The Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice 1 Formula 1

Hello and welcome to Brazil and Interlagos. As you can tell, it is

raining here once again. Gary Anderson, no surprise that we get

wet weather whenever we come to Sao Paulo but it will put a problem in

place for Pirelli. It is not the thunderstorm that we always get but

it will present problems. The teams have put in a lot of hard work and

they will want to make sure everything is OK. Pirelli brought

some different tyres here to test. They will want to make sure they

have got the basic tire sorted out. I think Pirelli will be a bit upset.

But they will still do some running, I am sure. Sebastian Vettel stands

on the brink of history, nine race wins in a row. He could do it this

weekend. Michael Schumacher, his record of 13 race wins in one

season. Gary, do we think this weekend we will see another Vettel

domination? He has got nothing to lose. When you have got that

opportunity, you go for it. The car will have a good run here. But the

weather can change the circumstances. You never quite know

the outcome until the chequered flag falls. Let's have a look at the

drivers' championship standings. Kimi Raikkonen is not here. Mark

Webber in his final race when will be hoping to snatch victory from

Sebastian Vettel. The constructors' championship is

now the big one. It is worth $10 million. That is a lot of

development money for next year. It comes out of the prize-money. This

weather again, you never know what will happen. Somebody could move up

quickly and get a $10 million bonus on Sunday night. Tom Clarkson is in

the pit lane for us. It will not be straightforward, will it? No, it is

not and it will be very wet down here in the pit lane. The raindrops

are getting bigger and more frequent. The track is now wet. I

expect to see the cars going out on intermediate tyres and even rain

tyres as the session goes on. This will not be relevant for the weekend

because the forecast for Sunday 's drive. We expect to see the team is

doing as much work as they can for next year's regulations. At Red

Bull, Mark Webber's car has some aerodynamic devices. They are

checking the airflow of the front wheel. I expect to see similar

things up and down the pit lane. With a beautiful view over Sao

Paulo, Ben Edwards and Tony dodgems is in the commentary box for us. It

is the final race of the year and we are looking forward to several

situations being involved. Tony is the author of an annual. It has been

a remarkable season for Red Bull. For the first half of the season it

looked like we had a fight on our hands. Notice was there but now Red

Bull has steam-rollered it. Now we have this conclusion where Sebastian

is trying to do nine wins, Mark I am sure would like to go out with a

win. I do not think he will be giving any favours to Sebastian and

there will not be any coming the other way for sure. It will be

interesting. There is a lot to look forward to, so let's get ready for

this first practice session. Yes, let's get things under way in the

rain. The lights get ready to go out.

Welcome to the final meeting of the year. The final Grand Prix event of

the year, around 19 of the 2013 championship. Here we are at

Interlagos in Brazil at the Autodromo Carlos Pace, named after

the driver who took his one and only victory here in Brazil. It is a

great place to bring the season to its conclusion. Many times we have

seen the Championship wrapped up here, as we did 12 months ago, in

that remarkable race, Sebastian Vettel spinning on the first lap up

after contact with Bruno Senna but winning in sixth place -- finishing

in sixth place and winning the Championship. It is a great circuit,

a wonderful track to drive. Gary Anderson and I walked the track

yesterday to get some familiarity with it. We have been around a few

times in cars or on foot. It is always an interesting place to go

around. It is virtually on three levels. There is a lot of elevation

change. The lowest point is when they come out of turn five and the

highest point is that the start finish line that there is almost a

middle layer where there are the hairpins on the infield where

traction and turning is crucial. Lewis Hamilton is getting ready in

the Mercedes Garrard. He is in third place. There is no chance of

catching Fernando Alonso in second. Hulkenberg is only one point behind

Paul di Resta and we know the Sauber has been running strongly in recent

events. There is a chance for Hulkenberg to get into the top ten

in the Championship. Tony Dodgins is with me. He is the author of the

auto course annual. I am always intrigued to see who gets into the

top ten. It reflects the equipment they have at their disposal as

well. You talked about Nico Hulkenberg. . It will be interesting

to see where he ends up next year. Still no confirmation on where he

will be. It looks like he will be at Force India but no actual

confirmation. He was talking yesterday to the press to say

nothing is signed and sealed as yet but he looks pretty confident that

he will be somewhere. Roman grow Sian was the star of the show last

time -- Roman Grosjean. And Lotus are still in with a shout of chasing

down Ferrari for third in the Championship. Second, third and

fourth are still open between Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus. 10th

place at the moment the longs to Marussia. Cars were bargaining into

their last race as an engine supplier. -- cause worth. Kate are

hoping for a wet race. This man, Mark Webber, going into his last

ever event as a Formula One racing driver. What a brilliant career it

has been for Mark Webber. Never quite stepping onto the top as world

championship. In 2010 he became very close. A team which did not have

success this year which they might have expected last year was the

McLaren team. Tom Clarkson is with Sam Michael. Rain at Interlaken is,

how does it expect -- rain at Interlagos, how does it affect

things? When you run on slick tyres you want to take a lot of

measurements of the profile. After the mechanics instrumented all the

cars to have the equipment on the car, they have had to strip it off.

It is a pain but it is the same for everybody. Will we see much running

from you? We are going out now. At the moment it is intermediate

conditions, not all wet. In terms of what running we decide to do, it

will be wept as well tomorrow. We cannot consume too many tyres. We

have an extra set for today. What about your chances this weekend?

Jenson said he was hoping to get a podium. If we are like this,

anything could happen. It is classic Brazil. It was a win here last

year, it has been a long 12 months for everyone at McLaren, hasn't it?

F1 is a competitive industry. We would not want it any other way. It

is a long time since they have had a podium. They have not even had a

fourth place finish. It is 1966 since they have not had a fourth

place finish. It is not good from McLaren's point of view. Lewis

Hamilton made the jump from McLaren to Mercedes and it has proved to be

right. A year ago nobody would have said that. They would have said, why

is he doing it? There was smart thinking behind that and it has

worked out well for him. He has had one victory so far and some strong

pole positions. Some of your comments are coming in and they have

been coming in during the week. They have been using the hashtag BBC F1.

Some of you have been giving your best and worst moments of the year.

Several of you have said the best moment was Hamilton winning in

Hungary but they said the worst was Lewis's tyre blow out at

Silverstone. Some of you were there watching that. Lewis Hamilton looked

to be in good shape at Silverstone until the tyre went. Yes, he was

leading that event but then Nico Hulkenberg picked that up. That in a

way was a turning point for the whole season I think when Labour

brought the other tyres back and the competitive pit are changed and Red

Bull went from strength to strength. That is a key issue in the whole

year. The change of tyres has been an important issue. It suited some

teams more than others. Nico Rosberg is getting ready to come out. It is

an interesting rivalry which has existed between Nico Rosberg and

Lewis Hamilton. I think there will be a lot of intrigue there because

Hamilton and Ross Berg have been there a similarly matched in terms

of results but going about it in a slightly different way. Hamilton is

further up in the Championship than Nico Rosberg. But he is slightly

ahead in terms of race victories. There is Jenson Button. He is

looking at trying to get a podium finish to finish this season off in

a better way for McLaren. And this is the last I we will see the cars

like this in this format. Completely new rules next year mean the cars

will look very different. They will still be single seater Formula One

cars with all the bits in the same places but they will look very

different. Quite a lot of people are saying they will not look very

attractive. Absolutely. Let's get down to Gary. You are in the pit

lane. Are you seeing anything exciting? Everyone is just getting

ready. We are keeping an eye on the Red Bulls with their measuring

equipment. As Sam Michael said when the tyre profile changes it effects

the airflow. At the end of the day you have to try and analyse that.

The new regulations mean the front wings will change how the airflow

goes around the tyre. Quite a lot of changes as you said, Ben. The lower

chassis and lower nose. I think beauty is in the eye of the

beholder. If you make the chequered flag first the cars suddenly become

very nice. I spoke to one team personnel member yesterday and he

said the first drawings he saw of next year's car, and he's not an

engineer, it gave him a shock as to how the car looked and it was not

very pretty. But the design has been changing a little bit and hopefully

it won't be quite as unattractive as it first appeared. I think we will

see some slightly odd appendages that the front. They have a slightly

revised crash structure at the front. Yes, the crash structure

there has to be a certain area where it is 50 millimetres back at the

side of the nose which is to stop penetration from the side of the

chassis if you get T-bone. That is a noisy Marussia. Less than half the

height of it is now. It is interpreting the regulations which

is the big Rob Lum, trying to see if it will let you do something

different -- big problem. The teams have engineers looking at this. The

big test next year in January will have some strange devices.

Jenson Button making a practice. There, but we have been joined by

the team principal. Good morning, Christian. How are you today? Very

good. Hands going into this weekend, of course, a huge weekend for both

of your drivers. -- plans. Sebastian Vettel trying to match with nine

wins or 13 against Schumacher. How are you dealing with that? It is

going to be exciting because they are both very excited about that. It

is going to be a fascinating weekend. Plus the fact that we have

some interesting weather due over the next couple of days as well.

Yeah, it is going to be very tricky conditions, I think, for everybody,

as we can see from how things have started today. A quick question

because there are reports in a couple of newspapers that Bernie

Ecclestone has been saying you would be his ideal replacement! We going

to see a Jane -- a change of job for you? He is going to be here for a

long time to come. He is in great shape and still doing some great

deals for the sport. My focus is fully on this team and it is for the

foreseeable future. But is it something you would maybe think

about in the future yourself? I can't see how any one individual can

replace Bernie. What he does is quite unique and it will be a very

sad day for the sport when he is no longer here, so, as they say, my

focus is very much on this team and the job I have to do here and what I

want to achieve more in the future. We just have some shots of Mark

Webber. Can you explain to us the big break on his car at the moment?

What it is doing? It is a dynamic advice measuring airflow around the

car and it is an opportunity to have a look at how some of the airflow

works. So he will be doing some laps with it as we gather data. And as we

start looking towards next year as well. You think you will get a

chance to run the prototype ready tyre this morning? Or will it be too

wet for that? -- Pirelli tyre. Yes, too wet for that. Hopefully we will

catch up with you later. Thank you for that. One of the Friday and

develop and drivers for Formula One here and one of several. We have

Rodolfo Gonzalez for Marussia and another driver for Toro Rosso. But

talking of Friday drivers, we have been joined by Alexander Rossi, who

did the Friday morning session for Caterham. That looked like a great

opportunity and must have been fabulous to drive in front of your

home crowd? Yes. Obviously quite special to be able to drive it home.

The last time I had driven a Formula One car was in the States so to

comeback was very special to me and something I will remember for a long

time. A great opportunity. Different crash helmet for Felipe Massa,

celebrating his last Grand Prix with Ferrari. A very significant time for

Felipe Massa. He has done this remarkable career, really, with that

team from 2006 right through to now. And he has gone very well here in

Brazil. He said yesterday one of his finest ever moments was his first

victory here in Brazil in 2006. He went on to win it again in 2008, of

course, and that was the one where he won the race and thought he was

world champion for a few seconds but then Lewis Hamilton did just enough

on the last lap to snatch the title away from Massa. It is where his

racing career began and he comes from this city, so both Webber and

Massa, many thoughts going through their heads this weekend. They are

at the other end of their careers from where you are, Alex. You are

still trying to break through the door, but, let's not forget, Massa

will be continuing with Williams. Yes. It is quite amazing to look

back at their careers and see what they have been able to accomplish.

He brings such an excellent attitude to the sport. Gary, what have you

got for us? I am just looking at the rate behind the front wheel. It is

to measure the airflow around the car. There is also a luminous paint

which allows us to see the airflow on the surface of the car, but this

measures the airflow away from the surface. It is full of little holes

and basically you measure the velocity of the air going through

the holes and you can measure the direction of the egg going through

the holes. These are tiny. Only about no .2 to the millimetre, and

if they get locked with a drop of water, it changes everything. -- 0.2

millimetres. But they have got the kit on the car and what we are

looking at is making sure the kit works for when they do get some dry

weather to put on the tyre. Is that significant because they are hoping

to run the prototype tyre and get the characteristics of it? Yes,

because you want to compare everything. It is a fairly elaborate

piece of kit and what they do is a run with the current tyre on the

card and then another run with the new tyre on the car at some point in

time. Hopefully we will get something today. Then they can

analyse how the tyre has changed that airflow. But it is not just

about going down a straight line. You have to go around corners,

around hairpins, and this is an ideal track. There are a lot of

slow, high steering corners, but you need to do it back to back with

those two dry weather tyres. Everybody has been out for an

installation lap and come straight back in after the cars have been

rebuilt from the preceding Grand Prix and that is Felipe Massa's are

just being brought in. We were just watching Mark Webber in the pits. We

caught up with him yesterday in the discussions drivers or would have

with the media on a Thursday. He talked to was a bit about the

satisfaction he has had from his career in Formula One.

If you look at the whole career, the longevity is something I am

obviously proud of. Beasley some big victories along the way, which were

good. You always want more and that is human nature. Would you trade in

some wins for a championship? Of course. But you are measured on what

you had and it at the time and I've believe... I have done what I can

do. And with where I come from and how I approached it. And then just a

lot of it was sheer determination and hard work and obviously a bit of

talent thrown in there may be. But a good career and I'm proud of it.

When you arrive here, you obviously arrive bright eyed and bushy tailed.

You have your goal, your dream, everything you think of every day.

I'd think about every day any more. That is natural and that happens. --

I do not think. Obviously you see some politics and you think, OK,

that is surprise in, that is different. And the more exposure you

get as you go up the grid and the more successful, I suppose, the

teams are that you drive for, you accept that. And you keep performing

and doing your thing and go with it. That was Mark Webber speaking

yesterday. The elder statesman of Formula One. 37 years old and

retiring after this race. His team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, is

moving into the pit lane. And there are some slightly different

dynamics going on on the back of that car? Yes. The rear of the car

is just as important because you have to understand what is happening

behind the car because that is what is making the whole car work. This

elaborate piece of kit, again, doing the same job, measuring that airflow

coming out of the diffuser and around the outside of the rear tyre,

and the more of this data you can get, the more you can develop the

car. And obviously for next year, lots of changes in lots of areas.

Exhaust pipes, for example, cannot come out of the same area of the

car. So this is the sort of preparation that makes red all the

team it is. Yes, they have won the championships. Sebastian Vettel

still wants to win this race and get that new record but at the moment,

everything today is based on getting knowledge for next year. Sebastian

Vettel with yet another new crash helmet design. This one celebrating

the return of the Austrian Grand Prix next year. So, some various

scenes of Austria on his crash helmet! It is a reintroduction, if

you like. We also have a new crack on the calendar in Russia. Plenty to

look forward to. And Felipe Massa, yes, the last time we will see him

like this but slightly different overalls for Felipe as he gets ready

for this last event for the great team. And before switching to

Williams, which will be very interesting to see how he gets on

there. The line-up, Bottas himself putting in that great performance at

the USA Grand Prix, scoring points for the first time and Williams has

struggled for pace, no doubt about it, in the season. A close-up

there. 11 wins, 15 pole positions that he has all had with Ferrari.

Yeah! I wonder if he will become a fashion model after this! A very

relaxed atmosphere down in the Ferrari pit, isn't it? It is nice to

see that. Massa has this nice record that he has had 11 wins, 12 second

places and 13 thirds. All very neat and tidy in terms of his podium

finishes over the years. I wonder if there is any chance of him getting

another one here to finish in Brazil. Di Resta will be sitting

this one out waiting to see what happens and James will be getting

another run. He has had several practices already this year. There

is Paul Di Resta, just watching from the sidelines at the moment. When

you're doing the Friday practice session, how much technical stuff

for the team is there that you have to do? That was one of the

Israelis, I think, Rosberg running a bit wide. -- one of the Mercedes.

You come to the weekend having an idea of what the car is going to do

and the conditions are going to be like but you have no idea till you

get out onto the track, so you do a lot of correlation... Let's just see

what Rosberg is doing here. Then you can tell me. Just went in a bit

quick. Yeah. Busy trying to find the brake in turn number one. A big, big

area of one up on the outside and a circuit that has evolved over the

years. It was first used in its revised form in the early 90s. The

original track dates way back, almost to the Second World War time,

actually, when it was built, but it wasn't used until the early 70s but

it was in a slightly different format. It was swept around the

outside and had some dauntingly fast corners, but this section, for

example, was or was part of that track so it is nice the track has

retained part of its original nature. And that's what the most

important corner? -- and that was? Yeah. You often forget about Sao

Paulo a cause that is the last race in the -- because it is the last

race in the calendar. You have some drivers who are winning to push the

boundaries but it is also amazing how short the lap is. It is amazing

how quickly you can get around them. In the wet at the moment we are

doing 125. Daniel Ricciardo is not in the practice, so he can talk to

Tom Clarkson. We are not here to talk about cricket. Cannot make that

clear? Whatever you say! How frustrating is it not being in the

car? Yeah, I didn't realise how frustrating it is. I'd thought it

would be quite nice to have the morning off but I'm already very

bored! So I would definitely prefer to be out in the car! What can you

tell us about this man? He seemed to do good job last weekend? His raw

speed is very good. I'd think he has showed that over the last few years.

And he is just maturing pretty much every week, so that is still on his

side but he has deftly got the speed. Last week he put out on a new

trap and performed ready well, so pretty excited to see how he goes

next year. Your last year at Toro Rosso. How do you sum up how it has

gone? It is fair to say it has been a bit up and down. We would have

liked a bit more overall consistency, and when I'd say that,

I mean point-scoring, I guess. I have definitely grown with a lot of

the people around me. So it is always nice to be at the end of the

season. It is a bit of a relief to have a bit of a break now. I'm a

little bit sad as well. Obviously very excited for Red Bull. But sad

for a few of the guys who are leaving. The next Grand Prix you go

to will be your home race and you will be at Red Bull Racing. Does

that fill you with horror? Horror?! Pretty much the opposite of that. I

am sure there are going to be lots of eyes on me and all the rest of

it. But I am just going to go out there and have fun. Hopefully take

it to the front lines. We have just seen the Liz Hamilton spin out on

track. How difficult is it in these wet conditions? -- Lewis Hamilton?

Last year was one of the most difficult Grand Prix is ever because

the changes can be hard. But it is fun at the same time. Now there is

not that much standing water. I think for the intermediate, it is

quite slippery conditions. So, yeah. We will see how we go this

afternoon. The final question, are you confident you can get points

this weekend? Iowa's try to be confident. The reality is, we

haven't had a very fast race the last few races. -- by always. Maybe

these conditions can always give us a bit of hope but in any case I'm

going to try to drive drive it as hard as I can. Good luck with that

and have a great last race for the team. so, we have seen Lewis

Hamilton have his half spin. It was a very graceful half spin, wasn't

it? We saw Rosberg going wide earlier. I think we are set up to

have an interesting weekend. We are watching Esteban Gutierrez in the

Sauber. Tony, they took a real jump in form around Japan time. Let's

look at what Perez is doing. He looks like he made a mistake. He did

some cadence braking but he got onto the run-off. He was able to use that

quite effectively. Gutierrez had good performances around the

Japanese Grand Prix but blotted his copybook little bit in the USA? Yes,

little bit. He had a baptism is on fire. The rear end did not work. On

top of that, he was against Hulkenberg in a tightly packed

midfield. He found himself out in Q1 quite often. That was tough for him.

But he has grown in confidence since they got the car right. He had a

decent chassis underneath him. He had a great drive in Suzuka where

they scored points. Hopefully, he will go from strength to strength.

There are more drivers than there are seats. That is right. This

driver is secure for next year, he is in at Toro Rossos next season.

Alexander, this will be his first opportunity to drive a Formula One

car in the wet. Actually, he is in a similar situation. The first time I

drove one was in practice in Montreal. I had never driven on an

intermediate or a wet tyre before. The one thing that is going through

your mind is this is not your race car. You do not want to do anything

which will hurt the team's progress on the weekend and you do not want

to do anything to make the other driver cross with you. I've found by

self driving at 80, 85%, just doing the laps and doing the correlation

work for the team. At the end of the day, in situations like this, you do

not go for a lap time, you just tried to do the conservative option

and that is the best thing. It is probably not the time to play the

hero. Having said that, he has done a representative time. Let's listen.

Really struggling to get the tyres working now. We have deceived the

circuit is getting wetter. It is a common refrain from Jenson Button

trying to get heat in the tyres. He is one of the most sensitive drivers

out there and he does struggle to get heat in the tyres. But if he

does get them switched on, particularly in mixed conditions, he

is dynamite. He was race when here last year in wet conditions. Quite a

lot of cars on track. Normally we get a quieter period where they are

all sitting in the pit lane but it is not happening this time. We get

to see a lot of action on circuit. Jean-Eric Vergne who set out the

Austin practice gets to do the session this morning. Jean-Eric

Vergne has not scored any points since the Canadian Grand Prix. That

was a long time ago. The race that you did seems a long time ago. He

has not been able to score points since then. Daniel Ricciardo has

been more consistent on points. In qualifying he has had the edge over

Jean-Eric Vergne. Nico Hulkenberg has had a good second half to the

season. Difficult with the Sauber. It did not come together with them

at the beginning of the year. The changes they have made have really

worked. Hulkenberg love this place. He had pole position in 2010 and he

led 30 laps here last year. He is very strong here. Interesting

talking about Hulkenberg. There was a rumour went Kimi stopped for the

last two races that he might drive a Lotus for the last two races.

Contractual issues aside, I thought to myself, go and try and put your

six frame in a guy which has been driven -- in a car which has been

driven by a shorter guy all year. Even if the entity 's head that he

has decided that Sauber is the place to be, because it is a good car

now... Guess, it has been consecutively good. He goes fifth

fastest at the moment. Just a quick reminder on Kimi Raikkonen, it is

hey Keiko the line in who gets his second go at locus this weekend. It

turns out to be debris in the break dust which caused him to come into

the pits at Austin. They had to remove the debris and change the

front section of the win but overall the team are happy -- change the

front section of the wing. I think he did a decent job. Earlier in the

season a rip-off strip got into a duct with Kimi and lead to

overheating brakes. Alexander Rossi is with us. He is from Caterham.

There is a bit of traffic around with Hamilton trying to get past

Giedo van der Garde. Tell me about the atmosphere in the team this

weekend. This is our final shot, if you will to be gained ten. We were

in this position last year . We have had the edge this year but they were

able to sneak in the results. We have been struggling to get 13th

position. This race, as we have seen, and over the past four or five

years, it is where everything happens. As much as there is tension

and hope that goes along with getting that 13th position that we

need to get back to 10th in the constructors, there is also a bit of

excitement. We have shown that we can make the right decisions and it

is about being there at the end to fight. This is the rival team,

Rudolf O Gonzales who is the Friday driver for Marussia. I remember

talking about this situation. He said when they had Timo Glock in the

car who was buried good in the wet, he said they spent all season

praying for rain and did not get it. Gary, if you were running either

Caterham on Marussia this weekend, how would you approach this weekend.

Would you approach it differently to a normal race weekend? The first

thing I would not do is have a third driver in the car on Friday. I can

only assume they are doing that because they are getting paid to do

it. That will compromise his positions the shore. You can only do

that best thing possible but you hope they would focus better on the

race. The difference between 20th or 21st does not really matter. You

need to make sure you are in as good shape as possible. Then the drivers

need to keep their car on the road so they need to get confidence on

this circuit. If you do all of that right then you cannot do any more.

They are in 10th position. It is up to cater to catch them. What

Marussia do not want to do is make it easy for them. -- cater room.

They do need a lot of retirements. Pat Fry watching from the Ferrari

pit wall. We watch the leap to Massa continue round in a Ferrari. He will

no doubt have the support of the crowd here this weekend as he comes

to the end of his career with the team. At the moment it is bass boat

faster from Hamilton. The Mercedes seemed to be running very well. --

Rosberg. I was wondering if we would have the 180 degree panning camera

and it is back on Felipe Massa's R. -- Felipe Massa's car. Huge ocean

for Felipe Massa this weekend. It is his final ride for Ferrari. Earlier,

he spoke to Tom about some of his emotions this weekend. It will be

very emotional for the moment. Very happy to be here for the last race

with Ferrari, after a long time together with Ferrari. Really

looking forward to this event and trying to do the best we can on this

track. We will have even more emotion at the end. I am really

looking forward and try to do the best I can for this last race. To

finish this fantastic moment together with Ferrari which is an

incredible team which will always be part of my heart. Are you ready to

move on to a new team? Yes, always happy and I will be refreshed for

the future and looking forward to that. Felipe Massa speaking

yesterday. He is looking ahead to a new career at Williams. We are

watching Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus. You have worked with him a

lot, Alexander will stop both of you have done Friday practice sessions

with Caterham. Did you get a chance to catch up with him after Austin?

Briefly I spoke to Catherine, his other half. She said he was so

pleased to see a target lap time of the front guys and try and compete

with them. We all know that he is talented. He is a race winner. He

definitely deserves to be towards the front of the grid. That is a

great opportunity for him. Personally, I think he did a good

job. You look at what he did in qualifying and everything, he was

quite impressive seeing as he had never seen the car before. It will

be interesting to see if he keeps the continuity this weekend. From a

team boss's view, what would you want to see from Heikki Kovalainen

this weekend in his second outing followed his? It is difficult.

Obviously, they want to get points in the constructors' championship.

He did everything right up to the race will start you just have to go

with it and try and make sure that you end up getting the best out of

it you can. I think pressure to be on the rostrum sometimes is too

high. Just do the best job you can do. If that gets you on the podium,

then fine. Just going back to Jenson Button when he talked about lost

temperature from the tyres, it is there easy to do. You lose the

temperature in the wet and it is difficult to bring back temperature

back again. Much more difficult than it would be in the drive. They have

just in changing the mechanical setup of the car. They have changed

the front torsion bar and the ride height. You can see the mechanics is

putting a bit of tape on that. That is the pull rod which operates the

suspension. If you let that it will have a lower ride height and if you

sure to let the car will ride up from the ground little bit. They

have also been doing work on the rear of the car. When Jenson came in

I had a look at the front tyres and they have been working quite well.

He is still third fastest. The tyres have to work but the problems are

when he went further, lost the temperature and then could not get

back into it. You're talking about in wet conditions, tyre temperature

is still ultra important. The temperature on the track will be

around 50 to 55 Celsius. If you are down at 30 you have no grip

whatsoever. It is like driving on ice. One of Jenson's problems is to

keep the tyre temperature up. The track temperature at the moment is

20 degrees, the temperature is just 19. We were in the 30s yesterday. It

was a warned day at Interlagos yesterday that it is much cooler.

Mercedes is looking good at the moment in the wet with Jenson Button

and Sergio Perez third and fourth. We were talking about him earlier.

Looking at those times there, as we are just riding with Fernando

Alonso, taking it fairly steady at the moment, looking in his mirrors a

bit, just having a look around to see whether he is going to get a bit

of clear space at this stage. Very gentle from Fernando at the moment.

But looking at those times, K2 in these conditions certainly seem to

have the edge over Marussia. Is this the early days but in the wet, the

downforce is going to play a big role. It is going to give you that

bit of grip. That is something that we do have by quite a bit over

Marussia where they -- but where they might have something over us is

on the sides. Let's just watched... Fantastic! A wheel spin, a bit of

sideways through the Curva Do Sol and then it was lovely to see that

bit of corrective driving. There is no arguing that in any conditions

you put, he is going to be able to extract the most out of the car. He

has never won here but he has won the championship on two occasions at

this truck, so it is not as if it has been a bad circuit for him by

any means. -- track. But when he has been fighting for championships, he

is very conscious of what he needs that day and it was not necessarily

a victory. That would have been an amazing end to the season. If there

is a bit of a damp track, they might be a chance for Ferrari to come back

a bit but they simply have not had a car that has been fast enough to

consistently challenge red ball through the course of the season.

And it has not even been the second fastest car. You have Mercedes and

you could argue the Lotus has been a bit quicker. Looking at your

figures, Gary, the Lotus has been a faster car, so he has done pretty

well to wrap up second in the championship. Yes. He always gets

everything that is on the table and I think they have a pretty good

start. He had two wins the first five races but over a season, if you

look at the way Lotus has used the tyres, probably a better race car.

So, Gary, where did it all go wrong for Ferrari because they couldn't

seem to get it right in the latter part after their two wins early in

the year? At the beginning of the season, the car was quick but the

stuff they brought to the car didn't make it go faster. They have been

trying the same stuff every weekend so they weren't getting those

developments and big steps, the development stages. They weren't

finding those two or three tenths of a second. And that gets very

confusing. It gets confusing for the guys back at the factory trying to,

you know, set a developing direction if you are getting to the track and

things don't work. So at the end of the season, there was a lot of head

scratching. James will be able to give them that bit of momentum, to

be honest, because sometimes you need to believe in yourself. You

cannot disbelieve that these things should work. I'd think Ferrari just

played around a bit too much this year. It certainly has gone from

this point of view. They have the chance of possibly second in the

championship but Mercedes do seem to have an edge over those 15 points.

Watching Sutil, who is always something of a master in these

conditions. It doesn't change anything. He is 12. And a bit of

luck for the Russian driver in the Toro Rosso. I should imagine the

team might be saying, let's keep that car in one peace. They don't

want him to risk it. At, nevertheless, that is impressive. He

is definitely showing what he is capable of and I think every time

you get any opportunity to drive in that car, you are kind of under a

spotlight and you need to show you are able to do it. As long as the

rest of the 15 minute session goes well for him. He has to keep it on

the island. Just explain to us of the slightly different racing lines

in the wet, because you can certainly see he is doing that. The

racing line is when you put -- try to keep as much speed as you can but

in the wet it doesn't mix with the racing line very well because a lot

of the rubber and oil on the track gets under way. So you try to find a

way around the racing line, which might sound a bit counterintuitive,

but where the last bit of rubber is is where the opportunity is. You try

and stay away from where you would normally run and stay away from the

curves and try to find grip. And in as many places as you can. This is

on board with Grosjean. He is in a twisty section. A bit sideways, a

bit sideways, and then he got it back. He broke online and try to

turn in online and then the wheel wouldn't take. It then took him to

wear the abrasiveness is and then the car hooked up again. So as the

track dries, that can work. But you see it in very wet conditions and

you kind of follow the white line on the outside of the track and that is

where the most grip is. Sometimes the difficulty can be in the

crossover. You are using these wide lines. And with Bottas here, using a

wide line in places. How do you determine when to get back on the

racing line? That can be tricky. You have to cross it at some point and

you have to make sure that when you do, the wheel is as straight as

possible. If you try to put lateral and longitudinal load in in these

conditions and ask too much, you are just going to have a slide. It is

normally easy to correct from but the more you slide, you are just

losing momentum. This is a tricky section in the wet because it is

flat-out easy in the dry but we have seen some big accidents up there in

the past. And in fact, we had a crash this time last year going up

that hill. Yeah. And you don't think about those normally so when you get

to them in the wet, you don't think about them. Vettel is out on six.

Mac that was well spotted! That is a bit of a surprise. Having a good

look around, seeing what the grip level is, and he has got the error

rate on the back of the car, so a bit of interesting... Seems way too

early for that. It does. Airy, I don't know if you have had a chance

to catch up with any of the prototype tyres for Pirelli. --

Gary. What other markings? I spoke to Paul yesterday about it and it is

a stage of development. It is a slightly different construction and

different detail of how the tread goes on to the tyre. And, as I'd

say, I think Sebastian Vettel was a bit early. He has gone into the

pits. I don't think he is trying to do a lap time on it because it is

starting to rain quite heavily. He has that error rate on the back, so

rather than knocking, go out and do something and run with a set of the

current tyres and then the development tyres and find out the

differences. So just having a look to see. But I wouldn't be surprised

if I saw him sliding because it is very slippery. Hamilton just want to

work out what it is like out on the slips. Jenson Button made a good

tyre strategy here by staying on the slicks longer. Longer than other

people as well, and it was part of the reason he came through to win.

We just saw Hamilton a moment ago. He had an incident with Hulkenberg.

But a good strategy from Button and Hulkenberg to stay on the slicks for

longer. Do you think Sebastian Vettel is just doing a bit of

research into that whole thing? To be honest, I don't see how that

could benefit them. They have been here last year and they know what it

is like. The team has all the data from that. What they can learn from

this is a bit strange. The only thing is, Gary was saying how the

development tyre, how the egg goes over it compare to the current tyre,

-- the air. But to be honest, I don't know what they are trying to

do. Tom, you are down at Mercedes. I am. Nico Rosberg went out earlier in

the session, did two quick lets, -- lapse, came back and they have not

touched it. Lewis Hamilton on the other side of the garage. He is out

of the car but they have increased the amount of cooling with the front

brake ducts, and he is not happy with the balance. Quite noisy! He

has complained about some snap oversteer and why he -- while he is

out of the car, they have been looking at some worrying blooms in

the cockpit, but all quiet and calm on Rosberg's side of the barrage. In

other races where he has gone very well, he has all started the weekend

well. It is almost as if he needs that Humperdinck 's boost of

starting strongly and then he carries that through with him for

the rest of the weekend. -- that confidence boost. They will restrict

a bit of running here today and get an extra set of intermediates having

to use them in this session but, as Michael told us earlier, they will

be a bit wary of getting through to many sets of intermediates. This

being Brazil, you never know when you are going to need them. He gets

his final session of the year here and still very hopeful he will step

up to Formula One. I think it is unlikely he will get a race seat

next year but he will still have an opportunity to do a further year as

a developer and driver and then look at opportunities beyond that.

Currently 18th fastest. Just keeping an eye on things, as is Paul Di

Resta, looking as though he would much rather be out in the car than

standing in the pit, but that is just the way it is this weekend.

Currently 18th fastest. Interestingly, neither Mark Webber

nor Sebastian Vettel have set a time. We have seen Webber go out on

those slicks but he hasn't set a Finnish time or start time on them.

And Vettel. So we don't have a lap time from either of them at this

point. The top ten, the two Mercedes, then McLaren. Alonso is up

to fourth. Grosjean is just outside the top

ten, currently on that time. The times are all reasonably similar.

Still no confirmation as to where Pastor Maldonado is going to be next

year. Tony, still this sort of freeze in the driver market at the

moment. It will also put down, most of it, fairly quickly after this

race, but we know he is leaving Williams but we don't know for sure

where he is going. Yes, it is quite a strange situation. Letters were

giving out this message that, you know, we're also talking to Pastor

Maldonado, along with Hulkenberg. And you just wondered if Pastor was

thinking, well, I am second-best, if you like, in that equation, and I

don't really like that. So also talking to Sauber. He will obviously

be somewhere but it is a question, I think of the situation with the

Lotus financial position and the investment and whether that will

happen. Still waiting to hear the Lotus get that investment that they

would so desperately like to have to move forward and know exactly where

they stand for next year. Interestingly, Vettel has gone out

on the medium compound tyre but it is the prototype, so no marking on

the side. So they are trying to get Akuila error readings but is that

relevant in terms of the conditions? -- get back-to-back. As a driver, it

has got to be very difficult. I don't know. I'll bet he is

definitely not loving this. RADIO: Straight engage, please. I

guess they have the information but this is the time when he would

prefer maybe a reserve or development tyre. Because that seems

quite stressful and annoying, I think. Gary, do you think they will

have been able to learn a bit about airflow? You were saying earlier all

those tubes will be blocked up with water anyway? Yes, it is a lost

cause trying to do anything now. As far as the tyre pressure is

concerned, I'm sure they put it up to the correct pressure but it would

be running on the track if it was hot. But trying to make it move on

the rim, as such, that is when you want to measure. It doesn't matter

what is happening too much coming down the street. It is when you are

on the mid-corner when the tyre is distorted, and that is when you want

to know what the characteristics are like. But if they are not going to

get any running on it, they might as well do something. Thank you for

your questions and comments coming through. Just using that hashed --

hash tag #bbcf1. Of course, he is setting new records all the time.

The worst moments were Vettel being jeered and booed. We did not like to

hear that at all. Another saying, my favourite moment of the season has

to be Hamilton's win in Hungary. But David saying, the tyre rule

destroyed competition. Red Bull have walked it easily since then. Another

person said their favourite podium would be first Aussie Grit, that

would be Mark Webber. We have a question which has come in from

Callum and we can throw this to Alexander, what do we think about

Caterham considering Marcus Ericsson next year? Marcus Ericsson has been

racing against you in GP to this year. He has been racing in GP to

for several years. -- GP two. We understand he is one of several

drivers which cater are considering. What are your thoughts? To be

honest, the first I heard of that was on BBC news last night. I have

no idea. It looks a bit worse to us, people are struggling to go faster.

That was equal to the fastest car out there which is Grosjean. Lap

times are not as quick as they were earlier because the track conditions

are worse than when Hamilton and Rosberg set their pace earlier. He

is one of the drivers under consideration. It is clear that

Heikki Kovalainen is still being talked to at Caterham. It seems like

a big pool of drivers. Hopefully yourself included? The seats are

filling up. Hopefully the remaining drivers will go to the few seats

which have not been talked about which is the two at Caterham and the

one at Marussia. There are semi-factors that go into it. I have

no idea. And yourself, you are still up in the air at the moment? Again,

the answer is the same as it has been. I don't know. I guess we have

to wait and see. The focus is so much onto this weekend. There is a

lot of pressure on the team and the management and the engineers to pull

something out. We will know more after the weekend. I think the whole

paddock is in the same frame of mind. Talking to the senior drivers

yesterday, Adrian Sutil was saying even though he had a contract, he

added that sometimes in September, it is October and then mid-November.

We went to speak to Paul di Resta and he said he has never been so in

the dark. It is a regrettable situation for these guys. Very

nervous. It is so late. Sergio Perez was put back into the market in

mid-November with a lot of money on him. In terms of running a team, for

your employees, don't forget the big teams have 500 employees, for your

people you need to tell them at some point who is going to be driving for

you? In fact, before we go to Gary, let's go to one of those drivers who

is in that sit duration and hoping to sign up again former Russia, Max

Chilton. Max, not describe your mood right now? It has been an important

weekend for us. It would be nice to go and experience the rain. I have

never driven here. I think we all know that rain will play the part in

the weekend. It was an interesting call from the team not put you in

the car. Why was that? You have to support the young drivers. I was in

that position last year. I did not get a run in the last race weekend.

There are plenty of other people missing the first session here today

so I have got to make sure I take as much practice as I can. What are the

drivers saying over the radio about the track conditions? They are OK.

At least they are consistent. They are struggling with balance but I am

sure everyone else's. Just a word on the whole weekend, such a massive

weekend for Marussia. Is everybody feeling relaxed? Yes, the way you

have to treat it is like a normal race weekend. It has obviously got a

bit of added pressure because we are in this position at the same time as

last year. We lost with five laps to go. I just pray it will be a dry

race on Sunday. Good luck. Thank you. Last it was bitterly Petrov who

grabbed the important issue with five laps to go -- bitterly Petrov.

-- Vitaly Petrov. You need to give your team something to look at for

the following year. Izzy Nibley, from that point of view they need to

start announcing drivers? Yes, they do. Next year we are talking about

the complication of all this stuff and the electronics which will be

around the car. You have to find places to put all that stuff. You

need the driver and you practice with all the wiring. Lewis Hamilton

was getting out of the car and they were adjusting wiring. These cars

are full of wires and they are all packed around the driver and in the

cop that area. From a team point of view and a design point of view you

need to know the driver pretty soon because if you suddenly get a tall

guy you have a big problem if you have allocated boxes where he needs

to sit. It is pretty irresponsible for the management of the team not

have a big plan. The plan is doing next year as best you can and that

means getting the drivers in place as early as possible. Hopefully soon

we will begin to know a bit more about some of those teams. Mark

Webber is in the pit lane at the moment in his garage waiting to come

back out. There is very little activity on circuit at the moment.

There are five cars on track and 17 cars in the Garrard being worked on

at the moment. It has been quite tricky in terms of conditions.

Just crossing the line there is Esteban Gutierrez. Gonzalez is on

track as well. It is still pretty slippery out there. The track itself

has quite a lot of drainage channels and grooves cut into it. You can

pick them up on camera in a few places. That is to help with the

drainage. Gary, when we were walking round yesterday, the elevation

change means you have areas where is it does rain hard, the water will

pour off the hillside, went it? You cannot stop that. There are slots in

the track, 50 millimetres apart all round the track, areas for the water

to run. Because of the elevation change you will always get a river

somewhere going across the track. That is what catches you out. If you

can get consistent grip levels all the way through the track it is

pretty good. I was talking to Lewis Hamilton early on. We saw Alonso as

well and you get caught out and end up on the grass. The other bits of

the track have a lot of grass. When you have lots of things buried in

the grasslands is muddy, you have to be altered careful.

The intermediate tyre will be past its best now. It is fairly quiet on

track. Some dry ice on the Red Bull. Some extra cooling, presumably.

Sebastian Vettel had a brilliant victory last time out. His eighth

consecutive race win. Going for more records this weekend. We caught up

with Sebastian yesterday and asked him about his celebrations and

looking for more records. It was quite a good night we had on

Sunday. Let's leave it there. Monday I was in worse shape than on Sunday.

But, yes, obviously it was a great Sunday afternoon and very special.

It is not what keeps me going but equally, it means a lot when you

start to realise these things. I think generally this year has been

incredible in this regard. I'm looking forward to the winter break.

You have to calm down and let all the things sink in. Before he goes

into the winter break he has the chance to match the record of nine

consecutive wins. But that was done over two seasons and he is looking

to achieve it in one season. Who knows what will happen this weekend?

Tony, it has been a record-breaking season by Sebastian Vettel. Do you

see that continuing next year? None of us can tell because of the new

rules but Red Bull, at the end of the day, is the top team. It is a

good question and I was talking to Christian Horner about that. Ken is

Melbourne next year, what are your chances, do you think? And he threw

his arms up and said, who knows? He said the chances of finishing

Melbourne next year is 50-50 and it probably is for everyone else on the

grid. It shows you that reliability is a big factor. Gary, you are at

Sauber. Jenson Button could not get tyre temperature. One thing which

contributes to that is the brakes. In the wet you cannot break as late.

If you look at Nico Hulkenberg's are you can see the front brake duct and

that is all tape on it. Normally that would be a whole for the dry

but for the wet you have to take it up. The brakes do not work as

efficiently few do not get the heat into them. They do not work until

about 300 degrees and then they come in with a bang. You want keep the

temperature up as much as possible. The temperature helps to warm the

tie-up. You're getting better braking in the wet and keeping the

front tyre temperature. It is a very important part of treating the cars

for the conditions. Gutierrez is doing a number of laps there. He has

done 20 laps so far. I think that is the most of everybody. Rosberg did

that early on. Barton has done 14 but has not been in the car in a

little while. Dashmack Jenson Button. Thank you for your comments

using the hashtag #bbcf1. Paul said the best thing about 2013 was

Grosjean showing the world what I knew he could do on track. The worst

was the ongoing money issues at Lotus. It sounds like Paul is a

Lotus fan. It has been an up-and-down season. A couple of

questions coming in. There is one I would like to ask you, Alexander,

because you have had some experience with the simulator, what will next

year's cars be like to drive? It will be very interesting. Until you

get the car out on track you do not know. The one thing we are missing

is the tyre model. That will be a massive determining factor in the

performance of the car and the characteristics of it. Generally,

the driving style will be different. We have not had turbo-charged

engines for three decades. It will be something that none of the

drivers will have had experience of in the past. While the technology

was quite good, the turbo lag will not be massive. It still will be

that little bit. I think because none of us have driven turbo engines

it will be a wake-up call. To explain exactly what it is going to

be like is impossible because we do not know what the tyres will be

like. I think it will take a bit of adaptation and a slightly different

approach in terms of how we work with the power application. That

question came from Motorsport pit. I can tell you that we will be doing

some coverage on the rules coverage. Do tune in for our coverage across

the weekend. Philip is asking what would we pick as our favourite Mark

Webber moment of his Formula One career? That is a good question.

Tony, does anything spring to mind for you? Yes, for me it is his

Monaco 2010 win. It was a fantastic drive. There were a number of safety

cars, he controlled the race and he did it from pole position. It is

exactly the kind of race a driver likes to win. That is a very good

point. For me in some ways, it has always been his performances at

Silverstone. He won here last year and in fact, that was his last

victory as well. There was the other victory when he said not bad for a

number two driver. His relationship for Silverstone has been tremendous.

I remember commentating on a 4,003,000 race in the wet. He always

loved that circuit -- formula 3000 race. Yes, he is quick and possibly

quicker than Vettel. He has been to places like Barcelona, Silverstone,

and he is tremendous. A lot of the technique stuff where he doesn't

match Sebastian Vettel and then blowing exhausts and that sort of

thing. But he loves it. Once this rain has stopped, we don't expect

any more rain, so there is a chance it will be improving from now on.

That is good to hear! And your thoughts on Williams? Yes. They have

rarely had a good drive and got some points, and just to show the sort of

combinations that the teams bring, if you look at the front wing on

this car, it is a recovery or revival of last year's front wing

assembly. That twisted section. That was all last year's car. And they

went away from that at the beginning of the year. But if you look at that

thick under section, just under the nose, it is trying to get the front

downforce to get good airflow to the back of the car. And if we go down

to these other noses down here, there is quite a selection of them.

The interesting one for me is the one at the top. You can see here

there is a difference in how this front wing works. This is the area

where it is so critical because it is right at the front of the front

tyre. The consistency of downforce to get is quite critical. But you

can also see this section of the win, it is also different as well.

So a thicker nose profile and the one below has a very thin nose

profile. This one has this in here. So a huge combination of different

parts all with slightly different characteristics, but still going

back to last year's nose and front wing. It is quite interesting, that,

because we talked earlier about Ferrari and they are trying to go

forward, but for Williams to go forward, they have had to go back a

bit. So an interesting combination of bits. Can you show us how much

narrower the front wing will be? Well, 75 millimetres, so in old

money, that is three inches. It makes it very critical because at

the moment, this is as wide as the front tyre. So you can turn this

airflow around that centre without any problem. When that wing comes in

75 millimetres narrower, it will have a much larger effect,

especially when the car has steering lock, because, as I was saying

earlier, they go down the straight OK, these racing cars, but when you

have the steering lock on, that is when you need the car to have good

aerodynamics and balance. Thank you for that. Fascinating stuff. And we

are looking at Sebastian Vettel there, as he is presumably going to

be coming out on track. He has done five laps out and in. Testing out

different things, running the other tyre. Webber has established a lap

time in this session but obviously the track not as quick as it was

when Rosberg did his lap earlier. His intermediate tyres are quite

fresh, of course, because he has already done a run until now, so

when Vettel goes out, he has nice fresh intermediates to use. Yes. It

makes a big difference. It behaves like a slick in that the

intermediate does wear when it gets Twitter and pitcher and starts to

wear quite quickly. -- when it gets to a temperature. When you have the

full wet, as long as the conditions stay wet, he can use it for the full

race if he needs to, but you would expect Mark and Sebastian Vettel to

be able to go quite quickly. This may well be Ross Brawn's final Grand

Prix as well. We don't know whether he will be around in any role in

Formula One. This gets lost in all the other things going on. Tom, what

have you got for us? The good news for us is that the rain has pretty

much stopped in the pit lane. McLaren are thinking it will dry out

because both Jenson's cars have been got ready to get out. Red Bull want

to join in. They don't think the track will dry completely because

there is only 20 minutes of the session to go, but they think it

will be dry enough to get some meaningful data for next season.

This is a good shot because it does show that hill through the first

corner. Gary and I walked down there yesterday and it is almost like a

refresher when you go out there to see how steep it is. You don't often

get that kind of impression. It is a massive surprise how much elevation

there is here. In 2008, when I was racing, it was quite impressive how

steep it is the speed you can carry through one and two. It is why when

everybody comes here they are reminded what a great track it is.

Amazing how how much -- how much elevation it has. That huge hill up

to turn number one, it is characteristic of the circuit, but

it also makes it quite interesting. It does. It is corners like this

where drivers have to adapt their style a bit, whereas is every -- if

every corner is the same... When it is different, you kind of have to

adapt it for each corner, which is another thing that separates the

drivers and makes the very good ones stand out. We did not get to ask you

what your favourite Webber moment was? His first win for a whole. It

was quite special. -- for Red Bull. I think he had a drive through and

it was all kind of going against him. He was still able to pull it

out and then to win a race like that was quite special. I agree. That was

astonishing. And his first ever victory as well, Tony? Yes. And if

you are talking about moments, what about when he passed Fernando

Alonso? Yes. That requires a bit of bravery. It just goes to show you

Mark is a great driver. He has been a bit overshadowed by Sebastien.

Sarah Baxter has said, she agrees with you, Germany 2009 will be my

favourite Webber Drive. A first win is always special. Tom, what is your

favourite memory? I have lots but I was there in febrile re-2009 when he

tested for the first time after his leg raking shunt the previous

November. -- February 2009. Back then, it was only ten weeks after

the accident and he was still walking on crutches and he made the

decision he didn't want to walk across the paddock with crutches

because he thought it would look too stupid. So just to watch him

hobbling from the motorhome over to the car, climbing and do 82 laps on

a leg that was still so freshly broken was very, very special. Think

it was the defining moment of his career, that late-breaking shunt.

Everybody had been wanting to get a fast car, David Coulthard had

retired at the end of the year and thought he was going to be the

number one driver and then, bang, you broke that leg. It all changed

after that. -- he broke. And that was a cycling accident, not a motor

accident, of course. I'd think we will see a bit of a chat with him

from you this weekend? -- I. Yes. I actually flew to Melbourne with him

in 2002 when he made his debut and went on to finish fifth. Just a huge

victory for him. And of course here we are in Melbourne this weekend and

we are going to catch up with him on race morning and get his thoughts.

So tune in, join us. That will be on Sunday at 3pm, so I hope you can

join us for that. Another saying, my favourite Webber moment is him

scoring points on his home race at his debut. Just to remind you,

Alonso and Webber both drove former Nardi. They both had exactly the

same number of Grand Prix is entered in their career. Even those Alonso

Mr year. But he started the year earlier and then set out as a test

driver for Renault, they have started out with exactly the same

number of grant breeze. -- Alonso missed a year. -- same number of

Grand Prix. Yes, it gotten started. And he is very satisfied with the

career he has had but I am sure he would have loved the championship.

It was very close in 09. And then in ten as well. Do you have a special

Mark Webber moment, Gary? My thing really is his honesty. All the way

through his career. When he won Silverstone at the end of the race,

he said, not bad for a number two. And I think you expressed his

opinion. That is the honesty of Mark Webber and that is what we will miss

most. Yes, certainly from a journalist's point of view I have to

agree with that, because if you ever wanted a straight down the middle,

no-nonsense quote comic he was your guy. We will miss that. Some more of

your comments coming in. Thank you very much. Liam saying, the worst

moment for him in 2013 was seeing Paul Di Resta lose third in Bahrain.

And the best moment, seeing Kimi win. And the young Russian there you

are seeing, who is now driving at Toro Rosso, or, well, doing the

practice, we will be hearing from him later in practice session number

two. I hope you can join us for that to hear how he got on. That was Nico

Rosberg a moment ago having to use a bit more than planned. Yes. That is

the unfortunate thing about these tracks. You can make smaller

mistakes. -- fortunate thing. But you can get away with them. It keeps

things safer. We saw Grosjean go off that corner, Mergulho, last year. It

is still a practice session and you do want to kind of be able to find

elements so that when you go into qualifying in the all-important

race, you kind of know what to expect and what you can get away

with. A couple of more comments from you. Dean says, the worst was

Malaysia. We all know what that was. Vettel snatching victory. Down the

insight into the hairpin. The best thing this season has been the

dominance of Vettel and the worst thing is Jenson without a podium. By

no lots of you listening big McLaren fans and it has been a tough year

for you. -- I know that lots of you. And another says, his favourite

moment was Bottas getting points. The worst, Red Bull's procession to

the title again, says John. And Jenny says, best moment, Howden's

first win with Mercedes. -- Hamilton's first. Hamilton has had

one win so far this year. Rosberg also taking victories for the team

and it has been a huge jump. But where they were last year, you know,

Michael Schumacher, along with the co-Rothberg, that combination,

struggling and then suddenly they are qualifying up front all the

time. -- Nico Rosberg. But it has been a great season from them.

Absolutely. You have to look at it slightly in historical context. We

have the double diffuser thing which gave them that fantastic start to

the year but then they had to cut the budget. Mercedes then came in

and bought it later. But for the next year, they made something like

40% staff cuts. And it was takes time to come through. And if you

look at the position in the championships, it tends to translate

the following year. Last year they had got that going backwards, they

were worse in 2011 than 2010, worse in 2012 than 11 end points. They

went from a wind tunnel, recruited a lot of personnel. And then, that was

all put in place last year and it has come through this year. We have

seen the benefits of that and I think one season they were scoring

seven points race and this year it has been 19 points race. A massive,

massive jump. Harry, you have seen a lot of changes. A bit frustrated

that things didn't move on but they do seem to have made that big-league

this year? Yes, they have made a big leap. Speaking to some of the guys I

know they did not expect them to be quite as competitive. The car is

good at lap times but they have a problem with big points in the

Championship. They are still lagging behind Red Bull as far as that

performance is concerned. They brought out a lot of high-end

technical staff. No matter what you are doing in a racing car, egos do

come into it. Getting all those people to work together is quite

tough. Ross has done a great job of putting it all together. The thought

of Ross not being there next year, that is quite sad. They have debt

the numbers. We are seeing Sebastian Vettel who has gone fifth fastest in

this session. Reasonable lap times, Alexander, being produced. It does

look as if track conditions may be better for some improvement in times

in the last few minutes. Whether McLaren will get what they want to

run a prototype car, I'm not that sure. It shows what a good lap that

was from Nick Coad the start of the session. The track was drier than it

was then -- Niccolo. I do not know if it is to do with the track

entering that stage where it is getting a bit greasy. Even though

there is less water on the track you have less grip. Vettel has gone

quicker than he had done. He has done one of the biggest improvements

we have seen. He goes third fastest. Rosberg and Hamilton still first and

second. That is James Colorado. He is 18. I was speaking to him this

morning and he said Force India have to be careful because of engine

mileage. He was a bit sceptical about whether he would even be able

to drive this weekend. I think that was Darren Heath that we had a quick

look trough, one of the famous F1 snappers getting more for the

collection. We have 12 cars on track at this stage. We have another 90

minute session to go later on today. We will see if the track dries up a

little bit for that one. Maldonado is 17th quickest. The two Williams

cars are similar in terms of place. There is Claire Williams, deputy

team principal. And good to see that Sir Frank is here this weekend. What

did you think of Valterri Bottas out in Austin? I was hoping that we

would get another 2012 situation. It looked in qualifying bit about Terry

had the pace. He said after the session that he made a couple of

mistakes. For a young driver to see another young driver being able to

compete in another car that is not that competitive gives you hope

about what you are doing. I think everyone was very happy for him.

Gary, where are we with tyre choice? Each driver gets three sets of wet

tyres and four sets of intermediates. If you use one of the

sets of intermediates on the Friday practice you get a set to place it

-- replace it. Nico Rosberg, he had fresh tyres which are much, much

better. They have more grip. They cut their way through the water. I

think they are slower now because everyone will have stayed on the

same set of intermediate tyres and they have lost that edge. The

service is very abrasive. I think that is why the Times now now not so

representative. That is making sense. Vettel is moving up the order

of bit. I do not think anyone else's leaping up the order. Mark Webber is

currently six. Daniil Kvyat's time from early on is holding up well.

That is a good performance from the Russian. He will go into his first

full season in 2014. He is finishing off a sort of apprenticeship this

year. A couple more of your comments coming in, the best and worst

moments of the 2013 Formula One season. Shannon said the best thing

was Sebastian celebrating winning the Championship with the Indian

fans with the doughnuts and the worst was being penalised for it. He

seems to have learnt a way to do doughnuts and not be penalised for

it so he has learned that. There is Maldonado. The part of the track

where Vettel was facing the wrong way. Gutierrez ran off the track.

Then he sorted it all out. That looked like a different incident. I

think it was the same one. Definitely a bit of a moment there.

A couple more of your best and worst moments. Daniel said the best one

had to be Fernando's two wins in China and Spain. That did not go

quite right. That was a good carting technique. He was struggling a

little bit on that lap. Mark Webber comes across the line. Tom, you have

got a comment about McLaren. Yes. They have been watching the lap

times very closely. We are still 15 seconds of a competitive drive

time. They had these drive prototype tyres. They had deemed it is still

too wet for dry tyres. It is a shame they have not had that chance. I

suppose it was worth trying to aim for it at least. A couple more of

your comments from Mark Webber. A good one from James Thomas. He said,

who could forget Mark's spectacular 360 a born Philip in Valencia in

2010? It was not quite three and 60 in the air, he went up and crashed

down. That was one of the most frightening looking accidents. It

was not the flight and the coming down, it was the contact with the

barrier that took the wind out of his sails. Those scary moments, you

do not know where that will end up. It was not the first time for Mark.

He did it twice in a Mercedes sports car. He is going back there with a

Porsche and he said he wants to do it on the ground this time. That was

in 1999 at the mum and I was commentating on that race. He has

had his shunts, no doubt about it. Mark Assad 's unspectacular

accidents. Steve says his favourite Webber moment had to be in Hungary

in 2010 when he had older tyres and went on to win. Another one was in

2007 in the wet when it was his second podium for Red Bull. Some

great performances from Mark Webber over the years. Let's see what

Sebastian Vettel has been doing. That is where Kimi Raikkonen went

off last year. He did not take to the escape road and then have to do

3-point turn at the top of the hill but he did run onto the grass which

we have not seen Sebastian Vettel do too often this year. Paul Green said

his best moment of 2013 was having Gary Anderson on the BBC. There we

go! Thank you for your comments. We will be back later on and I hope you

will be joining us again and bringing more of your favourite

moments from this season and your worst moments as well. We look

forward to continuing that later. Let's wrap up what has been going on

here. It has been a damp first practice session here in Brazil in

the Interlagos circuit for the final Grand Prix event of the year. Felipe

Massa is looking to finish as Ferrari career with his special

crash helmet design. His 11th fastest. The times are indicative I

suppose. Rosberg and Hamilton showing great pace in the Mercedes.

The chequered flag is now out so those times will stand as the

fastest of this session. Vettel did not do any laps early on. He was the

only one to go out on slick tyres at all in this session. A slightly odd

strategy by Red Bull but they wanted to experiment with the slick tyres.

He was the only one who went out on slicks. He went out on the hard tyre

and he also went out on the prototype tyre. He set the third

fastest time on intermediate tyres. Barton said his time was comfortable

in the McLaren. Alonso will end the session with the fifth fastest time.

Mark Webber sixth fastest again. Late before he decided that a lap

in. Sergio Perez, seventh fastest. It is his last race for McLaren. We

are still waiting to find out where he will be going. Daniil Kvyat did a

good job. He was eighth fastest. Heikki Kovalainen, ninth fastest and

Nico Hulkenberg ten fastest. Then Massa, Gutierrez 12. Grosjean 30th

but not as often do not show their former Friday. Jean-Eric Vergne 14th

and Adrian Sutil 15. Then the two Williams cars of Valterri Bottas and

Pastor Maldonado. Then behind then we saw James Calado but he did not

get many laps. It is the end of the season and all of the teams are on

the limit of all the mileage they are allowed to do on the engines.

Van der Garde was the fastest of the young teams drivers. He was a

fraction faster than Charles Pic in the other Caterham. Then Jules

Yankee. That was Valterri Bottas going off. It was exactly the same

place as Sebastian Vettel went off. The final time today was set by

Rodolfo Gonzalez, the test driver for Marussia. He stood in for Max

Chilton in this session but Max Chilton will be out later on for the

second free practice session. It has been entertaining. Thank you for

your involvement as well. My thanks to Tony Dodgins for joining us and

to Alexander Rossi for joining us. Best of luck for your plans next

year. Free practice has seen a Mercedes one, , too. Let's get back

to the paddock. So, Gary, what have we learned from

that session? Every team tried to run on the intermediate tyre. I

think at the end they will do better times. Right at the beginning, the

two Mercedes cars going out there and doing the times that they did,

it looks like Mercedes might have a good weekend. The weather is just

starting to dry up as well. Can we expect to see the Pirelli tyres come

out in the session -- second session? I think we will see dry

running in the second session. Some of the teams have a lot of data

analysis stuff on the car but they have taken that. They could be

putting that back on. It is confusing for everybody but we will

get something at the end of the day. Fingers crossed. Make sure you join

us just before four o'clock on BBC Two or if you are watching the

repeat it will be in a couple of moments time. From Brazil for now,

goodbye.