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00:00Piastri go through into what is now the lead so Piastri takes the lead of this
00:05race George Russell will move back into second place the key we're watching here
00:10is Max Verstappen there goes George Russell down the main straight and then
00:15comes Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and Lando Norris will come out once again
00:20behind Max now he's a lot further back behind Max than he was before Max pitted
00:26but it's that tire offset McLaren are hoping will prove pay dividends yeah
00:29it's the it's the seven laps he's got advantage which is over 10% of the
00:34Grand Prix he's got advantage on the tires as they now pay of course Piastri to
00:39defend against Charles Leclerc's Ferrari so game on and again also to your point
00:46of course Verstappen's a lot closer to George Russell as well
00:52okay that isn't carefully we have an engine issue three to four pencil up
00:56I'm really sorry it's back but what the hell is wrong with this engine again not
01:03overly happy Isaac Hager tonight down in 15th place listen carefully I will tell
01:09you this only once yeah it did sound a little like that Isaac starting at eighth in this race
01:16down in the 15th after his pit stop so Alonso hasn't pitted yet Lawson Stroll Ocon and Sainz
01:23haven't pitted yet neither has Alex Albon and neither has this man Oscar Piastri who's led this race
01:30then for a couple of laps but Ted Kravitz is coming into the pit lane now he is heading your way
01:35and at the moment we'll still be behind Lando Norris but ahead of Fernando Alonso got to say
01:40well done to the McLaren guys their pit stop oh no no no now it's slow the left rear won't go off
01:47oh my goodness me not again they were so happy with themselves with Lando's stop because they
01:53didn't have a problem now the left rear wouldn't come off on that stop how much what was the final
01:58time five point two for five seconds ah no you you gain some you lose some for McLaren more problems
02:05he'll be ahead of the Ferrari though of Charles Leclerc so no harm done in terms of track position
02:13uh just in terms of being a further behind his teammate Lando Norris but um yeah so Lando rolled the
02:21dice there didn't want problem at Aston Martin for Fernando Alonso the wheel gun just won't engage
02:27on the nut to tighten it up and if it was a well say another four seconds stationary for Fernando Alonso
02:33that's just sent him tumbling out of the points after running a super first into this race he comes
02:39out behind Liam Lawson he'll be hoping uh sorry behind Isaac Hadja be hoping he's ahead then
02:45of Colopinto in the Alpine and he is but only just to go back to that McLaren pit stop Martin
02:514.13 seconds for Lando Norris in Baku 5.37 seconds in Monza and a 5.2 second pit stop here in Singapore
03:02you know it's it's like London buses these slow pit stops and this one affecting Piastri the two
03:07previous affecting Norris let's have a look at it he's on his mark he's in the middle
03:13yeah it's that left rear yeah
03:19and uh what's going on down here a little bit of uh Dan Deer overtaking by Oli Behrman on Alex Albon
03:31like that that was good Albon hasn't pitted yet Behrman has and he's up into third into 12th place
03:37ahead then of Alex Albon right let's uh let's refresh ourselves shall we George Russell now leads
03:44by four seconds to Max Verstappen the gap was over 10 seconds before the pit stops but George has got
03:51much much fresher tires Lando Norris into third place and he's got fresher tires than Max Verstappen
03:58and he's about five seconds back at the moment and then there's about a 10 second gap back to Oscar
04:03Piastri in fourth place then comes Charles Leclerc about three and a half seconds ahead of Oscar
04:09Kimi Antonelli as we can see here is right on Charles Leclerc's tail in DRS helping him at the end of the
04:17straight so far you'd have to say that uh Verstappen and Red Bull look more comfortable uh on the hard
04:26compound tires uh when you're looking at the lap times because he's now matching George Russell
04:31where George Russell was just steaming way at the front but George will have it I'm sure be pacing
04:37himself oh that looked extremely close to the wall didn't it for Kimi Antonelli but he's looking
04:42very racy behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc just as we ride on board with Kimi Antonelli let's
04:49just watch his steering wheel and that issue still affecting him right hand down to keep it straight
04:5434 to go if you speak to me every laugh I will disconnect already that sounds like a I want to
05:03be alone message from Fernando Alonso who is not best pleased that is a tell me only once message isn't
05:10in fact don't tell me only once I don't want you to tell me anything unlike Anthony Davidson at Sky Race
05:16Control who we would like to tell everything well I mean just just looking at this uh the rear end
05:23view there of Charles Leclerc on Kimi Antonelli so it was Leclerc basically the threat of that undercut
05:28on the McLarens particularly Oscar Piastri that scuppered their plans of going very long into this race
05:35both drivers at McLaren were reporting before their stops that the tires felt okay they were
05:40fine to carry on with their plan of going long but the guy watching on screen at the moment and that
05:45potential undercut forced both McLarens in and that in turn really helped George Russell who was just
05:51starting to complain about his tires he was asked to go five more laps he said I'm not enjoying this
05:57tire at the moment and that's why they brought him in so it's actually really saved George as well
06:02thanks to the uh the two earlier stoppers of Verstappen and Leclerc I think what's significant
06:08also here is that remember Max was told out lap critical Max went out and thrashed the life out of
06:14those tires he had to to keep track position trying to gain track position as well whereas I think
06:19Russell Norris and Piastri could just bring theirs in a little bit more gently absolutely
06:24uh Kimi Antonelli by the way fastest man on the racetrack or with the fastest lap I should say
06:28but that's being held by the four DRS zones around here and his pursuit of Charles Leclerc
06:34and it's every time he watches that Ferrari at turn 14 he'll be like yeah just make a little
06:42mate little mistake little mistakes bad traction coming out of there I'm coming for you
06:47Charles Leclerc stops in this race I'm just trying to look at the tire offset on lap 21
06:56Kimi Antonelli uh stops at lap 25 so he's got a four lap tire offset now is that enough
07:03to help him I wonder have just slightly fresher rubber better performance Martin to get him by
07:09Charles Leclerc eventually
07:10it's hard to overtake around here but uh and the and the hard compound tires have got to basically
07:17go off before I think that happens it's all about the traction zones that get you onto the straight
07:22because if you can carry extra speed you get an advantage all the way down the straight so there's
07:28a lunging point later on if you're a bit closer into turn seven but it's easy to forget that
07:34Kimi Antonelli is 19 years old he's a teenager isn't it only just 19 years of age as well
07:41uh Kimi Antonelli had his birthday at the end of August Isaac Hadja had his birthday the other day
07:49shares his birthday with Mika Hakkinen who I saw in the paddock looking uh very happy with life
07:54currently at the moment as we head on into uh October after a September where Max Verstappen was
08:00probably the happiest of uh of any driver uh to be honest well September he had two Grand Prix
08:05wins got his license to raid the race the Nordschleife won the four-hour NLS race in a Ferrari with uh with
08:13Chris Lodham as well he had a great September October hasn't started as well as he was hoping but
08:18he's certainly not out of this one so that's the third consecutive lap where Verstappen and for that
08:23matter Norris and Piastri have been faster than George Russell in the lead yeah keep an eye on that
08:30as we head down to Ted yeah but at least I mean just picking up on Piastri after that slow stop where
08:35he lost a couple of seconds he has been quicker than Lando Norris but only by a few tenths of a second
08:40per lap I guess the silver lining to that cloud Crofty is that at least Norris while is not really
08:47closing up particularly on Max Verstappen and at least at the moment Norris isn't going to win the race
08:52it looks like George Russell as things stand at the moment has the best chance of winning the race
08:57so Oscar would only drop a couple of points wouldn't he at this stage to Norris I think for me and we're
09:03just over half race distance nobody has done anything like a long fuel run a long run with heavy fuel so
09:10far this weekend in these sort of conditions so the teams really have no idea how it's going to go
09:16from here on in because FP2 was disrupted by so many two red flags and so many minutes lost they are all racing
09:24into the unknown a touch yeah but towards the end of the season they kind of know their cars quite well but you're
09:29right they don't know it's a bit of a mystery to them on this obviously it's a temporary race track and it
09:37rubbers in a lot you know quite nowhere it's heading to I saw Bert Mylander the safety car driver a bit
09:43earlier I said you're preparing for a busy night no I said no be quiet I'll put my feet up nothing's
09:48going to happen obviously remembering last year where he didn't come out they didn't even wave a
09:52yellow flag yeah that was incredible wasn't it not a single yellow we have had brief yellows out today
09:57haven't we fair one brief yellow that was the first race in the history of the Formula One World
10:02championship that didn't feature a single yellow flag or a safety car uh in in that particular in a
10:09in a particular race Oli Behrmann's getting some racing done as he uh makes his way back through the
10:14field he's got uh past Alex Albon Carlos Sainz is the next ahead of him Albon and Sainz uh haven't
10:22pitted yet Stroll hasn't pitted yet Lawson hasn't pitted yet maybe hoping to take advantage of a safety car
10:28if it comes Leclerc's been struggling a bit for pace although the last lap was better
10:33and suddenly it's now Hamilton coming at Antonelli the youngster who took his seat when he moved to
10:40Ferrari yeah just out of interest Lance Stroll by the way started 15th running 9th at the moment
10:46is on the soft compound tyre so they've lasted 32 laps so far on that soft compound tyre which is a
10:55it's a pretty decent achievement even though he is lapping in the 139s at the moment only just in
11:00the 139s can't spend his dad's money on wanting to new tyres doesn't he very far simonious budget son
11:07budget is what he's been sold you want what some new tyres another time what do you think I made of money
11:13three seconds the gap out in front as I say that it drops to 2.9 and a bit
11:20George Russell ahead of Max Verstappen bit by bit and half a second on the last lap
11:27Verstappen's coming at Russell here you know
11:29he is isn't he he really is unless George has got a little bit of time in his pocket if he has he needs to start
11:35delivering it but
11:36yeah that's actually a tremendous job from Lance Stroll to get this far into the race
11:42on tyres that were believed to be good for 18 to 20 laps
11:46in fact it's a sterling effort and his sister's here as well and uh Scotty yeah Chloe's here and
11:51Scotty her husband and uh Lawrence's uh Lawrence's grandchild is here as well absolutely fabulous to
11:58see them at the racetrack this could be hotting up a little bit out in front Russell and Verstappen
12:04what's happening to Pierre Gasly towards the end of the uh field he's brushing the wall slightly
12:11there down in 19th place uh Caroline didn't seem clean when he only hit the throttle
12:18yeah not been a weekend to remember so far and for the Alpine team but that is a bang against the wall
12:25yeah that's that's a bigger bang uh that we saw Lando Norris uh scrape the wall a little bit earlier
12:30I said that Verstappen was faster than Russell Norris was also about four tenths faster and
12:37and Piastri was about half a second faster uh than George Russell so it's not just it's not just a
12:42pace advantage from the guy behind George it's a pace advantage that the guys behind Max have got as
12:51well on George yeah we're just getting in the second half of the race so Lando Norris they're being
12:55reminded to drink and that's a good idea it's a good thing to remind because you forget when you're
12:59in the car but uh all of a sudden George can see that yellow nose of the red bull in his mirrors and
13:07he might even just catch the papaya as they like to call it nose of the McLaren as well as on the
13:13longer straight so uh it's 7.2 covers the top three and if you remember what it was just under 10 seconds
13:20that Russell led before the pit stops yeah it might be a bit of a slow burn at the end of this race but
13:25there's enough tyre offset out there to make this quite a competitive finish so I would keep
13:33everything trained to your screens or onto the track because I don't think we're done here yet
13:37and Charles Leclerc has by the way just set his fastest lap of the race trying to keep Kimi Antonelli at bay
13:42the strategist working hard on the pit wall trying to work out what the target lap times are for the
13:51drivers to get those tyres to the finish and to get them into the place where they need them to be
13:56Carlos Sainz is gaining on Lance Stroll those soft tyres he's struggling a little bit on at the
14:01moment so what they're hoping for by going long long long like this is a safety car so they get a
14:07cheap pit stop um and if they don't it kind of destroys the afternoon or the evening
14:12yes 30 lap 35 out of uh 62 just watching the timing screens here and George Russell I think
14:22has just picked up his pace a touch in the last uh lap and a half to uh try and keep Verstappen at bay
14:28what he suppose what certainly what Lando Norris doesn't want is Max to get into the DRS and and get
14:35that advantage behind George Russell and I would imagine George Russell would dearly love Max not to
14:40be within a second as well Carlos Sainz is very much within a second of uh Lance Stroll here as we
14:46make our way through turn 11 towards this unrelenting sequence of uh corners across the Anderson Bridge
14:54and then on to the Esplanade and Ted we can head to you nothing Aston Martin can do about it but
15:00Lance Stroll doing this tyre marathon on the soft is really hurting his teammate Fernando Alonso isn't
15:05it Crofty because Stroll behind him one second to Sainz less than that to Behrman less than that to
15:10Albon and then Hadjar with an engine problem and then Alonso on Hadjar's tail and uh Alonso on the
15:16tyres that are pretty new and he can't really make any uh any spaces up even on Hadjar with an engine
15:22issue a bit of a DRS daisy train uh going on there at uh at the moment let's see if Carlos Sainz can do
15:28something about it here and there's Ollie Behrman right on Sainz's tail uh isn't isn't Stroll actually
15:34backing the pack up nicely for Alonso to catch up after that uh lumpy pit stop um so because there's
15:43quite a queue now and Alonso can now start having a go at Hadjar Albon and co with his fresher tyres
15:50would be good teamwork if that certainly is the case George Russell's definitely just picked up
15:56his pace a little bit compared to those uh around him and they're all lapping within a tenth of a
16:02second of each other the top four yeah three different teams in the top four and they were
16:06virtually identical lap times last time around lap 37 here in Singapore as George Russell and Max
16:14Verstappen and Lando Norris crossed the line if you don't mind at this moment I'll do a little shout
16:19out to a young man called Will Mack Max has had a bit of a drama somewhere I'm going to assume he's
16:25locked his front tyres up going in here oh yeah very much like Lando Norris did last time
16:32oh that's just given uh Russell some breathing space but uh that was a that was a big lock up
16:41I'm not surprised that's a that caught Max out and surprised Max as Esteban oh come getting very
16:47very close with the Alpine of Pierre Gasly that's the battle for last place uh currently and this
16:53is Fernando Alonso and Isaac Hadjar and Hadjar staying ahead of Fernando Alonso but only just
17:00because Alonso's coming back at him and he's got onto the marbles a bit there has the uh racing balls
17:05he's got the engine issue of course and that's allowed Alonso to get back at him and under braking
17:10Hadjar manages to keep Alonso at bay there's some decent racing going on out there at the moment
17:15I thought I thought Fernando got the job done there but Isaac Hadjar had a different point of
17:22view DRS down the bit straight steaming around the outside but somehow Hadjar keeps making the apex
17:28I'll tell you what there's a young man called Will Mack Will McIntyre is going to be really enjoying
17:33that and all of this racing GB3 racer as Alonso manages to get past is a good friend of mine
17:39Will Mack 37 he has got a battle off track at the moment uh that he is fighting and had some pretty
17:46bad news a couple of weeks ago and the motorsport community has sent a lot of love and support to
17:50him and we do that as well as he continues uh his uh recovery uh back at home we'll see you down the
17:57gym soon Will you can fight this one mate you really can
18:00trophy for the hero of race
18:03that's cheered Alonso up isn't it you know I don't want to hear from you don't talk to me
18:08look now give me a trophy he means Hadjar does he presumably I think he means himself doesn't he
18:12yeah that was great overtaking it was very feisty racing good defense from Hadjar but very very feisty
18:22from Fernando and again then Fernando can now cruise straight up uh behind they'd like he lost a lot of
18:29time in that battle but um if Stroll stays out it'll put Alonso on the back of Albon and co as well
18:36who are yet to stop oh that's good defending there from Lance Stroll Carlos Sainz thought for a moment
18:41that the door was open it's not Stroll's in the points but he's got to pit Carlos Sainz has got to pit
18:47too they're having a great old ding dong Ollie Behrman has pitted and would quite like to clear both of
18:52them Verstappen has been off at turn two as well on the previous lap so seems to be starting to
18:59struggle with slowing that Red Bull down so the issues the downshift issues that he's been suffering
19:06from are they started to affect him more I thought this was just great racing great racing to be fair
19:12Fernando Alonso getting all squirrelly as he gets the power down there slightly lost the rear end he just
19:20buried the throttle and and left uh a number 11 with his black tire and rear tires didn't he
19:26and uh and off he goes that was a very feisty and look then as we've got Lando Norris now beginning
19:35to really close Max Verstappen down so Verstappen when he has a tidy lap is fast enough he's all right
19:41it's the it's the little errors that are creeping in where he's clearly struggling with the control of
19:46the car so the gap under five seconds now Russell Verstappen just under five seconds Lando Norris
19:541.6 seconds uh back Verstappen has another uh lap deleted at turn two so he's gone off again at turn
20:04two with those struggles to bring the car to a slow Oscar Piastri was half a second clear uh faster
20:09than Lando Norris on the last lap so that gaps eight seconds but if it keeps coming down by half
20:16a second well he'll be there or thereabouts at the end I think it's Max just running a little bit
20:19wide in turn two isn't it and breaching the track limit line there uh if he gets three of those he'll
20:25get a warning and four of them and he'll get a five second penalty so now he's going to have to very
20:31much keep it on the racetrack stroll pits which will be music to the ears of Carlos Sainz who's in
20:39the points but has yet to pit Ollie Bearman back up into 10th place and he has pitted and the driver's
20:46championship looks like this currently we uh go to Austin the next race out uh with a 22 point
20:53advantage uh for Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen closing in again on the two McLaren drivers and to
21:00remind you on the night where McLaren can win the constructors championship uh this is looking
21:05a-okay for them with one driver currently on the podium that man there Lando Norris
21:116.3 covers the top three now it's really closing in
21:15Adam Rios like a handbrake please help
21:17okay let's have B-Bowl 6 please at the talk 9
21:20so brake balance six yeah uh and then that's an engine setting but uh it'll be it'll be engine
21:29braking so that they'll be trying to uh they'll be trying to help him with so that when you lift
21:35off you know how it is on the road you lift off and your car starts slowing down doesn't it when
21:39when the when the car's actually spinning the engine instead of the other way around
21:43you can really tune the engine braking on these cars very well indeed
21:47uh in one lap's time the computer says Lando Norris is gonna be all over the back
21:53of Max Verstappen
21:55he's got a fight on his hands here as Max with his car and maybe uh with Lando on the track
22:03just struggling in the ditch yeah already
22:06yes he is that's allowing Oscar Piastri to put in faster lap times as well to close that gap down
22:17uh that has been caused in part by the slow pit stop
22:20so Anthony putting out to me who drives these cars on the simulator that the
22:24yeah how I explained what they've got to do to help Max but the problem with that is you lose a bit of
22:30regen for your battery regeneration um so there's there's a little price to pay for uh getting rid of
22:37and some engine braking lap 41 of 62 on board with Lando Norris struggling in the dirty air
22:47my goodness Lando put those first gear downshifts really early
22:52it won't it won't let you put a downshift you're going to over rev the engine by the way so
22:55fascinating watching on board he dearly loves to have a bit of DRS down this straight to try and
23:05close in on Max Verstappen he hasn't got it yet he needs to get another six tenths of a second now
23:09here's a big deal George Russell is a is struggling now he's radiating in I'm struggling to overlap
23:17Stroll to get close to him because of the dirty air but ahead of Lance Stroll is half the rest of the field
23:24yeah so the leaders are now going to start encountering back markers now when they get
23:29within three seconds of a back marker somebody they're lapping let's call them back marker seems
23:36a bit cruel doesn't it they're all going brilliantly well but um they start getting a warning and when
23:41they're within 1.2 seconds they get the blue flag and what what the driver's saying is I'm struggling to
23:48get that you know that close to these drivers so um it's it's now they're the they're going to have
23:54to be really good with the blue flags here to uh to give to let the leaders make their way through
24:01the pack that they're about to come across is it time for my annual ban blue flags in formula one uh
24:07campaign here that was wide there for Lando very wide on the way in and then just uh just up against the
24:14wall through the exit so I'm going to assume it'll be a scruffy lap for Norris it is it's a 37-0 he lost
24:20nine tenths of a second with that little moment we just picked him up with there yeah just compromised
24:27his exit and then went wide uh coming out of it lost a lot of time first blue flag has been waived for
24:33Lance Stroll and if you go past three of those and he's now letting Russell through if you go past three
24:38of those you'll get a penalty you've got to get out of the way at the first opportunity yeah but
24:43martin why do we need these blue flags doesn't it make things way more interesting if the back
24:49markers don't have to jump out of the way like scared rabbits yeah you know when you were racing
24:53around spa last week did you did you respect the blue flags were only blue flags being waived for you
24:58i have my eyes closed most of the time to be honest well done though top stint yeah yeah i enjoyed
25:04it oh here we go this is the replay then of Lando getting deep in and then having to rescue it on
25:10the exit yeah you see it's a like last year these little couple of mistakes during the course of this
25:19race for Lando Norris didn't cost him last year at all he went on to win a course from pole it's not
25:26costing him this year in terms of he's on course to finish higher than he started
25:31his teammate oscar piastri on course to finish a place lower than he started and davidson reminding
25:37me that remember in qualifying yesterday when max said i will remember because he thought he got in
25:41his way entirely convinced he did but max was sure he did um well he's certainly sending plenty of
25:47dirty air Lando Norris's way today so that payback didn't take long did it and talking of dirty air
25:53fernando alonso is breathing it in currently with alex albon ahead of him and not breathing it in
25:59for long although a big lock up from albon as he tries to defend that takes him off the track and
26:05alonso skips through they're all trying aren't they desperately hard to keep fernando alonso at bay
26:13but nothing doing there for alex albon who hasn't pitted yet remember yeah you have to get up pretty
26:18early in the morning to out maneuver fernando in those sort of situations here's a battle you've
26:23got two saubers an alpine and a has hulkenberg ahead of bortoleto ahead of gasly ahead of yeah who's lost
26:31a bit of uh end plate there as bortoleto gets very close to gasly stays ahead of him and ocon is just
26:39playing a watching brief here thinking someone's gonna make a mistake something's gonna happen i'm
26:44i'm gonna skip past a couple of people and ahead of these yuki sunoda in 14th as max verstappen gets
26:51on the radio and complaints once again about the balance of his car but he's still doing the lap times
26:57he was quicker than russell who's now really getting into the traffic though russell's coming up behind
27:02that massive squabble we were just looking at that is a lock up and a half all the fillings out of his
27:09teeth apart he doesn't have any does he i wouldn't imagine alex albon there's more smoke there on the
27:15track than on stage at an iron maiden encore this is yuki sunoda uh behind colopinto that could have
27:21been what that could have wiped both of them out of this race and that could have been sunoda losing
27:26a bit of front wing again i wonder if that it did make contact with his front wing colopinto then goes
27:31off and sunoda skips through guy's getting desperate out there isn't it we can see again
27:40another lock up as the alpino colopinto disappeared off there did he actually leave a car's width
27:47at that final corner and that is where we lost a bit of front wing end plate and it's come off the uh
27:53the sauber and i'm not surprised something got clipped off a car there they were that close all of them
28:00for so many corners that's hulkenberg's front wing on that occasion so that's two sauber front wings
28:05in the bin and as you mentioned george russell is right on the tail end of this so pick your way
28:13through this one george now with a little bit of care and attention oscar we now think we should take
28:19the safety car for a stop just let me know if you strongly disagree i don't know what we're doing right
28:26now you don't think it's best we've got it he's not happy is he um interestingly verstappen is nowhere
28:38near nowhere near catching and passing strong yet so with uh max is uh whereas george is sort of
28:46already steaming into that next pack yeah he's got past dock on so first of that uh pack has been
28:52lapsed just saw max in the distance behind stroll this is lando norris that was that was throw the
28:59car straight into the corner and see what happens and that is the effect of the turbulent air of a car
29:05in front when you're uh full beans so uh we cut live to that didn't we just as he was jockeying the
29:11back end of the car around the corner and that incident between hulkenberg and colo pinto has
29:16been noted and that lap from lando norris that we caught the tail end of was half a second quicker
29:20than max verstappen and oscar piastri now six seconds behind uh his teammate lando norris and
29:27anthony davidson what have you got for us at sky race control oh i'll leave this one too oh that is
29:33well the front wing damaged already but that is nico hulkenberg at turn seven heading off the track and
29:40that's one less car uh now for george russell to try and lap i hope he's going the right way
29:46he's sort of arrived in there backwards didn't he what happened to me in a race once in adelaide i
29:51wasn't sure it's going the right way but it sounds ridiculous but as a story i'll tell another day
29:56yeah down under many ways we're on board now with hulkenberg is he uh as he sends it under
30:01brake oh did he hit the wall no he um the rear axle on downshift
30:06went into anti-store which was good yeah heavy braking and then uh just lost some aero i'd
30:14imagine he had to suddenly break a bit harder as well and it's nice and neatly down the runoff area
30:20right and back to you yeah sorry about that rudely interrupted by hulkenberg spin but glad he's all
30:25right uh yeah so the driver's being told and this might be it blue flag get out of the way
30:31it's on top of the blue flags the other issues that the driver's being told to manage is obviously
30:37this late into the race look at the marbles on the outside of the last corner there for example
30:42manage the marbles whilst trying to pick your way through these slower cars and look after your own
30:47tires so the the drivers really having to think on their feet here to to keep the speed going that's
30:53why we're seeing so many mistakes at this this later stage in the race yeah those marbles if you're
30:58going for an overtake aren't going to help either 1.2 seconds now norris behind verstappen yeah um what
31:04tends to happen though as you come up to lap back markers is they then become more aware of the leaders
31:11coming through so often you're having to plow a bit of a furrow as the leader despite the blue flags but
31:17russell has still got a couple of back markers between him and verstappen and he's hoping to make that
31:23three or four anytime soon yeah there's there's george russell three back markers then verstappen and
31:29norris and guess what lando norris is now less than a second behind max verstappen so is verstappen
31:37struggling uh with downshift issues we believe or is it the offset on the tires that are starting to come
31:46into play at these latter stages of the race either way he is struggling there and the back markers
31:52aren't helping either no i think it's more back markers right now because we noticed with stroll
31:57that um he moved eventually moved out of the way for max and stayed out of the way for lando to come
32:03through as well that's the what i'm telling you about about how you you know the the front car of a
32:08of a pair like this tends to wake the pack up a little bit for you but max on the radio i'm struggling a
32:15lot now so that makes me think it isn't just the back markers uh there's there's all sorts of
32:20struggles going on for max verstappen and that's seven tenths of a second the gap four drs zones
32:26for lando norris to use to get an extra 20 kilometers an hour by the end of that drs zone to try
32:32and get alongside the red bull and max's front left looks horrible so if you have to go offline to pass
32:37these cars you pick up those marbles the little discarded pieces of rubber they're cold that cold rubber
32:43sits on the surface of your tire max's front left looks a bit ugly hamilton is pitting to put
32:50himself on softer tires to the end of this race lando norris is now just a couple of car lengths
32:55isn't he behind max verstappen and this has implications for the championship because if
33:00norris can move into second place he's going to be six points better off in this race than his
33:05teammate and that then does start to make a bit of a difference in the mindset of the championship
33:10leader yeah and it's a free pitch stop for lewis hamilton because he's got a 50 second gap behind
33:16him so why not put him there's no point for fastest lap anymore which i think is a great shame personally
33:21and that came about because of this race uh with daniel ricardo didn't it a couple of years back yeah
33:26daniel his last race in formula one getting the fastest lap at the final lap and pinching it off the
33:31man we're watching now gaining on max verstappen lando norris he would have had a grand slam uh victory
33:37wouldn't he last year if that hadn't happened what he wants now is second place in this race
33:42and has he got enough straight line speed to put pressure on max verstappen at the end of the
33:47straight not quite and he's struggling in that dirty air to keep within a couple of car lengths of max
33:53verstappen through those corners now we get on to the main straight and there's another chance at the
33:59end of this but max has now got drs as he's trying to lap the back markers and that's kind of helping him
34:05in his fight against lando norris max was trying to get a bit of extra cooling there as well
34:11by ducking around uh but there again you see max clears the way and lando drives through the gap yeah
34:19the uh he got stuck behind uh gasly for a lot longer than lando norris did gasly getting out of
34:25the way as soon as he could the gap just under half a second by the time we get into turn seven and all the
34:32while this is happening george russell is extending his advantage out in front because of course he's
34:39now cleared all the back markers that verstappen and norris are having to plow their way through
34:44russell will now will catch another group though lawsell alonso science but bearman and had jar
34:49sunoda as well so they will catch another burn but nothing like he's just had to go through
34:55it's a battle against the cars on the track it's a battle against the elements as well don't forget
35:00the temperature air temperature 30 degrees it's 60 degrees in the cockpit we're on lap 48 it's a real
35:07race of attrition for these drivers who train for the season for this race as the most attritious
35:13race to keep their mind and their body alive at these stages as lando norris comes back at max
35:19verstappen again and verstappen having that drs again you have eight cars within 10 seconds massive
35:24following it's like starting the race in the middle of the pack and he's just been warned oscar piastri
35:30you're coming up against those back markers so verstappen is now just extended by three tenths on that lap
35:37his advantage over lando norris yeah because lando's got closer to the turbulent air being kicked off the
35:43back that's worked so hard to give the downforce on the red bull it's hot air as well um but so
35:50if max so there's a backbar between them finally if if um if lando can just keep him under pressure
35:57we know max has got some control issues going on there and that's all he can do but you know max
36:04has the high ground here yeah if he keeps it on the track i don't see any way that norris will pass him
36:09so what's happened here though is that verstappen's had that drs to help him against those struggles
36:16as he makes his way through the back markers now they've cleared those back markers lando norris
36:21still in drs range albeit only just if he can keep within drs range he gets the advantage max
36:28verstappen doesn't then we'll see if there's a chance no man the thrice is so much fun you have
36:34no idea oscar there's a lot of opportunity there's good points there
36:38i'll tell you what for a man who is normally so calm and so in control he's letting everyone
36:44know that he is not a happy bunny here tonight and he really would just like to go home at the
36:49end of this and forget all about it it's not under any kind of pressure from behind but um the the
36:55difference now of course is verstappen is not in the dirty air of the back markers so uh we'll see we'll
37:01see now if we're so the two overtaking places really uh if you can get a tremendous run down
37:08down here into one and get a bit brave but it's turn seven and turn 16 where you've got the chance
37:15for a lunge but you know max is a as a long shot for the world championship lando's not lando can't
37:23afford to trip over max verstappen tonight that's a very good point uh liam lawson pits ted kravitz the
37:29only one you haven't seen in the pit lane is carlos sainz in this in this race tonight yeah so
37:34well done liam lawson got a medium tire to lap 48 49 actually haven't seen carlos sainz as yet
37:40goal hanging for a safety car no doubt but then when you start uh from that far back then that's
37:44what you have to do uh for the williams i'm just wondering with piastri last two races in a row
37:49really we've seen him lose his cool baku ended up in the wall here hasn't been the usual so laid back
37:55his horizontal self i'm just wondering what rule it was that he feels lando broke was it that in
38:02passing him he clocked into him yeah that must be it and i'm just wondering how much that will be
38:07addressed in the uh in the midst of a constructor's championship celebration which it looks like at
38:13the moment mclaren are headed for such is their number one objective in this race yeah i say i think
38:19the gram rules changed this evening didn't they for the rest of the season between the two mclaren
38:23drivers it looks like gloves off to me now yeah well once the constructors championship is done i
38:30did suggest to lando that the gloves are off in terms of the drivers battle and he said look
38:35there's little things we can do race by race that we become more free to go and race and when the
38:40constructors championship has been done which it will be at the end of the next 10 laps well let them
38:46go and race and let's all enjoy the fun lewis hamilton currently down in seventh place on those soft
38:52tires fastest man on the track 134 three on the last lap i wonder yeah can he get kimmy antonelli
38:59before the end of the race he'll catch he should catch antonelli and leclerc at the end of the race
39:04lewis hamilton saying he had that free stop if he can keep that kind of pace up uh yes he'll be there
39:10won't he he'll be there before the end of the race just um on their tail that'll please charles
39:15leclerc if a second race in a row lewis hamilton that finishes uh ahead of him after they didn't swap
39:20in baku and lewis was given that late pit stop uh here tonight back to the norris verstappen battle
39:27in a moment there coming up to the back of yuki sunoda is your race leader george russell so you
39:34mentioned martin there's that second pack that needs to start getting out of the way and george has
39:37arrived on the scene yeah george is there and it's max's teammate he's but he's obliged to get out of the
39:43way with the blue flags like anybody else but yeah russell then is it's a four-car pack this time
39:49should be a little bit easier to get through this could be interesting lando norris has never been
39:53closer on this particular part of the track than he is to max verstappen but he just runs out of
39:58straight by the end of it he needs a really good exit here and then he might be able to get alongside
40:04don't forget his tires are seven laps fresher uh than verstappens in the red bull verstappen's doing
40:11a super job uh with this defense but now those fresher tires are going to start to really pay dividends
40:17as carlos sainz who've been gold hanging for that safety car has decided now he has to pit and does so
40:24comes in at the last man to make a pit stop russell has passed sunoda he's got hadjar
40:29and uh beerman ahead of him and then he's got clear air then until the end of the race maybe
40:35we'll have to pass alonso as a as a singleton car out there so this is key now for george russell just
40:42to get these two overtakes done in the next lap and uh then he can control his own destiny gotta say
40:49george russell it feels he's over a little bit by this place after missing out on that podium as he was
40:55chasing down what could have been a potential victory a couple of years ago he has not put a
41:00foot wrong uh in this race uh tonight didn't put a foot wrong last night as well he is on for a well
41:07deserved victory and what a time for george russell to get a victory while he's still waiting to sign a
41:13new contract with mercedes where they might have an agreement they might not have an agreement ted was
41:19told in the notebook last night an announcement could be super close but how close is that and what is the
41:23sticking point and why would mercedes want to risk george russell ever departing indeed i'm sure they
41:30don't but it's rather complicated there isn't it they're his managers as well as his employers which
41:36is uh what the hold up is yeah well let's just hope that uh common sense prevails and that they get
41:43that sorted because on the track he's uh i think he's having a splendid season i really do
41:49and called in to to step up and to start to lead that team as a driver after the departure of lewis
41:56hamilton and for me he's done exactly that meanwhile ten laps to go lando norris still chasing down
42:05max verstappen after the qualifying incident yesterday where verstappen felt that lando's dirty air as he
42:13cruised back into the pits and cost him a chance a pole and i'll remember that he said well he'll
42:18remember this tonight if he can pull off the ultimate defense against the mclaren let's keep an eye on
42:23on oscar piastri starting to get down into the 135s now just five and a half seconds adrift and as
42:30they're side by side going into turn seven if these two start squabbling piastri will be on their tail
42:37uh and i'm sure he would love to be arriving in a couple of laps on that one verstappen stays ahead
42:43there uh of norris leclerc now has antonelli within drs range and lewis hamilton we said was closing in
42:51on kimmy antonelli has got that gap down to under eight seconds in the last three laps so we'll keep an
42:57eye on that fernando alonso uh into the points after getting some great overtaking done currently eighth
43:02ahead of ollie bearman who started ninth career best night for him and isaac hadjar engine issues
43:07for him he's keeping sunoda at bay close only just but in the last points position yeah close there
43:13but once again it's this exit here i think where lando norris needs to just stay a couple of carl
43:19ends closer yeah and what's sunoda going to do here what is sunoda going to do for the team he lets them
43:24both through yeah fair play absolutely
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