00:00And racing to turn number one, even reaction time, Verstappen is on Norris immediately, Oscar Piastri has the lead, Verstappen is up to second place, and he's got it, he's got what he needed, he must finish ahead of Lando Norris to stay in the championship battle, and he's ahead by turn number one.
00:15Norris is down to third, Verstappen is up to second, and sprinting clear is Oscar Piastri, Antonelli is up a place to fourth, Sainz finds himself in second, the two contenders are side by side, at least Lando Norris hoped he would be, Verstappen gets what he needs, and he's up to P2.
00:31Yeah, all the reaction time small drivers look pretty much the same, but it was that second phase of the start that Max Verstappen was able to pull into the slipstream of Oscar ahead.
00:41A poor start for George Russell, he lost three positions to drop down to seventh.
00:45Everyone on that side of the grid lost out at the front of the field, Hadjar's lost a couple of places as well, from sixth on the grid, Russell's down three, Norris is down the critical one though, and it was the second phase there on the clean side of the grid, Max then had the slipstream and got the crucial move.
01:00Hamilton and Lawson trying to go side by side, Hamilton having to open the steering wheel, the driver back length for 13th position, he's up three places at the start of the penultimate Grand Prix of the year.
01:11Piastri, Norris and Verstappen, you can see Verstappen in the opening 100 metres alongside.
01:17Hadjar got away terribly, he's already dropping down the field, Verstappen, you're right, he just did it in that drive phase, so the reaction was the same, but Max could apply the throttle way more cleanly, get rid of the clutch and start just booting the right foot.
01:29And that was a move to the inside, well they say it's hard to overtake around here, but there's one for HĆ¼lkenberg into turn number one, and this is Pierre Gasly, and that is how he damaged the underside of the car.
01:43Yeah, so it's his own mistake there, Gasly, that has caused the damage, he's still circulating okay in ninth, but he has damaged that underside.
01:51They've got to think about tyre saving at this stage on the medium tyre, when we get close to the...
01:55Off the road we go, and it's HĆ¼lkenberg, the soft tyre, he was running, and you can see there's no rear right tyre on that Salva.
02:04He's gone off at the first turn, and the tyre marks tell a story, he's spun off the road, Pierre Gasly has a puncture as well, and they were battling, battling over ninth place.
02:14They've come together, and the safety car is out in Qatar.
02:20This is the reason that we have the safety car, the Alpine and the Salva making contact.
02:25Looks like it's going to be a good move for HĆ¼lkenberg, Gasly, maybe just washing wide on the exit there, let's have a look on board with Pierre.
02:31Got Nico coming round, loads of understeer, it's just a familiar racing incident there.
02:36So Verstappen having to roll the dice, trying to stay in contention for the World Championship, comes in, he does the opposite of both McLarens, who remain on the racetrack.
02:47A whole bunch of cars coming in, in fact, most of the field it looks like.
02:50So you're just on the window of being able to pick once more.
02:53The timing of it is neat, but they've got to run two different compounds of time, that's why they're double stacking at Mercedes.
03:00We should have just followed him in there, if you knew the car ahead was staying out.
03:05They have lost all their flexibility for the remainder of the race.
03:10McLaren have got to build an enormous gap to undo the damage here.
03:15We're racing again in the penultimate Grand Prix of the year.
03:19McLaren with so much work to do as Piastri takes us back to full speed.
03:24He is six tenths of a second ahead of Lando Norris.
03:26How quickly can the top two go?
03:28Piastri, Norris, Verstappen.
03:32They are head and shoulders above the rest of the pack in terms of lap time right now.
03:38It's almost like they've got a World Championship at stake.
03:41Having Sainz in fourth and not a George Russell or even a Kimi Antonelli may well be saving the two McLarens here,
03:48because that gap is widening at still nearly a second a lap.
03:54And Oscar Piastri looking for a rapid pit stop.
03:57He comes in from the lead of the Grand Prix.
03:59Norris does one more and uses his full allocation on this set of tyres.
04:02No double stack, clean enough pit stop.
04:04As Norris gets a new set of tyres.
04:10Championship leader back in the race.
04:12And that is exactly what they needed.
04:142.2 seconds.
04:15Yeah, slick work.
04:18If he wants to get anywhere near max now at the end of the race,
04:21he has to try and clear these two cars.
04:23They're only going to go for two more laps.
04:25But it's every second will count for Piastri.
04:27He gets the DRS.
04:28There's a slight headwind, as mentioned.
04:30The slipstream's working.
04:31Well, Piastri trying to win his World Championship straight through.
04:35No messing around.
04:36Good night.
04:36Goodbye.
04:37Up to third for Oscar Piastri.
04:39Still a contender to win the race.
04:41Still a contender to win the World Championship.
04:44And he's got to go all in.
04:48Max Verstappen in for another stop.
04:50Timing of the safety car crucial.
04:52Red Bull reacted.
04:53Will it give them victory thanks to the driving of Max Verstappen?
04:57It's the hards going on.
04:58So they've decided to go Conservative.
05:01Oh, Oliver Behrman.
05:05Rear axle.
05:06Only one wheel on the wagon.
05:07He's gone early.
05:08You see the car was rocking.
05:10Clear indication that he's going to only have one rear wheel on the car.
05:14Ten seconds stop-go penalty is very, very extreme for race control.
05:17They weren't happy with what they witnessed.
05:18Is this the moment that has caused trouble for Lando Norris?
05:23It cost him a second on the road.
05:25Listen in.
05:26Oh, and it was nearly another dramatic turn of the McLaren and in the championship battle.
05:32And this is how hard he is pushing around the racetrack.
05:37Oh, my word.
05:39The second McLaren to dance over that curb.
05:42Millimeters between spinning and losing the chance to win the world championship.
05:47Fernando Alonso goes round and carries on in the Grand Prix.
05:53Alonso who finds himself P8.
05:57Hard tyres.
05:59Hard tyres.
06:00They've put the race leader on hard tyres.
06:02They don't trust the fastest compound.
06:06In comes Lando Norris to make his stop.
06:09And this needs to be perfect for McLaren.
06:12There goes Sainz.
06:13There goes Antonelli.
06:14Here comes fifth place.
06:15And he's got to just get back to a podium.
06:19Puncher for Isaac Hadjar.
06:21The driver who started this lap in sixth position has a puncher on the penultimate lap of the Grand Prix.
06:29There's only one more chance, though, for anyone to overtake.
06:32Norris finds his way by.
06:34Crucial moment in the Formula One World Championship.
06:37Lando Norris is up to fourth position.
06:40And the lead will be 12 points in the World Championship.
06:45Not sure what happened to Antonelli, Max.
06:47Looks like he just pulled over and let Norris through.
06:50Still a contender for the Formula One World Championship.
06:54Max Verstappen will not be moved.
06:57He heads to Abu Dhabi with a fighting chance.
07:00A fighting chance still to win it all.
07:02Grand Prix win number 17 in his career.
07:06Piastri comes home in second.
07:09Sainz will complete the podium if he gets a clean final turn of the racetrack.
07:14We come across the line and the gap between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris is 12 points heading into the final Grand Prix of the season.
07:25Cancel your plans.
07:27We will see you next Sunday.
07:29It is Norris versus Verstappen versus Piastri for the Championship of the World.
07:35And Max Verstappen somehow is still part of that conversation.
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