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00:00part of the season and the constructors championship if mclaren leaves singapore
00:04with a lead of 303 points they are constructors champions for a 10th time and for the second
00:10year in succession all they need is one car on the podium and if that doesn't happen two cars
00:16in the top seven and then it doesn't matter what ferrari or mercedes do the only teams that could
00:21catch them between now and the checkered flag in abu dhabi so mclaren preparing maybe to celebrate
00:27tonight but nothing is a given here well with full tanks of fuel anthony was saying unlucky for some
00:32turn 13 i think the other corners and traction zones could be a bit of a challenge until they
00:38understand just where the grip is at on this racetrack and those on the front row have been
00:44standing already for quite some time and waiting and we're still not all slotting into position
00:51despite the fact as i said there's only 18 cars lining up a lot of cars built themselves a gap
00:57to drive hard into so i think that's extended the amount of time that the front runners are
01:02sitting on the front of the grid yeah they arrive with warmer tires at the end work for brad pitt in
01:06that movie didn't it let's see what happens in real life prepare yourself ladies and gentlemen
01:10for racing under the lights here in singapore 62 laps to come
01:16it's lights out and away we go and that's an excellent start from george russell and max
01:22verstappen's not covering him off and he's trying to fend off oscar piastri in the turn one verstappen
01:27ahead than a piastri norris then battling away with his teammate and championship rival and he's got
01:32the inside line as he forces piastri wide and lando norris has managed to get through and he's made
01:37up two places from the start george russell leads here from max verstappen great start from lando norris
01:43then comes piastri and that looks like charles leclerc in the ferrari kimmy antonelli losing places
01:49yeah great start very aggressive from lando norris and it paid off got his elbows out i think it was
01:54all fair and within the regulations a brilliant start then for george russell there's charles leclerc
02:00ahead of antonelli going down the inside isaac hadjar on fernando alonso in the aston martin
02:06and they're going wheel to wheel out of that corner and you can see how tough it is to get traction
02:11there as alonso has to concede the place and isaac hadjar moves up now we're getting into the
02:16really tricky slippery greasy part of this circuit and lando norris i had contact he said keep an eye
02:23on everything it was a slight contact but obviously he'd have felt that in the cockpit
02:27yeah i mean they were side by side through turns two and three and eventually oscar had to get out of
02:34it otherwise he was heading towards the wall but super aggressive this is a world championship we're
02:39talking about and this is a championship where we have seven races including this and three sprint
02:45races but every point is precious george russell building up a nice lead here damaged wing then for
02:51lando norris you can see a piece on the top left sticking out and that's piastri on the runoff area
02:58there martin through that chicane at turn 16 he got that a little bit wrong but he's managed to carry
03:03on his way and we'll get another look at that lando norris front wing in a couple of moments we can
03:07see it there just sticking out at an angle it shouldn't be and that's going to be affecting
03:11his aero balance but will he have to come in and change that front wing will the fia decide it needs
03:17to happen yeah and that is what they'll be looking at to see if they think and yeah i mean i wasn't very
03:23team-like but sure uh oscar less impressed uh than lando above those opening corners but uh mclaren will be
03:34busy explaining the design of that front wing and why that piece will not come off shouldn't come
03:40off or if it does it's not a significant part yuki sunoda and esteban ocon having a real tussle
03:46there esteban ocon manages to get through into turn seven we can have a look now at this race start
03:52on board with lando norris he's getting better traction ahead of his team out when he he had
03:57contact with max verstappen and that might be where he uh broke his front wing absolutely and
04:03then it was wheel to wheel contact with the other mclaren but you're absolutely right it was actually
04:08tagging the back of the red bull that broke his front wing and isaac hadja and ollie bearman have
04:14been noted for uh causing a collision hadja on bearman who's down in 10th place hadja staying in
04:20eighth and these opening skirmishes and they have been skirmishes here in singapore
04:241.7 seconds the gap between russell and verstappen that gamble by red bull to get verstappen ahead
04:30of the pole sitter it hasn't worked he thinks the ground rules between the two mclaren drivers
04:35has just changed for the rest of the season what was it lando said to me on wednesday we had the
04:40interview that we played out yesterday before qualifying those papaya rules we're free to race
04:44and we're becoming more free as each race goes by little things are changing we're not going to shout
04:50about it but little things are changing well look look like all was fair in love and war to me on
04:56that one either way norris ahead of piastri now by nearly two seconds so are we cool with lando
05:02dispatching me out of the way or what's to go there so we're looking at it let me get back to you
05:07so basically the question is are you going to let me back through there um are you uh gonna yeah
05:14i don't see how they can so that's noted then between norris and piastri they tend to be more
05:20lenient on the first few corners in the first lap in general because it's the start but let's see if
05:26the stewards think that that was over aggressive small amounts of front wing damage lando norris has
05:31been told nothing to worry about i'm sure he will be worrying about it it's uh only human nature i think
05:39is on board we ride then and he's very much in contention with max verstappen here the gap
05:43six tenths of a second there are four drs zones on this uh marina base circuit from which to get an
05:49extra 20 kilometers an hour of extra pace to try and close in and he's using that to good advantage
05:54now and they definitely wouldn't waste 12 seconds changing that in a pit stop either the front wing
05:59the message is you're not really losing much front down force so uh what's not happening here is what
06:05we often see is where the leader just backs the pack up completely so it's one snake um so that
06:12nobody's got a gap to do a an undercut pit stop into it's not happening at all george is spreading
06:18the field out we've got 16 seconds from first to 20th at the moment so a likelihood may be that george
06:25russell is thinking two-stop strategy is the way to go here spread the field out you've got a gap to
06:29pit into and if there's no safety car obviously max's tires will start struggling around 15 or 16
06:36just a bit don't forget we didn't have a safety car last year or a yellow flag
06:40oscar we're still reviewing that incident the uh we will look at it but i need you to just focus on
06:46what we can do here and control the controllables mate and the stewards have looked at it and have
06:49decided no further investigation needed uh in case uh they thought that lando norris had caused a
06:55collision while we've been talking fernando alonso has got himself ahead of isaac hajar and up into
07:00eighth place so the stewards are happy with it but that looks to me as of mclaren reviewing it
07:05themselves what was your take on it martin if if they are free to race and have been all season
07:10then did lando do anything wrong i don't think i called it that's how i called it at the time i thought
07:16it was punchy uh opportunistic aggressive but this is a motor race as i say the ground rules have just
07:24been reset there because oscar will and i can't see how mclaren can swap that around that particular
07:30one and why they would why they would have to justify that but um oscar will be okay so that's
07:36that's it then is it that's how we're going racing um it's just changed but mclaren want to get the
07:41constructors done then they can worry about uh squabbling drivers thereafter if i was playing
07:47devil's advocate could you argue monza last year when oscar piastri went got quite punchy against
07:52lando well lando's returned the favor is seems fair to me yeah i think they have to park all of
07:58you know what happened here there and everywhere as george extends his lead again out front but
08:02george russell but um i i thought it was great driving personally um and i thought that if it was
08:09oscar or anybody else um the problem is that lando actually made contact with two cars doing it but
08:15it's pretty tight down there it is in the constructors championship it hasn't been tight all season
08:20as it stands and we're only on lap five of 62 mclaren will be constructors champions at the end of
08:26this race and the other problem mclaren i got now is that at this phase anyway it does seem that that
08:32norris is the faster of the two mclarens but that is this phase of the grand prix right five of 62 then
08:41and let's have a look at the race start shall we and it was an excellent start from george russell who
08:46continues to lead this race in verstappen soon under pressure from piastri and norris got a
08:50brilliant launch ahead of antonelli yeah piastri was busy trying to watch verstappen and that is
08:56where norris pounced and that's why they had a little touch luckily for them wheel to wheel left
09:01hand side of the grid is definitely a poorer place to be and you could see all of the left hand side of
09:07it's struggling a little bit and uh piastri will be on the outside of us now max looking in his mirrors
09:14because he's got a lot of awareness in those situations and charlotte they're getting a much
09:20better start in his ferrari too and then gets ahead of antonelli a little bit of double contact there for
09:27antonelli and leclerc and yeah a bit of stock car racing and off they go and now let's go on board
09:35isaac hadjar watch ollie bearman on the right hand side and watch to the left as well because he gets
09:40sandwiched right at the start here there's bearman in the house and then there's contact and bearman
09:45has to bail out go on the runoff area and that's how ollie bearman lost a place to isaac hadja and
09:50that has been noted by the stewards but nothing uh decided that that i think is what oscar piastri's
09:56complaining about it's that it's more than a love tap isn't it that was a i'm coming through tap it was
10:01just after norris had collected the back of the red bull and we sent him across the track and yeah
10:06it's just about shoved piastri into the wall didn't it i think to be fair to oscar piastri from the
10:11cockpit i might be complaining about that one as well 100 he certainly would have felt it and certainly
10:16wouldn't have enjoyed it and by what we've heard he very much didn't enjoy it uh kimmy antonelli
10:21wouldn't have enjoyed his start much and he's dropped a couple of places but he's now right on
10:25the tail of charles claire george russell continues to lead no further action from the stewards as a
10:31team we can see lando has to avoid the staff so we won't take any action during the race we can review
10:36further afterwards hey that's not clear i'm sorry that's not clear oscar will have the opportunity
10:42to review together afterwards focus on this race mate he's still as good as not here yeah but if he has to
10:48avoid another car by crashing into his teammate then that's a pretty job of avoiding
10:52this is oscar piastri who i think is starting to slowly lose a little bit of patience with some of
10:58some of what's coming his way this season go back to monza where he's asked to swap places
11:04um in qualifying at monza where he's asked to give his championship rival a toe to help him to get into
11:10q3 he's complied with that he's done the team's work or he's done what the team have asked and now i
11:15think he wants a little bit of payback for him and i can see i can hear his frustrations and a little bit
11:21of anger in his voice there yeah he obviously thinks they uh on this occasion i don't agree with
11:27him but uh i i can see why he's making the point and why not make the point and put some pressure
11:32on the team as george does another fastest lap out front um and yeah certainly the right-hand side
11:39of the grid i mean it helped leclerc didn't it cleared hamilton then and antonelli for charles
11:44leclerc down there up into p5 that was a lovely start for him and fernando alonso we know the
11:50aston martin is better in these high downforce racetracks and uh up there nicely in eighth at
11:56the moment with the soft tires but with no safety cars and a drying track and full tanks of fuel those
12:03soft tires are going to wear out more quickly they're going to get what we call thermal degradation
12:08also known as too hot um to give full grip um as well so max will max and gang on those which is
12:17alonso and hajar as well inside the top dozen we'll have to start babysitting those red mark tires and
12:23talking of thermal degradation he's been suffering all weekend long ted kravitz but just hang on ted
12:28because we've got a yellow flag currently waving someone has just gone off the track momentarily
12:34and we've still got that yellow flag and drs has been disabled as a result i'm just trying to see
12:40where that might be they're all still running they're all still yeah they're all still running
12:45drs is enabled uh so we'll come back to that in a moment down to you ted yeah i haven't been
12:50suffering crofty i'm loving these conditions i'm actually opposite mclaren uh for this race in my
12:54spot in the pit lane and i watched that discussion between zach brown and andrea stella about what to do
13:01if anything take place zach is a racer andrea stella is also a racer this is a team of racers
13:07and then that's what they decided to do quite right the decision but it's this sort of team
13:12niceties discussion that we've had all season between the two mclaren drivers and monza was part
13:18of it wasn't it crofty yeah that's led that's allowed to us uh oscar to question these the team
13:24about an on-track pass uh but obviously the team their focus today is to get one car on the podium
13:30to wrap up the constructors my mind goes back to senor and prost in the late 90s the last time
13:35mclaren had a back-to-back constructors can you imagine senor and prost having these kinds of
13:39discussions no not in a million years no not at all but that's the modern mclaren i'm not sure it's
13:44it's going to be that way for now yeah my understanding that oscar piastri was not overly
13:48amused at the ends of monza and made his feelings known to the team uh that was esteban ocod you just
13:55saw a brief bit of team radio there saying that he's got a problem with the brakes the brakes
13:59can overheat very very easily here the strange thing here is i think for the first time i've
14:04ever known mclaren drivers are welcome to race from lights out to checkered flag provided they
14:09don't run into each other which they just did uh momentarily um but somehow that still keeps
14:15that's a lovely open sporting we've never seen that before no team has ever done that before
14:21uh and and giving their drivers that that absolute freedom with the ground rule but somehow it seems
14:28to generate other issues doesn't it it's not as straightforward as it perhaps appears it should
14:33be but you're right it should be it's it's absolutely not how the tyres how the pace yeah pace is good
14:41i think a lot quicker well it means than the two in front yeah well the i think the one in front
14:50might be starting to just drop off a bit certainly to george rossel he was half a second slower on the
14:56previous lap max verstappen he's now about four seconds back from the leader lando norris within
15:02two seconds but you don't want to get too close too soon here because things start to overheat very
15:08very quickly so you have to be aggressive but you also have to be a bit patient as well and
15:12i don't think that front wing element has moved at all since the contact with max verstappen
15:17but it does you do get the feeling that it could move and go down at any moment because the other
15:23big thing here as they as norris is in the undercut uh position with verstappen they need to keep an eye
15:29on that in terms of if he pits it will pass him um because norris now gets first call on the pit
15:37stops yeah it's critical isn't it which one's in front which is another thing that will be irking
15:41oscar piastri so lap nine of 62 four and a half seconds the gap out in front for george russell
15:50and george russell's teammate kimmy antonelli currently uh chasing down charles leclerc and
15:55trying to keep at bay at lewis hamilton uh soft tire runners verstappen alonso and hadjar in the
16:01top 10 and colopinto and stroll who both made up places uh from the start yuki sunoda down in 17th
16:08he started uh 13th estaban ocon has got a bit of a problem with his brakes he's been uh radioing
16:13and uh telling people and we're just kind of waiting patiently here with george russell extending his
16:19advantage and pushing as hard as he wants but or hard as he can without unduly stressing those tires
16:26anthony let's head to you at sky race control yeah so just to pick up on those those braking issues
16:31for ocon crofty uh so he's reporting to the team again complaining about them and they saying from
16:37their side they see no concerns he asked them to check turn 16 the chicane near the end of the lap
16:43and that they've come back to say i think it's your brake balance and shape the braking shaping that
16:48you have that's causing maybe this that the feel the difference in feel of the pedal
16:52difference in the shape there's a new one shape of the braking uh curve as it were um and we saw a
17:0059.3 b-val or coming up just a number coming up that's a break by that means 59.3 percent of his
17:08uh braking of it's now 58.3 for this next corner is going to the front axle and the balance the
17:14remainder which of course is a 42.6 42.7 is going to the rear axle because
17:22a car gets a little bit light at the back end especially and heavy brake when you get the
17:26weight transfer but especially when you start down shifting very easy just to lock the rear
17:30axle but george this is working out beautifully for him and mercedes because uh verstappen has got to
17:37nurse those soft tires mclaren don't seem to want to cruise up to the back of verstappen and put him
17:43under pressure and that's leaving george very much a free rein out front and a five second lead
17:49george russell who has only failed a score once in 2025 and only qualified outside of the top six
17:56once as well both of those were in monaco and was uh fourth here last year for his first points in
18:02singapore should have been on the podium at the year before had that accident didn't he towards the end
18:08any change there with the downshift max otherwise it's really okay understood the downshifts not
18:14exactly impressing max verstappen that's not the first time we've heard that uh this season or last
18:18season yeah very true but george has been a modicum of consistency uh this year and has produced some
18:24some really fine performances and this at the moment is looking like he's going to add to his tally
18:30of uh victories unless well unless norris can get past verstappen and does mclaren have a bit of pace
18:37to to close him down i want to use that word that beep that word there to describe how my car was
18:43handling in manicore uh and my engineer just said less beep all around please took off his headset and
18:50walked down the back of the garage for the rest of the session so i learned that lesson the hard way
18:54they put they prefer slightly more detailed technical information on the right yeah it's not
19:02a technical term although i'm sure it's used in technical ways on them uh very often uh right
19:09peter bayer the ceo of uh racing bulls getting quite animated as uh he looks at the uh the screen
19:16uh remember isaac hadger had been noted for causing a collision with ollie bearman but uh i think
19:22there's no further investigation on that there isn't uh the stewards have decided that was just
19:26a racing incident uh right at the start he's been passed since uh by fernando alonso bearman remains
19:32currently in the top 10 look how that gap is opening up i said two laps ago it's four and a half seconds
19:38it's now nearly six seconds between russell and verstappen and lando norris is just chipping away
19:44tenth of a second a lap on verstappen's lead over here so verstappen's got the softer tires on it
19:49hasn't given him any benefit off the start and in the first few corners uh so that just releases
19:55george now to drive his own race he doesn't have to think about a world championship max does to an
20:00extent certainly lando and oscar absolutely do um but it does look like at this stage that oscar
20:06norris rather is the is the faster of the two mclarend they really need to come up and start putting
20:12some pressure on max verstappen and kimmy antonelli applying a pressure to the ferrari ahead of him
20:17which is charles leclerc gaining seven cents in the last six laps or so you get a funny angle from
20:23this camera but it looks in the straights like kimmy's right his right hand down on the steering
20:29wheel which i hate driving a single seater do so do most drivers we'll see now when we go on board
20:34does that look right hand down to you yeah it is isn't it that's heavily right hand down going down
20:40the straight isn't it that's an awful feeling because you need to give it less turn in in the right
20:46handers and more in the left handers it's an awful lot to try and work out on your first foray
20:52into a race in singapore when you're 19 years old and your first season in formula one he's the
20:57leading rookie driver in this race so far let's head to ant at race control yeah kimmy antonelli
21:02doing a cracking job at the moment property and he's been told as well to severely look after the
21:07tires just really reduce the pace so if he can do this in the turbulence and if this is what we see
21:12as massive tire saving and i feel like he's got a lot more pace there in hand and the claire's been
21:18on the radio as well complaining of understeer his team have been trying to help him with the tools
21:23that they have available and through the steering wheel to to mitigate that but uh yeah looks to me
21:27like antonelli definitely has some pace in hand and it would make sense the way that russell's
21:32commanding this race right now yeah quiet mercedes were strong in canada and there are similarities
21:38between that race track and this so don't be surprised that they're strong here so we're
21:42keeping an eye on the gap between lewis hamilton in seventh and fernando alonso in eighth because
21:48there's a seven and a half second gap there we're getting two races forming yeah and if that happens
21:53it starts building a space for the leaders to drop into to get a pit stop away and maybe a little bit
21:59of an undercut to get out on fresh tires and it's worth up to three seconds here you can get in
22:05before your rivals and get a good outlap you can gain three seconds on them with fresh tires and full
22:12banzai attack so so far though no one into the pits it's all quiet down there apart from ted
22:17yeah but uh that kimmy antonelli steering issue i'm convinced that's what they were doing they were
22:23they were fiddling they were trying to adjust the steering rack of antonelli's car that's what we saw
22:28on the grid crofty yeah now certainly i saw something happening with russell but uh they were they were
22:34messing around with actually the uh the steering rack on kimmy's it looked like they had it fixed
22:39maybe they just thought look we can't do any more for it let's just button it up and send him on his
22:44way but that would be something they saw from the formation lap if they weren't able to fix it and
22:49how much of a challenge is that for kimmy at the hardest race of the year to be able to be driving
22:53without your steering wheel straight in a straight line it's been an upturned in form in the last couple
22:58of races uh for kimmy antonelli he's a very talented young man he's got it all to do uh here
23:02tonight and this is a pit stop uh for red bull uh and a wing change down at salvo that'll be for
23:09bortoleto and sunoda is the red bull car that is coming in and that is why bortoleto needs a new
23:15front wing if you think lando norris has got problems then gabby bortoleto uh is coming in
23:21before that end plate completely falls off and lando norris saying there i hit the wall uh keep
23:26an eye out remember on his way to victory last year he uh he might have glanced the wall and very
23:31nearly at turn 14 went into the wall and ended his chance of uh victory bortoleto comes back out in
23:38the race along with sunoda they are the last two yeah this can be good information for the other teams
23:44and drivers to see how the hard compound white mark tire performs uh as a fresh tire at the back
23:51and let's have a look at what happened down into turn one people coming at you from all directions
23:57i just got pinsed didn't he he did i think it was contact with stroll uh in the aston martin but he
24:04had to move over to avoid the alpina bit yeah there's all sorts of sensors and pressure pressure
24:10sensors and uh and what have you in those front wings are hugely complex is this where lando norris
24:17hit the wall turn 17 yes it was it's a glance well it always looks kind of okay doesn't it from the
24:24way and then when we see it here it always looks harder but i think that's all right it's a scraping
24:29a glance of the wall understood he just understeered into the wall you could see the front tire scrubbing
24:35across the racetrack he's having too many adventures this evening is young lando
24:41skirmishes that he is surviving but sometimes he's just got to have nights like that
24:46and get through it colopinto now in the pits for alpine he was one of those that started
24:53on the soft compound tire lasted 15 laps i think lewis hamilton put the softs on last year
24:58lasted 15 laps that was the uh that was the longest stint on softs at the start they're they're an
25:05improved soft tire this year they're more robust uh they can go that little bit longer medium tires
25:11going on to colopinto suggesting that he will be uh not going to the finish on those and that it's
25:18very much a two-stop race for him well the information we would get martin it was on the cusp this
25:23between a one and a two-stop race yeah and this track position is key isn't it it's absolutely
25:29everything here so a two-stop is faster but if you get tucked up behind some one-stoppers
25:34measuring their tires out you're dead in the water
25:38so on board with the mclaren lando norris gaining half a second
25:43the company's three or four cars on the window so think about the undercut of max
25:47yeah he's well he's now 1.2 1.1 seconds uh behind max verstappen you think that undercut would be
25:55uh pretty easy the pit window opens at about lap 20 for the soft tire runners if you were red bull
26:01you probably wouldn't want max verstappen losing time getting involved defending you'd bring him in
26:06sooner rather than later if you could yeah and what um what's happened here is mercedes and russell
26:12they've got themselves an eight second lead they can afford to wait a lap before reacting
26:18to the to anybody trying to undercut them that's a lovely comfortable cushion to have
26:23george is a quarter of the track away from getting near any back markers and then it's
26:30there's only three of them so he's not got any traffic issues ahead you can think they'll all be
26:36desperate to wait out and see if they get a safety car opportunity because you lose 12
26:41seconds then instead of 25 because your rivals are all going at safety car speed instead of racing
26:47speed so meanwhile oscar piastri's now dropped to about five seconds uh it is five seconds behind
26:53his teammate lando norris and he's lapping about three tenths of a lap uh slower uh than his uh british
26:59teammate and championship rival in exactly the same car albeit a slightly different front wing
27:05uh two landos there is that tire management is that kind of pace management thinking that one
27:10stopper might be the way to go uh here let my teammate push a little bit he might have to have to stop
27:16twice i'll get him in the end uh well i think i think there's one stop's what we want to do and when
27:21we've ever gone on board with anybody they're lifting lyco as it's called lift and coast into
27:27it saves fuel especially if we don't have a safety car they'll probably be under fueled for the race
27:33so you lift early let the aerodynamics the drag slow the car down brake later um but they're they're
27:40coasting through some of these corners so pole position was 129 and then we've got a lot of fuel
27:45on board it's three tenths per 10 kilos you i know many of you will know is the penalty carrying 10
27:51kilograms of fuel around here they start with about 110 i believe it is so we got we've got some fuel
27:58element going on but they're currently doing 137s they're not they're what are they eight seconds
28:05off pole position time that is how they're managing out there and they're standing by at mclaren's head
28:10kravitz with hands on tires that say lando on the blankets
28:14is their steam is their team radio uh well it just said box to overtake must happen
28:22there was no audio we had the uh we just had the written word instead said you'd be a fan of that
28:27are they duping is that another mclaren dupe though they are the the helmets are being secured and
28:33they might make a stop they might not they're they're trying to uh cover all the bases but the
28:39problem is is that uh if they're facing if norris is racing russell for the win
28:43then max is doing russell a huge favor here no they're not coming out yes they are coming out
28:49they are coming out it's not a fake it's going to put lando into some traffic
28:52it's going to be behind alonso and hadjar but they're on the soft tyre
28:57and i'm assuming no they're going back i was going to say i'm assuming they think they're going in
29:01they're going back in they called him to stay out yeah i think it was one of those he'd do the
29:08overtake on max verstappen but he would get stuck behind the alonso hadjar battle yeah it makes no
29:14sense does it that that was yeah that was almost a blatant question
29:19you weren't convinced at all you know box box box would have gotten it but box to overtake max
29:29kind of i don't know it sort of rang as a bit of a um because because there's there's just simply
29:36they'll just put him back into traffic and it'll be a horror story tedos the other problem of course
29:41if they came out with the hard tires martin so of course one stop the the the perfect time to stop
29:46medium going on to hard is about eight laps from now lap 26 27 so if they put lando on the hard
29:52told him to go to the end of the race that would make him vulnerable to oscar wouldn't it later on
29:57in the race so that's the other reason why they don't really want to stop so early yeah and to to
30:01be fair they they tell the driver so the driver doesn't have to come back on the road and go why
30:06are we stopping now my car my tires feel fantastic um they will do give him that sort of information but
30:12it was quite a bit too well telegraphed that one nobody is in with is within one second at the
30:19moment oh drs range so you get that extra pace down the straights to try and make an overtake the
30:26closest driver to uh their rival on track is this man lando norris who's just a few hundreds outside of
30:33max verstappen's uh magic one second advantage george russell now nearly nine seconds clear he did
30:40the 137 zero on the last lap verstappen and norris put in 137 fours and oscar piastri put in a 136 nine
30:49is this now where oscar piastri after managing his tires starts to just push that little bit more
30:56and bring himself back into a potential undercut situation very much looks that way doesn't it
31:02oscar's been biding his time probably letting the uh red mist settle a little bit because he's
31:07very unhappy isn't he about what happened in the first couple of corners and the lack of uh any uh
31:13sort of action thereafter by the team but uh as they said to him you've got to get your head down and
31:18see what you can do in this race we'll sort it out later but um this is this is where mclaren
31:24need to start using the the raw pace that they have absolutely and piastri setting a personal
31:32best in the first sector on this lap 19 to try and get that advantage uh that norris has over him
31:39down there even more would would he be allowed uh i wonder free to race to do the undercut uh on his
31:47teammate his teammate just has to to wait a little bit longer it's it's a fascinating battle at any
31:54given time but now there might be a few more subplots and dimensions opening up uh into that particular
32:01contest so lando's currently 21 seconds ahead of fernando alonso in eighth the gap we talked about
32:11dropping into and this looks like red bull are going to go first with the hard compound tire
32:18uh verstappen is coming into the pits norris stays out mclaren have done the duping once more they've
32:25decided we've had enough of those soft tires the pit window opens for the soft tire runners on lap 20
32:31and it is max verstappen who comes in that looks about a second slower than he would have wanted and it
32:36is and that might make lando's job that little bit easier to do the overcut on him if he can so this
32:43is where mclaren then i've got to just punch some incredible times in and he does get out in front
32:49of fernando alonso the gap we talked about some uh well 20 minutes ago that was the key thing when the
32:55race separated into two parts it's enabled that and red bull have used the absolutely first opportunity
33:02to to do that so what will mclaren do well if they react to that they'll end up behind verstappen
33:09if they've got incredible pace they need to deliver it now outlap critical let's get on with it
33:15jampiero lambi as he says uh to max verstappen the undercut is really really powerful here in
33:22singapore mclaren have have conceded that advantage by thinking they're not in a in a position to get
33:30lando in and then out again ahead of fernando alonso but that extra second the verstappen hands
33:35on norris meant that he could do that yeah and of course if if lando comes out he'll he
33:41might only just be ahead of the aston martin will they pit him this lap if they do they need a two
33:48point something second stop we keep an eye out and he does not go in the pits but it's not an unduly fast
33:55lap that he's pulling out here lando norris and we've already got verstappen fastest man in the
34:01middle sector of this grand prix entire grand prix on his out lap it was norris's fastest lap of the
34:08grand prix though his teammate oscar piastri albeit by a tenth of a second was actually quicker than
34:14norris on that lap so it's got russell out in front now by ten and a bit seconds from norris then piastri
34:20then the claire antonelli in fifth place and still that one and a half seconds behind charles clare
34:26who's coming in for racing balls it's uh not liam lawson it's isaac hadja who's making his way
34:33down the pit lane now pitting from the points see at this sort of pace verstappen is quite quickly
34:39going to come up behind amal hamilton antonelli and leclerc if they don't want to pit just yet so
34:45that might be the problem they have at red bull with this strategy unless the two ferraris and
34:53the second mercedes pit now if you're mercedes this is going to be tight martin sorry to cut in there
34:58franco colopinto and isaac hadja hadja is ahead of the alpine but that was really tight there and
35:05isaac hadja weaving all over the track colopinto having to watch out a little bit behind him yeah
35:11if you were mercedes you might just leave antonelli out there for a little while to arrest uh to
35:18arrest verstappen's progress yeah and i think maybe mclaren will be if they weren't listening to your
35:25comments thinking it very much themselves and that might be uh what saves their strategy for the time
35:30being and keeping lando norris out and answering to you at sky race control so they've told lando and
35:36oscar to stick to their target lap time so both laps in succession age of 37 zero this time around
35:43both of them 36 sevens so it's around the 37 zero their target lap time they've got to start building
35:49that tire offset right now to verstappen to get him later on in the race this will catch their attention
35:55leclerc is now pitted for ferrari so that clears the way to an extent for verstappen is catching
36:01hamilton and antonelli very quickly they've got to keep an eye on the gap mclaren have to keep an eye
36:06on the gap now but for to protect oscar piastri against charles leclerc with fresh tires charles
36:12leclerc needs to be out ahead of nico hulkenberg here and that's not happened no it wasn't a bad pit
36:18stop from ferrari but i got the feeling they thought we could get out and get clear of hulkenberg they
36:24haven't and obviously there's a tire offset between leclerc and the sauber but he needs to get an overtake done
36:30here at the end of this long straight or he's going to get held up he should breeze past this car
36:37and hulkenberg's he's not fighting it that much he does breeze past it yeah um he should breeze past
36:44it and uh the customer motor in the back of that sauber uh for ferrari uh anyway used to say massive
36:53tire offset okay so free to push now problem that's right but everything is working against
36:59heated wrist needed a couple of laps not to go absolutely flat out to get pace to get heat to
37:07bring the tires up to a really good temperature but not overdo it because if you just bring these
37:13hard tires in nice and gently they'll be your friend for quite some time yeah he's got a long way to go
37:18hasn't he on them uh 40 laps but uh it sounds like he's carrying car issues we know he's carrying
37:25downshift issues max is not particularly happy in there is he and then does a new fastest lap of the
37:33grand prix but it's only three tenths faster than the mclarens on their used tires now we we think
37:40obviously back to races earlier in the season where mclaren had much better tire wear uh than
37:47their rivals mercedes ferrari and red bull but they they admit mclaren that that others have
37:53developed their way back into the game here a little bit they haven't been bringing
37:57awoking upgrades and parts to races red bull have so have they got that tire wear advantage we'll see
38:04people have just made what they had work properly yeah is my understanding rather than
38:09with with some new front wing bits but you see what i mean about how quickly he's catching lewis
38:13hamilton so red bull will be hoping very much that the ferrari and mercedes uh pitt antonelli
38:20too and what can you tell us so it's really interesting that the the fight between lando
38:25norris and george russell that's all they're talking about to lando the gap between him and george
38:29russell and russell's just been told as hard as you can now norris was a 36 7 last time around
38:35yeah and russell was a 37 2 last time around piastri was a 36 6 that was about a tenth of a second
38:43faster see with verstappen as well out of the way martin if piastri wanted to push that
38:49so i know you've got those gaps and you're trying as hard as you can norris was 36 7. yeah this is my
38:56pace the tires are dropping now that's all that's all she wrote as far as george has got at the moment
39:02yeah i'm just wondering piastri can push get that gap reduced in half between himself and norris
39:08quickly there's an undercut for oscar piastri out there you'd imagine they'll pet norris first but
39:15who knows yeah um i mean yeah the the lead mclaren gets the first call but uh all is fair in love and
39:25war they say uh tonight ted down to you uh ollie beman pits but i'm looking down to ferrari they've got to be
39:31thinking about lewis hamilton and what to do with him his his previous lap uh the last time around
39:35but one was a 138 it's got better now a 137 but he's still pretty slow out there hamilton i think
39:42his tires are starting to go off and uh will they wait for verstappen to catch him or not before they
39:48fit in we'll see well they reckon in one lap hamilton is going to be caught by max verstappen not
39:53necessarily passed but certainly caught and well this gap that george russell was able to build
40:00in the early stages of this race is paying handsome dividends for him at the moment it is it gives them
40:05freedom currently leclerc is five seconds behind the field pit window i mean i don't want to lose
40:10check position to him there feels pretty low yeah they're nervous well that's what we talked about
40:17you know they've got to protect oscar against charles leclerc at the mclaren pit wall
40:24on board with max verstappen who is the fastest man on the race track currently lewis hamilton is
40:31the car ahead of him and they're going to get him out of the way ferrari that'll be uh music
40:37to red bull's ears um so just the next car up the road is kimmy antonelli in the mercedes
40:44but i tell you what i think the mclarens are coming a bit uh here as well and uh making their
40:49their move to try and bring themselves back into this race as hamilton now pits that didn't look to
40:55be as straightforward as he would have wanted three and a half seconds it's a slow pit stop for lewis
40:59hamilton yeah the right front didn't get the invitation particularly early did it that was uh
41:04a difficult one but i don't think it'll cost lewis too much because he was sort of on the back of that pack
41:09he can make that up it's whether he comes out ahead or behind a loss and it is going to be ahead
41:14of them yeah that was the key thing so all done there so what mclaren got to do now is get a tire
41:20offset isn't it get get fresher tires piastri's got to watch out for leclerc leclerc's doing 36-4
41:27piastri last time around a 37-5 so he lost one over a second of that advantage so uh they might even
41:35have to pit piastri first to protect if they want to keep norris out there and give him better tires
41:41at the end of the grand prix this was lewis hamilton's uh pit stop we saw that it was a little
41:46bit slow great view that he would have uh had and that right tire eventually uh going on so he's been
41:54into the pits isaac hadge has been into the pits as well since he's come out his pace has really dropped
41:59off he's got an engine issue he's losing about four tenths of a lap ted down to you yeah so uh george
42:04russell pits and having been done a favor that's solid not spectacular but solid by mercedes so
42:09having been done a favor by max verstappen in the first stint george has the latitude just just take
42:15it easy and uh pit now quickly followed by kimmy antonelli it's almost a double stack by mercedes i
42:21think getting russell in now keeps him well clear of max verstappen on the track there's the double stack
42:27and here comes kimmy antonelli uh out of the pits and they're hoping he'll be out ahead of
42:33fernando alonso on the soft tire who is yet to pit and george uh george russell's tires then are
42:42and the gap to oscar is 4.7 he's gonna have to pit soon to cover leclerc are you willing to let
42:48leclerc pit sorry let oscar pit the lap before you yep uh no i was about i was surprised i heard a yes
42:57there he said yes what he said no i will not he said yes uh no uh this is this is monza all over
43:04again and he's not happy to give oscar the uh the first call this time around i'm not surprised uh to
43:11be honest because it didn't exactly work out for him uh at the time very well in monza and then they
43:17had to swap the positions back again but so so he'll have a seven lap advantage over verstappen with his
43:24tires probably not as much as they'd hope so basically by not letting piastri pit first it's
43:30sort of meaning lando's got to get the tires on but he doesn't want all the fuss of the monza again as
43:35you said yeah um but it's the right time to bring that car in um but as we see piastri go through into
43:43what is now the lead so piastri takes the lead of this race george russell will move back into second
43:50place uh the key we're watching here is max verstappen there goes george russell down the
43:55main straight and then uh comes max verstappen in the red bull and lando norris will come out once again
44:03behind max now he's a lot further back behind max than he was before max pitted but it's that tire
44:09offset mclaren are hoping will prove pay dividends yeah it's the it's the seven laps he's got advantage
44:14which is over 10 percent of the grand prix has got advantage on the tires as they now pair of course
44:20piastri to uh defend against charles de claire's ferrari so game on and again also to your point
44:29of course verstappen's a lot closer to george russell as well okay listen carefully we have an engine
44:36issue three to four pencil up i'm really sorry this bucket but what the hell is wrong with this engine
44:43again not overly happy isaac has yet tonight down in 15th place listen carefully i will tell you this
44:51only once yeah it did sound a little like that is it starting at eighth in this race down in the 15th
44:59after his pit stop so alonso hasn't pitted yet lawson stroll ocon and science haven't pitted yet
45:06neither has alex albon and neither has this man oscar piastri who's led this race then for a couple
45:13of laps but ted kravitz is coming into the pit lane now he is heading your way and at the moment we'll
45:18still be behind lando norris ahead of fernando lonto got to say well done to the mclaren guys
45:24their pit stop oh no no no now it's slow the left rear won't go off oh my goodness me not again
45:31they were so happy with themselves with lando's stop because they didn't have a problem now the
45:36left rear wouldn't come off on that stop how much what was the final time five point two four five
45:42seconds ah no you you gain some you lose some for mclaren more problems he'll be ahead of the ferrari
45:49though of charles leclerc so no harm done in terms of track position uh just in terms of being a further
45:58behind his teammate lando norris but um yeah so lando rolled the dice there didn't want problem at
46:05aston martin for fernando alonso the wheel gun just won't engage on the nut to tighten it up and if it
46:12was a well say another four seconds stationary for fernando alonso that's just sent him tumbling out of
46:18the points after running a super first into this race he comes out behind liam lawson i'll be hoping
46:25behind isaac hadja be hoping he's ahead then of color pinto in the alpine and he is but only just
46:31to go back to that mclaren pit stop martin 4.13 seconds for lando norris in baku 5.37 seconds in
46:39monza and a 5.2 second pit stop here in singapore you know it's it's like london buses these slow pit
46:47stops and this one affecting piastri the two previous affecting norris let's have a look at it
46:53on his mark is in the middle
46:59yeah it's that left rear yeah
47:01and what's going on down here a little bit of uh dan dear overtaking by ollie beerman on alex albon
47:13like that that was good albon hasn't pitted yet beerman has and he's up into third into 12th place
47:20ahead then of alex albon right let's uh let's refresh ourselves shall we george russell now leads
47:27by four seconds to max verstappen the gap was over 10 seconds before the pit stops but george has got
47:33much much fresher tires lando norris into third place and he's got fresher tires than max verstappen
47:40and he's about five seconds back at the moment and then there's about a 10 second gap back to oscar
47:45piastri in fourth place then comes charles leclerc about three and a half seconds ahead of oscar
47:51kimmy antonelli as we can see here is right on charles leclerc's tail drs helping him at the end of
47:59the structure of the straight so far you'd have to say that uh verstappen and red bull look more
48:05comfortable uh on the hard compound tires uh when you're looking at the lap times because he's
48:12he's now matching george russell where george russell was just steaming way at the front but
48:17george will have it i'm sure be pacing himself extremely close to the wall didn't it for kimmy
48:23antonelli but he's looking very racy behind the ferrari of charles leclerc just as we ride on board
48:30with kimmy out today let's just watch his steering wheel and that issue still affecting him right hand
48:35down to keep it straight 34 to go if you speak to me every laugh i will disconnect already
48:43that sounds like a i want to be alone message from fernando alonso who is not best pleased
48:50that is a tell me only once message isn't it in fact don't tell me only once i don't want you to
48:55tell me anything unlike anthony davidson at sky race control who we would like to tell everything
49:01well i mean just just looking at this uh the rear end view there of charles leclerc on kimmy
49:07antonelli so it was leclerc basically the threat of that undercut on the mclarens particularly oscar
49:12piastri that scuppered their plans of going very long into this race both drivers at mclaren were
49:19reporting before their stops at the tires felt okay they were fine to carry on with their plan of going
49:24long but the guy we're watching on the screen at the moment and that potential undercut forced
49:29both mclarens in and that in turn really helped george russell who was just starting to complain
49:35about his tires he was asked to go five more laps he said i'm not enjoying this tire at the moment
49:40and that's why they brought him in so it's actually really saved george as well thanks to the uh the
49:46two earlier stoppers of verstappen and leclerc i think what's significant also here is that remember
49:52max was told outlap critical max went out and thrashed the life out of those tires he had to
49:58keep track position try to gain track position as well um whereas i think russell norris and piastri
50:03could just bring theirs in a little bit more gently absolutely uh kimmy antonelli by the way
50:08fastest man on the racetrack or with the fastest lap i should say but that's being held by the four
50:13drs zones around here in his pursuit of charles leclerc
50:17and it's every time he watches that ferrari at turn 14 he'll be like yeah just make a little
50:24make little mistake little mistake bad traction coming out of there i'm coming for you
50:31charles leclerc stops in this race i'm just trying to look at the tire offset on lap 21
50:38kimmy antonelli uh stops at lap 25 so we've got a four lap tire offset now is that enough
50:46to help him i wonder have just slightly fresher rubber better performance martin to get him by
50:51charles leclerc eventually it's hard to ever take around here but uh and the and the hard compound
50:58tires have got to basically go off before i think that happens it's all about the traction zones that
51:03get you on to the straight because if you can carry extra speed you'll get an advantage all the
51:08way down the straight so there's a lunging point later on if you're a bit closer into turn seven but
51:14it's easy to forget that kimmy antonelli is 19 years old he's a teenager isn't he only just 19 years of
51:23age as well uh kimmy antonelli had his birthday at the end of august isaac hadgett had his birthday the
51:31other day shares his birthday with mika hacken who i saw the paddock looking very happy with life
51:36currently at the moment as we head on into october after a september where max verstappen was probably
51:43the happiest of of any driver uh to be honest what a september he had two grand prix wins got his
51:49license to raid the race the nordschleife won the four-hour nls race in a ferrari with with chris
51:55lullum as well he had a great september october hasn't started as well as he was hoping but he's
52:01certainly not out of this one so that's the third consecutive lap where verstappen and for that
52:05matter norris and piastri have been faster than george russell in the lead yeah keep an eye on that
52:12as we head down to ted yeah but at least i mean just picking up on piastri after that slow stop where
52:17he lost a couple of seconds he has been quicker than lando norris but only by a few tenths of a second
52:22per lap i guess the silver lining to that cloud crofty is that at least norris
52:28while is not really closing up particularly on max verstappen and at least at the moment norris
52:33isn't going to win the race it looks like george russell as things stand at the moment has the best
52:38chance of winning the race so oscar will only drop a couple of points wouldn't he at this stage to
52:42norris i think for me and we're just over half race distance nobody
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