Formula-1 2001 R02 Malaysian Grand Prix Part 01 - video Dailymotion

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Transcript

00:00:00With ITV's F1 team for the Malaysian Grand Prix, the second chapter in the 2001 championship.

00:00:06The futuristic, state-of-the-art Sipang circuit just outside Kuala Lumpur is the venue.

00:00:12Let's join Martin Brundle and first of all, Murray Walker.

00:00:16Thank you, Jim.

00:00:17And as you can see, the Sipang circuit at Kuala Lumpur is in prime condition.

00:00:25Now, people here, who should know a lot better, are writing McLaren off in Malaysia.

00:00:31But don't you believe it.

00:00:32Victor Hakkinen may be starting fourth.

00:00:34David Coulthard may be starting eighth.

00:00:37But they've overcome worse problems than that in the past.

00:00:40But would you believe this?

00:00:43Ferrari here on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday, and this morning.

00:00:47Michael Schumacher, in the final half hour here, makes a couple of practice starts before my very eyes.

00:00:54And then they say to him, something wrong with the car, Michael.

00:00:56You've got to get in the spare.

00:00:58Now, Michael is already under pressure.

00:01:00He may be starting from pole position there in his new helmet, incidentally, for the sixth time in succession.

00:01:07But he's only starting one tenth of a second ahead of Rubens Barrichello in terms of qualifying times.

00:01:14Rubens is really getting the feel of things at Ferrari after his first season.

00:01:19And now Michael is having to settle down in the spare car, which had been set up for Rubens Barrichello.

00:01:24They've been making adjustments to the nose right up to the last second.

00:01:29And his brother, Ralph, behind him on the grid is going to be a real problem.

00:01:34Because believe me, that BMW engine of his has got massive grunt.

00:01:40They can't keep up with it on the streets.

00:01:43And we've got this wonderful, wonderful new element in Formula 1 that you've heard about so much.

00:01:48But it's really coming to the boil now.

00:01:50The tire war between Bridgestone on Ferrari and others, of course.

00:01:55And Michelin on Williams and others, of course.

00:02:00It's Michelin's return to Formula 1 racing in Australia.

00:02:04And they've really come good here with Ralph Schumacher third on the grid.

00:02:08With his teammate, the incredible Juan Pablo Montoya, sixth on the grid.

00:02:14Notwithstanding the fact that he lost virtually all his running on Friday, the first day of practice.

00:02:21Because he had various problems with the car.

00:02:23And this circuit is entirely new to him.

00:02:25But he's overcome that. There he goes, sixth on the grid.

00:02:29It's an enormously demanding race.

00:02:32You've heard it from a lot of other people, but you're going to hear it from me again.

00:02:3656 laps of here.

00:02:39And that's going to be over an hour and a half.

00:02:42In these sweltering conditions.

00:02:44Now, I was literally dripping with sweat.

00:02:46Just walking from one side of the track to the other to get into the air-conditioned commentary box.

00:02:52I'm all right.

00:02:53But down there, those drivers cooped up in their cockpits are wearing three-layer Nomex underwear.

00:03:01Long johns, long-sleeved vests.

00:03:04They've got overalls on top of that.

00:03:06They've got the balaclava, they've got the helmet, they've got the gloves, the boots.

00:03:09And they're totally cooped in in the cockpit for safety reasons.

00:03:13It's going to be about 50 degrees in the cockpit and massively difficult.

00:03:18I thought I'd walked into the wrong commentary box, Murray.

00:03:20You were talking about underwear as I came through the door.

00:03:22I was on the wrong show there for a moment.

00:03:24I've just walked in, so I'm not absolutely clear what you were talking about.

00:03:28I was just saying it's going to be jolly difficult for them because it's so swelteringly hot.

00:03:32Well, you're sweating. I mean, it's coming through your shirt.

00:03:34I know. I'm absolutely saturated, literally just walking over from the other side of the racetrack.

00:03:40It's incredibly hot here.

00:03:42But as I said during qualifying yesterday, if you're watching that show,

00:03:46often when you get up and running and the adrenaline's flowing,

00:03:48you get a little bit of airflow through the car.

00:03:51You can lift your visor slightly and leave the top of your overalls undone.

00:03:54There's all sorts of devices in the car, some teams using dry ice, others, as was explained earlier,

00:04:02using balaclavas and anything they can to make the driver feel more comfortable.

00:04:06But it's a psychological thing as much as anything.

00:04:08Once you're underway, it's okay.

00:04:10When you're stopping and starting during qualifying and free practice,

00:04:13the heat just wells up and you just have to get out of the car sometimes.

00:04:17You can't cope with it.

00:04:18But I don't think they'll have a problem in the race. They're all pretty fit.

00:04:20Well, two teams that may not be too unhappy about the heat here are B.A.R. and Williams,

00:04:26both of whom were in Kyalami in South Africa,

00:04:31specifically testing under the very hot conditions applied in Australia here and are going to apply in Brazil.

00:04:38They've got all sorts of special ducts in the car to protect the delicate electronics,

00:04:43which can cause the engine and other things to shut down.

00:04:45But away we go on the formation lap, which enables you to see what this Sepang circuit is like.

00:04:523.4 miles altogether.

00:04:54The very slow Turn 1.

00:04:56The right-hander coming up to the even slower Turn 2.

00:05:01Then they start to accelerate right-handedly,

00:05:04building up to a speed of about 170, 180 miles an hour for Turn 4.

00:05:10The very tight right-hander, which they take in third gear,

00:05:14and which they are approaching now.

00:05:16They being Michael Schumacher in the spare Ferrari,

00:05:19followed by Rubens Barrichello, followed by Ralf Schumacher,

00:05:22followed by Mika Häkkinen, the top of McLaren.

00:05:25And they were not all that good in the warm-up.

00:05:28The warm-up was largely irrelevant, actually, because it was wet and drying out.

00:05:32But for what it's worth, Rubens Barrichello was quickest.

00:05:36Arrows could have a problem.

00:05:37I think I saw Mechanic still on the racetrack with less than 15 seconds to go to the start.

00:05:44So one of the Arrows at the back of the grid, towards the back of the grid,

00:05:47may well have a penalty as Coulthard did last year in Canada, I believe it was,

00:05:52when we still had Mechanics on the track.

00:05:57Enrique Bernaldi starting 22nd in the Arrows, having qualified 18th,

00:06:03pushed down to 22nd because of a technical infringement with the aerodynamics.

00:06:07Strangely, looking out of the window, I think I saw a Jordan trailing behind the pack, Murray.

00:06:12I don't know whether we'll pick that up.

00:06:13On our TV feed, but I think there's a Jordan in trouble,

00:06:17coasting round at the back of the field at the moment.

00:06:20Not Trulli, because I've just looked down, there is...

00:06:23It's Frentzen, that is Frentzen.

00:06:25It's not Trulli because he's 5th, and the Jordan team have kindly put a marker on Trulli's car,

00:06:31because he and Frentzen are so difficult to tell apart on the track.

00:06:36And Frentzen was due to be starting from 9th on the grid, behind David Coulthard.

00:06:41The top there he is, you can see him just, as Martin said, trailing along, coming up to turn 9.

00:06:48And news from Luis in the Jordan pit, he's got a misfire of some sort,

00:06:52and the speed he's doing looks very much like he's constantly at pit lane speed limit, actually.

00:06:57Something like that, but nonetheless, Frentzen then already in problems before the start of this Grand Prix.

00:07:03Quite incredible, isn't it? Schumacher starting in the spare car,

00:07:06Frentzen in trouble before the race even starts.

00:07:09Michael Schumacher then starting in pole position for the 6th consecutive time.

00:07:14On his way, he hopes, to his 6th consecutive win.

00:07:17Frentzen arrives and the pack are all in place.

00:07:20He should go in the pits and start from the pit lane.

00:07:23If he manages to clear his car, I suspect the problems he's got, he'll go in the pit lane anyway.

00:07:28But Frentzen should not really cruise up to the back of this grid now.

00:07:32Grid order, Schumacher, Barrichello in the white and blue Williams BMW,

00:07:37Ralf and Schumacher, there's one of the Benettons coming into line.

00:07:41They'll have to abort the start, a Benetton completely out of sync there.

00:07:46Who is that down there? It's Fisichella, isn't it? Start aborted.

00:07:49I had this back in the 80s once, when somebody else took my grid slot,

00:07:55and Fisichella, what he's done is he's turned over to his grid slot too late.

00:08:03He's obviously got mixed up, expecting all the cars in front of him to go down one more line,

00:08:08one more box, and he's turned too late.

00:08:11Obviously, if he reverses, he'll be disqualified immediately.

00:08:14You cannot reverse on a racetrack.

00:08:16So Fisichella has done the only thing he can, and that's switch it off.

00:08:20And the clerk of the course has done, the race director has done the only thing he can,

00:08:24and that is abort the start of the race.

00:08:26Fisichella will now be put to the back of the field.

00:08:30And I notice it already, the stewards are investigating Jos Verstappen in the arrows.

00:08:37That will be because the mechanics were on the racetrack.

00:08:40But surely now, when they go to restart, Murray, there'll be a man in front of Fisichella,

00:08:45holding a yellow flag, stopping him from keeping his current grid position.

00:08:49Holding the yellow flag in such a way that the man behind him can see it.

00:08:54And that was to be Fisichella's 76th career Grand Prix start.

00:08:59He's done that enough times before, but something unusual must have happened.

00:09:04Benetton have not been in the best of shape here any more than they were at Williams.

00:09:08This is an investment year for them, with a new Renault engine and a lot of new people there,

00:09:13and they're on the Michelin tyres, as you can see.

00:09:16So a full restart then. I wonder if the grid shuffled up,

00:09:19because Frentzen, who of course is 9th on the grid,

00:09:24I just wonder if it all got out of sync, where people took Frentzen's grid slot,

00:09:29and Frentzen now able to rejoin his position,

00:09:33because it seemed to me that Fisichella initially parked on the left-hand side of the track,

00:09:37so didn't just misunderstand his side of the track.

00:09:40And Frentzen being pushed towards the front, he can do that, no problem at all there,

00:09:45providing they can fix his misfire, of course.

00:09:47And then Fisichella appeared to try to change sides on the grid,

00:09:51so some confusion that may well have been because of an empty grid slot here for Frentzen.

00:09:58So everybody all keyed up, ready for the go.

00:10:01They're delayed getting into their overalls as long as they possibly could to prevent the heat build-up,

00:10:07but we're going to take the opportunity to leave Sepang shortly, now for a break.

00:10:47Moving across the grid now.

00:11:48No, no, I promise you we're OK.

00:12:02No, would he dummy it? Could he dummy it out?

00:12:05No, he's not brave enough.

00:12:08I wouldn't ask him to do it.

00:12:10No, we're OK now.

00:12:12Honestly, in everyone's safety I would never do that.

00:12:17You OK?

00:12:19Tell me I've got to get you at the airport.

00:12:21Huh?

00:12:22I can't believe that.

00:12:24Wait.

00:12:25I'm just coming up to you.

00:12:28Welcome back to Sepang.

00:12:30Restart in just under a minute.

00:12:33Restart being the rerun of the formation lap,

00:12:36and we will be watching, of course, particularly carefully,

00:12:39Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the yellow Jordan, ninth on the grid,

00:12:43to see whether they've overcome his problem.

00:12:46Yes, so what does this all mean?

00:12:47The race will be one lap shorter,

00:12:50and now it's effectively a whole new start.

00:12:53Frentzen has retaken his position,

00:12:55which I believe under the rules he's perfectly entitled to do,

00:12:58so that's a major let-off for the Jordan team there,

00:13:02but it happens, sometimes it falls your way, sometimes it doesn't.

00:13:05I believe they will stop Fizikela from moving away from the grid

00:13:09and put him at the back.

00:13:11He caused the aborted start

00:13:14by apparently just mistaking which side of the grid he should be parked on,

00:13:19which is the ultimate, ultimate embarrassment.

00:13:21If he's not...

00:13:23I mean, he just will be so red inside that car.

00:13:26And there's the man with the yellow flag in front of Fizikela.

00:13:29So that's his punishment.

00:13:30Everybody else has now got...

00:13:32And there's a car stalled on the line, and who is that?

00:13:35It looks like Marquez in the...

00:13:37I think it's Montoya.

00:13:38Oh, you're right, it is Montoya.

00:13:41He certainly didn't need that or want that.

00:13:43Now he's going to have the same problem.

00:13:45You are allowed now to close up through the ranks,

00:13:49provided you can do it without inconveniencing anybody.

00:13:52Dry ice is what you're seeing bouncing.

00:13:54That's coming out of the radiators.

00:13:56All the teams have shoved dry ice in to try to keep the cars cool.

00:13:59Two starts do not help them at all, and you get this kind of problem.

00:14:03Creeping in, the clutches get hot, the engines get massively hot.

00:14:06There's a heat soak as they sit on the grid,

00:14:08waiting for that restart.

00:14:10And as they brake for the first corner,

00:14:12all of the dry ice shoots out of the radiator side ducting.

00:14:17Track temperature, according to our information,

00:14:19down quite a lot now to 35 degrees from 43 degrees.

00:14:24I find that hard to believe in the short time that we've had.

00:14:27But that's the official information as the two Ferraris stretch out ahead.

00:14:32I'm surprised at that.

00:14:33I would expect Michael Schumacher,

00:14:35in order to minimise his time on the lead,

00:14:38as Montoya's car is seemingly wheeled away

00:14:41to lead the parade round slowly. Schumacher, that is.

00:14:45Yes, so Montoya then, clearly not just a stalling of the engine.

00:14:50There's some other problem with the looks of it.

00:14:52It's surprising they can't get that to go on the line.

00:14:54And they've got to clear it through a gap

00:14:56where all of the mechanics and support crew

00:14:59are still dragging their generators and spare tyres, etc.

00:15:03And they can now recover that over the white line into the pit lane

00:15:07and try to start him from there.

00:15:10Off he goes to get to the spare.

00:15:13Juan Pablo Montoya rushing down the pit lane.

00:15:16I don't believe he can use the spare car now, Murray.

00:15:19I'm not absolutely sure about that.

00:15:21I'd be very surprised if he's now allowed to jump in the spare car.

00:15:25Well, they seem to think so.

00:15:27We'll soon know because we'll be watching him, as you will.

00:15:30So, what a race of dramas already.

00:15:33Michael Schumacher comes out in the spare car at the last moment.

00:15:36Heinz-Harald Frentzen tours round on the first formation lap.

00:15:40Then Giancarlo Fisichella pulls up in the wrong position on the grid

00:15:44as a result of which the start is aborted.

00:15:47Then Juan Pablo Montoya can't get the Williams,

00:15:50or his people can't get the Williams started.

00:15:53Now, fingers crossed for a clean start this time.

00:15:57Not for 56 laps as originally scheduled,

00:16:00but for 55 laps of this 3.4 mile Sepang circuit.

00:16:06Yes, we still think that because the race has effectively started,

00:16:09this counts as a lap of the race they've just done.

00:16:11Maybe they're hoping to get him in the car.

00:16:13If there's another aborted start, then they're still in the motor race.

00:16:17That is the only reason I can think of putting him in.

00:16:19Here we go. Three, four, or four lights. Five lights.

00:16:24And it's go in Malaysia. Beautiful start by Michael Schumacher.

00:16:28Rubens Barrichello, not so good.

00:16:30Coming up fast is Ralf Schumacher.

00:16:32Behind him is Jarno Trulli cutting through on the inside.

00:16:35Barrichello blocks him off.

00:16:37And Barrichello, and up into second place, but now spinning it,

00:16:40goes Ralf Schumacher. Is anybody going to hit him?

00:16:43Ralf Schumacher made a terrific start, but he's lost it.

00:16:46Spins the car round again.

00:16:48And coming up behind him, one of the Jaguars.

00:16:51All his terrific work at the start has been completely nullified.

00:16:54And up into third position in the Jordan comes Jarno Trulli,

00:16:58followed by...

00:16:59Coulthard. That was Coulthard. He had an amazing first corner.

00:17:03Yeah, Coulthard managed to sneak past Häkkinen in that first corner

00:17:07while he was watching Ralf spinning out of contention.

00:17:10And, well, who have we got here?

00:17:13That's...

00:17:14Räikkönen, it looked like to me.

00:17:16I think that was Räikkönen.

00:17:18It was definitely the Sauber, and it was definitely Räikkönen.

00:17:21Yep.

00:17:22So, well, Michael Schumacher leads.

00:17:27And two Ferraris up front in Malaysia.

00:17:31And look at the gap between them.

00:17:33And look at the gap, even more importantly,

00:17:35between Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard after that sensational start.

00:17:39And Heinz-Harald Frentzen is there in fifth position in the Jordan,

00:17:44followed by one of the Arrows.

00:17:46How on earth did that get there, and who is it?

00:17:49Verstappen.

00:17:50It's got to be Verstappen because Bernaldi was right at the back.

00:17:53Verstappen must have done an absolutely sensational start

00:17:58because he's up into sixth position, and he started in 18th place.

00:18:03Let me do a quick one to ten, Mary,

00:18:04because the changes are amazing in these first couple of laps of the Grand Prix.

00:18:08One aborted and now just coming over the line to complete their first flying lap.

00:18:13It's Michael Schumacher from Rubens Barrichello by 1.3 seconds,

00:18:17Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard in fourth,

00:18:19Frentzen in the second, Jordan fifth,

00:18:21Jos Verstappen, Jacques Villeneuve, seven,

00:18:24Mika Häkkinen down to eight,

00:18:26so the two McLarens have swapped places effectively,

00:18:28Hannes ninth and Heidfeld tenth.

00:18:31It's on your screen now, the second half of the motor race.

00:18:35Just listen to who Verstappen has passed.

00:18:38He's got past Jenson Button, Fisichella, Berti, Räikkönen,

00:18:41Alesi, Irvine, Heidfeld, Pannis and Frentzen.

00:18:45No, not Frentzen. He's gone ahead of all of those,

00:18:48and he's now running, as you've just heard from Martin, in sixth position.

00:18:53There is the arrows.

00:18:55Now, what this says to me, Martin, is...

00:18:58That looks like Pannis or Villeneuve.

00:19:02What this says to me about Jos Verstappen,

00:19:04he's on a very light fuel load and doing a two-stock strategy.

00:19:08It's early days to tell yet,

00:19:10but that could be one of the reasons why he's been able to sprint up from 18th.

00:19:14And it's Pannis, Olivier Pannis, despairingly out of the race.

00:19:18You can see from his body language that he's pretty fed up about something.

00:19:22There is the answer.

00:19:24Well, what an amazing start to this Grand Prix. Drama all the way.

00:19:28But Barrichello is just falling back a little bit at the front.

00:19:32Now, he was managing to peg Schumacher pretty much through that first lap,

00:19:38but all of a sudden, Michael just getting on with it.

00:19:40And Pannis then, remember, disqualified from a strong position in the Melbourne Grand Prix.

00:19:46And here he is already out of the second Grand Prix of the season.

00:19:50Over the line goes Michael Schumacher.

00:19:52Two laps completed behind him.

00:19:54Rubens Barrichello, 1.5 seconds.

00:19:57And Ralph Schumacher is starting to storm up through the field.

00:20:01He is currently at the end of the previous lap in 20th position.

00:20:05Barrichello closing a bit on Michael Schumacher as they go through the bends there.

00:20:10With Jarno Trulli already on lap three, five seconds behind Michael Schumacher.

00:20:15David Coulthard is less than a second behind Jarno Trulli.

00:20:19So it's Ferrari, Ferrari.

00:20:21They're in the grid order that they started, and Louise Goodman has got news.

00:20:25Unbelievable drama at the start of this race, Murray.

00:20:27And just to let you know, there may be a bit more to come.

00:20:29I'm standing out at the back of the garages.

00:20:31It's starting to rain.

00:20:33Well, that's, oh, look at that.

00:20:35Michael Schumacher off and is he out of the race?

00:20:37He's kept an absolute roar from the crowd.

00:20:40Barrichello goes into the lead.

00:20:42And he's off, he's off, he's off.

00:20:44Amazing.

00:20:45Both the Ferraris off.

00:20:47And Jarno Trulli leads the Malaysian Grand Prix as it starts to the rain.

00:20:52Amazing.

00:20:54And I haven't seen Coulthard behind him.

00:20:56So did Coulthard, did all three of them go off?

00:20:59So, yes.

00:21:00Wet, you think? Wet?

00:21:02Well, it must be.

00:21:03Louise just pointed out.

00:21:04Now, Coulthard is there.

00:21:05I missed him.

00:21:06And both Ferraris caught out on what must be a slightly damp corner.

00:21:09One of them third.

00:21:10It must be surely Michael Schumacher who regained the circuit first.

00:21:14We'll know in a moment.

00:21:16We're on lap three out of 55 in this incredible race already.

00:21:21As coming towards us from Italy in the Jordan Honda,

00:21:25the Honda engine now leading a Grand Prix for the first time

00:21:28since they've come back into Formula 1.

00:21:31And look at the rain pouring down.

00:21:33And when it rains in Malaysia, believe me,

00:21:36it comes down not by the bucketful, but by the oceanful.

00:21:40They're having to slow right off.

00:21:42And here's a replay of Schumacher in the lead and Barrichello behind him.

00:21:47I believe they went off probably initially on some oil from Panis' blown up B.A.R. Honda.

00:21:53One Ferrari following the other through the gravel traps.

00:21:56That's caused a few heart attacks back in Maranello.

00:21:59But they both just got away with it.

00:22:01And now it's raining hard.

00:22:02They'll have to come in for wet at the end of this lap, I believe.

00:22:05And you will have seen from that shot that it wasn't Schumacher that regained the track first.

00:22:09It was Barrichello up into third position with Heinz-Harald Fritzen.

00:22:13And in they come for rain tires.

00:22:15James Allen.

00:22:17Well, there's some cars coming in, Murray, there.

00:22:19That was the Ferrari team's James.

00:22:22Well done.

00:22:23Benetton have played an absolute blinder.

00:22:24They saw the problem.

00:22:25It's absolutely bucketing it down here.

00:22:27Fisichella got service first.

00:22:29Button got service second.

00:22:30Also one of the Menardis.

00:22:31But astonishingly, nobody else came in.

00:22:34Safety cars out.

00:22:35Safety cars out.

00:22:36I'm not surprised because look at this.

00:22:39The conditions are impossible.

00:22:40Two Jaguars line astern in the pits then.

00:22:43So the Jaguars in together.

00:22:44The Ferraris went around one more time.

00:22:47That's not got a lot of groove in that wet they're thinking of putting on there.

00:22:51And you're watching Fisichella who is out now on wet tires.

00:22:55But those that carried on past the pits will lose out quite heavily here.

00:23:00Depends just when this safety car picks up the pack.

00:23:04That's picked up Button, hasn't it?

00:23:07It's Button behind it.

00:23:09Now, we're going to wait for the safety car to come around to try to tell you logically and clearly about what is happening here.

00:23:16But you've heard the wild monsoon.

00:23:18And that's Nick Heidfeld sitting in the Sauber.

00:23:24The man who had such a superb race in Australia, finishing in fourth position.

00:23:28Look at his rear wheel spinning.

00:23:29He's beached the car.

00:23:31The ride height of these Formula One cars, the distance between the ground and the bottom of the car is minimal.

00:23:37And he's beached it somewhere.

00:23:39And James Allen has got more news for us.

00:23:41Well, the $10 million question now, of course, for these teams is who do they bring in first?

00:23:44Who do they serve first?

00:23:45Particularly McLaren.

00:23:47You've got two equal drivers.

00:23:48Who's going to get the tyres first?

00:23:49Is it going to be Hakkinen or Coulthard?

00:23:51From the body language of Ron Dennis, it's going to be Hakkinen, would you believe?

00:23:55James, Trulli is off.

00:23:56Jarno Trulli has gone off the track.

00:23:58You've just seen him.

00:23:59He was the man who was leading the race when the rain started coming down.

00:24:03Well, this has surprised everybody.

00:24:05I did a scan.

00:24:06And they're not able to get round on their slicks.

00:24:09They're obviously aquaplaning off the road.

00:24:11I think Fisichella is the one who's going to gain most out of this.

00:24:13I believe he's ahead of the safety car.

00:24:16Back round behind the pack.

00:24:17Cars off everywhere.

00:24:19I did a scan, Murray, of all of the major teams.

00:24:23And they all thought either no rain or a tiny bit of rain this afternoon.

00:24:28And that's why everybody has been so surprised.

00:24:31No sign.

00:24:32We've got one Ferrari in the pit then.

00:24:34And Michael Schumacher is having to wait to see Barrichello serviced first.

00:24:42Michael Schumacher is parked up.

00:24:44Linus Stern behind the Ferrari of Barrichello.

00:24:47And there is Montoya well and truly off the track in the Williams.

00:24:51You've seen Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari there with Michael Schumacher.

00:24:56Both of them together.

00:24:57Now, they're fitting the Bridgestone Monsoon tyres, I should think.

00:25:01Coulthard left the pit first.

00:25:03James, what can you tell us?

00:25:04Absolutely right.

00:25:05This has played perfectly into the hands of McLaren.

00:25:07It's a gift from heaven.

00:25:08And I malign the McLaren team, and particularly Ron Dennis.

00:25:11He was very clever.

00:25:12He brought Coulthard in.

00:25:13Straight away, he was out.

00:25:14And then Hackingham was coming straight in afterwards.

00:25:16Neither car lost any time in that.

00:25:18And they are in an incredibly strong position.

00:25:20Ferrari on the back foot.

00:25:22What on earth is going on down at Ferrari, James?

00:25:24They still haven't got any tyres on Barrichello's car.

00:25:27This looks like we had back in Nürburgring a year or so back

00:25:32where they just do not appear to have any tyres ready.

00:25:35Well, look at this.

00:25:36This is a powerboat race.

00:25:38It's not a Formula One car race.

00:25:40Out of the pits after 1 minute and 12 seconds

00:25:45goes Rubens Barrichello.

00:25:47A big pile of gravel, Murray, where Barrichello was parked.

00:25:50So they were cleaning out the side pods.

00:25:51And I assume they're going to have to do the same to Michael Schumacher.

00:25:54The only saving grace here for Ferrari

00:25:56is that under the safety car conditions,

00:25:58they will catch the back of the pack up without too much difficulty.

00:26:02One of my clichés is anything can happen in Formula One.

00:26:06And it usually does.

00:26:07But I wouldn't have expected this.

00:26:09The track's dry, look, Murray.

00:26:10The track is bone dry down there at Turn 1 and 2.

00:26:13It's only at the other end of the circuit have we got any rain.

00:26:17Well, now, let me give you from our telemetry here

00:26:22what seems to be the race order at the moment.

00:26:25I say seems to be because all is confusion with so much happening.

00:26:29But we're on lap 5 out of the race distance,

00:26:33which is about one 11th distance,

00:26:35with David Coulthard nine seconds ahead of Heinz-Harald Fredsen.

00:26:40Or he was, because don't forget they're tied up now.

00:26:43And Rubens Barrichello was in third position

00:26:46ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jos Verstappen.

00:26:49But we need time to settle down and let things clarify

00:26:53because there is the race leader, David Coulthard.

00:26:56You've heard about the coup from James Allen that wronged Dennis.

00:27:00And remember what I said earlier on,

00:27:02people were writing McLaren off as off goes Rubens Barrichello again.

00:27:07What a very unhappy race this is already turning out for Ferrari.

00:27:11James Allen.

00:27:12Hugely red faces down at Ferrari, as you would expect, Murray.

00:27:15They simply didn't have the tyres ready, as Martin pointed out.

00:27:18They'd had a lot of drama in the build-up to this race

00:27:20with Schumacher at the very last minute

00:27:22having to switch from the race car to the spare car,

00:27:24I believe because of a hydraulic problem.

00:27:26There was a lot of edginess and they just didn't get it right.

00:27:28McLaren were absolutely like clockwork.

00:27:30But you want the real irony, guys.

00:27:32It's stopping raining now.

00:27:34Yes, so this circuit dries out quite quickly.

00:27:37When the warm-up started this morning at 10.30,

00:27:40the track was wet.

00:27:41Not as wet as it is now, but wet.

00:27:43At about quarter to 11,

00:27:45that's only a quarter of an hour later, it was drying out.

00:27:48And at about 10 to 11, it was completely dry.

00:27:50Replay.

00:27:51Right, we've got a replay of the second start then.

00:27:54And if you go down in the first corner,

00:27:56you'll see that Ralf Schumacher comes around the outside,

00:27:58the white car around the outside of the second Ferrari.

00:28:01And I believe Barrichello nerfs Ralf Schumacher out of the way

00:28:04into an inevitable spin.

00:28:06Watch Coulthard sneaking up the inside there

00:28:08to take that fourth place now.

00:28:10And that was all of the drama on the first lap.

00:28:13And another action now, another view of that as they get away.

00:28:17And watch Frentzen too.

00:28:18Yes, Frentzen had a great start.

00:28:20Rubens, again, an ordinary start.

00:28:22And it's Michael launching off.

00:28:24Look, Ralf then appearing to have the line into the corner.

00:28:27Rubens keeping going and just nerfed him

00:28:29into a bit of a pendulum spin there.

00:28:31Not a lot Ralf could do about that.

00:28:33He clearly didn't understand.

00:28:35And I think Eddie Irvine got caught up in that somewhere as well

00:28:38with a spin at the back.

00:28:39Yes, there's Irvine with a spin at the back of the field.

00:28:42But according to the computer at the moment,

00:28:44not what you're seeing on your screen,

00:28:46I think those cars immediately behind the safety car

00:28:48are now a lap down.

00:28:49Coulthard leads this race from Jos Verstappen,

00:28:52Frentzen, Hakkinen, Trulli,

00:28:54Alessi, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher,

00:28:57Matsukane, and then the two Ferraris.

00:29:00And then the lapped runners.

00:29:02That may yet unfold because...

00:29:06Yes, now the safety car will let the lapped runners pass

00:29:10to come round to the tail of the field

00:29:12and pick up the race leader,

00:29:14which according to the computer is David Coulthard.

00:29:17Yes, and of course they will all have closed up.

00:29:20So who is in second position?

00:29:23Who is in second position?

00:29:25Jos Verstappen is in second position

00:29:28and he started 18th.

00:29:30Yes, there's 15 runners left in that

00:29:32and if this race restarts under wet conditions,

00:29:35watch out for Verstappen.

00:29:36I think Coulthard will have his hands full.

00:29:38Jos was very, very fast in the rain this morning

00:29:41and always is fast.

00:29:42There are 15 runners left in this race

00:29:46and the top 15 on the computer at the moment,

00:29:48and this is, I assume, now sorted out

00:29:51after the chaos and carnage out on the track

00:29:54and in the pit lane.

00:29:55We saw two Ferraris parked up

00:29:57for three quarters of a minute,

00:29:59probably even a minute before Michael Schumacher got out.

00:30:02It is David Coulthard from Frentzen,

00:30:04Verstappen, Häkkinen, Trulli,

00:30:06Alési, Fisichella in 7th,

00:30:08Ralf Schumacher is 8th,

00:30:10Matsukani in the Prost is 9th,

00:30:13Rubens Barrichello 10th,

00:30:14Michael Schumacher 11th,

00:30:16and then Jenson Button 12th,

00:30:19Berti in the Jaguar 13th,

00:30:21Taso Marquez in the European Minardi,

00:30:24and Alonso in the second Minardi,

00:30:2614th and 15th,

00:30:28everybody else out of the race.

00:30:31And as you can see,

00:30:33the first four very close to each other

00:30:36and the others should close up.

00:30:38We're going to see a very strange and special Formula 1 race now

00:30:42with Frentzen behind Coulthard,

00:30:45Verstappen, he's, according to this,

00:30:48in 3rd position at the present moment,

00:30:50followed by Mikko Häkkinen,

00:30:52and it's going to be real cut-and-thrust stuff.

00:30:56Well, three cars then.

00:30:57This is a replay you're seeing here.

00:30:59Three cars went off on that lap

00:31:01when it started to rain,

00:31:02all on the same corner.

00:31:03Louise.

00:31:07Louise Goodman.

00:31:08Hello, Murray.

00:31:09I'm still here with Eddie Irvine

00:31:10who's had a rather troublesome race already

00:31:11with just a few laps going.

00:31:12Eddie, tell me what happened.

00:31:13You were spinning all over the place in that one.

00:31:16One of the hours hit me up the rear at the first corner,

00:31:19spun me, and then I got going again.

00:31:22It was me and Ralph battling,

00:31:24and a big shower came just as we came to one of the corners,

00:31:27and the three of us went off in a row.

00:31:30One of them came in for the pit stop,

00:31:32but there was a problem where the car was overheating or something,

00:31:35and obviously the tyre situation,

00:31:38there's lots of problems we need.

00:31:40It's going to take us a few days to figure out,

00:31:42piece it all together, what actually happened.

00:31:44What were the conditions like out there when the rain came down?

00:31:46Well, I was lucky.

00:31:48I just came around just before the last corner.

00:31:50I came down and that's where it was really pouring,

00:31:52and obviously I was coming to the pits,

00:31:54so that point was very, very bad,

00:31:56but I think it's OK now.

00:31:59Thanks, Eddie.

00:32:00A spectator from now on.

00:32:01Back to you, Murray.

00:32:02Here's something I can't explain, Murray.

00:32:04Frentzen is now up in second place,

00:32:06Verstappen down to third,

00:32:08and that is truly going off.

00:32:11He's currently shown as fifth.

00:32:13He actually escaped out of that gravel trap at some point.

00:32:15Again, it doesn't say replay, but I believe this is a...

00:32:18And Coulthard off in the background as well.

00:32:20No, it's Frentzen.

00:32:21This is his problem.

00:32:22That...

00:32:23It's true.

00:32:24I apologise.

00:32:25But that's a replay.

00:32:26Coulthard went off in the background,

00:32:27recovered and came in the pits first,

00:32:29so they were running first and second

00:32:31into the last corner of that lap where it started to rain.

00:32:34It was a replay,

00:32:35and they both went off in the last corner,

00:32:37Coulthard making it back onto the track first.

00:32:40No news about when the safety car is coming in at the moment.

00:32:45I was surprised at the big gap

00:32:47between Mikko Häkkinen and Jarno Trulli

00:32:49on the track at the present moment.

00:32:51You can see David Coulthard tucked up behind the safety car,

00:32:54and the yellow Jordan to the right is Frentzen.

00:32:58And Frentzen is a changed man this season.

00:33:00He was pretty downcast with Jordan last year

00:33:04because of all the unreliability problems

00:33:06that he had had with the car

00:33:08because he failed to finish 11 times

00:33:11out of the 17 races last year.

00:33:13But he says this is the best Jordan he has ever driven,

00:33:16partly due of course to the fact

00:33:18that it's now got this worked Honda engine in it,

00:33:21and it's got colossal grunt.

00:33:23But to the right is Coulthard.

00:33:25In the middle is Frentzen.

00:33:28In the orange car, the orange arrows,

00:33:31is Jos Verstappen.

00:33:33Then there's a gap to Mikko Häkkinen,

00:33:35so both the McLarens, which started 4th and 8th,

00:33:38are now in the top four,

00:33:40with Jarno Trulli in the second Jordan.

00:33:42So both the Jordans are in the top five,

00:33:46with John Alessi making up the top six,

00:33:48believe it or not, in the Prost.

00:33:50James Allen.

00:33:52Yeah, Martin, the thing to watch for at the restart

00:33:54is Rubens Barrichello allowing Michael to go past him.

00:33:56I've got a feeling that Michael is on a two-stop strategy here

00:33:59and that Rubens was on a one, a bit like the McLarens.

00:34:02Now, that's something to watch out for.

00:34:04The other thing, of course, is, as it has now stopped raining,

00:34:06we're going to run around for a little while here.

00:34:08They were going to be coming in in the mid-20s, the two stoppers.

00:34:11You could push that back to perhaps the late 20s,

00:34:13but certainly this looks as though it might play into the hands

00:34:15of people on two stops.

00:34:17If it doesn't rain again,

00:34:18they're all going to be coming in around about that time,

00:34:20because these wet tires aren't going to like a drying circuit.

00:34:23And therefore, the pendulum,

00:34:24which has swung right towards McLaren at the moment,

00:34:27could well swing away again as well.

00:34:29So don't go away, folks, because this is going to be a classic race.

00:34:31James, did you get any idea of who put inters on and who put wets on?

00:34:34Because if you're in the pit lane,

00:34:36it would be very easy to think you needed full wets.

00:34:38Yeah, everybody had inters ready initially

00:34:40because the rain was falling down.

00:34:41It looked like it wasn't going to be as monsoon.

00:34:43And then the monsoon came.

00:34:44My hunch is that's what happened with Ferrari.

00:34:46That's why they were so slow with Barrichello.

00:34:49They initially wanted to put inters on,

00:34:50then they changed their minds for wets and couldn't find them.

00:34:52McLaren certainly put full wets on.

00:34:54It was so heavy, the rain, at the time, Martin,

00:34:56you couldn't really have gone any other way.

00:34:58Yes, because we've already seen Barrichello

00:35:00fly off the road rejoining after his pit stop.

00:35:03So Barrichello then possibly still on intermediate tyres.

00:35:07Yeah, let's explain what inters are.

00:35:11There's various grades of tyre in terms of their tread configuration.

00:35:15And inters means intermediate.

00:35:17That is for circumstances where the track is damp to wet

00:35:22but not monsoon conditions like we've had.

00:35:25And Bridgestone and Michelin, of course,

00:35:27will also have a tyre that's better for drier conditions

00:35:31and a tyre that's capable of coping with the really, really rain-soaked track.

00:35:36Now, let me quickly tell you, while you're looking at these replays,

00:35:39of who is out of the race.

00:35:41Jacques Villeneuve and Panis are out.

00:35:43So there is Panis.

00:35:45We're on this replay.

00:35:46Both the BARs out.

00:35:48Nick Heidfeld is out in the Sauber,

00:35:50as is his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen,

00:35:53with flames coming from the back of the BAR.

00:35:55So a terrible race already for BAR and for Sauber.

00:35:59Bernoldi is out in the Arrows.

00:36:01Montoya is out in the Williams.

00:36:04Not a very good Grand Prix start for him this season.

00:36:07Eddie Irvine, you've heard from, is out in the Jaguar.

00:36:10And on lap 8 with the safety car,

00:36:14no news yet about when it's coming in.

00:36:16Yeah, I don't understand why the safety car's still out there,

00:36:19unless they're still clearing away the various cars

00:36:21that were beached in the gravel traps.

00:36:24We haven't seen any signs of that on our TV picture.

00:36:28But no safety cars coming in at the end of this lap.

00:36:31Martin, just look at Jos Verstappen.

00:36:33You can sort of almost feel the car pulsating

00:36:36with his eagerness to get to grips with the two in front of him.

00:36:40He hasn't had an opportunity like this

00:36:42since his first season in Grand Prix racing

00:36:45as the reserve driver for Benetton.

00:36:47And he subsequently took over the drive

00:36:50and got two third places.

00:36:52Yes, and as I said earlier on,

00:36:54he's very, very fast in these changeable conditions.

00:36:57And anybody who is out there on inters,

00:36:59I think within a lap or so, will be on the right tyre,

00:37:03because the full wet is going to get very, very hot

00:37:06in the early section of the lap.

00:37:08The first four or five corners of the lap are quite dry

00:37:11until now, until the exit of Turn 4, look.

00:37:13And then the wet will come into its own for a while.

00:37:16But I think right now, if I was just taking to the track

00:37:19for a test right now, I think I'd be on the intermediates.

00:37:22Well, I said that I was surprised at the gap

00:37:24between Jarno Trolli in 5th place

00:37:26and Hakkinen in 4th position on the track.

00:37:28That's disappeared now. Look at it.

00:37:31So, Coulthard, the safety car is coming in

00:37:34at the end of this lap.

00:37:35Remember that they're not allowed to pass

00:37:37until they get the green light and cross the line.

00:37:40David Coulthard leading Fredson, leading Verstappen,

00:37:43leading Hakkinen, leading Trolli, leading Alessi.

00:37:46Those are the top six.

00:37:47I can explain now how Fredson's popped back in front of Verstappen.

00:37:50Apparently, under what must have been a myriad of yellow flags,

00:37:54as everybody was falling off the road with that surprise rainstorm,

00:37:57apparently, Verstappen overtook Fredson under a yellow

00:38:01and so has yielded to try to avoid any kind of penalty.

00:38:06In fact, it now says the safety car will do one further lap,

00:38:10and I just can't see why at the moment.

00:38:12Just as a matter of interest, the man who is driving

00:38:15the safety car is Bernd Meilander,

00:38:18the German DTM and touring car expert,

00:38:23and he's had a lot of mileage in this car,

00:38:25and there's a lot of responsibility on his shoulders now.

00:38:28I wonder if the race director is in contact

00:38:30either through one of the teams with the drivers,

00:38:34and now they can sometimes ask opinions

00:38:36as to whether the track is ready to go,

00:38:39because they're obviously feeling how much water there is down.

00:38:42A couple of those corners are still pretty wet, actually,

00:38:44as you look further around the lap,

00:38:46but here we are through 14, and it's virtually bone dry again,

00:38:50isn't it, on their right-hand side of the track.

00:38:53So I wonder if either the safety car driver

00:38:55and or some of the key drivers are saying,

00:38:58give it one more lap.

00:38:59Yeah, up to the hairpin, 180-degree hairpin turn 15,

00:39:05which they take in a very low gear.

00:39:09So here is the final lap for the safety car.

00:39:12As far as we know,

00:39:14although obviously we're keeping our eyes on it

00:39:16and we'll keep you tuned,

00:39:18Coulthard to the right,

00:39:20the man who last won a Grand Prix in France last year.

00:39:24He won the French Grand Prix,

00:39:26he won the British Grand Prix,

00:39:28and of course he also had a third victory that year.

00:39:32Into turn one, safety car,

00:39:34Coulthard, yellow Jordan,

00:39:36Trulli, orange Arrows,

00:39:38Verstappen, silver and black McLaren,

00:39:41Hakkinen, yellow Jordan, Trulli,

00:39:45and the Prost of Jean Alési,

00:39:47who's higher up now than he's been for a very long time.

00:39:51And there's the replay of the BAR in flames,

00:39:56spinning off with Olivier Panis finishing his race.

00:40:00Yes, and of course the next two cars round, really,

00:40:03that would probably not have had yellow flag assistance

00:40:06or so much warning,

00:40:07were the two Ferraris who both went off on that corner

00:40:10and it was starting to spit with rain.

00:40:12And as you well know,

00:40:13a drop of water and a drop of oil is massively slippery,

00:40:16especially if you ride a motorbike on the roads.

00:40:19And that caught both Ferrari drivers out.

00:40:22James?

00:40:23Yeah, down at McLaren, big drama here.

00:40:24It appears Coulthard's radio is not working.

00:40:26I've just seen Dave Ryan running across there,

00:40:28about to give him a board next time round.

00:40:30And so if he is in touch with the race director,

00:40:32he's certainly not in touch with the team.

00:40:34Déjà vu, because remember in Australia,

00:40:36Michael Schumacher was tapping the top of his helmet

00:40:39and there was a misunderstanding.

00:40:41He thought he was adjusting the air vent.

00:40:43In fact, he was communicating with Ross Brawn,

00:40:46the Ferrari chief,

00:40:47who was worried that Michael Schumacher

00:40:49was not in radio contact.

00:40:51Now, will David Coulthard know then

00:40:53that the race is about to restart?

00:40:55He's certainly trying to warm his brakes and tyres up accordingly.

00:40:58And he should know the rule regarding the lights

00:41:01and the safety car will pull off into the pit lane.

00:41:05We're only in 9 and 10 at the moment.

00:41:07So a while to go before the end of this lap.

00:41:10Can the team give David Coulthard the information

00:41:13that he needs to be sure that he knows

00:41:16the race is about to restart at the end of this lap?

00:41:19We've just been told that Ralph Schumacher's rear light is not on.

00:41:24I hope that's not going to be significant

00:41:26in terms of penalisation.

00:41:28They're supposed to have the red light on, of course,

00:41:30when they're in bad weather conditions

00:41:32so that the car behind them can see them.

00:41:34If I remember from swatting up the regulations,

00:41:36you cannot be pulled off the track for not having your rear light on.

00:41:39Although they can ask you to put it on,

00:41:41they can't drag you off the track.

00:41:43And apparently they have now made contact with David Coulthard,

00:41:46so he is aware that the race restarts at the end of this lap.

00:41:50Which is very shortly,

00:41:52because they're coming down the Penang straight now

00:41:55into the hibiscus-domed turn there,

00:42:00which is turn 15.

00:42:02The safety car, well, it pulls off

00:42:04and the race restarts.

00:42:06But remember, no crossing until they cross the line,

00:42:10which gives David Coulthard the opportunity to sprint away.

00:42:13Verstappen is challenging Frentzen.

00:42:15Frentzen's asleep there. He let Coulthard go,

00:42:18and he's got Verstappen then able,

00:42:20not close enough to have a look at the inside,

00:42:22but Coulthard caught them all sleeping,

00:42:24particularly Frentzen.

00:42:26So a tight match between Trulli and Verstappen.

00:42:30Verstappen and Häkkinen with Jarno Trulli in the second Jordan

00:42:34closing up on all of them.

00:42:36And John Alessi, where is he?

00:42:38There's a big gap there. There is the Prost.

00:42:41And John Alessi has got Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton

00:42:44right behind him.

00:42:46I would expect Alessi to be able to pull away,

00:42:48and look at Jos Verstappen, swarming all over

00:42:51Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan.

00:42:53This is Jos Verstappen's opportunity.

00:42:55Jos, the boss from Holland, and he knows it.

00:42:58He's got the Acer Tech engine in the car,

00:43:01and it's down on power compared with the others,

00:43:03but that won't harm it nearly as much in these wet conditions

00:43:07as it would in the dry.

00:43:09Well, they're into the great unknown at the moment.

00:43:11We know there's oil on the track.

00:43:12We know there must be a lot of gravel.

00:43:14The track is sort of 25% dry and 75% wet or very wet.

00:43:19Häkkinen now having a good look at the inside of Verstappen

00:43:22into Turn 9.

00:43:23Häkkinen looking comfortable.

00:43:25Two McLarens working better in these conditions.

00:43:28Just before I came up to the commentary box,

00:43:31Mikko Häkkinen came up to me and he said,

00:43:33have a nice afternoon, and I said the same to you.

00:43:36It's already turning out to be a lot nicer

00:43:38than he might have expected.

00:43:40In fourth place and challenging,

00:43:42Jos Verstappen for third,

00:43:44Heinz-Harald Frentzen for second,

00:43:46as David Coulthard edges away a bit in the lead McLaren

00:43:51with Alessi still sixth,

00:43:53Vincent Keller seventh,

00:43:54and Verstappen having a real go at Heinz-Harald Frentzen

00:43:58as we look through the ball of spray

00:44:00and Jos Verstappen goes through at the hairpin.

00:44:03Terrific bit of driving.

00:44:04Jos Verstappen second place,

00:44:06Heinz-Harald Frentzen displaced.

00:44:08Well, Verstappen overtook Coulthard in the rain

00:44:11in the warm-up there,

00:44:12so if he can now close that gap to Coulthard,

00:44:14Verstappen may well be able to lead this motor race.

00:44:17So 2.8 seconds down then,

00:44:19Verstappen over the lead of Coulthard

00:44:22and towards the back of the field,

00:44:24eighth and ninth now,

00:44:25are the two Ferraris just making their way past.

00:44:28They have passed the two Benettons,

00:44:30so they're on their way through the field.

00:44:32Terrific performance,

00:44:33not only by Verstappen,

00:44:34but by the whole Arrows team.

00:44:36It's a new car after last year.

00:44:39Mike Coughlin, the designer of Tom Walkinshaw's team,

00:44:43has done a superb job with his people.

00:44:46They've got a lot of new people there

00:44:48and they're certainly making the most of them all

00:44:50because Heinz-Harald Frentzen is dropping back.

00:44:53Mika Häkkinen doesn't seem to be able to do anything about them

00:44:56at the present moment,

00:44:57and Ralf Schumacher is up into fifth position in the Williams,

00:45:01and we believe that the Mitchell in wet tyre

00:45:03is particularly good.

00:45:05And the gap between Ralf Schumacher, who is fifth,

00:45:07and Häkkinen, who is fourth,

00:45:09is a mere 2.4 seconds and getting smaller.

00:45:12Look, there's the proof!

00:45:13Verstappen second, Frentzen third,

00:45:16Häkkinen going through and taking that third position,

00:45:19so Frentzen has lost three places.

00:45:22He's lost two places.

00:45:24He's lost second place to Jos Verstappen.

00:45:26Now he's lost third place to Mika Häkkinen.

00:45:29And McLaren are first and third.

00:45:31Who would have thought this could have happened half an hour ago?

00:45:34And Michael Schumacher has passed Rubens Barrichello

00:45:37somewhere out on the track,

00:45:39so we, as James Allen predicted,

00:45:42Michael may well be on a lighter fueller.

00:45:45They would have had a chance to top it up in that pit stop,

00:45:47try to get him, but all of those windows

00:45:49that they've so carefully planned as to when to come in

00:45:52are pretty much out of the window, so to speak.

00:45:54They're going to have to recalculate.

00:45:56And who was that shaping up to have a good look at the back?

00:45:59And it was... It must have been...

00:46:01It's Schumacher. Schumacher's coming through.

00:46:04Ralf Schumacher taking... Surely Frentzen must have a problem.

00:46:07He's now lost yet another place as Ralf Schumacher storms through.

00:46:11Now here are the first ten.

00:46:14Coulthard leads Verstappen second, Hacken third.

00:46:17Ralf Schumacher is up to fourth.

00:46:19There he is. Frentzen down to fifth.

00:46:21Michael Schumacher is sixth.

00:46:23Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari up into sixth position

00:46:26ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

00:46:28Eighth is Trulli, ninth is Fisichella.

00:46:30Jenson Button in the second.

00:46:32Benetton is tenth.

00:46:33Then it's Alessi, Berti, Mazzacani, Marquez and Alonso.

00:46:37Both the European Minardis still running.

00:46:40So Michael Schumacher over a second faster

00:46:43than anybody else on the racetrack last time around.

00:46:46So Schumacher, as ever, very well hooked up

00:46:49and already shaping up to go right round the outside of Frentzen.

00:46:53That's incredible.

00:46:55Into Turn 12 and just amazing.

00:46:58Just drove right around the outside of him.

00:47:00So Schumacher then up to fifth place.

00:47:03And look at the way Ralf Schumacher is harrying Mika Häkkinen

00:47:07as his brother Michael comes up behind him.

00:47:10The battle of the brothers is beginning

00:47:12and David Coulthard leads by about three seconds

00:47:15as Michael Schumacher visibly closes on his brother.

00:47:19And Rubens Barrichello goes past Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

00:47:23So Frentzen, who had a problem, you remember,

00:47:25on the original start when he had to turn around.

00:47:28That's Jenson Button in trouble and he's touring.

00:47:31So Heinz-Harald Frentzen may well have a repetition

00:47:34of whatever the problem was.

00:47:36It looked like Button was recovering from a spin, actually,

00:47:38but Häkkinen then under a lot of pressure from Michael Schumacher.

00:47:42We don't know the fuel loads at the moment.

00:47:44They may have changed.

00:47:45Everybody would have topped up with fuel,

00:47:47without doubt, while they were putting the wets on.

00:47:49So they should be able to go at least 35 to 40 laps

00:47:53well into that sort of zone.

00:47:55And Häkkinen having to defend his line, but it's no good.

00:47:58Schumacher's gone right around the outside

00:48:00for the second time in two laps of another car.

00:48:03Michael running a little bit wide there,

00:48:05but no problem for him and Schumacher on the rampage.

00:48:08And there are people who say that Michael Schumacher

00:48:11is not a superstar.

00:48:13You are seeing the evidence before your very eyes

00:48:16as he drives around the outside

00:48:18of double world champion Micah Häkkinen,

00:48:21three times world champion Michael Schumacher.

00:48:24So it's Coulthard leading

00:48:25and Verstappen is still in second place.

00:48:27I wonder if Michael Schumacher's on those intermediate tyres,

00:48:30because he's now some three seconds faster

00:48:33than most of the other runners

00:48:35and two seconds faster than absolutely everybody.

00:48:38Coulthard up front on lap 14 at the moment

00:48:42with a 2.1 second lead,

00:48:43but beginning to slow with his wet tyres.

00:48:46James.

00:48:47I've worked out, Martin,

00:48:48and I've done a bit of a better job than I did in the last race,

00:48:51that they've saved six laps with the fuel,

00:48:53so that will put the one-stoppers coming in

00:48:55in the early lap 40 region

00:48:56and the two stoppers who I believe Michael Schumacher

00:48:59is one of them.

00:49:00I believe Coulthard's on a one-stopper.

00:49:02So Michael Schumacher on a two-stopper

00:49:04will come in around about lap 29 to 30,

00:49:06something along those lines.

00:49:07And the Ferraris are right up with the McLaren now.

00:49:11You're looking at Micah Häkkinen in fourth position

00:49:14and look how close it is

00:49:17between the Ferrari and the McLaren.

00:49:20It's Rubens Barrichello there battling against Micah Häkkinen

00:49:24and he does it!

00:49:26Rubens Barrichello passes Micah Häkkinen

00:49:29just as his teammate Michael Schumacher did,

00:49:32except that Michael Schumacher did it on the outside,

00:49:35Rubens Barrichello did it on the inside,

00:49:38and now Ralf Schumacher is closing up

00:49:40in the Williams BMW on Micah Häkkinen.

00:49:43Knowing Micah and the cars I do,

00:49:46I suspect he must have some kind of a problem.

00:49:49I think he's on wets

00:49:50and I think the Ferraris are on intermediates.

00:49:52And now Michael Schumacher shaping up.

00:49:54He didn't make it to have a stab at Verstappen,

00:49:57so Verstappen stays second.

00:49:59Coulthard only just in front of them now.

00:50:01Look, Coulthard beginning to struggle

00:50:03at the front of the field.

00:50:04Michael now 4.4 seconds quicker than the race leader

00:50:08on the previous lap.

00:50:09They must be on different tires.

00:50:10Here he goes, Verstappen second,

00:50:12right behind him,

00:50:13the Ferrari of three times world champion Michael Schumacher.

00:50:17As we look down on the first three,

00:50:19David Coulthard, Jos Verstappen,

00:50:22and Michael Schumacher is going to go round Jos Verstappen.

00:50:26Goes through on the inside.

00:50:28Is Verstappen going to yield and let him through?

00:50:31No, he is not.

00:50:32And the rain is coming down again.

00:50:34Barrichello in fourth position.

00:50:36Micah Hacken in fifth position.

00:50:38Ralf Schumacher is sixth.

00:50:39Frentzen is seventh.

00:50:40Trolley is eighth.

00:50:41Fisichella is ninth.

00:50:43Luciano Berti in the only Jaguar is in tenth position.

00:50:47And Michael Schumacher has another look at

00:50:49and another go at Jos Verstappen.

00:50:52And still he can't get past.

00:50:54Verstappen is entitled to take the racing line

00:50:57where he wants it to be

00:50:58and he is doing it fairly and sparingly.

00:51:01Yes, the wetter part of the track.

00:51:03Now Michael's got the run up the inside into nine

00:51:05and it begins to dry up now.

00:51:07So Michael then slicing through into second place

00:51:10easily as it happens.

00:51:11And I'd be absolutely sure he's on the intermediates.

00:51:14Just by the way,

00:51:15he's driving around the outside of people

00:51:17in these kind of corners where it's a little bit drier.

00:51:19Coulthard will be the next victim

00:51:22in a very short amount of time, I would imagine.

00:51:25And Michael Schumacher shaking the head of the Ferrari

00:51:28or the Ferrari shaking its own head

00:51:30as the reigning world champion closes up on David Coulthard.

00:51:36Shortly, we think, to take the lead.

00:51:38David Coulthard looks at his mirrors.

00:51:40Michael Schumacher dives out from behind his wing,

00:51:43gets through on the inside.

00:51:45Oh, no!

00:51:46As they come up to the left-hander,

00:51:48turn 15 at the end of the lap.

00:51:50This is the end of lap 15 in this 55-lap race.

00:51:5440 laps still to go

00:51:56and a lot of drama still to come.

00:51:58And now Michael Schumacher goes for it

00:52:01as they come down to turn one

00:52:03and then the left-hander at turn two

00:52:06and through!

00:52:08Yeah, you can see the pattern on the tyres.

00:52:10Schumacher on different tyres, no doubt about it.

00:52:12It's clear to see from the pattern along the top

00:52:15and, of course, the speed through these dry corners.

00:52:18So, Ferrari then,

00:52:19whilst it took a long time to find any tyres,

00:52:21at least they put the right ones on when they did.

00:52:26So, and now the battle is between Jos Verstappen there

00:52:29for third place and Rubens Barrichello behind him

00:52:32with Mika Hakkinen in fifth place,

00:52:34Ralph Schumacher,

00:52:35and now there is Barrichello

00:52:37surging past Jos Verstappen,

00:52:40another manifestation of the fact

00:52:42that they are undoubtedly the two Ferraris

00:52:44on the right Bridgestone tyres

00:52:46at the present moment

00:52:47to cope with these ever-changing weather conditions.

00:52:50Dry, wet, then drying out a bit,

00:52:53then getting wet again.

00:52:54They've got it right,

00:52:55although it took them some time to do so

00:52:57and it looks now as though Rubens Barrichello

00:53:00will be passing David Coulthard

00:53:01to make it Ferrari first and second on lap 16.

00:53:05Some very dark clouds and a lot of rain

00:53:07falling in the not-too-distant,

00:53:09just over the hills there,

00:53:11so this is going to be a very changeable race,

00:53:14but if you'd want to know what I'm talking about

00:53:16on the pattern of the tyre,

00:53:17you'll see a groove that's right down the middle

00:53:19of the intermediates of the Ferraris,

00:53:21whereas you'll see two or three grooves

00:53:23spread across the tyre

00:53:24if you just look along the very top edge of them.

00:53:26If you get a close-up,

00:53:27you'll see exactly what I mean

00:53:29that confirms they are different patterns of tyres

00:53:32and you can see Coulthard's are even a different colour.

00:53:34Those wets do not like dry corners

00:53:37and that's why Barrichello can simply drive right past him.

00:53:41He gets a lot more bite out of the corners

00:53:43and just builds up speed so much faster

00:53:46than the wet-shod car of David Coulthard.

00:53:49There's a lot of Ferrari fans here,

00:53:51just as there are at all the racing circuits.

00:53:54They're standing up now,

00:53:55the flags are waving,

00:53:56you saw one in the foreground there.

00:53:58They're cheering their heroes,

00:54:00Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello,

00:54:02first and second,

00:54:03and it looks to me as though

00:54:04Jos Verstappen now is going to have a go

00:54:06at David Coulthard

00:54:08because the orange arrows is closing

00:54:11all the time on the silver and black McLaren.

00:54:14It's still Mika Häkkinen in fifth position,

00:54:16doing nothing about Jos Verstappen.

00:54:18He's eight seconds behind him now.

00:54:20Ralf Schumacher is

00:54:23lapping slower in the Williams than Häkkinen is,

00:54:26but he's still in the top six.

00:54:28The problem that the runners on wet have got,

00:54:31we're only on lap 17.

00:54:32So much has happened in this race,

00:54:34it seems like we should be somewhere near the end,

00:54:36but amazingly it's just lap 17.

00:54:38They're nowhere near a sensible pit stop window.

00:54:41So if they come in to change tyres,

00:54:43they'll lose the best part of 25, 27 seconds doing that.

00:54:47At the moment, they're six seconds a lap slower

00:54:50by being on those wrong tyres.

00:54:52So quite clearly, within five laps,

00:54:55they will have regained that time.

00:54:56It might be worth them coming in shortly

00:54:58and just going for a set of inters anyway.

00:55:00And James Allen, what's the news?

00:55:02Well, Murray, the thunderclouds are above us.

00:55:04I've just seen a horizontal bolt of white lightning.

00:55:06I've not seen anything like that,

00:55:07certainly never in England anyway.

00:55:08But I can confirm for you that the two Ferraris

00:55:11are on the intermediate tyres,

00:55:12and I can tell you what happened there.

00:55:14They were going to go for the wets,

00:55:15and it was the other way around to what I said.

00:55:16They were going for the wets originally,

00:55:17and then they obviously thought about this

00:55:19and realized a safety car would be obvious

00:55:21because of the amount of rain that was coming down.

00:55:23So they put them out on the intermediate tyres,

00:55:25knowing the safety car would not release the cars

00:55:28until it was safe.

00:55:29And that's what worked out very well for them.

00:55:31In this morning's warm-up,

00:55:32Ferrari both used the intermediate tyre

00:55:34and got some good performance out of them.

00:55:36Whereas the rest of the teams tended to stick

00:55:38with the wet tyre,

00:55:39so the warm-up really worked for Ferrari.

00:55:41Schumacher leading this race.

00:55:42There'll be a lot of skepticism

00:55:44as to whether the pace car staying out so long

00:55:47was anything to do with Michael on the radio

00:55:49screaming,

00:55:50it's too wet, it's too wet at the moment.

00:55:52But I mean, I'm not saying that's the case at all,

00:55:54but I know those sort of rumors

00:55:56are going to be flying around at the end of this race.

00:55:58Well, whatever.

00:55:59David Coulthard is now in third position,

00:56:02one and a half seconds ahead of the Orange Arrows

00:56:05of Jos Verstappen.

00:56:06And there will be people all over the planet

00:56:09who will be crossing their fingers for Arrows

00:56:12and Jos Verstappen.

00:56:13The team have had a lot of adversity in the recent past.

00:56:17Tom Walkinshaw has patiently built up the team

00:56:21at Lee Field in Gloucestershire.

00:56:22They've got a magnificent facility there now.

00:56:25He's put a lot of money into it

00:56:27and Jos Verstappen is making it pay off

00:56:29at the present moment

00:56:30because look at the gap between him and Mika Häkkinen.

00:56:33It's nine seconds and there is the McLaren

00:56:37and you see Ralf Schumacher in the background coming round.

00:56:41Things are getting quite spread out.

00:56:43There's a 26-second gap now

00:56:45between Michael Schumacher in the lead

00:56:48and Ralf Schumacher, who is in sixth position.

00:56:51If it doesn't rain soon,

00:56:52I think Coulthard and co.

00:56:54may as well come in for some intermediates.

00:56:56They're still losing over five seconds per lap

00:56:59to the Ferraris on those inters.

00:57:01Yeah, I would have expected in normal conditions

00:57:04on a two-stop strategy

00:57:06people to start coming in round about lap 22.

00:57:09That's what they did last year.

00:57:10We're on lap 18 at the moment

00:57:12and Michael Schumacher is romping away.

00:57:15He's about six-tenths of a second a lap

00:57:17at the present moment, faster than his teammate,

00:57:20Rubens Barrichello,

00:57:21who is about three and a half seconds faster

00:57:25than David Coulthard.

00:57:27Verstappen and Hakkinen are lapping

00:57:29at about the same time,

00:57:30but Schumacher is the man on the charge,

00:57:33as you see, increasing his lead.

00:57:35He goes over the line now

00:57:37to complete his 19th lap

00:57:39and start his 20th out of 55,

00:57:42coming up towards half distance

00:57:44and his lead has increased to 7.3 seconds.

00:57:48Yes, Michael Schumacher, as always,

00:57:50in a league of his own

00:57:51in these difficult and unpredictable conditions

00:57:54and stretching that lead out

00:57:55over seven seconds over his teammate.

00:57:57Meanwhile, Coulthard and co.

00:57:59still falling away at over five seconds a lap

00:58:01and Hakkinen then is the first to come in

00:58:04for, I would assume,

00:58:05it will have to be some inters.

00:58:07Let's see if we can see.

00:58:08Now there's Slicks.

00:58:09Hakkinen then gambling on Slicks.

00:58:11That'll be a bit tricky in a couple of corners,

00:58:13but that may well prove to be a smart move

00:58:16and I believe Raul Schumacher

00:58:17in the BMW Williams doing exactly the same.

00:58:20Yes, so Hakkinen then on Slicks.

00:58:22Well, you've heard us talking about ties.

00:58:24You've heard us talking about monsoon tires,

00:58:26about intermediate tires

00:58:28and now about Slick tires.

00:58:30Slick tires actually have three grooves in them now.

00:58:33They used to be all rubber

00:58:34because the more rubber you can put on the ground,

00:58:36the better.

00:58:37And in order to slow the cars down a bit,

00:58:39they introduced grooves.

00:58:41Four grooves now.

00:58:42Four grooves now.

00:58:43They were three grooves

00:58:44and there's four of them now

00:58:45and that just means there's less rubber on the ground.

00:58:47So it's going to make things tricky

00:58:49in these damp conditions,

00:58:50but if it continues to dry out,

00:58:52of course it's going to be an enormous benefit

00:58:54for the people who are on them.

00:58:57Very soon, as the Ferrari mechanics come out,

00:59:00we can expect to see Michael Schumacher

00:59:02on his 19th lap,

00:59:04leading by over seven seconds,

00:59:05come in and then Rubens Barrichello.

00:59:07Yes, surely they'll bring Coulthard in on this lap.

00:59:10He's going to lose way, way too much time

00:59:12when those Slicks get up to temperature

00:59:13on the other runners,

00:59:14so Coulthard surely will pit

00:59:16at the end of the lap too.

00:59:18Well, they're intermediates they've put on the Minardi,

00:59:21so they're not going to gamble on Slicks.

00:59:23And Coulthard then coming down the final straight

00:59:26into Turn 15.

00:59:28Will he take to the pit lane

00:59:29or will he go for one more lap?

00:59:31And he's going for another lap.

00:59:33Yeah, he's going on.

00:59:35He's going on running very widely.

00:59:36That was Fernando Alonso, incidentally,

00:59:39in the Minardi,

00:59:40running 15th at the present moment.

00:59:42Last, but there's seven people out of this race.

00:59:45Villeneuve, Heidfeldt, Bernoldi,

00:59:47Montoya, Eddie Irvine, Olivier Panis,

00:59:50Kimi Räikkönen.

00:59:51Both the Saubers and both the BARs have retired.

00:59:5615 cars left out of the 22 started.

00:59:58Lap 20 out of 55.

01:00:00Michael Schumacher leads Barry Keller

01:00:02by over nine seconds.

01:00:04Well, like us, all eyes in the pit lane

01:00:06will now be, of course, on the two Slick runners,

01:00:08Häkkinen and Ralf Schumacher,

01:00:10currently down there in seventh and eighth place.

01:00:12And the moment they look like they're finding some time,

01:00:16and that's not a lap time.

01:00:17They'll just be reacting to a section time even.

01:00:19Where they can see the Slickshot cars going faster.

01:00:23And, of course, the Ferraris, with such a lead,

01:00:26over 12 seconds on...

01:00:2721 seconds on third-placeman Coulthard,

01:00:30they can afford to wait one more lap

01:00:33rather than take a risk.

01:00:34Häkkinen and Ralf Schumacher had a lot less to lose

01:00:37by going for that stop earlier.

01:00:39And Coulthard, of course, in third place.

01:00:41He's really pretty much in the middle of those.

01:00:43And look, his left front wear,

01:00:45there's virtually no tread on it at all.

01:00:47It's just burning the rubber straight off.

01:00:50The fastest lap we've had so far was Michael Schumacher,

01:00:541.41.8.

01:00:56And that was on lap two,

01:00:58when things were much better than they are now, of course.

01:01:01He's currently lapping about 1.49,

01:01:04which is two seconds faster than Rubens Barrichello.

01:01:07As you look at Josfa Stappen in fourth position

01:01:11behind Coulthard, Barrichello and race leader Michael Schumacher

01:01:14that you're looking at.

01:01:15Well, here's the answer then, Luke.

01:01:16Häkkinen, albeit in that first drier section,

01:01:19has just done the fastest T1 of the whole race so far,

01:01:23of section one.

01:01:24So Häkkinen already found grip in those first four corners.

01:01:28But as we know, it's the next section,

01:01:30seven through nine, that is more wet.

01:01:33And I'll keep a close eye on that.

01:01:34And still, he's not too bad.

01:01:36So the slicks are not quite ready in the middle of the track yet,

01:01:39but anytime soon.

01:01:41So Michael Schumacher, 1.49.8.

01:01:45And he can afford to stay out.

01:01:47He's got, compared with Häkkinen,

01:01:49he's over a minute ahead of him.

01:01:51He's 10 seconds ahead of Barrichello.

01:01:53He's 25 seconds and more ahead of David Coulthard.

01:01:57So he can afford to come in, take on new tyres,

01:02:00get out again and still stay in the lead ahead of David Coulthard

01:02:04if they had a good stop.

01:02:05And we're looking at Micah Häkkinen now,

01:02:07eighth position, closing on Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton

01:02:11ahead of him.

01:02:13I think he went in the pits, Marek.

01:02:15Fisichella's just gone into the pits.

01:02:17So upper place to seventh position.

01:02:19One position off the points goes the Flying Fins.

01:02:23Right, 56.5 for Häkkinen.

01:02:25That's seven seconds slower than Michael Schumacher.

01:02:28He's gone a bit too early.

01:02:29He's too wet in the middle of the lap.

01:02:31Of course, he's got to build tyre temperature up.

01:02:33He's got to learn where those slicks will give grip and will not.

01:02:37But that was a pretty slow first lap there for Häkkinen.

01:02:41And what did Ralf Schumacher do?

01:02:42Same time.

01:02:43So the slicks, they're touched too early.

01:02:46Fisichella out on slicks.

01:02:48Well, he's coming in later.

01:02:50But has he still come in too early?

01:02:54People say to me, why doesn't the best driver always win the race?

01:02:58And I say, well, you know, the best driver has to have the best car.

01:03:01He has to have the best backup.

01:03:03He has to have the best engine and mechanics.

01:03:05Of course, he has to have the best tyres.

01:03:07And he has to have the best tyres for the circumstances.

01:03:10And that is what Schumacher has got now.

01:03:13Barrichello in the pits then.

01:03:14So now let's see what Barrichello...

01:03:17Surely they'll obviously put slicks on him and fuel it up.

01:03:21So they're just in a two-stop window now.

01:03:23They can bring themselves back just about on schedule with this.

01:03:27And used, very used-looking slicks there.

01:03:30They look quite new at the rear, actually.

01:03:32And they're still trying to clean the side pods of Barrichello's car.

01:03:36I wonder if he...

01:03:37Well, of course, remember, he went off after he changed tyres last time.

01:03:40He tried to catch the pace car up.

01:03:42He's been off once again since his initial spill in tandem

01:03:45with Michael Schumacher earlier in the race.

01:03:47Yeah, for some reason, they were expecting a lot of debris here anyway.

01:03:50I know the BARs have got special wire mesh guards

01:03:54that they can rip out at the pit stop to clean out the side pods.

01:03:58Now they've got longer side pods this year,

01:04:00so the radiators are further back.

01:04:02And it's very difficult for the mechanics to reach into the side pods

01:04:05and get debris away from the radiators.

01:04:08And if there's debris there, it's going to be affecting the cooling of the engine.

01:04:11It will overheat and they'll be in problems.

01:04:13Lap 22. Schumacher leads Barrichello now by 16.6 seconds.

01:04:17In goes... There's bags of movement there in the Jordan pit

01:04:22as out comes Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was in sixth position.

01:04:26Well, I don't know what they're reacting to by bringing these cars in,

01:04:28because the mid-sector's just three seconds too slow.

01:04:32I know it'll come round quite quickly,

01:04:34but at the moment, they're still... Of course, they were on wet,

01:04:37so I suppose they're moving from wet to slick.

01:04:39And I'm comparing them with Michael on the intermediates.

01:04:42But nonetheless, it is still a touch too early for slick.

01:04:46No, not now, I think, Martin.

01:04:48Mika Häkkinen has just done the fastest first sector,

01:04:52as you pointed out earlier on.

01:04:54But this is the fastest of the whole race, 25.7,

01:04:58compared with Michael Schumacher's 26.2.

01:05:01There is Jarno Trulli in fifth position in the Jordan.

01:05:05And the order is Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Verstappen

01:05:09still hanging on in the arrows in the points in fourth place,

01:05:13ahead of Jarno Trulli that we have just seen.

01:05:15Heinz-Harald Frentzen, both the Jordans are in the top six,

01:05:18as are both the Ferraris.

01:05:20Mika Häkkinen in the second McLaren is out of the points,

01:05:23he's in seventh place.

01:05:24Ralf Schumacher is eighth.

01:05:27And you watch now, the Jordan, here it comes.

01:05:31Coulthard's getting some good lap times in now on his full wets.

01:05:34He's down to within two seconds a lap of Michael Schumacher.

01:05:37We're going to take a short break.

01:07:27WHISTLE BLOWS

01:07:29WHISTLE BLOWS

01:07:52Coming up towards half distance in this incredible race

01:07:56of incidents and surprises here in Malaysia,

01:08:00with Michael Schumacher leading David Coulthard

01:08:03and Rubens Barrichello.

01:08:05As positions change all around,

01:08:07and you're looking now at Ralf Schumacher in the Williams BMW,

01:08:11challenging Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who retains his lead,

01:08:14who is attacked again by Ralf Schumacher,

01:08:16who has to back off.

01:08:17The series of bends means that the man on the inside

01:08:20has the advantage in his first one and then the other.

01:08:23Yeah, and the stonking speed from that Williams BMW.

01:08:26And Ralf's got up the inside, but that's going to be a bit nip and tuck,

01:08:29and Frentzen having to yield there, really.

01:08:31But now is the right moment to be on slicks.

01:08:34For sure, now they're just shaping up to be quicker than the full wets.

01:08:38Hakkinen now finally on slicks, quicker than Coulthard on the full wets.

01:08:43And now is the moment to come in,

01:08:45and you can see Frentzen desperately still trying to find some grip,

01:08:48and a teammate.

01:08:50That's Trulli, so he must be coming up to be lapped by Trulli.

01:08:54No, Trulli's just come out of the pits, actually.

01:08:56So Trulli was in fourth, having now made a pit stop off camera,

01:09:00and now falling back behind Frentzen

01:09:03as Bertie makes his way out of the pits.

01:09:06He was in ninth when he came in.

01:09:07Yeah, but people are coming in all the time now.

01:09:10That is the Benetton of Jenson Button,

01:09:13who is running in 14th place out of the 15 competitors

01:09:17who are still running from the 22 who started all those retirements earlier on,

01:09:22primarily through people spinning off

01:09:25in the sudden monsoon deluge that we had here at Sepang Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

01:09:31Michael Schumacher really flying.

01:09:331 minute 47.8 he has just done,

01:09:37compared with David Coulthard, 151.9.

01:09:41But Michael Schumacher is now...

01:09:43Sorry, Micah Hakkinen is now very quick indeed.

01:09:46He's up into fifth position ahead of Jarno Trulli and Heinz-Harald Frentzen,

01:09:51both the McLarens then, the McLaren Mercedes in the top six,

01:09:55both the Ferraris in the top six,

01:09:58and completing the top six, Rubens Barrichello,

01:10:01sorry, Jos Verstappen, who is fourth,

01:10:04and Ralf Schumacher, who is sixth.

01:10:06Yeah, surprised to see Coulthard going round again in the second place, man.

01:10:09He must be just about the only one out there now on the full wet tyres.

01:10:13The two Ferraris, or one Ferrari now, Michael Schumacher,

01:10:16still easily the fastest man on the track on those inters

01:10:20that they took an awful long time to choose,

01:10:22but turned out to be a spectacularly good choice when they did finally bolt them on.

01:10:27I was talking earlier on about the heat conditions.

01:10:30Well, both the track and the air temperature have gone way down now,

01:10:3426 degrees and 27 degrees on the track and the air temperatures.

01:10:40The track has cooled, of course, with all this water on it,

01:10:43and it was up round about 43 degrees when this race started.

01:10:47But Michael Schumacher leading the race is showing us yet again

01:10:51what a rain master he is.

01:10:53We've seen some sensational performances from him in Spain and Monaco.

01:10:57James Allen.

01:10:58Yeah, still some communication problems here for McLaren.

01:11:01I think they're going to try and fuel to the finish.

01:11:03Oh, he was away very sharply there.

01:11:05Yeah, maybe not fuel to the finish there, actually.

01:11:07He was away very sharply.

01:11:08Nearly took the hose out, 8.8 seconds.

01:11:10But still some communication problems there, Martin,

01:11:12and this is interesting for you.

01:11:13Those tyres were out of that blanket for well over two minutes,

01:11:16and the temperature has really dropped here.

01:11:18Is that going to hurt him?

01:11:19It'll make it a bit tricky for three or four corners

01:11:21as he'll certainly understeer into Turn 1 there.

01:11:24But did he get back out in front of Barrichello?

01:11:27No, he did not.

01:11:28So Coulthard will rejoin.

01:11:30He is now third place.

01:11:32So Ferraris 1 and 2 then.

01:11:34Coulthard back down to third.

01:11:35You heard the word understeer there.

01:11:37What that means is that the car wants to go straight on

01:11:41when the driver wants it to turn left or right.

01:11:44All the car...

Formula-1 2001 R02 Malaysian Grand Prix Part 01

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