The Chinese Grand Prix Formula 1

since last November. It is topped life, isn't it? I cannot wait to his

age. I got the free bus pass, I am okay. We spoke yesterday about team

orders because in Malaysia there was also the demise of the relationship

between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Are you happy you have one?

Know, if I did a mistake I would do it, but I can't. Had I understood

the message, I would have thought about it, I probably would have done

the same thing because Mark doesn't deserve it. There is quite a bit of

history between our drivers. You need to have strong people in the

team to give everyone a chance of getting maximum results. Helmet,

yes. Next question. Multimap 21. He was told. Multimap 21. The bottom

line is that I was racing, I passed him, I won. Sebastian Vettel has run

into the back of Mark Webber. Mark Webber crying his eyes out. Mark

Webber going out, what was going on there? You get to know people

better, clearly they haven't enjoyed a rosy time together. It is always

best to be truthful. Sebastian Vettel has run into the back of Mark

Webber! What was going on there? What racing this is! Sebastian has

gone past, and Sebastian Vettel takes victory. The bottom line is I

was racing, I was faster, I want. Red Bull, aren't they are teaming

crisis? They are leading both championships so I wouldn't call

this a crisis but it is a drama and it needs strong management to keep

this team together because you never know how it can escalate or change

in your favour. It doesn't matter but it needs strong management.

is managing this situation? Christian Horner has clearly been

undermined by Sebastian. Sebastian listens to Doctor Marco, and I would

urge Dietrich Mateschitz to come and sort this out. What exactly does

Multimap 21 mean? Every team has their own instructions. You could

simply have one driver's name in front of the other and it would show

who has the priority in the race, but it is quite simply car number

one, and car number two. I know this is such a hot topic amongst racing

fans at home, and team orders are allowed. The teams can pick

ultimately all the way through the process, they can give the teams

tire choice, pit stop strategy. Multimap 21, this is the code

Sebastian Vettel said he didn't understand. This is last year, the

team radio with his engineer. Listen to what Sebastian says. Multimap

21, Multimap 21. Don't worry, the patient. We are working on this.

David, I think that says it all. Moving forward, will this debacle

affect their title championships? don't think so, this team has won

six championships. The money comes from the constructed championships,

the visible glory comes from the drivers championship. Going back in

the history of the sport, McLaren's drivers famously wouldn't even

debrief in the same engineering office during their success. The

manager couldn't manage the situation because of the

personalities of the drivers. It is a volatile situation. It is a great

problem for any team to have two drivers capable of winning. The

worst scenario is a number two who does not deliver wins. If we believe

cream rises to the top and it would be a natural pecking order, in any

given area some drivers turn out to be dominant. When you get to this

situation which is so broken, and we have seen this over the years,

normally something gives. What do you think will give here? It is hard

to understand because it revolves around what was said. We are being

asked by Sebastian to believe him, that is what he said in the press

conference. He says he didn't understand it, that is hard to

believe when he in his own words said it twice. He comes here six

months after saying it and says he doesn't understand it. Some people

will say it sounds like Michael Schumacher all over again. Leave

Michael Schumacher alone, he is a great champion. Sebastian Vettel has

done nothing to enhance his reputation over the last few weeks.

Sometimes the pantomime villains end up the heroes will stop let's get

we will be in Bahrain. The British grand prix at Silverstone is at the

end of June, and Brazil will host the final showdown in November.

Sebastian Vettel may not be a leading light in PR right now, but

he is leading the standings. Kimi Raikkonen is dividing the two Red

Bull team members. In the constructors championship, Red Bull

have a 26 point advantage over Lotus. Of course, every single point

counts so let's have a look at how they qualified. Mark Webber had been

looking strong throughout the weekend, but in Q2 he ran out of

luck and fuel, and with not enough to provide a sample to the F FIA, he

had to start last. Sebastian Vettel was first out, but didn't set a time

and came straight into the pits. When he went out in anger, a problem

with his brakes meant he had to settle for ninth place. Jenson

Button took to medium tyres, forced into a different strategy. After

four races being outqualified by Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso

claimed third. It was Lewis Hamilton who was fine and his lap was good

enough to give him his first Mercedes pole position by almost

three tenths of a second. It is an incredible feeling, very happy. When

I came across the line, that is when I found out I had pole position. It

is just a great feeling. Lewis Hamilton is the first Brit to get

pole position for Mercedes since Sir Stirling Moss. Kimi Raikkonen

behind, with Fernando Alonso and Niko Mossberg, Felipe Massa. Nico

Hulkenberg Is still in 10th place and can choose which tyres he starts

on. Mark Webber was 14th, but dropped back so everyone else moves

forward. Mark Webber will start from the pit lane. There it is, Lewis's

car, and a great story is evolving, isn't it, David? It is fantastic,

their form petered out and it was the most dominant victory of the

2012 season, so a great moment for them for Lewis to be the first Brit

since Stirling Moss to be in pole position but we need to see how they

maintain this development over the course of the year. Lewis is a

natural born winner and in a position where he can control the

race from the early laps. strategy they took in qualifying was

quite interesting, wasn't it? had to, they have the fastest car.

Kimi Raikkonen was the surprise, a bolt out of the blue. What Lewis has

done for this team is something spectacular because he has released

himself and the team into a new zone and they feel so comfortable. It is

a marriage, and engagement, just cruising through life. He has

brought a new element to this team and I think he did the right thing.

Any doubters when he left McLaren, take a look at him today. He said he

wanted to grow as a person and you can see he is more visibly relaxed.

Do you think he has brought a ray of sunshine into this team? It reminds

me of Lewis from before the expectation that was put on him. He

is a natural born winner, but also a nice guy. He has time to talk to the

fans and hang out with the media in a way he didn't have when he was

with McLaren. And he doesn't wear the baseball cap any more. We have

been joined by Russ, congratulations on an excellent pole position for

Lewis. We spoke to Nicky louder and he said there would be no more team

orders at Mercedes. What is your reaction to that? I am on the pit

wall. It was a stunning lap. I'm just wondering how you are going to

We will start on a soft tyre. Will you use the soft and wait till the

end, do you think? I think the soft will be a very short-life tyre at

beginning. The start of a race everyone spreads out initially. As

soon as the guys on the soft see the guys on the medium start to

close up, that's the time to change. You're looking for holes in the

traffic to get back out into and use the tyre you're then on. Then I

think for the others, who started on the medium, they have to use the

soft at some stage. It's a question whether they risk it till the end

and hope they don't do many laps on it or whether they pop it in the

middle of the race. I think it's a three-stop race, but some cars will

try to do two. I talked before that Lewis seems to have lifted this

team to a new level, both for himself and yourself in terms of

freedom, excitement and happy. Is that what it all means? It's

difficult for me to judge luep wis before because I didn't work with

him -- Lewis before because I didn't work with him. I have found

him straightforward - enthusiastic and committed and good fun to work

with. Certainly he's fitted into the team very well. Lewis has

settled into the different systems that are here at McLaren, Mercedes

excuse me, we saw at the last race at McLaren he had the issue with

the pit box. Have you change aid procedure in the radio just to

remember which team you drive for? A little bit. We have our

procedures that have been established for quite a long time,

but where perhaps either Lewis has suggested something better or it

suits him more, we're prepared to consider that. We have changed some

things that fit in better with him. I think he was looking forward to a

new environment as well. He was looking forward to relishing that

change. He's feeling comfortable with you and you're feeling

comfortable with him? Yes, it's very early. This is the third race.

Lots of things can happen, but yeah, it seems to be working quite well.

We wish you luck for the race. Thank you. Let's wonder down to Red

Bull and see if we can speak to Christian Horner about what's

happening with their strategy. It's interesting really over the winter

with Mercedes, there were lots of changes going on with people coming

out and in. What due make of all that? --What did you make of all

that snfrpbgts David and I believe firmly that In your DNA as a racing

person it should come from the very beginning. The really top people in

our sport have been there for such a long time. Ross Brawn and Nicky

Lauder, you count back the number of times they have won as a driver,

engineer or designer. That can't be disregarded. There's a wealth of

knowledge and talent. Then they bring in another world champion in

Hamilton. You have the makings of a potential World Championship

challenge here. It's looking good. Let me ask you about tyres, do you

feel, as a driver, that they are dictating too much of the action on

track, or are you quite happy that in this situation we are in at the

moment? Welcome to walking with Eddie. He's the slowest walking man

ever. We're trying to get down to Red Bull here. The Grand Prix won't

wait for us. I think tyres have always been a part of Formula One,

unquestionably. It's the only thing that touching the road. There's no

question that when you have a big spread between the two tyres that

are available, if we only had one compound, we wouldn't be talking

about it because they would all be in the same boat. What you have are

tyres that are very temperature sensitive and of course, it's

giving us a situation where one of the tyres will go faster and they

don't want to run in the race. They want to use it in qualifying and

get it off. Pirelli have responsibility to play a part in

good racing. I want to pick that up with you again. More importantly at

the moment. Let's speak to Christian Horner. Good morning.

how are you? How are you doing? Good. We want to pick up on what

happened yesterday with Mark, running out of fuel in a situation,

how does that happen? It's a frustrating situation, basically

we've had a problem with a bowser that hasn't delivered three kilos

from the bowser into the car. It was supposed to have gone through.

Unfortunately it didn't. That's the result, having to stop the car.

I've just said here on our show that the team now is crying out for

strong management, which is you. You can do that, can't you? I think

I've demonstrated over the last eight years I've been here that...

In this particular case because there is aggravation. Everybody

knows there's aggravation with the drivers. A strong hand from you.

The drivers know what the situation is. David knows how I manage a team,

how I manage drivers. I've got the best out of them for the four years

they've been together. I will continue to get the best out of

them. They're both highly charged, very competitive animals. Managing

two guys like that is a problem other woz dream to have. They know

what the objective is. They know what the situation is. I expect the

very best from them today. Getting back into this race, you have an

unusual situation, Seb in ninth, Mark in the pit lane, you've made a

gearbox change, optimising the car. What does your strategy tell you

when you run the numbers? What is achievable? With Sebastian starting

on the hard tyre, he's running his race in reverse to the cars ahead

of him. It will only pan out in the last few laps. He needs to keep,

have a clean first couple of laps and settle into his own race. He

could be on the podium here with the strategy we have. With Mark,

also, with the way that the tyres open up this race, he can make very

good headway through the traffic very quickly. He could still

hopefully bag a good handful of points today. Certainly, for Mark

as well, everything isn't lost. Thank you very much for talking to

us. We wish you the best for both of your drivers in this race.

Cheers Christian. In Malaysia with all the debacle,

it got lost that Red Bull put in the fastest pit stop ever. An

incredible, 2.05 seconds. It was a master class, textbook. Not like

that for all of the teams though. Jenson felt he got a shot of the

podium if this hadn't happened, look at the front right wheel, not

on properly. Race ruined and an impromptu workout for the McLaren

boys running down the pit lane. Force India had the weekend ruined

when their wheel nut system failed for both of their drivers. You'll

remember this, if you were watching, Lewis Hamilton briefly just forgot

who he was driving for and went into the wrong pit. Tenths of

seconds cost millions of pounds on the track. And races can be Ron or

lost in a pit stop. How do you make a perfect pit stop? Cue the

Williams boys. I'm Valtteri Bottas. I'm Pastor

Maldonado, a Formula One driver Dickie Stanford team manager.

Johnson rear Jack. Chief race engineer. Steve Lawrence, right

rear wheel on. Neil, right rear wheel off. Front Jack man Williams

F1 team. Every stop is important. It's one of the most important

moment during the race. The only thing we can do to help the

stkriefr during the race. You can win or you can lose.

The grid is now really tight. Every 100th you can gain in a pit stop.

It's a big help. You know in the back of your mind what can go wrong.

You'll never win the race solely from the pit stops, but if you were

to have a problem you could cost a win. Everything needs to be just no

mistakes. If you send the car out without the wheel done up and it's

on the side of the track, the weekend is finished. Box now.

that boss. One lap before the pit stop, when the engineers will say

right we're coming in the next lap, you start getting very excited. You

know you're watching 20 people and the whole of the world's watching

you. You try different roles, whatever role you seem to scem --

excel at, that's the role you will be given. Everyone gets in position

and we wait for the car. adrenaline does pump a little bit.

First gear, 15,000, easing into box. If you want to do it quickly, it's

easy to make a mistake, to brake too late and there's a big time

loss in that. In the moment when you stop the car, you must be very

precise. If they stop too far forward or backwards or to the side,

that can put everybody off. checking he's not going to hit you

on the way which, in -- in which can happen. After you stop this,

there's nothing else you can really do. Within three seconds, 20 people

literally descend on the car. happens so fast. I remember my

first few pit stops I couldn't remember doing them a few hours

later. My job is to get the socket onto the wheel nut ideally before

the car stops moving. Jack as quick as you can to get the car into the

air. It's my job to get the wheel on square and in one hit. The guys

feel it very competitive. Each corner of the car is racing the

other corners. Unofficially I suppose there is a rivalry. You

don't want to be the last person to finish. In a good stop we all

finish at the same time. Don't do anything silly, keep calm

and as soon as the wheels are on, hands above the tyres, let the car

down, give the thumbs up to the chief mechanic. You have to watch

this and look down the pit lane to make sure you're not going to

release in front of another car. a driver you must stay focused on

the lollipop. When it lifts up, you go. There's a good feeling when it

all happens, all at once and it all works. You walk back into the

garage and you're adrenaline is going, your hack lds are up. You've

done a good job. If everybody does it how it shuzed be, we don't have

any problems. Every time you can do more. Every time you can learn.

Every time you can do it quicker and quicker. I enjoyed it, but I

hated it. It's really exciting, but there's so much going on within

REPORTER: Is it the most stressful part of the job? No, I think

interviewing is. Weem' have -- we'll have more on

pit stops in a moment. We're hearing there is a drama at Force

India. Lee, what's going on? I think it was a drama. It's eased.

They had a fuel leak on Paul di Resta's car. A few minutes ago Paul

was leaning on the car speaking to the guys who were trying to clean

up the mess at moment. He's zipping up his race suit. They don't expect

any problems now getting the car to the grid. A couple of minutes ago

they weren't sure how problematic the leak was. It's something to

keep our eyes on through the race. It's starting to calm down here.

Thanks for that. Tense times, tense moments before the race starts.

Like it is for the engineers on a pit stop. You request feel the --

you can feel the energy at this time. I'm sure it's the same as a

driver. It's fantastic as everyone. This is what you live for, the

moment of racing. The adrenaline is pumping for the mechanics. Even a

problem, they'll know if they can identify the problem, they can know

if they can fix that in 20 minutes or whatever the time schedule is.

Formula One is the ultimate Risk Management. They don't react to

things as a surprise. You have a pre-plan of what do you do if you

have a brake failure before the race? What do you do with a fuel

leak, all of those things. As a team boss, you cannot believe that

none of those mechanics would have spoke ton each other. It would have

been instild in a drill system, when they change an engine, do it

in 25 minutes, this would be bread and butter to them. It's ironic if

you were in there and feel the tension, but none of the mechanics

talk to each other. Because they know scabgtd lit job they have to

do. Just watching that pit stop piece there, these guys they're

encouraged to go and train, go to the gym and be strong. Because let

me show you this. This is a wheelgun down here. Honestly, I

think I'm reasonably strong, but that is so heavy. And I'm not

allowed to fire it up apparently. I must have a bad reputation. You

need strong wrists to operate that. You have indeed. It's not a

question of them being encouraged to train, they are put through

training programmes as a team. Team building is important at that time.

Eddie is right saying that they don't need to talk when you're

doing the job properly. Of course at a pit stop in under three

seconds they have no time to talk. What's interesting, looking at the

pit stops, if you look at the pit box here, there's no rubber been

laid. Compare that to Force India just behind them or further down to

Toro Rosso, who everybody typically does burnouts. I would be curious

to know why they have a strategy of not laying rubber. Oh, yeah, you

can see the rubber laid down there. That's a benefit. Because the pit

lane, where they dot stop is always cement. The race track is Tarmac.

That's got something to do with if you spill oil and petrol and things

like that. It's a different grip level to what you have on the

Tarmac. As a driver, you have to be very, very exact where you position

the car. Indeed. You have to be millimetre perfect ideally. A sent

yirplt -- centimetre will do. was just as important in your day.

I think one thing we mustn't forget about the pit stop, it's hugely

adrenaline run. It's absolutely manic. You get it right and it

absolutely a huge sense of success in the team and that goes into the

driver, it flows into the team. Don't under estimate the value of a

good spit stop. The pit lane is open as you can hear behind us. How

Lewis gets pole position, and he goes out to interview him on the

track. Good to see you, we will just get

straight into it, if we may. Pole position, first time for Mercedes.

It feels incredible. It is always a special feeling, but moving to a new

team, I definitely didn't expect to have it this early in the season.

Mind your head, we don't want to damage valuable merchandise. What is

impressive, watching from here, you had the DIRS open. It is such a long

corner it is important to have just the right balance. You are running

the throttle and the brakes at the same time, just trying to be right

on the knife edge through here. It is until you get to the apex, the

car is loaded the whole time. This is one of my favourite corners.

on, I'm going to have a go. I don't have a manual car. We heard from

Ross Brawn saying he is delighted you got pole position, it it

normally takes a few races to get settled. Naturally I can get in the

car and drive the car, but there are so many things the team does

differently. Maybe that is our childhood. Down here, turned 11.

Sometimes you try to stay left, but it is better to be in the middle of

the track. You have got to have a good, responsive car. This is one of

the talking points of the weekend. One of these hit me on my hand, turn

on number 13. It hurt so much, it nearly broke one of my fingers. Must

have been from one of the Ferraris. This has got to be one of the

longest corners in Formula one, hasn't it? This is why we are seeing

the damage to the tyres. Yes, you are building up, you can feel it.

You feel it in the neck? No, I think in your day is the downforce was

higher, it was more hard-core. You used to have a huge neck, it has

gone down. You have got all of that to look forward to. Can I drive?

Professional driver. This is the point to mark. Get some speed here.

We are doing just over 100 kilometres per hour. You pulled an

amazing six G on the break-in here. I would hold on if I was you, 100

metres. Everyone okay? That would be probably less than one G. This

pitlane entry sucks. I remember sitting in that. At the time we had

traction control, I made it through and the traction control killed the

power and wouldn't allow that to move. In hindsight, I think I wish I

had switched off traction control because I would have made it out.

This gravel may have cost you the championship, but you still have one

more, and if nothing else you still have your good looks.

He has got more than his looks to think about today. As the cars go

out onto the track, this is Paul di Resta and we were hearing about his

worms earlier. We talked yesterday to Martin Whitmarsh and he didn't

feel as if they had made any great strides. They were waiting for some

upgrades before they get to Barcelona, Eddie? If ever there was

a team on top of their game, bringing on new developments, this

is the team. McLaren are the past masters at that. I am a bit

disappointed. He said he brought out some new parts, but Jenson Button

couldn't feel any advantage whatsoever. Let's talk about Kimi

Raikkonen because he was the surprise yesterday in qualifying,

putting it on the front row. Wasn't it fantastic? There is a huge amount

of union Jacks here, but equally as many Finnish flags. He has a huge

fan club, I don't know why, but he doors and nobody expected him to be

on the front row of the grade. I thought it would be a fight between

the Ferraris and the Mercedes, possibly Red Bull. Kimi Raikkonen,

bang, straight there, and that is why he was a world champion. I think

he is liked because whether you think he is rude, he puts a smile on

people's faces. I would like to think that we will see a much

stronger Felipe Massa in this race and I think we will see a much

stronger Kimi Raikkonen. He could easily win this race. This circuit

suits him perfectly and that Lotus looks made for here. This track

offers good reliability to the cars, most of them make it back and over

the years we have seen some terrific races. Same again today? You never

know what can happen in the run-up to the first corner. Let's keep our

fingers crossed for a good clean race. I would like to see all of the

cars coming round the first lap because I want to see how Jenson

Button and Sebastian Vettel will go. I am very excited about this race.

It is interesting and unpredictable because we have spoken to a lot of

engineers and nobody seems to be able to call it. The journalists

keep going back to this Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen situation.

They are not stupid so maybe they have some knowledge that we don't

have so that is where I am going. David is on the grid with Jenson

Button. You seem to have a knack for picking

the right tyres. We are not quite quick enough to fight it out at the

front so you can try different things, and our aim yesterday was to

try to be the first guy on the front tyres for the race. We will see how

it goes. We don't know if the strategy will work, it depends on

what other people do and how quickly the tyres degrade. At what point in

the grand prix will we start to see how it is playing out in terms of

who will be on the podium? I think you will probably know by lap 25,

26. You are looking relaxed. Have a great race. I want to have a word

with the man who is talk of the grand prix, it is all about the

tyres, but Paul is a man who has two field the praise when the tyres do a

good job, and the criticism when people are saying they are not fit

for purpose, throwing off too many bits and what have you. Let's see if

we can get a word with him. Paul, can I jump in? You are the man who

gets the praise when the tyres go well, and the criticism, and there

is a lot of that right now so quickly address that. I have had

people come to me and complimented me this weekend for what we have

done because nobody knows who will win, and that is what we have been

asked to deliver. Who will win today? Who knows? The first stint

for Lewis in particular is critical because he needs to get at least

five laps before he hits. Then we will see what happens at the end of

the race when he puts the soft tyres on. Armed with the information you

have on tyres, would you be preferring to be on them? Fernando

is very good at the start, he has shown he can drop a few places. I

think Lewis is in a good position. Congratulations on winning the grand

prix, guaranteed to win every time! I am looking for Daniel Ritchie are

Dale. If you look at the slot gap on the front wing, bits of rubber or

get stuck in their. -- Daniel Ricciardo. While you were talking to

your engineer, I thought I would clean your car will stop are you in

a good position with tyres going forward? I guess we will see at the

end of the race. A few guys have saved the tyres but we had to go for

it. It's not often we get in the Q3, and seventh place is definitely

better than 10th place for us. The closer to the front, the better.

Good luck. Sebastian Vettel in the news, and clearly out of position

under normal conditions. He went with his strategy here. We will just

move ourselves round. Look at the size of those shoulders, he does

boxing in his spare time. Sebastian looking pretty relaxed. Can he

expect the guys in front of him to peel in after five laps maybe? Then

presumably he will be able to get some clean air and open the gap.

Sebastian, whilst you cool yourself off, a quick word. Out of position

on the grid, but with the right tyres so how is your mindset is

different in comparison to your normal front row position? It is a

different approach, whether it works we will see. I had reason to believe

in the strategy yesterday and I am confident to start on the right

tyres today. When will we expect to see the soft tyres being used?

will see. I don't think the soft tyres makes it very far, everything

else will be a surprise. Anything else the general public should

know? Fears and concerns over a normal grand prix? It is pretty hard

on tyres, and unusual, it is mostly the front tyres that start to give

up so hopefully we will keep that under control. We will wander

further down the grid, and I believe we will be able to find Nico

Rosberg. He was super confident going into this weekend. The

simulation work told him he would win this grand prix, they certainly

managed to get one of their men on pole position. Nico Rosberg will be

a threat during the race, he will know the strategy of the man in pole

position, that is one of the benefits of being a teammate of

course. You just need to try to work that to your advantage. He has been

growing in confidence, and certainly showed Michael Schumacher how fast

he is. It seems to be a day of following RTL. Can we take a walk

with you? He is going to freshen up. Ahead of the grand prix, slightly

out of position possibly over what you personally would have expected,

but what can you do from fourth place on the grid? Fourth-place is

okay. I think maybe we even have the quickest car, so the difficulty is

the option of tyres in the beginning. That will be a big

challenge for everybody, but from then it should be a normal race on

the harder tyres. I'm confident I can move forward. Everyone will be

in on those options before lap number five? It depends on the

They have two gaps positioned there. There's the team manager of Sauber

giving me some direction. Small gap here. Let's look down here. 300

metres to the first corner. Very open apex entry to turn one. They

go in there flat out in seventh gear. We won't see the concertina

effect at turn one, which should mean there is less risk of safety

car at that point. Turn two and three, they have to be careful

they're not banging into each other. Now our pole man, Lewis Hamilton is

not around here at the moment. Ross Brawn is there. We've had a word

with Ross already. At this point, I'm not sure if I'm seeing anyone

else. Let's keep wondering around here. Works of art aren't they?

Just look at the internal brake there. Beautiful works of art.

Amazing that come the end of the year this is considered an ugly

thing. Racing is all about winning, of course. Here's a man that knows

a little bit more intimately the Mercedes team. He's talking to Sky

Germany. Let's see if we can get a word with Nicky. Mr Ecclestone

taking some dignitaries down the pit lane. There are some

representatives there of the title sponsor and representative there

from Saudi Arabia I believe. That's the Crown Prince. Back to Nicky

who's taking time to answer. Let's get a word from Tott Wilson. --

Toto Wilson. They can introduce each other. You're still relatively

fresh in this role, so far so good. The restructuring is working.

not what I restructured but what the guys did last year. What will

be the podium today. You have the pole man, can you get Nico up there

or who do you see as the main threat? I hope so, but it's about

strategy. We will see the real winner at the end of the race, whu

see the last pit stop. We wish you luck with that. At this point I

will hand back to Suzy and Eddie. Well, I must say absolutely

brilliant stuff from DC there with the big boys on the grid. Let's

talk to Paul di Resta who's be chatting with Lee.

We'll have a walk. It's been ape stressful start for you. Are the

problems sorted? Yeah we had a bit of an issue at beginning, before we

went out there. We believe everything's OK. It was a minor bit

of discomfort. But everybody has worked hard and solved it. What

tyre did you choose to start on? Different ones I went to the grid

on. And we'll see. Essentially there's two different strategies

and there's three cars in front we already know what they're on and

what the cars in front of them on and we're the first is unknown.

You're speaking in riddles but good luck today.

Paul looking relaxed there despite what was happening before the race.

Bernie with Adrian, often called a genius at Red Bull. Beyond doubt.

He's won World Championships with Red Bull, of course, McLaren and

indeed Williams. There's not a person on the grid who wouldn't

absolutely give everything in the box to get him into their team. He

is worth breaking the bank for. just saw Felipe Massa and he was

talking to Lee a couple of minutes ago.

It's all about tyres, are you confident you're on the right

strategy today? Yeah, I hope. So we'll see during the race. The race

is long and difficult, so let's try to do everything right. At what

point do you think we'll work out who finishes where, is this a race

to change in the lap few laps? will see at beginning, how many

laps we can do on the soft. Maybe after that you can have an idea for

the medium. Luck. -- Good luck. Mixed strategies here

in China. Eddie Jordan, what do you think? We heard from Paul from

Pirelli there, he has done exactly what he's been requested to do by

Bernie Ecclestone, throw a big amount of up and down so in other

words, different strategies will play and we won't see until the end

of the race to keep the excitement up. In other manufacturers just had

such brilliant tyres, whereas Pirelli have brilliant tyres but

they've put the element of uncertainty into the game and I

love them for that. We love a bit of uncertainty. Let's see how to

make the perfect lap with the pole sitter, Lewis Hamilton.

Shanghai International Circuit, 5.4 kilometres. It's in the shape of

the word shang, which means on top of. Lewis Hamilton takes us on his

lap, the run down to turn one. lap, the run down to turn one.

Entry speed of 190mph. Then it's a case of holding on as this never

case of holding on as this never ending corner, one becomes two. He

drops down into three, first gear and then short shifting as he

releases KERS. Then the run up through turn four. Kink of five and

then drops down into the high energy braking at turn six. Early

on the power as he then positions the car in the run out into this

fast section in the middle of the lap. Turn seven just listen. Flat

out through seven. Then he reduces speed all the way through eight,

positioning himself for the first of the double left-handers at nine

and ten. Constant radius, no mistakes so far on this lap. Brake

balance adjustment with hills left hand as he brakes down into 11.

Beautiful at the apex, rolls the car through 12. Slight correction

of oversteer as he fiets this increasing G, ib creasing -- fights

this increasing G, increasing speed. Into the DRS activation zone now,

gains an extra 17 kilometres per hour as 200 kilograms of load are

shed from the rear wing. A spike of 6G as he brakes into turn 14. Nice

and early on the power, coming up to the last corner, it's a 90 left.

See how early he's on the power. Immediately as he hits the apex,

straightens the car and releases the last of his curves. It's the

first pole position for Mercedes since Stirling Moss. It's joy all

round even a hug from his old team- mate and we have a stunning line up

mate and we have a stunning line up to start this Grand Prix.

We've been hearing news from McLaren that Jenson had a throttle

sensor issue, but that has been sorted. That should be fine. That

lovely shot we saw earlier of Jenson embracing Lewis. It's great

really now that they're in separate teams don't you think? It's time

limitations. They both were very good team-mates but they needed to

split up. Both were world champions and Lewis being the younger one he

decided that he wanted to see pastures new. Mercedes have given

him that opportunity. To be honest, when you look at the way Mercedes

are setting about their job at the moment, he is doing precisely the

perfect job for them. He's on pole position here, in only his third

race. He talked about being very early to think about a win or to

think about championships, never happen this year. But that was a

thing pulling himself back down, not building up too much

expectation. I think he's in a perfect situation to challenge for

the championship this year. would be great to get to Barcelona

to see Jenson back on full form. He has so many fapblz. He's been so

down in the dumps, expecting so much from the McLaren. So far it's

not delivered. He's the ultimate team player. We talk Sebastien

Vettel as being a nice world champion. They don't come any nicer

than Jenson. He was the epitome of the perfect guy and he still is, to

this day. He's the ultimate statesman and every team would be

delighted to have him. Jenson Button, fantastic. We just want to

see him back on the podium, particularly on the top of it very

soon. We might be seing that man on the top of the podium today,

Fernando Alonso. You can never write him off. What a driver he is.

He is, but I think his driving style is not quite suited to this

circuit. It's more suited to Felipe Massa, because Fernando, the way he

drives, he slings the car into the corners, so he damages the front

tyres. I don't think he can go through the race and win it here.

Interesting opinion. It's the tenth year at the Chinese Grand Prix,

come along nicely, do you think? was given the job 13 years ago to

come out and see the build. I have seen the first stone put on another

stone here, from that point of view, yeah I'm overjoyed. It's mag any

sent. Terrific atmosphere. Just moments to go now until the race.

You can see the grid lining up with the heat haze above it. Tom

Clarkson and Lee McKenzie in the pit lane. Of course, David

Coulthard and Ben Edwards providing commentary. This is going to be

unpredictable, exciting and will it play out to the end the race? We'll

Ten years ago Rubens Barrichello gave Ferrari the first Grand Prix.

Today the Shanghai International Circuit is set for another cliff

hangar with four teams with the potential to win. We've seen Kimi

Raikkonen win in Australia, and Sebastien Vettel take honours in

Malaysia. Only one driver has ever won here in China on more than one

occasion, and that is Lewis Hamilton. He lines up on pole

Hamilton. He lines up on pole position. Whatever he does today he

will have to overtake cars. Because he starts on the soft tyre, it's

imperative that he gets through the pack. Those cars will be starting

on a harder tyre will be going round. Overtaking is possible.

There are two DRS zones this year. One on the long straight at 1.2

kilometres in length. Overtaking should be possible. To do so you'll

have to move offline. That could make life very exciting indeed.

Cars on the grid then, ready to go. Sebastien Vettel lining up in a

very unfamiliar ninth position. Though he was outside the top ten

here last year. He didn't make the top ten if qualifying last year.

Different strategy this year. He's on the harder compound tyre. Nico

Rosberg in fourth place, seventh in the points at moment. He's had one

non-finish this year in Australia. He finished in fourth behind Lewis

Hamilton last time out in Malaysia. What will he do this time on a

track where he won 12 months ago? He's got to be feeling confident,

but will it suit him? Track temperature by the way, 35 degrees

now. It is good and warm. These soft tyres like that. They like the

higher temperatures. So that will suit those guys starting at the

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds

front end of the grid. The grid in Mark Webber, who didn't set a time

in qualifying. He lost his times. He didn't have the required fuel

sample at end of qualifying. He lost all his times. Fernando Alonso

lining up in third place. Same position as he was on the grid in

Malaysia. Went it bit wrong for him there. It's the same place that he

jumped the start from here in 2010. He picked up a penalty for that of

course. We know the Ferrari is quick off the line. Kimi Raikkonen

starting from second place then. He's on a real run of race finishes.

He didn't score points here last year, but he scored points every

single Grand Prix since then. There is Lewis Hamilton. His 27th career

pole. The tenth pole position for Mercedes in their history and his

third pole position on this track. David, wonderful to see so many

fans here to enjoy and soak up the atmosphere before the start of the

Grand Prix. I think it's getting healthier and healthier, the fan

base in China. They are an educated fan base. 30,000 people or so in

that start/finish Grandstand. We're hearing while you were chatting

there, that Kimi has been asking if there's a way to reducing

understeer in turn three. The engineer says to trim the

differential. To which he replied "I know that." Rosberg has reported

more understeer than he expected. That's a function of these option

tyres. We heard from Nico, they're dead at the end of qualifying,

never mind starting a Grand Prix. Mark Webber getting cooled off

ahead of going down to the enof the pit lane. Looking at the tyres that

everyone is choosing, from Button and Vettel they're on the harder

tyre. So is Hulkenberg, Di Resta and Perez. A split strategy from

Force India. Sutil is on soft, Maldonado too. Jean-Eric Vergne on

the medium. Then Valtteri Bottas as well. Then the guys at the back,

are all going to be starting on the a race of strategy so what will

happen? I have been trying to work out the best strategy. It is a three

out the best strategy. It is a three stop, medium tyres, then a fresh set

of soft tyres, then another fresh set of soft tyres. The benefit of

the soft tyres for speed, you don't have problems with degradation.

everyone has two sets of soft tyres to use, do they? You might have to

cut the five laps to four laps, but that will be okay on these soft

tyres at specially at the end of the race with low fuel. You reckon that

strategy could be the better one? Yes, starting on the medium tyre is

the better one. It is about track position as well so we don't know

that until it happens. We won't know until we get into the final third of

the race and it might be even later because if people go for a late stop

onto the soft tyres, that could change things and that has happened

in the past. It has always been a very close match to think, this race

between three stops and two stops. We are really looking forward to

this. Lewis Hamilton leading them around, but Kimi Raikkonen is a real

threat. Lotus are feeling very confident going into this race,

David. So they should, they certainly have that pace. Kimi

Raikkonen finished all of the grand prix last year. He hit the wall with

those tyres and backed his way out of the points, but they have learned

from that. They have a very consistent car, as we saw in

Melbourne. Don't write them off for the victory. We will also keep an

eye on Sebastian Vettel, and Jenson Button starting in eighth place. The

Red Bull definitely has more pace than the McLaren, but if Jenson

Button gets away in front of Sebastian Vettel, it could be tough

for him to get past. Mark Webber has started on the soft tyres, a

brand-new set, so unlike the guys in the front ten, they have already

done one lap and he has a brand-new set to use. This is a smart move

because that use of the tyres simply have more life in them than the

options. He will be hoping to leapfrog the guys at the back of the

grid and get into the race this the pit lane and we are already for

what should be an intriguing Chinese grand prix. Lights out, and away we

go. A great start from Lewis Hamilton, the Ferraris go in second

and third place, Nico Rosberg behind. A little bit wide for Felipe

Massa, could have run deep into the corner, but it is Lewis Hamilton

leading. A great getaway for the Ferraris. Kimi Raikkonen was slow

with the initial response. Nico Rosberg will defend the inside, and

the Toro Rosso getting in on the action. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson

Button have got away cleanly. have mechanics already out in the

pit lane. We haven't even done half of a lap and there are already

people ready for pit stops. Everybody fanning out, Sergio Perez

under pressure from Maldonado. A real dogfight going on in the middle

of the park. Nico Rosberg got past Paul di Resta and no advantage in

the slipstream. Mark Webber is coming in early. The Force India

cars have hit each other, ending up with Paul di Resta losing out

massively. Mark Webber was the only one with soft tyres, he is coming

in, getting it out of the way. Webber in to get rid of the soft

tyre, going for the harder compound, the medium tyres. Nothing

lost in doing that, Red Bull pulling the strategy for the car that

Sergio Perez. Sergio Perez gave him less than one cars length, and he

will store that for his memory banks he is going wheel to wheel with him.

Hopefully no damage done to the Force India cars. There is Felipe

Massa, his resurgence in form from the Brazilian is being repeated here

once again in China and let's see if he can keep it up. Kimi Raikkonen in

fourth place, this group drawing away from Nico Rosberg in fifth

Hamilton, leading by just 0.8 of a second. There is a question of how

many laps they can get out of these tyres. Jenson Button was very quick

on Friday, setting his fastest lap at the end of the run. Let's keep an

of turn 13, anyone could get an activation from the GRS and gain on

their top speed. In the background, the silver car of Nico Rosberg being

chased by Grosjean but it is Lewis Hamilton in control. I think he is

in the GRS zone. -- D R S. Of course, Paul Hamilton sitting there,

dragging on the extra wing and they will be swarming all over the back

of him here. I cannot see if the pit crew is out so it looks like they

will stay out a bit longer on these tyres. Kimi Raikkonen's initial

getaway was sluggish, he spun on his wheels and he was marked by the

Ferraris. We have a challenge from Fernando Alonso on Lewis Hamilton.

Again, Hamilton has no Grosjean DRS -- DRS. Grosjean Has got past Nico

Rosberg. Nico Rosberg tries to go on the outside, bails out. We saw

Felipe Massa get lucky, popping up on the inside so a lot of racing

happening at the back. Just listen. It sounded like he spun off the

wheels too much and instead of getting a great launch of the

start, is spatial awareness told him exactly where Nico Rosberg was. This

is Nico Rosberg. You can see the black lines left on the track from

Kimi Raikkonen, he makes his choice to the left, and not enough 300

metre run from the start of the grid. Here is Fernando Alonso.

Sebastian Vettel trying to move on Hulkenburg. Hamilton struggling

because they are in another DRS zone. Hamilton can do nothing, the

Ferraris are in first and second place and now Hamilton has got to

watch out for Kimi Raikkonen. this stage of the grand prix,

Hamilton was always going to be a sitting duck not having DRS but he

needed to break the one second window, he will not be able to do

it. This is an amazing challenge from Kimi Raikkonen, that he cannot

go on the outside of Hamilton. We gather that Daniel Ricciardo has a

damaged car. It will be interesting to see where the damage occurred

because he was in the group with Sebastian Vettel. This was the

overtake of Lewis Hamilton by both Ferraris. A sitting duck, he could

not break the DRS activation. This is Fernando Alonso's girlfriend,

obviously enjoying the fact that he is taking the lead. Nico Rosberg has

been passed by Hulkenberg. Sebastian Vettel has now got himself into

seventh place. Mercedes are coming in, a damaged rear wing on the Force

India and it has lost the top section. That could have been nasty

if he had not recognised that. are going to double stack, my

goodness. I hope they get their pitstops done quickly. They have no

choice because of the tyres. Nico Rosberg rules in gently, and the

Force India will get rolled back into the garage. 3.3 second stop, a

good time but not at the same place we saw on some of the Red Bull cars

we have seen. Now Mark Webber is ahead, that is remarkable, and there

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 breaking out as

well. They are blowing air on it, you need a fire extinguisher on map.

It is bad news once again for Force India. They have never scored points

here in China, but Paul di Resta could do that. He was battling with

Sergio Perez, the Mexicans going wheel to wheel. Then he looked up

and there was a corner. Arriving at its with so much speed, the car is

still heavy with fuel. You can see the damage after he was hit, so

maybe a little bit of an experience there. Fernando Alonso in. Felipe

Massa takes over the lead for Ferrari, so watch the guys go to

work. Clean and efficient once more. A bit slow coming off the rear jack,

but he gets it going once more. Webber has just gone past. Kimi

Raikkonen comes out right next to Mark Webber. Crucial for the Lotus

will be coming in. Mark Webber has used the soft tyre. He's in the

same situation as these guys. He doesn't have to put the soft on

again later. He may have to do more laps on the medium tyres. He will,

but they're new. He's doing it from new. Where the others have scrubs

going on there. Hamilton a 27.0 first sector. Massa is 28.2.

Hamilton a second faster in one sector alone. He's responded to the

stop. He knows he has to deliver to get himself back into the mix here

with the two Ferrari cars. Now we might see a different performance

on this different tyre. We've seen that over practice so far. Jean-

Eric Vergne that is trying to make up some ground. He's battling with

Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado. You have the two

Williams, Maldonado in front. Vergne will plit the two Williams.

-- split. Remember that Sebastien Vettel is still looking very good

at the moment. Hulkenberg now leads this race, though. Massa has come

into the pits. The second stop. Let's see where he comes out. Will

he be ahead of Alonso or behind him? There goes Alonso, he's well

behind him. He has stopped rb -- missed out hugely. He's come out

Webber. That's how much time Massa has lost. That's the advantage of

being in clean air and having the tyre which you can push. Massa

struggling find a bit of performance out of the pit lane.

Hamilton with the view of Alonso ahead. He's into traffic now.

Cutting through this traffic is going to be crucial for the front

runners. Blue flags will not be operating at this stage. They're

racing these guys. It's not as if they're lapping them yet. They are

racing against them. There's no need for them to get out of the way.

This is where you'll see hard and insiesive overtaking from the front

run irz -- front runners. Hulkenberg, who also started on the

harder tyre, didn't set a time in the final part of qualifying, he

leads by .7 of a second over Sebastien Vettel. They're the

leaders then. It's Nico Hulkenberg, who was such a star in Brazil at

the end of last year for Force India. But he's being chased by the

reigning world champion, Sebastien Vettel. Jenson Button is in third.

Fourth is Perez and behind him Paul di Resta. Massa has now dropped

further down the order. Alonso now trying to get past Jean-Eric Vergne.

We're seeing there that the damage to Ricciardo, I don't recall

mentioning that, looks like he had contact with Rosberg. Whether

that's damaged Rosberg's car or not, we'll find out. Will Mark struggle

to hold his position? Alonso gets past Vergne. Hamilton will try to

dot same. Hamilton the fastest on track. He set the best lap. Now

they're picking their way through the traffic of course, it's harder

to set a quick lap. All of the front runners who were on the soft

tyre have made their pit stop. The race is being led by those that

started on the harder compound tyre. Hamilton is past Jean-Eric Vergne.

No problems trying to keep in touch with Alonso. Hulkenberg leads the

race from Vettel, Button and Perez with Di Resta in fifth, Vergne now

having lost that sixth place means Alonso is now back into sixth place

already. The difficulty that we're going to have here is that Vettel

is only behind the leader, but he's 12 seconds in fropbtd of Alonso. It

takes about 19 seconds to do a combined pit stop, three seconds

for the stop roughly plus the time in pit lane. When Vettel eventually

stops he will slot out behind the leading group. They will all be

going quickly themselves. Hulkenberg even with the DRS in

operation on Sebastien Vettel's car, he wasn't really closing the gap.

That's in the slipstream of the Red Bull. He opens the DRS now. He gets

a massive overspeed. Mark Webber into the slipstream. He's run a bit

wide in the braking there. Small lock up. They're very susceptible

to tyre temperature variation on the back straight. They lose

something like 30 degrees in surface temperature from the tyre.

They normally run about 100 degrees. They'll be around 70 when he hit

the brakes into 14. That's why we're seeing quite a few lock-ups

leading to delamb nation of the tyre. Webber might be in DRS range

himself. They seem to go for a better downforce and more grip

through the fast corners an -- and trade that against straight line

speed. Maybe that's hurting Webber and Vettel. Three quarters of a

second the gap between the first and second. Button is some three

seconds further behind, remember. He's got to get closer. He's got to

be within a second to get the DRS. But last lap he couldn't make the

pass. Hulkenberg, it's the second time he's led in the last four

races. He's making a name for himself. He moved from Force India

to Sauber. Keeping that gap, I think he's within the one-second

trigger point. But he's too far back. There the DRS is open. He's

too far back to gain the advantage into the braking zone. Great stuff

from Hulkenberg. Sergio Perez did lead a few laps here last year when

he was driving for Sauber. That was more as the strategy worked out.

This is partly the same. Here comes Massa. He's getting past Bottas

there. He's into tenth position. Hulkenberg continues to lead.

Vettel second. You look back and see Jenson Button in third place.

Perez who has made up good ground. He's three seconds behind Jenson

Button. But Perez didn't go so well in qualifying. More optimistic

today. Di Resta in fifth. Buff Alonso is in sixth place and

lapping, well a second or so faster than these guys up front. Alonso

closing the gap, further cementing the fact that at this pace, when

Vettel does his stop, he'll drop out behind him. Unless they're

trying to do two stopdz in which case he'll come back into place

later in the Grand Prix. We are expecting three stops almost

certainly for those on the option tyre. Cars number 17 and 18 you saw

on the graphic there, being referred for a yellow flag incident.

That's Bottas and Vergne. This was Massa passing Bottas. That was a

straightforward overtake for the Brazilian. This was Kimi Raikkonen

goating past Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso. Yeah, he managed

that. Kimi is about three seconds behind Hamilton. Still in the hunt,

but just needs to find perhaps a little more pace to catch up to

Alonso and Hamilton. Lovely pass around the outside. He may have

made it look easy but that's a big decision. Is the guy on the inside

going to give me this space? What happens if he runs narrow and goes

over the front tyre and runs wide? He can take you with him.

Raikkonen's racing, not only does he look the quicker of the Lotus

drivers, he looks race fit again. He looks sharp. He looks hungry.

Looks like the good old days when he won the championship in 2007 and

could have won the title for McLaren in earlier years but had so

many reliability problems then. Alonso there and Hamilton still not

much to choose between them. They are now sixth and seventh. Eighth

for Raikkonen. There's Jean-Eric Vergne who started on the harder

tyre. He's running around in ninth. He's now being caught rapidly by

Felipe Massa, who is in tenth. Mark Webber in 11th position, then you

have Rosberg 12th, Bottas 13, Grosjean 14th, Ricciardo 15th after

the change of front wing. Maldonado is 16th and Charles Pic is leading

the young team, Caterham ahead of the Marussia of Bianchi, but only

just, .3 of a second. Van der Garde is ahead of Chilton. We've lost

Sutil and Gutierrez and that's more non-finishes already here today

than we've had in each of the last two years. Tom, what have you got

in the pit lane? There's been a bit of drama down at Red Bull. First of

all, we had Mark's refuelling problem in qualifying. But just now

they've been changing the traffic light system, the release system

for the drivers, which hangs above them. They've just replaced it.

It's all done. Perhaps there was an issue at first stops. Thank you Tom.

We're watching Hulkenberg putting in these very consistent laps at

the moment. I think Vettel would be pleased to get past him. But he has

to play it patiently. In he can look after his tyres, perhaps

Vettel will go further than the Sauber. A look from Paul di Resta

as he is under pressure from Alonso. This is for fifth position. Paul di

Resta on a different strategy, of course. How's the pace? The pace is

good. Four people on primes as you. What kind of lap times could you

do? Difficult to say with that traffic. Probably half a second.

little discussion. Half a second he reckons he could do faster if he

wasn't behind Hulkenberg. It's a decision that if you get right into

the gearbox of Hulkenberg and try and get yourself in a position to

overtake, in doing so, you lose downforce and the car starts to

slide. That's the real killer on this track. It's the actual

degradation that comes from the tearing of the surface of the tyre.

You just run out of rubber that's available to use rather than the

peaks of thermal degradation in other Grand Prixs. He is certainly

starting to be hauled in, Alonso, only eight seconds behind where

Vettel is running at this stage. Let's see how this plays out, but I

wonder if Red Bull are looking at just the two stops this afternoon.

They have lap 13 here, the life of these tyres, around lap 20, that's

all dependent on a number of factors, whether you're running in

dirty air, how many fuel you have on board, how many rubber is on the

track surface, temperature, all those things have an effect. Track

temperature has dropped. It's down to 31 degrees. Here comes Alonso on

Perez, cheeky from Perez. There He's got to be careful. The rules

are clear, one change of direction to defend your position and that's

a safety rule and it applies to everyone. If you faint as if you're

going to the right side of the track, I suspect he'll be a sitting

duck now for Alonso when the DRS opens. Perez going to the left,

then right, well he gets past in the end. That will be brought up in

the drivers' meeting with Charlie Whiting, because the one real risk

is contact, wheel-to-wheel between racing cars. That rule applies to

every single driver. Hamilton now trying to get past these two as

well. You're on board with Lewis as he bears down on Paul di Resta.

almost hits the back of the Force India off the back of that into

turn six. Lewis Hamilton, well, we know exactly what his position is

now then. He's feeling that he doesn't have the pace. The Ferrari,

look at the front left tyre. The marble grains across the surface.

He's in this dirty air, where you're quicker than the car in

front but he's taking away the clean air onto the surfaces of your

wings. He's used it up and giveles you a whole bunch of sand in your

face effectively. It's not pretty. Meanwhile, his team-mate Box, box,

box. That's quite interesting. That is quite for them to bring him in

on lap 14. Looks like it could be a three-stop race for Vettel. They're

bailing out of running in that dirty air of Hulkenberg. The second

stint may go longer. That's earlier than we expected. It's to deal with

the traffic. Perez has Di Resta behind him. Alonso has got past. In

comes Vettel and in comes Hulkenberg, the leader has come in

at the same time. This is interesting. Can Sauber get their

man out ahead of the probably the fastest pit stop team in the lane,

Red Bull. I don't think so.Here comes Sebastien Vettel and you're

right and he's still there. Now eventually Nico Hulkenberg comeles

out. But the spit stops from Red Bull in Malaysia were awesome. That

was another quick one, 2.5 seconds. Cue massive frustration for

Hulkenberg. There's nothing worse than you present the car in the

lead of the Grand Prix and for whatever reason, your guys are not

able to service it. It's not just down to the human element of course.

Maybe the resources of Red Bull allow them to finesse every element

of procedure of the pit stop. no, contact! He's broke his front

wing. Mark Webber damage to the front end of his car on the sister

team of Toro Rosso. That's not good news at all. It will be an extra

pit stop now for Mark Webber. It looks like he made a late decision

to go for the overtake. In fairness to Jean-Eric Vergne, you can

imagine his eyes were on the road. Nonetheless, maybe Mark thought

there would be more compliance from that sister team, front wing end

plate broken. He will undoubtedly have to pit this lap. All the front

wing air, instead of directed to the inside of the tyre will be

spilling off. How does the car feel? Not too bad, mate. Not too

bad. We will box this lap. They're going to use it any way to come in.

Remember, he has done 14 laps on these tyres any way. So perhaps, it

won't make such a big difference. wing, off you go.

Kimi Raikkonen has hit the back of Sergio Perez. Lets wait for the

radio message, well spotted. Just the front tip of the knows he has

broken. The damage on the wings themselves is difficult to say at

this point. Kimi Raikkonen is chasing after Hamilton. He has been

weaving in the approach to the doing. The tip of the nose probably

doesn't affect overall performance. Mark Webber going slowly, there is

something more to the damage on that car. The weekend just got worse for

Mark Webber. Sergio Perez passing on the inside. Here's out of dear.Is

its stock in dear? RADIO: come back slowly. Here is what happened to

Kimi Raikkonen. He was on the grass. Sergio Perez squeezes over, so Kimi

Raikkonen, well, let's just see a few more of those. Kimi Raikkonen

eventually passing Sergio Perez, clearly still quick enough to get

past the McLaren. Nico Hulkenberg's pitstop, can we see where it went

wrong? We have now got Jenson Button leading the race because he has not

yet had to make a pit stop. Hamilton is currently in third place, you are

watching Felipe Massa now under pressure from Sebastian Vettel. Mark

Webber trying to stay out of the way, difficult because it is narrow

on the apex. You are watching Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel heading

down to this area. His wheel has come off, right in front of

Sebastian Vettel. His wheel was rolling out in the road, but I think

everyone has managed to miss it. It has gone inside to a safer position.

You could not make that up. Fernando Alonso, what have we got here? He is

trying to catch Jenson Button, who is leading the race now. Jenson

Button has done 17 laps, deep into the race, and he may be trying to

make this a two stop race. We know that McLaren does not have the pace

of the Ferrari. He will be a sitting duck by the time they get round to

turn number 13. They are coming down to the DRS activation zone. Fernando

Alonso, getting himself into position to take the lead in this

grand prix, and looking very strong now that Kimi Raikkonen has been

hampered by the damage. Jensen was very quick through turn 13, so it

looks like Fernando Alonso will not be able to get past him on this lap.

Presumably the problem was in the pitstop itself, probably separate to

the incident that brought him in, the contact with the Toro Rosso.

front axle was fine, so it is clearly an issue with the seating of

that wheel. He makes it through the apex, Kimi Raikkonen had to go the

long way round, he will not be happy about that. A bit late, if he was

trying to roll it in front of his teammate, but a good effort

nonetheless. That would have been good revenge, but very nasty as

well, so let's bear that in mind. It is a slow corner so the impact is

not as bad as it would have been on a fast bend. The tyres are clever

things, they found a gap in the traffic. That is his third

retirement in the last six races for Mark Webber. Jenson Button has still

not made a pitstop, still leading this race in a car that has not been

up to the usual high standards of McLaren but it must feel good to be

leading. Kimi Raikkonen, despite that incident, look how he has

caught Lewis Hamilton here. Mercedes with the harder compound tyre, and

the Lotus from Australia looks after its tyres extremely well. A battle

for the lead, Jenson Button versus Fernando Alonso. In third place,

Hamilton's Mercedes versus Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus. You will

notice the DRS is not being used, they are not allowed to use it in

that zone. What are they talking to Felipe Massa about? There he is

coming coming into the pitstop. Felipe Massa has first call this

time as he comes into the pit lane. Let's see how this one goes for

him. Another set of harder tyres. This looks very much like the three

stop race for them. Look at this, Sebastian Vettel getting down the

inside of Sergio Perez and that was a good clean pass, no problem. That

puts Sebastian Vettel into fifth position as he continues to chase

after the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel

at some point has two still run the soft tyres. Nico Hulkenberg, in the

same boat, but not far behind Sebastian Vettel. If Jenson Button

pitted now, he would come out near Grosjean. Here comes Fernando

Alonso, DRS was operating that time. He is saving it for the grandstand,

with more fans watching. Fernando Alonso got wide, we can see under

the wing of McLaren, he will catch him a bit late. Fernando Alonso

going for the lead, and he takes it. I'm not sure if Kimi Raikkonen had

ago in the background get past Lewis Hamilton. Ever the showman, he

didn't want to waste the pass on the hairpin when nobody was watching. He

saved it for the main grandstand and I'm sure the Chinese fans went

crazy. Can Kimi Raikkonen find a way past Lewis Hamilton? It will be

tricky, he is definitely struggling for grip. We have the technical man

Gary Anderson, we will have to get him to say if that has any effect on

the car but the main blockage comes from the front wheels and tyres as I

understand it. Kimi Raikkonen running the risk of burning the

tyres, and we keep talking about the dirty air. There must have been a

problem for Nico Rosberg, he only stopped a few laps ago. You were

saying we will ask Gary about the damage to the front of the Lotus -

what is the answer? There are quite a few bits missing so it will affect

him, it will use up the front tyres. I was surprised that Mark had less

damage on his front wheel but yet he didn't continue. Kimi Raikkonen is

coming in. And Lewis Hamilton. What are we thinking in terms of

strategy? Nico Rosberg obviously have a problem, him and Felipe Massa

are definitely on three stops. I don't think you can get to the end

with a two stop strategy. Nothing to choose between them in the pit lane,

Jenson Button still going though. He has managed this long on the harder

compound tyres. He needs to try to get another five laps out of them.

An incident involving car number six and seven, no further action, that

was Sergio Perez and Kimi Raikkonen. Clearly they looked at the numbers

and decided there is some damage but we will lose more in this battle if

we try to make the change now. It looks like they are opening the gap

to Kimi Raikkonen. Not looking too bad for Jenson Button, a very silky

smooth driver, even though Sergio Perez has been in the war is

slightly he is only 17 seconds behind. 22 laps in, I suppose that

is quite a lot. Hamilton is coming through there, we have got Sebastian

Vettel up into third place now. Lewis Hamilton has made his pitstop

so that has brought Sebastian Vettel into third position. We saw an

incident. We are going to see Fernando Alonso coming in soon. We

saw an incident where Adrian Sutil's car was hit and we are

seeing the second retirement of the year for Nico Rosberg. Twice out of

three races, and that is not the start of the season he would have

wanted, but Adrian Sutil went out earlier and he is talking to leak.

Not a nice way to end the grand prix, talk about when you took the

hit. I was breaking on the hairpin, and when I turned into the corner I

felt a hit on the rear so my rear wing was broken. Then Sergio Perez

had a late breaking point or whatever he tried. Talk about the

incident with Paul di Resta. Nothing to say, I felt the hit with my rear

left tyre, I don't know what he was trying. There was no reason for any

silly stuff. A great shame to have lost Adrian Sutil from this race,

and Mark Webber is out of the race be coming in, he has just been

reporting he wants a front wing change. Daniel Ricciardo trying to

come back in. He had to wait a fraction because Jenson Button came

in as well. You can see the marking that tells the teams when they are

allowed to release the car. You are not allowed to release them into the

path of the others. Jenson Button came out just in front of...

Fernando Alonso coming back out in third place so Sebastian Vettel is

now the race leader, Nico Hulkenberg behind him. Sergio Perez there, with

a different strategy to those around him. We would expect to see Sergio

Perez coming in soon, he has not stopped yet, going deep into the

race on this set of tyres. Over the years in China, the three stop race

has set things up beautifully for the last few laps. Nico Hulkenberg,

still running well. The use of DRS under investigation for Jenson

Button. Did he use DRS?An explanation to Lewis Hamilton,

telling him what is going on. is the yellow flag zone, did they

use DRS? I would have thought it is a clear-cut thing. If they have used

it, there will be some sort of penalty applied. It is difficult to

read lap times in this one because they have been dealing with traffic.

Kimi Raikkonen coming in, flashing through in the background. It is

Sergio Perez. Sergio Perez, thank you. So he has managed 25 laps, that

is impressive on the harder compound tyre, definitely making it a two

stop race for McLaren but they will still have to run the softer tyres

at some point. His last lap time was 1.44, Hamilton the fastest man on

eight places from where he started this race. But he still has to run

the soft tyre at some stage. Track temperature is still coming down a

bit. 30 degrees. The soft tyre doesn't like the cooler conditions.

So the longer he leaves it, deep into the race perhaps, the more

difficult it will be to run the soft tyre. It will be quick over

the first lap or two, then as we know, it degrades, it loses

performance rapidly. But he is currently leading the race from

Nico Hulkenberg, who's on a similar strategy, Alonso on the alternative

strategy has set the fastest first sector of anybody. There he is in

the Ferrari. You have to say Alonso is looking very good for this race

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

Raikkonen in sixth position. Massa is tucked in behind Paul di Resta.

Di Resta locks up late in the braking zone into 14. Good drive

off that hairpin though. Massa will be in the DRS activation as they

roll through the apex at turn 16. He's quite a distance back. Let's

see the difference the DRS makes to the closing speed. Maybe too late

for a pass into turn one. That was a mistake from Massa not getting on

with it and making sure that he got off that last turn as well as he

could. Now he's wide through three, going for the cut back to get in

some clean air through four. Let's see what we've got here. Daniel

Ricciardo on his team-mate, Jean- Eric Vergne. Hopefully they didn't

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

place. Vergne is in 12th. That's going to be investigated after the

race interesting, the use of the DRS. That always confuelss the

issue. Alonso right with Hulkenberg. This is now 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. Now he'll be

open to getting passed now by Hulkenberg if he can stay in the

slipstream and Alonso will get DRS because he was in the trigger point.

Poor Hulkenberg doesn't get DRS because he was behind at the

activation stuff. Clever stuff there from Alonso. He understands

exactly,000 use the systems at his disposal. That's why -- exactly how

to use the systems at his disposal. That's why he's double world

champion. Nico Hulkenberg has done a good few laps on those tyres now.

Alonso on the charge here to see if he can close the gap to Sebastien

Vettel and take the lead of this race. Even with an overtake he was

1.5 seconds quicker than Vettel on the last lap. The Ferrari, he's

made that extra stop, fresher tyres, but significantly faster. Massa on

Di Resta doesn't happen. You have two former team-mates at it up

ahead, Jenson Button versus Lewis Hamilton looking very, very close.

They are fighting for fourth place. This is the battle for seventh

position. Behind Massa, Grosjean still in ninth. Perez is tenth,

having made his pit stop. Ricciardo 11th, Vergne 12th, then Bottas.

Let's watch them at the hairpin. Great stuff from Paul di Resta, one

less stop at this phase of the Grand Prix than Massa in the

Ferrari. He's defending using the tools at his disposal.

Strategically you can use the KERS, not only for the best lap time, but

what gives you the best chance of defending your position. They have

80 horse power available on that. How many laps does the Mercedes

have? He stopped two laps before us. Five laps old. Do we want to fight?

Yes we do, fight. They're racing drivers, surely they're going to

fight. They're managing the tyres. It's about making sure they're in

the best track position come the last stop. On the long straight,

Jenson Button now has removed his racing gloves, slipped on a pair of

boxing gloves on the instruction of the team. He's about to engage in

battle and keep that Mercedes behind him. I think Paul di Resta

has done so as well. He's managing to fend off Felipe Massa quite

effectively. It makes a massive difference. Paul will have to

switch to a soft tyre later in the race, which has the danger of

dropping him down. Alonso going very quickly as Hamilton still

can't get past Jenson Button in the McLaren. Sebastian do not lose time

defending against Alonso. Lap times are critical. There's the

alternative argument, don't fight. That's right because when you fight

have you to then defend, run different lines. If you go on a

shallow line into a hairpin, the tkhapbss of spinning up the rear

tire -- chances of spinning up the rear tyre when you leave the corner

is increased. Have you to use the optimal line. The best way to get

the maximum points out of the weekend is playing the long game.

It's almost like a game of chess. You sacrifice a pawn to gain

something else down-the-line. In this case, of course, it's all

about averaging your points out across your season. They want to

win them all. There's nothing more important than the championship.

Hamilton now very much within the DRS activation point. He's within

the one second. They made a mistake there. He ran over the inside kerb

and that compromised his leaving the curve. He looks far back to get

a good activation. He might be all over the back of McLaren by the

time they come to the braking zone. Vettel still in front of Alonso.

There is Hamilton. It's still not there. No, he was just ran the

curve through 12. Then he ran wider bl he could get on the power on

that never ending turn 13. DRS will come into effect again. Button

middle ground at the moment. It's a straightforward pass. Button can't

defend against the superior speed with the DRS in operation. That's

equivalent of the bell going and getting knocked out with the first

punch. He didn't have a chance to weave. That's right. He didn't even

bodger to force him round the outside. He was going to be ahead

any way. He would compromise his position into turn one. Had

Hamilton tried somewhere else, he would have put up more of a fight.

The Ferrari bearing down on the Red Bull. You have to say this

weekend's performance from Ferrari, whatever happens in this race, has

been massively encouraging. They know they've got a strong car this

year. They've talked about it already. He had that great second

place in the opener in Australia. He felt he could challenge in

Malaysia. That went wrong when he damaged his front wing against the

back of Sebastien Vettel's car. Then went off on the very next lap.

He just drives around the inside again, no problem at all. As

instructed Vettel didn't fight it. No and Alonso will get DRS once

again to further compound his lap time. Vettel no DRS because he was

behind as he entered the corner. So Alonso strategically using the

tools exceptionally well. This is a game of cat-and-mouse but Alonso

looks strong at this stage. Hamilton ahead of Button as we saw.

Nouch it's Raikkonen's turn to try and get past the McLaren, which is

on a different strategy from the front runners in the race. Button

driving a sensible race at this stage. It will depend on how good

the car is on the soft tyre at the end. We don't expect it to have

quite the same perform abs. -- performance. Hulkenberg halls just

come in. He did 14 laps on that stint of tyres. A de -- decent

stint. He's put the soft tyre on. He's gone for the soft tyre in the

middle. This will be good information for the other teams.

Because they'll get to see what his lap time degradation is. But

Hulkenberg has been looking very consistent. He's going to get a

good haul of points this afternoon. Yes, Perez is also doing his stint

on the soft tyre at the moment. Let's see, that was Alonso running

around the inside of Sebastien Vettel to take the lead at the

Grand Prix. This is where Hamilton got past Jenson Button. Superior

speed with the DRS in operation. Through he went no trouble at all.

Hulkenberg on the softer tyre. It's an interestingly enough, he was on

the radio to his team saying, they were asking what they should do,

and Hulkenberg went back to the team saying "It's your choice, I

can't see what's happening in the race." Which is a fair comment.

Nico Rosberg stepped out of his car. Two DNFs in two races. Lee is

talking to him. Just what you didn't want. Tell us

what the problem was. I had a lot of understeer the whole time

feeling very strange. After the pit stop it got worse and suddenly, my

front wheel started bouncing on the inside of the corners. I don't know

what the reason for that is. It can be something like a rear roll bar

breaking or something. Then the front inside just comes up.

luck. That's a problem two suspensionish

ooze this weekend for Rosberg. He had -- suspension issues this

weekend for Rosberg. Something has gone wrong in the race as well.

There are reliability concerns at Mercedes. Yeah, it's concerning

when we have seen the issues we've had through free practice. These

cars are prototypes. They are updated week on week. It's not just

a question of proving reliability in winter testing and leaving as is.

Raikkonen in position here under the rear wing of Button. He won't

be able to do anything through seven and eight. 150mph,

considerably slower than what they do in qualifying, when the cars run

on vapour. He's trying to line up for the next DRS zone. Meanwhile

Perez on his soft tyres has done six laps and his last lap you can

see where the tyres are losing performance. He's done a 145.1. It

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

box, box. So that's Vettel who will be coming in from second place. Now

will he choose to run the option yet or will he leave it until the

very end of the race? Based on the information you're seeing from

Perez it will be purely - Here goes Raikkonen by the way. Down the

inside, slipping past Jenson Button no problem at all. The decision

will be based purely on how many laps they'll get out of it and

where, as a consequence of making the next stop, will they end up

being in traffic. This isn't just about where it puts them now, but

where they think it will put them when the next round of stops comes.

It's the medium compound, the harder tyre. They want to save that

option tyre for later in the race. McLaren coming out into the pit

lane. Hulkenberg halls just set the fastest lap of the race. Where does

he come out? Behind Massa, I think. Yeah, comes out in eighth place.

Perez for McLaren. He's just coming into his box. Hulkenberg trying to

get past Di Resta in that group. Hulkenberg going quickly on the

soft tyre. He has got past Di Resta there. It's put him into sixth

place. So seven laps by Perez. Here's Vettel on a move on Massa

and he's done it. Whoa that was brave, committed, once again from

Sebastien Vettel. That's how you do it. There was no hesitation. It

wasn't like unfortunately Mark's move came late on Jean-Eric Vergne.

Vettel made it quite clear, I'm coming through and I'm running wide

in. That case Massa has no choice but to leave the door open and hope

Vettel has misjudged it and run wide on the exit. In that case, on

the fresh tyres, made good use of that extra grip. Massa has done 13

laps on the tyres he's on. So it's easy for Vettel to cut through at

this point. It is. He has to use the extra grip whilst he has the

opportunity. Great stuff Forrest Di Resta. Here he's down the inside of

Di Resta through 13. Nonetheless, Di Resta has done a great job of

pulling away from the Ferrari of Massa. That's right and Di Resta

doing his upmost to get some points here for Force India. They've been

out of the points here in China in the past. He's finished 11th

himself just outside the points. He still has that soft tyre to run.

Still keeping an eye on Hulkenberg's performance on the

soft tyre. Di Resta might be coming in this lap. I can see action at

Hamilton is he? Not far, and this is still one that Kimi Raikkonen wants

to do. They started together on the front row of the grid but it looks

like the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso has had the more competitive

performance. That was good stuff, because he was

trying to position his car and Felipe Massa made it clear who was

going in that direction. On the outside initially, he has two lift

out of it, and it is on the second phase of the brakes he chose to go

on the inside, that is a very difficult move to pull off. We will

see it from Daniel Ricciardo's point of view. Daniel Ricciardo in ninth

place, and now the battle for fifth place. Sebastian Vettel here, on

Nico Hulkenberg. How much further can Nico Hulkenberg go on these soft

tyres, I wonder. He has an opportunity to go into the pit lane

now, but it looks like he is staying out. He has been able to get ahead

of the traffic in front of him. Looking at the tyre strategies, you

can see how it is playing out. Sebastian Vettel, three sets of

medium tyres, and he still has to use the soft tyres. Everybody has to

use both, and talking of tyres, here is Paul Henbury. We have seen the

soft tyres lasting about six laps, is that what you are expecting?

we felt that it is about six so you should expect the two that started

on the medium tyres should come into the last bit with six remaining.

will make the end exciting. Kimi Raikkonen has just confirmed he

wants one more turn of front wing. That was a long conversation between

Kimi Raikkonen and his engineer! Kimi Raikkonen might well be able to

get past Hamilton by doing this, that's what he will be hoping, but

then he will have to do 20 laps on his final set of tyres. I wonder if

Mercedes will bring Hamilton in next time around. Mercedes have got to

respond with Hamilton now, as Kimi Raikkonen comes back out just ahead

of his teammate, Grosjean going through the picture. Kimi Raikkonen

now out in eighth place. It is going to be tight. The disadvantage for

Kimi Raikkonen are the tyres. If it was a new set, I think Hamilton