- 7 months ago
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00:00:00might pan out. It's more what they said to Lando actually, Crofty, they were saying that just for
00:00:05an update that both cars are going to try and make it to the end and that they think that the other
00:00:09car, i.e. Piastri, is going to try and make it to the end as well and having to make sure that he
00:00:14has tyre management. So Piastri is probably going to, on the medium tyre, have to manage the tyres
00:00:19more and that's kind of like in a way to G Lando up. The battery pack for Max Verstappen is the
00:00:26same thing I was saying before but in reverse now. The track's dried out, the car has to relearn where
00:00:31to deploy and where to harvest and Max is feeling more clipping, that's their terminology for the
00:00:36harvesting. Thanks ever so much Ants, learning taking place all the way through a Grand Prix and fastest
00:00:43laps being swapped between Hamilton, Verstappen and now Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc. We're on
00:00:50board with Oli Behm and Dan in 14th, that's Fernando Alonso with a pretty draggy Aston Martin
00:00:55ahead of him and he ain't going to be ahead of him for long. Oli Behm, who's picking up places in
00:01:00each and every Grand Prix and I think has picked up more places than any other driver this season,
00:01:05makes another. So there was an update, both cars will try and get to the end. We think the other
00:01:09car might have to do some pace management to make it work, so that's our opportunity. And that
00:01:15confirmation of what Antony was telling us from Sky Race Control a couple of moments ago.
00:01:20Yeah, so you've got to put him under pressure, you've got to put his tyres under pressure.
00:01:27But Oscar Piastri is, he's got a 14 and a half, 15 second lead over Leclerc and Verstappen,
00:01:33that's not enough for another pit stop. They're all on the same tyres of course,
00:01:39so Lando is the absolute outlier out there of all 20 cars running, the only driver on the hard compound
00:01:48tyre and he's just taken another three tenths out of Piastri's lead, so they're working nicely.
00:01:54They are, not quite as slow maybe as people were thinking. Piastri, if he does stop again,
00:02:01has the option to go on to the soft tyre for maybe the last eight or nine laps, but he hasn't got any
00:02:06new sets of soft CUs. In fact, the only other new set of tyres he's got is a set of halves. I wouldn't
00:02:12imagine he'd go on to those, but we won't see. Lap 18 of 44, just under nine seconds now. The gap
00:02:20between Piastri and Norris, that was over nine seconds about three laps ago. Going through into
00:02:26La Source is Isaac Hadja and Lance Stroll, head of these. It's Kimi Antonelli about to try and make a move
00:02:36on Franco Colopinto. If you remember back to the F2 race here last year, Kimi managed to get Franco
00:02:42going through Eau Rouge in the wet. What a great move that was on the day. He wasn't quite close
00:02:47enough to do a little repeat in F1 here, that stunning move. I think it was overtake of the year
00:02:52for F2 last year. Absolutely. So just looking at the relative times and, you know, I have to say,
00:02:59Verstappen and Leclerc are very much keeping the McLarens honest in terms of lap time at the moment,
00:03:04although they are about 15 seconds adrift. Lewis Hamilton stalled out a little bit now.
00:03:10Now he's cruising up behind Alex Albon, but that sort of relentless forward movement's fallen away
00:03:17a bit. Lance Stroll on Isaac Hadja, easy pass for him. DRS assisted down that main straight. I think
00:03:25Hamilton being told on the radio, just start to look after your tyres a little bit here, Lewis.
00:03:30Maybe they're thinking at Ferrari, we can get you to the end as well, and you might need to get to the end
00:03:36on these because those around you will be doing so as well. And Hamilton just a lap longer on his tyres
00:03:43than Lawson behind him and Alex Albon just ahead of him. I can't help but think Lando may, they should
00:03:49have just backed him up a bit. He would have been allowed to do that because he wasn't interfering with
00:03:52anybody else's race and do a double service there. But they elected for one more lap. I suppose it depends
00:04:00who else was coming into the pit lane at the time as well. I can't quite recall if he'd have been held
00:04:05and delayed in his pit box at all. Yeah, I don't think there'd be, yes, there is that, but I don't
00:04:10think there'd have been anybody arriving early enough, would they?
00:04:15But that's a good point, that's a very good point. Cheers.
00:04:19Just told Carlos Sainz was one that had to wait for others. When he came into the pits, he was 14th,
00:04:27and he's now running 19th, so he lost a lot of places. But I think when he pitted, there were more
00:04:33coming in at that time. Antonelli now in the slipstream, wing open, but he's not got enough speed
00:04:39in that Mercedes today. No. So Mercedes, I did ask, are they running a low downforce wing? They said no,
00:04:47we just, we haven't got the car really into the setup window that we'd like today. Antonelli going
00:04:53wide there behind Franco Colopinto. I mean, for George Russell, it's, it's working, uh, up in fifth
00:04:58place. But you know, George Russell's struggling with his car at times, and he's got more experience
00:05:04than Kimi Antonelli, who's, as we've said all weekend, is going through a bit of a crisis, uh, of confidence.
00:05:09Tico needs to overtake him, man. If not, let me go.
00:05:14Portiletto thinks he is way faster, uh, than his position of 10th would allow if his teammate
00:05:20Nico Hülkenberg got on with it. So could, so could he. But yeah, Antonelli will come good, uh, eventually.
00:05:27I, I believe that. And here's Carlos Sainz making a move, uh, along that Kemmel straight on Isaac Hager,
00:05:33who seems to be struggling out there. Carlos had to lift, so he didn't hit him, and he still managed to breeze past.
00:05:39Norris just took four tenths out of Piastri's lead. Piastri having to manage those tyres to the end.
00:05:45We know, we're not even at half distance of these, uh, 44 long laps of Spa, and Hülkenberg being told
00:05:54to do a bit of synchronised swimming and let Portiletto through. Yeah, so give Portiletto the toe, uh, down the
00:06:01straight, and, uh, DRS, uh, behind you, uh, and then before you get to the chicane, make sure that he's ahead
00:06:07of you because he is a faster car, uh, currently on track. Let's see what happens. Nico Hülkenberg obliges,
00:06:14the swap is done, and now Gabriel can, uh, go and see if he can get Liam Lawson. Right, here's
00:06:19Kimi Antonelli. Franco Colopinto ahead, pulls out from behind the slipstream, goes wheel to wheel,
00:06:25gets to the chicane, fifteenth place is his. And he can set about trying to close down Fernando Alonso.
00:06:31That's the sort of thing he needs to start moving through the field, start enjoying himself out on a
00:06:35racetrack. Yeah, slip, slipstream and DRS has given Antonelli the fastest first sector of anybody
00:06:41all race so far. Antony at Skyrace Control. So we talk about, uh, Antonelli here in the fight with, uh,
00:06:49Polopinto, but, uh, his teammate George Russell is the first driver I've heard actually saying that he's not
00:06:56confident that they can make it through on a one stopper, particularly with this downforce level,
00:07:00which I don't think is out of the window compared to many other cars out there today. So he's the
00:07:05first driver doubting that. Let's see what others will say. George Russell who got to the checkered
00:07:09flag first here in Spa last year with a one stop strategy before his car was found to be 1.8 kilos
00:07:16underweight and he got disqualified from that win. That was brutal, wasn't it, for George? That was a
00:07:21brilliant drive from him that day to ease those tyres all the way for such a long distance, but
00:07:28we'll see if Oscar Piastri can repeat. Now just to remind you, if you've been on wet tyres,
00:07:34intermediates or wets, you don't, you're not obliged to use two dry compounds. That obligation falls away
00:07:41as soon as you turn a lap on the inters or wets. Piastri out in front on the medium tyre, his teammate
00:07:49Lando Norris on the hard tyre, just under eight seconds behind. McLaren looking for a sixth one-two
00:07:55finish of the season. That would be their most since 1988. Prost and Saturdays when they took 10.
00:08:01I said Hadja was struggling out there. He certainly is and is coming in for a pit stop onto the hard tyre
00:08:08to hopefully go until the end of the race. Franco Colopinto is getting a bit of a sinking
00:08:13feeling, I think, in that Alpine. Antonelli breezed past him, Lance Stroll can't, but he's under pressure
00:08:18once again. Straight line speed, not exactly the strength of that Alpine car. His teammate Pierre
00:08:28Gasly is running in 11th currently. And Oscar, what you're doing looks good. It's your call,
00:08:35really, on whether we try and get to the end of this tyre or we consider a pit stop for another one.
00:08:39At the moment, I think try to get to the end. I could put a little bit of thing already, so
00:08:45I think it will be tough to get to the end. Yeah, and that's a sad radio call for him,
00:08:51isn't it? Because basically, that will hand being the hard compound being two steps harder than the
00:08:58medium here. It's a miss, you know, and we're missing compound. And last time around,
00:09:06he was actually faster than Norris. This has been the first time for several laps now. But of course,
00:09:11he's taking life out of the tyres all the time, especially around here. That's not difficult to
00:09:16do in the long, fast corners. Very true. But is he in a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't
00:09:21situation where the obvious answer then is, right, go on, push Oscar, give us more pace,
00:09:26open up that gap to Lando. But if the deck's starting to come in, you can't do that.
00:09:31Yeah. I mean, we're sitting here with great confidence that a set of hard compound tyres
00:09:36will go to the end, but nobody actually knows, do they? Because they've barely run them all weekend, so...
00:09:41Least of all us. Theoretically, they should. Yes.
00:09:45Least of all us. In theory, they should be slower, much slower than the medium, promoting a two-stop
00:09:52strategy. But guess what? At the moment, there's about a tenth of a second difference, lap after
00:09:56lap, between Norris and Piastrias. On board with Lance Stroll, saw that slight twitch from Franco
00:10:02Colopinto out of the source. You carry that all the way down the straight. 23 seconds, a full blast,
00:10:07full throttle, and Stroll moves up into 16th. Colopinto relegated another place, and let's go down to Ted.
00:10:14Can I just be a bit of devil's advocate for Oscar Piastri? It's your call. It's your call whether we
00:10:20try and make it to the end of the race on this set of tyres that nobody thinks is going to get
00:10:23to the end of the race. How is it his call? I mean, if he wants to drive really slowly and try to get
00:10:27the tyre to the end of the race. But these teams have got strategy mega computers that puts Deep Blue to
00:10:33shame, figuring these things out, Crofty. How is it suddenly Oscar's call if he tries to make it to
00:10:39the end of the race? That medium either will or won't, and McLaren will know that.
00:10:43So what's with all the, it's your call? If I was Oscar, knowing that Lando's on the hard,
00:10:48I'd feel pretty perplexed at the moment. No, it's a championship battle, isn't it,
00:10:52with his teammate. And they're saying, it's up to you if you want to take that risk or not,
00:10:56because nobody actually knows the answer, whether they'll go to the end or not. Like,
00:11:00nobody thought George Russell could get to the end of the race last year, and he did.
00:11:05Sadly disqualified, as you said. But what they basically say to him is like, in other words,
00:11:11do you want to go hell for leather now and put another set on? Or do you want to take the gamble,
00:11:17you can get them to the end? But it strikes me, from what he was saying, it's, as science says,
00:11:23the medium's degrading fast. Strikes me that Oscar needs to go as fast as he can, and then have a
00:11:30tyre advantage in the closing stages. The trouble we've got at Spa this year is what the teams call
00:11:37the overtaking delta. How much faster do you need to be on a lap to get an overtake done,
00:11:44with the car in front? It's about half a second. It's gone up a little bit this year. Overtaking is
00:11:49not as easy at Spa. We saw that in the sprint race, as it has been in previous years. And the DRS
00:11:54effect, which is adding to that half a second, is only about 12 kilometers an hour at the end of
00:12:00the straight, because they're not running maximum downforce on that rear wing. So I suppose it's
00:12:06your call, Oscar, because we're going to put you into a situation if you pit where you're going to have
00:12:12to get some overtaking done, and that might be on your teammate, who's your championship challenger,
00:12:17and you might be losing seven seconds to him. Yeah, so if Oscar pitted now, he'd be 11 seconds behind
00:12:24on fresher tyres, as you said, which tyres you're going to put on. So, you know, if he is far,
00:12:31if he has got a tyre advantage, then he's got plenty of time to do that overtake. But if they're going to,
00:12:37they've really got to make a decision, haven't they, quite early doors. Do we actually take all the
00:12:42performance out of these tyres and make a stop? We remember Antoine, not just when we come to
00:12:48Spa, but particularly when we come to Spa. And Pierre Gasly leading a run around the track in
00:12:54the memory of Antoine, here on Thursday night. And it's great to see his mother, Antoine's mother,
00:13:00here along with Pierre's, watching on in the garage. He was a brilliant, brilliant talent,
00:13:05who was taken from us way, way too soon. And there is Pierre Gasly into La Source, ahead of Yuki
00:13:11Tsunoda and Oli Baerman and Fernando Alonso. And so many drivers joined Pierre for that run on Thursday
00:13:17as well. It was brilliantly attended. It was superb. We're on lap 24. Out of 44, we have passed
00:13:24half-race distance. And that gap now, 8.2 seconds. Piastri to Norris. Oscar Piastri's just put in the
00:13:33fastest lap of the race. But I dare say he needs to open it out by about three or four tenths
00:13:38a lap in the next eight or nine laps to make a second stop strategy work with his teammate
00:13:46actually driving a pretty solid race behind. This is intriguing and it's fascinating and I have no idea
00:13:53which way this is going to go between now and the chequered flag. And with Leclerc and Verstappen
00:13:58stay in the 146s, they don't really open a pit stop gap up for Piastri at the moment. Not quite.
00:14:05So that's what McLaren will be looking for if they're going to do that, of absolutely ensuring that,
00:14:11as Norris does the new fastest lap of the race, absolutely ensuring that if they do have to pit
00:14:18Piastri again, it at least comes out in a clear second. Yeah, well the last thing that Oscar Piastri wants
00:14:24is to pit, come out behind Verstappen, not get a chance to overtake Verstappen, finish in fourth
00:14:30and then, you know, give away a championship lead by the end of this race. Like I say, damned if you do,
00:14:38damned if you don't, and who wants to step up and take the responsibility? So Piastri's used mediums,
00:14:43they're going to have done a quali lap, aren't they, in sprint qualifying. Might have done a lot, yes, yes.
00:14:50They might have done, they might have done a few. Not done a huge mileage, have they? I wouldn't think
00:14:54the used ones, but you, you, you take a new tyre every time if you could, which only leaves him
00:15:00the same tyre that, uh, but his teammates got on there now. A one-two finish on the cards, potentially for
00:15:08McLaren, but which way will it go round? And will Oscar Piastri pit again? And will that open up the
00:15:14door for Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen? Verstappen just pulled back a bit, uh, from, uh,
00:15:18Charles Leclerc, who has held him off brilliantly in this, uh, race so far. Is Verstappen now having
00:15:23to manage his tyres a little bit to get his mediums, uh, to the end? I mean, will we, will we see in another
00:15:30seven or eight laps time others struggling and having to pit? Does that then make Oscar Piastri's choice
00:15:35that little bit easier if the likes of Leclerc and Verstappen, uh, are struggling, uh, significantly?
00:15:41Uh, where, where are the close battles at the moment? Uh, this one, Tsunoda, uh, behind Gasly,
00:15:46Behrman behind Tsunoda, Alonso, uh, behind Behrman and Antonelli behind Alonso, all in DRS range
00:15:54of each other and forming something of a, uh, of a DRS train as they snake through the track.
00:15:59That's a frantic fight, isn't it? But all out of the world championship points at the moment,
00:16:03but that is the level of competition in Formula One now.
00:16:07Bottoletto and Hülkenberg are scoring three points for Sauber, uh, as it stands, uh, currently.
00:16:13Sauber, who are on their own in sixth place and pulling away a little bit from their, uh,
00:16:18midfield rivals. Done very nicely indeed over the last, uh, four races. Alex Albon scoring eight
00:16:25precious points for Williams, uh, currently. And I'm sure Williams, uh, will thank him a lot for that,
00:16:30too, as they try and, uh, keep their grip on fifth place in the championship. Alex Albon,
00:16:36who rather likes, uh, this place, rather likes Spa as a, as a racing driver, but hasn't scored points, uh,
00:16:43in the last couple of races and hasn't scored big points since 2020 when he did finish sixth
00:16:48on that particular day. So Lando Nures is not going fast. He's still, he's got the gap down to 7.7 now,
00:16:56as you can see. Um, he's not gaining fast enough just to cruise up and put Piastri under pressure
00:17:03in the closing stages, unless Piastri's tyres start falling away. What's the pit stop loss?
00:17:1018.9, 19. So Piastri is far enough clear of Max Verstappen now to pick, just, but to pick and come
00:17:18out ahead, um, of Verstappen. That's the first big key, uh, moment, I think, for the McLaren strategy team.
00:17:25Yeah. Um, and that would give him a very significant tire delta, we call it, a difference if you like.
00:17:32He'll have much, something like, what, 15 laps fresher tyres. Ted Kravitz, down to you. I've just
00:17:39been, uh, keeping an eye on Lewis Hamilton's lap times and they're getting a little bit better and
00:17:43that's putting him a little bit closer to Alex Albon in front. Hamilton, I think you saw on the
00:17:47radio, didn't you? He said he just couldn't get close to the Williams in front of him. We've heard
00:17:52that before with these cars, but now whether he's been saving his tyres, Hamilton's tyres a little bit
00:17:58older, I think, it might be the lap older than Albon's, Crofty, by my information. It was, uh,
00:18:03Lewis was one of the early, the first pitters, but, uh, so bearing that in mind, he's got to keep them
00:18:07in good shape, but he's closing gently on Alex Albon. Norris has had an adventure somewhere,
00:18:12he had a lap time deleted, so he's been off the track and the gap is now 9.1 seconds, so, um, all of that
00:18:20good work, all of that good work since he came out on these tyres, he's just lost it all, with, uh, there's
00:18:26something, it was turn 10. Yeah, poo on. Yeah, so, okay, so he's run wide in this corner here then,
00:18:33and, uh, and hurt his, uh, hurt his pace by over a second. Yeah, so the, so the gap, 9.3 seconds
00:18:42between Chiastri and, uh, Lando Norris. I don't think it was a big moment, but he, uh, it will have cost him
00:18:50time, it's whether it cost him too much in terms of his, uh, of his tyre deck or not. Well, he did
00:18:54a 47.6 instead of a 46.4, so it cost him 1.2 seconds. Here comes Antonelli on Fernando Alonso,
00:19:02uh, youngest driver on the grid, oldest driver on the grid, youth wins out, uh, on this particular
00:19:07occasion, moves up into 14th now, behind, uh, Oli Behrman, uh, in the hat, his, uh, fellow rookie,
00:19:13and, of course, teammate last year, uh, in, uh, the world of F2. Oscar Piastri's gained a couple
00:19:20of tenths on Lando Norris in this particular lap as well, as we can see the replay once more, uh,
00:19:25of Antonelli, uh, even though Fernando Alonso had DRS, Antonelli still had way, way, way more pace,
00:19:31uh, going into, uh, Lecom and a bit later on the break as well. That was very nicely, uh, done.
00:19:37Andy Cowell, the team principal, uh, at Aston Martin, sadly for him, seeing his drivers down in 15th
00:19:43and 16th here today. Hopefully we'll get a replay, but yeah, I think, I think what Lando's done is a
00:19:49little bit of a wall of death around the outside of that kerb, on the outside of Turn 10, put one
00:19:53corner. Um, so yeah, uh, undid a lot of very good work and just gave Piastri a little bit of breathing
00:20:01space. Yeah, and these margins could be crucial, uh, to be honest. He said that Lewis Hamilton
00:20:08backed off a bit from Alex Albon. A couple of laps tied, but Hamilton now picking up the pace
00:20:14and setting his best lap of the race, and he could be in time for an overtake.
00:20:21Yeah, as I said, as soon as he got within the turbulent air of Albon's car, remember he put his,
00:20:27and Sainz has now had a final warning for track limits as well, so otherwise he'll be getting a
00:20:33five-second penalty if he does that again, and he is in 19th place. Um, yeah, as soon as Lewis got
00:20:40somewhere near the, the turbulent air coming off back of Albon's Williams, he's, he stalled out a little
00:20:46bit. He has a touch. He needs to get within the DRS range. He's, uh, lost a tenth to Alex Albon on this
00:20:54particular lap so far, as we watch the struggles of Fernando Alonso, uh, out on track, making his way
00:21:02down towards Rivage, and he's losing touch, isn't he, with the cars ahead of him, the battle that's
00:21:07going on, uh, for 11th place that Pierre Gasly is currently heading. It was five cars, it's now four,
00:21:12uh, that are involved in that particular battle, and right at the end of it is Kimi Antonelli, who's got
00:21:17Ollie Behrman very much in his sights. Yuki Tsunoda lost out in the pit stop, uh, rounds, now down in
00:21:2412th place, which is kind of where Yuki Tsunoda has found himself a little bit too often, uh, during
00:21:29the course of his, uh, Red Bull experiences, uh, so far. Finished 12th in Canada, if I remember rightly.
00:21:36Lando giving himself a good talking to, he's into the one minute 45s now, just took half second out of
00:21:41Piastri's lead. Lap 29 of 44, Orlando Norris with the new fastest lap of the race. Is Oscar
00:21:49Piastri able to make those mediums go to the end of the race? Uh, what's, what's the tire update,
00:21:55Anthony Davidson? Yeah, it's all quite interesting. Yes, they're asking, they're saying from our side,
00:22:00the tires look good. This is to Piastri, the tires look good, what's your feeling? And he just replied,
00:22:05so calm, you'd think he's in his bathtub or something, just, yeah, good. That's what it is. Yeah,
00:22:10I can't believe how calm he can be whilst leading a Grand Prix. It's, uh, it's quite remarkable stuff.
00:22:15So he feels good on those medium tires. If he hasn't said much about the wear, but he's definitely
00:22:22still performing well. And yeah, that you feel like it really swung the confidence towards the
00:22:27Piastri's side of the garage with that small mistake. I've seen it was a small mistake from Norris
00:22:33in Puan where he just went off circuit back on. But yeah, those two seconds that he gained from that
00:22:38really helped. Uh, just keep listening. See how calm he is now. On the last lap,
00:22:43Lando Norris was half a second quicker. And on this lap, he's already taken two tenths
00:22:47out of Piastri as well. And there's no back markers involved in that, uh, time gap coming down.
00:22:55Sometimes you've just got to watch the clock a little bit as well, Martin, and not just the cars
00:22:59out on the track to try and understand, uh, what is going on out there. But, um, yeah,
00:23:03another two tenths, uh, there or thereabouts, and Norris has got the gap down to eight and a half seconds.
00:23:09Yeah. And quite clearly, unless something dramatic happens, uh, this race will go
00:23:14to its full 44 laps. It's still got over an hour left on the official clock. So with, uh, two thirds of
00:23:23it done at least. And, uh, yeah, so we, we, we will, we will have a full points race.
00:23:31The other thing, of course, is that no one really would want to come in unless they really,
00:23:36really have to at the moment in case there's a safety car too.
00:23:39Yeah. And you're wasting 10 seconds, aren't you? Yeah. On board with Lewis Hamilton. Guess what?
00:23:44He's in DRS range on Alex Albon. And Hamilton has made up, uh, a lot of places after starting from
00:23:51the pit lane. And here's a top six finish still on for him as he reaches the end of the Kemmel
00:23:56straight. Still behind that Williams, but well within closing distance now in the next couple of laps.
00:24:04This has been a really solid drive by Lewis. I'm sure not still,
00:24:08even if he gets into the top six where he wants to be, but showing that he can still get some
00:24:13overtakes done as Fernando Alonso pits, uh, for a second time in this race to put on some medium
00:24:18tires. A second set of medium tires for Fernando Alonso. So they didn't get too far, did they?
00:24:23They went from in there. They did 18 laps for Fernando Alonso. So, uh, you have to say Piastri's doing a
00:24:29sensational job with his out front. Ted, what can you tell us? It was a slow stop for Aston Martin.
00:24:34Don't know if they picked that up on the, uh, on the feed. It was this little, the, the right rear
00:24:39had to gun on and then gun off and then gun on again. So, uh, it was a second or so slow. And now
00:24:44Mercedes are getting ready to receive one of their drivers. Of course, both of them on the medium as
00:24:49well. And Lando Norris sets another new fastest lap of the race. And the only driver lapping in the one
00:24:55minute 45s, uh, currently. This was the moment two laps ago at Puon. Not big, not dramatic, but it cost him half a
00:25:04second. Uh, 1.2 it cost him. He did a 47.6 and he'd been doing 46.4s before that. So it took a little
00:25:11wobble on the way in. He had to counter steer and correct the slide. Um, and that, uh, without that,
00:25:18he would now be, uh, six, seven, you know, into the sixes behind Piastri and starting to, he's got to,
00:25:25if he wants any chance to win this Grand Prix, he's got to make Piastri punish his tires harder.
00:25:30He has. That, that 1.2 seconds. Watch that by the end of this race. That could be
00:25:35the margin. The, the way that the gap's coming down could quite easily be the margin. 13 laps to go.
00:25:42Lewis Hamilton closing in on Alex Albon once again. If Norris keeps taking three or four tenths out a lap,
00:25:49that 1.2 seconds could be very, very crucial. Antonelli comes in for a fresh set of, uh, tires.
00:25:57Yeah, he's got, he got his medium 17 laps. So science has already changed his as well. So the midfield
00:26:03are not getting their tires anywhere near, anywhere near as far as Oscar Piastri needs to. But the
00:26:10difference between how the midfield team's tires are performing and the man who's out clear in space
00:26:17with no turbulent air coming, you know, quite dramatic, uh, I'm sure. And a better car,
00:26:23a better handling car that's, uh, and you always look after your tires if you've got more downforce.
00:26:29Very true. Uh, Fernando Alonso now a lot closer to, uh, Kimi Antonelli. Both have stopped twice in this,
00:26:36and as it stands, a 16-point advantage for Piastri to take into the Hungarian Grand Prix
00:26:43next time out. He currently leads the championship, uh, by nine points from his teammate. If Norris can
00:26:50get ahead, that 16 points, uh, would go down to just two points. There's a big swing coming Lando
00:26:57Norris' way if, and it's still a big if, he can get past Oscar Piastri.
00:27:01Sainz and Colapinto in 18th and 19th. Now the fastest drivers on the track
00:27:08with the fresh tires. With the fresh tires. So it tells you, it, that also tells, that all, also tells
00:27:16me that, uh, if Piastri does have a, a tire delta at the end, then, uh, it'll be pretty handy to have
00:27:24for Oscar Piastri. It would, but they're going to have to make the decision now, I think, otherwise he runs
00:27:29out of time, uh, to make that delta count. And they're telling him, you're four laps and you'll
00:27:34start to get a little bit of traffic, which is Hadjar, Colapinto and Sainz. 45.8 in the middle
00:27:40sector for Kimi Antonelli. You saw him just come into the pits. That's the big difference that a new
00:27:45set of tires is making. Piastri, for instance, was eight tenths slower just now going through that
00:27:50middle sector. But what's happening, Leclerc just 18.7 seconds behind is really stopping McLaren,
00:27:57hitting Piastri, because that's just too close to call, isn't it? As to whether you'd get out in front.
00:28:02He'd soon be past him, I think, with that car on fresh tires, but he doesn't, he doesn't want that
00:28:08squabble. And the gap out in front, 7.8 seconds currently. It's getting tense, Ted. Yeah, I know.
00:28:16What about this tire degradation cliff? If that happens for Piastri, where is the cliff, Crofty? Where is the
00:28:21tire degradation cliff and does it exist? Who is tire degradation cliff? Do you know him?
00:28:26No one wants to know him today, but I tell you what, Kimi Antonelli hasn't taken that choice,
00:28:31that chance, because he's in this fight with Fernando Alonso. 16th and 17th they're fighting over,
00:28:37but by responding to Alonso's second stop, Antonelli stayed ahead of him, and they are going
00:28:42to be rapid now on new tires, aren't they? So the likes in front of them, Ocon, Stroll,
00:28:45Behrman, Tsunoda, Gasly, they're going to be really looking over their shoulder. They're going to have
00:28:49Antonelli and Alonso, two very feisty and quick drivers on fresh tires, closing up behind.
00:28:54Going through the source, Alex Albon currently in sixth place, Lewis Hamilton right behind him,
00:29:00but I think this is as close as Lewis Hamilton has been to Alex Albon over the last few laps, and
00:29:06picking up a bit of a slipstream, takes off a tenth by the time he gets to Radion, and we can ride on
00:29:10board now with DRS assistance, Lewis Hamilton gaining and gaining and gaining on that Williams,
00:29:16but Alex Albon looks to have held this as they head towards the Lecon chicane, he has done.
00:29:21Hülkenberg pits for Sauber out of the top ten, and Hamilton's still frustrated behind Albon.
00:29:28Another four tenths for Norris over Piastri, but these cars are so good, they've got so much grip that
00:29:35the braking distances are tiny now, especially into Lecon chicane there where
00:29:40Lewis was heading, because it's slightly uphill, so you break even less, and so the overlap,
00:29:46you've got to be alongside. Degg looks as expected, we still think the best thing is to go to the end
00:29:51on this tire. So it's how much Lando Norris can reduce the arrears lap after lap, and it's hovering
00:30:00around the four tenths of a second mark that he is reducing the arrears lap after lap, he crosses the
00:30:07line six tenths of a second this lap. Yeah, that's the kind of gain he needs if he's going to be
00:30:16anywhere near the back of his teammate at the end of the race, so stay tuned because that's going to
00:30:21get close. You're right, that 1.2, 1.3 loss might just be the difference, but you know it's because he's
00:30:28pushing so hard, this is why he went wide. But anyway, let's see, let's see if Piastri's tyres hang on,
00:30:33let's see if Norris's tyres indeed hang on, but there's no need us worrying now about the gap
00:30:40behind Piastri to Leclerc because they're not intending to bring him in. Exactly. So here we go
00:30:45with Lewis Hamilton once more. Hamilton, five-time winner here at Spa, never actually finished sixth
00:30:54here on any of his previous occasions. Alex Albon has finished sixth before, who's going to take it
00:31:00away in 2025. Bit of history between these two, isn't it? When Alex was a Red Bull driver, Lewis
00:31:06basically took him out, didn't he, in Austria and Brazil. Yeah, twice. It kind of almost cost,
00:31:13I think it almost cost Albon that drive in the end for not getting the results. Yeah, certainly
00:31:18cost him his first podium. Yeah. And who knows what his confidence might have been after that. Don't
00:31:22want to do that very often, Lando Norris. He's lost half a second in the first sector and another two
00:31:27tenths in the second sector on this lap. And if that 1.2 seconds when he went wide isn't going to
00:31:32be the deciding factor, that seven tenths might just compound it and be the deciding factor. Here
00:31:41comes Nico Hülkenberg on Esteban Ocon going wheel to wheel up the Kemmel straight. Hülkenberg looks over
00:31:47to see that he has cleared the hat and moves up into 14th. Well, a fifth for the field started in the pit lane.
00:31:52We've had rain. We've had all sorts of conditions, haven't we? They're all still running and fighting
00:32:00like crazy over small places. Just a typical spa Sunday in the summertime. Quite frankly, we've had
00:32:06everything but snow. And now Kimi Antonelli is right on the back of Esteban Ocon's headset. The
00:32:13Haas drivers are going to be looking over their shoulders a little bit. And Oscar Piastri has spent
00:32:18much of this race trying to metaphorically look over his shoulder and see where his teammate is.
00:32:23So now these tyres are getting tricky. You need to keep the focus. Don't push the braking as hard as
00:32:28we have been. You're naturally quicker. It's the coaching that Anthony Davidson was alluding to
00:32:35a little early on. Yeah, basically your hard compound tyres are beginning to give up a bit of grip.
00:32:41It's costing you time now. It cost him eight tenths of a second on the previous lap with that mistake.
00:32:48So don't overdrive it. Recognise you're starting to lose some mechanical grip. All fair enough. All good advice.
00:32:55What is not hampering the fight in front are any back markers here today, such as the
00:33:01the lack of a massive pace difference between the leader and Isaac Hadja who's currently running last.
00:33:10Hadja is close-ish to Oscar Piastri, but he's not going to have to come up a load of back markers to
00:33:16try and navigate round that could slow him down as well. Yeah, and Leclerc has an answer for anything
00:33:21that Verstappen's been able to throw at him, hasn't he? And that gap of 2.2 has almost been static
00:33:27for the last few laps. Kimi Antonelli behind Esteban Ocon. I dare say for not a huge amount
00:33:35longer. He's picking up a slipstream. Ocon forces him round the outside, but Antonelli had that covered,
00:33:40almost expected it. Ocon's going to fight this back and retake the place by the time they exit the
00:33:46chicane. Nice from both drivers on both counts there, but it's Ocon who wins out. Yeah,
00:33:51Antonelli got a little bit hot into the left hand and had to sort it out and lost a lot of momentum.
00:33:58Flavi in the back of the garage. Savvy on the track from Esteban Ocon. So let's just have a quick
00:34:05look here at what happens. In goes Kimi Antonelli and then just gets on the exit onto a little wet
00:34:12patch, maybe taking a bit of curb. And the serrations of the curb just rattle the car wide. And Toto
00:34:21Wolf will put that in the memory bank for the next debrief. And Antonelli will come back on the
00:34:25next lap and have another go, I'm sure. Right, back to the fight out in front. Previous lap,
00:34:31another six tenths of a second. Lando Norris takes out of Piastri's advantage. But in effect,
00:34:37with those two mistakes into the source and wide at Puan, he's lost three laps of his gaining time on
00:34:44Oscar Piastri. He has, but he's pushing so hard. But you're right, those mistakes have cost him.
00:34:54He probably should have been within five seconds now, but he isn't. If he can still take half a
00:35:01second a lap out, but he's still nowhere near close enough, is he? Well, you take three laps out the
00:35:08equation here. If he was down to five seconds, the way he's gaining on Oscar at the moment,
00:35:15this could be on. Yeah, could be, because as I said a long time ago, he's got to put Piastri under
00:35:26pressure, and that would have been the difference. But that's another six tenths of a second he's
00:35:30gained on the previous lap. It's through the middle part of the lap, where all the tricky corners are,
00:35:36and it looks as if Piastri's beginning to struggle for pure grip from his mediums.
00:35:41He needs ten of those six tenths of a second lap gains, and he hasn't got ten laps to go. Lewis Hamilton
00:35:48currently leading the driver of the day vote. That doesn't surprise me. He's made some brilliant
00:35:53places up, but is he starting to struggle a bit behind Alex Albon, because he's getting out of DRS
00:35:59range. Anthony Davidson. Yeah, a bit of info on Lewis's race property is that about half the race
00:36:04or more he's been asked by his team to be lift and coasting, and I know other drivers get asked the
00:36:09same thing, but I think it's plagued him this entire race. I can't work out exactly why he's had to do so
00:36:14much, and he even asked him at one point, do I still need to be doing this? And they said, yes, we definitely
00:36:19need lift and coast. Sounds like all the way to the end of the race. So I think that's thwarted him
00:36:24and his potential attack here on Alex Albon. Thanks ever so much, Anthony. And once again,
00:36:29he emerges out of that Le Cong chicane behind Alex Albon, and we'll head down to Ted.
00:36:34Isn't that, Crofty, isn't that the usual? We've heard that from Leclerc, haven't we? Isn't that the usual
00:36:38lift and coast to avoid wearing the flank that we've heard so many times this year? That's possible as
00:36:42well. Yeah, that's possible. Just a quick one from down here. So first of all, George Russell,
00:36:47just making the way as he can, staying out on tyres that he said were done a long time ago,
00:36:53but just managing to keep ahead of everybody, not least Alex Albon. Alex Albon, the straight line
00:36:59speed of that Williams, really doing everything to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari. But also,
00:37:05Crofty, it is getting a bit cold down here in the pit lane. And can you see the big rain cloud out of
00:37:10your commentary box window? Yes. It's not going to dump any of its rain at the moment, but just to mark your
00:37:16card, we might not be done with the wet stuff in this race. Going to make the notebook a bit soggy,
00:37:20if nothing else, Ted. Oh dear. Guess what? Lap 37, Martin. How much faster was Lando Norris
00:37:27than Oscar Piastri? Round about six tenths, just about seven tenths in the end.
00:37:34That's the gap that he can get it down by. And he's lost three laps worth of that game. He's going to
00:37:41rue those mistakes. We'll see. We'll see if he can, if Oscar's got a response to that. But,
00:37:49yeah. I'd imagine he's reasonably calm out front. He's just coming up to Isaac Hadjar,
00:37:55is Oscar Piastri, who's obliged to get out of the way. Then there's really nobody in front of Hadjar,
00:38:02because Colin Pinch and Sainz are actually going along quite nicely in the 147s. Yeah. That gap now,
00:38:095.7 seconds between Piastri and Norris. This is Charles Leclerc locking up on his tyres that he's
00:38:18been running for 25 laps, his medium tyres, and losing quite a bit of time as a result of that
00:38:25lock-up. Piastri's going to get a lovely slipstream behind Hadjar, going up through Blanchiment in a
00:38:30minute. Yeah, I have expected to see Max a little bit closer to the Ferrari there, because,
00:38:34because of that lock-up, but he's not. Yeah, I think Leclerc on this lap, a couple of tenths
00:38:40faster than Max Verstappen. Yeah. Verstappen 1.2. Yeah. Leave me alone, please. Yeah. I have no
00:38:49information, and then when he's getting close, I have too much information. He's getting a bit frazzled in
00:38:58there, isn't he? So actually, yeah, Verstappen was consistently 2.2 for many laps. He's got that
00:39:03down to 1.1, but still crucially just out of drag reduction system range. Right. Hadjar is still ahead
00:39:11of Piastri down the Kemmel straight. Piastri will be getting the toe and a chance to lap Isaac Hadjar,
00:39:18I would have thought, who's had some blue flags waved his way, but as they go into Lecombe,
00:39:24he's still actually ahead of the McLaren driver. Now, this is where, in the middle sector,
00:39:30Piastri is going to start to just to be slowed up a little bit, I think, by the back market,
00:39:36but he's now through, and he's now through at Revai. So we'll see how much time that's cost him on this lap.
00:39:42And look, the gap now, five seconds between Piastri and Norris. Yeah. And it's the middle part
00:39:50of the lap still where Norris has got the speed, and we'll keep an eye on that on this lap. So it's,
00:39:57as you say, you can see for yourselves, exactly five seconds, the gap. They're well clear of anybody
00:40:02else, and they're clear, still managing to keep Verstappen at bay. We haven't mentioned him for a
00:40:08while, Martin, but Pierre Gasly doing a super job holding off Yuki Tsunoda and Oli Behrman,
00:40:15who also haven't pitted for a second time to change slick tires. But he's holding on with the others
00:40:22having DRS assistance behind him to that 10th place. We're on board now with Oli Behrman. He's got
00:40:29Yuki Tsunoda in his sights. See, if Oli Behrman could just get past Yuki Tsunoda, he might finish 11th
00:40:36in this race. It'll be the fourth race in a row that he's finished 11th. He joined a lot of people
00:40:41with the record for the most consecutive finishes in a single place other than first. It's the world's
00:40:47most stupid stat, but I absolutely love it. And he's got, he's just one more place off joining
00:40:52the record holders. 4.7 seconds now. Norris is catching Piastri very quickly indeed. Five to go,
00:41:00including this lap. Of course, what he will now come up against is Isaac Hadja, which might just
00:41:07delay him by a couple of tenths or three tenths or so as they reach the end of the Kemmel straights.
00:41:13But what he has got, Lando Norris, as well as the advantage of the hard tire, more durable,
00:41:18lasting longer. Piastri nursing a bit his mediums towards the end of this race. We're on lap 40.
00:41:25Time is running out for Lando Norris, but he's definitely not giving up the ghost here.
00:41:30He might yet get this down to something dramatic on the last lap, but it is going to be last lap,
00:41:37Lando, I think, if he's going to get past Oscar Piastri. And as it stands, 16 points,
00:41:43the advantage for Oscar Piastri. If he wins this race, it'll be two points, the advantage for Oscar
00:41:48Piastri, if Lando Norris wins this race. Norris still behind Hadja.
00:41:53There is sales of rain developing around the track. Currently clear. We're monitoring.
00:42:00Is it me or is it always at Spa? Someone comes on late in the race and says,
00:42:04you know, it might be a bit of rain, you know, for a couple of laps.
00:42:06It could be Norris has lost another, has lost a lap of gain here because Hadja is still in front of him
00:42:13as they head towards the chicane. He'll outbrake him now, but this is a lap gone of catching.
00:42:21Yeah. Once again, we go back to that, you know, one point seven seconds or so that he's lost with a
00:42:28couple of little mistakes. Lando Norris and how costly they could be come the end of this race.
00:42:34Yeah. He's still gained on him a little bit. My goodness, it is going to be close, isn't it?
00:42:39It certainly is. Very close. It certainly is. Oscar Piastri finished second in the race last year.
00:42:46Second after George Russell first on the road was disqualified. Lewis Hamilton inheriting the victory.
00:42:52Lando Norris has never finished in the top four in a Grand Prix here at Spa, and he is chasing hard still.
00:42:59And I don't think the two leaders will see any more traffic now because Sainz of Colapinto ahead of them,
00:43:04still maintaining good pace. This is a straight fight now between Piastri and Norris. Piastri nursing
00:43:10his tyres to the end. Norris wringing the neck of his. And Verstappen coming back a bit at Charles Leclerc too.
00:43:18So there's still time in this race for Max Verstappen to try and get an overtake done. He's been
00:43:24frustrated behind Leclerc for pretty much the whole race, but there's not a huge amount of difference
00:43:29between the two of them as Ocon leads through Blanchiment, Antonelli and Alonso behind him.
00:43:35The gap now Norris has cleared. Isaac Hadja, the gap 3.8 seconds and two tenths Lando Norris faster
00:43:45in the first sector. Four tenths the difference in the middle sector. And Lando now can see his rival
00:43:52very clearly indeed. And Oscar Piastri will see the McLaren in his mirrors. Even on a gloomy day,
00:43:59and it is turning a bit gloomy once again here at Spa, that papaya stands out. And I don't know,
00:44:04what difference does it make to a driver's mindset, Martin, when you can suddenly see your rival
00:44:11right behind you? It spurs you on, there's no doubt about it. You can measure, you measure,
00:44:16corner lap by lap, just how much you're catching as well. Catching Esteban Ocon. Kimi Antonelli,
00:44:22but not catching and overtaking. He stays in 16th place, 15th then for Esteban Ocon. But that's just
00:44:30scraps for personal pride. This is the charge of the papaya number four for Lando Norris. 3.6 seconds
00:44:41the gap. Oscar Piastri just having a little look at his mirrors. He'll see that Lando is right there,
00:44:47tenth. Weather update. Could be a few drops in turn one in the last couple of laps. Not currently
00:44:54expecting it, but not impossible. Just a tenth of a second difference in the first part of the lap.
00:44:59Tom Stallard has a little bit of a look there to see if there's any rain coming. The gap now,
00:45:053.2 seconds. It's a brilliant charge by Lando Norris. Got to say, out in front, it's very,
00:45:12very well controlled and managed by Oscar Piastri. 29 laps he's been on these medium compound tyres,
00:45:18and his pace is still very, very good. Norris on the hard tyre, picking up the pace, having switched on
00:45:26to what has turned into, Martin, a much better race tyre than anyone was expecting. Yeah, those two
00:45:31little errors, we talked about them, but he'd have been, he'd have been really into his slipstream and
00:45:35his DRS by now. But hey-ho, they happened. There's nothing he can do about it, but he's certainly got his
00:45:41head down as Lando Norris, and he's gaining another six tenths already in the first two sectors of this lap.
00:45:48He's going to run out of laps. But this is a crucial lap now coming up. Two laps to go for Oscar Piastri
00:45:55and for Lando Norris, and the gap as they cross the line is 3.1 seconds. Could have been 1.4 seconds.
00:46:04Lando could have been within DRS. Oh, and he locks up there, going into the source on the final lap,
00:46:10and is that third little error going to cost Lando Norris here? I don't think he's going to catch him
00:46:14anyway, to be honest. But yeah, there's a lot of marbles out there, aren't there? Did you see the debris
00:46:19on the track? You can see it all over there. The bits of discarded rubber we refer to as marbles.
00:46:24That's how it feels when you get on top of them. But yeah, that's cost him, hasn't it? That's cost him
00:46:31the final charge, and he lost 1.1 seconds there. It certainly has. I'm going to go back, Martin.
00:46:39Before we go to Hungary, listen to the team radio and hear how calm Oscar Piastri, I'm sure, has been
00:46:46throughout this race on the team radio. But it's another solid, solid drive from this young man,
00:46:52as Jackie Ix, what a brilliant race winner, Formula One driver, and all-round character,
00:46:59is ready to wave the chequered flag here. And looking like he's going to wave it to
00:47:04Oscar Piastri, who can now see he's got a margin of five seconds. He's solid, isn't he? He's
00:47:09un-penetrable sometimes, Oscar Piastri. He neither gets flustered and excited or gets too down and
00:47:16depressed. Yeah, and I've said it many times already this season, that calm head of his,
00:47:21when it comes down to the championship showdown, is going to pay such big dividends for him.
00:47:27When the rain was coming down, and we were having a chat in the commentary box, we were talking about
00:47:34music legends who have been on the grid, and the tributes that have been paid this week. But
00:47:39Formula One's own Aussie, on this Sabbath Sunday in Spa, starts his final lap, and he's been on song
00:47:46today, and he's going to take the headlines, and he will deserve them too. His last two laps,
00:47:51Oscar Piastri have been personal best. He was saving some grip in case he needed it, he didn't.
00:47:58And it's a grip that might yet strengthen his ginger claim on the championship trophy. Nothing.
00:48:07As we start the second part of the season, there's been won, decided, or lost. But to take to Hungary,
00:48:13after his teammate had won the last couple of races, a 16-point championship lead will at least ensure
00:48:20that he, well not totally, but ensure that he should lead into the summer break. And those things can
00:48:26really help the confidence too. Charles Leclerc has kept Max Verstappen at bay here today,
00:48:32and is just opening up the gap once again on him. Alex Albon still has Lewis Hamilton,
00:48:37pressuring him in sixth place. Piastri through Pouhon. Just a few more corners to go now,
00:48:45for a man who has been rock solid and has made this strategy work, and that overtake he did on the
00:48:50first lap. So, so crucial. Yeah, absolutely. Gave him the lead, gave him clear air,
00:48:55gave him pit stop priority. And then he's eat the grip out of these tyres when nobody else could
00:49:04get the medium compound tyres so far, so fast. But Leclerc and Verstappen have done exactly the same
00:49:11thing, same strategy, but they're 20-odd seconds behind him. Oscar Piastri on a 30-race scoring streak,
00:49:20promoted to second place here last year. He's gone one better here at Spa this year, and he's done it
00:49:27all by himself. Oscar Piastri wins the Belgian Grand Prix, and it is Lando Norris home in second place
00:49:36for a sixth 1-2 finish of the season for a dominant McLaren team. High fives aren't enough. It's high
00:49:43tens for Zac Brown on the pit wall. Charles Leclerc will pick up a fourth podium in sixth Grand Prix.
00:49:50It's a super drive from him. And those three milliseconds that he pit Max Verstappen to snatch
00:49:57third place in qualifying yesterday might just have paid dividends here today. Comes home to finish on
00:50:03the podium. Max Verstappen in fourth. Lewis Hamilton is pushing Alex Albon all the way to the line as
00:50:10George Russell crosses that line. Alex Albon holds on to sixth place, just seven tenths of a second between
00:50:18himself and Lewis Hamilton. Points for Liam Lawson, two and eighth. Great afternoon. Really good.
00:50:26Let's go. Really good job, mate. Really good. Nicely done. Nicely done.
00:50:35He's very happy with that, I can assure you. Third points finish in six races for Liam Lawson.
00:50:39Gabriel Bortoletto for a second points finish in Formula One for him, and Pierre Gasly holds off
00:50:45the rest to finish 10th. And Oli Behrman joins the list, ladies and gentlemen, of Nelson Piquet,
00:50:55Heinz-Hara Frensen, Michely Albonato, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas and Robert
00:51:00Kubica for the most consecutive finishes in a single place other than first. And it's 11th for him here,
00:51:07and he's done it four times in a row. That's his claim to the record books. I'm sure this man will have
00:51:12a claim on the record books for many, many wins, polls and possibly championships to come.
00:51:18Piastri's day here. Yeah, it was a brilliant drive. Well deserved. And it'll be interesting to hear about
00:51:26that battery stuff from Lando Norris in the opening laps. But I think on that start, he telegraphed it
00:51:36very early, didn't he? And Oscar just stayed with him, got in his slipstream
00:51:42and was able to take the lead and then control the race from there.
00:51:48Yeah. Lando would have had a chance. I mean, could have, would have, should have. Without those
00:51:55three slip-ups, he would have had a chance to get into a DRS range to try and make an overtake on his
00:52:01teammate. Yeah. Yeah, if he'd had a totally faultless drive without the three errors we saw,
00:52:10you're right. He'd have been right on his gearbox.
00:52:12And this man had Max Verstappen on his gearbox all the way through it
00:52:21and survived to take a podium and finish his third here. Charles Leclerc for the third year in a row.
00:52:31It's been a reasonable day for Ferrari, hasn't it? Lewis out of the pit lane, gets a seventh.
00:52:35Charles on the podium again, as you say. George Russell,
00:52:41kind of no man's land, wasn't he? But he's still there in fifth place. Alex Albon,
00:52:45fine drive for Williams and then Lawson, Bortoleto and Gasly taking some points too.
00:52:53Salesforce driver of the day, Lewis Hamilton started in the pit lane and came home to finish in seventh
00:53:00and taking a large percentage of the voting there and doing a large percentage of the
00:53:05overtaking on the track as well. And good to see it was too. George Russell, since his win in Canada,
00:53:14doesn't have a top four finish. Kimi Antonelli, since his podium in Canada, doesn't have a point
00:53:18scoring finish. Kind of shows you, I think with both struggling there, that it's not just about the
00:53:24driver, the car, might be partly to blame. I think Yuki Sunaid will be very disappointed with that,
00:53:31because he seemed much happier, didn't he, with the car, the upgraded floor and his qualified
00:53:35performance was way better. This was the final lockup
00:53:40for Lando Norris, and that cost him another 1.2 seconds. So if it was 1.7 seconds that he lost
00:53:51before then, that's now, well, 1.7, 2.9 seconds. He would have finished half a second behind Piastri,
00:53:59but crucially, he would have had DRS on the last lap to make a go for it and a possible overtake.
00:54:05All ifs and buts and maybes and we'll roll on now to the next race, but that's the facts for Lando
00:54:13Norris today. Here's Jolien Parma with the microphone. Charles, fantastic drive to get Ferrari back to a
00:54:21podium. I'm guessing with the car that you had today, you were thinking the rain might not suit
00:54:27you and you had to really work in that first stint. How was it with Max behind on the Inters?
00:54:30Max was behind the whole race within two seconds, so it's never easy. I knew that the first part of
00:54:38the race was the trickiest one for us because we maybe didn't have the downforce that the McLaren
00:54:44or that Max had as they compromised a little bit the qualifying to be better in the rain today,
00:54:49but luckily it dried up pretty quickly and then the pace was good, but still Max was right behind
00:54:55all the whole race. So I'm pretty happy that we managed to keep that third place. Yeah, you pitted
00:55:00the same lap and the crew did a great job to get you back out ahead of Max again and then the fight
00:55:05continued. We did see it close up. We have Brian on the radio telling you it's 1.2 seconds suddenly
00:55:10and you wanted to be left alone in that moment. How is it when you've got Max chasing you,
00:55:14even in the dry there, knowing that a podium here is a great result for Ferrari?
00:55:18Yeah, I mean obviously the pressure is high, especially in those conditions because as soon
00:55:22as you are 10-15 centimeters out the first, the right line, then it's wet or greasy and then you
00:55:28can lose the line and do a very big mistake. So at one point I just told Brian to leave me alone,
00:55:34but obviously he's trying to give me the most information. Sometimes I need them, today I didn't
00:55:41and I let him know. And upgrades on the car, Budapest next week, not a sprint race, hoping for a little bit more?
00:55:47I hope so. I mean, honestly, we've had what we expected with this upgrade and that's really positive.
00:55:55We need to keep learning about how to maximize this new upgrade. It's still pretty new, but it's a good
00:56:01first weekend and I'm happy that we are on the podium to thank the whole team back in Maranello.
00:56:06So, but we keep pushing and hopefully we'll put soon a bit more pressure on the McLarens.
00:56:12Yeah, great job. Brilliant recovery this weekend. Well done, Charles.
00:56:14Thank you. Thank you very much.
00:56:17Lando, second place today. Really tricky conditions out there. I mean,
00:56:24we've got to start with the start. Intermediate tyres and it just looked like a difficulty
00:56:29to find that grip and in an instant the lead was gone.
00:56:32Yeah, I mean, Oscar just did a good job. Nothing more to say. I committed a bit more through Eruj and
00:56:39I had the slipstream and got the run. So yeah, nothing to complain of. I did a better job in the
00:56:45beginning and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point. So yes, I mean, I would love to be
00:56:51up top, but Oscar deserved it today. Yeah, very evenly matched in terms of pace, but you changed the tyre to the hard.
00:56:57It seemed like a really last minute question that you were asked and then a sensible choice to take
00:57:01the hard tyre and then just a flat out push to see what you could do. You had a good chase.
00:57:05Yeah. Was it possible if you had kept it perfectly clean? I mean, we saw a big moment at Puan and La
00:57:11Sauce. It should have, would have, could have. So I'm not going to, you know, Oscar deserved it. I'm sure
00:57:16he made a couple of mistakes. So if he drove a perfect race, you know, I could not have won today,
00:57:20you know. So, you know, I'll review my things. But I'm so happy for the team. Another one too. I think
00:57:25our first one too here for many, many years. So nice to bring that back to the team. And a well
00:57:30deserved result for, for them and for Oscar too. Yeah, still a great result and a good push. And
00:57:35you've got Budapest next week, which is a circuit I know you love as well. Pole position there last
00:57:39year. You must be looking forward to getting back to it straight away. Yes. No, Budapest is one,
00:57:43one of the, one of the best ones for me, in terms of just what I've done there in the past years. And
00:57:48it's where I started my Formula One career. So yeah, always, always good memories. And yeah,
00:57:54normally one that suits me a bit better than, than Spars. So happy with today. Slightly disappointed,
00:57:59but of course, looking forward to next week. All right, you can still go and enjoy the
00:58:01celebrations today. Well done, Lando. Thank you so much. Oscar, what a win. Second on the grid,
00:58:10converted immediately to the race lead. That was commitment on the first lap. How was it behind
00:58:15the wheel? Lively, very lively. No, I knew that lap one was going to be probably my best chance of, of
00:58:22winning the race. And yeah, I got a good exit out of turn one and then, yeah, lifted as little as I
00:58:28did through Eau Rouge. And yeah, then that it was enough. So the rest of the race, we managed
00:58:33really well, struggling a little bit at the end. Maybe the medium wasn't the best for the last five
00:58:37or six laps, but no, we had, we had it mostly under control, which is what I wanted. And you know,
00:58:43I was pretty disappointed with myself after yesterday, but it turns out starting second at Spars
00:58:47is not too bad after all. Yeah, it's worked out well this weekend. So Eau Rouge in damp conditions,
00:58:52I always thought was so difficult as a driver because the reward is huge, but the risk is also
00:58:57huge. How much have you pre-decided you were going to risk it all to try and take that race lead
00:59:02before the lights went out or the race started? Once I knew I was close, to be honest, I was a bit
00:59:07disappointed. It was a rolling start because I thought that was going to take away some opportunity,
00:59:10but I got a good exit out of turn one, was able to stay close. And then, you know, when I was that
00:59:15close, I knew that I was just going to lift a little bit less than Lando did and try and keep it on the track.
00:59:20And yeah, it was a bit lively up over the hill, but I managed to make it stick. And then from there,
00:59:26the toe helped me out. So, no, proud of my first lap. Yeah, it was great to watch. Thereafter,
00:59:31medium tyres. Were you happy with that decision when you were told that Lando would switch to the hard,
00:59:36still work to do? I mean, I kind of had the same plan if I was going to be second. So, no,
00:59:41I kind of knew that was going to be, you know, a likely decision for him. I think for me, you know,
00:59:47the medium was the safest tyre to be on at that point. You never know if someone's going to
00:59:51crash and there's a safety car. And then at that point, you want a medium for the restart.
00:59:55And also the medium seemed pretty good in the sprint yesterday. So, yeah, I think it was, it didn't.
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