The European Grand Prix

:00:20. > :00:30.Previously on Formula 1... Fabulous stuff!

:00:30. > :00:30.

:00:30. > :01:23.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 52 seconds

:01:23. > :01:31.A great start to the season. When Spain was booming, so was its

:01:31. > :01:41.creativity. A city of arts and science. This weekend welcomes a

:01:41. > :01:46.

:01:46. > :01:51.sport that excels at both. The art of racing, sound and speed. But the

:01:51. > :01:57.fastest have their eyes on something slightly less eye-

:01:57. > :02:03.catching - consistency. Jensen Button.

:02:03. > :02:11.Fernando Alonso. Nico Rosberg.

:02:11. > :02:16.Sebastian Vettel. Pastor Maldonado.

:02:16. > :02:22.Mark Webber. And Lewis Hamilton. They have all

:02:22. > :02:28.made us stop and stare at some stage. But who from now until the

:02:28. > :02:32.end of the year can stand out from the crowd? And if an architect was

:02:32. > :02:39.asked to design the perfect formula One season perhaps this year it is

:02:39. > :02:45.exactly what the would come up with. Traditionally this is not a race

:02:45. > :02:51.that has blown our socks off. But after qualifying yesterday, today

:02:51. > :02:59.it is set up beautifully. I will try not to give too much away but

:02:59. > :03:05.it was an unbelievable qualifying session. A lot of drivers you would

:03:05. > :03:12.expect to see at the front are not at the front. There will be a lot

:03:12. > :03:16.of passing in his race I would expect. And the reason for

:03:16. > :03:21.qualifying shaping up Blunkett did was how close it was on the track

:03:21. > :03:26.yesterday. How concerned will the guys at the front be that they have

:03:26. > :03:31.not yet built a gap over their rivals? It is a leap in the last

:03:31. > :03:35.couple of years that we have got used to people marching away with

:03:35. > :03:40.the Championship. But other championships in between, there has

:03:40. > :03:47.always been a battle. What is unique this season is that so many

:03:47. > :03:52.of those guys, if you go down to Nico Rosberg, he is just one win

:03:52. > :04:02.away from leaving the Championship. I am a loving it. It is just so

:04:02. > :04:04.

:04:04. > :04:10.close. It was just a thousands of a second that cost Fernando Alonso

:04:10. > :04:20.yesterday. The race will start on the hour. This is the place to

:04:20. > :04:49.

:04:49. > :04:53.# Don't you worry, it's going to be The moral of the story, if you come

:04:53. > :04:59.here on a stack do expect to be in trouble in the BBC cameras are

:04:59. > :05:09.present! Few people realise just how close the beach is to the

:05:09. > :05:09.

:05:09. > :05:15.action. It is unique in Formula 1. These were the celebrations in

:05:16. > :05:23.Madrid as the world champions beat France. The Spanish football fans

:05:23. > :05:29.well used to sell Britain. Jaime Alguersuari joined in. I know

:05:29. > :05:35.you're a football fan. I could not watched all of the match but I knew

:05:35. > :05:43.the score. I knew exactly what was going on. Well you looked quite

:05:43. > :05:46.good, but not good enough to beat England in the semi-finals! We have

:05:46. > :05:51.seen the passionate and everything that surrounds that vibrancy of the

:05:51. > :05:59.Spanish people. It is not just confined to football. What has

:05:59. > :06:05.Fernando Alonso brought to Formula 1? I think Spain does relate a lot

:06:05. > :06:12.to motorbikes. MotoGP and so on. And there was a big turnaround in

:06:12. > :06:17.Spain when he got his first title, a culture around motorsport. And

:06:17. > :06:23.then it started to grow, a big passion for motor sport after what

:06:23. > :06:28.happened with him. You are up the test and development driver for

:06:28. > :06:34.Pirelli so ideally placed to get yourself back into Formula 1. Are

:06:34. > :06:38.you frustrated at not actually being out on the race track? Well

:06:38. > :06:44.it has been great to develop these tyres and I'm really enjoying

:06:44. > :06:48.myself, I always do in a Formula 1 car. I'm looking forward to

:06:48. > :06:55.competing again, I miss this feeling of the red lights, the

:06:55. > :07:04.flags, maybe the podium! All the female fans back home will be

:07:04. > :07:09.disappointed that you have covered up your lovely eyes! If we look at

:07:09. > :07:16.the calendar for this year this is our second trip to Spain. It is

:07:16. > :07:21.looking like they will alternate the races between Barcelona and

:07:22. > :07:30.Valencia. Do you understand that? Our economic situation is not the

:07:30. > :07:36.best. For me it is great to race in Spain twice. But we need to be

:07:36. > :07:45.realistic. I think one race is enough for us, hopefully Barcelona

:07:45. > :07:51.because I come from there. But it is great, all the fans come here.

:07:51. > :07:55.But for sure we cannot hold two races. It is too much for us and

:07:55. > :08:00.our economic situation at the moment. Well you had better go

:08:00. > :08:10.because you have to go up to the commentary box. And he will be

:08:10. > :08:10.

:08:10. > :08:16.commentating actually on 5 Live. Last year he really struggled in

:08:16. > :08:22.qualifying and then finished in the points. Here is what happened in

:08:22. > :08:27.qualifying and here is a starts out of position.

:08:27. > :08:32.Mark Webber was next Saturday started badly with a brake problem

:08:32. > :08:39.in free practice and got worse in qualifying when he was unable to

:08:39. > :08:44.escape the first drop zone. He starts in 19th position. In the

:08:44. > :08:48.second part of qualifying, it was the most competitive ever seen.

:08:48. > :08:58.Fernando Alonso just missed out on the cut making the first time since

:08:58. > :09:02.Australia that he has missed out on the top 10. Jensen Button it was

:09:02. > :09:07.faster than Lewis Hamilton in the second part of qualifying but could

:09:07. > :09:12.not repeat that performance on his final set of tyres and is in 9th

:09:12. > :09:19.position. Hamilton got a better- than-expected second place. But

:09:19. > :09:24.Sebastian Vettel got a hat-trick in Valencia with an outstanding lap

:09:24. > :09:28.faster than anyone else by three- tenths of a second. So the front

:09:28. > :09:34.row is a repeat of Canada and Bahrain. Pastor Maldonado his third

:09:34. > :09:41.ball Williams. Nico Rosberg felt he was hindered by Hamilton but

:09:41. > :09:50.they're both in the top 10 for Force India. Alonso and Schumacher

:09:50. > :09:59.up are in the 6th row. Vitali Petrov finds himself next to Mark

:09:59. > :10:06.Webber. And due to a stomach upset Timo Glock will not be on the grid.

:10:06. > :10:11.So we send our best wishes to Timo Glock. I imagine Ferrari also felt

:10:11. > :10:17.pretty sick after qualifying yesterday. We spoke earlier to

:10:17. > :10:23.Pastor Maldonado. You start in third position. You have already

:10:23. > :10:32.won a Grand Prix in Spain, can you make it to in a road? I hope so. It

:10:32. > :10:39.is important to win the podium for us, I will do my best to win.

:10:39. > :10:45.Strategy will be very important today. I feel very confident with

:10:45. > :10:52.the car because we're always competitive. Some looking forward

:10:52. > :10:57.to the race. And a wish the team all the best. All 24 cars finished

:10:57. > :11:05.the race last year. What is the key to winning it this year? You're on

:11:05. > :11:10.the clean side of the grid. That is important. There's a huge

:11:10. > :11:18.difference in terms of the grit between the lines and that will be

:11:18. > :11:22.important to have a good start. A well tried to maintain my position

:11:22. > :11:27.against Lewis Hamilton. That is not easy, it will be a tough race for

:11:27. > :11:32.everybody. These conditions are difficult for at the tyres. It will

:11:32. > :11:37.be tough for everybody. You have got your own Grandstand here that

:11:37. > :11:43.is packed with fans, thousands of miles from home. I'm very happy to

:11:43. > :11:49.see all of them. They are looking for Williams, at looking for me,

:11:49. > :11:57.and it is a pleasure to race in front of them. For sure all of my

:11:57. > :12:03.country is looking for a big result. Keep your eyes on Pastor Maldonado

:12:03. > :12:08.starting on clean side of the grid, a fast starter. He has already

:12:08. > :12:12.shown that he is a race winner this year. He is making good progress

:12:12. > :12:18.and I'm certain he will have learnt from the mistakes that he has made.

:12:18. > :12:22.He could be a dark horse. Well the prancing horses were struggling in

:12:22. > :12:26.qualifying yesterday. Felipe Massa are just making his way through to

:12:26. > :12:36.the garage behind us. Do you think they'd made a tactical error

:12:36. > :12:37.

:12:37. > :12:43.yesterday with not running the softer tyres? If they had used that

:12:43. > :12:47.they would have made the final part of qualifying. When you have the

:12:47. > :12:52.18th of the talent and expertise of Ferrari, and they make such

:12:52. > :12:57.fundamental errors, it is not excusable. They did that previously

:12:57. > :13:02.and it cost Fernando Alonso the Championship in Abu Dhabi. For me

:13:02. > :13:07.this is a huge strategic error. I am critical of Ferrari because yet

:13:07. > :13:11.again they have dropped the baton. It is an unbelievable mistake.

:13:12. > :13:16.us your thoughts on the qualifying performance of Felipe Massa.

:13:17. > :13:24.Comparing last year to this year, is the problem for him not getting

:13:24. > :13:32.it together on Saturday? Well look at those results. This is Ferrari

:13:32. > :13:36.we are talking about. The greatest name in motor racing. You have to

:13:36. > :13:40.go to Monaco, which is renowned as being the favourite circuit of

:13:40. > :13:46.Felipe Massa, that is the only circuit where he is just about

:13:46. > :13:52.equal to his best position last year. He has a role problem here

:13:52. > :13:58.and he cannot raise unless he moves up the grid.

:13:58. > :14:02.He's just having his photograph taken. You're under pressure,

:14:02. > :14:06.thinking about the race, and someone is taking go photograph!

:14:06. > :14:13.Ferrari have come out and said that sensual prose is too aggressive at

:14:13. > :14:16.the moment. I think they want Sergio Perez. If I was running

:14:16. > :14:21.Ferrari I certainly would think about him. What I would love for

:14:21. > :14:27.them to do is get a young driver, put their arms around him and

:14:27. > :14:31.nurture him, bring them forward. We hear that they're talking to

:14:31. > :14:36.Sebastian Vettel, talking to Hamilton and Mark Webber, for me

:14:36. > :14:44.that is nonsense. Take a young potential champion and grow with

:14:44. > :14:48.them. That is the perfect scenario. And what will frustrate Ferrari is

:14:48. > :14:52.that Lewis Hamilton, and we can see him making his way to his garage,

:14:52. > :14:57.he starts second. That will frustrate Ferrari because they

:14:57. > :15:01.think he is the man to watch for the Championship. Well they have to

:15:01. > :15:11.watch the constructors Championship as well and they're throwing this

:15:11. > :15:11.

:15:11. > :15:17.away with neither carp in the top 10. Where is the responsibility?

:15:17. > :15:21.The grid is tight, I give you that. And perhaps Fernando Alonso will

:15:21. > :15:31.get up into the podium, we do not know. But the qualifying is so

:15:31. > :15:50.

:15:50. > :15:55.Let's find out how Nico Rosberg feels. The highest scoring driver

:15:55. > :16:00.for the past five races. Thanks for your time ahead of the

:16:00. > :16:05.Grand Prix. You will be starting in sixth place. What can you expect to

:16:05. > :16:09.convert that to? It did not work out in qualifying yesterday, I got

:16:09. > :16:14.stuck behind Lewis. I could not do my lap properly. Six places

:16:14. > :16:21.disappointing, but I have a good race car. The strategy will be

:16:21. > :16:28.interesting today. I think some people will just make one stop.

:16:28. > :16:32.That will make the race really interesting. A lot is possible.

:16:32. > :16:36.mentioned being held up by Lewis. You grow up together in the same

:16:36. > :16:42.karting team. Is it a bit strange when you go to the stewards and you

:16:42. > :16:48.have to say, he held me up and he says no? How do you deal with that?

:16:48. > :16:52.It is very, very awkward to be in there with a friend. You are trying

:16:52. > :16:57.to have them over and he is trying to have you over. It is very

:16:57. > :17:01.awkward. For me it is very easy to separate the two things, from what

:17:02. > :17:09.goes on on the track. He messed up my second lap yesterday, but we can

:17:09. > :17:13.still be laughing today. We wish you luck. Thank you. Good luck to

:17:13. > :17:18.Nico Rosberg. He has now just climbed into the car behind us. He

:17:18. > :17:23.is putting serious pressure on his team-mates. Michael qualified in 12

:17:23. > :17:28.face and the Coe is much further forward. It pressure in this garage.

:17:28. > :17:34.There is huge pressure on Michael Schumacher. I think the team has

:17:34. > :17:40.let him down. They admit that. A lot of unusual unforced errors in

:17:40. > :17:44.terms of the mechanics. Michael himself still lingers on. What

:17:44. > :17:48.happened with Bruno Senna running into the back of him, there was not

:17:48. > :17:52.characteristic. Two points on the board is not what he expected to

:17:52. > :17:57.have after these races. A big opportunity for Mercedes because we

:17:57. > :18:00.are back to the Big Apple next year. Who better to give us a guided tour

:18:00. > :18:10.around the new circuit than the current world champion, Sebastian

:18:10. > :18:19.

:18:19. > :18:25.For 40 years, people have been talking about having an F1 race in

:18:25. > :18:29.Central Park, Flushing Meadow Park, Wall Street. The problem with those,

:18:29. > :18:33.besides the bureaucracy, is that you can't see New York when you're

:18:33. > :18:43.in New York. You can't see the forest for the trees. We are in New

:18:43. > :18:44.

:18:44. > :18:53.The whole side of the city will be able to hear these cars go by. It

:18:53. > :19:03.will wake people up to what an F1 car can really do. Sebastian Vettel.

:19:03. > :19:06.

:19:06. > :19:12.It is amazing to see all of this coming together. It is more than

:19:12. > :19:16.four years of work. The first time we came here was June, 2008. We

:19:16. > :19:21.were hoping to have Formula One racing. We are ahead of schedule.

:19:21. > :19:25.If you look behind you, there's a garage area and we are ahead of

:19:25. > :19:30.schedule on that. It will be completed in the next four or five

:19:30. > :19:34.months. It is a street circuit with elevation changes. Maybe that is

:19:34. > :19:39.comparable to what you see in Monaco. But the high speed makes

:19:39. > :19:43.this quite unique. It could be the best Formula One track in the world.

:19:43. > :19:46.This is my first time in New York so I have a good tour guide.

:19:46. > :19:56.don't know where I'm going! doesn't know where he's going,

:19:56. > :20:06.

:20:06. > :20:09.apparently. Which is a bit worrying. This is the track. This? We were

:20:09. > :20:13.speaking to the guys and they were saying the main thing will be the

:20:13. > :20:18.elevation changes. I've been surprised as well. You will see

:20:18. > :20:25.after this right hander, it is quite steep uphill. It is a normal

:20:25. > :20:35.road, which is part of it. Obviously they have to take those

:20:35. > :20:39.

:20:39. > :20:46.I really wasn't expecting that. we have to... Let's do something

:20:46. > :20:51.illegal! This one is a massive step forward for all of us, Formula One.

:20:51. > :20:55.It is great to be part of a time when a race in New York comes in.

:20:55. > :21:01.That is something very special. I've just been in the car with

:21:01. > :21:06.Sebastian Vettel and now I'm here with the grandfather of Formula One.

:21:06. > :21:11.Isn't that Eddie Jordan? I'm not as old as Michael Schumacher, I'm only

:21:11. > :21:15.41. I was a bit disappointed, I was trying to make Sebastiaan do

:21:15. > :21:25.something illegal, is that bad? Germans would never do anything

:21:25. > :21:37.

:21:37. > :21:43.Stick your hand out of the window Can I see your licence,

:21:43. > :21:49.registration and insurance card? You were been clocked at 100 mph in

:21:49. > :21:53.the 25 mph zone. We were filming. From the BBC. The any paperwork I

:21:53. > :21:57.have got is the script for the peace we were filming. -- only

:21:57. > :22:07.paperwork. I don't have my licence on me because I didn't think it was

:22:07. > :22:12.

:22:12. > :22:17.necessary. This is not enough for Do I get a phone call? Remarkably,

:22:17. > :22:21.the man he called was Eddie Jordan. Did you pay the bail? That poor

:22:21. > :22:25.policemen, he should have thrown the keys away. I would love to have

:22:25. > :22:30.seen him locked up for life. It was only a joke, David was not driving

:22:30. > :22:34.naughtily. The cars are leaving the garages, less than half-an-hour

:22:34. > :22:41.until the race starts. A while longer until we are in New Jersey

:22:41. > :22:45.for the race. Why is the USA so important to Formula One? It is the

:22:45. > :22:50.corporate capital of the world. We know about the emergence of the new

:22:50. > :22:54.countries, Brazil, India, China. But most of these corporations and

:22:54. > :22:57.the people who understand the marketing worldwide and the effect

:22:58. > :23:03.that Formula One has are all American and they want to be in New

:23:03. > :23:07.York. We're going to New Jersey, or are we? This is there any today.

:23:07. > :23:12.Last night he spoke to Ali Mackenzie and explain that maybe we

:23:12. > :23:20.are not going to New Jersey. 2013, reports of 23 races, is that

:23:20. > :23:24.correct? Not at the moment, no. many races? 20. Will we have any

:23:24. > :23:29.new ones? Not for next year, definitely not. Not New Jersey next

:23:29. > :23:35.year? No. We will have to see. I need to have another look. What

:23:35. > :23:41.I've seen up to now, I'm not as sure as they are. If they can get

:23:41. > :23:46.it completed and confirmed to us it will be done, it could be on the

:23:46. > :23:51.cards. That is completely unclear! Definitely not happening and

:23:51. > :23:55.deathly is happening. I'm not sure what to make of that. You were

:23:55. > :23:59.there, 15 months away from the race, did they seem like they were ready?

:23:59. > :24:04.Were they talking about maybe having a raised? They think they

:24:04. > :24:08.are ahead of schedule. The scheduled date they are talking

:24:08. > :24:18.about is just after Montreal. Just less than 12 months away. It looks

:24:18. > :24:23.like a lot of work because the road is in trouble in the middle.

:24:23. > :24:28.have to also remember there was a big doubt about the race in Austin

:24:28. > :24:33.or India. And a lot of other places. Bahrain included. Bernie always has

:24:33. > :24:37.a habit of throwing something in it and making sure they get on with it

:24:37. > :24:40.and employ extra people to make it happen. I feel quite certain he

:24:40. > :24:44.will not miss the opportunity of having a Grand Prix in New York

:24:44. > :24:50.just because it is late. He will have it there. We would love to go

:24:50. > :24:55.to New York, but I'm sure relaxing in the YMCA is all that is on

:24:55. > :24:59.Jenson Button's mind. He has been out-qualified by his team-mate

:24:59. > :25:07.every race this season. Today he starts 9th on the grid. Eddie has

:25:07. > :25:15.been asking just what has gone wrong. Don't have the pace. Too

:25:15. > :25:19.much understeer in the car. Button is back in the pits, is that over?

:25:19. > :25:24.Has Heathrow in the towel? don't have very bad qualifying

:25:24. > :25:34.sessions and understand what is going wrong. Look... He will be

:25:34. > :25:36.

:25:36. > :25:40.Not a lot to say about that, is there? Lewis has won the race.

:25:40. > :25:46.Today I was probably two seconds off the pace of the leaders. I've

:25:46. > :25:49.never been there before, especially in a car that has won a Grand Prix.

:25:49. > :25:55.I don't understand why we are getting so much locking. It is

:25:55. > :26:05.everywhere. I don't it if the circuit changed, but I could not

:26:05. > :26:10.Two points in the last four race is the Jenson. It is not good enough,

:26:10. > :26:14.what is the problem? His pace, if you look at the first four races,

:26:14. > :26:19.he was quicker than Lewis. If you look at his place in qualifying, he

:26:19. > :26:23.is not far off, but because the grid is so tight, if you get caught

:26:23. > :26:27.down the pack, you can lose around 10 places. It is about getting the

:26:27. > :26:32.tyres to work properly on that lap. Sometimes he can get it right and

:26:32. > :26:36.sometimes not. Everybody is concerned about the performance of

:26:36. > :26:40.Jenson at the moment. How concerned are you? None of us are as

:26:40. > :26:45.concerned as Jenson. He is very intelligent, he thinks things

:26:45. > :26:50.through, he had a fantastic track record of understanding the tyres

:26:50. > :26:56.and the car. When he doesn't understand it himself, he is

:26:56. > :27:00.inevitably, despite a lot of self- confidence, he is worried.

:27:00. > :27:05.points in his last four races, it is not good enough for anybody.

:27:05. > :27:10.It's not. It's not good enough for him or us. He knows that. What he

:27:10. > :27:16.has to do is reflect on the fact that two weeks ago in Melbourne he

:27:16. > :27:21.was massively competitive. Button wins in Australia! Fantastic Four

:27:21. > :27:26.stop none of that skill evaporated. All of that experience is still

:27:26. > :27:30.there. He is a very focused and committed driver. He's very honest

:27:30. > :27:34.as well, he's willing to look at himself and be self-critical. I

:27:34. > :27:37.think last week we were more culpable than him. We did not have

:27:37. > :27:43.a good enough job in setting the car up. He was damaging his tyres.

:27:43. > :27:52.That is not Jenson. We know he can do a better job than that. Lewis

:27:52. > :27:56.Hamilton was masterful today. Lewis, nearly double the points

:27:56. > :27:59.tally that Jenson has, at what stage does McLaren thing, our best

:27:59. > :28:05.hope of winning the championship is now with Lewis, let's focus on

:28:05. > :28:12.that? Not yet. That is not how we run. We have been criticised many

:28:12. > :28:18.times about this. I think there's a philosophy. The reason Jenson is

:28:18. > :28:23.here, the reason he joined McLaren, he was with a great team, is in the

:28:23. > :28:28.belief that he was going to have just as much chance as -- and given

:28:28. > :28:32.as much opportunity as Lewis. We have to honour that. If you asked

:28:32. > :28:35.me this going into the last race and Lewis's campaigning for the

:28:35. > :28:44.championship, we both know that I've got to take a different

:28:44. > :28:48.approach, but we are a long way OK. Not necessarily happy times in

:28:48. > :28:53.McLaren, but Jenson does race today. Timo Glock doesn't and this is a

:28:53. > :28:57.message from his team. Isn't it lovely help well prepared everybody

:28:57. > :29:01.is in Formula One? They still have their own race suits on! Just in

:29:01. > :29:07.case he makes a miraculous recovery. They might need those guys for the

:29:07. > :29:12.pit stop. I'm joking. Let's go for a walk and head out of the grid.

:29:12. > :29:15.How does it feel, you've driven at McLaren, when you hear the team

:29:15. > :29:22.principal say it is not good enough for us, it is not good enough for

:29:22. > :29:25.him, when talking about Jenson's current form? It is honest. JB will

:29:25. > :29:29.be the first person to acknowledge he is not happy with qualifying

:29:29. > :29:34.form. He is a winner, he has had great results at McLaren, but his

:29:34. > :29:38.last few races have been tricky. He has to be careful to avoid this

:29:38. > :29:42.become systematic. Every time he goes to qualifying, he start

:29:42. > :29:48.clamming up. When you over analyse what you are about to do, it

:29:48. > :29:53.becomes more of an issue. Eddie? What is the issue? Well, you would

:29:53. > :29:56.have to assume the car. This is a quality team. You have to assume

:29:56. > :30:00.the cars are Tote -- close to each other in terms of technical

:30:01. > :30:05.preparation. We saw something similar with Lewis last year.

:30:05. > :30:08.Jenson had the ascendancy so therefore you saw Lewis... This

:30:08. > :30:15.could be one of the issues about running two world champions in a

:30:15. > :30:19.team. You have this Markov effect. I'm as confused as everyone. I

:30:19. > :30:22.think Jenson has a lot of inner soul searching to find. Jenson

:30:22. > :30:27.wasn't the only man who struggled in qualifying. Mark Webber did the

:30:27. > :30:32.same. Always a bit quieter for the boys at the back of the grid. Do

:30:32. > :30:42.you want to have a chapter of my maybe we should. You can be an Mize

:30:42. > :30:46.

:30:46. > :30:53.Jean-Eric Vergne they're heading off for some refreshment. It was a

:30:53. > :30:57.bit of a nightmare for you yesterday? It was an unusual day.

:30:57. > :31:04.That is what happens when you drop the ball big time on Saturday

:31:04. > :31:10.afternoon, you're exposed. That is what happened to us. We had no DRS

:31:10. > :31:20.in the first part of qualifying so did not make the cut. You cannot

:31:20. > :31:22.

:31:22. > :31:32.take back time. Jensen Button spent a lot of time back behind Caterham

:31:32. > :31:34.

:31:34. > :31:38.in Monaco. It is difficult to overtake here. Yes. And there are

:31:38. > :31:48.complex corners in 12 and 13 so that makes it difficult to finish

:31:48. > :31:49.

:31:49. > :31:55.the move. It is not as bad as Monaco, but not far off in terms of

:31:55. > :31:59.being unbelievably hard to move up. You started at the back in China

:31:59. > :32:05.and came through to the podium. The same here, it is there more or less

:32:05. > :32:10.pressure? I think when you are here you're just trying to get your risk

:32:10. > :32:15.management correct. At the front there's less risk and a bit more

:32:15. > :32:20.precision involved. Here there is a lot more variability in what we're

:32:20. > :32:24.trying to achieve. The risk is going to be there because I'm

:32:24. > :32:29.associated with different types of cars and people for the majority of

:32:30. > :32:39.the race. So does trying to weigh that up, but not trying to get too

:32:40. > :32:41.

:32:41. > :32:51.analytical about it. We just have to try to get up as far as we can.

:32:51. > :32:52.

:32:52. > :32:58.I want to try to take a walk over to Caterham. They have seen a

:32:58. > :33:03.massive improvement. Here is the man who managed to achieve it.

:33:03. > :33:07.Heikki Kovalainen, can we have a quick word? The team are starting

:33:07. > :33:12.to deliver on what they promised earlier in the year. I just spoke

:33:12. > :33:18.to Mark Webber who has the Challenge of trying to raise you.

:33:18. > :33:24.You must be happy with the qualifying? Absolutely. My

:33:24. > :33:30.did not feel like an especially good lap but the car is getting

:33:30. > :33:36.better and the results are better. If I had a Red Bull a would be in

:33:36. > :33:41.pole position! But hopefully we will have oh good race today. We

:33:41. > :33:51.will be aggressive and we will be racing the cars we would not

:33:51. > :33:57.

:33:57. > :34:04.normally be racing. One or two stocks? I think probably too.

:34:04. > :34:14.Sauber here. What are you guys hiding? We are just standing

:34:14. > :34:23.around! Here is a chap we do not normally

:34:23. > :34:33.see so far done the grid, that Ferrari here. I'm going to dive in

:34:33. > :34:36.

:34:36. > :34:46.here and have a word with Felipe Massa. Your lap times were good

:34:46. > :34:56.relative to your team mate. I hope this man kiss me good energy for

:34:56. > :34:58.

:34:58. > :35:04.the race! -- gives me. We must really tried to recover position.

:35:04. > :35:08.It is difficult to get a hand on what people are expecting. Do you

:35:08. > :35:17.have a gut feeling as to what you're going to do in terms of the

:35:17. > :35:27.stops? I think between 1 and 2. That is interesting. Here is Bernie

:35:27. > :35:32.

:35:32. > :35:41.Ecclestone. It is not quite as busy here as it was in Monaco.

:35:41. > :35:46.Poll position is this way. Paul di Resta and, very honest yesterday

:35:46. > :35:53.that he dropped the ball in that last sector. He feels he could have

:35:53. > :35:59.been up there with Pastor Maldonado. Nico Hulkenberg, his team-mate, put

:35:59. > :36:03.in a very strong qualifying. Just looking at where we are on the

:36:03. > :36:12.track, some of the teams are telling us there is not much

:36:12. > :36:18.separation between what is faster at the start. In Canada of course

:36:18. > :36:23.we saw that Sebastian Vettel was into -- able to convert his pole

:36:23. > :36:33.position into leading at the first corner. It might be more difficult

:36:33. > :36:35.

:36:35. > :36:39.here. You're both running teams here,

:36:39. > :36:49.what are you talking about this late on in the Grand Prix? When

:36:49. > :36:52.

:36:52. > :36:57.England beat Germany! Football the top of the town. Good

:36:57. > :37:07.luck for your respective races. Christian Warner, how are you

:37:07. > :37:14.feeling? Well we have got another chance to try to convert the pole

:37:14. > :37:20.position into a win. Hopefully we can have a good run. But it is

:37:20. > :37:25.going to be tight and competitive. Sebastian said he did not know if

:37:25. > :37:31.he could go any faster. Was it as surprise that he not only got the

:37:31. > :37:35.pole position but by such a margin? Well it was so tight, and you think

:37:35. > :37:39.put a bit more polish on and it could be enough to do it. But then

:37:39. > :37:46.he produced one of the best laps of his career and under-age huge

:37:46. > :37:52.pressure. One set of tyres. Anti was inch perfect in that lap. So

:37:52. > :37:59.the gap was bigger than anybody expected. He has to do it all again

:37:59. > :38:09.today but over a lot more laps. Let us take a quick sprint down to

:38:09. > :38:17.

:38:17. > :38:23.the front. Sebastian's poll position was incredible yesterday.

:38:23. > :38:30.We're getting a shake of the head. The man very much focused on the

:38:30. > :38:39.race ahead. I think we have covered all the drivers available right now.

:38:39. > :38:42.Thank you very much. David will attempt to explain just how

:38:42. > :38:47.Sebastien pulled out such an incredible lap in qualifying in a

:38:47. > :38:51.moment. But first we can hear from Jensen Button.

:38:51. > :38:55.When we spoke yesterday you were a little frustrated. What is the key

:38:55. > :39:02.to moving forward in this race today? A positive attitude. I'm

:39:02. > :39:06.sorry I did not have that yesterday. I watched some replaced from last

:39:07. > :39:12.year and I actually overtook. It is difficult to tell how the car feels

:39:12. > :39:16.on away to the grid. But there are no issues and from where we are, if

:39:16. > :39:22.we have the strategy correct and look after the tyres in the correct

:39:22. > :39:26.manner, we could still have a good race.

:39:26. > :39:36.Jensen Button will also be hoping he can make use of the di Resta in

:39:36. > :39:38.

:39:38. > :39:43.this race. -- the DRS. Well the driver in front will

:39:43. > :39:48.position his carp in the middle of the road and therefore, with a

:39:48. > :39:52.street circuit it is virtually impossible. It is much quicker on

:39:52. > :39:57.the top of the road so you go to the side and run the risk of having

:39:57. > :40:04.an accident. Jensen Button will be hoping to use his DRS to get

:40:04. > :40:13.through the crowd as well Paul di Resta. How are you feeling?

:40:13. > :40:19.Reasonable, we had good pace all weekend. We will try to go forward.

:40:20. > :40:28.Strategy is going to be quite a big one today. How many stops? We are

:40:28. > :40:32.uncertain about that as well. Good luck today. That seems to be

:40:32. > :40:37.the message of the day, no one knows quite how many pit-stops they

:40:37. > :40:47.will have to make. But what we do know is that Sebastian Vettel was

:40:47. > :40:51.

:40:51. > :40:55.impressive. Just how did he build such a gap? Have a look.

:40:55. > :41:03.European Grand Prix round eight of the Formula 1 world Championship

:41:03. > :41:10.and once again the battle for pole position came down to these two men.

:41:10. > :41:14.Exit on turn at one, positioning in to turn two. Sebastian much more

:41:14. > :41:21.aggressive on the entry. And look at the shadow under that bridge,

:41:21. > :41:26.Lewis Hamilton already more than one car lengths behind. Sebastian a

:41:27. > :41:32.lot more aggressive on the kerb. Turns number six and seven charges

:41:32. > :41:41.position us. The next big position they have is in the entry into a

:41:41. > :41:46.turnip No. 8. It is pretty much a nip and tuck.

:41:46. > :41:56.Both nice and early on the power coming into Dan. But look at how

:41:56. > :41:59.

:41:59. > :42:04.much Sebastian Vettel has opened the gap in that first sector.

:42:04. > :42:13.Both tidy on the braking but Hamilton it blocks up and runs a

:42:13. > :42:23.little bit wide. Sebastian Vettel so much tighter. And he is having a

:42:23. > :42:25.

:42:25. > :42:32.barrier, giving him vital tenths. The next big decision is where we

:42:32. > :42:42.break coming into 17. Much of a muchness there. And then the speeds

:42:42. > :42:45.

:42:45. > :42:55.build into 18, 19. Using all of the 18,000 RPM. Hamilton has gained

:42:55. > :43:01.back around two car lengths but he locks up into the last corner.

:43:01. > :43:07.Sebastian runs for the line, an amazing pole position. Third in the

:43:07. > :43:11.all-time list. Only Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher or up next.

:43:12. > :43:18.What a lap. But how does he keep the likes of this man behind him?

:43:18. > :43:22.It is going to be tricky. I think is going to beat two stops. I'm

:43:22. > :43:30.certain that Sebastian wants to make good the problems he had in

:43:30. > :43:35.Canada. So would will be a titanic battle. But we cannot rule out

:43:35. > :43:41.Romain Grosjean was that he could be a dark horse.

:43:41. > :43:47.There are plenty of ways to get involved with BBC Formula 1.

:43:47. > :43:53.Including the driver tracker which you can find on the website.

:43:53. > :44:03.If you have a favourite driver, you couldn't write on board with them

:44:03. > :44:09.

:44:09. > :44:15.using the red Button or the website. -- could ride on board. Is this

:44:15. > :44:25.race all about strategy and tyres? I think so, hydration issues and

:44:25. > :44:26.

:44:26. > :44:36.such. I think it will be a big strategic question. Time to be

:44:36. > :44:42.guided through race eight of this extraordinary season.

:44:42. > :44:52.The aim for Sebastian now, to stay cool in the heat and make it a hat-

:44:52. > :45:22.

:45:22. > :45:27.trick of wins in the Valencia Grand three European Grand Prix in a row,

:45:27. > :45:32.but Sebastian Vettel is ideally placed to do so. Round eight of the

:45:32. > :45:37.championship from Valencia, the third largest city in Spain. It has

:45:37. > :45:41.had its port taken over for a 5th season. Baking in the sunshine,

:45:41. > :45:46.this is the second visit to Spain in six weeks and it brings the

:45:46. > :45:52.drivers to a straight track which contains 25 corners over a distance

:45:52. > :45:56.of 3.3 miles. It is faster than Monaco. It is almost as hard on the

:45:56. > :46:01.brakes as Montreal. The race has never been won from lower than

:46:01. > :46:06.third on the grid, but Ferrari are hoping to change that with national

:46:06. > :46:09.hero Alonso is starting from 11th. This looks to be another Vettel

:46:09. > :46:14.against Hamilton confrontation. Both are trying to become the first

:46:14. > :46:17.repeat winners of the season. Or perhaps one of the Lotus drivers

:46:17. > :46:22.can become when a number eight and keep that Merry Go round of winners

:46:22. > :46:29.turning one more time. We are hoping for another tantalising race.

:46:29. > :46:33.A fantastic view over the marina as we look at this track. One of the

:46:33. > :46:37.cruise ships just coming into day macro, giving some of the

:46:37. > :46:42.passengers a pretty good view of what is about to happen on the

:46:42. > :46:45.circuit. Fernando Alonso starting from 11th place. Can Ferrari pull

:46:45. > :46:50.out something with the strategy? He is second in the points at the

:46:50. > :46:53.moment so he desperately needs to keep on track with the likes of

:46:53. > :46:57.Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Pastor Maldonado is right up near

:46:57. > :47:01.the front, starting from third, his second best ever qualifying

:47:01. > :47:05.position. Williams have had three wins in the European Grand Prix,

:47:05. > :47:10.but the last time was at the Nurburgring. Fantastic support

:47:10. > :47:15.today and a lot of fans filling up the grandstands. Jenson Button with

:47:15. > :47:20.plenty to do. Fourth race outside the top five on the grid. His best

:47:20. > :47:26.finish it was third place in 2010. McLaren have yet to win on the

:47:26. > :47:30.streets of Valencia. Lewis has been second three times on this track.

:47:30. > :47:34.It will be frustrating if he can't find a way past Vettel in the early

:47:34. > :47:38.stages or perhaps towards the latter parts of the race. He is up

:47:38. > :47:43.for the fight. Red Bull come up with changes to the car, updates

:47:43. > :47:47.have helped them today and Sebastian Vettel starting from his

:47:47. > :47:51.third pole position. We have four Renault powered cars in the top

:47:51. > :47:56.five and Renault are looking to match Ferrari for six victories in

:47:56. > :48:00.the European Grand Prix. Mark Webber has a lot more work to do,

:48:00. > :48:05.coming all the way from 19th position. He will have to fight his

:48:05. > :48:09.way through in the early stages and see if he can get past cars like

:48:09. > :48:14.Kovalainen's Caterham. The track temperature is 45 degrees. No

:48:14. > :48:17.hotter than it been in the past. There's still a big question over

:48:17. > :48:27.the number of stops we will see throughout the course of the day.

:48:27. > :48:53.

:48:53. > :49:03.from pole position in the last two the beginning of this year in

:49:03. > :49:13.

:49:13. > :49:17.Australia. Perez came up to the stomach bug which has afflicted him

:49:17. > :49:22.all weekend means he can't raise. The grid is beginning to clear,

:49:22. > :49:29.David. Still a question from the teams... Median start tyres for

:49:29. > :49:33.Webber. -- medium. Schumacher, Perez and Vergne. Fairly obvious

:49:33. > :49:39.what Perez hopes to do, the same as Montreal. Interesting from Michael

:49:39. > :49:43.as well. That is good information. They are saying there harder tyre

:49:43. > :49:47.on Michael Schumacher's car. Not surprising from Sergio Perez,

:49:47. > :49:50.because we have seen him go for the one stop and we saw him effective

:49:51. > :49:56.in Montreal, and he did it here last year as well. Indeed, they

:49:56. > :50:02.will see if they can make the tyres last. A brand new set of Michael

:50:02. > :50:07.Schumacher's car. Given the cars in front, they will have at least

:50:07. > :50:14.three laps by the time they go out. If nothing else, he will be able to

:50:14. > :50:18.get the advantage of the fresh tyres at the start. Mercedes have

:50:18. > :50:26.had difficulty. Michael has struggled a little bit to make full

:50:26. > :50:29.use of that. There is a prime viewing spot for that photographer!

:50:29. > :50:33.Meanwhile, back with what will be the main attraction this afternoon,

:50:33. > :50:37.we will have them getting some heat in the tyres on this formation lap.

:50:37. > :50:44.They will have lost a lot of heat with the blankets removed for the

:50:44. > :50:49.best part of a minute on the grid. Confirmation of everyone in the top

:50:49. > :50:53.10, down to 11, Alonso had a choice of whether to start on a soft tyre.

:50:53. > :50:57.Michael Schumacher is the first man to drop that run and start on the

:50:57. > :51:02.medium tyres. That will be absolutely crucial information in

:51:02. > :51:07.the early stages for top if people try to do a one stop, we can expect

:51:07. > :51:13.that to be about 20 or more. If it is to start, anything from lap 10

:51:13. > :51:17.forward. Lewis Hamilton is only two points ahead of Alonso and Vettel

:51:17. > :51:20.close behind. Gary, looking at those tyre choices and particularly

:51:20. > :51:25.Schumacher's Joyce, it is interesting they have gone for the

:51:25. > :51:29.harder compound tyre. Yes. But if you do the same thing, or you can

:51:29. > :51:33.do is the same result. He will try to be out there when the soft tyre

:51:33. > :51:38.cars are coming into the pits a bit earlier than him. He will get a

:51:38. > :51:42.clean track. I would be looking at doing the same thing. I'm a bit

:51:42. > :51:47.surprised that Alonso hasn't done that as well. He has got two of the

:51:47. > :51:51.new set of the soft tyre and one set of a hard tyre. He could have

:51:51. > :51:57.used that new set now I'm gone on to the soft ones and do -- done two

:51:57. > :52:05.short stints at the end of the race with faster tyres. We will have to

:52:05. > :52:13.see how it unfolds. Chinook and Alonso on different strategies. --

:52:13. > :52:17.Shunyi Lagat and Alonso. -- Sue knacker. Interesting shot, we saw

:52:17. > :52:22.the umbrella at the back of the grandstand, being so close to the

:52:22. > :52:28.team. This was the venue for the America's Cup. The strong wind

:52:28. > :52:32.blows a round this track. As it heats up during the day, air

:52:32. > :52:37.temperature currently 27 degrees, track temperature 44, so this will

:52:37. > :52:43.challenge the engineers controlling the tyres. The drivers within the

:52:43. > :52:49.cockpit as well. Sitting in the 60 degree cockpit, you will be

:52:49. > :52:54.suffering from dehydration. Vettel and Hamilton on the front row.

:52:54. > :52:59.Maldonado stoats on second row with Grosjean. Then Raikkonen and

:52:59. > :53:03.Rosberg. Kobayashi, Hulkenberg. Button starts in ninth place with

:53:03. > :53:13.the rest are intent. Alonso it then Schumacher. Massa his 13th, then

:53:13. > :53:27.

:53:27. > :53:31.Prix in Valencia to get under way. Lights Out come away we go.

:53:32. > :53:36.Sebastian Vettel trying to get off the line, Hamilton in danger from

:53:36. > :53:46.Maldonado. Raikkonen get past bruise on, but loses out. --

:53:46. > :53:51.

:53:51. > :53:57.with Vettel, Hamilton second and then it is Grosjean. Raikkonen has

:53:57. > :54:07.missed out. The Ferraris, Alonso has made up some ground. Felipe

:54:07. > :54:11.Massa and Jenson Button were all over each other. They ran very wide.

:54:11. > :54:14.Hulkenberg is in the Force India coming across the swing bridge. The

:54:14. > :54:20.Lotus having to go defensive. Rosberg has Massa on the outside of

:54:20. > :54:24.him. This was a Schumacher the perfect run on Massa. Rosberg has

:54:25. > :54:34.had a terrible start. He started in six, but he is fighting with

:54:35. > :54:39.

:54:39. > :54:44.Schumacher, who was 12th on the Mercedes. Alonso is trying to get

:54:44. > :54:49.past Hulkenberg in the Force India. Trying to gain as many places as

:54:49. > :54:54.possible. Look at Sebastian Vettel sprinted away from Lewis Hamilton.

:54:54. > :55:00.Then it is Grosjean and here comes Alonso, getting past Hulkenberg.

:55:00. > :55:05.Can he sweet round? No, Hulkenberg holds on. A good start from Alonso,

:55:05. > :55:09.currently in eighth place. He will not want to be running in the dirty

:55:09. > :55:17.air of that Force India. Trying to use all of his experience to go

:55:17. > :55:23.past him on the first lap. 190 mph through turned 24. Jenson Button

:55:23. > :55:27.has dropped down to 13th place. Webber has got past Kovalainen in

:55:27. > :55:32.the background. Webber has gained a crucial place. Vettel leaves from

:55:32. > :55:38.Hamilton at the end of the first lap. We have seen this so many

:55:38. > :55:43.times. Hamilton from Grosjean, and then Kobayashi. Kobayashi has had a

:55:43. > :55:48.great first lap. He started in seven. Bruno Senna tried to get

:55:48. > :55:54.down the inside of Perez. He has held on to 14th place. Perez trying

:55:54. > :55:57.to take that away from him and Senna just did enough. It is

:55:57. > :56:02.dropping them away from the group ahead, which is Jenson Button and

:56:02. > :56:05.Mark Webber. Mark Webber trying to join in the fun and games. Bruno

:56:05. > :56:09.Senna looks as though he might be holding up this group. Senna doing

:56:09. > :56:17.a lot to hold his position, completely understandable, but it

:56:17. > :56:24.plays into the hands of Jenson Button. Grosjean is making Hamilton

:56:24. > :56:28.go defensive. At this early stage, McLaren taking some time to try to

:56:28. > :56:32.build the energy in their tyres. Could this be that Hamilton has

:56:32. > :56:36.been told to roll the dice and do the opposite of Canada and preserve

:56:36. > :56:42.the tyre and see if we can do the One Stop This weekend. The

:56:42. > :56:52.differential in pace between Vettel in front... Maldonado getting

:56:52. > :56:57.outside the inside. - down the inside. Great stuff from Maldonado.

:56:57. > :57:03.It is fair to say that Kimi Raikkonen was mugged! I think

:57:03. > :57:07.Maldonado was fending him off. Raikkonen was having a go. On the

:57:07. > :57:11.exit of turn 17, you can drive it - - give the driver some space or run

:57:11. > :57:15.him wide, and that is what Maldonado did. Raikkonen from

:57:15. > :57:20.Hulkenberg. Raikkonen lost out at the start. He made an initial could

:57:20. > :57:25.get away and then lost out, now fighting. We are on board with

:57:25. > :57:29.Hulkenberg, chasing Kimi Raikkonen. You have got Sebastian Vettel two

:57:30. > :57:35.second a lap faster than Lewis Hamilton. Four second gap after two

:57:35. > :57:44.laps. That is astonishing, Warehouse Vettel found his

:57:44. > :57:49.incredible pace? -- where has. DRS is now enabled. Hamilton definitely

:57:49. > :57:53.struggling. Or controlling his place, one of the other. Grosjean

:57:53. > :57:57.is behind and then Kobayashi and then Maldonado and Raikkonen.

:57:57. > :58:05.Grosjean has got the Diarrar soap and. Will he get close enough on

:58:05. > :58:09.his lap? Not good to pick up the dust on the inside. Hulkenberg

:58:09. > :58:14.showing Raikkonen he is there. Paul di Resta locking up a little bit

:58:14. > :58:20.behind Massa. Jenson Button is still stuck behind Michael. Tyre

:58:20. > :58:25.temperatures are reaching the critical point. Tyre temperatures

:58:25. > :58:27.critical. It is such a narrow window. If you go outside the

:58:28. > :58:32.window and beyond the tired temperature that is comfortable for

:58:32. > :58:40.that compound of tyre, the drivers begin to struggle. Let's look at

:58:40. > :58:44.the start and what went on with the Lotuses. We can see Raikkonen gets

:58:44. > :58:50.a better start than Grosjean. He comes up the inside, Grosjean tried

:58:50. > :58:55.to defend late. There's almost contact with Maldonado. Grows on

:58:55. > :59:05.could cut back down the inside of Maldonado. He got a little bit

:59:05. > :59:14.

:59:14. > :59:18.start with him -- from him. This is the big difficulty as you carry 150

:59:18. > :59:22.kilos of fuel into the second corner. The last time they drove

:59:22. > :59:27.these cars, it was with 10 kilos of fuel in qualifying. Hulkenberg

:59:27. > :59:35.comes off best in his battle with Rosberg. Risking all with his front

:59:35. > :59:42.wing. On board with Grosjean, watch to the right. Raikkonen appears.

:59:42. > :59:47.Almost contact with Maldonado. Down the inside. A little bit of contact,

:59:47. > :59:55.but great stuff. He went through the corner in third gear and had to

:59:55. > :59:59.short shift down to second. He was trying... Michael Schumacher, a bit

:59:59. > :00:06.of wheelspin on his start. Understeer is wide on the dust and

:00:06. > :00:11.has to lift out of it. That allowed Massa to go through. He got touched

:00:11. > :00:21.before the second corner. Was that with Jenson Button? No. He was

:00:21. > :00:30.

:00:30. > :00:40.touching Chinook and that point? him so let us presume it was him.

:00:40. > :00:45.

:00:45. > :00:55.Lewis Hamilton is there. Kobayashi trying to get past Romain Grosjean

:00:55. > :01:04.

:01:04. > :01:09.but it did not quite come off. He has been told to get a move on.

:01:09. > :01:15.He was the man who made very impressive progress in Canada. But

:01:15. > :01:25.this afternoon the word is that he has to push and get past Hamilton.

:01:25. > :01:53.

:01:53. > :02:03.Sebastian Vettel managing to build for it up front. I think McLaren

:02:03. > :02:25.

:02:25. > :02:35.then they will have a pit stop in hand. Do you think Hamilton is

:02:35. > :02:41.

:02:41. > :02:51.struggling for pace? I do not really know why he is

:02:51. > :02:55.

:02:55. > :03:03.choosing to go for one pit stop. He has to look at the lap times.

:03:03. > :03:10.It is so much faster at the front with Sebastian Vettel there will

:03:11. > :03:17.stop there -. Sebastian still putting in those

:03:17. > :03:22.quick sector of times. Paul di Resta has been told on the radio

:03:22. > :03:29.that he has to lift and coast of the last part of the entry to the

:03:29. > :03:39.high-speed corners to try to control rear cover of temperature.

:03:39. > :03:42.

:03:42. > :03:52.Not sure why Force India would be having difficulty with that.

:03:52. > :03:56.

:03:56. > :04:04.Felipe Massa is making it quite difficult for Paul di Resta. Why

:04:04. > :04:09.would the Force India be struggling after all the work they did on

:04:09. > :04:17.Friday? It is difficult to answer. It could be something to do and

:04:17. > :04:27.with the way bear running the brake balance. They moved the brakes to

:04:27. > :04:46.

:04:46. > :04:55.the rear to stave some front Sergio Perez may go for it fewer

:04:55. > :05:04.stops than the others. Sebastian Vettel has got the last is -- the

:05:04. > :05:09.fastest lap on laps six. We will watch those Lab times closely. If

:05:09. > :05:16.they get slower that will be the indication that the tyres are past

:05:16. > :05:24.their best. And once that happens they absolutely fall off the edge

:05:24. > :05:34.of a cliff in terms of performance. Felipe Massa going a little bit

:05:34. > :05:38.

:05:38. > :05:44.wide Vostok -- wide. Sebastian Vettel can now picked and get out

:05:44. > :05:54.in front of the 11th placed man, Nico Rosberg, providing it is a

:05:54. > :06:16.

:06:16. > :06:26.clean stock. -- stop. Paul's engineer telling him there

:06:26. > :06:47.

:06:47. > :06:55.take the line into the corner. He is looking after those tyres. But

:06:55. > :07:00.Sergio Perez feels he wants to get past that Williams.

:07:00. > :07:10.Mark Webber there in the back of the group, he has not made any more

:07:10. > :07:26.

:07:26. > :07:29.progress. He is still behind Daniel the harder of those tyres, trying

:07:29. > :07:39.for a one-stop strategy this afternoon, taking it nice and

:07:39. > :07:40.

:07:40. > :07:50.steady. But he is down in 17th place.

:07:50. > :08:07.

:08:07. > :08:13.Last year every single car that started went on to finish the race.

:08:13. > :08:23.The lead is it took 9.7 seconds now as Sebastian Vettel leads Lewis

:08:23. > :08:33.

:08:33. > :08:43.Hamilton. Charles Pic trying to get past

:08:43. > :08:49.

:08:49. > :08:54.Karthikeyan. And they did actually make contact there.

:08:54. > :09:04.Timo Glock is of course not taking part in this race because of

:09:04. > :09:05.

:09:05. > :09:15.illness so there are 23 cars out. A little bit of debris in down

:09:15. > :09:17.

:09:17. > :09:23.there but hopefully that will not cause any problems. It was the good

:09:23. > :09:26.first-lap from Fernando Alonso. We are expecting to see some pit stops

:09:26. > :09:36.coming up I would expect. But the lap times are holding up pretty

:09:36. > :09:38.

:09:38. > :09:46.well. No sign of drop-off just yet. Fernando Alonso still chasing down

:09:46. > :09:54.and the Force India. Force India have had good results year in the

:09:54. > :10:00.past few years in Valencia. I think they wear a little disappointed

:10:00. > :10:06.with a qualifying yesterday despite having both cars in the top 10.

:10:06. > :10:10.Paul di Resta up and felt he had the pace to beat in the second row.

:10:10. > :10:20.But overall Force India has made improvements as the season has

:10:20. > :10:26.

:10:26. > :10:29.progressed. Sebastian Vettel goes through. And there is Lewis

:10:29. > :10:36.Hamilton it at last with Romain Grosjean. Romain Grosjean are

:10:36. > :10:45.trying to go round the outside of Lewis Hamilton and he has done it!

:10:45. > :10:51.At Great moved by it Romain Grosjean. He made his debut 2009.

:10:51. > :10:58.His early career in Formula 1 was not good. That this year he has

:10:58. > :11:01.been amazing. He made sure that enough of his car

:11:01. > :11:10.was alongside Lewis Hamilton that he had no choice but to give him

:11:10. > :11:16.the position. Still watching Fernando Alonso as he chases down

:11:16. > :11:21.Nico Hulkenberg. Hamilton goes to squeeze in but

:11:21. > :11:31.there's too much of the Lotus already alongside him. That was

:11:31. > :11:33.

:11:34. > :11:43.absolutely crucial. Lewis Hamilton has gone defensive. That was buried

:11:44. > :11:50.

:11:50. > :12:00.there from Lewis Hamilton, he gave him the room. -- very fair.

:12:00. > :12:06.The harder of the tyres going on, the medium tyres. Sergio Perez has

:12:06. > :12:11.been into the pits and we expected him to dill one of his long, a

:12:11. > :12:16.single run stops. But he has Santa come in early as well. Jensen

:12:16. > :12:24.Button did start on the softer tyres so he has now used both of

:12:24. > :12:34.the choices this afternoon. Unlikely that he can go to the end

:12:34. > :12:40.

:12:40. > :12:44.foul on these. -- now on these. Quite unfairly stop for Jensen

:12:44. > :12:48.Button but said she Jerez is fresh and surprising? It was surprising,

:12:48. > :12:57.he was the one person you would have thought would drag it through

:12:57. > :13:00.to the end. He started on the harder of the sets of tyres. They

:13:00. > :13:10.both changed to Fredric so what will be interesting to see if they

:13:10. > :13:49.

:13:49. > :13:59.Also going for the harder compounds. Ferrari consistently fastest on the

:13:59. > :14:13.

:14:13. > :14:23.pit stops. Both Lotus cars still in the hunt. Pastor Maldonado very

:14:23. > :14:25.

:14:25. > :14:35.sure of his blogging into turned 12. Kimi Raikkonen could have another

:14:35. > :14:45.look down into a number 17. It is all going to be about braking. He

:14:45. > :14:47.

:14:47. > :14:52.thinks better of it. Would you risk jumping down the inside of Pastor

:14:52. > :15:02.Maldonado? I'm not certain I would try that on him and it looks as if

:15:02. > :15:11.

:15:12. > :15:21.Kimi Raikkonen has made that same on if he is going to be able to be

:15:22. > :15:31.

:15:31. > :15:37.released and try to catch the gap leader, 12.5 seconds in the clear.

:15:37. > :15:42.RADIO: Now we push as hard as we can. And you can see Alonso, very

:15:42. > :15:45.much pushing, as he tries to close up that gap. It is crucial in the

:15:45. > :15:48.Championship that he does not see Vettel and Hamilton running away

:15:49. > :15:53.too far ahead. These guys are so close together in the points at the

:15:53. > :15:57.moment. You're looking at Raikkonen, again having a little look at

:15:57. > :16:03.getting past Pastor Maldonado, for fifth place. Side-by-side day go!

:16:03. > :16:08.He has got a! Lovely move, Kimi Raikkonen.

:16:08. > :16:14.DAVID COULTHARD: Yes, instead of going down the inside into turn 13,

:16:14. > :16:24.he goes around the outside of Maldonado. Just going back to

:16:24. > :16:26.

:16:26. > :16:32.Alonso's engineer, he said, now we push. A new fastest lap has now

:16:32. > :16:35.been set by Perez, having just come in for a new set of tyres. So,

:16:35. > :16:43.Perez now going very quickly, and his tyres will be monitored by the

:16:43. > :16:53.rest of the crews. Down in 18th at the moment, Button. Hamilton is

:16:53. > :16:57.

:16:57. > :17:04.coming in. Lewis Hamilton, going on to the harder tyres. We will see

:17:04. > :17:10.where this brings him out on track. Senna goes through, so he comes out

:17:10. > :17:15.behind him, putting him in 12th place. That was an excellent pit

:17:15. > :17:20.stop, and McLaren seem to be turning around their fraught pit

:17:21. > :17:24.stops from earlier in the season. Much faster now. How is this going

:17:24. > :17:30.to work out for Lewis Hamilton? He is certainly not doing one stop, it

:17:30. > :17:35.could be two, even three. Massa, just making a move. Getting past

:17:35. > :17:41.the Jean-Eric Vergne. That was relatively straightforward. But it

:17:41. > :17:46.is Button who has got to try to do that himself now. And there is a

:17:46. > :17:50.bit of debris on the track. I think that is a straw hat that has been

:17:50. > :17:56.blown onto the circuit, so someone's getting a sunburnt head

:17:56. > :18:00.in the grandstand! Alonso has got past the Williams, just like his

:18:00. > :18:03.team asked him to do, he is charging! He has moved up into

:18:03. > :18:09.fifth place. Remember, we have got some people having made pit stops

:18:09. > :18:17.already. Absolutely crucial for Vettel, with Kobayashi running in

:18:17. > :18:21.third place, just under 19 seconds behind him, if Vettel can get the

:18:21. > :18:28.gap out to 20 seconds, he can get into the pits and get back out in

:18:28. > :18:34.third place. As we see the replay of Alonso going past Maldonado. We

:18:34. > :18:38.have got the Lotus boys out in the pit lane. The Force India crew are

:18:38. > :18:44.also out in the pit lane. So, this compromises Raikkonen coming in for

:18:44. > :18:49.his spot. Romain Grosjean is still out there, 14 seconds behind Vettel.

:18:50. > :18:55.And Kobayashi also stopping. Kobayashi is behind Raikkonen. So,

:18:55. > :19:05.Kobayashi losing out a little bit. And Sauber perhaps not turning that

:19:05. > :19:10.

:19:10. > :19:14.car around as quickly as they could changing around with those pit

:19:14. > :19:19.stops. Raikkonen's move earlier was absolutely crucial for him. Alonso

:19:19. > :19:27.is staying out for the moment. DAVID COULTHARD: That was Kobayashi

:19:27. > :19:37.and Sauber reacting to the fact... RADIO: Lewis, let's see if we can

:19:37. > :19:44.

:19:44. > :19:51.get a few cars while our tyres are fighting it just in the braking

:19:51. > :20:00.area, but Hamilton moves up to seventh place. He is behind Mark

:20:00. > :20:04.Webber, who has not stopped yet. Michael Schumacher is still out

:20:04. > :20:11.there, he has not stopped yet, either. Hamilton, who has, is

:20:11. > :20:20.bearing down on him. Yes, the top seven cars currently have yet to

:20:20. > :20:25.stop. Hamilton is now 36 seconds off the leader at the moment.

:20:25. > :20:31.Ferrari coming out, this will be for Alonso. We have got the McLaren

:20:31. > :20:37.team just getting their kit out of the way. Lovely stop again from

:20:37. > :20:42.Ferrari. Alonso is going to rejoin, let's see where he comes back out,

:20:43. > :20:47.on the softer tyre. He had a couple of new tats of softer tyres still

:20:47. > :20:52.available to him. Raikkonen trying to get past, as they come down into

:20:52. > :20:56.turn two, but he is in front of the Lotus! Raikkonen tries to attack,

:20:56. > :21:00.but Alonso is making it difficult for the Lotus driver to get past.

:21:00. > :21:04.And now, Alonso can pick up some speed on those softer tyres, and he

:21:04. > :21:10.should be able to stay ahead of Raikkonen. The key thing for

:21:10. > :21:15.Raikkonen is, he is in the DRS activation zone, so this is an

:21:15. > :21:25.opportunity for him. If he does not get the chance to pass him here, on

:21:25. > :21:43.

:21:43. > :21:47.the new tyres... On board with The race leader comes into the pits.

:21:47. > :21:52.Sebastian Vettel, in the Red Bull, with a big, big advantage, coming

:21:52. > :21:56.in for his first stop. Lap number 16, he has gone further than some

:21:56. > :22:01.thought would be possible. Lotus are reacting to that, it

:22:01. > :22:08.looks like Romain Grosjean is coming in as well. Sebastian Vettel

:22:08. > :22:17.has the softer tyres put on. And we will now see Grosjean taking his

:22:17. > :22:22.pit stop. But take my word for it, he has just done a stop! But it is

:22:22. > :22:26.clear air for Vettel. Absolutely clear air, he has not got to worry

:22:26. > :22:32.about traffic. And there is Grosjean rejoining, in front of

:22:32. > :22:36.Hamilton. And he is on the soft tyres. Both Grosjean and Vettel

:22:36. > :22:40.will have to stop again this afternoon, to pick up the harder,

:22:40. > :22:50.prime tyres. That's right. You have to use each tyre at some point

:22:50. > :22:52.

:22:52. > :22:58.during the race. We saw Grosjean getting past Lewis, and he remains

:22:58. > :23:01.just ahead of him, after the pit stops. But the Red Bull of

:23:01. > :23:04.Sebastian Vettel has a very healthy gap indeed. Gary, give us your

:23:04. > :23:10.thoughts on what we have seen in terms of the timing of the pit

:23:10. > :23:13.stops. Some of them have been a bit earlier than I expected. Vettel

:23:13. > :23:19.Benz and stretch it out as much as possible. He was losing about a

:23:19. > :23:29.second a lap, but Grosjean was losing slightly more compared with

:23:29. > :23:31.

:23:31. > :23:35.his own best time. So, I think for Red Bull, it is looking like a very

:23:35. > :23:38.good strategy. Webber has come up, it will be interesting to see

:23:38. > :23:48.whether he tries to stretch something out of it, because that

:23:48. > :23:50.

:23:50. > :23:54.will be the only way he can try to get something out of his situation.

:23:54. > :23:58.This is for race position. Crucially, Alonso, on the fresh a

:23:58. > :24:04.set of tyres, and Webber has systematically been running wide in

:24:04. > :24:09.turn 20. Alonso looking down the inside into the last corner. Webber

:24:09. > :24:13.goes a bit wide, and this will allow Alonso to get a good drive

:24:13. > :24:17.coming in to turn one. He has to have a look at Webber coming into

:24:17. > :24:23.turn two. He is on the fresher tyres, he has to make use of it. Is

:24:23. > :24:33.he going round the outside? He is trying to. We just changed shot at

:24:33. > :24:34.

:24:34. > :24:39.the critical moment there! But has also managed to get past in the

:24:39. > :24:43.background? He has indeed. Yes, you can tell because everybody in the

:24:43. > :24:49.grandstand stood up and cheered. Alonso has found his way past the

:24:49. > :24:59.Red Bull, Alonso on much fresher tyres. That is brave stuff from

:24:59. > :25:07.

:25:07. > :25:12.on Bruno Senna in the Williams. He goes around the outside of him very

:25:12. > :25:17.tidily. No problem at all. Alonso charging, and the fans are living

:25:17. > :25:23.this. He is going to have to get past Michael Schumacher next.

:25:23. > :25:26.do you think? Turn 17? Inside or outside? He will have to give it a

:25:26. > :25:36.go, although Michael will not make it too easy.

:25:36. > :25:43.RADIO: Looking after the tyres in the places we talk about should

:25:43. > :25:47.help. I have been doing it every lap! So, Lewis, the plan not

:25:48. > :25:57.working quite as they had hoped. You can see the car systematically

:25:58. > :25:58.

:25:58. > :26:04.running wide on the exit of turn 20. The cars concertina down into the

:26:04. > :26:08.following turn, it is an absolute traffic jam, it is like the and 25!

:26:08. > :26:13.Now, on the outside, at turn two, but Michael Schumacher is having

:26:13. > :26:19.none of it. But now, Alonso well placed on the exit... Coming into

:26:19. > :26:25.turn four, and through goes Alonso. Michael just about gives him space.

:26:25. > :26:29.Webber trying to take advantage of the loss of momentum, and Webber

:26:29. > :26:35.switching from side to side, but cannot find the space. There's

:26:35. > :26:43.another standing ovation for Alonso. Yes, and we saw Kimi Raikkonen and

:26:43. > :26:49.Kobayashi battling with each other. This is Grosjean going round the

:26:49. > :26:54.outside of di Resta, who's yet to stop this afternoon. So, Vettel

:26:55. > :27:00.still leading the race, but running in second place is di Resta,

:27:00. > :27:06.because he has not stopped yet. This is a good stint from him.

:27:06. > :27:13.Button is at the back of this group, in 15th position. Michael

:27:13. > :27:19.Schumacher holding up a whole load of cars here. All of this is

:27:19. > :27:26.playing into the hands of Vettel. As we see Bruno Senna, having a

:27:26. > :27:32.look at Michael Schumacher. Mark Webber trying to take

:27:32. > :27:38.advantage as well. Raikkonen gets past Webber as a result of that.

:27:38. > :27:44.Kobayashi trying to do likewise. Remember, they are on different

:27:44. > :27:47.tyre strategies. So, some of these have got good tyres under them.

:27:47. > :27:57.Mark Webber is coming in, he has had enough of that particular

:27:57. > :28:00.battle. Kimi Raikkonen just trying to get past Bruno Senna. Senna

:28:00. > :28:05.staying out a little longer on this set of tyres, going as far as he

:28:05. > :28:12.possibly can on his first stint. This in a coming out behind

:28:12. > :28:18.Schumacher. So, they have gone as far as lap 20, which could even be

:28:18. > :28:25.a one-stop strategy. Look at them, side by side. Contact! There's

:28:25. > :28:30.contact! Senna and Kobayashi! And he has got it pointing the right

:28:30. > :28:37.way again. But there is damage to his car. Senna is effectively out

:28:37. > :28:43.of this race. It was just bunching up so much, David. It was indeed.

:28:43. > :28:48.Coming through for fifth position, running down to the swing bridge,

:28:48. > :28:52.and we saw that Kimi Raikkonen was able to get the pass. And then

:28:52. > :28:56.Kobayashi thought, I will have some of that, and he was closed up

:28:56. > :29:06.against the wall, contact was made, it looks like a racing incident to

:29:06. > :29:13.

:29:13. > :29:17.me. But we will wait and see some Kobayashi's car. Surely he will be

:29:17. > :29:22.coming in to change that front wing. He will indeed. Mercedes are out in

:29:22. > :29:27.the pit lane. We are also hearing about Michael, with a new set of

:29:27. > :29:35.options on. Here, we can see it, Kobayashi, probably using a bit of

:29:35. > :29:43.KERS, up the inside. He then gets on the brakes, but a bit late.

:29:43. > :29:47.There was a puncture on the right rear of the Williams. Going through

:29:47. > :29:51.six, Bruno Senna goes to take his line, and does not realise that

:29:52. > :29:56.cobia she was there. Let's wait and see what the stewards feel about it,

:29:56. > :30:00.whether there is any need to look at that. You can see a replay of

:30:00. > :30:04.Alonso going down the outside of Webber, and almost into the back of

:30:04. > :30:09.the Williams in front. Brave stuff, that was a replay from earlier, of

:30:09. > :30:13.course. Senna did not actually hit anything, I don't think, but I

:30:13. > :30:17.think the car might have got away undamaged. So Senna probably will

:30:17. > :30:27.be able to continue, once he has come out of the pits again, because

:30:27. > :30:33.

:30:33. > :30:39.afternoon. It was a difficult qualifying and the race has just

:30:39. > :30:48.got even more tricky. Michael Schumacher has just been given a

:30:48. > :30:56.message that they are reverting to Plan B. Whatever that was! There

:30:56. > :31:02.was no actual damage, it should not have been enough to damage the

:31:02. > :31:12.suspension. So Bruno sat on his way again. Sebastian Vettel continues

:31:12. > :31:14.

:31:14. > :31:23.to lead. Hamilton is third. Paul di Resta or going deep into this race

:31:23. > :31:33.without having made a pit stop. Jensen Button currently in 10th

:31:33. > :31:38.

:31:38. > :31:45.place. I think it is only Paul di Resta

:31:45. > :31:53.who has not made us stop. And here he is now trying to fend off

:31:53. > :32:03.Fernando Alonso. Paul does not do anything silly

:32:03. > :32:17.

:32:17. > :32:27.with the defence there. Struggling a bit with the rear. But

:32:27. > :32:36.

:32:36. > :32:46.if he can just hang on in there. Sebastian Vettel still setting very

:32:46. > :33:03.

:33:03. > :33:11.rear brake temperatures are high. So he will be encouraged to lift

:33:11. > :33:20.out of the throttle. And hit the brake pedal just to try to take out

:33:20. > :33:25.some of the energy. Sebastian Vettel still flying out in front.

:33:25. > :33:31.Gary, just looking at those Flat times that Sebastian is still able

:33:31. > :33:41.to achieve, he has got such a comfortable advantage. They can

:33:41. > :33:41.

:33:41. > :33:47.play any strategy they like it? They can. I think there will still

:33:47. > :33:52.run to their schedule. Paul di Resta or trying to stretch it out

:33:52. > :33:59.but I think he's just losing too much time now, it is just falling

:33:59. > :34:07.away too much. Yes Kimi Raikkonen has just gone past him very easily

:34:07. > :34:17.indeed. That incident is to be investigated, between Kobayashi and

:34:17. > :34:21.

:34:21. > :34:31.Bruno Senna. Maldonado taking full advantage of

:34:31. > :34:31.

:34:31. > :34:41.the fact that Paul di Resta has very little grip available and goes

:34:41. > :35:09.

:35:09. > :35:19.to give it maximum push. A drive through penalty for Bruno's sell-

:35:19. > :35:28.

:35:28. > :35:38.out for causing a collision at! -- Bruno Senna. The stewards of course

:35:38. > :35:49.

:35:49. > :35:59.have multiple camera angles. That will cost him plenty.

:35:59. > :36:04.

:36:04. > :36:14.Nico Hulkenberg just chasing Felipe Massa.

:36:14. > :36:21.

:36:21. > :36:31.Locks up in sympathy! It seems to be, at around this circuit. -- to

:36:31. > :36:55.

:36:55. > :37:00.Friday. But still being chased by Hulkenberg.

:37:00. > :37:05.Kobayashi suffered accident damage and that has dropped him away down

:37:05. > :37:15.the order now, in 17th position. But all of the cars are still

:37:15. > :37:18.

:37:18. > :37:28.running. Sebastian Vettel is the race leader

:37:28. > :37:43.

:37:43. > :37:53.at this afternoon, 20 seconds away from Romain Grosjean.

:37:53. > :38:03.The track temperature today is 45 degrees. Done up Riyadh dope has

:38:03. > :38:03.

:38:03. > :38:07.got that plays, he has managed to nip past Sergio Jerez.

:38:07. > :38:17.That is opposed to his hopes because Toro Rosso have been

:38:17. > :38:33.

:38:33. > :38:43.last place, one lap down. Meanwhile Romain Grosjean has just

:38:43. > :38:53.

:38:53. > :38:59.set a new fastest lap. It is a fair bit quicker than Hamilton and

:38:59. > :39:09.Fernando Alonso behind him. course he is going to have to stop

:39:09. > :39:14.

:39:14. > :39:24.again. Fernando Alonso is closing the gap

:39:24. > :39:26.

:39:26. > :39:36.on Lewis Hamilton. We could be seeing them going wheel to wheel

:39:36. > :39:41.

:39:41. > :39:51.soon. Vitali Petrov has also just stopped,

:39:51. > :39:51.

:39:51. > :40:36.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 52 seconds

:40:36. > :40:41.a couple of cars coming into the into the pits.

:40:41. > :40:51.Jensen Button sent on his way once again on the harbour at compound

:40:51. > :40:55.

:40:55. > :41:05.tyres. That judge harder compound Ferrari. He is chasing down Felipe

:41:05. > :41:34.

:41:35. > :41:44.Massa. Hulkenberg chases him down the DRS zone.

:41:45. > :41:46.

:41:46. > :41:54.Behind them is still that gap back to Daniel Ricciardo. Something has

:41:54. > :42:04.happened with the Heikki Kovalainen it. He had contact with the back of

:42:04. > :42:26.

:42:26. > :42:33.Jean-Eric Vergne. He must have slip-streamed back with the DRS.

:42:33. > :42:38.That is what a delaminated tyre looks like. There was no need for

:42:38. > :42:42.Jean-Eric Vergne to do that little moved to the right. Heikki

:42:42. > :42:47.Kovalainen holding position. I'm not quite sure what Jean-Eric

:42:47. > :42:54.Vergne was thinking at that moment. He may be thought he was going to

:42:54. > :43:04.Clear Kovalinen. But it was just not necessary to beat weaving

:43:04. > :43:05.

:43:05. > :43:09.around it. Kovalinen must be wondering what it

:43:10. > :43:15.is about his car that he gets hit when he is going down that section

:43:15. > :43:20.of the track. Because a few years ago at Valencia at he got hit by

:43:20. > :43:28.Mark Webber at the same place. And the safety car is out on the

:43:28. > :43:35.circuit. Jean-Eric Vergne has made it back but I reckon there's too

:43:35. > :43:40.much damage to the back of the car. Romain Grosjean it in the pits as

:43:40. > :43:46.well. That is interesting because he is coming in as the safety car

:43:46. > :43:56.comes out. He's going for that early stop. In fact several cars

:43:56. > :43:56.

:43:56. > :44:02.are coming in. Using this moment to change on to another set of tyres.

:44:02. > :44:07.Problems again in the pits for Hamilton! And Fernando Alonso gets

:44:07. > :44:16.past him. Miserable news warm McLaren. It takes for ever to get

:44:16. > :44:26.Hamilton out. Was that misinformation from polite

:44:26. > :44:32.

:44:32. > :44:42.signalling? Did the front Jack Kyle? -- fail? It looks like the

:44:42. > :44:43.

:44:43. > :44:53.front jack just fell away. And his does the same thing. How strange is

:44:53. > :45:08.

:45:08. > :45:12.out there, even under the safety car. More than the actual tyre, it

:45:12. > :45:20.is probably the fact that they know there is some magnesium wheel lying

:45:20. > :45:24.there. Jean-Eric Vergne, it is not easy listening, but I think that

:45:24. > :45:29.was his mistake. We have got Vettel into the pits now. He will still

:45:29. > :45:33.come out with a comfortable lead, despite the safety car. But of

:45:33. > :45:36.course, it will then be reduced down, once they all gathered

:45:36. > :45:45.together. But he has taken advantage of the safety car to make

:45:46. > :45:49.his pit stop, and he rejoins the fray. Behind him on track, it will

:45:49. > :45:55.be the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan, I think. But they all have to stick

:45:55. > :46:02.to a certain speed, under safety car conditions. Gary, what are your

:46:02. > :46:10.thoughts with this safety car? RADIO: We think we are in sixth

:46:10. > :46:15.position, with 28 laps to go. We do not want to be stopping again.

:46:15. > :46:25.would imagine that is the story for many of the guys. Gary, your

:46:25. > :46:26.

:46:26. > :46:30.thoughts on the safety car? GARY ANDERSON: It is always better

:46:30. > :46:40.to come in when the safety car is out, because you do not have to do

:46:40. > :46:45.

:46:45. > :46:52.that slower lap. The only real loser I think is Hamilton, with

:46:52. > :46:59.that pit-stop. Again, another problem. The front Jack probably

:46:59. > :47:04.costs more than a Marussia, and to see that fail, it was very dramatic.

:47:04. > :47:08.But we do have a new system this year, in so far as the lapped cars

:47:08. > :47:18.will be waved past, Joe Vettel will find himself with Sebastian

:47:18. > :47:23.

:47:23. > :47:27.Grosjean behind him. -- so Vettel. Quite clearly, Jean-Eric Vergne

:47:27. > :47:33.moves across towards Kovalainen as we see this replay, and makes the

:47:33. > :47:37.contact. It will be interesting to see what the initial reaction of

:47:37. > :47:41.Jean-Eric Vergne will be. But you can see how fragile the material is

:47:42. > :47:47.on the front of the cars. At that sort of speed, it is no surprise

:47:47. > :47:51.that you're going to get an instantaneous failure. But the

:47:51. > :47:54.upside of it, the drivers are completely OK, of course, which

:47:54. > :47:58.allows us to have a Grand Prix which is looking a lot more

:47:58. > :48:07.interesting, as we get into the second half, now that everything

:48:07. > :48:12.has been closed up. Romain Grosjean will have the opportunity to breed

:48:12. > :48:17.the fumes of the Red Bull. Let's just run through the order as it

:48:17. > :48:22.stands. There have been some big changes. Vettel leads, Sebastian

:48:22. > :48:28.Grosjean in second place, but look is running in third, it is Fernando

:48:28. > :48:33.Alonso. He has come from 11th plays on the grid. He is up in third

:48:33. > :48:38.place, ahead of Raikkonen, ahead of Hamilton, of course. Hamilton,

:48:38. > :48:42.leading the Championship coming into this race. So, Alonso and

:48:42. > :48:46.Ferrari have turned around what was a disappointing day yesterday, and

:48:46. > :48:50.they have the potential today to score used for points once again.

:48:50. > :48:53.Daniel Ricardo, in the Toro Rosso, did not come into the pits for his

:48:53. > :49:00.second stop, so he is still running with the leaders, in fourth

:49:00. > :49:10.position. Meanwhile, the inquiry begins in to what happened in that

:49:10. > :49:16.

:49:16. > :49:20.pit-stop at McLaren. For Paul di Resta, this has hurt him. He was on

:49:20. > :49:30.the one stop strategy. Yes and No, it has allowed him to take some

:49:30. > :49:34.

:49:34. > :49:41.energy out of the tyres, by following the safety car. Ricardo

:49:41. > :49:45.in fourth at the moment, but that will be short-lived. Looking down,

:49:45. > :49:50.and just trying to read the notes here, so it might be a tall order

:49:50. > :49:55.for Paul to get a point this afternoon. But the big loser, as

:49:55. > :50:02.Gary said, Lewis Hamilton. McLaren, once again, difficulties during the

:50:02. > :50:06.pit stop. If I heard Gary correctly, he said the front Jack probably

:50:06. > :50:16.cost more than the Marussia! In the end, the release mechanism failed,

:50:16. > :50:20.for whatever reason. There's the signal that the lapped cars can now

:50:20. > :50:30.overtake the safety car, to go through and rejoin the back of the

:50:30. > :50:30.

:50:31. > :50:40.queue. Kovalainen going through, so his car not too badly damaged in

:50:41. > :50:42.

:50:42. > :50:52.that incident earlier. There's Senna being waved through. So,

:50:52. > :50:55.

:50:55. > :51:00.Vettel has Grosjean behind him, then Alonso. Karthikeyan just

:51:00. > :51:07.making his way up, to be waved through. This is going to make for

:51:07. > :51:11.a fascinating restart. The leaders have all done their two stops. But

:51:11. > :51:15.we are still expecting to see stops for Ricardo, for Rosberg, for

:51:15. > :51:19.Michael Schumacher and indeed for Michael Webber. -- for Mark Webber.

:51:19. > :51:24.But they may well leave that for some time now, going deeper into

:51:24. > :51:30.the race before they make their second pit stops. So, Vettel's

:51:30. > :51:36.large advantage, completely negated. The question is, does Grosjean's

:51:36. > :51:40.Lotus have what it takes to really challenged Vettel now? If this was

:51:40. > :51:42.Canada, I would be saying, absolutely, he has a car quick

:51:43. > :51:46.enough to win the Grand Prix. But on the evidence of what we have

:51:46. > :51:51.seen so far this weekend, Vettel has been absolutely able to control

:51:51. > :51:54.the pace out front. There was no real need for him to have a 22nd

:51:54. > :52:00.lead in many ways, but they now find themselves on different tyres

:52:00. > :52:05.of course. So it will be an interesting battle to see the

:52:05. > :52:09.performance difference with those different tyres. Among the man who

:52:09. > :52:18.has gained track position through this phase, Mark Webber. -- another

:52:18. > :52:24.man. Yes, Sebastian Vettel has controlled this race from the front.

:52:24. > :52:31.I think actually they are both on the harder tyres. So, they are on

:52:31. > :52:34.the same tyre. I think Alonso also on the harder tyre. So there is a

:52:35. > :52:40.similar strategy in terms of tyre use, but what is not always the

:52:40. > :52:45.same, Gary, cars can react differently to the two different

:52:45. > :52:51.compounds? That's correct. It is just one of

:52:51. > :52:54.those things. If you have got a bit of under Spear with the harder tyre,

:52:54. > :53:04.then you will get a lot more understeer with the soft tyre, and

:53:04. > :53:07.

:53:07. > :53:12.vice versa. -- understeer. The teams during the pit stop, when

:53:12. > :53:22.they are changing the tyre compound, would also change the set-up with

:53:22. > :53:27.the wings a little bit. The cars are just being gathered

:53:27. > :53:31.together, and then the race will restart. That's Christian Horner,

:53:31. > :53:35.are they going to be about to take a hat-trick of wins here in

:53:35. > :53:41.Valencia? Or are they going to be denied by the young Romain Grosjean,

:53:41. > :53:45.who could still become our eighth different winner this year, some 25

:53:45. > :53:49.years after the Lotus name last won a Grand Prix. Let's hear from Jean-

:53:49. > :53:54.Eric Vergne, who's talking to Lee McKenzie. Just tell us what

:53:54. > :53:58.happened, whose fault was it? don't know whose fault it is. For

:53:58. > :54:07.me, I was clearly in front of him. I have not watched the video. I

:54:07. > :54:12.prefer to watch it first. To me, it looks like a racing incident. It is

:54:12. > :54:17.just a shame not to finish the race. I was going with a good pace. But

:54:17. > :54:26.that is bracing. It is my first retirement of the season. Bad luck.

:54:26. > :54:30.-- that is racing. So, coming out quickly did not do him any favours,

:54:30. > :54:34.because what was a puncture turned into a lot of damage for the car.

:54:34. > :54:38.But we have still got 22 cars running, as we are waiting for the

:54:38. > :54:43.signal to see whether the safety car will be coming in. But there

:54:43. > :54:48.are still a couple of cars catching up, I think. That is the issue,

:54:48. > :54:53.with this system, of allowing the car has to overtake, the upside is

:54:53. > :54:58.that we get the cars in race order, and they do not have to battle past

:54:58. > :55:07.lapped cars, but the downside is in Waiting For everybody to regain

:55:07. > :55:11.their position at the back of the pack. All the drivers will now be

:55:11. > :55:17.putting maximum heat into the brakes, trying to get the heat

:55:17. > :55:20.radiating into the tyres. Sebastian Vettel will get the chance to

:55:20. > :55:24.control the pace. He will be allowing the safety car to

:55:24. > :55:30.disappear into the distance, and I would expect him to bolt any time

:55:30. > :55:35.before they get down to the corner. It looks like he has started to go

:55:35. > :55:41.now. The pack have gone with him, so he does not have a clear lead.

:55:41. > :55:44.Almost catching the safety car. race gets under way once again, and

:55:44. > :55:49.Kimi Raikkonen tries to get past the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricardo,

:55:49. > :55:53.but loses out! Beckhams Alonso! Try to get past Romain Grosjean for

:55:53. > :55:59.second place! The Ferrari goes wide, then it has goes tight. Here goes

:55:59. > :56:05.Alonso! He tries to go round the outside! He is through! Fernando

:56:05. > :56:09.Alonso is into second place! Romain Grosjean goes back down to third.

:56:09. > :56:15.May be the Lotus engineer might wish he had worn his driver that

:56:15. > :56:22.Alonso had perfected that technique earlier on Mark Webber. Fantastic

:56:22. > :56:27.stuff. It was oh, so close as they came out of turn two. The Spanish

:56:27. > :56:33.crowd will be delighted, and not just because of the football. Their

:56:33. > :56:38.man here has come into second place! Massa makes contact! At

:56:38. > :56:43.think it was Kobayashi. And it looked like there was some debris.

:56:43. > :56:47.Could there be another safety car? Hamilton on Raikkonen... Hamilton

:56:47. > :56:54.has managed to get past the Lotus. That was a crucial move for

:56:54. > :57:00.Hamilton. Michael Schumacher is behind. I think he has a puncture

:57:00. > :57:06.at the rear. And the front tyre is severely flat as well. What had

:57:06. > :57:12.been a reasonable run for Massa... Vettel has a problem! He has got a

:57:12. > :57:17.puncture, has he? Sebastian Vettel is dropping back down the order!

:57:17. > :57:22.Major drama here in the European Grand Prix! Vettel has slowed to a

:57:22. > :57:27.stop. Adrian Newey cannot believe it! He is not going to take a hat-

:57:27. > :57:31.trick of wins in Valencia. Not only that, we now have Fernando Alonso

:57:31. > :57:35.leading the European Grand Prix in Spain. Is Vettel in a position

:57:35. > :57:42.where they can recover the car?. could have another safety car, I'm

:57:42. > :57:47.not sure. Alonso leads in Valencia! Romain Grosjean in second place. So,

:57:47. > :57:52.we have got yellow flags but no sign of the safety car just yet.

:57:52. > :57:56.Third place is still Daniel Ricardo, in the Toro Rosso. Then it is Lewis

:57:56. > :58:02.Hamilton in fourth. Into the pits comes Massa. While one Ferrari

:58:02. > :58:07.leads, the other one in trouble in the pits, with a puncture. We will

:58:07. > :58:11.get another view in a while of exactly what caused that, although

:58:11. > :58:19.I believe Kobayashi was involved, even though he has not come into

:58:19. > :58:27.the pits himself. There is a problem somewhere. Have they found

:58:27. > :58:32.some damage, or did the wheel not fit properly? Oh, a different set.

:58:32. > :58:39.That was strange. Hamilton is going to get past the Toro Rosso! Yes, no

:58:39. > :58:42.worries at all. He is up into third place. Look how close Grosjean was

:58:42. > :58:48.to the back of a Monza. Alonso is not running away with this.

:58:48. > :58:52.Suddenly we have got a real race on our hands here. We have got the

:58:52. > :59:02.yellow flag, but I think Raikkonen had the pass before the flag. He

:59:02. > :59:03.

:59:03. > :59:11.should be OK. Deciding not to have a safety car when you have marshals

:59:11. > :59:14.on the track. We have got yellow flags, of course, the drivers are

:59:14. > :59:24.meant to slow down. This is a replay of what happened with Massa.

:59:24. > :59:24.

:59:24. > :59:30.He got a bit wide into turn 10. I think Massa was the innocent victim

:59:30. > :59:36.there. Rob Smedley rubs his head. This was where Vettel suddenly

:59:36. > :59:41.slowed down, that we have no idea why yet. You can see the response

:59:41. > :59:46.of Vettel, he cannot believe it. He is out, after dominating this race,

:59:46. > :59:50.and looking at three wins in a row in Valencia. And you can see the

:59:50. > :59:55.response from the crowd, with also leading. But Grosjean has been told

:59:55. > :00:00.by his team, your tyres are lasting better than Fernando's. Do not

:00:00. > :00:06.panic, stay in this one. DAVID COULTHARD: Grosjean can win

:00:06. > :00:11.this race, 100%. I think he has the faster car this afternoon. This is

:00:11. > :00:21.going to take all of his experience to try to keep Grosjean behind

:00:21. > :00:37.

:00:37. > :00:42.Alonso. Meanwhile, Webber goes of Grosjean. Hamilton will have

:00:42. > :00:46.every chance of closing the gap himself. Maldonado having to be

:00:46. > :00:50.quite defensive in the Williams. This little group is all tied

:00:50. > :00:55.together as they fight over fifth place. Daniel Ricciardo doing a

:00:55. > :01:01.good job. He is at the front of this group at the moment. Maldonado

:01:01. > :01:07.tries to attack Mark Webber. He is doing a fine job. He is indeed.

:01:07. > :01:12.He's been told Schumacher's tyres are only four laps fresher than his

:01:12. > :01:17.tyres. Don't make it easy for anyone, you are in that position on

:01:17. > :01:24.merit, he has been told. Michael will have to work for it if he is

:01:24. > :01:30.to get past. Out of turns two and three, Ricciardo looked better than

:01:30. > :01:38.Michael Schumacher out of that section. There's no chance for

:01:38. > :01:43.Michael Schumacher to get any closer. Up towards 108 they come. -

:01:44. > :01:50.- To No. 8. It is turning into one of the most interesting races there

:01:50. > :01:54.has been in Valencia. Mark Webber's plight not withstanding a couple of

:01:54. > :02:00.years ago, Vettel's dominance of the early part of the race, but he

:02:00. > :02:07.is now a dash out. We have a battle between Alonso... Michael

:02:07. > :02:12.Schumacher get past Brickyard though, D o r s doing its job. -- D

:02:12. > :02:22.ers doing its job. Mark Webber looking to find his way past the

:02:22. > :02:26.

:02:26. > :02:31.Alonso, he will have the advantage as Mark Webber shows his nose.

:02:31. > :02:35.Incident involving Hamilton for potentially ignoring yellow flags.

:02:35. > :02:41.That could be news for Hamilton. I wonder how that will get sorted.

:02:41. > :02:51.That would have been for Vettel's car. It is fairly clear cut, you

:02:51. > :03:08.

:03:08. > :03:13.have your GP as marshalling system through? He is trying. Daniel

:03:13. > :03:17.Ricciardo came in the pits. He has not been able to hold out any

:03:17. > :03:21.longer before making that pit stop. For a little while he must have

:03:21. > :03:25.enjoyed himself, running in front of some established Formula One

:03:26. > :03:30.names. It will be interesting to see the outcome of that Hamilton

:03:30. > :03:39.incident. Normally the marshalling system is pretty clear cut if they

:03:39. > :03:44.are looking into it. We can see Sebastian Vettel. He is

:03:44. > :03:48.disappointed, clearly, but sporting enough to wave to the fans. He

:03:48. > :03:53.knows he could not have done anything different this afternoon.

:03:53. > :04:00.Mark Webber leaves the door open for Maldonado. He pushes him out

:04:00. > :04:05.wide on to the kerb. I think he thought Mark was going to follow

:04:05. > :04:13.Ricky yarder into the pit lane. Mark losing another place on the

:04:13. > :04:18.exit. Alonso has established a little bit of a gap over Grosjean.

:04:18. > :04:22.Still plenty of time to go in this race and Grosjean will not be

:04:22. > :04:27.thinking of getting past in straight away. Hamilton is a little

:04:27. > :04:31.bit further behind. What I think I started before I interrupted myself

:04:31. > :04:41.is that Grosjean has the advantage of about three-tenths of a second a

:04:41. > :04:45.lap. In effect, he can sit there quite comfortably behind Alonso,

:04:45. > :04:50.maintaining that one-second gap, not taking so much out of his tyres

:04:50. > :04:56.because he is getting that reduction in drag as they run down

:04:56. > :05:02.the back straight. Biding his time. I love the Mexican waves you get

:05:02. > :05:07.every time Alonso comes past the grandstands. Never won in Valencia.

:05:07. > :05:12.He has had a difficult time at his second home venue. Did not finish

:05:12. > :05:19.the first race here in 2000 date. He has had some finishes, but never

:05:19. > :05:28.do victory he has been cheered onto. Hamilton still chased by Raikkonen.

:05:28. > :05:33.The two notices in the top four. -- Lotuses. Raikkonen closing to the

:05:33. > :05:40.back of Lewis Hamilton. Jones's Delyn 5th, but we are expecting him

:05:40. > :05:44.to make another pit-stop. -- Schumacher is still in fifth.

:05:44. > :05:54.Schumacher will have to come in at some point. Maldonado is running

:05:54. > :06:10.

:06:10. > :06:15.leading in the early stages. Looking to pull away after the

:06:15. > :06:18.restart, but something went wrong with the Cup. We look -- we've also

:06:18. > :06:28.lost Kobayashi after what looked to be an incident between himself and

:06:28. > :06:31.Massa. And we've lost the Jean-Eric Vergne as well. Karthikeyan has

:06:31. > :06:38.picked up a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

:06:38. > :06:43.Sergio Perez is trying to get past Jenson Button. He can't quite

:06:43. > :06:47.finish it off. Button just holding on to ninth place from the Sauber.

:06:47. > :06:57.Very fair have Jenson to leave the space. Perez came from a long way

:06:57. > :07:03.back. The message was quite clear. Perez wants to make his move.

:07:03. > :07:09.still unable to slip through as yet. It looks like Button is struggling

:07:09. > :07:13.with the rear tyre. Look how wide he is on Exits. Under pressure from

:07:13. > :07:22.Perez and another man under pressure is Lewis Hamilton from

:07:22. > :07:28.Kimi Raikkonen. Paul di Resta is on a one-stop strategy, not able to

:07:28. > :07:32.run quite as fast. Mark Webber, having rejoined with a fresh set of

:07:32. > :07:38.tyres, is the fastest man of all in the first sector. Perez on the

:07:38. > :07:42.softer tyre and he seems to be making the most of that. Perez's

:07:42. > :07:48.pace in Montreal was amazing. I was talking to one of the other team

:07:48. > :07:54.engineers on the way out here... A lock up again from Button. They

:07:54. > :07:58.were so impressed with Perez's run of laps in the latter stages.

:07:58. > :08:03.Vettel heading over to the pit wall. We have not seen that very often in

:08:03. > :08:08.his recent career. A replay of him going to see Christian Horner and

:08:08. > :08:15.hopefully we will discover what the problem was. But he is out. A new

:08:15. > :08:19.fastest lap from Fernando Alonso. About eight-tenths the second he

:08:19. > :08:22.pulled out on Grosjean on the last lap. We hear so much this year

:08:22. > :08:27.about the tyre management and keeping them in the right operating

:08:27. > :08:31.window. His Fernando sending a message to Grosjean? Get a move on.

:08:31. > :08:35.Let me see if I can burn out your tyres, or is he trying to take the

:08:35. > :08:41.last out of these tyres before diving for another pit-stop?

:08:41. > :08:46.little slow from Grosjean. Still chasing down Alonso. It is easy to

:08:46. > :08:51.forget that Alonso started in 11th place! He is slow! Grosjean has a

:08:51. > :08:56.problem. I thought for a moment it looked like him was slow off the

:08:56. > :09:00.bridge and I thought he was just taking it easy. What is going on?

:09:00. > :09:04.Fees reliable Formula One cars, 24 cars finished here last year. We

:09:04. > :09:10.have lost the lead and the guy in second place. Grosjean is out,

:09:10. > :09:16.Hamilton is up to second. Raikkonen will now be third. Looking for a

:09:16. > :09:23.gap in the wall. So disappointing for this young Frenchman. Sorry

:09:23. > :09:28.about that. Battery issues, we lost the alternator, we could not do

:09:28. > :09:35.anything. Lost the alternator! It failed. Electric power has gone for

:09:35. > :09:38.Romain Grosjean. He gets out of the car. You have to feel for this

:09:38. > :09:46.young man. It has all gone wrong when he could perhaps have had a

:09:46. > :09:49.chance of winning. Cruel luck. The Renault engine is normally very

:09:49. > :09:54.reliable, but the alternator has gone. They could not maintain the

:09:54. > :09:59.charge. When you see him there, finding a gap in the fence and

:09:59. > :10:03.getting ready to push the car back. That sends a clear message to me.

:10:03. > :10:07.This is a young man that absolutely is comfortable with where he is in

:10:07. > :10:11.Formula One. He's bitterly disappointed, but still trying to

:10:11. > :10:16.do the right thing after his car has broken down. A Perez has got

:10:17. > :10:21.past Button. Schumacher has made his pit stop. We wondered if he was

:10:21. > :10:28.Thaiday out, but he has gone on to softer tyres. This is how Perez got

:10:28. > :10:35.past... Up into the last turn. A bit like we saw with Maldonado on

:10:35. > :10:41.Webber. Nothing Jenson could do. You could see Martin Whitmarsh with

:10:41. > :10:49.a look of frustration for Jenson's race, but Hamilton, 3.9 seconds

:10:49. > :10:53.behind Alonso. Does Hamilton have any answer to the Ferrari? The gap

:10:53. > :10:58.is just under four seconds. Hamilton hasn't had the pace that

:10:58. > :11:02.we saw from him in qualifying yesterday. Fernando Alonso looks

:11:02. > :11:09.comfortable in front. We are on board with Webber. He has

:11:09. > :11:12.Schumacher in front of him. Trying to get past for 11th place.

:11:12. > :11:18.Schumacher is not that quick at the moment. I think Webber is on the

:11:18. > :11:22.softer tyre. Michael is still trying to get up to speed on the

:11:22. > :11:29.softer tyres. It doesn't look like Michael has any speed in a straight

:11:29. > :11:33.line. Mark was in a good position out of turn 14. Does Michael have

:11:33. > :11:38.an issue? He has done his pit stop and he is pick out -- back out and

:11:38. > :11:44.he is slow. Let's keep an eye on the Mercedes. Is it just a warm-up

:11:44. > :11:49.issue? It is a new set of options issue? It is a new set of options

:11:49. > :11:52.he had available. Whatever the issue was, it seems to have cleared

:11:52. > :11:55.issue was, it seems to have cleared itself. Or is it that the Red Bull

:11:55. > :12:02.is just very good and Webber has not had the chance to show it in

:12:02. > :12:05.this race. We saw how quick Vettel was in the early stages. The two of

:12:06. > :12:10.them are actually behind Vitaly Petrov in the Caterham, currently

:12:10. > :12:16.in tenth place. True to their work, he has done three starts this

:12:16. > :12:21.afternoon. -- true to their word. It has been an impressive weekend

:12:21. > :12:27.for Caterham. Kovalainen did not have that much luck. Mark Webber

:12:27. > :12:34.went on the attack. Michael going defensive into 12. Marx thought he

:12:34. > :12:41.would get him with a cheeky pass into 14, but bailed out early. He

:12:41. > :12:49.was able to close up on Michael in the run-up to 17. Meanwhile, up

:12:49. > :12:57.front, Alonso... You are doing a great job. Can you win it? Three-

:12:57. > :13:02.tenths quicker on the last lap. I thought Raikkonen was staying with

:13:02. > :13:05.him for a moment ago, but losing a length or two over the last half

:13:05. > :13:10.lap. That is Fernando Alonso, chasing his Lewis Hamilton. We will

:13:10. > :13:16.keep an eye on the lap times. Raikkonen not far behind. Three

:13:16. > :13:22.world champions going at it for the final 13 laps in Valencia. On that

:13:22. > :13:25.lap, a good lap from Alonso again. Two-tenths faster than Hamilton. It

:13:25. > :13:31.was also a good luck from Kimi Raikkonen, who was faster than both

:13:31. > :13:34.of them. The McLaren message was interesting. We thought they were

:13:34. > :13:39.just doing two stops this afternoon. It is questionable whether Hamilton

:13:39. > :13:44.has the pace to catch Alonso, but do they think Ferrari will burn out

:13:44. > :13:50.these tyres and have to do a third stop this afternoon? Just to

:13:50. > :13:57.compound the difficulty for Hamilton, he has mirrors for love

:13:57. > :14:00.Raikkonen. I think Righton and... He has to show that he has the

:14:00. > :14:08.racing spirit that he had the first time around. He's been a little bit

:14:08. > :14:12.soft with his passes this year. Let's hear from Sebastian Vettel.

:14:12. > :14:22.So frustrating, you've been dominating for so long, what was

:14:22. > :14:22.

:14:22. > :14:27.the problem? We don't know yet. I lost drive. I had to give way to

:14:27. > :14:30.the other people. The engine stalled and switched off and there

:14:30. > :14:35.was nothing we could have done. At the moment it is not clear exactly

:14:35. > :14:40.what the problem was. Maybe a bit similar to the issue mark had on

:14:40. > :14:46.Friday. Were there any indications before it happened? Did you have

:14:46. > :14:56.any worries we were leading? really. The safety car was not

:14:56. > :15:06.ideal for us. It might be that the retirement is, in some regards,

:15:06. > :15:09.

:15:09. > :15:13.also to help with the safety car. A by his engineers that they think

:15:13. > :15:18.Fernando Alonso's tyres will be going off before the end of the

:15:18. > :15:23.race, a bit like Montreal. They have said to Kimi, if you can get

:15:23. > :15:27.past Lewis, you can win this thing. So, Kimi has been told in no

:15:27. > :15:33.uncertain terms that the victory is still on. I wonder whether Alonso

:15:33. > :15:38.can keep these tyres going. It was so difficult at the end of the

:15:38. > :15:44.Canadian Grand Prix for him, he stayed out, and dropped back from

:15:44. > :15:51.first to fifth. We have seen it happen this year, Kimi Raikkonen

:15:51. > :15:56.went from second to 14th in China. So, all the teams are very wary of

:15:56. > :16:00.it. But all of these drivers believe they can win this race.

:16:00. > :16:04.DAVID COULTHARD: Of course, they all stopped at the same time under

:16:04. > :16:08.the safety car, so, presuming that they are on a similar type of

:16:08. > :16:12.Kolarov, then this is a straight run on car performance. Raikkonen

:16:12. > :16:17.has certainly got more pace than Hamilton at the moment. You could

:16:17. > :16:26.see that little kick at the rear out of the previous corner, and it

:16:26. > :16:30.is that kind of thing which can overheat the tyres. The drivers

:16:30. > :16:40.have to be so sensitive on the throttle. Michael is now into tenth

:16:40. > :16:45.

:16:45. > :16:52.place. Up to the next chicane. Yes, he has gone through. And so, Petrov

:16:52. > :16:58.has now unfortunately been pushed out of the points. It is still

:16:58. > :17:04.Alonso leading, 3.7 seconds, the gap. Again, he was quicker than the

:17:04. > :17:08.two behind him. He just eased off a bit on the last lap, so he may be

:17:08. > :17:14.comfortable with that gap. He has got a bit of a window. They have

:17:14. > :17:18.just got to be careful in the braking zone, to avoid locking. And

:17:18. > :17:22.if there is such a thing as people power, then he will be getting a

:17:22. > :17:26.large dose of it this afternoon. That's totally true, the fans

:17:26. > :17:36.pushing him to try to get victory here in Valencia, looking to be the

:17:36. > :17:43.

:17:43. > :17:51.first repeat winner of the season. Unfortunately, my Italian is not

:17:51. > :17:58.quite up to that. Do you want me to translate?! But, sounding

:17:58. > :18:01.reasonably confident. 3.7 seconds, the gap back to these two, and it

:18:01. > :18:05.is Raikkonen who is looking the most racy, in the Lotus, at the

:18:05. > :18:11.moment. Hamilton is having to work quite hard to stay in front of the

:18:11. > :18:15.Lotus. After Kimi Raikkonen, a big gap back to Pastor Maldonado.

:18:15. > :18:19.Maldonado has been a bit below the radar, but he is in fourth place,

:18:19. > :18:29.and that would be a very solid finish Fon Williams if they can

:18:29. > :18:40.

:18:40. > :18:44.behind Paul di Resta. Michael Schumacher is in tenth. Michael

:18:44. > :18:51.Schumacher's best result this year has been tenth, he has had two of

:18:51. > :18:55.them, and that is all he has had. On that last lap, Alonso pulled out

:18:55. > :19:01.another two tenths on Hamilton, so he is easing away up front.

:19:01. > :19:05.Hamilton not having to get too defensive yet on Raikkonen.

:19:05. > :19:09.Raikkonen needs to get a move on, because all the time he is in the

:19:09. > :19:15.dirty air, he is losing downforce, sliding the car more, and putting

:19:15. > :19:19.more heat and energy into the tyres. Crucially, even though he is in the

:19:19. > :19:25.DRS zone, he is just too far back out of turn tend to do anything

:19:25. > :19:30.with it on the run down to the braking zone into 12. You can see

:19:30. > :19:35.the gap back to Maldonado. And a great job being done from Paul di

:19:35. > :19:41.Resta. Only one stop this afternoon, just a couple of seconds behind his

:19:41. > :19:45.teammate, but he has got Perez right behind him. Paul will

:19:45. > :19:49.struggle to defend against occur which has got fresher tyres on it,

:19:49. > :19:55.especially this late in the race. Riding with Sergio Perez, looking

:19:55. > :20:01.very strong once again. Gary, let's gets some thoughts from you - with

:20:01. > :20:06.10 laps to go, and those cars up front having stopped under the

:20:06. > :20:09.safety car, what are your thoughts on your tyres? Going on previous

:20:09. > :20:19.experience, you would be thinking about the tyres coming into the

:20:19. > :20:21.

:20:21. > :20:25.latter stages. Alonso is losing a bit, but then again, so is Hamilton.

:20:25. > :20:28.The interesting one could be Kimi Raikkonen, but he has to get past

:20:28. > :20:33.Lewis Hamilton. Driving behind another car, his tyres are

:20:33. > :20:36.suffering more than Lewis Hamilton's tyres. Yes, slipping and

:20:36. > :20:41.sliding in the slipstream of Hamilton is not doing anything for

:20:41. > :20:49.the longevity of the tyres. Something has happened to Perez, he

:20:49. > :20:54.has not got a front wing! He was in 11th Place, but he is heading into

:20:54. > :21:04.the pits now. Let's see what happened. This is Daniel Ricardo on

:21:04. > :21:04.

:21:04. > :21:08.the outside, and Petrov cuts back at turn 13. As they come through 13

:21:08. > :21:16.to 14, Daniel is looking to continue around the outside, and

:21:16. > :21:20.there is going to be contact. Yes, there it is. So, not a good

:21:20. > :21:26.afternoon for Toro Rosso or Caterham, as both have their cars

:21:26. > :21:30.have been involved in incidents. Alonso still looking good, however.

:21:30. > :21:39.Raikkonen still cannot find a way past the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.

:21:39. > :21:43.It is Ferrari up front, McLaren in second, and locusts, -- Lotus, with

:21:43. > :21:48.the Renault engine, in third. For the third Grand Prix in succession,

:21:48. > :21:55.we are looking at three different cars, three different engine

:21:55. > :22:00.manufacturers, being represented on the podium. No further action

:22:00. > :22:04.regarding Lewis Hamilton, that will be a relief for McLaren. But we

:22:04. > :22:09.have heard there will be a five place great penalty at the next

:22:09. > :22:19.event for Co Biaggi, for causing a collision. -- grid penalty. --

:22:19. > :22:35.

:22:35. > :22:39.the incident between Petrov and Ricardo that we were just watching.

:22:39. > :22:43.Rosberg trying to get a bit closer to the back of the Williams. But up

:22:43. > :22:47.front, it is all about Alonso. Alonso, maintaining that advantage

:22:47. > :22:52.from Hamilton and Raikkonen. He is indeed, but Alonso just dropping

:22:52. > :23:00.the pace slightly. As they start to come into the late phase of the

:23:00. > :23:07.Grand Prix on the tyres, they are not able to repeat the same kind of

:23:07. > :23:10.sector times. Crucially for Alonso, Hamilton seems to be in the same

:23:10. > :23:15.sort of situation. We have got Michael Schumacher trying to get

:23:15. > :23:24.past Button. It did not quite work! But now he has got a chance to try

:23:24. > :23:30.again! And he does it. And Webber tries to get past as well. Button

:23:30. > :23:36.just has no answer. I suspect Michael would have given it a

:23:36. > :23:46.little boost of KERS coming out of 14, and he made the move stick that

:23:46. > :23:56.Daniel Ricardo could not. Mark Webber into 9th, and Jenson Button

:23:56. > :24:00.

:24:00. > :24:10.currently running for the final hall of points unless something

:24:10. > :24:12.

:24:12. > :24:19.happens up front, for Jenson Button this afternoon. Jenson just going a

:24:19. > :24:26.bit wide at 13, and Michael goes through. On board with Rosberg. And

:24:26. > :24:32.this will be him going past Senna. DRS down the outside into 12, looks

:24:32. > :24:36.a bit, but pass complete. Meanwhile, back up front, again, in the first

:24:36. > :24:41.sector, Alonso's pace dropping a bit. Hamilton a bit quicker on this

:24:41. > :24:45.particular lap. Raikkonen looks like he just might be overheating

:24:45. > :24:49.those tyres slightly in the dirty air of Hamilton. He is dropping

:24:49. > :24:55.back now. You just get the feeling that Raikkonen needs to be a bit

:24:55. > :24:58.more aggressive when he gets up behind these colours. We saw in

:24:58. > :25:02.Bahrain him missing the opportunity of Sebastian Vettel. I appreciate

:25:02. > :25:10.it is not easy, it is certainly a lot easier doing it from inside the

:25:10. > :25:17.commentary box and! Let's just remind you what has been going on

:25:17. > :25:24.in a topsy-turvy Grand Prix here in Valencia. Sebastian Vettel led the

:25:24. > :25:28.Grand Prix by 20 seconds, he was dominating this race. Hamilton was

:25:28. > :25:36.battling to hold on to second place, but Romain Grosjean was a man on

:25:36. > :25:42.the move. The Lotus was very, very quick. Helped by the safety, -- the

:25:42. > :25:45.safety car, he was able to close up. But after the safety car, Sebastian

:25:45. > :25:49.Vettel's car just stopped on him, when it looked as though he had a

:25:49. > :25:59.hat-trick of victories here in Valencia on the cars. Suddenly, he

:25:59. > :26:05.was out. Alonso, with a good strategy from Ferrari, made a

:26:05. > :26:09.fantastic move at the restart to get past Romain Grosjean, and, with

:26:09. > :26:14.Vettel pulling out, it has put Alonso in front. So, from 11th

:26:14. > :26:18.place on the grid, the Ferrari leads the race by 3.6 seconds over

:26:18. > :26:24.Hamilton and Raikkonen. We have got Maldonado, who started third, in

:26:24. > :26:34.the Williams, running fourth. Then, battling for sixth place, Paul di

:26:34. > :26:41.

:26:41. > :26:44.Resta,, unlike everybody else, has only been into the pits once, with

:26:44. > :26:54.Mark Webber down in 9th. Jenson Button seems to be struggling, down

:26:54. > :27:01.

:27:01. > :27:05.than Alonso on the last lap. A bit of encouragement for Lewis Hamilton,

:27:05. > :27:09.but I think it might be too late now, as we come into the later

:27:09. > :27:12.stages. Getting some oversteer into the last corner, showing that he is

:27:13. > :27:22.pushing to get everything he can out of the closing phase of this

:27:22. > :27:27.race. Michael Schumacher, meanwhile, closing the gap to Sergio Perez. So,

:27:27. > :27:33.Perez, as he tries to find a way past di Resta, he will have the

:27:33. > :27:39.Mercedes behind him very soon. Paul di Resta, the only man to do a one-

:27:39. > :27:47.stop strategy this afternoon. Meanwhile, out front, Alonso,

:27:47. > :27:52.looking comfortable. He started 11th! It is unbelievable. Fortune

:27:52. > :27:58.has played its hand this afternoon, but he is just relentless in his

:27:58. > :28:01.performance. A true example of number one, team leader, carrying

:28:01. > :28:05.Ferrari through the difficulties of pre-season testing, where everybody

:28:05. > :28:09.thought it was going to be an embarrassing year for them. Well,

:28:09. > :28:19.well on the way to becoming the first man to win two Grand Prix es,

:28:19. > :28:33.

:28:33. > :28:40.that's not much of an embarrassment to Lewis Hamilton and Kimi

:28:41. > :28:46.Raikkonen, I can work that bit out! Alonso still seems happy up front,

:28:46. > :28:49.with a few laps to go. Riding on board with Kimi Raikkonen. The

:28:49. > :28:54.Lotus team has been putting together a few podium finishes.

:28:54. > :28:59.Hamilton slides again. He is not enjoying that last corner at the

:28:59. > :29:07.moment. The rear end of his car is just not stable. We saw it through

:29:07. > :29:14.free practice. He has opened the gabber bid from Raikkonen, however.

:29:14. > :29:19.-- opened the gap a bit. You cannot help but feel that Lotus, they have

:29:19. > :29:22.a good race car. They just do not seem to be able to manage to get

:29:22. > :29:32.the track position in the early phase of the Grand Prix. They come

:29:32. > :29:37.

:29:37. > :29:44.back strong late in the race, but it is almost too late. That's right.

:29:44. > :29:47.And of course, you have got to feel for Grosjean. He seemed to have a

:29:47. > :29:53.good second place here, and potentially the chance to be

:29:53. > :30:00.challenging Alonso, particularly if Alonso's tyres go off a bit more in

:30:00. > :30:10.the remaining laps. But instead, Grosjean coasted to a halt. Michael

:30:10. > :30:13.

:30:13. > :30:19.Schumacher getting past Perez! And Webber is trying to do likewise.

:30:19. > :30:22.Yes, Webber gets through as well. So, next up for Michael Schumacher

:30:22. > :30:31.will be Paul di Resta, who will be defenceless on those very tired

:30:31. > :30:35.tyres now. He has not been in the pits since lap 23. It has been an

:30:35. > :30:39.impressive attempt at a one-stop strategy from di Resta. He

:30:39. > :30:42.certainly looks like he will hold on and get some points this

:30:42. > :30:52.afternoon, but he is about to lose a place to Michael Schumacher, I

:30:52. > :31:01.

:31:01. > :31:07.Tight through 12 and then the undercut through 13. Now, what has

:31:07. > :31:13.Massa been doing? Battling with Petrov. Petrov shutting the door on

:31:13. > :31:17.the Ferrari. And then coming back at the Ferrari as well. This is all

:31:17. > :31:22.for 15th place. They are still racing hard. I think he might have

:31:22. > :31:26.got that place back. Di Resta with his mirrors full of Mercedes and

:31:26. > :31:30.Red Bull. Webber will look for any chance he can to catch Michael

:31:30. > :31:37.Schumacher out as they tried to get past the Force India. Hulkenberg is

:31:37. > :31:41.further ahead. Schumacher on for his best result of the season. Mark

:31:41. > :31:46.Webber is tucked in behind them. Nico Rosberg with the fastest lap

:31:46. > :31:50.in this race in the other Mercedes. Here comes Michael Schumacher. He

:31:50. > :31:54.gets past Paul di Resta easily. Nothing he could do on tyres that

:31:54. > :32:00.have done so many more laps. I don't think Webber will take too

:32:00. > :32:05.long to follow. No. Just run out of rubber. Mark Webber will probably

:32:05. > :32:13.get the run on him in the way down to 17. You can see the difference

:32:13. > :32:19.in traction. Easy pass for Mark Webber. Next up for Michael

:32:19. > :32:24.Schumacher is Nico Hulkenberg. fourth pit stop being made by

:32:24. > :32:29.Felipe Massa courtesy of perhaps some damage. He is in the pits at

:32:29. > :32:36.the moment. This was how of Michael swept past Paul di Resta. No dramas

:32:36. > :32:43.at all. He is now in sixth place and that last, Michael Schumacher,

:32:43. > :32:48.having a decent race run today. That was how Mark Webber did it. No

:32:48. > :32:53.dramas at all. Michael Schumacher well and truly in the points.

:32:54. > :32:58.Rosberg battling to try to pick up the last point this afternoon. He

:32:58. > :33:03.is four second behind Button. A massive lock up for Hamilton. The

:33:03. > :33:08.battle for second place is not over. Rosberg is suddenly the fastest man

:33:08. > :33:14.on the track. Hamilton made a mistake! This is a big chance for

:33:14. > :33:20.Raikkonen. Trying to take second place from the McLaren. The McLaren

:33:20. > :33:26.has surely run out of grip. Raikkonen is trying to go down the

:33:26. > :33:32.outside, wheel-to-wheel. Hamilton will not let him go past. Raikkonen

:33:32. > :33:37.can't do it. Somehow, Hamilton, after that error, has held onto

:33:37. > :33:41.position. Raikkonen will try to come back at him. Raikkonen, you

:33:41. > :33:48.have got DRS and you're on the clean-lined and he could not make

:33:48. > :33:53.it stick. Will he do it this time? He just seems tentative. Is it just

:33:53. > :34:00.me or does he not seen that comfortable? But then he does it

:34:00. > :34:05.just to shut me up! Well done. has gone into second place, Kimi

:34:05. > :34:10.Raikkonen, in the Lotus. It is the McLaren that has run out of grip.

:34:10. > :34:16.Hamilton could be under pressure from Maldonado. He goes wide and

:34:17. > :34:22.Maldonado it will pass him on the run out. Two abreast as they run

:34:22. > :34:30.through the high-speed corner. close! Vale almost touching wheels

:34:30. > :34:37.at 180 mph. Somehow Hamilton holds on. On board with Maldonado. That

:34:37. > :34:40.was brave staff from both of them. These guys have got form. They came

:34:40. > :34:46.together in Monaco last year and Maldonado was the victim of that

:34:46. > :34:53.incident. Brave staff from both of them through turn one. In the end,

:34:53. > :34:58.Hamilton held on. But can he hold on? He has no rear tyres left by

:34:58. > :35:03.the looks of it. Maldonado will be right into his slipstream as they

:35:03. > :35:09.come into the DRS zone. Barcelona race winner looking to

:35:09. > :35:13.try to get his second Formula One podium. But Hamilton will fight

:35:13. > :35:23.with everything he has got. Maldonado tries to go around the

:35:23. > :35:25.

:35:25. > :35:31.outside! Hamilton is in the wall! He is out! He beats the steering

:35:31. > :35:36.wheel, he can't believe what has just happened. Disappointment.

:35:36. > :35:42.McLaren. So close to the end of this Grand Prix for top Maldonado

:35:42. > :35:47.was on the outside. He tried to squeeze in a little bit at 13.

:35:47. > :35:54.Maldonado has lost his front wing. This will a Schumacher to get third

:35:54. > :35:58.plays. This could beat a podium for Michael. Mark Webber can also

:35:58. > :36:05.sniffy opportunity for a podium. Definitely. They have gone past

:36:05. > :36:11.Hulkenberg. Let's take a look at this. He is on the outside, he gets

:36:11. > :36:18.pushed a little bit wide. Well, you could argue Maldonado was off the

:36:18. > :36:27.track. He has just hit the side of Hamilton. At this stage, it is

:36:27. > :36:31.advantage Maldonado, and then advantage Hamilton. If you have to

:36:31. > :36:36.apportion blame, the white line defines the race track even though

:36:36. > :36:45.there is plenty of room. Maldonado was off the racetrack. Does this

:36:45. > :36:51.mean Michael Schumacher is going to benefit? Where is the battle?

:36:51. > :36:57.Webber and Schumacher. Webber has been slow on traction out of turn

:36:57. > :37:07.12. -- turn 10. He will be in the DRS sown. This is for the podium.

:37:07. > :37:11.We are on the last lap. A yellow flag means you can't overtake.

:37:11. > :37:19.Hulkenberg having to wait to get past the lap up. You're on board

:37:19. > :37:25.with Alonso. He started in 11th place and he has now just got a

:37:25. > :37:30.final half a lap to complete to take victory here in Valencia. What

:37:30. > :37:37.a remarkable story it has been once again for Fernando Alonso and

:37:37. > :37:43.Ferrari. He comes down to the final corner. Fernando Alonso is the

:37:43. > :37:47.first repeat winner of 2012! It is his 29th career win and the first

:37:47. > :37:53.time he has won in a Valencia. Second place goes to Kimi Raikkonen

:37:53. > :37:58.for Lotus. It is going to be Michael Schumacher in third place.

:37:58. > :38:01.His first podium since his comeback. He has done it at last. Mark Webber

:38:01. > :38:09.finishes in fourth place. Hulkenberg is going to finish in

:38:09. > :38:16.fifth position. Rosberg grabs sixth place. On the line from Paul di

:38:16. > :38:19.Resta. He finishes 7th. Then it is Button in eighth, Perez in night. I

:38:19. > :38:26.can't tell you who is 10th... Maldonado managed to get home

:38:26. > :38:31.intent. Maldonado has finished in tenth place. But Hamilton walked

:38:31. > :38:36.back. Alonso has seen his two biggest rivals out of the European

:38:36. > :38:46.Grand Prix, whereas he has taken victory at home for Spain. What a

:38:46. > :38:47.

:38:47. > :38:52.day for me -- for Fernando Alonso. Fantastic! I don't think we need

:38:52. > :38:58.any translation. A truly world class drive and what a comeback

:38:58. > :39:03.from a disappointing qualifying. Bitter disappointment for millers

:39:03. > :39:10.Hamilton. Just attacked by Maldonado, who placed his colour

:39:10. > :39:14.and deboned the side of the McLaren driver. Maldonado managed to

:39:14. > :39:18.continue. A good call from them to stay out and pick up the final

:39:18. > :39:21.point. I suspect he will have a visit to the stewards, though.

:39:21. > :39:25.Might well be a visit to the Might well be a visit to the

:39:25. > :39:30.stewards. For Fernando Alonso, though, he has lit up Valencia with

:39:30. > :39:35.this result. The football result was brilliant for Spain last night,

:39:35. > :39:45.but this is just amazing. Fernando Alonso for Ferrari. They had a poor

:39:45. > :39:55.day in qualifying, he qualified in 11th place. Well done, guys. Thank

:39:55. > :39:57.

:39:57. > :40:03.you. Wow. Michael Schumacher on the podium at last. After all the

:40:03. > :40:10.troubles he's had so far this year, it is so difficult... He will be

:40:10. > :40:16.the oldest podium finishers since Jack Brabham in 1970 when he was 44

:40:16. > :40:26.years old. He has taken that record, years old. He has taken that record,

:40:26. > :40:59.

:40:59. > :41:09.Michael Schumacher. Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso... He won in

:41:09. > :41:13.

:41:13. > :41:17.Malaysia earlier this year. LAUGHTER. Congratulations! That

:41:17. > :41:22.doesn't need any translation, either. What an emotional day this

:41:22. > :41:28.will be for the 30-year-old Spaniard, the double world champion.

:41:28. > :41:33.This season which promised so little. He has stopped on the

:41:33. > :41:36.circuit. He has indeed. Whether that is because he just wants to

:41:36. > :41:41.celebrate with the grandstand or whether it is because he is low on

:41:41. > :41:49.fuel. The FIA may take a dim view if they can't get a fuel sample. He

:41:49. > :41:53.is happy. He will be getting a lift back to the podium ceremony. This

:41:53. > :41:58.season has thrown up some fairy- tale results, but none more so from

:41:58. > :42:02.this one. This race had never been won from lower than third plays

:42:02. > :42:06.before. Coming from 11th place, it is not the furthest back the

:42:06. > :42:10.European Grand Prix has ever been won from, but on a street track

:42:10. > :42:17.like this, it shows you the combinations, the difficulties with

:42:17. > :42:24.the tyres and using the pit stops, and the safety car. That helped him.

:42:24. > :42:28.It was also a brilliant pass he made on Grosjean. Let's hear from

:42:28. > :42:38.Stefan Kokobu Dominic Karl Ley. First two time winner this year.

:42:38. > :42:43.was good. Unbelievable race. For me, it is important that we are keeping

:42:43. > :42:47.the place. Our main competitors lost some very important points.

:42:47. > :42:50.That was why we needed to stay very cool, but I'm very happy for

:42:50. > :42:59.Fernando because he did in incredible race. He always seems to

:42:59. > :43:04.be able to pick it up. Yes. For me, today it is important after

:43:04. > :43:09.yesterday that was not easy for us. It was great. Well done. Michael

:43:09. > :43:13.Schumacher loving this moment. At last, that podium has come. It did

:43:13. > :43:18.not look like it was going to come. He made a late to stop for his

:43:18. > :43:22.second set of tyres, but both Mercedes were really flying in

:43:22. > :43:25.those closing stages. They didn't seem to have the pace in the first

:43:25. > :43:29.part of the race, but a good strategy bearing in mind where they

:43:29. > :43:35.started from. He started in 12th place so he has started -- finished

:43:35. > :43:40.in third. We saw with Alonso that it was possible to be out of the

:43:40. > :43:44.top 10 and use the new tyres that you've not had the opportunity to

:43:44. > :43:48.use in qualifying. This is a special moment for Alonso. You

:43:48. > :43:54.don't normally get the chance to celebrate in front of your adoring

:43:54. > :44:00.fans. Kimi Raikkonen managed to get a pass on Hamilton late on and that

:44:00. > :44:04.opened the door for Maldonado to try his attempt. Three world

:44:04. > :44:11.champions on the podium today. Guys who have raced against each other

:44:11. > :44:18.for a long time. Michael will feel very happy with that. We still

:44:18. > :44:25.ended up with three different manufacturers. Alonso has taken the

:44:25. > :44:35.lead once again in the Drivers' Championship. Webber is now second

:44:35. > :44:41.

:44:41. > :44:44.after a horrible weekend that he At last, Michael Schumacher is off

:44:44. > :44:51.two Point, which is what he has been stuck on all season until this

:44:51. > :44:57.point. -- two 0.4. It does seem they will have to do the podium

:44:57. > :45:05.ceremony without Alonso because they can't find a taxi for him. He

:45:05. > :45:11.is just behind our commentary box. They are trying to work out how the

:45:11. > :45:16.race unfolded and we will look at that in detail with you, David, and

:45:16. > :45:26.Eddie and Jake, to find out how they managed to do this. A look at

:45:26. > :45:42.

:45:42. > :45:47.They have sent a card to get along Be listened to that response.

:45:47. > :45:54.CHEERING AND APPLAUSE. The crowd in front of us, you would

:45:54. > :46:02.think the Spanish would be cheered out after the football and the

:46:02. > :46:12.celebrations. Look at the scrum! He makes his way through. He looks so

:46:12. > :46:20.

:46:20. > :46:26.relaxed, so happy. Finally, he gets Sprightly and happy. Wonderful

:46:26. > :46:34.images. Kimi Raikkonen, a big hug from Michael Schumacher. He is

:46:34. > :46:38.happy with what he has done as well. From 11th and 12th, these guys have

:46:38. > :46:42.finished first and third. Kimi Raikkonen, surviving the dramas

:46:42. > :46:52.going on around him. Grosjean breaking down, Vettel breaking down,

:46:52. > :46:53.

:46:53. > :46:58.Hamilton crashing out with They have all driven at Ferrari at

:46:58. > :47:05.various times. Alonso is there now, but most of Michael's success

:47:05. > :47:15.coming at Ferrari. Raikkonen's world title coming with Ferrari.

:47:15. > :47:20.

:47:20. > :47:30.There's Alonso to receive the Wonderful. Wonderful for the team,

:47:30. > :47:30.

:47:30. > :49:22.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 52 seconds

:49:22. > :49:28.but for Fernando on home turf as Fernando Alonso finished second

:49:28. > :49:35.here last year after a battle with Mark Webber. But this year, he has

:49:35. > :49:40.taken the all-important victory. And Ferrari have taken their 7th

:49:40. > :49:46.European Grand Prix victory. Last time was here in Valencia when

:49:46. > :49:50.Felipe Massa did it. Michael Schumacher won four European Grand

:49:50. > :49:56.Prix during his days at Ferrari, when they were held at the

:49:56. > :50:01.Nurburgring. Ferrari do love this race. They have had a lot of

:50:01. > :50:08.success. Kimi Raikkonen finishing in second place. Another podium to

:50:08. > :50:14.add to the tally for this team. That first win for the team in its

:50:14. > :50:20.current form has got to come soon, surely. Grosjean showed the pace.

:50:20. > :50:24.Michael Schumacher, his first podium since his comeback in 2010.

:50:24. > :50:29.We have seen his pace this year, he was fastest qualifier in Monaco

:50:29. > :50:35.only to miss out on that opportunity of taking that pole

:50:35. > :50:41.position. But now he takes the podium finish as well. Time for the

:50:41. > :50:45.photographs. Those three world champions, such famous names in

:50:45. > :50:51.Formula One, who have emerged on top and time for the champagne

:50:51. > :50:56.shower as well. Fernando Alonso, the winner of the European Grand

:50:56. > :51:03.Prix in Spain. Last year his only victory came at the British Grand

:51:03. > :51:11.Prix at Silverstone. Guess what? That is next on the calendar.

:51:11. > :51:16.Went Ferrari be relishing the chance to go back there? Welcome to

:51:16. > :51:20.Formula One circa 1980. But it is 2012 and once again an incredible

:51:20. > :51:25.race for this quite remarkable season. Well done to Valencia. What

:51:25. > :51:31.they have dished up today has been thrilling. Totally enthralling.

:51:31. > :51:34.They have delivered. Three world champions and the one guy who wins

:51:34. > :51:39.comes from 11th on the grid on a circuit where they all say you

:51:39. > :51:44.can't pass. I'm dumbfounded. current Ferrari driver joined on

:51:44. > :51:50.the podium by two former Ferrari drivers. Where does that victory

:51:50. > :51:55.rank in his career? Huge. In his mind, his real competitors are

:51:55. > :52:00.spent -- Vettel and Hamilton. This would give him a buffer. This is a

:52:00. > :52:03.cool day for Ferrari. I was critical about them this morning

:52:03. > :52:07.about their qualifying and maybe some of this criticism got through

:52:07. > :52:11.to them and they upped their game. The win would have been special for

:52:11. > :52:15.Alonso if Hamilton was second, but the wind is really important for

:52:15. > :52:18.him because this happened to Lewis Hamilton. Getting knocked off the

:52:19. > :52:23.track. Do you think he should not have defended his position because

:52:23. > :52:31.he did not have the tie has to do so or was it natural racing? It is

:52:31. > :52:35.difficult to call. We saw a host of overtaking moves at that stage. The

:52:35. > :52:41.crucial thing was that Maldonado was off the circuit. Could Lewis

:52:41. > :52:46.have given him more room? Possibly. This is going to be a difficult one

:52:46. > :52:53.to call. But Maldonado was off the track. It is not under his's nature

:52:53. > :52:56.to give him space. Let's hear from Pastor Barnardo. -- Pastor

:52:56. > :53:03.Maldonado. Let's start at the end, what

:53:03. > :53:12.happened with Lewis? He tried to put me out of the track. He didn't

:53:12. > :53:18.leave any room to go side-by-side. I jumped over the kerb. I could not

:53:18. > :53:26.avoid the collision. I don't know why he drives like that. He was

:53:26. > :53:35.completely lost. At that moment I was in a very good place. It is

:53:35. > :53:39.difficult to say. He tried a very aggressive movement on me. If we

:53:39. > :53:43.had place money on whose fault it would be from Pastor Maldonado's

:53:43. > :53:49.pointed you, it would be Lewis. Do you think there will be a penalty

:53:49. > :53:53.for him? My first instinct is that he was off the track. Whether Lewis

:53:53. > :53:57.gave him enough room to come back on and give him the chance, that

:53:57. > :54:01.will be a judge's call. I don't know how they will see this. They

:54:01. > :54:08.will have a lot more photographs and a lot more camera angles to

:54:08. > :54:12.make that judgment. For me, it is in the lap of the gods. Let's talk

:54:12. > :54:16.to the man who has been instrumental in this victory. The

:54:16. > :54:20.team principal force -- for Ferrari. Congratulations, we had Eddie

:54:20. > :54:27.saying the team was not good enough before this race. That was very

:54:27. > :54:32.much good enough. The fantastic thing, when you can say everything!

:54:32. > :54:38.If you look at what was written this morning and if you look --

:54:38. > :54:44.look what will be written tomorrow... Today was important.

:54:44. > :54:53.The great victory for Fernando. We know that in racing anything can

:54:53. > :55:02.happen. Our competitor had this problem. But I'm pleased. Yesterday,

:55:02. > :55:08.there was not the place where we should be. I am happy for that. But

:55:08. > :55:12.the championship will finish in November. It is only eight races.

:55:12. > :55:17.Things can change. We need to stay cool, but of course we are very

:55:17. > :55:20.happy. We are joined by a host of friends. We have Fernando's race

:55:21. > :55:26.engineer, David Coulthard has come down. You're smelling of champagne,

:55:27. > :55:30.beautiful! It is a good smell. Let's go back to the start of the

:55:30. > :55:34.race. We will have a look at the start from Alonso's perspective.

:55:34. > :55:40.What was your opinion of the stark as Mark what were you expecting him

:55:40. > :55:44.to do? He left himself with a lot of work to do? Yes. We were

:55:44. > :55:51.expecting him to have a reasonable start and possibly make up a couple

:55:51. > :55:57.of positions. Then it was up to the driver to be able to come across

:55:57. > :56:02.the field and overtake people. I think Fernando made a bit of a

:56:02. > :56:10.difference today. Once the race got going, some amazing overtaking. Is

:56:10. > :56:14.this one of his greatest drives in a Ferrari? I think Fernando is

:56:14. > :56:20.starting to have a lot of good races. Beautiful, like this. The

:56:20. > :56:27.one in Malaysia was as good as this, I think. Hopefully we can get more

:56:27. > :56:32.ordinary wins! This is remarkable, he gets past Senna on the outside.

:56:32. > :56:38.He has won two World Championships already, but he seems to keep

:56:38. > :56:47.pushing the team forward. It must be so inspirational. Forshaw. He is

:56:47. > :56:56.a good driver in the car. We're trying to give him a car that is

:56:56. > :57:00.suitable to his talent. Can I please ask you about the situation?

:57:00. > :57:03.What did you learn as a result of Canada? You were bitterly

:57:04. > :57:09.disappointed about not changing the tyres. Did this have an influence

:57:09. > :57:14.on you today? For short, after the Canada raised, we were in a dilemma,

:57:14. > :57:21.what would we do? We're expected to be in the last laps with a

:57:21. > :57:27.different situation. What we said his first ball, we were marking

:57:27. > :57:35.Hamilton. Trying to see their time in terms of sector times. Then

:57:35. > :57:38.consider that the others were not able to improve the place. There

:57:38. > :57:46.are certain moments when you have to sit -- stick with a certain

:57:46. > :57:49.decision. Today was really good. Thank you. Grab yourself a shower.

:57:49. > :57:54.Stefano spent a halt -- horror that interview checking his messages.

:57:54. > :58:00.They will be the messages of congratulations. Let's now hear

:58:00. > :58:03.from Fernando Alonso. Three former Ferrari World

:58:03. > :58:06.champions all together on the podium, but Fernando, a good

:58:06. > :58:13.weekend to be a Spanish sportsman called Alonso and a fabulous

:58:13. > :58:18.victory for yourself. Yes. Difficult to express in words my

:58:18. > :58:25.feelings at the moment. Winning the home Grand Prix is something unique

:58:25. > :58:33.and very special. I had the opportunity in Barcelona with

:58:33. > :58:39.Renault. I still remember that day perfectly. Now I did the same in

:58:39. > :58:47.Valencia, but with a special team, Ferrari. The grandstands for love

:58:47. > :58:53.red colours and Spanish flags. Bashful of. And now with the

:58:53. > :59:01.European football championships, a Spanish atmosphere inside. Feeling

:59:01. > :59:06.very proud to be Spanish. Winning in Spain is probably the best

:59:07. > :59:10.victory I've ever had. In terms of emotions. Nothing compared to this.

:59:10. > :59:17.You joined in the celebrations early, why did you stop your car?

:59:17. > :59:27.To take part in the party? We had a problem in the cars and we stopped

:59:27. > :59:29.

:59:29. > :59:35.No, we had a problem in the car and we stopped the car. It took a

:59:35. > :59:45.little bit of time for the medical car to arrive. We had eight or 10

:59:45. > :59:45.

:59:45. > :59:53.minutes of all the people, saying congratulations and they wanted me

:59:53. > :59:56.to jump. Fun and games and we enjoyed those minutes. It is the

:59:57. > :00:03.third podium position of the season for you. Was the victory possible

:00:03. > :00:08.debate or weather tyres not there for you? I just did not have enough

:00:08. > :00:16.tyres. I had enough to get past Hamilton and it was the second last

:00:16. > :00:21.lap. But I did not have the speed to date to challenge for the win. I

:00:21. > :00:31.got a good start, but got blocked by Maldonado and a lost quite a few

:00:31. > :00:36.places because of that. I was a bit behind already at that point. I had

:00:36. > :00:42.quite hard site with people and they were overtaking. In the end,

:00:42. > :00:46.second place. It is not what we wanted. They say you cannot

:00:46. > :00:51.overtake on this track, but you had your fair share of that. Welcome

:00:51. > :00:57.back to the podium again. At what stage did you think the podium was

:00:57. > :01:03.a possibility? I did not think about the podium at all. It was

:01:03. > :01:07.crossing the line that I asked my guys, where did we finish? I saw

:01:07. > :01:12.Mark Webber's pit board and it showed him 8th and 7th and I knew I

:01:12. > :01:18.was one place ahead of that. The boys told me it was third, the

:01:18. > :01:23.podium. I cannot believe that. That is something I did not really

:01:23. > :01:33.expect. You lose count because I was pretty busy in the last stage

:01:33. > :01:38.of the race, plus Maldonado and Hamilton had their issue. But I

:01:38. > :01:43.lost count a at this stage. Michael Schumacher a smiling, his first

:01:43. > :01:49.podium since China 2006. However, it may be taken away from him,

:01:49. > :01:54.there is a rumour that he used BRS. But there is so much to investigate,

:01:54. > :01:59.not least the race leader stopping out on track. It is rare to see

:01:59. > :02:04.Sebastian Vettel walking up to the pit box. It is rare to see the cars

:02:04. > :02:09.having the mechanical failures we saw with Sebastien. They will

:02:09. > :02:13.investigate that issue. There is his frustration coming through. But

:02:13. > :02:20.he regained his composure and was waving to the fans when he returns

:02:20. > :02:26.to the pits. Remain grows Jane it showed a great composure in big

:02:26. > :02:34.disappointment. Lotus have got a car with speed to win a raise.

:02:34. > :02:39.now know who can win the race for them. It is a key me Raikkonen.

:02:39. > :02:45.Grosjean Fahmy was the big star of the day for me. He is absolutely

:02:45. > :02:51.fabulous. And regulators to Fernando Alonso. That is not it

:02:51. > :02:56.from the sport this afternoon. You can tune in for a rather important

:02:56. > :03:01.game in the European Championship. There are highlights of this race

:03:01. > :03:07.at 11:45pm, followed by the next race in a couple of weeks' time. We