- 3 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00And Hugh is going to be able to, Vettel's got caught slightly sleeping there, you'd have to say.
00:05Hamilton also, I would say, Hamilton's nowhere to be seen.
00:09Has Vettel got a slipstream from the Ferrari, has, but not enough.
00:12And we know his gear will be bouncing off the limit of that top seven gear, I wonder.
00:16Schumacher's through, mate.
00:17He is, well done, well spotted, David.
00:19So Michael Schumacher then punishes Lewis Hamilton for his sleepy restart.
00:26And Mark Webber then also through there.
00:29So, Mark Webber for Red Bull.
00:32It's Vettel, second amendment.
00:34Vettel again down the outside.
00:35He's getting so much better acceleration for some reason out of the first chicane.
00:39And Alonso having absolutely none of that.
00:43And why do you think Vettel's so much stronger off that chicane?
00:45Well, it could be the shorter ratios.
00:46We know he went with shorter ratios in qualifying with buzzing in the limiter for several seconds.
00:51And it was all about trying to have good race pace.
00:54They've got 140 kilos of fuel on board now.
00:56So you naturally have less, you know, more mass to accelerate.
01:00So if you have those shorter ratios, it's going to allow the engine to breathe a bit better.
01:05So this is critical times for Alonso.
01:07He's got to break the one second margin to Sebastian Vettel in these first two laps.
01:12Otherwise, he's going to be wide open to a dose of DRS and a dose of cars.
01:19Absolutely right.
01:20And the DRS won't be in for two laps after the safety car's pitted.
01:23And look at that Vettel then right on the back of Alonso.
01:26But Michael Schumacher having another tremendous start to this Grand Prix as we've so often seen.
01:32And how sweet would that have felt for him passing Hamilton down in the first chicane.
01:36We know that the Mercedes is a quick and a straight line.
01:38But look, Vettel's got the legs on the Ferrari.
01:41Alonso trying to break the toe immediately.
01:43Looked like more than one move to me.
01:45Although, you know, was he trying to break the toe?
01:47Was he actually defending?
01:48That's the argument.
01:50Oh, look at this.
01:51Webber's lost his nose.
01:54Mass is pointing the wrong way.
01:56And Vettel is having a look at the other Ferrari.
01:59This time he's going to get on the outside.
02:00That's a better line as long as he doesn't end up with too much grass.
02:04And Alonso pushed him wide.
02:05He would have none of it.
02:06And Vettel has the turn-in point.
02:09And that was bravery at 200 miles an hour.
02:12Nobody would lift off the throttle.
02:14Nobody would yield.
02:15And Vettel came out the winner.
02:17Anyone who doubts this Sebastian Vettel can race.
02:20That was brave, brave stuff.
02:22We spoke about this in the qualifying show.
02:24Curva Grandi never used to be flat in the days when you were racing with the turbos.
02:28And he was flat on the grass around the outside of Alonso.
02:32What a race.
02:32Now Hamilton is right behind Michael Schumacher as well.
02:35Those two have closed the gap as the two in front were trying to wipe each other out.
02:39In the Curva Grandi down towards the second chicane.
02:42We've got yellow flags out there again at the moment.
02:44So Hamilton then fancies redressing the balance of being caught napping on the restart.
02:49And they've dropped Jenson Button, who presumably got held up a little bit as Webber and Massa got together.
02:55We don't know if Massa managed to recover his position.
02:59So whether he managed to get going again.
03:01But here it is.
03:02We're on board with Mark Webber then.
03:04He's got a good slipstream.
03:05So he's gone down the outside.
03:07They nearly touched at that point.
03:08He then tries to muscle his way around and he hits the curb, flies through the air and Massa cut him off.
03:15How do you read that?
03:16I think Mark should have bailed out.
03:18He had the outside line obviously in the first part.
03:20Put him on the inside and we see a result of that.
03:22He's gone into the Tech Pro Barriers trying to get back to the pits.
03:27So let's wait and see.
03:28But it was clearly front wing damage.
03:31And I wonder if that's gone under the front of the car and he's lost his ceiling.
03:35Where is that on the track?
03:36Michael Schumacher looking at second place as well.
03:38These three are fighting over second place.
03:40Alonso, Schumacher, Hamilton.
03:43All former world champions.
03:45They know what it takes.
03:46And Hamilton's up the inside into the first Lesbitt but has to give way.
03:49Schumacher maintains the position at the moment.
03:52But that's allowed Alonso to just build a little bit of space between them.
03:57So Alonso just seems very, very slow off the two chicanes actually.
04:02Right, he was fast there yesterday in qualifying.
04:05Obviously a very different situation when you've got all that fuel on board.
04:08Maybe the Ferrari has got a bit more weight in that car.
04:12We don't know what configuration they've chosen to race their engine.
04:15If they wanted to win any Grand Prix this year, it would be their home race in Monza.
04:20Five world champions fill the top five places and now they've allowed Vettel to get away.
04:27DRS has been enabled which should help if Hamilton is within a second of Schumacher there.
04:33Then he gets the DRS and he certainly is.
04:36But the Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes is so much faster in a straight line than the McLaren Mercedes.
04:42But I don't see the DRS.
04:43Is the DRS open?
04:44It's not open, is it?
04:45I wonder why it didn't look like it from that angle anyway.
04:48It certainly didn't look like it from how close he was.
04:50Yeah, it looked like it was initially and then I quite agree it looks like it had closed after that.
04:54A lot of turbulence in the front wing of that McLaren.
04:56And as we see Massa here trying to make his comeback, there's that down the inside of Paul de Resta.
05:01And he makes it stick.
05:03Next stop, Perez.
05:07So, Felipe Massa then making his way back through, as you say, David.
05:11He's up in ninth place.
05:13Make that eighth place now with that move.
05:17And once again then it's Alonso, Schumacher, Hamilton.
05:20And I started to say, I don't know if I finished saying, five world champions out there in the top five places.
05:26Beto, Alonso, Schumacher, Hamilton, Button.
05:29Sixth then is Maldonado for Williams.
05:32And he's some two and a bit, nearly three seconds off the pace of the leaders.
05:37But he's holding a comfortable sixth place.
05:39Jenson Button beginning to hone in on this fight as they're so busy watching each other that they're losing time.
05:48Schumacher goes outside the white lines.
05:50You are allowed to do that at Ascari.
05:52One of the few places where everybody seems to accept it's the better option than trying to put a high curve there.
05:59Parabolica corner.
06:01And let's see what we've got going on here.
06:04We've got Mark Webber then.
06:05I replay him with no front wing.
06:07Presumably he's going to touch the brakes.
06:09He's got no front down course.
06:11And a rather pathetic feeling as he has a very minor incident with the wall actually.
06:19And that shows you just, and the wing's right underneath the car as you suggested it might be, David.
06:25Didn't get underneath his tyres.
06:26But that shows you just how effective those wings are, isn't it, when they're doing their job properly.
06:32Well, they don't carry them there for sponsor decals.
06:35They're there to push the car into the ground.
06:38And he's got a massive offset and balance when he hit the brakes.
06:40Ted.
06:41Yeah, Webber was racing to get back to the pits where they had a new front nose and hard tyres ready for Mark Webber.
06:46That's what they would have put on, Martin, which is interesting.
06:48Just on Lewis Hamilton, his DRS for some reason was a glitch of it.
06:51It didn't work on that main straight, but it is working now.
06:53Well, the speed offset between Michael Schumacher and the Mercedes Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren Mercedes in qualifying was 12 kilometers an hour.
07:04Now, Michael Schumacher has that 12k advantage.
07:07You reckon the DRS is worth about 15 kilometers an hour around this track.
07:11So that explains why it's so difficult for Lewis Hamilton to get his car into the slipstream position.
07:16And then if he doesn't have DRS, all he's doing is just getting towed up behind them.
07:20He's not getting the advantage of the X momentum.
07:23While you were giving us that little nugget, the DRS was wide open of Lewis now.
07:28And now he's within a second again, so he'll get the advantage of it.
07:32Will he remember to use it?
07:33I don't know if he just didn't realize he could use it last time around.
07:36And let's see what effect that has.
07:37We're in the slipstream.
07:38Our rear wing is open.
07:40And that's what you're talking about, David.
07:42Michael Schumacher defending using his curves.
07:45So he knows he doesn't have the DRS available, but he's got some curves to give him an extra 80 horsepower.
07:50So good strategy from Michael at the moment.
07:52We'll listen again next time.
07:53I don't know if I heard Lewis on the rev limiter, though, with that one.
07:57But whether it's just a little bit of interference on the sound transmission.
08:04Our end of straight speeds look okay.
08:07Schumacher's just very high.
08:10Explain that one to me.
08:12Our end of straight speeds is okay, but the guy in front is just a bit quicker.
08:15Yeah, I think that's, you're not slow, he's fast.
08:19I think, unfortunately, the net result's the same, isn't it?
08:22But we know that the Mercedes has been mighty in the first sector, which is two long straights and a slow chicane, isn't it?
08:29He should have delivered the old, there's good news.
08:32No, actually, let's face that.
08:34There's bad news and there's more bad news.
08:36But Michael feels the need to go defensive into Ascari where that second DRS zone is.
08:40And the problem is, that's such a tricky piece of racetrack when you're all by yourself on a test day, let alone in the middle of a race.
08:48And he's got a much better on him again, but no DRS down this section.
08:51All he can do is try and stay as close as possible.
08:54And surprisingly, Lewis is riding with him on the way in, but Jensen can't quite join this battle.
09:01That would be fun if he would, wouldn't it?
09:03It'll be a fantastic stop as Lewis Hamilton looks better positioned this lap.
09:07But you can't open that.
09:08Is his DRS?
09:09It doesn't happen to a long way down, there it is now.
09:11It's a long way down the straight before it actually becomes available.
09:14Now he's closed in again.
09:16What's that about?
09:18Well, we know that McLaren had some issues during practice where when they were reattaching the wing, so closing the wing, they were having some stalling.
09:25As we see Felipe Massa here from Maldonado down the outside, massive overspeed.
09:30So this should be a fairly straightforward pass.
09:32And indeed, he confidently turns into that apex.
09:35Massa does to Maldonado what Weber was trying to do to him when they managed to connect.
09:39And no wonder he was looking out the side rather than ahead.
09:41He's like, oh, you let me through?
09:43Are you really letting me through?
09:44Okay, then.
09:45So what I was saying there before I interrupted myself is that McLaren seemed to have some issues with reattaching the airflow when they disactivate the DRS.
09:53So I wonder if that's why Lewis Hamilton was getting it closed nice and early before the braking zone, playing safety first, you know, play the long game here.
10:01I should be faster over the Grand Prix than Michael Schumacher.
10:04Say something on Maldonado.
10:05And look at this.
10:06And Hamilton tries to go to the inside, but Schumacher with a very robust defence.
10:11You're allowed one move to defend your line.
10:13And Michael would say, well, I defended my line.
10:17Then I took up the position for the corner.
10:19And a much better slipstream this time for Hamilton.
10:21But there really is very little braking zone down into Parabolica.
10:25And I don't think there's enough of a braking zone to make the difference.
10:27We've got a yellow flag out there again in sector seven of the lap.
10:32So somebody's gone off.
10:34Vettel's lead then.
10:35I forgot he was out front.
10:36Five, six seconds.
10:38He's leads by now as he pulls relentlessly away from Fernando Alonso.
10:42And now Hamilton with his DRS wide open again.
10:45He's no chance, has he?
10:47He's just too fast.
10:49Michael with the curves.
10:50Well, Lewis isn't using his curves.
10:52I haven't seen him use it once yet.
10:54So does he have it available?
10:57Is there an issue there?
10:58Ted.
10:59He does have it available, but he's choosing where to use it.
11:01He doesn't want to use it for some reason.
11:03And that's subtle out of the race on the main straight.
11:06He's choosing to use it in other parts of the lap.
11:08It's difficult to charge the curves here.
11:10That's point one.
11:11And it's difficult to cool.
11:12So that might be another problem.
11:13McLaren insists, though, the curves is working.
11:15The DRS is also working.
11:17But this has ruined Lewis Hamilton's race strategy, hasn't it?
11:19Seven or almost eight seconds now behind the leader, guys.
11:22He is indeed.
11:23And so why I think we're seeing Lewis catch up so much through here
11:27as a little puff of blue smoke comes off the bag of Schumacher's car
11:29as he's using his curves and his DRS down this section.
11:33But there's nowhere to overtake when you get to the end of it.
11:36Schumacher, again, with the widest Formula One car we've seen for a while.
11:40He's a lot of oversteering.
11:42I was going to say, yeah, there isn't really a natural line to overtake into a Skari.
11:45But maybe he's just trying to put Michael under pressure into Skari.
11:49He's in the slipstream now.
11:50Michael will force him to the outside into Parabolica.
11:52I don't see how he can find a way around there.
11:54But he can hold Michael tight and hope that that makes him slow on the exit.
11:59These Formula One drivers are getting too brave.
12:01I think they think they're invincible in their carbon fibre survival cells.
12:07And let's see, we're closer than ever this time.
12:09We're well over 200 miles an hour now.
12:11We're coming to about 215 miles an hour at the front of that McLaren.
12:14He's in the limiter.
12:15Yeah, I thought he was earlier on, but you shook your head, so I didn't say it.
12:20Trust your instincts, Martin.
12:22Absolutely right.
12:23I think I've told you that before a few times as well.
12:25We need to keep telling each other that.
12:27But unfortunately, Lewis Hamilton at the moment can't do anything about Michael Schumacher.
12:32Now he can flick to the left.
12:33Schumacher's covered the obvious route.
12:35And he'll sweep back across to the right and force Hamilton off the throttle.
12:38And it's really, what's surprising me is Button's still a second and a half behind this bike.
12:44You expect Jensen, if he's got a really good car this afternoon, would be right on the back of this.
12:48Yeah, but again, you don't want to be right up behind those cars.
12:52Losing downforce, overheating your brakes, overheating the engine.
12:56You know, maybe Jensen's just playing the smart game here.
12:58He's only 1.3 seconds behind Hamilton.
13:00And he's probably pretty comfortable to let them battle it out.
13:04Do you think he thinks they're going to take each other off?
13:06Well, this is a slightly more cautious Lewis Hamilton than we've seen at other Grand Prix's.
13:12You know, maybe now he's just thinking, right, I've had some incidents this year.
13:17Let's go for a very deliberate, a very safe overtake.
13:21So let's just explain to the viewers why it's hard to collect your Kers energy on this track.
13:26It's so fast with so many heavy, three heavy braking zones.
13:28Average speed around this racetrack is 245 kilometers an hour.
13:33Very few braking zones.
13:34You need those braking zones to use the wasted kinetic energy.
13:40And it's seen Lewis Hamilton is out of the slipstream now with Michael Schumacher.
13:44And this will be straightforward.
13:46Who can break the latest?
13:47Michael conceding the place.
13:50And, yeah, very tidy, clean move from Lewis Hamilton.
13:55Nice indeed.
13:56But now Schumacher still has that speed.
13:58Now he has the slipstream and the DRS.
14:00So he's going around the outside.
14:01Is he going to take that place straight back?
14:03Lewis didn't really cut him off early enough.
14:06He's got to be much more aggressive like Schumacher was to him.
14:08And Schumacher just sweeps straight back around using the straight line speed that's held Lewis up so much.
14:14Jensen now just about joining that party.
14:16But Lewis really needed to, a little bit like with Kobayashi in Spa two weeks ago,
14:21he needed to cut that one straight back off again.
14:23Well, especially the Mercedes cars have been the quickest cars consistently in that first sector.
14:28So that's all the way down to that second chicane.
14:30They were actually picked for the fastest sector time by Fernando Alonso in qualifying.
14:34But consistently through short runs, long runs, they've been doing it.
14:37Lewis Hamilton, again, just trying to get Michael Schumacher to go defensive.
14:40Now Jensen Button has him in his sights.
14:43This is going to be interesting.
14:45Yes, it's going to be messy.
14:46Yes, indeed.
14:47I thought I'd go conservative.
14:49But, you know, will Jensen say, right, you've had your chance, Lewis.
14:52Now it's my time.
14:54Let me show you what I can do with Michael Schumacher.
14:58He's made 49, I think it is, competitive overtakes.
15:03He has, 49 indeed.
15:04He's the man who's overtaken most on track this year.
15:07There's Jensen Button.
15:08And, of course, he will have the DRS.
15:10So does Hamilton.
15:11The pair of them do.
15:13Michael Schumacher only has his horsepower to defend with.
15:15And a bit of curves as well he'll feed in.
15:18As the two McLarens really helm in on third place man, Michael Schumacher.
15:24The man who has won this Grand Prix five times.
15:29Michael.
15:31Sorry, Ted.
15:32And there are groans of frustration down here at the McLaren garage.
15:36They're going to have to change their strategy.
15:38Team Radio.
15:39Okay.
15:39Michael in third position is holding up the two McLarens.
15:43Michael in third position holding up the two McLarens.
15:45About a second a lot slower than us.
15:47And so that's the message to Massa.
15:51But Alonso and Vettel will be absolutely dancing with delight at this.
15:54Buttons race now compromised as well.
15:57But I think McLaren are going to say that they've had enough of this.
16:00We're entering the two-stop strategy window.
16:02I think they're going to call one of their drivers in quite soon.
16:04Because as we've just, what Smedley pointed out, to Felipe Massa.
16:10He's who's now up into sixth place having passed Maldonado as we saw when we're on board.
16:13He's dropped Maldonado by six seconds.
16:15I started to say it's smarter Maldonado to let him through and not waste any time.
16:19And look at this then.
16:20Hamilton again with that slipstream.
16:22But it's such a short braking zone.
16:23If you're going to be, you know, the cars are about five metres long.
16:26If you're going to be five metres better on the brakes than the driver in front.
16:29Then you need a bit of a braking zone to do it in.
16:31And there isn't one at the Parabolica corner.
16:34As Martin Whitmarsh, the team principal there at McLaren, watches his two men.
16:39And now that DRS comes open.
16:42And Schumacher again as Hamilton, bouncing along on 18,000 revs in seventh gear.
16:47Can do nothing about it.
16:49That's what we've been talking about all year long.
16:51This critical choice of seventh gear ratio that you must do before Saturday morning.
16:58Well, Mercedes have geared their car.
17:00That's the Mercedes Mercedes Mercedes in front.
17:03Have geared their car to use all of the RPM without DRS.
17:07And McLaren taking the lead from what Rev Go showed in free practice.
17:11Have geared short.
17:12And that means that they're just banging up against that rev limiter.
17:16It's just you hit a speed and you can't go any faster.
17:19So it's because Schumacher struggling for rear grip on those option tires.
17:23This is all going to be about pit stop strategy.
17:25Unless Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button can make this stick on the track.
17:28I wonder if Michael's thinking, I'm just going to enjoy this while I can.
17:31Because as soon as we go into the pit stop phase, that pair will be off.
17:34But Alonso then is now four and a half seconds ahead of them.
17:38But in the lead on lap 15 by a full nine seconds is Sebastian Vettel.
17:43Mark Webber is out of the Grand Prix in the second Red Bull.
17:48D'Ambrosio we've lost to Petrov, Rosberg and Liuz.
17:51So this is the only Mercedes-Benz in the race.
17:53And now Hamilton feints a look up the inside into Parabolica.
17:57Now the detection zone is on the exit of this corner.
18:00The activation of DRS is quite a long way down there.
18:04Much nearer the start finish line.
18:05That's why you won't see it pop open until he's had to get back in.
18:09There they go.
18:10They're both on it now.
18:11Hamilton had to duck back into the slipstream.
18:13That's how fast that Mercedes is.
18:14And Button might just slither up the inside of him as well.
18:17But thinks wiser of it.
18:20And Schumacher's had to go super defensive into the first chicane there.
18:23So he'll be slow off the exit.
18:24And this is Lewis' chance.
18:26He'll be on the curves.
18:27Button, he's gone inside this time.
18:28He's on the grass.
18:30Schumacher will give him no space at all.
18:32And Button takes the position as Schumacher complains to his pits about rear tyres going away.
18:42As Lewis had to get out of the throttle having been shoved on the grass.
18:46He now loses that place.
18:48Verdict, Mr Coulthard.
18:49Well, Michael was ahead.
18:51He could pick his line.
18:53But in sporting etiquette amongst race drivers, that was right on the limit.
18:58And from my book, it was one foot over it.
19:00He gave Lewis Hamilton a chop.
19:02Lewis has been super clean so far in this race with Michael.
19:06And Michael's just...
19:07And Jensen Buttons round the outside into a scary.
19:10And this may be a chance for Lewis Hamilton as well.
19:12As we see, Mummy Button there.
19:14She's happy.
19:15And look, Lewis will have the chance in the run down to Parabolica.
19:18He will be furious with Michael.
19:20He will indeed.
19:21And still, Schumacher won't yield.
19:23And I completely agree with you.
19:24Schumacher's pushing the boundaries.
19:26And has done for several laps now of what's correct and what's not.
19:30But he's been absolutely on the limit.
19:34But Schumacher's in.
19:35Yeah, Schumacher pits then.
19:37And Hamilton then stays out on track.
19:39We understood that Hamilton was going to pit that lap.
19:42And then you can see the mechanics ready down the road there.
19:45McLaren too.
19:46But as soon as they got that message, they told him to stay out, no doubt.
19:50As Schumacher goes on to a brand new set of soft tyres,
19:53which he was able to have because he only did one run in qualifying three.
19:57Now, Hayer, take us through this, David.
19:58Right, run out of a scary.
19:59Michael sees Lewis take the inside line.
20:02And he chops across the front of him.
20:03Now, you could say he's entitled to take his position.
20:06We get the rear view from Jensen Button.
20:09And Michael takes a tight line and entry.
20:11Racing is racing.
20:12But you see how much Lewis had to lift out.
20:15That was a heart-stopping moment for Lewis Hamilton.
20:17And this then is a replay of, for some reason, it works so much better for Jensen to make that move down the outside into it.
20:27Obviously, Michael's rear tyres had just about reached the cliff, hadn't they?
20:30He was losing a huge amount of speed.
20:33Well, two things.
20:34One, Michael's been all over the track, obviously defending, going offline, picking up bits of dust,
20:38working extremely hard to keep that faster McLaren behind.
20:42And all the time Jensen was there just preserving the tyres, feeling his way in, avoiding any blisters.
20:47And then we got the opportunity.
20:49He was able to make it stick.
20:49And a man who's not interested in any of that excitement, like we are, is Sebastian Vettel, who moves into lap 18.
20:57Hasn't needed to come into the tyres.
20:59He's going to do one minute 28.6.
21:01He's now 10 and a half seconds clear of that man, Fernando Alonso, in second.
21:05And Jensen Button pits for McLaren.
21:09Soft tyres are going on that car.
21:12And let's see if we can get a readout at the end of the pit lane as to how long it took them to do that stop.
21:22Looked good enough, didn't it?
21:23And then we can expect Lewis in pretty soon after that, I'd imagine.
21:27They got into some lovely clear space, provided he can stay ahead of that traffic as he builds up to speed.
21:31They're approaching 210 miles an hour.
21:33Three and a half seconds, that stop then for Jensen Button, as he makes his way down into the first chicane.
21:41Is he on for yet another podium?
21:43He pecks at the end of his lap 18.
21:46And he is into lap 19 already.
21:48A new set of soft tyres going on there.
21:51And away he goes.
21:53Another good pit stop from McLaren boys.
21:56And let's see then, it's all about where Jensen Button is, isn't it?
21:59And Button is a long way ahead of him.
22:01And then what about Schumacher just to his left?
22:05It's all about the braking.
22:08Schumacher then takes the position away.
22:11That will please Lewis a bunch.
22:13Didn't work out.
22:14They pitted Jensen first, and that's kept him ahead of Michael.
22:18They pitted Lewis next, and that's kept him behind him.
22:21Ted.
22:21Yes, but they pitted Michael, didn't they?
22:24So that worked.
22:25That worked for Mercedes.
22:26Good thinking for them.
22:27More frustration at McLaren.
22:29I wonder if this is because, all of this is because McLaren...
22:31Right, and Massa then pits.
22:34It's a 3.0 second stop.
22:38Sorry, Alonso, who directed the pits there.
22:41I'm just watching then.
22:42Michael Schumacher yet again versus Lewis Hamilton.
22:45We know that McLaren is overall faster on the lap from all of the free practices and qualifying.
22:52But because of his great start and a number of other activities,
22:56and still they're side by side, and still Schumacher will not yield.
23:00And why should he in that position?
23:02And now he's having to get really defensive on his way in, and that's two moves.
23:06I'm sorry, that's two moves.
23:07The rules are very clear.
23:08You can make one change of direction, and you cannot move back once you've made that change of direction
23:13to take up your braking point.
23:15I'm fully expecting that.
23:16Massa's now up into second place, but he's yet to pit.
23:18Remember, he was pointing the wrong way after contact there with Mark Webber
23:24that eventually put Webber out of the race as Hamilton then again in the slipstream,
23:29again with the DRS open, again bouncing off the limiter in seventh gear, 18,000 revs.
23:34And it's going to have to be a brave move that puts him past Michael Schumacher.
23:42And how far is Button the way now then?
23:44Button's 3.8 seconds in front of him.
23:46Does he have one move?
23:48Yeah, he understood, as we can see it.
23:50The FIA are aware.
23:52That was what we were expecting.
23:56And what do you think they'll do about it?
23:58Derek Daly's the driver, X-101 driver, X-IndyCar driver,
24:01is the driving element of the stewards.
24:04And lots of experience.
24:05As I was saying, they did only allow it one move.
24:08It's a very clear rule.
24:10I can hear all the Schumacher supporters saying,
24:14jealous old Colthart can beat too many times by Michael
24:17and just want to beat up on him.
24:19But it's not at all.
24:20I would say that about any driver.
24:22You make one defensive change of direction.
24:24There again, he's coming back across into the braking zone.
24:27They've designed this rule for the safety of the drivers
24:31and the safety of the crowd.
24:32Rule is a rule.
24:33Yeah, and I think he's breached it.
24:35Not so much there as earlier on.
24:38And he missed that.
24:39Philippe Massa pits.
24:40And look at this.
24:41And Hamilton now has got the inside line.
24:43But still the Mercedes.
24:45Mercedes is powering away.
24:46But will Schumacher yield anything in here at all?
24:49And I think Lewis knew he was going to dive into his space.
24:53So he wasn't about to put his car there.
24:56And you have to say, the patience of a saint for Lewis today.
25:01But he did say he was going to keep an eye on finishing this Grand Prix.
25:05He hasn't managed to do so the last couple of years.
25:08We've got an incident being investigated involving car number 23.
25:12Which was Liuzi.
25:12Liuzi at Turn 1.
25:14Well, no big surprise.
25:14It will be looked at after the race.
25:17Yeah.
25:17Arriving backwards.
25:19Guilty of arriving backwards at the first corner.
25:21And spoiling the race of Petrov, Rosberg, Liuzi and Barrichello.
25:25And to an extent Kobayashi.
25:27And guilty as charged.
25:29Is that the one under the heading Spoilsport?
25:32It could well be.
25:35And that's probably what Michael Schumacher is wondering.
25:41That's what Lewis Hamilton is saying.
25:44Is it fair defence?
25:46Or is it over the mark beyond reasonable driving?
25:51Meanwhile, Vettel does the fastest lap of the Grand Prix on a 1.27.9.
25:55His lead was 11.3 seconds.
25:58We wait some time to find out what it is now over second place man Fernando Alonso's now 11.7.
26:05And Alonso now only a 2.6 ahead of Jenson Button as Hamilton then moves out of the slip street.
26:15And now I wonder if he'll try and sell him a dummy.
26:18I don't think Michael Schumacher buys dummies anymore.
26:21His children all grown up.
26:23And he's served enough of those himself when you faint one way and dive the other.
26:28And Schumacher then on the inside of Kerva Grandi.
26:33And Lewis has to get down the outside.
26:35Michael won't give him the outside.
26:37They are side by side.
26:39There's no way to go.
26:41You can't turn team through the car in front of you.
26:44Schumacher's any well too aware of that.
26:46There's Hamilton then diving around just trying to distract him at this point.
26:53I look at the inside.
26:55I sense a little bit of frustration going on there now in that yellow helmet of the McLaren driver.
27:01I'm trying to find a moment just to read you the rule as it's written in the sporting regulations.
27:06I don't want to miss the action.
27:07But as I read from the book here Martin stop me as it's going.
27:10So here it is.
27:11A driver must drive the car alone and unaided.
27:13There you go.
27:14No big surprise.
27:15Maneuvers liable to hinder other drivers such as more than one change of direction.
27:20Just a reminder Michael to make sure you leave room at Ascari.
27:27Well that's leave room at Ascari.
27:29I think that may be a reference to more than one change of direction.
27:32So let me just continue with this.
27:35So a driver such as a more than one change of direction to defend a position.
27:39Deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction.
27:44And I'm not permitted.
27:46Well I think that's happened a few times.
27:49So interestingly it wasn't Michael's engineer.
27:51It was Ross Braun.
27:53The team principal telling Michael.
27:57Leaving some space.
27:58You cannot charge back across the track in the braking zone.
28:02And I mean you have to say you can't follow Michael's positioning of his car.
28:06It's just the way he's moving it about.
28:07As a driver would you prefer a direct instruction or would you prefer one of those sort of wishy-washy instructions that we just heard there?
28:16Because it doesn't actually really say too much.
28:18Well otherwise J.K.
28:21Jamiroquai there watching on.
28:22But otherwise Ross is more or less saying to the stewards my driver's guilty of blocking surely.
28:27He can't say too much other than a fairly generic sort of hint of watch out Michael we might be in trouble here.
28:34And don't get a drive-thru because we're in for some a fair haul of points here.
28:37Don't go and get a drive-thru for unreasonable driving.
28:40This is a great race for Mercedes Grand Prix.
28:43There's no question about it.
28:44But I always need to ask my engineer.
28:46Give me very specific pieces of information.
28:48Because although it looks very comfortable for us standing in the country box.
28:52There's a lot of action.
28:53A lot of noise in the car.
28:54But sometimes it's difficult to filter out the message that you get.
28:59Kobayashi's car was on the side of the road.
29:00Which is why we saw the yellow flags.
29:02And this then is Jenson's button homing in on Fernando Alonso.
29:04And still Hamilton behind Schumacher.
29:07And we'll see his rear wing pop open now.
29:09He's on the limiter now.
29:11Because they're getting...
29:12He's got soft tyres on.
29:13And they're getting, of course, down their fuel load a little bit.
29:17As we head towards half distance.
29:19They're only on half tanks of fuel, of course.
29:21So now it's an even bigger problem with the rev limiter, isn't it?
29:25Car accelerates more quickly.
29:27He'll be in that limiter for even longer.
29:30He's got to just keep hope that he can hound Michael into mistake.
29:33And you see in this position he's used the curse.
29:36And he's been tentative, Hamilton.
29:38We've seen him in the past.
29:40And Michael already running out those rear tyres.
29:43But will he be crowded on the way into the first Lesno?
29:45Michael, I think that was fair enough there.
29:48Lewis deciding to get out of it.
29:49But Schumacher seems to be really struggling with the performance of his car at this stage.
29:53Yeah, he's just not got the grip of the McLaren, has he?
29:56Now, we're coming up to Ascari.
29:58Ross Braun says, remember to leave room with Ascari.
30:01I think that's if a McLaren gets up alongside you, you can't just take your position back.
30:06Leave him some room.
30:08Which he did.
30:09Yep.
30:09So he did understand the message.
30:14And Ted.
30:15Hamilton is losing one second per lap.
30:18Jenson Button's just done his personal best of the race.
30:21A 27.9.
30:22Hamilton's last a 28.9.
30:24So that just puts it in perspective.
30:26Jenson doing a great job closing in on Alonso.
30:29But the only problem, Bethel, is 12 seconds down the road from Alonso.
30:33Button then, only a second behind Alonso now.
30:35We've just done a 1.27.6.
30:37The fastest lap of the Grand Prix.
30:38Once again, Jenson Button coming alive in the second half of this race.
30:43A man who finished second in LRJ could easily have won it.
30:46And drove beautifully.
30:47His style.
30:49We see him finding grip in Maldonado.
30:51And that was for 10th and 11th place.
30:53So Maldonado slipping backwards after that tremendous start.
30:56Let's have a little look through the top 10.
30:58Bethel from Alonso.
30:59A fast closing pattern.
31:01Then this fight.
31:02Schumacher versus Hamilton.
31:04And of course, Lewis' tyres are going to wear out more quickly in that turbulent air, aren't they?
31:09Michael, please make sure you leave room for the car when you move and change direction.
31:18That's Ross talking to his driver with a coded message to the X-R.
31:23FIA of, yes, we're doing something about this.
31:25So, I mean, the FIA stewards could read that as well.
31:29Even he thinks it's out of order.
31:30No, I think that's a fair enough and very clear statement from Ross Duran now.
31:34He's worked a long time with Michael.
31:36And I think that we're seeing, we saw it with Lewis' last couple laps.
31:42Michael's moving a lot more space.
31:44Might be a good chance for Lewis in the traffic.
31:47Of course, Michael will get a slipstream off the car in front.
31:49So, and possibly even DRS, of course, as Button closes in very quickly now on Alonso.
31:55The second and third.
31:59Yeah, Lewis is on the limit and almost by himself, isn't he now?
32:02So, wrong seventh gear in there to be hunting down a feisty Michael Schumacher.
32:08He doesn't want to yield at any point.
32:10He's got to cut the outside into a scar.
32:12He made it stick immediately.
32:13We're about to see a replay then of Hamilton with ever more speed.
32:18And has he taken that position?
32:20He has indeed.
32:20Yeah, he's through.
32:22So, Michael almost yielding to him finally there to release him.
32:26So much happened within that race.
32:28We'll try and talk about as much as we can fit in.
32:31Tell us about the restart, first of all.
32:36Restart, Michael was on the outside of me.
32:38So, I was looking at him in my mirrors.
32:41And then, before I knew it, the guys had gone.
32:43So, I missed an opportunity to slipstream Sebastian.
32:47And it got me napping.
32:50But once I finally got past, I was able to chase down.
32:53And I had fun chasing Fernando.
32:54There were some big battles with you and Michael, who's just walked in behind you.
32:58Just tell us, did you think it was all clean and fair, his racing?
33:01At one point, you were sent out onto the grass.
33:05Yeah, it's racing.
33:07I heard you saying on your team radio about one move.
33:09Do you think he adhered to that?
33:11Sure.
33:12Let's talk about Michael Schumacher then,
33:14because he was very much 50% of that exciting partnership on track today.
33:17While Lewis was being well-behaved, was Michael Schumacher?
33:20Because that was the first thing you talked about when you came down from the commentary box.
33:24I think that Michael pushed the boundaries, as he always has done.
33:28And this one, for me especially, you know, Lewis made the move.
33:31Michael, I think, turned early to defend that move in terms of he turned early on his natural line.
33:38And, you know, the rules are very clear.
33:39You can't crowd a car.
33:40We saw Michael Perraud, Ruben Barrichello, towards the wall in Hungary last year.
33:46And I think that was potentially another one of those situations.
33:50So, you know, we often hear Ross Gron telling him,
33:55and here we see it in the rundown to his second chicane and getting out of it.
34:01So we're going to see that again.
34:03And, yeah, it was a great race in the end.
34:07I don't think you do need to go to the stewards,
34:09but that is absolutely on the limit, as far as I can say.
34:12And, Eddie, what would have been going on?
34:13What kind of conversations would have been had?
34:15And what would you have done if you were the team boss involved in that situation?
34:19Well, we know what to expect from Michael.
34:21He's a tough campaigner, has been always that way all his life.
34:23So we shouldn't be really over-surprised.
34:25However, I gather what would have happened is, for sure, Lewis told the team,
34:29the team reported it to the stewards, particularly Charlie Whiting initially,
34:34and they would have reported and said, look, take a look at this.
34:37Then, very clearly, it's not the engineer who's talking to Michael, it's Ross Gron.
34:42And that's the significant difference for me.
34:44So if I had to, as the team boss sitting on the wall,
34:46and I had to get involved and speak to a driver,
34:48then you know you're being told what to do.
34:50It's a kind of a coded message.
34:52Do not do that again.
34:53We're going to get a penalty.
34:54And that's the clear message.
34:56And I think that's why Ross did it, because it was that serious.
34:59So when you heard from Eddie, you knew it was serious.
35:02Well, you tried not to hear from Eddie, believe me.
35:05Excuse me.
35:05I think the thing that's a shame, sorry, as I've got something in my throat,
35:08is that that was a great race for Michael Schumacher today.
35:11Fantastic start.
35:12You know, he was always going to potentially end up in that result.
35:15So he doesn't actually need to get involved in that.
35:17It's too marginal.
35:19Instead of we're celebrating what a great race he drive,
35:23what a great second half of the season he's having,
35:25were discussing was it fair.
35:27And, you know, that's just a shame for me.
35:29Okay.
35:29Well, perhaps we should still celebrate the fact that it was a great drive by Michael Schumacher.
35:33Here's his take on how the race unfolded.
35:35He finished in fifth.
35:36Well, Michael, another great start and some great battles out there for you as well today.
35:42Indeed, yeah.
35:42Yeah, it was a fun afternoon.
35:45Just tell us about the battle you had with Lewis Hamilton.
35:47He came on his team radio at one point and was saying one move.
35:50Was all your racing clean and fair, do you think?
35:53I think so, yes.
35:54I mean, I felt I did exactly what I was supposed to do.
35:58And as far as I understand, there was no request for me to see the stewards.
36:04So I guess all is in order.
Recommended
1:49