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Qualifying for Round 18 of the 2008 F1 season at Sao Paulo.
Transcript
00:00:00Banshee-like wails freeze from the engine.
00:00:10All ten cars are on track.
00:00:12Will traffic be a factor?
00:00:14Don't worry, I'm pushing like a hell.
00:00:19Oh, come on, David, we're getting used to it.
00:00:22All right, boys, this is it. Pick him up, pick him up.
00:00:25Give it all you've got, give it all you've got.
00:00:28Goal!
00:00:31Good, good, this could be your pole, son.
00:00:33Come on, son.
00:00:35Unbelievable, Alonso.
00:00:38Push, now, push if you want this pole away from Alonso.
00:00:43Come on, come on.
00:00:44Run!
00:00:46Oh, that's a big two.
00:00:47It's a pole, is it possible?
00:00:50Woo-hoo!
00:00:52Go, David, go, David!
00:00:54How's he doing, Hamilton?
00:00:55Yes!
00:00:56He does it!
00:00:57He takes it back from BMW.
00:01:13Right now, boys, right now.
00:01:15Victory for the first time it is to win.
00:01:17Come on, mate, he's ruining our race, let's get past him.
00:01:20They touch, there's smoke coming off the top.
00:01:30It's a sunny day in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
00:01:32but the perfect storm is gathering.
00:01:34After a morning practice in which the entire field of 20 cars
00:01:37was covered by just a second and a half,
00:01:39topped by a two-time world champion
00:01:41with the mentality of a spoiler coming in,
00:01:43two men, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa,
00:01:46face the most important qualifying session
00:01:48of their young careers.
00:01:50Welcome to qualifying for the final round
00:01:52of the Formula One season,
00:01:54the Brazilian Grand Prix here on Speed.
00:01:57Hello, everybody, I'm Bob Varsha
00:01:59with David Hobbs and Steve Matchett.
00:02:01As you can see, the Brazilian fans are out in force
00:02:04to support their men, Felipe Massa and Ferrari,
00:02:07as they make a bid for a first world championship
00:02:10here in race-crazy Brazil.
00:02:12But the points leader is Lewis Hamilton
00:02:14of McLaren Mercedes,
00:02:16who has a seven-point bulge over his rival Massa.
00:02:19So what do you do coming in
00:02:21to this all-important qualifying session?
00:02:24Peter Windsor has that story.
00:02:27For Felipe Massa, it's clear.
00:02:29He's seven points behind Lewis Hamilton going into this race,
00:02:32and he's really effectively got to win the Brazilian Grand Prix
00:02:35in order to win the World Championship.
00:02:37For Lewis Hamilton, however, a different story.
00:02:39He has more variables with which to play.
00:02:41He's qualifying and therefore into Q3, Lewis hopes.
00:02:44What strategy will he choose?
00:02:46Will he go light? Will he go heavy?
00:02:48Will he just go for the maximum performance strategy for McLaren?
00:02:51Well, we walked up and down the Formula One paddock
00:02:53and spoke to some of the leading strategists of the industry
00:02:56to see what they thought.
00:02:59If your driver coming into this race
00:03:01was leading the World Championship by seven points,
00:03:03what do you think your fuel strategy would be going into Q3?
00:03:08I think I would be very, very light.
00:03:10I think I would be extremely light.
00:03:13Purely from the point of view that I wouldn't want to get involved
00:03:15in accidents at the first corner.
00:03:18And then if you've got a good car, you know,
00:03:20and you don't win the race, or you've got a seven-point advantage,
00:03:24then it's not a disaster.
00:03:27I think we would still try to be on pole position,
00:03:30just to be clear at the start
00:03:32and to have a chance to get away at the first corner
00:03:34without risking the middle-of-the-pack usual drama.
00:03:39So, still, we would try to be quick to qualify in front
00:03:43and then to have a conservative race starting from there.
00:03:49If you were leading the championship by seven points at this moment
00:03:52and you were in Q3,
00:03:54what sort of strategy do you think you would take into Q3?
00:03:57Yeah, there's only one strategy.
00:03:58It's to go light, try and get to the front of the grid,
00:04:01just to avoid any sort of crash or anything,
00:04:04because even if that means the strategy is really compromising his race
00:04:07and he finishes fifth or whatever, even fourth, it doesn't matter.
00:04:10You just need to get the points. The championship is what counts.
00:04:15I would go for a light, quick strategy, get yourself pole position.
00:04:18The McLaren and the Ferrari are going to be, I'm sure,
00:04:21quicker than the other cars out there.
00:04:23So even if he is on a short strategy,
00:04:25he should be able to find a bit of a gap to the middle-of-the-pack.
00:04:28The only thing that might mix it up here is
00:04:31Sao Paulo is a short lap and is notoriously close on lap time.
00:04:38It's a tricky one. Just light enough to be on pole,
00:04:40but heavy enough not to be ridiculously light,
00:04:43if that sounds complicated enough.
00:04:45I don't have any better answer.
00:04:47To be honest, I don't see a reason why we should play any different
00:04:50compared to any other races.
00:04:52I think it would be risky to do something completely different.
00:04:59You've got to go aggressive, but you must be normal,
00:05:01not thinking too much about the combinations.
00:05:05Just go and race.
00:05:09Be aggressive, but normal.
00:05:11Well, let's get ready to roll the dice.
00:05:14In this morning's final practice,
00:05:16Lewis Hamilton was second quickest.
00:05:18Heikki Kovalainen, his McLaren teammate, was third.
00:05:21Felipe Massa was fourth.
00:05:23His teammate, Kimi Räikkönen, back in 12th in the other Ferrari.
00:05:26And topping them all, Fernando Alonso in his Renault.
00:05:30Seven hundredths of a second quicker than Hamilton.
00:05:33And as we all know, Alonso says he wouldn't mind
00:05:36being a part of the decision-making process
00:05:39in this World Championship this weekend.
00:05:42We'll be back for the start of qualifying from Brazil in just a moment.
00:05:48Speeds coverage of the FIA Formula One World Championship
00:05:51is brought to you by Bridgestone.
00:05:53Passion for excellence.
00:05:55And by Mobil 1.
00:05:56For almost any extreme,
00:05:58choose Mobil 1, the world's leading synthetic motor oil.
00:06:04Welcome back to the circuit.
00:06:05Jose Carlos Pache.
00:06:07Sao Paulo, Brazil, ready for the first round
00:06:10in three rounds of knockout qualifying
00:06:12to decide the grid for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.
00:06:16Here's how it works.
00:06:18We'll run for it.
00:06:21But definitely not to be among the slowest five cars.
00:06:25They will be eliminated.
00:06:26Those drivers will take positions 16 through 20 on the grid.
00:06:29They'll take a break, come back, run a 15-minute session,
00:06:32eliminate five more drivers,
00:06:34and then the final 10 will have a 10-minute session
00:06:37to put race fuel in the car plus enough for a qualifying
00:06:40and make their bid for the most important pole of the season
00:06:43if your name is Lewis Hamilton or Felipe Massa.
00:06:48There is Nico Rosberg,
00:06:50who was 11th in this morning's final practice for Williams Toyota,
00:06:54but it was very, very tightly bunched.
00:06:58The first 14 cars this morning, all within one second.
00:07:04Yeah, and, of course, the temperature is up so much today over yesterday,
00:07:08so that's going to change a lot of things on these cars, I would have thought.
00:07:11Let's look at the weather conditions.
00:07:12It was about 65 ambient yesterday, up to 72 today.
00:07:16The track temperature, 20 degrees hotter,
00:07:19and, of course, that makes you wonder about how it will affect the tires.
00:07:23Bridgestone's medium and soft compounds to be used this weekend.
00:07:29Nelson Piquet is on track,
00:07:31setting his first lap in front of his countrymen,
00:07:34hoping to become the first man to be outqualified
00:07:37by a teammate at every race in a Formula 1 season
00:07:40since Dutchman Jasper Stappen outqualified
00:07:43Ricardo Rosset, 16th zip,
00:07:46for the footwork team back in 1996,
00:07:49for all you hardcore fans out there.
00:07:51Well, you've got to be a hardcore fan for that little one.
00:07:54We've got lots coming on this weekend
00:07:56with David Coulthard and possibly Rubens Barrichello
00:07:59maybe making their final Formula 1 appearances.
00:08:02But it's certainly a big day for this guy, Piquet,
00:08:05whose father is a three-time world champion.
00:08:08Now let's go to Peter Windsor.
00:08:11Bob, you spoke earlier of the perfect storm.
00:08:14Well, as you said, it's fantastic weather right now.
00:08:16Couldn't be a better time, place, atmosphere
00:08:19for this World Championship decider.
00:08:21But the perfect storm about which we've been speaking
00:08:23is still due tomorrow. Rain predicted for race day.
00:08:26So I don't know what effect that will have on strategy now.
00:08:29We can't really touch the cars. We're in effectively Parc Fermé.
00:08:32But everybody aware that at the moment
00:08:34the race is predicted to be run in the wet.
00:08:37So let's see how that affects qualifying now.
00:08:41Piquet posts the early time.
00:08:43Once again, we'll be watching the relegation zone,
00:08:46the red zone of the five slowest drivers.
00:08:49Here's Rubens Barrichello wearing a helmet
00:08:52in honor of his first racing hero.
00:08:55Driver Ingo Hoffman wore those same helmet colors
00:08:59and actually gave Rubens his first racing helmet
00:09:02when he was a young driver
00:09:04because he, Rubens, couldn't afford one himself.
00:09:07Born just about 100 meters from the front gate to this racetrack,
00:09:10this could be Barrichello's farewell race
00:09:13in front of his home fans.
00:09:15Yeah, we haven't heard much about that this weekend,
00:09:18but very likely on the cars that Honda will make a change.
00:09:21Obviously, the way the points stand at the moment,
00:09:23you'd think that Barrichello would probably get a crack of the whip,
00:09:26but all sorts of machinations and political wrangling going on,
00:09:30different sponsors possibly coming on board,
00:09:33which means that Rubens Barrichello
00:09:35would be the one that would have to go.
00:09:38But he certainly had a heck of a career.
00:09:40I was looking at the data.
00:09:42His very first race at South Africa back in 1993.
00:09:45In that field were guys like Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna,
00:09:48Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Michael Andretti,
00:09:52and also guys like John Alazy, Martin Grundle, Gerhard Berger,
00:09:56who's now a co-owner of the Toro Rosso team.
00:10:01Mika Hakkinen.
00:10:03It's a guy who has raised world champions
00:10:05going all the way back to Alain Prost,
00:10:07who took his first one in the mid-'80s.
00:10:13And a great guy.
00:10:14Timo Glock in the Toyota goes to the top of the charts
00:10:17at 1.13.0.
00:10:19Fernando Alonso turned the fastest lap of the weekend
00:10:22in this morning's final hour of practice
00:10:24with a 1.12.141.
00:10:26Barrichello to second early on,
00:10:28as Nick Frey looks on from the Honda pits.
00:10:32There's your top four.
00:10:34We'll take a break and return very early
00:10:36in qualifying for Brazil.
00:10:40It's Bob Kovica.
00:10:43Let's keep up with this.
00:10:45How's BMW doing?
00:10:47Wow!
00:10:48Oh, my goodness gracious!
00:10:51Here's Massa.
00:10:53Massa in two!
00:10:54Kovica on pole!
00:10:56Wow!
00:10:58Look at the BMW crew.
00:11:00Who chose Kovica for pole?
00:11:02Hey, who picked Kovica?
00:11:04I picked Kovica for pole.
00:11:06Did you really?
00:11:07I did, yes.
00:11:08For the first time in Formula 1 history,
00:11:10a pole on pole.
00:11:15It's one of the highlights of a terrific season
00:11:17of Formula 1 in 2008.
00:11:18We hope you were with us here on Speed
00:11:20every step of the way.
00:11:21David Hobbs and Steve Matchett,
00:11:23as well as Peter Windsor.
00:11:24I'm Bob Farsha.
00:11:25This is Felipe Massa's first hot lap for Ferrari.
00:11:29Boy, I tell you guys,
00:11:30I've got the hairs of standing up
00:11:32on the back of my neck.
00:11:34Every qualifying session,
00:11:36every race throughout the season,
00:11:38as much as you try and be disparate
00:11:40as a mechanic and engineer
00:11:41and work one-on-one to get here,
00:11:43it all comes down to this.
00:11:45You will have checked and rechecked
00:11:48every component on the car
00:11:50prior to releasing the car into the pit lane
00:11:52with Massa running now.
00:11:54You just hope beyond everything
00:11:56it's safe, secure, adjusted to perfection.
00:12:03Steve, bearing in mind
00:12:04what happened in the last race
00:12:06with McLaren,
00:12:07sort of the tyre guys,
00:12:08Kovica,
00:12:09how many times do you think
00:12:10they've checked the letter L
00:12:11and the letter R?
00:12:12Oh, boy.
00:12:13A thousand, thousand times.
00:12:15Every component's on the car.
00:12:17You're right.
00:12:18If you weren't with us yesterday
00:12:19for that story,
00:12:20apparently Kovalainen's
00:12:22front Bridgestone tyres
00:12:23got mismarked on one set,
00:12:26so the car would not perform for him.
00:12:28They made radical adjustments
00:12:30to the car,
00:12:31thinking they had it solved,
00:12:32put a good set of tyres on the car,
00:12:34and shortly after that,
00:12:35one of them lost air.
00:12:38Kovalainen's race was run.
00:12:40Boy, Kovalainen didn't have much,
00:12:41I mean, in Japan,
00:12:42you know,
00:12:43he ran a great fuel strategy,
00:12:44and I think he would have won
00:12:45the Japanese Grand Prix
00:12:46and he had that engine failure
00:12:47the first four,
00:12:48a couple of years for McLaren,
00:12:50so now with that batch of engines,
00:12:52is that what's in this car here?
00:12:54Because he is on the engine
00:12:55he used last week in China.
00:12:58You're right.
00:12:59I mean,
00:13:00I mean, you check and check
00:13:01and recheck and check again,
00:13:03but nevertheless,
00:13:04I mean, it's...
00:13:06Well, here's the opposite number,
00:13:07Lewis Hamilton and McLaren,
00:13:09and these guys,
00:13:10just like the Ferrari mechanics
00:13:12and engineers,
00:13:13would have done exactly the same.
00:13:15You walk out of your garage,
00:13:16you walk over,
00:13:17and you check what the opposition
00:13:18are doing,
00:13:19you look at their car,
00:13:20you come back,
00:13:21you check the build sheet,
00:13:22you check your own car,
00:13:23Hamilton up to the top.
00:13:24Boy, Hamilton picked up all that
00:13:25from the last corner,
00:13:27that Harenjo,
00:13:28right up there,
00:13:29that steep uphill climb
00:13:30to the start-finish line.
00:13:31Here's a long climb up,
00:13:32doing about 197
00:13:33near the top of the hill,
00:13:35but he picked all that speed up
00:13:36in that third sector,
00:13:38because up to that point,
00:13:39he was over a tenth of a second behind
00:13:42Trudy's time.
00:13:44It doesn't sound like McLaren
00:13:45is being too conservative
00:13:46with that engine.
00:13:49Well, of course, you know,
00:13:50you're just caught between
00:13:51a terrible rock and a hard place,
00:13:53and the plan next year
00:13:54is to make these engines
00:13:55last for three races.
00:13:57What these guys have got to do now,
00:13:58and I'm sure the engineers
00:13:59would have told the drivers,
00:14:00look,
00:14:01don't concentrate too much
00:14:03about Q3.
00:14:05You need to get there.
00:14:06Don't let your concentration slip now
00:14:09One slip in Q1.
00:14:11You put the car into the barrier,
00:14:12you go off and just damage
00:14:13one of the suspension components,
00:14:15you're out.
00:14:16You're not going to get into Q2 and Q3,
00:14:17so concentrate now,
00:14:19in the moment.
00:14:21There's the knockout zone,
00:14:22in red,
00:14:23left of your screen,
00:14:24but none of those drivers
00:14:25has posted a hot lap yet.
00:14:27The scramble will begin
00:14:28when everybody gets on track.
00:14:30Well, I just,
00:14:31this is Kimi Raikkonen on board
00:14:33with the,
00:14:34yeah,
00:14:35using a bit of road there,
00:14:36understeered off to the right there.
00:14:38On the,
00:14:39the harder of the two compounds.
00:14:42Sorry, Steve.
00:14:43You would expect these guys,
00:14:44and we're looking at Ferrari here,
00:14:46to be running the harder
00:14:47of the two compounds.
00:14:48No white stripe on the tyre,
00:14:50so this is the harder of the two.
00:14:52You'd expect these guys
00:14:53to be saving the soft compound tyre,
00:14:55which they'll be using in Q3
00:14:57for as long as possible.
00:14:58So if they can just break through
00:15:00into Q2,
00:15:01don't push the car too much.
00:15:02We don't need to risk
00:15:03using our best tyres at this stage.
00:15:06Earlier on,
00:15:07you just saw Honda
00:15:08running those soft compound tyres,
00:15:09because they will be in trouble.
00:15:11They want to break through into Q2.
00:15:13So save your soft tyres.
00:15:15They will become vital
00:15:16towards the end of this hour.
00:15:17Oh, wow.
00:15:18Sebastien Bordet down in 13th.
00:15:19He ran pretty good this morning.
00:15:21He was 7th quickest in a 12.4.
00:15:24And he's just done...
00:15:27Vettel goes to 5th
00:15:28on his flying lap.
00:15:29Everybody going quickly,
00:15:31as you watch Gerhard Berger.
00:15:32Either it's down to the temperatures
00:15:34or something.
00:15:35But Jarno Trulli went out there
00:15:36on his first hot lap.
00:15:37What's Alonso going to do?
00:15:38Alonso has just been
00:15:39blindingly quick
00:15:40in the second session
00:15:41yesterday afternoon
00:15:42and this morning's session.
00:15:43Alonso topped the timesheets.
00:15:46Trulli is up there in P2,
00:15:48despite all the efforts
00:15:49of Kovalainen,
00:15:50Kovalainen, Massa,
00:15:51Raikkonen.
00:16:00Jarno Renno twitching around
00:16:01about gut-kissing that.
00:16:04Quickest on Friday.
00:16:06Quickest this morning
00:16:07in Saturday's final practice.
00:16:09Now, Alonso...
00:16:10in this car.
00:16:11Look at it move!
00:16:18Now, this is where,
00:16:19this is the sort of sector
00:16:20where Alonso really comes
00:16:23into his own.
00:16:28Only one man this season
00:16:29has taken pole for the race
00:16:31after being quickest
00:16:32in Saturday morning's
00:16:33final practice.
00:16:34That was at Hungary
00:16:35and Lewis Hamilton did it.
00:16:37We'll see if Alonso
00:16:38can do it today.
00:16:39Wow.
00:16:45Now, he's 3 tenths off
00:16:46at the end of sector 2 there.
00:16:47How much is he going to be able
00:16:48to pull up in this last sector?
00:16:50That last corner going
00:16:51onto this sector
00:16:52is so vitally important.
00:16:53That's one of the Toyotas.
00:16:54Timo Glock in the Toyota.
00:16:58It won't affect Alonso.
00:16:59Ah, good.
00:17:00He kept the fire.
00:17:01He'll be on his way.
00:17:02Watch out.
00:17:03There's Piquet coming up
00:17:04behind him.
00:17:05Robert Kubica
00:17:06and Nick Heidfeld
00:17:07of the BMW Sauber
00:17:08is the only drivers right now
00:17:09who have yet to turn a hot lap.
00:17:12Formula One on speed.
00:17:14Brazil.
00:17:15Pressure, tension, anxiety.
00:17:17This season's final race
00:17:18will crown a champion.
00:17:20It's a day where history
00:17:21can be made.
00:17:22And two fierce foes.
00:17:24Massa is absolutely
00:17:25unbelievable at Brazil.
00:17:26Go head-to-head
00:17:27one last time.
00:17:29The stakes don't get
00:17:30any bigger than this.
00:17:32There's a title on the line.
00:17:33Whoa!
00:17:34Steady.
00:17:35Formula One.
00:17:36Brazilian Grand Prix.
00:17:37Live coverage continues
00:17:38tomorrow, 11.30 Eastern.
00:17:40Only on Speed.
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00:18:15Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:18:17What are you doing?
00:18:19Put the jug down.
00:18:21Put it down.
00:18:23This one's cheaper.
00:18:24Listen.
00:18:25Your engine's the last place
00:18:26you want to skimp, right?
00:18:27You want to go with the leader.
00:18:28The one America's counted on
00:18:29for over 80 years.
00:18:30The kind you can put
00:18:31in any make or model.
00:18:32Get it?
00:18:33Got it.
00:18:34Good.
00:18:35Let's go, Sparky.
00:18:36Okay.
00:18:37When it comes to antifreeze,
00:18:38you're in a car a guy knows.
00:18:39Only Presto is Presto.
00:18:40Nice.
00:18:41Look here.
00:18:43Hi, I'm...
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00:19:00Oh!
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00:19:41Oh!
00:19:42Oh!
00:19:43Oh!
00:19:44Car Star.
00:19:45Relax.
00:19:46We'll take it from here.
00:19:47Should have gone to Car Star.
00:19:48...leads the session.
00:19:49We've been having some
00:19:50technical difficulties
00:19:51with our transmission
00:19:52of qualifying from Brazil.
00:19:53We apologize for that.
00:19:54With David Hoffstede,
00:19:55I'm Bob Varsha.
00:19:56We have just about three and three-quarter minutes
00:20:00remaining as the Brazilian fans come to their feet
00:20:03for their man Felipe Massa, currently fifth,
00:20:06and well up into the zone to move on
00:20:09to the second round of knockout qualifying
00:20:11when this one ends.
00:20:13Well, right now, it looks like he might even, uh,
00:20:15take away that top-sheet time,
00:20:17but Robert Gibson, the guy, is gonna be right.
00:20:19He's in 15th spot there, just outside the bubble,
00:20:22and he's sure that Weber and Robert
00:20:24and Rossberg can go quicker than they've been going,
00:20:26so he's in pretty dangerous ground there.
00:20:29On the Pacific Rim with both Fuji Japan
00:20:31and Shanghai, China, Kubica
00:20:34was P14 in the first qualifying second.
00:20:37Wow.
00:20:38He won. He is very close to relegation.
00:20:40Massa's lap, guys. It's coming together.
00:20:42Eight-team-one, a tenth up in the first sector on Hamilton.
00:20:46Thirty-six-five, two-tenths faster than Hamilton
00:20:49in the mid-sector.
00:20:50The Ferrari with Massa. It's flying.
00:20:54There you are. By nearly 14, it's a blister to the crown.
00:20:58That's the quickest lap of the weekend so far.
00:21:01There's his father, Luis Antonio,
00:21:03who went through surgery to remove kidney stones
00:21:07at midweek, but insisted he had to be at the racetrack
00:21:10this weekend to watch his son.
00:21:12And look at the sight lines from these grandstand seats.
00:21:14You can see the entire bowl of the racetrack.
00:21:20Guys, we've often seen Felipe Massa do this,
00:21:22run unnecessarily towards the end of Q1.
00:21:25We know he's going to make it through to the top 15,
00:21:26but he often does it. But on this occasion,
00:21:28it definitely has a result.
00:21:30Imagine the psychological impact now
00:21:32on McLaren and Lewis Hamilton as they're staring at 11.8.
00:21:39Kimi Räikkönen, too.
00:21:40So the two Ferraris on top of the timesheets.
00:21:45I guess, gentlemen, we can say the gauntlet
00:21:46has been thrown down.
00:21:48Absolutely.
00:21:51Boy, Robert Coopers is now on board here.
00:21:54This is where he's used to being in the last two weeks,
00:21:57last two races, I should say.
00:21:58I just don't understand what's happened to him
00:22:00in the car in the last couple of events.
00:22:02Third in the World Championship standings.
00:22:13He can get two laps in,
00:22:14but of course, the second lap on these softs
00:22:15won't do him much good, unfortunately.
00:22:18He's got to make it happen this lap.
00:22:20And this is such unknown territory for these teams
00:22:23on the softer Bridgestone compound
00:22:25in these temperature conditions.
00:22:32Well, if he can keep that,
00:22:34900s off going into sector two.
00:22:39Very important sector, this.
00:22:45Yeah, he's had a competitive time in sector one, 18.2,
00:22:48which is average for the field.
00:22:50Let's see how much wing they've got on board the BMW
00:22:52in this middle sector.
00:22:53This is where you need downforce on the car
00:22:56to help the car around here,
00:22:57but that'll sap straight line speed.
00:22:59So this will be indicative of the true pace of the car.
00:23:02They did a 36.7, which is the same as Hamilton did.
00:23:05So that's a pretty, he's only three tenths off,
00:23:06as long as, as you said, he hasn't got too much wing up here.
00:23:09It's a long drag up here.
00:23:11Half a minute to go.
00:23:12Weber, Rosberg, Fisichella,
00:23:14Bordet and Sutil in the knockout zone.
00:23:17Come on, Robert, get her.
00:23:20Up to seven, he's in good shape.
00:23:21Jensen Button goes to the bubble for Honda.
00:23:24The other five still out.
00:23:26Timo Glock goes to fourth.
00:23:30Here comes Sutil trying to hoist himself out.
00:23:33No, he only moves up one spot to 19th.
00:23:40Watching for Sebastian Bordet.
00:23:42Up to 10th, Bordet saves himself for now.
00:23:45Weber up to 10th, he moves out.
00:23:48Button and Nakajima are moved into the relegation zone.
00:23:51Iva to eighth.
00:23:56Even though the checkers wave,
00:23:57these laps do count.
00:23:59Jensen Button is done.
00:24:00Rubens Barrichello moves on.
00:24:06There's Fernando Alonso,
00:24:08who ends the session fourth.
00:24:11So, Button, Nakajima, Rosberg,
00:24:14who you see just crossed the line but does not improve.
00:24:18Nakajima does not improve, but look, he's on 112.
00:24:21Kimi Raikkonen, in second place, is on 112.
00:24:24Boy, Nakajima out-qualifies Rosberg again.
00:24:28And yesterday, in the second section, yesterday morning,
00:24:31they were very quick to do both the Williams.
00:24:35It's a very good race.
00:24:36Very quick to do both the Williams.
00:24:40It's a different day, Saturday,
00:24:42qualifying day for the final Formula One race of the season
00:24:45here on Speed, the Brazilian Grand Prix.
00:24:48Q1 is done.
00:24:50We'll have a break, do the numbers,
00:24:51and then start a 15-minute Q2.
00:24:54Stay with us.
00:24:57Welcome back to Sao Paulo.
00:24:58There's Jensen Button,
00:24:59as his Honda is wheeled away by the crew.
00:25:02He may have run out of fuel, and if he did,
00:25:04that only makes the situation worse for Honda.
00:25:07Let's check who's advancing, gentlemen.
00:25:09Well, Felipe Massa is definitely advancing.
00:25:10He's got his Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari.
00:25:12He's looking pretty strong there, Lewis.
00:25:13Hamilton's had a good time.
00:25:14Alonso, again, very fast, like he was this morning.
00:25:16Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli, the two Toyotas,
00:25:19really coming to life this weekend.
00:25:20Nelson Piquet, again, doing a good job for Renault.
00:25:23And Heike Kovalainen there, down in eighth spot.
00:25:26These fellows also go through, 9th through to 15th.
00:25:28Heidfeld, then, Robert Kubica for BMW, 9th and 10th.
00:25:31Good job.
00:25:32Sebastian Vettel for Toro Rosso.
00:25:33Mark Webber for Red Bull.
00:25:35And Bordet for Toro Rosso goes through.
00:25:37Then, Rubens Barrichello.
00:25:38Good job for Honda and David Coulthard.
00:25:40These fellows, however, they go no further.
00:25:42Kasner, Kojima, and Nico Rosberg,
00:25:44both Williams drivers out.
00:25:46That is the first time that has happened in Q1.
00:25:48Jensen Button there.
00:25:49We saw the car pulling off track.
00:25:5017th grid position, 19th and 20th
00:25:54for Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil.
00:25:58Places 2 through 19 covered by less than a second.
00:26:03And when you consider that all these teams build and develop
00:26:05their own cars, powered by a variety of different engines,
00:26:09that is pretty darn close.
00:26:11We'll be back.
00:26:13You can hear him.
00:26:14There he is.
00:26:15So Sebastian Vettel goes to the top of the time sheet.
00:26:1830 seconds to the checkers, but hot lap will count.
00:26:21Toro Rosso saying, come on, Vettel.
00:26:24This is Massa's bid for pole.
00:26:26No, 6th.
00:26:276th.
00:26:27Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
00:26:29Look at the Toro Rosso boys.
00:26:31You've got to wait for Kovalainen.
00:26:32Alonso's out there, too.
00:26:34Here comes Kovalainen.
00:26:35Is he going to be ahead of him?
00:26:36Is he going to be able to snatch that pole away from Vettel?
00:26:38Second.
00:26:39Oh, wow.
00:26:41Oh, wow.
00:26:42How about that?
00:26:43Oh, wow.
00:26:45Well done, gentlemen.
00:26:46Well done.
00:26:48You have V1.
00:26:50V1.
00:26:51You're in the pole position.
00:26:53Woo-hoo!
00:26:54Woo-hoo!
00:26:56Grande!
00:26:57Grande!
00:26:58Remember that?
00:26:58The youngest pole sitter ever.
00:27:00That's right.
00:27:01Taking the honor away from Fernando Alonso,
00:27:04previously the youngest man to win a Formula One pole,
00:27:06but now it's this kid.
00:27:10Great day for young Sebastian Vettel and the Toro Rosso team.
00:27:13And I don't think anybody at that stage
00:27:15gave it a gotten hex chance of actually winning
00:27:17the race the next day as well.
00:27:19That's right.
00:27:20In those same conditions, we should point out.
00:27:23And Vettel has a special commemorative helmet
00:27:25design this weekend to remember Alonso,
00:27:28which will be with him for the rest of his life.
00:27:31I'll tell you what, this session here
00:27:32has already got a lot of drama.
00:27:34Both Williams out.
00:27:35Never been out in Q1 before.
00:27:37There's the helmet.
00:27:39That is slick.
00:27:43Well, both teams, McLaren and Ferrari,
00:27:45have now revealed to the world and to each other
00:27:48the wing configurations on their car.
00:27:50And you can guarantee the split second
00:27:53that both chassis were released into the pit lane.
00:27:56A million camera shutters would have
00:27:58clicked, and those digital images
00:28:00would have been sent back to both Maranello in Italy
00:28:02and Woking, the technical center at McLaren.
00:28:05The aerodynamicists from each team
00:28:07will have closely scrutinized the opposition's car
00:28:10and sent data figures straight back to the track
00:28:14to try and get an idea of how much wing configuration
00:28:16downforce their opposition is running.
00:28:18Potential fuel strategies, because the wing configurations
00:28:21are set now because of part for May conditions.
00:28:24You would have seen a trillion bytes of information
00:28:26flashing across the internet in that first session.
00:28:30Each team desperate to learn as much as
00:28:31possible about the opposition.
00:28:33Welcome to Formula One.
00:28:34Supercomputers, some of the fastest computers in the world,
00:28:38including military applications, are doing whatever,
00:28:42a trillion calculations per second,
00:28:44crunching the computational fluid dynamic software,
00:28:48coming up with not only your own strategies and configurations,
00:28:52but what all the other guys are doing, too.
00:28:54Yeah.
00:28:54It's amazing.
00:28:56Time for Q2.
00:28:58As it says at the top of your screen, you will get 15 minutes.
00:29:01Now 13 minutes to try to stay out of the slow five.
00:29:07Well, as it goes, get down to nitty gritty now.
00:29:09You really have got to get through the Q3.
00:29:13And so to go reiterate what Steve said earlier on,
00:29:16obviously, the really fast guys should
00:29:20have no problem in getting through the Q3,
00:29:22but just got to make sure they don't make any mistakes.
00:29:26In this qualifying session, otherwise, you know,
00:29:29you won't get a chance to go to Q3.
00:29:31Let's talk about Q3.
00:29:33I'm talking about the engineers and the drivers.
00:29:34We'll talk about Q3 when we get there.
00:29:37For now, just make sure that you do nothing stupid
00:29:41and get the car through safe and sound.
00:29:43You only need to be in the top 10.
00:29:45You're not looking to put the car on pole in this session.
00:29:49Toyotas are the only cars on track right now,
00:29:51Glock and Truly.
00:29:54Now, Kimi Raikkonen exits the pit lane in his Ferrari.
00:29:56There he comes.
00:29:59Notice this pit exit.
00:30:01We talked about it in Friday practice yesterday.
00:30:03Long, long, long pit exit
00:30:06out to that downhill straightaway to the link.
00:30:10Yano. Wow.
00:30:11Who are those guys rooting for?
00:30:14I can't imagine.
00:30:16Yano, Truly, and Timo Glock top of the seats
00:30:19with a 12.226 and a 12.223.
00:30:23That is not exactly a long way apart, is it?
00:30:26Snap a photo of a grandstand
00:30:28anywhere in the Formula One world,
00:30:29you're bound to see a lot of Ferrari red.
00:30:36We talk about let's make Formula One more exciting,
00:30:39more this, more that, and we talk about the great circuits,
00:30:41but I love this short lap.
00:30:43One minute, 12. Look how close it is.
00:30:45We got four cars on 12.2
00:30:47and five cars on 12.3 in Q1, and that is motor racing.
00:30:51I think this is really good, and Interlagos is a fabulous circuit
00:30:55because not only does it have that short lap,
00:30:56but it has a great combination of flowing corners and undulations.
00:31:00Absolutely. And, of course, being in that bowl,
00:31:02it's an ideal spectator circuit.
00:31:04You can see so much of it.
00:31:07Kimi Raikkonen on the softer tyres.
00:31:08Had a bit of a moment on braking there.
00:31:13Coming up to this top corner here.
00:31:14This is the Cote d'Avelo.
00:31:16Tight, tight right-hander.
00:31:17No camera to help you. Downhill.
00:31:19Now this left-hand sweeper.
00:31:21Got to get it right through here because braking hard here.
00:31:24Down to second, and now, from here on,
00:31:27every rev counts all the way to the stripe.
00:31:4311.9.
00:31:46Second-fastest lap of the weekend.
00:31:49Here's old Phil Massa.
00:31:52He has been the fastest thus far.
00:31:55But remember, in each successive qualifying session,
00:31:58the previous session times do not count.
00:32:01You've got to do it all over again.
00:32:06Now, we talked about Hamilton versus Massa
00:32:09for the Drivers' Championship.
00:32:10Let's not forget, Ferrari leads McLaren Mercedes
00:32:13by 11 points for the Constructors' title.
00:32:17And while Lewis Hamilton can finish anywhere in the top five
00:32:19and be world champion, no matter what this man Massa does,
00:32:22the McLarens have to finish ahead of the Ferraris
00:32:25and well up in the points
00:32:26if they're going to sweep both championships.
00:32:28So there is pressure to get up there.
00:32:32As Massa's driver...
00:32:33Well, Felipe Massa was slower through that sector two,
00:32:36picked it up in sector three.
00:32:37Steve, they must have taken some wing off at some stage.
00:32:39Yeah, I think they're right.
00:32:41So Massa, yeah, fastest in one.
00:32:4218.1 in sector one.
00:32:45They're flying.
00:32:49So Hamilton up in sector one and two.
00:32:52How's he on this long straight?
00:32:53How much wing's he got on board?
00:32:55Well, judging by that understeer, David,
00:32:57just coming up onto this start-finish straight,
00:32:59they've probably trimmed a little bit of front wing off
00:33:01to maximize the revs
00:33:03and the straight-line speed of the McLaren.
00:33:05There it is, 11.856.
00:33:08If you can get the driver to live with that understeer
00:33:11towards the end of the lap,
00:33:12you will gain enormously coming onto the straight,
00:33:15but you've got to get the driver to live with it.
00:33:17Look at that. Hamilton, 11.85.
00:33:19Massa, 11.87.
00:33:21Raikkonen, 11.95.
00:33:23I mean, boy, these guys are unbelievably close together.
00:33:26Kovalainen has now just done an 18.1.
00:33:30You mentioned getting the driver to live
00:33:31with the handling characteristics of the car, Steve.
00:33:34You've also got to get those Bridgestone tires
00:33:36to live with it.
00:33:37Yes, sir, absolutely.
00:33:40And, Steve, can I perhaps throw in another word here?
00:33:42Not only live with the understeer,
00:33:43but manipulate the understeer,
00:33:45which is what Lewis does so well.
00:33:46He's so good, if he has got understeer,
00:33:48of getting the front end to bite
00:33:50with very, very detailed use of the throttle and the steering.
00:33:53This is what Lewis does so well.
00:33:58Now, Piquet jumps into TP5.
00:34:02Alonso, P4.
00:34:05Eight drivers have posted times.
00:34:08Here's Heike Kovalainen.
00:34:10Quick in sector one.
00:34:13Jumps to four.
00:34:1512.0.
00:34:17Wow, Kovalainen fastest in sector one,
00:34:19as you just say, David,
00:34:20and fastest in sector three on that lap.
00:34:2317.1, a tenth up on Hamilton, Massa,
00:34:27and Raikkonen's time through that third sector.
00:34:29Probably hasn't got quite enough wing on board on Kovalainen
00:34:31there to make it quick in that sector two.
00:34:33He's got so many twists and turns in there.
00:34:36A lot of elevation change,
00:34:37a lot of complicated corners like this one here,
00:34:39where you're going very fast
00:34:41and you're braking through the corner
00:34:42because it suddenly tightens up there.
00:34:44Then back on the gas, then real slow corner here,
00:34:47down to second or first, downhill.
00:34:49Canva sliding away here.
00:34:51This is where you could do it.
00:34:51This is the sort of corner you need a lot of downforce,
00:34:54but you just can't afford it here
00:34:55because it's such a long run.
00:34:57From the last sector, all flat out and uphill.
00:35:03Sebastian Vettel.
00:35:05That's Alonso trying to get out of the way.
00:35:08Boy, Vettel's only a tenth off in the Toro Rosso.
00:35:11He was fifth this morning
00:35:12with that Ferrari power in the Toro Rosso.
00:35:16This could be an important lap for the young German.
00:35:18Sebastian Vettel, a guy that we're going to see and hear
00:35:20an awful lot of in the next 10 years.
00:35:23Fifth.
00:35:25Bumping Alonso.
00:35:30On board with Timo Glock, 6.36 to play in Q2.
00:35:38Wow.
00:35:40Quickest.
00:35:41Whoa.
00:35:43Boy, oh, boy.
00:35:46Now, if he's got a lot of wing for the second sector,
00:35:48it may hurt him right here.
00:35:56Third, slidding the top six,
00:35:59who were covered by a quarter of a second.
00:36:01Boy, 11.9, not too bad.
00:36:03This is like a pro-stock drag race qualifier.
00:36:05We're talking hundreds.
00:36:07You see many of the hitters headed for the garage.
00:36:10Down there somewhere, Peter Windsor is standing by
00:36:13with one of the Williams drivers
00:36:15who was knocked out in Q1, Kaz Nakajima.
00:36:19Kaz, a good qualifying for both Toyotas,
00:36:21but for Williams Toyota, not a good day.
00:36:23But congratulations again.
00:36:24Now the fifth time you've outqualified Nico.
00:36:26Yeah, personally, I think it was not bad qualifying,
00:36:29but as a team, I think it was very, very good.
00:36:32And here we need to find something more
00:36:35to gain the lap time,
00:36:36but I think at least I didn't make any mistake
00:36:39in a different condition.
00:36:41A lot of talk about graining on the Bridgestone tires
00:36:43before qualifying.
00:36:44Is the situation improving as the track evolves?
00:36:47Probably with a higher temperature,
00:36:50higher track temperature, it helps,
00:36:51but we didn't have any problem in qualifying lap
00:36:55from the practice.
00:36:56So maybe for the race,
00:36:58we'll have to wait and see how it goes.
00:37:00I think we'll have to wait and see how it goes
00:37:02in the practice.
00:37:03So maybe for the race, it's going to be a massive issue,
00:37:06but not today.
00:37:07Very best of luck in the race.
00:37:09Thanks for talking to us.
00:37:11All right, thanks, Peter.
00:37:12You see Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber
00:37:14with big handfuls of steering wheel.
00:37:17There's three turns off going out of that sector, too.
00:37:20I wonder what sort of aerodynamic drag
00:37:22they got up this long hill.
00:37:24Well, not enough, looking at the way that car is handling.
00:37:26Oh, he's going to do it.
00:37:30Heidfeld ahead of the pace.
00:37:31Quick Nick looking good right here.
00:37:34This could put a BMW Sauber up there into the top group.
00:37:41At the scene of his first career podium,
00:37:43Nick Heidfeld goes to sixth.
00:37:45You remember what a lot of trouble Heidfeld had
00:37:47with qualifying at the beginning of the year?
00:37:49Oh, boy.
00:37:50Just couldn't ever get in the heat in his tires and, uh...
00:37:51All that talk about kicking him out of the team.
00:37:54Oh, boy, I mean, he was looking really sick
00:37:56in the last few races.
00:37:57Oh, Kovalainen up there.
00:37:58Oh, boy, he is up.
00:38:00One-tenth up in sector one.
00:38:0218 dead.
00:38:03Very short sector.
00:38:05Now, this is the one that gives him a bit of a problem,
00:38:07sector two, and as you can see why.
00:38:09There are a lot of corners in here.
00:38:12Kovalainen said this weekend,
00:38:13this is the aspect of my driving
00:38:15I need to work on most with the team, qualifying.
00:38:18He's not been happy with having to be heavier fueled
00:38:21than his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, all year.
00:38:24There's stories in the Finnish press
00:38:25that Kovalainen is bristling a little bit
00:38:29at his clear number two status in the team behind Hamilton.
00:38:34Still quickest through that sector.
00:38:35So that's, you know, he could jump
00:38:37to the top of the time sheets here.
00:38:39This is his personal best year in sector two,
00:38:42and he's been fast through the speed trap, too.
00:38:43He could get to 11.7 here.
00:38:45Well, 11.5.
00:38:49194 miles an hour.
00:38:51Yes, he was fast through the speed trap,
00:38:53and there's a result of it.
00:38:55Kovalainen, 11.768, fastest in sectors one and two.
00:39:01He couldn't do more for the team.
00:39:03Second driver, he's got to support his teammate,
00:39:06and he's doing a fantastic job so far
00:39:08of showing that he can get the car to work.
00:39:11And Kovalainen's done this before.
00:39:12He was quickest in Q2 at the Italian Grand Prix of Monza
00:39:15and at Spa in Belgium,
00:39:18but he's only been fueled lighter than Lewis Hamilton
00:39:21once in Q3,
00:39:22and that is when the Fin took pole as one and only pole
00:39:26at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
00:39:29Oh, man, if you think this is exciting stuff,
00:39:32you've got to be with us tomorrow
00:39:34for the final Formula One race of the season.
00:39:36Join David, Steve, Peter, and me for live coverage
00:39:39of the Brazilian Grand Prix,
00:39:40beginning with the Acura Prix Race Show
00:39:42at 11.30 a.m. Eastern time.
00:39:45Tomorrow, 11.30 a.m., live here on Speed.
00:39:48Boy, Alonso's going to have another go.
00:39:50He's pretty solidly in an eighth spot.
00:39:54Hamilton's going to have another go.
00:39:56Wow, I wouldn't have bothered with him.
00:39:57There's that special white livery on David Coulthard's
00:40:01final Formula One car,
00:40:03supporting the Wings for Life Foundation,
00:40:05which supports research into spinal cord injuries
00:40:08and plans to make donations to a number of American foundations
00:40:11already working in that area,
00:40:13such as the Sam Schmidt Foundation,
00:40:16the Miami Project, the Christopher Reeve Foundation,
00:40:18and more.
00:40:19Good on DC, running for charity here in his final race.
00:40:26Right now, Coulthard is among the slow five.
00:40:28Bordet, Kubica, Weber, his teammate DC,
00:40:32and Rubens Barrichello.
00:40:33Robert Kubic is the one that, you know,
00:40:35shouldn't be down there.
00:40:36His teammate, Nick Heidfeld, is up in sixth.
00:40:38And, you know, traditionally,
00:40:41Kubic has been a much better qualifier than Heidfeld.
00:40:44I'm surprised that Hamilton's going to have another go.
00:40:46I mean, they've got that engine.
00:40:47They've got to be worried about that engine.
00:40:49They're now on to the race engine.
00:40:51They don't really need to be doing any more miles on that
00:40:54than necessary, I would have thought.
00:40:58Breikanen through this middle sector here.
00:41:00He was about two and a half miles an hour slower
00:41:03than Kovalainen through the speed trap,
00:41:05which indicates a run in just a little bit more wing,
00:41:08which, of course, will come into their favor tomorrow, guys.
00:41:11If the storms come, as I predicted,
00:41:13if we have some rain tomorrow,
00:41:15you want to have a little bit of extra wing on board.
00:41:17So it may make you slower today in qualifying,
00:41:20but, of course, if you're running low wing today,
00:41:22you'll be good in qualifying,
00:41:23but you're going to slip and slide tomorrow
00:41:25when the rain comes.
00:41:28If I notice Lewis Hamilton's going out, that's very unusual.
00:41:31I wonder whether he's starting to put a Q3 fuel load in
00:41:33to get a feel for the car in Q3,
00:41:35because often the handling and the balance
00:41:37does change a lot when you add the fuel.
00:41:41Yeah, very good point, Petrie.
00:41:42About two tenths down in the first sector
00:41:44than it was earlier on, which would indicate
00:41:46he's running fuel on board.
00:41:48Oh, a wiggle from Nick Heidfeld.
00:41:51Well, Nick Heidfeld really doesn't need to bother.
00:41:52He's in sixth.
00:41:54He's a team man.
00:41:56Vettel, who is up to the P1 pace.
00:42:00Heidfeld heads for the pit lane.
00:42:02Kubica down in 12th still.
00:42:04He's in trouble.
00:42:05Kubica's in trouble.
00:42:07Checkers is out.
00:42:08Vettel goes to second.
00:42:09Wow!
00:42:11Weber in the knockout zone, and he will stay there.
00:42:14Here comes Rubens Barrichello in his home race.
00:42:17No, no improvement. He's done.
00:42:21Jarno Trulli is ninth. No improvement.
00:42:25Sebastian Bordet and the other Toro Rosso.
00:42:28They've been quick. Here comes the Frenchman.
00:42:31Could he bump Nelson Piquet in his home race?
00:42:34Boy, it's going to be...
00:42:38Yes, he does.
00:42:40And now Trulli is on the bubble as Bordet moves to eighth.
00:42:48This is Kubica.
00:42:50No, he's done.
00:42:52He's headed for the pit lane, and he is done once again.
00:42:57The third time in the last five races,
00:42:59Robert Kubica has been eliminated in Q2
00:43:02as Hamilton heads for the garage.
00:43:04Boy, what...
00:43:10Wow.
00:43:11What a session.
00:43:12And we've still got one to go for the Fast 10.
00:43:16There you see the times for the top eight.
00:43:19Look at those gaps.
00:43:20Lots of zeros just to the right side of that decimal point.
00:43:23Boy, oh, boy.
00:43:25I mean, you get down to Sebastian Bordet,
00:43:27he's still only three-tenths off the pole.
00:43:30Okay, boys, now what do you do?
00:43:31Three-tenths.
00:43:34Now you have to put in your race level of fuel,
00:43:37plus just enough to get you through your qualifying session,
00:43:40which is only ten minutes long.
00:43:43Ten minutes long.
00:43:44Two sets of tires, two chances to bid for pole
00:43:47for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
00:43:49Coming up.
00:43:51Welcome back to Brazil.
00:43:52There you see the activity in the pit lane
00:43:54in the break between Q2 and the all-important Q3
00:43:57to set the grid.
00:43:58Now, there's the ideal lap with the quickest sector times
00:44:01set by the drivers.
00:44:02Heikki Kovalainen had two in his McLaren Mercedes,
00:44:05the first and third.
00:44:06Timo Glock in the Toyota, quickest in the middle sector.
00:44:091.11.519, the ultimate lap.
00:44:11Heikki Kovalainen ran a 1.11.768.
00:44:15Let's talk about who's advancing and who's not.
00:44:17Well, Heikki Kovalainen is definitely advancing.
00:44:19Sebastian Vettel doing that last-minute effort there.
00:44:22Fantastic time.
00:44:23Luis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Timo Glock.
00:44:25You don't expect to see him up there in fifth spot in the Toyota.
00:44:28Kimi Räikkönen behind him.
00:44:29Then Nick Heidfeld again out qualifying.
00:44:31Kubica, Sebastian Bordet doing a terrific job there
00:44:34for Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Alonso, and Jarno Trulli.
00:44:40Just scraping in in the second Toyota.
00:44:43These guys knocked out in Q2.
00:44:45They go no further.
00:44:46Nelson Piquet there for Renault.
00:44:48Mark Webber down there in 12th for Red Bull.
00:44:50Robert Kubica for BMW could not break out of Q2.
00:44:53David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello down there in 15th for Honda.
00:44:59And from the first session, Q1, Kaz Nakajima in 16th.
00:45:03And there's the other Honda there of Jenson Button, 17th.
00:45:05Nico Rosberg, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Suetil set at 20th.
00:45:10And speaking of Rubens Barrichello,
00:45:12listen to the reaction from the crowd.
00:45:14He's the most experienced driver in Formula One.
00:45:18Gives him a quick wave.
00:45:19Well, of course, you know, we keep on saying the Honda's horrible.
00:45:22It's just way off, it's way off, it's way off.
00:45:24I mean, his time was like seven tenths slower than Kovalainen's.
00:45:28I mean, it's not like it's, you know, a couple of seconds off.
00:45:32Native Polista and a good guy, Rubens Barrichello.
00:45:36We'll be back.
00:45:41Welcome back.
00:45:43The time is now for that man, Felipe Massa,
00:45:46seven points out of the lead in the World Championship.
00:45:49Desperately hoping to start at least on the front row
00:45:52and hopefully on pole.
00:45:54If he makes it, he'll be the first man to finish on three straight poles
00:45:58for the Brazilian Grand Prix here at Interlagos.
00:46:02Ayrton Senna had four poles,
00:46:04but they were split between this racetrack
00:46:06and Jacarro Pagua in Rio de Janeiro.
00:46:09There's Lewis Hamilton.
00:46:11He only needs to finish in the top five to clinch the driver's title.
00:46:15So what is his plan for qualifying?
00:46:17We talked about it at the top of the show.
00:46:19Peter Windsor scanned the paddock.
00:46:21Everybody seems to think you've got to be aggressive,
00:46:24run light, get to the front.
00:46:27There's Fernando Alonso.
00:46:29Quickest on Friday, quickest Saturday morning,
00:46:32but his Saturday morning time has been eclipsed
00:46:35by the blistering pace of qualifying with lots of one-elevens,
00:46:39which is right down in track record territory.
00:46:41Absolutely. This is set in 2004.
00:46:46A lot more horsepower.
00:46:49Timo Glock heads out in the Toyota to be the first man on track.
00:46:53Fans, if you can't get enough of David Hobbs,
00:46:54and I assume there must be at least one or two of you out there,
00:46:57check out speedtv.com every Formula One race weekend
00:46:59for pre-race features with Hobbo.
00:47:02And you'll get analysis, humor, legendary stories,
00:47:04the occasional infamous hobbism.
00:47:06So go to speedtv.com for more.
00:47:08David, what are you talking about this weekend, by the way?
00:47:11Oh, I mean, this year, this weekend,
00:47:13we were talking about all sorts of stuff.
00:47:15None of which I can remember now.
00:47:16Oh, you mean you don't remember,
00:47:17and you only did it yesterday for crying out loud.
00:47:19Well, it's all...
00:47:22It's all there on speedtv.com.
00:47:25Well, go read it, would you please?
00:47:28Oh, boy.
00:47:29Peter, can you help us out here?
00:47:31Ha-ha.
00:47:35Guys, when I was doing that piece,
00:47:37talking to a lot of the drivers about Lewis's potential strategy,
00:47:40one of the drivers I spoke to was Robert Kubica,
00:47:41and guess what he said?
00:47:42He said, I won't be anywhere near Lewis in the first corner,
00:47:45so I won't be able to trouble him at all.
00:47:47What did Robert know about his qualifying performance
00:47:49that he was about not to have that we didn't know?
00:47:51I mean, he was obviously not confident
00:47:53even on Thursday afternoon.
00:47:55Yeah, and we've talked about that.
00:47:56The last two race weekends,
00:47:58Kubica has just been floundering in qualifying.
00:48:03And how about Keeney Raikkonen?
00:48:05As you watch Timo Glock begin his first hot lap,
00:48:08Raikkonen used to be pretty much hands down
00:48:10the quickest man in Formula 1 in his McLaren days,
00:48:12and even in his early Ferrari runnings,
00:48:14he hasn't had a pole for 10 races.
00:48:17I mean, he was desperately unlucky
00:48:19not to win the 2005 season from Alonso.
00:48:23He was quicker than Alonso everywhere,
00:48:25led a bunch of races,
00:48:26but just had the most awful luck.
00:48:29Ooh, wow, talking about car moving around
00:48:32with fuel on board.
00:48:34The key factor to remember here,
00:48:36for any new viewers joining us for this qualifying session,
00:48:40the final race of the year,
00:48:42the third qualifying session, Q3,
00:48:44has to be run with race fuel on board.
00:48:47Q1 and Q2, ultralight fuel,
00:48:50just enough to get the cars around the track
00:48:53and back into the pits.
00:48:54Now, the cars will be race-fueled
00:48:57for the first stint of the race,
00:48:58so they will be slower times than we've seen so far.
00:49:02Typically, throughout a race weekend,
00:49:03Q2 is when the fastest times are set.
00:49:06So the whole key issue now is,
00:49:07how much fuel will the big hitters put on board?
00:49:11How long will they want to run
00:49:13before they come into the pits
00:49:14for that first stop on Sunday's race?
00:49:16And remember, fuel is weight.
00:49:19Weight equals time.
00:49:21That will affect the performance of the cars,
00:49:22how they set up on the grid for tomorrow.
00:49:24Well, that gives you an idea there.
00:49:27Floor 14.3.
00:49:2814.3.
00:49:30And on the prime tire, the harder of the two compounds,
00:49:33here comes Sebastian Vettel.
00:49:35Considerably quicker.
00:49:36Up from 11.9.
00:49:41Typically, when the Toro Rosso team has gotten into Q3,
00:49:44they fuel fairly heavily.
00:49:47That may not be the case with Seb Vettel here.
00:49:50As he goes to P1 now, 13.1.
00:49:521.2 seconds quicker than Glock.
00:49:54Quicker than Timo Glock.
00:49:55So Glock must have a lot of fuel on board.
00:49:59But 1.3 seconds off of Vettel's Q2 time,
00:50:02which may not turn out to be much by the end of the day.
00:50:07Here is Massa.
00:50:08All right.
00:50:09Now, that, you know, the beats we saw earlier on with Petey,
00:50:12you know, with all the teams saying,
00:50:14if I was them, I'd go for the pole.
00:50:18But I'll tell you what, Massa's going to want that pole.
00:50:21He's going to want the win as well,
00:50:22but he's going to want the pole.
00:50:24One of Massa's biggest concerns in the previous race
00:50:27was the difference in how the car felt from Q1 to Q2
00:50:31and then to Q3 when the weight of the fuel was on board.
00:50:34Didn't like the way the car handled.
00:50:36Didn't, wasn't really happy with it at all.
00:50:38Again, weight is everything, and it affects the balance
00:50:41and the way the driver can work with the car.
00:50:43You have to get used to it.
00:50:45You've got to get on top of it right now.
00:50:48Hopshin tires on Massa's Ferrari.
00:50:50Well, Massa's first sector was a good bit quicker
00:50:53than Hamilton's first sector.
00:51:00Brazil hasn't had a world champion
00:51:01since Ayrton Senna in 1991.
00:51:06Boy, oh boy, what would it mean to this 27-year-old
00:51:09if he could do it?
00:51:13He won by 7 tenths.
00:51:14So we've seen a 14, a 13, and a 12.
00:51:18His father, Luis, looks on.
00:51:19Boy, that's pretty...
00:51:29Half-second off for Raikkonen.
00:51:31Hamilton into four.
00:51:33Hamilton, yeah, if he gets down there
00:51:34in that third, fourth, fifth spot,
00:51:36I mean, you really are getting yourself
00:51:38into the danger zone of turn one.
00:51:41You get swamped by the field and...
00:51:43Well, that's what everybody's worried about,
00:51:44is the sharp left-hander right here
00:51:46as Raikkonen goes into it.
00:51:47The Senna S's.
00:51:49Raikkonen, too.
00:51:50Massa, Raikkonen.
00:51:52Raikkonen, fastest of all through sector three,
00:51:54a 17.4 fastest of the day through that third sector.
00:52:00Truly goes to P2 to break up the Ferrari front row.
00:52:04But this is only the first set of hot laps.
00:52:08Kovalainen to fourth.
00:52:14There's Hamilton.
00:52:15Hamilton now down in sixth.
00:52:17He's on the option tire.
00:52:20Well, I have to remember,
00:52:22despite what the engineers were telling us or predicting,
00:52:26Hamilton does not need to win this race tomorrow.
00:52:29Ooh, that was a problem for Hamilton.
00:52:31But he lost a bit of time there going through turn two.
00:52:34But he also doesn't want to be, you know,
00:52:36in the thick of things either on the middle of the grid.
00:52:38Whoa!
00:52:41Remember a year ago?
00:52:42That's that low back wing.
00:52:45A year ago when Hamilton came into this race
00:52:48with the championship lead and it all went wrong.
00:52:53How about Jarno Trulli, sick in the hospital or in the hotel
00:52:57with a fever just 48 hours ago.
00:52:59And here he is P2 in qualifying.
00:53:01Time to come in, get fresh tires,
00:53:04and go back out for another shot.
00:53:06Oh, Massa's going to go out and try
00:53:08and consolidate his position.
00:53:09Two set of tires.
00:53:11Proud, responding to the fact that Massa's being released
00:53:14back into the pit lane.
00:53:152.33 to play in Q3,
00:53:18the final qualifying session of 2008.
00:53:22This guy has the potential to become world champion.
00:53:24Both.
00:53:27Boy, oh, boy.
00:53:29Well, both those mistakes that Hamilton made
00:53:31would look to me like low aerodynamics,
00:53:33which, as we keep on saying, if it should rain tomorrow,
00:53:37will make the whole situation even worse for him.
00:53:39Now, you have to nurse these tires, Massa.
00:53:42They have been graining.
00:53:43You've got to take your time on the warm-up lap,
00:53:46control your pace, and get ready for that final run.
00:53:49Two minutes to play.
00:53:51Guys, I can barely describe the atmosphere
00:53:53by the Ferrari garage as Felipe Massa went out
00:53:56for this final run.
00:53:57This is the first Grand Prix of the year
00:53:59where the crowd noise has actually
00:54:00been louder than the engine noise.
00:54:02Absolutely brilliant.
00:54:04Oh, no.
00:54:06My brother, Eduardo, is not nervous one bit.
00:54:10Now, this is interesting.
00:54:12Look where Massa is on the map.
00:54:13He'll be the first man to post his final time.
00:54:16He's got Hamilton, Raikkonen, and Kovalainen
00:54:18behind him on the road.
00:54:20That's putting yourself out there.
00:54:22All right, Massa, this is it.
00:54:25Oh, and Massa's going to get another lap.
00:54:29In fact, he could probably get another two laps.
00:54:33If you start the hot lap before the checkers wave,
00:54:35it counts.
00:54:38Yeah, it's just a bit doubtful how much
00:54:40that second lap is worth.
00:54:41Listen to that crowd.
00:54:44And notice only nine names in the upper left.
00:54:46Sebastian Bordet has not gone out
00:54:48of the Toro Rosso Ferrari.
00:54:51He's going to sit in the garage, save tires.
00:54:57Oh, now Bordet comes out.
00:54:59Boy, he waited long enough.
00:55:03He's only going to make one run as the Frenchman.
00:55:07Hamilton off the pace to P1.
00:55:15Fresh engines in the Ferraris, race-old engines
00:55:18in the McLaren Mercedes.
00:55:2030 seconds on the clock.
00:55:23Boy, the crowd.
00:55:26Massa not as quick as he was on that lap before.
00:55:30Right now, he doesn't need to be.
00:55:32He's the provisional pole sitter,
00:55:33and he'll get another lap if he wants it.
00:55:38Oh, he improved.
00:55:39Wow.
00:55:40He improves by 85,000.
00:55:44All in sector three.
00:55:4517.3 in sector three.
00:55:47You're right, the crowd just going crazy.
00:55:50What will Hamilton do?
00:55:52No time left on the clock.
00:55:53Hamilton to second.
00:55:54Ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:55:56Oh, boy.
00:55:57Now watch right in it.
00:55:59Kimi Räikkönen coming up here.
00:56:00Is he going to snatch away that front right?
00:56:02Oh, from Alonso.
00:56:03And remember, Alonso was quickest this morning.
00:56:07Bordet goes to ninth.
00:56:09Kimi Räikkönen.
00:56:10Räikkönen to second.
00:56:11He bumps Hamilton.
00:56:12Here comes Alonso.
00:56:13Alonso, fifth.
00:56:15Nope, he won't be in the mix.
00:56:18Kovalainen, here comes Trulli.
00:56:21Kovalainen's still out there.
00:56:22Trulli to second.
00:56:23Hamilton is on the outside of row two.
00:56:26Now Kovalainen.
00:56:27And his old teammate could bump him to row three.
00:56:29What?
00:56:30So get over it.
00:56:31Fifth.
00:56:32Oh, that's it.
00:56:34Massa, Trulli, Räikkönen, Hamilton,
00:56:36then Kovalainen and Alonso.
00:56:39As Anthony Hamilton looks on, I don't think
00:56:42that's what they were looking for.
00:56:44And his face just came up on the big screens
00:56:46around the track.
00:56:47And the crowd is booing.
00:56:51I don't think that's what they wanted for Hamilton at all.
00:56:54On the inside of row two, he's on the dirty side
00:56:59of the track.
00:57:01Massa's dead.
00:57:02Congratulating everybody in the Ferrari garage.
00:57:05Qualifying is complete for 2008.
00:57:08Well, he wanted to put on a good display.
00:57:10Of course, he wanted to be on pole for his championship
00:57:13hopes.
00:57:14He has done that.
00:57:15And Sao Paolo is just going ballistic with fun and pleasure
00:57:20at what he's managed to achieve as our Ferrari.
00:57:23What a fantastic result for Massa and Ferrari.
00:57:30Oh, boy.
00:57:31Oh, boy.
00:57:32Oh, boy.
00:57:33Oh, boy.
00:57:50Oh, boy.
00:57:51Oh, boy.
00:57:52Oh, boy.
00:57:53Carnivale has broken out here in Sao Paolo.
00:57:58But the job is only half done.
00:58:00Oh, wow.
00:58:01Boy, three poles in a row here in Sao Paulo.
00:58:03So, just terrific.
00:58:06It's exactly what Massa needed to do.
00:58:08Seven points adrift in his bid to become world champion driver for the first time.
00:58:14But he needed to be on pole.
00:58:16He has to go out and win this race.
00:58:18And he has done absolutely superbly so far to be on pole.
00:58:24And he's got Kimi Raikkonen just right behind him there to back him up.
00:58:27And how about this guy?
00:58:29Jarno Trulli gives Toyota its first front row start since the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix.
00:58:35And he does it getting up out of his sickbed to qualify.
00:58:41Boy, oh boy.
00:58:42Wow.
00:58:46Well, it's going to be...
00:58:47I don't know, Steve.
00:58:48It's difficult to know what these guys have got in terms of set up on these cars.
00:58:52Because if the weather changes tomorrow, that could put a whole new light on things.
00:58:55Yeah, absolutely.
00:58:56Absolutely, it will.
00:58:57Ah, boy, that's right.
00:58:58As the old saying goes, that's why we run the races.
00:59:01But Hamilton's got Alonso right behind him on the grid.
00:59:04So, that's not what Hamilton's going to be wanting.
00:59:08So, who do you like in your Formula 1 pool?
00:59:10That guy?
00:59:12Or the guy he just gave a tap on the shoulder to as he walked out of the garage?
00:59:15Lewis Hamilton.
00:59:16There's Massa's family.
00:59:18His mother, Anna Elena.
00:59:19Sister, Fernanda.
00:59:20Wife, Rafaela.
00:59:23Boy, they could hardly be more intense.
00:59:28Well done, Jarno Trulli.
00:59:29Jarno Trulli.
00:59:30An outstanding effort.
00:59:31Absolutely outstanding.
00:59:34Sebastian Vettel looking a little concerned.
00:59:37He'll start from 7th.
00:59:38But I think Vettel's got a lot of fuel on board.
00:59:40He's a lot slower than he was in Q2.
00:59:42Once again, both Toro Rosso Ferraris up there in the top 10.
00:59:49Here's our pole lap.
00:59:51Let's listen.
00:59:53Massa, Trulli, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Alonso.
00:59:58Who is the daddy of Brazil?
00:59:59Well done, son.
01:00:00Great.
01:00:03Thank you, guys.
01:00:05Great, great job.
01:00:10Well, depending on how you look at it, Felipe Massa needed to start from the front row.
01:00:16He's never won when he has started off the front row.
01:00:21So he's right where he needs to be with his rival pretty much where he wants it.
01:00:26In his rear view mirror.
01:00:28That is going to the start.
01:00:36Welcome back.
01:00:37Just beyond the backstretch there, here at the Interlago Circuit, you see a go-kart track.
01:00:42That's where Felipe Massa started his racing career.
01:00:45Let's join Peter Windsor.
01:00:47Congratulations to the fastest three qualifiers for the final round of the 2008 Formula One World Championship.
01:00:53Third for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, Kimi Raikkonen.
01:00:57Second for Panasonic Toyota Yano Trulli.
01:00:59And scoring his sixth pole of the year and becoming the first man ever to have three consecutive poles here at Interlagos,
01:01:04for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, Felipe Massa.
01:01:07Well, Felipe, I don't know who was more delighted.
01:01:09The Ferrari garage, you, or this amazing crowd here at Interlagos?
01:01:16I think it's a good fight between all three.
01:01:19But I would say maybe the people around is amazing.
01:01:23I mean, it's so nice to be here and making the third pole position in a row in Brazil,
01:01:31in front of these fantastic people, which is 100% emotion about motor race.
01:01:38I think it's great for us to come here and see that you have so many people who love what we're doing.
01:01:48I think it's difficult to describe with a single word our feeling,
01:01:56and especially my feeling being Brazilian in front of my people.
01:02:00But also racing for a fantastic team, which is very emotional as well,
01:02:06which is working very, very hard.
01:02:09So having a fantastic family, fantastic friends, which is around,
01:02:15I think that is really a dream come true.
01:02:19And a very special weekend for you two in terms of your championship battle with Lewis Hamilton.
01:02:24You needed to be on the pole here, you need to win this Grand Prix.
01:02:27What a great start to the race weekend.
01:02:29Yeah, for sure. We have 73 laps tomorrow, which is pretty long.
01:02:38But it's always better to start on the front.
01:02:41So I think we have a good car.
01:02:43We proved Friday, this morning, we proved that our car is very competitive around here.
01:02:50And we showed also in the qualifying, especially on Q3.
01:02:56So it's always a good start to be in front.
01:02:59For sure, I will try to do my best tomorrow to win the race.
01:03:05And then that's the most important thing.
01:03:07Let's talk a little bit more detail about qualifying.
01:03:10McLaren looked to be quick on light fuel Q1, Q2,
01:03:13but you were very, very fast in Q3 on both your qualifying laps.
01:03:16Yeah, I would say I was very comfortable and I was very quick all around the sessions.
01:03:25But on Q2, I made a small mistake on Turn 4.
01:03:29I went off the kerb in Turn 4.
01:03:34Maybe I lost a couple of times.
01:03:36So it would have been already a good lap in Q2.
01:03:39But then I managed to put everything together in Q3, which is even better.
01:03:43It's where it counts. So we showed a great performance.
01:03:47And did your first lap relatively early on came out onto your second lap?
01:03:51Lots of time to do that.
01:03:54Well, the first try was already enough to be on pole.
01:03:59But the problem is that I started pretty early.
01:04:03I was in front of Lewis and with some other drivers as well.
01:04:08So if I back off in the last try and somebody improves,
01:04:14it would have been a bit stupid.
01:04:18But anyway, I think we have a good strategy even like that.
01:04:23Very good track management. Congratulations to you.
01:04:26Congratulations to you, Jarno.
01:04:28The first front row start for Panasonic Toyota since 2005, Japan 2005.
01:04:33Fifty-five races have passed.
01:04:35And what a weekend on which to do it.
01:04:37Laid low with fever on Friday and Thursday, I gather.
01:04:40And here you are on the front row.
01:04:42I think this time I really have to admit that for the first time,
01:04:46I thought that I was not going to make it for Friday
01:04:50because Thursday I was feeling really bad.
01:04:52But in this case, after these results,
01:04:54I really have to thank the whole team for the job,
01:04:57from the mechanics, engineers up to the doctor,
01:05:00because they really managed to get me everything I needed to be quick.
01:05:05And to be honest, even before coming here in Brazil,
01:05:08I knew that this was one of those track, technical, difficult,
01:05:11where I could have been very strong
01:05:13and my car could have been very competitive.
01:05:15So I've been preparing this Grand Prix, I've been waiting for it.
01:05:18And now here I am.
01:05:20I really played my cards during the qualifying,
01:05:23saving tyres and getting ready for the Q3,
01:05:27and in the end just put in a very good lap.
01:05:29We've been pretty competitive all the way through,
01:05:32in Friday session and this morning.
01:05:36So I'm really, really happy for Toyota teams, for everybody,
01:05:40because it just shows the progress the team has made during this season.
01:05:45A lot of talk before qualifying about the importance
01:05:47of managing the Bridgestone tyres well here.
01:05:49Very different conditions to yesterday.
01:05:51Talk us through that.
01:05:52Your sort of qualifying session, one suspects.
01:05:55To be honest, the tyres were performing pretty well.
01:05:57The main issue is probably for tomorrow.
01:06:00And this comes then the setup, the car and everything else.
01:06:03We need to handle the tyres in a very different way compared to the qualifying.
01:06:07In qualifying it was pretty obvious to use the soft,
01:06:10but for the race could be quite a different situation.
01:06:15So let's wait and see, because some people might have some problem.
01:06:18Our car in general could be good in this condition,
01:06:21but we need temperature, we need sun, we need warmer temperature
01:06:24than what we have had so far.
01:06:26So just wait and see for tomorrow.
01:06:29Congratulations to you, Jarno.
01:06:31And Kimi, turning to you, congratulations.
01:06:33A great and unusual situation for you to be finding yourself
01:06:37and supporting Felipe this weekend,
01:06:39but a great support role you're playing now,
01:06:41starting right behind him on the grid and ahead, of course, both McLarens.
01:06:45Yeah, I mean, I think I did more or less what I'm supposed to do.
01:06:49So I'm in a good starting place.
01:06:52I actually prefer to be third and second.
01:06:56It's been here a pretty good place to start.
01:06:58So hopefully we get a good start.
01:07:01And I think we have a car to pull away like we did last year.
01:07:06And that would be perfect for the team.
01:07:08And that's what we're aiming for.
01:07:10And after that, it's not up to us anymore.
01:07:12If we just can finish where we want,
01:07:14then we'll see what happens after that.
01:07:17It looks as if the car's been pretty good
01:07:19from the start of the weekend, from Friday.
01:07:21The Ferrari looks have been right on the pace.
01:07:23Certainly yesterday, you were quick relative to McLaren, it appeared.
01:07:27Talk us through how you feel the car is going,
01:07:29and particularly with reference to race setup.
01:07:32I mean, I think the car definitely is good.
01:07:36I haven't had the most issues this weekend,
01:07:38but anyhow, we are where we should be now.
01:07:41And I think for the race, I'm pretty confident
01:07:44that my car is going to be quite strong.
01:07:47It wasn't perfect in the last qualifying,
01:07:49a bit too much understeer, but that's not a bad sign.
01:07:52Looking at how the tyres are working here,
01:07:54it's going to be hard for the tyres in the race.
01:07:57So I think we should be in a strong position in the race.
01:08:00And in the end, that's where we need to be strong,
01:08:03as long as we're in the front and qualifying is enough.
01:08:06And we'll see what we can do tomorrow,
01:08:09but not a bad team effort from us.
01:08:12You were in Felipe's position 12 months ago.
01:08:14What sort of advice have you been giving your young teammate?
01:08:17Like I said, I think our only chance is to try to be first and second,
01:08:20and then hoping a little bit luck from our side.
01:08:24And it's not up to us anymore at that point.
01:08:30But I mean, that's our aim, and we'll see what happens.
01:08:35Felipe, just returning to you for some final thoughts.
01:08:38Going into this week, what has it been like for you?
01:08:41The pressures, the pleasures, the excitement, the anticipation?
01:08:45Sum it up for us.
01:08:47Well, I think everything.
01:08:50I grew up in this area, on the other side of the wall,
01:08:54in the Go-Kart track.
01:08:57I think the memory we have around here is so huge, so nice,
01:09:01to go back and remember everybody you worked with,
01:09:05everybody who knows your career,
01:09:09everybody who saw you growing up and going to the other categories.
01:09:14And they are here now together,
01:09:18praying and supporting me.
01:09:21So I think that's a fantastic feeling.
01:09:25And for sure, I know very well the track,
01:09:28so I love to race here.
01:09:32I'm always very competitive on this track,
01:09:35so that's always a fantastic feeling.
01:09:39Congratulations on your third successive pole again at Interlagos,
01:09:42and very best of luck tomorrow.
01:09:44So that was history, and consider this.
01:09:46Only one driver has ever clinched the World Championship
01:09:49in his home Grand Prix, Giuseppe Farina, in 1950.
01:09:52Massa could be next.
01:09:56Speed's coverage of the FIA Formula One World Championship
01:09:59is brought to you by BMW.
01:10:01BMW, the ultimate driving machine.
01:10:06And so qualifying is complete.
01:10:08All that's left is to run the last race.
01:10:10Here's how they'll line up.
01:10:11Felipe Massa looking for that first World Championship.
01:10:13Did the first thing he needed to do today.
01:10:15Got on the pole position.
01:10:16Jarno Trulli put the cat among the pigeons there.
01:10:18Second for the Toyota, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis.
01:10:20Hamilton make up row two.
01:10:21Hamilton on the dirty side of the track.
01:10:23Aiki Kobayashi, his teammate, a row behind him.
01:10:25And Alonso right behind Hamilton.
01:10:27Not what he wants.
01:10:28Then Vettel, Heidfeld in the top front, top ten.
01:10:31There's 11th through to 15th.
01:10:32Nelson Piquet, Weber, Kubica, Davy Coulthard,
01:10:35and Barrichello for Honda.
01:10:3616th to 20.
01:10:37Kaz Nakajima, Jenson Button, Igor Osberg,
01:10:39Fizikela, and Sutil lines up P20.
01:10:42Here we go.
01:10:43Don't forget to join David, Steve, Peter, and me
01:10:45beginning tomorrow morning at 11.30 a.m. Eastern Time
01:10:48here on Speed for live coverage
01:10:50of the Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix.
01:10:52Beginning with the Acura pre-race show.
01:10:54And at noon, the cars will roll off to decide
01:10:57the 2008 World Championships.
01:10:59For David Hobbs, Steve Matchett, and Peter Windsor,
01:11:02I'm Bob Varsha.
01:11:03We'll see you tomorrow.
01:11:04Don't miss the final Formula One race of the year
01:11:07from Brazil.
01:11:08Until then, so long, everyone.
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