00:00We knew that drivers will get down into the 1.37s, and that'll mean that Damon will lose pole position.
00:09Ayrton Senna is one of the drivers who could be on pole position.
00:17And just listening to Senna entering this sequence of airspends, his right foot was planted very firmly against the throttle stops.
00:25And this is Senna responding, first of all, to the challenge from within the team, but also enjoying the renewed performance that his McLaren chassis has enjoyed, really, I think, since Monza, but certainly through Portugal.
00:40And I just wish we could see a graphic from the throttle position.
00:45Look at that, quicker than Damon Hill by 3.75, just under three quarters of a second.
00:51Well, traction control working out of the hairpin and Ayrton Senna, a man who knows the Suzuka circuit, who's lost a world championship here, who's won a world championship here, and basically wants to get pole.
01:11Well, he's certainly looking like he's out there with that purpose in mind.
01:18And McLaren are doing everything they can possibly.
01:21I think they're even running the car, well, his last time, I wonder if 17 at that particular point.
01:29But certainly the McLaren team are doing everything possible to get onto, certainly the front row, the grid if not, onto pole position.
01:35Because they know full well that, historically, Suzuka is one of the most difficult circuits to overtake on.
01:441-1, 38.368.
01:47And, well, that's an improvement on Senna's time from Friday qualifying.
01:52That is not the end of the story.
01:53And a new fastest lap by Alain Prost, 1-37.827.
01:59So, the first man to get into the 1-37s today, and to get into the 1-37s during the official qualifying session.
02:09So, Alain Prost currently gone faster yet again.
02:14And remember, that was Senna's first flying lap.
02:17But just listen as much as we can to the throttle, the engine noise from that McLaren Ford.
02:25Half a second quicker.
02:27Well, that's Prost's provisional pull time again being attacked by Senna.
02:31Look, oversteering, dirt tracking the car around the Herpen Bend.
02:34How often have you seen that in a contemporary Grand Prix car?
02:37I can't remember it for quite a long time.
02:39But, again, confidence in the car, confidence in yourself to do it.
02:44Now, that was a loose-speed corner.
02:48The spoon here is a much quicker corner.
02:49Fourth gear, fifth just on the exit.
02:51That's where Alain Prost went off on Friday qualifying.
02:54Senna got it perfect.
02:56And now down the quickest part of the circuit.
02:58There you see in the right hand.
03:00Well, again, he loses time to Prost.
03:03And very, very quick.
03:04Now, Prost is again improved.
03:07The thumb onto the gear shift button.
03:09That button controls the computer that knows which gear to take at which particular corner.
03:14You can hear that automatic gear change.
03:19All Senna does has put his foot flat down.
03:21Very close.
03:23A 137.889 for Ayrton Senna.
03:27And Ayrton Senna, we saw the McLaren pits looking up at the monitor there.
03:33Supporting 100%.
03:36Ayrton Senna in this penultimate Grand Prix for him at McLaren.
03:41Oh, and look how quick Senna is through those curves.
03:50Senna giving 100%.
03:54And whatever he thinks is going to be more.
03:57Oh, Andre de Cesaris.
03:58And that maybe cost Ayrton a little bit of time.
04:01Well, I was going to say, I'll have a bet with you now that Senna at the first intermediate is quicker than Prost.
04:06But maybe de Cesaris' car will have just taken that away.
04:09Well, still quicker.
04:11Still quicker.
04:11Now, he's got to carry that speed.
04:13It is from the exit of the hairpin band all the way through that long, long, flat out right-hand corner.
04:19Through Spoon and then down the long straight.
04:22That's the part of the circuit where the Prost-Williams-Reno strength has been greatest.
04:29And that is where everybody else has been losing out.
04:33Ayrton Senna coming out of Spoon.
04:37Uphill.
04:40Now, what is the time compared to Alain Prost?
04:44On the right, we see Prost.
04:45Well, lost it again.
04:46But he lost less than he has lost in previous laps.
04:49But I think it's now too late because what is left of the circuit is just the chicane.
04:54You see Mika Hacken and just ahead of Senna.
04:57And really, at this point of the circuit, it's gone.
04:59There's nothing that Senna can in reality do.
05:03Well, it's got to be close, Alain.
05:04But it is very, well, 11 thousandths close.
05:08That's how close he did, in fact, make up almost two-tenths of a second in that last, what was it, eighth of a lap.
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