00:00Damon Hill's first flying lap comes to an end right now and it is a
00:071.12.7. That's not bad, it's only half a second away from his personal best.
00:14I would say a very good opening lap from Damon indeed and that's probably the most positive
00:19bit of driving I think we've seen throughout the day. Certainly the clearest indication
00:23they're running very wide on the exit out of three but the clearest indication in fact
00:28track conditions may not be as bad as we're anticipating. The major feature here
00:33this afternoon in fact is a very very strong wind which is blowing behind the
00:38cars down the straight of course into the cars on this the second fastest part of
00:42the circuit and it was that wind also I thought may be the contribution to what
00:48we would expect it to have seen quicker times this morning than we would have
00:51had certainly in qualifying on Friday.
00:56We're watching Damon Hill while Gianna Lazy and Emmanuel Naspetti are out on the circuit as well.
01:05Naspetti had an off this morning again in the Jordan.
01:10Well coming out of turn three it caught out Peter Paldi, Comas, Aguri, Suzuki, Naspetti very much the same, the back end broke away and then took a bite and charged the barriers and he managed to avoid the head-on shunt but he certainly clipped the right-hand side of the car.
01:27No serious damage but just another knock of confidence I think for Naspetti is having his first Grand Prix of this year and of course would like to impress the Jordan team he is in fact the Jordan team's nominated test driver and he's back out of the circuit.
01:46Damon Hill on his way to the first intermediate point and he's a tenth of a second slower than Alain Prost was when Prost did at 1-11-6-8-3 which currently stands as the fastest time ever whoops and again Damon break problems going into that right-hander.
02:07I think you might say Alain Prost is trying quite hard.
02:20Half a second away from Alain Prost coming on to the long straight which actually John is quite narrow isn't it?
02:29Very narrow straight.
02:31Well, a little improvement from Damon Hill about eight hundredths of a second.
02:40And really, really late in the break and last night Alain and I talked at length to Damon Hill and we were both very surprised to understand that the style of driving that Damon has and comparing it to his teammate Alain Prost.
03:00And Damon said, tell me, have you any idea of the way Prost uses the throttle and the brakes?
03:06And I thought, well, Alain Prost, the kind of driver who would stroke the throttle pedal, he wouldn't slam it open.
03:11Wrong.
03:12He slams it open.
03:13And he said, well, John, tell me, how do you think Alain would brake?
03:17Alan would brake and I said, well, of course, he's never been a late brake or he always comes up to a corner, very progressive on the brakes, nice and smooth.
03:26Wrong again.
03:27He comes up to the corner and just nails the mother.
03:31And, of course, all this information is available to the team from their telemetry.
03:37But it certainly sets to right my views of Alain Prost as being the genteel Grand Prix driver.
03:44He is as aggressive as anybody in this car.
03:47And Damon Hill has taken pole position away from Alain Prost.
03:52A 1-11-5-8-6 is now the fastest time ever around the atrial circuit.
03:59So, a new man on the provisional pole and we're watching him, Damon Hill.
04:04A few years of age.
04:06Michael Schumacher, likewise, a very seasoned Grand Prix driver and still barely in his early twenties.
04:13Like Mika Hakkinen.
04:16But, for the moment, whoops, we're watching the pole position man, Damon Hill, laid on the brakes.
04:22Ooh, a bit of oversteer there.
04:24Yeah, but he got the balance.
04:25He got the pendulum effect as he came through that corner.
04:29And then he picked up the throttle.
04:31So, while it might have lost some time on one hand, he gathered it up in such a way, I don't think he lost any time at all.
04:37In fact, he picked up a little bit of time.
04:39And that is further improvement for Damon Hill.
04:42And, well, I would just love, as we've done in the past, to put the camera into the Williams pitch to see the look on the faces.
04:50And on the face of Alain Prost, who must feel very frustrated indeed at his luck.
04:58Damon's last flying lap.
05:00And let's hope Gianluigi Martini did not hold him up.
05:03He didn't lose too much time.
05:05He's got this flying lap to go.
05:08And then it's the end of the session for Damon Hill, while Pedro Lamy is back in the pits, after improving to 18th position.
05:18A 1.59, which is 0.7 of a second slower than teammate Johnny Hurd.
05:24Pedro Lamy.
05:26Pilote assez fougueux, effectivement, aussi.
05:28Et qui va drainer demain vers le circuit d'Estoril.
05:33Qui va drainer des foules considérables.
05:35Toutes les places sont vendues.
05:37Et nous discutions tout à l'heure avec quelques collègues de la télévision portugaise.
05:42Nous disons, par exemple, que les places les plus chères représentent tout de même, grosso modo, 7500 francs belges.
05:51C'est énorme pour 30 000 escudos, exactement.
05:56C'est énorme pour...
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