The Chinese Grand Prix - Replay Formula 1

Fast, curious, lot storming, heartbreaking, race 3, China. -- a

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 49 seconds

furious, heart-stopping. This is And Good morning and welcome to

race day at the Chinese Grand Prix. But in less than an idea -- an

award, you can revel in the sound of engines, and all before 8

o'clock, what a perfect day to spend with Eddie Jordan and David

Coulthard. Nice of you to turn out, we have been doing all the work!

Some people at my age have to do what we like and I have been

sailing round the world since November and enjoying it! I cannot

wait to be his eight! A you have a long wait! 55?A decade more, but I

have a free bus pass! We talked yesterday about team orders because

what happened in Malaysia, and also the demise of the relationship

between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel and the malty twenty-one

gate. A are you happy? I'm did not, aided

a mistake and if I could and direct I would, but I cannot -- I did not.

Had a understood the message, and would have thought about it and

done the same thing because of market does not deserve it -- I

understood. Berry's history between the two drivers, you need to have

strong people to have everybody a chance to get the maximum results -

- there is history. It went out of that -- it went out of control.

Next question. Cartoon macro ahead of car one. A few was told. -- Kaka

two. -- car. The bottom line is that I was faster, I passed him and

I won! In he is into the wall and he cannot believe that! He is

crying his eyes out! A have come together, what was going on?! --

they have. There will be a difference of opinion until we go

to our graves. You get to know people better and see their true

faces. They have not enjoyed a rosy time together. It is always best to

be truthful Paul Stocker get him out of the way, he is too slow.

To be truthful. Get him out of the way, he is too slow. He has gone

into the back of Mark Webber! What was going on?! Can you managed to

smile now? What racing this is! Sebastian Vettel has gone past! And

he takes the victory, Sebastian Vettel! Bottom line is that I was

racing, I was faster, I passed him and I want! Explosive, R Red Bull

18 in crisis? They are leading a both championships but there is

strong that and it needs a firm and strong management to keep this team

together because you never know how what can escalate or can change in

your favour, it needs strong management. Who is managing the

situation? I asked back yesterday. Christian Horner has been

undermined. -- I asked that a. Sebastian runs off and sees

somebody, it needs clarity and I would urge for them to sort this

out quickly because they need to continue this winning process.

David, what exactly does Motty Map 21 etc mean? Ever team will have

their own instruction. -- every 18. Holding something on a pit board

shows somebody a position, you could have a driver name above the

other to show which one it should have the priority, it is quite

simply which have a car they want to finish, they would say so --

whichever. This is a hot topic and team orders are allowed in Formula

One, teams can pick ultimately throughout the process

d'instruction is to benefit one driver over the other, tyre choice,

pit stop tests -- pit stop strategy, you cannot give identical

opportunity to each man. These codes, Sebastian Vettel says he did

not understand them. But listen to this cannot last year, this is the

team radio. -- this his last year. Born, two, one, two. -- 1. De won't

worry, just be patient. We are working in this, -- I don't worry,

we are working on this, don't worry. There are really says it all!

Moving forward, will this affect their title championships? I do not

think so, they have won three World Championships. The money comes from

the Constructors' Championships, the physical glory on the mile --

on the marketing platform comes from the Drivers' Championship.

Back in history, Mercedes -- McLaren won 15 out of 16 in one

Championship and their drivers would not even debrief in the same

office, so one of the most successful manager was not able to

manage that situation because the personality of the drivers is

volatile, and it is a great problem for any to have two drivers capable

of winning. A worse scenario is a number two who does not win and

give them the chance to win a Constructors' Championship because

that is worth millions. If we believe that there will be a

natural pecking order, in any given period, there will be a dominant

China today, this time next week, we will be in Bahrain for round

four and then the first of the European races. The Spanish Grand

Prix in Barcelona. The British Grand Prix and Silverstone is at

the end of June and the final showdown will be in November in

Brazil. Sebastian Vettel is leading the stand-ins -- standings. Kimi

Raikkonen is dividing the two Red And every point does count, so

Mark Webber had been strong throughout the weekend, but he ran

out of fuel and with not enough to provide a sample, it means a Red

Bull driver will line up land. Q1 and Q2 went normal, but the third

would be different. Sebastian Vettel was first out but did not

set a time and came back into there pits. When he did go out on in the

Jim tyre, he had to settle for my position. Jenson Button was the

only other driver to take to the media and tireless -- tyres and was

forced into a different strategy. Fernando Alonso was back to being

the fastest Ferrari on Saturday, since 2009 ft Kimi Raikkonen. But

Lewis Hamilton was flying and he got his first Mercedes pole

position by almost three-tenths of Very happy, when I came across the

line and I've found out I had pole position, I got a bit excited! It

is a great is -- it is a great feeling. Lewis Hamilton is the

first Brit to get a poor position in for Mercedes since Stirling Moss

-- pole. An excellent performance sees Daniel Ricciardo in seventh

position. And Nico Hulkenberg can still choose his tyres. Mark Webber

was 14th but drops back so everybody else at moves forward.

Australia Micropal start from the pit Lane.

Moments to go until the race. Tom Clarkson and leave MacKenzie will

be in the pit lane and David Coulthard will be providing

commentary. -- Lee. This will be unpredictable and exciting, will it

play out until the end of the race? 10 years ago, Rubens Barrichello

gave Ferrari they are not of winning the first Chinese Grand

Prix. Today, the Shanghai International Circuit will stage

another cliffhanger, with at least four teams capable of taking

victory and a variety of potential strategies. Full set for the start

of what should be a mighty off first? Great start for Lewis

Hamilton. Ferraris the second and third, a little bit wide for Felipe

Massa, could have run a bit deeper. But Lewis Hamilton is leading,

Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa or trained to go round the outside of

Daniel Ricciardo has. For a great getaway for the Ferraris. Kimi

Raikkonen was a bit slow with his response. Toro Rosso getting right

in among the action. Jenson Button trained to deal with the Toro Rosso.

They have got away cleanly and round the first corner. We are

looking at Jenson Button. Mechanics already out on the pit lane of

after only half a lap. The Ferrari crew are out ready. Fernando Alonso

behind Lewis Hamilton of and everybody else behind, Williams

trying to make a move, social pariahs under pressure. He has lost

some ground. -- Sergio Perez under pressure. A fight going on in the

middle. Nico Hulkenberg got off to a good start. No advantage in the

slipstream at this stage. Fernando Alonso very close. And

Mark Webber is coming in its early. The Force Indias hit each other!

Adrian Sutil was trying to get past Nico Hulkenberg! Who is coming into

the pit? Just Mark Webber getting not soft tyre out of the way, and

the other teams just getting ready. And also Pastor Maldonado in the

Williams. Mark Webber will go for the medium compound, a new set for

him, he was at the back anyway, nothing glossed. A strategy for Red

Bull as. The top four are close together, Lewis Hamilton, the two

will store that away for his memory banks, the next time he is going

wheel to wheel with errors. Sutil has gained from this, 11. Hopefully

no damage done to the two Force Indias. Felipe Massa's resurgence in

form from the Brazilian is being repeated once again here in China,

let's see if he can keep it up. Kimi Raikkonen, this group is drawing

away a little bit from Rosberg. Ricciardo is doing a sterling job,

holding onto seventh head of Jenson Button and then battle. Hulkenberg

Jean-Eric Vergne, he is down in 20th place. Across the line goes Lewis

Hamilton, leading by 0.8 of a second. Staying out, there is a

question of how many laps they can get out of these tyres. Mark Webber

is lighting up the screens on the prime tyres, clean air, and if they

can manage that tyre, he was very quick on Friday, setting the fastest

lap at the end of that run. We will keep an eye on him for the end of

the Grand Prix. At the front, Massa was pushing Alonzo, saying, hurry

up, keep that pressure on, otherwise he will find himself in the DRS

zone. That is enabled now, so by the time they get to turn 13, anyone who

can get that activation will gain another 15 K B H on top speed.

Grosjean showing good pace. Hamilton in control at the moment, but not by

very much, trying to control the pace. I think he is in the DRS zone.

If Hamilton is... He has opened that gap a little bit through 13, but

Alonso will get DRS to Hamilton, so that will neutralise the effect of

DRS of Massa behind him, but poor Hamilton is dragging all that extra

win, they will be swarming all over the back of him. Let's keep an eye

on the head Lane. Let's take a look at the start again. Raikkonen was

sluggish, he spun up the wheels, DRS owns on this track, down to turn

one and down into turn 14. Hamilton at the moment is under pressure. The

best for him would be pitting from the lead and have the others follow

him. I think Grosjean has got past Rosberg in the background. Yes,

Rosberg dropping back a little bit. Another look at the start. We saw

how sluggish Raikkonen was, but he goes to the right, which works for

him. We saw Massa running very wide, he is lucky. One of the Caterhams

runs off and joins behind the Marussia. A lot of racing happening

wheels too much. Instead of getting a great launch off be start, his

spatial awareness told where Rosberg was, the door was wide open. This is

Rosberg. You can see the black lines left on the track by Raikkonen. He

makes his choice to the left, just not enough run, 300 metres from the

start, the front of the grid down into turn one. Alonso having a look

at Hamilton. Vettel trying a move on Hulkenberg, but he is able to

protect it. And Ricciardo. The challenge for the lead from Alonso.

He is going side-by-side with Hamilton, who was struggling because

they are in another DRS zone. The DRS is in operation, Massa might be

able to get past the Mercedes as well, and he does click to the

inside, Hamilton can do nothing, the two curare is our one and two, and

now he has to watch out for Raikkonen. -- the two curare is.

Hamilton was always going to be a sitting duck without DRS, he was not

able to do it. Raikkonen will be around the outside into turn six.

Amazing challenge, can he go around the outside? No, but Grosjean is

catching in the other loaders, and we gather Daniel Ricciardo has a

damaged front wing. -- Lotus. will be interesting to see where

that damage occurred because he was just in front of the group with

Hulkenberg and Vettel. Rosberg really seems to be struggling,

behind him is Hulkenberg in seventh. This was the overtake of Hamilton by

the furores. He was not able to brake the DRS one second

activation, and that was Fernando Alonso's girlfriend, they are

enjoying him taking the lead. wonder if the Ferraris will work

together or just race hard themselves. Rosberg is really

struggling, and that shows you how they are working. Down the inside

into the hairpin, Vettel is up into seventh place. A damaged rear wing

on that Force India. That is Sutil. He has lost the top section, that

could have been nasty if he had not recognised it. Lewis Hamilton in,

and Rosberg, they are going to double stack. I hope they get their

pit stops done quickly. Rosberg will lose time, but they have got no

choice. The tyres have gone off the edge. Rosberg roles in gently. That

Force India will get rolled back into the garage. They will not be

able to service that rear wing so quickly. 3.3 seconds, good, but not

on the pace of what we saw from Red Bull last time out. That is how much

time he has lost. Webber has already done one stop, and now he is ahead.

That is the damage on the back of the Force India, I cannot see that

car going much further in this race. There is a fire braking out. That is

coming from inside the hub, they are blowing air on it. They need a fire

extinguisher on that, you do not want to add oxygen! There you go,

boys. Bad news once again for Force India, they have never scored points

here in India, although Di Resta could still do that. He was hit by

Gutierrez, I think that is Gutierrez, yes, in the Sauber.

at this, he is an cited as he breaks into the corner, battling with

Perez. The two Mexicans going wheel you can see the damage as he was hit

by Gutierrez, maybe a little bit of inexperience there. Alonso in from

the race lead, Felipe Massa takes over the lead, watch the guys go to

work. Clean and efficient once more. Kimi Raikkonen also in on this lap,

Lotus still in the hunt for this, a bit slow coming down off the jack,

but he gets it going once more. In the background, I think we saw

Marussia. Morison has gone past. -- stay in front. See how much Webber

is back in his Grand Prix, Alonso was just in the except of this turn,

he started from the pitlane. RADIO: Box this lap! So Massa will be

coming in, but Mark Webber has used the soft tyre, he is in the same

situation as these guys, he does not have to use it later, but he may

have to do more laps on these medium tyres. He will, but they are new, of

course. Hamilton, 27.0, the first sector, that compares with Massa's

28.2, so Hamilton is one second faster in one sector alone. He has

to respond to that to try to get back into the mix here with the two

Ferrari cars. We may see a different performance on this tyre, we have

seen that over practice, some cars work better than others. Jean-Eric

Vergne tried to make up some ground, battling with Valtteri Bottas and

Maldonado. The two Williams on the right of the shot. He is going to

split the two Williams. Yes, he does. This is a real contest down at

the lower end there. But remember that Sebastian battle is still

looking very good at the moment, Hulkenberg leads this race. The

second stop, let's see where he comes out, head of Alonso all behind

him? Flashing across the line, that is Alonso, he has lost out usually

by making that later stop. He has come out behind Webber, that is how

much time Felipe Massa has lost. That is the advantage of being in

clean air and having a tyre which you can push. Massa struggling to

find a little bit of performance out of the pitlane. Hamilton with the

to be crucial for the front runners, blue flags will not be operating at

this stage because they are raising these guys, they are not slapping

them yet. There is no neared for them to just get out of the way.

This is where you will see some hard and incisive overtaking from the

front runners, but they have got to judge the risk and not go too mad.

over Sebastian Vettel, those are the leaders. He was such a star in

Brazil at the end of last year for Force India, being chased by

reigning world champion Sebastian battle. Jenson Button is in third,

fourth is Perez, and behind him is Paul di Resta, because Massa has

dropped further down the order. Alonso now trying to get past

Jean-Eric Vergne. It looks like there was some contact with Rosberg,

so whether that has damaged his car, we will find out in time. Massa

is all over the back of Mark Webber, he will struggle to hold

that position down into turn one. Hamilton will also try to get past

Vergne, he is the fastest man on track, but now they are picking

their way through the traffic it is much harder to set a quick lap. All

of the front runners on the soft tyre have made their pit stop. The

race is being led by those who started on the harder compound.

Hamilton gets past Jean-Eric Vergne, no problems, trying to keep

in touch with Alonso. Hulkenberg leads from Vettel, Button and Perez,

with Di Resta in fifth. Vergne has lost six, Alonso was back in the

sixth already. The difficulty we will have unfolding here is Vettel

is only a second behind the leader. Crucially, he is only 12 seconds in

front of Alonso, and it takes about 19 seconds to do a combined pitstop,

three seconds for the stock, plus the time in the pitlane. When he

does his stop, he will be a few seconds behind the leading group of

Alonso and Hamilton. And they will all be going quickly themselves.

Look at Hulkenberg, even with the dear Ross Ford Vettel, he was not

closing the gap. -- even with the DRS for Vettel. He opens the DRS

now, massive overspeed, he will pull into the slipstream. He will be left

behind as they brake into turn 14. He has gone a bit wide and braking,

a small lock-up, very susceptible to tyre temperature variation on that

back straight, they lose 30 degrees from the tyre. They are normally at

100 degrees, but they are down at 70 when they hit the brakes down into

turn 14, so that is why you see lock-ups, and that can lead to

delamination of the tyre. The Red Bulls do not have the straight speed

of some of their rivals. That is intentional, they always go for

better downforce, more grip through the fast corners, trading that

against a straight line speed. Maybe that is hurting whether and Vettel.

-- Webber. Button is three seconds further behind. Let's just watch, he

has got to get close here, he has got to be within a second to get the

DRS. He is probably close enough, but last lap he could not make the

pass. It is the second time Hulkenberg has led any last four

races, he is making a name for himself with the move from Force

India to Sabah. Keeping that gap, I think he is within the one second

trigger point, but too far back, DRS was open but he is too far back to

gain the advantage down into the braking zone, so great stuff from

Hulkenberg. Sergio Perez led a few laps when he was driving here last

year for cyber. This is partly the same. Look, here comes Massa passing

the Williams Valtteri Bottas to put Fernando Alonso. A second also

faster and the men at front. minting the fact that at this pace,

when Sebastian Vettel it does his pit stop, he will come behind him,

unless they do two stops this afternoon and he will come back

into play later. We are expecting three stops for those who started

on the option tyre. 17 and 18, this was them -- this was a

straightforward overtake for the Brazilian. This is Kimi Raikkonen

getting past the Toro Rosso. He is about three seconds behind Lewis

Hamilton, still in the hunt but needs to find a bit more pace to

catch up to Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. A lovely pass

around the outside, he made it look easy but it is a big decision. Will

he gets the space? What happens at the other guy runs wide? He could

take you with him. Kimi Raikkonen looks the pick of the Lotus drivers

this year and he has looked fit again and hungry. He looks like the

good old days when he won the Championship in 2007 and could have

won the title in his early years but he had reliability problems.

Not much to choose between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, sixth

and seventh place. Felipe Massa is in tenth place. Mark Webber is in

11th position. Nico Rosberg is 11. Mack Pastor Maldonado is 16th.

Caterham ahead of the Marussia, so that battle continues down below

and of the order. We have lost Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez.

What have you got for us, Tom? bit of drama at Red Bull, first we

had the refuelling problem at qualifying but they have been

changed in that traffic light system for the drivers that hangs

above them. They have replaced it, and it is done, but there was

perhaps an issue at the first few stops. We are watching Nico

Hulkenberg putting in consistent laps at the moment and I think

Sebastian Vettel would be pleased to get past him and if he can look

after his tyres, perhaps he can go further than the Sauber. Paul di

Resta is now under pressure from Fernando Alonso for fifth position.

He is running a different strategy. Close the pace. The pace is good.

What kind of lap times could you do? Difficult to say. Probably half

a second. A discussion, half a second, David, he reckons he could

do faster. It is a decision. If you get right into the gearbox of Nico

Hulkenberg and overtake, you lose downforce and the car starts to

slide and that is the killer with this. It is the degradation from

the tearing up the surface of the tyre, you run out of rubber that is

available to use rather than the thermal degradation that we have

seen before. He is certainly starting to be called in at this

stage, we will see how this will play out. I wonder if red or are

looking at the two stops this afternoon. -- Red Bull. The life of

these players projected around lap 20. Depending on a number of

factors, how much fuel you have, how much will it is on the track

surface, a track temperature. Temperature has dropped it is down

-- and it is down to go to one degrees. That was cheeky from

Sergio Perez. That rules are clear, you can make one change of

direction to defender position and that safety rule applies to

everybody so if you make as though you are going to the right hand

side, he will be a stint -- a sitting duck for Fernando Alonso.

He is going to the left and the right, he gets past in the end.

That was brought up in the meeting with Charlie Whiting because the

real risk is contact between racers. That will rule applies to every

driver. Lewis Hamilton now trying to get behind these two, your are

on board with him now. -- you are. He almost hit the back of the Force

India in to turn six. We know what his position is now, he does not

feel he has the pace of the Ferrari. Look at the front left tyre. He is

in this dirty air where you are quicker than the car in front but

he is taking away the clean air coming onto the surface of your

wing, he has used that up and it Cup -- and it gives you sand in

your face, it is not pretty. This is his team-mate. That is quite

interesting. For them to bring him and... We thought Sebastian Vettel

could come in deeper but it looks as though it would be a three-star

place. That is Nico Hulkenberg.The second stint could go longer. It is

to deal with the traffic. Sergio Perez has Paul di Resta behind him.

And this is the race leader, Nico Hulkenberg, humming again at the

same time. Can Sauber get their man ahead of probably the fastest pit

stop team, Red Bull? I do not think so. He this is Sebastian Vettel up,

and you are right, David. -- this is. The pit stops from Red Bull in

Malaysia or summer and that was quick, too 0.5 seconds. Massive

frustration and for Nico Hulkenberg. Nothing more frustrating as the

leader. Your guys cannot service it, that is frustrating. May be the

resources are Red Bull allowed them to finesse every element of the

procedure -- maybe. Contact!He has broken his front wings. Mark Webber,

damage, from the sister wing -- from the sister team. That is not

good news. That would be an extra pit stop for Mark Webber. It looked

like an lake -- it looked like a late decision for the overtake, so

you can imagine the other driver's eyes were on the road but maybe

Mark thought there would be more complaints from the sister team. He

will undoubtedly have to pit this lap on the front wing. The inside

of the tyre would be spilling goths. How does the car feel? Not too bad.

He has done 14 laps on these tyres anyway so perhaps it would not make

such a big difference. He certainly makes the move to go for the inside

but it was so late that Jean-Eric Vergne had his eyes on the road.

Just imagine inside the cockpit, Jean-Eric Vergne can probably

sensed mark is there but has not got alongside until he commits to

the turn. There is no benefit in Jean-Eric Vergne making contact

with another car so question -- so obviously just a racing incident

and no Malek -- and no malice. adds a lot of time to a

conventional stop, and that is Kimi Raikkonen, he has hit the back of

Sergio Perez! There was definitely carbon-fibre come out was that

leftover from and the contact earlier? -- carbon-fibre, was that

left over. But damage on the front wings, difficult to say, but major

drama for Kimi Raikkonen. It Sergio Perez -- Sergio Perez, that this

leads to incidents come let you do not trust the menu race at 200

miles per hour? -- that leaves. What is he doing?! A tip of the

nose probably does not affect overall performance, but there is

more to that damage. The weekend has just got even worse are for

Mark Webber, what does he had to do? He is cruising in the middle of

107 and 108, -- A 107 and 108. -- tuen seven and eight. To win was

taken from hemp in Malaysia or by Sebastian Vettel -- the winner. And

that is him -- and that is another great shame. He went to go to the

outside and Sergio Perez was running the ordinary line, and

Sergio Perez squeezes over some Kimi Raikkonen... We can see a few

more of those. Sergio Perez staying out with damage to the front wing

but still quick enough to get past there McLaren. Can we see where

that pit stop went wrong? That was good discipline, they did not drop

him until he was ready so having made a mistake, they did not

compound at. So we now have Jenson Button reading this race because he

has not had to make a pit stop. Fernando Alonso is already up to

second having used the soft tyre early in this race. Lewis Hamilton

is in third place. Felipe Massa is under pressure from Sebastian

Vettel. And he has a different strategy. Mark Webber trained to

keep out of the way, difficult because it is so narrow on the apex

here. His wheels have come off in front of Sebastian Vettel! His we

all was rolling across the road in front of his team-mate! -- his we.

Mack -- wheel. You just could not make that up! Fernando Alonso is

trying to catch Jenson Button who is leading this race. He has done

17 laps on his tyres so he has gone deeper into the race, McLaren might

be making this a two-stop race. But we know McLaren -- the McLaren does

not have the pace of the Ferrari. He will be a sitting duck by the

time he reaches 13. Fernando Alonso will probably keep back a little

bit so as not to overwork those tyres and bring him into position

as they come into the activation zone just after this corner.

Fernando Alonso is getting into position to take the lead of this

Grand Prix and looking very strong now that Kimi Raikkonen has been

hampered with that damage. He has called for a nose changed at his

pit stop and that will add on -- and that will add on time. Jenson

Button was very quick three 13th and so it looks as though Fernando

Alonso will not be able to get past him here -- very quick through 13.

That we or was probably separate to the incident that brought him in,

contact with the Toro Rosso. -- wheel. Be it is clearly an issue

with the seating Govett. -- it is. -- of it. That was a good effort!

That would have been very nasty, so bear that in mind. But it is a very

slow corner so the impact would not have been as bad as it would on a

fast bend. Let's take another look at that. Attire found the gap in

the traffic and rolled away. -- that tyre has. His third retirement

in the last six races, Mark Webber doing to be leading. Kimi Raikkonen

has caught Lewis Hamilton, and there is no doubt that Mercedes are not

showing the pace on the harder tyre that we have seen from some of the

others. The Lotus, as we know from Australia, looks after its tyres

extremely well. The battle for the lead, Button versus Alonso, McLaren

versus Ferrari, and then behind, for third place, Hamilton versus

Raikkonen, and no change again between the top two. DRS is not

operating because of the yellow flag. The DRS flap was not open on

any of those cars, it is not allowed to be used in a yellow flag zone.

That is because of the debris from Gutierrez, the car is still on the

extent of the turn. Rob Smedley talking to Felipe Massa. Probably

box now. There he is. He lost out in the first round of pit stops, he has

first call this time, interestingly, as he comes into the pits. Let's see

how this one goes for him. Another set of the harder tyres, the medium

compound. This looks like a three-stop race for them and indeed

for Rosberg as well, who sets on his way, 2.7 seconds for Massa. Now,

look at this, Sebastian Vettel down the inside of Sergio Perez, and that

was a good, clean pass, no problem at all for Sebastian Vettel. That

puts up into fifth position as he continued to chase after the likes

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

point, still has to run the soft tyre, at some stage in this race he

has to do so. Hulkenberg is in the same boat, he has to run the soft

tyre, but he is not far behind Vettel. Button is leading this race,

and if he pitted now, he would come out between Massa and Grosjean, so

McLaren are playing in a three second window to get their man out

in front of the Lotus. DRS was operating that time, he thought you

might make it, but good straight-line speed from McLaren.

is saving it for the grandstand, the front straight year. As they go down

across the start -finish, we could see under the rear wing of the

McLaren onto the curb, so he is going to catch him a bit late.

Alonso take the lead in China, the Ferrari going ahead of the McLaren

of Jenson Button. Fernando Alonso, then, back in front. He did not want

to waste that pass on a hairpin when no one was watching, other than

millions of viewers around the world, of course! He was saving it

for the grandstand, I am sure the Chinese fans went crazy. Can Kimi

Raikkonen find a way past Lewis Hamilton? He is definitely

struggling for grip, and that flapping front nose cone, too!

Technical man Gary Anderson may be able to tell us whether that has any

effect on the aero of the car, you would think so, but the main

blockage comes from the front wing and tyres. He is running the risk of

burning out the tyres, we keep talking about the dirty air, as the

Mercedes pits. There must be a problem for Rosberg, he stopped only

a few laps ago, so a problem. This was the pass on errors by Vettel. We

will ask Gary about the damage to the Lotus, what is the answer?

a lot of bits missing, so it will affect him, and it will use up the

front tyres, but he is one of the quickest cars on the track at the

moment, so they will be scratching their heads a bit. Raikkonen again

close to the back of Hamilton, he will have DRS as they come out of

the next corner as well, let's just see... Hamilton is coming in, along

with Raikkonen. Strategy, Gary? Rosberg looks like he has got a

problem, but some of them are definitely on three stops. I do not

think he can get to the end on a two-stop strategy from there, it

will have to be a three-stop strategy. We did wonder whether the

Lotus would be able to do that, nothing to choose between them in

the pitlane there. McLaren may be running a two-stop strategy. If you

can get another five laps out of it, he can go late on to the softs.

further action in that incident between Perez and writing. They did

not change Raikkonen's nose at the stop, so they knew there was damage,

but they thought they would lose more in the battle if they tried to

make the change now. It looks like the Mercedes of Hamilton, though, on

the fresh tyres, is opening up a gap on Raikkonen. Not looking too bad

for Jenson Button, silky smooth driver. Even though Perez has been

in the wars slightly, only 14 seconds behind Button. 22 laps in, I

guess that is quite a lot. But he is within striking distance of good

points. Alonso leads, Button in second place. Coming through there

we have got Vettel, up into third place now, interesting, because

Hamilton has made his pit stop. That has brought Vettel up into third

position. Now, we saw an incident... RADIO: We stay out now, box at the

end of next lap. We are going to see Alonso coming in soon. We saw Adrian

Sutil being hit by Esteban Gutierrez, and we are also seeing

the second retirement of the year for Nico Rosberg, two DNSs out of

three races, that is not the start to the season he would have wanted,

buried as appointing. As I mentioned, Sutil went out earlier,

and he is talking to lead. Not a nice way to end the Grand Prix, tell

us about the move and when you took the head. I was on the straight,

right before the hairpin, and when I turned into the corner, I felt a hit

in the rear, and that was it. My rear wing was broken. I think

Gutierrez had a late braking point or whatever. Shame. Tell us about

the incident with your teammate, Paul di Resta. Not much to say, I

just felt a hit on my real left by, and then I was looking in my mirror

and saw him, so I do not know what he was trying, we were on different

strategies. There was no reason to do any silly stuff. A great shame to

have lost Sutil from this race, we have also lost Gutierrez in the same

incident, and Webber is out of the race, too. Lewis Hamilton is engaged

in a real dogfight with Daniel Ricciardo. He slips past him without

much problem in the end, as he goes through, but still waiting to see if

Jenson will be coming in. He has been reporting he wants a front wing

change. Ricciardo coming back. Trying to come back on Lewis

Hamilton, not quite there. Alonso in, and he had to wait a fraction

because Button came in as well. can see the marking, the board's

there, that tells the teams when they are allowed to release the

car, the point when it is at the marker board, you cannot release

them into the path of the others. Where does Button come out? Just in

front of... A quick stop by McLaren over the Ferrari team. Perez is in

behind, interestingly enough. Alonso comes out in third place, so Vettel

is now the race leader. Hulkenberg is in second place, Alonso third,

Perez is in fourth place on a different strategy to those around

him. And then Button is in fifth place. We would expect to see Perez

coming in soon, he has not stopped yet, going deep into this race on

this set of tyres, McLaren looking to make this a two-stop race, while

their rivals make it a three-stop race. Over the years in China, that

has set things up beautifully for the last few laps, let's hope we get

the same again. Hulkenberg is running well in the Sauber. Lewis

Hamilton is behind Button. The use of DRS in yellow flags are under

investigation, as you can see. is Jenson Button, did he use DRS?

RADIO: Jenson is ahead on aid to stop. A bit of explanation to Lewis

Hamilton, telling him what is going on. That is the yellow flag, where

we were talking about the DRS by Grosjean and Button, I would have

thought it is fairly clear cut. If they have used it, there will be a

penalty applied. Kimi Raikkonen, what are his lap

times like? It is difficult to read them at the moment because they have

been dealing with traffic. I think that was him flashing through in the

background, we will just checked that. It is the McLaren of Perez.

Thank you. Raikkonen has just gone over the line, as we can see, Perez

in after a long stint, 25 laps, impressive, on the harder compound,

definitely making it a two-stop race for McLaren. They will still have to

run the soft tyre at some point. give you a comparison, Perez's last

lap time was 3.5 seconds slower than Hamilton. 2.5, sorry, maths was

never my strong point! Sebastian Vettel is up eight places from where

he started his race, but he still has to run the soft tyre at some

stage. The track temperature going down, 30 degrees track temperature,

the soft tyre does not like the cooler conditions, so the longer he

leaves it into the race, the more difficult it will be to run the soft

tyre. It will be quick over the first lap or two, but then, as we

know, it degrades, loses performance very rapidly. He is currently

leading the race from Nico Hulkenberg, on a similar strategy.

Alonso is on an alternative strategy, setting the fastest first

sector of anybody. You have got to say, he is looking very good for

this race at the moment. Jenson Button is next in fourth, Hamilton

in fifth, Raikkonen in sixth position. We ride on board with

Massa, tucked in behind Paul di Resta. Paul di Resta locks up very

late in the braking zone into 14, good drive off that have been,

though, but Massa will be within DRS activation as they go to the apex of

16. He is quite a distance back, getting on with it, making sure he

got off the last turn as well as he could. A bit wide through three,

going for the cutback to get some clean air as they roll through four.

Let's just see what we have got here, Daniel Ricciardo on his

teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, down the inside. Hopefully they did not do

anything silly, no, that was OK. Ricciardo is currently in 11th

place, Vergne in 12. That will be investigated after the race, the use

of DRS. That always confuses the issue, doesn't it? Alonso Wright

with Hulkenberg for second place, Alonso having set the fastest lap in

this race last time around. He goes shallow and passes him in the middle

of the corner! He will be susceptible to getting passed by

Hulkenberg, but if he can stay in the slipstream, Alonso will get DRS

because he was in the trigger point. Hulkenberg does not get DRS

because he was behind at the activation point. Clever stuff from

Alonso, the understands exactly how to use the systems at his disposal,

and that is why he is a double world champion. And is tyres are looking

nice and fresh, he made a recent pit stop in comparison to Nico

Hulkenberg, who has done a few laps on those tyres now. Alonso on the

charge now to see whether he can close the gap to Sebastian Vettel

and take the lead of this race. with an overtake, he is 1.5 seconds

quicker than Vettel on that last lap. Pressure tyres on the Ferrari,

but significantly faster. Jenson Button versus Lewis Hamilton,

getting very close. They are fighting for fourth place. This is

the battle for seventh position behind Massa. Perez is ten, having

made his pit stop, Ricciardo 11, Vergne 12. Let's just watch them

down at the hairpin. Great stuff by Paul di Resta, one less stop than

Massa at this point, using the tools at his disposal, you can use your

KERS, not only for the best lap time but to give you the best chance of

defending your position from the cars behind you. 80 horsepower

available on the KERS. Jenson, he stopped two laps before us, they are

five laps old. Do we want to fight? Yes, we do! Explain what that is

about, surely they are going to fight. They are managing the tyres,

making sure they have the best track position at the last stop. And that

long straight, Jessica Burton has slipped on a pair of boxing gloves

on the instruction of the team, and he is about to engage in battle and

keep that Mercedes behind him. think Paul di Resta has done so,

because he is managing to fend off Felipe Massa quite effectively. He

will have to switch to the soft tyre later in this race, which has the

danger of dropping him down. Alonso going very quickly, Hamilton still

cannot get past Jenson Button in the fight. You have to defend, if you

go into a hat pin, the chances of spinning up the rear tyre or when

you go into there corner is increased. -- hairpin. It is like a

game of chess, you have to play a long game to gain something else

down the line, and it is all about averaging viewpoints across the

season. They want to win everything but there was nothing more

important than the Championship. Hamilton very much within the

activations don't come up with and the one-second. He made a mistake,

he compromised the turns. He looks a bit far back to get a good

activation. But he might be over the back of the McLaren by the

braking zone. So bastion that will still in front of Fernando Alonso.

-- Sebastian Vettel. Lewis Hamilton ran wider before he could get power

on to turn 13. Jenson Button, middle ground at the moment. It is

a straightforward pass, he cannot defend against that, the superior

speed with the DRS an operation. -- in operation. That is like getting

knocked out with the first punch! And he did not even bothered to

force him round the outside. would have compromised his position

it and picked up dirt on his tyres. Had Lewis Hamilton tribe somewhere

else, he would have put up a fight. Ferrari bearing down on Red Bull

and whatever happens, the Ferrari performance has been very

encouraging it. They know they have to fight hard this year. They had a

-- they had a great second place in the opener in Australia and felt

they could challenge in Australia, that went wrong when the front wing

was damaged, but he just drives round the inside again, no problem!

And has instructed, Sebastian Vettel did not fight it. -- as

instructed. Fernando Alonso strategically using the tools

exceptionally well. It is a game of cat and mouse but Fernando Alonso

looks strong. Hamilton ahead of Jenson Button and now it is Kimi

Raikkonen who will try to get past the McLaren, a different strategy

to the other frontrunners. Butter is driving this sensible race at

this stage. -- Jenson Button. Nico Hulkenberg has just come in, he did

14 laps on that stint of tyres, decent, but not very long. Now he

has put on the soft tyre, so he has not left it till the end, he has

left it till the middle. Good information for the other teams

because they will now see his lap time degradation, but Nico

Hulkenberg has been looking very consistent and will get a lot of

points this often in. Sergio Perez also doing a stint on the soft tie

at the moment. That was it Fernando Alonso running round the inside of

Sebastian Vettel to take the lead at the Grand Prix -- that was

Fernando Alonso. The superior speed and operation and he went through

no trouble. -- in operation. The softer tyre for Nico Hulkenberg and

he was on the radio to his team at, they asked what they should do and

he said, it is your choice, I cannot see what is happening in the

race! A fair comment. We saw Nico Rosberg stepping out of his car

before. We are talking to him. Were you did not want, another

retirement, what was the problem? Just what you did not want. It was

feeling strained and it got worse and my front wheel started to

bounce on the inside, I do not know the reason. -- it was feeling

strange. The front inside just came off.

By at is a problem, two suspension issues for him -- that is the

problem. He had a problem on Saturday morning which denied him

the chance to do a qualifying stimulation -- simulation, so there

are concerns at Mercedes. We have seen issues in practice, these cars

are prototypes and they are updated every week, so it is not just about

proving reliability, and Kimi Raikkonen is in position here. He

will not need to do anything in seven and eight, they are

considerably slower to what they do in qualifying. He is trying to line

up for the next zones. And Sergio Perez has done six laps on his soft

tyres and the last lap, you can see the tyres are losing performance.

It looks like a soft option tyre really only has six laps and it.

in it. So Sebastian Vettel will be coming in from second place. Will

he run the option or leave it until the end of the race? Basic

information from Sergio Perez, it will be... Kimi Raikkonen is down

the outside, no problem. decision will be based on how many

laps they will get out of it and where as a consequence of making

the next stop they will end up in traffic. So this is where they

think he is going to put them for the next round. In it is the medium

compound, the harder tyre. -- it is. They want to save the option tyre

for later in the race, and McLaren coming into the pit lane. Nico

Hulkenberg has just set the fastest lap of the race, and he comes out

in 8th place behind Felipe Massa. Sergio Perez is coming in for

McLaren. Nico Hulkenberg going quickly on the soft tyre and he has

got past Paul di Resta and put him into sixth place, so seven laps

were done by Sergio Perez. And that was brave again from Sebastian

Vettel! By at is how you do it, there was no hesitation. -- that is.

He made it quite clear, I am coming through and I am running wide! So

he has no choice to leave the door open, Felipe Massa, and hoped that

he has misjudged it. But on the fresh tyre, he made good use of the

extra grip. -- fresh tyres. It is easy for Sebastian Vettel to cut

through at this stage. He has to use the extra grip when he has the

opportunity. He goes down the inside of Paul di Resta here. But

Paul di Resta has done a great job of pulling away from the Ferrari of

Felipe Massa. Doing his utmost to get points for Force India, they

have not had points here in China in the past and he has finished in

11th place himself. Still looking back Nico Hulkenberg are not soft

tyres. A Paul di Resta, I can see action from the pit crew in Force

India, so he has done a good job with only one stop. In pretty good

effort from him. How far behind Lewis Hamilton is Kimi Raikkonen?

From 0.3 seconds only. -- 1.3. They started to get on the front row but

it looks as though the Ferrari has had the more competitive

performance here. He wanted to position his car on the outside at

five, but Felipe Massa made it clear he was going that direction.

He looks for the outside initially and it is on the second phase that

he goes down the inside, that is it really difficult move. When you

have made the decision by... And look at the amount of dirt have

picked up by Romain Grosjean as. And a secondary has -- pass for the

Toro Rosso. Daniel Ricciardo is in ninth position it and having a

solid race. He has not got any points so far this year but they

might be able to do something about that. The battle for fifth place

now, and different tyre strategy. They were together in the early

part of the race but Nico Hulkenberg are starting to drop

away. His last lap was all right, how much further can he go on the

soft tyres? He has an opportunity to pit now but he is staying out.

But Sebastian Vettel has been able to get cleanly through the traffic

ahead of him. A good lap from Sebastian Vettel, his fastest of

the race, and of anybody's so far this race. Fernando Alonso and

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen started on the soft tyre and

working through the medium compound, Sebastian Vettel has used three

sets of medium tyres and still has to use the soft, everybody has to

at some point, and Tom is worth the motorsport Director. -- his work.

The soft tyres have lasted about six laps, did you expect that?

looked at what Sebastian would do and we thought he would do his last

picked up with five or six laps remaining, and we sent out Sergio

Perez to drive them out and it is confirming about six, it so we

expect the two that started on the medium tyres to come in with six

remaining. Are how is the balance, do you need

more front wing? -- how is. They are simple, he said, yes. Does that

mean more? It does. And engaged along the conversation between Kimi

Raikkonen and his engineer! -- and engaged. -- an. He will have to do

20 laps on his final set of tyres, so I wonder if Mercedes will bring

at Lewis Hamilton in next time? Lewis, Kimi Raikkonen is in the

pit-lane, some posh! Mercedes have to respond. -- so push. Kimi

Raikkonen is in a place, Romain Grosjean is in ninth place, Jean-

Eric Vergne is in tenth. -- Kimi Raikkonen is in eighth place.

board now with Paul di Resta. Jean- Eric Vergne is ahead of him at five.

That was a good move by Paul di Resta and it takes him up into

tenth place, but he still has softer tyres to run. So doing his

utmost in their Force India and no doubt looking forward to Bahrain

next week where they lead a Grand Prix briefly last year. And that is

Lewis Hamilton in second place, 11 seconds behind Fernando Alonso, who

is storming away at the moment. Jenson Button in fourth place,

Sebastian Vettel in fifth position, and able to push. Nico Hulkenberg

is still out. Jenson Button is ahead. He has just done it a one

41.2, that should be good, as long as he is not overstretching the

tyres. -- 141.2. The drivers are almost like Khamis as, managing the

reaction of the compound. -- Khamis. -- chemists. I know you will think

I am talking up the intelligence of drivers! We are going to have to

get the traffic under way! He is a long way back behind the Marussia

and even that far back, he is losing performance from his tyres.

It is Max Chilton ahead of him, he is running in 18th place behind

Giedo van der Garde and is trying to close that gap. They are running

different strategies. Sebastien, we need to pass Jenson Button. And I

that, so Sebastian Vettel moves back into third position, lap 37 of 56,

and still the race is playing out, rocky happy with that, that is what

he wanted to see, the Red Bull passing the McLaren. Up front,

Fernando Alonso was in control by 12.3 seconds. Max Chilton being told

about the blue flag, and I am sure that he will be getting out of the

way. In comes Hulkenberg and Massa, locking up a little bit behind him.

Raikkonen has just set his personal best lap time, Hamilton is still out

there. Massa gets on his way once again. Hulkenberg, yeah, I thought

they would be close, they are going to be side-by-side all the way down

pitlane, and it will be a race. A problem for Hulkenberg! He did not

get off the pits limiter. Normally that would deactivate as you pull

for second or third year, it is programmed on individual driver

preference that the upshift should be activated. There was something in

the distraction, let's watch from inside the cockpit. He leaves room,

glances in his mirrors, and it looks like the Ferrari is edging up on

him. Well, there was no edging, the pits limiter was still on. You could

see him flicking for a gear. It is down to individual and team choice.

I would have gone for, the minute you upshift, it's deactivate the

limiter. Is this part of moving to a new team? It is only his third Grand

Prix with Sauber. We saw Lewis Hamilton pull up in the McLaren box

last week, and he has known he has been a Mercedes driver since back in

last year, and he still managed to stop in the wrong box! Where is

Raikkonen? That is the big question, Kimi came in a couple of laps to go,

they are going to try to get the end on this set of tyres, but they will

be fresher than Kimi's come the end of the race. Where is the Lotus?

Flashing down the straight... I think that is in there. That is a

Toro Rosso. Years dead already. So Kimi Raikkonen... -- he is ahead

already. He is in turn three already, Hamilton has lost out in

that particular round. Raikkonen delivered a personal best at this

phase of the Grand Prix, so reacting to the need to get a move on and try

to clear the traffic that he was finding with the Mercedes.

Ricciardo, Hamilton has come out behind him and needs to get past

Ricciardo if at all possible, to go chasing after Kimi Raikkonen. What

Lewis has to hope for but he will not feel confident about is that

maybe the Lotus will not have any tyre performance at the end of the

race, which is what happened to Kimi here last year. He ran wide, lost

all performance and dropped like a stone out of the points from a

potential podium finish. Looking at the Lotus' treatment of the tyres, I

think that is unlikely, they will have judged it more carefully, and

Raikkonen could have beaten Hamilton through this series of pit stops.

Hamilton getting past Daniel Ricciardo, who holds his line for

the moment. No problem at all for Lewis Hamilton to get past. And so

Ricciardo drops a position. Let's just take a look at this, this is

Kimi going past Ricciardo on the lap before. Around the outside, a couple

of moves from Raikkonen, very late inside not to drive you wide. But

Raikkonen making good use of the traffic. We are two thirds of the

way through this Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso leads by 19.2

seconds over Sebastian Vettel, and then we have got Button running in

third position, Kimi Raikkonen is fourth, Hamilton is now in fifth

place, Ricciardo has just come into the pits, by the way. Then it is Di

Resta, then Massa, and then the top ten is completed by Hulkenberg,

Perez, Grosjean, Jean-Eric Vergne. Both Williams are running in 13th

and 14th. Jules Bianchi in the Marussia is leading the young

teams' tussle, but only just from Charles Pic. Chilton is ahead of Van

der Garde. We have lost four cars, Rosberg, Webber, Sutil and

Gutierrez. Alonso spinning up the wheels, using a bit of KERS, exactly

one pit stop in terms of time ahead of Vettel. We expect them both to

make a further stop this afternoon. Of course, Vettel will be sticking

those option tyres on. Let's just look for him in the background.

is a long, long gap! That is what 19 seconds looks like, it may be even

more this time. 19 flat, so Vettel actually picked up two tenths on

Alonso on that last stop, but with one remaining stop each, this is the

running order. Is he going to close that gap? Not unless Alonso has a

technical issue at his pit stop. the tyres go off hugely, but that is

not going to happen with three stops. And Vettel has the soft tyres

to come. He has got the ugly ones at the end, Alonso will have the primes

to put on. Raikkonen trying to pace it a little bit to look after his

tyres. He is on a longer final stint than Hamilton, but Hamilton is on

the attack. I said that Alonso had a scrub set of primes, but he started

with three new sets, so he will have a primary set of tyres for the final

stint. A number of cars are going to be investigated for DRS use in their

yellow flag zone, Vettel and Webber, Raikkonen, 17 is Bottas, and

then number 19 and 23 as well, so Max Chilton and Daniel Ricciardo.

That could make a late night tonight. Breathe easy, Ferrari fans,

Alonso is number three, his name is not on that list, further cementing

the position that he looks like the man most likely to win this

afternoon. It seems strange, if that many cars are being investigated, if

something went wrong with the whole system. Unusual for so many to make

a mistake. I guarantee they will all be getting on script before they go

to see the stewards, because they will be fighting that together, they

will have a better chance of getting through. Let's take a look at what

is going on with Alonso, front wing moving around through the braking

zone. You can see the brake ducts, all the little aero devices that are

used to deflect air into the right position. That was just the director

in dodging himself in a bit of slow motion camera work, no incident

there. -- indulging. RADIO: Good very much as if Alonso, so far, is

looking good for victory, but it is the second and third places that the

racing is going on for here. On board with Kimi Raikkonen, looking

back at Lewis Hamilton. It was this area of the track last year where

Kimi had his problem. Box now!Here we go, final stop for Ferrari,

perfect three-stop strategy. Locale calm they are, they know he is going

to be boxing, but no emotion. -- look how calm they are. They do not

have much time to get into position, and what they do is they keep the

tyre off the cement in the pit area, because they lose heat so quickly.

You need to keep them at the optimal working temperature. Fernando Alonso

comes in, they need a good, clean pit stop, looking for victory in

China at the moment. It is... OK, not the fastest, by any means.

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

the likes to tell him when it is safe to go. Vettel coming through to

take the lead. But he still has a pit stop to do, and he will be going

on to the soft tyre as well. He is older tyres at this phase, so Alonso

still looking good. Sebastian Vettel is where he likes to be, leading the

Grand Prix, and of course these guys know that Jason consistent podiums

is how you win the world championship, how Alonso came so

close to beating Vettel last year. -- chasing. Another fastest lap from

Lewis Hamilton, who is within a second of Kimi Raikkonen. So

Raikkonen not secure in his position. Remember, they are both

racing against Vettel, both Hamilton and Raikkonen, on differing

strategies are racing against Vettel, so we will see how that

works out through the Grand Prix. Massa is in seventh place in the

other Ferrari, he really seems to have lost out. That first pit stop

cost him hugely, and he has not been able to deliver the kind of

performance that Fernando Alonso has done. Gary, I just wanted to bring

you in here. I mean, it looks pretty good for Alonso, but it is all about

second and third, isn't it? That is where the real race is going on.

Vettel was 15 seconds behind Alonso, and in reality he will be

coming out the Hamilton after the pit stop. You have to make sure you

have got 23 seconds to keep that gap, or you are not going to make

it. I wonder how the McLaren strategy is working out, they are on

a two-stop, Jenson Button running third. This is going to be an easy

overtake for Alonso before they go into turn one, he reclaimed the lead

of the Chinese Grand Prix once more, and he is looking good up

front. Vettel now has to manage his tyres. He still has one-stop to go,

what are your thoughts on Button? was the right strategy, taking the

best result of this weekend. I do not think they ever came here

thinking they could win the race. are racing Vettel, let's close up to

him. Racing Vettel? Have they got a chance? Once the tyres do this four

or five laps, they will drop off, steady for a long time, so Jenson

did a good run on the medium tyre early, so yeah. What is the longest

run on the soft tyre we have seen? think we saw six laps for prayers,

two second slower than Jenson Button. Two seconds is too much. --

Perez. He has got to get to lap 50. B has got to make sure he has got a

good tyre for the last few laps. Thank you very much, Gary. We were

watching the tyre behaviour on Vettel's car. He came in for his

stop, and my notes ESA lap 32, so he has done 11 now on these tyres. --

my notes hearsay. He is getting into the training phase. Not far behind

Jenson Button as well, so this is going to be fun, Jenson Button, a

former winner here in China, so is Kimi Raikkonen and of course so is

Lewis Hamilton, a double winner in China in the past, and he knows you

have to race right to the end. He has claimed top spot in the last few

laps in self here just a few years ago over Sebastian Vettel. No giving

in, no surrender at this point, it has got to be full on all the way

and see what happens in that race with Vettel in particular, was

running in second place but is due another pit stop. Remember, Button

is due another pit stop. He is being asked to try to close on Vettel, who

is on much newer tyres. I thinking that is asking quite a lot of Jenson

Button in a McLaren that we know is not as competitive as the other cars

at this point. But they have got to give him some inspiration, back at

the factory, it is great to see the McLaren on a different strategy up

there with these guys. That is Grand Prix racing, played to your

strengths. I think that McLaren recognised that they do not have the

new package for this year optimised, but they have such a big spread of

performance through the tyres that they have gone with a different

strategy. Again, it fits comfortably with the fact that Jenson Button,

more often than not, when we see changing conditions, the medium damp

conditions, where he goes on the intermediates when others are on

wets or slicks, he is good at understanding what might be. Here

comes Raikkonen to take that position from Jenson Button, moving

up into third place, and Lewis Hamilton will try to do similar.

Still another stop to come for Jenson Button, remember, but

Raikkonen, who has done his three starts now, he is charging to the

flag from this stage, as is Lewis Hamilton. A different strategy. What

McLaren are trying to do is stay up in the top ten and just get some

points out of this race, bring more modifications to the car to Bahrain.

Look at Hamilton, around the outside. He will do it, will he?

That is unusual. He has ended up doing it, Button quite generous.

Yes, sensible racing, once Lewis has positioned himself in the braking

zone into two on the outer line, good spatial awareness from these

two guys. If you do not see it, you do not see someone overtaking there

everyday. Boat on the podium for McLaren last year, but Jenson Button

lost the chance to close on Rosberg with a pit stop problem. This was

Grosjean getting past Perez for 10th place. This is Raikkonen, this is on

Button, the replay of the overtake we saw a moment ago. Raikkonen

taking that position and moving up into third. This was how Hamilton

fastest and Ulster -- fastest middle sector of anybody. He is

looking after his tyres but still going very quickly, so he is in

great shape and he is nine seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Can Kimi

Raikkonen a close that gap? -- close. Kimi Raikkonen is really

going to have to get on it here to close down at Ferrari in the

closing laps, and Fernando Alonso is on fresher tyres. We will have

to wait and see. We are on lap 46 now. It shows you the different

strategies and how you have to manage the tyres. Fernando Alonso,

Sebastian Vettel in second, two a second slower that last lap. The

times all over the place as these drivers tied to manage their own

Grand Prix. -- a price. As Kimi Raikkonen says, you drive your own

Grand Prix rather than setting out to race against the others, you

have to drive to plan. If that involves overtaking, great, but you

stick to the plans. Lewis Hamilton is 1.1 seconds behind Kimi

Raikkonen. They have to close that gap to Fernando Alonso and get into

position ahead of Sebastian Vettel, which they are doing. Sebastian

Vettel will drop behind when he makes a pit stop and he will drop

behind Jenson Button as well, but he should come out in front of Paul

di Resta. But Sebastian Vettel will not be looking at a podium finish

the way things are going and he might even drop behind Felipe Massa

potentially. And so Sebastian Vettel has to manage the estate of

the race. Jenson Button will need to do another stop so that will be

neutralised. So he will not said, as he just does another

fastest lap! Man and machine come together in perfect harmony

sometimes and nobody can match that. Fernando Alonso seems to have found

that position today. Jenson Button has to go on to the soft tyre, as

well as Sebastian Vettel, and track temperature has also dropped down

to 27 degrees now so they will have that target to prevent a soft tyres

graining too quickly. -- goes soft tyres. How his Kimi Raikkonen

getting on against Lewis Hamilton? -- how is. Begat is still 1.2

seconds. -- the gap. The battle for best of the rest, for second, he

wants it to most. -- who wants it most. I do not think the Red Bull

of Sebastian Vettel will make it. The strategy of using the soft tyre

for qualifying seems to be the best strategy and the decision by Red

Bull to run at a medium compound does not seem to be working out

here. -- to run. That is a big challenge for teams. Compounds are

generally a bit softer but tyres fundamentally are different. A car

ahead of Kimi Raikkonen is Sebastian Vettel who has still it

yet to stop, it is going to be close. -- the Shanghai. He should

be able to make up ground. -- the car. He will have four laps to make

some ground. And he may get some more out of it, he has a new set

waiting for him, they have not been spoiled by going through a heat

cycle. It might not be over yet, but he will be coming from behind.

It will make for an exciting finish. Daniel Ricciardo in eighth place is

not far behind Felipe Massa, great effort from him. And he's just

getting past Nico Hulkenberg here, so Toro Rosso are showing the sort

of performance we have seen some evidence of this year, but they are

now delivering today. It could be the circuit. This time last year,

Nico Rosberg won in style but Mercedes never looked like winning

again, that is the nature of Formula One in this stage of the

season. Difficult to bring the big upgrades when you are overseas. But

they are winning points and that is very valuable. 1 small past, get

everything out of this. -- pass. has done at 25 laps on the set of

tyres, they are doing well, but Sebastian Vettel looks to be

sliding around a bit. For and he is running 1.2 seconds faster than the

last lap for Jenson Button. -- and he is. Sebastian Vettel can run a

bit faster and he is trying to minimise the gap when he does his

last pit stop. He will go out and hit it for a few laps. Still a gap

between third and fourth place, which will become second and third

when Sebastian Vettel makes his final stop. Paul di Resta...

wish macro will be stopping for the next three laps and towards the end

of the race, he will be very close -- Sebastian Vettel. Lewis has been

in the situation with the faster tyres at the end of the race but I

am sure he will be up for the fight. Paul di Resta is in sixth place and

he also has to make a pit stop, and this is McLaren, for Jenson Button

who will be coming into the pits. He should come out three seconds

ahead of of Daniel Ricciardo. We will take a look at that to see

where he comes out. But we hope that pit stop will go well because

it did not go well in Malaysia. That is more like it! Poetry in

motion! That is Daniel Ricciardo so he is going to come out ahead of

him. That is a good position. He will be reasonably happy with that.

We will see how the tyres work on the McLaren and if he can put

Felipe Massa under pressure because he will have much quicker tyres for

the next few laps. But will he be able to get past him and stay in

front of him? We are still waiting for Paul di Resta to come into the

pits and also for Sebastian Vettel, that is the big one we want to see

what will happen when he comes in for the final stage of the race.

That is Sebastian Vettel, in second place. Those of the two that seemed

to be fighting for second. -- those are the two. This is another great

effort by Lewis Hamilton and a fast middle sector on the soft tyres,

and those guys continue round another lap. Sebastian Vettel is

going deep before they make the final stop and this is Jenson

Button, he is on the soft tyres and he will get him down the inside.

Will be soft tyres last him? This is impressive from McLaren who have

got past the Ferrari that was so quick here on Friday, and look at

Felipe Massa sliding around. Jenson Button has a new set of tyres and

he should be able to make it work. You cannot do much to preserve a

life of that option tyre, you just have to use the grip that is

available and if it does fall off in the last lap or so, you hope you

have another -- you hope you have a big enough gap. Not easy in

Shanghai it when the tracks are so wide. Jenson Button was the fastest

man in the first sector, so he is not holding back and he is just

giving everything. Villa two will be coming in. He is currently seven

seconds behind Fernando Alonso. -- Sebastian Vettel Bobby coming in.

He should come out in front of Paul di Resta put behind Lewis Hamilton,

and quite a week behind. Will the soft tyres allow him to close that

gap? -- quite a way behind. needs to make up more than 10

seconds, this will cost them about 18 seconds. He will be behind

Hamilton by about 10 seconds. this is the final stop for

Sebastian Vettel. They were a bit slow! He needs every second here.

So he will join them again. And how well the settle down? And look at

the lap paste of Jenson Button. -- pace. Sebastian Vettel has run at

it through four, five and into six. -- run out. So a bastion, race to

the finish, and you have a big gap behind! -- Sebastian. Expect these

to be fast laps. This is fun to watch, qualifying laps from a

Sebastian Vettel, the reigning World Champion, going for it to

catch Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton who are now second and

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

positions or will Sebastian Vettel close on them? This is the middle

sector. That is the gap, can he really close that gap in the

remaining four laps? It is a lot to ask but he will be giving it

everything it. He was one second quicker in that middle sector.

Hamel turn and Kimi Raikkonen have just passed in front of the

commentary box -- Lewis Hamilton. He is pulling believe fat and its

wobbles around. -- he is pulling believe that and it wobbles around.

-- the lever. He has to make up 11.5 seconds in three laps, I do

not think he will be able to do that. The fastest lap currently has

been one 39.5. 139:5. Here is fastest again in the first sector -

- he is. We have not seen Fernando Alonso much because he has been

Supreme out from its dealing with every situation, and that Ferrari

has looked superb, they have got a race-winning car here. Malaysia was

disappointing, they did not finish, it could be costly at the end of

the year, but what it replied to come here and dominate this race.

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

close behind is -- plus behind. Sebastian Vettel is two seconds

faster in two sectors and if he can do that in each sector, we will see

what could happen. He is trying to get into there DRS zone behind

Lewis Hamilton. -- a DRS zone. Paul di Resta is going to pit now,

and it is going to be close for him to get into the top 10. Kimi

Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton continue in second and third. They

gap is now down to eight seconds between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis

Hamilton -- the gap. I think he will run out of time, but he has

unleashed a time with those new tyres. Paul di Resta is in the pits

and we will keep an eye on where he joins. Nico Hulkenberg was in ninth

place and is coming down the finish straight now and I think Romain

Grosjean has got past Nico Hulkenberg. We are still watching

Lewis Hamilton as he chases down It may be that Force India can still

get some points here today, we will wait and see, it is going to be

marginal. Second and third go through, how quick is Vettel?

one second up relative to Hamilton. Again, 0.9 up, so on scheduled to be

getting close to his gearbox at the end of the Grand Prix, he is getting

diminishing returns because these tyres are no longer brand-new, and

there is higher degradation, even on the Mercedes in front, which is a

much older prime tyre. You can see him in the background, we are going

to get a grandstand finish, but I do not know if it is going to be

enough. He is three seconds quicker, he is five seconds behind! The last

lap is going to be fun here in China, no doubt about it! Vettel is

closing, catching them up. Has he got enough time to do it? And there

is traffic ahead, Hamilton and Raikkonen have to navigate through a

group of slower cars that are getting on with their Grand Prix.

They will get the blue flags. up is Bianchi and Pic at ahead of

them. Bianchi is still leading in that young guns group. The gap to

Vettel is 5.2, two laps remaining. They did not tell him how fast

Vettel is going, I notice! He might have worked that out for himself!

are on board with Vettel, are these tyres going off yet? Can we tell

from watching? He is still going one second per lap faster. We can see

the draining, sorry, one second per sector faster. These are the guys he

is racing in front. It is a good feeling. It is a big gap, though.On

superior tyres, will they last these last couple of tyres? There was a

lock-up, who was that? We have seen Hamilton Locke already, a bit wide

from Vettel. Getting scrappy now into the final lap. The gap was 5.2

seconds to Hamilton, it is down to just two seconds! He can do it, if

the tyres hang on, he can be right into the DRS owner of Hamilton into

turn 14. Hamilton is going to be compromised in traffic through turn

four and five. But the tyres are beginning to give up on Vettel's

car, Raikkonen should be secure in second, but Hamilton is being

threatened. He has fallen into a zone where his tyres have gone off,

he will be a sitting duck to the Red Bull of Vettel. I do not think he

can hold on. All said that Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, can he

hold on for a second finish? Blue flags! Blue flags! He wants the

Caterham out of the way, but he is within the DRS zone. He has run

wide, made a mistake, and then a further mistake, Hamilton may be

safe. Vettel will get DRS, but he may be too far back. Remember, the

Mercedes is quick in a straight line, and the Red Bull is not. Kimi

Raikkonen heading down towards the hairpin. Anand Alonso is going to

win this race, but who will finish in the third? A lock-up from Jules

Bianchi, Fernando Alonso wins in China for Ferrari! They celebrate

already, but what will happen in the battle for third place? Hamilton

locks up! But he is still in front of Sebastian Vettel! Raikkonen

second, Hamilton third, Vettel fourth, what a race to the flag! The

Red Bull strategy did not quite payoff, Jenson Button is going to

finish in fifth place. McLaren will be very happy about that, delivering

a solid result with a car that perhaps was not up to the mark. But

celebration in the Ferrari camp, the first Ferrari win of 2013. The

second for Alonso here, the fourth for Ferrari in China. What a result

for Fernando Alonso, he dominated this race, and Ferrari are definite

championship contenders this year. Just to let you know, Massa finish

sixth, Ricciardo a fantastic seventh, his best ever result, Di

Resta in eighth place as well. RADIO: Fenomenale! Fenomenale!

Grande weekend, grande weekend! Fernando Alonso drives into the

number one spot, the fully deserved here in China, 31 victories to his

name in his career, and that matches Nigel Mansell, interestingly enough.

They are fourth in the all-time winners list. A very special podium

for Fernando Alonso. It has been a while since he last took victory

here in China, that was back in 2005 in his Renault days. And of course

in 2005, he went on to win the world championship. Very early days! But

he is surely going to be highly competitive all season long.

Good afternoon, race fans, to the millions watching around the world,

what a race, and I believe in Chinese...

HE SPEAKS CHINESE I hope I have announced that correctly or high

have offended a nation! I will step in to talk to race

winner Fernando Alonso, congratulations, a dominant victory

in the end, your 31st, but the new fifth in the all-time list behind

Ayrton Senna, what does it mean to you? Well, hello, everybody, first

of all, thank you for the support all weekend. Amazing fans all

weekend, and it is very nice to race here. About the race, yes,

definitely it was a fantastic race for us from the start to the end. We

had no big problems on the car, tyre degradation was better than

expected. We managed the pace, yeah, it feels great after the retirement

in Malaysian, we were under pressure to finish the race, but the two we

have finished this year, won second place, today the victory, so

definitely the start of 2013 is looking good. We are very

optimistic. Great stuff, congratulations. Kimi Raikkonen...

Very popular with the Chinese fans, many Finnish flags there. That is

your 20th consecutive finish in Formula One, you are Mr

consistency, you have to work hard for second place today, you had

damage to the front wing of your car after contact, tell us about that

and how it affected the balance. Yeah, I mean, it was a pretty OK

result. Obviously we want to win, but after a bad start, the car was

handling well. I tried to avoid errors, but I hit him on the rear, I

think, and that damaged the front. That did not help, but luckily it

did not affect so much the handling. There was still a bit too

much and as deer, but we could still fight for second place, and for sure

without the damage we could have been quite a lot faster. Anyhow,

good points and we will try to do better next time. Coming around to

Lewis Hamilton, the first man to be on pole former CD since the great

Stirling Moss, it did not quite work out on race pace, you really dropped

away towards the closing stages under a lot of pressure from Vettel,

but great racing on the less. really happy with the result, a

great result for the team, happy with the points. The team did a

fantastic job all weekend, we did not have the pace that these two

had, fortunate to be on the podium. How was that for you? I mean, for

me, it was always quite strange. We lead quite a bit of the race, and

when you are doing less stops, it looks more exciting, but the end of

the race is not as exciting. We did well today, we have to try something

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

strategy or a. Strategy. So we had to go long, which was trippy with so

many people tripping over each other. It was quite a strange race

for me, I could not block, there was no point fighting people, you have

to let them overtake you aren't not fight back, that was the quickest

way to the end of the race. Nerves of steel when you are pitting so

late. Yeah, the pace of the third stint in clean air was unbelievable.

We were able to improve and improve, and we were racing them, top job to

the boys who had a bit of an issue before, but they kept their nerve,

and the last pit stop, given the confidence was low from the last

race, we managed to do it. Right strategy, but I was unfortunate with

Adrian being a bit aggressive at the start, and I lost four places. I had

to battle through from there. Whether he didn't see me, I will

speak to him afterwards, but we can be content the race pace was as

strong as it was. So the Chinese Grand Prix ended up

today, to get you up to date Gutierrez gets a five place grid

penalty in Bahrain for his accident. And Mark Webber gets a

three place grid penalty for his incident with Jean-Eric Vergne. And

then we had the whole DRS infringement with eight drivers up

for penalties, but no further action there. It seems there has been a

technical issue with the activation of the yellow flag boards, glad to

see there is no further action, because it would have spoiled what

was a good race. The yellow flag was out for Mark Webber's car, but it

was not a real danger zone as such. But what it did do was leave us

with, I think, a very exciting afternoon 's racing. We saw Fernando

Alonso show once again why he is number one at Ferrari, Kimi

Raikkonen is Mr Consistent, Lewis, a great pole position, he did not

manage to convert that into something more, but being on the

podium at the last two races gives him a strong position going forward.

He did well to hang onto it with Vettel coming up behind him, he

would not have expected him to make those two errors. Yes, Vettel made a

mistake into turn 11, putting him out of position before the DRS own.

It almost worked for him, that different strategy, he started on

the harder tyre, the prime tyre. He did some amazing qualifying laps,

but he came up just short. What it is setting us up for, four races in,

three races, excuse me, the world championship is pretty tight both in

drivers and constructors. Ferrari, in the top four, it could

be any of them. When they get it right, Ferrari are supreme, and that

was as dominant victory as we have seen from Fernando in that car, such

a strong start to the year. Compared to last season, he won in KL, but

that was more because of the weather. That was tyre management

and strategy. They have to be seen as serious title contenders this