:09:49. > :09:56.As long as you make sure you do that, it is impossible to fail.
:09:56. > :10:06.Away we go. * outing from the pit lane, this is scrapping for a few
:10:06. > :10:15.
:10:15. > :10:24.points. Nico Rosberg is out. The safety car
:10:24. > :10:33.has been deployed. That has definitely damaged his front wing.
:10:33. > :10:41.Can he challenge? Sebastian Vettel eventually gets it.
:10:41. > :10:50.What is going on? Alonso is in second place. What a
:10:50. > :10:54.break. It has all gone horribly wrong.
:10:54. > :11:02.This closes it all up together and suddenly Sebastian Vettel will be
:11:02. > :11:09.with the race leaders. Try to find away past Jenson Button, for a
:11:09. > :11:15.podium position. He might have done it this time!
:11:15. > :11:20.Beautifully done! Alonso it is charging, looking for victory.
:11:20. > :11:28.Can you tell me when it gets to the end, I am covering my eyes in
:11:28. > :11:38.excitement. He had done it, lichen and wins --
:11:38. > :11:54.
:11:54. > :12:04.Raikonnen. Sebastian Vettel retains Championship. Red Bull still have
:12:04. > :12:08.
:12:09. > :12:13.Let us focus on Ferrari, they must have been thinking, this is our
:12:14. > :12:18.moment. But that opportunity was blown out of the water. You say
:12:18. > :12:24.that but they have been around a long time. They know that anything
:12:24. > :12:32.is possible in Formula One. Fernando, he knew that was a great
:12:32. > :12:42.drive from his point of view. He has had an amazing year. It is
:12:42. > :12:44.
:12:44. > :12:54.about delivering year-end, yet out. Let us look inside the Red Bull
:12:54. > :12:56.
:12:56. > :13:02.garage. He will know, with two He's known that for some time, but
:13:02. > :13:08.they kept falling over themselves in my view. If I had to pick a
:13:08. > :13:13.driver, it's Alonso, because he's made an average car look extremely
:13:13. > :13:17.good. And the circuit is sliply still? And also the morning
:13:17. > :13:23.practice was held in really cold conditions here in Texas, but the
:13:23. > :13:33.sun is now on the track, so they're heading into completely different
:13:33. > :13:49.
:13:49. > :13:53.conditions. So let's see how that Formula One is back indeed, back in
:13:53. > :13:58.the USA, but can anyone prevent Sebastian Vettel taking another
:13:58. > :14:05.step towards the title as qualifying begins here? He has been
:14:05. > :14:09.fastest in every session out so far. Gary, what can we except to see in
:14:09. > :14:13.this first action? I think it's going to be very good. Practice
:14:13. > :14:19.three this morning was very difficult, it was very cold. It
:14:19. > :14:25.took four or five laps to get the soft tyres working.
:14:25. > :14:30.They're going to have to be out here on hard tyres going for the
:14:30. > :14:35.whole run. I wouldn't be surprised to see these guys running for the
:14:35. > :14:43.whole 20 minutes just to get the tyres warmed. The surface is
:14:43. > :14:49.changing. It is now a lot harder but I think you'd have to do a 37.9
:14:49. > :14:54.to feel considerate comfortable. And the track changes dramatically
:14:54. > :15:01.as it gets rubbered in. So the first two cars are out on
:15:01. > :15:06.the track and they're in danger of not making the 1.7% qualifying rule.
:15:06. > :15:11.And they are the hard and the compound tyres and the track is
:15:12. > :15:17.proving to be slippery, so Pirelli have probable blow made a tyre too
:15:17. > :15:22.hard for this track, but they had to make their decision a fou months
:15:22. > :15:26.ago before they knew how it would be for the teams.
:15:26. > :15:30.In fairness to them, they have to make the decision from a
:15:30. > :15:34.manufacturing and shipping point of view a long way ahead of time and
:15:34. > :15:40.the Tarmac is one of the last things to get completed at any of
:15:40. > :15:46.the Grand Prix sites, so they can't come with an exotic machine to
:15:46. > :15:51.grade the Tarmac. I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know it off the
:15:51. > :15:56.top of my head. Perez was talking about driving and
:15:56. > :16:01.racing so close to home. He's never raced so close to his family and
:16:01. > :16:07.they're pretty much here this weekend? And he's only 22, so he
:16:07. > :16:17.hasn't done much racing. Everything must be new and exciting. He looked
:16:17. > :16:20.
:16:20. > :16:30.ragged this morning. He had contact with one of the other cars. There's
:16:30. > :16:40.Barcelo, spreading rumours that he might be coming back!
:16:40. > :16:50.
:16:50. > :16:57.No action was taken. He was not reprimanded for what happened, but
:16:57. > :17:02.Perez did pick up a penalty for weaving yesterday. So everybody is
:17:02. > :17:09.watching. The lap time Raikkonen did this
:17:09. > :17:14.morning was 1.37.7 and it looks as though they've gone out on scrub
:17:14. > :17:19.tyres. Certainly on Grosjean's car.
:17:19. > :17:23.Gary was explaining it is taking a long time to get the shine off
:17:23. > :17:27.these tyres. There is a release agent to get them out of the mould,
:17:27. > :17:32.and that's gone by the first corner, but here it is taking longer. The
:17:32. > :17:39.tyres are getting lightly buffed. So if you imagine using a fine
:17:39. > :17:45.piece of emery paper, it will take a lot longer to buff down the
:17:45. > :17:51.surface than if you had a rasp or something with more friction.
:17:51. > :17:58.And you can see Vettel there. He always changes his helmet when he
:17:58. > :18:02.wins a Grand Prix and he's gone for a rustic look with this one.
:18:02. > :18:06.Ricciardo the young Australian has put in strong performances in
:18:06. > :18:10.recent events in terms of scoring points. He's scored in five of the
:18:10. > :18:14.last seven events. Vettel on track at the moment as we wait to see
:18:14. > :18:21.what the Red Bull is capable of doing.
:18:21. > :18:26.Right now I think all 24 cars are out on track and trying to spread
:18:26. > :18:30.themselves around this 3.4 mile track down through turn 19 and 20.
:18:30. > :18:34.So coming around to complete the lap here for Sebastian Vettel.
:18:34. > :18:41.Let's see where this initial run puts him. I don't think it's right
:18:41. > :18:50.up front. No, second to Grosjean. There's a gap of three tenth s of a
:18:50. > :18:56.second. It's a wide spwreed entry into that corner. Well, there's a
:18:57. > :19:03.view held that if they given a wide entry it will bring people down
:19:03. > :19:09.inside. But I think give them a wide exit and you'll have more of a
:19:09. > :19:15.chance of someone diving down the outside.
:19:15. > :19:23.If you dive down inside someone you might lose not only that place back,
:19:24. > :19:27.but another as well. Grosjean is fastest and Messiah is second now.
:19:27. > :19:32.Webber third and Senna currently fifth.
:19:32. > :19:37.We're beginning to see more improvements as the tyres get
:19:37. > :19:43.softer. The battle is to get in the top 17. Hamilton is not there yet.
:19:43. > :19:48.He's on a different lap. I don't think he was impeded there at all.
:19:48. > :19:53.You don't want to see cars going slowly in front of you. See the
:19:53. > :20:01.amount of black marks there in the run-off area. If that was gravel
:20:01. > :20:11.you wouldn't see people trying to be quite so greedy. So the off side
:20:11. > :20:11.
:20:11. > :20:20.of having Tarmac run-offs is it makes people safer.
:20:20. > :20:24.Vettel goes fastest now. Sebastian Vettel, no surprise, has taken over
:20:24. > :20:34.three tenths of a second out of Grosjean who is pushed back into
:20:34. > :20:44.
:20:44. > :20:51.Some of those in the drop zone have not yet established a lap time.
:20:51. > :20:58.Through that long right-hander. They're comparing it as being the
:20:58. > :21:03.Turkey connection, through turn 20 a classic second-gear corner. And
:21:03. > :21:10.you can see the elevation change with the camera angle. There's 40m
:21:10. > :21:15.up into turn one. Alonso at the moment has not looked as
:21:15. > :21:22.comfortable in the morning sessions as Messiah, it has to be said, but
:21:22. > :21:32.you can never not expect Fernando to get the maximum out of what he
:21:32. > :21:50.
:21:50. > :21:57.is given to drive. Maldonado was third quickest this
:21:57. > :22:03.morning. We've seen some good qualifying performances from him
:22:03. > :22:08.and he's closest to home here than he has been all year and has a lot
:22:08. > :22:14.of supporters here. That's good commitment on entry and
:22:14. > :22:19.tidy into turn 20. Early on the throttle. He gets on to the
:22:19. > :22:23.artificial grass, which will cost him celebration, but he is down in
:22:23. > :22:28.third place. It's a good effort. What is Schumacher doing? The
:22:28. > :22:36.Mercedes might be better at United Statesing their tyres here.
:22:36. > :22:42.12th, we might have expected a bit more than that. Rosberg was fifth
:22:42. > :22:52.this morning. He is second. So it's a Red Bull
:22:52. > :22:53.
:22:53. > :23:03.one/two at the moment. Who is in the drop zone? Glock, and
:23:03. > :23:10.
:23:10. > :23:20.Ricciardo, Kobayashi and tarttart and Petrov. -- Karthikeyan.
:23:20. > :23:23.
:23:24. > :23:28.It's a reasonable job from Jean- Eric Vergne he clipped a car in the
:23:28. > :23:32.morning session. But he just went straight and thankfully didn't hit
:23:32. > :23:42.anything, but that would have caught his attention. So a
:23:42. > :23:43.
:23:43. > :23:47.reasonable recovery in this first This is Rosberg. It's a great
:23:47. > :23:52.section. It is. Unfortunately, that's not a great car. If you
:23:52. > :23:59.listen how long he was off the throttle. Fifth gear rolled into
:23:59. > :24:02.one of the turns and shifted into the apex. That's got, "I'm not
:24:02. > :24:08.comfortable and I'm not in control of this machine" written all over
:24:08. > :24:13.Now, there's a problem with the HRT. Let's hope that doesn't cause a
:24:13. > :24:18.yellow in that section. Meanwhile, Senna has gone up to fourth. So
:24:18. > :24:23.Williams are fourth and fifth at the moment. Rosberg trying to move
:24:23. > :24:28.up out of 17th place, which is danger territory in terms of
:24:28. > :24:34.possibly being eliminated from qualifying. Hamilton is eighth rges
:24:34. > :24:44.but has just set the fastest middle section of anybody. Nigh it's Red
:24:44. > :24:49.Bull ahead of Webber. And I would - they are still both out on track,
:24:49. > :24:56.so they've not settled with what they've done so far. Hamilton has
:24:56. > :25:06.just gone fastest. Rosberg out of the final turn. Across the line
:25:06. > :25:11.goes Rosburg. He's still down in 17th place. Work to be done there.
:25:11. > :25:15.He's in the drop zone right now as we see Vettel coming to the end of
:25:15. > :25:22.his lap. He's been fastest of all in the middle sector with a
:25:22. > :25:27.personal best. Look at that,ess's fastest by half a second.
:25:27. > :25:32.That's still not quite as quick as he was this morning, but he was on
:25:32. > :25:36.the softer compound tyre when this set that time this morning.
:25:36. > :25:42.It's the danger territory for Rosburg countryly and the yellow
:25:42. > :25:46.flag is out. That's down into turn two, so given that that corner is a
:25:46. > :25:51.flat out corner it's difficult for the driveners. You have to
:25:51. > :25:57.demonstrate that you haven't gone faster in that particular yellow
:25:57. > :26:03.flag zone. And Rosburg, 26.8, that is slower than his best because of
:26:03. > :26:08.that yellow flag. That's seven tenths slower. So a lot for Rosburg
:26:08. > :26:18.to try and do in the rest of the lap. He's gone green in the middle
:26:18. > :26:18.
:26:18. > :26:24.sector, which means that is his personal best as we join him here.
:26:24. > :26:29.He had a great qualifying performance last time out in Abu
:26:29. > :26:34.Dhabi, but he's desperate for a performance like that here, and
:26:34. > :26:40.with that yellow flag not helping, has he done enough? He's just done
:26:40. > :26:48.it. He's in 17th place and pushed Ricciardo down and out. Ricciardo
:26:48. > :26:54.is still out on a lap, so he is not going that kpwickly. And he's --
:26:54. > :27:02.quickly. And he's missed the checker now. Yes, there's a
:27:02. > :27:12.surprise. Daniel reckon yardeo pushed out in Q1. And Jean-Eric
:27:12. > :27:14.
:27:14. > :27:18.Vergne has beaten, Kobayashi and Karthikeyan.
:27:18. > :27:27.But Karthikeyan has not qualified in the first time and that is
:27:28. > :27:32.disappointing. He's in a sort of picking up rubber mood and saving
:27:32. > :27:42.fuel. I think he's having so little fun driving that car, he's backing
:27:42. > :27:47.
:27:47. > :27:55.right out of it. And Glock 19th ahead of his team meat. Even though
:27:55. > :28:01.there is a long straight, those two cars have been outdone by the
:28:01. > :28:09.maturitions. Well done for this. They're trying to create the
:28:09. > :28:19.foundations of future success and it's been a pretty rough ride for
:28:19. > :28:30.
:28:31. > :28:40.HRT in the past few years. Eddie, that was a pretty special
:28:41. > :28:42.
:28:42. > :28:47.session if you're a Maruss ia driver. I'm not surprised. Pat
:28:47. > :28:53.Simmonds is in the team and it's showing all the signs of his hands
:28:53. > :28:58.What is the deal with the facial hair? Nobody can do that? I thought
:28:58. > :29:02.I'd give it a go, but it hasn't worked for me today. What was the
:29:02. > :29:07.problem out there today? Just a bit of everything, a bit of traffic and
:29:07. > :29:10.a bit of yell yes flag and not really getting the tyres to work.
:29:10. > :29:14.You definitely need time to get them up here, and definitely we
:29:14. > :29:20.found we needed a lot of time on the track to get any performance
:29:20. > :29:24.out of them here, and we didn't get them in the range. Because you've
:29:24. > :29:29.got a contract next year has that taken too much stress out of it,
:29:29. > :29:35.and the signs are that you didn't make the cut here today. If you
:29:35. > :29:40.hadn't signed, would you have made the cut? Not at all. I take it as
:29:40. > :29:46.serious as always and I am' - although I'm cracking a smile, I'm
:29:47. > :29:51.pretty angry right now. OK. We'll let you take your anger back to the
:29:51. > :29:57.team. Good luck for tomorrow. That's a point, he's not the kind
:29:57. > :30:03.of guy who takes that all for granted. When he said that, his jaw
:30:03. > :30:08.slightly changed and I could see he was rainging with herself. He's
:30:08. > :30:14.very upset. You need to put a big stamp on a new track and want to
:30:14. > :30:20.make an impression. And sadly, he can do it in the race of course,
:30:20. > :30:30.but he'll want to be further up the grid. Angry with himself. Now the
:30:30. > :30:32.
:30:32. > :30:40.second part of qualifying. Sebastian Vettel so far has a 100%
:30:40. > :30:45.record here. Fastest in Q1, but still Q2 and Q3 to go. I think
:30:45. > :30:49.we'll see more of the same in this second part of qualifying? Yes, I
:30:49. > :30:59.think you'll see most people go out with a soft tyre on now because
:30:59. > :31:01.
:31:01. > :31:05.this is a real battle. That was a fantastic time from Vettel. He can
:31:05. > :31:10.do 36.45 on softer tyres. For this session it's very difficult to
:31:10. > :31:14.predict because the track is changing all the time. I wouldn't
:31:14. > :31:21.feel comfortable if I hadn't gone under 37.5. It will be a push for
:31:21. > :31:27.some of these guys. Kimi Raikkonen down through turn 10. Down towards
:31:27. > :31:35.the hairpin that leads on to the long straight. A wide entry again
:31:35. > :31:40.and a slight lock-up there? Yes, he went wide but he got the car turned.
:31:40. > :31:47.So far, unsurprisingly, he is the only man who has actually completed
:31:47. > :31:54.that first sector quickly. He's gone purple in this first session.
:31:54. > :32:01.You have to say, in his comeback season he has not made any mistakes.
:32:01. > :32:11.He's never an addressive driver in terms of banging wheels and locking
:32:11. > :32:13.
:32:13. > :32:18.up the car. Yes, he uses the feel of the steering wheel, but it seems
:32:18. > :32:24.the feel is not quite right for him. He drives on his fingers and thumbs
:32:24. > :32:27.and maybe they'll get it right for him next season.
:32:27. > :32:32.Earlier on, Kimi Raikkonen was definitely four tenths of a second
:32:32. > :32:40.slower than that, so he has gained good pace on what he did earlier.
:32:40. > :32:48.This is the lock-up into turn 11 hairpin. He had to correct as the
:32:48. > :32:56.corner drops away. It's reminiscent for me to turn 4 in Brazil. As it
:32:56. > :33:03.dips down you lighten the load on the rear axle.
:33:03. > :33:10.Even on the softer tyres it's taking a couple of laps to find the
:33:10. > :33:14.balance. What will the teams do to generate more from the tyres.
:33:14. > :33:18.not so much the tyre temperature as tyre balance front to rear. Going
:33:18. > :33:24.out of the pits the tyres are difficult to warm up. You'll get
:33:24. > :33:30.the rears warmed quickly but the front take longer and you don't
:33:30. > :33:36.have that front tyre bite and that's why it takes a couple of
:33:36. > :33:42.laps to bite. Go for the third lap fast. That's
:33:42. > :33:46.the best way to do it. Grosjean went faster than anyone in the
:33:46. > :33:51.first section. He has a penalty to contend with, but he can still go
:33:51. > :33:57.as fast as possible and make it into the top ten.
:33:57. > :34:01.It's worth going for as much as you can, and Grosjean has had an up and
:34:01. > :34:06.down season. He's not had the consistency of rake ribbing rake.
:34:06. > :34:12.He's shown flashes of speed, but we want to see them again. We haven't
:34:12. > :34:17.seen them in the past couple of races. No, he's had the full
:34:17. > :34:22.psychological ride in his career as Formula One. He's been in and out
:34:22. > :34:29.and banned from a race and you wonder how many more blows he can
:34:29. > :34:35.take and it has affected his true skill. Oh. He ran wide into turn 20
:34:35. > :34:42.there. Inherently he is a fast racing driver, but he's just made
:34:42. > :34:49.some bad decisions in his on-track racing. What is going on with
:34:49. > :34:59.Alonso? A bit of traffic, is that a Mercedes ahead? The Blue Flag is
:34:59. > :35:07.
:35:07. > :35:12.flashing. He's obviously feeling I was about to say that's probably
:35:12. > :35:20.Michael, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt one more time.
:35:20. > :35:24.There do seem to be a few incidents like that. Schumacher - Hamilton
:35:24. > :35:29.had to get all four wheels off the road yesterday to avoid Schumacher
:35:29. > :35:35.yesterday. It's all about the battle to get in
:35:35. > :35:44.the top ten here, but it is still early stages. Not everybody has set
:35:45. > :35:50.a time. Fourth fastest for Alonso. Well it was, but already there are
:35:50. > :35:56.changes. Massa is still looking good here at the moment. Does this
:35:56. > :35:59.get him into the top spot, yes, Hamilton quicker than he went in
:35:59. > :36:03.the earlier session, but he is on the softer of the two compound
:36:03. > :36:08.tyres. Beautifully on to the clipping
:36:08. > :36:13.point and back down the hill on the other side.
:36:13. > :36:17.Sebastian Vettel meanwhile has done a 1.41 opening lap, that puts him
:36:17. > :36:22.in tenth place at this time. So clearly several seconds away from
:36:22. > :36:28.the current pace. So let's keep an eye on the rest of this lap. In
:36:28. > :36:35.terms of time left, well, just under six minutes and it looks like
:36:35. > :36:39.there's Mark Webber there, has done a 36.8, so just under a tenth
:36:39. > :36:49.slower than Lewis Hamilton. So we have to says, based on the majority
:36:49. > :36:49.
:36:50. > :36:54.of the season this year, that Vettel is capable of beating that.
:36:54. > :36:58.Section one, Vettel looking very, very good indeed.
:36:58. > :37:05.11 for Rosburg, so he is still in danger territory there, outside of
:37:05. > :37:09.the top ten. Gary, do you think there is one sector that is
:37:09. > :37:15.dominant to the others in terms of getting a quick lap time?
:37:15. > :37:21.they're all important. But on the last sector, Vettel just picked up
:37:21. > :37:27.three or four so he's really got that handled. In that lap there, he
:37:27. > :37:32.wasn't really abusing the car too much. Alonso down in 13th place at
:37:32. > :37:38.the moment, but Vettel this is going to be a quick lap. He was the
:37:38. > :37:42.fastest in sector two as well. And he's fastest overall in that final
:37:43. > :37:51.sector. That's definitely the fastest we've
:37:51. > :37:57.seen of the day, 1.35.9. And the margin back to Hamilton is huge.
:37:57. > :38:06.Now, the other Red Bull. What is this looking like? This looks like
:38:06. > :38:14.it could be the same, if not slower. This is 3.8, virtually the same.
:38:14. > :38:20.A loss of power for Button. Oh, dramas for McLaren in terms of
:38:20. > :38:29.riblt? We'll see what happens with that. Button has got through the
:38:29. > :38:35.first sector OK. - reliability. Alonso, they are running slightly
:38:35. > :38:40.different rear body work on the two Ferraris. Slightly different
:38:40. > :38:45.between Alonso and Massa's cars. Right now, Massa is fifth and
:38:45. > :38:51.Alonso is outside the top ten. Is that Button? He is going very
:38:51. > :38:56.slowly indeed, but has he a problem or is he looking for space? I'm not
:38:56. > :39:01.sure. Massa has now dropped back to sixth.
:39:01. > :39:05.Button, we have to assume, based on the message and the way he was
:39:05. > :39:12.driving that he clearly feels he has to limp that car back to the
:39:12. > :39:18.pits. He's in the middle sector as we speak. He's just gone through
:39:18. > :39:28.the middle sector a full 30 seconds slower than the fastest time, sew
:39:28. > :39:29.
:39:29. > :39:34.we're expecting him to limp in. Button has been dropped to tenth
:39:34. > :39:40.place, so he's going to lose a chance of being in the top ten and
:39:40. > :39:45.around this track it will be very difficult to come back from in the
:39:45. > :39:49.race. There's no cable connecting the throttle and the engine. It's a
:39:49. > :39:55.fibre wire system, like on an aircraft, but they feel the need to
:39:55. > :40:01.have a look. It could be that something has broken, the actual
:40:01. > :40:11.stop that the driver can have individually, as to whether they
:40:11. > :40:12.
:40:12. > :40:18.have 5 or 20mm of travel. thoughts on what might be the
:40:18. > :40:25.problem for Jenson Button? It's a Rotary electric pod that givings a
:40:25. > :40:31.significantle to -- signal to the engine. And the gears wouldn't
:40:31. > :40:35.change so it looks like an electronic issue with the throttle
:40:35. > :40:40.pedal somewhere. He's sitting in a very vulnerable position, but it
:40:40. > :40:50.will have to go in the garage. tenth at the moment, but I doubt if
:40:50. > :40:54.
:40:54. > :40:58.John Button, Jenson's father, trying to work out what has
:40:58. > :41:03.happened. Michael Schumacher has gone fifth fastest. That's a good
:41:03. > :41:09.effort in the Mercedes. Rosburg is struggling and he's not
:41:09. > :41:16.set a first sector so with a minute to go, that's his effort and he'll
:41:16. > :41:21.start 16th. A pretty impressive lap from Michael Schumacher. We were
:41:21. > :41:26.saying ahead of the qualifying session that Mercedes does work the
:41:26. > :41:34.tyres a bit harder, and that's a problem with the hotter races, but
:41:34. > :41:39.on this cooler track temperature he seems to have found his own.
:41:39. > :41:46.Kimi Raikkonen is down in tenth place, he has one more chance to
:41:46. > :41:49.get another lap in. Across the line is Kobayashi, he's not going to
:41:50. > :41:59.improve. The clock continues to tick away. Button is definitely not
:42:00. > :42:03.
:42:03. > :42:08.going to be in the top ten. And di Resta is definitely out of it too.
:42:08. > :42:14.I'm watching Perez and he's not on a particularly good lap here. 17th
:42:14. > :42:19.place. Outqualified once again by Kobayashi. And feeling why am I
:42:19. > :42:25.being overlooked. Let's see what Alonso does. He's in the top ten,
:42:25. > :42:31.safely, that's what matters. What about Senna. He is 13th, so not far
:42:31. > :42:36.off the top ten. His teammate is currently ninth and the chequered
:42:36. > :42:43.flag is out. He's looking slower. He's gone negative then positive.
:42:43. > :42:48.It's all about this last corner. Here comes Senna, desperate to get
:42:48. > :42:53.into the top ten this year. It's not enough. 11th place for him. And
:42:53. > :42:59.still one or two others to see the chequered flag. Perez has a
:42:59. > :43:05.personal best in the middle sector. This could be an improvement, but
:43:05. > :43:11.it isn't enough. He goes 15th. But he does outqualify his teammate,
:43:11. > :43:17.that will give him some credit. Two tenths of a second ahead of
:43:17. > :43:25.Kobayashi. But I don't think Kobayashi will improve.
:43:25. > :43:31.A good evident from Jean-Eric Vergne, there. He's beaten the two
:43:31. > :43:36.Salvos and the merits December. And how come Schumacher is faster than
:43:36. > :43:41.Rosburg? That's a bigger gap than we normally see, so there is
:43:41. > :43:51.something effecting Rosburg's car. Button with a car problem. Jean-
:43:51. > :43:52.
:43:52. > :43:56.Eric Vergne and Kamui Kobayashi are out as well. Jenson, could I have a
:43:56. > :44:00.word please? Another race, another technical problem? Yeah, I don't
:44:00. > :44:06.know what the problem is exactly. It will take a little while to
:44:06. > :44:13.figure it out, but I just loss power. On the second to last corner
:44:13. > :44:16.I had a massive oversteer moment but luckily I completed the lap, or
:44:16. > :44:21.I wouldn't have had a time. It's not how you want to start the
:44:21. > :44:27.weekend. Hopefully we'll sort it out and we won't have any of these
:44:27. > :44:32.issues next year. And the pace of the car this weekend? Nice shirt.
:44:32. > :44:38.Thank you, but the pace of the car? The pace is good, I still think the
:44:38. > :44:44.Red Bull is stronger, but the car is good, especially through the
:44:44. > :44:48.first sector, it's fun to drive. Difficult for Jenson there, and
:44:48. > :44:52.clearly wanting to deflect attention from him on to my shirt.
:44:52. > :44:57.But they've had problems? They've had too many problems and that
:44:57. > :45:01.could have been one of the many reasons why Louis decided to take a
:45:01. > :45:05.different stance and take his chance with Mercedes. One never
:45:05. > :45:13.knows what is going on in their heads, but I'm sure that was one of
:45:13. > :45:21.the many items niggling away at him. Well, it doesn't look like there
:45:21. > :45:26.will be a fight for pole position, because Vettel is far ahead.
:45:26. > :45:32.anyone was in any doubt about how good this guy is, look at the times.
:45:32. > :45:40.Everyone is doing their utmost here. It's a brand new track and
:45:41. > :45:47.everybody is doing their best, and look who is right out in front --
:45:47. > :45:52.Vettel is there. The final part of qualifying is
:45:52. > :46:02.under way. Ten minutes to decide the outcome of the top ten places
:46:02. > :46:02.
:46:02. > :46:07.on the grid. Jenson Button is in 12th place, although there are some
:46:07. > :46:13.penalties to mix up the order. Michael Schumacher is out on the
:46:14. > :46:19.track, he's not hanging around at all But does Mercedes have the
:46:19. > :46:29.likes to challenge McLaren and Red Bull? I doubt it. It does look like
:46:29. > :46:30.
:46:30. > :46:40.a lottery with the Mercedes. This morning was good, and on the two
:46:40. > :46:47.
:46:47. > :46:51.sessions 38.8 on Q1, and 35 on Q2, but he didn't get anywhere at all.
:46:51. > :46:56.Michael improved his time from this morning, dramatically and got
:46:56. > :47:03.himself into that position, eighth in that section, and Rosburg didn't
:47:03. > :47:08.get there at all. So it seems a lottery. And I'm not sure why.
:47:08. > :47:14.interesting, David, for example, Massa has been faster than Alonso
:47:14. > :47:20.which is unusual. He's only outqualified Alonso once this year.
:47:20. > :47:25.Yes, we've seen that. Maybe they're trying to toe each other around.
:47:25. > :47:28.Mass wra has looked more comfortable than Alonso. Two
:47:28. > :47:36.different mind sets, of course, one trying to win a championship and
:47:36. > :47:40.the other trying to do the best he can this weekend. I would except if
:47:40. > :47:50.they're trying to do the slipstream thing then Alonso would give up in
:47:50. > :47:55.the early laps. It's interesting that Massa is
:47:55. > :47:59.quite high on the speed track figures through qualifying at 319
:47:59. > :48:08.kilometres per hour. Which is higher than it was this morning, so
:48:08. > :48:13.I wonder if they've backed the down force on Massa's car? Well, the air
:48:13. > :48:20.temperature is warmer and the engine tends not to breathe so well,
:48:20. > :48:25.so they've probably decided to drop a little bit of down force. And the
:48:25. > :48:34.car typically has 10 to 15 kilometres offset, so they don't
:48:34. > :48:40.have as much power from the engine. They're trying to exploit the
:48:40. > :48:48.balance they're able to achieve on that car. So down the hill towards
:48:48. > :48:57.turn 11. Waup for any brake locking here, but that was a neat and tidy
:48:57. > :49:03.approach from Alonso -- - watch for any brake locking.
:49:03. > :49:07.Now the long 1km straight. Yes, and the camera shots from the
:49:07. > :49:10.helicopter this morning are a lot more creative than some of the
:49:10. > :49:16.other places, whether that is because they have a lot more
:49:16. > :49:22.freedom over this Texas race track or maybe the pilot has been
:49:22. > :49:26.involved in some military action, but he definitely brought some
:49:26. > :49:32.great shots. And look at the grandstands in the closing minutes
:49:32. > :49:36.of this qualifying, there's a huge fan base here and many millions of
:49:36. > :49:41.people listening to this broadcast around the world, so Formula One
:49:41. > :49:46.seems in rude health health. Yes, it's certainly healthy in the
:49:46. > :49:50.United States. There is Massa. And we know that they are going to
:49:50. > :49:56.be doing several laps here just to get the best out of these
:49:56. > :50:03.relatively hard compound tyres. They're on the medium tyres now,
:50:03. > :50:11.the softer option, but it is definitely a hard tyre.
:50:11. > :50:20.There was a multiple winner in the indie 500. Yes, that's Dario, one
:50:20. > :50:26.of the former ratesing boys. It's good to catch up with him.
:50:26. > :50:33.That was a great opening lap by Grosjean. And what is Vettel going
:50:33. > :50:38.to do? Grosjean fastest from Maldonado and Alonso, but no real
:50:38. > :50:45.representative time. Vettel did a 1.35.7. And that's what we're
:50:45. > :50:50.looking at. He's the only one to have done that so far. Steering
:50:50. > :50:55.harder. Yes, he threw the car into that apex. That's reminiscent of
:50:55. > :50:59.how Alonso used to drive when he was winning the championships. He
:50:59. > :51:05.understood how to get the best out of his tyres. He would be so
:51:05. > :51:10.aggressive and use the front tyre to generate friction on the corners
:51:10. > :51:15.and get a big rotation and straiten it up and go. It takes a brave man
:51:15. > :51:22.to drive with that particular style. And clearly they have tonnes of
:51:22. > :51:27.bravery. Grosjean going well, but Webber
:51:27. > :51:34.even quicker. He's running ahead of Grosjean. And looking to beat
:51:34. > :51:38.Grosjean's time. Grosjean went out of the race with
:51:38. > :51:45.contact with Webber last time out and had to sit on the sidelines as
:51:45. > :51:51.the team won. Another mistake. He carried way too much speed on 19.
:51:51. > :51:56.You could hear he couldn't get the throttle open and he's just looking
:51:56. > :52:03.ragged right now. Webber goes fastest. But he had to back off as
:52:03. > :52:09.well to make sure he was in clear traffic. The engine years are --
:52:09. > :52:19.engineers are on the radio to the drivers all the time and we try to
:52:19. > :52:19.
:52:19. > :52:24.listen in. Hamilton goes fastest, 1.36.2. But meanwhile, Vettel is
:52:24. > :52:30.going faster than anyone else through sector one.
:52:30. > :52:36.He has Raikkonen just ahead in the distance, but far enough away, but
:52:36. > :52:40.he might give him a gentle slipstream. That's a great feeling
:52:40. > :52:48.when you have clear air in front of you and you think you're not going
:52:48. > :52:53.to be distracted at all. Turn 12, a tight hairpin. He's already 0.2 of
:52:53. > :52:59.a second quicker than his previous best.
:52:59. > :53:09.Let's watch this. He's on for a 35.5 if he can keep this going.
:53:09. > :53:11.
:53:11. > :53:21.That would be mighty impressive. looks to me like he's two tenths or
:53:21. > :53:22.
:53:22. > :53:28.so faster. Across the line fastest, 1.35.877,
:53:28. > :53:31.not as quick as in qualifying segment two. But he's going on to
:53:31. > :53:37.another lap. Webber crosses the line third. Hamilton currently is
:53:37. > :53:42.second. So it's Vettel, Hamilton, Webber, Grosjean Raikkonen.
:53:43. > :53:48.Schumacher is still up in sixth. Where are the Ferraris? Down in in
:53:48. > :53:52.seventh and ninth at the moment. Has Schumacher made a mistake on
:53:52. > :53:56.turn 19, where we saw a lot of errors in yesterday's practice
:53:56. > :54:06.section. And he messes up the final session as he gets dirt on the
:54:06. > :54:12.
:54:12. > :54:16.tyres as wellment What can Alonso do? He's got to get
:54:16. > :54:22.a decent qualifying position. We know they haven't qualified on the
:54:22. > :54:27.first couple of roads for a lot of events. He had one fourth place
:54:27. > :54:32.start in Korea. Can he do better this time? He's gone wide. Oh, that
:54:32. > :54:41.was a mistake. But he just makes sure he cleans up the tyres. That's
:54:41. > :54:46.what he's doing there. And goes for it again with one minute remaining.
:54:46. > :54:53.Maldonado now. He's just come through the twisty section here.
:54:53. > :54:59.He's slow to full power. Trying to steer through the apex.
:54:59. > :55:04.He's backed out of it. He's not happy with that lap. An update on
:55:04. > :55:10.Alonso. He was eight tenths slower than the fastest, that would be
:55:10. > :55:15.enough to put him in the top four if he can replicate this lap. So we
:55:15. > :55:22.could have a Ferrari on the front couple of rows. Hamilton is going
:55:22. > :55:28.quickly and just set the fastest middle sector of anybody.
:55:28. > :55:34.Hamilton here is fast. Is it enough to take the fastest time away from
:55:34. > :55:40.Vettel? Hamilton crosses the line. He's second by just 51 thousand ths
:55:40. > :55:47.of a second: But he has one more lap. So it's not overweight. The
:55:47. > :55:57.team will be on the radio saying," Well done Lewis, you're fantastic,
:55:57. > :55:58.
:55:59. > :56:04.we love you, but just give us a little bit more!"
:56:04. > :56:08.Alonso, he's not going to improve and that means he will be eighth
:56:08. > :56:15.here. OK, Grosjean has a penalty, so that will push him up one, but
:56:15. > :56:22.it is not good news for Alonso. He is struggling. What is Massa doing
:56:22. > :56:28.behind him? Well, Alonso moved up to seventh, but Vettel has gone -
:56:28. > :56:33.well, he's going even quicker. He's just set a new fastest middle
:56:33. > :56:38.sactor. He has indeed. Hamilton was a full two tenths father than
:56:38. > :56:44.Vettel's lap he's currently on and Hamilton has just matched him. So
:56:44. > :56:49.Lewis Hamilton, if he can get the last sector aced he has a shot at
:56:49. > :56:54.pole position. But Vettel is quicker. Can Hamilton
:56:54. > :56:58.still try and take it away from Vettel in the closing stages?
:56:58. > :57:04.Webber is third fastest. Red Bull first and third. Hamilton still on
:57:04. > :57:08.a God lap. Here is Hamilton. Has he done enough to snatch away pole
:57:08. > :57:14.position from Sebastian Vettel? No, it's not enough. Hamilton will have
:57:14. > :57:20.to settle for second place and Sebastian Vettel hats taken his
:57:20. > :57:27.sixth pole of 2012. It is his 100th Grand Prix this weekend and in the
:57:27. > :57:32.country where he made his debut in Formula One. And he has taken pole
:57:32. > :57:38.position once again as he chases down the title and Alonso has been
:57:38. > :57:46.pushed back to ninth place. Ninth place for Fernando Alonso. It's
:57:46. > :57:56.gone all wrong for Ferrari. And for the second time this year,
:57:56. > :58:02.
:58:02. > :58:08.Alonso has been outplayed by his Well, if they finish the way they
:58:08. > :58:15.have performed today, David, he will be champion tomorrow. Alonso
:58:15. > :58:20.has to finish in the top four and he will be starting ninth.
:58:20. > :58:30.Grosjean has a grid penalty to push him down to ninth, bringing Alonso
:58:30. > :58:39.
:58:39. > :58:49.up to eighth. So let's run through Schumacher, a really surprising
:58:49. > :59:07.
:59:07. > :59:12.12th is Button, of course, who had But it is Sebastian Vettel who has
:59:12. > :59:21.taken pole position here at autsen in Texas.
:59:21. > :59:27.-- Austen. Well, it's not easy to get hold of
:59:27. > :59:34.a Formula One driver here in the USA. Lewis, what do you make of the
:59:35. > :59:41.response here? I haven't seen you in ages. What have you made of it
:59:41. > :59:44.so far this weekend? It's been really school. A great turnout.
:59:44. > :59:49.Fantastic turnout. So many people out there. I don't know if you can
:59:49. > :59:56.see and the track is getting better and better. The more you drive on
:59:56. > :00:01.it, the more you get used to it. I didn't except to get so close to
:00:01. > :00:07.Red Bull. Today I was just way beyond the limit and hoping that it
:00:07. > :00:13.would all hook up together and it did. That was an impressive lap.
:00:13. > :00:19.Can you talk us through this journey? Yes, this is I think on my
:00:19. > :00:25.second protected lap. Yeah, I got a got exit from turn 1. I was already
:00:25. > :00:30.down a bit, but up by half a tenth here. As fast as you can you throw
:00:30. > :00:35.it through those corners. But it's really about being patient through
:00:35. > :00:42.that whole section. And here being patient to get it back on power to
:00:42. > :00:47.be flat out on the straight. And I was up I think 0.15 of a tenth here.
:00:47. > :00:53.Braked a little bit late here but still managed to get the exit. I
:00:53. > :00:58.had a wheel spin on the exit. I tried to slipstream as much as I
:00:58. > :01:04.could from the Force India. By here I was 0.1 of a tenth up and I was
:01:04. > :01:10.thinking, "There will be a good lap." We carried a lot of minimum
:01:10. > :01:15.speed and used every bit of the road as you can see. This bit is
:01:15. > :01:20.tricky because there is no grip. And again here I had a bit of a
:01:20. > :01:26.lock up. Still managed to get a good exit which brought the time
:01:26. > :01:31.back up. Flat out through here and I had an oversteer moment there.
:01:31. > :01:35.And this last part. This corner here is the tricky one, but it was
:01:36. > :01:41.nice and clean. I was quick on the way in and seemed to lose it on the
:01:41. > :01:45.exit. But came across the line in 0.2, something like that. A great
:01:45. > :01:52.feeling and great to put it all together. I can't understand. You
:01:52. > :01:59.said that you would prefer to start third than second, explain that to
:01:59. > :02:06.you? No, I would have rather have started pole. We get that! But here
:02:06. > :02:12.it's so slippery out here. It's the slippiest track we've ever driven
:02:12. > :02:18.on here. The track is getting quicker on the race line, but on
:02:18. > :02:24.the dirt there's no rubber down. This is a race out there now. We've
:02:25. > :02:31.got a few people doing burn outs. But I did a launch on P3 and it was
:02:31. > :02:37.a disaster. So I hope they clean the inside. We'll have our eyes on
:02:37. > :02:42.you at the start of the race. And now that we're in front of a camera.
:02:42. > :02:49.And he broke the news about you going to Mercedes, what will you
:02:49. > :02:54.do? I'll send you an invoice, because I think I got you an extra
:02:54. > :02:59.�5 million on your contract! I know where you live. We'll wait and see
:02:59. > :03:04.what happens tomorrow. Thanks very much for joining us. Happy to be
:03:04. > :03:13.mixing it there with the rebel. Lewis Hamilton starts second in
:03:13. > :03:19.tomorrow's Grand Prix. Sebastian, you've got the front
:03:19. > :03:24.seat for the rollercoaster tomorrow. It's your 100 Grand Prix tomorrow.
:03:24. > :03:30.Yeah, whether it is 100 or 58, it doesn't really matter, but it is
:03:30. > :03:34.good to be in the front. It is good to start from pole and on the clean
:03:34. > :03:39.side. I think the first practice session yesterday morning we all
:03:39. > :03:43.thought you want to be on the clean side, so, yeah, I'm pretty happy
:03:43. > :03:48.about that. But more so I think it was important to really feel the
:03:48. > :03:52.car from the first practice onwards. In qualifying it's always good to
:03:52. > :03:56.get a little bit more out of the car and all in all I think we can
:03:56. > :04:00.be very happy with the result and we're looking forward to tomorrow.
:04:00. > :04:05.I think the car feels great therefore let's see what we can do.
:04:05. > :04:10.Fernando starts on the dirty side in eighth. How much will you be
:04:10. > :04:14.wanting information about what he is up to in the race, or do you
:04:14. > :04:17.just concentrate on winning the race? We are fighting for the
:04:18. > :04:22.championship. We know the situation well. Obviously people like you are
:04:22. > :04:27.so kind and remine us all the time! But I think, you know, it doesn't
:04:27. > :04:33.really matter where he is going to be in the race, as in we have to
:04:33. > :04:37.focus on ourselves. We have to try to get the best possible result and
:04:37. > :04:43.if you only go around thinking about where the other car is I
:04:43. > :04:46.don't think you do your optimum and what we want to achieve is our
:04:46. > :04:50.optimum because that largely enhances our chances of doing well
:04:50. > :04:56.tomorrow and winning the championship this year. So you
:04:56. > :05:00.don't have to be a super brain to get that, to know that if you are
:05:00. > :05:05.ahead it's good and if you're behind it's not so good and
:05:05. > :05:11.probably that's the same for him. He was barely able to contain his
:05:12. > :05:17.grin there. That could not have been better for Vettel or Red Bull
:05:17. > :05:23.that qualifying, could it? It's the perfect scenario frr that team.
:05:23. > :05:26.This is Sebastian's race.Ess's put his stamp on this brand new circuit
:05:26. > :05:32.and he's determined to win the race here. And we've seen races where
:05:32. > :05:37.Vettel has had to work hard to get it on to pole position, but he's
:05:37. > :05:43.dominated every practice session. He was quickest early on, but the
:05:43. > :05:47.car seemed so well suited to this circuit, and not only is he driving
:05:47. > :05:52.well. Yes, the first sector is all about high-speed balance and as the
:05:52. > :05:56.lap goes on you need a different balance and set up and he's
:05:56. > :06:02.understood the tyres and how to use them well. But I wouldn't say that
:06:02. > :06:08.was the perfect qualifying, because his teammate is not alongside him
:06:08. > :06:12.on the grid and he has a real threat from Hamilton. Qualifying,
:06:12. > :06:17.the order has been decided but the points and the important side
:06:17. > :06:22.happens tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if Lewis is a
:06:22. > :06:28.threat. He's already said he would rather be on pole position, but
:06:28. > :06:34.perhaps rather third than second. So Webber could be second? Webber
:06:34. > :06:40.has a history of not making great starts so he could be in fourth or
:06:40. > :06:47.fifth place coming out of turn one. Grosjean has a penalty but we know
:06:47. > :06:54.he's been good at making best of other incidents from other drivers,
:06:54. > :07:04.that's Alonso so he could still come through. Alonso is a long way
:07:04. > :07:04.
:07:04. > :07:10.back, and we'll hear from him first, but now the third qualifier.
:07:10. > :07:15.I imagine you're happy to be third? We're all pretty concerned about
:07:15. > :07:25.the difference of the grip between the left-hand and the right-hand
:07:25. > :07:27.
:07:27. > :07:32.side. It's pretty frustrating, after P 3, but it's probably to my
:07:32. > :07:35.detriment because now I'm on the right-side. But in the end I was a
:07:35. > :07:43.bit surprised how some people are further away. It was not settled
:07:43. > :07:49.until we got to the guts of P3, and different tyres. People on scrub
:07:49. > :07:53.and people on new. And JB, we saw him go out with some issues there.
:07:53. > :07:58.Ultimately I'm happy with third. Not super happy with the gap but we
:07:58. > :08:08.had to manage a little issue in the car which cost us a bit, but not
:08:08. > :08:10.
:08:10. > :08:18.How are you feeling after that qualifying, frustrated you could
:08:18. > :08:22.only manage ninth? Nothing new. I'm not frustrated. We expected to
:08:22. > :08:29.struggle in this qualifying. Nothing has changed in the car so I
:08:29. > :08:34.expected it. You are on the difficult side of the grid. Yes,
:08:34. > :08:41.but we'll see. This is part of the game and we'll try to recover the
:08:41. > :08:46.places tomorrow. At the end of the day what we need is to score 11
:08:46. > :08:52.points more than Sebastian Vettel in the race. He is on pole position
:08:52. > :08:57.and very quick, but he was also quick in Abu Dhabi and on Sunday
:08:57. > :09:03.afternoon, we were three points closer to him, so we'll see where
:09:04. > :09:08.we are tomorrow after non-.But not get the best out of the Ferrari
:09:08. > :09:14.today? Well, his own teammate, who would have thought Massa would be
:09:14. > :09:19.ahead of him. Two races to go, if ever it was important to get a high
:09:19. > :09:23.qualifying position it was here and Alonso hasn't done that. You've
:09:23. > :09:32.been watching Fernando, with a TV camera. This car looks tough to
:09:32. > :09:39.drive, doesn't it? It does. We've seen him wring the neck of this car.
:09:39. > :09:43.We've said it's like a bucking horse. He's just saying let's go,
:09:43. > :09:48.let's see what happens when I commit to the apex, but on this
:09:48. > :09:54.type of circuit he's not able to deliver the lap time.
:09:55. > :09:58.And we saw Red Bull sticking parts on their car to make it quicker and
:09:58. > :10:04.more competitive, whatever Ferrari are doing to improve this car, it's
:10:04. > :10:09.not enough? Well, if you had to take a gamble you would go with
:10:09. > :10:14.Adrian, because he has consistently always been able to find that
:10:14. > :10:19.little extra to make the car go quickly and be able to be a winner
:10:19. > :10:23.at the important time. And Ferrari are floundering somewhat. They give
:10:23. > :10:29.nothing to Alonso. I think he has been very quiet in his anticipation
:10:29. > :10:35.of what the team is able to do. He's managed to drag that car on to
:10:35. > :10:39.podiums for the last few races, is it in his grasp from where he is
:10:39. > :10:45.tomorrow? Certainly. This is a track that is green and there are a
:10:45. > :10:48.lot of corners where drivers could stick their noses in. We're going
:10:48. > :10:52.to see incidents and accidents because people will get an
:10:52. > :10:56.opportunity and dive down the inside, only to find there is all
:10:56. > :11:02.that building dust and everything. He could make his way through, but
:11:02. > :11:08.the crucial thing is he has to score more points than Vettel.
:11:08. > :11:18.is how the grid shapes up for form's Grand Prix. And it's a
:11:18. > :11:18.
:11:18. > :11:59.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 41 seconds
:11:59. > :12:04.familiar face on the front, Sos headlines from qualifying,
:12:04. > :12:10.Eddie, if it finishes the way is starts, the title will be won in
:12:10. > :12:16.Texas and I'm sure the fans would love that to be the case, wouldn't
:12:16. > :12:21.it? Three times champion for velts Vettel. They'd love that. He has -
:12:21. > :12:25.Vettel, they'd love that. He has been dominant in the last three
:12:25. > :12:34.races, I think it can happen. the way the cars have slipped
:12:34. > :12:38.around on this dusty circuit, is that going to be interesting?
:12:38. > :12:42.think it will be interesting because the tyres will pick up the
:12:42. > :12:48.dust and dirt. I think the early laps, especially when they're
:12:48. > :12:53.running fat with fuel will be very entertaining. A couple of weeks ago
:12:53. > :13:00.it was all about watching Sebastian Vettel fighting through the field
:13:00. > :13:05.to keep his championship hopes alive, and now it's Alonso doing
:13:05. > :13:11.that. It's to do with the difference in the cars no matter
:13:11. > :13:17.how talented these drivers are. Sadly for Alonso the Ferrari is
:13:17. > :13:23.just not up to the mark. We have a full two hours of the action from
:13:23. > :13:30.the circuit. The first ever from Texas. So join us tomorrow evening