The Malaysian Grand Prix - Qualifying Formula 1

When the chequered flag falls, who will grace this podium? What can we

conclude? Expect the unexpected. It is all here. The new era has begun.

The reigning world champion and the favourite for this year's title were

both out of the race. We need to retire to save the engine. It is not

running. The biggest shake-up means the word reliability is definitely

back in the dictionary. Max Chilton has been left behind. The win for

Rosberg. But the old guard were kept honest by the new blood. Kevin

Magnussen heading the rookies with an impressive podium on his first

race. The first-ever Danish driver to finish on the podium in Formula

One. Valtteri Bottas kissed his chances goodbye. But he still

managed fifth place. Daniil Kvyat debuted. In ninth place. Daniel

Ricciardo's spot was disqualified. Fuel flow was the issue. We will

appeal. Court action after one race. And now to Malaysia, heat can do

strange things. Remember last year? He has gone past! Mark Webber is on

the outside! They have touched. Then the impromptu visit from Lewis

Hamilton to McLaren. He has gone into the wrong pit! You can throw a

monsoon into the mix. It is up in the air, anything could

happen. Thank you for joining us in Malaysia for qualifying and as you

would expect, it is sweltering. With the threat of rain and I felt one

raindrop as I said that. Nice work. We are interested in your views so

you can tweet us and send messages and questions. You are part of us

and right with us in Malaysia. Welcome.

Can you believe that? A few drops of rain fell down when I was talking

about it. It is so gentle. Normally it is a downpour. David is joining

us for qualifying. 31 degrees, boiling hot. How did you cope when

driving in this heat? The only way to train is to put in the stress

levels you will experience and humidity is the real difficulty. You

have the ability to sweat and get that heat out but with that

humidity, you get water on your face. You simply have to train

outdoors. Mark Webber was talking about that. That is later on in the

programme. Malaysia has been in the headlines recently with the tragic

events of the flight. This weekend, Formula One is paying tribute. A

number of teams are carrying messages on their cars and all of

the drivers will carry messages on their helmets. Showing support for

the families of those aboard that airline. There will be one minute's

silence tomorrow and Mercedes, they carry MH370 on a part of the car and

a tribute to Michael Schumacher, who had that skiing accident. Keep

fighting, Michael, they have got. Several months have passed since

those circumstances and it is tragic for his family and we are all

waiting for news. We do not know anything different and when we get

any news, we will let you know. Malaysia is round number two on the

calendar so early doors and we're off to Bahrain next weekend, then

celebrating the 50th British Grand Prix at Silverstone and with plenty

of events going on. Brazil is the penultimate event and we wrap things

up in Abu Dhabi with that double points rule taking effect. Early

stages. It is a new era for Formula One as the rain falls. How does that

work with the teams in terms of getting the grip? -- getting into

the groove? When will they feel comfortable? 12 days of pre-season

testing, four days of running, including Melbourne, so this is

infancy. Like a child, the first few days of their life, they don't do

much, it takes a couple of years before they start doing anything

interesting! I will grab my brolly. These cars are very much at the

beginning of their development and out of the blocks, Mercedes have

done a fantastic job but we saw just how much Red Bull have improved from

pre-season and Ferrari have taken a step forward. It'll be next year

before we start to see any levelling out. With the big changes taking

place, have teams done pretty well to be in this situation?

Exceptionally well, from not being able to complete to more than half

of the field finishing in Melbourne and that is what those steps are

about. They are prototypes, they own the international property and the

design and they have solve those problems. -- half to solve. It was

not tentative to start the season. Two world champions sidelined, one

rookie on the podium and a pending court case.

A new era is about to power its way into the history books. Light side!

-- lights out. Rosberg cutting through! Who else? One of the

Williams. Contact down the field. Sebastian Vettel, damage to the car.

Does Hamilton have a problem? He is very slow in a straight line. TEAM

RADIO: We need to retire. It is not running. Sebastian Vettel in big

trouble. He appears to be continuing with that trouble. Kimi Raikkonen.

Down the inside. He is just through. He has hit the wall! My goodness! He

has broken his wheel. His suspension is damaged also. Oh, no! Maybe it is

just the rim. They have sent him on his way. TEAM RADIO: We need to keep

on the pace. We will try later. That was a big slide. That will give

Bottas a chance. Rosberg through the last turn. Outstanding performance.

Nico Rosberg wins the Australian Grand Prix for Mercedes. Daniel

Ricciardo, taking his first-ever podium finish. Kevin Magnussen,

third on his debut. Unbelievable! Five hours after that race finish,

we were waiting in the paddock to find out what was going on. Daniel

Ricciardo was disqualified and it was a bit of a shock. That was for

contravening the fuel flow? The FIA notified Red Bull were exceeding the

limit, 35 litres per hour. -- 135 macro 's. -- bleachers. They had to

go to the regulative body for the sensor and they had to set the

offset and Red Bull felt that would be less performance and they said

the sensor was not reliable so they were going to continue because they

felt they had not actually gone over the limit. The stewards disqualified

them because they said in the regulations you have to use this,

you cannot use your own method of defining the limit but you must use

this particular sensor. I am getting soaked! This sits inside the fuel

tank, and basically it is only a measurement tool, it does not

restrict the fuel. Only measurement. The FIA understand exactly. Red Bull

appealing. What does this mean for the sport? It seems like a grey

area? What we have is Formula One has moved into a new era with

real-time scrutiny. Cars have to comply with regulations and practice

sessions, it's under scrutiny before and after. With these new

regulations, it has been challenged in the Court of Appeal, and unless

there is something really irregular with that meter, it is unlikely they

will change their position. It appears that the defence from Red

Bull is that it's 100 kilograms for the entire race rather than being

every hour. It might be confusing but the most important regulation is

moving into this brave new world of recoverable energy and efficiency,

all of the teams can only use 100 kilos of fuel from start to finish.

It is clear that Red Bull have not gone beyond that. It is about how

much is passing through this meter at various points. This sensor. Why

not just one limit of 100 kilos? This is about qualifying. If you

allow teams to have as much fuel flow as they can get inside, they

will develop special units and although there will be some limits,

that will mean a bunch of other costs. If you have a fuel flow limit

and the maximum limit, you cover those bases. Last year the engines

were putting through 170 every hour and this year it is 100 and it also

pushes manufacturers not necessarily to create more power but they can

produce as much power as they can with this, but it pushes them

towards more efficient power. The hearing is on the 14th of April.

This is the current state of Formula One in terms of the standings. Nico

Rosberg is top dog with 25. Kevin Magnussen in second place and Jenson

Button in third spot. All Mercedes. The top three. Daniil Kvyat in ninth

place. And Sergio Perez in 10th place. The Constructors'

Championship: These are pending those results from the court

hearing. McLaren in top spot. Force India in fifth place. We are

seriously in a monsoon and this is exactly what I was talking about at

the start. For those saying, where is Eddie? He will be with us in

Barcelona but until then, some peace and quiet in terms of shirts! The

noise has been a very big subject. Exaggerated by Bernie Ecclestone.

What are your feelings on the noise of the new cars? Very different?

Whether we like it or not, we must work with it and I am sitting closer

to the fence of preferring louder noise, powerful engines. These

engines are incredibly powerful. It is a step towards the future. We

will need loud music to warn someone is coming rather than the noise of

the engine. They needed to change the rules and move forward. Formula

One and motorsport has been a live test bed for future technology.

Personally, I found out the actual engines are louder and have more of

a chewed life than what we have heard. Some of the comments are

because people have not heard them up close and personal. Going back to

Melbourne, if you like overtaking, Valterri Bottas must have been your

man of the match. You and Williams were one of the standout performers

in Melbourne. You double the points Williams gained in the whole of

2013, just in one race. You must reassess your expectations. It was

really nice to see we are double points already. The goals are set to

be higher. We need to take the challenge and aim even higher. What

are the new goals? If we can consistently be fighting for good

points instead of only top ten. Let's have a look at Melbourne. You

are 15th on the grid because you had a five grid penalty. Usually you

would have started tenth. You had an excellent start. I saw there was a

small gap on the left and went for that. I was flat out. I saw there

was the green missile coming. I saw there was no way he was going to go

through. I had to wait while turning the corner. By the end of the first

lap you are already into tenth place. This is turn ten and 11 where

you had the incident. This is the lap before. You can just see the car

kicking out. There were small bumps. It is a proper corner. I was

just pushing too hard. I was not sure but did you think your race

would be over? In the pit stop, the suspension was OK. I made the race

more difficult. You came back through the field. You had to. Is it

easier to overtake? I would not say it is more difficult. It is not much

easier. In terms of top speed and straight-line speed, we seem to be

quite competitive. This is you overtaking Kimi Raikkonen. How did

you feel? It was really fair. Looked at it! You are not giving him an

inch. You are on the kerb. You are squeezing in but you are really

going for it. If I had left more room, he would have had a chance to

have a better exit. This time it worked. What it showed me through

the whole of this race was you have a confidence with the car. The car

definitely is performing very well. Will that be able to translate into

a result in Malaysian? We really hope so. -- Malaysia. We are there

to get on the podium. It will be a nice next step in my career. Looking

at your confidence and your smile and the performance for the Williams

team, you will be spraying champagne before very long. Let's hope so. A

lovely interview with Valterri Bottas. We are the only broadcasters

who are stupid enough to come out in the rain. Everyone else is

sheltering. The monsoon is full on. In ten minutes' time, this could all

change. Claire Williams is with us now. To do expect the shower? We

were hoping for it. -- did you expect? Let's hope it clears in time

for qualifying. We saw a great performance by Valterri boater. --

Valterri Bottas. Sky we would just love to get both cars into the top

ten. It'll be really tricky for everyone. It will be a case of

managing strategies, I think. We will see what happens in the race

tomorrow. To get both cars home with the points is where we want to end

up. H and is amount of changes through last year. -- a tremendous

amount. Will we see more coming through? Formula One is a

development war at the end of the day. All the people we have brought

in, to support the talent we have, we have some great people who work

at Williams already. Bringing in the new people to augment the talent we

already have at base. They are making an impact. They are headed by

Pat Symonds. The whole team seems more positive this year. There

always is a good atmosphere. When you are not doing well, morale is

questionable will stop this year there has been an upsurge in

motivation and passion to go racing again. That is what we are about.

Valterri Bottas was quite effervescent. He was big in the end.

Billy Pei Massa has a new lease of life about him. -- Felipe Massa.

They give a huge amount of abuse to everyone who is working

behind-the-scenes. These guys in Malaysia, it is such hard work. To

have two drivers you want to fight for makes a big difference. Can I

ask you about the switch to Mercedes? It was inspired but

presumably it was heavily we searched? It was. We did due

diligence behind-the-scenes. There was a lot of work. There were

conversations with Renault and the guys at Mercedes. Doing the work we

did, we felt Mercedes may have been in a better position and it has paid

off. The other manufacturers will all catch up. Not too soon, we hope.

All the best. Another rising star. Just before we went on air, David

was talking to Daniil Kvyat. You had an amazing start in Melbourne. How

are you feeling? It is hard to reflect. My mind is completely in a

different world. We are thinking about this race here. Hopefully we

can do something even better. You did not have any preconceived ideas

about Formula One. In terms of taking the step up to Formula One in

Melbourne, how big a shock was that, going into the longer races? It was

quite tricky with very limited testing. I think we managed really

well. It was important to get a good rhythm on the Melbourne circuit,

which was quite tricky. We managed well and visibility was very good.

We managed well in qualifying. In the race, we had to finish and

finish quite fast. We managed to points, so it was quite good. Any

news on the weather and what is your realistic assessment? It looks quite

cloudy, doesn't it? You always have to take the opportunity to gain

positions. If it rains, we are ready. We will try our best. Where

do you think you are? Who are your main competitors? Williams was not

the car ahead but it is hard to say at the moment. We will get

everything right I hope for Q3. In terms of the weather, I am not sure

what you will see. It is still raining quite heavily. When it does

stop, it will drive pretty quickly. Lots of news around this week. Here

is Tom with the round-up. Melbourne was an emotional roller-coaster for

the Daniel Ricciardo. He was disqualified for a fuel flow

anomaly. A subsequent week-long training camp in Perth had not

mellowed his mood when he arrived in Sepang. I was like, limey, crikey!

It was a bit of a downer will stop at the same time, I was happy I put

in a good weekend. I put in a good race. The front row start was all

right. It was not the best of the line. I recovered that. In any case,

I was still pleased with the result. On the back of the disqualification,

the Red Bull owner has been throwing his weight around, claiming he will

quit Formula One if the sport no longer meets the needs of his

company and it is a serious threat. He is a passionate fan of Formula

One. He has two teams. He has a base that is going back to Austria this

year. He is probably the biggest fan of Formula One in the world. He

wants to make sure the racing is what it should be in Formula One and

the product is appealing to fans. Every cloud has a silver lining. In

Melbourne, that was the silver McLaren of Jenson Button. He had the

50th podium of his Formula One career. McLaren have brought dynamic

upgrades to this race and confidence is high. Anything is good right

now. It is only two weeks after the first race. You have driven a lot of

Formula One cars. To think it is a car you can work with and go on to

win races with? Definitely. Several teams go to struggle with their new

cars, none more than Lotus. The team has been troubled. They claim they

will not get it sorted until the Spanish Grand Prix in May. Despite

the troubles, Romain Grosjean remains confident in his own

abilities. Brickyard Aero -- Daniel Ricciardo had a great race. I hope

to get back on the podium. Mercedes though entered the business end of

the weekend as favourites. They topped the times in practice. Nico

Rosberg is taking nothing for granted. We do not know how it will

be yet. It is completely different. Tyres, temperatures, humidity. You

absolutely drenched and you are just standing here with the microphone.

Imagine as cars and drivers. Nico Rosberg giving Tom some stick. From

big unity and the sunshine to the rain. Just about half an hour to go

until the session starts. It is not raining heavy enough to delay. I do

not think so. We had a huge downpour yesterday afternoon. The session

that was running was red flagged. It took about 12 minutes to clear up.

Now we have got through the worst of the initial downpour, I would expect

them to go out in full wets. These cars are so low to the ground, it is

like skimming stones. Nico Rosberg was bang on. He said it was such a

different track from Australia. Everything will be differently. It

is quite a start to the Grand Prix season. You can go all the way to

Australia on the streets of an empty track and go to the heat and

humidity of Malaysia and work your way back to Europe. You'd think it

would make more sense to start closer to base. The amount of boxes

of spare parts that have been arising for all the teams have been

incredible. Can I ask you about the comments?

He is more than a passionate fan of Formula One. It is a means to an end

to leverage the brand. He needs to feel it is a pure sport and everyone

is running under fair and equal regulations. He is entitled to give

an opinion, perhaps more entitled than anyone else. Carrying through

with that thought, who needs each other more? Do Red Bull need Formula

One or does Formula One need Red Bull? Red Bull were successful

before Formula One and Formula One have been successful without Red

Bull. It has made lots of people very successful on very many levels.

It is not a marriage of convenience, it is very much a case of, it suits

the business model of what Red Bull is trying to do. He felt the need to

say something after the disappointment of Melbourne. Talking

of people who win at Formula One, we are just passing Lotus. They won in

Australia, the first race, last time. Here they are in all sorts of

tangles. It is extraordinary. They have always worked on a small budget

but is it a step too far? It has been a very difficult start to the

season and to be in financial difficulty and have a situation with

so many changes, so many costs, that is remarkable. The last thing you

need is to have reliability issues and all those other things. Coming

back to what we said, what is remarkable about this sport is the

ability for people to find technical solutions and work all night. Go

back to the hotel, take a shower and then go back. This is a sport with

real commitment across the board. You can see behind us the rain is

just letting up. It has started to fall down again. Look at the amount

of water falling down, that will sit on the track until it stops raining

and then it can clear quite quickly but this is dodgy territory. This

heavy rain then has a problem with the tyres, they can remove water

from the surface and it is that skateboarding effect, the underbody

of the car, it will make it very difficult. Some time before it

starts. It really becomes a lottery on the straights, never mind the

corners. Pretty scary stuff. Lee McKenzie has been catching up with

Kevin Magnussen. He got his first podium in his first-ever Formula One

race in Australia. Not bad? Kevin Magnussen, the first Danish

driver ever to finish on a podium in Formula One. When we spoke after

Australia you said it was like a dream. Have you had time to wake up?

Yes, it has sunk in a little bit more. It felt amazing to get onto

the podium and to do that on my first race. But it was not a win. He

just turns to the left. It was scary from where I was watching. Yes, it

was a bit of a scary start. The car rotated. After the first lap, it was

pretty easy. Not easy, but straightforward. He has gone past

Lewis Hamilton. The safety car was there. I had pit stops to worry

about but otherwise, pretty straightforward. Did it feel like a

different grid, your first Formula One? No. I was quite comfortable. I

think just being with this team and being prepared helped. You have been

part of McLaren for quite a while and I remember seeing them coming to

the races with you. It must not be like stepping into a new team? No, I

feel very at home. It felt like my team before. Before this season.

Kevin Magnussen, in his grand prix debut. You have had the podium but

you will always talk about winning and wanting to win and that is very

much on your radar? Yes, I am here to be the best. I'm not saying that

in an arrogant way, don't get me wrong, I understand how big the

challenge is. These guys are the best in the world. There are so many

strategies. The cars are similar. You don't have that relevant. --

development. So, coming into Formula One is a very big challenge. My goal

is to become world champion. And I know how big a challenge that is. If

you believe you are the best and most talented and if you work as

hard as you can, you will achieve what you want. Live shots in

Malaysia, puddles in the pit lane. And the rain does not look like

slowing down. That was a lovely chat with Kevin Magnussen. K-Mag. That is

what the kids are calling him on the straight! -- on the straights. What

a nice guy. New to the tournament but he seems to understand what it

takes to become the world champion. He knows he has to work hard? He has

worked hard, he is the real deal, a racing family. I remember racing in

the wet with his dad many years ago. He has that mindset of what it takes

in terms of commitment from an early age and lots of people watch talent

shows and people have dreams and they have been doing it for six

months, but these people have been doing this for over a decade. From

karting. Putting in long hours, the commitment, the training. By the

time they get to Formula One, they are completely focused on what it

takes to drive quickly. Some of them seem to be more so than others. That

is natural. There is that talent and application as well. McLaren had a

fantastic Australia. This weekend they are having problems and one

hour ago, the third session finished and they had all sorts of electrical

problems. The same issue in Melbourne has reappeared and it is a

reset sensor that brings a car back in limp mode. They could do no

practice in Practice three. In terms of the driver getting out on the

track and feeling comfortable, it is like hitting the practice session.

They have not had much time in the car. It will take concentration to

be able to focus 100% when they feel behind the rest of the teams? In

these conditions and with limited runs, Jenson Button has driven in

the wet and in 2009 he was the winner. Kevin Magnussen has not

driven in these conditions. Where is that river into turn number four? He

will learn quickly but the first few laps will be an amazing journey of

discovery. You don't get that in a computer game. There is no fear. We

can catch up with the rest of the free practice sessions. Then

Edwards... -- Ben. Perhaps a statement of intent, Ferrari first

on track on Friday. Fernando Alonso the initial pacesetter. But he

damaged the floor of his car and that prevented further improvements.

Kimi Raikkonen stepped up to go second-fastest. Lewis Hamilton

topped the session. Lotus continue with problems, Romain Grosjean

stopping. And Pastor Maldonado smoking. They completed six

installation lap is between them. -- laps. Niko Hulkenberg was off. But

it was deja vu at Lotus as Romain Grosjean pulled over. His team-mate

did not appear at all. The fastest time was Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen

was only a few hundredths slower and Sebastian Vettel was third. Less

than a tenth of a second behind. The downpour meant the track had lost

grip for the final session and cars were moving around a great deal.

Both Lotus cars completed 15 laps but the car looked difficult to

drive whereas Mercedes was in a league of its own. Kimi Raikkonen

was the nearest challenger but McLaren had a nightmare with sensor

problems shutting down the engines and leaving Kevin Magnussen and

Jenson Button severely short of running. That was in the dry and

this is the scene. 20 minutes to go. We have a serious monsoon. Look at

that. Lifting up the manhole cover. That shows the pressure. People were

using the bankings to make their own mudslides a few years ago. Perfect

conditions for that! We are in the paddock. What did you make of what

has been happening this weekend? Kimi Raikkonen? More comfortable,

more attacking, he looks like he is more comfortable with the car. I

would love if this was dry, it might still dry up but it is unlikely.

That is when you see the drivers taking the maximum out of their car.

It takes skills to drive in a wet conditions but it neutralises the

attacking somewhat. Sebastian Vettel has headed decent weekend. -- has

had a decent weekend. Red Bull are reasonably happy. Preseason seems

like a distant memory. Generally, coming back to earlier, it shows the

development there is in Formula One and wet weather will play into the

hands of Red Bull because they have a very good car in that sector. The

first and last sector, in dry conditions with Mercedes, half a

second over the opposition. We can find out the thinking with red Wolf.

Tom Clarkson is with the brain. -- Red Bull. Adrian, this rain, you

welcome it? Probably, yes. Straight-line speed is not strong so

these conditions probably suit us. In Melbourne it was not as heavy but

the car was very good in the wet? We had a good outing in Melbourne. Here

it is difficult to know. If it is as heavy as this, they will have to

delay qualifying. The scale of the project, I'll go back to that second

test and here you are with a competitive racing car. How

difficult has been to get to this stage? -- has it been? They are very

different cars and we have little time to sort things out and we did

not get very much testing on the first test, where you sort out those

early problems. In private, before the public eye. The problem was the

local heat problem. On our side. Because that is outside the

manufacturer, it takes some time to sort out. It was not a huge problem.

It will take time. When the tests come fast, it is embarrassing to be

there. Knowing you have the solution but you cannot get it onto the car.

What are the drivers saying? They are reasonably happy with the car.

With the cornering speed, it seems very competitive in all of the

overloads that we do. But it is very much an engine formula that is

hampering us. I have to ask... Can you win races with this car? Or will

the power unit hold you back? Where we are at the moment, it is very

much the engine formula and in that sense, we are in the hands of the

supplier. Good luck. Thank you. Keeping his cars quite close to his

chest. Understandably so. You cannot ride off Renault? No. They have

tremendous history. They brought turbo all of those years ago.

Technology does not stand still. We are seeing Mercedes starting

development earlier and they have done a great job. It is easy to

always want everything to be lined up in your favour but that is not

the nature of Formula One. Right now, Mercedes will be reaping the

rewards but all of the other teams, McLaren, they will work hard and in

the future, McLaren will change from Mercedes to Honda. They will enter

one year behind. That could be an advantage. With Daniel Ricciardo,

what he did in Australia, that surprised people with him being able

to get up there, they are not out of the running because it is not all

about Mercedes? Things develop quickly in Formula One and where

Mercedes have the advantage is they have a very good handle on the power

unit and the interaction between the internal combustion and the recovery

systems. All of that electronic software working well. They are not

without fault. When you are creating cutting-edge technology, you need to

accept that you will get finger trouble. He replaced Mark Webber. He

will be making some features for us this year. He has been looking at

the preparation drivers need to make when they are in extreme heat.

We are on our way to a clinic to see the physiologist who helped me

prepare for hot races. In Formula 3000 in Monte Carlo I had a very bad

experience. I was under prepared. I drank too much water. I crashed the

car at the end of the race. I was very hot as well. I really enjoyed

the challenge of preparing myself and making sure I was fully

prepared. As a Formula One driver, there are some very hot races on the

calendar. Today I will be explaining to you how I used to prepare as a

Grand Prix driver. Knock, knock! How are you? Ready for another session?

Yeah. Even as fan, I used to see drivers completely cooked and

uncomfortable. These guys still did not really understand how they can

prepare better to make themselves feel comfortable in the Grand Prix.

That would equal performance and lap time. The engineers were not really

interested in that. Science has moved on a long way. People like

Simon are helping us guys feel more comfortable in the car in extreme

temperatures. One of the absolute key ingredients for Simon to

understand how I was feeling was this pill. It is simply a

thermometer. You swallow it and we can pick up that signalled by

telemetry. I am about to put on some extra gear. It was developed by

Victoria Secrets. It will talk to the pill. Another very important

layer is skin folds. This has a double effect. It is weight that we

do not want to carry in the car and fat is an insulator. It is in our

interests in hot races to make sure we are lean and measure to the

nearest millimetre how much fat you are carrying on your body. Several

Formula One drivers take it seriously and several do not. How

much fat have I put on since I have stopped racing? You have come in at

5% body fat. That is a good percent up on what you were at your leanest.

We know we can elicit core temperature changes when exercise

intensity is high. This fits in nicely with the hectic schedule.

Modern Formula One, it has moved on a lot. There was a huge lag. The

amount of effort they put in to understand what the car is doing.

These hot races were very difficult. Very strong. I was

unconscious. Come back around on the exit. Finish the lap. Past 18 cars

on one lap. Had a puncture as well! The top end teams are starting to

put more focus on this. You have to respect the heat at the end of the

day. That is what makes us get quite tired at the end of the day mentally

as well as getting put in the car. When we looked at how marathon

runners and Ironman triathletes prepare, it is very similar. There

is no opportunity to really have the effective loss of sweat of the skin

to cool down. Balaclava, helmet, seat belt. Not much circulation

behind. Huge amount of skin on the back of the seat. The race suit, the

boots, it is not a very comfortable environment. If you are not

replacing the fluids and it is being absorbed or dripping off, your core

temperature will continue to rise. Once you start getting over 400

Celsius, you are well and truly in the hypodermic range. Left

unmanaged, that can lead onto heatstroke which can be

catastrophic. People die of that. These guys are prepared as they can

be to deal with the environment. In a very challenging environment like

Malaysia, Mark would typically be in 40, 41 degree temperature range.

There is enough going on without having to think about, am I'm ready

for a tough Grand Prix? I want to recover! Here is a vile, not my

blood. How do we adapt for our race? How does a body prepare? In this

case, you can see the plasma in the blood has increased, if you like.

When you are in those environments, your plasma will increase and you

will be in a better position to perform in a better way. That

volume, that watery substance expands. It increases in volume.

With that increase, not only do you have larger blood volume so you have

more blood distributed around the body to the working muscles and the

brain, you have more fluid available in a way that helps your hydration

status. In sports and Formula One, people could take advantage of the

rules and cheat. Exactly right. There are some medications around

which are called plasma volume expanders. It is considered a form

of cheating. The best way to do it by natural means is by some heat

training protocols. Hence why it is important to get drug tested so the

naughty boys can get caught, which never happens in our sport, so,

good! We are about to get into the little pool. This looks very

straightforward. It is a huge amount of water. I would use this before a

Grand Prix, after a Grand Prix, to get myself in a much more

comfortable environment. Given all the effort that goes into the car,

sometimes the culture in Formula One is that driver preparation was not

quite as important come race day, as it was. You always hear in Malaysia,

someone faints on the grid or someone pushes the car towards the

great. -- the grid. I am cool as a cucumber, ready to go.

Absolutely fascinating stuff. I am joined by the Formula One paddock

doctor, who has been around for 25 years. Thank you very much for

joining us. You saw that piece that Mark did. That is how he prepared

for a dry race, a hot race like this. 25 years ago, was it

different? It was completely different. The cars were much more

physical. They had no steering power. There were no minimum

dimensions. The drivers were in a bad position inside the cars. It is

important to be strong in the muscle. We spent a lot of time in

the gym to create a superman. It was quite hard sometimes. Now the car is

easier. There is no more necessity to be strong for the steering wheel,

which is light. There is more space. It is easier to drive physically but

it is more demanding mentally. We shift the training on the mental

side. We work 50% on the brain and 50% on the muscle. How do you make a

driver mentally stronger? In Formula One, a driver needs to be mentally

strong. They are strong, for sure. When you work with the young

drivers, maybe you find someone who is not strong enough and you have to

help to increase their self-confidence, the ability to

manage their psyche. -- anxiety. We work on this. The big difference

between a top driver and a normal person is the economy of the brain.

We did some research. When you compare a Formula One driver with a

student, the difference is not in performance. The reaction time is

the same. We thought a driver was superman. The big difference is in

brain economy. We saw with a scan the driver is much less prepared

than a student. Same speed but one consumes half the fuel. That is a

big advantage. They are reserving their brain energy? You can extend

your performance for a long time. You can stay with the pace of

qualifying for a longer time. You have space in the brain to do more

than one thing. This is the evolution of the training. When the

drivers are young, they are more expensive. They grasp the steering

wheel, they are busy. When they grow up, they increase in self confidence

and learn to drive in a more smooth way. I think we need to do a feature

on this. A fascinating chat. The deluge continued for a further 50

minutes. Finally the qualifying did get under way. Qualifying will be

starting in a few moments. The heavy rain has stopped falling and the

track is beginning to clear. It will be very challenging for the drivers.

All the sessions have been in the drive. But the new cars, they are

learning how to get the best out of the hybrid power units. A very

different circuit today. Just glimpsed the green on the tyre. It

looks as though Sebastian Vettel will be going for intermediate

straight off, rather than going for the extreme wet. If there is

standing water, you go for the wets but if there is none, you can have

the intermediates. There is so much residual heat in the tarmac, despite

the water, the rain sort of evaporates off quite quickly.

TEAM RADIO: Looking at the safety car, we will go for intermediate

tyres. Look how early Mercedes are doing that. It does not look like we

will get any more rain. Maybe they are expecting. Maybe they have seen

a weather forecast. This might be the driest conditions. You are not

so nervous about the number of laps you are doing in this part of the

session. A lot of the energy is taken out of the engine in terms of

not running the same rpm. There is more drag. In terms of the

reliability package, there is less of a concern in the wet. In 2010,

both McLaren and Ferrari were caught out by not going out at the

beginning of the qualifiers. That is what Mercedes are doing, being safe.

They are saying it is bright and sunny in Kuala Lumpur. You do get

localised weather patterns. Temperatures dropped to 30 degrees

but it is now up to 34. The temperature is a relatively cool 26

degrees. Still very high humidity, of course. Lewis Hamilton will be

first out onto the circuit, just ahead of Nico Rosberg. It is

incredibly early when you consider we have a minute and a half to go

before the session starts. If you are in pole position, you sit on the

grid for up to a minute and you are concerned about that because of the

amount of heat. There are no fans. Maybe they are going down, you go

out of the garage with an engine temperature about 75, 80 degrees. On

the track, there are pressurised systems which allow them to go

beyond 100 degrees. If they have gone down there with them relatively

cool, they are doing the pre-heating process. The downside is it is a

full wet on the McLaren. They are not taking any chances with Kevin

Magnusson. The downside of sitting there for so long, the cars are

coming out and losing temperature quite simply as you sit there. If

you drop at the operating window, it can be difficult.

TEAM RADIO: we are expecting rain for this session, so we are using

the full wets. Full wets on both the McLarens. They have decided that is

the way to go for both the cars. There is no block depth. The block

depth allows movement in the tyre and you can get heat into the

compound. Problems for Marcus Ericsson. He cannot get the car

running. That is not good. The team will be able to come out of the pit

lane and help to start the car. Kimi Raikkonen is not out yet. He is on

the intermediate. They may be waiting a while. As they are trying

to get out of the spray, they will probably need to wait for them to be

in the middle of five or six off further around the lap. Marussia has

gone out together. Jean-Eric Vergne was very impressive in the wet

conditions in Australia. Sebastian Vettel has left it that little bit

longer. Kimi Raikkonen just about to come out. Let's ride on board with

Lewis Hamilton. There does not seem to be much standing water around at

all. Taking the wide line. That enables you to get off the rubber

which has been impregnated on the tarmac. Rubber on rubber with water

in between is particularly slippery. You want to try to avoid that if you

can. Both the Lotus cars are out nice and early. They missed that in

Australia. The car is not particularly developed but this

session might give them a bit more chance. Otherwise they could be at

danger of being eliminated. TEAM RADIO: how is the track? OK for

intermediate at the moment. A slightly bizarre question. One

extreme to the other. Fair to say how long before you can consider

putting a slick on? At no time is that right at the moment. You would

lose temperature from the tyre. Once you drop out of the operating window

for the surface of the tyre, you do not generate any traction. The

chemical interaction. Lewis Hamilton is the first to go in the flying

lap. The first segment. The target is not to be in the bottom six. The

lower six will be the lower on the grid.

TEAM RADIO: These are good conditions for this tyre. Let's get

ready for the intermediates. It is very interesting. Not much to choose

between the intermediate and the full wet in these kind of conditions

in Australia. I wonder if it will be the same case here today. Hamilton

and Rosberg, the first guys to be on the... A big plume of spray coming

down towards turn nine. You can see the run of water coming out of turn

nine. It is not giving them any big issues as we come out of turn 11.

The high-speed chicane at 12. You try everything you can to keep off

the white lines. They tend to use grip paint. You want to try to avoid

it if possible. Lewis Hamilton was faster on the middle sector. Overall

you would say Rosberg has the edge. It depends on which one gets it

together. A little tentative on the turn in. A beautiful line out of the

corner. What is the immediate response from the team-mate of Lewis

Hamilton? He outmatches his team member.

TEAM RADIO: We think intermediates are the right tyre. Box this lap.

McLaren now decide to go for the intermediates. The gap between what

they were doing in the dry and what they were doing on intermediate

tyres, what is it, 39 seconds? Let's see what the others are doing.

Valterri Bottas has gone third in the Williams. He loves these

conditions. What about Alonso? Is it a quick lap? He goes third. Look at

the gap! A massive gap in terms of time. Three seconds between Mercedes

and Alonso. There may be a bit of traffic at play. The Mercedes cars

were first out at the beginning of the session. Nico Hulkenberg has

popped into third, these guys are staying out. How many laps can you

do in these conditions before you have to come in? Although they are

taking edges of the corner of the block, the way the intermediate tyre

is put together, there is a lot more connection between the tyre itself.

Keep the temperature down on the surface and you are absolutely fine.

Daniel Ricciardo in third. Still a massive 1.7 seconds away from

Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel is seventh. Kimi Raikkonen is up to

fifth. Then the Ferrari of Alonso. Simply not fast enough in these

conditions. Here comes the two Mercedes once again. Lewis Hamilton

across the line. 1:57.2. He is not any quicker than Rosberg. Problems

again. He is being told to bring it back into the pits. Let's see what

Valterri Bottas does. It will not be enough to challenge the top guys.

Where is it? He is eighth at the moment. Colby Ashley, 16th place.

Just out of the drops. -- drop-zone. Chilton is down there at the moment.

The times are changing all the time. We are still waiting for a lap time

from Ericsson and Magnussen. On with Nico Hulkenberg. He did a very good

first lap. Can he get any closer to the Mercedes and perhaps Pip

Ricciardo? -- pip. That was an improvement in time. He is no

quicker. These guys can deliver the best lap on that opening lap. That

is very impressive indeed. Daniel Ricciardo. Can he find more pace? He

stayed out there. Drivers will put another set of intermediates on if

they think the track is improving. No improvement in time for Daniel

Ricciardo. He remains in third. Keep an eye on Raikkonen as well.

TEAM RADIO: The rain is getting heavier. There is definitely a

little bit more rain falling once again. Adrian Sutil normally likes

these conditions but he is in 16th place at the moment. Remember, it

does not matter where you are in the top 16. Maybe if you are down in

13th, 14th, 15th, you start to worry but if you are in the top ten, you

should be pretty relaxed about making it through.

TEAM RADIO: We have an issue with the energy store. They are trying to

reset the system. The message from Lotus, looking out the back of the

commentary box, the rain does not seem to be much heavier. Unless that

is information they have got from some member of the team upwind of

the circuit... That is a good point. Magnussen is out there on the

intermediates. McLaren hopefully have turned it round in time. Alonso

has gone quicker than he had done so he moves up to fourth in the

Ferrari. It shows the track conditions are still OK. McLaren

effectively got it wrong putting them out on full wets initially.

They should recover. A bit of luck for McLaren. Had it started to rain

harder, they could have been in trouble. Magnussen stays wide on

purpose to try to find more grip. TEAM RADIO: Expect the weather to

stay the same to the end of the session. Different report. Into 14th

but not safe and secure by any means. They all have the same

weather report. The difference in the information could come from

having a team member positioned away from the circuit. Adrian Sutil is in

the drop zone. Still there. He is in 17th. The car has been a bit of a

struggle. It does not seem to be easier. His team-mate has gone 12th.

Gutierrez was quick in the wet conditions. We saw this last year.

Can Hamilton go any quicker? No, he cannot. Still second to his

team-mate, Nico Rosberg. A classic confrontation between them. A

massive margin over everyone else. 1.7 seconds. I'm sure Mercedes

managed to do some decent wet testing at the early stages in

Spain. They were playing with engine mapping things and also clever

devices. Incredibly small distance. One meter or something around the

lap. That is a good point. You would want an extendable nose just to make

things longer at the finishing line! They almost have that this year!

Jenson Button, on a lap at the moment, so is Kevin Magnussen, but

Jenson Button, trying to move into that top 16 because he is currently

in the drops. -- drop-zone. We have Adrian Sutil, two Marussia cars,

Caterham, one Sauber and one McLaren. Also in danger is Pastor

Maldonado, Jean-Eric Vergne from Toro Rosso. That is surprising, I

thought he would be quicker. What will Kevin Magnussen do? He is in

12th place. McLaren, after such a very impressive form in Australia,

what is going on? They have this revised front end and it does not

seem to be working. Paying the price for not practising? They are working

through some traffic as well. They have fresher tyres. Three laps,

potentially, before the chequered flag. There should be enough

inherent speed to not see them into the drop-zone. Jean-Eric Vergne is

the next one. Not many behind that are dangerous. Pastor Maldonado

could move up. Romain Grosjean, ninth quickest. Lotus, 15 kilometres

per hour down on on some of the faster cars. Romain Grosjean, up in

ninth place, that is outstanding. Pastor Maldonado has some work to do

to move into the safety zone. It is car balance and the confidence of

the driver and the ability to get the power down. They have had a

terrible start, Lotus, no doubt. With the inherent pace on that team

as a World Championship team, so they will want to get on top of

those issues. Some green times, drivers are still setting individual

sector times that are improving. It does not look like that little bit

of extra rain is slowing things down. It would not take much more.

On with Felipe Massa. Pole position in the past year but he has never

finished on the podium. See how he gets on. Can he move up? TEAM RADIO:

It is going to rain more. Reporting that there is more rain to come.

Sebastian Vettel back after whatever problems they had with Red Bull,

they have sent him on his way. He is up to third, four tenths of a second

behind Mercedes, they have more threat and the track is still

delivering decent lap times. Four minutes left to go on this first

part of qualifying. Pastor Maldonado in the drop zone, as is Adrian

Sutil, Chilton and Ericsson. Caterham, this is the home race,

they are owned by Malaysia and Tony Fernandes.

Oh my goodness! Well out of shape, isn't he? Rally style. Certainly

pushing the limits of the rear grip. Fantastic to watch and that is what

these new cars are delivering. Wet and dry.

That was a good exit. Fernando Alonso could improve on his current

position. Very close in that group from Nico Hulkenberg all the way

down to Fernando Alonso and even Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen.

Jean-Eric Vergne is in the pits, getting intermediate tyres on. Both

Toro Rosso cars in danger. Jules Bianchi crossing the line and not

changing his position. Riding with Esteban Gutierrez. Pushed down to

14th position. That was a better lap from Fernando Alonso, pushing Daniel

Ricciardo down. Esteban Gutierrez generally has a very good touch in

the wet. Finding his power coming out of turn Number ten. Through this

high-speed chicane. Into the braking zone, which is never ending, it

lends into 14, large amount of understeer and then onto the power,

the power slide onto that long back straight. Normally this is where the

DRS would be deployed but these conditions it is not. The middle

sector is not any better. I am not sure this will improve his current

overall lap time. He is currently in 14th place. No, he stays there.

Danger territory but I think you should be OK. I don't see anybody in

the drop zone going massively faster, except perhaps Pastor

Maldonado. Earlier, McLaren we were talking about, and Jenson Button has

been struggling to make headway. It is like they peaked immediately and

then struggled. Marcus Ericsson has crashed. What has happened? This

will effectively end the session. Anyone else trying to improve will

be unable to do so. Turn number four, clearly something has happened

with the braking. He said he had never driven in the wet before in a

Formula One car. Red flag. The session has come to an end. Well,

the marshals are very quick to attend but the session has been

stopped. Marcus Ericsson, the Swedish rookie, his first season in

Formula One, he raced in Australia and he failed to finish, he had a

mechanical problem. But clearly, he has been caught out. We will have to

wait for the replay. He is certainly moving around and hopefully we will

see him coming out of that car very soon. There is no standing water in

the braking zone, so unless there has been an incident with his car.

From a driving point of view, what possibly could have happened?

Touching the kerbs? Or recharging the energy store. It looks like a

fairly contained accident, in terms of getting one of the marker boards,

they are picking that up. It does not look like there were any obvious

marks on the grass. In the fullness of time we will get the replay.

Coming out of turn number two. Short shift, keeping off the racing line.

He is already fighting with the rear of the car and he gets onto the kerb

and he loses control. Having some difficulty. Oversteer, trying to get

that power down. Taking out the marker board, it looks dramatic but

it is only polystyrene. The damage has been done. As accidents go, it

was dramatic but not as big as some we have seen in the past. The car

swiping the barrier and then coming back across the track. The good news

is there were no other cars. Well, actually, Esteban Gutierrez had seen

things because he was over on the inside. Very straightforward driver

mistake. Another look from Esteban Gutierrez, he did actually have to

move over and stop but he had plenty of space. And Esteban Gutierrez has

made it through to the next part of qualifying. Marcus Ericsson, sadly,

is out. And he was the slowest of the 22 cars as well. Slower than his

team-mate, Kamui Kobayashi. Sebastian Vettel... He took a trip

onto the grass. But he had gone third fastest before that. Really, I

do not think that affected him much. He knew he was close to the limit

and he was trying to modulate his brake pedal and he started to lose

the rear end. The first session has come to a conclusion after that

accident for Marcus Ericsson. He is fine and the drivers that are out of

the session are Pastor Maldonado, Adrian Sutil, Kamui Kobayashi, Max

Chilton and, of course, Marcus Ericsson.

Alexander will hold my brolly. Tough times. Marcus Ericsson crashing and

the boys felt he was wrestling with his car. Absolutely, it has been

very difficult for us, continuing from Australia. We did not get any

real running on Friday and to have the qualifying in the wet, Marcus

has never driven in the wet before. It was quite difficult. Small

mistake and unfortunately quite a big incident. It was very tough.

Talk us through this. Turn number three is high-speed and he had a lot

of oversteer. He was trying to put the power down and the way these

units work with these conditions, he got out of shape. Really unfortunate

for him. To be fair, it is the first time he has driven that car in the

wet. Very difficult conditions. It must be extremely tricky and

daunting, this is Formula One, he has to compete against everyone else

but to never have driven in the wet before, it did not happen in

testing, they were not ready. Very difficult. From his perspective,

what is going to happen? We will have to wait and see. The team will

be able to fix the car but it was very difficult, I can speak from

experience, my first time in the wet in Montreal, you have no ex -- no

idea what to expect. The pace was quite good, considering. Hopefully

it will be dry. And we will have the reliability to show we have the

pace. He was going well. In terms of being a new driver in Formula One,

is it about pushing as much as you can and try not to crash? We want to

push 100% and in qualifying you have two, maybe not in practice. I don't

think anyone was going to be upset or frustrated with the fact that

happened. We will bounce back tomorrow. Looking at that session,

we could see the both times, Caterham and Marussia, but Marussia,

it is the battle. What is the feeling in the Caterham camp? They

have the new Ferrari engine. They are quite strong compared to last

year, we have to work very hard. But in our defence, since the season

started, we have not had a strong Friday and in Australia we could get

into Q2 based on merit. We did not have a Friday to set things up and

in Bahrain next week, we hopefully will have that strong Friday and in

qualifying we can be much stronger. Early days. How important is to get

those double points at the end the season? Knowing the rest of the

teams fighting for the end point. Could it be that we look at the

scrap the front but also at the back as well? Those double points are

playing to our advantage because it will be later when we start to see

improvements. And I think, everybody will bring the update, but it will

be big for us. We hopefully can keep with Renault on reliability so there

are a very large number of good people involved and I have no doubt

that we will make big steps forward. The reserve driver, GP2, are you

desperate to get into that seat? The drivers need as much time as they

can. And my focus is on GP2. The second part of qualifying gets under

way. Kimi Raikkonen is fairly on in the queue. A slight difference in

Tyre choice going on. At the moment, we have the cars on the full wet

tyre. At this stage, the intermediates on the Ferrari. We

will keep an eye on that and see what they will do. Full wets for

Sergio Perez, who is going out of the pit lane at the moment. The

Force India is on its way. Quite a lot of spray about. We can see there

is more moisture. A bit more standing water. It would be a bit

more of a challenge for them. Domain is heavier than at the end of the

first session. We saw the water coming out the drains. So much

saturation in the ground it does not have that much run-off. We are on a

hill so it will make its way down. The Ferrari is tentatively trying to

find its way around. It's not just about feeling good grip, you are

trying to get out of the spray. You can see from the on-board image with

the Williams, the spinning of the car in front. They do not have

window wipers on their advisers. They do have heated visors. That

helps the difference between hot breath and humidity. Struggling to

find some space, the amount of cars on track. It is a very good camera

angle. TEAM RADIO: There is a bit of water so change to the other tyres.

Ferrari have got it a bit wrong so they are going onto the full wet.

That has happened before. Fernando Alonso has had the intermediates

and, just as the track was drying, they put the full wet on. Tactically

they have made two errors in two races. We have a red flag. Let's try

to see what has happened. I am trying to spot what might have

occurred. At turn nine, Daniil Kvyat. We have contact with two

cars. We are getting an on-board view of what happened. He went to

the inside. There was plenty of space. He whacked the front wheel of

Fernando. It does not look like he did anything wrong. The second part

of qualifying restarts after that incident. We are back up and running

to see who will be in the top ten. Conditions are fairly even. The rain

is still falling. There is standing water. There is more water around

than in the first part. I am not sure the intermediates will be much

good. The long corners would be fairly straightforward to take dry

in the flat. In the spray comic you get unsighted. Valterri Bottas is

following the cars with the mechanics. It looks like they will

get that car turned around in just over 11 minutes of the session. It

was the car of Kimi Raikkonen going down the pit lane. Sebastian Vettel

is on his way down to the exit. Let's see if he can produce another

quick performers like he did in the first part of qualifying. He was

third fastest. I wonder if he can repeat that. We have the one red

ball through, that of Romain Grosjean. A big slide by Valterri

Bottas. It does seem to be a bit of a handful. We may well see Valterri

Bottas back in, going on to the full wet. Alonso has just come past me on

full wet tyres. He was cried aggressor. -- quite aggressive. They

have managed to fix his car and send him on his way once more. Gutierrez

is the fastest out. I am sure we will see Valterri Bottas coming back

into the pits. It did seem to be a big handful for him. There is the

repaired Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. No, Valterri Bottas has stayed out

there. He has tried to stay out on the intermediates. The rain is

pretty steady. He wants to see if he can deliver and find some grip. It

is not just about the standing water, it is about trying to get the

heat. A massive oversteer as he drops down into the apex of Turn

two. We have seen him perform in damp conditions extremely

impressively in Canada last year. He is not afraid of the conditions.

Hamilton is setting the pace in the first sector. Valterri Bottas is

going very deep into Turn four. Kimi Raikkonen is ahead of him, in the

Ferrari. Confirmation that Daniil Kvyat will take a visit to the

stewards along with Fernando Alonso. Hamilton is going slightly quicker.

He has done it in the middle sector. He was slightly faster than Nico

Rosberg. It looks like Hamilton may have the edge over his team-mate.

Let's see if anyone else is in the ballpark. They are looking at

lapping the first sector by about 29 seconds. No-one else is quicker. Not

as fast as the Mercedes. Here we are with both Mercedes drivers, eager to

beat each other. They are so eager to beat each other, they must not

throw away the opportunity and let another team in. As you lose

yourself in your thoughts in the cockpit, Hamilton has always led the

way. Not as quick. Rosberg has always had Hamilton ahead of him.

Turn number 15. Kevin Magnussen, see what he can do. McLaren seem to be

struggling in that first part. Kimi Raikkonen has gone third. Marcus

Ericsson goes third. That is more promising. Certainly, on the full

wets. The McLaren seems to be working better. Daniel Ricciardo

seems to be working harder in the middle sector. Showing tremendous

pace. Just teetering on the entry to the corner but just about keeping

things under control. See what it is. Two minutes, but he splits

Mercedes. That was a good lap. You could see the grip generated as he

turned into that apex. Another long corner. Romain Grosjean struggling

with traction. We continue to ride with Romain Grosjean. Through ten,

into 11. Some oversteer as he turns into the apex. Traffic ahead of him.

Into 12. Just listen. Very gentle. 13, and then understeer, takes the

wide line. Onto the back straight. Makes an adjustment. He must go

faster, try harder. Here's hoping that will make his performance

better as he approaches the braking in 15. The aim is top ten and it

would be major if Lotus could do that. 6.5 minutes left. Romain

Grosjean, 13th on his first-time lap. And he goes into 10th place.

Lots of cars potentially behind him, including Felipe Massa, both

Williams cars are out of the top ten. As in Australia, Williams does

not like the wet conditions as much. Not as much downforce as the other

cars. In the dry it has good straight-line speed but in the wet

it loses overall grip levels. Both Toro Rosso cars in the drop-zone

currently. Riding with Nico Hulkenberg, currently in fifth

place. The long back straight. Oversteer on entry. He is only in

sixth gear coming down. You might get up to seventh in some areas with

the increased drag from the wet tyres and a reduced speed, as you

leave the corner. You can see the massive reduction in top speed.

Sebastian Vettel in second, splitting Mercedes. Both Red Bulls

up there. Nico Rosberg is fastest in the first sector. Five minutes to

go. In the drop-zone... Sauber, Williams and then one McLaren and

Jenson Button. Again, Kevin Magnussen looking quicker than

Jenson Button in these conditions. Nip and tuck between Rosberg and

Hamilton. We have to presume that Rosberg has encountered some traffic

or some other difficulty in that sector as Hamilton completes the

track. He does further improve his time. Will this be enough to promote

Jenson Button into the top ten? Let us wait and see. Yes, well, he is

just in there at the moment in ninth place, but there is no security.

Button in 10th place, in the danger zone once again. He failed to make

it in Australia. Magnussen! He is off, in the gravel. Recovering from

that mistake. But great instinct to recover. Well, that was scary. See

what happened here. He lost the rear end very early. And that long,

graceful slide but no points for that. He nearly takes a bird with

him! Watching from on-board. He locked up his front right initially

and then, as the generator unit does its thing in recovery mode, he

starts to drift. The equivalent of pulling the handbrake and he gets

into that slide. These gravel traps are quite solid, in others you might

have sunk in. You seem to be able to get out. Rosberg is on a good lap

but Hamilton is matching him, once again. So little to choose between

them. Is it worth them both gunning like this when there is still

another session? They are comfortably in the top ten. Do they

need to be doing these laps? It is a case of Mercedes doing belt and

braces, it would be easy to say, bring the boys in, but we have seen

changing weather conditions. They are doing belt and braces. Another

improvement by Hamilton on his previous mark. Can Rosberg get past

these Red Bulls. He does. Hulkenberg holding onto a fine fifth place,

ahead of Ferraris. He was being discussed as a future Ferrari driver

and he finds himself in front. Kevin Magnussen, trying to keep his cool.

They are blowing dry ice into the cockpit, and am I thinking correctly

when I say that dry ice is effectively carbon dioxide? That

cannot be good! It is not poisonous, do not worry, that is carbon

monoxide. Valtteri Bottas on the outside. Daniel Ricciardo is still

in fourth place with that time. Still in fourth place. No change for

him. And Williams, sliding for Sergio Perez, in the Force India. He

is currently in the top ten, do not forget. That was not the place to do

that! He just stays where he is. Still in ninth place. He's not seen

quite as many improvements but Jenson Button is improving. He needs

to. Valtteri Bottas on the full wets. Off the pace. He is on a

better lap. I was looking to see Jenson Button on the track but he

has quite a bit of traffic in front of him, Fernando Alonso, Rosberg,

experienced drivers, they should not get in his way. Rosberg, in that

spray, somewhere. We will see Jenson Button. Will this put him safer than

he is? Because Romain Grosjean is in 11th place and we know he can

deliver, even if the Lotus is struggling. Any improvement? Up to

eighth place, relief for McLaren, ahead of his team-mate, currently.

On-board with Valtteri Bottas. What can he do? Improving on his time

that he has done so far but will that we enough to put him into the

zone? Look at the amount of correction. Conditions are

reasonably stable. They are calming down. They just have to try to find

the line and give yourself the best opportunity to get some heat into

the tyres. You are fighting against the cooling effect of the water. The

chequered flag. Gutierrez is into 10th but he has seen the flag.

Sebastian Vettel has gone quickest in the middle sector of anybody.

What about Valtteri Bottas? Not looking likely, 12th place. Not

enough for Valtteri Bottas. Felipe Massa has not seen the flag yet.

Slightly better lap than his previous. Daniil Kvyat, incident

pack. Just into the top ten. Still several cars out there. Sergio Perez

could be one to watch. He is out. We know that Vergne loves these

conditions. He has just done it! He displaces his team-mate. The

graphics were slow to record that. He has been squeezed out by his more

experienced team-mate. What can Felipe Massa do? Moves up to 13th

place. But sadly, neither Williams makes it into the top ten and that

will be disappointing after that promising performance, particularly

in Australia. But Toro Rosso, there is a mixture of feelings because one

car is in and one is out and Romain Grosjean has been pushed down to the

bottom of the list. He has not seen the chequered flag. His middle

sector is better but he might have made a mistake. The exit from turn

12. He goes for a little spin. That big sideways moment. That is the end

of any chance for Romain Grosjean to improve. At least Lotus have got one

car. In the top ten, Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Rosberg, Daniel

Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne. We have lost one Toro Rosso, Daniil Kvyat. I

think Esteban Gutierrez ended up in 12th place. But that is still

laudable for Sauber. Perez in 14th place. Valtteri Bottas was 15th.

Felipe Massa will not be the easiest to beat, even in the wet. Did you

catch that? I think somebody held him up. I was talking over the

beginning of that. Romain Grosjean is also out. What is happening on

the replay? Valtteri Bottas in front. That is Daniel Ricciardo

behind him. That looks fair. There was space. Absolutely. Taking the

tighter line. There might be discussion about that but the net

result is that we have lost Daniil Kvyat, Gutierrez, Valtteri Bottas

and Romain Grosjean. I have upgraded my gentleman with the umbrella to

the world champion, Mika Hakkinen. Thank you for joining us. Watching

that session intently, it seems that patience is the order of the day?

Yes, you can see that it is very difficult to drive here so we could

see some situations with cars going off so I am not surprised. Let us

look at Kevin Magnussen. There was this bit. Talk us through. That

corner is definitely very complicated because the timing for

the braking is very difficult. You can just see how much water is

flying. Just that miscalculation of the braking. It naturally comes down

to the inexperience. But luckily, he did a very good job to get out. What

do you think of him as a driver? Calm and calculated? Definitely, he

is a very good driver. I used to race against his dad. There is some

good talent. Not the only moment that we have seen so far. Let us

look at the incident that happened in Q1 with Marcus Ericsson. This is

again very difficult, this corner, you go flat out and if you are still

cornering and if you touch the white, you can see what happens.

Again, I have to say that Formula One cars are just so fast and if you

do not have full experience of handling in those situations, that

was going to happen and they have to be running so much of the wet

conditions so the drivers don't have much experience about that. He has

been talking to us. Are you OK? I am fine, thank you. You were saying

beforehand you had not driven a car in the wet. It was really slippery.

I was trying to build my pace. How damaged is the car? It seems to be

quite damaged. I am sure we will be fine tomorrow. We are just chatting

about Ericssen. Tough times. If you get the chance, it you need to go

for it. Conditions like that are very difficult. We should not be too

critical. Lack of experience, that is what is going to happen. Talking

of experience, we also saw an incident with Daniil Kvyat and

Alonso. Can you speak about it from your point of view? It is difficult

to calculate 100% sure. I do not think we should blame one driver. I

think it is a combination of both drivers. They need to pay maximum

attention. Would you say that Alonso was slightly ahead of Daniil Kvyat

and the rule is you should always look for the car that is ahead so

perhaps, Daniil Kvyat might get a minor telling off? It looks like he

just went for the space. It would have been impossible to stop any

more at that moment. Touching the inside kerb, what you lose in the

front-end did not help him to stop at all.

I am going to come and watch the next session so I will be

well-informed. Q3 and a top shoot out. Kimi Raikkonen will lead the

cars out onto the track. Who will come out on top? You have to say, it

is highly likely that one or other of the two Mercedes will be on pole

position. They seem to have so much pace around the race track in wet

and dry conditions. They have cleaned the car. It was a

good, instinctive reaction of a complete young racer to get on the

power once he realised he would not hit anything solid. This is one of

the early tracks. There is still a combination of part gravel, part

tarmac. They had a bit of clearing up to do with the car of Kevin

Magnusson. They have got it out but it is a damaged car. He has damaged

his rear diffuser fences. That is the edge of the rear diffuser. That

will affect the amount of downforce he has. It is sad for him. He was

half a second up on Jenson Button before he had that. It is a shame

the car will not be 100%. He may be able to deliver a result. That is

part of the game. It is not 100% because he has been picked on in

some way, it is because he has gone off in the one hour of qualifying

sessions. You take the consequences. Details of what could have been. I

could have been a contender. I have read every page of that book. It is

all about delivering. He is young in his career and he is still out there

in this session. Even if he is at the bottom end of the top ten, that

still gives him an opportunity. I do not think he will. Certainly his

performance has been quite impressive. TEAM RADIO: Is it still

too wet for the intermediates? Yes, it is. McLaren have got it wrong

again. Both cars did not make it through in 2010 because of that. It

is not like McLaren to find themselves in this situation. I

wonder if they are relying too much on what information is being driven

to them rather than rely on what you can see in the pit lane. There is

nothing like standing out from underneath a cover and confirming

the level of rain. The driver can ultimately have the final say. You

get wrapped up in so much trust in each other but sometimes you cannot

see the rain for the water. Kimi Raikkonen has decided to go for the

full wet tyres. You have some further information? We have seen

Ferrari, Williams and McLaren or making this error of judgment. It is

difficult to comprehend. The new wet tyre in 2014 is a softer compound

and is much closer in lap time to the intermediate. There is no need

to take the risk when the conditions are changeable. It looked to me like

Jenson Button put the intermediate on. We have a team making contrary

decisions on what to do with the tyres. Presumably they have given

that choice to the drivers. Kevin said, it is too wet for

intermediates. Maybe Jenson Button said, I want them. With eight and a

half minutes of the session to go, you might well be making the

decisions, I have to do something to get up the grid. He has not been

happy generally with the overall grip of the car. He is in the top

ten. If it works for him, he could be at the high end of the top ten

and, if it doesn't, he is where he is expected to be anyway. A bit of a

margin over Kimi Raikkonen of just over one second. That is under 30

seconds in duration, that sector. Kimi Raikkonen is running a bit wide

in the final turn. That has cost him extra time. This time he is about to

be shattered by Mercedes. Not underneath the two-minute barrier.

Both Hamilton and Rosberg are on circuit. Let's watch Hamilton down

to the final turn. Sixth gear for him. He is just

feeling the car for the brakes. Changing up below 12,000 rpm,

hopefully we will get the graphic. 15,000 is the maximum available. No

one is really running up to that. Hamilton with the edge. That was a

good lap by him. I wonder how things will develop. The lap times are a

bit slower than we saw earlier on. We were underneath the two-minute

barrier before. Alonso splits the Mercedes. Now

Sebastian Vettel goes quicker. Look at how close he was to the time of

Hamilton. Remember with these hybrid systems, what they have to do is

spend a lap or two to recharge the ball energy recovery system. --

full. You cannot, necessarily, get two quick laps in succession. The

storage capacity is four megajoules. The recoverable energy is two. If

you deploy your full four on any given lap, providing the conditions

are ideal, you can only recover half that. They are saying it could be

intermediates or wet tyres at this particular point. There are six

minutes to go. That will change in that time. There is still rain

falling. How much it will change is difficult to say. Lewis Hamilton is

fastest at this stage but not by very much. He has the advantage over

the Red Bulll of Sebastian Vettel. So far Mercedes has dominated. Could

there be a surprise? He has set a very rapid mid-sector time. Will it

be enough for him? Water is being thrown up. The full wets are doing a

lot of clearance. Is it a quick lap for him? No, it is not. 59.7, as

opposed to 59.4. Let's see what Rosberg has just done. Maybe a

mistake. He carries too much speed. He goes over the front tyre and

understeer is wide. It looks like Sebastian Vettel is on a recovery

lap and not pushing at all. Just watching Magnussen coming down

towards the end of his lap. He is quicker in the first sector and the

second sector and Jenson Button. Despite the damage to the rear

diffuser of the car, I think he will have a slightly different lap. -- a

slightly quicker lap. I will have to change tyres. Kimi Raikkonen knows

he needs to coming quickly. A different tyre choice between the

two cars. Jenson Button is on the intermediate and Magnusson is on the

full wets. What has Sebastian Vettel gone for? He is on the full wets.

Probably a new set to go but the sharp edges. Also you have the

optimal tyre temperature and you can get a better track position. All of

those benefits. He will be able to get a good time lap.

Both the Red Bulls are out on the full wet tyres. That will be their

choice now. I cannot see them going out and doing another lap and still

change. Red Bull have decided to do their run on the full wets. That

appears to be the tyre to have on this stage. Jenson Button is still

on the intermediates. It is still raining. It is not drying. Jenson

Button is between turn seven and eight. Around half of the lap. Kimi

Raikkonen is coming in for the full wets. The tyres have gone and he has

a fresh set. He had a bit of time deficit against his team-mate,

Alonso. We will see whether he chooses the same or not. Right now,

pretty much everyone is on the full wets, except Jenson Button. Everyone

else has chosen the full wets but Jenson Button is still plugging away

on the intermediates. Now for the final turn, he has improved. Where

he went off earlier, he is fighting the steering. Jenson Button, coming

onto the back straight, if he is to get a lap on full wets, he will need

to come in. Does he come in? He stays out. He is committed to this.

That was brave from Jenson Button. He crossed the line. What can Nico

Hulkenberg do? A bit of improvement. A good lap from him. He is ahead of

both the McLarens. He is in the Force India with the same Mercedes

power unit. Tom, you are at Mercedes. You saw the pit stop. What

did you see? They stacked both the cars up and did exquisite pit stops.

Everything is working so well at that team. The cars, the pit stops,

everything. Right now, the cars are split by two drivers. They are

between the two Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Alonso. -- Rosberg.

We're not seeing any green sector times. That implies the track is

getting worse. With a 1.5 minutes to go, we're not seeing anyone putting

up better sector times. We still have a bit of time to go. Rain is

still falling. We can see how much spray is around. Standing water is

the issue. Sebastian Vettel has positioned himself as the last car

to make his way around and get across the line. As you say, no-one

is going faster at this time. There is one more flying lap. A healthy

gap to the cars in front. I am just not sure the track will deliver the

lap times. Sebastian Vettel has. There is just enough grip, perhaps.

I cannot see through his mirrors. Anyway, he does not have to worry

about that. If you get caught for impeding a driver, you can get a

penalty on the grid. You can see Alonso backing up as well as the

position to come out of the last corner. Daniel Ricciardo is the man

affected by that. I do not think Sebastian Vettel will make it across

the line. The chequered flag comes out now. Sebastian Vettel has

failed. That is so rare that they get that wrong. They have got it

wrong on this occasion. Normally they are 100% in operational matters

like that. He has seen the chequered flag, according to our timing screen

and that means this lap will not count. That is interesting. I do not

think he made it across the line in time. I think everyone should be on

a lap to see if they can make any changes to the order as it stands.

That will not challenge Hamilton, who is six tenths quicker in the

first sector, historically. Kimi Raikkonen will not improve. He

missed the last opportunity. I do not think this will be an

improvement at all for Kimi Raikkonen. He will find himself

further down than his team-mate, Alonso. Hamilton has gone off and

continued at turn four. That looks like it is his time. Alonso not as

quick as he needed to be to challenge Hamilton ahead. Rosberg, a

good sector. First not as quick. He could be one to watch. He may still

improve. You're watching Magnusson at the moment in the McLaren. He is

currently eighth. The McLarens are on two different tyres. It looks as

if Magnusson went for the correct tyre and Jenson Button chose the

wrong one. That is a bit of a surprise. No change for Magnusson

but he survives and looks to be starting in eighth place. Several

other cars coming round to finish the lap, through the haze. Alonso

stays there. -- third. Rosberg is the only one... Yes, he goes up to

third, he displaces Fernando Alonso. Rosberg, the only one able to make

any improvement. First and third for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton has

taken pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix. And that means

back-to-back pole positions this year, 100% in qualifying. His 33rd

career pole position and he matches the long-standing British record of

Jim Clark, with 33 pole positions. That has stood since 1968. And it

has been matched by Lewis Hamilton. His second here in Malaysia, he did

it in 2012 but is yet to win the race. What an absolutely brilliant

performance from him in difficult conditions. Sebastian Vettel has

qualified in second place and was only a fraction of a second slower

than Hamilton. The four-times world champion and three times winner in

Malaysia has shown that, given changeable conditions, Red Bull can

be right there. Daniel Ricciardo started in second in Australia and

finished in second place. That could be a very big boost to the team. He

congratulates Hamilton. Mercedes will be very satisfied with first

and third but Jenson Button will be ruing that choice of tyre. 10th and

last place of that session. His team-mate chose the full wets and he

is in eighth place. Then Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi

Raikkonen, not so strong today. Hulkenberg, another superb effort,

beating both McLarens. Daniil Kvyat, just outside the top ten. Further

down, Romain Grosjean, starting ahead of Pastor Maldonado. There

might be penalties applied for other issues. We saw that incident between

Fernando Alonso and Daniil Kvyat and the incident between Valtteri Bottas

and Daniel Ricciardo. There could be changes to that. But this is how

they qualified. Lewis Hamilton on pole position and Nico Rosberg,

always matching him until the very last session. And ending up in third

position. Here are the results. Not making it through to Q3... And

out after Q1. Letters hear from the drivers. Another stunning pole

position and a wonderful record to match? Yes, crazy. Many mentioned

that I could not believe it. I never would have dreams of having the

amount of poles that I have had. I wish I could convert them into wins.

I have some catching up to do. But I am very proud and I said, it was

just because I had a great group of people that enables me to do those

things. Not only my family but my team and my management, they all add

to the good ingredients. Some cars suit wet or dry but you have a nice

transition between both? We don't lose time, everyone else gains

time, maybe. In the wet, for Sebastian Vettel to be that close is

surprising. But yes, it was so close. Yes, too many pole

positions. Second place, fantastic turnaround but there is that gap,

was that more frustrating because it was so close? It was close, to

close. Very tricky, especially in Q3 with lots of water. Some places on

the track looked like intermediate but then there were rivers and other

places. Yes, only after the first lap there was more to gain. -- I

knew. I could not finish the second lap. Yes, I was pushing too hard, I

was up and I was a little bit we find. Paul was there, Lewis Hamilton

did the better job. The better first lap. All in all, we can be very

happy. It was a very tough winter but strong comeback. Third place,

the only driver to improve on that final lap. How do you feel? I am

pleased, third place is OK. It is not pole position but a great place

to start. There will be a lot of things going on. I will make the

most of it. With changeable conditions, Mercedes looks

comfortable, but is a specific dry or wet you would like? Any

condition, the car is quick and I feel comfortable. Whatever.

Disappointed at the choice of intermediates? No, when you are

going to be eighth place, it is worth a punt. So, yes. It is what it

is. I felt the circuit, I did not think it was going to rain again. It

was worth a go. Pretty wet at the back. Whose choice was it? You or

the team? I chose it. I did not get it right today. But it was worth a

go. When we are fighting at the back of the top ten, you give it a go.

Good shape for tomorrow? I don't know! Nobody knows that, the only

people who know are Mercedes. He sounds quite thoughtful but in that

situation, was it worth a shot? Absolutely, he is not challenging

for pole position in normal conditions so you have to do

something different and you make the call and you come in and you go back

on the track and in this case, the rain did not stop and if it had, it

would be a better decision. So what I take out of the information coming

from Jenson Button is disappointment that the car clearly is one step

forward over last year but still short of Mercedes. And that is a

huge challenge to make up that gap. It is not just about individual

sessions or winning, it is about the Championship. He wants more. And it

is looking like a long shot for this car to be a Championship car. And

Lewis Hamilton, he really led the way throughout those sessions and he

had it right. It was about the tyres and timing? Nico Rosberg, out of the

traps in the first part and he looked slightly more comfortable but

Lewis Hamilton. As Ben said, it is normally that he saves the big lap

for when it counts and he will be very satisfied with what was a very

difficult session. Especially for the younger drivers. Terrible

conditions but interesting. Sebastian Vettel? It proves the

point that they have a good car, and as we said, the wet weather

neutralises the lines on the power and if you have a car that generates

downforce, that means the driver has confidence and can exploit that and

it is not just about the times on the laps, they have analysis that

proves where the car delivers its lap time so later in the season we

will look at that in more depth and show the viewers exactly how the

team builds confidence. It was all about patients today. Thank you for

being patient. We will be back tomorrow morning a little bit later

than this morning, at 8am, live on BBC One. Fingers crossed we don't

have the same situation as today but Lewis Hamilton is on pole position

and it was a completely wet and wild session here, some interesting stuff

and some amazing tenacity from all of the drivers. Thank you very much

for watching. We will see you at 8am in the morning, put those brollies

away and pray for the sunshine! Goodbye!