Relive the 2012 Australian Grand Prix First hour

Grand Prix

Round 1 of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship — the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s iconic Albert Park Circuit. A new season begins, filled with anticipation, new rivalries, and the promise of one of the most competitive years in F1 history.  From the very first laps, the race delivered everything fans love — strategy battles, safety car drama, and thrilling overtakes. Jenson Button started the year in perfect fashion, mastering the conditions and securing a dominant win for McLaren. Behind him, world champion Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton fought fiercely for the podium, while Fernando Alonso pushed his underperforming Ferrari to the limit for valuable points.  It was a race that set the tone for the unpredictable and exciting 2012 season — a year remembered for seven different winners in the first seven races.  Relive the excitement, the atmosphere of Melbourne, and the start of a truly remarkable F1 championship. #F12012 #Formula1 #AustralianGP #Melbourne #AlbertPark #McLaren #JensonButton #Hamilton #Vettel #F1History #GrandPrix #Motorsport #F1Highlights #F1Classic

Transcript

00:00:00beautiful day for the start of the season in high definition and 5.1 surround sound

00:00:19it's time for the first race of the year on Sky Sports F1 HD the 2012 Australian Grand Prix your

00:00:27commentators Martin Brundle and David Croft well it's time to come out of hibernation then for the

00:00:342012 season the winter long dark nights are now but a distant memory as we head into the sunshine

00:00:42and this first race of 2012 around the beautiful settings in Albert Park the three sectors you can

00:00:48see on your screens at the moment the race distance 58 laps and the things to watch out for here not

00:00:54one but two DRS drag reduction system zones you can see the detection zone just before the final

00:01:01corner and coming out of that they can get the power down and use the DRS advantage down the main

00:01:06straight and then do it all over again out of turn two and into turn three we should get Martin some

00:01:12overtaking for this season well I think we will with the any tyre degradation there's going to be

00:01:17out there it's quite warm we've got a track temperature at the moment of 29 degrees centigrade

00:01:21not too bad but I like the idea of a single detection point in two DRS zones it didn't really

00:01:27work out here last year it was too strong in places like Canada but I'm hoping it's going to

00:01:32be absolutely spot on but it's quite a curve down to turn three not that easy to find your way around

00:01:37somebody but we look out for that in the race but we are expecting them to be pretty close anyway

00:01:42absolutely we only had five DRS overtakes here in 2011 there should be plenty more for this particular

00:01:49race not just because of the two zones but as Martin mentioned an exciting race in prospect

00:01:54drivers out of position Red Bull thinking that they've got better race pace Jenson Barton a man

00:02:00nurses his tyres Lewis Hamilton a man who goes out for all aggression the two McLarens out in front it

00:02:05it's difficult to pick which story to follow and who's going to create the most drama well let's hope it

00:02:11stays that way but you know there's others like you're talking to Sauber in fact McLaren put me

00:02:15onto this they said you should we wonder what Kobayashi would have done well I hadn't spotted that

00:02:20one apparently he got balked on the way out and like Paul DiResta didn't keep his tyres warm but they

00:02:25fully expected him to be into Q3 with his pace so he's out of position as well so we'll watch them

00:02:30coming through I think anybody just to well most people on this grid must fancy a chance at some

00:02:36world championship points and there must be 10 or a dozen of them fancy themselves smiling at the

00:02:42cameras from the podium today some German flags for Michael Schumacher who came close to a podium

00:02:47last year in year two of his comeback and finished fourth in the end in Canada can the four-time winner

00:02:53here in Australia make it a magnificent five this afternoon I say this afternoon we're ticking

00:02:58towards five o'clock in the evening here and the light is going to play quite a factor in the closing

00:03:03stages might be shining brightly for Jenson Button at that stage but when the sun starts to dip here

00:03:09it does affect the driver's eyes funny you should say that I was listening to Paul DiResta

00:03:14explaining to Jerry Convy what he wanted on his crash helmet and it was clear or tinted visor clear

00:03:21or tinted rip-offs which is an interesting one because they know that later on in the race it'll very

00:03:27much be bouncing down the track the sunlight here the boys on the grid Mark Webber starting fifth as he did

00:03:33last year never finished higher than fifth at an Australian Grand Prix at Daniel Ricciardo's first

00:03:37home race it's Jean-Eric Verne's first race in Formula One and it's the first time in nearly two years

00:03:44that we haven't seen either of the two Ferraris in the top 10 Paul DiResta had problems on his

00:03:49outlapping qualifying yesterday he's out of position as is Kimi Räikkönen time lost in the garage while he

00:03:55was changing his helmet can he now make up for that and storm through the field and right at the back

00:04:01Charles Pig and Sergio Perez who picks up a fireplace grid penalty for changing his gearbox just ahead

00:04:07of Charles Pig Timo Glock his teammate who we should wish a very happy 30th birthday to today what a

00:04:12what a way to celebrate your birthday Martin well it will be if he sees the funny bit of black and

00:04:17white cloth at the end of the race let's see what Michael's got to say tire information so far all cars

00:04:23are on the option tire Ferrari still a question mark on them but we believe they are also option

00:04:28well obviously the top 10 all on the option tires but is anyone going to take a risk maybe gamble on

00:04:36a safety car run that harder compound tire first very high risk of safety car here so somebody must

00:04:42be factoring that in without doubt and it will only be in the second half of the field the top 10 are

00:04:47locked out start on the same set of tires that they used yesterday of course 205 wins combined on this

00:04:55grid today but there can only be one to claim the ultimate prize such an important lap we're doing

00:05:04a feature on this it'll be coming up in the next two or three races to really explain what goes on

00:05:08on this formation lap Lenny Kravitz with a very privileged position there right beside

00:05:13the racetrack but a very prescribed number of burnouts laying some rubber down out of their

00:05:19grid slots keeping the tires and brakes on and I was amazed how much energy you put into the brake

00:05:27pedal the throttle pedal the steering wheel to keep your tire pressures up on this phase of preparing

00:05:32the car for the start

00:05:33very very happy there's not much I can really say just I'm really proud of the team is always working

00:05:44so hard through the winter and never giving up as always these guys and this is the result of it we

00:05:49had a little hiccup this morning but otherwise not pretty consistent and pretty much on pace it's not

00:05:55the easiest car I drove for sure but it's something that we are working on it we are trying to improve

00:06:01the car the behavior of the car the handling of the car and also the the speed of the car the car is

00:06:06fine and we will have a lot of speed but it's just a mistake for me and then run out of the time you

00:06:13always want to be first but um couldn't quite do that today Lewis did a great job and I and then we

00:06:18both need to say a massive thank you to the to the whole team I did a mistake in the beginning of

00:06:21the lap so I should have been higher up but yeah I think McLaren was out of reach today so congratulations

00:06:29they were really quick six of the best on the grid six world champions in 2012 for the first time

00:06:36ever and it's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button two former world champions that have locked out the front

00:06:42row of the grid for McLaren Martin Whitmarsh says I'm going to allow them to race I haven't spoken to

00:06:47them yet but his heart will be in his mouth Martin as he disappears in the turn one yeah and Jenson said to

00:06:52me on the grid oh we never got chance to speak to each other today we really do but uh yeah that's going to be

00:06:58pretty tense between those two they know that this car looks like it's good enough at this stage of the

00:07:04season to win the world championship and they know that they want to be the one to do it and we see

00:07:10Nicole Lewis Hamilton's girlfriend and his mum is here as well the last time his mum was at a racetrack

00:07:15it was Abu Dhabi last season where Lewis Hamilton won and it is Mother's Day as well so what a present

00:07:21that would be for her today Jean-Erik Verne on the harder compound tyres Vitaly Petrov's taking a gamble as well

00:07:29and Sergio Perez further down the field Petrov of course who was on the podium last year and you can hear the

00:07:36crescendo down the grid as the cars just get into their grid spots Eric Bouye there of the Lotus team

00:07:43Ross Braum with his crew around him they've done all of their work now Crofty they there's nothing

00:07:49more they can do until they have to change strategy or get into the first pit stops Hamilton's been

00:07:55parked on the grid now over 24 seconds still they're lining up it's a long long time to wait it'd be even

00:08:03longer if we had the two HRTs here but of course they were given no permission by the stewards to race

00:08:08190 miles or so ahead of us here in Melbourne today is the distance from Wembley Stadium to Old Trafford

00:08:15and we wait for the lights above the drivers to signal the start of the season here we go folks

00:08:23four and now five lights and it's lights out down under as Lewis Hamilton gets away well and Jenson

00:08:31Button comes back at him and Romain Grosjean loses places right at the start great start from Michael

00:08:36Schumacher once again into the first corner goes Jenson Button ahead of Lewis Hamilton and already going

00:08:41wide one of the Toro Rosso's spinning round is Bruno's centre in the Williams bad start for him

00:08:46and in the second phase of the start Lewis Hamilton got some wheel spin and that enabled Jenson Button to

00:08:53take him down into the first corner so Lewis's rear tyres just lit up a little bit and that was the

00:08:58difference riding on board with Sebastian Vettel now Nico Rosberg has managed to get ahead of him

00:09:03so good start for both Mercedes Romain Grosjean is just losing place right at the start was third

00:09:09now sixth pastor Maldonado is going to place and Fernando Alonso is up to eighth as well with Mark

00:09:14Webber down in ninth at the moment but in now to the right-hander Jenson Button leads Lewis Hamilton

00:09:19who's that making a move pastor Maldonado has to keep Fernando Alonso at bay as they head through

00:09:24turns nine and ten as ever Alonso is a mighty start and he's got himself ahead of Webber and

00:09:30all over the back of Maldonado's Williams that'll be a brave move he can get around the outside of

00:09:34there Maldonado having absolutely none of it but poor start then for Mark Webber sadly let's hear

00:09:39what he says understood Mark Webber thinks he's got tapped we'll try and get a close-up in a few

00:09:47moments time but Button already moving ahead of Hamilton not the start that Hamilton will have wanted not the start

00:09:52that many here were expecting as we head now into the closing stages of this opening lap

00:09:57as Felipe Massa going wide under pressure from Kamui Kobayashi Kobayashi's trying to get round but can't quite

00:10:03squeeze through at the penultimate corner well looking forward to the replay to the first corner

00:10:07but Grosjean then down into sixth place sadly but I think what it does do is it opens this race

00:10:12completely up we've got the slippery track warning flag oil flag if you like but doesn't always have

00:10:18to be oil that can be debris stones whatever but we think for me now probably the five fastest cars in

00:10:25the race are in the top five is that Mark Webber coasting down the right-hand side of the track

00:10:29still in ninth place at the moment it's Bruno Senna certainly in the pits Williams as he's coasting

00:10:35into the pits and back out again and he's gone on to the harder compound tire the medium compound

00:10:40here yellow flags being waved but now just cleared for maybe a little bit more debris out on the track

00:10:47it's been a scrappy start Charles Peek is now into the pits as well and maybe some of the debris was

00:10:53coming from the other side and that Marussia has now Sebastian Vettel squeezes through past Nico

00:10:57Rothberg it's not often you get past any car going into turn 10 but what a move slipping in almost

00:11:04unnoticed on the inside there from the defending world champion and that's the man they said can't

00:11:09race in Formula One Sebastian Vettel he can only win from the front apparently I don't think so that

00:11:14was amazing Nico Hülkenberg sorry in the background there he's race seemingly done from ninth he hasn't

00:11:20made it to the end of the second lap as here now goes past to Maldonado on Romain Grosjean and they make

00:11:25contact and that's Grosjean going off in the Lotus and he's got damage to that front right tire

00:11:30oh after a dream Saturday it's a nightmare Sunday for the Frenchman his race is done

00:11:37and Alonso then has made that move on Maldonado Mark Webber then still ninth and on the back of

00:11:44Maldonado as well reporting in that damage but at the moment he's still on track but obviously Grosjean

00:11:51didn't see Maldonado coming and it wasn't prepared to hear whatever it was it's broken

00:11:57his front steering arm and he's out of the Grand Prix DRS is enabled the drag reduction system so if

00:12:04you're within a second of the car in front when they go through the detection system at the end

00:12:08of this lap you can attack not once but twice here in Albert Park in 2012 and make further gains

00:12:15should you so dare Jenson Barton leads after a fantastic start but what happened to Lewis Hamilton

00:12:20yeah he just got a lost traction just as he got away 10 20 meters away from the line and Jenson had

00:12:27it hooked up beautifully and look at that the Vettel made a tremendous start here's the contact at the

00:12:32back that's Ricciardo and Senna and everybody taking avoiding action so Daniel Ricciardo that's why

00:12:39he had to pit and luckily they're both still in the race from what we can see three abreast going

00:12:45into that first turn up in front and Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg getting through unscathed but that

00:12:50was quite a hefty hit that Bruno Senna managed to get we can ride on board now with Romain Grosjean

00:12:55so he got away pretty well I think he hit the limiter he either hit the limiter very hard

00:13:03or he got a miss shift on second gear which would be highly unusual it has to be said

00:13:08so that's what cost him here's Mark Webber's view of that yeah Grosjean in front of him got away

00:13:13supremely well and then suddenly he was going nowhere tell you what where did Nico Rosberg come

00:13:20from there it just swamped Mark Webber who then got tacked by Nico Hülkenberg coming through

00:13:25Hülkenberg lost out as a result as well yeah but Mark got a double whack there but he was very very

00:13:30cautious down into to one or maybe he would say they should have been more cautious around him

00:13:34he lifts off early and then bang there it is no wonder he thinks he's got damage this is Ricciardo's

00:13:42car which clearly would have lost his nose but all kicking off down in the first corner there were

00:13:48four abreast at one point in there and it was it was the Williams recovering straight back onto the

00:13:54track rather than taking to the grass that really triggered a lot of that off now we see a replay of

00:13:59Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado he gave him space Grosjean gave him space he did see him coming

00:14:06he did make an allowance and Maldonado rather rudely just burst through and while we've been watching

00:14:12that Jenson Button foot to the floor has been pulling away out in front and he's now two and a

00:14:17half seconds clear of the man in second place Lewis Hamilton so he's out of any DRS danger

00:14:22for the time being Michael Schumacher in third Sebastian Vettel in fourth Vettel is well within

00:14:27the DRS zone as they go past the yellow flags before turn 13 now Nico Rosberg 1.6 seconds behind

00:14:34Sebastian Vettel he could come under pressure from Alonso who could come under pressure from Maldonado

00:14:39and Weber and then Felipe Massa running ninth at the moment so we could get a few attacks here

00:14:44as down the main straight to end lap four Jenson Button sets another fastest lap in this race

00:14:49and he's pulled out a further gap on Lewis Hamilton it's 2.6 seconds Sebastian Vettel meanwhile six

00:14:55tenths behind Michael Schumacher and just slightly closing he's got another DRS zone to make a move on

00:15:00this particular lap there's Felipe Massa running his own race at the moment behind him is Sergio Perez

00:15:05Kamui Kobayashi his teammate runs 11th then Kimi Räikkönen who's up into 12th place Kimi Räikkönen after

00:15:11starting 17th for the rest is 13th he's made a couple of places then it's Vernon Glock and

00:15:16Kovaleiden and Petroff and we can go down to Ted just down at Force India it seems like Nico

00:15:20Alkenberg was hit part of that accident around the first lap and so he's just had to retire the

00:15:25cars too badly damaged thanks ever so much Ted we just saw it parked on the outside I think turn six

00:15:31down there a few laps ago what's surprising me as we see then the Williams of Maldonado going through

00:15:38the gravel and he loses that place to Felipe Massa so an error there down into turn six for faster

00:15:45Maldonado and now he has got the sauber of Perez all over the back of him as well Perez up to 10

00:15:52and look at this Vettel then they said they had a better race car than they showed in qualifying

00:15:58and that the straight line speeds would be similar or less dramatically different anyway

00:16:03in the race so Vettel going very well he's passed with a brilliant move one of the best moves I've

00:16:09seen for a long time but Fernando Alonso in P6 is three quarters of a second to a second off the pace

00:16:17but nothing like as bad as we feared from the Ferrari and Massa of course now up into eighth as well

00:16:24the thing about the Ferrari it's it's just how long they can keep going on their tires because

00:16:28there's a theory that they're chewing their tires off a little bit as well and they might have to

00:16:32make extra stops here oh Sebastian Vettel takes to the grass there and the handling of the Red Bull

00:16:38which was planted and nailed to the floor 12 months ago all over the shop down at turn one there he's

00:16:44going to get passed by Nico Rosberger is he he's got the inside line going into that third third three

00:16:50Fernando Alonso's slipping around like a vulture picking on scraps here and Rosberg could be under

00:16:55attack now from Rosberg as uh from Alonso I should say as he tries to cut him off and succeeds in

00:17:01holding that fifth place Vettel was only 2.1 seconds clear of Rosberg when he's crossed the finish line

00:17:07no wonder he kept his footing on the grass and somehow he's maintained position and now Mark Webber

00:17:13is right on the back of them too I'd like to see an off-board though that incident with Sebastian

00:17:18Vettel and find out exactly what happened with the handling I think we're about to I think he

00:17:22braked too late just got in too late back end came round on him uh but you know has he damaged any of

00:17:28the aero parts underneath the car he didn't particularly fly through the air too badly I think

00:17:32he's going to lob it into the corner and the back end says you're kidding me I can't do that and

00:17:37then he just buries the throttle but you can get grass in the radiator ducts in the brake ducts

00:17:42and uh he's immediately aware that he's got uh Rosberg on him but now he's scamping off down

00:17:48the road it's not been uneventful for Sebastian Vettel on his return to Formula One as the defending

00:17:55champion and the youngest double world champion this time last year it was smooth sailing for him

00:18:01at 12 months on Jenson Button is screaming away out in front 3.3 seconds the gap between Button and

00:18:08Hamilton at the moment now Michael Schumacher in third from Vettel, Rosberg, Alonso and Webber the

00:18:14top seven as we watch the back end of that Red Bull disappearing away and into the second DRSO

00:18:19pretty robust the front suspension on the Red Bull isn't it I mean they do make them much stronger

00:18:23now with Stan not even I mean he got a double wag one on each wheel and now he's coming back at the

00:18:28pack I mean it's it's the curse of the Australian Grand Prix sadly for Mark Webber never seems to quite

00:18:35fall into place here for him does it but uh nonetheless he's still in the hunt in seven he's 14 seconds off

00:18:41the lead I mean so the top nine let's say the top 10 are covered by 20 seconds then as we're on lap seven

00:18:50and if we're to see any three stops out there in about another seven laps time that's when we'll

00:18:57expect to see cars coming in that's if it's a regulation three-stop strategy cars can run to

00:19:03about lap 19 they'll probably be on a two-stopper they can keep going to about lap 29 30 and make

00:19:09the best use of their tires and it'll be a one-stop strategy which one will be best we'll find out later

00:19:14as we ride on board with Fernando Alonso down to that 90 mile an hour right hander turn 13 Alonso

00:19:20very much has Nico Rosberg in his sight and he's gaining on Rosberg once more was only three-tenths

00:19:26of a second behind the German driver in the Mercedes at the end of the last lap it looks to me like he's

00:19:32closing that gap even further as now into the DRS zone we go riding on board and we can see the

00:19:37acceleration of that Ferrari can he get close enough to Rosberg and had a DRS moment the pair of them

00:19:42last year in Melbourne but this time around Nico Rosberg manages to stay ahead he's now going

00:19:47to have Rosberg coming back at him again as Alonso goes wider than Rosberg through the right

00:19:53and left-hander if Rosberg was disappointed with qualifying he'd be very disappointed and surprised

00:19:58to have a Ferrari in filling his mirrors he wasn't expecting that I think he thought he had a car that

00:20:05was capable of winning this race so Rosberg not having a great start to the Grand Prix it's about a second

00:20:10off the leader's pace Button now 3.4 ahead is Lewis Hamilton playing it canny with his tyres

00:20:16well that would be the sort of thing you expect Jenson to be doing it's a bit of a turnaround if that's

00:20:20what Lewis Hamilton is doing but certainly Jenson Button is moving away by one or two tenths of a second

00:20:27a lap at the moment he's staying out of the DRS zone and we wonder how the tyre wear is going to

00:20:34affect drivers and cars in 2012 this the first acid test we know that Michael Schumacher losing

00:20:40time though he's six and a half seconds back in third quite a lot of marbles forming already on

00:20:44the track let's mention Kimi Raikkonen who's up to 12th place as well from well towards the back of

00:20:51the grid started 17th wasn't there with the Perez's penalty so Kovalainen now back up

00:20:57in 15th as well not too far behind Jean-Eric Byrne who had that contact down into the first corner

00:21:04Diresta a solid 13th but the pace is not really with him the only force India left in the race

00:21:10trouble for Kimi Raikkonen you were mentioning there that he was running down in 12th place

00:21:15he's got Kamui Kobayashi just ahead of him at the moment and he's not lapping any faster than

00:21:21Kobayashi is and he's getting stuck in the wake of the Salva somewhat let's go down to 10 we're on lap 9

00:21:27I've made my way down to the Red Bull garage where Bethel's pace is very encouraging they can see

00:21:32that he's so much quicker than Schumacher Michael Schumacher ahead of him

00:21:36at this pace we're pulling away from the cars behind it over eight tenths of a second per lap

00:21:39and that's an interesting radio message they're pulling certainly are pulling ahead of the cars

00:21:45behind but Jenson Button is pulling away from Lewis Hamilton I'm going to try and find some answers

00:21:50as to where Jenson has got this pace from to be so comfortably ahead both in lap time and distance

00:21:55ahead of Lewis Hamilton but at Red Bull they're pushing on Bethel they think he can catch and pass

00:21:59Schumacher thing is though Martin why should we be so surprised that Jenson Button is pulling away

00:22:05he's not exactly been sluggish in the past has he yeah I'm not surprised at all you know he's won

00:22:09races for McLaren and he's a world former world champion but uh you know the car's working well

00:22:14but this is slightly reminiscent to me of say 1998 when McLaren came here with Coulthard and Hakanen and

00:22:20basically they were so far ahead they just had to make sure they didn't break down and run into each

00:22:24other quite a bit of aggravation around after that on the radio but then this is Felipe Massa

00:22:31with Pastor Maldonado and is that Massa slowing down what's going on there I just I just wonder

00:22:37behind as well was that Perez in the Sauber and was there just a little bit of damage to the front

00:22:42wing of Sergio Perez's Sauber that we uh we saw as well what we are watching now is Michael Schumacher

00:22:48being caught by Sebastian Vettel Romain Grosjean is back in the paddock and I'm sure we'll hear from him

00:22:53in a few moments time eight seconds now the gap between Hamilton and Schumacher Schumacher and

00:22:59Betel separated as you can see there by about a car and a half's length yeah you'd have to say now

00:23:06that that's holding Betel's pace up front of that red bull plenty of grip there despite being in the

00:23:11turbulent air riding on board now with Pastor Maldonado he's having a go and Felipe Massa into the

00:23:17right hand up Massa just manages to stay ahead and that's quite sure that is damaged as Kobe

00:23:23Ashley's Sauber behind it is it does look like he's got a damaged front wing but it could just be

00:23:27the markings on it the end of the black mixing with the white to make it look like that end plate's

00:23:31hanging at a strange angle and Perez of course on the uh medium white marked tyre he's doing very

00:23:37nicely in there just like he did here last year is he planning a one stopper again because he's not

00:23:42looking too bad sitting there is he Sergio Perez at the moment in 10th place getting the slower

00:23:49tyres out of the way and climbing all over the back of Felipe Massa

00:23:53big queue behind him because his rear tyres are going off he's just helpfully told us thank you for

00:24:07that and that's why then he's becoming a bit of a traffic jam so we ride on board once more with

00:24:13Sebastian Vettel Michael Schumacher ahead of him look Sebastian Vettel saved a little bit of his

00:24:18curse to end the lap as well now Schumacher has that full charge of curse and Sebastian Vettel is

00:24:26replenished and Schumacher goes off the road and do you know what that's about the easiest overtaking move

00:24:31Sebastian Vettel's going to get in all 20 races I don't know why they're giving him a round of applause

00:24:35Schumacher was the gentleman's excuse me he's got a problem Schumacher as Nico Rosberg's got

00:24:40problems it's Fernando Alonso this time at the right hander mile weather getting on the back of

00:24:45that act as well Schumacher going very slowly down the road it could just be one Mercedes left in this

00:24:50race in a few moments time and that Mercedes under huge pressure for Fernando Alonso Michael Schumacher's

00:24:57race looks done

00:24:58whether it's hydraulics

00:25:02he's got a throttle though so some of the hydraulics are working so transmission then I suspect

00:25:10and Michael goes into the corner and I think his car was he went off because his car was breaking down

00:25:16frankly he's coasting back I suspect it wouldn't come down the gearbox but he did go through the heavier

00:25:26part of the runoff area and rubbish getting in the car everywhere but I think he's already nursing a

00:25:35problem at that point he never got up and running again so here's the cue behind Felipe Massa

00:25:40Felipe Massa running in ninth place at the moment behind him Kamui Kobayashi, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez, Paul Duresta

00:25:50Yeah basically, first gear's got now as well

00:25:55Okay Michael copy that confirmed

00:25:57So yeah he lost gears and Massa pits

00:26:02First man in then complaining about his rear tyres and he's into the pit lane just 60 kilometres per hour

00:26:0940 miles an hour ish

00:26:10That's right

00:26:11And what was that theory about the Ferrari rather chewing up its tyres and having to make a few more stops than others in the race?

00:26:18Felipe Massa the first of the Ferraris to come in at the end of lap 11 and he comes out onto the track for him hopefully ahead of the likes of Glock and Charles Peake in the Marussia

00:26:31What's interesting for me is now Vettel's in clear air, he's matching the pace of the leaders

00:26:37He's 13 seconds off the lead, 10 behind Hamilton in second place

00:26:40So that's put Vettel right into the action now

00:26:44He's got a lot of work to do

00:26:45Michael Schumacher's pitted

00:26:48Saying that he'd got third gear issues

00:26:52And I wouldn't be at all surprised if we don't see Michael Schumacher back out onto the racetrack again

00:26:58Disappointing weekend then for Mercedes

00:27:00Let's go down to the pit lane Ted

00:27:02So I just popped into McLaren actually they told me that Jenson Button was told to save fuel for a lap or two and

00:27:08Michael Schumacher you see has made it back into the pits

00:27:11But not to his garage where they were clearing a space in there for him

00:27:14But it looks like he stopped just at the Weybridge, but yeah

00:27:17So McLaren told Jenson Button to save fuel for a lap or so that's why he did that 33-9

00:27:22I'm just looking at it now. He's just done a 33-6

00:27:25So I believe now he saved enough fuel and he's back on parity with Lewis Hamilton lap time wise

00:27:31It's about 3.4 seconds the gap as Nico Rosberg now pits for Mercedes

00:27:36And Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso pass to Maldonado will move up

00:27:39Vettel has done his personal best in the race and brought the gap down he's three or four tenths quicker

00:27:45Than the McLaren and Rosberg then pits first

00:27:50We did hear about lots of tyre degradation in winter testing didn't we from the Mercedes

00:27:55But I thought they would be a lot stronger in this race than they've looked so far

00:27:59We're down to one of them Michael didn't get back to the pits

00:28:02Actually, he's the first driver I've seen that's managed to work a system out to get his headrest out of the way

00:28:07Rather than trying to squeeze around it

00:28:09So the Lotus then of Raikkonen who is behind Kobayashi

00:28:14Raikkonen mid 34s solid pace

00:28:18It's good pace from Kimi Raikkonen

00:28:20It's not going to win it from there unless somebody has a lot of drama

00:28:23But he could get a pocket full of points David

00:28:26I'll tell you what he'll be getting the sense of a little move on Kobayashi here

00:28:30Just looking at the back end of that Sauber wiggling around a bit

00:28:33Kimi Raikkonen who has spent two years rallying and can easily cope with a lack of grip on the rear end

00:28:40Will have his eyes I'm sure open very wide indeed

00:28:43And waiting for the moment where he can strike

00:28:46We're on lap 13

00:28:48Jenson Button leads

00:28:50He's about three and a half seconds clear of his teammate Lewis Hamilton

00:28:53Sebastian Vettel running his own race in third at the moment as you can see on your screens

00:28:59But let's concentrate for a moment on this battle

00:29:01Kobayashi seventh Raikkonen eighth and then Sergio Perez ninth

00:29:05And Raikkonen once again getting better traction coming out of the corners

00:29:08Kobayashi slowing him down

00:29:10Perez almost going into the back of him and I'm not surprised to see

00:29:14Kobayashi going into the pits and making a stop

00:29:18I think we're going to see martin here quite a few three stoppers as fernando alonso we see coming out of the pits now

00:29:24Yeah, you're wondering that if they have to fit this early whether they've got more tire deck than everybody told us

00:29:30This morning as they lose the tire gauge wears down they start to lose temperature and grip

00:29:36And the car slides around horribly. It's unbelievable how difficult it is behind the wheel at that point

00:29:41And it does seem as if they're not lasting quite as well as we thought we were told that

00:29:47The yellow tires the yellow marks off tires could go as far as 20 plus laps

00:29:52Well, it hasn't proven to be the case

00:29:54Although of course they are on full tanks of fuel at the start of the race and that makes it much more difficult

00:30:00It certainly does but we're slap bang in the window for a three-stop strategy here

00:30:04Felipe Massa by the way going out on medium tires as Kimi Raikkonen now sets the fastest first sector of the race so far

00:30:13Now he's got a bit of clear air ahead of him and he's got about

00:30:1610 seconds to gain on pastor Maldonado who's running in fifth place

00:30:20Raikkonen putting his foot down and getting much faster as we ride on board with Mark Webber currently running fourth in his home grand prix

00:30:27And his rear tires are getting a bit secondhand as well judging by the overstay he had through turn 14

00:30:32And he's ready to hand them back in

00:30:34Don't think you'll get much for them because they look like they've had enough

00:30:38Vettel though still coming at the McLarens and Hamilton just nibbling away at button's lead as well

00:30:44So the three out front are still finding enough grip

00:30:48Mark Webber thinks he's had enough of those and a long long way down the pit lane they were world champions

00:30:53So they're in the last garage at this particular circuit

00:30:57So it's the lights on and a lollipop out in front of Mark Webber as he makes his way out

00:31:03They have the the double system really down at Red Bull and Webber feeds back into the race behind Rosberg and behind Alonso

00:31:10On the prime tire, the medium tire and just remind you you've got to on a dry race you've got to use both of both types of tire

00:31:19Ted let's go down to you once again

00:31:21So that's an interesting stretching from Alonso and Webber who've both gone to the harder tire in this stint

00:31:27I think they're just going to take a sort of suck it and see attitude

00:31:29They could do three stops from now we are around the three stop window to be about 15 then lap 29 then lap 44

00:31:36Two stops around lap 19 and 39 so McLaren looking good for two stops at the moment

00:31:41But with Alonso and Webber they could still two stop from here if they can make those harder tires last

00:31:47Thanks ever so much indeed Ted

00:31:49If you can do a two stopper if you're in a McLaren things are looking very very handy for you at the moment indeed

00:31:56Also, if you're Sergio Perez Martin Brundle things aren't looking too bad as well

00:32:01I think he's looking in great shape. He's p6. He's on the primes. He's doing personal bests and matching the pace

00:32:09Matching the pace of the lead is in fact slightly quicker than the lead is the moment

00:32:12We need to keep a serious eye on Sergio Perez as this race

00:32:17Unfolds so Jean-Eric Verne as well. He's just two and a half seconds behind Perez and he's also on those

00:32:23Prime tires, so the first man to pit

00:32:27Is Weber and then Alonso everybody in front of them so the top seven at the moment haven't pitted but only two of them are on the primes

00:32:37The beautiful thing for Sergio Perez is at the end of his stop

00:32:40He's got the what is supposedly slower tire out of the way as well

00:32:44Fettel just took a second out of Hamilton on the previous lap as well

00:32:48And nine tenths out of button

00:32:52Fettel's flying now the McLarens are definitely burning up their rear tires

00:32:57Kabayashi goes fastest of anybody in the race. We know he's just pitted as well

00:33:02So Sauber showing some handy pace. So this pace is still good cars behind have started to pit for their second tire

00:33:09We are in really good shape

00:33:11So I think that's an old you know can be a minute two minutes ago because that's not how it looks to me right now

00:33:17Looking at the timers, but I think they'll be pitting him now

00:33:20So that's probably a minute a minute and a half old that message and the game changed

00:33:24That's what I love about formula one. It changes as quickly as that everything changes in a minute

00:33:29Thankfully for us Martin Brundle your slap bang up to date as Jenson Martin now pits from the lead of this race

00:33:35Lewis Hamilton goes through then to take the lead man who started on pole but was beaten by his teammate off the line and look

00:33:41Red Bull are responding and Sebastian Fettel is coming in for a change as well

00:33:45It's the second slowest pit lane of the season. Oh Jenson Button coming out there

00:33:50Almost clipped the ankle of one of the mechanics as Sebastian Fettel feeds into his pit box and nearly returns the complement with the

00:33:57McLaren pit crew

00:33:59He gets a direct drive out which is always helps and that's one of the benefits of being the champions

00:34:05You either get a direct drive in or direct drive out of your pit lane

00:34:08And where does Fettel feed back in?

00:34:10Got a bit of traffic, but it is ahead of

00:34:13Alonso who's pitted so

00:34:16He's not that far ahead of Alonso is he?

00:34:18No, he's not. I mean Alonso's been in the 32 so

00:34:21You know you would really have imagined Fettel to be much further ahead of Alonso than that because he was catching the leaders

00:34:28Alonso's having a great race

00:34:30We were concentrating on Fettel closing in on the two leaders

00:34:34Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso was quietly going about his own business and on a colder set of tires

00:34:39Is Sebastian Fettel going to be vulnerable on the first half of this lap?

00:34:42We'll wait and see as his teammate Mark Webber now sets the fastest lap of the race and the only ones in the top five

00:34:49That haven't pitted yet. Lewis Hamilton in Leeds and also

00:34:53Kimi Räikkönel

00:34:55Another advantage for Jensen as he gets being in the lead of the two McLarens and in the lead of the race of course

00:35:01He gets first tips on the pit stop strategy

00:35:04I'd imagine that's how it always used to be at McLaren. So he'll get the undercut

00:35:07He's got a lap on those fresh tires over and above this man Lewis Hamilton

00:35:12And that's why he was been told to push and give it everything that he's got because he was coming in for

00:35:17A pit stop and we wait now to see where Lewis Hamilton can feed back out into this race

00:35:23Jensen Button should retake the lead, but what will the advantage be?

00:35:27It was about three and a half seconds before the first round of pit stops

00:35:31Jensen Button goes through as we watch Lewis Hamilton now coming out onto the track

00:35:36You can see Kimi Räikkönen coming through as well, but of course Räikkönen hasn't pitted yet

00:35:40And there's Sergio Perez coming through and just nipping ahead of Lewis Hamilton who had to give it everything he got

00:35:47But didn't give it enough to get out ahead of Sergio Perez we can go down to Ted

00:35:52And so clearly the white stripe medium tire is the tire that most drivers like

00:35:57It was that good pace of Fernando Alonso that tipped everybody off to that

00:36:01He was the first to go on the harder tire and everyone else thought right

00:36:05That's great lap times for the for the for the Ferrari

00:36:07So let's see what we can do. So the only odd man out at the moment is Sebastian Vettel

00:36:11He's the only one on the soft tire

00:36:13That's felipe massa presumably going past petrov, but that worked out horribly unfortunately for Lewis Hamilton

00:36:19Because he's come out behind perez and Räikkönen who are running longer strategies

00:36:23Whereas Jensen Button has got nearly half a lap with nobody in front of him

00:36:28So it's worked beautifully for Jensen and Sebastian Vettel then coming underneath the sister toro rosso

00:36:34And next up to do that will be Fernando Alonso. Look at that really into the marbles is Vettel

00:36:40He'll have to take a bit of caution on the way into 11. He'll know that you have to yield a bit when you've gone off the

00:36:46Racing line and there comes mark webber really hustling and catching back up to Alonso and Vettel

00:36:52Lewis Hamilton making no impression on Sergio Perez in this lap so far

00:36:57And traffic starting to be somewhat of a problem here the slower moving toro rosso

00:37:03We've got a race on our hands this afternoon. We really have got a race on our hands

00:37:09Because uh at the moment

00:37:12Vettel

00:37:13Alonso

00:37:14Weber

00:37:15They're all still right in it and they're between look at that the DRS is open and Alonso then fancying a look

00:37:22That's incredible

00:37:23But he fancies a look there fernando alonso on jean-eric verne he's got much better traction coming out of turn two with the DRS as well

00:37:31That is a very easy move and verne may be under pressure as well for nico rossberg

00:37:36Not quite rossberg too far back going into turn three mark webber is right slap bang in the thick of it here

00:37:42Meanwhile jensen button six and a half seconds clear of kimmy raikkonen

00:37:46Who hasn't pitted yet and starting to streak away from him by almost eight tenths of a second a lap

00:37:52An interesting number that may be relevant later in the race it took

00:37:55Hamilton 20 the delta as they call it the difference of a complete lap versus a pit stop was 26 seconds

00:38:01So that's what they need to allow as nico rossberg then makes his way

00:38:06Past the toro rosso next up mark webber

00:38:10And mark webber round the outside in there to turn 11 and we've seen a few try this one before

00:38:15You've got to be brave and hold your breath and mark webber does just that moving up

00:38:20Into eighth place and jean-eric verne losing two places there in the space of about seven corners

00:38:26verne hasn't pitted yet, but he yielded there to

00:38:29Mark webber no doubt about it probably thought there's no point in fighting that one

00:38:34The last person who did that wouldn't yield to a red bull in a toro rosso is no longer driving a toro rosso

00:38:40As kimmy raikkonen comes in for his first stop of the race so lap 20 for kimmy raikkonen

00:38:49Halfway really in between the one-stop strategy and a two-stop strategy

00:38:55Romain grosjean looking on and wishing he too was still out on the track but his race was

00:39:00Over and done halfway through the first lap and look look at this hamilton still can't get past sergio perez his race

00:39:07Is being absolutely ruined the longer he stays behind that sauber

00:39:11Indeed he's now 10 seconds behind button perez up into second place yet to stop damage from wing going on there as well

00:39:19Which cannot be helping at all it's just towing in looking at his left front end

00:39:25Wing end fence and still he's holding off hamilton and he's allowed to do that he's not being lapped this is for position

00:39:32And perez just like last year driving a stormer that just doesn't fancy that pit lane

00:39:38Came into formula one sergio perez with a lot of people saying just watch this mexican

00:39:43He is an absolute find and I don't think we ever really saw the best of him until later on in the season in

00:39:492011 he of course had that accident at monaco didn't race in the next race and said he was still dizzy for a couple of races after that

00:39:59Well, he'll be getting quite dizzy at the thought of keeping lewis hamilton at bay here in australia this evening

00:40:05That's exactly what he's doing though and has done ever since hamilton came out of his pit stop and started last as well

00:40:12It's worth reminding you this man changed his gearbox and was plumb last on the grid

00:40:16And still he doesn't pit though lewis will be gutted frankly that he didn't fit the drs knows at the inside

00:40:22He's got a great chance here so i think perez will fight him too hard

00:40:26And uh that was an important move but they're now 11 seconds behind button as vettel's the next one up

00:40:33And presumably he'll have some drs as well because he was behind

00:40:37Hamilton but no perez won't yield to him he might be the world champion but you're not going to get an easy pass

00:40:43Vettel thinks better sticking his nose up the inside a turn forward so he should have so fives are flat out right hander

00:40:49No way to ever take through there six and seven really neither are they corners we can overtake so

00:40:56Vettel might have to do as he did with

00:40:58Rosberg earlier on in the race around the outside of nine through ten

00:41:02We'll get a better run out of ten down to the uh famous 11 and 12 chicane

00:41:06No way to look through and uh button on the radio

00:41:09Okay gents captain lewis now 11 seconds but lewis is now in clear air lewis is in freer

00:41:15And sebastian vettel's in clear air as well because he this time finds the inside line into turn 11 he goes

00:41:21That was pure traction because he's got much better tires on perez

00:41:26Probably ought to be parking those suit because they look like he can't he just can't drive off the corner they're driving around him

00:41:32Fair play to perez though kept vettel at bay for much longer than he could have done

00:41:36But he just forced vettel to go the long way around that right hander at turn three

00:41:41And there was just no chance for the red bull to get far enough ahead to make that corner his own

00:41:46It was really sensible driving we'll see if he carries on or not

00:41:50He does you know another lap coming up for sergio perez

00:41:53They're going to try and stretch this out martin i'm sure now for another five or six laps and it's a one stop of the sergio perez

00:42:00Then he's got to get to the end of the race on the uh on the options the the uh softer tire so

00:42:07If there's anything that can do it it's sauber the past masters at it as we ride on board now with fernando alonso

00:42:12That man perez under pressure again, but once again

00:42:15He's got the inside line for that right hander at turn three

00:42:20And is enough traction to keep alonso at bay for the time being out of turn four now the spaniard

00:42:26All over the back of that sauber weaving around trying to find a gap fernando alonso

00:42:30But he's got to watch himself as into the chicane they go there's no room through on that back on the power again

00:42:36Riding on board with fernando alonso accelerating to about 140 miles an hour jamming on the brakes once more and he still

00:42:43Can't find a way past the sauber can he do it here with better traction?

00:42:47Well he hasn't got quite as good traction as the red bull so it didn't work

00:42:50When you've almost got to be calm behind perez and then drill him on the traction because now alonso's got

00:42:55Rosberg all over the back of them and perez he's in the sauber ferrari and he's holding up the ferrari ferrari

00:43:02And he doesn't care one little bit so great driving from him

00:43:06And i'm sure he's frustrating a few world champions as they coast up behind him and can't find a way past

00:43:13Mark weber still hanging on there in seven place meldonado eight masa nine kobayashi

00:43:1810th reikon and 11th and diresta but it's button with an 11.4 second lead

00:43:26And comfortably lapping uh not just ahead of his teammate lewis hamilton but also ahead of sebastian fethlers fernando alonso goes through it again

00:43:34Sergio perez has no answer down the main straight and perez loses another place down to fifth now

00:43:40And i wonder how long he's going to be in fifth place because here comes nico rosberg still trying to salvage something from his weekend

00:43:47Rosberg has the speed and the drs advantage down into turn three to make that move stick on perez

00:43:54You can see i've done it a million times gingerly turning anything please don't miss your breaking point you sort of turn the wheel of the oh he hasn't hit me

00:44:03Mark weber's next up then

00:44:05For a look at perez and now as soon as vetel's got in clear air he's now six tenths faster again

00:44:13Than the mclarens albeit uh 1.3 behind hamilton 12.7 behind button there's mark weber now making his way past

00:44:21Sergio perez he's on the faster tires isn't he sebastian fethler the faster tires than the uh the mclarens at the moment so

00:44:28Should be eating into the advantage

00:44:31Jenson button's got a big advantage over him but obviously lewis hamilton only

00:44:351.3 seconds ahead at the moment he's going to be under pressure as soon as we go down to ted

00:44:40So just quick update on strategy down here with uh both mclarens on the harder tire and uh lewis hamilton

00:44:47Now starting to make up ground although they're lapping at the same time

00:44:51But jenson button as i say it dips in to the 32 eights

00:44:54But lewis hamilton the gap is still around 11 seconds and all that came about because mclaren were quite late to stop

00:45:01And lewis hamilton being second on the road had to wait for jenson button to pin first

00:45:06That's why he lost so much of that time and had to sit behind sergio perez

00:45:10That's really really hurt his race now jenson button will be sitting in that mclaren so

00:45:14Delighted that he's effectively built now a potentially a race winning gap to his teammate

00:45:20He can afford to take it slightly easier certainly jenson button

00:45:24He can maybe turn the wick down conserve a little bit of fuel as well

00:45:28I'm starting to pick up some uh vibration

00:45:31Starting to pick up some vibrations on these tires

00:45:34Not for blocking not for blocking

00:45:37Okay understand

00:45:38And just as i say you can take it easy and be a bit more comfortable we have that message

00:45:42Well sometimes they pick up a little bit of rubber on the surface it just won't go away or they turn slightly on the rim

00:45:48So they're out of balance effectively and uh jenson reporting in then some vibration that says i haven't locked them up

00:45:54It's not me there's something going on with the tire but useful information for the team and obviously they'll be monitoring if it gets any worse

00:46:01And he's already lost half a second martin on this particular lap

00:46:05As to his teammate lewis hamilton who as you can see is now going to have to worry about what's behind him

00:46:11As uh nicole scherzinger watches on lewis's mum here as well

00:46:18But is their boy going to stay in second place for much longer because that time spent behind sergio perez has allowed sebastian fettel

00:46:26To come right back at him here

00:46:291.2 seconds the gap so he's

00:46:31Free from any drs threat for the time being and hamilton just actually setting the fastest lap of the race right at the right moment for him

00:46:40one second faster than button the lead down to 10.9 seconds took a full second out of his lead

00:46:46extraordinary as perez finally pits for sauber

00:46:51on lap 25

00:46:53and we can go down to john button he's down on the paddock with natalie pinkham at the moment

00:46:59we're at the less salubrious spot of the bins at the back of mclaren

00:47:02Why are you doing out here?

00:47:05Toilets around here

00:47:06I spotted you having a fag how are the nerves?

00:47:09Oh okay a bit nervous it's a long long way to go yeah

00:47:13It's got a brilliant start from your boy

00:47:15Yeah it's uh it's been so confident you know with breakfast this morning with and it's uh but it's not over yet

00:47:21Long way to get back in and watch it yeah

00:47:24And as john button goes back in

00:47:26Kimi Räikkönen and pass to Maldonado having a right old ding-dong as they uh battle

00:47:31down in 10th spot at the moment Maldonado has lost places out of that he was riding in seventh

00:47:36but let's just have a little look at what happened Felipe Massa out in front then Kamui

00:47:40Kobayashi and Kimi Räikkönen so what Kobayashi not Maldonado and it's

00:47:47Massa who makes the move on Kobayashi gets a little bit squeezed Räikkönen then

00:47:52thinks i'll have a little bit of that and this is where they make contact

00:47:58Yeah it's a little short straight between turns four and five good clean racing though you have to say

00:48:04good indeed and uh Hamilton then has just taken another seven tenths out of Button's lead

00:48:10and Vettel's matched him so Jenson is definitely struggling with those tyres and it's not

00:48:15traffic there's nobody in front of him and uh he's got Daniel Ricciardo between him and Hamilton and

00:48:21Vettel at the moment and Alonso then followed by Rosberg and Weber they're just 2.8 seconds apart

00:48:29and there's Weber half second behind Rosberg it was a dream start wasn't it for Jenson Button

00:48:36wheel spin and wheel slippage for Lewis Hamilton right off the line allow Jenson Button to take

00:48:43that lead going into the first turn he's built up quite a considerable lead after the first round

00:48:48of pit stop Sebastian Vettelow has made strides through the field Fernando Alonso running a super

00:48:54race for Ferrari at the moment who went into this race saying we can't challenge for a podium at the

00:48:58moment Alonso running in fourth and only just off the pace and then Mark Webber just behind Nico

00:49:04Rosberg plenty of action to come here but not for Michael Schumacher Romain Grosjean or Nico Hülkenberg the

00:49:10three that we've lost so far and we're not even at half distance Jenson just putting in two personal

00:49:16bests in the first two sectors but Lewis is absolutely flying he's not giving up on this one at all but

00:49:22Jenson then finding some pace if he can get to lap 35 37 ish he can stay on a two-stop strategy but

00:49:32that's another 10 laps that's a long way to go isn't it if they're beginning to vibrate and struggle for

00:49:37grip but Hamilton then a 31.5 new fastest lap of the race he took another six tenths so

00:49:43consistently well over half a second per lap gap down to 9.6 Croftby I was just about to say Lewis

00:49:49Hamilton coming back into this race lap by lap here and leaving Sebastian Vettel trailing in his wake

00:49:56somewhat at the moment and the gap between Vettel and Hamilton is he's growing by about half a second

00:50:01a lap two seconds at it but we're back on board with Raikkonen making a move now on Felipe Massa into

00:50:08the first turn and the former Ferrari driver gets past the current Ferrari driver and Massa is going

00:50:13to be under pressure now from Kamui Kobayashi and into the second DRS zone we go and Kobayashi eases past

00:50:20Felipe Massa and makes his way up into eighth place I was worried that Kimi might be a bit race rusty as

00:50:27Michael Schumacher looks on but uh Kimi has been coming through the pack nicely Michael then one of

00:50:32three retirements 22 starters 19 running and let's see these uh sector times now uh Jensen and Lewis are

00:50:40absolutely neck and neck on this current lap and uh and Vettel's actually a couple of tenths slower

00:50:46than them in the first sector so there's the first move by Raikkonen with DRS assisted into one

00:50:51and then uh immediately Massa off balance Jensen's got to get on with it now and he wants to uh so

00:51:01that they're in the straight same pit straight and Ted's got news it's down towards Ferrari it looks

00:51:10like they're preparing some tires with Felipe Massa's uh code on it it's his color code and it must be his

00:51:16tires have gone he's done uh 17 laps on these tires by now he only hit 11 on the first lap first stint

00:51:22before he had to change them so I wouldn't be surprised if we have to see Felipe Massa in pretty

00:51:25soon and uh that would make it a three stop thanks ever so much indeed Ted we're at about half race

00:51:32distance aren't we now coming up towards it and that's Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber we're watching the

00:51:38battle for fifth and for sixth and behind them pastor Maldonado Kimi Raikkonen resuming their tussle as

00:51:47well but Jensen Button though just about holding his own once again after we saw Lewis Hamilton start to

00:51:54make great inroads into his lead that gap has remained at about nine and a half seconds for the

00:51:59last couple of laps or so so maybe those vibrations that Jensen Button was feeling in the tires have started

00:52:06to go away a bit and he's just a little more at ease he's he is the sort of guy Martin that has to

00:52:10have that car absolutely perfect for him he does he's probably started to ignore it as soon as he saw

00:52:14the gap coming down and uh you can talk yourself out of these things if you're not careful in terms of

00:52:21you worry too much about it you just gotta get on and drive as our opening titles say but the gap nine and

00:52:29a half seconds now and uh Jensen actually 10th quicker as you said and uh they're 12 Jensen Button

00:52:3712 seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel who's just done the fastest middle sector of anybody of course

00:52:42they're using up their fuel now using up their fuel nicely Sergio Perez is fed back in in 13th place but

00:52:49doing same the same lap times as the leaders if he can get to the end he's looking mighty it's uh one of the eye for all those

00:52:58conspiracy theories who say don't ever read anything into testing and Sergio Perez might be topping the

00:53:03timing charts in a testing session as one of the Mauritius rather gets in the way and Felipe Massa

00:53:08dives into the pit lane well Perez has taken that form from winter testing and he's equated it

00:53:13into a very handy race here so far today Massa now in for a second stop as we ride back on board with

00:53:21Mark Webber you can see fifth gear on the dash changing up all the while as he picks as straight

00:53:26a line as possible through the trees before making that right hander at turn five and onwards he goes

00:53:31towards the first of the two chicanes here Mark Webber hunting down Nico Rosberg i wonder if he's close

00:53:37enough to get some good traction here is he close enough to try and have a go with a lake on his

00:53:42right hand side either on the inside or the outside at turn 11 he's certainly gaining on Nico Rosberg now

00:53:48closing ever so but not enough to make the move into turn 11. but he knows that Rosberg was a little

00:53:53bit tight on the way into 11 maybe compromised through the exit but Rosberg's got a good drive

00:53:57off the corner so uh maybe costing each other time at the moment because Pastor Maldonado that new

00:54:04Williams unquestionably is looking a way better car than they dragged through last season so uh

00:54:11Webber then i think we're getting a bit frustrated with this shortly he's 23 and a half seconds off the lead

00:54:17and he clearly has a faster car at this stage of the Grand Prix Kimi Raikkonen's pace

00:54:22really strong in eighth place for the Lotus team he's having a fine race

00:54:27because he couldn't have had such a fine qualifying who knows what Kimi Raikkonen might have been able

00:54:32to do if he was slightly higher up the grid but to go back to Williams i was i was talking to Mark

00:54:37Gillum there at chief operations engineer this morning he said look Pastor Maldonado starting seventh we

00:54:42really think that we're racing for the position starting eighth i should say we're racing for

00:54:47the position that we've started in we'd be really disappointed if we come home behind that

00:54:56blue flags are for cars behind Kimi they're not for you

00:55:02just a little reminder Kimi that you do get a few more different colors of flags than you do in rallying

00:55:08i'm amazed he doesn't know what the blue flags are for what he's he's seeing blue flags but

00:55:13obviously they were amongst traffic and he's asking why he thought they were waved at him and

00:55:17his engineer saying no they're not being there yes they are they're not for you he's saying i

00:55:21shouldn't be getting blue flags and he shouldn't and he's not he's not he's not in danger of being

00:55:26lapped yet he's just been running in the company of Riccardo and Glock and Charles Pig who are the three

00:55:32lap cars so far as Mark Webber and Kimi and Nico Rosberg down into turn 13. Webber where he once

00:55:39punted Lewis Hamilton towards the end of an Australian Grand Prix thought about it again look at that

00:55:44pass to Maldonado right on the back of this little tail here Webber's got to be careful here if he makes

00:55:49a move on Rosberg he could be really vulnerable to attack from Maldonado down the straight we go

00:55:55and that DRS drag reduction system is available for both Webber and for Maldonado but the trouble is for

00:56:01them they've got a very fast car in a straight line ahead of them we saw in qualifying that the

00:56:07Mercedes is quicker in a straight line so with the DRS open there's probably only about equal and this is

00:56:13where Red Bull's strategy of running lots of wing hurts them but the double DRS helps he still can't

00:56:18and you're right Maldonado's right up the inside and Mark has to be really careful as he flashes across

00:56:23the track to take position but he doesn't get a sliced tire or something like that so uh i wouldn't think

00:56:30he knows whether to look out the front or the back

00:56:36understood we're on it

00:56:39saying he's talking about weaving is he yeah he is oh we'll go back to weaving in a moment is that

00:56:44Jean-Erik Verne in the Toro Rosso drifting rather than weaving and stuck in a bit of a rot as we're

00:56:50back on board with Mark Webber now watch Nico Rosberg is he making one continuous line he's certainly

00:56:55leaving weather enough space on the inside this is going to be mighty brave weather backs on

00:57:00oh he's going to go wide

00:57:01has gone a bit too far and uses the escape road now Jenson Button did the same thing last year

00:57:06Martin but he was level with Felipe Massa what are the stewards going to think about this well

00:57:13i think that he let his foot off the brakes was never actually going to make the corner but of course

00:57:17he was ahead that's a really difficult call for the stewards as to whether he gained advantage because

00:57:22he was always ahead but he you could argue easily that he was ahead and he goes into pits anyway so

00:57:28that solves that problem they how can they can't penalize him unless they give him a but he could

00:57:34argue i gave the place back i was coming in the pits but uh yeah you know he he went wide because

00:57:39he just let his foot off the brakes basically Mark Webber certainly was on the brakes earlier and

00:57:45through there but Nico Rosberg for his second stop of this race so far the front jack man closed rather

00:57:51differently to the rest of the Mercedes crew lifts his uh jack out the way and Rosberg filters in

00:57:5810th place at the moment 4.4 second pit stop not the fastest i'm sure we'll see but ahead or behind

00:58:05us should say Sergio Perez there yeah Perez that's the sort of pace he's doing Perez has just set the

00:58:10fastest lap of the race with a 1 31.5 and moves up to 10th place so Nico Rosberg will uh if he can

00:58:20catch him he's got him to go with Paul DiResta then up into ninth place as well at the moment so that is

00:58:26working beautifully for Sergio Perez and uh let's let's we'll keep an eye on Webber's pace now Webber's

00:58:33flying now he's in clear absolutely flying he's eight seconds behind Alonso but uh is putting in some

00:58:40great sector times and look at that sight if you're a Jenson Button fan that must be absolutely

00:58:44beautiful as he disappears through turn one Lewis Hamilton comes around the final turn such is the gap

00:58:51between the two McLarens at the moment and he's actually increased it button on that previous lap

00:58:56by over a second maybe the uh back markers getting in Lewis Hamilton's way a little bit we can ride on

00:59:01board with him now he's in a little bit of uh cleaner air Hamilton 2.2 seconds the gap back to Sebastian

00:59:08Vettel in third

00:59:13okay understood Lewis we need to keep going for a few more laps if we can

00:59:17well we think they need to get say 37 as we said before to make sure it's a two stop but i love

00:59:22this shot because this really is just about as close as you're going to feel to be on board a

00:59:28formula one car it's driver high level we're not quite in the center of the car but that for me

00:59:33is a very very realistic shot

00:59:38so Mark Webber gaining at the moment on Fernando Alonso by setting the fastest lap of the race we

00:59:46watched Sebastian Vettel his teammate in third with Alonso right behind him the difference in their last lap

00:59:53times while Alonso was about eight tenths of a second slower so nice and comfortable for Vettel at the

00:59:58moment albeit

00:59:58A little bit

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