The Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying Formula 1

Hello and, after four fly away races, the Formula One paddock is

firmly parked in Barcelona. Welcome to qualifying from the Circuit de

Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix, and today we will start the

show with a tribute to Ayrton Senna. May the 1st mark the 20th

anniversary of his death, the desperately sad weekend in a mother.

Eddie Jordan returned to the track to reflect on the loss of a friend

and colleague and the weekend that changed Formula One.

The heart of Formula One, a place we love, but also a place with painful

memories. There are days that leaves scars. It began here. Friday

practice, Rubens Barrichello, my driver, had a most appalling

accident at 160 mph. He was unconscious but escaped with nothing

more than a broken nose. That was modern Formula One. Big accident, no

harm done! But the next day, in qualifying, that is when it all

changed. Imola lost control at 190 mph and went straight into a

concrete barrier which took his life. -- Ratzenburger. Saturday

turned agonisingly into Sunday, made her first 1994. One of the worlds

greatest motor racing drivers has died after a crash at the San Reno

Grand Prix... He was 34. He was a hero, the ultimate racing driver,

right up to the moment that he lost his life. It was shocking that it

was him, because it is like the sun falling from the sky. He was like

above everything. The body arrived at the airport in the morning... He

was the pride of his country and is being mourned as such. It was like a

state funeral. You could see what it meant for the whole country. If he

had known how has life would unfold, he wouldn't have changed

anything. I start with four years old in go-kart, and I needed to get

to Formula One. I first came across Ayrton Senna at the beginning of

1982. I offered him a drive in our Formula 3 car. I still have the

sheet from the test day, 54.07, unbelievably fast times. I tried so

hard to sign him for the following year. Sadly that wasn't to happen.

He had won every championship that he entered, and then he moved up to

F3 and he just strolled around the place. Taking the chequered flag,

Ayrton Senna wins for the ten season, and he is naturally

overjoyed... I offered to pay for his career in return for an option.

I was somewhat surprised when he said no. We are talking about

driving in Formula One, I was pretty excited, I knew he was a good

prospect. I won't pretend I knew how good. When it is wet, it equalises

the field, and that was a notoriously terrible car to drive.

The wet is where the talent shows, and the Senate is very talented

indeed. It goes without saying that he can drive well, but it is about

what they can add to that. He had this in aid ability to know what is

going on. He dragged that car up the grid into second. He will

undoubtedly be a world champion of the future. Then he was gone to

Lotus. Now he could compete with the best. This usually totally

unflappable Brazilian is, for once, absolutely beside himself! Soon he

was changing team colours again into the red and white of McLaren. He was

passionate about driving, he derived more pleasure from it than any

driver I knew. He explained that he did it with a slower motion than the

rest of us, he had more time to do every corner with perfection. He was

very, very special behind the wheel, and he wasn't aggressive with the

wheel at all. He just knew how to carry the momentum through the

corner. On board with him through Monaco, things like that, truly

special things to watch. Out of the corner, the engine did

not feel good, so we changed the mixture, a little bit richer, and

you could see that he felt an improvement. I tried even a step

more and it was better. I couldn't change one of these in the lap, and

he was putting it on pole position. This is why he was better than all

of us. The second chicane is kind of bumpy. He was the first guy I met

who wasn't using 100% of his mental capacity to drive the car. There was

this capacity that allowed him to analyse and tell you what he thought

was going on that allowed you to try and make the car better. It really

was something special. He had all these sheets of every lap, he was

going after the race, going through every lap of every tribe. With

McLaren for six years, he was in a dominant period, bearing in mind we

have highly dominant -- talented drivers.

Ayrton Senna was such an icon in our sport, and I certainly felt that. So

much so that I offered him 50% of Jordan Grand Prix free of charge to

come and join me, because I believed, truthfully, that with him

by my side, it would be a much stronger team, more professional,

more successful and much better off financially. He was the partner I

desperately needed. In his early years in Formula 3, I've seen the

ruthlessness in Ayrton. No question he felt he had a God-given right to

win. Win at all costs, a reckless self belief. Alain Prost takes the

lead, he has taken the advantage, Senna is trying to go through on the

inside, and it has happened immediately, this is amazing!

Ayrton has a small problem. He thinks that he can't kill himself,

because he believes in God, and I think it is very dangerous. He was

an animal in the car, fighting, people say he was reckless,

dangerous or whatever. You either commit yourself as a professional

racing driver with a desire to win races, all you come second, third or

fifth. And I have no desire to come third or fifth. I race to win. He

was very intelligent, and inside he was tough. Very emotional Latin, the

emotion in the car is so strong, and then on the other side he was very

philosophical, very quiet, very nice, very gentle. 1992, Spa. Ayrton

risks his life, stops and runs across the track, turning of the

engine to prevent a fire, Eric says it saved his life. The cruel Senna,

the compassionate Ayrton. I saw the compassionate man, the man with a

huge amount of presence when he walked in the door. You know, when

Ayrton walked in, you knew he was there. He was an engaging guy to

talk to. Before qualifying, he used to read a couple of lines from the

Bible. I was reading playboy, I would say, do you want to come over

and read a little bit of Playboy? I must have been reading the wrong

stuff! By 1991, he was the youngest ever three-time world champion, but

then two years without success, he was on the move again, to the now

successful Williams team. Unfortunately, the Williams of that

era wasn't a very good car, and Ayrton's determination and ability

meant he was driving that car harder than it was capable of. Senna has

lasted. He has pushed himself to a mistake. -- lost it.

And so we come back here, Imola. May the 1st 1994.

He was a worried man, certainly, going into that Imola weekend. There

was a lot going on. Roland's accident was something deeply

upsetting. He wasn't so happy, he was talking to the GPDA all the

time, saying that safety has to grow and this and that. He was far more

quiet than normal. You could see he was thinking all the time. I

remember, on Sunday, walking to the drivers' briefing, and he said, next

week we need to talk about improving safety. It is warm, track conditions

are ideal, and no disguising the fact that after two none finishes

today is the day that Ayrton Senna must make his first move in this

1994 world championship. -- non-finishers. Go! And Senna pulls

away... On the flag drops, he is completely focused. I don't think

any of that background stuff contributed to how he drove the car.

Senna, my goodness! What on earth happened there?! I was coming out of

the corner, he was crashing into the wall, and I looked, and I thought,

it is OK. I saw the accident, I knew it was a bad accident, but he will

be OK. We couldn't see very much, it's getting so many conflicting

messages. All I can remember is the noise. I had this feeling that his

soul was going out. To this day, such a loss. Such a waste.

A measure of the man - after the impact here, they found in his car

and Austrian flag. He was going to wave it for Roland Ratzenburger at

the end of the race. He certainly was a genius. But

that's genius died here at Imola on the first weekend of May 1994. Yes,

there are places and dates that leave a scar.

?LINEBREAK It is nice, also, it makes me proud, a little bit, I must

say. He was a Superman, superdedicated to

his family, a super driver and a super friend.

He was definitely up will in the very top bracket of the very top

drivers in the history of modern Formula One.

If not the greatest, then then very arguably one of the greatest.

I will never know, wouldn't it be great to get all these guys

together, and have a big race in heaven, maybe.

All the guys, including Michael Schumacher, Vettel, there was

another layer, and there was just one guy and that was Ayrton Senna.

Such powerful images and thought provoking comments. A wonderful

piece there on Ayrton Senna, and one of them said he was better than the

rest. Eddie, difficult for you to watch that, do you agree? He was

perfect. That was a really nice piece. Very well made. Very

sensitive and I think everyone said how they felt. Gerhard was amazing,

he was one step above. It was a desperately tragic weekend all

round, which you covered there, but losing Rowland as well, who you knew

very well. Rowland came in a different way, he was not the Meg

star that air on the was and every step air on the took it was

calculated. Rowland had been in Japan, he had been a hard-working

professional young driver, Austrian, hugely well liked in the paddock and

amazing, the girls adored him, he was so good looking. Everyone's

dream is to come Formula One if they want to become a racing driving

driver and Roland Ratzenberger was taken the day before. When I

mentioned about the flag in air on the's car, that was the measure of

him but the respect he had for Roland Ratzenberger who was a great

talent and would have gone on to good things I believe. David, Eddie

saying all drivers want to be in Formula One. The impact of Ayrton

Senna's death had an impact on you It is 20 years ago I made my debut

here in Barcelona, the team race with only one car in Monaco which

was the following after it. Mola. Damon went on to win the Spanish

Grand Prix, there was a huge out pouring of emotion that weekend. It

must have been really difficult, and especially for you, I would have

thought. It changed the weekend. It changed Formula One forever in terms

of safety as well. We were all for the right reasons everyone kept

quiet but I remember going within a couple of race, Max Mosley was

dogmatic about it, this is what you will do, to change, higher cockpit,

making sure deflection, what happened with the wheel and tethers

and thing, I think was all positive because it has given him, us the

longevity, you can never be sure in this business but we have had a long

run of non-fatalities in the sport, and a lot of that is the FIA, a lot

is to Max Mosley. As a result of the sad passing of Roland Ratzenberger

and Ayrton Senna, they paid the price. The ultimate price. 20 years

ago of course on May 1st. May I say welcome back, it very nice to have

him back on screen, isn't it. The Eddie. Loads has been going on of

course in Formula One, let us catch up with the news now, with Lee.

Lewis Hamilton has won three out of the four Grand Prix. He is not worry

about the other teams, he says Mercedes is doing everything to win

both Championships We will throw the bathtub. We will keep pushing and

try to improve, and do better, but, yeah, whatever they give we will

give back just as much if not more. We want that competition, we want

people to be pushing and we want to be able to fight peep. Despite his

race wins it is his team-mate Rosberg who sits at the top of the

Championship. He is not ready to hand over that top spot I need to

change the momentum round, he has had the right momentum to him, and

just like last year, it went to and from us, I need to change it round

and bring it bag on my side and get the win. At the end of last season

Fernando Alonso said Sebastian Vettel would be measured when he has

the same car as everyone else and not driving a dominating car. Now,

after four tricky races for German Alonso has been giving his opinion

again. It has not empressed people like he did in the past, you know, I

think this year -- impressed. In the four race, three or four, Ricciardo

was quicker than Sebastian, that was a surprise for everybody and also

for him I guess. Alonso hasn't won a race since this one last season.

Vettel's win was this year but his week hasn't got off to a good start.

Yesterday he only managed four laps before an electrical failure meant

he couldn't run any more. The chassis, we had to change it.

Couldn't go out again, a lost a day but should be fine. Jenson Button's

McLaren better be quicker than in China, there is no way he wants to

finish outside of the top ten. We have up grades, most cars do, but we

never know how much. Last rate was a tough one for us, even without up

grades, it would be quicker because of the lay out of the circuit. We

have hope we make a slight improvement. I don't want to finish

11th again. The trial of Bernie Ecclestone got under way. In the

meantime, it seems that Ecclestone has done a race in Azerbaijan, it is

expected to be on the calendar next season or in 20166789 Azerbaijan,

what do you any? Will it happen? I think it is a race too many,

perhaps, and you know, quick succession of new race, I think we

need to think carefully about Abba January when it comes, financially

fine but I would prefer to be concentrating efforts to get into

New York or somewhere like that which had greater commercial

opportunity, that is my view. Let us wait to see. Christian Horner has

managed to join us. Thank you. We heard in the news there, that Seb is

having a hard time, we know he has had a hard time this season. What

seems to be the trouble? Daniil is handling the car well. Is it

anything the way with Sebastian join drives the car It is character

building. He hasn't had the feel for the car for the way he drives it. It

is not talking the way he wants it. A lot is to do with the engine, the

way it is performing under braking, we have made changes I think are

going to help. Hopefully, despite missing yesterday, hopefully he can

have a strong day. How much of that you mention about braking, how much

is that because of the recoverable part of the energies, you are

harvesting 160 Haass power, is that what is giving the difficulty? That

is what is giving him the seven say, it is not consistent through the

braking zone. He delivers his lap time on the corner, when the car is

not giving him the signals he is used to or wanting, that is

unsettling him. You end up using the tyre more. You said about the

engine, I want to pick that up. How much of a problem to you at Red Bull

is the fact that other teams are not paying their bills at Renault, how

is that affected the development that could be going to you, except

it is costing the team money? Hopefully nothing. We had a meeting

at the beginning of the year. They said rest assure, representative foe

are in this to compete. To challenge Mercedes and to win, and you know,

so we have been assured that you know, other customers not paying

their way won't affect development or performance in in way. Do you

feel as though the changes you were talking about will make a step

towards a step closer to Mercedes this weekend, or are we still going

to have to wait longer? We are still a long way away. Lewis looked

competitive yesterday. He looked as though he has Nico covered. Were

probably three-quarters of a second off their pace. Things can change

round quickly and if we can unleash performance, unleash a bit of

potential from the car as well, and Sebastian gets back in form, then,

yes, we can hopefully take the fight to them. Thank you very much. Let us

look at the Championship there, and see where Sebastian is sitting on

that table. So after four races, coming into the Spanish Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel is in fifth. Mercedes Rosberg heads the table

with Lewis Hamilton fast closing the gap. Four points now the difference.

Fernando Alonso is the best of the rest in third, and Nico Hulkenberg

is a very credible fourth. Red Bull are up to second in the Constructors

Championship with Force India three points behind in third. With four

straight victories Mercedes are definitely the team to beat.

Talks of Mercedes then, do you think they can maintain the momentum, are

they going to dominate all season? Is anyone going to catch them? I

don't want to put out signals but there are very few teams who can

match them. They have a wonderful engine, they have a great team, this

is not just the start of the year, they set their stall out a

year-and-a-half ago, that was started by trying to lure and

convince Lewis Hamilton to come to their team. They were successful,

they are getting the reward for it now We have had a break since China,

two effectively three week, who do you think that will benefitted most?

In real terms the small teams more, because the logistics of getting

from their factories to hear, the big teams are geared up in the same

way as Barcelona, it becomes more cost effective drivering the up

grades you have to these European race, so just the way Formula One

operates, the large teams, it doesn't matter where in the world

they are having the race, you know, you have to physically manufacture

the part and then it a question of how long does it take to fly to it

the race track. We have lots of #u7 dates here. Alan can tell us more.

Barcelona, nay started the European season in a place where teams have

brought all of their up grades, this season is no exception, we start off

with Ferrari, a team that has not been at the top of their game. And

they have been working on front and rear wing assemblies. Now as we come

in here this is a pit-stop for Fernando Alonso in free practise one

where they were changing the wheel. I will stop it and zoom in on the

rear of the car. We can see it is a twin element vertical support, in

Kimi Raikkonen's car they were trying a single element. On the

front wing they were changing between the two to work out what was

best. Because they were looking at this

little slot gap here, on the front inner edge, and they were going

between one and two. Now, those have aerodynamic gains,

it has a penalty of more drag. They are not the fastest on the straits

so we have to wait to see which one they collect. Next time is William,

they have been doing very well this season. They have got some tickles

on the front and rear wing end plate. For them it's a packaging

change, they have managed to redesign the raid away dos which are

Larger, and then package the side pods round them to be neater. That

gives better aerodynamics and this circuit is about aerodynamic

efficiency. Red Bull. There is no question aerodynamically they are

going to be improving every race, for these guys it is at the back of

the car. The engine and engine recovery system, that is where they

have done most of their work. They feel with Renault's support they

have a big improvement for this weekend.

Now, on to Mercedes, the team that is leading the battle. As Lewis

Hamilton said yesterday if they throw their kitchen sink we will

throw the bathtub at them. They will do it slow and gentle. On the front

wing they have a bit of a revision on inner edge, they have got changes

to the bargeboards and gone back more neatly packaged. The biggest

single gain comes from Sauber, a team that struggled at the being of

the year. The car was overweight. The drivers were complaining. One of

their drivers drove in Bahrain without a drinks bottle. This car

they have taken 1 kilograms out of the car overall. They are now at the

position where they are on the weight limit. -- 15 kilograms.

Adrian Sutil, due to his size is 12 kilos overweight. Everybody is

pushing, everybody is developing every race, but it's a moving

target. If you are at the front, you can be more relax. If you are at the

back you have double the ground to make up.

Eddie, everybody is trying to close that gap. Who in your mind hasn't

really maximised their chances of getting this year really going, in

terms of closing the gap? Well we talk about Vettel, we talk about

Alonso, all the established drivers but the ones who have caught my eye

are the younger ones. I love what Perez has done. I long what

Magnussen has done and more especially Ricciardo, he has been

the real Dahling of the Formula One paddock this season so far, and

those who have maximised their opportunities probably Hulkenberg,

he is the one who is sitting up there, he is always there, there

abouts and he justified that label as a potential World Champion. What

about the teams now that are in this effective space race to the end of

the season. Do you feel as though we haven't seen what we felt we would

see from Williams, is that still to come? They may have just missed that

little opportunity, they were so quick in testing, they looked so

good. Very strong, has he lost that little window of opportunity? I hope

not, but maybe they will rue the day they didn't maximise. A few mistakes

in the pit lane which we hope have been ironed out, but they are very

positive in that garage, a different vibe. News bonsai, I love the retro

style, fantastic, love it. -- new sponsor. Force India? I think they

have come of age, much stronger. They have got two outstanding

drivers, the car looks very good, they are taking advantage. Let's be

very clear, they have a hidden advantage with that engine package,

because Mercedes is by far the strongest of the runners at the

moment. I am not sure the level of engine power that they have got,

compared to the main team, but let's assume it is a couple of percent, it

is still very strong. They need to keep the push going, but the likes

of Red Bull and Ferrari will be catching them up. You talked about

Magnussen earlier, absolutely brilliant in Australia, taking

second place, and we all thought, here we go, a rookie, superb, and

then it seems as though he has crashed, what is going on at

McLaren? McLaren have not scored points in the last couple of races,

and after the first race, I thought, wow, they are back with a bang. They

didn't score a podium last year, then a double podium, what was

happening here? I was thinking of the McLaren of old. We have not seen

that in the last couple of races, and I didn't quite like the fact

that Jenson, who wants to go and push on with the potential of being

world champion again, he was critical. He said a brand-new driver

cost the team a tense or something like that, I cannot quite under the

words he used, but he was saying, maybe we would be better off with a

more experienced driver, instead of having to nursemaid, I suppose, and

in real terms I suppose he was saying that he is trying to learn

too quickly. A few drivers with a few problems this weekend, including

Jenson, who has been struggling with downforce, and we talked about

Sebastian Vettel. Tom is in the pit lane, what is the latest add Red

Bull? Yes, Suzi, drivers having problems all week end, but not more

than Sebastian Vettel, who goes into qualifying having completed only 24

laps all weekend, 20 of those in final practice this morning.

Yesterday his running was curtailed by a wiring loom problem after a

problem in the morning, and he never got out again. When he did get out

today, he was trying to condense yesterday's three hours of running

into just one hour, and he was not a happy bunny, complaining of a

balance problem with this car. He has a new front wing, which will

have altered the balance, but a lot of the problem is coming from what

we have got up here, a beautiful sunny day in bars alone. We have

very dark asphalt, so during the middle of the day, the temperatures

ramped up very quickly, and already the track temperature is nearly 20

degrees hotter than it was at the end of practice this morning. A lot

of the teams, all of the teams are going to be chasing the track

conditions this afternoon, and according to Vettel it will be

difficult for everyone to keep their tyres alive for a whole qualifying

lap. When we get to the twisty section at the end of the lap,

expect to see the cars dancing about. Lotus are looking more

competitive, both of their cars in the top ten in practice, although

there have been a few gearbox niggles. Let's hope they get a clear

run to show what their car can do. Certainly loads to look out for this

weekend, particularly in qualifying, Eddie. Lotus, perhaps on the up,

which is good to see, they were fantastic last year. They work, and

I have a sneaking feeling that the way Brenna were talking, and I don't

want to say which deem it is, but there are a lot of question marks

about 18 not paying the bills. -- Renault. You can always stay in

touch with Formula One and all the news if you want to download the

free BBC Sport app. When I think about it, there has

been so much that has happened this year and in the first few races, we

have lost Martin Whitmarsh, Stefano Domenicali, so you know, it is all

change on the management front, isn't it? A lot of teams are under a

lot of pressure, and that is not going to change. Time for Q1, David

and Ben are your commentary team. The circuit of Barcelona, awaiting

the start of qualifying where thousands of pairs of eyes will be

glued to the progress of the number 14 Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, but

it would take a minor miracle for him to beat the Sale East today.

Around five has brought the team is much closer to their factories. --

to beat the Mercedes. This weekend will see the 24th running of the

Spanish Grand Prix on this track, just under three miles long with 16

turns, and abrasive track surface and a sweeping turn three which

transfers so much energy into the tyres. For pole position, the car

needs to be efficient in all areas, power, aerodynamics, handling,

traction and straight-line speed. Over the last three years, three

different constructors have taken the top spot, Red Bull, Williams and

Mercedes. But Lewis Hamilton has never started from pole. Today he

must have another chance to rewrite the record books. It is incredible

to think he had never started from pole here, his team-mates did last

year, Nico Rosberg took pole position but did not manage to

convert it to victory. But a lot of building pressure within that team,

and it is for me fascinating to watch the two men go at it. In the

case of Lewis, of course, as we see Fernando Alonso, Lewis has gone up

against a world champion, going through that pressure of

understanding that his success is your failing, and it is the first

time Nico Rosberg has had a consistently quick car which is

undoubtedly going to take one of them to the world championship. Nico

Rosberg took pole from Lewis Hamilton by a quarter of a second,

but they did not have the race performance we are seeing this year.

Daniel Ricciardo has been the star of qualifying several times this

year, on the front row twice. We have had several wet qualifying

sessions, and today will be only the second time we go into a bone dry

qualifying session. The only other one was in Bahrain, and that was, in

fact, Nico Rosberg's turn to date is only pole position of the year. No

question that Lewis has the reputation for being one of the

quickest guys over a single lap, very much like his hero, Ayrton

Senna. Nico has shown great pace through his career, but not with the

same sort of intensity and spotlight, and that is why this will

be one of the fascinating battles, to see who can take the upper hand.

Sebastian Vettel visualising the lap, it will take a superhuman

effort for him too busy life the sort of pace that Mercedes are

showing this afternoon. Yes, Rosberg and Hamilton were fastest in final

practice this morning, Alonso was third fastest ahead of Massa in the

Williams, Williams looking quite strong. And what out for Lotus, they

have had a difficult start to the season for Romain Grosjean and his

new team-mate, Pastor Maldonado, but much more encouraging this weekend.

Grosjean was fifth fastest, Al DiNardo was in the top ten as well.

Maldonado was the race winner two years ago, so he is fast on the

circuit. Sergio Perez for Force India, their worry is qualifying,

will they be able to get a single lap out of it. At the lower end of

the grid, Marussia versus Caterham, Marussia looking quite strong in

that battle this weekend. Jules Bianchi we were just looking at, we

will have to wait and see whether he will be able to deliver when we get

to the raise funds, or qualifying here today. -- get to the race.

Lewis Hamilton has never been on pole here, but he was fastest in

qualifying only for McLaren not to have a sufficient amount of fuel in

the car for him to be able to keep that pole position spot. He would

have been fastest but has never started from pole position. A very

serious looking young Ferrari fan! So many Ferrari fans here today in

support of Fernando Alonso, and off the back of the third-place finish

in China for Fernando Alonso, do we give them a bit more hope? Fernando

can always bring a special result for his home Grand Prix, and the gap

in terms of outright performance will be a step too far. The level of

dominance through the free practice sessions from Mercedes is much

bigger than we ever saw from Red Bull in their dominant streak. But

that said, Fernando is the ultimate professional, he never gives up, and

with a bit of home support, it is like having a tail wind. Nigel

Mansell used to claim it was worth a second, I doubt it was worth that

much! But if they believe it gives them a boost, psychologically, the

brain controls the body, not the other way around, and it is very

much a mind game. Stunning performances from Alonso here in the

past, that last win for him and Ferrari was at this very track.

Marcus Ericsson is just keeping an eye on what is going to happen as

the beginning of qualifying does get under way. The first car contract is

Esteban Gutierrez under way. The first car contract is

as we have heard, this car is lighter this weekend. They have

managed to save some weight from various areas around the car, and

they are hoping this will allow them to escape Q1. Now, they really have

been in the fight right at the lower end of the grid this year. They have

been fighting with the Marussias and Caterhams, a little faster than

those two teams, but it has been a struggle for them to get out of Q1,

so that has to be their first target. Kobayashi getting ready,

Caterham will struggle very much to get through the first part of

qualifying. They have not been showing a great turn of pace, and

announcements are changes on their technical team, with Mark Smith

leaving the team, and they are setting up a technical committee to

run things at Caterham in the future. Adrian Sutil contract,

Esteban Gutierrez out, so both the Saubers are on track. Both Force

Indias are out as well, but Fernando Alonso, a double race winner of this

track, let's see if he can improve on fourth place on the grid, his

best position so far this year. Maldonado on his way out, that

unique twin-task design on the front end of the Lotus. Now they finally

seem to be getting a bit of performance from it, and there is a

terms of seeing Lotus in the top ten. Plenty to watch out for, Force

India, of course, well up in the championship, ahead of Ferrari in

the constructors table. They sit third in the points. I think this

weekend could prove to be a little more difficult for them. Let's what

Gutierrez, he goes on to the first flying lap, and we can get an

opportunity to look at this track, which is so well-known to drivers

and teams and Formula One fans alike from Grands Prix and the extensive

testing that has been done here in the past. And it is a great track,

it has been on the calendar since the early 1990s, it is a real neck

rancher, especially turn three, as we dropped down into the hairpin. It

is a circuit that you need, mentally, if you get one sequence

wrong, it can put you out of position on other corners. As we go

up the hill into turn nine, qualifying utopia would be to get

that flat, but with lower downforce and the Pirelli tyres that we have,

they are some way short of that. You can see the modification from the

original race track, a much shorter loop, with more run-off in the area.

I don't recall anyone having a big accident there, but then we move

into another sequence of corners which robbed us of two incredibly

fast right-handers, putting us into this little Mickey Mouse section.

This is a good education for what we can expect pace wise from the cars

at Monaco. Anyone who is quick through the last section is a pretty

good indication of drive ability and mechanical grip. Gutierrez is the

first to establish a lap time, 1:29.26, he is on the hard compound.

Let's have a little look at a replay of Adrian Sutil. A finger in the air

as well! A very sophisticated way to hold your steering wheel! What we

will be thinking about is a target lap time, he clipped the kerb as

well. And a crashed from Maldonado! Maldonado has crashed, take on the

front end off, the right front corner. Pastor Maldonado, would you

believe it, when Lotus are finally starting to look like a competitive

team, and he has crashed. Let's try and identify, out of turn three, I

think. He has gone off and hit the wall somewhere, and obviously we

wait for a replay. Is it turn nine of the head? Maybe it is out of

seven and eight. It could be the exit of turn three, it is somewhere

you do not normally see the car. Let's go for the exit of turn three.

Red flag, session stopped - qualifying one comes to an early

halt, a pause rather than a halt, because the session will restart

with 13 and a half minutes still to go. The club has stopped, but out of

qualifying is Pastor Maldonado. Clearly, we are down to one Lotus in

the session, and that is so bitterly disappointing when they have been

showing so much better pace. He completed more laps yesterday than

anybody else just to show how they are in better shape. He got wide as

he came through two. He managed to get through the apex, does he lose

out on the kerb? He has gone beyond the normal position of the track. So

this is the mid of turn two. Overtier there -- oversteer there.

As the car starts to oversteer he runs wide on to the green painted

part of the circuit. He corrects it but he would have been better off

doing a spin. I lost the car. In that situation he corrected into it.

If he had turned the steering away from the direction of travel, he

would have gone round and spun down the circuit. That is a decision you

have to make very quickly, when you in a recovery mode already. That is

an instantaneous decision a drive can take. There is Charles pick, the

development driver for Lotus, but Maldonado who has not covered

himself in glory this year, former race winner round here, pole

position winner as well, back in 2012, that brilliant victory he had

oefr Fernando Alonso, how long ago that seem, this season has not got

any better. -- over. Finally he has a car that seems to be half

competitive and he has chucked it in the wall He is going no further,

disappointment and for the Lotus team, with all the financial rumours

surrounding whether they are paying their Renault bills, and what the

financial state of that team is, the last thing of course you need is

more crash damage. I was getting into the subject of what kind of lap

times we should be looking at. We have a bit of piece and quiet so it

a good time to bring you in, Tom. What have you heard up and down the

pit lane in terms of what the target time should be to get through Q1? I

have been talking to several engineers since the final practise

sex, they reckon you will have to do a 1.28, 1: 28.1. A second quicker

than what we have seen so far: -- session. That looks possible for

certainly the Force Indias and the Saubers looking at the lap time of

the car in P1, because the difference in lap time between the

hard and the medium that we saw, certainly yesterday, was about 1.2

seconds that, was the average lap time difference, it was less than

that this morning but track temperatures are more akin to how

they were during second practise, so we should see that gap between the

two tyres opening up a bit, and which of the front runners will be

able to get through on the hard tyre, well, you got your money on

Mercedes but everyone will have to probably go on the medium tyre.

Thank you. Another quick look at a replay of Maldonado getting it

wrong. It is interesting he corrected it initially and then it

went He ran beyond that Green Line painted on to the circuit, but just

beyond that the point he loses the car, we see him going into turn one.

He has a bit of oversteer here, it's a question of he should have backed

out. It is ease I in hindsight. The dark green is artificial grass. It

is like a plastic grass, and once he has got the rear of the car on to

that, he should have released the throttle. Opened the steering,

instead of trying to fight it. He got his hand into the back of the

left hand side of the steering wheel. Reaching for the clutch. You

have clutch paddle on Riether side and depending on his personal

preference trying to make sure that in the first instance he was keeping

the engine running there is an anti-stall on these engines if it

senses it is going to go a target RPM it will lift the clutch for you

but it doesn't always work at Hague speed. There is a lot to look at

here. He starts to lose it and watch his hand as well. That is him trying

to grab the clutch paddle. What you could hear there, on that audio is

once he went beyond the Green Line, he was on the artificial grass you

here the RPM increase, that is the point it is spinning the rear wheels

and 140mph on the corner, wheel spin is going to lead to major incident.

The previous specification of cars with more downforce and less

horsepower, this is worrying for it is not totally under control at the

moment. Normally they have an additional strap which they pull

back and attach to the recovery vehicle. You can end up getting more

damage if they are overenthusiastic, they are under no pressure to remove

it. They can take their time and move that cars it has been damaged

at the front but the rear of the gash, gearbox hasn't got any damage,

they will check it and you know, they don't want to see it banging up

against the tractor. Coming back to that turn three, it is a corner you

said earlier it was flat out, with the old spec cars but you have more

horsepower, less downforce so they are having to rethink that corner.

They are, but I don't see it as any different from when they race in the

rain. If you go back to the heyday of downforce when it rained they had

less, less grip, the water after reflected the slot gaps, so they

adapted to that, and of course, in dry-running, they may have the nice

memories and in Maldonado's case he won for Williams, so he has nice

memories of driving this circuit, but you have to drive for the

condition, and you know, modern Formula One has a different way of

delivering power now, with the amount of electrical energy that is

recover rabble. They have smaller wings but when you go to Monza you

ran much less downforce and you got on with it. It is a relative thing,

you want to be quicker than your competitor, and what happens those

who are winning don't complain, those who are not winning have a

list of racing driver complaints and excuses. Well, I don't think he had

any excuse, it looked straightforward driver Ron on.

Pastor Maldonado's fault. He was still on the hard tyre there, it

wasn't as if it was going to be his best lap of the day. Maldonado is

south of qualifying. We have lost one, we get into the rest of Q1. 13

minutes to go, and we will lose another five cars during the course

of this next 13 minutes. Now, we no the Caterhams and Marussias will be

struggling to get through. Sauber could be in a bit of danger. Force

Indias were not as quick as they would have liked this morning. It

might why we have seen Hulkenberg and Perez out fairly on, to

determine what the balance of the car is, Fernando Alonso now makes

his first exit in this session for Ferrari.

He sets off down the pit lane, there will be a huge response round the

circuit to Alonso coming out, I am sure. Twice winner on this track,

also a winner of the European Grand Prix at Valencia a couple of years

ago, and another stunning drive when he came from way back down the grid

to take victory, so he just loves to race on home soil, and of course

very much the national hero. So, the Ferrari hoping to have developed a

bit more speed, that promising performance with third place in

China, but yet to qualify in the top three, so far this season. Really,

you would expect it still to be tough, Red Bull have been looking

quicker over one lap than Ferrari. It could be Vettel versus Alonso and

Ricciardo for that matter for a position on the second row of the

grid. Let us ride onboard with Nico Rosberg.

We expect him to be in the battle with Lewis Hamilton for pole

position this year. We will see no oversteer like we saw with

Maldonado. Let us listen through three.

Lifted out early and got on the power and opened that throttle. Not

taking any risk. Getting on the green. A bit of oversteer at the

apex into four. Very wind affected this circuit. We set up on a slight

elevate -- elevation here, not far from the sea, you get gusty winds

which affects the cars, dropping down towards seven, braking with

lateral load on, and as you go through the apex, the circuit rises

up. Nice and tidy so far. Well, a major lift as he turned in, you can

hear the difference in the actual performance, we should remember with

less drag on the cars this year, they are arriving at the corners at

a higher speed, so that has an effect on whether they can carry as

much speed through the apex or not. He is a little quicker than

Hamilton, who is on a lap currently. Rosberg further along and of course

fastest of everybody so far, Hamilton a fraction slower than in

the first sector. Nice and steady, not using too much

of the kerb as he comes out. Will struggle to control the torque as he

runs for the line. 126.7. So he goes fastest for the moment. We are about

a second away from fastest time we saw this morning. We are waiting for

Hamilton to cross line. Hamilton is not going to challenge. That was

Grosjean rejoining the circuitment so she has overshot the braking

point down at ten and bailed out of this particular lap. -- circuit. Ten

minutes to go they may need, probably will need to run the medium

come pond tyre as Tom suggested, it may be that Mercedes can get through

this segment. Surely he will. -- compound tyre. Let us see what

happened to Grosjean. He locks up, has no choice but to

use the escape road. That will have done a bit of damage to that front

left. If he is lucky it won't have a flat spot. With the long straight...

RADIO: momentum brought it back again. That

us was a replay. That is why he backed off in the middle sector of

the last lap. So Lewis Hamilton, that is the mistake that caused him

to back off. He is on a quick lap. Fastest of anybody in the first

sector, a fraction slower than Rosberg in the second. Let us see

what Vettel does, 27.9 for Vettel. Goes second to Rosberg. What about

Hamilton? This could beat Rosberg's time. Out of the last corn her comes

and not quite. Four tenths of a second slower Rosberg was quicker in

the last part of free practise this morning. Has he found a comfort

zone? Let us see how that develops and just a word on someone who is

able to translate gond digeek. Jenson Button on a reasonable lap.

The come par son at the bottom left is to 16th place, because of course,

to get into Q2 you need to be in the top 16. We will lose six gash,

currently in the drop zone we have Sutil and Kobayashi. Grosjean at the

moment, because he has not done a lap. Button who is about to complete

his lap and Maldonado who will be out because he hasn't managed to

complete a lap at all, because he crashed into the wall on exit of

turn three. Button crosses the line, goes tenth.

RADIO: P2 and it is about half a second to P1. That is mainly exit

turn seven and turn 10. And that is the areas that Hamilton being told

where he can maybe pick up some time. Maybe won't worry about it

now, he will be concentrating on getting the ultimate out of car.

Hulkenberg prepares to come out. He is only 13th and Perez is 15th. As

we thought Force India are struggling a bit in

we thought Force India are conditions. Lock up for Kimi

Raikkonen. You can hear the wail of the tyre. Haven't heard that for a

while. Not since Melbourne that I recall hearing the screeching of the

tyre. Raikkonen having a better weekend than the previous races. He

needs it. You know, we need to build to see him have a clean run, to

young where he is relative to Fernando Alonso. That has been a

tale for many of the team, the hard tyre Pirelli have brought. Even

though the track temperature is up to 44 degree, if the cars aren't

generating a lot of downforce, and McLaren are light on that, it might

affect Force India, they struggle to get the tiers to work. They are so

temperature sensitive, the track temperature as we speak is 44

degrees, so certainly, you know, plenty of residual heat in the

Tarmac. It is about how the driver prepares the lap. You can influence

the temperature by brake, you radiate the temperature from within

the brake disk, that goes into the wheel and affects the pressures and

by generating load, surface temperature you can get easily by

spinning up the rear etyres but it is more general difficult to

generate that. The medium tyre, Hamilton is on another lap. He has

gone quickest of anybody else in the first sector, he has gone a little

slower in the middle sectors it may be experimenting a bit. He doesn't

really need to put in a faster lap I would have thought. Just over five

minutes to go and we are getting into the serious bit now of Q1. In

the drop down are the two Marussias, the Caterhams and the Lotus of

Grosjean and Maldonado that doesn't appear on the bra gra -- graphic.

Watching Hulkenberg here, let us see how he gets on, has put in

tremendous performances this year, but will the car give him what he

needs in qualifying here? He is a star performer consistently. One of

the bigger drives, we know some of the other team, Sauber especially

have come here with up grades to reduce the weight of the car, that

should help Sutil. He is another one of the, he is like a whippet but he

is tall, so he has to carry weight more than his team-mate. And Force

India delivering what must be a modest budget in comparison the the

four big teams. Currently fourth in the championship, Nico Hulkenberg.

Nico Hulkenberg was pretty apprehensive coming into this race,

saying that the team has only brought a new floor, everything else

is as he raced in China. When you consider how much some of the other

teams have brought here, he was saying, are we going to be as

competitive? He was certainly nervous, let's see what his lap time

is like. We are into the last part on the softer tyre, this is a

crucial lap for him. Through the last corner, oh, a lot of steering

effort. In the past few years, it has been a simple drive around

there, he goes sixth fastest, 1:28.1. That is around the target

time, but is it going to be enough? That is not going to be comfortable,

I don't think, he would like to see a better time than that. Perez, his

team-mate, is on the cusp, 16th, of what is available from that car.

Just in front of him is Adrian Sutil, who is a lot slower than his

team-mate, complaining of the car being all over the place. He was

this morning as well. Whatever they have brought to light in that

chassis and overall package is not to his liking. Team radio so

unstable, unreal! Perez has a good record at this circuit, he has not

been outqualified by a team mate here, including at McLaren. He is a

little bit slower this time than his team-mate, but he goes 12th quickest

on that. That is a little bit more dangerous territory, 1:28.5. On

board with Daniel Ricciardo, one of the outstanding drivers of the year

so far as he has moved up to Red Bull, what can he deliver today? The

option is just to move up the order slightly, be a little safer. He

struggled for balance this morning, he had a big chunk of oversteer, he

goes Forth, fine for now. Yeah, a good performance, that puts the Red

Bulls through to the next part of qualifying. Looking at who is on the

cusp, Button and Magnussen in 14th and 15th, so expect a bit more from

McLaren. An interesting comment from Hamilton saying, we have made the

car worse, it is a nightmare to drive. Actually, he is not happy

with the balance of his car. Grosjean goes safe with 12th

fastest, 1:28.4. On board with Magnussen, currently 16th, in the

danger zone, but behind in is the Sauber of Sutil on the medium

compound tyre. Red Bull, by the way, have done their time is on the hard

tyre, both Vettel and Ricciardo looked to be safely through to the

next part of qualifying on the hard tyre, putting them in better shape.

If we believe these are worth more than a second, that should move

Magnussen up to the area where Red Bull currently sits. One of the Red

Bulls, Vettel, getting out of the way to allow McLaren a clear run to

turn seven. Interestingly, he shifts down a gear through nine, looking

for a bit more drive and torque from the engine. Of course, all the

drivers and teams are still learning. They did not test in

Barcelona, which is quite rare. Normally it is used for a huge

amount of pre-season testing, but this year they tested at Jerez and

in Bahrain. I think Button pulled over to let Magnussen have a clear

run. If he is having difficulty getting the front is working, having

to slow down for his team-mate, that is not going to help. Is he coming

in? No, Button is in 15th. I presume he will continue past. Magnussen

goes 11th, but Button has now been pushed down to 16th, very much in

the danger zone. He has just started his time to lap. Raikkonen gets away

with that, too deep through one, compromising your line into two. Was

he put off by the Toro Rosso which eventually led him past? He might

have been unsettled by the uncertainty of knowing whether it

would get out of the way. Chequered flag, sorry, I was just going to

say, Magnussen only gained around a seven tenths from the option tyres,

so McLaren not getting much out of them. Button, 24.1 in the first

sector, quicker than his team-mate. Sutil is 16th for the moment, but

Jenson Button has been pushed down. Sutil reporting something wrong with

the car, all over the place. Kobayashi comes across the line for

Caterham, 19th, faster than Max Chilton but slower than Bianchi, who

is back in the pits. Bianchi has outqualified Kobayashi. We await

Chilton and Ericsson to finish off. He has been off a couple of times

this weekend, Max Chilton, but he just held it together. That was Max

Chilton, not Bianchi, as the caption came up with. He is still on a lap,

Magnussen, but we are interested to see Button, who was currently in the

drop zone. He was second quickest on Friday morning, but McLaren really

appear to be struggling. He has done enough, ninth quickest. That button

safe. Kimi Raikkonen is in the danger zone, but I do not think

anyone can threaten him. No, he has gone tends anyway. Grosjean is the

next closest to that area. I do not think anybody else can threaten him.

We have those cars that are eliminated, and although Gutierrez

did get through in 13th position, Adrian Sutil failed. The gap between

them, less than two tenths, and more than two tenths in weight difference

between the two. But the net result is that Sutil is out, Max Chilton

has failed, but he has outqualified his team-mate, and he will be happy

about that. Chilton is the fastest of the Caterham-Marussia Quartet, a

good effort from him. The Caterhams really struggling, I don't know what

happened to Kobayashi, unusual to see him at the bottom of the list.

Ericsson was on pole position here in GP2 last year, and he has ended

up head of his team-mate for the first time this year. Good effort

from him. Somewhat surprised with Kobayashi, I expect he had an issue.

We will find out why. Daniil Kvyat having an issue into the last

sequence of corners. One thing led to another, didn't it? A bit of

inexperience, you make one mistake and do not allow it to frustrate you

into compounding the issue. Now, Vergne delivered a pretty good lap,

and both Toro Rossos have done well, sixth for Kvyat, eight for Vergne,

but Vergne has a ten place penalty because of... They had a wheel come

off yesterday, they have a ten place penalty. The Caterhams and

Morrisseys bowed out, interestingly just a little bit slower than the

GP2 pole time. -- Marussias both out. It is an interesting aspect

this year. Adrian Sutil for Sauber, Max Chilton, fastest of the other

four, he is out, so is Bianchi. TEAM RADIO: I guess we would have

been out, we would have been out, Sutil date 28.5.

All sorts of problems, Jenson Button not sounding very happy, this is the

story of his season post-Australia. Just carrying on from last year,

with the exception of Australia, absolutely right, Suzi, he is not

enjoy his racing, and you can see why. As a world champion, you expect

to be given a car that has a decent chance to have a fight around the

top end of the grid. And at the moment he doesn't have that. Romain

Grosjean left it quite late to go out and do is lap, and is team-mate

Maldonado did not. Lotus are trying to move forward, Eddie, and mistakes

like this will not make them happy. It doesn't help. You need everyone

pulling together, a team effort, and the drivers are just at the sharp

end. Everyone else is behind them, and they all need the drivers to do

their best job. We don't know what was wrong with a car, if someone

broke or it was driver error, but you do need the card to be in there

with a fighting chance. He is now out, he will be at the back of the

grid for the race. He is having a shocker of a season, what do you

make of Maldonado? He did win here with Williams, now with Lotus, not

going well. He has taken a decision, he brought his sponsorship

out of Williams, he had a little bit of a rat last year, and he brought

its two Lotus. Lotus needed the financial support, he brought it

there. It is not obvious to everyone that that is paying off, and on the

other side you have Williams, which really does look much stronger.

Let's have a little look at Lewis Hamilton, he had a moment, unlike

him this year, as Nigel Mansell described as almost perfect, but he

did make a mistake. The kiss of death! Thanks, Nigel! Nigel saying

somebody is on top of his game! Nevertheless, Lewis is on top of his

game, he has won these last races, fighting hard for a championship

lead, he wants to go into Monaco with the championship lead. I am

sure, you know, he will be very hard to beat this weekend. Quite worrying

what he said on team radio, we have made the car worse, that is not what

you want to hear. If you analyse each and every communication between

a driver and a team that we have seen in that session, it is all

about the same thing, the lack of grip, no rear grip. All of the

situations you would expect, but either there is something wrong with

the track for the tyres, and I would not be worried. If I was Lewis, just

calm down a bit, take a deep breath, let's make another run at this. Nico

Rosberg seems very calm, in the battle between the two, but we have

got Q2 first, so back to our commentators, David and Ben.

Sebastian Vettel safely into Q2, he has not made it into Q3 every time

this year, he has missed it on a couple of occasions so far this

season. Let's see whether he can do it. He is incredibly close to

getting into the top ten, the sort of lap times between the likes of a

league game as in fifth place all the way down to the guys in 15th

place is just about half a second or so. -- the likes of Felipe Massa.

Peter Sauber on the left with his development driver Giedo van der

Garde. Monisha Kaltenborn celebrating her birthday today, I am

not sure there will be a huge amount to celebrate. Gutierrez was 13th

fastest, a little bit of a boost for the team, ahead of Magnussen, a

little bit of a surprise. Button ended up ten fastest in that first

session, so it doesn't look as though there is a particularly

strong resurgence from McLaren on this occasion. The session gets

under way, Tom, we saw the lap times that were needed to get through, any

idea what we are looking at to get into the top ten? I have just been

ferreting around, looking at a high 27, I think that is what we will

see. We saw, of course, a lot of the middle group go out on the medium

tyre, so they have had that advantage already. It is a question

of trying to eke out a couple more tenths, let's see how close they get

to a high 27. Esteban Gutierrez, the one remaining Sauber in the field

now, we have lost Adrian Sutil from the line-up. But otherwise, it is

going to be the Toro Rossos the ones to keep an eye on. Kvyat was sixth

fastest in the session, Vergne eight fastest. We know he has a penalty,

but you are allowed to go right through qualifying to get as high as

you can do for the actual grid tomorrow. So Vergne could be one to

keep an eye on as well. Out onto the track, Nico Hulkenberg. He did a

good lap in that last session, seventh fastest, he would have been

pretty happy with that, knowing that qualification might be a weakness.

Kevin Magnussen studying some data. We are not quite in a paperless

office in Formula One, he has an overlay between himself and his

team-mate. Jenson only marginally quicker, but he will be surprised to

see just how much variation there can be in driving style and actually

building the lap time together. So he will be banking the bits where he

knows he is quicker, which inevitably he will be in some areas,

and trying to work out, how do I do that in the other areas? Hulkenberg

plunges down the hill into turn five, and then this next little

section through the little kink at six, then seven and eight climbing

back up the hill once again. A fantastic viewing platform on the

grass bank on the outside, a beautiful day, air temperature 27

degrees, track temperature fairly constant at around the 43 degrees

mark. An absolutely gorgeous day here just outside Barcelona. Tom,

you have got some more for us? The air temperature, something for the

teams to bear in mind in this Q2 session is that the wind has been

picking up steadily over the last three hours, but it is quite a

strong headwind now. Just finding the braking point into turn one is

going to be interesting. Yeah, the wind does affect handling a lot. A

headwind into turn one is desirable, because it increases the

airspeed over the wings for the same level of track speed, so you get the

sensation of having more grip and more downforce. A tailwind is

something altogether more difficult to deal with, so you can really

barrel some speed in to turn one, give you good position for two, and

it becomes a side wind in turn three, which can affect the car

quite difficult. Into four, the tailwind makes it difficult to

control the rear of the car. This is a good looking lap from Nico

Hulkenberg. He looks to be on a new set of the softer tyre, so this will

be a crucial lap for him. Even will be watching closely to see what lap

time he can achieve. Aid head of both the Red Bull drives in the

points. It seems amazing, Hulkenberg ahead of Vettel and Ricciardo as we

come into round five, using a lot of road, but just about OK.

Would have lost a bit of acceleration on to the back

straight. DRS will help neutralise some of that. He gets it tidy, a lot

of patience required. A long right-hander before coming into this

last little chicane. Perez is also on track, behind him.

Let us see how tidy Hulkenberg can be. He is patient, getting on the

power. Through the final turn, of course sets the pace in this Q2

session. Let us see what the initial lap time is. 1: 28.8. That will be

round the target time. It is going to be tight for Force India to get

into the top ten. That is their first attempt. Perez behind, not as

quick on his current lap, so we will see whether he can improve when he

crosses the line, we will see what the lap time is like. Mercedes

beginning to make their presence felt. That is.

beginning to make their presence felt. Going on the a flying lap. As

we still wait for Perez to come round to complete. He is coming

through the last corner now, Sergio Perez as goes into turn one.

Hulkenberg will psychologically be boosted by that. He has gone a bit

quicker, he has been complaining about the rear of the car. They can

do tyre pressure, differential and recovery mode which may help

establish lies, what you have in terms of bar, springs you are locked

in in the parc ferme conditions. Three times in the top ten this

year, , he has been in the points on every occasion, might not have

dedelivered the headline he would have liked but he had a fifth place

this season. Just a bit off Felipe Massa, so he may be, may have been

studying the telemetry of it. He got wide through nine. He tried to get

on the power, had to lift out of it and ran o ran on to the artificial

grass. Lap time looking good. He set a good sector time there. Kimi

Raikkonen has gone fastest of anybody in the first sector of the

lap. Let us continue to watch in this

last part. Mow are the rear tyres holding up? The Williams tends to

eat its rare Thais more than some of the other teams. None of that

squirrelling of the rear as he goes out through 16, so it is holding 17.

The DRS is open. He has gone faster than Perez. What about mast --

Massa, is he going faster than his team-mate? Not much in it. Raikkonen

is the one who is likely to go fastest in a second or so. Let us

see how this compares. Massa goes quicker, a tenth or so quicker than

Valtteri Bottas, the Williams very evenly matched. This is something we

are likely to see, two by two, the car performance is crucial here.

Raikkonen goes fastest, 1: 27.4. Well, that is not going to be

enough, I don't think. You would expect the Ferrari to have a bit

more pace than that. Hamilton son a lap And Rosberg, that

I are trading purple sectors which means they are fastest of all and

using his rally experience to good effect as he drifts the car through.

Fantastic car control. A lovely shot. Might not been the fastest way

but it looks spectacular. Rosberg on a good lap here but Hamilton is

behind him. Hamilton is just a couple of hundredth quicker in the

first sector than Rosberg, they do seem to be trading blows here, let

us see what lap time we can see for Nico Rosberg. He goes fastest 1:

26.0. Hamilton not as quick, he lost 11 than a tenth so it will be almost

the same. He has a bit of traffic ahead. Hopefully that won't affect

his line through this section. 14, 15, into 16. A hint of oversteering.

Nico was tidier there. Cost one hundredth of a second there. He is

two down on his team-mate. Rosberg takes the advantage, there is plenty

of time to go You can see Nico is more come -- comfortable to let the

Carol through that last section. Lewis, he is frustrated in the way

he has to work the wheel. He knows that will cost him some time. So

Alonso will be come round to complete a lap. That was the first

computer lap we have -- complete lap we have seen Lewis do. He aborted

his medium tyre run, so interesting that the first time he does it, he

is slower than Rosberg, who did do a complete lap this morning. Vettel,

important lap for Vettel. Raikkonen is a fraction quicker than Alonso,

Alonso gone fourth and Vettel goes faster than breath Ferrari, that is

the sort of gap evident from yesterday. A half a second gap

between Red Bull and Ferrari. Grosjean. He has split the Ferrari,

now that does show that Lotus are in better shape here. That is a great

lap from Grosjean. The gap between Vettel and the Mercedes as Ricciardo

slots in, a further four tenth, that reduces the gap between Mercedes and

Red Bull down to six tenth, which given they believe the deficit could

have cost them as much as eight tenth of a second they will feel

good with that. Button crosses the line but he is only 12th. He is the

in the drop zone. We are looking to get into the top ten. Perez,

Gutierrez and Kvyat are outside of it and Magnussen yet to set a lap,

so is Vergne. So those are the two we haven't seen a lap time from.

Kevin Magnussen and Jean-Eric Vergne for Toro Rosso. Eric Boullier

keeping a close eye on performance, that is not enough, and Jenson

Button a former pole and race win here in Spain but not when he was

driving for McLaren, that was in his his winning season with brawn, a

team that became Mercedes. The team name has changed but it is one some

of the key personnel have remained the same.

RADIO: Very strange thing We will have a look. Something strike over

braking. It sound as though they haven't got everything working

creditingly. Bear in mind it is more imprevious sieve he has done that

time. Number of changes, in the braking zones for Formula One,

electrical systems to control the brake balance, a much bigger

recoverable energy part of the engine. This doesn't look good. That

is Kevin looking like he is getting out. A technical issue for McLaren.

He without would have been out by now. He has not set a time. It looks

as though he won't have the opportunity. The body language says

it all. He is not going back out. Kevin Magnussen, I wonder if Vergne

is going to go out. We would expect him to do a lap. Where ever Vergne

he is gettings a tenth place penalty. Magnussen will be starting

15th on the grid. Allowing for any other penalties that come along,

that is not what he would have wished for. At Red Bull, let us

listen top Ricciardo. RADIO: We are not going to run

again, we are not running again. That is because they don't need to,

because Ricciardo is third, Vettel is fourth. They are comfortably in

the top ten, with quite a gap over themselves and Raikkonen in fifth

place, the Lotus of Grosjean, the other Ferrari of Alonso, who may not

be quite as safe and secure there. . Looking at the best sectors

between Ricciardo and Vettel, there is half a second between them and

they are nip and tuck in the first and second sectors, so we can safely

assume there is more performance to come from Vettel, but Ricciardo

looking very solid there in third place at moment. Remember how few

laps Vettel has done, he lost all of the Friday running, they had an

electrical problem which required the replacement of the wiring loom

and he only did four laps and that I were four installation laps on

Friday, had to sit out the rest of the day and watched the cars on

circuit for much of the rest of the day to see who he could learn.

Felipe Massa is out on track so he is eighth, is ninth. Both in the top

ten but will they stay there? We picked up radio comment from Jenson

Button. I like the use of termination, he said take a look at

differential. It sound like a bit of Ron speak. The elusive apex.

Let us see whether they can try and correct that and make it easier for

Button to get to where he needs to be.

Jumping out of the car is Vergne. That is interesting, so he is not

going to set a time that, surprised me there. What news have you got

Tom? An update on Kevin Magnussen for you. It is a power unit issue

for him, which has given him an early bath. The team are looking

into the exact cause of the problem, but that is what what that he have

told me. It covers a multitude of season, it could be electrical,

battery, it could be something to do with the turbo, there are so many

parts of testify power unit now, but Felipe Massa. It could just be the

starter battery. It could. Raikkonen keeping out of the way as former

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa continues on in the Willemia,

Hulkenberg has just improved by the way, he is eighth now on a 1: 27.6,

but what a tight group that is from Raikkonen, 1: 27.4. All the way

down, 1: 28.8. A slightly bigger gap to Gutierrez. I think Gutierrez is

the one that is likely to lose out. Might expect Kvyat to go a fraction

faster I think. Might expect Kvyat to go a fraction

Kevin Magnussen taking the walk down the pit lane. A requirement for all

the drivers to be weighed or during qualifying if they go out. That is,

it is embarrassing to walk down past the garages, helmet under your arm,

knowing you want to be out there playing racing driver, but you are

not going to get any of that. Massa improves to -- improves to fourth.

It means Williams have a car able to outqualify Ferrari. That will give

them that boost. Susie wolf who will be here late later. She has been out

on track watching in detail what the drivers are doing here to make sure

he is fully clued up to get out in the car this week. Now, Valtteri

Bottas is also on a lap. He has gone, he has done a personal best in

the first sector, trying to match that time that Felipe Massa has just

done, up into fourth place, needs to be up there, this keep Williams with

a chance of scoring points and maintain his record of scoring

points this year. Massa, a former pole winner and race winner here, I

am sure is getting a few little tips by studying his data this year. Yes

Massa has good speed. Always has had good single lap speed in the race, 2

consistency wasn't as strong as Michael, when he was at Ferrari but

he is is a great benchmark, lovely guy and that does tell us that in

this interteam battle if can match him or beat him it confirms his

speed. That half second could prove to be crucial. It is going to be

very tight in that area. I think Massa will be safe but might have a

few nerve-wracking moments. Grosjean, cross the line goes sixth.

That pushes down to eighth. Perez is in the drop zone with Button. Two

are already out, Magnussen and Vergne. Button goes ninth. He is sup

there are to the moment. Alonso is in a dangerous place in tenth. He

has not improved on that lap. He can't improve, so really is it

Perez, I think the only one and Perez is not on a quick lap. So it

is not going to change, Alonso by the skin of his teeth, just scraping

through there, in tenth place, and Raikkonen a bit quicker in that

session this time, but Alonso has made it through in the top ten, and

we now know that Nico Hulkenberg is out, Perez is out and he has pulled

off, sorry he has, sorry outside his pit box, both Force Indias not quite

as strong as we have seen, they do have good race pace but not in the

top ten. Kvyat, faster than Gutierrez in the end but he is out

and the other two names on that list, the two that didn't set a time

at all, they are Kevin Magnussen and Jean-Eric Vergne. In theory they

would line up new the order of the time they set this morning, which

would give the advantage to Magnussen, and of course he will

have the advantage any way, because Vergne has that ten place penalty,

so Vergne will go from 16th to the very back. Not exactly 26 cars on

the grid but Vergne will go right to the back of the field, and he will

behind Maldonado, although will he? Maldonado didn't even set a time. In

actual fact, although you want to qualify as far up as you can, if you

want to be mid grid, at the back you can avoid any incident that happens

at turn one. We have seen concertina effect, not so much in one but as

they go into two. Well, Saubers both out as we have confirmed. Gutierrez

in 14th position. Not able to really challenge for the top ten, we have

our top ten line up now. Williams did separate the two Red Bulls,

Lotus in the top ten, Romain Grosjean, what a boost that will be.

We have also got Raikkonen, Bottas, Button to look forward to.

Well, interesting second qualifying session, Eddie - Alonso just making

the cut, that is unlike him. Great news for Grosjean, disappointing for

Nico Hulkenberg. I am not so sure, Suzi. I think Force India have a

great race pace. If ever you did not make the top ten, it is sensible to

realise that 11 is the best place, you can make all the changes you

want and have an extra set of tyres. I think they have been

extremely cunning. If they planned it, they plundered brilliantly! 11th

and 12th here with the tyre choice, this is the perfect place for them.

They would not have been much further up the grid. So want to look

out for tomorrow. I think so, very clever. Disappointing for Kevin

Magnussen, a power unit problem, absolutely infuriating. Yeah, it is

always better to come from behind and sort of move your performance

up, and when you start in a place like Australia, so strong, you

finish second, on the podium, and you think, this is all in front of

me, easy PC, go ahead and make sure you maximise on the results, then

heartbreak for him. He will have to do a lot of soul-searching, how am I

going to help the team? But the team has let him down, because the power

unit we were talking about, I am not sure what that means these days, but

for sure he was unable to show what he's capable of, and we know he is a

strong driver. Let's hope we will see more of the good stuff, we can

hear from now. A frustrating way to end your Saturday, what was the

problem? I don't know yet, I will have to go back and find out. It is

something to do with the power unit, I did not have full power. A

shame, because I think the team has made an improvement on the car for

this weekend, and it would have been nice to show the improvement. It did

not happen, so I will have to try and do something tomorrow. Could you

feel the problem in Q1? It was there in Q1 as well. Yeah, a shame. That

is how it is. Well, let's have a little bit of Max

Chilton, he did really well today, qualified in 18th, he will go from

17th with the Vergne moving back on the grid. The art qualified his

team-mate, a big deal for him. -- he out qualified. I must declare my

position, I am a big fan of Max, a lot of people have questioned

whether he should be in Formula One, but he has demonstrated that he

should be. A strong performance today, you must be pleased. Very

happy, it is not easy with the downforce we have got to get a clean

lap together, and I got two really clean laps, and I think it is

showing that our updates, I know it was a small update, but it is

working, and we have pulled away from Caterham. So a strong

qualifying from all of us, but I'm really happy with my lap. An

interesting story, he keeps his chin up, very positive, they are at the

back but they have their own battle going on, doing well this weekend.

He has come through the national system of British Racing Drivers'

Club and I think he is a great example to young drivers. A good

ambassador, time now for Q3. The final shoot out in the top ten,

pole position coming up. The Williams team hope to see both of

their cars moving up onto the grid, Williams team hope to see both of

Felipe Massa went well in that session, Bottas is in there as well.

We gather Jean-Eric Vergne decided not to run at all in that session to

save tyres and put himself in better shape, starting from the back of the

field. He could not have gained a lot by moving up a couple of places,

and he saves themselves a new set of tyres. Good tactics from Toro Rosso,

but the question up front, which of the two Mercedes, that has to be the

question, rather than Will they get beaten, because their margin is too

great - which of them is going to be on pole? It does look like the

momentum, in terms of balance today, is with Nico Rosberg, and a lot of

it is coming in the last sector, that is the difference will stop so

Nico will be sitting quite comfortable, he just needs to

replicate that. Lewis will be studying, can we change on this card

to give me the confidence to let it flow? It is going to be interesting,

Nico has the momentum at the moment. In terms of tyres, Rosberg and

Hamilton still have a couple of sets of the new medium tyres, so they

will get two runs in this final part of qualifying. Grosjean has already

used one extra set, he will be able to use a scrub sets to do his first

run, and then he will have an opportunity on a brand-new set.

Fernando Alonso has two sets available, so he has the edge in

terms of tyre available at the over team-mate Jennie Raikkonen, that

could be important. The middle sector of his last lap was not

strong, it was certainly not his fastest sector of qualifying so far,

but it looks like Raikkonen was more comfortable in that Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel, is he going to be able to come good here this weekend?

Let's sea, the first of the action starting with Nico Rosberg coming

straight out onto the track, not waiting for the track to develop.

Hamilton has just been out of his pit garage, heading down the pit

lane now, so we will get the first comparison between these two. We

have only had one dry qualifying session this year, in Bahrain, and

that was Nico's pole position, the only time he has beaten Lewis

Hamilton. When you have an inter-team battle, it is one thing

going up against a team where you do not know their strategy, but for

Nico and Lewis, they will be sitting there going, what is he thinking of

doing? Is he going straightaway? Oh, he has gone, I want to go. Suddenly

you have information available on one of your competitors. Tomasz.

Fascinating, guys, I have just been peering into the Mercedes garage,

and Lewis was sat with his gloves wresting on his steering wheel,

looking at telemetry. There was no closing of the eyes, visualising the

lap, and I'm guessing it was Nico's telemetry. David, you have been in

this situation several times, you and Mika Hakkinen had three

successive 1-2 start on the grid, you have been in exactly the same

position. That is what I am saying, you know, knowing that your direct

competitor for pole position, the man who stands between you and

victory is your team-mate, you have so much more information on the guy

you are competing against than another driver in another team. That

is a benefit to you but also to him, and the psychological roller-coaster

that you go through when you deliver the lap and you think, that was good

enough, and then your team-mate goes quicker, which happened very often

in my case, you go, oh, right, where did he find that time? You have the

opportunity, looking at an overlay, to see the differences between your

performances, so it gives you a great insight during that qualifying

session. They will be asking things like, what is the other driver

doing? They will not be saying, what is Nico doing, what is Lewis doing?

They emotionally detached the fact that they have known each other

since they were kids and just referred to the other person has a

number. Here we are watching Rosberg, and we have got a problem

for Vettel. Sebastian Vettel, now... Is that a technical issue?

TEAM RADIO: I have no drive, sorry, no drive. Is weekend and his season

goes from bad to worse, the car has come to a complete stop. Red flag,

bad news for both of them, particularly for Rosberg, although

they both have a set of tyres to use. It will not have compromised

them as much as it might have done, but they have put a lot of energy

through those tyres, they have to back off. They are past their best.

Full Sebastian Vettel, it looks like he will end of last of the top ten,

unable to set a time, and it did not take long. The car went down the pit

lane, the first of the two Red Bulls, he started to pull over as he

was going down the pit lane. Very unusual. Whether it was

straightforward, wanting to let his team-mates go, you would not take to

the track. Once you are out on track, it can't be recovered. We

will find out in time, he will not be taking part in any more of this

session. Tom, did you hear any strange noises from the car? Was he

just moving out of the way of Ricciardo? He was moving out of the

way, but I heard the Reds dive. I thought the anti-stall had kicked

in. -- the revs die. I looked up when I heard the engine almost crank

out, and it was Vettel. Interesting, because he managed to get down to

the first couple of corners. Christian Horner joins us from the

pit wall, any information as to what has happened? He lost second gear as

he came out of the pits, we thought it was something electrical, but

unfortunately have to he exit it at the pit lane, he has lost all drive

into turn three. It looks like potentially something mechanical. So

strange, this, you have had such a tough weekend, so many dramas in

testing - you seemed to have sorted all those remarkably well going into

the first few races, but race five, all going wrong. Sometimes it goes

that way, doesn't it? Nothing has gone his way so far this weekend, he

was dialling himself back in nicely. But you know, it will give him

plenty to do tomorrow. Still in there with Daniel, he has done a

super job in Q2. Just quickly, before we get back into the action,

do you think Daniel can apply pressure to the Mercedes? Not unless

they make a mistake. We are about six tenths off. Let's see what

happens in Q3. Sebastian Vettel's car is carried away, up to Ricciardo

now. A good point, if they make a mistake, because the pressure is on

now, they have lost their first run, and now everybody will just

have one run. They have lost a bit of their advantage. As the lap was

unfolding, Rosberg was slightly quicker than Hamilton, and even

though they have not completed the lap because of the red flag, they

will be aware of that. Again, it will take a superhuman effort from

Hamilton to overcome Rosberg, I think, this afternoon. Interesting

looking at the speed trap figures as we are in the Ferrari garage at the

moment, looking at our screens, the speed trap that is - I would not

have expected the two Renault engined cars at the top of the speed

trap, the Toro Rossos of Kvyat and Vergne. A replay of Hamilton, that

was Vettel, he was right in front of Hamilton. I got held up by the Red

Bull there. Sorry, Lewis, I had all kind of lights flashing. I think the

stewards will look at that, but they will look at the evidence

presumably. In fact, Vettel has parked the car in the safest place,

on the right-hand side of the circuit. If somebody has an issue in

turn one, it could have been in a more dangerous place. Lewis's call

was absolutely correct, Sebastian has obviously reacted, not because

they are connected on the radio channel, because they are

super-sensitive to not getting in a way of a car. What that does mean,

what I said earlier, Nico looking quicker again in the opening part of

the lap, at least Lewis has that knowledge that his first sector was

not a clean one. Interesting, looking at our tyre data, it looks,

yes, they have both gone out on the tyres they have already done that

lap on that they were doing, they are still going to get two runs

here, one quick lap on those tyres that were already under load, and

then the new set at the end of the session. Jenson Button, of course,

in the top ten here, unlike team-mate Kevin Magnussen, to move

that car up the field. We know he will not be tense, because Sebastian

Vettel is going to be starting tenth, so now we are battling for

the top nine positions. Fernando Alonso on circuit as well, we

believe he has two said of tyres to use, so we could see something

impressive from Alonso. -- two sets. Kimi Raikkonen has a great

record at this track, a little quicker than him in the last

session, we want to see this kind of seesaw between Alonso and

Raikkonen, something we have not seen much of it so far this year.

Raikkonen kit out qualifying on one occasion, but generally Alonso has

had the edge. -- Raikkonen did outqualify him. We have seen

Raikkonen, when he is comfortable, he is one of the exceptional

drivers, and if he falls out of that zone, he does seem to lose a bit of

performance. That is what really sets people like Alonso apart - they

never seem to have bad performances, irrespective of how good or bad the

car is. They are consistent in what they deliver. Hamilton goes on to

the lap. Rosberg is ahead of him. I wanted to check, Rosberg is slightly

ahead of him. Only about a corner and a half further up the road. So

we will get the first slit times coming up. Rosberg has gone through,

not particularly quick. He had taken more out of the tyre, it is almost

exactly matched by Hamilton to 6 thousandths of a second. Let us see

how the middle sector unfolds. It is very much a lap of three sector,

different demands for the driver, and mentally, I would say that the

first sector gives you the biggest pressure, but a you know you have to

get turn three right, one of the fastest corners in the track. Into

turn ten where we join the car at this point, a lot of pressure on the

braking zones and Hamilton a big quicker, and -- a bit quick e

Rosberg, this is where he has been gaining the advantage, nice and

tidy, about the drive off this corner. A bit of oversteer.

So let us see what the lap time is. He sets initial benchmark 1: 26.5.

Not as quick as the previous Q2. Let us see Hamilton. He goes a bit

quicker. He has the edge, but remember, that was on the used tyre,

but different again and it was in the final sector. That was a tidier

final sector for Lewis Hamilton. Alonso is working the wheel hard. He

comes through and drives for the line. He goes third. Look at the

gap, it is a second between himself and Rosberg. 1.3 to Hamilton. That

is the measure of the gap Mercedes have over Ferrari. What about Red

Bull? We think it will insert itself between Mercedes and Ferrari. Can

Ricciardo deliver on that promise? Yes he can. A fair bit quicker than

the Ferrari annal only a bit off the Mercedes but remember Mercedes

weren't on a brand-new set of tyres. We will see Mercedes take that

target out of reach when they put the new tyres on. Valtteri Bottas

waiting patiently before he emerges from Williams. A nice little

interteam rivalry between Bottas and his team-mate. Kimi Raikkonen, who

won for Ferrari here, in 2008, won for McLaren in 2005. Let us see

whether he can challenge the time Alonso has set.

Former Ferrari driver Massa loving the Williams environment and the way

everything is coming together. He is working with Rob Smedley who he

worked with at Ferrari. Those two drivers Massa and Bottas are getting

on well and the team is beginning to gel. Grosjean is the question mark,

where is he going to put that Lotus. A new set of tyres, will they send

him straight out? Yes, looking for clean track position. They are doing

the same with Hamilton's car. To difference between the two cars.

They started that session with enough fuel to be able to do the pit

lane stop, so they burn another 1.6 or so kilos of fuel on the

completing that single time lap. Alonso with a second set of tyre,

that is his advantage over Raikkonen. He has to do it on one

set. He hasn't got that opportunity to go and do a quick lap and bolt

another set on and do a quicker lap. And that is Alonso's forte,

especially at this track. He grabs the car by the scruff of the neck.

Raikkonen, we will see how he responds to that, but wonderful last

couple of minutes of qualifying coming up. We have the battle for

pole, then the situation behind, it is Red Bull or Ferrari, which

Ferrari is going to merge on top. What about the William, don't

discount them. They could charge Ferrari, so maybe fifth, sixth place

for Williams, you can see there is anxiety, trepidation as they get

ready for the final flying lap of the Barcelona circuit. There we are

watching Kimi Raikkonen. A big amount of oversteer as he comes out.

This is what they enjoy, that single lap, maximum performance, everything

the engine has got. Low fuel, new tyres and you have one lap to either

be the hero you think you are or a zero if you drop the ball somewhere

round the lap. We are watching Kimi Raikkonen, he is on his last flying

lap. The one that counts here, he made a mistake out of the last

corner which might have cost him a fraction, going on to the straight,

although with these engines probably able to recover most of that, down

the length of that straight. Now it is about the corners, and this

twisty infield section, trying to carry as much speed as possible. Not

run too wide. That looked very elegant. Tidy. It is relative to

Mercedes but that puts him in Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull sector. You just

see the confidence growing from Raikkonen. Head and the through

nine. He looks happier with the car here than on several occasion. Again

that lock up, you couldn't see it but hear it. And he tends to lock

it. The camera was too tight on the cockpit for us to be able the see

it. Let us see, Hamilton has gone purple in the first sector. Two

tenths quicker than Rosberg. Hamilton is on a flyer. It looks as

though Rosberg might be in trouble, because that is a very impressive

first sector from Hamilton. So we watch Raikkonen come out of the last

turn. Where will this put Kimi Raikkonen? Alonso has another lap to

do. Raikkonen goes quicker than Alonso, but Alonso is about to

start, well, he is on a quick lap. But Rosberg, here we go, he sup on

the overall times of course, he will go fastest on this but Hamilton is

quicker again in the middle sector, it is heading the way of Hamilton

again, and I don't think that Rosberg is going to be able to

deliver enough in this final sector, to challenge Hamilton. Let us just

watch. Just hits the kerb a bit He realises the pressure is on, this

lap that Hamilton is on, unless he makes a mistake he has done an

amazing performance. Rosberg goes faster but where is Hamilton? Here

he comes out of the last corner. It is Hamilton who takes pole position

from his team-mate, by 0.168 of a second. His first ever pole position