00:00This year, good reaction time to the lights for both McLarens, Oscar Piastri has the lead, is there an opportunity for Lando Norris to go around the outside, George Russell is in second, Yuki Tsunoda finds himself upper place, Fernando Alonso is down a position as Lando Norris hangs on to third, Piastri has the lead and George Russell is P2, Max Verstappen gets past Fernando Alonso, yes he does, and he will clear his teammates super quickly as he makes his way by, and he does so, Verstappen is up to P4.
00:26Yeah, I think that was a compliant Yuki Tsunoda there, and Max was able to find his way onto the gearbox of Lando Norris, and it felt that everyone was a bit tentative as he ran into the first corner.
00:39Yeah, perfect start for Verstappen though, Alonso was the driver that's lost out, often so good on the first laps, but he was shuffled out by Tsunoda, and I thought Tsunoda was halfway down the inside of Norris as well, he had a flying start, but has now given up the place, as we expected to his teammates, sliding through turn 10.
00:54Further back, Isaac Hadjar has made a couple of positions, he's putting the pressure on Carlos Sainz at the moment, Sainz in the blue Williams is the last point scorer, the top 8 score here, and it was well behaved in the opening corners of the sprint race.
01:06Cars visibly fast, obviously not running anyone near the amount of fuel they'll have in the Grand Prix tomorrow, but this is a challenging racetrack, and we saw that telltale sign of instability on the back of Max Verstappen, who said that as he had to carry the set up from qualifying, this was about survival.
01:21So on board with Lando, a little bit of wheel spin in the second phase of the gear shift there, Jolene, and almost contact with George Russell.
01:30Yeah, he didn't need that, did he?
01:33This is Max Verstappen, who gained a couple of places, so ahead of Fernando Alonso, and then Yuki Tsunoda was fully aware of his duties at this point, and his teammate gets to the inside.
01:44This is Charles Leclerc, a driver who lost four places at the start of the race.
01:55And once again, he's through the gravel.
01:57It's close now, six tenths, it's quite a long straight down the main straight as well.
02:05Not going to be close enough as they hit the brakes, but it's tempting.
02:08He's trying to be large in the mirrors, DC.
02:10Yeah, just not a big enough braking zone there, is it, to really run that overspeed down the inside, especially on a quick car like Lando.
02:19Yeah, that gap was 0.8.
02:25Yeah, same as yours.
02:33Part of the car getting loose, these cars running over the kerbs, and a bit of debris clear of the Williams.
02:40Yeah, difficult to kind of see exactly what that is.
02:43It doesn't obviously look like an end plate or anything.
02:49Hey, Leclerc again.
02:52It's been like that all weekend long from first practice.
02:56Saw it as well, and it's getting closer in the background.
02:59His wide moment, off the road goes Liam Lawson.
03:01He'll clear him, but he was off the track as he did so.
03:04Lawson just gets on with it, and that wide moment for the Ferrari, capitalized upon by Liam Lawson, currently up to 13th.
03:12Lawson surely has to get out of the way.
03:14Lawson was told to give the position back.
03:16He will do so.
03:17Good team management from the Racing Bulls team.
03:19That's the right thing to do to avoid a five-second penalty.
03:23This is back to what happened to Charles Leclerc when he ran off the road and then got into a battle with Liam Lawson.
03:28Yeah, just finding that gravel on turn four, and then he couldn't get the car turned in for five.
03:33He's going to defend the inside, be ahead of the apex, and then that's why Lawson has to give up the place.
03:39Rude but fair from Leclerc.
03:40Hamilton's running at a 1.26.7, so he's two seconds off what Norris has just done as his personal best.
03:48In the background, a wide moment gives an opportunity to Kimi Antonelli.
03:53Fernando Alonso trying to ring the pace there for the driver who's been on the podium in the last two Grand Prix.
03:59He capitalizes on that error and gets past Fernando Alonso.
04:02Alonso hasn't scored points in the last three.
04:05Perhaps you're seeing why there.
04:06Big understeer, reminiscent of what we saw with Lando Norris in qualifying yesterday.
04:15Dipping a wheel on the gravel, costing him momentum all the way down the main straight.
04:21Yuki Tsunoda has a five-second penalty for track limits.
04:25Four times in this sprint race.
04:27He has gone beyond the white lines.
04:30Oscar Piastri, it's been such a tough run.
04:33He's seen his championship lead evaporate in Mexico City.
04:36It transferred to Lando Norris, but this has always been a happy hunting ground.
04:41He will return to first place in a race for the first time since the Dutch Grand Prix.
04:47Three sprint victories in a row and still a contender for the title.
04:52Oscar Piastri wins the sprint in Qatar to stay part of the championship fight.
04:58It's George Russell in second, Lando Norris in third.
05:01Max Verstappen will lose a point in the championship battle.
05:05And then it's Yuki Tsunoda over the line.
05:08When the penalty is applied, Kimi Antonelli will be promoted to fifth place.
05:12And then it will be Fernando Alonso.
05:14And the last point scorer will be Carlos Sainz.
05:16Hajar chasing him across the line by eight-tenths of a second.
05:20But it is Alonso and Sainz.
05:23Tsunoda dropping the one place after that five-second penalty.
05:26And Oscar Piastri taking the sprint win in the end by 4.9 seconds.
05:34Okay, that's the chequered flag.
05:36Very nicely done, Oscar.
05:37Yep, nicely done, everyone.
05:39Yeah, car was good.
05:41Let's keep it going.
05:44Update from race control.
05:46And it is a five-second penalty for Kimi Antonelli.
05:48So, after all of that, Yuki Tsunoda finishes in fifth.
05:52And Kimi Antonelli, with that penalty, is down to P6.
05:57Well, the tough run is over for Oscar Piastri.
06:00And everyone was talking about Qatar being a circuit.
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