The Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying Formula 1

The pit wall, a place for team bosses and engineers to constantly

analyse data and skruetnieds track action. It's from here --

scrutinise track action. It's from here that team orders are issued.

Again Mansell attacks. Again he's through. So still no team orders at

Williams? No comment about that. Hakkinen is beckoning him. He's

going to win. Jack drove a brilliant race. He left through

Hakkinen. Did you tell him to do Oh, big crash. The first safety car

I think helped me a lot. I was able to win the race. The people who sit

here would argue they're looking at the bigger picture. Their main

concern is getting the maximum benefit out of the race for the

team, but sometimes the only picture the driver can see is the

one that's through his visor. He was under team orders to let

Jones win, but he hasn't done it. There's no Alan Jones. He's

supposed to be slowing up. Prost is supposed to be winning. There's

going to be terrible repercussions within the team. He's got it. It's

going wide, oh. Fantastic stuff. There we go. Peroni wins,

magnificent race. Team bosses and drivers would agree on one though,

though, there's no I in team. But there is in win. Great job Suzy.

Let's get ready for qualifying. Welcome to qualifying for the

Chinese Grand Prix. We may well have a case of history repeating

itself. Last Time Out controversy rocked this paddock when Sebastien

Vettel decided to ignore team orders, pass his team-mate to take

the win in Malaysia. the win in Malaysia.

Lights out ah, way we go. Sebastien Vettel tries to get off the line.

Webber is in second. Alonso has damage to his car. Oh, the front

wing has come off. He has no steering. Thankfully he doesn't hit

another car. Hamilton in from second. Oh, he went in the wrong

pit! Hamilton went into the wrong pit. Another problem on the left.

At force India they're having a real problem. This is desperate.

It's not actually taking up its position. Mark Webber continues to

lead this race. Sebastien Vettel not far behind him. He's too slow.

Get him out of the way. Sebastian be patient. Sebastien Vettel into

the pits. OMG Norton lookin totes hot 2nite btw v cool suit that's

rare. Hamilton is past Vettel. He's into third. Side biside racing

between Webber and Button. Button into the pits. There's a problem.

Slow on the engagement. The front wheel is not seated. He's stopped.

Hamilton under pressure. Vettel has the DRS in operation. Red Bull are

one, two again. Contract then between Hulkenberg and Raikkonen.

You see what he's doing, he's putting me off and now he hits me.

Kimi not impressed. Top two pairs of team-mates racing hard against

each other. Vettel side by side with Mark Webber. Careful Sebastian,

careful. Look at the two Mercedes. Hamilton has re-asserted himself.

The two red bulls, Vettel on the inside. They touch. Wow what racing

this is. He's gone around the outside, Vettel takes the lead.

This is silly Seb, come on. I can go so much faster, just let me

drive past. Negative, Nico. It's Sebastien Vettel who takes his

third win in Malaysia. Mark Webber finishing in second position. And

third place is just going to go to Lewis Hamilton. Good job Sebastian.

Looks like you want today bad enough, still. -- wanted it bad

enough, still. Well it was dramatic stuff. It

could be the same here today. Not only am I joined by David Coulthard,

but also Eddie Jordan is back with Suzy, let me please the welcoming

factor to you. We're delighted to see you on the show. Thank you very

much. It's nice to all be together, much. It's nice to all be together,

I think. All this controversy, what are your thoughts? Well, I'm sure

Red Bull would wish it would go away. I probably believe that

Sebastien Vettel had been a little bit more honest in Malaysia and say

look, I was the quickest, I should have won the race. I did win the

race. I deserve to do so. Then all this would have been forgotten.

Going back on the story continually doesn't help the case. Seb looked

like he was racing for himself rather than the team, David.

Clearly. He was racing to win. This is where this whole confusion is

for us. We shouldn't be surprised that racing drivers want to win. Of

course, you're a team within the team. You've got to respect the

wishes of the management. We've seen it over many years where some

drivers have listened to their team and others haven't. Ultimately you

count the winners at the endive suppose.

-- End, I suppose. We sent Eddie to assess the situation.

It's the start of formula -- since the start of Formula One team

orders have been there. That looks like a planned move. As a team boss

in years gone by, in 98 I distinctly remember telling Ralph

Schumacher not to take overtake Damon Hill. It enabled the team to

finish one, two. However, in Malaysia one driver

didn't play the game. Multi 21. What does that mean? In Red Bull

speak it means car number two finishes in front of car number one.

Had I understood the message, then I think I had thought about it,

reflected on what it means, what the team wants me to do. I would

have thought about it and probably had done the same thing because

Mark doesn't deserve that. This is silly Seb, come on.

Sebastian says he didn't hear that instruction. However his body

language and indeed, his apology tells a different story. Multi21,

Seb. Yeah multi 21. It seems easier to ask for forgiveness than to seek

permission. With Sebastian following his own agenda, very

different to that of the team, it begs the question - who is the real

boss? He's apologised to me personally. He's apologised to

every single member of the team for putting himself above the team.

There's also, he has explained there was a lot of emotions and

things going through his head at the time he committed that move.

Was that an embarrassment to you? Of course, it's not what you want

to see. You've given instruction and you expect it to be adhered to.

There was confusion as to what he thought the code was. Two races ago

in Brazil, that code was given to the other car and he didn't

understand it either. Sebastian was determined to win that Grand Prix.

I think he took things into his own hands. Good job. Looks like you

want today bad enough. Still, there'll be some explaining to do.

Ferrari, famous for their belief in team orders and indeed number one

drivers. Can you recall ever a driver disobeying your order?

no I don't think so, to be honest. You may have seen drivers not happy.

Or something like that. But if everyone is clear, we said this

since the beginning, this is our philosophy, I don't rekale anything.

Whilst team orders have been a positive for Ferrari, the lack of

them have been a cost to McLaren. What we did though is coming into

each year we give both drivers, we always have done, an equal

opportunity to win the race. Arguably that's cost worl

championships in the past, 2007 being the clear case in point,

where we lost the World Championship by one point. Had we

given preference to Fernando ar Lewis we would have won the World

Championship. Like all great racing drivers, the visor goes down and

they grow horns. Much more aggressive, like Schumacher, Prost,

Senna, even Hamilton and Alonso, they all want to win. It's just

such a great shame Sebastian didn't say that at the very beginning.

Being completely honest I never had support from his side. I think

there were more than one occasion in the past where he could have

helped the team. And he didn't. Bottom line is that I was racing. I

was faster. I passed him.Ive won. That really has been the talking

point since Malaysia. It looks set to roll on not just for this

weekend but possibly for the season weekend but possibly for the season

ahead. Next weekend Formula One race win in Malaysia puts him top

together but they have work to do to catch the leaders Red Bull.

Let's get straight on with the action then. Here's David Coulthard

and Ben Edwards. The scale and grandeur of the

Shanghai International Circuit still impresses the visitor despite

being the tenth Grand Prix event in China. Round three of the World

Championships brings us to the outskirts of this vast country and

one of the fasted expanding cities in the world.

Green light on at the end of the pit lane. The first session of

qualifying gets under way, just 20 minutes this session. There's no

rush to get on the circuit. Gary Anderson joins us. Looking at the

times we watched this morning, great pace from Ferrari, what do

you think the cut off point is going to be for all the teams to

get in the top 16, which is the initial target. Yes, that's the

difficult thing. For me 37.0 would be adequate. If I did that in my

first run I would be happy to coo park the car in the garage. If you

use the tyres too much in the first part of the lap you have too much

underspin in the last lap. teams just going to use, keep the

medium or not use them basically, because they want them used fortd

race? They may just use the soft tyres throughout qualifying?

you're confident in yourself and the car, put on the soft tyre, do

one lap and then the same in the second session. The Ferraris for

example, Mercedes, you could use a hard set. It wouldn't do them too

much harm. Engines being fired up at last with 11 minutes and 40

seconds on the clock. Jules Bianchi one of the drivers there doing a

good job so far for the team. Finished in 13th place in Malaysia.

That's pretty close to the best ever finish Marussia has had.

They've had 12th place finishes in Formula One. He's the first one out.

Gone are the days when the small teams were the first teams out

there to do the track cleaning. No, they're not, it's exact lit same.

Chilton is next. Then Daniel Ricciardo. We're not seeing any of

the heavy hitters. No, they're giving us more time to talk and

less track action. We all want to see some on-track action. I would

expect that Red Bull to, out there on the prime tire, the Marussia on

the option tyre. I would expect Red Bull to drop way back, sorry the

Toro Rosso to drop back and pass the Marussia. There is an offset in

the overall performance between those two. The tyre blankets are

coming off the Mercedes as well. He's straight onto the soft tyre,

interestingly. Enough. He won't do a run on the medium compound tyres.

We will see him out on the soft tyre. Presumably he will dot one

lap, which should be enough to get him into the second part of

qualifying. All they're trying to do is get into the top 16. Williams

will be fighting to do that. They've had one car make it through

and one car fail in the two Grand Prix qualifying sessions that we've

had so far this year. Bottas has managed to do it last time in

Malaysia. Maldonado did it the first Time Out in Australia.

Fernando Alonso still waiting to come out onto the track though. No

sign of him coming on for his atoplt just yet, going into his

199th Grand Prix come tomorrow. Fernando Alonso looking to be one

of the favourites in terms of qualifying pace here. Adrian Sutil

another one to watch. The Force India was going well this morning.

They're looking to get into the top there down into the hairpin at six,

which is rather reasonable, a nice hairpin with a nice blow to it,

plenty of room to get the car straightened up, then going into

the high-speed turns of 7 and 8. That should be flat in one of the

more aerodynamically developed cars. Two separate corners with it pretty

much constant lock between 9 and 10, careful not to run too much on to

the artificial grass, which has a tendency to support the car on to

it. This is tricky, out of 12, shifting a pin to 13. He is taking

a narrow line, he has gone very low. You don't see it from that camera

angle. He will be able to pop open his DRS on the second longest rate

in form and a one, then he will be 200 miles an hour. -- it in a

line. His opening time is... 39.4 1:39 went. -- 1:39.4. He fed it out

a bit slighted. At this stage not confident to keep it absolutely

flat there. Very small throttle travel, I would be surprised if it

was more than 30 mm. Meanwhile Sergio Perez about to come out for

McLaren. We are definitely seeing a few more cars out on track, not

surprising with only seven minutes to go. Shall Bianchi for Marussia

the fastest so far. -- Jules Bianchi. Van der Garde has just

gone across the line. A good opening gambit by Jules Bianchi,

once again impressing everybody, the young Frenchman. A bit wide

there from Rosberg but at think it will shatter that time that Bianchi

has set. 1:35.9. There could still be more time to be found. Di Resta

did 1:get his 7.4, he should be safely three whip back -- 1:37.4.

He should be safely through with that. Fernando Alonso is on the

money in the first and second sector, he is slower in the third

sector, the majority of which is straight. It could be a change in

wind direction. Lewis Hamilton's de DRS closes as he hits the brakes.

He has the fastest first and second sector times, so it looks as though

he will get faster here than his team-mate Nico was bed. The first

contest between them this weekend - - his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Mercedes, as we thought, going to the order in his Marussia as we see

a few more cars now on track. Another look at Lewis Hamilton as

he comes to the end of the straight. So much of the suspension is in the

tyres. A very stable front wing there. Raikkonen down through the

kink at five and into the hairpin at six. First sector is very tense

of a second slower. A bit wide at six, understeer through the apex.

Unlikely to be related to breaking. The compromise did it in seven. --

penalty for impeding during qualifying in Malaysia. He is

trying to get back some of the other cars. 29th win three for Kimi

Raikkonen in the second sector -- down to depression not having come

incorrectly. -- down to the pressure. We have got 3.5 minutes

to go, only the top 16 go through, we have not yet had 16 complete a

lapped! Vettel goes through, seven- tenths of a second slower than

Hamilton, so it does not much as the Red Bull have the pace. A

little bit of a gap back to Alonso. Is he keeping something in check

for later on? Row shone crossed the line, sixth fastest. -- Rene

Grosjean crossed the line. The drop zone beginning to appear now on the

graphic. 17 all-over and you will go no further in qualifying. Mark

Webber goes third. Gutierrez goes through, 14th. Mark has looked more

comfortable with the balance of his car compared to what Massa gives us.

He was fast this morning and yesterday as well. He does that,

faster than Alonso on his first run. Massa showing great competitiveness

from Ferrari as he showed yesterday afternoon, and as Alonso uproot

this morning is will not be straightforward for Mercedes, they

have got a battle on their hands. In the drop zone at the moment,

that two Toro Rossos and Max Chilton in the Marussia, van der

Garde and Charles Pic. Jules Bianchi currently is in the top 16,

but Valterri Bottas has not yet set a time. Hopefully he will not have

a problem with the car. 13th for Adrian Sutil. Bottas is out there,

on a lap now, they have left it nice and laid before they sent him

out. Maldonado is well in the top 16, he is currently in 12th place.

Not a great first sector for Bottas. A bit of traffic ahead as he comes

Williams car. RADIO: Based on our current estimation, we should be OK.

Grows it is around what Gary said, 1:37.0 -- Grosjean is around what

Gary said. That is outstanding from Jules Bianchi in the Marussia.

has to be said Max Chilton in the other Marussia is only half a

second behind Bianchi, that is a good effort. Let's see if it is

enough for Bottas to save lido, only 15th, not exactly say.

Gutierrez is behind him. You only really get the one lap on a set of

tyres. The others may well have gone for a second set of new tyres,

those who would not normally expect there but carried too much speed.

You have to hurry up and wait because the car does not like the

long, long corners. Can Toro Rosso drag themselves out of the bottom

six group? At the moment Daniel Ricciardo is 18th. RADIO: Just 3.5

tense off Jenson Button. What can Daniel Ricciardo did? A good

qualifier, he has improved each time out in the last year Gran. Can

he now make sure of safety -- the last few Grands Prix. He had to use

another set of tyres, which will compromise them in the latter part

of qualifying. Bottas has now been squeezed out, across the line goes

Bianchi, 19, and Charles Pic crosses the line with no

improvement. Both of the Marussias have out-qualified both of the

Caterhams unless we see a big improvement here from van der Garde,

which I don't think will happen. No, he crosses the line. RADIO: OK,

that has got us through, Adrian. But it looked a bit of a struggle.

Raikkonen destroyed my lap, so please tell the stewards.

Interesting, Sutil not happy that Kimi Raikkonen spoilt his lap, but

he is through anyway. Sutil Andy Webster 14th and 15th, but we have

again lost to Williams, and it is the rookie driver who has not made

it through, Valtteri Bottas. He lost out by two-and-a-half tenths

of a second in the end. Kitty errors, the other Ricky driving for

Sauber, has also failed to make the trip -- Gutierrez, the other rookie

driver. Both of the Caterham drivers are also out. We need to

see a quick due to now, don't we? We want to see some excitement

because that was lacklustre. It was a long time before they went out

and Sutil found himself in a situation where he felt as though

he was getting slowed down by Kimi Raikkonen, and you do end up in

those situations because you are running out of time and you don't

want to use up too many tyres. and if you go out in the session

they have to be the soft tyre because the difference is over a

second between them so it is pointless waste in tyres, you just

have to sit there, and that is what they did. Week we got our thumbs,

waiting to see action on the track, and it is fast and furious when it

comes, but it is too little, too late. I want us to get into this

race. And here it is. COMMENTATOR: We have lost the two Marussias and

the two Caterhams. Now we have seen that general mix and the fact that

everybody decided to use the soft tyre and keep the mediums for race

day, what can we expect in the second session? This morning we got

a 35.3, it is difficult to say with the temperature, but you have to

365 look at 36.5 before you part in the garage. Interesting, Sebastian

Vettel is out there on the set of softs. It might be a scrub set,

though. It is probably the set from the first session. RADIO: Make sure

you report that one part lap. will push really hard in this map,

you only use one set of tyres. It is short sequences. That is what

they did in Malaysia, they worked the tired just hard enough to get

three from one segment of qualifier to the next but kept it in good

shape. A clever strategy. Yes, and we heard there what was probably

their terminology for, use it, get what you can from these tyres. They

will find themselves whatever happens tomorrow having to use both

sets, but just preparing, getting feedback on tyre pressure, so he

will know whether he is in the zone and whether he scored faster and

will need to add an extra brake on the long back straight radiate heat

from the disc into the wheel and ultimately the tyre. Great shots

overhead of turns 12 and 13, bringing them on to the straight.

They are carrying a lot of speed by the time they come on to the

straight, usually into sixth and seventh gear and then sitting there

for an MA in time. Huge amounts of drag on a Formula One car, exposed

wheels and tyres creating a lot of tepid and air, but they power

through that. The wings give you downforce and track. If you have

covered this over with a sports car covered this over with a sports car

but it would go considerably so far. Daniel Ricciardo has 319

kilometres per hour, a shade under the 200mph mark. We're on with

Vettel now. He goes for one flying lap. Can he do enough to get into

the final part of qualifying? That's the target. Also to save

tyres an enable them to do that. It's the same theer row for Mark

Webber. -- same theory for Mark Webber. He is on track now. We'll

see if this is going to work for them. It's a couple of tenths

slower from what we saw as the fastest in the previous sector.

It's a little bit down on what Red Bull have done in the first sector.

No surprise that once, even if it's an easy lap on a set of tyres,

they're not as fresh. You get pick up on the rubber. This is all just

about making there -- it through to pole positions in a row to start

off this sb. -- season. It has been impressed in terms of qualifying

pace. Pole position in Melbourne and Malaysia and taking the victory

in Malaysia in somewhat controversial circumstances. Can he

take pole today? I think it's going to be more difficult for him,

unless he was really looking after the tyres in the first session and

we haven't seen the true pace of the Red Bull. We didn't see that

much pace for the soft tyres this morning either. Let's see what

they're keeping from us. The first time, it's a quick lap, 1.36.2.

That is a pretty representative lap. Hamilton did a 1.35.7. Gary

reckoned, 1.36.5 would be enough. He's done 1.36.2. That's impressive.

That's faster than in the first part of the session. Confirming

they were just doing enough to make sure to get through. Let's see what

Webber does in comparison. He's the fastest man so far in this session

through the first sector. He's marginally quicker than Sebastien

Vettel. The interesting thing is he was slightly quicker than Vettel

earlier on, does that mean he took more out of his tyres in the first

part of qualifying? Possibly. It's a difficult challenge. Go out there

push, but don't push too much. The whole response of the racing car is

based on hustling it through the turn. If you don't hustle it, you

don't get the rotation, which means you end up turning the steering

more. Every time you turn the steering on a Grand Prix car you

affect the aerodynamics. It creates turbulence off the front wheel.

Vettel currently fastest and Webber goes second fastest. He's four

tenths slower than Vettel. Maybe that goes back to having done a

slightly faster lap on the scrubbed tires. He's going to be -- tyres,

he's going to be marginal on that time. Will Red Bull put him on

another set of tyres or feel that's enough? 36.2 for bet vet -- Vettel

should be enough. Hulkenberg has gone third. 36.9, Sutil and Jean-

Eric Vergne rs Di Resta here, he's done the fastest first sector of

anybody. He's on a new set of the soft tyres probably. He's trying to

make the most of it in this early part of Q2. He doesn't run too wide.

A lot of cars over the artificial grass there. He goes second fastest.

Good lap. He beats Mark Webber with that time. He's done 1.36.6. Alonso

is fastest of all on 1.36.1. Here comes Felipe Massa now. He's going

to be quick. Not quite as fast as his team-mate. He goes third,

Ferrari, Red Bull, Ferrari, then Force India and then the other Red

Bull. Coming out that -- of that long turn 13, he's working the

wheel as he tries to find the right line. You want the car to run as

wide as possible, tpwhau kerb comes to meet you quickly at 150mph on

the exit of the turn. They gain an extra 50mph. You can hear it

buzzing the limiter then. Whu run on light fuel in qualifying, whu

start the race with 150 kilos you drop too far away from being at

maximum RPM. There's a huge engineering offset and compromise

between the qualifying pace and what you need for the race. He goes

tenth. Being in the top ten is what this is about. He's 1.8 seconds off

the pace. He's got a bit of work to be done. Jenson Button, now we're

going to get a true test of what the McLaren is capable of. Sergio

Perez is already on a lap as well. 25.7. Perez has gone through the

nirs sector about half a second down on the fastest we have seen

and pulled off. Red Bull? Yes, it is the Red Bull. Mark Webber is out.

I don't think we'll make it in. I'll let you know. We need to save

as much fuel as we can. Save fuel. It looks as though he could have

run out of fuel. That is terrible news for Mark Webber. The challenge

for the championship, he has run out of fuel. He won't be going

through into the final part of qualifying. He may end up at the

back of the field if there isn't enough fuel in that car too.

They'll do a fuel sample afterwards. Yeah, it may be something else. It

could be a pick up issue, it might not necessarily be a fuel issue.

They've got procedures in place. I would be surprise if they haven't

stuck fuel in there unless there was a problem with the refuelling

rig. It happened to Vettel last year when he stopped on circuit and

lost his qualifying time. We'll have to wait and see. Perez has

crossed the line in tenth place. That's where he wants to be.

Raikkonen is still to come. He's fastest in the first sector.

Rosberg is fastest in the middle sector now of anybody. We will see

more improvements coming up here, both Rosberg and Raikkonen going

quickly. Poor Mark Webber, well. You say that, if he's done enough

here, let's see. If he makes it through on that time into the top

ten, then starting tenth, with less mileage and get that tyre out of

the way, it might not be so bad. Great lap from Kimi Raikkonen.

1.35.6. That's very quick. Not the fastest of the weekend, but it's

quick. Rosberg does 1.35.5. He's fastest so far. We're waiting to

see what Hamilton can do, though. Hamilton has just set the fastest

midsector. Mercedes definitely in the hunt to make it two pole

positions here in Shanghai in two years. But the battle is to be in

the top ten at this stage. At the moment Sutil is out of the top ten,

so is Perez and Jean-Eric Vergne and Pastor Maldonado. We're waiting

for Hamilton here and Grosjean to set a lap time. Grosjean is still

in the pits. Maybe he will get just the one run at the end of the

session to try and break into the top ten. Can Hamilton go faster

than Rosberg? He does. Look at that. Now that is the fastest lap of the

weekend. 1 -- 1.35.0. A nice half second quicker than Rosberg. He'll

cruise it home with four-and-a-half minutes to go. Paul di Resta in

seventh place. Let's look at who might have the opportunity to knock

those guys out of the top ten. Looking at Romain Grosjean, still

no time set. Doesn't look as though there's any panic around the car. I

just thif they're planning to run him at the end of the session. Mark

Webber started here in 18th a couple of years ago and finished in

third. You'd always want to be out and doing your run, but we'll see.

Lewis, P135.0. Nico P2, 35.5.? was an interesting intonation there.

through. He's in fiventh -- fifth. Webber is current live eightening.

another set of tyres he could go quicker. Then the two McLairns. Do

we think they can improve enough to bump webber out of the top ten?

don't think that we can really get too excited about the overall pace

here because of the offset in the tyres. Clearly no-one wants to put

the drivers in a compromised position if they don't have to. Set

of option tyres there. Adrian Sutil ready to come out for Force indya.

We were expecting them to be challenging for a top-ten place. At

the moment Sutil is in 12th. Di Resta is well in there. I wonder

whether Di Resta will hope that will be enough for him now. That

will give him the advantage, he'll have more tyres available for

tomorrow. Vettel has come back out. Maybe Red Bull don't feel safe

enough on the time that Vettel has done. Perhaps they're just going to

bide their time and wait to see what's ping from other teams. You

can't afford to bide your time too much because it all happens after

the checkered flag comes out. want to across the line with a

second to go, that would be the ultimate time to do it. Temperature

is consistent. No clouds are coming tyres. Vettel has gone out on a new

set of the soft tyre as well. Everybody just building up to speed

once again in the remaining minute and three quarters of Q2. All about

getting into the top ten here. That is the challenge. Daniel Ricciardo

he's 11th at this stage. We know Webber is a bit vulnerable, well,

very vulnerable. Let's just wait and see what happens here. Sergio

Perez had a tricky weekend so far. But looked a bit more settled this

is. Yes, Jenson has been a lot more comfortable with the car and

showing his experience, averaging out the session. Martin Whitmarsh

very honest in the interview saying we don't expect them to move at all.

Any upgrades we have brought doesn't give performance on this

type of track. You see how much you have to wait as you roll into the

last part of turn two. He's a lot of patience from him. He's not

hustling the wheel so much. battle for the top ten will be

fierce. Grosjean is out. He's going to be building up to a quick lap.

Hulkenberg is trying to stay in the top ten. He's currently ninth

fastest. Remember, Button is only tenth at the moment. Perez, 13th.

McLaren could be in danger of not getting their cars into the top ten.

It is fuel pressure problem that's been relayed to us as the issue for

Mark Webber. Is that just a pump problem or was there as lack of

fuel, we don't yet know. It looks as though Mercedes are happy to sit

in the pits. They won't play a further part in Q2. They are

waiting for the battle for poll position in Q3. Maldonado is up on

the time required to get into tenth. That's what the graphics mean. He's

up on the time that is required to get into tenth place. Which is

currently button on 1.37.2. The checkered flag is now out. Who is

going to be able to improve? It will be a real flurry of cars yoos

the line to get into that top ten. We have quarantined the fuel

bowsers. There's a story at Red Bull, no doubt. What can Maldonado

do? Can he drag the Williams into the top ten? Yes, for the moment,

but only for the moment. He is tenth but under threat from

everyone else still on a lap. Vettel is currently safe. Buff he

has put together a quick lap. It might not be an ultimate lap. He's

looked for a bit of improvement. He has split the mer aidies, it's a

good lap. Sutil across the line. He goes anyoneth. Di Resta, now is he

going to push Sutil back down? Di Resta is eighth. He's quicker than

his team-mate. Webber has been pushed out of the top ten now and

can't respond. Grosjean goes fifth. Good lap from him. 11th for Perez,

he's out. Alonso is second. He is faster than Vettel. Close to

Hamilton's time. Waiting for Button, he's in the top ten. McLaren, one

in and one out. Massa is safe in fourth position. Di Resta has been

squeezed out. Di Resta and Sutil have been squealsed out. An

outstanding effort by Daniel Ricciardo to go ninth in the Toro

Rosso. That is brilliant for the small team. Toro Rosso, Daniel

Ricciardo in ninth ahead of the McLaren and both Force Indias;

ahead of Red Bull. Even so, Daniel Ricciardo the star of that session.

Yeah, strong performance, no question about it. Jean-Eric

Vergne... How many laps? We've just Jenson did make it. Jenson a game-

show in he is a little more comfortable with his car and the

team. Sergio perhaps expected an easier time coming to McLaren, the

car of the year last year in out right pace but did not have the

reliability and consistency to turn that into championships. It seems

to me the wheels have come off that Machin at the moment. A bit more

pain for McLaren to merit a stop definitely disappointing for them,

but that is the way it goes. In the knockout zone we have lost both of

the Force Indias, Paul di Resta is out, said Tipperary as -- Sergio

Perez, Adrian Sutil, Mark Webber, Pastor Maldonado and John Readman.

Brady unable be -- RADIO: Behind us we have Hulkenberg. Daniel

Ricciardo has all the qualities that can emerge, possibly even

ousting his own country mate Mark Webber in future. He looks a big

champion and I have a lot of time for him. Perhaps the story of that

qualifying session is Mark Webber, something we did not expect to see.

What do you make of these pictures? He goes on to talk about the Bowser,

about the fuel system and the fuel pressure. This, for me, is a

typical example of not enough fuel went into the car. I'd be surprised

if that car has and the fuel in it. This is why somebody from Red Bull

has said, quarantine the fuel Bowser. They will try to see where

and why did is a cat. Something has clearly happened, they are talking

about a fuel pressure problem, but I think that is a bit of a cloak.

Something has gone wrong in the mechanism that fills the car with

fuel. We can hear from Mark Webber now. We had to talk about fuel on

the team Radia, was it a manual problem or technical problem?

of feel pressure so I couldn't get back, we stopped the car so

qualifying was over before it began. Do you expect to start in that

position or will that be enough fuel for a fuel sample? We saw what

happened to Sebastian in Abu Dhabi going to the back of the grid.

don't know, we will see what the rules are. I am sure we will go

through the processes and go from there. A double whammy. You do have

extra tiers, if I'm trying to think of positives. Yeah, but I think

everyone is in a similar but saving as many tyres as they can. The

option is not a tyre for this track, it is the wrong tyres that everyone

has the same idea. Disappointing, Q1 went very well for me, felt good

in the car, felt good all weekend. Didn't get the right part of the

weekend correct. Said it all there. McGinn fantastic this weekend for

us up against know how he will pull himself back up for the race

tomorrow, he looks as though all of the troubles are on his back. We

have got final qualifying coming up now.

COMMENTARY: This is the battle for pole, all the ones who have made it

into the top 10. Daddy, I want to bring you in an Daniel Ricciardo's

performance -- Gary, I want to bring you in. He seems to be really

thriving at Toro Rosso in this second year. He does, he is one of

these drivers, Mike Mark Webber normally, he seems a bit down at

the minute, but he can shrug most of this stuff off, he drives the

car he has got an does the best job possible. He has got the right

attitude to really put a laboured performance. You are right about

Red Bull saving tyres. Sebastian Vettel went out only on in his

group set of soft tyres. In terms of the battle for pole position to

using Vettel has a chance against Mercedes and the Ferraris? He was

three-tenths of in that session and was on a new set of tyres. Maybe he

won't use the other new set. To qualify in the top 10 you would be

better with a new set on the car, as fresh a set as possible. It is

getting that lap in and making it right. So close, 35 bring 04

Hamilton, 35.44 Alonso. 34.8 would be what I think they will get you.

The track seems to have come back now. Thank you, Gary. It still

won't quite be a qualifying record, Sebastian Vettel got a 33.7 here

back in the days when full exhaust blaring was allowed. Let's ride on

board that Sebastien and see how this first run on this group tyres

goes for him. It doesn't sound like he is on a lap at all. He has

backed right off. What was all that about? He has crossed a line. There

is a thing if you don't set a time that you still have an option on

tyres. RADIO: OK, Sebastien, pit this lap. He is definitely being

asked to come back into the pit at the end of the lap, so he has got

across the line but will not get it timed lap in, which would suggest

the choice of tyre. I think we will see him out on a new set of tyres.

It could also be that they have made a soft wet change in the car.

There are a number of parameters the driver can be just,

differential settings, breaking, they might well have made a sizable

tyre pressure of set as welders to get a feel for a change in balance

with no intention of completing a lap. We will find out in time,

that's for sure, but meanwhile it is a fact that we only have one man

out on track, no time set. Nico Hulkenberg will be pleased to have

got the Sauber into the top 10, it is a bit of a boost for them

because they have been fighting with Force India who had the edge

over Sauber initially but he has got one over on them because both

Force Indias are cut. I think will convert looks really strong. He is

consistently able to be in front of gritty errors, and he should be, he

has got more experience -- to be in front of Gutierrez. This might be a

springboard for him to find a more competitive team going forward.

lots of eyes, as you say, in the pit lane arnica will come back. He

is not out on track yet, no one. Some of them might go out on the

medium tyre in this session. It is possible because they might decide

to do a lap on the mediums and then start the race on the medium, as

you have been describing to us because that is the effective raced

higher here this weekend, most effective on race day. The mediant

higher macro was very consistent -- the medium tyre. If he had no

regulations saying which tyre you had to stay on, you would want to

stay on that. If the rule was that he would still have to use both the

Prime and the option, you would only want the option for a couple

of raps. Surely they will go for the glory of pole position as well,

or think about it. Ferrari have a great chance of taking her first

pole in several years in dry conditions and their first since

Germany last year in wet conditions. Ms Hamilton of course still has a

car here that is capable of challenging the Ferraris for pole

position. That would be a big story if he could take his first pole for

his new team. Meanwhile his old team-mate Jenson Button has done a

good job. McLaren don't have a car able to challenge for pole. They

have to do damage limitation now, what is the best option to maximise

the points. They will have a strategy worked out that under

normal conditions what is the realistic best result? Coming back

to Ferrari, I got the distinct impression that they will go for it,

pole is important. Ross Brawn is looking at the bigger picture.

Qualifying is important, but not as important as trying to win this

Grand Prix. There is a stand-off at the moment, nobody wants to get out.

Vettel is the only one to have been out at all, but he did not set a

time. If they were all to do that, which is not likely, Vettel would

have the edge because he is car number one. If no one sets a time

it goes to car number order and as reigning world champion and car

number one he would be on pole position, but I don't see that

happening. Toro Rosso, what will they do. Daniel Ricciardo has to a

mile to get into the top 10. They have to think about race strategy,

whereas Mercedes have a real shout at may be a front row like last

year, where they got both cars on the front row. Engines have started,

cars are going to be released. Somebody is going to go out and at

least do a lap, hopefully they will set a time. It is Kimi Raikkonen

who will be first out. He is on the soft tyre but that think he is on a

set of tyres... Medium tyres for Sebastian Vettel. He will set a lap

on the harder compound tyre, a very interesting strategy from Red Bull.

It looks as though most of them are on soft tyres as they head out of

the pits, but Sebastian Vettel has taken a slightly different ways.

Everyone else is on the soft iron, Red Bull are playing a different

game, they are on the medium, the harder compound that will be more

effective in the race. This is great stuff because it is now a

question of, how far out of trouble can he stay? Jenson Button going

with the same strategy. That is not so much of a surprise because we

knew that he is less likely to battle for pole anyway. The prime

runners will be able to stay it out for 10, 15 amps more depending on

how they can make the tyre run. It is a sizable advantage because

those who come in for the first stop will have to put the Prime on

because the car is too heavy, it is a more consistent tyre. We are

getting different strategy. might not see Vettel delay time, he

might just come out and decide not to do a lap time. He will know that

Jenson Button is the only other one who has not come for the soft tyre.

He has clear sight of all of his main competitors ahead of him.

Raikkonen, Rosberg, Hamilton, Alonso are all up the road from

where he is. All of the strategy playing out his great fun.

Raikkonen is the first in two turns one and 2. Now he can begin to open

it up through tents four and five. 24.6 to the first checkpoint, in

reasonable star. He looked good as he dropped into three. Raikkonen

looking more comfortable with the balance of his car compared to the

beginning of the session. Clearly the Lotus is not as well suited to

this particular track. It works the front tyre a lot more than the rear,

and that is what is the limitation of round this track. A good first

sector, though. It has stirred up so far to a lot of other cars on

tense down after the first sectors that it will all be about this last

sector. Hamilton is going faster than Rosberg in the middle sector

and was marginally quicker in the first, so Hamilton looking at the

man for Mercedes. Mercedes is quick on a straight line. Kimi Raikkonen

sets the initial pace, 1:34.7, that is a quick lap. It could be even

faster than Nico Rosberg. He goes wide in the final turn. Is it

enough? No, second at the moment but Hamilton is on a good lap.

Could he do it here? The Gers fastest in the Mercedes, Hamilton

out on top at the moment. Can Felipe Massa take pole position in

China? No, he can't. He is fit. He does not out-qualify Fernando

No Romain Grosjean is in sixth place. For the second year, in a

row, it is going to be pole position for mer aid diz --

Mercedes. But it is the first time for Lewis Hamilton in the team. A

brilliant pole position, his third pole position here in China.

Sebastien Vettel did not set a time. He will start from eighth place on

the grid. Jenson Button will start ninth and Hulkenberg start tenth.

They have gone for a very different strategy. He's busy protecting his

tyres. He basically got off the brakes. Button has just gone

through. It's a slow lap, putting him to eighth ahead of Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton has taken his first ever pole for Mercedes. He becomes

the second British driver in hist Troy take a pole position for

Mercedes. Sterling moss did it in 1955, now Lewis has done it. Get in

there Lewis. Great job. That's P1. Very well done Lewis. First pole

position for us. Great job. That's fantastic. Well done. Great job,

guys. That was cool. There they are.. Front row of the grid Lewis

Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen wave Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen wave

ago way, joined by Fernando Alonso. The fastest boys out there today.

think a word of praise needs to be given to Raikkonen. We never really

saw him in the position. We talked about Ferrari, Red Bulls, of course,

and Mercedes, and who pops up second? Brilliant, Raikkonen. He's

on fire this year. He won the first race in Australia. Then coming here,

a bit of a disappointment in Kuala Lumpur. He's in there for the fight

and he's going to be there at the end of the season. Let's hear from

the top three now. Lewis, congratulations. This must

be a big day for you, first pole position for Mercedes? Yes,

incredible feeling. Very happy and Yeah I was just saying that when I

came across the line, when I found out that I had pole, I had to make

sure the radio was off because I got excited. It's a great feeling.

Due imagine when you signed for Mercedes that you'd have pole

position in your third Grand Prix? Definitely not. I think none of us

thought that. We all have a really good approach. That's what I love

about this team. They've been working away at it. We're all

probably surprielzed that we're as competitive as we are this weekend.

That's just a blessing. Taize bone is -- bonus for us. -- it's a bonus

for us. We have hope to maintain position. That would be a dream.

There's not much time for excitement. I imagine there's a lot

of strot ji being worked out. Tomorrow looks like a fascinating

Grand Prix. I think. So the tyres we have here, the soft tyres r, not

behaving very well. They don't last for very long. If you notice

everyone goes out and does a really slow out-lap and then the next lap

they go on the in-lap to make sure you save everything can you for the

race. Tomorrow we'll do one lap addn't tires will feel OK and the

second lap it will be a couple of seconds off. That's how bad the

tyres are. There's going to be a lot of debris from the tyres. I

think everyone's in the same boat. Kimi, well done on second. It's

been a complicated morning in terms of suspension issues. You must be

pleased with that? Yeah I'm happy. I hope that the car stays safe

tomorrow all the way through the race. If it stays, we should be OK.

But you never know. It's going to be a long and tricky race, so we'll

just try to do our best tomorrow. In terms of strategy, it looks like

it's going to be an interesting one. You have got Sebastian and Jenson

on the mediums, do you have to keep an eye on them? No, we try to do

our own fastest race and then we'll see where we're going to finish. I

think we choose to do this because we obviously think it's the fastest

way through the race, through the qualifying and the race. We'll see

what happens. Lots of people are talking about strategy. Lots of

people's brains working hard at the moment. Are you happy with how

today wents? Yeah, I think. So today we did the job. The weekend

in general has been very good for us. The car seems competitive. The

qualifying positions show that we are competitive here in China. Buff

the race is many factors in place. First the strategy, so we'll say

it's interesting. How long do you expect the first stint to last?

It's a question mark. Normally shorter you do it better it is

because you are quicker. The problem that you go and big ground

of cars and you can destroy the second tyres running in that group.

This race not only the people starting from 11th maybe start with

prime. People starting from prime already starting prime. I think

we'll be not easy choice for the strategy people. But we pay them

for that. Terrific session. happy for him because after years

of McLaren, I think it's, for him, really an achievement to win in a

different car. He's very happy and I really like it. What does it mean

for the interteam rivalry. Nico came into the weekend really

confident. That was a pretty impressive offset to Nico. There

will be no team orders any more. We decided they can do what they want.

If there are technical issues or problems we will tell the driver

and they have to decide themselves. Do you believe that? I do, because

I said it. It looks like an inspired move. When Jenson went

from Brawn to McLaren it looked inspired. Louvre wis has learned

from that and has learned the reverse. I don't imagine you have

ever done such a chilled out-lap before. It was difficult judging

how slow I could actually go. Yeah it was the idea before qualifying,

we wanted to look at where our pace was through Q1 and 2 and judge what

we should zo in Q3. It's a difficult call. The racer in you

want to go out and drive round on a soft tyre. In Q2 we were relatively

quick, quicker than what we expected. P7 was a surprise. But I

really felt I got everything out of the car. We weren't going to make

up any places unless people made mistakes. We went for the prime

direction and just a bit of cat- and-mouse at the end with the other

cars to see who does a lap or not. We know the strategy will be

interesting. You're the first of the medium tyres, the guys in front

are on soft. You could be leeding the race early on tomorrow. It's

the end of the race that matters. That's normally the bit that you

really care about. It could come, you know, the leads could be

changing like we've seen previously in the last few laps. Yeah, we have

a very fast car next to us. He's starting just behind me. He's

starting on slightly new ir -- newer tyres. For us, we just have

to hold on and see where we end up. This is the best option for us.

It's sad not to go fast in Q3. I think three of us need to apologise

to the fans for not doing, that but this is what we have to do to get

good points tomorrow. We knew that strategy was going to be

interesting here. No time set. Was that always going to be your plan

today? Not entirely. I think you could see that I locked up quite a

bit. I don't know what happened. I lost the brake pedal. So something

broke. We couldn't finish the lap any way. I checked the tyre, no

damage. So there seemed to be very little load on the tyre. So we'll

see. Interesting, different approach to usual, where it all

comes down to the last couple of minutes. I think you could see that

four or five minutes to the end, it was completely silent and then

everybody left at the same time. Big queue to start the lap. But

yeah not really a problem. It could be one of those race where's it

comes down to the last few minutes. By not setting a time you can

choose what tyres you start on. You were out on the medium, is that the

way you'll go? I think it was obvious what we tried to do.

Potentially we could have been one position further up. Jenson did a

very slow lap with only two minutes. I'm sure he wasn't pushing that

hard, I'd be surprised if he had a drop of sweat. But we had the

problem with the brakes so we couldn't finish the lap.

Nevertheless, eighth or ninth is not a big difference. As you said,

we have the advantage of choosing the tyres and surely, if you

approach qualifying like that it's pretty obvious. This is how they

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 52 seconds

pretty obvious. This is how they Qualifying finished three hours ago

the stewards have decided there wasn't enough fuel in Mark Webber's

car and he will have to start from the back of the grid for the race

tomorrow. How can that happen? what I understand, it's a

computerised system. They type in a number and press go and it's

supposed to deliver that amount of fuel. What it does is take away the

human error of pouring in a certain amount. In this case, the system

has clearly not delivered all the fuel, whether that's because the

bowser didn't have enough fuel on board initially or another

technical issue. They had this issue in Abu Dhabi last year. They

changed the systems. There's no benefit to not having fuel in the

car. It's an automatic penalty. It's put down to mechanical failure.

It's such bad luck for Mark in. 2011 he came from 18th on the grid

here to finish third. Hev should have a decent race pace tomorrow.

It's not writing him off for a podium. It's tough work though.

circumstances are different this year. He will be able to have free

choice on tyres. He has to get through all the traffic at the

beginning. Overtaking as well with the amount of marbles, the rub

discarded from the tyres, becomes more tricky. I expect Mark to get

in the points. But it will be a tall order to get on the podium.

How good was Lewis Hamilton today? To just move to Mercedes, third

race in, pole position. It's a super story. It is a fantastic

story. Prior to doing this filming with you, we were with Lewis

filming the track guide for tomorrow. Of course he's bubbling.

He's on pole position, third ever race for the team. He's a natural-

born racer. He loves to push the limit of the cars. Hev said it was

a perfect lap. One bit of oversteer from 13. Apart from that everything

went perfectly. So we can expect to see a super chilled Lewis taking up

the pole position grid tomorrow. should have the race pace,

shouldn't he? They have very good pace. What's going to be the real

challenge here is we expect most of the top cars to be in within four,

five, six laps of the Grand Prix because the prime tyre is more

dourable than the option. It's going to be interesting. You can

catch all the action with us tomorrow morning on BBC One and BBC

One HD at 7am. Lewis Hamilton, he's won here twice before. He's going

for the hat-trick and is in pole position. See you in the morning.

The scale and grandeur of the Shanghai International Circuit.

There's no rush to get out on There's no rush to get out on

circuit. It's the calm before the storm. Hamilton is quick. It is the

Red Bull, Mark Webber is out. Hamilton now that is the fastest

lap of the weekend. Coming up for Nico Rosberg. He goes wide out of