The Chinese Grand Prix - Highlights Formula 1

the Chinese Grand Prix. This is round three of 19 and the drivers

Championship looks like this. Sebastian Vettel is leading on 40

Sebastian Vettel is leading on 40 points. Nine behind him is Kimi

Raikkonen. The constructors Championship has -- Championship has

Red Bull on top. Now qualifying. Mark Webber had been looking strong,

but in Q 2 he ran out of luck and fuel. And not being able to give a

sample, he will line up as last. It was clear Q 3 would be different,

with many cars wanting to save tyres. Sebastian Vettel had a brake

problem and had to settle for ninth. Jenson Button was the only other to

take to the medium tyres. He was forced into a different strategy.

After four races being outqualified by Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso was

back to being the fastest Ferrari, claiming third. Kimi Raikkonen gets

his first front row start since 2009. But Lewis Hamilton was flying

and his lap was good enough to give him his first Mercedes pole

him his first Mercedes pole position. An incredible feeling.

When I found out I had pole, I had to make sure the radio was off,

because I was a bit excited. It was a great feeling. So Lewis Hamilton

is the first Brit to get pole position for Mercedes since Sir

Stirling Moss. An excellence performance from Ricky Sbragia sees

him in she venth. Huck can still choose what tyres he starts on. --

Nico Hulkenberg. Pastor Maldonado is Nico Hulkenberg. Pastor Maldonado is

Mark Webber will start from the pit lane. We are set for the start of

what should be a mighty intriguing Chinese Grand Prix. Lights out, away

we go. Who will get it off the start. A great start from Lewis

Hamilton. Ferraris go second and third. Kimi Raikkonen into fourth.

Wide for Massa. Could have run deep into the corner. It is Lewis

Hamilton leading. Romain Grosjean trying to go around the outside.

DAVID COULTHARD: Kimi Raikkonen was slow with the initial response. Rest

Berg will de-- Rosberg will defend the inside. Jenson Button trying to

deal with Ricky Sbragia. -- Ricardo. We have membering can nicks out --

mechanics out there already. Fernando Alonso right behind Lewis

Hamilton and has everyone else fanning out. Sergio Perez under

pressure from Pastor Maldonado. Sergio Perez has lost a fair bit of

ground. He is in 13th. He started 12th. Nico Hulkenberg made a good

start and has got past Paul di Resta. No drs available -- dissident

Republicans -- -Drs available. di Resta has a lock up. Oh no, the

Force Indias have hit each other. Adrian Sutil was trying to get past.

Who is coming into the pits? Just Webber. He had that soft tyre.

Getting it out of the way. The other teams being ready. Perez and di

Resta. Getting in there is Pastor Maldonado. Mark Webber will go for

the harder tyre. A new set for him. He was at the back any way. Nothing

lost in doing that. Look at the top four, still close together. Lewis

Hamilton and then the two Ferraris. Kimi Raikkonen is next. Did well to

avoid contact there. Perez gave him less than a car's width. He was

forced to drive over the kerb. He won't be happy about that. He will

store that in his memory banks. Sutil has gained from this. He is in

11th. Hopefully no damage done to the two Force Indias. Felipe Massa's

resurgent form is being repeated. The Ferraris second and third. This

group are drawing away from rest know what happened to him. Across

the line goes Lewis Hamilton. He is leading by 0. 8 of a second.

question is how many laps can they get out of the tyres. Mark Webber at

the back of the race, but on a new set of prime tyres. It will be a

straight forward manage that tyre. He was very quick on Friday. So it

is just keep an eye on Mark Webber. At the front, Massa is pushing

Fernando Alonso. He is saying hurry up. He has to keep the pressure on.

Otherwise he will keep himself in the DRS zone. Anyone who can get the

activation will gain a massive 15 plus kilometres an hour. In the

background the silver car of Rosberg being chased by Romain Grosjean. But

Lewis Hamilton is in control. He is trying to control the pace. I think

he is in the DRS zone. Lewis Hamilton has opened that gap. But

Fernando Alonso will get DRS to Lewis Hamilton. That will neutralise

the DRS of Hamilton. I can't see the pit crews out. So I think they will

stay out longer on the tyres. Let's look at the start. Kimi Raikkonen's

initial getaway was sluggish. He spun the wheels and he was mugged by

the two Ferraris. We have a challenge by Lens on Lewis Hamilton.

-- Fernando Alonso on Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton has no DRS. Lewis

Hamilton at the moment is under pressure. The best for him would be

to be pitting from the lead. Romain Grosjean has got past Rosberg.

Rosberg dropping back a bit. Another look at the start. You saw how

sluggish Kimi Raikkonen was. He goes to the right and Rosberg tries to go

around the outside. We saw Massa running wide. He gets caught, one of

the Caterhams ran off. So a lot of racing happening at the back. Just

listen. Ed like he spun the wheels too much and instead of getting a

great launch, his spatial awareness told him where he was. Here is

Rosberg, his getaway is better. You see the black lines left by

Raikkonen. And just not enough run, a 300 run from the start to the turn

one and here is Fernando Alonso having a look. Vettel trying to move

on Nico Hulkenberg. Here is the challenge for the lead from Fernando

Alonso. They're now in another DRS zone. The DRZ is in operation. Massa

flicks to the inside. Lewis Hamilton can do nothing. The two Ferraris are

one and two and Lewis Hamilton has to watch out for Kimi Raikkonen.

this stage, Lewis Hamilton is also going to be a sitting duck not

having DRS. But he needed to break that one second window and he has

not been able to do it. This is amazing from Kimi Raikkonen. Can he

go outside Lewis Hamilton? No, he can't. Romain Grosjean is catching

and Daniel Ricardo has a damaged wing. He has gone into the pits.

will be interesting to see where that damage occurred. He was just in

front of the group with Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastian Vettel.

Rosberg seems to be struggling and behind him in Nico Hulkenberg. This

was the overtake of Lewis Hamilton by both Ferraris. He was a sitting

duck and in the end the cars have just, well that is Fernando Alonso's

girlfriend and girlfriend and they're telling, they're enjoying

him taking the lead. This is a good opportunity for Fernando Alonso. I

wonder if the two Ferraris will work together? Rosberg has been passed by

Nico Hulkenberg. Rosberg is really struggling. The Mercedes are

struggling on these tyres. Sebastian Vettel now on Rosberg. Into the

hairpin and Sebastian Vettel is in seventh. Mercedes are coming in. It

is a damaged rear wing on that Force India. It has lost the top section.

That could have been nasty had he not recognised that. Lewis Hamilton

and Rosberg. They will double stack. I hope they get their pit stops done

quickly. They have no choice. The tyres have gone off the edge: Force

India will be getting rolled back into the garage. 3. 3 second stop is

pretty good. But not on the same level as the stops from Red Bull.

Mark Webber has done the one stop already at the start. Now Mark

Webber is ahead. And there is the damage on the back of the Force

India. I can't see that car going much further in this race. There is

a fire breaking out. It is a brake fire from inside the hub. They're

blowing air on it. They want a fire extinguisher. It is bad news again

for Force India and they never score points here in China. Sebastian

Vettel that was down the inside. Oh he was hit by Esteban Gutierrez I

think. Look at this. He is unsighted as he brakes into the corner. He was

battles -- battling with Perez. Oh no there is the corner. All the

front runners on the soft tyre have made their pit stop. The race is led

by those who started on the harder compound tyres. Here goes Lewis

Hamilton. He gets past Jean-Eric Vergne. . Vettel is only 12 seconds

in front of Al. It takes about 19 seconds to do a combined pit stop.

Three seconds for the stop and time in pit lane. When Vettel does his

stop. He will slot out a few seconds behind that leading group with

Hamilton. They will all be going quickly themselves. Look at

Hulkenberg. Even with the DRS on Vettel's car, he wasn't closing the

gap. . Right in the slipstream of the Red Bull. He will go for the

pass. He opens the DRS now. He gets a massive overspeed. Mark Webber

will pull into the slipstream but he will be left behind as they break

into turn 14. Chasing them is Rosberg. He ran wide in the

break-up. They are very susceptible to tyre variation on that back

straight. You lose something like 30 degrees in track and surface

temperature from the tyre. They are normally on about 100. They are down

around 70 when they hit the brakes. That's why we are seeing a few lock

ups which have led to delamb nation of the tyre. Webber might be within

DRS range him sechlt but the -- himself. The Red Bulls don't have

that. They go for a better downforce and trade it against the straight

line speed. Maybe it is hurting Webber and Vettel. You are riding

with Vettel. Three-quarters of a second of a gap of these two, riding

first and second. Button is three seconds further behind, remember.

Let's just watch. He has to get closer. He has to be within a second

to get the DRS. I think he is probably close enough. As we saw

last up, he still couldn't make the pass. Interestingly, Hulkenberg, it

is the second time he has led in the last four races. He is making a name

for himself. Making the move from Force India to Sauber. And, well,

keeping that gap. He is within the one-second trigger point but too far

back. DRS open but too far back to gain the advantage. Great stuff here

from Hulkenberg. Interestingly, Sergio Perez actually did lead a few

laps here last year when he was driving for Sauber. More as the

strategies worked out. This is partly the same.

Here can comes Massa. That puts him into tenth. He lost out amongst the

early stops. That was a very straightforward overtake for the

Brazilian. You are on board with Lewis as he bears down on Paul di

Resta. He is very quick. . He almost hits the back of the Force India off

the back of that into turn six. So Lewis Hamilton, well, we know

exactly what his position is right now then. He is feeling he doesn't

have the pace of the Ferrari. Look at the front-left tyres. The marbled

green across the surface. They'll clean up. He is in dirty air,

quicker than the car in front but he is taking away the clean air in the

surfaces of your wings. He has used it up. It gives you a whole bunch of

sand in your face effectively. Not pretty. Meanwhile his team-mate...

Box, box, box. . Well, that's quite interesting. That is... Well for

them to bring it in, we thought Vettel would go deeper but it looks

to be a three-stop race for Vettel. And Hulkenberg running in the dirty

Malaysia were awesome. awesome. Worse if you are the driver of the

Grand Prix, and you present the car to the pit box and for whatever

reason, your guys are not able to service it. It is not just down to

human element. -- human error. no, contact. Mark Webber, damage to

the front edge of his car on the centre team of Torro Rosso.

Jean-Eric Vergne, who is touting for a drive next year, perhaps at Red

Bull because they always are the junior team, it's not good news at

all. . It will be an extra pit stop now for Mark Webber. It looked like

he made a lead decision to go for the overtake. In fairness to

Jean-Eric, you can imagine his eyes were on the road but maybe they

thought there would be nor compliance from the centre team. --

sister team. He will undoubtedly have to pit this lap. . How does the

car feel, Mark? . We will box this lap. They are going to use it anyway

to come in. Remember, he has done for the 14 laps on these tyres, so

perhaps it won't make such a big difference. Let's take another look.

He certainly makes the move to go for the inside but it was so late

for Jean Eric that he didn't - he has his eyes on the road and

watching the mirror. Once you turn n imagine inside the cockpit so

Jean-Eric can probably sense he is there but he hasn't got himself

alongside until he commits to the turn-in. Well, there is no benefit

in Jean-Eric trying to make contact with another car. So a racing

incident, rather than any malice in it. There you go, new tyres, new

front wing, off you go. Look how much time it adds to a conventional

stop. Other, look and Raikkonen has hit the back of Perez. We'll wait

for Raikkonen's radio message. Well-spotted Ben. The front tip is

broken. What is the damage like on the front wings themselves?

Difficult to say at this point but that is major drama, of course for

Raikkonen. He is chasing after Hamilton. Let's wait for the replay

but if Perez has been leading in the approach to the braking zone then

coming off the back of what we said earlier, it leads to incidents. You

have to trust the men who race at 200 miles per hour. What is he

doing?doing? . . The tip of the nose doesn't have the overall

performance. The weekend has got even worse for Mark Webber. What

does he have to do at the moment? Raikkonen finally gets passed --

past Perez. We can see from our commentary box position, he is out

of gear. He is in third. Is it stuck? I think so. .Lets lths'

listen. -- let's listen. OK, Mark, come back slowly. Come back, slowly.

A great shame and after the dramas of Malaysia, the win was taken from

him by Sebastian Vettel. Now he is out early on. Now here is what

happened to Raikkonen. Right, OK. He is on the grass. Well, he went to go

to the outside and Perez has run probably the normal line, through

turn five. He goes to the outside and Perez squeezes over, so

Raikkonen, well... Let's just see a few more of those before we can...

Raikkonen goes eventually for the pass. He is still out there with the

damage on the front wing but quick enough to get out past the McLaren.

At least having made a mistake they didn't compound the herror with that

pit stop. We now have Jenson Button leading this race. He has not had to

make a pit stop. Alonso is up to second. Hamilton is currentedly in

third place. You are watching Massa who is under pressure from Vettel.

And Vettel on a different strategy. Mark Webber trying to keep well out

of the way. Difficult here at the hair pin. It is so narrow on the

apex itself. You are watching for Massa and Vettel. Heading down to

that area. They are behind Perez. His wheel has come off right in

front of Vettel. Would you believe it? His wheel was rolling across the

road in front of his team-mate. Everyone has managed to miss it.

Yes, so far. Thakfully it has gone to the inside, to a safe position.

You couldn't make that up. You just could not make that up.

Alonso... Now what do we have here? Alonso trying to catch Button who is

leading this race now. Remember, Jenson Button has done 17 laps on

this set of tyres. He has gone deeper into the race. McLaren maybe

trying to make this a two-stop, unlike Vettel who certainly seems to

be making it a three stop but we know McLaren doesn't have the pays

pace of this year's Ferrari. Alonsowill probably strategically

keep himself back just a little bit, so as not to overwork those tyres

and bring them into position, as they come down to the DRS activation

zone which is just after this corner. R.. There you go

Alonsogetting himself into position. . Raikkonen has been hampered with

this. That will add time to the overall Grand Prix but Button was

very quick into that last turn, 13. It looks like Alonsowill not be able

to get past him. Presumably that was a problem on the

pit stop. That wheel became detached completely. It was probably separate

to the actual incident that brought him in. The contact was at the front

of the car. Damaged the nose to the front axel. It was fine. That's

probably just an issue with the seating of that rear wheel.

Raikkonen has to go the long way. He will not be happy about that. Then

three wheels on my wagon. Let's see where the tyre goes. Well a bit

lake, Mark, if you were trying to have it. It rolled in front of your

team-mate but a good effort. That would have been revenge, wouldn't

it, for last weekend? It didn't happen. It would have been very

nasty, too. Bear that in mind. It is a very slow corner. I guess the

impact would not have been as it might have been on a fast bend.

shows how close it is. But the tyre found a gap in the traffic and

rolled itself. Mark Webber, well that's his third retirement in the

last six races. Look at this, Sebastian Vettel gets

down the inside of Sergio Perez. That was a good, clean pass. No

problem at all there for Sebastian Vettel. That puts him up into fifth

fifth position now as he continues to chase after the likes of

Raikkonen and Hamilton. But, do remember that Sebastian Vettel at

some point has to still run the soft tyre. At some stage in this race he

has to do so. Hulkenberg is in the same boat. He at some point has to

run the soft tyre. He is not far behind Vettel. Interesting Button is

leading this race. If he pitted now he would come out in ninth between

Massa and Grosjean. Grosjean is 21 seconds behind him. McLaren are

playing with a three-second window to get the man out in front of the

Lotus. Here comes Alo. No DRS was operating that time. . Look for the

Ferrari passing this McLaren as they run down the clock. Alonsogot wide.

We can see under the rear wing of the McLaren, on to the kerb. He is

going to catch him late. Alonso is going for the lead and taking it.

I'm not sure if Raikkonen had a go. To get past Jenson Button. He wasn't

far enough. Ever the showman. He didn't want it waste that on a pass

when anyone was watching, other than the millions of viewers. He saved it

for the main grand stand. I'm sure the Chinese fans went crazy. So can

Kimi Raikkonen get past here? struggling for grip. The technical

man, Gary Anderson, should tell us if that has any affect on the aero

die am aic of the car? -- dynamic. . Could talk about the dirty air.

Again, again. That's his third stop. There must be a problem for Rosberg.

He stopped only a few laps ago. Definitely a problem. This is

Vettel's pass on Perez. You were saying we'll ask Gary to the damage

to the front of the Lotus, will it affect him. What is the answer? It

will affect him. A bit less downforce and it'll use up the

downtyres. He is one of the quickest cars now. They are five laps old.

we want to fight? Yes we do. Fight! Just explain what that is the about.

Surely they're going to fight? They're managing the tyres and it is

making sure they're in the best track positionment on that long

straight, Jenson Button has removed his racing gloves and put on a pair

of boxing gloves on the instructions of the team. Paul di Resta is

fending off Felipe Massa and it does make a massive difference. Paul will

have to switch to the softer tyre later and that has the danger of

dropping him down. Lewis Hamilton still can't get past Jenson Button

in the McLaren. Do not lose time defending against Fernando Alonso.

Lap times are critical. There is the alternative argument. Don't fight.

When you fight you have to defend and run different lines. And you can

end up spinning the rear tyre. You have got to use the optimum line and

in some ways the best way to get maximum points from the weekend is

playing the long game. It is almost like a game of chess, you sacrifice

a pawn to gain something else. In this case it is about avmging --

averaging your points across the season. Lewis Hamilton now very much

within the DRS activation point and he is within the one second. Venlt

he ran over the -- He ran over the inside kerb there. Let's see where

he is. He looks a bit far back to get a good activation from the DRS.

He might be all over the back of McLaren by the time they get to the

braking zone. Sebastian Vettel is still in France of Fernando Alonso.

He ran the kerb through 12 and that meant he ran wider before he could

get on the power on turn 13. will come into effect again. There

it goes. The flap opens up. Jenson Button, middle ground at the moment.

What will happen at the end of the straight? It is a strays -- straight

forward pass. In fighting terms that is like going out and getting

knocked out with the first punch. didn't even bother to force him

around the outside. He would have compromised his position into turn

one and picked up dirt in his tyres. Had Lewis Hamilton tried somewhere

else, he would have put up more of a fight. The Ferrari bearing down on

the Red Bull and this weekend's performance from Ferrari, whatever

happens in this race, has been massively ekurnling. They know --

encouraging. They know they have got a strong car. They had that great

second place in Australia. He felt he could challenge in Malaysia. That

went wrong when he damaged his front wing against the back of Sebastian

Vettel's car. But he just drives around the inside again. No problem

and as instructed, Sebastian Vettel didn't fight it. Fernando Alonso

will get DRS again to further compound his lap time. Sebastian

Vettel, no DRS of course, because he was behind going into the corner.

Fernando Alonso strat egically using the tools well. That was Fernando

Alonso running around the inside of Sebastian Vettel to take the lead in

the Grand Prix. This is where Lewis Hamilton got past Jenson Button.

Superior speed with the DRS in operation and through he went, no

trouble at all. Raikkonen right in position here under the rear wing of

Jenson Button. He won't be able to do anything through seven and eight.

They are slower than when they are qualifying. He is trying to line

himself up for the next DRS zone. Perez on his soft tyres has done six

laps and his last lap, you can see where the tyres are beginning to

lose performance. It looks like the soft option tyre only has six laps

in it. Box, box, box. Toshing one and box. That is Vettel who will be

coming in from second place. Will he choose to run the option or leave it

until the end of race. Well it will be purely... Raikkonen down the

inside, past Jenson Button. No problem at all. The decision will be

based on how many laps they think they will get out of it and where as

a result of making the next stop will they end up being in traffic.

This is not just about where it puts them now. But where it will put them

in the next round of stops. It is the medium compound. The harder

tyre. They want to save that option tyre for later in the race. McLaren

coming out into the pit as well. Nico Hulkenberg on that soft tyre

has just set the fastest lap of the race and he comes out behind Felipe

Massa I think. Yes, comes out in eighth. Perez for McLaren. He is

coming into his box. Huck trying to -- Nico Hulkenberg trying to get

past Paul di Resta. He has got past di Resta and that puts him into

sixth. Here is Sebastian Vettel on a move on Felipe Massa and he has done

it. That was brave and committed from Sebastian Vettel. That is how

you do it. There was no hesitation. The move came late on Jean-Eric

Vergne and Vettel made it clear that I'm coming through and Massa has no

choice but to leave the door open and hope Sebastian Vettel has

misjudged it. On that case, on the fresh tyres, made good use of the

extra grip. Massa has done 13 laps on the tyres he is on. He has to use

that extra grip while he has the opportunity. Here he goes down the

insite of rest -- inside of Paul di Resta. And Paul di Resta doing his

best to get some points here for Force India. They have been out of

the points in China in the past and he has finished 11th himself. But he

still has that soft tyre to run. Still keeping an eye on Nico

Hulkenberg's performance on that tyre. He has done a good job and

only done one stop. 18 laps on that set of tyres. So a good effort by

him. Kimi Raikkonen, how far behind Lewis Hamilton is he. Well only 1. 3

seconds. This is still one that rimy want -- Kimi wants to try and do.

They started together on the grid, but the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso

has had the more competitive performance. He was looking to

position his car on the outside and Massa made it clear that he was

going in that direction. He is looking for the outside initially.

He has to lift out of it and then it is in the second phase of the breaks

that he goes down the inside. That is a very difficult move. On board

with Kimi Raikkonen, looking back at Lewis Hamilton. It was this area

that Kimi had his problem last year. Box now. Here we go. Final stop for

Ferrari. Perfect three-stop territory. Great example of how calm

the guys are. They know he will be boxing. No emotion. They bring out a

new set of primes. They can see where their racer is. They don't

have much time to get into position and they tend to keep the tyre off

the cement in the pit, because they lose heat so quickly. You need to

keep them at the working temperature. Fernando Alonso comes

in. They need a good clean pit stop. They are looking good for victory.

But there is still a little way to go. It is OK. Not the fastest.

looked like the front jack man was out of the way, but Fernando Alonso

waits for light to tell him it is safe to go. There is Vettel coming

through. He still has his pit stop to do and he is going to be going on

the soft tyre. Fernando Alonso still looking good. Yes, but Sebastian

Vettel is where he likes to be, that is leading a Grand Prix, but of

course these guys all know that chasing podiums is how you win the

Championship and that is how Fernando Alonso came so close

beating Sebastian Vettel last year. Another fastest lap from Lewis

Hamilton. He is within a second now of Kimi Raikkonen. So Kimi Raikkonen

definitely not secure in his position. Remember, they're also

both racing against Sebastian Vettel. Both Lewis Hamilton and Kimi

Raikkonen are racing against Sebastian Vettel. We will see how

that works out as we go through the rest of the Grand Prix. Massa is in

seventh in the other Ferrari and seems to have lost out that first

pit stop cost him hugely. He has not been able to deliver the performance

that Fernando Alonso has done. Gary, I wanted to bring you in. It looks

good for Fernando Alonso, but it is about second and third isn't it?

Yes, Sebastian Vettel's 15 seconds behind Fernando Alonso. Well he is

in the lead now, but he was 15 seconds behind. So they will come

out together after the pit stop. It is one of those things with u --

where you immediate to make sure you have 22 seconds make that gap, or

you not going to make it. I wonder how McLaren's strategy is working

out. Jenson Button is third. Here is Fernando Alonso. I think it will be

an easy overtake. Fernando Alonso reclaims the lead in the Chinese

Grand Prix once more. He is looking good and vettal has to -- vettal has

to -- Vettel has to manage his tyres. That was the right strategy

from Jenson Button. It is taking the best result they can. I don't think

they would win the race. We are racing Vettel. Let's close up to

him. Do you think they have got a chance against Vettel They're doing

the same lap time. After a while the tyres become stable for a long time.

So yes, I think so. What is the longest run on the soft tyre?

was the only one we saw and that was six laps. And he was struggling. You

have got to look at that, two seconds was too much. Box,

bombardment, box. -- bombardment box, box, box. This should bring him

out ahead of Paul di Resta. He will be behind Lewis Hamilton and quite a

way behind Hamilton. So will the soft tyres allow him to close that

gap to Lewis Hamilton and to Kimi Raikkonen? He needs to make up more

than 10 seconds. This stop will cost him about 18 seconds in total. That

will drop him out behind Lewis Hamilton by ten seconds. In comes

Sebastian Vettel. He goes on to the new. A little slow getting the front

jack away. Not a disaster, but they were a bit slow. He needs every

tenth of a second. 3. 4 seconds. Away goes Sebastian Vettel then.

Rejoins once again. And well let's see how this settles down and keep

an eye on Jenson Button's lap pace. Jenson Button going into turn one

now. Sebastian Vettel on his run o through four and five and into turn

six. This is like four qualifying laps. You can race to the finish.

Race to the finish. You're got a big gap behind. That gives them a

comfort zone of just going to play with it and see what you can

deliver. Expect these to be fast laps. This is fun to watch.

Qualifying laps from Sebastian Vettel, the reigning champion.

Trying to catch Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. They are now second

and third. Have they got enough to stay in front of him and claim their

podium spots, or will Sebastian Vettel close on them? He has just

gone fastest in the middle sector. There is the gap, back to the Red

Bull. Can he close that gap in the four remaining laps? It is a lot to

ask. But he will be giving it his all. We have Raikkonen and Lewis

Hamilton have passed in front of us, and what... What happened here was

tit jack? Yes --Was it the jack? Yes the jack is the problem. As you

see what the gap is to Vettel and to Lewis Hamilton in front. He is 23.

It is 11. 5 seconds to make up. I do not think that is doable. The

fastest lap has been a 1. 39. 5. don't think he will have enough, do

you? No.Well he is fastest again in the first sector. Fernando Alonso

dealing with the traffic. We haven't seen him much, because he has been

supreme out in front. Just dealing with every situation perfectly. That

Ferrari has looked superb as well. They have got a race winning car

here. No doubt about it. Malaysia was disappointing, a non-finish,

that could be costly, but what a reply to come back and dominate this

race. He is 11 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, with Lewis Hamilton

behind. Sebastian Vettel is going two seconds faster in two sectors.

If can he can do it in each. What happened with Lewis Hamilton? It is

a lock up. In his quest to get into schedule to be getting close to the

gear box at the end of the Grand Prix. Getting diminishing returns

now. His tyres are no longer brand new. Higher degredation, even on the

Mercedes in front, which is on much older prime tyres. There is Vettel

in the background. A grandstand finish but I don't know if it'll be

enough. Lap time, well he is seconds quicker.

The last lap is going to be fun here in China. No doubt about it. It is

still Raikkonen second, Hamilton third but Vettel is closing. Has he

got enough time to do it? There is traffic ahead. So Raikkonen and

Hamilton have to navigate themselves through. A group of smaller cars

that are obviously getting on with their Grand Prix. They will get the

blue flags. Great stuff. Bianchi up ahead. Bianchi still

leading in that young guns group. Next gap to Vettel is 5.20. You have

two laps remaining. They didn't tell him how fast Vettel is going.

will work that ut for himself. We are on board with Vettel. Watch the

driving. Are these tyres going off yet? Can we tell anything from

watching, David? He is still going a second a lap faster. We can see the

graining. A second a sector faster, excuse me. You can see the tyres

opening up. There is the guys racing in front, within sight. It is aed go

feeling. It is a big gap, though. When -- it is a good feeling. When

you have got them in sight. A bit of a lock-up down there. We have seen

Hamilton lock already. Wide there from Vettel but he didn't actually

lock up. Getting scrappy now. Into the final lap, ets will see the

off-set. -- let's see. The gap was 5. 20 seconds to happen imton. It is

down to two seconds. He can do that. He is do it in the rundown to turn

14. The battle is onment The traffic is there. Hamilton will be

compromised as he runs out turn four and five. Raikkonen should be secure

in second. Hamilton has traffic and Vettel catching. And he is dropping

back. Clearly Hamilton has fallen into a zone. His tyres have gone

off. He is going to be a sitting duck to the Red Bull of Vettel. I

don't think he can hold on. The pole sitter, Lewis Hamilton, in the

Mercedes. Can he hold on for a second podium finish for Mercedes?

Or will it be snatched away in the dying moments of in Grand Prix by

Sebastian Vettel? Blue flag, blue flag. He is calling for the blue

flag. He is finally past it. He is within the DRS zone, Sebastian

Vettel. He has run wide.He has made a couple of mistakes. Hamilton is

maybe safe. He will get DRS, Vettel. But maybe too far back. The Mercedes

is in a straight line. The Red Bull is not as fast in a straight line

where Vettel needs T Raikkonen heading down towards the hair pin.

Alonso is going to finish but who will finish in third? A lock-up for

Bianchi. Alonso wins in China forker if oary. They celebrate already but

what will happen -- for Ferrari. Hamilton locks up but he is still

there. He is in front of Vettel. Raikkonen second, Hamilton third.

Vettel is fourth. What a race to the flag. Brilliant stuff. But Red

Bull's strategy did not quite pay off. Jenson Button finishes - he is

going to finish in fifth place. McLaren will be very happy about

that, delivering a solid result with a car that, perhaps, wasn't up to

the mark. But celebration in the Ferrari camp. The first Ferrari win

of 2013. The second for Alonso here and the fourth for Ferrari in China.

What a result for Fernando Alonso. He dominated this race and Ferrari

are definite Championship contenders this year.

A very special podium for Fernando Alonso. It's been a while since he

last took victory here in China. That was back in 2005 in his Renault

days. It looked like a complicated case in

terms of strategy but it looked a controlled race from your point of

view. Congratulations on the win. was definitely a challenging race

for the strategy people but in the car it felt good. Obviously we had

two or three laps with newer tyres than our competitors because we

stopped always a little bit later. That gave us a little bit of room.

I'm confident that even if we have problems with tyres, they will have

even more. It was good. But, you know, I think we can, in general,

show that the team did step forward. We were competitive. Maybe on

Saturday we were not as quick as Red Bull or Mercedes. But on Sundays,

Ferrari have a good pace. We need to use that. We heard you on team radio

complaining about Sergio Perez. Tell us your thoughts on what he did?

Well, I was next to him, really. I don't know if he did anything or

what happened. I tried to avoid him but he pushed me on the grass. I'm

lucky that there was a kerb that I got some grip back. I think I hit

him on the rear and damaged the front but not the ideal situation

but I don't know, you just swallow it. My goodness, that was getting

tight in the end. Could you see Vettel looming large in your

mirrors? He was getting bigger and bigger in the mirrors. Very close.

I'm still happy with it. I would have loved to have won. Fernando did

a great job. We didn't have the pure pace. In race pace. The same as

Lotus as well. We have work to do but this is the best thing for us to

be as high as we are. I'm quite happy, still. How difficult is that?

I imagine so much trust is involved. When you build a new team that's

building every day but you have to drive your own race, let the guys on

your pit wall keep you calm and work out what everybody else is doing? Is

that an easy way to drive a race car? If you have the pace you have

the pace, if you don't, you don't, you make do with what you have.

That's what I did. Looking forward it Bahrain are you expecting things

to level out as we head into the next races? I anticipate going into

the next race. It is very hot there. I would expect Fernando will be

quick as well as the Red bulls and Lotus. To finish as high as we are,

it will be tough but we'll give everything we can and see if we can

get up on the podium. Jenson, certainly an entertaining race from

where we were watching. What was it like for you? For me, it is always

quite strange. We led quite a bit of the race. When you are doing less

stops, it does look more exciting. At the end of the race, it is never

quite as exciting. I think we did well today. We had to try something

different. We are not quick enough to finish fifth on a three or

four-stop strategy. So, we had to go long, which was very tricky with so

many people jumping all over each other. It meant it was pretty, in a

way it was a strange race for me, I couldn't block and there was no

point fighting people. You had to sit and wait for people to overtake

you and in the fight back. That was the quickest way to the end of the

race. It is not the quickest way to go racing. We got 10 points. We

should be proud of what we achieved. We know there is a lot of work to do

to improve the car. While the car is not good enough, to come away with

ten points is pretty good. I think the right strategy but I was a bit

enfortunate with Adrian being a bit aggressive at the end of the race

and essentially I came off worse and lost four places. I had to battle

off for there. Whether he didn't see me, I will speak to him afterwards

but we can be content that our race pace was as strong as we thought.

The Chinese Grand Prix ended up like track today. To get you up-to-date.

Esteban Gutierrez gets a five-place grid penalty in Bahrain for his

accident. And Mark Webber gets a three-place grid penalty for his

incident with Jean-Eric Vergne and then we had the DRS incident with

eight drivers up for penalties but no further action there. It seems

there is a technical issue when the actual activation of the yellow flag

boards are out there. Glad to see no further action. At the end it would

have spoiled what was ultimately a good race. The yellow flag was out

for Mark Webber's car for turn 14. It was cleared awane not a real

danger zone, as such. But it left us with a very exciting fternoon's

racing. We have seen Alonso show, once again, why he is number one at

Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen is Mr Consistent. Lewis, great pole

position. Didn't manage to convert that into something more but being

on the podium in the last two races certainly gives him a strong

position going forward. He did well to hang on to it. I bet he didn't

expect Vettel to make the two errors on the last lap Yes, Vettel close to

being able to take the last place in the podium but he made a mistake in

11 and put him out of position in 12 before turning the DRS on. Vettel

started on the harder of the tyres, the prime tyre and put that option

on. He did amazing qualifying laps but came up short. It is setting us

up for, three races in, we have the World chi all tight at the top, both

in drivers' and constructors'. Ferrari in, top four T could be any

of them Ferrari, when they get it right, they are supreme. That was as

dominant a victory as we have seen for Fernando in that car. Such a

strong start to the year. When you compare back to last season, he did

win but it was more to the weather conditions but a pure victory on

tyre management and strategy. So they have to be seen as serious

title contenders for this year. will be back, of course, next week

in Bahrain on BBC One and BBC One H D. Qualifying and highlights for you