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00:00Look, how much better the Mercedes puts the power down.
00:04It's crazy because you look at it and you say, oh, George is taking it easy,
00:08and he's driving the wheels of the car.
00:10When you're in the car, you're hustling it, and when you do it well, it just looks easy.
00:15George Russell over the line, and he takes the fastest time by three and a half tenths of a second.
00:22Antonelli has a quicker middle sector, the driver who was off by half a second yesterday.
00:28I think it's going to be a couple of tenths.
00:31Let's see as he goes around the 14th and final corner, leaning on the car immediately,
00:38and he comes across the line, and he finds himself two tenths behind Russell.
00:43Mercedes restored to their position.
00:45They found themselves in for every Grand Prix so far at the top.
00:50Russell and Antonelli evenly matched in sharp contrast to what we saw in Monaco one week ago.
00:56And Russell, who has had podiums at this circuit in the past, finds himself up.
01:03Lewis Hamilton really fighting it.
01:06Yeah, the problem is when you're sideways, I know how he's been sideways the last few, you know, races,
01:12that it works quite well for him.
01:14The really long corners here, it penalizes the tires, and you can't stay load up.
01:20You know what I mean?
01:21When you lean on that weird tire, you normally lean and snap, and you finish the corner.
01:25Here you lean, you snap, and you still got to keep turning to complete the corner, and you pay the
01:30price.
01:31He bailed out of that one, and that is the risk.
01:34That's what we've been talking about with these tires only being good enough for one true push lap.
01:40That is the risk that if you have a moment like that at the start of the lap, you know
01:44effectively your chance to be competitive's gone.
01:46You've got to stick with it.
01:47Hamilton backing off.
01:49Interesting to see if he does go again.
01:50We'll get an idea of how much that costs you when it comes to the Pirelli rubber.
01:54If you're just joining us, we've had half the session, but not that much by way of track action.
02:00Those at the very front have done a maximum of two runs.
02:03That's Lando Norris, who's done a couple of push laps.
02:06He is currently third fast.
02:07There's just one push lap for the Mercedes pair who topped the session at the moment.
02:11We go on board with Lewis Hamilton.
02:14Yeah, he had improved the first sector, and he seems to be coming in a decent lap.
02:19And he's a little bit more under control than that first lap.
02:22I think he thought there was maybe a little more grip out there.
02:27Charles Leclerc currently in fourth position.
02:29He's four tenths of a second back from the benchmark set by the Mercedes.
02:33See if Hamilton, who bailed out of it after turn three, has got a tire grip left.
02:40Moving around, and this is going to be his effort.
02:42Let's see where it stacks up.
02:43After back-to-back second places in Formula One.
02:47Into the straight zone he goes.
02:50And the active aero opening.
02:51He closes it immediately as he goes across the line.
02:54And he moves up ahead of Oscar Piastri, who said he had such bad front grip that it felt like
03:00his front wing was broken.
03:01And Hamilton goes eight tenths of a second back with a lap time good enough for sixth position.
03:07The driver, who has had success around this circuit in the past, where he has had so many poles and
03:17six Grand Prix victories to his name in this layout.
03:21And now Charles Leclerc, who has got Ferrari having that big opportunity in Monaco, their car always suiting the low
03:27-speed stuff.
03:29And now Charles Leclerc goes again.
03:31Let's see what he can produce, the Ferrari driver, who has his teammate to clear in the next corner.
03:41That's quite impressive to go quicker on the older tyres.
03:44So definitely whatever they adjusted on that car seems to be paying off.
03:49There was a lot of scepticism whether this was going to be possible after Friday, but these teams have such
03:55talented engineers.
03:56Let's see if it stays with Charles Leclerc, whether he's able to find personal best in Sector 1 and Sector
04:012.
04:02We're on board, Turn 9.
04:03Terrific change of direction, massive speed.
04:07Here's the end of Sector 2 and the time beginning to ebb away.
04:11Yeah, but not crazy.
04:12I mean, yes, as the lap goes on, you start seeing that.
04:16You start losing a bit of traction, but this car looks way calmer than Lewis's.
04:22You still, the Ferrari tendency to slide around, but it seems a little bit under control, like the slides are
04:28a little smaller and can hold it under control.
04:30So it's not bad.
04:33I'm telling you, it's not bad at all for being five, six laps on the tyres.
04:40And he checks the mirrors to make sure that he's not impeding anyone.
04:43Frankicola Pinto is the driver who is next behind, and then it is Hulkenberg.
04:49And here is Pierre Gasly, the driver who at the moment has not put a time on the board.
04:56And they were breaking the curfew at Alpine last night.
05:01And I see that a couple of times a season before they pull foul of the regulations.
05:08That's basically so the teams don't work mechanics every minute of every day, which on the evidence of previous generations
05:17in Formula One, they would if they could.
05:19So that's been brought in to safeguard the mechanics in recent times.
05:23Yellow flag is out there.
05:24And there's the moment.
05:26Round goes the Cadillac.
05:28Valtteri Bottas in the gravel.
05:31And he finds himself beached by the looks of things.
05:34The red flag is out.
05:35And round he goes.
05:38On the exit of turn 10, he has found himself rotated round.
05:43And the driver, once on pole here for Mercedes, has spun round for Cadillac.
05:49And the red flag is out.
05:55I'd be intrigued to see the replay, to see how that one's unfolded.
05:58He was 18th fastest ahead of Fernando Alonso.
06:01Alonso who scored his first point of the season in the previous Grand Prix.
06:06Perez, who had not yet been out on the soft tyre.
06:10And then Stroll and Gasly was winding up for his first effort of the day.
06:16I have a question for you.
06:18Why was Liam Lawson allowed to run yesterday again?
06:22How do they got the car back to the garage?
06:24Yeah, got the car back to the garage.
06:25It wasn't very far.
06:26It broke down in...
06:28It broke down near the garage.
06:31And they were able to send him back out onto the circuit.
06:34We'll deal with that in a moment.
06:36It was already pretty leery going through turn 9.
06:41He's got like...
06:42He has no brakes.
06:43He has no brakes.
06:44He has no brakes.
06:49I lost my brake pedal.
06:52It's gone.
06:53Like, the pedal is gone.
06:55Got very lucky there.
07:01He was very lucky.
07:02He lost the pedal in turn 9 when he went to combine or something.
07:07And he, on the exit, or he, I don't know if they need to pump the brakes maybe for the
07:12next, you know what I mean, to get the pedal up.
07:13And he went and was like, ooh, and he backed off early enough.
07:17Because if you come at full speed there with no brake pedal, they would have been repairing a lot of
07:23that car.
07:25And you can have, I mean, this is a circuit with ample runoff, as you can see, but there are
07:30still a lot of parts of the circuit where that could have been an enormous crash.
07:37And you could hear the relief for Bottas that it was just a spin into the gravel.
07:41When we saw the car in that location, Juan Pablo, I'm thinking, how on earth has he got to that
07:46part of the circuit?
07:49Because it just doesn't make sense to spin in that manner there.
07:55And obviously, it's a technical that's put him into that part of the racetrack.
07:59I thought he maybe went really deep, locked up one of the tires, tunnel wheel to try to make the
08:04corner.
08:04And then when he was going to go through the gravel, he tried to gas it to go through the
08:08gravel and lost it.
08:09I had a full movie going on in my head, and there were no brakes.
08:14That's so often what happens when you cut to a car.
08:17You instantly try and go through the options of how they've got there.
08:22But Valtteri Bottas will be relieved.
08:24Here's a man who's not relieved at the moment.
08:26Oliver Behrman, you're seeing his track dominance data up against Esteban Ocon.
08:31He's not enjoying the Haas and how it is using the tires.
08:37He says, I can't tell if I've destroyed the tires already.
08:42Man, it's terrible.
08:44Which, considering you've got 22 minutes to go, it's not a great sign for how the American team's weekend is
08:51going.
08:51And he was vocal yesterday about really struggling for grip.
08:57So it doesn't appear to be an improvement.
09:00And Haas searching for answers deep into the practice sessions once again.
09:06Yeah, the crazy thing is, when you're in a team, you think you're doing it worse than everybody else.
09:13But if you ask 99% of the drivers, they're all going to be saying exactly the same thing and
09:18complaining about the same thing.
09:19That is the nature of the sport.
09:21However, the big question now, if you're Cadillac, do you stop Chekhov's car until you know exactly what happened?
09:29Or do you just go, oh, it's an isolated incident?
09:35Yeah, decision for them to take.
09:37Word from race control that things will resume at nine minutes past the hour.
09:43It's coming your way in 35 seconds time.
09:47It's a good time to go downstairs to Callum Nicholas, who's in the pit lane for us.
09:51Over to you, Callum.
09:53How are you doing, Alex?
09:54It's been another day down here in the pit lane, and it's been quite a quiet one.
09:58I did just watch something quite interesting outside the Red Bull garage,
10:01the one that I'm oh so familiar with, was that both cars came in,
10:04the teams did their regular pit stop practice,
10:07but then immediately, as soon as they were both back in the garage,
10:09they put that same set of used softs back on.
10:12This is a session where every team is very conscious of saving tyres
10:15that they may well need for tomorrow's race.
10:18Now, when the cars came in, Isak Hajar looked like he did a very small rear roll bar change.
10:23Max didn't seem to make any geometry changes to the car at all,
10:26but there was a little bit of composites work going on at the back of the car.
10:29I guess he's just probably picked up some curb damage on the floor
10:32or maybe the rear brake drums, which can also get damaged around the curbs here.
10:36So, yeah, it is all quiet, but I just thought it was an interesting point.
10:39The teams are so, so keen on keeping those tyres that they might need for tomorrow.
10:44Back to you, Alex.
10:47Thank you, Callum.
10:47Yeah, as we hear all season long from Ruth Buscombe,
10:52the teams begin their strategy for Sunday at the very start of the weekend,
10:58and the team's very wary after the heavy degradation that's possible.
11:05To answer your previous question, Juan Pablo, on Liam Lawson,
11:09that is permitted in the regulations now.
11:11Now, in the old days, it was not.
11:13So that is a recent change.
11:16If you can get it back to the pits and you can...
11:19The team of confidence, self-scrutineering that they can release the car in a safe manner,
11:27then you are allowed to re-enter the session, as we saw for the New Zealander.
11:31In previous times, you just park up and that's it, session done.
11:34But that's been a fairly recent change, so that teams don't lose out on that time.
11:39And he only broke down a couple of metres away from the end of the pit lane.
11:43So Racing Halls were able to recover the car,
11:45diagnose the issue and get him back into the session yesterday.
11:48But yeah, in yesteryear, that would have been game over.
11:51Yeah, so it's kind of...
11:52I was going to say, that shows the difference between somebody
11:54that is very well prepared for this and somebody that is not.
11:59Yeah, but you've got the driving expertise, having been there and done that.
12:02It's been great hearing you talk through the on-board laps and a circuit that...
12:07OK, it wasn't your favourite one, Pablo, but it's still great to get your insight around.
12:11My first podium was here. It was great.
12:14But, you know, I did so many laps and, you know, what they're complaining about?
12:19We were here in this heat doing laps and laps and laps,
12:23doing 500, nearly 600 kilometres a day.
12:29But they're complaining for an hour, we were doing it for eight hours a day.
12:34Yeah, that is an intense, intense run.
12:38Yeah, your first podium, you were running to be on the podium that day,
12:45but you got elevated up to...
12:47You elevated up to second place, according to my information in front of me.
12:51Ah, OK, I thought I was four, then I...
12:53Because I thought you were fourth and then Micah broke down on the last lap,
12:56but I couldn't remember off the top of my head.
12:58Micah hacking and breaking down on the last lap and losing the win.
13:01I was like, thank you!
13:03Yeah, but you were in fact running in the podium places.
13:07So, yeah, good job that we checked.
13:10Yeah, imagine being in the podium and out of a...
13:13Or something like that.
13:15Yeah, we are looking into that still, Sergio.
13:18Nothing should affect us.
13:23I've got to say, after the session, when he finds out what happened,
13:26he's going to go, really? You didn't tell me?
13:30Might not be with the lightness of tone that you said as well.
13:35The team don't believe it's an issue.
13:37That's the information that they're giving to Sergio Perez,
13:40currently running in 20th position.
13:43Had a very canny Monaco Grand Prix that got undone by a parking long.
13:48Unfortunately, it cost the team their first point.
13:50But the fact that they've been competitive in Montreal in the sprint race with Checo,
13:54the fact that he was in position as well,
13:56they have made progress as they try to do one of the hardest things in Formula 1,
14:00join the sport and close the gap to the midfield.
14:04Because as we've seen in recent times,
14:06the standard is so high in modern Formula 1.
14:10It has always been, any era of the sport, a difficult thing to join.
14:14But in this era, the cost cap era as well,
14:17super difficult to join the pack and be competitive at different circuits.
14:23And it's Bottas, Alonso, Perez and Stroll at the bottom.
14:29Gasly will be hoping to get some running out there.
14:31It doesn't have a representative time on the board.
14:34Albon down in 17th is not what he wants to see.
14:39And then you've got Ocon and Colopinto as well,
14:41who are hoping for a turnaround.
14:42But the radio messages from Oli Behrman suggest
14:45that Haas do not have an answer to the lack of grip at the moment.
14:49Here's Isaac Hadjar in your picture,
14:51who took his demotion from the podium yesterday really gallantly
14:57because he's a driver that never hides his emotions.
15:00And he said he was more concerned about the points than anything.
15:03He said if it had been a context where he needed like a breakthrough result
15:07to convince the team he was doing a good job,
15:09it would have stung more.
15:10But he believes that the team are impressed with his performance
15:14so far this season.
15:16And that is something that's mirrored by those that you hear from Red Bull.
15:19My cockpit is, the dust is in my eyes every time I brake at the moment.
15:24I'll be understood.
15:27So one of the issues there, as it gets so hot,
15:32they put a lot of vents on the helmets to help the drivers.
15:35And then as a driver, then you complain because it's too much dust coming in.
15:40But if they close the vent, then you're going to complain it's too hot.
15:43So you lose and lose and lose.
15:45Yeah, the drivers are feeling it.
15:47The track temperature is exactly 50 degrees at the moment.
15:50So it is a real test out there.
15:54Oh, Lance Stroll fighting the Aston Martin.
15:57Shopping trolley stuff down the hill into Turn 5.
16:00He had a massive moment in Monaco early on in the race.
16:05Had a snap in the tunnel.
16:06Just laughed it off.
16:08Just completely laughed it off.
16:09It would have been a ginormous accident if it had gone wrong.
16:13But he gathered it together and went on his way.
16:15His teammates scored Aston's first point of the year.
16:18Aston Martin effectively circling the airport at the moment.
16:21They are waiting for their upgrade to land.
16:24It doesn't come their way until the Belgian Grand Prix.
16:29And we will go after this race to Austria, to Silverstone, and then to Belgium.
16:35So they've got to wait a few more weeks before their season effectively begins from scratch.
16:39But they are in a holding pattern, taking off the races at the moment before they bring a performance upgrade.
16:46And that was the early decision after their difficult start.
16:49You heard that on the grid with Jolyon in Monaco.
16:53That was the decision taken by Adrian Newey and the design team there.
16:57That was the right thing to do.
16:59Close moment between Arvid Gleeblad and Lance Stroll.
17:05Always making friends.
17:06That's a good bit of them.
17:08So the question there with Aston Martin.
17:11Do you think they're waiting for an upgrade on the engine before they bring out an aero package and do
17:17everything together?
17:18Maybe they feel there's no point to spend money right now putting an upgrade package if everything else is missing
17:25as well?
17:26Yeah.
17:26I think they're looking for a joint step forward later in the year.
17:32Motivation of that team still seems very, very good when you speak to them on the ground.
17:37But they are just accepting of where they are.
17:41And yeah, I think that is part of the thinking to just introduce one hit that they can start fine
17:47tuning after a really tricky time.
17:51And it's been a long time since an Adrian Newey design car has not made the podium in Formula One.
17:58It hasn't happened since the 80s.
18:00So they've got that record to try and deal with.
18:03I think they would be happy to be competitive with the lower reaches of the points given that we've seen
18:09a traditional re-establishing of the big four teams.
18:12Albeit the order changing when Mercedes moving to the front this year.
18:15But it's a great facility at Silverstone.
18:17We know eventually Honda always get it right.
18:20Sometimes it can be a couple of years like we saw with the McLaren relationship.
18:25And eventually Red Bull were the beneficiaries of that.
18:28But yeah, they are in the holding pattern for the moment and they occupy 20th and 22nd positions in the
18:35timing pages.
18:36The driver scored points inside the top 10 with a move on Lewis Hamilton late on in the race last
18:41year that we've referred to earlier on.
18:43Hülkenberg and that car look capable of scoring points in Monaco.
18:47Juan Pablo just fell apart on qualifying Saturday for them.
18:52Hülkenberg tried a really audacious long stint which nearly paid him back and then contact and a 10-second penalty
18:58with Carlos Sainz late on after that chaotic restart.
19:02Yeah, I don't know.
19:04I'm very, very, very biased on that penalty and I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but I
19:09was.
19:11You're allowed to say whatever you like, really.
19:13But then I was very biased.
19:19Yeah, I remember you reacting to penalties in your era behind the wheel.
19:23Yeah, you think maximum margin when it comes to wheel-to-wheel.
19:26But yeah, unfortunately for Sainz, that took him out of the points.
19:30Hülkenberg receiving that news just as he parked up that he'd crossed the line inside the top 10 with a
19:3410-second penalty,
19:35taking him out of the positions as we have 11 minutes to go.
19:43Russell Antonelli, Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen, couple of push laps for Russell, couple of push laps for Antonelli,
19:51three runs for Norris, three runs for Leclerc, two runs for Verstappen, two runs for Piastri and terrible reviews.
19:59Terrible reviews about the front end of his McLaren as well.
20:03So we go in to a high-pressure qualifying session without much running from those at the very front.
20:10But now we do have George Russell. He is pushing on.
20:13He does have a set of the soft tyres attached to the car, but he doesn't have a personal best,
20:18Juan Pablo.
20:19No, he doesn't, but it was really close.
20:21Maybe he's trying to manage that first sector to have a better tyre at the end of the lab.
20:25So that's a compromise because he was only 800s off of purple, so it wasn't terrible.
20:32And I hear, look, big step in the middle sector.
20:35So this is the story.
20:36How do you use the tyres and where you manage?
20:38Because these two traction events here at the end of the lab will make a big difference in lap time
20:44as well.
20:44And you might, if you burn the tyre at the beginning of the lab, all these, you're going to be
20:48penalised.
20:49And look, half a second up.
20:52A little understeer there, but it was good.
20:55I mean, solid.
20:57Yeah, new set of tyres for George Russell, making good use of them as well.
21:02Norris has the benchmark in the first sector.
21:04Russell finding himself a 700s back from that benchmark.
21:09And then a massive improvement of four tenths in the middle part of the lap.
21:12But remember, Antonelli on the previous run was stronger there.
21:16Norris again, great in that first sector.
21:18First of all, though, the man who won the Grand Prix here 12 months ago.
21:22Oscar Piastri with one corner to go.
21:25Personal best, sector one.
21:26Sector two.
21:27Doesn't appear to have the pace overall.
21:30But he does have a time, good enough for second position.
21:33He's only two tenths of a second away.
21:35We go on board with Lando Norris.
21:37How's it looking at the end of his lap, Juan Pablo?
21:39Well, it's a little bit up on Piastri, but they're all pretty close.
21:45And McLaren looks really solid.
21:47I said it from the beginning of the week.
21:49I knew they were going to be close.
21:51I don't know if they have enough to be, you know, to be the Mercedes,
21:54but they're going to be there.
21:56We need to see now what Kimi can do once he puts the new tires on.
22:01That's the million dollar question.
22:03I don't know if he made a mistake because he's out there on the track
22:05and the first sector was quite slow.
22:07Yeah, no build laps this weekend and must be an issue with a car in the way
22:14or a mistake for Kimi Antonelli because he was eight seconds off at the benchmark.
22:19So he's clearly backed out of that one.
22:21Lewis Hamilton through turn number nine.
22:23Driver who's been asking where he needs to improve on the radio.
22:27Also, radio conversations in motion at the moment.
22:30Hadjah saying the car doesn't turn how he wants.
22:35And the team asking whether he wants a front wing adjustment.
22:40Antonelli will go again.
22:42And Lewis Hamilton with back-to-back podiums in Formula One.
22:47After the last two Grand Prix comes across the line and he improves to fourth.
22:53But the gap is seven-tenths of a second as back in the pits debriefing earlier than he would want
23:00to be.
23:01Valtteri Bottas with Cadillac.
23:05And Max Verstappen now.
23:07Doesn't have an improvement in the first sector.
23:10Personal best in the second.
23:11And he too is seven-tenths of a second away.
23:15Hamilton marginally ahead.
23:16Then Verstappen.
23:18Antonelli in the first sector.
23:23Is he going to get traffic?
23:25No, run wide in turn one.
23:28He's going to say it was traffic, but he missed turn one.
23:32Aston in the way.
23:34No.
23:36Oh my God, stroll, as always.
23:38Copy that.
23:42Let's agree to disagree.
23:45You think he was distracted and he went wide as a result?
23:48I think, yeah, I think he thought he might be in the way, but he wasn't.
23:53And you saw when he turned one, he ended up a little too wide.
23:57He thought he may have to go wide, but it's a practice.
24:01It's not qualifying.
24:02Of course, you know, you still want to put pressure.
24:05Oh, he aborted this lap too.
24:07Yeah, he's about three-tenths of a second off George Russell's benchmark.
24:11But if he'd maintained that gap, he would have also been behind the McLarens as well.
24:16Yeah.
24:17So he finds himself having backed off.
24:20And nature of the tyres, he's coming back to the pits.
24:22Oh my God, mate.
24:24Unbelievable.
24:25It's unbelievable.
24:26More traffic.
24:30So that's the nature of the grip, only lasting for one real push lap.
24:35He's unhappy with cars in the way.
24:39And so we will not get a read, but we will get an idea of why he was frustrated.
24:47Yeah, he couldn't turn there.
24:49There is no way.
24:52I love his attitude.
24:55I just love him because he's, you know, he doesn't care.
25:00He just wants to get it done.
25:02But why do I always get traffic?
25:03Like, I don't understand.
25:05Like, everyone always in the lap.
25:09Yeah, Russell running first with the run plan for Mercedes.
25:12And then the majority of people have done their push laps.
25:16So Antonelli was running, like, almost a step behind everyone on track at the moment.
25:20So frustration for him on the radio.
25:22I believe it's a Haas that was basically crawled off the racetrack trying to make room for him.
25:28But obviously in that scenario, with it only being practice, he couldn't commit to the corner.
25:33And so he doesn't have that final qualifying simulation that we would be interested to see.
25:39Russell, Piastri and Norris do.
25:42And then there's a gap, as you can see on the timing page.
25:45Hamilton and Verstappen, fourth and fifth.
25:47So let's see where we go with Charles Leclerc, who's sending it through turn nine.
25:52And we'll be aiming for Lewis Hamilton's fourth place on the evidence of the weekend so far.
26:03That's four cars to turn one in my first lap.
26:06Four cars.
26:07Yeah, unfortunately, I don't release those cars out of the carriage, mate.
26:10So they leave when they want to leave.
26:40That's funny.
26:43He's gone ahead of Lando Norris' effort there.
26:46Two-tenths of a second away.
26:48So that's encouraging.
26:50I thought he might have had too much time to build up.
26:53Hamilton's got an out lap again.
26:57And so he's going once more.
26:59So the stewards.
27:00Investigation after the session.
27:01Kimi Antonelli turned to driving erratically.
27:03That's for the making himself as large as possible in Lance Stroll's peripheral vision.
27:11Let's go with that description of events.
27:13Isaac Hadjar is not happy with how his red ball is handling.
27:18I wonder if we'll hear some team radio communication in a moment after that.
27:23Are you kidding me?
27:26What kind of industry is this?
27:29Like genuinely, what was that?
27:31Never in my life I had this, but anyway.
27:34It is basically that it's really unstable in.
27:38And as soon as you stop the momentum of rotating the car and you catch it,
27:42the car will go straight.
27:43And the tires will, you know, when you're on such a limit of the tires, it will happen.
27:48It's not a great feeling, but it happens a lot.
27:50And I think that's where Max is very good at controlling that entry.
27:55And he uses that initial rotation instead of as a snap.
27:58He uses it to complete the corner.
28:00And that's why so many people struggle to drive what he drives.
28:05Yeah, that has been the nature of the second seat, hasn't it?
28:10Trying to master the way that they have to focus that car around Verstappen.
28:14His unbelievable ability to handle the front end when it's got that much sensitivity.
28:21And Isaac Hadjar saying he's never had understeer like that.
28:24That is so much steering lock applied for Hadjar as he made his way into Turn 7.
28:30Lewis Hamilton is making his way through Turn 3.
28:32A six-time Grand Prix winner around this venue.
28:36And he does not have new tires.
28:39So this is just to try and understand the balance a bit more.
28:43Again, on his in-lap, he was hearing the time and saying, still so far off, where am I down?
28:50So he's immediately asking where he can try and improve.
28:53And he has a sighter more than anything before we start the qualifying hour.
28:57We've got two minutes of practice to go.
29:00Yeah, I think it's more understand the style of what Charles is doing and how Charles is making it work.
29:06So even if it's all tires, it's to go there and try to understand how Charles is making it work
29:11so he can apply for the new tires more than anything else.
29:14I think at this point, what you have is what you have on the car.
29:17And you just got to deal with it and just try to match it the best way you can.
29:22And you knew Charles was going to bounce back.
29:24And you can tell Oscar is going to be doing the same.
29:26But at this point, you know, everybody's done tires.
29:30We're pretty much done for the session.
29:32Yeah, the improvements have gone.
29:36You need a new tire for improvements.
29:39Might get one with Carlos Sainz.
29:40He's the only driver on track right now who's running the new tires.
29:44And he's got a lot of time.
29:46He's been compared to Russell, the driver who is currently in 15th place.
29:51Ten times a point scorer at his home event.
29:54He's got two of them this year.
29:56And he will be racing in his home city of Madrid later in the season.
30:02Big understeer.
30:03Look at that.
30:07And he does improve up to 14th.
30:09He's looking for way more than that.
30:11Two seconds away from George Russell.
30:14But with plenty of support in the grandstands.
30:18The driver who's always had a great record when it comes to his home race.
30:23Gasly, we've been talking about whether he was going to get this lap in at any point.
30:2718th fastest at the moment.
30:31And 1.3 seconds away.
30:34So that would be flirting with the edges of the top ten.
30:36If he can continue the run.
30:38But does he have the grip underneath him?
30:41And Gasly finds himself with old tires bolted to the car.
30:45And the rear gives you an illustration of what that looks like.
30:48The incident involving Colopinto and Bortoleto has been reviewed for no further investigation.
30:54So goodbye to that as a talking point.
30:56And hello to Pierre Gasly in 13th position across the line.
31:00That time just air being away with a lack of grip.
31:03Hajar is going to complete it.
31:05That rebel running very low through 13 and 14.
31:08Striking the floor.
31:09And let's see whether Hajar can find anything.
31:11Well, it is an improvement.
31:13He goes into 8th position.
31:14And he's a second off the pace set by George Russell.
31:18Oscar Piastri finding an improvement with the front end.
31:21Charles Leclerc with a competitive time.
31:24Lando Norris with a competitive time.
31:26Then Hamilton asking where he's losing.
31:29Verstappen's red ball does not seem balanced at all.
31:32Antonelli got traffic on his qualifying simulation lap.
31:36And then it is Hajar Hülkenberg and Lindblad the top ten.
31:39David Lindblad a very strong winner of the race here last year in Formula 2.
31:44His most dominant drive in the final rung on the ladder before Formula 1.
31:49And again, good core pace.
31:51Around this circuit.
31:53He is three tenths up on what Liam Lawson, his experienced teammate, was able to do.
31:58At the top of the timing page.
32:01George Russell has once again found the fastest time.
32:04You can see the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
32:06A little bit of flow vis paint on the front.
32:09As they're always hunting for answers when it comes to overall performance.
32:13They're all chasing George Russell though.
32:14At the end of final practice.
32:17He's fastest.
32:20So Russell Piastri and then this man, Charles Leclerc, you can see marginally up in sector one.
32:27But sector two is where Russell was really inflicting the damage.
32:32And has that buffer in the middle part of the racetrack as it stands.
32:38And it's a very good performance from the Mercedes driver in the second sector that begins just before turn four
32:45and ends just before the heavy braking zone of turn ten.
32:52What stands out for you, Juan, after what we've seen in the final hour of practice?
32:57Interesting.
32:57Piastri is back on pace that it's very good.
33:01Hamilton is struggling a little bit and really trying to figure it out.
33:05Antonelli, I don't think, is matching George here.
33:09I think Antonelli is going to be there or thereabouts, but I think George is going to be there.
33:15George is going to be there and it's going to be a race of strategy.
33:19And this afternoon qualifying is going to be a lie.
33:22That's where the money is going to be made because it's not going to be easy.
33:26A couple of podiums for George Russell in his time racing here.
33:302022 and 2023, he was able to take the final step on the podium with a couple of third places.
33:36He did take the lead dramatically here a couple of years ago from fourth on the grid.
33:43Just threw it all in with the headwind at turn number one and it stuck.
33:47And he went from fourth to first in a memorable start to the Grand Prix that was eventually won by
33:52Max Verstappen.
33:54Verstappen, who's finished that session down in sixth place.
34:02Lewis Hamilton is the driver that you are on board with.
34:05He is in fifth place and he is lining up for his practice starts.
34:10The revs are rising opposite Juan Pablo in the main grandstand with that terrific view of basically the entire circuit.
34:19The track temperature is running at 49 degrees.
34:22So it is incredibly warm out there.
34:26Drivers told with their protocol at this point, you must take up the first grid spot that you arrive at.
34:32So there's no jostling for trying to find where you might roughly be later in the weekend.
34:38Hamilton's finished that session in fifth place.
34:40You just have to line up and take your practice start from wherever you find yourself in the order.
34:45And that's P10 for Lewis Hamilton on the grid at the end of the session.
34:49Lindblad finishing in 10th and then Portoleto, Norsen, Gasly, Polipinto.
34:53Home favourite Sainz in 15th and Ocon, Bam and Alvin Perez.
34:57Another home favourite, Alonso in 20th.
34:5921st was Bottas who had a brake issue and Stroll was in 22nd.
35:04No one's got an answer to George Russell at the moment.
35:07He's looking to re-establish himself as a winning driver in Formula 1, having started the season as the winner.
35:15And then he's had to watch his teammate collect all the largest trophies by the end of a Grand Prix
35:20Sunday.
35:21But with a devastating middle sector, he is the driver to beat going in to the qualifying app.
35:30Yeah, I was just watching all the starts and for sure the Ferrari seems to still have a little bit
35:34of the upper hand.
35:36Russell's start was really good and Tonnelli's was average.
35:40And the Red Bulls were spinning the tyres quite a bit.
35:44Yeah, that's been the case throughout their practice start so far this weekend.
35:49Really long run down to Turn 1 as well.
35:51So any discrepancy in your launch off the line is going to be punished way more here than our previous
35:56two rounds
35:57where it's a short run to Turn 1 in Montreal and Monaco.
36:00Here in Barcelona, George Russell has the fastest time.
36:03Oscar Piastri in 2nd, then Charles Leclerc in 3rd.
36:06Lando Norris 4th ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
36:09Max Verstappen is P6 for Red Bull.
36:11Then it's Antonelli and Hadjar at lower reaches of the top 10.
36:15Hülkenberg, who has found strong balance after struggles yesterday.
36:20And Arvid Lundblad, I've been telling you about his prowess,
36:23winning the feature race here in F2 one year ago.
36:26He's inside the top 10, but there's Gabriel Bortleto not too far away in the 2nd Audi.
36:32Then it's Liam Lawson ahead of Pierre Gasly.
36:35Franco Colopinto in 14th ahead of Carlos Sainz, who's 2 seconds off the pace.
36:40Then it's Ocon, who is ahead of Behrman.
36:44Albon is in 18th.
36:45Perez 19th.
36:47And then it is home favourite, Fernando Alonso.
36:50Finds himself in 20th.
36:52And then it's Valtteri Bottas, who had a break issue.
36:54Lance Stroll is 22nd in the Formula One field.
36:59Well, my thanks to Juan Pablo for all of his insights behind the microphone.
37:04Wonderful on-board laps that we've been able to enjoy.
37:07And to Callum Nicholas in the pit lane as well.
37:11Now, let's send it downstairs to James Hinchcliffe, who can kick off the analysis.
37:18Thank you so much, Alex and Juan up in the booth.
37:21And Luke Browning, Trackside, didn't get as many hits from him as we were hoping.
37:25Cars kind of staying in the garage in the early part of that session.
37:28But you said when you were down in pit lane, kind of expected.
37:30Yeah, it kind of became obvious as soon as I was out in the pit lane that there were drivers
37:34there in the garage.
37:35No one was in a hurry to go out.
37:37And as I said during the session, you know, that was really all about just saving tyres.
37:41Because it looks like tomorrow it's going to be really, really hard to keep them where they need them.
37:44And it's going to be so interesting.
37:46Teams wanting to keep tyres on hand to open up strategy options as well.
37:50Lots of meaningful running done as the track temps were scorching.
37:5450 degrees Celsius, 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
37:57That is absolute torture for these Pirelli tyres.
37:59But let's talk about the pace.
38:01Mercedes back on top with George Russell.
38:03I think sort of expected.
38:05But it still does look like McLaren could be a genuine threat for Paul.
38:09Yeah, I think so.
38:09I think the overall of that session, the word has to be like frustration.
38:13You know, George will be really happy.
38:14I think Leclerc will be pretty happy.
38:16Obviously, he's got that new brake set up.
38:18It seems like it's working for him.
38:20But for the rest of the field, McLaren, they're up there.
38:23But for the rest of the field, that was just so frustrating for them.
38:26Because they're obviously trying to work on this setup for qualifying.
38:28But all of the problems they have are just exacerbated by these high track temps.
38:33It's going to be so interesting because, again, with the race, the stints are so much longer.
38:37Teams are now being thrown up.
38:38Is it going to be a two-stop?
38:39Hearing maybe even three stops being considered by some.
38:42So still a lot of unknowns heading into it.
38:45We talked about Ferrari.
38:46We talked about Charles Leclerc.
38:47We know based on FP2 data that they seem to be a little bit stronger on the long run than
38:52what we've seen on single lap pace.
38:55If they're there or thereabouts in qualifying, as they seem to be reasonably competitive, do we think that puts them
39:00maybe in a better position,
39:01either just from race time or strategy if they're a little bit softer on tires?
39:05Yeah, I mean, it's always better to be up there, right, and start there.
39:08I think I still have this genuine view that Mercedes have only used the pace they've needed to use.
39:13So we'll have to see.
39:15If they do get put under some pressure, if they somehow find a little bit more pace, then we'll know
39:18that that's probably in the case.
39:20But, yeah, you'd rather be up there.
39:22And I think more than anything for Charles is just being happy with the way that you've changed a big
39:26thing on the car and being happy with the setup.
39:29It's a good start.
39:29Yeah, it's nice when you make a change like that.
39:31The performance is there immediately.
39:33It doesn't take a race weekend or two to kind of get the feel for that brake pedal.
39:36So definitely positive for him.
39:37Less of a positive on the Cadillac side with Valtteri Bottas.
39:41Brake issue, we won't say failure, brake issue of some kind puts him off into the gravel.
39:46When you hear that, and we talked about it, we heard the team talking about it,
39:50Checo Perez on the radio saying, hey, what happened with Valtteri?
39:52And they said, uh, we're looking into it.
39:54We'll get back to you.
39:56Would the mechanics on his car immediately have been looking at a potential issue?
40:01It kind of depends what the issue is.
40:03Like, if you've had the pedal go to the floor, that's something you can very clearly see from the data.
40:08You've got the brake by wire at the back.
40:10All of these sensors is something they would have spotted as it started to happen.
40:13If it was, like, the brake pedal falling off, I don't think you'd want to tell your other driver that
40:17you've had this problem
40:18because then it's in his mind.
40:19So he's not getting the best out of himself anyway.
40:21I imagine it's just that they've had a bit of an issue and that the brake pedal's gone to the
40:25floor.
40:25They've lost pressure, whether it be a split line or sometimes it can just even just be due to temperatures
40:30that you've essentially boiled your brake fluid.
40:33Right.
40:33So, you know, we'll have to see what comes out of that from Cadillac.
40:35But, yeah, I wouldn't want to tell the other driver unless it was something that I was seriously concerned could
40:39be a problem for him.
40:40Yeah, it was funny.
40:40In his radio transmission, he kept saying, I lost the pedal, I lost the pedal, which usually just means the
40:45pedal's gone long.
40:46You've lost the feel on the pedal.
40:47But you're reading the caption on the thing saying, wait, the pedal's not falling off, has it?
40:52That's not the issue here.
40:53But if that had been the issue, like you said, I think they would have dived into it a little
40:56bit better.
40:57Track position is going to be so crucial in qualifying.
41:00Kimi Antonelli was down in P7 but never really got a representative lap.
41:04We heard him complaining about traffic.
41:06I did like the response from the engineers.
41:09Sorry, we don't release the other cars, pal.
41:11Not much we can do about that.
41:12But in Q1, with the full 22 cars on the racetrack, what is that communication like between the pit stand
41:18and the driver to find that optimal window?
41:20This is going to be one of those sessions where you see how good those relationships are up and down
41:24the pit lane, right?
41:25Getting your car, firstly, out the garage in the right place.
41:27Communication with your race team and your number one mechanic to get the car released when you want it.
41:32But then also just trying to manage it around the lap and put yourself in a good spot is going
41:35to be really hard in Q1.
41:36And I did love that between Kimi and his engineer.
41:38You know, it's not often you see them getting waspy quite so early in the weekend.
41:42But it's always nice for us to hear.
41:44It's nice of the passions there.
41:45You know, he's not too comfortable in his massive points lead right now.
41:48He's still pushing.
41:49Also, some investigating into impeding.
41:52Turn 5, Charles Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg involved in something there.
41:55So, again, this could definitely be a topic that we see.
41:58Here we are on board with Hulkenberg and almost nowhere for him to go.
42:02There's one car slow online, which is pretty rare.
42:06Yeah, I mean, that is just impossible to navigate at those speeds, right?
42:09Like, you don't want to put yourself in that situation.
42:11And obviously, you see Leclerc apologizing there for being where he was.
42:15But this is why I say the Q1 is going to be so busy because teams can't afford.
42:20I think the state of the circuit, you can't afford to not go out, get that banker lap in,
42:24and at least try and put yourself in a position where you're safe.
42:27But, yeah, it's going to get busy out there today.
42:29Yeah, a couple teams with still some work to do.
42:30Your old squad, Red Bull.
42:32Max, not necessarily thrilled with the balance.
42:34Hadjar, very unhappy with the front end of that race car.
42:38What kind of progress can be made at this point?
42:40I mean, we know we talk about them being really good overnight from Friday to Saturday.
42:43Once you do an FP3, realistically, how big of a change can we make?
42:47You still can do quite a fair bit, and I think we saw that in Monaco.
42:51You know, like, Max wasn't that great in FP3 in Monaco, and then, you know, very, very close to pole.
42:56So there are still things that they can do.
42:57They'll have the setup wheels on both of those cars.
43:00They'll be looking at the geometry, seeing if there's anything they can do with even ride height, camber,
43:04all of these things that they can adjust within the time they've got to see if they can just get
43:08it a little bit happier.
43:08I mean, that understeer from Isak there just seemed absolutely absurd right at the end.
43:14I can't imagine that it's, like he said, it's not something he's ever experienced before.
43:18So they have got a lot of work to do.
43:19It would be nice to see if they can make some improvements, but it's going to be really tough, and
43:23it's going to be tight.
43:23It is going to be tough.
43:24This track may be not suiting that new Red Bull like some of the slower street tracks that have given
43:29them back-to-back podiums the last few races.
43:31But we still have lots to analyze here after Free Practice 3 at Barcelona.
43:42We'll be right back.
43:43We'll take a look at the weekend schedule, what is remaining.
43:45We see Russell was your leader in P3.
43:49Very important.
43:49Lots of short runs, lots of new tire runs there, but teams still protecting their tire allocation as best they
43:56can.
43:56We're going to kick off our pre-qualifying show at 325 local time into that all-important qualifying session at
44:034 p.m.
44:04and make sure you stick around after the fact for our post-qualifying show.
44:08Catch up, hopefully, with some drivers, maybe some team principals on what transpired.
44:12It does set the stage so beautifully for Sunday's Grand Prix.
44:18The pre-race show is going to kick off at 1.50 local time.
44:21Lots of exciting stuff coming out.
44:23We're going to be walking up and down the grid as we always do.
44:25We have some pre-race interviews that are going to be featured in that pre-race show as well, including
44:30Fernando Alonso, rumored about maybe running his last race as a Formula 1 driver here in Spain.
44:37Interesting comment from the local driver.
44:40Does that indicate some intention from him?
44:43Alex Albon also featured in an interview as he becomes Williams' longest-tenured driver, surpassing Nigel Mansell, whose helmet he
44:52has incorporated into his own design this weekend, and a very cool little tribute to him.
44:58So lots of stuff going on.
44:59You've got a QR code up there on your screen as well.
45:02That's for all the action you can get on F1 TV.
45:04If you want to watch more of F1, F2, F3, F1 Academy, archived races, we've got it all.
45:10Make sure you scan the QR code and check out everything that F1 TV has to offer.
45:20Back in the paddock here in Barcelona, I still cannot believe how hot it was.
45:24I got to go relax in the air conditioning for a few minutes while you were still walking up and
45:27down pit lane.
45:28How tough is it for these race teams suited up, working on these cars in these kind of conditions?
45:32Well, I'll tell you, walking up and down the pit lane wasn't so bad.
45:35Standing here on this floor right now, I am really struggling.
45:38My feet are burning.
45:39That is how hot it is.
45:41You know, these track temps of, like, 50 degrees or probably north of that at some point today,
45:45they're just going to be, like, almost an unprecedented challenge.
45:48There aren't many times we come to Barcelona and it's this hot.
45:51So, you know, at least they're glad it's a track where they've got plenty of data.
45:53But I think things are going to be a little bit skewed today out there in qualifying.
45:56Yeah, I saw a little bit of wind out on the racetrack.
45:58We get absolutely none of it here in the paddock between the motorhomes and the team trailers.
46:03So between FP3 and qualifying, I'm sure it depends on how your FP3 went.
46:08But what are the sort of processes, protocols, procedures teams are going through as we prepare for qualifying?
46:13Well, first thing is the cars will get back into the garage.
46:15It's always bodywork off, floor off.
46:16And the first thing you need to do is just be doing a good inspection of what you've got going
46:19on.
46:20And you don't want to go into qualifying with a problem because once you're in Park Fermi,
46:23it obviously then becomes a lot harder to fix that problem.
46:27But after that, it will be a case of teams will be waiting for all the tasks to show up
46:31from the engineering office.
46:32You're hoping that they're fairly minor.
46:34And for, I imagine, Mercedes, McLaren, even Ferrari, perhaps that will be the case.
46:38Little tweaks.
46:39Again, yeah, it will be small tweaks for them.
46:41But, you know, as we said a minute ago, you know, down at Red Bull,
46:44I imagine that that job list might be getting quite long.
46:47And then you've just got to get the work done, right?
46:49You've got to get the setup wheels on.
46:50And then it's all of the processes you need to go through, the fire-ups, the checks, the hydraulics,
46:55all of these things that you need to do before qualifying starts.
46:58This is where it gets busy in the garages.
47:00And I know we were talking just before we went on air about Alpine and a few updates that you
47:05got from them.
47:05A lot of issues.
47:06We'd heard about switching chassis for Pierre Gasly overnight.
47:10But there was some other work done yesterday we didn't even know about.
47:12Yeah, it didn't.
47:13I went and spoke to some of my buddies up and down this paddock.
47:15I guess that's one of the joys of having me here, that I do have some friends.
47:18And we appreciate that.
47:20But I spoke to them and they said that it's kind of been a week of just chasing this issue
47:23on Pierre Gasly's car.
47:24So I didn't realize, but they actually did a gearbox swap between FP1 and FP2.
47:29And that obviously didn't solve the issue that they had.
47:32So then at the end of the day, yesterday, they had to do a curfew.
47:35They had to break the curfew in order to change an entire chassis,
47:38which I have to say is one of the worst things that you want to hear.
47:41On a Friday night, the last thing you want to hear is that you're doing a chassis change at the
47:46circuit.
47:46Ideally, most teams will try and do these jobs at the factory and roll out with one ready to go.
47:51It is a lot of work on a Friday night.
47:53So there will be some tired faces in there.
47:55But they all seemed fairly cheery when I went over and had a look.
47:58So I think they're getting on all right.
48:00Hopefully they've solved the issue.
48:01Yeah, 13th and 14th for Gasly and Colopinto in that session.
48:05Okay, let's talk about the drivers.
48:06We talked at the beginning of the weekend, the weekend warm-up, about who needed to bounce, right?
48:09Charles Leclerc is ahead of Hamilton right now.
48:11Piastri ahead of Lando Norris.
48:14Antonelli behind.
48:15So George Russell ahead of Antonelli.
48:17We know he didn't get that lap in.
48:18But George seems to be really, you know, in his stride this weekend.
48:21Do we think that Antonelli has what it takes to get ahead of George and continue this unbelievable streak he's
48:27on?
48:27I think from what I've seen over the course of this season, you have to think that Antonelli will find
48:32a lap from somewhere.
48:33But with that said, George has looked comfortable all week, right?
48:37It's not just like, oh, he's done one nice lap in FP3.
48:40He's looked comfortable with the car all week.
48:41Things are going his way.
48:42It's exactly what he needed.
48:44We said in the weekend warm-up, of course, he needed that bounce.
48:47He's done everything he needs to at this point.
48:49Unfortunately for George, he will be painfully aware that there have been other weekends this season where he's done everything
48:53he needed to and it's not gone his way.
48:55So, you know, best of luck to him.
48:57I hope that it doesn't.
48:58It's not the case this week.
48:59I kind of want to see George, you know, push this championship fight.
49:01I want to see it go all the way to the end.
49:03Yeah, hopefully it does.
49:04Like he said, he just needs a weekend with neutral luck.
49:07He doesn't need good luck, just no bad luck.
49:08He's been doing everything that he can.
49:10Needs to keep that control.
49:11Everything that he can control, focus on that.
49:14He seems to be executing well so far today.
49:16All right, that is it.
49:17That is all there is before we head into qualifying.
49:20Teams have gathered all the data they can.
49:22It's time to make those last-minute decisions, those last-minute changes to prepare to go flat out in qualifying
49:27for those all-important laps and set the grid for tomorrow's Grand Prix.
49:31You are not going to want to miss it.
49:32Make sure you tune in back here on F1 TV to catch all the action in just a few hours'
49:36time.
49:37Thank you, Callum.
49:37Thank you, Alex Jakes, Juan Pablo Montoya, Luke Browning, Trackside as well.
49:41I'm James Hinchcliffe.
49:42We'll see you guys in a few hours.
50:13We'll see you guys in a few hours.
50:13We'll see you guys in a few hours.
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