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00:02:29Maybe proving that this championship year is a marathon, not a sprint.
00:02:34And for the first time in 15 years, we go to the final round with more than two drivers in contention.
00:02:41And on that night in Abu Dhabi, Red Bull overturned a 15-point deficit to take the title.
00:02:47This time around, Max Verstappen needs to overturn a 12-point deficit.
00:02:52Can he do it? You've got seven days to find out.
00:02:59Extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. McLaren's worst nightmare has materialized.
00:03:07Papaya Rules appears to have caught them out and let Max Verstappen back into the fight.
00:03:12Lots of concerned faces at the front of the garage.
00:03:16It's cost them both, but Oscar Piastri speechless after that.
00:03:20They should have pitted him. You know, hindsight is a great thing.
00:03:24But on lap seven, they got it wrong.
00:03:27Max Verstappen, Hannah Schmidt and Red Bull got it right.
00:03:30And it means that Verstappen has closed to within 12 points of Lando.
00:03:36Oscar Piastri, 16 behind his teammate.
00:03:39What do they do now? What do they do in Abu Dhabi?
00:03:42Do they now have to prioritize?
00:03:44Do they have to abandon Papaya Rules in favor of Lando Norris?
00:03:48Incredible stuff. There are so many questions to be answered here.
00:03:52A lot to debrief, but Max Verstappen is your winner here in Qatar in the penultimate race.
00:03:59We said, never rule him out. You simply cannot.
00:04:03And there's three still in it as we arrive in Abu Dhabi next week.
00:04:06This is no ordinary sports. This is no ordinary season.
00:04:11I mean, it's my dream. One day we're F1 World Champion.
00:04:15Yeah, make a job, guys.
00:04:17Want to be leading it in 19 races time?
00:04:20Here I am. We're still in it.
00:04:22Yes! Let's go!
00:04:23I feel like I've just never given a form of one car before.
00:04:30There's been times when I could have made a different decision.
00:04:32He's into the grass and they have them!
00:04:35We pushed each other a lot. He's a pretty damn good driver.
00:04:39Nicely done.
00:04:41It's been one of the best seasons of all time.
00:04:43What have you done?
00:04:45Woo! Papaya Runs!
00:04:47We need to try and maximize everything with what we have to really fight for the title.
00:04:51There's still a lot that can happen.
00:04:53Both McLarens have been disqualified.
00:04:55They are going to scrap it out now to Abu Dhabi.
00:04:57It's the final countdown
00:05:00It's the final countdown
00:05:10Well, it promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the 2025 season.
00:05:19Next weekend, live from Abu Dhabi and three people still in it.
00:05:25Okay, elsewhere across the Sky Sports platform, Super Sunday, Chelsea against Arsenal is right now on Sky Sports Premier League.
00:05:36Between Tuesday and Thursday, ten live games on Sky Sports.
00:05:40NFL tomorrow, a full program right now, or today I should say, Texans at the Colts, 49ers at the Browns, and then the late games from nine o'clock, Vikings at Seahawks, Raiders at the Chargers, and then Broncos at the Washington Commanders from ten past one.
00:05:57The World Darts Championship from Alexandra Palace gets underway Thursday, December the 11th, the Thursday after Abu Dhabi, 6.30, the Sky Sports Darts.
00:06:08Darts and Star and Kiefer Sutherland, Rebel Wilson, a washed-up Hollywood action hero takes a role in a small English village's crux system.
00:06:17The Sky Original, Tinseltown is available Friday on Sky Cinema.
00:06:23Andrea Stella is alongside us.
00:06:26Andrea, well, first of all, commiserations.
00:06:30I've got to ask you, as Papaya Rules caught you out today?
00:06:33Well, it's a disappointing result overall.
00:06:38We were in condition.
00:06:40We had the potential to win the race with Oscar.
00:06:43Certainly, he deserved that.
00:06:45He was fastest yesterday in qualifying in the sprint.
00:06:49And then, certainly, the podium was available for Lando, but we lost the victory with Oscar, and we lost the podium with Lando.
00:06:57So, definitely not the outcome that we wanted.
00:07:01Something to review in relation to the decision we made when there was a safety guard at Lave 7.
00:07:08As usual, we will learn from racing, and we will get stronger for the next event, which obviously becomes now decisive and even more important.
00:07:19Thank you for coming out and talking to us straight away about it.
00:07:23I appreciate that.
00:07:23We appreciate that.
00:07:25Was it a conscious decision not to pit, or just an error, or missed the moment?
00:07:29It was a decision.
00:07:30It was a decision not to pit.
00:07:33And, in fairness, we didn't expect everyone else to pit.
00:07:36Obviously, when everyone else behind you pit, then it makes it pit thing like definitely the right thing to do.
00:07:42Obviously, when you are the lead car, you don't know exactly what the others are going to do.
00:07:47There could have been a loss for Lando in pitting, in case we were pitting both cars with the double stack.
00:07:56But, effectively, the main reason was related to not expecting everyone else to pit.
00:08:01So, it was a decision, but, as a matter of fact, it wasn't the correct decision.
00:08:05And then, once the race got underway, and you had made or committed to that decision, we heard, I think it was Will Joseph, talking about everyone else losing their flexibility.
00:08:14What was the flexibility that you had that could have changed your race and you were hoping for other than the safety car?
00:08:19Well, the flexibility was relating to any other safety car, which would have put us in a very strong position.
00:08:26That's the flexibility that Will was referring to.
00:08:29So, like for all the others pitting at Lave 7, the strategy was kind of prescribed, 7.32.57.
00:08:37But, as a matter of fact, it worked very well for everyone stopping at Lave 7.
00:08:42So, ultimately, that's what it is.
00:08:46We thought that the pace in the car also could have allowed anyhow to open enough of a gap.
00:08:52But, again, there wasn't much tire degradation, and, therefore, we couldn't exploit entirely the pace of the car.
00:09:01So, not the desired outcome.
00:09:04And to put salt in your wounds, you picked the safety car up very early on in the lab, didn't you?
00:09:08It wasn't like you could get around here and maybe try to pit at the end of the lab.
00:09:12You know, in fairness, you need to have a plan, obviously, for the safety car to happen at whatever moment in a lab.
00:09:22Obviously, when it's so late, it doesn't even give you the possibility to check what's happening in pit lane, what the plan of the others is.
00:09:29So, honestly, not an excuse.
00:09:32Whatever happens in the lab, you need to be ready to make the right decision.
00:09:36Adjo, the problem here, though, is this Oscar Piastri was speechless, left speechless after that one.
00:09:42And, ironically, the fact that he finished second and Lando finished in fourth, it's actually disadvantaged Oscar going into the final race in Abu Dhabi.
00:09:50What do you do now?
00:09:52Papaya rules, you know, you've got Max is now 12 points behind.
00:09:56Oscar is 16 points behind.
00:09:57Lando needs to finish on the podium.
00:09:59Do you now have to change away from this?
00:10:01Yeah, first of all, we understand Oscar being extremely disappointed because, like I said at the start, he has done everything right.
00:10:10He's been fast, he's been solid, he's been consistent.
00:10:13Likewise, Lando, so the drivers deserve to capitalize on their great performance.
00:10:20In terms of adapting the way we go racing, we just want to always keep the options open for both drivers.
00:10:27They bought in condition to win the championship.
00:10:30There's been often in the history of Formula One a situation in which he was the third one, the third in the classification, to actually win the championship.
00:10:40I remember 2007 with Kimi.
00:10:43I think it was the same in 2010.
00:10:46Like, I think we have to respect the fact that Oscar, he has his chances to win, and therefore we are going to let them race.
00:10:54OK, I'm just going to say goodbye to viewers on Sky Sports Plus.
00:10:58We're going to remain on Sky Sports F1.
00:11:00If you just remain with us for a couple more minutes, please, Andrea.
00:11:02But, yes, we'll see you on Sky Sports F1.
00:11:06I just can continue with that one, though.
00:11:08But you're now in a position where Red Bull are massively breathing down your legs.
00:11:13I'm just really interested into how this debrief is going to go and how you work this one out between your drivers and what you do,
00:11:20how you plan for next week's eventualities.
00:11:23It must be very difficult to do.
00:11:25Well, you know, like, first of all, like always, it's a matter of review and preparation.
00:11:32So we need to prepare very diligently, very professionally, following our consolidated way of preparing race events.
00:11:40And at the same time, I think some of the last events have given us some important information to process, review,
00:11:48make all the adaptations that are needed, such that from every single way of going racing, we are perfect.
00:11:56We need to be perfect because the competition is so high, our competitors are doing so well,
00:12:01that if we are not perfect, we have seen this today, we have seen this in Vegas, then we may miss opportunities.
00:12:08We are still in condition to have the outcome of the championship in our hands.
00:12:13It's now up to the quality of our work to make sure that we pull off the performance and the race execution required.
00:12:23I think the team has already demonstrated that it's a very united team.
00:12:28Great conversations always happening, even after difficult conversations, after difficult races.
00:12:34So even in this case, we will make sure that with Oscar, with Lando, with the entire team,
00:12:40we are prepared and we go very determined into the finale of this season.
00:12:44Appreciate you coming out and talking to us, Andrea.
00:12:46We'll let you get into that.
00:12:47No problem. Thank you.
00:12:48We'll see you in Abu Dhabi.
00:12:49Here is Lando Norris with the pen with Rachel.
00:12:53It could have been a six-point gain.
00:12:55It could have been a seven-point gain that Oscar got today.
00:12:59It's only six.
00:12:59I'm trying to find you a positive.
00:13:01But tell me what was going on in the car and the communications when everyone pitted under the safety car.
00:13:06Were you wanting to come in?
00:13:09It's tough.
00:13:10We just had to have faith in the team making the right decision.
00:13:12Always a gamble.
00:13:13I feel like we were the ones who took the gamble in a way.
00:13:16But yeah, I mean, now it's the wrong decision.
00:13:19We shouldn't have done it.
00:13:20Oscar lost a win and I lost P2.
00:13:22So, yeah, we didn't do a good job today.
00:13:25But we've done plenty of good jobs in other races.
00:13:27And we won the constructors seven races ago, six races ago because of that.
00:13:31So, no, not our finest day.
00:13:34But that's life.
00:13:35It's very magnanimous of you.
00:13:36But do you worry at all that by the team trying to play fair, you're both at risk of losing the drivers now?
00:13:43I know why.
00:13:43Everyone keeps thinking that.
00:13:44It's got nothing to do with that.
00:13:45Well, if you could have both come in, you would have double stacked.
00:13:47And you may have been compromised by that and kept out a bit.
00:13:50Maybe that's on the team's mind as well.
00:13:52You already didn't come in.
00:13:53No, I know.
00:13:54I'm saying that maybe that's why they didn't.
00:13:56So, going forward then, there's 12 points to Max.
00:13:59He is now the closest to you in this title race.
00:14:01What sort of hope have you got for Abu Dhabi seeing the pace they managed to find today?
00:14:04I think they were just as quick today as they were yesterday.
00:14:07It's just they did a better job as a team.
00:14:09They made the right call.
00:14:10So, what would your message to the team be then after tonight?
00:14:15Just to review things, see what we could have done better.
00:14:18See why, well, I think we already know why we didn't make the right decision.
00:14:23You can't get them all right, you know.
00:14:25So, no, just do normal.
00:14:28Do their job.
00:14:29I do my job.
00:14:30And if we do that, we'll be fine.
00:14:32All right.
00:14:32Thank you.
00:14:32Well, I wonder if you'd argue against what Lando was saying there.
00:14:38If you're in the Oscar Piastri camp, you're probably feeling a lot more hard done by.
00:14:42But has Papaya rules and that spirit of fairness cost them today?
00:14:47I don't think so, no.
00:14:47I think they just read it wrong.
00:14:50They thought they would get a safety car opportunity later on.
00:14:53They wanted that flexibility.
00:14:55As pretty much everybody else double stacked.
00:14:57I think Andrea made a point that we thought half the field would stay out.
00:15:02Because we were right on the cut.
00:15:03Lap seven was it, wasn't it?
00:15:05The first point of pitting.
00:15:07And they misunderstood it all and got it wrong.
00:15:12It would have hurt Lando Norris like it hurt George Russell, probably.
00:15:16Because he lost a lot of places stacking.
00:15:18Who knows whether they could have fed them out.
00:15:22They're right at the beginning of the pit lane.
00:15:23They might have struggled.
00:15:24But I don't think that was on their mind.
00:15:26I think they thought they were doing the right thing strategically for the race.
00:15:29To keep that flexibility later on.
00:15:32But the tyres didn't fall apart.
00:15:34And Max Verstappen was plenty fast enough.
00:15:36James Vals, though, said that he would have.
00:15:39I mean, Heintay, again, I say is a wonderful thing.
00:15:41But he said he would have pitted one of those.
00:15:43It's the fact that they're both out there and trying to be fair.
00:15:46All the way to the end.
00:15:48Stopped them from doing at least one of them.
00:15:50For me, it felt a bit like that.
00:15:51I think you would have at least pitted one of them.
00:15:53But I don't think they wanted to put themselves in a position where they compromised one race and advantaged the other.
00:15:59I think if they were going to compromise one, they seemed to compromise both, which is what happened.
00:16:03I think they could have had a get-out-of-jail-free card if there was a later safety car.
00:16:07I also think maybe a lot of us, and me included, watching, thought their pace advantage would be such that they could get out of it,
00:16:14regardless of losing that time with the safety car stop.
00:16:18So it didn't work out.
00:16:19Max was too fast for them.
00:16:20And then to add to that, Lando also made a few mistakes, didn't have the pace to be able to live with Oscar either,
00:16:26and then dropped even further back, so it was double whammy.
00:16:28But a bit of luck at the end, obviously, with Kimi Antonelli going white,
00:16:31which means now he just needs to finish on the podium next weekend.
00:16:33Yeah, absolutely.
00:16:34That was key, wasn't it?
00:16:35Every point is key at the moment.
00:16:38But yes, of course, they should have both come in, or they should have split the strategy.
00:16:42Hindsight's a wonderful thing, and they've made a key error on that.
00:16:46And it's cost the team a victory, and an important victory.
00:16:49I think Oscar Pietro, I was trying to get some words out of him after the race.
00:16:55He was broken because he's dominated this weekend.
00:16:58He's comfortably the fastest driver around this track in his McLaren.
00:17:03And Lando said it, I lost the second, Oscar lost the first.
00:17:06He knows.
00:17:07Oscar had that covered tonight, and it's cost him a very important victory.
00:17:10Andrea skirted around it, but we arrive in Abu Dhabi, and now if you look at the points
00:17:15that we see there, 12 and 16 down to Oscar, do they absolutely have to flip this one on
00:17:20its head?
00:17:20This is what I'm talking about.
00:17:21You don't have to do that, don't you, in the last lap or two.
00:17:23You have to think about that when you see how it all, you know, Oscar was pointing the
00:17:27wrong way in the first corner last year because Max ran into him.
00:17:30So, basically, until it all shapes up halfway through the race, I don't think you'll even
00:17:37have to think.
00:17:38I mean, look how quickly it's all turning around.
00:17:39I know.
00:17:40Tonight's a great example of that.
00:17:41Extraordinary, extraordinary evening here.
00:17:43And another thing to say is that we've been saying, like, McLaren have got two against
00:17:49one, but actually that cost them tonight, in a way, because Red Bull had a total freedom
00:17:54without a second car to think about.
00:17:55Okay, come back to you, Jamie.
00:17:57Let's get the views of Oscar Piastri.
00:17:58You said you were speechless in the car.
00:18:04How are you feeling now?
00:18:05I've had a few minutes to kind of take it all in and, I guess, talk to the team a bit.
00:18:09I haven't spoken to anyone, but feeling pretty crap, as you'd imagine.
00:18:15Yeah, I mean, I don't really know what to say.
00:18:18Obviously, we didn't get it right with the strategy.
00:18:21I think the pace was very strong.
00:18:23I feel like I didn't put a foot wrong.
00:18:26It's just a shame to not walk away with a win.
00:18:28Did you want to come in under the safety car?
00:18:30Were you asking to?
00:18:32I mean, I left it in the team's hands to decide what the best strategy was.
00:18:37They've clearly got more information than I do.
00:18:43Are you worried at all that by trying to be fair to both of you, that the team is risking
00:18:48the Drivers' Championship for one or other of you?
00:18:50I'm not sure today's decision was to do with that.
00:18:53I think we potentially just got it wrong, but I'll speak to the team.
00:18:58Max is now in that P2 position.
00:19:01There's a lot of work to do in Abu Dhabi.
00:19:03How do you reset?
00:19:04How do you pick yourself up and go into that weekend?
00:19:07And can you just ask the team, can we just throw it all out there, please?
00:19:11Can we just do this and not worry about each other and just go for it?
00:19:14We've got a third person in this now.
00:19:17Just strive like I did this weekend.
00:19:19That's all I can do is more than good enough to dominate this weekend.
00:19:23If I can do the same thing next weekend, then I'll be a happy man.
00:19:26All right, thanks, Oscar.
00:19:27Well, we're sure that everybody in McLaren has bought into the ethos of the rule set that
00:19:35they've all put in place.
00:19:37However, there's times when I suppose you're going to doubt it, and I should imagine Oscar
00:19:41might be, yeah, the lowest he's been this year after this result because he was so dominant
00:19:47earlier this most of the weekend.
00:19:49He definitely shouldn't be the lowest he's been because he's had an incredible weekend.
00:19:53He's, you know, absolutely driven his socks off and I think deserved the win today as
00:19:57we saw, but I think he can take a lot of confidence from that.
00:20:00And I think now he's got the bit between his teeth.
00:20:02Now I think the heat can come up a little bit.
00:20:04It's a little bit too nice at the beginning when talking about going into this title fight
00:20:08and, you know, Lando is very relaxed, Oscar is very relaxed about it, Max is obviously
00:20:12very relaxed about it.
00:20:14But, you know, they're going for a world title and I think it needs to heat up.
00:20:16And I think that extra motivation, that extra hunger, now for Oscar, knowing what he could
00:20:21do this weekend, going into the last weekend, I think is going to be important.
00:20:24Mountain though from 16 back.
00:20:27It is.
00:20:28It's not insurmountable.
00:20:31But I spoke to Max on the grid and he's like, I don't get nervous, no, whatever.
00:20:35I spoke to him after the race, he's like, I don't care if I win or not.
00:20:40And I think that that kind of horizontal approach will leave him more relaxed going in.
00:20:46And I believe him because Max is very unfiltered like that, isn't he?
00:20:50So the thing he says, but yeah, McLaren have got a lot of mind management to do, I think,
00:20:56in the next 72 hours before they hit the track.
00:21:00104 points was the gap.
00:21:02It's down to 12 with one to go.
00:21:03We find ourselves in a situation we've not found ourselves in since 2010 when four were
00:21:08going for it in Abu Dhabi, including Oscar's now manager, Mark Webber.
00:21:13I wonder what might happen, but it sets it up for a thrilling finale, doesn't it?
00:21:18In Abu Dhabi at the Asmarina circuit.
00:21:21For what it's worth, Oscar Piastri got the DHL fastest lap for a 1.22.996.
00:21:28But I'm sure that will be very, very low down his priority list.
00:21:32Because he knows that victory was not gifted, but they made the right decision.
00:21:39McLaren didn't.
00:21:40Max Verstappen stays very much in the type of fight, looking for five in a row.
00:21:46More from them next.
00:21:47Welcome back.
00:21:57High drama here in Qatar this evening.
00:21:59Max Verstappen has picked up his 50th career victory, done so at the expense of Oscar Piastri
00:22:05and Lando Norris, who finished second and fourth.
00:22:07But they were the only ones, McLaren, who took the decision not to pit on lap seven.
00:22:13Let's go to the Skypad.
00:22:14Karuna's there to analyse their day.
00:22:15Thank you, Simon.
00:22:19Let's go through it right from the start here.
00:22:21So on board with Lando Norris, who didn't get a great start from the dirty side of the
00:22:26grade.
00:22:26Look for the left and Max Verstappen outdrags him, gets in the slipstream behind Piastri.
00:22:31And at this point, it's Piastri ahead of Verstappen.
00:22:34Lap seven, we have the accident there between Nico Hülkenberg and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly.
00:22:41Now listen to the radio.
00:22:45So Norris was clearly told.
00:22:51Sorry, I believe you had a bit of an issue with the radio.
00:22:54I'll go back there.
00:22:55So Norris was told to stay out at that point, as was Piastri.
00:22:58The other cars all pitted.
00:23:00So, of course, the two McLarens and actually Esteban Ocon, who we know had a penalty.
00:23:04They were the only cars who stayed out.
00:23:06But for me, what's interesting at this point here, and we'll just see, that is Verstappen,
00:23:11who's gone into the pit lane.
00:23:13We can't actually see Oscar on this image.
00:23:16He's gone further ahead.
00:23:18The gap between Piastri and Kimi Antonelli, who's the car behind Lando Norris, was 6.8
00:23:25seconds at the point where Piastri passed the pit entry.
00:23:29So that was a gap.
00:23:31Now, to me, I look at it, 6.8 seconds was probably sufficient time for McLaren to have
00:23:36done the pit stop and released Oscar Piastri without him getting stuck behind Kimi Antonelli.
00:23:44So I don't think there was an issue in terms of them being worried to release Oscar straight
00:23:49back up.
00:23:50In terms of Lando, it would have been a bigger issue because if he had to double stack, he
00:23:54would have had to wait for other cars to come.
00:23:56So he would have potentially dropped positions down.
00:23:58So I don't know if that was a consideration.
00:24:00But from what I could see in looking at the time gaps, Piastri would have been clear and
00:24:05actually would have just kept the lead because, of course, Max also would have been pitting
00:24:09at that time.
00:24:09As it turned out, the McLarens stayed out and then extended, trying to open up a gap
00:24:15to Verstappen.
00:24:16But I think also they somewhat underestimated Verstappen's pace because he stayed within
00:24:21eight seconds of them.
00:24:22He was really, really impressive and able to go strongly today, perhaps quicker than they
00:24:28were expecting.
00:24:29So he stayed closer and ultimately that won him the race.
00:24:32Norris' stop was crucial.
00:24:34Look at how close it was with Fernando Alonso.
00:24:37It was a brilliant 2.2-second stop, a little bit quicker than Oskar's.
00:24:40And he came out just in front of Fernando Alonso.
00:24:43That was super important because it allowed him to stay right behind Piastri in fourth and
00:24:49fifth at that time.
00:24:50The two drivers pushed on.
00:24:51Lando there attacking the outside kerber 14.
00:24:53We saw Oskar also have a moment.
00:24:55Piastri then pitted earlier than going to the full stint length to try and use a hard tyre
00:25:01and catch Max Verstappen.
00:25:03It was in vain.
00:25:04He came out 18 seconds behind the gap at the end, 7.9.
00:25:08So he had a good go, but it wasn't enough.
00:25:10He had to roll the dice, though, and try and do something.
00:25:13Ultimately, it was all lost at the first stop.
00:25:15As for Lando, he came out of the pits behind Carlos Sainz and Kimi Antonelli.
00:25:20So he had a bit of work to do.
00:25:22And to be honest, it didn't look like he was going to get past until, watch Kimi Antonelli
00:25:27here.
00:25:28This is where he has a moment.
00:25:30We'll play it along.
00:25:31There.
00:25:32So Antonelli has a moment coming out of turn nine.
00:25:36That puts him on a compromise line.
00:25:38So you can see, look at Lando.
00:25:39He's going to go there, whereas Antonelli has ended up going along there.
00:25:45So he's ended up going in on a much tighter trajectory into that hairpin.
00:25:50And unfortunately for him, as it happens, he's then gone in too tight, too fast, ends
00:25:55up on a dusty part.
00:25:56Look at the snap of oversteer that Antonelli's got there.
00:25:59And that was a bit of a reprieve for Lando Norris.
00:26:02It gave him another position and a crucial two extra points in the World Championship.
00:26:07But as you guys were hearing from Andrea Stella, ultimately, the question has to be asked.
00:26:11Why didn't they pit Oscar Piastri on that first safety car pit stop?
00:26:16Because that compromised his race.
00:26:19That dropped him effectively behind Max Verstappen strategically.
00:26:23And really, the question is, had Piastri earned the right to have that strategic preference
00:26:29by qualifying first and leading off the start?
00:26:32Back to you.
00:26:33Yeah, thanks, Kroon.
00:26:33Quite often when you think about it, go back to Abu Dhabi 2021.
00:26:37When you get a late safety car, you're in the lead, you don't want to give up track position.
00:26:41But it was so early in the procedure.
00:26:43And obviously on that key lap seven, Bernie, that, I mean, I don't know how they debriefed
00:26:48that.
00:26:48Martin was saying, actually, they just took the wrong decision.
00:26:51They're expecting others to do the same as them.
00:26:53But then every, every other driver came in.
00:26:56So, I mean, what would you, how will they debrief it?
00:26:59Yeah, it will be a pretty difficult debrief.
00:27:01I think, you know, strategy is one of those things that we talk about a lot.
00:27:04It's one of these disciplines where it's very obvious what you should have done afterwards.
00:27:08That's obvious to everybody, even, you know, the very novice strategists.
00:27:11I think when it's very rare that you take a strategy decision where you do something different
00:27:16to everybody else, and it's the right decision.
00:27:19Let's start with that.
00:27:20And I think when they go back and look at it, you know, they go, of course, they go through
00:27:24these permutations the night before.
00:27:26They go through, if there's a safety car on lap X, Y, Z, what would they have done?
00:27:29Now, we're all sitting here thinking, if there's a safety car on lap 7, you've got two nice
00:27:3425 lapsed lengths to the end.
00:27:36When they looked at that permutation last night, they obviously thought that the majority of
00:27:41the field would not take that, so that they would be still in the strategy amongst others.
00:27:45Now, one of the things that they should have looked at is, what if everybody did something
00:27:49different to them?
00:27:50Now, maybe they thought their pace would be better.
00:27:52Maybe they thought that they would be better able to gain those positions back later on in
00:27:57the race, but it will be something for them to review.
00:28:00What exactly drove them to not take in that safety car, and how can they change that going
00:28:07forward?
00:28:07And that's a big, big question.
00:28:08So, I want to come back to you, because I've asked Jamie and I've asked Martin, has
00:28:12Papaya rules cost them, and what do they do now going to Abu Dhabi?
00:28:15Honestly, for a position now, if you just had Oscar Piastri on track, he had 2.9, nearly
00:28:22a three-second gap to Max Verstappen.
00:28:24Yes, they're P1 in the pit lane, but with that three-second gap to Verstappen, and then
00:28:29I think it was another two and a half seconds to the P3, ignore that that's a teammate for
00:28:33now.
00:28:34With that five-second gap to P3, worst case, Verstappen would have been past him in his
00:28:39pit stop.
00:28:39So, I don't understand for Oscar Piastri, if it was a standalone car, why you wouldn't
00:28:45take that decision.
00:28:46Now, for Lando Norris, it is more difficult, because he has to stack with his teammate,
00:28:50he needs to open a little gap, how many positions is he going to lose?
00:28:54So, if you ask about Papaya rules, then I think that in this instance, hesitation in
00:29:01stacking Lando Norris and holding him back from potentially achieving everything he could
00:29:08has hurt.
00:29:09And only McLaren internally know the real answer to that, so they've got a lot to go
00:29:15through.
00:29:16Funnily enough, people will look at the first pit stops when they actually did do them, and
00:29:22Oscar got a slower pit stop than Lando.
00:29:26Everyone starts to think, oh, what's going on here?
00:29:28But then, it was the other way around, and it was 1.8 for Oscar in the second one.
00:29:32So, look, yeah, it's just their way of going racing, and, you know, whether you believe
00:29:38it or not, right now, it might feel like it's the wrong way to go racing to them.
00:29:45Right now, for sure.
00:29:47Definitely, I think, from Bernie's sort of opinion as well, I think there's been a mistake,
00:29:52and whether you passion the mistake to Papaya rules or you're passionate to a mistake, I
00:29:56think that's everyone's judgment.
00:29:58But I think the only thing that makes me sort of lean away from the Papaya rules a little
00:30:02bit is Oscar wasn't so sure, and I think they have so many briefings overnight.
00:30:07They know all the permutations.
00:30:08They would have discussed what happens if there's a safety car on that five, six, seven.
00:30:12They would have gone through all of it, and they would have potentially discussed, okay,
00:30:15I'm leading, I'm going to stay out.
00:30:16They would have gone through all of that.
00:30:18And so, Oscar hasn't sort of pointed any fingers yet in what we've had on his interviews.
00:30:23And also, I think if he really felt against the team in that moment and cost him the win,
00:30:27I think he could have stayed out in his first stop an extra lap to force the double stack
00:30:31for Lando to compromise Lando even more.
00:30:33But he didn't do anything like that.
00:30:34He never thought like that.
00:30:36So part of me thinks that sort of harmony in the team is still fairly, fairly good.
00:30:40And that's because I don't think they're blaming the team on Papaya rules at this point.
00:30:45Well, I think we've got a clip, correct me if I'm wrong, with regards to what Zach had
00:30:50to say about Papaya rules and the outcome of this championship a short while ago, a couple
00:30:56of weeks ago.
00:30:57I want to make sure if we don't win, he beats us.
00:31:02We don't beat ourselves.
00:31:04And we're well aware of 2007.
00:31:07Two drivers tie on points.
00:31:09One gets in the front.
00:31:10But, you know, we've got two drivers who want to win the world championship.
00:31:13I'd rather go, we did the best we can and our drivers tied in points and the other guy
00:31:18beat us by one than the alternative, which is telling one of our drivers right now, when
00:31:24they're one point away from each other, oh, you're going to, I know you have a dream to
00:31:28win the world championship, but we flipped the coin and you don't get to do it.
00:31:32Forget it.
00:31:32That's not how we go racing.
00:31:34The best way to win the driver's championship is to have two drivers going for the driver's
00:31:39championship.
00:31:39And in the event 2007 happens again, I'd rather have that outcome than all the other
00:31:46outcomes by playing favorites.
00:31:48We won't do it.
00:31:49We're racers.
00:31:50We're going racing.
00:31:52There you go.
00:31:53They are very principled at McLaren, sticking to their guns.
00:31:56Let's just see what happens in Abu Dhabi.
00:31:59Right.
00:31:59Okay.
00:31:59Max Verstappen back in it.
00:32:0112 points adrift of Lando Norris.
00:32:03Let's hear from the Dutchman.
00:32:06Hi, Max.
00:32:07Huge congratulations.
00:32:08How much of a surprise is that win right now?
00:32:13I didn't expect to win today.
00:32:14That's for sure.
00:32:15I think also looking at pure pace, we were not on the same level as McLaren, but we made
00:32:20the right call as most of the grid in boxing under the safety car.
00:32:24And that almost gives you a free pit stop kind of.
00:32:27And, yeah, that made the race for me.
00:32:31Of course, I knew after that pit stop, it was going to be two long stints on the tire, in
00:32:36terms of tire wear.
00:32:36But we managed that, I think, very well.
00:32:38And, yeah, they didn't really, you know, catch up too much.
00:32:42It was all under control, let's say like that.
00:32:44But, yeah, for sure, that call with the pit stop made me win the race today.
00:32:49I was interested in the comment you made earlier in the week when you said you're only in this
00:32:52fight because of other people's failures.
00:32:54Do you think today was an example of that?
00:32:55Another one, yeah.
00:32:57So do you think they're at risk of losing the championship by trying to play too fair?
00:33:01They could have got one of them in.
00:33:02Well, I don't think it was about playing too fair today.
00:33:04It was just missing the whole pit stop opportunity.
00:33:08So we'll see.
00:33:09I mean, on pure pace, they're faster.
00:33:11But as it showed today again, anything is possible.
00:33:152010, Seb came from 15 points back in Abu Dhabi to win.
00:33:19You must be licking your lips at the prospect of next weekend.
00:33:22I mean, those are great stories.
00:33:23Of course, it doesn't always go like that.
00:33:26But we go in there with a positive mindset and we'll try everything we can.
00:33:29Well done, Seb.
00:33:32He wrote himself off.
00:33:33Then he said he might be back in it.
00:33:35Then he wrote himself off again.
00:33:36And now he's back in it.
00:33:38And, you know, a penny for the thoughts in Red Bull now.
00:33:41I mean, they must be, I suppose, licking their lips and rubbing their hands and thinking,
00:33:46wow, can't believe we've got an opportunity here to, you know, have a go at them in the last race of the year.
00:33:51Yeah, I think halfway through the season, not many people would have put their money on Max Verstappen
00:33:55to be so close to the championship.
00:33:57I definitely, when I was asked who I thought would win the drivers,
00:34:00Max didn't even feature in that for me.
00:34:03So there's light at the end of the tunnel for them.
00:34:06They can see it.
00:34:07They are chasing it down.
00:34:08And what a position to be in.
00:34:10And as much as we might just talk about the critiques of strategy from McLaren,
00:34:15you know, big shout out to Hannah there on the pit wall for Red Bull.
00:34:18You know, all of those calls are big calls.
00:34:20It's maybe a tiny, she can't make the decision based on what Piastri's done ahead.
00:34:26And, you know, well done that.
00:34:29She deserved to be in the podium.
00:34:30Exactly.
00:34:30That's why she was up there, wasn't she?
00:34:32Because, you know, she made the call that won them the race.
00:34:35She did.
00:34:36And they, generally speaking, get it right a lot of the time.
00:34:39But I think also what they can take a lot of promise from is Max's pace today.
00:34:43I think even on the slight offset strategy, yes, Oscar closed that gap in that last stint,
00:34:49but not so significantly.
00:34:50And I think going into Abu Dhabi is not obvious, you know, 1-0 to McLaren in terms of performance
00:34:57in the car.
00:34:57I think they will have a stronger car.
00:34:59But if Max can work again like they did throughout this weekend, and they've got the three free
00:35:03practice sessions, they've not got the sort of sprint weekend format that seems to not
00:35:07favor them at the moment, then they could be in a really good position.
00:35:10Yep, it's his 50th career win, and what a time to do it for Max Verstappen in that Red
00:35:16Pull five in a row.
00:35:18Well, it's still on the cards, isn't it?
00:35:20We're going to take a short break.
00:35:21On the other side of that, we're going to reflect on another good news story for Carlos
00:35:26Sainz, because he's done it again.
00:35:29Another podium.
00:35:30He is so on form at the moment.
00:35:32Jimmy V loved it on the pit wall.
00:35:35So did his dad, and his second podium of the season, into the top ten in the championship.
00:35:41And we'll get his thoughts momentarily.
00:35:51Carlos Sainz becomes the first Williams driver to score multiple podium finishes in a season
00:35:56since Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas did it 10 years ago in 2015.
00:36:03He's up into ninth in the championship, nine points behind his teammate.
00:36:07Let's hear from James Vals.
00:36:11Well, another smooth operation.
00:36:14But nervous at the end.
00:36:15What was this with the understeer?
00:36:16When he came on and said, oh no, I have understeer.
00:36:19What was that about?
00:36:20So we lost about eight degrees of tyre temperature on the front right, and a little bit of downforce
00:36:24all in one go, which suggests a small component failed.
00:36:28But basically, the right-hand corners, he was suffering in.
00:36:30He did brilliantly with it.
00:36:32He sort of calmly brought the car to the end of the race.
00:36:34So perhaps it wasn't as calm as him, but good job.
00:36:36And what made the difference today?
00:36:37Obviously, you made the right call on the strategy.
00:36:40But really, it was the qualifying performance and then not gaining a place at the beginning.
00:36:45I think George gained a place.
00:36:46Yeah, so it was the beginning of the race.
00:36:48And then in the pit stops, the team did brilliant pit stops.
00:36:50And we actually released into traffic and gained another few positions there.
00:36:53And that was the key to the race today.
00:36:55And what bigger picture, James?
00:36:56I mean, this makes securing P5 a little bit more comfortable.
00:37:01I'm not sure if you've actually secured it today with that.
00:37:04Yeah, it's mathematically finished now.
00:37:06Amazing.
00:37:06Okay, so even more celebrations then.
00:37:10What does that mean to you and rebuilding Williams Grand Prix into a top team?
00:37:16I mean, this surpasses our expectations, really.
00:37:19And I hope it shows the world the direction that we're on and the belief that we have in
00:37:24where we're going as well as a result of things.
00:37:26We're still here to win championships.
00:37:27We're a long way away from that, a long way away.
00:37:29But at least now the work we're doing starts to pay off.
00:37:32Wow.
00:37:32Okay, so to everyone watching at Grove, everyone at home, that is from 9th to 5th in the Constructors.
00:37:39Hats off from us.
00:37:40Thank you so much, everyone.
00:37:41Thank you.
00:37:42Appreciate it.
00:37:42Carlos, I heard a whisper this morning that you had a really racy setup, but I didn't
00:37:49realize quite how racy.
00:37:51I don't know who told you that, but I can only say that, yeah, we did some good setup changes
00:37:57from the sprint to the main race.
00:37:59That we thought the car felt better in quality, but for no one expected to suddenly for the
00:38:06race to switch down the pace the way it did, because in the sprint we struggled a bit with
00:38:11fuel saving, with damage in the car, with a lot of front tire graining.
00:38:16But with those few setup changes that we did today in the race, right from the first lap,
00:38:21I was really comfortable with the car.
00:38:24Did a really good start, really good strategy, really good pit stops.
00:38:27And halfway through that race, I realized, yeah, we might, probably might be on and we
00:38:34need to maximize this and go for it.
00:38:36And that's what we did.
00:38:37And like a few times this year when the opportunity presented itself, we grabbed it and it makes
00:38:44me very proud of everyone.
00:38:46What did you think when the McLarens didn't pit?
00:38:49I didn't obviously understand it at the time.
00:38:52And I welcome it because I was like, this is my chance now.
00:38:57Did you, towards the end of the race, we saw you do it in Singapore, where you backed up
00:39:00a little bit to try and make sure that Antonelli had DRS to keep Norris behind both of you.
00:39:05Was that going on in that race at all?
00:39:06No, no, not today.
00:39:07Ten laps to go, I decided to push flat out because we were saving a lot of the tires to
00:39:12try to keep Antonelli at bay at the end of the race.
00:39:15And then once they told me Lando was going to pass Antonelli, I was like, we need to open
00:39:20the gap to Lando as much as possible, see if they get into a fight.
00:39:23And then five laps to go, something broke in my car, in the front end.
00:39:27Something, I don't know if a piece of front wing fell off or something on the tire, but
00:39:31I lost massive front end grip in the high speed and medium speed.
00:39:35So turning right, actually in the straights, the steering wheel was like this and turning
00:39:40right, the car wouldn't turn and turning left, it was fine.
00:39:43And Lando caught up on me in the last two laps quite a bit and we lost half a second of race
00:39:49pace.
00:39:49But to be honest, today it was controlled, but at the same time pushing because I was around
00:39:55cars that were much quicker or quicker than me today.
00:39:58I bet you at the beginning of this season, Carlos Sainz wouldn't have backed himself to
00:40:05have two more podiums than the man that replaced him at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, but he has.
00:40:10And since Monza, he scored 48 points to Alex Albon's three.
00:40:15Talk about a season of two halves, Jamie, as a driver, but he's found it.
00:40:20He clearly, he likes what he's got now at Williams.
00:40:23Absolutely.
00:40:23And there's always an adjustment period, which I think he experienced for the first half of
00:40:27the year.
00:40:28And that's when Alex got off to a flying start and you're sort of questioning Carlos.
00:40:32And I think it shows his sort of mental strength to kind of push through that, find the solutions
00:40:37both in himself and in the car and find what works.
00:40:39And now it's incredible.
00:40:40He's really found so much performance.
00:40:43I think what impresses me about Carlos the most is kind of his ability to read the races
00:40:47as well.
00:40:48He knows where his battles are.
00:40:49He knows what's going on.
00:40:50And I think in a race like that, yeah, he was able to know, okay, right, 10 seconds or the
00:40:55gap to Lando where I needed to push and to take control of his own race and his own destiny.
00:41:00Form is temporary.
00:41:01Class is permanent, as they say so often.
00:41:04But that's a true statement when it comes to Carlos Sainz and his dad.
00:41:09It is a true statement.
00:41:10I wonder where you heard that, Simon, anyway.
00:41:12Yeah, I was just going to say, you see those pictures there, what that means to Williams
00:41:17to get that result, to secure that P5 in the championship.
00:41:20That team at the beginning of the year came out and said, we're not working on the car
00:41:24anymore.
00:41:25We're focused on 2026.
00:41:26That's going to be the new engine regs.
00:41:28That's where we're going.
00:41:29It obviously took Carlos a long time to get settled into that.
00:41:32And now he's just showing this fantastic form.
00:41:34You know, that drive today, as Jamie said, the global understanding of what's going on,
00:41:39the fact that any of these drivers can often look at the TV, understand who's behind them,
00:41:45how far, what tyres are on, how they're coming.
00:41:48It's phenomenal to me that they have their overheads to do any of that.
00:41:52And that experience from Carlos Sainz really shone through today.
00:41:55And he really, you know, him and the Williams team, the guys, as you walk down the pit lane,
00:41:59they are loving that podium.
00:42:01And so they should.
00:42:02Absolutely.
00:42:03Back to the battle at the top and that late mistake by Kimi Antonelli.
00:42:08Let's have another look at this one, because it looked like being a 10-point gap between
00:42:13Lando and Max Verstappen as we went to Abu Dhabi.
00:42:18But because he went wide, Lando went through.
00:42:21It is now a 12-point gap and Lando just needs to finish on the podium.
00:42:25This is what Max Verstappen's racing engineer, Jean-Pierre Lambiesi, had to say about that,
00:42:30though.
00:42:30I'm not sure what happened to Antonelli, Max.
00:42:37Looks like he just pulled over and let Norris through.
00:42:45A conspiracy theory there from GP.
00:42:48Obviously, engine providers are Mercedes for McLaren.
00:42:52But look, a nice little handshake between the pair there.
00:42:55A little bit of, I should imagine, a right interaction.
00:42:57Here is the Italian.
00:43:01Hi, Kimi.
00:43:02So it must be so annoying and frustrating.
00:43:04You had such a great start and you were running a really solid race up for that spin or that
00:43:09slightly going wide at the end.
00:43:10Tell us what happened.
00:43:11Yeah, it was, you know, it was pretty frustrating to end up with a P5, considering the podium
00:43:19was so close.
00:43:21And just, yeah, you know, very, very difficult.
00:43:26It was a shame with the pit stop, having to hold, obviously, to avoid any unsafe releases.
00:43:32And it was, you know, it was a shame because that changed completely the race.
00:43:38And, you know, in Sting 2, I lost a lot of time behind Carlos.
00:43:42Just, you know, it was really hard with the third year.
00:43:45And just, you know, the tyres were over-eating quite a lot.
00:43:50And, you know, at the end, obviously, with the hard, I was pushing quite a lot to get
00:43:56close to him.
00:43:56And eventually, you know, I was in DRS, but then, or I was just very close to DRS.
00:44:04But then into turn nine, I went in a bit quicker and just had a massive moment.
00:44:10It was a bit unexpected, but just, yeah, I lost the rear and went off track.
00:44:17So just need to look why the mistake arrived or, you know, why they did different.
00:44:23Of course, I mean, I went a bit quicker, but was not massively different.
00:44:28And, yeah, just lost the rear.
00:44:29And it was a shame to lose the place because there would have been two more points.
00:44:33But, yeah, now we work hard and we focus on to Abu Dhabi.
00:44:39Must be really satisfying, though, to be having this kind of second half of the season that
00:44:43you are having because you've really picked out.
00:44:45Yeah, no, definitely.
00:44:46I mean, it's, I think I'm much stronger.
00:44:48The second half of the season has been definitely another story compared to the European.
00:44:53And, yeah, just, you know, we're fighting more and more often at the front, which is very exciting.
00:45:01And, yeah, of course, there's still quite a lot of work to do.
00:45:05But I think, you know, I feel much more mature and much more, you know, with quite a bit more experience.
00:45:11And, yeah, just want to finish the year on high and then start focusing on to 2026.
00:45:17Thanks very much.
00:45:18Thank you.
00:45:19I've quite enjoyed GP's conspiratorial comments there.
00:45:24But he's one of the driest people in the paddock.
00:45:26So, yeah, maybe there's, maybe he thinks there's a grain of truth in it.
00:45:30But it actually looked like an error.
00:45:31And he was saying it was the dirty air.
00:45:33And that's why he went through.
00:45:34However, I said those are two crucial points that he's helped Lando Norris or, you know, let Lando Norris have.
00:45:41Yeah, you know, it's interesting GP's reaction to it.
00:45:44And I think GP's probably as good as Max at times playing the game.
00:45:48You know, we don't hear him say those sorts of things very often.
00:45:51But when he does, they're very effective.
00:45:53You know, the point that we're talking about it here is something to be said for GP.
00:45:56But I think that we've seen a few drivers make mistakes today.
00:45:59We've seen, I think it was Alonso had a spin, Leclerc had a spin, Norris had a mistake in one corner as well.
00:46:05So, there's quite a few drivers that did struggle at certain points, whether that be through overworn tyres, overheated tyres.
00:46:12But it will, Kimi will take some negative from that.
00:46:17It's interesting, the week before, two weeks ago, he defended for ages from Max Verstappen.
00:46:21And we were sort of all so impressed with his defence.
00:46:24And then when Norris gets within a few laps, it's not been the same.
00:46:28But he has had a very strong end of season.
00:46:31And he will take light from that.
00:46:33And most importantly for him, probably, he's had another race where he's beaten George.
00:46:38And that will be, you know, Kimi will take a lot from that, despite not getting all the points on the board.
00:46:43Actually, though, when you look at the top four that started on the dirty side of the track today,
00:46:47all of them lost positions off the line, one of whom was George Russell.
00:46:52Let's get the thoughts of Kimi's teammate.
00:46:56Hi, George.
00:46:57Hello.
00:46:58How are you feeling right now?
00:46:59I mean, the start really cost you.
00:47:02And then what's just a lack of grip in the first stint?
00:47:05Well, it was just impossible to overtake.
00:47:07I was stuck behind Fernando and Hajar the whole race.
00:47:10I didn't think I was actually that much quicker than them because I couldn't even stay in their DRS.
00:47:14And when Hajar got the puncture, I went one second lap faster in the last three laps.
00:47:20And I was, we were the quickest on track substantially in the last three laps.
00:47:25It was just unbelievable.
00:47:27So, yeah, it's a shame, you know, the start determined everything.
00:47:32And obviously, the lap seven safety car, you couldn't have written it if you tried.
00:47:38Was there anything more out there today?
00:47:41I mean, your actual start, you dropped down to P7, didn't you?
00:47:44Was there anything wrong or was it just a slow getaway?
00:47:46Well, I only lost one place at Turn 1 and then it was just pretty bad, to be honest.
00:47:53I think there's no grip on that inside.
00:47:56Lando lost the position, I lost the position and then got it wrong in Turn 2 as well.
00:48:00So, I think realistically, I was lucky to get past Fernando, lucky to get past Isaac.
00:48:08You know, obviously, Carlos had a pretty flawless race.
00:48:13One of those days.
00:48:14One of those days.
00:48:15Thanks, George.
00:48:16Looks like Ferrari, though, we're going to talk about this after the break,
00:48:22are confirmed in fourth in the construct.
00:48:24It's just a miserable weekend there.
00:48:26Charles Leclerc picking up a couple of points, well, four points.
00:48:29He finished in eighth, but Lewis not managing to get into the top ten.
00:48:32For George, though, versus Kimi, last three or four races, as you saw on the screen there,
00:48:37beaten by his teammate.
00:48:39Yeah, I think that race felt a little bit, well, I mean, it was unique in the way that it was done
00:48:43with the 25 laps, but it kind of meant that you had these sort of two sprint races.
00:48:48And so, because it was like that, it allowed for no errors or no mistakes.
00:48:52It didn't really allow the opportunity to kind of make up ground if you had lost it.
00:48:55So, George lost ground at the start, then lost it in the pit stop, having to wait where they were in the pit stop queue with a double stack,
00:49:01and then cars coming past, and then it's kind of very difficult to make it back up,
00:49:05particularly the fact that it's so hard to pass it.
00:49:07So, yeah, frustrating, I guess, in a way, but I think kudos to Kimi.
00:49:11He did a great job, managed to capitalise, and I think he had been on the other side of that a few times earlier this season,
00:49:17where he's had good pace, but just not able to put races together.
00:49:20And then it's great that the last few races, he's kind of had everything come together for him,
00:49:24and apart from that last lap or so, he's been performing really well.
00:49:27He'll be eager to hit 2026, hit the ground running there, and potentially a car that might well be challenging.
00:49:33I think there'll be a lot of people eager to get into 2026 now, but, you know,
00:49:37great that we still have a fight on our hands into the next round.
00:49:41So, I, you know, totally agree with everything that Jamie said.
00:49:45The Mercedes has this great hope of having, we believe, one of the strongest power units next year.
00:49:51We've got no idea how that's actually going to pan out.
00:49:54And they've learned a lot about their car,
00:49:55and they've had this year of development for Kimi,
00:49:58which will really stand them in good stead next year.
00:50:01Good stuff.
00:50:01Okay, when we come back, as I said, we will debrief the weekend for Ferrari
00:50:06and actually where they're going to finish in 2025.
00:50:10Max Verstappen, though, has won here.
00:50:12It's a three-way fight in Abu Dhabi.
00:50:15We'll look forward to that as well when we come back and finish off here in Qatar.
00:50:19Welcome back.
00:50:31An extraordinary evening, the penultimate race of 2025,
00:50:35and Max Verstappen, the beneficiary of a mistake,
00:50:39a bad call when everybody else pitted on lap seven.
00:50:42McLaren didn't.
00:50:43It means that Max is still very much in this fight.
00:50:47Oscar Piastri finishing in second.
00:50:49Carlos Sainz picking up his second podium of the year.
00:50:5348 points since Monza to Alex Albon's three.
00:50:57Lando Norris, in the end, a late mistake by Kimi Antonelli,
00:51:00gifted him an extra couple of points.
00:51:02George Russell finished above Fernando Alonso.
00:51:04Charles Leclerc, the high-high place of the two Ferraris.
00:51:07Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda rounding off the top ten.
00:51:13Further down, no joy again for Lewis Hamilton.
00:51:16It's another miserable weekend for the seventh-time world champion.
00:51:19And there were four retirees in the form of Lance Stroll,
00:51:22Isaac Hadjar, Oli Behrman and Nico Hulkenberg.
00:51:27So what it means to the championship is that there's three men in it
00:51:31as we go to the final race of the year.
00:51:33Lando Norris needs to finish on the podium,
00:51:35and that will be enough for him to claim the title.
00:51:37He's 12th clear of Max Verstappen.
00:51:39Oscar Piastri, despite finishing second,
00:51:42probably not the beneficiary of that bad pit stop call.
00:51:45And he trails him by four points, and the gap is 16 to his teammate.
00:51:51Further down, as you can see,
00:51:53Carlos Sainz to within nine points of his teammate.
00:51:56Nico Hulkenberg drops outside of the top ten.
00:51:59Fernando Alonso picking up a reasonable haul of points
00:52:02has elevated him to 12th.
00:52:03In the constructors, well, the big news for the day
00:52:09is that Ferrari guaranteed being fourth now,
00:52:12Williams guaranteed being in fifth.
00:52:14So the battle for second is between Mercedes and Red Bull,
00:52:17and 33 is the difference between them.
00:52:20Still very tight between the Racing Bulls on 92,
00:52:23Aston Martin on 80,
00:52:24and Haas and Sauber, 73 and 68, respectively.
00:52:28OK, let's hear from both the Ferrari drivers,
00:52:31starting with Lewis Hamilton.
00:52:37Lewis, you moved forward today, made places up today.
00:52:40How was the race?
00:52:42How was the car?
00:52:43How are you feeling standing here?
00:52:44I feel fine.
00:52:47Had a good first lap.
00:52:49Made some places up,
00:52:51and then it was really unfortunate under the safety car.
00:52:56But, yeah, I enjoyed it to as much as I could.
00:53:03So there's one more race in this Ferrari,
00:53:05and that's the end of your first year with Ferrari.
00:53:07What have you learned from it,
00:53:08and how much has it challenged you, do you feel, this year?
00:53:11Definitely has been the most challenging year,
00:53:15both in and out of the car.
00:53:18There's been...
00:53:19I mean, I've got so many notes
00:53:22in terms of things that we need to improve on,
00:53:26and time will tell whether or not we act upon those things,
00:53:30and we keep hold of the things that are good
00:53:36and change the things that are not,
00:53:39and there's plenty of those.
00:53:41But there's literally no reason why we couldn't fix those
00:53:46if we just put those into action.
00:53:51I'm hopeful for us making progress.
00:53:55Thank you very much.
00:53:58Hi, Cheryl.
00:53:59Yesterday you said there's zero performance in this car.
00:54:02Did you find any more performance today in the race?
00:54:04No.
00:54:04I searched for it, but I still did not find it.
00:54:08It's very frustrating because I've tried many things,
00:54:11but there's not been one lap where I was fast,
00:54:14so, yeah, again, very frustrating.
00:54:17Are you looking forward to seeing the back of this car
00:54:19at the end of next weekend?
00:54:24Yes and no.
00:54:26I mean, yes, yes, for sure.
00:54:27But at the same time, I'm still looking forward for the last race
00:54:31and try and finish on a higher note because it would be quite depressing
00:54:35to go in holiday with a race like that.
00:54:39So I just hope that we can finish on a more positive note in Abu Dhabi
00:54:42and then look forward for sure on next year's car
00:54:45and forget about this year that has been a very tough one.
00:54:49Thank you.
00:54:50Christmas can't come soon enough for them.
00:54:54Well, it's kind of like Charles says.
00:54:56You want to end on a high.
00:54:56You actually kind of want to end on a high, and it's very frustrating.
00:54:59Although, to be honest, Christmas now for everyone in this paddock
00:55:01isn't going to be much.
00:55:03They get there.
00:55:03How often do you, how much time do you get off?
00:55:06Yeah, well, they're already building next year's car
00:55:08and they've only got like a week off.
00:55:10A week off.
00:55:11Properly off and then straight back in.
00:55:14Yeah, got the turkey in a big way.
00:55:16Should we go up and finish by going up into the press conference
00:55:20and hear once again from Max Verstappen
00:55:22with regards to that decision by the McLarens not to pit?
00:55:28I thought at that moment that there was a big chance of winning it.
00:55:32Yeah, I don't think about losing.
00:55:33That's not in my head.
00:55:35I think about how to win.
00:55:36I think he's one of those years where, because he's been so far back,
00:55:44as you were saying, he is almost horizontal, as Martin was talking about.
00:55:48I wonder if that in itself, when you've got a guy who's as good as he is
00:55:51coming up on the rails and just saying, effectively, I don't give a whatever stuff.
00:55:57He's been completely himself, but equally, I think he knows the impact.
00:56:01He knows exactly what he's doing.
00:56:03He knows him acting like that.
00:56:05It just winds everyone up and it's winding McLaren up and it will wind Lando and Oscar up.
00:56:10Whether they bite at that or not, I think now they know how Max is.
00:56:14But everything he says he's going to do, he does.
00:56:17And I think everyone has to respect that.
00:56:19I don't believe he doesn't care, because I think he absolutely does care.
00:56:22And I think he's going to be giving it everything.
00:56:24He'll be working so hard between now and Abu Dhabi.
00:56:27I think in his relaxed nature and his kind of now what seems to be horizontal nature,
00:56:32don't get lost in the fact he's one of the hardest working drivers on the grid.
00:56:35And I think he spends a lot of time in that engineering room
00:56:38and a lot of time with the guys on the simulator.
00:56:39And he'll make sure that that car is where he needs it to be to try and win that world title.
00:56:43When he said coming into the weekend, if I'd been in a McLaren,
00:56:46then the championship would have been done weeks ago.
00:56:49And then Lando didn't bite, but he said, you know, he's entitled to say what he has.
00:56:54But effectively, they're aggressive at Red Bull.
00:56:57They like to play the Bayern games.
00:56:58Do you think they'll be amplified this week?
00:57:01Yeah, of course.
00:57:01You know, Max, you know, to pick up what Jimmy said, Max is a phenomenal talent.
00:57:06You know, phenomenally talent.
00:57:07He can get the qualifying lap done.
00:57:09He's got the most out of that car of the day.
00:57:11We spoke so much about people in the race making mistakes.
00:57:14He didn't make a mistake.
00:57:15He got it done when he needed to.
00:57:17And he does the homework in the background because he knew under a lap seven safety car
00:57:21how he was expecting the rest of the race to play out.
00:57:24He wasn't on the radio saying, what do you think the plan is from now?
00:57:27He knew what the plan was from then.
00:57:29And that is just someone who properly understands what the strategic implications of everything that happens is.
00:57:36And that doesn't come every day.
00:57:38Not everyone has that ability.
00:57:40And that is even just the way he says it there.
00:57:43He goes, as soon as I seen them not pit, I knew I could win it.
00:57:47I knew I was going to win it.
00:57:47And that is getting under the skin.
00:57:51Let's go back.
00:57:51Let's go back to momentum.
00:57:53We talked about Lando having the momentum.
00:57:56I mean, he's still in the best position, you'd think.
00:57:59But it's very much Red Bull now.
00:58:01To have that and Max, four-time world champion, going for a fifth.
00:58:05Yeah, God, I mean, it's difficult to pick a winner.
00:58:08But I'm going to ask you to do that.
00:58:10Who do you think from here is going to win it in Abu Dhabi, Jamie?
00:58:13I think it's Lando's to lose still.
00:58:16He really still has the reign on it.
00:58:18Max has to still do quite a lot in terms of where, I mean, he can win it.
00:58:22But Lando only has to finish in the top four or five, I think it is.
00:58:25So Lando is still his to lose.
00:58:28But to be honest, he had a difficult weekend this weekend.
00:58:30A couple of mistakes in Q3s.
00:58:32The Rays, a couple of mistakes.
00:58:34He's going to have to bounce back from that.
00:58:36I'm going to say Lando.
00:58:37I've got to put my mic up.
00:58:38Sorry about that.
00:58:38I forgot.
00:58:39It's your first time.
00:58:40It's my first time doing this.
00:58:41And you're going to say, Bernie?
00:58:43Well, I sort of agree with you.
00:58:45I think it's Lando's to lose.
00:58:46But to caveat, if Max wins, I think this would be his best championship because of the year he's had.
00:58:54I'm not reeling him out.
00:58:56It's incredible.
00:58:57I can't wait.
00:58:58We're not going to have you with us.
00:58:59No, I'm not.
00:58:59Well, look, I hope you enjoy it from home, if you can.
00:59:02Thank you, Jamie.
00:59:03Thanks to Bernie for your company this year.
00:59:06It's been fantastic having you with us.
00:59:08We hope we are going to have you with us next weekend.
00:59:11And for the decider in the desert, look, we've got creative with that.
00:59:15The decider in the desert, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
00:59:19We get underway 11.30 on air with the race start at 1 p.m.
00:59:24It couldn't be more exciting.
00:59:26We have got what we wanted for the first time since 2010.
00:59:30There's more than two in it, three in it, in fact, going into the last race in Abu Dhabi.
00:59:35Who's your money on today?
00:59:37Max Verstappen, victorious from us all here.
00:59:39Bye for now.
00:59:49Feeling good, Lando?
00:59:50Feeling all good.
00:59:51Good, good, good, good, good, good, I can't believe it.
00:59:55I can feel my spirit slowly leaving.
00:59:59But I miss you again.
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