The Spanish Grand Prix - Practice 1 Formula 1

Good morning. Not long now until free practice one, but take a look

around, it is obvious that Formula One is back in Europe. These are

understated little homes of the homes for people like Fernando

Alonso, the drivers and teams, for all the European Grand Prix. We just

saw Fernando Alonso, local hero, hard to believe it is one year since

it won this race last year. Incredible to believe it was 2005 at

2006 when he won the championship. Ferrari need an upturn, they need to

get some amends this season. We have left those big, impressive new

circuits, come back to the home of Formula One, a circuit they know

well. Not with this new car, they have been testing in Jerez and in

Bahrain, it is the first time they will get these new cars onto this

circuit. It is a venture into the unknown, even though they have lots

of historic data. Mercedes have dominated so far this season, you

can see that in both the drivers' and constructors' championship.

It seems incredible to be saying that Ferrari have not won a race

since this time last year. In the commentary box today, Ben Edwards

and Tony, you can get in touch with us, they will do their best to read

out as many tweets as they can, but it will be a busy first session.

Yes, we have that extra set of tyres that the teams get for the first 30

minutes. Yes, normally we come here and do a lot of testing, but we have

not this time, errors and two in Bahrain, they will want to get out.

not this time, errors and two in skies, temperatures of 20 degrees.

You can leave a comment on the BBC Sport Facebook page as well as

contact us on Twitter. Alan, Lotus needs to get things together, but

contact us on Twitter. Alan, Lotus they have always said this would be

the start of their championship. A lot of people are relying on this.

The problem is that everybody else's championship started in

Australia, and we have seen better performances of late, especially

from Romain Grosjean, who has settled into accepting the car was

not quick enough, but they have got a long way to go to get to the point

where they were at the end of 2013. Taking a look at Daniel Ricciardo,

incredibly impressive, especially in comparison to Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel has a new chassis this weekend, a lot of new parts on the

car, but as you say, everyone does. What will happen in this session?

car, but as you say, everyone does. it about bedding in?

car, but as you say, everyone does. teams who are not 100% sure it is

going to make their car faster will be doing back-to-backs, Ferrari have

additions to their aerodynamics that they will be checking between the

two cars, but some of the others, if they have a good feeling in

correlation between wind tunnel and circuit, will have the confidence to

go for it. One of them is Red Bull, they have historically been able to

build things on and go faster, but they need to do this weekend - this

is a circuit where they can start to take the charge to Mercedes. We will

head out to the pit lane, and we will leave you with Ben and Tony in

the pit box. BEN: Cars are already begin to make

their way down the pit lane to get ready for the very start of this

session, which has just begun. Let's just say, a little bit of action

straightaway, Marcus Ericsson will never out ahead of everybody else in

the Caterham. Nico Hulkenberg making his way down to the practice start

area, just slightly off the main exit of the pits, to give everyone

else who wants to go straight out a nice clear run onto the track. And

everybody coming out, a little bit of heat haze from the exhaust as

they head down the pit lane, and absolutely gorgeous morning here in

early summer in the northern part of Spain. We're just outside of

Barcelona, of course, alongside the motorway which connects France with

Catalunya, Madrid and Zaragoza. This track, as we have said, very well

known to all the teams and drivers thanks to the testing they have done

here plans, and the racing in lower categories. Absolutely, and it makes

such a difference. Having said that, I think Kvyat has been

incredibly impressive, when you look at what he has done with the

circuits, not to say Kevin has not been. It does make a difference when

you come to somewhere you have driven before, it will be

interesting to see how they go. Both Toro Rosso and McLaren need to try

to improve, although Daniil Kvyat has scored points on three occasions

already. Kevin Magnussen started so brilliantly at the first Grand Prix

and Australia, but since then McLaren, in the last couple of

races, things have not gone to plan, clutch problems in Bahrain, lack of

performance in China. Jenson was talking about that yesterday, Jenson

Button saying that the circuits particularly in China just did not

suit their car. Yeah, he said there was a lot of straight and they were

having problems generating temperature, which is a perennial

problem for Jenson. He has quite a delicate feel, and when he cannot

generate temperature at the front end, he struggles. Kevin also said,

we just need more downforce. A couple of the third drivers are out

this weekend for the first session, the Friday morning session often

sees the development drivers getting an opportunity to get behind the

wheel, and this is Felipe Nasr driving the Williams alongside

Felipe Massa, the two Felipes on track this morning! Williams have

been scoring consistently, so much better than we have seen in recent

years, where they have really been struggling. Williams currently

sitting in sixth, but there have been disappointments, Massa lost a

chance to score decent points because of an operational error in

the pit stop. Absolutely, and if you think of the start that Valtteri

Bottas had, impressive in Australia, they have had little things going

wrong which has spoiled the start of the season for them. Bottas is one

of four drivers to have scored in every round, but they have the basis

of a good car, and they can be optimistic. Williams won here with

Maldonado two years ago, and then it all went awfully patient, and now

they are back challenging again, great to see. Looking at the nose on

the Force India, it looks like it has a second level to it, a lot of

experimentation will be done here today, and you can see evidence of

the green paint that is being put on the back of the Ferrari, this paint

that basically follows the air flow as it goes through and around the

circuit we will have a good look at that as they come back into the pits

and a clean it all off. It gives them some idea of the correlation

between what they are seen in the wind tunnel and what they are hoping

to see on track. Felipe Massa made some interesting comments, saying

that at Williams so far this year everything they have brought to make

the car go faster has indeed made it go faster, and he said that was not

happening at all at Ferrari last year. Every time they came with

something new on the Ferrari, they basically said it did not work and

have to go back to what they were already running. Interesting

comments, Ferrari went through a stage of having correlation problems

with the wind tunnel, an ongoing process to get on top of, and they

felt they had done that. I saw that, a little dig from Felipe. Yes, but I

think things are better now, the new wind tunnel is up and running at the

Rhino, so now they have got over that problem that they are now

delivering parts of the car that are working, and if anybody needs them,

Kimi Raikkonen has had a very difficult start to the season,

returning to his old employers. He has not had a great feel for the

car, he was locking up in the first couple of races, then complaining

about the steering feel, which is a particular sensitivity for them. We

have the same problem at Renault, and we talked to James Allison about

that, he said it is very intricate, not an easy fix, quite difficult to

do, and it looks like he may have the same issue that they are trying

to sort for him. A tricky start, I do not think his results have been

reflective of Kimi at all. That is right, I think we will see a lot

more from him. Nico Rosberg, world championship leader into this race,

despite having been beaten by his team-mate three in a row. We have

had this little gap, let's remind you of the season. Yellow flags

flashing down at that area of the circuit as well. No, it is the

green, that is all right, it is showing them they are allowed to

keep on the pace. A reminder of what has been happening so far this

season, Mercedes have been dominating, starting in Australia,

where they were one and three on the grid, Hamilton had a problem with

his car right from the start, did not get off the line well. Rosberg

went on to win, Hamilton and early retirement, as was Sebastian Vettel.

What surprised us was the pace of the other Red Bull, Daniel

Ricciardo, after a miserable testing episode in the winter, they got

their act together. Let's take a little look at

their act together. Let's take a doing a moment ago, using the kerb,

we will see plenty of that this morning. The other main headlines,

the performance of McLaren, because new driver Kevin Magnussen scored a

the performance of McLaren, because stunning podium on his debut,

second-place finish in the end of the end after Ricciardo was excluded

for using too much fuel during the race. Despite that great drive from

Ricciardo, he was not able to bank the points. McLaren ended up second

and third. In Malaysia, the Red Bull of Vettel was on the front row,

Hamilton disappeared into the distance, Rosberg lost time on the

first lap, got back to second place, never really able to match

Lewis Hamilton on that occasion. It was a 1-2 for Mercedes, Vettel

finished third. Team or the controversies at Williams, Ricciardo

had problems with a pit stop. -- team order. That affected him at the

next race, where you have a ten place penalty. Bahrain was the race

of the season so far, and I was talking to a seasoned journalist

yesterday who has watched Formula One since the 1960s and remembers

all the great races, and he says that, to him, was one of

all the great races, and he says races that will be remembered. I

would agree, everybody talked about the Mercedes domination, but you

would agree, everybody talked about only need two cars to make a

would agree, everybody talked about go at it, and it was just a fabulous

race, and a significant go at it, and it was just a fabulous

to hear the talk about them concentrating on the tracks

to hear the talk about them not strong at, and the admitted that

Nico was better than him around Bahrain. That was Nico's pole

position, he delivered that, one against the head, and he obviously

thought he had done its there, a key win for Lewis. Brilliant race all

round, superb podium for Sergio Perez in third place, Ricciardo

recovered pretty well from his ten place penalty to finish in fourth,

but the Ferrari looked very slow. That changed a little bit at the

last Grand Prix in the quartet we have had so far, having a good look

around the Sauber here. Mercedes, once again, wet qualifying, only one

dry qualifying so far this year. Mercedes were first and fourth,

Hamilton on pole, Rosberg did not get it together in wet qualifying.

Hamilton dominated in China, it took get it together in wet qualifying.

Rosberg a while, after a poor start, to get into second place, and

meanwhile Alonso had delivered a brilliant first lap and managed to

overcome Vettel brilliant first lap and managed to

stops. Alonso took his first podium of the year, Ferrari looking much

stronger in China, Vettel still finding things difficult as he was

passed by his team-mates, Daniel Ricciardo, for fourth place. So that

is a summary of where we have got to coming into this fifth round of the

championship, Mercedes on top, the battle for third really between

Ferrari and Red Bull. Red Bull have had the edge mostly, but last time

out in China, Ferrari claimed that podium spot. It was interesting

listening to Ben Ando after that race, because people said, is that

indicative of what you can do, are you back? He said, actually, we were

ninth and tenth in the race before, his inference was, that was me, and

it was a fantastic race. Brilliant race from him, down to the pits, as

cars have done their first installation lap, you are at

Mercedes. Mercedes are dominant, but they are producing the important

performance enhancements. A little bit of tickle on the front wing.

Also they seem to have tightened up the engine cover for the cooling at

the back. That's important around here because that's aerodynamic

efficiency and the hot races like Bahrain, they have gone, Malaysia

where you needed a lot of cooling, they are tightening the package up.

Even though Mercedes are on top. They are marching ahead. We are

expecting them to be top dogs. You can get in touch with us by tweeting

us or you can comment on the BBC Sport Facebook page and the best of

your comments will be included on the BBC Sports website page. Andy

saying, " Morning all, do you think anyone can catch Mercedes?" Our

feeling at the moment, Andy is they are going to be updating as much as

everybody else and Tony, although this track isn't as engine dominated

as some, the aerodynamics of this track is crucial. Mercedes were on

poll last year? Absolutely. It is funny because you hear people

saying, Alonso said yesterday, there is not many straights, this is

better for us. He is thinking it will help Ferrari, but it seems to

be, a lot of straights. I remember when we used to talk about Barcelona

having this huge, long straight. Maybe their prospective has changed

with all the new circuits, but it will play to Mercedes' strengths.

What do you Recon, Alan With the big long corners like Turn 3 and Turn 4,

historically that means that when the car understeers it doesn't eat

up the rear tyres and we saw the Ferrari car going forward last year

and we saw the Mercedes which did eat up the rear tyres going

backwards. Mercedes improved their rear tyre consumption, but generally

this circuit has got more corners than straights and if you do have a

car that's maybe a little bit numb on the front axle then it works

around here. And that's something we're going to

be seeing throughout the course of this weekend. I think you guys moved

to Ferrari. What are you seeing there? Well, Ben, what we're seeing

is something which looks space age! If you can see the one in the

distance, that's the Lotus rig and if you spin back round and look at

the Ferrari one which is popular, Alan, this looks incredible. Does it

make you fast? Well, it does look good. There is no question about it.

The important thing, is it efficient? Does it actually improve

the pit stops because that's what this is about? I think it actually

looks a little bit more space age than anything else, but what's

interesting as well, you have got a camera up here that's recording

every pit stop and therefore, they can then download that data.

Incredible light system as well? Red means stop and green means go. The

driver focuses his eyes on this and then, he goes when this goes green.

Whatever happens, he goes when that goes green. We have seen in the past

that Ferrari, I remember Felipe Massa lead k the Grand Prix and that

went green and they weren't ready so they have got to get this 100%. They

won't miss their pits. Ben. It is like a piece of modern art

won't miss their pits. Ben. It is that. It is a really impressive

piece of kit. Typically Formula One. You can get that the other Formula

One teams will see that and think, "How can we better that?" There will

be a few more appearing. Normally when you look at the other rigs, you

see the air bottles clearly and that structure covers it up and makes it

look stunning indeed. Indeed, the whole track is looking impressive as

we've arrived here in Barcelona. It is a popular venue. The teams, as we

heard, didn't test here at the beginning of the year so it is their

heard, didn't test here at the first trip to run the full hybrid

power units for the first time. The V6 engines that have been brought

in, turbo charged, but more electrical energy being generated.

Under braking and electricity being generated by the exhaust system, the

exhaust gases, the excess energy in the exhaust gases not only being

used to feed the turbo, but an electrical generator as well. A

combination of electrical that is brand-new, of course, still to

Formula One and we are seeing amazing performance and we are

seeing races being covered only slower, about 20 seconds in China

than the previous year and on a third less fuel. So hybrid systems

in Formula One really are working and delivering good reliability

already, Tony? That's been the surprising thing. In testing we were

talking about the potential disasters, will anybody finish the

race? All this thing. But, you know, the first four races, it has been

exemplary. It is a commendable reflection of the ability of these

guys in Formula One. Yes, absolutely. Brilliant engineers.

Daniil Kvyat is the only driver to have set a time. Apologies for no

graphics of times appearing on the screen. There is a problem.

Hopefully that will be sorted. But Daniil Kvyat is fastest, but the

only one who set a time so far. Everyone else has done an

installation lap. It looks as if off cars are up and running and everyone

will start to put laps together on this extra set of tyres. We're 16

minutes into this session. That means, of course, that they have got

another 14 minutes or so before we get them having to change the tyres.

We are seeing a Lotus on track. What is the news at Lotus,

We are seeing a Lotus on track. What Maldonado is on track. Romain

Grosjean, a lot of work going on his carment they have had a

Grosjean, a lot of work going on his that this is the race that they were

focussing on to make those improvements. They almost

focussing on to make those disregard the first four races.

Romain Grosjean yesterday was pretty upbeat all things considered. It was

a gearbox, an unusual issue, that cost him or it stopped him getting

in the points in China, but yesterday, speaking to Romain

Grosjean, he seemed in a good place and he is thinking that things

Grosjean, he seemed in a good place well, should and need to go better

this well, should and need to go better

them up for the rest of the season. So he is looking for a good points

haul this weekend. The gearbox problem last time out denied what

could have been possible points. Maldonado we will be keeping an eye

on because of that stunning performance he put in here two years

ago, when he was driving for Williams. The first ever Venezuela

to win a Grand Prix. He wasn't fastest in qualifying, but in the

end, he was, because Hamilton set the pace that day.

end, he was, because Hamilton set never had a poll position here.

That's something to beat. He never had a victory, but he has been

winning races that he has not won in the past this year. Let's ride with

Maldonado. The graphics are working so we can see the times coming up on

screen. Maldonado does love this circuit. Nearly cursed him there!

The commentators curse for Maldonado. A twisty section here. It

is all about traction. This is where the Mercedes was particularly good.

No, it is a lot about traction. And when you come here, you bring the

little updates and you just hope it has improved the package, but

funnily enough this year, people have been saying that the advances

will hopefully come from the have been saying that the advances

units that's where the most time is to be had. In the past, it was a

three week gap and it to be had. In the past, it was a

chance to do aero updates after the fly away races and as Alan was

saying in the lead-in, there is nothing earth shattering here, it is

flicks and little changes, but they hope that the main progress will be

made by particularly the energy recovery system part of the power

units, I think in the case of Ferrari at Renault. Well, Button has

gone fastest. Jenson Button has done a 1.30.7. Maldonado, we saw the time

on board a moment ago. A lock-up for Fernando Alonso.

on board a moment ago. A lock-up for tyre. All of them will be on the

hard tyre and throughout the first tyre. All of them will be on the

practise they will only use the hard tyre. You can see Alonso is really

attacking the track at the moment. More rubber goes down as we go

attacking the track at the moment. car, the handling of the car, but

attacking the track at the moment. Alonso never wastes any time just

driving around, he is Alonso never wastes any time just

attacking. Just to go back to that Maldonado week. You said what a good

drive that was, he had this man threatening him and Alonso has the

reputation for being the most relentless race driver out there and

he has to cope with that and deliver that win. It was Frank's 70

birthday. It was a shock afterwards when they had the pit fire. Oh, that

was dreadful. That was dreadful. Yes. That's right. Alonso goes

fastest, 1.29.8. We have a mirror broken on the Force India there of

Sergio Perez. It is flapping around in the wind. Only just attached. He

is trying to get it under control! He has got hold of it now thankfully

and he is bringing the car back in. That's an unusual sight on a Formula

One car to see the mirror coming loose. Yes, we don't use them only

for shaving in! How much will that inconvenience him?

It is more an irritation for the eye that you see it out of the corner of

your eye than anything else. All you see is the rear wing in your main

sponsor or any car behind you. I would have thought he will probably

try and stick a hand out to rip it off and get rid of it. He is holding

on to it now. He is having to get his right-hand across to the paddle

on the back left of the steering wheel. We will have a replay of the

moment it happened and it just popped off and started flapping

about in the breeze, but still attached by cable. That's the first

run for Perez. Let's see what Alonso did. This was a moment ago, a

lock-up and that's a classic clays place to lock that inside wheel down

the hill into turn five. You see that often. Using a bit of curve,

Alonso, he has been attacking right from the word go. Racing in his home

nation, always seems to adjust a little bit of spirit. The new boss

at Ferrari, the man who took over last time out in China, had a little

bit afchance to get -- of a chance to get his feet under the table.

bit afchance to get -- of a chance Alonso says he has been talking to

everybody. He brought the drivers in and talked to the engineers. He is

trying to get an idea of what's going on and where any problem areas

might be and he is beginning the process trying to understand where

Ferrari are and how did they get to the stage of beating these guys in

particular, Mercedes. TEAM RADIO: It is very hot. It is

hot for Rosberg around his seat. That's causing him concern. A huge

amount of stuff is packaged around the driver. It could be anything. An

awful number of batteries that can heat that area up. Keep an eye on

that. The energy store, the batteries located in the floor of

the car, under the fuel tank. Around the side of the driver, you have the

cooling areas and the radiators and there are more radiators on the cars

now. They have a special radiator which cools the air going into the

turbo charger, in the Mercedes, that's behind the driver's shoulders

and one of the clever parts about this year's Mercedes, it is

integrated into the chassis. That's one of the other elements of the

advantage they have. It is something the others can't hit back with until

next year. A perfect example of why it is a big advantage this year to

have the integration between the chassis and the engine. Certainly,

you know, a works package properly integrated. Ferrari had the

opportunity to do. Red Bull not quite so much. Here we are with

Sebastian Vettel. They work closely together and Red Bull people have

been going to Renault to try and help on the software issues, trying

to really get on top of where they have been and Renault are confident

coming into this event that they have made progress. So we're going

to have to wait and see if that's the case. Also, reversion to a

different chassis this weekend for Sebastian Vettel. I thought it was

going to be a brand-new chassis, but it is a chassis they used in testing

this year. Absolutely. It is interesting that because. He

referred to it yesterday as a sanity check. It is a case of going back

and evaluating and seeing if there is a problem. He said he didn't

think there was a problem with the chassis, but it is interesting about

the mindset. It plant add little seed in his -- planted a little seed

in his head and they are going back to compare. Yes, very interesting.

Hamilton and Rosberg separated by a tenth and Vettel's first flying lap

some way off what they have done. 2.9 seconds off what the Mercedes

are doing. Mercedes at the top and Ferrari next up. Ferrari next up

behind the two cars. Button more promising up there in fourth, but it

is early days. It is hard to read much into the whole of this session

let alone the early times that come i It is just an indicator and they

have a few more minutes to use this first set of tyres before they have

to hand them back to the FIA. A couple more of your comments and

questions coming in using the hashtag or on the BBC Sport

Facebook. Thanks for your comments. We have

got a stoppage for Vettel, he has just pulled over to the side of the

road. That is a bit of a shock, Sebastian Vettel, on one of his

early runs, he has completed four laps so far, and his car has come to

a stop. This is not what Red Bull Racing I've now, they need the

mileage, they want to check out the improvements. -- this is not what

Red Bull need right now. This is the first thing that can happen, wasting

valuable testing. He puts the steering wheel back on, get a bit of

help from the marshals to push the car to a place of safety. Nice to

see he has got involved in that, not just let them do it. Thing is not

getting any easier for the reigning world champion. That is not the

start of the weekend that you want, you want to get the miles in. What

do we make about the strategy group plans for the cars to spark, glowing

breaks. Surely F1 has more urgent issues to focus on, ie cost, says

Amit. An interesting question, the strategy group is the elite teams

that sits down and talk about what should be happening in the future,

and there had been some comments that they want to make it more

exciting, more dramatic, maybe bring back cars parking down the straight

and various other elements. What are your thoughts on this? I think that

is all a bit knee-jerk, and you have to consider the entire package.

is all a bit knee-jerk, and you have People are saying to bring back

these things, but you have to be careful you do not

and make another problem. Allan, what are your thoughts on this? I

think what are your thoughts on this? I

principle that you have to look at it as a long-term thing, we are very

principle that you have to look at One. The Bahrain race was one of the

best ever, all sitting on the edge of our seats right to the end.

Things like making the cars spark a little bit, that is a reasonably

simple thing to do, but we should let the systems settle

simple thing to do, but we should we make any big judgments. Lewis

Hamilton just running off the track with a minor lock-up, he is fastest

in this session. Red Bull getting a bit of a boost, Ricciardo has gone

third, minute-macro28.7. Dump one .20 8.7.

It does not look as though anybody has certainly closed the gap

massively, Jenson Button is currently fifth, Felipe Nasr is the

Williams driver in sixth place, if you are unfamiliar with that

abbreviation, it is Felipe Nasr, who is racing in GP2 this weekend. He

has got a busy time! Kimi Raikkonen puts his Ferrari up into pit, much

closer to Fernando Alonso. Joining us from the pit wall, we saw a shot

of him earlier, Christian Horner from Red Bull.

of him earlier, Christian Horner you? Could be

of him earlier, Christian Horner Yeah, we are trying to understand

what has happened to Sebastian's car out there. Any word from him as to

what was going on? Total electrical shutdown, not quite sure what has

caused it. That is radio and everything. Hopefully it is

something reasonably simple, if we can get the car back and get out in

the session again. Explain the situation with his chassis,

originally we thought a brand-new one, but you are using one from

testing. That is right, we make one, but you are using one from

between four and five each year, they are circulated and rotated

dependent on mileage and usage, and it was an opportune moment to change

the chassis, chassis four, and he has now gone into the first one we

produced. You would not normally do that, would you? Normally you would

rotate to a new chassis, what is the thinking? When the driver has

issues, when he's not comfortable, we try to support him, change the

chassis. There might be a slight difference is that Sebastian gets a

different feel from it. Talk about the Renault updates, they have been

sounding quite the Renault updates, they have been

this race, making big improvements, what is the story there?

this race, making big improvements, stopwatch never lies, as you know.

this race, making big improvements, We will reserve judgment until we

see what happens on track. They are certainly working very hard, it is a

very complicated card this year, we have got some ground to make up to

the two Mercedes powered cars. So hopefully we have got something that

can get as a little bit closer to them this weekend. Your own Red Bull

team are working very closely with Renault now in terms of trying to

get the next development from these engines. Very much so, the electrics

are such a big part of how the engines operate, and the power unit

management, engine recovery is a big element, and we have found ourselves

on the back foot coming into the year, so all the resource that we

can muster up and support the Renault guys with, we are doing our

very best to support our colleagues over in Paris. Great, thank you for

joining us, Christian, hopefully we will be speaking to later, best of

luck getting the car back. Thank you. The track has gone a bit

quieter, because those first tyres have been used, and also everybody

is now just learning from what they have done already. Most have

completed between five and ten laps, a little replay of Sebastian

from a moment ago learning how to use a fire extinguisher, by the look

of it. Maybe things were getting a little bit hot under the collar.

Yeah, he was definitely a little concerned about things at the back

of the car with the fire extinguisher, just in case something

caught fire. A lot of heat being developed under there. Sebastian

Vettel has not had a brilliant start, Lee McKenzie caught up with

him yesterday and really checked in with him as to whether he feels the

season is going to be starting properly for him here in Barcelona.

For sure, you know, we need to start somewhere, so the first couple of

races, I think, overall were positive for us as a team. If you

look where we were in winter testing, you know, we got some good

results, but we want more. We are not here to do well, we are here to

do better than anybody else. At the moment Mercedes is doing the best

job out of all the teams, so we know that there is a big gap, but we are

extremely hungry to come back and start beating them very soon. For

sure, you cannot catch up within one race, but hopefully, you know, we

will start on the right foot back in Europe. That was Sebastian Vettel

speaking yesterday, and things have not started brilliantly for him. A

message from a viewer, has Ricciardo's results of a Vettel

taken the shine off his championship wins? Was car strength more

important than driver ability? Over to you, Allan! He is certainly

having a tough time at the moment, we were talking about Lotus, really

pushing hard, and they are going to do the back-to-back, you can see on

the wing endplate, they have got two development parts that deflect the

airflow around the wheel. The top one, which they have gone back to

the previous spec, that is not on there. They are a big bit behind but

still pushing on all the details moving forward. That is not the only

thing they are pushing forward with, but it is certainly one of them. The

Red Bull is now being brought back. Bradley is asking us, we know Lotus

savings are improving, but do we think that is true? I think they

will improve, because they are coming from a low starting point,

having missed the first preseason test. The potential is there for

them to make more progress than anybody else. I hope they do,

because last year they finished as Red Bull's only real threat, and

with Romain Grosjean doing so well, it would be nice to see him back at

the sharp end. Yes, he was the star of the latter part of last year, the

only one who took the challenge to the leaders, and it seems a long

time ago now. Interesting, has its taken the shine off Vettel?

Yesterday, Daniel Ricciardo was asked whether he now considers

insult the Red Bull team leader, at which he smiled and said, not yet, I

don't think. But people are asking more questions, and it is definite

that last year Sebastian got to grips with that car a lot better

than Mark Webber did, the blown exhaust car, and he was able to

drive that in a way that suited him, and now that has gone and he is

finding this car difficult. He's not getting the most out of the tyres,

and Christian Horner himself said that is an unusual situation for

Sebastian. Hopefully he can address that, but I think that is where the

problem has been. Daniel has been better at that. Daniel spoke to lead

yesterday, that would be a feature on the Formula One coverage over the

weekend, something to watch out for, but a great start to his career with

Red Bull. Looking inside the Caterham pit, Marcus Ericsson, the

Swedish driver in his first season of Formula One. His car was on pole

position in GP2 last year here, leading at one stage, but contact

with another car put him out of the race. Slightly revised nose on the

Caterham, it still has the different approach to the other cars with that

rather flat surface, but a bit more depth to the elements that joins

onto the front wing. In Mercedes, things looking very composed and

good at the moment. Bob Bell is still there at the moment, he is

going to be working through much of the next few months but he has

actually given in his notice to quit, but he is still around. A very

strong member of that impressive technical department at Mercedes at

the moment. Absolutely, they had a five aside the more technical

directors, which was highly impressive! We gather that we are

having some problems with sound, we sorry about that. Hopefully we can

get that fixed as soon as is on. Hopefully it is not causing you to

much... But we will be sounding it -- sorting it out as soon as we can.

Work going on with the cars, and an opportunity for us to catch up with

some of the comments drivers were making yesterday coming into this

event. Nico Hulkenberg has been having a very good season so far, in

the top six at every single event, fourth in the championship, ahead of

both Red Bull drivers. But coming into this event, it is all about

updates on the cars up and down the pit lane to try to improve the car.

They have had a bit of time before this race to do it, and so we caught

up with Nico Hulkenberg yesterday and asked how the updates might

affect the order this weekend. It might change little bit in the

midfield. You know, now we are talking a lot, I hear stuff like

Sauber is bringing lots of stuff, but we won't really know until

Saturday, really. And even Saturday is not the true teller, that will be

the race. But for us, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, they are more or less

battling in their own world, and our main competition out of these boys,

we need to keep a good eye on Williams, McLaren, Sauber, Lotus. If

we can beat them regularly, that is very good. I thought it was

interesting that he included McLaren, as we look at the McLaren

top brass, Sam Michael, Eric Boullier, Ron Dennis, he included

McLaren in the group they are having to beat, because Force India are

doing a better job. A sensational job when you consider their

respective budgets, and they did it all last year. They have done a

fabulous job, and it is a nice, effective car that looks after the

tyres well, and it has got Nico Hulkenberg in the car, and the

ingredients are there for them to have another impressive year, I

think. He has had a top six results, Perez has been up and down, a

nonstarter, a brilliant podium finish in Bahrain,

nonstarter, a brilliant podium of a mixture, but nonetheless forced

India are having a good, strong start to the season. Romain Grosjean

doing a practice starts down the end of the pit lane. Very easy,

composed, no problem. Maldonado is going to be doing much the same

thing. It is nice to see Lotus at last going through the normal steps

of a race weekend, because we have not seen them able to do it very

often. Before, they were lucky to get to the end of the pit lane, but

they are getting some milage on the Friday, Grosjean got more milage

that anybody else. Finally they are getting the data, the systems

checks, and hopefully, getting the data, the systems

talking about, they will be back at the sharp end sooner rather than

later. Allan and Lee have made their way to Mercedes, Martin has written

to us, any exhaust that Mercedes are testing? I

believe that will be tested this coming week. And on that theme, Mark

says, any artificial fixes to coming week. And on that theme, Mark

improve the show will not coming week. And on that theme, Mark

with the viewers. Some thoughts from some of the guys writing to us. As

you see right now, the Mercedes team have got Nico Rosberg's car up in

the air, Nico as is Helmut off, he has been putting eye drops in,

having a drink. They are doing something under the floor, they are

a bit reticent to tell us what it is, but a few people are there,

a bit reticent to tell us what it this will not be going out in the

next ten or 15 minutes. this will not be going out in the

now the circuit is not at its best, this will not be going out in the

it is not really lost time. On the other side of the garage, Lewis

Hamilton is intensely focusing on the data of what he has got to do

later in the session. We heard the data of what he has got to do

Rosberg complaining that the area around his seat was

Rosberg complaining that the area Well, there is a lot of energy. You

have got the battery system behind and the engine and even although it

is not producing the revs did did in the past, there is a tremendous

amount of energy. If there is a tiny hole, the heat will go into the

driver's cockpit area. It is sunny and think about what it is like with

the helmet and the overall. Look at the number of people in the Mercedes

garage. If they had a pound for every person in there, they would be

richer than they are. Lewis Hamilton is just getting out of his car at

the moment. That's what is just getting out of his car at

Formula One team is. There is experts in every area and there is

the technical experts, but it is not a one-man band. There is no

question. There is new parts getting lifted off and they are trying to

cover what we're trying to show at the moment. But you can see there,

they are just standing in front. They don't want the cameras to

they are just standing in front. too close. It is understandable in

the situation when they have got an advantage and they don't want to

show the rest of the world what the advantage is even if it is not in

this area of the it is a mind game just protecting what they have. The

guy in the front, everybody wants to look at them and Red Bull on the

other side are sitting further away and they have got the problems of

their own right now with the issue that Sebastian Vettel had, but all

eyes are on Mercedes and why they have their speed. We make a big

issue about everyone bringing so many updates to catch Mercedes.

Mercedes job is to bring their updates to stay so far ahead of the

field and that sometimes is harder. It is easier when you have a huge

time advantage over the rest of the field. They had two seconds

advantage at some points in the first couple Grand Prix and with

that in your pocket you can afford to be careful in your developments

over the season. They will have an advantage, I'm sure it will be

closer with Ferrari and with Red Bull catching up and the circuit

characteristics suiting their cars more than the previous ones. When

you have that advantage, you can pick and choose when you bring your

updates. The pressure is on the others to catch up. When your car

has been so dominant. Is there a fear of putting something on the car

for the sake of putting something on the car and not getting it to work

as well. Sometimes should you not just leave it, because it is about

development Formula One, but they are so far ahead? Well, the

advantage this team has they were out of the blocks earlier and better

and more reliable than the opposition and they were able to

understand their car earlier. They went to the first race in Australia

and we had that damp and drying qualifying session, they knew what

to do. Whereas for the others, it was a bit of a guess in what they

were going to be doing and so from that point of view, Mercedes are a

lot ahead in terms of their understanding of that new technology

as Lewis Hamilton is still doing his little fixes. He is going through

with someone there, they are playing with the steering wheel and

therefore, I would assume at this stage, that he is having some

explanations on various little settings that they are going to be

working with in the next part of the session. We will let you know when

the Mercedes are back out on track. The two Lotus cars are going around

and Maldonado has gone third fastest which is impressive. 1.28.7.

Grosjean has gone across the line 11th fastest. This

Grosjean has gone across the line moment ago when he just outbraked

himself a fraction into the final chicane. But otherwise, sorted it

out. So that might have cost him time. But Maldonado has gone third

fastest, but a lot of attention, as you say, will be on Mercedes this

weekend, that battle between the two team-mates, a bit of debris being

picked up on track, but Lewis Hamilton had a brilliant start to

the season. There is no doubt about that as Tom caught up with him

yesterday. Well, I mean, I mean I'm very grateful for the experience

that I've had so far this year, to be able to come to races and know

that you have a chance to fight and for the results that I've had, it

has been an incredible experience. So I'm forever grateful for those

and it has been a real blessing this year. So I'm counting my blessings

and hoping that the future is still bright and it continues that way.

Speaking to some of your rivals, they will throw the kitchen sink at

this race, lots of new parts coming. How confident are you that Mercedes

will maintain their advantage this weekend? Well, they are throwing the

kitchen sink, we'll throw the bathtub. We will keep pushing and

trying to improve and do better, but yeah, I mean, whatever they give,

we'll give back just as much if not more, but we want that competition.

We want people to be pushing. We want to be able to fight people. I

feel this weekend, I don't know, what we've got in store. I know

we've made a step as everyone normally does, but people are going

to have to have made a significant step to have caught us.

Well, he is talking with confidence there, isn't he, Tony, they are

going to have to have made a significant step. You know there is

more to come. The thing that illustrated the advantage was when

we had the race where they had the safety car and they opened up a huge

margin, they were over two seconds quicker. The gloves were off. You

could see what they could. They were racing each other. That was the

picture and I mean, try closing that down in a few races, it won't

happen, will it? Comment from Dan, saying the Mercedes car is more

dominant than Seb's Red Bull was. If Mercedes win, are people going to

treat it with as much disdain? Hamilton has an effective team-mate

and they have been allowed to race and that's the key. And talking of

his team-mate, let's see what Nico Rosberg had to say to Tom yesterday.

Tom starting the interviewing saying the last few races Hamilton had the

rub of the green. I want to take the rub of the green

back this weekend. It is very important and you know, I need to

change the momentum around, you know. He had the result momentum to

him lately and just like last year, it went to and from us I need to

change it around and bring it back on my side and get the win. How can

you do that? Is there something you can do as a driver to increase your

pace? Just need to be on it. It's possible

to beat him definitely. In I'm hon it and I get a good weekend then I

can win and that's what I need to focus on and get it right this

weekend. Nico Rosberg hoping to get it all

right, but it hasn't been a perfect start to the weekend. Some issues

there with his car at the moment, but the rivalry between them is what

we can relish here and so far Tony, you know, Bahrain was the highlight

of that, but let's not forget, he has the points advantage over Lewis

Hamilton despite Lewis Hamilton's win? It could be 2-2. The Bahrain

race could easily have gone his way and I said before that I think that

was Lewis' race against the head. He conceded that Nico was quicker that

weekend and yet, he won that. It is going to swing back and forth all

the way through the season. The one I can't wait to go to is Monaco.

That will be fabulous because they are both Monaco specialists. They

both love the place and they have fought a tremendous battle through

qualifying and Nico got it at 900ths sr or something. You only need two

guys to make a race and we will see this through the year. Sebastian

Vettel's car is back at the Red Bull pit. They maybe able to get him out

in the latter part of this session. We were riding on board Jenson

Button. It is encouraging from Button. He is sixth fastest. Let's

run you through those times. Mercedes fastest, Hamilton ahead of

Rosberg by three-quarters of a second to their nearest rivals and

their nearest rival is Maldonado in a Lotus. Faster than the

their nearest rival is Maldonado in lot. That does have some effect, but

it is encouraging. Red Bull, Ferrari, as we would expect, two of

them have been pretty close over the recent months. Then Button,

Raikkonen is up there in the other Ferrari, Verne. Alan, you are at

Ferrari now? Yes, we're down that. Kimi Raikkonen is in the pits and

Alonso has gone out. There is a team that hopes to lift forward their

performance here and they have done it with some aerodynamics.

performance here and they have done see before the V-power, you have two

slots in the bottom of the wing. Is on Kimi Raikkonen's car. He is go to

go out. Fernando Alonso has gone out with only one slot. This team thinks

go out. Fernando Alonso has gone out this will improve their performance

over the lap, but they are not sure if it is too much drag or slow them

down in the straight. They are doing a back-to-back before defining

whether it is something they are taking forward into this afternoon's

session. It is about testing different parts and bringing but

parts to the track. Some more different parts and bringing but

comments. Richard saying, "Do you think McLaren will be

comments. Richard saying, "Do you it around?" Well, Richard, that's a

question we are asking at the moment. They had a miserable time in

China. But the track was front limited. The temperatures were cool

and limited. The temperatures were cool

They are hoping for better things. limited. The temperatures were cool

now. He is seventh fastest. His team-mate, Kevin Magnussen, on a

track, of course, that he raced on before which is a first as we

mentioned. He won two of the World Series Renault races here to win the

championship. He has got memories, Kevin Magnussen, the first time in

the Formula One car and Button goes second fastest with that lap. That's

encouraging. Mercedes second fastest with that lap. That's

out for a while and the track is getting quicker and he is on a new

set of tyres and that's encouraging. It is. As the weekend goes by,

set of tyres and that's encouraging. get a good indication from Jenson's

face as to whether they made any progress because he was down in the

dumps at the last race and hopeful when they got here, this would suit

the car better. It is promising, but there is a long way to go yet.

the car better. It is promising, but Tomorrow afternoon we will get a

proper indication of the situation regarding McLaren. Alonso attacking.

He is on it. Every lap he does around this Caterham cat lun that

circuit. Another DRA zone in the race. Looking on the thermal image

camera. You are looking at how the heat builds up through the corners,

through the long looping right-hand, you can see how the spread of

temperature is good across the surface of the tyre. Now, this

twisty section which finishes the lap. A complicated si cane that you

have go -- chicane that you have to get the power on and again, a bit of

correction. But, with these turbo charged engines and energy recovery,

they have more power. TEAM RADIO: I have understeer.

That's good news. It is probably doing what we expected. That's good.

It is doing what they expected bearing in mind what change they

made or new part they have added to that car. Alonso third fastest, but

Button second quickest as we go on board with him and they have that

non-score with both cars last time out, but McLaren should be able to

bring themselves back up. A good first sector. The best of his so

far. Not the fastest outright in the first sector. Alonso interestingly

fastest in the first sector so far. You mentioned the non-score, they

have had two in a row, haven't they? It is unusual for McLaren. That's

right. Reliability in one race. It was clutch problems, wasn't it? They

did admit they were experimenting with the clutch in that race in

Bahrain and should have been able to score points there. But last time

out, they just lacked pace. Well, it has been one of those seasons for

Jenson Button where things have been up and down. Melbourne, of course,

started off extremely well with a double podium finish, but things

have been a little bit changeable ever since then. Let's catch up with

what he had to say to Tom about that yesterday. For us, if you were

Mercedes you expected them to be at the front for the next four races.

For us, no, we expected to be more competitive. I think that weekend as

a team, we did a great job on getting the best out of the car and

everyone else has caught up now because they have found their feet.

The last two races were up and down for us, you know. Bahrain we were

quick. It is a limited quick and China it is

quick. It is a limited quick and poor. It shows where our weaknesses

is and the temperature change. We understand this car pretty well. We

need more downforce. So more downforce required. This is a track

that does test a car for downforce. Kevin Magnussen is the rooky driver.

He is coming in from the Renault title win last year. He was elevated

to one of the best teams in the business. The team is struggling

over this period. Following on from Melbourne by Jenson Button was

referring to in that interview. Magnussen tenth mastest, but Button

-- tenth fastest. But Button fastest overall. We are seeing quicker

times, but that's encouraging for Jenson Button and it does look as if

McLaren have brought some updates that made a difference this time.

They have been underplaying it in the press. Maybe they have decided

not to shout too loud. There were occasions last year when they said

we're going to do better and they weren't. Alonso on track. Let's see

what this lap is going to be like. He is not actually on a particularly

quick lap this time around. Maybe he is saving it up for the next one.

Those two victories he has had around this vanished circuit have

been the result of brilliant driving, but he has had a brilliant

level of support here in Spain, and we would expect to see a massive

crowd. Hopefully his podium finish last time out will encourage a few

more Spanish runs out. Interesting crash helmet design for Adrian Sutil

in the Sauber, a very different design for the German driver. We

have the lightweight chassis is here this weekend, they have had to

redesign the chassis slightly to try to meet the target weight this year.

I would have thought they would take the paint of the helmet rather than

do that! Adrian Sutil in difficulty because he is that much heavier that

Esteban Gutierrez. It is tough, because any disadvantage is

magnified, when you are talking about all the systems in the cars,

you don't really want to be Adrian Sutil's weight. I think it should be

legislated out so it is not a disadvantage. Every ten kilograms is

about three seconds at lap, that is why it all matters, and some

about three seconds at lap, that is have been on severe diets. Sutil

said he went a few days without eating at all to see how was Bobby

Reid acted, and he discovered it did not react very well. -- to see how

his body reacted. He has now stopped doing such extreme measures, but we

have heard talk of drivers getting into physical difficulties, not

running water Bottas in an extreme desire to be as light as possible.

-- water bottles. At the start of the season, Massa,

even though he was smaller, was saying, they know what they have got

to achieve, and he was saying, tough. But then he would! Because he

is lighter! Magnuson across the line, still in the top ten, eighth

fastest, Button currently quickest. We saw Raikkonen a moment ago,

Maldonado still up in seventh place with the Lotus, looking into the

Williams pit at Felipe Nasr, who will also be in the GP2 race this

weekend, he has got a busy time of it. He comes from Brasilia, part of

the huge number of Brazilians that have tried to make their name in

formal one. He was have tried to make their name in

Champions in 2009, a former British F3 champion with Carlin motorsport.

A very impressive junior career, like so many of these guys, winning

on the levels coming up, but getting into Formula One and delivering in

Formula One is quite another matter. Jules Bianchi on track in the

Marussia, and that battle with Caterham currently is being led by

Bianchi, who has done a lap time faster than Van der Garde and

Kobayashi. His engineer has gone to be the overall leader of engineering

at the track, and he has a new engineer for

at the track, and he has a new pretty well. Yes, he was my data

engineer at Toyota. Francesco came from Sauber. He knew it would be

happening prior to the season starting, but this is his first

Grand Prix in that particular position. Now there is a certain

amount of a get to know you period, but both being Latin, they work on a

similar mindset, if you like, but Francesco has a terrific amount of

experience of what Formula One is about today, and I think that will

help Marussia in their move forward. Bianchi has had a bit of a

difficult season so far this year, in terms of delivering results. It

is Chilton who has had two 13th place finishes to get Marussia into

tenth position. I think Bianchi will be looking to deliver slightly

better results. I think it is amazing, when you consider that Max

Chilton has finished 23 consecutive Grands Prix, the previous record was

16. I think that is incredible for a rookie, to be honest. Kimi Raikkonen

sliding around quite a lot, but a lot of work still going on at

Mercedes. Pretty frantic, lot of work still going on at

underneath it in the battery pack area. They have a technical issue,

Nico Rosberg standing to the side, looking at us now! He was looking at

the date, sort of tapping his foot, just hoping they can get it

rectified so he can get out before the end of the session. On the other

side of the garage, Lewis Hamilton is not in the car either, both

Mercedes looking reasonably comfortable. Either that, or they

are definitely one step behind. think they are reasonably

comfortable, even though they have a technical issue. You can see the

frustration in his face as he marches out of the Garrard, has the

look down the pit lane and back in again. Meanwhile, Lotus doing

better. His team-mate, Grosjean, 16th fastest, but they have been

putting laps together, which was not having earlier this season, and they

always said this track would give them an opportunity to deliver and

show what they can do. Last year they were very competitive. Let's

not forget that Kimi Raikkonen finished second here for Lotus,

following up on a podium from the previous season. My goodness, that

almost caught, the back previous season. My goodness, that

Sauber snapping one way and very nearly flitting, he just about

sorted it out, even though he has to use a bit of the gravel on the

outside. A frightening looking moment for Adrian Sutil, he could

have gone off heavily to the left. Now he is doing a fairly gentle lap.

have gone off heavily to the left. Recovery, by the looks of it. Adrian

Sutil not having the best start. Sauber have had a tough time,

talking about the wait, that is one thing, but reliability has not been

great for them, he has had three non-finishes in a row. Not what you

expect from them, not the normal Swiss, clockwork reliability. No, it

isn't, they were famed for starting seasons really well and only losing

a bit of ground when the development race... My goodness,

a bit of ground when the development in the other car,

a bit of ground when the development turn one. I had a brake failure, I

nearly missed! The brakes are not working any more! Red failure, about

as scary as a Formula One driver gets. Any driver, that is the

scariest thing, into turn one, you have to have total confidence, but

you could hear him having a moment, Giedo van der Garde. Yeah,

definitely. Tony, not a typical start to the year. They used to

start well and lose pace when the development race kicked in because

of their smaller budget, but this year they have had a problem from

the same budgetary issues apply. Let's hope they can get that

started... Sorted out with the new car. Niki Lauda chatting with Nico

Rosberg, he has been talking in the press about how he wants to see the

battle between the team-mates continue, and for the moment

Mercedes should allow them to race one another. The danger is that, as

soon as the other teams get a little closer and do start to put pressure

on Mercedes, then Mercedes may have to say to the two drivers, you can't

race against each other, we have to look after the first priority, to

win the title. Absolutely, Toto Wolff admitted that

at the last race, saying we might have to reassess the situation

later. There have been instances throughout racing history where

dominant teams have won most of throughout racing history where

battles and lost the war. They will be desperate to avoid that

situation. But at the moment, they have not really got a close

competitor in sight, so I think they are safe at the moment. We will keep

an eye on that, look at the lap times over the weekend. Let's have a

look at alarms, fourth fastest at the moment, the tyres have done a

few laps. -- Alonso. The initial shine from a brand-new set of tyres

has been done, it can be difficult to match that through the session.

25 minutes to go, Giedo van der Garde is in the pit lane having his

brakes attended to. As we heard, a pretty frightening incident for him,

hopefully they can get that sorted and send him on his way. One of the

photographers had quite a scary moment as well, I imagine he is

having a recovery moment as well! Not much fun down there when you

think they are heading into turn one at over 200 mph. Top of the speed

trap at the moment is Felipe Massa with Mercedes power, but Van der

Garde, from earlier, I know it was not that particular lap, but he had

done 331 kph, so over the 200 mph mark. Van der Garde, of course, with

Renault power, that is going to be a little bit encouraging.

Renault power, that is going to be a is cooling issues on Rosberg's car,

the ERS system cooling is a problem. That is why there is so much work on

his car, and hopefully they will be able to get it back out. We are

still waiting to see if Vettel will get back out. Look at the amount of

sliding from the Ferrari! This is what we love to see from this breed

of car, these hybrid cars delivering a huge amount of power and sliding

around. We have seen that from the start of the year, it was apparent

as soon as we saw them, we thought it was great. Allan, we have been

talking about Sauber, what are you seen down there? I am just in front

of Giedo van der Garde, he is shaking his hand at me, suggesting

it was a very tricky moment going into turn one. It was not a complete

brake failure, but when he hits the paddle, it did not slow down as much

as he wanted. They have taken the shrouds of the calibre and disc,

starting to investigate. They are not sure where it is as we speak. We

are seeing a back-to-back front wing test here for the Ferraris. They

have brought Fernando Alonso in, they take one nose cone off, put

another one on, get immediate they take one nose cone off, put

from the revised setup, and this gives them that kind of knowledge

they need to know which is the best one, will it correlates to what they

have seen in the wind tunnel? On track at the moment, Pastor

Maldonado with the Lotus, Diarra is in operation down into turn one.

Maldonado is currently in the top ten. -- DRS. Perez and Hulkenberg

quite evenly matched, this is another track where he will be one

to watch, he always goes well here. There are tracks when Sergio Perez

can be quite difficult to beat, and if he is on the case, I think

Hulkenberg could have his hands full this weekend. That drive the team

forward, and that is what they need, no doubt about it. Getting into the

top ten will be harder and harder, because we have got Lotus now

becoming where they should be, getting into the top ten, and that

will make it harder for all those teams like McLaren, Force India,

Toro Rosso, to still be in there. Perez had a great drive in Bahrain,

but he has a particular affinity for that place, remember the battle with

Jenson Button last year. It is going to be tough, because not only has he

got to beat the Lotuses, but his own team-mate is, you know, a pretty

formidable yardstick. Yeah, definitely, we will see what Force

India can do, Perez and Hulkenberg looking forward to continuing the

good series of scores they have been having. Maldonado, much slower than

earlier, may be running more fuel in the car, experimenting with

different setups. We are on board with Ricciardo in the Red Bull,

currently second-fastest to Jenson Button. The Mercedes cars have not

been out for quite a long time, they only did laps earlier, when they

were three quarters of a second faster than anyone else, but in the

meantime Button and Ricciardo have gone quicker, and we are still

waiting to see Mercedes back on track. It could be a while for

Rosberg because of the cooling problems he is suffering. Coming up

through the tighter section now, turn 12, a lot of load on the left

front tyre, down into 13, a quick left-hander before anchoring up for

14 and 15. Vital to get good traction, using a bit of the curve.

And then it is a question of trying to keep the throttle planted

And then it is a question of trying the final corner, not as fast as he

achieved earlier, but that is to be expected. The car tapping the floor

as it hits the straight. Luca di Montezemolo here for Ferrari again

this weekend, he has introduced a new boss for the team since the last

time we saw him in Bahrain, when he made some fairly derogatory comments

about the new Formula One, and then of course we saw one of the best

races we have seen in years, somewhat amusing! And now he is back

again to see how his new charge is getting on at Ferrari, I guess. Yes,

it will be interesting to see if he comes out with any comments here.

After a podium last time out, a great performance for them, no

change in the outright standings. Alonso has now put this different

front nose cone on, and we will see... Well, he will see whether it

is better, difficult for us to see from the outside, he will be

reporting back in terms of real, but the data loggers will be delivering

numbers, which is more important. Allan, now it is so data driven,

isn't it? In the old days, it was much more about the driver and what

he reported to the engineers, but now they look at the numbers. The

first time I drove a Formula One car, there was no data at all. How

driven by data and the drivers have driven by data and the drivers have

suggest something, the driver is the one with the steering wheel

suggest something, the driver is the flashing around like mad right now.

Alonso is flying around in terms of how he is attacking the corners. He

probably doesn't have the tyre grip, but Tony great to watch because he

is on the limit everywhere. He is spectacular. Fernando's car always

is on the limit everywhere. He is had an aggressive Body Language. If

you thought he has been hugely busy more so than ever? I think, he gets,

he is prepared to live with the back gets on the power and he can live

with that. Interestingly Sebastian Vettel who has been struggling with

this year's car and it maybe the looseness, Chrissian Horner referred

to it saying that Christian is feeling uncomfortable with the

amount the rear of the car is moving around because he is used to a

different feel. Alonso getting on the power and winding the opposite

lock on. Great to watch and the power and winding the opposite

enjoyable. Allan what do you make of it? Alonso has just come into the

pits. Looking at his left front tyre, the front tyre has grained

hard, but the rear tyre is looking good. Last year it was the rear

tyres that Ferrari really struggled with, so they will be happy the

options they've got. But Kimi Raikkonen is trying a new rear wing

section. They had the rear wing off that car and that's bolted back on

so maybe he will have another run before the end of the session.

Daniil Kvyat Daniel Ricciardo having to hang on to a bit of bodywork on

the Red Bull. Going back to what you were saying about Sebastian Vettel

Ben, he is comfortable with the car that oversteers. He admits that, he

drives aggressively, but this year he is losing more time. It is not as

efficient. I mean, having said that, the car is still very, very good

aflt. I think -- good. If I think if you like at the splits, it is in the

twisty sections. If they make the progress with the power unit, that

will be a challenging car. I agree. We will see more from Red Bull as we

go through the course of the season. There is 17 minutes to go in this

session. Thanks for your comments. Don't forget to keep an eye on the

live text on the Formula One website, the BBC Formula One website

as well. Nigel Jackson saying mer sees yesterday will -- Mercedes will

bring upgrades, but will they keep them back? Perhaps they could do

that, but this is Formula One. Everyone pushes you so hard, you

can't really afford to sit back and if you get complacent, that's when

you will get caught. A wry smile on Sebastian's face as he is caught

having some fruit. Maybe a chance for him to go back out in the car.

There is Luca Cordero di Montezemolo With Marco Matti. Christian now you

have had a chance to get Se bastian's car back. Can you explain

what the problem is? It is an electrical issue. He He won't be

running this session. Is that related to the chassis change? No,

all the parts are interchangeable and get stripped after each race.

Not unique to the whatsy for sure. We have not really seen what

Mercedes can deliver. It looks like they are being conservative on

mileage at the moment. You would have to assume, you know, as the

circuit improved that the Mercedes would go, you know, a bit quicker.

Just feeling our way into the circuit and working on the set-up.

Just talk to us about Daniel Ricciardo. You are being asked about

him so much at the moment because he has put in such a great start to his

career with your team, but just tell us how he is fitting and what you

are seeing from this guy? Well, Daniel has been known to the team

for a few years. He was our test driver and reserve driver and

simulator driver and came through the junior ranks as a Red Bull

junior. He well-known to the team, what really impressed suss how he

dealt with the pressure of stepping up into the top team and obviously

alongside Sebastian. He has a great attitude. He is working extremely

well with all the guys. He is certainly, very, very quick. Well,

it seems to be a marriage made in heaven from the way he is delivering

with this car and going into this weekend, do you really believe that

you have got a car, a package, that you can challenge the Mercedes? I

know it is early to say anything at the moment, we have not seen much

from them, but where do you see yourselves, do you see yourselves

fighting for third or do you think you can really take it to them this

weekend? You have got to say we would be fighting for third, but

hopefully we have reduced that gap and you know, once we can start to

reduce that gap and put them under pressure then, you know, anything

can happen. But hopefully we will be looking to see if we reduce the gap

from the second plus that was in China. We have been talking during

our broadcast about some of the ideas coming from the strategy group

about ways of making Formula One even more exciting. I mean, the

first question is do we need to after races like Bahrain for

example? But what are your thoughts, Christian? Are there any ideas that

should introduced? It needs to be a pure flat out race from start to

finish, pure flat out race from start to

and it should be a sprint race. There is some good discussions going

on and I think Formula One is conscious that we have a

responsibility and duty to the fans. It needs to be, you know, an

exciting show and the cars need to be exciting to watch. It needs to be

a challenge for the drivers and it needs to be man and machinery at the

limit. Thank you very much for your input and we will catch up with you

later in the day. Thanks. Jenson Button fastest in this

session. We have got just over 12, just under 12-and-a-half minutes to

go now and we are riding on board with Jenson Button here as he heads

down into turn one. Let's just watch him through the corner. A ritical

corner -- a critical corner this is turn three. Watch this. Just goes on

and on. A lot of strain and then you have got to lean on it again turning

into turn four. And that's the area of track which really does load up

the tyres. Allan, I don't know if you have got a chance to watch that.

You can see it, just how much work the left-hand side of the car is

having to do on that section? There is a lot of long corners on the

circuit. The left-hand side tyres get a heck of a pounding. You really

see the tyre deforming and moving around. It is something that from

the energy point of view is huge for the fIr manufacturers around -- tyre

manufacturers and Pirelli with the compounds they brought that they are

on the conservative side because the circuit is dirty. It is dusty. There

is pollen blowing around in the pit lane right now, but that will

improve as the weekend progresses. Button now into the latter part of

the lap once again. We have got the Button now into the latter part of

throttle. That gives us a clue of how he is having to feed the power

in. Not quite flat through the final corner. He has to feed it in on that

section and on to the DRA sz he corner. He has to feed it in on that

comes down the main -- DRS he come down the main. Hamilton has gone out

and he is doing a quick lap right now. Fastest first sector of anybody

for Lewis Hamilton. So he is doing a good job so far. Let's go down to

the pits though because while Lewis Hamilton is going quickly we have

one of the bosses of Mercedes talking to Allan. You must be happy

because Lewis Hamilton has done the fastest fast sector, but Nico

Rosberg doesn't look like he is going back out again. The track

resolution is getting better. With Nico's car, we have a problem, but

it should be OK for the second free practise. Can you tell us what the

it should be OK for the second free problem is? Yeah, it is in

it should be OK for the second free to the, it is a mechanical problem

in the power unit. OK. That's a to the, it is a mechanical problem

description there! I will leave it to you. With regard to performance,

are you feeling that Ferrari, to you. With regard to performance,

you feeling that Red Bull will be the main competition this weekend? I

think you cannot underestimate both of them for various reasons. With

Ferrari, the power unit group is integrated and the chassis group and

it is clear they are going to make big steps and Red Bull is never

going to stop pushing. Both of them will be the main contenders. I will

let you get back to the lap will be the main contenders. I will

whether Lewis Hamilton can pop to the top of the leaderboard. I hope

so. Lewis Hamilton backed off in the middle and latter part of the lap.

We are riding on board with him now and he has done a quick first sector

again. Gets out of shape as he comes out of turn four and down to turn

five. No lock up. Tidy into the apex. That is good and strong on the

exit. A touch of kerb used. TEAM RADIO: GPS a poor. You will

have to make your own space. Make your own space. Understood.

Ricciardo is going to have to find a gap in the traffic because they

can't help him from the pit wall. We're watching Lewis Hamilton on to

the second DRS zone. Down into turn ten. A car up ahead of him.

Hopefully that won't cost him too much. Now up into this final sector.

The car moving around a bit, but more on the front end. He backed off

again. He did a very fast middle sector. Faster than anybody else,

that would have been the fastest time by some margin, but he backed

it off and he is not completing the lap. Is he coming into the

it off and he is not completing the going to go again and

it off and he is not completing the run? Rosberg is looking closely at

that. Eles He will have seen the sector times and knows Hamilton

backed off. We are with Felipe in the Williams. He is doing a descent

job for the team. Susie Wolff will be testing for Williams at the test

that takes place in Barcelona. Susie Wolff will be taking part in the

German and French Grand Prix. Let's cafe on watching Nasr. We are up to

23 degrees now. The track temperature was below the air

temperature. It was running at 17 degrees. But it has gone up four or

five degrees quickly as we are getting towards noon local time. It

is 11. 20 at the moment. The temperatures are building and that

won't be helping the drivers set faster lap times. There is Felipe

Massa in the other Williams. Not quite achieving a podium

Massa in the other Williams. Not which they would love to do. Now we

are into the development race and Williams is a team that doesn't have

the heavy hitting budget that some of the other teams have Tony, but

there is a lot of frt and a lot of -- effort and engineering thought

going into how they can spend the money and stay up there in the race?

There has been a lot of personnel changes. Pat Symonds coming in as a

technical director, they have Rob Smedley and I think they will make

some good forward progress, I really do. Rob Smedley seems to be, I said

this to Clare Williams yesterday, that he is a perfect fit and she

agreed. The way he goes about his job. The way he interacts with the

drivers and the team personnel. He has fitted into Williams perfectly.

Rob is a racer, isn't he? Right from the days when he was at Jordan and

through the relationship he established with Felipe Massa at

Ferrari. They call a spade a spade and get on with it. There is no huge

egos. I really think they have got a good blend there now.

OK, Clare Williams saying he is an impressive addition to the team.

They have made a few technical recruitments over the last year. She

feels happy now with the group of people that they have got and now it

is a question of kind of building with that group. Also, you have got

to look at the drivers in the whole equation and the two

to look at the drivers in the whole Massa is uncomplicated, Valtteri

Bottas is uncomplicated. He just wants to get on with it. It is a

great mix. He had a little spat about the team orders early on. That

was put to bed. Now, I really think we'll start to see the fruits of

that. There you are, Lewis Hamilton has

just gone fastest. That puts him seven tenths faster than anybody

else. His tyres are fresher than a lot of drivers who has been setting

laps recently. He has done 14 laps and that was too wide over the kerb,

over the white line, but he had to two qheles -- wheels on the kerb.

Let's see what happened to Jean-Eric Vergne. A slight lock up on the left

foot. That's interesting, normally it is the right front. The unloaded

tyre that tends to lock. Dealt with that without any issues. Button is

second and that's encouraging for for McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo is

third for Red Bull. The only Red Bull that's been able to do a

representative because Sebastian Vettel had problems. Sebastian

Vettel did only four laps and then had to pull off to the side of the

road and we've heard from Christian Horner that they have had an

electrical problem and the car will be sorted for this afternoon. Please

try not to speak to me when I am in the braking zones. Copy that, Lewis,

maybe it is a delay on GPS. Lewis making the point that when he gets

spoken to over the team radio, when he is really putting a hard slap, he

does not want to be disturbed. -- he is really putting a hard slap, he

halt lap. Maybe they had not got the positioning of his car quite right

from the GPS map on their screens on the pit wall. They are trying to

only speak to the driver when he is in a particular zone, but if the GPS

is playing up, that is difficult. Nico Rosberg believed it when he

thought he was down in qualifying. You can't always believe these

things. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, let's see whether he can

improve on this lap. No significant improvement so far. Thank you for

your comments and questions coming in through the course of this

session. Another question from Alex, have I ever driven a Formula One

car? I can tell you I haven't, but one man who has is the man who I am

spoken to, Tony, how did that happen? It was actually for a

magazine launched about 18 years ago. It is not accurate to say I

drove the car, it is more accurate to say the car drove me! It was

about an hour before the test session, 830 in the morning, come

what may, it was pretty daunting, I spun four times. What car was it? It

was a Terrell, Allan's team-mate. -- Tyrell. A couple more of your

comments... Rear tyres are really taking a beating. Interesting, it

was tyre wear, or tyre degradation that really hurt Hamilton here last

year when he had a miserable time. He was quoted as saying it was one

of the worst races of his career in the way that the race went, because

he dropped like a stone, both Mercedes had a tough time. Rosberg

started from pole and ended up sixth by managing his tyres. This will be

a concern, reporting the rear tyres going away. Yeah, we will keep a

close eye on the lap times this afternoon. This is one of the more

abrasive circuits. Yeah, so the race runs later today in second

practice, we will get an opportunity to see what they do on the medium

compound, the softer of the two this weekend. That has not been used at

all in this first part of practice. Hamilton on top, Button

second-fastest, unlikely to see any changes now. Ricciardo for Red Bull,

Alonso for Ferrari. Rosberg not able to respond, only nine laps Jude to a

cooling issue. Not the perfect start to the weekend, Rosberg saying

yesterday that he needs a smooth weekend. You don't always get them,

losing laps in a session like this does hurt you further down the line,

you lose that extra information, that extra bit of data, and for the

driver to really get his eye in. An extra few laps

driver to really get his eye in. An a second is likely to be the

difference between Hamilton and Rosberg, and those extra laps can

help you find that time. I think Hamilton will get across the line

and set a slightly better lap time than his previous best, 1:27.0 for

Lewis Hamilton, and it has been a pretty good start to the weekend for

the driver who was won the last three Grands Prix in a row. If we

compare that with practice one from last year, we are a couple of

seconds down. 1:25.2 was the lap time from Fernando Alonso in first

practice, 1:27.0 for Lewis Hamilton, about 1.8 seconds slower than last

year. That is to be expected, in fact we were seeing lap times slower

than that under the new regulations, much less downforce on

the cars this year than last year, and the downforce here in Barcelona

is crucial to a fast time. That reduction in downforce that has been

brought about by the rules will account for a lot of that gap in

time, and the new power units delivering a similar sort of

horsepower, in fact more in a straight line, so that sort of makes

up for some of the loss of downforce. So Hamilton, I think,

would be fairly satisfied with downforce. So Hamilton, I think,

team-mate. A better start for the British driver than his German

colleague. Rosberg finding himself down in fifth place in the times

from a time he did much, much earlier in the session. Let's run

you through the times. A little moment ago, that was

Sutil running wide, he was 15th fastest from Bianchi, Grosjean, Van

der Garde, Chilton, Vettel, Kobayashi and Ericsson. The two

Caterhams complete the line-up. Thanks very much, Benjamin and

Tony. A disappointing session for some, and maybe that speaks louder.

Sebastian Vettel only managed four laps. For the

Sebastian Vettel only managed four tested, that will be a problem. Also

for Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton was fastest, his team-mate, putting in

the complete programme. That would be more critical for the race

result, because this is where Mercedes had real trouble. - fast in

qualifying, but in the race they dropped back. Lewis has got that

experience of what the tie is like, admitted Lee on a pretty green

circuit. Giedo van der Garde's art will be beating a little bit fast.

It's the brake with maximum pressure, the car does not slow

down, and that was a great issue, on board with him, you can see he is

having to turn into the corner, the barrier coming up extremely quick.

Not a total brake failure, but a big technical issue, and he said, yo,

yo, yo! It was touch and go, leave. Ferrari have not won a race since

this race last year, Luca di Montezemolo is in

this race last year, Luca di putting the pressure on. Maybe that

is a good sign, to put the pressure on. He came out a minute ago with

Fernando Alonso, put his arm around him, in deep conversation. Ferrari

need some pressure, they need to perform, because right now they are

not the second team, they are third or fourth, and this weekend is where

the European season starts, but to some extent this is for the future,

for 2015. Thanks, Allan. Fernando Alonso is the local hero, today he

is having big discussions, can he turn things around before FP2? Join

us on BBC Two at one o'clock, bye-bye.