The Spanish Grand Prix - Practice 3

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:01:01. > :01:05.Good morning. Well, it is another gorgeous day here at the Circuit de

:01:06. > :01:10.Catalunya. Not long now gorgeous day here at the Circuit de

:01:11. > :01:13.final practise session gets underway for qualifying for the Spanish Grand

:01:14. > :01:20.Prix. Yesterday, it was Lewis Hamilton who topped both practise

:01:21. > :01:25.sessions. A tricky day for Nico Rosberg. Nico Rosberg remains at the

:01:26. > :01:28.top of the drivers championship. You can see Rosberg at the top, but

:01:29. > :01:38.Lewis Hamilton has won three out of the four races. He is in second,

:01:39. > :01:44.Fernando Alonso, third, Hulkenberg has been impressive. Mercedes has

:01:45. > :01:50.under a 100 point lead at the front after the four races. Red Bull are

:01:51. > :01:54.second. Ferrari are in fourth and McLaren had a tough few races, but

:01:55. > :01:59.they are looking to re-launch their championship here this weekend. In

:02:00. > :02:04.pit lane we have Tom and Jennie. Tom, we mentioned a difficult day

:02:05. > :02:09.for Nico Rosberg, but Sebastian Vettel had a difficult day. He only

:02:10. > :02:10.managed four laps, what's the news from Red Bull? He is in his car.

:02:11. > :02:15.They fired the car up from Red Bull? He is in his car.

:02:16. > :02:18.ready to go. He has to condense the three hours of running he lost

:02:19. > :02:20.yesterday into the one hour session this morning. I just had a quick

:02:21. > :02:27.chat to his race engineer, this morning. I just had a quick

:02:28. > :02:32.get used to the updates the team brought to this race particularly

:02:33. > :02:36.the effects of the new front wing and then he is going to do long

:02:37. > :02:38.running and then it is prepare for qualifying over short runs. A busy

:02:39. > :02:51.session qualifying over short runs. A busy

:02:52. > :02:56.been a busy night in the pit lane. Sauber had an incident. They broke

:02:57. > :03:00.been a busy night in the pit lane. their curfew. Torro Rosso had an

:03:01. > :03:05.issue. Jean-Eric Vergne was given a ten place grid penalty and the team

:03:06. > :03:10.fined for a loose wheel coming off that car. They had to do work on

:03:11. > :03:11.their car. It is the first of six jokers they can play, so there will

:03:12. > :03:23.be no punishment, but there will be You can get in touch with us on

:03:24. > :03:27.Twitter. And if you want to go to the BBC Sport page on Facebook, you

:03:28. > :03:37.can leave a comment there. Maybe Ben Edwards or Allan McNish will read

:03:38. > :03:42.them out. It will be a busy hour. It will be second time that we have had

:03:43. > :03:44.a dry qualifying. The last dry qualifying Nico

:03:45. > :03:47.a dry qualifying. The last dry over Lewis Hamilton, the only time

:03:48. > :03:47.he was able to take poll position in Bahrain.

:03:48. > :03:51.he was able to take poll position in two of them is really intense right

:03:52. > :03:55.now. I would have to say it will be a tough one for Nico Rosberg today.

:03:56. > :04:00.Lewis Hamilton has the upper hand and that's in the short runs in

:04:01. > :04:04.qualifying pace, but it looked as if it was in the long runs as well.

:04:05. > :04:07.Hamilton looked strong yesterday and to run you through the times from

:04:08. > :04:11.the second practise session which is the most relevant in terms of pace

:04:12. > :04:15.when they do their qualifying simulation on the softer tyre, it

:04:16. > :04:18.was Hamilton fastest from Rosberg second, Daniel Ricciardo was third

:04:19. > :04:23.and looked good on his long run as well. Alonso was fourth and

:04:24. > :04:26.Raikkonen here was fifth. So Ferraris look to be stronger and for

:04:27. > :04:30.Raikkonen he had one of the best Fridays he had so far this year.

:04:31. > :04:35.Lewis Hamilton tweeted that he had a great day. One of the best Fridays

:04:36. > :04:39.he had and he also said about the fans having been fantastic as well.

:04:40. > :04:48.Jenson Button was seventh fastest. Eighth fastest, Felipe Massa, and

:04:49. > :04:51.ninth Pastor Maldonado. We are in at the Caterham pit. They have made an

:04:52. > :04:56.announcement in the the Caterham pit. They have made an

:04:57. > :05:01.line-up. Mark Smith is out. He was the technical director there at

:05:02. > :05:13.Caterham and they have formed a technical committee. Three members

:05:14. > :05:18.of the committee John Isl ye, Jodie Egginton and Jodie Hughes. Of

:05:19. > :05:24.course, that's a team that has under performed, you would have to say,

:05:25. > :05:26.Allan over the last couple of years and they feel with the new

:05:27. > :05:31.regulations they hoped to be stronger than they are? Since they

:05:32. > :05:34.came in which is a few years ago now, they expected to be further up

:05:35. > :05:39.the grid and challenging the mid-grid area, but they've struggled

:05:40. > :05:43.in 2014 and seemed to have dropped in performance back behind Marussia.

:05:44. > :05:47.We had hopes of them at the beginning, but it hasn't translated.

:05:48. > :05:54.Let's see whether this new structure does help them or not. So we are

:05:55. > :06:00.looking into the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. A few cars are out there.

:06:01. > :06:04.The likes of Vergne and Chilton and Hulkenberg. Jennie, you are at

:06:05. > :06:07.Caterham now? Yes, I spoke to the team this morning and they gave me a

:06:08. > :06:11.briefing about what the plan was. They said it wasn't a case of Mark

:06:12. > :06:15.leaving overnight. It was discussed with Mark Smith, now former

:06:16. > :06:18.technical director for a while and they have been making plans for a

:06:19. > :06:23.while as well. This is quite a big change for them. They are hoping,

:06:24. > :06:27.because everything takes a while to filter down parts wise and design

:06:28. > :06:32.wise, they are hoping around Silverstone they will start to see

:06:33. > :06:43.this move coming to fruition, they want a dramatic and drastic change.

:06:44. > :06:49.Tony Ferdinand des said unless he saw an improvement, he was likely to

:06:50. > :06:53.pull out of the team. They are still battling with Marussia. They are

:06:54. > :06:56.battling to get into Q2 to get through the first hurdle of

:06:57. > :06:58.qualifying and it is difficult for them? Well, it is

:06:59. > :07:01.qualifying and it is difficult for have to say that that middle part of

:07:02. > :07:07.the grid where they are trying to get into is full of teams that have

:07:08. > :07:11.got a heck of a lot more experience have and have much more of a

:07:12. > :07:15.structure and it is by tenths afsecond. The thing about them is

:07:16. > :07:19.they have gone backwards as opposed to creeping forward. Personally,

:07:20. > :07:22.though, I have always got a little bit of a question mark about design

:07:23. > :07:26.by committee structures. You need one leader, somebody to carry the

:07:27. > :07:30.flag and say, "Right, we're going this way." In the past it has never

:07:31. > :07:34.been the more successful, but we'll wait and see. Well, Sebastian Vettel

:07:35. > :07:40.is on track. We're riding on board with Jenson Button as he comes out

:07:41. > :07:44.of turn nine. Down the other DRS section on this track, but it is a

:07:45. > :07:48.difficult place to overtake. We can see it occasionally down into turn

:07:49. > :07:54.ten. Under braking and using the DRS on the approach and then we're in

:07:55. > :07:58.into the left and right of turns 11 and 12. Big grandstands up on the

:07:59. > :08:00.outside. Hopefully those will be full come race day. The supporters

:08:01. > :08:04.for this man turn up, full come race day. The supporters

:08:05. > :08:08.Alonso is very much the Formula One national hero. The only Spaniard

:08:09. > :08:16.ever to win the Spanish Grand Prix. There have been 11 pan Spaniards

:08:17. > :08:22.over the years. There is no doubt th Alonso is the most successful. He is

:08:23. > :08:27.in Spain, he has pulled some superb performances out as you said about

:08:28. > :08:30.the Spanish Grand Prix, but in the European Grand Prix, you remember

:08:31. > :08:35.that fantastic charge through the grid to win in Valencia. It will be

:08:36. > :08:40.tough for him around here. The Ferrari has got some small updates

:08:41. > :08:45.on the car, but little and when you haven't had the performance. Luca di

:08:46. > :08:52.Montezemolo is on site and adding pressure into the Ferrari pot and

:08:53. > :08:56.you expect results, he wants results and there is no question that

:08:57. > :09:00.Ferrari are under performing. Sauber have a lighter car and Adrian Sutil

:09:01. > :09:04.seemed happy with the way things were going yesterday. Yes, it is a

:09:05. > :09:12.lighter car, overall, but not a lighter chassis. The chassis is the

:09:13. > :09:17.same. It is 15 kilogrammes lighter which brings them down towards the

:09:18. > :09:24.weight limit. Gutierrez is under the weight limit, but Sutil is heavier

:09:25. > :09:29.than Gutierrez. He is 12 kilos overweight. 10 kilo graps around

:09:30. > :09:35.here is -- kilogrammes around here is four tenths of a second per lap.

:09:36. > :09:40.It is a big disadvantage. For the Sauber fans, you might want to see

:09:41. > :09:44.what the gap is if Gutierrez is three tenths quicker than Sutil then

:09:45. > :09:49.they have done the same lap time according to the laps difference of

:09:50. > :09:52.the Romain Grosjean had a few little problems, niggling little problems

:09:53. > :09:57.that never allowed him to deliver what he could show the car can do

:09:58. > :10:01.now. Pastor Maldonado was an impressive ninth fastest. There is a

:10:02. > :10:05.chance of one or both of the Lotus cars getting into the top ten in

:10:06. > :10:11.qualifying here today. Maldonado had some success here before.

:10:12. > :10:15.TEAM RADIO: Not working. OK. Copy. Copy.

:10:16. > :10:18.Rosberg, a little problem already. He started the day with problems

:10:19. > :10:24.yesterday with the overheating energy recovery system. That cost

:10:25. > :10:28.him lap in the first prak practise session. Coming back to Lotus,

:10:29. > :10:32.Maldonado and Grosjean both hoping to get in the top ten and Maldonado

:10:33. > :10:37.with his victory here a couple of years ago, when he was driving for

:10:38. > :10:40.Williams, he led more laps here at this Spanish circuit than Nico

:10:41. > :10:44.Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton combined which is a nice statistic. It is a

:10:45. > :10:50.statistic which I presume tomorrow afternoon will be changed! Without

:10:51. > :10:57.doubt, they are on the catch-up at Lotus.

:10:58. > :11:01.TEAM RADIO: I have serious steering. When he is going down the straight

:11:02. > :11:05.into turn ten, his right-hand is a little bit down. The car is steering

:11:06. > :11:08.to the left and he is having to counter steer that. That's

:11:09. > :11:11.infuriating. It might only be by a couple of millimetres, but you are

:11:12. > :11:15.central and you need to have the balance left and right and it is

:11:16. > :11:23.always been something that drivers hang on to and mechanics struggle to

:11:24. > :11:27.get perfect. Yes, psychologicalically important, with

:11:28. > :11:31.the amounts of settings changes they are making on the wheel, around a

:11:32. > :11:34.lap, it has more bearing in a way. Just talking to one or two of the

:11:35. > :11:39.drivers, it is interesting hearing how much they are having to do. On

:11:40. > :11:45.the pit radio in China, there was a point at which Jenson Button was

:11:46. > :11:50.asked to adopt a certain settings, X1 and he asked for a reminder and

:11:51. > :11:57.they said one push on the left-hand Button and 13 pushes on the he

:11:58. > :11:58.right-hand Button. That's a lot to think about when you are driving.

:11:59. > :12:03.When you have one think about when you are driving.

:12:04. > :12:05.is about maximising your performance and when you add in, you have not

:12:06. > :12:09.only got to change the switches, but and when you add in, you have not

:12:10. > :12:12.you have to receive that piece of information and that piece of

:12:13. > :12:15.information very often, they are in the middle of a corner right now and

:12:16. > :12:20.so you've got to concentrate going through the corner and receive the

:12:21. > :12:24.information, hold it, store it and activate on it when you go down the

:12:25. > :12:30.next straight. When it is multiple things, it means that sometimes, the

:12:31. > :12:32.drivers are just basically brain saturated with the information.

:12:33. > :12:40.Well, it is fairly quiet on track. Nobody has set a lap time yet.

:12:41. > :12:49.Jenson Button is out of the car and looking relaxed. Thanks for your

:12:50. > :12:54.comments and questions. Allan Taylor saying do we think the times will be

:12:55. > :13:00.closer at the track today as the track rubbers in? Not only are the

:13:01. > :13:08.Formula One cars doing more laps, but the Pirelli GP 2 cars and there

:13:09. > :13:12.is a British guy on poll position. Does all that rubber going down from

:13:13. > :13:15.the other cars make a big difference? It makes

:13:16. > :13:18.the other cars make a big It also cleans up the circuit. It

:13:19. > :13:22.hovers up the dust and the pollen that's been blown around overnight.

:13:23. > :13:24.The wind isn't blowing as much as it did yesterday which did affect the

:13:25. > :13:31.cars a lot in this circuit with did yesterday which did affect the

:13:32. > :13:34.altitude differences. The bger effect will come from the track

:13:35. > :13:38.temperature changes. Yesterday, it was at 46 Celsius, track temperature

:13:39. > :13:42.and that's what the rubber contacts with the ground and that combination

:13:43. > :13:43.between tyre and grouped is key. Right now, it is 22 Celsius. You are

:13:44. > :13:46.going to see a difference Right now, it is 22 Celsius. You are

:13:47. > :13:50.morning to this afternoon and that for me, is going to be a bigger

:13:51. > :13:56.factor. Let's get down to the pits and news from Tom. Yes, Ben, I'm in

:13:57. > :13:58.front of the Red Bull garage and I have been talking to guys here

:13:59. > :13:59.front of the Red Bull garage and I straight line speeds. At the last

:14:00. > :14:05.race in China, Sebastian Vettel straight line speeds. At the last

:14:06. > :14:07.during qualifying lost 1.2 seconds on the one kilometre back straight

:14:08. > :14:15.at the on the one kilometre back straight

:14:16. > :14:21.Circuit. Renault are turning up with software upgrades that should

:14:22. > :14:25.improve drivability and we found out that Total have introduced a new

:14:26. > :14:31.fuel for this race which is going to give a few more horses as well.

:14:32. > :14:36.Let's keep an eye on the straight line speeds. Yes, Magnussen is

:14:37. > :14:43.fastest on the straight line speed. 315, 315 kilometres an hour. We will

:14:44. > :14:50.see speeds higher as they begin to pick up the pace. We did see 330

:14:51. > :14:55.yesterday. He is doing three timed laps here, Magnussen. He is on the

:14:56. > :15:00.hard tyre. You can see that from the orange markings on the side walls of

:15:01. > :15:05.the tyre. Talk us through it, Allan? That was nearly flat in the old days

:15:06. > :15:08.with more downforce, but with the new regulation, there was a big

:15:09. > :15:11.oversteer moment, a lift in the middle around the hairpin now trying

:15:12. > :15:15.to get the power down. This is an uphill section. Flat out left and

:15:16. > :15:19.this long, long right where you are always fighting to get on to the

:15:20. > :15:28.throttle. The rears are always fish tailing. It is a horrible tyre. He

:15:29. > :15:36.has just run wide and then the acceleration on to the start and

:15:37. > :15:40.finish line. We saw some lured slides there

:15:41. > :15:46.yesterday as the tyres were degrading. That is not the case for

:15:47. > :15:54.him, he just pushed too hard. Our first lap time on the board compared

:15:55. > :15:59.to Lewis Hamilton's fastest time yesterday. That was the moment Kevin

:16:00. > :16:02.Magnussen ran too wide. I would not be surprised if it was tyre

:16:03. > :16:07.temperature related. There were a few people struggling to make the

:16:08. > :16:12.harder tyre work, because it is quite hard. 12 months ago Pirelli

:16:13. > :16:16.had a shocker of a race here because degradation was so big, and they

:16:17. > :16:19.have come here on the more conservative side, and some people

:16:20. > :16:25.are struggling to make it work. That could be one of the problems for

:16:26. > :16:31.Magnussen. We saw a four-stop race for quite a lot of the drivers last

:16:32. > :16:34.year. Looking at two or three starts this weekend, Daniel Ricciardo

:16:35. > :16:38.yesterday suggested that would be possible. One or two of the other

:16:39. > :16:43.teams are not confident they can get through on two stops, so we may see

:16:44. > :16:47.split strategies. The cars that are kind to their tyres will be looking

:16:48. > :16:51.at two stops, the others will have to go to three. Three is not the

:16:52. > :16:58.desired way to do it. Down to the pits, Jennie has caught up with an

:16:59. > :17:01.important guest in the pit lane. Felipe Massa just walking down, you

:17:02. > :17:06.have got yourself wait, a nice relaxed start to the morning today.

:17:07. > :17:13.Yes, relaxed start this morning, we don't do so many laps, but we will

:17:14. > :17:20.get in the car. What the track conditions like? We don't have so

:17:21. > :17:26.many laps that we can do, so we wait. What are you hoping to find

:17:27. > :17:31.out today? Competitive car, that we can be there fighting, and I hope we

:17:32. > :17:36.can have a great race tomorrow. How important is it? The team are very

:17:37. > :17:41.happy with the upgrades, what they are doing back at base being

:17:42. > :17:49.developed into the car. Yeah, for sure, the upgrades are working, it

:17:50. > :17:53.gives what we expected, but they are also working as well, new pieces,

:17:54. > :17:59.better car as well, so we need to fight as always. Thank you very

:18:00. > :18:01.much, Felipe Massa. Olivier Massa returns to the

:18:02. > :18:08.Williams bit, thanks for that, Jennie, great to hear from him. --

:18:09. > :18:14.Felipe Massa. Williams are hopeful of getting both cars in the top ten.

:18:15. > :18:18.I think they feel their car is slightly more powerful in qualifying

:18:19. > :18:23.than in race trim, so they need to be up there in qualifying,

:18:24. > :18:39.challenging the Ferraris. A question from William Thomson... He wrote in,

:18:40. > :18:46.asking, do we think the Red Bulls will be able to tackle the Mercedes

:18:47. > :18:49.for pole? It does not look likely. I do not think it is likely in the

:18:50. > :18:54.slightest. The fight for pole position is going to be as it has

:18:55. > :18:58.been up until now between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. That is

:18:59. > :19:02.where the excitement is, but there is huge excitement about who will be

:19:03. > :19:06.on the second row of the grid. At the moment, Ricciardo looked the

:19:07. > :19:11.strongest, but having said that, I am very interested to see how Vettel

:19:12. > :19:17.recovers. This is a circuit he knows very well, the updates are quite

:19:18. > :19:20.small, so therefore it is more a case of just him getting into the

:19:21. > :19:23.rhythm of the circuit, and that is something that Sebastian Vettel is

:19:24. > :19:26.usually pretty good at. Finally enough, he has been outqualified a

:19:27. > :19:30.couple of times by Mark Webber on this track. One year was down to a

:19:31. > :19:37.problem with the car, a slight DRS problem, but he has not always have

:19:38. > :19:40.the best of runs. He is currently second-fastest. You can see

:19:41. > :19:50.Magnussen has gone slightly quicker than earlier, 1:28.7. The only other

:19:51. > :19:53.driver to have recorded a flying lap is Marcus Ericsson, not really a

:19:54. > :19:58.representative time from him. We are watching the Red Bull here, a very

:19:59. > :20:04.good chassis, aerodynamically very strong, delivers a great deal of

:20:05. > :20:07.downforce. Watching the behaviour of the car, Vettel has struggled with

:20:08. > :20:11.the handling of it. It has not been doing what he is used to, because

:20:12. > :20:15.the configuration is so different, the amount of rear downforce is

:20:16. > :20:20.massively reduced. It has changed the feel of the car. He is now

:20:21. > :20:23.having to adapt to style a bit. He has been used to a certain

:20:24. > :20:27.configuration for quite a long time, in fact all of his Formula One

:20:28. > :20:32.career. He has tuned it and hold it extremely well, but right now he is

:20:33. > :20:37.working with the setup of the car to make it do what he wants it to do.

:20:38. > :20:41.It is not as if it is flowing, it has not flowed perfectly. It did in

:20:42. > :20:45.Malaysia, he was strong and good there, but the last couple of races

:20:46. > :20:50.have not gone his way. At the same time, it has gone his team-mate's

:20:51. > :20:54.away. That is right, stepping up from the Toro Rosso, which problem

:20:55. > :20:58.we had a fair bit less downforce, Daniel Ricciardo, it probably feels

:20:59. > :21:04.wonderful for him to be in the Red Bull, even though it has been robbed

:21:05. > :21:08.of some of that downforce because of regulations. Christian Horner, team

:21:09. > :21:12.principal for Red Bull, joins us from the pit wall. Tell us about the

:21:13. > :21:17.amount of work that has to be done to Sebastian's car to see him out

:21:18. > :21:21.there this morning. Yeah, an enormous amount of work for the boys

:21:22. > :21:25.to replace the whole wiring loom on the car. It is like a ball of

:21:26. > :21:30.spaghetti that you have got to climb into all areas of the car, so a big

:21:31. > :21:34.job. But they have done it without braking the curfew, which is

:21:35. > :21:39.massively impressive. Excellent job, no doubt. How about Sebastian's

:21:40. > :21:42.mood? Presumably was quite keen to get laps under his belt yesterday,

:21:43. > :21:49.it seems he is having to reset insult, get used to these different

:21:50. > :21:53.specifications. -- reset himself. Yes, very much so, but he has turned

:21:54. > :21:58.up in a very positive frame of mind, he wanted a laps yesterday,

:21:59. > :22:03.but he followed what Daniel was doing, the progress we had in the

:22:04. > :22:09.afternoon in particular. So he is just out feeling his way in, this is

:22:10. > :22:10.is first proper run of the weekend. Is the

:22:11. > :22:15.is first proper run of the weekend. this year? He has been so used to

:22:16. > :22:19.the exhaust blundered user that you develop so brilliantly around his

:22:20. > :22:27.driving style. -- exhaust alone diffuser. It reminds me of the big

:22:28. > :22:31.change in rules and 2012 over the blown diffusers. Sebastian is very

:22:32. > :22:35.demanding in what he wants from the cars. He has obviously been pushing

:22:36. > :22:39.to try to recreate that, but with the maturity of these engines,

:22:40. > :22:42.particularly how the engine behaves on the corners, we have not been

:22:43. > :22:45.able on the corners, we have not been

:22:46. > :22:51.now it is about finding a happy medium, I guess, meeting somewhere

:22:52. > :22:54.in the middle. That is Sebastian, Daniel Ricciardo put in some

:22:55. > :22:58.impressive laps yesterday, a long race run on the medium compound,

:22:59. > :23:04.where you impressed with the way the tyre held at? Yeah, very much so,

:23:05. > :23:08.and Daniel is carrying on the form he has shown in the first four races

:23:09. > :23:13.this year. The gap to Mercedes is still quite significant, but we have

:23:14. > :23:15.definitely put a bit of performance on the car this weekend, and they

:23:16. > :23:22.are working hard to on the car this weekend, and they

:23:23. > :23:27.that gap down. It is Allan here. What

:23:28. > :23:30.that gap down. It is Allan here. it, it is about eight tenths, bigger

:23:31. > :23:38.to Lewis than it is to need go, there was quite an offset between

:23:39. > :23:39.them yesterday, to the fastest Mercedes about eight tenths. What

:23:40. > :23:44.you think in terms of the Mercedes about eight tenths. What

:23:45. > :23:49.competitiveness of Ferrari this weekend? Do you feel you are a step

:23:50. > :23:54.ahead of them at the moment? Difficult to say. It is difficult to

:23:55. > :23:58.draw too much from a Friday, but I think, hopefully, you know,

:23:59. > :24:03.hopefully we will be able to raise them hard. Alonso, with the home

:24:04. > :24:05.support, he always lived himself for this event, so he will

:24:06. > :24:10.support, he always lived himself for beat, but we have set

:24:11. > :24:16.support, he always lived himself for joining us, hopefully we

:24:17. > :24:19.more from you later on. Thanks. Romain Grosjean had a lock-up after

:24:20. > :24:22.he got on the radio to esteem and said, please

:24:23. > :24:26.he got on the radio to esteem and the hill which we were talking about

:24:27. > :24:32.earlier. Not a good time for the team to be giving him instructions.

:24:33. > :24:36.It is a difficult compromise, the driver is doing his job, the team

:24:37. > :24:40.are trying to give him all the assistance possible, and that is the

:24:41. > :24:43.hard part of the modern era of Formula One. There are points

:24:44. > :24:47.hard part of the modern era of you are totally absorbed into

:24:48. > :24:50.keeping the car on the track. On board with Daniil Kvyat in the

:24:51. > :24:54.keeping the car on the track. On Rosso, he has a chance to be well

:24:55. > :24:58.ahead of his team-mate on the grid. Jean-Eric Vergne picking up a ten

:24:59. > :25:02.place penalty, the team picking up a 30,000 euros fine because of the

:25:03. > :25:05.wheel which came off the car during the practice session yesterday.

:25:06. > :25:09.wheel which came off the car during team feel that the wheel had not

:25:10. > :25:14.seated properly, so the retention device had not clicked in properly.

:25:15. > :25:17.But still, it is going to be tough for Jean-Eric Vergne this weekend.

:25:18. > :25:21.He's going seventh fastest for the moment, but we saw when Daniel

:25:22. > :25:24.Ricciardo had a penalty for a very similar incident earlier in the

:25:25. > :25:31.season, it is difficult to come back from. It is, it basically ruins the

:25:32. > :25:36.weekend. The financial side of it is one thing, but when you get a grid

:25:37. > :25:40.penalty, it is not as if they are qualifying first or second. They are

:25:41. > :25:45.down in 11 or 12, and they will probably be qualifying, at best,

:25:46. > :25:50.tenth or 11th, and that is then right at the back. So this weekend

:25:51. > :26:01.is basically a write-off for them. Thank you for your Cameron Stewart

:26:02. > :26:03.is a harsh -- your comments using the hashtag #bbcf1, some of them

:26:04. > :26:09.will make it onto the website as well. Just some comments on Lewis

:26:10. > :26:15.Hamilton, Hardy saying, we keep talking about his sublime form...

:26:16. > :26:22.The car does not go straight when I brake. That sounds uncomfortable,

:26:23. > :26:26.the car does not go straight when he breaks. It is brake by wire at the

:26:27. > :26:31.moment. We will just finish off the comment about Hamilton, it is more

:26:32. > :26:35.to do with the car than his driving, look at Vettel for proved. Nigel

:26:36. > :26:40.says he is proud of Lewis, he has grown stronger, Mercedes seem like

:26:41. > :26:44.real champions. Mixed feelings about Hamilton's performances, but back to

:26:45. > :26:49.Grosjean's comments on the braking, what did you make of that? We saw

:26:50. > :26:53.something very similar yesterday into turn ten where he basically

:26:54. > :26:57.went into the corner, locked up the left front, ran wide and immediately

:26:58. > :27:02.came on the radio talking about the same thing. A thermal imaging camera

:27:03. > :27:07.on one of the cars right now, you can see the tyre, how it heats up

:27:08. > :27:11.and cools down. He had exactly that type of problem, something that they

:27:12. > :27:14.have not got on top of overnight. The braking is the first thing the

:27:15. > :27:18.driver does coming into the corner, the most critical part. If you set

:27:19. > :27:22.the braking up correctly, the rest of the corner seems to glow. If you

:27:23. > :27:26.have not got the stability and confidence in braking, you do not

:27:27. > :27:31.load the tyre directly, and the rest of the corn is a real struggle. We

:27:32. > :27:39.are watching the Caterham of Kobayashi, Alonso quickest in this

:27:40. > :27:43.final practice session ahead of qualifying. The Ferraris are one and

:27:44. > :27:47.two at the moment, although we have not seen much from Mercedes yet. Now

:27:48. > :27:52.we are on board with Rosberg as he goes into a lap. This is the man who

:27:53. > :27:56.took pole position earlier this year in Bahrain, and of course very much

:27:57. > :28:02.still the championship leader. Some words from Tom. You were just

:28:03. > :28:06.commenting about not much action from Mercedes, I can tell you that

:28:07. > :28:10.Lewis Hamilton is about to go out. They have just corrected the wheel

:28:11. > :28:15.alignment problem he reported on his first run, and they have taken the

:28:16. > :28:19.tyre warmers off now. Isn't it extraordinary how Formula One is so

:28:20. > :28:24.full of anachronisms? Watching them do this wheel alignment, bits of

:28:25. > :28:28.string connecting the wheels front and back, it seems weird that they

:28:29. > :28:33.are not using things like lasers for that, but there we go! String can be

:28:34. > :28:38.just as quick when you need to do the job fast. Yeah, and there is

:28:39. > :28:42.accuracy in the way that the teams do things, transporting things all

:28:43. > :28:46.the way around the world, various other factors go into it. But yes,

:28:47. > :28:51.the modern-day, it is quite incredible to see that sort of 1970s

:28:52. > :28:55.approach coming out, that is not to say the 1970s approach was not good,

:28:56. > :29:00.it seems to be working for Mercedes. Yes, they are still using it.

:29:01. > :29:04.Rosberg has been fastest of anybody in the first sector, fastest of

:29:05. > :29:08.anybody in the second sector, so quickest overall as long as he does

:29:09. > :29:13.not decide to back off in the final sector. Pole position winner here

:29:14. > :29:18.last year, but a car did not perform well in the race, he dropped back

:29:19. > :29:28.down the field. The Ghostbusters, 1:27.0, but this is on the hard

:29:29. > :29:34.tyre. -- he goes fastest. Alonso is also on the hard tyre, so it just

:29:35. > :29:37.tyre. -- he goes fastest. Alonso is shows... Kvyat

:29:38. > :29:40.tyre. -- he goes fastest. Alonso is oversteer moment in turn nine, the

:29:41. > :29:43.uphill right-hander, throwing it into the corner. That upsets the

:29:44. > :29:52.reader a little bit, it pitch tales out and runs wide. -- the rear.

:29:53. > :29:56.Vergne actually ran wide coming out of turn four, not helping his entry

:29:57. > :30:02.into turn five. He backed off, it was not as if it was a qualifying

:30:03. > :30:06.lap. Daniil Kvyat has completed, coming into this weekend, completed

:30:07. > :30:11.more mileage than anyone else, including all the free practice,

:30:12. > :30:15.qualifying and race is, he has done 1915 miles coming into this event.

:30:16. > :30:19.That will change as we go through the free practice sessions, but

:30:20. > :30:26.still a pretty impressive mileage for the Russian, who has been

:30:27. > :30:29.impressive with the team as well. The team boss was talking about him

:30:30. > :30:31.yesterday, saying he is doing everything right, he is very

:30:32. > :30:37.focused, and they are extremely impressed with him. There is an

:30:38. > :30:42.opportunity for Sauber to move up a bit. The updates may help them a bit

:30:43. > :30:46.drag them away from Marussia and Caterham, but it won't be easy

:30:47. > :30:54.getting into the second part of qualifying.

:30:55. > :31:01.Let's go on board with Hamilton. The number 44 car crosses the line.

:31:02. > :31:11.Let's see what Hamilton's lap looks like. Down into turn 1. Trying to

:31:12. > :31:14.hug into the kerb. A little bit of a lift and squeezing on the throttle

:31:15. > :31:17.using a couple of millimetres of the exit road. This is where we saw

:31:18. > :31:21.Jean-Eric Vergne running wide, but there won be much of a problem.

:31:22. > :31:27.Already two tenths of a second quicker than his team team-mate,

:31:28. > :31:31.Nico Rosberg. These are corners, Allan, where you are running the

:31:32. > :31:34.brake a long way into some of them? Yeah, they are and the other thing

:31:35. > :31:41.is they are long corners. They are not short, sharp run ones and --

:31:42. > :31:45.sharp ones and you have to squeeze on the throttle. Not much steering

:31:46. > :31:49.action. It was nice and precise. He knew where the car was going to go.

:31:50. > :31:54.It wasn't an adventure and that's where the three tenths of a second.

:31:55. > :31:56.Now he has run wide at turn ten. Probably the tyre wasn't up to

:31:57. > :32:02.temperature. A lot of people have been complaining about that on the

:32:03. > :32:05.radio as we've got Gutierrez's radio.

:32:06. > :32:14.TEAM RADIO: You are use ago gear lower than Adrian. Maybe try a

:32:15. > :32:18.higher gear. As we cross the line now, out of the last corner, nice

:32:19. > :32:24.and clean, but it is quickest with that time loss at turn 10. There is

:32:25. > :32:28.a little bit of time in Lewis Hamilton's pocket. How much do you

:32:29. > :32:32.have to look after the tyres in the early part of

:32:33. > :32:37.quickest second lap. That's interesting. On the hard tyres, they

:32:38. > :32:41.are holding up for another quick lap which is impressive. Do you have to

:32:42. > :32:44.look after a tyre in the early part of the lap to have it underneath

:32:45. > :32:48.you? You do on the medium tyre more than the hard tyre. This is an area

:32:49. > :32:52.that Lewis Hamilton has really started to understand over the

:32:53. > :32:55.course of this season. It is how to make these new tyres work. How to

:32:56. > :33:00.protect them. Maybe not necessarily charge on to it in the first laps,

:33:01. > :33:06.in a long run, but to build them in gently and it seems to be bearing

:33:07. > :33:09.fruit. With the hard tyre, he can lean on it reasonably hard without

:33:10. > :33:13.over stressing it until the temperature comes into it. You have

:33:14. > :33:17.to be careful you don't over stress it until the tyre is at the optimum

:33:18. > :33:26.temperature. We haven't seen lap times from Hulkenberg, Valtteri

:33:27. > :33:32.Bottas, Ricciardo. Coming back to the comment in Sauber made to

:33:33. > :33:35.Gutierrez. Are you surprised they are making those comments during

:33:36. > :33:39.Gutierrez. Are you surprised they practise session? Not really, it is

:33:40. > :33:40.feedback. It is a little bit of information. They are looked at it

:33:41. > :33:46.in comparison to his team-mate in comparison to his team-mate

:33:47. > :33:49.behind the garage and realised there was a difference. I would have

:33:50. > :33:50.requested which corners, not a general, is that

:33:51. > :33:51.requested which corners, not a ones is it

:33:52. > :33:58.requested which corners, not a specific and then he can tune it

:33:59. > :34:04.from there. Wi these new cars and acceleration then sometimes you can

:34:05. > :34:08.be a gear higher which doesn't feel correct, but in reality, just puts a

:34:09. > :34:13.little bit less stress through the rear tyre and allows a more

:34:14. > :34:18.consistent acceleration out of a corner. Pastor Maldonado is

:34:19. > :34:22.currently eighth fastest. His team-mate tenth fastest. All of them

:34:23. > :34:27.still having used the hard tyre. Sebastian Vettel is out there on the

:34:28. > :34:33.medium compound tyre. He is perhaps a little bit earlier

:34:34. > :34:34.medium compound tyre. He is perhaps everybody else is doing. Well, after

:34:35. > :34:37.missing yesterday, he needs to get the lap ins. He needs to get the

:34:38. > :34:39.experience and the lap ins. He needs to get the

:34:40. > :34:51.different as the lap ins. He needs to get the

:34:52. > :34:54.radio. The track temperature is beginning to build. It is up to 28

:34:55. > :34:58.Celsius already. It was over 40 Celsius when we were in the second

:34:59. > :35:01.session yesterday. Yeah, but this is McLaren's problem.

:35:02. > :35:02.session yesterday. Yeah, but this is have enough downforce and when the

:35:03. > :35:06.temperature rises then you tend have enough downforce and when the

:35:07. > :35:10.sort of, you need a lot of downforce at that point to get the grip and

:35:11. > :35:15.sort of, you need a lot of downforce keep the tyre in the working range.

:35:16. > :35:18.If not, McLaren are going to be struggling. If he is struggling this

:35:19. > :35:23.morning, it suggests this afternoon can be a bit of a problem for him.

:35:24. > :35:27.We are riding with Jenson Button. You can see he is down on time and

:35:28. > :35:33.struggling to get the car turned in. Not a great lap for Jenson Button.

:35:34. > :35:38.Hamilton has done a fast first sector, but he backed it off in the

:35:39. > :35:44.middle sector, I don't think he will improve on Rosberg's time. It looked

:35:45. > :35:49.as if he had the potential to improve. Alonso third, Button fourth

:35:50. > :35:54.and Raikkonen fifth. A question from Petrol Head Jack, any idea why

:35:55. > :35:57.Raikkonen has been struggling so much this season? Well, on the

:35:58. > :36:01.evidence we have seen this weekend, he has been on a par with what

:36:02. > :36:05.Alonso has been doing. Yeah, he has. As we have got an on board of

:36:06. > :36:09.Sebastian Vettel coming through the long turn four running wide as we

:36:10. > :36:15.Sebastian Vettel coming through the saw Jean-Eric Vergne. Not the ideal

:36:16. > :36:19.line. Once you are on the kerb, you can't get off it. You have got to

:36:20. > :36:27.ride it out until the end. But coming back to Kimi Raikkonen, his

:36:28. > :36:32.driving style different to Alonso's. Alonso's is very different. He can

:36:33. > :36:36.maintain it. He goes into the corner, throws the front in and

:36:37. > :36:41.Raikkonen goes in a little bit more conventional on to the brake and

:36:42. > :36:44.holds the brake very late which destable identitieses the --

:36:45. > :36:49.destabilises the rear of the Ferrari. This weekend, he has been

:36:50. > :36:58.much more on form. We also must remember one other thing...

:36:59. > :37:02.TEAM RADIO: The rear tyres are overheating. Hulkenberg reporting

:37:03. > :37:08.the same as Button. Alonso is one of the best out there. So you know, it

:37:09. > :37:11.is a hard fight to come into Alonso's living room and sit down

:37:12. > :37:17.and get his feet underneath the table. That's right. The car has

:37:18. > :37:21.been designed around Alonso and not around Kimi Raikkonen and it is

:37:22. > :37:29.taking time for Raikkonen to get the war the way he -- car the way he

:37:30. > :37:34.wants it. A viewer saying what should Sebastian Vettel do to turn

:37:35. > :37:38.his season around? He has not had much luck, but it is about Red Bull

:37:39. > :37:42.and Renault getting more horsepower from the engine and for Vettel to

:37:43. > :37:48.get the car to his liking. Danny saying the cars have different front

:37:49. > :37:52.noses. Do teams have advantages with the shape they have gone for? With

:37:53. > :37:59.the updates, it is not as if we are seeing a team that's run one shape

:38:00. > :38:04.change and copy another car. We have seen that once this year and that

:38:05. > :38:09.was McLaren when they turned up with a different front nose. It is detail

:38:10. > :38:12.right now. The concepts are fixed and the detail evolution that is

:38:13. > :38:17.coming out of the updates and will come out of the updates. I

:38:18. > :38:22.understand that Ferrari has a bigger update later on in the season. But

:38:23. > :38:26.so far, around here, it has been small changes that have made the

:38:27. > :38:29.differences. Vettel has gone third, but that's nothing particularly

:38:30. > :38:33.impressive because he is on the softer tyre. The medium compound

:38:34. > :38:37.tyre which I think Rosberg will be coming out in a moment. But of

:38:38. > :38:41.course, he maybe running more fuel in that car, mightn't he? The fuel,

:38:42. > :38:46.that's one thing we don't know the levels, the teams are very reluctant

:38:47. > :38:50.to tell us, but the fuel in the car, you would expect, Sebastian Vettel

:38:51. > :38:54.because. Of the lack of running yesterday to maybe have more in the

:38:55. > :38:57.tank than what he normally would in free practise three.

:38:58. > :39:12.Kevin Magnussen looks like his dad is here again this weekend. Keeping

:39:13. > :39:16.an eye on Kevin. We saw him in the McLaren pit. He does know this track

:39:17. > :39:21.well from the junior category, it gives him that little bit of extra

:39:22. > :39:27.confidence going into this weekend. Comes up through turn nine and wide

:39:28. > :39:31.there. He got two wheels on to the gravel. It looks like he backed out

:39:32. > :39:36.of this lamb. Kevin Magnussen -- lap. Kevin Magnussen had a fantastic

:39:37. > :39:41.start. Australia was incredible. Now, it is the hard work. It is when

:39:42. > :39:45.you have got to dig deep. He has got to get his head down and keep on

:39:46. > :39:50.working. The McLaren team from back to front, they have got to do it. It

:39:51. > :39:55.is a while since they had a victory here, 2005 was the last time that

:39:56. > :40:01.McLaren won on this circuit, that was Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen

:40:02. > :40:07.had the honour of having the most win for McLaren and Ferrari. Kimi

:40:08. > :40:11.had good results and Alonso can drag a result like he did last year. A

:40:12. > :40:15.brilliant performance of the so Ferrari have two Spain specialists

:40:16. > :40:20.at the wheel of their car if you like. Watching the replay of the

:40:21. > :40:26.oversteer moment for Kevin Magnussen, but he dealt with it

:40:27. > :40:31.effectively. He did, but the car is bouncing up and down a lot. There is

:40:32. > :40:36.small bumps around the circuit and the car seems to be springing. They

:40:37. > :40:37.need to think about the damping. That's not a bad thing because it is

:40:38. > :40:42.a factor of this track, That's not a bad thing because it is

:40:43. > :40:47.mean there is inconsistent loads on the tyre. It is caristic of McLaren

:40:48. > :40:52.to run the car stiff. Maybe an attempt to get the aero platform

:40:53. > :40:58.nice and stable. The car does seem to bounce around. Just riding on

:40:59. > :41:04.board with Felipe Massa, but let's get down to Tom. I am at Sauber

:41:05. > :41:09.where Esteban Gutierrez has come in and had a front nose change. They

:41:10. > :41:14.have got the old and the new front wing right herl. Pete, if I can show

:41:15. > :41:19.you, this is the new front wing. It is very clean. The old front wing,

:41:20. > :41:24.which is the one Gutierrez put on is this, it has this old flip up here.

:41:25. > :41:27.He is working flat out on, he is not sure which of these two is the

:41:28. > :41:33.better of the two front wings going ahead into the qualifying session

:41:34. > :41:39.this afternoon. Thank you very much. These are amazing pieces of work.

:41:40. > :41:43.Probably over ?200,000 worth of work in the front wings. It is amazing

:41:44. > :41:48.the amount of research of time that's gone into each little flick

:41:49. > :41:50.up and each little section of the front wing and getting it out on

:41:51. > :41:55.track to determine which one is better. Well there, is the last

:41:56. > :41:59.chance as well. Once they go into qualifying, in the parc ferme

:42:00. > :42:02.situation when they can't change the car apart from the things, well

:42:03. > :42:08.set-up wise they can't change the car without any penalty. This is his

:42:09. > :42:12.last opportunity now, with 20 minutes to go, he has to make a

:42:13. > :42:19.decision. Most people running on the hard tyre. It is only Vettel that's

:42:20. > :42:22.been out on the medium tyre, but we will see plenty of cars out on the

:42:23. > :42:31.softer tyre and that will give us a good int indicator of performance

:42:32. > :42:37.going into qualifying. There is no doubt about it that Mercedes look

:42:38. > :42:39.strong. Valtteri Bottas' team-mate working hard here.

:42:40. > :42:43.strong. Valtteri Bottas' team-mate confidence, I think, going towards

:42:44. > :42:47.qualifying. We have seen this car has delivered on several occasions

:42:48. > :42:52.this year. Yes, it delivered, but we haven't got the result they probably

:42:53. > :42:58.thought they could get. Especially in the first Grand Prix, Valtteri

:42:59. > :43:01.Bottas had a brush with the wall. He is dragging the time out of the car

:43:02. > :43:04.at the moment. He is going hard for it. He is. He qualified third in

:43:05. > :43:11.Bahrain in the dry. Williams it. He is. He qualified third in

:43:12. > :43:19.sessions -- qualifying sessions we have had. A chunk of oversteer in

:43:20. > :43:24.the final turn. That looked painful. That's harsh on the car, but it is

:43:25. > :43:29.harsh on the body as well as he gets sprung up there and it lands

:43:30. > :43:34.aggressively. Let's look at a replay of part of that lap. Turn three

:43:35. > :43:37.coming through, long turn three, huge oversteer. There it broke away.

:43:38. > :43:39.coming through, long turn three, That's the rear tyre losing the grip

:43:40. > :43:43.in the three-quarters way through the corner. There is no real

:43:44. > :43:47.indication that was happening. It wasn't a small increase, the rear

:43:48. > :43:53.tyre lost the grip and the oversteer and he had to get off the circuit to

:43:54. > :43:56.get it back into line. Williams have been struggling with rear end

:43:57. > :44:00.downforce. Of course, all the cars have less downforce at the back

:44:01. > :44:04.because of the regulation changes, the lack of exhaust blowing, but

:44:05. > :44:07.other changes around the rear section which reduced the downforce

:44:08. > :44:12.on the back of the car and that's they are having to try and catch

:44:13. > :44:18.back up with. There is a lot of changes with the aerodynamic

:44:19. > :44:22.regulations. The downforce level dictates how quick you can go

:44:23. > :44:25.through the corner. The balance between the front and the rear is

:44:26. > :44:29.important and the rear looks too snappy in the Williams on the harder

:44:30. > :44:33.of the two compounds of tyre. It will have its effect

:44:34. > :44:34.of the two compounds of tyre. It the rear tyres are working hard

:44:35. > :44:36.through the race then you could struggle with getting the stint

:44:37. > :44:44.length you need. But struggle with getting the stint

:44:45. > :44:48.driver has to lift awe the throt -- lift off the throttle. If there is

:44:49. > :44:58.understeer, he lifts front to bring back into line. The time lap of an

:44:59. > :45:08.oversteery car is more than an understeery car. So a bit of cutting

:45:09. > :45:12.going on all Vettel's car. We have seen quite a lot of that from Red

:45:13. > :45:16.Bull, where they have got in with the grinder and various other

:45:17. > :45:19.things. It is not what we would expect from Adrian Newey, but he is

:45:20. > :45:24.always pushing the development. I do not know what that was, the thing

:45:25. > :45:30.they were cutting off. Still development going on, clearly! Kimi

:45:31. > :45:34.Raikkonen on a lap, he is on the medium tyre, you can see the white

:45:35. > :45:35.writing on the side wall, one of the first of the frontrunners to go for

:45:36. > :45:39.the medium compound, and first of the frontrunners to go for

:45:40. > :45:43.a light fuel load. You can see the first of the frontrunners to go for

:45:44. > :45:48.car moving through turn three, but not the big slice of oversteer we

:45:49. > :45:52.saw from the Williams. No, but when he did oversteer, the rear tyre bit

:45:53. > :45:57.into the tarmac and he could keep his foot in it. The car is moving

:45:58. > :46:01.around a little bit more, not as if it is smooth and precise, as from

:46:02. > :46:09.Rosberg and Hamilton. He is having to work to get the lap time-out. A

:46:10. > :46:14.lock of the left front through turns six, seven and eight. Looking

:46:15. > :46:17.at the thermal camera from Kimi Raikkonen's car, the difference

:46:18. > :46:23.between the two tyres seems to be about one second. A little lock-up,

:46:24. > :46:27.a black spot as it rotates around, and then the tyre will generate

:46:28. > :46:32.temperature. This is a long corner, look how hot it is across the

:46:33. > :46:38.complete tyre, now cooling down to purple, then increasing. For the

:46:39. > :46:42.left hand side, you can see he went in a bit too deep, bounced over the

:46:43. > :46:48.kerb. The time has gone on this one. You can see how hard it is for the

:46:49. > :46:54.left-hand tyre on this track. A little scrappy, 1:28.4, only a tenth

:46:55. > :46:58.quicker than the other tyre. He has backed off for the moment. He may

:46:59. > :47:05.try to do a slow lap and then go again. Kobayashi running wide at

:47:06. > :47:10.turn four, likely did not go into the gravel trap. Max Chilton had a

:47:11. > :47:15.little visit during one of the sessions, it does happen here. Jules

:47:16. > :47:20.Bianchi getting ready to go out on his qualifying simulation. I would

:47:21. > :47:24.expect that to be the medium tyre under the blankets. Marussia have

:47:25. > :47:28.brought several updates to the car this weekend. Currently, he is three

:47:29. > :47:35.tenths quicker than Kobayashi, Max Chilton is splitting the Caterhams.

:47:36. > :47:41.The team were impressed with Bianchi yesterday, some quick laps, a decent

:47:42. > :47:49.race run. A big slide from Max Chilton, wow! Fantastic save! That

:47:50. > :47:57.was beautiful to watch, straight out of the Gilles Villeneuve school of

:47:58. > :48:02.driving. That was turn nine. TEAM RADIO: Something is wrong with

:48:03. > :48:07.the car. It is completely different to yesterday. Whether we have a tyre

:48:08. > :48:15.temperature problem or something else. It is so unstable. A different

:48:16. > :48:19.car. That was Adrian Sutil commenting back, a different car.

:48:20. > :48:24.This was a message from earlier on the radio, very much over steering,

:48:25. > :48:28.brakes worse than yesterday. It looks like the updates and changes

:48:29. > :48:34.to the Sauber has not helped much. Let's look at this again, Allan, Max

:48:35. > :48:38.Chilton. Once again, just right at the moment when the rear tyre was

:48:39. > :48:42.overloaded and gave up. It is not as if it gave much feedback, it just

:48:43. > :48:48.suddenly gave up. A stunning recovery to get it back. But Adrian

:48:49. > :48:53.Sutil is sitting down in 18th position, so he is not getting into

:48:54. > :48:57.Q2 as we speak. That is right, that is where they have been struggling,

:48:58. > :49:00.and I thought they had made a step forward yesterday, but the evidence

:49:01. > :49:03.from today is that they will be fighting just as hard to

:49:04. > :49:07.from today is that they will be Q1 and into Q2, and neither driver

:49:08. > :49:11.really looking very happy. You can see the car squirming as it comes

:49:12. > :49:16.out of the final chicane, not looking that stable through the last

:49:17. > :49:23.corner. He crosses the line 16. Still on the hard tyre, we will wait

:49:24. > :49:26.to see him do a medium tyre run at the end of the session. Still very

:49:27. > :49:32.obvious they are not happy with things. Monisha Kaltenborn's

:49:33. > :49:35.birthday today, they were celebrating that Elliott, a big

:49:36. > :49:40.cake, the drivers turned up for a photo opportunity. -- earlier. I'm

:49:41. > :49:44.not sure she will get the gift of the car is challenging for a top-ten

:49:45. > :49:49.start, which is what she would like more than anything. They will be

:49:50. > :49:53.happy to get into the top 15, never mind the top ten. That is a long way

:49:54. > :49:58.from where Sauber are aiming this afternoon. Sadly, I think that is

:49:59. > :50:02.correct. Hamilton getting ready for his run, the tyre blankets will stay

:50:03. > :50:08.on until the last moment, whipped away, brand-new set of gleaming

:50:09. > :50:12.Pirelli medium tyres. And Lewis Hamilton, who was on a roll at the

:50:13. > :50:14.moment, he is driving absolutely superbly with a victory last time

:50:15. > :50:18.out in China, a dominant win. superbly with a victory last time

:50:19. > :50:23.used less fuel than virtually anybody else on the way to winning

:50:24. > :50:27.the race, and so far this weekend he has looked brilliant. But Rosberg,

:50:28. > :50:31.don't forget, did take pole position and beat Hamilton last year. The

:50:32. > :50:36.difference in qualifying last year was about a second, just over two

:50:37. > :50:40.tenths. They had the front row together last year, so that was a

:50:41. > :50:45.season where we didn't always see that kind of pace from them, but it

:50:46. > :50:50.was impressive in qualifying, if not in the race itself. Watching Jules

:50:51. > :50:53.Bianchi, then, on the hard tyre, interestingly, not on the medium

:50:54. > :51:00.compound, which I thought he was going to be. 1:30.9, maybe they are

:51:01. > :51:04.saving up their run for the very end of the session. I think what is

:51:05. > :51:08.going to be importance later in qualifying today, as we go on board

:51:09. > :51:12.with Rosberg, he is on the medium compound, and this will give us a

:51:13. > :51:14.good indication, let's watch the lap and see how hard he attacks the

:51:15. > :51:26.first section. Very late on the brakes into turn

:51:27. > :51:30.one, into turn three, very close to the kerb. The fact he can keep it to

:51:31. > :51:34.the kerb tells me the car is pretty hooped up. We have seen the other

:51:35. > :51:38.cars sliding a little bit wide, they cannot keep the apex. He is

:51:39. > :51:44.effectively equalling his time from earlier in the session. The first

:51:45. > :51:53.sector is closest to the fastest we have seen so far, Hamilton had the

:51:54. > :51:58.fastest first sector time earlier. We're coming up to the tricky

:51:59. > :52:03.right-hander where Max Chilton had the slide. It turns in positively.

:52:04. > :52:08.It does, but it looks slow, it does not look as if he is working with

:52:09. > :52:12.the car. The time, three tenths of a second, by the time he comes into

:52:13. > :52:17.the second sector, that is just evidence of the fact that the car is

:52:18. > :52:22.pretty hooked up, as we said. A little bit of oversteer, but with a

:52:23. > :52:25.couple of corners to go, it is in control for Rosberg to keep his

:52:26. > :52:30.quickest time and extend the gap to Lewis Hamilton, who was also out on

:52:31. > :52:37.the medium tyre. Will he gain as much as a second? He has done a 26.5

:52:38. > :52:42.on the hard tyre, he does 25.8, not as much as a second, about seven

:52:43. > :52:51.tenths of a second on the softer tyre. Not as big a difference as we

:52:52. > :52:53.And not as big a difference as And not as big a difference as

:52:54. > :52:56.yesterday, when it was between eight tenths and one second, but the

:52:57. > :52:57.circuit is a little bit cleaner. Lewis Hamilton a little bit wider

:52:58. > :53:01.through the left-hander up Lewis Hamilton a little bit wider

:53:02. > :53:06.towards turn nine. But I think the gap was bigger yesterday, a bit

:53:07. > :53:09.closer today. Interestingly, that lap is not quicker than Hamilton

:53:10. > :53:15.managed in second practice yesterday, 25.5, so Rosberg has not

:53:16. > :53:19.managed to beat that, which is surprising, considering the track is

:53:20. > :53:22.a bit cleaner. Great overhead view of that final section that Hamilton

:53:23. > :53:27.is coming into now, this chicane that was added in 2007 and has been

:53:28. > :53:32.a part of the track ever since. He has backed off at the end, slows

:53:33. > :53:35.down, coming into the pits. He did the quickest middle sector, so I

:53:36. > :53:39.think Lewis the quickest middle sector, so I

:53:40. > :53:44.has got in the car. He has came into the pits for whatever reason...

:53:45. > :53:49.Chilton off again, the second time this weekend. The us put it into the

:53:50. > :53:54.gravel, and this has more effect. -- he has put it. 11 minutes to go,

:53:55. > :53:59.everybody is about to do their quick laps, let's hope this can be sorted

:54:00. > :54:05.quickly. That is turn five, the hairpin before you go downhill. He

:54:06. > :54:11.has locked up the front left and just run out of road at that point.

:54:12. > :54:20.On the hard tyre, presumably he had done quite a few laps. It is locking

:54:21. > :54:25.up problems that are catching him out both times. Well, their car

:54:26. > :54:29.struggles with downforce generally. It is easier to lock up the tyres

:54:30. > :54:35.when you have got low downforce, and then when you add in a pretty hard

:54:36. > :54:36.tyre from Pirelli for this particular Grand Prix, it

:54:37. > :54:41.exacerbates the problem. particular Grand Prix, it

:54:42. > :54:43.thing about that corner is that it is quite a lot of camber, and the

:54:44. > :54:47.left hand wheel is a little bit is quite a lot of camber, and the

:54:48. > :54:58.little mock-ups if you have steering angle especially. -- lock-ups.

:54:59. > :55:02.Yellow flag in that section at turn five where Max Chilton's car will be

:55:03. > :55:08.hoisted out of the way, the marshals getting to work. John Bruce keeping

:55:09. > :55:12.a close eye on the Marussia pit wall. What is going on at Mercedes?

:55:13. > :55:16.a close eye on the Marussia pit We saw Hamilton come straight back

:55:17. > :55:21.in, will he come out again? No, he is out of his car, Ben, and I think

:55:22. > :55:25.he has done enough. He was happy with the pace of the car through the

:55:26. > :55:30.middle sector and he does not want to reveal his hand, simple as that.

:55:31. > :55:36.We have seen Mercedes back up early in the third practice section at

:55:37. > :55:37.quite a few races, and he is now relaxing. Nico Rosberg, on the other

:55:38. > :55:45.hand, completed relaxing. Nico Rosberg, on the other

:55:46. > :55:49.has come back to do a practice start. It is worth reminding people

:55:50. > :55:54.we have the longest run from pole position to the apex of turn one, a

:55:55. > :55:57.lot can happen at the start of the race, so

:55:58. > :56:00.lot can happen at the start of the when the lights go out. Very true,

:56:01. > :56:03.it is not just about starting up front, the other side

:56:04. > :56:07.it is not just about starting up row can sometimes make the drag, and

:56:08. > :56:11.Alonso has made brilliant starts to sneaker heads down into the first

:56:12. > :56:15.corner. As you say, that long stretch down to turn one could make

:56:16. > :56:19.the difference. It looks as though Rosberg will be coming straight back

:56:20. > :56:24.in again, here we are, yeah, the team getting ready to do a practised

:56:25. > :56:29.tyre change. We are not going to see the full extent, I think, of what

:56:30. > :56:37.Mercedes are capable of doing. We saw a quickest lap from Rosberg, a

:56:38. > :56:40.good lap, 25.8. We never saw what Hamilton could do, he decided to

:56:41. > :56:42.back off out of it, and Mercedes are playing it slightly differently.

:56:43. > :56:49.Rosberg has been reporting on the radio that he has too much oversteer

:56:50. > :56:54.on the options, the softer tyre. The oversteer start on entry and goes

:56:55. > :56:58.all the way through the corner. He is coming down to do another

:56:59. > :57:02.practice start, on the harder of the two tyres, just sitting at the end

:57:03. > :57:07.of the pit lane, ready to eat to get going. They are using the time in a

:57:08. > :57:10.very different way, not on track activity, it is off-track to some

:57:11. > :57:17.extent, doing starts, making sure the car is totally prepared in the

:57:18. > :57:21.mechanical sense, making sure it is 100% right in the garage, also

:57:22. > :57:25.taking a bit of stress off the mechanics leading into qualifying.

:57:26. > :57:31.Very low revs with these basics turbo-charged engines when they had

:57:32. > :57:37.the start sequence, picking up as he accelerates away. -- V6. So what

:57:38. > :57:42.about the others? We are still expecting a flurry of activity at

:57:43. > :57:48.the end of this session. Daniil Kvyat turned 20 since the last Grand

:57:49. > :57:51.Prix, and we will come out to have a qualifying simulations. He has

:57:52. > :57:58.scored three times this year, finishing in the top ten just one

:57:59. > :58:03.time outside the top ten. Magnussen across the line, he is on the softer

:58:04. > :58:08.tyre, so let's see what the Dane can do. Another impressive rookie, Kvyat

:58:09. > :58:11.and Magnussen, two to watch for the season ahead after their excellent

:58:12. > :58:16.starts, particularly Magnussen with that outstanding beginning in

:58:17. > :58:20.Australia. He has not been able to back that up, qualified for in

:58:21. > :58:26.Australia, went on to finish in second place. -- qualified fourth.

:58:27. > :58:30.Since then it has been harder, but that is what Formula One is about,

:58:31. > :58:34.doing the best you can when the car is working for you, and then

:58:35. > :58:41.fighting on when it is not quite so comfortable. Both McLarens on track

:58:42. > :58:44.at the same time now. He uses a bit of road out of turn nine, not

:58:45. > :58:50.getting the card tucked into the apex as well as some of the others.

:58:51. > :58:53.It is a tricky corner there, and unless you have got really precise

:58:54. > :58:56.front and a stable rear to get the apex, mid-corner and also exit, it

:58:57. > :59:00.is a bit of apex, mid-corner and also exit, it

:59:01. > :59:07.with you. That is not the strength of the McLaren right now. Through

:59:08. > :59:11.turn 13, 14, 15, getting it slowed down, onto the kerb, and the

:59:12. > :59:17.corresponds quite a lot to the kerb, popping over. -- the car

:59:18. > :59:23.responds. He will come across the line, 1:27.8, third for the moment

:59:24. > :59:28.as he uses the softer tyre to improve his lap time. That is a

:59:29. > :59:31.little bit better, as Jenson Button comes up to follow him through to

:59:32. > :59:36.finish as lap as well. That is a little bit better than I expected,

:59:37. > :59:43.to be honest. The gap to the Mercedes is still two seconds, still

:59:44. > :59:48.2.1 seconds, it is huge, actually. So better in terms of position, but

:59:49. > :59:54.not in terms of lap time. Just and a sector that Button found on the

:59:55. > :59:59.second set of tyres. -- just under a second. This will allow some of the

:00:00. > :00:02.top teams do not have to use the option tyre for the first part of

:00:03. > :00:06.qualifying, saving them up for the final part of qualifying, and by

:00:07. > :00:12.keeping a set of tyres available, that should help them in the top ten

:00:13. > :00:15.shoot out. We are watching Alonso, first sector down by a tenth on the

:00:16. > :00:21.fastest that we have seen so far from Lewis Hamilton. How about this

:00:22. > :00:25.second sector? Certainly working with the car, the rear has stepped

:00:26. > :00:29.out a little bit, but he is able to catch it quickly. We know that

:00:30. > :00:33.Fernando Alonso does hustle a car, he has an aggressive style, and I

:00:34. > :00:37.would expect him to drag a pretty good time out of this one. All four

:00:38. > :00:44.wheels off at turn nine, not a particular problem. That is his

:00:45. > :00:49.personal best, but it is still half a second slower in that part of the

:00:50. > :00:52.circuit in comparison to Nico Rosberg from earlier. He does love

:00:53. > :00:57.this circuit, the last time he was out qualified by a team mate was in

:00:58. > :00:58.2004 by John Oates rally, and just as Christian Horner said to us

:00:59. > :01:10.earlier, he seems to be able to drag as Christian Horner said to us

:01:11. > :01:15.something out. -- Jarno Trulli. That puts him ahead of the two McLarens

:01:16. > :01:19.by quite a margin, seven tenths faster than the McLarens but still

:01:20. > :01:25.over a second slower than the Mercedes.

:01:26. > :01:29.TEAM RADIO: Places to find time, exit at seven, eight up the hill,

:01:30. > :01:35.lived earlier for turn nine, tight on the exit. That may have worked,

:01:36. > :01:39.because Magnussen is a fraction quicker than Button, not much to

:01:40. > :01:43.choose between them as we see Daniil Kvyat, riding on board with him. The

:01:44. > :01:50.Toro Rosso comes across the line, that puts him 11 at this stage. He

:01:51. > :01:54.has been struggling with a debt of oversteer, like quite a lot of the

:01:55. > :01:57.runners this time, an impressive start to his season seems to be

:01:58. > :02:02.continuing. The thing is he seems very composed on the radio, getting

:02:03. > :02:07.used to it all. Massa has gone well, but look at Grosjean, quicker than

:02:08. > :02:11.both of the McLarens, fifth fastest. I think we need to keep an eye on

:02:12. > :02:16.Lotus for potentially getting into the top ten, which would be a major

:02:17. > :02:20.bonus for them. Massa a little ahead of the Williams, William is hoping

:02:21. > :02:32.to challenge Ferrari, and with that time that Massa has done, they

:02:33. > :02:36.have... Massa has been setting up for quite a little while, he has

:02:37. > :02:44.been of there at the sharp end of it. Quite an aggressive lap by

:02:45. > :02:49.Felipe Massa, as we have got a replay of Maldonado... Oh dear! A

:02:50. > :02:54.bit of confusion between the two Lotus guys. That is rather

:02:55. > :02:58.unfortunate, Grosjean and Maldonado. Grosjean has been quicker

:02:59. > :03:01.up until this session, currently ninth fastest, but having a much

:03:02. > :03:07.better day in fifth. Rosberg out of the car, I wonder what he is looking

:03:08. > :03:11.at that makes him respond like that, maybe seeing how the Lotus is

:03:12. > :03:14.going. I think that is definitely something that not everyone

:03:15. > :03:18.expected, but they had a good day yesterday, and I think Lotus have a

:03:19. > :03:20.chance of getting into the top ten. I think it will be tough, the lower

:03:21. > :03:23.part of the top ten I think it will be tough, the lower

:03:24. > :03:28.massive battle. We have still got to see what kind of times Raikkonen

:03:29. > :03:31.will be doing, he did not do a quick lap on the medium tyre, but you

:03:32. > :03:37.would expect him to be up there with Alonso, putting him in the mix with

:03:38. > :03:42.Massa as well. I think he is sitting just behind Massa and Grosjean at

:03:43. > :03:49.the moment. He has been a couple of tenths shy Fernando Alonso most of

:03:50. > :03:52.the weekend. Not representative and 14th, that is

:03:53. > :03:55.the weekend. Not representative and interesting thing is Ricciardo's

:03:56. > :04:02.time, I was expecting more from the Red Bull. I think it will be

:04:03. > :04:05.quicker. Vettel said, we thought he was running with more fuel, and fuel

:04:06. > :04:09.weight makes a heck of a difference. Every ten kilograms of

:04:10. > :04:14.fuel is about four tenths of a second, though a big penalty in

:04:15. > :04:19.terms of what you can do in quali. But if you pump it out, you know

:04:20. > :04:24.what you have got. I think Red Bull will save it up for qualifying.

:04:25. > :04:28.Bottas is going on for one more quick lap, what are the Force

:04:29. > :04:33.Indias doing? Perez is 15, Hulkenberg 16, and I think that

:04:34. > :04:36.might be the problem for them, dragging a lap out in qualifying.

:04:37. > :04:41.They are struggling to get the tyres to work over one lap, whereas their

:04:42. > :04:45.race runs were looking better. If they end up qualifying down there,

:04:46. > :04:51.they will be struggling to deliver the performance we have seen from

:04:52. > :04:55.Force India. Oh, into the gravel is Kamui Kobayashi indicator, trying to

:04:56. > :05:01.get back on again, depositing gravel as

:05:02. > :05:04.get back on again, depositing gravel seven, he has gone in a bit steep,

:05:05. > :05:07.it appears, correctly keeping well off the line, braking to make sure

:05:08. > :05:11.the stones come out where off the line, braking to make sure

:05:12. > :05:12.not be driving. But now with the chequered flag having come out, it

:05:13. > :05:19.is the end of the just about kept the car moving

:05:20. > :05:34.enough to be able to drag just about kept the car moving

:05:35. > :05:44.out again. Catalunya is Bianchi may have done a lap. Whether he got a

:05:45. > :05:47.clear lap, I not sure. The loss at Ferrari, Marco Mattiacci.

:05:48. > :05:51.clear lap, I not sure. The loss at sees that Alonso with that third

:05:52. > :05:55.fastest time, reasonably promising, but knows it won't be easy with the

:05:56. > :05:59.likes of Massa close behind. Lotus with resurgence in form. They

:06:00. > :06:03.predicted they would see the real Lotus this weekend. I wonder if we

:06:04. > :06:08.will do when it comes to qualifying. There

:06:09. > :06:16.fourth fastest. Yes, they've done a good job. They have got a few things

:06:17. > :06:19.on the car. It looked as if they are back in the game.

:06:20. > :06:23.on the car. It looked as if they are of races where they didn't have the

:06:24. > :06:27.pure pace we expected, but it looks as if they are back in the game. So

:06:28. > :06:31.in comes the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. He has

:06:32. > :06:35.in comes the Red Bull of Sebastian yesterday. They haven't been looking

:06:36. > :06:39.at outright lap time, they have been trying to catch up on their race

:06:40. > :06:44.running so Vettel in tenth position. I think if you look at it in quick

:06:45. > :06:48.summary then the two Mercedes are a step ahead of everyone else. A big

:06:49. > :06:53.step ahead. Afterwards, you have probably got the Red Bulls, but the

:06:54. > :06:58.Ferrari of Alonso is there and also the two Williams. More on the Massa

:06:59. > :07:02.side of the garage than Valtteri Bottas looking at yesterday and

:07:03. > :07:08.today. I'm not sure about the Lotus performance. I hope that it is going

:07:09. > :07:11.to be able to translate into this afternoon, but that battle as we are

:07:12. > :07:16.seeing at the bottom end of the top ten and the top end of 13th to tenth

:07:17. > :07:20.will be a real fight. That's going to be a scrap. Yeah, it is going to

:07:21. > :07:27.be a scrap. Q2 could be remarkable here today and then, of course, in

:07:28. > :07:29.Q3, we should see Rosberg versus Hamilton fight for

:07:30. > :07:32.Q3, we should see Rosberg versus That will be one of the highlights.

:07:33. > :07:36.Q3, we should see Rosberg versus It will be about those two fighting

:07:37. > :07:39.out for top spots unless some of the others catch up quickly. Rosberg is

:07:40. > :07:45.fastest, but Hamilton keeping his powder dry this morning. Grosjean

:07:46. > :07:50.there in fifth place for Lotus and Magnussen in the McLaren is sixth

:07:51. > :07:56.ahead of Ricciardo and Button. Maldonado, the second Lotus in the

:07:57. > :08:04.top ten. Valtteri Bottas and Vergne next up. Sutil and Gutierrez and Max

:08:05. > :08:07.Chilton, Bianchi and Kobayashi and Ericsson. Everything is preparing

:08:08. > :08:12.for qualifying later on this afternoon and it should be pretty

:08:13. > :08:15.exciting. So a busy session out there as everyone tries to perfect

:08:16. > :08:19.their cars before qualifying. This isn't an easy track to overtake.

:08:20. > :08:26.Pole position can make a difference. It does look like it might be

:08:27. > :08:34.another Mercedes day. Nico Rosberg impressive out there and what about

:08:35. > :08:37.Fernando Alonso, well he loves this circuit and he says that home

:08:38. > :08:41.advantage gives him an edge here, almost worth a couple of places on

:08:42. > :08:46.the grid, but the fans will have to use all their energy 23 if they hope

:08:47. > :08:53.to get that under performing Ferrari over the line first. We are live

:08:54. > :09:00.with qualifying on BBC One, 12. 20. We have a gorgeous Ayrton Senna

:09:01. > :09:06.feature too. Thanks for your company this morning. Bye-bye.