Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice 1 Formula 1

Welcome to Sao Paolo in Brazil

for the penultimate race weekend of the season.

This incredible race track snakes through the hills

high above one of the most populated cities in the world.

Allan McNish, it's always such a pleasure to come to this circuit,

but just look at it behind us. It looks like a rollercoaster.

What's it like to drive?

That's one of the reasons drivers like it so much.

You've got a fast flowing section,

but also in the middle sector here, it's extremely tight

and it's also quite technical as well

so it's hard for the driver, hard for the tyres

and hard for the engineers as well to set up,

but I think we're going to see extremely high top speeds here,

over 210mph diving into turn one.

But what are we going to see weather-wise?

Because this race always throws up some real surprises.

We've not actually had a dry Friday since the Singapore Grand Prix.

I imagine the teams will be out on track wet or dry

-just to get the experience.

-The sun's out at the moment

and we know that Free Practice One is going to be dry.

However, weather forecast is for thunderstorms

and rain through the course of the weekend and this afternoon

so I think they will be getting out onto track a lot this morning

because if it is the only dry session

and the track surface changed last year,

we saw very high track temperatures

and that had a big effect on the tyres

so I think they'll try to gain as much experience as they can

in the dry, but clearly in the wet as well.

Lewis Hamilton has never actually won at this circuit

and he's not really had a great week of preparation so far.

He arrives here a little under the weather, he's been struggling

with a fever, but you might have seen the headlines.

In Monday night in Monaco,

he managed to crash his £1.5 million supercar.

He'll be hoping for a trouble-free session at the least, but hopefully

he'll be here making the headlines for the right reasons this weekend.

It's business as usual and, as you can see,

for the second year in a row, he is the one who tops the table.

The winner last time out in Mexico, Nico Rosberg,

he moves back up to second in the championship after Vettel's DNF

in the Mexican Grand Prix, he's now trailing by 21 points.

The Finns who can't seem to keep apart on the racetrack

are pretty close here, too.

Bottas leads Raikkonen by three points

and good to see Max Verstappen in tenth in his rookie season.

Mercedes sewed up the constructors' title three races ago in Russia

and Ferrari are in second.

Williams come next, but it gets a little more interesting

if we look further down that table.

Force India seem in control in fifth,

but could still be vulnerable to Lotus, who are chased by Toro Rosso.

The only race McLaren are in

is trying to pass Sauber in the championship,

sadly, if not on track.

The Mexican Grand Prix, the atmosphere was amazing.

Nico Rosberg seems determined to finish this season in style

and win every race and he dominated in Mexico.

He certainly did and if we rewind last year here,

he also dominated all the way through practice

and he won the race as well from pole position

and that was basically one of his strongest race weekends last year

so he needs to do that going into Abu Dhabi

because he needs to build himself for 2016.

This year's clearly gone,

he's only got the fight for second in the championship,

but it is going to be a tough battle for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

And what did you make of another coming together

from Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen?

They're both fighting for fourth in the championship

and the reason they're so close in the points

is because their cars are quite equal

and they're equal in performance

so it's no surprise they end up in the same bit of tarmac,

but it's two Finns and this weekend, they've got a Finnish steward

so I'm sure both of them end up there,

there's going to be a lot of strong talking Finnish language coming out.

They'll certainly all be able to understand each other.

In the commentary box today, we have Ben Edwards and Tony Dodgins.

We touched upon the fantastic atmosphere in Mexico,

but this place certainly knows how to put on a party.

It does indeed, Lee.

There's always been great passion

going right back to when Emerson Fittipaldi,

the Brazilian driver, won the first Grand Prix held here in 1973

and that's just part of the passion

that has been created here over the years, Tony.

They love it here. Emerson was a great global celebrity

and he was sort of on the same level as Pele back in 1970

when he won his fourth Grand Prix

and so he brought motor racing to Brazil and they just love it.

The session is just getting underway now.

Cars heading down to the end of the pit lane and they've got to bend

their way on the inside of the first corner to get out

onto the track here, it's a left and right down the hill.

Revised paddock facilities which we probably won't see much

actual footage of because they're tucked in behind the pit garages,

but there's been quite a lot of work done since the race here

last year to build a new hospitality building for all of the race team.

Not quite finished yet,

so it doesn't look as immaculate as it might have done.

There are a few rough edges around.

It's not quite finished, but the press room's still the same,

but who cares? It's a great facility and it's got real passion.

-It's like Mexico, it's one of those venues.

-It is, definitely.

Daniil Kvyat, one of the early drivers on circuit.

Jolyon Palmer is on track,

you just saw the Lotus heading down to do a practice start.

I think he's the only third driver to be out this morning.

I think all the regulars are aboard their cars apart from Jolyon Palmer,

who of course will be a regular next year when he drives for Lotus.

Again, Lotus have had a few problems this weekend.

They weren't allowed access to their cars

here at the circuit on Wednesday, but thankfully things were sorted out

by Thursday and the mechanics could get to work on their cars.

Nico Hulkenberg ready to come out for Force India.

He's always gone well here in the past so he could be one to watch.

He had a pole position very famously with Williams, but he's also

led on a couple of occasions, including last year for a while.

He was out of sequence in terms of pit stops with some of the others,

but he always goes well here.

He does, he had a fantastic race in 2012, battling with the McLarens.

He was outbraking McLarens into Turn 1 and that was a fabulous drive

and the pole position you mentioned, that was really good.

It was changing conditions and you had to seize the moment

and he did exactly that

and served notice of intent and showed his talent.

There's a big aero rake as they're referred to

on the back of Kimi Raikkonen's car.

It's a series of tubes just to measure the airflow

that's really coming off the rear wheel.

Of course, an open-wheel single seater Formula One car

throws a lot of turbulence off the tyres

and what they're trying to do is measure that turbulence off the tyre

and how it affects around the rear wing

and around the diffuser, the lower part of the back of the car,

underneath the gearbox. The engine and gearbox right at the back

and it's that airflow around that section that is so vital.

Absolutely, it's the diffuser that generates

most of the downforce on a Formula One car

and there's a lot of gains to be made in that area

and about getting the airflow

from the front to the back efficiently

and getting the downforce,

but they want to know exactly what's going on in that area.

The Williams of Felipe Massa on track,

one of two Brazilians racing here this weekend, both called Felipe.

Felipe Massa and Felipe Nasr were in the press conference yesterday,

talking to the world's assembled media.

He's won twice here, but it's a bit of a long gap

since he last took a victory, that very famous win in 2008.

Yeah, you had to feel so sorry for him on that occasion.

I know it was Lewis's title, but it was the most dramatic conclusion

to a season in Formula One history.

But the way he handled that - for 20 odd seconds,

he thought he was world champion

and then Lewis got the required place -

he got the point and Felipe had to swallow that disappointment.

I think he handled himself impeccably.

Yeah, and he spoke very well yesterday of the delights

of driving here on his home track. It means so much to him.

He was born in Sao Paolo,

he grew up karting on the kart track,

which is just over to the side of this main Grand Prix circuit

so it means a massive amount to him to be racing once again here.

So he's brought the car in.

Most cars have been out just for their normal installation lap.

Nobody completing a flying lap as yet.

Fernando Alonso is also running some aero testing equipment

at the front of the car so it's hanging down beside the cockpit

and trying to check out the airflow around the front end.

He was quite interesting, talking yesterday about this season,

which of course has been really determined

by the lack of performance from the Honda engine.

But interestingly he made the point that perhaps he hasn't delivered

his best game this year as well.

He was quite candid about that.

He said there had been odd laps here and there

which had been sensational.

He talked about a lap in Japan, he said his Austin race was great,

but he said, apart from that, he said you get more motivation

when you're racing in the front

so perhaps he was on energy saving mode

and needs to come back better next year.

He's hoping that they make an advance over the winter

and he's able to compete at the front,

which is where he feels he belongs.

I think a lot of F1 fans are hoping McLaren and Honda,

in particular, make that big step.

Allan's now with us from the pit lane.

Allan, just talk to us a bit about those comments Alonso made yesterday.

In terms of motivation, for a driver of his calibre,

a double world champion, a man used to scoring wins and podiums,

it must have been a tough season to keep motivated in.

Yes, I think it was, but 12 months ago,

that was one of the reasons he left Ferrari

because he wasn't motivated

and feeling that he had the chance to win a world championship,

but now Sebastian Vettel's won three Grands Prix in the car

that he vacated and he couldn't see the podium in the McLaren so far

and so it's been a very tough year for him. He hasn't driven his best.

I think that he's had very strong performances,

but he hasn't dominated in terms of speed over Jenson Button.

I thought he should have done with the reputation

that he arrived at McLaren with and so, from that point of view,

he's maybe right and so he's got to dig deep

and we do know something about Fernando Alonso -

when he puts his mind to it,

he can dig deep and he can pull the performances out.

Absolutely right. We're just over five and a half minutes

into this first 90 minute practice session

and it is just a practice session,

it means nothing in terms of where they qualify,

but it is all useful data gathering.

Tony, Jenson Button hosted a media event earlier this week in Sao Paolo

and you were chatting to him.

He seems to have kept his spirits up pretty well throughout the season

and of course the same difficulties at McLaren-Honda.

Yeah, he's another one, obviously world champion in 2009...

Just before we go into that, look at the front end of the Mercedes car.

Where the number 44 is on the car,

you'll see a little blister on the front of the car.

This is a new duct that they're running on the Mercedes

this weekend just to look at airflow.

Allan, I know that you were intrigued by this as well.

This is just in front of it.

It's on both cars here, on Nico Rosberg's and Lewis Hamilton's.

It's a development for next year, they're trying it out here.

They've got the championship sewn up.

What it does is increases the airflow

underneath the front wing of the car

so it speeds up the airflow under the car

which then makes the floor more efficient,

produce more downforce

and in a ratio of downforce from the floor relative to the wing,

it increases the efficiency of the floor,

which means they can ultimately take some draggy rear wing

off the car and still have the same cornering potential.

It's been trialled and used by a couple of other teams,

but this is the first time we've seen it on the Mercedes.

OK, back to you, Tony. We were talking about Jenson Button.

Yeah, he was saying driving against Fernando is enough

to maintain your motivation cos no matter what Alonso may say

and being a bit self-critical,

I think he was overly self-critical, to be quite honest.

You look at the season he's had and he hasn't been sensational,

but you're talking about degrees.

You're not talking about poor,

you're talking about excellent minus, I think,

and in the races, he's probably outpaced Jenson most of the time

so Jenson's said that's all you need to keep the motivation up,

a team-mate like that,

and he is hoping for the same kind of progress.

He said a win might be asking too much, but at least

competing at the front he's hoping to be able to do next year.

As I say, a lot of F1 fans will be hoping for the same,

to see more battling going on at the top end

and a great team like McLaren-Honda near the front again.

Carlos Sainz focused as he prepares to come out on track.

He's never driven this circuit before so he's one of the few drivers

never to have driven a lap here,

but certainly looking forward to it

and feeling that the Toro Rosso should be reasonably good

through the twisty sections.

It will lose out on the long drag up the hill out to the final corner,

it's a very long section as they come up over the line.

Max Verstappen HAS driven here before

because he did the free practice session here last year.

After it was announced he would be joining the team,

he put in a very good session, actually.

He was sixth fastest in that first practice session here last year.

Good weather throughout most of last year's event.

We had some very high track temperatures on this new surface,

which saw the soft tyre not lasting long in the race.

Most top drivers went for a three-stop race.

We won't see that soft tyre out until later, but it was interesting

to note that it really didn't last that long in that first stint.

No, I think last year we had the highest track temperatures

of the whole season here

and they were coming in after seven laps for the first stop

and they were doing three stops and going soft-medium-medium-medium.

You might get a couple of two-stoppers here,

but depending on track temperatures and the weather,

we'll have to see how that develops as the weekend goes on.

Sebastian Vettel ready to come out.

Allan, what are your thoughts on strategy,

decision making at least if we get a dry race?

It all goes up in the air if we get a wet one.

The tarmac surface is going to be the determining factor

if it's wet or dry

because the track surface has got a huge amount of grip,

but with that, it means it's also got a lot of wear.

We saw a lot of blistering last year

and that was the critical factor on that soft tyre.

However, the tyre is a little bit more robust

than it was 12 months ago with the carcass of the tyre spreading

the temperature more evenly over the surface,

but it still will be a factor.

Yesterday, when they had cloud cover,

it was still at 42 degrees Celsius.

Therefore, I expect to see pretty high temperatures

by the end of the session.

But if it's wet, because it's such a closed surface,

there's nowhere for the water to go at all

and so you normally get a lot of rivers here anyway,

but I think you'll also see some standing water and some puddles.

The track is definitely going to create some engineering problems

and maybe some driving ones as well.

They'll have to be gentle on that right foot.

We'll look forward to that.

It is a track that certainly means you can't take too many liberties.

We're watching Max Verstappen in his Toro Rosso,

heading down towards Turn 4,

the corner that Lewis Hamilton spun at last year

and actually it was an interesting weekend from the point of view

of the two Mercedes team-mates

because Rosberg actually dominated this event.

He was fastest in nearly all of the sessions going through,

he was fastest in all the practice sessions

and then took pole position by 0.03 from Lewis Hamilton,

but in the race, he led,

Hamilton went on a charge around the pit stops, but he made a mistake.

It is interesting because normally in race conditions,

Lewis has the upper hand, but every so often,

you come to a circuit a bit like the last race in Mexico

when you see that Nico somewhere has got an advantage

and he seems to tune in mentally and he's strong the whole weekend,

gets the job done, doesn't make a mistake

and, every so often, beats Lewis.

It doesn't happen often,

but it happened here and it happened last time out.

We're on board with Max Verstappen.

He's climbing up the hill across the start/finish line.

Pit lane on the left-hand side and into the Senna S,

which is very demanding on the brakes,

just to get the speed of entry into the corner right.

Into the left-hand, it drops steeply downhill,

which doesn't come across so much on the TV screens,

but it does drop quite severely there

and then he's through Turn 3 and along the back stretch.

Sergio Perez, the star of Mexico in many ways

because there was so much attention on him

throughout the course of the weekend, came home with a points finish

and still relishing the whole experience, I think.

Very mature, Sergio Perez now,

appreciating just what a special event that Mexican Grand Prix was.

Won by Nico Rosberg, of course, who we see on track now,

but it was all about the passion of the fans

and the return of Formula One to a city that had enjoyed it in the past

-and certainly lapped it up on this occasion.

-Absolutely.

He's had a good season, I've been impressed by him this year

and the team are very happy with him,

he's fitted in very well there and we talked about that thing

with Jenson on the Wednesday night,

he took the whole Force India team out, almost 70 of them,

bought them a meal and they're having a good relationship there

and they punch above their weight in many ways, that team,

and with a bit more budget, which they're hoping to have next year,

it'll be interesting to see what they can do.

Lewis Hamilton makes his way down the pit lane now to put in a few laps.

Verstappen has set the first actual flying lap,

a 1:16.1, as Rosberg is already pushing on quite hard.

Don't forget, you can get in touch with us using the hashtag #BBCF1,

it'd be great to have your comments and we've also been asking you

some of your favourite memories of the races here in Brazil

and several of you saying

it has to be Lewis winning the world title in 2008,

a race that Tony mentioned a few moments ago,

but also where Jenson Button wrapped up his title,

another very special weekend for British motorsport fans.

It was indeed.

It was one of those races where he came in and he had it all to lose.

He had to get it over the line, he had to get the points

and he could have lost it and a very tense weekend.

His qualifying wasn't great and I remember those pictures of him

and his dad at the end embracing and it was just great to see.

The funny thing was that both Jenson Button

and Lewis Hamilton wrapped up their titles in 2008/2009

with a fifth place finish in those two successive years.

It was enough in both cases for them to wrap up their titles,

but very special memories.

Let's see what Rosberg's first flying lap is, it will be rapid.

Yes, puts him straight to the top of the tree.

Not by a huge amount, he does 1:15.9.

Verstappen's already done a 1:16.1, Sainz on a 1:17.0.

Sainz still learning the track, getting used to how it feels.

We are at a slight altitude here, it's about 800 metres

so we've got a little bit of that lower density air,

but nothing like as serious as we had in Mexico where Toro Rosso,

for example, were in quite a lot of difficulty in terms of cooling

through the race and I was talking to one of their guys yesterday

and, at some stages during the race,

the drivers were having to lift off the throttle for three seconds

at the end of the straight to ensure

that there was enough cooling of the engine

because they were really marginal.

As you say, it is 800 metres.

Mexico, we're talking about 2,200 metres

so a substantial difference, almost three times higher, Mexico.

-RADIO:

-OK, Max, we need to lift off for engine temperatures.

But here it is enough to influence things like aero set-up.

They do run a higher set-up than they otherwise would do

because of the thinner air.

That's certainly something hopefully in terms of temperatures,

although that was interesting that already

they were saying to Max, "We need to lift off

"o cool engine temperatures," so that was intriguing.

The track temperature is 38 at the moment, air temperature 27,

could easily be more than that.

Let's take a look at a replay of Carlos Sainz a moment ago.

He's still learning the track

and you can just see a little lock-up on the right front,

but that is a corner where we'll see a lot of that

as we go through the course of the weekend.

There's nothing unusual to see a little lock-up there,

so we'll see plenty more of that

throughout the course of the next few days.

Rosberg fastest then,

he's just gone a little bit faster on his second flying lap, 1:15.5.

We've got a yellow, now somebody's off.

Couldn't quite see who that was disappearing behind the wall there.

I don't think there's any major drama.

Ah, yes, it's just rejoining.

It's Max getting back on again so Verstappen just running

a little bit wide, but obviously sorting everything out.

Let's see how it looked from the onboard view.

He came down the Senna S through the right-hand part,

through the left-hand kick...

Oh, yes, he got a big oversteer through the left-hand part!

Big, big slide.

Then he had to try and spin turn it and that's when he obviously used

some of the extra part of the track to do so.

Sebastian Vettel kicking up the sparks in the Ferrari.

And did he have a spin as well? Oh, yes, he did. He went very wide.

Well, of course, he made a lot of mistakes in Mexico last time out.

Yeah, he definitely went off here, didn't he?

-RADIO:

-Locked the rear a little bit.

This is the corner where famously Kimi Raikkonen went off back in 2012

and decided to go a very strange route,

found the gate was closed and had to come back again to get on the track.

Yeah, he did!

But Vettel, of course, has had a lot of success here in the past.

He's had two wins, 2010, 2013,

and also won the title here in that remarkable race of 2012,

a race that Hamilton came closest to winning this Grand Prix.

He went out in a clash with Nico Hulkenberg and dropped places,

didn't go out completely, but that was a disappointment for Hamilton

who, as he said, really wants to win this Grand Prix

and he's gone fastest straight away, 1:15.1.

It took Ayrton Senna seven years to win this one.

This is Lewis's ninth attempt

so he said if he can get it done this time, that will be all good.

He's very determined, very fired up to try and win it this weekend

and that's a very good opening foray there with a lap time of 1:15.1.

Of course, the track will be still gaining some grip

and getting faster and faster as we go through this session.

But the early laps on this medium compound tyre are often the ones

that determine the lap time. Improvement there from Rosberg

to close within two-hundredths of a second of Hamilton's time,

but watch out for Hamilton,

I think he might put a series of relatively quick laps together here.

Alonso on track, Palmer pops in a lap time

that puts him seventh for the moment.

11 cars have so far established a lap time,

still waiting for several others to come out

and put in a series of flying laps,

but that's fairly conventional running on a Friday morning.

They might try and get a bit more running in

with that forecast of rain for the second session,

but I think generally you will see them

stick with the medium compound tyre.

They've got this extra set that they can use now

in the first half an hour so they've still got another ten minutes

or so of use on this tyre before they have to take that set of tyres off,

give them back to the FIA and then put on a new set.

Button's just gone sixth quickest

so that's a reasonably encouraging start

as we look at Marcus Ericsson...

Sorry, we're looking at Felipe Nasr,

we're looking at the other Sauber at the moment, the Brazilian,

of course, who is going to be racing on a home track.

He did race here in the Formula BMW days, his junior days.

He raced against Alexander Rossi here in Formula BMW.

That was the first race he ever did out of karts

when he came here and Rossi did that whole season

and won the BMW championship and Felipe Nasr did that last race,

which supported the Brazilian Grand Prix here.

-RADIO:

-It feels like we are weaving quite a bit.

-Yep, copy that, Marcus.

The radio from his team-mate. I think he had a podium

on that occasion so that was a pretty good debut, wasn't it?

It was a good start! There's obviously a keen rivalry

between those two, Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi,

and Stevens hasn't driven here whereas Rossi has,

-but it's a while ago.

-And I was talking to Rossi yesterday

and although it was a while ago and Formula BMW very different,

he did say he loved the track from his experience here.

He took two poles and two wins on that occasion

and he was up against some of the quick Europeans

that had come over as well so he said he was maybe a bit of the underdog,

but he had a fantastic weekend.

Alexander Rossi doing a good job,

his last Grand Prix for Marussia this year.

Looking at a replay here of Nasr's lock-up.

That left front as he went into the first corner.

Rossi will not race in Abu Dhabi because there is a GP2 race

and he is looking for victories to add to his tally in that.

We'll have Roberto Mehri back in the car,

but he is hopeful of securing a

drive next season full-time and there have

been stories linking Tavo Hellmund

who was involved in the Mexican Grand Prix,

he's been linked to an investment group in America

who are talking about buying that team.

If there were Americans behind that that would be good

for Alexander Rossi.

Lee, you are in the pit lane and you can see more

of the cars in action than at some of the pit lanes here.

Yes, it is interesting.

You are standing outside the Marussia garage and basically

inside Turn 1, which gives a great view to see who is locking up.

I saw the replay of Massa there.

We have had the Williams and Toro Rosso locking up.

It is a great place

to be able to see the cars on track.

Not often we can see them on track and be in the pit lane.

We're normally looking at a monitor as well.

So it's a fantastic circuit

where everything's on top of each other.

Lee, it is striking how much the road

drops away on the first section.

It never quite comes across on camera.

Absolutely, it's one of the tracks you always want to get out and walk

and see, because it is like a roller-coaster,

it is a cliche, but Turn 1

in particular really drops off.

It's interesting to see how different drivers

are approaching that.

We have seen mistakes there before

and I do not think it will change this weekend.

There will be mistakes in Free Practice 1

and we have seen minor mistakes already.

Hamilton not making any mistakes, going faster again. 1:14:06,

and he is on a good lap.

Rosberg staying within three tenths of him but Hamilton is putting

down a marker about how he intends to go about this weekend

in trying to claim his first victory on this track.

Massa, only tenth.

But Williams never tend to shine on the Friday,

they tend to put work into the race pace and don't tend to run the car

perhaps with the same amount of fuel.

That was a big over steer moment.

We only caught the end of that when we joined Massa but good

correction from Felipe Massa.

This is the replay.

He had to fight the wheel a couple of times to get the car

pointing in the right direction.

Williams are having a strong season, Tony, third in the

Constructors', where they'll end the championship.

It means they will have beaten Red Bull and when you look

at budgets, there is no doubt Williams do not have access to

the same budget as Red Bull.

It's been a solid season.

Perhaps no standout performances.

They led at the British Grand Prix for a while

but it has been a solid season.

They made a quantum leap last year and this

year has been about consolidation.

They're comfortably third,

130 points down on Ferrari but 70 points clear of Red Bull

and so a strong season.

They needed that because you are rewarded...

-RADIO:

-I am struggling massively with the overall grip on the car.

-We saw him sliding, didn't we.

-"Struggling with the grip", he said.

You are rewarded by the number of points scored

and they have had two seasons when they have been right up there.

Top three, so... That is what the doctor ordered.

When you talk about the battle between the teams in

the Constructors' Championship, one of the closest is between Lotus and

Toro Rosso, six points between them.

That's interesting.

Romain Grosjean was talking about that as being part of his target in

his last couple of races for Lotus, to help them stay ahead of

Toro Rosso, and he reckoned it could

be worth four million, the difference between

the positions in the Constructors' Championship.

Between finishing sixth and seventh.

It would certainly pay the hospitality bills!

That's right!

Quite a lot at stake.

Although the championship is sorted.

And all those drivers trying to be in the top ten.

There's a whole bunch of them.

Max Verstappen's in there at the moment

Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg, are only a couple of points behind.

So, who is going to be in that Top Ten?

There's been no Toro Rosso driver in the top ten since Sebastian Vettel

did it in 2008 with that team.

If Verstappen gets in the top ten, it will be a badge of honour.

Indeed, and Romain Grosjean said he is determined to get in there

and he is two points behind.

They all have their little fights to act on.

Look at Verstappen's season, it has been really good.

Nine points scored across the season in his rookie year.

Very impressive indeed.

Just watching a replay of Massa - he clouted the kerb

and that pushed him out wide.

Put too much of the belly of the car...

Yeah, really over the kerb too much and getting a bit carried away.

It looks like Felipe is trying a bit hard?

He's came into the pits to have that checked out.

I'm sure they will have a look underneath.

The thing about that Senna 'S', you have to attack the right-hand

kerb, there is a flat section but it goes up into a high bump,

and then it throws you to the outside kerb, but it's got

a raised section that you can't see when you are looking at it.

The only time when you feel it in the car is when you have gone

too far and it really hits the bottom of the chassis.

The critical thing is to be smooth through there so you can get your

hybrid boost as early as possible through the long left-hander,

which maximises your speed into Turn 4,

which is equally the fastest point

on the circuit in to Turn 1.

-TEAM RADIO:

-The tyres are shot.

The pressures have come up very high, Yellow G2 and box this lap.

Jenson saying the tyres are shot already.

He's done nine laps on them.

Certainly, this revised surface that came in last year does seem to put

a lot more stress through the tyre than the old surface that

we had here in the past.

They are about to use up this first set of tyres anyway, they will be

taking them off the car shortly, the half an hour mark coming up

in just over three minutes' time.

The track will go quieter when that happens.

Let's see what Bottas is doing, he is currently seventh fastest.

We were talking about Championship battles, we have already mentioned

he and Raikkonen are separated by three points, which is great fun.

They have had two incidents, one in Russia and one

in Mexico last time out.

It is stirring the passions of the Finnish fans, we gather, who,

at the moment, are more on Kimi's side than on Bottas',

that is because Kimi has been so long established in the sport.

That is hugely unfair when you look at the incidents.

Kimi came from a mile back in Sochi.

Valtteri saying, "What was that?"

Then, last time out in Mexico, he is right there and Kimi turned in.

I think to get blamed for that, I'm not surprised

he doesn't read to much of it.

Best to ignore everything on the Internet!

Bottas is certainly not dipping his head, he will go

on to battle throughout the rest of these last two races to try

and stay ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

It will be one to watch, I think.

Crossing the line goes Sergio Perez, that is an improvement

for the Mexican.

He goes fifth fastest in the Force India.

So a good effort.

Hulkenberg down in tenth place at the moment.

Now, a bit of news about Daniel Ricciardo, we are riding

on board the Red Bull.

Tony, explain what is going on with the power unit.

Basically, they have an upgraded Renault engine, the update they were

going to run a couple of races ago, they have taken the ten-place hit

here, and talking about it yesterday, he said he doesn't think

it will be a huge - he thinks it will

be a tenth or two of an improvement.

He said he's... Obviously, both Renault and Red Bull,

want to know what sort

of a gain that is and they have put that in and he said if it allows him

to stay in the tow out of Juncao, into the Senna 'S', if it makes the

difference, allows him to keep it in the tow,

the race might come back to him. He's going to do that.

Kvyat has the original motor in the car, but they may take a decision to

change tomorrow depending on how this session goes for Ricciardo.

It is quite a good opening gambit from Ricciardo,

he's gone fourth fastest in a 1:15.2.

Kvyat's gone well here in the past.

He did a free practice session a couple of years ago,

then raced here last year for Toro Rosso.

He's done a 1:15.7 so far.

They will have a direct back-to-back comparison, with Kvyat.

Allan, the point is, Ricciardo, he is running this revised engine,

but he will have a ten-place penalty. So gains and losses there.

It is. There is always that balance

between what you can actually do and overtake.

Here you can overtake but you need good acceleration out

of the final corner and the long pull up the hill.

And that acceleration and top speed has never been

Red Bull's strong point, even when

they were winning World Championships,

so I think it is going to be quite a tough one to achieve.

They have always been able to run a little less wing.

If we go back to Spa, remember they

went down to their lowest downforce setting,

their Monza wing, in first free practice,

as their chassis balance was very good.

So they have been able to get away

with things that other teams haven't been able to try.

In reality, they have little to lose.

They can roll the dice and try something different.

Do you think Red Bull are still experimenting on the chassis side

of things as well?

They are not actually doing very much, they have always got small

developments, but in terms of anything major,

I think it's more a case of just actually finalising the details,

we don't have any big upgrades.

They are always tweaking.

If you think about Red Bull, they are always at the aerodynamics and

changing them up to the final run in Free Practice 3 on Saturday morning.

Then they optimise it and they seem to get it right

nine times out of ten.

As for big developments, that will be 2016.

It's gone a little quiet.

We are into that slight pause now where they have been running

for half an hour, they have to give a set of tyres back to the FIA,

they get another new set of medium compound tyres to be used.

And Christian Horner, the team principal, is joining us.

What are the initial reports back from Daniel Ricciardo and the

Renault guys on this revised engine?

So far, OK.

We have done very little laps and just feeling our way

into a green circuit.

So far, OK.

Are we right in thinking it is just the, as we refer to it, the ice,

the internal combustion engine that is different, nothing else?

That's correct.

We have used 11 tokens on the ice, so that's what is running in

Daniel Ricciardo's car.

What about the thoughts in terms of Daniil Kvyat's car?

Will you go through today and look at the data and then decide?

Or have you made the decision that he will stick with

the engine he's got?

Pretty much made the decision that we will stick with what we've got.

There is no point strategically putting both

on grid-place penalties.

Daniel Ricciardo is running a little less downforce to try and

assist some of the overtaking that he will have to do during the race.

But it's a very useful exercise.

That tells us a bit about engines for this year.

What is the news on engines for next year?

Are you going to be around?

There's been a lot of talk about this.

Look, all I can tell you, we have entered the World Championship.

We haven't concluded an agreement with an engine yet,

or an energy supplier yet.

We are homing in on something.

As you can imagine, in Formula One, there are more scenarios that

have to play out that have to come to a conclusion.

We're getting close and hopefully, I will be able to tell you something

in the not too distant future.

That is good news.

Coming back to the challenge of this track, you have had a lot

of success here in the past, with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Lots of victories and podium finishes.

What is it about this track?

What do you need to get out of the car to make it work here?

You have to have a good balance here, particularly in the middle

sector, so you try and trim the downforce as much as you can because

that pit straight is pretty long and uphill all the way to Turn 1.

It is about having a nicely balanced car through Turn 4, through the

middle sector, Turn 9 is important, and the last two corners,

particularly Turn 12 is really important to get a good exit there.

Christian, it's Tony. You mentioned there

that you were going to run less wing

on Ricciardo's car to allow him to get the overtaking done.

Looking back at Mexico, when you were ballistic

in Sectors 2 and 3, but lost that on the main straight, are you

confident that that will be able to happen and that he is going to get

that overtaking done in the race?

I think all we can do is try and help.

We were running a lot less downforce than others in Mexico.

We were still very quick in Sectors 2 and 3.

This circuit is quite power-sensitive.

You can see that run out of Turn 12 all the way through

the last corner up to Turn 1.

But you get a good tow here.

So, if you can get into the slipstream with the DRS

then you can have a go on the brakes into Turn 1.

Thanks.

Final question.

We saw some images of Max Verstappen,

who has been doing a blinding job for Toro Rosso this year.

We have been talking about him so much.

He is part of the Red Bull family.

Some other team also have their eyes on him.

You're happy that you have got him fixed under contract

for the next couple of years?

Absolutely. He is a product of the Red Bull Junior Team.

All credit to Red Bull for giving him the opportunity.

There was a lot of criticism when he came in.

People said he was too young or it was too early.

He's demonstrated that he's got a sublime amount of ability

and he is still very raw.

The pace that he has is fascinating to see him develop.

There's a few rough edges, but I'm sure they will be polished

off in the coming 12 months.

Great. Thank you very much, Christian.

Hopefully, we will have more from the pit wall

as we go through the weekend.

Let's get back down to the pits while it is reasonably quiet

and join Allan.

Ferrari have been changing front wings back and forward between

the two cars, and they have been doing this for a few races now.

They brought it out in Suzuka and it is a development that they had.

We see it going on to Kimi Raikkonen's car,

there are three main sections that are different on it.

On the top section, you have got, as the top area comes down, it is

sealed at the inner area, then if you go to the main plane itself, if

we can come round here, this area on the other wing is open all the way

here which allows more airflow underneath and the final point is

where the actual main plane comes down at the bottom, this is much

more curved which disturbs the air which means when it comes to the

tyre that sits here, it's got a nicer airflow all the way around.

All the time you're playing the balance

between the pitch sensitivity and the downforce level.

Ferrari have been doing that quite a lot through the last couple

of Grand Prix, deciding which nose is right for the circuit.

Because Kimi Raikkonen is still in that battle for fourth place.

For Sebastian Vettel, he has a hope of second, but it will be tough.

Thank you. Good to see Ferrari still working hard

on trying to bring improvements.

Sebastian Vettel, after that disappointing time in Mexico,

it was the first time he had crashed out of a Grand Prix since 2010.

A massively long time, but he didn't cover himself in glory, did he?

No he didn't, but he was very honest about it.

He came on the radio and said, "Sorry guys, it was..."

I can't remember the word that he said, but it amounted to rubbish!

After the race, a journalist who couldn't believe what he'd seen,

he said, "Did something funny happen,

"cos I couldn't quite believe that?"

Sebastian just laughed and said, "Neither could I!"

He is so honest.

He has a great relationship with that team.

When you have 12 podiums out of him,

they can forgive him a race like that.

And three victories of course during the year, which, although they put

that out there as a dream at the beginning of the year, they didn't

expect to get three victories.

We have been talking about how this is a special track

at Interlagos, why not hear from a man who has taken victory

here, who won his world title here about Interlagos, Jenson Button

talking to Tom yesterday.

It is difficult to say a favourite corner.

It's a great circuit, the atmosphere helps

if there wasn't any stadiums or people

it wouldn't have the same atmosphere, so...

It is a very special circuit.

Turn 1 is the most difficult corner on circuit.

It is blind, the cambers are all a bit iffy,

so it is easy to lock a front.

You arrive at a corner locked up, or you arrive,

"I could have braked later."

So that's probably the trickiest corner.

The best corner is the double right-hander,

the fast one, Turn 6, 7?

That is good fun. I've actually gone around the outside of someone there.

Which is a brave move, but a fun move

I enjoy driving here.

Last year was tricky. The asphalt was different.

Smoother, which is a good thing.

So, look forward to this year.

That corner, Turns 6 and 7, Ferradura, as it is known,

delighted to have pulled off some good manoeuvres there in the past.

Jenson Button, one of the most experienced Formula One

drivers of all time now, with that one world title to his name, and

a full season coming up next year.

Felipe Massa also has great feelings about this Grand Prix,

just seen Kimi Raikkonen go out.

Let's hear what Massa feels about going

into his home event this weekend.

It is an amazing race.

It is like a dream for Brazilian to race here.

I remember when I was in the grandstand standing up,

every lap a Brazilian was passing through, now I'm here racing,

with two victories in the pocket.

Maybe I should have managed to finish more on the podium

in my career.

Brazilian with more victories, with more podiums here,

the same victories as other champs, which I hope I can have a third one,

it is like a dream for me.

I will try everything I can to use all this energy,

use this amazing track,

amazing feeling that it can help me and in one of the most

incredible track and race for me.

He's now done 122 Grand Prix since that last victory

so it has been a long time.

Wouldn't it be something if he could?

We can hear from team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with Lee.

What has it been like on track?

It feels like less grip than last year, because last year with the

new tarmac it was gripping so we struggled a bit in the first one.

It was the first one. Just checking everything works.

Now we are tuning the setup and trying to get a bit more out

of the tyres.

You are in a big battle in the Drivers' Championship

alongside Kimi Raikkonen, where do you think Williams will be this

weekend in comparison to Ferrari?

Recently Ferrari have edged again.

I think it will be tight again.

They are strong here but no doubt we will be, as well, and

if we get everything right today and tomorrow, I think it will be close.

Hopeful it will be another nice battle on the track on Sunday.

There are a lot battles you have been having on track.

You two can't seem to keep away from each other, was anything said

after the last incident?

No, I do not think there is any need.

Everything is fine.

Well, the good news is there's a Finnish Driver's Steward as well

so if you need one you all speak the same language.

What's your plan?

What are you going to run through this morning?

Mainly focusing on the tyres.

That will be the key.

We have the medium and soft compound

and they both behave really different.

We have the compound and to get the most out of those will be the

key, that will be the target today.

Thanks for talking to us. Goodbye.

Valtteri Bottas about to get back into the car.

Looking at the times so far, Tony, Hamilton and Rosberg at the top,

but interesting to see the two Ferraris next best with Vettel

closely matched by Raikkonen after those initial runs.

Then Ricardo, but as ever

Valtteri Bottas and Massa further down the list

but, as I mentioned, they do tend to run the cars

with more fuel on Friday.

When it comes to qualifying, I'm sure they'll be much higher up.

And they impressed me last year.

Valtteri obviously hoping he can keep that battle with Kimi going.

Because, I mean, when you look at it,

Vettel has scored more than twice Raikkonen's points.

He's got 251.

Raikkonen's on, you know, 123.

Valtteri three ahead of him in a car which, quite honestly,

isn't as quick as the Ferrari.

So he's done a great job.

I mean, I'm sure he'd love to put one over on Kimi

and finish ahead of him.

He was asked yesterday if Kimi Raikkonen would be a bit embarrassed

if he finished behind and he smiled and said,

"I don't know, you'll have to ask him!"

But he's intent on making it happen.

Kimi Raikkonen has gone quicker,

a slight lock up on that lap,

but he's gone third fastest now

to go quicker than Vettel's time from earlier on.

But it's still half a second of what Mercedes are capable of doing.

Max Verstappen heading out.

That is the area where they can do their practice start.

So it's right down on the exit of the pits,

after they've come down the hill and through the twisty section.

That's where they can do their practice starts.

And Verstappen now on circuit.

And everybody I think has managed a decent number of laps so far.

It doesn't look as though anybody's had any major technical problems.

And at the bottom of the order, both Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi

have put in some lap times

and they're on the same tenth of a second, so it's very close

between Stevens and Rossi in the Manor cars.

You mentioned earlier that there is talk

of perhaps a change of ownership at that Manor team.

Perhaps an American group getting involved and investing in the team.

But we do know, of course, they have Mercedes engines for next year.

So there is a great deal of hope they will be a bit more competitive,

perhaps try to get into the midfield battles.

We've got the Haas team coming in next year,

the American team of the Ferrari power.

And with an awful lot of Ferrari technology, as well.

The team Romain Grosjean will be going to

and, as we know now, being joined by Gutierrez.

So lots of little things to be looking forward to next year.

Yeah, that's interesting.

The Haas team coming in with all that Ferrari technology

and importantly a budget.

And that has, you know...

It might not be a medium,

but that's got to be a thing that's going to be competing

at around top five, top six level.

Let's just ride on board with Verstappen.

He's going to take us around the lap.

He's coming along the back stretch now,

which is a DRS zone, as well.

Into Turn 4.

A tricky left-hander.

It drops downhill again here before it just bottoms out.

Now they begin t start the climb back up the hill.

This is the corner Button was talking about,

Turns 6 and 7,

fast approach.

It kind of tightens up

and then into Turn 8,

where it really gets tight.

Then Pinheirinho, the left-hander, again drops downhill a little bit.

He might lose camber.

That's right. And then climbs the hill up again into Bico de Pato.

The duckbill, a tight right.

That's where we often see a little bit of locking up.

Through Mergulho, the left-hander.

Now the corner that Christian Horner mentioned is so important,

this left-hander here, Turn 12...

Good exit there required,

because it's now flat out all the way up the hill.

You can see the gear changes on the graphic on the left there.

Pops it into eighth gear as he comes over the hill.

There's the pit-lane entry on the left

and then across the start/finishing line to complete the lap.

The speed - 330 kilometres per hour at that section.

Rosberg fastest on the fastest Speed Trap at the moment

at 338 kilometres per hour.

Again, Verstappen never afraid of the car moving around on him

and he has the fastest middle sector time of anybody.

Don't forget, he has just gone out on a new set of tyres

and so it's understandable why he's moved up, but that's a good lap.

Now 1:14.9 from Verstappen there

and that was only, what,

about two-tenths slower than Kimi Raikkonen's lap.

So a very impressive lap once again from Max Verstappen.

And he's on a bit of a mission once more, I think, to score more points.

Interesting when we were watching that lap

and we saw the last bit of the section,

that the longer acceleration right at the first corner.

When we were talking to Christian and he was saying

the fact you can get a tow there, because it's quite a slow exit,

you can get in a tow and slingshot pass.

Now, talking to Alonso earlier in the weekend,

there may be a problem with the energy recovery system deployment,

which gives you an extra power boost.

If you suddenly run out, suddenly lose that power,

we're thinking, well, what a nightmare for anybody

tucking into the slipstream of a car

that suddenly runs out of ERS deployment.

But Alonso interesting said he doesn't thinks that will happen here

because it's such a relatively short lap and they should be OK.

So that's something which was potentially a snake,

but should be OK and not cause any dramas, we hope.

Well, that's good news to hear.

In Japan it almost caused some problems.

We saw McLarens being overtaken left, right and centre

on the run down to the first corner.

Let's see what Perez' lap is.

He does a 1:15.4.

So it is an improvement on lap time.

And he gets to within a second of the fastest time

that has been set by Lewis Hamilton, so far.

Still both Mercedes cars are in the pits.

They haven't decided to come out and play just yet.

We are halfway through this first practice session

for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

We are at Interlagos, a track that has been used for many, many years.

In fact, it will be

the 43rd World Championship Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend

and the 33rd to be held here at St Paulo.

It was also held in Rio for some years at the Jacarepagua circuit,

but that is actually being built on now for the Olympics for next year.

So it won't ever be a race circuit again

and St Paulo is very much the place for Formula One

and, indeed, for a lot of top-level national motorsport here in Brazil.

Yeah, you mentioned at the top of the programme

the Emerson Fittipaldi effect,

effectively bringing motor racing to this place.

And that was 1970.

But since then, they've had five home winners

and multiple winners, as well, so they've done incredibly well.

Massa's won twice. Senna's won twice.

Nelson Piquet won twice at the other circuit.

And then, obviously, Emerson himself twice.

So the passion is like Mexico,

but they've also got the pedigree to back it up in terms of drivers.

Yes, in terms of winners. And that is crucial, of course.

Right now, you would have to say

Massa is in the best place to try and snatch a victory.

But it would be against the run of the green

if Williams were to take a win here

because of the performance of Mercedes,

because of Ferrari and, indeed, the danger of Red Bull, as well.

But, yes, the Brazilians have had

an awful lot to cheer about over the years.

Emerson Fittipaldi, the man who started it all.

He came from Brazil to the UK,

started his junior racing career after karting in Brazil

in the UK racing in Formula Ford

and he really opened the door

and then came back to Brazil

and taking those Grand Prix victories here.

Really igniting the passion for the sport in this part of the world,

which is wonderful to see.

Palmer there in the Lotus

doing his Friday morning session.

Of course, it means

that Romain Grosjean has to sit the session out,

as he has done on very many occasions so far this year.

But Grosjean is in a great place at the moment.

He's really looking forward to these last two races with the team

and he's looking forward to going to the American Haas team.

Interestingly, of course, the Lotus name...

It was the original Colin Chapman Lotus

that Emerson Fittipaldi won that first race here in 1973.

But as Enstone, I don't think they've had quite so much success,

even though Alonso wrapped up his championships with that team

at this very circuit.

Yeah, when you talk about Emerson,

what an achievement that was to win his fourth race which, effectively,

sealed the World Championship that year for Jochen Rindt,

who'd tragically been killed at Monza

and he was the sport's first posthumous champion.

I shouldn't say that.

Yeah, we won't go into that story right now.

But, er, yeah.

Hulkenberg crosses the line.

He's sixth fastest.

That's a good lap.

Just a little bit off what Vettel has done so far.

So both Force Indias running strongly

in the top ten at the moment.

I think they will also be hoping

that they can get a good couple of finishes

and if they can challenge Williams,

that would certainly be one of their targets.

It's interesting, Tony, when you look at engine use

throughout the year so far.

Of course, they are limited to four engines a season

and when you look at the list,

basically it's fundamentally just the Mercedes teams

that have managed to do that.

They've all managed to get through the season on four engines.

Even Ferrari. Although Sauber have done it.

Sauber have managed to get through

the season so far on their four engines.

Even Ferrari have had to go for more.

Vettel is on his fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen on his sixth.

You get grid penalties every time you go beyond the four.

But when you look at what Mercedes have done

in terms of reliability, it is amazing.

It is stunning.

I had to have a bit of a laugh yesterday, actually,

listening to Rosberg talking about his season

and he said, "We've had a few reliability issues."

I thought, "Well, most people would love your reliability issues."

Because Mercedes, for the last 56 Grand Prix,

they have been in the points.

Which is a phenomenal run, third best of all time.

I think the record's 81 by Ferrari.

I think McLaren at some stage did 64 but, I mean,

this is right at the start of a new engine formula,

so phenomenal reliability, I would say.

Yeah, incredible.

Just seeing Rosberg about to head out onto the circuit.

Looking again at that little blip on the front of the cockpit section.

The little S-duct that they are running here this weekend

for the first time.

So Mercedes might be World Champions

and they might have taken Lewis Hamilton to the drivers' title,

but they are not resting

when it comes to further development with the car.

And they know there could be more of a challenge from Ferrari next year.

There's a lot of optimism around

that Ferrari will take yet another step forwards.

And Jock Clear, who worked very closely with Lewis Hamilton,

winning the title last year,

well, he has been on gardening leave

pretty much throughout the whole of this year,

but he is an engineer with a massive amount of experience,

winning titles with Williams in the '90s with Jacques Villeneuve.

As I mentioned, very much a part of Hamilton's close crew last year.

And he is going to Ferrari.

He will certainly be there for all of next year.

I am not sure exactly which day he begins,

whether it's going to be for the test in Abu Dhabi, for example,

or whether it'll be January 1st.

But he'll be a very interesting addition to the Ferrari team.

Yeah, you have to look at the length of his gardening leave

to know that Mercedes know that will be a help to Ferrari.

And his garden should be looking fantastic!

That's right, yes.

They obviously were not able to negotiate an earlier start time

because, presumably, Mercedes were very keen he did not get to Ferrari

any earlier than it had to be.

So that's going to be an interesting change.

There will be other personnel changes, of course,

as we go over the winter,

but you do not want to break up a winning team.

And I would imagine that most of the Mercedes crew

will continue for next year

and try and just build on this

and see whether they can make it three rows of titles.

A little bit of the liquid going on the front of Rosberg's car.

They'll look at the airflow around that duct section

when the car is out on circuit.

Now, I was talking to Toto Wolff at the last race

about this season and Mercedes

and he was saying the thing that has really impressed him

is the culture within the team.

He said most of those guys that have been there

have been through a lot of iterations in that team, you know?

And it had a difficult time.

And he said they are all survivors

and they've got this culture now

where there, you know, there is no blame culture.

They are not afraid to try things

because they're not protecting themselves.

-RADIO:

-Massive understeer. Massive understeer.

And he said that's what's been the most impressive thing,

the advance that's gone forward,

they are all singing from the same song sheet.

And Jock coming into the middle of that,

you know, with people willing to try things and do things,

it's just going to make it stronger.

Well, yes, it will be interesting.

Sorry, I meant to say was Jock coming out of that,

the culture of that being there, it has made up for that loss.

Yeah, and they've got plenty of other people

ready to sort of step into the shoes. Yes, that's right.

Just seeing Vettel has gone fastest now on his new set of tyres.

A 1:14.2.

But look, Mercedes are back out there.

We've seen Rosberg just do a lap.

I think he's just backed off on that last one a little bit,

but maybe now building up to a lap.

As Romain Grosjean watches the monitors

and, of course, gets his chance a little bit later on today

to see what he can do on board the Lotus.

But the Ferrari fastest for the moment of Sebastian Vettel.

That will give them some encouragement.

Let's see what kind of response we now get from Rosberg, in particular,

as he heads down through the first sector.

The first sector point

is about two thirds of the way down this next straight.

So you will see the comparison.

18.4 is the fastest we've seen there and he does 18.5.

So he's just over one-tenth slower than the fastest.

But he was the fastest earlier on in the session,

when he was on his initial set of tyres.

So now he's into that mid-sector, through Ferradura,

and as the track climbs and tightens through this section now.

Uses a bit of kerb.

Interesting to see how many people use the kerb there

and how much the car bounces as a result of it.

Now the even tighter section.

This is one of the tighter corners on the track

Let's listen.

-TEAM RADIO:

-The tyres are really dropping off a lot

after one lap already.

And after four laps, they stabilised.

But now you are one second slower.

Good feedback from Max Verstappen to the Toro Rosso team

and how these tyres are reacting.

Allan, I'll come to you in a second

about the tyres and how they're working here.

I just want to see Rosberg across the line to see what this lap is.

To see whether it challenges the lap we have seen from Vettel.

Indeed it does, he goes quicker.

Pretty close. But it's a 1:14.0.

Allan, in Mexico, it was a very different story.

We had the new surface

and the tyre was barely being used at all.

They had to do a number of laps in qualifying to get their best lap.

Looks like we are on for a very different story here this weekend.

Yes, it's a slightly different scenario,

because that was a new circuit.

And it was very dusty and dirty.

We saw a tremendous amount of spinners,

especially at the beginning of the weekend.

But here, it's not due to that.

Here, it's due to the fact that they basically

have got the grip out of it,

but the performance goes out from the rubber part of it

the compound, it's overused.

So, therefore, you've got this degradation

and that is where the lap time goes, especially in that middle sector.

Because you go through Turn 4,

then you come up through the double right-hander 6 and 7,

and then it's all hairpins and acceleration

and that puts so much energy into the rear tyres.

And that's something these Pirelli rears don't like very much,

is when you put a lot of aggressive torque and energy into it.

And that finally finishes when you start on to the big, long straight

up towards Turn 1 again.

So a lot of energy being created.

Vettel, a slight improvement on that last lap

and, he's almost gone as quick as Rosberg, but not quite.

And Hamilton now is on a lap that should see him

mix it with the two of them, as well.

So this could be an improvement for Lewis Hamilton on this next lap.

Keep an eye on him. He is third fastest at the moment.

Kimi Raikkonen is currently fourth. Verstappen is fifth.

Hulkenberg is sixth.

Danny Ricciardo is seventh.

Sainz is currently eighth.

Perez, ninth and Maldonado is in tenth position for the moment.

Hamilton has backed off a bit, though, on this lap,

so, obviously, he will build up for another lap on the next one.

His first sector was good, but then he backed off.

It may well have been that he caught the traffic, of course, there

of Palmer in the Lotus.

So Hamilton now heads across the line

and this should be a more representative lap from him.

That was a slower lap.

A little lock up on that left front.

Oh! And he goes way wide.

So it won't be this lap

and that's a classic mistake.

A little bit like Jenson Button was telling us earlier in the programme.

Absolutely.

If you come in there and you think, "I've got to brake a bit later."

And it reminds me of the first race

Montoya did here when he arrived in 2001

and pulled that overtaking manoeuvre on Michael Schumacher,

which surprised Michael.

He was turning in and suddenly he was right there,

you know, the last of the late brakers.

Forced him wide on the exit.

And that laid down a marker.