2008 Australian GP Practice

OSRN 1

The 2nd Friday Practice session for Round 1 of the 2008 F1 season at Melbourne.

Transcript

00:00:00No need for herald trumpets or ruffling drums.

00:00:10All we need is the sound of V8 engines twisting to 19,000 R.P.M.

00:00:15To announce the return of formula one for 2008 on speed.

00:00:20The light has gone green.

00:00:21On track.

00:00:22Welcome to Friday practice from Melbourne, Australia.

00:00:33There will be no rules tonight.

00:00:41If there were, we'd break them.

00:00:43Nothing's gonna stop us now.

00:00:45Turn up the music.

00:00:48Oh, oh, oh, oh.

00:00:50This is the day for all the lovers.

00:00:52Taking a chance for one another.

00:00:55Finally, it's our time now.

00:00:59These are the times that we'll remember.

00:01:02Breaking the city side together.

00:01:04Finally, it's our time now.

00:01:07It's our time now.

00:01:21Right now, boys.

00:01:22Right now.

00:01:23Victory for the first time it is to win.

00:01:25Come on, mate.

00:01:26He's ruining our race.

00:01:27Let's get past him.

00:01:28They touch.

00:01:29There's smoke coming off the track.

00:01:31Hello, everybody.

00:01:39No matter what the weather is where you are, winter is officially over.

00:01:43It's something north of 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Melbourne as we welcome you to Friday practice

00:01:50for the opening weekend of the 2008 formula one season on speed.

00:01:54The Australian grand prix from Albert park.

00:01:57I'm Bob Varsha alongside David Hobbs and Steve Batchett.

00:02:00As always, Peter Windsor is down in the pit lane in the garage area.

00:02:04There's already been one 90-minute practice session today.

00:02:07So let's check out the highlights from this morning.

00:02:10New faces in formula one.

00:02:12GP2 champion Timo Glock in for the departed Ralph Schumacher in the Toyota.

00:02:16Nelson Piquet Jr. Is in at Renault.

00:02:19And Ross Brawn, former Ferrari technical chief, is back in formula one with Honda.

00:02:24Billionaire Vijay Mallya of India is putting new money and new energy into the newly renamed

00:02:29Team Force India, the former Spiker squad.

00:02:31Another new face in formula one is four-time champ car champion Sebastian Bordet.

00:02:36He ends up 14th quickest.

00:02:37This is a familiar sight for poor old David Coulthard.

00:02:39The Red Bull engine letting go or something letting go and causing a lot of smoke

00:02:43and him to leap out of the car in the pits.

00:02:45And there's another old face in a new spot again.

00:02:48Alonso back with his first team Renault.

00:02:51Obviously, as you can see here, not quite getting down to it.

00:02:54And it was his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr.

00:02:57Son of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet Sr.

00:03:00The only guy to loop the car in this morning's session in the R28.

00:03:04That would bring out the red flag.

00:03:05But there were more problems, reliability problems for Nick Heidfeld in the F108.

00:03:10Electrical problems on that car.

00:03:12Lewis Hamilton, well, remaining with the McLaren operation.

00:03:17Second fastest in that first session on Friday morning.

00:03:21But fastest of all was the defending pole sitter and race winner

00:03:25here at Albert Park in Melbourne, Kimi Raikkonen,

00:03:29who climbed into the new Ferrari that was so impressive in winter testing.

00:03:33And he was fastest in this morning's first 90-minute session

00:03:36by nearly half a second over the balance of the field.

00:03:40Kimi, the Iceman, is back in business.

00:03:47Live pictures from Albert Park in Melbourne.

00:03:50This is Jarno Trulli in the Toyota.

00:04:00Here's David Coulthard across the bottom of your screen.

00:04:03You'll see the times from this morning's opening 90-minute session.

00:04:0690 more minutes this afternoon, and then it's on to qualifying

00:04:09tomorrow night at 11 Eastern Time here on Speed.

00:04:13There's Fernando Alonso, the 05 and 06 world champion.

00:04:17After coming within a point of his third straight world title last year,

00:04:21he is back with the Renault team.

00:04:23Kaz Nakajima, another new face in Formula 1 for the Williams Toyota.

00:04:27They had a miserable day this morning.

00:04:29They only did three laps each.

00:04:31There you see the car twitching.

00:04:32Of course, no traction control on these cars this year,

00:04:35so you're going to see a lot more tail-out driving, I think.

00:04:38Of course, obviously, especially in the wet.

00:04:42There you see it laying down rubber there on the exit.

00:04:45You see the car's very lively, very twitchy around here.

00:04:48And you're right, David.

00:04:49As you say, no traction control on the car, no engine braking.

00:04:52Electronics very severely restricted in 2008.

00:04:56All the guys using a common ECU designed and built by McLaren

00:05:01and Microsoft in partnership.

00:05:03But you have to bear in mind as well, of course,

00:05:05that this track, as you were saying, very green,

00:05:08and it gets very, very little use.

00:05:11A lot of this sliding will be a result of that,

00:05:13as opposed to the electronics.

00:05:14So you mustn't get too distracted by thinking a lot of this action

00:05:17from the cars is a direct result of the electronics.

00:05:20What is absolutely fascinating is this morning,

00:05:22in the very first session, that Kimi Räikkönen this time

00:05:25was only just over three tenths slower than his pole position last year.

00:05:29So I'm fully expecting the pole to be quicker than last year.

00:05:33Well, it's really difficult to try and get a handle on

00:05:36how much of an effect the loss of the electronics,

00:05:39the traction control, etc., has had on the cars,

00:05:41because, well, you get natural evolution of the cars.

00:05:44The cars get better, more aerodynamic grip.

00:05:46Bridgestone put a little bit more rubber in,

00:05:48and you get more grip back still.

00:05:50And you're right.

00:05:51I don't think we'll actually see the cars going any slower at all.

00:05:53Well, the aerodynamics this year have gone to a new level

00:05:56of absolutely sort of Darth Vader-ist.

00:06:00I mean, if you look at the Ferrari,

00:06:01I mean, the front end of the Ferrari is quite extraordinary.

00:06:04We have lots of stories to talk about as we get the 08 season underway.

00:06:07But right now, we'd like to welcome back

00:06:09the fourth member of our speed broadcast team,

00:06:12live from Melbourne, Peter Windsor.

00:06:16Thanks, Bob. Great to be here.

00:06:17Great to be here in Australia for the start of the 2008 FIA World Championship.

00:06:21Fantastic atmosphere here in the pit lane

00:06:23and behind the pit lane in the Formula 1 paddock area.

00:06:26The big talking point this morning, of course,

00:06:28that continued rivalry between Ferrari and McLaren.

00:06:30It was oh so close.

00:06:32Kimi very fast, but both McLaren drivers

00:06:34looking very good on medium and long-term runs there.

00:06:37Bit of element of graining in the front tyres already,

00:06:39but we're hoping that's going to go away as the track picks up grip.

00:06:42And gearbox problem on the two Williams Toyotas.

00:06:45That hampered their mileage this morning.

00:06:47They've changed both gearboxes on those cars.

00:06:49They're hoping for a reliable run, of course, this afternoon.

00:06:53All right. Thank you, Peter.

00:06:54We're watching replays of young Sebastian Vettel,

00:06:56now a full-time Formula 1 driver,

00:06:58with the Toro Rosso team at the tender age of 20.

00:07:02And there's Nelson Piquet,

00:07:04who prefers to drop the junior from the end of his name now.

00:07:07He is his own man.

00:07:10And I believe his father is not here to see him

00:07:13make his Formula 1 race debut.

00:07:16It seems very odd to me.

00:07:19Well, he has been around.

00:07:20He's been very active in his career in F1.

00:07:22The test sessions that I've been to as a guest of Renault.

00:07:25Last year, Nelson Piquet's daddy was there

00:07:29with his young lad, helping him along.

00:07:33Remember, Nelson Piquet's career ended

00:07:35with some very, very serious injuries to his legs.

00:07:38So the idea of traveling halfway around the world in an airplane

00:07:41might not be his idea of a fine way to spend his time.

00:07:46Actually, thinking back to 91,

00:07:48I can remember strapping Nelson into the car on Adelaide 91,

00:07:51which was his last Formula 1 race.

00:07:53It just seems extraordinary that now here's his young lad

00:07:56taking over and racing for the first time in Adelaide,

00:07:59in Australia, in Melbourne.

00:08:02Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren,

00:08:04who was edged out by a few tenths this morning,

00:08:06takes the lead at the moment.

00:08:08Eight tenths quicker than anybody else so far.

00:08:10That's his teammate's second on the timesheets at the moment.

00:08:14See, we have bright sunshine right now.

00:08:16This morning, the air temperature was 93 degrees.

00:08:20The track, 102.

00:08:23The temps have gone up.

00:08:24It is now 95 degrees ambient temperature

00:08:28and 115 degrees on the track

00:08:31as you watch Nick Heidfeld off and on.

00:08:33And those are the spin marks there

00:08:35of Nelson Piquet from this morning.

00:08:37So, obviously, people are having a lot of trouble with this corner.

00:08:40Yeah.

00:08:44It is very green, as we say.

00:08:45There's so little use.

00:08:47In certain parts of the public road

00:08:49and purpose-built racetrack.

00:08:51Here's the weather report.

00:08:54Look at that. 95 degrees.

00:08:56Track temp already 115 degrees.

00:09:00And we should point out, in connection with the weather,

00:09:03it's supposed to be overcast on Saturday and Sunday

00:09:06or Friday night and Saturday night

00:09:08here in the United States.

00:09:09But it will be equally hot.

00:09:11Temperature's well up into the 90s.

00:09:14I tell you what,

00:09:15that Force India car from a distance

00:09:17is now put like a McLaren chassis.

00:09:19The colour scheme across the car.

00:09:22He's the first guy I think we've seen on soft tyres.

00:09:24Actually, Fischer-Keller didn't have a bad run this morning.

00:09:2612.

00:09:28Just a bit less than three seconds off the pace,

00:09:31but not a bad run.

00:09:34A new lease on life for this team.

00:09:36The former, well, it began life as Jordan,

00:09:38then it became Midland, then Spiker,

00:09:40and now Force India.

00:09:42Indian entrepreneur Vijay Mallya.

00:09:45Most of those decals on the car are his company's.

00:09:48And he has vowed to pump about $50 million into this team.

00:09:52Give him a budget somewhere north of $100 million

00:09:56to try to come to terms with the big teams in Formula 1.

00:09:59Very cool. Great to see that.

00:10:02Boy, yeah, I mean, morale is so high in this team,

00:10:04their technical director Mike Gascoigne said,

00:10:06if we're not much improved

00:10:09by the three-quarter mark of this season,

00:10:11I should be fired.

00:10:13He has hung his career on improving Force India

00:10:16with all that new budget.

00:10:20You can see the cars moving around.

00:10:22You'll also see a lot of new aero devices on these cars

00:10:25as the teams scramble to find that precious tenth of a second

00:10:29to separate themselves from the rest.

00:10:31Lewis Hamilton, purple in two of the three-time sectors.

00:10:34He's the leader early on in this second 90-minute session

00:10:38to open the first Formula 1 weekend of the year here on Speed.

00:10:42We'll be back.

00:10:44Speed's coverage of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship

00:10:48is brought to you by BMW.

00:10:50BMW, the ultimate driving machine.

00:11:00Welcome back live to Albert Park in Melbourne.

00:11:02The opening day of the first Formula 1 weekend of the year.

00:11:07Second 90-minute Friday practice.

00:11:09You're watching Felipe Massa.

00:11:11Had a big off-season.

00:11:13Got married to his long-time girlfriend, Rafaela,

00:11:16back in November.

00:11:17She's with him this weekend in Australia.

00:11:22As he continues on his way,

00:11:24recalled that a year ago at this track

00:11:26he had gearbox problems in qualifying,

00:11:28started from the back and was bitterly disappointed.

00:11:31Let's go to Peter Windsor.

00:11:36Thanks, Bob.

00:11:37A great time to throw to me

00:11:38just pushing Fernando Alonso's Renault back into the garage.

00:11:41I'm with Bob Bell, Technical Director of Renault.

00:11:43Bob, got to say this morning,

00:11:44you guys must have been encouraged.

00:11:46A great start from Fernando back in the Renault team.

00:11:49Yeah, we were pleased with how it went.

00:11:51It's very early days yet.

00:11:53And, you know, we've got realistic expectations.

00:11:57Yeah, that's what they all say.

00:11:59Come on, when are you going to win a race again?

00:12:01It's got to be this year

00:12:02or I'll probably have to look for another job.

00:12:05And Nelson Junior...

00:12:06Sorry, he's not Nelson Junior anymore.

00:12:08Nelson Senior, I guess.

00:12:09Nelson Nelson has spun this morning.

00:12:12Andy Stahl didn't come in.

00:12:13What was the story there?

00:12:15Yeah, I mean, we're still getting to grips

00:12:18with some aspects of the tuning

00:12:19of this new standard electronic system.

00:12:22And it doesn't offer us the level of sophistication

00:12:28that we were used to with our own system.

00:12:31So it's really just a tuning thing.

00:12:34Tell me the guys are actually going to have to de-clutch again

00:12:36in the middle of a spin to keep the engine running.

00:12:39Well, that would have saved the day,

00:12:41but unfortunately put his reliance on the system,

00:12:44which didn't help him.

00:12:46Bob, great talking to you.

00:12:47Best of luck the rest of the weekend.

00:12:48Back to you, Bob.

00:12:49All right, thanks, Peter.

00:12:51That's Nicholas Tote,

00:12:52son of former Ferrari boss Jean Tote.

00:12:56Well, I guess Jean is still technically the boss at Ferrari,

00:13:00although interesting political things going on there these days.

00:13:04We need to do a cooling change instead.

00:13:07We'll do a front wing correction for that anyway.

00:13:09But next run fires about 1% RSD forward.

00:13:12Do you want to try that for the next run?

00:13:14Or do you think the graining dominates?

00:13:21We've been hearing a lot about graining.

00:13:23So I'm not sure it's the best thing to do for the next run.

00:13:27It's becoming quite a lot of understeer in many places with the right-handers.

00:13:33Also, I think we can drop the car a little bit.

00:13:37And it's quite difficult often under braking with the rear jacking.

00:13:45Can get quite a lot of rear locking.

00:13:48We've staged that at 1 mil all round now.

00:13:51Well, that rear locking, of course, is this common ECU has taken away there.

00:13:57They had a great scheme on these cars.

00:13:59But when you were braking hard,

00:14:00the engine would feather while you were braking hard

00:14:02so that you didn't lock the rear wheels.

00:14:04That's something these guys are going to have to get used to again,

00:14:06especially in the rain.

00:14:09Gives an idea of just how precise the engineers and the mechanics are

00:14:13when they're setting the cars up.

00:14:14We just heard the engineer talking back over the radio saying,

00:14:17well, let's drop the ride height by 1 mil.

00:14:20Well, that's about a sixteenth of an inch.

00:14:24I mean, it's hardly anything,

00:14:26but you will see quite a severe change to the aerodynamic performance of the car.

00:14:32The more...

00:14:34The closer you can get the car to the track,

00:14:35the better it is for aerodynamics.

00:14:37But the downside of that is the closer you put the car to the track

00:14:40on a bumpy track.

00:14:41And around here, there are some undulations.

00:14:43You will start to bottom out.

00:14:44You can't afford to do that.

00:14:45A, for performance reasons,

00:14:46but also, remember that skid block,

00:14:48the FIA legality plank bolted on the underneath of the car there.

00:14:52There is a plank bolted on the underside.

00:14:54It used to be made of a jabrock wood material.

00:14:56Now it's composite material.

00:14:58You cannot wear,

00:14:59you cannot afford to wear more than one millimetre,

00:15:02again, that sixteenth of an inch,

00:15:03off of that plank.

00:15:05Otherwise, you are at risk of being thrown out of the event by the FIA.

00:15:09Right now, the order is Hamilton, Masa, Kovalainen, Raikkonen,

00:15:13Weber, Kubica, Alonso, Heidfeld, Sutil and Jensen Button in the Honda.

00:15:19While we have a moment,

00:15:20let's take a look at our BMW track map.

00:15:22David?

00:15:23Well, as you've already gathered,

00:15:24it's a pretty twisted old track, they say.

00:15:26And they've all got names,

00:15:27which makes a change from numbers.

00:15:29Dan Jones, you can't.

00:15:30It's a good overtaking opportunity.

00:15:31Then you weave your way through by the cricket ground.

00:15:33It's a pretty twisted old track, they say.

00:15:35And they've all got names,

00:15:36which makes a change from numbers.

00:15:37Dan Jones, you can't.

00:15:38It's a pretty twisted old track, they say.

00:15:39Then you weave your way through by the cricket ground.

00:15:40The sports centre corner there.

00:15:41And as you can see,

00:15:42you need a tremendous amount of downforce here.

00:15:44It's quite a high downforce circuit,

00:15:46because you've got some high-speed turns,

00:15:48like that long golf course sweeper there.

00:15:50At the top of the picture,

00:15:51as you go into T2,

00:15:52then the weight corner,

00:15:53then obviously Hill,

00:15:54Ascari down to Stewart.

00:15:56Centre is a tight left-hander.

00:15:58We've seen a lot of sliding there,

00:16:00as they've come out of there,

00:16:01going into Frost.

00:16:02And of course,

00:16:03you really want to come out of Frost well,

00:16:04because the best overtaking opportunity here

00:16:06is down into that Jones chicane.

00:16:07As Steve's already alluded,

00:16:09this track is never used,

00:16:10so it's very green today.

00:16:12A lot of dust around and no rubber down.

00:16:14That will gradually get better

00:16:15as the weekend progresses.

00:16:17Obviously, there's no elevation change here at all.

00:16:19And there's lots of things to hit

00:16:21quite close to the track,

00:16:22so it's one of those places

00:16:23you don't want to go flying off,

00:16:24as Michael Schumacher found for his Chagrin

00:16:27just a handful of years ago.

00:16:29Yeah, when he rolled the Ferrari

00:16:30into the gravel traps.

00:16:31In case you're wondering

00:16:32who the corner's named for,

00:16:34Waite and Whiteford,

00:16:35that's Arthur Waite,

00:16:36an Australian who won

00:16:37the very first Aussie GP

00:16:39back in 1929,

00:16:40driving an Austin 7,

00:16:42and Doug Whiteford,

00:16:44also Australian,

00:16:45won his home race three times,

00:16:47including here at Albert Park

00:16:48in 1953.

00:16:50Now, a little earlier on,

00:16:51we saw the BMW mechanics

00:16:52working on the back of their car

00:16:54with this plastic screen here.

00:16:56If anybody's wondering

00:16:57the reason for that,

00:16:58it's because of these

00:16:59little exhaust outlets here,

00:17:01just to save the guy

00:17:02at the start in the car.

00:17:03Remember, that exhaust gas

00:17:04will come blasting back there.

00:17:06Well, you can't afford

00:17:07to run that in the pit stop,

00:17:08but in the garage,

00:17:09when you've got fuel into the car,

00:17:10and again, with the loss

00:17:11of the electronic systems

00:17:14on the car,

00:17:15there's a lot more unburnt fuel

00:17:16around in the exhaust now,

00:17:17because the control

00:17:18of the electronics

00:17:19is nowhere near as sophisticated.

00:17:21Therefore, the injection system's

00:17:23not working as precise

00:17:24as it used to be,

00:17:25and there is a lot more

00:17:26unburnt fuel around,

00:17:27and when the guys

00:17:28put the starter in and fire it up,

00:17:29you occasionally get

00:17:30those big flashbacks of flame,

00:17:33which can burn the mechanics,

00:17:34and they tend not to like

00:17:35that so much.

00:17:36It's kind of hard to blame them.

00:17:38Hmm.

00:17:39Quench.

00:17:41Everybody going quite a bit slower

00:17:43than they did during

00:17:44this morning's session.

00:17:45Of course, we'll put that down

00:17:46to the heat and slickness

00:17:47of the racetrack,

00:17:48although...

00:17:49On Friday, just general...

00:17:50Right.

00:17:51The track is terribly dusty,

00:17:53not used during

00:17:54the rest of the year,

00:17:55so we would expect it

00:17:56to get quicker and quicker

00:17:57as the rubber is built up,

00:17:58but not the case

00:17:59thus far this afternoon.

00:18:00Well, they may be

00:18:01carrying more fuel now,

00:18:02you know, this is

00:18:03the session where...

00:18:04Obviously, the first session

00:18:05this morning is when

00:18:06they're really finding out

00:18:07how things stand.

00:18:08This is a session

00:18:09where they start to...

00:18:10start to tune the car.

00:18:11There, you see some tail

00:18:12out there as he's going

00:18:13through that left right.

00:18:16Did you watch

00:18:17Sebastian Bordet,

00:18:18the four-time

00:18:19Champ Car Titleist,

00:18:20make his way around

00:18:21in his first

00:18:22Formula One weekend?

00:18:23Let's hear from

00:18:24a former Formula One driver

00:18:25now testing for the

00:18:26Honda factory team.

00:18:27Alex Virts is with Peter.

00:18:30He is indeed, Bob,

00:18:31and I've got to

00:18:32congratulate Alex

00:18:33because he manages,

00:18:34I think, to be the only

00:18:35member of the Honda team

00:18:36at the moment not to be

00:18:37wearing those new

00:18:38green pants, Alex.

00:18:39You're in your

00:18:40standard blue jeans,

00:18:41a very cool call

00:18:42from your point of view.

00:18:43Yeah, it was a hard

00:18:44contract negotiation,

00:18:45but, you know,

00:18:46I don't like sunglasses,

00:18:47so I can't wear

00:18:48green trousers because

00:18:49you need the protection

00:18:50of the sunglasses.

00:18:52Alex, you sort of

00:18:54retired at the end

00:18:55of last season,

00:18:56but great to see you

00:18:57back with Honda

00:18:58invigorated again,

00:18:59and what a fantastic

00:19:00thing to have Ross

00:19:01Braun join the team now.

00:19:02Yeah, I can always

00:19:03remember Shanghai

00:19:04when you came to me

00:19:05on the grid,

00:19:06the first one,

00:19:07so you are obviously

00:19:08the most sharp cookie

00:19:09in the bedrock.

00:19:10You quickly shot

00:19:11that one down in flames.

00:19:13Yeah, sorry,

00:19:14but it was just

00:19:15before the start.

00:19:16But now, anyway,

00:19:17I'm still a retired

00:19:18person from racing.

00:19:19I've always said

00:19:20I just step back

00:19:21from the racing.

00:19:22I saw that the time,

00:19:23to be honest,

00:19:24that I will continue

00:19:25with my old fellas

00:19:26from Williams to be there

00:19:27for the development

00:19:28program, stepping out

00:19:29a little bit after years

00:19:30from testing into

00:19:31something else,

00:19:32didn't find together.

00:19:34I still had a really

00:19:35good time there,

00:19:36but then received

00:19:37the phone call

00:19:38from Honda,

00:19:39and then everything

00:19:40went very quick.

00:19:41Because one thing

00:19:42is clear,

00:19:43I really love the testing,

00:19:44the developing,

00:19:45and just going

00:19:46into details,

00:19:47making sure

00:19:48it's not only

00:19:49the car which is

00:19:50functioning,

00:19:51it's also the structures,

00:19:52the operating ways,

00:19:53analyzing all the

00:19:54little bits.

00:19:55That's what I love,

00:19:56and I can really

00:19:58say it,

00:19:59at Honda we need to

00:20:00dig our heels in

00:20:01to move forward,

00:20:02and it's a really

00:20:03great situation here.

00:20:05Ross Brawn,

00:20:06a decade of winning

00:20:07with Michael Schumacher.

00:20:08Just give me one

00:20:09example of his impact

00:20:11on the team,

00:20:12what makes him so good.

00:20:14It's just good,

00:20:16you know,

00:20:17from top to bottom,

00:20:18the way he operates,

00:20:19the way he thinks.

00:20:22I really like to work

00:20:24with him,

00:20:25what I've seen so far.

00:20:27It was a very big reason

00:20:29for me to come

00:20:30to do this job,

00:20:31that I know guys

00:20:32like him are here,

00:20:33Steve Clark,

00:20:34who I know from McLaren,

00:20:35is here.

00:20:37I think the

00:20:38consolation is right,

00:20:39but now,

00:20:40to be honest,

00:20:41everyone needs to

00:20:42give us,

00:20:43the new guys,

00:20:44a little bit of time,

00:20:45because we are not magic,

00:20:46we have to work harder,

00:20:47and it's also not

00:20:49that Honda has done

00:20:50everything completely

00:20:51terrible, no.

00:20:52They just came

00:20:53onto the back foot,

00:20:54lost a little bit

00:20:55of touch with

00:20:56new developments,

00:20:57and,

00:20:58but anyway,

00:20:59we have everything

00:21:00in place,

00:21:01so we will come back.

00:21:02Alex,

00:21:03great talking to you,

00:21:04best of luck to you,

00:21:05and to the Honda team

00:21:06this weekend,

00:21:07thank you very much.

00:21:08It doesn't seem

00:21:09five minutes,

00:21:10Bob,

00:21:11since you and I

00:21:12were reporting on

00:21:13Alex Wurtz winning

00:21:14Le Mans,

00:21:15which was his

00:21:16greatest win ever,

00:21:17when he was only,

00:21:18what,

00:21:1919?

00:21:20Thereabouts,

00:21:21yeah.

00:21:22Driving for

00:21:23Reinhold Joost.

00:21:24So,

00:21:25we are back this year

00:21:26with a very good

00:21:27chance of winning

00:21:28Le Mans again,

00:21:29and we wish him

00:21:30the best.

00:21:31Of course,

00:21:32you'll see that race

00:21:33here on Speed.

00:21:34Now,

00:21:35here's a look

00:21:36at the shorts

00:21:37that Peter was teasing

00:21:38Alex Wurtz about,

00:21:39I'm not sure exactly

00:21:40how they chose

00:21:41this color.

00:21:42Yeah,

00:21:43it's a close

00:21:44approximation

00:21:45to the color

00:21:46of the earth

00:21:47on the race car,

00:21:48but somebody's

00:21:49favorite movie

00:21:50must be Shrek.

00:21:51That last little part

00:21:52that I circled there

00:21:53the cooling shroud

00:21:54has been removed

00:21:55from around the exhaust

00:21:56on these cars.

00:21:57A lot of teams

00:21:58already starting

00:21:59to worry about

00:22:00the tight packaging.

00:22:01Here it is again,

00:22:02right here,

00:22:03if you missed it

00:22:04the first time.

00:22:05There would usually

00:22:06be a shroud over that.

00:22:07Typically,

00:22:08you see just this

00:22:09blued section,

00:22:10the end section

00:22:11of the exhaust,

00:22:12but they've had to

00:22:13open it up here,

00:22:14and already here

00:22:15they've started to

00:22:16open it up as well.

00:22:17Not that part,

00:22:18that's the refueling

00:22:19nozzle right there.

00:22:20But you can see

00:22:21that Honda already

00:22:22packaging of the

00:22:23bodywork around

00:22:24these cars here

00:22:25because it is

00:22:26incredibly hot.

00:22:27A lot hotter here

00:22:28now than ever it was

00:22:29last year.

00:22:30Some of the last

00:22:31little bit there.

00:22:32Do you think

00:22:33generally you've got

00:22:34too much understeer

00:22:35on entries?

00:22:40No, I'm actually

00:22:42I said the biggest

00:22:43thing for Sunday

00:22:44is still going to be

00:22:45trying to get the

00:22:46balance right

00:22:47between having

00:22:48enough front grip

00:22:49to turn in

00:22:50and apex front grip

00:22:51to compromise the

00:22:52traction.

00:22:53I think we need to

00:22:54improve the traction

00:22:55off 3,

00:22:566,

00:22:579,

00:22:5815.

00:22:59All the big

00:23:00second and third

00:23:01gear corners

00:23:02we need to try

00:23:03to improve the

00:23:04traction.

00:23:05Without going

00:23:06too much understeer

00:23:07on the way in.

00:23:09The biggest challenge

00:23:10is still getting

00:23:11off the corners.

00:23:12I'm pretty

00:23:13comfortable on the

00:23:14way in at the moment

00:23:15and the understeer

00:23:16there will vary

00:23:17as far as the

00:23:18balance at the

00:23:19moment is.

00:23:22What Mark Webber

00:23:23was referring to

00:23:243, 5 and those

00:23:25other corners

00:23:26are the corners

00:23:27leading on

00:23:28to what amounts

00:23:29to the straightaways

00:23:30here in Albert

00:23:31Park.

00:23:32He wants acceleration

00:23:33off the corners.

00:23:34We'll take a break

00:23:35and return with more

00:23:36live coverage from

00:23:37Friday.

00:23:41Welcome back live

00:23:42to the second 90

00:23:43minute Friday practice

00:23:44in Albert Park

00:23:45in preparation for

00:23:46this Sunday's

00:23:48Australian Formula

00:23:49One Grand Prix

00:23:50live here on

00:23:51Speed Saturday

00:23:52night at midnight

00:23:53Eastern Time with

00:23:54David Hobbs, Steve

00:23:55Matchett, Peter

00:23:56Windsor.

00:23:57I'm Bob Varsha.

00:23:58We're on board

00:23:59with Formula One.

00:24:00Well, not really a

00:24:01rookie.

00:24:02He has Grand Prix

00:24:03experience in his

00:24:04background, but

00:24:05after a few years

00:24:06away, including

00:24:07winning last year's

00:24:08GP2 championship

00:24:09here on Speed,

00:24:10Timo Glock of

00:24:11Germany is back in

00:24:12Formula One.

00:24:13He was a rookie

00:24:14of the year in

00:24:15Champ Car a

00:24:16couple of years

00:24:17ago as well, so

00:24:18he's got a lot of

00:24:19experience.

00:24:20He says the car is

00:24:21not quite suited to

00:24:22his driving style.

00:24:23His teammate Jarno

00:24:24Trulli has a very

00:24:25different style.

00:24:26Glock is having

00:24:27some trouble getting

00:24:28used to it.

00:24:29Over the BMW Sauber

00:24:30area, boy, these

00:24:31mechanics have had a

00:24:32busy day.

00:24:33Electrical problems

00:24:34for Nick Heidfeld

00:24:35this morning.

00:24:36There's Robert

00:24:37Kubica.

00:24:38Robert Kubica

00:24:39actually is right

00:24:40there in what so

00:24:41far sixth spot at

00:24:42the moment, right

00:24:43in front of Sebastian

00:24:44Vettel in the

00:24:45Toro Rosso, which

00:24:46is also looking pretty

00:24:47good.

00:24:48That's the

00:24:49hat provided by

00:24:50Formula One

00:24:51television, giving

00:24:52you a look at the

00:24:53drivers out of their

00:24:54helmets, plus personal

00:24:55information.

00:24:56Yeah, it's a nice

00:24:57addition, that.

00:24:58Robert Kubica

00:24:59lives in Krakow.

00:25:00Over the winter, he

00:25:01became the third

00:25:02highest paid

00:25:03professional athlete

00:25:04in his home country

00:25:05behind a couple of

00:25:06soccer players whose

00:25:07names I won't even

00:25:08attempt to pronounce.

00:25:09You see, the guys

00:25:10are just in the

00:25:11ride height, which

00:25:12we've talked about

00:25:13several times in the

00:25:14past, and it's just

00:25:15putting shims into

00:25:16the front pushrods

00:25:17of the car.

00:25:18The reason they're

00:25:19doing that here is

00:25:20not particularly

00:25:21because the car's

00:25:22bottoming in or

00:25:23they're just playing

00:25:24around with the

00:25:25aerodynamics, but you

00:25:26can see there was a

00:25:27guy on the right

00:25:28with a refuelling rig

00:25:29that they use

00:25:30internally inside the

00:25:31garage.

00:25:32So we're watching

00:25:33Cleen there standing

00:25:34in front of the car.

00:25:35Yeah, Christian

00:25:36Cleen, now the third

00:25:37driver at BMW

00:25:38Sauber.

00:25:39So what'll be

00:25:40happening now in

00:25:41BMW, they'll be

00:25:42playing with fuel

00:25:43loads.

00:25:44And again, we must

00:25:45remember this is

00:25:46not a race.

00:25:47It's not a race.

00:25:48It's not a race.

00:25:49It's not a race.

00:25:50It's not a race.

00:25:51It's not a race.

00:25:52It's not a race.

00:25:53It's not a race.

00:25:54It's not a race.

00:25:55It's not a race.

00:25:56It's not a race.

00:25:57It's not a race.

00:25:58It's not a race.

00:25:59It's not a race.

00:26:00It's not a race.

00:26:01It's not a race.

00:26:02It's not a race.

00:26:03It's not a race.

00:26:04It's not a race.

00:26:05It's not a race.

00:26:06It's not a race.

00:26:07It's not a race.

00:26:08It's not a race.

00:26:09It's not a race.

00:26:10It's not a race.

00:26:11It's not a race.

00:26:12It's not a race.

00:26:13It's not a race.

00:26:16It's not a race.

00:26:17It's not a race.

00:26:18It's not a race.

00:26:19It's not a race.

00:26:20It's not a race.

00:26:21It's not a race.

00:26:22It's not a race.

00:26:23It's not a race.

00:26:24It's not a race.

00:26:25It's not a race.

00:26:26It's not a race.

00:26:27It's not a race.

00:26:28It's not a race.

00:26:29It's not a race.

00:26:30It's not a race.

00:26:31It's not a race.

00:26:32It's not a race.

00:26:33It's not a race.

00:26:34It's not a race.

00:26:35It's not a race.

00:26:36It's not a race.

00:26:37It's not a race.

00:26:38It's not a race.

00:26:39It's not a race.

00:26:40It's not a race.

00:26:41It's not a race.

00:26:42It's not a race.

00:26:43It's not a race.

00:26:44It's not a race.

00:26:45It's not a race.

00:26:46It's not a race.

00:26:47It's not a race.

00:26:48It's not a race.

00:26:49It's not a race.

00:26:50It's not a race.

00:26:51It's not a race.

00:26:52It's not a race.

00:26:53It's not a race.

00:26:54It's not a race.

00:26:55It's not a race.

00:26:56It's not a race.

00:26:57It's not a race.

00:26:58It's not a race.

00:26:59It's not a race.

00:27:00It's not a race.

00:27:01It's not a race.

00:27:02It's not a race.

00:27:03It's not a race.

00:27:04It's not a race.

00:27:05It's not a race.

00:27:06It's not a race.

00:27:07It's not a race.

00:27:08It's not a race.

00:27:09It's not a race.

00:27:10It's not a race.

00:27:11It's not a race.

00:27:12It's not a race.

00:27:13It's not a race.

00:27:14It's not a race.

00:27:15It's not a race.

00:27:16It's not a race.

00:27:17It's not a race.

00:27:18It's not a race.

00:27:19It's not a race.

00:27:20It's not a race.

00:27:21It's not a race.

00:27:22It's not a race.

00:27:23It's not a race.

00:27:24It's not a race.

00:27:25It's not a race.

00:27:26It's not a race.

00:27:27It's not a race.

00:27:28It's not a race.

00:27:29It's not a race.

00:27:30It's not a race.

00:27:31It's not a race.

00:27:32It's not a race.

00:27:33It's not a race.

00:27:34It's not a race.

00:27:35It's not a race.

00:27:36It's not a race.

00:27:37It's not a race.

00:27:38It's not a race.

00:27:39It's not a race.

00:27:40It's not a race.

00:27:41It's not a race.

00:27:42It's not a race.

00:27:43It's not a race.

00:27:44It's not a race.

00:27:45It's not a race.

00:27:46It's not a race.

00:27:47It's not a race.

00:27:48It's not a race.

00:27:49It's not a race.

00:27:50It's not a race.

00:27:51It's not a race.

00:27:52It's not a race.

00:27:53It's not a race.

00:27:54It's not a race.

00:27:55It's not a race.

00:27:56It's not a race.

00:27:57It's not a race.

00:27:58It's not a race.

00:27:59It's not a race.

00:28:00It's not a race.

00:28:01It's not a race.

00:28:02It's not a race.

00:28:03It's not a race.

00:28:04It's not a race.

00:28:05It's not a race.

00:28:06It's not a race.

00:28:07It's not a race.

00:28:08It's not a race.

00:28:09It's not a race.

00:28:10It's not a race.

00:28:11It's not a race.

00:28:12It's not a race.

00:28:13It's not a race.

00:28:14It's not a race.

00:28:15It's not a race.

00:28:16It's not a race.

00:28:17It's not a race.

00:28:18It's not a race.

00:28:19It's not a race.

00:28:20It's not a race.

00:28:21It's not a race.

00:28:22It's not a race.

00:28:23It's not a race.

00:28:24It's not a race.

00:28:25It's not a race.

00:28:26It's not a race.

00:28:27It's not a race.

00:28:28It's not a race.

00:28:29It's not a race.

00:28:30It's not a race.

00:28:31It's not a race.

00:28:32It's not a race.

00:28:33It's not a race.

00:28:34It's not a race.

00:28:35It's not a race.

00:28:36It's not a race.

00:28:37It's not a race.

00:28:38It's not a race.

00:28:39It's not a race.

00:28:40It's not a race.

00:28:41It's not a race.

00:28:42It's not a race.

00:28:43It's not a race.

00:28:44It's not a race.

00:28:45It's not a race.

00:28:46It's not a race.

00:28:47It's not a race.

00:28:48It's not a race.

00:28:49It's not a race.

00:28:50It's not a race.

00:28:51It's not a race.

00:28:52It's not a race.

00:28:53It's not a race.

00:28:54It's not a race.

00:28:55It's not a race.

00:28:56It's not a race.

00:28:57It's not a race.

00:28:58It's not a race.

00:28:59It's not a race.

00:29:00It's not a race.

00:29:01It's not a race.

00:29:02It's not a race.

00:29:03It's not a race.

00:29:04It's not a race.

00:29:05It's not a race.

00:29:06It's not a race.

00:29:07It's not a race.

00:29:08It's not a race.

00:29:09It's not a race.

00:29:10It's not a race.

00:29:11It's not a race.

00:29:12It's not a race.

00:29:13It's not a race.

00:29:14It's not a race.

00:29:15It's not a race.

00:29:16It's not a race.

00:29:17It's not a race.

00:29:18It's not a race.

00:29:19It's not a race.

00:29:20It's not a race.

00:29:21It's not a race.

00:29:22It's not a race.

00:29:23It's not a race.

00:29:24It's not a race.

00:29:25It's not a race.

00:29:26It's not a race.

00:29:27It's not a race.

00:29:28It's not a race.

00:29:29It's not a race.

00:29:30It's not a race.

00:29:31It's not a race.

00:29:32It's not a race.

00:29:33It's not a race.

00:29:34It's not a race.

00:29:35It's not a race.

00:29:36It's not a race.

00:29:37It's not a race.

00:29:38It's not a race.

00:29:39It's not a race.

00:29:40It's not a race.

00:29:41It's not a race.

00:29:42It's not a race.

00:29:43It's not a race.

00:29:44It's not a race.

00:29:45It's not a race.

00:29:46It's not a race.

00:29:47It's not a race.

00:29:48It's not a race.

00:29:49It's not a race.

00:29:50It's not a race.

00:29:51It's not a race.

00:29:52It's not a race.

00:29:53It's not a race.

00:29:54It's not a race.

00:29:55It's not a race.

00:29:56It's not a race.

00:29:57It's not a race.

00:29:58It's not a race.

00:29:59It's not a race.

00:30:00It's not a race.

00:30:01It's not a race.

00:30:02It's not a race.

00:30:03It's not a race.

00:30:04It's not a race.

00:30:05It's not a race.

00:30:06It's not a race.

00:30:07It's not a race.

00:30:08It's not a race.

00:30:09It's not a race.

00:30:10It's not a race.

00:30:11It's not a race.

00:30:12It's not a race.

00:30:13It's not a race.

00:30:14It's not a race.

00:30:15It's not a race.

00:30:16It's not a race.

00:30:17It's not a race.

00:30:18It's not a race.

00:30:19It's not a race.

00:30:20It's not a race.

00:30:21It's not a race.

00:30:22It's not a race.

00:30:23It's not a race.

00:30:24It's not a race.

00:30:25It's not a race.

00:30:26It's not a race.

00:30:27It's not a race.

00:30:28It's not a race.

00:30:29It's not a race.

00:30:30It's not a race.

00:30:31It's not a race.

00:30:32It's not a race.

00:30:33It's not a race.

00:30:34It's not a race.

00:30:35It's not a race.

00:30:36It's not a race.

00:30:37It's not a race.

00:30:38It's not a race.

00:30:39It's not a race.

00:30:40It's not a race.

00:30:41It's not a race.

00:30:42It's not a race.

00:30:43It's not a race.

00:30:44It's not a race.

00:30:45It's not a race.

00:30:46It's not a race.

00:30:47It's not a race.

00:30:48It's not a race.

00:30:49It's not a race.

00:30:50It's not a race.

00:30:54It's not a race.

00:30:59It's not a race.

00:31:09No, Kimi, I'll tell you what.

00:31:11He never does anything but give it his best, does he?

00:31:15Now regarding the mini-launch, in the next occasions we try to pull you back and we try to lay some rafters.

00:31:20I don't think it's the biggest problem at the moment. It's just concrete over there.

00:31:23For the tires, I would go according to the program.

00:31:26So put you up... sorry, not you, but install option now, and then new option, and then new prime again, if you agree.

00:31:33Would you like to have a front?

00:31:36That was a lot to take on board.

00:31:39A lot of talk about tires, the primes, and the options.

00:31:42Which runway do you want me to do?

00:31:45Gosh. While we were riding along with Kimi Raikkonen, we've now switched to his teammate, Felipe Massa.

00:31:52But Kaz Nakajima has jumped up into 7th place, and he had a better sector time than P1 Mark Webber in the firsts of the three-time sectors.

00:32:03So, Kaz is doing well.

00:32:06Another second-generation Formula One driver. Of course, his father, Satoru Nakajima, drove for several seasons.

00:32:12We just highlighted the nose on the F2008.

00:32:15They've got a very different approach to the bridge wing on the Ferrari this year.

00:32:21We'll have a look at that in more detail later on.

00:32:23And as the weekend progresses, there's been a lot of aerodynamic work, as you guys were talking about earlier on at the top of the show there.

00:32:30A lot of detail work around the front of the cars.

00:32:34If we're looking at the BMW, the F108 earlier on, and those bull-winkle horns that they had on the roll hoop around the air intake,

00:32:44they've now put down onto the front of the chassis as well.

00:32:46Smaller versions of that sort of...

00:32:49I think McLaren were the first guys that put it on the car a couple of years ago.

00:32:52And then William Towatt worked it into the BMW car.

00:32:55Yeah, they've all gone to it, haven't they?

00:32:56Yeah.

00:32:57In one way or another.

00:32:58In one way or another, yeah, to control the flow.

00:33:00And that extraordinary sort of V-shaped dihedral wing on the front of the BMW above the wheels.

00:33:07Well, these cars will look very different in 2009 when...

00:33:10Nico Rosberg's cranking out some pretty good sector times here too.

00:33:14He should jump right up to alongside his teammate, probably in front of him.

00:33:18Next year, new rules will take about 50% of the downforce off of these cars.

00:33:23So many of these little flick-ups and bridge wings and whatnot will likely disappear.

00:33:28We'll be back in a moment.

00:33:49The old adage goes

00:33:51Nobody tells you where to go from here

00:33:56Back and forth, the struggle consumes us all

00:34:01Trying to keep a laugh from here

00:34:06In the most unsettling of times

00:34:11Today I've become the boss

00:34:16Today I've become the boss

00:34:28Welcome back live to Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.

00:34:30Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Steve Matchett of Peter Windsor glad to be with you for the opening of the 2008 Formula 1 season here on Speed.

00:34:38Flashing through the trees, Felipe Massa in the Ferrari.

00:34:43Currently shown in third place at 128.180.

00:34:48Behind Mark Webber, Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton.

00:34:54Ferrari have been very positive about the changes they've made to the car from last year to this year, from the F2007 to this year, the 08 car, the F2008.

00:35:04They said one of the weaknesses was how the car worked across the kerb.

00:35:08Well, typically Ferrari and their great rivals McLaren have produced cars which do work very well riding the kerbs.

00:35:15But they said that was a weakness with the last year's Ferrari chassis.

00:35:18Didn't really react as well as they wanted.

00:35:21While they've changed the suspension arrangement around the car and they say it works much, much better.

00:35:26Reliability is what they've been working on as well.

00:35:29In fact, everybody's been saying you have to get the cars reliable.

00:35:33You simply cannot afford to drop the ball at all.

00:35:37And remember, the points you score in the first race are just as important as the points you score in the last race.

00:35:42And reliability is going to be an issue here.

00:35:45Typically, the first race of the season, and it has been in Australia for the last few years now, that's the one that the junior teams,

00:35:53the guys that tend to use the car carried over from last year where the reliability issues, the bugs have been worked out on the car.

00:35:59That's the time that the junior team stand best chance of picking up a couple of points.

00:36:02But all the top runners now really been pushing towards reliability.

00:36:06A lot of laps in the testing sessions.

00:36:09They're trying to get race distances out of the car to make sure that they remain reliable throughout the first race.

00:36:15Here's our first extended look at the former two time world champion.

00:36:18Now returned to Renault, Fernando Alonso of Spain.

00:36:23Currently shown P8 despite 17 laps in the books.

00:36:27That is the most laps turned by anyone in this session.

00:36:31Meanwhile, his teammate, Nelson Piquet, has just three laps on the boards.

00:36:36What's going on with him, Peter?

00:36:39Well, three laps on the board, Bob.

00:36:41And don't forget, he didn't do much this morning either.

00:36:43And then as we heard from Bob Bell, the Andy Stoll didn't come in or they didn't do anything.

00:36:49And then as we heard from Bob Bell, the Andy Stoll didn't come in or they didn't activate it the right way.

00:36:54And now he's in the garage. He's sitting in the car.

00:36:56But they've got a brake problem and they're bleeding the brakes.

00:36:59They're just constantly working around the front of the car.

00:37:01It is a soft brake pedal.

00:37:03Renault, as we know, on Hitco brakes.

00:37:05But that's no explanation at all.

00:37:07They're a fantastic brake company.

00:37:09And Nelson himself, always very hard on brakes.

00:37:11He's always been a late breaker.

00:37:13Hits the pedal very, very hard in his initial application.

00:37:15So if anybody's going to punish him around here, it's going to be Nelson Junior.

00:37:18But that's not the issue.

00:37:19There is for sure some mechanical elements to this car.

00:37:22There's another guy who's had problems.

00:37:24David Coulthard, only 17th, despite doing 13 laps.

00:37:28I wouldn't be surprised if this brake problem there...

00:37:31We're watching...

00:37:32That's Alonso, isn't it?

00:37:33No, that's one of the more...

00:37:35Eden Sutil, yeah.

00:37:37This brake problem that they were talking about earlier on...

00:37:40Remember, it's so hot around here...

00:37:44That I don't think the brakes are just getting the chance to cool down.

00:37:47It's not particularly demanding in terms of braking events...

00:37:51That really put a lot of strain onto the car.

00:37:53But as you guys were talking about the layout of the track earlier on...

00:37:56There's a lot of small chicanes.

00:37:58You're using the brakes a lot.

00:38:00It's on-off, it's on-off, it's on-off.

00:38:01And there's nowhere really to cool the brakes.

00:38:04So the guys would have come here...

00:38:06Probably with brake ducting undecided, if anything.

00:38:09Probably expecting it to be about the same temperature as it was last year.

00:38:12And certainly in testing...

00:38:13Well, we would have been running at the smaller tracks...

00:38:15But nowadays it's very, very hot indeed.

00:38:17And I wouldn't be at all surprised if Ferraro and other teams...

00:38:20Are beginning to suffer now with brake overheating...

00:38:23Because of the ambient temperature and the small ducts.

00:38:25Certainly the hottest they've all run their 2008 cars.

00:38:28To go back to your point of a moment ago...

00:38:30About the first race's points are just as important as the second.

00:38:33Of the last 18 seasons...

00:38:35The guy who won the first race of the year...

00:38:38Has won the championship 14 of the 18 years.

00:38:41So I guess it's pretty important to win it, if you can.

00:38:43Yeah, absolutely it is.

00:38:45And, you know, for those viewers new to Formula 1...

00:38:48Wondering why, when we talk about small brake ducts on the cars...

00:38:51Well, why don't the engineers just put bigger brake ducts on the cars?

00:38:53Wouldn't that solve it?

00:38:54Yeah, it would.

00:38:55Mechanical engineers would do that in a heartbeat.

00:38:57Tomorrow morning they'll have big brake ducts on the car...

00:39:00But the aerodynamicists don't want them on the car.

00:39:02Because brake ducts equal drag.

00:39:04Especially around that part of the car there...

00:39:06Where it blows off from the front wing.

00:39:08You want the smallest brake ducts on the car...

00:39:10That you can afford to run...

00:39:12Because it's more aerodynamically efficient.

00:39:14And in Formula 1 now...

00:39:15We know aero is just becoming more and more precise.

00:39:18And you always have that trade-off.

00:39:20So mechanical engineers and aerodynamicists...

00:39:23Are always at loggerheads with each other.

00:39:25And that's all going to change next year...

00:39:27When they come in with a raft of even more regulations.

00:39:30So don't let's get ahead of ourselves.

00:39:32There's Robert Kubica...

00:39:35In the BMW.

00:39:36Speaking of rule changes...

00:39:38Let's talk about the rule changes this year.

00:39:40We mentioned the standard ECU...

00:39:42Which takes away traction control and engine braking.

00:39:45Gearboxes, beginning this year...

00:39:47Have to last four race weekends.

00:39:50Defined as Saturday and Sunday.

00:39:52You can change them on Friday...

00:39:54Like the engines.

00:39:55But on Saturday and Sunday...

00:39:56You have to have four consecutive Saturday-Sunday race weekends...

00:39:59On one gearbox.

00:40:01Now you can change the internal ratios...

00:40:04From track to track.

00:40:06You can, but only once.

00:40:09For event, that's what I'm saying.

00:40:11So the FIA gives you that sort of leeway...

00:40:15To be able to change the gearbox configuration track to track.

00:40:19But other than that...

00:40:20You're pretty much stumped.

00:40:21You can't change the ratios.

00:40:22You do change the gearbox...

00:40:24Or change any of the internal components.

00:40:26With a few exceptions.

00:40:28But for all intents and purposes...

00:40:30You work on the transmission...

00:40:31And you'll take a five-spot hit on the grid.

00:40:33Well, Robert Kubica should jump to...

00:40:36Possibly even third spot.

00:40:39If he keeps his pace up.

00:40:41Again, look at the flow of the lines across the F1A.

00:40:44Look at that front wing treatment now.

00:40:46The Bullwinkle horns mounted above the pushrods.

00:40:49Again, a smaller version of how they're running it...

00:40:51On the top of the bodywork.

00:40:52But you can see how the two are designed to work in harmony.

00:40:55It almost gives a line across the car.

00:40:57You can see how the airflow works.

00:40:59And the other major rule change for this year is...

00:41:02No spare cars.

00:41:05Ninth place for Robert Kubica...

00:41:07In the elaborate new BMW Sauber.

00:41:09There's your top four.

00:41:10We'll be back.

00:41:15Back in Albert Park, Australia.

00:41:17Live here on Speed.

00:41:19A little over 35 minutes remaining...

00:41:22In this second Friday 90-minute practice session...

00:41:25For Sunday's Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

00:41:28Or Saturday night.

00:41:30Or early Sunday morning.

00:41:32The race will go off at 12.30 a.m. Eastern time.

00:41:36We'll start things off at midnight Eastern...

00:41:38With our Acura pre-race show.

00:41:44That's a good look down on Albert Park.

00:41:49Just keeps getting hotter and hotter.

00:41:51Oh, it does. 36 degrees.

00:41:53That's about a hundred and what, too, isn't it?

00:41:57And now the order is...

00:41:59Weber, Kovalainen, Hamilton...

00:42:01Massa, Rosberg, Raikkonen...

00:42:04Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica...

00:42:07And Nakajima.

00:42:08And the Williams teammates...

00:42:10Rosberg and Nakajima appear to be out...

00:42:12Working both sides of the technical street.

00:42:15Soft tires and lightweight for Nakajima.

00:42:18Full fuel and hard tires for Rosberg.

00:42:22Saturday here on Speed...

00:42:24One of America's greatest endurance races...

00:42:26Meets the ultimate two-screen experience.

00:42:28Speed's on-board pass lets you hear...

00:42:30Pit-to-car communications...

00:42:32While Speed's cameras bring you...

00:42:34The 12 hours of Sebring live.

00:42:36Saturday, 9.30 a.m. Eastern.

00:42:38Only here on Speed.

00:42:43Gently, boys.

00:42:45Sebastian Bourdais getting out of the way...

00:42:47Of oncoming traffic.

00:42:50This is a big, big moment...

00:42:52For Sebastian Bourdais...

00:42:54After dominating American open-wheel racing...

00:42:56In the Champ Car World Series...

00:42:58With four consecutive championships.

00:43:00He now has the break he always wanted...

00:43:02In Formula 1.

00:43:04Woo, woo, woo.

00:43:06Massive lock-up there from Rosberg...

00:43:08On this long run on the hard tires.

00:43:10And that's exactly the point I was gonna make.

00:43:12This tends to mess up the data collection...

00:43:14I would think, if you're on a long run...

00:43:16And you're not paying attention.

00:43:18If you're on a long run...

00:43:20And you take the thing into the weeds.

00:43:22Very much so.

00:43:24Of course, the tires now...

00:43:26Hot tires, all that dirt will stick to them...

00:43:28So it's gonna take two or three corners...

00:43:30To get rid of all that stuff again now.

00:43:32Meanwhile, there's Heikki Kovalainen...

00:43:34In the McLaren, currently P2.

00:43:36Let's get more on the McLaren situation...

00:43:38With Peter.

00:43:40Well, Bob, we were talking earlier...

00:43:42About the brake problems on Nelson Piquet's car.

00:43:44They're on Hitco brakes.

00:43:46We've got two manufacturers...

00:43:48Swapping from one car, one driver...

00:43:50To the next, I believe.

00:43:52We've got Hitco brakes on the Renaults...

00:43:54At the moment.

00:43:56Remember last year, Carbon Industry...

00:43:58Were the preferred brake supplier...

00:44:00The McLaren.

00:44:02Fernando Alonso wanted to use Hitco's...

00:44:04He did for about two-thirds of the season.

00:44:06McLaren, currently, no surprise here...

00:44:08Back on Carbon Industry on both cars.

00:44:10But guess what?

00:44:12Hitco of California tell us that McLaren...

00:44:14Will make more changes on the brake front...

00:44:16As the season progresses.

00:44:18Speaking of brakes...

00:44:20And how much they get used around this circuit...

00:44:22As Steve Matchett was talking about earlier...

00:44:24Remember back in 1997...

00:44:26Heinz-Harald Frentzen and the Williams...

00:44:28Lost a potential victory here in Australia...

00:44:30When a brake disc exploded.

00:44:32Oh!

00:44:34Locking up the rears again.

00:44:36They're so used to just lamping on the brakes...

00:44:38And letting the brake control...

00:44:40The ECU, the traction control...

00:44:42Backs locking up.

00:44:44They don't have that luxury this year.

00:44:46So it's going to take them a couple of races...

00:44:48To get used to that.

00:44:50And as Steve has already said...

00:44:52They use the brakes here a lot.

00:44:54They use them very hard a couple of times.

00:44:56But there's not much cooling off time for them.

00:44:58No, that's the thing.

00:45:00And although the drivers in testing...

00:45:02I think we're going to have another look at this...

00:45:04Problem under braking for Kovalainen.

00:45:06There it is!

00:45:08Yeah, the drivers in testing are saying...

00:45:10There is a world of differences.

00:45:12We all know from when you're testing...

00:45:14And you're just working against data.

00:45:16You're working with the engineers testing stuff.

00:45:18Then you come into competition...

00:45:20Against the like of these guys here.

00:45:22When you're fighting against some powerhouse...

00:45:24Like Ferrari and McLaren.

00:45:26It's a whole different ballpark.

00:45:30Kimi about to make a big jump up the time chart.

00:45:32She's at the moment sixth.

00:45:34That last sector wasn't very quick at all.

00:45:36And we talked about David Coulthard having problems.

00:45:38Let's give the oldest driver in Formula 1 some props.

00:45:40He's now up to tenth.

00:45:42Sixteen laps in.

00:45:44Giancarlo Fisichella.

00:45:46With the Force India team.

00:45:48It's a return for the Italian.

00:45:50Who drove for this team when it was known as Jordan.

00:45:52In 1997.

00:45:54And then in 2002.

00:45:56And then in 2003.

00:45:58And then in 2004.

00:46:00And then in 2005.

00:46:02And then in 1997.

00:46:04And then in 2002 and 2003.

00:46:06This is the 50th start.

00:46:08For the team.

00:46:10For which he won a race in Brazil.

00:46:12Let's see if we get a team radio break here.

00:46:18Remember, talk one.

00:46:20Talk one.

00:46:22Okay, Nick.

00:46:24It clearly wasn't that easy out there.

00:46:26I'm not sure how much of the balance...

00:46:28Is just down to the diff problem.

00:46:30I just set up a general comment.

00:46:42Well, that says it all.

00:46:44I have no general comment.

00:46:46Well, he probably did have them.

00:46:48But we just aren't going to hear them.

00:46:50It's the first weekend for everyone.

00:46:52Working out the kinks as we begin 2008.

00:46:54Here on Speed.

00:46:56We'll be back.

00:47:00We'll be back.

00:47:02We'll be back.

00:47:04We'll be back.

00:47:06We'll be back.

00:47:08We'll be back.

00:47:10We'll be back.

00:47:12We'll be back.

00:47:14We'll be back.

00:47:16We'll be back.

00:47:18We'll be back.

00:47:20We'll be back.

00:47:22We'll be back.

00:47:24We'll be back.

00:47:26We'll be back.

00:47:28We'll be back.

00:47:30We'll be back.

00:47:32We'll be back.

00:47:34We'll be back.

00:47:36We'll be back.

00:47:38We'll be back.

00:47:40We'll be back.

00:47:42We'll be back.

00:47:44We'll be back.

00:47:46We'll be back.

00:47:48We'll be back.

00:47:50We'll be back.

00:47:52We'll be back.

00:47:54We'll be back.

00:47:56We'll be back.

00:47:58We'll be back.

00:48:00We'll be back.

00:48:02We'll be back.

00:48:04We'll be back.

00:48:06We'll be back.

00:48:08We'll be back.

00:48:10We'll be back.

00:48:12We'll be back.

00:48:14We'll be back.

00:48:16We'll be back.

00:48:18We'll be back.

00:48:20We'll be back.

00:48:22We'll be back.

00:48:24We'll be back.

00:48:26We'll be back.

00:48:28We'll be back.

00:48:30We'll be back.

00:48:32We'll be back.

00:48:34We'll be back.

00:48:36We'll be back.

00:48:38We'll be back.

00:48:40We'll be back.

00:48:42We'll be back.

00:48:44We'll be back.

00:48:46We'll be back.

00:48:48We'll be back.

00:48:50We'll be back.

00:48:52We'll be back.

00:48:54We'll be back.

00:48:56We'll be back.

00:48:58We'll be back.

00:49:02Sir Bradley Littleton is an impressive Latviano,

00:49:05truly.

00:49:07Very quick on all three sectors.

00:49:08He's been saying he's been confident in the car and how

00:49:10it feels, and unlike most of the drivers out there,

00:49:12he loves driving without these driver aids without TC and

00:49:15gear dependency under braking.

00:49:17He's relishing formula 1 at the moment.

00:49:19Well, the soft tires seem to be working on Jarno Trulli's car.

00:49:26Hamilton went out on the soft tires, set a very good second sector time, but fell off

00:49:31badly in the third sector and did not improve.

00:49:35In fact, dropped to place as Massa, also on the soft tires on the Ferrari, jumped up a

00:49:40couple of spots into second.

00:49:43Trulli remains fifth.

00:49:44The drivers are all weighed for the first time on this weekend.

00:49:49They'll also be weighed at mid-season.

00:49:50I'd like to get a list of those weights, find out who the lightest man in formula one is.

00:49:55Let's listen to D.C.

00:49:57You're holding up reasonably well.

00:49:58I didn't say anything on the radio, as you call it, because I thought if you wanted to

00:49:59stay out, you could.

00:50:00What do you think?

00:50:01Yeah, I think that I'm not obviously getting the maximum at the first lap because, you

00:50:02know, I've done bugger-all proper running.

00:50:03And then we'll do new tyres after that.

00:50:23Go ahead, Tom.

00:50:29No, I'd rather not.

00:50:31Bugger-all, of course, being a technical term used by the Formula One fraternity.

00:50:38D.C. does not sound happy.

00:50:42Very little running.

00:50:44Only man in the top 12 who is not on track right now.

00:50:48And from the too-much-information file, David Coulthard arrived here in Australia and informed

00:50:54the press that the first thing he does when he comes to Australia is buy a certain kind

00:50:59of underwear called hole-proof under-axe.

00:51:04Because the only thing he wears, nothing but under-axe, get between David Coulthard and

00:51:10his Red Bull Renault, you might say.

00:51:11So it just shows how the other half don't know how the other half live.

00:51:14I mean, talk about money.

00:51:15He bought 40 pairs.

00:51:16That's right.

00:51:17I've got stuff I was wearing 25 years ago.

00:51:18I've got at least 40 pairs a year.

00:51:19You've got ties, old man.

00:51:20You've got ties older than David Coulthard.

00:51:2540 pairs, size small, in case you're wondering.

00:51:33This is something for everybody in the speeds of the current reportage of Formula One, isn't

00:51:40it?

00:51:41Well, it's only Friday.

00:51:45So the common ECU we were talking about earlier on, manufactured by Microsoft and McLaren

00:51:51Electronic Systems, each team are allowed to keep their own.

00:51:57I was talking to somebody a couple of weeks ago about this situation with the common ECUs

00:52:03and whether or not the teams are expected to arrive at a track and the FIA would just

00:52:07issue the standard EC units ad hoc as it was, just a sort of free-for-all, and you were

00:52:14given no choice in the unit you had.

00:52:16That's not the case.

00:52:17Each team do keep hold of their ECU units, and the reason for that is, they said, we

00:52:25want to take care of our unit.

00:52:27We want to make sure that the electronic controllers we've got, we know what the condition is.

00:52:32We keep, we'll keep care of them, and we can take them from track to track, and we don't

00:52:36want to risk the chance of getting somebody else's ECU that's been basically kicked around

00:52:41the garage and damaged.

00:52:43Why should we suffer that?

00:52:44So the FIA said, well, okay, we agree with that, so each team is allowed to keep their

00:52:47own control units.

00:52:49They are sealed, of course, with FIA seals, and Charlie Whiting, the FIA race director

00:52:54and head scrutineer of the FIA, are allowed to check those whenever they wish, but really

00:52:59over the last few weeks, very little has been made, very little mention has been made of

00:53:05the ECUs.

00:53:06The teams are still working on them, there's a lot of code problems still going on, but

00:53:09when we first started using these ECUs, well, I remember, you know, Renault had a three-day

00:53:14test, they couldn't get the car to fire up, it just simply wouldn't talk, the car would

00:53:19not talk to the electronics.

00:53:20Ferrari then came out and said, well, of course, you know, McLaren are bound to have an advantage.

00:53:24These guys right here, as we're watching Hamilton, bound to have an advantage in the first few

00:53:28races.

00:53:29McLaren are making the standard ECU unit, but...

00:53:31That's right.

00:53:32Oh, that left front there, getting tortured.

00:53:36Is that Nakajima?

00:53:37I think that was Nakajima.

00:53:39So that...

00:53:40Stymied that lap.

00:53:42Well, it is tough for McLaren to say, oh, that's a different division of the company.

00:53:45McLaren Electronics is working on the ECU, of course.

00:53:48McLaren Electronics is right down the hall at the Paragon Technical Center from the race

00:53:53team.

00:53:55Here's Kaz Nakajima.

00:53:56So it obviously wasn't Nakajima that he went by.

00:53:59Doing himself a world of good, having a great practice session.

00:54:03Still 13th out of the 22 cars.

00:54:08Jenson Button is currently 12th in the Honda.

00:54:11Barrichello is down in 18th.

00:54:13Barrichello, of course, went through the 2007 season, never scored a point.

00:54:18About the first time that's ever happened to him.

00:54:20But did it in fine style.

00:54:22Did it in fine style.

00:54:29Well, it was big news.

00:54:30I was very surprised when the news broke that Ross Brawn would not be returning to Che Ferrari

00:54:36in Modena, Italy, but in fact would be taking up the challenge of team principal at Honda

00:54:41as absolutely gobsmacked.

00:54:44Well, the biggest challenge it would appear now is going to be wearing those green trousers.

00:54:51Timo Glock on the softs.

00:54:54The Timster.

00:54:56Timo Glock, a man to be feared.

00:55:01Less than 20 minutes to go in the session.

00:55:04Soon we'll begin to see the teams practicing their qualifying runs.

00:55:08We'll talk about qualifying when we return to Melbourne.

00:55:31Welcome back to Friday's second 90-minute practice session.

00:55:36Run up to Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

00:55:39This is Kimi Räikkönen in replay.

00:55:44Boy, oh, boy.

00:55:46They've modified that corner slightly with a little bit of extra runoff area.

00:55:50And it's going to be a little bit of a challenge.

00:55:52Woo-hoo!

00:55:55Boy, oh, boy.

00:55:57They've modified that corner slightly with a little bit of extra runoff area

00:56:00in anticipation of just this sort of thing.

00:56:02Of course, some offs cannot be saved by a bit of grass creep.

00:56:07Alonso's been off on that same corner three or four times today.

00:56:11Antonio Luzzi on the right and on the left.

00:56:13Dr. Colin Coles, who runs the Force India team.

00:56:20There's Flavio Briatore.

00:56:21Soon to be a bridegroom.

00:56:23Yes, in May he will marry his girlfriend, Elisabetta Gregoracci.

00:56:27At least that's what she says. Flav may not know it yet.

00:56:30I was just thinking that.

00:56:32Has anybody told Flav?

00:56:33Who is a mere 45 years younger than him.

00:56:36Yes.

00:56:37She is a lingerie model and he is not.

00:56:41I wouldn't want to see him in David Coulthard's shorts, I tell you that.

00:56:45That would be a nasty sight.

00:56:49Steady on, yes.

00:56:51Jarno Trulli is on a fresh set of the softer Bridgestone compound.

00:56:55He's already fifth.

00:56:59Let's see what he can do.

00:57:07He's off the piece a bit.

00:57:09Quite a bit. 1.1 seconds.

00:57:12Oh, dear.

00:57:21Maestro Massa in the muck.

00:57:26Well, those soft cars are routed.

00:57:27So straight back in line and change them over.

00:57:30I wonder if that was a qualifying rehearsal.

00:57:33Oh, dear.

00:57:34Now, I said we'd talk about qualifying.

00:57:36We have a new format to qualifying this year.

00:57:39The final of the three qualifying sessions,

00:57:42the run for pole with the 10 fastest cars,

00:57:44the survivors of the first two knockout sessions

00:57:48will have 10 minutes rather than 15 to make their bid for pole.

00:57:53And there will be no refueling after the final session.

00:57:56So you will load up your fuel.

00:58:01I've got it.

00:58:03Well, if you remember a few years back,

00:58:07that's where young Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari

00:58:10rolled over in that very gravel trap in the Ferrari.

00:58:16As I was saying in the final session,

00:58:18you will load up the fuel that you want to start the race with,

00:58:22plus what you anticipate you will use in the qualifying run.

00:58:27And there will be no refueling before the race begins

00:58:31on Sunday.

00:58:32So you have to think really hard about how much fuel you want

00:58:36on board for the start,

00:58:37because starting with position 11 and on back,

00:58:41they are free as far as their fuel strategy for Sunday's race.

00:58:46So you don't want to be too heavy off the start.

00:58:48There's a bit of a tribute to the lack of traction control.

00:58:53You're right, Bob.

00:58:54You bring up a very good point with the lack of that fuel burn.

00:58:58No more fuel burn.

00:58:59Yeah, part of the Q3 gone out of the way.

00:59:02And I think everybody's pleased to see that,

00:59:04because it was kind of meaningless in a way.

00:59:06Just to get the cars onto the track was the reason they had it.

00:59:09With only 10 minutes,

00:59:10I mean, when you think you've got to get out,

00:59:12do a warm-up lap, a flying lap and an in-lap,

00:59:14you're only going to be looking at being able to get two laps,

00:59:17maybe in qualifying.

00:59:18These guys in Q3 are going to be really pushing.

00:59:20They are.

00:59:21A place like here in Spa.

00:59:23Yeah.

00:59:24I mean, Spa, you know,

00:59:26I don't know.

00:59:28I don't know.

00:59:29We'll explain it for the fans.

00:59:31What do you mean, you know?

00:59:32Heavily.

00:59:36Fans, stay up to date with mobile text alerts all season long.

00:59:40Speed Mobile gives you the latest news and results right to your cell phone.

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00:59:54Adrian Sutil.

00:59:55Yeah.

00:59:56Shown in 18th.

00:59:59This young German did a great job last year in a very recalcitrant car.

01:00:04Indeed.

01:00:05He's getting bought here, which he doesn't need.

01:00:07I don't know.

01:00:08Let him buy it.

01:00:09He says his management team had off-season talks with a number of teams higher up the grid.

01:00:16Well, of course, just three years ago,

01:00:18Sutil and Hamilton were duking it out in that Euro Formula 3 series.

01:00:22That's right.

01:00:23And then Hamilton went on to the GP2.

01:00:25Won it.

01:00:26Went into Formula 1.

01:00:27Nearly won that.

01:00:29And Sutil keeps on saying,

01:00:30Well, I beat him a few times.

01:00:31I'm as quick as he is.

01:00:33It just shows how the opportunity ladder is so important to get the right steps.

01:00:38The right car under you.

01:00:39Absolutely.

01:00:43This should be a...

01:00:44Unless he...

01:00:45Everybody seems to be falling on their face in this last sector.

01:00:49If he keeps up the pace he's already set,

01:00:51he should jump up a few places on the timesheet.

01:00:55Let's listen to a little RPM rhapsody here.

01:01:14Oops, there's Mr. Truly.

01:01:17Well and truly beached.

01:01:19The scrumptious one.

01:01:20I don't know where well is, but there's Truly.

01:01:23And I obviously stalled it, so...

01:01:26Well, that corner, I mean,

01:01:28we're going to be guessing just a rear lock-up again,

01:01:30and a braking.

01:01:31Yeah, probably.

01:01:32With 11 minutes to go, they're going to have to move it.

01:01:39Once again, required to replace the steering wheel.

01:01:43Pop the car into neutral.

01:01:45These last few shots have given you

01:01:48a pretty clear idea of how difficult these cars are to drive now

01:01:52without traction control.

01:01:53You heard Sutil feathering the throttle,

01:01:55and there's Truly.

01:01:56Locked up the brakes, yeah.

01:01:57Without engine braking.

01:01:58Yeah.

01:01:59Well, you've got more engine braking than you ever had.

01:02:02That's the trouble.

01:02:03The computer's not controlling it for you.

01:02:04The fact was before that when the back started a lot,

01:02:08the engine would lift it,

01:02:09it would open the throttle a bit and lift the speed up.

01:02:11Now, they've got full engine braking.

01:02:14When your compression ratio is about 15 to 1,

01:02:17Absolutely.

01:02:18that's a lot of braking.

01:02:20Well, as Jarno makes the walk home,

01:02:22we'll take a break and return.

01:02:29Back live at Albert Park in Melbourne.

01:02:32Look into the Red Bull Renault garage.

01:02:34There is native Australian Mark Webber.

01:02:38Jeff Willis, key member of the technical team at Red Bull.

01:02:43Boy, what a moment for Mark

01:02:44if he can stay on top of the time charts

01:02:47at the end of Friday's practice.

01:02:50It's Webber, Massa, Kovalainen,

01:02:53Hamilton, Truly, Rossberg,

01:02:55Raikkonen, Glock, Coulthard,

01:02:58Heidfeld, Alonso, back in 11th,

01:03:00Kubica, 12th, and Barrichello.

01:03:02Button, who was pole sitter here two years ago.

01:03:04Nakajima in 15th.

01:03:06Sutil, Vettel, Fisichella, Bordet,

01:03:09Piquet, Sato, and Davidson.

01:03:12It's Felipe Massa.

01:03:13We saw a spin into the gravel trap.

01:03:15He appears to be done for the day.

01:03:20Rob Smedley to the right.

01:03:23Race engineer.

01:03:25Ferrari really appears to be organized.

01:03:27In fact, Ferrari's 2009 car

01:03:30is already in the wind tunnel

01:03:32in scale model form.

01:03:34It's incredible, isn't it?

01:03:35Yep.

01:03:36Because of the aero changes

01:03:38that are going to be made

01:03:39on these cars next year.

01:03:41So they want to have every possible minute

01:03:43to maximize next year's aero performance.

01:03:46And that's what they're going to do.

01:03:48They're going to do it.

01:03:49They're going to do it.

01:03:50They're going to do it.

01:03:51Every single minute to maximize

01:03:52next year's aero profile.

01:03:56Robert Kubica, currently 12th.

01:04:00This BMW Sauber

01:04:02had a very tough gestation.

01:04:04It was very slow and a lot of testing.

01:04:06Rumors are rampant

01:04:07that they are just sandbagging.

01:04:09That doesn't sound like

01:04:11Mario Tyson's style

01:04:13as team principal at BMW Sauber, but...

01:04:16Well, it won't be sandbagging now.

01:04:18As you said, Robert Kubica's down in 12th.

01:04:20Heidfeld's in 10th.

01:04:22Yep.

01:04:23No, I don't think they were sandbagging.

01:04:25I think they were just logically

01:04:26working through the test program.

01:04:28Making the car more reliable.

01:04:30Not pushing it.

01:04:34That's the key of BMW.

01:04:36I'm sure the way that the car

01:04:38has come along the last couple of years,

01:04:40they've just been very methodical

01:04:41about the work they do.

01:04:43Well, they have taken

01:04:44a pretty radical departure

01:04:45with the design of this car.

01:04:46Willy Rampf,

01:04:47on part of their technical team,

01:04:48said, look,

01:04:49we needed to do something radical

01:04:51if we're going to get up there

01:04:52with the top two teams,

01:04:53Ferrari and McLaren.

01:04:55Everybody knows you have to take risks

01:04:57if you want to make big improvements.

01:04:59See, well, in testing,

01:05:00it's very easy to take

01:05:01some of the ballast off the car

01:05:02and make the car look impressive.

01:05:04I mean, anybody can get

01:05:05a quick time out of the car.

01:05:07But it doesn't mean anything

01:05:08as far as the team are concerned.

01:05:10It may excite the media

01:05:11and it may excite

01:05:12the marketing department

01:05:13and say, hey, look how fast

01:05:14we were yesterday

01:05:15in Hareth testing.

01:05:16But as far as the engineers,

01:05:17the drivers,

01:05:18are concerned,

01:05:19they just want to work methodically,

01:05:20work through a test program,

01:05:21make the car fast and reliable.

01:05:24Takuma Sato

01:05:27taking off the Super Aguri Honda.

01:05:30Now, these laps that Sato

01:05:32and Davidson are doing today

01:05:33are some of the first laps.

01:05:34They've hardly done any testing at all.

01:05:37So they're really starting

01:05:39behind the eight ball.

01:05:40Well, they're struggling

01:05:41for components anyway.

01:05:42So this is the last thing

01:05:43they want to do

01:05:44is be going through the gravel

01:05:45or tapping it into the arm cone

01:05:46and doing any damage to the car.

01:05:48Very limited on parts they have.

01:05:50And of course,

01:05:51they're in all sorts

01:05:52of financial difficulties.

01:05:54As you were saying earlier on, Bob,

01:05:56with the team being brought out now,

01:05:58there'll be a lot of changes

01:05:59there in management structure.

01:06:00And of course,

01:06:01this is a worse time for a team.

01:06:03They just have to be careful

01:06:04of every penny.

01:06:05A lot of people,

01:06:06they lost a lot of staff

01:06:07over the winter.

01:06:08A lot of people left voluntarily

01:06:10thinking that, well,

01:06:11maybe the team won't even make

01:06:13the grid in 2008.

01:06:14Hamilton doing a really good

01:06:16first sector there

01:06:17with only three minutes to go.

01:06:19Quickest sector of the day

01:06:20in that sector.

01:06:22Yeah, 28.7, sector one.

01:06:25You can see from these aerial shots

01:06:27from those on boards

01:06:28that you do need quite a lot

01:06:29of downforce on these cars.

01:06:31This is not a low downforce circuit.

01:06:33No.

01:06:34Second sector.

01:06:35Very now, he's half a second up.

01:06:41Yeah, he's fastest in sector one.

01:06:42Now, this last sector seems to be

01:06:44where everybody keeps falling off

01:06:46the tank somehow.

01:06:47They seem to go in the dumpster

01:06:49right on this last sector.

01:06:52That looked pretty good through there.

01:06:53Very good.

01:06:54Last two corners.

01:07:04This could be a very good lap.

01:07:05It should be.

01:07:07Yeah, that'll do

01:07:08by nearly a full second.

01:07:10Wow.

01:07:11Well, fastest of all three sectors.

01:07:13Fastest sectors of the day

01:07:14in all three sectors.

01:07:16Here's Fernando Alonso,

01:07:17his bait noir from last year.

01:07:21In the Renault, Alonso

01:07:22currently down in 11th spot.

01:07:242.2 seconds off Hamilton's time now.

01:07:29And using all the rope.

01:07:31Some members of the press

01:07:32have been trying to bait Alonso

01:07:34into commenting on last year.

01:07:35He's having none of it.

01:07:37That's all he's got.

01:07:38He's having none of it.

01:07:40It's all behind him.

01:07:44Closing moments of the session now.

01:07:45Let's take this opportunity

01:07:46to get final thoughts

01:07:47from Peter Windsor

01:07:48down in the pit lane.

01:07:51Well, Bob, I just...

01:07:53It's fantastic.

01:07:54I don't know whether to look.

01:07:55We've got a big screen by the pit lane here.

01:07:56Every time we look up,

01:07:57somebody's going off

01:07:58or there's some beautiful bit

01:07:59of car control going on

01:08:00from somebody.

01:08:02I mean, it's just a whole new world,

01:08:03isn't it, without TC

01:08:04and without gear dependency

01:08:05under braking.

01:08:06We're just seeing the drivers

01:08:07having to work.

01:08:08It's a whole different ballgame.

01:08:09It's fantastic to see.

01:08:10And the fight continues.

01:08:12McLaren versus Ferrari.

01:08:13It couldn't be closer.

01:08:14And look at Red Bull Racing.

01:08:15That's the big talking point

01:08:16of the pit lane.

01:08:17We wondered who was going to come

01:08:18to the surface in this fight

01:08:20behind Ferrari and McLaren.

01:08:22At the moment,

01:08:23very much with Red Bull, Renault.

01:08:26That's right.

01:08:27The fun is going to be

01:08:28behind the frontrunners

01:08:29as that midfield fight

01:08:30between the likes of

01:08:32Williams and Red Bull

01:08:34and BMW

01:08:36and Renault.

01:08:38Oh, there's Kimi.

01:08:39Is he going to stick it to Hamilton

01:08:40on this last lap?

01:08:41You know, with a minute to go,

01:08:43he's on the soft tyres

01:08:44like Hamilton was.

01:08:45Hamilton's lap

01:08:46looked very clean and smooth.

01:08:53A lot of road left

01:08:54coming off that

01:08:55last right-hander there.

01:08:59Hamilton's hot lap

01:09:01bumps Webber to second.

01:09:02Massa now third.

01:09:03Kovalainen fourth.

01:09:05Truly still fifth

01:09:06despite taking the car off.

01:09:08Rosberg, Fisichella,

01:09:09Räikkönen, Glocken, Button

01:09:10round out the top ten.

01:09:25David Coulthard up to fifth.

01:09:30Well, Kimi Räikkönen

01:09:31surprisingly nine-tenths

01:09:32off the pace

01:09:33at the end of those

01:09:34first two sectors.

01:09:45Well, there's that 19,000

01:09:47you were talking about

01:09:48right at the top of the show, Bob.

01:09:49You can't beat it, can you?

01:09:51Checkered flag is out.

01:09:55Räikkönen timed it nicely,

01:09:57but if he was going for fast lap,

01:10:00he isn't going to get it.

01:10:02No.

01:10:03Stays in sixth.

01:10:05There's Lewis Hamilton.

01:10:07Second off his pace

01:10:08on the second lap there.

01:10:09It just shows how those

01:10:10soft tires go off.

01:10:13That's a good look

01:10:14at the paddle shift mechanism.

01:10:19And he can afford to

01:10:20zip down the driver's suit.

01:10:23Crack the helmet visor

01:10:24a little bit.

01:10:25Get some fresh air

01:10:26in there.

01:10:27With temperatures hovering

01:10:28around 100, Mark,

01:10:30you need every bit of

01:10:31fresh air you can get.

01:10:32And as Steve has already

01:10:33pointed out,

01:10:34teams are already

01:10:35opening these cars up

01:10:36a bit to let some more

01:10:37air through,

01:10:38because they are

01:10:39incredibly closely

01:10:40packaged in there.

01:10:41The engine is just

01:10:42no breathing room,

01:10:43so ventilation is

01:10:45vital when the

01:10:46temperature gets this high.

01:10:48So things are looking good

01:10:49in the McLaren camp

01:10:50with Hamilton first,

01:10:51Kovalainen fourth,

01:10:53Felipe Massa third

01:10:54for Ferrari.

01:10:55Teammate

01:10:56Kimi Räikkönen sixth.

01:10:58They will have another

01:10:59one-hour practice

01:11:00on Saturday,

01:11:01and then

01:11:02three rounds of

01:11:03knockout qualifying.

01:11:04And you won't want to

01:11:05miss that.

01:11:06Red Bull are looking

01:11:07incredible with

01:11:08Weber second

01:11:09and Coulthard fifth.

01:11:10I mean, Steve,

01:11:11you can't do better

01:11:12than that.

01:11:13Jarno Trulli

01:11:14up there in the

01:11:15seventh spot.

01:11:16Yep.

01:11:17With Timo Glock tenth.

01:11:18Two Toyotas

01:11:19in the top ten.

01:11:20And Fischer-Keller

01:11:21in the Force India car

01:11:22in ninth.

01:11:23So that's pretty good too.

01:11:24Very good.

01:11:25We'll take another break

01:11:26and be back with all

01:11:27of the results

01:11:28from today's practice.

01:11:29So stand by.

01:11:30We'll return live

01:11:31to Albert Park

01:11:32in Melbourne, Australia

01:11:33in just a moment.

01:11:34This is Formula One

01:11:36on Speed.

01:11:43Welcome back.

01:11:44Time to start

01:11:45wrapping things up

01:11:46here in our speed coverage

01:11:47of Friday practice

01:11:48from Melbourne.

01:11:49As always,

01:11:50we'll start things off

01:11:51with the numbers.

01:11:52David, Steve.

01:11:54Well, Lewis Hamilton

01:11:55there at the top

01:11:56of the time sheet.

01:11:57Nearly a second quicker

01:11:58than Mark Webber

01:11:59in the Red Bull.

01:12:00What a surprise

01:12:01to leave here Masa

01:12:02in the Ferrari.

01:12:03He had a big spin

01:12:04near the end.

01:12:05Heike Kovalainen

01:12:06in the second McLaren.

01:12:07David Coulthard

01:12:08having a terrific run

01:12:09in the Red Bull.

01:12:10Kimi Räikkönen

01:12:11in the second Ferrari.

01:12:12Then truly also

01:12:13a terrific run

01:12:14in the Toyota.

01:12:15Nico Rosberg

01:12:16with Williams.

01:12:17Fischer-Keller

01:12:18for Force India.

01:12:19And Timo Glock

01:12:20again for Toyota.

01:12:21So a lot of teams

01:12:22near the top again, Steve.

01:12:23Yeah, they are.

01:12:24Jenson Button

01:12:25there in the Honda.

01:12:26P11.

01:12:27Adrian Sutil-Vettel.

01:12:28Nelson Piquet Jr.

01:12:29in the red out.

01:12:3019th.

01:12:32And so it begins.

01:12:33That'll do it

01:12:34for our coverage of practice

01:12:35for the Australian Grand Prix.

01:12:36But Speed is your home

01:12:37for Formula One

01:12:38all weekend long.

01:12:39Join us again tomorrow

01:12:40at 11 p.m. Eastern Time

01:12:41for coverage of qualifying.

01:12:43Knockout qualifying

01:12:44for Australia.

01:12:45Then Saturday

01:12:46at 11.30 p.m. Eastern.

01:12:48Tune in for Speed's

01:12:49Formula One magazine show

01:12:50Inside Grand Prix.

01:12:52It's back again this year.

01:12:53Then finally join David, Steve,

01:12:55Peter and myself

01:12:56at midnight Eastern

01:12:57for live coverage

01:12:58of the Australian Grand Prix.

01:13:00We'll start things off

01:13:01with the Acura pre-race show.

01:13:03Peter will be live on the grid

01:13:05and will be live

01:13:06right through the checkered flag.

01:13:08For David Hobbs, Steve Batchett

01:13:09and Peter Windsor,

01:13:10I'm Bob Varsha.

01:13:11We'll see you tomorrow

01:13:12for qualifying from Melbourne.

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