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The Friday Practice Session for Round 15 of the 2003 F1 season at Indianapolis.
Transcript
00:00:00We're here live at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the track has just
00:00:08gone green for the first free practice session of the Formula One United States Grand Prix weekend.
00:00:30Hello and welcome to live coverage of the FIA Formula One World Championship on Speed Channel.
00:00:42Hello again and thanks for joining us for the first of four time practice sessions for
00:00:46this weekend.
00:00:47I'm Rick DeBrule.
00:00:47Joining me in the booth, as always, my colleagues, former Grand Prix driver David Hobbs, former
00:00:51mechanic for the Benetton Formula One team, Steve Matchett, and this weekend we also have
00:00:56two other members of Team Speed down in pit lane this weekend.
00:01:00Let's first send it down to another former Grand Prix driver, Dirk DeBrule.
00:01:03I am here.
00:01:04We had 11 cars that did the test session earlier.
00:01:07The three Renaults were the fastest of those cars.
00:01:10Of course, the interest was with the Jordan team to see would Ralph Furman be able to take
00:01:14part this weekend because last Wednesday in a test session at Silverstone, he still blacked
00:01:20out as a result of the effects of his crash in Hungary.
00:01:23They say he is now okay.
00:01:25He'll continue the rest of the weekend.
00:01:26And, of course, we have also down in the pit lane here at the man you have seen live on
00:01:30Speed Channel all year long at the Formula One events, Peter Windsor.
00:01:35Thank you very much, Dirk.
00:01:36Hi, guys.
00:01:37I'm outside the BMW Williams garage.
00:01:39I've got a great view at the moment of the grandstand opposite, which looks like Italy
00:01:44versus Columbia.
00:01:44I think it's a Formula One race they're watching.
00:01:47Could be football, though.
00:01:49A huge Colombian contingent down there.
00:01:52Big flags in the stands.
00:01:54And we've got to talk about weather.
00:01:55It is chilly out here today, guys.
00:01:57It is extremely chilly, and the weather forecast for the weekend is certainly, let's say, a little
00:02:02bit on the iffy side.
00:02:03We're expecting we've had a little bit of rain today already.
00:02:05Just a sprinkle.
00:02:07Expecting more showers today.
00:02:08Very heavy rain tonight.
00:02:09And then tomorrow and Sunday is a little bit undecided.
00:02:12But they reckon it's going to be cool.
00:02:14This will not help these guys and their Michelin tires.
00:02:18They're already in the lead-up for this session.
00:02:23We've seen the mechanics.
00:02:24Oh, that is Montoya.
00:02:27First off, yeah, and we saw a little bit of spray coming up as they, you can see now,
00:02:30the wet patches on the tread.
00:02:33But already the mechanics in the pit lane are beginning to work on wet weather settings
00:02:37on spare wings.
00:02:40The possibility of these skies opening up and we have some rainfall.
00:02:42We have had some light rain, but it isn't falling at the moment.
00:02:46And the forecast all weekend, all week, really, has been going back and forth.
00:02:50One day they'll say it's going to be raining on Saturday or Sunday.
00:02:53Next day they say it won't.
00:02:54The last forecast I saw last night said they were expecting a possibility of sprinkles on
00:02:58Sunday.
00:02:58Yesterday was supposed to be a bit sprinkly and it was absolutely gorgeous all day.
00:03:02Here we see Montoya again.
00:03:03You see that puff of smoke out the back of that shoulder.
00:03:05That's a tire locked up more engine, really.
00:03:07Well, there's a lot of brake dust as well, David, come out.
00:03:09Just when he locked up.
00:03:10That's a high braking point of the circuit there.
00:03:13They're going down for about 205 miles an hour.
00:03:16Absolutely flat chat.
00:03:1719,000 RPM down to 56 to negotiate corner one.
00:03:22And a lot of brake dust coming out of the Williams chassis.
00:03:28Guys, you were talking about the relatively cool conditions.
00:03:32After the test session this morning, I had a chat to a few of the runners.
00:03:35Most of them, I have to say, said that at the moment it looks pretty cold for Michelin.
00:03:41Talking to Frank Durney, one of the Williams engineers, he said, yeah, it smells a little
00:03:45bit like Bridgestone conditions at the moment.
00:03:47But it's, you know, wait and see what happens.
00:03:50Michelin are not coming here thinking it's going to be hot.
00:03:53So they're not stupid equally at the moment.
00:03:56Let's see what the Bridgestone runners do.
00:03:59Well, of course, the whole thing is so close, really.
00:04:03There's Michael Schumacher running in third spot so far.
00:04:06The fastest at the moment is Ralph Schumacher, followed by David Coulthard.
00:04:10Tight right-hander coming up, then on to Holman Boulevard, the infield straight.
00:04:40Great to see Ralph Schumacher going straight out and doing a time like that.
00:04:44Obviously, a big weekend for him because he was past medically fit two races in the Italian
00:04:50Grand Prix at Monza two weeks ago.
00:04:52But on the Friday, just felt too giddy when he got in the car, too dizzy, had to get out
00:04:57and pulled out of that Grand Prix.
00:04:59He's not sat in a Formula One car since, so he needed to go out of the garage, give it
00:05:04some stick, see how he felt.
00:05:06And at the moment, signs are good for Ralph Schumacher.
00:05:10Mark Webber in the Jaguar, posting the fastest first sector time in the morning so far, 22.451.
00:05:22That is the fastest chauffeured ride you will ever have in your entire life.
00:05:26Of course, Mark Webber already done an hour's practice this morning in that two-hour session,
00:05:32in fact, this morning.
00:05:33So he is really tuned in and geared up for the track already.
00:05:36So look for the guys who ran earlier, the Renaults, Jags, to be going quick at this stage.
00:05:43If you watch David Coulthard get in, it is slippery out there, guys, isn't it?
00:05:47Although it doesn't seem very wet.
00:05:49I mean, it's been kind of spitting rain this morning, but not enough to really soak down
00:05:53the track.
00:05:54Woke up this morning and outside the hotel some patches of wet roadway, but in terms of
00:06:00what we've had this morning, it hasn't at any point really been any serious rain.
00:06:04Well, I wonder whether or not we have to look at this track has been diamond ground to put
00:06:09grooves all the way around the track, the Indianapolis oval part of the track.
00:06:13It disappears on the infield section.
00:06:16But those grooves, of course, will hold that water, that light rain we've had.
00:06:19Now, those grooves disappear as we go into the infield.
00:06:21But remember, with the downforce effects of the diffuser on these cars, I wonder if it started
00:06:25to lift that water out a little bit and go over the tyres.
00:06:28So the grooves are pretty much like the groove on a record when you look at it.
00:06:31Very, very fine, and I bet that's been holding the water, not allowing it to run off.
00:06:37And, of course, the grooves and tyres in general have been a lot of controversy recently, Steve,
00:06:42as you know.
00:06:43But this year has definitely turned out to be a tyre war.
00:06:46And Michelin, of course, had their wings trimmed a little bit at the last race because of
00:06:50the new front they developed.
00:06:51They have brought here two brand new constructions of tyre for their cars to go against this battle,
00:06:59Michelin versus Bridgestone.
00:07:01Peter, you looked very carefully at the track earlier on.
00:07:05I know you saw some interesting things.
00:07:08Well, that's right, yeah.
00:07:09Just following on from what Steve was saying there, during that untimed session this morning,
00:07:13the red flag was brought out.
00:07:14The track was actually closed for a while because some sealer between those grooves popped out.
00:07:20And they had to, of course, remove that from the track service.
00:07:23I was talking to Alan McNish about it.
00:07:24He said you wouldn't want to hit one of those.
00:07:26It would take off absolutely, at the very least, it would take a front wing end plate off your car.
00:07:30So let's hope we see no more of that.
00:07:32That's only happening, as Steve says, on the main straight here.
00:07:36The rest of the track appears to be okay.
00:07:38Alan also said it's very, very dusty offline.
00:07:40And here we see David Coulthard, replay of David Coulthard's spin.
00:07:44If you get offline, it's just like ice at the moment.
00:07:47Now, the picture you saw just a moment ago of somebody on track, that was from this morning during that test session.
00:07:52Now, we're back to our live pictures of cars out on the track right now.
00:07:56There's quite a lot of sealer.
00:07:58That was a huge chunk of sealer.
00:07:59Yeah, when I thought a bit of sealer had come up, I thought they meant a bit of sealer, not about eight feet of it.
00:08:04But what they did, that diamond grinding ball, I understand, was to take the high points off the old asphalt
00:08:10to try and get some extra life out of the track before they had to resurface the whole thing.
00:08:15So, they may have taken the high spots off.
00:08:17But clearly, I mean, you can see there's a lot of shots.
00:08:21Again, we're watching Coulthard in the McLaren.
00:08:25That's that little spin we saw moments ago from David Coulthard in the MP4-17D.
00:08:32Yes, guys, it is still last year's McLaren chassis that McLaren are using.
00:08:36They have said they will not be using that MP4-18 this year.
00:08:40It will now just become a test chassis.
00:08:41Expect next year the 19 car to be released.
00:08:44Christiano DeMott out on the track right now.
00:08:46Yesterday, he went out driving around the track in a sedan for the first time ever having been on this track
00:08:53because he'd never raced here even on the oval.
00:08:55So, yet another track he had to learn.
00:08:57Now, as we mentioned earlier, Speed Channel will be your home for live coverage of the entire United States Grand Prix weekend.
00:09:03Stick with us as we continue live coverage straight up until provisional qualifying.
00:09:07That will begin at 3 o'clock Eastern Time, 2 o'clock if you're here in Indianapolis.
00:09:10Tomorrow, we start the day off with live coverage of the second and third free practice sessions.
00:09:15That will begin at 9 o'clock Eastern Time and will be live for two more hours.
00:09:20Then, we'll return at 1.30 in the afternoon Eastern Time for the fourth practice session,
00:09:24also known as the warm-up session, and our live coverage will continue through the final round of qualifying.
00:09:30And finally, on Sunday at 12.30 in the afternoon, Speed is proud to bring you live coverage of the fourth United States Grand Prix.
00:09:37As always, we'll kick things off with the Acura Pre-Race Show featuring Peter Windsor and Derrick Daly's famous gridwalk.
00:09:44So, keep it tuned here all weekend long for Speed Channel's live coverage of the United States Grand Prix.
00:09:50We'll be back.
00:09:50We'll be back.
00:10:07Welcome back to Friday Practice for the United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
00:10:30Jensen Button out on the track right now.
00:10:31We talked about the big Colombian contingent in the stands downstairs.
00:10:36Well, there's one Colombian who has far more interest in what's going on today, and he's with Peter Windsor right now.
00:10:42That's absolutely right, Rick.
00:10:43His name is Pablo Montoya.
00:10:44He's Juan Pablo's father.
00:10:46Pablo, seem to be a lot of Colombians here this weekend.
00:10:50Yes, I think it's going to be a lot of support for Juan Pablo, so it's going to be very good.
00:10:55Now, there's a sign here on a big banner.
00:10:58If I can, my translation, I don't think it would be very good, but I think it says something like,
00:11:03Juan Pablo is first because the second is in Rome.
00:11:07I think this is some reference to the Pope, right?
00:11:09Are Juan Pablo actually being bigger than the Pope?
00:11:11No, not bigger.
00:11:12It's because in Spanish, Juan Pablo is the same as the Pope.
00:11:17The Pope is Juan Pablo second.
00:11:20So, Juan Pablo, they put Juan Pablo first.
00:11:23Very, very good.
00:11:25Tell me, how many Colombians do you think have made the trip here this weekend?
00:11:30I don't know, but it should be many because what I heard from everybody, all the planes,
00:11:36the planes came completely proud of Colombians.
00:11:40Brilliant.
00:11:41And I guess Juan Pablo loves this, eh?
00:11:43Yes, yes, of course.
00:11:44He feels very, very, he feels like at home because in some way this is his home track.
00:11:51And does he like the pressure?
00:11:55Yes.
00:11:56Yeah.
00:11:57Well, we'll see.
00:11:58I think it's going to be a brilliant weekend.
00:12:00Back to you, Rick.
00:12:00I remember sitting there talking with Montoya's father, you know, back when he was doing champ
00:12:06cards a few years ago and him telling the story about he used to put Juan Pablo in the go-kart
00:12:09and put him in his lap and let him drive around.
00:12:11You think about how proud he must be today.
00:12:14Boy, I'll say, well, yeah, incredible though.
00:12:16Obviously, he got it started very early.
00:12:18This is Mark Webber just a moment ago.
00:12:20He loops it nearly around, manages to arrest the slide.
00:12:28Maybe he needed the Porsche track map for David Hobbs to get his way around properly.
00:12:32Well, there you see the track map, start-finish line down to turn one at around about 200 miles
00:12:37an hour.
00:12:37Turn one, pretty slow, about 70.
00:12:41Then you've got to get some rhythm going through turn two, three, four, goes in on a very wide
00:12:46radius, tightens up on the exit.
00:12:47Five, on the other hand, is a bit tight going in and it unwinds.
00:12:50Six is a long loop, but you've got to get seven right because that Holman Boulevard is the
00:12:54second-fast point of the track, about 170 miles an hour.
00:12:57Then eight, nine, and ten, very, very tight.
00:12:59You need to get some rhythm there.
00:13:00You need really good mechanical grip through there.
00:13:03Then from 11, a flat-out blast, the longest full throttle than any racetrack in Formula
00:13:08one, 22 seconds, or thereabouts, from turn 11 down to turn one on blackjack.
00:13:14So, a lot of strain on the engines, and we hear that one of the engines from Asia this
00:13:18weekend is reckoning to turn at 19,000 RPM for the first time in their career.
00:13:25That will sound good in the grandstand here.
00:13:27Joining this BMW engine in the 19,000 range.
00:13:30Ralph Schumacher out on the track right now.
00:13:32Ralph obviously having missed the last race as a result of the testing accident.
00:13:37On Friday, they decided he was out on the track that Friday at Ponza, and they decided
00:13:41that he was feeling a little woozy, and really a team to see, and he wasn't going to take
00:13:45part, but he is back.
00:13:47And everything seems to be up to speed.
00:13:49Yeah, he's second-fast so far.
00:13:52Very, very close.
00:13:53The times at the moment, Fred Alonso's fastest are 1-11-7.
00:13:57Ralph, 1-11-7.
00:13:59Barrichello, 1-11-7.
00:14:00Rebel, 1-11-7.
00:14:02And just that fast.
00:14:03Two-side, 1-11-9.
00:14:04Now Ralph Schumacher is faster.
00:14:06But still at a 1-11-7.
00:14:08And chain, so...
00:14:10Well, these guys now, what they'll be doing in these opening laps of the first practice
00:14:13session, they'll be trying that hard and soft compound.
00:14:17So we'll expect to see a lot of the cars do those little loops like Jaguar.
00:14:20Those were said before Jaguar out in the private testing session.
00:14:23They're just now getting a grip, getting a feel of the grip level from each of these tires,
00:14:28hard and soft.
00:14:28And they'll be in and out of the garage changing compounds and changing the sway bars and the
00:14:32spring rates just to try and get a general feel of the thing.
00:14:35So it'll be a very fast and frantic action.
00:14:37You'll see this all weekend long as well.
00:14:40Just getting the drivers used to stopping absolutely on the nail of where the pit stop
00:14:45is because you do not want those mechanics moving a foot to the left or to the right
00:14:49simply because it just loses too much time.
00:14:53Yesterday I was watching Toyota do some practice pit stops out in front of their garage and
00:14:57they were doing a practice fueling, changing the nose and changing the steering wheel, all
00:15:03of which was accomplished in nine seconds.
00:15:05And it would have been faster except the guy who was pretending to be the driver fumbled
00:15:08the steering wheel for about a second.
00:15:09So they could have done a nose change, tires, fuel and steering wheel in eight seconds.
00:15:15I'll tell you what, to do a nose in eight seconds, Rick, that's very quick.
00:15:18We used to reckon if you could change your nose in 15 seconds, you would do it well in
00:15:21the pit stop.
00:15:21That just goes to show how quick these guys are working now.
00:15:25And of course, this is a very important race.
00:15:30I mean, the championship is right on the line for this race.
00:15:32If it's decided in the pits, a lost half second could lose the championship.
00:15:37You don't want to be that guy responsible for that.
00:15:40The pressure here today is absolutely extraordinary.
00:15:43It will be throughout the entire weekend.
00:15:45The weather looks zippy, which is going to throw in another, you know, another part of
00:15:50the equation there.
00:15:51And obviously with only three points separating the top two guys and only seven the top three
00:15:56with two races to go.
00:15:57I mean, this is just a bare knuckles fight right here for the whole weekend.
00:16:07Listen to that thing.
00:16:08Go on.
00:16:09Look at 111.842 and he's fifth.
00:16:13It's got a blow.
00:16:14No.
00:16:16Blah, man.
00:16:18But let's not wish ill on anyone up here.
00:16:21Juan Pablo Montoya, no engine problems at the end of this lap at all.
00:16:25We're going to take a brief break.
00:16:26We'll come back with Bora from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, live on Speed Channel.
00:16:30Welcome back to Speed Channel's coverage of the 2003 Indianapolis Grand Prix where Michael Schumacher's just taken P1 in his attempt to try to clinch the world championship this weekend.
00:16:58I'm with Björn Vertheim who this morning tested for Jordan.
00:17:01He's the international Formula 3000 champion.
00:17:04Björn, what were the track conditions like here at Indy this morning?
00:17:07Well, it's very slippery, obviously, because from what I understand, you don't do very much running on this circuit apart from the Grand Prix.
00:17:15But anyway, it was a good experience.
00:17:17It was good to get another circuit a little bit better.
00:17:20It's a very valuable period for any team to run in the morning.
00:17:23What was your brief this morning?
00:17:26Well, we were testing different tires and we were running with quite a lot of fuel.
00:17:31So, testing basically for the race.
00:17:35And then towards the end we did some runs with low fuel.
00:17:39How does Formula 3000 compare with Formula 1?
00:17:41Well, it's a huge difference and I think it, I mean, Formula 3000 takes quite a different driving style.
00:17:48And it just takes some time to get used to driving the Formula 1 car.
00:17:52Well, good to see you graduating to Formula 1.
00:17:55Back to you, Rick.
00:17:57Björn Vertheim at Formula 3000 championship and the question is where is he going to be next year?
00:18:02He's pretty much made it clear he's not going to be back in Formula 3000.
00:18:05We were talking with David Richards last night and he spoke very highly of Björn Vertheim last night.
00:18:10He did, indeed.
00:18:10Ooh!
00:18:11Well, there is the first Kurt Blamo of the weekend.
00:18:14That didn't take very long, did it?
00:18:16And that could be the car that, uh...
00:18:19Giancarlo Fisichella is out of the car, Derek.
00:18:21And this is one of the Ford Cosworth engines.
00:18:24Believe it or not, they pay an engine bill of $17.8 million.
00:18:30And this is breakage number 24 this season.
00:18:34So, very frustrating for the Jordan team.
00:18:37And as you can see, they have brought in a red flag because he actually blew and laid the oil down on the banking session.
00:18:43It's only nine degrees, but it is banked session.
00:18:45As they come onto this front straight, they're going to go clean it up.
00:18:47And that's last year where Rubens Barrichello had his tire go down and went into that outside wall.
00:18:59Giancarlo Fisichella.
00:19:01Walking back yet again.
00:19:02He's done a few of these walks.
00:19:03I mean, the year he finally gets his victory, but the rest of the season has been so horrible for him.
00:19:08He's got ten points for the year, but really, apart from the win in Brazil, he's had, like, his best position has been like ten.
00:19:15All ten points came with the one.
00:19:17You know, most of the races he hasn't finished, the races he has finished, he's got a twelfth, a fifteenth, a tenth, a twelfth, a tenth.
00:19:24The rest of them have been DNFs.
00:19:25Fisichella had a lot of problems this morning in the testing session.
00:19:29He only got out for about half an hour of running, so they were obviously having problems with that Jordan chassis during that testing session.
00:19:37So he hasn't got an awful lot of running in anyway.
00:19:40There you see the times there.
00:19:41Michael Schumacher's head to Sheetz at the left, but look at that.
00:19:44Ralph Schumacher, only 0,045 second behind him, and Alonso just behind them.
00:19:49The Renault with, refutedly, about 70 horsepower less than the top runners, and in spite of that 22-second full chat, only a few tenths, a few hundredths, off Michael Schumacher's head.
00:20:04And you look at Montoya, championship contender, back in sixth.
00:20:08Kimi Raikkonen, championship contender, back in ninth right now.
00:20:11Now, let's have a look at this engine just going up.
00:20:13Well, it's already gone in, but there's all the oil going right over the racing line.
00:20:17He's actually, he's pretty much low, but nevertheless, just right there.
00:20:22Flowing out of that right-hand bank.
00:20:25Oh, dear, oh, dear.
00:20:27Explaining to everyone just exactly what went wrong.
00:20:30Well, it does put, there is so much strain on the engine here.
00:20:32Remember that this straight section, past the pits, it's 22 seconds.
00:20:37It's the longest period of full throttle work all the way throughout the Formula One calendar.
00:20:43Derek?
00:20:44With Giancarlo Fisichela, I know it's a bit of frustration to have this, because there's been a lot of engine problems this year.
00:20:52Yeah, a lot of engine problems, and a lot of engine blow-up, unfortunately.
00:20:57I lost even most of the part of the free practice this morning for another problem.
00:21:06There was an oil leak, and now I went back again, and I blew up the engine, so it's not a good start.
00:21:14But anyway, I will do my best.
00:21:16Does your win in Brazil seem a long way away now?
00:21:19Yeah, unfortunately, yes.
00:21:20I had a good time.
00:21:22I won my first race in Formula One.
00:21:24I'm happy for that.
00:21:26But after that, it's been a very frustrating season.
00:21:30Anyway, I've got two more races to do.
00:21:35I will do my best to leave the Jordan team, because I had a good period with them, and I wish all the best to them.
00:21:48Giancarlo Fisichela moving on to Sauber next year.
00:21:52Fisichela, who many have thought was a man of incredible skill, but just hasn't had the car and the combination to make it work.
00:22:00Oh, we still got the red flag, and horse workers out there making sure everything's going to be nice and dry for the rest of the session.
00:22:06We're going to take a brief break.
00:22:07We'll come back with more from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after this.
00:22:13What the potent.
00:22:15Welcome back to the 2003 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, where unofficial practice has briefly been halted due to a massive engine failure on Giancarlo Fisichela's Jordan Ford.
00:22:26I'm with Marc Genet, who stood in for Ralph Schumacher in the BMW Williams team in the Italian Grand Prix.
00:22:31Marc, you've been listening on the radio this morning.
00:22:33How are things looking for Ralph?
00:22:34Yeah, Ralph is feeling fine.
00:22:36He's been very quick straight away, which means he, even though he hasn't been on a car for quite a while, time doesn't pass for him.
00:22:43And I have to admit, the team are happy and the car is working quite well.
00:22:46Did you get the impression from Ralph this morning that he was determined to get in the car and just do a quick time straight away?
00:22:51Yeah, very much so.
00:22:52When I went into the briefings room, when we were discussing before the race, you could see that he was really looking forward for the race.
00:22:58He's very motivated.
00:22:59And when you don't race for such a long time, then you're even more eager to get in the car.
00:23:02So that proved to be the quickest straight away.
00:23:05What's your take on the speeds of the cars at the moment, Bridgestone versus Michelin, Williams versus Ferrari?
00:23:11Yeah, the tyres seem quite evenly matched.
00:23:13I mean, you can see Ferrari is also up there.
00:23:15And this morning session, even the Jordan also looked quite quick.
00:23:18So I think there's not much on the tyre.
00:23:20If it rains, then it's a big question mark, because tyres seem to work on different amounts of water.
00:23:24But if it's dry, I think we'll have a very evenly matched race.
00:23:27Have you driven on this new Michelin wet that they have here?
00:23:30Yes, I have.
00:23:31And although it's good, I don't know if it's good enough to beat Bridgestone in the wet.
00:23:36But yeah, Michelin has worked also very hard.
00:23:38However, I hope there's no rain for the weekend.
00:23:41Yeah, we all hope that.
00:23:41Thank you very much indeed, Mark.
00:23:43Nice to talk to you.
00:23:44Thanks.
00:23:44Nice.
00:23:46Mark Janais, who ably filled in at Monza while Ralph Schumacher was forced to sit out.
00:23:51Intriguing thing, Ralph Schumacher is now out of the championship.
00:23:54And officially, there's no team orders.
00:23:56But will he be willing to move over?
00:23:58Will he be willing to get in the way?
00:24:00Now, as we mentioned earlier, Speed Channel will be your home for Formula One throughout the United States Grand Prix weekend.
00:24:05Join us tomorrow at 9 o'clock in the morning Eastern time or 8 a.m. if you're here in Indy.
00:24:09We're live covered to the second and third free practice session.
00:24:13We'll see the teams and drivers fine-tune their setups, and we'll have Derek Daly and Peter Windsor in the pit lane.
00:24:18Again, that's live tomorrow at 9 o'clock in the morning Eastern time, only here on Speed.
00:24:22Scrub, scrub, scrub.
00:24:33Derek.
00:24:36Derek Daly standing by with one of the key members of the Mercedes world.
00:24:41Thank you, indeed, Norbert Haug.
00:24:42Norbert, this world championship really has turned into a tremendous fight.
00:24:46Mercedes right in the middle of it.
00:24:49Are you disappointed that the 18, which was the new development car, never quite made it to the racetrack, Norbert?
00:24:57Well, on the one hand, yes.
00:24:58But, you know, we made a very big step with the 18 and had a very good test.
00:25:02But we just did not manage to get the car ready before the summer break, the test ban.
00:25:09So we need to focus on the 17, and I have to say the team did a great job with the 17.
00:25:14It's still a competitive car.
00:25:16We could not quite make it in Monza, but at the end, Kimi was 13 or 14 seconds behind the race winner, Michael Schumacher.
00:25:25And we still should be in quite a good position.
00:25:28We lost a couple of points during the course of the year, obviously.
00:25:32But other than that, I think the 17 is doing a great job.
00:25:35And as we watch the monitor here, of course, great support for the Colombians, for our one Pablo Montoya.
00:25:40But back to the Mercedes-Benz, how much development, Norbert, is there in the engines from the start of the season to the end?
00:25:47I mean, can you relate it in horsepower increase?
00:25:50Yes, that's a continuous process, and I would say, you know, if you achieve a plus of 3 to 5 percent over the course of the season, then you did a great job.
00:26:01Thank you, Norbert.
00:26:02We'll be watching pictures now of Fisichela in the Ford Cosworth, just the reason for the red flag here.
00:26:09Kimi comes here with a realistic chance of winning this World Championship.
00:26:13Is he on orders to be aggressive this weekend or to be careful?
00:26:17Well, careful. You cannot win, as you know, if you are careful.
00:26:22But you should be disciplined enough to keep the car on the road.
00:26:26But, you know, this new qualifying format, I mean, that just describes that anything can happen.
00:26:33You know, you can have a session where the first guys run when it's dry, the second half runs when it's wet, whatever.
00:26:40So, all of a sudden, you know, we might end up with Kimi being in the front and the main opposition in the back of the field.
00:26:47This is possible.
00:26:49Lots of things like that happen during the course of the season.
00:26:52We have had really some bad luck as well.
00:26:55And, you know, maybe it turns around in our favor.
00:26:59But we should be in quite a good position.
00:27:02And I would say if we do a good job here, we should be in a better position as we have been in months or two weeks ago.
00:27:09Thank you, Norbert. See you later on.
00:27:11Of course, Norbert does have somewhat of an American link because Dan Gurney's wife, Evie, who many of us know, Norbert is married to Evie's sister.
00:27:20Ah, the family.
00:27:22There is Ralph Schumacher doing his best David Hobbs impersonation.
00:27:27I have to tell the absolute famous story of David Hobbs falling asleep on the front straightaway at Indy in 1973 when they were in a rain delay.
00:27:36Well, they continue to clear the wreckage away.
00:27:39Now, wreckage, engine wreckage, I guess is the best way to describe it, of Giancarlo Fisichella's car.
00:27:43We'll take a brief break.
00:27:44We'll be back with more in a moment.
00:27:50Never mind, it's a warm cup of tea.
00:27:55Still in a red flag situation here at Indy as a result of Giancarlo Fisichella's engine blowing as he just came onto the front straightaway.
00:28:02They're now getting things cleaned up, and we should be going back to practice session here.
00:28:07Continue that thought of Norbert Haugen.
00:28:08I mean, Kimi Raikkonen, you know, you hate to harp on luck in these things.
00:28:12But boy, oh boy, I tell you what, that European Grand Prix, he was quickest all weekend.
00:28:16And every session he was quickest, and he was leading by a country mile.
00:28:20And the engine let go.
00:28:22That's ten points gone.
00:28:23I didn't think about qualifying.
00:28:24He failed to qualify.
00:28:25Yeah, he slid off the road in Spain, started at the back, and had the bad luck for Pizzoni to stall right under his nose,
00:28:31and rip the whole thing off.
00:28:31And, of course, he did the same thing in Canada, although he finished third there, but he could have won it, perhaps.
00:28:38And then in Germany, well, you know, he made a cracking start from the second rare,
00:28:44but unfortunately he got nailed by Rubens Barrichella, who got nailed in turn by Ralphie Schumacher.
00:28:50Derek Daly's standing by with Ralph Furman.
00:28:53Yes, indeed, Ralph Furman.
00:28:55And I once drove for Ralph Furman's dad, who's also called Ralph Furman.
00:28:59I know you don't remember that because you weren't even born, right?
00:29:02I've just been born, but I don't remember it now, for sure.
00:29:06Obviously, it's been an interesting year for you.
00:29:09Whenever you jump from the Japanese series, no matter how much success you had there, Formula 1 is just different.
00:29:15Has it been more difficult, Ralph, than you anticipated?
00:29:19It's a huge step up from any Formula, but, yeah, it's been a much more difficult step.
00:29:22And with the cars nowadays, with proof tyres, narrow track, and just the general, the way the regulations have gone,
00:29:29they are very, very difficult things to drive.
00:29:31And, you know, and it's taken a long time to get used to it, but also I've been learning all the circuits as well.
00:29:35And it's great to be here in Indianapolis, though.
00:29:37We saw the wing failure, which caused your crash, a huge impact.
00:29:42Obviously, you're good because you're in the car, but, I mean, what type of physical symptoms kept you out of the race in Monza?
00:29:48I've been suffering with vertigo because of an imbalance in the inner ear just until last weekend.
00:29:54So it's the first time I've driven a car since, well, I drove quickly at Silverstone last week, but it wasn't quite right, so it stopped.
00:30:00And it's the first time I've been able to drive the car and feel good again since the accident, and, you know, obviously enjoying it.
00:30:05The Friday morning test session obviously has been good for you to learn the circuits, so that's obviously at least an advantage that you had over some of these other guys.
00:30:15It helps, but on the other hand, you're not testing, whereas some of the other guys are testing three, four times every week.
00:30:21We're obviously struggling with the lack of time with the car.
00:30:24And I detect frustration here, right?
00:30:26Are you frustrated?
00:30:27Not really.
00:30:27It's been a difficult first year, but an enjoyable one, and I'm looking forward to going forward with Jordan for the future.
00:30:33Great.
00:30:33Thank you, Ralph.
00:30:34Best of luck for the rest of the weekend.
00:30:35I like the way he called it a first year.
00:30:40Obviously, he's anticipating being back for year number two, although he is one of the big question marks.
00:30:45Yeah, exactly.
00:30:46Jordan is one of those teams where there is a question mark hanging over them at the moment in terms of will they be around much longer?
00:30:53Will they be here even next year?
00:30:54One of them, he hopes they will.
00:30:56Eddie Jordan can charm the burrage out of the trees and hopefully the money out of the pockets to make his team viable.
00:31:02Jensen at the button looking somewhat pensive there.
00:31:08And as we continue to wait for the track to go green, we're going to take this opportunity to squeeze in yet another commercial break.
00:31:13We'll be back with more right after this.
00:31:32Welcome back to unofficial practice for the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, where the track is about to go green in one minute's time.
00:31:40The problem was an engine failure on Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan Ford.
00:31:44Gary, they brought the car back here and then took it past your garage.
00:31:47Where has it gone?
00:31:48Yeah, they've gone down the end of the pit lane.
00:31:49A lot of guys are down there trying to collect it now, so we have to get it back as quick as possible and get the engine changed.
00:31:55We have seen a spate of engine troubles recently.
00:31:58Do you suspect that this is another one in that line or something else different?
00:32:02Yeah, it does look like it's the same failure, to be honest.
00:32:04So Cosworth are looking at the problem now and trying to identify it, but it does look in the same area, yeah.
00:32:10An important race for Ford.
00:32:11Let's hope there are no more problems this weekend.
00:32:13Okay, thanks very much.
00:32:44We're going off, so the teams, even in that downtime, making best use of it so that they don't lose any track time,
00:32:51so they can make some big suspension changes without the loss of track time.
00:32:56Bonus break.
00:32:56We'll get that 20 seconds, that 20-minute gap will be given back to them.
00:33:01And so instead of this session ending at 12 o'clock as we originally were at 12 o'clock Indianapolis time,
00:33:07we'll now go to 20 minutes past the hour.
00:33:09So as David just mentioned, they will get their full hour of practice, and as a result, that break, that 20-minute break,
00:33:15almost ends up as a bonus for some of these teams and the mechanics to be able to make the big changes they wouldn't ordinarily be able to make.
00:33:21They have just dropped Fisichela's car off the tow truck.
00:33:26It's now on the ground.
00:33:28There is a huge amount of oil still pouring out of the backside of this car,
00:33:32and also they obviously thought it was going to go on fire because the fire extinguishers were set off by the track marshal,
00:33:38so there's a big clean-up job that they need to do in addition to the engine change on Fisichela's Jordan.
00:33:44You should see the look on Steve Manchin's face.
00:33:47Yeah.
00:33:47First off, he cringed when he said they dropped off the hook,
00:33:51and then, you know, hearing about all the clean-up that has to go off.
00:33:54Well, the problem is that when the marshals, I mean, quite rightly to an extent, set off the onboard fire extinguishers,
00:34:00they automatically empty the entire contents of the bottle,
00:34:04and those bottles are well hidden away inside the monocoque,
00:34:07so now the guys have got to delve in, take the seat out, take all the panel work out to get those extinguishers out and fit fresh.
00:34:14And we are hearing that there is rain at various places on the track.
00:34:19Well, including the window of the booth.
00:34:21There is a few drops, so that is not good.
00:34:23That's 20-minute gap.
00:34:25Obviously, there's a good side to bad side.
00:34:26The good side was there could do more work for the car.
00:34:28The bad side was it started to rain, and by the look of the sky here, it could get pretty ugly.
00:34:36To the southwest corner here, it's really bad.
00:34:41Watching Cristiano Di Mata now, having gone to Yarno Trulli, but a quick update on Toyota.
00:34:45They came in here, immediately took out the front torsion bars, Steve, on the front suspension.
00:34:52Tuck them out, obviously trying to go a bit softer because the conditions are so much cooler here,
00:34:55but the amount of testing these teams do is just enormous.
00:35:00On the week between, the two weeks between Monza and here in Indianapolis, Toyota had three test sessions going on at the same time.
00:35:09They were in Catalonia, Heret, and Paul Ricard with three different cars, three different drivers,
00:35:14in an effort to get the best possible resort in these last two events.
00:35:19Imagine that, three test sessions all at the same time.
00:35:22Right, and I know exactly what they've done that for, Derek.
00:35:25They've taken those torsion bars out, which is the equivalent of the coilover springs now, very small, lightweight torsion bars.
00:35:31They would have fitted softer, and as you rightly say, because they're on Michelin's and they're trying to dial out that understeer,
00:35:37we know the Michelin's want it hot.
00:35:38They perform much better when it's hot, and they want to take out the understeer,
00:35:42so soften the front of the car up a little bit.
00:35:46Yarno Trulli just at the fastest lap just a moment ago at a 1.11.153.
00:35:50Obviously, of course, on this riding test, you never quite know what they're all doing in terms of checking for fuel consumption,
00:36:05but right now they'll all be just checking the sky as well.
00:36:08You can see the rain on the lens of that camera down at Turn 1.
00:36:11Not on this lens here.
00:36:13This camera's way up in the grandstand.
00:36:14And, of course, David, as it is a practice session, the fact that it's raining now is not a really great hamper to the team throughout the weekend
00:36:22because they can use this time, if the skies do open up, then they can work on the wet weather setting.
00:36:28So if it starts to rain tomorrow for qualifying, they'll have a good idea of what the wet weather setting should be.
00:36:34So they won't be too disappointed if it rains.
00:36:36It's a lot of work from the team, mechanics and engineers and the drivers, of course,
00:36:40but it's great to get that extra data of wet running now, today.
00:36:43Yeah, better to get it now than to wake up on Sunday mornings, it's raining.
00:36:48Right.
00:36:50Yeah, it's definitely coming down quite heavily down at the south end of the track.
00:36:56Yeah, now it's becoming very visible along pit lane.
00:36:59You can see the moisture as it's beginning to complicate everybody's day down there.
00:37:04You know, it's interesting beginning to think about the effect that the rain could have on the championship.
00:37:09Ultimately, this could be decided in many ways.
00:37:11But Cristiano DiMano mentioned that in the FIA news conference yesterday.
00:37:14Ooh, there's Ralph Schumacher who's gone off probably as a result of the slippery conditions.
00:37:20That's where he went off in the very first U.S. Grand Prix, here down at that and got stuck in the gravel track.
00:37:25Cristiano DiMano was saying, you know, the way that the tire war has progressed during the year,
00:37:31you know, a simple 10 degree temperature difference could make a difference in the world championship
00:37:35and rain could throw the whole thing into a major uproar.
00:37:40Michael Schumacher going into the garage.
00:37:42He is fifth fastest right now, the fastest on the day so far.
00:37:46Giorno Trulli will be back.
00:37:47Back at the United States Grand Prix where the rain has arrived.
00:38:02And as a result, while the session, no one is out on the track because everybody's come back in
00:38:07to change tires, change settings, change wings.
00:38:11As far as the fans, well, they're doing their best to stay dry and warm.
00:38:16In just a few hours, we'll have live coverage of provisional qualifying.
00:38:18But tomorrow, live coverage of the final round of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.
00:38:22We'll start at 1.30 Eastern time.
00:38:24We'll start things off with a 15-minute warm-up session.
00:38:27And then we'll remain live straight through to the interviews with Peter Windsor.
00:38:31Again, that's tomorrow at 1.30 Eastern time, live only here on Speed.
00:38:35And this Friday ticket is the best deal in Formula One.
00:38:41For $10, you can get onto the track, no assigned seats, a little general admission.
00:38:46And you get in, you get to watch all the action.
00:38:48The closest you're going to get, the only time you're going to get close to these guys for $10.
00:38:52So, Steve, what's going on down there in the garage area?
00:38:55Well, what will happen now, the teams will have a look and see what sort of rain is expected.
00:39:00And it's starting to come down now.
00:39:01There's no doubt about that.
00:39:02So, expect to see a lot of rear wing changes.
00:39:05I already see that Ferrari have got an extra element mounted on the top of their ring to create a little bit of downforce.
00:39:11Derek, you might see, I saw some of the Sauber mechanics with their speed wrenches in action at the back of the chassis.
00:39:16I wouldn't be surprised at all if they're changing the entire rear wing element so that they have two or three.
00:39:21The regulations say you can have no more than three top elements plus the one lower mounting element.
00:39:27And you can see there the Ferrari mechanics working on the camber settings as well,
00:39:30just changing those camber plates.
00:39:33So, there's a lot of work going on.
00:39:34You want to soften the suspension up.
00:39:36You've got to just make everything a lot more, I suppose, user-friendly for the driver.
00:39:41You want to make it less sensitive.
00:39:43All right, David.
00:39:44You just get a lot more grip when the chassis is set up soft.
00:39:49You lift the ride height a little bit as well to give the car more flexibility and more mechanical grip.
00:39:54As we see the BAR, the first car to roll out, let's go down to the team manager.
00:39:58Derek is there with David Richards.
00:40:00Indeed.
00:40:00David, you are now heading up the ship here for BAR Honda.
00:40:04I know there's been a lot of changes, a lot of conjecture what might happen in the future.
00:40:08A lot of it surrounds Jacques Villeneuve.
00:40:10Can you give us any update?
00:40:12Might he be driving for you next year?
00:40:14Well, the real issue for me is this race here and the race in Japan in two weeks' time.
00:40:19With Jacques first out in the wet conditions now, that's where my priority is at the minute.
00:40:23The issues of next year can wait until after the season's put up behind us.
00:40:26David, when you have a manufacturer like Honda, how much do you have to answer to them
00:40:33or do they let you run the racing team as you see fit?
00:40:38Well, running the racing team on a day-to-day basis as we see fit, clearly.
00:40:41But, you know, when you're partners with anybody, whether it's, you know, an engine supplier, the tyre company, the sponsors,
00:40:50you work in partnership with them and you work to find solutions that work for them and for you for the long term.
00:40:55So, quite naturally, you can't disregard issues as important as partners like that.
00:41:01The rally program with Subaru, obviously, hugely successful with your company ProDrive.
00:41:07A small stint of Benetton, now at BAR.
00:41:10Is it a frustration sometimes that Formula One just seems to have difficulties in their path almost at every turn?
00:41:18Well, no, it's a difficult challenge and everyone knows how difficult it is.
00:41:21I watched my pal Jean-Tot and how long it took him to turn around the fortunes of Ferrari and it was five years of hard work.
00:41:28And, you know, when I came to this job, I said that was the sort of timescale I expected to take here as well.
00:41:33The performance of the new car now with the new team led by Jeff Terrell.
00:41:39Do you think the technical development is on track, David?
00:41:43Yes, I think we're moving very steadily forward.
00:41:47If you look where we were a year ago, it was a major step we've made in the last 12 months.
00:41:50It's very significant.
00:41:52In fact, nobody in the pit lane has made such a significant step in 12 months.
00:41:56We've got to keep it up.
00:41:56We've got to do the same again next year now.
00:41:58Thank you, David.
00:41:59Good luck for the rest of the weekend.
00:42:00David Vitch is a man with a tremendous amount on his plate.
00:42:08We had dinner with him last night and I said to him, boy, we've just done some restoration on our house, got the car dealership and do the TV work.
00:42:14And I find that plenty to go.
00:42:16He, on the other hand, runs that rally team.
00:42:18He runs the World Rally Championship, the TV package, which he's got a lifelong job of.
00:42:24He runs the Formula One team.
00:42:25And, of course, he's got a bunch of other businesses as well.
00:42:28And he says, yeah, I'm destroying my house as well.
00:42:29So, I mean, I don't know how he's going to do it.
00:42:31Don't mention teenagers and kids as well.
00:42:33They've got a one-year-old son.
00:42:35Now, talking about pushing the envelope, this Honda engine, David, at the top of the shop, you were talking about having extra horsepower.
00:42:42This is about 19,200, the new RA-003 engine in the VAR chassis.
00:42:50Let's get it down to Peter Windsor.
00:42:52We've got wet tires out there and Peter's got someone who can talk to that.
00:42:56I have indeed.
00:42:57I'm with Pierre Depasquier, who's head of the Michelin Formula One race program.
00:43:02Pierre, do you relish these wet sessions or do you load them?
00:43:06Oh, we love it just to find out where we are.
00:43:09It's always interesting.
00:43:10It depends on conditions, it depends on the track.
00:43:13There's a brand new rain, so we'll see.
00:43:15We're very good at it.
00:43:15What's it been like for you this year in terms of wet testing?
00:43:23How much wet testing have you been able to do this year?
00:43:25Oh, we did a lot.
00:43:26We did quite a lot since we found out that we had to enlarge a little bit the capability of our tires that are very good on the picky conditions, but in general, sometimes we're out and it doesn't work.
00:43:39Now, the cars going out at the moment, I would guess, are on the shallow groove tires, is that correct?
00:43:46Yeah, absolutely, yes.
00:43:47How wet is it going to have to be to be on the deeper groove tire?
00:43:52It depends on the track.
00:43:54The track does it part of the job.
00:43:57If the track is very slippery like concrete, the tire has to do everything, so we need tread design.
00:44:03And if the track on its own is doing it part of the job, then we can use almost a sleek tire.
00:44:09Well, I'm sure there's lots of information you want to gather now, so I'll let you go.
00:44:12Thank you very much indeed.
00:44:13Thank you very much.
00:44:14Back to you, Derek.
00:44:17Of course, for anybody, Peter, who has ever been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch IndyCars run and have asked the question of why don't they drive in the rain when they see Formula One cars with these huge rooster tails, it is all a question of the amount of water you can run on.
00:44:32But remember, IndyCars run down the straights here at about 25 miles an hour faster and go through the corners much, much faster.
00:44:41So the danger level of anything happening with an IndyCar going that fast is just way too much to warrant them considering running on wet weather tires.
00:44:50However, it is very interesting for me to see these huge rooster tails and to see the amount of grip they appear to have because they're still coming off the banking, absolutely flat chat because I'm standing about 15 feet from them.
00:45:04And that is a sight, isn't it?
00:45:06Yeah.
00:45:07Those guys going around the banking, that is the wettest part of the track and look at those rooster tails, you can't see diddly squat.
00:45:14And you can't see much either.
00:45:17You can't see much either.
00:45:18I would expect all year long we've seen that the Bridgestone intermediate tires have had a distinct upper hand over Michelin.
00:45:26Now we heard earlier on Mark Genet talking about Michelin's new intermediate tires, they've made the shallow groove tire.
00:45:31But I think, you know, reading between the lines, Genet was hinting at the fact that he still thinks Bridgestone will grab the upper hand.
00:45:37And I would now expect to see a lot of Bridgestone runners start to come to the fore of the timesheets.
00:45:41In these conditions, it just must be perfect for that Bridgestone intermediate setting.
00:45:46As you can see down through turns 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 there, it's actually not that wet.
00:45:51It's only when they start to come back towards the south end when it gets really wet again.
00:45:54Of course, the wettest place of all is around the banking.
00:45:58The worst place to be the wettest of all.
00:46:00Must be it, exactly.
00:46:02And Schumacher doing something here.
00:46:05Well, we saw Schumacher stopping just as he was coming out of the pit lane.
00:46:08He's dropping back to the running room to try.
00:46:10And plus, they also, you know, just a lot of launch control.
00:46:13We saw Rubens Barrichello stop in exactly the same spot just a little bit earlier.
00:46:17As Michael whips around Ralph.
00:46:21Boy, look at that rain, yeah.
00:46:22That is pretty flashing good.
00:46:25There's a nice shot there.
00:46:26We saw the caliper on the Ferrari being mounted low down again for center of gravity.
00:46:31Keep the mass of the car as low as possible.
00:46:33Right after the press conference on Wednesday, or on Friday, we spoke to Michael Schumacher
00:46:42and asked him, if it rains, would you prefer that?
00:46:46He simply smiled and said, how can we help that situation happen?
00:46:50Michael's just going to roll with it, whichever way it goes.
00:46:56Not like he doesn't have abilities in either area.
00:47:00Well, he's fantastic.
00:47:02He's a fantastic driver anyway.
00:47:03You don't win five world championships by not being brilliant in the car.
00:47:06There's no doubt about that.
00:47:07But he is incredibly sensitive to how the car reacts in the wet.
00:47:15I always say, repeat that little story about Michael Schumacher.
00:47:19He says, in the dry, each corner of the car talks to you.
00:47:22That's how I get to figure out how to work the car, how far I can push the car.
00:47:26He says, in the wet, it's a little bit more sensitive.
00:47:29The car doesn't talk to you, it whispers to you.
00:47:31And you have to listen, extremely careful, to pick up little innuendos of how the car's reacting on track.
00:47:38Because you're right, David Wright, on the edge of Adijan at all times.
00:47:41The car's look so solid, so stable, but it's just an absolute knife edge before the car's gone away.
00:47:47Well, of course, it's a knife edge, and when it rains enough and you get a lot of standing water,
00:47:51that's when it becomes really hair-raising, when the cars, even those deep, deep treaded tyres,
00:47:57at the speed they're going, they just can't pump the water out quick enough,
00:47:59and they lift up on top, and you get the aquaplaning, which is the thing that really worries most people most of all.
00:48:05Because, ironically, the banking, which obviously the Indy cars don't run on in the rain,
00:48:10ironically, it's not bad for standing water, because it all runs to the bottom.
00:48:13So, you don't get much standing water on the banking.
00:48:16You don't get any standing water, really, unless you run to the bottom.
00:48:22David Wright, and I'd expect to be pretty quick in the rain, he's a man that knows no fear.
00:48:26Yeah, him and Montoya have had a few real bangings since last year and this year,
00:48:31and a couple of young guys there, and, of course, Wright, and his age, really does know no fear.
00:48:3812 noon, we anticipated the session being over right now,
00:48:41but as a result of the 20-minute red flag caused by Giancarlo Fisichella's engine blowing up,
00:48:47going into the front straightaway, they had a 20-minute downtime,
00:48:50they've added 20 minutes to the back into the session.
00:48:52As a result, these guys get 20 minutes of rain driving.
00:48:59The engineers will love that.
00:49:02Now, just watch the back of the carbon steering wheel on the McLaren.
00:49:05You might see the occasional flash.
00:49:06There it is, the green and red light LEDs reflecting off the back of the carbon steering wheel,
00:49:11which is the indication of the gear up shifts.
00:49:14You want to watch those green LEDs click, click, click up about five,
00:49:17and then as soon as you hit the red, well, if you're doing it manually, you'll pull on the lever.
00:49:21Or, as these cars are fully automatic up shifts and down shifts,
00:49:25the computer will simply take over the car for you and do all that, save your shifting.
00:49:29Just sampling some of the lap times that have come since the water began to fall,
00:49:33since the rain began to fall.
00:49:34You see Montoya turning a 119.
00:49:36His teammate, Ralph Schumacher, also turned a 119.
00:49:39Michael Schumacher turned a 116, three seconds faster.
00:49:43Jensen Button was out there to 117.
00:49:45Kimi Raikkonen did a 118.
00:49:47Jasper Stoppen, not bad, doing a 119.
00:49:50And David Coulthard also turned a 119 as well.
00:49:52But right now, Michael Schumacher has the fastest lap during this wet portion of the session.
00:49:58Steve, you mentioned the automatic gear changes.
00:50:00I asked Jeff Ferris, the technical director of BAR, what their drivers prefer.
00:50:05Jacques Villeneuve is fully automatic, all the way up and all the way down.
00:50:08And Jensen Button likes to change gears on the way down himself.
00:50:13And he usually changes 1,000 RPM earlier than Jacques Villeneuve,
00:50:18which has given them gearbox troubles this season.
00:50:23Yes, well, that's because you put it back in the hands of the driver.
00:50:28Heaven forbid.
00:50:29What did they think they were doing?
00:50:31Of course, changing down manually by means flicking a paddle.
00:50:34It's got a real gear leave, like a proper driver.
00:50:37Like a real man would use.
00:50:40Boy, did that spray down the back there.
00:50:44That's going to bits for that spray.
00:50:46Juan Pablo Montoya brings into the bits.
00:50:48We are going to take a brief break.
00:50:50We'll come back with more from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway right after this.
00:50:54Back at Indianapolis, and the morning is over.
00:51:05What was left of the morning session for Ralph Furman.
00:51:09Jordan number two has bit the dust.
00:51:10They don't believe that the engine is actually blown up, but the engine has stopped.
00:51:16Literally just cut out.
00:51:17So they're looking at the electricals as we speak on the telemetry here at the pits.
00:51:21Yeah, Derek, we simply saw them coast off.
00:51:22There was no smoke, no steam.
00:51:24Well, I remember from my days at Benetton, where we used to use Ford engines, that the Ford
00:51:28engineers would put in a system whereby if the engine got critical, it would shut itself
00:51:33down to prevent it detonating and destroying itself in practice sessions.
00:51:36You wouldn't do that in the race, of course, because you just want to push the car to the
00:51:39nth degree.
00:51:40The car's going to let go in the race.
00:51:42Well, hey, that's racing for you.
00:51:43But in practice sessions, I wouldn't be surprised, bearing in mind, because of the other engine
00:51:47failure, whether or not the Ford engineers have prevented an engine failure by having
00:51:51one of the sensors shut the ignition system off.
00:51:59Well, guys, down in the BMW Williams pit, I can see a few smiles breaking out because the
00:52:03clouds seem to be going away and there's some blue sky there.
00:52:06I think that's what most of the Michelin runners want at the moment.
00:52:09You probably can't see it from the booth, but the clouds appear to be going away.
00:52:13I say that because, I say that with some trepidation because I can't see the other side of the
00:52:16circuit, but let's hope the sun comes back out.
00:52:19Well, the sun is out, as you so rightly observed.
00:52:21We can see it shining on the Jordan, parked down there at the far end.
00:52:24You can see the sun shining on the track now, but I don't think it's going to dry out in
00:52:27the 13-odd minute or 12 of the three-quarter minutes that we've got left in the session.
00:52:32And we're talking about what have we learned during this rain session, and we look at the
00:52:35fastest time so far, the two fastest laps that we've been able to see were both in the
00:52:411.16 range.
00:52:44We believe the fastest was Michael Schumacher with a 1.16.084, followed by Jensen Button.
00:52:50What does that tell us?
00:52:52Bridgestones are looking good in the rain.
00:52:56And it rains on Sunday.
00:52:58Look out for those Bridgestones.
00:52:59Now this drying Jensen Button has just gone to the 1.15s.
00:53:02So Bridgestones really want to run the race tonight.
00:53:04Because it is supposed to rain heavily tonight.
00:53:08When you were talking about the decision with the little device within the engine to decide
00:53:13to shut it off, remember Kimi Räikköne here last year, basically running on nine cylinders,
00:53:17just running it until it finally left.
00:53:19Well, that's the thing.
00:53:21When you go racing, you know, you don't want to have a system that will shut the engine
00:53:25off to save it from blowing up.
00:53:26What is the point?
00:53:27We're trying to race.
00:53:28If we can limp the car home, even if it's on four cylinders and pick up a couple of points,
00:53:32that's what you're after.
00:53:33Although, you know, it was much different 30 years ago when you were trying to salvage
00:53:36that engine and it was the expense of that engine that was important to the next race.
00:53:40That's right.
00:53:40Now it's just another lump and we'll just go trade it out.
00:53:43Well, another five million bucks.
00:53:44You don't want to, you know, you don't want to blow the engine up, not really for the cost,
00:53:48but that must come into it.
00:53:49Because you want to know, once the engine has destroyed itself and you're just looking
00:53:53at a pile of pieces all over the floor and oil, it's very difficult to figure out what
00:53:56it is that actually let go to cause it.
00:53:58Well, you want it to shut it off, then you can investigate, strip the thing down, analyze the parts
00:54:02and find out where the problem is.
00:54:04It's probably the mechanic if we've got to put the oil in.
00:54:14Nick Heidfeld, who not really having a great day back in the 18th right now.
00:54:20In fact, even before the rain came, he was not doing it quickly at all,
00:54:23was back in the bottom five.
00:54:28Well, he's done quite a few laps, too.
00:54:29He's done 13 laps.
00:54:31That's how Prince has done 17.
00:54:34Heidfeld is fractionally faster than his teammate.
00:54:39Giancarlo Fisichella has to think, well, yeah, my car's broken, but I was, even when I broke,
00:54:43I was still faster than the two Sauber's who, his team for next year.
00:54:46Well, Nick Heidfeld's just gone quicker than Ruben Barrichello in the wet, so I guess, again,
00:54:51Nick Heidfeld looking pretty good in the wet.
00:54:55Of course, the wet tends to disguise a lot of chassis problems, too.
00:54:58You know, a car that won't work well in the dry sometimes works very well in the wet.
00:55:03As the dry continues to dry here at Indianapolis, we're going to take another brief break, but we'll come back.
00:55:08We promise.
00:55:25Here in Indianapolis, cars still on track.
00:55:27The rain seems to have gone away, although the track's still very wet.
00:55:33Getting some brief sunshine, although even the clouds, they kind of come and go, actually.
00:55:39I decided what's going to happen for the rest of the day.
00:55:41If you're just joining us, you're getting a little bonus track time, at least for those who would have joined us late
00:55:47because of a 20-minute red flag that came out as a result of Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan blowing an engine.
00:55:56And this is number one and two in the championship right here.
00:56:01In reverse order.
00:56:02Let's see how they can do compared to each other.
00:56:04One big element, and then the small one at the back, very much a barn door approach, really.
00:56:27You see the Ferrari, different idea at all, of laying the wings one atop the other.
00:56:32It's only didn't make an impression on him on the straight there, did he?
00:56:36Now back to these corners.
00:56:38Track is drying out a lot now, so we're down to just a damp track.
00:56:45A bit quicker to that right-hander, but couldn't be bowed at all.
00:56:51How about long grippy at this 180 degree?
00:56:55It's a very much in it.
00:56:56This is a short Pullman-Montoya, see if you put the power down pretty good there.
00:57:07The only in it coming up that corner.
00:57:08This again is where you need the downforce on the car for this right here.
00:57:12This is where the wings come into their own.
00:57:13It's going to be great to see these two Sunday, you know, trading places for the championship.
00:57:37Track drying out very much.
00:57:38Dry line appearing, but that's only five minutes left.
00:57:45There's that different approach of Ferrari.
00:57:47Look at the rear wing, stacked differently to the Williams.
00:57:50The one element over the top.
00:57:52Much less of that sort of, you know, as you say, a barn door approach to the aerodynamics.
00:57:56Really loads the aerodynamics at the back.
00:57:59And we just saw number one and two in the championship, and here's number three, Kimi Räikkönen.
00:58:04Well, Kimi Räikkönen is going to need a bit of luck to make it work for him.
00:58:06Well, if Kimi can have a win and the other two DNF, I mean, he will both pass them into the top again.
00:58:15Michael Schumacher has 82 points, three points back at 79.
00:58:19It is Juan Pablo Montoya, and then 75 points for Kimi Räikkönen.
00:58:23And all the top runners in the championship are going to be pushing to the absolute nth degree with the performance of the car.
00:58:30They're not going to give anything away.
00:58:32Well, nice little slide.
00:58:34Well, gathered back in.
00:58:35And as we've seen with one of the Ford engines already, it's very easy to blow a lump up down here.
00:58:42It's a 22 seconds of flat-out acceleration.
00:58:45And none of the teams are going to save on horsepower and reliability because they can't guarantee...
00:58:49Kimi Räikkönen is looking for water there.
00:58:50Yeah.
00:58:50He's got the wets on, so he goes down and cools them off a little bit.
00:58:53The Honda engine that they've brought here, this Honda engine that's going to kick out about 19.1, just over 19.
00:59:02They have the ability to have 200 extra revs in the BAR chassis.
00:59:08They're allowed to use that, according to Honda, seven times throughout the duration of the Grand Prix.
00:59:12So they're going to kick it.
00:59:13They have an extra button.
00:59:14It's like the old push-to-pass turbo days button, where they will lift the revs an extra 200 down the main straight.
00:59:20But they're only allowed to do it seven times.
00:59:22You do it over seven times, baby, and it is game over.
00:59:24Now, they already know that, so they'll be looking at the frequencies, what the engines are putting out,
00:59:29the vibrations through the blocks today, to see whether or not they're going to use that on Sunday.
00:59:33You mean to tell me that if Jacques Villeneuve was going into that last turn at the end of the race
00:59:38and he can gain one more point or get a point, as the case may be, and he's already used at seven,
00:59:43he's not going to try at eight?
00:59:44I'm not telling you.
00:59:45I'm not telling you.
00:59:47Because it's one thing to tell a driver you can only do at seven.
00:59:49But it's another to only let the music sound.
00:59:52Now, if they've got a computer cut off, that's another story.
00:59:59Weber, who before things got wet, was seventh fastest.
01:00:02Guys, down here, one of the talking points, actually, just in these closing minutes, has been a speed object, Villeneuve.
01:00:12He did a 15 there, which is very quick in these conditions.
01:00:16Again, underlying, I think, how good the Bridgestone is.
01:00:18Michelin runners don't look very happy.
01:00:20Juan Pablo Montoya came in, obviously, with four minutes to go before the end.
01:00:23And it was quite amusing to see Patrick Head jump on Juan Pablo's race engineer.
01:00:28And if I could, if I can lipread correctly, he was saying something along the lines of,
01:00:32why did you bring him in so quickly?
01:00:34Why didn't you leave him out till the end?
01:00:35Because I think Patrick wanted to get more data on the tyres.
01:00:37But the look on Juan Pablo's face basically said, there ain't any grip there.
01:00:40No reason thrashing about, I think, is Montoya's viewpoint at this moment in time.
01:00:49These guys, Renault, truly.
01:00:51We were looking around Renault's chassis yesterday, and it is a beautiful piece of aerodynamics.
01:00:56Keep your eye on the very front of the wings, and you'll notice a black line across the leading edge of the front wing.
01:01:03Now, what they've done is not paint around the very leading edge of the wing
01:01:08because they say it affects the aerodynamics, the flow over the car.
01:01:12So what they do, they'll leave a black unpainted section right at the very leading edge of the wing
01:01:16and then feather the paint back from that.
01:01:19That's how sensitive Mike Gascoigne believes the leading edge of the wing is.
01:01:23Don't put any paint on it at all.
01:01:25Isn't that incredible?
01:01:26Well, you would think that you'd want paint to make it, you know, slicker through the air or something.
01:01:30Well, that carbon fiber comes out of the mold.
01:01:32It has an incredible...
01:01:34Slickness to it.
01:01:35Yeah, shine to it, yeah.
01:01:36Yeah, you'll notice it on the rear element of the wing as well.
01:01:39If we manage to get a shot throughout the weekend, I'll point it out to you again.
01:01:42But it's a black line going across it.
01:01:44And at one time, I remember talking to Rory Byrne when we were both at Benetton,
01:01:48and he said that at that stage of the progress of aerodynamics,
01:01:51that the leading edge was nowhere near as important as the trailing edge.
01:01:55Now, it seems to have all swapped around.
01:01:57All right, now, having talked about that, let's think about Fernando Alonso at Monza.
01:02:01He's knocked off the barge boards and trays and all kinds of things,
01:02:05and he's still cranking around with a great finish.
01:02:08Picks it, yeah, he managed to get eighth place.
01:02:09Picks up one point after all that damage.
01:02:12Went over the sleeping policeman and nearly ripped the entire FIA legality plank off the car.
01:02:17Certainly damaged the T-tray, the shadow plate underneath the keel.
01:02:20The barge board flew off.
01:02:21Barge board off, manages to finish in eighth.
01:02:23That many times have we seen a barge board fly off.
01:02:25Are the guys still in contention?
01:02:26Worried about the level of paint on the front of the wing?
01:02:29Not only did he finish eighth, but on the last few laps when Montoya was really straining to try and catch Michael Schumacher,
01:02:36old Alonso back there in eighth, cranking out about the same times as they were,
01:02:40and half his aerodynamic eight were all in the dustbin by then.
01:02:44He was right there with him.
01:02:45All right, checker flag out for this session, but do not go away because we are not going away.
01:02:50We're going to stay here the entire time.
01:02:52We're going to be here for through the entire, well, in this case, hour and 40 minutes until we get up to qualify.
01:02:59We've got a very special guest who's going to be hanging out with David Hobbs in just a moment,
01:03:03one Sir Jackie Stewart, and if you have never seen video of the 1973 Nürburgring Grand Prix,
01:03:10the German Grand Prix, which most of us have not,
01:03:13we've got some clips that will blow you away.
01:03:15The quality is spectacular.
01:03:17Do I have to call him Sir Jackie?
01:03:19You can call him whatever you want.
01:03:20You and you go way back.
01:03:21I think Steve and I had better though.
01:03:25I think you had really, especially you.
01:03:28I'll just call him Sir.
01:03:30You probably should stand to attention at all times too.
01:03:33We'll also be down in the garage area with Derek and Peter,
01:03:37who will be having a number of special guests come by.
01:03:40So definitely you don't want to go away.
01:03:41In fact, we'll get a lot of great stuff coming up in the next hour and 40 minutes.
01:03:45Then, of course, we have the Friday qualifying session will take place afterwards,
01:03:49the first qualifying for this weekend's Indianapolis Grand Prix.
01:03:57So there we see Mark Webber's car being pushed back in.
01:04:00He was seventh fastest in that session.
01:04:02Obviously set that time before the rain came down.
01:04:04Not exactly sure what times he was doing in the rain.
01:04:09As you can see, it's pretty much dried out now.
01:04:12And obviously if it doesn't rain again between now and 2 at 1.
01:04:152 at 1.
01:04:15You know, watching David Coulter,
01:04:18I did a lot of talk about what the team orders are going to be this weekend.
01:04:21You know, and once again,
01:04:22Max Moses saying there are no team orders,
01:04:25but you know there are,
01:04:27especially when you realize that the top three contenders,
01:04:30each of their teammates are no longer in contention.
01:04:34Yeah, you can just see even Ron Dennis saying to David Coulter,
01:04:37yeah, fight Kimi Räikkönen to the end.
01:04:41Not.
01:04:41Not, exactly.
01:04:42Well, the question is whether the teammates will be in a position to help out.
01:04:48That's going to be the bigger issue,
01:04:49is whether they're going to be in a position where they can either move up
01:04:52or more importantly get in the way between themselves and one of the other contenders
01:04:55and take away a few valuable points
01:04:58that could make the difference in the championship between this race and next race.
01:05:01And of course, there are just a thousand and one ways
01:05:04that the teams can put team orders into play
01:05:06without it becoming obvious in the way that Ferrari did in 2002 in Austria.
01:05:12Whether it's an unscheduled late pit stop
01:05:14or just a little bit of a misfire
01:05:16or one of the drivers just has a little bit of a bobble
01:05:18and retakes to the track again,
01:05:19I think it's impossible, quite frankly,
01:05:21for the FIA to police that team order situation.
01:05:24They're not going to be,
01:05:25the teams didn't have to be as blatant as to call out onto the radio.
01:05:28Team orders in play,
01:05:29please pull over and allow your team may throw whatever it would be.
01:05:32All right, let's take a look at how the final standings were for this session.
01:05:35Yarno truly ended up being the fastest
01:05:37by virtue of saying that pretty fast lap
01:05:39just before the rain came out.
01:05:41Ralph Schumacher, second fastest.
01:05:43Check out third.
01:05:43Exactly.
01:05:44Olivier Panis in the Toyota doing a good job there.
01:05:47Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari.
01:05:48Michael Schumacher right behind him.
01:05:50Look at the times there.
01:05:51Spread from 111.15 to 111.8
01:05:56in the top eight spots there.
01:05:58So, very, very competitive.
01:06:00And that's what it's going to be like on Sunday.
01:06:02This is going to be a tremendous race.
01:06:04Fernando Alonso was the fastest in the first section.
01:06:07I think Montoya was fast in the second,
01:06:09truly fastest in the third.
01:06:10Kimi Räikkönen in ninth.
01:06:11Cristiano D'Amato, eleventh.
01:06:13Jacques Villeneuve, though,
01:06:14even though that's not such a great time,
01:06:16he's back in 14th,
01:06:18he was very quick as the track was drying out
01:06:20and had one of the faster laps.
01:06:22As was his teammate, Jenson Button.
01:06:24Giancarlo Fisichello had the engine blow.
01:06:26Ralph Fuhrman, who had his engine stop.
01:06:29Not quite sure what went wrong inside.
01:06:31Not a great day for Jordan so far.
01:06:33And they had a lot of problems this morning
01:06:35in the pre-practice practice.
01:06:38Nicholas Chiesa, not bad running for him
01:06:41in the minority,
01:06:42finishing ahead of both of the Saubers
01:06:43and his teammate, Jasper Stoppen.
01:06:45Boy, Sauber having a really bad day
01:06:47because it's not like they didn't do a lot of laps.
01:06:49And, ladies and gentlemen,
01:06:50Bernie Ecclestone is in the house.
01:06:51The man at the helm of Formula One.
01:06:56We're going to take a break
01:06:57as the photographers line up.
01:07:00We'll come back with more
01:07:01from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
01:07:02Don't go away.
01:07:02A lot of great information
01:07:04and great interviews coming up.
01:07:05Back at Indianapolis
01:07:23where the session has come to an end
01:07:24and what they're doing
01:07:25is they're bringing out
01:07:25the three championship contenders.
01:07:27Michael Schumacher,
01:07:28Juan Pablo Montoya,
01:07:30and Kimi Raikkonen
01:07:30on to the front straightaway.
01:07:32The assembled photographers
01:07:34are going to get that brief moment
01:07:37where they get the three of these together
01:07:38and Bernie Ecclestone as well
01:07:40walking out there.
01:07:41Yesterday during the press conference,
01:07:43they tried to get this group
01:07:44to get a moment
01:07:45where they kind of shake hands
01:07:46and then behind it all
01:07:48was Fernando Alonso
01:07:49waving his arm
01:07:50and all the photographers
01:07:51were like,
01:07:51that didn't work well at all.
01:07:54Look at Michael goofing off,
01:07:55sticking his hat
01:07:56on top of Bernie Ecclestone.
01:07:57And you had a nice chat
01:07:58with Michael yesterday, Steve.
01:07:59Yeah, I caught up with him.
01:08:00You know, me and Michael
01:08:01will go back some time
01:08:02from when we were both
01:08:03at Bannerton.
01:08:04We remember we won
01:08:04the world championships
01:08:06with Michael in 94 and 95.
01:08:08And it was good to catch up with him.
01:08:10We were just chatting
01:08:10about what he was doing
01:08:11during his period.
01:08:13A couple of days
01:08:14when he was in Las Vegas,
01:08:15he's talking about his wife
01:08:16riding horses.
01:08:18So he was just chatting
01:08:19very relaxed.
01:08:19You wouldn't believe
01:08:20he was on the point
01:08:21of fighting for that
01:08:22sixth world championship.
01:08:23It was just like
01:08:24he was in a test session.
01:08:25No pressure at all.
01:08:27Very relaxed, very casual.
01:08:28Yesterday, after the news conference,
01:08:31he went out
01:08:32and did some interviews
01:08:32with the press
01:08:33and then had this walkabout
01:08:34for all the fans
01:08:35who had a three-day pass
01:08:36who could go on a pit lane.
01:08:37He went up to the fence
01:08:38and was signing autographs,
01:08:40working his way
01:08:40through the crowd.
01:08:41You would have thought
01:08:41he was Arnold Schwarzenegger
01:08:42running for governor of California
01:08:44the way he was working the crowd.
01:08:46You know, Rick,
01:08:47you have to guess
01:08:47that these guys
01:08:48are under pressure
01:08:49all the while.
01:08:50They must, in a way,
01:08:51just absorb so much pressure.
01:08:53And even now, look,
01:08:54signing autographs,
01:08:54he's walking back
01:08:55towards the Ferrari paddock
01:08:56and to get ready again
01:08:58for the qualifying session.
01:08:59So I think it just missed me.
01:09:01It's just a mental state
01:09:02that they get into.
01:09:03They're just very calm,
01:09:04very relaxed.
01:09:05And of course,
01:09:06once they're out of the car
01:09:07and they're not driving
01:09:07at 200 miles an hour,
01:09:08the entire world
01:09:09seems much slower.
01:09:10And I have to say,
01:09:11look at that, Michael,
01:09:11one last time,
01:09:12squeeze off one last autograph
01:09:13before he walks back
01:09:14and do the debrief.
01:09:15Let's go down to Peter,
01:09:16who's got Alan McNish.
01:09:18I have indeed.
01:09:18Yeah, Alan McNish,
01:09:19one of the reasons
01:09:20behind Renault's great season
01:09:21this year.
01:09:22They've done a fabulous job
01:09:23on those Friday
01:09:24untimed practice sessions.
01:09:25Alan's driven a third car.
01:09:26He's usually done long runs,
01:09:27done a lot of tyre development.
01:09:29What was it like here
01:09:30at Indy this morning, Alan?
01:09:31Well, the circuit actually
01:09:32was quite slippery,
01:09:33but I don't think
01:09:34it was in bad shape
01:09:36considering it's only used,
01:09:37you know, very few times.
01:09:38Then it was pretty OK.
01:09:40So I'm just going to
01:09:41picture this piece.
01:09:43It wasn't quite what was expected
01:09:44and certainly we didn't expect
01:09:46rain when we were coming across.
01:09:47However, we were able
01:09:48to get a good idea
01:09:49of the right tyre
01:09:50to choose for the weekend
01:09:51and also we got
01:09:52a pretty good idea
01:09:53of the setup we needed
01:09:54and, you know,
01:09:55with the limited dry running
01:09:56that could be in our favour
01:09:57come Saturday.
01:09:58But it's looking pretty good
01:09:59for Renault at the moment.
01:10:01What do you think
01:10:01about the layout
01:10:02of the circuit here?
01:10:02Does it look like
01:10:03a Renault victory circuit?
01:10:05No, I wouldn't say so.
01:10:07We are very, very strong
01:10:09aerodynamically
01:10:09and we've got good
01:10:10downforce off the car
01:10:11and so in the centre section
01:10:13of the track,
01:10:14basically in the twisty bits,
01:10:15we're very good.
01:10:16However, here it's got
01:10:18a big, long straight
01:10:19and from top speed point of view
01:10:21we're having to work
01:10:23a little bit harder
01:10:23and so I'd say
01:10:25that there's no reason
01:10:26why we can't have a podium
01:10:27but I certainly don't think
01:10:29it'll be a victory.
01:10:30You've done a fabulous job
01:10:31for Renault this year.
01:10:32Congratulations on that.
01:10:332004?
01:10:34Yeah, well, obviously,
01:10:35you know,
01:10:35I want to get back to racing
01:10:36and I think this year
01:10:37has been an extremely good one.
01:10:39It's put me into
01:10:39a different level
01:10:40and, you know,
01:10:42there's a lot of plans afoot
01:10:43in trying to actually make sure
01:10:44that happens for 2004.
01:10:46Well, let's hope it happens
01:10:47for you.
01:10:47Thank you very much.
01:10:48Thank you, Peter.
01:10:50Yeah, a lot of people
01:10:51think that team
01:10:51is overachieving this year
01:10:52considering where they were,
01:10:54where they've arrived,
01:10:54the fact that they've got a victory,
01:10:55they've got pulls
01:10:56out of this season.
01:10:57It's been a pretty amazing
01:10:57season for that team.
01:10:59Oh, it has.
01:10:59Boy, you know,
01:11:00we were looking around
01:11:00at the Renault chassis
01:11:01and exactly what
01:11:02Alan Mujinesh was talking about,
01:11:03great aerodynamics.
01:11:05I mean, some parts
01:11:05of that R,
01:11:06the R23 chassis,
01:11:08it looks like
01:11:08a Salvador Dali sculpture.
01:11:10The chimneys all over the place
01:11:11and the little wing looks
01:11:12but the airflow over it
01:11:13is absolutely fantastic.
01:11:15And as they say,
01:11:16great aerodynamics
01:11:17in the middle section,
01:11:18in the tight section
01:11:19of the circuit,
01:11:19but where they're going
01:11:20to lose out,
01:11:21again, as Mujinesh rightly points out,
01:11:23they're going to lose out
01:11:23on horsepower.
01:11:24In fact, we're going to get
01:11:25a tour of that car
01:11:25with Steve Matchett
01:11:26coming up in just a moment.
01:11:27Don't go away.
01:11:28We'll come back with more
01:11:29live from the Indianapolis
01:11:30Motor Speedway,
01:11:31Speed Channel's coverage
01:11:32of the U.S. Grand Prix.
01:11:33Back here at the Indianapolis
01:11:44Motor Speedway.
01:11:45This is what it looked like
01:11:46just a few moments ago
01:11:47when Michael Schumacher
01:11:47was going down the front
01:11:48straightaway.
01:11:49Practice has come to an end,
01:11:51however.
01:11:52And now it's time
01:11:53to take a closer look
01:11:54at some of the cars
01:11:54that are out here.
01:11:55The big surprise this year
01:11:56really has to have been
01:11:56the Renault
01:11:57and the performance
01:11:58of Fernando Alonso.
01:11:59But Steve Matchett
01:12:00got a tour of the car
01:12:00yesterday and got a chance
01:12:01to take a look
01:12:02at some little aerodynamic toys.
01:12:04Let's take a closer look.
01:12:07All year long
01:12:08on Speed Channel,
01:12:09we've been giving great credit
01:12:10to the Renault R23 chassis.
01:12:13Well, here it is
01:12:13in the Indianapolis pits
01:12:15and the Renault pits.
01:12:16So let's have a look
01:12:17at one of the key elements
01:12:18of that aerodynamic package,
01:12:19the rear wing element.
01:12:20And today I'm joined
01:12:21by Alan Permain,
01:12:23one of Renault's chief engineers
01:12:24and race engineer
01:12:25with Yarno Trilli.
01:12:26Alan, thank you very much
01:12:27for joining us.
01:12:29Can you talk us through
01:12:29how the rear wing is adjusted
01:12:31throughout the Indianapolis
01:12:32Grand Prix weekend?
01:12:33Yeah, we obtain our start settings
01:12:35from computer simulation.
01:12:38Right.
01:12:38So we spend time
01:12:39back in England
01:12:39running the car
01:12:40around a track
01:12:41on the computer,
01:12:42gives us an initial setting.
01:12:43And we'll then trim
01:12:44the wing out
01:12:45as we need to,
01:12:46depending on what
01:12:47top speeds we're looking for,
01:12:48how we compare to others.
01:12:50Obviously,
01:12:51the more wing you take off,
01:12:52the faster you go,
01:12:53but therefore you have
01:12:54less downforce,
01:12:55so the slower you go
01:12:56in the tight sections.
01:12:57So it's all about
01:12:58compromise between
01:12:59the straight line speed
01:13:00and how quick you are
01:13:01in the infield section.
01:13:02Now, looking at the wing,
01:13:03I have to say,
01:13:04it's a beautiful piece
01:13:04of mechanical engineering.
01:13:06Everything is so smooth,
01:13:07the lines on it.
01:13:08But look here,
01:13:08bring the camera down here
01:13:09and I'll show you this.
01:13:10These are the small hole
01:13:11adjustments
01:13:12where the engineers
01:13:13will call for
01:13:13to make small,
01:13:14more or less,
01:13:15downforce adjustments.
01:13:16But after the adjustment
01:13:17has been made
01:13:18on these screws,
01:13:19come back here
01:13:20and have a look at this
01:13:21where we put little circles
01:13:22of tape over the top
01:13:23just to keep the airflow
01:13:24as smooth as possible
01:13:25over the flow
01:13:26of that wing end plate.
01:13:28That's how you go about
01:13:29setting the rear
01:13:30of the car up.
01:13:31Now, the front of the car
01:13:31has to be trimmed
01:13:32to keep the overall
01:13:33aerodynamic balance equal.
01:13:35So let's go and have a look
01:13:36at the front of the car.
01:13:38Here we are
01:13:39at the sharp end
01:13:40of the car.
01:13:40You're looking at
01:13:41the front wing
01:13:41of the Renault R23 chassis.
01:13:44Now, Alan,
01:13:44we've talked about
01:13:45setting the rear
01:13:46of the car up
01:13:46aerodynamically.
01:13:47What do we do
01:13:48at the front
01:13:48to balance the car up?
01:13:50Well, the car runs
01:13:52with about 35%
01:13:53of its downforce
01:13:54generated from the front.
01:13:55So the less rear wing
01:13:57we have,
01:13:57the less front wing
01:13:58we have.
01:13:59And we tune that
01:14:00with different sizes
01:14:01of flaps.
01:14:02And then each of those flaps
01:14:03has an adjustment range
01:14:04on it.
01:14:05And if you look down here,
01:14:07Steve,
01:14:07you can see the angles.
01:14:09We give the mechanics
01:14:10an angle to set the wing to.
01:14:11They set it to.
01:14:12It's quite simple.
01:14:13In the pit stop,
01:14:14they can make a very quick
01:14:14adjustment by turning that
01:14:16and it's done.
01:14:17Very good.
01:14:18A couple of other things
01:14:19I'd love to point out here.
01:14:20One is the pitot tube
01:14:22up on the nose.
01:14:22The pitot tube
01:14:23is a device used
01:14:24for measuring wind speed
01:14:25throughout the duration
01:14:26of the lap.
01:14:26So using that information,
01:14:28the engineers can look at it
01:14:29and fine trim the aerodynamics
01:14:31knowing what the wind speed
01:14:32is over the car.
01:14:33Also, look here
01:14:34at the very fine gurney flaps
01:14:36on top of the wing flaps
01:14:37just to create
01:14:38a little bit more downforce.
01:14:40All in all,
01:14:41I have to say
01:14:42that the Renault chassis
01:14:42is possibly one of the best
01:14:44chassis I've seen.
01:14:44It's super smooth
01:14:45and great aerodynamics
01:14:47all over the thing.
01:14:48Alan, thanks for sharing
01:14:49some of your time with us.
01:14:50I know you're very impressed
01:14:50with time during the weekend
01:14:51and best of luck.
01:14:55Well, there we are
01:14:56and it's just,
01:14:57I have to say,
01:14:57just a fantastic piece
01:14:58that you saw.
01:14:59And if you look carefully
01:15:00at that front wing,
01:15:01you'd have probably noticed
01:15:01what we were talking about
01:15:02there during the practice session,
01:15:03that little black
01:15:04unpainted line
01:15:05which is so critical,
01:15:07the leading edge
01:15:07of the aerodynamics.
01:15:08And it's okay
01:15:09to have the pitot tube
01:15:10sticking up in the middle
01:15:11of the, you know,
01:15:11disrupting the entire flow
01:15:13but heaven forbid
01:15:13you should have
01:15:14an extra layer of paint
01:15:15on the front of the wing.
01:15:16Exactly, yeah.
01:15:16It has to be,
01:15:17you know,
01:15:17the pitot tube
01:15:18doesn't really affect
01:15:19the airflow of the chassis
01:15:19because it's such a small,
01:15:21fine tube
01:15:21but you want that leading edge
01:15:22to be as absolutely
01:15:23smooth as possible
01:15:24but they have got it right.
01:15:26You know,
01:15:26we say Fernando Alonso
01:15:28had so much luck
01:15:29when he was ripping pieces
01:15:29off the car
01:15:30but they do hours
01:15:31and hours and hours
01:15:32of work in the wind tunnel
01:15:33to get that car right
01:15:34and it's paid off.
01:15:35All right,
01:15:35let's talk about it.
01:15:36Is it the aerodynamics
01:15:37of the Renault
01:15:38or is it the chassis
01:15:39design of the Renault?
01:15:40I'd have to say
01:15:41it's the aerodynamics
01:15:42of the chassis
01:15:42which is probably
01:15:43a little bit
01:15:43of a cop-out answer
01:15:44but if you get
01:15:45a very slippery car
01:15:46that can go through
01:15:47the air without causing
01:15:48any drag or any disturbance
01:15:50then you can start
01:15:51to play with
01:15:51the mechanical side
01:15:52but coming here
01:15:53for example,
01:15:54setting the car up,
01:15:55the team,
01:15:56let's talk about Renault
01:15:56because that was the piece
01:15:57we were looking at there.
01:15:58Renault will do
01:15:59a computer simulation
01:16:01to set the aerodynamics
01:16:02for a start
01:16:03and from that point
01:16:04then they will work
01:16:05on the rest of the car,
01:16:05the gear ratios
01:16:06and the springs
01:16:07and the sway bars
01:16:08etc.
01:16:08So it all stems
01:16:09from getting the wings
01:16:10right to start with.
01:16:11And looking at
01:16:12that rear wing
01:16:12it is radically
01:16:13different than Ferrari
01:16:15than the BAR
01:16:17it's radically different.
01:16:18Right, yeah
01:16:18and it's really
01:16:19all about reducing
01:16:20the drag on the end
01:16:22each side of the span
01:16:23of the wing
01:16:23to try and reduce
01:16:25the effect,
01:16:26the drag from
01:16:26the vortices
01:16:27coming off the back
01:16:28and we'll probably
01:16:28see that if we get
01:16:29a little bit more rain
01:16:29over the weekend.
01:16:30Look how small
01:16:32those rooster tails are
01:16:33on the Renault
01:16:34in comparison
01:16:34to some of the
01:16:35smaller teams
01:16:36that haven't got
01:16:36the money
01:16:37to spend those hours
01:16:38in the wind tunnel.
01:16:39Let's pick one
01:16:39at random,
01:16:40say Minardi.
01:16:41Let's have a look
01:16:41at the way the rooster tails
01:16:43are on the Minardi
01:16:43in comparison to the Renault.
01:16:46Looking to next year
01:16:47do they give you
01:16:47any hint
01:16:47have they got anything
01:16:48any toys to come out
01:16:49that's going to make them
01:16:50take a next big jump?
01:16:52Well what they need
01:16:52to do is work
01:16:53on their engine power
01:16:54as Alan McNish
01:16:55was saying.
01:16:55What they really need
01:16:56to do is work
01:16:56on their engine power.
01:16:57They have got
01:16:58a more conventional
01:16:59engine.
01:17:00I think they're going
01:17:00to a 90 degree V10
01:17:02so this radical 110,
01:17:04111 wide angle
01:17:06that they've used
01:17:07this season
01:17:07will be scrapped
01:17:08even though they've
01:17:08got great power
01:17:09out of it
01:17:09in the last few races
01:17:10so that if they can
01:17:11get more horsepower
01:17:12they're going to be
01:17:13a real threat
01:17:14to the big three.
01:17:14The only concern
01:17:15in scrapping it
01:17:16is obvious how far
01:17:16back it will set them
01:17:17in the design point
01:17:18again.
01:17:19Now they've figured
01:17:19this one out
01:17:20time to move on.
01:17:21We're going to take
01:17:21a brief break
01:17:22we'll come back
01:17:22with more from
01:17:23the Indianapolis
01:17:24Motor Speedway
01:17:25Friday for the
01:17:26U.S. Grand Prix
01:17:27we'll be right back.
01:17:28Back at the
01:17:37Indianapolis Motor
01:17:38Speedway
01:17:38where things are
01:17:39drying out
01:17:40after what turned
01:17:41into a fairly wet
01:17:42practice session
01:17:43this morning
01:17:43and started dry
01:17:44it was really nice
01:17:44for a while
01:17:45and then the rain
01:17:46hit quite hard
01:17:48at one point.
01:17:48It hit very hard
01:17:49down the south
01:17:50end of the circuit
01:17:50which would be
01:17:51IndyCar turn one
01:17:52and really it was
01:17:53extraordinary to see
01:17:54those cars coming
01:17:55out of the Formula
01:17:56One circuit
01:17:56turn 10, 11
01:17:57which is coming
01:17:58up onto the
01:17:59banking
01:17:59and going
01:18:00through that
01:18:00banking
01:18:00increasing up
01:18:01to about
01:18:02190 miles an
01:18:03hour
01:18:03in the pouring
01:18:04rain around
01:18:05that banking
01:18:05down this
01:18:06long front
01:18:06stretch
01:18:07pretty good to
01:18:08watch that
01:18:09the rooster
01:18:09tail is absolutely
01:18:10enormous
01:18:11and you've been
01:18:12down this front
01:18:12straight away
01:18:13in the dry
01:18:13you never want
01:18:14to do it
01:18:14no I don't
01:18:15want to do it
01:18:15not at all
01:18:16we're going to
01:18:18take a quick break
01:18:18when we come back
01:18:19Sir Jackie Stewart
01:18:21is here
01:18:21and we're going
01:18:22to celebrate
01:18:22his third
01:18:23championship
01:18:24from back
01:18:24in 1973
01:18:25some spectacular
01:18:27video from Germany
01:18:28we'll be right back
01:18:28and we'll be right back
01:18:30next time
01:18:30to be right back
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