The Japanese Grand Prix - Practice 2

:01:03. > :01:11.Hello and welcome back to the stunning circuit of Suzuka in Japan.

:01:11. > :01:18.One of the oldest and most loved circuits on the calendar and one

:01:18. > :01:22.which has been the decider of many a Formula One World Championship.

:01:22. > :01:27.Welcome to Japan and welcome back and welcome if you missed the free

:01:27. > :01:32.practise one. You missed a lot of drama, Gary. There was all sorts

:01:32. > :01:36.going on. There was a gap between Mercedes and Red Bull. Should we

:01:36. > :01:43.read anything into that? Well, we know at the beginning of the season

:01:43. > :01:49.Mercedes were very quick. That does say that the car performance stands

:01:49. > :01:53.out in this circuit and we know Lewis and Nico Rosberg are close

:01:53. > :01:59.drivers and Mercedes maybe strong here and it may give Red Bull a hard

:01:59. > :02:07.time. There was a few problems for the

:02:07. > :02:12.younger drivers. Jules Bianchi has oversteer. He had an impact with the

:02:12. > :02:16.barrier. For Pastor Maldonado this is his third time lap and the left

:02:16. > :02:24.wheel comes off in the middle of the spin curves. They are not sure why

:02:24. > :02:27.that happened. It was his third lap. It was tightened in the pits, but

:02:27. > :02:31.they will have to look at that wheel nut to see if it was split or

:02:31. > :02:35.something. We saw another accident with van der Garde. He locks the

:02:35. > :02:42.front up and he is going too quickly and careers off into the gravel

:02:42. > :02:46.trap. That wasn't a big impact. Not too much trouble for the

:02:46. > :02:50.Caterham. Let's go to the pit lane now where Jenny can give us the

:02:50. > :03:00.latest. How is the Caterham looking, Jenny? It is looking bare. Behind me

:03:00. > :03:05.and in Jules Bianchi's garage, he is pottering around in his jeans this

:03:05. > :03:10.is a car that took a big shunt in Korea when the reserve driver was in

:03:10. > :03:12.it. He won't take any part of in this session. Caterham, van der

:03:12. > :03:16.Garde's car looking OK. Williams this session. Caterham, van der

:03:16. > :03:19.will be investigated by the FIA for the bouncing wheel we saw in the

:03:19. > :03:22.first session here at Suzuka. We don't know what the penalty is, but

:03:22. > :03:28.they only have one point at the moment.

:03:28. > :03:32.An extraordinary incident that. I presume we won't know more until the

:03:32. > :03:36.investigation. But that kind of thing was supposed to have been

:03:36. > :03:41.stopped? For Singapore the teams had to do something to stop the wheel

:03:41. > :03:46.nut coming off. We saw Mark Webber's wheel come off in the pit lane and

:03:46. > :03:50.it hit a cameraman. The FIA put in the regulation, if the wheel nut

:03:50. > :03:54.doesn't go on properly, it can't fall off, but it was on there for

:03:54. > :03:57.three laps so something broke or something didn't do the job

:03:57. > :04:00.properly. It needs an investigation because you don't want those things

:04:00. > :04:04.happening. What do you expect in this session?

:04:04. > :04:08.This is when they put on the medium tyre, the softer tyre. The times

:04:09. > :04:12.were quicker in the first session than they were last year in the

:04:13. > :04:16.first session. The lap times are going to be good this afternoon, but

:04:16. > :04:23.we won't know until at the end of the session who has got the fastest

:04:23. > :04:34.car, but I think the Mercedes will be strong.

:04:34. > :04:37.Tony and Ben your commentary team. The second practise session of the

:04:37. > :04:41.weekend gets underway at Suzuka as the green light comes on at the end

:04:41. > :04:48.of the pit lane and we have got gorgeous weather conditions. The

:04:48. > :04:54.track temperature 41 Celsius and the air temperature 29 Celsius. In order

:04:54. > :04:57.to get the cars tuned for qualifying and race day. A lot of changes can

:04:57. > :05:05.take place on the cars overnight. They will be looking at gear ratios

:05:05. > :05:08.today as well as basic set-up, aerodynamic set-ups on the cars,

:05:08. > :05:11.lots of stuff they will pour through on the data to work out the best

:05:11. > :05:18.solution for what is going to be happening in both qualifying and the

:05:18. > :05:29.race. A big turn out of fans as we have seen today. The blue skies are

:05:29. > :05:36.encouraging the supporters. There is a banner for Trulli. A lot of fond

:05:36. > :05:40.memories for him here. It is interesting to see a Nico

:05:40. > :05:43.Hulkenberg. There is one for Felipe Massa imploring him to stay in

:05:43. > :05:47.Formula One. I am sure he will stay his best to stay in Formula One, but

:05:47. > :05:50.it may not be up to him, it maybe up to the others up and down the pit

:05:50. > :05:56.lane as to whether he gets to compete in 2014 and a lot of the

:05:56. > :06:01.support for the different drivers. A few Kimi Raikkonen banners I noticed

:06:01. > :06:05.as well. The Finnish flag is flying proudly and we have got our first

:06:05. > :06:10.car heading down the pit lane. Pastor Maldonado had a little bit of

:06:10. > :06:14.an incident this morning when the wheel detached itself from his

:06:14. > :06:18.Williams. He had been out there for a couple of laps it turns out. So

:06:18. > :06:24.clearly, there was some failure that led to the wheel falling off the car

:06:24. > :06:28.and ultimately he had to abandon it. And that was the end of his running

:06:28. > :06:32.for the session. So Pastor Maldonado now making up for a little bit of

:06:32. > :06:37.lost time as he gets out on circuit. He was 15th fastest this morning.

:06:37. > :06:42.Just looking at the Nico Hulkenberg Sauber going out. He was 12th

:06:42. > :06:48.fastest. They are loving over to the left-hand side because that's the

:06:48. > :06:50.practise start area at Suzuka. They will be on their way. Tyres wise we

:06:50. > :06:54.practise start area at Suzuka. They have the medium and the hard

:06:54. > :06:59.compound slick tyre here this weekend. The int ter meadate and

:06:59. > :07:03.wets, hopefully we won't need to use them if the weather remains

:07:03. > :07:08.consistent. There will be rain around, but whether we will be hit

:07:08. > :07:19.by it or not is a moot point. We are not sure what will happen. I have

:07:20. > :07:25.been joined by Tony Dodjins. Suzuka is a favourite of the drivers and

:07:25. > :07:28.for mans? It is a fabulous place. You have got to look at it with the

:07:28. > :07:34.sweepers behind the pits and the drivers love it. It is a challenge.

:07:34. > :07:37.The fans, they are unique. The first time I came here, it was teaming

:07:37. > :07:40.down with rain and they were sleeping on tables with no umbrellas

:07:40. > :07:45.in the rain to be guaranteed a place! They used to have a lottry

:07:45. > :07:47.for tickets here. It is that find of place.

:07:47. > :07:52.It is lovely to see so many people getting together and yeah, there is

:07:52. > :08:00.fun stories about drivers being asked to autograph in strange

:08:00. > :08:04.places. I gather Bottas was asked for an autograph in a strange place?

:08:04. > :08:08.He was naked in the sauna and he didn't have anything to sign with!

:08:08. > :08:11.I am sure he didn't, poor chap. We have no Japanese driver this year.

:08:11. > :08:16.It is the first time in 12 years, no Japanese driver in the Japanese

:08:16. > :08:24.Grand Prix, I'm seeing Pastor Maldonado going on to a flying lap.

:08:24. > :08:30.Kobayashi is here, but he is here in a support role with Ferrari. It is

:08:30. > :08:36.sad. There used to be huge, huge interest when we were coming here in

:08:36. > :08:40.the 90s and the Senna days, there was enormous days and the Honda were

:08:40. > :08:43.in and you would have seven motor racing magazines and it died away

:08:43. > :08:46.and I think people are hoping with Honda coming back for 2015, you

:08:46. > :08:52.know, the interest is on the up again in Japan and whether it will

:08:52. > :08:56.return to those days, I ha my doubts because it was phenomenal, but there

:08:56. > :09:06.will be a peak in the interest when Honda arrives back in 2015.

:09:06. > :09:11.Right, we had a story this morning about Jules Bianchi. He will the be

:09:11. > :09:18.playing any further part in this session. He is with Jenny. We look

:09:18. > :09:30.behind you and see your car, explain what the guys are working on right

:09:31. > :09:37.now? Well, my chassis is damaged and it is a shame and that happened. And

:09:37. > :09:43.the incident was peculiar because your elbow got trapped? Basically my

:09:43. > :09:47.elbow got stuck between the chassis and the seat. When I had the

:09:47. > :09:51.oversteer moment, I could not turn right anymore. I went straight in

:09:51. > :09:54.the wall. You managed to remove your hands in time because if you had

:09:54. > :09:57.gone into the side of the wall, you would have done a lot of damage. You

:09:57. > :10:02.gone into the side of the wall, you have an ice pack on your elbow, but

:10:02. > :10:06.are you OK? Yes, I am OK now. I had pain in the elbow, but now it is

:10:06. > :10:10.fine. This circuit is hard to learn at the best of times. It is a

:10:10. > :10:13.technical circuit. You go into tomorrow and qualifying without much

:10:13. > :10:23.time spent on the circuit, what can you do? I will do my best, you know.

:10:23. > :10:29.It will difficult, but I will do my best. Thank you.

:10:29. > :10:39.So Jules Bianchi showing he is not out and I a love Sutil fan there.

:10:39. > :10:43.His girlfriend in the garage! It is a shame we don't have Jules Bianchi.

:10:43. > :10:53.Gary, you found out more about that. Tell us the latest? Yes, the chassis

:10:53. > :11:01.damage on Jules Bianchi's is on the left-hand side of the car. If a

:11:01. > :11:10.driver goes into the barrier side ways, it absorbs the impact and a

:11:10. > :11:14.part broke off. The forward one on the left-hand side and the lower one

:11:14. > :11:23.broke off. So it would take them too long to fix that because they have

:11:23. > :11:27.to blew it -- -- glue it back together. The chassis had a bit of

:11:27. > :11:31.damage in Korea, so they will give him a fresh chassis and see what

:11:31. > :11:35.happens. That's good they will be able to get that sorted for tomorrow

:11:35. > :11:39.morning. Daniel Ricciardo just set the initial pace here in the Torro

:11:39. > :11:46.Rosso and his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne has gone second fastest. They

:11:46. > :11:51.are a fraction fastest. They are putting in quick laps and they are

:11:52. > :11:56.going out on the hard compound tyre, but they will be running the medium

:11:56. > :11:59.compound tyre and later on in this session so we will get an idea of

:11:59. > :12:04.the difference in lap time between the two tyres. We think they will

:12:04. > :12:09.hold up pretty well, but until the teams get to run them in anger.

:12:09. > :12:14.Gary, we saw Sam Michael at lunch time gives us a technical briefing

:12:14. > :12:21.and he pointed out that it is a lot warmer here at Suzuka than it has

:12:21. > :12:28.been many times in the past? We will catch up with Gary in a second. We

:12:28. > :12:38.just saw Sutil going off there. I can't hear a word Ben says. We have

:12:38. > :12:42.got you back. We were talking about temperatures being higher than we

:12:42. > :12:50.would expect. The temperatures are higher. In Korea we saw front tyres

:12:50. > :12:55.graining and this circuit does seem to be different. It seems that the

:12:55. > :13:03.rear tyres will be limited and the car in the morning session, the cars

:13:03. > :13:11.were tending to oversteer as the laps went past. I don't think

:13:11. > :13:14.anybody will know where the critical tyre is until there are a few more

:13:14. > :13:19.laps. Why the rear tyre? They are not sure

:13:19. > :13:23.it will be the rear tyre yet. Why might it be the rear tyre that takes

:13:23. > :13:30.the pounding here? Well, the difference really with this circuit

:13:30. > :13:44.and Korea, this circuit has fast corners. But the majority of them

:13:44. > :13:51.are 90 degrees so you put more work into the rear tyre because the car

:13:51. > :13:54.rotates. You try to make the car gain speed. When you have got a

:13:54. > :13:59.corner where you are slowing down like turn 11 in Korea, you are

:13:59. > :14:04.coming through the corner and you are scrubbing speed through it. You

:14:04. > :14:08.are scrubbing speed on to the front tyre and that's why the wear was

:14:08. > :14:16.high in Korea. Here, it will be probably not really a wear-type

:14:16. > :14:20.track, but more of a degradation-type track.

:14:20. > :14:24.Well, we will get an idea on that later. At the moment, they will be

:14:24. > :14:28.doing short runs and that was well timed because Kimi Raikkonen was

:14:28. > :14:33.having a slide through the corner. We are watching Rosberg. He drops

:14:33. > :14:38.down on the exit of the corner as well and it is very, very

:14:38. > :14:46.challenging left-hander. Sebastian Vettel has gone fastest. We have got

:14:46. > :14:49.Rosberg as you can see up on the time so his second split showing

:14:49. > :14:53.that he is likely to beat Sebastian Vettel's lap. He bangs it over the

:14:53. > :14:57.kerb hard. The car bounces a bit, but seems to take the pounding and

:14:57. > :15:04.down to cross the line. Does he go quickest? Yes, he does. As we saw

:15:04. > :15:08.this morning, Mercedes seem to have every bit of pace that Red Bull do

:15:08. > :15:13.and that's encouraging, Tony as we start this weekend? Yes, a couple of

:15:13. > :15:17.races ago in Singapore there was doom and gloom when Sebastian Vettel

:15:17. > :15:21.managed to open up the pit stop finish and everybody said that's the

:15:21. > :15:24.real pace, we might as well go home. That was all about rubber build-up

:15:24. > :15:28.in his front wings spoiling the performance there and the

:15:28. > :15:30.aerodynamics and he was hopeful that they can take the fight to them.

:15:30. > :15:33.aerodynamics and he was hopeful that That's good to see. And also part of

:15:33. > :15:39.that advantage that Sebastian Vettel had in spinning pore in -- Singapore

:15:39. > :15:44.is about their slow peed performance. Red Bull is fantastic

:15:44. > :15:49.in the slow corners where they seem to generate downforce where others

:15:49. > :15:56.struggle in the medium and high-speed circuits like Suzuka they

:15:56. > :16:03.won't have the same advantage? Sebastian in particular. It is good

:16:03. > :16:08.to see Nico Rosberg doing those times.

:16:08. > :16:12.There is a car off. It is Maldonado. Let's just check. And it is Pastor

:16:12. > :16:19.Maldonado. Yes, he is having a very action packed day. He lost a wheel

:16:20. > :16:26.in the first session. Now that looks like, it is the third car we have

:16:26. > :16:32.seen off this weekend. We saw Giedo van der Garde go off in the same

:16:32. > :16:35.place. Jules Bianchi went off further around. It is a classic

:16:35. > :16:40.place to make a mistake and that's what he has done. There is banking

:16:40. > :16:43.there to help the car, but it is very easy to over step the mark and

:16:43. > :16:47.over the years we have seen a lot of crashes at this part of the track?

:16:47. > :16:53.Yeah, we have. We have seen many cars off and importantly Nigel

:16:53. > :17:01.Mansell among them for his championship challenge.

:17:01. > :17:08.Bottas is off. He is all right. This is Grosjean going side ways on that

:17:08. > :17:14.corner when Maldonado went off. There have been lots of incidents.

:17:14. > :17:19.When you go off, you go off hard? You only have to look at Jules

:17:19. > :17:24.Bianchi. Where we saw the cars going straight on at Spoon, they tend to

:17:24. > :17:28.do that and use the run off, but there is no room at all.

:17:28. > :17:33.This will really hurt Williams. He has only done a couple of laps. He

:17:33. > :17:39.has, well six laps, OK, but he won't get the challenge to do the long

:17:39. > :17:45.run. He won't get the chance to see what the medium tyre will do and

:17:45. > :17:49.this will hurt them in terms of their preparation? They want to hang

:17:49. > :17:52.on to the tenth place in the constructors' championship with

:17:52. > :17:57.Caterham and anything like that is bad news. If you get a race where it

:17:57. > :17:59.teams with rain and half the people crash, you have to be there and the

:18:00. > :18:06.preparation to get yourself into that position is important.

:18:06. > :18:12.Well, left front corner is badly damaged. It is similar to Jules

:18:12. > :18:15.Bianchi's shupt. Well, it is just -- shunt. Well, it is just bad for

:18:15. > :18:19.them. They may have to readjust their programmes to make sure they

:18:19. > :18:23.get the work done that needs to be done for the weekend. But Sebastian

:18:23. > :18:27.Vettel has gone faster again now by the way. So from Rosberg going

:18:27. > :18:31.quicker than Sebastian Vettel, now it is the other way around. A gap of

:18:31. > :18:38.just two tenths of a second. Hamiliton has gone third fastest.

:18:38. > :18:44.And then we have got Ricciardo and Felipe Massa behind that. We can see

:18:44. > :18:51.the damage to the left front. It has broken the front wing. Ez bent -- he

:18:51. > :19:00.bent the front suspension back. We are on board here with Jenson Button

:19:00. > :19:05.as he makes his way down to the left-hander at 130. Yeah, Jenson

:19:05. > :19:10.Button on a fairly steady out-lap, but maybe looking for a bit of space

:19:10. > :19:14.to start a quick lap here. Yes, let's just see whether he is going

:19:14. > :19:21.to come in or start a lap. I think you will see him start a lap. Sure

:19:21. > :19:26.enough. Back up to maximum revs. Let's watch him down the hill here

:19:26. > :19:28.and into turns one and two. A fast entry here. Seventh gear. Just watch

:19:28. > :19:39.this. That's a fabulous action. And now

:19:39. > :20:17.approaching the hairpin. There is a little bit of traffic

:20:17. > :20:18.ahead. Shopefully he can deal with that.

:20:18. > :20:42.-- hopefully he can deal with that. Nice behaviour there. Top speed

:20:42. > :20:51.here. Changing into seventh. Let's just see. A few kilometres an hour

:20:51. > :20:56.and it picks back up again. A very neat and tidy lap this from Jenson

:20:56. > :21:00.Button. Now, where will this put him in the grand scheme of things?

:21:00. > :21:04.Across the line he goes, 11th. Well, that's where we saw him in the top

:21:04. > :21:12.ten or just outside of it. That's slower than Grosjean has done.

:21:12. > :21:17.Gutierrez has done well straightaway. He has a fresh set of

:21:17. > :21:23.tyres and that's found him a little bit of performance. Mark Webber

:21:23. > :21:31.moved up into third place. Similar times, isn't it, between Red Bull

:21:31. > :21:39.and Mercedes and Hamiliton has done a 134.7. And then Webber right there

:21:39. > :21:45.with Rosberg and Hamiliton the same. Let's see what Massa is doing? He is

:21:45. > :21:51.a little bit off. It looks like the Ferraris are about three or four

:21:51. > :21:56.tents of a second off -- tenths of a second off. Oh, what a spin for

:21:56. > :22:00.Perez. He goes off. Oh, he hit the wall hard as well. My goodness, we

:22:00. > :22:06.picked that up just as it happened. He damaged front and rear of the

:22:07. > :22:15.McLaren. I think that was going into Spoon Corner. Yes, it was the entry

:22:16. > :22:19.to Spoon. We will take a look on the replay, but Sergio Perez not the

:22:19. > :22:23.start for the weekend he wanted either, is it? No, that's a dreadful

:22:23. > :22:38.start for him. TEAM RADIO: Are you OK? Are you OK?

:22:38. > :22:42.Yes. I am OK. The back end twitched out and around

:22:42. > :22:49.she went. We saw that a lot this morning, people losing the rear of

:22:49. > :22:53.the car. I don't know whether it has taken the track longer to rubber in.

:22:53. > :22:56.It is unusual to see that many problems like that here.

:22:56. > :23:02.Is he a driver under pressure, Tony? I think he is, obviously. You know,

:23:02. > :23:06.a few races ago, nobody was really talking about a replacement driver

:23:06. > :23:11.there. They assumed it would stay the same, but the Alonso story is

:23:12. > :23:13.coming up and it becoming vious he hadn't signed the contract again. He

:23:13. > :23:16.coming up and it becoming vious he has been questioned all the time and

:23:16. > :23:21.there is pressure. There are a lot of good drivers out there looking

:23:21. > :23:24.for seats and you listen to what Martin Whitmarsh said, I am not

:23:24. > :23:28.looking to change my line-up. He says it again and again, but the

:23:28. > :23:32.contract is not signed and until it is, there is pressure.

:23:32. > :23:36.And Jonathan Neil made the point that Jenson Button is signed and the

:23:36. > :23:41.other side isn't sorted yet, so there must be reasons. So Perez is

:23:41. > :23:46.OK. That's the main thing as he clambers out of the car. Well,

:23:46. > :23:48.again, a lot of work to be done by McLaren because they lose all this

:23:49. > :23:53.again, a lot of work to be done by valuable running. Let's see what

:23:53. > :24:01.happened. He is through the long right-hand sweep here. Watch him as

:24:01. > :24:08.he gets on brakes. My goodness, that was a big hit. I wonder if the rear

:24:09. > :24:14.might not have been on the grass. This will be interesting. He was on

:24:14. > :24:18.the artificial grass and he hit side-ways. There will be damage to

:24:18. > :24:22.both ends of the car. Take another look at this. You can't maybe see

:24:22. > :24:25.his line of approach on this shot, but we have seen it before. I have

:24:25. > :24:29.seen that several times where people put a wheel on the grass and that's

:24:29. > :24:32.what he did, don't you? Yes. Yes. That looks what he did. Yes. You

:24:32. > :24:37.what he did, don't you? Yes. Yes. could see it there on that shot.

:24:37. > :24:42.Gary, it is not a crash we haven't seen before. It is a key place up

:24:42. > :24:47.there, isn't it? But McLaren won't be happy to have seen those

:24:47. > :24:50.pictures? No, looking at it from a distance, we does get the right

:24:50. > :24:56.wheel off the kerb. It is a big, flat, it is an opening corner. You

:24:56. > :25:01.want to go in as wide as possible, but he probably found out it was a

:25:01. > :25:04.little bit too wide. We talk about drivers complaining, not

:25:04. > :25:08.complaining, but saying the car was oversteering, the circuit because of

:25:08. > :25:09.the Ss, you have to really stay on the Caroline-up through the Ss and

:25:10. > :25:13.if you don't, you get under steer the Caroline-up through the Ss and

:25:13. > :25:16.and you run wide. There is five corners in a row. You have to really

:25:16. > :25:21.keep the front of the car tracking to get up through the Ss and that

:25:22. > :25:31.means in some of the other corners, the car has too much front grip. So

:25:31. > :25:34.it is about the cars that can handle the compromise best.

:25:34. > :25:40.Well, whichever way it has gone, Perez is marching back slowly around

:25:40. > :25:43.the outside of Spoon Corner and it is a long way to get back to the

:25:43. > :25:47.the outside of Spoon Corner and it pits. It is pretty as much as far as

:25:48. > :25:51.he can be. So he has a long march back.

:25:51. > :25:56.Thank you for your comments on Twitter. For those of you in the UK,

:25:56. > :26:00.it is early in the morning, it is great to have your company. Let's

:26:00. > :26:05.have a few more comments. You are being quiet at the moment! Let's see

:26:05. > :26:09.some of the comments we have got. Zac saying come on other teams,

:26:09. > :26:14.let's show Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull that you can do your job and

:26:14. > :26:24.win a race! Well, they are trying, I am sure. Ross Roberts says "How does

:26:24. > :26:31.Pirelli decide what tyres they take to the Grand Prix?" Gary, how do

:26:31. > :26:34.Pirelli decide which tyres to bring? They will look at past information

:26:34. > :26:37.for a start and they will look at the aggressiveness of the surface of

:26:37. > :26:40.the track. You can get this kit that measures a certain area of the

:26:40. > :26:43.track. So they will come six months ago, nine months ago, they will go

:26:43. > :26:46.around the track and take photographs of the different areas

:26:46. > :26:49.and look at the aggressiveness of the track and they will take into

:26:49. > :26:53.and look at the aggressiveness of account the high-speed corners, the

:26:53. > :26:56.corners where you are turning in and from that they will weigh up what's

:26:56. > :27:01.important for the track. Like Monaco, they go with the soft tyre

:27:01. > :27:06.because Monaco is all the chemical grip and traction of the slow

:27:06. > :27:09.corners. When you come to a circuit like this, it is the fast corners

:27:09. > :27:13.and they come with a harder tyre. Somewhere between the two is the

:27:13. > :27:17.combination of different tracks. If you look at Korea which we saw a lot

:27:17. > :27:22.of problems with the tyres graining, that was, you know, the soft tyre

:27:22. > :27:25.and a super soft tyre and the medium tyre and we saw both the tyres

:27:25. > :27:29.grain. It is not just about the compound, it is about how the track,

:27:29. > :27:34.the temperature of the track and how it responds on a given day. As far

:27:34. > :27:38.as Pirelli were concerned, going to Korea, they had a reasonably good

:27:38. > :27:45.package of tyres, but the temperature went down on race day.

:27:45. > :27:48.You put homework into it, but you have to be lucky on the weekend that

:27:48. > :27:53.that homework is related to the tyre you brought. Yes, tonnes of work

:27:53. > :27:58.doing into -- going into it all the time. Jenson Button on the track at

:27:58. > :28:01.the moment. He is wearing this different crash helmet design for

:28:01. > :28:05.this weekend. He is in 12th position. Let's see if that is any

:28:05. > :28:10.improvement. Yes, he moves up to fifth now. Jenson Button up to fifth

:28:10. > :28:15.place. He slots in behind Lewis Hamilton. Just before the session

:28:16. > :28:19.began, Jenny went to find out more about the crash helmet design. We

:28:19. > :28:23.will hear more from Jenny later. Let's see what she discovered before

:28:23. > :28:28.the session began about Jenson Button's crash helmet.

:28:29. > :28:35.This is Jenson Button's special helmet for this weekend. He only

:28:36. > :28:39.changes his helmet dedesign. No longer is if it the red, white and

:28:39. > :28:44.changes his helmet dedesign. No blue of the UK. You can see the two

:28:44. > :28:48.wrestlers and around this side and blue of the UK. You can see the two

:28:48. > :28:52.in Japanese writing it says JB and around the back, you have got the

:28:52. > :28:56.two dragons and the flag of Japan. This came about because before

:28:56. > :29:01.Korea, Jenson Button was in Tokyo. He went to a wrestling match and was

:29:01. > :29:06.inspired by the dedication and regime that these guys show. So he

:29:06. > :29:10.wanted to put that on his helmet to show his dedication. He said they

:29:10. > :29:13.live together. They eat together. Everything is dictated for them and

:29:13. > :29:18.he wanted to show that sort of discipline in Formula One. So this

:29:18. > :29:21.is the special helmet for the whole weekend.

:29:21. > :29:27.We are just seeing a replay of Nico Hulkenberg who has run wide at

:29:27. > :29:32.speed. This is not anything too majorly dramatic. He went in quick

:29:32. > :29:39.and ran wide. A few years ago, Jenson Button went to a training

:29:39. > :29:44.session and was inspired by triathletes and came back looking

:29:44. > :29:47.like one! Let's hope he does not do the same particularly with the

:29:47. > :29:50.weight concerns they have got for next year.

:29:50. > :29:54.Yes, it could be a challenge of getting him in the car! Let's ride

:29:54. > :29:58.with Kimi Raikkonen here. Up through the Ss. He gets a big oversteer

:29:58. > :30:03.here. TEAM RADIO: It goes very floa xwriy,

:30:03. > :30:09.very light. That's unusual feedback. Gary, what

:30:09. > :30:15.does the driver mean when he says it is floaty, they light? The downforce

:30:15. > :30:19.of the car makes the car grip the ground. At the moment, it is more

:30:19. > :30:25.down to getting the grip out of the tyres. The downforce level you can

:30:25. > :30:31.change is quite small percentages, but it means the car is moving. The

:30:31. > :30:36.balance is reasonable, but it hasn't got the bite, that grip.

:30:36. > :30:40.Well, are we have seen Raikkonen struggling for grip. He had a

:30:40. > :30:42.lock-up on a front tyre as well. Maybe the grip level of the track is

:30:42. > :30:47.down just a little bit. Interestingly, we are just beginning

:30:47. > :30:54.to see one or two drivers likely to switch on to the medium compound

:30:55. > :31:01.tyre. Bottas maybe the first. I think he is out on track now. And

:31:01. > :31:05.tyre. Bottas maybe the first. I let's just see what the end of this

:31:06. > :31:11.lap is for Kimi. I don't think it will be a quick lap. Kimi stays

:31:11. > :31:16.tenth with that and that's slower than his previous best. Now, out in

:31:16. > :31:26.the Caterham this morning, Heikki Kovalainen was driving in place of

:31:26. > :31:28.Charles Pic and he is talking to Jenny. We have seen a lot of people

:31:28. > :31:32.spinning already today. A lot of Jenny. We have seen a lot of people

:31:32. > :31:33.incidents out on track. Did you notice anything different about the

:31:33. > :31:37.track? This is a circuit you know notice anything different about the

:31:37. > :31:45.well? There is nothing wrong with the circuit. The high-speed circuit

:31:45. > :31:49.and the nature of the circuit. The walls are close here and there are a

:31:49. > :31:55.couple of tricky places. The usual places we have seen accidents

:31:56. > :32:01.before. Nothing unusual. Last year when we were here, it was cold. This

:32:01. > :32:05.weekend, it is the opposite. It is incredibly hot here. How do you

:32:05. > :32:14.think it will relate to the cars? I think not so much difference to the

:32:14. > :32:17.cars. In the hot conditions you have less downforce, but for the Fire

:32:17. > :32:21.Service, you are starting -- for the Fire Service, you are starting to

:32:21. > :32:29.get them hot. The heat will be higher. This is the main issue. You

:32:29. > :32:35.need to look after the tyres. Once they get too hot you lose grip and

:32:35. > :32:39.you loose confidence. This is another of those circuits that could

:32:39. > :32:44.be useful for Caterham. You never know what will happen here. We have

:32:44. > :32:49.seen so many incidents on track. Are you hopeful that Caterham can maybe

:32:49. > :32:56.find a point somewhere this weekend? I mean that's what we have as a

:32:56. > :33:00.target. Whether we can score a point or not, that's difficult. We have

:33:00. > :33:05.got to make sure we are in the position ahead of the others and as

:33:05. > :33:09.close to the cars in front of us if something funny happens we are

:33:09. > :33:12.there. That's what we have got to do and keep grinding. Do you feel as if

:33:12. > :33:20.you are managing to keep the gap between you and Marussi? Yes, I

:33:20. > :33:28.think so far, yes. It is really making sure we don't do any silly

:33:29. > :33:33.mistakes ourselves in the races. Into We have got to focus on the

:33:33. > :33:37.situation as much as we can and make sure we are there if anything

:33:37. > :33:43.happens. This could be one of those places. It is a tricky circuit.

:33:43. > :33:50.Anything can happen. One final question. I spoke to your big boss

:33:50. > :33:56.Tony fer nan December and he said we will consider Heikki Kovalainen for

:33:56. > :34:02.a seat. How are negotiations going? Are you any closer to get back into

:34:02. > :34:06.Formula One? Negotiations are going well. Caterham knows what they get

:34:06. > :34:10.with me and what they don't. In the end, they need to design what --

:34:10. > :34:17.decide what they need to do. I feel I'm up for it. I am ready to go for

:34:17. > :34:22.next year certainly. That's how it is at the moment. It is difficult to

:34:22. > :34:31.speculate whether or not I have a chance. Before we go, thank you very

:34:31. > :34:35.much for joining us. Heikki Kovalainen. It is good to

:34:35. > :34:38.hear from him. He got a 12th place here with Caterham which was his

:34:38. > :34:45.best ever result with the team and that was at Suzuka in 2010. So they

:34:45. > :34:50.were only a little bit out of top ten on that occasion. Whether that

:34:50. > :34:53.is a prospect this weekend, it depends on problems for others.

:34:53. > :34:59.Giedo van der Garde has gone out. We saw Bottas on the medium compound

:34:59. > :35:04.tyre. His first flying lap, not that much quicker. We have Grosjean on

:35:04. > :35:09.track at the moment. He will be one to. Wa in terms of the improvement

:35:09. > :35:16.Dunkirk he will be one to watch in terms of the improvement. Bottas

:35:16. > :35:25.might go quicker on this next lap. We are riding on board with him now.

:35:26. > :35:30.He improved in his first sector. He uses plenty of road on the exit. Now

:35:30. > :35:37.the driver sits and waits really for the next more difficult bit which is

:35:37. > :35:44.the 130 R. The left-hander coming up. No problems. Flat out on the

:35:44. > :35:51.accelerator. Now the chicane. This is going to be a better lap than he

:35:51. > :36:01.did just now. Let's see how much he irm improves his lap time. In

:36:01. > :36:05.overall terms between the hard and the medium, he is going about six

:36:05. > :36:09.tenths of a second. We will get an idea on the other rapid runners.

:36:09. > :36:13.Webber is out on track. So we will see what he can do. Clearly, the

:36:13. > :36:21.tyres are holding up for more than just one lap. Runs the car out to

:36:21. > :36:26.the ragged edge. This is what a fast lap at Suzuka is about. He has been

:36:26. > :36:29.looking forward to this event all year. Seeing it as one, well his

:36:29. > :36:35.last chance to driver a Formula One car at Suzuka. He said this was a

:36:35. > :36:39.track he would be looking forward to in the last part of the season as

:36:39. > :36:43.his career winds down because driver a Formula One car at speed is

:36:43. > :36:49.something special here. He is quick. He is good in the quick stuff and if

:36:49. > :36:53.you are doing a comparison with Sebastian, he tends to lose out in

:36:53. > :37:01.the technical stuff, the slow turns. He loves this place. Last year, of

:37:01. > :37:06.course, he was thumped at the first corner by Grosjean.

:37:06. > :37:11.He had a few by then, Romain Grosjean. We will talk about him

:37:11. > :37:14.because things have been on the up for him. Let's watch this lap from

:37:14. > :37:20.Mark Webber. It will be a good one. He is faster than anybody in the

:37:21. > :37:24.first sector. No, Rosberg has gone quicker. Oh, a spin for Alonso.

:37:24. > :37:29.That's unusual. Fernando Alonso has lost it. Now he manages to do it

:37:29. > :37:32.without hitting anything. Fernando Alonso facing the wrong way and

:37:32. > :37:37.that's not what he was expecting at all. So we have got a yellow flag at

:37:37. > :37:46.that section of the circuit now and that affects anybody there. 34.0 for

:37:46. > :37:55.Mark Webber and he has gained nearly seven tenths of the let's see what

:37:55. > :37:59.Rosberg gains. 34.1. It looks as though the gain on the medium

:37:59. > :38:04.compound tyre is about six tenths of a second. Gary, are you surprised?

:38:04. > :38:07.Did you expect to see more of a gain than that? No, not really. I don't

:38:07. > :38:14.think you are going to expect too much from the hard tyre to the

:38:14. > :38:18.medium. Alonso, let's see how he got away without hitting the barrier. He

:38:18. > :38:21.caught the kerb on the inside and spat the back out. He didn't hit

:38:21. > :38:30.anything. He lost it on the first one, didn't he? Yes. He caught it

:38:30. > :38:34.and around it went. He didn't hit anything so that's not so bad and he

:38:34. > :38:39.can get going again hopefully. That's about the right step. When we

:38:39. > :38:44.were in Korea, we had the super softs to medium. We had two sets of

:38:44. > :38:48.tyre and that's why we had a big step there and a big time

:38:48. > :38:53.difference. This will be interesting because it does make strategy less

:38:53. > :38:57.black and white. The tyres are close to each other, but it is about the

:38:57. > :39:01.durability and that's why you are seeing these guys going out and

:39:01. > :39:05.putting on the medium tyre early. They have to put homework into this

:39:05. > :39:08.circuit as far as which strategies are concerned and this afternoon is

:39:08. > :39:12.the only time you can do that because tomorrow morning's practise

:39:12. > :39:16.session is too early. Right now the track conditions are similar to what

:39:16. > :39:19.it will be on Sunday. So just making sure they are doing their homework

:39:20. > :39:24.and that's why they are going out early on the medium tyres.

:39:24. > :39:27.Vettel had to back off a bit on the last lap because he didn't really

:39:27. > :39:33.gain anything. He is trying to do another lap on this set of tyres.

:39:33. > :39:36.The orange indicates the higher temperatures, of course, as it goes

:39:36. > :39:43.to purple cooling off and the black with the lower temperatures. Coming

:39:43. > :39:49.up towards Spoon Corner. Watch the right front load up with the bright

:39:49. > :39:53.orange colour. Through the second apex it really glows and comes off

:39:53. > :40:01.and he is on to the straight if you are getting that inner band heating

:40:01. > :40:07.up. That shows the negative on the tyres. That's interesting. It was

:40:07. > :40:13.the inside tyre that was running hotter as he went through 130 R and

:40:13. > :40:17.dragging rather than the outside tyre. The funny thing about these

:40:17. > :40:23.cars when the cars loads up on a corner like that, you know, the car

:40:23. > :40:29.rolls and it drags that inside wheel on to the small compact shoulder.

:40:29. > :40:34.130 R is not such a demanding corner. You are not loading up the

:40:34. > :40:38.front tyre too much, but you are dragging the inside front wheel.

:40:38. > :40:44.That's when we get wear on the tyre, it is the inside shoulder that works

:40:44. > :40:49.a lot and it is that inside shoulder on a high-speed track that that, it

:40:49. > :40:53.is that inside track that dictates and the loaded tyre is not so far in

:40:53. > :40:56.Korea, it was the opposite because that's a corner that you are slowing

:40:56. > :40:59.down going through it, you are letting the car lean on the front

:41:00. > :41:06.tyre. Hamiliton had a moment there at the

:41:06. > :41:10.second exit. It cost him time. He has gone fourth fastest, but may

:41:10. > :41:28.having done their quick run, it is Sebastian Vettel quickest and Mark

:41:28. > :41:43.Webber. Hamiliton has done a 34.4.

:41:43. > :41:49.The speeds are down on what we saw this morning. Whether that's a

:41:49. > :41:53.change in wind direction, I am not 100% sure. But Sebastian Vettel

:41:53. > :41:58.quickest from Webber in this section of the practise and we have got a

:41:58. > :42:02.few other cars to put on the softer tyre including Jenson Button, the

:42:02. > :42:07.only McLaren that's running in this session, of course. We have lost

:42:07. > :42:13.Sergio Perez. Now, let's look at this a moment ago. Giedo van der

:42:13. > :42:23.Garde, yes, he just went a bit side ways going into Spoon Corner. He was

:42:23. > :42:26.on his medium tyres there. The only Marussi that's out there is Max

:42:26. > :42:32.Chilton. We know Jules Bianchi is Marussi that's out there is Max

:42:32. > :42:39.not doing any running this afternoon. Gary, what are you

:42:39. > :42:43.seeing? I am looking at Nico Rosberg's car. They are preparing it

:42:43. > :42:47.for a long race run. They have got the fuel connected up. They are

:42:47. > :42:56.pumping a lot of fuel into the car. They will be starting this race with

:42:56. > :43:00.140 kilograms of fuel. Underneath the car, you will see the guys

:43:00. > :43:04.working there. They are going to take off the carbon-fibre panel and

:43:04. > :43:10.inside there is some different balance levels. Some different

:43:10. > :43:13.metals that you can put there to move the weight distribution a

:43:13. > :43:17.little bit. You are allowed to move it by 1%. They are not happy with

:43:17. > :43:36.what they had for the longer run and they are changing the weight

:43:36. > :43:49.distribution to see if it makes the rear tyres preserve more.

:43:49. > :43:56.Well, we are riding with Max Chilton as he changes up into seventh gear

:43:56. > :43:59.and approaches 130 R. The Cosworth engine of course, in

:43:59. > :44:04.the back of the Marussi at the moment. It is souping good --

:44:04. > :44:08.sounding good at speed. It has been a tidy lap. We have been watching

:44:08. > :44:14.his, we have been chatting away and it looked a clean lap. Let's see

:44:14. > :44:19.what it is. Again, he gains about seven tenths. It seems to be the

:44:19. > :44:27.order of the day. On the medium comed pound -- compound tyre, about

:44:27. > :44:31.three-quarters of a second. Van der Garde has run the medium tyres.

:44:31. > :44:35.That's a descent time. It does look as if Marussi could be

:44:35. > :44:38.on terms in qualifying pace with Caterham here. We will have to see.

:44:38. > :44:44.Daniel Ricciardo going on to a lap. We have got more comments coming in.

:44:44. > :44:56.We will just run through. Nick saying, " Did Mark Webber get a new

:44:56. > :45:05.car for this weekend after his firing in Korea?" The oil cooler

:45:05. > :45:10.when it got smashed did too much damage for him to run the

:45:10. > :45:15.carbon-fibre top. Alex says, " With Massa not having a drive for next

:45:15. > :45:20.year, do you think he will be finishing races or pushing harder to

:45:20. > :45:23.get a drive?" He will be pushing flat out.

:45:23. > :45:30.I think I will be going for it. We have a question from John who says,

:45:30. > :45:38." Could you explain why there are concerns about Nico Hulkenberg's

:45:38. > :45:45.size and weight?" Tony outline it for us and we will go to Gary. Next

:45:45. > :45:49.year with the new power trains, the cars will become heavier and there

:45:49. > :45:53.has been additional weight to take that into consideration and some are

:45:53. > :45:55.saying there is not enough. There is concern about whether you will get

:45:55. > :45:59.down to the weight limit and if you don't, anything above the weight

:45:59. > :46:04.limit is weight that you have to carry over above the limit. If you

:46:04. > :46:08.have got a light driver, you are not that much lighter because everybody

:46:08. > :46:13.gets down to the weight limit, but what you can do is play with

:46:13. > :46:17.balance. You can put the weight low down, you can play around with the

:46:17. > :46:21.set-up and it is an advantage, but it is nothing like the same

:46:21. > :46:28.advantage of having to carry the weight. Talking to Ross Brawn

:46:28. > :46:34.yesterday... Raikkonen moved up to fourth there. That was a good lap

:46:34. > :46:39.from Kimi Raikkonen and Ricciardo moved up to sixth. Let's just see

:46:39. > :46:45.Jenson Button. He has gone up to eighth. He stays eighth. Still no

:46:45. > :46:54.one managing to match Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, but that was

:46:54. > :46:57.a better lap from Raikkonen. Grosjean made a mistake and that has

:46:57. > :47:01.a better lap from Raikkonen. blown what would have been his quick

:47:01. > :47:06.lap. You can see the frustrations, he took his hand off the wheel. That

:47:06. > :47:10.was a littler o are and it will have cost him the chance to see what he

:47:10. > :47:16.could have got out of the car. Kimi made a lock-up, but I don't think he

:47:16. > :47:20.lost too much time. Yes, the weight limit, the thing is will the teams

:47:20. > :47:25.meet the weight limit or not? Well, this is the thing. It is political.

:47:25. > :47:30.The talking to Ross Brawn yesterday he said he couldn't understand what

:47:30. > :47:33.the fuss was about now because he said their expectations are it will

:47:33. > :47:37.be a challenge, but they will actually get down to the weight

:47:37. > :47:42.limit. He doesn't see why it is too much of an issue, but I mean there

:47:42. > :47:45.are fears and some of them who can't make the weight and probably some of

:47:45. > :47:53.the lesser well funded teams will not want a heavy driver. Nico

:47:53. > :47:56.Hulkenberg was saying I am not going to lose any sleep. There is not much

:47:56. > :47:59.I can do. Gary, you have been thinking about

:47:59. > :48:05.this whole problem of heavy drivers or not. Give us your thoughts? Yes.

:48:06. > :48:13.It is a problem because when a driver comes through the carting or

:48:13. > :48:16.formula Ford or Formula Three, all those formulas are more critical to

:48:17. > :48:19.weight than Formula One and you lose more because you have got less power

:48:19. > :48:23.and if a driver gets through that, for sure he is a good guy. I think

:48:23. > :48:27.Nico Hulkenberg is a good driver. Now, the weight limit for this

:48:27. > :48:33.year's car including driver dry of fuel is 642 kilogrammes. The weight

:48:33. > :48:38.limit for next year's car including driver and empty of fuel is 690 and

:48:38. > :48:42.that's because the hybrid system, the battery packs are so heavy, but

:48:42. > :48:48.every team wants to build a car with a driver at 660 and put 30

:48:48. > :48:54.kilogrammes of balance into the car, that's better than if you build the

:48:54. > :48:57.car at 690. I think you can build a car to be on the weight limit, but

:48:57. > :49:00.you will have a better and faster car if you can put the balance

:49:01. > :49:08.underneath it. Some teams push for that. Some teams don't. I believe it

:49:08. > :49:12.should -- there should be something that brings the driver weight

:49:12. > :49:24.together. If you have a light driver, there is an area of driver

:49:24. > :49:29.balaste. Everybody has got their vested interests. You can see see a

:49:29. > :49:33.driver like Nico Hulkenberg suffering because he is a bill

:49:33. > :49:37.taller and heavier than some teams would like him to be.

:49:37. > :49:42.Tony, the issue of driver weights is not a new one. They have been

:49:42. > :49:45.weighed differently over the years, but it led to interesting

:49:45. > :49:49.situations? There has been a weight limit for safety reasons. It used to

:49:49. > :49:54.be they weighed the drivers twice a year. At the start of the season and

:49:54. > :49:59.in the middle and the FIA would publish the driver weights and I

:49:59. > :50:03.remember going to Brazil and the drivers would go down to be weighed

:50:03. > :50:07.with their kit and what have you and it was a case of Drick a couple of

:50:07. > :50:13.litres of water before you go. I was sat in a back room and there was

:50:13. > :50:18.this crash helmet on the table, Michael Schumacher's helmet and it

:50:18. > :50:27.had a post it note, and it said this must go to Brazil. I tried to pick

:50:27. > :50:32.it up. I needed two hands! They had hammered a load of carting led and

:50:32. > :50:36.it put it around the helmet and off went Michael to be weighed carrying

:50:36. > :50:42.this thing having drunk gallons of water and he weighed in seven or

:50:42. > :50:50.eight kilos than he finished the season. Patrick Head was furious.

:50:50. > :51:03.Back in those days, they subtracted the driver's weight from the car so

:51:03. > :51:07.you could run a lighter car. The FIA started bringing the scales to every

:51:07. > :51:11.race and the guys had to get weighed.

:51:11. > :51:15.So they were rumbled? Yes, they were rumbled. If there is an opportunity

:51:15. > :51:22.there will be somebody who will see the loophole. They were saying he

:51:22. > :51:28.should be locked in a room after he had been weighed and not allowed to

:51:28. > :51:34.go to the loo! That's why we see the drivers step out of the car and go

:51:34. > :51:41.straight to the scales. And why nobody can go to parc ferme so

:51:41. > :51:48.nobody can give them a couple of bits of lead.

:51:48. > :51:51.We are getting into the part of the session where they have gun filled

:51:51. > :51:56.up with fuel. As we heard from Gary, they were pumping fuel on board the

:51:56. > :52:00.Mercedes and we will see longer sperksz. They won't -- sessions.

:52:00. > :52:04.They won't go around for one or two laps at a time, they will string a

:52:04. > :52:11.sequence of laps together which will give them an idea of how the tyre

:52:11. > :52:15.performance varies. That's the phase that we are beginning to get into. A

:52:15. > :52:20.couple more of your comments that have come in. Thank you very much

:52:20. > :52:26.for those. It is great to have your company as we go through the second

:52:26. > :52:32.practise session. Nigel says, " Will Button stay beyond next season or

:52:32. > :52:37.will he retire?" What do you think, Tony? It is hard to see with Jenson.

:52:37. > :52:44.You get the impression he would like to go and do proper competitive

:52:44. > :52:47.triathlons. He has had a good relationship with Honda in the past

:52:47. > :52:50.and if he could stay with that set-up, that would be interesting

:52:50. > :52:54.and I can see him want to get involved in that.

:52:54. > :52:59.Yes, he will want to have a bit of that. Mark Webber is on track at the

:52:59. > :53:04.moment. He is on to his first lap base clay. He is on the medium

:53:04. > :53:07.compound tyre with the white writing on the side wall. This maybe a

:53:07. > :53:14.higher level of fuel that's in the car right now. A couple more of your

:53:14. > :53:17.questions and comments. Matt saying, " With the driver changes taking a

:53:17. > :53:21.place, how much would it cost for a driver to secure a he seat with a

:53:21. > :53:24.team?" Well, that's a good question. It depends on the level of

:53:24. > :53:30.experience and ability, I suppose, that you are bringing with you.

:53:30. > :53:34.Absolutely. With a lot these drivers, it is interesting, you get

:53:34. > :53:38.somebody who signs up to do six Friday mornings in a young driver

:53:38. > :53:42.test and he brings 2.5 million euros with him and that's because

:53:42. > :53:47.companies want to be involved in Formula One. The choice between

:53:47. > :53:52.going and doing a series that receives no publicity, they would go

:53:52. > :53:56.and be involved in Formula One in a small way. That's how drivers have

:53:56. > :54:02.this kind of money. That's right. Gary, drivers bringing

:54:02. > :54:06.sponsorship to teams is nothing new, but the levels, the amounts that are

:54:06. > :54:07.being brought are really eye watering sometimes, aren't they?

:54:07. > :54:11.Well, they are eye watering, yeah. watering sometimes, aren't they?

:54:11. > :54:14.When you consider some of the big businesses, we have what is called a

:54:14. > :54:18.paddock club, it is above the pit garages and there is a lot of

:54:18. > :54:22.business done up there. There is a lot of people coming that will

:54:22. > :54:26.invite guests from different companies or they make products for

:54:26. > :54:29.and whatever, we are talking multi-million pound companies. They

:54:29. > :54:33.will be entertaining people up there. If you are going to entertain

:54:33. > :54:37.someone, join that level of association with what you are trying

:54:37. > :54:44.to use for entertainment. It is greater than taking a them for a

:54:44. > :54:51.great day out at the seaside. If you get a Friday driver, there will be a

:54:51. > :54:56.sticker on the car thab -- that will be X company and you get the driver

:54:56. > :55:02.who is wanting to, who comes to do a full season and wants to drive and

:55:02. > :55:09.has got the talent and I think they need to arrive with probably in

:55:09. > :55:13.excess of £10 million to buy a drive in a Formula One car will cost you

:55:14. > :55:17.more than £10 million and you are talking a substantial amount more.

:55:17. > :55:22.If you arrive with £10 million, you could get into the office and get a

:55:22. > :55:27.seat and you would probably get a cup of coffee! To have seen less

:55:27. > :55:32.than £10 million, it is a waste of time coming to try and do anything.

:55:32. > :55:37.There is your answer. Less than £10 million don't bother. And you have

:55:37. > :55:40.to have your super licence. My goodness, how much would you have

:55:40. > :55:44.spent through the junior ranks? It is a lot of money. It is a tough

:55:44. > :55:50.call and some manage to achieve it. If you look at Sebastian Vettel.

:55:50. > :55:54.What some people, I think, sometimes forget, like Lewis Hamilton he comes

:55:54. > :56:09.from a humble background. He doesn't come from a wealthy background. If

:56:10. > :56:13.you are megatalented, you can still do it. You have got Red Bull junior

:56:13. > :56:21.programmes and that kind of things. If you are megatea lented, you can

:56:21. > :56:29.do it. I was talking to Terry Fullerton and he says there is kids

:56:29. > :56:36.spending £500,000 on carting. It is almost a GP 3 budget because carting

:56:36. > :56:40.is a World Series. Where do you get £500,000 from as a child? Gary, when

:56:40. > :56:44.you have been technical director and when you are looking for new

:56:44. > :56:49.drivers, talent is what counts, isn't it? Talent is what counts and

:56:49. > :56:53.if you have got a good marketing structure then that talent and those

:56:53. > :56:59.results allows them to go out and entertain sponsors and force

:56:59. > :57:03.sponsors into the company otherwise the driver needs to come with

:57:03. > :57:07.sponsorship. We were talking about Lewis Hamilton. Someone did a look

:57:07. > :57:11.at how much it cost Lewis Hamilton before he sat on the grid of his

:57:11. > :57:16.first Formula One race and they reckon it was 13 million euros

:57:16. > :57:22.getting from carting to his first Formula One grid. In reality, that

:57:22. > :57:25.had to come from somewhere. It was through sponsorship and McLaren

:57:25. > :57:29.invested in him for quite a few years. There is many different ways

:57:29. > :57:38.in which this money can come. You cannot do this career, it is not

:57:38. > :57:41.like doing football and you get a T-shirt and it costs money to go

:57:41. > :57:45.motor racing and that's what makes it so difficult for so many talented

:57:45. > :57:50.drivers who don't have that money to get their foot in the door.

:57:50. > :57:54.Yes, that's true. Lewis Hamilton had that support from McLaren or Vettel

:57:54. > :57:58.who picked up Red Bull support when he was carting. He was only 10 or 11

:57:58. > :58:01.when he got picked up by Red Bull, but the money has been there, but

:58:01. > :58:07.they had to keep delivering. If ham hal or Sebastian Vettel -- Hamiliton

:58:07. > :58:10.or Sebastian Vettel didn't keep delivering, that support would have

:58:10. > :58:14.gone? You see that with the Red Bull junior team, they can't afford a bad

:58:14. > :58:18.year. That's right. We are watching

:58:18. > :58:24.Rosberg. We are into the time of doing the longer runs. So far, it is

:58:24. > :58:27.consistent. He is on the hard compound tyre. It has the ange

:58:27. > :58:32.consistent. He is on the hard writing on the side walls. Mark

:58:32. > :58:38.Webber is doing a run on the medium compound tyre. We are not seeing any

:58:38. > :58:41.degradation yet from him. We will see how we go as we continue. Jenny

:58:41. > :58:47.degradation yet from him. We will has been down to the McLaren pit.

:58:47. > :58:51.What have you learned, Jenny? Yes, I was catching up with Sergio Perez.

:58:51. > :58:58.The team is frying to find out -- trying to find out he is. He had

:58:58. > :59:01.that crash. His team say he is fine. The physio checked him out and he is

:59:01. > :59:05.walking around in the garage and he is OK.

:59:05. > :59:25.Oh, I think, Kimi Raikkonen is off. He kept it running, no, he is in the

:59:25. > :59:29.gravel pit. What happened here? Right now, he is on the radio to the

:59:29. > :59:35.team telling them what happened and now he has got to get out? Good

:59:35. > :59:40.morning, everyone. It was a shame? Yes, it was a mistake from

:59:40. > :59:48.Raikkonen. Not so often he does it. And usually on the race he is one of

:59:48. > :59:50.the best every time. Let's see what happened. Let's look

:59:50. > :59:55.the best every time. at that. He is through the Ss. He is

:59:55. > :59:59.in the early part of the Ss. He gets an oversteer in mid-corner and

:59:59. > :00:09.through the gravel. Thankfully, he doesn't hit anything. That's

:00:09. > :00:14.unusual. So for the second Grand Prix in succession he has gone off

:00:14. > :00:20.on a Friday. He crashed, didn't he, in Korea? Yes. And he hit the wall.

:00:20. > :00:28.Here, it is less heavy for the car to be honest. But it is a shame for

:00:28. > :00:37.us because after a great qualifying, we can see his engineer, Mark Slade.

:00:37. > :00:42.He is not happy. I wouldn't think your boss is happy

:00:42. > :00:49.either. We were competitive in the simulation and Raikkonen was one of

:00:49. > :00:54.the best Fridays for him of the season and we were looking forward

:00:54. > :01:00.to have a race simulation and it is a shame we can't check out the pace

:01:00. > :01:14.with him, but I am sure with Grosjean we can see what we can

:01:14. > :01:19.expect for Sunday. For Kimi the weakness has been

:01:19. > :01:23.qualifying. That's going to be very, very good news. It is really

:01:23. > :01:27.positive for us. It is the first time that Raikkonen is close to the

:01:27. > :01:37.top drivers. To be honest, we have to consider that Sebastian Vettel

:01:37. > :01:43.gets a yellow flag and he has to push again. It does seem as though

:01:43. > :01:48.the tyre is lasting for two laps. The tyre seems to be holding up

:01:48. > :01:51.well? You are right, but the cars we saw doing the race simulation in the

:01:52. > :01:56.first free practise, they were struggling a bit to maintain the

:01:56. > :02:01.pace. It is something that we have to discover now. Romain Grosjean, we

:02:01. > :02:08.didn't get a clear picture for him. He made a mistake. He must have lost

:02:08. > :02:12.two #2e7b9s of a second -- two tenths of a second? You are right.

:02:12. > :02:17.It was faster than Raikkonen. He had to stop this lap and recover and

:02:17. > :02:22.push again in the lap after. Considering we are not Red Bull, but

:02:22. > :02:29.we are Lotus. I think it cost him two or three tenths. I think

:02:29. > :02:33.Grosjean can have a good qualifying. He is on a good roll at the moment,

:02:34. > :02:38.isn't he, Romain Grosjean? We are riding with Sebastian Vettel. He is

:02:38. > :02:43.on a longer run. We have got over half an hour to go in second

:02:43. > :02:49.practise here in Japan. There is still high temperatures. The track

:02:50. > :02:55.temperature at 39 Celsius and air temperature 29 Celsius. There is a

:02:55. > :03:02.tail wind through the Ss. I wonder if that might have had an effect? I

:03:02. > :03:10.think, yes. We saw so many drivers make small mistakes. We saw in the

:03:10. > :03:14.free practise Jules Bianchi and van der Garde hit the wall. We saw here

:03:14. > :03:22.a big crash from Perez. So something der Garde hit the wall. We saw here

:03:22. > :03:26.difficult there. It is not easy for the driver at the moment.

:03:26. > :03:30.Le, the fans are out in Force. The Japanese fans are amazing. What kind

:03:30. > :03:34.of contact have you had with the fans? We have got a replay. I don't

:03:34. > :03:42.of contact have you had with the know what this is off. Let's see if

:03:42. > :03:47.it is significant. Pic had to take avoiding action. Nico Hulkenberg was

:03:47. > :03:53.trying to stay off line, but... He got scared a bit. What a race! A

:03:53. > :04:04.wonderful weekend. The track is one of the best in the world. A real

:04:04. > :04:10.track. If you make a small mistake, you pay. A champion like Raikkonen

:04:10. > :04:15.paid a bit today. We will have a great race and with the atmosphere.

:04:15. > :04:19.The people around. There is a great passion. I really love to race one

:04:19. > :04:25.day. It is lovely to hear an Italian

:04:25. > :04:28.accent. In Formula One, there is no Italian drivers. Formula One is not

:04:28. > :04:35.right if you haven't got an Italian driver out there. Are you going to

:04:35. > :04:42.get any chances? We will check it out. Our team is a top team, Lotus.

:04:42. > :04:52.It has just lost Raikkonen and for us, it is a big loss because he is a

:04:52. > :04:58.champion, an ex-world champion. For us, it is a big loss. I have some

:04:58. > :05:03.chance, but the team thinks that it is looking for someone with a bigger

:05:03. > :05:11.name than my one. But if there is a minimum chance to be there, I am

:05:11. > :05:15.sure I will be a maybe and I will do my maximum to make them happy.

:05:15. > :05:19.Kimi Raikkonen had his back problem and we wondered if you might get a

:05:19. > :05:33.chance to drive. How close do you think you were to driving in

:05:33. > :05:38.Singapore? I don't know. I was ready. But for our luck Raikkonen

:05:38. > :05:42.could come back and he finished third and it was a great result for

:05:42. > :05:45.us. We were really happy to have him.

:05:45. > :05:50.You did the young driver test at Silverstone this year. You were

:05:50. > :05:53.fourth fastest on the day you ran, I think, 90 laps. That must have been

:05:54. > :06:00.a good experience for you. Tell us about how it was. Yes, it was good.

:06:00. > :06:05.We spent all day to do race simulations. I was a bit dead at the

:06:05. > :06:17.end of the day. How was the neck? The neck was fine. I'm waiting for a

:06:17. > :06:26.chance. It was interesting to check it out with the race pace. It was

:06:26. > :06:31.the first test with the new tyres. It was important we understand our

:06:31. > :06:41.pace with t tyres could be really positive. We went to the podium.

:06:41. > :06:43.That was really good. The atmosphere was really good. The feeling coming

:06:43. > :06:45.That was really good. The atmosphere back to Formula One was a good

:06:45. > :06:50.emotion. What he is it like working with the

:06:50. > :06:54.two drivers in your team? Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean? They

:06:54. > :07:06.seem different characters? Really different. Grosjean is a normal one.

:07:06. > :07:11.A normal boy. He is a good guy. He is doing a really big effort to try

:07:11. > :07:17.to match the performance of Raikkonen, but you know, this man is

:07:17. > :07:22.super. He is a real champion. He does not speak with no one. He

:07:22. > :07:28.speaks only with the engineers. He is rude in the way to aetch pro the

:07:28. > :07:31.race, but -- way to approach the race. But at the end, he is always

:07:31. > :07:39.on the podium. So we have to say that's a real champion. We were glad

:07:39. > :07:40.to have him with us. He is still competing for something important,

:07:40. > :07:44.maybe the second and the third place competing for something important,

:07:44. > :07:50.in the championship. We will try to do the maximum. I am sure we can

:07:50. > :07:56.have a good race with him. I am sure. We are riding with Felipe

:07:56. > :07:59.Massa there. He is eighth fastest as we are on to the section of this

:07:59. > :08:04.practise where they are competing more laps with more fuel on board.

:08:04. > :08:08.We are not looking for fast laps. We know Sebastian Vettel and Mark

:08:09. > :08:16.Webber will end the session where they are.

:08:16. > :08:23.Perez is is back at the McLaren pit. We saw him crash out of the session.

:08:23. > :08:28.He looked like he almost got a wheel on the astro-turf? You are right.

:08:28. > :08:36.That was my idea. When he was shifting down, I think, he touched

:08:36. > :08:42.with the right back wheel the astro-turf, the green one and he

:08:42. > :08:45.lost control and he had the big oversteer and he just finished in

:08:45. > :08:48.the wall. We are on board with Romain

:08:48. > :08:55.Grosjean. You know this car well. You have driven it at Silverstone.

:08:55. > :08:58.Tell me what are the buttons on the right-hand side? They are not so

:08:58. > :09:06.important. They are important for the team because one is the radio.

:09:06. > :09:10.The second one is to reply OK, without speaking and there is the

:09:11. > :09:21.drinking system on the left-hand side. We have the KERS and the

:09:21. > :09:30.Button for the DRS. And to be honest, something quite important

:09:30. > :09:35.for the driver at the moment is the KERS system. That changes your

:09:35. > :09:39.driving style and it is something your engineers asks you to use

:09:39. > :09:47.during the race when the KERS is working less properly. You just save

:09:47. > :09:51.a bit of power and to adjust the set-up and the balance of the car.

:09:52. > :09:56.It is interesting to hear that. Let's get down to the pits. I

:09:56. > :10:01.believe Jenny has caught up with Clare Williams. I know you have just

:10:01. > :10:05.flown in. So we are catching you just off the plane. How are things

:10:05. > :10:08.going for Williams? We have seen a lot of changes. Pat Symonds has come

:10:08. > :10:12.in. How are things feeling within lot of changes. Pat Symonds has come

:10:12. > :10:17.Williams? There is change happening which is great, but that was needed.

:10:17. > :10:24.We couldn't stay where we were. There is a lot of work going on

:10:24. > :10:29.behind the scenes. Pat is having impact. A lot of the stuff he is

:10:29. > :10:33.doing is amaze. Ng. He is not here this weekend and is really focussing

:10:33. > :10:36.on 2014. 2014 is in everybody's minds. But you have to try and turn

:10:36. > :10:41.things around as Williams. Only one point this season. I think everybody

:10:41. > :10:45.can say, it is not where you wanted to be. How confident are you that

:10:45. > :10:50.you can turn things around? We are doing a lot of work to make sure

:10:50. > :10:55.that we do change next year. We can't have another year like this

:10:55. > :11:01.year. It is not where we want to be. We are here to fight and we are here

:11:01. > :11:08.because we want to win Grand Prix. And that's being done in a number of

:11:08. > :11:10.ways. There are so many changes happening across the regulations and

:11:10. > :11:15.they are particular and that can throw up a whole new ball game next

:11:15. > :11:18.year and we are hoping we can take advantage of that.

:11:18. > :11:22.Pastor Maldonado had two incidents today. He spun off in this session.

:11:22. > :11:28.The car won't be back, but he had an incident with his wheel old coming

:11:28. > :11:31.off in the earlier session, do you know what happened? No, we are

:11:31. > :11:43.investigating that, but Pastor Maldonado had a difficult session.

:11:43. > :11:48.We will just have to see what he can do tomorrow.

:11:48. > :11:51.The FIA are going to investigate the incidents after the session. Are you

:11:51. > :11:54.worried about any problems that might come back as a result? They

:11:54. > :11:58.might reprimand or points might come back as a result? They

:11:58. > :12:03.deductions? We have to wait and see. We have got to do our investigations

:12:03. > :12:06.and we will find out what they say at the end of the session.

:12:06. > :12:11.Good luck for the weekend. Mark Webber is on track. We saw

:12:11. > :12:16.images of Sergio Perez with an ice pack on his arm. Obviously a bit of

:12:16. > :12:21.soreness for Sergio Perez after the accident he suffered up at Spoon

:12:21. > :12:33.Corner. Hopefully he will be fit and raring to go for tomorrow. McLaren

:12:33. > :12:35.have got their reserve driver raring to go for tomorrow. McLaren

:12:35. > :12:38.whether he will have a go or not, I raring to go for tomorrow. McLaren

:12:38. > :12:46.don't know. Joining us on the pit wall once again is team principal of

:12:46. > :12:53.Mercedes, Ross Brawn. He is listening to some radio.

:12:53. > :13:00.That was one of your rival teams talking to Jenson Button. We are

:13:00. > :13:14.into the racing runs. How are things going so far? Messy. We have had

:13:14. > :13:17.both cars swap tyres. We recovering at the moment.

:13:17. > :13:21.You are not the only ones having trouble today. Kimi Raikkonen has

:13:21. > :13:25.gone off and Lotus lost valuable knowledge from him doing long runs.

:13:25. > :13:30.How did you feel the earlier run went on the medium tyre went? You

:13:30. > :13:35.seemed to be close to the Red Bull pace with Rosberg? Yeah, I am not

:13:35. > :13:39.sure we were that close. No one knows what fuel weights people are

:13:39. > :13:44.running. I think it is going to require the evening to go through

:13:44. > :13:48.all the da TA a talk -- data and talk to the drivers and analyse

:13:48. > :13:52.everything. We are just trying to pool all the information together

:13:52. > :13:57.out on the track and work out what the tyres are doing, what their

:13:57. > :14:00.degradation is and then put that together tonight to work out what we

:14:00. > :14:04.are going to do. It seems as though the difference

:14:04. > :14:08.between the two tyres is not that huge. About six tenths of a second.

:14:08. > :14:11.between the two tyres is not that Is that what we would be looking for

:14:11. > :14:16.in the race as well? It is small. About half a second in terms of one

:14:16. > :14:22.lap. It is not clear yet to me what the long run difference is. But

:14:22. > :14:25.again, it is information we have to establish tonight to understand how

:14:25. > :14:38.we are going to run the race on Sunday. We have got our two drivers

:14:38. > :14:46.doing alternates. It is Gary Anderson here. Sergio

:14:46. > :14:50.Perez flat spotted a tyre in Korea and he had a tyre failure

:14:50. > :14:58.afterwards. Is that a worry for you? It is something we were aware of.

:14:58. > :15:01.When Nico spotted his tyre, we did come into the pits and make sure it

:15:01. > :15:12.didn't come through and it looked OK. He he -- as he ran, the

:15:12. > :15:16.vibration changed. You have got better as we have gone

:15:17. > :15:18.through this year and you have been looking at tyre temperatures and we

:15:18. > :15:23.have got this thermal camera that looking at tyre temperatures and we

:15:23. > :15:25.FOM put up for us and shows us how the temperatures work across the

:15:25. > :15:29.tyre. Is that the kind of information that you have been

:15:29. > :15:36.working on as well to improve things? Yes. Most teams have

:15:36. > :15:40.infrared cameras on their cars to look at the tyres and work out where

:15:41. > :15:45.the tyres are suffering and how you can profile the lap to get the most

:15:45. > :15:52.out of tyre. It is a big part of Formula One at the moment and I

:15:52. > :15:55.think we need to think about it in the future because it is a major

:15:56. > :15:59.part of racing and we need to redress the balance a little bit.

:15:59. > :16:03.Great, well thank you for joining us once again and good luck with the

:16:03. > :16:07.rest of the race simulation this afternoon. Thanks.

:16:07. > :16:16.So Ross Brawn on the pit wall for Mercedes. A lock-up. I have the

:16:16. > :16:20.development driver with Lotus with me. He beat several of the drivers

:16:20. > :16:23.that are racing out here in Formula One and that's Paul di Resta who

:16:23. > :16:29.pulled off to the side of the track, but gets it going. He must have had

:16:29. > :16:33.a spin to get into that session. With locking up, we heard Ross Brawn

:16:33. > :16:38.saying both his guys had a little bit of a lock up on their race

:16:38. > :16:42.simulations. It seems amazing that one little lock-up can cause a

:16:42. > :16:46.problem in Formula One now? It the old days they used to be able to

:16:46. > :16:50.lock up and get away with it and now it makes a difference? After the

:16:51. > :16:56.lock-up, there is a lot of vibration and every time you approach another

:16:56. > :17:04.brake, you start to lock-up every time the same part of the front

:17:04. > :17:14.tyre. Really quickly you have to stop. Anyway, Rosberg is not bad. So

:17:14. > :17:19.maybe we can have a really open race here. Vettel looks special, but

:17:19. > :17:23.maybe in the race simulation it was not out of the world like normal.

:17:23. > :17:28.So you have been looking at the lap times and keeping an eye on them. So

:17:28. > :17:33.that's good. Maybe we won't see Red Bull running away with it. They have

:17:33. > :17:39.a remarkable record around the Suzuka circuit. It seems to have

:17:39. > :17:42.suited their Carswell in the past. Coming back to Lotus, I know you

:17:42. > :17:46.would love to be driving, but as you said earlier, they are looking for a

:17:46. > :17:51.big name in some ways. What else are they looking for? What kind of, do

:17:51. > :17:55.they want lots of experience? Do, what kind, are what is going to be,

:17:55. > :17:59.what are they looking for in a driver? I don't know to be honest.

:17:59. > :18:04.To be honest I think for us it was better to have Kimi for the next

:18:04. > :18:08.season. Raikkonen was perfect for us in the last two seasons and really

:18:08. > :18:14.try to make the effort to convince him to stay, but we have got

:18:14. > :18:19.Grosjean and he is matching the performance in the last few races so

:18:19. > :18:28.we hope to push with him and make him fast like Raikkonen. It seems he

:18:28. > :18:34.has the speed of him, but not the result and capacity just at the end

:18:35. > :18:38.when it counts a lot. But he is getting there. He is getting there.

:18:38. > :18:46.About the other driver, I don't know. I'm working for them. I am not

:18:46. > :18:59.in the head of the bosses and they are looking for someone like

:18:59. > :19:07.Raikkonen. From my personal point of view, Nico Hulkenberg has shown that

:19:07. > :19:13.that he is one of the best and he is always consistent. From my point of

:19:13. > :19:18.view, are this one... That was Webber getting angry. I didn't see

:19:18. > :19:24.which of the Force Indias it was. Was it Paul di Resta? Yes, Paul di

:19:24. > :19:28.Resta. He was really unlucky in the last few races. Webber is trews

:19:28. > :19:32.frustrated. You think it is building up on him.

:19:32. > :19:37.Retiring from Singapore and retiring from Korea and now anything that

:19:37. > :19:44.goes wrong, he is getting super angry. He wants to finish his season

:19:44. > :19:52.in style. Had it is his last season in Formula One.

:19:52. > :19:57.Gary? Jenson Button is changing tyres. Again, it is about the cross

:19:57. > :20:00.over times. You look at the lap times to get on the medium tyre and

:20:00. > :20:03.see what his first lap times are on the hard. That gives you a good

:20:04. > :20:08.indication as to where the cross over point is. The tyres are losing

:20:08. > :20:12.performance, but you have to make sure you get in at the right lap so

:20:12. > :20:23.you don't lose too much performance by running one tyre too far.

:20:23. > :20:27.Yes, a consistent run from Alonso here. The front is holding up pretty

:20:27. > :20:33.well. This is what we have seen in more recent Grand Prix. Not too much

:20:33. > :20:49.degradation. The pace is hard to measure. At the moment, are Mark

:20:49. > :20:53.Webber and Vettel is doing 1.38. As a team, does the team try and work

:20:53. > :20:57.out how much fuel is in the opposition's car? How can they work

:20:57. > :21:02.that out? Yeah, to be honest, you know, in fact, there is a big

:21:02. > :21:08.meeting where they can study the pace of all the drivers and all the

:21:08. > :21:14.other teams. They used to say that on Saturday morning for the

:21:14. > :21:16.qualifying configuration some of the teams like Mercedes and Red Bull

:21:16. > :21:23.qualifying configuration some of the they keep some fuel in every time

:21:23. > :21:27.and sometimes it is not a real situation after the free practise,

:21:27. > :21:31.but they are convinced that everyone on Friday afternoon, they are using

:21:31. > :21:35.the same amount of fuel to check it out at the race pace. So in the last

:21:35. > :21:43.the same amount of fuel to check it few Fridays, we saw that Sebastian

:21:43. > :21:48.Vettel was always the best in the race pace. And then we saw in the

:21:48. > :21:52.last few races that Mercedes was competitive, but wab maybe -- was

:21:52. > :22:00.maybe dropping a bit. Today, it seems that the Mercedes can maintain

:22:00. > :22:04.a good level of performance. So Grosjean is not far from there and

:22:04. > :22:09.he is closer to Sebastian Vettel. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber,

:22:09. > :22:19.they look better than the other, but not so much faster. Maybe we can

:22:19. > :22:22.have an open race. I am hoping to have someone in front of Sebastian

:22:22. > :22:26.Vettel at beginning of the race and let us explore our speed at the end

:22:26. > :22:27.of the race when we are one of the fastest.

:22:27. > :22:33.Indeed. Gary, what do you reckon? Do fastest.

:22:33. > :22:38.you reckon they are running similar fuel loads? Well, one of the things

:22:38. > :22:41.you would do. You will look at the races and you will see what the

:22:41. > :22:45.trend is for the driver, when it comes to qualifying, that's the car

:22:45. > :22:53.on low fuel and as a team, if you look at Sebastian Vettel and you

:22:53. > :22:58.will say this is his progression and you know your progressions and you

:22:58. > :23:02.will get an indication of how much fuel he is running every session.

:23:02. > :23:06.Normally when you have a procedure set out as a team, you stick with

:23:06. > :23:12.it. After you do four or five races of the season, you will get a trend

:23:12. > :23:19.and you will get a rough flul load that people are -- full load that

:23:19. > :23:24.people are carrying. Red Bull carry more fuel going into Q 1 than other

:23:24. > :23:29.people to make sure they have that little bit extra when it comes to

:23:29. > :23:32.request. 3. You don't want to show your dirty washing all the time. You

:23:32. > :23:46.want to make sure you have got a little bit in hand.

:23:46. > :23:53.Let's look at Gutierrez. That's a 12 lap stint. So the fuel is burning.

:23:53. > :23:58.That should make the car go quicker, but the loss of lap time is caused

:23:58. > :24:07.by the tyres going off a bit. It stayed consistent to lap ten. Just

:24:07. > :24:12.the last two laps it has gone away for him? He is consistent, but maybe

:24:12. > :24:19.something like eight tenths, one second out of the pace of Mark

:24:19. > :24:27.Webber and the leaders. I think he is consistent, but not a fight for

:24:28. > :24:32.the top five. Last season a bunch of you were

:24:32. > :24:37.racing together. Just now, he seems to be getting on terms with

:24:37. > :24:44.qualifying in particular. It took him a while to get his head around

:24:44. > :24:49.qualifying. How do you rate Gutierrez? He is in Formula One and

:24:49. > :24:54.I am out of Formula One. We cannot say, I think, that this man is a

:24:54. > :24:56.good quality speed and last year he was really competitive in

:24:57. > :25:02.qualifying. Maybe he was not a great was really competitive in

:25:02. > :25:07.racer and his team-mate last year looks ready and prepared. It seems

:25:07. > :25:11.like he struggled a little bit to have the speed at the beginning of

:25:11. > :25:18.the season, but he is coming back quicker and quicker and closer to

:25:18. > :25:28.Nico Hulkenberg. In the last few races he can have some good results.

:25:28. > :25:36.He is coming better. Sometimes we can see him just in front of Nico

:25:36. > :25:49.Hulkenberg. So I think he is getting better. He was not 100% ready to

:25:49. > :25:53.make the jump. Here in Formula One, he is struggling a bit, but he can

:25:53. > :25:57.have a good future. He is still young. He has time to get better and

:25:57. > :26:01.better if he can save the place. You can say the same for Sebastian

:26:01. > :26:03.Vettel. He is still young and getting better and better as he

:26:03. > :26:07.heads for his fourth World Championship at the age of 26. You

:26:07. > :26:11.are looking at the tyres and how they build up the heat through the

:26:11. > :26:14.Ss. He is coming through the two right-handers where we have seen

:26:14. > :26:19.problems and the left front really heats up a bit through these front

:26:19. > :26:24.two. What do you think of this camera? Do you find it useful? Yes,

:26:24. > :26:28.there is something really positive and really great. Sometimes it will

:26:28. > :26:32.be interesting to have a check at this in the race. I think that the

:26:32. > :26:37.quality of Sebastian Vettel is incredible. He starts really well.

:26:37. > :26:42.He is always in the first or second row and then he can jump everybody

:26:42. > :26:47.and stay in front of everybody with no traffic. We can see when you have

:26:47. > :26:50.traffic in front, you destroy, you are warming up too much the front

:26:50. > :26:55.tyres and you cannot recover and it is not easy.

:26:55. > :27:01.The exhaust heat from the car in front. We have not seen that one

:27:02. > :27:05.when you are following another car. That's great.

:27:05. > :27:10.He is following the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso while his main

:27:10. > :27:18.championship rival was the one he was following and you can see the

:27:18. > :27:21.exhaust glow on the Ferrari. The race simulations, it is not

:27:22. > :27:27.something the driver likes. Alonso's last lap was 1.42 whereas

:27:27. > :27:32.Sebastian Vettel is doing 1.39. Let's see what Mark Webber did here.

:27:32. > :27:36.A replay. He is running the harder compound tyre. He ran it a little

:27:36. > :27:44.bit too wide. He is cutting the grass! Trying to

:27:44. > :27:48.get the good run out of the corner, but you get one bit wrong and the

:27:49. > :27:52.whole lot goes wrong, doesn't it? Yes, for two or three corners, you

:27:52. > :28:01.are going to suffer there. You lose the perfect line. You are going to

:28:01. > :28:04.suffer a bit for sure. Presumably, are you doing part of

:28:04. > :28:09.the simulator work at the moment for the team, for Lotus? I am doing

:28:09. > :28:14.everything they need. We are doing a lot of simulating trying to make it

:28:14. > :28:27.as real as possible and it seems that is working well. We have

:28:27. > :28:32.roughly a bit and it seems it is useful for some drivers to be

:28:32. > :28:37.prepared to approach the race. Some drivers like Grosjean like it and

:28:38. > :28:44.Raikkonen doesn't like it. Kimi doesn't do the simulator? No.

:28:44. > :28:50.He doesn't know it. He doesn't want to use it. We respect his choice.

:28:51. > :28:55.That's his choice. Michael Schumacher found himself, he got a

:28:55. > :28:59.bit of travel sickness on the simulator. So it is perhaps

:28:59. > :29:05.something a new breed of drivers get used to more quickly than the

:29:05. > :29:10.drivers who grew up without these things. Maybe, it is something they

:29:10. > :29:15.don't want to get engaged with. We are inside the final five-and-a-half

:29:15. > :29:19.minutes. Max Chilton locked up there and once you have locked up once, it

:29:19. > :29:33.is easier to do it again. The last lap for Sebastian Vettel and Webber.

:29:33. > :29:37.Rosberg's last lap was a 1.38.5. Rosberg continues on his race

:29:38. > :29:41.simulation run. Kimi Raikkonen spun off in this session. He ended up

:29:42. > :29:48.beached in the gravel. He is not playing any further part. Romain

:29:48. > :29:56.Grosjean lapping at about 1.39.0. Not far off the frUning pace. --

:29:56. > :29:59.front running pace. I remember seeing your reaction in

:29:59. > :30:05.the Lotus garage when Raikkonen went past Grosjean and we were all going

:30:05. > :30:10.oh my goodness, because there was nearly contact? He did a good move.

:30:10. > :30:15.It was unbelievable. We were not expecting him to jump Grosjean. He

:30:15. > :30:21.had more used tyres. Grosjean was in the situation to try to attack back.

:30:21. > :30:24.It was the last thing we were thinking about. So... That Grosjean

:30:24. > :30:28.made a little mistake? A mistake and thinking about. So... That Grosjean

:30:29. > :30:37.Raikkonen, he is a great champion, he cannot have a mistake with him

:30:37. > :30:40.behind. He got the chance and he maintained it and Grosjean had no

:30:40. > :30:47.chance to get him back. Second and third, what a great

:30:47. > :30:58.result it was for the team. Still break points in the con onstructors

:30:58. > :31:02.championship. Ferriy are -- Ferrari and Mercedes are running third. Is

:31:02. > :31:06.there a belief you can challenge those two? We have the feeling that

:31:06. > :31:11.we are faster in the race. If the conditions keeps going like this,

:31:11. > :31:18.hot and sunshine, I think we can fight with everyone. The story is in

:31:18. > :31:21.the last few races we were always really competitive. More sometimes

:31:21. > :31:30.than Mercedes and Ferrari. If we can really competitive. More sometimes

:31:30. > :31:33.maintain the situation for longer I think we can come back. We are not

:31:33. > :31:37.far from the points and there is a lot of race remaining so we are in a

:31:37. > :31:42.good situation at the moment and we try to keep going.

:31:42. > :31:46.Good stuff. It sounts a lot in terms of -- it counts a lot in terms of

:31:46. > :31:49.money so we have to believe in it for sure.

:31:50. > :31:55.Yes, it is worth a lot of money. Looking at the long run times here.

:31:55. > :32:03.Alonso on the hard tyre. Consistent, but going away at the end of his

:32:03. > :32:08.run. Quick laps from Rosberg. Good lap times. We are riding on board,

:32:08. > :32:17.Rosberg. This is towards the end of his run on the mediums. He locked up

:32:17. > :32:25.the right front. On his last lap, he did a 1.38.4. He started the

:32:25. > :32:29.questionquence on a -- sequence on a 1.39.3. Good pace from Rosberg? If

:32:29. > :32:34.he can he can maintain the levels, 1.39.3. Good pace from Rosberg? If

:32:34. > :32:40.they can fight with everyone. Usually we saw in Korea that the

:32:40. > :32:45.Mercedes after a few laps on Friday, he was getting lower and lower and

:32:45. > :32:50.here, it seems they are come pet tifz until the end -- competitive

:32:50. > :32:55.until the end. I think they can fight. Usually in the last few races

:32:55. > :33:00.the idea we have after Friday, they were through also. I think they can

:33:00. > :33:08.be there. It looks promising that Mercedes

:33:08. > :33:11.could have descent race pace. TEAM RADIO: That was very patient,

:33:11. > :33:14.well done. That was very patient. I think he

:33:14. > :33:23.was dealing with traffic there. A slower lap on the last lap there.

:33:23. > :33:28.They are the team to beat. He is the guy to match because as we have seen

:33:28. > :33:33.from recent years he has this incredible record of this circuit.

:33:33. > :33:39.Four pole positions in a row. One more to match Michael Schumacher. He

:33:39. > :33:43.had five pole positions in a row did Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari

:33:43. > :33:47.days. That's another record that ebb seb is going to be able -- Sebastian

:33:47. > :33:54.Vettel is going to be able to match. He seems to be at the top of the

:33:54. > :34:01.tree in so many of the records. Another quick lap. 1.38.1. That's

:34:01. > :34:08.another quick lap indeed and the chequered flag has come out.

:34:09. > :34:14.Rosberg's last lap 1.36.6. A good run. We are with Nico Rosberg and we

:34:14. > :34:24.did see the lock-up and it is not all ideal.

:34:24. > :34:31.TEAM RADIO: Stay in gear. They are asking him not to short shift. The

:34:31. > :34:35.team deciding on the data that it is quicker not to do that. Yes.

:34:35. > :34:42.Sometimes, you know, in the race, you try to short shift. Just to save

:34:42. > :34:46.a bit of the car and try to make it last longer, but it seems that

:34:46. > :34:52.doesn't need it. We have got the current stint on the medium there.

:34:52. > :34:56.His first time lap of 40.2. 39s he went down to. This is an imwere he

:34:56. > :35:01.issive race run -- impressive race run. It looks as if Mercedes are

:35:01. > :35:08.looking after their tyres well. Let's see what the lap is. The film

:35:08. > :35:15.lap. -- final lap. Is it in the 38s again? Yes, 38.7. That, I think,

:35:15. > :35:20.Mercedes will be happy bearing in mind Ross Brawn told us his drivers

:35:20. > :35:26.locked up early in their race runs. They were able to do consistent lap

:35:26. > :35:30.times. They could give Red Bull a run. You are fairly confident that

:35:30. > :35:39.Lotus are going to be strong in race conditions as well? We could have a

:35:39. > :35:43.three -- we could have three teams fighting. Try to start #23 the --

:35:43. > :35:49.three -- we could have three teams start in the first. No one has

:35:49. > :35:53.beaten him to pole position in four years. A good practise session for

:35:53. > :36:07.Red Bull. They have ended up with first and second fastest times.

:36:07. > :36:15.Grosjean in fifth and Hamiliton sixth and Ricciardo seventh.

:36:15. > :36:22.Sutil was hyped his Force India team-mate.

:36:22. > :36:30.Bottas was 17th. Pic was the fastest of the young teams and Max Chilton

:36:30. > :36:36.completed the group. We saw Sergio Perez injury himself slightly. He

:36:36. > :36:40.had an ice pack after going off in the McLaren. As ever, the Suzuka

:36:40. > :36:43.will bite if you get it wrong! We have seen evidence of that in

:36:43. > :36:49.practise today. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? We will bring

:36:50. > :36:54.practise and qualifying and we are looking forward to it. A big

:36:54. > :36:59.punishment for small errors and Ben is right. What a session. If only

:36:59. > :37:05.all races were that exciting. It was all going on and not just for the

:37:05. > :37:08.younger drivers. Grosjean managed to save something, but Maldonado

:37:08. > :37:13.couldn't save this one? No, Maldonado couldn't save it. This ran

:37:13. > :37:17.wide and ran out of road. Once you have gone in there too quickly, you

:37:17. > :37:22.can't get the car to turn so into the tyre barrier. A lot of damage.

:37:22. > :37:26.Sergio Perez got the right side of the car on to the artificial grass

:37:26. > :37:42.and there is no grip out there and he is a passenger. A lot of damage.

:37:42. > :37:46.Grosjean, and this was the tail wind. The win was gusting a lot up

:37:46. > :37:50.the back of the car and you lose downforce and once you get off line,

:37:50. > :37:55.again, it is so difficult because the track is dirty. One bit of

:37:55. > :37:57.oversteer can really send you off. It must be difficult for the

:37:57. > :38:02.engineers to set the cars up, because it is a massive compromise

:38:02. > :38:05.here, isn't it p? Yeah, the car is really on the limit. It is rear

:38:05. > :38:08.limited. You need the front downforce to make sure the car turns

:38:08. > :38:13.because it is one corner after another and the car is always, a

:38:13. > :38:19.little bit of oversteer and that's how you get a good balance and good

:38:19. > :38:23.lap time. Do you reckon they have got that out of way, or do you think

:38:23. > :38:29.we will see more of the same tomorrow? I doubt it. It is the best

:38:29. > :38:35.Friday practise that I have seen for a long time. It could be a good one.

:38:35. > :38:41.The action for you tomorrow on BBC Two at 2. Am and then we will have

:38:41. > :38:46.qualifying for you at 5am in the morning on BBC One. The Japanese

:38:46. > :38:51.Grand Prix, the first two prepractise sessions have started

:38:51. > :38:56.off with a bang with everybody having an excursion or an issue. Oh,

:38:56. > :39:03.this is going to be an exciting one. See you tomorrow!