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00:00Редактор субтитров А.Семкин Корректор А.Егорова
00:30Корректор А.Кулакова
01:00Корректор А.Кулакова
01:2814 points the gap between Piastri and Norris, 40 points the gap between Piastri and Verstappen,
01:33if it stays this way between now and the chequered flag.
01:38And that then starts to, I think, prey on the mind of even the calmest, coolest, most level-headed championship leader.
01:45Now Ferrari might be thinking of letting Lewis Hamilton through, he's on the medium compound tyres,
01:50it won't be long before he's saying, look, he's holding me up, I need to get past him.
01:54Well, this is going to be it, he's going to do it for himself, isn't he?
01:58But Charles Leclerc's not going to make that easy, is he?
02:00Well, he's not.
02:01He's not making it easy in the slightest.
02:04The switcheroo from Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc forces him wide, they almost make contact.
02:09The two Ferraris scrapping away just like they were in the sprint race yesterday
02:13when Hamilton did manage to get past on this occasion.
02:15It hasn't happened yet, but let's try the old switchback once more and not to be done.
02:21And Ferrari, no podium finishes in the last five races, they're running in the podium at the moment
02:26and they're almost running each other off the road.
02:29Yeah, they're going to pit Leclerc.
02:30That was silly holding Lewis up on that lap like that.
02:33So they're pitting him, which will give him a lap extra over Lewis on the fresh tyres.
02:41This will also catch McLaren's attention because he'll come out on fresh tyres
02:46and he'll be faster than Norris again.
02:50McLaren have to pit Norris right now.
02:53To cover him or they just go longer, longer, longer and think a tyre offset at the end helps him.
02:58Yeah, but of course they've got to go on to soft tyres, haven't they, McLaren?
03:01Whereas he's now got the mediums on that he'll be able to run to the end of the Grand Prix.
03:07So that's quite smart.
03:09This is working out well for Ferrari.
03:11But how much pace has Lando Norris got to stretch out this part of this phase of the Grand Prix?
03:21Ted.
03:22And because Leclerc started on the soft, it's a brand new medium, Martin.
03:27He's just put on, so he's going to be as quick as lightning, isn't he, out there?
03:31No response from McLaren yet.
03:35Lewis Hamilton's just set the fastest first sector.
03:37Now he's been freed up and has a bit of clear air ahead of him.
03:41So the first of the top three has pitted Charles Leclerc.
03:51Now let's see who follows him in and if anyone follows him in.
03:54Zach Brown, CEO of McLaren, watching on from the pit wall.
03:58But as you were for Lando Norris, if he'd have stayed ahead of Charles Leclerc at the start,
04:03could have been a lot easier afternoon for him, Zach.
04:06Yeah, that was a bit of hard work there, so glad we cleared him.
04:08But let's see how our pace is now.
04:11What's the feedback from Oscar, Zach?
04:13He's obviously struggling a little bit.
04:16Yeah, he just doesn't have the pace this weekend that Lando's had.
04:20So I think what you see is what you got there and Lando, we'll see if there's any more pace.
04:26Trying to figure out what our tire strategy and sequence is here.
04:30Zach, you are one of the chirpiest, most cheeriest people I've ever come across.
04:33Not just in Formula One, but has this been a bit of a depressing weekend for you?
04:37It's been a tough weekend, but not depressing.
04:41Tough weekend, you're going to have them, but a long way to go.
04:43P2, P4 at the moment, so let's see how we finish.
04:46Zach, thanks ever so much.
04:48We're on board with Lewis Hamilton running in third place in Austin.
04:54He's got so little grip in that Ferrari at the moment on those tires, Lewis Hamilton.
04:59He's going nicely, don't get me wrong, but you can just tell how long he has to wait on the apexes of the corners
05:07before he can get back on the programme.
05:11Nine podium finishes here in Austin for Lewis Hamilton.
05:16A tenth would be his first podium finish for Ferrari in his 19th Grand Prix start for Ferrari.
05:23Was it not Didier Peroni all those years ago?
05:28He needed 19 races to score his first podium for the team.
05:32He won the San Marino Grand Prix in 1982.
05:34That the longest run by any Ferrari driver before securing a Grand Prix podium.
05:40Could history be about to repeat itself and Lewis Hamilton stand on the podium for a first time as a Ferrari driver?
05:45He, of course, does have to pit again.
05:48I think Leclerc is babysitting his fresh tyres.
05:51We're not seeing stunning sector times and nor should we really, otherwise he'll take too much life out of them.
05:56He needs to bring those new tyres in to coax them to the end of the Grand Prix, does Charles Leclerc.
06:02But the telling point for him is he will catch Hülkenberg, Behrmann and Tsunoda relatively quickly.
06:10He kind of wants to catch them, Martin, just as they think it's about time to pit.
06:13Yeah.
06:13But when you start on the soft tyre and there are the mediums, that is easier said than done.
06:18Because you're going to have to go a lot slower than you possibly want to do.
06:23That's the trouble with a two-stop strategy.
06:25It might enable you to push more.
06:27But if overtaking is that much more difficult today,
06:30then hanging it out for a one-stopper and keeping track position might be the way forward.
06:35We're on board with Car23, who is having to make his way through the field.
06:39Alex Albon has Esteban Ocon as the next car ahead of him.
06:42No, he doesn't.
06:43Because Ocon's in the pits.
06:44It's nice when you see a car peel off in front of you, you could really do what you're getting rid of.
06:48But the flip side of that is coming down the pit straight
06:50and seeing a car that you thought you were ahead of emerge in front of you out of the pit lane.
06:56Quite.
06:56And when you're sitting in the pit lane or trundling down the pit lane
06:59and they're flat out down the pit straight, you just feel like you're being left behind.
07:05Ocon then will come out right at the back of the 19 runners still left in this race.
07:11Carlos Sainz, the one driver to retire after he went down the inside on Kimi Antonelli,
07:16made contact, too much damage on the Williams.
07:19Antonelli sent into the gravel and he's recovered now to 14th in this race.
07:26As we start lap 26 of 56, there's your race leader.
07:30We've barely talked about him.
07:31He's barely had any threat whatsoever after he pulled out the one-second gap on the opening lap.
07:36And, well, this is back to vintage Max Verstappen territory this afternoon.
07:40It is, isn't it?
07:42He's looked so comfortable, hasn't he?
07:43He's qualifying his start, pacing himself, and a class of one out the front there.
07:51Every time he speaks, you can see he's in a very happy zone at the moment, on track and off track.
07:58And a journalist asked him on Thursday, what are your chances of winning the championship?
08:02He said 50-50.
08:03Will I either win it or I don't?
08:05I'm taking each race as it comes.
08:07I'm not thinking beyond the end of the race that we're at.
08:10And that's the way it's going to be between now and the end of the season.
08:12Yeah, indeed.
08:14And that's all he can do.
08:15He's just managed that expectation.
08:16He's still got to take a lot of points off the McLarens every race.
08:20But if they continue to perform like this, then that's sort of doable.
08:24Although I think McLaren are really hurting for not having the knowledge of yesterday's race.
08:31That first corner collision between the pair of them and many others has really hurt them.
08:37So now we're on board with Leclerc as he starts to catch the Sauber then of Nico Hülkenberg.
08:44Hülkenberg really struggling to turn the car.
08:47So Leclerc I think will sail past the similarly engined Sauber down the back straight.
08:54And I don't think Leclerc, I don't think Hülkenberg will fight that one too hard at all.
08:59He did not.
09:00Charles Leclerc up into eighth place, leaves Hülkenberg in ninth.
09:04Still in the points where he hasn't finished since Silverstone when he got that podium, of course.
09:09Been on a pointless run of F1 races ever since then.
09:13The gap remains 11 seconds out in front.
09:17Lando Norris now in second place.
09:19Charles Leclerc pitting.
09:20He's left in 33 laps to go to the end on the medium tyre.
09:24Last year the longest medium tyre stint was 32 laps by Oscar Piastri.
09:30Just to give you a bit of context.
09:32Alex Albon has caught Franco Colopinto.
09:35Alex Albon has passed Franco Colopinto.
09:38Unless Colopinto can steam down the inside just like that.
09:41That was very nearly contact with the front wing of the Williams.
09:44But Albon looks to a joint absolutely perfectly as he retakes that position.
09:48And scampers round the right hander and off into 15th place.
09:52Those kind of sections, we had them in Hockenheim, we had them in Istanbul.
09:55Those kind of sections always generate overtaking.
09:58Because in the end you just can't keep defending.
10:03Guys, how are we going?
10:04Sikki?
10:05Yeah, we think maybe conditions are changing a little bit here, Max.
10:09Now we saw that in qualifying a little bit yesterday.
10:12With the track getting melted by the hot sun.
10:14You know, started to get a little bit slower.
10:17Bit of a glaze on the surface as well.
10:19Could that be what Max Verstappen is talking about?
10:21Yeah, I think it might be the wind conditions as well.
10:26But Max still hasn't got any back markers in sight for a lot of laps yet.
10:31And he's got half a pit stop advantage in his pocket.
10:35They really can.
10:37I think that was just general conversation going on there.
10:39They really can just keep pushing and waiting for the others.
10:45And then they've got two laps to react if they want to.
10:48Yeah, pick their moments on that one.
10:50And no need to hurry.
10:51Ted Kravitz looking at a pit lane that's kind of devoid of action so far.
10:56And we're at lap 28.
10:57So far, but we're just approaching.
11:00Go make your cup of tea now, everyone.
11:02Because in about two or three laps time, it'll be then that they can put the soft tyre on and have a decent enough chance of going to the end.
11:10So if you think lap 30, lap 32, something like that, then you could put the soft tyre on and go to the end.
11:16So that's what we're looking at strategy-wise.
11:18The top seven now down to Behrman.
11:21All just hanging it out on the medium, then go to the soft.
11:24But Leclerc's not going as fast as I thought he would be.
11:27He's down to 39.4, for example.
11:29Norris at 39.7.
11:31Leclerc on the fresh medium tyres.
11:33We know he's going to have to eat those out a little bit.
11:36But I really thought he would be flying along a little bit faster than that.
11:42Is it a case, maybe as we saw yesterday, that on the medium tyre, the Ferrari didn't have the pace relative to the others than they had on the soft?
11:50They came alive at the end of qualifying, didn't they?
11:52So, they did.
11:53Ferrari, Hamilton been told to lift and coast.
11:56Leico, that means lift off before the corner.
12:00We're not on board with him at the moment.
12:01Let the aerodynamics slow the car down and then hit the brakes.
12:07That's probably for plank wear underneath the car.
12:11They know what they've got to do.
12:13And also, a little bit for fuel as well, because we've not really had...
12:16We had that little bit of virtual safety car.
12:19They all start the race under-fueled, because you don't want to carry any spare fuel around with you.
12:24Charles Leclerc up into seventh place.
12:26That headwind into the S's was producing the sort of conditions that could improve lap times by about two seconds a lap because you get more downforce through the S's compared to what the drivers were doing on Friday, which, of course, is going to use up that little bit more fuel because you can go faster.
12:45So, fuel could be that, but are Ferrari worried about plank wear again?
12:50Well, we know that Ferrari only works when it's really low to the ground, and plank wear here underneath it.
12:56There's like a legality plate underneath the car, and if you wear that too much, and it's protected heavily by skid blocks, if you wear that too much, you will be thrown out.
13:05And Ferrari know that painfully well.
13:07Yeah, they do.
13:08Charles Leclerc disqualified it here from a race.
13:10Lewis Hamilton from the same race as well for plank wear when they were running for different teams.
13:15Gasly's stop was a little bit slower than they would have wanted at Alpine.
13:19Stroll now comes into the pits.
13:20Karun Chandok's at race control.
13:22Lots of chat on the radio, Crofty, about extending this current stint, avoiding the hard tyre and switching to the soft.
13:28So, obviously, what they're trying to do is make this stint on the mediums as long as possible, so you have less to do on the soft tyre.
13:34Piastri's been asked the question, Verstappen's been asked the question, Norris has been asked the question, and I think they're all leading that way.
13:41Sports want to stop to get to the end from here.
13:43I think you have to go from here.
13:45Copy.
13:46So, can you go another 10 laps or so?
13:49Yeah, the follow-on to that conversation was difficult from here.
13:52Let's try and extend.
13:53Yeah, so nobody's been out on the hard compound tyres looking particularly fast, have they, earlier on in the Grand Prix.
14:02And this is the next target then for Charles Leclerc, who will sweep around the outside and take the position.
14:09A little bit trickier than the previous two overtakes, but he's got the job done.
14:13Sixth place now for Charles Leclerc and George Russell a little bit further up the road.
14:19Gap now 10 seconds between Verstappen and Norris, is Verstappen having to manage his pace with the tyres getting a little bit trickier.
14:26Gap's gone down by about a second, which is pretty much inconsequential as it stands currently.
14:33Hamilton lifting and coasting, lapping of the 140s, runs in third.
14:38Oscar Piastri was seven tenths slower than Hamilton on that previous lap, and Tsunoda now comes in.
14:43So, a change of tyres at Red Bull, it'll be the soft tyre eventually going on on that front left.
14:49That's a little bit slower than normal, 3.4 seconds.
14:52And here's some valuable data for Max Verstappen now that his team mate's on the soft.
14:56Absolutely.
14:57Norris' pace is great at the moment on those tyres.
15:00He's currently 21 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, who is effectively racing.
15:05Leclerc, who's pitted, is down in sixth.
15:07A pit stop is 21 seconds, so McLaren extending and Norris putting in the good laps.
15:14Oscar Russell is within undercut range.
15:17Would you prefer to fit first onto a soft or let him go and have to pass on track?
15:22Probably go first.
15:25So, yeah, avoid any drama, avoid any dangers of possible contact and get in.
15:30I'd rather defend than attack.
15:32Yeah, and that probably sums up Oscar's weekend.
15:35It's been a difficult weekend for him, hasn't it?
15:37But he is still very much up there in fourth place.
15:41Yeah.
15:41And would still leave here leading the world championship.
15:44Well, I was going to say, from fifth down to Hadja in last place,
15:47they quite like the difficult weekend that leaves him in fourth.
15:50Yes.
15:52There's only three that are going to have a better difficult weekend than Oscar Piastri,
15:56who is going to be coming in.
15:58Ted, down to you.
16:00Is there Team Radio Crofty?
16:01I think Mercedes are going to react and try and see that one off at the pass.
16:06In fact, I think we might have both of them in.
16:09No.
16:09There's Piastri in now.
16:10Yeah, George Russell's actually coming past you on the track.
16:14Yeah, they've gone back in.
16:15So they were thinking of seeing that off.
16:18Mercedes were thinking of seeing that off at the pass.
16:20But no, it is Piastri onto a used set of softs.
16:23And on he goes.
16:24So he'll be heading up to Turn 1 behind Znika Hülkenberg.
16:29The gap between Hülkenberg and Alonso is so wide,
16:32you could fit many, many Formula 1 cars into it.
16:35Because that is the next car coming through now.
16:39So it's a long way.
16:4131 lap out of...
16:42We're on lap 31 out of 56.
16:44It's a long way to go on a set of soft tyres now for Oscar Piastri.
16:48It is.
16:49He's in reasonably clear air.
16:51He's only got Hülkenberg to pass between him and Leclerc.
16:55Mercedes have played the do-whatever-he-doesn't-do
16:58and stayed on track.
17:00As George Russell doesn't stay on track down at Turn 12.
17:05And yes, that means then that Piastri has...
17:09He's got to babysit those tyres a little bit towards the air.
17:12But he'll have track position as long as he doesn't punish them too much.
17:16But it is a very long way to go on them.
17:19That's given him four tenths of extra babysitting points there.
17:23That lock-up by George Russell.
17:25Yeah.
17:25There's two.
17:26And also, of course, you've burned up more than half your fuel load.
17:30They start with about 110 kilograms of fuel on board.
17:33That's like putting two light passengers in the car with you.
17:39So there's that current gap between George Russell and Oscar Piastri.
17:4317.9 seconds, Russell pits.
17:46Piastri would still be ahead of him, Lewis.
17:48Hamilton coming into the pits for some soft tyres
17:51that his teammate has been running now.
17:54His teammate Charles Leclerc has been running his medium tyres for eight laps.
17:58Hamilton stopped 2.6 seconds.
18:002.6.
18:01It was 2.3 for Piastri.
18:03Ferrari got a chance to win this year's pit stop championship.
18:07And then were they telling us this morning?
18:09Yeah.
18:09If they can...
18:10You get points for pit stops and how fast you are.
18:13And if they can outscore Red Bull.
18:15I think it was right.
18:16Was it by 15 points in this race or something like that?
18:19They can be the pit stop champions of 2025.
18:24If you remember when Fred Vasseur came in as team principals, one of the first things he had to sort out was the pit stops, which seems like Fred has sorted that out.
18:31He certainly got a vote of confidence yesterday from the Ferrari chairman John Elkin.
18:35Antonelli comes into pits and, to be honest, I'm surprised that he's managed to keep his medium tyres going for so long, given how much gravel was on them when he got hit by Carlos Sainz.
18:46Yeah, and unsurprisingly, given the advantage he had over him, Hamilton has emerged from the pits ahead of Oscar Piastri, who is there in front of us.
18:56Karun, to you.
18:57Yeah, just a bit watching the time slot between Norris and Leclerc.
19:01Martin mentioned a few laps ago was 21 seconds.
19:03That gap has come down now.
19:06Leclerc unleashing the pace.
19:07He's on fresher mediums, of course.
19:09That gap...
19:09Two seconds.
19:10Box.
19:11Yep, Box's lap.
19:12Yeah, the gap is only 18 seconds between them, so Norris will come up behind Leclerc and have to overtake the Ferrari on track once again.
19:21Yeah, and we saw how long that took before, but this time around it will be soft tyres for Lando Norris, medium tyres for Charles Leclerc.
19:31That was quite a slow stop there, so as George Russell goes through, here comes Charles Leclerc going through.
19:393.8 seconds stationing from Lando Norris has just made his job that little harder again.
19:44Absolutely, and obviously Red Bull will now react, they can do what they like basically out there, but it's weird, isn't it, McLaren?
19:51The second stop seems to always be the tricky one, like on the reset, something's not quite gelling, is it?
19:59And if it's something with the wheel guns and something with the kit, they're going to have to put up with that between now and the end of the season,
20:04because they won't be able to fix things.
20:06Yeah, because 1.5 seconds at the end of the Grand Prix could make a big difference.
20:11We shall see. We're on lap 33, and the driver, before he won a world championship, who won number 33, is leading by almost 33 seconds.
20:22No, not that far at all, a third of that. He had an 11-second gap on Lando Norris when Norris pitted.
20:27Let's have a little look here. That's why Lando was so insistent that it was box-box now, because he'd just locked up.
20:34But at least he didn't go off the track, otherwise he'd have got a five-second penalty.
20:39Into the pits comes Max Verstappen, and the pit stop is probably the biggest threat to Max Verstappen and victory here this afternoon,
20:47because no one on track can hold a candle to him in terms of pace, and the clock is ticking, and they're waiting for him.
20:53He stops on his marks. Up he goes on the jack, and that was no threat whatsoever for a pit stop, was it?
20:592.6 seconds, solid, done, and out he goes again.
21:03George Russell will be coming into pit, and we'll watch this one with a bit more of a keen interest to see where Oscar Piastri is when Russell comes out.
21:10But there's Verstappen into the pits, and he carries on in the lead of this race from Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris in third.
21:21Stop there for Russell, beautifully executed by the Mercedes team.
21:262.3 seconds, Piastri is powering his way down the main straight towards turn one.
21:3180 kilometers an hour for George Russell until he gets to the line, and as he gets to the line,
21:37he can almost see the McLaren disappearing through turn one.
21:3926 people doing 32 different maneuvers on a pit stop in just over two seconds.
21:47That just shouts F1 to me.
21:50Just a bit.
21:51Hulkenberg came into the pits as well, comes out behind Oli Behrman.
21:54Everyone has pitted now at least once, or once I should say, in this race.
22:00And we've had an experiment with the tires.
22:03Go a step harder with the hard tire, leave a gap, and then the medium and the soft.
22:08And the idea was to promote a two-stop race.
22:11And I'm not sure that that experience necessarily worked or has made the racing any worse, but we've got a bit of a stalemate.
22:17Yeah, it's not worked, has it, really, basically.
22:21The hard compound tire nobody fancies very much.
22:23Those that did start on it, they didn't really do wonders for them.
22:27They got rid of them as soon as they could, and that is why the leaders have gone medium-soft or soft-medium.
22:34You almost have to go C4, C5 for the medium and the soft, which are definitely not going to last quite as long to promote that two-stopper if that is the way to go.
22:46Behrman and Sonoda now.
22:47It's going to be quite a tussle, couldn't it?
22:49Oli Behrman has been on his tires for three laps, and Yuki Sonoda for four, and he goes straight across there and spins around.
22:56And somehow Yuki Sonoda manages to avoid him, and that could have been both cars making contact and out of the race.
23:03As it is, Oli Behrman loses out in terms of track position.
23:08It went for the lunge.
23:10Yeah.
23:10It went for the lunge and got squeezed on the apex and then hung on to the brake pedal, and it swapped ends on him.
23:18That could have been race-ending for both.
23:22Niko Hulkenberg is going to mount a challenge to Behrman and probably get him by turn one.
23:26As we look at the replay now, a lot of dirt.
23:30Behrman will say, look, he changed direction.
23:33He changed direction while I was in mid-manoeuvre.
23:36There's a little swerve to the left.
23:40Yeah.
23:42So, yeah, there you go.
23:45He moved under braking, says Oli Behrman.
23:47He did.
23:48He did.
23:48And then he moved back again, but it was too late by that stage.
23:50Yeah.
23:51And Oli had to go on to the grass.
23:52I wonder if the stewards will have a look at that.
23:55Sadly, we didn't get to look at Niko Hulkenberg and Oli Behrman as that carried on, because Hulkenberg has got ahead and moved up into eighth place.
24:03Yeah.
24:03This is really dirty tyres and flat-spotted tyres now on Behrman's Haas, unfortunately.
24:08Could be a bit costly in terms of his pace from here on in.
24:14Norris is catching Leclerc very quickly.
24:17Leclerc only 6.4 behind Verstappen as well.
24:21So, they've closed up a little bit, haven't they, through the pit stop phase?
24:24Because, actually, now the top three are all in the pit straight together.
24:28Yeah.
24:28There we go.
24:30Just about in the pit stop together.
24:32Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris have all just set their fastest laps of the race so far.
24:36Now, for Max Verstappen, he was about four-tenths faster than Charles Leclerc.
24:42He was about three-tenths slower than Lando Norris.
24:45Pre-pitch stop, they were 11.
24:47Remember, Norris was 11.1 seconds behind Verstappen.
24:52He's now 8.4, but in third place, 8.4 behind.
24:56So, it's coming back together.
24:58Right, what happened on this stop?
24:59Looks like he's on his marks.
25:03They needed a second go, didn't they?
25:05The right front gun again.
25:07Er, struggling.
25:10It's odd.
25:11I wonder if there is something with the wheel guns at McLaren.
25:15He definitely needed two stabs at that one.
25:18Gaps one and a half seconds between Leclerc and Norris, though,
25:21as he'll be picking up a slipstream down that back straight.
25:25A lot of marbles now off the racing line,
25:28which makes overtaking that much more difficult.
25:30It's like a goat track down the racing line that they've all got to follow, isn't it?
25:34There's so much discarded rubber, and it always comes off at the end of the straights,
25:38because that's your V-Max, your top speed, where it's most likely to get flicked off the tyre.
25:44Lap 36 of 56.
25:47It's been a very comfortable afternoon here in Texas so far for Max Verstappen,
25:53who could take a seventh career Grand Slam today.
25:56This will be one short, I think, of the all-time record that Jim Clark has held since 1965.
26:02Behind him, oof.
26:04Nando Norris with a leery slide coming off turn 19.
26:08He's got to be so careful of track limits.
26:10Well, I was going to just mention that in a moment.
26:13He is on a warning, a black and orange flag, sorry, black and white flag,
26:17for exceeding track limits three times, one more, and it's a five-second penalty.
26:22And, of course, he had a five-second penalty here last year for something completely different,
26:26but could do without successive five-second penalties here at the Circuit of the Americas.
26:32He's still catching Leclerc, though, as you can see,
26:35with the gap now down under 1.3 seconds.
26:38Leclerc, I should say, running second for a Ferrari team
26:41that are podiumless in the last five races.
26:45Hamilton running fourth currently, about eight and a half seconds off the top three.
26:51The man in the Mercedes, the seat he used to occupy, Kimi Antonelli,
26:55is currently catching Pierre Gasly ahead of him.
26:58Antonelli was running beautifully in the points
26:59until Carlos Sainz went down the inside, and they both made contact,
27:04and they're both going to have to see the stewards about that after the race.
27:06Now, Lando might be on the soft-compound tyre.
27:09It'll give him more grip, but it's ten laps younger
27:11than the tyres on the Ferrari of young Charlie Leclerc there.
27:16Antonelli making good use of his soft-compound tyre
27:19that he's had on for five laps against Pierre Gasly's.
27:22He's been on for nine and making this move into turn one at 14th place for him.
27:28Bortoletto, first driver to stop twice in this race.
27:32His medium's lasted for 22 laps before he decided it was actually worth getting out
27:37and putting another set of tyres on.
27:41And Alex Albot, sorry, I missed that on the screen, has stopped twice too.
27:44Currently running in tenth place, but he had to stop way, way earlier in this race
27:49after being hit by Bortoletto in the opening lap.
27:51Yeah, that McLaren was moving around again.
27:54Lando thrashing it for all its worth, as he can see.
27:57Now that he's in DRS range, Karuna Skyrace control.
28:02I think Will Joseph's been listening to you, Martin,
28:04because he's just told Lando Norris,
28:06don't hate me, but no more track limits.
28:09They're aware of this five-second penalty.
28:12Because if he gets in front of Leclerc, he will then have to pull out an extra five seconds.
28:17It's not impossible, but it'll just make it harder for him to get the extra points for second place.
28:21Gabriel Bortoletto is another facing the doom of the black and white flag
28:26and the potential of a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits,
28:31as is Alex Albon.
28:32He's the latest to be shown that black and white flag.
28:34Right, here's Lando Norris within nine-tenths of a second, down that back straight.
28:39Now on the soft tyre, is there enough pace in the McLaren this time around to make a move?
28:44It's Ferrari getting ever larger in Norris' field of vision,
28:48but he's about half a second behind as they head down in towards turn 12.
28:52Yeah, well, we saw before, didn't we, that he needed to be within two or three tails,
28:56he almost needed to be on his tail, basically, coming out of turn 11,
28:59if he was going to breeze past the Ferrari with his rear wing open.
29:03The thing is here, he's getting such good traction coming out of these slow corners.
29:07I dare say he might be able to make a move into turn one this time around.
29:12Off the final corner, Andretti, he'll get a much better exit if he gets it right.
29:19We'll see, because, look, he's within half a second here.
29:22Well, it was before he had to slam the brakes on.
29:26Let's have a little look.
29:27He's getting close up at the top of the hill, isn't he?
29:28It is.
29:29But that's a risky one going up there.
29:32It's better to stay neat and tidy.
29:34Don't hit the throttle, don't flash the surface temperature of your rear tyres up.
29:40It was very neat and tidy through there.
29:42Both of them were, actually.
29:43So now it's not easy to follow through.
29:45It's not even easy to go through here by yourself, frankly,
29:47let alone when you're in the turbulent air of another car
29:50and trying to spot the apexes.
29:53And Leclerc then doing enough.
29:56In a way, it's a shame for this race,
29:59because I think it's taken away what could have been a good race
30:02between Verstappen and Norris.
30:04But you can't blame Ferrari for that.
30:06They chose a very good strategy into the first corner.
30:09They certainly did.
30:11But going on that soft tyre, getting the launch off the line
30:15and making the move has brought dividends for Charles Leclerc.
30:20Lance Stroll starts on the soft compound tyre too.
30:23Lance Stroll's making the move on Liam Lawson.
30:25Now he's on the mediums into turn one.
30:27Lawson will fight that back down the hill and stay in 11th place.
30:32We'll watch that battle as we watch Norris and Leclerc too.
30:36Yeah, and Leclerc will be being reminded also of Norris' track limit
30:40but delicacy, really, if he's going to...
30:43He'll know if he threatens to push him anywhere wide,
30:47Norris will have to get out of there.
30:49Having said that, Norris is nine seconds ahead of Hamilton,
30:52so a five-second penalty would still leave him
30:56in his current third position.
30:59Are you surprised that that Tsunoda-Behrman incident
31:02wasn't at least noted by race control?
31:04Nothing has come up at all.
31:05There definitely seemed to be a little jink to the left.
31:08Yeah, I would agree.
31:08Well, there wasn't even contact, was there?
31:11It wasn't actually contact, but...
31:13Because Tsunoda then moved back to the right again
31:15as Oli hit the dirt.
31:18So this is worth an extra three World Championship points
31:22to Lando Norris if he can pass Charles Leclerc
31:26in what I think is going to become an incredibly close fight
31:30with Max Verstappen for the World Championship
31:32and Oscar Piastri, of course.
31:35I'm talking to Mark Webber, Oscar's manager earlier today.
31:38He said, there's nothing wrong, you know, with Oscar.
31:40His head's up, his chin's up.
31:42Yeah, he's lost a few points in his lead,
31:44but he's still got a very healthy lead out in front.
31:47But if another race goes by, you know,
31:51you've got to reverse the trend at some stage.
31:54And there's still an awful long way to go in this season.
31:58And I think it's going to give us, like you, Martin,
31:59an absolutely blockbuster finish this year.
32:02And yes, I think Oscar Piastri has absolutely got the mental capacity
32:05to cope with this fight.
32:07And if you remember back to F3,
32:08his championship-winning F3 season,
32:10his lead got whittled down there
32:11and he coped very well with the pressure.
32:14Yeah, Oscar needs a solid weekend again, doesn't he?
32:17In Mexico next week.
32:19Yeah, that's Mexico.
32:22Right.
32:24Which is very good news for Leclerc.
32:26So the softs are not happy.
32:29So, yeah, they were six-lap old from qualifying
32:32when they went on those tyres.
32:33And he's sliding around a lot.
32:37Oh, dear.
32:38Well, that will be music to the ears of everyone at Marinello.
32:45If Charles Leclerc has spent this race holding off Lando Norris,
32:50it might be slightly easier in the last 15 or so laps
32:53if the tyres are gone.
32:55Kimi Antonelli is the latest driver
32:57to be shown the black and white flags.
32:59There's more black and white flag action
33:01than Pirates of the Caribbean here this afternoon.
33:04Yeah, absolutely.
33:06Alex Albon being told that he's got the three strikes
33:08and he said, why didn't you tell me?
33:10I had two.
33:11And his engineer said, yeah, sorry about that.
33:13I didn't mention it.
33:13Team Radio.
33:15Lando complained about tyres now.
33:18This will be more fragile,
33:19so I do think we need to look after it most.
33:22I wonder whether Verstappen thinks
33:24that's a bluff from Norris
33:25because he seems to be going okay.
33:27Just a line on Oscar Piastri.
33:30I'm just looking at his lap times.
33:31No improvement, not closing on Lewis Hamilton.
33:34Hamilton being dropped himself
33:35by this Leclerc and Norris fight.
33:38And I know, Crofty, it's already Monday morning in Melbourne.
33:41Yeah.
33:42But Oscar Piastri, the weekend he's had,
33:45must be feeling like, well,
33:46what does a famous commentator say?
33:48Like a toothache on a wet Monday morning.
33:50What a weekend for Oscar Piastri.
33:53Just no, making no impact on this Grand Prix.
33:56Has not felt the car underneath him all weekend.
33:59Got taken out.
34:00Well, took his teammate out by extension in the sprint.
34:03And now stuck behind Lewis Hamilton again nowhere.
34:06So Norris has been told,
34:08let your tyres cool down a bit.
34:10They'll come back to you.
34:11They're good to go again.
34:12So let the surface temperature just calm a little bit.
34:16Maybe back off a little bit
34:18and then come at him.
34:20But as they weren't brand spanking new soft tyres,
34:24the tyre delta, tyre difference is actually only four laps.
34:27So here Leclerc has got more longevity in his tyres.
34:32There's no doubt about it.
34:33The way they've run it has been very clever from Ferrari.
34:36Happy Monday if you're watching us down in Melbourne.
34:40Glad to have your company.
34:42It hasn't been the best weekend for Oscar,
34:44but a new week and maybe a change of luck
34:46by the time we get to Mexico next week
34:49for our latest installment of this championship battle
34:52where either Max Verstappen wins a fifth world title this year
34:56or Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri
34:59make a first world title theirs.
35:04Or George Russell does something absolutely magnificent
35:06and manages to keep his championship chances
35:10mathematically alive and a bit more physically alive.
35:12Interestingly, Martin,
35:14if Lando Norris does finish third here,
35:16he'll be what, 17 points behind Lando,
35:19behind Oscar in the championship.
35:22How many points did he lose in Zandvoort
35:24with that DNF?
35:2518 points.
35:26I know championships are not won and lost
35:29with one particular race,
35:30but it's...
35:31Yeah, and the clout in Canada, of course.
35:34And the clout in Canada, too.
35:35He tripped over the back of Piastri's car.
35:37Luckily, Piastri was able to carry on,
35:40but watching Lando coming out of the Turn 11 hip
35:43in at the far end of the track,
35:45he was struggling for traction.
35:47Back end of the car was sliding around,
35:49so let's see if he can bring those tyres back to life
35:54and have a final run in the closing stages of this Grand Prix.
35:57So you don't think Lando was bluffing in any way, shape, or form about those tyres?
36:02No, I think they're too hot.
36:04And that's the state of the tyres,
36:08and that's the slide in slow motion that you can see,
36:11and every time that happens,
36:12it puts more heat through the tyres,
36:14and it affects the surface and slows you down.
36:17Very light-graining on those tyres of Norris's.
36:21Can you drive through that?
36:23Sometimes, yeah.
36:24It's very mild-graining,
36:25but what you want is that lovely, consistent sheen.
36:31So Verstappen-Sang is sliding around a lot,
36:34just keeping his lead.
36:37Norris just had a really scruffy lap somewhere
36:39and has dropped down to 2.2 seconds behind,
36:42or indeed, building and letting that gap just build.
36:46So why would Max Verstappen suddenly be sliding around a lot?
36:52Meanwhile, let's talk to Karun.
36:53Yeah, Lando's definitely been told,
36:55cool the tyres down,
36:57and it's tricky, Martin, isn't it?
36:59Because you get to that crossover point
37:01where they've now all done 10 laps,
37:0410, 11, 12 laps in this stint,
37:06plus the 6, 16 laps.
37:08That's a crossover where the medium starts to be quicker,
37:11and I think that's what Ferrari are hoping on.
37:13They just need to hang on.
37:14A couple more laps,
37:16and then they have the tyre advantage
37:17with longevity on the medium.
37:20So I wonder, 7 seconds just under
37:22between Verstappen and Leclerc.
37:25Is that a big enough buffer for Max Verstappen
37:28to hold on comfortably
37:29between now and the end of the race?
37:32I mean, time will tell
37:33as he crosses the line,
37:35puts in the 1.38.5,
37:37and Charles Leclerc crosses the line
37:39and puts in the 1.38.6.
37:40So last lap,
37:41Max was actually a tenth of a second faster,
37:43and it all happened for him,
37:44really, in the middle
37:46and the final stint sector.
37:49Well, that just looks so comfortable
37:54and pedestrian
37:55through such a violent part of the track.
37:58It's untrue.
37:59Oh, it looks beautifully balanced.
38:00Just gently picking up the throttle,
38:07not riding too many curbs,
38:10and, yeah,
38:12Red Bull is unquestionably back on form
38:15with the aerodynamic changes.
38:17I heard that they've had six changes
38:19to their front wing,
38:20but they've energized the aerodynamics on this car.
38:24I think they've lowered,
38:25they've moved the skid blocks a bit
38:27underneath the floor,
38:28I was hearing, as well,
38:29but whatever they've done,
38:31it's a lot better,
38:33and it's giving Max the confidence he needs
38:35to just serenely sweep through
38:38those series of corners.
38:39It's almost like he's pushing the pram
38:41with his young daughter in it
38:42along the Monaco seafront
38:44on a Sunday afternoon.
38:46Not so much racing or driving.
38:48He's not had to race anyone in this race today
38:50since Turn 1
38:51around the Circuit of the Americas.
38:54Lando reporting,
38:55I haven't got the grip,
38:56I just don't have the grip,
38:57I'm slowing down now,
38:58so it looks like that,
39:01sadly,
39:01that little squabble is over as well.
39:04There's the current gap
39:05between first and second.
39:07Lance Stroll is still within DRS range
39:10of Liam Lawson,
39:11and that's the closest battle
39:12going on track currently
39:14as it stands.
39:16In the Constructors' Championship,
39:17McLaren are champions
39:19for a second consecutive year.
39:21Mercedes only picking up eight points.
39:23It's a good weekend for Ferrari.
39:25In all honesty,
39:2630 points
39:27they're going to get
39:28in the Grand Prix,
39:28and they'll be only four points
39:30behind Mercedes
39:32by the end of this race.
39:37Yeah, the top three then
39:39were within a tenth of a second
39:41basically on the previous lap.
39:42There's nothing to choose between them.
39:45And, yeah,
39:46that's worked well, hasn't it?
39:47The soft medium,
39:48remember he was the outlier
39:50on the track,
39:50wasn't he,
39:51in terms of tyre choice
39:52in the top 15
39:53with Charles Leclerc,
39:54and his work to treat.
39:56Ted Kravitz,
39:56to you.
39:57I'm just looking across
39:58the pit lane
39:58to the Ferrari pit wall.
40:00And, you know,
40:00sometimes, Crofty,
40:01we're a little bit unkind
40:02to the Ferrari guys
40:04and their strategists,
40:05aren't we,
40:05with the
40:06we'll get back to you
40:07chat
40:07and wondering about
40:09some of their calls.
40:10But they've got it
40:10absolutely spot on today
40:12with Charles Leclerc.
40:13We might have questioned him
40:15starting on the soft tyre,
40:16but soft medium
40:17has turned out to be
40:18the genius strategy
40:19today, hasn't it?
40:21Yeah.
40:21And it's worked really well
40:22for Charles Leclerc.
40:23Lewis Hamilton's also going to deliver,
40:25running comfortably ahead
40:26of Oscar Piastri.
40:28Hamilton,
40:28Piastri's no threat
40:29at all to Hamilton.
40:30Hamilton's running really well
40:31behind there,
40:32behind Norris.
40:34And that,
40:34for the constructors,
40:35Crofty,
40:35for Ferrari,
40:36is going to mean
40:37a big...
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