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00:00 Good morning morning everyone listening around the world. Yeah, here he comes coffee and it is a super special moment
00:07 I it kind of reminds me. I remember driving out in India for the first time and
00:11 You know on your home ground in front the home crowd. It is a really emotional moment and
00:16 I'm surprised to see so many people here on a Friday. We don't normally get that and I imagine they
00:21 They've come to see him which is great. But coming back to your point about practice
00:26 I'm gonna go out there and say this is the most important practice of the season. It's a track
00:32 We've not been doing five years. There's only one practice session all weekend
00:36 I think this is a strong candidate to be the most important practice of the season
00:40 Yeah, I think you're actually right there
00:43 Let's look at this replay of Lewis through term on that bump that Nico mentioned that I feel has been there since
00:49 2010 and Lewis having a snap of oversteer just to the top of the hill but that that bump underneath
00:56 The is it the the hospitality building properly that you go under on the entry to turn one that you know
01:02 The circuits built on Swampland as we pair is having a moment up at 11
01:07 It that's partly why they resurface it is the bumps that developed over this Swampland since 2004 it you know
01:15 They took the opportunity during the covert years when everything was shut to resurface it
01:19 But the contours still seem to have kind of stayed the same because this is a fantastic place to watch the cars
01:25 Because they're doing
01:27 190 miles an hour into this. Yeah
01:30 Ted I'm gonna have to interrupt you. You know that bit about there's lots of cars on the track
01:36 They ain't gonna last for long. There's a fire by the side of the track. The grass has caught light
01:42 Understood, okay
01:48 And I don't think I have ever ever seen
01:51 Grass catch fire by the side of a Formula One track now. I'm sure there's a Marshall nearby with a fire extinguisher
01:58 To to put this out and it's a very small grass fire at the moment
02:02 But so crafty I want you to say now, how do you think that happened?
02:06 I would not even like to begin to speculate on that one
02:11 And I tell you what it would not have happened on Wednesday because when we landed here in Shanghai
02:15 There was the deluge of all deluges
02:18 It was like a wet weekend in Grimsby when we when we landed here nothing wrong with that spent many a happy Saturday afternoon in Grimsby
02:25 but
02:27 There's no chance that I say it's a small fire. You see how fast it spreads here
02:31 But it is windy today and it's very very breezy today here
02:36 And I assume then that that has helped dry out the grass by the side of the track, which is nice and short
02:43 and the Marshall
02:45 with one fire extinguisher
02:47 putting out what is now a fairly large pile of
02:52 black
02:55 Debris where the grass used to be but I have no idea how that would have happened unless of course Nico a spark
03:02 from underneath the car from the titanium blocks as
03:06 Just caught on a bump or something and sent the sparks
03:09 Showering into the grass by the side of the track and that's what's ignited it
03:14 You must not know many people. I know
03:16 No friends whatsoever as you well know
03:18 His Carlos Sainz running wide at turn 10 again. There is that new bit of gravel that has been put in
03:24 We're giving a big thumbs up Karim Chandhok to the these
03:28 Gravel traps that have been brought a little bit closer to the track
03:32 Hallelujah Crofty we love gravel trap by the edge of the track.
03:36 Currently what we do know is that there seems to be low grip
03:40 Which is not a surprise because it is the first practice session and the track will be nice and fresh
03:45 Especially after the rain that we had the other day. Lewis Hamilton stops trying to get temperature into his tires
03:51 Let's Max Verstappen past who's
03:53 Not on a who is on a lap I should say and then it all gets a little bit scruffy there with Nico Hülkenberg
03:59 Who I think wanted to get past as well Nico. That was not very friendly Nico Hülkenberg will not be happy with that
04:05 Now he's locked up or what? What is he doing?
04:07 He's coming to the pits and at the last minute realized he had to stay to the right coming into the pits there
04:13 I think there's a bollard that the drivers have to stay to the right to that was introduced by the race director overnight
04:20 Which means Lewis has to go a bit closer to that gravel trap
04:25 Anyway, Nico Hülkenberg will not be happy with that
04:27 No, because I think Lewis didn't see him at all because he was right behind the Red Bull and so he just ran him off the track
04:33 So he's already held up. Yeah, big lock up. Oh, there's a McLaren in the way and also that's like a whole mess going on there
04:39 Wow
04:42 You see I was right I said it looks very weird and it was a lock up and it was piastri
04:49 So well pointed out by Bono on that one
04:52 six fastest for Lando Norris
04:55 whoa
04:57 That's what you that that is proper drifting around that corner and you can see a load of gravel that he's set
05:03 He's thrown back onto the track
05:05 Big oversteer. Wow, that car is badly balanced through there. That's great car control
05:13 To live with that slide that was absolutely fantastic. Here we go again. So first Lewis pushed Hülkenberg off the track
05:25 He completely misjudged that Lewis with the piastri afterwards going into that next corner
05:30 Yeah, I think Nico summed it up rather well there at Hülkenberg this time. Not you, Mr. Rosberg. Well both of us
05:36 Caterham in 2013. Copy that Lewis
05:41 I'm not sure what he was saying to Caterham on that particular day, but Lewis is telling his Mercedes team this car's really bad
05:49 Which is some ambiguous feedback, but to the point nonetheless
05:54 Go for some qualifying practice though. Interesting Fernando Alonso
05:57 Focusing on now. Is he gonna lock up? Yeah, he did
06:00 Yeah, it's locked up in a big way. So that was Fernando trying to find the limit for the race, you know that pit entry
06:08 Yeah, it's smart to do that. It's a scanning process, you know, like you want to scan
06:12 He'll know exactly where he brake there and he'll know now that that was a bit too far and then for the race
06:18 He'll dial it back and he'll be spot-on if you don't if you don't go beyond the limit
06:23 You know, you never really know where it is. So so he's done a probably done a very smart job there
06:28 So you think he did that on purpose? No, he didn't go he didn't go off on purpose
06:32 But he did on purpose to really push it hard to
06:36 To see where where the limit is. Yeah
06:38 destroyed
06:41 That's some more instant feedback, I think that was Logan's view of the lap
06:48 Yeah, I think you're absolutely right
06:50 Wasn't it a lot of movement there a lot of bouncing around see Oscar Piastri. This is into the pit entry and
06:56 going
06:59 Way way way too deep. Hopefully you'll find reverse gear
07:02 Yeah, he's found it so I mean
07:07 What's catching them out as well is that the wind is massively from the back there today?
07:11 And so you break into the hairpin just before with massive grip and then you go into the pit lane
07:16 You just have no more grip left because the wind is from the back. Ted Kravitz promised us a
07:21 Trip to the scene of the fire that caused the red flag. So Ted's down at turn seven
07:27 Yes, thank you very much Chief Inspector
07:31 David Croft, it's Fire Marshal and Fire Safety Officer Kravitz here and I have a reason so first of all, we're in the
07:39 We're in the just on the outside of turn seven
07:42 This is the the super fast left-hander that pretty much dominates the second sector
07:46 But as we just see the red ball going very slowly in the Alpine, I'll show you where the patch
07:51 So just look at that Aramco signage and then look at the bottom of it on the other side
07:56 It says Qatar Airways, which is what you might have seen
07:58 But just below you can see the scorched grass as to where the fire was and if and when we get a car
08:05 They're all on slow down on charge laps at the moment just where that Sauber is now
08:10 The cars bottom out. Let's see if we can see if there's a McLaren who's actually going for it
08:14 No, he isn't but just on the apex of that of that corner
08:19 Specifically the cars do bottom out and they are producing sparks and with the wind blowing where it is
08:26 So just downwind I can absolutely imagine that the reason for that fire
08:30 Was that there was a spark that came off the car skid blocks and then traveled downwind a bit and then hit that patch
08:38 Of dry grass. Lance Stroll fastest in the middle sector
08:41 Previously Sergio Perez had gone quickest in the middle sector. He ends that lap
08:46 600s down on Oscar Piastri who stays quickest. Max Verstappen and these are all on used
08:54 Tires, oh sorry new tires, Verstappen on the softs. It can't quite close the gap on Oscar Piastri
09:03 Second fastest by three one hundredths of a second is Lance Stroll next on the soft compound tire
09:09 To complete his qualifying simulation nice and smooth out of that final corner
09:15 Stroll goes fastest by nearly three tenths of a second from Oscar Piastri
09:21 And while some of this Nico might be down to track improvement. It can't all be down to track improvement surely
09:28 No, let's have a quick look at Pierre Gasly here
09:32 This would be on his one of his final laps if not his final lap another one locking up
09:37 Sorry about that mate we will have a look at these issues and try to get ready for sprint quali
09:47 That is
09:53 That is a fairly damning indictment from Pierre Gasly who was slowest and last
09:58 Of what that session meant to him. And I've just with Gasly just done the race work
10:03 Well, they put them on the same tires throughout the whole thing
10:06 But if you look at the lap times, I mean he's so far off that that might be what they've done
10:10 Potentially and that would again that would be even more horrible
10:13 So here's your top ten Lance Stroll
10:15 Quickest by three tenths of Oscar Piastri Lando Norris was on a fast lap didn't get the whole lap in
10:21 Would probably have been fastest had he not encountered some traffic Verstappen only third fastest ahead of Sergio
10:28 Perez the two hasses fifth and sixth on Conferral P
10:32 Seventh ahead of Albon, Ricciardo and Bottas hard tires only
10:38 For their best laps for Lando Norris George Russell Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso where they will stack up
10:44 We'll find out a little bit later on Pierre Gasly felt he learned absolutely nothing from that
10:48 Was slowest and last and that is your practice session ahead of sprint qualifying to come
10:54 Later on this afternoon here in Shanghai. It's a sprint weekend. Are the teams ready for qualifying?