00:00It's lights out, and away we go, and it's a good start for Hamilton, it's a good start for Alonso,
00:05and Gasly could be under pressure soon.
00:08Hamilton moves to the inside, Gasly stayed ahead of Alonso, who might pressurize going into Turn 1, but it's Hamilton
00:13from Gasly, Alonso,
00:14then comes Lando Norris, Max Verstappen on the inside, has made a brilliant start, but then goes off the track
00:19as Fernando Alonso closes the door in him.
00:21Verstappen still trying to battle away with Lando Norris, and he's got ahead of the McLaren.
00:25Tremendous start, just what Max Verstappen needed up into P4, and Alonso then threw on Gasly, but Lewis Hamilton very
00:33clearly out front, he'll take some beating from there.
00:36Max on the inside, he can see them all darting around outside, quite cautious there from him understandably, but he
00:44is just where you need to be in the corner.
00:46And then suddenly, Fernando clearly didn't know he was there.
00:51Pierre has just been told Max is not our race.
00:53Max is not our race, which is about as subtle as I think they could do that.
00:57Gasly has gone very wide there, and that's going to allow Max Verstappen to close down.
01:01He's got DRS on Gasly, this could be quite an easy pass down the main straight.
01:05It is an easy pass down the main straight, he's still got DRS, and he's ahead of the AlphaTauri.
01:10Verstappen started seventh, and now on lap four he's up into the podium places.
01:15I don't think Fernando will get silly, he won't be giving this place up easily, but I don't think he's
01:20going to fight too hard.
01:21He's not really got the pace to fight it too hard.
01:23In the space of a lap here, Fernando Alonso has been overtaken, Pierre Gazi's been overtaken, and Max Verstappen has
01:30gone from fourth to second.
01:33I do get the feeling Red Bull have got a very good race car, looking at the top speeds as
01:37well without DRS.
01:39They're very similar to the Mercedes, as then Sergio Perez makes his way past Esteban Ocon, confirming Red Bull do.
01:48And look, is this a double overtake for Valtteri Bottas? Not quite.
01:52No, it might not even be one overtake for Valtteri Bottas, who got on the dusty part of the track,
01:56and he didn't seem to do him any good.
01:57Stroll keeps his place, Bottas, though, does get past Sonoda, he's up into the points.
02:03We did come here fearing that it would be very difficult to follow in that middle set to see who
02:07couldn't get as close as Sergio Perez to Lando Norris to make the overtakes.
02:11But look at that, Perez, lasting past again with DRS, an extra 10 miles an hour of advantage with a
02:17gap opening in that rear wing.
02:19Perez now up to fourth. Valtteri Bottas has limbered up, and limbered up nicely.
02:25It maybe took him a while to get going in this race, but he's now showing his skills.
02:31Well, you've got Alonso and Perez, and you've got Bottas, who needs to make a stop because he hasn't stopped
02:35yet.
02:36Perez is going to have a go on Alonso here, and he goes around the outside.
02:40But Fernando Alonso keeps the speed on the inside, maintains his momentum.
02:45Perez and Alonso going wheel to wheel.
02:48This is not over yet as Alonso goes off the track and has to come on behind the red bull.
02:52Well, he hung that out for as long as he possibly could, and Perez got his elbows out too.
02:58Valtteri Bottas has got a puncture.
03:01And you can see that front left tire of Valtteri Bottas has forcing him wide and onto the gravel.
03:08And this is absolutely destroying Valtteri Bottas' race.
03:12He's at turn seven, coming towards turn eight.
03:15He's got over half a lap to try and limp home.
03:17He's putting gravel onto the circuit as well.
03:20Now the yellow flags very definitely being waved.
03:24Oh, and Valtteri Bottas hasn't made his pit stop yet.
03:28Going long on this first stint, the only driver who hasn't stopped yet.
03:33His race is coming undone.
03:36Sergio Perez coming in for another stop.
03:40Sergio Perez now has to get through Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris,
03:46before he gets back to Fernando Alonso.
03:49Tell Esteban to defend like a liar.
03:51And Alonso wants Esteban to do for him what he did for Esteban to win that race in Hungary.
03:59Hamilton's just taken the fastest lap off Perez.
04:02Here goes Perez on Stroll, that one's been coming.
04:06Perez on a two-stopper, Lance Stroll on a one-stopper.
04:09Now he can get after Ocon.
04:11You've got this, you've got the podium.
04:15So as these guys on the one-stop, they're going to be suffering.
04:18As they cross the line and Perez, with that extra 10 miles an hour, is forced round the outside.
04:24Well, I think Ocon did the best he could there.
04:27But, to the delight, the man waving the Mexican flag, Perez is through.
04:33Ocon defends as best he can and still comes back at Sergio Perez.
04:38He has to try and keep the move going and he's actually going to make a move round the outside,
04:41is he?
04:41Here at the hairpin, turns four and five. Ocon's really going for it.
04:45That was getting his elbows out.
04:48There's George Russell, with his wings scraping along the ground.
04:53Has he got a punch in two? Yes.
04:55Left front, left front gone as well.
04:57Just seemed very innocuous, that, that curb, but obviously did enough to start deflating that front left tyre.
05:06Charles Leclerc, his teammate ahead of him, has got to about a second behind Lance Stroll.
05:12And there's another front left tyre. This time, Nicolas Latifi in the Williams.
05:18There he goes. A curb strike. And, but I think the left front was already going down at that point.
05:24And, of course, he's missed the pit lane there, in that respect.
05:28Yeah.
05:28A bit like Pierre Gasly in qualifying yesterday.
05:32We will make that off.
05:34We should be fine, but let's stay extremely cautious on that front left.
05:40Just a few more corners to go for Lewis Hamilton, who started the fight back in terms of the world
05:46championship chase when we were in Sao Paulo.
05:49That fight back has continued here with back-to-back victories for Lewis Hamilton, as he now sees the chequered
05:56flag in the distance, powers down the main straight and comes home to win the Qatar Grand Prix.
06:03Hamilton on top in Qatar. Max Verstappen, though, limiting the damage, started seventh, will come home to finish second and
06:13take that fastest lap point as well.
06:16Fernando Alonso back on the podium in Formula One. Welcome back, Fernando.
06:22He comes home to finish third. That is a brilliant result for him and for the Alpine team.
06:28Sergio Perez will finish just under three seconds behind for Red Bull. Esteban Ocon, a fine evening for Alpine. He'll
06:36take fifth place.
06:37We go now to the final two races with the top two separated by not much. And who knows what's
06:45going to happen from here on in. Could it still go down to the wire?
06:58Billy ZTER?
06:58Oh, tell me, put it in.
07:00I think we'll turn this in.
07:01You touched on that.
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