00:00The final race of the year is five lights away
00:04and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is go!
00:08Max Verstappen's having to do something about Charles Leclerc
00:11and that is brave from Verstappen because he knew he was on the back foot
00:14and he's found something in the second phase of the start to stay ahead of the Ferrari.
00:19George Russell was close there with Oscar Piastri.
00:21Oh, that was very, very tight there as you see.
00:23Piastri hanging on there.
00:25He's all over the back of Lando Norris, I should say.
00:27So Lando Norris on the charge, Verstappen.
00:29Then Leclerc, then Piastri, up a place goes Norris.
00:32That's getting tight on the apex of turn number five.
00:35Can Charles Leclerc do anything now?
00:37He's riding the wheel tracks.
00:38No DRS at this stage, but he's forcing a defensive shape.
00:41As in the background, Hamilton and Perez go very close.
00:43But this is for the lead of the Grand Prix and Charles Leclerc is going to take it!
00:47Side by side, they go once again, only momentarily.
00:51Once again, Verstappen's bravery on the brakes keeps him the lead.
00:54He just will never let it go.
00:56That's what defines him as such a fighting, feisty world champion.
01:00But here comes Charles Leclerc.
01:01Once again, he'll have to go around the outside.
01:04Well, it'd be something if you went around the outside of there and Verstappen knew it, hugging the inside line.
01:09But Jolin, we weren't expecting this sort of pressure.
01:11How did Leclerc not take the lead?
01:13Twice, he was up the inside cleanly there and Verstappen charged around the outside.
01:18Charles, I think, was maybe a little bit too kind to him in both of those cases.
01:21I thought Max might fly off the road at turn one, but he had the space and had the margin
01:25to do that.
01:27Perez has a hunt at Hamilton.
01:30Perez diving to the inside.
01:32Perez getting through and that is ninth position.
01:36That is a replay of Lando Norris moving up to third position and he was clearing Oscar Piastri.
01:43That was always going to be a matter of time.
01:45Sometimes it can be tactical into that corner.
01:48Sometimes you might wait for the second opportunity because if you get past the driver gets a chance for a
01:53right of reply.
01:54Russell has waited, has the momentum, does he have the place?
01:58Got to go to the outside line, can he get the move complete?
02:01Russell has got the position at the moment, mid-corner though, different story on the exit.
02:06It still belongs to Piastri and there is a perfect illustration of how hard it is to go around the
02:12outside.
02:14Very, very close, beyond 200 miles per hour and having to defend into six.
02:19Sergio Perez is going to make the place.
02:21Oscar Piastri is off the racing line.
02:22Perez looks like he's going to improve up to eighth position.
02:25Battles everywhere at the moment, certainly heading to turn number nine.
02:28The Mercedes closer than it's been at any stage.
02:31Still, Gasly is ahead behind.
02:33But what about the battle for fourth?
02:35Finally, the move is complete for George Russell.
02:40So Norris responding.
02:41And Russell, he's headed in as well.
02:43And Russell's got the better stop.
02:45And there you go for George Russell.
02:46So that's a big moment in the context of the Grand Prix.
02:49McLaren, who have the two best pit stops of the year,
02:52when it counted, 5.1 seconds, and George Russell got one on track, gets one in the pit lane.
03:01I have to establish my front wing.
03:04He looks up ahead of me.
03:05Look, he came from a long way back.
03:07But as the Alpine was locking up, Hamilton, I think, has obviously been confused by it and just ran into
03:12the back of him.
03:14Perez will want a clear, easy, efficient pass here to get past.
03:19He has the DRS.
03:20That gives you an idea of how effective it is.
03:22And that is slam dunk stuff up to sixth.
03:25Just looking at the comparison in lap time between Charles Leclerc and George Russell, it is ebbing and flowing.
03:30And there's the pass for Sergio Perez, up to fifth place.
03:35Through he goes, pass to Oscar Piastri.
03:38And this is Lewis Hamilton trying to get past.
03:41Fernando Alonso ahead.
03:42Fernando Alonso tries to squeeze, but he can't keep the champion behind.
03:47Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, two-time champion Fernando Alonso.
03:50Two greats of the sport and no real contest this time.
04:02It looked like he actually went offline and ended up off the race.
04:07Let's just see.
04:07Did he have a moment here or what was happening?
04:09Oh, yeah, he did.
04:10He did actually slow down, trying to force Lewis to pass him ahead of the corner so he could get
04:16DRS.
04:17Randomly hit the brakes way before.
04:19I don't think that's a smart move.
04:22The identity of the top three still in the balance.
04:25You don't see many passes into turn five today.
04:28Fernando Alonso getting in there early, trying something different because the straight line speed is barn door slow at the
04:35moment.
04:36And yet he's done enough.
04:37He's made it work.
04:38Race craft again.
04:40Pass complete.
04:42Perez is going to have a bit of a say here in who wins between Ferrari and Mercedes.
04:47Sainz has got Hamilton with him now on track.
04:49So that shows how it's not gone well for Carlos Sainz.
04:52He's got to make another pit stop.
04:53Perez is looking to the inside.
04:55Can he get it done?
04:56Norris trying to stay there.
04:58They make contact.
04:59That seemed to be happening at such slow speed.
05:02Perez seemed to have the place.
05:03Norris seemed to turn in super late and they made clumsy contact on the apex of the corner.
05:09He just crushed it to me.
05:11We see.
05:13Checo doesn't turn into an apex.
05:15Runs wide.
05:17He just threw it to me.
05:18Yeah, we saw.
05:19There's a five second time penalty for Sergio Perez for causing a collision.
05:26Here's Lewis Hamilton trying to take the place away from Carlos Sainz.
05:29Trying to go the long way round.
05:31Either way, he's four signs away from the racing line.
05:33He'll try and do it in the next phase.
05:34That was a semi-strange one for Norris and Perez.
05:37It's all getting strange.
05:39The overtake was very much after you.
05:40No, after you.
05:41Between those two.
05:42And in the end, Norris turned in on Perez and there was contact.
05:45Here comes Hamilton on Sainz.
05:46Looking for the move around the outside.
05:49He'll scrub the speed off.
05:51Oh, that'll work.
05:52That'll work nicely.
05:53Hamilton goes the long way round at turn number nine and gets past the Ferrari driver.
05:59That is a tidy way to improve your position up tonight.
06:04Let's go again.
06:05Down, out of turn five.
06:07The back straight up to 200 miles per hour.
06:09Once again, Perez getting close.
06:11Trying to make it work in the braking zone.
06:13Fights his way by to fourth position.
06:16That's bad news for Lando Norris.
06:19We have had late retirements here in the past.
06:22Whoa, that's a nice dive to the inside.
06:24And we saw it from the nose cam as Sergio Perez gets by up to third on the road.
06:29But that five second penalty will drop him back.
06:33Max Verstappen out of the final corner for the final time.
06:36Max Verstappen wins 19 Grand Prix in a single season.
06:42Amazing stuff.
06:43He wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
06:45Hamilton has an amazing opportunity to get by.
06:48Hamilton does get by, we believe.
06:50Oh, it was really close.
06:51He's up to eight.
06:52Perez is in second place, but Charles Leclerc will move up there.
06:56He will move up to second position when the time penalty is applied.
07:00And George Russell crosses the line in fourth.
07:03Tsunoda will hang on to eighth place across the line.
07:06And it is an amazing end to that.
07:09Lap 58.
07:10Max Verstappen the winner.
07:11Perez in second.
07:13And this was Charles Leclerc opening the door for Perez to pass.
07:17So Perez had the DRS to go and check out as well.
07:20But crucially, it wasn't enough.
07:22He was 3.9 seconds ahead of George Russell at the end.
07:25So he falls back behind Russell and Mercedes Klingon to second in the championship,
07:30even though Hamilton went for that pass and didn't pull it off on Tsunoda.
07:33Well, it's time to light up one of the very best Formula One cars ever built.
07:39The dominant Dutchman winning for the 19th time this season
07:42and Red Bull end the season beaten just once in the Grand Prix format.
07:47Max Verstappen champion long ago back in Qatar.
07:50Alonso fourth.
07:50Then Leclerc, Norris and Sainz with a weekend to forget to conclude the year.
07:55In the battle for P2, Mercedes held on despite Charles Leclerc's invention on the last lap.
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