Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice 3 Formula 1

Good morning from Interlagos. The sun is shining. The wind has picked

up. We are expecting temperatures to get into the 80s. Very different

yesterday, a lot warmer. Hamilton impressed us. Half a second faster

than Rosberg. A hours later in free practice to it was almost the exact

reverse, Rosberg leading Hamilton by almost exactly the same gap.

Hamilton has already been crowned champion but the battle for second

is still up for grabs. 21 points separate the jury. -- two. Mercedes

became champions in Russia. In the pit lane we have Tom

Clarkson. What are conditions like? On the fees that this is perfect

conditions for the team to warn cars for qualifying. Track temperature of

40 degrees. The ambient is in the mid-20s which is great for me and

Jenny. There is a bit of a tail wind which could make braking for Turn 1

a little bit tricky. What will bother the teams as the green nature

of the track, and what I mean is the robber was washed away yesterday in

a huge storm last night. The track conditions are going to change as

more rubber gets laid down. An ever-changing racetrack. That should

make it very interesting for us. As always you can get involved in the

session. We have the live feed up and running. We will endeavour to

read out as many comments as possible. It is going to be a busy

session. It is going to be a good session to get everyone going for

qualifying. Mercedes had the edge yesterday and the question is

whether anyone can get close to them. For qualifying pace it is

going to be tough for anyone to get close to the Mercedes. The Williams

are close enough to challenge the Ferraris, but the Ferraris pace

looked good. Rosberg on a roll of four pole positions. Hamilton

looking to take his 50th pole position. It has been a while. He

has been waiting for that since the Italian Grand Prix, Monza, where he

last took pole position, is 49. Plenty of fans in the grandstands

already looking forward to a hot and sultry day. Looking at temperatures

going a bit for Sunday. It looks as if the track is going to be very

warm. As Tom was suggesting as we get to qualifying. It is likely to

get hotter as we go through this session. Jenson Button looks happy

enough but it was not a particularly inspiring day once again for

McLaren. Engine failure, power unit sell your. That restricted Fernando

Alonso. Jenson was 13th, but I do not expect there to be a week in

form suddenly from that team. It is a tough circuit from them because

there are two main sectors to accelerate up out of the last

corner. A long steep uphill section and you need good acceleration, good

hybrid work out of their -- fog. This final practice session before

qualifying, crucial to do final checks. Towards the end of the hour

it will be quite late before we see them put the soft tyre on and really

go for it. them put the soft tyre on and really

go for it. The soft tyre had about a 1 second advantage on that

performance. Only able to get one lap out of the tyre. Hamilton tried

to do a small that and go again but it was not quite quick enough. In

longer run pace that gap did shorten. They are out onto the

medium tyre and will be keeping those soft tyres for later.

Raikkonen and Vettel did well yesterday. Raikkonen was fifth in

the morning and fourth in the afternoon. Vettel was third. It

looks as if Red Bull could be the best of the rest. We will have to

wait and see. Power unit change. There might have gone back to one

they used in Mexico at McLaren. Yes. The one that failed yesterday was

the one in Boston in Texas. It is the latest specifications from Honda

on that one but they added problem in Austen. Continuing the battle

withdrawal Rosso in the constructors' championship. A

difficult night for Romain Grosjean who lives in Paris. He must have a

lot going through his head. He must exclude that and get on with

driving. The boss of Ferrari keeps an eye on his team's progress to see

whether Vettel and Raikkonen are going to be able to challenge those

Mercedes at the top. Nasr put in a decent run yesterday. Sauber might

not be as far off as some of the other tracks. Yes, I think when the

circuit robbers in some people I am not too sure were at their peak

yesterday. I would expect them to slip back in little bit. Nasr Max,

this is his home crowd. Fully be mass has always been good round

here. Sauber will be hoping for a lot from him this weekend because it

is grated take battle for Toro Rosso. Now Sir Mike was 14th in the

first session. A lot of family support. I am sure people who

supported him through the years in his racing career. He comes from a

racing family. I am sure they will be delighted to be with him this

weekend. Hamilton in no hurry to come out on track. No sign of Lewis

just yet. They are waiting to see how the track develops and come out

later in the session. We can get more information from Mercedes

because Tom Clarkson is with their technical director Paddy Lowe.

Neither of your drivers are in their garage, it seems as if you are going

to let other people clean the track for you. That is about it. Do you

expect the track conditions to have changed? We expect hurts to have run

onto the track with the rainwater so it is quickly cleaned up. Yesterday

morning you did a lot of work for 20s extreme, various aerodynamic

bits, did you make progress? Yes. We learned quite a bit. We do a lot of

testing on Friday. Some of the things yesterday were perhaps more

visible than usual. With the absence of normal track testing Friday

Practice 1 is a very important session for that sort was a good

day. Rosberg yesterday afternoon was the second clear of the next

non-Mercedes car. Yes. His pace looked very strong but I think

Ferrari were not performing at their best. They were talking about that

so we may see them step forward today. We are not ruling that out.

What is the programme for this morning? When will we see you?

Shortly. They had a template over Nico Hulkenberg's head down to the

front of the cockpit. There are regulations of where the driver can

sit and the minimum height between that line between the role to plan

the dashboard, in case the car is upside down, so that the driver's

head is not exposed to the tarmac for example, therefore the driver

has to sit in a box and at quite a low-level hate and they were

checking that. Why this morning? They double check these things.

Sometimes the FIA check them to make sure. Also as he has changed his

eight position for example. I used to do that for certain circuits if I

had to look into the apex of the corner. I do not think he has grown

anything. It is to make sure that regulation is OK. Jennie, you have

air update from Williams. Yes. Yesterday that the red flag came out

and when it was out Bottas was summoned to the stewards for

breaching regulations. He has been given a drop of three places on the

grid for tomorrow. He also has two penalty points awarded to those

licence. He was not particularly happy and did not think that should

have been the case. He goes back three places. It will be keen to

make the most of the situation and see where he can go. He was hoping

to try to get onto the podium this weekend and beat his team-mates,

which the Brazilians would not be happy about. He is disappointed.

That fight between Bottas and Raikkonen is pretty hot. He felt he

had no choice because there were cars slowing ahead of them and he

had to overtake the car as the red flag came out but the stewards felt

otherwise. One of the stewards as my old team-mate from Toyota.

Talk us through the section of the track he is on. He is on the long

start and finish straight. It is always turning, always load on the

right-hand side tyres. What you do not realise from the on-board camera

is the fact that it is so steep up there and as he turns into this

left-hander how much it drops down into that right and flattens out

through the long left-hander. This corner is a little bit different to

last year because there are new curbs put in so the cars cannot cut

as much. We were talking about penalties. The only other penalties

we know about is attend placement for Daniel Ricciardo because he has

gone to the revised specification of Renault engine. That gives him a ten

place penalty. We have a three place penalty for Bottas. We saw Perez

coming out of the pits with a bit of wheel spin. The black marks all the

way down the pit lane where the drivers have been coming out and

doing little burn-outs and then they have to all the way to the end the

pit lane before they can actually do their practice. It is unusual at the

circuit but it is because as you exit the pit it is impossible. I

feel some pulling to the left on the brakes. It has often been a bit of a

problem to get the braking right for the braking right for Felipe Massa.

This circuit is tampered to the right so the car tends to pull a

little bit. In his first run, he is quickest at the moment, brake

temperature side to side, if there is a little distortion, maybe 30

degrees difference, it can make a difference. Rosberg getting closer

to coming out but still no action from either of the Mercedes drivers.

We have yet to see Jenson Button come out. Thank you for your

comments. Simon asks, you have driven at Interlagos, which was

tougher, the speed of F1 or at the longevity of the W C race? I think

the longevity. This is quite a physical surface. It is a

left-handed track. Normally the predominant number of circuits are

right-handed. There are only four that are left-handed. We have just

seen Perez come through there. This Turn 4 dipping down through turn

five it is all working on the side that is not normally that

well-trained. In Formula 1 the G-force these are quite

significantly less so the drivers do not have the same fatigue level as

before. One thing about sports car racing is overtaking with traffic

and that was always tough because it is very narrow.

That could be a problem in the first part of qualifying when you have all

of the cars out there. It is easy to trip over a slower car. And the

tyres can only do one lap at peak performance. You will see drivers

bunching up to make sure they get a perfect exhilaration to start the

lap because if they can gain that little bit out of the final corner,

they carry it all the way to the first corner. Nasr has set the

initial pace. Perez immediately goes second fastest but early stages in

this final practice session as the track sits in the sunshine here in

the southern part of Sao Paulo. Looking at a replay of Perez, the

slow motion camera gives us a glimpse of that tiny lock-up which

was hardly anything, but a great slow motion shot. Felipe Nasr, maybe

a little error from him. This was coming up to Juncao. Doing a lot of

fiddling around on the steering wheel. He had also locked up his

front left when he was steering to the right. I can understand if he

might have a break in balance. -- imbalance. You have to have total

confidence on the brakes around here because there are a couple of big

braking areas, into the first corner and into turn 4. We were looking at

the track and the history and indeed the unpredictable weather. Is Brazil

as special as a European race, Ryan is asking? You would have to say

yes. And with the history as welcome it has been on the calendar since

the early 70s. There is a huge passion and it is one of the

significant tracks on the calendar. I think it is one that we should

maintain and keep on the calendar. The Brazilians have a tremendous

history in the sport and they are very passionate and bring a lot of

enthusiasm. On Sunday morning, all of the grandstands will be bouncing

with enthusiasm at 9am, five hours before the start. That is something

that the sport needs. The circuit is named after Carlos Pace who was a

driver in the early 70s and won the third time that Formula 1 came here

in 1975 when he was driving for Brabham. He was tragically killed in

a flying accident but is remembered through the name of the track, and

of course Emerson Fittipaldi, who won the first two races here at

Interlagos. Ferrari, this is Kimi Raikkonen. It was actually Niki

Lauda who took the first Ferrari win around this track in 1976 and Carlos

Reutemann won here the following year for the team. They are tied

with McLaren in terms of victories here, they both have eight victories

around Interlagos. And Ferrari has gone fastest. These lap times are

not close to the fast times from yesterday. Rosberg did a 1:12.3

yesterday. And last year he was very quick. He did an 1:10.4 to go

fastest in FP3 and also took pole position. And his final time was

very close to the ultimate lap time around here, something I expect

could be beaten this year. But at the moment, they have not quite been

able to achieve those times, partly because of the temperatures and the

fact that the circuit does not seem to have rubber and in as well and

they have also been some changes to some of the Kaunas where the drivers

cannot cut as much -- to some of the corners. We are on board with the

sensation of the season in many ways, Max Verstappen, all of 18

years old but what great manoeuvres he has been pulling off throughout

the season and consistent point-scoring latterly as well. He

takes this vital corner that leads up the steep hill and flat out on

the power. This is where he is down a bit with the Renault horsepower.

That breaking point into turn 1, how difficult is it to get spot on? It

is very tough because you break very late. There is a bit of a lift off

at the moment to get some hybrid regeneration. But you breaking about

50 metres from the corner. And as soon as you get to it, the road

camber is towards the apex so the inside left front wheel is very

unloaded and it is easy to lock-up. The difference between getting it

right or not is about a 10th of a second and in that time you have

done about nine metres. I was watching in the second practice

yesterday. What was noticeable was that the Mercedes can break very

late into that corner will stop they are running a lot of downforce. They

are up there on the speed traps but not miles ahead of everybody. I

think there downforce is helping them with their braking. It is for

this middle sector. The first and third sectors are all about

straight-line speed and acceleration but the middle sector that Sebastian

Vettel has just come through is all about downforce and grip. They also

accelerated so quickly between turn 1 and new Merrick two. Let's see if

Sebastian Vettel can beat that time, yes, a little quicker but we are

still not down to the rapid pace that we will see at the end of the

session was thank you for your comments. Katie thinks you are

taking styling tips from Eddie Jordan! I think he is taking them

from me! And do drivers specially trained their neck muscles for these

tracks? You don't actually have the same strike on your neck as before.

Where Raikkonen is now, it is just a long, big, fast left-hand bend so

you can sit your head against the headrest on the right-hand side to

take away the stress and strain. I was out on Turn 1 yesterday and it

is incredible to watch the cars going through. People are talking

about the kerbs this year, they are massive and have changed from last

year. Rosberg and Hamilton both said they were not particularly enjoying

them. It turns out that might be one of the reasons the cars are going a

bit slower because they can't go over the kerbs as much as they have

done, especially in turn eight and turn nine. It is adding on about 1.5

metres to the length of the track. The drivers are not enjoying it. The

circuit is the same for everyone. It has changed a little bit. There is a

15 millimetre increase on the inside of the kerb.

If everybody has to go around it, it is the same as any other corner. We

just might not get lap records. Bottas goes third but a bit of way

off from the Ferrari time. Paul asks if the higher track ten bridges will

benefit Ferrari and if they can challenge Mercedes. -- track

temperatures. 33 degrees was the maximum we saw yesterday but 12

months ago... Lewis Hamilton has stopped. That is in turn ten. He

hasn't actually completed a lap. RADIO: I've lost gears. He has found

something. He has done the old reset and it appears to have worked. It is

bizarre how these modern cars do this, so ruled by Ella Electronics.

That was a bit of a concern. They will probably want to check it -- so

ruled by electronics. It is not uncommon, they have had gearbox

problems through the year, mostly for Rosberg, he has lost quite a lot

of running time because of gay box issues. But the mechanics are so

dominant. -- gearbox issues. Many of you will have seen that his crash

helmet is designed slightly different, the yellow and green on

the back. He always had yellow but of course very much in memory of his

hero Ayrton Senna who he is trying to emulate by winning this race. How

is he able to have a new helmet with the FIA regulations? I think as long

as the design fundamentally stays as it is, he will get away with it.

Drivers have been experimenting. Sebastian Vettel keeps the same

design with some subtle changes. They are cottoning on a bit. I was

quite old-fashioned, I had the same design from when I first started

until my last race. It is a bit like a signature, the helmet is the

driver's signature. It is the only visible part we can see. Jennie? A

little interesting fact, they actually use the inside, the Phelps,

they use the old offcuts from Hamilton's in Sebastian Vettel's

helmet -- the felt. They have used the green part from Lewis

Hamilton's helmet inside Sebastian Vettel's that is odd!

Daniil Kvyat, a big slide and a bit of a wobble for the Russian. He has

been putting together a solid second half to the season. He said earlier

this weekend how it was a difficult start and a lot of that was down to

reliably. He felt that Barcelona was the turning point. What was

interesting, he said that last time in Mexico, when he was on for a

podium before the safety car, he got that was his best weekend of the

year so far. It all came together. He was a bit unlucky on the safety

car but he felt he did his job. This is only his second season in Grand

Prix racing. He is relatively inexperienced. He is experienced in

comparison to the stabbing but it will come to him. And going from

Toro Rosso last year with very little expectation to the total

expectation of matching up with annual Ricciardo. Also Red Bull

wanting to compete at the front. -- Daniel Ricciardo. His long runs

yesterday, he was able to do an equivalent long run in terms of pace

on the medium and soft tyre the Red Bull seems to switch on the medium

tyre but about anybody else. Felipe Massa on the circuit at the moment.

This is bigger Rosberg. Let's see if he has any problems with gear

changes -- Nico Rosberg. We saw Hamilton come out and stop

and go straight back into the pits. This is where he got to, Rosberg

goes through without any problems. Can he hold onto pole position

today? We will see if he can take it again, as he did last year and he

has done on the last four occasions this season. That shot you see more

of an idea of the climb up the hill past the buildings as he goes around

the corner. It puts that load onto the right-hand side of the car. And

now dropping down into the left-hander, quite late apex to get

the line correct. And to carry the momentum and get onto flat throttle

as soon as you can through the left-hander. You are doing about 205

mph into turn 4. That was where Lewis Hamilton spun last year when

he was trying to chase down Nico Rosberg. He worked his tyres card

but on the second lap he overcooked them a bit. Rosberg went on to take

victory. Let's hope we have a great race between them this weekend again

because it looks like it will be between the Mercedes team-mates.

Rosberg just on the way at the moment. A quick first sector. He has

slowed down and will go again. He wants to get a maximum gap and

straighten off the final corner. This was Daniel Kvyat a moment ago.

What were we looking at? I think we will see quite a lot of out of

qualifying itself. We have seen a bit more of the president of the FIA

here at Grand Prix in the last couple of events. Bernie Ecclestone

tucked in behind him. It is good that he has been attending more.

There's a lot of discussion going on in Formula 1 at the moment. Both of

them are looking to bring in an independent engine supplier into

Formula 1 with a different specification of injured and I am

sure part of that... Also being * the tragic events that took place in

Paris. The FIA is based in Paris. I am sure he is being asked about that

either journalists. Quite often slightly opposite ends of the

spectrum in terms of what they are trying to achieve by both want this

independent engine to be part of Formula 1. Whether it is putting

pressure on the manufacturers to come up with cheaper versions of the

current engines is another question. It is a statement that there might

want the manufacturers to play ball so they have a wider competitive

level across the Lord. Rosberg has gone quicker. The Red Bull scenario

has brought all of this to a head wear a team like Red Bull could

maybe leave Formula 1 and that is not in the interests of anyone.

Rosberg has gone fastest. Do we have any mourners of what is going on?

Hamilton has gone back out -- update. They are saying it is a

sensor issue. I am at McLaren where if there was a reward for Pickard of

the year it would be these McLaren mechanics. They are swarming all

over Jenson Button's car. I am told there is nothing specifically wrong

but they are working a lot around the front brakes in particular. This

is bad news for Jenson. This is really harming his preparation for

qualifying. He was complaining about under Steve on the first lap of his

run and by lap three the rear had dropped off and he had oversteer

bonne entry predominantly due to traction. The juicy what they were

changing? There is nothing being changed on the back of the car. It

is on the front. It looks around the brake. Area. The team official says

they are doing lots of checks but it looks as if they are changing

something specific to the brake duct. It could be the brake.

Cooling. The energy that goes into it has an effect on tyre temperature

and balance. Hamilton is up and running and going to go quick here I

think. It is fastest. Immediately he goes about a 10th faster than his

team-mate team-mate is out at the same time. Rosberg has put in a

faster first sector so we might see a response immediately. Max

Verstappen studying information as he gets ready to come back out again

to continue to improve the car. Max Verstappen is in a strong fifth

place at the moment. We will see of Rosberg can get up to beat

Hamilton's time. Maldonado is in between the two Force Indias.

Rosberg appears that the top of the chart. On the medium compound tyre.

We think the soft tyres were just over a second. Nasr still has brake

problems. He is not quite happy. He is still going quite slowly. To

being out of the way of Grosjean. He has not had much luck here in the

past, Grosjean, he has never scored any points, neither has Maldonado.

Two experience drivers but it has never come together for them in

Brazil. Hamilton has won nearly everywhere except the circuit.

Remember how long it took Ayrton Senna to be victorious here. It

seems to favour certain drivers. Hulkenberg is someone that

historically has gone and delivered some pretty good results around this

track. The driver with the most win s around here is Michael Schumacher.

Vettel and Mark Webber as well. Felipe Massa has three pole

positions and two directories. Very close to winning the world title at

this venue. Massa did what Barry kill another managed. --

Barichello. It is Bernie Ecclestone's turn to be grilled by

the journalists. The wind is picking up a little bit. It is blowing up

and down the start finish straight and it is definitely a little

stronger. Not particularly strong but definitely more of a breeze than

yesterday. Braking into one is tricky at the best of times. We have

only seen Daniel Kvyat with the big lock-up so far. We saw quite a lot

of people making mistakes and running wide but the circuit

generally isn't slightly better condition. Also with the track

temperature 45 degrees that is probably the switch on point for

these medium tyres. The tyres are working a bit better. Perez is in

the pits as work goes on around the back of his car, it looks like

fairly conventional set-up work, playing with brake temperatures and

tyre temperatures. Those carbon fibre units, they will adjust the

amount of air going through them to adjust the brake temperatures, and

it is such a crucial part of the eventual temperature of the wheel

rim and the tyre itself. Also the way that the air flows through, the

aerodynamics of the car coming from the front wing and flowing through

the floor. It is cooling its temperatures for tyres, it is

braking its aero. It is a very complex system what happens with the

hot here. Max Verstappen, once again he is pushing on. I would think this

circuit is going to suit him. He was brilliant at karting. That is where

a lot of his success has been in the past. I have just had a surge. A

surge from the turbo when he up shifted to eat gear. That was

Vettel. Vettel giving decent feedback to Ferrari, as expected.

Let us see what this lap time is like for a Verstappen. He stays

fit. No improvement in lap time. The best has definitely gone from that

tyre. It looked as if it were starting to have worked quite a

little bit. The first person to go on to the first tyre is Daniel

Kvyat. We will keep an eye on him and see what lap time he can

achieve. Vettel improves his lap times likely but he is still three

tenths down on Hamilton and six tenths down on Rosberg. Still a

performance difference between Mercedes and Ferrari. Chris asks,

when does a slipstream become dirty air and vice versa? I guess it

depends if it is a straight or corner? It also depends what car you

are following because some cars have dirtier air behind which can have a

bigger effect and sometimes it affects the front and sometimes the

rear depending on where you are. Certainly a slipstream down the

street helps you approach the next corner to perhaps be able to open a

club that a. Dirty Atmos -- air. Even though you are turning. You can

still use the slipstream. If you have to lift that is when you lose.

We have 25 minutes to go in this final practice session from

Interlagos in Brazil. Hamilton has the fastest first sector of anybody.

He has not changed tyre. He is still on a 7 lap used medium tyre. It is a

quick lap coming up by Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo was on circuit at

the moment. He will have a ten place grid penalty because of the

engineers using this weekend, a revised tarmac in June, so they are

looking for more performance from that. Hamilton was on a quick lap

but he has gone off. It looks as if it is when you come down towards the

end of the lap, in the last sector. He is well and truly off the

circuit. It is the crossover between Sector 2 and Sector 3. You can lose

because it is a traction corner proceeding that I do have to change

direction so you can lose the stability of the rear. I have seen

quite a few people get on oversteer moment as they go from one direction

to the other and the circuit drops down and away from you. He is not

having the perfect day so far. He managed a few laps together and went

fastest. That has been beaten by Rosberg. Let us see if we can pick

it up. It was quite early in the corner he lost the car. Just as he

got towards the apex. This is where you heat up the rear tyres quite a

lot. It was just as he turned down. Unusual to see the back-end braking

away. That does not happen very often to Hamilton that he cannot

save it. Especially in this year's Mercedes. He was trying to get a

gear so there may have been some influencing factor as well. Jenson

Button on track as well. Nobody has done a time on the soft tyre yet.

Button is still on the medium compound. The man who won here in

2012 gets to grips with this McLaren Honda. That was the last victory for

McLaren. It is too long. Let us hope that Honda come up with the goods

and McLaren can match that next year and bridges a race winning car.

Someone asked when we think the hybrid engines will be as fast if

not faster when pre-hybrid. They are, the engines themselves are much

more powerful than the V8s of the previous era. I suppose you're

talking about overall lap time and here there is a chance they could be

faster than that previous era and it will not be long before they are on

the pace. The engines are definitely stronger. Joining us from the pit

wall is Christian Horner team principal of Red Bull. You have had

the chance to analyse Daniel Ricciardo's engine. What have you

learned? A lot of data has been looked at. We have decided to stick

with that engine for the rest of the weekend. It is a very modest

upgrade. It is difficult to verify how much of an improvement it

actually is. Presumably Daniel Kvyat will stick with the older engine?

Absolutely. Danny is about to go out on the soft tyre. Talk us through

the analysis of the tyres from yesterday. Last year the soft tyre

was foldable. Yesterday looked as though you were getting more laps

out of it. Absolutely. Daniel Ricciardo has done a lot more on the

harder tyre today. Very consistently so. With his penalty he is focused

more on the race because he has to take that ten place penalty wherever

he qualifies. Daniel Kvyat had a big lock-up on his first run which

effectively destroyed that set. That is why he has gone out earlier than

planned on the softer of the two compounds. Based on what you have

seen so far, two stopped or three strop? On the cusp of two.

Overtaking is not impossible. Some may try to brave it out on the two

stop. One thing I noticed from the long runs that Daniel Kvyat did

yesterday between the soft and the medium he was able to equal his

average lap time over about ten laps with the medium. It seems as if you

are making that tyre work may be better than the soft. Is that fair?

I think so. We are relatively gentle on the tyres. Nothing escapes your

eagle eye. It is a good observation. On the kerbs, have they been

reporting much? It seems to be affecting the lap time? They are

being more tentative with the kerbs, particularly with turn ten.

We have had a couple of spins. Nothing too Major. You are doing a

little bit of work around the front brake. On Daniel Ricciardo's car.

Why? Just trying to make sure there is

enough cooling in the breaks, just fine-tuning and getting everything

as comfortable as possible. You work fourth and fifth last time out in

Mexico. What can we expect today? I think Mercedes will be on the front

row, Ferrari and Williams, when they turn it up in qualy it will be

difficult to get on terms with them. We are probably looking, if we

can sneak third row, that would be great but more likely fourth row.

Thank you for joining us and best of luck. Christian Horner, team

principal of Red Bull making preparations towards qualifying.

This is Fernando Alonso who missed out on a number of laps yesterday

with a power unit failure, spinning on his own oil. He is getting some

more laps on this occasion, just a bit quicker than Jenson Button.

Alonso has done 12 laps, some have done up to 14. Bottas has completed

18. It is a shorter lap at 2.6 miles or 4.3 kilometres so they get

through a few more laps than at other circuits will stop that was a

big attraction limited slide. That will be a factor tomorrow with the

cooler track temperatures yesterday, it wasn't really an

issue, we did not see the drop-off from the tyres that we had last year

but with the temperatures increasing, you are seeing a bit

more where and some training on some of the cars. That might lean towards

a three-stop race if it continues like this. Daniil Kvyat has gone

third on that set of soft tyres. But it is not as big a jump as he might

have liked. He has been talking over the radio and he is still struggling

for grip in the final sector. That is where he is now. Out of the

hairpin and the flat out left-hander into 11 and the final reel corner as

they accelerate onto the long uphill drag. Trying to get a second lap out

these tyres. His middle sector was not great. A fraction faster,

doesn't change his position. I am surprised the tyres held up for a

second reasonably good lap and temperatures of 46 degrees. It

suggests he did not get the first sector right on the first lap.

Rosberg and Hamilton were able to improve on that next lap on the

first sector but in the middle sector, with all the corners, the

tyre did not have the grip. When he maximises the build-up of the

temperature for the first lap, he will be able to exploit it a bit

more. The fans are certainly enjoying themselves. Just 16 minutes

left in this final practice. One person says, shame to here Kristian

Herman -- Christian Horner saying overtaking is not always possible,

and it should be possible everywhere. It does depend on the

layout but generally it is good to hear. That race that springs to mind

when Sebastian Vettel won the World championship having dropped to the

tail of the field. It is a circuit that has given some fantastic

overtaking, I remember Juan Pablo on the diving down the inside of

Michael Schumacher into the first corner -- Juan Pablo Montoya. It is

reasonably wide as well and you can get away with going into a corner a

bit too fast. I think it is something that from the Red Bull

point of view is very much triggered by their straight-line speed,

whether they have enough to stay in the toe at the beginning and then

use DRS to overtake. It looks like it will stay dry for qualifying but

there might be thunderstorms later this afternoon and the weather can

change quite rapidly here. On Sunday, a similar story, a bit more

cloud, it will be cooler. The rain might come in after the race but

every chance of a shower before that. 2012 was the last rain

affected race. We have had other sessions with rain at 2012 was the

last time in the race and that was the last time we had a safety car

around this track. It has a fairly high level of probability for safety

car. There are a couple of places where if a car stops, a safety car

would be required to move it out of the way. Coming back out on the soft

tyre is Daniel Ricciardo. This will be his qualifying simulation,

everybody else is leaving it quite late before putting on the soft

tyres. You only get two laps. Maximum. With it being a short

circuit, the bigger factor is not necessarily how close to the end of

the session, it is whether you go out in a group and you might have

traffic. Not for Ricciardo because he is the only person on the circuit

at the moment! It would be just his luck if he came round the last

corner and there is a stream of cars coming onto the circuit. The track

temperature is now 47, we might get up to 50 for qualifying. He builds

up for the lap and this is really where his next lap begins. You try

to square off the final corner and go a bit slower into the corner to

maximise your speed out and carry it all the way to the start of the lap

and into Turn 1. He stayed in third gear, a nice clean run. Kisses the

kerb on the right. That allows him to come through towards turn for.

And he was flat through there. In fourth gear, down to the bottom of

the track. Very nice because the kerb rolls away from you. It is easy

to lose a bit of time. Now through one of the best corners on the

circuit, very quick, you can cut -- can't cut it any more. It is all

about balance. A very technical section. Ricciardo desperate not to

waste time. This is where Hamilton went off earlier. A bit of Opus Dei

on the entry but kept in it. Too much understeer there, did not at

the apex and he has lost a bit of time and momentum up the hill. Let's

see what it is like. This will be quicker than earlier on the soft

tyre, second fastest, 1:13.5. Still not faster than Mercedes have done

on the harder tyre so it goes to show that even with a bit more of a

second from the soft tyre, he still can't go faster than the Mercedes.

Evidence that Mercedes are in great shape. The Sauber on track is Felipe

Nasr on the soft tyre. He is going for a qualifying simulation and he

also has a pretty clear lap. A few Moore cars on track, six, that he is

clear coming down into Turn 1. Just a hint of lock-up which is enough to

make him miss the apex. And a big slide in Turn 3. He was trying to

take it flat out but it is not as easy this year as previously. This

will not be a great first sector. Not even his best of the session.

And he was on the harder tyre earlier. A few mistakes through the

Senate as. He will try to get it back -- Senna S. It is not going to

be the lap he wanted. This is quite an important lap for Felipe Nasr and

everybody in that mid-grid area. Because the circuit is so short, the

distance between positions is small, especially for them because

they could get something out of the weekend. They have been performing

better, 14th at the moment for Nasr but this lap will not be one of his

best. It will move him up, but to seventh place with a load of cars

yet to put the soft tyre on. Sauber have a pretty good record here.

Hamilton is on track on the soft tyre will stop this was the mistake.

A lot of drivers yesterday did that. It is just when they are starting to

up the shift and there is a lot of torque through the rear wheels.

Later on he had the big snap and he lost the time. This is the second

lap on it. Hamilton has just taken six tenths out of everybody in the

middle sector. He is on for a storming lap as Ricciardo comes

through. Hamilton is fastest onto 1:12.0. Some way off what we saw

last year but the fastest lap of the weekend so far. Hulkenberg is coming

up the hill. 11th at the moment. This will jump him up the order to

third. He gained 1.3 seconds but probably on a little less fuel than

earlier. Yesterday about one second was the difference between the

medium and the soft. Hamilton might not have got the best out of the

medium tyre but 1:12.0... Rosberg will have to do a good lap to get on

terms. Looking at the speeds across the start finish line, it is Massa,

Raikkonen, Grosjean and then Kvyat and Hamilton. It gives you an idea

that the Mercedes is running plenty of downforce. Nico Rosberg is about

to start his lap. He is on those soft tyres so we will know the

difference between Hamilton and Rosberg soon. Verstappen kept it

need through Turn 3. Plunging downhill for a moment and levelling

off and beginning to climb back up the hill again. Into Ferradura, this

wonderful corner. Tightening up, this is where his karting pedigree

comes in. Turn ten, it is easy to lock-up and inside wheel. You tend

to turn the wheel straighter than you would like. He was held up on

this lap. Rosberg has set the fastest first sector, quicker than

Hamilton. Let's watch Max Verstappen up the hill to complete his lap. He

goes into fifth place for the moment. Perez following but we are

keeping an eye on Rosberg. Laws though -- Alonso jumps up to

seventh. That is pretty good. Rosberg, he missed out. Where did he

lose that time? He was one tenth of Hamilton in the second and third

sector. That is where the time went. Somebody locked up ahead of

Carlos Sainz but he has gone eight. Not as quick as Verstappen but less

track experience. Maldonado has been exciting to watch as ever, a bit of

a lock-up going gone. He was a bit off Grosjean yesterday and the team

were hoping he could find some pace this morning. Lotus has not looked

that stable when you are on board with Maldonado and also Romain

Grosjean, they were always fighting with the steering wheel. The car

looks to have gripped but when it loses it, it is quite reactive and

difficult to drive. A perfect place to pick up a total and he goes into

fifth. -- a tow. A very good answer to the question we had earlier about

the effect of the slipstream. Very beneficial for Maldonado. Whether he

can do that in qualifying is another matter. Just over five minutes left

in final practice. Felipe Massa is 10th but that is not really where

you would expect the Williams. Sebastian Vettel is third but a big

gap between him and Mercedes, nearly seven tenths off the top. Bottas

goes fifth, more promising Fon Williams but a big gap again to

Mercedes and he is right in there with Hulkenberg in the Force India

who loves this track and that is a pretty outstanding lap but just a

couple of tenths quicker than Perez so Williams might have their hands

full with Force India. Verstappen has been pushed down to

ten with all these improvements around him. Felipe Massa is having a

bit of a tough weekend so far. But it has improved slightly but he is

only in the 18th so that is not great. He will be disappointed with

that. He has the Saubers head of him. That is the guys that are

usually fighting to get out of qualifying one. That was a good lap.

He has obviously phoned some pounds. Verstappen. Fully be Massa is

building up for another lap again. Thirsty. I do not think it is

because he is thirsty. It is because of the driver weight. He might be on

the limit of being the correct driver weight that are measured out

at the sessions so he will be drinking quite a lot. I wonder if

Maldonado is going to be able to find any more pace. It does not look

like it. His first sector is not as quick as it was. You could see it

sliding around more. Struggling to get the power down. That is what

goes away, the ability to get the traction off the corners.

Maldonado's lap not as quick. A lot of front locking. Grosjean is ahead

of Maldonado, but only just. Vettel has done a better sector than his

previous best. Is there any chance? Ferrari has been looking good on its

soft tyres. He did a good long stint on them yesterday. The second sector

is not better than he had previously done. I do not think it is going to

be better. It does not look like it. The middle sector is very tough

because it puts so much energy into the tyre and the performance

drop-off is quite high. Vettel, it is not quicker than before. It

proves that they are able. Jenson Button has so much under steel at

the moment. He has been cleaning about understeer at the beginning of

runs. He seems to struggle with the front. Remind us how you can see

that in the car. The steering lock, when he turns the steering, quickly

it goes towards the apex. When you are at 90 degrees you tend to have

too much understeer which means you cannot maintain the car in all of

the slow corners. That means you are later going on to the throttle which

means you put more Lord onto the tyre and you overheat the rear tyre

and your traction gets worst. Ever decreasing circles that lay. It

looks as though most people have done their flying lap and their

qualifying simulation. If this was qualifying we would have lost both

Saubers, Jenson Button and both of the Marussias from the first part of

qualifying. It does not always work like that. Things can change.

Stevens is a little bit quicker than Rossi although Rossi has done a

better lap. Stevens is doing well because Rossi has at least given the

circuit in the past. Stevens has been a little bit quicker. Maldonado

has been out wide somewhere. We saw that from one of our other angles.

No damage done. He has gone back on track. Sainz is in 50s by all of

those improvements around him. Massa is back into the pits. It looks as

though Sauber going to struggle to get out of Q1. We hope they can

fight for it at least got a few cars going out onto circuit with a few

seconds to go, purely to do a practised art at the end of the pit

lane. Bottas in the Williams. Fifth in the standings at the moment.

Williams with that podium finish for Bottas last time out in Mexico. A

good reading of the strategy. Are they going to be able to get on the

podium again? A tough race last year, but Max, the seat belt strap

was loose, which is very unusual. He had a long pit stop as they tried to

cure that. They seem to have a set of tyres that did not come in at all

and he ended up finishing intense as his team-mate ended up in third with

the other Williams. It was the day of mixed fortunes for the team here

last year. Across the line, chequered flag, end of session, but

the actual complete this in fifth. One of the drivers doing a practised

art was this man, Raikkonen. Another one was was Rosberg. He complained

about torque delivery. That is something he was talking about

yesterday. They do not seem to have got the consistency in their starts

they would like. Hamilton had problems earlier in the season and

Rosberg on a couple of occasions. Yesterday Rosberg was complaining

about that. They do not have any problems in terms of pace, the

quarters of a second faster than in a buddy is here today and surely

pole position. A big oversteer connection but he managed to get it

sorted and back on the track. A big advantage for Mercedes. It looks as

though is going to be a fight between the two of them. Hamilton

trying to break the sequence that Rosberg is on of scoring pole

positions at the last four events. Vettel is for fast this. They have

to focus on race pace and see if there is some way to get more out of

the long stints on the tyres to give them an advantage. If it is between

the two strop and the Maxtor, perhaps they at -- Ferrari will go

for two. Vettel was bowed fastest. -- third. Not necessarily a good

track for Toro Rosso, but that was a good lap for Verstappen which put

him ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniel Kvyat, both of the Red Bulls

outside of the top ten, which shows you how important the power unit is

at Interlagos. Alonso, a good lap from him. The two Spaniards

together. Jenson Button struggling with understeer. There is no doubt

that Mercedes are a step ahead of everybody else. Hamilton and Rosberg

separated by less than a 10th of a second. It promises to be a very

intriguing battle to see which of them will take proposition in a few

hours. An interesting session for Hamilton.

Not easy. Gear box problems and a spin but showing great speed and he

topped the time sheets. The temperature is continuing to rise.

The cloud is building. There is some talk of thunderstorms this

afternoon. If you have ever watched Formula 1 at Interlagos before you

will know how quickly things can change and that is one of the many

things that makes it exciting round here. We have qualifying live for

you. We will have Sebastian Vettel giving his thoughts on the season.

Thank you for your company. Goodbye.