00:00It's lights out and away we go, very good getaway from Charles Leclerc, he's coming at Max Verstappen who moves
00:05over to try and cut him off, but Charles Leclerc's got that inside line, Verstappen then leads, Lewis Hamilton goes
00:10through in third ahead of Kimi Antonelli, Verstappen for one moment thought he might have lost that lead, but he
00:16is off now into the distance from Leclerc and then Hamilton and then Antonelli who might be trying to go
00:20around the outside, there's a big lock up behind them.
00:23Here's the start, do you know what, another 100 metres and Charles Leclerc would have been right alongside Max Verstappen
00:29and looking the favourite in the turn one.
00:32Yeah, wow, of course it's that, Lewis has kind of nearly lost third place to Antonelli but hung it around
00:37the outside of one and Antonelli being very cautious we know and you can just tell he's thinking championship, the
00:45others are thinking race victories.
00:47This is going to be close isn't it, look at all seeing this, down that Max pinches him but leaves
00:54him racing room and yeah he left him fully racing room and what you don't want is to snag the
01:03front wing of the car by squeezing them and then get a puncture from it, so Max very fair on
01:09the way in there.
01:10So what happened to Arvid Limblad who dropped four places, he's kind of caught in a bit of no man's
01:16land, that's Carlos Sainz and the Williams.
01:18Well it's quite dangerous what Sainz did, fight and break, all three crashed.
01:22Now that was aggressive by Carlos Sainz, was it dangerous? This was Oli Behrman's move on his teammate Esteban Ocon
01:32and didn't quite make that one stick, he had to get it done next time around at turn seven going
01:40the long way round the outside.
01:41Wow, that was close, they weren't getting too many team owners from the pitfall were they? And Esteban of course,
01:47who's lost that drive for next year, probably wouldn't listen if he had.
01:53And that's a nice one.
01:55And that is Gabriel Bortoleto pulling over to the pit lane exit with what looks like it's a gearbox issue,
02:02another gearbox issue for Audi this weekend. They had one affecting Nico Hülkenberg, now it's Bortoleto.
02:08They would, oh he should have gone in the pit lane, he was looking in his mirrors to see who
02:14was there, he still should have gone in the pit lane there.
02:17Yeah, he had a couple of chances to get in the pit lane and then did go in the pit
02:22lane but at the far end of it.
02:24But as I say, that car is kind of like almost worst case scenario for pit lane and race track.
02:32Do you remember the discussion we had in the strategy meeting? Do you still agree that your idea would be
02:37best?
02:38Yeah, I think so. Understood.
02:41Plan C, we need to pick up the pit.
02:44Grid dropping off. I don't have any more pace.
02:48Copy, then we move to plan B.
02:51So Lewis Hamilton couldn't go any faster. Now it's time to get him onto those soft tyres to try and
02:56go either to the end of the race or turn this into a two stop strategy.
03:00That was great from Lewis there. He swerved in the pits at the last possible moment in case anybody else
03:05was planning to do the same.
03:07Very dusty in the pit lane, as you can see, but that was beautifully executed by Ferrari. A two and
03:13a half second stop.
03:14Hamilton needs to come out ahead of Liam Lawson. We can't see Hamilton. Now we can see Hamilton.
03:19I don't think he is going to come out ahead of the Racing Bulls. Even though the pit lane feeds
03:24in on the inside, you take a shorter distance, he does come out ahead of Nico Hülkenberg.
03:31Track limits, Kimmy, turn one. Just keep an eye on this. You've got quite a lot, turn one. Keep an
03:37eye on this.
03:37Already picking up the slipstream. Now dive down towards the inside. It's a downhill braking zone. Comfortable, though, for Lewis
03:45Hamilton.
03:45He took a lap and a half to clear the Racing Bulls and he's up in a sink.
03:49The Ferrari in that Haas. All the Haas is straight nine speed there.
03:54Oh, Esteban Ocon.
03:55Down the inside goes George Russell. There's nothing wrong with the brakes on the Mercedes. I think that was nice.
04:00So this is going to be interesting. Lewis Hamilton now through turn 15 and on his way to the corner
04:06where Antonelli's teammate George Russell just got past Esteban Ocon.
04:11The world champion elect stops. New mediums are fitted. And fitted without any issue. Two and a half seconds.
04:18Hamilton's just gone past our commentary box right about now. And down the main straight he comes. We still can't
04:25see Kimmy Antonelli.
04:26There he is. Hamilton comfortably ahead of Kimmy Antonelli. Stopped early to preserve that position.
04:34And in fact, Martin, after those two pit stops, which were roughly the same amount of time stationary, Hamilton's got
04:41a much bigger lead.
04:42That, though, is Franco Colopinto. You don't need me to tell you that he doesn't want to be sat there
04:47for very long.
04:48He is pulled over, has Franco into the runoff area, down at turn eight. Still running.
04:57Possibly not.
04:59Colopinto has got it going. It's terminal, that problem. So he's out of the race.
05:06Come into the pits. I can see him behind me. He's going to be super close.
05:09OK, copy. Sorry, Karun.
05:11I've jumped in on those tyres, of course, since the beginning of the Grand Prix as Piastri gets the instruction
05:15to pit stop.
05:17And Gasly gets the instruction to overtake, which he does into turn seven. Gasly moves back up into 11th place.
05:25Very briefly, look at what happened to Oscar Piastri's pit stop. And it was definitely an issue with the front
05:34right tyre.
05:34Needed a second stab to tighten the wheel. You know, the points look a little bit far, but again, in
05:41his case,
05:42a safety car might put him back into the race.
05:45That is race engineer Carlos Santi. That is Lance Stroll at turn 14, who's trying to get himself back into
05:52the race.
05:53And he's not going very fast at all. So it looks like he's got a few gremlins.
05:58Is he pulling over to the side of the track? I think he is.
06:02Let's have a little listen as to what happened. And he has now stopped, as you can see.
06:08A braking issue for Lance Stroll.
06:10It looked like a lock-up, didn't it, rather than a mechanical gremlin as such.
06:15Virtual safety car. Where's George Russell currently on the circuit?
06:20Will he want to come into the pit? Absolutely.
06:22If he possibly can. Sadly for George Russell. Turn 4 Caroon. He's lost the opportunity, maybe, for a cheap pit
06:29stop.
06:29This is perfect for, well, it's Charles Leclerc as well. So this might just continue Ferrari's issues.
06:37And we've got Charles Leclerc coming in, going to put the soft tyre back on.
06:40I would imagine they will stack and put Lewis Hamilton as well.
06:44No, Lewis has gone through. But Hamilton has stayed out.
06:46So Hamilton has stayed out. Russell comes in. Perfect for him.
06:50And, yeah, so that's really weird, isn't it?
06:53So just not having the, not giving Lewis back the two stops that he thought he was on before they
07:00changed it back to a one.
07:01Really, really curious.
07:02And what should be a one and only pit stop, Martin?
07:04Oh, he's ending. VSC ending.
07:06Oh, no.
07:07It's one and only chance for a pit stop under the VSC, just as he committed and he had to
07:12carry on because he committed.
07:14Now, he's going to take half a bit of pain. Track's clear. VSC's ended.
07:20Where's Liam Lawson? Making his way round the final couple of corners.
07:23This is going to be Nip and Tuck, potentially, as we see Lawson now.
07:28Not Nip and Tuck at all. Sadly for George, the VSC ended just a bit too early.
07:33Wait, there's no break. I just went straight.
07:37Okay, stand by. We'll have a look.
07:39Better work so long.
07:40Sort of an action replay, but with a mirror involved.
07:44I don't think Lewis Hamilton's fighting this one.
07:46And he isn't fighting this one too hard.
07:48Charles Leclerc is through.
07:50What Hamilton didn't want to do, as well, was to lose time.
07:52And that seemed like a very good moment for the overtake to have.
07:55Again, it's 15.2 seconds at the end of lap 47.
07:58And we're now back down under 15 seconds.
08:00Here comes George Russell.
08:02Sparking as the floor of the car hits the asphalt.
08:05And this time, sparking George Russell into life.
08:09And he's up in a knife.
08:10You'd think so, wouldn't you?
08:11Max, under a safety car, we would lose position to Leclerc.
08:14But I'm worried about restarting on this tire zone.
08:19If you would accept pitting behind Leclerc, say nothing.
08:22If you don't want to pit, key up on the radio, try to say something.
08:30Okay, mate. Understood. Thank you.
08:32But Norris is all over the back of Lewis Hamilton's car who says,
08:38I'm losing these tires, mate.
08:40And it is quite obvious that he hasn't got the grip.
08:43Here comes Lando Norris down the inside at turn one.
08:46Hamilton's gone wide in defence and keeps ahead of Lando Norris.
08:51And Kimi Antonelli now might get a better exit out of turn three.
08:55And Kimi Antonelli picks up fourth place as a result.
08:59He can't give the place back to Lando Norris
09:01because Kimi Antonelli's in between them.
09:03He might soon be able to, you know,
09:04because down into turn 16, Antonelli says,
09:07thank you very much.
09:09They'll be able to hold off Piastri and take six.
09:11Otherwise, they might have to settle for a place behind that.
09:15On board with Lando Norris.
09:17Wheel to wheel with Lewis Hamilton into turn 10.
09:20Lando Norris picks his moment, picks his spot,
09:23moves up into fourth place.
09:24At the end of this straight, he's going to have to lunge it.
09:26He is going to lunge it, but Hamilton's got the inside line.
09:29Piastri almost went into him at turn 13.
09:32Now Hamilton goes wide.
09:33This will allow Oscar Piastri the chance towards turn 16
09:37to go wheel to wheel.
09:38He's onto the marbles, but he's ahead of the Ferrari.
09:40He picked his moments, and you can hear the cheers from the crowd.
09:44On the weekend, he marks his 250th Grand Prix start.
09:49Finally, he gets the chance to say,
09:51I am a winner at Marina Bay.
09:53Max Verstappen wins the Singapore Grand Prix
09:56for the first time in his back-to-back victories
09:59for Max Verstappen in Malaysia and Bahrain,
10:03and here at Singapore.
10:05No one else was in his race.
10:08It's been a very long time in the making, that one.
10:10Pleased to see you've got it.
10:11Well done.
10:16Well done, Max.
10:17It's a shame we can't hear you,
10:18but everyone is screaming at you to say,
10:22well done, you've completely dominated that one.
10:25You know who?
10:26Well done.
10:27We're back.
10:28We're back.
10:29We're back.
10:30We're back.
10:32Let's go.
