:01:12. > :01:22.Good morning, welcome to Shanghai. This is the final free practice
:01:22. > :01:24.
:01:24. > :01:30.session we are bringing you to live. David Coulthard is joining me to
:01:30. > :01:35.talk about what we have seen this morning. Glorious day. Interesting
:01:35. > :01:38.weekend, what are your thought? is warmer than through the free
:01:38. > :01:41.practice yesterday. No big surprise with the actual overall performance
:01:41. > :01:47.on the short and long runs yesterday. The only thing we have
:01:47. > :01:54.to take with a pinch of salt is what is the ultimate fuel level the
:01:54. > :01:57.cars are running. The qualifying I wouldn't be surprised if we see Red
:01:57. > :02:03.Bull and Ferrari and Lotus showing their hands. It is hard to know
:02:03. > :02:10.from the runs yet, Raikkonen looked like the stronger. What did you
:02:10. > :02:16.feel about the option tyre? There is a gap between the performance of
:02:16. > :02:20.the two tyres, it is difficult in the race because it look like they
:02:20. > :02:25.have Togo for the other tyre and not the option tyre, more so for
:02:25. > :02:28.Mercedes than Red Bull. The track is evolving, it is very dusty here,
:02:28. > :02:31.it will be something that evolves constantly over the next day and a
:02:31. > :02:39.bit, the only thing that matters what happens when the checkered
:02:39. > :02:45.flag comes ow. Tom and enginey in the pit -- out. Tom and Jenny in
:02:45. > :02:50.the pitlane. Here in the pitlane we are very
:02:50. > :02:58.warm, basking in 30 degrees, the track level is the same as yet. A
:02:58. > :03:03.lot of work to do. The next hour will be frenetic. Ross Brawn saying
:03:03. > :03:07.tyres would require some attention, that is an underestimate. The soft
:03:08. > :03:12.tyre is dropping after one good lap. Goodness knows how they will cope
:03:12. > :03:16.with that today. From a team's point of view, what is their
:03:16. > :03:19.optimum, what will they try to get out of the session? They will do
:03:19. > :03:24.some set-up work, no question. But towards the end of the session they
:03:24. > :03:29.will want to give the drivers a sight or feel for how the car will
:03:29. > :03:34.respond on lower fuel level. If you have real confidence in your
:03:34. > :03:38.underlying pace you wouldn't run anything less that 20 kilos of fuel,
:03:39. > :03:43.there will be mixed programmes out there. The headline times in
:03:43. > :03:46.themselves we shouldn't look too lease closely at. It will give us
:03:46. > :03:51.flavour of who is looking comfortable.
:03:52. > :03:54.Gary, some complicated mathematics? Always. But I have Gary next to me
:03:54. > :03:59.Always. But I have Gary next to me so it isn't a problem. We should
:03:59. > :04:02.get a bit of an idea by the end of this. We will, it is always
:04:02. > :04:08.difficult to know what fuel people are carrying, most teams will be
:04:08. > :04:12.running with a high fuel to begin with on a harder tyre, then the
:04:13. > :04:16.softer tyre. That could be 20 kilo, 30 kilos, that is the problem, we
:04:16. > :04:19.never really know. Helicopter buzzing overhead, it is all
:04:19. > :04:24.starting to happen here. 90 minutes of the free practice session for
:04:25. > :04:32.you coming up. Here is Ben and Gary. Drivers are just being prepared in
:04:32. > :04:37.car at the moment. We just saw Lotito, getting the Kimi Raikkonen
:04:37. > :04:40.car together -- Lotus, getting the Raikkonen car together. A couple of
:04:40. > :04:44.problems with the battery pack and they have had to take the floor off
:04:44. > :04:49.at the begin of the session. It looked like that is what they were
:04:49. > :04:57.doing, putting the floor back on and getting the body work ready. It
:04:57. > :05:01.isn't the end of the world. This is the vast paddock area behind the
:05:01. > :05:11.pit and behind that the little tree, the team offices surrounding a lake.
:05:11. > :05:15.
:05:15. > :05:20.That is fun. But the paddock area some what bleak. Pastor Maldonado
:05:20. > :05:25.hoping for great things, but they feel it will be Barcelona with
:05:25. > :05:31.serious updates before making progress with that car. First out
:05:31. > :05:37.on there is Jules Bianchi in the Mall. Adrian Sutil one of the
:05:37. > :05:43.earlies on to the track. It is only one hour, this 60-minute session
:05:43. > :05:49.always seems to fly by. It is very quick, the temperatures is 25
:05:49. > :05:53.degrees, 32 degrees track now. Once you get above 30 degrees the tyres
:05:53. > :06:03.work sensibly. You don't want to waste time, just get out there and
:06:03. > :06:05.
:06:06. > :06:09.on with it. The forecast is good for the rest of the weekend, nice
:06:09. > :06:14.and warm today and tomorrow. Looking at the information,
:06:14. > :06:18.everybody seems to be going out on the medium compound, the harder of
:06:18. > :06:21.the two tyres. We will expect to see a simulated run from most of
:06:21. > :06:26.the teams, that will come towards the end of the 60 minutes. If I was
:06:26. > :06:31.running it now I would go out on the medium tyre, 150 kilograms is
:06:31. > :06:37.the fuel they will start with. You will have 120 kilograms of fuel in
:06:37. > :06:43.the car. Doing long stints on the tyres to get durability. With about
:06:43. > :06:47.25 minutes to go in the session you lower the fuel, put on the softer
:06:47. > :06:52.tyre, the qualifying lap, then the high fuel, the 150 kilograms and
:06:52. > :07:00.see how the tyres last. You have to try to do a lot of stuff in the
:07:00. > :07:04.one-hour session. Looking at Caterham. You have some news from
:07:04. > :07:08.Lotus? I'm standing in their pit, Kimi Raikkonen is in the car, the
:07:09. > :07:12.reason they are delayed into the session is a suspension change a
:07:12. > :07:16.suspension set-up change on his car. They were here very late last night
:07:16. > :07:20.going through the data and they have decided to make a last-minute
:07:20. > :07:25.change there. A quick update on Romain Grosjean. He had had a
:07:25. > :07:30.torrid day yesterday. He was using the new exhaust, the new rearend on
:07:30. > :07:35.his car yesterday morning. They reverted back to the old set-up in
:07:35. > :07:40.the afternoon. He wasn't happy with it. Actually the team has said this
:07:40. > :07:43.morning that he was just 0.1 of a second slower in terms of set-up
:07:43. > :07:50.yesterday morning. He shouldn't have been as unhappy as he was
:07:50. > :07:53.making out. Kimi is off the jacks and they are about to put the tyres
:07:53. > :07:59.on. Frenando Alonso also in the pit garage at the moment, we have quite
:07:59. > :08:02.a lot of cars out or are out on circuit currently getting their
:08:02. > :08:06.initial installation lap under way. And building up to qualifying. Just
:08:06. > :08:11.to remind us, Gary, once they get into qualifying there is nothing
:08:11. > :08:13.they can change on the car. This period and that short period
:08:13. > :08:17.between theen of the session and beginning of qualifying, that is
:08:17. > :08:20.when all the last-minute changes have to be made? It is pretty
:08:20. > :08:24.frantic, for the engineers as well, they have to come up with the
:08:24. > :08:29.decisions in time for the mechanics to carry it out. Its a frantic time.
:08:29. > :08:34.The start of qualifying, once the car drives out of the pitlane that
:08:34. > :08:37.is it you are in the park rules. The only thing to change is front
:08:38. > :08:42.wing angle, a few electronic set- ups and brake balances. But you
:08:42. > :08:45.have what you have once the green light is on for the pitlane to open.
:08:45. > :08:48.For the engineers the pressure is on. They have done the work
:08:48. > :08:52.overnight, and done the data crunching in the factories and a
:08:52. > :08:56.set up to put on the cars which is on there now. If there are any
:08:56. > :09:00.issues it is really all hands to the pumps to change the cars in
:09:00. > :09:08.time for qualifying. Overnight people will have been working in
:09:08. > :09:13.the factories, running a simulation, a seven-poster rig that you can try
:09:13. > :09:18.different mechanical set-up on it. It is the aerodynamic circuit that
:09:18. > :09:22.is difficult to simulate in the factory, on the track that is it
:09:22. > :09:28.really. They will change anti-roll bars, setting, getting the tyres to
:09:28. > :09:37.work a bit better and longer, and try to be more compliant toward the
:09:37. > :09:42.tyre. This is the Marussia, this is Jules Bianchi waiting to go on to
:09:42. > :09:46.the circuit. He has been out once already, he has done his
:09:46. > :09:50.installation lap, a quick checkover to make sure everything is running
:09:51. > :09:57.as it should be. The young Frenchman will be sent on his way.
:09:57. > :10:00.The two rookie drivers doing a great job so far in Marussia. There
:10:00. > :10:05.is Jules Bianchi, they have gone back to the same exhaust set up
:10:05. > :10:09.that Kimi Raikkonen is running on had his car. We will see how he
:10:09. > :10:19.gets on. Just a reminder of the times. In the morning we saw Nico
:10:19. > :10:20.
:10:20. > :10:26.Rosberg set the tyre on the medium tyre for -- he set the time on the
:10:26. > :10:31.medium tyre. Mercedes were one and two. In the afternoon it was
:10:31. > :10:37.Ferrari's Felipe Massa fastest using the soft tyre, he did a very
:10:37. > :10:43.rapid lap of 1.35.3. He spoke yesterday to Jenny.
:10:43. > :10:47.It feels good, I wasn't happy at the beginning with the medium tyres.
:10:47. > :10:54.They were not so quick compared to other cars. But looking at how much
:10:54. > :10:58.we improved with the soft tyre, the thing that was really amazing, I
:10:58. > :11:03.didn't expect to improve so much on that. Also when I did the race
:11:03. > :11:07.simulation the pace was very good and competitive. That is really the
:11:07. > :11:13.direction. For sure the biggest prize is alwaysle qualifying. I
:11:13. > :11:17.think I did a good lap on the soft, that is positive. And the
:11:17. > :11:22.degradation of the tyres for the race, I think in the long run it
:11:22. > :11:27.wasn't bad. I'm confident for the weekend, I hope we can do
:11:27. > :11:31.everything we did today tomorrow and Sunday. Were you surprised with
:11:31. > :11:35.the difference in the tyres, a big difference in the two compounds?
:11:35. > :11:40.Yeah, when I drove the medium and the soft, two different cars and
:11:40. > :11:46.two different grips. The soft has a big degradation for the race. It
:11:46. > :11:56.would be a big tactic kal race for everybody as well. Interesting
:11:56. > :12:02.
:12:02. > :12:06.Massa? Interesting two different cars, what happens when you put a
:12:06. > :12:10.softer tire toor on the car, it gives you more rear -- tyre on the
:12:10. > :12:14.car, it gives you more grip and traction. If you have a car that is
:12:14. > :12:20.on the harder tire and struggling for rearend grip, put on the soft
:12:20. > :12:26.tyres you have a faster car, if you have a car on the white wall tyres
:12:26. > :12:31.with more under steer. A car with good balance will go quicker.
:12:31. > :12:37.Sometimes you get a different benefit depending on the car.
:12:37. > :12:42.have worked with Rob many times, this is an amazing relationship?
:12:42. > :12:46.an engineer and driver that is what you want. When I worked with
:12:46. > :12:56.Barricello it was sem later, you were friends as well as engineer.
:12:56. > :13:00.You work with that situation, it is a better situation. Having that
:13:00. > :13:02.relationship can't be something you switch off when the driver goes off
:13:02. > :13:07.the track, you have to have the relationship where you go and have
:13:07. > :13:11.a bite and a beer. You discuss things away from the circuit. I
:13:11. > :13:16.always think if you sit down for a meeting for God ideas it never
:13:16. > :13:20.works but you can have good ideas in 24-hours in a day. That is the
:13:20. > :13:27.relationship they have, and some things come out of those
:13:27. > :13:31.conversation. Nico Rosberg sees in very good form. He has given a
:13:31. > :13:36.great interview to Tom Clarkeson which you will hear on the
:13:36. > :13:41.Qualifying Show on BBC One. It starts at 6.00am, I hope you can
:13:41. > :13:47.join us for the full qualifying show on BBC 1. David Coulthard will
:13:47. > :13:51.be joining us in the commentary box for that one. In the Ferrari pits
:13:51. > :13:57.waiting to see track action. The only lap time set so far is by the
:13:57. > :14:00.two Caterham, Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic in the 1.41. Just
:14:00. > :14:05.the early level in the session. We are about to see more action.
:14:05. > :14:09.Sebatian Vettel making his way out on to the circuit. We didn't see
:14:09. > :14:13.the soft tyre pace from The Red Houses yesterday. They tend to run
:14:13. > :14:17.the cars heavy on Friday. Maybe they are not showing us everything.
:14:17. > :14:20.Remember Sebastian is looking for three pole positions in a row to
:14:20. > :14:24.start the season. That would be a remarkable beginning to the year?
:14:24. > :14:28.It is not impossible. Sebastian yesterday did look like he was
:14:28. > :14:33.having a little bit of a thrash. He wasn't quite content. I think Mark
:14:33. > :14:36.Webber of much more in control of the situation. His long run on the
:14:36. > :14:39.prime tyre was very, very impressive. As you say, they always
:14:39. > :14:42.do their homework right, they always run the car a little heavier
:14:42. > :14:47.and feel they never show their hand until the last minute. I would
:14:47. > :14:51.expect them to be up there. There is a whole bunch that can be
:14:51. > :14:54.challenging for pole. It won't be a given for Sebatian Vettel today.
:14:54. > :14:58.One of the big question marks is over the McLaren team, and whether
:14:58. > :15:04.they are making programme, after what was no doubt a disappointing
:15:04. > :15:08.start in Melbourne. They have brought some new parts to the car
:15:08. > :15:13.this weekend, Perez had some troubles yesterday, an exciting
:15:13. > :15:16.time for McLaren? Certainly a busy time for McLaren. Jenson was a
:15:16. > :15:19.little downbeat I thought yesterday afternoon when I spoke to him. They
:15:19. > :15:24.have made a difference, they have improved the car a little bit. But
:15:24. > :15:30.not as much as the team of hoping. Sergio Perez has certainly got a
:15:30. > :15:35.big day ahead of him. After a good weekend in Malaysia when Martin
:15:35. > :15:40.Whitmarsh said he didn't put a foot wrong. He put a not wrong yesterday,
:15:40. > :15:45.first of all ending up in the pitlane gravel track, where Lewis
:15:45. > :15:49.Hamilton was in 2007. He went off in FP2. He says he's starting from
:15:49. > :15:52.zero from a set-up point of view. Gary I have a question for you,
:15:52. > :15:57.when a driver is clearly Lachlaing a little bit of confidence in the
:15:57. > :16:01.car, as is the case with Sergio this weekend. What can a team say
:16:01. > :16:05.to him overnight it calm his nerves and get him in the right frame of
:16:05. > :16:09.mind for qualifying? You know it is one of those things, the confidence
:16:09. > :16:13.is everything in a racing car. Normally what happens is when you
:16:13. > :16:17.lose your confidence is because you are not sure what the car will do,
:16:17. > :16:22.whether it will jump into an understeer mid-corner or the rear
:16:22. > :16:32.will snap out at you. That saps your kf tense much the car bit him
:16:32. > :16:32.
:16:32. > :16:36.a cop of times yesterday and went off. You need it make the car do
:16:36. > :16:40.more than one thing. There is lots of understeer let the driver know
:16:40. > :16:44.what's happening and he can apply his talents to the car, lots of
:16:44. > :16:47.understeer. You come back to that slowly. His confidence will build
:16:47. > :16:51.because he knows what the car will do, and engineers can tune the car
:16:51. > :16:57.a bit to get rid of the understeer. You have to make the car go lower
:16:57. > :17:01.before it can go quicker. Looking into Red Bull pit, Mark Webbering
:17:01. > :17:07.nice and relaxed at the moment. He has never won the race in China,
:17:07. > :17:12.but he was second in 2009, that was the first Red Bull victory and a 1-
:17:12. > :17:18.2 finish on that occasion. We now know that the rivalry that simplers
:17:18. > :17:22.away there came out into the surface in Malaysia. They are get
:17:23. > :17:27.on. Let's see what Esteban Gutierrez has been up to. That is
:17:27. > :17:32.out of turn ten and well out wide on to the artificial grass, but
:17:32. > :17:36.kept it in a straight line, kicked up the dust and back on the track.
:17:36. > :17:40.A new rear wing which has improved things from what the drivers are
:17:40. > :17:45.saying. Still maybe a bit of work to be done to get them back on to
:17:45. > :17:49.the kind of pace we saw last year, when they qualified in the second
:17:49. > :17:52.row. If you look at Sauber they have always been fast in the
:17:52. > :17:55.straight, which dictates that you have very little drag. If you have
:17:55. > :17:59.very little drag sometimes you don't have enough downforce. You
:17:59. > :18:04.have to get the right compromise. I don't think they have found it yet
:18:05. > :18:08.with this year's car. New rear wing on it, every team has different
:18:08. > :18:12.combinations of wing because of different levels of downforce. Up
:18:12. > :18:16.to now because in qualifying you could use the DRS all the way round
:18:17. > :18:21.the lap, you wanted a wing where the DRS was efficient as far as
:18:21. > :18:24.work is concerned. Sometimes it means you have a wing that is less
:18:24. > :18:28.efficient when it is closed at producing downforce. That has
:18:28. > :18:33.changed now, with the DRS only used in two positions on the track in
:18:33. > :18:36.qualifying and potentially the race. The wing philosophy and concept
:18:36. > :18:42.will change slightly to suit the new regulations, it takes them a
:18:42. > :18:46.while to catch up with it. Maybe that is what Sauber have done with
:18:46. > :18:52.the new design of rear wing. We saw the ambulance down the pitlane do
:18:52. > :18:56.you know what it is about? I will give you an upset. In the Marussia
:18:56. > :19:00.garage, one of the mechanics got clipped, has his shoe off in the
:19:00. > :19:05.back of the stretcher just to check out precautionary measures really.
:19:05. > :19:11.He had a smile on his face, so he will be fine. Nothing too much to
:19:11. > :19:16.worry about. Jules Bianchi just firing up his car mind me, you can
:19:16. > :19:19.-- behind me, having a practice start. Max Chilton not with the
:19:19. > :19:23.best of days yesterday. He lost a lot of time in the second session
:19:23. > :19:27.because of the problem with an oil leak so the car stopped twice on
:19:27. > :19:31.track. They have a lot of time to make up down here for Max. A
:19:31. > :19:35.circuit that he doesn't know. I feel sorry for him today going out
:19:35. > :19:39.there wild. It won't be easy for him that's for sure, he was very
:19:39. > :19:49.happy with the way his initial lap went yesterday before they had the
:19:49. > :19:54.problem. He was, as you say, some what frustrate. Other cars are
:19:54. > :19:59.looking slow, the track isn't there yet. You may not be able to get the
:19:59. > :20:04.first lap. There is an interesting comment, Gary. Just explain, why
:20:04. > :20:07.does the track vary so much. The conditions are good today. We have
:20:07. > :20:11.decent track temperature, 33 degrees, the air temporary 35. It
:20:11. > :20:16.would appear the track is not as quick as it was when they left it
:20:16. > :20:20.yesterday? It is getting the rubber on track. Overnight dust will have
:20:20. > :20:24.blown across, a lot of building sites nearby. It is just getting
:20:24. > :20:27.rid of that. It is like driving on sand, the car just slides that bit
:20:27. > :20:31.more. It is the same for everybody, obviously we have five minutes into
:20:31. > :20:35.the session, a lot of people are still sitting in the garage. Normal
:20:35. > :20:39.low the faster teams or the friendent teams don't want to run
:20:39. > :20:44.and use their tyres before the track ready. They wait five or ten
:20:44. > :20:49.mens. There will be a point where they get on with it. Several of the
:20:49. > :20:52.front runners aren't in their cars, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa are
:20:52. > :20:56.wandering around outside their cars in the pit garages waiting for the
:20:56. > :21:01.track to clean up. I would imagine it will get very busy later on.
:21:01. > :21:04.Sergio Perez brings it down to the hairpin. This track, it is mainly
:21:04. > :21:08.medium and slow speed corner, it has this massively long straight to
:21:08. > :21:14.cope with. It is all about the compromise between straight line
:21:14. > :21:18.speed or downforce through those medium speed and slow speed corner,
:21:18. > :21:23.Perez fasters on 1.38.7. We are some way off the lap times we saw
:21:23. > :21:33.yesterday, that is confirmation of that. Top speeds just around the00
:21:33. > :21:33.
:21:33. > :21:37.mile an hour mark. Pic fastest at 214kms an hour. Not quite the full
:21:37. > :21:41.mark. Some teams go for the straight line speed, Sauber were
:21:41. > :21:46.top of that yesterday and Mercedes. Red Bull quite a long way down,
:21:46. > :21:50.they have gone for the downforce option? You look at Sauber, 13th
:21:50. > :21:54.and 17th yesterday. Obviously their car, by no means has as much grip
:21:54. > :21:58.as The Red House. But it is very easy to get the compromise the
:21:58. > :22:02.wrong way. The one thing I will say, it is very easy to use the straight
:22:02. > :22:06.line speed of a car, even if the tyres are going away on you. You
:22:06. > :22:13.definitely want to be in a position where you are efficient on the
:22:13. > :22:18.straight. Ready for traction. Understood, the track is still
:22:18. > :22:22.quite so, it may improve over the next couple of laps. As I said,
:22:22. > :22:26.like the soft tyre when the track is dirty it is always the traction
:22:26. > :22:31.that stands out as a problem. When the traction is better it gives
:22:31. > :22:35.more grip and the rear tyres more grip, the engineer is right saying
:22:35. > :22:38.give it a couple of lap. They seem to be biased towards the straight
:22:38. > :22:41.line speed, the driver will use the speed on the straight, it is one of
:22:41. > :22:45.the things you can use without problems for tyres. Red Bull has
:22:45. > :22:49.always carried this thing where it has really taken corner and lap
:22:49. > :22:53.time from the corner, it has paid dividends. Sometimes you know if
:22:53. > :22:56.you don't qualify in the front row, if you don't qualify in pole
:22:56. > :23:00.position with a Red Bull, you can fight a big battle getting past
:23:00. > :23:05.people. It is not always the right compromise. Because of the DRS
:23:05. > :23:09.rules it is different. Need to make sure you can overtake some people?
:23:09. > :23:14.Very important, as we have seen, particularly during a multistop
:23:14. > :23:24.race, you will always come out in traffic. A couple of tweets coming
:23:24. > :23:26.
:23:26. > :23:32.in. Grosjean just going fasters there in the Lotus, 1.38.7, we ride
:23:32. > :23:35.with his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. "why do some drivers stop at the
:23:35. > :23:39.end of the pitlane and others straight out, it look dangerous".
:23:39. > :23:42.The reason you told you yesterday is the practice start area is at
:23:42. > :23:46.the end of the pitlane. There is an area where you can stop and wait
:23:46. > :23:49.and mainly for the drivers to get through the button sequence and
:23:49. > :23:52.they are up to speed with how everything works, the grip
:23:52. > :23:56.conditions at the end of the pitlane is always very, very
:23:56. > :24:00.different from on the track. It is never exactly a perfect start. It
:24:00. > :24:03.just makes sure all the systems are working correctly. It is as
:24:03. > :24:07.important as a driver doing practice pitstops or the driver
:24:07. > :24:11.going out there and practice the warm-up lap. You have to do all
:24:11. > :24:14.these things to make sure when you have to do it in the race or in
:24:15. > :24:19.qalfoiing that it is not a new eqens to you, it is imprinted on
:24:19. > :24:28.your brain. It is like sitting on the coach at home and working the
:24:28. > :24:38.remote control. I would push on the first. Low tyre pressure leading to
:24:38. > :24:43.the car bottoming. Plank of the car. He's worried about that, but's told
:24:43. > :24:47.to push any way, not to protect the tyres on the opening lap. They are
:24:47. > :24:52.all still using the white wall tyre? The tyres, they use electric
:24:52. > :24:56.blankets to warm them up. The normal temperatures is 80 degrees
:24:56. > :25:00.to set them up. When they go on the car they are up to 80 degrees and
:25:00. > :25:05.the pressure is right. Once you leave the pitlane they drop down a
:25:05. > :25:09.bit. If you warm them up more than 80 degrees you cook the tyres, you
:25:09. > :25:13.actually harden the tyre and lose a bit of grip. You have to get the
:25:13. > :25:15.compromise right. Sometimes you just want to get it so it comes up
:25:16. > :25:19.to the right pressure and temperature, just as you are
:25:19. > :25:24.starting on your timed lap. That is the best way for the tyre to work
:25:24. > :25:28.best and give you maximum grip. Nico Rosberg has gone fastest.
:25:28. > :25:36.Mercedes still seem to be in reasonably good shape, but are
:25:36. > :25:40.they? We are talking to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff? Nico has gone
:25:40. > :25:44.fastest, this track works well this year and now this year. Is that how
:25:44. > :25:49.you see it? It is different this year, it is much warmer the car and
:25:49. > :25:52.tyres are different. We have to work hard and understand what's
:25:52. > :25:57.going on. In free practice three. And see what happens tomorrow.
:25:57. > :26:01.seem to find less with the soft tyre yesterday afternoon than
:26:01. > :26:05.everybody else, why was that? think what you could see is with
:26:05. > :26:13.the soft tyre the field was much closer together. So it is about
:26:13. > :26:17.optimising and working for the race as well. And the race going to be
:26:17. > :26:21.mainly against the hard compound, it is just part of the programme.
:26:21. > :26:25.You weren't playing games and running high fuel? Always!And
:26:25. > :26:29.finally, is Lewis OK today after his eye problems? Yeah he's much
:26:29. > :26:36.better, that is good news. Good luck. Thank you.
:26:36. > :26:40.Thank you very much Tom. A couple more tweets. Alex says, do we think
:26:41. > :26:45.practice three gives us more of an indication for qualifying or are we
:26:45. > :26:49.left wondering even more after FP1 and 2, normally we get clues on
:26:49. > :26:53.qualifying in this session? gives you a bit better clue.
:26:53. > :26:57.Everybody will have worked their car over and got a little different
:26:57. > :27:00.set-up on the car and understand the tyres a bit better,
:27:00. > :27:03.understanding what Rosberg was saying about the tyre temperature
:27:03. > :27:07.and pressures not being right. I believe by the ep of the session
:27:07. > :27:14.you have a fair clue into what's going on. They love sending you
:27:14. > :27:17.difficult questions, Gary, this one has come in, what is faster an LMP1
:27:18. > :27:25.car with hybrid technology, or a Formula One car with KERS
:27:25. > :27:30.technology, him and his mate are having a debate? The LMP car has
:27:30. > :27:37.mud guards it covers the wheels. The wheels in a Formula One car
:27:37. > :27:44.create 40% of the drag, on a LMP car it is 10%. Faster in terms of
:27:44. > :27:49.speed an LMP car with the same engine power, forget hybrid or KERS,
:27:49. > :27:54.an LMP1 car will be quicker on the straight but not a faster lap time.
:27:54. > :27:59.Lewis Hamilton has just gone fast, faster than anyone else, faster
:27:59. > :28:03.than his team-mate. The track is cleaning up. Everyone still on the
:28:03. > :28:07.medium harder compound tyre, Sebatian Vettel on a lap now, this
:28:07. > :28:15.will give an interesting indication. Because out at the same time that
:28:15. > :28:20.Hamilton has done his lap, 1.37, he does a 1.37.5, half a second slower
:28:20. > :28:27.on that lap. Mercedes looking strong again. Vettel has split the
:28:27. > :28:34.two Mercedes, faster than Rosberg but slower than Hamilton. Button on
:28:34. > :28:38.a lap. He comes to the hairpin, tries to be neat towards the last
:28:38. > :28:42.left-hander. It can be tricky. We saw one or two people very wide
:28:42. > :28:47.yesterday, we have seen that in qualifying. The flap opens as he
:28:47. > :28:52.comes across the line. 1.38.7. That is a long way off what the front
:28:52. > :29:00.runners are doing. It puts him seventh. But 1.7 seconds away from
:29:00. > :29:06.Lewis Hamilton. You can't read everything into that. McLaren have
:29:06. > :29:09.work to do. A team you know well, in the old days it was known as
:29:09. > :29:16.Jordan, and you were the technical boss there, Force India had a solid
:29:16. > :29:20.day? Yeah, had he had a solid start to the season. A drop off in
:29:20. > :29:25.Malaysia because of a pitstop problem with a wheel nut problem.
:29:25. > :29:31.Those things happen. Andrew Green is technical director there, and he
:29:31. > :29:35.workeded with me on the 191 Jordan at the beginning. Mark Smith is a
:29:35. > :29:39.technical director at Caterham, the three of us built the 191 Jordan.
:29:39. > :29:46.They are close to I moo heart and they came through The Andrew Marr
:29:46. > :29:56.Show Andrews school of motoring. It is nice to see them in the pit line
:29:56. > :30:06.
:30:06. > :30:09.and Force India seeing the success I they could have. Susie you are in
:30:09. > :30:13.the pit? Charles Pic's car had a trouble, they lost one of the
:30:13. > :30:18.planned runs in the afternoon. A hydraulics problem they had. That
:30:18. > :30:22.set them back a little bit. And Giedo van der Garde has just come
:30:22. > :30:25.in and speak to his engineering saying he's a bit happier with the
:30:25. > :30:32.balance today. He wants them to have another fiddle to improve it.
:30:32. > :30:36.He wants more bite in the tyres. Right, OK, well we have Hamilton
:30:36. > :30:46.fastest. The two Mercedes up there. Rosberg has gone back ahead of
:30:46. > :30:56.
:30:56. > :31:00.another tweet asks will Caterham or Marussia ever catch up with the
:31:00. > :31:04.rest of the field? It is always tough to make up for the years that
:31:04. > :31:09.have gone past. We need to get a regulation change to give a new
:31:09. > :31:19.start line, when you take the rest of the field. Let's say Red Bull
:31:19. > :31:19.
:31:19. > :31:22..00 people, or 650 people, or �250 million budget. Marussia have00 a
:31:22. > :31:28.problem �60 million, that is the difference. You have to set your
:31:28. > :31:34.sights where you can get to. For Caterham and Marussia, those sights
:31:34. > :31:38.might be the guys just in front that are part of the establishment,
:31:38. > :31:43.part of the established teams. Marussia are doing a very good job
:31:43. > :31:48.this year. Caterham are putting efforts into next year's package
:31:48. > :31:52.because of the regulation change. I would have to like to have seen
:31:52. > :31:57.them better this year. Amazing amounts of money, even the lowly
:31:57. > :32:02.teams are spending more than a million a week on Formula One?
:32:02. > :32:05.is enormous. In China they have 55, 56 people. It doesn't all happen
:32:05. > :32:08.for nothing. There is 20 tonnes of freight. There is two cars. It is
:32:09. > :32:13.mad, but it is what it is. If you join the club well unfortunately
:32:13. > :32:16.you have to pay for your entry. We you have to pay for your entry. We
:32:16. > :32:21.are riding on board bots. A little slide through the final turn there
:32:21. > :32:24.-- Valtteri Bottas, a little slide -- Valtteri Bottas, a little slide
:32:24. > :32:29.to the final turn there. A similar lap to Perez a while ago.
:32:29. > :32:33.He has backed it all off. Bottas, although the Williams car isn't
:32:33. > :32:37.where the team would expect, or were hoping it to be. There is
:32:38. > :32:42.Claire Williams, now confirmed as deputy team principal, keeping a
:32:42. > :32:45.close eye on things. Bottas is doing the joble well. He's not
:32:45. > :32:48.making mistake,s he is a rookie driver, not many errors, we weren't
:32:48. > :32:52.expecting to see many, he put in impressive practice runs last year.
:32:52. > :32:56.He has got his head down. I meal with Maldonado, he's trying to
:32:56. > :33:00.drive a car he had last year. You can see the frustration in him. He
:33:00. > :33:04.hasn't got the car he had last year, and yet he's still trying to drag
:33:05. > :33:09.those lap times out of it. Bottas seems to be thinking this is what I
:33:09. > :33:13.have got and I have to do the best with what I got? Last year the one
:33:13. > :33:16.in Barcelona, had he a really good race there and showed real maturity
:33:16. > :33:22.as far as winning and beating Frenando Alonso. At the end of the
:33:22. > :33:27.day Maldonado he's able to do the job, he's frustrated they have gone
:33:27. > :33:30.backwards. He has come into it saying he would be in a good car
:33:30. > :33:34.and show his talent, suddenly it is not like that. He has to accept it
:33:34. > :33:37.and that is one thing he has done. Stand back, accept it and know he
:33:37. > :33:47.might get a better career out of being able to take a bad car
:33:47. > :33:48.
:33:48. > :33:54.forward than just jumping in a God car and being quick. Hamilton is
:33:54. > :33:59.fastest. Ahead of Rosberg, still very much Mercedes 1-2. We have
:33:59. > :34:02.been talking about Williams. Generaly is with their third driver,
:34:02. > :34:06.Susie Wolff. Great to be here in China and as
:34:06. > :34:10.part of the team this year? Yeah, nice to be here. Obviously it was a
:34:10. > :34:16.pretty hard day for us yesterday. It looks slightly better this
:34:16. > :34:24.morning. I was looking at the comments that both the drivers made,
:34:24. > :34:27.Pastor Maldonado neither were happy at the end of the session? The car
:34:27. > :34:32.was hard to drive. We have made a bit of a step forward this morning.
:34:32. > :34:35.It seems to be better for Valtteri, we are waiting for Pastor to go out.
:34:35. > :34:39.Ultimately it will all come down to qualifying, the temperature of the
:34:39. > :34:43.track and whether we can get the tires toirs working properly.
:34:43. > :34:49.Explain to everybody at home the role you have as development driver
:34:49. > :34:53.on a race weekend, what do you have to do? Not that much. I'm not doing
:34:53. > :34:56.driving. The main point to be here was listening to the driver
:34:56. > :34:59.comments. I was working on Wednesday and Thursday before we
:34:59. > :35:03.flew out. It is interesting to hear their comments compared to what I'm
:35:03. > :35:07.doing in the simulator. Most of my work is done back at the factory.
:35:07. > :35:10.lot has been made about the fact that you are the first female
:35:10. > :35:16.development driver we have had for a long time. How does that work for
:35:16. > :35:22.you. Do you feel a responsibility? I don't feel responsibility about
:35:22. > :35:25.it, I'm here as racing driver, it is about performance in Formula One,
:35:25. > :35:30.it is about doing a good job and being fast enough. The whole gender
:35:30. > :35:34.issue, of course it is always going to be there, ultimately in Formula
:35:34. > :35:38.One you have just got to be basing everything on performance. I will
:35:38. > :35:43.let you go back into the garage, it is getting noisy again. You can
:35:43. > :35:48.hear more of Susie's comment with a special programme going out on BBC
:35:48. > :35:51.Radio Five Live 9. 30 on Monday night, all about women drivers.
:35:51. > :35:55.Hamilton still fastest in this free practice session. The practice
:35:55. > :35:58.three, we are under half an hour to go now. Hamilton from Rosberg, then
:35:58. > :36:02.Vettel and Raikkonen. We are watching Webber at the moment. All
:36:02. > :36:08.of them still using the medium harder tyre of the pair that they
:36:08. > :36:12.have to use this weekend. Webber just putting in his first flying
:36:12. > :36:15.lap. This will be effective low. He hasn't done a flying lap as yet. It
:36:15. > :36:21.won't be the fastest, but it will put him up there somewhere in the
:36:21. > :36:25.top ten. We will keep an eye on it. The final turn now. Great view over
:36:25. > :36:28.the magnificent Shanghai facility. Across the line goes into fourth
:36:28. > :36:31.place. Just under a second away from the lap time that Lewis
:36:31. > :36:34.Hamilton has always achieved. Hamilton has always achieved.
:36:34. > :36:39.Taking a little look at the replay here.
:36:39. > :36:43.You can see the vibration and wobble in the front wing. These
:36:43. > :36:46.front wings much stiffer than in the past. New rules meaning they
:36:46. > :36:51.can't use any special materials to allow a bit of flex on the
:36:51. > :36:55.straights as they have in the past? Usually you try to get the flex to
:36:55. > :36:59.back the wing off, with front downforce at the high-speeds so you
:36:59. > :37:05.can run more front wing angle for the low-speed corners when the car
:37:05. > :37:09.is understeering. If you take the front wings and take six grown
:37:10. > :37:13.adult, not me, I'm overgrown, six normal adults and stand them on the
:37:13. > :37:16.front wing, that is the load it is getting on the straight. It needs
:37:16. > :37:20.to be stiff any way. It get a lot of load, and the vibration going
:37:20. > :37:24.through it with the car going over the bumps, we can see there the car
:37:24. > :37:29.bouncing a bit. It gets a lot of abuse. It is fascinating to know it
:37:29. > :37:33.is that much load on the front wing. Just watching the Ferrari come
:37:33. > :37:37.through now. Felipe Massa has just crossed the line, we are just
:37:37. > :37:43.seeing what both of them can do. Alonso about to complete a lap.
:37:43. > :37:47.Let's just see what he does. He goes fifth-fastest. Very comparable
:37:47. > :37:50.that time to what Mark Webber has done a moment ago. He seems to take
:37:50. > :37:55.it fairly steady. When Lewis is out on track they are always telling
:37:55. > :37:59.him just how he's doing compared to team-mate Nico Rosberg. There is
:37:59. > :38:03.certainly some fairly fierce rivalry going on at Mercedes. Of
:38:03. > :38:08.course Rosberg has been fastest in Q2 in both of the events we have
:38:08. > :38:14.had. But both qualifying sessions so far this year have been affected
:38:14. > :38:18.by rain. Big slide from Massa. That lap time not so quit. That put him
:38:18. > :38:22.sixth. Just behind Alonso, it does looks a though we are going to get
:38:22. > :38:26.a proper dry qualifying all the way through this time. That will be
:38:26. > :38:30.another indicator on car performances but also on the
:38:30. > :38:40.interteam rifeties like that one between Hamilton and Rosberg?
:38:40. > :38:45.
:38:45. > :38:50.does, you Hamilton seems to need the encouragement and confidence of
:38:50. > :38:54.that voice in his ear. He's not alone. It means you are not in your
:38:54. > :38:59.lonely little seat in the car. Talking about the old teams in the
:38:59. > :39:04.cars, the top six at the moment they are both Mercedes at the and
:39:04. > :39:09.then both Red Bull and both Ferrari. It is a still Noah's Ark, no rain
:39:09. > :39:12.yet but it is two-by-two. We often see that, you get that here in
:39:12. > :39:16.Shanghai, it is a car-specific track. There is not a lot the
:39:16. > :39:23.driver can do to make changes. Talking of changes, talk me through
:39:23. > :39:29.some pictures we have got. They have been adding a gurner flap to
:39:30. > :39:34.Force India, what is that and what is it doing? The regulations give
:39:34. > :39:43.you a certain elements that the front wing can be, a certain
:39:43. > :39:47.distance and height. The regulations are maximum might,
:39:47. > :39:52.length and depth on the wing. The flap they are putting on gives more
:39:52. > :39:56.downforce on it. It works a little bit better at wing angle because it
:39:56. > :40:00.works better at low speed. The low speed corners you will have more
:40:00. > :40:05.front grip, at high-speeds it disappears into the undergrowth. It
:40:05. > :40:08.doesn't work as hard at high-speed. It is a tuning device for more
:40:08. > :40:13.downforce but especially at low speed. Force India still making
:40:13. > :40:17.changes and experimenting. A bit of work on the front of the McLaren.
:40:17. > :40:21.They have gone for this new front suspension, you were telling us
:40:21. > :40:27.watching them in Australia when they make changes to the pull rod
:40:27. > :40:31.front suspension it is more complicated with the push rod
:40:31. > :40:35.suspension? Everything is so compact. At the moment just
:40:35. > :40:39.watching them they are changing the height. That is the pull rod where
:40:39. > :40:44.that guy's hand on the near board end near the chassis. There is two
:40:44. > :40:48.bolts tolding it together, you can undo those and change it, and it
:40:48. > :40:58.changes the length of the pull rod, same for a push rod, but it is more
:40:58. > :41:04.
:41:04. > :41:11.fiddley to get to it. It is more compact. Vettel just going out.
:41:11. > :41:14.Hamilton still fastest. Sergio Perez is out there and thankfully
:41:14. > :41:19.hasn't visited a gravel track just yet. He had a tough time yesterday.
:41:19. > :41:23.The first visit to the gravel track was coming into the pits. And the
:41:23. > :41:28.same gravel trap that famously Lewis Hamilton went off into in
:41:28. > :41:32.2007 when he was trying to win this race. He went off on a separate
:41:32. > :41:37.gravel trap did Perez, no damage done. And they have obviously been
:41:37. > :41:41.working hard overnight it make the car better. Currently Perez is
:41:41. > :41:48.eighth quickest, Jenson Button further down in 14th position. The
:41:48. > :41:54.Mercedes at the top, Red Bulls and Ferrari very much in the mix. The
:41:54. > :42:04.Lotus of Raikkonen. Williams are encouraged, Bottas and Maldonado
:42:04. > :42:14.
:42:14. > :42:20.are showing a better turn of speed. says he's suffering with traction,
:42:20. > :42:25.particularly out of turn three, that is this corner. Otherwise
:42:25. > :42:29.Chilton doing a God job of staying in touch with his team-mate,
:42:29. > :42:35.despite missing out on so much track action. Both Marussia are
:42:35. > :42:40.faster than both Caterham. A note on the Toro Rosso, they struggled
:42:40. > :42:45.in the earlier races, overheating the body work, the, shaus did that.
:42:45. > :42:49.That caused a failure to finish in Australia, he was classified but
:42:49. > :42:58.way down the back in Malaysia. It looks like there are moderations to
:42:58. > :43:01.improve that now? 400-500 degrees in the primaries, they glow red hot
:43:01. > :43:05.without the body work. The thing with it, you have to manage the air
:43:05. > :43:11.flow going through there. That is coming from the radiator, it takes
:43:11. > :43:14.some of the heat away. The problem in Australia was a broken exhaust
:43:14. > :43:19.pipe that burned the body work, but it has been burning up already. It
:43:19. > :43:22.is easy to make everything too compact. These cars are clingfilm
:43:22. > :43:27.wrapped, there is certain areas and the exhaust pipe is one of them,
:43:27. > :43:37.you have to leave a bit of space to get the air flow through. This is
:43:37. > :43:44.
:43:44. > :43:54.moment. That last sector was a little bit quicker. So a fraction
:43:54. > :43:59.
:43:59. > :44:04.better. Adrian Newey masterminding things from the pit wall. We saw
:44:04. > :44:11.the expressions with the battle between the two team-mates in
:44:11. > :44:18.Malaysia. Bob from First Choice force India, having put behind him
:44:18. > :44:21.-- from force India, having put behind their problem. We saw Adrian
:44:21. > :44:25.Sutil leading in Melbourne that is the performance they want again
:44:25. > :44:29.here. Even on a different strategy they proved themselves well capable
:44:29. > :44:37.of top five or six finshes with the Force India. Vettel just making it
:44:37. > :44:41.down to the end of the straight here. The track isn't too bumpy in
:44:41. > :44:44.China, over years it has had to be resurfaced, it is built on
:44:44. > :44:49.marshland. There is concrete piles that support the foundation of the
:44:49. > :44:54.track, and a layer of polystyrene, amazingly, underneath that, upon
:44:55. > :44:59.which the track is built. Distributing the load as evenly as
:44:59. > :45:09.possible. Allowing the track to form some sort of under duelation
:45:09. > :45:15.
:45:15. > :45:25.as opposed to a recess and bump. Undulation, as oped to a recess or
:45:25. > :45:30.bump. Australia has the bumpiest track so far. Tom, I think you are
:45:30. > :45:35.at Ferrari? I am. Just watching a very calm garage in front of me
:45:35. > :45:42.here. Because Alonso was quite late out into this session. It was well
:45:42. > :45:46.after 25 minutes in that he finally got out. Sorry it is very noisy.
:45:46. > :45:50.But Alonso is now coming back in. But the team were fiddling around
:45:50. > :45:54.with the exhaust at the back end. They have new exhausted here which
:45:54. > :45:58.they are being a little bit non- specific about the performance.
:45:58. > :46:02.They have the new exhausts, it will be interesting to see when Alonso
:46:02. > :46:05.put on the soft tire during the session. Will he want more
:46:05. > :46:09.qualifying practice ahead of this afternoon so he can finally beat
:46:09. > :46:15.his team-mate this year? Yes, it is interesting because Felipe Massa
:46:15. > :46:20.talkeded about it being a different car one tyre to the other yesterday
:46:20. > :46:23.also as you say, there is the opportunity for Massa to make a new
:46:23. > :46:27.record and outqualify Frenando Alonso as a team-mate five
:46:27. > :46:31.consecutive times, if you include the Grand Prixs at the end of the
:46:31. > :46:35.year. I'm sure Massa will want to achieve that. He was making jokes
:46:35. > :46:39.about it, and saying he has been losing hair and sleep about it.
:46:39. > :46:44.Because of course everyone gets so keyed up about it. Alonso doesn't
:46:44. > :46:49.care. As long as he has a competitive car he knows he can
:46:49. > :46:59.racele well. He's not worried if Massa can outqualify him or not. He
:46:59. > :47:04.was having a joke with the Spanish journalists. It will be great if he
:47:04. > :47:07.does it. Massa had bad start to the season but he ended strong. We know
:47:07. > :47:12.that Massa when fighting with Schumacher, on his day he could do
:47:12. > :47:16.a pretty God job. Don't discount Massa by any means. Needs to cope
:47:16. > :47:21.an eye on the lap times. The good news that you say, that is the
:47:21. > :47:25.point that Massa is in good form, it has to help the team ultimately
:47:25. > :47:28.if he's going well. He's like a different driver to what he was at
:47:28. > :47:33.the start of last year. The car was very difficult at the start of last
:47:33. > :47:38.year. But he seems to be in a much better space now? I think if you
:47:38. > :47:42.sum Felipe Massa up, he's a guy who overdrives the car most of the time
:47:42. > :47:45.of when you have a car that is not very good if you overdrive it you
:47:45. > :47:49.make mistic at thats, the penalty is bigger. When he has a car that
:47:49. > :47:59.accepts and spopbtdz to his driving style you can get away with it.
:47:59. > :48:13.
:48:13. > :48:18.He's pretty quick. The soft tyres are appearing. How they bring the
:48:18. > :48:23.tyres in is important, you can just watch to see if they are gunning
:48:23. > :48:27.out of the last couple corner or staying steady. They are taking it
:48:27. > :48:31.steady. Nico Rosberg out of the final turn, calmly. He will now
:48:31. > :48:36.really go for it, unfortunately there is a car just coming out of
:48:36. > :48:39.the pits, hopefully that won't hurt him down through turns one, two and
:48:39. > :48:43.three. He's going to get traffic somewhere. The team will be tell
:48:43. > :48:46.him, the team should be telling the Toro Rosso driver, I can't see who
:48:46. > :48:50.it is to make sure he lets Rosberg through because he's on a quick lap.
:48:50. > :48:54.It will be down to management from the pit wall as opposed to driver
:48:54. > :48:58.management here. Has he backed off? He has. Daniel Ricciardo was the
:48:58. > :49:02.car ahead. And the presumably that's why. He's only taken a
:49:02. > :49:07.little bit out of the tyres, that long, long turn one and two
:49:07. > :49:11.actually takes out quite a lot. He has backed it off as you can see on
:49:11. > :49:16.board. He may as felt it wasn't there with the grip in the first
:49:16. > :49:23.corner. A combination. Something is broken in the springs or something.
:49:23. > :49:26.Lots of bouncing about. Have a look what it is? That is really
:49:26. > :49:32.interesting, something broken with the springs, something going wrong
:49:32. > :49:35.with the suspension, bottoming and bouncing. We know the Mercedes runs
:49:35. > :49:40.some hydraulic interconnected system front to rear. There has to
:49:40. > :49:45.be some sort of spwriinging medium somewhere along the line. Whatever
:49:45. > :49:49.-- springing medium, whatever it is he may have a suspension problem?
:49:49. > :49:53.It may be the tyre pressure is a little low. It was the start of a
:49:53. > :49:58.fresh lap on a soft set of tires toors. We have to see if they find
:49:58. > :50:05.a problem. That is a good point, perhaps it is the tyres up to
:50:05. > :50:09.temperature. One Sauber going wide of the others. Let as look at the
:50:09. > :50:14.again, comes flying into turn one Hulkenberg goes around the outside
:50:14. > :50:18.on the dirty stuff and can't make it round there. He clipped the apex
:50:18. > :50:21.and happened to be another car his team-mate. Not team orders again is
:50:21. > :50:27.it. They are not talking to each other very well. Lewis Hamilton
:50:27. > :50:31.then, he's now on a lap, has done his outlap he's backed it off as
:50:31. > :50:37.well. That is interesting, he has backed it right off. Although he as
:50:37. > :50:40.you just set the fastest first sector of anything. What are they
:50:40. > :50:45.playing with? We will have to wait and see what he reports in. They
:50:45. > :50:51.have what is called a frick. It might be a trick suspension system,
:50:51. > :50:59.it may have tricked itself and gone wrong. We will wait and see what he
:50:59. > :51:05.reports. FFRICK stance for front interagented rear. It is about
:51:05. > :51:07.keeping the aerodynamic of the car connected. Keeping it as constant
:51:07. > :51:11.as possible under severe breaking particularly? It is because of
:51:11. > :51:15.suspension control a ride. It is for aerodynamics. A way of getting
:51:15. > :51:20.it through the regulations is not to do anything whatsoever to
:51:20. > :51:24.aerodynamics but keeping the platform of the car more stable.
:51:24. > :51:27.The big flat floor of the car is sensitive to pitch. Although it is
:51:27. > :51:32.when the car is changing brake front to rear. It is one of those
:51:32. > :51:42.things. The more you keep it stable the more consistent the downforce
:51:42. > :51:43.
:51:43. > :51:48.is. That was purple Lewis. He's the only guy in a soft tyre who has
:51:48. > :51:52.gone for it in a first sector. If it wasn't purple, which fastest
:51:52. > :51:56.time, it would be a problem. Rosberg is out of his car. There is
:51:56. > :52:06.spesifically a problem on Rosberg's car. They haven't just --
:52:06. > :52:08.
:52:08. > :52:18.specifically a problem on Rosberg's car. This is Hamilton, a downchange
:52:18. > :52:42.
:52:42. > :52:45.car, that has to be a disappointing way to see what is going on. I hope
:52:45. > :52:50.he might get a chance to go back out. Whether they can find the
:52:50. > :52:54.problem. Hamilton continues on his lap. He's up by half a second on
:52:54. > :52:58.what anyone else has done. He has done the fastest middle section.
:52:58. > :53:03.the lap he lost two tenths on the first section because the tyres
:53:03. > :53:07.were used a bit. This won't be the ultimate pace but it is pretty
:53:07. > :53:13.quick. It will hurt him doing the first sector fast and then backing
:53:13. > :53:18.off. I don't have the rear grip in turn six at all. Sorry turn seven.
:53:18. > :53:24.Turn seven the fast corner he's talking about Lachlaing rear grip.
:53:24. > :53:34.That have the corner we were watching him through -- talking
:53:34. > :53:38.about Lachlaing rear grip. Lacking rear grip. That is not as
:53:38. > :53:43.quick as yesterday. You have to take this lap with a pinch of salt.
:53:43. > :53:46.He started that first part of the lap. The long corner hurts the
:53:46. > :53:51.tyres, even though you are going slow you are abusing the tyres.
:53:51. > :53:55.There is probably a 35 something in there. He probably won't be happy
:53:55. > :54:01.with that. There is the replay of the car at speed. Seeing if we can
:54:01. > :54:09.see anything at all that stands out. No, I think it is just aise action
:54:09. > :54:17.shot. Just seeing Kimi Raikkonen has gone out on the soft tyres. We
:54:17. > :54:22.will have a look at that. Tom you are at Mercedes? Ben, no-one is
:54:22. > :54:32.telling me what the problem is. Nico got into the garage and
:54:32. > :54:34.
:54:34. > :54:37.straight out. It is all hands on deck now. The floor is coming off
:54:37. > :54:41.the guys definitely seem to be taking more attention to the back
:54:41. > :54:44.of the car. It would appear to be a rearend problem as opposed to a
:54:45. > :54:48.frontend problem. If I find out what it is before the end of the
:54:48. > :54:53.session I will report straight back. It is not what they want at this
:54:53. > :54:56.stage. As we have said the schedule is very compress. They are getting
:54:56. > :55:00.the camera out of the way? Never a good lead to the qualifying session
:55:00. > :55:04.just when you are ready to get the true car's potential and with Lewis
:55:04. > :55:13.his team-mate having to to that second part of the lap. You never
:55:13. > :55:16.quite know where you are. Both Ferraris have gone out on the soft
:55:16. > :55:22.tyres. It will be interesting to see how much they gain. Kimi
:55:22. > :55:26.Raikkonen is on his out lap coming out to the hairpin. He has the
:55:26. > :55:32.final turn and taking it steady. Taking nothing out of the tyres
:55:32. > :55:36.before pushing. Massive support for Kimi, the Finnish flags there. They
:55:36. > :55:41.are getting racaus in their support for him, every time he came back in
:55:41. > :55:45.the pits yesterday. On to the lap for Kimi Raikkonen, into the
:55:45. > :55:49.neverending turn of one and two, the car sparking on the bump in the
:55:50. > :55:54.corner. Trying to keep it as neat and tidy as possible through the
:55:54. > :56:04.last part. Two and three. The car is tracking nicely. With the extra
:56:04. > :56:04.
:56:04. > :56:09.grip from the soft tyre showing the car not sliding around. He's up now.
:56:09. > :56:12.The interesting thing for me was how late the DRS wing closed there.
:56:13. > :56:17.The DRS wing closes when you release the button. He was willing
:56:17. > :56:22.to take the car into turn one with the DRS still open. He's pretty
:56:22. > :56:26.brave and confident with what he has got. Normally you want the rear
:56:26. > :56:29.of the car to be stable. He's confident with what he has got.
:56:29. > :56:34.towards the second nail corner, this is the reverse one going in
:56:34. > :56:39.tight, and then it opens up long, long looping right hander which
:56:39. > :56:45.takes him out on to the straight. Jenny, a quick update on Nico
:56:45. > :56:49.Rosberg, while watching Raikkonen. Daniel Ricciardo has gone out on
:56:49. > :56:53.the soft tyres. They had problems with the exhaust, Daniel Ricciardo
:56:53. > :56:57.still to finish a race. They are hoping to have fixed the problems
:56:57. > :57:07.with that. They were suffering burning around the rearend, never
:57:07. > :57:10.
:57:10. > :57:17.pleasant! Not at all. 'S still off Kimi Raikkonen? That
:57:17. > :57:21.is the car handling area, a lot of it is off the straight line stuff.
:57:21. > :57:24.Half a second slower than Hamilton. That is where they are losing the
:57:24. > :57:28.time, the handling part of the circuit, the middle section, not as
:57:28. > :57:32.fast as the Mercedes. Very good in the first section, that is a
:57:32. > :57:37.surprise, maybe too much out of the tire toir. They are saying the
:57:37. > :57:41.tyres don't last two laps, maybe they don't last one lap. He won't
:57:41. > :57:45.be pleaseded with that at all. in mind that Hamilton had already
:57:46. > :57:49.used one sector on his tyres, and so he potentially could go faster
:57:49. > :57:53.as well. There we are now with Adrian Sutil
:57:53. > :57:57.in the Force India, he's pushing pretty hard as well. Let's see what
:57:57. > :58:02.kind of lap time he's doing. He's on the soft tyre and lighting up
:58:02. > :58:07.the screens with personal bests, but not challenging the outright
:58:07. > :58:11.pace. Not bad, he's not far off the pace Raikkonen was doing. He should
:58:11. > :58:14.be similar. He gets it tidy through the hairpin. Now runs past these
:58:14. > :58:19.big grandstands down there. Great viewing area on the section of the
:58:19. > :58:23.track, as of course is the main grandstand. Virtually the whole
:58:23. > :58:27.track here in China. Goes second. He's fasters than Kimi Raikkonen.
:58:27. > :58:31.That's an impressive run from Adrian Sutil? He will be pretty
:58:31. > :58:37.pleaseded with that. Yesterday he did a 35.5 on the soft tyre, today
:58:37. > :58:41.he did that, you could say no progress, everybody else is slower,
:58:42. > :58:51.he that is progress he has done the same lap tyre. Let's see Felipe
:58:52. > :58:52.
:58:52. > :59:02.Massa. How quick is he into turn turn. A bit wider perhaps than he
:59:02. > :59:28.
:59:28. > :59:33.They are out at the same time of the session, so this is a really
:59:33. > :59:39.representive lap time as to the battle between Frenando Alonso and
:59:39. > :59:42.Felipe Massa. The likelihood is they are on the same amount of fuel.
:59:42. > :59:46.Quickest of anyone in the second sector. The mid-section through
:59:46. > :59:49.what you are calling the handling section is looking good. It is, and
:59:49. > :59:55.Ricciardo and the Toro Rosso has popped up fourth of the 37. Lewis
:59:55. > :59:59.we would like to push these tires toirs for each lap. There is no
:59:59. > :00:04.point -- tyres for each lap, no point in trying to save them, we
:00:04. > :00:07.want to see prosession. They want to see how they -- Progression.
:00:07. > :00:11.They want to see how they will degrade over the lap, that is
:00:11. > :00:16.interesting, with the first stint of the race tomorrow in mind. Let's
:00:16. > :00:22.look at Massa, a quick second sector A long sector here, across
:00:22. > :00:28.the line he goes fastest by just a little bit..05 of a second. Alonso
:00:28. > :00:33.might be quicker, although not as quick in the middle sector. Does it
:00:33. > :00:37.by a big jump, six tenths of a second faster than Massa in that
:00:37. > :00:43.lap, Di Resta goes eighth. The Ferrari on the soft tyre, as we saw
:00:43. > :00:47.on Friday afternoon, Ferrari, soft tyre equals very fast lap time.
:00:47. > :00:55.do see one car gets a good lap time out of it, one doesn't. Its because
:00:55. > :01:01.of the understeer or oversteer of the tyre. These tyres go on the
:01:01. > :01:06.understeer. Massa did quickly yesterday, but Massa was seven
:01:06. > :01:10.tenths slower. Button, 1.3 second off. That is still a big chunk.
:01:10. > :01:14.Sixth-quickest at the moment. But 1.3 seconds. We know they were a
:01:14. > :01:18.long way off in Australia. They are even more off in relative terms to
:01:18. > :01:23.the front of the grid there. But we still have to see the likes of Red
:01:23. > :01:28.Bull put anything a pace. This will be interesting. Still on his outlap,
:01:28. > :01:33.Mark Webber comes out and on to a lap being is chaed by one of the
:01:33. > :01:37.Marussia -- is being chased by one of the Marussia there. Rear flap
:01:37. > :01:47.open. Can't see if he was still open as he turned in. He keeps it
:01:47. > :01:47.
:01:47. > :02:38.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 50 seconds
:02:38. > :02:41.the section that double left-hander, he missed the apex a bit. Maybe
:02:41. > :02:46.there is more in the tank there. Let's see what the last sector is.
:02:46. > :02:50.We know their straight line speed is not as high. Alonso has done
:02:50. > :02:54.317kms an hour, down at the speed trap. The Ferrari has a pretty God
:02:54. > :02:57.compromise of straight line speed, and, it would appear, good
:02:57. > :03:00.downforce through the middle sek. Ferrari is looking pretty good.
:03:00. > :03:05.Let's see the lap time for Mark Webber, out of the final turn he
:03:05. > :03:09.comes. Just two minutes to go in the session. Webber crosses the
:03:09. > :03:16.line fourth. And it is a second off. When you put that into perspective.
:03:16. > :03:24.What Button did, not that far off The Red House, but a long way off
:03:24. > :03:28.the Ferrari. ---- The Ferrari. But a long way off the Ferrari. Seven
:03:28. > :03:33.tenths ahead of the nearest competition is a pretty good place
:03:33. > :03:40.to be. Interesting to see what Vettel can do now, on a lap, having
:03:40. > :03:42.to deal with a little bit of traffic as well. Not a particularly
:03:42. > :03:45.quick first sector for Sebatian Vettel. Whether the second sector
:03:45. > :03:50.he will be able to make up that kind of ground. Whether they are
:03:50. > :03:58.playing a little bit still here or are they really going to be
:03:58. > :04:03.struggling up against the Ferrari on the soft tyre. Ferrari seem to
:04:03. > :04:08.have found something with the soft tire toir really working well of
:04:08. > :04:11.the -- tyre really working well. The Ferrari every time I have seen
:04:11. > :04:16.it on the track it is the rear end if anything that gives up. They
:04:16. > :04:19.will get a big benefit for sure. For Vettel he won't be very happy.
:04:19. > :04:26.He has lost a couple of tenths in the first and second section much
:04:26. > :04:30.he has always been good at deep keeping the -- keeping the tyres
:04:31. > :04:35.alive for the whole track. That last section is not so difficult.
:04:35. > :04:40.Let's see what it be. He will cross the line but not challenging the
:04:40. > :04:43.Ferrari. No, he's nearly nine tenths of a second slower than
:04:43. > :04:48.Frenando Alonso. Frenando Alonso a big chunk ahead of everybody,
:04:48. > :04:53.including his team-mates. A really rapid lap from Frenando Alonso,
:04:53. > :04:57.1.35.3. Six tenths ahead of Felipe Massa, it gives you the idea with
:04:57. > :05:01.what Massa did on Friday afternoon with the soft tyre it is really
:05:01. > :05:05.working well with the Ferrari car. Hamilton up there. Vettel, Webber,
:05:05. > :05:10.we haven't been able to see what Rosberg can do. That car is still
:05:10. > :05:13.being worked on. Looking at Grosjean, a lock-up into the final
:05:13. > :05:18.turn t ran him wide into the artificial grass on the outside and
:05:18. > :05:23.across the line and not really preppentive lap from Romain
:05:23. > :05:26.Grosjean. He's only 18th. I don't know what is going on. A bit of a
:05:26. > :05:30.surprise for Romain Grosjean, whether he didn't get that lap in
:05:30. > :05:35.fully, I'm not sure. A bit of graining on that front tyre. He
:05:35. > :05:40.seems to be struggling a bit. Unlike his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen,
:05:40. > :05:43.who seems to be happier. Valtteri Bottas is on a run on the softer
:05:43. > :05:49.tyre. Watching those tyres a little bit. It looks as though some cars
:05:49. > :05:52.are working that softer tyre particularly hard. If you have that
:05:52. > :05:56.understeer then the rear just pushes the front and makes the
:05:56. > :05:59.graining that much worse. Sow it is very, very difficult. Long corners
:06:00. > :06:05.are always tricky. It is best the long corner on to the back straight
:06:05. > :06:08.as well. You need the frontend there to get it around the corner
:06:08. > :06:12.and keep the throttle in. It is very difficult if you have the
:06:12. > :06:17.graining on the tires. This isn't his best lap by any means. He is
:06:17. > :06:23.currently down in 15th place. He has already done his fast lap on
:06:23. > :06:26.these tyres, that was only a 1.37.4, which means he's down there with Di
:06:26. > :06:30.Resta. I don't know if Di Resta has had a little bit of an issue as
:06:30. > :06:35.well. He doesn't seem to have done a particularly representative time
:06:35. > :06:39.on his soft tyres, looking into the Ferrari pit. The fastest man of the
:06:39. > :06:46.session, the checkered flag out on the session. Frenando Alonso has
:06:46. > :06:50.certainly stormed to the top of the time sheets here, with a 1.35.391.
:06:50. > :06:56.The Ferrari team will be very pleased about that I'm sure. There
:06:56. > :07:01.has only ever been a one Ferrari pole position in the past. Alonso
:07:01. > :07:10.has had a couple of pole positions driving in the Renault days. There
:07:10. > :07:14.were a couple of one-twos on the grits between Loskov and Fisicella.
:07:14. > :07:24.He has had experience in the past, and one-time winner in the Renault
:07:24. > :07:24.
:07:24. > :08:23.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 50 seconds
:08:23. > :08:28.days. In his Ferrari days he hasn't Really looks as though Ferrari
:08:28. > :08:31.might be on for a pole position. It has been a long time since we have
:08:31. > :08:36.had a dry weather pole position. It would be their first since Germany
:08:36. > :08:39.when it was a bit damp last year for Frenando Alonso. An exciting
:08:40. > :08:43.practice session leading into qualifying later.
:08:43. > :08:49.Well it certainly was, yes. As the cars come into the pitlane here
:08:49. > :08:55.that is the end of all the practice sessions, interesting low yesterday