00:09It is the Austrian Grand Prix. It's round nine of this Formula One season in 2021 and since the
00:16starts of the 2020 season we have now celebrated 52 weeks on the road with Formula One but we've
00:23gone a step softer. So it's C5, C4 and C3, the softest compounds in the Pirelli range.
00:32And the grid then for the Austrian Grand Prix. It's Max Verstappen take his fourth pole of
00:37Paul de Rester but he's got new challenges if he is to take another victory. Absolutely.
00:43He's nailed it hasn't he? He's absolutely got himself in the best position but who said Formula
00:47One could be predictable? We have different tyres but we have a different lineup on the grid. We've
00:53got Lando Norris lining up. Leclerc, Ricciardo, Alonso and Giovinazzi going on the mediums.
00:58Raikkonen on the hards, Ocon, Latifi, Schumacher and Mazepin on the mediums in the top 10. If you
01:03get into the top 10 in Q3 in qualifying you start on the tyre, you set your fastest lap on
01:09in Q2.
01:10That's what Pierre Gasly has to do in the next few days but for now let's turn our attention to
01:1571
01:16laps around the Red Bull ring. If you're Lando Norris, you're starting on the front row for the
01:21first time ever. Are you battling for the lead straight away or what are you doing? And it's
01:26lights out and away we go. It's Verstappen ahead of Norris, Perez ahead of Hamilton and Perez closes
01:31off the thread of Hamilton and into turn one we go. Look up behind but Max Verstappen's through
01:36safely as is Norris, Perez and then comes Bottas and Hamilton and they're making up places already.
01:41Hamilton ahead then of Bottas. Gasly has just dropped back a little bit as well as towards turn
01:46three we go now. Max Verstappen in the... He's the filling in a sandwich between Mick Schumacher
01:52on the outside and Antonio Giovinazzi on the inside and Giovinazzi clips his front right.
01:58He didn't know where to go did he? You could see him. He was going outside, he was going
02:02inside and the hatch just going up the inside and you can see how much stronger the rear
02:06of the car is versus the front but I was surprised to see the wheel.
02:09Driver Stewart about that penalty for Sebastian Vettel and why other drivers didn't get a penalty
02:14because so many were involved backing up through the last couple of corners. He said it was very
02:19difficult to pinpoint exactly who was at fault but Sebastian Vettel definitely was. Right let's
02:23look at the starts and it was a decent getaway from the front two. Yeah Norris actually getting
02:28a slightly better start but it's a grip that Verstappen's got through here the compliance that
02:33he's got over the bump and he just gets through the corner extends that gap and you can look
02:36he's hunting. Well swapping places there Bottas got himself into a bit of a pickle but he has come
02:42out on top and ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez now turn 4 trying to go the long way round
02:48the
02:48outside his jaw continues with Lando Norris as he now goes on to the gravel and he loses six or
02:54seven places as a result of that. That was not what Perez needed he's down to 10th. He was never
03:00going to give that up Norris was he? I was surprised to see Perez trying go the long way round.
03:04At the
03:04moment I thought when they came out of turn 1 Paul that Perez very much had the upper hand on
03:08Lando Norris and would get him into turn 3 but it seems that McLaren is a very fast car in
03:14a straight
03:14line that's not what Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas would be wanting to hear. For the safety car line you
03:20have to get to the safety car line before you can go racing he might just have done it a
03:25bit too soon.
03:26Let's head to Sky Race Control. Corinne Chandock, good afternoon. Good afternoon guys. It's really critical for
03:31Mercedes to clear Lando Norris. They believe on the medium compound tyre they are in better shape than they were
03:37on the
03:38stop. In his chase on Sebastian Vettel what we did see last year Paul was a DRS train emerging here
03:44where
03:45lots of cars had the benefit of DRS and the positions weren't changing. Yes absolutely. Another big mover is Danny
03:51Rick.
03:51He's found himself in P9 but with the four guys on the soft tyres just in front of him so
03:55he's had a
03:56very open very good open but then you're putting extra slip into the tyres trying to close that gap
04:00on Verstappen but probably a perfect scenario for Hamilton just to have Norris in front and not to
04:05have to deal with the other Red Bull of Perez. Who is down as you can see in 10th place
04:10and chasing
04:11after Ricciardo who's got DRS and Vettel's got DRS and Stroll's got a little bit of DRS as well.
04:16It's putting in some good lap times keeping the Mercedes at bay very much going your way at the
04:22moment. Yeah but it's still very early days. Taking nothing for granted Christian we'll be back with
04:27you in a little while. First DRS zone there Lewis Hamilton closes up the gap to Lando Norris now has
04:35he got some straight line pace with that DRS gives you about eight miles an hour of extra pace. No
04:41it's
04:41not I think the biggest nuisance for them is just a straight line speed that McLaren have got it's a
04:45bit
04:46like the Red Bull it's absolutely rocking in a straight line and that's where a lot of speed was and
04:49you can
04:50see Lewis a bit wide into turn three but he's outside the dirty air and I think almost intentional
04:55trying to get that to see where he's going to be. Absolutely and that's what they've got to focus
04:59on I'm just watching the soft runners they're down into the 111s now so Verstappen a 109-1
05:06versus Gasly on a 111.
05:09I mean he's quicker we'll draw my risk levels if he race once again he'll be behind the key to
05:14Mazepin after making an early stop so the information I had this morning round about lap 15 those soft
05:20tires have start to go away we're on lap 13 and we've had a safety car and Tsunoda's come in
05:25already.
05:25Yes he has and you know they want to make it happen you absolutely just cover what Hamilton's doing
05:29if he stops you stop because you've got that margin and you just race him you forget about Norris but
05:34of
05:35course here's a Ferrari he's trying to got on top of Checo as well as we head down into turn
05:39four
05:39and we know how quick that Ferrari was following cars last week. Perez under pressure here Charles
05:43Leclerc has now got a little bit of free air but Perez has come back. Brother and F3 actually did
05:48those moves yesterday I wonder if they were chatting about it last night over dinner. Yeah I hope his
05:51younger brother is okay after a pretty nasty accident in the F3 race today. Lance Stroll was pitted by the
05:57way another soft tire runner coming into the pits a little bit earlier. Yuki Tsunoda still ahead of him.
06:04Stroll uh Tsunoda behind Gazprom as Daniel Ricciardo is sizing up a move on Sebastian Vettel who puts his
06:10Aston Martin right in the middle of the track and doesn't really want the McLaren getting past him
06:16on this particular occasion. Gasly's moved past Mazepin after his early stop and he is up into fifth place.
06:23Others stopping earlier in the race have allowed the McLaren to move up the order. Ricciardo fifth at the
06:29moment and that will do nicely for him I would imagine. That's a breath of fresh air for a McLaren
06:34will absolutely be rubbing the hands long enough and have those lap times been good enough for Fettel
06:38to get back out onto the track ahead maybe of Gasly and Tsunoda. No he's going to come out behind
06:43both
06:43of those and his teammate Lance Stroll I think as well as he slots back in behind his fellow Aston
06:49Martin at
06:50the moment. If Hamilton wanted to come in before Lando Norris he's got half a chance of uh beating
06:56Norris when the McLaren pits. If you're within a couple of seconds of the car in front the undercut could
07:02well work. Hamilton's found pace on yet but he could get the double whammy here on lap 20 of being
07:08overtaken by Hamilton and getting a penalty as well because Hamilton is going to dive down the inside
07:13at turn four and maybe Norris's tyres are going off a little bit because Hamilton had that move done
07:19an awful lot earlier than he might have been expecting. It's Norris down into third place.
07:24Challenger me saying he's such a good driver. Or because he kept him at bay for 20 laps I don't
07:28know to be honest but if it is because he kept him at bay fair play. It's a bit of
07:33instant feedback
07:33maybe lap 21 uh Lando will like to hear that one again. This is uh how Hamilton managed to get
07:38into
07:38penalties from last year and of course on the balance of that Lewis picked up the penalty and
07:43that's what Lando benefited from to get on the podium I think was it? Yep absolutely uh with Alex Albon
07:48wasn't it in the uh in the closing stages. Albon of course spun but he probably lost out similar to
07:52what Perez did. I don't know I think that's harsh. I mean this is this is the shot I wanted
07:59to see to
07:59be honest where was Perez how much space did he have was he running onto the green?
08:05He's in there isn't he he's definitely in there but I want to see hard racing. Yeah look Perez is
08:10Leclerc dropping back a touch because now it's about tyre management for the next 10 laps or so
08:15you don't want to get too close to the car in front you want to make this plan that Ferrari
08:19are on work
08:20and you might need to do that by preserving those tyres uh just a touch.
08:24In early to avoid getting in that lap traffic. I thought there might be six more words coming
08:29soon when he sees everyone on the grandstands how many t-shirts have I sold? Because everyone's wearing
08:35a max t-shirt. I'm yeah becoming a little bit more difficult now with tyres but uh understood man.
08:43When he says a little more difficult. That means it's not quite as comfortable he's just done a 95 you
08:50know
08:50he's managed to match Lewis still with the car being a bit more difficult and following Mazepin to get by
08:54him.
08:54Do as a rookie although to be fair first time that he's actually raced to the Formula 1 racetrack that
09:00he's raced in Formula 1 before so so he should actually know and understand what he's got to do this
09:05week.
09:05That's what's fairly odd about it and that rule stands for and it was about now and they looked like
09:11they were in trouble
09:11last week but that shows you the difference with the track temperature it is way killer I would have
09:15been much happier standing on top of the pit garages talking about it you know I'm in the air conditioning
09:20and
09:21it's probably as cold in here as it is outside. Max Verstappen 11 seconds up on Lewis Hamilton at the
09:28moment and it's just a
09:29couple of tenths two or three tenths every lap even though Hamilton's now in free air that Verstappen has
09:36got on the Mercedes that we've seen the Mercedes before on the softer compound range of Pirelli Paul
09:41not have the pace to answer their rivals we're seeing it again today
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