The Malaysian Grand Prix Formula 1

Previously on Formula 1... That is not running smoothly. This is

Formula One, race two, Malaysia. Oh, these sound and the Fury. All

those changes. What else might change now that we are racing? Who

is out and who is back in? Where was the noise? The noise in Formula One

has gone. Here yourself think, unheard of. The noise of 130,000 in

Sepang should do the trick. Malaysia, where the rain can poor

and raw and the clashes can be loud. In this noise, sometimes you

can think straight. Round 2 in the great year of change. Not so quiet

after all. Here is to sound and purity, all right. -- fury. There he

is, Eddie Jordan. He will be back with us in Barcelona. Until then, it

is me and him. He is completely mad. I am looking forward to him being

back in pass alone will stop it is about 33 degrees and the track is

hitting 50. Apologies if we do start to glow a little bit. Thank you for

joining us. We are live for the duration. You can't treat us or send

us a message on Facebook using the BBC sport page. Sepang, Malaysia, I

love this track. Lots of overtaking. How was it for you? This

circuit is absolutely right. It is an early creation. There are good

overtaking areas, especially down into the last corner and down into

Turn 1. There are two key areas, turns five and six and 12 and 13.

That is when you are driving the car on the edge. That is what the

drivers love. I talked about it being 50 degrees. That will affect

the drivers as well as the cars and everything else. The chemical

reaction is what creates the grip. You can see them doing their

practice stops. The interaction between the tyre and the tarmac is a

really key element of getting the grip. You rarely bring four sets of

different compounds for the season. We are on the too hard compounds. It

is a big challenge. They changed the tyres last year. It is we had very

changeable conditions over the last couple of days, the circuit is still

relatively green. The weather is so changeable. Glorious conditions. 33

degrees. Yesterday, it was a very different story. As I speak, a few

spots of rain falling. And gentle. Normally it comes in a downpour. We

are seriously now in a monsoon. Boy, have we got a thunderstorm this

afternoon! It is impossible to see. When it rains, it really does Paul.

It must be so difficult for the drivers. No window wipers on the

help it -- on the helmets. They need to try to get first choice on the

racetrack. What happens in terms of race position? If you cannot see

anything, how do you know to break? You almost do it on timing. They

have an intimate knowledge of the race track. A bit of a deal for it?

In your home, if the lights go out, you know roughly where the door

handle is. They are very focused on knowing where the braking points are

in those conditions. The weather conditions can change very quickly.

There are thunderstorms that are forecast. It has been a dramatic

start to this year 's calendar so far. Not long to go until the next

race. We are in Bahrain and then China.

On the fifth and 6th of July, we come home to Silverstone. A couple

of new events to add to the calendar. We are going to Austria

and back to Russia with Sochi as the hosts. Double points for the final

race. A fortnight ago, we had a strong cup of an opener in

Melbourne. It was du Matic, controversial, especially if you

were Daniel Ricciardo who thought he was on the podium. -- it was

dramatic. The FIA had arrived the stewards Red Bull Racing there was

an issue with the fuel flow meter and the amount of fuel they were

using every lap. They use their own information. Stewards decided you

had to use the fuel below meter and they were removed from the results.

They bought themselves time and appealed. There will be an appeal

after Bahrain and we will find out who is right. Does that mean Red

Bull are in trouble for not listening to be directive given to

them? The fuel flow meter is a standardised part which is supplied

by a company in the UK and the FIA has approved that for use. They can

do real-time scrutineers ring. They monitor that lap by lap. For every

ten grams of fuel used, that is sent to the FIA. Everyone hundred kilos

is about 1.78 kilos of fuel a lap you have available to you. It is to

try to stop teams spending a lot of money on qualifying engines. They

will still have a problem with the court hearing. They did not use too

much fuel or they would have been thrown out for that. It is a

technical directives they were given by the FIA and that is why it has

gone to appeal. Let's have a look at how the championships stand

currently, pending the appeal. Nico Rosberg leads the way.

In terms of the constructors, McLaren are leading that fight.

Williams have doubled the number of points they scored in the entire

2013 season. Here is the story of qualifying. Qualifying was delayed

by 15 minutes but conditions were still pretty tough and because

eventually took to the circuit. The -- a red flag was brought out.

Conditions did not improve and Daniil Kvyat collided into Fernando

Alonso. Kevin Magnusson had an eventful time. -- Magnussen. There

was damage to his car. In the third session, he went on intermediates

and everyone else was on wets. Red Bull have made the comeback of the

weekend. Sebastian Vettel was able to challenge for pole position. An

unusual the stateless timing the lack meant -- burlap meant that

Sebastian Vettel missed out on pole position. Nico Rosberg managed to

displace Fernando Alonso to take third, the only driver to improve

after the chequered flag. The day was Hamilton 's and he took his

second pole position of the season. I just want to have a race and get

an understanding for the tyre and the fuel saving on those things and

get myself back into race mode. Lewis Hamilton 's 33rd pole position

matches the British record. Nico Rosberg is third with Fernando

Alonso fourth. Daniel Ricciardo is this ad has Kimi Raikkonen

alongside. Kevin outqualified Jenson Button. Daniel to the act is in

11th. -- Kvyat.. Valterri Bottas gets a three place grid penalty and

becomes the first driver to pick up points on his licence after impeding

the Red Bull. As Lee mentioned, you are looking at shots of Valterri

Bottas who picked up a three place grid penalty. It seemed harsh. He

got penalty points, which is what we get on A Road car licence. He will

get two penalty points which he will carry for a year. Regulations state

you can impede a car. It is all done very politely with the stewards.

There is no bad blood between the drivers but you need to work

together on a season. That is really unfortunate for Valterri Bottas. He

got a grid penalty in the last race. Amazing yesterday. It was all

about tyres and timing and sheer guts in positions like that. Let's

go down here so we can have a look in the Mercedes garage. A terrific

job that Ferrari did to get force. These mechanics are incredible. They

understand the car intimately. They realised they had a problem with the

track rod. There would have been a parts guy getting that exact part.

Fernando has two trust that the mechanics have done the job

properly. We have Nico Rosberg wondering up here with a bracelet.

You never know what that is about. He gave a fantastic explanation of

the powertrains like you have never seen before. We joined forces with

him. It has been an outstanding

performance, Nico Rosberg wins the Australian Grand Prix for Mercedes.

Pay attention, here comes the science bit. The first thing is the

collar? Very important. This is the first part. The professor will

explain. This year, we have got much smaller combustion engines, so less

horsepower, but we get that back with turbo. And turbo is just a

little flywheel spinning through the air intake and pushing and

compressing the air at higher speeds with a lot of pressure and adding

more air into that space, giving the explosions so this is a very normal

combustion engine. Small amounts of heat. And here comes the turbo. Very

good. This is our turbo. You can see the effect of the combustion engine

with lots more compressed air. Blowing red hot. Getting really

hard. That is the best example. It gives you much more energy in that

small engine we have. And that is more horsepower. Strange place to

park the car? Indeed, to show the best, simplest way of explaining

this functionality in my engine. We have the spinning wheel, this is the

compressor, which makes the turbo engine, this part, with exhaust

gases coming out of this small engine and the more rpm I get the

faster the exhaust gases can spin this wheel and that will allow the

explosions in the engine. Not only is that turbo engine running but

this wheel is connected to a very small motor which will convert into

electrical power, which is being charged. Keeps this turning. It is

building more electrical battery power, which it is saving. If I put

my foot on the throttle... It will massively charge up. It will get so

much energy. If anyone forgets their charger, we

know what to do. There is one more part. Let us take a look. We have

come to the place which is one of the most serious parts. This is the

way most of the battery charge is produced. I will go on full

throttle. Yes? I am going down the straight. Ten mph. I come to the

end. And full braking. I go onto the brakes. They are charging up

quickly. And that is because there is a little motor connected to the

engine. And it is turning very quickly and when I am braking, that

boaters switches and decides to take all of that rotation speed and

transform it into electricity to charge the batteries. I come out of

the corner, back onto the throttle, and what happens then is the motor

does the opposite. It uses up the battery energy. An incredible amount

of technology, how different do the cars feel from your seat to drive?

In terms of technology, it is released similar. More to do in the

cockpit? There is a lot more, more systems to get used to but a lot of

this is new. Do you feel that your engineering background helps you

this year? My approach to the sport is I am interested in the technology

and I want to look into it because I hope I can give myself an advantage

over some others. Listen to Professor Nico, that is immoral of

today. Pay attention in mathematics and physics classes. You could do

worse than listening to his advice. Sitting very cool in the back of the

garage. This is a great car that he was talking about. It brought him

that win in Melbourne. He is such an interesting character. He has a real

feel for engineering. He could have been in that garage as an engineer!

He has the better job! He is intelligent, multilingual, keen

interest in engineering. And that is a very simple way of explaining the

technology. The way he thinks it will help, do you agree? Will it

help? If you believe in knowledge as power, adding more knowledge of the

vehicle you drive, you must understand aerodynamics, even if not

how the car is delivering, you must understand how to exploit the way to

transfer and these engines have to be managed by the driver. They have

fuel flow limitations. So much going on. The driver has to think

laterally and get his head around these technicalities. We are seeing

Nico Hulkenberg blossoming. Much more personality. We saw yesterday,

he has a Jurassic sense of humour. He is a very big character? He has

been around for a few years and he has fired his place with Mercedes.

Here's their poster boy. -- find. -- found. This formula is suiting him.

We have seen him joking and smiling. The engines are starting up. We saw

him just hanging out, normally the drivers would be in a very cool

room, taking as much fluid as possible but he says, I am prepared,

let us go racing. And kicking a football around. You can get the

latest news from Tom. Much calmer than at Melbourne. Everybody is

confident of making it to the grid, which is progress, but that does not

mean stress levels are lower because of unknown factors. The wet

qualifying means we have the free tyre choice. Medium or hard? What is

the weather doing. Don't listen to me. I am joined by the Mercedes

boss, Toto Wolff. What are the main factors? The weather. It is always

very unpredictable. You can have a very big thunderstorm building up

and 1.5 miles away there was a downpour. This is the most

unpredictable variable. Let us assume it will be dry. Medium or

hard? Probably medium. High was the chat with the drivers? What messages

did you give? -- Howell was. -- how was four. Everybody is calm. Will

one and three satisfy you? Winning the race would be the result we want

to achieve but this is Formula One, the pinnacle of motorsport and you

need to be satisfied with the best you can achieve. Good luck. We can

make some pictures of Lewis Hamilton, his team-mate, wandering

into the garage. What can they do? They have a huge advantage in the

dry running. It was incredibly close in the wet qualifying but we will

see them stretch their legs. What if it suddenly reigns? Without favour

anybody? That would allow Red Bull to come back into the mix. Look at

the on track performance, the middle sector, Red Bull can pull a lot of

time back but they lose in the first and last, which is more about

harnessing and using the energy available. Will they catch up? With

the rest of the field catch Mercedes? There will inevitably be

this bunching effect, especially in the middle. I do not see any big

step to work Mercedes are, the pace on Friday, they still have a big

advantage and they just need to manage that. They will not be out

there trying to win by one lap. As Toto Wolff said, this is a grand

prix and anybody can play their part. The first run into turn number

one and number two. And we have seen many incidents, safety cars. I was

thinking about Nico Hulkenberg, he is a master in the wet weather. He

brings everything he has got. Lee McKenzie caught up with him. It has

been a strong start in qualifying and in the races. You are managing

to outperform the car you have got? We have a decent car. Otherwise I

could not pitted where it is. But we have room for improvement and some

cars are quicker but I feel confident and we have a strong

foundation that we can build on and have a very strong development in

the coming weeks and months. The weather here changes so quickly.

What are we expecting? Are you set up for wet or dry? My car is

neutral, it should perform in both conditions. I was fourth overall in

the rankings and it was quite competitive in the wet. I hope it

should not make much of a difference. And we will be

competitive in either condition. Wet always spices things up. You thrive

in those conditions. What is the aim today? Starting in the points,

seventh place, we want to keep that as the minimum and we want to move

up. But it will be very tough for the machine and human being. We have

two survived that race. -- we have to survive. Keep cool. Nico

Hulkenberg talking if you moments ago. We have some live shots of Nico

Hulkenberg. There he is in his car. Interesting character. How important

is this year? Sixth and seventh, finishing in sixth place in

Melbourne. He wants to get with the big teams, is this season's

performance of vital? I find it confusing he has not find his way

into the top teams. His performance has been very high. He is continuing

the trend and Force India, they have done a fantastic job with their

resources, so in many ways it is a perfect fit. Having such a quick

driver in a team that is constantly knocking on the big forgings. You

want to be in a Championship winning team as a driver. -- for teams. --

four. There is a minimum size that they have to be but it is the weight

of the driver that gives an issue. There are so much complex technology

in the cars that the weight limit has gone up by 41 kilos and any

driver who was heavier, it will cost you one map. Jenson Button said were

not allowed to eat, we are drivers. Jenson and Lewis Hamilton said some

drivers are dehydrating themselves for the qualifying to be lighter and

get a faster time. We see that, jockeys are a perfect example. It

could be worrying. But it will not affect this morning. We did catch up

with Jenson Button. We got up close and very personal. I am sweating.

The public would like to know a little bit about Malaysia. Ten years

ago, your first podium here. I was here in 2002. Benetton. Running in

third with three laps to go. 2004, my first podium. And what a circuit.

Awesome. This is one of the very first by the designer. So right, it

has a lovely flow. Good overtaking. You are all right. That is top

secret. That is McLaren. Not allowed. We have some new bits. You

go first. My jeans are so tight! We have magically found ourselves

down at the entry of Turn 1. What are we doing with this? The

beautiful, colourful map of the Sepang circuit. Can we walk it to

the corner? You are doing just under 200 miles an hour when you enter

this. It would be more, probably 206 miles an hour. There you go! They

are more slippery, less downforce and we have more power. Turn 1 is

linked into two. It is an unusual circuit. We come through one. You

have to set yourself up for turn to. There is a guy in green, he is not a

pollard. It would be dangerous for him to be standing there. Traction

is also tough. You were a past winner here in 2009. You did not get

the full points because the race was stopped due to the weather. 4pm, 5pm

is when the rain comes. Every single day there is a thunderstorm. There

is a massive chance you will see rain joining the race. It is about

when and how hard. It is fun for overtaking, and for racing and fun

for trying to get the best out of the car in qualifying. This is 12.

The corner does not get much credit for the speed, the challenge. When

we had a lot of grip, this was flat. If you mess this up, you miss up

turn 13 and 14 as well. You have 13 and all the way around their is the

apex, which takes you all the way down the back straight. You have to

push through here, even if it damages your tyres. There have been

a lot of changes. So much has changed. For the fans, it does not

sound as good. For us, when you win a race, you win a race. It is the

buzz across the finish line and the whole team adrenaline. That exists.

Some of the regulations I do not agree with but I think the sport is

going in the right direction. In terms of competitiveness, obviously,

you are not here now but it is a very competitive sport. Four or five

world champions in Formula One every year. There is a lot of young

talent. My team-mate is 21 years old. The good thing is, we get

better looking with age. I said we because it will make me feel good.

That was Jenson Button preparing for the Malaysian Grand Prix. He said he

feels as if the sport is going in the right direction. Do you agree?

Formula One has to be a technical proving ground for the

manufacturers. In that respect, all the new regulations we have ticked

the boxes. You could always amounted to remember a certain period of

Formula One where you thought maybe because looked and sounded better

but the reality is, you have to live in your time and in 2014, these

other regulations you have. Renault said they were going to pull out if

they did not bring in the turbo. You cannot ignore manufacturers. You

need to have as many of them here using this as a proving ground. We

have under coming back into Formula One as well next year which will be

very interesting. -- Honda. The importance of the FIA listening to

manufacturers is absolutely vital. It is the relevance really. Everyone

who drives a car at home will benefit from the sport and the

changes that have been made. So many things have been made for Formula

One. As we look for other ways of replacing fossil fuels, hybrid

technology is already there in the cars. The packaging of those

batteries is so heavy, you use a whole chunk of energy you are

recovering in a road car to propel the extra mass. The packaging in a

Formula One car, the energy alone can produce 160 horsepower. That is

a lot more than your Average Road car. When you consider overall

packaging of a Grand Prix car, people say, I thought they were

bigger. Yesterday, one of the guests said he could not believe how small

the cars were and how intricate they lit. We are on the grid standing

next to the car of Sebastian Vettel, waiting for him to come on. Sergio

Perez has just stalled at the end of the pit lane and has to be pushed

back into the garage. There is a procedure they go around to allow

the driver to get the feel of the car. They can make adjustments to

the front wing and the tyre pressures. It puts you slightly on

the back foot. It is unusual, actually, for these cars to stall.

They have a system called anti-stall. Basically, what it does,

if it recognises the rate of deceleration of the RPM is greater

than the car would be able to sustain, it pulls the clutch in for

the driver and takes control of the car. That may be an issue. Clearly

it is an issue but it is unusual for Force India to have a stall at the

end of the pit lane. We will see what happens with that as the

drivers are approaching. Let's get the latest news from Ferrari. We are

watching Fernando Alonso getting into his car. The guys did an

amazing job in repairing his broken suspension. Was there any more work

to be done overnight? They did an incredible job. We made some other

changes. The steering wheel was very light and there was some other

damage but now the car should be all right. Do you want a dry race or a

wet race? It depends. Never say never. What are your hopes for

today? Sign up and we want to fight for a podium, that would be nice. We

are live on the grid with Fernando Alonso. He is surrounded by media.

He qualified fourth. How do you feel about Fernando Alonso? Has he got

the car? Can he do anything to win the race? It does not have the pace

of the Mercedes or the Red Bull at this time. It will be difficult for

him. He was talking to his trainer. He may have said he needs a change

of visor. In sunny conditions, if history repeats itself, there will

be rain later on. You need to pick your sunglasses correctly. If your

visor is too dark, that could be an issue. Fernando is just over our

shoulder. It is hot up on the grid than in the pit lane. I know you do

not know what he is thinking that you have been standing there,

looking at a car, what goes through your mind? It is a calm moment. You

have had time to go through everything with the engineers. You

know your strategy. You had a rough idea what you are planning to do on

the line. It is a calm time. It is not, oh, my goodness, I am well

prepared. They have done all the rehearsing. It is tremendously

exciting. Driving a Grand Prix car is exciting but racing one is

amazing. I think, at this moment in time, the

thing I do not have today in my life is that one single thing that gives

absolute focus. Nothing else crosses your mind like the job in hand. It

is not unique to Formula One but it is very powerful and empowering

feeling when you feel you are in a zone. Sebastian Vettel is being

pushed in by his mechanic. The bond he has with those guys, they almost

don't need to say anything. It is a wonderful expression of teamwork.

That is one thing I always really enjoyed. Mechanics give you a

knowing glance. They say, we have done everything we can all stop we

trust in you and we want you to deliver. We hear that Sergio Perez

has been pushed back into the garage. We are standing next to

Sebastian Vettel. It is getting very busy down here. He is in a different

position to Melbourne. He is looking much stronger. We have the same top

three manufacturers but a different driver and that is the world

champion. Will we see him on the podium? He did everything he needed

to in free practice. A great qualifying performance. That is

where he wants to be all stop you can see him talking to his number

two mechanic. Most people think this is called RB ten but, as you know,

it is called Suzie. They are all works of art. They are absolutely

beautiful. Just looking at the detail and everything, we can see

Sebastian Vettel has gone to the other side of the grid. That is the

one person I would like to talk to when we get a moment. He is

surrounded by German media. We can wander round and have a chat until

such time as he is ready. The genius behind Red Bull has been slightly

frustrated with the fact Renault have been having problems. They have

said they have a good chassis that they are not happy with the

development of the powertrain. Renault have a lot of racing

experience and they are a bit behind. They say they are several

weeks behind Mercedes and some of the other teams and so the process

will be ongoing. He has a big scrum around him. It really is so hot. Do

you want to try to dive in and get the word with him or do you think he

will be talking to the German guys? Shall we abort the decision? Do you

fancy doing something different? Why don't we have a word with Christian

Horner? Come over and join us. I always think it is interesting. It

is almost like it is a social club. Everyone is so busy. They do not

often see each other face to face until they come here. We were trying

to get a word with Sebastian Vettel. He seems to be a bit longer in

coming to the grid. Is there a particular issue or is it about

making sure the boxes are ticked? There was a lot of rain yesterday

and they wanted to get more mileage in. It is stinking hot today and

they are making some last-minute adjustments. We have very wet

conditions in qualifying. How much do you trust the weather forecast

for later? We do not trust the weather forecast at all. It has been

completely wrong or weekend. It is a matter of keeping an eye on where

the weather is coming from and reacting accordingly. Where do you

think the individual pace is going to come from? Where do you feel you

are and what are your closest competitors? It will be interesting.

We have a deficit on the straights and we are very quick on the

corners. We know Mercedes are marginal on temperature, so

hopefully we can put them under pressure. Have a good race. They

don't bring as many generators to keep the car is warm, they have

various coolers going through to try to make sure. You can see the dry

ice. Everybody looks pretty busy. I will hand back. Thank you. This

weekend, drivers are carrying messages on their helmets and cars

to honour the passengers of the crew missing on the Malaysia Airlines

flight. The public will now pay its respects with one minute's silence.

Followed by the Malaysia national anthem.

Our thoughts are with those who are missing, their loved ones on the

tireless rescue workers. In their honour, the Prime Minister of

Malaysia and each man of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone, and the

teams, will lead a one minute's silence followed by the Malaysia

national anthem. Please be upstanding.

As Bernie Ecclestone and the dignitaries leave in the driver said

back to their cars for this race, we can look at the pole lap of Lewis

Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel side-by-side. The tropical climate,

no surprise, wet weather into qualifying. Lewis Hamilton on the

left. Turn number one, at this point already Lewis Hamilton is one length

ahead. Slightly different line through turn number one, first gear

for a Lewis Hamilton. Does that cause oversteer? Both working their

wheeled through the long turn number three. Absolutely flat in the drive.

Turn number four, similar lines. Lewis Hamilton struggling a little

bit with traction. The first of the high-speed corners, five and six.

Look at Sebastian Vettel steering, massive correction. 130 macro per

hour. -- 130 miles per hour. Nice and tidy on the exit, we'll spin

from Lewis Hamilton. Turn number nine, Sebastian Vettel loses

performance. Both cars struggling for traction over the rise in to

turn Number 10. The high-speed section, 12 and 13. Sebastian Vettel

using one of the curve. Red Bull has gained all of that time. Similar

lines through 14, wider lines. You can still see the gap to Lewis

Hamilton has increased again for Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes

powertrain is producing very good horsepower. They can gain back all

of lost time and into the last corner, you can see he is just a

little bit ahead. Slightly tighter line from Sebastian Vettel, 21

seconds behind but the track is wetter as they go for the line.

Second pole position for a Lewis Hamilton and his 33rd career pole

position. Good to see that comparison. News about Sergio Perez,

it could be hydraulic problems, he is out of his car. The hydraulic

system operates power steering, part of the engine and the hydraulics.

You don't want to have issues there. You have to go to the commentary

box. Thank you very much. We have kindly been invited to take you into

the McLaren garage. I think it might be Eric, the racing director. It is

Jonathan! I was not sure. Do you want to be the CEO or just the boss?

Anything you want. You have some problems in testing and you seemed

to get better with personnel changes, so are you on track after

last year? We have made good progress through the winter, we had

a target of a good baseline and both drivers are driving well and it is

great having Kevin in the team and Eric has joined us and we are

strengthening the team through the pack. We have a lot of work to do,

we are a long way from the front of the grid but our intent is to catch

up. I was wondering, in the wet weather Jenson Button made the wrong

choice of tyres. In the dry it will not change? I have the forecast but

I don't know if it is any better than yours. 60% chance of rain. We

are expecting a dry race. What are you expecting? Looking at the track

temperature, normally it has cooled down but it is still 52 Greece. --

degrees. The problem is that hires are very soft and the back of the

car is quite loose for all of the drivers so they will be hoping it

cools down. We are expecting an exciting race. We have got over the

gremlins from yesterday. They are so fragile. They are at the moment,

these are incredibly sophisticated bits of equipment and during

practice we ran safety systems. When we spot any incident it turns into

the limp mode. That is better than having a major fire. I am confident

today. Good luck. All sorts of stars. Benedict Cumberbatch is here.

He will be on the podium later on, resenting the award. This is it, the

Malaysian Grand Prix. -- presenting. Here we go. Malaysia, where the rain

can poor and Laura. And the crashes can be loud. Round two. The great

year of change. -- pour and roar. Welcome to Formula One!

Racing in the tropics adds an extra dimension and today there is a?

Regarding the weather. It is dry with cloud bubbling up and the

chance of rain later on. For the moment, the teams must focus on a

dry race. The second race with hybrid technology, taking us from

Australia to Malaysia, a country stricken by the awful events of

flight MH370 but it is determined to carry on with major sporting events.

Accordingly, this 5.5 kilometre track will host the 16th running of

the Malaysian Grand Prix, which has been particularly successful for

Ferrari over the years with six wins and recently Red Bull, with three

wins from the last four. There are two DRS zones. The start-finish line

and the straight that it sits on. We should see more overtaking on those

straights. The final corner, number 15, as they come over the circuit,

partly cloudy and the track temperature is as high as we can see

it, 51 degrees. Normally that would have dropped. It will be tough on

the tyres. Particularly on the opening stint. All other drivers

have completely free choice of tyre. There will be two slick tyres, the

harder compound, top of the range for Pirelli. All the teams still

have a free choice and until the reveals tyres and they take those

blankets of, we do not know what they will be starting with. There

are expecting most frontrunners to start with the medium tyre, the

faster in theory. But will it last the distance in these high

temperatures? Looking at the grid, very interesting. For the 21st time,

the front row is shared by Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel has come out on top more often. But Lewis Hamilton is

favoured with Mercedes. Then Daniel Ricciardo in the same place as Mark

Webber started last year. Let us look at the entire grid. Hamilton

and Sebastian Vettel, Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, then Daniel

Ricciardo. He was excluded from Australia. Then Kimi Raikkonen. Then

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India. Then Kevin Magnussen. Jean-Eric Vergne,

Jenson Button. He was lowest in Q3. Daniil Kvyat, he is next. Esteban

Gutierrez, Sergio Perez. He has had problems. Romain Grosjean in the

looters. With Pastor Maldonado joining him. Valtteri Bottas has

that penalty for impeding Daniel Ricciardo. Then Jules Bianchi. And

towards the back, we have Max Chilton and we have Marcus Ericsson,

who crashed in qualifying. He seems fine. Ready to go racing. Fernando

Alonso, fourth days. That is one place higher than he started in

Australia. The last time Fernando Alonso failed to finish was here, 12

months ago. He tapped the back of Sebastian Vettel on the opening and

he tripped over his own front wing and went into the gravel trap. We

saw 80 macro a moment ago. The 99th front row start for Red Bull. All of

the cars on option, everybody is on the softer tyres. We thought people

might gamble with harder tyres. The track is so hot and it will cool

down but they will not be worried about the temperature. There is not

enough grip in the harder tyres. Pirelli are expecting everyone to do

two or three stops. Then a short run at the end on the prime. The 33rd

pole position in the career of Lewis Hamilton. He has matched the British

record with the same number of pole positions. Next time out he has a

chance to beat it and go into the real top elements of Formula One

history in terms of the number of pole position scored. Let's see if

everyone gets away. There was a yellow flag briefly. I think

everyone is waiting for the cars ahead to middle way so they can do a

practice start. Everyone has moved away cleanly. I think the marshal

was moving the yellow flags to warn the mechanic standing at the side of

the track. Not the same need to get as much heat in the tyres in these

temperatures. It is more about trying to control the temperature.

Let's get a quick update from our man in the pit lane. We are not

hearing from Tom. We will come back to that. Benedict Cumberbatch is

making his way back over there, the Sherlock Holmes actor. The cars are

heading around on this lap. Sorry about that. Sergio Perez has got out

of his car. I have finally got someone from Force India to explain

the problem. It is the limp home idling message that afflicted

McLaren yesterday. A very early bath for him. He scored eight points for

tenth place last time out. It has been a long time since he has had a

non-finish. You have to go back to the previous season for him to have

a non-finish. This will count as a non-start so officially he will not

have a non-finisher. The cars are making their way around the lap at

the moment. You can contact us on the Facebook page. Some of your

comics will appear as live texts on the website. -- your comments.

Fernando Alonso, you always must think he will be a threat when he is

in the first two rows. It is a great race track. The launch into the

first corner is a very wide, long apex. It gives you an opportunity to

play around with where you position the car. We have seen so many

concertina accidents at Turn 2. They will be deploying all the energy

recovery. You can see their car juddering. It is doing a bite point

find for the clutch. Lewis Hamilton was doing some burn-outs. He was

trying to get as much surface temperature in the tyre as possible.

They all go through similar procedures in terms of finding the

clutch. They will get a message telling them to get into start mode

and then it is all eyes on the lights. We are getting ready for the

start of the race. In row three, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.

He was going well in the drive. Jenson Button in row five. Gutierrez

in six. The gap where Sergio Perez should be. Adrian Sutil and Valterri

Bottas behind them. Valterri Bottas has a lot of work to do. Now for the

start of the Malaysian Grand Prix in the heat and humidity of Malaysia.

It will be a roasting start to the race with track temperatures at 51

degrees. Is it Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel? Sebastian Vettel coming

across to squeeze Eco Ross Berg. He cannot do it. -- Nico Rosberg.

Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel are side by side. Rosberg

nearly goes off. He was getting into big trouble. He is under pressure.

Sebastian Vettel on the outside. He is trying to go around the outside

of his team-mate and almost runs into the back of the Mercedes.

Daniel Ricciardo is up into third place. The Marussia is off and, I

think, a Lotus. Let's keep an eye on that. Did the Ferrari of Alonso get

up the inside? Kevin Magnussen looks down the inside. Recovering from

that mistake on Turn 3. Nico Hulkenberg is well up there. Felipe

Massa down the inside of Gutierrez. The other Williams is also going

well. Valterri Bottas has made up some ground already after being

forced down the grid with a three place penalty. Alonso fended off his

team-mate and has managed to hold him off. Gutierrez was a bit wide

and the opportunity for Valterri Bottas. They did not enjoy the wet

conditions but, in the dry, the Williams drivers could be the ones

to watch. The car was not performing particularly well in the wet. The

wet tyres and intermediates do affect the overall dynamics of the

car. The DRS will not be available for a couple of laps. Interesting

with Sebastian Vettel... Nico Hulkenberg round Alonso. Does he

have the speed on the exit? The cars are moving all over the place. This

is Magnussen trying to past Kimi Raikkonen. One of them is going very

slowly. Which Ferrari is it? Is it Alonso? I'd think it is Kimi

Raikkonen. You can just see the yellow. There was a little bit of

contact. Could Magnussen have just touched the car? We have seen that

before. They are under such stress. That is so disappointing for Kimi

Raikkonen. He has a long way to go to get back to the pits from birth.

It is the luck of the racing gods where you get the incidents. He will

lose past a minute, I would suggest, getting back into the pits. We saw

the Marussia and the Lotus in trouble. We are waiting for the

Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen to come in. Hamilton continues to lead,

opening up a gap of around two, three seconds over his team-mate.

Sebastian Vettel has two fight his Australian team-mate once again.

Last year it was all about team orders and now he is finding himself

going wheel-to-wheel with his new Australian team-mate. At the moment,

he is having to sit behind him. B McLarens are going wheel-to-wheel.

That was nice from Jenson Button. He has taken seventh place. Jean-Eric

Vergne in the Toro Rosso. It is a very early pit stop. You would

imagine there was some problem with the car. We are still waiting for

Kimi Raikkonen to get back. You can rip the rear suspension apart. He is

very wary of that. Jenson Button ahead of Kevin Magnussen. All of

these are Mercedes powered cars but obviously different chassis is

involved in the McLaren and Williams. Kimi Raikkonen is back in

the race. He could do with the safety car but the chances of the

safety car in Malaysia is 20%. So much run-off, it is where we do get

safety car running. Already, at this phase of the Grand Prix, they will

be hoping to try and get Lap 12, 13 or 14 around if they are going to go

to number stops. They are having to manage fuel flow. They have 7.8

kilograms of fuel available per lap. 100 kilograms of fuel... Magnussen

battling away. He has the DRS of Felipe Massa going down the inside

and being followed by his team-mate will stop almost but not quite.

Sebastian Vettel attacking Daniel Ricciardo. He also had the DRS open

and is taking full advantage. He looked like he wanted to get a move

on and had to be patient. Still pressure from the Williams. He has

the place back from Felipe Massa so he must have used DRS on the

straight. Now the two Williams together. Be careful, boys, you do

not want to upset Claire Williams. She would not be impressed. Daniil

Kvyat in the second of the two cars in his second only Grand Prix. He is

proving to be brave but is he too brave? When you go into the Grand

Prix knowing you might have to do three stops got it gives you

confidence to use your tyres. You are not having to preserve the

surface temperature. You might decide to come in earlier for the

first stop. We are on board with Felipe Massa, still chasing after

Kevin Magnussen. TEAM RADIO: Nico Rosberg is

struggling with his rear tyres. Make sure you look after them. Lots of

problems with the tyres where they are overheated. Down towards turn

14. This leads them onto the back stretch. Watch for the DRS coming

into operation. When the rear wing flap opens, the cars in speed. Let's

have a look at the front wing of the McLaren. Let's see if there was an

incident. Some damage to the front left wing. That is the contact that

was made with Kimi Raikkonen cutting the Ferrari tyre. That will affect

the downforce. Ditty errors makes a little mistake. -- Guttierez.

Another look at the start. The Mercedes power, once you get above

100 committed an hour, you can put all the talk on to the race track.

Not much the Red Bulls could do. Is there any wheel banging? It was

pretty clean, as close as you would want to be through turn to.

Hopefully they will stay with it as we go around. -- turn two. He was

clean away from the line. He just powered himself against the pit

wall. Just enough space for the car to squeeze through. Nico Rosberg has

a massive oversteer through Turn 3, that is why he had to defend so

heavily. On board with Jean-Eric Vergne. That was a poor start. It

looked like the car really jutted when he released the clutch. He

could not put the traction down on the track. Maybe he had to do a

reset. He would have been around where the incident happened with the

Lotus is around him. Let's see what happened in the background. You can

see the contact which was before they got to the corner. There was

some contact with the rear tyre. Pastor Maldonado got spun around.

This is Kevin Magnussen in the Ferrari. A lot of that front wing is

missing. You can see it struggling. Such a shame. Kimi Raikkonen has

managed to get the car back. The band brother has come away. Back to

what is happening now. -- the band of rubber. Daniel Ricciardo is in

force and Alonso is this. In seventh, Jenson Button. Then it is

Magnussen eighth and ninth place for Felipe Massa.

Good management but it looks like Felipe Massa cannot close that gap

sufficiently. You would want to give him that opportunity and then see if

he can overtake McLaren. The incident will be investigated. If

they find guilt, that could be a drive-through penalty. Nico

Hulkenberg, quite lonely in sixth place. Then Jenson Button. That gap

has opened up. Behind, you have Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso. And sadly,

that is Sergio Perez. Not even starting. There is a five second

penalty for Jules Bianchi for the collision and this is a new penalty

and he can wait, until the pit stop, before checking that. The team

cannot combine that with the pit stop, they cannot touch the car for

five seconds. TEAM RADIO: Do not attack Felipe

Massa, we will follow through. I know my place! Already some team

rivalry. Felipe Massa complaining about Valtteri Bottas and the team

waiting for him, for that moment. Valtteri Bottas sounded like he was

sitting in his armchair! You can see the Latin temperament.

TEAM RADIO: We need to box the car at the end of this lap. That might

be as a result of the collision rather than fuel reliability. We

will have to find out. The other Lotus is running, Romain Grosjean,

in 13th place. This is a leader, Lewis Hamilton, no repeat of the

engine problems from Australia and he has set the fastest lap. Second

place, Rosberg, then Sebastian Vettel. Nico Hulkenberg and Jenson

Button follow-through. Then Kevin Magnussen, with the yellow stripe.

Only his second grand prix. Under attack from one of the most

experienced, Felipe Massa. Claire Williams, the deputy team principal.

Looking slightly concerned. Right until the chequered flag, that is

when she allows herself to look happy. She has been around racing

tracks her whole life. Already, those drivers getting heated against

each other. Behind them, it is Daniil Kvyat, Esteban Gutierrez.

Kamui Kobayashi leading the battle between Marussia and Caterham.

Pastor Maldonado. The only two cars were not seeing in the race, and

could be ashy is leading that battle. -- Kamui Kobayashi. Max

Chilton is next up, keeping in touch with Caterham. One to watch. Very

early stages and we are expecting them to push before making their

first pit stop if the tyres are holding together. Things are looking

very good for Lewis Hamilton, let us watch him. Just easing away from his

team-mate. Much has been made of the fact that Nico Rosberg is seen as

more of a thinking driver but this is flawless from Lewis Hamilton.

This is actually what he wanted after Australia. They must think

about the fuel they are using at all stages and if you push too hard and

go above your ration, you might have to back off in the closing stages,

we do not know exactly who is using it better. Professor 80 macro will

be thinking about that, trying to maximise his fuel in the latter

parts. -- Nico Rosberg. Very quick in the wet, they seem to be off in

the dry but still, lots of encouragement for Red Bull this

weekend and they are not being swamped? They reckoned they were

half of the second of the place from Mercedes. We can see Hamilton

pulling away. Nothing like some horsepower to solve that problem.

They were flatter in the wet weather, mind force is more of a

game. -- downforce. TEAM RADIO: Box this lap. Confirm.

He should still be able to do this on three stops, he might have to

extend some other parts. We should see some changes. There is a lot of

damage to the front left side. He has done well to stay in front of

Williams. This will commit him to three stops. That lower noise, they

are changing from around 12,000 rpm. They are taking their time getting

that knows off. They practice this assiduously over the weekend. You

can hear the tyres squealing coming out of the pit lanes, that used to

be drowned by the engine noise. You get that squeal. Williams have been

released by McLaren, by Kevin Magnussen. Can Valtteri Bottas have

a go at getting past Felipe Massa? He is able to keep that gap under

control but he is in the DRS. But the significant, that opens up the

rear wing. More drag is reduced when that rear wing opens up. We saw

Jean-Eric Vergne earlier, he had the harder compound anti-Islamic quicker

than his team-mate, Daniil Kvyat. There will be that five second

penalty for Kevin Magnussen. It is a shame they did not get that one

moment ago because they could have taken that five second penalty

during the pit stop. They can still wait for the next pit stop. You want

to get these penalties out of the way as early as you can. It does not

make it easy to get them in the bank. You are racing for track

position thereafter. I think Jules Bianchi has done his penalty but we

will wait to see when Kevin Magnussen does it. On board with

Lewis Hamilton. Income is Daniil Kvyat, switching, staying on to the

softer tyres, staying on the medium compound. Different strategy from

both Toro Rossos. It looked like they have to do some sort of reset

on the car. Kimi Raikkonen is still running. But he is down at the back,

last position. Trying to close the gap to Jean-Eric Vergne. And of

course Kevin Magnussen is towards the back, having made that pit stop.

Lewis Hamilton, still opening up that gap. He was four seconds after

six laps and it has just grown, lap 11 from 56. Rosberg, chasing the

gap. Mercedes can control this race. That is Daniel Ricciardo in fourth

place, then Fernando Alonso, chased by Nico Hulkenberg. These two have

ended up on track together several times. Incomes Fernando Alonso. Lap

12. This is good three stop territory. But this is the early

part of the window and he has to stay on the softer of those tyres.

Ferrari were the fastest on the pit stops in Australia. Pulling at his

visor. Looking into the cockpit. He is with Toro Rosso, Jean-Eric

Vergne. Sorry, it is Romain Grosjean. Currently in 10th

position. TEAM RADIO: Two tenths faster last

lap, we're just waiting for the to open. Fernando Alonso going round

the outside of Romain Grosjean. Making that look pretty easy. But

Romain Grosjean is still running, they need to get as much mileage as

possible with that car. They are looking towards the beginning of the

European season in terms of boosting what they are able to do. Back on

board with Lewis Hamilton. The backstretch. He went very wide into

the corner. Getting to the end of the usable life of these tyres.

Absolutely. Is he coming in? Not yet. They want to go deeper into

this race before they make their first pit stop. That is what he is

being asked to do. Benedict Cumberbatch. You would think he is

used to being on television. Both Saubers are running together. This

is important. For the decision. They must lap 13 before the next pit

stop. Williams also getting ready. 70 macro making his way down to the

exit. See where this brings him out. He will be very close to Fernando

Alonso. And he just gets the advantage. Does he? No, 70 macro has

got him back! Side-by-side! Fernando Alonso and 70 macro, and 70 macro

has fought his way to get back in front. Crucial than ever. Fernando

Alonso will not give up. Impressive stuff from 70 macro. -- Daniel

Ricciardo. Red Bull responded. Paul Monaghan, one of the senior

engineers, took a photograph of the car of 70 macro because there must

be something on the bodywork they want to look at and analyse.

Fernando Alonso, he went to deep and he overshot but Daniel Ricciardo is

an extremely good racer. Good at the wheel to wheel stuff. There always

has been a question over that, with Toro Rosso, at one stage he had a

reputation for losing places rather than gaining them.

TEAM RADIO: Box. What will this mean? Will Daniel Ricciardo have the

advantage? He has lost some time fighting with Fernando Alonso but he

is over that and he will clearly be faster than his previous lap because

of the fresher tyres. Sebastian Vettel was always going to have to

respond. And he called for that adjustment to his front wing. He

will be constantly ahead at the end of the pit lane. Jenson Button. And

Felipe Massa has also been in. Rejoining, Sebastian Vettel, tonight

behind Williams, Valtteri Bottas. And Sebastian Vettel is just in

front of Daniel Ricciardo. Perhaps Sebastian Vettel is losing some

momentum, that could be expensive. Valtteri Bottas has not been into

the pits, he will not just let him through. Sebastian Vettel fighting

his way. Look at that advantage in traction. Into that Red Bull

sandwich in to turn number five. TEAM RADIO: Box. It also owns so

easy and relaxed at Mercedes. Fernando Alonso, lining up to get

past Valtteri Bottas. That was a half-hearted look by Fernando

Alonso. They are just giving each other enough room. Interesting. I

don't think Fernando Alonso thought that Valtteri Bottas was going to

give him space. I suspect he will pass me! Very unusual, given how

hard he fought for maintaining position with the Red Bull. Rosberg

has the first stop. TEAM RADIO: Lewis Hamilton, you are

good on fuel. Push on. Not often the leader would have the priority. The

gap between them is very comfortable. Lewis Hamilton should

not lose out too much. You will see their Red Bulls coming into shot as

he turns around ten one. A good example of this will be Valterri

Bottas. -- Turn 1. Just looking at the percentage of fuel they have

used so far. This is according to the 100 K limit they have. Sebastian

Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo have both used more fuel. Alonso is at

the 25% mark and Mercedes are looking very comfortable. Once again

the Red Bulls are using a touch more. That information works on the

basis of every ten grams of fuel used. That information is supplied

to the FIA. It shows how comfortably and efficiently Mercedes have been.

Mercedes seem to have got that very nicely sorted out. Hamilton is in

the pit lane and the guys are ready. They are prepared to go to work. It

is a flawless stop, by the looks of things. He is on his way once more

and he will still retain a comfortable lead over his team-mate.

Nico Hulkenberg is heading down the straight as he has not stopped yet.

He takes the lead of the race as Hamilton has made his pit stop. Nico

Rosberg is now heading up towards Turn 1. We are on Lap 16. You would

have to go a bit further than this to make it eight two stop race. You

do wonder whether Force India are trying to do something a bit

different. You were near to the pit stop. Another cracking pit stop by

Mercedes. There has not been a fudged pit stop in the pit lane so

far. Even when Kimi Raikkonen limped in with the front left wheel off the

ground, they dealt with a brilliantly executed pit stop. One

of the Ferrari mechanic said yesterday that pit stops are a

little bit easier this year because the front wing, being narrower, it

is easier to get the front wheels. Lewis Hamilton gets the lead back.

He is on fresh tyres. Is Nico Hulkenberg trying for aid to stop

race? What is happening behind him? -- a two stop race. You have the

battle for tenth place between Valterri Bottas and Magnussen. They

were the other way around. Felipe Massa has definitely gained by

making the earlier pit stop. He is further up the road and Valterri

Bottas has lost eight seconds to his team-mate. That will be the penalty

applied as well. B five second stop and go which was taken on the pit

stop. Holcombe Berg is in now. -- Hulkenburg. The sadist could go to

three stop or two stop will stop -- Mercedes could go three stop or two

stop. The rubber is staying on the carcass of the tire but it is not

generating the same levels of grip. Not only is their bridges

downforce, there is less grip available. -- not only is there less

downforce. Kimi Raikkonen is trying to work his way up the field and he

has caught a couple of cars. Kimi Raikkonen has a chance. He is now

outside of the rookie. He has not raced against him before but he

needed to give him some space. Look how the Ferrari has dropped back! He

has the right to pick his lame. He went buried deep into Turn 1. You

can see with that horror Rosso, they are taking a deeper line. It looks

like Ericsson turned him wide. Eriksson is still in front. A new

fastest lap from Lewis Hamilton on fresh tyres. No surprise about that.

Nico Rosberg is still in second place. Nine seconds is the gap

between the two Mercedes. TEAM RADIO: Dropped back a bit more

to look after the tyres. It is getting closer. If something goes

on, I want to be a part of it. Understood. He is fighting for his

own position and his own points and trying to get onto the podium. He is

making reference to the fact that Sebastian Vettel is clawing in Nico

Rosberg. I love the expression, if something goes on, I want to be a

part of it. He is watching what is happening. I was impressed with what

he did in the Toro Rosso. He has vast experience of being in red ball

racing. He is not giving it up. He is making a race of it. On board

with Sebastian Vettel with the battle for third place between

himself and his team-mate. Three cars are out of the Grand Prix,

Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado and Jules Bianchi. Jean-Eric Vergne has

come into the pits that he has gone back out again. He is the last

runner in the Grand Prix. You saw the run-in between Jean-Eric Vergne

and Ericsson. Chilton is only four seconds behind the caterer. There

might be an opportunity for him later. Let's watch Sebastian Vettel.

Team -- TEAM RADIO: Be mindful of your tyres.

Yellow I keep telling myself, like the noise, like! They are powerful.

That is the thing. They are doing 200 miles a night in a couple of

places they were not doing. 321 inclinometer is an hour, which is

just over 200 miles an hour. -- 320 in calamity is an hour.

Sebastian Vettel is staying very much in touch with Nico Rosberg. He

is within two seconds of the Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen has come

into the pits. He is going on to the hard tyre. He is the first of the

lead drivers... I mean he is one of the frontrunners in terms of pace.

He has been one of the fastest here this weekend. Discounting Mercedes,

he has been one of the fastest in the try. They have 17 laps on the

tyres. Just a slight under rotation will stop it will not have done too

much damage for Hamilton. I guess it will be good knowledge for everyone

to see what it does on the hard tyre. You have to think the race

will Jean-Eric Vergne might be coming to an end because he has been

hit so many times. Right from the start, the car is being driven into

the garage. It looks like it is all over for him. He is eighth in the

championship coming up to this race but it will not continue. His

team-mate is still running in the top ten, Daniil Kvyat. He has

Valterri Bottas behind him. He is just .7 of a second behind him. We

will see what happens in that particular battle. That is four cars

out of the Grand Prix. We are into 20 out of 56. 15 finished in

Australia. Let's see what we get this time in the heat and humidity

of Malaysia. That is about three Bottas and he is right with Daniil

Kvyat. It has been an interesting battle. The advantage goes to felt

we Bottas. There are two zones here. -- Valterri Bottas.

TEAM RADIO: It is a lot better for energy. Tried to keep this setting.

You will get more release if you keep this setting. Presumably that

is more recovery from the breaking recovery system. The driver does not

know what part he is using. It goes into one storage system and it is

used to spin up the turbo so there is no lack. It is meant to be a

seamless request as you push on the throttle. It is about the combustion

engine and the recoverable energy. They tend to lift out of the

throttle towards the end of the straight bit earlier. It is a very

good way of saving fuel. We need to see with DRS if Valterri Bottas can

overtake the other Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat. Daniil Kvyat knows the

game is up. TEAM RADIO: Big gap to Sebastian

Vettel is 2.5. We would like to increase the gap so we can go to

more savings. It is nice when you can increase the gap at will. Daniil

Kvyat has not given up right now and getting back past Valterri Bottas. I

think he will be able to open up the gap as they come to Turn 4 and

accelerate up the hill. That is where the Mercedes may have the

edge. Sergio Perez never got into the race. We are talking to him now.

This must be hard. What was the problem? There was a problem with

the software. We're not quite sure at the moment. It is very similar to

the problem we had in qualifying with the downshift. Every time I try

to do that, it locks. Really frustrating weekend. It has been a

frustrating one. It has been a long time since you did not finish the

Grand Prix. It must be frustrating being a spectator? Knowing the car

had the pace today to recover. Nico Hulkenberg in sixth position with

the other Force India. He is ahead of Jenson Button. They will be

pleased with that. They are ahead of both McLarens. Magnussen is in

seventh. He served his penalty earlier on. We have not seen him

serve his penalty because it only came up after the first pit stop.

Magnussen is 2.5 seconds behind Daniil Kvyat. We are looking at

Sebastian Vettel. They are about four, five times quicker than Red

Bull. They are turning down the engines already, they are so much in

control. They are looking after... They are talking about getting

mileage out of the engines. You look after them as soon as you can. They

have such an advantage. Almost a second a lap quicker than Alonso.

Red Bull are able to keep them a little bit on the toes. If I was the

co-Rosberg I want more than 80.5 second gap. -- Nico Rosberg. You

could easily find yourself under pressure. That was his best lap to

date. Sebastian Vettel lost three tenths of a second to Nico Rosberg.

Kimi Raikkonen is down in 18. He is behind Eriksson again. He has set a

personal best in the first sector. There is Nico Rosberg, the battle

for second and third places. Sebastian Vettel in a slightly

unfamiliar role than the latter part of last year. He was pretty much out

in front. They do not have the sheer speed on the straights at the

moment. TEAM RADIO: Keep doing what you are

doing, Nico Rosberg is trying to pull the gap to Sebastian Vettel.

There was a delay on that left front, not as quick as the right

front. It was only a fraction, tiny amount, by the did add to that pit

stop time. 2.5 seconds slower than the other top teams. Rosberg edging

away from Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes have done their work over the

off-season, longer than that because the build-up to this hybrid formula

has been going on for several years. You can just feel that Mercedes had

committed themselves massively. They have spent big money and have gone

about this in the proper way and they are able to deliver and show

the dominant form we have seen from Red Bull in the past. Mercedes had

performance facilities and they were getting the fuel tract, Hamilton at

39%. He is the biggest user. He will have to throttle back as the race

goes on and Mercedes clearly have more fuel for later on. Felipe

Massa, he is the best with the amount if you will he has left. It

changes all the time as the readings come through but Williams is looking

in very good shape and Hamilton, the leader, one of the best as well. As

we said, Mercedes have done their sums. They have a great facility in

the UK and they have committed to this very early, developing these

new powertrains. No surprise, if you have enough resources, people and

time, you will come up with good solutions. It does look more and

more, as expected, but it could be all about Rosberg and Hamilton.

Esteban Gutierrez in the pits, with Sauber. The top ten, Hamilton,

Rosberg with that gap of ten seconds, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel

Ricciardo. The first Ferrari, the only one, is Fernando Alonso, Nico

Hulkenberg has dropped back. They gap is over five seconds. Behind

Nico Hulkenberg, the gap to Jenson Button has been growing, McLaughlin

might have been able to close that. -- McLaren. Jenson Button will have

two lookout because Felipe Massa is only two seconds behind Jenson

Button. Kevin Magnussen completes the top ten.

TEAM RADIO: You would like to get this to at least five. Off you go,

get that speed up. That is what Rosberg is concentrating on. Pastor

Maldonado, the other Lotus, we passed in very early on and there

was some incident with Jules Bianchi. He is talking to as. Pastor

Maldonado, why did you have to retire? Damage? No damage. It was on

the engine, we were losing a lot of power and we then decided to retire,

we decided with the engine, we will analyse that and see what is

happening. We lost one engine already so we had to save the car.

Tell us about coming together with Jules Bianchi. I do not know, I just

felt him crashing into my back and I is one around. Not that clear. -- I

was spinning around. He made the switch from Williams to Lotus and he

must be wondering about that because Williams are still going well, both

cars in the points, not as far up as they would like but still an

opportunity to get closer. How is that battle developing further down?

Grosjean into the top ten. Adrian Sutil trying to get around Max

Chilton. Those cars are not really competing against each other on

pace. But Adrian Sutil having to work for it. Adrian Sutil, another

set of harder tyres. Also Esteban Gutierrez, trying to get past Marcus

Ericsson. Fernando Alonso have already made that extra pit stop. It

looked like he was going to have a go down the inside but I am

impressed with Marcus Ericsson, he is not giving up his position.

Jenson Button, another set of the option. On the softer tyres. 26 laps

completed and very much the three stop strategy for Jenson Button. Tom

is with Red Bull. Sensational news, coming through from Red Bull, the

fuel flow sensor on Daniel Ricciardo has failed completely severe using

the back-up system they have agreed with the FIA and the team is quick

to stress this is different to what happened with Sebastian Vettel in

Melbourne because there it was still working but it was drifting

increasingly during the race, which is why the team took that into their

own hands to measure. With Daniel Ricciardo, this is complete failure.

Interesting, the FIA says that these devices are there were very

accurately or stopped working completely and if they do stop,

there is that back-up system of using the team's own system but with

the offset. Esteban Gutierrez, fighting for position and getting

past Max Chilton. It does seem that there are some questions. You have a

system and if anything fails on the car, it stops. Spark the connection,

it stops, hydraulic, it stops. To have something on these cars which

does seem to have some reliability issues does not seem acceptable.

That will be discussed with the court case for the exclusion of

Daniel Ricciardo in a couple of weeks to determine whether he will

get those points back. For the moment, upfront, no denying that

Mercedes are totally in control. Look at Lewis Hamilton, lapping Kimi

Raikkonen, and he does an extremely quick job of getting out of the way.

But he is trying to get past the 83 macro and takes advantage of that to

go through. Half the distance. Mercedes totally dominating.

Although Red Bull just keeping in touch with Sebastian Vettel in third

place. Daniil Kvyat against Kamui Kobayashi here. Kamui Kobayashi has

just been passed by Daniil Kvyat. Jenson Button has been passed by

oath Williams cars, because of that second pit stop. So Jenson Button is

in ninth place but we have to see when those Williams cars come in.

This is Daniil Kvyat getting past Kamui Kobayashi using DRS. He

defends down the inside but there is not much he can do when the car

producers that drag and games about 15 kilometres an hour. Daniil Kvyat

showing good consistency. Three stop race for Ferrari. It does not look

like they have a car that can challenge Mercedes and right now,

they are struggling to challenge Red Bull. Onto the harder tyres,

unlikely he will take that to the end. He could in theory but that is

half of the distance and looking at the tyre degradation in practice, it

is unlikely they could go that far. Also in his Felipe Massa. This will

be interesting regarding Jenson Button. He was back on the softer

tyres, still has to do the run on the harder tyres. And he comes back

out. We will have an idea of how his situation stacks up with his

team-mate. He was ahead and with Jenson Button, who was chasing

earlier. He has come out behind Jenson Button, they gap is 6.3

seconds, he has work to do to catch McLaren. Kevin Magnussen has just

set the fastest lap. Fresh set of boots. Have we used half of the

fuel? Kevin Magnussen trying to get past Kamui Kobayashi. There we are.

Hamilton still looking incredibly comfortable Alonso is Valtteri

Bottas. I wonder if he can use that extra fuel in the latter stages?

That is key information for us as we can see Red Bull coming in. Also for

the other teams, it clearly backs up the efficiency of the power unit,

you cannot just set the engine from the power used and stored and then

deployed from the battery pack, but that is a very strong argument to

show the efficiency and Mercedes are clearly the most efficient.

Ricciardo with the harder tyres. On-board with Kevin Magnussen. He

tries to get past Kamui Kobayashi. The DRS is operating. This should be

relatively straightforward. He has opened his DRS. I wonder why? The

activation point is coming out of turn number 12. He has to use that,

if it is there. Perhaps it was just the camera angle. We can see how

early he was able to effect that into turn number one. Grosjean, into

13th place. McLaren have changed the front end of their car this weekend.

The nose cone section looks more like Force India and Toro Rosso but

nobody has copied Lotus with that twin task effort. -- tusk. That is a

very good middle sector from Daniel Ricciardo. At this stage, they have

50 kilos. TEAM RADIO: Be advised, there is

rain in the area, we can see that on the radar. Looking out of the

commentary box, it does not look threatening at the moment. Very

consistent. We have gone past the time when we had that huge rain

shower yesterday. On the fuel, around 50 kilos, 1.5 seconds of

performance. Like-for-like on the tyres, just on the fuel effects you

could run faster. Tom, conditions changing in the pits? I would agree,

not looking threatening. There is a little bit of wind building up but

let us not forget that yesterday at lunchtime I went around various

teams asking for the forecast and they said it does not look bad! And

look at the deluge we had. It happens frequently here. Grosjean

squeezing past Kamui Kobayashi. They both have Renault power units. Kamui

Kobayashi has his DRS open and Grosjean does not. He was in the

activation is so they are having issues. Some outflow, I love that

wording. It is raining somewhere! Back with Grosjean, trying to get

past Kamui Kobayashi, who was a very experienced driver. He has only

stopped once so his tyres have done a lot of work and that is

impressive. Only one stop. TEAM RADIO: Lewis, there are clouds

forming away from the circuit so there is a possible threat of rain

towards the end of the race. We will keep you updated. Information being

shared. Grosjean lining up for the pass. Important for Caterham, their

home race. He goes sideways, Kamui Kobayashi. Grosjean gets some of

that. That is what we are enjoying, whether you like the noise around, I

love the fact they are fighting with the cars, it is not as easy to just

floored the throttle. There was lots of talk. -- torque. He did not

complete a lap in Melbourne, 31 racing laps with this car. Kamui

Kobayashi has been out of Formula One for one year so he is not as

race fit. I do not think DRS is working on the Lotus. Ever see if he

can use that... That is a great little tussle, one way or the other.

He comes back on the inside, is the DRS open? Yes, but he is not using

it down the back straight. Finally alongside, Kamui Kobayashi will not

give up but he will ultimately have two. Kamui Kobayashi, the first ever

Japanese driver to win GP2 at this track some years ago. In the car

with Sebastian Vettel. Responding to Daniel Ricciardo, going out on those

harder tyres and setting quick laps. TEAM RADIO: Will try to protect

ourselves against some rain. He is staying on the medium tire. He will

go on to the hard tyre for the final stint. Carb balance changes joined

the Grand Prix. As the weight comes off, the nimbleness of the vehicle

improves and it allows the driver to position it in different places. You

can see Daniel Ricciardo coming through.

TEAM RADIO: Box, box! He is being asked to come in. It is the second

time for Nico Rosberg to make a pit stop. Nico Rosberg still seconds by

some ten seconds from Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel is in third. We are

wondering how deep Hulkenburg will be able to go in this race. The guy

who is using not so much fuel as some of the others but putting in

very good lap times. Williams are very impressive. They came into this

season with confidence. They are not using as much fuel so they can use a

bit more fuel each lap. That means more horsepower. Let's see what the

pit stop is like for these guys. It should be untroubled. All the tyres

are off. It is the medium compound tyres. They will be making another

stop for the hard tyres. They are able to go quite a decent length.

Last year, Mercedes struggled with getting their tyres to last. Now

they are more comfortable. TEAM RADIO: OK, Lewis, box at the

end of this lap. They have to respond to Sebastian Vettel. He has

new tyres so he is able to push the gap down but not enough to leapfrog

Mercedes. Seeing Mercedes with Sebastian Vettel putting on a medium

tire, they are reacting to the threat of rain. They will not have

to use the slower, harder tyre at all in the race. If you get rain and

it is declared wet, the fact you usually have to use both types of

tyre is negated. Sebastian Vettel with the opportunity to get back to

the Mercedes. He is within nearly a second. If you can get within the

one seconds mark, he is in DRS range. Into the pits comes the race

leader, Lewis Hamilton. He has a ten second lead. He has comfortable

controlled this part of the race. It is all systems operating as he

continues out and makes his way down the long pit lane. It feels like

never before they can get back to full power. He is very much in

charge. Hamilton in control with Nico Rosberg in second. He is

spending off Sebastian Vettel. Hulkenburg moving into second place

because of the pit stops around him. Nico Rosberg is in third with

Sebastian Vettel in force. Another fastest lap this time from Sebastian

Vettel. Into a gap of .7 of a second. Nico Rosberg will need to

get a move on to get the crucial one second gap which enabled him to

activate his DRS. I think Force India are trying to push it for a

two stop. They need to get another few more laps. That is probably what

they are trying to do. He is around cars with fresh tyres. That must

make your cards feel worse. It was a great effort with the one stop.

Hulkenburg is very clear that it is difficult. What would be loss or

gain be in staying with this strategy this afternoon? We will

find out soon enough. I'm sure he will like it if we had some rain.

Sebastian Vettel is keeping Nico Rosberg in the running. We have got

a yellow. Where is that? We will try to find out what is going on. There

is a problem for Adrian Sutil, his car has stopped. The car has been

stopped. It is unlikely to need a safety car but it is in a strange

position. Look how close Sebastian Vettel is to the back of Nico

Rosberg. They are very precise on how much you have to slow down at a

yellow now. I am not understanding why they are not using DRS. It is

disabled because of the yellow flag. He might have missed his

window of opportunity. Force India, 21 laps, that is possible because of

the where life of the hard tyres. It is a question of how slow it will be

going towards the end. This is the sextet in the middle where the Red

Bull has shown impressive speed. -- the sector. It is about carb

balance. In the first sector it has been three tenths quicker. Kimi

Raikkonen is saying there is some rain at the back of the track. There

is some dark cloud around but I cannot see the rain falling yet.

Kimi Raikkonen is getting its bashing on his visor. He is still in

14th place after the puncture he suffered on the first lap. Sometimes

you do get little splashes of fluid that can drift up onto your Pfizer.

This track is so wide that the marshals have been allowed to get

the car out of the way. TEAM RADIO: Just hit the beeps. The

fuel is OK. Daniel Ricciardo is using more fuel than anyone will

stop another piece of information we have gained. Hit the list of beeps.

It tells them when to shift up. -- lift off beeps. It clearly beeps

when they get to the desired point at the end of the straight. If they

coast and then break, that is where they get the maximum fuel saving.

Nothing to worry about at the moment but keep us updated. You can have a

constant drizzle but it does not really affect lap times. It is only

when it's full heavily, on these slick tyres, they will be slithering

around all over the place. Nico Rosberg seems so composed at the

moment. Sebastian Vettel is keeping pressure on him. It is almost as if

Nick Rosberg is driving to the pace of Sebastian Vettel. Hulkenburg is

in sixth place after his second pit stop. Jenson Button is in second.

Coming into the Grand Prix, McLaren where leading the Constructors'

Championship. That will change today. Mercedes are heading one and

two. Red Bull have scored nothing from Australia but, nonetheless,

this will change the constructors order quite considerably. Alonso

once again scoring in fifth place. That is not enough for Ferrari.

There will be questions asked in the early stages of this new hybrid in.

Gutierrez is in the pits. It looks like he has a problem. Not a great

deal happening. He is trying to get going, getting it to move. The Ahe

is trying to select a gear. The mechanics are standing back. He is

trying to select a gear. If this is another car out, it will become a

six retirement. A shake of the head and the engines are off. Sebastian

Vettel had a problem in qualifying yesterday where they were able to

reset it by turning it off and on again. Whether they can achieve that

with Gutierrez or not, worth trying though. It is an opportunity for

teams at the lower end of the order to pick up a vital position, they've

even a point at the end of the race. For teams like Caterham or

Marussia. Chilton was 14th last time in Australia.

There is Fernando Alonso, still not far behind Daniel Ricciardo. The gap

is still two seconds. TEAM RADIO: Nico Rosberg is seeming

to lose or oil or water for the last couple of laps already. That is

interesting. Some fluid from the Mercedes. It could also be rain. It

lifted off nice and early. I wonder if it is just a few drops of rain

out the back of the circuit. Again, Sebastian Vettel will be able to

tell as he wipes whatever fluid it is from his visor, what it is. It

depends how much water there is on the visor. It is starting to rain.

Thank you for the update. Still reasonable brightness in one

direction. TEAM RADIO: There are drops in nine

and ten. There are drops in turns nine and ten. We're not quite there

yet. We will get to that section. If it is only a few drops, the drivers

will not feel that in terms of the grip level. It is just disconcerting

when you have a few drops of fluid on your Pfizer. If it is going to

start raining, does it do it before you get close to the pit lane? If it

does that, you will have a long and slippy ride back to the pits. The

temperatures is still 49 degrees. At 5:15pm, it is very high. Humidity is

just below 16%. We will wait and see what the weather does over the next

part of the race. We are getting into the latter stages. We have

completed two thirds distance. Gutierrez is out of his car. Kamui

Kobayashi has moved into 13. We were talking about the importance of

getting the positions. Now they are in a key area. I am not sure how

much longer he will be there. Kimi Raikkonen is right behind him. Here

we are with Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso. Alonso is looking

more racy. He has more fuel in hand by the looks of it. Daniel Ricciardo

is on 68.5. That will come in handy once he gets into the zone. Last

time he was 1.2 seconds behind and it looks like he is narrowing the

gap further. We are expecting some third pit stops coming up. They

could come any time. I would not expect them yet. I would expect them

to go further. Get ready for another round of pit stops relatively soon.

Alonso keeping the pressure on. Hulkenburg, we think, is definitely

trying to get through on two stops. He is lapping quite effectively at

the moment. Jenson Button is still in seven and Valterri Bottas in

nine. He is pushing on to try and get into the zone to overtake Daniel

Ricciardo. If you think the brain is going to come a bit later in the

race, you would rather eat this out as far as possible. -- eek this out.

When it rains, it tends to do a big dump are more likely you will get a

safety car. They are saying there is rain but it looks clear. I have been

in this situation before where it looks like it will rain and nothing

happens at all. Let's read the situation as it occurs. Sebastian

Vettel has not given up hopes of putting pressure on Mercedes and

seeing if there is a chink in the armour. He is just within the three

second mark with Nico Rosberg. There is Mercedes. The Red Bull chases.

TEAM RADIO: Speak up when you talk. Speak up and repeat. There is rain

in the air. Normally the communications are easier. That is

how it has changed in recent laps between Sebastian Vettel and Nico

Rosberg. Nico Rosberg does seem to be in control. Hamilton is lapping

consistently. The same lap time almost to the one hundredth of a

second. A drop of rain on the lens of the camera man. The window for

the third pit stop opening up. The big question, both McLaren cars in,

both going onto the harder compound and the question is whether they can

hunt down Nico Hulkenberg, who looks to be trying for those two stops

whether Force India will respond to McLaren. Maybe they will switch to

the three stop. It might be safer. They have that flexibility. Rosberg,

in second place, Sebastian Vettel in third. Kimi Raikkonen, in 13th

place, having passed Kamui Kobayashi. His lap time is all

right, 49.5. Daniel Ricciardo, his final pit stop -- pit stop. Daniel

Ricciardo has a problem. Shaking his head. All of a sudden, Daniel

Ricciardo, what is happening? He was weaving, shaking his steering wheel

from side to side, perhaps an issue with the wheel, the mechanics are

pushing him back. This will take them quite some time to get him

back. They have to push it back to their own pit area. Daniel

Ricciardo, he has driven superbly today, only the second grand prix

for Red Bull Racing, disqualified from Australia. It is falling apart.

The engine is still running, so it might well be that they were not

entirely happy that all of those wheels were correctly positioned.

Let us find out if he gets pushed into the box, they are not preparing

the garage. Back into the stop ox. The left front. Maybe it simply was

not done up, as Tom suggested? The normal excellent at work that we see

from Red Bull has not happened. --- pit wok. That was a silly problem

and that has cost him dearly, coming out behind Kamui Kobayashi. In front

of Fernando Alonso, an entire lot. -- an entire lap. Let us look at the

original stop. That front wheel. The left wheel, the right comes off.

He's not happy. Yes, you can see it wobbling. It was not seated. I am

surprised he drove as far as he did. Yes. The team is under threat with

this regulation that says you must not release the car if there is

nothing not quite right and he might get in a digital penalty as a result

of that. TEAM RADIO: Box at the end of this

lap. -- might get an additional penalty. We will see lots more pit

stops but if the race continues in a conventional manner, there will be

the final pit stop for Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton very

controlled in front. He has lapped Kevin Magnussen in ninth place, he

has lapped up to ninth position, Rosberg in second. In the

background, we still have Sebastian Vettel, Grosjean in the foreground,

11th place. It would be great for Lotus to scrape a point out of this.

There is an opportunity to just gain one point, 10th place. Fernando

Alonso, how far can Daniel Ricciardo recover?

We have some medium tyres going on, he can go back onto what should be

quicker tyres and the 13 laps to go and good fuel usage. Tom, any more

raindrops? And damage on the front wing of Daniel Ricciardo! It is

scraping along the ground. It just goes from bad to worse. Whether

there is failure or contact, but Daniel Ricciardo is lumping. We will

get the replay. -- limping. Christian Horner, looking glum. The

danger is that falls off. TEAM RADIO: Comment. -- come in.

Yes, it is rubbing against the front tyre. That is a lot of damage, all

of the end plates has been taken. There must have been contact? That

is part of the Red Bull front wing. Some debris, I guess that could lead

to the safety car, in theory. I wonder if the Race Director will be

impressed with this? What would be the call? There was nothing falling

off. Will that cause problems? As long as he is not endangering

anybody. With punctured tyres, there is bits of rubber, and you can see

the wing is hanging down. Whether it was just loading, it is cutting into

the tyres. We are still new to these cars, maybe that front wing mount

has failed. So, Daniel Ricciardo is finally into

the pits. They will change the front wing and the tyres as well. They

will send him on his way once again. Paul Monaghan took a photograph of

that, I wonder if there was already an issue that they were monitoring?

He is not just here today pretty pictures of racing cars. I wonder if

there was contact in the opening laps. They knew there was some

damage? Maybe Tom can get a line on that. 12 laps left to go in

Malaysia. Hamilton is setting the fastest lap, 1.44.329. He has stayed

constant, Mercedes have controlled this, they have been making for

Rosberg... TEAM RADIO: We would like to avoid

going onto the prime tyres early. Stay out. That is just in case we

get that late rain shower. Good middle sector from Fernando Alonso.

On the option, generating more grip. They are getting towards fumes, not

carrying a lot of weight. The times improved, the track gets moreover,

the is going down, so we are going into that operating window.

Hulkenberg still holding onto fourth decision. Fernando Alonso will try

to close that gap. Will they switch to three stops? They still have

time, if they need to. Lewis Hamilton cruising around at the

moment, he has done two stops and we expect one more before the end. That

is a dark cloud in the background but still no sign of heavy rain

falling. Lewis Hamilton has never won the Malaysian Grand Prix. This

would be the first time he has taken this. This was Daniel Ricciardo,

over the kerb? That was the point at which it failed but it looks to me

like it just pulled out of the mounting from below the wing. Ten

second penalty for Daniel Ricciardo for that unsafe release. Once that

has happened, there is not much the stewards can decide. Because of the

accident in Germany last year, they are very keen on those. As we go

back with Daniel Ricciardo. He will try to recover, 16th place,

currently. He has gone past Max Chilton, you might not realise he

should be racing against him because he just seemed to let him go

through. Up ahead, Valtteri Bottas, in sixth place. Kamui Kobayashi,

13th place, with those problems with Daniel Ricciardo. That could be

crucial for Caterham and another place would be very important for

them. Jenson Button and Felipe Massa, battling for sixth place.

Just having a look, Felipe Massa, we have Valtteri Bottas ahead of him.

And Valtteri Bottas has just stopped. Jenson Button with a

challenge coming from Williams and Felipe Massa. The DRS will be

available to him. William is bearing down. Valtteri Bottas, just further

back having made that pit stop. Not quite enough speed for Felipe Massa

to take Jenson Button. Up ahead, Marcus Ericsson in the other

Caterham. Past the grandstand, Jenson Button moves to the inside,

he will have to work for it. Felipe Massa forces around the inside.

Jenson Button goes deep, just about get it into the second part of the

corner. That will be tough for Felipe Massa, he goes around the

outside! Felipe Massa, side-by-side with Jenson Button, Jenson Button

having the inside line. He can go around the outside but Felipe Massa

is unable to do that. That started on turn number one, into turn number

five. The Williams has got better pace at this stage. And they are the

ones providing the entertainment. It was Valtteri Bottas in Australia and

it is Felipe Massa here. They have been very efficient on fuel usage so

they can run their engine and turn things up for the end of the race.

Valtteri Bottas, he will be on fresh tyres, that'll be something. We

might have both Williams cars going hard at it. Kevin Magnussen, ninth

place. Daniil Kvyat is in 10th place. Grosjean in 11th place and

Daniel Ricciardo looks like he could be out of this. OK, he has come back

out. That is good. He will have to try to close up and take as many

places as possible. So, lap 47. Hamilton still in front. No trouble

at all for Lewis Hamilton at this stage, Rosberg and second, Mercedes

looking at one, two. Sebastian Vettel. Hulkenberg in fourth place

and looking to try to do this on two stops. Mercedes could probably

finish on two stops if they wanted to. They will have to make another

pit stop. Fernando Alonso, they Jenson Button, Felipe Massa,

Valtteri Bottas in eighth place. Then Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat,

Grosjean. Valtteri Bottas was a big winner out of that little battle. He

was two seconds quicker than his team-mate, Felipe Massa, on the last

gap. This is not only a battle over sixth place, which is held by Jenson

Button, it is the battle of the team-mates. I am sure there will be

no team orders this late, each man for himself. Off you go. The new

fastest lap I Fernando Alonso, who switched onto the medium compound

and has done 1:41.1. That Ferrari does have pace. Does it have the

race long place? Perhaps they do not have the fuel consumption that

Mercedes have. They have a reasonably fast car and that is a

very good lap. Hamilton is not being pushed. You'll AAlonso was 7.2

seconds behind Hulkenburg last time around. -- Alonso. He could come

back out in front of Jenson Button. It may be they are keeping an eye on

Jenson Button Rather than worrying about Alonso in the Ferrari. Let's

see whether he can close the gap. A bit quicker in the middle sector.

Jenson Button not able to get close enough to challenge. We will have to

wait and see. What news do you have? I have no news. I think I have

failed you. You asked me about the front wing failure and they said,

they do not know. There in. There will be an investigation afterwards,

I am sure. -- fair enough. The rule of having a big car advantage is do

not win by two much otherwise you do not get much television coverage for

your sponsors. That is true. This Malaysian company have never had the