Browse content similar to The Singapore Grand Prix - Qualifying Highlights. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
In Monza, power is one of the priorities. My aim is to still be | :01:11. | :01:18. | |
within 15 points in Abu Dhabi and I think there could be a chance. I | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
want to keep concentrating on driving and enjoy the moment. I feel | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
fit and ready, and I know I have a good car. | :01:29. | :01:38. | |
Hamilton is being swamped, as Nico Rosberg makes a meteoric getaway. | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
Hamilton has got some work to do, he is down in fourth position. Kevin | :01:45. | :01:52. | |
Magnussen, Massa has got him already and now Lewis Hamilton will try to | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
line up the McLaren. Rosberg has gone straight on. Nico Rosberg has | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
made a big mistake. Hamilton is getting closer. He is through. That | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
was another brilliant piece of racing. Hamilton has gained a | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
massive amount on Rosberg. This is a psychological battle. Rosberg has | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
carried on. Surely this is Hamilton's chance to take the lead | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
of the Grand Prix. Hamilton is in front! And now a retirement from | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
Alonso. On home turf as well. Daniel Ricciardo takes him. Ricciardo | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
behind the Force India, he sold him a dummy and he takes fourth place. | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
Can his team-mate show him how it can be done? He will have the inside | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
line for the next chicane. He comes back on the inside and he has done | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
it again. There is no doubt who has the psychological edge now, it is | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
Lewis Hamilton. RADIO: Thanks, guys, that was a great result and a great | :03:06. | :03:07. | |
recovery. The pressure builds as the Formula | :03:08. | :03:20. | |
One wheel turns to the business end of the season. Welcome to qualifying | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
under the night sky in Singapore. With these finely tuned young | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
gentleman. What a prospect we have ahead, one of the more difficult | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
races on the calendar? It is indeed, 23 corners under the | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
humidity of the street circuit, bumpy and mentally demanding. You | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
can expect to see few red faces at the end and that is not from | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
embarrassment. Maybe a few surprises. Only six events until the | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
world champion is crowned and Rosberg is leading the standings, so | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
does he have the edge? He does because he is the one out in front. | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
All of the rest have to catch up. If he keeps his nose clean and he | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
finishes on the podium in all of those remaining races, I think the | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
Crown will be his. Only six remaining to find out. The last race | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
in Monza we were talking about the Ferrari president stepping down and | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
it has happened. He was a big supporter and our father, and this | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
Ferrari has been so successful in Ferrari with so many championships, | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
and it was a big reference for Ferrari. We are in a big process of | :04:35. | :04:47. | |
change. We hope that the changes will have a stronger Ferrari and we | :04:48. | :04:55. | |
wish him good luck in the future. In business, and good luck to the new | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
president. Those are the thoughts of Fernando Alonso. Was it the right | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
time to go? Absolutely. The season and in fact the last number of | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
seasons has not gone well, Luca is a proud man, not just in motor racing | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
but previously in the World Cup, we know what he did. His legacy is | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
intact and he has left at the right time. When we arrived all of the | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
chat was about the team radio ban and the FIA have issued certain | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
subjects which are not allowed. Like some of the ones we are seeing here, | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
but essentially it is a ban on driver coaching. What are your | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
thoughts? I have heard both sides of the story and I think it is a bit of | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
a red herring. The fact is that we have radio available to give | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
information to the drivers and I can understand it is making it to easy, | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
but I think that view is nonsense, you still have to drive it quickly | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
whether you are given the permission or not. Whether they are getting the | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
information from the radio or in some other form, they will still get | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
the information about making adjustments. In 2015 there will be | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
more things that are not allowed to be discussed but there is more to | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
come. The other big discussion has been three cars per team from Bernie | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
Ecclestone, what are your thoughts on that? What does it mean for the | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
smaller teams go to mark this is a typical Bernie Ecclestone situation. | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
-- teams? It is disrespectful and it does not embrace the movement in | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
Formula One, these three teams at the back signed a Concorde agreement | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
and they have done everything correctly and they have contracts | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
with staff, drivers, suppliers, and with sponsors and to single them out | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
is disrespectful firstly, and it does not show the support that they | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
should be getting from Bernie Ecclestone at this moment. One other | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
thing: I think it is the manufacturers, those other people | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
that have left in Formula One. -- those are. Teams run by supporters | :06:54. | :07:01. | |
and people like myself, it is now the time for everyone to support | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
those people. Strong views from Eddie. Let's find out what some of | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
the team principals then. Three-car teams, do you support that idea? No, | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
we believe it goes against the DNA of the sport and it is a depressing | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
conversation for us to be having because it is a sign of a warning | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
shot of things to come, and the state of some of the teams that I | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
may be struggling in the sport at the moment, and I hope that is not | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
the case. Running three cars would mean fewer teams on the grade which | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
obviously we do not want. There is also the question of funding. There | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
are many questions which could be raised and obviously we are very | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
much in favour of supporting the sport, and if we had to run a third | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
car we would do it. We want a minimum of ten teams. Fielding two | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
cars, and keeping the fibre of who we are as a sport. We do not want to | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
see four teams with three cars, that is not Formula One. We should try to | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
have as many different teams as we can because in the third car, it is | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
not a completely perfect system because you again have the danger | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
that if you have one team which is extremely good compared to the | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
others, their third car by definition will be better than the | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
first and 2nd cars of other people and you may end up with a grid which | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
is not ideal and maybe big names are further down the grid which they | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
also cannot accept, so it is something to be careful about. Have | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
you done the maths about how much more it would cost less to mark we | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
have looked into it. -- cost? We might be obliged to run a third car | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
if it happens but I think it is roughly 20 30 million. It is a of | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
money. -- 20, 30 million. There is a clause which says that if there is | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
only 19 cars on the grade then this can happen and we're not there yet. | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
With 22 cars on the grid, this is how the championship looks. -- 19 | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
cars on the grid. Although Lewis has six wins he also has three | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
retirements so Nico Rosberg with four victories Pat Symonds riding | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
seat. Daniel Ricciardo is the top scorer from the last five races so | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
he is in third. It is tight between Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso. | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
Sebastian Vettel has dominated previously in Singapore and he is in | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
sixth. Mercedes are now getting closer to clinching the | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
Constructors' Championship ahead of Red Bull. The tussle for third is | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
being won by Williams. They have 15 points on Ferrari. And a single | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
point separates McLaren from Force India in sick. So, very much a | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
gruelling session ahead for the teams. And the drivers in this heat. | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
And the humidity. Can anyone take it to Mercedes? Ferrari were showing | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
good pace in free practice but insiders are expecting them to | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
unleash more horsepower, Mercedes. They will be running in full | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
qualifying mode. Red Bull will be on the back foot in the last two | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
sectors. It is Formula One and anything can happen. That's right. | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
And it was unusual for Mercedes not to be dominating the free practice | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
session. Tom has the latest from the pit lane. It is only the fifth time | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
that a Mercedes this year has not topped the final practice session | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
and the team cannot give us a meaningful explanation, one engineer | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
suggesting that Lewis and Nico deliberately drove slowly so as not | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
to give the other driver the quick lap ahead of qualifying and that is | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
how intense the relationship has become. For Fernando Alonso, topping | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
two of the free practice sessions, he drove a brilliant lap to top the | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
third practice session but it is unlikely that he will be able to | :10:53. | :10:54. | |
maintain the pace because Mercedes will turn up their engines, and they | :10:55. | :11:04. | |
will be battling it out in P-3. It is coming up in just a few seconds | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
against the Singapore cityscape. Tom and Lee are in the pit lane and Tom | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
and Ben other commentators. -- they are the commentators. | :11:16. | :11:29. | |
COMMENTATOR: At the green countryside in Belgium and the | :11:30. | :11:36. | |
woodlands of Monza, it is time for the concrete jungle of Singapore to | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
provide the backdrop. We are going to lose six of the cars after this | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
18 minute session. Tom has been scouting around to find information | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
on the cut-off time. It looks like a 1.48.2 is what they are expecting | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
the cut-off time to be. What will be fascinating is how many cars can get | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
into Q2 on the prime time. If we take an average of the qualifying | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
simulations that were done this morning, the difference between the | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
tyres was 2.1 seconds and it has led Pirelli to say that they think only | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
Mercedes can get through on the prime tyre. It will be close. | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
Rosberg is going on to a quick lap and immediately going wide down the | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
first section of corners. But this is a great overhead shot as he gets | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
into the lap. It is a fantastic track. Entering turn five over the | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
red and white paint onto the tarmac. It is different from last year where | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
they had to stay more to the right, so the drivers will exploit every | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
opportunity to find sometime. Heavy breaking down into turn seven and | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
then he has gone wide. That is a mistake already. A mistake from Nico | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
Rosberg, using the harder compound tyre. He gets it into reverse, we | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
know that he can do that and he did it effectively in Monza. It is new | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
material, so I wonder whether he was caught out. He got a good start into | :13:07. | :13:15. | |
Turn 1 and a big Sturt axed up -- and it should be a fairly | :13:16. | :13:17. | |
straightforward 90 degrees right hand turn. Just as in Monza he tries | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
to release the brake. The front left locks up and he gets off the brake | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
and it has carried the momentum through. I would suggest that is | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
purely down to the new material which has not bedded in as he would | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
have expected. That is Mrs Rosberg. It is much easier to get into | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
reverse gear, it appears, than it used to be. I remember watching you | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
and other drivers struggling to get it into reverse but Nico has | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
perfected it. There have been several improvements in Formula One, | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
you used you have to go into neutral and do a complicated sequence to get | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
into reverse but there is just now button on the steering wheel. | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
Catlike reactions to his mistake, but that will unsettle him slightly. | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
It gives confidence to your team-mates when they see you making | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
a mistake, and when you see your team-mate making a mistake, the | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
consequences of that is unsettling the flow of how you want the session | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
to go. Very much in this part of qualifying, this is about joining | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
the dots. You expect your car to be quick enough, certainly in a | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
Mercedes, that you will get through to the next part of qualifying and | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
be in the top ten shoot out. It is just about getting a nice, safe | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
lap. Another one locking up down into Turn 1, was that Hamilton? It | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
was possibly grow John. I am looking at the circuit map. -- | :14:42. | :15:02. | |
Valtteri Bottas has set the initial pace. All of the teams currently | :15:03. | :15:10. | |
using harder tyres. We are watching Sergio Perez in the Force India. | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
Force India locked into that battle with McLaren in the constructors. | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
Just one point separating the two teams. McLaren and Force India, both | :15:20. | :15:22. | |
of them bringing update packages to their cars this weekend. The last | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
opportunity to do that, big update in terms of increasing the amount of | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
downforce on the cards as we go into the latter point of the season. | :15:32. | :15:39. | |
Probably will not see many new parts appearing on the cars because they | :15:40. | :15:41. | |
will be focused on next year 's machinery. Sergio Perez backing off, | :15:42. | :15:44. | |
obviously felt that he made a mistake. You are watching Kimi | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
Raikkonen at the moment. You can see the time is ticking away for | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
Fernando Alonso. Raikkonen has been struggling for pace compared to his | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
team-mate. We're riding on board with him. There is a little bit of a | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
drop here. This is the only bit of elevation change. Yes, over the | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
Anderson Bridge. Fairly straightforward section of corners. | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
Kimi Raikkonen a couple of years ago in the Lotus was using that corner | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
to good effect. It is a very wide circuit for a street circuit. It is | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
not like Monte Carlo, where qualifying, you cannot get in front | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
of the guy in front and make yourself a little bit wider. Taking | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
that shallow line. The opportunity to overtake getting into the last | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
chicane. That will now open out into the fastest corner on the track. It | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
is a short left. Sergio Perez watching the last part of the lap | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
for Kimi Raikkonen. He finished third here last year driving for | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
Lotus. He goes fastest. But Fernando Alonso behind him immediately going | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
wicker. 148.2. But, that is better than the back of one second that we | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
saw earlier. Now, Valtteri Bottas is on a good lap. He will be one to | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
watch. Lewis Hamilton is also on a lap. Not the fastest of all in the | :17:01. | :17:03. | |
first sector. Not much difference between what Hamilton has done and | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
what Valtteri Bottas has just done. Keep an eye on this from Lewis | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
Hamilton. He is on the harder compound tyres. Yes, the first car | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
running on the option tyres, Pastor Maldonado, he is in seventh. | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
Hamilton with the outside left locking up. It is something that we | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
have seen through the free practice, bit surprising, normally | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
it is the inside wheel that locks up. When you have the outside wheel | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
taking most of the load and locking, it shows fundamentally | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
there is too much brake balance, too much load on the front axle. You are | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
asking too much of the tyres, trying to take longer to and the lateral | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
load. Let's have a look, turned 22 and 23. He goes fastest. 47.8. Not a | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
huge margin over Alonso. We expect Red Bull to be around that as well. | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
Felipe Massa crossing the line. Williams not showing quite the same | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
format we have seen in other circuits. Of course, Williams | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
managed to out-qualify Mercedes in Austria earlier this year when they | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
were using a similar combination of tyres. Nico Rosberg slowed it down a | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
moment ago. Trying to get out of the way. Then the Lotus going past him | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
and locking up. Not sure which car that was. I think he was so | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
surprised to take over another car he did not slow down. Confident on | :18:24. | :18:32. | |
breaking. Understood. There is nothing going forwards. Do not know | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
what is going on. COMMENTATOR: To prove that, Romain Grosjean going | :18:38. | :18:40. | |
down the escape road. But they can get back to the pits and try to fix | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
it. Hamilton is fastest, Alonso second, Raikkonen third. Still a few | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
cars yet to set a lap time. Esteban Gutierrez is one of those, trying to | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
get the car going as much as possible. He was good this morning, | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
10th fastest. That was a surprising result, but was everybody giving it | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
their all? That is still a question from earlier this afternoon, the | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
first session. Esteban Gutierrez across the line and that is second | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
quickest. He is on the super-soft tyres. That is why he is amongst | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
some of the front running teams, but that is a pretty good lap from | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
Esteban Gutierrez. One minute 47. That should certainly be safety seen | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
through into the next part of qualifying. Also shows a little bit | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
of track evolution. Pastor Maldonado, out of the way there. | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
Used to seeing that brake disc blowing through the inside of the | :19:35. | :19:37. | |
wheel. Maybe they have taken away some of the covering from the brake | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
disc to try to get some more cooling in there. But you can see it going | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
under the breaking. Esteban Gutierrez half a second quicker than | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
free practice. That could be down to fuel, or they could have turned up | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
the engine for the qualifying. But I think it shows us that even though | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
track conditions under the spotlight should be a little bit more | :19:59. | :20:01. | |
favourable, certainly times very similar. Pastor Maldonado is in | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
ninth position at the moment but he is already on the super-soft tyres. | :20:07. | :20:09. | |
It will be tough for him with that lap time, 49.0 will not be enough. | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
Romain Grosjean is seventh currently. Looking at Kimi Raikkonen | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
going out on the super-soft, and also Red Bull going out on those. | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
You will only get one flying that on those tyres. It is quite an abrasive | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
asphalt, and tyre warm up is crucial. Nico Rosberg is now going | :20:30. | :20:32. | |
out on the super-soft. Mercedes are not risking it. They are sticking | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
with the super-soft like everybody else. That is interesting, experts | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
Nico Rosberg on the back foot. He will be using an extra set in | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
qualifying, whereas Hamilton does not need to. Certainly first round | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
has gone slightly to Lewis Hamilton. We wait to see whether Nico Rosberg | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
will get through. You only need somebody to put it in the wall, and | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
calculation will go out of the window. We're watching Sebastian | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
Vettel. Just hitting the wall as he exits the turn. Using all of the | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
road. He is looking through his practice on form. It is a track that | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
he has won at an he is looking to get his season back on track. DRS is | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
wide open as he goes along there. This might cost him time, this | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
traffic. The caterer now moving out of the way, but very late. That will | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
definitely have cost him some performance. -- the Caterham. They | :21:24. | :21:42. | |
are shadowing each other's every move. Cannot risk that. It is so | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
close and some important here, you cannot risk not getting through to | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
Q2. We saw the signal from Sebastian Vettel, he was not impressed. It was | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
the Toro Rosso of Daniel Kubiak, trying to get out of his way. You | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
take that position on the track, and you want to get the car in the | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
braking zone. -- Daniel Let's have a look at that now. Just | :22:05. | :22:12. | |
important. Nico Rosberg getting out of the way. Coming through the | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
traffic now. He gets away with it. Sorry, that Caterham was going to | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
get in his way. Ricciardo going fastest. 147.4. Using the super-soft | :22:24. | :22:32. | |
tyres. Sergio Perez is up to fourth position. Force India struggling, | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
trying to get into the top ten. That is crucial for them. Hulkenberg | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
butting a good lap together, quicker than Ricciardo. That is surprising. | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
A very good lap from Nico Hulkenberg. Had some tough races | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
recently, and he will want to put those behind him. Raikkonen, what | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
can he do? He has qualified well in the past here. In 2008 he was third. | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
But generally he has struggled. . He had only been in the top ten on one | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
occasion in his fourth Grand Prix starts in Singapore, but he does | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
race well here. It is a quick lap, he is up at the moment. Quick | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
through the first two sectors. We can join him here. Coming through | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
the first of what our three chicanes to end the lap. He has been lacking | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
a little bit of front end by it. Is there any evidence that he has got | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
some here? You can tell a lot by looking at his steering, how | :23:26. | :23:32. | |
confident he is? Not so much more anywhere on this side. I think that | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
Hulkenberg, one second quicker than he managed this morning in free | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
practice. He will be happy with that. Let's have a look at what | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
Raikkonen does. The time is improving rapidly. Seeing a big jump | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
from what we saw earlier. The track conditions obviously are ideal. In | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
the drop zone, Sebastian Vettel is there. Still waiting for him to put | :23:53. | :23:55. | |
a lap together. He will be coming round in a moment to complete a lap. | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
Jenson Button is second fastest. Jean-Eric Vergne has gone through | :24:02. | :24:04. | |
fourth again. Here is Sebastian Vettel, he should leap up the order, | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
and he goes fifth. Not as quick as Jean-Eric Vergne. The other Toro | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
Rosso going seventh. In the drop zone, we have Adrian Sutil, Pastor | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
Maldonado, Kamui Kobayashi, Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton and Marcus | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
Ericsson. We ride on board with Alonso. Always impressive through | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
that last turn. A massive power slide. Nice and tidy on this lap. | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
Not as quick as Raikkonen. You know that Ferrari have got a quick car | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
here today. Maybe they have gone for the qualifying setup. Hamilton is | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
third fastest, that is enough to get through to the next stage of | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
qualifying. Who is in danger at the moment? Felipe Massa is in danger. | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
Only 16. Only 200th of a second between Felipe Massa and Adrian | :24:54. | :24:56. | |
Sutil. There is danger for both of the Williams. Valtteri Bottas is | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
only 14th, and he is only one tenth within the cut-off time. It is very | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
tight in the 16 at the moment. 48.8 is what Felipe Massa has done. That | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
is a big improvement for Valtteri Bottas. You would expect to see | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
something similar coming up from Felipe Massa. We have only got just | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
over one minute to go in this session. Valtteri Bottas will be | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
relieved to have delivered that performance. Another quick note, | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
Esteban Gutierrez has done a good job. 147.9. That should get the | :25:27. | :25:37. | |
Sauber through, but the other one of those is in the drop zone. Felipe | :25:38. | :25:40. | |
Massa going fast in the first sector. He should be, as we join him | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
here, into that one. Let's see if he can take that. He had to finish this | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
lap, he cannot afford to make a mistake and bail out now. That was a | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
little bit of a lock-up. OK, he will not have lost too much. It looks | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
like he got away with it. You do not want to do too much too these tyres. | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
Getting into the more street circuit part of the lap. The chicane, the | :26:07. | :26:14. | |
barrier, and those walls. He is on a decent looking lap, Felipe Massa. | :26:15. | :26:17. | |
Podium finisher last time out. His first podium of the season with | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
Williams. So far so good. Romain Grosjean is on a lap which look | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
reasonable in the first sector. But he is already ahead of Felipe Massa | :26:27. | :26:29. | |
in the standings. Romain Grosjean trying to get this part of | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
qualifying. Pastor Maldonado, the other Lotus, is in the drop zone. We | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
can see where Felipe Massa will put himself in the overall rankings. I | :26:38. | :26:45. | |
think he is going to go safely through to the next part. That is | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
11. A little bit of his team-mate, but safely through to the next page. | :26:49. | :26:51. | |
That puts Romain Grosjean into the danger zone right now. I do not | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
think Adrian Sutil will get another chance. They say that I need to go | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
slowly. It is race tyres. These are all race tyres. By the way, Max | :27:03. | :27:11. | |
Chilton has gone quicker than Jules Bianchi. But he is on a lap himself. | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
Crucial labs coming up. Can Adrian Sutil screeds in? Yes he has. But | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
Romain Grosjean is on a lap that should see him go quicker. Kamui | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
Kobayashi coming across the line. He is currently faster than others. | :27:26. | :27:32. | |
Will it stay that way? Jules Bianchi going faster than Kamui Kobayashi. | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
Romain Grosjean coming through, he is safe. He goes 13th. That pushes | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
Adrian Sutil back into the lower order. Disappointment for Sauber in | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
their garage. But she should be happy, she gets to see her boyfriend | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
soon! His day is done. Pastor Maldonado is the Only question here. | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
I do not think he will be able to make it into the next part of | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
qualifying. On the back foot since his crash on Friday. He has failed. | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
A former front row start here, Pastor Maldonado, but not able to | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
get into the top 16. Marcus Ericsson ending up in last position in the | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
end by quite a margin. Do not know if he had a problem with the car, | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
but he was not that quick on the final lap. We know that we have lost | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
Adrian Sutil, Pastor Maldonado, Jules Bianchi, Kamui Kobayashi, Max | :28:27. | :28:33. | |
Chilton and Marcus Ericsson. STUDIO: No great surprises about we went | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
out, but what about Ferrari at the front? It was a big surprise. Will | :28:37. | :28:43. | |
we be seeing Kimi Raikkonen transferring into something magic? I | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
do not think so. I think that Ferrari go very good on the | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
super-soft tyres. This is not going to stay for very long. They have | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
both look pretty good as the week goes on, but what about Nico | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
Rosberg? The mistake he made with the new breaks. Was that a bit of a | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
surprise mark or is it down to the new technology? He has been making a | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
number of mistakes, at Monaco we saw that. Yet again there were some more | :29:07. | :29:14. | |
problems. He seriously has not got to grips with the new material. New | :29:15. | :29:17. | |
breaks, new material. I do not know why they did it at this particular | :29:18. | :29:19. | |
point, it should have been done earlier in the day yesterday for | :29:20. | :29:23. | |
example. A little bit of a problem because what is going to happen in | :29:24. | :29:26. | |
the race when he is carrying much more fuel and he is out there | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
racing? We will have to see what happens. A psychological building | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
block for Lewis Hamilton? All of these things count, however small, | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
however minute. This is all positive for Lewis Hamilton. OK, Q2. | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
COMMENTATOR: The second part of qualifying is underway. We are | :29:46. | :29:48. | |
rating for Jean-Eric Vergne, actually everybody, to come out onto | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
the circuit for this session. Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in the first | :29:53. | :29:56. | |
part along with Fernando Alonso. If we look over practice so far this | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
weekend and count that as the fourth session that we have seen on the | :30:00. | :30:02. | |
track, three out of the four have been led by Ferrari. Are we seeing a | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
little bit of a resurgence? We will wait and find out. Still a little | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
way to go in all of this. But you were pretty accurate with the first | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
cut-off time, what can we expect to see in the second session? | :30:15. | :30:18. | |
All I have been told is that you can shave another hard second off. High | :30:19. | :30:29. | |
46s. Everyone was on super-softs, so it means a different strategy for | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
the rest of qualifying. Normally you would not dream of using the option | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
tyre for Q1. Anyone who gets into Q3, it is another second. We may | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
only see one run in the first session to get themselves two in Q3. | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
Coming off what I thought one of his best races so far, a great fight | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
with Jenson Button at Monza. A really solid race result for him. | :30:58. | :31:04. | |
Let's see what his lap time is like. That is quite a bit quicker than he | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
managed in the first part of qualifying, six tenths faster than | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
he did in Q1. More important is to get into the top ten, he used to | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
drive for Ron Dennis of course when he was at McLaren last year. Kimi | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
Raikkonen is the one to watch. He is on his way to 46 June he gets this | :31:23. | :31:31. | |
sector right. -- 246, assuming that he gets. | :31:32. | :31:34. | |
The last time he qualified in the top six was in Monaco. He goes | :31:35. | :31:43. | |
fastest. That is three tenths faster than he achieved in Q1. Raikkonen is | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
looking very competitive at this stage. We are still waiting to see | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
some of the other front runners. What about Alonso? He is looking | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
reasonably quick but fastest in the middle sector, not the first. Just | :31:58. | :32:06. | |
shaving the wall as he comes out of turn 20 and 21 and through the last | :32:07. | :32:09. | |
couple of corners. DRS is in operation. He goes fastest. | :32:10. | :32:17. | |
Virtually identical lap time to his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, and isn't | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
it great, for once, to see the two so evenly matched, we were hoping | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
for this all season. He had to turn away. You absolutely right, when we | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
saw that he would be partnered with Raikkonen, we thought it was the | :32:34. | :32:37. | |
potentially strongest driver pairing. He has been the invisible | :32:38. | :32:46. | |
man so far this season. A little bit of form in Spa, and he is coming | :32:47. | :32:55. | |
alive in the streets of Singapore. Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
first sector and in with a shout in the middle sector, so it is down to | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
the final sector to see if he can go any faster. It is only a question of | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
getting in to the top ten, you do not have to throw it at the wall. He | :33:10. | :33:25. | |
is fastest by only ten 1000ths. It is interesting, the times three | :33:26. | :33:28. | |
seconds slower than the qualifying from last year because there is | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
different technology being used on the cards. There is a lot less | :33:33. | :33:36. | |
downforce as well. They look quick, you can see them moving around. | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
Normally it would be one or two seconds slower than the previous | :33:42. | :33:44. | |
season and it makes it look lifeless but around here you can see the | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
drivers really working. That was the correction as he drops it down into | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
the turn. I agree with you and you can see the power coming through, | :33:54. | :33:56. | |
something just fell off the top of the kerb. He has the option to cut | :33:57. | :34:03. | |
through the back, avoiding the sleeping policeman. But he would | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
lose his time, of course. I don't see why it would have been a | :34:10. | :34:12. | |
particularly good time, given the line that he was taking. Felipe | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
Massa, and Williams are fighting Ferrari in the Constructors' | :34:19. | :34:21. | |
Championship. Ferrari are second and third and Williams are 12 Vallverdu, | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
so the prospect of losing a massive number of points to Ferrari, that is | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
certainly rising here. We need to see some pretty special laps from | :34:31. | :34:42. | |
Felipe Massa. -- 12 and 13th. He has never actually qualified lower than | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
six so he has a good record around this track. Let's see what he can | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
deliver on the next one. This is when the pressure really builds, one | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
lap away from delivering all ruining what could have been a good lap, and | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
they are struggling with the downforce. You have to put that to | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
the back of your mind. That was a tentative turn into Lap 5, -- turn | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
five. Wide open as they go through the kink at six. That is a personal | :35:15. | :35:23. | |
best. Just under a second slower than the the fastest sector. | :35:24. | :35:31. | |
Unsurprising, and this is where we know the Williams is fast. You can | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
see the comparison is giving the target time to 10th place, both of | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
them are doing enough to get into the top ten. Everyone else is going | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
to improve as well in the final two minutes of the session, so there is | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
still a lot to ask. We have seen him having difficulties locking up. He | :35:52. | :35:54. | |
gets away with it on Mike the Mercedes that has a huge television | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
screen on the steering wheel, Williams have a smaller dashboard | :36:00. | :36:02. | |
that the likes of Red Bull and some of the others have. The feedback | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
that the driver gets as he is going through the turns. Constantly | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
glancing down, getting reassurance that what felt good is in fact good. | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
This is not a bad lap, only a couple of tenths away from Alonso in the | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
middle sector, who was the fastest. It looks as though Massa has got a | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
good lap going, has he done enough approaching the fastest time on the | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
circuit? A bit of understated, hard on the gas. -- understeer. That is a | :36:32. | :36:41. | |
great lap just when he needed it. Bottas is having a great lap. Button | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
is out of the top ten but he will also get another lap. Bottas was not | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
as quick as Massa but he is in eighth. That might be more | :36:51. | :36:58. | |
dangerous. Massa is still a brilliant one lap qualify, isn't he? | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
We saw and Ferrari last year when he out-qualified Alonso a few times. He | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
can still deliver that lap. Speed was never a problem but his | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
consistency alongside Alonso, arguably one of the fastest, | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
Grosjean again, that is a replay of the earlier running over the kerbs. | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
You can see that that is part of the wooden plank underneath his car, a | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
does not sound very technical but it is some sort of composite word, and | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
the metal insert which is what you see sparking when they run along. | :37:31. | :37:37. | |
That has just been knocked out. What is impressive here, as we look | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
towards the final few seconds of the session, is just how close it is | :37:42. | :37:45. | |
between the fastest man, Hamilton, 46.2, and the man, Kvyat, only three | :37:46. | :37:53. | |
tenths away. I ran such a long lap, that is incredibly close. Let's see | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
if he can get into the top ten, I do not think Gutierrez will make it | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
because the Saubers simply not quick enough to challenge for a top ten | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
starting position. He got into the top ten last year and in fact it was | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
the first time in his career that he got into Q3. He has improved his lap | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
time but it is still not enough. It is respectable given the car he has. | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
Rosberg has just improved the benchmark for the first sector, down | :38:25. | :38:32. | |
to 22. Taking one and a bit tenths away from the previous best. Rosberg | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
is on it used set of super-soft tyres and Hamilton has decided not | :38:37. | :38:39. | |
to come out. Raikkonen has done enough. But of course you have to | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
see whether Rosberg will improve on his time. Button is one of the ones | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
you had to keep an eye on. He has fractionally improved his lap time | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
but it is not enough for Jenson Button, he is out. Magnusson is | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
currently in the top ten but Jean-Eric Vergne was disappointing | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
in the end, only 12, after such great pace in the Toro Rosso. His | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
team-mate is currently in there. Magnusson is trying to improve and | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
it is a slight improvement. He is in the top ten. It is not looking as | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
though anyone is likely to knock him out. Is he on a flying lap? He is | :39:16. | :39:22. | |
not. That is a quick lap from Rosberg and suddenly Mercedes have | :39:23. | :39:26. | |
unleashed their real performance. Grosjean is 16th and out. Daniil | :39:27. | :39:35. | |
Kvyat has made it through, that is another stunning performance by | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
Daniil Kvyat, the Russian. We are getting towards the first ever | :39:40. | :39:42. | |
Russian Grand Prix and Kvyat has out-qualified Jenson Button, who has | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
two settle for 11th in the end. He also out-qualified Jean-Eric Vergne. | :39:49. | :39:55. | |
-- he has to settle for it. We are out, 20 ms. Yes. 20 ms, there might | :39:56. | :40:07. | |
be a tiny margin, but it makes all of the difference. The drivers are | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
out at this stage of qualifying: Jenson Button, Jean-Eric Vergne, | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Gutierrez, Sergio Perez, and Romain Grosjean. | :40:17. | :40:28. | |
RADIO: I cannot believe it! It is understandable, it is the same issue | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
as in P3. I don't care, it is too much. Of course. Roman Grosjean | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
sounds as though he has had enough. From one Frenchman to another. It | :40:41. | :40:47. | |
does get very frustrating because he has had a horrible season so far, we | :40:48. | :40:50. | |
thought we had a big improvement last year and it has not carried | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
forward, the engine is seriously down in this particular car at the | :40:55. | :40:57. | |
moment so I understand his frustration. Tough times, Rosberg | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
finally showing his hand and on the used tyres. That is what caught my | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
attention. If it is a used tyre, then that is a sensational time and | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
he has put the marker down. The tables had turned earlier when he | :41:13. | :41:15. | |
missed the breaking point and he showed a bit of weakness but he has | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
certainly taken it back now, and it is game on for the qualifiers. Going | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
well for Rosberg but not quite so for Jenson Button who does not make | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
it through to Q3. He was 11th. So close to still being out there, 20 | :41:31. | :41:40. | |
million -- 20 ms. A couple of tenths from the Venetian I had. It was | :41:41. | :41:43. | |
always going to be tricky after that. The times always going to be | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
close. It is the shoot out now. Here is Q3. The final part of qualifying | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
is due to start in a few seconds. The light is on at the end of the | :41:55. | :42:01. | |
pit lane. It is crucial to get in pole position on a street circuit, | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
it gives you a crucial advantage. We were worried about the Mercedes for | :42:07. | :42:09. | |
a while but they delivered quicker lap times. -- about the Ferraris. | :42:10. | :42:17. | |
Two rookies do watch out for, Kevin Magnussen has just gone out on the | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
circuit and Daniil Kvyat, we also saw a very rapid lap from Nico | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
Rosberg, perhaps showing the true pace of the Mercedes. Down into the | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
1.45 bracket. It will be about Rosberg against Hamilton. The | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
Ferraris will look to outpace the Red Bulls in qualifying. Nico | :42:39. | :42:41. | |
Rosberg heads out and Hamilton is waiting for the signal to come out | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
as well. Riccardo moves onto his lap, let's watch him through the | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
first few critical corners as he passes below the East Coast Parkway, | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
the main road which is still in operation of course. Coming up to | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
ten o'clock in the evening in Singapore. Using all of the road | :42:58. | :43:06. | |
that is available in to turn five. The driver will already have a feel | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
for the performance of the tyres, and he will be mentally adjusting | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
how to attack the braking zone. Nice and early on the power. Renault | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
power in the back of the Red Bull of course which throughout the year has | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
suffered a bit to the Mercedes power units but this track is not so | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
crucial in terms of horsepower. That is what Red Bull are hoping that | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
they can take a bit of an edge from. Raikkonen is quicker than him in the | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
first sector, Kimi Raikkonen again with another great first sector from | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
him. Massa is at the front of all of the cars at the moment and he is | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
setting the initial pace but then we get a comparison once everyone comes | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
through the second sector. Riccardo will become paired to Massa. It was | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
interesting that Raikkonen was the quickest. He has just gone eight | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
tenths quicker than Alonso which is what we would expect because of the | :44:00. | :44:02. | |
power element of the three sectors of the racetrack. Massa is quickest | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
in the middle sector, he is going quicker than Raikkonen and | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
Ricciardo. He has already found some form. A bit of work to do after | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
Friday practice to stabilise the car. 26.0. A couple of tenths down | :44:16. | :44:25. | |
on what Rosberg did but faster than they would have anticipated. That is | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
impressive from Felipe Massa. Look how close it is. Just a few | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
hundredths of a second. Raikkonen behind them this time, third | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
fastest. Bottas has just popped up into fourth, again not quite as | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
quick as his team-mate Felipe Massa. He got the podium in Italy and that | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
has boosted him, he is suddenly delivering great lap times. | :44:48. | :44:56. | |
Alonso going third quickest. He beat his team-mate by a few hundreds of a | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
second. Hamilton is about to cross the line. Busy fastest? No! Only | :45:02. | :45:09. | |
six. Mercedes struggling to get the super-soft tyres to work too full | :45:10. | :45:12. | |
effect. They have got one more run to go, but that is a huge surprise. | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
Hamilton in six, and Rosberg in seventh. I never expected that, did | :45:18. | :45:24. | |
not see any big mistake. Let's see if we get any replays. But Felipe | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
Massa in the Williams. Surely with the problems they have had, they | :45:29. | :45:33. | |
cannot stay on pole position in Singapore. But in the first round of | :45:34. | :45:36. | |
practice, you can see the surprise in the face of Claire Williams. They | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
were certainly expecting to struggle, talking about being happy | :45:41. | :45:43. | |
if they made it into the top ten shoot out. Well, Alonso and | :45:44. | :45:50. | |
Raikkonen, they have certainly been a lot closer than we have seen. | :45:51. | :45:57. | |
Fantastic to see Ferrari that fast. Hamilton and Rosberg, back in sixth | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
position and seventh. That is a real shock. I wonder if we will see a | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
complete turnaround. Vettel is only in eighth position, and then there | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
is Ricciardo and Vettel, big differences between them. And then | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
Kevin Magnussen at the lower end. There is the team manager taking a | :46:18. | :46:20. | |
drink of water, not looking particularly concerned. Playing it | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
cool. Anything on the balance? If there is any more front wing, put it | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
in. COMMENTATOR: That would suggest that they were almost maxed out on | :46:32. | :46:34. | |
the front wing. That would also suggest that he is struggling for | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
front end grip. Look at his hand coming out of the top of the | :46:40. | :46:42. | |
cockpit, having to cut. Certainly some more time to come from | :46:43. | :46:48. | |
Mercedes. Just wanting a little bit more load on the front axle. Nico | :46:49. | :46:51. | |
Rosberg coming through there, cutting the corner through that one, | :46:52. | :46:59. | |
avoiding the sausage curb before letting it rolled into the apex of | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
Turn 3. Felipe Massa, the only man that has beaten a Mercedes to pole | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
position so far. He did it in Austria earlier on this season, | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
Williams were 1-2 on the grid on that occasion. Mercedes, you would | :47:15. | :47:17. | |
not choose to do this, because you might get a situation where somebody | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
crashes, and then you are denied an opportunity. You would certainly not | :47:22. | :47:25. | |
choose to put in a gentle run first, you would be going for it. Yes, the | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
last lap of qualifying, there is no banker. That could be your lap. You | :47:32. | :47:35. | |
want to deliver. But with the replay of Hamilton getting well over the | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
bank of the kerb, and also down on the exit of 16 before 17, there is | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
more time to come from that. Can he go faster? Yes he can. Only .18 the | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
second between the top five the moment. Hamilton is two tenths of a | :47:53. | :47:59. | |
second off the fastest. What that shows for me, that is a very | :48:00. | :48:02. | |
technical lap. At the beginning of the season, teams were having all | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
sorts of problems. Test days, only doing a couple of laps. It shows the | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
rate of development and never give up spirit that these top Formula One | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
teams obviously have. They have the financial resources and the people, | :48:16. | :48:18. | |
but they never except that what they start with is where they are at. | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
They are constantly looking to learn and improve. Now, it is down to one | :48:23. | :48:29. | |
flying lap from each of the front runners to see who is going to start | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
from pole position here in Singapore. Lewis Hamilton, of | :48:34. | :48:36. | |
course, was on pole position last time out. They had a little bit of a | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
gap in his pole position winning sequence. His first pole position in | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
eight events. It looks like he will have to work hard to take this one. | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
Interesting, Daniel Ricciardo is well out halfway around the lap. | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Rosberg, Vettel and then Hamilton. Hamilton | :48:56. | :48:58. | |
is choosing to put himself in the middle of this top ten shoot out. | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
Not wanting to be the first man out on track. Some circuits, the last | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
lap is usually when the circuit has evolved to become best, but when you | :49:09. | :49:11. | |
have the rest of the yellow flag coming out, and incident, I think I | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
would be keen to get myself out on track and get track position, | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
control the qualifying session. Although he is in sixth, he is | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
crucially in front of Nico Rosberg, the man that he is effectively | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
battling the Championship for. On board with Fernando Alonso. Looking | :49:31. | :49:33. | |
at the information we get on the tyres that comes through from the | :49:34. | :49:39. | |
application, and implies that Nico Rosberg could be using a used set of | :49:40. | :49:43. | |
super-soft tyres. Hamilton could be on a new set. It is always difficult | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
to know if that is accurate, but it might give Hamilton a slight edge. | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
All of the cars backing up into each other. Alonso has Hamilton in front | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
of him. You do not want to have sight of another card distracting | :49:58. | :50:01. | |
you. You would prefer to have what Raikkonen has, a whole bunch of | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
space, well, he did have that until he let some cars forwards. Does he | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
have a problem? Why is he going so slow? Offline, getting dirt on his | :50:11. | :50:19. | |
tyres. I cannot get power. We need to stop. We need to stop somewhere | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
safe another way. COMMENTATOR: Would you believe it, Raikkonen was in | :50:24. | :50:29. | |
with a shout, putting in a great performance and it has gone wrong | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
for him. That is a real shame. We were looking forward to seeing who | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
would come out on top. It is obviously in his interests to park | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
the car somewhere where there could be a yellow flag and take the | :50:44. | :50:46. | |
marshals a little bit of time. If nobody gets chance to improve he | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
secures fourth on the grid. It would be unsporting to do that, but you | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
know, it would not be the first time if we question where a driver parks | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
up. I suspect that Kimi Raikkonen will be parking up off the track and | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
it will not be an issue. We have seen a lot of strange things happen | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
in Singapore in the past. We believe that all cars are on new tyres, | :51:10. | :51:13. | |
there should not be any difference in performance. It is purely down to | :51:14. | :51:17. | |
the drivers. And I can tell you that Ricciardo, not the best as he could | :51:18. | :51:21. | |
have been through the first sector but he is quick through the second | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
in the Red Bull. Nico Rosberg not the fastest in the first sector. | :51:27. | :51:29. | |
Nobody seems to be doing a better lap in the first sector at the | :51:30. | :51:33. | |
moment, whether the track is not as quick as it was. But we could still | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
see some big changes. Ricciardo looking at a front row start, but | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
will that be the same at the end of the session? Looking good as he | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
comes towards the final segment. Just getting as close to the wall as | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
you like. The last corner for Daniel Ricciardo. Where will this put him? | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
Across the line and he is fastest? ! 145.8. Will he hold onto that? | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
There's a huge amount of Australian support in Singapore and you can | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
hear it from the grandstand. Daniel Ricciardo is the fastest at the | :52:07. | :52:09. | |
moment. We had never had a pole position. This is the problem, under | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
breaking into the first turn, Hamilton. He gets away with it. But | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
a unsettled again. Does not have enough front load on the car. Nobody | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
lighting up the timing screens, Ricciardo looking good. Rosberg into | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
the last corner. He comes across the line and he has done it! He goes | :52:30. | :52:37. | |
fastest! What about Hamilton? What does he do? He has done it by 7000th | :52:38. | :52:45. | |
of a second! How close is that? Vettel crossing the line in fourth. | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
Mercedes have got one - two. Alonso has gone into fifth. His customary | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
fifth place at the end, Fernando Alonso, after promising so much | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
more. Felipe Massa after him. Raikkonen denied the chance to do | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
anything. Still a couple of cars to cross the line. Kevin Magnussen into | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
ninth position. Valtteri Bottas is not going fast. Look at the reaction | :53:11. | :53:13. | |
there. They were under pressure, but they have still delivered the top | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
two. Terry Barter is back into the pit, it is all over. -- Valtteri | :53:20. | :53:26. | |
Bottas is into the pit. Hamilton with another pole position, his | :53:27. | :53:33. | |
third in Singapore. In case you did not make that, it is P1. Lewis | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
Hamilton has beaten you by 7000th of a second. Dammit! | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
We like some radio. That was a fantastic session! Looking at that | :53:46. | :53:53. | |
moving around for pole position. Look how close it is. Astonishing. | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
That was tremendous. So close. Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
in the end. He said earlier this weekend, Ricciardo, that if he could | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
qualify within .2 of a second of the Mercedes, he believes he can raise | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
them. He has done just that. Yes, the consistency for the Red Bull is | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
pretty impressive. Hamilton is on pole position. His 37th career pole | :54:17. | :54:24. | |
position. Ricciardo and Vettel making it an all Red Bull second | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
row. Raikkonen was denied a last chance there. Valtteri Bottas and | :54:29. | :54:35. | |
Kevin Magnussen rounding out. Jenson Button will be 11, not allowing for | :54:36. | :54:39. | |
any penalties that might be applied. Jean-Eric Vergne Inn in 12, | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
Hulkenberg, Esteban Gutierrez finishing just ahead of Sergio | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
Perez. Romain Grosjean is a disgruntled 16th. Adrian Sutil, | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
Pastor Maldonado, Jules Bianchi, Kamui Kobayashi, Max Chilton and | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
Marcus Ericsson finishing it off. Lewis Hamilton, just matching the | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
advantage here in the final moments of qualifying. -- snatching the | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
advantage. A lot to look forward to in the race itself, but he has | :55:05. | :55:07. | |
delivered another pole position this year. His third pole position in | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
Singapore, and he has done it by just 7000th of a second. | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
STUDIO: Just moments after qualifying, Lewis Hamilton getting | :55:17. | :55:24. | |
pole position, the heavens have opened and we are all getting a | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
little bit wet. It is a good job this did not happen when you were | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
trying to do your hot lap. I know, this is crazy, it is amazing. Looked | :55:35. | :55:38. | |
like it was hard work. 7000th of a second, it does not get much closer. | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
Absolutely, it was a tough session, very exciting. To see so many teams | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
so close, Ferrari going ahead after good laps. Then I did a good lap, I | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
think I was in there at p six, Nico Rosberg was P seven. I think there | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
was that at the end. I knew that I had to do a good lap. I was already | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
down through Turn 1, I locked up. We can see that now, can you talk us | :56:04. | :56:06. | |
through. Our hearts were in our mouths when you had that lock-up. | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
Got a good exit, on the DRS, coming up to Turn 1 and you hope that the | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
brakes are ready. But it was a good lock-up. A bit like it was OK, and | :56:16. | :56:26. | |
it put me out of place. Already on my dashboard, just above from the | :56:27. | :56:28. | |
left of the dear number, it says that I am down. At this point I am | :56:29. | :56:32. | |
like how am I going to get that back? Going down the straight, and I | :56:33. | :56:35. | |
was thinking, you could see that I am not point to two down. But I kept | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
going, and I thought maybe I could regain it. The rest of the lap was | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
pretty sweet. Put us inside the cockpit, how do you keep yourself | :56:45. | :56:48. | |
calm? Two tenths of a second is a lot to lose in one corner. Normally | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
when it happens you try to get it back and you overdrive, you make | :56:54. | :56:56. | |
more mistakes and it never comes back. I get it back and you | :56:57. | :56:58. | |
overdrive, you make more mistakes and it never comes back. I guess | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
today a couple of places where I lost time, so I was able to fix | :57:03. | :57:10. | |
those corners. Turn 13 here. This one was nice and easy. The tyres | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
were not overheating at this point, which they usually are, so I could | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
get a good exit. Into the next corner, normally it is second gear, | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
but I managed to do it in third. It is a wide exits you can carry a lot | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
of speed through there. And then on the previous lap I locked up here | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
and lost just over one tenth of a second so I made sure that I did not | :57:31. | :57:33. | |
do that. After that I knew that I was on a good lap. When you were | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
looking there, you seem to be very aggressive with the wheel. Is this | :57:39. | :57:42. | |
going to be a bad omen for you tomorrow with the use of tyres? Your | :57:43. | :57:48. | |
tires wearing out? Was very aggressive but you need to be going | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
max in qualifying. I had the max front wing, and you want to have a | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
front end. As the track eats up the rear get stronger as stronger. As | :57:59. | :58:02. | |
Nico Rosberg mentioned, in qualifying, you have that understeer | :58:03. | :58:05. | |
and you need to make sure you have the capacity to give yourself some | :58:06. | :58:08. | |
front end. Tomorrow, you can take out a lot of wing, you can block | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
that it, you can move the brake balance wherever you have two so you | :58:14. | :58:16. | |
can look after the tyres. Would you say that this track in Singapore is | :58:17. | :58:21. | |
one where you really have to concentrate 100% for the whole that | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
for every single lap? Is it tough? Are you saying that we do not | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
concentrate every lap usually! LAUGHTER | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
But you know what I mean, do you have do have maximum concentration? | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
You do, you have to do that on all street circuits. But this is a long | :58:39. | :58:42. | |
track, 24 corners. Some really long laps and it is difficult for the | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
tyres. Like Monaco, but it is a bit more intense because it is longer. | :58:47. | :58:53. | |
And obviously it is so hot. So yes, focuses everything. Congratulations | :58:54. | :58:56. | |
on pole position and we wish you all the best for tomorrow. I am sure | :58:57. | :59:03. | |
that you want to get in the drive. -- dry. Let's hear from Nico | :59:04. | :59:09. | |
Rosberg. We heard you saying dammit on team radio, does that sum up how | :59:10. | :59:13. | |
you are feeling? It was very frustrating. 7000th of a second, | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
come on! It was a battle for me in qualifying because I did not feel | :59:19. | :59:21. | |
comfortable with the car at all. We had some new breaks in the car, and | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
they were different, and it took some time to get into it. The | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
balance of the car was totally different. A lot more understeer | :59:29. | :59:30. | |
than this afternoon because the track was colder. The others adapted | :59:31. | :59:35. | |
quicker, and it took me a long time to get into it. In the end, I felt | :59:36. | :59:38. | |
comfortable and I was able to push flat out but it was just 7000th, a | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
better job, and that is the way that it is. But it is disappointing | :59:43. | :59:46. | |
because if I think back to my lap, that corner, I could have done it, | :59:47. | :59:50. | |
but 7000th, they were saying it is about 30 centimetres, it is that, | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
after a whole lap. The same car. It is incredible. It sums up how close | :59:56. | :00:03. | |
those two are, doesn't it? It is phenomenal around this race track. | :00:04. | :00:06. | |
We know that Lewis Hamilton thinks he dropped a little bit of time but | :00:07. | :00:09. | |
if you look at both of the laps, you can see that Nico Rosberg, it was | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
not the perfect lap. I think they are very much nip and tuck. Joining | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
them here, and it looks like they carried too much speed, hitting it | :00:19. | :00:21. | |
harder than Lewis Hamilton and that might have compromised him as he | :00:22. | :00:30. | |
went down into, when you see that lock-up, he gets away with it. I | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
think if you see that Jews in terms of locking up, he did that into the | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
first turn, and Nico Rosberg doing it into 13. But less than half a | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
litre separating them. They really wanted that race, they both want | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
that Championship, and it is looking good. It was such a tight session, | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
three tenths of a second separating the top six. But they came in there, | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
and a handshake seemed very genuine. Absolutely. There were a couple of | :00:53. | :01:01. | |
human touches, so to speak, going on. Evidence that maybe the wounds | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
are healing and maybe we need to get on in a more professional manner | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
because they have too. Don't be surprised if they have a little | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
pact. If I was the team boss I would be saying, no heroics until Lap 3. | :01:17. | :01:24. | |
Daniel, fantastic local support for you today, you looked as though you | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
were enjoying it. I was. I really enjoy street circuits, they are good | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
fun. Bouncing off the Kurds and brushing the walls, it giving Mark | :01:34. | :01:40. | |
heart attack back home! It is good. We all enjoy this one. -- curbs. It | :01:41. | :01:48. | |
was impressive how early you were getting on the power, and we join | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
you at turn seven. Let the viewers hear the apex. Torque us through the | :01:53. | :02:03. | |
lap. -- talk. I was pretty clean with how it was. Just wanted to stay | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
clean. It is looking pretty tidy through here. The car looks pretty | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
settled, it was pretty nice over the kerbs. It was good fun. All about | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
getting a clean exit, I have not perfected it all weekend but I did | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
well there. This is where I thought I could have made time but I didn't. | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
That is what cost me here. I could not really get the power down as | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
well as I would have liked and we struggled a bit for grip from here | :02:41. | :02:47. | |
on until the end. But yes, it is still good fun. I have do say that | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
the momentum seems to have slowly changed in your favour. The momentum | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
towards Mercedes, do you feel you have broken into that now and you | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
can take them on? I think this is definitely a circuit where we could | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
really fight them. You know, obviously we did not end up on pole | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
position but we got a couple of tenths. We are the one team that can | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
really challenge them. If we can be within a couple of tenths come we | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
should be able to close it up to the race. Tomorrow could be tasty. -- a | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
couple of tenths, we should. There will be differences in tyres and so | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
on, how do you see specifically tomorrow going? Tomorrow is our best | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
chance of getting not only to cars on the podium, but two cars | :03:42. | :03:49. | |
hopefully high on the podium. Sebastien is just behind me, and I | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
believe that our race pace can be strong so ideally we will get one of | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
the Mercedes on the start, and split them up a bit and try to maybe | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
forced them into trying a different strategy and capitalising one way or | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
another. Thank you for joining us. You looked out in the second round. | :04:08. | :04:15. | |
We can hear from Sebastian now. It has not been straightforward, fourth | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
place tomorrow, how do you feel? I am not happy because I feel I could | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
have been higher. The pole position was up for grabs. Not the best of | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
final laps so everybody had the feeling after that long lap that it | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
was a bit here and there. I am not entirely happy. Obviously you think | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
this is a missed opportunity, was it a mistake from your point of view or | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
just not settled in the car? It never helps if you don't have enough | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
laps, you always want another try but it is what it is, it is the same | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
for everyone and obviously we did not have two sets of tyres in the | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
last part of Q3. It is not great but it was probably more down to me, to | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
be honest. He seems a bit down but he did not get any free running in | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
practice 2. That would have set him back. And he had to do an engine | :05:10. | :05:16. | |
change. Don't be surprised, he is my dark horse to win tomorrow. Daniel | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
seems to have a plan for the Red Bulls to get among the Mercedes, can | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
that happen in the race tomorrow? The big thing that Red Bull know is | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
that the Mercedes drivers have been told not to get involved in any | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
wheel-to-wheel action in the first couple of laps and that leaves them | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
vulnerable and Red Bull can be more aggressive. Race wins is what it's | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
all about for Red Bull at the moment. It is music to their ears. | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
Then Edwards has the grid for tomorrow's race. -- Ben. Lewis | :05:46. | :05:53. | |
Hamilton will start from pole position and Nico Rosberg will start | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
on the dirtiest side of the grid. Fernando Alonso is fifth on the grid | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
for the third time in four years and Massa starts in sixth. Kimi | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
Raikkonen lines up seventh ahead of the other Williams, Valtteri | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
Bottas. 2014 F1 rookies Magnusson and Kvyat share row five. Jenson | :06:15. | :06:21. | |
Button is 11th ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Force India's Hulkenberg is | :06:22. | :06:22. | |
13. What a tantalising prospect the | :06:23. | :06:43. | |
line-up is for Singapore 2014, don't you think? Ferrari were looking good | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
today and Kimi seems to be on it. He was great today, Alonso and | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
Raikkonen, in this kind of form they will be strong. Ferrari showed signs | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
that they meant business, and they really feel that maybe they can put | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
a very good end of the season together for themselves. Kimi | :07:04. | :07:05. | |
Raikkonen was at least a second quicker than he has been all season. | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
It was not just a freak, he was doing it in qualifying yesterday and | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
today he was very positive and strong and we need to see more about | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
because people are questioning whether he is good enough to be | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
alongside Alonso in the Ferrari team, should they get rid of him? On | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
this kind of performance he absolutely deserves his place. | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
Valtteri Bottas came in and he seemed disappointed but Williams did | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
not imagine they would be great in qualifying. He has been outqualified | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
by mass. That is the reason he has been disappointed, they are so | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
competitive and they judge it by the ultimate pace and Massa was stronger | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
today. Williams have to be happy overall because they were two | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
seconds away on free practice on Friday, so all credit to the | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
engineers, they have calmly looked at the data and reconfigured the | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
setup of the car. They have come back and I think they have put in a | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
solid performance. Kvyat and Magnusson were strong? Yes. And | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
Jenson Button had a tardy qualifying session, so there are no surprises | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
there. We will have all of the best bits tomorrow on BBC1 at five | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
o'clock. Lewis Hamilton was the star performer today under the Singapore | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
night sky to take pole position. The question is, will he be able to | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
shine tomorrow? Thank you for joining us. We will see you | :08:29. | :08:29. | |
tomorrow. MENACING VOICE: You will rob | :08:30. | :09:16. | |
the Bank of Karabraxos. | :09:17. | :09:20. |