:01:07. > :01:11.Good morning from India. After three hours of practice yesterday, the
:01:12. > :01:14.weekend is starting to hot up. There is just one more hour of running
:01:15. > :01:20.before qualifying gets under way. This could be a historic weekend in
:01:21. > :01:22.the world of Formula 1, as Sebastian Vettel looks to clinch his fourth
:01:23. > :01:31.consecutive world title, and Red Bull could win the construct this
:01:32. > :01:32.Championship this weekend, too. Sebastian Vettel has a commanding
:01:33. > :02:00.lead in the drivers Championship. In the pit lane today, we have Tom
:02:01. > :02:04.Clarkson and Jennie Gow. Tom, yesterday was a busy day for the
:02:05. > :02:11.teams, and a costly one for Williams. Yes, they have been hit
:02:12. > :02:15.with a second final 60,000 euros the first one came at Suzuka, two weeks
:02:16. > :02:19.ago, when Pastor Maldonado lost a wheel during pack this. It was
:02:20. > :02:25.slightly different yesterday, the wheel nut coming off, but the wheels
:02:26. > :02:29.stayed on, which was crucial in the FIA's this issue and not to punish
:02:30. > :02:33.them further. But the team has had to say that they will do extra
:02:34. > :02:42.visual checks for the rest of the weekend, every time they put a wheel
:02:43. > :02:46.on the car. Voters picked up a fine of 400 euros -- Lotus -- when they
:02:47. > :02:52.were caught with Kimi Raikkonen's are speeding in the pit lane. Some
:02:53. > :02:56.people in the paddock saying that since Kimi signed for Ferrari, he
:02:57. > :03:01.has lost a certain amount of interest with the Lotus team. He
:03:02. > :03:07.will be looking to improve hopefully today. He will need to, I think,
:03:08. > :03:10.because he has not qualified in the top eight at the last four races,
:03:11. > :03:14.and if you are going to wrestle with the Red Bulls on a Sunday afternoon,
:03:15. > :03:24.you need to start higher up the grid. Yes, but you should not
:03:25. > :03:28.underrate the efforts of another strong performance from Roman
:03:29. > :03:32.Grosjean yesterday. Fernando Alonso has almost conceded defeat to
:03:33. > :03:41.Sebastian Vettel in this Championship. Within the next 24
:03:42. > :03:48.hours, it might be mathematically all over, anyway. Ben Edwards is in
:03:49. > :03:52.the commentary box. Sebastian has won the only two previous races
:03:53. > :03:59.here, and he has always been fastest in practice to as well... Indeed,
:04:00. > :04:03.but there was one? About yesterday's performance, which was how the Red
:04:04. > :04:06.Bull tells with the soft tyre which Pirelli have brought here this
:04:07. > :04:11.weekend. That is something we will be looking at today. Yes, because
:04:12. > :04:15.they are looking as though they are changing the tires very early, but
:04:16. > :04:21.you need to make sure you get enough laps down under it at the beginning
:04:22. > :04:26.of the race, so that you do not drop into slow traffic. Pit stop strategy
:04:27. > :04:30.tomorrow will be very interesting. We will keep an eye on that. Let's
:04:31. > :04:36.just remind you on the situation from yesterday, with first and
:04:37. > :04:40.second for Red Bull, in both sessions. But as you can see from
:04:41. > :04:45.that message on the screens, there is a delay to the start of this
:04:46. > :04:49.session today, because of visibility problems. There is a haze around the
:04:50. > :04:53.track again, although I have thought it does not look quite as bad as
:04:54. > :04:59.yesterday morning. But they are talking about it starting in 15
:05:00. > :05:04.minutes' time, this session. It is difficult, because this long
:05:05. > :05:08.straight, you come down there, and the straight goes up and down as
:05:09. > :05:13.well, so you do lose vision of the cars for a while. So you do have
:05:14. > :05:20.issues regarding judgment on distance. It is better to have a 15
:05:21. > :05:25.minute delay them an accident. And it means the session will only last
:05:26. > :05:29.for 45 minutes now, because they are sticking to the finish time. That is
:05:30. > :05:34.key, because it means they will be losing valuable setup time. Yes, and
:05:35. > :05:38.if they do not get that running time on the soft tyre, they will just
:05:39. > :05:42.have to consolidate everything a little bit. Just to reiterate, the
:05:43. > :05:47.session is delayed, it will only last for 45 minutes, and it will
:05:48. > :05:50.start 15 minutes late. We have spoken about the importance of
:05:51. > :05:55.getting running time, especially as this track seems to involve every
:05:56. > :06:02.single lap, so how crucial will it be? I would say, from the point of
:06:03. > :06:06.view of a team, I would be getting out there as soon as possible, to
:06:07. > :06:11.try to get the soft tyres to last a bit longer. We know the medium tyre
:06:12. > :06:18.is very durable. The teams who ran it on long runs yesterday, they had
:06:19. > :06:24.no problems with it. So I would like to get out on the soft tyre pretty
:06:25. > :06:27.early. But again, the teams are sitting in the garage, waiting for
:06:28. > :06:30.the track to get better, but from my point of view, they should be
:06:31. > :06:37.getting out there as as soon as possible. Yesterday, I was told
:06:38. > :06:41.there were real concerns over the softer tyre, and also about how long
:06:42. > :06:45.people might try and push it, and we might have a situation where we see
:06:46. > :06:53.failures again. GARY ANDERSON: The failures we saw
:06:54. > :06:57.were due to flat spots, and this is a different thing altogether. We can
:06:58. > :07:06.see Kevin Magnussen sitting on the... May be the side wind on the
:07:07. > :07:11.back straight will blow the smog away. We saw Kevin Magnussen sitting
:07:12. > :07:14.there at McLaren, looking forward to getting his opportunity in Formula 1
:07:15. > :07:19.sometime soon. Going back to the tyres, definitely, the soft tyre
:07:20. > :07:25.could suffer from flat spotting, which is one of the big problems.
:07:26. > :07:34.Christian Horner joins me now. Chris Jim, visibility problems at the
:07:35. > :07:44.moment? It is very foggy. -- Christian. It is important that the
:07:45. > :07:48.helicopter can fly, so if it has been delayed, then it has been done
:07:49. > :07:52.for the right reasons. It is easy to come here and say how strong Red
:07:53. > :07:57.Bull are, but do you have any concerns going into the rest of the
:07:58. > :08:01.weekend? Loads of things, from KERS to electronics to engines, you name
:08:02. > :08:04.it. First of all, there is reliability, then there is
:08:05. > :08:09.performance. So many things can happen. You have got to get
:08:10. > :08:12.everything right. We have had a very good run, but we have had some
:08:13. > :08:19.issues along the way as well, losing KERS in qualifying with Seb in
:08:20. > :08:25.Japan. We had a gearbox issue with Mark in the race before that. So,
:08:26. > :08:30.there is always something on your mind. Was there a KERS problem at
:08:31. > :08:34.all. Asked yesterday? At the beginning of the session, there was
:08:35. > :08:46.a small issue. But it was a software issue rather than any hardware. I
:08:47. > :08:50.spoke to Sebastian yesterday, and he seems to be in a really good place,
:08:51. > :08:55.so have you seen him grow in the last few years, or in the last few
:08:56. > :09:00.races, even? Affinity. We forget how young he is. He is growing up and
:09:01. > :09:05.mature in as a person. He is only 26 years of age. For what he has
:09:06. > :09:09.achieved in Formula 1 at such a young age is quite remarkable. But
:09:10. > :09:16.he is still very much the same guy, he still gets excited about driving
:09:17. > :09:22.the car. He is just so keen to continue to improve himself and
:09:23. > :09:26.develop himself. He is a driver who seems to make the most of the tyres,
:09:27. > :09:31.but do you have any concerns over the durability of the tyres this
:09:32. > :09:36.weekend? That might be a slight understatement. The two compounds
:09:37. > :09:41.are fastly different. That is part of the challenge. It is the same for
:09:42. > :09:47.everyone. You are not going to be doing too many laps on the softer
:09:48. > :09:53.tyre here, I would not have thought. We saw quite a lot of blistering on
:09:54. > :09:57.the tyre yesterday. We will see as the circuit rubbers in, but it looks
:09:58. > :10:03.a very aggressive tyre for this track. We have already heard from
:10:04. > :10:06.Tom Clarkson that it was a disappointing evening for you
:10:07. > :10:14.yesterday, being fined 60,000 euros for the second race in a row - were
:10:15. > :10:18.you surprised by the ruling? No, it was somewhat to be expected. We had
:10:19. > :10:24.a similar incident in Japan. We respect the FIA decision, we always
:10:25. > :10:28.do. But of course, it is disappointing that it happened. But
:10:29. > :10:32.safety is our priority, so we are putting measures in place to make
:10:33. > :10:37.sure that we do not have a repeat performance. The FIA are satisfied
:10:38. > :10:41.with those measures. What sort of measures do you have to take? In the
:10:42. > :10:49.middle of nowhere, in India, it is difficult to change any processes in
:10:50. > :10:55.the pit stop itself... The guys now have to do a visual check on the on
:10:56. > :10:58.the wheel nut. We have been doing practices this morning to make sure
:10:59. > :11:01.that they can do that. We will practice it again in Practice 3 this
:11:02. > :11:07.morning, before going into qualifying. Do you know if that has
:11:08. > :11:11.slowed down the pit stop? We anticipated that it might, by maybe
:11:12. > :11:18.a second or more, but looking at the times of the guys this morning, they
:11:19. > :11:28.did a great job. Hopefully we will be OK. But we do not want one of
:11:29. > :11:33.those tyres to come off the car. Moving forward from here, this is
:11:34. > :11:37.the second problem with wheel retention that you have had, so what
:11:38. > :11:42.do you have to do in the subsequent weekends? We are working on that
:11:43. > :11:47.back in the factory. As soon as we have first incident in Japan, the
:11:48. > :11:52.design office back home is working on producing a system which the FIA
:11:53. > :11:56.are happy with. For this weekend, what can you expect from your
:11:57. > :12:02.drivers? Both of them are doing a great job. It has been a really
:12:03. > :12:06.difficult season for us. We always hope to get into Q3 and qualifying,
:12:07. > :12:12.and then we see what we can do in the race.
:12:13. > :12:18.It has been a tough introduction to the world of being a team principal
:12:19. > :12:24.for Claire Williams, no doubt about it. We saw briefly Fernando Alonso,
:12:25. > :12:27.and we can barely see the end of the grandstand, which is why we are
:12:28. > :12:31.still talking, and you are not seeing cars on the track, because
:12:32. > :12:37.the session has been delayed by 15 minutes, so that it is now only
:12:38. > :12:43.lasting 45 minutes. Gary, Fernando Alonso seems increasingly frustrated
:12:44. > :12:48.with the rivalry - do you think he feels comfortable that they are
:12:49. > :12:52.changing their focus to next year? I think he was a bit more
:12:53. > :12:56.philosophical when he was speaking earlier this week. I think he has
:12:57. > :13:00.accepted the fact that Red Bull are going to win this Championship
:13:01. > :13:04.again, and he might be a bit more positive now that he is always the
:13:05. > :13:11.main challenger to Red Bull, he is always up there, he reminded us that
:13:12. > :13:16.in 2009, it was a tough task getting out of Q2, when he was driving for
:13:17. > :13:21.Renault. GARY ANDERSON: Yes, he has been a
:13:22. > :13:28.nearly man for too long, though. He saw Ferrari as a big opportunity to
:13:29. > :13:32.be THE man. The main thing has just been the car performance. It has
:13:33. > :13:37.never been there to give his driving talent the right approach. Tom
:13:38. > :13:43.Clarkson, I think you have found Martin Whitmarsh. I have, so what
:13:44. > :13:48.have we been told, Martin, about this delay? No more than you. We
:13:49. > :13:52.have been told to start has been delayed by 15 minutes because of
:13:53. > :13:57.visibility, and the session is therefore shortened. It is difficult
:13:58. > :14:02.to see what will happen in the next 15 minutes, or in fact now, the next
:14:03. > :14:06.six minutes, which will change the situation, but we have had no more
:14:07. > :14:11.information. It does not feel any worse than yesterday morning? No, it
:14:12. > :14:15.doesn't. I do not know whether this might be a helicopter issue.
:14:16. > :14:19.Sometimes you cannot run because the helicopter might not be able to take
:14:20. > :14:24.off to get to the hospital. But that is purely speculation on my part.
:14:25. > :14:28.From a driving point of view, with a long telephoto lens it looks pretty
:14:29. > :14:33.bad, and it is pretty bad, but from a driving point of view, this feels
:14:34. > :14:38.almost sunnier and brighter than we have had since we have been here.
:14:39. > :14:43.How will this affect your programme? There was talk of radical
:14:44. > :14:47.setups on Jenson Button's are yesterday... Yes, we would like as
:14:48. > :14:56.much time as possible on this track. Clearly, everyone has got a priority
:14:57. > :15:01.to try to run both tyres, looking at how you warm them up with relatively
:15:02. > :15:06.light fuel for qualifying. So, with those two runs, particularly as the
:15:07. > :15:09.prime takes a few laps to come in, I do not think there will be much time
:15:10. > :15:14.for anything else. So I think there will be very quick installs, and
:15:15. > :15:19.then straight into running one prime and one option. It means there is
:15:20. > :15:22.going to be a lot of traffic, and it will be quite intense. Inevitably,
:15:23. > :15:26.someone will get tripped up when they are trying to do their
:15:27. > :15:30.qualifying simulation. We have been told that the session has been
:15:31. > :15:36.delayed by a further 15 minutes. Well, that is even worse for us,
:15:37. > :15:40.because as you know, in the regulations, there is a minimum gap
:15:41. > :15:44.between this session and the start of qualifying. So, assuming they do
:15:45. > :15:49.not want to move qualifying, which I am sure they don't, because the
:15:50. > :15:54.television companies will not want to do so, then this will be a very
:15:55. > :16:00.hectic half an hour and people will be tripping up over themselves, both
:16:01. > :16:09.trying to do a qualifying run to see how, on light fuel, you can get the
:16:10. > :16:13.prime working, but inevitably, also wanting to look at the option. The
:16:14. > :16:17.option, as we have seen, is quite challenging here. And people will be
:16:18. > :16:21.wanting to try to make an assessment about how hard you can press on that
:16:22. > :16:26.option in qualifying without really destroying a tyre before you have to
:16:27. > :16:29.start a race on it. We hear that the reason for the delay is that the
:16:30. > :16:36.medical helicopter cannot fly. One final question - Jenson is famous
:16:37. > :16:40.for doing something different in Q3, so if you get through to Q3,
:16:41. > :16:47.what are the merits of starting on the prime tomorrow? Well, there is a
:16:48. > :16:53.lot of merits. I have always been surprised when the covers come off
:16:54. > :16:58.at the start outside many of the back runners have been on the option
:16:59. > :17:03.tyres. It works better if you are at the back of let's say the top ten
:17:04. > :17:08.and you are on prime and those behind you are also on prime because
:17:09. > :17:11.it means that any early stoppers have traffic, but regrettably that
:17:12. > :17:16.hasn't worked for us yet, but this is a more extreme example, but it
:17:17. > :17:21.maybe so extreme indeed that you will find lots of people in Q3 on
:17:22. > :17:25.the harder tyre. That's possible. That's the game of chess that we
:17:26. > :17:33.played out during the course of today. Thanks, Martin. Good luck.
:17:34. > :17:36.Well, Martin Whitmarsh is a considerate man. He is understanding
:17:37. > :17:41.that you have set your alarms to join us and there are no cars out on
:17:42. > :17:44.track. The medical helicopter cannot take off because of visibility
:17:45. > :17:50.problems. That's why there is a delay. Over Martin Whitmarsh's
:17:51. > :17:54.shoulder, we saw Kevin Magnussen sitting. Gary and Ben, let's talk
:17:55. > :18:02.about young drivers. We are looking at a driv who is leaving Formula
:18:03. > :18:06.One. What do you think about the arrival of this very young and
:18:07. > :18:11.inexperienced Russian coming into Formula One, Gary? It is good to get
:18:12. > :18:16.some new blood into the Formula One. There is a mid-field group there
:18:17. > :18:20.that have been in it too long. They haven't really shown. When a guy is
:18:21. > :18:25.good, you see him climb to the top somehow. We need to get new blood
:18:26. > :18:30.in. 19 years old, he might be a little bit too new. He might to have
:18:31. > :18:33.a couple of years in a different formula to help him to understand
:18:34. > :18:38.the situation because Formula One is very different. Not only are the
:18:39. > :18:42.cars quicker and demanding, but the whole atmosphere in Formula One is
:18:43. > :18:45.very different and to learn all that when you are 19 years old might be a
:18:46. > :18:50.little bit too much for him. We are seeing up on our screens that the
:18:51. > :18:54.session will start at 11. 20. That's over six minutes away. At least we
:18:55. > :19:02.are going to be seeing cars on track soon? Yes, they are, but there is
:19:03. > :19:05.time to hear a quick, but wise word from Niki Lauda. A frustrating
:19:06. > :19:09.delay. This wouldn't have happened in your day, would it, you would
:19:10. > :19:14.have gone out anyway? Correct. But it is the helicopter that's
:19:15. > :19:17.important. Nevertheless, I hope it starts soon so everybody can
:19:18. > :19:21.practise. Six minutes time and the practise
:19:22. > :19:26.session will begin. It is frustrating for the team. What are
:19:27. > :19:31.people saying within Mercedes? If it is only 15 minutes this is OK
:19:32. > :19:40.because you do an installation lap and you check the car. If the delay
:19:41. > :19:43.was longer, it would be terrible. It would be 40 minutes for practise
:19:44. > :19:46.session for the cars to get themselves into line for qualifying.
:19:47. > :19:51.How important is this weekend for Mercedes and the constructors
:19:52. > :19:54.battle? I think everybody except Red Bull is suffering for this delay
:19:55. > :20:00.because they are happy because they have the quickest and best car
:20:01. > :20:05.around and they can adjust quickly to the delayed practise start, but
:20:06. > :20:09.everybody else needs to test things and set the car properly and it is
:20:10. > :20:14.important that we can practise now. So another thing that plays into the
:20:15. > :20:21.hands of Red Bull as far as you are concerned? If you are the quickest
:20:22. > :20:25.and the best, but it helps them. I was surprised speaking to Lewis
:20:26. > :20:29.Hamilton he said yesterday he had given up on a front row. He was
:20:30. > :20:34.expecting to start on the second row and look for a podium. Conceding to
:20:35. > :20:39.Red Bull is one of the things that's expected at this time of year? It is
:20:40. > :20:44.alarming. Since the summer break because Sebastian won five races if
:20:45. > :20:47.I'm right and this is alarming for everybody. Not only for Mercedes. Do
:20:48. > :20:51.you think it will carry on next year or do you see the changes with the
:20:52. > :20:57.engines and with the regulations will leave the door open for
:20:58. > :21:02.Mercedes wider? I hope for everybody because next year everybody starts
:21:03. > :21:08.with a new car design, new engines, a big technical work to be done, so
:21:09. > :21:14.next year it will be more even and then you start to develop. The
:21:15. > :21:18.advantage, add teams have like Red Bull they develop the car always
:21:19. > :21:27.further. Next year we start from scratch. So I think the balance next
:21:28. > :21:34.year could be different. Niki Lauda, thank you very much.
:21:35. > :21:42.I am joined by Dr Helmut. What's this weekend like? We go to every
:21:43. > :21:48.race to do the best so we are going here to win and if we win, of
:21:49. > :21:56.course, we are champions, but as far as I know, Sebastian has to fly back
:21:57. > :22:02.home so it won't be a big party, but it is not done yet. I think in Abbey
:22:03. > :22:10.dabby we will have a nice evening. You must be doing very well at Red
:22:11. > :22:15.Bull. Tell him billion your new Russian driver? It was a difficult
:22:16. > :22:25.decision, but we were looking at a performance of all three drivers and
:22:26. > :22:30.from the beginning until the end or until now, it was the form of the
:22:31. > :22:38.Russian who was showing up and he won a lot of races in GP 3, he won
:22:39. > :22:43.in F3. He was the best package for the next three or four years for our
:22:44. > :22:49.junior programme and for Torro Rosso. Is that the best trial for
:22:50. > :22:54.Formula One? Is that not GP 2 anymore? We had been in the World
:22:55. > :23:00.Series mainly, but the reason was because all our drivers from the
:23:01. > :23:04.programme are involved in the simulator programme and if you have
:23:05. > :23:20.the same event on the same weekend it doesn't work so that's why we
:23:21. > :23:25.went to Renault 3.5, but on the other hand - he was the one from
:23:26. > :23:30.Formula 3. He said he didn't feel ready at that time. You are not
:23:31. > :23:41.going to turn it down if you get an opportunity, are you? That's the
:23:42. > :23:46.problem? He has done 150 races and he is well prepared. He has a lot of
:23:47. > :23:49.simulator time and he will be on the simulator during the winter and we
:23:50. > :23:53.have some very good psychological programmes so we don't throw him
:23:54. > :23:59.into cold water. He will be well prepared. We will see him in Austin
:24:00. > :24:03.and Brazil, will we? We are trying. First, we have to get his super
:24:04. > :24:10.licence and if that's working, yes, we will put him as a Friday driver.
:24:11. > :24:12.Thank you very much for joining us. Well, everyone is talking about
:24:13. > :24:17.Sebastian Vettel, but there is plenty of work to be done. Of there
:24:18. > :24:24.is not a lot of time out there. Everyone will be wanting to refine
:24:25. > :24:28.their cars. Let's go to Gary and Ben.
:24:29. > :24:33.It is going to be busy out there, Gary. I think it will be flat out
:24:34. > :24:36.all the way, isn't it? There is not much time to waste. You need to go
:24:37. > :24:40.through the procedures. You need to make sure there is no leaks and the
:24:41. > :24:43.car is OK because if you don't do that and you go out and the car
:24:44. > :24:51.stops after two or three laps because of an oil leak, you lose the
:24:52. > :24:54.whole session. It is better to lose five minutes than lose 45 and gain
:24:55. > :24:57.five. Several cars already lining up down
:24:58. > :25:02.there at the end of the pit lane and you can see it is still quite foggy.
:25:03. > :25:06.It is still hazy as we look down from the camera position. Looking
:25:07. > :25:10.from the camera from behind. There is plenty of visibility for the
:25:11. > :25:14.drivers and as we know, there was a helicopter issue anyway that delayed
:25:15. > :25:18.the start of the this session. So practise start area at the end of
:25:19. > :25:22.the pits as well, that's why everybody stops and waits. It is a
:25:23. > :25:25.tricky area for a practise start as you can see, some guys want to go
:25:26. > :25:29.straight out and others are doing the practise start and it is not
:25:30. > :25:32.that wide there, is it? They have the area on the right-hand side for
:25:33. > :25:36.the practise starts so the main pit lane is open so I don't understand
:25:37. > :25:41.why it is not there this time. You have to stop in the fast lane which
:25:42. > :25:47.seems a bit stupid to me. Looking on board from Mark Webber. We have the
:25:48. > :25:51.thermal imaging camera giving us the tire temperature in -- tyre
:25:52. > :25:55.temperature in colours. The temperature dropping away as he goes
:25:56. > :26:03.out on track. That inner line just showing how the tyre runs a certain
:26:04. > :26:09.amount of kandor in a straight line? In the middle of the car, there are
:26:10. > :26:18.two purple dots appearing where the front skids touch the ground. When
:26:19. > :26:26.you are going around right-hand corner. We hear about the wear of
:26:27. > :26:30.the front tyres that's the part that wears. It is the inside shoulder
:26:31. > :26:33.being trailed around. YAz, it is -- yeah, it is difficult managing the
:26:34. > :26:36.tyres with the set-up. It is interesting to hear that
:26:37. > :26:40.Mercedes are saying that they are not going to be doing the
:26:41. > :26:48.installation lap. They will go for several laps in one go. That's a
:26:49. > :26:51.change in policy? It is. You know, this theory there should be no
:26:52. > :26:55.problem. Sometimes we see a problem, but all the best for them. I am sure
:26:56. > :26:58.they will get through it OK, but you need luck.
:26:59. > :27:05.Fernando Alonso is sitting in his garage. Alonso usually isn't out at
:27:06. > :27:09.the beginning, but it hurt them yesterday because they had a gearbox
:27:10. > :27:13.problem on the Ferrari and by the time they discovered that, there was
:27:14. > :27:22.never going to be a chance for him to do anymore lap ins Free Practise
:27:23. > :27:25.1. As we heard, there is work to be done by the teams in terms of how
:27:26. > :27:29.they look after the tyres and the soft tyre that Pirelli brought here
:27:30. > :27:33.this weekend and there were concerns about the way that that tyre was
:27:34. > :27:37.giving up as quickly as it was and chunking on some of the cars,
:27:38. > :27:43.blistering on some of the cars. It is a combination of problems. It is
:27:44. > :27:48.a the soft tyre. You could almost qaul -- call it a qualifying tyre.
:27:49. > :27:55.It does a good lap time, but then it starts to grain because of the 10
:27:56. > :28:00.and 12 right-hander. You get nor understeer, but with wheelspin, the
:28:01. > :28:04.rear tyre starts Policering. There is a combination of events. Some
:28:05. > :28:07.cars will handle it differently, but I don't think any car can take it
:28:08. > :28:12.far. . Waing that 10 -- watching that 10
:28:13. > :28:16.and 11 corner. Mark Webber puts a lot of strain on the left front. And
:28:17. > :28:21.then he is into the flick and the last few corners. It is a blind brow
:28:22. > :28:25.up at the top into turn 15 which the camera doesn't show. We were walking
:28:26. > :28:29.the circuit this week and you get a much clearer idea of just how
:28:30. > :28:33.difficult it is for the driver to spot his turn in point for that
:28:34. > :28:37.corner and for turn three, they are blind brows on the approach? Yes,
:28:38. > :28:45.blind brows and difficult to see because the track is so open. You
:28:46. > :28:49.come over the top of the brow and there is 50 meters each side of the
:28:50. > :28:53.track. We see the same thing into turn three, it is difficult to find
:28:54. > :28:57.that apex. It is a plastic post sticking up to give them a clue
:28:58. > :29:02.where it might be! That's useful! They are sitting so low in the cars.
:29:03. > :29:06.Thanks for your comments that are coming in on Twitter. It is lovely
:29:07. > :29:12.to know that so many of you in the UK are up bright and early to join
:29:13. > :29:15.us for our coverage this morning. Sorry, we are late with the cars
:29:16. > :29:18.coming out, but nothing we could do about that, of course, the
:29:19. > :29:23.conditions defining that. One of the questions coming in here and I have
:29:24. > :29:30.always got questions from Mark, why doesn't the FIA give a point in
:29:31. > :29:35.qualifying, give the slower teams a reward for good qualifying teams. Do
:29:36. > :29:44.you give a point for pole position? Sebastian Vettel has a few poles.
:29:45. > :29:50.Just seeing Fernando Alonso here with his 1571 on the side of his
:29:51. > :29:53.helmet, the amount of points he scored. You would be giving
:29:54. > :29:59.Sebastian Vettel a few more points which is not what anybody wants! We
:30:00. > :30:04.are riding with Alonso. He is on the harder of the two compounds. It has
:30:05. > :30:08.the white on the side wall. When you see the yellow tyres, that's the
:30:09. > :30:12.soft compound and he picks up a little bit of a toe as he comes down
:30:13. > :30:17.the long, long straight. Top speeds that we saw yesterday, we saw the
:30:18. > :30:23.Saubers were fast and the Torro Rosso and the Ferraris weren't quite
:30:24. > :30:27.as far up. Things might have changed. They would have been
:30:28. > :30:30.looking at gear ratios and looking a the compromise which you have got to
:30:31. > :30:37.have here between straight line speed and descent cornering force. .
:30:38. > :30:39.Let's watch him and watch him here at turn 11 here. This is a key
:30:40. > :30:59.corner. Yes, it is quite an amazing corner.
:31:00. > :31:02.It is a very long corner. You are taking speed out of the car all of
:31:03. > :31:07.the way, and that is when you are leaning on that left front tyre. You
:31:08. > :31:13.are still asking the car to turn. That is the critical corner. Some of
:31:14. > :31:17.these fast flicks, left to right, they are actually quite nicely
:31:18. > :31:20.spaced. Because the rear of the car wants to get away, so you are
:31:21. > :31:25.semi-correct in your oversteer by the fact that there is another
:31:26. > :31:28.corner coming up. It is a very interesting and is demanding track
:31:29. > :31:37.from the driving point of view. You can really participate in making the
:31:38. > :31:43.performance of the car stand out. Mark Webber has just done his first
:31:44. > :32:04.run on the harder compound, and he has done a 1:27.1. Jennie Gow, I
:32:05. > :32:10.think you are at Toro Rosso... Yes, Daniel Ricciardo had a shortened
:32:11. > :32:16.practice session yesterday, after hitting one of the kerbs, damaging
:32:17. > :32:20.the floor of the car. They have been working on that car, but they are
:32:21. > :32:26.hoping that the work they have done will enable him to feel comfortable
:32:27. > :32:39.in that car. Some of the kerbs are a little bit sharp around here. Yes,
:32:40. > :32:44.RADIO: Gutierrez was struggling a little bit yesterday. He felt they
:32:45. > :32:49.had not got the balance of the car particularly well, and he ended up
:32:50. > :32:54.only 17th fastest, whereas team-mate Hulkenberg was a little bit further
:32:55. > :32:57.up, at 14th. The times were not startling, but I think Hulkenberg
:32:58. > :33:03.was relatively happy with the balance of his car.
:33:04. > :33:07.GARY ANDERSON: If you look at Japan, they were able to do a much better
:33:08. > :33:13.time in qualifying, compared with practice. It depends on whether you
:33:14. > :33:17.want to show your true potential. Teams like Sauber want to hide it as
:33:18. > :33:26.much as possible, so they can catch other teams by surprise. So, you do
:33:27. > :33:32.play a little bit of politics. Felipe coming in to the 10-11
:33:33. > :33:39.corner. It is incredible, the GeForce. You can see the on board
:33:40. > :33:48.telemetry, a little bit sideways as he comes through 13 and 14. The G
:33:49. > :33:54.forces are massive here. There is a massive raking G coming up to turn
:33:55. > :33:59.four. A little bit of oversteer through the last corner. That lap
:34:00. > :34:07.time is second fastest to Mark Webber at the moment. You can see he
:34:08. > :34:12.was trying pretty hard. That is a pretty good lap from him. You will
:34:13. > :34:22.see the time being even better with the softer tyres, obviously. Alonso
:34:23. > :34:28.has just gone a fraction quicker than Massa there. But it might be a
:34:29. > :34:33.different story when we get onto the softer tyre, as you say. Rosberg
:34:34. > :34:38.going all four wheels over the kerb there, like we saw yesterday. In
:34:39. > :34:43.qualifying, they will begin on an eye on anyone who gains an advantage
:34:44. > :34:54.by doing that. The thing you have got to watch is these: YELLOW 's.
:34:55. > :34:57.The others are OK to drive on. You either go to the right of that
:34:58. > :35:02.yellow kerb or to the left of it, because if you hit it, it is what we
:35:03. > :35:07.call a sausage kerb, it sticks up three or four inches, and it really
:35:08. > :35:10.hurts the bottom of your car, and it really hurts your body as well,
:35:11. > :35:30.because you are sitting on the bottom of the car. We are watching
:35:31. > :35:33.Daniel Ricciardo now, as we heard in the press conference yesterday,
:35:34. > :35:39.Force India are keeping an eye on what Sauber are up in the
:35:40. > :35:45.Constructors' Championship, but Force India are catching. Lee spoke
:35:46. > :35:50.to Nico Hulkenberg earlier on in the weekend, you will be able to see
:35:51. > :35:54.that interview in our qualifying programme later on today. On board
:35:55. > :35:58.with Lewis Hamilton. Let's see how he is getting on with the Mercedes.
:35:59. > :36:01.He struggled with balance in the car at the beginning yesterday. He seems
:36:02. > :36:06.to be a bit happier by the end of the day. But as we have heard,
:36:07. > :36:13.perhaps he is not expecting any more than a second row horrifying
:36:14. > :36:19.position. Perez has gone quickly in the first sector, but Hamilton is up
:36:20. > :36:24.on Mark Webber's time so far. Still using the harder compound tyre. Down
:36:25. > :36:32.to the final turn, up ahead of him is Kimi Raikkonen, in the Lotus. He
:36:33. > :36:38.goes forth. Very close times at the moment, from Webber to Hamilton,
:36:39. > :36:44.four places covered by a 10th of a second. Tom, you are at Red Bull...
:36:45. > :36:48.A very interesting decision by Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel has just gone
:36:49. > :36:54.out on the soft tyre. It is very early in the session for him to be
:36:55. > :36:59.doing that. Given that you will be spending up to 90% of the race on
:37:00. > :37:03.the prime tyre tomorrow, I think it tells us how happy Red Bull are with
:37:04. > :37:08.the setup of the car on the prime, and also how important they see
:37:09. > :37:11.qualifying this afternoon to be. Webber is also about to go out on
:37:12. > :37:16.the soft tyre. I think they are indeed confident about the medium
:37:17. > :37:20.tyre, but I think they need to do a bit of work on the softer tyre, to
:37:21. > :37:22.fully understand where they sit with it.
:37:23. > :37:28.GARY ANDERSON: Yes, you definitely need to do a bit of work. You have
:37:29. > :37:32.to run both tyres in the race. Logic says that you might start on the
:37:33. > :37:35.hard tyre, but there is maybe even as much as a second difference
:37:36. > :37:41.between the two. You could end up very quickly struggling behind
:37:42. > :37:46.people who are on the softer tyre. So, it is a big gamble. I would have
:37:47. > :37:50.said Red Bull will try to qualify as quickly as possible with the softer
:37:51. > :37:55.tyre, and try to make that tyre last five or six laps, to try to get
:37:56. > :37:58.themselves away from some slower traffic, because everybody will be
:37:59. > :38:09.pitting around the same time, five or six laps in. In previous races,
:38:10. > :38:16.Vettel has gone for the harder tyre in qualifying, ended up qualifying
:38:17. > :38:21.in ninth, and it did not quite work for him. He had his lowest actual
:38:22. > :38:25.finish this year, in fourth place, when they tried qualifying on the
:38:26. > :38:30.harder tyre. I wonder whether that will inform their decision-making. I
:38:31. > :38:35.think they will look closely at what the ultimate performance of their
:38:36. > :38:38.car is. If they all go out on softer tyres, and Vettel is eight tenths
:38:39. > :38:42.quicker than anybody else, then there is a chance he could qualify
:38:43. > :38:47.on the harder tyre. If they are just a 10th faster than the Mercedes,
:38:48. > :38:55.then I do not think you can do it. They have to see what it can do now.
:38:56. > :38:59.We have got a few times coming through. Alonso has gone quickest
:39:00. > :39:10.to. But Vettel is on a quick lap on his softer tyres. We are about to
:39:11. > :39:16.watch and see Sebastian Vettel set the pace in this session, the first
:39:17. > :39:20.driver to go onto the softer tyre. Webber has also decided to put those
:39:21. > :39:29.tyres on nice and early, he has just gone out of the pits. This is a 1:20
:39:30. > :39:50.5.3, from Vettel. Yes, four tenths faster than yesterday. This would be
:39:51. > :39:54.the tyre you will start in the race. How might they have changed the car
:39:55. > :39:58.overnight guests yesterday, when they did do that longer run on the
:39:59. > :40:01.softer tyre, we know that car creates massive amounts of
:40:02. > :40:05.downforce, which is one of the advantages the car has, but the
:40:06. > :40:08.price they pay is that it puts a lot more load through the tyres, so is
:40:09. > :40:12.there any chance they might have backed off a little bit of the
:40:13. > :40:18.downforce? I do not think they would back off the downforce. Yesterday
:40:19. > :40:21.was the first rung on the softer tyre so the balance would not
:40:22. > :40:25.necessarily be correct. Their problem yesterday was grading on the
:40:26. > :40:31.front tyres, which will happen, you have just got to get through that.
:40:32. > :40:36.They might have been trying to take some of the load out of the front
:40:37. > :40:40.tyre, to get the car more balanced. You have got to live with it for the
:40:41. > :40:45.qualifying lap, that it may be better on the longer run, which is
:40:46. > :40:48.the balance they have got to get. You can even see the different
:40:49. > :40:52.driving style between qualifying and the race, the way they will change
:40:53. > :40:56.up much earlier through the gears when they are trying to look after
:40:57. > :41:02.the tyres. Whereas in qualifying, they are revving it to the maximum.
:41:03. > :41:08.The car is obviously heavier in the race, it goes slower, but there is
:41:09. > :41:12.about 3% and 4% of lap time which disappears into the undergrowth,
:41:13. > :41:17.from not running as much fuel, as well as the driver looking after the
:41:18. > :41:21.tyres. You have to drive a lot more considerately during the race than
:41:22. > :41:28.you do in qualifying. Webber's lap is a bit off what Vettel has done.
:41:29. > :41:34.As we know, Vettel has an incredible record on this circuit. Webber has
:41:35. > :41:40.been on the front row for both previous Grand Prix here. He is used
:41:41. > :41:46.to starting up front, but he has only had the one podium finish on
:41:47. > :41:50.this track. He goes second, but a full five tenths slower than his
:41:51. > :41:58.team-mate, on the same tyres, and at the same time, virtually, on track.
:41:59. > :42:03.Joining us from the pit wall is the team principal at Red Bull,
:42:04. > :42:09.Christian Horner. Great to have you with us - that lap by Mark Webber,
:42:10. > :42:19.about half a second slower... We can just see an incident with Hulkenberg
:42:20. > :42:23.in the pits there. Christian Horner, both your guys going out very early
:42:24. > :42:26.in this session on the softer tyres, is this because you want to get a
:42:27. > :42:32.handle on how it is going to behave in the race tomorrow? Yes, we
:42:33. > :42:36.elected to go a little bit early, and the drivers are working through
:42:37. > :42:40.a programme at the moment. Both seem reasonably happy with the balance a
:42:41. > :42:44.have got at the moment. I was speaking to Gary and I mentioned
:42:45. > :42:48.that China was a bit like this, in terms of having a soft option tyre,
:42:49. > :42:52.meaning everybody came in for an early stop, and you guys with
:42:53. > :42:57.Sebastian on that occasion qualified on the harder tyre, and it ended up
:42:58. > :43:01.being his worst result of the year, after qualifying ninth, so it did
:43:02. > :43:06.not quite work, so will you be thinking on similar lines? On that
:43:07. > :43:12.occasion, he got stuck behind Hulkenberg, if you remember, which
:43:13. > :43:16.was probably the difference between fourth and second. Sometimes you do
:43:17. > :43:20.not know how it is going to pan out. It is going to be fascinating to see
:43:21. > :43:28.what strategies people choose. In some ways for you, it depends how
:43:29. > :43:33.fast you can be on the harder tyre. Yes, the hard tyre is a good tyre
:43:34. > :43:36.around here, it seems to go on for ever and ever, whereas the soft
:43:37. > :43:41.seems to be the opposite. That brings into play some interesting
:43:42. > :43:46.strategic questions. It is the same for everyone at the end of the day.
:43:47. > :43:50.GARY ANDERSON: You see the soft tyre as being a safety risk, the
:43:51. > :43:56.possibility of tyres exploding or anything like that? Hopefully it is
:43:57. > :44:01.just a performance issue. The tyre is degrading extremely quickly, and
:44:02. > :44:05.that is always a concern, when you see these slow motion pictures, with
:44:06. > :44:10.bits falling off the tyres. Hopefully it will not be a safety
:44:11. > :44:13.issue. We have just seen Max Chilton having a spin. Finally, Christian, I
:44:14. > :44:17.know you have got to get back to work, but just a quick word on the
:44:18. > :44:28.mood in the camp, I know your target is to win this race, but just tell
:44:29. > :44:32.me about the mood in the team this weekend there is a real focus on
:44:33. > :44:41.this event. Everybody is going about their business as they would do any
:44:42. > :44:45.other weekend. Do you try to drill that into them, that this is a
:44:46. > :44:51.completely normal weekend? We talk about it a little bit, but they have
:44:52. > :44:56.been here before, they know how it works. We just take it one race at a
:44:57. > :45:02.time and do the very best we can to get the best out of this Indian
:45:03. > :45:07.Grand Prix. Thank you very so, Sebastian Vettel is fastest in this
:45:08. > :45:11.session, Webber second, and Massa has also gone out on the softer
:45:12. > :45:18.tyre. But he is quite a long way off, six tenths of a second away
:45:19. > :45:23.from Mark Webber's time. As we might have expected, the Ferrari, not on
:45:24. > :45:30.the pace of the Red Bull. This was Alonso, on the edge, coming into the
:45:31. > :45:36.pits. He was definitely taking it to the limit through this dusty and
:45:37. > :45:43.dirty section of the pit lane. The top three have all gone with the
:45:44. > :45:47.soft tyre now. There is 1.1 seconds difference between Vettel and Massa.
:45:48. > :45:53.In reality, if that is the closest anybody else can get, then he will
:45:54. > :45:57.be able to use the hard tyre. Jennie Gow, I believe you have found out
:45:58. > :46:04.about what happened here with Hulkenberg...
:46:05. > :46:12.He managed to clip one of the medicanics. He looked at him with
:46:13. > :46:17.his amazing facial hair. He is OK. He smiled at me. The good news is he
:46:18. > :46:20.got up and painfully walked away to the back of the garage where he is
:46:21. > :46:24.receiving ice and treatment so he should be OK.
:46:25. > :46:29.Well, it is always a worry, we have seen incidents several times this
:46:30. > :46:38.year and most notably in Germany where a cameraman got hit by a
:46:39. > :46:42.wheel. Jennie, keep your feet back because I would hate to see that
:46:43. > :46:46.toenail polish get damaged! This session is going so quickly
:46:47. > :46:50.because of its late start and because it has been shortened.
:46:51. > :46:58.Felipe Massa is on a better lap again. So he has gone for a second
:46:59. > :47:03.flying lap on the soft tyre. Looking at Rosberg he is on the harder of
:47:04. > :47:08.the tyres. Everyone else apart from the two Red Bulls and Felipe Massa's
:47:09. > :47:16.Ferrari are running around on the harder compound tyre. 1.31 from Nico
:47:17. > :47:19.Rosberg. Tom, you are at Red Bull. I am, I am at the front of Sebastian
:47:20. > :47:26.Vettel's car where he has come in after that quick short run earlier.
:47:27. > :47:31.He is keeping the same soft tyres on and they just put fuel in the car.
:47:32. > :47:36.Nigel Hope has been putting fuel in the car and he is about to go out
:47:37. > :47:43.again. It is as Gary Anderson called it earlier. We saw images there,
:47:44. > :47:48.Gary, Massa was going around the long right-hander. There was marking
:47:49. > :47:52.up. Is that anything to worry about that? No. It is mainly rubber that's
:47:53. > :47:58.picking up because it is dragged around here a lot. If he goes into a
:47:59. > :48:09.left-hand corner it will clean up very quickly. Just to explain there
:48:10. > :48:14.Tom, it is 0.8 litre per second. So you could have told us how many
:48:15. > :48:19.litres of fuel he put in. Stop watch at the ready, Tom next time! We are
:48:20. > :48:23.watching Jean-Eric Vergne. He is 14th at the moment. It is a bit on
:48:24. > :48:29.balance because some have run the soft tyre. Just the top three have
:48:30. > :48:37.run the soft tyre. We have Vettel, Massa, Webber. Raikkonen is fastest
:48:38. > :48:42.and Romain Grosjean and both Lotuses looking good in terms of pace.
:48:43. > :48:49.Alonso two tenths slower than Grosjean and Button. Gutierrez
:48:50. > :48:55.running very wide. He has been looking ragged all weekend here.
:48:56. > :49:00.Sods Button is -- so Button is seventh and Hulkenberg is eighth.
:49:01. > :49:04.And Maldonado has almost the same lap time. Hamilton is only 11th. He
:49:05. > :49:09.hit a sausage kerb that you were talking about earlier and he got
:49:10. > :49:18.some air there. He has got some air for sure.
:49:19. > :49:22.TEAM RADIO: OK. My back side hurtsz! -- hurts! It is not a good thing to
:49:23. > :49:28.do. The front of the car is, it is not weak, but hitting that like that
:49:29. > :49:34.with that acceleration. These cars weigh 640 plus fuel, 660
:49:35. > :49:39.kilogrammes. It does not do the carbon-fibre any good.
:49:40. > :49:44.Gutierrez' tricky weekend continues. He has been showing good maturity
:49:45. > :49:48.and has been able to come back and do good qualifying performances.
:49:49. > :49:53.Sebastian Vettel put fuel in the car as Tom told us. He is going out to
:49:54. > :49:59.put a sequence of laps together just to see how the tyre behaviours. --
:50:00. > :50:04.behaves. We will try and bring that to you. The car now will be probably
:50:05. > :50:09.120 kilogrammes heavier than what it was when he did the qualifying lap.
:50:10. > :50:15.That puts the little bit extra into the car. And you have to slow down
:50:16. > :50:19.because of the fuel. We will try and watch for this graining happening
:50:20. > :50:28.and see how he gets through it. Receipt vet's time from -- Vettel's
:50:29. > :50:31.time from earlier. He will be in the one minute 30s. That's the sort of
:50:32. > :50:35.times they were doing yesterday and that's what we would expect to see
:50:36. > :50:38.today. What was interesting, once they had done their quick
:50:39. > :50:41.performance lap yesterday, when they went back out and had fuel in the
:50:42. > :50:46.car, the tyre was slower than the harder tyre was. Yes, I mean, almost
:50:47. > :50:52.immediately this graining starts which creates more and more
:50:53. > :50:57.understeer. It will be interesting to see how his laps progress.
:50:58. > :51:01.Yesterday they changed the tyres after three laps.
:51:02. > :51:03.TEAM RADIO: We have run the prime twice so we don't know what the drop
:51:04. > :51:09.is like. Yes, a feedback for Lewis Hamilton
:51:10. > :51:13.there are. He is down in 11th place. Rosberg is 12th. Rosberg is on a
:51:14. > :51:18.better lap at the moment. And there is that long, right-hander. You can
:51:19. > :51:24.almost hear the more longer pause on the throttle that time. Very
:51:25. > :51:37.different to when he was on his semi qualifying lap. I thought you were
:51:38. > :51:42.going to say you could hear the left front tyre squealing! You can see
:51:43. > :51:48.the car looks more ponderous when it has fuel on board. 1.38. That
:51:49. > :51:54.doesn't tell us how quick he will be in the race. What's the next lap?
:51:55. > :52:00.Will it be a 1.31.7 or will he start to lose performance and be in the
:52:01. > :52:07.1.32s? At the moment that's 6.5 seconds slower than his fastest lap.
:52:08. > :52:13.That indicates on his fastest lap there was 30 kilogrammes of fuel in
:52:14. > :52:18.the car. There is more time to come. That 25.3 is not the ultimate for
:52:19. > :52:23.sure. Last year, 1.252 was his pole
:52:24. > :52:31.position from last year. In practise and as you say, are he probably had
:52:32. > :52:42.fuel in the car as well. Yes, that time pole position would be a 23.5,
:52:43. > :52:44.something -- 25.2 5 something like that.
:52:45. > :52:48.We are looking inside the McLaren pit. Button is eighth. Perez is in
:52:49. > :52:56.tenth position and talking of McLaren, Tom is outside the garage.
:52:57. > :52:59.I am, Ben. I am stood at the front of Sergio Perez's car. There is a
:53:00. > :53:07.lot of set-up changes. They were talking yesterday about trying a
:53:08. > :53:11.radical set-up and Perez just had the roll bars changed. There is a
:53:12. > :53:13.lot of work and a lot of experimenting going on on his car in
:53:14. > :53:17.particular. OK. We will keep an eye on that.
:53:18. > :53:20.Mark Webber has gone out on the softer tyre to do a few laps
:53:21. > :53:27.together. Vettel crossed the line again and done a 1.316. That's
:53:28. > :53:32.better. It shows they are holding the tyres together better than
:53:33. > :53:36.yesterday. Yeah... TEAM RADIO: Mid-32s is a good
:53:37. > :53:43.target. At the moment, he is in the 31s. I
:53:44. > :53:47.would expect them to be doing mid to low 32s. That was a respectable time
:53:48. > :53:51.when you look at what other people could do yesterday on the soft
:53:52. > :53:56.tyres. He maybe abusing them too much. The it cars should go a tenth
:53:57. > :54:00.of a second faster per lap if using the fuel load if the tyres don't
:54:01. > :54:04.deteriorate. So what we are saying really Gary,
:54:05. > :54:08.when the drivers are on the softer tyre, they are going to have to
:54:09. > :54:12.focus on careful driving, looking after the tyre, but when they bolt
:54:13. > :54:18.the other tyre on, they are just going to be able to go for it? Yes.
:54:19. > :54:29.You are at the moment trying to make the tyre last as long as possible.
:54:30. > :54:34.The regulations are top ten have to start on the tyre they qualify on
:54:35. > :54:40.and from there backwards, they can start on anything. The first lap,
:54:41. > :54:44.first flying lap for Mark Webber on the soft tyre. Quicker than
:54:45. > :54:50.Sebastian Vettel's first lap. Does that mean he will take more out of
:54:51. > :54:56.the tyre? Does that mean he will get less laps? Nicholas Hamilton on the
:54:57. > :54:59.right-hand side, Lewis' brother. Interestingly, a few more cars
:55:00. > :55:04.coming out on the soft tyre including Lotus and Lotus saying
:55:05. > :55:07.their drivers are happy with the way things are going this morning. Kimi
:55:08. > :55:13.is happier with the balance if had his car. Grosjean is reporting a
:55:14. > :55:18.touch of understeer, but Kimi was struggling with the balance of his
:55:19. > :55:21.car, we saw a few mistakes from him yesterday. He has gone out and he is
:55:22. > :55:31.on a lap at the moment. He is on a lap at the moment. At the
:55:32. > :55:42.end of it, he won't be happy. That's two tenths improvement from the
:55:43. > :55:46.tyre. Vettel did a 32.6. They told him to do mid-32s and what does he
:55:47. > :55:49.do? That's accurate. It is amazing when a driver can do that. We are
:55:50. > :55:53.talking about getting a Formula One car around over three miles of track
:55:54. > :55:58.and yet, through his judgement and the way he is driving the car, he
:55:59. > :56:04.can deliver a lap time to virtually the tenth of a second he has been
:56:05. > :56:09.asked to 6789. He has been asked to, he does. So many drivers don't. Not
:56:10. > :56:15.that we they can't do it, they think they see more than the engineer who
:56:16. > :56:20.is looking at the performance of the 21 other cars. It is a fine line
:56:21. > :56:24.between taking a the thing into your own hands or listening to your team.
:56:25. > :56:30.Alonso is faster than Raikkonen by half a second, but he is eight
:56:31. > :56:34.tenths slower than Vettel. As the session continues, more rubber is
:56:35. > :56:40.going down. The more drivers go out and do a simulated qualifying lap,
:56:41. > :56:48.the faster the track gets. Vettel's time from earlier on looks even more
:56:49. > :56:54.astonishing. Paul di Resta goes sixth fastest.
:56:55. > :56:59.Now what's going on at McLaren, Tom? Jenson Button has just gone out on
:57:00. > :57:03.the harder of the two compound tyres. Does that give us a little
:57:04. > :57:09.bit of an indication as to his strategy in qualifying? Yes, I would
:57:10. > :57:12.think so. At the end of the day, if he can qualify reasonably, they are
:57:13. > :57:18.looking at qualifying ninth or tenth if they get into Q3. So if they get
:57:19. > :57:27.into Q3, they have got to make the decision. Can they be better than
:57:28. > :57:32.foInt or tenth on the soft tyre? So they are making sure they have done
:57:33. > :57:36.their homework correct live. There is seven minutes -- correctly. There
:57:37. > :57:41.is seven minutes to go. Let's see what happens.
:57:42. > :57:45.Let's run through the times. Vettel is fastest. Webber is second.
:57:46. > :57:52.Hulkenberg fourth. Felipe Massa is fifth and Paul di Resta, who is 4.1
:57:53. > :57:59.seconds off the time Vettel has done. Sutil eighth and Grosjean
:58:00. > :58:05.ninth and Grosjean on his soft tyre. We might see improvement. Tenth for
:58:06. > :58:10.Rosberg. 11th for Button. He is on the harder tyre. Perez 12th and
:58:11. > :58:15.Maldonado 13th. We are watching Maldonado. He is on the soft tyre
:58:16. > :58:21.and Hamilton is 14th and Jean-Eric Vergne ahead of Valtteri Bottas and
:58:22. > :58:25.Charles Pic is next and the Marussia are off, but I am not sure we have
:58:26. > :58:30.seen everybody put their lap in yet and we will keep an eye on that as
:58:31. > :58:34.Maldonado goes with four wheels off the track. You will lose the lap
:58:35. > :58:38.time. If that's your fastest lap, it disappears and if that's your
:58:39. > :58:42.fastest lap on that soft Fryer, you have wasted everything. This circuit
:58:43. > :58:46.is so open and blind that it is difficult to gauge the speed that
:58:47. > :58:50.you go into a corner. It is easy to be going too quick everywhere
:58:51. > :58:54.because there is no reference from crash barriers.
:58:55. > :59:03.It sucks you in, doesn't it? It sucks you in. We are just seeing
:59:04. > :59:12.Grosjean. I said he would improve, well he has improved. He is slower
:59:13. > :59:16.than Hulkenberg. Slower than than Alonso. Maybe Lotus are
:59:17. > :59:28.experimenting a bit. We have seen a replay of Maldonado's off. He
:59:29. > :59:32.continued on. There is a fine line. Maldonado over stepping it there. We
:59:33. > :59:35.were talking about the race he won in Spain last year. It seems a long
:59:36. > :59:40.time ago now. What a brilliant drive it was. We just haven't seen that
:59:41. > :59:44.much of that kind of performance from him since then? It is like a
:59:45. > :59:48.light switch wept off. He did that -- went off. He did that drive. He
:59:49. > :59:52.battled with Alonso, but suddenly, you know, it has gone. It
:59:53. > :59:57.disappeared somewhere and it don't think -- I don't think anyone has
:59:58. > :00:01.know where it has gone from. He has been frustrated this year. He
:00:02. > :00:06.the hasn't necessarily controlled that frustration as well as you need
:00:07. > :00:10.as a top driver. All you can do is knuckle down and get on with it and
:00:11. > :00:14.yet he does seem to overstep the mark? He is up in ninth position,
:00:15. > :00:18.but that lap wouldn't count in qualifying. You cannot make that
:00:19. > :00:24.mistake. You have to respect and interesting looking at both Lotuses
:00:25. > :00:28.they lost time in the last section of the track. Nico Hulkenberg and
:00:29. > :00:32.Felipe Massa were able to do a second lap and the first part of the
:00:33. > :00:35.lap was better on the second lap than on the first lap. Those two
:00:36. > :00:40.cars are looking after the tyres well. So very, very difficult to
:00:41. > :00:42.make sure that you look after the tyre well enough for a full lap in
:00:43. > :00:51.qualifying. How is Vettel looking after his
:00:52. > :00:56.tyres? He has done eight laps and 1.38.8 was his last lap? They are
:00:57. > :01:00.past their sell-by date. Mark Webber has been in the pits. I don't know
:01:01. > :01:07.what tyre he is going back out on, but he should be going back out on
:01:08. > :01:11.the medium tyre. He was told to go slower. Now he is
:01:12. > :01:16.into the 34s. So they are dropping away. So, you know, now is the time
:01:17. > :01:25.you need to be changing them for sure.
:01:26. > :01:31.RADIO: Both rear tyres look pretty damaged. That is interesting, he is
:01:32. > :01:35.talking about the rear tyres, obviously looking in his mirrors and
:01:36. > :01:38.seeing a bit of marking up on the tyres of his car. Hulkenberg
:01:39. > :01:40.certainly reporting back to the pits.
:01:41. > :01:42.tyres of his car. Hulkenberg certainly reporting back to He
:01:43. > :01:46.always sounds very calm and collected. Let's just have a look at
:01:47. > :01:54.Vettel. Did he go all four wheels? Not quite. The left front tyre looks
:01:55. > :02:00.OK for him. It is that white line, between the black part of the track
:02:01. > :02:05.and the red and white kerb, if that line is seen inside of the tyres, as
:02:06. > :02:09.such, that is what you get done for. That's just looking back at the
:02:10. > :02:13.replay, he just used the inside kerb a little bit, but did not launch
:02:14. > :02:20.himself, unlike Gutierrez earlier on. The car rides that beautifully
:02:21. > :02:22.well. It does. You can see his right rear tyre, it is looking a little
:02:23. > :02:27.bit tatty, shall we say. rear tyre, it is looking a little
:02:28. > :02:30.bit tatty, shall So, we have only got a few moments left in this final
:02:31. > :02:48.practice session, before we get into qualifying. Do those times mean they
:02:49. > :02:52.are going to be able to put in a reasonable first tint on this softer
:02:53. > :02:58.tyre, if they decide to qualify on it? If the graining does start, you
:02:59. > :03:02.have basically... Oh, Hamilton not very happy with Grosjean, he felt
:03:03. > :03:07.that he was in his way. Grosjean was not going quickly, whereas Lewis
:03:08. > :03:11.Hamilton was, and suddenly, he had to take to the extra bit of track on
:03:12. > :03:18.the outskirts. Hamilton not happy about it. Tom is down at Red Bull.
:03:19. > :03:23.An interesting strategy for Red Bull and Mark Webber, given that he is
:03:24. > :03:26.half a second off his team-mate. He came through the pit lane on two
:03:27. > :03:31.consecutive laps, and then came and stopped back in the garage.
:03:32. > :03:35.Effectively, the last three laps on this session he ruined, going
:03:36. > :03:40.through the pit lane. Just looking back at what happened, Grosjean had
:03:41. > :03:51.gone wide. And then presumably, Hamilton went past.
:03:52. > :03:58.RADIO: I got held up on my lap, Grosjean went off.
:03:59. > :04:07.GARY ANDERSON: Just to go back to what Tom said, about Mark Webber
:04:08. > :04:11.going through the pits, as we saw with Fernando Alonso, the pit entry
:04:12. > :04:15.and the pit except is part of the race track, and if you are going to
:04:16. > :04:19.be pitting early, you have got to do it as quick as you do on the
:04:20. > :04:24.racetrack. You do need a bit of practice on that as well, to make
:04:25. > :04:28.sure you do not lose a second. Our own David Coulthard did that way
:04:29. > :04:32.back in Adelaide, in his first Grand Prix in Australia, smacking the pit
:04:33. > :04:33.wall. I am sure he will be delighted that you have reminded everybody
:04:34. > :04:37.about that. wall. I am sure he will be delighted
:04:38. > :04:43.that you Jenson Button has gone back up into the top ten with that lap.
:04:44. > :04:47.But a long way off the pace. He is over a second off the pace which
:04:48. > :04:50.Sebastian Vettel set earlier on in this session. Just a few seconds
:04:51. > :04:57.left before the chequered flag comes out. I think just about everybody
:04:58. > :05:03.will have completed their soft tyre run. What about Perez? He has got a
:05:04. > :05:07.lap in already, down in 16th place. He is obviously hoping to get a
:05:08. > :05:12.clear that being on the final lap. Nico Hulkenberg just beating the
:05:13. > :05:17.chequered flag, so he gets one more lap. So, the chequered flag comes
:05:18. > :05:21.out on this shortened final practice session here in India, before we get
:05:22. > :05:25.ready for qualifying. And there is no change at the tub, in terms of
:05:26. > :05:32.Red Bull dominating every session so far. That means that Vettel has
:05:33. > :05:38.topped every single session so far this year, as well as every single
:05:39. > :05:44.practice session last year. He qualified in front. The only session
:05:45. > :05:47.he was not fastest in last year was the first qualifying session, when
:05:48. > :05:59.the top teams often do not use the top tyre. Vettel finishes off his
:06:00. > :06:11.long run. He actually got down into the 1.33s just at the end there. The
:06:12. > :06:17.right front has ticked up hugely. Tyres do look as though they have
:06:18. > :06:23.done some work. It is not a nice thing to look at if you are the
:06:24. > :06:28.driver, watching your tyres. Definitely. So, Fernando Alonso just
:06:29. > :06:32.finishing off his lap. He has ended up third fastest, but it is quite a
:06:33. > :06:36.big gap between himself and the Red Bulls. You do wonder what Lotus were
:06:37. > :06:40.up to, they did not seem to show their hand. I think they have got a
:06:41. > :06:45.faster car than they have shown. What are we learning from the
:06:46. > :06:51.Ferrari, Gary? I think the front tyres and rear tyres are both on the
:06:52. > :06:56.limit. Some of that is just graining, which will clear up. But
:06:57. > :07:01.those are being used like a qualifying tyre. You can see the
:07:02. > :07:03.right front on Massa's car, and you can see a bit of under steer.
:07:04. > :07:09.right front on Massa's car, and you can Coming into the final corner,
:07:10. > :07:17.the right front taking the load. He ran just a little bit wide. But no
:07:18. > :07:22.drama. Some more, great slow motion action. This is Sebastian Vettel's
:07:23. > :07:26.car. The little inside shoulder, picking up the rubber. The left
:07:27. > :07:31.front is the one which actually determines the lap time. So, the
:07:32. > :07:39.final session of practice has come to an end, and Red Bull just a
:07:40. > :07:49.fraction of last year's pole position time for Sebastian Vettel.
:07:50. > :07:55.Paul di Resta will be encouraged, with the seventh. I do think that
:07:56. > :07:59.Mercedes perhaps have not shown quite what they are capable of. We
:08:00. > :08:04.will see in qualifying. Raikkonen just outside the top ten, but
:08:05. > :08:09.qualifying has been a bugbear for Kimi in recent races. Pastor
:08:10. > :08:11.Maldonado, 12th fastest, in the Williams.
:08:12. > :08:14.Kimi in recent races. Pastor Maldonado, 12th fastest, in the Then
:08:15. > :08:23.we have Perez, who perhaps did not get a fully representative lap in.
:08:24. > :08:28.Amongst the young teams, Charles Pic, the fastest, quicker than the
:08:29. > :08:35.Sauber of Gutierrez, who again has been struggling here. It looks as
:08:36. > :08:41.though Caterham have gained a little bit over Marussia overnight. Those
:08:42. > :08:45.two teams seem to be more evenly balanced yesterday, but right now,
:08:46. > :08:53.it seems as though Caterham have got the slight advantage. Show, so, a
:08:54. > :08:58.short break now as we get ready for qualifying, but it is difficult to
:08:59. > :09:02.bet against Vettel. It is. Nico Hulkenberg once again needs a pat on
:09:03. > :09:09.the back. Great effort from Sauber, and from Nico. Yes, Nico, continuing
:09:10. > :09:14.negotiations for where he will be driving next year. Hopefully there
:09:15. > :09:18.will be some more news on that soon. He has got himself up into fourth
:09:19. > :09:22.place provisionally. Hamilton, I am sure, we have not seen the best from
:09:23. > :09:33.him yet. Qualifying still very much to look forward to later on today.
:09:34. > :09:38.So, visibility problems meant that the session was delayed by 20
:09:39. > :09:41.minutes. The teams only had 40 minutes to refine their cars for the
:09:42. > :09:46.all-important qualifying session, a session which we will be bringing to
:09:47. > :09:55.you in less than an hour on BBC One. If you cannot make that, there is a
:09:56. > :09:58.rerun at one o'clock. So, Sebastian Vettel is determined for a hat-trick
:09:59. > :10:04.of pole positions. We will see you soon.