The Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1

Previously on Formula One: Look at him go! What was that?! The

difference in speed! Who said this was taxi driving! This is Formula

One. Race five: Spain. The wheels turn, and we are in

Europe, in a corner where anarchy ruled - I kid you not! Barcelona was

once a hotbed of anarchy, a serious political force, braking down the

established order. The old and narco syndicalists, --

authority? We spit on authority! Smashing up the old order. It is a

1-2 for Mercedes. Whereas now, he who was king and he was not obeying

orders now... Tough luck! Right on, Seb! Down with authority. And those

who have taken over, what has happened to, oh, let's race and have

some fun? Amazing racing between the team-mates! Power corrupts. And

those who snarl at the heels of the new masters, Mercedes, what is their

line? Yeah, big boys, we will bring your house down. Look at the

difference in speed! Direct action, anarchy, don't you just love it?! My

little homage to Catalonia. Welcome to Formula One.

Welcome indeed to all new Formula One, new hybrid powertrains and a

new balance of power. Of course, Eddie Jordan is back with us,

thumbing his nose at authority, as ever. What are you making of the new

face of the sport? I actually quite like it! For once, I can almost hear

people speaking. There has been criticism about the noise, but I

quite like it, we get used to it, as long as the racing is up to the

level we saw in Bahrain. David, this is the race where everyone says you

get to see the performance of the cars and the direction they are

going in for the rest of the season, how much do you buy into that?

Historically this has been the proving ground where they did the

testing, but that has changed now, because they did it in Jerez and in

Bahrain before the season started. A lot of high-speed corners here, an

indication of straight-line speed and aerodynamic downforce. Great

conditions for racing today, and aerodynamic downforce. Great

Fernando Alonso won last year, and already the fans were treated to

this little display by the Spaniard, really lovely to see. Years probably

following what happened last year, he did the same thing, and he won

the race. Why change the habits of a lifetime if they bring you that kind

of success? The fans getting a lot from that, but the driver as well,

it builds you up? It can't do is ego any harm at all to hear everyone

screaming his name, he has not been hearing it from anyone screaming his

name after winning Grands Prix! But he is a proud Spaniard, back in the

country, enjoying the support of the local crowd. Lovely, giving that

child his cap, fantastic scenes, and that crowd will be hoping for

exactly the same thing all over again.

This is race five, the Spanish Grand Prix...

Going into this one, just four points separate the Silver Arrows

boys, and despite three consecutive wins for Hamilton, Rosberg is still

clinging onto the top spot. Terrific campaign from Nico Hulkenberg,

followed by the Red Bull players. Red Bull have a lot of work to do to

win the constructors' championship, they are 97 points down on the

dominant force that is Mercedes. And they did fare very well in

qualifying yesterday, which wasn't really a surprise. However, it was

very eventful, here is Tom Clarkson.

Qualifying started with a bang when Pastor Maldonado crashed on his

first flying lap. The win a few plants two years ago for Williams,

the Venezuelan will now start from the back of the grid. -- the winner

here. Romain Grosjean puts together his best performance in qualifying

this year to line up fifth head of the Ferraris. Luca di Montezemolo

paid a visit on Friday to rally his troops, but it was not enough to

inspire local hero Fernando Alonso, who starts seventh, and Kimi

Raikkonen is sixth. Sebastian Vettel's luck continues to desert

him, he failed to complete a lap in Q3 after a gearbox problem, and a

replacement means he gets a five place penalty, starting from 15. No

such problems at Mercedes, whose drivers treated us to a sensational

prize for pole position. Lewis Hamilton pipped his team-mate Nico

Rosberg by just over a tenth of a second to take his fourth pole of

the year. Yesterday was so positive, today was really strong.

Even in the final seconds, I was struggling so much with the car, so

to be able to get that lap and be a Nico still, I was ecstatic. So

Mercedes maintain their 100% pole position record, locking out the

front row. Daniel Ricciardo is best of the rest in third, with Valtteri

Bottas and impressive fourth for Williams. Grosjean leads the

Ferraris, Raikkonen ahead of Alonso for the first time this year. Jenson

Button is eighth in the lead McLaren. Felipe Massa starts ninth,

Hulkenberg rounding up the top ten. Errors and Magnussen followed

behind. -- Jerez. Vettel is 15th after the grid penalty, Max Chilton

is the lead Marussia driver in 17. Then the Caterhams, Jean-Eric Vergne

and Maldonado are at the back of the grid, Vergne paying the price for a

loose wheel during practice and a ten place penalty.

Mercedes are incredible form, we are joined by Toto Wolff, the big boss,

the emphasis on big! This is just what you wanted going into this

season, round five, all going so well, seems as though Mercedes is

bringing out the best of both of the drivers, how important is that

rivalry in terms of moving forward? The rivalry is beneficial for the

team, because yesterday's qualifying was a good example, how they have

been pushing each other. Nico had a bit of an edge, you have some good

data, and finally it was Lewis, and I guess that is the positive aspect

of the rivalry. Just continuing on that, how are you going to manage

and control situations like in Bahrain? Will you interfere? You

know, both of them have known each other for a long time, and they have

had this situation in karting, where they raised each other in the same

team for the championship. They are intelligent enough, and a smart and

shrewd enough to manage the situation. You cannot come back

after every single race and say, remember not to run each other off.

They don't need a lot of management. You have been a racer, an

entrepreneur, you are now the boss of motorsport. Where is your

emotion? You have been a racer, an entrepreneur, now you are the boss,

when the race starts, where are your emotions? That is the most critical

part, because both of them know the one who has the edge in lap one, he

has a great chance of winning the Grand Prix. I guess Corner number

one, than the back straight is going to be the place where we are hoping

for. As we speak to you now, where is your head? What are you thinking

about? Win! Now? We are prepared, we have had all the discussions that

you need to have, we had a strategy meeting this morning, where we were

sitting together with the drivers and the engineers. We went through

every possible scenario, but it is all academic once the lights go

off, it is racing, it can be all different. Thank you very much for

your time. An interesting qualifying session yesterday, Mercedes aside,

going through the next three drivers, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri

Bottas, Romain Grosjean, how spectacular was he yesterday? A big

turnout for the books, I very impressed. We need lots of spice, we

need to mix it up. We need to see the new guys, what can they do? Not

such a great day for McLaren, just a few minutes ago Jenson Button coming

into his garage, he doesn't seem to know what to do at the moment. What

is going through his mind right now? I saw the statistics, their

performance behind Mercedes in the first sector alone, and that

involves a lot of straights. You went to find out what is happening

at McLaren. McLaren, a team steeped in history,

a name that conjures images of winning again and again.

You expect to be winning every year you race with McLaren. It is the

most prestigious team in Formula One. But something has gone wrong,

it has been over five years since they won a drivers' championship,

and even more worryingly, the last time they won the constructors, I

was driving for the team. The last season was one of their worst ever.

They didn't even have a podium. Heads have to roll. First, Martin

Whitmarsh paid the price for failure, and arguably so did Sergio

Perez. To revitalise the team, Mr McLaren himself, Ron Dennis, has

returned to the front line after five years away. His goal, very

simple - return McLaren to the top. But is it working? I don't know

where we stand, in the first race we were quick and then a long way off

the pace. Very poor rear grip! We need some upgrades. We are P12.

We are not very quick at the moment. DRS is not working.

It is pretty painful. We don't have enough downforce, that

is our major weakness this year. One of Ron's first move was to bring

Eric Boullier to the team, but what does he bring to McLaren? You we

will see in a few months! It takes time to change, like a supertanker

you have to steer a different way. I know that working for Ron Dennis can

be a real challenge. He is tough and nice. We have spoken over the last

few months, more than in the last three years. Ron lives and breathes

through McLaren. You can only admire what he built. It means a lot when

you see someone who was achieved what he is achieved in sport with

this team, walking into the garage, walking over you, telling you where

the team is going, what he wants from the team, and how hard is going

to work to get there. A lot of pressure, but positive pressure to

deliver and do it in a constructive way, let's say, a long-term way.

Since losing star driver Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes, they have bet

on young talent, but is the lack of experience costing them? With Lewis,

it was a good relationship, we worked together and develop the

car, in different directions. One would work, you would end up going

the other way, joining the other car. But that is what you want in a

team, two experienced guys moving forward. It is more difficult when

you have a driver that is not experienced, a new drive in the

team. Last year we had Checo for one year, now Kevin is in the team, so

it does make it more difficult, I'm not going to lie about that! Cefn is

inexperienced. He is learning quickly, but there is still two

tempts there through was not having as much information or experience as

we should have as a team. -- tenths. It looks this car is too far away to

compete for the World Championships. So anything other than victory is

failure in Ron Dennis's words. This is not an overnight thing. We won't

be suddenly finding a Mercedes this weekend. We are looking for progress

and that is Saul we can hope for. Well, fascinating thoughts. Jensen

is behind us live in the car. Two things boys, Eddie, he talked openly

about almost missing Lewis, or the experience of a Lewis, there is not

many round, if Lewis was still in that team, do you, how much

difference do you think would mean? I don't think it would make a lot.

McLaren are in a very difficult space at the moment. We talk about

inexperienced drive, we talked about various other things McLaren have a

problem, where he is talking about the pain. Painful situation, and

lack of downforce, these are not words you would normally associate

with McLaren. They have a lot of soul searching. You hit the nail on

the head David. What do you think has changed, looking in from the

outside? If you look, they gave Lewis Hamilton a World Championship

winning car. It is the issues of reliability that have cost them

dearly, the liability is a direct factor. The general point about not

having a more experienced driver, the problem it, he is not giving a

vision of where he thinks the car needs to go, or how it compares to

the car of the past. That is why he feels somewhat alone. We will have

to see how it unfolds. Tom sat the end of testify pit lane with the

latest. What have you got? O Good news for everybody who had technical

problems, all of their problems have been solved. Kevin Magnussen had a

power unit problem. It is noisy here. The run the first corner here,

730 metres. It is the longest of year, there is a lot that can be won

and lost on that first run to the corner, that is reason why Pastor

Maldonado who shunted his car is going to start from the grid. He is

hoping he can pass both Marussias and Caterhams before he gets to turn

one. Thanks Tom. Talking of Daniel

Ricciardo, he is the driver that has been sprinkled in stardust,

outshining Sebastian Vettel, his team-mate. We caught up with him.

Once again an astonishing effort by Daniel Ricciardo. He is on a roll.

He is driving very wellful He has a good technical feeling for the car.

-- well. Look how much quicker he has been going than Vettel. It is

nice. I am sure it is feel filling him with confidence. I want to be

part of it. Unbelievable. A lot of people have been surprised

with how well that you have performed against Sebastian, but

generally, have you surprised yourself at all or did you always

have the knowledge and expectation? I definitely, you know, have you

know a lot of belief and confidence in myself, and I knew that this

year, yes, it would be, my biggest challenge yet, particularly up

against Seb. At the same time I knew how good if guys are round me, and I

knew if I could get comfortable with that environment I would deliver

some good results. Deep down I knew it was in me and it is nice to have

shown it, and now it is just to keep on doing it and not get complacent.

People seem to forget, when you arrived in Formula One, you are used

to getting pole positions and winning races in the junior formula,

it must be nice to be at the front again, that is what got you into

Formula One to begin with. Yes, it is a feeling I missed. If there is

any lack of hunger it brings it back in a heartbeat. It is why I race,

you know, race for the success, and I love winning, I am sure like a lot

of us, but right now, I am 100% the most hungry I have been. Daniel

Ricciardo is prove OK a true superstar. How are you dealing with

the pressures of being in the press and being recognised and you know,

you status has gone up. Yes, it is going up a bit! I don't know, I

probably just look at my Twitter followers and OK, it is going up. It

is nice, and I guess it comes with the territory, being with the World

Championship team, and you naturally get more TV team being at the front

of the grid and being in battles and that, so, it is cool, it's cool. I

don't, I don't really see any of it as a pressure, it is what I want. It

is definitely what I want. Now I have a taste of it I want more. What

has pleased you most about your performance most so far this season?

It is things I knew I had them in me, it was nice to prove it to

myself, the start, the first lap, they are so critical, if you get off

the line well, it can set up the race for you, and, we came out in

Melbourne and Malaysia, the first two, where I was making a move in

the first turn or second turn, and, you know, it is probably a point

where a lot of guy, are wow, in kid is not afraid, whatever, I knew I

wasn't afraid but it is mice to know you do have what it takes to be up

there and you belong here. It is that sense of belonging which is

nice. Every journalists asks you about measures yourself against

Sebastian, but in fact, especially in qualifying you have been

outperforming him, do you have to change your expectations as the year

goes on? For me it is just important to not get caught up in the inteam

battle. No, the way I see it, is yes, the last couple of races I

finished ahead of Seb but I won't be jumping up and down because I beat

him and we are still coming fourth. I want to make sure that each

session I do, each qualifying, each race, personally I am get everything

I can out of it, and I think by then, if I get to that point, and I

am giving myself a ten out of ten every session I drive, think we will

get to the place where I need to be and want to be. I hope you get some

champagne this weekend. It would be nice. Cheers.

Thanks. Certainly looks very relaxed. He

always does. That is the Red Bull garage. The VIP guests looking on,

hoping that they can close that gap to the Mercedes. What a measures

young man he seems to be. Very structured, very simple, in terms of

his view, what he wants to get an he is not complicated. He is not phased

by what is round him, and he is not fazed by the four times World

Champion. We have seen his performance, remarkable and a joy to

watch by the way. A lot of that is down to his character, how much do

you put down to the fact the pressure is more on Sebastian nan

Daniel? They are different forms of pressure, you can never quantify

which is the worst one to have, because some people actually thrive

on pressure, and I think the situation with Ricciardo is that he,

he looks as if this is what he want, he has just said that, and there is

nothing in the world he wants more than what he is currently do, I

don't see that as being pressure. Y there is pressure on Sebastian

because the season has not started like he would like it to have, and

they have got a massive uphill battle the try and compete against

Mercedes, but they knew that this time last year that Mercedes would

be strong this year. Shots of Bernie Ecclestone who is busy but is here.

He had a meeting with the promoters yesterday, apparently about the

noise situation, which everybody else seems to be perfectly OK with.

Well, I any he is concerned. He thought -- I think. Motor racing for

so many years, the noise was a major factor and it was for me, but as

years go on and I am getting more and more deaf I am really pleased to

hear the sounds of car, they are still excite exciting. The racing is

the same. In some areas it is better. We saw that tight battle in

Bahrain. I am more interested to see the racing as the spectacle and the

noise less so, but it is still very noisy here as we saw a few seconds

ago, I don't think it a big issue. Surely the promoters should be

talking about the phenomenal technology, that is in those cars

that we are going to see. There is a third less fuel and hardly any

seconds. That is incredible. That is the measure. The FIA are

calculating, and, yes, there are probably upsetting some people, you

know, the old traditionalist, the noise the fact, the 16 cylinder,

which would knock your ears out, at a moment's notice, you can't clearly

have that, there is things like safety, there is the health and

safety we know what is going on these days, and they are from for a

good reason, that is to prolong our wellbeing as long as they can, if

that is what is required we have to move with the times. We We have been

looking at pictures there, of Sebastian Vettel, yesterday

Christian talking about his driving style and the fact that he has been

trying to make the car fit to his driving style. Now he has to drive

round the problems himself. I just don't buy that at all. That is

nonsense. I think that a nice little reason as to try and find out what

is happening, between Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, why

is Ricciardo suddenly quicker? I don't buy the fact that it is a

driving style. If he was that good, four times World Champion, are you

joking me, Susie, there is not a chance, he should be able to drive

round that with his eyes shut. On the way to grid apparently.

Sebastian said there is something wrong with the car, something keeps

lob, it is not getting better, the inside front keeps locking Yes, if

that is the case that is a worry, I am just, you know, he will have to

monitor that as he goes along, these things do happen. They don't have a

morning warm up, so he has had to find way, as he was doing his

exploratory laps, but they, the mechanics will find that, it is

either dust in the brake disks, something locking or touching, I am

sure he will get it, because there have a lot of adjustment in the car

as they go along, he will sort that out. Yes, he certainly will. If you

are joining us at Formula One for the first time, you may not know

that Sebastian had technical problems all weekend. No drive

yesterday during qualifying, problems on Friday, didn't get to go

and go out on the track at all Eddie, so he really is behind the

field here. But he knows this place, it is not ass if it is his first

time in Formula One he has that problems before, he is a

professional. World Champion time and time again, he is the man who

really can sort this out, and foolhardy to write him off. He could

turn round here, he won't win the race but at the same time he could

make a big performance. Still a man to fear for the rest of the season.

For sure. So David is on the grid for u let us see who he has got hold

on. I am down here behind Sebastian's car and if the weekend

couldn't get worse, he has gone running off the grid to find his

race engineer, who is not here, he was complain of locking on the way

to the grid. I might see if I can get a line from Christian Horner. We

heard Sebastian complaining of locking, have you got any update on

that, he has gone off to see his engineer? I think it is a software

issue so changing a few settings. Just to get it how he wants. We are

going the get run over by Alonso. Is that control, alt, delete. Fernando

Alonso making his way to the grid; Sebastian's race engineer, he would

normally be here, you can see him knocking over an electrical box, he

would be ahead of the car arriving at grid, but that software issue has

clearly got them in a bit of bother. Ian,

clearly got them in a bit of bother. the drink system to the car, as well

narks is going in there, at the last moment, because the cockpit gets up

to 50 degrees, you can see this Natty low pressure nard Sven or

animal print seat cover he has going for this weekend. Any way -- leopard

print. Mag Marx in good shape in terms of the amount of tyres he has

available. But not in terms of his position on on the grid. We have

Daniil Kvyat. He has not arrived at the grid as yet. So hope from is not

an issue there. There is a man we saw, we saw earlier on the weekend.

Joseph, we saw a very nice part of your feature on the Senna feature we

had yesterday in the show, so emotional memories 20 years on. The

The memories are incredible. So many questions after 20 year, as you

know, you, it is incredible. For me, it is more or less, I am happy,

being part of this team on the other side we are sad that he is not there

any more. It's a great feeling that everybody is talking about how

important this man was. Absolutely. Have a good lock with your man you

are looking after this afternoon, he is working for the Sauber team.

Sergio Perez. Both guys, I think we have to look out for. Perez is just

starting to talk a walk off the grid. Let us see if Nico has done

likewise, both have two sets of tyres available of the option. Two

stops this afternoon should be the quickest way round this Grand Prix,

but giving the pretty close tie up with three stops as well, so they

have got full choice this afternoon in what they are able to do. Felipe

Massa, feeling he is some way out of position, we saw the performance of

his team-mate Valtteri Bottas. So look out for him, as Tom mentions,

long run down to the first corner, so certainly a good opportunity for

him to convert that. We can see the meeting of great minds here with

McLaren. I don't know whether we will be able to get a word with Ron.

Sorry to interrupt but last my opinion briefing? We were talking

about the ammient temperature and how it will affect the tyres. What

are your expectations this weekend? Not where you expect McLaren to be,

but this is all about converting points this afternoon. Obviously,

today is just about points, but as much as the grid positions do not

reflect it, we are going forward, we have direction now, so wait and see.

A few more races, it takes time to turn things around. Thank you for

your time. Wright, let's see if we can get a word with their driver...

We will wander down the middle of the grid, that is Fernando Alonso's

car. Romain Grosjean, great qualifying. Lotus have a very

troubled start to the season, but great comeback from that. The young

Finn, Valtteri Bottas, fantastic qualifying. Let's see we can get a

word with him. He is just talking to Canal Plus, but we will hang in if

we may. He is a very composed young man, you can see his confidence

growing from the back end of last year, that twinge of a smile on the

corner of his face as he is realising he's doing a good job.

Felipe Massa is a great team-mate for him. We know you are very happy

at the qualifying yesterday, in a good position, good straight-line

speed, long run to the first corner, have you got a plan, just keep to

the inside or go for it? Not really, difficult to plan. You just need to

see where is the gap. Of course, you may be watched some videos from

years before, what is the trend, what is going to happen in turn one,

what line is the best, but in the end you have to react. What is

trending from the past? Then we can make that trend on Twitter! What is

going to happen? I think it is important to get good position for

turn three, not to get blocked. If you too wide in turn one, it is easy

to go straight from turn two. I would rather the inside for turn one

and turn three. Good luck with that. If we go across the grid, we

came past someone he needs to look out for on the run down to the first

corner, Romain Grosjean. I am impressed how he has kept his head

through the difficulties of preseason, just about to take his

seat. I will see of Romain has got one word for us. I know you are

looking very relaxed, if I can interrupt your concentration, great

qualifying, really impressed with how you kept your head through a

difficult start to the season, what are your realistic expectations I

don't know, yeah, yesterday was a good day, it is good that we are all

back where we like to be. Hopefully, race pace will be good and it would

be nice to stay more or less where we are. What you think the majority

of the strategy will be, two or three? It will be between two or

three depending on tyre wear and graining. What do you think the

majority will do? Honestly, I think it will really depend on training,

June to the rain last night. Best of luck. -- it will depend on graining,

due to the rain last night. I am not sure if Daniel Ricciardo is still

there, I noticed Alain Prost, by the row when I was a young boy, was on

the grid. We can see Daniel's car. I have just walked past Adrian Newey,

who is about to have a word with Bernie Ecclestone. They are

discussing the script for this afternoon! I will not interrupt that

conversation! If we wait a moment, Bernie looking

very fresh. We will just give them a moment, get a quick line, an update

on Sebastian's car. Let me just see, Adrian, just one line, we heard

there were some software issues with Seb, any updates? Yeah, no, we have

been rebuilding the car from last night with the gearbox problem, and

there is a minor problem that cropped up, but it is all OK now.

This is all about trying to maintain position until you get the horse

power sorted out, trying to get third place. Sorry, I couldn't quite

hear you, too many years in motor racing, it is the generators, not

the cars, that make the noise! The question for Daniel, he will try to

get a clean start, very difficult to overtake here, so if he can maintain

position, go from there. Good luck with that. Let's make our way

finally to the front of the grid, and we have Nico Rosberg, of

course, the pole man last year, an amazing qualifying run yesterday,

Lewis Hamilton seemingly pulling it all out at the end, getting that

pole position. As we get to the end of this, I'm going to take a quick

walk with Niki Lauda, if I may, any final instructions to your drivers?

I know what you used to tell the young drivers, but you can't say it

on the BBC! Do whatever you want! But don't crash into each other!

There is no restriction, I know that Nico wants to win the race so I wish

them both good luck. More nervous than when you use to race? Go I

can't interfere! As you know, when you raise, you can do something. It

will be an interesting race. We look forward to seeing it, best of luck.

I will hand back to Suzi and Eddie and had up to the commentary box.

A perfect way to end that, talking to Niki Lauda, who always says it as

it is. Isn't it magnificent they are letting those boys race? If not, we

would have a different championship. Well, I think, you know, a lot of us

all the Hand-Niki Lauda programme, that was exciting, and racing is in

his soul, he does not want to stage manage something. Niki Lauda is a

real racing driver and it is in his blood, and he will be very strong

about them not making any change. We can catch up with Sergio Perez.

Well, Checo, a trickier day yesterday than you expected, how

will the car be working today? I think we are going to be in better

shape than yesterday, so definitely we should be aiming for good

points. Thank you, well done. OK, let's have a good look at the track

as we compare the two fastest laps yesterday from Lewis and Nico.

The qualifying lap in Barcelona 2014, Lewis Hamilton has already

started the preparation for 14-15, flat out, but as we start the

Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, pole position last year was taken by

Nico Rosberg on the right, but as they enter turn one, Lewis is

already a quarter of a car length ahead. That preparation at the end

of the previous lap has stolen a march before they have gone round

the first corner. Nip and tuck through two and three, building

speed, 140, 100 P8. Both drivers making adjustments to the steering

wheel, different setups. -- 140, 150 mph. Down into turn four, both on

the same line, Lewis with a bit more steering lock at the apex. Oversteer

on the exit, a small block of for Lewis down into turn five, on a much

wider line, but thankfully it is a very open apex. -- a small lock-up.

Working the wheel, both drivers, oversteer on exit. On the rise up to

nine, he has increased his lead to almost a car length. Sizeable lived

through nine compared to previous years, less downforce in the car. --

sizeable lift. Lewis Hamilton is still maintaining that lead through

turn 12. Both drivers nice and tidy, they only have the last part, the

Monte Carlo part of the Barcelona circuit, to complete. Nico Rosberg

has traditionally have the advantage here, but as they exit 14 into 15, a

full car length for Lewis Hamilton, with only 16 to go. They deploy all

the energy from the car, and that the line it is only 0.168 of a

second that separates the drivers. Can Lewis Hamilton make it his first

victory at the Spanish Grand Prix? That is the scene for the Spanish

Grand Prix, the same front row was last year but switched positions. We

have seen seven different winners over seven years, Lewis Hamilton has

never won here, could he be the eighth?

Felipe Massa wins in Spain! Victory for Kimi Raikkonen! Jenson Button

has done it again! Mark Webber, here he is! It is Red Bull on a charge!

Vettel wins the Spanish Grand Prix! Pastor Maldonado wins in Spain!

Fernando Alonso wins the Spanish Grand Prix! His home event!

In 1991, this Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya posted the

Spanish Grand Prix for the first time with a race won by Nigel

Mansell, who went head to head with the late, great Ayrton Senna. On

three other occasions, the race has been won by a British driver, but

not by Lewis Hamilton. Around five of us not only a chance to brake bad

bogey but take the championship lead for the first time since the

beginning of 2012. Four wins out of five has not made up for his

non-finish in Australia, but 66 laps of this testing layout could provide

the opportunity to leapfrog Rosberg. First, he has to take

control of the start, with the longest run into turn one of all the

circuits, so plenty of opportunity for those around him to go on the

attack. Alonso went from fourth to lead into turn one a few years ago,

and last year he won from fifth. Today Alonso start seventh, but

perhaps it is as being too much of even his skills to expect him to be

challenging the all congregant Mercedes into the first corners.

Christian Horner chatting away with Bernie Ecclestone as we prepare for

the build-up to the start. Sebastian Vettel, all the way down in 15th

position courtesy of a gearbox penalty, that change incurs a five

place penalty. Fernando Alonso, the home start, who has qualified in the

top ten every time this year, but this is his second worst of the

season, worst since he joined Ferrari. The last time he qualified

that far down was with Renault in 2009. Valtteri Bottas starring in

qualifying, the 24-year-old from southern Finland. We have seen some

strong performances but not a podium for him. Williams have more

concerned when it comes to tyre wear, and perhaps they will go for a

three-stop race, rather than two. Hamilton and Rosberg, all must 80s

front row. Daniel Ricciardo, strong for Red Bull, then Bottas. Grosjean,

one of the surprises of qualifying, for locals. Raikkonen outqualifies

Alonso on this occasion. -- for Lotus. Nico Hulkenberg has errors

next door, then Daniil Kvyat. Esteban Gutierrez then Kevin

Magnussen, who struggled with power issues. Vettel in 15th place, Adrian

Sutil next door. Max Chilton have an excellent run, out qualifying his

team-mate, Jules Bianchi. Ericsson outqualified Kobayashi for the first

time in his short Formula One career. Jean-Eric Vergne has a ten

place penalty after he lost a wheel in practice. Maldonado, who failed

to set a time in qualifying after that accident in Q1. So Daniel

Ricciardo, then, starting from third place on the grid, it is his fourth

time that he has qualified top three. One of those times he did not

get to start because he himself at a penalty, but Nico Rosberg... TEAM

RADIO: It is so warm! It is very warm, more humid than it

was. The air temperature is showing only 23 degrees, track temperature

is 37, lower than in qualifying yesterday, David. It is, and that

plays to some and not others, but we cannot tell which ones until they

get under way. As Romain Grosjean explains, the rain overnight has an

effect as well. The information you build through free practice gives

you one picture, and you can accurately predict what you are

going to get on race day, typically tyre wear is less of an issue on

race day, but of course now we have got a green circuit, we are back to

square one. Great to see a huge crowd, most of them gathered for

Fernando Alonso, but support for drivers all the way through the

field. Even Lewis Hamilton has been building a bit of a fan base in

Spain. He was not that popular in his early days in Formula One when

he was team-mate to Fernando Alonso, and of course they were such great

rivals. In his own fan base now. Look at that, everyone is starting

on the medium tyre, everyone except Jean-Eric Vergne is starting on the

softer of the tyres. That is the on board camera with Vergne, who was

starting on the harder compound tyre. He is the only one that will

be starting on the harder tyre here today. Everyone else going for the

softer, the medium, but everyone finding the conditions difficult

over the weekend. If anything, the tyre choice has been quite

conservative for this event, the teams have been struggling to get it

to work effectively. That was where Rosberg lost out last time, because

he lost the link to the team that allowed him to understand what he

needed to do with the car. If you remember, Ben, on the parade lap he

radioed in saying perfect start. Unless they were able to use that to

contradict what his feelings were, I am not sure what else could have

been changed. Again, all of these things that they are able to adjust.

The clutch bite point. The engine map, it is based on historical data.

By the time they make the race start proper there is more rubber on

ground, the wind might be stronger, so even though the cars is at zero

speed across the ground, if you have a gusting 20 kilometre per hour wind

and that has an effect on the cars it is subtle but it has an effect.

Rosberg with that narrow lead at the moment, over his team-mate Lewis

Hamilton, he can change that round here this afternoon. Let us see if

there is any late stories from the pit lane. Any news Tom? Ben, it is

the usual Piccadilly Circus as the teams and mechanics rush back to the

pit box, two bits of news. Fernando Alonso and palled Maldonado --

Pastor Maldonado were the two drivers that passed through the pit

lane the most on the way to grid. It will be fascinating what their start

is like and what their graining of their tyres is going to be like. I

have been speaking to Pirelli who say this should be a two stop race,

that is the line from Pirelli. It depend on how the teams manage the

overheating of the medium tyre. Let us wait and see what develops, we

are onboard with Fernando Alonso. We have seen some brilliant starts from

him over the year, he has had two victories at this circuit. In 2006

for Renault and last year, 2013 when he was driving for Ferrari, he has

been on the podium in three of the last four years and he has led at

some point in each of last three years as the Mercedes top

some point in each of last three together, looking confident and

relaxed. Not the same confidence there as Red Bull. They have had a

fair share of suss success, the way I view it, they know they are in

recovery mode, be what a recovery, to get, to be the best of the rest

if you like, Mercedes Grand Prix in conjunction with Mercedes high

performance engines have aced this new regulation, that is demonstrated

by the one second gap between the front row and Daniel Ricciardo in

the second row. It has been remarkable, but which of the

Mercedes will be strongest? Frank Williams watching the monitors.

Williams took an astonishing victory here thanks to Pastor Maldonado. He

starts at the back here today, driving for Lotus courtesy of the

accident he had in qualifying. That is how they line up. Usually a

slight advantage to the left-hand side looking from the driver's

vantage point. Hamilton saying that the launch felt good. When Rosberg

said that last time it all went wrong on the real start. So let us

see what happens. Surely. Indeed. Fingers crossed as the final cars

take their position. It will be Maldonado to bring up temperature

rear with Vergne. So we have 66 laps of the Spanish Grand Prix to go, at

the Circuit de Catalunya. Lights out. Hamilton getting off the line,

he has the advantage, watch for Bottas in third place. Grosjean made

a good start. He loses the pace. Now Grosjean locks up. Hamilton leads

into the first corn earn and Ricciardo holds on to fourth. He has

lost third to Bottas, so the Williams has been quick off the line

all year long. Look at Grosjean on the attack in the Lotus as we go

further down the pack here, with Sebastian Vettel, as he tries to

battle his way through the order, starting at 15th. Kimi Raikkonen

ahead of Alonso. He is under pressure,he has to go

defensive. Alonso wide into five. There was a bit of bumping going on

behind them. So far, Vettel in the middle of it all. Look at that.

Wheel-to-wheel stuff. In Sauber. He has backed out. This is unusual

territory. It Gloria Steinem since he has been starting that far down

the grid. Alonso is trying to get past Raikkonen but he is not making

it -- making it easy. They have one Williams up in third place at the

moment. A lock up there, both Ferraris now catching the Lotus, a

bit of Maldonado, Force India have got away well, Hulkenberg and Perez,

you can see them running behind one and another in ninth and tenth. They

have got past Gutierrez. The two McLarens wheel-to-wheel. Magnussen

may be just ahead of Button. One of them off the circuit. That is

Magnussen. He He was trying to run round the outside. He has to get

right over the top of the kerb at turn 14. I think that was Vettel? We

will check that in a second. Hamilton leads. Rosberg coming

through in second place, already Hamilton trying to open up the gap.

Get out of DRS range for when it comes into operation, there is a bit

of dicing going on. Jules Bianchi trying to go down the outside of

Gutierrez and almost doing it but not quite. Ten out of ten for

effort. That Ferrari powered Marussia is getting a good launch

off the last corner. He is under pressure from the Toro Rosso.

Gutierrez is further up. He has had a good first lap. He is in 11th

place, you will see him come through behind the Force Indias and behind

him is Kvyat. Then Jenson Button who is 13th position. So Button 13th.

Vettel is 14th. Did you see the oversteer on Kimi Raikkonen's car?

My goodness he said yesterday, that every lap in qualifying was a fight.

He is still fighting. . He and he doesn't want to be burning up the

rear tyres, the life of them is projected up to round 20 lap, and

leaving all those black lines on the race track, the rubber is no longer

on the car because of the tyre. Looking more like a rally driver

than a Grand Prix driver. That balance of the Ferrari not to his

liking. In the Friday long runs it looks as though the Red Bull was

better on its tyres than the William, we will have to wait and

see. Bottas in third. Ricciardo chases, then Grosjean, up front the

gap between Hamilton and Rosberg has increased to 1.6 seconds in these

early stages, as we look to see Massa closing up on Fernando Alonso.

Now they are beginning to spread out a bit. Vettel trying to close the

gap to Jenson Button. There is Button behind him now is the Red

Bull of Sebastian Vettel as we take a look at start. Let us look out for

where it went wrong for Jenson Button. He didn't seem to get a

launch off the line at all, losing places, as they find their way down

this gaz opinion the scene of coming together. Grosjean, both front

tires, whether that leads to flat spots remains to be seen. Daniel

Ricciardo left plenty of space. One of the Marussias at the back was

running wide through turn two. It all bunches up on the exit of three

at the back of grid. You see onboard from Daniel Ricciardo.

Very low RPM as they come off the line. Look at the start from the

Mercedes powered engine, well, he was looking like he was going to

drop down an further place as he ran into the braking zone. Leaves a wide

line, a space, very sensible manoeuvre, eknows he has corner two

coming up, then he settles into position. If you run that close to

the car in front your front axle loses downforce. Onboard with

Magnussen. Very short shift to second gear. A lot of wheel spin.

Takes to the grass. Loses drive as a consequence of that, and it was a

pretty fraught first lap for Magnussen. The smoke off the tyres

of the Lotus, tries to go round the outside. Gets squeezed, and I am not

sure... Raikkonen. How can you tell that from the thermal image, is it

because he is ice cool? He is the only one with a thermal camera! You

were honing in on his body temperature! Fascinating to see

that. He fought off Alonso. He was having a good old try getting past

him. That was the two McLarens and Jenson Button showing some manners

to his young team-mate. One of the Caterhams getting a bit wide, and

then, oh, having to go across the curb. That us was Maldonado on

Eriksson. I don't know how many spare parts he has left on that, he

has had so many bumps and shunts. There is frustration in the way he

is going about the racing. They are still running amazingly, Maldonado

is 20th. Eriksson is last, but you have to think there is some damage

to the cars. Ass you told us in China with the carbon-fibre

suspension it breaks or it doesn't bend, so hopefully the car is all

right. Might have done some damage to the underbody because his had to

go over one of the red kerbs. Look at... The two Mercedes pulling away,

Bottas is now 5.6 seconds off the leader Hamilton. Hamilton has two

seconds advantage so he is out of DRS range, now we are into DRS use,

the drag reduction system. The wing flap open on Daniel Ricciardo's car.

That will allow him a chance to close up. It is not easy to overtake

with the DRS in operation. Based on the longer runs from free practise,

Daniel should be able to run in clean air a bit quicker than

Valtteri Bottas in the William, or certainly running that close to him

suggests he is more comfortable to lean on the car, so he has to try

and get on before he starts to lose performance from the tyres. A small

lock up there, for a driver that tells you they are under pressure,

if you have seen the guy in front puffing the inside wheel, we did see

that from Valtteri Bottas during qualifying, you don't want to be

doing that in the race, it will lead to damage and then there is a brave

ant crawling across the front of the screen. I am sure everyone at home

with their widescreen televisions would have a better view of our

modest screen we have here in the commentary box. Ricciardo, he is in

fourth place there, six tenths behind Valtteri Bottas. Grosjean is

still behind them. The incident involving Maldonado and Ericsson is

under investigation, so the stewards will take a look at that. Danny

Sullivan is the drivers' steward here, drove in Formula One. Most of

his racing was in the States and IndyCars, a winner of Indy 500.

Bottas. Grosjean in fifth place, the Lotus hanging on well, the other

Lotus, Maldonado we have seen in the war, but Grosjean is behind these

two, holding on the fifth. Raikkonen ahead of Alonso. The Ferrari is

running sixth and seventh. Then Massa in the other Williams, he is

running eighth. Hulkenberg is ninth and Perez ten. Gutierrez outside the

potential scoring point position in 11th. Kvyat is 12th and no move from

Vettel on Button. He is still 14th although close behind him. Pressure

being applied know. There was only a 7mph off settle. You would expect

more than that to come from the DRS. Ron Woodroof drop back to two

seconds gap. Look after the tyres. How do you decide, are you in a

position to overtake do your have to look after the tyres? That is down

the driver's judgment but it looks as if he is able to put enough

pressure on Bottas to keep going. The team are not thinking that

barring any reliability from Mercedes, for those who have tuned

in are already what, six seconds down the road, after five laps of

racing, and so, this is the battle for third place, effectively, but it

looks to me, Daniel is getting himself into position. This is where

the Mercedes power in the back will give an advantage, driving off turn

16, on to the start finish straight but it looks as if Daniel is close

he will get DRS but the off set in speed, so it is will be late by the

time he is able to get on to his gearbox. Not sure he is close

enough. Ricciardo is down the inside. Into turn one, Bottas isn't

coming. Just gives him space and Ricciardo fails to make the move

stick. Yeah, but ten out of ten for effort and great driving there from

Bottas. Leaving enough space, knowing the momentum was going to

take that Red Bull down on to that piece of Tarmac, so there is no

point fighting over it. You will come together if you don't leave the

space. Turn two comes quickly after one. That puts you in the perfect

line for the apex of two. Dan quell will have to back out of it. He

doesn't have too long before the team insists he backs out. I wonder

if he can throw another chance of getting past in the next lap or so.

So as he attacks for third place, to remind you further back Vettel is

still chasing Jenson Button, Magnussen is running despite that

moment he had on the first lap. He is in 15th. Sutil is 16th. Vergne

17th. Bianchi is 18th with Maldonado on his tail now, so Bianchi leading

the Marussia-Caterham battle. All cars are still running. Frank

Williams will be loving this He wants to see his cars out winning,

but more than anything he wants to see drivers going wheel-to-wheel.

Well Bottas under pressure, but doing a great job.

Lewis has been told he has only lost to Rosberg is in the toe. Rosberg

just gains a bit of speed down the main straight because he is

following the other car. Let us see whether Ricciardo is going to do the

same. He sort of shows himself, but doesn't really go for it. This time.

He doesn't have enough straight line speed. That DRS can give you

anything up to 20 kilometres and hour, it shows how efficient that

Mercedes-Williams is off the last turn. Now you are getting into the

point where you have micro graining, the track is rubbering in, that will

improve does the phase of the race. Starting to go off the line with

just over 100 kilos of fuel. Limited to total -- total use for the Grand

Prix. They will get a tenth quicker for each lap, in potential, in terms

of weight of the car, but the Thais have degradation, so -- degradation.

Look at the difference between the lap times and Hamilton-Rosberg. It

is seesawing between them but by fraction, Rosberg was half a tenth

faster than Hamilton. The Mercedes have just set a new

fastest lap, identical to 1000th of a second. This is turn three, big

correction for oversteer around the outside, he runs up towards four, I

believe Gutierrez maintained that position. The camera decided to cut

off that particular shot, but it is showing that he is behind. In fact,

update, he is looking like he has made the pass. Yes, he has gone

through, 11 plays for Daniil Kvyat, so if he did it there, very brave

indeed. -- 11th place. Looking at the battles further down, Gutierrez

just missing out a little bit, Sebastian Vettel now trying to close

up on the Sauber. The Sauber with some lighter weight part on this

weekend as they try to reduce the weight. It has been overweight all

season long, they have managed to get it closer to the weight limit.

On board with Sebastian Vettel as he chases the Sauber. Although they

have got rid of some weight, the car has not looked particularly happy in

terms of handling, both drivers have been struggling. Watch that Sauber

head of us, see how it is behaving. The flash of the light is to do with

when the energy harvesting system is working, but Vettel has an

opportunity now, he will try to go around the outside and braking. A

brave thing to try, it will give him the inside line in a moment for the

right-hander, anti-Justin Hicks through. That is a brave move,

brilliant. -- and he just makes through. To go around the outside of

ten, it is off camber, you are relying a lot on the guy you are

attacking to not squeeze you. I suspect if that had been a slightly

more experienced driver, he would have opened his steering and allow

the car to drift, pushing Sebastian out, which would have been fair

enough. But in the end, he got it done. Let's see where Button got

past Gutierrez, using DRS at the end of the straight. Massive overspeed

combination of DRS, slipstream and the knowledge... This is a replay of

Sebastian going around the outside. In the end, he was able to get a

clean line around the outside and complete the past. Meanwhile,

Alonso, this has been a stronger weekend for Raikkonen, he has earned

the position in front by right in qualifying. It looks like he's not

going as fast as Alonso in this phase of the race. He is not making

any headway, they are keeping Grosjean insight, but not enough of

a concern for the team to want to tell Raikkonen to get a hurry up. Of

course, this is taking more out of Alonso's tyres than the clean air

that Raikkonen is running in. It will be interesting when we get to

lap 11, how far they can take the tyres. This will be two stops, that

is the fastest way to do. Or will it be three because tyre usage? I

suspect Mercedes will be able to make either of those strategies work

for victory. Right now they are lapping 1.5 seconds faster than

Bottas in third place and Ricciardo in fourth. We saw a five second stop

and go penalty for Maldonado for causing a collision. We saw the

collision between him and Ericsson. This is a new regulation for this

year, he does not have to take it within the next couple of laps. He

does have to take it when he gets to his first pit stop. So a longer

first pit stop, said 45 seconds before the mechanics are allowed to

get to work on the car. -- sit for five seconds. Bianchi is chasing

after Vergne, who also started at the back of the field. Bianchi has a

four second lead over Kobayashi, and Max Chilton is ahead of Ericsson. In

fact, Chilton is just behind Kobayashi, something to watch later.

Both Force Indias in the points, nine and ten. It looks good for Plan

A. I was just going to save Perez keeping Hulkenberg honest. This is

the sort of race with a bit of tyre management, being able to be kind to

the tyres. This is where we have seen her as being strong, so a good

showing from Force India. -- her as. They are in a good position here

to score some points. Force India are actually ahead of Ferrari coming

in in terms of the constructors points, only a couple of points head

of Ferrari, but they are a head, and ahead of McLaren and Williams as

well. All 22 cars are still running in this race, normally it is quite a

good reliability rate, but we are still only five races into this

brand-new breed of hybrid cars. Last time around, Perez had got into the

DRS zone. He is only three seconds behind Massa, who is only 1.5

seconds behind Alonso, so a lot to race for this afternoon. Button

versus Vettel, a bit of overrun from Sebastian Vettel. You can do that in

five, we saw in Lewis Hamilton's qualifying run, he ran a bit wide

relative to Rosberg. Because the circuit opens, it does not cost you

as much. I am not saying he deliberately went there, he was just

trying to get onto the gearbox of Button, you could see how had he was

working through nine, squirrel link around. We are not used to seeing a

Red Bull moving around like that, usually it looks so planted to the

track. It is partly the nature of the new regulations, more

horsepower, more torque from the power units, and also a reduction in

rear downforce. You could see how much more mechanical grip the Red

Bull was generating through the slow section. Expect to see McLaren pull

away off 16. An early stop for Vettel. That is an early stop for a

three-stop strategy, but maybe it will just release him. They are

playing the game a little bit, you may see a longer second stint for

Sebastian Vettel. He goes on to the hard tyre. Right to the back of the

field, Ericsson is the last of the runners coming out of the last

chicane. He will be hoping that by the time he catches up to the back

of the field, they will be pitting, or he will get some clean air. I

expect he will get traffic earlier than he may have planned. That was a

quick turnaround from the Red Bull crew. This is the race for third.

Tom. A very late call for Sebastian Vettel, he was in the pit lane when

the mechanics were still coming out, but what a well oiled machine they

are. Despite that late call, no more than five seconds before he arrived,

they were coming out, and they were still ready for him. It worked very

well. Obviously, the Red Bull team are playing the strategy card.

Bottas still in third, we heard Ricciardo saying he would drop back,

but he still seems to have closed up to the back of Bottas' car, he

clearly has more performance. Not under any real pressure from

Grosjean. He has to make a decision, go with it as long as you can to be

able to drop into some clear air, but he is not quick enough in a

straight line stop no graining, the options seem fine. That is Rosberg.

He took a little chunk out of Hamilton on the last lap. Good lap

from Rosberg. Back on board with Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull,

yet to score a podium finish, despite standing on the podium in

Australia. He had it taken away afterwards. The hazard a couple of

fourth places since then. -- he has had. Hamilton will want, and will

have the first choice of when to pit if Rosberg decided he wanted to come

in this lap, they would check with Hamilton's engineer. If he says he

wants to come in and he can make it... A move by Magnussen and

Gutierrez, he made that fairly easy. I think Gutierrez is

struggling, we saw him past by Sebastian Vettel. He seems slow in a

straight line in the Sauber. We did not see the red light flashing, not

a necessity for the teams to carry that system, that software that

flashes a red light when the car starts, or rather stops

accelerating. Ricciardo in. Red Bull bringing both of their cars in

relatively early, funny, because Ricciardo did an extremely long

stint on Friday on this tyre, but because the overnight rain has made

a difference, they are trying to use it to their benefit. He stays on the

medium tyre, the softer tyre. We are hearing that Rosberg has been told

they are planning to put the harder tyre on Rosberg's car. We may see a

split in strategy between Hamilton and Rosberg. We saw it in Bahrain,

when they were racing against each other, splitting the strategies in

the middle of the race. Rosberg is a further 0.4 quicker now, he is more

comfortable at this point, calling for the softer tyre. Vettel on

Kobayashi, he has had that pit stop and is determined to make use of his

new tyres. Let's see how he got past. Under braking into turn ten,

he had the initial momentum, then up the hill, it was always going to be

a difficult call to try and do it into nine. Kobayashi racing for

position, so all fair. Chilton behind having a bit of a squirm as

well, because he is not far behind Kobayashi. Grosjean threw in fifth,

Raikkonen against locking the left front. We have seen him locking

wheels on the last couple of front. We have seen him locking

Grosjean has managed to eke out a slight advantage. Kimi also

complaining over the radio that he cannot get traction out of corners.

This is the area where it will hurt him most, coming out of the chicane.

This is the area where it will hurt I refer to this as the Monte Carlo

part of the track, it is usually a good indication of what we can

expect in Monaco, with mechanical grip and the driver's confidence to

let the car flow over high kerbs in that chicane. Grosjean has come in

from fifth place, so that promotes Raikkonen up. Massa has also come

in, Lotus go to work. A boost for them after such a difficult start to

the season. Massa crossing over and coming in, just inside the top ten,

remember. He started lower down after qualifying did not go

according to plan. Pastor Maldonado, he will have to serve his five

second penalty, so Pastor Maldonado coming into the Lotus pit, he will

be sitting there for longer than normal. Both Ferraris running around

so close together that you might expect them to split strategies and

bring one of them in. It is an interesting test of their new team

principal. This is the first experience for him of having to

witness what looks like a situation where Alonso is losing time behind a

Kimi. I do not see why they would not release him. This was Daniel

Ricciardo getting past Jenson Button just a moment ago after his pit

stop. He is on fresh tyres, using DRS, no problem. Pretty easy. He

will be glad of those fresh tyres, he would have struggled to do that

against the McLaren Mercedes otherwise. Already catching up to

the next target, and that is Daniil Kvyat in Toro Rosso. Kvyat, who are

scored in all bar one of the races so far this year, is running in

tenth place at the moment. Of course, we have had a few pit stops,

so he was promoted in the order just a little bit. Sensible stuff from

him so far, staying out of trouble, no non-finishes at all. It has been

a decent start to the year. Alonso is now in, Fernando Alonso is in. We

did wonder whether one of the Ferraris might not be brought in,

that could be to his advantage as Daniel Ricciardo now sweeps past the

Toro Rosso, very straightforward. Speed: 338 km/h at the end of the

straight, nearly 200 mph, as Downey and side goes Romain Grosjean, to

get past the Sauber of Adrian Sutil. -- as down the inside. It looks like

Alonso has been able to catch up a little bit through those pit stops,

and then Grosjean got further traffic. We see Alonso in the

background with fresh tyres, so that has allowed him to be released,

chasing after the Lotus. Some of the difficulties that Jenson is

experiencing, we have had a radio message, saying he started with too

much front wing on the car, and that is something they can adjust during

the pit stop. Jenson Button running in tenth place at the moment, but

not having made a pit stop. Hamilton and Rosberg, the gap is 1.6 seconds

between the two Mercedes, no sign of them coming in. It looks like

Raikkonen will be coming in this lap, you can see Ferrari are ready.

Raikkonen will be coming in this and it may be the earlier pit stop

will have got him ahead, but he has a bit of traffic.

Hamilton with the same lap time ass Rosberg on the last lap. Raikkonen

is in. Kimi Raikkonen is in. So is he going to be able to get out?

Alonso being held up so it is not helping this, Alonso, at all. It is

going to be close, I think. Well, no Alonso has just gone past now, so

where is Kimi in the pit lane? He is on his way out. We are watching

Ricciardo tries to get past Perez, he is down the inside and he is

through, and as Raikkonen has rejoined, they are pretty close

together, as they go through turns two and three. Waiting to exactly

see which one is in front. I think Raikkonen has got out in front of

Alonso, so I don't think the Ferraris have swapped round on that

first pit-stop and Alonso maybe a bit upset he caught traffic on that

particular lap. Alonso using new tyres. Crucial stage of the race.

Hamilton is in from lane. Rosberg has set hiss person at best lap of

the race so far. There is a African National Congress wing adjust:

Didn't look as if that was the quickest stop we have seen. There is

no need to take any big risk. It interesting to see whether Rosberg

is given a couple of laps to see if he can do anything. I suspect

Hamilton with the fresher tyre, looks like he lost over a second.

3.8 seconds is not that fast now. 2.5 is the margin you would be

looking for It was just under two seconds the gap when he headed in

from the lead, so that could be crucial.

Let us just watch Alonso, this was Raikkonen coming out; just? Front of

Alonso. Let us see how close this really was, we knew it was close. A

lock up from Alonso. Raikkonen is on the inside and Raikkonen just

managed to emerge in front. So it is status quo at Ferrari, as they hold

their positions relativetive to one another. -- relative to one another.

Both chasing after Grosjean who manages to stay in front of them.

Behind, Felipe Massa, not far behind Fernando Alonso. Lock up running

into turn one. So busy time in the pit, Tom what have you been seeing?

Looking at the two Ferrari guys, they, the team treated their World

Champions very equally at their pit-stops, so with the stop watch in

my head they looked absolutely identical those two pit-stops, and

Hamilton, I can see him from where I am standing, the front left was slow

coming off. That is the reason he was delayed during his stop. I tell

you what, this is getting exciting. Rosberg has set fastest lap of the

race on these tyre, so whether they are on different strategy, he has

looked after his tyres well, he has done a 1: 31. Hamilton lost a

Frankion of a second on the pit-stop. Rosberg is again better

than he has done personally in that first sector -- fraction.

Unlikely the tyres are getting better, that is clear, he has a

range of things he could be deploying. He could be saying I am

going to use more of my fuel allocation for two or three laps and

get the jump on my team-mate. That will compromise me later but it is

about track position, and well, he will be well wear of all the tools

he has at his disposal. -- well aware. I said the only thermal

images camera was on Kimi Raikkonen, I was wrong, it is on Rosberg's car,

a slightly different angle. As the tyres wear and the gauge of the

tread gets a bit thinner, there is not much rubber on the racing tyre,

that is when it is difficult for the drivers to retain heat in the

carcass of the tyre. They use temperature measurements on the

surface and body of the tyre to work out when the drivers are going to

start losing grip. It is so scientific now, analysing, the

performance of the tyre, the shots giving us an element of that. Able

to deliver these lap times, 21.2 for Hamilton. It is all going to come

down to the pit-stop of course, and I have to say, with Hamilton doing

that time now, then I would be surprised if they don't bring

Rosberg in next time round. He is not under any pressure from the cars

behind, what he doesn't want is to come out and see a bigger gap to his

team-mate than before. Valtteri Bottas has come in, he was

effectively third in the early part of the race before they started

making pit-stop, he will rejoin behind Ricciardo. Ricciardo has gone

through and that was the race we we watching for third place earlier on,

Ricciardo is up and exiting turn three. That means Valtteri Bottas

has lost the position to the Australian, and he is now going to

have to try and fend off Grosjean. Williams have been able to go to lap

one, it is possible converse to what we thought, maybe Red Bull are on

the free stop strategy and Williams will make the two stop work. In that

case, of course, Bottas will still be fighting with Ricciardo for that

third place. I can see Mercedes in the pit lane. The tyres are out of

the blanket waiting for Rosberg to have his car services. 2.-- 3.8 for

Hamilton's stop. It is the hard tyre going onboard. Away goes Nico

Rosberg, so how far will he be behind Hamilton? Will he be behind

Hamilton? One second quicker on the pit-stop. Hamilton is overtaking

Ericsson, there goes Hamilton, just past Rosberg as they come down to

turn one, gets the slipstream past Marcus Ericsson and Rosberg rejoins

in second place. It hasn't made a huge difference. Hamilton is still

in front but Rosberg went further into the race and they are now on

different tyres. We will find out what the difference in lap time

between the two compounds of tyre, it was well over a second in

qualifying and it tend to reduce on scrub tires but we will get a direct

comparison between the two tyre, the hard with the red mashings and the

medium on Hamilton's car. This is exactly what Mercedes did in

Bahrain. -- markings, they split the strategy putting one on medium, one

on hards and then we add the excitement of the safety car.

Psychologically for Nico, this is going to be challenging, because you

would expect to see Lewis pull away, with the tyres with more

performance, and it is all going to be about, well, are we going to do

different strategies this afternoon? Am I going to be coming close to him

again later in the Grand Prix? Watching the two Force Indias.

Hulkenberg ahead of Perez, they have been like this welled together for

most of the afternoon. Vettel is now ahead of them but we believe that

Vettel is on a three stop strategy. He made a pretty early pit-stop,

where it is likely that Force India will go through on two stops, but

for the moment Vettel is in ninth position, and only one point -- 1.6

seconds behind Felipe Massa. If If you remember the message for

Rosberg, he said options feel good. He said the mediums feel good. He

might be disappointed to find he is then being rewarded by given a set

of the primes, the hard tyre. Interesting but I guess they would

have agreed before the race started, as to what the strategy would be in

certain scenarios -- scenarios do you think It sounded like he was

sending the message the options feel good. It is like he has had a change

of heart or why would you given the message other why, if you have

nothing interesting to say don't say anything. Looking at the fuel used,

and Hamilton again using a bit less than everybody else, we saw that

last time out in China, Esteban Gutierrez making the move on

Kobayashi to overtake into 17th position I believe that is. Yes, he

is through and just looking at a replay onboard, Rosberg, what was

this about? Lock up. That was very early in the braking phase.

Struggling to get to grips with the less performance from the prime

tyre. Has he got a little micro flat spot? He has some damage to the tyre

now. Raikkonen is in sixth place. The gap between him and Alonso 1.9

seconds. RADIO: How many laps? We need to

increase the gap by about four seconds over the next 20 laps so we

need to look after these tyres but build that gap. So no need to push

hard. Your position is safe. You are looking to close the gap to Lewis to

two seconds at the end of this stint. So there we are. Now we know

the story. One needs four seconds, the other needs two. It is music to

Lewis's ear, I am certain he knows he is on the option tyre, relative

to his team-mate Nico Rosberg, and that will be pretty soul-destroying

for Nico who will think, we are in the same car, we are pretty much the

same but I am on a worse set of tyres. Raikkonen having a go at

getting past Grosjean. He sweeps, does he, Grosjean comes back, oh,

almost touch, the two former team-mates from last year at Lotus,

going wheel-to-wheel in the first corner and Raikkonen loosing out

That was a great attempt. Grosjean swept to the signed to defend the

position. It looked like he had overplayed that. Raikkonen carried

too much speed through one. Realised he was at risk of running over the

kerb in two and Grosjean coming back at him, expect more of this action.

That is allowing Alonso to sneak back up. Has he dropped back to

preserve his tyres or does he have an issue. Here he comes, Grosjean

sees him, quite late on he makes a move to the right. That would be

questionable. You have to make your intentions clear, and Grosjean comes

back. They didn't actually touch but it came very close. So for the

moment Grosjean stays fifth and Raikkonen is still locking that

brake in sixth place. Alonso is in seventh.

RADIO: I have an exhaust problem. So garage know. Dear or dear it doesn't

get better for Jean-Eric Vergne, he has had a couple of non-finishes and

it looks as if he is heading for another one. Disappointing for the

Frenchman in the Toro Rosso. He is running in 15th position. Currently.

Running through the field as we enjoy this race for fifth place

which has allowed Alonso to catch up. Alonso has had his best lap.

Here comes up. Alonso has had his best lap.

limitation on his top line speed, up. Alonso has had his best lap.

because the Ferraris are not usually that much quicker in a straight

line, than a Renault, that than the latest Renault car so there is a rob

for Grosjean, I am sure There could be that or a pure strategy play, we

will use a bit more of what we have available this afternoon, to mount

an attack, Lotus could be in a fairly conservative mode, whether

that is because they have overdone it in the first phase of the race or

maybe they are disguising a problem. Yes, Jean-Eric Vergne looks as

though it is all over for him for another weekend. His third

non-finish of the season, if it stays in the garage, as Kimi

Raikkonen has got past the Lotus, so the Lotus looks to be struggling a

bit. He has made the one pit-stop. Alonso beginning to line him up.

Surely Alonso is going to be past him here, he will try and fight him

off. He gets enough traction off the corner to stay in front. Alonso

wasn't able to react to that. He got the car turns but he tried to put

the power down and lit up the rear wheels. This has given Raikkonen

some breathing space. Raikkonen will already be trying to

breathe. Alonso will be trying to make sure he is in the right

position as he fights the rear of the car. Look how much road he thats

to use. He is coming from further back than Raikkonen. Look at the

difference in speed. In the end, that was fairly straightforward.

Certainly the Lotus seemed to have a straight line speed deficit. For

whatever reason, he can fight everywhere else round the lap, he

can't fight it there It might be the Renault. A Renault in good working

order is not much off a Ferrari. The Ferraris are down on overall power.

Look at Bottas. Massa, I think it was, coming from behind. Let us look

at how that happened. Raikkonen first of all on the replay, going

past Grosjean. Looks like a bit more than a DRS

effect, didn't it? Well, we will find out later in the Grand Prix, I

am sure. Well, further down the order there

is some good racing going on. Chilton told that Jules Bianchi was

0.3 of a second quicker on the last lap, all under braking, so that is

where Bianchi is making his time at the moment. Because the pit-stops

are different I think Chilton is ahead of Bianchi currently. What is

happening at the top? RADIO: Gap is looking good. We don't

want it to increase. We will reduce it in ten laps time. So looking

after the tyres. So it is still about tyre management. Even though

they are much more conservative than last year That is a difficult one to

try and understand. Rosberg faster last lap round. We don't know

whether Hamilton has to pass any traffic, but in pure performance

terms, than Nico should be slower than Lewis, between the off set and

performance between the tyres. A bit of traffic they are dealing with.

Bianchi is between them. Hamilton has got past him. This is Sebastian

Vettel, chasing down Felipe Massa. This is for eighth place as Vettel

continues to work his way through the field, having started in 15th

place remember. Mammoth started on pole position and has led the whole

race so far but Rosberg is not giving up. Ricciardo is in third,

ahead of Valtteri Bottas but Williams and Red Bull could be on

different strategies. Raikkonen is fifth. Grosjean dropped to seventh.

Seems to be struggling for straight line speed. Massa is eighth then

Vettel ninth. Hulkenberg is ten. Perez is 11th. Jenson Button in 12th

place, can't see seem to make any progress, Jenson Button, he is three

seconds behind the Force Indias at the back of this Impressive from

Perez, he has been less than a second behind consistently, and once

you get into that window, you are running in the deadly air, so

impressive stuff. I have got too much oversteer! Lewis, I suggest

closing diff exit to four or five. Differential controls? Indeed, you

can affect changes from inside the cockpit which will change the

balance if you lock up the diff on entry, and it can make the car more

stable but generate understeer through the apex. But that is very

interesting, so, well, what I thought would be a fairly

straightforward case of Hamilton opening up the gap to Rosberg, we

have a race on! We do seem to, which is great news. Tom. I could not

agree with you more, guys! Or four of the drivers currently on the hard

tyre are setting laps quicker than the guys on the medium tyres in

front of them, and then they will be on the quicker, theoretically the

quicker of the tyres when the car is at its latest in the final stint. As

you say, we have got a race on our hands. It is quite possible that the

hard tyre is proving better. My rear end is everywhere. Hamilton saying

his rear end is everywhere, obviously not happy with that

happening on the car! If the hard tyre becomes the better race tyre,

they all expected it to be the medium tyre, things could change. We

had overnight rain, and now or other is going down, the track just

change. If he thinks he has problems, his rear end everywhere,

he is still the fastest man on the racetrack! Imagine how it must feel

in some of the other cars. Interesting stuff, can you imagine

the respective engineers in the Mercedes team passing that

information between their drivers, trying to decide how much

information to give? Red Bull out in the pit lane again. That is probably

going to be for Vettel, we will have to see. Massa is into the pits. It

looks like he went past, they were getting ready to serve as one of the

cars, but Vettel, if it was indeed him, running behind Grosjean,

decided to go for another lap. Unless they tricked Williams into

doing that. That is something the teams have been known to do, you

will not get away with it more than once, I would suggest. It is

something that has been done in the past, and in the interests of safety

you are not allowed to keep your guys out there looking like he will

pit at any time. It looks like Massa is on a three-stop, but his

team-mates may be on a two-stop. We will wait to see, when he rejoins,

what kind of stint lengthy can do. Just under half distance in the

Spanish Grand Prix, the battle is between the two Mercedes team-mate

of Hamilton and Rosberg, Hamilton is 4.3 seconds ahead, and despite

complaints about handling, over the last couple of laps, he has gained a

little bit more time over his team-mate. Then there is a big gap

of 20 seconds to Daniel Ricciardo in third. Bottas, Williams, fourth

place, 11 seconds behind. Raikkonen fifth, Alonso sixth, Vettel up to

eighth. Hulkenberg is ninth, Perez is intent. Where to use sit on mind

games, Ben? What are you thinking of particularly? Hamilton saying he's

not happy with the rear, that will be shared with his team-mate, but he

is pulling away at the sort of gap you would expect in the offset

performance of the tyres now. Can you imagine, for Nico, you are

hearing that Lewis is saying he is not happy with his tyres, but you

can still see the gap increasing? Psychologically, you would be like,

that doesn't seem right, it doesn't sound good. I wonder if that is what

is going on, Tom, what are your thoughts? I think you are probably

right, and we have seen it already this weekend. In the last practice

session before qualifying, right at the end, Hamilton went out on the

faster of the two tyres, did a qualifying similes and, blitzed the

middle sector but did not complete the lap. I think he did not want

Rosberg to get a chance to look at his data. They are both ultimate

competitors, they want to get one over on the opposition, their rival

in the team. Both similar lap times on this lap, Hamilton making a game.

We heard Hamilton's engineer saying, you can take it easy for a few laps

but then you will need to push. The gap has opened, and we will keep an

eye on it. Rosberg, in second, has gained a bit in the first sector.

Maybe it was just resting those tyres for a little while. OK, so we

seem to think there is a possibility of mind games within the team. How

about this for sitting on the fence? Perez has been asked by his team,

are you more comfortable on the hard or medium? He said, I don't know!

The team has said they will decide. The driver making no decision at

all. He has been sitting behind Hulkenberg so much, following his

wheel tracks, he is still 0.7 of a second behind Hulkenberg. Button

outside the top ten, Kvyat 11, Magnus on the 13th. Felipe Massa has

dropped to 14 but will move up the order once the others start to make

their second pit stops. Maldonado was 15, despite that incident

earlier and having served a penalty. -- Maldonado is 15. Chilton is ahead

of Bianchi at the moment by 2.2 seconds. The one retirement that we

have seen in this race, Jean-Eric Vergne, who went out a little while

ago with an exhaust breakage of some kind. So everyone else still

running, but up front, although the gap is 4.4 seconds, again, very

similar lap times between both drivers on these different tyres on

that last lap. Interestingly, Hamilton's engineer has told him

that rear tyre to bridges are cool, and they are not sure whether he is

over protecting them. -- tyre temperatures. Lewis has said, I have

got oversteer, I am not going to open the diff and give myself more.

So clear instruction from the race driver. As you say, when we are

watching the Mercedes, you do not see it squirming around in the same

way that we saw the Ferrari or even the Red Bull. So it is very subtle.

He might be complaining about a lack of grip from the back end of the

car, but the way he is driving it, we can't really see it. He looks

like he is well within himself, gap of 4.4 seconds between the two cars.

Well, Rosberg just taking a couple of tenths out of Lewis in the middle

sector. On board here with Daniel Ricciardo, fairly lonely in third.

You can hear him lift and coast into the corners, as he exit nine. We

will listen to him into turn ten, and what you will get, he will get

an audio beep in his years to tell him when to lift off the throttle

for best recovery and fuel saving. And at the pointy thinks the corner

is coming up too quick, he will hit the brakes. That is a strategy all

the drivers have to employ in this new formula, going back to the past

last year, and much further into the past, you effectively brake at the

point you thought, if I don't do it now, I won't make the corner. So a

different driving style, to have that feedback as to when to lift out

of it. Throttle on full at the moment, is there a gap between

throttle on full? Just a fractional gap. It all depends when they start

out knowledge in the brake pressure. When you lift off the throttle, you

pull well over 1 G from the physical deceleration, which is considerably

more than in your most exotic sports car would ever generate on road car

tyres. It will be interesting to find out, actually, whether that G

meter telling him he is on the brake, whether it is linked to brake

pressure or physical deceleration of the car. Nico Rosberg has just set a

fastest lap, 1:30.7. He has been told, we want to close the gap to

Hamilton to two seconds in the next 11 laps, so that means it looks as

though the Hamilton will be on a two-stop strategy. This middle

section of the race is going to be absolutely crucial to that.

Hamilton, of course, now trying to respond. This is Valtteri bodice, he

sits in fourth position currently, chased by Kimi Raikkonen. --

Valtteri Bottas. Just keeping up with the entertainment, the Force

India drivers are giving their race engineers, we have just heard

Hulkenberg was asked, how is the balance? He said, oversteer,

understeer, everything! I think we are seeing that with some of the

cars down the field. Looking at you will used so far... -- you will.

TRANSLATION: Fronts are still pretty good, left rear is the one to watch

out for. Ricciardo fairly happy on fuel and tyres by the sounds of

things. Tom is with Pirelli motorsport boss Paul-Henri. A

fascinating tactical battle, particularly between the two

Mercedes drivers, are you surprised by the pace of the hard tyre? Yes

and no. We have seen the temperatures, information from the

teams, it is well up to 130, so the medium is overheating and both tyres

are sliding. The medium tyre is overheating on the surface, which

means the problems we heard on the radio with Lewis. Still a two-stop

race? We believe so, no reason why it shouldn't be. It is looking

fascinating at the moment, but the end of the race, when temperatures

drop, might bring more surprises. Cars lighter, more rubber on the

track, will be medium tyre be the one to be on in the final stint?

It's depends how long that stint is, and that will be interesting for

Rosberg, how far will the go with the hard tyres? Thank you. As you

were speaking, Vettel made his pit stop and has gone on to the mediums.

You would think it is very much a three-stop race for him, as some of

the other teams are reckoning he is doing. They did a very long stint

with Ricciardo on Friday, I think they will see how far they can go on

this set of tyres. He has already run the hard tyre, so why not see

how far you can go? If you have to make a third stop, you react. He is

saying the fronts are good, it is just the left rear to watch out for.

One thing I wanted to come back on, Rosberg has used two kilograms more

fuel than his team-mate. They have 1.5 available for each of the laps,

a whole lap extra he has used? That is going to give him some

performance. Is that why he's been able to offset some of the deficit

that should be there between the tyres? Is it just purely to do with

track temperature today? The gap between Hamilton and Rosberg at the

moment is 4.3 seconds. Rosberg has been told to bring it down to within

two seconds prior to the stop. Grosjean has just emerged from the

pits once again, he has made his second pit stop, so it may well be a

third stop required, and that was the Caterham of Kobayashi going off

at turn one. I lost the brakes, I lost the brakes! Scary stuff, we saw

that from his team-mate, it wasn't actually his team-mate, but we saw

another driver earlier this week when they had a brake problem going

into that corner. Nothing more scary. Kobayashi is still running,

though, he has backed off in the middle sector. Maybe he will be

coming in. It will certainly get his attention at 200 mph as he barrels

into turn one! Massa are still the fastest on the speed trap down

there, that first corner. Just about 210 mph, some 4 km/h faster than

anyone else. Button is up in the speed traps, but Kvyat and Vergne

have both been showing high top speed with their Renault powered

Toro Rosso, but clearly they don't run as much downforce as some of the

others. Ferrari are in, Fernando Alonso on lap 36 of 66. Kobayashi is

in the pits, just in front of Fernando Alonso. He comes into his

pit lane. It could well be over for Kobayashi, but Alonso on his way

after a good 2.6 second stop. So where is he in relation...? Just in

front of Massa and turn one. He has been trying to get the Ferraris all

day long, is this an opportunity? I don't think it is going to be quite

enough. Alonso always one of the toughest to overtake. New fastest

lap for Sebastian Vettel, interesting! He is on a fresh set of

tyres, the medium compound, quicker than the Mercedes are going on that

much more used tyres. Just how use, you can see by the way that Rosberg

is locking that left front. This is him coming out of four, dropping

down into five. Unusual to have an unloaded inside front there as the

circuit got away from him. Desperately trying to close that gap

to Hamilton, of course, but that has cost tenths. 3.7 is the gap, not

good enough for Rosberg. He needs to get it close and he is running out

of laps. The second stop will be coming up in about five or six laps,

and he needs to close that gap a little bit more effectively. Vettel

passed on track at the moment, Hamilton, Rosberg, Ricciardo,

running well, looking at a potential podium finish. Alonso is tied up in

traffic, tucked in behind Kevin Magnussen, a bit further down the

road is Kvyat. He is wide through one. Will Magnussen come back at

him? He got through twos and that covers it.

You get so used to entering turn one with the normal drag when you a

slipstream and the DRS, that is when you are seeing these big top speeds

of well over 200mph. Hulkenberg has been in for his second stop, so has

Jenson Button. Should be able to get to the end just about, from here.

Vettel, there is a little move down the inside for Vettel. So Vettel

gaining, a position, is he from Massa? Yes, so that is a good move

for Vettel. He has been told we need maximum pace, so they are going for

the three stops, he has not been told to look after the tyres to the

end. 30.5 last lap round. It that is seven tenths quicker than the

leading car of Hamilton. So taking everything out of the fresh tyre,

you will see Alonso running deep through one, gets marginal through

two, but Kevin Magnussen not able to do anything in response. This is

Vettel getting past Felipe Massa. Making use of the fresh tyres. Sees

the gap: Very nice indeed. He is not far behind Ferrari. A little lock up

as he goes past Magnussen. Magnussen may get the chance, he is back

alongside. Vettel goes round the outside. He won't have it like that.

So that was a a replay of what just happened. Vettel dealing with

Magnussen. Which Massa has not done yet. So Massa struggling a bit at

this stint of the race. His team-mate Valtteri Bottas running in

fourth position. Incident involving Ericsson and Raikkonen under

investigation. So the problem there for Ericsson, if he wasn't letting

Raikkonen through, he could be penalised as a result.

Marcus Ericsson running in 19th place. Chilton 20th and Kobayashi

out of the Grand Prix. Two retirements now, the Toro Rosso of

Jean-Eric Vergne and the Caterham of Kamui Kobayashi.

The Raikkonen strong e er of the two Ferrari, pulling away from Alonso.

That gap quite considerable before the pit-stop of course. It will be

interesting to see whether they come out and Raikkonen makes his second

stop this afternoon. I can tell you that Rosberg is not getting that gap

down any more. That was the move for Sebastian Vettel. You will see the

McLaren come wheel-to-wheel with him, yes, on the, but he dealt with

it effectively. Hamilton and Rosberg the gap not changing, they are

lapping virtually the same. Even though they are on different tyres.

Rosberg 3.8 seconds behind Hamilton he needs to be within two seconds

and Hamilton dealing with traffic as well. Desperately important he

doesn't lose time. RADIO: Zero to Nico at last lap.

Where have you been for the last couple of laps? So sounds like he

wasn't getting information for a little while, but now he is, and the

gap as they cross 3.6 seconds, so whether Hamilton lost a bit of time

passing Jenson Button, I don't know, but the gap down to 3. But still

these two are absolutely flat out at the moment. Hamilton and Rosberg are

driving as hard as they possibly can, as Rosberg tries to narrow that

gap. 30 seconds down the road, that is how much dominance the Mercedes

cars and drivers are showing this afternoon. Alonso out on a new set

of tyres, is going quickly in the first sector. Magnussen, you are

watching here, as he is chased by Felipe Massa, this is for position.

Magnussen has only made with one pit-stop so far, so going deep on a

two stop strategy is Kevin Magnussen. That means he is having

to handle a car that is lower in grip than the one behind. For the

moment he is keeping Felipe Massa at bay.

Looking at Alonso lighting up his best sector, showing us 19 seconds

behind Raikkonen. At the round of stops he should be able to jump him.

It is showing about 22 seconds total time loss, he has that gap down the

17-and-a-half seconds so expect Raikkonen to pop o out. Crucially he

may come out behind Vettel as well. There is only 2.1 seconds behind