Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice 2

:01:05. > :01:11.Hello and welcome back to Sao Paulo in Brazil, we have just two Grand

:01:12. > :01:14.Prix left before the end of the season and while Lewis Hamilton has

:01:15. > :01:19.already been crowned champion, the fight is on to be best of the rest.

:01:20. > :01:23.Alan McNish, we have been hiding from the rain, lovely and sunny this

:01:24. > :01:28.morning but we knew there was a threat of rain and thunderstorms in

:01:29. > :01:34.the area. That is the thing about Interlagps, you just don't know.

:01:35. > :01:39.They have been a lot a rain affected races, just a few minutes ago, the

:01:40. > :01:43.ground was wet and we were expecting a wet free practice to, but it has

:01:44. > :01:49.now dried off, we will still look at the clouds and I am sure we will see

:01:50. > :01:54.a smattering of rain at some point. The cars on the circuit, it can be

:01:55. > :02:00.dry at the beginning of qualifying and wet at the end, the teams will

:02:01. > :02:04.not take any chances letting any showers hold them back? They have a

:02:05. > :02:09.restricted number of wet tyres as well so they cannot just run and

:02:10. > :02:14.destroy the tyres, they will be thinking about the race situation. I

:02:15. > :02:20.hope it is either dry or completely wet, not the in between stage. We

:02:21. > :02:23.saw how tricky it was earlier on, it has been slippery and a lot of

:02:24. > :02:28.building work going on here, a lot of people complaining about bust on

:02:29. > :02:35.the track. Max Verstappen at the start of the session, coming around

:02:36. > :02:39.the long corner, then we have Sebastian Vettel coming into the

:02:40. > :02:43.last corner and just as he turns in towards the exit he loses the rear

:02:44. > :02:48.end and has to open the steering and run a bit wide and across the grass,

:02:49. > :02:54.no harm done in that situation but a small error. That is one thing I

:02:55. > :03:00.like about this circuit, it does punish you for any small error.

:03:01. > :03:03.There are no massive run of areas to secure yourself. Lewis Hamilton half

:03:04. > :03:08.a second quicker than anyone else but he locked up going into the

:03:09. > :03:15.first corner, it is cambered their so the inside left is very unloaded

:03:16. > :03:19.and easy to unlock. Finally we have Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari

:03:20. > :03:24.locking up as soon as he hits the break, 110 mph into turn four and

:03:25. > :03:31.the hybrid system acted aggressively the, skidding through the gravel. No

:03:32. > :03:35.damage in that situation but clearly this circuit is not in perfect

:03:36. > :03:42.condition. Looking like he is trying to plough a field there. But he is

:03:43. > :03:46.used in rallying. We were talking about Lewis Hamilton, half a second

:03:47. > :03:51.fastest at the end of free practice one but Nico Rosberg won the Mexican

:03:52. > :03:54.Grand Prix with a fantastic atmosphere, he is determined to win

:03:55. > :04:00.every race for the rest of the season. He has to get the momentum

:04:01. > :04:04.that, he has been dominated by Lewis Hamilton 's season, especially in

:04:05. > :04:09.qualifying but he has had four pole positions on the bounce and a strong

:04:10. > :04:13.race win in Mexico. 12 months ago he was a dominant person here in Brazil

:04:14. > :04:17.so he wants to continue with that and he was to get his mind settled

:04:18. > :04:20.going into 2016 as a title contender again. One

:04:21. > :04:29.the man who did win the title again this year was Lewis Hamilton, Nico

:04:30. > :04:30.Rosberg as we said one the Mexican Grand Prix and he is back up in

:04:31. > :04:52.second place. The Finnish drivers cannot stay

:04:53. > :05:00.apart on the track. We know Mercedes sewed up the constructors' title in

:05:01. > :05:02.Russia. Ferrari are second. Force India office but could still be

:05:03. > :05:15.vulnerable to Lotus and Toro Rosso. In the pit lane today we have Tom

:05:16. > :05:24.Clarkson and Jenny Gell, what is it like? It is 25 degrees, a little bit

:05:25. > :05:29.of moisture in the air but before we start talking about whether I to

:05:30. > :05:34.say, there is a famous saying in Formula 1 that it is only Friday and

:05:35. > :05:38.that has applied particularly today. Walking up and down the pit lane you

:05:39. > :05:46.can see how much the teams were gearing towards 2016 during first

:05:47. > :05:49.practice this morning. Mercedes ran an ester, even Red Bull have a new

:05:50. > :05:54.internal combustion engine which is geared towards next year. It is only

:05:55. > :05:59.this afternoon that we will see a majority of the teams working on the

:06:00. > :06:04.weekend ahead. However there are some issues with that. The weather

:06:05. > :06:09.here is definitely changeable, I have spoken to the FIA, they say

:06:10. > :06:12.they expect showers on and off through this session so it will be

:06:13. > :06:17.hard to predict exactly what tyres to be out on at which time, you

:06:18. > :06:21.would want it either dry or wet and it looks like a few drops come down

:06:22. > :06:28.now in the pit lane it will be mixing it up the whole way through.

:06:29. > :06:33.There we can see Daniil Kvyat having a look with his engineer and Adrian

:06:34. > :06:41.Sutil and Alexander Vert, he announced week he was retiring from

:06:42. > :06:45.motor racing. Hanging up his habit and in typical fashion, it was a

:06:46. > :06:50.clear decision by him. This weekend he is here for Williams and this

:06:51. > :06:54.could be a good Grand Prix for Williams, they were fast here last

:06:55. > :06:58.year and Felipe Massa is a local favourite, winning hit twice and

:06:59. > :07:03.Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, that is one of the big stories of

:07:04. > :07:06.the weekend because they are still battling for fourth place overall in

:07:07. > :07:11.the championship. You can bet your bottom dollar that Massa will be

:07:12. > :07:15.spurred on by the Brazilian fans. He has such a huge selection of fans,

:07:16. > :07:20.worth mentioning Felipe Nasr here, it was here that he was announced as

:07:21. > :07:25.a driver for Sauber going forward before this season, how has he

:07:26. > :07:29.applied himself? He had a good run at the start of the season but he

:07:30. > :07:33.dropped off a little bit and his performances were not quite

:07:34. > :07:38.continuing with that momentum. But Sauber and their car did not

:07:39. > :07:42.develop, that was the issue. They started extremely well in Australia,

:07:43. > :07:47.a big surprise but were not able to continue that momentum. We can see

:07:48. > :07:51.Felipe Massa there, this it is exactly what we were talking about,

:07:52. > :07:54.starting to rain a little bit. The drivers are used with this around

:07:55. > :08:00.Interlagps because it changes quickly. In fact, Bottas means

:08:01. > :08:06.between lakes and the weather comes and goes, qualifying has been

:08:07. > :08:10.delayed before, we are used to it. There are two macro legs either side

:08:11. > :08:14.of the circuit, if it rains here it does rain heavily and you get a lot

:08:15. > :08:20.of rivers and aquaplaning and things like that but right now the rain has

:08:21. > :08:23.started again and there are little wet spots so it is in that critical

:08:24. > :08:28.condition where you would not necessarily go out on slicks but you

:08:29. > :08:31.cannot go on intermediates either. Before this session starts to tell

:08:32. > :08:36.us about your morning, an interesting moment in the pit lane?

:08:37. > :08:40.There was an interesting moment but I knew nothing about it. I was

:08:41. > :08:44.released into Jenson Button and he was not happy about it. He was

:08:45. > :08:50.released and I was released, the mechanic that released me released

:08:51. > :08:53.me when it was clear but Jensen was a bit quicker, I could see nothing

:08:54. > :08:58.in the mirror and I blocked him fairly savagely to be fair and we

:08:59. > :09:05.got a fine for it but it is not a big deal really. There was no big

:09:06. > :09:11.drama. Happy with performance? Good I think, a new track for me, quite

:09:12. > :09:18.complex as well, a lot of undulations and blind corners and

:09:19. > :09:22.technical bits. It is FB one, it is the worst session of the weekend

:09:23. > :09:26.because there is no rubber down, but we had a testing programme and it

:09:27. > :09:30.was the first time in a long time I have been driving and we have got

:09:31. > :09:35.through a clean programme. First time since Monza so that is a long

:09:36. > :09:39.time. Good to be back in the car properly but a good session. You

:09:40. > :09:43.have to go back to the garage and learn about this, we will not keep

:09:44. > :09:49.you, just very briefly, still spitting with rain, what can we

:09:50. > :09:53.expect? I think we will wait a bit before it goes one way or the other,

:09:54. > :09:57.if it dries up all gets wet, then you will see cars on track but this

:09:58. > :10:02.could be tomorrow and also Sunday. He will go up to the commentary

:10:03. > :10:04.box, we have live coverage of free practice to coming up from

:10:05. > :10:26.Interlagps, enjoy. The COMMENTATOR: Here we are, in

:10:27. > :10:31.Bottas getting towards the end of the World Championship, two rounds

:10:32. > :10:34.to go, Friday practice two where traditionally we see the long run

:10:35. > :10:38.times and what performance the teams will have in the Grand Prix for

:10:39. > :10:43.Sunday. Also a taster of the qualifying simulation. As we have

:10:44. > :10:47.been hearing in the build-up to this session, there has been rain. It

:10:48. > :10:50.started raining about half a narrow go and then it stopped and now it

:10:51. > :10:54.has started again. It is the intermittent sort of rain that has

:10:55. > :11:02.affected so many Brazilian Grand Prix over the year. They're having

:11:03. > :11:06.some great moments,, Ayrton Senna on the way to his first-ever victory in

:11:07. > :11:10.his home Grand Prix, a rain shower towards the end and he was stuck in

:11:11. > :11:14.gear that day and a cramp in his shoulders to deal with. More

:11:15. > :11:18.recently, 2008, was Hamilton finally winning the world champion by

:11:19. > :11:23.passing the Toyota on the last corner of the last lap of the last

:11:24. > :11:28.race of the championship. This misty rain that suddenly drifts in with a

:11:29. > :11:32.huge part of the story there, Toyota had gambled staying on the dry

:11:33. > :11:36.weather tyres and Hamilton was on the wet tyres and it was a question

:11:37. > :11:40.of whether it would rain more not as to whether he would win the World

:11:41. > :11:45.Championship. He did, and the rest is history. It is just free practice

:11:46. > :11:50.and we will see how things evolve over the next 90 minutes, if you

:11:51. > :11:52.were not with us this morning, to see the first practice session,

:11:53. > :11:57.Lewis Hamilton hit the ground running, he may have had a few

:11:58. > :12:01.personal issues of circuit in the build-up to this Grand Prix. With a

:12:02. > :12:06.road accident in Monaco where he lives, no one hurt but some damage

:12:07. > :12:12.to his very valuable supercar, some other cars as well. Hamilton

:12:13. > :12:16.admitted yesterday that he has been burning the candle at both ends

:12:17. > :12:19.since winning the World Championship, letting his head down

:12:20. > :12:27.a bit but it has not slowed him down at all so far. 1:13.543 was his time

:12:28. > :12:32.after 28 laps of running in free practice one. That was comfortably

:12:33. > :12:35.half a second quicker than Nico Rosberg. Talking to a number of

:12:36. > :12:39.photographers out on circuit this morning, all of them commenting on

:12:40. > :12:45.how crisp and aggressive Hamilton looked a particularly in the low

:12:46. > :12:51.speed corners, of which there are a number at Interlagps, the 2.6 miles

:12:52. > :12:56.circuit. Raikkonen had a spin this morning, meanwhile, Jenson Button

:12:57. > :13:02.and Fernando Alonso, driving for the McLaren team and their boss, Eric

:13:03. > :13:06.Bailly a is with Tom Clarkson now. Let us talk about the weather, you

:13:07. > :13:11.are talking to an Englishman, what is the forecast for this session?

:13:12. > :13:19.Rehab a few showers floating around so as you can see there are some few

:13:20. > :13:24.drops. -- we have a few options. The macro you are not changing your

:13:25. > :13:29.programme? It is too unpredictable at this stage. We watch the radar

:13:30. > :13:34.and see what is going on. Let us talk about your team, a difficult

:13:35. > :13:40.Grand Prix in Mexico, can we expect better things this weekend? Won yes,

:13:41. > :13:44.it can only be better, everybody is working hard and they are very

:13:45. > :13:55.focused on what is happening now and for next year so we can expect

:13:56. > :13:59.better reliability here. Down on power and at altitude, the long hill

:14:00. > :14:04.coming up to the start and finish straight, are you expecting decent

:14:05. > :14:08.things, can we think about points? We do not want to think about

:14:09. > :14:14.anything now, no wrong expectations. These last two races, they test

:14:15. > :14:17.sessions for McLaren or are you trying to get results, are you

:14:18. > :14:28.really chasing Sauber in the championship? Won for the last 18

:14:29. > :14:33.races? It is like I said, we are working on making our car better, we

:14:34. > :14:39.are just trying to keep focused on where we should be. Where should you

:14:40. > :14:46.be next season? We will see, much higher. Tom with the McLaren boss

:14:47. > :14:49.and Jenson Button was saying yesterday in the official press

:14:50. > :14:52.conference, the driver 's press conference, that he believes that

:14:53. > :14:59.next year they will be fighting at the front if not necessarily winning

:15:00. > :15:02.races which is quite big talk. He was 13th in practice this morning

:15:03. > :15:09.and Alonso in 16th, talking about great moments here at Bottas over

:15:10. > :15:13.the years, the 2005 Grand Prix where he won the world title, Alonso, for

:15:14. > :15:19.the first time in the Renault, he came in and climbed on to the nose

:15:20. > :15:22.of his Renault car and just exploded with joy, a very emotional moment

:15:23. > :15:31.for him, the culmination of a lifetime 's work.

:15:32. > :15:47.It has been dreadfully since about half an hour -- drizzle. The track

:15:48. > :15:52.temperature is 32. But was not enough rain falling to make it fully

:15:53. > :16:02.damp. No evidence of shininess on the racetrack. I drove back to

:16:03. > :16:06.Austin airport with Alan McNish and it was raining hard and I was asking

:16:07. > :16:16.how you can tell why Macleay tunnels are and how you are likely to Aqua

:16:17. > :16:20.plane. It is an amazing science. Your eyes seeing the water on the

:16:21. > :16:26.racetrack is huge. Anything shiny is not good when it is wet because that

:16:27. > :16:30.suggests there is standing water and slippery. The rain just coming over

:16:31. > :16:35.the top of the bridge to the commentary box. If it drips, as it

:16:36. > :16:39.is, and it is probably going to be spots of rain, you would definitely

:16:40. > :16:44.be on the slick tyre trying to get as much of your running done as

:16:45. > :16:48.possible to get a bit of a feel, especially on the soft tyre, because

:16:49. > :16:53.the experience on the soft tyre this year is the rule. Last year it was

:16:54. > :16:59.overheating on the surface of the tyre itself. I can see them getting

:17:00. > :17:04.onto that tyre quite soon. Rosberg heading out on circuit on the medium

:17:05. > :17:11.compound Pirelli tyres. He has all sorts of pressure sensors on the

:17:12. > :17:15.front of that Mercedes. This free practice session is a three our

:17:16. > :17:20.opportunity for all of the Formula 1 team to try out some new things and

:17:21. > :17:24.do some measurements. We often see the cars coming in in a Day-Glo

:17:25. > :17:35.paints to measure the aerodynamic flows battling over the car and the

:17:36. > :17:37.surfaces and they can learn a lot from that. As Tom Clarkson was

:17:38. > :17:41.saying this is a great opportunity with these last couple of races. The

:17:42. > :17:46.championship and the constructors decided. A great opportunity for

:17:47. > :17:52.them to try something new with an eye on next season. There will be a

:17:53. > :17:55.tyre test with the latest development tyres for next year

:17:56. > :18:02.including the new ultrasoft which sounds exciting. It will primarily

:18:03. > :18:18.be a qualifying tyre but the idea is to make the strategy a bit more

:18:19. > :18:21.variable on the Saturday. Yes. The ultrasoft will be faster and more

:18:22. > :18:27.critical than the current super soft. Maybe similar to what we had

:18:28. > :18:35.as the super soft last year. I do not think it is going to be radical

:18:36. > :18:38.because they cannot go too far but you might have options with

:18:39. > :18:46.different teams running different options to the other. One hour and

:18:47. > :19:01.26 minutes remaining. Very early stages. Grosjean still some way off

:19:02. > :19:06.the pace we saw this morning. Coming close a number of times to getting

:19:07. > :19:14.that kind of breakthrough result that Verstappen has had. So far the

:19:15. > :19:28.Hollywood result for Sainz has not come through. I do not think he

:19:29. > :19:32.means the brakes are not working entirely. I think he means the

:19:33. > :19:35.efficiency of the brakes are not very good so he does not get the

:19:36. > :19:44.massive deceleration you normally get when you come up to the hairpin.

:19:45. > :19:54.150 kilograms of force onto the brake pedal. You have a celebration

:19:55. > :19:57.at quite a few corners but if you do not get the friction on the panel,

:19:58. > :20:01.on the desk, on the tyre, on the ground, then you feel it because the

:20:02. > :20:03.line is very narrow when you get to the apex especially at the moment

:20:04. > :20:11.because the circuit seems to be sloppy this morning with a few bebop

:20:12. > :20:26.having off track excursions. 5.5 G of deceleration as they hit the

:20:27. > :20:30.brakes. Just slowing down from well over 200 mph. Five G of deceleration

:20:31. > :20:38.hitting the driver squarely on the chest. Just under a second under

:20:39. > :20:43.half of braking. That how efficient the braking is. That is why it is so

:20:44. > :20:49.important if they not working properly, like for Grosjean.

:20:50. > :20:58.Remember you can get in touch with us if you are watching live. That is

:20:59. > :21:02.a replay, exactly the same as what happened to Max Verstappen this

:21:03. > :21:10.morning. Just as he is about to change up to the next gear the rear

:21:11. > :21:14.of the car becomes unstable. It is basically a replica of what happened

:21:15. > :21:18.to Verstappen this morning. Talk to me about the lack of grip budget so

:21:19. > :21:25.this morning. That has been a fair amount of building work been going

:21:26. > :21:30.on. The pit lane is particularly dusty. Out on circuit, is it

:21:31. > :21:33.normal... We are part of the City here or there is a lot of smog in

:21:34. > :21:40.the air and a lot of stuff coming down and settling. Yes, but this was

:21:41. > :21:43.a new tarmac surface last year and significantly quicker than the

:21:44. > :21:49.previous. It seemed to have a lot of grip at very high temperatures. They

:21:50. > :21:54.were still one seconds slower than last year in free practice. The

:21:55. > :21:59.circuit did not seem to have the grip. It seems to have become more

:22:00. > :22:05.slippery as it has cured since it was brand-new at the beginning of

:22:06. > :22:08.the 2014 weekend. That work in the background has not helped because

:22:09. > :22:18.they put up new buildings and I am sure the dust is settling. It will

:22:19. > :22:21.get faster. 13.5 was the fastest this morning. It does not appear to

:22:22. > :22:31.be the condition it was 12 months ago. The fastest time from this

:22:32. > :22:38.session last year was one minute 12 by Rosberg. Some way of that.

:22:39. > :22:46.Normally that left-hander is flat-out and Bottas got a bit of a

:22:47. > :22:50.turn as he got into the corner. Even changing gear is destabilising the

:22:51. > :22:56.cars enough so you are seeing some big oversteer moments. Tom Clarkson

:22:57. > :23:06.can bring us up on the conditions. Conditions have not changed.

:23:07. > :23:12.Williams say they are expecting this, not quite wet, not quite dry.

:23:13. > :23:18.Situation a lot whereas on the pit wall is going to have to react to

:23:19. > :23:26.track conditions. I was walking the track last night, and there is a

:23:27. > :23:31.slightly dirty facade into like Russell this year, the new paddock

:23:32. > :23:38.is not finished and where most racetracks have Astroturf here they

:23:39. > :23:43.have badly read cards which of her car runs wages going to end up going

:23:44. > :23:49.all sorts of places, particularly if it is wet. It seems slightly messy

:23:50. > :23:57.and I wonder if they might be dragging some of that find mud onto

:23:58. > :24:03.the racing line. It is a slightly raised beds of turf on the inside of

:24:04. > :24:11.the racetrack. Nico Rosberg goes fastest. He was purple sector

:24:12. > :24:15.fastest all the way through. Maldonado seem to get in the way of

:24:16. > :24:22.Stevens, who was giving his hand signal. Suggesting he was not happy.

:24:23. > :24:28.When you see the situation normal in terms of the weather, I have been

:24:29. > :24:32.here for a six-hour race and it gets a fine mist and you think it has to

:24:33. > :24:38.rain but it does not. If it doesn't rain is very heavily. It is the

:24:39. > :24:42.opposite seasons here so this is bring coming into summer as far as

:24:43. > :24:48.Brazil is concerned whereas the rest of us in the northern hemisphere are

:24:49. > :24:54.heading into winter. Mercedes winner last time out in Mexico are leading.

:24:55. > :24:58.He was fastest in every session in qualifying and race here in Brazil

:24:59. > :25:14.last year, beating Lewis Hamilton to chequered flag. Here is Raikkonen's

:25:15. > :25:19.radio. No grip on the tyres. That was a common complaint this morning.

:25:20. > :25:24.Jenson Button was very vocal about it. It went from no front grip to no

:25:25. > :25:29.rear grip. It seems to be a knife edge whether you can make this tyre

:25:30. > :25:33.work. It will be interesting when they go to the soft, that will

:25:34. > :25:37.definitely give them more trip, it is whether they can keep the tyre

:25:38. > :25:41.without losing the performance. Raikkonen saying he has no grip on

:25:42. > :25:45.the tyre. The engineer would say if you had no grip you would fly off

:25:46. > :25:51.the racetrack so you must have some. What does he mean? Not as much as he

:25:52. > :25:59.wants? You never have enough or you would be flat-out groaned every

:26:00. > :26:05.single corner. Keep working on your tyres. There is nothing on the radar

:26:06. > :26:13.yet. How far is the rain? That is what Ericsson asked. 36 points

:26:14. > :26:20.between them but it is pretty lopsided in the favour of Nasr. This

:26:21. > :26:24.is a weekend and Abu Dhabi as well where Ericsson would like to finish

:26:25. > :26:32.the season on a high with in that Sauber team. In the best possible

:26:33. > :26:36.shape with ten points scored in Australia on debut but since then he

:26:37. > :26:40.has gone on to score in other races as well as Sauber has been

:26:41. > :26:44.overhauled by other teams, still managing to score a few points along

:26:45. > :26:47.the way, but still the bulk of the points in the early races when a

:26:48. > :26:58.number of teams are struggling with reliability. Plenty of you are

:26:59. > :27:04.getting in touch. David says, can McLaren turned things round for next

:27:05. > :27:11.year? The chassis seems to be good but can Honda provide the engine or

:27:12. > :27:15.is it all lost? You used to be a Honda test driver. Do you see those

:27:16. > :27:21.golden days coming back? That is the big question. That is what McLaren

:27:22. > :27:26.and Honda are asking themselves. It is not through lack of effort but it

:27:27. > :27:31.is a big uphill challenge. It is about the chassis. Williams are

:27:32. > :27:34.pushing ahead. You have Ferrari, Red Bull are trying to come back and

:27:35. > :27:40.Mercedes the leaders and already one big step ahead in terms of looking

:27:41. > :27:54.at what they are doing for 2016. It is big catch up. The gap... Lewis

:27:55. > :28:01.Hamilton is chasing Bottas. He has Ricciardo behind him. In front of

:28:02. > :28:04.Bottas there is fairly empty track through to Verstappen. Hamilton

:28:05. > :28:09.dropping back from Bottas having been given that message. Hamilton

:28:10. > :28:17.has backed off to let Ricciardo go through. Still less fine mist hangs

:28:18. > :28:21.in the air in the distance the normal view of the skyline of Sao

:28:22. > :28:27.Paulo which back in the 1970s was the fastest-growing City in the

:28:28. > :28:31.world in the days when someone was coming through and winning the World

:28:32. > :28:39.Championship, the first Brazilian to put Formula 1 on the map in this

:28:40. > :28:43.country, and in his wake came many great drivers to Ayrton Senna and

:28:44. > :28:48.today Felipe Massa, a two time winner of this Brazilian Grand Prix

:28:49. > :28:54.but never a world champion. He came so close in 2008. Was burgers out on

:28:55. > :29:01.circuit and on the attack. Mercedes have been looking good this morning.

:29:02. > :29:05.Turning corners exactly as they wanted. Also getting the power. You

:29:06. > :29:13.saw the others having a little bit of oversteer. Nico has that car

:29:14. > :29:18.planted at the moment. You have to have good acceleration. This is an

:29:19. > :29:21.incredibly steep incline all the way up to the start and finish straight

:29:22. > :29:35.so if you lose one coal-mac an hour it affects you and you can lose four

:29:36. > :29:40.or five tenths. 205 mph, that is how quick they are going. We are at an

:29:41. > :29:47.all to Jude nothing as high as Mexico City but still as high as 800

:29:48. > :29:59.metres -- altitude. Spinning a bit more quickly. I need another pair of

:30:00. > :30:03.gloves. An unusual request in the middle of a session. Maybe he needs

:30:04. > :30:23.to go to a department store. Plenty going on behind in Formula 1

:30:24. > :30:30.at the moment, news this morning that the FIA has launched the

:30:31. > :30:33.process, a tender process for a commercially available engine from

:30:34. > :30:37.2017 onwards and that will put the cat among the pigeons. This is the

:30:38. > :30:41.latest move in the stand-off between the governing body and commercial

:30:42. > :30:44.boss Bernie Ecclestone on one hand and the engine manufacturers,

:30:45. > :30:55.particularly Ferrari and Mercedes on the other. In a suffix balladry

:30:56. > :30:58.message from Daniil Kvyat. I am not sure Jenson Button would agree, he

:30:59. > :31:02.has done the fastest time in the first and second sector. He is

:31:03. > :31:09.pulling all the way up the hill to the start and finish line and it

:31:10. > :31:14.will be fastest in the session. He goes quicker by a 10th and a half,

:31:15. > :31:22.saying speed across the finishing line, Hamilton does a 1.13 point

:31:23. > :31:26.364, just under a 10th of a second than he managed this morning in free

:31:27. > :31:31.practice. That is despite rain and the other things going on. 33

:31:32. > :31:36.degrees is the track temperature, 28 degrees of air temperature. Talking

:31:37. > :31:42.about the engine tender process, an interesting development and it plays

:31:43. > :31:47.into the whole story of Red Bull and what engine they will be using next

:31:48. > :31:50.year. It will have to be some form of interim engine as far as they are

:31:51. > :31:55.concerned, whether it be Renault without a badge or a Honda, likely

:31:56. > :32:01.to be the form of the two but they would be a prime customer for this

:32:02. > :32:07.commercially available engine from 2017 onwards. It is a big and little

:32:08. > :32:12.push as Grosjean attacks into the hairpin corner, that is another team

:32:13. > :32:15.in that area where they are not 100% what is happening because there is

:32:16. > :32:20.talk they will be taken over by Renault but the deal does not seem

:32:21. > :32:24.to have been clarified yet. For Red Bull, they need to get it sorted out

:32:25. > :32:29.because it has been a long time and deadlines have been pushed back

:32:30. > :32:32.again and again, until next week, that is the last physical moment

:32:33. > :32:40.before they have two create so many things on the car's development. How

:32:41. > :32:46.much rain is going at the moment? A very different view from Daniil

:32:47. > :32:52.Kvyat, although he has set the his own personal fastest final sector so

:32:53. > :32:55.the rain he said was affecting the middle sector in particular seems

:32:56. > :33:03.not to be an issue because the Russian driver has just gone fifth

:33:04. > :33:08.quickest with a 1:14.619. We should talk about the development engine on

:33:09. > :33:11.the back of Ricciardo's calf one of the big stories coming out of this

:33:12. > :33:16.year, not only the breakdown in relation ship between Renault and

:33:17. > :33:19.Red Bull but Red Bull have not brought any developer and steps to

:33:20. > :33:23.this engine which has gone backwards from 2014. This is the first

:33:24. > :33:27.occasion in which a development Renault is out on track using most

:33:28. > :33:31.of their available development tokens. Ricciardo and his team boss

:33:32. > :33:36.Richie and horn playing it down yesterday, they they expected it

:33:37. > :33:42.would be a 10th or two tenths of a second only in terms of gain. It is

:33:43. > :33:46.interesting that the development has been in the internal combustion part

:33:47. > :33:50.of the engine am not be power unit, which means not mucking about with

:33:51. > :33:55.the turbo which means they have some reliability issues in that area.

:33:56. > :33:59.They have used 12 tokens for the season on it and I think they would

:34:00. > :34:02.hope to have a bigger gain than a couple of tenths of a second but

:34:03. > :34:08.they have delayed the introduction of this engine for a while. But Red

:34:09. > :34:12.Bull, they have it in one car but not the other side Daniil Kvyat is

:34:13. > :34:16.on the previous specifications, they are spitting the strategy a little

:34:17. > :34:21.bit because there is a gain of maybe two tenths of a second but you have

:34:22. > :34:25.to take the grid penalty to have the engine in the car. Daniel Ricciardo

:34:26. > :34:29.saying the reason for him to take it is that they did not expect to be

:34:30. > :34:32.that competitive here and that rain is forecast throughout the weekend

:34:33. > :34:36.and as we mentioned earlier, anything can happen though it is one

:34:37. > :34:42.of those places where you might get lucky with the safety car and start

:34:43. > :34:46.further back might not be the end of the world. Only one car out on the

:34:47. > :34:50.circuit, you have a view on this Renault and Red Bull situation.

:34:51. > :34:53.Something Daniel Ricciardo said yesterday was that they were hoping

:34:54. > :34:57.this new Renault upgrade will have better drivability which will give

:34:58. > :35:02.it better fuel consumption because it is one of the more thirsty

:35:03. > :35:05.engines on the grid at the moment and that would help them particular

:35:06. > :35:11.in Abu Dhabi, which has a high fuel consumption rate. The news came

:35:12. > :35:15.through from the FIA about the engine tender process, bids have to

:35:16. > :35:20.be in by the 23rd of November which does not leave a lot of time and

:35:21. > :35:23.makes you suspect that there have been people ex-pressing an interest

:35:24. > :35:29.in it, what has been the reaction in the paddock in the last couple of

:35:30. > :35:33.hours? People I have spoken to think it is cynical, a political game and

:35:34. > :35:38.hopefully what will happen is the manufacturers, Ferrari, Mercedes,

:35:39. > :35:43.Honda, will turn around and say that they wanted it to become a 12

:35:44. > :35:48.million euros engine a year, let us compromise because at the moment it

:35:49. > :35:54.is costing 18, I think that is what the endgame is here personally. Very

:35:55. > :35:57.interesting, and our and nine minutes to go in this session so

:35:58. > :36:01.everyone on their early run. They lock-up from Romain Grosjean on his

:36:02. > :36:07.penultimate outing as a Lotus driver, he is moving to the new Hoss

:36:08. > :36:13.team coming in next year that will be powered by Ferrari. -- Hass,

:36:14. > :36:17.everything that they are legally allowed to use for Ferrari will be

:36:18. > :36:21.on that car so they are reflecting to start out of the reasonably high

:36:22. > :36:26.competitive level. Grosjean is particularly excited by the new

:36:27. > :36:30.challenge awaiting him. At the same time, a little emotional leaving a

:36:31. > :36:34.team where he has pretty much spent his entire Formula 1 career. Billy

:36:35. > :36:39.no mates on the circuit at the moment, nobody else out on track and

:36:40. > :36:46.Hamilton Hummer Rosberg and Vettel are the top three. He has done quite

:36:47. > :36:52.a few laps as we get another replay of him locking up coming into the

:36:53. > :36:59.right-hand hairpin. Romain Grosjean is currently done 13 laps on this

:37:00. > :37:03.medium tyre which at this moment, the way the track surface and the

:37:04. > :37:08.grip level is, the rubber on the track is about the limit of it.

:37:09. > :37:13.Pastor Maldonado sitting there in the cockpit of the other Lotus

:37:14. > :37:18.watching his team-mate circulating out on circuit. Fernando Alonso has

:37:19. > :37:21.just gone out in the McLaren Honda, Maldonado from Venezuela, not 1

:37:22. > :37:27.million miles away from here, to the north, well to the North. It has

:37:28. > :37:31.been a run of races where fans of his from Venezuela can easily

:37:32. > :37:35.reached from Austin, Texas, to Mexico City and Brazil, they are

:37:36. > :37:39.spoiled for choice really. Venezuelan Formula 1 fans at this

:37:40. > :37:46.time of the year. Alonso on the circuit, looking at the document

:37:47. > :37:49.issued. There are a few very light drops in the pit lane but nothing of

:37:50. > :37:54.significance on the radar so it should not get any worse. Looking at

:37:55. > :37:57.the document issued the FIA at the beginning of the race weekend,

:37:58. > :38:02.bringing everybody to date on how many engines have been used in all

:38:03. > :38:07.the different components of the engine as well, I saw this morning

:38:08. > :38:11.that Honda have now used in 11 internal combustion engines, the

:38:12. > :38:15.maximum is four in the regulations so some time ago, they took the view

:38:16. > :38:19.that when the rules were changed on penalties but they would max out and

:38:20. > :38:26.take penalties as and when appropriate. Really focusing on

:38:27. > :38:30.development. There was little they could do otherwise if they did not

:38:31. > :38:33.focus on that, they did not have the reliability and it is difficult to

:38:34. > :38:36.gain reliability through the season with how it is structured at the

:38:37. > :38:41.moment and they had little alternative to be honest. Alonso

:38:42. > :38:45.talking about underperformance, what did you make about those comments? I

:38:46. > :38:50.thought they were pretty fair actually. In general, over one lap

:38:51. > :38:53.he can deliver a bit more than he has done and there have been quite a

:38:54. > :38:59.few occasions where I was not totally convinced that he was not

:39:00. > :39:03.looking at other things and he needed to refocus on the job in hand

:39:04. > :39:10.which is apparently what he has done right now. One of the things he

:39:11. > :39:14.might have been focusing on? Other drives and seats and where Elsey

:39:15. > :39:19.could have gone. Sports car racing and the Le Mans 24 hours, which will

:39:20. > :39:24.clash with the new Azerbaijan grand break, Alonso has had a reasonable

:39:25. > :39:26.season, he has stepped up against Jenson Button as you would expect

:39:27. > :39:31.but it has been difficult for both of them considering they former

:39:32. > :39:36.world champions and they have both had to be incredibly patient with

:39:37. > :39:40.the problems that have come their way with the Honda hybrid turbo

:39:41. > :39:46.engine. Interesting to see what Honda's reaction is to this engine

:39:47. > :39:49.tender process because if it does get some momentum behind it, they

:39:50. > :39:55.might be interested to consider that. The Ferrari crossing the start

:39:56. > :40:02.and finish line, Sebastian Vettel, 327 K pH, five case lower than the

:40:03. > :40:08.Mercedes, just before he hits the breaks into Turn 1. Riding on board

:40:09. > :40:12.here, coming down to turn for where Kimi Raikkonen spun this morning and

:40:13. > :40:16.you can see the front wing, they have two front wing options here,

:40:17. > :40:19.subtle changes to the main plane and the little flaps but they have been

:40:20. > :40:24.trying them back-to-back with both drivers and both of them have gone

:40:25. > :40:27.to the latest evolution of it and finding it gives them just a bit

:40:28. > :40:33.more stability and grip on these tighter corners here on the infield

:40:34. > :40:37.sector. Bottas has become the first man going out on the soft compound

:40:38. > :40:43.tyres met he is heading out on circuit. Ferrari have also brought

:40:44. > :40:48.some updates to the rear bodywork of the car as they look to pile on the

:40:49. > :40:51.rear end downforce and stability which is fundamental as far as

:40:52. > :40:54.Sebastian Vettel is concerned, it is one of the things that makes him

:40:55. > :40:58.fast and he relies on it, the more of that they can give him, the

:40:59. > :41:02.faster he goes and from Singapore onwards they have made great steps

:41:03. > :41:07.in that car and really started to get the performance equally

:41:08. > :41:12.importantly, which is what he had that victory in Singapore and has

:41:13. > :41:19.gone on particular strongly. And our and three minutes remaining on the

:41:20. > :41:25.clock. Vettel just improving their on that last lap. We are heading

:41:26. > :41:29.towards the time where they switch over onto the soft tyres and go out

:41:30. > :41:34.and do their qualifying simulation runs. What are you seeing in terms

:41:35. > :41:37.of track conditions, how has it improved since the start of this

:41:38. > :41:43.session when you were standing in the rain? It does not seem to have

:41:44. > :41:47.got wetter which is the main thing but in terms of improvement, it has

:41:48. > :41:52.not improved from this morning. That suggests they still roughly have the

:41:53. > :41:56.same grip levels as this morning. Interesting is what happens, Bottas

:41:57. > :42:01.already doing the fastest first sector of anyone, four hundreds

:42:02. > :42:04.quicker than Lewis Hamilton who had the previous quickest in those first

:42:05. > :42:09.couple of corners, that is only really Turn 1 and two, then it

:42:10. > :42:13.flattens out for three and down to Turn 4, this is the middle sector

:42:14. > :42:20.and the hairpin and this left-hander where we will see the benefit of

:42:21. > :42:24.that. A little bit of rain on the way. Sebastian Vettel saying some

:42:25. > :42:30.rain on the way, a right front lock from Valtteri Bottas, pushing hard

:42:31. > :42:33.on those softer compound tyres. 20 of sparks coming out from underneath

:42:34. > :42:38.the floor of that Williams Mercedes, he is the fastest of

:42:39. > :42:42.anyone in sector one and a personal best in sector to so I think he is

:42:43. > :42:47.heading for top of the Pops here. He will want to switch over onto the

:42:48. > :42:51.soft compound tyre. Coming down through the undulation and across

:42:52. > :42:55.the start and finish line, by three hundredths of a second he goes

:42:56. > :43:01.faster than Nico Rosberg, than Lewis Hamilton. Alonso is off the circuit

:43:02. > :43:06.but back on. That is one second faster than Valtteri Bottas did on

:43:07. > :43:10.the medium tyre, so the delta seems to be about one second. We will get

:43:11. > :43:15.a better read when more people go out, smoke coming out of the back of

:43:16. > :43:21.Alonso's car and he is going back slowly, not sure if it was a driver

:43:22. > :43:27.error but more of a technical issue. I have no power. Half the power. I

:43:28. > :43:32.think he has less than that. Definitely smoke coming out from the

:43:33. > :43:38.back of that engine, a tell-tale blue haze beginning to drift out of

:43:39. > :43:41.the oversized exhaust pipe. Some flames in there, that is it, it

:43:42. > :43:47.looks like it has detonated itself inside. Not that much smoke coming

:43:48. > :43:53.out now that he has turned the engine off, maybe it was flames from

:43:54. > :43:58.a few will being burnt. I think that is the end of his session, he has

:43:59. > :44:04.gone off the track, the last part of the track but no way to get back to

:44:05. > :44:09.the pits from there. Said they had 11 combustion engines, they might be

:44:10. > :44:12.heading number 12 here, if it was a goals difference on a league table,

:44:13. > :44:17.they would be looking pretty good but 12 is not a good number to have

:44:18. > :44:21.in Formula 1 when the goal is four. He trudges away from his car,

:44:22. > :44:27.leaving it to the right-hand side of the racetrack and this wide open

:44:28. > :44:34.expanse of grass, a few cameramen pointing the other way, not looking

:44:35. > :44:36.at where he is. I think this might be a replay, Jenson Button coming

:44:37. > :44:43.out of the pit lane and Alonso just changing the gear. Stop the car,

:44:44. > :44:47.stop the car at the side of the track. It was an instruction from

:44:48. > :44:53.the pits, and now a red flag to recover that car and it is a

:44:54. > :44:57.dangerous situation just as he comes out of the right-hander. Yes,

:44:58. > :45:03.unfortunate that we have the red flag, was not able to get it further

:45:04. > :45:06.away from the track and closer to the marshals but frustration again

:45:07. > :45:12.for Fernando Alonso, he has had some great moments here at this Bottas

:45:13. > :45:16.circuit but the mechanics, a rather resigned air as the marshal waives

:45:17. > :45:18.the red flag here, they have had such a hard season, the McLaren

:45:19. > :45:28.mechanics. They are going to have a hard winter

:45:29. > :45:35.as well, trying to boost their performance ahead of next season. We

:45:36. > :45:39.have a red flag. Only Bottas has done a qualifying simulation run on

:45:40. > :45:43.the soft compound Pirelli. A lot more speed and performance to come

:45:44. > :45:47.in the remainder of this session, provided it does not rain again.

:45:48. > :46:03.Hamilton is second-fastest on the medium compound tyre. The -- Vettel

:46:04. > :46:07.in fifth. How much dry running is Fernando

:46:08. > :46:14.Alonso going to a total? We are beginning to get wet. Talking to the

:46:15. > :46:19.Pirelli engineers I was asking why are the track conditions so much

:46:20. > :46:26.worse this year than last year? That is something Allen touched on. Two

:46:27. > :46:32.reasons from them. The ship of the stones. Last year a freshly laid

:46:33. > :46:39.surface and this year they are much rounder. Second reason, they are

:46:40. > :46:43.saying there are various corners around the track where the asphalt

:46:44. > :46:47.was damaged during the race last year. Could not tell me why but I

:46:48. > :46:54.wonder if you have an inside line. I do not. I know it was roughly about

:46:55. > :46:58.one and a half or two seconds faster from the previous year for us in

:46:59. > :47:04.terms of performance and grip level was huge, tyre wear was much less

:47:05. > :47:09.than before. I did not think there was any damage to the track. I

:47:10. > :47:14.cannot really help you. In terms of the roughness of the stones it

:47:15. > :47:19.actually is... It has a lot of bitumen contained and it is very

:47:20. > :47:22.smooth anyway so if there was any roughness it was quite small even

:47:23. > :47:29.when the track was laid under they have taken that edge off it must be

:47:30. > :47:36.a very smooth surface on top. A strange cameo here as they clear

:47:37. > :47:43.away a lawns or's car. Fernando Alonso sitting on the wall staring

:47:44. > :47:47.at his car. Waiting for somebody to pick up. His body language says

:47:48. > :47:53.complete and utter dejection. Yet again his car like him down.

:47:54. > :47:59.Christian Horner, the team boss of Red Bull Racing, joins us. Typical

:48:00. > :48:05.Brazil conditions at the beginning of this session. What did you get

:48:06. > :48:11.from it? Depressed, having listened to you describing Fernando Alonso

:48:12. > :48:15.walking away from his car. Obviously the weather, it started to spit a

:48:16. > :48:19.little bit in the pit lane a few minutes ago. Hopefully that is going

:48:20. > :48:23.to clean up and we can get back into the session quickly. Running two

:48:24. > :48:27.different engines what did you learn about Daniel Ricciardo's

:48:28. > :48:34.development? Is it along the lines you expected, one tenth up to two

:48:35. > :48:40.tenths? It is difficult to judge at the moment. There is still a bit of

:48:41. > :48:46.fine tuning going on. It is within the noise of about a 10th at the

:48:47. > :48:50.moment I would say. Since the last session the FIA has put out this

:48:51. > :48:55.tender document for this commercially available engine for

:48:56. > :48:58.2017. How much is that music to your ears? It is a very interesting and

:48:59. > :49:05.positive step as far as we are concerned because it is saying that

:49:06. > :49:09.the FIA are determined to get a cost-effective powerful engine as an

:49:10. > :49:18.alternative introduced into the sport. One can assume that this is

:49:19. > :49:23.leverage for perhaps a change in engine regulation. When are we going

:49:24. > :49:27.to know what you are going to be doing for next year? That seems to

:49:28. > :49:31.have been delayed in terms of your decision and announcements? You are

:49:32. > :49:36.quite right. There is only one race left so I hope to be able to tell

:49:37. > :49:40.you by then. There's a lot of work going on in the background. We are

:49:41. > :49:44.honing in on something but unfortunately I am not at liberty to

:49:45. > :49:49.say exactly what that is at the moment. Can we assume it is going to

:49:50. > :49:54.be in a similar line to where you are now? You can assume what you

:49:55. > :49:59.like! Going back to the engine tender process, in terms of the

:50:00. > :50:05.reaction within the paddock there's a feeling in some quarters this

:50:06. > :50:08.might be a bluff to get Ferrari and Mercedes back to the negotiating

:50:09. > :50:14.table but there is intent behind it surely? Absolutely. The FIA have

:50:15. > :50:21.gone out and said the tender is happening. I think John was prepared

:50:22. > :50:30.to negotiate with the manufacturers of they had lowered their price

:50:31. > :50:35.below what it was and we have been offered engines at over 30 million

:50:36. > :50:40.euros and it is completely nuts. This weekend where do you feel your

:50:41. > :50:45.guys are? It looks as if you are struggling a little bit in the first

:50:46. > :50:48.and third sector but the middle sector could be where you could

:50:49. > :50:51.gain. It is a little bit like Mexico trying to find the balance between

:50:52. > :50:57.how much when we strip out of the car to be quicker in sectors the map

:50:58. > :51:00.and one whereas Sector 2 theoretically is our strongest

:51:01. > :51:03.sector so we are running less downforce than other cars trying to

:51:04. > :51:09.find the balance. At the moment in these conditions the cars and

:51:10. > :51:13.drivers have been performing well. Finally, returning to your next

:51:14. > :51:18.steps, you are going to get your engine decision when you can and

:51:19. > :51:21.presumably it is flat out throughout the winter to make it in time for

:51:22. > :51:27.the first test in February and the first Grand Prix in March, does that

:51:28. > :51:32.mean Christmas is cancelled? Christmas is never cancelled. It

:51:33. > :51:38.just might be busy. It may be a working Christmas. If anybody can

:51:39. > :51:42.pull this off it is our team. They have demonstrated their ability of

:51:43. > :51:49.the year to work to tight deadlines and develop and this is no

:51:50. > :51:53.different. I am certain that every person is absolutely up for the

:51:54. > :51:56.challenge of this and will be there. Here is hoping you find some potent

:51:57. > :52:03.engine under your Christmas tree. Good luck. Christian Horner, the

:52:04. > :52:09.boss of Red Bull Racing. Interesting he said the team are working to

:52:10. > :52:16.tight deadlines and used to that. It is a very tight deadline. Making

:52:17. > :52:22.sure it is implemented into the car in time for the earlier tests in

:52:23. > :52:26.2016. That has been one of over the years, very tight deadlines and also

:52:27. > :52:31.the way they do their development, constant small development through

:52:32. > :52:37.the season. Not many people at Red Bull are going to be given time off

:52:38. > :52:43.at Christmas to relax. The session is due to recommence at 2:39pm,

:52:44. > :52:51.which is just under two minutes from now. Remember to send your questions

:52:52. > :52:57.are nice you are watching the replay. The man asked if the current

:52:58. > :53:01.regulations are holding teams like Force India back? Force India have

:53:02. > :53:04.the best power unit in the back of their car so it is probably helping

:53:05. > :53:21.them. It is very difficult unless you have a manufacturer to HEV

:53:22. > :53:28.victory in the current regulations. Richard, will Haas be trundling at

:53:29. > :53:31.the back? I do not think so. Given the amount of collaboration I think

:53:32. > :53:36.they will do well in addition to which they have a solid budget and a

:53:37. > :53:42.proper business plan so I think Haas should be somewhere around Sauber.

:53:43. > :53:46.Paul, do you think Renault have been distracted by the development of

:53:47. > :53:52.their formula E engine? I do not think so. It is a sideline in

:53:53. > :53:58.comparison to their Formula 1 engine. They released a lot of

:53:59. > :54:02.people when the V8s were frozen back on the day and they did not have the

:54:03. > :54:07.technical developments and they were lead to the party looking at the new

:54:08. > :54:10.engines. Robert, do you think Ferrari will use their veto on the

:54:11. > :54:14.regulation changes needed to accommodate these commercial engines

:54:15. > :54:17.that Christian Horner was talking about? There's a fair amount of

:54:18. > :54:23.nodding going on in the commentary box. They have the right to use it

:54:24. > :54:30.and if they do it will get fairly messy. This is the early process in

:54:31. > :54:34.a complex battle that is going to carry on in the next few weeks

:54:35. > :54:39.because it is going to have to get done by the end of this year if it

:54:40. > :54:44.is going to pass. Anything for the following year has to be unanimous.

:54:45. > :54:52.By the end of this year majority will carry it. Is Interlagos much

:54:53. > :55:00.greener? From someone in the Netherlands. Historically, yes.

:55:01. > :55:03.After last year with the new track resurfacing you would say no but it

:55:04. > :55:07.seems that have gone back in terms of its grip levels from where the

:55:08. > :55:18.tarmac surface was led down the first time. Hamilton heading out on

:55:19. > :55:26.circuit on the soft compound tyres. We are your place for Formula 1 this

:55:27. > :55:29.weekend. Live throughout. We have seen a second off lap time

:55:30. > :55:35.improvement from the medium to the softer compound tyre from Bottas.

:55:36. > :55:40.Let us see if anybody gets more improvement as we get towards the

:55:41. > :55:46.simulations. Track temperature about 32 degrees, a temperature 28.

:55:47. > :55:52.Raikkonen got stung a little bit by that read flag because he had gone

:55:53. > :56:02.out on his soft tyres and started and the red flag came out so the

:56:03. > :56:05.peak might have gone from that tyre. Lewis Hamilton sparking all the way

:56:06. > :56:12.down the street to Turn 4 and up through six and seven into one of

:56:13. > :56:18.the slowest corners of the circuit. This is about 35 mph. It feels like

:56:19. > :56:25.you are riding a bicycle. Hamilton This is about 35 mph. It feels like

:56:26. > :56:29.is about a 10th of a second slower at this stage. This looks good for

:56:30. > :56:34.Rosberg. He was faster than Hamilton in every session here last year and

:56:35. > :56:39.took the race win. Very frustrating for Hamilton who had a spin when the

:56:40. > :56:43.team asked him to do and that extra lap and there was a heated debrief

:56:44. > :56:52.after that, as I was after Mexico when he wanted to do something

:56:53. > :57:00.different from his team-mate. Keep an eye on Rosberg. Can he take a

:57:01. > :57:06.second or more of his time? Is this enough to bushes team-mate into

:57:07. > :57:12.second? It certainly is. 1.35 seconds quicker. He has phoned more

:57:13. > :57:21.on the softer compound tyre, the switch from the medium to the soft.

:57:22. > :57:25.Yes, he was much quicker in that middle sector. He was a 10th quicker

:57:26. > :57:29.in the first sector but in the middle sector he gained the time and

:57:30. > :57:34.he was able to deliver what is the fastest lap of the weekend so far.

:57:35. > :57:44.Quicker than anyone in free Practice 2 last year if my memory serves me

:57:45. > :57:47.correctly. I have it here. Two temps slower than last year but the

:57:48. > :57:59.conditions on the circuit are not exactly ideal. -- tenths. Hulkenberg

:58:00. > :58:06.has always been strong around here, he got his pole. He was battling for

:58:07. > :58:17.the win with Hamilton a few years ago when they collided, frankly.

:58:18. > :58:20.Ricciardo makes an improvement. Raikkonen had a spin this morning

:58:21. > :58:27.and has gone fourth fastest in the Ferrari. Sainz also out on the soft

:58:28. > :58:32.compound tyres. He has not been here before. His team-mate Verstappen,

:58:33. > :58:37.this was one of the Friday mornings that Verstappen did last year, so he

:58:38. > :58:42.has driven a Formula 1 car around here for 90 minutes and I watched

:58:43. > :58:47.carefully what he got up to last year, Verstappen, and he was

:58:48. > :58:51.spinning getting into Turn 1 and locking up the early part of the

:58:52. > :58:56.session, but as they are around a half went on you saw him dialling

:58:57. > :59:06.himself in the car in and he looks like a veteran by the end. Let us

:59:07. > :59:10.get an update on the conditions. It is a strange one. We always knew it

:59:11. > :59:13.was going to be a little bit of rain and then it would clean up and come

:59:14. > :59:18.back again and the showers would continue. One of the teams are

:59:19. > :59:22.trying to raise as much of the programme is possible because the

:59:23. > :59:26.weather forecast shows there is a band of rain around and it is due to

:59:27. > :59:31.get heavier. I am watching the cars come round Turn 1 which is one of

:59:32. > :59:35.the best places to stand and it is getting heavier but I think it is

:59:36. > :59:39.going to swing in and out as we go through the remainder of the

:59:40. > :59:45.session. It is about timing your lap right. If you want to perfect it.

:59:46. > :59:49.Where you are is where I was watching Verstappen last year. A

:59:50. > :00:00.fantastic place to watch a Formula 1 car. Right over your right shoulder

:00:01. > :00:09.at 200 mph braking to 60 mph. Intensity could be increasing. Turn

:00:10. > :00:14.1 is a fantastic place to watch a Formula 1 car, if you ever make the

:00:15. > :00:21.journey out here to enter I strongly recommend getting a seat somewhere

:00:22. > :00:23.around Turn 1. Just by the bridge that we are next to buy the

:00:24. > :00:36.commentary box. They assess the aerodynamic effect

:00:37. > :00:40.of the new parts, the little bit rough and ready from Felipe Massa in

:00:41. > :00:45.the Williams, on the soft compound tyres, twice a winner here and has

:00:46. > :00:49.been on pole position before. Down in ninth at the moment. Too much

:00:50. > :00:53.curb on the inside of that right-hander and it sends him to

:00:54. > :00:58.wide. You have to take curve but if you take too much it can upset the

:00:59. > :01:02.car a lot, especially at the moment when the grip level is not quite

:01:03. > :01:10.there. Sebastian Vettel kindly giving us a wave. And interesting

:01:11. > :01:15.pattern on the hand of his glove, presumably giving him grip but it

:01:16. > :01:21.looks like a skeleton costume from Halloween on the palm of his glove.

:01:22. > :01:28.Here is Verstappen. The car is very difficult to drive. Decode that? It

:01:29. > :01:33.means it is inconsistent, when he breaks and turns in, he is not sure

:01:34. > :01:38.what the car will do, then when he loses traction and grip it is very

:01:39. > :01:42.snappy and he can't predict what the car is going to do very well. In

:01:43. > :01:45.that position, you are always better trying to get one problem rather

:01:46. > :01:50.than two or three, get one problem, whether it be understood, as Nico

:01:51. > :01:53.Rosberg has been complaining about in this session and then you can

:01:54. > :01:59.work on one solution to that one problem. It is inconsistent, it is

:02:00. > :02:04.hard to make it work around here. Vettel had a go at a second lap but

:02:05. > :02:09.was a 10th slower than his first run on the soft compound tyres. It does

:02:10. > :02:15.not look as though the fastest lap is the second one, we have seen a

:02:16. > :02:18.number of races where you need to go for a second or sometimes even a

:02:19. > :02:24.third timed lap to get the sweet spot with the tyres. This circuit

:02:25. > :02:28.you put a lot of tyre energy into it, how when you go back on the

:02:29. > :02:31.throttle you get a lot of talk and a lot of energy into the rear tyres

:02:32. > :02:37.and then this long right-hander so the front right and the right rear.

:02:38. > :02:42.That is in at the hairpin at turn eight, coming through the uphill

:02:43. > :02:53.right-hander, looks to have got the cup on the outside and look to car

:02:54. > :03:00.but on. That corner translates as orange in Brazilian Portuguese. The

:03:01. > :03:09.one that takes about 130 pH leading into it. That is turn six, that

:03:10. > :03:13.corner, the translation is horseshoe. You have to try and

:03:14. > :03:17.missed the first apex to get the second one and as you pop up over

:03:18. > :03:23.the hill, you go onto the breaks. You can see the skid marks, if they

:03:24. > :03:27.go back, you cannot see it on this shot, but he gets onto the outside

:03:28. > :03:31.curve so we are running on board with him, a little bit of overseer

:03:32. > :03:39.and yes, he loses it just as he comes up over the second bit. He

:03:40. > :03:42.said the rear felt so loose, Verstappen managing expectations, he

:03:43. > :03:48.said a moment ago that the car was difficult to drive and he proved it

:03:49. > :03:51.for us. That is a corner where you are a bit better to have some

:03:52. > :03:55.understeer because it is more consistent and stable and then you

:03:56. > :03:59.can get on the brakes consistently for this next corner, you cannot

:04:00. > :04:02.have too much understeer or you will lose time but better with an

:04:03. > :04:08.understeer balance than oversteer on that one. Do you want one more time

:04:09. > :04:14.to lap? Won definitely not, the tyres have gone. Confirmation of

:04:15. > :04:18.what we were saying, it is a 1 lap tyre in qualifying, that is

:04:19. > :04:22.important information as far as qualifying is concerned tomorrow. It

:04:23. > :04:25.is logged down by the engine is logged down by the engineers and the

:04:26. > :04:30.other thousands of data points from every time the car goes out on the

:04:31. > :04:33.circuit. Tremendous amount of information transmitted by the cars

:04:34. > :04:38.to the pits and back to the factories as well, in real time as

:04:39. > :04:42.they go around this highly sophisticated Formula 1 cars. The

:04:43. > :04:46.staff and despite his spin is a 10th quicker than his Toro Rosso

:04:47. > :04:50.team-mate Carlos Sainz. As far as I can see, we have not had

:04:51. > :04:55.confirmation that Toro Rosso are sticking with these two drivers next

:04:56. > :04:59.year. I think everyone would be astonished if they didn't but there

:05:00. > :05:05.has not been an official confirmation. Their team principal

:05:06. > :05:11.will be in a press conference after this one so it will be interesting

:05:12. > :05:14.to ask. The chances of anyone else in those two seats is minimal but

:05:15. > :05:20.Red Bull have not officially confirmed their engine programme for

:05:21. > :05:24.their teams so from that point of view, there are some questions, the

:05:25. > :05:29.least of their problems is announcing their drivers when they

:05:30. > :05:33.still have to get the other parts of the jigsaw into place. Give me your

:05:34. > :05:37.overview on what you have seen, you have a keen eye for a young driver

:05:38. > :05:40.and help out where you can in developing young drivers and you

:05:41. > :05:47.know what you are looking at, how do you expect Sainz and Verstappen

:05:48. > :05:50.after their rookie years? Very different personalities and that

:05:51. > :05:55.comes through in their driving, Sainz is methodical in how he

:05:56. > :06:00.drives. He builds up to things which is not the Latin temperament you

:06:01. > :06:04.would perhaps expect from a Spaniard but he goes through processes and he

:06:05. > :06:08.delivers very consistently. We saw that after the accident in Russia

:06:09. > :06:11.and he came into the race and normally would have finished well in

:06:12. > :06:15.the points if he had not had a problem and that was one of the best

:06:16. > :06:20.examples of the potential he has going forward. However, on the other

:06:21. > :06:26.side we have Max Verstappen who just drives by the seat of his pants and

:06:27. > :06:31.it is all enthusiastic, fantastic overtaking manoeuvres and round the

:06:32. > :06:34.outside in Belgium, where you take a shop intake of breath and he is the

:06:35. > :06:37.one who will probably take most of the headlines but in terms of taking

:06:38. > :06:42.the points at the end of the season, you have a steady hand with Sainz so

:06:43. > :06:47.I think they have two very good characters to develop for the future

:06:48. > :06:50.gives cannot have two gung ho guys going at it, you need that

:06:51. > :06:57.counterbalance and I think they have got it nicely. Verstappen has two

:06:58. > :07:02.fourth places and more points than Sainz in the championship, 47, just

:07:03. > :07:06.18 for Sainz, when you look at the year in those cold and hard terms

:07:07. > :07:11.and results, Verstappen has had a far better season but what extent,

:07:12. > :07:15.races like Russia where Sainz was coming through the field and got

:07:16. > :07:20.your attention, what about those in the paddock and the teams, how would

:07:21. > :07:30.they pay attention to that? Watch out for the front lock-up. You can

:07:31. > :07:34.try break map five. Both Sauber drivers talking about locking on the

:07:35. > :07:39.medium tyre which is significantly easier to lock into these hairpins,

:07:40. > :07:45.basically different rake settings that you can achieve. Just coming

:07:46. > :07:51.back to the Toro Rosso drivers, I think it is exactly about the

:07:52. > :07:54.potential that they can deliver. Helmut Marko is the adviser to Red

:07:55. > :08:00.Bull in terms of drivers and I think he will always look at someone who

:08:01. > :08:05.has the speed and capability and not just necessarily the results but

:08:06. > :08:10.what he believes is the future. Jenny is at Toro Rosso, what

:08:11. > :08:13.information do you have? I want to play a game, you can see an Max

:08:14. > :08:19.Verstappen's car, they are about to change the rear wing and if you look

:08:20. > :08:23.at the back at the red part of that car, you can see it is quite

:08:24. > :08:29.different to the other side of the garage. If I get a look at Carlos

:08:30. > :08:33.Sainz's car on the other side, you can make out the rear wing and the

:08:34. > :08:36.red parts of that rear wing, the bottom one is totally different

:08:37. > :08:40.angle and it looks very different even from the naked eye, most people

:08:41. > :08:47.could spot the difference but what does that mean for the drivers?

:08:48. > :08:53.Round here it is a trade-off, as we are hearing from Christian Horner

:08:54. > :08:59.earlier on, between sectors one and three which are the acceleration and

:09:00. > :09:02.top speed sectors of 210 mph and sector to, the middle part which is

:09:03. > :09:08.all of the tight and twisty corners. It is about trying to get

:09:09. > :09:12.the downforce and drag balance, the difference between the two rear

:09:13. > :09:17.wings but also the front wing as well and it is to what extent you

:09:18. > :09:25.can get the correct trade-off. At the same time, not putting too much

:09:26. > :09:29.energy into the tyres. That is not good, the problem on the up shift

:09:30. > :09:33.from second to third gear for Nico Rosberg, the winner of the Mexican

:09:34. > :09:39.Grand Prix last time out. We do not have a graphic on screen, it is on

:09:40. > :09:44.the steering wheel, but he is coasting back into the pits at the

:09:45. > :09:48.moment. There are a lot of second to third up shifts in that Middlesex

:09:49. > :09:54.but he is staying in fifth right now as it comes into the pit lane so it

:09:55. > :10:00.does not appear he can shift down. He is in 50, you would normally be

:10:01. > :10:03.in first or second gear. There have been if your reliability issues for

:10:04. > :10:07.Nico Rosberg at Italy and Russia, the Russian race in particular

:10:08. > :10:11.costing him what looked like a race victory. He has driven straight

:10:12. > :10:15.through the pits, presumably they have done some form of reset as he

:10:16. > :10:19.went through the pit lane. They cannot sent anything to the car, you

:10:20. > :10:23.can only have they cannot sent anything to the car, you can only

:10:24. > :10:29.have data, it is illegal to have any data from the pits to the car.

:10:30. > :10:35.Feedback, shift looks OK. No, definitely a problem. Nico Rosberg

:10:36. > :10:42.came through the pits, not for the gearbox problem but to do a practice

:10:43. > :10:46.start. We will hear and see what the shift from second to third looks

:10:47. > :10:53.like, he pulls in the clutch and is ready to go. Allen back into

:10:54. > :11:06.neutral. It is a long process going on here. Firstly, second gear, third

:11:07. > :11:10.gear, sounded all right. It did. The interesting thing for me was how

:11:11. > :11:15.quickly the engine revs dropped down and how low they went, using the

:11:16. > :11:21.talk of the engine to accelerate and get away from wheel spin. It is a

:11:22. > :11:25.very complex procedure, now, the driver has to adjust the clutch

:11:26. > :11:29.settings, he cannot be informed by the teams of the optimum setting

:11:30. > :11:33.before the race starts, that is a regulation that came in at the

:11:34. > :11:38.Belgian Grand Prix in August. It looked like a public good start but

:11:39. > :11:44.it is only good if it is better than the car behind, it is all relative.

:11:45. > :11:53.Basically a good start is under three seconds, 2.7 or 2.8 seconds.

:11:54. > :11:58.For zero to 100. Ideal. Most people switching onto the long runs. We

:11:59. > :12:03.have used soft tyres for the top five cars in the field, outdoing a

:12:04. > :12:09.long-running, simulating the early laps of the Grand Prix on Sunday,

:12:10. > :12:17.the only odd man out is Valtteri Bottas, who is using a set of the

:12:18. > :12:26.medium compound tyres. Also, Felipe Nasr and Alonso and Ericsson, who

:12:27. > :12:31.are further back. Fernando Alonso is still parked at the side of the

:12:32. > :12:33.circuit where he seemed to have a problem with his power unit, losing

:12:34. > :12:39.power and then stopped three quarters of the way round the

:12:40. > :12:44.circuit. Valtteri Bottas, I would not be surprised if they slip their

:12:45. > :12:47.strategy at Williams, Felipe Massa using the soft and Valtteri Bottas

:12:48. > :12:53.using the medium tyres. 30 minutes to go, they can probably do ten or

:12:54. > :13:00.12 laps on this tyre and have a feel for switching over later on. A

:13:01. > :13:03.similar way that Ferrari do as well. The work continues in the Toro Rosso

:13:04. > :13:11.garage, that Jenny was telling us about, switching the rear wings etc.

:13:12. > :13:17.Sainz and Verstappen. That is Max Verstappen's car he already had that

:13:18. > :13:20.incredibly heavy looking rear wing, to Mendis and at every downforce.

:13:21. > :13:27.The fact there is so much work going on with those cars indicates how

:13:28. > :13:31.hard Toro Rosso, as a midfield team, is still pushing. They brought three

:13:32. > :13:34.different front wings to be single for Grand Prix which is an

:13:35. > :13:40.indication of how serious they are in trying to compete with the others

:13:41. > :13:45.in the midfield area. They are currently on 66 World Championship

:13:46. > :13:53.points, just five behind Lotus in the constructors, plenty to aim for.

:13:54. > :13:56.Target lap times are low 16s. That is the target lap time for Lewis

:13:57. > :14:04.Hamilton to give you reference, the fastest lap of the race last year

:14:05. > :14:09.was a 1:13.555, so that is quite a bit off but the beginning of the

:14:10. > :14:13.race they were doing 15s so it is roughly within the same ballpark.

:14:14. > :14:17.That is impressive, you did that without reading it, you must have

:14:18. > :14:23.committed that to your memory in the bath before coming out here. Thank

:14:24. > :14:26.you, you are giving my secrets away. Half an hour to go and we have

:14:27. > :14:32.roughly half the field out on the circuit at the moment on this warm

:14:33. > :14:37.but misty November day here at Interlagps in Brazil. We are about

:14:38. > :14:44.25 kilometres from the centre of downtown Sao Paulo, near the

:14:45. > :14:48.cemetery where Ayrton Senna is buried. A legendary figure here, the

:14:49. > :14:53.three-time world champion and winner of this grand free on a couple of

:14:54. > :14:57.occasions. Certainly in those days there was plenty of excitement and

:14:58. > :15:01.plenty of work on Jenson Button's car, a plastic sheet covering the

:15:02. > :15:05.front area. I think they will be spraying some paint on the front

:15:06. > :15:11.wing, to protect the suspension pick-up points and the tyres so they

:15:12. > :15:15.can see what's the car went on to the circuit, the ever flowing

:15:16. > :15:19.through the front wing and where the paint would go, if it is all over

:15:20. > :15:23.the suspension from when it was sprayed on you would not get much of

:15:24. > :15:29.a feel of what the air was actually doing. Is that a job for the junior

:15:30. > :15:35.guy on the team, does he have to clean it all up? I do not know but

:15:36. > :15:38.it is something that they all do and they were doing it with Lewis

:15:39. > :15:44.Hamilton with the S duct, tying the bulge cover on the nose, they

:15:45. > :15:54.sprayed a lots of flow viz on that in F P one this morning. It is

:15:55. > :15:55.something they do to do in their singer Leighton and their computer

:15:56. > :16:10.fluid dynamics as well. The target lap time is what the two

:16:11. > :16:13.Mercedes are doing at the moment. Turn and nine, the downhill

:16:14. > :16:18.left-hander. A positive camber corner but to go into it with a lot

:16:19. > :16:22.of acceleration from second to third gear and then set into the camber of

:16:23. > :16:29.the corner but of you lose the rear a little bit on entry it can build

:16:30. > :16:41.up momentum and bring you around. Is everything OK? Can you check the

:16:42. > :16:50.rear wing stability? What exactly happened? Locked up, Mr the apex

:16:51. > :16:56.slightly. It was a very lazy turn in. It looked as if it slowly came

:16:57. > :17:01.round on him. It was slightly strange. Not the normal thing that

:17:02. > :17:05.happens there because normally you get it going on in the entry to the

:17:06. > :17:11.corner as you turn on but this was as you came down when normally it

:17:12. > :17:15.sets into an understeer. A very pretty shot of a couple of birds

:17:16. > :17:19.with the bird's eye view. Getting out of the way swiftly. As their

:17:20. > :17:25.white Williams came spinning out of control towards the two birds out on

:17:26. > :17:34.the circuit. Second to third gear. Went down to second as he lost the

:17:35. > :17:40.rear. Slightly strange. He is asking for an understanding of this ability

:17:41. > :17:44.of the rear wing and if it is producing the consistency of

:17:45. > :17:53.downforce expected. Vettel is on the medium compound tyre. He has

:17:54. > :17:56.switched onto it. Ferrari are doing a back-to-back with Raikkonen on

:17:57. > :18:02.used soft tyres and Vettel has gone back to the city was using it

:18:03. > :18:09.earlier or medium compound tyres, or similar life, so they are going to

:18:10. > :18:14.get a direct performance of the two. That is the kind of work that goes

:18:15. > :18:18.on in this practice session. In addition to the qualifying

:18:19. > :18:22.simulations we have already seen. Just drifting out on that last lap.

:18:23. > :18:30.Did you have traffic? Not particularly. He has now they are on

:18:31. > :18:41.the racetrack. A better lap that time from Rosberg. Both CDs drivers

:18:42. > :18:59.having a slightly off lap. Raikkonen was also will lapping at 1.167. The

:19:00. > :19:06.rear tyre, inside shoulder, heavy training. That is Hulkenberg that is

:19:07. > :19:12.complaining. He has done ten laps on that soft tyre. It is inside edge

:19:13. > :19:23.which is usually wheel spin and that is coming out of these corners. Not

:19:24. > :19:30.the corner like Turn 3. It is the wheel spin that comes out of corners

:19:31. > :19:37.like this one, the last one. Daniel Kvyat also doing that at this stage

:19:38. > :19:44.of the game. Also using medium compound tyres. Soft compound tyres,

:19:45. > :19:52.sorry. The lap times beginning to come down a bit for Mercedes.

:19:53. > :19:55.Hamilton felt he was quicker than Rosberg in the race in Mexico but

:19:56. > :20:00.could not get past him and he said the same thing about this race as

:20:01. > :20:04.well as Ricciardo almost loses the car, putting it out of the garage

:20:05. > :20:10.and the tail swinging round. The pit lane is very dirty and dusty. This

:20:11. > :20:13.morning you saw plumes of dust and that went into the tyres and that is

:20:14. > :20:18.one of the reasons that may be they struggled a little bit once they

:20:19. > :20:23.came in for the first stop. The tyre absorbed all of that dust and dirt

:20:24. > :20:27.and they could not clean it so well because it was in gained a little

:20:28. > :20:30.bit too much into the rubber and switching onto the second set of got

:20:31. > :20:36.a little bit cleaner and that will continue as the pit lane cleans up.

:20:37. > :20:40.Vettel has come back in and gone on to the soft and Raikkonen has gone

:20:41. > :20:46.on to the medium compound tyres. A switch around. They have done that a

:20:47. > :20:52.few times. I thought they would have done more running. If they felt they

:20:53. > :20:58.were getting close to the end of the 12 laps, and starting to lose the

:20:59. > :21:02.consistency of the tyre... That is a little bit early in real terms. You

:21:03. > :21:06.would expect it to be a little bit later than that. It is possible

:21:07. > :21:14.because last year it was us all of time period when they would be doing

:21:15. > :21:18.the changeover, laps seven, 26 and 50 when they did the pit stops. The

:21:19. > :21:26.tyres have not changed that much from this year to last. The rear

:21:27. > :21:30.tyres have been made to last a bit longer. Otherwise the compound in

:21:31. > :21:35.has been pretty much the same. It will be interesting to see what

:21:36. > :21:48.happens next year. Pirelli are expected to carry on. The settings,

:21:49. > :21:51.problem with engine braking. When you are going into the corner that

:21:52. > :21:56.is so that you can adjust how much the engine holds you back. That is

:21:57. > :22:00.in conjunction with the hybrid and the brake pressure which has a

:22:01. > :22:03.distribution front to rear. There is a lot of different dynamics acting

:22:04. > :22:08.on that. The engine braking is something that the driver feels

:22:09. > :22:14.helps him pivot the car is specially in those tight corners. We have seen

:22:15. > :22:19.quite a lot of tyre degradation. Appleton's soft tyres have done 12

:22:20. > :22:24.laps and his last lap, he picked up the pace, the lap before that had

:22:25. > :22:28.been slower -- Hamilton. Maybe he gave the tyres a bit of a breather.

:22:29. > :22:33.Very little to choose between him and Rosberg on pace. A bit of a

:22:34. > :22:37.deceiving picture from Hamilton that last lap. It looked as if we were

:22:38. > :22:43.having degradation but it will be back again. You cannot do that

:22:44. > :22:48.during the Grand Prix. You have to keep going flat out all the way

:22:49. > :22:52.through. I have seen that in the long run is when they will do a slow

:22:53. > :22:58.-ish build-up to their pace, race pairs, and then they will have a

:22:59. > :23:01.soul that and cool the tyre down and go again which gives them a better

:23:02. > :23:07.understanding of what the tyre will be able to do in the race. Something

:23:08. > :23:11.they develop and the other teams do not miss as I really do that but

:23:12. > :23:19.they feel that gives them a consistent reference. --

:23:20. > :23:26.necessarily. The Ferrari of Vettel is competitive. Pretty much

:23:27. > :23:31.identical pace of the two Mercedes in front of him. His tyres are three

:23:32. > :23:37.laps fresher but that is not a huge amount Soviet leader Mark is looking

:23:38. > :23:45.reasonably competitive. -- so the Ferrari. Vettel said he had to be

:23:46. > :23:52.cautious. You cannot really trust Nicky loader when he says things

:23:53. > :23:54.like that. How do you see the gap? Or seven tenths unfortunately

:23:55. > :23:59.because we would like to see Vettel on the front row but I do not think

:24:00. > :24:03.we are going to see that. Mercedes can turn up their power unit and it

:24:04. > :24:10.is not just the engine, it is the hybrid system, for qualifying.

:24:11. > :24:14.Ferrari can only do it to a lesser extent than Mercedes. Yes, they have

:24:15. > :24:23.improved and we saw that at Monza with extra horsepower and they will

:24:24. > :24:33.able to use that especially in qualifying but it is certainly not a

:24:34. > :24:39.match for the Mercedes still. Not such a good lap from Vettel. I think

:24:40. > :24:44.we are going to see reasonably high tyre degradation. A classic

:24:45. > :24:48.situation. Three stops last year being the way to go with the

:24:49. > :24:51.uncertainties over the weather adding an extra dimension. The cloud

:24:52. > :25:01.base has cleared a little bit over in the distance. I can see the

:25:02. > :25:05.skyline is a little more clearly. One or two shadows beginning to

:25:06. > :25:11.appear on the racetrack. We saw Fernando Alonso braking down with

:25:12. > :25:18.what looked like very much an engine problem hourly. Flames coming out of

:25:19. > :25:22.the engine. Yes, it was a little bit obvious isobars but I have spoken to

:25:23. > :25:29.the team to try to work out the issue. Vettel whizzes past me to go

:25:30. > :25:34.right on the soft tyres. They said it was a hardware issue. The engine

:25:35. > :25:37.is going to have to go back to haunt for them to looked at it and work

:25:38. > :25:46.out what has gone wrong but I asked if it was an old engine and they

:25:47. > :25:50.said it had raised in Austin. It has only raised in Austin and if that is

:25:51. > :25:55.the first outing since then that is not many kilometres since then. I do

:25:56. > :26:02.not think the guys at Honda will be very pleased and the guys that

:26:03. > :26:07.McLaren even less so. That is also one of the spec four engines that

:26:08. > :26:11.those used in Austin which is the latest specification and he had a

:26:12. > :26:13.problem with that towards the end of the race and dropped back so ready

:26:14. > :26:19.that particular engine had some issues. He felt confident that they

:26:20. > :26:25.had fixed or alternatively it would not happen again but clearly it was

:26:26. > :26:37.not ideal for Fernando Alonso. 18.5 minutes remaining in the session.

:26:38. > :26:41.Rossi is out on the circuit. He is ending the year as a Formula 1

:26:42. > :26:44.driver. That has always been his dream. Opening the next year he will

:26:45. > :26:50.get the chance to retain that seat but there is a awful lot going on

:26:51. > :26:55.behind-the-scenes. These sporting director and the team principal have

:26:56. > :27:01.both handed in their resignation, not happy with the direction that

:27:02. > :27:07.Stephen Fitzpatrick, the owner, is taking the team. Neither of them are

:27:08. > :27:16.seeing very much about it, sworn to secrecy about why they are leaving.

:27:17. > :27:22.One of them was an employee and the other the team principal. A little

:27:23. > :27:26.bit of a unpicking to go on within that team. No word from the owners

:27:27. > :27:30.about future direction who is going to replace them or how the team is

:27:31. > :27:34.going to be managed and run. Awfully we will get something before the end

:27:35. > :27:45.of the season to clarify the position -- hopefully. Felipe

:27:46. > :27:49.Massa's brother, local hero. Very close to winning a world champion.

:27:50. > :28:03.He was world champion for about 20 seconds. He has done 17 laps on

:28:04. > :28:09.those tyres. Rosberg, Hamilton, Vettel the top three. The two

:28:10. > :28:14.Mercedes are still going strong. They have done 17 laps on the softer

:28:15. > :28:27.compound tyres and their lap times are in the low 1.17s. Vettel also

:28:28. > :28:39.using the softer compound tyres. Six laps more life on it. Did he say it

:28:40. > :28:44.feels like chewing gum? No, he said I do not like doing that. Why would

:28:45. > :28:49.he not like doing that, not one to tell his engineer over the radio

:28:50. > :28:56.what he felt the tyres are doing? Is that keeping your secrets to

:28:57. > :29:02.yourself? He has put a gigantic flat spot on the front like a 50p piece.

:29:03. > :29:04.I think it is keeping a bit of information to himself exactly where

:29:05. > :29:09.years with the lap times at the moment. He was a little bit slower

:29:10. > :29:13.due to the lock-up coming up in to the lock-up coming up into turn ten.

:29:14. > :29:19.You did not lose too much time but he has maybe put a flat spot into

:29:20. > :29:26.the rear front tyre. These tyres are not doing too badly. The lap times

:29:27. > :29:34.have only gone off by half a second. Because of that long pool, you can

:29:35. > :29:40.see the incline... We are going to extend the stint a little. Daniel

:29:41. > :29:45.Ricciardo is on the medium tyre. He has done 18 laps. Coming up into the

:29:46. > :29:52.top corner, it is a long pool up the hill so if you have less fuel on the

:29:53. > :30:00.car it helps you significantly with acceleration so it can count about

:30:01. > :30:03.the tyre drop off. That is the picture with Vettel also circulating

:30:04. > :30:09.and still quicker than the two Mercedes. That is interesting. Ross

:30:10. > :30:15.Burke having had that right front lock-up has gone off the racetrack

:30:16. > :30:23.-- Nico Rosberg. Where is he? That is the last corner. Coming out of

:30:24. > :30:34.the bottom of the hill heading up to Turn 12. Taking that are just 80 mph

:30:35. > :30:38.and running wild. -- worried. He comes through the hairpin before it

:30:39. > :30:47.is a flat right-hander. As he turns into that, he comes through. It is

:30:48. > :30:51.difficult from this angle to see what happened but it looks as if he

:30:52. > :30:59.has turned on and locked up. He locked up the left front and run

:31:00. > :31:01.forward into the run-off area. This is where Raikkonen famously went

:31:02. > :31:06.behind that barrier because he thought he could get up the other

:31:07. > :31:13.side and he had to do a U-turn and come back behind there. One of the

:31:14. > :31:19.support races, Rosberg doing a bit of wheel spin across the grass. That

:31:20. > :31:24.is on the replay because he is back into the pits. The computer tells us

:31:25. > :31:44.he has gone back out on circuit again.

:31:45. > :31:51.The performance of the Red Bull, a fair bit of degradation for them

:31:52. > :31:56.looking at that. Around half a second over the course of that lap.

:31:57. > :32:00.Looking at Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, they were pretty close, a

:32:01. > :32:05.little bit up and down to read across it but towards the end of the

:32:06. > :32:09.stint, I would think Lewis Hamilton is edging ahead of Rosberg even

:32:10. > :32:14.though Rosberg is fastest overall. It looks like Hamilton was a bit

:32:15. > :32:21.more consistent on the long run. All of the long run work has been

:32:22. > :32:26.focused on the soft firework but now they are out on the medium tyre,

:32:27. > :32:32.they will not get a lot of work on it but one thing you have to say, is

:32:33. > :32:36.the Ferrari looks quick in race trim and in Sebastian Vettel's hands at

:32:37. > :32:42.least. He has been matching them if not slightly better throughout that

:32:43. > :32:51.long run although his tyres are a few laps fresher. It is hard to

:32:52. > :33:00.calculate. I did not hear what he said. I think it was his visor.

:33:01. > :33:04.Rosberg back in business having switched on to the medium compound

:33:05. > :33:09.tyres, meanwhile, Felipe Massa, winner of this Grand Prix back in

:33:10. > :33:17.2008 comes across the line to complete another lap, this time in a

:33:18. > :33:21.Williams and it is quite quick. The medium compound tyres have done 12

:33:22. > :33:28.laps, that is interesting because it tells us about the crossover.

:33:29. > :33:32.Hamilton with a good lap. Look at the amount of pick-up on each side

:33:33. > :33:38.of the racing line as they come through here, that will be a problem

:33:39. > :33:47.on Sunday. Here is Verstappen. My tyres are dead, the front and the

:33:48. > :33:51.rear. Verstappen has done 23 laps on that set of tyres, but that is a

:33:52. > :33:56.good situation, if the tyres are dead and it is front and rear which

:33:57. > :34:00.means they are going off in a balanced way, big understeer and

:34:01. > :34:04.then the rear comes round as he exits the corner, they know where

:34:05. > :34:08.the drop-off point is but it is not like a car then goes into one

:34:09. > :34:12.particular balance with understeer. Marcus Ericsson with another big

:34:13. > :34:17.lock-up, was Hamilton did that this morning and it is a very easy corner

:34:18. > :34:23.because of the camber of the road and the lateness of the breaks into

:34:24. > :34:25.the corner. It looks like the medium compound tyre is performing

:34:26. > :34:32.reasonably well in comparison with the soft. They will work out their

:34:33. > :34:37.fastest strategy but I do not think we will see as many early stops as

:34:38. > :34:41.we did last year. Last year was soft and then they went to the medium and

:34:42. > :34:46.changed back to the medium or the way through to the end of the race,

:34:47. > :34:51.they only used the soft tyre for qualifying and the opening stint of

:34:52. > :34:54.the race. It could be a different picture with the amount of work

:34:55. > :35:01.being done on the soft tyres, it does look reasonably quick. Rosberg

:35:02. > :35:06.with a 1:16.5, competitive with what he was doing earlier on. Should be

:35:07. > :35:12.quite an interesting race from a strategy point of view. Not much to

:35:13. > :35:17.choose between them, it is about working out your fastest race as

:35:18. > :35:23.always and we could see variety here. I hope so, that is one of the

:35:24. > :35:28.reasons they wanted more degradation but it might also add variety as we

:35:29. > :35:32.see the raindrops falling on one of the puddles left earlier on. Less

:35:33. > :35:40.than ten minutes remaining in the session as Felipe Nasr, the

:35:41. > :35:43.Brazilian driver of Middle Eastern extraction, the year ago he was

:35:44. > :35:49.announced as a Formula 1 driver, stepping up from GP to their, where

:35:50. > :35:54.he had won a race and Joe Liam Palmer will be making that same

:35:55. > :35:58.step, he was the GP to champion last year and it has taken him an extra

:35:59. > :36:03.year to get into Formula 1 but he now has the opportunity with the

:36:04. > :36:11.Lotus team for next year. The we are affecting them to switch to Renault

:36:12. > :36:15.but we believe they will honour through the drivers are, how do you

:36:16. > :36:21.think Parma will do as a driver? Piller wrote I think he will do

:36:22. > :36:25.well, he has done a good job on Friday mornings, I hope the car will

:36:26. > :36:30.have a bit more finance than it did this year, especially if Renault, as

:36:31. > :36:35.anticipated, take over the team. They will then be able to build for

:36:36. > :36:39.the future but he has Pastor Maldonado, and experience the make,

:36:40. > :36:45.very fast sometimes and sometimes underrated in terms of speed but

:36:46. > :36:49.Parma will just be making sure he delivers when it comes to the races

:36:50. > :36:54.and I am sure he will stand up well against Pastor Maldonado. It will be

:36:55. > :36:59.interesting, another interesting talking point for next season, the

:37:00. > :37:04.two Manor Marussia cars up for grabs in terms of empty seats left for

:37:05. > :37:09.Formula 1, most teams got the business done early, some of them

:37:10. > :37:12.very early and some drivers are on longer contracts as well as we look

:37:13. > :37:21.at Sebastian Vettel, back onto the soft compound tyres and still

:37:22. > :37:25.lapping in the 1.17s so consistent performance from him and Ferrari, we

:37:26. > :37:33.have to keep an eye on them on race day. If they can get in front, they

:37:34. > :37:37.can stay there. Jenson, we would like to repeat the front wing

:37:38. > :37:45.comparison so please box this lap. That is a good idea. A comparison

:37:46. > :37:50.that they clearly did earlier on where they did not totally get the

:37:51. > :37:54.results expected out of it so they will do another thing with seven

:37:55. > :37:59.minutes to go, they have done the majority of their long run anyway so

:38:00. > :38:03.it is about using the time to the best benefit considering they do not

:38:04. > :38:06.have any information from Fernando Alonso with him going out so early

:38:07. > :38:13.in the session with an engine problem. The headlines from this act

:38:14. > :38:20.session, not a particularly typical Brazil picture here with Rosberg

:38:21. > :38:25.half a second quicker than Lewis Hamilton, which is pretty much the

:38:26. > :38:27.opposite of what it was in free practice one this morning, then

:38:28. > :38:33.another half second back to Sebastian Vettel, so that'll is a

:38:34. > :38:39.full second slower than Rosberg in qualification trim, a quick lap from

:38:40. > :38:43.Rosberg in the conditions but behind them is more what we expect to see

:38:44. > :38:50.from Brazil with very close lap times, it is a short lap, just 72

:38:51. > :38:58.seconds so the margins between the cars are very tight and that is what

:38:59. > :39:02.you have behind Vettel with Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Bottas,

:39:03. > :39:08.Grosjean, Hulkenberg, all separated by fractions of a second but the

:39:09. > :39:11.margin for Mercedes in single lap qualifying looks awesome. Hamilton

:39:12. > :39:18.did it this morning, half a second ahead of Rosberg who was also a bit

:39:19. > :39:22.ahead of third place, being able to deliver that round here which is not

:39:23. > :39:28.what we want ideally, we would like to see Ed a lot closer and generally

:39:29. > :39:36.it is, the mid-area is very close as usual, Vettel at 13.3, Raikkonen

:39:37. > :39:44.13.5, Bottas 13.6, Hulkenberg 13.7, and Daniil Kvyat in 90s 13.8

:39:45. > :39:48.alongside Felipe Massa. Another word from Tom Clarkson with five and it's

:39:49. > :39:55.to go. It is interesting to discuss the qualifying comparison within the

:39:56. > :39:58.intra- team battle at Mercedes, although on the face of it, these

:39:59. > :40:04.last two races look like a dead rubber because the champion should

:40:05. > :40:09.settle but the needle is as intense as ever, 2016 begins here and the

:40:10. > :40:13.last few races Rosberg has been on pole position and he said something

:40:14. > :40:17.revealing, he said that the pendulum seems to have swung back in his

:40:18. > :40:22.direction over one lap but I don't yet know why and that is what he

:40:23. > :40:25.will be working out over the next couple of races, why he is now

:40:26. > :40:30.quicker than Hamilton over one lap and work on that over the winter and

:40:31. > :40:34.take it into next season. I think there is an element that sometimes

:40:35. > :40:38.when it is running for you it runs for you and you have to maximise it,

:40:39. > :40:43.if you try to analyse too many things you get caught up in the

:40:44. > :40:48.technicalities of it. There is a certain mad of qualifying that is

:40:49. > :40:53.pure emotion and confidence. It limited amount is technical

:40:54. > :40:57.analysis. I think he has found something in terms of setting the

:40:58. > :41:03.car up which works better for him in qualifying, as we heard yesterday on

:41:04. > :41:09.five live Formula 1, which kicked us off across all the platforms, it is

:41:10. > :41:11.fine margins between the two drivers throughout this season, very few

:41:12. > :41:16.occasions has there been a big margin to one driver or the other

:41:17. > :41:20.but Hamilton has led the way this year with 11 pole positions compared

:41:21. > :41:25.to lassi is and where it was Rosberg who had the upper hand but

:41:26. > :41:31.qualifying between them seems to be so important. Last year, Rosberg was

:41:32. > :41:35.able to give him a run for his money through to the last race because of

:41:36. > :41:39.his qualifying platform, he knows he has to get that back and he seemed

:41:40. > :41:42.to have gone about it in the right way with four consecutive pole

:41:43. > :41:46.positions which is why the needle is back between them. Their

:41:47. > :41:51.relationship is back to being tetchy and cold as it was at points in

:41:52. > :41:55.2014, it started this year being quite friendly, I would not say

:41:56. > :42:03.cuddly but they were borderline amicable and now you can sense a

:42:04. > :42:08.real tension and frostiness and from Rosberg's point of view, he has to

:42:09. > :42:11.capitalise on that and keep it going through 2016 to make Hamilton feel

:42:12. > :42:19.unsettled as he did for much of 2014. Yes, it is about delivering

:42:20. > :42:24.that on the surface, that is the man he has to unsubtle, Lewis Hamilton.

:42:25. > :42:28.A strange sport, Formula 1, the man working in your team with you at the

:42:29. > :42:31.end of the day is the guy you are trying to work against, unlike

:42:32. > :42:38.football, rugby, where the concept of teamwork is about all for one and

:42:39. > :42:42.one for all. You need to work with your to make but ultimately you need

:42:43. > :42:46.to be Tim just as much as anyone else to win a World Championship,

:42:47. > :42:50.the comment of Nico Rosberg said he would prefer not to talk on the

:42:51. > :42:54.radio about how the tyres are feeling and give too many details

:42:55. > :42:57.about how they are dropping off and cooling of the relationship now that

:42:58. > :43:02.Hamilton has won the championship but at the same time, Rosberg has

:43:03. > :43:06.found a little bit of something. Two minutes remaining in this free

:43:07. > :43:11.practice session ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the

:43:12. > :43:16.penultimate round of this year 's World Championship, as I looked out

:43:17. > :43:19.from the commentary box position, I can see the sun almost beginning to

:43:20. > :43:26.poke through the clouds, the Hayes is lifting in the distance, Jenny,

:43:27. > :43:30.how are things evolving for this weekend? There is still drizzle

:43:31. > :43:34.around us so it is one of those typically strange sessions in Sao

:43:35. > :43:40.Paulo where one part of the track has little bit of sunshine and

:43:41. > :43:44.another a bit of rain. Any information at all on degradation. A

:43:45. > :43:49.lot of traffic at the moment so it is difficult to pick things out, we

:43:50. > :43:54.are good on degradation, almost identical to Nico. Hamilton talking

:43:55. > :43:58.about the traffic there, just say the weekend and the weather we are

:43:59. > :44:03.expecting, we expect a thunderstorm tomorrow, that could have a lot of

:44:04. > :44:06.rain in that case which would make qualifying interesting but that will

:44:07. > :44:11.clear by Sunday where we expect another dry day, some changeable

:44:12. > :44:15.times ahead but the thunderstorm could make things interesting for

:44:16. > :44:20.qualifying. Interesting message between Hamilton and his engineer,

:44:21. > :44:25.the engineer saying they are good on tyre degradation, comparable with

:44:26. > :44:28.the other clock on Hamilton was a bit harder in Mexico on the tyres

:44:29. > :44:32.than Rosberg and that was one of the things that led to that rather

:44:33. > :44:37.controversial episode where they pitted Rosberg as a safety measure

:44:38. > :44:40.onto a new set of tyres because they had the gap to the car behind,

:44:41. > :44:45.Daniil Kvyat, at that point but Hamilton tried to resist when they

:44:46. > :44:50.called him into the pits because he was trying to win the race his way

:44:51. > :44:54.but it was 18 situation. That is what led to that, Hamilton being

:44:55. > :45:00.just a tiny bit harder on the tyres than Rosberg in the first place. All

:45:01. > :45:04.fun and games, particular in the Mercedes setup. The flag man on the

:45:05. > :45:10.start and finish straight unfurling his chequered flag, leaning across

:45:11. > :45:14.the barrier and waving it now at the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and

:45:15. > :45:19.Carlos Sainz comes across the line now after the chequered flag and

:45:20. > :45:24.they will have to come into the pits at the end of this lap and that is

:45:25. > :45:28.it for free practice two which gives us Rosberg fastest by almost half a

:45:29. > :45:34.second from his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel

:45:35. > :45:36.almost a second off in qualifying pace but in long one pays, the

:45:37. > :45:51.Ferrari looking competitive. Raikkonen is fourth and then the Red

:45:52. > :45:56.Bull of Ricciardo. It looks as if Vettel and Raikkonen are going to be

:45:57. > :46:01.competitive but it is all about the Mercedes. I am interesting to see

:46:02. > :46:05.what Bottas and Massa can do because historically they are not on the

:46:06. > :46:10.pace but can deliver on Saturday mornings. We have seen the Ferrari

:46:11. > :46:15.team, which have seen tasty in Friday free practice to and then

:46:16. > :46:19.disappointed as the weekend has gone on, we will see how things are, but

:46:20. > :46:24.looking at the back of that Ferrari, Vettel has a lot of new

:46:25. > :46:29.parts on the back of that car to help with the rear end downforce. A

:46:30. > :46:34.sequence of tiny little dots on the back of the flora. 1012 of them in a

:46:35. > :46:46.row. Leading up to the rear wheel on the back of the Ferrari. -- ten or

:46:47. > :46:51.12. A simulation pit stop going on. He sweeps into his pit box. The

:46:52. > :46:55.fastest man this afternoon. One of the many practices the mechanics do

:46:56. > :46:59.over the course of the weekend. They will be out there in the morning

:47:00. > :47:03.being told by the sporting director. Just like everybody else, trying to

:47:04. > :47:10.get their pit stops as fast as possible. Williams have been giving

:47:11. > :47:15.a better way, losing about a second to their main rivals, something they

:47:16. > :47:21.intend to work on. Rosberg from Hamilton with Vettel in third place,

:47:22. > :47:26.Raikkonen, then Ricciardo, Bottas, Grosjean once again in the Lotus

:47:27. > :47:35.looking for a strong end to his career. Massa two times a winner in

:47:36. > :47:44.ten. Errors very much the former man of the moment in the Force India was

:47:45. > :47:56.11. Maldonado was 12. Button and Ericsson. Marussia may have a bit of

:47:57. > :48:06.a leadership crisis but seem to be running OK. A pretty clear picture.

:48:07. > :48:09.It looks very much as if on single lap qualifying performance it is

:48:10. > :48:15.strictly an in-house battle between Hamilton and Rosberg but Ferrari

:48:16. > :48:19.could challenge in the race on Sunday.

:48:20. > :48:26.This morning Lewis Hamilton build-out have the second gap over

:48:27. > :48:30.Rosberg and why did forward and Rosberg has done exactly the same to

:48:31. > :48:39.him. You will not have to miss a thing because we have every session

:48:40. > :48:43.live across the BBC. We will be looking back at some of the classic

:48:44. > :49:01.Grand Prix. That will also be on iPlayer. In Scotland, you can press

:49:02. > :49:07.the red Button. Thank you for your company. Goodbye.