The Spanish Grand Prix - Practice 1 Formula 1

Catalunya, a few minutes until the cast take to the track for the

Spanish Grand Prix. It is going to be wet. This is not what we signed

up to! I am going to take refuge in Red Bull's humble abode. The Spanish

Grand Prix is the fifth one on the calendar. Next, Monaco, and that is

us in Europe until such temper, apart from a quick jaunt to Canada.

Then, a frantic end to the season. Lots of points to play for, but for

world champions are at the top of the table. Sebastian Vettel is

bidding for his fourth consecutive world title. Fernando Alonso would

love to win his home grand prix. Lotus have had a great start to the

season. McLaren are languishing behind Force India. This is an

important day for the teams, they have all brought up dates, can they

evaluate them with the weather? is the start of the European races,

most people will have a planned update. Most of them will do

back-to-back and gather data to see if they are reducing downforce --

producing downforce. The driver looks -- loves to feel the new

parts. The teams will still go through the ritual of putting them

on. We would not mind if we were expecting a wet race on Sunday, but

it does not look like that is the case. We want to see good,

competitive racing, but the teams want to get the data and see if the

parts work, and plan the next stage. It is about how to plan the future

development, that is the important thing. You cannot move forward until

the things you have done work. Staying dry in the commentary box,

and, lots to look forward to! It is fantastic to have Alan with us

this weekend, a double normal winner. Welcome to BBC coverage.

This circuit is so well-known to the teams, what about from a driver's

point of view? The first time I came here was in 1992. I did not enjoy

it, it was bumpy and tricky, it had long corners. But the more you drive

it, the more you feel the third corner, hanging on, the grip has

improved since then, and it produces better racing. It will be

interesting with the PRS zones. will get plenty of opportunity to

look more at the circuit, but it is a damp start.

We are going to head to the pitlane and drink you the news from there.

Let's look at Red Bull, see what they have got. I will take a wonder

and see what new bits I can say. It is always difficult in these

conditions. We will go through to the pitlane.

The tri- fears our Indy cars, getting ready to come out onto the

circuit. The green light has just come on. This is normal procedure, a

90 minute practice session to start the weekend. The first opportunity

to sample the track, and our first opportunity to see what updates

might have been brought. Some of them are hidden away. There are a

huge fans in the grandstand and a fume or in the covered grandstand.

The rain came down heavily earlier, but it is spotting at the moment. It

is officially a wet track, so that means something in terms of the tyre

allocations. Yes, you rarely ring tyres for each team, and this is a

perfect condition for the intermediates. But because this has

been declared wet, they will get the extra set of tyres, so hopefully we

will see a lot of running. A lovely view over the circuit. We are just

outside Barcelona, not in the city. It is only a short drive from one of

the great cultural cities of Europe. It is a popular venue. There are a

few changes to the tyres. An extra set of slick tyres available, but

not a set that they can race on. is a development set. The teams are

interested to run it, but you have to give it back at the end of

Friday. He is on the full wet tyres, the blue writing on the side. Let's

watch him do a practice start in wet conditions. He was able to get a bit

of traction down, and then you could hear it's bouncing off the limiter.

The circuit is greasy, but they will move on to the intermediates

quickly. Some of them are on intermediates. Mark Webber is doing

a practice start. There is a mixture already. Coming back to the joy

tyres, they have to give it back at the end of today, they cannot run it

tomorrow, but they will be keen to try to use it, because they will not

damage their race allocation, and it will give them an idea what the

company are trying to do for the rest of the season. It is key, we

have seen so much difference in how the teams get the best out of the

tyres. The racing tyres this weekend are the hard and medium, but even be

hard tyres have changed. Some of the teams will have to get used to that.

We will see how that develops as we go through the course of the

weekend. Mark Webber has had a good record here. Only Kimi Raikkonen has

won here more than once of the current crop of drivers. He won four

from Rory and McLaren. He took the last victory for each of those teams

here. Neither of them have won here since then. He could become a winner

in a third different chassis, for Lotus. It has been an interesting

start to the season for them. came back from rallying, he did

exceptionally well. They have made upgrades, and they have had a

consistent start. This circuit should suit the characteristics of

the Lotus. Can they get it right in qualifying to get him in front so he

can use the advantage? It is gentle on the tyres, it looks to be a

driveable car. Lotus were in good shape here last year. But he left it

late, he qualified fourth, he finished third. He caught Fernando

Alonso at the end. When you look back, you think, how did Pastor

Maldonado win the Spanish Grand Prix? But he was rarely in through

the whole weekend. Pastor Maldonado... It was Fernando

Alonso's tyres that were going at the end. We expected the Spaniard to

take it home, and he could not do it. He was beaten fairly and

squarely. Nobody felt that that Williams had won a grand prix,

especially because it was Frank Williams' 70th birthday. It was a

fairytale victory. They were quick, but the results were not there, so

this started their championship campaign. They need it now. A mishap

already, but Roman corrosion and gets it back again. Yes, a bit like

McLaren. We are looking for the big upgrades. But now, looking at these

installation laps, it is a mixture of thing does not have gone out on

the green intermediate tyres and those on the wet tyres. A difference

to how the tyre response in wet conditions. You'd using a mixture of

wet tyres and intermediate tyres? Yes. Roman grocer locked up. It has

switched ends on him. That is more than likely a bit of aquaplaning.

The braking zone has got a lot of rubber on it. We know from our

previous experience that water and rubber make slippery conditions.

cars are now being pushed back into the garages. It will be quiet now.

The teams are looking at every detail. A lot of the cars have new

parts. They will also be checking the sensors are working correctly.

They will want to get the data. Even though it is difficult to get true

information, they will want to know that all of the sensors are reading

perfectly so they can get the maximum amount of information.

Daniel Ricciardo came home in seventh place this season, but we

will see what Toro Rosso can do this weekend. They are delighted to have

scored those points in the midfield battle. It is tight between Souder,

Toro Rosso, Williams... Williams have not scored any points after

four races, it is a very disappointing start to the season

for them. But coming back to this track where they won last year has

got to give them confidence. A silver colouring on the Mercedes,

they are trying to maximise the Silver arrows look. What they are

looking for is race performance, they have been showing the

qualifying performance, they have had pole positions, and they have

been fast in dry qualifying, but they are looking for the race

consistency. That is the key, to be fast in qualifying and to have the

longevity in the tyres. The teams are learning, but Mercedes have made

a big step up from last year. This man has been part of that. It is the

principal fact that they have gone for the fastest guy over one lap in

the world, there are no excuses, they have had management changes,

and they have made an improvement. But there is a difference between

making improvements, being on pole position and winning races. Go to

the BBC Formula 1 website, we have had an extensive interview about how

Mercedes are being run. Later today, Lewis Hamilton's latest column will

be on the website. Go and see what he has to say, coming into this

weekend. He has never won the Spanish Grand Prix. Last year, he

did not get to keep the pole position. That was one of the ones

where he ran out of fuel on the in-lap, there is a minimum amount of

fuel that you have to be able to supply to the FIA and that was not

for Lewis to think about doing something else. He's doing some

steady-state running, explain what he's up to. This is an aerodynamic

test, you need to keep the car at a constant speed to get the downforce

information and make sure that it all correlates, as they expect.

There will be some updates on the car, it will be different to what it

was in the previous races, and to make sure the wind tunnel, the CfD

and the similar it all match. It is tricky in these conditions, because

the spray, off the tyres does give an effect, and it is the best they

can do. There will be plenty of people doing that down the main

straight. Sebastian Vettel coming out onto the track now. Although

Mark Webber has been on pole position twice a in the past,

Vettel's qualifying test is second on the grid. They have both have one

win apiece around as Barcelona track, they will be happy to be back

here, and it should be a track that suits the Red Bull. It has one of

what they call a rake, an aerodynamic brake on the back of the

car, on the rear wing, and that is filled with sensor equipment, just

checking the airflow around the back of the car. Even though it is behind

the rear wheels, it is critical that they know how pair is flowing, how

the diffuser, how the underneath of the car and the wings are all

interacting with each other. It looks clumsy, but it will only be on

for a few laps. Sebastian Vettel has never been on pole position here,

but he has had plenty in his career, as Lee pointed out Reggie spoke to

him yesterday. You have had pole position in a third of your races,

but not all your own way this season, but this is a race where

pole position matters. Yes, one third speaks for me, and the other

two thirds against me, then! Yeah, I think we need to get into the rhythm

this weekend we have a new tyre to worry about, a Glock new parts, not

too much, but some bits and pieces here and there, so plenty of work

tomorrow. And then we will obviously try to build up to the race, which

is the most important, because you collect points in the race. But

quali, for sure, no doubt is important, and BIA you qualify, the

better it is. Nevertheless, on Sunday, tyres will play a key role

again, and starting a bit further back, if you have the pace in the

race, you can still have a strong result.

BEN: He is on track right now, and we are waiting to see the first

timed lap from anyone as yet, because they are just doing

installation laps at this point. Of course, two pole position is to

start the season in Australia and in Malaysian, but in the last couple of

events, of course, it has been Mercedes. Gary has managed to make

his way to pit lane and had a look, what are you seeing? I am just add

Red Bull, having a look at the front wing on Mark Webber's, Crow. They

have a modification, quite a neat little change. This gap actually

makes the front wing, it has six gaps and seven components, and a

secondary inner endplate, a vertical fin. This area is critical, it has

the blockage of the front tyre behind it, and when you turn the

steering will, exchanges the airflow. Unless you get consistency,

the driver does not have confidence to turn the wheel into the corner.

He needs to know the downforce is consistent, so they are working

really hard in this area, and the front wing on a current Formula One

car is the most important thing. You sort of characterise the airflow to

the rest of the car with the front wing. Unless you get it right, you

have trouble getting the diffuser or the side pods or anything else to

work. Obviously Red Bull working on that area. We are either not board

with Sebastian Vettel at the moment, very slippery still. -- we

are riding on board. Very slippery, and when he has any lateral load, he

gets a bit of a steer. This feels like you are driving to the shops in

these conditions, because it is so, so slow, but if you are trying to

get into it at this moment, especially through this last sector,

as he comes into the pits, it is quite easy to loop it around and

spin the road backwards. Gary, heading into the pit lane, maybe an

opportunity for you to have a look around the car as he so. Yes, we

were talking about this aerodynamic rake on the car, we are trying to

get a closer look. It is for measuring the airflow at any point

on the car. You can see the aluminium frame between the inside

of the rear wheel and the middle of the car. It is a very important

area, because the airflow from the exhaust pipes goes through there.

Trying to Max the airflow with the telling rains and pieces on the

bodywork, it is very important. You have to help the airflow to do what

it really wants to do. If you do not help it, it has not got the energy

to do it itself, it is about recognising that, putting that into

CFD, you get an answer, you will get a better car out of it. This is

about research. These sort of things are allowed to race on a Friday,

because it is classified as a Tess Daly. You will see things relative

to this in a few weeks time. -- it is classified as a test day. A few

tweets coming in, thank you very much, you can send us questions or

comments. Zoe saying that the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plane,

I think the teams would rather it is dry because of all of these bits

they have got on the cars, but for the race itself, it could make life

interesting. The Ferrari looks different, it looks like a new front

wing, we will get Gary to check on that. The Sauber looks different,

the front of the Sauber, and we will look at that later. They have

mounted the cameras differently, right at the tip of the nose on the

Sauber. One viewer saying it has been an agonising three-week brake,

looking forward to improvements for McLaren. I think everyone is looking

forward to that. Chris asking how the weather is looking for second

practice, and there is a bit of rain forecast, but we're hoping it will

be drier later this afternoon and for the weekend. A bit of rain

forecast for Saturday, some people were saying, but we will have to

wait and on that one. Hulkenberg is the first to do a lap time, 1:50

1.6, how is the Sauber looking at the moment? The Sauber has been

struggling all year. It has not had the grip and consistency, and the

two cars set up with different rear wings. Hulkenberg has a dip in the

centre of the rear wing, it goes down. Gutierrez in the sister car,

he has got the standard wing, so they are still trying to work out

their development route. I think they have identified the problems,

but they have not identify the solutions. Lee is in pit lane with

Paul di Resta. Paul, standing around at the moment, what are the guys

working on behind us? There seems to be frantic work in most of the

garages. I think it is standard install. The weather has thrown it

up for everybody. When you have got new bits, we have got yellow stuff

to give us an idea where the car is, but it is just the usual with the

brakes, making sure everything is OK, and hopefully we will get round

the weather clears up. How much does this hamper your evaluation?

Anywhere, you should know your car by now. The only thing is it's put

to one session behind if you're not confident about your bits, if you

run them in FP2, you could give yourself quite a lot of work to do

tomorrow morning. You missed out on the podium in Bahrain, you went back

to the team and told you needed a faster car, is that what they have

managed to do over the last couple of weeks and since the winter?

not going to happen overnight, but everybody knows that if we had a car

that was two tenths faster in the race, we would have got third place.

Unfortunately, at the end of the race we were a bit vulnerable and

Grosjean had a different strategy. You cannot be disappointed with

that, that is the car that won the first race this year, and we were

fighting until the end. We will do the best we can, whether

fourth-place is possible I don't know. I think it would be

unrealistic to say that is where we are at the moment, but we will be

pushing to be in the top eight, because we can be there on a

consistent basis. What do you do now? Are you looking at what the

other guys are putting on their cars customer The pictures do a far

better job of that. We will make the best of our machine in the garage

and tried to work with that. Have a great weekend, thank you. So Paul di

Resta looking pretty happy, pretty confident. He is smiling, it is a

big smile, and he should be after his Bahrain results, because to some

extent that was the start of this season, because Sutil came in with

no pressure and has done, we have to say, a very, very good job, and that

put a certain amount of focus back on to Paul. A decently pulled it out

of the bag in Bahrain. There was a point where I thought he was going

to get his first podium, but we are going to have to wait for that one.

Lee, you have got some news from Williams. They were just telling me

they have got new front wings, new rear wings, new clause. Some of the

parts they tested last week are actually just being put onto the car

and have been developed in the last week. Both drivers are out of their

cars at the moment, Frank Williams is in the garage at the moment, but

don't forget that this is a team who came here last day, won this race,

and at this year they have had a car go out in Q1 every time in

qualifying. Pastor Maldonado has failed to score a point as well, and

he was quite despondent when I spoke to him yesterday. There is run Dick

work going on at the Williams garage to try to give them an edge on their

rivals. -- frantic work. It is a horribly tough start to the year for

them, not scoring any points. Seven times winner of the Spanish Capri

over the years, including last year. Great to see Sir Frank Williams

here, and there was a special presentation yesterday by Renault.

All the pistons from that race winning engine were taken out,

mounted on plaques and given to key members of the Williams team. The

only trouble is they have turned Frank into a Frenchman, because they

spelt his name Franc. Nevertheless, a lovely touch from Renault. He does

speak fluent French, so he will understand that in many ways.

special weekend, of course, they did have that nasty turn at the end of

that race meeting, when they had the fire in the pit garage. That was a

big downer on a hugely successful day, but the good news is that

no-one was seriously injured. Gary, I think you have now made your way

down to Mercedes, what are you seeing? There is a lot of work going

on on Nico Rosberg's car, on the exhaust system. It blows exhaust

gases out and onto the rear brake ducts. When the driver sort of puts

the throttle down, you get more downforce directly on the rear

tyre. That also helps the diffuser work, because it acts as a bit of a

seal. You get a lot more rear grip. The balance of that between it

working well and the engine working well is the diameter of the exhaust

pipe, with a smaller pipe, you get more downforce, with a bigger one,

you get more engine power. Most teams will play around the diameter

of the exhaust system to optimise what they want at that point in

time. They will want to get the data from this session as to whether the

smaller tailpipe gives more downforce or not, it is one of those

things that is very subjective, they need to work on it now because it is

the only time to get the circumstances to prove it to you

data wise. Thank you very much for that. A lot of interest in Lewis

Hamilton, what he's going to do this weekend, are they going to have the

kind of race pace, this is what he had to say yesterday afternoon.

of new parts on the car this weekend, how crucial is this race

weekend for your championship chances? Every race is crucial, so I

do not think this one is particularly more crucial than

others, but it is definitely a good place for us to find where our

baseline is, and of course we need strong results going into the

European season stop it is an important race for everyone, the

start of the European season is probably one of the toughest parts

of the year, so especially as we come of such a long brake, I really

hope that we get on right foot. We have not solved the tyre issues from

Bahrain, but we have definitely improved, and we are improving all

the time. A bit of confidence from Lewis Hamilton, and what is

interesting is that they had a very good test at Barcelona before the

season began. Yes, they came here and did a heck of a lot of miles,

the second most mileage just behind Sauber, and we saw that Lewis was

able to get into the car, throw it around, something that does help

them in qualifying, but it maybe hinders them a little bit when it

actually comes to the race because the card uses the rear tyre that

little bit too much. But they seem to be working on that, that is the

main key for them, to try to keep some of the performance for

qualifying but be able to give them the race car for the whole race

duration. What can you see from McLaren, Gary? They are getting left

behind in the championship. Everything they had done on the car

looked positive to me, the team were enthusiastic. The one thing was a

primitive front wing, and they said that they would have a new one as

soon as possible. We just had a look at the Red Bull, how complicated the

front wing is, but the McLaren one is very basic. It has got three main

elements, but the Red Bull one has got seven. The more gaps you have,

you will lose downforce, but you get consistent downforce. The gaps are a

compromise between total downforce and consistency. McLaren have three

elements. It gets close to the ground, it is a big percentage of

the front downforce that they lose. The front wing customises the

airflow to the rest of the car, and this is not up to today's current

thinking. If you look at Harare, Red Bull all Mercedes, this is a step

find. Do you think that this plus all of the others will be enough to

leapfrog them up one or two positions? In the last race, they

were .6 seconds behind the Red Bull, which is a heck of a gap. This car

makes better use of airflow. It is more aggressive, a higher chassis.

They are trying to create more downforce. At the moment, they are

trying to fix the diffuser which has a problem, but the problem has been

caused by the airflow from the front. Fixing the problem but not

the thing that is instigated the problem. They will get a new front

wing to work well, but now, they are putting a bandage on the problem.

Yesterday afternoon, we talked to Jenson Button about the importance

of the upgrades on the car this weekend.

We are back in Barcelona, the start of the European season, how much

rests on this? We are hoping for an improvement. There are a lot of new

parts on the car, but we have not driven it yet, so we do not know how

it feels. The data tells you one thing, but you have to feel it in

reality. It is so competitive at the moment. The smallest change can make

quite a big difference, so we have got to hope for that. Is it a

question of morale? If this package does not work, how will it affect

the guys? Whether it works or not, it is easy to say it works or it

does not, but it is a lot more competitive than that. Some parts

might work, some might not. We hope it all does. But if you find some

parts that work, you know the direction you need to keep working

again. Whatever happens, I do not think they will get down. We are

very good at improving throughout the season. Even if this weekend

does not go to plan, we will still keep pushing. We have won many

races, still fighting for victory. I thought he was weary looking

yesterday. It has been a tough start to the season, not the start that he

envisaged. They had success last year. He was very subdued. McLaren

won the last two races of last year, they had developments over the

winter, they expected to come out fighting. Jenson Button one the

first Grand Prix last season, but this season was a complete contrast.

He does not have the confidence that the upgrades will do the job. He

will be looking further down the line for the next set before he

feels the confidence to push the car to the limit. It is still the early

stages of practice, the fastest time was set by Nico Hulkenberg, but that

is the only flying lap. Lewis Hamilton is still doing a steady

pace. Everybody just experimenting a bit, especially with the conditions.

Thank you for your tweets. Adam Rogers says, the rear wing blogs

different on caterer and the rush-hour. A couple of questions for

Gary. Kenny says, what team do you suspect should theoretically do best

here overall this weekend? Harare is very strong. Fernando

Alonso lost two very good points with the front wing damage and the

TRS staying open in the last race. He is Spanish, it is the Spanish

grand prix, so I think the Ferrari will be the package. It is

competitive enough to be racing with Red Bull and Mercedes. Fernando

Alonso does not let the reliability issues get him down. He is fighting

for every point, Ferrari for me, and Fernando Alonso especially.

question from Nick, does the rain make any difference to the airflow?

Yes, there is a film of water on the track. If you imagine the normal

surface is rough, the rain can fill that up and it makes it smooth. It

changes the downforce characteristics. You will hear

drivers talking about aquaplaning, that is the flat surface sucking

itself to the ground because of the film of water. The track is only

damp at the moment, so it will only be slippery. You have got a lot of

sensors on the car, the conditions on the track will not change in five

minutes, so you can get reasonable data. But to find out if the driver

likes the parts, it will make a difference. You have got some news

on Sergio Perez? I spoke to him yesterday, it was

interesting to see his body language. He has been told by

McLaren that he needed to be more aggressive. That looked the case in

Bahrain. But yesterday, I asked if he and Jenson Button had spoken

about their clashes, he said, we were both too aggressive. He said

that they had talked it through, they have solved the problems, he

will not change his driving style, but he needs to rein it in

occasionally. This time last year, Sergio Perez had doubled the number

of points when he was at Sauber. He did not seem to know that, he looked

surprised, and he said he still thinks this was the right move for

his career, and he trusts that this team can give him the tools to

become a world champion in the future. It played on his mind a bit,

but as long as the team are working hard and as long as Jenson Button is

struggling a bit, that will give him confidence in a backwards sort of

way. We will keep an eye on that

relationship. A bit of slipping and sliding with a view cars. Jean-Eric

Vergne, teamed up with Daniel Ricciardo, a big season for them, as

they try to beat each other. Both of them think that they could move to

Red Bull at the end of the season. They are both good quality drivers,

they came through the junior ranks extremely successfully. Gary, you

have made your way to Ferrari? the front wing. You can see on our

left-hand side, seven elements, six gaps, seven components. There are

two slot gaps. They are trying to reduce the sensitivity when it gets

near the ground. It is important to get consistent airflow. It is not

just about having airflow. They even have gaps in the bottom of the front

wing plate. They are pushing, they know that they need to improve on

qualifying. That is the one area where they have shown a bit of

weakness. Fernando Alonso is on home territory, but he did talk to us

yesterday about the statistics of starting up front and how important

that is. This is a race where pole position

or the front row has been important. In the last 16 years, it has been

one from the front row. Can you get onto the front this weekend? That

might be too much. But it is time to break this 16 years if that is the

case. With the degradation, many things can happen in the race. It is

more important to have good tyre management than having a bit of

extra time in qualifying. We have a new hard tyre for Friday but we need

to understand. We only have one day to have all of the information

possible. The last time you raced in Spain, you won the race. Explain the

emotions of racing in front of your fans, because they pack into this

place. It is unbelievable. It is impossible to repeat the feeling in

any other victory. When you win the home Grand Prix, it is special, you

enjoy it for yourself, the fans, the team. Hopefully we can repeat it

again, feeling the same dream, in your home Grand Prix, you dream that

you can be up on the podium, and we will try for that.

Fernando Alonso hopeful of a good result. They were referring to the

victory at Valencia last year. He has won here in the past, but it was

a queue years ago. Romain Grosjean got a message, your pace is great.

He had a little moment of, nothing serious. Felipe Massa is the second

fastest. But only five drivers have established a lap time currently.

it beginning to dry up? I expect to see many more people coming out,

because the spray coming off the tyres is significantly less than the

installation laps. Adrian Sutil has made a good return to the sport, but

he has been out of luck in the last few events. He got tired I Felipe

Massa in Bahrain. He had a great race pace later, but once he was not

far down the order, there was not much he could do. He got hit in

China. I just wanted to talk with you and Gary about the relative pace

of the cars that we have seen. You have put some figures together,

Gary, showing that Nico Rosberg is actually over role -- overruled the

fastest. Sebastian Vettel is about more than one behind, and then Lewis

Hamilton. Your figures demonstrate that they are about 0.320.4 off the

pace at the moment, Harare. fastest lap completed by any driver

over the weekend, and it is averaged out over the four races. So one

swallow does not make a summer. But both of the Mercedes cars are quick.

Especially Nico Rosberg, he has never quite got it right in

qualifying. But through the weekend, they are quick. Ferrari need a bit

of catching up, but not as much as the other ones. What stands out for

you with those figures? What stands out for me, Mercedes have made a big

improvement in your pace and consistency. They need to transfer

that into points. Secondly, Kimi Raikkonen has been faster than

Romain Grosjean. It was the other way round last year. Kimi Raikkonen

is coming back to what we saw when he was at McLaren and Ferrari.

RADIO: It is still looking damp. There are three sectors on the

circuit, and his engineer is looking at the relative pace in the

different sectors. He is giving him the point is, where he needs to

improve. The third sector, the last part of the circuit, the most

slippery, because it is the slowest, that is where he needs to

work. It looks as though he might have had a moment there. That is

Pastor Maldonado in front of Fernando Alonso. Romain Grosjean is

still the quickest. Fernando Alonso is slipping and sliding. He might

either come in or get some space. Yes, he was just about to blockade

the last part of his lap. Adrian Sutil a moment ago. Going wide, that

is Astroturf, and it gets saturated with water, it will be significantly

more slippery. There is a little bit of a rise and drop there as well.

Yes, it is a big braking corner, because you come out of the long

right-hander, and that means there is a lot of rubber from the dry

grating. It basically makes it very slippery, and it is easy to lock a

brake. But because you have got such a big run-off area, you have got a

get out of jail card. Yellow in the last chicane, I think it is a fake

one. A bit of information for Alonso, a smiling Sergio Perez, and

neither of the McLaren drivers are busy at the moment, just watching

the action, what action there is. Fernando Alonso using the wet line,

going right around the outside on the approach to the corner. He is

basically searching for grip on the circuit, and he keeps away from the

standard dry line, missing the apex completely because he wants to get

onto the cleaner parts of the circuit which has not been Robert

in. He has gone right around Campsa, that is an old karting thing. That

is something you learn when you are 11 or 12 years old, braking

completely on the inside. Barely two tenths of a second quicker at this

point. It is working for him, finding be slightly drier, more

grippy parts of the circuit. That is not the conventional line, he has

this very interesting style of driving, where he uses the front

tyres to really work the car. Great stuff there. Down at the pits, Lee

has caught up with a driver who is back out for Caterham, Heikki

Kovalainen. Heikki, nice to see you, not the most productive morning so

far, tell us what the guys were doing to the car. We had a small

issue with the rear, a mechanical issue, so they are going to fix

that. Hopefully it doesn't rain and we get some dry running at the end,

hopefully I am not missing out too much. You have been brought in to

help evaluate party and in Bahrain, but the weather does not help

things. Not right now, but again towards the end of the session we

hope to get some laps in. We really need to try to evaluate them, and a

few dry laps would help. Nice to see you back in a Formula One car, how

much have you been missing it? lot! I had the opportunity to come

back earlier, do this job earlier, but I was not interested until I was

at home for about three months. So it is good to be back. You are

telling our view is that being a spectator is tougher than being an

F1 driver. It is really nice! I never wanted to leave in the first

place, you know. I was not fed up with Formula One. In a way, it does

not feel like I am coming back, it feels like I should have been here

all along. Do you use the rest of the weekends to tell teams who are

available, you want to be back in F1? Not really, I am not actively

talking to anybody, just doing the job for Caterham right now. Thanks,

Haiti. Thank you, Lee. A bit of a right front lock-up into the tight

infield left-hander. It is a classic thing for the wet, the outside

tyre, the one on the slippery rubber line, and you will see that more

often now that DRS is enabled, so therefore they can use it on the

start-finish straight, as we see Mark Webber coming through the

detection zone. Then he goes into the activation zone and should be

able to open it over the line, the slot gap opens, a little bit less

drag, faster speed. Alonso fastest, Webber second quickest. Grosjean

third, Raikkonen, Massa, Gutierrez, Sutil, Di Resta and Maldonado, that

is the top ten. A couple more of your comments on Twitter, Wayne

says, has any team brought any radical changes, completely

different from anyone else? I think that is pretty unlikely, because the

red Lake is so tight, we are near the end of regulations. Gary, I will

get you to comment on that, but also add to that the question from

Michael Dunn which says, do you think that the rain helps or hinders

the newer teams, and why would that be? Well, to answer that question,

it depends on what you are talking about. In a race or qualifying, it

is about pulling something out of the bag for the smaller or newer

teams. Conditions change dramatically June be one hour of

qualifying, and it can change to magically during the race. If you

are a small team, I like the challenge of that, because if you

can do something different from the big teams, it is an opportunity to

get one over on them, and there is nothing more satisfying, that makes

it all worthwhile. Looking at the Lotus at the moment, one of the big

stories coming into this weekend, certainly from the inside point of

view, is that technical director James Allison has now left Lotus.

Now, he is a key guy, isn't he? You have watched his career, he started

out with Benetton, went to Ferrari when Michael Schumacher was winning

championships in the early 2000s, then he was with Renault when Alonso

was winning. We are riding out with Jimmy, slipping and sliding around a

bit. What are your thoughts on James Allison leaving? Yes, I rate him

very highly, the Renault has been a very good car. They have that

exhaust concept coming up the front of the side pods three years ago,

and initially it was a very good concept, but the unfortunate thing

was there was not much of a development direction left with it.

When the other teams got their blown diffuser staff working well, Lotus

were left behind. But I read James highly. It is a very difficult

thing, because no desire a small team in reality. -- Lotus are a

small team in reality. It is a family type operation, and James was

able to steer that ship very well. Going to another team, Ferrari,

McLaren, Mercedes or Red Bull, he will not have the same open door as

far as steering the ship. He may have more money and more budget,

that kind of stuff, but it is a difficult decision to go and become

a cog in the machine, as opposed to being the one cog. You have really

got to... I wish him all the best, because he is one of the best in the

pitlane. Where do you think he is going? Any ideas? From my point of

view, an ideal position would be at Red Bull, mainly because Adrian

Newey has been there for ever, and he wants to do other things in his

life. We are all getting old, and the challenge of the new regulations

for 2014 is something that will inspire Adrian to stay on again,

that will be for a couple of years, and I think if James went there, he

could blend in very well, the same kind of approach, he is a deep

thinker, a vision guy, as opposed to some of the other guys, who have to

rely on the data. If I was James Allison, I would be looking very

closely at Red Bull, but whether jet Red Bull want to do that, I don't

know, but they need to do something, because Adrian is not

going to be there forever. Meanwhile, we have been entertained

by some interesting driving from Kimi Raikkonen, both Lotus is

looking quick at the moment. First and third at the moment, but we are

on board with Jimmy, his inputs were nice and gentle, and the car seems

to have good traction, so it puts the power down well out of the last

corner, not squirming around, so that means they are working the rear

tyre in a good direction, which means for the race, they could be

quite good if it is dry. They have certainly got confidence here, I

think, let's listen in. Enable LPC, bottom right button. The usual,

leaving us getting as to what they are talking about with all the

settings changes the drivers are capable of making. It was

interesting that Lewis simple five a lot of the buttons on the steering

wheel when he moved to Mercedes, something he did quite early on.

steering wheel is a busy little thing. I know our sports car

steering wheel, we can just over 100 things on the carp from the wheel,

so from that point of view, you want to make it as simply stick as

possible, because you are travelling 100 metres per second coming down

the start-finish straight, so you don't have a lot of time to look

down, playing with things. You need to instinctively know where it is

and what to do with it. A nice camera on the crash helmet of

Valtteri Bottas, as he takes us through the first couple of corners,

talk us through it. Coming into the long right-hander, this is flat out

in the dry, he is wide from the curb so that he misses that dry rubber

line, he gets the grip. Tone four is tricky... Do not use DRS on the

first lap and the next lap, OK? The next lap you can use it. Massa being

told not to use DRS for the next two lapse. This is the hairpin, where

some drivers like to get to the curb and some just miss it, but you do

not seem to lose much time before you come down into the left -hand. A

big oversteer moment, a huge curb, if you touch that, you have damaged

the front wing. Then the second DRS zone for this weekend, coming down

into there. I do not think this one will work, it is too quick a corner,

nearly flat out coming into the last sector, which is really delicate

stuff, nice, gentle on the throttle, being progressive with all your

inputs, not to overstress the tyres on the front, now going on to the

throttle on the rear. Lots of oversteer again! As you come into

the last corner, listen to the engine, it is just so gentle and

smooth on the throttle, no aggression in these applications

whatsoever. Two wheels on the curb and then comes through the last

corner, and then he has got the 700 metres straight to blast down into

turn one. Across the line goes beyond thin, Valtteri Bottas, none

of the rookies have scored a point in the championship. You were

chatting to him yesterday. Yes, I was, and not having scored a point

is weighing heavily on his mind at the moment. He knows, as a young

driver, it is so competitive. He joined a race winning team at the

start of the year, and now he has not scored a point. There is a lot

of pressure to prove your worth in Formula One, when you do not have

the car, you do not have the tools. He came into Formula One with a big

reputation, he is managed by Mika Hakkinen and also by Toto Wolff,

interestingly, who has many fingers in many pies informal one at the

moment! He knows he has got to do something special to further his

career and be given the chance to go on and, as he says, hopefully win a

world championship in the future. is a great talent, but difficult to

show what you can do when the car is not up there. Allan, a question from

a regular contributor, as you have seen both Formula One and WDC, is

there much transfer between the two forms of motorsport? They are very

different, because in Formula One it is very much a restricted

regulation, and therefore I would have said you are making small

changes, finite changes, whereas with sports car racing, 24-hour, the

world endurance and, the regulations are open. We have got a diesel

hybrid car, it worked through the front wheels to give 4-wheel-drive,

whereas our main competitor has a petrol engine, a hybrid that works

through the rear, completely different philosophies. The styling

of the car is recently Simla, but underneath the skin there is

technology that I know for a pack comes onto my road car in six months

or 18 months time. That is a little bit less the case, you do not hear

many engines revving that high. trying to catch a little bit from

Hulkenberg. The technology transfer is interesting. You had a busy

time, a great win at Silverstone. This is Massa moment ago. A little

bit of a grassy moment. It was a bit wet at Silverstone that weekend.

has bits of rain all the time at Silverstone. A replay, he gets on

the curb on the right, sending him to the left. Not necessarily a big

is due, but he lost a bit of time coming into the right-hander at turn

nine. So Silverstone was a good result for you, the British Grand

Prix at the end of June is the week after Le Mans, so for a lot of

British motorsport fans, and many make the trip to France, and then

maybe do Silverstone, quite a week of double big events. It is a

drier, but we hope Silverstone will be dry this year, but with Le Mans,

80,000 Brits and 250,000 in total going across, and then having the

celebration at Silverstone, maybe a British victory as well at that

particular run, too, then I think that is going to be a nice period in

June. It is going to be great, I am really looking forward to it. I was

at Silverstone last week, a glorious day, absolutely stunning, so a bit

more of that would be wonderful. Silverstone looked resplendent in

the sunshine, so really looking forward to the British Grand Prix,

get your tickets. With Lewis Hamilton, for me, a nice big slide

from Massa! Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes team, Rosberg, one of the

big stories of the year, and if they can keep up the improvement we are

seeing and get that race pace a little bit better, who knows? He

really could be on for a possible victory. I would never discount

Lewis Hamilton. Looking at the times now, Mark Webber has done 39.9, so

the first lap time we saw was 48, so they are mainly ten seconds a lap

faster. Perhaps they need to think about coming off the intermediate

tyres. Lots of car control required today in these conditions. That was

on to the finishing straight. The Formula 1 driver who had that

horrible accident in a rally car if you years ago. He is now getting

back into rallying. He is working a bit with Mercedes, he has done some

work on the simulator. On our Formula 1 website, we were talking

about him. They are keen to work with him. He has got Formula 1

experience, he can help them in terms of development, so watch this

space. We would love to see him back. There is no question about it.

Time has gone by a little bit, because there are new kids on the

block, people trying to make their mark, but he can have a positive

influence into the experience level, especially on a simulator.

Gary, you are at Lotus now? Yes, the tyres work fine for Kimi Reich and.

Looking at the front wing, a compensated package. The interesting

part is the centre section, you can see how simple it is. It is defined

by the FIA, everybody has deduced that. The cameras are free to mount

any way you want. Other cars have different solutions. But these

cameras can give a bit of downforce. You are scratching for everything

you can. You want to make sure the airflow to the rest of the car is

good. A quick question, do you think -- what do you think of Force

India's chances this weekend? Do you think they could get a top three?

Yes, they are strong. If the weather changes, they could take a gamble.

They were strong in Bahrain, Adrian Sutil has not had the results he

deserves. They have been limping a bit with Paul di Resta. They have

got a quick car, but they have tried to understand the tyres over the

winter. They can do a good result. Third place is tough. Top six is a

very good result for them. Getting onto the podium is a tough thing to

do. That is what Paul di Resta said. He said that if they can get

sixth place or better, that will make them happy. Sometimes, if you

are in the top six, you might end up on the podium. They are also looking

at how McLaren's updates happen. That will affect their performance,

and whether they will try to leapfrog Force India. But I think

Force India are still ahead. Finance oh has just done the fastest lap. --

Fernando Alonso. Pastor Maldonado has just gone wide over the grass,

but no problem. The track has gradually improved. We are waiting

to see who might be brave enough to put on a set of slick tyres. Last

year in the dry, they were doing one minute 24 in the first active

session, so we are 14 seconds away. Yes, ten to 12 seconds off a dry

weather time in slick weather. Until that point, if you get onto a curb,

you can lose the car, but with intermediate tyres, you have still

got a bit of grip. Daniel Ricciardo, the second fastest at the

moment, but he has just gone fastest in the middle sector. The track

looks bone dry on that section. A bit greasy, I suppose. Now into the

final part of the lap, the tricky chicane. That has been added in

recent times. I do not like it. I liked the old one where you came out

of the, and a little lift into the last corner. It was brave stuff. But

the chicane loses it, it loses the rhythm of the track. He is using the

dampness to call the intermediate tyres. He is a fraction slower than

Fernando Alonso. Nico Hulkenberg has gone fastest in the first sector,

but the is four tenths down on the middle sector. Nico Hulkenberg was a

start when the conditions in Brazil last year. We are still waiting for

Jenson Button to do any time lapse. Sergio Perez has done only one lap,

and not a timed one. If you others have not done any time once, a

decoder line and, and $1. Jenson Button is heading out onto the

circuit, so we might get more of a picture. What do you think, track

will see what the crossover point is between the intermediate tyres and

the slick tyres. It is not windy, so you do not have the wind drying up

the circuit. But it has gone from complete spray to know spray at all,

so it is possible. Daniel Ricciardo goes fastest. Obviously, the track

is just getting quicker and quicker. He is not really attacking

hard as he continues around. It is a big day for McLaren. We will see if

the new bits will help them. Their target is to get both cars

comfortably into the top ten. We heard the width of the light from

Jenson Button last time, but that is not what McLaren should be

celebrating. It is a big step from where they expect to be. The

competition level at the front is much tighter than it has been in my

memory. If you are slightly off, you could be down in 10th place. As we

saw with Jenson Button, the way he was talking, he thinks the recovery

will be a bit longer. That means it is difficult for them, because they

are dropping away in championship terms. It becomes harder to make up

the ground. It is also tricky because there comes a point where

they have to put emphasis on next year 's car, because of the new

regulations. I can see them doing that earlier than Red Bull or

Ferrari. I think you are right. Trying to pick up a bit of spray as

he comes down the straight. Daniel Ricciardo is fastest in this

changeable conditions. Fernando Alonso second. Let's keep an eye on

Jenson Button. It is quite steady. He is building up nice and steady

through the third corner. This is an exploratory lap. Always one of those

drivers who likes the changeable conditions, he is adept at working

out the grip level. Because radio: We will do that again. He is doing a

constant speed to give the aerodynamic information to the team,

exactly how the upgrades are relating to the simulation. He will

stay at a constant speed down the does not have a long time. You only

need one seconds worth of data, but it needs to be at a fixed speed,

something like that. Jenson Button still working through the

programme. Nico Hulkenberg catches up. Fernando Alonso has gone even

quicker, one minute 36.6. The lap times are gradually coming down.

What does that mean, quite on the nose? Any time he does anything with

the steering, the steering reacts. The car is nervous. A bit sensitive.

That means the driver has got to be careful with his input from the

braking phase in towards the apex. Jenson Button does not naturally

like that. It is a bit more Lewis Hamilton's style. Michael Schumacher

as well. What was your preference? You need rear stability especially

in these situations, where you have rear tyre degradation. If the car is

pointy on the nose, it might be that their simulation is a bit difference

-- a bit different. Lewis Hamilton has not done a flying lap yet, but

he might be correcting that fairly soon. He has done 28.5 in the first

sector, which is not right on the pace, but he is building up the

pace. He has brought his dog to the racetrack this weekend. The dog will

be travelling the world with him this season. But it has been poorly,

so he did not bring it into the paddock. How interesting! What kind

of dog is it? I think it is a bold dog. An English bulldog.

Appropriate, really! I am sure he will introduce you to him later.

am not sure I want to be introduced to his bulldog! Will he be able to

show the qualifying pace we have seen from Mercedes? That was his

first true lap. Let's watch him as he comes down into the first corner.

A slow motion of him at work. In the the eyes. It is rare that you see

them. Sorry, that is Nico Rosberg. Another piece of concentration! They

are hoping the data matches up. Lewis Hamilton was asked about the

updates, he said, it different from McLaren, they tended to come with a

block of improvements, but Mercedes have come to each race with

something on the car, so it has not deemed quite such a big level of

change. We will come back to that, but Gary is now with the technical

man at McLaren. The start of the European part of the championship,

it is time for development, so what have you got? And a lot of parts on

the car. We have got new bodywork, which is easy to see. We have got

other parts to test. The wet weather does not help us, but we are still

doing some work. But the rain has stopped, so we can kick -- take some

bits onto the track. Have you got enough parts for two cars? Yes, but

we are limited on spares. What do you think the problem is? It has

been a poor start to the season. made and a lot of big changes over

the winter, and it has taken longer to get on top of them than planned,

but we will get there soon. We will keep working away. We have got a

good understanding of the problem, but fixing it is another thing.

broke the curfew last night, you were here later than you should have

been. We had such a big volume of parts with the new package, we were

here until 130, so just past the curfew time of 11. Next year, big

changes in the regulations, but will you keep pushing? Absolutely.

Because of the issues we have had, we have got to get a firm

understanding of what the problem is, because to go into a new season

means you can make the same mistakes in the future. It is important for

the engineering process to get to the bottom of this car first. We

have still got a 2014 programme going on. Lewis Hamilton is going

quickly now, the fastest Middlesex, and his team-mate has just gone

fastest in the first sector, so there we go, 1:36.1, and there is

talk of some of the teams running slicks now. Yes, there are some dry

patches, and I would expect them to use the tyre that Pirelli are giving

them only for today, the developments tyre, because it is

free, it does not come out of their race allocation, and the teams will

want to see the crossover is between intermediates and slicks. Thank you

for your questions, Jack has said, a fun one, should the driver's helmets

have window wipers attached to them? Ever tried that? We used to

have something like that in karting, you would have a disc that spun

around, but the speed you are travelling, and the fact that there

is not a heck of a lot landing on the buys it due to the aerodynamics

and the small windscreen, it is not necessarily the case. -- on the

visor. A lot of rumours about Mark Webber says Rick Bosman, on whether

he will retire from Formula One, what are your thoughts on that?

think Mark has got a little bit left in him, no question about that. He

was fighting at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Lewis is coming in for dry

tyres, let us know if you want to do the same. There we are, confirmation

that teams are looking at putting the slicks on, that will make life

quite exciting. Coming back to Mark, he has got something to say

about it, but since Malaysian and that team scandal thing that

happened, he has dropped back a little bit from his team-mate in the

championship, but I would suggest Mark will make his decision probably

after the British Grand Prix. of chat about joining the Porsche

sports car programme, you might end up racing against him. Again! When

we started sports car racing, before we both started Formula One in 2002,

he was racing former CDs when I was racing for Porsche, it would be like

rekindling those old arguments. -- for Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen is

sixth quickest now. Gutierrez has done a good lap in the Sauber. That

replay did not quite good in, we have got slick tyres on, well

spotted, Jean-Eric Vergne. He is on the hard compound tyre at the

moment. But it is the one without the markings, so it is the prototype

hard tyre, not the race tyre. a development tyre that Pirelli have

brought, a throwaway tyre for today, it is not out of the race

allocation, so this is a good time to use it. We will get a chance to

see whether they have chosen a good time to go out on this tyre, keep an

eye on the sector times, Gary, you have got something for us. Just

picking up on what Sam was saying about no damage, what they have got

on Jenson's car is a bargeboard, a turning vein that is in front of the

inlet duct, and on the driver's left-hand side, one of them has

fallen off. It is a new part for this weekend, part of the new

sidepod package. If you look at the top of the sidepod, just behind the

rearview mirror, you will see some little lumps and bumps on it, and

they have sort of squeezed everything in, there are lots of

bumps to allow for exhaust pipes inside there and cooling and

radiators. They have really squeezed this package for this development,

and one of the bargeboard has fallen off, so they are trying to glue it

back on again to get a little bit more running. You know that comments

that Jenson made about the car being on the nose, can they do anything

about that at this stage? Well, yes, they will record it, they will back

off the front wing a little bit to make sure he does not swap ends and

oversteer, but they have a new package, it will work the front wing

differently if they are trying to get the airflow go in a different

direction, manage it in a different way, so they will react, but I do

not think they will do too much until you has a competitive lap

time. E4 you get the tyres working, you have to push them to the limit,

and that is when you start to feel the car a little bit better. Talking

about getting the tyres working, Jean-Eric Vergne has put himself up

into bits, so that must be the crossover. You need one or two laps

to get the temperature. If you hit a damp patch on a slick tyres, as we

see Massa going well wide, you lose tyre temperature, and you need to

draining, the rubber is rolling across it as he goes through the

corner, he does not have the front grip. -- graining. Valtteri Bottas

waits to come back out in the Williams. Vergne has done a good

first sector, almost as fast as the fastest sector we have seen at this

point, 25.6 compared to 25.4, that was Massa on the intermediates. The

has done a fastest middle sector of anybody, definitely time to be on

the slicks, whereas Felipe Massa is still on the intermediates, which

are beginning to go away from him, and you can see that, the car

starting to move around. The tyres are overheating and working too

hard, even though he is quick, that is the wettest part of the circuit.

I would expect Ferrari, as again he goes wide and drops two wheels off,

he will be popping into the pits, most people will be coming out on

slicks quite soon. Not too many still out on the intermediates, but

that will make life interesting in the final stages of this first

practice session, just under 15 minutes to go. On board with Felipe.

The other thing is that while we see Vergne seeing how early you can go

with the slicks, Massa is seeing how late he can stay on the

intermediates from the strategy point of view, that gives

information to the team about what the circuit is doing in these

conditions and how early and how late you can be uncertain tyres.

Let's just watch him up through the last section, a little under steer.

He cannot get the front of the car into the corner, the tyre has

overheated and gone, and you cannot do anything about it, you just have

to drive within the limits of it, not pushing too much. He is going

for an extra lap, this is where he went wide last time, a bit tighter

this time, closer to the apex. Second fastest. So it is very

similar times between... Vergne has done a 1:30 4.7, and Massa has done

1:34.8, on completely different tyres. It is all going towards

slicks, though. Ricciardo is out on the hard tyre, we just saw him

bobble over the curb a little bit, no damage done to the Ferrari there.

Massa has been unable surgeons in form, it did not work out last

time. Is that Ricciardo? No, it is Vergne on the slicks. Ricciardo has

just gone out on slicks, but that is Jean-Eric Vergne, who has done a

couple of laps and they are fully up to temperature. It is still easy to

make a mistake. Let's see what he did. Coming into the last sector, he

slides wide, get onto the Astroturf, then he has lost the temperature,

and when he breaks, he locks up. That is the cause of the problem,

and then when the tyres are cool, he breaks behind the sign, slides wide

again. That is a really good indication of the size and how

temperature sensitive they are. You only need to lose a couple of

degrees to lose a lot of grip. are very sensitive, but you are on

the limit of the grid anyway, so if you happen to be offline as well, as

he was, because of running wide, it loses you quite a lot. The car could

be damaged by bouncing over that sleeping policeman. He is fastest in

this session, Jean-Eric Vergne, the Orange sidewall hard tyre, so

this is the hard tyre that will get used this weekend, as opposed to the

tyre that is just a prototype. That presumably will give a slightly

different performance, good first sector, not the fastest of all, but

we will keep an eye on him as he continues this middle sector.

Surprised he has gone on that tyre, but the team are probably splitting

the strategy to understand the differences between them. DRS in

operation on the second straight, very fast in the middle sector,

32.9, so we are seeing the slick tyres coming into their own. He has

just got to avoid getting onto the slippery bits of the circuit, curbs

could still be a bit greasy. Basically, the spray is mostly off

the curbs now, but you cannot run them as aggressively as you normally

would, especially in the higher speed sections of the circuit.

see if this is going to be a new fastest lap from Daniel Ricciardo, a

few more cars on slicks, Rosberg is out, Mark Webber, and look at that,

he goes fastest by five seconds, amazing when you get that change and

suddenly it goes the way of the slick tyres! Yes, it looks like

quite a quick time, probably five seconds off the ultimate time, but

the circuit is only going to get quicker. I suppose, for once, they

have had a bit of running, and when they go out on the slick tyres at

the end of the session, it is nice and new. Usually in this first

session, and because they have this extra set, usually they do the whole

first practice on one set, they get to the end, and they are well past

their best. On this occasion, tenants to go, nice fresh tyres to

play with. -- ten minutes. They do, and I think you will see most people

getting out there to analyse data between session one and a session to

this afternoon. So Sergio Perez waiting to come out on circuit, he

has not established a lap time, nor has Jenson Button or Sebastian

Vettel, who was not done a full lap yet. Nico Rosberg is on the hard

tyre. A little bit of back-end stability. There was a pub of spray

coming of it, it did not snap into overseer, but he would lift the

throttle a little bit. Now working that long right-hander as well, the

left front takes a real caning through the first few corners in

Barcelona. The car is really bumpy. On the data, we can see that it is

bumping on the straight, but it is not affecting your driving, we would

like to leave you out and get the data on the tyres. So Jean-Eric

Vergne just talking about the order bottoming along the straight. It

takes a pounding on the first part of the lap, but you need the rear

tyres for the last part of the lap. It is a compromise with the last

part of the circuit being tighter than it historically was, but you

are right, it is working so hard around this part, and then suddenly

you release the pressure from the front tyres, and you now need to

make sure the rear works coming out of this on to get the power down,

because this last corner is flat out, and then you have got the big

long straights to hopefully overtake someone. He goes second quickest to

Daniel Ricciardo, does Nico Rosberg, fastest in the final sector of

anybody, and as he comes down to turn one, still pushing reasonably

hard. There is a yellow somewhere, it has now been cleared. And

Sebastian Vettel is now on his way. Allan, you have worked as an FIA

driver representative on the stewards' panel for Ron Crees, and I

know you will be doing that again... Six times laps. Oh DRS. A few

instructions from Rocky to Sebastian. The automatic light

system is back in operation this weekend, and there had been some

issues with it, but we have had that break. Yes, there is automatic

cockpit information, so if there is a yellow flag, instead of having to

wait for it visually at the Marshall's post, it will be

illuminated with a light. That was not working well at the first few

Grands Prix. There have been software updates, and it should be

working better this weekend. It is a big help, to be honest with you,

because it gives you early information and you can be looking

for things in a much, I would say, more idealistic way. Quite a few

cars on track now, Lewis Hamilton is also on the hard tyre, Ricciardo has

gone fastest in the first sector. Talking of the stewarding side of

things, a bit of a story that they are looking at a points endorsement

system on licences for next year, a little bit like road driving, and if

you get as many as 12, you could be up for a ban. What are your thoughts

on that? They are always looking at ways of trying to improve how it is

marshalled, if you like, and the driver's steward was part of that,

trying to bring in someone with experience of what it is like to be

sitting inside the cockpit, instead of someone looking outside of the

cockpit. And this is the next generation of it, where they are

looking at the penalties and how to improve the system so that it is

more fair, more consistent and more balanced. One of them is a points

system, you. Up to 12, and if you get 12, you get a race ban. They

will drop off after a one-year period, and so I do not think it

will necessarily mean some people will get penalties and others want

that did not before, it is just maybe a clearer and better way to

actually administer it. That will need approval from the FIA Council

before it goes through, but being talked about for 2014. The slick

tyres are definitely working, Ricciardo still quickest, but

Valtteri Bottas in the Williams has just gone second fastest. Di Resta

is there, Mark Webber popped up to second a moment ago but has been

pushed down to fourth, the Rosberg, Hulkenberg. A new lap by Ricciardo

has gone quickest, quicker and quicker every lap, and that is

encouraging for Williams, Bottas only a of tenths off the Toro Rosso,

although they would be hoping to be ahead of the Toro Rossos if they got

the chance. A second faster than Di Resta, let's ride on board with

Lewis Hamilton, see how this is looking. His tyres should be

reasonably up to temperature. A wide open throttle, and running through

the long right-hander. He will be on to the RS, opening up the rear wing.

He goes much faster. We are getting down to sensible dry weather times.

We still have a few minutes to go. Daniel Ricciardo, only 0.02 to

slower than Lewis Hamilton. Young drivers can show what they can do in

these changeable conditions. I am reluctant to take too much from the

times, because he has been out there for a long time. Felipe Massa has

done what Nico Rosberg did, but it threw him off the circuit. The track

time is the key thing, more than the speed of the cars. Adrian Sutil is

going quickly in the middle sector. Paul di Resta is now third, Adrian

Sutil fourth, Jean-Eric Vergne fifth. Fernando Alonso has gone

faster than anybody. Sebastian Vettel has got traffic up ahead.

That will not help, he has backed off a bit. He did not know what the

Sauber was going to do. Not the confidence that the Sauber was going

to keep out of the way. That is the trouble then you get into the final

part of the session. Everybody trying to get out of the way, but it

is not always possible. Michael Schumacher got fed up with Lewis

Hamilton here last year, the told a strange stunt in practice. Valtteri

Bottas is going well, he has got the fastest middle sector. He is the

fastest overall. That is a good effort. Last year, Williams would

not necessarily that good until they got to Barcelona. So far, there is

indication that they could have improved quite a bit in the

three-week gap. The Mercedes slowed down a lot. He was blocked as well.

It is Lewis Hamilton. That was a bit awkward. They almost tripped over

each other, but they sorted it out. Felipe Massa is the fastest in the

first and second set is. We are keeping an eye on Lotus. This track

should suit them. Can they take the battle to Red Bull and beat them in

qualifying? Like Ferrari, they need to push the envelope a bit in

qualifying. Romain Grosjean goes fastest. An improvement came from

Felipe Massa. It is being last out that will count. One of those

classic situations, it has been wet and dry, and the ones that switch

early have been the ones that will be able to take advantage. Felipe

Massa will not be top of the timesheets all of the time.

Hopefully... He has got a bit of traffic, sadly. And also for the

next lap. That lap was compromised, and the next one as well. Fernando

Alonso is going very well behind him. He is up on Felipe Massa's best

time. The Ferrari is looking quick. We are still waiting to see some of

the others. Lewis Hamilton goes fastest in the first sector.

Fernando Alonso has backed off, he will get a real one on the next lap.

A bit of steering attack there. Lewis Hamilton quickest in the first

sector so far. How will this compare? He is fastest. A bit of

traffic around. It slows you up a bit, even if they are not

aerodynamically compromising year. That is awkward, it was possible for

the Red Bull to have got out of the way. They will be coming to see you

as a steward if this goes on. this weekend! It is a difficult

situation. They are trying to do the right thing for themselves. But you

have got to be aware, and your team have got to give you the

information. Jean-Eric Vergne has just popped in a QuickTime. Fernando

Alonso going quickly on the first sector, and he is in the ballpark in

the middle sector. This is still a good lap. He is looking on target to

go quickest of all, about his team-mate, as the Loch ticks away

towards the end of the first practice session. We are just

outside Barcelona. The home track for Fernando Alonso. The only

Spanish Grand Prix, the only race to be held in Spain this year. So it is

crucial for him. He is fastest. That is impressive. Lewis Hamilton's

previous lap would have been the quickest if he had not got held up.

He is on a par with Felipe Massa. At the moment, it is Ferrari first and

second. I wonder if anybody will be that. There are no purple sector

times coming up, but there are a few green ones. There will be some

improvement. Ferrari is working pretty well in these conditions.

They need to get their campaign on track this weekend. Interesting

about Mercedes and that final difficult sector, that is weight you

need the front grip. Lewis Hamilton was quick. They will be competitive,

especially in qualifying. It is interesting to see the McLaren cars

together. I wonder if we will see that more this weekend. A good first

sector from Adrian Sutil. This will not challenge the Ferrari pace at

the top. A good, competent performance. I do not think anybody

else is going quickly. Giedo van der Garde has just done his fastest

time. Jenson Button never did a time. No times completed. He did

lots of outlets and in laps. He had a problem with the aerodynamic aid

to the car, which needed to be replaced. He also did that pit stop

to intermediate tyres. Fernando Alonso finishes the session of the

fastest, and it is first and second for Ferrari. It is a difficult

session to read, but that has got to give Ferrari confident. Looking at

where Red Bull were, they must have been running a lot of fuel, because

Sebastian was 19th, they were four seconds behind Ferrari. Different

Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo was quick until a duo went quicker in the end.

Only one time set by McLaren. You don't fund the guard the fastest of

the young teen guys. No time set at all the Jenson Button. That is how

they happen -- finished this first session, but it is early days for

the weekend. You cannot read too much into it, but Ferrari are

looking good so far. Red Bull down the other end of the grid does not

suggest their true pace. I was interested in Adrian Sutil. But the

usual suspects are at the front. Ferrari first and second in

Barcelona. Perhaps the timesheets do not matter

too much, but they will to Fernando Alonso. Ferrari looking good. The

track did not dry up until the last ten minutes or so. You have to be

quickest, because that is all you can do. Fernando Alonso has done the

job. The weather looks better for the second session. What about

Jenson Button? They had a lot of parts on the car, and the conditions

did not dry up until late, so they were looking to get data. Also, you

cling wrap the car tighter. You want to make sure that there are no

problems with overheating. They used the session logically. It is more

important you are in a good condition to do the next session.

How frantic will be second session they? And a lot of the work will

carry over. And the teams have an extra set of tyres. There will be a

frantic run. We will see a true performance before the end of the

second session, we will see if McLaren have made any ground.

still all to play for? It is still all to play for. The conditions did

not mean there was anything going on. The usual suspects, Ferrari, the

CDs, Red Bull, they are all competitive. Between now and free