00:00It's lights out and away we go. Antonelli away. Max Verstappen trying to chase him but Antonelli's
00:06got the jump on the Red Bull. Into turn one, he is clear. Lewis Hamilton on the outside of Charles
00:11Leclerc going the long way round. Leclerc slips through on the inside, puts Max Verstappen under
00:16pressure. The two Ferraris still going wheel to wheel as Antonelli races off into the distance.
00:20Max Verstappen is under pressure from that Ferrari and has to concede from that Ferrari.
00:25Charles Leclerc up to second. Lewis Hamilton trying to get up to third here on the inside.
00:31It's tight but Verstappen squeezes through. Max Verstappen is now up to speed and here he goes
00:36up the inside of turn 15. Can he hold it out there? Max Verstappen up to speed, up to second
00:41place.
00:42Leclerc will fight that through the corners. That's where the Ferrari is strongest but that
00:46straight line speed deficit evident on this opening lap. Watch the Ferraris at the top of the hill here.
00:52They actually had a little skirmish themselves but Hadjar slow away. Both Red Bulls struggling to get
00:59away and they actually touched the Ferrari. No, they were perilously close didn't they? But you can
01:06see Max doesn't have any power and the Ferrari is going to drive down the other side of him of
01:11Leclerc and take that place. Max really just cannot get his car up and running. We'll get a better view
01:17as
01:17to whether the Ferraris touched or not but Leclerc certainly got a better reaction time. Powered by
01:23AWS by about three hundredths of a second over Isaac Hadjar and then he's in a great position here
01:29to go wheel to wheel and eventually passed. Max Verstappen switches to the right-hand side
01:36and Verstappen can't defend. The Ferrari's all over him. That is amazing skill. I can't begin to explain
01:42just how skillful that was between Verstappen and especially Leclerc. Whoa! That was a that was
01:47contact. Carlos Sainz with Arvid Limblad and Sainz nearly going into the wall. Now George Russell
01:55with Isaac Hadjar to his right. Russell goes around the outside. He just can't slow the car down.
02:02Now he's definitely left the car at the track. It's weather. By doing that he managed to stay ahead
02:07and then contact with Oscar Piastri. Gabriel Bortoletto has also been noted for leaving the track and
02:14gaining an advantage. And this we saw live Oli Behrmann and Pierre Gasly. There's a gap down there
02:20that's closing and there's contact between the two cars. I'm not by wheeling as well. He just had
02:24nothing. He didn't leave any space. Piastri with Lando Norris right behind him after he went.
02:33So how much pace do you have in hand? Yeah I mean. Oh yeah. I'm being held up now.
02:43I've got a feeling McLaren might swap them around. But he's got overtake as well which sometimes confuses
02:53the issue. But that feeling Martin that you had. And the Martin Brundle spidey senses.
02:59Yeah George we are currently under investigation for gaining an advantage. 10-13 on lap one.
03:05I was on the inside. He was overtaken by the outside. That's his wrist. Yeah so it's both 12 and
03:1113.
03:11I couldn't agree more with you. Stuck in sixth place currently and he's got a five second penalty to
03:18serve when he comes into the pits. As down the inside goes Fernando Alonso at turn one.
03:24There's a wide open space there. Alex Albon kind of knew that was coming. Let Fernando Alonso go deep.
03:30Thought about the old switcheroo and it paid off didn't it? Because Albon put his way back ahead of the
03:37Spaniard in the Aston Martin. This is interesting. Get Verstappen in. That's a bit of a Yahoo moment.
03:43past our commentary box and into the pit lane. But get him in early and try and push Mercedes into
03:50an
03:51area they might not want to go. What goes on? Brand new set of soft compound tyres. And he wants
03:56to get
03:56out in front of Liam Lawson who's currently running ninth. It'll put him behind the two McLarens.
04:04He's going to have to navigate. There's Lawson just coming into the pit straight. So that's the gap that
04:09Red Bull want to drop Max into. The key for Ferrari is that he gets out ahead of Liam Lawson.
04:15This is going to be really really tight and I don't think he's going to do it you know because
04:19here comes Lawson into turn one. Hamilton is going to be behind the racing ball. Lewis Hamilton's been
04:23told the outlap is critical. Verstappen dives down the inside. He's not going to wait for Oscar
04:29Piastri to come into the pits. He's going to take matters into his own hands and he has made up
04:33that
04:33place and into sixth as Charles Leclerc now pits for Ferrari. And out into the pit lane then come
04:40the McLaren crew for Oscar Piastri. So 2.7 seconds we had for a pit stop. That looks a little
04:47bit
04:47quicker. 2.4 seconds. So three tenths up. Piastri in the background comes in. There's Russell and
04:54Norris going through. That is Max Verstappen going through now and up into fifth place. Charles Leclerc
05:00will slot in into sixth. Where's Lewis Hamilton? There's Lewis Hamilton ahead then of Liam Lawson.
05:082.1 for McLaren and Piastri. That's a cracking pit stop. 1.99 is the fastest we've seen this year.
05:15Piastri is going to find himself behind a number of cars here. Yeah better traction,
05:20better grip for Max Verstappen by the end of this straight. He might be in a position to have a
05:24little lunge down the inside. Max Verstappen is going for it on George Russell and Max Verstappen stays
05:30on the track and picks up that place. He's up in the third scampering away ahead of Russell. Max Verstappen
05:37as he chases down his teammate Isaac Hadjar at a rate of over a second a lap. There goes Lando
05:41Norris
05:42on Liam Lawson as Charles Leclerc goes down the inside on George Russell. Two overtakes in the space of
05:49about three seconds. Let Max pass into turn 12, into turn 12. I don't want to lose race time,
05:54I can't let five. I'm let five, sorry. No mate, this is what you're going to do.
06:00No, no, no, we've preordained that's what you've got to do Isaac and he does let him
06:05past a couple of corners later. Here comes Max Verstappen down the straight and takes the lead of
06:19this race. Hadjar follows, Leclerc follows and that's a back marker in the way of Ollie Behrman and out
06:28into fourth place and just ahead of Lewis Hamilton comes Kimi Antonelli on the hard tyres we would
06:34imagine to the ends of the race. While we are on the hard. It's a furtire for this thing we're
06:40going
06:40to do here mate. What? He could still be the youngest champion. We see some issues with the engine
06:47braking torque 12 available we have. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. And a significant one throughout
06:55this weekend and that's going to give Kimi Antonelli the chance he needs just at the opportune moment
06:59to go down the inside on Charles Leclerc and move up into second place. Now Leclerc will fight this
07:05through the corners where the Ferrari has been better but I think Kimi Antonelli might just have
07:11got this one. He leads this race. He's capable of about seven eight tenths of a second a lap.
07:17Better pace than this man Kimi Antonelli. That was a big lock-up.
07:20Ah this guy. My god. Stay calm. Did we see that um the Alpine brought him in and also. No
07:29he didn't.
07:29Two seconds Ted because Lewis Hamilton has just gone down the inside of Isaac Hadjar and up into fifth
07:35place at turn one. Very nicely done by Lewis Hamilton who's not going to be stuck behind that red ball
07:40for any longer. Look at this up into turn one. Down the inside maybe. Verstappen protects that inside line.
07:47Norris is under pressure here from Charles Leclerc because Verstappen has got ahead of Lando Norris.
07:53Leclerc just slots in behind the McLaren. He almost lost in one corner two places there Lando
07:59Norris. Norris is now really starting to struggle on those tyres. Leclerc still got half a straight to
08:04go under braking. He's going to have to go the long way round. Can't get round on this occasion but
08:09he
08:10has got that superior grip out of the corners. Norris locks up. Leclerc almost goes into the back of him
08:16manages to switch to the right and take the place. Okay so we think we're going to stay out. Hamilton
08:21likely will come through anyway. As long as we get to the end we still beat a jar like this.
08:26Yeah no more
08:26clubs. Yeah leave me alone uh thank you very much. I'm quite happy. Here goes Charles Leclerc.
08:32Charles Leclerc before the corner down the inside on Max Verstappen and up into second place.
08:39There's Hamilton uh uh is. Down the inside he goes Martin. Steaming up the inside. He'll have the
08:45traction on the exit as well. That is up to P4. He's pulled over now. He has. Will they have
08:52to do
08:52a virtual or an if they've got to put people out they'll do a full safety car and that then
08:59means
08:59so that will Mercedes will pit Antonelli. They will pit him. They certainly should do because they've
09:06got enough in hand Martin by about five seconds. I see it's right near the service road. If that's
09:12gone into neutral. They can just push it back. They'll just push that back. Is it in neutral? If it's
09:19got an
09:19engine issue does it have a hydraulic issue? There is a button on the front of the chassis they've been
09:24pushing to try. This is crucial for this race. Does that button release the clutch or not? They know
09:31where it is but that transmission looks absolutely locked doesn't it? Any time now. You may switch to
09:38safety car. If it does go then you are in. He's staying out. For now though the lone star in
09:46the lone star
09:46state is Kimi Antonelli who's going around the final corner to win the US Grand Prix in 2026 and place
09:56yet another hand tentatively by the world championship trophy. It's not over yet. Next week it surely will be.
10:05Nice work Kimi. That was a beautiful drive mate. Awesome job by strategy. Perfectly executed race. Well done mate.
10:13Yes. Yes. Woo. Ah that's how we do it. Ah. Yeah that's how we do it mate. Yeah let's go.
10:21That's how we do it.
