The Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying Formula 1

There was a time when Spain was different. Very different. Hardly

European. Europe stops at the Pyrenees, it was said. This was a

land of heat and wild passion. And when Spain went to the races, they

expected their drama to be exactly that. Hot and mad. Ayrton Senna,

Nigel Mansell, separated by just 14 thousandths of a second in 1986. 26

years later, Formula One has changed, moving from the far flung

area to be Circuit de Catalunya, where teams come from all corners

to test. And now to race. Spain is hot and can still be a little loco.

This is the gateway to the Continent. The fast track to Europe.

The first Grand Prix on European tarmac in 2012. Welcome to

somewhere still different and beautifully Spanish.

JAKE HUMPHREY: He writes them all himself, of course! And this place

isn't just beautifully Spanish, it is just plain beautiful. Good

afternoon and welcome to live coverage of qualifying ahead of

tomorrow's's Grand Prix from here in Barcelona. David, the focus is

all about this tiny piece of Tarmac, this is pole position and over the

years, it has proved so important. It has indeed, the last 11 years,

nobody has one who hasn't started in the front row. Last year,

Sebastian Vettel went on to win, Mark Webber was on pole, but this

is the view they want. The man on pole position tomorrow will have a

view of those lights and the moment they turned out, this race signals

a fresh start by a lot of the teams. It is a fresh start and we must

remember there have been four different constructors winning

races this year, the first time since 1983 and a lot of new teams

able to come and fight for wins. Let's think about Sebastian, he is

leading by the tiniest of margins, he knows there are a lot of very

special teams around him and everybody has an opportunity. We

haven't seen this for a long time. Lots of excitement and you guys are

enjoying it on Twitter and throughout the weekend, you can get

in touch and share your thoughts. Eddie Jordan normally spends most

of the race and qualifying looking at what you are saying. Plenty to

come at the start of qualifying, we are going to head into the pit lane

ahead of qualifying under the And we will do our very best to

take the sunshine home to the poor rain-soaked people of the UK.

spectacular here, extremely warm. The upturn in temperature has been

phenomenal and the last week. degrees but Eddie is well adduced

to the sun. A man feeling the glare of the Sun and the public is a

Spanish matador who has struggled against the ball for the last

couple of seasons, Fernando Alonso. This is reminiscent of your glory

days at Silverstone, they love him. He has transformed the following of

Formula One, it didn't have too much until he won those back-to-

back championships. He seems so comfortable within Ferrari, he is

enjoying the home crowd. We are trying to convince Eddie to get

onto Twitter and Fernando Alonso has gone on there in the last

couple of weeks to embrace the crowd. And he has given us some

insight into the tight team he has around him and the training and

lifestyle and the commitment that he has. He spends a lot of time at

the factory and on the simulator, not necessarily what you would

expect the double world champion to feel he needs to do but Yvonne said

to be a winning team. You have to do it eventually, Eddie. 46 million

people and yet they have the two people and yet they have the two

Grand Prix. This is pure people power. This is the attraction he

has got. Six weeks from now, we are in Valencia and it takes a lot of

marketing and people at their commercially trying to sell the

programme but they are able to do it, and they are able to do it

because of Fernando Alonso. And it is the way he goes about achieving

is the way he goes about achieving it. Yes, he is totally committed to

the cause. He has been smiling through difficult times with

Ferrari but he knows he has to keep the team together. If the driver

loses faith, the whole thing can come apart. The Latin temperament

is very much in his blood and absurdity runs through Ferrari.

When a man with the skill set of Fernando Alonso is struggling...

Last time out in Bahrain, it was a familiar story for Fernando and a

massively at the start. Vettel leads. And the Ferrari of Alonso

has made a brilliant start. Sebastian Grosjean is on the dirty

side, nothing Hamilton can do about left wheel again.

Fernando Alonso just squeezing in front of Jenson Button. Look at

Nico Rosberg. Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are going wheel-to-wheel.

Hamilton passes Nico Rosberg! Jenson Button battling with Alonso,

wheel-to-wheel once again. Jenson Button has got in front of Alonso.

Looking to go on the inside, a quite as hard as he would have done

if it wasn't his team-mate. Nico Rosberg tried to get past the

Ferrari, he slips and slides and does it.

That was really marginal for Nico Rosberg, he pushed Fernando Alonso

can't make it because Sebastian Grand Prix for Jenson Button.

Sebastian Vettel wins in Bahrain! It is the first triple winner of

2012. Kimi Raikkonen finished second, Sebastian Grosjean --

Romain Grosjean fared. What a race it was the Lotus. And

anybody getting a sense of deja-vu? Look at the man leading the

standards -- standings. Last year, Sebastian Vettel had a 34 point

lead in the standings and this here, it separates the top nine. That is

what is making this year so special already, because I haven't got the

slightest idea who will come away with a win. We have seen the

emergence of the Lotus and the BMW Sauber and they cannot be written

off this year. That is what is making it so special. And how well

Red Bull have felt heading for the break not only leading the drivers'

but also the constructors. They have broken the 100 point barrier.

David, it is not just close in the standings, it is also close on the

track in final practice. One second track in final practice. One second

separating the top 10 cars. Yes, and there was the tale of a lot of

cars struggling to get performance. We can see the Mercedes team here.

They are just getting the final preparations done here, with about

40 minutes to go until the start of qualifying. Michael got the bid

blocked on his run on his new tyres this morning, Lewis Hamilton had a

similar situation. They had to go to the stewards did discuss it, we

haven't had the outcome. The pressure is on. Michael is

certainly in the mix and the race in Bahrain is an exciting one. He

finished 10th with some tasty overtaking. We enjoyed it. He has

not lost anything when he -- it comes to his racing ability. This

is where they are squabbling over is where they are squabbling over

position and he just keeps to the right. Later in the corner, again,

A Williams getting down inside the Toro Rosso and Michael Gray's the

situation perfectly. -- Michael reads the situation perfectly. And

here, the undercut on the Sauber. None of the racing ability has gone.

He was very vocal about the difficulties he is facing what the

Pirelli tyres, and a lot of drivers don't like it when you get a lot of

degradation. But it is a fact of modern Grand Prix racing. Pirelli

have been challenged to make close racing and they have done that by

having a big spread between the tyres. Is it bad for Formula One?

We will hear from Michael and Alguersuari in a moment, the test

driver, but we have had people trying to find the shot of Lewis

Hamilton and Michael Schumacher in practice. I am not saying you were

naughty, but at, you have been in front of the stewards at few times.

-- but Eddie, you have been. Would you expect a penalty for that? This

is Michael rejoining in 15. Should he have been aware that Lewis was

on his way? To be honest, he should have waited. If it was a road

incident, you would certainly get a penalty for that, running out into

the main straight from a side street or against the red light.

That is just, manners, you give the guy the chance and let him go. --,

and manners. A penalty, I think so, but I can't say. The last thing

Michael the it is another penalty. Michael had gone out on to the old

track and was rejoining, so having seen Lewis, did he gets out of the

way fast enough? I don't think it was an issue of him going in front,

but he was blocking Lewis. The stewards have all the details so it

will be clear for them. To clear that up, the drivers are still in

front of the stewards and they are deliberating it. Whenever the BBC

are live in Formula One, you can see all of the practice sessions on

the red Button. We talked about Michael Schumacher and his

complaints about the tyres, after that the drive in Bahrain, he

didn't get out with a smile on his face, he got out and told us this.

I don't really feel satisfied with this event, because you sort of

drive at a pace that is given by the tyres. We should question

ourselves whether that should be the case, because 80-90% of the

field, if they all complain about the same problem, maybe Pirelli

should think about it and do something, because I don't think it

is right that one or two teams can only be happy, even they are

probably not happy, and the rest struggle so much. You feel like you

are running behind the safety car. Alguersuari has joined us, the Toro

Rosso driver last season but now a summariser for the BBC and a test

driver for Pirelli. He raced on the tyres last week and you did some

distance tests on Wednesday, do you agree with what Michael has had to

say? Is it not good for Formula One? I think it is different for

Formula One. They have brought the tyres that they were asked to,

designed to last 100m, 150 kilometres, and Michael Schumacher

knew this he knew that Pirelli was coming here. And for every one it

is the same product. You have to deal with that, it is a different

kind of racing and we all drive to get the maximum out of the car and

you have to deal with that. Michael might not be enjoying it,

but who cares? Millions of people around the world are saying it is

exciting, isn't that what matters? Michael is clearly out of order in

my opinion. Nothing can be as good as they show and the show is

phenomenal and Pirelli have subscribed to that and they have

done a fantastic job, exactly what they have to do. Michael Schumacher,

get on with it. We love your driving but not these comments.

said 70 are 80% don't like it, what have they said it to you? -- 70 or

80. One of the key assets of highly talented drivers and people in

these positions is they make statements that sweep everybody

else in, whether they agree or not. The drivers are more than capable

of making their own comments and no one else has complained. It is

difficult, isn't it, because Sergio Perez for example makes a virtue of

stopping once in a race and there is no doubt he drives every single

lap several seconds off his optimum pace, but is it any less valuable

than a driver who wring the neck of a car? The driver is always

important but the car is always crucial. We have been to very rough

circuits with high temperatures and softer tyres, so you know it is

very remarkable, but if you don't have the balance, you can't do

anything. Something that is a struggle with Mercedes, because

with higher temperatures, they always struggle to get consistency

and also on the driving style, it is making a huge difference and I

can feel it, I see if I tried it in one way or the other, how the

balance is changing and how the tyres degrade. Thank you for

joining us. I know you have had a busy week. The poor boy is finding

because it not just tyres people are been talking about this weekend.

McLaren's sleek and chic nose is being prepared by a higher nose as

they hope a design change might help their Championship chances.

What I believe, having the nose higher does is give you cleaner air,

cleaner air under the car. Which then goes to the rear of the floor,

so hopefully with that, it is what other people have, so we had to

explore it to see if it works for us. EasyJet is -- Jenson Button is

looking for his first pole but he thinks he could see a mix up thanks

to the tyres. The difference here in qualifying is that you have the

hard and the soft, so you have a bigger spread if you like, before

it was the, it was the medium or soft, or hard and medium, so it is

different here, so Q1 will be more difficult to get through. You will

see more cars using the soft tyre there. Mark Webber Geth might be

getting six of fourth after finishing in that position in every

race this season. It means he is five points off the lead in the

Championship. If you have a rough day, you can be, long way down the

points and that is the other thing which is evidence in years gone by.

You drop a nut in the pit lane and the guys are out of the podium.

Fernando Alonso made a great start last year, taking the lead and this

season he is also made great breaks from the lights. This weekend he is

hoping to be starting a bit further forward. If we can start in the

first row of the grid, it is much better because you don't knead do

anything special. That will be the target to, get a good qualifier and

improve our qualifying position that, so far in the first four

racing has not been great. It is very difficult then for the race.

Sauber has brought Formula One and football together, going into

partnership with Chelsea. The focus is on youth sport development and

business opportunities. We very very similar charge, with work with

high performance athletes, you have to build them up, which has been a

heritage at sauber. The same way Chelsea have their academy. We know

they have the same values in bring up young talent. And finally, for

fans who don't have tickets for Silverstone there is still way you

can take part in the race. Upload your photo, and make a donation for

Wings for Life. It is to find a cure for spinal cord injuries so

your photo gets on the side pod on the front wing or rear wing, where

ever we have space, and you race with us, so I think David had it a

couple of years ago and it was a large success for the foundation,

so we decided to do it again, so people can race with Mark and

myself. So Davis has done his bit for charity. I think he should do

it on the car as well. Shall we take a photo of all four of us so

we can do our bit for charity. Lean in and smile everybody. Brilliant.

It is moments like that where Eddie makes everybody look pale. He was

taking a photograph of just himself. You were sec, is that genuine pace?

With a new air package it is looking strong on the race base,

and hopefully it will be a great weekend here. William is pushing so

hard, so it is looking good. We have seen so many great FW cards,

now we know FW70 my old pal Frank, what it is like driving for him?

Frank is a very special person for the team, you know, he is quite,

quite good with the drives you know, he spend a lot of time with me and

even with Bruno, trying to help us, emotionally, you know, to keep us

calm and try to keep it under control. The situation in the team.

Really happy to be part of the team, of his team raeenedly happy to

drive for him. How much you compromising your ultimate

qualifying set up to make shoe sure you have a good race card because

you have to start on the tiers you qualify. It is a big compromise

between qualifying and the race. I think especially because of the

heat, the warm, you get more tyre degradation, so we need to be be

very careful on the right set up, for tomorrow, the race is going to

be too long, here and even the track is so straight for the rare

tyres, and you know, it is a big compromise against the settle up.

It will be a long hot race. Thank you for joining us, are you going

to steal my phone or do I get that stpwhabg interesting pastor saying

that the car is looking fast at the moment. Williams have been at the

recent tests with the other teams here, and Gary Anderson having been

to many tests has now been to one just for you. We are head for the

circuit in Italy which is the first big inseason test for the Formula

One team. The pressure is on Ferrari, for the trarry supporter,

they want to see a step forward. After the first four races they

have different thoughts, there are different things that you may

discover in the first four races that you need to reconfirm, in one

test, it is nice to have this opportunity. Engineering point, and

from a drive's point of view we love testing ifpt is the challenge

that gives you that that high of trying to make the cargo faster,

have you succeeded? Making sure it work together. There is a lot of

stuff we have to go through, a lot of laps we go through here which is

the idea, to, you know, find the best possible package for the next

race. Me personally, I love to go out on the track and have a look.

It is so easy to stay in the pits and look at lap times and data. But

to go on the track and look, see the driver driving the car. The

driver can tell you about it, if you don't live that experience it

is difficult to have that gut feeling where you are going to do

next. This is an area where they work on mechanical set up. You can

see what I mean, as they come into the right-hander here. More and

more steering lock, that compromises the corner. When you

put the power back in it hurts the rear tyres and that compounds it.

This is an example of what they are testing here at Mugello. On the new

nose this is all gone. As the airflow comes off it will be caught

with this camera, so the side pods work better, when you get them to

work better you gain rare down force. The back of the car will

benefit. There is no point in putting these part tons car if you

don't understand what they are doing. The car is sending back

probably 100, 150 channels of data. Some will have been logged at 100

times a second. Before the car is back in the pit they get a reading

of what is going on. We are developing the car slowly. It is

always race against the other guys, we know that some get an upgrade.

We are trying to keep up with therges and nope -- hopefully catch

up with them and overtame -- overtake them in the future. It is

not just about fitting new points, for the pit stop crew it is

rehearse, rehearse rehearse. But for no-one was this test more

important than Ferrari. They know time is running out for Alonso to

mount a challenge and this test, on a track they own, was their big

chance to gain ground. On the nofrpbg final day the long-awaited

new rear body work was unveiled. It showed promise in the early run,

Alonso setting fast time. Then the news the team did not want to here.

This is the last thing Ferrari needed day three of the test. He

has gone into the tyre barrier, taking the nose off the car. With

all the new parts, new exhaust system they need to do some running

to understand the car a bit better. After frantic efforts and a two

hour delay Alonso returned but in what little time remained nothing

conclusive seemed to emerge. tried different configurations so

far, each day we had a different one and different parts also. We

know there is no imagine ebg button, in Barcelona we will be on pole

position because even will improve their cars. By the end lon son was

still a few tenths lower than Christian Gross with Sebastian

Vettel second. Even the World Champion team is bemused as to who

has the upper hand heading to Barcelona. Are you happy with the

car. I have no idea, Ferrari with their new package, it will be close,

it should provide a great race. must do it. We can't be fighting

for 3 if ewant to fight for the Championship. And wouldn't Fernando

Alonso love to do it here, during your Keir testing was commonplace,

you spent hundreds of hours attest tracks improving the car.

reason there isn't testing is to control cost but what a lot of the

teams were doing was using it to validate the similar for technology

because they spend hours and hours with the test drivers back tat

factory, so it is a pros and cons of modern development but Ferrari a

key weekend for them. The first time to bring new elements to the

race track and prove it at the start of the season. We have spoken

about how close, and that makes development on the car more

important and Kerrouche, because just improving your car by a tenth

or two can move you seven or eight places up the grid. Easily, that is

the competitiveness of Formula One. It will happen as we go through the

season, it won't be just because Mugello test, it will be different

things that different teams will find and new updates as we go

through the season. We will be kept in sus Spence right to the last

race as to what is going to win this championship. Fresh from

Mugello Gary Anderson is gearing up for start of qualifying. Before

that, it is interesting because the teams moaned and growned about not

having inseason testing then they moaned and growned and said Mugello

wasn't much use, what was that about? I think the teams that went

to Mugello, I think that came back with the most benefit. When you

only get that one inseason, you have to make it work for you, the

teams that didn't want it, that is a waste of time. We had a couple of

glasses of lemonade in the bar, you were telling me you were impressed

by Red Bull and Lotus.. The car looked well balanced. They can keep

that racing line. They can find it, they did good work and got a good

understanding of the tyres. Those glasss aren't just for show, you

have had your eye trained on the cars, we are starting to see things

filter back from testing to make them quicker. It is like everything,

they have a lot of new aerodynamic stuff but the most visual but

McLaren and the Ferrari, with the high nose here, you can see on the

car on the left, they have done a new ver shunning they get more air

under the nose and above the front wing so there is more air at the

back of the car, so it helps the front wing to work better. These

developers have to go on, the bridge across the top of the is hat

si is to see if it would ruin vision for the drivers so they are

teing something for the future. I think we will see it in the not too

far future. Anything else ?. Ferrari had a visual change. The

exhaust pipe exit in the coke bottle area, where the body work

sweeps inside the rear wheel, they had a lot of blockage, the

modification on the bottom. The new one, is basically tidying up the

coke bottle area, allowing more flow. In other words it is not

hurting the car. There isn't so much of a benefit but it is not

hurting the car. Gary, thank you and good luck during qualifying.

Thank you for that. Before we go we have a bit of news that from the

stewards to say the Michael Schumacher-Lewis Hamilton incident

we saw when Michael was rejoining the track, a reprimand for Michael

but no penalty s that the right decision, do you think? Probably

from me. He was made wear of the situation, it wasn't the right

thing to do but a penalty would When they used to go to a season

test, it used to be about making the car faster. What do you think

will be made about Felipe Massa that being 11th fastest? A lot of

teams are just trying to get a tyres switch on for that vital that,

it can be two-tenths quicker in some cars to almost one second

quicker in others. They will be studying the data from the morning

session and they will be a bit more clued up for qualifying. Led scope

for a one-day in the heat of the day and you can say the pit lane

and -- let's go for a wander. In three or four minutes, it closes

and we have to go into the paddock and the cars will start their final

preparations for qualifying. While Ferrari are hoping to live up to

expectations, Lotus are arguably exceeding theirs. They have already

had a podium finish in Bahrain and they are focusing on getting their

Romain Grosjean third, it is the first double podium for the team

since 2006 and the first podium for the Lotus name in a long, long time.

Well done to Romain Grosjean, his first podium in Formula One.

To be on the podium was amazing and to be able to share that with

everybody was special as well. If you had told me that before the

season, I wouldn't have believed it. But it is added pressure, but you

want more, you want more pressure. This Lotus is flying in the hands

of the young French driver. Up into third, a brilliant start,

aggressive start and Romain Grosjean then sent off. Bravo, that

was great driving. They came through from Formula

Three, and I always compare him in the past two Lewis, they have a

similar past. That is why it was a bit of a shame for me that the

first time he raced in Formula One, it didn't work. Has he come in too

soon or does he not have the talent?

I thought that would be my only chance at Formula One. At this

stage, I thought it was over for the future. But now I really want

to stay here as long as possible and make everything good. But it

was difficult, it was just the wrong time and the wrong place and

I wasn't as ready as I am today. And how different is the team from

the then to now? If you speak in terms of people around, 80% at are

still the same, but the rest is completely different and we are all

working hard together to try and get the best out of the car. Nobody

is blaming anybody for anything, it is supporting each other strongly

and that is nice. The atmosphere is nice, people are trusting

themselves and believe in the project. They just need to bring

them the confidence and belief -- bring back. Sebastian Grosjean --

Romain Grosjean is on the dirty side, nothing Hamilton can do it.

It is nice to be battling with the big names like Red Bull and McLaren,

but I think last year we had two podiums across all of the races and

this year, it looks like it is the same story. Obviously, we learn

from our mistakes and we have a inside the Lotus garage, around 50

minutes before qualifying. David, what has the signing of Kimi

Raikkonen done for this team? has had it -- it has added a level

of credibility. Some people were spec -- sceptical after a couple of

years away but he is only 32 years old, clearly motivated and it has

taken the whole team forward. He knows what it was like to work

within a world championship team, you don't forget that, and of

course, Lotus, former world champions in the Renault and

champions in the Renault and Benetton years. David has already

driven and shared a team with Kimi Raikkonen, you will know how much

he will be pushing the development freight, because that is where they

have struggled. The key thing is they understand how have to get the

best out of Kimi Raikkonen, which is to let him be himself. He is

very focused on getting the car working well. We shouldn't be

mistaken by his laid-back attitude when it comes to press conferences,

he is very clear in terms of describing what he needs from the

car and working with the engineer. He is back with Mark Slade, he

worked with at McLaren. Would you have employed him? You couldn't not

employed him. He is an outstanding driver. Some people issue --

highlight issues but I don't see them, I am looking for a driver who

can get the maximum to the team and he does that. Look what Michael

Schumacher has that at Mercedes and compare that to just after a race

four, this chap should have won in Bahrain. It was a fantastic drive.

And it hasn't gone unnoticed, he is pushing this team along and I dare

say that Romain Grosjean is benefiting. That team looks at ease

with itself and they have the pace. And a frustrating morning for

Romain Grosjean, final practice is so essential to get the car set up

and he had any issue with his your pressure. And it was game over.

They got the car back and they shouldn't be an issue with getting

it back for the first part of qualifying. -- there should end. I

think he has got confidence, he has got experience of this race track,

so it won't hold him back to much. In some ways, it is the perfect

partnership, because Kimi Raikkonen wants to turn up and drive and

Romain Grosjean will do every interview going with a big smile on

his face under do the things that Raikkonen doesn't want to do, such

as every day testing. It is working, that is the secret. Well done to

Lotus for picking these drivers. I don't think I would have been able

to do that and I don't think many people gave... Certainly the book

is didn't have money on this team to do as well -- the bookies. It is

in keeping with the way Formula One is at the moment, unpredictable

exciting and huge drama. An even stranger couple that David

Coulthard and Eddie Jordan. Kimi Raikkonen has won here twice in the

past but that doesn't mean he knows this track better than anyone else

because surely local lad Pedro de la Rosa is the one who knows it

better than anyone else, having done thousands of testing miles

around here. He is a man who David I am here with the legend that is

Pedro de la Rosa. Home turf, so to speak. We are in the heart of turn

two and one of the most important sections of the track. It is, it is

virtually flat, especially where we are right now. The question is, if

you are flat, how much tarmac do you need on your right, because it

will compromise your speed, so it is a balancing act. You have done

thousands of miles around here when you were testing for McLaren. How

different is it when you are in a small team like HRT, can you be the

same in that car? It is going to be a complete slide going in and going

out and turn four, you have no tyres left! The this is going to be

frightening in qualifying. It is. It is going to be frightening.

This corner, turn three, it is one of those where after a few laps,

you just let your head lean on the head rest and relax for a bit.

of the Formula One drivers have very large next. -- next. You're

not a spring chicken, you are 41 years old,... And you, but I must

say, you still have a very big chin. Thanks for that.

We have come from turn three and we have stopped at turn at 10 a, way

you approach at 290 and shed as much speed as possible. This is

where you will start to smile in that HRT? Absolutely, it is one of

the most difficult corners. In qualifying, you always hesitate,

should I go for the last five metres but you have to balance what

you can take the risk with or not. If you look at the rear, you go

wide and it is over. Bath lock. This is also the place where a lot

of overtaking takes place. Yes, I can dream about overtaking Fernando

in the Ferrari. Bay Grandstand will be full of Spanish fans. You have

been competing in Formula One for many years, so it must be a special

feeling to see all of the Spanish fans. It is very special and we

should be realistic, they are here for Fernando, but they also support

Spanish teams, they also support me and this is where you feel whether

people are. This is where the atmosphere is and it is fantastic -

- where the people are. This is the last section of 13, 14, 15. It is

one of those corners where you can lose a lot of time. You have to

feel where the wind is blowing because it is always understeering.

You just have to be sure that the car has a good balance, forget

about high-speed in this area. This is the last chicane, through

the last corner, which is taken absolutely flat. Driving on to the

straight in front of the Spanish fans driving for a Spanish team as

a Spaniard. It will be incredible. Yes. Is something else coming?

know me too well. Unite -- you might not have the car, but she

will always have your looks. Have a good weekend. Thank you.

He says there is no love in Formula One? This is HRT, automatic doors

and everything. This is what happens before qualifying, mainly

people sitting around eating food and having a coffee. I think we

would get in trouble because we haven't asked pay it -- permission

to interview them. They have this beautiful chrome motor home and as

you come out, this is where they do all of the interviews with the

drivers and it looks fantastic. They have got everything you would

want from a Formula One team but they are doing it with a limited

crew. You keep saying that and we keep trying to make excuses as to

why these teams at the back are just are not having the kind of

success that we would hope they would have. HRT have 75 people. You

ask Gary Anderson, when Jordan started, it was 28. The reality is,

they have to... I don't care how many people they have got, they

have to perform on the track, whether it is 75 or 750 people.

they added have 10% of the fastest teams, Ferrari and Red Bull are

operating 600 or 700 people. they all have the same ability to

attract the income from various places. You have the luck that the

marketing department, are they doing a good enough job? -- you

have to look at. The excuses stop on Sunday when the first car goes

over the line. The dead get the money until you get the speed and

vice versa, -- you don't get the money. No such trouble at Red Bull,

they have a ready supply of cash from a certain fizzy drink.

Christian Horner is with Lee. you have any more of her -- an idea

way you are ahead of other teams going into this qualifying session?

Not really, it is tied. They could be eight or nine drivers are vying

for pole position -- it is tight. You have to look strategically for

tomorrow's rays. It is going to be interesting, it will be a

fascinating qualifying. Mark Webber has a fantastic record at this

circuit, he must be confident. has got a cold at the moment but he

is in good shape, he had a good run yesterday. But drivers are fine-

tuning their cars this morning, he has a strong track record and he

will be keen to make it a hat-trick of poles at this track, but it will

be tougher. McLaren look stronger, I don't think Lotus showed there

and this morning and the Saubers look remarkably quick. -- showed

their hand. Had a good afternoon, thank you, Christian. What more is

there to say? Christian Horner setting it up perfectly. Mark

Webber has a qualified Sebastian Vettel three out of four races. Can

he do it here? -- out-qualified. Past races count for nothing in my

opinion, it is a fresh start and Sebastian knows what he wants to do,

he was to win his third world championship and he Bill be going

flat out to do that. Some people are saying that if the big teams

feel they don't have to run the soft at tyre in the first part of

qualifying, they could get caught out. -- softer tyres. I don't think

any team can afford not to have the softer tyres. Keep your eye on the

Sauber. It is time for the first part of qualifying, in the company

of Ben Edwards and David Coulthard. The next hour will decide the pole

Circuit de Catalunya starts the European F1 season on a track that

investigates every strength of a Grand Prix car. Despite a little

interruption during the season, with a trip to Canada, F1 stays

predominantry in Europe for the next three-and-a-half months, but

here, the 2.8 mile track demands down force and traction. High speed

stability. Sector one sees that long, fast, high G-force coners.

Second for two with heavy braking then the tight twists and turns are

crucial for a fast time. Over the last couple of year, it has been a

very happy hunting ground for Red Bull, with pole position and second

on the grid on each of the last two years and a victory apiece for Mark

Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Can they do it again? Red Bull have

been looking quite good so far this weekend. Sebastian Vettel setting

the pace in the third practise session this morning but it does

seem as though it is once again going to be very very open, and

Sebastian has never had the pole position on this Circuit de

Catalunya, despite winning it last year. That was from second place on

the grid. So everybody now feeling this sense of uncertainty I think,

as we go into this qualifying session. Stand out performances

from Kobayashi and in the Sauber, so we could be in for a surprise

here. I think we are. Track temperature 41 degrees and that is

the crucial number in getting the maximum out of the tyres. We only

need the look at the spread teams are seeing in the difference

between the prime and option tyre. Some teams are seeing anything up

to a second a lap faster. So it is down to getting the chemical

reaction between the tyre and track working this will evolve during the

qualifying session as the track temperature may continue the rise,

and as the rubber goes down, 24 cars out on track, and putting down

plenty of rubber, so it is evolving. Look at that wind. It is a very

strong wind on the start finish straight. Which will affect the

cars. Yes, seems to be blowing... Seven degrees up, OK.

confirmation there the wind blowing harder but the track temperature

going up. That wind blowing across the start finish straight, if

anything. There you are confirmation of that track

temperature at 41 degrees. Look accuse tt wind from the commentary

box, it is gusting round the start finish straight. We have a huge

Grandstand, as we see, the Spanish fans here to support the local

heroes. You don't soo too many McLaren flags out there. But Lewis

Hamilton getting ready, just gad gathering his thought there's

before getting in the car. It should be a formality to get

through the first part of qualifying. But as we have been

describing there is a big spread of performers between the tyres and

Lewis's brother going to wish him good luck. I think our monitor has

gone sideways! Lotus have been looking very good this morn, we

spoke about gross gene having issues on track he was quickest man

at the last test T Lotus car showed its form in the warm conditions in

Bahrain but nothing as hard as this track. This is the proving ground

for absolute performance in a race car. We will have to see how they

get on. Sebastian Vettel looking for his first ever pole here and so

is Lewis Hamilton. Lewis has nerve been on pole position for this

track. Alonso has the local hero, he has a pole and victory in 2006.

The big question is the new Ferrari, well the updated Ferrari, is it

going to get both cars into the top ten? That would be a mark of suck

se, I would say, Alonso has dragged himself into Q3 on most occasions

this year, all occasions I think but Massa has failed to do that.

Massa comes off the back of his best result ninth in Bahrain last

week, he has looked to be shading Fernando closer than maybe in some

of the other races but crucially for Ferrari he does seem to be a

bit behind., So you know, when you a grade as grid as close as it is

round here you have to have your team-mates pushing each other.

Sebastian Vettel getting focused for the first of the three

qualifying segment that will define the qualifying positions for the

Spanish Grand Prix. The first qualifying session gets under way

here in spairpbgs but there is no diving out on to the circuit.

Everyone is taking their time that. Gives us a chance to check in with

with tyres are being used this weekend. Pirelli bringing two dry

weather compound, they have brought the hard and soft. The soft with

the yellow side walls and the hard with the silver writing on the side.

It is hard to see that writing. If you can't see a marking that means

it's the harder and intermediate and wet tyres. There was the

forecast of rain possibly on Sunday, but that seems to be late into

Sunday night so not sure those wet tyres are going to be needed --

needed. So Romain Grosjean hoping to put behind him a difficult

practise session where he didn't get much running at all. Now he has

to try and switch into qualifying mode. Felipe Massa, trying to get

into that top ten for the first time this year, of course, let us

get view now from Gary Anderson. Gary, what are your thoughts having

seen the practice, having seen Kobayashi going well, are we going

to see a surprise at the end of the day is it going to be a favourite?

I am sure at the end it will be one of the favourites, you will see a

very good mix. Both of the Williams and Saubers are strong. Perez was

fifth quickest this morning and he did it on the harder tyres so there

is a mix. If you get both tyres working correctly, the souft tyres

worth about eight tenth of a second. Some hit the hard tyre, some hit

the soft. The interesting thing will be the interesting thing. --

interesting thing on the first lap. The 17th will be round about a 24-2,

24-3 maybe. If you can't do that on your first Great North Run on the

harder tyre you will have to have a second go on the softer tyre.

Nobody has come ourt to play yet. We saw Rosberg. The big challenge

for the drivers is the last time they have been out on track in the

morning practise session from 11-12 you had a certain track subpoena

and wind speed. A lot of the corners here turn nine, turn three

at the end of the lap are affected by the wind, so the drivers on that

one flying lap on the new tyres is a leap of faith. Is the car going

to react the same when I commit it to the corner? If you go

Conservative and find out you could have given it more speed, the tyres

are being used up. If you go at it like the morning when the track was

cooler it might be too much and you drop a load of time so although we

are saying it should be a formality, as Michael sends a happy message to

the camera, having had a visit up to the stewards earlier to explain

him cutting the corner in front of Lewis Hamilton, yes, so for

everyone going out in this session now, it is a big, a first sighter

of what the track conditions are giving them. Michael has the best

ever record here at the Circuit de Catalunya circuit. Seven times he's

started from pole position. He has had six wins, his first win here

was all the way back in 1995 and a 1-2 with Johnny Herbert. His first

Ferrari win was in 1996. Chelsea football club now involved with

Sauber, that is new for this weekend you. Will see the stickers

on the car. As we have seen Kobayashi and Perez have been been

able to deliver some surprises, that second place for Perez in mace

away. Perez got his first point 12 months ago so he will be happy

going into qualifying. He has made it into Q3 in every event this year.

Just there David looking at the revised nose on the McLaren. They

did and spend much time looking at it. There have been parts added

since the last Grand Prix. They have gone for a slightly different

nose configuration, a higher nose, that is more in line with what the

majority of the cars are running of course, but a bit more elegant look

tong McLaren. Paul has -- he went for two stops as most went for the

three. He did do a fantastic job to hold on to sixth plate. Now start

all over again and see where he can qualify. He qualified tenth. That

his his own Q3, top ten of the year so far. We have a bit of wind. Tail

wind turn three and turn nine. nine is that fast flick, how would

that affect things. You are going through a minimum speed of 160mph.

So you can imagine the scenery is passing quickly. If you have got a

tail wend up the back of cars you lose a bit of rear down force, and

you have this sensation of having a lot more front grip. If you have a

car which is right on the perfect balance from morning se, it will

oversteer I which is never a nice thing at high speed. Lovely support

as ever for Fernando de Noronha -- Fernando Alonso on home territory,

the Spanish durable World Champion who gets so much support here in

Barcelona, round this circuit it is fabulous the see. Has he got a car

he can deliver with in ters of being up front. He led in the early

stages after that meteor tick start. Onboard with di Resta, this is our

first flying attempt to see what it is like there at the moment. David

i take us round the lap. He runs it right out to the ku, as you will,

tricky turn four you have to commit entry speed down to third gear.

Searching on the throttle. He gets it open as early has he can. Drops

down into turn five. Bumpy through the braking but no eschews with

locking there, got to be gent wl the tyre, through the kink of six,

not really a corner. Throw it into sefpblt apex speed of 100mph.

Ignore eight as you run up the hill. Then you get that tail wind through

nine, getting very wide on the exit of turn nine. Then just got his

spot, he is braking into ten. Hardest braking pont on the track.

Drop down to second gear. Bit of while wheel spin there. That is not

good for the tyres that. Will leave him short of traction as he comes

out of turn 126789 again sawing at the steering wheel and into this

mixy mouse section. A bit of traffic from the Marussia. This

will cost him. It will probably the Marussia will be pulled up in front

of the stewards for blocking. You can't get in the way of a car on

its qualifying lap. The rules are clear. Opening lap 25.6 which is

some way short of what he was able to do this morning, a 24.56789 he

will be on the radio to his team, complaining of the traffic. Yes,

that was unfortunate. Take a look at the replay. That was turn nine

where he went right over the edge. He has all four wheels over the

white line on that lap. Then as you said he has traction difficulty,

then he got traffic as well, the Marussia, onboard with Fernando

Alonso. That threw seven and eight. He is coming up to the nine where

the tail wind seems to affect things. He comes out, not as wide

as Paul di Resta. Heavy breaking into turn ten you. See the rear

wing flap dropping into place T drag reduction system used on all

of the straights in qualifying, not just the start finish straight. Now

down into the tight section where if you have any grip left this is

where it needs to be exploited. harder tyres he has on the car, out

through the last turn, how brave can you be with opening up your DRS.

He goes fastest. 24.3. That be enough for them to make it through

without using the softer tyre? We will is to find out thafpblt is

half a second sloir than this morning on the softer tyre. So

probably indicates the track conditions are similar to what they

experienced this morning. Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus, just on a

lap as he heads round this last little section himself. 1.24.3. The

main task of Q1 is to get into the top 17, and then you make it

through to the second part of qualifying. Kimi gos into third now,

as Perez goes fastest, that is a good lap by Oscar Pereiro, now we

are onboard with Lewis Hamilton. What will he do with his first real

attempt? He is showing green sector times which mean personal best but

not the purpose colour that would indicate fastest of all. He goes

slightly quicker of Perez, 1.24.1. He managed to find time in that

last sector and we get purposing on the timing screens which says he is

the fastest man of all in that last sector. That is a good sign for

this weekend, it's a good indication for the next Grand Prix

in Monaco, so that McLaren working well as this stage of the session

in the lower speed. Jean-Eric Vergne needs a good qualifying

result. Wind has picked up. It is more of a tail wind from eight and

nine. So again more information on that wind direction, and speed for

all the drivers. Jean-Eric Vergne comes out of that final turn then,

across the line he goes, and well, 1.25.0 for the Frenchman. Ninth at

the moment. Muem set a time he is sixth. Gross gene is 4th. What

happened with Paul di Resta. would be pushing over that tyre as

he tried another lap, having been blocked earlier in the session by

the Marussia, we see a replay again of Sauber having a similar

experience, it was just folding on that front tyre and they keep the

foot in. You don't want to lift the engine has a reducing amount of

tork, so if you lift you compound any loss of acceleration, and the

wind will be affecting the cars through turn three, we have seen

the Sauber and the Force India lose time. We sigh Jenson Button coming

to the end of his first attempt. It team mate. A fair bit slower.

Hamilton propping up the times at the moment. -- popping at the times.

17 go through, but anybody below that this out of qualifying for the

rest of today. At the moment, we haven't seen anybody come out of

track. We are still waiting for Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Nico

Rosberg on a slightly better lap but the middle sector are not

looking so good. Hops over the kerb a little bit. They do use that kerb

on the left. It depends on the team, as to how your car react. The

Mercedes has got a little bit more compliance in the car. I think the

McLaren would struggle to use the kerb. It runs a lot stiffer.

Michael Schumacher gets towards the end of the lap. And the Red Bull

still in the garage, so they are committing to one run in this

session, which is risky because if you get any form of traffic, you

don't get the time to get the a third. 1: 24.2, which is what

Gary thought it would be around about in terms of being saved.

There is a faster lap from Lewis Hamilton, 1: 23.9 on the harder

tyre and you would think that would be enough to go through to the

second part of qualifying. Timo Glock in the Football Club of

Canacona. They are going for more to pull laps on those hard tyres. -

second in outright performance but they are looking to allow the

drivers when the track is at its busiest to get some traffic, then

drop back and go for it again. Typically, the last corner is not

really a corner, but if you drive in HRT, it is a major event. Acred

lap from Maldonado, he has gone purple in the first two sectors. --

a good map. He has gone for the softer tyre, determined to get

through. It is likely to be faster than Hamilton. 1: 23.3 on the soft

that tyre, no problem for Maldonado to go through to the second part of

qualifying. Bruno Senna, his team- mate, will have to do more than

that. Are those softer tyres on Sebastian Vettel as he prepares to

come out? Well spotted. Red Bull had a very impressive race run

yesterday on the hard tyres, so clearly not too concerned about the

softer tyres. They will not have the durability in the Grand Prix.

Maldonado, 23.3 represents the same lap time he did this morning.

RADIO: Massive understeer. The rear end is not 100% stable but the

understeer is my biggest problem. Jenson was complaining about that

yesterday. Just to finish the Maldonado point, it would suggest

that the road he did this morning was a low of fuel run Paul Williams

and the track systems have made it stable -- for Williams. You would

expect the track temperatures to be going up. Sebastian Vettel going

out on the option tyre, so one single run, there will be fuel for

at least two timed laps. A lot more susceptible to drop off.

different interesting strategy from Red Bull, going straight out on the

softer tyres and not trying to go through to the second part of

qualifying using the hard tyres, which is what Hamilton certainly

looks to have done safely. Alonso has switched to the softer tyres

and he will try and drag himself up. They don't feel safer but that the

time. You have got to be around 1: 24.0 to be safe. Hamilton may have

saved himself so tyres, but the Red Bulls are going for it straight

away. It is interesting that you think they are not safe on that

time. They only have to get through the first part of qualifying, so

they need to the 17th or better, so it doesn't look like the Toro

Rossos or the garage that there are really in the hunt down -- here.

They have the benefit of not doing so many runs in this part of

qualifying, you save those crucial fast laps from the engine for other

points during the Grand Prix weekend and other points during the

life of that engine. They are restricted to eight engines Percy's

and say you don't want to do too many miles with the engine

delivering all of its horsepower back per season. Gary, what are

your thoughts on the Red Bull strategy? Felipe Massa, Rosberg,

they have gone out on softer tyres, so Red Bull had actually kept a new

set of the hard tyres for the race. It is the most stable for the race

and they have a brand new set. Eggers Michael Schumacher on the

soft tyre as well. He did 24.2 on the harder tyre -- there goes.

that is what they are doing, keeping their hard tyres new for

the race itself. It is not looking like a great lap for Sebastian

Vettel. He is looking a good half a second down on the fastest sector

we have seen. Maybe even slightly more depending on how he goes

through the last section. He looked reasonable through the last chicane,

fighting with the kerb. 23.9, so no where near as quick as Maldonado,

which highlight how fast the Williams's -- nowhere near. Kimi

Raikkonen has got second, just a little bit slower than Maldonado

but again, not quicker than the Williams, another indicator that it

is in great shape. Mark Webber is on a good lap but have not one that

will put him to the top. It puts in third, in fact. Maldonado still

fastest, Kimi Raikkonen second in the Lotus. Lewis Hamilton has been

pushed down to fit but he should be saved. Let's see where Paul di

Resta put himself. Pushing the Sebastian Vettel down a bit further.

Romain Grosjean has just gone fastest of all on a 1: 23.2, so now

we have a Lotus in first and third. On board with Nico Hulkenberg in

the Force India, down in 16th. cars on track, at 20 cars are on

track, so busy times. -- 20 cars. Nico Hulkenberg gets himself up to

sixth position so he should be saved. Jenson Button should be safe

in fifth. Fernando Alonso has gone almost the same time as Romain

Grosjean. Can Felipe Massa get into Q2 safely? The danger zone his 18-

24. Daniel Ricciardo not out of it that danger zone just yet. -- out

he addressed his Macro brake balance back adjust? You lose time

through the braking zone -- it did performance last time out in

Bahrain and he moves up to 12th. That should be enough to see him

through. His team-mate has to do the same, Jean-Eric Vergne a on

track at the moment. -- Jean-Eric Vergne. Only just, 17th. Is there

anyone else, Bruno Senna is the other threat but he is not on a

fast lap. Jean-Eric Vergne was looking very good on his first two

sectors. But he had a horrible last sector, losing four-tenths to his

own previous best. So are not getting to grip with the qualifying

so far on his debut in Formula One. He is a man who is a qualifying

specialist, are on the fastest tyre that Pirelli have brought this

for moving. Oversteer into turn 11 but he held it well. Again, he has

to turn away slightly as he runs into the last section of the lap.

The lowest speed section of the track. Build up to 160 mph, deploy

his KERS and DRS and goes for the line. Added much faster time than

we have seen from anyone so far -- and a much faster. He has qualified

first or second at every Grand Prix so far, he has been the king of

qualifying. Charles Pic, 20th, so he is not going to make it through

but he has a qualified Timo Glock, his team back -- team mate. Bruno

Senna also in a shed, getting out of the drop loan. -- also in with a

shout. On a personal best in the first sector, but not in this. At

the moment, not enough to make it. I think he might be the first

disappointed. He has lasted, Bruno Senna is off, trying just that bit

too hard -- he has lost it. And after his team-mate has set the

fifth fastest time, Bruno Senna will be disappointed to not even

make it into Q2. He would have glanced down at his lap time after

Turn 10 and knew he was not on a better lap. Frustration has got the

better of him. We saw Lewis Hamilton as the rear end slightly

as he ran into turn at 12 and this situation, Bruno Senna not able to

capture the rear. As he gets too much on the kerb, as he comes

through 11, and the writing was on the wall from that point. Silly

little mistake from Bruno, not something we are used to seeing

from him. He runs too far to the right, as you break into turn 12,

and you just don't have the same level of grip -- brake. The only

good thing he's he has got plenty of tyres left for tomorrow -- only

good thing is. At least in the current way of working, having lots

of tyres for the race they give you a chance. But you do the Walcott

shame now, that is never good. The not a good feeling. -- You do the

walk of shame. Let's just confirm then knocked out cars. Bruno Senna,

Vitaly Petrov, Kovalainen. Vitaly Petrov faster for the first time

this year than Kovalainen. Charles Pic again beating his experienced

team mate and also out, the two HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa Are and

Karthikeyan. A JAKE HUMPHREY: That is quite good

for Charles Pic, impressive pace. EDDIE JORDAN: We have seen Timo

Glock finish second in Singapore some years ago, and he has

experienced, so Charles Pick has done an amazing job against him.

That is Petrov making his way back into the pit lane. The last few

races have all been about saving those soft tyres for the race, but

here it looks like a hard tyres is so much better you may as well used

the soft in qualifying. Gary pointed out early on in the

commentary, the guys who have run the soft tyre have sacrificed a set

of the hard tyre, they shouldn't have gone out. That is why when

Gary was running strategy at Jordan, he got it right so often. They have

wasted tyres. This year, Heikki Kovalainen made it out of the first

part of qualifying, not this year. Bruno Senna is in the middle of the

midfield battle and will have to start way down the grid after this

moment. David think -- thinks he looked at his lap delta, pushing

too hard. He has been completely out shone by Pastor Maldonado at

this stage, and it won't be happy viewing for Frank, celebrating his

70th birthday. This is grim for him. We know how good said that can be,

we have seen him race very strong in the early races -- we know how

good a Bruno Senna can be. Let's join David Coulthard and then

Edwards. I suppose what she would say about Bruno Senna is he has

raced well at this season -- what you would say? The s, he is a good

racer, there is no doubt about it - - yes. He loves this track, he

knows it well and I think he felt he would qualify well. Yes, I think

at that stage, frustration got the better of him, because she will not

see many cars running on to the kerb at the entry to turn 12 -- you

will not see. The amount of power you can get between 11 and 12 is

margin also an uncharacteristic mistake and the frustration,

especially when your team-mate is doing well, and we saw the image of

the reserve driver, the emotion he goes through, because he is

disappointed for the team but the joy for himself because he may be

one step closer to making a Grand Prix debut. I have heard a rumour

you wear sunglasses indoors, I am glad that is not the case. Let's

have a look at Maldonado, he has been out shocked by this guy this

weekend. Second fastest in free that car hooked u on the front axle,

nightly, so he is fighting oversteer as he rolls the car into

turn four. Breathes a sigh of relief as you open the power and

over the bumps, down into the hairpin which is turn five. Speed

of about 75mph. Ignore turn six as you get your braking right into

seven. Again, you can see him having to make lots of small

corrections and this car clearly is et up on the front axle, which is

giving him this good performance, the only tool he have available

going into the race to reduce the sensitivity is taking out front

wing and a bit of pressure. Misses the apex at turn ten. Let us see

the contrasting sty as he goes into 12. Doesn't touch the kerk at all

on the right hand side. Then just has to be tidy through this last

section. Let us see if he touches any of the curb. A large amount of

curb from ta Williams. Turn 146789 then a run for the line. Of course

he will look down and see his lap delta. He will have a smile on his

face already. A good qualifying lap. Frustrating for Frank Williams.

Frank is here it should be a momentous occasion for him, and

that is something he will not want to have seen, he has had great

divers in the past this is getting underway and slightly

shorter segment of qualifying. Qment 2. The aim is to get into the

top ten now. It gets tough. As we have seen it is easy to make a

mistake. Bruno Senna is out of this part of qualifying. We have lost

the Caterhams but now we get into that tight midfield battle with the

teams are close together. Teams leek Force India, Sauber, then we

move up to Mercedes and Lotus then McLaren here, and of course, Red

Bull, and we still know there could be surprises throughout the course

of this. Gary, your thoughts one again going now into this second

part of qualifying. What do they do with tyre choice, you have to go

for the soft tyre? I am sure most will go out with that used tyre,

they will know from is a couple of turns slower on the best lap

because it is used now. It will get their eye in. They will adjust the

front wing, so they will get their eye in with a new set of tire tyre,

when you saw Sebastian Vettel, he didn't really push hard with his.

He was saving that tyre to be better for this sition session. The

second run will be on new tyres that is where we will see who can

make it. I was going to ask you, both Red Bulls were more than a

second away than the time set by Hamilton. You think that is a

strategy, a risky strategy nonetheless, to drive under the

tire in qualifying because you could put yourself dropping out.

There is work for them. They know the pressure on them. It is easy to

abuse the tyres and when you goat the last section, the soft tyres

finish, it gives up. I think they were being conservative in that

first run, making shoe they knew what they needed to do there was

probably another half a second in there easily enough to find for

them, but you want to save the tyre for this session. You want to make

adjustment on the car. I think they have been clever here. Saving that

hard set of tyres, that is a good thing to do. World Champion team

for the last couple of year, plenty of good reasons for that. It is not

just down to the driving strength they have with Vettel and Webber.

Massa is safely through to this segment of qualifying. Will he make

it through to the final segment? That is the question question. We

are beginning to hear engine firing up as the fans get ready to cheer

their favourite. Looking down on the information we get on the

circuit map here. It suggests that Sauber, it suggests they were on

primes. If that is the case, then they are in the hunt for pole

position. Kobayashi did a 33.33 which is slower than Hamilton.

is a difficult conversation going on there. Yeah, a few cars out on

circuit. Force India's are first out. Sergio Perez for Sauber and

Kobayashi out on track. So let us get an idea of how these guys are

going to get on. Force India in that midfield battle and Paul,

after that intel comment sixth place wants to back it up.

Hulkenberg has had poor luck so far. Had a great grid position in

Australia. Since then the best he has achieved is 13th place in

Bahrain. He was only frabg shuns off but that is the difference it

makes, you are talking thousands of a second between them. I love this

camera angle. That is the front edge of the carbon floor you are

seeing. Below that the plank. The wooden plank will start, so it high

lights how long Lowe they run. You have drivers bottom just above that

and his seat. So that is why you feel the car when you are out on

track. If you hit a curb that,, that going ult through your spine.

Kobayashi end down this long finish straight. Heavy on the turns one

and two past the grand stands. Some spectacular places to watch the

cars in action. That long right- hander that seems to go on forever.

So hard on the tyres and the driver's neck. That is the only

benefit in having much slower race pace, when you have all that fuel

onboard is a much slower lap time takes away some of the energy from

the neck this is one of the fiscal things the drivers face. Looking at

Kobayashi's opening sector, he is neck and neck for faster in that

sector was Hulkenberg and Force India. Not a great opener as he

goes ento turn ten. He is an aggressive style of driver

Kobayashi. He got a tenth place on the grid back in 2010 and finished

tenth in fact last year. Best position this year was that super

third place in China. That was one we hadn't expected: Sauber have

shown they have a stunning qualifying pace when they get

things right. His tame is 1.24 .0 so not as quick as the first. So

Kobayashi might have expected more. This was the lock up. That becomes

unloaded. He does a good job of creating his own ABS, I don't think

that will have caused him too much time. He runs into this last sector.

Oh, big bounce over the kerb. He really attacks the kerb on last one.

Ret us see what time it is going to be for Rosberg as he completes the

lap. He goes fastest. That is more like the pace we saw in that

segment of qualifying. So butt on the does a 23 .3 to go faster.

Button, Rosberg and Perez. Although Hamilton snatches it away from

everyone, with a lap miles quicker than anyone else. Snatch is too

subtle for ho much faster he has gone. He grabbed it out of his

team-mate so nine tenths quicker. We will see a replay of Nico

Rosberg heading that huge red baguette of it. He allows the

drivers to ride the kerb. Webber goes second and Vettel sixth. So

Sebastian looks like he is continuing on another lap, but he

has already done that 1.23.4. braking. OK Jenson, the yellow G7.

What was interesting about that, we heard him in the morning practise

session talking about problems with the rear, then we heard him talking

about understeer, now he is talking about problems with the rears, so

you can see the difficulty, the driver and the engineer has with

trying to balance the car on any given lap. Of course, the tyres

have evolved. The track is evolved. It works all day long. The 1.23. 8

for Pastor Maldonado. Not as quick as he might have hoped. Vettel

backed off. Hamilton brings his car back into the pit. Six-and-a-half

minutes remaining. The battle is to be in the top ten. At the moment

several have not been out yet. Kimi Raikkonen joins the circuit.

think Lewis Hamilton might find himself not having to run again he

has half a second advantage to Mark Webber. If you look down to even

else, they will have to go again pretty much. We thought they would

go out on a used set of option, do you think that is what people have

done? It is difficult looking at the pit lane. I would have said

Lewis was on the used set as was most cars. The big question mark

would be Rosberg and button. Both Lotus have gone out. They look as

if they are on used tires. They must have confidence there is

another lap on the tievers to do that. I think that answers his

question. He either has a car problem or he is comable his time

won't be beaten. He has wandered off to powder his nose. I think he

has gone just over a tenth faster than he did in the previous, so he

either did a Conservative lap on his first set of new options or

that was a new set of tyre, it is difficult to imagine he could beat

the time with those extra laps on them. I agree. Where I am in the

pit lane, it is difficult to see the tread of the tyre. But the, in

the balance change on the car when he did a 22.5 was enough to give

them that extra bite. That is all it takes as well. Make it work for

you. Kimi Raikkonen going on to his lap. Let us see where this puts him.

Through turns wund and two and then just trying to keep the flow going.

He goes in narrowly to turn three. Then tries not the let the car run

too wide. Rimy a double winner on this circuit in the past. Both for

McLaren and Ferrari. Trying to back up that wonderful race result of

second place in Bahrain a few weeks ago, as he challenges Vettel for

the victory. Hamilton is getting back in the car. So whether,

whether they are still expecting approval it is a megalap. It is a

great lap from grow gene Raikkonen. Raikkonen is a tenth of a second

slower than him. Second sector perhaps not quite so quick, but

still mot far off Hamilton's time at the moment. Let us see what the

final sector looks like. It looked like he struggled for traction and

a lot more tentative. We have seen from previous Grand Prixs this

Lotus car has very good high speed eperformance, no big surprise they

are quick in the first sector. See how much he struggles in the last

part. Crucially he is about three tenth slower than Hamilton.. Let us

see what gross gene does, he is on a good lap. Hamilton is faster from

Raikkonen. Is grow gene going to fill that gap? He does, he splits

the difference with a 22.6. It is Hamilton. The two Lotus drivers are

rooking very competitive once again here. Sebastian Vettel now coming

out on the circuit. Kobayashi is coming out on track. So is Nico

Hulkenberg in the Force India behind. Jenson Button is out too

and you are looking at a replace of Romain Grosjean, just a minor lock

up. A good lap that from Romain Grosjean who is currently second

fastest and should be safe in the top ten. He He has looked more

settled. That is reflcted in the lab time. It is good to have a

double whammy. If you have stability and confidence in the

rear of your car, we expect a lot of rear degree investigation, so

gross might be the want to watch. Can maska get into the top ten for

the first time this year? That was a late down change, he does seem to

be throwing everything into this attempt. Two minutes to go in the

second Pacific Ocean of qualifying. He is faster than the current tenth

by a fraction, this is not going to be a imagine ib lap from mas sa, he

is struggling here. Very wide in st. Look at the massive amount of

steering lock as he goes through 136789 again in 14 be know this

Ferrari runs a very slow steering rack, he separating and runs for

the line. Let us see what is it? That is tenth. That surely is not

his current 12 but will he be saved in the top 10? Ferrari desperate

for improvement. He goes into fourth, that is an improvement.

Here comes Paul di Resta, he qualified in tenth last time and he

has gone up to sixth, so he should be safely through to the second

part of qualifying. Vettel is only 11th at the moment so he needs to

do something to make sure he gets in the top 10 and that would push

Daniel Ricciardo out. Trying to see in his lap delta, the bottom right

of the screen, how much faster he is. Two-tenths within, so not a

sterling lap from the Red Bull. Hesitant as he gets through 12,

another wide line like Ferrari. should be enough, he is to tense up

on what he needs to do to get into the top 10 -- two-tenths. Webber

currently fifth, are Vettel around the same. 1: 22.8, so the two team

mate very evenly matched. Nico Hulkenberg trying to improve on his

time. Can he gets himself up there? Up to eighth. Jenson Button has

improved. He didn't actually go getter -- better than the first

sector, he actually pulled the time back. So the Sauber car performing

well. On board with Sergio Perez. Nico Rosberg is currently out of it

and so is Michael Schumacher, currently. Sergio Perez is 16th

currently, let's see where this puts him. And he goes third.

Nico Rosberg has to personal bests coming up. He is down in 13. And up

into sixth. Is Michael going to be saved? Ninth. And Michael -- Mark

Webber only 11th hour, he is in trouble. Jenson Button pushed down

as well, he has been pushed out, he is 11th and Mark Webber is 12. And

the double pole we now from Barcelona, Mark Webber, is not

going to be in the top 10 -- winner. And neither is Jenson Button. What

a shock. Webber still in the pits, they are not going to send him back

out. This is incredible, Kimi Raikkonen in fifth place. And

Maldonado, in all of the excitement, went fastest in that session. The

difference between fifth and 12 is one-tenth. It is so close. TEAM

RADIO: It is the understeer again. to the other. That poor. Maldonado,

leading. And Felipe Massa, he is 17th. Only 17. And he has still

failed to get into the top 10, so for all of the improvement Ferrari

have made bad but that that is Kobayashi, ninth place. Walking

away from his car. He will line up intent. Jenson Button is out, Mark

Webber is out, so are the Force India drivers Paul di Resta and

Hulkenberg, and the Toro Rossos. That was Kobayashi pulling off to

the side of the road. JAKE HUMPHREY: Such frustration for

Kobayashi because they are looking so fast that the moment. Those

double, Jenson Button complaints about understeer one minute,

oversteer the next. We can see it are locking up and he is out of a

second part of qualifying. -- be can see it locking up. There have

been a lot of surprises, and this is a big shock for Jenson Button,

because he could have been the winner. Not to say he won't become

tomorrow but it is a disappointing qualifying. We heard him say "Work

that one out", clearly he is struggling to work out what the car

is doing. And he is such a good driver at setting up a car for a

Grand Prix. He is clearly not happy, that is a little swipe at the team

are asking what is going on, because he can't work it out.

if you are wondering what he is staring at, everywhere they go,

there are timing screens and there was a rather surly looking Jenson

Button wondering exactly what went wrong. As Paul Williams, it is

Frank's 70th birthday this weekend -- as the Williams. They have some

things this by the bad but not Bruno Senna. This is him sliding

off in the second part of qualifying. This is why it happened,

Bruno Senna is with Lee McKenzie. I know you will be disappointed,

tell us what happened. Very frustrated. A I was just in the

wrong place at the wrong time on my first flying lap with the softer

tyres. I was behind Felipe Massa or, just the wrong place at the wrong

time. I was too close to actually get a proper lap and I struggled.

The second flying lap was nowhere, so not enough. Was it because you

were under pressure and pushing that used by him? I pushed a bit

hard, I tried to make the most of it. But when I got to the last part,

the rear tyres gave up and it was too much.

Body language experts will have a field day because it is rare for

him to keep sunglasses on when he is interviewed. Clearly not happy.

How will he feel that Maldonado has got the quickest time? That is the

dagger in the heart, that is the thing killing him more than

anything not that -- it is not that he didn't get around the lap, it is

that his team-mate is heading the time sheet. That is the biggest

blow you can give the driver. Frustration for Bruno Senna and for

Jenson Button, has he managed to work out what is wrong with the

car? He is with Lee. I am sure you are the last person that any of us

want to see here, you on your radio complaining about understeer and

the rear end, explained when it went wrong. I don't know, all day I

struggled with the balance. Yesterday it was fantastic and we

were quickest on the soft tyre and I thought we would be reasonably

competitive and get to Q3, but that is not the case. Just have

struggled with a debt -- very different balance to the one I had

yesterday and I don't know why it that is. We haven't changed that

much, that is the thing. All of qualifying, I had a lot of

oversteer and in that final run, when we added more front end into

the car, I had a lot of understeer. So I don't know what is going on

with the balance but there you go, we are out in a Q2 and it doesn't

really help, because we don't have any option tyres left for tomorrow.

But all is good within the team, I think Lewis should get pole

position as he is the only person with new soft tyres! I don't know

what was going on with mine. Jenson Button making it clear that

soft tyres are still helpful. A man who didn't have a chance to use his,

Mark Webber. 12 on the grid that he has been on pole on in the last two

years. It is hard to know what is going on. Look at the way the grid

is, obviously it is not the end of qualifying but you have a Williams

and a Lotus, where are the big teams? Where his Ferrari, Mercedes,

McLaren? It is remarkable -- wherries. The turnaround in

performances making it so unpredictable. Brilliant for us but

not for the drivers. This lends itself to looking at the race

tomorrow and having decreed set up in a certain weight is one part of

the battle but it is having the tyres ready -- having the grid set

up in a certain way. The drivers think they are the most important

thing but it is not true, they have to understand there is a show and

this is just amazing for that show. This unpredictability is making

this a phenomenal year for Formula One and long may it last, well done

to Pirelli for making it possible. Here is a very hard question, one

word and so, using your crystal ball, who will be our pole? Lewis

Hamilton. Let's find out what happens. This is the fight for pole

position for the Spanish Grand Prix. BEN EDWARDS: And Sebastian Vettel

is waiting at the end of the pit lane to be the very first car on

the track. They made sure they were because they sent him down with a

good minute to go. DAVID COULTHARD: I am trying to

work that one out. Not good for engine temperatures, although they

will have sent the car out a little bit cooler from the garage to

accommodate that, but you are losing tyre temperature. You may

think that won't be any she with a 38 degree track temperature, it has

gone down since the start -- won't be an issue. It is clouding over

slightly and that will change which clouds -- cars are able to exploit

the tyres to the maximum. The Pirelli is very sensitive to track

temperature change. A sire -- slow out-lap, is he getting a site

there? -- sighter? Gary, your thoughts on this strategy and how

badly off our Red Bull, not in the top 10 but they will have some

tyres left. They will have lots of tyres left, Jenson Button has used

one set of his hard tyres. They can look at what the weather will do

tomorrow, because there is a chance of rain but it is getting cooler at

least, so they can start on whatever tyre they want and finish

on whatever one they want. The best time to use a soft tyre will be

late in the race. It is a good position to be able to make that

choice. The reason that session caught everybody out is the cloud

cover. I am not sure what Sebastian Vettel is doing it, something is

going on, trying to get on top of why they are not as quick as they

should be. He is not driving quickly, no full throttle on the

straight, no DRS. It is one of those situations, if he does a lap

now, he ends up in front of Kobayashi, who will not be doing a

lap. So if anybody else does and, by doing one, Vettel will end up in

front of them. -- if anybody else doesn't. If that is the tactic, it

is an interesting gamble, because it loses a lot of grid position and

they will have to hope they get through the first few corners

safely. We have seen incidents at the first couple of corners in the

past further down, you are at risk. You are, but you assume the others

in the bottom half of the top 10 are in the same situation, to win

it, you have got to be there at the end and have to be careful into the

first corner. But we have seen in the past, some of the smaller teams

that have made it into the top 10 have just banked it and take the

position and saved the tyres. And they had left the top teams to

battle out for pole position, but are we at a situation now where the

tyres are so critical that nobody will attempt to set a time and will

concentrate fully on the race tomorrow? I'm not so sure, because

Hamilton has just flashed past the line and he was travelling pretty

fast, so he will be going for it. It would be hard to tell Hamilton

that you can't go for pole, he loves it! Can he gets his third?

One thing is for sure, he is not going to get any traffic, he is the

only person on the racetrack. that all we will see of Vettel in

this session? We will have to see. Lewis Hamilton again, that is a

good first sector time, and he is definitely chasing yet another

front-row start. At Red Bull, the heart of blankets have gone back on.

We will see the end of this lap from Lewis. He looks a lot better

through 12 than his previous lap, which we went on board with and he

had some oversteer. A little bit of oversteer as he powers out of their

team. Remember, he has done a couple of times where he has taken

pole in the final session. It is the fastest, mayor 22.5, will it be

enough? He lost a bit of time at the last chicane. -- 1: 22.5.

McLaren runs very stiff on the front axle to exploit the

aerodynamic front profile of the car. Not the fastest time he has

done, he was 22.4 in the previous part of qualifying, so just over

one-tenth slower on a slightly cooler track. Well Maldonado go for

the glory run? He was certainly very impressive in Q2, but Williams,

do they realistically think about today and the glory of getting pole

0 that the Mercedes heading for the pits? Abusaid is running a harder

compound. May be struggling to set in -- Mercedes running. They would

change in the wheels on Vettel's car, so will they send him back

car. The mechanics are round. It looks like the Mercedes team are

going to do a quick change of tyres. It could be checking a surge

charging, there is all sorts of clever toys in his cars that we

presume are working at all times but it is not unusual for emto have

various issues. Another set of wheels going on there. -- unyueb

usual for them to have. Nico Rosberg is going to log a lap.

have both mer Dees in the top ten. Only one McLaren and only one Red

Bull. We have both of the Lotuss, one Ferrari, and both Saubers and

one Williams. Sauber have done very very well to get both their cars in,

Kobayashi cannot now run, his car stopped the end of Q2. He can't

take any further part to have got the two cars into the top ten is

impressive. Rosberg, what is his first sector like? It is on the

pace. It is a 22.9. A similar pace to what we saw from Hamilton..

just about a tenth and a half down on Hamilton's first sector. Not bad

for the Mercedes. Let us see how he builds the middle part of the lap.

He is going through turn nine. Alonso has had a new set of tyres.

It is difficult to see on the camera angle we have here.

Meanwhile, threat us -- let us keep an eye on Rosberg. A bit slower by

two tenths than what Hamilton did. He is probably on for about 22, 7

or 8 depending how he finishes the lap. Doesn't look as committed.

Able to steal more of the curb and control the car. 22.5 for Hamilton.

Let us see what it is. 23.0 so half a second down on Hamilton's time

there from Nico Rosberg. He dropped a tenth in the first sector. Two in

the middle and a further two in the last sector relative to the McLaren.

Maldonado, heading out on to the track. Is this a huge opportunity

for the Venezuelan in the Williams? Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton about to

go out on a new set of the softer tyre, so then we could really see a

dramatic lap time coming from Lewis. Best qualifying performance from

Pastor Maldonado in the past has been a seventh place on the grid.

He was eighth on the grid earlier this year in Australia. A good

chance from Maldonado to improve on that today. Vettel now on his way,

back down pit lane, so whatever he was doing in that first run, and

they have decided to send him back out. We are going to see that last

dash between all the top carss, I think. Thank goodness for that. It

is is a very compielting part of the weekend for the drivers. --

exciting. And for all the spectators to see a grabbed pree

car driven with the minimum amount of fuel required. -- Grand Prix. It

is an exciting moment for the driver. Here is the man of the

moment. The fans' favourite here in Barcelona, Fernando Alonso. Best

group position has been eighth for none none, although he had that one

Vic -- victory and kept himself in the championship hunt. Only he --

but qualifying has been a prop for Ferrari. Remember Massa has only

qualified 17th for this race. He sup on the first split. He is up on

Hamilton's time he is up on everyone's at the first checkpoint.

Is. Hapoel on the would have been on a set of options. We will keep

an eye on it. Kimi Raikkonen 22.6. So quicker than what Alonso has

managed. That is right. That is an indicator that the Lotus is on a

quicker lap than the Ferrari. It is the support to the Ferrari as he

drives round this circuit. The fans cheering Alonso's every move that.

Was tidy, through the hairpin at turn ten. Coming up to the tight

and twisty section, the area where Senna went off in the first part of

qualifying. Rear end movelet on the car.. The Ferrari is a tenth

quicker in the middle sector than what Kimi Raikkonen has done. This,

the improvement made to the car are working. That is a tricky section.

Let us see how he ends the lap. is about to cross the line.

Fernando Alonso trying to move up the order. He goes fastest the

Ferrari is fastest and the crowd are loving that. How much longer

here comes Kimi Raikkonen and he surely is going to go even faster.

No, Raikkonen is second fastest. Just over a tenth of a second

slower than Alonso. I think we got the answer how he Pat Finucaneished

the lap. Let us -- how he finished the lap. Hamilton is the fastest

man of all in the first and second sector, so I think this might be a

shortlived dream for the Ferrari fans. Gross gene goes second to lon

snow the background. You have Maldonado coming through. He goes

fastest. Maldonado goes fastest in the Williams, a 1 .22.2. Hamilton

is on a better lap. He comes Hamilton. Can he take his first

ever pole in Spain? He has done it. 1.21.707. His first pole position

at this circuit, and that is a brilliant effort, he is four tenths

of, five tenths of a second faster than anybody else and Lewis

Hamilton has taken the 150th McLaren pole in history and a

superb pole it was as well. taeth team-mate Jenson Button said

that is the man would be on pole. Great lap from Hamilton. What about

this guy, Pastor Maldonado, we spoke to him before the se, and

only half an hour before the session, he is standing there

taking photographs in jeans and a T-shirt. Confident man and a great

performance here for the Williams team. Second place on the grid, for

Williams, thanks to Pastor Maldonado, that is a huge story.

And Fernando Alonso third. That is what I was going to say Ferrari

have made huge steps forward. That is Lewis Hamilton, does he have an

issue. He stopped out on track. That won't affect the qualifying

position, but is there something that could mean that he needs to

change a gearbox or engine, we will find out in time. Let us hope it's

a small minor issue they have turned the car off. Let us hope it

is not fuel. They need a certain amount of fuel to Sam after the

qualifying. I would be surprised if he made that mistake. -- sample.

The guys who went for it. Very good job. They were talking to Pastor