Qualifying - Brazil Formula 1

It is a very special circuit. Turn 1 is probably the most difficult. You

either a rival cup or wide. There is a lot of overtaking every year. It

is spectacular. It is very technical and very difficult get right other

driver. Height elevations make it very challenging. Very long

straight. Overtaking. The double right is good fun. I have gone

outside someone on the outside a few times which is a brave move.

Normally the weather is playing a part. Rain can cause a mix-up.

Rain, sunshine, thunderstorms, 30 degrees. Energy, amazing track, it

is a great place to race. There's always a big crowd coming here with

the great passion for racing. A great atmosphere. So passionate

fans. The Brazilians are crazy. It is an amazing race, a dream for a

Brazilian to race here. The rhythm you get makes me happy at least. I

remember being in the grandstand standing up. Once you cross the line

you want to go again. This is Ayrton Senna's home ground. It has taken me

longer, but I believe that some stage I am going to get the win.

Here it is. The great Interlagos. At 2.6 miles this classic is the

shortest permanent track on the calendar and one of the trickiest

team. It took Ayrton Senna eight attempts to be victorious in this

weekend Lewis Hamilton makes his ninth attempt for Brazilian glory.

The world champion has won and lost the championship year but never won

the race. Welcome to qualifying from Brazil. Stunning conditions but

rather blustery and a stunning line-up. Eddie is back with us. You

had to go to the courtroom to prove it. We are not going to go back to

that. It is something very special. The crowd participation, it is the

way it is left handed down, it is different in every way to the way

normal circuits are taken. It is just spectacular, one of the old

style, and I hope it stays here forever. Eddie mentioned the

anticlockwise routine. You have won here. Arguably you should have won

toys. Why is it so difficult? It a very short lap. Late apex to the

corner and that is tricky when you are braking. You will see a lot of

lock-ups during qualifying and the race and that is what makes it

incredibly tight. One of the shortest lap times on the calendar.

A 10th of a second can cover a few cars. Fuelled by passion for

motorsport. We saw that in Mexico as well. Isn't the same as years ago?

We have always talked about the Latin American passion for motor

racing. That has not changed. Football and motoring dominate this

world out here. When there is no football motor racing completely

takes over and this week is no exception. Everybody in town is

talking about the Formula 1 race. Two weeks ago, Mexico City, let us

jump back in time to the fever of the Mexican Grand Prix.

Lights out we go. It is a very even start by the two Mercedes, but it is

Rosberg in front. Front wing to my rear tyre. Retire. Come into the

pits slowly. Vettel is heading back to the pits. Fernando Alonso with

his eighth do not finish of the season. Shocking. Vettel has lost

places. Losing the rear of the car. Raikkonen backing away with Bottas.

Remember what happened to them in Russia. On the outside is a brave

place to overtake. They head and Raikkonen is off this time. That is

what you call payback. You can ask many different views. I was not

really surprised. I saw a realistic opportunities why was never going to

back off. Rosberg given the pits. Presumably Mercedes will do this

with both cars as a precaution. Hamilton is leading the Grand Prix

but it will be coming and any moment. Why? For safety reasons. He

is staying out. If he does not commend at all he had the chance of

winning this race. He thinks he can go to the end are waiting and he has

not come in. My tyres are not good. We will be down to zero if not worse

so this is boxing, instruction. He is coming in. Full respect from

Lewis to use the opportunity to ask them to look at his tyres. Vettel

has crashed out in the Ferrari. Safety car. Are you OK? I am OK.

Sorry. It was my mistake. I am not proud of it. The car in general was

fine. The safety car is about to head into the pit lane. No DRS on

their restart. Bottas isn't a third. -- is. Rosberg takes victory. It was

the best podium ever. Big compliments to everybody who set up.

Awesome. That win for Rosberg and do not finish for Vettel produced a

Brit of -- bit of breathing space. Max Verstappen's father made his

debut here in 1984. Max Verstappen has scored five points. Ferrari

consolidated the runner-up spot in Texas a few weeks ago. Let us go

back to those fantastic scenes from Mexico. An extraordinary event.

Great atmosphere of the highest order. Can Formula 1 learn from

that? Of course. A lot of people called into question whether we

needed another race on the calendar and whether we should go back to

Mexico. I remember in the first years of Mexico, 1991, 1982,

amazing, and this was no exception. The atmosphere was great and that

will make sure that mackerel in the running for race of the year. Let us

hope we have a lot more races. I am not sure it was the race of the

year. The tyres did not give enough flexibility for drivers to be

marginalised for the strategy to come into play. Throw in the fact

that Mercedes neutralise the race between the two drivers and we were

robbed of a battle. Venue wise it was great. They are so lucky to have

a racetrack in the middle of the city and you have a ready-made

audience like in Sao Paulo. To see the driver is literally going

through the code, it really worked, and having the podium was something

different. That took me by surprise because it was the perfect place

because you were with the fans. How many times do we wish the fans are

closer to the action? And of course the celebrations. Well done to them.

An amazing job. We cannot wait for that one again next year.

It has been a tricky build-up to this weekend for Lewis Hamilton, the

combination of a fever and the minor road car accident resulted in him

delaying his departure to Brazil but he is here and hungry to get his

first win at Interlagos. This is Ayrton Senna's home ground and it

has been a track I have wanted to win at. I remember watching him win

here. It has taken me longer but I believe that some stage I am going

to get it. Red Bull will race in Formula 1 next year. That means they

have found the power unit and despite no official word another

season with Renault seems likely. It means Daniel Kvyat is going to get

another season with the team alongside Daniel Ricciardo. Daniel

Kvyat for such a young age is continuing to grow in stature and

confidence with the more experience he gets. If last race in Mexico was

probably his best in his career so far in Formula 1. I am looking

forward to seeing him continue to build on that. I am very happy at

the team. Building a strong relationship with many guys here.

The second season is always a better place to be. Hopefully we will get

this opportunity next year. Williams development driver Susie Will has

announced her retirement from competitive motorsport. She became

the first woman in 20 years to take part in a Grand Prix weekend. She

has decided to call time on her racing career. It was a decision I

made at the end of the summer after I had driven for the last time and

it was my gut feeling that told me at the end of the summer after I had

driven for the last time and it was my gut feeling that told me it was

time to Cormack was to get onto the starting grid and that did not look

achievable. A row has kicked off between the FIA and the

manufacturers. The governing body invaded independent companies to

tender for the business of producing a cheaper engine for 2017 with a

view to reducing costs. It is an emotive subject. The right way is to

negotiate with the engine suppliers. There's a lot between what we are

paying more what we used to be, we understand there is a need with

technology, but there is an in between amount you can pay. I think

we should have that kind of discussion rather than going into

another area where we do not now what is going to happen. That is

what has been going on. Shall we stepped forward to move away from

the engine noise? We heard the news that Bernie and John are getting

together to discuss budget engines because injured and are so

expensive. 20 million euros for a customer packages too much money,

isn't it? It sounds like a lot of money but is actually not the real

figure. The real figure is considerably lower. There are

agendas at the moment floating around. We accept that. When you say

that is not the real figure, what kind of figures are we looking at?

In the real world you have to think about the cost of engines because it

has to be competitive but the number is considerably lower. The

difference from the old V8 engines with the modern hybrid engines is

less than you think. We know that there is great rivalry and tension

between your two drivers but is that not the case between you and Nicky

with regard to the difference of opinion about the supply of engines

to Red Bull? Not at all. I have more differences with you than Nicky. We

do not have any. We act in perfect harmony. We have been on the journey

together they might years and it has been working very well. We are

capable of having discussions sometimes. If we agree to disagree,

this is perfectly reasonable. The final objective between the two of

us is absolutely equal, we want to win. You undermined him by

undermining the Red Bull engine supply. You want to stitch it up. In

Mexico because you had such a safety take a safety pit stop and

neutralise the raise. I felt we lost an opportunity to see a lot of

wheel-to-wheel action. I know you have a business to run. Brazil, if

you guys have enough of a lead, can they do their own thing? Or will you

do for to the lead car? We have a responsibility towards the team. An

animal! He was getting bitten by something, as opposed to me.

Our objective is to win races but we have a responsibility to Formula 1.

In Mexico it will not have changed a lot. They were running behind each

other and it is difficult to overtake in the same car. Even if we

had let them race with the same tyres, it would not have made a

difference in terms of the excitement. They are allowed to

race? I know you always want a safe 1-2, that at this stage does it

really matter? We always allowed them to race, since the beginning of

2013 we had the philosophy, and it was not always easy, that they had

an equal chance in every race. It caused us a bit of grey hair

sometimes also more like you! And it is the same philosophy. Maybe one

day it could end up in a situation which is not pleasant for the team

but we want them entertaining. Thank you for your time. We can hopefully

catch up with Tristan Horner. -- Christian Horner. This engine

situation, clearly there is politics behind it. The catalyst would have

been the Red Bull scenario occurs manufacturers have so much power.

What is your take on what has happened with Jean Todt and Bernie

Ecclestone? For us we can say that those two are absolutely joined

together. They feel that Red Bull, which was a very serious team, have

been excluded from winning a championship next year perhaps

because they don't seem to have the engine power they need to get the

job done. Let's talk to Christian, come in. We are talking about

engines and Bernie talking with Jean coming in with a budget engine view

and we know there are politics to try to drive the package cost down.

What is your take? It is bigger than that, it is about who controls

Formula 1. You have two very powerful engine manufacturers who

are working closely together and you have the promoter and the governing

body. The engine is the catalyst of that. Of course it is a bit like the

double diffuser a few years back. It is almost history replaying itself.

Jean and Bernie are trying to get control of the sport back through

the introduction of a cost-effective, available engine. It

is going to happen? I believe Bernie is very powerful in this and I know

Christian has spoken to him. The problem is controlled. Mercedes will

say they had an agreement with Mercedes, they will say they never

had but let's put it to one side. We want to see more competitive cars on

the grid. There is an argument that may be Mercedes are running scared

because if Red Bull had a Mercedes engine, who knows what would happen

but that is all in the mind. Your engine next year, you will be on the

grid which your fans will be happy about but, your engine, it will be

the architecture of the Renault engine? I can tell you that we will

be on the grid next year. We are homing in on a solution, I can't go

into detail because other permutations have to play out and it

is obvious what those are. We will have a solution. It will be a bit

different to where we currently are. I'm sure you will be one of the

first to be informed. I'm sure! One last thing, Honda, why did they say

no to you? Ask Ron Dennis. We will do! And coming back to this weekend,

presumably quite difficult with different engines with Daniel with

the upgrade. It will be a struggle? The layout of the track does not

favour our strengths and weaknesses. We have taken a penalty with

Daniel. Hopefully we can make Q3 and if he can get in the top eight

today, that would be a positive result. Hopefully we can be more

competitive in the race, we are praying for some Brazilian rain! You

might get it tomorrow. Daniil Kvyat, confirmed for next year? He is under

a long-term contract with the team and we have no intentions of

changing him so he will be a driver with us. And when can we know more

about the engine scenario? It is like a never ending scenario. There

is only one race left so let's aim for that. So we can meet in Abu

Dhabi? Absolutely. Thank you for your time and good luck today. After

FP3, Lee McKenzie caught up with Felipe Massa with a quick chat. He

grew up around it and has won twice here so he knows a bit about Brazil.

I know this is always a special Grand Prix for you. After all the

times you have done it, do you feel the same motion? For sure, it is

always the same. -- same emotion. It is always fantastic race in the

place I grew up. But we need to keep pushing and improve everything to be

competitive. Where do you think you are heading into qualifying? In

comparison to Ferrari? Not so easy but we try. Ferrari has a good lap

time but we will try. What do you think? Can Williams hassle the

Ferraris? I think so. Qualifying is what it is that the race is where

they have an opportunity because they have good straight-line speed.

Ferrari look to be struggling a bit in the middle sector. The last

chance to change the setup so let's see if they have made any

improvements. Outwith what is all have to qualify well -- Valtteri

Bottas will have to qualify well with his penalty. He passed under a

red flag. It is unusual for him. It is but you don't normally get red

flags at that point. He obviously didn't see it. Three place penalty

is quite lenient in respects. He has to make sure he qualifies well.

Let's look at some track action. Lewis Hamilton has had an

interesting time this weekend. This was FP1. It is a pretty place to

slow down. He stopped on track this morning. He said on the radio he

could not find any gears but thankfully they had put them in

there and he got going. And coming into turn 11, very unusual, fast,

downhill corner, that resulted in the tyres being flat spotted so not

the easiest weekend so far after quite a difficult Ilda up. This was

him actually going quickest, a beautiful display of going through

turn 12 and getting the power down across the start finish line but a

difficult build-up. It is interesting with the changing

weather, Kristian was praying for rain. The temperature feels like it

has dropped -- Christian Horner. It changes a lot. And for very little

reason. We are probably going to get some rain over the weekend. I don't

think Christian will get the rain he hopes will today but it might be

better tomorrow. Obviously we are nearing the end of the season so we

thought it would be a good time to look back at some of the people

making headlines and who better than the young Dutchman Max Verstappen?

What an incredible year he has had. We have brought you here to the

nerve centre of the BBC. Let's do it! Don't push the wrong button! I

would like to take you on a journey through your season because it has

been a remarkable start to anyone's career. This is your second ever

Grand Prix. I saw this many times on the TV before and I thought it

looked cool. When I had a chance I thought I would try it. It looked

like it wasn't on and you were very gentle going into the turn. At this

point you thought you could get it. I started to accelerate and you are

a bit gentle, you don't want to crash. You gave him some space? Just

enough. I was trying to pass him so many laps. I was not fast enough on

the straight and I heard on the radio, if you want a good race, you

have to go past now. A fabulous bars! -- pass. I braked a bit later,

you don't see I am stopping. Did you feel sorry for him? When you are

racing you don't feel sorry. You scared Nasr into locking up, here

comes mad Max! That is nice to hear! This is Monaco, it started well,

this was a front aspect pass on mother Nadeau. Verstappen and

Maldonado! Fantastic. The thing with Pastor, you know it is going to be

tight but you gave him just enough space. You can't force someone into

the wall. He is a nice guy, you give him a bit of space. Luckily we

didn't touch. The not so good moment. It is one or two seconds

before you crash but it feels you have ten or 20 seconds to think

about it. You lose the wheel and you think, this is going to be painful

so you make yourself strong in the car. My dad always said, when you go

straight in, it is better to hold yourself, you never have any

bruises. Does the danger aspect come into it? I'm sure it does for your

father. Exactly, I realised it here, F1 cars are really fast. It didn't

scare me, it made me better because you know the limits. Since that

race, I think I only got better. I remember on commentary at Spa,

stepping back because nobody overtakes around the outside of

Blanchimont to. Surely he can't go around the outside! If you're 17,

you do. He had a bit of a wobble out of the corner and I had a good exit

and I said, I'm going to try it. I thought Felipe was smart enough to

give me space and he did. It was tight, 185 mph. Yes, it's tight that

you can see the respect is there, he gives me space. Luckily we didn't

crash and I could get it done in the end. Austin. Verstappen squeezes

past the four-time world champion. That equalled your other best

result, fourth place. You are only 18. It seems remarkable, I started

when I was 24. How can you perform at this level?

I just feel with the experience of my dad in F1, it helped me, he was

quite hard on me when I was in the but it helped me to get here as you

are starting to prepare in a professional way in go karting.

Sometimes I didn't like it, sometimes when friends are not so

professional, hanging around and spending time with friends and going

out. I never did that. My dad said, it's not professional, you have two

focus and then you get results. That is what we did. When I look back,

even to those races, I think, I look so young! I got so much experience

in the season so the upcoming years, I will be again like that. You

think, Jesus, I was so young. You have really aged! It's unbelievable.

You need to get a contract from a wrinkle company!

It is breathtaking watching stuff like that. I will never get bored of

watching that one around lunch on. -- around Blanchimont. It takes

supreme confidence. His whole life has come towards this moment and

that is why he has made such an impact. And Carlos Sainz has really

mixed it with him but Max has stolen the headlines. And when you come

into a team like this, you are not going to win the championship with

Toro Rosso, so is the idea to put yourself in the spotlight as much as

possible? Absolutely, look what happened with Sebastian Vettel,

winning in Monza, that gave him the jump from Toro Rosso into Red Bull

and then four times world champion. Can we see Max Verstappen doing

that? I promise you that I think he has as good a chance as anyone on

the grid, he is that good. He has had nine top ten finishes

this season and qualifying, it is his team-mate, Sainz, that has beat

him, 9-8. Is this generally a fight for a Ferrari seat? I would expect

either a Ferrari or McLaren looking ahead or any of those teams will

have spoken to his management already. That would be a bold step.

Presumably they are going to improve. That contract is going to

come to an end and in many cases drivers pre-signed options not only

because they might want to go to that team because it gets them

financial benefits now so I would imagine he has something in place

beyond his contract. I do not miss as early want to talk about the

obvious but please let it be known Ferrari have already had those

discussions. They are well on the way and I am afraid Mercedes will

miss out. Ferrari will sign Max Verstappen in a couple of years. He

has spoken. You mentioned McLaren hopefully improving in the future.

Tom is there. A problem with Fernando. We are looking at Jenson

Button's car. In Mexico he did not get a lap in qualifying. He is ready

to go. His car is on the jacks and he is having lunch before heading

out to do the business. This is Fernando Alonso's car. The team

discovered after final practice that there were some loose parts at the

back of the power units of they have had to take off bigger box and

tighten everything and are up against that putting the car back

together. There are no guarantees he's going to be out at the start of

Q1. If he should get out, we are going to be be presented with a

problem at Interlagos which is traffic during Q1 when all 20 cars

are on the bed. They are all dripping over each other in what

usually happens is they hang back through their second last corner to

get some space and go for it up the straight to the start finish

straight back at the inexperienced drivers often make a mistake into

Turn 1. Watch out for traffic during Q1. A word on tyres because they

struggled last year with the soft tyres but it looks as if they are

doing all right this year. New tarmac last year saw the circuit has

had time to evolve. The circuit is relatively green because we had a

massive storm last night. The spread between the tyres in terms of lap

time is logical from what we have seen. Strategy wise it will be

interesting to see how long they will last. At the end of last season

Vettel packed his bags from Red Bull and moved to the red team. With the

three wins his campaign has been a strong one. Here is his very British

sense of humour. In terms of your expectations when

you joined Ferrari could you have imagined you could be challenging

for second in the championship in your first year? No. The big

expectation was to be better than 24 team which after three races we were

already ahead. The best thing about it was to be able to fight for the

championship so long. To still be able to fight for second is the

message not just yourself but also for the whole team to really push

the project for the future. There was some criticism last year that

people thought you had had a good car for four years when you did not

get a good car you decided to leave Red Bull. How difficult were the in

comparison to the happiness now? Yes. Last year did not have a good

season. Overall it was a tough year, no doubt. I was sort of doubting

myself as well in terms of you always try... How can I explain it?

If things are not going well or in general I tried to look at myself

before I point fingers at others. That is maybe you I am. Of course,

like last year, for many reasons, if it does not work, I am always

looking at myself find where I need to become stronger. From the

outside, seamless years, it became clear I wanted to do something new.

I am in a different chair. The future is looking strong at Ferrari

but I know you are someone who is proud of your records that you have

achieved and the statistics you have. Do you worry that Hamilton

might break your records? No. I think in the end records are there

to be broken. I am not scared. It is not something nice to see. The

respect I have for him, he is a great driver and he deserves what he

has achieved the last two years. The target for me is to turn it around

but if it is not the case you have to be fair enough to stand up and be

a man and say well done. You have had rivalries and battles before.

Have I? Some of the press conferences you have been pointing

some fun at them and jostling them along. What do you make of the

rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg? First of all I am German

and I think Germans are not popular for their sense of humour so I have

a lot of catching up to do! I am joking. You can laugh. It was a

joke. I know that some of the jokes are bad. Take both of you out so I

can go through. Sometimes this year I thought was very ball it, boring

and dull. They need marriage counselling. Maybe I saw myself as a

therapist. I do not think it is working. OK. I do not know how much

you like each other, but my team-mate and myself we get along.

You think it is almost like what you went through? I do not think it

was, is that intense. I think we are different people. One thing that

people do not remember, there was big rivalry, but there was always

great respect for each other between Mark and myself and fortunately Mark

was always very fair and I learned a lot from him in this regard. We were

never trying to hide anything stupid like with many engineers, do not

tell him which tyres I will take and do not tell him I like this better

than this and I am holding back my pace. It is childish. For Mark and

myself it was going on for longer so it was more intense. Next year do

you think you could win? Yes. It is difficult to predict. As a driver

knew have to believe in yourself I believe in the chances that you get.

Everything we have done this year I think helps us to build a better car

next year. We should be in a stronger position next year and

hopefully strong enough to be a match or in front. Thank you. You

are welcome. Fascinating chat with Vettel. Why use a prized when he

said he doubted himself last year? Four times world champion and then

kind of imploding? It was not the surprise then that we now know that

last year was his worst season in Formula 1. It was painful to watch

the frustration on his face, the difficulty adapting to the new

technology. Daniel Ricciardo was delivering with speed. Ultimately a

little bit faster. I loved the honesty of him looking at himself.

People think that with four World Championships you would be arrogant

and think, who is letting me down? He was saying, what do I need to

work on to improve? He was not going to improve within Red Bull and it

was an inspired move to go to Ferrari in the short-term. I have to

let you go to the commentary box. He is not arrogant, Vettel. That really

came through. Also some funny bits from the press conference. He has

that incredible sense of humour. What a first year with Ferrari.

Quite something. He has got everybody by surprise because most

people up and down the paddock will say to you that Alonso is the

quickest driver in the paddock. That is the view of a lot of people. His

demise, leaving to go to McLaren, spelt danger for Ferrari, but it was

the opposite. The situation by Vettel, he brought steely

determination and a way of working, very Germanic but with the British

sense of humour, and that has made Ferrari into a stronger team. And a

great atmosphere. All of the mechanics smiling. You have to give

him credit for that. He has won toys around here. We can get the inside

line on hopefully what is going to happen with Ferrari. Vettel has been

the fastest. Is that an accurate reflection of the performance?

Hopefully. We would hope to make the gap closer than it was in the last

couple of sessions. Do you think you can challenge? Unlikely. What we can

do is get closer and if we look at the rock long runs of yesterday we

were not bad. What are the big challenges during qualifying? You

always have to have one eye on the sky. It can rain at any time. The

second thing is not getting stuck in traffic. Making sure you do not flat

spot the tyre you have to race with. Being on the track at the right

time. Always fascinating to hear from him. He says that as it is and

makes it very clear. Do you think any records could fall this weekend?

It is a possibility. 2004 is the fastest lap around here by Rubens

Barrichello. I felt that this year would be the year that it would

tumble. The tyres have an increase in mandatory pressure by nearly 18%

which means less grip but the kerbs are 50 millimetres higher which is

much more aggressive. What does that mean for lap time? Massa really

knows the circuit. Here he is attacking the kerb. Exactly as he

would last year. It bounced the car completely off the circuit. It is

the 50 millimetre kerb into there. I can see it much better in this

situation. On the left-hand side we have Rosberg. On the right-hand side

his pole position lap from 2014. Look at the difference in terms of

the distance he can take across the circuit. Probably more important

than that is look at his steering angle. It is significantly more this

year which means he is slower and cannot keep it flat-out through the

corner. That is a difference of 15 kilometres and our Mitch means he is

much lower down the back straight. Into turn eight and again you can

see it much easier. Look at the distance, an extra two metres

overall. The steering angle is a big factor. He is having to turn the car

much more to make it around the corner. Here it is four or five

kilometres and our indifference of the apex speed and it is a time

loss. Altogether the kerbs are going to be a factor. Massa was attacking

them more than anyone else this morning. You are off to commentate.

Thank you. I am going to swap you. We reported last time that Graham

Lloyd and could not comment. You are saying goodbye in Abu Dhabi. Yes.

Abu Dhabi will be my last race in Formula 1 with the team. I will be

sad to leave the paddock. We got to know a lot of good people here and

made some really good friends and colleagues. There is a lot about the

paddock I will miss. I will not miss Eddie's shirts. You can see them

from afar. Why are you leaving? The reason should stay internal to the

team at the thing I am really happy about is a year ago the team was in

a really bad place financially and emotionally with Jules' accident

which overshadowed everything. At that time be completely kept belief

in this team. Formula 1 team is a very precious thing and that was a

really difficult period, November, December, January. I am most proud

of the fact that the team is still here and in a position to race. Not

easy things to keep going, Formula 1 teams. Whether I am in the team or

not, the most important thing is that the team survives and it will

go on past Abu Dhabi. It is set up very well with the power units and

everything. Can you come back and join us in between sessions? Yes.

Let us catch up with qualifying. Here is Q1.

Squeezed in between highways and side streets in Sao Paulo, the

penultimate Grand Prix of Wendy 15. And the last of three events to be

held in the Americas over the past three weeks. This Interlagos venue

has been a regular feature of the calendar since the early 1970s and

allowing for a brief interlude in Rio in the 80s, it has been the site

of some crucial races in the last decade. 2.6 miles in length, and

elevation change of some 150 feet from the crowd at Turn 1 to the base

at turn five and it rewards a well-balanced chassis and the serum

power needed to drive up to the start finish line -- sheer power.

The weather can be fickle, a bit of cloud cover has come in. It is not

as clear as it was. The track temperature is dropped a few degrees

but only a 30% chance of rain in this dashing and hopefully it will

stay dry for the three elements of qualifying we owe about to go

through. -- in this session. We have to go back to the Italian

Grand Prix for Lewis Hamilton to get pole position. Nico Rosberg has been

on a roll and Hamilton will be determined to end that. It has been

evenly balanced so far. Rosberg was fastest in the first session

yesterday, Hamilton in the other and Hamilton fastest this morning. A lot

of support for the memory of Ayrton Senna, many of the Brazilian fans

dressed in his colours. And Hamilton is carrying his colours on the back

of his helmet this weekend. Already the champion, a three-time champion

like Senna, but what he has not done is win this Grand Prix, that is what

he wants to correct this weekend. He was close in 2012 when he was

leading the race but clashed with Nico Hulkenberg. Will this be

Hamilton's weekend? Certainly they dominated the times this morning.

That is Hamilton getting ready to climb aboard his Mercedes. He was

about one tenth of a second faster than Rosberg this morning but they

had over half a second over everybody else with Vettel third,

biking and fourth, Bottas for Williams -- Raikkonen fourth. The

battle is between Lotus and Toro Rosso with just six points

separating them. In the qualifying battles, despite

Rosberg's recent run, Hamilton is still well ahead in terms of beating

his team-mate in qualifying. Ricciardo is ahead of Kvyat at Red

Bull but we don't expect them to be at the front this time. Bottas is

just ahead of Massa. It has been a bit of a struggle for him this

weekend and Bottas seems to have had the edge.

Alonso is ahead of Button but it has been a tough weekend for McLaren

again as we have heard. They had to take the gearbox of the back of

Alonso's cup after this morning, they got it all back together. --

his car. Close between Verstappen and Sainz. That could be decided.

Grosjean has the best advantage over his team-mate, Pastor Maldonado. It

shows how well Romain Grosjean has been driving that even if he has had

day that is not perfectly as generally out-qualified his

team-mate. We are always watching out for those rivalries and we are

looking to see who ends up on pole position but the first part of

qualifying will focus mainly on who will be in the top 15. Five cars

will not go through. The fans are getting into the right kind of

spirit here, David, as we wait for the first session. The crowd here

are always very excited about for the one, huge support for their

national drivers. It was quite touching in the preview show when we

heard Felipe Massa saying about when he was a young boy sitting in the

grandstand with his father. There is a special atmosphere at this special

track. Short circuit, as we spoke about. Very challenging, threading

that needle at high speed, especially with the late apex is in

a lot of the corners that was mentioned by Allan, the higher curbs

grooving a challenge. They have to be much more precise to get the

perfect lap. The first of the three qualifying period has begun, nobody

is vigorous to get out, it is a session of 18 minutes. -- nobody is

in a rush to get out. There is not much chance of rain. Previously we

have seen teams rushing out if conditions are changeable that with

a dry and fairly short track, it is easy to get a number of laps under

your belt in 18 minutes. I think the effects of the dirty air from the

car in front, they have been more sensitive to it over the season and

it is quite difficult to get out of that on a track like this. It is not

so much how it affects you in the corner, it is more about the

braking. It is tricky into Turn 1 and also 4 because you are dropping

downhill. Going into 8 and also turned 12, the last real corner on

the track -- turn 12. This first part of qualifying, so many cars on

track, we will the sum funds regime that some frustration. Tom, what

sort of lap times are wheeler can for to get through this first cut

off? -- are we looking for. Track conditions are quite similar to

final practice. The cut-off time was 1.39 which is what it would have

been in the order after final practice. As David said, with all 20

cars out it is one car every 200 metres. It is just a question of who

goes through on the medium tyre and the soft tyre with the difference

between them 1.2 seconds. That is a good point. It could be a two-stop

or three stop race and it may be that some teams favour the soft and

others the medium tyre. That will have a bearing and what is

interesting, given that the session is underway, nobody has gone out.

Historically some of the smaller teams would go out to get some free

airtime, like Manor who have not shown many signs with that revised

2014 car. This is the sort of prime time to get your coverage for your

sponsors. I don't quite know why everyone the is letting the clock

counts down. The first car is just going down the pit lane. It is Nico

Hulkenberg as you can see. You need cars running to get the circuit to

put more rubber down. Hulkenberg loves this track, he had pole

position in 2010 with Williams, a fabulous performance. His best

finish was fifth but he led 30 laps in that year in 2012. He led five

laps last year as well. Best grid position of this year so far is

fifth. A huge cheer from the grandstands and I can look out and

the Felipe Massa driving down the pit lane. A former double winner of

this Grand Prix. Williams probably not in with a shout of winning

unless we get a weather affected race which is still possible but he

has plenty of support. There he is, a big puff of brake dust as he heads

down to turn 4. He has been a bit all over the place, kept it off the

barriers but sliding around, clearly trying hard. Let's see how he gets

on. Coming off a reasonable run last time out but it was Bottas who got

the podium finish in Mexico. On board with Hulkenberg, he is on the

white walled medium tyre. This is unlikely to be his best run. A bit

wide coming through Turn 3. You are trying to keep your throttle flat to

the ground and get a good run along the back straight. Tidy into 4.

Trying to find where the grip is. There has been a support race come

at some touring cars have been out there picking up the Pirelli rubber

and laying down what ever they might drop from their vehicles. The

circuit might have evolved since free practice. Tidy lap so far. The

Toro Rosso gets out of the way. You can see the black lines going into

the run-off area which is where Lewis Hamilton dropped it this

morning, an unusual place. Presumably some technical issue in

the power deployment. And the fantastic rise through turn 14. You

want to take the path of least resistance. He opens the batting

with 13.8 which, compared to this morning, 13.3, half a second and I

am sure he will work his way towards that time and more. There should be

a big left to play with on his tyres. Let's see how Massa is

getting on. Staying off that curb, particularly on the right-hand side.

Juncao, vital left-hander, climbing up the hill. A bit of overseer but

he dealt with it. Hulkenberg currently fastest in the Force

India. Massa is quicker, 1:13.3. He did 1:13.7 earlier so an

improvement. Williams tend to focus a bit more on longer runs and higher

fuel loads so this will be a sighter for him as they get the fuel levels

down. Vettel being fairly cautious surprisingly. Mercedes have put both

cars out on the soft tyre straightaway. They could get through

this session on the medium tyre with their advantage but it shows there

is some thinking towards the race. They could be doing a relatively

slower lap to try to build some heat soaked into the tyres but Rosberg

looks to be done in it, purple, purple in the first two macro

sectors. It is unusual to go for broke so early. -- the first two

macro -- the first two sectors. That is

the fastest lap of the weekend from Nico Rosberg. 1:11.7. Maybe they are

keeping their medium tyre back for the race strategy. If they want at

three stop race and make the medium their prime race tyre, that might be

what they are doing. Ferrari might make a different decision because

they did more laps on the soft yesterday and that might make things

interesting with different strategies. Nobody really got to

within a second of Mercedes. RADIO: Looking good. Ericsson on

circuit at the moment, Hamilton goes through, going just a bit faster

than Rosberg. Tom, intriguing to see Mercedes on the soft tyre. It is and

they were consistent on the medium this morning so they clearly think

that will be their race tyre will stop one thing they are banking on

tomorrow, they want a hot track temperature. Last year it was baking

here. They must have seen a forecast that says we will have hot weather

otherwise you couldn't risk that strategy now. The forecast I saw

said it would be a little cooler tomorrow. Maybe they know something

we don't. The weather forecast has been a bit out so far this weekend,

we expected it to be more heavy rain on Friday and it was just little

bits and then a huge storm last night with lightning and you thought

the roof was coming off the hotel. Stop immediately. Oh no. Alonso is

being told to stop, there must be a technical problem. He stop in

practice yesterday, they rebuilt the back of the carp between FP3 and

qualifying. Nothing given away. -- back of the car. It looked like he

had stopped on the uphill rise up to 14. Hopefully no need... It's on the

inside in the middle sector. Has he got the car far enough off-track

that they don't need anything other than a yellow flag? It might be

difficult to push it off. The yellow flags are out at the moment but for

the second time this weekend Alonso is out of his car and what different

body language to him in the mid-2000 winning two titles.

You make your choices and you reap what is delivered to you. I know

McLaren are down and you do not want to kick someone when they are down

but it is a waste of talent in those two cars. Robbed of an opportunity

to see these two world champion shot themselves. In the case of Alonso,

maybe just peeking from his prime. Jenson has another year to go and

then will make his choices. Getting that advice to go to stop

immediately and then he pulls off the track. No power. It is not just

that Honda are lacking performance, they are lacking reliability. Both

elements are going to be needed if they are going to be able to

campaign to get into the top ten to maybe 2000 podium finishes which has

to be their target. You need the reliability and power and they are

failing on both scores. Honda are huge company but do not have a

bottomless pit of money and are having to support McLaren's race

budget. Helping McLaren with the development of the car while trying

to engineer way out of the issues. Trying to understand why they have

not got anywhere close to being competitive with this engine.

Whatever they budgeted it must be haemorrhaging more cash. It is going

to come to the attention of the board. Tough times but let us hope

they can make progress. It is the first time Ericsson has raced at

Interlagos. He did not get to race here last year. The Caterham team

had gone down by the time this race came round. Let us see if he can

improve on his current 12. In the drop zone at the moment. Rossi and

Stevens are not quick enough to get into the top 15. Alonso is

definitely going to be out. Grosjean and Maldonado have not been out on

circuit yet. The two Lotus cars are still sitting in the pits. You will

see a lot of less as we go through this session. That is a key area

where we tend to see brake locking. Yes. That is one of those corners

where the apex is quick to death, distance round the corner so you

have to carry more brake Trail. Trying to find the balance as the

outside wheel begins to unload slightly. You end up with flat

spots. Vettel is going to come out on the soft tyres having done a

runner on the medium compound tyre first of all. Alonso has found

himself a deck chair. An expensive footstool. That helmet is around

$10,000. I guess he has a few back home. Just about most of the field

are coming out on the soft tyres. We will see of everybody does so. Lord

is getting out. Grosjean is first to approach us. He had DRS open which

he can manually operate. Trying to scale an opportunity. He has got

past Sergio. The car in front of him is Grosjean. He will be hoping that

Grosjean keep the momentum going. He has plenty of clear track ahead of

him so he is not going to be backing up into anyone. Bottas still in the

pits. Appleton and Rosberg may not come out to play again. They

maisonettes this one out. Alonso has a nice view. The directory is

enjoying this. The marshal is offering him a lift. He is in no

hurry. He has been around long enough to know there is no point

getting frustrated. Maybe he can learn by watching some of the other

cars. Grosjean, the Frenchman, on his lap. Heading down towards Turn

4. Lord is desperate to out-qualified Toro Rosso. At this

stage it is about qualifying into Q3. A good chance of that with the

Mercedes power unit driving them up the hill. In the middle section they

have been showing a reasonable turn of pace. Roy John has never scored

points in Brazil in the past. In the tiny lock-up in the same place in

the same place into Turn 10. Being very tidy. He missed out on free

practices. The team were preparing to Jolyon Palmer. He is getting on

the pace quickly. He is off to pastures new. He will want to go out

with a strong couple of results here and in Abu Dhabi. He has got for

straightaway. He will be comfortably through to the next stage. Vettel

goes up to third. That is a death in lap time from Daniel Kvyat. --

decent. Getting into the tiles point of this qualifying. Daniel Ricciardo

has the ten place grid penalty but he will go through qualifying as

normal. Bottas as a three place penalty for undertaking on a red

flag yesterday because Alonso had pulled off of the road. Bottas will

have to forget about that and concentrate on his qualifying

performance. We think that is good enough so we will box. They have

done enough. Maldonado is in danger. Alonso does not appear on the

graphic but he is 20th and last and will not go through to the next

stage. Just getting a bit worried. He ran onto the kerb. Missed

slightly the apex in turn eight. He has a reasonable first sector. We

join him coming through Turn 10. Another bit of traffic which is

going to catch his eye. He tries to be flat through there and that is

terrible blogging from the Sauber. That was Nasr. Brazilian on

Brazilian. You cannot do that. That is one of the fastest parts of the

racetrack. He's just going to make it across the line. That is really

big problems for mass of. He is only in the danger zone. Nasr was

completely in the wrong place. He was either misinformed by his team

or he chose to ignore that information. Jenson Button is

desperate to drag himself out of the top five. Can he do enough with the

McLaren Honda? We have lost one already. The chequered flag is out.

This of the lap that counts for everybody. But in is out. Ericsson

is back in. That puts Maldonado out. This is crucial for Maldonado in the

middle sector. Ericsson is there for the moment. Not as quick as his

team-mate, the difference the 10th of a second. Is Ericsson going to be

in danger from Maldonado? That was Rossi putting a foot over the edge.

It looks as if Stevens is on a floor lap so it is going to be Rossi. Does

he improve? Yes, slightly, in terms of lap time. A slightly better lap

time from the American. Massa did not achieve us Goody first sector in

his -- as in his first run. Maldonado has failed. He has not

made it through to the second part of qualifying. That is a shocker. He

has been beaten by both Sauber's. That is a surprise. Nearly four

tenths slower than his team-mate, certainly three tense. Disappointing

for the Venezuelan. Jenson Button yet again out in Q1. A little bit

with the front wing. Maybe it would not have made a difference. I think

that is the 11th Grand Prix he has fallen in Q1. Both McLarens are out

on this occasion. Maldonado joining them in the knockout zone. Alonso

knows he is not going to play any further part. There is a Zen like

calm to him. Quite extraordinary shots of a

sunbathing Formula 1 driver in terms of Fernando Alonso looking very

relaxed. A blocking incident with another and matter which will be

investigated after the session. We will let you know what happens.

Massa was lucky in the end. Absolutely. This is what happens.

Massa knows his way around and he has the crowd on his side. We will

see what happens. When you have an incident like this you have to make

the best of it and go on. It is extraordinary. Do you think that was

his team not telling him where he should have been? We will have to

ask because it is difficult to know. The team probably should have said

what was happening. This was a question of the driver in front. Not

doing the job he needed to do. He impeded Marcel. It will be looked at

by the stewards. Now McLarens through to Q2. No Maldonado. A quick

word before we pick up on what we through to Q2. No Maldonado. A quick

word before we pick up on what we said before. Rossi, a good addition

to the team? Yes. We knew him a bit from last year so we knew he would

fit in quite well. He has done a pretty good job in Govan will run

for his money. He had a good midsection on his second run. He is

doing a good job. Your successor is going to be announced at the PM but

you have a good idea who it is going to be. Inside information? I think

the team are going to announce some people. You know who it is. It is

not my successor. It is a different position in the team and it would

not be right for me to announce it to you. Much as I would love to!

Will you be in Formula 1 in the future? I would really like to be. I

still have a lot to do in F1. Where? I do not know. I have made a

commitment to the team not to look anywhere else until the season

finished and I have get to that. In what role? I do not know. I think

there's quite a bit I can offer in F1. You have to stay in this game

because it is fast-moving and if step out for a little while then a

lot changes. Once we get this is out of the way and Abu Dhabi out of the

way I will start looking around. You find the atmosphere addictive if you

want to stay in the paddock and a commercial role or whatever you

feel. I love racing. We have had unbelievable challenges that we have

been presented with in the last four or five years but we have not done

that much racing and it will be really nice to do so more of that.

It would be nice to do it in Formula 1. I have to finish the job with the

team first and go from there. Your partner who we have known, what is

he going to do? I do not know. I have really enjoyed working with

John for the last 20 years. I would love to continue working with him.

He has racing running through his veins and the knowledge and

experience that he has got, especially with bringing younger

drivers through, there is a big chunk of this grid whose formative

years racing were spent with John and it is a very rare and unique

talent that he has. Did you bring Mercedes to the team? I think our

team was in a pretty good position this year in terms of its ability to

have the power plant, power unit, there is not much politics involved

for us. The units are all pretty much the same commercially will stop

if you have the money you can go and get them. The team is well set up

for next season. We wish you the best in whatever you choose to do.

Thank you for chatting with us. It has been a pleasure. We will bring

you that announcement and the news as soon as we have it. We can go

back for Q2. The track temperature has come back up to 49 degrees. That

adds a bit more of a challenge to the equation. The second session

gets under way. Hamilton was fastest in Q1 ahead of Rosberg. One of the

standout performances from the first week runs was Verstappen was faster

than Bottas and Marcel. Ahead of Grosjean as well.

Here's been top ten qualifying for the last five Grand Prix and looks

to have a good chance of doing the same. There was a huge cheer when

Alonso came back from his sunbathing and got out of the recovery

vehicle. I thought it was a Brazilian. It shows the Latin

American temperament and he is revered here as well. Nico Rosberg

early out. There is Fernando walking back up and still looking pretty

happy even if the weekend is not going according to plan. Was Berg

going out on a clear circuit. Hamilton has gone out as well --

Rosberg. Both Mercedes on a brand-new set of soft tyres. This

could be the tyre they start the Grand Prix on because if they set a

quickest lap now, it is put aside to be the starting tyre for the race.

No argument about who was out at the right time, they have clear track

ahead of them. This is just about getting into the top ten, it will

not determine their grid position unless they failed to get into the

top ten. Even on a lap like this there is a lot of concentration as

to how he drives the car, judging the temperatures and tyres and

getting ready for the fast lap. They have a number of settings they need

to get right before they go across the start finish line. Track

temperature is up to 51 and historically that means you start to

lose grip as it gets too hot but it will be counterbalanced by the fact

that the circuit is rubber ring in. Nico Rosberg has had this tremendous

run of four pole positions. Can you fend off Hamilton again? It does not

matter so much in this session a part from the psychological edge of

being quicker. On board with Rosberg. He was mighty through the

Senate, tidy enough through four -- Senna S. This is a fantastic

sequence up over the rise, you don't see the corner until you exit seven.

A bit wide, I don't know if it cost him but it might have got some dirt

on his tyres. He will need to be cautious on the brakes at ten, a lot

understeer in the second part of the. Maybe taking too much out of

the tyre. It was quite a slow out lap which suggested no issue with

getting the tyres to switch on. Hamilton is marginally quicker in

the first sector. And a lot quicker in the middle sector will stop

confirming the issues Rosberg had. Let's see if Hamilton is going to

get into the elevens. Let's see, he was in it earlier and it is 1:11.6

so just faster than his lap in Q1. But for Rosberg, he might have been

looking after the tyres, the worst thing to do would be to lock-up and

put a flat spot on the set he is likely to start the race on. On

board with Valtteri Bottas. Short shifts on both hairpins coming out

of turn eight and turn ten. He is giving away torque and horsepower in

an attempt to not spin the rear tyres so maybe this is the issue for

Williams. Will they be under pressure from Toro Rosso and Red

Bull? He qualified fourth last year. Four tenths off Rosberg but

you have to think that was not a great lap from Rosberg. The McLaren

boys on the podium! They thought they would take the opportunity to

make a debut, the only one this year. Massa sliding out of Turn 3

with a bit of a oversteer. He gathered it together. Was that fast

enough? Shall I try another? We will go for Lap 3. Are you sure? That's a

big compromise. It has to be quicker. Box. Let's get an update

from Tom, what will be target time be? That's what they are discussing.

And Rosberg doesn't want to put extra laps on his racing tyres. Add

David mentioned, there has been a lot more track evolution in Q1. The

cut-off time was 0.6 under the one I gave you. To get through to Q3, you

are looking at 12.6, that is the feeling here. So not that much

underneath it and it puts Bottas right on the verge although he has

done 1:12.6 already will stop massa is a long way off so he must have

backed off. It will be interesting to see what

Mercedes do. He jumped that curb and that oversteer moment. It all went

wrong before he had even started the lap effectively. None of his sectors

were close to his team-mate's. Frustration for massa, he will be

feeling under pressure to deliver for his home crowd. -- Felipe Massa.

It is so automatic for him to just turn in and clip that curb. The

short cut has changed, you cannot rattle over the kerbs. I'm not sure

why they felt the need to change them, they have never been

problematic in the past and it was quite a nice visual reminder, if you

see a photograph of this track and the car on the curb, you knew

exactly where it was. Maybe we need to speak to Charlie Whiting to

understand why. It could be for other forms of racing. Watching Nico

Hulkenberg, let's see if he can get into the top ten, it all gets a bit

more frantic now but he has the Mercedes horsepower to help him

climb the steep hill. Let's see where this puts him. Only four times

on the board so far but he goes ahead of the two Williams. That will

be around the cut-off. That was pretty impressive. Maybe a bit more

to come on a second set. This is Max Verstappen. This is the bit of the

lap that is not so good with a Renault behind you. His father Jos

who made his debut in 1994 and had a spectacular accident involving Eddie

Irvine and Martin Brundle. Very focused on his son's career now. We

will see Jos Verstappen going on to the next one. Perez pops up into

fifth place and Carlos Sainz is sixth but it still might not be

quick enough. This is into turn four where his father had that big

incident. He felt the need to bail out of the lap and harvest energy

into the battery pack in the race card. Anybody with any tectonic

device knows the frustration of having battery inside the and not

having enough for your journey, that is part of the modern management

that the drivers do to prepare for the hot lap in qualifying. Watching

Daniil Kvyat who has put in some good performances, finishing fourth

four times. He is fifth at the moment on a 1:12.8 so he will be

right on the bubble. We have Verstappen in the drop zone at the

moment and grow sheen, Raikkonen, Vettel and Ricciardo who have not

set a lap time yet -- Grosjean. We expect the Ferraris in particular to

be challenging. They might even be able to get in between Hamilton and

Rosberg with that half second gap between them. Just a little pause

with five minutes to go until the second flying lap and it looks like

Ferrari are getting ready. Sebastian Vettel is out first, the man who has

won here in the past in 2010 and 2013 and so twice on pole position

in 2011 and when T13 at all with Red Bull. What can he do in the Ferrari?

I don't think we are in for a Singapore performance when he took

his one and only pole position of the year but he certainly wants to

be the best of the rest behind Hamilton and Rosberg. How was the

balance? I was missing front quite a lot. Think about the front. What can

he do to resolve that? They are allowed to adjust the front wing and

increase the front wing flap which increases the resistance to the air

and puts more load on the front axle but the downside is that it takes

away some rear downforce. They can also take out a bit of tyre

pressure, presuming they are not on the absolute limit of what the

Pirelli limits are for this Grand Prix, a little bit higher than

earlier in the year. They can make a tectonic differential adjustment if

the car is pushing on the entry phase -- electronic differential

adjustment. Sebastian Vettel has hopefully made all the adjustments

he needs as he goes onto a quick lap. On board with him.

How did that look? Tentative. Tidy enough but not the aggressive

Sebastian we have seen when he is at one with his car. Ferrari have had

some issues in the middle sector. Along the before getting on the

power. This is where they have been losing quite a bit of time. He is

keeping it tidy if not spectacular. An indication of whether his brake

balance is under control. No visible signs of locking up and tidy on the

apex. This is a challenge as you drop down, the car is sparking as

the downforce bills. Tess -- builds. And on this part you have

the tiniest steering adjustments because it puts in resistance and

affects your speed. He goes into second place and splits the

Mercedes. He has done what the target was. Still trying to beat

Rosberg into second in the World Championship of course. Ricciardo is

sixth, that could be enough. An improvement from Raikkonen pushes

Ricciardo into seventh. In the drop zone are the two Saubers, Massa and

Verstappen and Romain Grosjean. This is what happened to Ricciardo. That

was incredible, what a high-speed power drift through turn 11. That

could be around 140 mph. That will have cost him some time. Impressive

commitment. He still completed the lap. Grosjean just keeps away from

the barrier. He is trying to get going again. He has got it running

but he is in the drop zone. He has not set a time yet, he was on his

first flying sector. He will not have time. Just went wide. He got

out onto the marbles and there was no way back. I think it is all over

for Grosjean. That is a big blow because there was a chance of

getting into the top ten, no doubt. Felipe Massa working the wheel as he

has done all weekend as he struggles to get the power down. There has to

be an opportunity as he chases Verstappen. It helps him up the

straight, Massa goes into eight, Verstappen is in 14th. He has his

final lap to get into the top ten. Grosjean crosses the line, he did

not come in so is hoping to do a lap on those tyres after that horrible

slide. He has no choice, it is just how flat spotted they are. They will

be dirty but the good clean them on the remaining corners. But if he has

a severe flat spot, the vibration will make your eyeballs shake and

you can hardly see the corner. Sainz, Ericsson, Nasr, Verstappen

and Grosjean in the drop zone at the moment. Perez could be in danger. It

comes down to the last few seconds as ever. Bottas is fifth, what about

Daniil Kvyat? He moves up to seventh and he should be safe. Ricciardo is

in the pits so he has to hope not too many go quicker. He had a

penalty as well will stop Nasr has gone 10th, that pushes Perez down.

What has Verstappen done? He shoots up to eight!

Great performance from Max Verstappen when it counted. Grosjean

cannot do it. There is a shake of the head from Grosjean. Those tyres

which were flat spotted in the big spin have not allowed him to get

into the top ten. The chequered flag is out. Ericsson is going to try to

improve. I doubt he can get into the top ten. He has definitely dropped

out of the equation. Hulkenberg is pretty secure. Perez has seen the

triggered flag and is out. Hulkenberg has out-qualified his

team made very comfortably on this occasion. Looking out for Sainz.

Here he is. Can he find enough? His team-mate is definitely through.

Verstappen trying to knock out the local favourite. It is not quite

there. Sainz not matching Verstappen. Sainz could not come up

with the lap he needed to knock Nasr out. That means Nasr has just

scraped into the top ten. That is what cost Grosjean the opportunity.

Something happened. I wonder what went wrong for Grosjean. He does not

often make mistakes like this in qualifying. He has been supreme this

year. He still managed out-qualified his team-mate who did not make it

into Q2. A couple will not play any further part in the session here

today including Sergio Perez, one of the stars last time out in Mexico,

his home track, he got in the points. On this occasion he is 13.

Daniel Ricciardo has the penalties so he will start ahead of him. Nasr,

on home turf, just missing out, still a very good performance from

him. Sauber happy they have two cars into Q2. OK. Clearly not a good

session. Problems with the data? I do not know. Obviously Sainz very

frustrated in that session. Coming back to the team to talk about what

happened. Never nice to see back to the team to talk about what

happened. Never nice to see your team-mate better you. Those two

drivers are vying, nine races each, we will have to wait to Abu Dhabi to

see who wins. Fantastic lap by Verstappen to get that car up to

where it was. He is in the final shoot out. Let us see what is

happening to him. It is these two guys behind me that have been

providing comedy entertainment, not in a good way starting. This was Q1.

Then comedic scenes of Alonso sunning himself as he was waiting to

come back and got a roaring round of applause when he walked into the pit

lane. Both of them almost adopted Brazilians and they took a trip to

the podium and it is the only time they have seen the podium all year

and I think it is safe to say that it is the only time they are going

to see it. Let us cut up with them. It is only a Saturday.

A foot on the podium but sadly just get to speak to me. 17 tomorrow.

Yes. It was a lot closer to 15 than I thought. I think 0.8 of 18. The

car was working much better. Much better. The important thing of the

car should work. The balance we have should work in the race. I still do

not know how competitive we will be because deployment is an issue. In

terms of conditions are you hoping for rain? Does that help you?

Anything helps us. The car is not bad to drive. I enjoy driving it.

The pace is not there. If it rains it opens up many opportunities. We

will hopefully capitalise on it. Sitting in the sun watching

qualifying on a deck chair. I do not imagine it is the Saturday you were

hoping for. Definitely not. I need to be more prepared next time in Abu

Dhabi and take suntan lotion because it was quite hot. We passed close to

the podium, Jenson and I, and we said, we will not be that close this

year, so we took the picture. Jokes about it has been a very frustrating

weekend with two engine failures. I took part in the qualifying here. As

far as we learn from these problems, lessons that I think we're having

this year and not repeat next is good. Definitely it is tough now.

You are doing well to keep smiling. He just wandered past us a few

seconds ago and he looked a little bit rosy in the cheeks as if he had

got the sun. He was auditioning for a new movie. It is not great when

you hear Jenson saying anything will help. Of course. They are making a

joke of it because the pain that has been there, they realise that this

season has been a shocker and put it to one side and think about the

future and be more light-hearted. At least the fans here. They want rid

of the season. They want to forget as quick as possible. Grosjean

arguably should have gone through to the top ten shoot out. There's

scuppered his lap. They will be very disappointed because he looked good.

He was complaining about tyres and various other things. He had a real

opportunity to make it to the top ten and he did not. Lucky not to hit

the guard rail. From that point of view he was excellent. Let us find

out what is going to happen. The top ten shoot out. Q3. We are joined by

the team principal for Red Bull Christian Horner. It is good to see

you have both guys in the top ten but it was Max Verstappen who was in

the top ten but it was Max Verstappen who was in between

absolutely. He has been going well all weekend at that car looks pretty

respectable around here. It is a Renault shoot out between the three

cars. Clearly you are losing out apps more here in Brazil with this

long climb up the hill in the last section than the other circuits.

Unfortunately sections are dominated by the long uphill straight back so

it is not playing to our strengths. We are respectable insect two.

Considering the downforce level on the characters not too bad. The fact

Daniel Ricciardo has a ten place penalty because he has used an extra

engine this weekend, has that changed the strategy? We are going

to try to qualify as high up as we can but he has taken the new

upgraded and engine. We are going to try to qualify as high up as we can

before he takes a ten place penalty. It does not look as if he is going

to be that high. What can you do with that new power plant you are

talking about? It is late in the season to be introducing upgrades.

You can play. At the moment unfortunately he is about seven

kilometres slower on the straight though it is not performing as we

would hope at this point in time but hopefully there is opportunity to

get more out of it before the race tomorrow. Is that to do with the

altitude here in Brazil or is that something you would expect would

carry through to Abu Dhabi? Yes. Presumably you mean seven colour --

kilometres slower than the other car? You could say that. Engines are

so subject. Who is going to get pole position? Hamilton has been good but

I think Rosberg saved his tyres so smart of him to go slower insect two

so he is better tyres to start the race on. It is going to be

fascinating between the two of them. Hamilton is getting ready to go. The

clock ticks away. A slightly longer session to give them time to

prepare. We will wait to see what Williams can do as well. Massa one

of the two Brazilians in the field but the only Brazilian who has made

it into the top ten of all Massa came back. Nasr may pick up a grid

penalty because of impeding Massa. Nasr may end up losing a few places

and what a shame it would be if it was the two Brazilians tripping up

each other. Hamilton, to see if he can get pole position, he has done

it before for McLaren but last year he was beaten to ball possession by

a fraction by Rosberg. That basically led to him being beaten in

the race as well. The difference last year was 0.3 of a second. It

could be that close again. Such tight qualifying historically around

this track. Mercedes looked as if they could big a mistake and still

block out the front row, such as the advantage they have. Hamilton has

the inner calm of knowing he has secured the championship and for

Rosberg blesses him begging up the scraps of what has been a

frustrating season for him, but Hamilton will want to reverse the

trend of Rosberg taking the owes. There is a big gap between the two

of them. Rosberg used a fair amount of kerb and did not bounce. You

could argue they can run more downforce than that of the key

element of being able to have more confidence, the car being pushed

into the tarmac more, even when you unsettle it going over the kerbs.

That is one of the things about the performance of the car in the middle

sector, they know they are having to trim out the wings, so you get the

compound benefits of having extra horsepower and you can afford to

carry a bit more a lot on the car and it gives you downforce and

create strike but to power through it. A good lap so far from Rosberg.

A fraction faster than Hamilton but nothing in it. Yes, but he looks on

it, tidy, aggressive. It will be interesting to see of Hamilton can

match this lap. He is coming up to the end of Sector 2. That is the

fastest lap of the weekend so far. What can Hamilton do? Sometimes the

battle has been resolved and the very first run. It is so close.

About a hundredth slower. It is down to whether Hamilton has done well in

this final sector. It is going to be mighty close. It is not quite

enough. Less than a 10th of a second behind. Rosberg takes first

honours. Likely they will be coming out again. They will be watching to

see of the track temperature changes. Big lock for Hamilton in to

Turn 10. That is going to have damaged that front right. How close

is Vettel going to be able to get to those two Mercedes? He is having to

deal with some traffic. The Mercedes ahead of him, it was Hamilton, a

huge amount of oversteer as he got on the kerb. Picks up his apex

nicely. A little wobble or understeer as he drops down into the

next turn. This is where Hamilton locked up in to Turn 10. Vettel does

the same but to a lesser extent other will be less damage done to

the tyre. He is half a second down on the Mercedes. Rosberg has made it

back into the pits. Vettel is trying to be the best of the rest ahead of

the Williams and the Red Bulls and the Force Indias. A decent lap from

Sebastian Vettel. Bottas, maybe there is a little bit more that

Vettel can find. That puts him third for the moment. We will see what

Raikkonen can do. The Red Bulls are also running. Ricciardo into the

final part of the lap, beginning the climb up the hill. No times yet for

Massa and Verstappen. Massa is not as quick as the Red Bull. He does

not seem to be able to find his form at the moment. A track that

historically he has done well at. He knows the track well. Something is

getting to his confidence. A disappointed look from his father.

Usually they are very evenly matched. He does look to be down on

Bottas. Clearly not happy with the balance of the car. Sometimes you

cannot explain everything. You know what you want to give the confidence

to go faster but if you cannot find the magic set up, mechanical

adjustment, whatever, sometimes the wind feels as if it is in your face.

He has found that special lap in past the when Bottas thinks he has

it covered but it has not been looking like it today. Hamilton's

runs so far have been 11.6, 11.6, 11.5 so I think he might be at his

limit and it could be that Rosberg will get another pole position.

Looking for his fifth in a row. Things are a little calmer before

the climax. Rosberg must be ruing the fact that he did not get this

form earlier in the year because he is dominating at the moment.

Psychologically mannered, able to save his tyres in Q2. On Thursday he

said he did not know why he was so much quicker in qualifying so a lot

to think about. It could be that the pressure is off now, everybody is

effected in different ways. If the season did not take off as he was

expecting, maybe he started to overplay, you might refer to it as

the year is in golf. He knows he can't win the championship now but

we have seen he has good speed -- they

It is fascinating to see. Kimi Raikkonen has been complaining that

the cart was a bit loose. -- the car. He is currently fifth fastest.

When he says it is loose, it is not free-spirited, it is sliding at the

rear. Lucy is American terminology -- loose. Here we go, on the final

run, will we see a change in the current order? We won't see a time

as fast as last year's pole time. The changes to the track seem to

have had a detrimental effect on the lap times but it doesn't matter,

what matters is who is fastest on the day. The track temperature is

still at 50 degrees. Not much change to conditions so it is just about

getting that perfect lap. Hamilton has a little bit of traffic, you can

see him driving slowly in the pit lane to allow Sebastian Vettel to

open that out lap. I did not see who it was behind him, I think it might

have been Raikkonen. As to be careful not to start pushing onto

the back of Hamilton. It is actually Massa in the Williams. Sebastian

Vettel coming off a bit of a nightmare weekend in Mexico, having

a first accident related non-finish for five years. He seems to be

pretty calm and ready to take the battle to Mercedes. Maybe not in

qualifying, they can do more in the race itself. On board with Bottas,

fighting with Kimi Raikkonen for fourth place in the championship.

Let's see how it goes. Visibly having to take more caution

in comparison to Mercedes. I don't think that locked into Turn 1 will

have cost him. -- that lock. You are undecided as you come through six,

over the rise at seven and dropping into eight. Rosberg has gone through

the first sector in a competitive time and Hamilton is about to go

through. Vettel has done a good sector as well. Hamilton is not as

fast as his team-mate in the first sector, he could make it up in the

middle sector which is the key. It is almost one tenth. They have been

so close and it will take something mighty from Hamilton. Rosberg has

gone fastest in the middle. Here comes Bottas, he goes forth for the

moment but Rosberg is trying to go faster already. Even faster! 1:11.2!

A superb lap. Can Hamilton comeback? He is going through the middle

sector will stop Hulkenberg comes over the line and into fifth place.

It is not looking like Hamilton has done enough. Vettel is third and I

think he will hold onto that. I don't think Hamilton has done

enough. Look how close! He made up so much in the final sector and he

misses out by 78 thousandths of a second but Rosberg has done it, a

fifth on city did pole position and back to back here in Sao Paulo --

fifth consecutive pole position. Massa had to settle for eighth place

in the end. Nico Rosberg has done it again. The one! Well done! Good

effort. Great job, thank you very much. It took him to victory here

last year but Lewis Hamilton wants this one so much, it is one of the

very few raters on the current calendar that he has not been able

to win -- few races. That final sector must have been fast for him

to get so close. Just good not ace that first sector. Nico has been so

aggressive through turn to. That is second, only eight hundredths to

Nico. Last year it was 0.03 and this year it is their .08. It is so tight

that the psychological edge rose to the man in pole position. Raikkonen

ended up in fifth place. Bottas is in between them in the Williams.

Hulkenberg in sixth place. Yet another front row start for

Mercedes, and I think that makes 100 in all for Mercedes over the years.

Very impressive. Mercedes moved ahead of Renault on the all-time

pole list. Rosberg delivered under pressure once again from his

team-mate and delivered a beautiful lap when it counted. He also had the

forethought to look after his tyres in the second part of qualifying,

making sure he was a little easier on them. Some intelligent and fast

driving from Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton will have two rethink a bit

for the race tomorrow but he will not give up on winning the race, he

knows there will be opportunities. He could not manage it last year

against Rosberg but will be up for the fight and looking for other

opportunities I'm sure. We are set for a very intriguing encounter

between them and with the Ferraris kind, particularly Vettel, they

might run a different strategy and we should not count them out,

particularly with changeable weather. They have been a bit

stronger on race pace. I am surprised that Vettel could get

within six tenths because nobody has really got to within a second of

them so far. It is impressive he brought the gap down a bit.

Hulkenberg will be pleased with his sixth place. Not quite his best of

the year which was fifth but very nearly. Hamilton still has not got

that 50th pole. It is proving to be elusive. It just won't come for some

reason, it doesn't really matter. That is the line-up. Or that is how

they finished qualifying. Bottas has three places added to that so he

will drop down and that will put Raikkonen into fourth place, how can

and Kvyat will move up. Ricciardo has a 10th place -- ten place

penalty. We don't know if Nasr will start in

11th. It will depend on the inquiry as to what happened when he appeared

to impede Felipe Massa. Disappointing for Lotus today, they

should have had at least one in the top ten.

Fernando Alonso was unable to set a time. A brilliant day once again for

Mercedes. We can hear what Toto Wolff as to say.

An immense final lap from Hamilton but Rosberg delivers again. If it

was an immense lap from Lewis, it was unbelievably immense from Nico.

Similar to Mexico. He's on fire. Why has he made this trans-formation in

the last five races? It is clear that it is important for him to

finish second in the championship and maybe some of the pressure has

gone for Lewis. I don't know if that is good or not. But it is good going

into next season. A very intelligent qualifying from Rosberg, saving that

set of tyres in Q2. He took it easy on that set, a couple of tenths

off, thinking that will be the starting set so an intelligent

session. How do you see the race tomorrow? Difficult strategy- why is

because the soft tyre doesn't last more than a handful of lap. --

strategy-wise. I feel comfortable it optimistic if I can say that. Let's

see what happens. What about the threat from Ferrari? Will they be

stronger in race conditions? They have been on a pretty similar pace,

they are not far off. I am more sceptical for next year in terms of

Ferrari. Interesting, more sceptical about Ferrari next year. A good show

from the Vettel. That is incredible what Nico Rosberg has done. Lewis

but it together towards the end and just missed out. It must be

frustrating. It is, but spare a thought for Nico. He came under a

lot of pressure in mid-season and criticism, people were talking about

him may be being replaced and he has delivered, he has a truly remarkable

job. When you realise how good Hamilton is. It is almost the old

Nico in qualifying from last year but we have not really seen it in

the race apart from in Mexico. He was in a different class in Mexico

and controlled the race from the front. He had the pace and the

mindset. He was great. We are seeing a new Nico Rosberg. He has got the

bit between his teeth. Absolutely and doing it with style. He is

thinking not just for now, he is planning ahead. He has planned his

strategy for the race and he has a better tyre situation than Lewis

though it is all down to the start. If he leads into the first corner, I

think, whoever that may be will win the race. Let's look at qualifying

again starting with this incident. This was where Felipe Nasr blocked

Nasr. What did you make of it? It's a difficult situation. Nasr should

not have been there. If you are but slow, you have two hug the inside.

We can hear from Felipe. If we turn back a year, you are getting

announced as a Formula 1 driver and now you are just missing out on the

top ten at your home Grand Prix, it is incredible. It is a great feeling

and a great honour to be present. Last year I was a reserve driver. I

could not ask for a better way to begin the weekend. We have done some

good changes in the car for qualifying. It almost put us in Q3

so I am satisfied. A good place to start tomorrow. Dell is about the

incident with Felipe Massa that is being investigated. -- tell us. It

is a difficult situation, I was told all the cars around me was in a slow

lap and was synchronised and I looked in my mirror and saw Bottas

alt. I was preparing to open my lap and when I looked again it was Massa

on a quick lap. We need to wait and see. You are close to Felipe as

welcome you don't want to get in his way? I don't want to create

problems, I'm sure he will understand. Frustrating for both

drivers in their home race. What did you make of it? The team telling him

that all the drivers around him were on a slow lap. Clearly they were

wrong. When a driver goes out in qualifying, it is in his hands and

unless the team tells him something different, and if they did, I don't

remember telling one of my drivers that everyone is on a slow lap

because how can you know what everybody else is doing? From that

point of view, it is strange, maybe the stewards will have to find out

who said what and when. Let us catch up with Daniel

Ricciardo. You had the newer engine in your car

so you got the penalty. Was it worth it? No. Simple as that? Yes. We had

to try it. We need some data on it. I will have a look at the overall

lead with Daniel later. From the overall session it was not worth it.

A couple of sector is where you guys struggle because of the nature of

the circuit. Any positives you can take? I think the car is working

quite well. We did not really touch the car all weekend so I was pretty

pleased with it. It seemed everyone ramped up in qualifying and we

probably just missed the last ten for two to find that extra bit. I do

not think there was a whole lot more we could have done different. I

think we did a normal programme through the weekend and it would be

good. We will start 19th I think. It is going to be offered race

tomorrow. I would love it to rain. I do not think it is going to. If it

does that will make it exciting. Sorry it did not work out for you.

Do a rain dance. This is not one of his favourite

circuits which is interesting because you would think he would

like this one. Why would you take the risk of a ten place grid penalty

for changing an engine? There's never really that much between ten

horsepower, 15 horsepower, certainly not ten places on the grid. Maybe

they wanted the data for next year or other races. He will be starting

from 19th. Max Verstappen qualified 10th but will be starting in ninth.

Another strong qualifying. We were looking back earlier at some of your

best bits of the season. Your qualifying must go up there. Yes. It

is not the best track for us. I underestimated it a bit before I

came here. We lose a lot on the straight here which is unfortunate.

It was very good. What can we expect from you tomorrow? It was not too

bad in the long run. I was not happy with the car. It should be even

better for tomorrow. This is the provisional grid with the penalties

we know about. Lewis Hamilton will have to wait for his 50th pole.

Jenson Button will go from 16. -- 16th. There could be penalties still

to be applied. What can we expect? In a nutshell, Brazilian, tomorrow?

I think Rosberg can win this. It will be a great fight because we

know, we have heard it so many times, Lewis wants to win here. He

has still not done it and he wants... His idol is Ayrton Senna

and he wants to be there amongst the winners. We will have the action

tomorrow on BBC One. Lewis Hamilton denied pole position today by eight

hundredths of a second. Thank you for watching. Squeezed in between

highways and side streets on the streets of Sao Paulo. Stop

immediately. That looked to be terrible blocking. As he hit the

barrier? A big lock-up for Hamilton. A superb lap