00:00We go racing in five lights time, and the Grand Prix is underway.
00:07Good launch off the line for our pole sitter Oscar Piastri,
00:10but also George Russell as well, who's alongside Max Verstappen.
00:13It's going to be close.
00:14Momentarily, he's up to second place, but Russell backs out of it.
00:16And Verstappen roars around the outside to take the lead in spectacular fashion.
00:22One of the incredible turn one lap one passes there from Verstappen.
00:27First of all, looked like Russell was going to have him.
00:29And he had the better launch.
00:30Max said, no way, mate.
00:31And then went and took the race lead as well from under Oscar Piastri's nose.
00:36That was incisive and utterly brilliant.
00:40Punching a hole in his own ear, Verstappen, but he's also got clean sight of the braking.
00:44And I suspect even Verstappen didn't know he was going to do that until he knew he was going to
00:49do it.
00:49Russell has by far the best start.
00:51And without Oscar here defending the inside, George was going to sneak past both of them,
00:55but actually has to just get out of it right there.
01:02And this is getting very close between Charles Leclerc, who's looking to the inside of Piratella.
01:07And he gets through.
01:07Gasly off the racetrack, bouncing through the gravel, losing positions.
01:11Leclerc up to ninth position.
01:12Hajar gains tenth.
01:14And then it's Antonelli now in eleventh.
01:15Hamilton is twelfth.
01:16And Bortleto squeezes by.
01:18Gasly chose to try and hang on and paid the price.
01:23Well, this is three tenths of a second turning into two tenths of a second.
01:27It's a narrow racetrack, so it's easy to hug that inside line and not compromise your rotation around the corners.
01:33But you can see that having to go to the inside is given Lando Norris a chance.
01:36Is there a cars width?
01:37No.
01:38And he was doing a bit of lawn mowing, heading down to the Veilnerve chicane.
01:43With Lando Norris up against George Russell.
01:45Now there's a lot of momentum, but again, no opportunity.
01:49So trying the different lines once more.
01:52But it's going to have to be a bold move into the second chicane.
01:55Lando Norris out of the slipstream.
01:57Can he go around the outside and pinch to the apex first?
01:59He can.
02:00Another great overtake in this Grand Prix as Lando Norris has third place in the race.
02:08Norris has upped his own pace.
02:09I still don't think it's enough to cover off Leclerc at this rate.
02:13So a slow stop for Oscar Piastri by modern Formula 1 standards.
02:173.6 seconds, not ideal for him.
02:22Charles Leclerc is making his way through the traffic like Oscar Piastri is.
02:26Pat's on the back there.
02:27After the slightly slow stop for Oscar Piastri, looked a lot quicker for Lando Norris.
02:30Was a lot quicker for Lando Norris.
02:34Ocon in the house pulls over.
02:36The virtual safety car saves you 10 seconds on the price of your pit stop.
02:41This is Torza.
02:42Just listen.
02:43Yeah, that doesn't sound right, does it?
02:46That's a full-on mechanical failure of the power unit.
02:50Oh, they've got a massive margin to get this car serviced and out now for Red Bull.
02:55This will be the most comfortable pit stop.
02:57They should have all season to retain a race lead under the VSC.
03:01So Leclerc's pitted again.
03:03Russell's in again for a second stop as well.
03:05So is Sainz.
03:06All the early pitters are going again because they realise this is a chance to get a cheap pit stop.
03:11Alex Albin has emerged in fourth position.
03:13It is Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Albin and Hadjar.
03:18So Oscar Piastri, having come in earlier on, comes in for a fresh set of tyres and gets back into
03:25the race.
03:26And it's going to be Albin who moves into third position in the classification, still behind the virtual safety car.
03:33Lewis Hamilton looking for the move that he's been seeking all Grand Prix.
03:37And he powers past Kimi Antonelli and Hamilton on the medium, able to get by and up to P6.
03:44So he's got a great run in the slipstream as they build up to 190 miles per hour.
03:49Hadjar checks in the left mirror and who's there?
03:51He's Racing Hero, who's going by Hamilton up to fifth position.
03:57Alex Albin hasn't been on the podium for five years in Formula One and Oscar Piastri takes that dream away.
04:04It's been a great campaign for Williams so far, but Albin not able to resist or maybe choosing not to
04:11resist.
04:12Either way, Piastri up to third position.
04:16I've got an issue.
04:18OK, copy.
04:19Well, the local hero will not see the checkered flag.
04:22He parks up on lap 46 of 63.
04:26Kimi Antonelli requires a full safety car.
04:32Verstappen obviously has the free choice of pit stop.
04:34So does Norris.
04:35In they come.
04:36We need to stay out.
04:37We don't have a tyre that can do to the end.
04:39Oscar Piastri is ahead of Lando Norris.
04:42Wait for the line.
04:43Oh, who got there?
04:44Who got there first?
04:45Lando Norris is third.
04:48As he uses a lot of the kerb and Piastri checks the mirror to see where the car behind is
04:54rather than the car ahead.
04:55Max Verstappen takes us back to full racing speed, building up to 190 miles per hour.
05:01And Piastri unable to put any pressure on at all.
05:04He's in second and diving to the inside thinking about the move is Charles Leclerc.
05:07And will we now see the fresher tyres come into play?
05:14Change of position.
05:15And Lewis Hamilton sweeps on by.
05:17That wasn't much of a contest.
05:18That will give him encouragement.
05:20He was able to go straight past George Russell.
05:23The McLarens are bound to go wheel to wheel.
05:27Lando Norris trying to go past Oscar Piastri.
05:29The only driver ahead of him in the World Championship.
05:32Around the outside of his teammate.
05:33Not much margin, but the move complete.
05:35And Norris is able to get by into second position.
05:39Piastri stays in the wheel tracks, but there's no way through.
05:42And Lando Norris is the lead McLaren in the race.
05:46Alex Albon's got a great chance.
05:48Never higher than P5 in a Grand Prix this year.
05:51Trying to be careful.
05:52Around the outside and into the gravel.
05:54Albon rejoins and Lewis Hamilton will get by.
05:57Around the outside using the kerb as they head to the Villeneuve chicane.
06:01And it could have been fourth.
06:02It's sixth position for Albon.
06:04As Hamilton goes through to fifth.
06:06Let's join it on board with Albon.
06:07Who's ahead coming into the corner.
06:09That was a fifth.
06:12How much will Charles Leclerc fight his teammate?
06:15It was an absolutely awful Saturday.
06:18But it's been a highlight reel for the two cars.
06:21The two teammates will not scrap it out.
06:24And Lewis Hamilton goes from P6 to P5 to P4.
06:28In a couple of laps.
06:31Leclerc has been told to give back the position here to Albon.
06:34We're on the final lap of the Grand Prix.
06:36And Alex Albon is able to get by.
06:39Charles Leclerc listens to the team instruction.
06:41Albon will score a third, fifth place of the campaign.
06:45And Max Verstappen will return to the top step of the podium.
06:50Four victories in a row at Imola.
06:52Max Verstappen wins the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
06:56He beats Lando Norris by 6.1 seconds.
07:00It is two McLarens on the podium once again.
07:03Good afternoon, Max.
07:05Nice shot, mate.
07:06Nice shot.
07:07Wow, Max.
07:08400 races and you won it.
07:11Brilliant.
07:12Brilliant drive.
07:12Brilliant weekend.
07:13Well done, mate.
07:14You really, really dominated that race.
07:16Yeah, exactly.
07:17Brilliant weekend.
07:18That was a fantastic execution all around.
07:22Thank you very much.
07:24And yeah, no doubt.
07:25On our 400th race.
07:28We know that McLaren will always be there.
07:30But Max Verstappen is keeping his name within the championship fight.
07:35It's another Max Verstappen victory in Formula 1 as the champagne sprays are top three in the world championship are
07:43separated by 22 points.
07:46Fewer than the prize we give out, 25 for winning a Grand Prix.
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