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00:00They're all looking to the gantry where we have five lights on ahead of us, it's lights out and away we go and it wasn't held for long and Piastri gets a really good start, he's going wheel to wheel with Verstappen, Piastri almost edging into the lead, Verstappen goes off the track and keeps the lead of this race from Oscar Piastri and there's Antonelli going a little bit wide in the Mercedes, George Russell in third place, then Charles Leclerc, then Antonelli, then Hamilton has made a very good start, Carlos Sainz has had a bad one and there is Yuki Sonoda.
00:30And Pierre Gasly, and we're going to have a safety car even before the end of the first lap because there's two cars into the wall, but what about that start from Max Verstappen ahead of Oscar Piastri?
00:41Alex Alvon's made up a couple of places, Lando Norris has made up two places too and we can see what happened now with Yuki Sonoda, there's the Alpine on the right hand side and it was front wheel against rear wheel and there just wasn't enough space.
00:53That's really, that's a pretty typical first lap incident, I'm afraid.
00:58And that is real bad luck for him. Let's take a look at the race start, they weren't held for long and Piastri I think got a much better getaway, race control have noted this incident down at turn one.
01:11Yeah, so that's Piastri's corner, which is on the inside and he was almost front axle to front axle, certainly beyond the mirror, so he'd earned the corner.
01:21Now Verstappen and Red Bull will be saying he should have left me a car's width on the outside, but was Verstappen ever going to make the corner?
01:29Yeah, on board with Yuki Sonoda, we can have another look at the incident that has taken him and Pierre Gasly out of this race and he did hit something, I assume the wall with his rear wing, we can take a better look at it now.
01:46Lando Norris doing very well to escape that accident. It was just a briefest of touches from Sonoda, wasn't it?
01:52Yeah, but the rear wing takes such a lot of changing. Let's have a look from Piastri's angle and he's clearly ahead there and then Verstappen comes in the corner, gets off the brake pedal. I think that's a hand back, personally.
02:08You remember back to just see Pierre Gasly and the view of the incident, a little lock-up ahead, that wouldn't have upset him too much.
02:21That's Antonelli.
02:21It's the next corner, so Gasly tries to go back around the outside. It's fair racing. This is nothing crazy here, he's left him plenty of space, but he's just understeered into him.
02:33It's kind of six of one after the other. Pierre might wish he had not tried that one, it was a bit risky on the first lap, but there wouldn't be a racing driver if he didn't try it.
02:42Safety car in this lap. Go back to Turn 12 in Austin. Max didn't leave a car's width to Lando there.
02:47Yeah, he just forced me off. There was no intention of him to make that corner.
02:52Is that Turn 12 incident at Austin any way a precedent for what we've seen there?
02:57He was never going to make that corner regardless of whether I was there or not.
03:01Track is now clear. George Russell really wants to get on with it, doesn't he, as we go round the final corner.
03:09Verstappen's gone, and he has gone early here, and did he catch a couple of them napping a little bit?
03:14And is Oscar Piastri under pressure? Verstappen's got a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
03:22Behind him, Piastri's under pressure. He makes the corner ahead of George Russell.
03:25Charles Leclerc in fourth place. Then comes Antonelli and Hamilton. Then comes Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
03:32Through the first few corners they go. Verstappen to confirm a five-second time penalty.
03:37You have been given a five-second time penalty for the incident at Turn 1. Head down.
03:42Oh, that is lovely.
03:44Yeah, Max. Yeah, no comment already.
03:46It depends if any further safety cars come on. Here we're going to see the move. Slipstream, DRS, moves to the inside.
03:54Nothing silly going on from Carlos Sainz there. He knows that he's not really racing the McLaren at the end of 50.
04:01The McLaren does seem very good on cooling. Here we go.
04:04This is Lando Norris on Lewis Hamilton into that final corner. Norris looks like he's got the job done and has and will get DRS to help him, I would imagine, because he would have been within a second.
04:18Lewis has got the DRS.
04:19Lewis has got the DRS now.
04:21So Lewis overtakes him again. So Lando maybe made the move a bit too early.
04:26He's good in terms of degradation and helping us get a bit more excitement and overtaking as Lando Norris later on the breaks that Lewis Hamilton almost went into the back.
04:35Yeah, well, Lewis is trying for the DRS zone again, isn't he? And he's got it.
04:40Yeah, he has.
04:41Lewis very nearly got rear-ended there.
04:44Lando needs to try and break the toe, and he's not doing that, and he's also not keeping Lewis Hamilton at bay for the second. Success is Lando.
04:50And all things been equal on the stoppage time. He would come out ahead of George Russell as it stands now.
04:56And I mentioned that Liam Lawson had got past Oli Behrman. Liam Lawson is making another overtake here, and this time on Fernando Alonso.
05:04Now we're on board. We will get DRS here.
05:06And look at the closing speed that Lando Norris is getting, and Kimi Antonelli, I think, knows that his fight is not with Lando Norris on that particular straight, and doesn't really put up much of a fight.
05:16Norris up now into the top five.
05:18He's been out throughout and is currently running in... Lando Norris running in third place.
05:25Wow.
05:27...Piastri getting past Lewis Hamilton, and that was absolutely sensational through turn 22, as Max Verstappen now pits.
05:34They waited the five seconds. He's on his way. They've serviced those tyres.
05:39Piastri's making his way down the main straight with Hamilton right behind him.
05:43This is the battle for the net lead. You can see Verstappen making his way out of the pits, and you can see Piastri going through and now ahead of that Red Bull.
05:52He might have just done it a very good effect there. Lewis Hamilton is coming into the pits. Verstappen's going to try and go around the outside into the final corner.
06:01He does make that move. Hamilton will have DRS down the straight, but he's going to dive over to the left-hand side.
06:08And if I look at his pit window, it's just ahead. Do you want to talk to this replay, Croft?
06:13Well, yeah, Bortoletto just moving over to take that racing line.
06:16Wow, he moved under braking.
06:18Oh, that was close.
06:20Wow, so close. Check the car.
06:23So close to the safety car you were just talking about, Bernie.
06:26Yeah, exactly.
06:27A bit of a bone scraper almost there for Fernando Alonso down the side of the wall.
06:31He lost Salota and Gasly at turn four on the opening lap.
06:34And this is how Carlos Sainz got past Nico Hülkenberg.
06:39We expect to see at least one of the Williams in the points tonight, don't we?
06:42Yeah.
06:43Norris gets his first track. His first track limit?
06:46I think it is his first track limit, isn't it, for Lando Norris?
06:49Yes.
06:50Good driving there from the pair of them, you know?
06:52No scuffles, no bodywork damage.
06:54Well, did Antonelli hit the wall there? I think he did.
06:57That question really, he did.
06:58Both Williams cars into the points because of this move by Albon.
07:05And into the final corner we go.
07:08And he's got DRS and much better grip.
07:11Because he gets another double dose here of DRS down the straight.
07:15He's timed it absolutely perfectly.
07:17He's getting the slipstream too.
07:18And Charles Leclerc, who has been charging after Russell now,
07:22ever since the pit stop, back ahead of the Mercedes and onto the podium.
07:27Top three, Piastri, Verstappen, and now Leclerc.
07:30After his three goes to get past Lewis Hamilton,
07:34when Hamilton had the DRS out of that final corner and took the place back again,
07:39Lando Norris has got it absolutely spot on this time around,
07:42and clears George Russell with ease.
07:44And up now into fourth place.
07:46Now this is the pit exit for Lando Norris.
07:51Okay there.
07:52It's when he gets out here, is he allowed to cross that line?
07:57No, it's this right hand line.
07:58He was on it.
08:00He's got a bit of tire on it, hasn't he?
08:04Fourth after China, third after Japan, second after Bahrain.
08:10In the Drivers' Championship, Oscar Piastri crosses the line now
08:15to win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and lead the Drivers' Championship.
08:20Max Verstappen is beaten into second place and got that five-second penalty.
08:27Charles Leclerc holds off Lando Norris to claim Ferrari's first podium of the season.
08:32Lando Norris with a great recovery drive.
08:35So from P10 to fourth on the road.
08:39Very well done.
08:40Lovely job, Oscar.
08:41Great work, mate.
08:42Really good.
08:45Well done, everyone.
08:46It was a little bit more difficult to start than I had hoped for.
08:51But yeah, very, very well done.
08:53The car was great.
08:55Third year, not so much.
08:57But I'm glad the third year is from lapping, people.
09:00So well done, everybody.
09:03Massive three weeks.
09:05And let's keep it going.
09:07Got a lot of fun to have this year.
09:09Yeah.
09:10Great job.
09:16We'll be right back at Lando Norris.
09:18That's the perfect time of the fight.
09:20Let's keep it going.