The Italian Grand Prix - Practice 3 Formula 1

Good morning and welcome to Monza. As you can see it is a glorious day

in Italy. We are just outside Milan and it is always great to be here at

such an iconic circuit. The tifosi are here in their thousands to cheer

on their beloved Ferrari. As well as all the on track action we will be

live for 30 minutes after the chequered flag falls with drivers

passed, and present, and all the news coming out of Mercedes and

rumours of changes right at the top of Ferrari. Since Spa headlines have

been dominated by Mercedes after Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton came

together. Whether you think Nico Rosberg was the good guy or the bad

guy, he was the one standing on the podium and increasing his lead in

the Drivers' Championship. Now 29 points separate him and Lewis

Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo has three wins to his name which means he is

just 35 points behind Hamilton. Fernando Alonso is fourth, Bottas

fifth, Sebastian Vettel is yet to lead a race this year let alone win

one. In the constructors Mercedes have a huge lead, 411 points.

Williams are fighting to take third place from Ferrari. McLaren have

moved ahead of Force India since the last race but only by two points.

Standing in a sunny pit lane today, Tom Clarkson and Jenny Gunn. It is

not sunny where we are standing actually, we are in the shade. But

you are right, it is a balmy 23 degrees down here. For the teams, it

is the track temperatures they are concerned with, which is now 31

degrees, nearly 10 degrees more than yesterday, so we could see the rear

tyres being worked harder, so we could see more oversteer. Visually

it could be quite good for us. But the emphasis this morning will be on

qualifying. 11 times in the last 14 years this race has been won from

pole position which makes it statistically more important to

start than Monaco from pole position. Lewis Hamilton only

managed to 16 laps yesterday afternoon, he had a problem, they

could not fire up his engine. And that was the engine they used in

Hungary which caught fire, so they managed to repair it. It is a Friday

engine, he will not be using that today. He will have to use his

team-mate Nico Rosberg 's macro information to get the best of his

car. He says that is the -- that is fine, they have similar cars. He set

the fastest time of the whole day on the hard tyres yesterday, which is

pretty unusual. He will try his best to gain the time he missed out on

yesterday, preparing himself for the all-important qualifying. It is in

fact all-important because Lewis Hamilton has not had a clean

qualifying session since Spain and that was all the way back at the

beginning of May, it is incredible. He will need a clean practice three.

The cars are on track shortly, so let's head to the commentary booth.

COMMENTATOR: Thank you, we have a lot to look forward to today.

Although we talk about the rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg, there

is an opportunity for somebody else. Williams looked strong and they may

not qualify quite as sharply as they did in Austria, but we need to keep

an eye on them. Their long run pace is very good and they were the

quickest car yesterday intends of race pace. The key for them is being

in the fight in qualifying. We have seen them much better in that area

through the last few Grands Prix. Red Bull need to be good. They have

resurfaced the banked surface with concrete to keep it alive. We will

see some interesting images from that on the BBC Formula One coverage

over the course of the weekend. Stay with us for all the qualifying life

and the full race coverage on BBC One. First practice of the day,

practice three of the weekend, and one apiece for Lewis Hamilton and

Nico Rosberg in terms of topping the times so far this weekend. But Lewis

did have that truncated session and ended up second fastest in second

practice yesterday. Kimi Raikkonen having a slightly stronger weekend

so far, and generally Ferrari have been looking better than they have

at some previous events. Raikkonen was third and Alonzo was fourth in

yesterday afternoon 's session. Rumours that they have improved

their power plant a bit, got a bit more performance. There are four

straights where you are over 200 mph here, so you need straight-line

speed and power. They have been a little bit more competitive so far.

Kimi Raikkonen, especially since Spa, when he seemed to find his feet

with this, and looks stronger in comparison to Fernando Alonso this

weekend. Always wonderful to see the cars out for the morning session

with light dappling through the trees. That is such a part of racing

at Monza, trees everywhere. It is part of a massive park, huge area,

something like three times the land area of Monaco. And we are just in

one tiny corner of this part. It is a beautiful area. When you come up

into Ascari chicane, the shadows of the trees blocked out the braking

area and the bumps coming up into it, so you have to be careful. The

rear of the car can easily lock-up and destabilise. We saw that with

Sergio Perez yesterday morning and Friday when he locked the rear

wheels coming in. Shadows create that extra problem. Well, there is

Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari. Jenny, any news coming from the

Italian team? Absolutely. As the guys at the back of the carpet ready

to put that right flow is paint all over the car, the news is they have

played their joke and Ferrari, so both cars have changed their gear

ratios especially for Monza. There was some question as to whether they

had done it for Spa, but they have done it for this weekend. We thought

this might be one of them because it is such a fast paced circuit, so

that's exactly what they have done. Good information. This year they are

allowed to change ratios just a couple of times. It is a fixed ratio

gearbox nowadays. In the old days and in other forms of racing you can

change your ratio for each particular track. Daniil Kvyat, as

you can see from the graphic, is now on to his six engine, which means he

will have a ten place penalty on the grid for the race tomorrow. He will

go through qualifying as tomorrow but whatever he qualifies in, ten

prizes will be added. Back to gear ratios, you have been studying it?

Yesterday when I was watching the on-board, Mercedes were only using a

skier once per lap down the main street, whereas pretty much

everybody else was using a skier three to four times per lap. -- they

were only using Aix gear -- eighth gear. There is no clear logic in

exactly why Mercedes are doing it at the moment. It means they change

here less, so from that point of view, they are going up and down the

gearbox less, so it might be a real liability thing. In terms of

performance it does not seem to be an advantage. Are they ending up

with different ratios, so Williams and Mercedes and Force India are not

all doing the same thing? Force India seem to have slightly longer

ratios, more in line with Mercedes but all of the other teams in to

have the shorter ratio. It is one of those things, variables. Different

philosophies, different theories behind it. But it is a clear, clear

difference. On the start finish great, Rosberg going down the pit

lane, you will change to his final eighth gear right at the end of the

pit lane, whereas the other teams are right at the beginning, quite a

difference. Right now he is using first gear, doing the practice start

in the designated area at the end of the pit lane, here. Clutch bite

point check, making sure it is all activated. You did not make a

particularly good start from pole position in some ways last time out

at Spa -- he did not. And that poor start initiated the events that led

to him clipping Hamilton. The poor start was the total reason. He was

on pole. That's strange. He locked up the front right. He has done the

practice start and instead of flash spot in the tyre, we saw Jenson

Button doing a big one yesterday, instead of flat spotting the tyre

and damaging them with 55 minutes ago, better to abort. Is this a bit

of an experiment for him? If he is on the front row tomorrow, did not

looked like he was hammering it down there, one of the hardest things for

the guys to judge is where to break, first lap, tyre is not fully a full

load of fuel, one of the toughest decisions of the whole weekend.

RADIO: A slight delta on the temperature, more braking to get

them up. That will be the reason he locked the front. The difference in

temperature of side to side. One will be more efficient until the

whole car is up to temperature. The right front would be the one that

had more temperature into it causing that, on a slightly cold surface.

Coming back to it, it is very difficult, it was a problem in Spa.

RADIO: We will look into that. Should be fine, but we will check

that out. It feels pretty bad, to be honest. Long and soft. That is not

what you want, because you are breaking just under the bridge into

Ascari. You need a solid feel and solid feedback, because these

braking areas are very short but very intense, pulling over five G,

putting 120 kilograms of force into it. The feedback through the foot is

something that is very critical and something I was always very

particular about. Clearly Kevin Magnussen has that sensation as

well. So it looks like years staying out there, but it is something they

will address presumably. -- looks like he is. It would normally be a

question of bleeding the breaks, but these days it is a bit more, dated.

I guess it is to do with the hydraulic system. Yes, as he locks

up the front right, exactly as Nico Rosberg did. It is more on the

hydraulics side of things. Generally you plug it into a system that will

push all of the fluid completely through. You want to get the old

fluid out in case there is something with the fluid as well. Seems a bit

slippery at the first chicane, doesn't it? Talk us through this as

he came down. He has gone down through the gears, down to third

gear, and at that point he locked up the right front. I think we will see

lots of it, into the chicane and second chicane more than anywhere

else. Those two corners you have big, heavy braking. Both corners a

little bit bumpy. The problem is that you do not realise you are

going too fast, and you break later and your deceleration is not quite

good enough until you are at the point of turning. RADIO: The gears

are still not right. Box, box, box, just reduce the amount of shifting.

Little bit of discussion about the gears on the Mercedes of Nico

Rosberg. Just riding with Jenson Button. Kobayashi currently fastest,

not often we see a caterer at the top, and now it is the other one --

a Cape -- Caterham. Now Alan, you have done a special piece for our

coverage later today about the changes at Parabolica, how did

Button's line look? He was on the tarmac site. Luca arrived with his

son in tow, maybe a future Ferrari driver. Jensen, still a fast time,

eight tenths off the quickest we had yesterday in second free practice.

Ultimately I still think this is build-up from Jenson Button. So,

crossed the line goes Nico Hulkenberg now to go on to go onto a

quick lap. Jenson Button is fastest from Kirby Ashy, Ericsson and

Magnusson, and again, Hulkenberg does not lock-up quite as much.

RADIO: Bit more break warming if you can, mate. Tyres look good. The

issue you have around here, such long straights, everything cools

down. And then you have an intense activity when you hit the brakes. If

they are not at the optimum, 200 mph, where Hulkenberg was at that

speed coming into the second chicane, he is doing 90 metres per

second. So therefore it is all concertinas about one of braking and

everything has be at the optimum level. Alternatively you get these

little lock-ups and run wide. This is something we will see in the

first part of the session as opposed to the second part. Hulkenberg on a

reasonably good lap here at the moment, so we will keep an eye on

that. You can share your thoughts with us

by tweeting us or commenting on the BBC Facebook page. We have the

Formula One website as well. So the best of your comments will be added

to that. It is good to have your contribution as we build up towards

qualifying here at Monza and it is live coverage on BBC One at 12. 10.

Join Suzi and the gang and looking over the controversies of the last

race at Spa. The contact between Hamilton and Rosberg which has been

talked about ever since. Button still fastest here. Hulkenberg with

that lap going second fastest and that man there is the guy who is the

engineer for Sergio Perez, but next year will be Sebastian Vettel's race

engineer. So a shift from team and he will be working with the four

time world champion. Vettel's engineer will be having a more

overall engineering role at Red Bull. He will be stepping out of his

current position where he has been active and sin on news with

Sebastian Vettel and the success there into a bigger position. This

is all part of the restructuring after Adrian Newey. This is the

first race where he has not been directly active into the Red Bull

and they have to build for the rue ture and Rocky is a -- future and

Rocky is a big asset and they will want to move him up the ladder. He

was the engineer of Paul di Resta last year and Paul was a big, big

fan and says he is without doubt able to step into Rocky's shoes.

Adrian Newey won't be attending anymore Grand Prix this year. It

will be a new era for the team and Sebastian Vettel, of course,

struggling a bit. He is in a chassis, it is not a brand-new

chassis, it is one that's been recycled effectively and it is a

different chassis to the one he ran at Spa. Button has gone faster on

that initial time he did. Vettel on this lap will keep an eye on. It

will be close in qualifying today and fractions of a second separating

the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari and maybe McLaren. Over the race

distance, Red Bull and Ferrari are looking stronger than McLaren, but

very, very even. So we could see Vettel versus Alonso again and they

have had their moments here in the past. Remember a couple of times

when Alonso made a fantastic move on Vettel. Vettel made a fantastic move

on Alonso and Vettel got done when he squeezed Alonso on to the grass.

It is difficult to overtake around here even though the straights are

very long and normally you would expect, it is reasonably simple in

that respect, but it is hard. Therefore, qualifying will be

important and that gaggle in behind, to be honest including Mercedes in

the way that it looked yesterday, it is going to be tight and I think

qualifying will be a big, big factor today. There is important people

from Ferrari today. We look at Kobayashi. A classic lock-up and

rotation. Did he save it from spinning? Bounced across the big

sausage kerb. A lot of sparks. The car running low. It doesn't run over

the kerb too much. That's the McLaren. Magnussen had a brake pedal

that was too long and they have had to take the callipers off. You would

want to do a belt and braces approach on that if you weren't 100%

sure because once you go into qualifying, Ricciardo gets on to the

dirty side and loses rear grip. Another new graphic giving us a

corner time from entry to exit, 3.8 seconds corner time. Many years, you

have done a lot of driver coaching as well, Allan, it makes a big

difference, doesn't it to analyse what people are doing? Yes, it

certainly does. It is a part of the process of trying to understand

where you are actually gaining and losing, what's the important part is

that the middle is the exit is at the entry and to maximise all of

that and data and information is king in this game. A few more times

on the board now. It is Button fastest. Ricciardo is second.

Hulkenberg is pushed down to third and Vettel is fourth and Perez is

fifth. It is McLaren on top and Red Bull looking strong, but we haven't

seen the real potential pace set efforts. Ters. One is Valtteri

Bottas and he is on a lap now. Let's watch the lap. Drops down to first

gear. Some of the teams are quickly into second because he wants to try

to maximise his acceleration. In through the second chicane. This one

is tricky. You use all of that kerb on the exit. So through there. Runs

out wide. I noticed that yesterday. He uses a fair bit of road. A chunk

of oversteer. It is a funny corner because you get a corn in oversteer

on entry and then you have got to spot the apex. There is certain

areas where the FIA said it is OK to run with all four wheels off.

However at Parabolica where he is coming to now, they have dictated if

you put all four wheels over the white line then you are in line for

a penalty. A touch of tyre lock on the right front. Let's see how much

road he uses? That would have been gravel last year, but he keeps it

within just about. He goes second fastest with that lap. Not as quick

as the McLaren though of Jenson Button.

TEAM RADIO: Gears are not learning. Cancel brain magic. It is a

wonderful language we're hearing in Formula One. Talking of engineers

talking to drivers. Tom, we have a feature that you made with Valtteri

Bottas coming up later. Where Valtteri Bottas engaged in a

different occupation, but still being talked at by his race

engineer? That's right, they have got an interesting history these two

guys. They graduated to the Formula One team together in effect.

Jonathan became a race engineer for the first time last year as Valtteri

was promoted to the race team. So yes, nice feature with that, but I

caught up with Valtteri after practise yesterday and very quietly

confident of the car's long run pace. I said to him, "How does it

look?" He says we're aiming for the podium this weekend, it is just a

question of which step! That's good to hear. There is that confidence to

Valtteri Bottas now he had a string of podiums, can he go better and

take his first win? It might be asking too much. Who knows. Red Bull

have managed to win against Mercedes. But the thing they have to

do is convert the opportunities and that's something that Red Bull have

done very well with Daniel Ricciardo when they have a sniff of a victory

then they have grabbed it with both hands. Williams had the faster car,

but haven't been able to maximise their performance from it. Here, I

think, is their best chance. I think they have got a good bit of speed in

the car for qualifying and they have in the race pace as well. I think

around here they really have to look towards not just a podium step, but

something higher than that. We're watching Kimi Raikkonen. He was

third fastest yesterday. More promising for Ferrari, but we are

wary. They show well on Fridays and don't always deliver when it comes

to Saturday qualifying and Raikkonen coming off that fourth place finish

last time out at Spa, but the best grid position is fifth. He hasn't

been on the first couple of rows this season and that was it Bahrain.

It is a long time since Kimi Raikkonen had a pole position. That

was in his first career in Formula One. You have to go back to 2008

when he had a pole position and that was at the French Grand Prix and I

don't Ferrari will be in the battle for pole position, but they will

have the support of the crowd. Let's see what the lap is like. It is a

slow lap. I think he has a lot of fuel on board and everybody is still

using the hard tyre, Allan. What we did see yesterday when they switched

to the softer tyre which we will see later in the session, not quite as

big a difference. Sometimes we see between the two tyres and that's

partly there is not as many corners here at Monza, but we saw as

Valtteri Bottas goes fastest, you can do more than one quick lap and

sometimes your second flying lap was quicker than your first. It is

around here, I think, it is going to be about building the temperatures

into the tyre and into the brakes. Valtteri Bottas there, he improved

on the first sector. Equalled his second sector and on the third

sector was slower. Therefore, his first timed lap today was not quite

totally up to temperature and if he had been able to put those together

on the one single lap, he would have been a tenth-and-a-half faster

again. Valtteri Bottas quickest. Now Button is second fastest. Hulkenberg

third. Massa fourth and Daniel Ricciardo is fifth and Tom, you are

at Red Bull? I am, Ben. I wanted to highlight this beautiful front wing

on the RB-10. It is naked. There are none of the add on flaps that we see

elsewhere in the pit lane. We know that Red Bull are running even less

rear wing here than in Spa two weeks ago and I suppose this is just to

help balance the car by having less downforce on the front, but doesn't

it look, the petals on a rose, just layered on top of each other. It is

very beautiful and it is helping their straight line speed. They did

run a similar wing last year and when I asked the team why they ran

it last year because, of course, there was more engine parity and

they said we were only 30 BHP down last year. Listening to that is

Christian Horner. The car does look great with all the little add on

winglets? I was listening to his description of petals of a rose! It

is very descriptive from Tom there. We are trimming as much wing out of

the car as we can to make it as efficient on the straights as we

can. You guys do a lot of number crunching overnight. Not only in

terms of how your car is set-up, but where everybody stands. What can we

expect to see in qualifying and indeed, the race? What you can see

is that the times are close and a tenth of a second can be moving you

three or four places. So I'm looking at the theoretical times here and

massively, massively close between the top six or eight cars. It will

be very tight. It is about getting the perfect lap in qualifying. And

that includes Mercedes, does it? They leave a bit up their sleeve.

I'm looking at the Williams, McLarens, they are all Mercedes

engines. At Allan here. Looking at yesterday's race pace times, you

looked as if you were one of the quickest, but do you have the

qualifying pace to utilise that for tomorrow? That's that, Allan. Our

race pace looks pretty good, but the problem is it is likely to be a one

stop race and that means you have got to do your overtaking on track

and with our lack of straight line speed that will be tough. If we can

get a car on the third row that would be a good starting position

for us and I don't think Daniel won a race from higher than fifth or

sixth yet. With the hybrid engines we are using now and it is the first

time we have come to Monza with this set-up on the car. Will it change

how the drivers go through the qualifying routine? They have got to

be careful in terms of how much, you know, they utilise if they are doing

consecutive laps. There is a little bit of management in that and you

will hear the engineers talking to them about what modes and recharge

modes that they need to be in. So power management is critical on a

track like this. And presumably with the tyres that we are seeing, we saw

people being able to set a second fast lap on the medium tyre

yesterday afternoon. Maybe people are staying out there longer in

qualifying and doing a couple of laps? The tyres are hard enough to

drive home on. So I think, you know, the times will keep falling. You can

see on this harder tyre at the moment, you know, cars are

continuing to go quicker and quicker and the softer tyre is not much

softer, you know, so again, long runs are no problem. One final

question. We have seen Daniil Kvyat... That's good. He loves a bit

of oversteer! It is good to watch. Jean-Eric Vergne showing how the

tyres are not that easy to drive. A quick general question. There has

been rumours, it is always that time of year, Monza, the drivers market

is always being talked about. You look set with what you have got in

terms of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel. I know there are

rumours surrounding Sebastian's future. Do you see any high-profile

changes taking place as we go through the rest of the year? As you

say, the music is always in full swing this time of year, but when it

stops I think they will all end up sticking in the seats they are in

and amongst the top teams I suspect. I would be surprised if there was

any real movement. OK, great, thank you for joining us. We look forward

to some input later on today? Thank you.

Big snap from Jean-Eric Vergne with the back of the car, we saw Sergio

Perez have a similar issue yesterday. It just gives us an idea

of getting that brake balance, which is so crucial here. Running uphill

into there, a lot of breaking load, so the rear of the car is quite

light anyway. Bit of a bump and the road camber is in towards the

right-hand side. So it's not as though when it does react it is

reacting identically left and right, so you tend to get a bit of a snap.

Kimi had won a bit like Bottas early in the session, dropped his front

right wheel into the drain and it hooked him an idiot. Kevin Magnussen

had some break issues. Any news? Not on Magnusson, but Nico Rosberg is

out of the car with a gearbox issue. The flaw is coming off the car, the

team on getting into the gearbox. They think if they can get into it

now they might not have to replace the gearbox. So session over for

him. Makes you wonder, Lewis Hamilton missed an hour of yesterday

afternoon session, Rosberg has effectively missed an hour this

morning. Who will suffer more, missing yesterday afternoon or this

morning? They are missing different things, because Rosberg got all of

the driving feel, and the setup time for the long run pace, and Lewis

Hamilton missed out on that for really Sunday afternoon, whereas it

looks like the other way round. Personally I would prefer to be in

Lewis Hamilton's situation, because I think psychologically having the

advantage going into and through qualifying is probably more

important right now for him after the run of, I would say, races he

has had, more than anything else. Interesting, Lewis Hamilton did not

finish last time out so he is allowed a new gearbox. So he is less

likely to have a problem. Jenny has some news from McLaren? Yes, be

wheel guns are out and they have put the tyres on Kevin Magnussen's car,

it was the front brakes he was not comfortable with. He has only put

into laps, Sue he came in and they changed the material -- so he came

in. Hopefully he will feel more comfortable now. But a long time to

miss out on this session. Interesting to know if you changed

to the same material that he had on before, because that sensitivity to

the brake pedal, especially around here, sometimes they play with

materials. We found out in Hockenheim Lewis Hamilton was doing

that quite a lot when he had his brake disk failure in qualifying. I

did ask the question, as you know I would, and I got resolute no

comment. I did say what did they use, and he said normally carbon

industry, but they change them round. So I gave up at that point.

The sensitivity and feedback in each one has got the characteristic. You

prefer them from certain circuits to circuit, and sometimes driver to

drive, but it is whether they need instant response or more consistency

through the whole braking range. Valtteri Bottas still fastest with

over half an hour to go in final practice. Fernando Alonso second

fastest, and Christian Horner was saying it was going to be close, but

it is mighty close, no difference at all between the lap Duff has done in

a Williams-Mercedes and the one Fernando Alonso has done in the

Ferrari -- between the lap Bottas has done. Hopefully Lewis Hamilton

will give us an idea. Grosjean has been struggling and this car has

looked a handful this weekend, they are struggling, even more than they

have been at other circuits. In high downforce trim I don't think the car

is very easy to drive, seems to be very difficult. Especially with any

bumps or curbs, when you take downforce off. That's coming through

the second Lesmo, down towards Parabolica. You can run out there,

but it is very bumpy. Then you take downforce off, it amplifies these

bumps, and the car reacts much more. Lotus have said they have stopped

development for 2014 and are looking towards 2015. I think the drivers

felt that happened two or three months ago in reality, because they

have not been able to extract any more out of it than they had in

Malaysia. Hulkenberg on another lap. Thanks for your questions and

comments coming in. Quirky badger asks, good Ross Brawn return to

Ferrari next season? That is amongst the gossip at Monza, but we wonder

whether that's actually going to be a fact. He has done an awful lot in

the past at Ferrari, but we don't know for sure yet whether he will

return. James Bartlett saying, do we believe Jenson Button deserves next

year 's drive, and does Magnusson deserve a second chance? Questions

all about the McLaren driver line-up and it is still uncertain. McLaren

in a situation. Peres is stopping. Curve grandee, just come through the

chicane. RADIO: Do not change gear for the moment or try to change

gear. Well he has just tried to do that, he is stuck in second gear,

trying to go down, looks like it is in between two gears. He came out of

the first chicane, and clearly when he tried to activate into the next

year he stopped. I presume that now if they cannot move this car quickly

they will have two red flag the session. They may try to push the

car if it is in neutral. Interesting that two Mercedes engined cars have

apparently had some gearbox problem. We don't know what the problem is on

Peres, but worrying times for Force India, they will not want to lose

the car at this stage. Marshal is trying to push it out of the way,

there is a gap a bit further away. Hopefully they will be able to move

that without stopping the entire session. So Sergio Perez, who has so

far not done huge amount, he has done some ten laps in this session

so far, and he is a fastest. Let's get some news from Jenny. The Sauber

of Adrian Sutil in the sick bay at the moment, when he went out for his

install that they found a hydraulic leak, so they have had to take it

off. They have done a fast turnaround, Adrian Sutil getting

ready in the background. Another five or ten minutes before he gets

out, but another frustrating weekend, potentially in the bag. The

macro. Indeed. -- potentially in the bag for Sauber. Certainly does not

look easy for them, and also to Sergio Perez, he missed 30 minutes

of Friday morning practice with Juncadella taking his position.

Ultimately he has only done ten laps in this one. Now he is out with

critically the last 30 minutes to go, which is his qualifying

simulation. Coming back to McLaren, Button, Magnusson, any changes next

year? McLaren are looking towards the future with their engine

changing to Honda, they have to build a plan for the future. Kevin

Magnussen has speed. He has had issues. And remember in the first

Grand Prix of the season he had second place, so therefore he can do

the job. I think he has done enough to continue. Jenson Button has

scored the majority of the points, so he is the elder statesman on the

grid. Ultimately he has got the points for McLaren Missy and that is

very important when they need the stability, going into one big part

of their team changing, the engine side -- the points for McLaren this

year. I think they will be the drivers on the grid for the first

race of 2015. Nico Rosberg looked cool, despite the fact he is losing

track time in this session. There is Jenson Button. Another question has

come in from Rachel Bridge, she says how come Jenson Button always shows

great pace in free practice sessions but falls apart in qualifying? I'm

not sure I would necessarily say he falls apart in qualifying, but the

pace is not always converted into a challenging top ten in qualifying

itself. I think Jenson Button's area of clear strength is in the race. He

has a quick brain and he works out when there are opportunities,

especially if a safety car or changing weather conditions arise.

The area he has struggled a bit on in the past few years is the pure,

outright one lap pace. But also McLaren does not build temperature

very well into the front tyres, which is hampered, which hampers you

in qualifying. I would not necessarily put it all down to

Jenson's door, but his area of real strength in my opinion, is when he

gets the 53 lap race. Finished second three times in the last five

years, never had a race victory here, but some solid performances.

Good battle with Fernando Alonso in 2010, nip and tuck. Alonso went on

to snatch victory for Ferrari. He himself has a brilliant record of

being on the podium every time since he has joined the Italian greats.

Whether he will be able to do it this weekend we will see. Alonso

showing good pace at the moment. With Jenson Button through the final

corner. Lewis Hamilton is on a lap at the moment which should put him

to the top of the times. Jenson Button currently fourth fastest and

he goes fastest, but Lewis Hamilton is going to eclipse his time. RADIO:

Misbehaving, you need to double-check it. I think he was

talking about part of the energy recovery system that operates

underbraking. Let's see what Hamilton's time is, a big jump

faster, the fastest lap of the weekend. He is still on the harder

compound tyre. Nobody has switched to the softer tyre yet, and that

gives you an understanding that Mercedes still have the edge in

terms of sheer pace. Definitely, and that's the first time they have

dropped into the 25's, eclipsing his fastest time of yesterday which was

in the first free practice on the same tyres. They are starting to

wind it up now. RADIO: We see there was a problem without shift but

after that it was OK. Sorting it out. Daniel Ricciardo goes fifth,

slight improvement in time, but position stays much the same.

Hamilton on top from Button, Bottas, Alonso and Ricciardo. Patrick Head,

still very involved with the overall company of Williams, but less

hands-on with the Formula One team. Keeping a close eye on what is going

on. A long time since Williams had a victory here at this Monza circuit.

They have had a good record over the years but you have to go back to

2001 when Juan Pablo Montoya won here. And he has been at Monza this

weekend. In fact he was the last Williams driver to have pole

position here, in 2002. Sebastian Vettel popped himself up into

seventh place with that time, a little bit quicker than he had

previously done, but still 1.1 seconds off the lap time of

Hamilton. Ericsson making a mistake at Ascari. Very easy, just a little

lock-up, and suddenly you are off. Toby Ashy, his team-mate, has he had

similar problems? -- Kobayashi. This is into the first chicane. He didn't

even try to make the corner. It is about looking after the tyres as

much as anything. If you lock-up, you have to get off the brake pedal

and allow the tyre to rotate. Otherwise you get a flat spot.

Jenson Button held on to the pressure yesterday and he put it

right through to the canvas of the tire very quickly. And that tyre

then becomes unusable. So from that point of view you are better to

abort the corner, because the corner has gone anyway by then. Pastor

Maldonado is currently 15th, but there is a bit of a danger for

Lotus, looking at the pace, Mauritius are not far be hanged. It

might be a concern. -- Marussia. They were saying Bianchi's pace,

there was a bit of contact with Grosjean macro but it was a racing

incident. Bianchi ended up with a punch as a result. But his pace was

very much on a target with what Lotus were doing in that race. They

wonder whether they might be able to do something to challenge. A faster

from Maldonado. We are still waiting to see what anyone else can do.

RADIO: Breaks don't feel like they are working very well, DRS not

working. DRS not working, and the brakes. Lap time suggested it is not

too bad, but he missed the first chicane off camera about a lap ago

for Lewis Hamilton. So maybe he has some sensitivity. His brain now is

tuned straight into what he needs for qualifying. This is the first

chicane, comes down the gears, locks up both front wheels. On the white

line a little bit, and then went through the chicane area. Fernando

Alonso has just gone out on the medium compound tyres, so the first

flying lap we will see is from Fernando Alonso on the softer of the

two tyres. This may not be his best lap as we saw yesterday, sometimes

they were doing their best lap of the one quick lap, slowing down to a

recovery lap, to regenerate all the hybrid power, and then go again.

Yes, Lewis Hamilton has now done his fastest first sector on a lap off

camera now, and the fastest person crossing the start finish line, just

over 200 mph. It has now been eclipsed by Alonso on these medium

tyres. Yes, they are working well for him in that first sector, as

Daniel Ricciardo gets right out of the way of Fernando Alonso. Seen

plenty of wheel-to-wheel dicing between those two this season.

Looking good so far. Nice through Lesmo, a 4-wheel power slide, it

looked very neat and tidy through Lesmo two. Now he has the Ascari

chicane, you need to carry a lot of speed into it, but not too much to

bounce over the curve, and a little bit quicker. And then he needs a

clean exit out for the one kilometre run down towards Parabolica.

The power delivery of the Ferraris is looking good. It seems to be

putting the power down more smoothly. Lets see what his corner

time is like. Runs wide. Just on the limit. That's 13 kilometres an hour

faster than Maldonado and the same as another driver. It is not enough

to put him ahead of Lewis Hamilton. He lost two tenths between Ascari

and through the last corner and Parabolica in comparison to Lewis

Hamilton. Let's just, we're riding on board with Alonso now. This lap

maybe a kind of regeneration lap and then he may well go again. We will

have to wait and see. As we heard from Christian Horner with these

hybrid systems, you can't go and do two flat out-laps one after the

other? Well, you can do it, but you don't have the maximum boostment you

don't have the amount of extra energy that you ideally need. You're

better to store the energy up on your out-lap go for it on one lap

and build the energy store up to maximum and go again while your tyre

has got life in it. Kimi Raikkonen has gone out on the medium compound

tyre. Max Chilton is still on the harder compound tyre, but he put in

a couple of personal best sector times. That's why we're keeping an

eye on him. His team-mate, Jules Bianchi is a fraction faster at this

point. Kimi Raikkonen is on a lap at the moment. On the medium compound

tyre, but nobody else has gone out on that tyre yet. Max Chilton does

improve. He goes ahead of his team-mate by 100ths of a second.

That's all the difference there is between Max Chilton and Bianchi. Max

Chilton raced here in three Formula 3. He felt comfortable at this Monza

circuit. Looking into the pit garage of Jenson Button as he waits for the

opportunity to come out and do his qualifying simulation run. Alonso

did a 1 minute 40 and now he is back on it again.

TEAM RADIO: Left switch. Left switch. He has got to turn through

the first corner, I think he was on, whichever that left switch is. But

he just dragged that into the second chicane there and lost the rear a

little bit as we watch Gutierrez coming up on Sutil. His eyes were

dragged to where his team-mate was going to go and an odd situation

there, but Alonso was really pushing the edge of the limit with this

second run on the tyre. He has got that Ascari chicane. Comes to the

middle of circuit. Underbraking and he is three tenths slower than he

was on his flying lap. He is not getting the sector times on this

flying lap. He is not as quick as he was than on his first flying lap.

Maybe that's to do with track temperatures, but it doesn't seem to

be delivering second time around. This is useful information for all

the teams, of course. Yes. And he is going into the pits, so he has

aborted the lap and popping into the pits. Kimi Raikkonen is the one to

watch now. He is on his lap with his first flying lap on the softer tyre

with the white side walls, the medium compound. Into Parabolica. A

bit of understeer there. The front of the car didn't hook in. It

transferred to oversteer as he has gone on the power. The paint looks

to be slippery still, but there is more rubber going don't to it as

Kimi Raikkonen's third. Just over half a second behind Hamilton. Yes,

and Four tenths slower than his team-mate at the same time on the

softer tyre. He won't be happy about that, I don't think, he lost a bit

to Fernando Alonso in similar conditions. So not ideal for Kimi

Raikkonen. But we will see what he can do if he does another second run

on those tyres. Lewis Hamilton in the car all happy, but Nico Rosberg

is unable to do anymore laps as his car is being worked on. It is

affecting Nico Rosberg's preparation for qualifying and although Hamilton

had the problems yesterday, it is Nico Rosberg who is having to stand

on the sidelines as he waits for the car to be fixed and Sergio Perez is

back after having abandoned his car out on track and looking concerned

and hoping that they won't have to execute a gearbox change on his car

which would give him a penalty on the grid. Valtteri Bottas is

currently fifth fastest. Are Williams going to sacrifice any of

their race pace that they showed strongly on Friday afternoon for

qualifying pace? That's got to be the question. It doesn't look as if

they have got the frontline qualifying pace, but let's wait and

see when they put the softer tyre on. Here is Adrian Sutil in the

Sauber and a team that's been fighting at lower end of the order

and once again, there is Sutil fighting with the handling of the

car! Yes, this is another team that has not been able to transform the

form that they had at the end of 2013 into 2014 and not been able to

pick it up. They gained a little bit from the German Grand Prix onwards,

but it has only been marginal. At the beginning of the season they

were struggling. Now, they're firmly into the bottom end of, I should say

between tenth and 15th, but there is no way of them getting into the top

ten. They are reasonably matched the two Sauber team-mates. Sutil has the

upper hand. 7-5 in favour of the more experienced of the two drivers.

Gutierrez the lighter weight, but Sauber have been able to save weight

on the car. It started the season heavy, but they managed to get it

down to the weight limit. You can see on that lap, he has not done

anything special. He is on the harder compound tyre. We are seeing

Hulkenberg come out on the softer tyre. Bianchi's time is only a

fraction slower than Maldonado as well. So it will be close at that

back group as we are seeing up at the front as well. The Caterhams

seem to be struggling. Grosjean in between the two Caterham drivers.

There is a few former Ferrari drivers around. That was Fishkella

there on microphone. Unlike Friday afternoon, you are only going to get

one flying lap out of these tyres. That seems to be the case. It puts a

lot of pressure on the driver to maximise that first flying lap

especially the brake nothing the first and the second chicanes. They

can't afford a lock-up because you know if you have to abort and go

again you have lost a couple of tenths. Ferrari are second and third

and they are waiting for Hamilton to use the softer tyre. There is Ron

Dennis. They have a little bit of time. Button and Magnussen will be

coming out on circuit. Hulkenberg has gun to the tyres already -- gone

to the tyres already. When he was driving for Sauber he qualified

third at this track. It shows you the difference between a year.

Sauber is struggling to get anywhere near the top ten, but he was third

here last year on the grid and finished in fifth place. He is back

with Force India. He is having a good year. There is only one race he

failed to score points. Let's see what this lap is like Allan. He is

exiting Ascari. Uses the road. It's kind of an average lap. It is not a

fantastic lap I have to say. He is three tenths off in the middle

sector and he is another three tenths after in comparison to Lewis

Hamilton on the used hard tyre. Hamilton did 16 laps on that tyre.

Nice and clean out of Parabolica to cross the line. And he goes a little

bit quicker, but not much. Not the gain that you would have expected in

his last sector. He was a fraction slower than he had been on the hard

compound tyre. No real gain found by Hulkenberg despite going to the

softer of the two compounds. Maybe he will back off and try to go once

more. Felipe Massa, who, of course, has always been a fans favourite

here when he was driving for Ferrari, now he drives for Williams,

but there is a lot of affection for the Brazilian and now McLaren begin

to send their cars. Jenson Button is on his way. Alonso has gone back on

to the track. Daniel Ricciardo is out on circuit now with the softer

tyre on. Yeah, he is going to do a practise start. We will try and

close in and see how this sounds. Magnussen following him through.

Yeah, he was quick to get on with the programme and get out on to the

circuit. Remember, when he did that at the beginning of the session, he

struggled for a couple of laps to get the brakes and everything up to

temperature. He would want to make sure he kept residual temperature

into the tyres and not sit too long at the end of the pit lane. Daniel

Ricciardo, the man who has been such a star of recent ehaven'ts. Top

points scorer in the last six Grand Prix, three victories to his credit

and looking for a hat-trick this weekend. He won the last two Grand

Prix, one in Hungary and one in Spa. This is a power circuit and although

he has been able to pick up great results on power circuits due to

problems for other teams, it is unlikely that we will see the Red

Bull near the front in qualifying. He is trying to maximise the

temperatures into everything. He takes a different line than he will

on the flying lap out of Parabolica so he starts it with the maximum

speed crossing the start/finish line. This qualifying for Red Bull

is critical. If they get this right, they have got half a chance

tomorrow. If they don't, if they can't maximise their qualifying

speed and get in the mix, it will be hard for them with the strategy

looking to be a one stopper and their straight line speed. Hamilton

is fastest at 352 kilometres per hour. We have hit the 220mph mark at

this speed trap going down towards the first chicane, but Red Bull

giving up 14 kilometres an hour despite the little skinny wings that

they are running. This is where that hurts them. They can't take the

corners as fast because there is less downforce. The rear flap opens

up as he approaches Ascari and sector times, he is improving on

what he did on the hard tyre. He is getting a gain in performance

through both of the first two sectors, but he wouldn't be doing

enough to reach those top times, I think. Hamilton's time set on the

hard tyre, but Hamilton has come out on the medium compound tyre. He runs

very, very wide. Just allows the car to keep two wheels over that white

line on to the green and all the way over the kerb. It goes seven tenths

down. Hamilton's hard tyre time. Jenson Button will look at these. He

is going quick in the middle sector. So we have had Daniel Ricciardo

popping up fourth, but Jenson Button is on one here. What is worrying for

Red Bull, he is five tenths slower than Alonso, but that's a big

difference between Ricciardo and the Red Bull and Alonso and the Ferrari.

Big hitters from Ferrari. I want to see them replicate those times in

qualifying. The boss of Ferrari keeping an eye on what's going on

here this weekend. He is the President of Ferrari and there is a

lot of gossip about whether he will be holding that position for a great

deal longer. Jenson Button has gone third fastest on his medium compound

tyre. Faster than the Red Bull. It does look as if McLaren could

challenge Red Bull in terms of positions in the top ten here. Lewis

Hamilton though, let's see what he can do. He has gone fastest in the

middle sector. First sector though, not the quickest of all

interestingly. Let's just see where this brings him. It should be an

improvement in time. On the softer tyre. And it's not. It is a

1.25.745. We have got radio. TEAM RADIO: How is the balance? I

struggled with the rear in the low speed. I couldn't quite make much in

the first sector. Some feedback from Ricciardo. We saw this in Austria

where the Mercedes didn't pick up as much speed on the softer tyre as we

had been expecting and that brought Williams into the picture there.

Maybe that's going to allow Ferrari into the picture more in qualifying

at least for this Monza Grand Prix. That's one to watch. It shows

Alonso's time there. It is competitive. Valtteri Bottas popped

up into third place on his run. It still leaves Hamilton fastest on the

hard tyre and on the soft. From a race point of view he has both

options covered. Significantly quicker than anyone on the hard.

Massa has gone quickest on the first sector and quick in terms of the

straight line speeds. Massa coming up. Here we are on board with him

and he is still quickest as he enters into Ascari. This is fastest

than Hamilton's time. Hamilton has done a time. Massa is always rapid

over the one lap. There is no doubt about his single lap pace. He

outqualified Alonso here the last couple of years and he is teetering

a little bit there through Parabolica. He dropped a little bit

off on Ascari. He has got his personal best in sector one. It is

only enough for fourth place. Just half a tenth behind Valtteri Bottas.

A very impressive lap from Alonso holds him in second place at the

moment. Ferrari, we were not expecting to see quite this level of

performance, but it is impressive. Button on another lap, holding on to

fifth place at the moment. His second lap on these tyres. The first

one popped up into third place. Remember we have seen everybody else

dropping back three tenths, give or take, on the second run. Let's see

if Button can do a bit more with it than the rest. He has a better first

sector than he had before, but the middle sector is not an improvement,

so let's see. It is a slight improvement, but it does not change

his position, still fifth, a 10th slower than Philippe Massa. One to

watch in a moment will be Sebastian Vettel, who has just gone on to his

flying lap. Ricciardo's flying lap was not so impressive, but can

Sebastian Vettel get closer to the Ferraris? Making the comment that

the brakes are not very good, same as his team-mate. We don't know

whether it is another manufacturer or not, changing the brake material

at the start of the session because he did not feel a good consistency

or feedback from the pedal. Interesting, Hamilton not bad happy.

Rosberg has been saying all year he is not 100% happy with the braking.

Of course he is missing out on this chance to get some experience on the

softer tyres, a real feel for what it is like at the limit

underbraking. Riding with Bottas, he has gone for another quick lap.

Improving slightly, is it enough to go ahead of Alonso? Still third for

him. Missed out on the final sector, there. He was 1000th of a second

slower than he had been on his previous lap. He gained in the first

two sectors but lost over a 10th in the final sector, is that the tyres

giving up at the end? I think it is not being able to get the first

sector absolutely spot on, on the first lap, as opposed to anything

else. He seemed to be gaining on the first sector on the second lap.

Vettel has gone six, so not a lot quicker than Ricciardo, but a little

bit. There is an interesting... Nice to see the relationship between

Alonso and him. How real is that, we wonder. I think it is a genuine

emotion. Both are very Latin, we are in Monza, home ground of Ferrari.

There will be an element of relief as well that they are somewhat

competitive. Ferrari came into this with all of the statements... As

Hamilton fires it through Ascari. All of the statements that this

would be a hard weekend for them. Hamilton has the fastest middle

sector of anybody, so he could improve on his second flying lap on

these tyres. Button going quicker again, a third flying lap, I

believe, for Button. Hamilton currently fastest. Could he go a bit

quicker? Yes. So he does gametime on the softer compound tyre, but only

his second flying lap. Button on his third flying lap, let's see whether

the McLaren can gain some more. Nico Rosberg trying to learn as much as

he can from all of the sector times appearing on the screens. Ron Dennis

will have seen the improvement. Kevin Magnussen currently 11th, on a

lap at the moment. Definitely a bit off Jenson Button at this stage.

29.6 in the middle sector, it is reasonable. Let's see whether Kevin

Magnussen will make an improvement from his current 11. Oh, he really

runs it wide that time. He did, he got a kick right at the point where

he needed to pull the car back and lost a bit. Jenson Button is behind

him, and Jenson Button will be coming across the line in a second

or two. I don't think it will be a quick lap overall, but definitely a

quicker first section. Kvyat on a lap, this puts intense at the

moment, impressive. He goes eighth. But remember he will have a temper

his penalty on the grid because of going to his six engine. -- he will

have a ten place penalty. And that was Kevin Magnussen, presumably that

was the lap we picked up, but we had not seen that. We did see this

mistake through Parabolica. Very quick entry, lost the rear early,

and got a bit wide and lost it again as he was trying to get back onto

the fossil. Just a little bit too fast on entry -- onto the throttle.

Is that a classic case of over driving the car? A classic case. One

minute before you start to go into qualifying and you throw caution to

the wind. You can do that because there is the run-off area, a get out

of jail free card. Without doubt I would take that risk as well. Look

at the speed trap, Hamilton with quite a big margin over the other

Mercedes powered car, Valtteri Bottas. Just shows you how they have

balance out the power against the downforce on the cars, so running

very low drag setups. The chequered flag is now out on this session.

RADIO: Kevin, relative to Jensen, losing a couple of tenths in each

sector, we will try to give you more feedback. Bit of work to be done,

but that's what it's all about in practice, see if they can convert

that when it comes to qualifying itself. Hamilton has ended up

fastest in this third practice session of the weekend. One minute

25.5 is the time he achieved. We were never able to see what Nico

Rosberg could have done. Interestingly, Sebastian Vettel was

fastest here last year in practice doing, on a 1:20 4.3. Just over a

second away from what was achieved here 12 months ago. Hamilton

fastest, Alonso second, and that's an impressive lap time from Fernando

Alonso. It really shows that Ferrari could challenge for a high starting

position. And Nico Rosberg, he will see how close the times and it will

be a concern because it means that if you make a little mistake here,

even driving a Mercedes, you could easily be pushed down the order by

the likes of Bottas, Massa, maybe even Button. Hamilton certainly

getting the rub of the green so far today, as he has ended up fastest in

this first session. Alonso second, Bottas third, Massa has been fourth

fastest. Of course none of this counts towards the grid as yet, it

is qualifying that matters. The times are very close between Button

and Vettel. Kevin Magnussen seemed to be struggling a little bit for

pace coming he was 11th fastest out of what would be qualifying free, of

course. Gutierrez, that is actually quite impressive in the Sauber.

Remember that Sergio Perez never had an opportunity to put the softer

tyres on. Jules Bianchi did well, faster than both of the Lotus

vehicles. Very impressive. A bit quicker than his team-mate Chilton.

Nico Rosberg not getting any times in as a result of gearbox problems.

He did three installation laps earlier in the session but nothing

more. Hamilton ends up fastest in final practice and Rosberg has

problems at the start of the qualifying day here at Monza.

A difficult morning for Nico Rosberg, but I imagine quite a few

smiles inside Williams at the moment. The chief technical officer

joins me. Tell us about the mood in the camp after what you saw on track

this morning? Pretty good. We expected to be pretty competitive

here. It is very close, isn't it? From behind the Mercedes, Ferrari

and ourselves battling, McLaren joining in this weekend. So it is

going to be tight. How much of a surprise is it that we seem to be

coming to the circuit and teens which we didn't necessarily imagine

would be performing so well, even though they do have the engine for

somewhere like Monza, have suddenly turned up and seem to be

competitive? That is the thing, it is Monza, it is different to most of

the circuit. It is power, drag, that are really important here. Downforce

maybe not. Maybe that's an overstatement. But you will see a

slight change in the pecking order on a circuit like this. Even when we

have gone to circuits when we thought power was important like

Canada or Spa, Red Bull seem to have done well, although circumstances

last week in Spa may be played into their hands. I think it did. Spa is

a bit of a con demise on both, you need a car with good downforce in

high-speed corners. Red Bull still have a very good chassis. The three

Bottas said yesterday that he would be aiming for the podium, as always,

it would just depend what steps. Is that how high confidence is with

Valtteri at the moment? Absolutely, and that is the confidence of

Williams, and that is what we are racing for, podium positions. A

couple of times this year I feel we have not been able to pick up when

Mercedes have not had their best days. We have got to make sure we

are not in that position, make sure we are always there, always behind

and ready to just take those points. I hope for a win before the end of

the season. We know how strong Felipe is around here,

out-qualifying Fernando in the last couple of years, he loves this

circuit. What is his feeling? Good. The car is well balanced and we have

a nice, I is between speed and grid. He was right with Valtteri and there

was nothing to change between them. Are we expecting any surprises this

afternoon, do you think? I don't think so. I think we are sort of

shooting for the second row. It is tight, as I said earlier, but I

don't think there will be any big surprises. Just explain what happens

with the team between now and qualifying starting, because there

is not long. There isn't. We go through everything we have done this

morning, we have done more setup work and we decide on the final bit

of tuning, make sure we discuss every lap, think about the traffic

in qualifying, make sure we have the tyres that right. It is absolute

attention to detail now. Thank you very much for joining us this

morning. We are going to walk around here, because Allan McNish is here

at the back of the Williams garage, which is pretty tight, especially

with everybody trying to work on the tyres. Pirelli getting down to

business behind us. Interesting session, and some misfortune for

some of the bigger names. Nico Rosberg lost out today, it was Lewis

Hamilton who lost out yesterday, both of them lost different things.

Nico Rosberg lost the critical qualifying simulation and Lewis

Hamilton lost the feel for what the tyres are going to be like in the

long run. Personally I think Lewis Hamilton has more of a psychological

advantage, because he is tuned in for qualifying, and knows what the

car will need to be like in a slightly hotter condition.

Alternately for Mercedes it has been perfect, there have been some

problems -- ultimately. As Pat said, Williams have got to be there when

those problems do arise. Right here I think is the best option, best

chance of a victory. Paddy Lowe is with Tom Clarkson at the moment.

What else can you tell others about the gearbox problem of Nico Rosberg?

An electronic problem which is affecting the gear shifts. It kind

of works, but it doesn't set itself up properly. The all-important

question, will you have to replace the gearbox and will he get a

penalty? No, we don't think he will get a penalty, we are just changing

part. Pretty confident it will be fine for qualifying. Who has the

bigger task? Lewis Hamilton missed an hour yesterday afternoon, Nico

Rosberg effectively missed an hour this morning, whose shoes would you

rather be in? It is not great for either of them to miss time. Very

disappointed to have lost that time for them. Difficult to call.

Probably worse to lose today, to be honest. Why is it that you are

having these technical issues at this race track? It has not been a

clean weekend. Is it related to the high top speeds we are seeing, three

quarters of the lap at full throttle? Totally unrelated to the

circuit, they are just two issues that we haven't ever seen before.

One of them and engine faults, could have happened on any of the other

seven Mercedes engines, unfortunately happened on Lewis's.

Gearbox issue not something we have seen before, but we will sort it

out. Quick look at a qualifying, the times look close this morning, I

assume you are keeping your powder dry? We ran a pretty normal strategy

to be honest. As we have done through the weekend. So yeah, I

think we will see where we end up this afternoon. Lewis had a very

good run on the prime tyres and the option, so we are reasonable

confident we can get a result this afternoon. They don't seem to get it

right in twos, it seems to be either Lewis Hamilton's day or Nico Rosberg

pars. But at least it doesn't sound like Nico Rosberg will get a

penalty. They will obviously do everything they can to avoid that

penalty. Lewis Hamilton had 18 run. He didn't gain the lap time

advantage I expected on the option, it looked to be a little less. But

it was a clean lap that he did get, nice in the breaking into the second

chicane, here. Go down the gears, hit the kerb on the left, tried to

hit the kerb on the right but be careful not to go to far over before

the exit and you run up into Lesmo one, and then Lesmo two. You can see

the shadows on the track from the trees around here. We know they made

some changes to Parabolica, how do you think the drivers have been

handling it? Well, they have been attacking into

it more. But the Ascari chicane is the one now. As he comes through

here nice and cleanly, the important part is to be smooth on this exit.

You can run all four wheels off, but now with Parabolica you will see

that you can attack much, much more into it. And this is where Lewis

Hamilton, I was standing on the right-hand side yesterday, he was

deep on the brakes and he got down into fourth gear and squeezed on the

throttle. We have seen people using the run off area and that's allowed.

Lewis Hamilton will need to do more if he is going to get pole position

this afternoon. He will be looking for a clean qualifying and hopeful

pole position because that's not happened since back to the beginning

of May at the Spanish Grand Prix. When Lewis is in a bad place, he

goes back to his family and friends. Anthony Hamilton is speaking to

Jennie. Anthony Hamilton. It is good to see you and you are probably

pleased to be here to watch your son? Yes, it is nice to be in sun

for a change. I saw you smiling away when Lewis posted that fast time.

How is he feeling? He is in a really good space actually. I think he is

feeling really good. I think performances this weekend will be

reliable I would like to think. 29 points is the difference. How big do

you think that is? You know, it is not huge, is it? It looks like it is

a mountain to climb, but there is seven races left and you have got to

be positive every time you go out on the track and that's probably one of

Lewis' strengths. This weekend, I think he has come back with a view

that there is all to play for still. You have had a lot to deal with this

season together. He confides in you a lot. Silverstone was a big hurdle.

How has the last two weeks been for you and him? They have been normal

weeks to be quite honest. Life is full of turbulent ups and downs and

positives. He had a really good couple of weeks and so have we. I

would like to think every time Lewis comes to the race, it is a new start

and that's what it has got to be, you can't afford to carry all the

stuff from the past. Do you think he can be a world champion this year?

Are you still believing? I am Lewis' biggest believer. I think we're

going to win it this year. Well, best of luck. If you don't think

like that well you will never win anything. You have got to be

positive. He has got to nail this qualifying session. I think he will

be fine. I think he will be good today. Thank you very much. Nice to

see you. Nice to see you too. Lots of optimism in the Hamilton camp. It

was a tough qualifying session for Sergio Perez. Did his car get stuck

in second gear? He couldn't go down or up. It is not as if you have got

a stick shift. Once it is in that position there is little the driver

can do and that put him out of it. He lost Friday morning as well. He

gave his car to a test driver. In reality only did 13 laps yesterday

morning and this is a setback for them. These guys are quick in the

straights and they have got a good raceable car. They are in a huge

battle with McLaren. McLaren sneaked past them and this is a battle that

will rumble on until the end? Clearly, I have to say McLaren have

been the one that have been moving forward. Around here they are more

competitive. Jenson Button has been really good today. Yesterday, he had

the legs on Kevin Magnussen, but he was putting in some nice, neat times

and the thing for me that was impressive, he was able to do it in

the second and third lap on the tyre whereas others were dropping off.

That bodes well for him and he is revelling in something that he feels

in the car now. We're standing in the glorious sunshine here in Monza,

but it has been stormy, not only at Spa, but since Spa. Yesterday, Toto

Wolf has been explaining since that battle. What are the rules of

engagement this weekend? Don't hit your team-mate! Judging by your pace

during practise, you look to have an aadvantage over one lap which means

your car will be on the front row of the grid. If it happens again, what

happens then? Well, you know, we are optimistic and we had a good

discussion. I doubt it will happen again. So you know, there has been

lots of speculation what would happen, if it would happen, let's

not discuss that yet. It is too controversial. Speculation driven by

you because you said to the BBC yesterday actually that if they

cannot do the job properly for you in the spirit of Mercedes-Benz you

will look to change the driver line-up? The question is what would

you do if they continue to crash into each other and my response was

if they continue to crash into each other then we have to think about

the line-up. How important is a German driver for Mercedes? We are a

global company and we have big markets and a brand which is shining

all over the world and this is why it is not important which

nationality is sitting in the car. A lot has been made of the way the

drivers are dealing with it on track. Can we talk about the

management and the way you guys dealt with it? First of all how

would you describe your management style? Well, you know, it is always

very difficult to describe your own management style. You know,

everybody has ups and downs. Sometimes you are emotional and you

are less emotional. The most important thing is to be authentic

and to continue to manage things the way you have always do it. Sometimes

you will do it in a good way. Sometimes you will find out

afterwards it wasn't perfect. We are all very emotional about the sport

and emotions have driven us to where we are today. Motivation is part of

an emotion and it is a strong emotion and this is why I believe

generally that's important for the team. And if you could go back in

time two weeks, would you have done anything differently in the

aftermath of the Spa race? I'm not sure I would have answered your

question back in Spa! You know, that was a very intense moment. Could I

have reacted? I could have made a face less like that's me! Good luck,

thank you. Thank you. Toto Devil Face Wolff. Mercedes are a global

brand and yet they seem to want to interact with the public, Twitter.

This weekend they are using a hashtag no sparring and they asked

last weekend what the public thought of what happened on track between

Nico and Lewis. Do you think that's right? They said to the public if

you were running the team, what would you do? Personally, I thought

that was a risky strategy because they might have got back information

they didn't want to hear! But Toto is an open person and Nicky lauder

is an open person. Toto says what he feels. It is run by emotion and we

are here because someone has got the passion and drive and I don't think

he can change his natural way of doing things and there's his

management style and it allowed great racing. No questions about it.

But there does have to be a calming hand on the situation every now and

again and for me, the lines to say if they keep crashing into each

other then we might have to look at the driver line-up was a shot across

the bows to remind both drivers who the actual boss was and what the

most important thing was which was a Mercedes-Benz Carwyns the grand --

car wins the Grand Prix. The man in charge of Ferrari and when he turns

up at Monza, it is like the king has arrived. He has his security. He is

mobbed. Everybody here loves him. It is difficult to put that into

prospective how big a name that he is even though he is a team boss. He

goes on to the pit wall. He walks across to the garage and gets into a

big conversation. There is a lot of love between Fernando Alonso and the

boss. Whenever we get to Monza there is always talks of rumours

particularly with Ferrari and the rumour in Ferrari HQ is president

boss may not be so for too much longer. Has it got gravitas? We can

hear from an Italian journalist and he can tell us his thoughts about

what is happening in Ferrari. We're hearing talk about changes at

the top of Ferrari. The stories are coming from the Italian media. What

can you tell us? I tell you that it seems that it is true this time

after said the same story for many, many years, without the boss moving.

It time it seems that it is the right time for him to move. I don't

know if he will resign or if he will be resigned, but anyway it seems the

end of the story. Nevertheless, he is coming here today tomorrow and he

will deny everything, but it seems after more than 20 years it is

logical. He wants to have, I don't say other challenges like everybody,

like all the sportsmen say, but adult quality of life I suppose.

Fiat wants to continue him as boss waiting for another man to put in

that top position, but it will take a while between the two nominations.

You know, it's a big mess because he has been a big part of Ferrari. He

is the hero of the modern Ferrari. Can you put a time scale on this?

Can we expect an announcement tomorrow? No, I don't think the time

is fixed. He wants to be the man that announces the best results ever

by the economical point of view of Ferrari on the level of investment,

turnover, profits and he will do that before the Paris Motor Show

that starts at the beginning of October. So he wants to take first

this satisfaction and then, I think, the time will be mature to find

another solution between October and Christmas time. How will his

departure affect the Formula One team? I think that nothing will

change. Even Ferrari died and the Formula One team continued. They

will continue because you cannot change a manager every two weeks

like they do in football teams, but we don't know. He needs to create

his own experience and then we will be in a position to judge him in a

year. It is difficult to judge a man in a hysterical way after two

months. Formula One, it is a sport of long times. It would be unfair to

say the next man is good or is not good.

We should listen with care to what he says. Interesting as well, he

likens it to football, you can't be changing managers all the time. But

Luca has been there for a long time? He is a stalwart of not just

Ferrari, but Formula One. He helped direct the position that Formula One

has gone in the past with a very, very strong hand and a lot of

passion and heart, but ultimately, it sounds like there is a little bit

more to this story than there has been in previous years. He will be

difficult to replace. Big shoes to fill? Yes, very, very big shoes.

Ferrari haven't been winning for a long time. Somebody who won his

World Championship with McLaren 40 years ago, can you believe, is this

man. How alive are the memories standing at such an iconic circuit

like Monza? It is always very special to be in Monza. I think

everybody who comes to Monza has extra emotions because the place,

the Italian fan, the Ferrari history, it is always great to be

here. Can you believe it is 40 years since you won that championship?

Well, it was 40 years, but it feels like a few years ago and again, it

was a battle between Ferrari and McLaren. It was Nicky Lauder. You

have still got a lot of passion. You are still young at heart, tell me

the name is still going on. You have your nephew leading the American

Sports Car Championship. But tell us about your grandson? It is great to

have both racing and doing well. They have pressure because of the

name and they have to perform. One is doing the Formula Renault in

England and I hope he can clinch the championship. I'm proud to have my

grandchild doing well. Now, I feel old! I did his first interview when

he was six years old. What did you make last week at Spa of the

incident between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton and who is the

strongest to win this? They are pushing a little too hard.

At the beginning of the race, if it was the last lap, the last corner,

yes, but they are pushing the envelope. They want to win the

championship. And I think that's part of the show. Mercedes left it

open for the deciders to decide what to do -- for the drivers. Great for

the racing fans, great for the championship. Lewis is more

emotional. He is a fantastic driver. Nico is more cool, consistent. But

each has his own style and it's great for motorsport to have these

guys. I like the new Formula One, a lot of overtaking this year, more

than ever. I enjoy it. It has been lovely to be to you, thank you very

much for joining us today. In fact Lewis Hamilton has not have easy

qualifying sessions. We have to go back to Spain in May since he had a

concession. Let's look at some of these ones. Monaco, we all know what

happened. Yes, this was Nico Rosberg coming down into the corner, he

basically locked up, and it meant a yellow flag, you can see Nico

Rosberg on the left, he could not go faster. He felt Nico Rosberg, his

team-mate, did this on purpose, and it rattled him. Moving on to Canada.

We think of this as Lewis Hamilton's playground. Yes, stop

start with chicanes. He didn't quite execute it as he had. This was the

big spin in Austria. In reality in the previous run he was already

quickest, and attacked too much in turn eight, and got a penalty taken

away. It was a big, big disaster. Ultimately I think Silverstone was

the one. That was a low point. You can see Nico Rosberg going past

Lewis Hamilton, he aborts, he thought he had done enough on a wet

track. He had not. And also he gave his team-mate a draft down the

straight to help him to pole position. He said this was the worst

weekend of his life will stop ultimately the brake failure in

Hockenheim, he could not do anything about that. You are in the lap of

the gods. Off into the barrier. Great recovery in the race but it

was a recovery. Ultimately we get to Budapest, Fire on the first lap of

qualifying. You just see his frustration, and he cannot believe

it has gone wrong once again. So he goes off, has a lovely holiday,

comes back after the break, and he must be having thoughts heading into

this qualifying session, can it be right? How mentally strong is he?

Very strong mentally when things are going his way, when things have gone

against him then it seems to boil up inside him. Sometimes it overflows

in terms of his reactions, and in terms of the way he attacks. I think

his father said pretty well, this could be a good weekend for him, as

Nico Rosberg lost in the practice session this morning, and the last

preparation before going into qualifying. How much will that be on

the mind of Nico Rosberg? He has a solid mind but it is definitely

there. The key is to start on pole position and the run into the first

corner. It will certainly be exciting. I hope we don't have to

see Toto Wolff's devil face any more. We have live qualifying and

the build-up coming up in just 40 minutes on BBC1. It has been a long

time since Lewis Hamilton has had a poor position, could it be very

shortly? -- pole position. Thanks for watching, good I.