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00:00you might put on stronger suspension at monaco because it's more likely to get an
00:04arc on a wall for example but you don't want to carry the weight for all of the other races
00:08i understand completely yeah thank you bernie uh lando is still waiting to go out uh from the
00:14mclaren garage only one lap so far for him but it's looking pretty close at the top of the time
00:18charlotte quickest so far with a 1 32 to george russell and kimmy antonelli right behind him
00:32right lando norris is out on track then he's only done one lap so far been stuck in the garage
00:37i had
00:37an aero rake on the back and uh looking at all sorts but he is out on track and as
00:41bernie uh i mean yes
00:43didn't get to run on sunday in shanghai london and listen all did oscar piastri and frustrating for him
00:50that's his first ever did not start the grand prix in his career yeah it's not not a great thing
00:55when
00:56you don't get to even the start line of a grand prix for anyone in the garage but yes of
01:00course
01:00for the drivers and valuable points down you know um which i think will be their biggest thing i think
01:06at this point it's a bit damage limitation until until they get a car that has slightly better
01:12performance you know he spoke quite openly i think on thursday saying he they won last year he
01:18wanted that win you know he's got that world championship the title and he wouldn't give
01:24that up in order to have a slightly better car this year but i'm sure it's going to be quite
01:29painful for a few races until they got the performance back yeah the mercedes are both out
01:33on soft tires so we'll keep an eye on uh what happens with them once they get into their quick
01:39laps but as we watch lander talk us through this jensen yeah this is the s's that we we talk
01:44about quite a
01:44lot because it is such a tricky part of the circuit narrow no room for error you come up through
01:49dunlop
01:50long left-hander um i couldn't see if he was completely flat there but probably is with the
01:56cutting and then we go into degna one there's a little bump on the right where it hits the ground
02:00and degna two easy to run off on the left-hand side you'll see a lot of people with a
02:04plank dust
02:05flying out and sparks and then you're into slowest corner on the circuit which is the hairpin here
02:09it's a really tricky corner for these cars they're a bit smaller than last year but it's a it's uh
02:13it's a very
02:14tight corner and you'll see them actually wander away from the apex and do a wider sort of a high
02:18line this is easy flat all the way down to spoon curve this is a double apex this is so
02:24fast on
02:24the entry oh he's got a little bit too fast uh through there but it's uh it's probably not even
02:29a break for the first part of it uh and then there'll be partial throttle through the middle
02:34part and then hopefully getting a good exit down this long straight as we swap over to george on his
02:39soft
02:39tires just coming through 13 and 14 at the moment a bit down in sector one don't know what happened
02:46there for him it's soft tires it's always tricky as well in that sort of section where it's change
02:51of direction sometimes the soft tire just doesn't work for you uh i don't think we're going to see
02:55such big differences from the hard to the soft uh this weekend because you do benefit obviously for
03:01traction in other places around the lap with the soft but you probably lose in that first sector for
03:05change direction it's my favorite bit of the circuit because when you're running it you see the wheel
03:09and you know you've nearly finished because you come off that really long straight at the back and
03:14you're absolutely broken and then you see the wheel and it's all downhill all the way to the start
03:17finish line you can't say around this circuit rachel you're looking forward to the end of it there's so
03:22many good corners of the circuit no i love it but when you're running it by the time you get
03:26to the top
03:27of there and see the wheel it's a huge relief george doesn't indeed go quickest with the 131.755 and
03:32uh
03:33teammate kimmy antinelli two tenths behind him do you think keep going i was just gonna say it's
03:37half a second on a new set of soft yeah it's not a lot is it yeah i think if
03:40you put a new set of
03:41hards on you would you wouldn't be too far off that especially at this point with the track improvement
03:46coming you know that's that's half a second with the track improvement that we've seen
03:50and through this p1 session is this nando going wide again yeah
03:56he did the right thing there by continuing to go on out and not staying on that curb
04:02he's missed he took a bit of a tighter entry to to what we saw george doing there
04:07it's obviously his very early days for him this is his first real flying lap
04:11we know this is this is on board with
04:16kimmy yeah i mean you don't normally hit the apex there but that was very wide with the front lock
04:21up
04:21it pushed him a bit wide there which would have cost him a bit his performance in shanghai though um
04:26it was great from him wasn't it what sort of challenge do you think he's going to mount
04:29to his teammate this season hopefully a good one because it's great for us you know we don't want
04:35to just see one person winning races so uh yeah i think he will be pushing him uh will he
04:40have the
04:40consistency of george i mean you'd say it's difficult george is very experienced very confident in his own
04:47ability and you know he's always maximizing the car uh it wasn't a straightforward weekend for him in
04:52china but uh be interesting to see how they compare around a track like this which is uh
04:56you do need confidence and uh experience i think around here to keep to maximize he previously had
05:03issues with his start suddenly he didn't he'd lost places at the start but he seemed to get on top
05:06of
05:07that in shanghai and at the restart as well he handled that really well in the race yeah he got
05:10it right
05:11when it mattered and there's always things you know he's a young driver he's only done one season
05:14so there will always be things and what you're doing when you're doing that driver engineer
05:19relationship you're looking at the biggest gains where's the biggest amount that he can find time
05:24and probably for kimmy it is going to be in his consistency you know george is so so consistent
05:31and in many ways mercedes playing the long game of putting kimmy in last year is going to reap the
05:37benefits for all of us this year and watching kimmy because if this was his first season it would be
05:43very very difficult i think for him to get in that car get the performance obviously last year he had
05:47some brilliant performances and then he had some much poorer performances particularly in the middle
05:51of the season he dropped away a little bit so hopefully that is going to reap the benefits i think
05:56this year in terms of can he get consistency those tracks that he didn't perform well last year can he
06:02improve on those can he get the qualifying up to minute can he not over push sometimes we see kimmy
06:08and he is fast but that doesn't necessarily always um come to him he needs to sort of be a
06:16bit more
06:16delicate and will be nico helkenberg at the moment george radio i think the wind is picking up seeing
06:23these flags that we are seeing 20 kph on the uh p2 um yes it is picking up we can
06:30see the flags out on top of
06:33the uh pit buildings pit lane buildings opposite us at the moment um nico helgenberg was in the
06:37simulator when he found out that jonathan wheatley was leading the team as team principal at audi he
06:42said he found out while he was in the simulator and got a message about it so matthew and otto
06:47stepping in
06:47there um just two races in but he's left for personal reasons so uh whatever that is we wish him
06:54well and
06:54wonder if he'll pop up elsewhere at a later date perhaps it's funny actually because wheatley's been
07:01around the paddock for ted was pointing out he's been around the paddock since uh late 80s early 90s
07:06and he can't remember him missing a race i know it's amazing well let's hear from the audi drivers now
07:12then that coming into this weekend was it a surprise
07:19what would you say it's a surprise well we've only done two races in the year audi's come in as
07:25a big
07:25as a you know it's the big thing and two races in the team principal's gone yeah but i think
07:30you also
07:31should look this in a different perspective you know i think he couldn't commit to the project fully
07:36because he had personal things that as he made it public and when you have personal things that you
07:41need to put in place that's the priority and uh so yeah i wouldn't say it's a surprise obviously
07:47it's a short period of time it's only two races he has been with us last year as well so
07:51it's not
07:51that he only have done two races but uh but yeah it's not that we are getting someone new as
07:57well you
07:57know we have mattia that has been with the project for quite a while now and uh he was already
08:02you know
08:03taking all the leadership uh all this way as well and uh but now he's just taking more and more
08:08responsibility i think only time will tell and uh you know obviously i don't have any more information
08:15on no more than what's been said and what's been released um this seemed to be you know some sort
08:21obviously of an issue on on his personal side and you know he wasn't or couldn't commit for the long
08:25term so the you know the team decided to release him of his duty you know understandably um the rest
08:32of his history and and the only the future will tell now
08:38just saw a moment there jensen for george russell he said that was a big one so the mercedes is
08:43is not infallible yeah it's the same corner that lando had his moment earlier spoon uh and uh a very
08:49tricky entrance but it was a very different issue that lando was kind of understeered off uh whereas uh
08:55george had a big snap of oversteer but caught it luckily there's a runoff area though now they used to
09:00be
09:00used to be gravel there before he says he's got no deployment out of the last corner george as well
09:05just saying that on the team radio um it's it's there's a lot of work going on brain capacity-wise
09:15for these drivers isn't there i think they're always have been i think you know since 2014 we've had
09:20a hybrid engine there's been over the years it's developed a lot you know um from those initial
09:27years it was very a lot of workload on the driver manually where we were deploying for example and
09:32then as the years have progressed to you know last year being year 10 of that that previous engine a
09:39lot of it become much more automated now we're at the beginning of a new regulation with
09:44more complex engines again i thought learning in terms of deployment is still is still there but there
09:50is more work there is workload on the drivers more workload on the pit wall
09:54they will they will get to grips with it but what happens is you come to a circuit like suzuka
09:58you've
09:59done a lot of simulations back in the factory you've ran through the simulator they will have their best
10:05guess at let me see them go off as well we've got our best guess at how it will work
10:11what the setup of
10:12the car will be all of the drivers will have drawn the simulator to some extent but a large portion
10:18of
10:18this track has been resurfaced for example that will change the grip that is provided by that
10:23tournament like the engineers will make their best guess at that but it will definitely be different
10:28when you arrive the laps you're doing now will be very different to the laps you're doing in qualifying
10:32as well for example as the track improves they do your best guess at modeling that but it's a learning
10:38for everyone out there for the drivers how the tires are responding where the grip is in the track
10:43you know we heard george mention the wind lap to lap the wind changing will affect some of these corners
10:49as well just seen george there that front wing on the mercedes has a new livery on it this weekend
10:54unleash the beast um they've been calling it it looks like a wolf
10:59not toto it looks like a wolf it is a wolf it is i spoke to um one of the
11:05mercedes team earlier
11:05they've all got shirts that have got wolves on the drivers have got different suits and they've all
11:11got hoodies it's an adidas activation basically um it i think mirrors one that they've done in the
11:1770s or 80s i've not quite figured that out definitely before my time um but it was it's a
11:24adidas um activation not related to toto wolf that just happens to be a wolf some of the cars look
11:32really
11:32cool that the designs for this race um especially the i really like the hats yeah the house yes
11:38godzilla tie-in with the studio that made godzilla it looks fantastic racing balls looks pretty awesome
11:44as well for the red i can tell you more about the uh mercedes it's um they've called it an
11:49edgy look for
11:49the weekend um because they are blending their sport and wider culture um it's reflected in our work with
11:56y3's legendary japanese designer yoji yamamoto yeah there we go um and they do they look great we
12:04followed george into the paddock in his wolf race suit yesterday on board with lando then trying to get
12:11some more laps in he is not going to travel the top p6 for him on the medium tires yeah
12:18he's um just
12:19finding his feet it's always tricky when you're in the back foot uh he is still on his first set
12:23of
12:23tires as well uh obviously he's in further into the session or alex albon running the curve on the
12:31left and that's unsettled the rear big snap of oversteer or he's touched the barrier as well i don't
12:37think that's going to be an issue but they'll just want to check it over when he comes in the
12:41pits yeah
12:42they're wheeling him back into the garage now in fact ted you're down in the pit lane yeah so the
12:46williams comes back still with uh fresh aero paint obviously williams do have a uh an upgrade to the
12:52front suspension so they need to understand how that affects the rest of the car aero wise couple
12:56of other things going on down here first of all lewis hamilton has been in the garage for a while
13:01they were messing around with some stuff at the front bulkhead uh seemed to find a part of the car
13:06that uh they needed to inspect further but that is all buttoned up now and hamilton is about to go
13:12out
13:12by the way he's got a special white crash helmet design here so if you see a ferrari with a
13:17white crash
13:17helmet you think oh charlotte claire must have gone fully white crash helmet it's not it's hamilton it's
13:23not yellow this weekend and also max verstappen has just been in to do a quick pit stop to change
13:28the front nose cone uh rachel i think you saw that about a minute ago as they're evaluating their upgrade
13:35package as well thank you ted there are some fantastic helmet designs this week up and down that
13:40pit lane pierre gasly's got a beautiful one um lots of uh fantastic art on show on the helmets here
13:46in
13:46japan everyone's made quite an effort this weekend if you get a chance to see any of those
13:50on social media or on our website uh have a look because there's some really impressive ones this weekend
13:56well getting into the last 23 minutes or so of this session we've got the aston martin at the moment
14:01with jack crawford in it when i got to immigration here the guy said are you here for the f1
14:06and i
14:06said yes and he said please don't talk about aston martin um it's tough at the moment at aston but
14:12they are working i mean lance said he thinks physically they can both do half the race with
14:16the vibrations fernando stopped in china we saw the footage of him taking his hands off the wheel
14:21and they are trying and trying trying and no one more than honda wants to get this right now
14:25yeah it's obviously a it's a tricky race for everyone because it's the home race of honda
14:30uh a lot of pressure on their shoulders obviously to perform as there is everyone at aston martin but um
14:35you know this this this definitely takes time especially with the the issues that they have
14:40but um it will happen it's just a matter of time and uh they're obviously going to get asked a
14:46lot
14:46of questions over the next few weeks months uh when is it going to improve when is it going to
14:51be better
14:52and it's for them just getting their heads down working as one uh to to find a way forward i
14:57think one
14:58thing to say is you see jack crawford running now this is a very very difficult circuit to step in
15:05for an fp1 in a car that is difficult to drive so it's a big big big challenge you know
15:12except for
15:13you know fernando's personal reasons you wouldn't put a driver in fp1 that's why nobody else out there
15:18has done it particularly this early part of the season you want to be gathering all of the deal that
15:23you possibly can i'm sure jack is doing a fantastic job with that but it's a tough tough circuit to
15:29get
15:29in for p1 so it's a big challenge for him i think sure also going off the spoon as we've
15:34seen so many
15:34do uh jack was at the airport on our way back from china and we had a brief chat with
15:38him and he said he
15:38could not wait to get into it he would hang on to that steering wheel despite the vibrations because
15:42he is so keen to get into the formula one car so they will get lapsed from him in this
15:47session for
15:47sure what is it you're doing oh sure who was that perez obviously george on the radio finding some
15:57traffic where we have uh just uh over 21 minutes left on this session at the moment it is george
16:03russell
16:04in the mesenies though who's quickest with a 131 six just ahead of his teammate just 200s behind him
16:20so this is on board with liam lawson as he's coming down jensen he's obviously held up colopinto
16:26earlier in the lap he wouldn't have just tried to nudge him out the way then uh and he's holding
16:32him
16:32up here which is also watching what i'm watching the spring practice one yeah i'm not sure what he's
16:37doing yet the biggest problem is you have cars flying past on fast laps and this was carlos a moment
16:46ago
16:50going in a little bit of heart you can see the front left grab and it uh pushing wide you
16:54don't
16:54actually lose too much time there because you get the car turned nicely for a good exit
17:02lock up on the way in but we're now watching uh kimmy antonelli this is george russell on track
17:10uh at the moment still quickest at the moment george russell with a 131 6. not improving yet on
17:18this now well he's back on the hard tire so i think he's doing doing some long running to finish
17:23the session because he was actually one of the first people to put on the soft tire and do that
17:28very very fast lap so they ran the soft early they're getting a bit of data now on this long
17:32long maybe related to the issues yeah maybe later the issues of last week we don't know but
17:37you often see teams try and get a bit of a long run in the end of the p1 session
17:42it's a first look at what you might do in car setup for the p2 session so it is valuable
17:48data although
17:48doesn't directly translate to the race ted what have you got for us rachel thank you very much uh
17:54lots going on down here i'll give you an aston martin line a bit later on on what they're doing
17:59in
17:59this session to try and find solutions for their particular problems on the power unit but let me show you
18:04the front wing of the has because they have an upgrade lots of upgrades actually up and down
18:09the pit lane and it's on the front wing activation the uh the aero the active aero activation so they
18:15learnt from some other cars once they debuted in testing they've actually simplified and made it a
18:21more efficient front wing with that with that activation to to put down the uh the the back two
18:27elements uh of the front wing when the active aero kicks in so it's taken them more or less from
18:33testing the start of the year to now to get it built designed built and on the car but it's
18:38both
18:39on ollie behrman and esteban offens car you're looking at behrman he's headed uh he hopes for a
18:43good weekend the ferrari power unit working well for him the car one of the best hats have ever made
18:47and uh yeah it's going well so far down here at has but they are just evaluating this front wing
18:53because
18:53as we know bernie and jensen it does change everything doesn't it the first thing that meets
18:57the airflow well we can actually ask their team principal ted thank you very much for the moment
19:02because i have come out who's on the pit wall for us this weekend oh it's great to chat to
19:06you um yes
19:06tell us a little bit more about the parts you brought this weekend the updates and what you're hoping to
19:11see oh hello can you hear me okay yes can hear you loud and clear yeah it's just a small
19:16updates on the
19:17front wing just to tidy up the airflow quality so hopefully the front of the car works a bit more
19:22consistently we've been talking a lot about japan and i love this place obviously it's a home race
19:29for you and you said you were in in tokyo what does it mean i i i've seen in the
19:34past lots of fans
19:35chasing you around for autographs and things but what does home race mean for you ah no it's a fancier
19:41uh very great you know when i uh met formula one when i was uh 14 you know that started
19:47from this
19:47place you know in uh suzuka serabasas plus so uh this is her place has a lot of memory for
19:53me
19:54so much jensen here uh i just want to ask you about your drivers obviously with esteban a lot of
20:01experience we know how quick he is uh but but more so about ollie you know he's so young in
20:06this sport
20:06but he seems to it feels like he's been around for 10 years i interviewed him yesterday and he seems
20:11uh he's got his head screwed on uh what do you how do you feel about how he's performed especially
20:16this year yeah i mean uh his speed was uh never in doubt you know he's naturally very very quick
20:22driver what's more impressive i would say is just his ability to absorb other information digest it
20:29and apply so his improvement it is a phenomenal you know towards the end of last year he improved
20:33massively and then this year with a much more complicated pu management from pre-season testing he
20:39was working very well with uh everybody in the team so since he does outside of the car is uh
20:45amazing and then on track you know past the races he hadn't made any mistakes and then under pressure
20:51he performs even better can i just ask you i mean he's the only driver outside of mercedes and ferrari
20:56who scored in both grand prix and the sprint how important is it as a team to have somebody that's
21:01consistently getting the performance out of the car for you at the moment oh incredibly important
21:05and especially for the first several races that's uh you know chance for us you know sometimes like
21:11if everybody's got reliability sometimes it's difficult for us to base certain teams but uh like
21:16macron last sunday they had a problem and we are there to take advantage of it so it's a very
21:22very
21:22important to be able to perform consistently great thank you very much for the moment i will talk to you
21:27again across the weekend thank you very much down there on the pit wall oh there you go just
21:32as if by magic confirmation of what i was just saying he has put in some fantastic performances
21:36as you say you spoke to him anything you can tell us about your chat ahead of us seeing it
21:40uh
21:41it's good is it definitely uh switch on for that tune in for that uh no it's really good and
21:49i i
21:49i don't really know ollie that well we met first of all in 2023 when he did fp1 and he
21:54was so excited
21:55he was like jensen's talking to me and he'd been in the car hadn't he for the first time an
21:59f1 car for the
21:59first time yeah it was the first time and um no and i said to him yeah you know enjoy
22:05the journey
22:05um and he's definitely doing that he really is and uh it's it's so nice to see him competitive
22:11this year we knew the speed was there as come out and said but uh it's now the consistency that
22:16we're seeing which is lovely and it's only a second year in f1 and do you think he is drawing
22:20the attention of other eyes up and down he's got to be yeah i mean he is he is it
22:25feels outperforming
22:26uh the car at the moment it's always a difficult one when you say that because the car goes as
22:29quick
22:30as it can but uh he's doing an outstanding job and uh hopefully that consistency continues this year
22:35and he's raising questions the best of an ocon as well you know there's he's going to want to be
22:40getting some points on the board this weekend not see that gap grow the first thing that any of these
22:45guys want to beat is your teammate and when ollie is showing that this year so far so
22:51they they fourth and the constructors yeah yeah and it's all all these points yes which you yeah
22:57which 17 points you know esteban's got to be looking at that and thinking
23:01he wants to be the lead driver in that team and and esteban is very consistent we've seen that in
23:07previous years but ollie is asking big questions of esteban at the moment and and he's talked about
23:12as having a good racing brain as well and and the way he deals with the races that unfolds as
23:17well
23:17which has got to be really really important to the team it is and um you know i think that's
23:21that's important that he's he's wanting to learn wanting to improve and really understand these how
23:27complex these cars are you know he he mentioned in an interview you know in qualifying in in shanghai
23:33that he pushed harder uh was two tents up because he went fast around the corners but then he lost
23:39out
23:39because he used more battery and understanding that and putting into practice in the next race is what he
23:45will do and he'll maximize the tools that he has available he's fifth in the drivers championship
23:50right now russell antonini and the team are one point behind mclaren so i mean with a regulation
23:58change like this if you're a team like has if you can get points in those early races when others
24:02having reliability issues and struggling as i have intimated it's hugely important for the team yeah it
24:07makes a big difference you've got to you know what i said there was you've got to be in the
24:12position
24:13to gain the points where others feel so two mclarens not running last weekend there's big
24:18points available on the table and you just need to get your race as well minded as you possibly can
24:24the strategy decisions that you make how the drivers and having a driver that really understands the
24:30regulation as jensen pointed out makes everything so much easier you know if you don't need to explain
24:36from the pet wall regulations under safety cars like you know silly information like coming into
24:42the petly and what all the less communication that you need to do the more the driver understands
24:49what to do and we hear it so much from drivers complaining about other drivers or what they've
24:54done or if they've closed the gap under a safety car for example all these little things
24:57all adds up to the overall performance of the team Lewis Hamilton then uh on track at the moment
25:04we just saw a shot actually of Oscar Piastri in the garage and of course he hasn't done a grand
25:07prix racing lap yet uh this year managed to take part in the sprint but uh tough start to this
25:13season
25:14for him for sure so far he's p3 at the moment and put in some decent laps in that mclaren
25:20yeah he has
25:22uh you know i think um that's that's pretty good two tenths off i'm not sure that george got the
25:27best out
25:27of the the guy that was on his second flying lap and i don't his tires are holding on very
25:32well but um
25:32yeah he's in the mix uh interestingly with the mercedes they've been running long run high fuel
25:38and they split the strategy uh so george is on the hard tire and tonight the kimmy is on the
25:44on the soft uh to really see the difference in degradation uh really useful data for them but
25:50also for us to understand burley what are you thinking in terms of strategy for the race this
25:55weekend i mean there are teams at the moment uh who have well they're taking different options some run
26:00hard and soft some have run the medium and soft um what are you thinking it's probably i think
26:06probably going to be a one-stop strategy with the hardest tires potentially i think previous years
26:11a few years ago suzuko was more two-stop but i think the tires are a little bit harder i
26:16think
26:16they're probably already quite inside that potentially for races going forward they might bring softer
26:21range of compounds but obviously these races have been decided a long time ago and which ones they take
26:26and in terms of the soft medium and hard so there's potential there for that but this is a race
26:32where
26:32a lot can happen there's a lot of action we you know we've seen mistakes all through this session one
26:37of those mistakes very easily leads to a safety car or vse or something like that so you just always
26:43need
26:43to be ready to react and i think we're seeing on the flag the wind picks up quite a lot
26:48of changes
26:48through the day in terms of direction as well what direction is through the s's makes quite a big difference
26:53to the car balance through there in particular um so yeah there's a lot for drivers to get their head
26:58on top of to get into a race here i don't know this goes p3 with his run on the
27:02softs a spin there for
27:04the williams gets going again though and back on track ted what have you got for us you may have
27:10seen
27:11with your eagle eye rachel there on the coverage the picture in picture of jack crawford yes the young
27:16american driver who's doing this fp1 for aston martin not in the car doing any more laps but on the
27:21pit
27:22wall talking to mike crack who's uh actually just putting his uh his arm around him um the car is
27:29in
27:29the pits uh it won't surprise you to hear it's being worked on uh we don't have the information
27:34immediately from the team whether that's planned or whether there is a problem but i can tell you
27:39what they have been doing during this session of course crawford had the uh the aero rake on
27:43early on and from the honda way of uh ted we just just give us one second just watching an
27:48album
27:48moment and there's some debris on track from his car so we're just trying to see what's happened
27:55he's got down the inside oh the cadillac's not seen him oh contact between the two yeah he was he
28:01was
28:03he's got down the inside oh my god i saw him and now i think i can't believe he was
28:06on the front he really saw him he always saw me
28:09he said he is i think he is the only one who saw me
28:10he did look like they were both on flying laps
28:12um it's very difficult to see at that point for cheko um i probably just didn't expect it
28:19um i probably just didn't expect it oh my god i have no idea that the wheelers or next to
28:22us
28:23quick question to me
28:28yeah and there's debris uh still on track at the moment wait to see what happens with that sorry
28:32ted do carry on no no i mean something like that happening in fb1 absolutely takes priority um
28:38gosh that's all williams need uh i hope that it hasn't damaged the front suspension fairings which
28:43are new but anyway we'll get on to that but yeah as far as honda this session was all about
28:48working
28:48on uh some the learnings from previous races the two that we've had they've been testing some
28:54solutions on the vibration uh they've had better reliability so far although the only 11 laps for
28:59jack crawford uh might get in the way of that the vibrations for the battery are better honda say
29:04but they are still translating to the drivers as we saw in china so uh alonso will be back and
29:11hopefully that car will be repaired for fp2 great thank you very much ted for the moment
29:15the debut seems to have been cleared because the cars are running on track uh oscar piastro now
29:20though out on the medium tires so a bit of a longer run for him now in this session as
29:25well the uh
29:26incident between alex albon and sergio perris has been noted uh the stewards have noted it we'll see
29:32if anything comes of that but it i mean it did look like perris didn't see him but then in
29:37that
29:38instance it's what the team telling you on the radio that he's gone or you're both on flying laps what
29:41can you do team can't talk to you that there's a car on the inside um takes away from your
29:46concentration especially in a braking zone so i mean you'd say in a race it's a racing incident
29:51but we're in practice so yeah totally agree and i think that when a driver's pushing you very rarely
29:57tell them there's a car coming faster behind it's the job of the car behind to get the overtake done
30:02cleanly and maybe he thought perris was on a slow lap or told him but perris clearly hadn't been
30:08been warned of the driver so yeah a bit unusual to see that in practice like ted said and we've
30:13got the incident involving uh carlos science and liam lawson noted as well where they were
30:17essentially getting in each other's way a lot yeah they very rarely do anything about those sorts of
30:24things in practice but the drivers do like to have a little moment about it it's good
30:28showing their personalities i like it right gabby bustoletto is on a set of soft tires
30:34at the moment currently uh 11th fastest just slightly ahead of his teammate uh nico halkenberg but
30:41another driver who's scored all the points for their team so far okay it's only two but so far he
30:45has
30:45got the points in that team yeah i think they're very happy to come over those points it's a big
30:51deal
30:52for them started their uh um yeah their career in f1
30:59so albon and peres will be investigated after the session now we're being told that's changed from
31:04being noted to be investigated uh after the session causing a collision we will find out later on if
31:10there's anything resulting in that but mercedes as you say still on that split strategy at the moment
31:14kimmy i think they're both back in now though back in the garage um don't think george is out on
31:20track
31:20no he's not they're both back in again it's here and also then taking the reins after jonathan wheatley
31:25has uh left the audi team head of the audi f1 project but essentially team principal as well now
31:32for them here it's tough when the when there are bases in different countries though isn't it when
31:38you've got the base in switzerland and you have some people working in the uk that's got to be
31:42difficult when you look at the likes of cadillac as well with with people in america and and three
31:47or four different bases how difficult is it when you're trying to all collaborate together especially
31:52different time zones it's got to make it harder yeah i think the time zones for sure will make it
31:56a
31:56little bit harder as well but the teams a lot of the departments are obviously all working together
32:03to form a car a single car and you miss some of those conversations that you would have around
32:09a coffee machine if you were all in the same place or some of the ideas that are generated
32:13and so it is tricky a number of the teams have that sort of situation um but it is i
32:18think a
32:18little bit trickier but even you know we talk a lot about mercedes mercedes the chassis design is in
32:25brackley the engine design is in bruxworth so they are not in the same location within the uk
32:30although they are both in the uk and have been working together obviously for a long time
32:34so many of the teams have that sort of split and the teams are all so big now that even
32:39in the team
32:40that's all under one roof there's still a lot of people you can't interact all together just an
32:46on board with max as well in the red bull gents and i was interested to see what you thought
32:49of
32:50how it was handling around here well i think it's so many cars have had that snap of oversteer at
32:56spoon i think it's how hard the wind the gust of wind gets you uh this is quite an interesting
33:00little convoy we have here having some fun hey charlotte on the second part of spoon you can see
33:05on the entry big big amount of oversteer on the way in which would have hurt him but um yeah
33:11the the
33:11alpine seems to be struggling for speed mclaren's passed and i think uh we'll see charl have a go
33:16into turn one it's good racing simulation isn't it for them all again and it's good it's good data
33:28you'll never stop you lot racing ever oh that feels so good charl is is feeling good right now
33:35really yeah that's it that's a lovely feeling doing a double overtake it's even in practice yeah it
33:40means everything it's getting one over on other drivers that's that's what you're out there to do
33:45and uh piastri's got the one that lost two places frustration i think uh is what you'll have there
33:50because he's just trying to get lapsed in consistent laps and he's stuck behind the helping once again
33:57which has a mercedes engine in the back it's got the same power unit in it as has as the
34:01mclaren
34:01uh we were mentioning it before because they're i mean seventh and ten points right now pierre gasly's
34:07uh scored those uh with one for franco colapinto last time out look at this
34:12does that put a smile on your face it does doesn't it it does it's such a tricky position
34:16to find yourself in those three abreast because the guy on the right oscar doesn't know that
34:20there's two cars inside him at this point and he's like why is this guy pushing me wide
34:24but he's got to give uh charl room on the inside this is what it looked like for oscar
34:30oh great
34:33well that's it go well
34:36typical oscar style well he's used up his battery
34:39to overtake uh previously the alpine and uh and then he didn't have any down into turn one
34:45good good lesson good learning exactly
34:48well i i love oscar for some of his radio comments because he's
34:51he's obviously annoyed and frustrated but that doesn't
34:55he just says it very calmly doesn't he
34:57so dry
34:58well that is the end of the session george russell has
35:03uh finished on top of the time so with a 131 666 but kimmy antinelli is only just behind him
35:10on the 131 692 very very close two 100s behind his teammate uh looks like that could be another battle
35:17for the weekend as well lando norris and oscar piastri then come third and fourth uh a tenth only a
35:24tenth and almost two tenths for oscar behind the mercedes then come the two ferraris of showed her and lewis
35:30howlton but uh kimmy will be challenging george if it does come down to the mercedes the pole this weekend
35:35kimmy will be pushing him all the way this weekend won't he yeah of course he will and you know
35:41for both of these drivers again mercedes has clearly the advantage at this stage of the season
35:46so they are trying to get as many points on the board as possible obviously and and the more that
35:52they can gain now as the
35:55mclaren will close they will develop this car and they will begin to close the gap at some stage
36:01so you're just trying to make sure that you
36:04get everything done now as much as you can and both
36:07kimmy knows he can't let george run away with the championship
36:11yes just a four point lead for george at the moment what's happened to
36:14yeah there's a catcher
36:17all right exiting the pits
36:20doesn't really have anywhere to go
36:22yeah the most cities so that draws
36:25yeah copy that term one
36:30i guess the team should have been on the radio saying there's a car coming in
36:33backed out of it earlier but at that point you can't really do anything
36:35yeah we've got this five week break now before miami
36:39after this weekend so how much progress can you make in that period
36:43obviously everyone is under the cost cap but bernie how much progress can you make in that five week break
36:48as a team
36:48oh yeah loads you know i think that teams will have looked at development they'll be planning where their upgrades
36:55come for example
36:56but they've they've gathered data from three races now they will have a lot to go on you can take
37:02your time go through it you're obviously
37:04for many of the teams out there you know when we've seen with the incident with the williams
37:09they're actually just lacking parts now that's a problem at the beginning of every season
37:13but this one in particular there's a number of teams you know i think it was in australia we've seen
37:18the mclaren
37:19taping up the bottom of the rear wing they would not be doing that if they had a good spare
37:23rear wing in the garage or front wing in the garage
37:25so teams are lacking and that that break gives us opportunity to reset get the parts and the spares that
37:34they need for miami
37:35and as well as then look at how the upgrades come or every team will have their own issues you
37:41know mclaren will be looking at reliability
37:42williams will be looking at weight others will be looking at spares so all of the teams will take an
37:48opportunity i think mercedes will actually feel
37:51it's they would have rather had the races for sure we'd all have rather had the races obviously than
37:55than what's going on in the world but mercedes will think that they've missed an opportunity to get even
38:00more points on the board going to be a busy weekend for you all in miami and bernie it's busy
38:04day for
38:04you now because we're going to send you back down to the paddock for the moment thank you very much
38:08for that jensen is with me though to watch these practice starts on the grid at the moment and jensen
38:13such
38:13an important part of the race weekend now it is and you can hear the engines screaming while they're
38:19trying to spool up the turbos i love it sounds great uh and uh we've had a couple of not
38:27so good
38:27starts one from uh the audi i'm not sure who it was but um yeah just getting there practicing this
38:33is
38:33unusual where this one downhill well that is it then for the first practice session here in
38:39suzuka and george russell was the quickest on track in that session but his teammate kimmy antinelli
38:44just two one hundredths behind him this is going to be close between these two at lando norris and
38:49oscar piastri third and fourth quickest just a tenth and almost two tenths behind them then come
38:54the two ferraris it's two by two by two in the top six uh that down to max verstappen in
38:59the red bull
39:00uh seven tenths behind george russell liam lawson in the racing balls then esteban ocon the quicker of
39:05the has ahead of arvid linblad in the other racing ball gabrie bortoletto niko hulkenberg are 11th and
39:1212th fastest isaac hadjo in the other red bull that is back in 13th then ollie behrman in the
39:17other has ahead of pierre gasly and franco colapinto in the alpines carlof sainz and alex albon in the
39:23williams 17th and 18th quickest soja prez and valteri bottas 19th and 20th then the two aston martins
39:29jack crawford in for fernando alonso in this morning session fernando will be back for second
39:34practice and we'll join you then later on
39:40and the time that you can join us for the second practice is at quarter to six this morning so
39:47time
39:47for a quick nap back up for p2 at quarter to six and at 7 15 we've got the f1
39:54show for you
39:55and then saturday shaping up like this practice three at 2 15 and qualifying at 5 a.m and then
40:08on sunday we're going to be on air with you with a build-up to the grand prix at 4
40:1230 with lights out
40:14at 6 a.m and you've got all of this to enjoy in between
40:23is that we're here the s's we've got the carlos science peloton coming up they're showing us how
40:28uphill it is it is the appeal and headwind and headwind that's good it's a good win it's a good
40:33win right that's what you want around this track because you get the tailwind down both very long
40:38straights and then the headwind through the high speed section so that's the faster way faster
40:43win around the lap that's a good win so ali you're fifth in the world drivers championship amazing
40:50start for you just got the two mercedes and the two ferraris in front look we're in a good place
40:54right now p5 but it's very early there's been a lot of reliability which luckily we've been on the
40:59good side also the important thing will be to develop well throughout the year but it's a bit less
41:03in my hands i just need to give good feedback for that
41:09lewis hamilton will stand on the podium as a ferrari driver for the first time third place here in
41:16shanghai to bring my mom to china and have this amazing week with her and then have my first podium
41:23it made it incredibly special the whole experience
41:30what a podium it was well it's george russell who's got the early advantage here as suzuka
41:36just under three hundredths of a second ahead of his teammate kimmy antonelli okay join us after the
41:42great we'll be talking aston martin with karun and pedro de la rosa
41:56hello and welcome back to suzuka where karun and i are delighted to be joined now by pedro de la
42:01rosa
42:01i mean i say delighted it's not a good time for the team right now we are very grateful for
42:07your time
42:07though you obviously arrive here at honda's home race on the back foot when crofty asked lance
42:13yesterday about the situation and the physical pain that he was in he actually said well nothing's
42:19as painful as the situation that we're in can you just give us a bit more insight into that and
42:24the
42:24challenges that you're facing well i mean it's formula one it's always going to be difficult
42:28obviously you know we were expecting to be much stronger to start with and we have just to
42:35be realistic understand what the problems are and work hard on them there's no really there's no time
42:41to being disappointed or unhappy or frustrated we're just uh we're fighters you know and we are here to
42:48fight and fight back so you know there's long season ahead we just have to be patient and uh and
42:54just take
42:54one one step at a time i mean that's very positive but can you give us some detail on what
42:59the problems
43:00are is it all related to the power unit and the vibrations to the drivers is how good is this
43:05this chassis or is it impossible to tell well i mean i think adrian was really really transparent
43:10you know in australia he explained the situation very well we have uh you know we have vibrations
43:15that make it very uncomfortable for the drivers we're working very hard with honda actually we
43:19tried some counter measures here to mitigate a bit of vibration so everything is going in the right
43:24direction but obviously we want to accelerate the process you know and on the chassis side we have
43:29new parts uh on the front wing front end plate on the leading edge of the floor so there's a
43:34lot of
43:35things that are coming through just to be more competitive you're never competitive enough in
43:39formula one and where we are at the moment we just need to make uh big steps you know but
43:44we're working
43:44on that and uh you know we just have to you know make sure that every time we run we
43:49make the car
43:49faster you know is it the power unit is it the aerodynamics is the suspension we don't care
43:53every area has to be better i feel a lot of sympathy for everybody at the team to be honest
43:58they're all working incredibly hard uh i feel sympathy for you because they've wheeled out the
44:02nicest man in the paddock to come and no but i'm here to explain where we're what we're going through
44:09you know and it's just you have to be you have to face the public the people when things go
44:14right
44:15and when things go wrong you also have to be here and explain and it is very important to actually
44:20be very transparent to explain the the things in a proper way because the people want to understand
44:25why we are so slow you know we are not happy but they need to know as well that we
44:29are fighting and
44:29that we are not happy at all and that we are not there's no time for being frustrated or disappointed
44:34you know we just have to work hard harder than anyone else but also with a very good strategy so
44:39how do
44:40you avoid the situation that mclaren found themselves in with honda a decade ago right you know
44:44similar situation well you had jensen you had fernando you had stoffel a lot of people
44:50wearing green now are wearing mclaren colors then and they never resolve the situation you know
44:55honda ended up splitting with mclaren and never resolved itself what what have you learned from
44:59that process that you can take forward i was not at mclaren you know so you know but i don't
45:05think i
45:05mean it's just a coincidence the fact that you know that the people that were there were here or some
45:10of them but i mean there's 1 200 people at aston martin that were not there so you know i
45:15think that
45:15it is it's a different era it's a different time honda is a different company as well from what
45:20what from what they were in back in 2014 and there's so many things really that are are have
45:27changed and that are changing as we speak but i think that that's actually a point because i found
45:31one of adrian's admissions from melbourne quite extraordinary where he said it was only in november
45:36last year when people went from the team to honda they realized sakura the scale of the problem
45:42i'm a little bit confused by that to be honest because surely before you sign a deal with a team
45:46you do your due diligence you understand what it is you know honda have come out and said they
45:50streamlined the program in 21 when they withdrew temporarily so how have you arrived in this
45:56situation that's the bit that confuses me well i mean if we had all the answers we wouldn't be here
46:01right now within this situation but it's fair to say as well that a lot of the issues that we
46:06have
46:06found on the car on the vibration side for example were not seen on the vtt or they were
46:11to a much lesser extent so there's many things that have been found running the car and because
46:17when once you run it's so close to the start of the season there's not a lot of time to
46:20react you
46:21know but that's racing you know i mean other people got it right so fair enough that we have just
46:26to
46:26to keep keep keep trying and pushing and i think it's a fair point though that there is clearly a
46:31cultural difference between honda and the team and a language barrier potentially so is the solution to
46:38to embed some team members in japan permanently or how would it work in in actual terms well i mean
46:43a
46:44lot of our our guys are working you know in uh in with honda closely and uh obviously you know
46:50it is
46:50uh ideally they would if they would be in silverstone it would be better not close to us but they
46:55are in
46:55japan it's it has worked in the past they are world champions you know they've won four world champions
47:00working from here from sakura so i don't think that uh you know we have to look into these details
47:06as
47:06to find the reason why we are not competitive that it has worked in the past we just have to
47:11make
47:12sure that we give honda all the time all the team to support them and work as one you know
47:18and that's
47:18that's the process we're in and in terms of working as one there clearly has to be a hierarchy
47:23now hasn't escaped anyone's attention that jonathan wheatley has left audi for personal reasons it has
47:30to be said it's the key here to helping adrian focus on what he's fantastic at we all know he's
47:38the best in the business and bringing in someone like jonathan as a team principal well at the
47:43moment we we remain our structure is is we're happy with what we have you know and how we are
47:49have
47:49organized the team and adrian being the team principal but he's more than a team principal he's
47:54actually the managing technical partner so that's that's going to remain the same i mean uh jonathan
47:59has left i mean we really shouldn't comment on things that are happening we don't know why he has
48:06left we don't know uh you know the situation really uh we all know and we the only thing we
48:10know is
48:11really is that we have a team principal and it is adrian new you know and and that will remain
48:16and
48:16change you know and that's that's we have to believe in our structure and not change it anymore so
48:21jonathan's not coming to last amounted despite all the time being you know i mean there's just a we
48:26we shouldn't comment on rumors and speculation because we have to be respectful as well for for
48:31what jonathan wants to do in the future that's fair enough and we shouldn't push you on that but it
48:35is
48:35interesting because jonathan obviously gets on incredibly well with adrian having all that time
48:40together at red bull but it also hasn't gotten unnoticed that christian horner is chomping at the bit
48:44to get back into formula one and his name has certainly been thrown into the ring as well but let's
48:48bring it
48:48onto this weekend because i can see you like rumors i'm not gonna i can see i'm not gonna answer
48:53you
48:53uh let's bring to this weekend obviously can't escape the fact that your driver's at the bottom
48:57of the time sheets jack getting just 11 laps in poor guy because you know he's been so excited to
49:03get into this car um so so what can be done in the space of just a couple of days
49:10this is jack well yeah he's done a fantastic job i must say and he was really excited he's been
49:15working so hard on the simulator on the past few weeks really to try to understand the new cars but
49:21especially also to understand a bit uh energy energy management around sufuka which is not an easy track
49:26for that and he has done very limited amount of laps of time lapse uh he started with the rake
49:33so taking
49:34uh getting a lot of information error error data and then when he jumped with uh hard tires he did
49:40a
49:41fantastic job really good feedback strong performance unfortunately he couldn't run the soft tires
49:46because we had a damaged bodywork he couldn't complete the the session so unfortunate for him
49:53but when he was in the car he was uh spot on and straight straight on very fast as well
49:58any as i was
49:59saying you know on the hard tire you're right he was about six tenths up on on lance's time and
50:03you
50:03know so a solid effort we saw lance put the soft tire on at the end um was there any
50:08reliability issues
50:09on on lance's side or is that just that's just the program you guys are running no no no we
50:13had a
50:14problem with uh with the body work it was some damage on the body work and that's why we cut
50:18short
50:18his run and he actually jack did not feed the the soft tire towards the end you know sorry or
50:23lance i
50:24meant sorry last finish the program yeah lance yeah lance more or less finished the pot and i'm you know
50:29he
50:29was really not happy with the car balance so you know although he had the soft tires towards the end
50:34he was he was not happy so pretty sure he will change quite a lot for free practice too but
50:40there
50:40was no no no reliability issues on lance car it's just not good balance we know fernando's here so he's
50:47back in for the next session feeling good has he had a bit of kip on the plane a bit
50:51of sleep sleep i
50:53i thought a kid on the plane no no no the child was not born on the plane please uh
50:58no sleep sleep
50:59yes he's uh he's he's he's fine he was really really really happy to be here as well i mean
51:05it's a circuit that any driver loves you know i mean every driver loves it here now list i hate
51:09to
51:09press you but just give a word to your fans on the kind of timeline we're talking about is it
51:14is it
51:15weeks is it months have you got any idea when that you know you can start i mean we cannot
51:20say
51:20really if it's weeks or months or you know i mean it is it's it's not going to be a
51:25easy fix
51:26or a quick fix you know we have to work race by race and week by week and that's that's
51:31all we can
51:32promise is hard work you know we cannot promise deadlines or we are not prepared because we don't
51:37know yeah but we will make it as short as possible well at least you get the month off in
51:40april
51:41i say off racing able to focus on it will be hectic you know i mean we're going to take
51:47the you know
51:47this month to work like flat out to try to accelerate the process and honda as well pedro
51:53as karun says you're the nicest guy in the paddock so thank you i feel bad sometimes but but i
51:58don't
51:58feel bad you know i mean we're here to fight and i'm happy to be fighting you know we're we're
52:03fighters
52:03man and you are a fighter as well come on yeah come on beat your chest love it excellent thank
52:08you very
52:08much your time okay we can bring bernie in now come on in bernie i mean you're very welcome to
52:13stay but i feel
52:14no no i'm just happy to say bye adios hasta luego bernie how are you good thank you yeah great
52:21yeah
52:21good to have you back here um here she is so let's talk about the session your your main sort
52:26of
52:26takeaways from that uh russell back on top antonelli tucked in just behind yeah they still look strong
52:32though the mercedes cars there i think it was tricky look tricky out there lots of mistakes we've seen
52:37through a few corners and the wind changed quite a lot through that session as well so i think there's
52:42going
52:42to be drivers have got a bit on to know exactly what to do with these cars for fpt corinne
52:47what are
52:47your takeaways well i went trackside which was which was great i love watching cars around suzuka i went
52:52down to turn one i went up to the s's and what you can tell you know we've got all
52:56of this chat about
52:56energy etc etc but when you go trackside ultimately car balance and and aero balance is still key around
53:05this track especially watching the s's you know the way that the mercedes cars were able to rotate is so
53:10impressive the mcleodon looked pretty decent as well um you can absolutely see from the track side
53:15which cars are working and which aren't and i i love watching it from the uh from the banks there
53:20could you feel the wind out there because it certainly is very still and warm in the paddock now
53:25well you could see a lot of them struggling with the wind at spoon i don't know if i didn't
53:29have the
53:29commentary but it felt like in the second half of the session it picked up a little bit um i
53:33went
53:33around to yeah i went up to dunlop curve and you can actually watch dunlop and the chicane up there
53:39and you could certainly feel the wind picking up in the second half yeah that's totally right you
53:43could see on the flags those flags just the end of the the paddock building and sort of halfway
53:48through the session they started to get this at the start they were actually nothing on the flag and
53:54then by the end of the session it was really quite dramatic so i think that change will continue
53:58throughout the weekend as well now perez was involved in a couple of moments should we say um during the
54:04session a bit of contact with albon at turn 16 17 what did you make of that it was a
54:10bit clumsy
54:11wasn't it i think it was a bit of a misunderstanding perez i think was on a race run maybe
54:15going a bit
54:15slower um but albon at this point looks like he's you know he's clearly showing intent that he wants to
54:21come past um perez did not expect him to be there should albon i mean it was a bit too
54:28late for him to
54:28back out of it it was just a bit clumsy for for free practice really and then a moment with
54:34russell
54:34as well bernie yeah exactly i think there was a few moments out there for a practice session wasn't
54:38there and i think all of these cars are so limited on parts that you just don't want to see
54:43any of this
54:44type of contact russell's upset because he's beginning his lap and i think the thing is in practice
54:51they're all on time lapse so whether they're fast or slow they're all on time loss they do not have
54:57to give up the position there's a nicety when you're in a slow lap you move out of the way
55:01but they don't necessarily have to the practice session so um i think that
55:06a bit of discussion particularly with the perez one i'll tell you something we do like to see three
55:11abreast that was so cool wasn't it the ferrari mclaren and the alpine let's have another look at it
55:17it was we saw that casual double overtake we saw them setting it up earlier wasn't it it was at
55:22130r and into the chicane they were doing a little bit of battling and it was fun to see i
55:26think oscar
55:27sort of finished his lap and was backing out of it he probably didn't expect the ferrari to be on
55:32the
55:32inside of the rp but i think it's just useful for them as well to see what the what it's
55:38like to follow
55:38another car um you saw leclerc come through spoon curve for example following the you know these two cars
55:45and had a little bit of a wobble now that's useful information for him to know for the race
55:49how closely can i follow how does a car react when i follow what does that do for the energy
55:54usage
55:55because when you're in the slipstream going up the stray back to 130 are you using less energy so you
56:01know that's all useful information for the driver and through the corners but also the engineers
56:05coming into the weekend we certainly thought it was a direct fight between mercedes and ferrari are
56:10mclaren in the fight based on this morning's evidence they're going to hope that they are
56:15but i think per series still have it i agree oh that is the shortest answer you've ever given
56:22me she's never wrong so yeah it's an easy one to agree with it that is true so it's been
56:27a busy
56:27session it's been a very useful one for all of the teams and it's one that george russell has emerged
56:33on top just under three hundredths of a second ahead of his teammates so advantage to george
56:40after kimmy's maiden win in china last time out and then it became the mclarens and the ferraris
56:47join us for the second practice session here in japan at quarter to six with the f1 show following it
56:52at 7 15. thanks for your company see you very soon
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