The Malaysian Grand Prix - Practice 3

:01:03. > :01:08.. Morning from a sweltering Sepang. It is almost time for the cars to

:01:09. > :01:12.get out on track for the final practice session before qualifying.

:01:13. > :01:17.Yesterday was a good day for Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton fastest in

:01:18. > :01:21.practice 1. Rosberg took over to be fastest in practice two and it was

:01:22. > :01:24.that pairing that dominated proceedings. Lewis Hamilton took

:01:25. > :01:28.Poll position but reliability meant that he didn't see the checkered

:01:29. > :01:33.flag. The race was won by rog rog. That is why he is at the top of the

:01:34. > :01:35.driver's championship. The disqualification of Riccardo from

:01:36. > :01:38.second after his if you will was found in breach of fuel flow

:01:39. > :01:42.regulations means that Kevin Magnussen moves up to a place.

:01:43. > :01:48.Jenson Button is third. Fernando Alonso is fourth. Vettel failed to

:01:49. > :01:55.finish. In the constructors McClaren lead the way. Mercedes and Ferrari

:01:56. > :02:00.are behind. Red Bull are still on zero after a character building

:02:01. > :02:04.Sunday. In the pit lane we have Tom Clarkson and Jenny. This is sure to

:02:05. > :02:09.be a friend tick one hour session. The tempo and the temperature is

:02:10. > :02:13.rising. Ambient is in the early 30s and we are coping with humidity down

:02:14. > :02:16.here - well, it is beyond 60. It is looking like it will get higher

:02:17. > :02:20.wmplt the track temperature already at 50 degrees, we are going to see

:02:21. > :02:23.the teams doing a few long runs at the start of the session, and then

:02:24. > :02:26.the fuel will come out. We will start to see a pecking order ahead

:02:27. > :02:33.of the qualifying session this afternoon. Good news for Lotus -

:02:34. > :02:36.both teams struggled yesterday. One of the Lotuses is not going out in

:02:37. > :02:40.this session at all. Neither team had to break curfew and both teams

:02:41. > :02:44.are looking to have a much better start to today. Yeah that, is good

:02:45. > :02:48.news. These guys are been working tirelessly. In the commentary we

:02:49. > :02:52.have Ben Ed cars and Allan McNish. Yesterday it looks like Mercedes was

:02:53. > :02:55.the ones to beat. Things seem to be closing up behind. That's right. The

:02:56. > :03:01.times were certainly close. We had seven cars covered by just seven

:03:02. > :03:04.10ths of a - 4-10ths of a second. Ferrari look stronger than they have

:03:05. > :03:08.and Red Bull are also getting itting to. We will see the real pace today

:03:09. > :03:13.a sort of qualifying simulation in the latter part. For sure. It is the

:03:14. > :03:16.important - the important part is from the driver's point of view, the

:03:17. > :03:20.mindset, in the last 15 minutes to get ready. It will friend tick.

:03:21. > :03:26.Mercedes have been pegged back a little bit. I expect that the battle

:03:27. > :03:30.for the second, third, fourth and fifth is going to be tight. We are

:03:31. > :03:35.looking forward to this session? We certainly. Don't forget you can

:03:36. > :03:39.share your views through the hash bag BBC 1 or leave a comment on the

:03:40. > :03:42.sport Facebook page. Ben and Allan will be reading them out throughout

:03:43. > :03:45.the session which is about to start. Back to you guys. Thank you very

:03:46. > :03:49.much. No general yins fired up yet. We are waiting for the clock to tick

:03:50. > :03:54.away to the start of this one hour session which does go quickly.

:03:55. > :03:59.Looking into the Force India pit, Nico Hulkenberg, who put in a

:04:00. > :04:05.reasonable job yesterday, he was 10th fastest. He scored points and

:04:06. > :04:09.they sit fifth. One point was scored by his teammate. He had a more of a

:04:10. > :04:13.difficult weekend, didn't do really any running in the first practice

:04:14. > :04:17.yesterday, but did get oat in the second part but not ideal. It

:04:18. > :04:21.wasn't. I have to say they seem to be struggling a bit in pure

:04:22. > :04:26.performance to where they ended up last year. The points in Melbourne

:04:27. > :04:31.were mostly down to Nico Hulkenberg as opposed to the way the car was.

:04:32. > :04:37.Therefore, the loss of time for Perez yesterday was critical.

:04:38. > :04:41.Benedict Cumberbach is a guest here. He was in the Mercedes garage a

:04:42. > :04:46.little while ago talking to Rosberg. He had one of those access all areas

:04:47. > :04:51.passes and can go anywhere. He is at Ferrari. He is a lucky one! He is -

:04:52. > :04:56.right now he is looking at Alonso, a guy that will be prumpbed up for

:04:57. > :05:01.this afternoon. This circuit is more in line with Ferrari's car. They

:05:02. > :05:04.feel this is a better baseline for them than Melbourne. So, therefore,

:05:05. > :05:07.Alonso and Raikkonen, who had a beater Friday, I have to say, and

:05:08. > :05:11.looking confident around here, are definitely going to be one of the

:05:12. > :05:14.forces this afternoon. As the session gets under way, let's remind

:05:15. > :05:18.you what the order was yesterday afternoon in second practice. It was

:05:19. > :05:22.Rosberg faster, Raikkonen second for Ferrari, and Vettel third. That was

:05:23. > :05:25.encouraging for Red Bull. Hamilton was fourth, but he'd been quick nest

:05:26. > :05:29.the morning. His best lap in the afternoon, one of the sectors was

:05:30. > :05:34.down on time I looked as though he had more capability. Both Lotuses

:05:35. > :05:38.there - good to see them out this morning. Just behind the Caterham

:05:39. > :05:43.and the Toro Rosso. That is a good sign. Plenty of cars are coming out.

:05:44. > :05:48.One of two are stopping. That is because they are doing a practice

:05:49. > :05:53.start. You saw Alonso come out. He was fifth yesterday. Felipe Massa,

:05:54. > :05:56.his former teammate finished sixth. There is Magnussen who is father of

:05:57. > :06:01.Kevin, and who is going to be keeping a close eye on his son's

:06:02. > :06:06.progress today. He is a very proud father. He did a fantastic interview

:06:07. > :06:12.with BBC Ed. He is excited to get - Yan is a racer, he is still a racing

:06:13. > :06:15.driver of a high calibre, and he started his F1 career with McLaren.

:06:16. > :06:19.There is lot of sentiment in there Let's go down to the pits and go to

:06:20. > :06:25.general joy. In front of Lewis Hamilton who is just about to put

:06:26. > :06:29.his gloves on. A massive union jack flag there. News come through about

:06:30. > :06:32.why Lewis Hamilton retired from the Australian Grand Prix. We knew it

:06:33. > :06:36.was a very small problem that took him out, but it's been revealed it

:06:37. > :06:40.was a tiny little hairline split in the side of one of the rubber tubes

:06:41. > :06:44.that hold the spark plug. That was the cause of his retirement. A blue

:06:45. > :06:48.rubber tube causing Cos for Lewis Hamilton! Whoa. That is interesting.

:06:49. > :06:52.It is interesting how the stories from Melbourne are still coming out.

:06:53. > :06:55.Ferrari also of pace in the first couple of laps was down to an

:06:56. > :07:00.electronics problem that was out of their control, it was part of the

:07:01. > :07:03.FIA and FOM electronic systems that allow the energy recovery system to

:07:04. > :07:07.operate when it gets above 100 kilometres per hour. For some reason

:07:08. > :07:11.it didn't register and that cost Ferrari a little bit of speed. It

:07:12. > :07:15.did. They were having to reset it while the race was going on. At that

:07:16. > :07:18.particular point they were struggling a bit. But they got it

:07:19. > :07:21.reset and got it working. That eeghts actually when the pace

:07:22. > :07:24.started to build up. They still had car troubles. It didn't solve all

:07:25. > :07:28.their problems. We will get back down to the pits. Tom, I think you

:07:29. > :07:31.are at Red Bull. I am. There's been a last minute front wing change on

:07:32. > :07:36.Vettel's car. It has been interesting. In the last two

:07:37. > :07:42.minutes, they were filing away - at the slot gap on the front wing and

:07:43. > :07:45.they decided, I think, they couldn't the enough -- they couldn't do

:07:46. > :07:48.enough so they changed the wing. They are still - no, they have put a

:07:49. > :07:53.brand new front wing on. Sorry. The gap at the front of the wings are

:07:54. > :07:57.much further apart. Interesting last minute change there. That is good to

:07:58. > :08:01.hear. He is running the hard tyre with the orange writing on the side

:08:02. > :08:05.wall. We have the hard and the medium compound tyres here this

:08:06. > :08:09.weekend. Pastor Maldonado's car has done his lap. It hasn't stopped.

:08:10. > :08:14.Those Lotus guys have had a tough time from testing through to

:08:15. > :08:21.Melbourne and now here. Let's listen to Rosberg. New brake material on

:08:22. > :08:25.manual race gearbox. A bit of information for Nichols as he set --

:08:26. > :08:30.Niko as he sets off. This brake material is pads, you don't have to

:08:31. > :08:34.bed them in, but you are aware of them. It is better to reblind the

:08:35. > :08:38.driver of that. If something happens, then he's covered himself.

:08:39. > :08:43.It is down to the driver's responsibility. Jenson Button in the

:08:44. > :08:47.McLaren. We have seen they have an updates nose section. They are

:08:48. > :08:50.hoping that will give them more down force. I don't know if he will - you

:08:51. > :08:54.will get a glimpse. You there there as they push the car back. It is was

:08:55. > :08:58.something that was planned for Melbourne but didn't arrive for

:08:59. > :09:03.whatever reason. Visually it is different. It is more of a sloping

:09:04. > :09:07.down nose, it gives a better air flow and more down force.

:09:08. > :09:10.Performance wise it has been a gain. Kimi Raikkonen was much happier

:09:11. > :09:14.yesterday and certainly putting in good laps. He was second fastest in

:09:15. > :09:16.the afternoon. He was saying after Melbourne he wasn't happeny with the

:09:17. > :09:20.response he was getting from the front of to car. He is a very

:09:21. > :09:23.sensitive driver. We have seen that. When he was at Lotus he spend time

:09:24. > :09:27.trying to get the steering feel right. They are power steering

:09:28. > :09:30.systems in these cars, but the amount of feel that comes back to

:09:31. > :09:35.the driver can be tuned carefully. He took a while to get that Lotus to

:09:36. > :09:39.his looking -- liking. I don't know whether it is similar on the Ferrari

:09:40. > :09:42.but he is a very sensitive driver when it comes to the front end. If I

:09:43. > :09:45.remember back to Monaco, he actually sat out the first session. He just

:09:46. > :09:49.did an installation, came in, and then they had to take the whole

:09:50. > :09:52.front of the car off and basically replace the steering system. In

:09:53. > :09:57.Melbourne, he struggled into the apex of the corner. He had a lot of

:09:58. > :10:01.braking problems, locking problems. He drives the Cardiff rently to

:10:02. > :10:06.Fernando Alonso who brakes in a frontline and needs a lot of front

:10:07. > :10:11.grip. Raikkonen seems to role the car a bit more into the corner. So,

:10:12. > :10:15.therefore, he has a tendency to have more brake pressure later. In this

:10:16. > :10:19.car right now it has more of a problem for locking fronts. Lewis

:10:20. > :10:23.Hamilton is on circuit. The track temperature just dropped. It was

:10:24. > :10:31.about 50 degrees before the session began. It just has come down to 46.

:10:32. > :10:33.A bit of cloud cover coming in. It is more humid than yesterday and

:10:34. > :10:37.thunderstorms are planned for later on. I am sure that it's planned at

:10:38. > :10:41.the appropriate time in qualifying. E with will see. It has -- we will

:10:42. > :10:44.see. It has been around that time. Yesterday afternoon we had heavy

:10:45. > :10:48.shower when qualifying would have been on if it had been on yesterday.

:10:49. > :10:51.We will see. 4 o'clock local time is when qualifying begins. Hamilton is

:10:52. > :10:55.straight back into the pits after his installation lap. The only two

:10:56. > :10:59.cars that have not done an installation lap so Farah the two

:11:00. > :11:06.Red Bulls. They are Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Riccardo. Let's go back

:11:07. > :11:11.town the pit lane because Jenny managed to catch up with Benedict. I

:11:12. > :11:20.have. We are having a look at Daniel Riccardo car. Are you a big F1 fan?

:11:21. > :11:24.I am. Very much so. I went to Silver Stone. I remember the noise. It is

:11:25. > :11:28.different now but still thrilling the inch you stand here when people

:11:29. > :11:34.come in for any tyre change or what is going on now, these adjustments

:11:35. > :11:37.in the pit, and it feels like you are on another planet with alien

:11:38. > :11:41.spacecraft landing at your feet. The size - that is the extraordinary

:11:42. > :11:45.thing, they are not that big. The drivers are small as well, even

:11:46. > :11:50.though they are primed athletes. Yet they have such a presence because of

:11:51. > :11:54.their speed and sound. It is magic. Lots have been made of the noise. We

:11:55. > :12:00.can just hear Vettel go out at the moment. You are not too concerned

:12:01. > :12:05.about that. When you are here - on TV it might not but here it is

:12:06. > :12:09.brilliant. I am not -- it is loud and I am not wearing ear plugs. It

:12:10. > :12:13.is shaken the sport up and I think that is what has been exciting about

:12:14. > :12:17.F1. It never rested on its laurels. It is always something that

:12:18. > :12:20.continued to evolve both in its character and mechanics. I think it

:12:21. > :12:25.is a thrill for the rest of us that there is a new added element of how

:12:26. > :12:30.to get this ratio between the two engines right. They are still

:12:31. > :12:34.learning. It will be a much more open field which is exciting. Here,

:12:35. > :12:38.what I understand to be exciting, is the conditions to change mid-race so

:12:39. > :12:41.drastically because we have been having rain here about 4 o'clock

:12:42. > :12:47.most afternoons. If that dumps tomorrow, all bets are off. They

:12:48. > :12:52.have their dry and wet cars. I just saw a tyre garage for the first time

:12:53. > :12:59.which I am sure you have shown the folks back home, I couldn't count

:13:00. > :13:02.how many tyres. Hundreds of them. They are already for any kind of

:13:03. > :13:05.change. That could be exciting tomorrow as well, just a bit of

:13:06. > :13:11.rain. When it rains here it really rains. I love the fact you are a

:13:12. > :13:14.complete petrolhead. I saw you talking to Nico Rosberg. What you

:13:15. > :13:17.you chatting about? I was talking to him about prep, talking to him about

:13:18. > :13:22.what he does physically and mentally. He has to concentrate on

:13:23. > :13:31.talking about his dad, when everyone else was putting on cool packs and

:13:32. > :13:36.sitting under um brel lays and people -- umbrellas - with fans, his

:13:37. > :13:40.dad would be out there, shirt open, smoking a cigarette going, "What our

:13:41. > :13:44.your problem?", sweat dripping down. He is trying to psych the ore

:13:45. > :13:58.drivers out. Less of that going on these days. It's still amazing. Did

:13:59. > :14:04.I just say... I wasn't going to pick you up. James hunt. When Mark Webber

:14:05. > :14:10.speaks to us at 7 o'clock in the morning on BBC 1, Webber is joining

:14:11. > :14:14.us to dot a packiage on drive fitness. He has retired but is still

:14:15. > :14:18.doing presenting. It is fascinating to know how hard these guys are

:14:19. > :14:24.trained. Do they do in acting? Sometimes, we do. We muck about and

:14:25. > :14:30.fanny about and do silly things. No, no, seriously, it seems that every

:14:31. > :14:35.field, whether it is sport or - it is more and more competitive,

:14:36. > :14:39.sometimes as an actor you have to play something outside your physical

:14:40. > :14:43.range, putting on weight or losing weight. I had to beef up for Star

:14:44. > :14:47.Trek. Can you hear anything I am saying? Because I can't hear

:14:48. > :14:52.anything? I am used to it. It is fine. That's why I just said James

:14:53. > :14:56.Blunt. Your brain gets scrambled. The noise and the heat. It is

:14:57. > :15:00.different. It is still very loud. And the heat. No - yeah, I have

:15:01. > :15:05.trained for roles and lost weigh for others and put on weight for the

:15:06. > :15:09.other ones. Yeah, it's interesting to meet athletes and understand what

:15:10. > :15:14.their discipline is and it's exceptional, not just sitting in a

:15:15. > :15:19.carbon fibre moulded seat so parts of their body don't get injured, it

:15:20. > :15:24.is - they have to be fit with the connective tissue within their

:15:25. > :15:28.skeleton and muscle work. They hit the gym and also on race days, which

:15:29. > :15:33.I find interesting. Thank you very much for joining us. Enjoy the

:15:34. > :15:36.weekend. Thank you. You too. Have a great day. Thank you very much. Yes,

:15:37. > :15:40.definitely a fan of F1. Great to hear from him. I am sure he will

:15:41. > :15:44.enjoy the weekend. Meanwhile, we are watching a bit more track activity,

:15:45. > :15:50.which is good news. Maldonado out on circuit at the moment, so his is his

:15:51. > :15:53.teammate. You are looking at Pastor Maldonado right now. So far, touch

:15:54. > :15:58.wood, Lotus seems to be running away. A first flaying lap in for

:15:59. > :16:04.Pastor Maldonado. He had to have - just looking at the steward's

:16:05. > :16:08.report, they had to replace the internal combustion engine overnight

:16:09. > :16:12.but they also had to change the Nguk, the energy recovery system

:16:13. > :16:15.that derives its energy from the braking system and the Mguh, the

:16:16. > :16:18.system that operates off the tour bow. There is an awful lot of

:16:19. > :16:22.submits that have been replaced on that car. Significantly less than

:16:23. > :16:26.they had on Friday in Melbourne where they changed five different

:16:27. > :16:30.parts of the energy recovery system. This team is the one that is

:16:31. > :16:33.struggling most to actually get it all working and functioning, just a

:16:34. > :16:36.run, never mind to have any performance. Let's just see the

:16:37. > :16:41.replay here. Did he run a wheel or two off? Yes. But kept it out of the

:16:42. > :16:44.gravel. No major drama there. He's only done a few laps yesterday. He

:16:45. > :16:48.is coming doubt the double right hander and comes in a bit too wide,

:16:49. > :16:52.gets on to the kerb on the outside. Too fast, basically. He runs wide.

:16:53. > :16:56.Nothing serious. He is learning the circuit. With just one hour before

:16:57. > :17:00.qualifying, the only way to really do it is he can't billion up, you

:17:01. > :17:08.have to get out there and it is a 1905% coming back down to 99 as

:17:09. > :17:14.opposed to building up the limits. Something loose on the right-hand

:17:15. > :17:19.side of the top cover. It looks more like a sticker than anything else. .

:17:20. > :17:23.I think he isn't sounding too worried but something not 100%

:17:24. > :17:29.right. Thanks for your comments which you are sharing with us using

:17:30. > :17:33.the hashtag BBC F1 or using the fantastic page. Stephen duff is

:17:34. > :17:37.asking do you see Red Bull coming back strong this weekend? I think we

:17:38. > :17:42.do see Red Bull coming back pretty well. Vettel was third quickest yet.

:17:43. > :17:46.Fast in the middle. I think if it rained this weekend in qualifying

:17:47. > :17:50.and/or the race that would could help Red Bull -- that could help Red

:17:51. > :17:53.Bull. Coming back Truong - they finished second in Melbourne with

:17:54. > :17:58.Riccardo. You have to say they did a pretty good job in Melbourne. In

:17:59. > :18:01.terms the of here, they have definitely had better performance. A

:18:02. > :18:04.long run performance from Vettel was good yesterday. Little drop off,

:18:05. > :18:09.which proves that the chassis is working well. If it rains, then the

:18:10. > :18:13.power deficit that they have from the Renault engine and also the

:18:14. > :18:16.recovery systems will be less of an issue and I would suspect that he

:18:17. > :18:20.would be one of the front runners. We do know Sebastian Vettel's pretty

:18:21. > :18:24.handy in the wet. Yes. Even in the dry. That second - third fastest

:18:25. > :18:28.time yesterday afternoon is nothing to be sniffed out. They lost out a

:18:29. > :18:32.bit in the straight line but it looked as though the chassis is as

:18:33. > :18:36.good as we have seen before. What you pointed out while we were

:18:37. > :18:40.listening to Benedict, we saw Red Bull come out. As ever, they seem to

:18:41. > :18:43.be able to run a greater rake. What that means is the rear right height

:18:44. > :18:46.is higher relate I have to the front right height than some of the other

:18:47. > :18:50.cars. It is something they have achieved in the past through exhaust

:18:51. > :18:54.blowing technology. They seem to be doing it again. The car looked a -

:18:55. > :18:58.it had a lot of rake. The front of the car is low and the rear looks

:18:59. > :19:01.high. That produces down force. It is one way of producing down force,

:19:02. > :19:05.not an east way to produce down force in terms of its efficiency,

:19:06. > :19:09.but Red Bull seem to be running it that way. In the past they have been

:19:10. > :19:13.successful in achieving it. Yeah. It looks as though they could be quick

:19:14. > :19:17.again in that middle sector. That is the one to watch out for. To be y

:19:18. > :19:21.asked if Lotus's problems continue, will they race in 2015 due to big

:19:22. > :19:25.financial issues? That is a question, but not really one we are

:19:26. > :19:29.going to be able to answer. All of us are hoping that Lotus do begin to

:19:30. > :19:33.get this together and show what they can do. We know how impressive they

:19:34. > :19:37.can be. Interestingly, Pastor Maldonado has done a lap and he is

:19:38. > :19:42.for the moment fastest. That is encouraging. Chilton and Ericsson

:19:43. > :19:46.are the other ones that have completed a lap. Let's see what his

:19:47. > :19:53.next lap is like for Maldonado. He crosses the line - 1:44:6. A slight

:19:54. > :19:57.improvement. Low grip out here, especially the rear. Ericsson

:19:58. > :20:00.reporting low grip. We had heaven read ympb -- yesterday afternoon.

:20:01. > :20:05.Would that have made a difference? It was torrential. I was to the

:20:06. > :20:08.point to where one of the support races was red flagging and stopped.

:20:09. > :20:12.Cars were going off in the middle of the strait. It will have washed away

:20:13. > :20:15.the rubber that the F1 cars put down T other thing is that the

:20:16. > :20:21.temperatures are different to what they were in terms of #450u78dty --

:20:22. > :20:25.humidity. Lit take a bit of time to get the grip pack. Looking at cob

:20:26. > :20:29.cobble. He -- Kobayashi. He had a bit of a lock-up. He dealt with

:20:30. > :20:34.that. Kobayashi was the one who locked up and crashed into Felipe

:20:35. > :20:37.Massa at the start of the Australian Grand Prix. He was focussing on the

:20:38. > :20:40.car but the car was going significantly slower because it was

:20:41. > :20:44.building up to start the first lap. It took him a bit by surprise. Massa

:20:45. > :20:51.who is about the cross the line. Let's see what he does. He

:20:52. > :20:55.immediately goes fastest. 1:42:8. Nearly two seconds fastest than

:20:56. > :20:59.Maldonado. But at least Maldonado is out there. A couple more of your

:21:00. > :21:03.comments. Jess says, "Thank you so much for getting me through the last

:21:04. > :21:06.hour of a 12 hour nightshift." You are welcome! I reckon we will see

:21:07. > :21:10.these Mercedes fly today. Yes, you could be right. I think they will be

:21:11. > :21:14.fast. Dan added, "Just got in from the club. Perfect timing for F1. I

:21:15. > :21:19.anticipate the weekend will be different to the last grition." You

:21:20. > :21:23.could be right. Let's wait and see. Big oversteer moment there for the

:21:24. > :21:28.19-year-old who was so impressive scoring points on his debut last

:21:29. > :21:31.time out in Melbourne. He came out of the corner, trying to put all the

:21:32. > :21:37.the power in the torque on to the ground. As we heard, the circuit

:21:38. > :21:43.hasn't got much deep. It looks to be tricky to ride. They are fighting

:21:44. > :21:47.it. They are fighting it. They were 11th yesterday. They are having to

:21:48. > :21:51.work hard in the cockpit. There is lot of steering connections. Let's

:21:52. > :21:55.watch him. Doesn't quite tuck it in in the early part. No. He's backed

:21:56. > :22:00.off with the car up ahead of them. No point in pushing too hard. He's

:22:01. > :22:04.done a quick lap. He has gone - what is now second fastest to Felipe

:22:05. > :22:09.Massa. He is currently third. Maldonado is fourth. That was a

:22:10. > :22:15.little bit of a slide through that think cane. That is something you

:22:16. > :22:18.need to be wear of -- wary of. Kimi Raikkonen we are watching now. Let's

:22:19. > :22:22.see if he puts together a quick lap. Everybody has done a few laps. That

:22:23. > :22:27.is good news. Nobody stuck in the pit garage. It is interesting, one

:22:28. > :22:33.of the - took of the talk before Melbourne was that re might -- we

:22:34. > :22:38.might not many cars do practice three. As it turned out, everybody

:22:39. > :22:42.did, and today everyone is going for it again. It was only Mercedes who

:22:43. > :22:47.were in good shape and prepared well and they stopped with - I think it

:22:48. > :22:51.was 10 minutes to go just to give themselves an opportunity to prepare

:22:52. > :22:53.for qualifying. The reliability has been significantly better than

:22:54. > :22:58.expected. As we said before, there's been a couple of teams that have

:22:59. > :23:01.struggled more than the others. Oh! Lock-up for Kimi Raikkonen. That is

:23:02. > :23:06.one of the things he is struggling with. When he brakes, as soon as he

:23:07. > :23:09.turns the spearing -- steering wheel he tends to lock up the inside wheel

:23:10. > :23:12.which was one of the reasons he dropped back a couple of positions

:23:13. > :23:18.when he was in Melbourne. Quite a squeal you get from the tyres. With

:23:19. > :23:20.the quietest engine, you get to hear the squeal. Is this something you

:23:21. > :23:28.have come across in other forms of racing? It isn't so common that you

:23:29. > :23:34.hear that? A problem? It Magnussen had a problem yesterday. The engine

:23:35. > :23:37.went into is a mode. I wonder if something similar had happened.

:23:38. > :23:42.Yesterday it turned out to be a sensor that the reading that the

:23:43. > :23:47.rest of the ESU was -- it didn't like. Let's hope it's nothing too

:23:48. > :23:51.serious. In coming back to the noise, yes, you use your senses in a

:23:52. > :23:56.different way. Instead of visually, as we see Magnussen going slowly and

:23:57. > :24:01.then with the Massa a bit disgruntdal, it wasn't more off the

:24:02. > :24:06.racing line -- groundaled, more off the racing line - this is an an

:24:07. > :24:09.board replay. There is enough room for Massa to go through but he

:24:10. > :24:14.wasn't sure what Magnussen was going to do. Coming back to you, you use

:24:15. > :24:17.your senses in a different way. Instead of vifshly looking for it,

:24:18. > :24:22.something you will use your eyes to see where you will go and take it in

:24:23. > :24:26.by the ear. It is something that the drivers will get used to. We first

:24:27. > :24:31.went with the sports car from a petrol engine to a diesel which was

:24:32. > :24:36.significantly more quiet. We had to learn for the - they were so at

:24:37. > :24:42.tonne mouse and silent and didn't feel them we didn't know if we

:24:43. > :24:48.changed down gear -- gown gear. We sorted it out within one race. These

:24:49. > :24:52.hybrid cars have so much torque, even out of relatively fast corner.

:24:53. > :24:56.We mean accelerating force on the rear tyres. Lewis had to deal with

:24:57. > :25:00.that. We also have to remember we have got slightly harder tifrs than

:25:01. > :25:04.last year in compound. They produce less grip. They have less drop you

:25:05. > :25:08.have. We also have less down force. Lewis is coming up to the left,

:25:09. > :25:12.which was flat-out last year. If we see him coming through, there is a

:25:13. > :25:15.slight lift. They are going a bit slower through the corners. They are

:25:16. > :25:20.significantly faster down the straits. That's right. We are seeing

:25:21. > :25:27.that 200 mile an hour mark being breached this time. In the past, it

:25:28. > :25:32.has been about 195. Let's see what the speed trap says -- says. 316. I

:25:33. > :25:39.am sure we will see higher figures than that as we go through the

:25:40. > :25:43.weekend, particularly if you get the benefit of there tow. He goes

:25:44. > :25:47.faster, it is some way off what we saw yesterday. It may be an

:25:48. > :25:51.indicator of how that washing of the track made the surface different.

:25:52. > :25:55.They have lost that useful layer of rubber they put down yesterday. He

:25:56. > :26:00.does a 1:41 in comparison to the time he did yesterday of Rosberg,

:26:01. > :26:05.1:39. The times are beginning to get quicker. Rosberg has gone fastest of

:26:06. > :26:10.anybody. This might be a better lap by Lewis Hamilton's teammate, the

:26:11. > :26:17.winner from Australia. Let's see whether he can staff the top spot

:26:18. > :26:21.away. It could be about these two, the battle for pole position. That

:26:22. > :26:25.was a clean and tidy lap. Starting to Stretch the legs. It was close

:26:26. > :26:32.yesterday - maybe a little bit falsely. You could see in that

:26:33. > :26:35.longer runs they had a 3-10th as of a --ths of an advantage over the

:26:36. > :26:37.pursuers. They had more to show if they needed to do it, which they

:26:38. > :26:43.will probably have to today. Let's get down to the pits. Mercedes are

:26:44. > :26:48.going well. How well? Tom Clarkson is there. Let's ask that question.

:26:49. > :26:54.Mercedes are going well but how well? It is practice 3 and not

:26:55. > :26:57.qualifying. Going well now is good, but we will see how it pans out in

:26:58. > :27:01.two hours. A lot of people are saying it is a lot closer here than

:27:02. > :27:08.it was in Melbourne two tweaks -- weeks ago. Is that how you see it?

:27:09. > :27:12.Yes. You don't know what weight people are running on and it is all

:27:13. > :27:18.restrictive to make a judgement. Any bags of sand in your car? No, we are

:27:19. > :27:24.running on normal program. Let's talk about the drivers. Do you see a

:27:25. > :27:28.change in Rosberg this weekend, first time he lead the championship?

:27:29. > :27:32.No. I have known him since a year and there is no change to him. He is

:27:33. > :27:36.very professional and very humble and down to earth. Very diligent the

:27:37. > :27:41.way he approaches his job. No change. How about Lewis? 25 points

:27:42. > :27:46.behind his teammate? He doesn't change. He is very happy. He is

:27:47. > :27:51.about to perform in the car, motivated. In a good place. There's

:27:52. > :27:58.been a lot of talk about fuel flow sensors. We have this watershed case

:27:59. > :28:03.coming up. What is your take on it? I have no real comment on this. It

:28:04. > :28:06.is an FA - you have to comply with it. Everything else, the

:28:07. > :28:10.international Court of Appeal will decide. Have you had reliable fuel

:28:11. > :28:14.flow sensors in your cars? Yes. Absolutely. 100 not guilty all

:28:15. > :28:21.through testing and racing? Very reliable. Good luck! Thank you.

:28:22. > :28:23.Thank you. Thanks. Toto just sort of brushing away the - you can

:28:24. > :28:26.understand that for the moment. He doesn't want to get too involved.

:28:27. > :28:30.All that talk about Daniel Riccardo who was excluded from the results of

:28:31. > :28:34.the Australian Grand Prix after finishing second on the road but Red

:28:35. > :28:38.Bull did appeal that decision and it was all about using a higher rate

:28:39. > :28:42.than the 100 kilograms per hour of fuel during the race itself. I am

:28:43. > :28:48.sure that story will run for a while. Bottas just crossed the line.

:28:49. > :28:51.He's fourth fastest. The Mercedes are one, two. Still at the

:28:52. > :28:55.half-time, nobody done a qualifying simulation yet. They won't happen

:28:56. > :29:00.for a few more minutes. There is more of your comments coming in.

:29:01. > :29:05.Don't forget you can also - let's replay here -- see a reply here of

:29:06. > :29:10.Hamilton. Let's see what happened down on turn 4. He is coming in to

:29:11. > :29:15.turn 4, basically went into too fast, ran wide, missed the apex.

:29:16. > :29:18.Back on the track. No damage done. He's able to pick it up. Mark asked,

:29:19. > :29:24."How much of a handful will these cars be if it rains heavy like it

:29:25. > :29:28.can?" The problem is - which most people would think is with this

:29:29. > :29:32.extra initial torque when you torch the thereling, that extra power it

:29:33. > :29:35.would be a handful. When they tested it, they found that it was a lot

:29:36. > :29:39.better and more drivable than expected. It can go up and extra

:29:40. > :29:45.gear and use the torque the Powell them through instead of using the

:29:46. > :29:49.engine refs. The big problem is the rain is torrential and you get a

:29:50. > :29:54.lot. The car effectively lifts up when it hits a big puddle and it is

:29:55. > :29:59.a like a lake. Once it is aqua plaining, you have no control. You

:30:00. > :30:02.are a passenger and hoping. In that situation, we have seen in the past

:30:03. > :30:06.the ring in comes out, they have to stop the race or the session and

:30:07. > :30:13.wait for it to ease off. Nico Hulkenberg just crossed the line. He

:30:14. > :30:19.is sixth fastest behind Alonso but ahead of Vergne. Massa complete the

:30:20. > :30:30.top 10. On board here with Jenson Button - let's listen. Very poor.

:30:31. > :30:34.Didn't even. Very poor... Very poor rear grip means that in the low

:30:35. > :30:37.speeds - at the high speeds when the car has the down force it seems to

:30:38. > :30:41.be working. When they go to the soft - the medium tyre that will work a

:30:42. > :30:44.bit better. They need to get that fixed for the race. So, therefore,

:30:45. > :30:51.they will need to try and stabilise it. Jenson is sensitive to that as

:30:52. > :30:55.well. That's right. David asked if we think Maldonado's start at Lotus

:30:56. > :30:59.caused him sleepless nights. I am sure, David, that Maldonado's not

:31:00. > :31:02.been happy with the way things have started, but they have - there is

:31:03. > :31:07.not much he can do about it. He has to wait for the team and the engine

:31:08. > :31:10.supplier to make it happen. Jeremy asked what is the biggest change Red

:31:11. > :31:17.Bull and Vettel face in defending their title. I guess that comes down

:31:18. > :31:20.to a ham -- down to - Hamilton went biggest -- quickest there. It comes

:31:21. > :31:24.down to the fact how their relationship with remember know is

:31:25. > :31:29.over the -- Renault is over the next few months and how quickly Renault

:31:30. > :31:32.can pick up. They admitted it coming into the season they were behind

:31:33. > :31:36.other suppliers - both Ferrari and Mercedes. But they reach to is --

:31:37. > :31:41.seem to have been catching up quickly. Just aside, the man there

:31:42. > :31:47.in the white shirt was Jack, the legendary motorcycle racer. I have

:31:48. > :31:53.to say he was my hero when I was growing up. High speed corner, like

:31:54. > :31:59.yesterday, at the same time the rear is a touch weaker. They are all

:32:00. > :32:04.reporting slow speed oversteer. Circuit dependent, I think, a bit

:32:05. > :32:09.with the rubber being washed off in yesterday. Also on the hard tyre,

:32:10. > :32:12.and they are struggling with that. What a driver doesn't like is when

:32:13. > :32:16.you have understeer and high speed but the rear is still unable. It

:32:17. > :32:23.isn't as if you can throw the front in to make it grip. You kind of have

:32:24. > :32:26.to tease it in because if you throw it in the rear will come around.

:32:27. > :32:30.This car is moving around. Just heard that Kevin Magnussen's problem

:32:31. > :32:34.is a repeat of what he had yesterday. That sensor problem

:32:35. > :32:38.shutting the car - the engine down into limp home mode. There isn't a

:32:39. > :32:47.problem, they just need to cure that sensor reset it and send him on his

:32:48. > :32:51.way. Another pig power steefr for Raikkonen -- big power steer for

:32:52. > :32:57.Raikkonen. He is down in 10th but he has a green sector one and two. I

:32:58. > :33:02.expect - a bit wide there. He heard the tyre skwel as he went across

:33:03. > :33:06.that. Now on to the line. Let's see what the lap is like. Not bad but

:33:07. > :33:10.not change to challenge Hamilton. She 10th faster. Slight improvement

:33:11. > :33:14.on time but he stays in the same position. A big time loss in that

:33:15. > :33:18.corner. It is a teasing corner. It is the last one. You need to brake

:33:19. > :33:23.deep, go in fast, because you know the lap time is also there, but the

:33:24. > :33:29.difference between going in the right pace, two -- too slow or too

:33:30. > :33:34.fast is finite. The only other car here is BMW car. He is heading into

:33:35. > :33:40.that corner fastest. He probably would have been doing 120 mile thes.

:33:41. > :33:44.He is doing just under 200 in an F1 car. You can see the car snaking

:33:45. > :33:49.around. She something he will have to try to work with the engineers to

:33:50. > :33:54.get sorted out. That lost him a bit of grip. For a race to try to drive

:33:55. > :34:01.a race like that, physically around here, mentally around here, it will

:34:02. > :34:04.very exhausting. Hamilton is fastest. There is just over half an

:34:05. > :34:08.hour to go in the third practice session leading up towards

:34:09. > :34:12.qualifying. Williams are hoping for good things. Bottas is fourth. What

:34:13. > :34:19.their test and development driver for the team make of it. We are

:34:20. > :34:23.seeing Valtteri Bottas coming behind, a bit of a ref of the

:34:24. > :34:34.engine. How are the team feeling. How confident are they going into

:34:35. > :34:39.qualifying today? It is different situation. The heat is the main

:34:40. > :34:44.thing that everyone works against here. Tyre decision day-to-day is

:34:45. > :34:50.very big -- degradation is big. As they showed in Australia, they still

:34:51. > :34:55.have a good car. I think today they are working in those spaces to get -

:34:56. > :34:59.to maximise and qualify. Hopefully they have not a good, strong

:35:00. > :35:04.qualifying. I think the pace in Australia was good, it was just the

:35:05. > :35:07.qualifying and that penalty that held the team back and the crash at

:35:08. > :35:10.the beginning of the race against Kobayashi. This week it needs to be

:35:11. > :35:15.cleaner from the team, presumably. Yeah. I mean, that is the thing.

:35:16. > :35:22.They had the opportunity in Australia to score points with both

:35:23. > :35:26.cars and they were unlucky with everything that happened there.

:35:27. > :35:30.Hopefully they can have a normal qualifying situation here. Going

:35:31. > :35:35.through the race, we know we have a good car, a good pace, and

:35:36. > :35:39.persistent car, the drivers, they always are the saying it is easy to

:35:40. > :35:44.predict the car. Hopefully we can score some good points here. Quite a

:35:45. > :35:48.few of the guys in Mercedes car, I think Jenson Button included, said

:35:49. > :35:52.about the degradation it was higher than expected. It is going to be

:35:53. > :35:58.hard to look after tyres in the race. Yes. It is just - it is just -

:35:59. > :36:03.you know, the characteristic of the circuit here. A lot of - more high

:36:04. > :36:10.speed corners and - you know, the weather condition, you know, is a

:36:11. > :36:14.lot hotter than we had in Australia. It's all those bit may makes the

:36:15. > :36:19.tyre degradation go higher. Sit down to the teams and drives to look

:36:20. > :36:22.after that. I am -- drivers to look after that. You must be chomping in

:36:23. > :36:28.the bit. I know you are in the car and you get to GP 2 and then a tire

:36:29. > :36:32.test after that. A busy weekend in bar ramp. -- Bahrain. It will busy

:36:33. > :36:36.but I am looking forward to it. I have to enjoy the moment. It is a

:36:37. > :36:40.great opportunity for myself and - you know, it is going to be busy,

:36:41. > :36:46.but I look forward to doing a good job. We will see. Alright. Thank you

:36:47. > :36:52.very much. We will see that next week. Thanks. We just saw the

:36:53. > :36:57.Lotuses both putting in laps, Grosjean. There is work going on at

:36:58. > :37:00.Mercedes. Tom, you are there? I am. They are playing around with Lewis's

:37:01. > :37:05.seat. They took his original one out. They put a new one back in and

:37:06. > :37:08.Lewis is coming to get back in. He was complaining he wasn't

:37:09. > :37:12.comfortable in the car. You have to assume there is through the fast

:37:13. > :37:17.corners. They have put a new one in. It is - that is going to support him

:37:18. > :37:21.in a different way. Maybe Allen could yen lighten us more. You need

:37:22. > :37:25.to be tight and secure in the car batz's not just about being held in

:37:26. > :37:28.the seat, it's is -- it is about being in tune with the car. If you

:37:29. > :37:32.are sort of not comfortable or alternatively moving a bit,

:37:33. > :37:35.especially the high sped, then you don't have total control. Also the

:37:36. > :37:40.feedback system between what the car is telling you - that is a critical

:37:41. > :37:45.part of it. The time spent on making the seat is time very well spent.

:37:46. > :37:50.Maldonado ran wide there. We are yet to see what McHarden can do. We saw

:37:51. > :37:55.Magnussen had a glitch and Button hasn't done much yet. The Lotus pace

:37:56. > :37:59.- look at them - 15th and 16th. They will be in danger if they are

:38:00. > :38:01.lapping at that sort of pace. We are yet to put the softer tyre on.

:38:02. > :38:06.Looking at the general order, they are in danger still of going out in

:38:07. > :38:10.the first part of qualifying. Their straight line speed is down too,

:38:11. > :38:15.isn't it? It is about 20 kilometres down. About 12 miles per hour down

:38:16. > :38:21.on some of the faster runners. With two huge long straights, including

:38:22. > :38:25.the - also the one there as well - then it is a big time loss. If you

:38:26. > :38:28.run wide - they are struggling. They are trying to find the limits. They

:38:29. > :38:32.have done little laps T most laps they did was partly in the beginning

:38:33. > :38:36.of the race in Melbourne. Here this is just like a test session for

:38:37. > :38:42.them. That is -- let's take a look at one of those lock-ups. Up to turn

:38:43. > :38:46.1. Yeah. Just over a couple of bumps. He was changing things on

:38:47. > :38:52.rotary switches. Is the car is harsh. You will see it here on the

:38:53. > :39:00.front. It locks up as it comes off. It doesn't seem tot absorb bumps

:39:01. > :39:04.well. The Williams is good at absorbing pumps. Same for Grosjean,

:39:05. > :39:07.the same bumps and pretty much the same response from the car. Yep.

:39:08. > :39:11.They have straight line speed issues but they don't have a fantastic

:39:12. > :39:14.handling car now. It is very early for them because they haven't done

:39:15. > :39:17.the running. They haven't done any performance work on the car, set-up

:39:18. > :39:23.work, they are just trying to make it run. Riccardo, that is a good

:39:24. > :39:28.lap. He is fourth. Interesting, when Riccardo and Vettel were Beth out at

:39:29. > :39:33.about the same time, Riccardo went quicker than Vettel by about three

:39:34. > :39:37.or four 10th of a second. Down there in the Williams pit, that is the car

:39:38. > :39:42.of Valtteri Bottas. He's been pushed down to fifth by that improvement by

:39:43. > :39:47.Riccardo. Massa is down in 11th. Now we are into that pause before we see

:39:48. > :39:50.the softer tyre, the medium compound tyre being fitted. That is probably

:39:51. > :39:58.what we will see in the next five minutes or so. Further down, just to

:39:59. > :40:04.keep and update on other teams, we have got Gutierrez, 15th for Sutil,

:40:05. > :40:09.and then chilt chilt is -- Chilton is faster than Bianchi, the two are

:40:10. > :40:18.evenly matched. Then Kobayashi, the faster of the two, despite having

:40:19. > :40:22.done very few laps. May raw is -- Marussa seem to have the edge. They

:40:23. > :40:26.have. They have better performance and reliability. We thought that

:40:27. > :40:32.Australia was going to be a Grand Prix where they scored their first

:40:33. > :40:37.points if reliability hit more cars. For them, unfortunately it didn't.

:40:38. > :40:41.Chilton finished another Grand Prix - I think he's finished every one he

:40:42. > :40:48.started. With Riccardo's exclusion, he got a 13th which ultimately last

:40:49. > :40:52.year was what Bianchi got to score. Bianchi did it at this track last

:40:53. > :40:56.year but Chilton now had a 13th place. It could prove crucial. It

:40:57. > :41:01.depends as we go through the season. There will be quote races where we

:41:02. > :41:04.get more retirements. Is remarkable how quickly the teams have improved

:41:05. > :41:08.reliable of these cars already. They are doing a tremendous job. Here you

:41:09. > :41:14.get a fantastic view of turn 1 and then a long right hander. That is a

:41:15. > :41:19.hauj dune hill section. I ran the circuit yesterday this is a long

:41:20. > :41:25.qlup hill -- upchill, which is you stop the car, turn it in, get out.

:41:26. > :41:29.Stop, turn go. Now through the fast turn 5. Then you have to keep it

:41:30. > :41:33.nipped in, because immediately you flick it right into this right

:41:34. > :41:37.hander. Careful not to run too far wide because immediately you are

:41:38. > :41:42.lining up for the double right handers that follow. Keeping eye en

:41:43. > :41:47.masse Massa. You can go to the BBC F1 website as well. Turn 4, we think

:41:48. > :41:53.you are applying too much brake pressure. Too much brake pressure in

:41:54. > :41:55.turn 4. Yes. Understood. Got a bit carried away. (LAUGHTER)

:41:56. > :42:01.. Nice comment from Riccardo. That is a mark of him. He seems to be an

:42:02. > :42:05.open, honest driver. I think he's - came in and he's of that era where

:42:06. > :42:09.the engineers actually coach the driver through the race. Never

:42:10. > :42:12.looking at data, trying to maximise all the time. It's not a case of

:42:13. > :42:17.telling him off or doing anything, they are trying to help him on his

:42:18. > :42:21.way. He realises that is performance, lap time performance.

:42:22. > :42:25.You can go to the BBC F1 website. You can follow what's going on

:42:26. > :42:28.during each of the sessions through the life text and Lewis Hamilton's

:42:29. > :42:36.latest column is on the website as well. A few more of your comments at

:42:37. > :42:40.hashtag BBC. Owen says what style of drivers do you think these cars are

:42:41. > :42:45.favouring, is it the Hamilton aggression or Jenson? I think

:42:46. > :42:49.Jenson's style. Before the season it would fit with this format. It is a

:42:50. > :42:56.thinking driver's format someone that roll Oscar in, trying to just

:42:57. > :43:00.be on the edge of the grip. You have still got the drive it hard and

:43:01. > :43:03.fast. You saw that by not making a comparison between Lewis and Jenson

:43:04. > :43:07.Button, but Hamilton was still able to throw the car on - we didn't get

:43:08. > :43:10.to see what he could do in the race. The driver had to think about what

:43:11. > :43:15.he is doing in a different way to what he did before. That was a big

:43:16. > :43:19.old lock-up. That was Sergio Perez in the force India. That would have

:43:20. > :43:22.put flat spots I would have thought on those flat tyres. This is the

:43:23. > :43:26.uphill into turn 4. It is a bit bumpy. Immediately he hits the

:43:27. > :43:30.brakes. That's when it comes - you see the dark patch just as it is

:43:31. > :43:34.going around. That is the flat spots. It might clean itself up. It

:43:35. > :43:38.is probably too much - a bit of vibration there. Not pleasant for

:43:39. > :43:44.him. We have softer tyres, the white marking on the side wall. Fernando

:43:45. > :43:49.Alonso, Nico Rosberg are both out. We begin to see just what the

:43:50. > :43:52.qualifying is likely to be in terms of pace and certainly we are going

:43:53. > :43:56.to keep eye on Alonso because Ferrari have been looking stranger

:43:57. > :44:03.this weekend. Yeah, they have. Of the -- with 20 minutes to go, Alonso

:44:04. > :44:08.has just done his first best sector. You need to have a good car balance.

:44:09. > :44:12.As you see, he is 100th away from 2 fastest now. He gained a bit of time

:44:13. > :44:17.in that sector, gone quicker than anyone else. You expect that on the

:44:18. > :44:21.softer tire -- softer tyre. He wasn't quicker than some of the

:44:22. > :44:26.other cars that used a hard tyre. You would expect him to be setting

:44:27. > :44:30.circles around the traj. Raikkonen had gone fast e. He is also on the

:44:31. > :44:34.softer of the two. Let's watch him in the final corner. Does he get the

:44:35. > :44:39.braking right? He seems to. A bit of a lock-up. A lot of them are doing

:44:40. > :44:44.that as they get towards the apex. He is using the kerb and the exit.

:44:45. > :44:47.He goes across the line. He is second. Not quicker than Hamilton.

:44:48. > :44:52.We reckon there is nearly a second between the hard and the medium

:44:53. > :44:57.compound tyre. It's not enough for Alonso to displace Hamilton. It

:44:58. > :45:01.shows you that Mercedes look to have an advantage. We have Raikkonen on

:45:02. > :45:05.an even quicker lap at the moment. Let's just watch the end. This is

:45:06. > :45:11.Raikkonen coming through the back. He was on form yesterday, he was the

:45:12. > :45:14.quicker of the Ferraris. He had all these problems in Melbourne, fell he

:45:15. > :45:18.got most of them sorted out, but he was on it. As you can see it is all

:45:19. > :45:23.starting to pick up. You have Rosberg who is fastest in the first,

:45:24. > :45:26.but Raikkonen is still fastest in the middle. Rosberg took a whole

:45:27. > :45:30.four-10th out of him. We will see a quick lap coming up from Rosberg.

:45:31. > :45:35.Let's see what Raikkonen does. Is it enough to go quickest? Yes, it is.

:45:36. > :45:39.By just under 4-10 #ths of a second. We are still down not to the times

:45:40. > :45:42.we saw yesterday which is interesting. The track has lost

:45:43. > :45:47.performance. This is the lap to watch here, because this is a flying

:45:48. > :45:51.lap by Rosberg. With quickest first and second sector, this is going to

:45:52. > :45:56.determine what the actual pace of the circuit is. It is interesting to

:45:57. > :46:02.note, as Rosberg comes through the second last corner nice and neat, no

:46:03. > :46:06.big oversteers - still Kimi Raikkonen wasn't quicker than Lewis

:46:07. > :46:10.Hamilton on a different tyre, the harder tyre in the first sectionof

:46:11. > :46:14.the race. Over the 200 mile an hour mark, 3:21. 2 kilometres an hour.

:46:15. > :46:21.This will be a quick lap. How fast is it going to be for Nico Rosberg

:46:22. > :46:25.crossing the line? It is a 139:0. A full 1:1 second faster than Kimi

:46:26. > :46:30.Raikkonen in the Ferrari. That is a big gap. Is anybody going to be able

:46:31. > :46:35.to fill that gap or are meers meers going to have that second advantage?

:46:36. > :46:38.Mack alreadien is the -- McHarden is team you think would be up there. No

:46:39. > :46:44.time set by Magnussen and no real time by Button. They are last in the

:46:45. > :46:51.order. I wonder what is going on. We know there was an enyin issue

:46:52. > :46:56.earlier. Look how Nico Rosberg runs so much more speed - sorry, Lewis

:46:57. > :47:02.Hamilton runs more speed. A lightly different line to Kimi Raikkonen.

:47:03. > :47:06.Yep. The Mercedes isn't got amount of power but it has great grip.

:47:07. > :47:10.Rosberg is fastest. We are waiting for Hamilton to do his. He is on

:47:11. > :47:15.track now. He will - across the line to start his flying lap. We will

:47:16. > :47:18.keep eye on him. Right now we are seeing Felipe Massa. Williams, good

:47:19. > :47:22.things expected of Williams. Let's see whether his pace will be enough

:47:23. > :47:27.to get somewhere up near the front of the grid. First couple of

:47:28. > :47:31.sectors, not that quick at the moment. So, whether tyre is he --

:47:32. > :47:35.which tyre is he on? The hard tyre. We won't expect to see a quick lap.

:47:36. > :47:40.Williams is leaving their run until later in the session. Alonso has

:47:41. > :47:45.beaten his first lap in the first sector. He is a bit quicker. He's

:47:46. > :47:51.dropped off in the middle. He is struggling to be able to keep that

:47:52. > :47:55.medium tyre. We are hearing that Kobayashi isn't going to be doing

:47:56. > :47:59.any more running. She has been short of laps, but still managed to do a

:48:00. > :48:04.good jab of qualifying -- job of qualifying in Melbourne. Tom, you

:48:05. > :48:08.have updates? I wanted to add a bit about Williams. I'm not surprised to

:48:09. > :48:12.see them still running the hard tyre. They were struggling with

:48:13. > :48:15.degradation during yesterday's second practice. They are plain for

:48:16. > :48:21.the session was to do a bit more long running and then come to the

:48:22. > :48:24.qualifying just in the last 10 minutes. This is as they were

:48:25. > :48:29.planning prior to the start of the session. There is no change to their

:48:30. > :48:35.plan. Thanks for that. Fernando Alonso, fourth fastest with his lap

:48:36. > :48:40.from earlier. That last lap - he was quicker on the first but slower on

:48:41. > :48:45.the latter part. He's done a 1 minute 40. 7. Still waiting for more

:48:46. > :48:50.to show us what they can do. Hard tyres are it is on Sutil. I think we

:48:51. > :48:56.will -- we will see more coming out on the medium compound tyre to give

:48:57. > :48:59.us a display of what they they think their pace will be. I don't know if

:49:00. > :49:08.they have a problem with their car. He was just letting Massa pass. Yes.

:49:09. > :49:11.The - he is going slowly actually. They had a stronger day yesterday,

:49:12. > :49:14.struggling a lot in Melbourne. We are on board with Hamilton. He is

:49:15. > :49:18.definitely on the medium compound tyre. You can see from the narcings

:49:19. > :49:22.on the side walls. Let's keep eye on this. He's done the first sectors.

:49:23. > :49:28.His time is about a 10th slower than Rosberg. Middle sector, this is the

:49:29. > :49:33.twisty bit. There is oversteer. Bit of steering lock. Light understeer.

:49:34. > :49:36.He went on the power of the torque built up. He missed the apex there.

:49:37. > :49:41.That is a bit of time loss. He tried to carry too much speed. Yeah. He is

:49:42. > :49:45.still quick, been very quick in that middle sector, even though he had

:49:46. > :49:54.that. This lap time will just drift away, maybe lose a bit of a 10th

:49:55. > :49:59.coming out. . Tyres double-check it, because there must be something

:50:00. > :50:03.wrong . He isn't something -- isn't happy with something on the car. I

:50:04. > :50:08.couldn't gather that. This could be the fastest time of the session so

:50:09. > :50:13.far. It is around the mark that Rosberg has set. But will it be

:50:14. > :50:17.quicker or slower? We will see if the car slides. That was neat and

:50:18. > :50:23.tidy. Up towards the start/finish line. It is slower than Rosberg.

:50:24. > :50:25.139:2. Mercedes advance -- Mercedes's advantage is confirmed.

:50:26. > :50:30.They have about a second over the Ferraris. We are waiting to see if

:50:31. > :50:33.anyone else can get in that - within that second. The team that I

:50:34. > :50:38.expected to be fighting up there is actually not even out of the pits.

:50:39. > :50:41.That's McHarden. We know that Magnussen's problem - I'm not 100%

:50:42. > :50:47.what Button's problem is. But they need to be running now. This is

:50:48. > :50:51.valuable time being lost. They did struggle yesterday for grip. Jenson

:50:52. > :50:54.Button wasn't particularly happy with the performance of the car

:50:55. > :50:58.yesterday. Maldonado crosses the line. He's down in 14th position at

:50:59. > :51:02.the moment. He is still on the - he is on the medium tyre. That was a

:51:03. > :51:10.medium tyre run. Ericsson is on the medium tyre as well. He's gone 17th,

:51:11. > :51:16.144:4. That is his quickest but not much of an improvement as he would

:51:17. > :51:20.have liked. Men the Harussias are due to come out and do their softer

:51:21. > :51:23.tyre run in a moment. Just under 14 minutes to go, a bit of debris out

:51:24. > :51:26.on the circuit. Hopefully that won't cause problems. One of the things we

:51:27. > :51:29.are seeing this year - a bit less of the marbles that the tyres are

:51:30. > :51:35.throwing off. You can see some there. That isn't marbles... That is

:51:36. > :51:39.a cover. An air cover for something. A bit of carbon fibre. I don't think

:51:40. > :51:42.it will cause too much problem. It is often line and they will - the

:51:43. > :51:46.race director may leave the session running there and not worry too much

:51:47. > :51:50.about that. Let's see if we can spot which car it came off. I wonder if

:51:51. > :51:56.that is what the replay about. This is Marcus Ericsson. It just flipped

:51:57. > :52:01.off the top. It's actually the coaling -- cowling for the TV

:52:02. > :52:05.camera. This was Maldonado a moment ago. Another lock-up on that left

:52:06. > :52:10.front. Did he make the corner? Just about. He could almost have come

:52:11. > :52:13.into the pits but he decided to complete the lap. Yeah. They are

:52:14. > :52:18.fighting a rear guard action to some extent here. They have done a lot

:52:19. > :52:24.more laps than what they had done yesterday. Yeah. We will see whether

:52:25. > :52:27.they make it through Q1. Rosberg, meanwhile, decided to come back into

:52:28. > :52:32.the pits. He put the harder tyre back on. He's done a little run and

:52:33. > :52:37.is doing a pit stop simulation. Done the charging lap into the pits to

:52:38. > :52:40.get a feel for it. Coming back to Kimi Raikkonen, he is the guy that's

:52:41. > :52:46.up there in third at the moment. There is a big difference between

:52:47. > :52:52.the two of six-10ths of a second. In rebelty it is probable about 4-10ths

:52:53. > :52:57.of a second. I can't remember the time that Alonso struggled with pace

:52:58. > :53:03.which he has consistently through this whole weekend. That's right. He

:53:04. > :53:07.did outqualify him. Not for the whole weekend. It's been pretty much

:53:08. > :53:10.in every second that Raikkonen has looked like he's the one with the

:53:11. > :53:14.upper hand. Interesting. We will get to hear more about that. What is

:53:15. > :53:17.going on at McHarden? There isn't much activity in terms of getting

:53:18. > :53:22.them out in circuit. They are running out of time. I hope to see

:53:23. > :53:26.both cars up. Prepredz predz is on the softer tyre. Let's see where he

:53:27. > :53:32.puts the force India. His best lap to date has been a 1:42:7. This --

:53:33. > :53:36.his is going on to his timed lap. We will watch the rest of the lap. The

:53:37. > :53:41.clock starts at other. Down towards turn 1. Again, building up to just

:53:42. > :53:44.about 200 miles an hour here. It might not look it on screen but they

:53:45. > :53:50.are going quickly. Over the bumps the car didn't look too bad. It is

:53:51. > :53:55.OK. He keeps it nice, neat and tidy. The important part is getting out of

:53:56. > :54:00.here to get on is the throttle. He straightens the corner off, just to

:54:01. > :54:04.make Mount Isa his accessration, and then up the hill -- Mack Mount Isa

:54:05. > :54:10.the acceleration. He flicks the car in. Doesn't want to one the car too

:54:11. > :54:13.wide. If this was a track on Sergio Perezed a one of his best ever Grand

:54:14. > :54:16.Prix drives when he chased Fernando Alonso in 2012 to finish in second

:54:17. > :54:21.place when he was driving for Sauber. At one stage, it looked like

:54:22. > :54:28.he could win it. That was would be of the porms that -- performances

:54:29. > :54:33.that persuaded McLaren to sign him up. Now he is at Force India. He is

:54:34. > :54:39.trying to pick his career up again. This is a good team for that. It is

:54:40. > :54:44.a team that sort of nurtured quite a few drivers and he definitely needs

:54:45. > :54:48.a confidence boost after his year at McLaren where he struggle. . Jenson

:54:49. > :54:53.Button had the upper hand I don't think he felt comfortable. He's got

:54:54. > :54:59.the two corners to go. A big straight. Bit of oversteer. The back

:55:00. > :55:01.end of the car just looked like as his teammate Nico Hulkenberg said,

:55:02. > :55:07.struggling, it is light on the rear. We know the car doesn't have the

:55:08. > :55:14.down force of the reel true front runners -- real true front runners.

:55:15. > :55:18.That's right. They are not the fastest of the Mercedes. For

:55:19. > :55:23.whatever reason, the compromise - 41. 0, he does. That moves him up to

:55:24. > :55:27.fifth. But with a big gap. If you look in terms of the performance

:55:28. > :55:33.between him and the Mercedes, it's a two second gap in one lap. That is a

:55:34. > :55:41.big, big margin. I think force and Iia will be hoping they can improve

:55:42. > :55:44.on that a little bit. We have seen McHarden, stuff going on. What can

:55:45. > :55:49.you tell us? I am at the front. There is very little action going

:55:50. > :55:54.on. The problem with both cars, neither of them has done a timed

:55:55. > :55:58.lap. The problem is that both cars have gone into limp home mode. It's

:55:59. > :56:05.safety -- a safety mechanism where the there is sensor that if things

:56:06. > :56:10.get too hot, it shuts the engines off. They are trying to rectify the

:56:11. > :56:14.problem. I was hoping to get hold of the chief operating officer but he

:56:15. > :56:19.is up to his armpits trying to solve the problem. They didn't do any

:56:20. > :56:23.qualifying simulations yesterday. As they said they haven't turned a lap.

:56:24. > :56:27.If they can't get it solved in the next eight minutes, they are going

:56:28. > :56:36.to go into qualifying blind which is obviously far from ideal. That is

:56:37. > :56:40.worrying. It will very hard for them to... Just watching Nico Hulkenberg.

:56:41. > :56:44.Esteban Gutierrez just completed his run. He is a second slower than

:56:45. > :56:48.Perez. Although Sauber made some progress they will be disappointed

:56:49. > :56:54.to see there is a one-second gap between them and there rifles ult

:56:55. > :57:00.have to say -- rivals. They are mid-grip teams. Looking tore getting

:57:01. > :57:04.the edge over each other. It started well for Force India. In the latter

:57:05. > :57:09.part of the season, the balance swung the way of Sauber and Nico

:57:10. > :57:13.Hulkenberg, who was then at Sauber, managed to sort of pick it up. They

:57:14. > :57:17.are well matched teams. Let's seize what this lap is. There is a little

:57:18. > :57:23.lock-up for Nico Hulkenberg. Sort of gets it back into the apex. Little

:57:24. > :57:29.bit piecemeal on the exit. Watch the lap time. It isn't bad - 14 oh. 5.

:57:30. > :57:34.That puts him up there between the two Ferraris. Still a gap to the

:57:35. > :57:37.Mercedes. But that is a good lap from Nico Hulkenberg. I think that

:57:38. > :57:43.was a great lap from Hulkenberg. Hamilton just going around one of

:57:44. > :57:47.the Ferraris, it looks as if he isn't going so fast. You watch it

:57:48. > :57:51.from the I don't know burden of Hamilton coming in. The Ferrari goes

:57:52. > :57:55.slow. That is still officially part of the circuit. Until they get to

:57:56. > :57:59.the 60 - sorry, the speed limit line, it is still officially part of

:58:00. > :58:03.the circuit so you can overtake. However, I think Fernando Alonso was

:58:04. > :58:08.aware that Lewis Hamilton was behind him and moved. We are watching

:58:09. > :58:11.Daniel Riccardo. Here's Jenny for an update about Red Bull. Sebastian

:58:12. > :58:16.Vettel is removing that pouch of dry ice from his lap. They have been

:58:17. > :58:19.doing a lot of set-up work on the front suspension. You can see they

:58:20. > :58:24.are pinning on the panel, replacing the access point before they like

:58:25. > :58:28.tot fiddle around with lot. A lot of scratching of the heads as well.

:58:29. > :58:32.Vettel is not happy with the front end of the car at the moment. We

:58:33. > :58:38.will see whether he gets out to do his timed run. Let's hope he does.

:58:39. > :58:44.We have Riccardo out there. We will give us some times to look at. His

:58:45. > :58:48.first sector, he is about a second lower -- second lower. The one

:58:49. > :58:50.second he lost in the first sector is no difference from the middle.

:58:51. > :58:54.That is what we saw yesterday. The Red Bull is quick in the middle. It

:58:55. > :58:59.is more about the chassis and the heir dynamics. It is losing out

:59:00. > :59:02.where it's horse -- it is horsepower that counts. The middle sector has

:59:03. > :59:06.always been strong, even in previous years. They have never been the

:59:07. > :59:10.fastest in the straights. Unlike the Mercedes team who have been the

:59:11. > :59:15.quickest. Beth of those guys are out of the cars now. 304 kilometres per

:59:16. > :59:21.hour and so that's quite a - quite down in comparison to the others -

:59:22. > :59:25.front runners who were at least 12 kilometres an hour faster. It is at

:59:26. > :59:30.140:6. He is behind Hulkenberg with that time. Remember - Riccardo was

:59:31. > :59:35.faster in Melbourne in the dry and wet. They are going to struggle more

:59:36. > :59:40.on the nature of this circuit pd with the extra down force. He did

:59:41. > :59:45.have a good speed on the middle sector speed trap which is what you

:59:46. > :59:49.were saying. There is a speed trap out of turn 9 he was fastest of

:59:50. > :59:55.anybody on that lap, just coming out of the hairpin and accelerating up

:59:56. > :59:59.the hill showing you the chassis is working. It is the top speed where

:00:00. > :00:04.they have weak and not been the best. They were at 310 km/h so that

:00:05. > :00:09.is about 195 miles per hour yesterday. They have dropped off a

:00:10. > :00:14.bit, maybe stuck a bit more down force on. They are expecting a wet

:00:15. > :00:18.qualifying. The temperature is 45 degrees. It remained reasonably

:00:19. > :00:22.consistent. Humidity, which had climbed up to 63% is back down to -

:00:23. > :00:30.well, I was going to say 61, it is now 61. Watching Max Chilton now.

:00:31. > :00:33.Can he get himself ahead of Caterham? Bianchi qualified in

:00:34. > :00:38.Australia, although to be fair to the Frenchman he did have technical

:00:39. > :00:42.problems. It has been a promising start to his second season here for

:00:43. > :00:45.Max Chilton. Going into your second year at this top level, it gives you

:00:46. > :00:50.that little bit of extra confidence. You know what to expect each time.

:00:51. > :00:54.You know the circuits, you have been to the tracks. A lot of them he

:00:55. > :00:57.would never have driven before. You also know the team better if you

:00:58. > :01:03.stay with the team. Everything is a bit more like your armchair at home

:01:04. > :01:07.as opposed to something fresh. He's been using to that to his advantage.

:01:08. > :01:10.He was quick in testing relative to people around him. He is definitely

:01:11. > :01:15.getting more of a feel for F1. Sebastian Vettel is out there too,

:01:16. > :01:19.getting ready to do his quick run. We have under four minutes of the

:01:20. > :01:28.final session to go. Let's see what the lap time for Chilton is like.

:01:29. > :01:36.Does it put him ahead of Ericsson? 145. 2. Didn't seem to register

:01:37. > :01:41.there. It hasn't got the last sector. Just looking out the window,

:01:42. > :01:46.one of the Ferrari's come past, both the Mercedes, like they did in

:01:47. > :01:50.Melbourne, packed up the final F P3 a bit early. With 10 minutes to go,

:01:51. > :01:52.they are in and new preparing. They must be confident with what they

:01:53. > :01:58.have done. Looking at the lap times, you have to say that that one second

:01:59. > :02:05.advantage, they should be. It looks as though it is all over for

:02:06. > :02:10.McLaren. It might be already for Mercedes to stop but not McLaren

:02:11. > :02:14.because neither drive did more than five laps. Neither set a

:02:15. > :02:20.representative time. The only time was set was Button at two minutes

:02:21. > :02:27.05. Kobayashi had problems. You can can see the work going on. These

:02:28. > :02:30.power units aren't sorted yet. We are only in the second event of this

:02:31. > :02:37.new cars. You are going to expect problems. It has afflicted McLaren

:02:38. > :02:40.this time which didn't happen in Australia. What we have seen is that

:02:41. > :02:43.some of the teams have gone to bed with the car in working order and

:02:44. > :02:47.woken up and it's not for whatever reason. They will get on top of it

:02:48. > :02:51.quickly without doubt. They are going to obviously have an intensity

:02:52. > :02:55.at McLaren because it is before qualifying, and it is both cars. It

:02:56. > :03:00.is something that is common in that respect. If they solve one they

:03:01. > :03:05.should solve the other. Let's see what the time is here. Riccardo is

:03:06. > :03:10.on his second lamb. What about Vettel? 4. 3. He goes fourth.

:03:11. > :03:15.Quicker than Riccardo managed. Just a few laps ago. Very consistent

:03:16. > :03:19.times. He is about 3-10ths quicker than his teammate. Vettel pops up to

:03:20. > :03:25.fourth. He is just behind Raikkonen, but he is ahead of Hulkenberg, ahead

:03:26. > :03:29.of Riccardo, also old Alonso. Ericsson is giving us a new waif.

:03:30. > :03:33.Off goss one of the Lotuses. It is Grosjean. He is taking a trip

:03:34. > :03:37.through the gravel. Hopefully he will stay off the barrier and make

:03:38. > :03:41.his way back on to the circuit. It just shows you the car is not easy

:03:42. > :03:44.to drive. They have had so little chance to do any real running. The

:03:45. > :03:50.good news is at least they have done a decent number of laps. 20 laps for

:03:51. > :03:54.Maldonado. 16 laps for Grosjean. Let's's talk a look at what

:03:55. > :04:01.happened. He got on the kerb coming into the right hander there at turn

:04:02. > :04:05.11. Felipe Massa also did it yesterday. You come into the

:04:06. > :04:09.hairpin, you are turning right, and it is easy, as we see a front-on

:04:10. > :04:13.shot, you are always turning at this point. If you get the left hand

:04:14. > :04:17.wheels on that kerb you can get off it. Then you have to sort of abort

:04:18. > :04:22.the mission of the corner. Yes. That is what he did. Thankfully he got

:04:23. > :04:25.through the gravel OK and hopefully that doesn't done damage. At the

:04:26. > :04:31.moment we have Valtteri Bottas, he is on a lap, the first sector - 253,

:04:32. > :04:35.is not bad in that first sector. We will keep and eye on the rest of

:04:36. > :04:39.this lap. He is into the section where the second sector just here so

:04:40. > :04:43.there is a speed trap there. Let's see what that is. He is second down

:04:44. > :04:48.on Mercedes. This will put him in the ball-park depending on the final

:04:49. > :04:53.sector of the lap. When I saw "ball pack" I mean in the battle for third

:04:54. > :04:58.rather than a front row. We know that Mercedes will be fighting for

:04:59. > :05:02.pole position here today. Yes. It will be a reflection of what it was

:05:03. > :05:05.in Melbourne. We knew they had an advantage. It was exactly as it was

:05:06. > :05:10.a couple of weeks ago. The fight for the second row of the grid, from

:05:11. > :05:14.second to eighth, is going to be pretty close. It is still within

:05:15. > :05:19.10ths now. Bottas came through the last corner Nase and neat. You don't

:05:20. > :05:23.necessarily have to hit the apex. You let rolling coming through. That

:05:24. > :05:27.is put him -- has put him in ninth. That is dointing. They were hoping

:05:28. > :05:33.for more. Massa and Bottas are evenly matched. Eighth and ninth for

:05:34. > :05:36.the two Williams. They will be wary that McLaren didn't manage to show

:05:37. > :05:39.what they will do. They will be is a threat using the same power.

:05:40. > :05:49.Williams may have hoped for more. They will have to settle for eighth.

:05:50. > :05:58.Nick,. There is no performance issue. No the rear end. Understand.

:05:59. > :06:03.It was just lack of it. There is no performance from the defuser. In

:06:04. > :06:07.other words, agree grow is say -- Grosjean is saying I have no rear

:06:08. > :06:12.down force. If you look at the lap times, there are three seconds off.

:06:13. > :06:15.If you remember, that was - it was a race-winning car last year at the

:06:16. > :06:18.Australian Grand Prix with Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel. They have

:06:19. > :06:23.suddenly gone from the front to the back. They are on the back foot.

:06:24. > :06:31.Well, certainly interesting times there. We have the Toro Rosso's up

:06:32. > :06:34.again. Interesting they are a fraction faster than Vergne, so once

:06:35. > :06:38.again the rookie is showing well. If it does rain and if it were to rain

:06:39. > :06:42.like yesterday, we would probably raining in qualifying session two or

:06:43. > :06:47.three. Then you have to say it might help the likes of Red Bull, Toro

:06:48. > :06:51.Rosso, but there is no doubt that Mercedes will be in good shape.

:06:52. > :06:54.Hamilton put it in pole position in the wet in Australia. So I don't

:06:55. > :06:58.think lit make a massive difference in front of the -- in terms of the

:06:59. > :07:03.front runners but it could allow Toro Rosso to get in the front 10.

:07:04. > :07:07.Daniel Riccardo, sixth fastest so far. Doing another solid

:07:08. > :07:12.professional job at Red Bull. He. He's been - not a revelation,

:07:13. > :07:16.because I think people watched him rast year realised at the end of the

:07:17. > :07:19.season when they in the fight for this particular seat he lifted his

:07:20. > :07:23.game and did a strong job. He's continuing on with that high level

:07:24. > :07:27.of performance that we saw a couple of weeks ago. Mefrs Messrs pack up

:07:28. > :07:33.armly but they have done the job well. One and two. Rosberg is a

:07:34. > :07:36.fraction ahead of Hamilton. It looks as though the battle for pole will

:07:37. > :07:40.be between those two because they have about a second advantage over

:07:41. > :07:44.the next best which is Kimi Raikkonen in the the Ferrari. He's

:07:45. > :07:47.been looking good all weekend. Vettel is up there as ever. Red Bull

:07:48. > :07:51.again are showing that that testing form they had did get reversed. We

:07:52. > :07:53.saw it in Australia. They are potentially going to challenge for

:07:54. > :07:58.the second row of the dbrid. Hulkenberg is up there with Riccardo

:07:59. > :08:02.and Alonso is seventh. He seemed to have a few problems. The two

:08:03. > :08:06.Williams are up there in the top 10. Force India seem to be going better

:08:07. > :08:09.this time. Then the Toro Rossos, followed by the Sauber, team

:08:10. > :08:16.formation down there as you can see, the two Lotuses men the Marussia.

:08:17. > :08:20.But at the bottom is Jenson Button and star of the first race, Kevin

:08:21. > :08:24.Magnussen, are unable to show us what they could do here today. They

:08:25. > :08:29.are going into qualifying as a result somewhat blind. They haven't

:08:30. > :08:32.had a chance to run the medium tyre, so they will have to get a feel for

:08:33. > :08:35.it when they get out in the first part of qualifying the. That is

:08:36. > :08:38.going to be testing. Jenson Button had the experience and it will be

:08:39. > :08:42.harder for Kevin Magnussen but we have seen how he's responded already

:08:43. > :08:46.to the pressure and he seems to deal with it effectively. Button will be

:08:47. > :08:50.disgruntled by that. He's been through many ups and downs in F1 but

:08:51. > :08:56.he won't have enjoyed the fact that he didn't manage to get many laps

:08:57. > :09:03.in. An inteeging session but it's McLaren that verdict -- that have

:09:04. > :09:06.work to do. Indeed, both of them went into limp home mode. David is

:09:07. > :09:10.alongside with me. An interesting session but Mercedes still look the

:09:11. > :09:14.people to beat. I wonder if they have shown too much of their hand.

:09:15. > :09:18.The drivers when they are given full engine mode and a full set of tyres

:09:19. > :09:22.will go out and deliver have fun. You don't want to show that you have

:09:23. > :09:26.that much speed until when it comes to qualifying. Even that is only

:09:27. > :09:31.part of the story, it is about race day. It looks like behind Mercedes

:09:32. > :09:35.things are closing up. Red Bull have been impressive but so have Ferrari.

:09:36. > :09:39.They have found something for this track. It is a different track, more

:09:40. > :09:45.of a traditional circuit than Australia. What upsets things is the

:09:46. > :09:50.high temperatures that we are seeing here. That said, the middle sector

:09:51. > :09:53.is telling. There Mercedes don't have any advantage at all. They are

:09:54. > :09:58.taking a massive half a second in the first and last sector, which is

:09:59. > :10:08.pretty much about point and score, also of efficiency. What about a

:10:09. > :10:12.team like Mc -- McLaren who have had an am #235u89less -- facilitiless

:10:13. > :10:16.weekend in Australia. No running in pretrack advertise at all - they

:10:17. > :10:19.have strength and depth, bit more difficult for Kevin but Jenson

:10:20. > :10:23.Button will know how to do that. Lotus's mechanics are having to work

:10:24. > :10:30.so hard. Romain Grosjean says no performance from the defuser, the

:10:31. > :10:34.rear grip - rear is terrible. There is hardly - very little running in

:10:35. > :10:38.Australia and through prepractice so they haven't had a chance to

:10:39. > :10:43.optimise their package. Qualifying - you can join us in just under an

:10:44. > :10:47.hour on BBC 1. We have Mark Webber's first television feature for the

:10:48. > :10:53.BBC. It is a fascinating insight into how driver's cope with these

:10:54. > :10:59.conditions. Share your shoes on the Facebook page. Join Zeussy, this man

:11:00. > :11:04.and the rest at 7 o'clock. Press 1. Bye-bye.