The Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice 2 Formula 1

Hello and welcome back to a very soggy Brazil. In is Interlagos, the

rain is pouring down. It did stop briefly in between the practice

session, it was lovely. Practise session about to resume. It is

raining heavier. It is heavy. The way the tyre rules work, each drive

gets two seats of each. If yous you set on the Friday it gets replaced.

They will be reluctant to use any other set. With the rain you will

see some of the cars going out of wet tyre, the weather tomorrow it's

a bit of the same. But it changes quickly. The Mercedes with the

fastest cars in first practise session, they look like they could

show something this weekend, and try and help them in the Constructors

Championship. Let us look at the drivers standings, because we know

Vettel has scored his fourth world Drivers' Championship, and last time

out, Fernando Alonso secured second place, but the battle for third is

fairly fierce. Hamilton six points ahead of Mark Webber. Kimi Raikkonen

out of the batting. Do you think that Mark Webber on his last weekend

in Formula One could sneak ahead of Hamilton? There is every chance. I

am sure the Red Bull will be good. Webber is quick, he wants to go out

with the win. The interesting thing is Fernando Alonso, he said after

the last race, that he had won the non-Red Bull Championship, he thinks

that the Red Bull is a special car. In the Constructors Championship the

battle very much alive after. Lotus not out of it completely. They are

18 points behind. It is important this weekend, Gary, that both

drivers perform for their teams. You need two drivers scoring points for

the constructor, this is a big part of the Championship there is 10

million dollars per position. If you can nick one of those positions and

be $10 million ripper that is a lot of money for next year. And Felipe

Massa in his last race for Ferrari, here on his home circuit the fan

also go crazy for him It is. He has been accepted well by the

Brazilianian fan, Ayrton Senna was the man but Felipe Massa has filled

that space in, you know, it will be sad to see him here, in Brazil. He

will be trying hard. Ben Edwards and Tony are in the commentary box,

drier than us, what is the outlook? We have the best seats in the house.

Looking from the back of the Grandstand to the pits. We will see

a little wet weather running. Things aren't working too well for Pirelli.

? Sno. I had a hard time last year and they hope this year will be

better but the elements haven't helped So the prototype tyre is not

going to get any running at all, they are hoping to get a test in

before Christmas at Bahrain, so it maybe that will give them the

chance, but it hasn't been an ideal day for preparation for all of the

teams. It so so hard to believe the weather, we know Brazil is like

this, this is the first real wet weekend we have had in ages. We

haven't had a lot of wet weekends this season, so it will be

interesting to see, some cars do come to the front when it gets wet,

so interesting to see how that, the outcome of that. All will be

revealed over the next one-and-a-half hours and Ben and

Tony are standing by to talk us through commentary of F B2. -- FP 2.

Red Bull Racing, congratulations to them. It is good to see the support

for all the teams. Ferrari will have a lot of support with Felipe Massa

looking to finish his time with Ferrari in style. Nico Hulkenberg

waiting to ironed out where he will be racing next year. He said it is

the passion of the fans here, he loves the vibrancy of the place. It

has suited him for some reason, he got the pole position in the

Williams which came out of nowhere, it was a session deck Tayed by

weather and the the the same sorry -- story when he led so much last

year. It was wet for much of the race. It was as It was as you say a

mixed condition session when he put it on the pole, it was a fabulous

opportunity lap. He had a race in a car that obviously in the dry wasn't

going to be competitive like it had been in qualifying, and they needed

points. Speaking to Tom McCulloch, his everyone engineer that day who

is at Sauber now, he said he had instructions to get out of the last

corner, protect his position and he said he did brilliant to keep cube

ter behind him. I think that thought that was a fantastic drive. He has

done it numerous times. Fernando Alonso reck lining in the

back of the -- reck Kleining in the Ferrari garage. He has a record of

seven podiums without a victory, that is the most podiums for any of

the drivers to have had at a circuit without having had a win at that

particular track, but he has won the title here a couples couple of time,

he has lost it as well, to Sebastian Vettel, he ended up losing by three

point, he lost out in the 2007, when he Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton all

arrived with the chance of winning the Championship but it didn't come

together and Kimi nicked it. That time he was 17 points with two to go

and he came and Felipe paid his part in that, helped him out. Yes,

absolutely. Let him have the victory, that could

have been three wins for him. He had three pole positions, but as you

say, he gave up his position to Raikkonen. And I suppose, that is

part and parcel of why Felipe has been such a strong player at

Ferrari. Absolutely. That is tremendously appreciated. If you

think of the following year, one of the most impressive things I have

seen is the way he handled the disappointment of not winning that

title against Lewis Hamilton. He thought for 20 seconds he was the

World Champion, and if you imagine, you know, the gut wrenching

disappointment, and the way he handled himself, in the post race

press conference, magnanimity he showed, you know, towards Lewis, I

thought he was just one of the best pieces of sportsmanship I have seen.

The way he was on the podium. Brilliant. There is Brands Hatch.

Never managed to -- ruebs Barrichello. Probably the most

disappointing one and you can hear the reception she is getting. 2003,

he passed David Coulthard for the lead of the race and ran out of fuel

of all things and he was so out of luck, he, he had some good

performances in very rows different cars, in the brawn, but he never had

the opportunity to actually win the race. Felipe Massa getting a few

photographs together with his crew. That is lovely to see. And the

special crash helmet colour scheme. I know Tom Clarkson was talking to

de la Rosa and what he told Tom was he is so honest, he is very

straight. He will say whether it is his fault or something wrong with

the car or if he doesn't agree with what somebody has done, he is

straightforward, and he says he thinks Williams will appreciate when

he goes to Williams next year. If there is one environment where that

will be appreciated as much as anywhere that is Williams. Nobody

likes drivers making excuses and what have you and honesty is

something they adore. It is good to see. We have plenty of fans hoping

to see some cars on circuit. You wonder at the moment, because the

rain is coming down heavily, so the track is open, but there is no

activity on circuit right now, and it doesn't look like anybody is

getting close, so we are getting the family pictures. It is like a

wedding! We are getting the family photographs. Felipe Massa in the

back of the garage. Yeah, a real festive atmosphere down there at

Ferrari. We were asking you for your best moments and worst moments of in

season. Thank you for replying to us.

I will read out a few more. We were asking you for your favourite

memories of Mark Webber. How ability a few favourry memories of Felipe

Massa at Ferrari? What do you remember about Felipe's career at

Ferrari that you can tell us about. We will try and broadcast a few as

we go through the course of the programme.

Get in touch with us and give us some of your best memories of Felipe

Massa at Ferrari. He started his career at Sauber in Formula One, but

he is coming to the end of nearly 140 Grand Prix with the Ferrari

team. Fantastic performance from him. Max Chilton is about to go out

on track. Let us go down to the pits.

Pat, your title chief technical officer, you have really just joined

the team, how is it going? Pretty well. A couple of months in now, had

a good chance to look at things, look at the very many good things we

have, but you know, we haven't had the results this year, and we need

to improve our, you know, in a lot of areas to get those result,

particularly next year. In Austin you got some points. Third fastest

in the race. A to good run from Valtteri Bottas. Everyone got the

fast laps towards the end. And the way he defended against Rosberg and

pulled away from him, it was very pleasing to see that, and I think it

shows we got the car working better, it was able to use its tyres better

and yes, it is starting to come together. So for next year, a

National Lottery of changes in the car and the power unit, how is that

facing up? Well, it keeps you awake at night, that is for sure, with the

amount there is to do. You know, I honestly think in 30 odd years I

have been in Formula One it is the biggest change. It is significantly

different aerodynamically. It is different in the Powertrain. There

is just a lot to do. But it is coming on. You changed to Mercedes

engines, how is that relationship building? Very good.

I mean Renault are a very professional outfit and so are

Mercedes, we need to sort of learn the language a bit, because everyone

talks in a slightly different way about things, and of course, as I

was saying earlier, because the power train is so different, we have

new things to learn about. But a lot of respect for Mercedes doing a

great job, and yes, I think it will be a very good engine. The engines

have been round for a long time, so they are all pretty equal, do you

see next year Mercedes maybe getting it right and Renault and Ferrari

struggling, or do you think everybody will get the same sort of

level? They are all professional, that is a diplomatic answer. I am

sure they will get it right. Yes, it is different. In so many fundamental

way, we have been so used to, with racing engines putting in as much

air as we can and then it is easy to put the fuel in. Now we are limited

on fuel. Different for the engine designers and different for us as

teams in how we utilise the engine. With so much more complication,

reliability could be an issue? Yes, these day, they are very

sophisticated and by the time a car gets on the track at the end of

January, they will have done many race simulation, but yeah, again, so

many new things to think about. Turbo chargers and the large

electric motors and things like that, new things we need to

understand. Do you look at this change in regulations as an

opportunity for William tots get back to the front? Because

everything is changed so much. That must be an opening for you to get

back to the front and compete with the big teams? Yes, whether that is

a philosophical thing or detail, there is no secret we have struggled

with the exhaust, and among the many regulation changes next year, there

is effectively rules that make it impossible to have that type of

exhaust, so I think things like that can help us, but really it will come

down to have we got the ability to exploit things properly. It was

quite a late change to us, to go to Mercedes, so, you know, we are

perhaps a bit behind things on that, but I am confident. All right.

Thanks for your time and good luck for the rest of the weekend.

Great to hear from Pat Symonds about the Williams team as they look

forward to next year with the power plant. This is of course the end of

the V 8 era we are watching as we see Heikki Kovalainen about do a

practise start at the end of the pit lane, sneaking his way past the

barriers. Then the systems helping him to launch himself off the line.

The actual corners are not too bad. But on the straights, there is a lot

of water. It is not ideal. You are having to

limit yourself down the straight. Max Chilton talking. The first two

lapse. I will quickly remind you of what happened this morning. It was

not quite as wet. The only driver that went out on something other

than a wet tyre was Sebastien Dettol. He had a slick. He had a

hard compound tyre. It was a Mercedes one, two. Fernando Alonso

was fifth fastest. A very impressive performance from the Russian

driver. He was eighth fastest in the free practice. Ninth was high kick

over line on. We're watching him now. -- Heikki Kovalainen.

I thought it was nice to just listen to the end of the V8 era. How

different will it sound when we get to the 2014 season? Going back to

the fact he was changing up dear, what happens with these cars, Lotus

has a good example of this system you need to get the throttle open to

get the exhaust system to give it a rear downforce full if you lifted

you get less we downforce. That is the last thing you want to do. -- a

rear downforce. If you lift it, you get less rear downforce. These

engines are V8. They really are fantastic. Next year it is a 1600 cc

engine. The RPM will be less so the noise will not be there. The

turbocharger will take away the noise. That was a turbine which

spins the turbine up to speed. There is another turbine which is putting

the call and fresh air into the engine to give its power. When you

do that, it acts like a silencer. You are taking energy from the

exhaust pipe and doing something with it. Energy come straight out of

the exhaust pipe. I think it will still sound pretty good. I think it

will. It will still be Formula One will stop this is not a shabby

performance. It is quite a reasonable lap, given the

conditions. These slower cars were doing 128, 130. It is much wetter

than it was. Take a look at this! Down in the paddock, a bit of work

going on in front of Mark Webber 's barrage. They have a gully in front

of the car. They have been trying to sort out how to try to drain the

galley because it is in the way and causing a problem. -- the gulley.

The Red Bull team is trying to work out how to get rid of the standing

water. This is the last race weekend in Formula One. We will try to grab

him in a few minutes time. I wonder if they will shout for that, take

the rough edges off and get it absolutely perfect. He completes

another lap - Heikki Kovalainen. A little bit faster than his previous

lap. He is the only car on track, is he? It looks as though we will see

more cars taking to the track. This is Jules Bianchi. It is the end of

the Colts worth era. What a famous name it is! -- Cosworth. Let's run

through your comments about the highs and lows the season. You can

tweet us. The drivers market being, constantly dominated by paid

drivers. Alex saying, my best moment was the win by Kim. My low moment

was the reaction of Vettel. Hamilton stopped at the wrong pits in the

lazier. He did not get that right. It is raining heavily. -- in

Malaysia will stop conditions are getting worse. The best moment where

the Silverstone blow outs. The worst moment was that he rarely had to

change the tyre compounds. The worst moment was the bad luck of Mark

Webber and retirement. I'd best moment was proposing to my fiancee

while in Canada while watching the Canadian grand prix. That is his

special F1 moment. Watching Jules Bianchi. He has done a pretty good

job so far this year. A lot of people say he has been one of the

most impressive rookies. It is hard to tell. Right from the first moment

he got into the car, he was very quick. Speaking to Max Chilton, he

regards him as a decent yardstick. You have to look at what he has done

and not many drivers could have done a better job with that car. The team

they are battling with four tenths in the championship are seriously

impressed with Jules Bianchi. Within Caterham, they have looked at his

performances and seen he is delivering performances that the car

does not always warrant full that is always the sign of a good driver.

Marussia did make a step this year. They planned to get on with what

they had and concentrate on 2014. For the small teams, it is difficult

to cope with the changes while developing the current car. Marussia

made the step and they thought, we have got to do more development on

this car. That threw them a bit. They started looking at the

performances that Jules Bianchi was getting. It is tight. One 13th place

for Caterham would be enough for them to reclaim the spot. Jenson

Button does not look as though he is getting ready to do anything at the

moment. He is sitting out and watching the session. Only one car

on track at the moment which is Jules Bianchi. Max Chilton is also

back in. There is Romain Grosjean. He is one of the stars of the last

time out in the USA. He got second place in Canada last season. What a

turnaround! The team saw elements of Romain Grosjean in Monaco which were

just as worrying as they had seen last year. Since then he turned it

down completely. That is one of the feel-good stories. When he came in

2009, he put it a couple of tenths away. I thought, that was a good

effort. It was totally the wrong time. They were in a bit of mayhem.

They did not really have their eyes on who was in the second half. He

did not get to keep that. Then he had the problem last year when he

was named the first lap and he admitted that psychologically that

was hard to get over and be aggressive on first lap again when

he was in danger of being blamed for everything that was going on. He has

done well coming out from that and he is one of the standout guys. This

is impressive! You can see his reactions. He is working this doing

well and getting it turned in. As the front end grips, he is trying to

get the power down. Watch him! Sideways, mid-corner. He picks up

the throttle. That sounded pretty flat. It is a

tricky corner onto the straight. Easily that in the drive. -- the

dry. The Cosworth will not be around next season. Great driving by Jules

Bianchi. Let's get back down to the pits and we have Romain Grosjean.

Man of the moment. Congratulations! Where does this run of consistency

with podiums come from? I knew I was capable. It is a good series. We

have a good car, a good team. It is not a secret. That is what we are

trying to achieve every weekend. How good did it feel with beating one of

the Red Bulls in Austen? I said, come on, we need to get second. It

was a very strong race. A good defence on Mark will stop we did

manage to keep him behind, which was nice. He has been one of your

biggest critics. He was a bit harsh on you. You have made up, have you?

This year, it was not easy on me but I was the first one to be happy with

myself. It was nice to do that. It is always nice to get good comments

from others. He has a lot of experience in Formula One and I

tried to do my best every weekend. How important has seeing a

psychologist been to you? It has made a huge difference. I knew I was

capable of winning the title because I did it in the past with Formula

One. This is why we have to be better. That would be the dream. It

is every day and every session that has been different. A lot of doubt

about next year for Lotus. Will you be back here? Nothing has been

confirmed but I can do better. We are riding on board the Red Bull of

Mark Webber. Joining us from the pitfall is the team principal. Thank

you for joining us. The conditions are not what you wanted.

So hopefully we will get a glimpse of you on the pit wall. What are

your latest forecasts for the weekend, in terms of qualifying and

the race? Qualifying looks a bit like the earlier session today, so

not quite as heavy rain. Sunday is moving round, it depends which

forecast you are looking at, some are saying heavy rain and sub

dieding, so Sunday is far harder to predict. This is Mark's final ever

Grand Prix, with you or any team, you had, I think you had a get

together, in town the other day, how did that go? Yes, the team had an

evening out with Mark and the car crew and the engineers and so on and

Sebastien went along, they had a great eening, and, you know, it --

evening and it is Mark last's Grand Prix weekend and it is important for

him and the team he has a strong day. We have been asking the

audience, they have been tweeting with some of the highlights of Mark

Webber's career, driving for you, at Red Bull. What for you what really

stands out in your mind as one of the great moments of Mark? Without a

doubt his first victory in Nurburgring was great for him. It

was great to see him win that against adversity. He made contact

with Barrichello and got a drive through, despite that went on to

dominate the race and win his first Grand Prix. The elation he had in

the car with his Harry met Sally moment, on the team radio, it was

great to see, great for him, and great for the team.

And what are you going to miss about not having him in the team? He is a

straight talking individual, it has made a big contribution the

development of the car, his feedback is hugely valuable. He has a very

good understanding of what is going on round him, with the experience he

has, he is going to be missed next year.

One file question is Daniil Kvyat is joining Toro Rosso. He won that

Championship, he is a very talented young man, he has got great car

control, he is massively brave, and I think, you know, he has a bright

future ahead of him. He is very young. He will be a bit green but it

was the right decision to give him the chance.

Right. We are going to be speaking to him. So thank you very much. And

we will get it from the horse's mouth.

So on track at the moment, indeed Daniil Kvyat was listening to that,

as Christian was talking about your prospects, lovely have you with us.

Well done the morning, that was a really good effort this morning, you

ended up with the eighth fastest time. First time in a Formula One

car in the wet, how was it? It was very nice. First time, in the wet

conditions with the Formula One car, yeah, I think I got on quite well.

Got quite confident with the car, from lap two or three I would say I

got a long run, pushing on. My best lap was lap 38 which I am pleased

about. When you are stepping up from something like a GP 3 car to a

Formula One the biggest difference is the amount of horsepower, the

ability to spin the rear wheel up, the acceleration of the car, is that

not daunting in the wet? You are right. It requires a lot of lot

toing control, for sure it was a bit difficult in the beginning today,

but yeah, you make lap time on the braking, a lot on the car's speed so

it a combination of factors which you have to put together, to have a

good lap time, so today I got a good feel for it. It helps me to finish

the session in a good position. You did very well. Congratulations to

that. We are introducing you to a whole new audience, you wrapped up

the GP Championship, well done for that, congratulations, you are going

to be stepping up to the big game, Formula One, you are confirmed at

testosterone, you will be driving along -- as Toro Rosso. You are 19

at the moment. So you will be again one of the youngest we have seen in

formula one, tell me how your racing start, you don't come from a motor

sporting background, wasn't something about going off for a

pizza, that is how it began? Yes it started, no-one in my family was

involved in racing so far, so, yeah, just carting, carting first then

some carting in Russia. You saw a rental track one day Yes, wanted to

try. Gave it a try and it went quite well. Enjoyed making the corners,

the speed, all together, just, just really, really loved it straight

way, then kept going. How old were you when you first drove a cart?

Nine. So you, you obviously grew up in Russia, but to build your carting

career you moved to Italy, how old were you when you moved to Italy

Almost 13-year-old, yeah, I grew up in Russia, basically of course, that

is my home country, forever will be. Yes, we saw that there is basically

no culture in Russia, that the time. It is now a bit better but there was

no culture for the racing, so, yeah, we saw the countries which are

really good for a carting career are Italy, England, France and so on, so

that the time my team was based in Rome, so it was a good choice. So

you now speak fluent Italian, I think you speak a bit of Spanish.

Yes, a lot of Spanish. So you clearly speak Russian and you speak

remarkably good English. Thanks. That is a pretty impressive sign,

you can speak to journalistings from most of the different country, but

part of the reason you speak English so well is go you have been living

in Milton Keynes for a while. Yes, I I don't have a permanent house for

now. But this year, mainly I have been living in Milton Keynes, in the

UK, so it has been my home, and I think it might stay like this for

the next year, so it a bit of English as well. It is really good.

For working with Toro Rosso, they are based in Italy, so the fact you

could speak Italian is a nice aspect to that. Let us just tell you what

is happening in the session itself. It is still very wet. Webber

quickest at the moment. Rosberg is going on the a lap, first time lap.

This will be interesting because he was fastest this morning, so it will

be interesting to see what kind of lap time he can do. But yes,

presumably being able to communicate with the team in their language, it

helps, doesn't it Definitely. It helps that I can speak Italian with

the team, so yes, it is a big help. Big pleasure for me because it is

like at home, it is a great opportunity for me and happy to be

part of the Italian team. Let us watch Rosberg. Talk us round the

lap. I know it is wetter so there is more standing water. Talk us about

where you found the most challenging areas. This corner where he is now,

it is challenging. It goes down head. You risk a lot. In the end it

is about getting right to the brakings on this track, you can

choose a few different lines in some corner, this corner is one of the

trickiest ones because it is combined acceleration and turn, yes,

slippery, we see he is three tenths down, confirming their morning pace.

It's a good car in the wet. Yes, I would say they have been good the

whole year, mainly up and down, in the end who is the most consistent

ones, it is Red Bull. We can see on the final sheet. So it goes fastest.

1: 28.8. A little quicker than Mark Webber. Of course when you get

conditions like this, being out at a certain moment can make a big

difference as to whether it is raining harder or less hard, it can

be difficult to know when to be on circuit. For sure. It dependsen a

lot on how the amount of water is on the track. Right now everyone is

using it, we can see standing water on the side of the track. So, yeah,

it is quite hard conditions. Yes. And... Listen.

RADIO: I think that is enough for me.

That's enough. He has gone faster. He doesn't need to do any more.

Confirms he has been fast, and saving the times for qualifying, I

think that is useful. That is what most of the team is going to do. We

have been talking about the fact it is the end of the V 8 era. You

managed to get running in, but next year it is a whole different story

with the V 6 turbo charged and much more electric motor involvement in

how a Formula One car workser, have you had a chance to get on the

simulator yet? We tried a few times, the new model. It is reap green for

the moment, so the proper running will start as soon as the

Championships ends, so after Brazil. Most of the teams are focussed for

next year already. Yes, I am sure. There is a few battles to be worked

out here. The battle for second to be decided Toro Rosso nothing really

happening for them. There is no chance of them catching anyone or

being caught so they are doing their own thing? Yes, for sure Daniel

Ricciardo, he wants to finish his career on a high. So, yes I I think

there is still a chance for nice points and it is good to know you

can finish in the points. It is basic work, but points are always

welcome. Indeed. Jean-Eric Vergne, because he has not had any points

since Canada, he has gone through a long period. Watching Hulkenberg who

has had a remarkably good run of result, especially after Hungary

when chases to the Sauber were made. The exhaust effect on these cars has

had a big effect. I don't think for Toro Rosso they have managed to get

that kind of exhaust effect to work as well as perhaps they would have

liked. It is strue, let us say after Silverstone there has been a bit of

a down in the team, not so many points any more, just a few occasion

races like Monza and so on. So probably also the fact that the

tyres has been changed from Silverstone affected them, but,

yeah, I mean, it is hard to say to be honest what Sauber has done to

their car to improve it. I think something has been done for sure,

this is how it looked. It is great to have you with us, I know you are

a busy boy and Toro Rosso don't want to lose you too long from the pit

garage because you have to learn stuff as well as to what they are

running through, but thank you very much for joining u we look forward

to you coming back in to Formula One as a full-time driver next year.

Thank you, I can't wait. So Dan dancing thank you for joining

us in our practise session and best of luck with next season. . I am

sure you have a few more fans now. Thank you very much.

So the session continues, with still have 52 minutes to go. We have a few

cars out there as we see Hulkenberg hurtling round in the Sauber. He is

third fastest to Mark Webber. You have Pic. Jules Bianchi and Max

Chilton. The Caterhams have got more pace in these conditions. It is what

we saw this morn, as Rossi told us, more downfalls on the Caterham is

helping them, because they have the edge over Marussia, so Marussia

won't want to see a wet race day, that is for sure, particularly a few

cars end up spinning off. Tony, interesting wasn't it chatting to

Daniil Kvyat, he is 19, yet the maturity and the way he speaks is

phenomenal Amazing. It is an underestimated facet of the job, if

you look at the young guys he speaks for language, we watched Sebastian

Vettel win a race and we forget he is only 26. It seems ancient

compared to Daniil Kvyat, he gets out of the car, he speaks in a, what

isn't his mother tongue, hugely impressively, and it is all part of

being, having an all round package which you need these days. We know

one observer who was very impressed by watching Dan, he looked at home

he said, from the very first laps He has done a great job in both the

outings, and, when you look at him and think, he is 19, he said, it was

almost by accident I got into it. What an amazing opportunity for him.

He has deserved it because of what he has done in carting and come

through the rank, he only had the Red Bull support because he is fast

in everything. Watching this year, the GP 3 series he has been

impressive in that and quick. Indeed. Gary, let us get down do

you, I know you wanted to talk about the aspect of how the teams preheat

the tyres before the cars go out on circuit. It is something in Formula

One that is important. These tyre blanket, tell us what you are

thinking? We hear a lot about warming up the tyre, couldn't get

the tyres to come in, I am down outside the Lotus garage, if we have

a closer look. This is a set of the wet tyre, and this is the blankets

that warm up the wet tyres, and you can see the numbers on them, we will

go into this, because we are getting tripped up. Somebody doesn't want us

to see it. They are warming up the wet tyres to 0 degree, and that is

you don't cook the compound, if you go to an intermediate set of tyres

they will warm them up more, that is what this pile was, but then on the

double heating blanket system on the dry weather tyre, and what you do

with them, is you try to put as much heat as possible through the side

walls so you don't cook the compound, you don't overheat the

compound, you are turning as much into the rim and the side wall of

the tyre, these were set at 110 degrees on the side walls and the

tread was set at 100 degrees so they are trying to get the mass

temperature up but not overheat the compound and make it go hard,

because these tyres are matured I think you might call it, at

Pirelli's factory and they are matured in an oven. And it is very

important where you stop the temperature cycle because if you go

too far the tyre goes harder, if you stop too soon the tyre shreds are

itself to death. This is very important when the tyre is new.

But it is interesting to see. Thank you. Fascinating, and each

team working out their own solution for that. We are riding onboard with

Paul di Resta. He didn't get to do any running this morning because

Colin Calderwood -- James Calado was in his car.

Paul di Resta showing us it is still very twitchy, look at that, very

slippery out there. A crucial corner. Let's just listen. In the

wet, you are always going to get wheel spin. Let's quickly join the

man who was in that car earlier on. They are just about to bring one of

the cars then. You managed to get out for a bit of a run and you

managed to get out for a bit of a run and he wanted to do more. It is

my first time in the rain. Limited laps, I was given a note on the

shoulder. Keep on the tracks, do not go off. I took it really steady. I

did not push that hard. To be just behind Adrian and not having driven

this track at all, or driven in the rain is pretty good. It is wet. It

is better than in England. Paul is out at the moment. Missing a session

is slightly frustrating. If it had been drier, I doubt I would have

driven. The forecast was a lot worse. I was lucky to get a few laps

and my belt. Fantastic to go around here, particularly when you think

about all of history. It was a session where we needed limited data

so I just did Ltd laps. It is one of those sessions when you cannot do a

huge amount. You are limited on tyres as well. What have the

engineers that you need to work out from today? We are trying to work

out a good crossover. The weather is unpredictable this weekend,

particularly here. A view balanced changes and that is it really. Quite

simple when it is like this. For me now, there is a little bit of

waiting around, getting into groups and everything and seeing how they

get on. A pretty easy day for me. There are not two more unpredictable

seat at the moment in Force India. I know you have been off to do a

couple of other things. I have options open for next year. I have

not got millions of pounds for a Formula One seat so it is

unfortunate. What do you do? Hopes among comes along with millions of

pounds and then get a chance. -- hope that someone comes along. I

will stay involved and hopefully times will get better and I will get

a chance. We have good options for next year. I would ideally like to

carry on racing. It is unlikely now, to be honest. Good luck. Talking

about the crossover between the wets and the intermediates. Talking about

the lap time it would be suitable to switch from one to the other. We

should be getting down to that region. The fastest time at the

moment is -- 1:28.48. . If you can do this on the intermediates, it is

time for the slick tyres. It is always difficult. We are getting

flooding in some areas on the track. That is the problem. The wet tyres

are the safest combination right now just because of the puddles and

making sure it does not Aqua plane. Some of the drivers have been saying

the corners are OK. They might suffer the consequences if the car

goes of the road. Thanks for your comments coming in about high 's and

lows from this season will stop Ollie George is saying, the best

moment, Romain Grosjean showing the speed that earned him a drive. The

worst moment, the domination of Sebastian Vettel. My best moment was

when Nico Hulkenberg got third on the grid. A few people are

supporting that. You talking about a few of your memories of the Lupe

Massa at Ferrari. Those glorious few moments when he was world champion.

-- the Lupe Masser. I still remember his face as Hamilton won the

championship. He is a good driver and somehow angered Lady luck. The

special relationship of Massa at Istanbul. The double overtake by

Massa at the Canadian Grand Prix was brilliant. He is a great rider and

he will be missed. His career is not ending. He will be this man 's

team-mate. Valterri Bottas, he is quite aggressive on the initial

turn. He feels the front end of the car by turning quite riskily. He is

a real star of the future. Last year, when McLaren found themselves

in the position of having to find a replacement for Lewis Hamilton, he

has been doing the Fridays for Williams and he was not on anyone 's

radar. He is another maker Hakkinen. They think he is that good. This

year, he has been off the radar because of the performance of that

car. He has had two opportunities to shine, one in Canada and then in

Austin. He has done it both times. I think he is the real deal. How will

it stack up with Massa? Will it be Valterri Bottas or Massa? I would

not bet against Valterri Bottas. Just purely what he knows from 13

years in Formula One would be valuable to them. I would be very

surprised if Massa got it. It'll be one to watch. The experienced Massa

against Valterri Bottas. He is coming to the end of his first full

season. He is to -- two points behind. Now for the final couple of

corners. Rosberg is currently fastest. He is fourth fastest with

that. Just behind Romain Grosjean. Another quite good lap by Vander

guard in this session. He has been slightly outperforming Charles Pic

in the latter part of this season. Daniel Ricciardo has another crash

helmet, celebrating his Australian heritage but also the Italian team

that he is going to be moving. The big, Red Bull team next year. The

first home Grand Prix will be on home turf in Australia. He will be

under the media spotlight. Everyone at Red Bull will help him to do with

that. I am sure they will. Mark Webber has made a point of trying to

divorce himself from a lot of media pressure and saying no to a lot of

the big requests from media and that sort of thing. Daniel Ricciardo is

going to have to do likewise otherwise he will be snowed under.

He is a laid-back guy. Hopefully a lot of that will wash over him. I

think he has a good character to cope with that. He is very quick.

It'll be interesting to see if he has the technical capability and the

rest of the package that is needed to show up well against someone like

Sebastian Vettel. That was not as quick as his previous best. Everyone

is still out there on wet tyres. Quite a few who have not done a lap

time at all and those are the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando

Alonso, Massa. Quite a few drivers not having set any lap time at all

in the second free practice session. Maybe they will be coming

out the bit later on. We will have to wait and see. Another practice

session on Saturday morning before they go into the all-important

qualifying. For now, it seems they are not learning a huge amount. Two

carve out on track at the moment. A couple more comment about Massa. We

will miss the Smedley- Massa relationship. He has been his

long-term engineer. Things like, who is the daddy of Brazil? That is a

comment he has made to Massa before. He mentioned the accident he

suffered as his low point in 2009. Yields cemented the 2010 German

Grand Prix at Hockenheim and the words, Fernando is faster than you.

That was muttered by Smedley. It is clear that hurt him deeply. It was

his first chance to win a grand prix, having come back from his

accident. That was a key point in a relationship. He did not know ahead

of time that he would be told to move over. He might have had a good

idea but it was Rob who had to deliver the message. I know Rob was

not happy about that. He thinks the relationship between a race engineer

and the driver has to be one of complete trust. You have heard him

on the radio, the way he eggs him on and helps him. For him to deliver

that message was not what he wanted. It perhaps should have come

from higher up the chain. He should have told him in advance. He could

have gone out to dinner and told him and not do it in the middle of a

race. Team orders were not actually allowed. It did drop from Rory in

it. They are allowed now but, at that time, they were not allowed. --

from Ari in it. That is true. Everybody knew what was going on.

Just to legitimise it, it did everyone a favour. It was the right

decision to allow team orders. They are going to happen anyway. It will

just be done in an under hand way. It is better that everyone knows it

is going on and you do not have two pretend. It is much better. There is

still talk that Rob Smedley will go to Williams. It may well be the

relationship is continued. I do not think if Rob Smedley goes to

Williams, it would not be exactly the same role. He would not be the

man on the radio. I think it would be another engineer working with

him. If he goes to Williams, it will be more bringing back the area of

development required. More of an infidel role between the two

drivers. Taking it back to the design office to try to make sure

the development direction is set correctly. It is so easy to develop

these cars. Instead of fixing the problem, sometimes you make it

bigger. You need a good link between the circuit and the factory.

That is something to look forward to, in 2014, this weekend, of

course, Heikki Kovalainen standing in for Kimi Raikkonen, for the final

time, we will wait to see whether Heikki Kovalainen does get a drive

for the 2014 season, definitely in negotiations with crate ram about

that possibility, but -- Caterham about that possibility but nothing

has been decided. Sergio Perez, he is on his way out of McLaren, it is

likely he will end up at one of the other team, he hasn't done a bad job

for McLaren, he is nine all in with Jenson Button, so it is possible if

he can get one over Jenson he could emerge with a better qualifying

record with Button after their one season together. The thing is the

team thinks that Jenson qualifying is not his great strength either. I

know when they compared him with Lewis they would say he was three or

four tenths off. Radio radio if the track is wet enough... A lot of the

lack of running is protect these valuable resource, the wet Thaiings

they have. So going back to that qualifying situation, you know, they

knew that Jenson isn't the quickest qualifier in the world. Sergio would

be a couple of tenths off Jenson. For a McLaren driver it is not quick

enough. McLaren are looking for stand out driverings, they always

have done. He hasn't done a bad job but just not good enough. That is is

right. We are looking inside the Toro Rosso pit, and Sebastian Vettel

has been sitting out this session, until now, I wonder if he is going

to be able to go out and do some lap, he has gone out the back of the

garage, so maybe he is prepared to go out on circuit, as Esteban

Gutierrez goes to the point where they can do their practise starts.

It is a clearly defined area, right on the exit of the pit lane, so they

are out of everybody's way, so he will set all the parameters up and

then, launch himself from that part, and away goes the car, with

relatively minimal amount of fuss, not fish tailing down the straight

at all, but pulling away nice and smoothly, and Gutierrez one of only

two cars on track at the moment. Yes, Sergio Perez has just come back

in to the pit lane. Christian, I think is joining us again from the

pit wall. Christian Horner. We have some radio. Radio radio can't get

away. So Hulkenberg reporting back.

Christian we haven't seen Sebastien doing very much. Is he too chilled

out to do any laps? No, we are at that stage on the track where it is

not quite wet enough for the full extremes and not dry enough for the

inters so it is that cross over period. He will be up before the end

of the session. We know there is a limitation of numbers of wets and

intermediates, so you have to save your laps at this early point. You

don't know what the rest of the weekend is going to bring. Yes with

the limitation of tyres, whatever we use we are burning from our

allocation from qualifying and race, so we have to be careful, it looks

like this weather could hang round for the next couple of day, woe

don't want to be burning tyres up today. We were talking about Daniil

Kvyat earlier, he did a good job this morning he was eighth fastest,

I don't know if you have had a chance to look at that and see that,

pretty impressive his first time in the wet Considering his age and

experience to get in a Grand Prix car in the wet round here and do,

the track he has never seen before, do what he did was very impressive.

You can see he is not afraid of the car in any way, he is throwing it

round, he has plenty of car control. It was an impressive performance. He

is a confident young guy, I was impressed with how he came across to

us, talking of Daniel Ricciardo, who will be joining you next year, do

you keep an eye on his performances over the last few race weekends, are

you looking over there to see what he is up to? Very much so. Always

looking for the reassurance you have made the right decision and

absolutely have had that confirmed by the way he Hazard driven since we

announced his signing, and the Toro Rosso is a tricky car, and he has

managed to get it into the top ten on so many occasion, now, and pull

it out the bag, particularly in qualifying. What will be the plan

now with Daniel? I know you have said that Sebastien deserves a good

holiday and the commitment it takes to win a Championship is massive. He

needs a break. Does Daniel spend a lot of time at the factory and do a

lot of simulator running? For sure, he will finish off his commitments

to Toro Rosso, and then he will come to Milton Keynes to spend some time

on the simulator, then he is off for a trip to the Philippines to drive a

rally show car for a couple of day, and then that is all the

requirements for him for December. And then it all starts off soon in

January because the new cars will be out on track at the beginning of the

month. Absolutely, it is a short winter. It is only two months today

that the new cars will be running in jer ret. It is a busy time back at

the factory. A huge amount to do. Particularly with the regulation

change. Will people be working at the factory on Christmas Day?

Probably. I think we might have to cancel Christmas this year. There

will be a night shift in on Christmas night. The effort that

goes in in in the factory is the reason we manage to achieve what we

do track side. This year it has been remarkable, the level of effort and

commitment that has gone in behind the scene, you know, but burning the

midnight oil in Milton Keynes. They will call you Scrooge if you cancel

Christmas Day. There will be a very good Christmas party. Thank you. So

Hulkenberg being pushed back into the pit, into the garage, he is

fifth fastest in this session, we have under half an hour to go. Gary,

back do you in the pit lane, presumably it is all fairly quiet

down there, in terms of setting the cars up, very lit that will the

teams tend to do, as something special. When you get into

qualifying you can't change the car, it is worth on a day like this

playing with special wet set ups? It depend on how confident you are on

your forecast. In reality, somebody seems to be floating round a bit.

This circuit is quite strange, because if it is wet you get a lot

of flooding, you need the car to be higher out of the groan. If it

becomes dry you lose performance, you have to believe in your weather

forecast, just look at Lewis's car, the front brake ducts, this is a

left hand circuit. That means the right front tyre gets a lot of work.

This right front brake, we call it a dustbin. It covers the brake disk.

It stops it getting into the rim. That is important, during the race

it easy to overheat the tyres. You want to get the temperatures in as

quickly as possible. So if you see on the right front wheel, you will

see the disk is covered, on the left front wheel you will see at the top

there is a couple of hole, that is because as I say, there is more left

hand corners than right hand corners so you have to keep more temperature

in the left front wheel and tyre because the circuit doesn't generate

that temperature. If you don't keep that, try and even them, when you

get to the braking zone you will lock the left front tyre up. So you

are playing round with shuch small things to get a good balance and

these conditions in the wet doesn't allow them to get the best out of

that. So that is the big compromise of having a wet session and going

into the race on Sunday teple -- potentially blind. It seems

something they have worked hard orange analysing tyre temperatures

and working out a way of balancing them For the last three to four

years they have had a problem on using the require tyrings too

aggressively. They have had a quick car, when you use the tyre

aggressively that means you get the temperature in quickly, after that,

if you can't stabilise that it overheats. So they have a lot of

pole positions because the tyre would warm up faster but in the race

they would go backwards. That is the area they have had to work on. The

car itself as far as aerodynamics has been small. But the mechanical

set up and how they work the rear tyrings has been the big challenge.

-- tyres. If the rear tierings goes away, you

can't get out of the corner, so it is a major problem. Jules Bianchi

has been impressing us request his car control. Some lovely slides as

he continues to get a few more laps in, he has done nine laps so far, I

think Nico Hulkenberg has done most, he has done 11 but there are a

number of have done none. Maldonado is about to complete his flying lap

but we have Felipe Massa, Hamilton, Sutil and Ven who have not completed

a lap. Rosberg is fastest on that single Labour Party. The rain as you

can see is still fallling, whether current -- Webber currently second

fastest. Grosjean is up there in third. Daniel Ricciardo in fourth,

Hulkenberg. Gutierrez, Kovalainen getting on with his job as stand in

for Kimi Raikkonen. Paul di Resta is eighth. Let us look back at Jules

Bianchi, this is Max Chilton sorry. This is the other Marussia. A wheel

on the curb going into the corner. Trying to run the outside line but

maybe getting carried away. He didn't mean to go quite that wide, I

think. As we said earlier, running round the outside of the track and

almost skirting the white line is often the quickest way, trying to

stay off the regular racing line that gets slick and slippery, so Max

Chilton getting away with that moment, and a few more cars due to

come out. Maldonado has set a lap time. He is quicker than Charles Pic

but not as quick as Giedo van der Garde. We will see how that changes

over the next few laps, Valtteri Bottas is tenth quickest in his

Williams, so Maldonado trying to find more pace there, but as I say,

the conditions different now to what they were in the Martin

Erlandssonier part of the session. Joining news the commentary box, it

is a bit of a climb up the staircase to our BBC position, is motor sport

director of Pirelli. It has not been a day you wanted. You have prototype

tyres and you have had virtually no chance, I know Sebastien did put

them on the car briefly, was there any kind of thing they could learn

from that? Absolutely nothing. We haven't had a lot of rain this year,

last year we had a lot, many races we haven't had the rain. We will

just listen here. Radio radio how are the conditions?

So, we have a bit of improvement in lap time coming up from Gutierrez,

so coming back to it, you needed a dry tack to test the tyres for next

year, you haven't had it and they are using up some of their wet tyre

allocations for the weekend? Yes, well that, that happened a bit last

year when we came here and had the rain, but that is, nothing you can

do about it, is there. Just looking at the conditions an how the times

are changing, do you think there is any chance we will see intermediates

back on the cars before the end of the session? Having just walked

through, you know, through the paddock it is still raining lightly,

I don't think we will see that much of an improvement. There is a bit of

standing water round. That is the key in, I know we look at lap time

and cross over points for running the extreme wet it is the tyre you

need to run on. Yes that is the intermediate time tyre is like a cut

slick. Is good for damp conditions, when you have standing water you

need that full wet. Onboard with Fernando Alonso. He is on track at

last, we have been waiting for him to appear, and now he is out there.

Gary, you had a bit more to talk about with the tyre warmers. Talking

about tyres and Paul is up there. This is one of the new test tyres.

It a black side wall. Lotus have taken it out. It is pretty hot.

Looking at the wheel assembly while we have this opportunity, this is

the wheel nut, all the wheels have the wheel nut fitted. It doesn't

fall out. That is what they need to get into the low two second for

pit-stops. Inside here we will have have an expensive tyre valve.

Instead of having your little valve, you push on a dry brake coupling.

This is what holds a seven, so its will measure tyre temperature inside

that rim. So it will look at the tread of the tyre. So the team has

the data coming back to them. We can see some of these electric blankets.

This is a set of slick tyres. 110, 111 degrees. You have side wall and

tread. They are heating them up more or less the same S I would like to

take credit because many years ago I was the one that created separating

these two so you could warm the side wall up more, we warmed it up to 100

degrees and the tread up to 60. We got more grip then, they feel the

need to warm the tyre up to the same thing, get ass much mass temperature

as possible. I am not sure that the end of the day gives you the best

grip, but I am not closely involved with it right now. What are your

thoughts? A few teams heat the sidewalk to higher than the trade.

You need to be careful. There might be a chemical reaction which could

change the properties of the tire. There are all sorts of things we

have been looking at. We are watching Fernando Alonso. He is on

the intermediate tyres. We wondered if anyone would try that. He is

going quite quickly at the moment. We will see if it is an improvement.

Just 20 minutes to go. Still a lot of water to be kicked up by the car

as it heads up the hill. Ten A31.1, puts him 10th fastest at the moment.

-- one: 31.1. Ferrari will be looking at, what are the limits of

intermediate tyres. What we have seen in the past is the transition

from the rain to the dry or vice versa. It is absolutely key. Let's

ride with him for a moment. Let's watch. We are going to come away

from that. You can see that Sebastian Vettel is getting ready to

come out on circuit. Maybe he is finding a line that works well with

the intermediate tyre. The intermediate tyre is proving to be

quite effective in the closing moments. He has a big twitch. That

is the price you could pay by going on the intermediates. That is always

the risk. Fernando Alonso is not too worried. He always performs well

when the conditions are changeable. He has been outstanding in those

sorts of situations. It is the mark of a great driver they can do that.

Let's take a look at the replay. You can see for yourself what it was

like. He got it a bit out of shape. He sorted it out quite nicely. Let's

take a look at it. The final right-handed hairpin of the infield

section. Then it is just trying to get the power down. He dealt with it

pretty well. Looking ahead to next year, we have been talking about the

rule changes. The cars will be very different with the power they are

producing with the V6 engines. How your preparations going for next

year? We do not see the new cars until everyone out in June as. The

main test will be in Bahrain. -- Jerez. We are doing another test in

December with the 2011 car. That is our last bit of preparation work for

next season. For us, we have the talk that everyone talks about with

potential wheel spin. We can control it. We had to make the compounds

tear resistant. When they are in those situations, we are not

shredding the service. We cannot be as aggressive as we have been this

year. Will the wet tyres changed? Drivers have commented on

improvements. Also the compounds have changed too tried to give

better grip. The gap is too big between intermediate and the full

wet tyre. That is pretty much what we are in at the moment. Alonso has

gone third. He is back in the pits. Massa is 11th fastest at the

moment. He will give us an idea of how much quit he can find. He uses a

bit of curb through the second part. Mark Webber is also on track. At

Caterham, it is all fairly quiet for Charles Pic. We are preparing in

case we need intermediates. Less than 20 minutes to go. I think a

crossover is not on the cards at the moment. It would also possibly

damage a set of wets which we need for the rest of the event. Let's see

how it goes with the track condition. That message was a few

moments ago. He is now being sent out on his intermediate tyre. Mark

Webber is on his intermediate tyre. There is another factor. If you use

a set of intermediates, they get replaced overnight. It is a set of

tyres, as you heard on the radio, they will get replaced this evening.

It is set they do not worry about losing. It is a free set. Is there a

discussion? We have talked about it in the past bit, particularly when

we have wet Friday. It is a problem to a certain extent of having more

wet tyres available. The wet tyre, generally speaking, does not wear

too much. You tend to do 30, 40 laps on a set. In race conditions, when

cars are on the circuit together, you get spray. In testing, it is one

of those, how often will you actually use it? The additional cost

is quite substantial, in terms of carrying a set around all year.

Close on two 600, 700,000 euros, to take tyres around the world who

might never use. Nico Hulkenberg is still on the ball wet tyre - the

extreme wet tyre. Just taking it gently as he builds up to a lap. We

are keeping an eye on his progress. They have had a very good latter

part to the season. That is interesting. He set a very fast

first sector and then backed off middle sector. Whether he will go

for another go at it on the full wets, we will wait and see. There is

Sebastian Vettel on the intermediate tyre. You say you are planning

another test before the end of this year. Do you know who that will be

with yet? We have asked all the teams to make a proposal. A number

have come back. We need to decide who that will be. Sebastian Vettel

goes on to the lap. Let's watch to see how he gets on. Red Bull had a

good record on this circuit. He has had one victory and Mark Webber has

had two. Webber went on to win on that occasion. Three wins leading up

to last year but they could not make it four in a row. That'll is up on

the first sector. Straightaway, Sebastian Vettel on the

intermediates and looking good. Now he is heading up to turn six and

seven. It keeps tightening up. Downhill slightly into the downhill

left-handed hairpin. Very slippery through here as we see from some of

the guys. Then into the final quick left-hand down the hill. --

left-hander down the hill. There is a big steep hill. We are at altitude

which has an effect on the engine horsepower. It is easy enough to

spin those wheels as they head up the hill. Let's see the lap time for

Sebastien battle. -- Sebastian Vettel. It puts him faith. A

representative time for him. Rosberg is still quickest. We had to say

Mercedes are looking pretty good. They were quick this morning. The

time by Rosberg earlier on is still holding up. Still a good lap. It

seems the intermediate is very good in the first sector. It loses a

little bit out in the second sector and then re-games. We are trying to

find a line. You see a lot in the second sector. Alonso is struggling

a little bit on the standing water. He is still going out on the

corners. I do not know the weather forecast for Sunday. It is changing

by the minute. The fact they are all out on the track and doing laps,

there is a feeling there might be more rain to come at the weekend.

And very slight difference in diameter between intermediate and

wet tyres. They are trying to lift the tyre of the ground. Probably not

enough sometimes. The cars are still low. Here, in particular, you get

Hollywood style rain. It chucks it down all of a sudden. You are

right. I walked over now. It started raining and it comes down very

quickly. No matter the tyres, you end up with the plank skating across

the water surface and the guy is a passenger. What is the weather

forecast? It is pretty good. Everyone has a different version. It

could be fun and adds spice into the mix. We always like a race like

that. Thank you for telling us what is going on out there. What about

conditions for you down in the pit lane at the moment? Is the rain

still falling as heavily? It is. It has not changed in the past half an

hour. The drops are heavy. It will be interesting. I remember the last

race in 2003 and the rain will stop anything can happen when it comes to

the race if it is raining. The result of that race went to a

hearing. That is something I would like to thank Mark Webber four. He

helped us as well. We have just seen a spin from Lewis Hamilton. Not a

crash but a complete 360. Mark Webber crashed and then Alonso

crashed into his debris, didn't he? He did. The race got stopped. It got

stopped on Lap 54. We filled the car with your. Everybody got fed up with

the race. Lo and behold we were leading the race at the time. Very

appreciative to Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Seeing them

slipping and sliding around at the moment with just over seven and a

half minutes to go. He wants a low less front wing. Still changes and

-- on the last lap. Sebastian Vettel has gone second. If it is wet this

weekend, no doubt the Mercedes seems to be in good shape. Hamilton is

having the odd moment out on track. He might be able to string out a

quick lap on the final session. He is on a quick lap at the moment. He

will improve from where he is, which is 21st. I am not sure how far up

the order he will go. Sebastian Vettel is half a second up on the

best so far of Rosberg. This could be a change from him now. I think he

will lose the top spot. Here comes Sebastian Vettel. Does he go

quickest? Yes, he does, by seven tenths of a second. That is quite a

margin. Downforce is still king. If it is wet or dry, if your car has

more downforce, you will have more grip. The more downforce you have,

the more confidence the driver gets. Right now it is still wet

weather tyre time. That all has gone out on the intermediate. Some hairy

moments. I am sure they can beat that time right now. Lewis Hamilton

did not improve massively. I thought he was going to. He is still down in

20th initially. About three tenths down in the first sector compared

with the time by Sebastien battle. Let's see what he does in the second

sector. He is trying to get the power down. It looks fun when they

go sideways but it normally means they are losing some time. In the

middle sector, it is seven tenths down on the best we have seen from

Sebastian Vettel. He still has his supporters - Lewis Hamilton. He has

only had one podium finish in Brazil in the past. He has never had a race

victory. He is bird. Certainly more competitive. He is three tenths

slower than his team-mate. -- bird. A big slide I Pastor Maldonado. He

carries on in the Williams. Where is he? He is 21st at the moment. Jenson

Button has not done anything representative. He has done a slow

timed lap. Jensen is not bothered about going out and impressing

people in the rain. He has done that several times in the past. He won

last year in wet and dry and does not need to show what he can do.

Hamilton has gone fast in the first sector. This crash helmet has been

designed for Lewis Hamilton. He had just gone fastest in the first

sector. That has now gone to Mark Webber by the way. All changing here

as the track conditions definitely do seem to be improving a little

bit. Sebastian Vettel also seeing what he can do on the intermediate

tyre. We could see a few more changes in the closing moments. Who

knows? It might be the same situation in qualifying tomorrow. It

might be a session where the track is trying up a little bit and it is

this kind of last-minute lap that counts. We saw a similar situation

at 's bar. Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position on that occasion.

The two Red Bulls are trading fastest laps. We still have one more

practise to go on Saturday morning. Yes, faster again, 1: 27.5. The

intermediate tyres go well. L.. Red Bull one, two, there is a surprise.

Going ahead of Rosberg, who has pushed down to third and Jean-Eric

Vergne who has don a good lap. He has gone up to fourth fastest as

Jenson Button will come out on the intermedia tyre. Nicely heated up.

So if he can get a bit out on to track and keep the tyre temperature,

he should be able to put a one more lap before the end here. Onboard

with Fernando Alonso. Let us see what this lap is going to be like

for Fernando, he is eighth at the moment.

And, yes, he is fifth now, so a slight improvement, for the Ferrari

driver, Jean-Eric Vergne still another good lap, so they will be

keeping an eye on him. You can see there is a sort of line round the

track now, that as long as they can stay on that line, they miss the

worst of the standing water, and that is what they are desperately

trying to do here as they continue round. Heikki Kovalainen is ninth

fastest, his tame mate Romain Grosjean is tenth. So competitive

between the two. Bit of an opportunity for Kovalainen to show

what he can do in changeable conditions.

Always nice to have that opportunity.

Who else is on a quick lap? Rosberg, 21.9. So Rosberg having seen what

the Red Bulls are doing has gone back to to see if he request

improve. Hamilton is down in seventh but has completed a slow lap. He has

done a good first sector Hamilton. So it could be that both Mercedes

are going to show something in the final couple of moments. Jenson

Button is trying to position him for one lap here, I think, pasted by

Felipe Massa, in the Ferrari, Massa is down in 18th but this lap will

improve his position, I am sure. -- passed. Let us see where this brings

him. Bottas has moved #u7, he is up to 14th vament. We Valtteri

Bottasment we saw what he can do in the damp in Canada. Maldonado has

been off track, I think, again, but has continued at turn one. Rosberg

goes fastest again, so just after Red Bull seem to have the edge, now

Rosberg goes quickest of all. Let us see what Vettel is doing. First

sector reasonable, but not as quick as Rosberg's. Who else is on a quick

lap? Let us keep an eye on it. Hamilton? He has backed off mid lap.

He had a good first sector and now he has backed off. Sliding round for

Vettel. Let us see what the lap is as he comes round to complete it.

The flashing red lights obligatory in the wet. That shows you, that lap

of 27.6. That is his second best lap.

So consistent lap times but not enough to beat Nico Rosberg, who

seems to be very rapid in these conditions.

The Mercedes will be praying for rain based on what we are seeing

right now. Tony, we saw Mercedes quick in the early part of this year

in wet conditions and it looks like they are repeating that It looks

very promising for them. 27.3, 27.5 and then you would expect Hamilton

will improve. So if you have these conditions for the race, yes, they

are in it. The problem is you never get consistent conditions. It is

bone dry, teeming rain, very rarely you get consistently wet or dry

here. Let us see, with the flag out what changes there might be.

Kovalainen has gone fourth. Very good lap from him, Romain Grosjean

is on the circuit. There could be a few changes I think on this very

last lap. Just as it dries up a fraction, so anybody could topple

Rosberg from the top. Eighth place for Fernando Alonso. Romain

Grosjean, he will Ros cross the line in a moment. Hamilton, keep an eye

on him, so Grosjean is ninth. Hamilton has moved up to fifth, so

that is a good improvement, but he is a way off his team-mate. Nico

Rosberg, some eight tenths away from Rosberg, the pace setter, what about

Mark Webber, can he do something? I don't think he has enough in hand,

no, he is third fastest, that is an improvement in lap time but it keeps

him thirdment only a fraction behind his team-mate. -- third. I think

that is most people across the line. Yes, look at that. All the chequered

flags are out and it is Rosberg who has therefore ended up topping both

sessions here today. Fastest in free practise one, fastest in free

practise two as well. 1: 27.3. He likes a good start to the weekend

and it means that Mercedes are going to be a threat to Red Bull if the

conditions are as we have seen them today. But Red Bull were second and

third fastest, only a bit off what Rosberg did. Kovalainen did a good

job to go fourth fastest. Several places ahead of Romain Grosjean.

Hampton was fifth in the end. Jean-Eric Vergne another outstanding

effort by the French driver with 1: 28.4. He could do with a surprise

performance to go into the winter on a high. Hulkenberg eighth, then

Daniel Ricciardo ninth. Grosjean 10th. Fernando Alonso was 11th.

Gutierrez was 12th. Di Resta was 13th ahead of Maldonado who

improved. Sutil 15th. Bottas was 16th, ahead of Perez, then Bianchi

was fastest, ahead of Giedo van der Garde, Pic and John Hutton -- Jenson

Button who never did a full flying lap. But not quite what you would

have expected. So that an been an intriguing practise session. Thanks

to the guests we have had. Thanks to Tony as well, let us get

back down to the paddock now. Thank you. A difficult session to

learn too much from, what we do know is Hamilton's ability to get out of

a jam is impressive as ever. It is funny, he goes round so quickly, he

hasn't got time to put the steering lock on. That is a very long corner

an you accelerate round it. It sucks you into get on the lot toing too

early. He has had do errors there, so he doesn't want to have a third

one. Fingers crossed we will have better conditions for FP 36789 in

qualifying but here you never know what is going to to happen. Make

sure you join us for the next session, live tomorrow, 12.55 on BBC

Two. Then qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix is live

tomorrow at 3.00. Hopefully you can join us then, and

you have enjoyed today's session, even though they have been wet. We

will see you very soon.