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00:0057 laps of the Qatar Grand Prix to come.
00:03The Constructors' Championship on the line, it slides out and away we go.
00:06And George Russell gets away really well, but so does Max Verstappen.
00:10And he is coming at him. Max Verstappen in second place.
00:13It's swooping into the lead in the first turn.
00:15Lando Norris on the inside.
00:17And Lando Norris might escape out of turn one into the lead.
00:21Max Verstappen just holds on to that front place.
00:24And that is the coming together between Colopinto and Esteban Ocon.
00:29Crash number 16 for Williams this season.
00:33Let's have a look at the damage on Nico Hülkenberg's car.
00:36His left rear has come off the rim.
00:39Yeah, hopefully for him that's just a rear puncture.
00:41I can't see any damage on the car,
00:43but it would be quite unusual just to be a rear puncture from contact.
00:47It was a better getaway from George Russell.
00:50Second phase, here comes Max.
00:51Yeah, really good.
00:52And you can just see the straight line speed.
00:54He's got a little bit more and obviously always being on the inside.
00:57He's running a little bit wide.
00:58Beautiful line for Lando there.
01:00I thought Lando was going to hold it around the outside here,
01:03but he backs off.
01:05You know, we saw the fight with Lewis Hamilton and Schaal.
01:07Schaal went around the outside of him at turn two.
01:09I thought he could have gone for that then.
01:11Yeah, Fernando Alonso gets a really good getaway.
01:14Sergio Perez gets a really good getaway from the midfield.
01:18But into turn one, Verstappen's on the inside.
01:21And on the extreme inside is Norris.
01:23And that is Nico Hülkenberg into Ocon,
01:25into Colopinto,
01:27who was very much the innocent party in all that,
01:29as probably was Esteban Ocon as well.
01:31He was.
01:32We were right on board with Esteban Ocon.
01:34A reasonable start.
01:36No cars coming past him yet.
01:38So he's in the middle of the circuit heading into turn one.
01:42Brakes relatively early.
01:44Oh, but he...
01:45Yeah, Nico lost the rear of the car and it just hit the front tyre there.
01:49But yeah, disastrous for Williams.
01:51Obviously, no fault of Franco's, but a lot of damage.
01:54Well, we could ride on board now.
01:55With Nico Hülkenberg in the Haas.
01:59And in his attempt on the hard tyres,
02:02which would have been a bit colder than those on the mediums,
02:05it all went awry.
02:06You've got to feel a little bit sorry here for Franco Colopinto.
02:09We're on board with Alex Albon.
02:11As Alex Albon gets hit and...
02:13Massively hit by Stroll.
02:15Yeah, copy that.
02:17I knew he was going to do it.
02:18I could tell.
02:22Well, both Lars Stroll and Nico Hülkenberg are pitted.
02:25Let's have a look at what happened with Stroll and Albon.
02:31Well, the question to ask there...
02:34And well done, Lars Stroll, for keeping it going.
02:37Did Alex Albon cut in on Stroll or did Stroll move into Alex Albon?
02:41Yeah, I think Stroll had understeer there.
02:43It's so difficult with the tyres not being up to temperature yet.
02:47And, you know, Alex had every right to be on the outside there.
02:50But obviously, Stroll tried his best to...
02:54Tried his best to stay inside.
02:56Bastard, what the...
02:58Well, and there's the gap between Verstappen and Norris down the straight.
03:02That's long enough for Verstappen to be able to defend that lead.
03:04But Norris might be under pressure from George Russell and Piastri.
03:08And Charles Leclerc are battling it at turn one.
03:10And Piastri has gone ahead of the Ferrari.
03:12Fernando Alonso looking for room on the inside of Lewis Hamilton.
03:15Around the outside, there goes Yuki Tsunoda in the RB.
03:19Whilst his teammate Liam Lawson and Valtteri Bottas go wide into the first corner.
03:24Yuki Tsunoda has got Fernando Alonso behind him.
03:28And Alonso trying to go the long way around the outside.
03:31He'll fight this one.
03:32Stays on the track, Fernando Alonso.
03:34And comes back out of that battle ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.
03:38That stop, that lengthy stop, has cost him three places on the track.
03:43And has given Ferrari a chance to jump him in the pit stops.
03:46Yeah, that hurts when you've been working so hard for your position on the track.
03:52And then they struggled to get the tyre off.
03:53Yeah, it was the right rear.
03:56And we got a double yellow flag before.
03:58But I think Kevin Magnus is going around very slowly at all.
04:00Someone has lost a wing mirror.
04:04Which the drivers keep telling me you can't see out of anyway.
04:07But tell you what, Jenson, that's in the middle of the straight.
04:12That needs movement.
04:15He's 1.8 seconds behind.
04:16It's been fluctuating.
04:17Now 1.2 seconds behind.
04:18He took a big chunk out of him in the first sector.
04:20Ah, that's where the wing mirror came from.
04:24There was a yellow in the middle of the straight.
04:26Yeah, there was.
04:27We'll have a look.
04:28Make sure he lifted.
04:30Lando did not lift.
04:33Oh, you report that then.
04:35Is this where Lando didn't lift?
04:45I've got to say, listening to that, Jenson,
04:48I didn't hear a lift down the straight.
04:50Valtteri and Schalke do not have their DRS open.
04:54And I'm wondering it's because they know it's a yellow
04:57and you shouldn't have the DRS open.
04:59Yeah, but that could have destroyed someone's race.
05:02I'm looking at a puncture for Lewis Hamilton.
05:07Now, as he picked up debris on that main straight.
05:11And that's cost him.
05:12He's at turn five at the moment.
05:14And that would be the most likely outcome.
05:16And I think Carlos Sainz is also in trouble
05:19with all that debris on the main straight.
05:22Very easy for Carlos to run over it and get a puncture.
05:25And Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton,
05:27both in trouble in this race.
05:30And the question has to be asked,
05:32why wasn't it dealt with a lot sooner?
05:34Oh, and now we get a safety car.
05:36I've got to say, that's about four laps too late.
05:39Well, I think the thing is,
05:41they are worried about the length,
05:42the stint that this hard tyre has to do from here.
05:46Thanks ever so much, Bernie.
05:48And that's Lewis Hamilton's moment,
05:49where his race that had been not exactly sparkling for him,
05:55struggling with the balance of his car, got even worse.
05:57And Carlos Sainz, I think,
06:00instantly felt the effects of that rear puncture as well.
06:04The front left puncture.
06:06I mean, it's a safety thing as well.
06:08They're doing over 200 miles an hour
06:10at that point on the circuit.
06:11Yeah.
06:12And to get a puncture at that speed,
06:15yeah, it's dangerous.
06:17Sergio Perez has stopped at Turn 15.
06:20Looks like he's out of this race.
06:21Max Verstappen under pressure from Lando Norris.
06:24Norris is going to have to go around the outside here.
06:26He's going to try and enter Turn 1.
06:28Verstappen on the inside.
06:29Norris backs off.
06:30Verstappen keeps the lead.
06:32That is the Haas of Nico Hülkenberg,
06:35out of this race and beached into the gravel.
06:38Oh, they often say one safety car
06:42and another safety car follows quite quickly.
06:44And that's exactly what has happened here.
06:46But it's a full safety car now as well.
06:49Let's have a little look here.
06:50This is Sergio Perez.
06:54So he still has driver.
06:56Everything's normal.
06:59Did he actually get hit or did he?
07:01Ah.
07:07Yeah, that was a big snap there on the hard tyres.
07:13So that is how the Haas of Nico Hülkenberg
07:17ended up in the gravel.
07:19That just looked like the tyres
07:21weren't giving him the grip that he wanted.
07:23He wasn't caught by anyone, I don't think.
07:26Oh, yeah, it's just the tyres not working
07:28in their working range.
07:29That's normally such an easy corner for them to...
07:31We have been given a 10-second stop-go penalty,
07:34which we will take this lap.
07:37Lando Norris is now running last.
07:39As he comes out onto the track,
07:41no one behind him
07:42and he can't see the cars in front of him.
07:47Failing slow under the yellow flag.
07:49It might be another position,
07:51but he's got a 10-second gap to try and close down.
07:53This was Bottas down the main straight
07:57against Alex Albon.
07:59That's got to hurt, hasn't it?
08:00Taking that 10th place, one point for one lap
08:02before you get overtaken by Lando Norris.
08:04And Lando Norris says thank you very much indeed.
08:07He had the motivation.
08:09He had the determination.
08:10He had the acceleration.
08:12Max Verstappen from second on the grid.
08:14Denied pole, but not denied victory.
08:17Verstappen wins the Qatar Grand Prix.
08:19What a performance from the four-time world champion.
08:23Charles Leclerc comes home
08:25to take second place for Ferrari.
08:27Such an important second place
08:29as Piastri comes third in the Constructors' Championship.
08:33Ferrari needed to outscore McLaren tonight.
08:36They have done that.
08:37They take the fight to Abu Dhabi
08:39in a week's time with his results this season.
08:42Karma is a wonderful thing.
08:43He definitely did not drive unnecessarily slowly today.
08:47Great job.
08:48Simply lovely, guys.
08:52Yes, yes, yes, yes.
08:54What an unbelievable race again.
08:57That was really fun.
09:00Max, that was brilliant.
09:02Absolutely brilliant.
09:02You nailed it from the start.
09:04And on either the left or the right side,
09:07you'd have done it today.
09:08So absolutely outstanding.
09:09Your ninth victory of the year.
09:12That is quite an achievement.
09:13Well done, mate.
09:15Simply a lovely evening again.