The US Grand Prix - Highlights

:00:07. > :00:19.Previously on Formula 1... It is Lewis Hamilton! They are side by

:00:20. > :01:18.side! We did it! Raise 18: Austin. This is Formula One!

:01:19. > :01:24.Hello and welcome to race day at the United States Grand Prix in the Lone

:01:25. > :01:28.Star state of Texas, and temperatures are hitting 30

:01:29. > :01:32.degrees, the warmest it has been all weekend. This is the second time

:01:33. > :01:36.Formula One have been here, a popular destination with race fans,

:01:37. > :01:40.and indeed the Americans are embracing Formula One. It turns out

:01:41. > :02:03.they do not just like cars going around in circles after all.

:02:04. > :02:11.So the Circuit of the Americas hosts the penultimate race in 2013. World

:02:12. > :02:15.champion Sebastian Vettel looking to smash more records, and a win here

:02:16. > :02:19.would make him the first to win eight consecutive races in a season.

:02:20. > :02:24.We will be live for the season close in Brazil. This is one of the new

:02:25. > :02:28.tracks, but it stands out for all the right reasons. It is

:02:29. > :02:32.fantastically well engineered, they took the basis of great tracks

:02:33. > :02:36.around the world, and they took this bit of flat land, created a bit of

:02:37. > :02:39.an elevation change up to turn one, and they have given as something

:02:40. > :02:44.that challenges the drivers. They love this track, and this is where

:02:45. > :02:49.the race could be decided. Not only on pit stop strategy, but the run-up

:02:50. > :02:54.to that first corner could be decisive. That elevation change is

:02:55. > :02:58.about 40 metres. As a driver, when you are driving something like that,

:02:59. > :03:03.is it more fun than a flat track? It makes all the difference, 40 metres

:03:04. > :03:11.is not small! Once you go up, you have to come down again, and this

:03:12. > :03:15.first section is 100 mph, they are smiling from ear to ear. And it has

:03:16. > :03:20.been embraced by the American fans, Austin turns into a party down with

:03:21. > :03:25.live music everywhere, a fantastic event. Unquestionably, it is the

:03:26. > :03:29.destination for Grand Prix, we say that about Abu Dhabi, Montreal was

:03:30. > :03:32.always be placed in North America where they really got Formula One

:03:33. > :03:36.and created this atmosphere, but they have done the same here in

:03:37. > :03:41.Austin, Texas. The championship has already been decided, but let's have

:03:42. > :03:45.a look at the standings, and third place, well, Kimi Raikkonen is not

:03:46. > :03:51.racing for the next two races, and it looks like he will lose that

:03:52. > :03:55.spot. I think he is. Lewis Hamilton or Mark Webber should be more than

:03:56. > :03:59.capable of getting those points overhauled. We are in the last part

:04:00. > :04:04.of the season, reliability may play a part, but I suppose Kimi does not

:04:05. > :04:09.care about finishing anywhere other than the first place. Looking back

:04:10. > :04:12.at the start of the season for Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes, surely he

:04:13. > :04:16.would have taken third. You will be looking at where his old team-mate

:04:17. > :04:22.is, Jenson Button, not only is the 15th on the grid for this race, he

:04:23. > :04:26.is way down, ninth in the drivers' championship. Lewis made a good move

:04:27. > :04:29.in the short-term, Mercedes have had a better car, and looking forward to

:04:30. > :04:36.the big regulation change next year, it could be inspired. There is an

:04:37. > :04:38.almighty wrangle for second place in the constructors' championship. What

:04:39. > :04:43.does it mean for Lotus to get that position? For the teams, it is

:04:44. > :04:47.hugely important, that is where the money is, not only a big financial

:04:48. > :04:51.boost, and Lotus Saul Deeney that, but it gives you a better position

:04:52. > :04:57.in the pit lane for next year. -- sorely needed that. They are all

:04:58. > :04:59.focused on that this afternoon. Presumably that is why Lotus have

:05:00. > :05:03.brought in Heikki Kovalainen, because they know he can get points

:05:04. > :05:08.for them. Unquestionably, and they will expect him to deliver. We know

:05:09. > :05:14.Maldonado was leaving Williams under a cloud, not a great relationship,

:05:15. > :05:18.and it seems to have broken down. It is a shame, he says that the team is

:05:19. > :05:22.sabotaging his car, which is ridiculous, they have got no

:05:23. > :05:26.interest in doing that, but it shows how badly the relationship has

:05:27. > :05:28.deteriorated. That showed in qualifying, here is the report with

:05:29. > :05:36.Lee McKenzie. Esteban Gutierrez was given a ten

:05:37. > :05:40.plays grid penalty after nearly causing a high speed crash with

:05:41. > :05:48.Pastor Maldonado. The shock of the day was the pace Williams rookie

:05:49. > :05:53.Valtteri Bottas, quickest in Q1. Maldonado blamed the team, saying

:05:54. > :05:57.every tyre felt like it at the wrong pressure. Due to claim several big

:05:58. > :06:01.scalps, Jenson Button could only make 13th, but he also carries a

:06:02. > :06:04.penalty for ignoring the flag in practice. Sergio Perez, who was

:06:05. > :06:10.sacked this week for not being good enough, qualified seventh. Also out

:06:11. > :06:18.in due to work Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg, both struggling, then I

:06:19. > :06:21.know alongside each other. -- Q2. Heikki Kovalainen was only told on

:06:22. > :06:24.Tuesday that he would be driving here this weekend, replacing Kimi

:06:25. > :06:29.Raikkonen, who was at a back operation. The fellow Finn jumped in

:06:30. > :06:33.the car, and despite not having driven since 2011, immediately got

:06:34. > :06:38.up to speed, and he starts from eighth. Sauber had an excellent

:06:39. > :06:41.qualifying, Gutierrez qualified 12th before his penalty, but Hulkenberg

:06:42. > :06:45.equalled his best this season, starting in for. Red Bull looked

:06:46. > :06:51.likely to secure pole position, but which driver was not clear. Mark

:06:52. > :06:54.Webber set the early pace, but a mistake led Sebastian Vettel catches

:06:55. > :07:02.time, and the world champion took his eighth pole of the year. Red

:07:03. > :07:06.Bull lookout -- lock out the front row of the grid, Romain Grosjean

:07:07. > :07:12.should make a good start from the clean side, he is third. Lewis

:07:13. > :07:16.Hamilton is fifth alongside Alonso. Sergio Perez as big crowds are

:07:17. > :07:18.bought and start seventh with Kovalainen in eighth. Bottas is an

:07:19. > :07:24.excellent ninth, Ricciardo moves up to tenth after the penalty for good

:07:25. > :07:29.eras. Paul di Resta is 11 with Nico Rosberg alongside. -- Gutierrez.

:07:30. > :07:40.Jenson Button's penalty dropped him back to 15. Brake disk failure.

:07:41. > :07:43.Means he starts 16th. -- for Sutil. Max Chilton also incurred a

:07:44. > :07:48.penalty, a drive-through to be taken in the first five laps of the race.

:07:49. > :07:52.Charles Pic is at the back after a penalty for changing a gearbox.

:07:53. > :07:56.Gary, a couple of drivers out of place, possibly one of the reasons

:07:57. > :07:59.was the conditions yesterday, exceptional wind, how would it

:08:00. > :08:07.affect the characteristics of the car? These are aerodynamic project

:08:08. > :08:10.else, and if you get a tailwind, you lose rear downforce. Yesterday they

:08:11. > :08:16.had a side wind, which is the worst thing you can have. Getting the wind

:08:17. > :08:19.gusting, like it was yesterday just disturbs the car and ruins

:08:20. > :08:26.confidence. Temperatures were down on what was expected, and that seems

:08:27. > :08:30.to cause mayhem with the tyres. It is a twofold thing, because getting

:08:31. > :08:33.the tyre working is never easy, and when you don't have the confidence

:08:34. > :08:38.through the fast corners, it makes it very difficult. And getting your

:08:39. > :08:42.front tyres and your rear tyres in the window at the same time, they

:08:43. > :08:46.are experiencing all sorts of problems. The rear tyres are OK,

:08:47. > :08:51.because you can spin them up to heat them up, but you have to load the

:08:52. > :08:57.front tyres correctly. In terms of strategy, will one-stop be the best?

:08:58. > :09:02.It is, the tyre degradation here is not huge, but if somebody flat spots

:09:03. > :09:05.a tyre, two is not too bad. They would use the medium to ice, then

:09:06. > :09:11.the hardest dire, that is the fastest way. Looking forward to it,

:09:12. > :09:18.let's gets to the grid as the drivers prepare for the race ahead.

:09:19. > :09:25.If you are going to jump Sebastian Vettel, where can you do that today?

:09:26. > :09:30.Well, preferably of the line would be nice, but the odds haven't been

:09:31. > :09:34.super in that area. But yeah, no reason why we cannot do that if we

:09:35. > :09:39.get everything right. And then, yeah, we just need to see, if we

:09:40. > :09:43.both have a similar run on the tyres, obviously he is pretty good

:09:44. > :09:46.at looking after them, so I will have to see where I can get him. It

:09:47. > :09:52.is not going to be straightforward, but I will do what I can. Brilliant

:09:53. > :09:57.qualifying, top Ferrari engined car on the grid, you must be well

:09:58. > :10:03.satisfied, what can we hope for? I hope we can keep position. I expect

:10:04. > :10:08.from myself a defending race, the Mercedes and Ferrari, for sure, will

:10:09. > :10:12.be pushing me on. I hope I can stay around, get in the DRS zone, maybe

:10:13. > :10:17.you can drag me around, because otherwise my top speed is not so

:10:18. > :10:21.good. It all depends on the pace, and of course tyre management. Your

:10:22. > :10:25.first time on the grid for a considerable amount of time, how are

:10:26. > :10:30.you feeling? Pretty good, I have been feeling good all weekend, the

:10:31. > :10:34.car is quick, and I have been able to get up to speed reasonably well,

:10:35. > :10:39.so hopefully that carries on today. We will know better in a couple of

:10:40. > :10:44.hours time, but so far, so good. Do have a different strategy in the

:10:45. > :10:47.middle of the pack? Today we really need to react, to be honest, quite a

:10:48. > :10:55.bit. If we want to keep ahead of them, we want to react to them, so I

:10:56. > :11:01.reckon it should be one or two stops, most likely one, but let's

:11:02. > :11:05.see how it goes. I do not know about star-spangled, but it has been a

:11:06. > :11:08.star-studded grid, it will be a tall order for Lewis Hamilton to repeat

:11:09. > :11:13.his performance from last year and beat the Red Bulls at the front. So

:11:14. > :11:16.here it is, your American Grand Prix, Tom and Lee are in the pit

:11:17. > :11:35.lane, Gary, David and Ben are your commentators.

:11:36. > :11:40.For all of the success that Red Bull Racing has achieved since first

:11:41. > :11:45.appearing in 2005, the team has never won in the United States, and

:11:46. > :11:49.it has never enjoyed back-to-back 1-2 finishers in consecutive Grands

:11:50. > :11:54.Prix. That could change today, but there is still a threat from Lotus

:11:55. > :11:57.and Mercedes. They are away on the formation lap on the 3.4 miles

:11:58. > :12:01.Circuit of the Americas with a fantastic crowd enjoying the Texas

:12:02. > :12:06.sunshine, and we are looking forward to what should be a hard-fought

:12:07. > :12:09.race. Gary, the tyres, we are expecting most teams to make

:12:10. > :12:13.one-stop, will this be different to many of the other races we have seen

:12:14. > :12:17.when tyre management has been key? I don't think so, you can go flat out

:12:18. > :12:23.from the beginning and really use the car, but you can also drop down

:12:24. > :12:28.to two stops if you want to, it is not much slower. Most drivers will

:12:29. > :12:31.do one-stop. We are looking to go reasonably deep into the race, and

:12:32. > :12:36.it looks like only one driver has decided to go for the hardest tyre,

:12:37. > :12:40.why has he done that, Jean-Eric Vergne? He wants to be doing a

:12:41. > :12:44.different pit stop strategy, going long at the beginning. Normally it

:12:45. > :12:48.is half and half, the guy on the tyre who has to quit early gets a

:12:49. > :12:52.bit of a guide to how the other guy will do. That is not going to happen

:12:53. > :12:57.today, because more or less everybody is on the same tyre. Lewis

:12:58. > :13:02.has been reporting more oversteer in turns five and seven, wondering if

:13:03. > :13:06.that might indicate more two stops. Maybe there is more rear tyre were

:13:07. > :13:12.going to go on. Through that fast section yesterday we had a 90

:13:13. > :13:16.degrees side wind, today it is a tailwind a bit more, so that will

:13:17. > :13:20.affect rear downforce and make the car oversteer. It could end up

:13:21. > :13:24.eating up the rear tyres a little bit quicker. So medium and hard

:13:25. > :13:27.slick tyres have been brought by Pirelli. Tom, a quick update from

:13:28. > :13:34.the pit lane, any late-breaking news? Who should we be keeping a

:13:35. > :13:38.close eye on? It is the usual chaos as the mechanics ran past me to

:13:39. > :13:42.their respective pit garages, nervous faces at Red Bull and

:13:43. > :13:47.Mercedes going into this race. Red Bull have had to remove debris from

:13:48. > :13:50.a filter in Sebastian Vettel's gearbox overnight. They say

:13:51. > :13:55.everything is fine, but that debris must have come from somewhere, so

:13:56. > :13:59.slightly nervous faces there. And I noticed that Mercedes were bleeding

:14:00. > :14:03.Lewis Hamilton's brakes on the grid, you was complaining of a long brake

:14:04. > :14:09.pedal, something to watch out for there.

:14:10. > :14:13.You can hear the crowd in the background, cheering that turn one

:14:14. > :14:18.is phenomenal, as they climb up the steep, steep hill there to turn one,

:14:19. > :14:23.on the outside you have grand stands but you have a huge area of grass.

:14:24. > :14:26.When we came in it was just as they opened the gate and people were

:14:27. > :14:30.running to get into position, it is fantastic to see that level of

:14:31. > :14:35.support here, in the United States, there you are, everybody grewed to

:14:36. > :14:38.watch the start of this -- glued to watch the start of this Grand Prix

:14:39. > :14:42.and see whether Lewis Hamilton is going to be beaten in the USA. He

:14:43. > :14:47.starts fifth on the grid. Winner of the Austin race last year, winner at

:14:48. > :14:50.indie, the last time before that the cars raced in America, it will be

:14:51. > :14:56.tough for him do that today, starting in fifth and looking at the

:14:57. > :15:13.speed of the Red Bulls. Grosjean, Hulkenberg on the second row.

:15:14. > :15:18.Hamilton and Alonso. Watch out for Valtteri Bottas. Felipe Massa has

:15:19. > :15:22.work do, there is plenty to watch as we get ready for the US GP from

:15:23. > :15:33.Austin in Texas. Lights out, away we go, the two Red

:15:34. > :15:37.Bulls going for it. Vettel with a better start. Watch out for

:15:38. > :15:40.Grosjean. Hulkenberg trying to fend off Hamilton as they go into the

:15:41. > :15:44.first turn. Vettel gets in front. As they come down the hill, Grosjean

:15:45. > :15:52.has gone into second. Hamilton has gone up to third, so Webber lost out

:15:53. > :15:55.big time at turn one. Mark's get away was fine. Grosjean was able to

:15:56. > :16:01.come round the outside and as Mark was not able to run the car wide, on

:16:02. > :16:05.the exit of that corner, that allowed Hamilton to sneak through

:16:06. > :16:10.too. That is going to make Webber's target difficult here today. Red

:16:11. > :16:14.Bull -- Red Bull, down to first place, first place for his team-mate

:16:15. > :16:20.Vettel where we have seen him so often. Grosjean has a real chance of

:16:21. > :16:23.beating Mark Webber. Speaking to Lotus, they are confident, that was

:16:24. > :16:27.a bit of contact in the background. There is a bit of debris on the

:16:28. > :16:32.ground. Trying to pick up on the damage. It is on the toast with

:16:33. > :16:40.Jean-Eric Vergne. The front wing has some damage. -- Toro Rosso. It looks

:16:41. > :16:45.like the top of the wing. Rosberg is on the attack. Sutil has hit the

:16:46. > :16:50.wall. That brings the, it could bring out the safety car. Sutil has

:16:51. > :16:54.made a heavy contact. We have safety car on track. Still the battle for

:16:55. > :16:58.second. There must have been contact in the

:16:59. > :17:05.breaking area, I guess. That was a big hit. I am not sure whether the

:17:06. > :17:09.point of impact was, not in the breaking zone, was it? But big hit

:17:10. > :17:13.with the way the barriers were shaped. We will have to look at it

:17:14. > :17:18.in a moment. Vettel leads as the safety car has been deployed.

:17:19. > :17:23.Austin, Grosjean great start to move from third to second. Hamilton from

:17:24. > :17:26.fifth to third. Mark Webber is in third,

:17:27. > :17:32.Alonso lost a place on that opening encount e good to see that Adrian

:17:33. > :17:36.Sutil is out of his car. My goodness, that was early, before the

:17:37. > :17:39.breaking area. Yes, it looks to me like it was before, as if there was

:17:40. > :17:44.some contact or he went on the grass, but thankfully the impact is

:17:45. > :17:49.quite light with the barrier. But very unusual.

:17:50. > :17:53.They had a brake disk break on them in qualifying. We couldn't see what

:17:54. > :17:57.happened. It is more likely to be contact with another car. Gutierrez

:17:58. > :18:02.has been in the pits, so Gutierrez who started down in 20th, already

:18:03. > :18:06.into the pits. So whether he had damage on that first lap, Tom, what

:18:07. > :18:12.you seen? I didn't see any damage but it will be interesting, he has

:18:13. > :18:16.gone out on the hard tyre. If we glance back to last year, Grosjean

:18:17. > :18:19.was the first guy to pit on lap ten last year, and he got to the end of

:18:20. > :18:22.the race, so watch out for Gutierrez.

:18:23. > :18:26.OK. I think that will be pretty tough to do. But we will watch that.

:18:27. > :18:31.Now, here we go. He is in the background of that shot, with is it

:18:32. > :18:36.a Williams, it was contact. That is what started it. They weren't even

:18:37. > :18:40.in the braking zone. That was an unnecessary contact. It looks like

:18:41. > :18:46.Sutil was moving slightly over to the left, let us see if we can get a

:18:47. > :18:51.better angle of it here. It was with Maldonado. So, well, plenty of space

:18:52. > :18:59.there for them to be able to make their way down to the braking zone.

:19:00. > :19:04.It is driver row, it's a -- error. A difficult one to work out until we

:19:05. > :19:08.see some of the onboards. The stewards will look at that. Adrian

:19:09. > :19:12.Sutil is out of the Grand Prix. Very disappointing for Force India, Force

:19:13. > :19:17.India still harbouring hopes of trying to close up to the gap to

:19:18. > :19:20.McLaren. Only 18 points behind them in the Constructors Championship.

:19:21. > :19:25.Battling for fifth place. They are trying to stay ahead of Sauber. If

:19:26. > :19:29.we try and work out who does this help? The fact they have taken the

:19:30. > :19:33.race, if you like, out of the first couple of laps. Hulkenberg might

:19:34. > :19:36.have an opportunity there, to get in the slipstream of Mark Webber. It

:19:37. > :19:43.might allow Mark Webber the chance to come back at Hamilton. Bottas

:19:44. > :19:49.moves up a place. Daniel Ricciardo doe. Rosberg, that may enable him.

:19:50. > :19:55.We get a feel for where the tyres are. They are not burning off as

:19:56. > :19:58.much fuel behind the safety car, but they will be burning off a

:19:59. > :20:04.kilo-and-a-half of fuel. The car is getting lighter. The potential is

:20:05. > :20:07.improving. There is Grosjean's race engineer. We are onboard with

:20:08. > :20:12.Grosjean, I spoke to him before the race, they were hope. Of taking the

:20:13. > :20:17.race to Webber here, no doubt about it. The race pace on Friday was

:20:18. > :20:21.quite impressive. Just a quick note about losers and winners. Let us

:20:22. > :20:27.look at the start and see how this worked out. How did Webber lose that

:20:28. > :20:30.position? His get away was fine. We expected the right hand side to be

:20:31. > :20:35.much worse than the left side. As it turns out they got away in great

:20:36. > :20:39.order. Mark is marginally ahead. But as he brakes, Grosjean is able to go

:20:40. > :20:44.round the outside. He doesn't, he is not able therefore to get on the

:20:45. > :20:50.power hard, and that allows Hamilton to come round to turn one. If he

:20:51. > :20:55.saved some of his curves he will give it a boost. Mark, well, ering

:20:56. > :20:59.on the side of caution, we see some body work laid down in the middle of

:21:00. > :21:04.the field. Difficult to tell which car that came from. Surprising that

:21:05. > :21:09.they went way pretty much in great order. Keep an eye on Gutierrez, we

:21:10. > :21:13.know he has come into the pit. I don't know if he made contact with

:21:14. > :21:17.anybody. No, it looked fairly clear but there was a bit. Difficult to

:21:18. > :21:22.see who made that contact. The squeeze as they go through turn two,

:21:23. > :21:26.with the forces for, the Toro Rosso, and then the battles continue,

:21:27. > :21:31.missing the corner completely. Was that Felipe Massa? It is, indeed.

:21:32. > :21:37.Continuing the battle, then you have the, I think that was the forces for

:21:38. > :21:41.being passed there. Then Mark Webber. Initial get away, he will be

:21:42. > :21:45.happy with that, watch Grosjean on the outside. As Mark brakes in he

:21:46. > :21:51.has been overtaken, but he is not able to release the steering. He

:21:52. > :21:55.spins the wheels, and that is what has allowed Hamilton to overtake

:21:56. > :22:01.him. Let us see how Grosjean saw it. He went round the outside. Good

:22:02. > :22:06.start He marginally caught Sebastian Vettel, then as he runs up, you can

:22:07. > :22:10.see it is a late apex, shallow corner.

:22:11. > :22:14.Wow. All the excitement there as he floors the throttle. Spinning up the

:22:15. > :22:18.tyres. That allows Sebastian Vettel just to open his gap slightly, but,

:22:19. > :22:21.well, the boss is happy. Up into second place for Grosjean, he did

:22:22. > :22:31.like that very much. Good effort that, as we are looking, this is the

:22:32. > :22:38.replay with antibiotics. -- Valtteri Bottas. He takes a wide line. Keeps

:22:39. > :22:42.plenty of room on the inside. Well mature start from Bottas.

:22:43. > :22:49.The safety car will be coming in at the end of this lap.

:22:50. > :22:51.ON RADIO: Restart. Safety car on location.

:22:52. > :22:55.Sebastian Vettel controlling the pace as we get ready for the safety

:22:56. > :22:59.car to come back in at the end of this lap.

:23:00. > :23:03.Race leader in the Red Bull. Vettel with Grosjean behind. Hamilton then

:23:04. > :23:07.Mark Webber. Wants to make a clean break, there is a lot of the lap to

:23:08. > :23:10.complete. So he will wait for the right moment It is interesting, he

:23:11. > :23:15.started to back the field up. He doesn't want to trip over the safety

:23:16. > :23:20.car in the last section. If you come out of 18 through 19, it is all fast

:23:21. > :23:24.sections so she has chosen to go early as he goes into 16, goes 17,

:23:25. > :23:28.then 18. He knows this is an opportunity when people are running

:23:29. > :23:32.in dirty air to lose downforce, he can open out his lead. Grosjean has

:23:33. > :23:37.done a good job of going with him, it has to be said. He is keeping on

:23:38. > :23:42.the tail of Vettel, but Vettel has the lead as they computer the lap.

:23:43. > :23:48.We are back to racing again -- complete the lap. Hamilton in third

:23:49. > :23:51.place, then Webber and Hulkenberg holding on. Hulkenberg has Sergio

:23:52. > :23:56.Perez behind him. Huge amount of support the the Mexican at Austin

:23:57. > :24:00.today, also for Gutierrez, but he is way down the order. Paul di Resta

:24:01. > :24:06.coming over the hill. Good first lap from him, puts him ninth. Ricciardo

:24:07. > :24:09.in tenth. Rosberg is in 11th. We are onboard with Mark Webber through

:24:10. > :24:14.these fast sweeps and curve, but now of course, full of fuel, the car

:24:15. > :24:19.handling different to qualifying. Not just full of fuel. They would

:24:20. > :24:24.have been off the line with 150 kilos of fuel. It's a high fuel race

:24:25. > :24:29.track. The tyre, it is impossible to keep them at the same operating

:24:30. > :24:33.temperature, so the whole time, Hamilton there in the Mercedes,

:24:34. > :24:37.running wide as he goes into turn 11. That might allow Mark Webber

:24:38. > :24:40.opportunity to close up slightly. This is an opportunity for Perez as

:24:41. > :24:45.well on Hulkenberg, just behind Hulkenberg, he is fifth. Perez is

:24:46. > :24:48.having a look at it. He moves to the outside. Hulkenberg resolute in

:24:49. > :24:52.defence, we have seen that many time, and there is not quite the

:24:53. > :24:56.chance there for Sergio Perez to get through. Perez desperate to make a

:24:57. > :24:59.name for himself, he has lost the McLaren drive for next year, but

:25:00. > :25:04.there are options available perhaps in the paddock, he wants to show

:25:05. > :25:09.what he can do. Hulkenberg is having to defend through the section, which

:25:10. > :25:13.puts him on a slightly dirty line. Then he is able to try and use the

:25:14. > :25:17.fresh air available to him, a bit of a gap to Webber in front and Perez

:25:18. > :25:22.dropping back slightly as they drop into 19. A bit of a wobble from

:25:23. > :25:27.Hulkenberg. He gets wide on that artificial grass which holds a lot

:25:28. > :25:30.of the dust in this Texas region. Now, we know that Max Chilton is due

:25:31. > :25:34.to do his drive-through penalty in the early lap, he couldn't do it

:25:35. > :25:38.when the safety car was out. Not allowed to do it then, but we are

:25:39. > :25:44.see Chilton coming into the pits any moment, to do that drive-through

:25:45. > :25:54.penalty. Sebastian Vettel fastest on a 1: 4 4.2. It may seem harsh to a

:25:55. > :25:57.drive-through penalty, but what the stewards have realised giving

:25:58. > :26:02.penalties doesn't affect the grid equally. If you are a Caterham or

:26:03. > :26:06.Marussia you are still within, you know, four places of where you might

:26:07. > :26:10.have been anywhere, where it is costly if you are a car that runs at

:26:11. > :26:14.the front. So new penalties to try and make sure that drivers pay

:26:15. > :26:19.attention to other cars on the track. Yes, that is right. Onboard

:26:20. > :26:24.here with Fernando Alonso. Early part of the race. Just lap six

:26:25. > :26:29.out of 56 for the Ferrari driver. He is in seventh place, his team-mate

:26:30. > :26:33.in 13th position, Ferrari desperate to try and claim points back on

:26:34. > :26:37.Mercedes. Mercedes have the edge because Hamilton is up there in

:26:38. > :26:45.third. Just listen.

:26:46. > :26:51.What a long periods off the throttle When they are heavy like this they

:26:52. > :26:54.don't sound like Grand Prix carrings, they sound like the style

:26:55. > :26:58.they use on a motorbike. They have to roll them into the corner, be

:26:59. > :27:02.patient, wait and start to accelerate. But we will hear that

:27:03. > :27:05.audibly change, as the fuel burns off during the Grand Prix, and they

:27:06. > :27:09.come back towards the weight they were qualifying.

:27:10. > :27:12.So, Vettel leads the race, with Grosjean still in second place,

:27:13. > :27:18.Hamilton in third and just dropping away a bit from Grosjean, and Mark

:27:19. > :27:21.Webber, it could be tough to get back in to second place, that is

:27:22. > :27:24.going to be the big challenge for Red Bull. Can they get him back.

:27:25. > :27:28.Hulkenberg still holding on ahead of Perez. There is Bottas. He is still

:27:29. > :27:33.in the points at this early stage. Everybody grouped together closely

:27:34. > :27:36.behind. There is Daniel Ricciardo. Sorry Vergne, rather, that is

:27:37. > :27:42.Jean-Eric Vergne. Daniel Ricciardo running in tenth. So Vergne, at the

:27:43. > :27:46.back of that group. He is in 15th place. Maldonado is in 16th after

:27:47. > :27:49.the contact with Adrian Sutil, on the opening lap that put Sutil out

:27:50. > :28:02.of the Grand Prix. Look at Vettel, beginning to open up that margin, he

:28:03. > :28:07.did a 1: 43.9. 1: 44 from Grosjean. Grosjean is half a second slower.

:28:08. > :28:11.They are running eight seconds slower than in qualifying. That is

:28:12. > :28:14.closer than we see as some of the circuits, track conditions are

:28:15. > :28:18.warmer, so it is going to be interesting this afternoon, that

:28:19. > :28:24.when they do change over, on tyre, will they go again with the set of

:28:25. > :28:26.the options and look to exploit the higher working temperature that the

:28:27. > :28:30.track is going to give them, or are they going to go for the one-stop

:28:31. > :28:35.and stick the primes on? That is right. We will have to wait and see

:28:36. > :28:40.how that pun -- turns out. Webber quicker. Vettel begins to open that

:28:41. > :28:44.lead over Grosjean. There is Hamilton. There is Webber on the

:28:45. > :28:49.attack, but of course the more you attack behind another car the more

:28:50. > :28:54.wear you put on the tyre, and that can shorten the length you then are

:28:55. > :28:58.able to use. So Webber has to think about this carefully but Hamilton

:28:59. > :29:05.losing pace compared to those awe head. . Webber has the advantage of

:29:06. > :29:09.having DRS. That is worth about four tenths of a second. The fact he is

:29:10. > :29:20.able to stay with him one seconds, he gets that three to four times

:29:21. > :29:25.boost. We see a replay here. Gutierrez moving up, having made

:29:26. > :29:28.that early pit stop, he has got past the Marussia of Jules Bianchi, so

:29:29. > :29:34.that puts him 17th place Bianchi is still leading the young teams, a

:29:35. > :29:40.fraction ahead of Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic and children.

:29:41. > :29:47.Hamilton has been told to uses KERS to defend. Some vibration, says

:29:48. > :29:56.Maldonado in the car, there was contact with Adrian Sutil. His front

:29:57. > :30:00.wing is hanging off, that might well explain it. It is not just vibration

:30:01. > :30:04.in the car, there was a lot of frustration in that car, the

:30:05. > :30:08.relationship has broken down between Maldonado and the Williams team. He

:30:09. > :30:12.made some comments yesterday that the team were not happy about at all

:30:13. > :30:18.following qualifying, you do wonder how the relationship is destroyed,

:30:19. > :30:22.as you say. I was just going to say that he did address his own

:30:23. > :30:26.mechanics after qualifying yesterday to try to clarify the situation, he

:30:27. > :30:31.wanted them to understand it was not a dig at them, it was a dig at the

:30:32. > :30:35.team. I am just sitting watching his mechanics, ready to receive him.

:30:36. > :30:40.Hard to know what the differences if he is blaming the team for putting

:30:41. > :30:45.him in difficult situation! No, I think we can accept that English is

:30:46. > :30:52.a second language, maybe he is not fully understanding that there is no

:30:53. > :30:58.I in team, and if he has an issue with the management, he should name

:30:59. > :31:02.directly or that is. Black and orange flags being given. That is

:31:03. > :31:07.mechanical failure on the car. We do not often see that, because the

:31:08. > :31:11.teams are normally quick to bring that in. We were more familiar with

:31:12. > :31:15.that in our early days, the enthusiasm of youth, you just keep

:31:16. > :31:18.running round. Black and orange means you must report to the pits

:31:19. > :31:23.because there is something wrong with your car. They are changing the

:31:24. > :31:28.front wing, the nose cone, a whole section going on. A bit of a slow

:31:29. > :31:32.getaway, well, his weekend is not getting any better. It is going to

:31:33. > :31:36.be one to write off, just one more Grand Prix with Williams Grand Prix,

:31:37. > :31:40.and I think he and the team will be relieved when it is over. So

:31:41. > :31:44.Grosjean still going quickly, despite being 3.4 seconds behind

:31:45. > :31:48.race leader Sebastian Vettel, Grosjean quake in the first sector

:31:49. > :31:54.on this lap, tyres holding together well. Hamilton, Webber, Hulkenberg

:31:55. > :32:00.is still sending off errors and Alonso. Alonso is playing a waiting

:32:01. > :32:05.game. He will be watching with interest, it helps if he can get in

:32:06. > :32:09.around Hulkenberg, Perez, try to slow each other down. He will be

:32:10. > :32:14.keeping an ion Webber in front, he does not want that gap to open up

:32:15. > :32:22.too much, because what he can do to win that back later in the Grand

:32:23. > :32:26.Prix. Kovalainen lost out at the first, a little bit raise Rusty, he

:32:27. > :32:31.has not raised at all this year, he has done a few practice sessions for

:32:32. > :32:35.Caterham, but the last race was at the end of 2012. That might be

:32:36. > :32:40.costing him a few places at the start of the race. One of the more

:32:41. > :32:44.tricky start up the hill into the blind corner, and at the moment in

:32:45. > :32:48.12th, the team need him to be in the points, that is what is going to

:32:49. > :32:52.help their quest for the constructors' championship. The

:32:53. > :32:56.battle for the lead is over, Red Bull have secured that, but the

:32:57. > :33:00.battle for second place is very much alive. He has met you at, Heikki

:33:01. > :33:09.Kovalainen, and he is talking about... OK, turns four, five and

:33:10. > :33:13.six, Fernando stays in fifth gear, that is the only difference in terms

:33:14. > :33:18.of lap time between you both. Second and third sectors very similar. Both

:33:19. > :33:24.of them are following cars quite closely, Massa is one second behind

:33:25. > :33:30.Kovalainen, over line and tucked in behind Sergio Perez. -- Alonso is

:33:31. > :33:35.tucked in behind Sergio Perez. That interesting advice from Rob Smedley,

:33:36. > :33:39.Massa's engineer, the drivers have a habit of using the engine to

:33:40. > :33:43.energise the airflow from the exhaust over the rear of the car,

:33:44. > :33:47.and if you suggesting that Fernando is staying in fifth, I would imagine

:33:48. > :33:51.that must mean that in the bay is going down to fourth, not a sequence

:33:52. > :33:55.where you would be in sixth gear, so they may feel that going down an

:33:56. > :34:00.extra gear and energising the car, it also slows you down when you use

:34:01. > :34:04.the engine braking effect of doing the extra shift. There is only a

:34:05. > :34:08.couple of tenths difference, but that is the sort of crucial advice a

:34:09. > :34:14.race engineer can give his driver. On board with Fernando Alonso,

:34:15. > :34:18.Sebastian Vettel has just said a fastest lap once again. It looks

:34:19. > :34:27.like Fernando is starting to hustle, he wants to get this race on, get

:34:28. > :34:34.errors do have a go at Hulkenberg, I do have a go or let me do it. --

:34:35. > :34:38.Perez. That was a diver from a long way back, but a clear indication

:34:39. > :34:43.that he is a man on a mission and he wants to get this race moving.

:34:44. > :34:48.Hamilton's degrading tyres just a little bit according to Sauber,

:34:49. > :34:53.because Hulkenberg has been told that Hamilton is beginning to lose

:34:54. > :34:57.pace, but his last lap, 1:34.7, not as quick as the leaders, and Webber

:34:58. > :35:02.behind him was three quarters of a second faster. It looks like

:35:03. > :35:07.Hamilton is beginning to struggle on tyres quite early in this race, 12

:35:08. > :35:11.of 56, and the tyres did get a breather with the early safety car

:35:12. > :35:16.which came out as a result of Adrian Sutil's accident. On board with

:35:17. > :35:22.Sergio Perez into this key corner onto the straight.

:35:23. > :35:30.A long wait before he opens the throttle, trying to get a good drive

:35:31. > :35:34.off. Unlike we saw in career, where Hulkenberg could not overtake

:35:35. > :35:38.because he had such great traction at top speed, the difference in

:35:39. > :35:48.qualifying, with 's rear Perezwing open, there was only two kph

:35:49. > :35:51.difference, and the Ferrari was in the same zone, so they are evenly

:35:52. > :35:55.matched in straight-line speed. The quickest car in qualifying was the

:35:56. > :36:05.Force India of Paul di Resta. That bodes well for him. Sebastian Vettel

:36:06. > :36:07.leading by 4.2 seconds from Sebastian Grosjean, Lewis Hamilton

:36:08. > :36:12.beginning to struggle in third place, Mark Webber has just said two

:36:13. > :36:16.fastest sector times as he get much closer in the background. He is

:36:17. > :36:19.within DRS range of Lewis Hamilton, whether he will be able to attack, I

:36:20. > :36:23.don't think, the DRS is operational, he does not go on the

:36:24. > :36:30.attack. Behind them, Hulkenberg is in fifth place, four seconds behind

:36:31. > :36:38.them, Perez sixth. Bottas is doing a fine job in eighth. Kovalainen is in

:36:39. > :36:45.12th, followed by Massa, Button, Vergne, Gutierrez, Bianchi, Van der

:36:46. > :36:53.Garde, Pic, Chilton and Van der Garde at the back. We have still got

:36:54. > :36:58.laps to do on these tyres. That is what I am doing, man, let me focus!

:36:59. > :37:02.Hamilton doing his best to look after those tyres. Even though these

:37:03. > :37:05.are a fairly conservative choice of tyre this weekend, it is still the

:37:06. > :37:10.case with the Pirelli is that you still have to manage them to a

:37:11. > :37:15.certain extent. Unquestionably, the tyre is more durable, and that is

:37:16. > :37:20.why we are expecting one-stop. Mark Webber is going to have a go around

:37:21. > :37:24.the outside. He has taken the place from Hamilton, a great move by Mark

:37:25. > :37:29.Webber, and he has moved into third position. There was nothing Hamilton

:37:30. > :37:33.could do. I think Hamilton was shocked by that, and you feel as a

:37:34. > :37:39.driver that you have more control about what he will do if you force

:37:40. > :37:42.someone to the outside, but Mark carries so much speed and was so

:37:43. > :37:45.confident in the braking zone that Lewis locked up slightly following

:37:46. > :37:49.him into the corner. No surprise, really, that Red Bull has got more

:37:50. > :37:54.grip and balance at the moment in this part of the season. Despite

:37:55. > :37:57.Lewis's best efforts, he is just driving to the grip levels he has

:37:58. > :38:00.from those tyres, and the crucial thing is that they are having to

:38:01. > :38:05.manage it as the fuel load is burning off, a huge amount of weight

:38:06. > :38:10.as a percentage of the car, that you are having to carry at the beginning

:38:11. > :38:15.of the Grand Prix. Now, look at this, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Massa has

:38:16. > :38:19.dropped back a little bit of that group, but they are all fighting in

:38:20. > :38:24.the constructors' championship. This is how Mark Webber got past a Lewis

:38:25. > :38:27.Hamilton. Mark as the DRS wide open, but by the time they brake, he

:38:28. > :38:32.is able to go right around the outside. Well, that is the

:38:33. > :38:38.difference in DRS, he picks up the flick stream -- slipstream, Lewis

:38:39. > :38:43.goes to the left, he is on the inside line into a tight corner, and

:38:44. > :38:48.that was fairly straightforward for Mark. No problems getting into the

:38:49. > :38:54.apex, he made it look very easily, into third now. One of the key races

:38:55. > :38:58.here will be for second, Grosjean, Webber? A few good laps for Webber

:38:59. > :39:04.could be crucial, he has to get on terms with the Lotus. We know that

:39:05. > :39:08.Mark uses his tyres more aggressively than Sebastian Vettel.

:39:09. > :39:13.It will be interesting to see just how far... He needs to hurry up if

:39:14. > :39:19.he wants second. Lewis, you are doing a good job, Webber's pace is

:39:20. > :39:26.quick, Hulkenberg is four seconds behind. We need to manage this

:39:27. > :39:30.position here. Yeah, I am trying to! He does not sound happy, does he?!

:39:31. > :39:34.He does not like fighting for fifth place, he likes fighting for wins.

:39:35. > :39:40.He was the winner here last year, he loves America, and he would rather

:39:41. > :39:43.be battling up front than trying to defend from Hulkenberg behind.

:39:44. > :39:47.Meanwhile, a great little group, Heikki Kovalainen doing a solid job,

:39:48. > :39:54.a little wiggle over the kerb as I say that, but a pretty solid job.

:39:55. > :39:59.Points are what Lotus desperately need, they were wanting to move up

:40:00. > :40:02.the order. One of their big rivals ahead in the form of Mercedes. It is

:40:03. > :40:06.a tough job for the engineers, you know that what you are going to tell

:40:07. > :40:10.the driver will irritating, but as part of your procedure, you have to

:40:11. > :40:15.give him that information. You can imagine when Kimi was racing at

:40:16. > :40:20.Lotus, let you talk to him, no, you talk to him! It is like that at

:40:21. > :40:26.Mercedes now, when Lewis is not in a happy place, he does not like being

:40:27. > :40:31.disturbed. 1.5 seconds to Hamilton, who has been told to manage his

:40:32. > :40:35.pace, you are raising Hamilton. Hulkenberg was seven tenths of a

:40:36. > :40:39.second faster than Hamilton last lap, so Hamilton will have to be

:40:40. > :40:43.very wary of that Sauber coming up behind them. We saw a great race

:40:44. > :40:48.between them in career. That is Mark Webber in third, pulling away from

:40:49. > :40:54.Lewis Hamilton in fourth place, then Hulkenberg in fifth place. Behind

:40:55. > :40:58.Alonso, doing a fine job here, Valtteri Bottas in the Williams,

:40:59. > :41:02.look how close he is. Then Paul di Resta followed by Daniel Ricciardo,

:41:03. > :41:07.Rosberg and Kovalainen. The Toro Rosso Daniel Ricciardo, a little

:41:08. > :41:12.move from Jenson Button, not quite, trying to take 13th from Felipe

:41:13. > :41:16.Massa. Ricciardo, we gather, has lost the ability to use DRS on his

:41:17. > :41:19.car. He is the one being chased, rather than the one doing the

:41:20. > :41:23.chasing, but that is not going to make his life very easy this

:41:24. > :41:28.afternoon. On board with Sebastian Vettel, our race leader. This is

:41:29. > :41:32.just at the end of the first sector, coming through eight and

:41:33. > :41:39.nine, so smooth, isn't it, using the curve through nine? You can hear as

:41:40. > :41:44.he goes over the rumble strips. Listen to the throttle here.

:41:45. > :41:53.Very progressive. That was a 6.3 seconds lead, he is not really under

:41:54. > :41:59.pressure, this is about managing the car and the race, no need for him to

:42:00. > :42:03.be stressing that, and he will probably have the engine mode turned

:42:04. > :42:07.down slightly, taking away some of the available horsepower, but taking

:42:08. > :42:13.some of the energy and heat out of the combustion chamber, giving you

:42:14. > :42:16.more reliability. Paul di Resta locks up into turn 11. Not

:42:17. > :42:21.particularly under pressure from Ricciardo, who is under pressure

:42:22. > :42:27.from Rosberg and Kovalainen. It is working well for Paul di Resta.

:42:28. > :42:32.Bottas was very close to Alonso, Bottas in eighth position. Di Resta

:42:33. > :42:36.a little bit on his own, then Ricciardo managing to fend off the

:42:37. > :42:40.Mercedes and the Lotus. Sergio Perez has been told, we are in the window,

:42:41. > :42:45.so we may start to see some pit stops pretty soon as the teams get

:42:46. > :42:49.ready to switch the tyres. Kovalainen having a look. We did see

:42:50. > :42:53.some overtaking there last year, so maybe later in the race, if tyre

:42:54. > :42:58.wear is a factor, we could see some passing on that section. Sebastian

:42:59. > :43:03.Vettel said yet another fastest lap, the gap has opened up to just under

:43:04. > :43:09.seven seconds over Romain Grosjean. Incomes Heikki Kovalainen, as we may

:43:10. > :43:14.be expected, Lotus is one of the first. He is trying to undercut the

:43:15. > :43:19.guys up ahead of him, Rosberg and Ricciardo. Can he use this early pit

:43:20. > :43:25.stop to do that? He needs some clean air, so a sensible decision, they

:43:26. > :43:30.have to try something different. Slow stop left front was slow, four

:43:31. > :43:34.seconds at the pit stop for Heikki Kovalainen. He resented the car

:43:35. > :43:40.beautifully, a procedural issue with the tyres going on board. Let's see

:43:41. > :43:45.what he does on this crucial lap, he is on the hard tyre now. Preheated,

:43:46. > :43:50.of course, but he has to maintain that heat, not a problem with track

:43:51. > :43:53.temperatures of 35 degrees. The wind has veered around two more of the

:43:54. > :43:59.direction it was in qualifying yesterday as well.

:44:00. > :44:03.TEAM RADIO: Go for the distance, not speed. A different strategy being

:44:04. > :44:09.employed there as Red Bull. They want to go further into the race, it

:44:10. > :44:13.certainly is quite an early stop for the Lotus. If Kovalainen is going to

:44:14. > :44:20.go all the way to tend, it is a long way to go. If any car can, is Lotus

:44:21. > :44:25.can. It has been consistency on its tyre use. It was more about the fact

:44:26. > :44:28.they gave him 17 laps to try and find a way past the traffic in

:44:29. > :44:32.front, he wasn't make anything head way. What we don't know up here, is

:44:33. > :44:37.he could be buzzing into the limit ter with the DRS open which means he

:44:38. > :44:42.has no chance to pass the car in front. So he needs to get in clean

:44:43. > :44:47.air and hope that brings him out in a better position. I wonder if

:44:48. > :44:53.Rosberg is going to react to that pit-stop, Massa being told, it is

:44:54. > :44:58.still too early for Ferrari to make the pit-stop. I guess Mercedes may

:44:59. > :45:02.feel the seam. Rosberg may stay out there. He is still behind Ricciardo,

:45:03. > :45:07.everything else feeing they can't get to the end on the next set of

:45:08. > :45:10.tyres. It is not just that, we know that Kovalainen has gone for a set

:45:11. > :45:13.of the prime tyres so they may feel coming in and putting the primes on

:45:14. > :45:18.now, they will be slower than the lap time they are able do with a

:45:19. > :45:22.worn set of options. Gutierrez racing hard here, right behind

:45:23. > :45:26.Jean-Eric Vergne, quick car the Sauber, he got into the top ten in

:45:27. > :45:30.qualifying but had the penalty for blocking, when he weaved round in

:45:31. > :45:34.front of Maldonado in qualifying. That is what he was penalised

:45:35. > :45:39.before. -- for. As we have seen from Hulkenberg the Sauber is in good

:45:40. > :45:43.shape and Gutierrez is picking up some places now.

:45:44. > :45:48.Just watching Gutierrez. He had a good lap last time. He is on the

:45:49. > :45:55.primes as well, which would indicate that they are working at this track

:45:56. > :46:02.temperature. Valtteri Bottas is in eighth place. Only under a second

:46:03. > :46:06.behind Alonso. Rosberg gets past Ricciardo, Ricciardo is trying to

:46:07. > :46:11.come back ou round the outside but Rosberg has enough momentum there

:46:12. > :46:15.and finally Rosberg has found a way past the Toro Rosso, Ricciardo doing

:46:16. > :46:18.a good job of not giving up. I don't think there will be any other

:46:19. > :46:23.openings here. Rosberg had to work hard for that, and battle continues

:46:24. > :46:28.all the way into 16, but once you get into that corner it just, it

:46:29. > :46:32.keeps going, 17, 18, and the downforce will be disturbed on to

:46:33. > :46:36.the wing of the Toro Rosso. So now Rosberg's released, we have

:46:37. > :46:39.to expect him to be open out and pull the pace. That was crucial,

:46:40. > :46:44.actually, in this battle he is having with Kovalainen. He needed

:46:45. > :46:48.clean air. Watching the car of Ricciardo, trying to see whether the

:46:49. > :46:52.DRS is working now or not. Couldn't spot it. He had a problem earlier on

:46:53. > :46:56.in the race. This is how Rosberg got past Ricciardo. This is the mean

:46:57. > :47:00.straight. Along this straight. Buzzing the limiter and takes a dive

:47:01. > :47:04.in the braking zone, he must have recognised from previous laps that

:47:05. > :47:08.Ricciardo, although he tried to come back in to 13, but he recognised

:47:09. > :47:12.Ricciardo was early on the brakes and it was worth the punt. He used

:47:13. > :47:17.all of the road, right out on to the limit of the curbs. Sometimes you

:47:18. > :47:21.have do that. That would have cost overall lap time on that particular

:47:22. > :47:26.lap, but it is got him into clean air. Heikki Kovalainen having made a

:47:27. > :47:33.pit-stop is in clean air, he is in the mid 1: 44s on the hard compound

:47:34. > :47:39.tyre but the race leader is doing 1: 43 at this stage. Rosberg only doing

:47:40. > :47:44.1: 45s. That was including the pass and all that messiness that went on.

:47:45. > :47:53.So expect him to be able to be closer to his team-mate Hamilton who

:47:54. > :47:58.did a 44.0. Button stuck behind Massa. As we have seen, the Toro

:47:59. > :48:08.Rosso's maybe struggling a bit. TEAM RADIO: Box this lap. Button

:48:09. > :48:14.will be coming in now. We know it is marginal for Ferrari to get to the

:48:15. > :48:20.end of the race but Button maybe they feel his smooth driving

:48:21. > :48:28.style... It gives Ferrari a chance to reacts on this lap. There you go.

:48:29. > :48:32.Button in. Ferrari on the track. Watch Button come in, hope this stop

:48:33. > :48:36.is a clean one. He is in the pits now. So Jean-Eric Vergne ahead of

:48:37. > :48:39.Gutierrez there, but into the pits the car looking wobbly on the front

:48:40. > :48:46.jack, but doesn't seem to cost him any time. Away it goes. Jenson

:48:47. > :48:50.Button 3.6 seconds. Not the Faysest we have seen. Kovalainen will be

:48:51. > :48:58.coming across, so Button will be ahead of him. That will give him

:48:59. > :49:03.something to aim for. Of course Button really racing against Felipe

:49:04. > :49:08.Massa. He was tucked in behind Massa for many laps.

:49:09. > :49:14.TEAM RADIO: Push now, push now, a big lap. Ferrari asking Massa to

:49:15. > :49:19.respond. It is likely we will see him next time. He said we need a big

:49:20. > :49:23.lap. He doesn't like chucking an S on the end of his sentences. It

:49:24. > :49:31.would suggest Massa will be in at the end of this lap. This is for

:49:32. > :49:35.sixth, seventh place and Bottas has droppedia away a bit. I don't know

:49:36. > :49:41.if that was loans playing the game. Dropping away from Perez, and now

:49:42. > :49:48.that we are getting near the pit-stop he has made sure he is on

:49:49. > :49:54.the tail. Ferrari have seen Button, so they are aware he may stop.

:49:55. > :50:00.TEAM RADIO: Box at the end of this lap. Just with one lap for Felipe

:50:01. > :50:07.Massa to do it. Here is the race between Button and Massa. Let us see

:50:08. > :50:14.how Ferrari get on here and we will watch to see how Jenson Button is

:50:15. > :50:20.when he reemerges. Jensen picked up seven tenths, so it will be close.

:50:21. > :50:24.It should be close. We don't know what Button is doing in the last

:50:25. > :50:29.sector. He is coming through 19 now, so there is Kovalainen coming out of

:50:30. > :50:33.20 in the background. There is Jensen, so I think it is going to be

:50:34. > :50:38.tight, but I think Massa is going to hold on. He had a quicker pit-stop

:50:39. > :50:42.by nearly a second. Massa rejoin, can Jenson Button do anything here

:50:43. > :50:47.to attack? He has the wide sweep into the first corner, he is cutting

:50:48. > :50:51.back, he is going to try and do something through turn two, he can't

:50:52. > :50:56.quite go round the outside and it looks as though Ferrari have managed

:50:57. > :50:59.to protect their position, Massa's in-lap was everything they needed.

:51:00. > :51:05.As long as he can hold it together here, there will be one more chance

:51:06. > :51:11.for Button if he can stay close on the long straight and use DRS. If he

:51:12. > :51:15.comes through ten flat out here, down into Director-Generals zone,

:51:16. > :51:23.here is Alonso having a look at Perez. Trying to think of getting

:51:24. > :51:28.past the Ferrari. It is McLaren ahead of the Ferrari.

:51:29. > :51:35.TEAM RADIO: Box this lap, confirm. So, we are going to see other

:51:36. > :51:39.McLaren come in. Cutting across, there goes Sergio Perez into the

:51:40. > :51:43.pits then n and meanwhile has there been any change between Button and

:51:44. > :51:48.Massa? I don't think there has. Perez comes in.

:51:49. > :51:52.Of course, they had a slightly slow stop with Button. Let us see whether

:51:53. > :51:58.this was goes a fraction more smoothly. A lovely stop this time by

:51:59. > :52:03.the McLaren team. 2.8 seconds, not as fast as Massa, he is on his way.

:52:04. > :52:08.A few people coming in. Di Resta, and Ricciardo, so that is a key

:52:09. > :52:12.group. We need to see where Kovalainen is with respect to some

:52:13. > :52:16.of those guys. Rejoining for Sergio Perez, a good

:52:17. > :52:20.clean pit-stop, but what is going on behind. That is what we need to keep

:52:21. > :52:24.an eye on. Kovalainen has gone across the line, he has gone up to

:52:25. > :52:29.turn one. Di Resta is just about there as well, so it is very busy up

:52:30. > :52:33.at turn one. You just saw a glimpse of Kovalainen. He is in front of

:52:34. > :52:37.Rosberg, I think he might be in front of di Resta, which is a big,

:52:38. > :52:41.big gain for the Lotus, di Resta was a bit further ahead of that group,

:52:42. > :52:45.so that has worked well for Heikki Kovalainen.

:52:46. > :52:49.Very well there. It is one of those things you have to make sure the

:52:50. > :52:53.tyres last through to the end. He has a longer run on these tyres so

:52:54. > :52:57.he has to make the best use of it and make sure he can protect them.

:52:58. > :53:03.He could be in trouble on the very last laps if those tyres go beyond

:53:04. > :53:06.the point. It won't be easy. Lotus look after their tyres, so if

:53:07. > :53:16.anybody has a chance he is the man. Jenson Button still not able to get

:53:17. > :53:19.past Massa. I was surprised, without Button nipping Massa, but he was

:53:20. > :53:23.able to pick up the new tyres and get them working quickly, which is

:53:24. > :53:29.something that Ferrari struggle a bit, but it seemed to be OK this

:53:30. > :53:34.time. We have seen Perez come into the pits which has released Alonso.

:53:35. > :53:39.I wonder if he can put in quick laps. He is doing the quickest, I

:53:40. > :53:43.think he can go further. He needs to do that, he needs to look at the

:53:44. > :53:46.other cars that have pitted and make sure none of them are catching him

:53:47. > :53:52.too quickly so at the end of the day he has to decide on section times

:53:53. > :53:55.not lap time, as to who is picking up performance. Valtteri Bottas is

:53:56. > :54:00.doing a great race so far in the top ten, can he hold on as he rejoins,

:54:01. > :54:06.he is in clear air so that has worked well. That is everything you

:54:07. > :54:09.want. The fact you are not sure, your eyesight isn't taken by the car

:54:10. > :54:18.in front. You can focus on yourself and you do the first two laps.

:54:19. > :54:22.TEAM RADIO: Gap is at 3.4 second. We want to maximise this stint while

:54:23. > :54:26.your lap times are good. Interesting, that Mercedes, with

:54:27. > :54:30.Hamilton have left him out there a long time, and generally he can be a

:54:31. > :54:35.little harder on the tyres than Rosberg, but Rosberg has made his

:54:36. > :54:38.pit-stop already. Yes, it is all about trying to have track position.

:54:39. > :54:44.Clearly trying to make it a one-stop, this afternoon, they want

:54:45. > :54:49.to make their second said of tyres, the prime tyres, the mover, Webber

:54:50. > :54:53.is starting to do purples, means he is fastest man in those section, he

:54:54. > :54:59.is closing the gap down the Grosjean. Alonso in sixth, closing

:55:00. > :55:04.in a bit on Hulkenberg, half a second a lap, and Webber does

:55:05. > :55:07.fastest race lap. Onboard here with Gutierrez, because they are slightly

:55:08. > :55:13.out of sequence with those that have stopped, they have moved into eighth

:55:14. > :55:16.and ninth place, Gutierrez made an early pit-stop, to switch tyres so

:55:17. > :55:21.he is on a slightly different strategy, he is on a two stop race

:55:22. > :55:26.whereas those round him look to be on a one-stop race, he is struggling

:55:27. > :55:31.to get past this Toro Rosso. Let us see what the exit is like. He got a

:55:32. > :55:37.touch of overtier. He got on the power early. It's a DRS zone but he

:55:38. > :55:43.lost the momentum as he came out of the turn, and then he gets into this

:55:44. > :55:46.first sector where it really affects the car badly, running in the

:55:47. > :55:51.turbulent air of the car in front. The Sauber is faster than the Toro

:55:52. > :55:54.Rosso but he is having to, let us listen, I think it is fantastic to

:55:55. > :56:06.see a car at high speed. Contrasting line, much tighter line

:56:07. > :56:10.for the Sauber. A beautiful section to watch

:56:11. > :56:14.onboard. It is. Now he needs to get across the DRS activation line

:56:15. > :56:18.within a second. Get right up behind, and that is allowing of

:56:19. > :56:22.course, Perez and the McLaren to get closer to this battle. I know that

:56:23. > :56:27.Toro Rosso are fast in a straight line. Historically they set their

:56:28. > :56:31.cars up to be good there. Here we go, let us look. He has the DRS in

:56:32. > :56:37.operation, she going for it down the inside. Yes, he has got it. He made

:56:38. > :56:40.a nice move there has Gutierrez. There will be a huge amount of

:56:41. > :56:45.Mexican cheering because of all the fans who are supporting him and

:56:46. > :56:50.Sergio Perez, and that has given them to get excited about. Look at

:56:51. > :56:58.Perez, now, a bit of a lock up as he tries to get past Daniel Ricciardo.

:56:59. > :57:04.TEAM RADIO: Position, bogs, box. I think they want him in As if by

:57:05. > :57:06.magic his is there. A different crash helmet for Hamilton this

:57:07. > :57:09.weekend. He is in the race with Hulkenberg. I guess we might see

:57:10. > :57:14.Hulkenberg responding to that on the next lap. But he has a bit 06 margin

:57:15. > :57:18.over them. Three seconds for his pit-stop, pretty gued but not the

:57:19. > :57:23.best of the day. . That is Gutierrez, Ricciardo, Perez, Perez

:57:24. > :57:26.is having a little look up the inside. I don't think that was a

:57:27. > :57:30.serious attempt. It is like going boo when you standing in front of

:57:31. > :57:34.swurntion it is hardly going to scare them. . In front of someone.

:57:35. > :57:39.Sergio Perez tries to keep that pressure on if he can on Jean-Eric

:57:40. > :57:45.Vergne. Behind them which have Sergio Perez,

:57:46. > :57:52.still trying to do his most. Gutierrez ahead of Perez trying to

:57:53. > :57:56.get past Vergne. Vettel, he hasn't made a pit-stop so he has got to lap

:57:57. > :58:04.26 and his gap has stayed constant with Grosjean. It is round the 8

:58:05. > :58:06.second mark. So eight seconds, Webber 4.9 behind Grosjean and it is

:58:07. > :58:10.that race for second between Grosjean and Webber, I think which

:58:11. > :58:14.will be enthralling in the final laps of this Grand Prix, as here we

:58:15. > :58:19.go, Perez with the good shot at getting past Vergne, Vergne has been

:58:20. > :58:24.told don't waste time trying to defend and sure enough he lets him

:58:25. > :58:28.through. Straightforward pass, small mock-up

:58:29. > :58:32.at the last phase of the braking as they drop into turn 12. So Sergio

:58:33. > :58:37.Perez, that brings him into eighth place. Still looks like a solid race

:58:38. > :58:42.from him, but where is it going to be with regard to Alonso. I was

:58:43. > :58:46.going to say Alonso is in, he has mate his pit-stop. Will he come out

:58:47. > :58:50.in front of Sergio Perez? That is obviously the target here, because

:58:51. > :58:54.he was stuck behind Perez for a while. Beautiful stop. Going across

:58:55. > :58:59.the line, that is Hamilton, you can see to the left of screen. You have

:59:00. > :59:03.Gutierrez, Perez in the background, Gutierrez is going to have the

:59:04. > :59:14.momentum on Alonso but as you say, it gets out in front of Perez.

:59:15. > :59:17.Alonso, out in front of the McLaren of Sergio Perez, controls his speed

:59:18. > :59:21.through the first corner, and he will gain the men's downhill,

:59:22. > :59:28.perfectly done by Ferrari, they have gained the position. -- gain

:59:29. > :59:33.momentum. Alonso will go chasing after Gutierrez, who is slightly out

:59:34. > :59:38.of sequence. Really, he is racing Lewis Hamilton, he is next on the

:59:39. > :59:43.list. We are seeing a replay of Gutierrez on Vergne, nothing

:59:44. > :59:49.really, he just used the DRS, snapped it shut in the braking zone

:59:50. > :59:55.and down the inside. Lap 27, and a number of cars have not stopped for

:59:56. > :59:58.tyres, shock or! Pirellis can go quite some distance into a Grand

:59:59. > :00:04.Prix when the compounds are a bit harder. In comes the race leader,

:00:05. > :00:09.switching from the medium compound to the hard compound, another lovely

:00:10. > :00:14.stuff, 2.9 seconds. He has to keep an eye on that car, Max Chilton is

:00:15. > :00:19.coming down to the other end of the pits, to Marussia. Smart stuff,

:00:20. > :00:25.staying on the inner lane, then he is in position for the runner-up

:00:26. > :00:31.they'll. A whole lot of clean air behind him, of course, Hulkenberg as

:00:32. > :00:36.well in. Hulkenberg versus Hamilton. A good stop this time,

:00:37. > :00:40.clean exit. He had a drive-through penalty last time for an unsafe

:00:41. > :00:42.release in the last Grand Prix which cost him a chance of getting

:00:43. > :00:47.points, but Hamilton will be well ahead of him as he comes back onto

:00:48. > :00:52.the circuit, and that is a race to the flag, presumably, if they can

:00:53. > :00:57.look after their tyres, even though we are just at half distance in this

:00:58. > :01:02.Grand Prix, a long way to go, and different strategies. The leaders

:01:03. > :01:06.will have fresh tyres, Alonso making a relatively late stop, but also

:01:07. > :01:12.Hamilton making a relatively late stop. Webber is taking two or three

:01:13. > :01:17.tenths per lap out of Grosjean, who is leading this race because he has

:01:18. > :01:22.not stopped. That gap is down to 4.5 seconds. Well, that will be one to

:01:23. > :01:29.watch through the rest of this Grand Prix. Box, Mark, box. Copy that,

:01:30. > :01:35.box. Mark Webber confirming the message, Red Bull going for the same

:01:36. > :01:41.strategy on both cars, not doing anything different today. Gutierrez

:01:42. > :01:46.driving well, he is expected to make another pit stop, as Mark Webber's

:01:47. > :01:52.crew are ready for him to come in. Let's see how quickly they can turn

:01:53. > :01:57.them around. Grosjean has gone past, he is committed to doing more laps.

:01:58. > :02:06.Let's just watch and listen here. Oh! Fantastic. Magic stuff from Red

:02:07. > :02:11.Bull, 2.3 seconds, the fastest of the day and a joy to watch. It is

:02:12. > :02:18.incredible, the weight of the wheel and tyre itself is pretty heavy, so

:02:19. > :02:21.I know these guys train, the pit stop practice everyday at the

:02:22. > :02:25.factory, and they go through a physical procedure, presumably bent

:02:26. > :02:31.over, lifting an equivalent weight on and off, on and off. Alonso is in

:02:32. > :02:36.the zone, up the inside into turn one? He will have to go to the

:02:37. > :02:40.outside, but it is a big opportunity to take sixth place from Gutierrez,

:02:41. > :02:46.he will have to go around the outside, looking across, and he has

:02:47. > :02:50.made it! He has got past the Mexican and goes chasing after Nico

:02:51. > :02:57.Hulkenberg and then Lewis Hamilton. Fantastic stuff, he knew what he had

:02:58. > :03:00.to do there. Watching Alonso at his best, he has not had the car to

:03:01. > :03:04.really fight the Red Bulls in the latter part of this season, David, I

:03:05. > :03:08.mean he started the season so well, two early victories, but the

:03:09. > :03:13.performance of the car has dropped away. But he is still fighting,

:03:14. > :03:18.which is good to watch. It is a shame for Ferrari fans, but he is

:03:19. > :03:22.still fighting, as you say, great entertainment on the run up into

:03:23. > :03:26.turn one. Not much Gutierrez could do once he was committed to the

:03:27. > :03:30.inside line, he was always going to be compromised on the exit.

:03:31. > :03:34.Kovalainen under pressure from Di Resta, and the team are urging Di

:03:35. > :03:38.Resta to get past to help the car cool as well. Romain Grosjean comes

:03:39. > :03:45.in, the last of the leaders to make his pit stop. And it seems to go

:03:46. > :03:50.swimmingly, Di Resta there managing to get past Kovalainen, he has got

:03:51. > :03:54.past Heikki Kovalainen. We know the Force India is quick in a straight

:03:55. > :03:59.line, and the Lotus is the opposite, it is weak in a straight line, so Di

:04:00. > :04:05.Resta is up into tents. Great effort, not what you would expect, a

:04:06. > :04:10.Force India racing a Lotus. Lotus have typically had good durability

:04:11. > :04:14.and performance, but is Kovalainen at the limit in terms of trying to

:04:15. > :04:20.make the tyres go to the end, or does he have another issue. Great

:04:21. > :04:24.performance for the sole running Force India here. Paul di Resta is

:04:25. > :04:29.another driver trying to establish his position for next year, and the

:04:30. > :04:32.team will have liked that, I think. Behind them, Rosberg is closing up

:04:33. > :04:38.once again to Kovalainen, Ricciardo in 13th place. Now that we have seen

:04:39. > :04:43.Grosjean make his pit stop, let's when you through the order. Vettel

:04:44. > :04:50.leads, Grosjean is in second place, Webber third, trying to catch

:04:51. > :04:53.Grosjean. There is Grosjean, a key gap to watch. Webber in the

:04:54. > :04:59.background. Hamilton is still in the fourth place, Hulkenberg fifth,

:05:00. > :05:07.chased by Fernando Alonso. Two seconds to Hulkenberg. OK, give me

:05:08. > :05:14.some more feedback on tyres, man. More or less? Now he is asking to be

:05:15. > :05:19.told stuff, how do you win?! Yes! The complications of working with a

:05:20. > :05:23.racing driver. Hulkenberg, as we saw, in that shot as they came

:05:24. > :05:27.through, that much closer to Hamilton now. Alonso is four seconds

:05:28. > :05:32.behind Hulkenberg, he has work to do, then Gutierrez, who is expected

:05:33. > :05:38.to make another pit stop at some point. He will drop down a little

:05:39. > :05:43.further. Watching Sergio Perez here, and he is still on target for

:05:44. > :05:47.getting points here today. He is now trying to get past fellow Mexican

:05:48. > :05:51.Esteban Gutierrez, this will make the Mexican fans nervous, as

:05:52. > :05:55.Gutierrez gets... I thought he was going to come in, that was a strange

:05:56. > :05:59.line! That is what he got a penalty for, doing a strange line into that

:06:00. > :06:05.corner in free practice, and in the end, well, was he giving the place

:06:06. > :06:11.back or something? That was a bit weird. I was studying the times to

:06:12. > :06:16.try and see... Webber has just done the fastest lap, is gap is down to

:06:17. > :06:20.2.2 seconds, then I looked up and caught the back of that. He runs

:06:21. > :06:28.wide in 19, then goes defensive to the left. Then he loses the place

:06:29. > :06:31.out of 20. He just realised he was slow out of 19, did he? He was

:06:32. > :06:39.covering himself, slightly strange one. Perez is in seventh place, a

:06:40. > :06:46.good effort from him. Do not ask too much of your tyres, is the ideal

:06:47. > :06:51.have more range. He is saying the two cars behind stopped later, but

:06:52. > :06:55.there is no problem, surely, he is on the hard tyre, he made a huge

:06:56. > :07:00.dent on the softer one, how can there be a problem on these ones? I

:07:01. > :07:04.do not think there is, he is just telling him that his competition are

:07:05. > :07:09.on fresh tyres, but right now Mark Webber is taking more out of them,

:07:10. > :07:14.going faster than the race leader as he hunts down Romain Grosjean.

:07:15. > :07:18.Rosberg on Kovalainen, this is crucial, Rosberg using good

:07:19. > :07:21.straight-line speed. The Lotus struggling for straight-line speed,

:07:22. > :07:27.and Kovalainen had no answer whatsoever. That puts Rosberg into

:07:28. > :07:32.11th place, and the opportunity for Kovalainen to score points is

:07:33. > :07:36.gradually receding here. Having some difficulty, he lost places at the

:07:37. > :07:41.start, and he is now 30 seconds behind. We are watching the replay.

:07:42. > :07:48.Kovalainen does not bother to defend, he knows he is on its own

:07:49. > :07:52.strategy with his own issues. But in terms of race comparison, the team

:07:53. > :07:55.will look at lap time comparisons between you and your team-mates, and

:07:56. > :07:58.Kovalainen has been running in traffic, so a large dose of the lap

:07:59. > :08:05.time difference will be in that, but he is 50 seconds behind the race

:08:06. > :08:09.leader and 30 behind Grosjean. He is struggling with those tyres. He is

:08:10. > :08:13.having to go for a second stop, are they changing the front wing? They

:08:14. > :08:17.could be getting some data back seeing a lack of front load, whether

:08:18. > :08:24.because of a crack in the wing or a front sensor. What a shame for

:08:25. > :08:27.Heikki Kovalainen. That would explain it if they have been driving

:08:28. > :08:35.with an issue. A chance for Lotus to score points with both cars. Look at

:08:36. > :08:39.Webber, getting closer and closer to Romain Grosjean. He is half a second

:08:40. > :08:44.quicker on this lap, getting a move on, knowing he has to strike while

:08:45. > :08:50.the tyres are there. Once the tyres dropping away in performance, well,

:08:51. > :08:53.whether Romain is playing the percentages and taking a longer term

:08:54. > :08:58.view, crucially he is going to have Mark Webber within the DRS zone very

:08:59. > :09:04.soon. Renault power against Renault power. That is right, and we have

:09:05. > :09:08.seen that on the podium, all three spots, earlier this year, and we

:09:09. > :09:11.could see it again, because whether Grosjean or Webber comes out in the

:09:12. > :09:15.battle for second, with the Renault engine, Hamilton is next best with

:09:16. > :09:22.Mercedes in fourth place, then Hulkenberg... Tyres are fine, let's

:09:23. > :09:27.tried to maintain the gap to Alonso so we can attack at the end on

:09:28. > :09:31.better tyres. There may still be opportunities at the end. Perez

:09:32. > :09:35.being told to keep it together, he is three seconds behind Alonso.

:09:36. > :09:39.Alonso was trying to close the gap to Hulkenberg, but Hulkenberg is not

:09:40. > :09:44.making it easier, they have virtually identical lap times on the

:09:45. > :09:47.last lap, Hulkenberg and Alonso, within 100th of a second between the

:09:48. > :09:52.Sauber Ferrari and the Ferrari Ferrari. Sauber have really made the

:09:53. > :09:55.most progress of any team this year in terms of where they started the

:09:56. > :09:59.season and where they finished, would you agree, Gary? They really

:10:00. > :10:04.struggled in the early part of the year, but so strong now. Since the

:10:05. > :10:07.middle of the season, they came with a new bodywork package that used

:10:08. > :10:11.exhaust gases for downforce on the rear are pressed to give better

:10:12. > :10:16.traction, and the car has very good traction. That coincided with the

:10:17. > :10:21.tyre change, which seems to suit them better. Everything came

:10:22. > :10:23.together, and Nico Hulkenberg, he is a top-class driver, he is right up

:10:24. > :10:29.with the best, and given the tools to do the job, he will bring you

:10:30. > :10:33.back results. On board with Rosberg, an important race for tenth

:10:34. > :10:38.place between Rosberg and Paul di Resta currently, but Di Resta has

:10:39. > :10:41.good straight-line speed. Rosberg is catching towards the end of the

:10:42. > :10:45.straight, but will he be able to make the lunch? He has done it

:10:46. > :10:49.again, Nico Rosberg makes the move, as long as he has not run too wide,

:10:50. > :10:55.I think he has it under control. He did it on Ricciardo, and now he does

:10:56. > :11:02.much the same, moving up the order. Yes, but much slower than I expected

:11:03. > :11:07.him to. Business 80s is a quick car, -- this Mercedes is a quick car, and

:11:08. > :11:14.he was a bit lacklustre in the first stint. Into tenth position now, so

:11:15. > :11:18.we will see whether he can close the gap to Valtteri Bottas. He is still

:11:19. > :11:22.hanging in at the moment by Gutierrez, and we are expecting

:11:23. > :11:27.Gutierrez to make a stop at some point. I do not think these tyres

:11:28. > :11:32.will do 54 laps, so I am sure he will have to come in. I hope Bottas

:11:33. > :11:36.does not get sucked into racing with the car in front, he has to look

:11:37. > :11:41.behind and make sure he keeps that gap and stays in eighth position. A

:11:42. > :11:46.magic pit stop by Red Bull with Mark Webber, 2.3 seconds stationary. It

:11:47. > :11:50.is one thing that Red Bull seem to do very well, the consistency is

:11:51. > :11:54.just fantastic. We have seen lots of fast pit stops by McLaren, but they

:11:55. > :11:59.make mistakes as well. Red Bull seem to cover all the bases, they do not

:12:00. > :12:04.make the mistakes that other teams do. Look how close he is to Romain

:12:05. > :12:07.Grosjean, the battle is hotting up for second place. Valtteri Bottas

:12:08. > :12:12.behind Gutierrez, this is for position. Gutierrez will have to

:12:13. > :12:16.make a pit stop at some point, so he has to be wary. It is a battle on

:12:17. > :12:20.the brakes, and he is being sensible, because he cannot afford

:12:21. > :12:24.to be wiped out, he needs the points. These are the top reviews of

:12:25. > :12:28.the year, Gutierrez is top rookie, because he already has got points,

:12:29. > :12:32.but Valtteri Bottas is trying to establish itself as top repeat at

:12:33. > :12:36.the end of the season. They have a bit of a margin to Rosberg, 12

:12:37. > :12:42.seconds behind the battle we are seeing here. Gutierrez a little bit

:12:43. > :12:46.too sharp with his change of direction for my liking, he has

:12:47. > :12:51.already picked up a penalty through free practice for making a late

:12:52. > :12:55.move. So, you know, you need a driver who has confidence, you need

:12:56. > :13:01.to know when they are going to move and how they are going to move. The

:13:02. > :13:05.front of Valtteri Bottas' car, giving the swivel view, watching the

:13:06. > :13:10.cars under braking. He has gone around the outside or tried to, no,

:13:11. > :13:14.cutting back, Gutierrez struggling for breath but fighting for

:13:15. > :13:19.position. Bottas tries to go around the outside, he is through! He has

:13:20. > :13:27.made it, that was hugely brave, and he has got through, moved up into

:13:28. > :13:32.eighth position. Not only can the boy drive, he is Bray ass well.

:13:33. > :13:38.Lovely stuff. And the Williams pit will have enjoyed that. They would

:13:39. > :13:43.have loved to have seen him do that. Frank loves that. Not only the good

:13:44. > :13:48.speed but they get stuck? K?. If you look at some of the greats that have

:13:49. > :13:53.raced for them, Nigel Mansell who is a steward here this weekend, stand

:13:54. > :13:59.out as one of the bravest guys wheel-to-wheel racing. Let us see it

:14:00. > :14:04.again. Bottas thinks about going round, getting his car straight.

:14:05. > :14:09.Uses his curves. Fairness to Gutierrez, he gives him room as they

:14:10. > :14:17.go through turn two, in the end he has to back way out of it.

:14:18. > :14:21.Sensible racing. Excitement there in the pits as well as Mark Webber

:14:22. > :14:30.still trying to close that gap to Grosjean. He was close eer a moment

:14:31. > :14:36.ago. He has lost out on the last lap or two Did he have a go we missed

:14:37. > :14:42.and he had to drop back? Let us wait for a replay. Is there some other

:14:43. > :14:47.issue. Mark, 1.5 seconds slower than Vettel, does he have an issue with

:14:48. > :14:51.the car, did he have a bit of wheel-to-wheel racing we missed out

:14:52. > :14:56.on? I keep asking the question hoping that the TV director will

:14:57. > :14:59.give us some replays. There is a conversation going on there. The

:15:00. > :15:03.sector time holding up reasonably well at the moment. Compared to

:15:04. > :15:08.those round him. But it does make you wonder what went on. He had a

:15:09. > :15:12.non-finish last year. It was an alter NATO problem last year, and he

:15:13. > :15:16.has been the victim of bad luck in season as well.

:15:17. > :15:21.Several non-finishes when he has been in a great spot. Hamilton has

:15:22. > :15:24.been lapping on him in the last lap. So whether he made a mistake and ran

:15:25. > :15:30.off the road somewhere, not sure, but he has dropped a bit of time.

:15:31. > :15:33.We are hearing that Paul di Resta has been told that tyre temperature

:15:34. > :15:37.is too low on this particular set, which is encouraging to hear,

:15:38. > :15:41.because that allows him to push a bit more, currently running in 11th.

:15:42. > :15:46.Talking of further down the grid, riding with Mark Webber, see if we

:15:47. > :15:51.can pick up anything that might be a problem, Bianchi is leading the

:15:52. > :15:55.young team's battle. There is only 1.1 second between them and Giedo

:15:56. > :16:03.van der Garde. So a good old dice at the back of the feel. Mark has

:16:04. > :16:09.kerbs. There is not an issue there. Lost a further second on that lap,

:16:10. > :16:14.to Grosjean. Grosjean has to hurry up he was

:16:15. > :16:17.about half a second later that Vettel, race gap is still ten

:16:18. > :16:24.seconds from Grosjean to Vettel. Three seconds now to Webber.

:16:25. > :16:32.Certainly seems to be OK. Tom, you got any news for us? The

:16:33. > :16:35.new is there is nothing wrong with Mark Webber's car, that is according

:16:36. > :16:40.to the team. If you look at the last lap. He was only three tenths of a

:16:41. > :16:46.second slower than his team-mate. So maybe a bit of tyre conversation

:16:47. > :16:49.going on. Yes, as gust makes a pit-stop, it is not particularly

:16:50. > :16:54.quick, will he score any points? You would have to think that is tough.

:16:55. > :16:57.He has been passed by a bunch of cars as he comes back out in 15th

:16:58. > :17:04.place, so it will be very difficult for him to score any point, despite

:17:05. > :17:08.showing a good turn of pace and driving hard, meanwhile...

:17:09. > :17:15.TEAM RADIO: 20 laps to go. Let's push. I need you to push and get on

:17:16. > :17:19.the back of him. Meanwhile Webber is in the fastest first sector. Three

:17:20. > :17:23.tenths faster than Grosjean, pulling that gap back in to DRS zone, you

:17:24. > :17:27.can see it there now. Definitely getting that much closer, the gap

:17:28. > :17:32.just down to about a second-and-a-half again, as you can

:17:33. > :17:37.see, 1.5 at the last check. . Vettel on lap 38 out of 56, in total

:17:38. > :17:41.command of the US Grand Prix. Grosjean in trouble in a way, for

:17:42. > :17:44.second place, as Webber catches again. If the points stay as they

:17:45. > :17:49.are right now, Hamilton would move up into third place, moving past

:17:50. > :17:54.Kimi Raikkonen who isn't racing in the last two Grand Prixes so

:17:55. > :17:59.Hamilton would move up into third. Sitting in fourth place in this race

:18:00. > :18:02.at the moment. I wanted to comment on Heikki

:18:03. > :18:07.Kovalainen, we saw him come in to change his front wing. It wasn't the

:18:08. > :18:11.team calling him in, it was him asking for a change of nose, he said

:18:12. > :18:15."I think I have less downforce at the front." That is according to the

:18:16. > :18:21.team. His last lap was a 42 dead, which does faster than every other

:18:22. > :18:26.drive on the grid accept for Webber. The tyres are fresh because he has

:18:27. > :18:30.made a late pit-stop. Nonetheless, he is on the medium compound tyre,

:18:31. > :18:36.maybe he did have a problem with the car, so it a pity he has no chance

:18:37. > :18:41.of scoring points, so their attempt to move up on Mercedes and Ferrari

:18:42. > :18:46.is in the hands of Grosjean. But he is outscoring Mercedes and Ferrari

:18:47. > :18:50.here today. Mercedes are outscoring Ferrari so that could consolidate

:18:51. > :18:54.their second place a bit. Lotus aren't doing enough to close the

:18:55. > :19:00.bigger gap. As things stands there won't be a huge change in the battle

:19:01. > :19:07.for second place in the constructors points. Massa made a second stop.

:19:08. > :19:11.Maybe we will see a few people making a second stop. Mark Webber

:19:12. > :19:16.took two pointous of Grosjean. Half a second that he needs to find,

:19:17. > :19:21.which will unleash another three or four tenths in performance in the

:19:22. > :19:27.DRS zone. The down side when you get in a one second window you start

:19:28. > :19:31.losing cooling, you get turbulent wind on the wing. You have to weigh

:19:32. > :19:36.up when is the right time to close into that zone and go for the pass.

:19:37. > :19:42.Another one who is making progress, Daniel Ricciardo on di Resta, locks

:19:43. > :19:48.up the left front. Di Resta aware of it. Left enough space and Ricciardo

:19:49. > :19:57.had to back out Paul left any room for Ricciardo to lock up and make a

:19:58. > :19:59.mistake. Intriguing battle. -- left enough room.

:20:00. > :20:05.Ricciardo of course is one of those drivers who is secure in where he is

:20:06. > :20:11.going next year. TEAM RADIO: Remember you stay on the

:20:12. > :20:17.yellow tyres. You might not get much warning.

:20:18. > :20:23.As ever Rocky being as cautious. Being totally cautious, he never

:20:24. > :20:26.likes to assume they have it in the bag. It's another quick few laps

:20:27. > :20:31.from Sebastian Vettel. Massa being total he will have to drive like it

:20:32. > :20:36.is qualifying. 16 laps to go, and he will have to push on hard. He has

:20:37. > :20:42.Kovalainen chasing him so those two are flying, although Massa is going

:20:43. > :20:46.quicker. Alonso is one to watch, because

:20:47. > :20:51.Alonso has the gap to Hulkenberg, down to 1.3 seconds so he is almost

:20:52. > :20:56.within DRS range, that is for fifth. Neither are far behind Hamilton. As

:20:57. > :21:02.we go into the end of this stint, I wonder if Hamilton's tyres will hold

:21:03. > :21:10.together? Remarkable The Hulk is the top running Ferrari on top. The

:21:11. > :21:13.Sauber have a different wing configuration. So that may give

:21:14. > :21:17.Alonso a bit of hope this afternoon. Trying to work out what is going on

:21:18. > :21:22.with Webber. He dropped, well, more than half a second, drops eight

:21:23. > :21:28.tenths of a second to Grosjean last lap round, and he does fastest first

:21:29. > :21:33.sector, so there is some strange inconsistencies in his pace. Heikki

:21:34. > :21:37.Kovalainen's day hasn't got any better. They are trying to reset it

:21:38. > :21:41.so they have been telling him to press the OK Button a couple of

:21:42. > :21:45.times so he is busy working away on the steering wheel, trying to reset

:21:46. > :21:50.the car. You would think the OK Button is not the right one. You

:21:51. > :21:56.would think there was one that said vet or "Not OK." A double press on

:21:57. > :22:02.the OK. Could be confusing. What do I push when things are not good. OK.

:22:03. > :22:06.I was talking to Alan at Lotus and he was saying how impressed he was

:22:07. > :22:10.that Heikki Kovalainen dealt with all the procedures on Friday. They

:22:11. > :22:13.go through a complicated procedure in first practise. Lots of things

:22:14. > :22:18.for the driver to input. He said Heikki took it onboard and delivered

:22:19. > :22:23.perfectly. Look at a replay here of Daniel Ricciardo, this was an attack

:22:24. > :22:28.on Paul di Resta. He did get up and alongside and, did

:22:29. > :22:34.he get repassed on the way down the hill? Has he now gained that place?

:22:35. > :22:38.No, he has got it. He has completed the move and di Resta wasn't quite

:22:39. > :22:43.able to get it back. He ended up running out of road. He didn't give

:22:44. > :22:46.him any space. I suspect Paul will think maybe he should have given

:22:47. > :22:54.space. He has the chance to get through, he has done it. Fernando

:22:55. > :22:58.Alonso moved into third place. Hulkenberg could not fend him off

:22:59. > :23:03.this time. Spun up the tyres as he exited the corner, Fernando Alonso,

:23:04. > :23:06.he didn't want to leave anything to chance.

:23:07. > :23:11.Well, can he do anything about catching Hamilton now? The gap is

:23:12. > :23:15.over two seconds I think. 2.4 seconds as they go past that next

:23:16. > :23:21.checkpoint. Think so, I think he has the pace if he hasn't burned his

:23:22. > :23:26.tires. Alonso using that extra arc to cut to the inside, Hulkenberg

:23:27. > :23:29.struggles to put the power down, he would released some of the curves as

:23:30. > :23:34.he accelerated the car down the hill. You see the black lines being

:23:35. > :23:38.left as he put in an ex that 80 horsepower to that drive train. That

:23:39. > :23:42.is what comes from the curves system when you push that Button. Great

:23:43. > :23:46.stuff from Fernando Alonso. Now he goes chasing after Hamilton. There

:23:47. > :23:49.is the race leader with a 10.5 second lead.

:23:50. > :24:01.TEAM RADIO: This tyre is not bullet-proof. We are measuring wear.

:24:02. > :24:08.You are OK but don't abuse it. He has set fastst lap. 1:41.1. So he

:24:09. > :24:13.seems to be taking it relatively steady by his standards, not by many

:24:14. > :24:15.other people's. We are riding onboard with him here.

:24:16. > :24:24.-- fastest lap. His head is almost looking away as

:24:25. > :24:29.he goes into the corner. The amount of G-force you would expect to see

:24:30. > :24:33.him leaning into the corn sh. It sort of rotates away. It is a good

:24:34. > :24:39.one that, interesting. Under braking will pull a spike of well over five

:24:40. > :24:48.G which is a huge amount ofs for. You will see from under 200mph, down

:24:49. > :24:53.to 50mph. Is he resting his helmet, just to take some energy out of his

:24:54. > :24:57.neck. It looks like it. It really does. This is an anticlockwise

:24:58. > :25:02.track. We have a few to the end of the season but most racing circuits

:25:03. > :25:07.are clockwise If he is struggling here, he will be struggling earlier

:25:08. > :25:13.in Brazil. That is a very short lap. Anticlockwise high energy lap.

:25:14. > :25:18.Alonso has certainly gained about half a second from Hamilton on the

:25:19. > :25:21.first sector, so Alonso is definitely catching Hamilton, there

:25:22. > :25:26.is no doubt about it. Watching Jensen Button here, he is

:25:27. > :25:31.still in 12th place. He is behind Paul di Resta. Outside the points

:25:32. > :25:35.for both of them. We saw Daniel Ricciardo reclaim that points

:25:36. > :25:40.position. He is restaking his claim for when he moved to Red Bull.

:25:41. > :25:45.Showing front runner he is not to be messed with. Button not close enough

:25:46. > :25:49.to have a go. Let us watch as he goes on the straight here. Di Resta

:25:50. > :25:53.getting a good exit. A new fastest lap by Mark Webber, he has the gap

:25:54. > :25:58.to a DRS range web, with Grosjean, so now we really could see the race

:25:59. > :26:03.for second place heat up. There you are. That is Grosjean versus Webber.

:26:04. > :26:09.That is how close it is now, is Grosjean going to hold on to second

:26:10. > :26:13.position here today? It would be a great achievement if he can, he has

:26:14. > :26:19.five third place finishes but he hasn't had a second place finish. If

:26:20. > :26:26.you a number cruncher, that is what you can aspire to, you sit behind,

:26:27. > :26:30.studying the data, watching the engine parameters, watching the

:26:31. > :26:35.driver inputs. Grosjean a wider apex in turn one.

:26:36. > :26:38.But he knows that he is under no pressure, in this sequence,

:26:39. > :26:43.providing he doesn't make any mistakes.

:26:44. > :26:47.Now, let us watch as they come through towards the key area.

:26:48. > :26:51.Visibly quicker the car, unsurprising as the fuel is off. You

:26:52. > :26:56.can watch the change of direction, cars become more nimble.

:26:57. > :27:01.So out of turn nine down the hill, through the kink at ten, this is

:27:02. > :27:05.where it gets very key here, he is going to be within the DRS range,

:27:06. > :27:09.and generally, once you are there you are to maximise that

:27:10. > :27:13.opportunity, in terms of curves it looks like Grosjean had a bit more

:27:14. > :27:16.available to him than Webber, but now Webber picks up the DRS, is

:27:17. > :27:20.there going to be enough space? Webber closing the gap, is he going

:27:21. > :27:24.to make a lung, no, he has a think, but he is trying to unsettle

:27:25. > :27:31.Grosjean. Does look that the Red Bull is getting more from its DRS

:27:32. > :27:37.when it is behind the Lotus than some other cars. --

:27:38. > :27:42.TEAM RADIO: He has Mark all over him. Is he going to find way

:27:43. > :27:47.through? The problem is he doesn't want to follow him that closely. His

:27:48. > :27:51.tyres will overheat and he will lose grip, so he was clever, he passed

:27:52. > :27:55.Hamilton, he caught him and passed him, that is what Mark planned for

:27:56. > :28:01.that assault there, but it didn't work out for him. Another lap

:28:02. > :28:08.through the fast bends, his tires will struggle. Alonso is, has the

:28:09. > :28:12.gap down to 1.1 seconds. He looks very racy at the moment. He is

:28:13. > :28:16.trying hard to get a good result out of the race. He always does. The

:28:17. > :28:21.last couple of races he seemed tire of it all. It seems that way, but

:28:22. > :28:26.still pushing on here, Hulkenberg in six. Perez in seventh. Bottas is

:28:27. > :28:31.holding on the eighth place and some points for Williams, again, Webber

:28:32. > :28:34.making sure he is close, but scrubbing the tyre. He is getting a

:28:35. > :28:38.move on, trying to get himself into that position. But he is running the

:28:39. > :28:43.risk of overheating the tyres and he realises he has a couple of laps to

:28:44. > :28:47.try and hassle, Hustle Grosjean into a mistake or an effective pass, he

:28:48. > :28:51.is closer than the last lap round, so let us just see whether he is

:28:52. > :28:55.able to, it looks like the gap opens up on traction and the Red Bull

:28:56. > :29:06.starts to come back, but it is too late. He is not quite close enough,

:29:07. > :29:12.and this is going to go on, only a few more laps to go. Meanwhile, an

:29:13. > :29:15.incident with Charles Pic for ignoring blue flags when Lewis

:29:16. > :29:19.Hamilton was lapping him. The stewards will be taking a look at

:29:20. > :29:24.that one as Webber was very quick on that first sector once again. Rocky

:29:25. > :29:28.kept telling Vettel to be careful with the tyres and we are laughing

:29:29. > :29:33.at that, surely they are in great shape. We did see at the end of his

:29:34. > :29:42.last stint, the tyres did drop off quickly, 0.5 of a second per lap,

:29:43. > :29:46.and that is what they call falling off a cliff face. You do not get

:29:47. > :29:52.much idea of it. We will see if that happens to anyone else, a

:29:53. > :29:55.drive-through penalty for car 20, Charles Pic has been penalised for

:29:56. > :29:59.getting in the way, something he has done a few times over the last

:30:00. > :30:03.couple of years. It is just unacceptable, the rules are very

:30:04. > :30:07.clear. If you get blue flags, you have to move out of the way, and I

:30:08. > :30:11.presume his race engineer would give him that information, and you have

:30:12. > :30:16.got to presume he is choosing to ignore it. You will be being eyes.

:30:17. > :30:22.It is a slam dunk, it is like passing under a yellow flags. Jules

:30:23. > :30:27.Bianchi is leading Giedo van der Garde in the young teams by 1.5

:30:28. > :30:33.seconds. We have not seen that race, but they are having a huge battle,

:30:34. > :30:37.Bianchi, Van der Garde, Pic was part of it but will have a drive-through

:30:38. > :30:41.penalty. Good exit from Grosjean, I do not think that will allow Webber

:30:42. > :30:46.any chance. Di Resta makes a late pit stop, and that has dropped out

:30:47. > :30:49.of the points. It will move up into a 11th place. We are on board with

:30:50. > :30:57.Gutierrez. It is not impossible for him to

:30:58. > :31:02.score some points, Gutierrez is on the softer tyre, much younger than

:31:03. > :31:06.those around him, and he has an opportunity here. Jean-Eric Vergne

:31:07. > :31:11.looking under pressure. Gutierrez has just had to back out of it

:31:12. > :31:15.through the high-speed corners, and he will have to get himself into

:31:16. > :31:21.position at the hairpin at 11. Sauber pretty good in a straight

:31:22. > :31:22.line. Toro Rosso taking a much wider line through that sequence of eight

:31:23. > :31:34.and nine. Making that mistake has cost him the

:31:35. > :31:37.opportunity of being in the DRS. He will be in the activation zone but

:31:38. > :31:42.too far back to affect a pass on that lap. This is Kovalainen making

:31:43. > :31:46.his way Pastor Maldonado, you can see how dusty it is offline. Paul di

:31:47. > :31:51.Resta coming out of the pits after his second pit stop. Small

:31:52. > :31:58.consolation for those boys racing at the back, that was of a 16th place.

:31:59. > :32:04.Bercow close Webber is, but his opportunity has come and gone for

:32:05. > :32:08.another lap. -- look how close. They have had their incidence together in

:32:09. > :32:10.the past, last year when Grosjean was going through a very tough

:32:11. > :32:14.time, there were several incidents with Mark Webber. This year they

:32:15. > :32:17.have raced against each other a few times, you cannot forget that

:32:18. > :32:23.Grosjean drove beautifully in Japan, led both Red Bull is for a while,

:32:24. > :32:27.ultimately beaten by both, but a completely different driver this

:32:28. > :32:30.year. Unquestionably, and in the past we would have been holding our

:32:31. > :32:34.breath wondering where it would all go wrong, he has always had good

:32:35. > :32:38.speed, and he has been able to harness that and drive mature. You

:32:39. > :32:47.got close there, mate, try the same again. All the KERS in turn 11,

:32:48. > :32:50.saving it all up for that, that is onto the straight, of course. What

:32:51. > :32:56.would you do if you were the Lotus engineer right now? Tell Grosjean,

:32:57. > :33:01.use all your KERS as turn 11! We know what he is up and we can

:33:02. > :33:07.counter it. You would say, use all your KERS, come up with a couple of

:33:08. > :33:13.mathematical numbers or something. Yes, just to put the opposition

:33:14. > :33:17.off. Down the hill turn 11, I think it is into the approach of it, some

:33:18. > :33:21.of their guys will be telling them to do it on the approach, because

:33:22. > :33:26.then you can rely on the DRS. Very good exit by Romain Grosjean, surely

:33:27. > :33:30.Mark Webber is too far away to make the move by the end of the

:33:31. > :33:34.straight, despite it being one kilometre long. Yeah, it is not

:33:35. > :33:40.going to happen for him. You can see the debris offline from the tyres,

:33:41. > :33:44.marbles, not as much as at other circuits. That is a sign of a

:33:45. > :33:48.function of the fact that they have seen less stops this afternoon. A

:33:49. > :33:51.few to stop us, that has surprised us. Pretty much everyone did

:33:52. > :33:55.one-stop us, that has surprised us. Pretty much everyone did one-stop

:33:56. > :33:59.last year. Most of the guys well done two stops further down the

:34:00. > :34:05.order. Gutierrez is the leading card to have done two, he made an early

:34:06. > :34:10.pit stop on the first or second lap. Sebastian Vettel continues to lead

:34:11. > :34:15.this race by 7.5 seconds, and he is on target, of course, for braking

:34:16. > :34:19.yet more records in Formula One. He has done it absolutely perfectly so

:34:20. > :34:27.far. The fastest lap there for Romain Grosjean, 1:40.445, so he is

:34:28. > :34:32.still lapping very quickly. Mark Webber was only a tenth of a second

:34:33. > :34:37.slower. Vettel is taking it easier at this stage. Further down the

:34:38. > :34:42.field, Alonso is being held in position by Hamilton, 2.7 seconds

:34:43. > :34:47.behind Hamilton, pretty much trading lap times. The Mercedes is hanging

:34:48. > :34:51.in there. If that is not going to work, try using all the KERS on the

:34:52. > :34:56.last corner, last corner to try something different. And again, I'm

:34:57. > :35:03.sure somebody at Lotus is listening to that. A big there! He went wide

:35:04. > :35:09.on the kink at turn 11, picked up dust on his tyres. He has lost a

:35:10. > :35:13.chunk of time there, and he has decided to use some of his KERS to

:35:14. > :35:18.win some of that mistake back. That is really dropped him away,

:35:19. > :35:24.absolutely no chance on this lap, and we are definitely running out.

:35:25. > :35:27.52 completed, we are on 5356. Sebastian Vettel looks to be

:35:28. > :35:32.cruising to another victory, and if he can do it, it will be his eighth

:35:33. > :35:38.consecutive race win, which is astonishing, the most ever in one

:35:39. > :35:43.season. And then you get into the all-time record books, because

:35:44. > :35:48.Alberto Ascari did win in nine consecutive Grands Prix across two

:35:49. > :35:51.seasons in 1952 and 1953, but at that time the Indianapolis 500 was

:35:52. > :35:56.part of the championship, and he did not compete in that event, so in the

:35:57. > :36:01.strictest sense he did not win nine consecutive. He has used too much of

:36:02. > :36:06.his rear, we saw the oversteer. Going back to Ascari, you could say

:36:07. > :36:10.he did not win consecutive nine championship scoring races, but most

:36:11. > :36:15.people would say he won nine Grands Prix in a row, something that Vettel

:36:16. > :36:21.could match in Brazil. It is an amazing record, man and machine in

:36:22. > :36:24.perfect harmony. Yet again, and nobody can do anything about it at

:36:25. > :36:29.the moment. It will be different next year with the new rules, but

:36:30. > :36:31.there is no doubt that Red Bull are technologically ahead of everybody

:36:32. > :36:35.else, and if you have that technological advantage, you will

:36:36. > :36:39.carry it through even if the rules are different, once you? Past

:36:40. > :36:49.performance is no guarantee of future success, and I say that is

:36:50. > :36:55.not about Red Bull, but the great marques, Ferrari, it is all about

:36:56. > :37:05.the people within rather than the name above the door. Vettel, quite a

:37:06. > :37:08.gentle lap, now the middle sector... Be careful! He has just done the

:37:09. > :37:13.fastest middle sector of anybody and a personal best in the first sector.

:37:14. > :37:15.I think this was a slow lap, but this could be a new fastest lap,

:37:16. > :37:25.let's watch. He makes it look so easy, though! I

:37:26. > :37:31.am still holding my breath! Let's see what is the time is, 1:39.8, he

:37:32. > :37:35.has just shattered it, destroyed what everyone else has been doing.

:37:36. > :37:40.As I say, it is like Prost in the old days, so controlled and smooth

:37:41. > :37:47.and easy. Harrying so much speed into the apex, where we saw Mark

:37:48. > :37:49.Webber lose so much speed. Grosjean and Mark Webber struggling with

:37:50. > :37:53.traffic there. They have both got out of the way, but that gives

:37:54. > :37:59.Grosjean some breathing space, and it looks a lot like this is podium

:38:00. > :38:04.order now. So we are seeing some great performances here today, just

:38:05. > :38:07.looking at Daniel Ricciardo, still fighting for the final point with

:38:08. > :38:10.Jenson Button. Tenth place is on offer to whichever of these is

:38:11. > :38:17.ahead, and Ricciardo makes a mistake, Button may have a chance.

:38:18. > :38:22.He has a little look, he has locked up, side by side, good awareness by

:38:23. > :38:26.Ricciardo, brilliant stuff from both drivers there, proper racing and

:38:27. > :38:33.giving each other room. Good opportunist stuff, Jenson was ready

:38:34. > :38:38.in that sequence, turn 13, and that meant that Ricciardo was a little

:38:39. > :38:42.bit wide as he came through 14, and then he shoved its down the inside

:38:43. > :38:45.of 15 but left him enough room. Jean-Eric Vergne is in that group as

:38:46. > :38:52.well, in 12th place, Gutierrez behind them. Button trying to get

:38:53. > :38:56.that little bit closer as they go up the hill, now trying to go around

:38:57. > :39:00.the outside, he has the inside line now, up into tenth place, getting

:39:01. > :39:06.past Ricciardo, and Jean-Eric Vergne may be able to get his team-mate on

:39:07. > :39:11.this lap as well. A strong race from Vergne, I expected Ricciardo to run

:39:12. > :39:15.Button wide, but he gave in space, full marks, wheel to wheel stop.

:39:16. > :39:21.Ferrari are really struggling for grip, this is Hulkenberg on Alonso.

:39:22. > :39:26.Hulkenberg has really closed up, and it looks like the Ferrari has hit

:39:27. > :39:32.the cliff, the race leader is on the final lap, but look at the Harare of

:39:33. > :39:38.Alonso moving all over the place. Hulkenberg for the inside into turn

:39:39. > :39:45.one? It has got to be worth a go. One more lap for these guys, a great

:39:46. > :39:48.speed advantage on the Ferrari, and he is going to return the favour on

:39:49. > :39:57.Fernando Alonso. Fernando Alonso cutback, lovely race craft. The hat

:39:58. > :40:02.to go for it, Alonso read it, but he could not get the car stopped. You

:40:03. > :40:08.will have one more opportunity on the straight, DRS will be available

:40:09. > :40:12.down into turn 12. Alonso will have to use all his canny sense, all his

:40:13. > :40:18.Wales here to try to keep Hulkenberg behind, but he still got a chance to

:40:19. > :40:26.do it. Up front, Vettel is heading another victory. What can Hulkenberg

:40:27. > :40:29.do? Is this his last chance? Alonso is looking for the button in his

:40:30. > :40:33.cockpit that says oil slick or nails or something to get in the wake of

:40:34. > :40:38.Hulkenberg, but if he is going to do it, it is going to be very late.

:40:39. > :40:43.Alonso might have done enough. He is not close enough, no way, and it is

:40:44. > :40:46.cornering speed that he is struggling with. But Sebastian

:40:47. > :40:51.Vettel comes out of the final turn to take his first ever win in the

:40:52. > :40:57.USA, first win for Vettel, first win for Red Bull in America, but is

:40:58. > :41:02.eighth in a row, the 12th in 2013, what an astonishing record it is!

:41:03. > :41:07.Grosjean's best result of the year in second, Mark Webber is dead, and

:41:08. > :41:10.Red Bull are denied the back-to-back one -to finish by Romain Grosjean,

:41:11. > :41:15.so different to the driver last year. Hamilton is going to go

:41:16. > :41:20.through in fourth, just about to cross the line. I think Alonso has

:41:21. > :41:25.managed to fend off Hulkenberg, wonderful dice between them at the

:41:26. > :41:30.end, but a solid reserved for Sauber. Seven is going to be Sergio

:41:31. > :41:34.Perez in the McLaren, and AIDS, to score his first ever point in

:41:35. > :41:39.Formula One, the Finn, Valtteri Bottas. -- eight. It will be only

:41:40. > :41:44.the second time this year that Williams have scored points, more

:41:45. > :41:50.than Maldonado has scored. Oh and off, Gutierrez, in the dice with

:41:51. > :41:54.Ricciardo and there and button! Very disappointing for the Mexican in

:41:55. > :41:58.front of what is effectively a home crowd in Texas. He was obviously

:41:59. > :42:05.attacking in the closing stages. Can we find out what happened? In behind

:42:06. > :42:10.the Vergne... I think they actually touched as they came out of 12, and

:42:11. > :42:16.then they touched again through 13. Vergne was turning in, no matter

:42:17. > :42:21.what was there. Well, there is a corner, he had to turn in! I think

:42:22. > :42:29.Gutierrez touched the back of Toro Rosso out of 12. Sebastian Vettel

:42:30. > :42:32.has one here. Fantastic, Seb, record-breaking in a season,

:42:33. > :42:39.unbelievable, brilliant drive! Well done, very tidy. Speechless. I am

:42:40. > :42:43.speechless. We have to remember these days, we have to remember

:42:44. > :42:47.these days. There is no guarantee that they were last for ever. Enjoy

:42:48. > :42:53.them as long as they last, I love you guys. We have an incredible team

:42:54. > :43:00.spirit. Incredible. I am so proud of you. I love you. The incident

:43:01. > :43:04.involving Jean-Eric Vergne and Esteban Gutierrez, not surprisingly,

:43:05. > :43:07.is now under investigation, so the stewards will be taking a look at

:43:08. > :43:11.that. They have had a fairly quiet afternoon, but Romain Grosjean has

:43:12. > :43:15.delivered a superb second place, finishing second in Canada last

:43:16. > :43:25.year, but that was a drive out of the top drawer today.

:43:26. > :43:29.The result is the US Grand Prix, Vettel the race winner by six

:43:30. > :43:36.seconds in the end. Not the dominance we have seen cently.

:43:37. > :43:42.Webber finished in third. Better result for Hamilton.

:43:43. > :43:48.Hulkenberg a fighting sixth. Then the Williamses of Bottas. Out of the

:43:49. > :43:51.points were Vergne and Massa and Ricciardo only just missed out.

:43:52. > :43:57.Kovalainen a disappointing weekend for him but he has one more chance

:43:58. > :44:04.to show what he can do as he stands in for Kimi Raikkonen. Well done to

:44:05. > :44:13.Bianchi. He won the battle between the Marussia and the Caterham. Jules

:44:14. > :44:16.Bianchi and Giedo van der Garde were barely separated by a second.

:44:17. > :44:20.Well done to them. Always the first to thank the team

:44:21. > :44:24.vet and he does so again as they have delivered to him a car with

:44:25. > :44:28.which he has taken his first ever win of the US Grand Prix. He missed

:44:29. > :44:34.out here last year, beaten by Hamilton, but he has put that behind

:44:35. > :44:37.him, with victory in Austin but finishing second, his first second

:44:38. > :44:42.place finish o thf season, yet to win a Grand Prix of course, but

:44:43. > :44:49.surely that is going to come in the near future for Romain Grosjean.

:44:50. > :44:52.Beautifully driven race today, under severe pressure from Mark Webber for

:44:53. > :44:58.most of the latter third. But Webber gets on the podium again and sure

:44:59. > :45:01.surely haze Grand Prix career winds down, that is what it is about.

:45:02. > :45:04.Picking up the trophy, celebrating the moment. What a place to do it

:45:05. > :45:10.here. So time for the celebration, another

:45:11. > :45:14.flawless performance from Sebastian Vettel. And you wonder will this

:45:15. > :45:18.incredible sequence of wins, can anybody stop him, in one week's time

:45:19. > :45:35.in Brazil? Great race. It is phenomenal, think,

:45:36. > :45:39.yes, I tried to find the words in the radio, it is very difficult to

:45:40. > :45:44.understand, you foe, I think it is is one of those records I think was

:45:45. > :45:48.meant to last forever. You know, I don't get in the car thinking about

:45:49. > :45:53.records, I am not, you know, it is not what makes me jump into the car,

:45:54. > :45:56.what makes me jump in the car is to enjoy. I love driving, you know

:45:57. > :46:01.yourself that even if people tell you, yeah, it is the same circuit

:46:02. > :46:04.and the same car, you just go round in circle, but every lap is

:46:05. > :46:08.different and every race is different, and to really, you know,

:46:09. > :46:13.step out of the car and be satisfied, it takes you to get a lot

:46:14. > :46:19.of good laps in, and it's a great feeling you have at the end. If you

:46:20. > :46:24.are on 06 that, are successful, it is that little extra that makes it

:46:25. > :46:30.taste so sweet, apart from the fact that you are allowed to get a nice

:46:31. > :46:34.trophy and spray some champagne. Let us look at the start. You made it

:46:35. > :46:44.look very simple. Initially I had a good launch. I

:46:45. > :46:48.wasn't quite sure because I saw Romain coming in the mirror. It is a

:46:49. > :46:52.massive hill. You don't foe where to brake. I had the inside cover with

:46:53. > :46:56.Mark. He has nowhere to go, and round the outside people could

:46:57. > :47:01.surprise him, but, I didn't care that much, because I kept the lead,

:47:02. > :47:07.and, yeah, I tried to pull away quickly, to have a bit of gap, on to

:47:08. > :47:11.the big back straight. There is no question it was a great launch and

:47:12. > :47:17.ten out of ten for artistic value was your doughnut. Perfect at the

:47:18. > :47:23.end of this one. Yes, we do have, you know, show runs, and yes, you

:47:24. > :47:29.see from there on wards, they were completely on the same spot.

:47:30. > :47:35.Initially, they were not, but, yeah. Is there room for improvement? A

:47:36. > :47:42.little. More practise required. Sublime, today, thank you for your

:47:43. > :47:47.time. Let us hear from Mark now. How do you feel, was it a missed

:47:48. > :47:53.opportunity or with you glad to get on the podium. I was very close with

:47:54. > :48:00.pole with Seb, I knew that it could have, could have cost the win, and,

:48:01. > :48:07.looking like it I would have been nice to at least, yeah. Have a

:48:08. > :48:13.different race, having, being clean out of the first sector, at least

:48:14. > :48:16.second off turn one. I got a good start on the left hand side, but I

:48:17. > :48:21.wanted to be on the right for the braking. As soon as I looked over, I

:48:22. > :48:25.looked and Romain Grosjean was there on the brake, on the return to turn

:48:26. > :48:29.one, you are pinched on the apex which is risky, you can't quite see

:48:30. > :48:39.the apex up there, there was oil from a Ferrari cup race, so we had a

:48:40. > :48:45.bit on between the four of us. Well, I see you have had that, top

:48:46. > :48:50.work under what must have been enormous pressure from Mark Webber,

:48:51. > :48:56.to maintain that second position? It was. We knew the start would be

:48:57. > :49:02.crucial today, and if we could manage to get one, we were trying to

:49:03. > :49:09.keep a gap, and under the same strategy, we didn't manage to get

:49:10. > :49:14.Mark, but to drive 100%, of my most tiring race, of the season, and

:49:15. > :49:21.yeah, good start on the outside. I managed to go forward early and kept

:49:22. > :49:24.behind, and hoped to have a gap on the option tyres but the prime were

:49:25. > :49:29.quicker and it was hard to keep them behind. With the KERS and the fuel

:49:30. > :49:36.shortage we managed to have the pace that we needed. We heard your

:49:37. > :49:43.engineer playing in how to use the Kerr, was that in response to Mark

:49:44. > :49:47.Webber? We were more on the fuel saving strategy, and use out the

:49:48. > :49:52.back strait to get ter performance down. Then the Kerr, I did what I

:49:53. > :49:59.was doing every lap, keeping a bit. Trying to go out of turn nine with

:50:00. > :50:05.some KERS, then to prevent... But, yeah, I knew we would have to get a

:50:06. > :50:10.gap a few times to cool his tyres, when he was having a gap I was

:50:11. > :50:14.trying to cool minele. He was -- I was pushing hard. One more race to

:50:15. > :50:22.go this season, one more chance to get on the top step, what do you

:50:23. > :50:24.think? I think the Brazil is good. You never know. Good job, today.

:50:25. > :50:35.Thank you very much. Well huge congratulations to

:50:36. > :50:40.Valtteri Bottas, your first points for Williamses, that is what you

:50:41. > :50:46.wanted. Thank you, it is. -- Williams. Better to get the point

:50:47. > :50:51.later than not at all. I am very happy. Today, starting P 9. After

:50:52. > :50:55.that we did everything right. We did a perfect race from my point of

:50:56. > :50:59.view. And there was an incredible overtake David, over Gutierrez.

:51:00. > :51:02.Indeed, that is what I want to say. You had a great opportunity to show

:51:03. > :51:08.your speed and your racing skills, as you came out of turn one, if you

:51:09. > :51:14.talk us through this. Yes, turn one, I decided to go out so I got a

:51:15. > :51:18.better exit. I had some KERS, so I used enough to get in front. Once

:51:19. > :51:24.you are in that position, you need to go for it. You can't get any

:51:25. > :51:28.more. You make it sound like it was matter-of-fact. I had my heart in my

:51:29. > :51:33.mouth. I was swallowing my microphone in the commentary box. Is

:51:34. > :51:39.it that matter-of-fact behind the wheel? Yes, the last ten, it was

:51:40. > :51:44.very long for me, the main thing was to really manage the tyres, and I

:51:45. > :51:47.couldn't really push hard, so, the amount of laps you can push that

:51:48. > :51:51.hard is not so much, so I decided that I needed to catch him and

:51:52. > :51:57.overtake him as quickly as possible. And once I got close to him, I

:51:58. > :52:01.decided that now we go and there is no backing off. You look like you

:52:02. > :52:07.squeezed everything out of that car today, so top work, well done I put

:52:08. > :52:11.it down to team mock -- team work. It's a good effort from the team and

:52:12. > :52:13.the whole factory, it has been a tough season, so I am happy for all

:52:14. > :52:23.of us. Sergio, a solid drive today, but you

:52:24. > :52:28.have had a very difficult week, where are your thoughts right no?

:52:29. > :52:32.With all me people that came to support me all the way from Mexico,

:52:33. > :52:37.it has been a difficult weekend. I mean I just found out that I am

:52:38. > :52:41.leaving McLaren, before I came here, so it has been a tough time, but I

:52:42. > :52:46.have to say that all the support from my people, for the fan, it has

:52:47. > :52:50.been amazing, and it gives me very much mow vated. I am focussed. I

:52:51. > :52:55.wanted to give a lot more, to them, to the fan, but I couldn't.

:52:56. > :53:00.Unfortunately, we were overheating too much the tyre, and there was a

:53:01. > :53:05.big issue today. Certainly a good try. How do you go with such short

:53:06. > :53:11.notice. How do you go about finding another drive? There is only another

:53:12. > :53:16.week between now and Brazil. Formula One is never easy. As I say, it is

:53:17. > :53:21.difficult right now to find a seat that keeps me motivated to look

:53:22. > :53:26.forward to my career in Formula One, there is no secret, there are only a

:53:27. > :53:29.few teams available right now, which they are advanced with other drive,

:53:30. > :53:35.so it will be difficult to get a seat that gives me motivating --

:53:36. > :53:38.motivated in Formula One, I hope I can succeed. We wish you the best.

:53:39. > :53:47.Thank you. You worked hard out there for that,

:53:48. > :53:51.but are you happy with how it ended, all things considered? I am very

:53:52. > :53:55.happy. Happy to get the points. Wanted to finish ahead of the

:53:56. > :53:59.Ferrari. That was my challenge today. Also at the start I need to

:54:00. > :54:04.get past Hulkenberg and those guy, which I did. So I am happy, I was

:54:05. > :54:11.moving forward in the race, and being able to look after the tyres

:54:12. > :54:16.and utilise them, when I needed to, I was waiting for Fernando to pull a

:54:17. > :54:21.tenth out on me. Unfortunately not as fast as the Red Bulls or the

:54:22. > :54:26.Lotus, still, the team has done incredible. We are pulling the gap

:54:27. > :54:28.slowly to Ferrari. He wants the points for himself but he is talking

:54:29. > :54:33.about the constructors' championship there, for the bah battle for

:54:34. > :54:36.second. They know the Drivers' Championship has gone. This is about

:54:37. > :54:42.doing it for the team. He has made the right move, going across to

:54:43. > :54:47.Mercedes, it he must be excited. He is going to be in the rights place.

:54:48. > :54:53.He seems to be fitting in well. There are hilarious team radio from

:54:54. > :54:58.those guys. When we heard it it sounded like he was getting

:54:59. > :55:02.demotivated but five or six laps later he is asking for more

:55:03. > :55:07.information. It the roller coaster with Lewis, he has his heart on his

:55:08. > :55:12.sleeve at all times. That plays through with communication with his

:55:13. > :55:15.engineer. Fernando you battled hard out there.

:55:16. > :55:22.Some valuable points, was it worth it? I think so, we battled through,

:55:23. > :55:26.the start with difficult, with Perez starting on the wrong side. We lost

:55:27. > :55:31.that position. We didn't want to run too close, to damage the tyre, at

:55:32. > :55:36.the end with the hard tyre I think we were more competitive. We

:55:37. > :55:41.attacked Perez, but not enough to fight with Mercedes. So half of the

:55:42. > :55:46.goal accomplished. The two of you, it was a battle to the end. We like

:55:47. > :55:52.to battle for podium position next type, so in a way it was fun, when

:55:53. > :55:57.you are nothing to loose in this part of the Championship, you battle

:55:58. > :56:02.with talented drivers, with respectful driver, you enjoyment.

:56:03. > :56:07.This time the result will come on our side. David. I think his hunt

:56:08. > :56:11.for Hulkenberg was one of the highlights of the race. And a lot of

:56:12. > :56:15.the action happened where we are standing. Yes, in the run-up to turn

:56:16. > :56:21.one. This was early in the race, Hulkenberg defended the inside line,

:56:22. > :56:24.Alonso goes wide. Cutting back and as Hulkenberg struggles to gain

:56:25. > :56:31.traction he is able to effect the pass. You can see where Alonso has

:56:32. > :56:35.released the Kerr KERS. . This was in the last lap of the Grand Prix.

:56:36. > :56:39.Hulkenberg up the inside, once again, isn't able to stop the car.

:56:40. > :56:43.Alonso cuts backs and is able to hold that position to the line. How

:56:44. > :56:47.difficult is that to do, on your last lap when your tyres are going

:56:48. > :56:51.off? A number of factor, tyres are shot by that point. At this part of

:56:52. > :56:55.the track they don't see the apex when they start to brake for the

:56:56. > :56:59.corner. A lot of confidence required and a lot of belief in your own

:57:00. > :57:03.abilities. So let us confirm today's result for you.

:57:04. > :57:11.So full 25 points for Sebastian Vettel today as he takes his eighth

:57:12. > :57:12.successive victory and a strong drive for Romain Grosjean. Mark

:57:13. > :57:36.Webber third, and drive for Romain Grosjean. Mark

:57:37. > :57:40.championship. Mercedes stretch out that gap a bit more to Ferrari for

:57:41. > :57:44.that second place. It really is astonishing when we say

:57:45. > :57:51.eight times in a row, in the same season. We can't underplay that can

:57:52. > :57:56.we. It is remarkable. It is not lost on Sebastian. He was struggling to

:57:57. > :57:59.get his words out earlier, and we are witnessing a fantastic driver in

:58:00. > :58:05.his prime, or maybe still his prime is yet to come. We don't know this.

:58:06. > :58:09.We have one more race to come in season and we will be live for you,

:58:10. > :58:14.it is next weekend, and it comes from Brazil, so 3.00 is the time to

:58:15. > :58:19.remember for qualifying, and indeed for the race.

:58:20. > :58:24.So Sebastian Vettel tore up Texas today to lasso his eighth successive

:58:25. > :58:27.victory and his first on this side of the pond. Thank you very much for

:58:28. > :59:13.watching. Good night. The average person moves home

:59:14. > :59:19.eight times during their life. So that's eight times

:59:20. > :59:22.we have to move the sofa. Eight times

:59:23. > :59:25.we have to redecorate. Eight times

:59:26. > :59:30.we have to locate the stopcock.