00:01And the Saudi Grand Prix is underway with a good launch off the line for Oscar Piastri,
00:07Australian driver, getting to the apex first, Verstappen trying to hang on to it,
00:11and Verstappen hangs on to the lead, but he went all four wheels off the road.
00:16He wasn't the only one, Antonelli gives the place back.
00:18It's Max Verstappen who has first place, but Piastri caused him a huge headache.
00:23He's second, then it's Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, big crash with Yuki Tsunoda,
00:27and into the barrier with Pierre Gasly, the former teammates,
00:31finding themselves coming together, and we will surely, as DC says, need a safety car.
00:38Let's just take a look at this. So a great getaway for the McLaren.
00:42And you see, he's firmly got the corner, and Max Kamich, yeah, he's behind.
00:47He's behind at the apex, and the only saving grace might be
00:50they used to give a little bit of leeway at the start of a Grand Prix for incidents.
00:55It's not fair racing. That's just plain and simple.
00:58It's not fair racing from Verstappen, and he's kept the place.
01:00This is Yuki Tsunoda turning in, Pierre Gasly trying to go around the outside,
01:04and the Alpine and the Red Bull coming together.
01:07It took out Pierre Gasly immediately, and Yuki Tsunoda will go no further.
01:12He is mired in the pit lane.
01:13I can tell you that the turn one incident that we've been talking about has been noted by race control.
01:21Piastri to the apex, Verstappen hanging on to it, and Verstappen is still the lead car in the Grand Prix.
01:27When do we go? It's super late, and we will go back to racing speed with Max Verstappen possessing a
01:35five-second penalty
01:36for leaving the track and gaining the advantage, but he's got P1, and he's got the field trailing him.
01:42Oscar Piastri having to go defensive. George Russell trying to improve.
01:45Are we going to go three wide?
01:46Piastri trying to hang on to second position. He does so, and it's Verstappen, then Piastri, then Russell,
01:52then Charles Leclerc with Kimi Antonelli trying to improve, and on the restart lap, Verstappen kept track position,
01:58but he's got a five-second time penalty.
02:02Uh, information. You have been given a five-second time penalty for the incident at turn one. Head down.
02:07Oh, that is lovely.
02:10Yeah, Max.
02:10Yeah, no, yeah, no comment. Thank you.
02:14This is further back into the final corner of the racetrack, and Lando Norris gets past Lewis Hamilton.
02:21Norris on the hard tyre, Hamilton on the medium, but the McLaren is currently a superior car,
02:27and Hamilton hasn't given this one up. Will he go around the outside and retake the place? He will.
02:33And Hamilton retakes P6.
02:39He didn't want to, I think, at one point, but Hamilton's backed out of it, and as you said, Julian,
02:43playing DRS games.
02:45So Norris goes through. He didn't want to. He wanted to wait so he could make the move into turn
02:49one,
02:50and this is why Lewis Hamilton was happy to let him overtake, because he gets him back.
02:54Take two. One lap on, and Hamilton's still the lead car in this battle for six.
03:00After you. No, after you. No one trying to overtake into the final corner.
03:04Lando Norris this time waits for the DRS down to turn number one.
03:08Hamilton will hug to the inside line, and the McLaren will have the greater speed.
03:13And is it finally the moment for Lando Norris to get by? It is.
03:16Finally, he is P6 after an entertaining battle between the two.
03:22Lando Norris is getting past Kimi Antonelli.
03:25Fifth place for Lando Norris, who's had good pace on that hard tire.
03:30Still pulling away from the cars behind, mate. There's still traffic that we've been put into.
03:35Just keep going. This is a fantastic job.
03:37This is a big moment in the Grand Prix. McLaren bring in their lead contender for victory.
03:43Oscar Piastri has not been happy with these tires for many laps.
03:47McLaren watched that gap grow.
03:50Piastri said on the radio he wasn't happy with the mediums.
03:53It's a steady stop, but it gets him back into the race.
03:553.4 seconds. Will Red Bull respond?
03:58What can Max Verstappen do on the mediums?
04:01Piastri will have the fresh rubber.
04:03And will Red Bull take the moment to respond?
04:06They will not. Verstappen goes again.
04:09And that is a big call in the destiny of the Grand Prix win.
04:13And Piastri going very brave to a dirty, dusty part of the racetrack to make the move into turn 23.
04:21He had to keep all four wheels on the road and he did so.
04:24Check the gap though.
04:25What has he lost trying to overtake the seven-time world champion?
04:28It's 21.5 seconds as Verstappen pits from the lead.
04:32Yeah, crucially though, that might have held Hamilton a little bit,
04:35which will mean when Verstappen comes out, he'll clear him.
04:38I think he'll be behind both of them, but he's got to cover off Russell as well, remember,
04:42because Russell's just pitted on the last lap.
04:44Charles Leclerc goes through. Lando Norris running long as well.
04:47Max Verstappen had a tidy pit stop.
04:50And Hamilton remains in the wheel tracks of Oscar Piastri,
04:54who is the lead car to have stopped in the Grand Prix.
04:59This is Liam Lawson moving up to 15th place.
05:02And Portoleto nearly gets clipped by the man who's part of his management team.
05:07Fernando Alonso gets by as well.
05:10Portoleto almost put him in the wall, there was only just the space.
05:13Oh, wow, he moved under braking.
05:16Oh, that was close.
05:18Wow, so close.
05:20Check the car.
05:21One feels that Fernando might add an extra 5% on his management fee just to teach him a lesson.
05:29Oh, that's laid on the brakes for Lando Norris, trying to have the most efficient route to his team,
05:36who were the first one in the queue, thanks to winning the Constructors' Championship last year.
05:40But that was laid on the brakes to get to the control line where you have to be at the
05:45pit speed limit.
05:46Piastri leads the Grand Prix by 4.4 seconds.
05:50This is the first opportunity for Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver that we're on board with at the moment,
05:56building up to 200 miles per hour, building up to third place in the Grand Prix.
06:00His pace on the medium tyres rewarded on the hard, and Charles Leclerc is on for a first podium of
06:06the campaign.
06:07Onto the main straight we go.
06:09Lando Norris trying to improve.
06:11It's going to be a move for fourth position.
06:15We're on the final lap of the Grand Prix with Oscar Piastri heading down to turn 22.
06:20We ride on board with the man from Melbourne who is coaxing it through the final corners.
06:26He got that apex into the first turn, and he took the lead in the pit stop phase.
06:31He's about to take the points lead in the battle to be the driver's world champion.
06:36This is the final corner of the last lap, and a champion of Formula 3, a champion of Formula 2,
06:44is the new championship leader in Formula 1.
06:48Oscar Piastri wins the Saudi Grand Prix to beat Max Verstappen by 2.8 seconds.
06:57Charles Leclerc scores Ferrari's first podium finish of the season, but it's Piastri who improves from the front row to
07:04the win.
07:05And he succeeds his mentor, Mark Webber, the first Australian driver to lead the championship in 15 years.
07:16Well done, everyone. It was a little bit more difficult to start than I had hoped for, but very, very
07:24well done.
07:25The car was great. Third year, not so much, but I'm glad the third year is from lapping people.
07:31So, well done, everybody. Massive three weeks, and let's keep it going.
07:38Got a lot of fun to have this year.
07:40Oscar Piastri taking his third win of the season and his fifth career win in Formula 1, beating Max Verstappen
07:47by 2.8 seconds.
07:48Ferrari's first podium of the campaign scored by Charles Leclerc in third.
07:53At race five, a change. Piastri on top, and he is providing the talking points after another Grand Prix.
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