso almost

at the same pace as the best that we have seen, so that is a good

effort, but there'd be Massa is two-tenths of a second down on his

team-mate. Interestingly, Rosberg and Schumacher have stayed in the

pit lane, deciding that the times they have set our save enough for

them to go into the top 10 and they will not have to use another set of

tyres was top Jenson Button is on the track, and so was Mark Webber,

so some of the top drivers are having to use up their allocation

of time. Fernando Alonso goes 6th quickest, only 10, and there are

still others out there, who might improve. We're on board with Paul

di Resta or. He is in 11th place at the moment. That is not going to be

enough and he is not going to be able to improve on that. He still

has time to finish this lap if he has enough fuel on board to do so

and we have seen the option tyres hanging on in there. Maldonado

doesn't do it. He is in 11th place. Is a good effort, all things

considered, to be within three- tenths of a second: so, but whether

it is enough to keep him in the top 10... Here's Perez, who is on a

good lap right now, coming up to turn 14. We can see what his effort

is and whether he goes into the top 10. That could be a key one. Mark

Webber has done a personal best, and has been pushed down to 10th

place. Kobayashi is up there in for police. Perez has pushed Felipe

Massa down, and Ferrari will have noted that one, once again. Sergio

Perez is giving them a hard time. Mark Webber is the man in danger.

He has been pushed down to 10th place but has set the fastest

middle sector of anybody so as long as he completes the lap, he should

be safely in the top 10. Consistently, Red Bull are quickest

in that middle sector, taking us from the hairpin at turn six,

through to turn 11, mainly the fast corners, where the absolute

downforce is key, they a quick, there, and Mercedes are quicken the

last sector which is all about the top speed. That could be as much

about the downforce they are running as well as the pure

performance of the car. He has been pushed down to 9th, because Romain

Grosjean... Sebastian Vettel is in trouble. The he is not quicken the

first sector, he is about two- tenths of a second down on what we

would expect and that first set there. He has not done it, he is

11th, the three times poll winner, Sebastian Vettel is out of

qualifying after Q2. That is really dramatic. We knew that Ferrari were

struggling, Felipe Massa is out, Alonso is in by the skin of his

teeth in Ted place, but Sebastian Vettel, there will be no four

successive pole positions in Shanghai, he has failed to make it

through to the final part of all the fight. Sebastian Vettel feeling

in the final session of qualified. in the final session of qualified.

-- failing in qualifying. No one expected that to happen. Where

could this have gone wrong? We have already spoken at length about the

two variations of the two set ups. If I was Sebastian Vettel I would

be having a look at what Mark Webber is doing because he is not

normally the pole-sitter. This is not the time to be desperate, but

at the same time, 11th place is unbelievable for Sebastian Vettel.

This is Sebastian Vettel getting out of the car. He had an

incredible run of pole positions last year. The people at Red Bull

say that this cars quicker in the race, but Sebastian Vettel's

dominance was built on getting pole position and getting away at the

start of the race. Before we get too carried away, you do not get

points for qualifying. And the weather could change, we saw what

happened in Malaysia, where Ferrari came out of the blue. Regular

cricket in that middle section, they have a better balance and are

taking risk assessment to a new level, and I believe they might

have more downforce than the other teams, so, if it is wet, they will

have the advantage. If you are just joining us, Eddie was talking about

two different set ups on the car. They have reverted to the exhaust

set up they had at the beginning of their testing this season. But,

Mark Webber remains on the update the car, and at the moment he is a

lot faster. We can hear from Heikki Kovalainen, there is talk of an

investigation or a penalty because he was apparently held up by Pastor

Maldonado. We have just been hearing that you are under

investigation with Pastor Maldonado, but we did not see what for. He is

under investigation. I am the good, and he is the bad. What happened?

He was getting ready for his first time lap and I was completing my

first lap and then the back straight, he was weaving, warming

up his tyres, and I was getting close to him and he had no

intention to let me past. It did not cost as much because I had

another lap later in the session, but he did a mistake and I think he

probably has to pay for it. Stuarts no doubt will take into

account the fact that Heikki Kovalainen probably would not have

started any further up the grid and 19th. From the back of the grid, to

the ton, no Sebastian Vettel or polygamous a, but it is time for

the bike or poor position, back to the commentary team of David

Coulthard and then it was. Shaping up nicely with two famous phrase is

missing. -- and then it was. -- be Hamilton takes pole position, he

has a fight place grid penalty for the race tomorrow, because he has

had the gearbox changed overnight. A problem from a previous race

which they only discovered when they arrived in Matt China, there

was a crack in the gearbox, you have to change the gearbox, it has

to last but by the events, and that it does not, you get a grid penalty,

and that is what Lewis Hamilton will have to suffer, from wherever

he qualifies, but he will definitely be going for it. The

final part of qualifying is under way, and immediately, the Lotus

coming out, of Kimi Raikkonen, former race winner, but never a

pole-sitter. The times are so close, as we have seen, close enough to

shift Sebastian Vettel out of the top bend, but every few hundredths

of a second is going to count. is like Formula Ford Racing, it is

so close! This is going to be an epic battle for pole position, I

certainly hope that it is, another set of soft options for Lewis

Hamilton to go out, only one set of options available. He is going out

to get a site for lap on a scrubbed set of tyres. -- sighter lap. What

a battle this is going to be. Incredibly close. It really is.

Mercedes are up there as well, we can listen to them. Looks like it

is getting slightly poorer, so just think about that, in the warm-up

lap, two degrees, are so, it looks like it is getting cool. What is

two degrees between friends? It is a helluva lot in a racing car.

getting the breaks up to temperature. I was discussing the

Carrick-Anderson before qualifying, they Stark that one out of turn 11

on to the long straight with the brakes up to 300 degrees, but by

the time you get to 14 they will have shed about 500 degrees,

because of the year crawling through the brake ducts -- air

cooling. Then they are below the optimum operating window for

temperature, so those are the things that the drivers have to do,

to try and build heat in the tyres, we can see Michael Schumacher

weaving around, that is more psychological than anything, but

the way to get deep into the tyres is by high-speed driving, and

underbraking. -- to get heat into the tyres. Now, Nico Rosberg is

back on the power, talk us through this next part, be it. He's coming

through turn by, then 100 metres, hard on the brakes, into second

gear, nice to action, as he comes off, we can see his like Delta, he

is one tenths of a second quicker than his best lap, we can see the

right hand side of the display, on the steering wheel. Talking over

the beautiful noise of the car, there, apologies for that, we will

get another opportunity to see on board through that section. And

coming to the end of us do, he's quicker than his personal best by

two-tenths of a second, and if that is the case, we can expect around

data by 0.5, assuming he keeps the rest of this lap -- around 35.5.

Revised to 35.3. That this vast, none the less. Now, coming up to

the final turn. But it by 0.8 has been set by Kimi Raikkonen -- 35.8,

and it is a 35.1, that is a very rapid lap. From Nico Rosberg. He

has never had a pole position close up to date he is day, today? That

was a beautiful lap, it is a beautiful when you're in a car

seeing that, let's see what Michael Schumacher can deliver, 35.6. You

don't know whether he has got a fresh set of auctions or not.

the 5.64 Lewis Hamilton, a fraction faster than Michael Schumacher, but

does were a used set up Byers, so he could close that zero. Five-

second gap on Rosberg. It is unusual when these older gentleman

and a paddock at knowledge the camera. Ross looked down the pit-

lane and saw himself on the screen, and they wonder if that is a look

of quiet satisfaction goes up it is great to see your car at the top of

the times, but they wonder of the simulations tell them that will be

a critical time for anybody to beat here, this afternoon. Can Mercedes

take their past opposition? It is not going to be easy because there

is Mercedes engine power and the back of the McLarens they affecting

that. Mark Webber has been fast with the Renault engine power at

the back of the Red Bull and he is on an out-lap at the moment. We're

waiting to see what he will do. He has left it late with just ano mac

won in this final part of all the fine. -- just one run. OK, my God,

so Nico Rosberg's lapping, but it by. Want. OK! That is a brilliant

piece of teen radio booster I do not remember asking for my team-

mate's time. You just want to know what is the quickest time. That

tells you something of the main sit of Michael Schumacher right now. It

is like that is the ultimate gauge or him, relative to Nico Rosberg,

Rosberg has had the edge. He has indeed, but Michael has been

looking pretty racy. He is currently sitting in third place.

Six of the top 10 have not done their run yet. Here is the starting

lap of Mark Webber. It is designed to look like a Chinese symbol, it

is never good to design a race track to look like characters. Just

design them to be good for the drivers and the rest will follow.

The first checkpoint coming up. He is just over one-tenth slower. The

fastest in the sector has so far has been the locus of Kimi

Raikkonen. It seems to be in the second and third sectors, a long

third sector, it is very significant on this circuit. He is

in the middle sector now, the key sector for Red Bull. If he is not

showing faster, and he is not, so Mark Webber is not challenging for

pole position on this lap. He may get another lap if he has time to

do so. But it does put him in the party. None the less, it is such a

big gap from Nico Rosberg to the others, that Webber can get a good

position. It is a great feeling when you sit in the car and they

take the blankets off and you see this shiny new rubber. You feel

that extra grip, it gives you confidence as you attack the corner.

This is Webber as he crosses the line. That is disappointing. It is

one seconds away from what Nico Rosberg has done. Still two minutes

of the session, but have we witnessed the perfect lap from Nico

Rosberg? It was certainly a very quick lap. He is out of his car, is

that correct? Yes, it is indeed tame. I was looking out of the

commentary box. Nico Rosberg is clearly not running again. Has he

got enough to keep Hamilton behind? Hamilton is going to be the big

Challenger. Perez is on a good, reasonable lap. If I was Nico

Rosberg and I it was about to possibly have my first pole, I

would hang around the garage waiting for the possible team hard.

But he is all alone, has anyone told him? Has he not looked at the

screens? Perez has not set a time just yet. I do not think it is

going to be that quick. It will not be challenging the likes of Nico

Rosberg, Hamilton, or Michael Schumacher. That is behind Mark

Webber. He is three-tenths of a second slower than Mark Webber in

the Red Bull. Jenson Button on track. Not a good first sector.

Jenson Button at the moment does not look as though he is going to

be challenging Nico Rosberg who still might get his first ever pole.

This is not going to be a pole position for Jenson Button and he

will not get another lap after this one. He has run out of time. 25.24

Hamilton in that first set there. It is quick air than what Jenson

has managed. He looks to be made top 10. I think he will probably be

ahead of Webber. Raikkonen and Sue there will be his targets. He is on

the third row. Kobayashi has gone forth. A brilliant lap for him.

Pretty much what we expected and what Ferrari thought they had.

Hamilton cannot cause a surprise. His middle section is not quick

enough. Nico Rosberg is going to have his ever first pole position.

The first ever pole position for Mercedes since 1955. Let's watch

Hamilton. He is coming back into the pits. He has ended up second

fastest, but do not forget he will have a great penalty. Nico Rosberg

has done it. It is the third ever McLaren powered pole position,

Mercedes, rather, pole position. It is their first pole since 1955.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 47 seconds

session, but quite hard to make sense of it all. I am totally

confused. Nico Rosberg was half a second quicker than the field. I

have never seen that recently. That was a phenomenal lap. Whatever that

time he went out he was in such We know they have been under

pressure to get good results from their base in Germany. But they

have any confidence. A lowly ninth place in the championship. I dare

say that were changed tomorrow because they look very strong. A

cool, old head with Michael Schumacher's sitting there. They

are not stupid. They will be told tomorrow how the game plan will be

at the start of the race. They have the speed up to the corner, and

they are in a strong position. Lewis Hamilton is in seventh. We

have got Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber and Kimi Raikkonen also who

impressed. Absolutely amazing. If we were to start this season

thinking they would be third and fourth by a raise three, you would

say, I am not sure what you have been puffing on or whatever. The

reality is at the Sao Beqaa looks so good. Last year they did not get

the exhaust right and they had a complete failure with it and that

is to their advantage of this year because it is not allowed. The big

story is Sebastian Vettel is out and he starts 11th. He never looked

good. He went down the wrong way. He has not taken the chosen route

that his designer has chosen. He has gone off in his own direction.

You pay the penalty for that. He knows more about the scientific

evidence than anyone else, so why change? You can see the race

tomorrow live on BBC One and BBC 18 As far as the racing is concerned,

it is congratulations to Mercedes. Because of Lewis Hamilton's penalty,