The Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1

Fast, furious, heart-stopping! Heartbreaking. Race 5, Barcelona.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 59 seconds

I think there is really something special about being back in Europe.

Barcelona has that vibrancy. It is such an exciting city. This is my

favourite market. I fully agree with you. It is my favourite market.

I have never been here before. are going to go now. The season so

far, Sebastian Vettel is leading the Championship. It is all going

according to plan. It has blended from 2012 into 2013. They have a

world-class car. I should think the team and Sebastian Vettel has been

tarnished because of the team order situation in Malaysia. After

Bahrain, Fernando Alonso was fuming. He will be right here for the grand

prix win in front of his home crowd. Suzi, will you marry me? Lewis

Hamilton nude from Mercedes to McLaren. -- moved. He is driving

better for it. Mercedes is the most improved team from last year. If we

look at the other guys winning races, Kimi Raikkonen has to be

considered a real contender. Police say yes, we're on television.

sorry, you are a bit late! McLaren have been dreadful. As a group

together, they are not being led in the right direction. Who would have

thought that the fight for fifth- place in the Championship is going

to be between McLaren and Force India? Barcelona is a place of

surprise. Last year, Williams won. Miracles do not happen twice. It is

a direct reflection on David Coulthard. After I left them.

Exactly! I cannot wait for it to begin. Barcelona start the European

season which, for me, is brilliant. Not very happy with me. Eddie

Jordan, never knowingly one to follow. Has oak and welcome to

Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix. -- hello. Perfect conditions.

What a difference Fernando Alonso has made! The great barometer is it

you cannot get a hotel room for love nor money. Fernando Alonso is

the darling of Spain. He makes this possible. We saw him on the

drivers' parade this morning. This was a great bit of from real one

free styling. He jumped out of the car and went to meet them all.

was a shy, quiet boy. Now he has embellished and embraced the

Ferrari world. The people of Spain have brought him into their hearts.

He has it all to do in front of his home crowd. What is it like to race

at home? There is no doubt of that extra support. That shows his

passion for his home crowd. It is giving you a buzz. He will carry

that into the start of this grand prix. You won twice at Silverstone.

It focuses the mind. Pressure is when you are slightly out of

control. That is the only time you fill pressure as a driver. When the

wind is behind you, the crowd is behind you, that is not pressure.

As the crowds continue to arrive, the atmosphere in 10 suppliers and

the drivers prepare for the battle ahead. -- intense surprise. --

legs. A long way to go till someone is crowned 2013 champion. Kimi

Raikkonen is 10 points adrift. Lewis Hamilton is third. Jenson

Button is intense. The -- in 10th. Qualifying was yesterday able stuck

here is Lee McKenzie with the story. -- yesterday. McLaren hoped AB

grades would get their Championship back on track. Jenson Button had

his worst qualifying of the season. Sergio Perez managed his best

qualifying but still only got up to 9th. Ferrari had a disappointing

day. Fernando Alonso could only manage 5th in front of the home

fans. Sebastian Vettel has never taken pole position and it was not

to be this year. He had to settle for third. Mercedes dominated

qualifying and got their hat-trick of pole positions, thanks to a

great laugh from Nico Rosberg. Phyllis Hamilton was alongside him

in second. -- Lewis Hamilton. Recent experience has been from

pole to 9th. That is not a nice thing - not very enjoyable. I doubt

we can fight for the win. A podium could be difficult. Mercedes lock

out the front row. They are not confident of staying in that

Some seriously hot laps from Mercedes yesterday. Today is

somewhat different. They have been focusing more on longer runs. None

of us expected them to have propositioned and not by the gap

they ended up with. It is all down to the fact, they have a car which

takes more out of the tyres in the early laps of the race. Have they

done enough to set the car up to make it more durable? They have had

the problem on the rear in Bahrain, it is not the same in Barcelona, is

it? We are seeing graining on the tyres as compared with the thermal

degradation and outright aware. That means the front tyre will

start to give up. You have a lot of weight on the car. Mercedes had the

benefit of having both cars. They can maybe paced the rest of the

field. I was just looking to see Ross Brawn. We cannot find him at

the moment. Talking about the wing man scenario, going from the front,

do you think they will do that? They are clever enough to realise

they have a fast car. Therefore, whoever leads through the first

corner, you would want to manage that. You would want the gite in

second place, you would want him to back up the rest of the field will

start the big story is McLaren. at the field. Rubens Barrichello

has made a brief appearance. Sergio Perez, is he your new trump card?

He had a great race. He qualified with a great lap in due to. He had

a cautious start to his season. -- Q2. I think he was a bit tentative.

He did not want to make mistakes but he has got over that now.

football terms, you would be sacked by now, wouldn't you? I am sure I

would have people asking me, if I was any way. Are you feeling

comfortable with the management? What would you do to change things?

If you are a team principal with McLaren and not making races, you

are not going to get a comfortable ride from the media. If you do not

like that, do not put has a forward as being team principal. We are as

tough on ourselves as the media. I cannot be happy when you are

celebrating getting into the third qualification. That is not what we

are about. We need to focus on the future and make sure we make

progress and come forward. We must get back to a winning position.

wish you lots of love. We had just been hearing from Martin Whitmarsh.

Talking about where you are right now, you seem to have the fastest

car in Formula One in qualifying. What are you doing differently to

manage this car in the longer runs of the race? It is our issue. It is

frustrating to have a car that shows such pace in qualifying. I

think here, for instance, the problem that will cost you time in

the race is the left rear. That will start to fade and you'll get

oversteer. We are working about how we can protect that left rear in

the race and have the drivers need to drive to protect that. That has

been Our priority this weekend. It is about making their tyres last

and getting the set-up right. appreciate your openness. I always

assumed it was a front limited circuit. In actual fact, what

overheats the left rear? It is mainly the long term three, long-

term nine. You are leading hard on that tyre. If you overdo it, there

is too much understeer to protect the rear and that can be a big

problem. We want to try to keep the real left tyre alive. Thank you

very much. We are having problems with our microphones. Traditionally,

here in Barcelona, the winners have come from the front rows. Will

tradition be broken today? I hope so. We are not on it. The Mercedes

were very quick. It will be a big challenge to take them on. In front

of his home crowd, it is a bit of a party atmosphere. A challenge to

keep him behind and Kimi Raikkonen as well. The lotuses are a bit of a

dark horse. They are light on the tyres. They have used by sets of

tyres with Kimi Raikkonen. We need to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton and

Nico Rosberg. How many laps do you think you will be able to do with

regard to strategy? Not many. These tyres are so marginal, it depends

how you drive the car. Flat out, they do not last that long. It is

about measuring your pace and not taking too much out of the tyres.

Strategists will be working flat out. Thank you. Romain Grosjean,

that was reasonable qualifying yesterday. What can you do?

Everything is possible. Cars in front of us are slower in the long

round, the Mercedes. Ferrari's should be quite competitive. We

will do our best. There is a lot of tired degradation. We do not know

if it is coming from the rear. -- tyre degradation. A do you try to

adopt different strategies? clearly depends what the simulation

says. At the moment, we are more or less on the same things. It can be

changed during the race. We had two plans. We can swap at the end to

is no pressure on them. They are not under the spotlight, they are

cruising. They are doing a brilliant job. What do you think about

McLaren? I love the way Martin speaks to us, he has been

ridiculously honest, under the most immense pressure. They have all

sorts of issues, but at least he explains to us what he is going to

do. If any team will turn it around, it is McLaren. We wait to see.

Speaking to Romain Grosjean, both Lotus is going off the dirty side of

the grid. Not too much of a difference. The clean side has to be

better, but the restriction they have is that they only have one new

set of the option tyres left. That has to be to the detriment of their

race pace. On the long runs, the tyres are similar, but they will

miss out on the first two or three laps. A great atmosphere here,

everybody waving, all good stuff. We talked about some of the contenders,

and two of the others have got to be Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.

They have reached 200 races, only the 12th and 13th drivers to have

done that. They are friends on and It is great to meet you, your

memories of the first Grand Prix? have a queue, and all of them are

quite scary. In Australia, we did not have any tests, it was the first

time I jumped in the car, and I did not know all of the buttons on the

steering wheel! At the end of the pits, there was a queue of cars. I

tried to find it, and I said, good start! Pretty scary!What about your

favourite race? One of the Monte Carlo victories, 2010.

Poll position, chequered flag, championship lead.

He crashed, which helped me a bit. The race was one of those days where

everything went well. Monaco is so special. And you? Best race?

Malaysia, 2012. Fernando Alonso wins a Malaysia

Grand Prix, he takes the victory! This is one of the most beautiful,

we are so proud of you, so proud of you and of the team.

We have had some good battles on the track. I remember one.You were not

happy with one of them, I was in the Jaguar, no grip or traction, and the

Renault was the opposite. I was cutting you off everywhere. I do not

remember! There were no rules at all. I would get a ten race by now.

It is good to battle with somebody that I respect. It is very risky if

you do not have a Formula 1 mentality.

This has a massive impact in terms of the championship! Romain

Grosjean, what are you doing? 2003, a very tricky grand prix.

Going up the hill, I made a bad mistake. What people do not

understand on TV is the speed. You had a huge shunt as well. Was that

your biggest crush in Formula 1? Yes, without a doubt. For you?

after Formula 1. We know that this is the top, but we are aware that

there are more things to do, there are other cars to drive. Sometimes I

enjoyed go-karting most. Yes, things change. The Thursdays on the track

or not enjoyable, they have changed. I like Friday onwards. You like

Friday? Fridays are not very good now! You want to race at the highest

level, on the best circuits, but you are open to the fact... There are

more things. It is not just the bubble we are in. There is a life

outside. That is right. You will be out of a job, they are rubbish!

will win the title this year? Madrid!

Real Madrid! The is disappointed that Barcelona won the league last

night. How great to see the interaction between them. You can

never get tired, watching that, the interaction of two professionals,

they are at the top of their game, respecting each other. They had some

questions about the Rockies, but this is what people want to see, top

professionals respecting each other in front of a camera. I feel as if I

will be redundant soon! Interestingly, they were talking

about the crash in Brazil that had implications for both of you.

should have won that race, but you wonder. Jordan won it!I will have

to see the transcript of the interview, because I was distracted

by their shorts! When you were driving, who did you hang out with?

Usually, it is not your team-mate. That is why it Fernando Alonso and

Mark Webber have developed a great relationship. They have been managed

in the same company, so they have another connection. I hung out with

Jenson Button and people like that, and I would talk to Michael, because

nobody else would. It is getting pretty noisy, so let's join the

Sebastian Vettel School of racing as he teaches his engineer how to drive

a lap of this track. We have got an envelope! Today is

job swap day, your mission is to get him to set a time good enough to get

on the back of the grid of last year's Spanish Grand Prix. Do not

press the wrong button! The ejector The big desk, off you go. Nice

shorts! I think he will be all right, but he does not practice. He

has driven the simulator once or twice but for fun. I am sure he is

under enormous pressure now. Let's Radio check. You are loud and clear.

You ready? OK. The pedals are wrong. Stop complaining, keep

pushing! Nice. It can be done, it is not hard! I was thinking I would

take it easy in the last sector, because I do not want to show you

up! The first time lap, in the gravel! Just dump the clutch, lots

of throttle. Have you done this before? Yes! Try to do that in third

gear, roll around. OK.I always miss the apex there as well! It is good.

So far, it is good. Stay in third the wall! Right, your time was 1:30

9.6. The slowest time in qualifying at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix was

31.1. I am afraid you did not make it. I will blame you! You can blame

me! It was not working!You have got a future in racing, you have got the

excuses lined up already! Get back in, more practice. We need to beat

that time. The crowds are pretty much in place,

not long to go until the Spanish Grand Prix. We saw Sebastian, as if

Potter would not melt, but you felt as though his reputation had been

damaged by what happened earlier in the season. Do people not have short

memories? They do, but things like that linger. We saw him growing the

biggest set of horns, he was determined. I did not like what he

did. The reaction was very serious. Nevertheless, he is a consummate

professional, he interviews brilliantly, and he is quiet, you

would love him as your son. But when he gets in the car, he becomes an

out and out racer. It will be changing as he is preparing now.

What are his chances of taking the victory? He is the favourite in my

view, because we are being told by Mercedes that they cannot seem to

make the tyres last long enough for them to capture the victory,

possibly a podium at best. Sebastian Vettel is in prime position in third

place, he will pick them off, and we know how good he is. The car is

great. I hope he does not go off into the distance and make it three

victories, because we saw what happened two years ago, we want a

big fight. We talked about strategy, These beauties will have a major

outcome on the race. 83 stop race is the fastest. A four stop his own

need seven seconds slower. If I was making decisions, I would go for

eighth or stop. I would not have lost time by driving slower to make

the tyres last. Mercedes can win this race. You need to be clever on

the pit wall. I would decide on the four stops. Gary Anderson has

spoken. He thinks it will be a four stop strategy. Not long to we find

out. There is the Spanish Grand Prix. The crowds have poured in.

Fernando Alonso is not from the Catalan region. Over 100,000 people

here today. An amazing crowd. He has a magnetism about him. It is

not just motor racing, it is tennis, football, of the whole thing. They

want to cheer on their hero, Fernando Alonso. He is driving in

the Porsche Super Cup. He did all right yesterday. He is going down

the great to see who is about. has a one Mand nine consecutive

World Championships in rallying. -- he has a won. We were talking about

respect between drivers and sports men. A slight concern in a country

like Spain with the economic situation being so bad. That is a

very interesting question. I think where you have greatness, where

Britain won at the World Cup, it makes people want to be successful

and do things. If any country has big sports stars, Spain certainly

has. People are so passionate about it. David it is on the grid now. I

think he is with Nico Rosberg. in pole position. By am standing

with Tanya, I did offer for ladies to go first but she has allowed BBC

to go first. When Nico Rosberg has finished with his engineers, which

is now. Tinier suggested we could go first and ask a question in

English. Great qualifying. We know you are pole position. It is about

controlling the tyres. You must feel it is your time. Yesterday, I

was very happy. We know there are weaknesses in raise performance. We

have been working on it. If it is enough to fight for the front, I am

not sure of it yet. I will go in with that mentality but you need to

be cautious. One thing I want to do is, I just wanted to show, this is

the longest run of any start- Finnish rate. If I can get him to

turn round, or we can go for a walk along the grade. Walk this way if

you can! -- the grid. Lewis Hamilton is right on the tale of

Nico Rosberg. It is always about tyres. I will see if I can get a

word with Paul Hembery. Hallowed. - - hello. There you go. There are

some happy faces. Niki Lauda Air. How are you feeling ahead of the

Spanish Grand Prix? A lot more people than last year. The weather

is good. We hope it will be a big race. Who is your money on?My

money is on Fernando Alonso. Rightly or wrongly, I think he has

the best chance. I would not bet against you so I will go with that.

It is so busy here now. He is talking to someone else. I think we

can stand in here. Hello.I did not exactly hear the end of that.

tyres seem to be a lot more closely matched. There are looking to be

three, four stops this afternoon. If the temperature drops, the

medium tyre opens up the gap. Teams starting in the second

qualification have an opportunity to be quicker. If you were driving,

then maybe five stops. I will not be so nice to him next time. I was

known for being silky smooth. Who can we find further down the great?

That is what the opposition has been looking at quite a lot be

sheer. All those tiny details on the brake ducts and the rear wing.

Sebastien was racing in the Super Cup for Porsche. He is about to

talk to someone from German TV. We will continue to walk down here and

see what we can see. We are passing the Lotus team. I have just walked

into a diminutive Scotsman. You are very small to see. You have been

trying to knock me over four years. What do you think ahead of this

race? The last quarter of the race, the warmer it is, the better it is

for the Lotus. Kimi Raikkonen is very good at keeping tyres. He has

a bit of Scottish blood. He is a conservationist. He is quite

economical. We are hearing that Filipe Massa might be hanging out

on a wall somewhere. Shall I take my chances? It is all a bit up

close and personal here. Let's see. I think I am going completely to

the wrong car. He got a quick penalty. He was given a penalty. I

was in the zone of yesterday's qualifying. Filipe Massa talking

with his Engineer. I was see if we can just get a word with him in a

moment. -- I will see. They have the great relationship. They are

probably about the same age but it is almost like a father. Rob is

always so cool when he talks on the radio. He is probably the same age

as you. Sometimes he is a pain in the bottom. It is even more

negative, I would say. If you want to talk about pains in the backside,

he needs to be looking in the mirror. Surrey Free or penalty

yesterday in qualifying but you still have a good chance. -- sorry

for your penalty. The car had a good pace on Friday. I hope we can

see the same today and be strong all the time from the beginning to

the end. You can see how much extra space there is. I suspect many of

the drivers may have gone off for comfort brakes. Let's wonder down

the middle. We will keep walking. I need the exercise. We do not

normally see Martin Whitmarsh this far down the grid. It is quite a

long walk for you. You are not used to this. Good exercise on a Sunday

afternoon. Further than I would like. Thank you. I will hand back

to you and back to the commentary box. Thank you very much. Some

terrific stuff from David. Very funny! He was enjoying himself. He

is not missing driving these cars. He has a new occupation and he is

brilliant at it. This is the first race in Europe and all the huge

motor homes and hospitality is are here. Seriously big budgets! I got

my figures muddled up a couple of years ago and I suffered the wrath

of McLaren. I said they cost 40 million a year to hike around

Europe for the season. They said it was only 4 million. But, 4 million

quid! It takes 28 or 26 tracks to ferry that around. It will be

making its way to Monaco this coming week. To set that up again...

That is what people and sponsors need so, give them what they want.

Not long to go before the race where everyone needs complete

concentration. Every millimetre counts. Here is David to explain

why. The circuit in Catalunya is a six km race track. Let's see how

pole position was won on Saturday. Nico Rosberg on the left and Lewis

Hamilton on the right. Contrasting styles. Nico Rosberg has a thought

tyre's width on the kerb. It gives Through the apex of 10 to. He is

using more of the circuit. He is working the wheel quite hard. Down

in to turn four, not much to see between the two driving styles.

Into five, Lewis is left half a car's width wider. Nico Rosberg is

able to straighten the car more and uses more artificial grass on the

exit, gaining him valuable time. Into seven, a tricky third big

corner. As they approach the run up to nine, he is a car length ahead.

Lewis Hamilton is getting right to the outer limit of the white line.

Great balance adjustment from both drivers as they go down the hill.

The gap is about the same distance. Lewis Hamilton is trailing. He is

wider on the entry. It looks like the car of Nico Rosberg is much

better set-up for the qualifying phase. Through 11 and into 12, both

working the wheel and not much to separate them. This is where

Mercedes were faster than Red Bull. Queued for positioning in the last

sector. -- beautiful. A brilliant pole position for Nico Rosberg. The

third consecutive pole for Mercedes. Up performance on Saturday and

failure to deliver on Sunday? We will find out soon. Track

temperature of 35 degrees. Air temperature 25 degrees. There is a

slight breeze which will go down as the day goes on. The person who has

come out of this on top of everything is Nico Rosberg. Few

people were able to evaluate where he was. Lewis Hamilton has brought

him credibility. Who will win? Sebastian Vettel. We do not have

long to wait until we find out. Your reporters are Tom and lead in

the pit lane and Gary and David and Ben will be your commentators. Your

front row is an all Mercedes lockout. Will they be able to keep

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 59 seconds

the race pace? Or, will it be a win wheels, ignited by Fernando Alonso,

reaches its crescendo, where seven different drivers have won the last

seven events, but neither of the front row men are among them. After

the long distance travels to Australia, Asia and the middle east,

we have arrived in Europe, the spiritual home, and the prospect of

Monaco and Silverstone to come. There are 16 corners that stressed

the left-hand side tyres, especially the third one, where forgery of a

lateral load is sustained. There are two DRS zones. One on the straight

where Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell went wheel to wheel in 1991, and it

is also available between nine and ten. Over 30 years have passed since

a try Spanish Grand Prix was one from anywhere other than the front

row. It is a gorgeous day, the fans are getting into the atmosphere.

Perfect conditions for the start of the race, but the Mercedes at the

front, will they be able to stay there? Lewis Hamilton started from

pole position in China but he finished third. Nico Rosberg did in

Bahrain but he plummeted down to ninth place. They think they have

come up with some answers, but the proof will only be at the end of

this race, it will be unsettled until the final stages. Fernando

Alonso lines up in fifth place, not quite the third place he has been

accustomed to. Kimi Raikkonen is one to watch, he will start from fourth

point. Romain Grosjean was on the podium last time out. Sergio Perez

the first of the McLarens. Felipe Massa with a penalty. Paul di Resta

came so close to a podium last time. Toro Rosso have free tyre choice.

Only 13 points scored for Jenson Button this year. Last year's

winner, Pastor Maldonado, 17th place. Giedo van der Garde did well

to qualify in 18th. That is the line-up. 66 laps. Sebastian Vettel

just calmly focusing before the start of the race. He will be

visualising reaction times, he will have done that in the driver's room

ahead of time, they have a laptop which simulates the lights and going

-- the light lighting up and going out. Lewis Hamilton was disappointed

that he was pipped by his team-mate and generally with the balance he

achieved in qualifying. We saw how Nico Rosberg hit every apex. It was

a brilliant lap, two pole positions this year, but he has not had a

podium finish. There were team orders, they were ordered to stay

third and fourth, so he has not got a podium this year. The one China

last year. He is down in ninth place in the championship, he has never

finished better than sixth fear. That was when he was driving for

Williams in 2007. Lewis Hamilton has never won this race, he has had a

couple of second places. He was in second in 2010 and had a wheel

problem. RADIO: Daniel Ricciardo is on medium. Jean-Eric Vergne is on

used, and Jenson Button on a new tyre. The drivers being told by the

engineers what tyres everybody is using. The used tyre for the top

ten, but after that, you have choices. Daniel Ricciardo has gone

for a new set of medium tyres, but Jean-Eric Vergne has gone for a

scrub set. Very few people have gone for the hard ones. Only three from

the back are starting on the hard compound. That is very strange. We

will have to see how that works. Nico Rosberg leads them away on the

formation lap. The teams rushing back to make sure that they are

ready in case of any early pitstop that might come about. Gary, you

have been telling us that it looks as though this could be a. Race,

which will make life busy in the pitlane. But there is a possibility

that some could make it through with three. If you do three stops, you

have just got to drive slightly off the ultimate pace. Once you lose it,

you cannot pick it up. I would drive to suit. Is, to drag the first set

of tyres to lap ten or 11. Corner three is critical. You have to have

a very good balance. Understeer or oversteer can be harmful. You need

to change the racing line to keep the car well balanced. The track

temperature has been oscillating a bit, we are up to 37 degrees now. We

are going to the latter part of the afternoon out. It will start

dropping, but the midthirties is a good temperature. Sebastian Vettel

not happy. Normally that is after the red light! It is about keeping

the brakes and the tyre temperature up. Mercedes have done a lot of work

on that, I think they could pull this one off. With all of the fans

around on the grassy banks and in the grandstands, just under 95,000

people here. That Ferrari has a massive amount of support, it would

be amazing for the home fans if Fernando Alonso can win from fifth

place, but it has never been done here from that far back. RADIO: We

need to budge the field plenty. does not want to be sitting there,

overheating the engine. The engines do not have fans. The engine gets

warmer and warmer, which takes away horsepower, and it takes several

laps to bring it down to its normal temperature. They are happy with low

tyre temperatures as well, and they want to make sure that other people

have that. He wants to bring them in slowly so that the time it takes for

them to form up on the grid is shorter than normal. The pole

position man can sometimes wait for a minute. Nick Ross Burke and Lewis

Hamilton on the front row, -- Nico Rosberg. Jenson Button starting

the Spanish Grand Prix, just outside Barcelona. Who will come through to

take the victory? Lights out, away we go! Nico Rosberg and Lewis

Hamilton pretty even. Fernando Alonso charging down. Sebastian

Vettel trying to make it wide. He splits the Mercedes, and Fernando

Alonso is in fourth place. He is trying to get fourth place from Kimi

Raikkonen. He is trying to get Lewis Hamilton as well, that is amazing

from Fernando Alonso! He is up into third position! Brilliant stuff from

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. It looked like a car moved

early, so I look forward to seeing a replay. Did Fernando Alonso get more

than a great start? Nico Rosberg would have wanted to have his

team-mate behind him, to give the team the support they need. The

minute they pushed, the tyres went off the end of the cliff, so

Mercedes are vulnerable. But they have said they will run their own

race, they will not push too hard in the early stages. Sergio Perez and

Felipe Massa fighting for sixth place. Adrian Sutil has moved up to

eighth place, a really good start. He is ahead of his team-mate in 10th

place. Mark Webber has lost out, he is down in 12th place. Things are

going wrong for him. As they come around, Nico Rosberg has the lead,

Sebastian Vettel in second, Fernando Alonso inferred, Lewis Hamilton in

fourth. Here comes the other Ferrari, trying to go around the

outside. Felipe Massa already on the move, up into sixth place. A great

opening lap. Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso hungry for more

table Championships. Fernando Alonso has made it clear his dream. RADIO:

Dutiful, you are in the pack, go for it. He almost has a fatherly voice

to Felipe Massa, and it clearly works. A great relationship between

driver and engineer. Kimi Raikkonen will not be so happy with the start

of this race, he is down to fifth place. He is chasing Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton wanting to look after the tyres from an early point. Jules

Bianchi is being told to stay out there, despite some damage. He is

running 21st, Giedo van der Garde is the lead of the younger teens

towards the back. Look at how they are bunching up. Nico Rosberg is not

able to extend the advantage. Multiple DRS cars available once we

get into the zone. All of those cars would be able to activate DRS. It

might be more difficult on this circuit, because it is such a fast

run onto the straight. The second zone is a high-speed corner

normally. It is slowed slightly by the fact that they have fuel.

Rosberg leads from Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. DRS is

available now. Sergio Perez is dropping away in the McLaren. They

are getting closer and closer, the his team to get Nico Hulkenberg.

Jenson Button is all the way down in 17th place, it has not in a good

start for him. Contrasting styles, the early turn of Nico Rosberg, and

Sebastian Vettel running very wide before cutting back. That might be a

strategy to straighten the exit. RADIO: It is important to look after

the left rear. He has had that horrible experience from going from

pole position to ninth place last time. He needs to look after the

tyres will stop and perhaps not fight too hard. Sebastian Vettel is

not quite close enough, the DRS is operating now, but he was not close

enough to use it. The Williams of Pastor Maldonado going through. What

happened to Valtteri Bottas? Perhaps what caught my eye was that Felipe

Massa had such a flyer relative to Mark Webber. Everybody reacted

cleanly. Fernando Alonso had to go on the outside. A lock-up from Lewis

Hamilton. Look at Fernando Alonso, on the outside of the Lotus, who

gets hunched up behind the Mercedes. It is fantastic to watch these

drivers go wheel to wheel. He makes Prix, Fernando Alonso, and neither

from pole position will stop initial reaction was good. Look for

the Markup on the brakes. There was contact with Sebastian Vettel. Just

a little kiss between professionals. It does not make any damage to the

car. Now he is running in free air. He is not getting the slipstream.

He positions himself through two, cuts back and catches the Lotus.

Once the opportunity was there, heat to kit. That was phenomenal! -

- he took it. A bad start from Mark Webber. Filipe Massa decided to

bail out of that won a. Feisty staff from both the Ferraris. --

that one. I was going to talk about Ferrari. There is a blank space.

Pat fry it is not out there today because he had an appendix

operation. They are a man down. front, Nico Rosberg leads. You had

Kimi Raikkonen chasing down Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso was the

fastest man of all in the speed trap. As Sebastian Vettel runs in

the dirty air off the back of the Mercedes, he is able to be close

enough coming off the last turn. It is a huge amount. It will mean that

Sebastian Vettel will struggle to get himself into position to use

DRS. Filipe Massa and needs to go defensive. He is well into the DRS

zone. He got a bit of oversteer as he went into the turn. No chance

for Filipe Massa to draw alongside the Lotus. He showed that Ferrari

had great pace on Friday. It has been confirmed that Ferrari, on

this tyre at least, is flying. Fernando Alonso is putting pressure

on Sebastian Vettel. Let's watch as they exit out on to the final turn.

On board with Kimi Raikkonen. He is chasing you is Hamilton will start

Filipe Massa is close, not close enough to challenge will start Kimi

Raikkonen runs out of the straight this phase of the Grand Prix. When

you contrast that to qualifying, it is significantly slower. Eight gap

developing between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. Then the gap

back to Sergio Perez. Ben Adrian Sutil in the Force India. Then the

second Force India. Mark Webber is in 11th place. An attack by Kimi

Raikkonen. It has moved him up into 4th place. Lewis Hamilton was

harder on his tyres in free practice. He was not able to drive

the car like that. They are surely going for four stops with Mark

Webber. They are trying to get him out of trouble. Lewis Hamilton is

too far back. I wonder if Filipe Massa will have a chance of getting

past year is Hamilton will start a brand new set of hard tyres. --

past Lewis Hamilton. Filipe Massa earned his putting Lewis Hamilton

under pressure. They have had many wren ins in the past. Hopefully

they can put that behind them. need to push early in this stint

will -- this stint. That is confirmation of the four stop

strategy. Once they move up into the mid- grid areas, he will start

to lose performance. Up a great move from Filipe Massa. He has

taken fifth-place. Lewis Hamilton is dropping back quickly pulls up

he has been told to think about brake balance. Ferrari is getting

ready for a pit stop. It is for Filipe Massa apple stuck behind him

on its tyres. That is interesting. We will have to wait and see how

long they can go on for. Still dreaming of last year and wondering

what a difference 12 months makes. He was still in a Williams pit

bulls up damage to Romain Grosjean. He has damage to his car. Is that a

failure out on track? Force India has a very long stop. Is it

memories of Malaysia with the horrible pick stop problems? It is

not good. -- pit stop. It looks to be all over for Romain Grosjean.

is obviously attached at the top. Just wobbling around. I wonder if

there was a bit of contact around back position. We will have to wait

and see. Adrian Sutil has come back out onto the track. I think they

have managed to send him on his way again. Fernando Alonso into the

pits. A straight forward stop. Lewis Hamilton is in as well. Paul

di Resta is also into the pits. Away it goes Fernando Alonso. 2.5

stationery. That is very impressive. He goes out behind Jenson Button.

He is at last making up some ground. Everyone is bailing out early. We

saw Jenson Button locking up into Turn One. Romain Grosjean has been

in the points every grand prix this season so far. There was no contact.

The back end has let go on him. The stationery stop for Lewis Hamilton

was five seconds. Not good for him. He will have lost some ground. Mark

Webber is further back down the field. These are the top two. Nico

Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. Neither of them have gone into the

pits. Both the leaders are into the pits. They can still make this a

three-star race. This is a battle of the pit crews. -- a three stop

race. It was quick. It will be close. Up they will be very tight

but they had just about managed to get Nico Rosberg in front of the

Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. Fernando Alonso is on the outside.

He has gained a place from Sebastian Vettel but he has not

managed to get past the Mercedes. He is having a go at getting past

the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. He is under pressure from Fernando Alonso.

He made good use of the fresh tyres. He has been getting his nose in

There is are only so much you can defend. Filipe Massa is not very

far behind. He is being chased down by Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen

in the background is making a move. He went through. No problem at all.

He is running in 7th place at the moment. We had a drive-through

penalty for Pastor Maldonado. He was taking a strange line at one

point, we noticed. Nico Rosberg is in the lead of this group at the

moment. Rosberg does take over the lead of the race. Filipe Massa er

is in there as well. It is very close in the top group. Further

back, Hamilton is weighed down by a pack in comparison. -- way down.

Jenson Button is in about 15th place. Fernando Alonso is weaving

about. Nico Rosberg is wise to it. He is having to go up very

defensive. The Ferrari was a bit too wide. They are coming up to the

second DRS zone. Up through turn nine they come. No change on the

rear wing of the car of Nico Rosberg. He has managed to close up.

Not enough space on the straight. Kimi Raikkonen is joining in in 6th

place. Mark Webber is in 7th. Pour the master and Lewis Carroll 10,

who is in 10th place. -- Paul di Resta and Lewis Hamilton. Fernando

Alonso is closer than on the last lap but he is losing time. Here

comes Fernando Alonso. He has gone for the lead in the Spanish Grand

Prix and he is ahead. Look at the response from the fans! Their man

is in front. The Ferrari is working well. Nico Rosberg is struggling.

Great stuff! Bernice said, Fernando Alonso for the win. -- Bernie

Ecclestone. Sebastian Vettel is attacking. He has gone past Nico

Rosberg. He has gone into second here is Filipe Massa. He locks up

but gets away with it. That passed by Sebastian Vettel will be him

using all his KERS. It leaves him vulnerable. He has gone

strategically. It is an example of how you deploy the horse power and

use it anywhere on the lap. Riding on board with Kimi Raikkonen.

Fernando Alonso it is in the lead. Sebastian Vettel is in second place.

Sergio Perez is in 7th place. Lewis Hamilton is in 9th. The over speed

was such a difference. Fernando Alonso gained with the DRS open. He

was the fastest man of all in qualifying. A round of applause

from his own mechanics. That was Filipe Massa. What have you got

from the pits? I was going to talk about strategy. A conventional

three stop, we were expecting them to pit about now. All the leaders

have come in quite early. Lewis Hamilton went from the back of the

grid to eighth last year. Can they make this middle stint long?

Perhaps longer than before the start of the race. This race is not

over. How they manage their tyres and which tyres are on. Kimi

Raikkonen is on the medium compound. All those around him are on the

hard compound. He is going on the attack. Kimi Raikkonen takes the

place and gets past the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. He is in 4th position.

He is on a different tyre. Can he the ones that matter, indeed, it

could come down to that. That is the over speed that is available with

DRS. Nico Rosberg does not weave at all, there is no point picking up

dust. 200 mph. 15 laps in, they will have burned 40 kilos of mass. That

is being used in creating the horsepower. He is passing Lewis

Hamilton into ninth place. Daniel Ricciardo up into the top ten, and

Mercedes are dropping back as badly as we have seen, more than in China,

and similar to Bahrain, but it could change in the latter part of the

race. Two Ferrari is in the top three. Mark Webber is some way back.

RADIO: Mark Webber is behind, he is going to. So. Mark Webber came in

early, he is charging hard, but his last lap was not that quick, 31.8.

He is not closing the gap to Nico Rosberg on the last lap. Listen to

the response for Fernando Alonso, fabulous. Thousands of people on the

hillside. You can hear it above the roar of the engine. That is what you

call fun power. I remember overtaking at Silverstone to take

the lead in the British grand prix and I heard the crowd cheering,

which was a bit disconcerting! wonderful moment for Fernando

Alonso, he leads the Spanish crown three. But there is a long way to

go. RADIO: You are doing a great job, look after the tyres, we will

make places. He is on the same strategy as is, he has new primes.

He is on slightly fresher tyres, Mark Webber is being told, but they

think they are on a similar strategy. We will wait and see.

pace of the McLaren is not too bad from Sergio Perez. He is closing the

gap. Mark Webber was the first of the drivers in, he stop on lap

seven. You would not have thought that a McLaren would be pushing a

Red Bull, but Sergio Perez found some form in qualifying, he did a

good job, contrasting with Jenson Button. 14 seconds behind his

team-mate at the moment. In Bahrain, Mark Webber lost a place to Sergio

Perez at the end, when it did count. Sergio Perez will be thinking about

that and hoping he can do something similar. Look at the graining.

RADIO: The drivers in front are struggling on their tyres. This is

really good. Some very encouraging words to Sergio Perez. We have seen

one driver go out of the race so far, Romain Grosjean. That looked

like a nasty surprise, tell us what happened. I made a little failure,

the breaking into corner ten. Suddenly, the wheel came completely

loose. It was not very nice. contact, no indication it would

happen? Nothing. I was waiting to go for it, and it just broke. Sergio

Perez has closed up to the back of Mark Webber. You feel the Australian

is struggling, 32.0, his last lap, not quick at all. Sergio Perez

trying to close the gap. Behind them, Paul di Resta and Daniel

Ricciardo, for eighth place. Tom? is worth watching Mark Webber,

because his straight line speed in qualifying, he was the slowest of

everybody, so with his tyre problems as well, he will be a sitting duck.

There is the DRS, but Sergio Perez dropped back a bit more. Let's see

if he does another time lap. I expect he will be coming in soon.

RADIO: Trouble with the front left. Understood. It is graining. It is

causing him a problem. He is sticking with it, but he is allowing

the battle behind him to close up. Interesting statistics, talking

about Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, because the gap is now 3.7

seconds. The Ferrari is flying. There is a change further back, and

already does get past Paul di Resta. A lot of development parts on the

Toro Rosso, and it is working very effectively. Mark Webber again, 32,

three seconds slower than the race leader. That is not just struggling.

That was for eighth position, Daniel Ricciardo well inside the top ten.

We are on board with Esteban Gutierrez, battling with Jean-Eric

Vergne, and he got the place. That has moved him up into 12. The long

early stint for Esteban Gutierrez has helped him. That is a good

effort. We will see if it works well later. Fernando Alonso still setting

some pretty good times. He is able to extend his lead. Gary, the

Ferrari cars are showing the form we saw on Friday afternoon, because we

have seen it from Felipe Massa as well, but Kimi Raikkonen is

closing. Kimi Raikkonen is only on the medium tyre. They have a

different strategy. Fernando Alonso, the Ferrari is looking

pretty good on the tyres. They could pull away in clean air. I am

surprised at Lewis Hamilton dropping back to 10th place. He did not look

as good in practice is Nico Rosberg. RADIO: It is difficult. Understood,

box. At the end of this lap. Felipe Massa will be coming in at the end

of this lap, that is quite early, he has got some sort of difficulty.

Daniel Ricciardo is flying in eighth place, but he has caught Sergio

Perez had of him. Kimi Raikkonen has been catching Felipe Massa. Very

interesting to watch that. Yes, Fernando Alonso's tyre is really

grained. Corner three really picks it up. It is not too big a drama,

because it will happen. It starts throwing bits of rubber of the tyre.

The driver does not like it, because it is not confidence boosting.

you, Gary. Will we see Felipe Massa? Yes, the Ferrari crew are

ready. Felipe Massa brings the car back into the pits. It is a short

run, only 11 or 12 laps on that set of tyres. He will be going on to

another set of the hard compound tyre. I wonder whether there was

another problem there, but that is a short stint. The tyres are so

His lap times were too far away. Woods you get in a situation that

the tyres have fallen beyond their operating window, you cannot bring

them back again. If you keep them below that point, like with Fernando

Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, who are running nip and tuck, Kimi Raikkonen

close to them, and when you run down further, Nico Rosberg is one second

behind per lap, so you can see the effect. Esteban Gutierrez, the

second Sauber, he is having a good run, he went for the long first

stint, and it has brought him out behind his team-mate, who was

further up the grid. Felipe Massa under pressure from Daniel

Ricciardo. Daniel Ricciardo has got past, -- he has got past Sergio

Perez and Nico Rosberg. Fernando Alonso is coming in. And Sergio

Perez behind Felipe Massa. Felipe Massa has had his other stop. Daniel

Ricciardo is going well, Lewis Hamilton in eighth place. That

pitstop was slightly slow. Where will it put him out relative to Nico

Rosberg? The coals but has gone through. By the time he gets on the

back of him, Nico Rosberg will have decided his tyres have had enough.

Ferrari might be going for the four stops, charging along. RADIO: OK,

try to make it back. That will be a shameful Giedo van der Garde if he

has got a problem, he is the second of the younger teens group, behind

Shoal Peak. This was after he exited the pits. Because of the pitstop, he

was behind, but he got passed in front of him, so he is now running

in fifth place. Could he make the move on Sergio Perez? Yes. Ferrari

going for four stops and being aggressive on the tyres all the

time. Sebastian Vettel might not be doing that. He might be trying to

stay out longer to try to do this with three stops. He will have to do

another five or six laps from where he is now. He stays out for the

moment, one minute, 30.7, but he is being caught by Kimi Raikkonen, 2.1

seconds behind him. As the race goes on, more and more rubber stays down.

Fernando Alonso has caught Nico Rosberg. Felipe Massa's fastest lap

of all, 28.1. Massively faster than anybody else, and Fernando Alonso

will be around that mark. You get the situation that you can push

harder and harder and longer as the fuel burns off. They might be making

early stops, but they might be able to pull that back later. Jenson

Button against Mark Webber. You can see Giedo van der Garde, his rear

wheel falling off, that is not a good thing. That is a shame for

Giedo van der Garde. The wheel goes off to the gravel track. He manages

to get it back to the pits. He is limping back. The youngsters

appreciate the free styling! I do not think Giedo van der Garde

appreciates it, he was on for a decent run. I wonder how much damage

has been done to the car, they might get him back out. Sebastian Vettel

leads, but the gap has gone down, Kimi Raikkonen is right behind, and

he has to keep pushing, because Fernando Alonso's pace is still

looking very strong. Felipe Massa trying to get past Nico Rosberg,

this will be straightforward. Fernando Alonso, 27.7, the fastest

lap of all. Kimi Raikkonen took 1.4 seconds out of Sebastian Vettel on

10 at the moment. He is still on for a top 10 finish. It is a little

bit over the one-third distance. Kimi Raikkonen is bearing down on

Sebastian Vettel for the lead but Fernando Alonso is flying in third

place. By the time Sebastian Vettel makes his stop, it is about 18

seconds. A what happened there? Kimi Raikkonen appeared to have

lost ground. I should think Sebastian Vettel will think about

popping in. Kimi Raikkonen is freed up. He is able to extend the Lotus

a bit more. He is in front of Daniel Ricciardo, who is in sixth.

6th Filipe Massa gains a place. Sebastian Vettel has come out. He

is behind Nico Rosberg as well. Mark Webber makes a move. He goes

past Esteban Gutierrez. Maybe his tyres are now going away. Mark

Webber is on virtually new tyres. Mark Webber is in 6th position.

Kimi Raikkonen continues to lead. The parties man out on circuit --

this was Mark Webber of getting past Hamilton. In the space of the

two corners, Hamilton last two places. It is really struggling at

the moment. He is in 9th place. is struggling with traction. It

looks like the tyres had completely given up. Esteban Gutierrez is

struggling on his tyres. Paul di Resta is going through. Now running

in 9th position. Look at the lap comparisons. Fernando Alonso was

1.7 seconds faster last time around. Lewis Hamilton is coming in this

lap. Mercedes do seem to be making this a three stop race. They are

very much running to their own pace. Hamilton is in. He is struggling.

He does not seem to be able to get as much durability out of the tyres

as Nico Rosberg. It is a quick tyre over a single lap but they are

struggling with the peak temperatures and the compound

reacting and evolving. It starts to lose grip. The lap time for Kimi

Raikkonen on the last lap was quite good. Fernando Alonso it is still a

fair bit quicker but not quite as much quicker as he was. Into the

pits comes Kimi Raikkonen. He has gone into the pits on lap 26. Is he

going to go back on to the medium tyres? You can see the different

tyre use strategy continues. All around him are using the hard tyre.

Sebastian Vettel goes past. He will be close to own Nico Rosberg.

know there was not projected to be much difference between the medium

and the hard tyre in race pace. In qualifying, it was faster with the

medium tyre. The fact they have been used and put in storage

overnight, chilled out of and heated up the next day, it hardens

the rubber and makes it more durable again. Pastor Maldonado is

going past Lewis Hamilton. That was nice and clean. Lewis Hamilton was

looking to come back on him. left front is critical. That is

what you need to look after. That was on a fairly new set of tyres.

There went Fernando Alonso. In the background is Filipe Massa. He

started in 9th position. Let's have a look at the gap! It is seven

seconds as they go over the line. Sebastian Vettel is on a different

strategy. They have made two stops. They are fairly even. We think

possibly Red Bull are trying to make one stop bless. Fernando

Alonso was faster than Sebastian Vettel. -- less. Effectively, if

Sebastian Vettel is going with four it stops and Fernando Alonso with

three, he can get the extra three Hamilton is dropping down a bit.

Valtteri Bottas is still running. Now I have been overtaken by a

Williams. He does not sound impressed. We are on board with

Lewis Hamilton. Let's see what he is doing. He has got Pastor

Maldonado back. He has indeed. If you are not up with the front-

runners, you may as well have a bit of fun battling. What is Kimi

Raikkonen doing? It is interesting to watch will start he is quite a

lot faster than Sebastian Vettel. - - he is interesting to watch. He

was faster than Sebastian Vettel, who we had already heard is trying

to look after his tyre temperatures. They are trying to control the

front left whereas before it was affecting the front tyre and the

Mercedes. Fernando Alonso is flying up front. Lewis Hamilton is in 14th

position. It looked so wonderful yesterday with the Mercedes lockout

on the front row. He is languishing in 14th. A lot of cars with similar

strategies. That was where he got past by Pastor Maldonado. That was

a straight forward pass. It needs a committed overtake. The arrests is

open on the part of Kimi Raikkonen as he gets closer to Sebastian

Vettel. -- and DRS is open on the car. I cannot drive any slower!

That hurts. It does. Kimi Raikkonen closed right up into turn four. I

thought he might have sensed the chance to get through. He is going

to be close. No doubt his car will not turn in as sharply as the Lotus.

Just reflecting on the terminology, saying the rear tyre is reaching

the top of the window. That would represent something you can look

through, look beyond, loop to the horizon. If it means it is near to

the point they are close to no longer operating, they should use

the cliff terminology. That allowed Kimi Raikkonen to close up on the

entry phase. Sebastian Vettel has pulled away from Kimi Raikkonen as

they exit. If you want to know what a Formula One car hitting a sausage

kerb looks like, we had a great view! The this is crucial time last

four Kimi Raikkonen. He is losing a second a lap. He is desperate to

get past as soon as possible. Kimi Raikkonen have a chance to

pounds into four or five? Sebastian Vettel will need to be defensive.

He has a loss of downforce into the apex. He is a wide before using the

throttle again. -- he is why it. Presumably the wide line is what

you're talking about. Sebastian Vettel is 17.6 seconds behind the

race leader, Fernando Alonso. Next time he will be Athol pit stop

behind. It gives Ferrari a whole range of opportunities. -- a whole

I could not work out what it was all about. The Marussia is coming

into the pits, it looks like Max Chilton. Now come at Sebastian

Vettel is likely to pick up the DRS itself. -- at now, Sebastian Vettel.

Filipe Massa is still in second position at the moment. The -- if

they are on a four stop strategy... Hold it together. You need to do

this. Lots of encouragement from Rob Smedley. Sebastian Vettel is

still fending off Kimi Raikkonen. If he can hold on and open up the

gap to 19, 20 seconds, it is his pit crew some breathing space. Up

that is brave! Sebastian Vettel gives only just enough space.

Sebastian Vettel almost lost a position. That is a special line

that Sebastian Vettel is taking in trying to look after his tyres. Can

he not hit the kerb so much a? Not on the kerb but he gets a touch of

will spin will start that allows Sebastian Vettel to gain another

car length. Still not quite close enough. Frustrating for Kimi

Raikkonen. He has done it. He is side by side with Sebastian Vettel.

He really went for it will start that was great stuff from Sebastian

Vettel. In the end, you have to say that Sebastian Vettel was not sure

where he was but left him enough of a car's width. I did not catch the

radio message. I was too excited.I was not complaining! Let's take

another look. I did not think he was going to go for it. I believe

the message was, you have to raise your race. Do not over defend.

Drive to the tyres you have got. All of this plays perfectly into

the hands of Fernando Alonso. Last time he had eight 22nd lead. We

need to assume that has been opened standing in the back of the McLaren

garage apple stuck as Kimi Raikkonen overtook Sebastian Vettel,

there was a bit of cheering from his mechanics. I can imagine that!

We are watching Fernando Alonso is still exciting the fans with the

advantage he has got. We are on lap 34. This gap between himself and

Filipe Massa. When will we see Ferrari going into the pits?

can see the lock up on turn ten. The gap to Kimi Raikkonen was 13.4

seconds. Keep an eye on the Ferrari pit crew. Mark Webber is running in

5th place, behind Sebastian Vettel. The gap is 11 seconds. Daniel

Ricciardo is in 9th and 10th is Sergio Perez with Jenson Button in

quickly now that he has got Sebastian Vettel. He was 0.9 faster

last time, he has got the gap down. The pitstop time is about 18 seconds

in total. About 15 seconds time lost, and if you are now a three

second pitstop, that is where you get an 18 second window. He looked

sluggish there, but the sector time is 24.9, that equals Fernando

Alonso. Listen for the lift here. The contrast between race pace and

qualifying is so obvious, you have to be so much more gentle on the

car. A bit quicker than Fernando Alonso there, so he is keeping

Fernando Alonso honest. If they are on the same strategy, it will not

matter, but if Kimi Raikkonen is trying to do one stop less, which is

possible... A pitstop for Nico Hulkenberg, released in front of the

Toro Rosso. There will be a penalty. And contact! He might not have been

able to see him's he definitely saw him, he did not expect it. RADIO: My

front is gone. Nico Hulkenberg's Bay has got worse. Esteban Gutierrez is

having a better day. Look at Kimi Raikkonen's lap times. Quicker than

Felipe Massa. Definitely bearing down. But his main race is with

Fernando Alonso. If we think the strategy works out as we think. But

there is no sign of Ferrari coming into the pits. Will they stop for

times? On that Nico Hulkenberg incident, the stewards give a hefty

fine for unsafe release. Different wind change for Nico Hulkenberg.

Ferrari are ready as well. We will see one of the Ferrari cars in, and

it is Fernando Alonso, from the lead. This is his third pitstop,

people need one more. He goes on to the medium tyre. Felipe Massa as

well. Ferrari calling the strategy, 3.2 seconds for Fernando Alonso, not

the best, but reasonable enough. The same strategy for Felipe Massa. They

did not have to put medium tyres on, so it is interesting they have gone

for the other one as the racing tire. Perhaps they are looking at

Kimi Raikkonen. Mark Webber is coming in. That was a beauty. Four.

Perfect. Mark Webber gets underway again. The team 's practice pitstop

is 50 times per weekend, it is crucial to get every move

synchronised. Kimi Raikkonen is now the race leader. The Mercedes pit

crew are out as well. They will service their car. They have gone

backwards this weekend. It is for Lewis Hamilton. They practice

pitstops every day at the factory. Mercedes have a Formula 1 car with

an electric engine, doing their bit for the environment, they drive it

around the workshop, they do the practice pitstop, and drive it out

again. They are working so hard to improve them. It is early on when

you see it done cleanly. Kimi Raikkonen leads, but Fernando Alonso

is 1.7 seconds behind. They both have one more pitstop to go. Kimi

Raikkonen is still going to stop three times, but Fernando Alonso is

going to stop for times. Felipe Massa needs 12 to 13 laps on this

set of tyres. Cutting through the traffic, losing is little time as

possible. Fernando Alonso wants to use the fresher tyres to find his

way past Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen did his fastest lap last

time around, so he was still able to find some life in the tyres. Yes,

and with both of them having a pitstop to do, the choice of tyre

will be interesting. Kimi Raikkonen has stuck on the medium compound

until now, he has not used hard tyre, so he will have to switch.

Toro Rosso wide. A mechanical problem. We will check that out in a

moment. Jean-Eric Vergne Ord Daniel Ricciardo. It is Jean-Eric Vergne.

Not going where he should be. dropping down the field. He has lost

several places. Here comes Fernando Alonso. He has got the DRS, it will

be a straightforward pass. Fernando Alonso goes ahead, he gets past Kimi

Raikkonen and take the lead again. Both of them have one pitstop to go.

It is all going to come down to how much Kimi Raikkonen can stay with

Fernando Alonso. They cannot afford to lose too much time. Fernando

Alonso is on pretty fresh tyres. That might be the result of the

damage he got from Nico Hulkenberg hitting the back of him. I am not

quite sure what they are doing, it was a slow stop, maybe there was

some damage. Mark Webber going past Nico Rosberg. Felipe Massa was the

fastest man last time around. still trying to get second place.

The right rear wheel. We have seen that a couple of times. This weekend

and on previous weekends. It is a great shame. It looks like an

explosion when it goes off. The metal belt that holds it together.

The tread of the tyre, the weakest part of the tyre, and it is about

how it is constructive. This was Fernando Alonso getting past Kimi

Raikkonen. Adrian Sutil has set the fastest lap in this race. RADIO:

Your front brakes are too hot, the rear brakes or cold. That is why you

have rear locking, the brake balance needs to come to the back. It is

counted intuitive for the driver. If you know you have real locking, you

would not want to put more rear brake ballots, but it is all

relative when the temperatures are called, they are only running at

seven or 800 degrees instead of 1000d. Sebastian Vettel has been

into the pits, he will have to make another pitstop. 26 laps to go. He

will have to get another pitstop in. It looks like for stops for Red

Bull. Esteban Gutierrez under pressure from Jenson Button, for

seventh place. Jenson Button is not quite able to make the move stick,

but Esteban Gutierrez is a bit wide. Jenson Button still with him, but

not enough, he loses the downforce and he will not be close enough.

Both have done to stops so far, the Jenson Button is lapping quicker.

They are fighting inside the top ten. They have done a similar number

of tyres -- laps on these tyres. Fernando Alonso is one second faster

than Kimi Raikkonen, the gap is three seconds, he has got to keep

tilting the window, to give himself a margin. The artificial grass has

been coming up all weekend. Esteban Gutierrez trying to defend from

Jenson Button. RADIO: Push, push! That was a simple instruction. He is

staying in front of Jenson Button at the moment. Jenson Button's

team-mate Sergio Perez is down in 11th place, but he has made an extra

pitstop. The message will be, defend, defend! Here comes Jenson

Button, Esteban Gutierrez forcing him around, and Jenson Button gets

it turned in. He has moved up into seventh place. He still has a few

more laps before he needs to come into the pits. He will try to open

up the advantage as much as possible. It could be that Jenson

Button will make one stop fewer than his team-mate. We will see how that

settles down. In the early stages of the race, Jenson Button could not

make much progress. Fernando Alonso 0.4 faster than himself on this lap,

27.8, 29.64 Kimi Raikkonen. The gap is just under five seconds. On board

with Felipe Massa. That is all very straightforward, he is still in

third place. Keep an eye on the battle between Kimi Raikkonen and

Felipe Massa for second place. Winning this might be too tall an

order for Kimi Raikkonen, he is 4.8 seconds behind Fernando Alonso.

RADIO: Clear at the head, great job. Jenson Button being encouraged. Paul

di Resta still in the top ten, Sergio Perez is in 10th place. Paul

di Resta being told that he is stopping for times, and he is

currently in ninth place, so he will drop back a bit. Interesting,

because they have been good on the tyres, Force India, but talking to

the team, they knew this would not be their best circuit, because it is

a bit hard on the front tyres, they tend to be better on the stick its

-- the circuits where deep rear tyres are a factor. 23 laps to go.

Fernando Alonso seems to be in very good shape, he can stretch the

advantage out over Kimi Raikkonen. What will they do in the final stint

of this race? Will the tyres come together for Kimi Raikkonen? Will he

be able to stay ahead of Felipe Massa? He was quite a lot faster

than Kimi Raikkonen on that lap. He took 1.6 seconds out of him.

Sebastian Vettel is going well in fourth place, but he is 13 seconds

behind Felipe Massa. Mark Webber in performance, Jenson Button is six

seconds behind Nico Rosberg, one of them started in pole position, the

other one in 14th place. The gap is down to 4.5 seconds, so the man who

started in 14th place, on the same strategy, will overtake the pole

position sitter. Valtteri Bottas overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen are both

from Finland, one a former world champion, the other in his first

season in a car with hard work. Pastor Maldonado is in 14th place,

so he is only a bit of the road. It will be the next car that Kimi

Raikkonen tries to get past. Williams had a car that worked

perfectly last year, they beat Fernando Alonso on home turf. But

now Fernando Alonso is leading this race, and Felipe Massa is the

fastest car on the track. He was just a few hundredths faster than

Engineer. He is getting into a low levels of fuel. Nobody likes

carrying a heavy load. A best finish off 4th position so far this

year. He is being told to go for it now. It will be interesting. We do

not know when that message was broadcast. Let's see how many laps

he dares before he comes in. He is on the medium compound tyre. There

is Sergio Perez. He is in 9th position will start he got his best

result of the season so far up last time out. What will he do on this

one? It does look as though they might be on differing strategies.

He has done three stops already. Jenson Button has only Dan two.

Sergio Perez is showing people he has the ability that McLaren saw in

him. He has an attacking stance, as shown in Bahrain. No one will

question his ability to manage tyres and read the race. It is

interesting to see how he gets on in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel has

a learned very quickly at this point. Kimi Raikkonen will have to

stop shortly. He has only made two stops so far. Can they get two

Ferraris finishing on the podium in Spain? Filipe Massa was in 9th

place. He qualified in 6th. He had a penalty in qualifying. Canute box

that lap? They are going for a long, final stint. 19, 20 laps on the

hard tyre. Incomes Kimi Raikkonen. Let's just listen will start -- in

comes Kimi Raikkonen. Let's just listen. It will be a long run to

the flag. Sebastian Vettel is just a few seconds behind. He is being

chased. We reckon Sebastian Vettel will come back into the pits. He

will lose more time when he comes back out of the pits. It does not

look as though the World Championship leader is going to be

able to win this race. Kimi Raikkonen is his nearest challenger

in the points at the moment. He is 10 points behind coming into this

race. Red Bull had a tough race here last year. Perhaps the nature

of the circuit does not suit them. Today, they do not seem to quite

have the pace of Ferrari and Lotus over the longer distance. They will

be a bit upset to see Kimi Raikkonen coming out in front of

him. That will make it difficult this afternoon. Let's just watch

him as he comes up to this final section once again. Just further

Danby order, keeping an eye on who is in the top 10. -- down the order.

Hamilton is in 11th place. Adrian Sutil is in her 13th. Romain

Grosjean suffered a suspension failure and is out of the race, as

is Guido van de garde. No safety car. No safety car period in the

entire season. We are well into the 5th grand prix of the year.

hope he is not paid by the lap, otherwise he might be cutting back

on Christmas presents this year. has had a very quiet time of it.

Fernando Alonso is leading the race. Gary, I want to ask the opinion.

Kimi Raikkonen is on the hard tyre and he is going to the flag.

Fernando Alonso will have to make another pit stop but he has a good

margin. Fernando Alonso is in good shape. He should stay out for their

next couple of laps. He needs good tyres on the last two, three laps.

He has it 29 second gap. He can give up five seconds of that and

not put the pit stop team under ended pressure. Come in with 24, 25

and you are OK. What about Filipe Massa set against Kimi Raikkonen?

Has he anything in hand? We are just looking at the tyre on the car

of Filipe Massa. The tyres and getting a bit shabby. The reality

of it is, I think Fernando Alonso will comfortably win this race.

Kimi Raikkonen will comfortably beat in second and Filipe Massa

that will be in third. This is the sort of pace we saw from Fernando

Alonso in China earlier this year. They are constantly improving. It

means they will challenge for the Championship. Sebastian Vettel has

not been able to show that pace. very bad day for the two Red Bulls.

If you look at Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, he is 18 seconds

behind Fernando Alonso. A massive gap! We are learning a lot from the

first European race of the season. Not necessarily what the Red Bull

will want to know. They were not have at their own way. Fernando

Alonso leads the Grand Prix but Kimi Raikkonen is on his final

stint. He is in great shape. Filipe Massa has been told he needs to

make another three laps before he makes his final pit stop. That

would give him his final run to the flag. They are talking Kimi

Raikkonen through this as he is doing the job well. It seems as if

Barcelona and this region are having some celebrating. There was

the book ball the other night. A home victory for Fernando Alonso,

how good would that be? -- be football. Just riding on board with

Kimi Raikkonen. Let's just listen nine. I liked to watch the front

suspension movement. They have a hydraulics system which almost

levels of the car. Incomes Fernando Alonso for his final pit stop. --

incomes. Can they get him out safely? No trouble at all.

Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic pit stop! Fernando Alonso will come out

knowing he has Filipe Massa to protect him. Absolutely perfect.

The fans will seek it is working well for Fernando Alonso. He re-

emerges in front in the final stint of the Grand Prix. He just needs to

look after the car and bring it home. He is up for braking the

record state of the most number of finishers are that a mechanical

failure. -- finishes without a mechanical failure. Lewis Hamilton

is losing a lot of time but protecting the left-hand side.

is getting driving lessons from his team-mate. How is that going down?

Not well pulled up you get a high of Saturday. He is 85 seconds

behind the leader, Fernando Alonso. -- not well. He is 79 seconds

behind Nico Rosberg. What about Monaco? Are we going to see a huge

train of cars trying to get past? That has to be the big hope. They

Monaco. It backs people up a lot more than you see on the open

circuits. They have been quick enough. Back at the Spanish Grand

Prix, it is all about Ferrari will start at the moment it is all about

Ferrari. Filipe Massa unease -- needs to make his final pit stop.

That is the 4th pit stop for Mark Webber. Lewis Hamilton is being

passed by Jenson Button will start that was bought 11th place. --

Jenson Button. That was for 11th place. Two former team-mates but

they are fighting at the bottom of the top 10. Sergio Perez is in the

pits. Be careful with the left 2011 but not so today. He does not

have the pace to do that. It does not seem he will get a podium and

less a problem occurs to the three in front. Mark Webber has lost a

place to Paul di Resta. I think Mark Webber will come back up into

that position. He has got back past him. There is a battle between

Charles Pic and Jean-Eric Vergne. Beat Toro Rossos are pretty quick

cars. Daniel Ricciardo own is doing well. Charles Pic is leading a

young group. We asked Guido van de garde a little while ago. -- we

lost. Charles Pic made the switch from Marussia at the end of last

year. They have a Vanity panel at the front of the car. It no longer

has the duck-billed platypus look. There have been several upgrades.

They were feeling pretty bid ahead of this grand prix. -- pretty good.

Daniel Ricciardo has yet to see where he will come around. The

Caterhams are hanging in there. We can see Mark Webber will -- Mark

tremendous amount of drag. Mark Webber moves back into 5th place.

He is only one position behind Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull is not

showing the race winning pace we have seen on other tracks so far

this year. Fernando Alonso is ticking away their laps. He is

still opening the lead, if anything. He is very comfortable out in front.

He has Max tilt next in his sights to put a lap on. -- Max Chilton.

The young British driver has finished all the races so far this

year. He has not manage to out qualify gills Bianchi that he was

closer this time. We need to retire. We have damage. That may be

precaution eight and will allow them to change the gearbox for the

next race. -- that maybe as a precaution. On board with Adrian

Sutil. He is chasing Lewis Hamilton. We are into the last stint of the

race. It is a genuine race for points. Paul di Resta has been into

the pits. We will see where he comes back out. Will he be a fair bit

ahead? He is just behind Nico Rosberg, in front of Jenson Button.

Yes, he is back out in seventh place. It is a good afternoon for

him, he had a good qualifying yesterday. They were surprised to be

beaten by McLaren, which shows how strong force in the are this year.

It looks like Nico Rosberg will fall to Paul di Resta any time soon. This

is Lewis Hamilton against Adrian Sutil. Adrian Sutil, they are good

friends, Lewis Hamilton was praying that Adrian Sutil would get his

chance to come back into Formula 1. Adrian Sutil started the season

well, but he has been out of luck. The hazard tape cleaner run -- he

has had a cleaner run, but he has not delivered the result he was

hoping for. Jean-Eric Vergne out of the Toro Rosso. Esteban Gutierrez

has been into the pits for his final stop. He is back on his way again.

RADIO: You do not have to worry about Sebastian Vettel, we have a

pitstop on him. Felipe Massa being encouraged. A bit premature, he is

14.7 seconds of the road. They are going a bit quicker, but you want

the gap to be 18 seconds and more. Maybe just trying to take a bit of

pressure off. Letting Felipe Massa think he has got a bit of wriggle

room. He has made four stops already this afternoon. It is a question of

the Lotus lasting until the end, but we think it should be able to do

that. Lewis Hamilton hanging on to 12th place, from Adrian Sutil.

Fernando Alonso leads. Nico Rosberg is still shrinking on in sixth

place, with everybody cycling through the pitstops. Nico Rosberg

has done three stops. Paul di Resta has got DRS, will he get their? Not

on this lap. Nico Rosberg fighting on tyres that have done some work.

RADIO: You are facing -- fighting Paul di Resta. You need to keep him

behind. Some comedy messages this afternoon! It is up to you to look

after the tyres at the same time! This is for sixth place. Mercedes

trying to make three stops with Nico Rosberg. Jenson Button and Sergio

Perez battling, separated by 1.5 seconds. Jenson Button has one fewer

stop. Jenson Button will have that sinking feeling again. RADIO: The

fastest lap of the race. He is trying to catch up to Kimi

Raikkonen. Putting pressure on Kimi Raikkonen. He is trying to do the

long stint on the harder tyres. Even the teams do not know how the tyres

will react over the longer distances. They do not do enough

running to predict it. Paul di Resta is not quite close enough again,

even under DRS. Sergio Perez is still in ninth place, Daniel

Ricciardo in 10th place. If they were to finish now, Sebastian Vettel

would still lead the championship, but Kimi Raikkonen would be within

four points. He will be very anxious to hold onto second place. I fastest

lap by Esteban Gutierrez in the Sauber. He had just made a pitstop,

he put on a new set of hard tyres. A good time to make a pitstop, and he

has taken full advantage. He is in 11th place. Nico Hulkenberg is

running down in 15th place. update on the McLaren battle, the

gap is now down to 0.7 seconds. I would guess Sergio Perez might

approach that battle more cautiously after the conversations they had in

Bahrain. But I do not see how Jenson Button will be able to defend, he is

on older tyres. I wonder how many more places Jenson Button might

lose. He has got Daniel Ricciardo behind him. His tyres are not that

fresh, so he might be able to fend him off. Across the line again, Nico

Rosberg, with Paul di Resta behind him. The McLaren cars, a bit further

behind, came across the line, just separated by half a second. Sergio

Perez within DRS range, but I will not be surprised to see him get

passed quickly. Fernando Alonso just over the line. The McLaren

team-mates, we will see if this is better behaved so far. They are not

far behind the battle for sixth place, so you have got to think they

would be reasonably happy, all things considered. A six second gap

to Daniel Ricciardo in 10th place, so they should be reasonably

comfortable to fight this out to the chequered flag. Sergio Perez would

fancy his chances of catching Nico Rosberg, as he is on fresh tyres.

The Carlos Burke might lose sixth place to Paul di Resta, but he could

be on for a late race charge, Sergio Perez, to further cement his

relationship with his new team. McLaren respond to performance.

Unquestionably, they let their drivers race more often than not.

Otherwise, for better or worse, they let them go wheel to wheel, which is

a great thing for us to watch. good. He is in the points, but he is

having to be so gentle with the approbation of the throttle --

application of the throttle, all the things you do when you are cruising

at home. He does have a gap to Sebastian Vettel, so he has got

time, but you want to hear the cars having their necks wrung. It is an

interesting point, he is going quickly, quicker than the guys ahead

of him, but watching that on board, he is still not able to really

attack. He is not exploiting the car to its maximum, he is being gentle.

It is not a criticism of him, he is driving exceptionally well. It is

where they are, trying to manage the tyres. He could be on for his first

podium of the season. He got one towards the end of last year in

Japan. We have seen the resurgence in form continue from him from that

will be measuring it himself and allowing Felipe Massa to get a bit

closer, that he will not want the pressure to be too much. Max Chilton

get out of the way. RADIO: We need to get to the end of the race

without damaging the tyres too much. Try to get past Jenson Button.

that a coded message? He will be allowed to pass, but the point is

not to push the tyres too hard in doing so. He was half a second

behind, crossing the line. That would normally be enough with DRS.

It will be interesting to see if we could get some action of them

battling it out. Sergio Perez's tyres are younger, so he should have

more speed. Felipe Massa trying to close the gap, but Kimi Raikkonen

responded. They were virtually identical. Fernando Alonso is

reeling them off. He has got the gap down to 12.7 seconds. But he is

totally in control. RADIO: ...Did he say too much oversteer? It was

difficult to interpret that. Felipe Massa having a charge, taking too

much out of his rear tyres, perhaps. Jenson Button in eighth, followed by

Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo. He is only 1.1 seconds ahead of

Esteban Gutierrez, who still has the fastest lap. With everybody having

changed tyres, I wonder if anybody will go quicker. We will wait to

see. Esteban Gutierrez still has a chance of his first ever point, if

he can close up to Daniel Ricciardo. His tyres are much younger than

Daniel Ricciardo's. Sauber have run a good strategy, they had a late

first stop for Esteban Gutierrez, and now a more recent stop. He has

got some good tyres to go on the attack and get a final point. We

will keep an eye on that. Will he become the first rookie of the year

to score a point? No great change in the intervals, Kimi Raikkonen

stretching the advantage over Felipe Massa a little bit. It is back over

ten seconds. Ferrari, Lotus and Ferrari, then the Red Bull of

Sebastian Vettel, 15 seconds further back down the road. That seems

amazing. A big gap from him to Mark Webber. Both Red Bull cars looking

to score points and maintain the constructors lead. They came into

this with a 16 point lead over Lotus, and only one Lotus will

finish in the points, because we lost Romain Grosjean early. They

could have had two cars in the top four or five. RADIO: Use the DRS.We

are in the range, Paul di Resta trying to get past Nico Rosberg. He

has sat there for a few laps. A few more laps to go on these tyres.

Because what -- Nico Rosberg's tyres could suddenly full of the cliff.

This has got to be Paul di Resta's opportunity. He is running in the

dirty air, which will help him getting into position. Mercedes is