00:00We go racing in five lights time!
00:04And the Grand Prix is underway!
00:08Even reaction time at the front of the field.
00:10Lando Norris is going to try and put the pressure on.
00:13Max Verstappen holds the lead. The two Ferraris side by side.
00:15Who's going to lead into turn number one?
00:17It's going to be Max Verstappen, who's ahead of Lando Norris.
00:19And it's grid order for the top four.
00:22Oscar Piastri still in fifth position.
00:24No change for anyone until you look all the way back down to Lewis Hamilton,
00:27who's up to seventh position, gaining a couple of places as well as Hülkenberg.
00:31It was a poor getaway for Yuki Tsunoda.
00:35He dropped down to ninth.
00:36Perez made a place on those hard tires as they make their way through
00:39the opening corners of the Grand Prix fairly cleanly.
00:43The top five as they were when they left the grid.
00:47Max Verstappen leads.
00:48As we go on board with Hülkenberg, another good top ten qualifying
00:53and gets that initial launch.
00:56Yes!
00:57Come on board.
01:00Problem for Alex Albin in the Williams and the TIE driver is coasting slowly.
01:06He had come in for the stop.
01:09I think I've got a problem. My tire's not on properly.
01:12He presents the car beautifully lined up as it's supposed to.
01:17Let's see. I'm not sure. Did you see the time on that stop?
01:20Because in actual presentation terms, he did his job.
01:24I wonder if it was the front right.
01:25Did it look like the gunman was going back at that front right as the car was being committed to
01:30go back out on drag?
01:33So one V carb in last time around.
01:36The pressure on the team back out onto the circuit.
01:392.3 seconds is exactly the sort of stop that they were looking for.
01:42This in turn is going to be good news for Perez because surely Hülkenberg will pit on the next lap.
01:47This is the German driver who is into the pits.
01:51The man heading to what will become Audi in a couple of years.
01:55Sauber next year.
01:55Then Audi in 2026.
01:572.5 seconds is important.
01:59But what about that out lap?
02:01This is crucial in the constructors championship.
02:03And Yuki Tsunoda goes a lap earlier, goes to work around this three mile racetrack.
02:09And crucially for V carb, gets ahead of the Haas and Hülkenberg.
02:15Perez is going to make a mistake here because he had a very, very slow lap last time around.
02:19And we saw the Aston Martin right behind.
02:21He did. He went off.
02:22Oh, going right there.
02:24Yeah, it's easily done, but unfortunately very costly.
02:29And what will the ramifications of that be later in his race?
02:33Could he just lost a few seconds?
02:36Oscar Fiastri hitting his marks.
02:39That's a good stop as well for McLaren, 2.2.
02:43That's Yuki Tsunoda.
02:45Nah, that's the overtake that we were mentioning earlier in the broadcast.
02:48Can you turn the outside into the inside and improve your position?
02:53Tsunoda up to 12th with that.
02:54And Hülkenberg, fighting sergeant, knows that if he's going to try and stay with a Japanese driver,
02:59he'd have to be inventive.
03:00And he was.
03:01Yeah, Logan Sargent must be feeling punch drunk after those two moves.
03:07This is on board with Lewis Hamilton into Aqua Minerale.
03:11Yeah, just bottom out and locked up under rotation and straight through the gravel.
03:18Verstappen retaking the lead that he held at the start of the race.
03:22This is going to be such an important moment in the Grand Prix for Oscar Piastri.
03:26Charles Leclerc gets used to those hard tyres and how they compare to the mediums.
03:31Can Piastri put the pressure on?
03:35Time for another overtake now with Sergio Perez.
03:38He's cleared the Haas of Nico Hülkenberg and he's up to ninth position.
03:42Absolutely straightforward, just pure performance, fresher tyres and on route towards Tsunoda.
03:51And the RB20, the Red Bull car behind out of the slipstream and that's an easy pass.
03:59Up to eighth. Tsunoda looking for another points finish again today.
04:03Hülkenberg completing it and Ricciardo just trying to put the pressure on the Haas.
04:08Here's the chance for Lance Stroll. Wow, slam dunk stuff.
04:12Through he goes with the better. Drive off the corner. Through he goes in the Aston Martin.
04:20This is Charles Leclerc. He's heading to the Variante Alta.
04:23Yeah, I thought he'd scampered over the chicane.
04:26And he just takes the route across the turns on the racetrack that make up 14 and 15.
04:33Yeah, that didn't work for him at all. Not that that was a strategy. That was a mistake.
04:39Here's Stroll making the pass. He uses the DRS. He uses the greater speed. He uses the fresher tyres.
04:45And he gets by up to ninth position. Canadian driver finds himself improving.
04:51And that's a good return to the points if he can stay there.
04:55The main loss is to Lando, turn two, turn six.
04:58Yeah, my tyres don't work, mate.
05:01Just information, Max. That's all.
05:03Yeah, that's it for me.
05:07Mustapen is complaining about it.
05:08I see, I see, I see.
05:11Oh, good. I'm for shit, mate.
05:16So I guess the main thing to focus on now, Max, is as the gap is less than five seconds,
05:20we really can't support any track limits. So focus on that, mate.
05:23There he is. He can see the race leader. The laps are ticking down.
05:27And Max knows he's got to be just a little bit more careful on track limits,
05:31which might cost you a tenth or two a lap, just that in itself.
05:35This is going to be absolutely fascinating.
05:40Norris knowing that if he can keep it clean, he will be able to have the chance to heat the
05:46pressure on.
05:47Can he leave nothing far even more stupid?
05:52And Lando happy to push turn nine a little bit more.
05:55I'm pushing as much as I can, mate.
05:57And we've seen some great Grand Prix so far this year, but we haven't really seen a battle like this
06:04all the way to the end.
06:05Lando Norris, he told us he was pushing DC and we saw that he's absolutely ringing the neck of that
06:13car.
06:13I'm so sorry for the sound effects, but that's within like, you know, not even three quarters of a kilometre.
06:19He's been right over the edge of the rear tyre twice.
06:23He's upped his own pace, Verstappen. He was one thousandth of his best lap of the race on the last
06:28lap.
06:28Norris is still chiming away, some decent lap time, still slightly quicker than Leclerc behind on the last tour.
06:34But Verstappen has managed to find a little bit more.
06:37Gaps as low as it's been though, 1.4 seconds, still Norris sliding on the rear end.
06:43This one time contender, now Grand Prix winner, trying to force the error from Max Verstappen.
06:51They're getting closer to home. Norris chasing Verstappen all the way to the chequered flag.
06:56Right. The next big stop is the tricky one.
07:00This is where we know Perez made a mistake earlier in the Grand Prix.
07:04Verstappen is going to have to go slightly cautious.
07:08Verstappen is nearly there.
07:10He's nearly home.
07:12Lando Norris has chased him all the way to the flag.
07:17But Max Verstappen will take back the top step.
07:20Max Verstappen wins in Imola.
07:23What a finish from those two across the line.
07:26It's new opposition for Verstappen, but the same result.
07:30The Dutch driver does it again.
07:32And he beats Lando Norris by seven tenths of a second.
07:37Charles Leclerc completes the podium.
07:40And how wonderful was it to see two brilliant drivers battling all the way to the end of lap 63.
07:48The Dutch driver does it again.
07:48As long as we vet 13 through instructions.
07:49From Mercedes-Benz Muir, theodel signs of the neighbourhood points.
07:50To the FamÃlia and the streetwno var mitigate things and for the second and lower quiseres.
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