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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, one more Grand Prix before Formula 1 takes its summer break.
00:04And after Max Verstappen won four of the first five races in 2024,
00:09it's got a lot more competitive since.
00:11And the championship leader goes into this race with a 76-point lead.
00:15It was up 138 points this time last year.
00:18The closing pack are closing in on Max Verstappen.
00:21He starts 11th on the grid today.
00:26And it's lights out and away we go.
00:28And I think Lewis Hamilton got a really good start,
00:30but Sergio Perez comes up to try and cut him off,
00:32and it might be a bit too late.
00:33Charles Leclerc goes into the sauce.
00:35Hamilton on the inside, battling away with Sergio Perez.
00:38And there's Lando Norris getting onto the gravel already.
00:41And Oscar Piastri in hot pursuit of Perez and Hamilton.
00:44He's made up a place already,
00:46and Lando Norris has lost about three places here.
00:48Charles Leclerc leads them through Rallyon and down the Kemmel straight.
00:53There goes Sergio Perez, trying to make an early move on Lewis Hamilton,
00:56who's in second place.
00:58George Russell's getting keyed on Oscar Piastri.
01:00Hamilton holds off into second.
01:02Piastri and Russell side-by-side through the chicane.
01:05Russell has to back out.
01:06Looks like that's Alex Albon, also taken to the run-off area.
01:10What a dramatic start.
01:11It was. Norris getting a very poor start
01:14by coming out of the first corner on the gravel, as you saw.
01:19I thought Charles Leclerc could be in trouble.
01:21Looks like he is in trouble.
01:22Looks like he's lost the lead.
01:24Lewis Hamilton leads the Belgian Grand Prix on lap three.
01:28He's got past Sergio Perez.
01:32Made up three places from the start,
01:35but he's just having now to be patient
01:37and is now coming into the pits.
01:39So Red Bull have pulled the trigger
01:42and they are going to try and undercut Lando Norris.
01:45George Russell has also pitted for Mercedes
01:48as he tries to pull the undercut on Carlos Sainz.
01:50The crews get to work.
01:52And it was a neat stop by George Russell's crew.
01:542.3 seconds for Staffan.
01:564 tenths slower stationary.
01:58Now they'll come out, hopefully for them, ahead of Alex Albon.
02:02I think that's the gap they're looking to try and feed back into.
02:06As we see going round the first corner.
02:10No, it's not worth it because Yuki Tsunoda has gone through.
02:14George Russell right behind Yuki Tsunoda.
02:16Now he'll clear Yuki quite quickly there
02:18and then he might have a decent gap.
02:20Continues then on his way.
02:23Carlos Sainz on the hard tyre continues on his way.
02:25Lando Norris continues on his way,
02:28as does Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, and Lance Stroll.
02:31And out now comes Lewis Hamilton
02:34as Ocon goes past and down towards...
02:42They have to run a medium tyre at the end of the stint properly.
02:45They had a look at Max's medium tyres from the first stint
02:49and they've said that there's plenty of wear still on them.
02:52So they've reassured Max that it's going to be absolutely fine.
02:56No problem for them.
02:59Kicking up the gravel a little bit, going way too deep
03:02into the first part of Stavelo there.
03:06That is our race leader just struggling there.
03:10The grip under braking, he doesn't want much more of that.
03:13Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon on his teammates.
03:16Pierre Gasly nicely done on the inside at the source, Martin.
03:22Yeah, that's a great shot, isn't it?
03:24Following that car through there.
03:25You have total trust that car in front of you
03:27will not suddenly slow down, break down or anything
03:30because you're committed, you're flat out.
03:32And that's the only way to do it.
03:34But that's a nice overtake.
03:40Showing just how much pace the Alpine has in that part of the track
03:43compared to Alonso's Aston Martin.
03:45Yeah, well, we're definitely seeing
03:46that the pack have caught up with Red Bull, haven't we?
03:49Definitely, you know, we've watched Max.
03:54If he can babysit those, he'll be doing very well.
03:58Lando Norris is now two seconds behind Max Verstappen.
04:01But we're told if you're about half a mile,
04:03Perez under pressure from George Russell this time.
04:05And George Russell has now finally cleared his man.
04:08Now he's been keeping within DRS range for some laps.
04:12We have only four mistakes.
04:14Maybe Sergio was complaining of potential deployments for the energy.
04:20With Alex Albon into the pits,
04:22and we can just see a lock up there from Lando Norris.
04:25And that would have cost him valuable time
04:28in his pursuit of Max Verstappen.
04:29And made his tyres very dirty.
04:33Specific problem, didn't it?
04:34Daniel Ricciardo trying to overtake Kevin Magnussen.
04:37That's not really Ricciardo's race.
04:39Alex Albon is Ricciardo's race.
04:41And after that pit stop before Albon,
04:44he is ahead, as you can see on the track.
04:47...through, takes the lead of this race.
04:50Russell goes through, Verstappen goes through,
04:52Norris goes through.
04:53Sainz and Charles Leclerc is just going through the final chicane.
04:572.4 seconds.
04:58So one second faster than Leclerc's pit stop.
05:01That's Carlos Sainz making his way around the source.
05:05Charles Leclerc is just behind him.
05:07Out into the sunshine comes Lewis Hamilton.
05:09He is ahead comfortably.
05:11Just really seems to have sort of energised him again.
05:14Brilliant.
05:16200th career podium for Lewis Hamilton in Hungary.
05:22And Verstappen.
05:22This is going to be really, really tight, isn't it?
05:25As round at 80 kilometres an hour,
05:27Piastri goes.
05:28He does manage to stay ahead of Verstappen and Perez and Norris.
05:33But he went way, way long in his box there.
05:35And Lando Norris is now right on the tail.
05:39Not much quicker than him.
05:40Am I targeting the V8 or not?
05:42It's close.
05:43It is close.
05:46And he's not talking about Charles Leclerc, is he?
05:48No.
05:49He's talking about his team-mate George Russell.
05:51Well, I think he's also talking about that man there.
05:53I think he's talking about Oskar Piastri.
05:55If you look at the pace,
05:56and we can do it quite easily here,
05:58Hamilton 1.46.8 last lap.
06:00In Hungary, he's trying to get onto the podium this time around.
06:03Oskar Piastri with that DRS advantage.
06:06Goes to the left of Charles Leclerc.
06:08Goes wheel to wheel with Leclerc.
06:10Through the chicane.
06:11Neither driver giving this one up.
06:13And Piastri wins the battle.
06:15He is up into the podium places.
06:17He is flying out there.
06:19Verstappen and Norris tangled in the closing stages.
06:22He has absolutely fought his way to victory here today.
06:25This has been outstanding for George Russell and for Mercedes.
06:30It's a one-two.
06:31Russell wins the Belgian Grand Prix.
06:34Hamilton comes home to finish in second.
06:36Piastri completes the podium.
06:38And behind the top three.
06:40Even closer for fourth.
06:42Leclerc fifth for Verstappen.
06:44Amazing strategy, guys.
06:49He found enough grip at the end.
06:51I mean, Hamilton's catching him between three quarters and a second per lap.
06:55They say it takes half a second advantage to pass somebody here.
06:59But when he got there,
07:00Russell just kept his head and found a technique
07:04to be fast in all the right places.
07:06Perez did steal the fastest lap.
07:09On the final tour.
07:10But finishes eighth.
07:11And that surely is George Russell's best victory so far in Formula 1, isn't it?
07:17Oh, absolutely.
07:18Absolutely.
07:19What a way to send yourself into the summer.
07:22Well, in the rain, he's still on the podium here for the first time.
07:26After finishing as a runner-up in the sunshine at Spa this year.
07:30He stands on the top step of the podium as a three-time winner in Formula 1.
07:36George Russell summed that day up for his own Martin.
07:38What a 44 lap.
07:40Lewis Hamilton picks up the runners-up trophy.
07:48And Oscar Piastri on the podium once more.
07:51Coming home third for McLaren.
08:06you