Original subtitles

Bye.

Well, it's been a while, but isn't it good to be back? Welcome, ladies and

gentlemen, to the Chinese Grand Prix. We last raced here in Shanghai in 2019.

Then it was the 1 ,000th F1 World Championship event. This is the 1

it's round five in 2024.

Shanghai the venue and what a sight it is.

Grandstands absolutely packed today and a track that is 3 .387 miles long.

Absolute torture on the tyres, especially through sector one and the

that lead on to the back straight, which is one of two DRS zones here, giving

you a speed of up to 214 miles an hour. 16 turns in total, overtaking

possibilities pretty much everywhere once the tyres start to lose their

performance life.

We've got the C4, the C3 and the C2 tyres for this weekend.

Little difference, according to the teams, in the medium and hard when it

to performance life during the race. And they've saved plenty of theft of those

yellow and white striped set tyres.

So, here we go then with a starting grid. And there's 19 cars on the grid,

because Logan Sargent's starting from the pit lane.

Yuki Tsunoda then, right at the back, is run at... Three consecutive Q3

appearances ending yesterday.

Lewis Hamilton out in Q1 for the first time since Jeddah 2022.

He keeps Kevin Magnuson company.

And then it's the Shanghai hero Joe Guan Yu in 16th. And Pierre Gasly in 15th.

Gone into Q2 for the first time this season.

Alex Albon starts 14th for Williams. And Esteban Ocon gives Alpine their highest

start in 2024 in 13th. Daniel Ricciardo 12th after out -qualifying his teammate

Yuki Tsunoda for the first Grand Prix this year. And it's Lance Stroll who led

practice... On Friday, in 11th, Valtteri Bottas starts 10th alongside Nico

Hülkenberg. 208th Grand Prix for him ties the record. André de Cesaris holds

for the most starts without a win.

George Russell starts 8th, and Carlos Sainz, who crashed in qualifying,

to get going again in 7th, one place behind his teammate, Charles Leclerc.

only been on the even -numbered sides of the grid this year. Oscar Piastri is

5th, then his teammate, Lando Norris, who out -qualified the Australian for

third race in a row.

Fernando Alonso starts 3rd, and it's an all -Red Bull front... row lockout.

Sergio Perez with his highest start in Shanghai and Max Verstappen with a fifth

consecutive pole in 2024.

Six if you count the back end of last season and the first driver to take five

poles in a row at the opening race of the season since Mika Hakkinen in 1999.

But already not like the Drizzles.

And the official risk of rain is 10%. As you can see, it is a little bit cloudy.

Max Verstappen thinks that there's rain coming potentially from the start, Nico

Rosberg. Well, that is absolutely what we want to see, right? Yeah, well, we

want to see it. Does he want to see it?

I don't think he does, no. Looking at qualifying in the rain, when was it,

Friday, the Red Bull was struggling a little bit when it starts to drizzle.

It certainly was. This man wasn't struggling as much in the rain. Lewis

was right on the front row for the sprint race yesterday and managed to

in that second place as well. Now, Lewis Hamilton is starting on the soft

compound tyre for this Grand Prix, along with Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargent.

Kevin Magnuson's gone with a hard tyre. Lance Stroll starts on the soft tyre

from 11th. The rest, Nico, all on the medium tyre.

Yep, the medium was what we were expecting as well, but we're going to

fireworks from Lewis Hamilton. and then starting on that soft, he's going to

have to go super aggressive and try and cut through the field. What's the risk

of getting stuck in that DRS train? We kind of saw it yesterday where the cars

were all being held stationary. Is that going to be the same today in the longer

format? Yeah, of course. There's going to be that risk for Lewis as well, that

he gets up a couple of positions and then he gets stuck in a DRS train and

destroys his soft tyre. But he's on the last row of the grid, so obviously he

just needs to take some risks today.

And maybe that's why you spotted him.

breaking late into one of the hairpins on his outlap to the grid, trying to

break a bit later, keep it under control, because he might need to do

get some moves made. He was definitely one of the most aggressive drivers out

there on the way to the grid.

Had a big lock -up, flew off the track in one of the hairpins, but so I can see

he was looking for the limit.

When we get going, though, Sergio Perez will be on the inside in the Turn 1 with

his teammate Max Verstappen on the outside.

Talking to Ted Kravitz, you didn't believe Sergio would make a move. But,

know, when the Pfizer goes down, those contract negotiations of his get

forgotten, surely.

Oh, no, no, there's a difference. I was talking about him pushing Max out like

Lewis pushed Lando out.

Making a move, sure.

And let's hope we see that. Let's hope we see Sergio doing a superstar.

taking a run down the inside.

I think it would make the race slightly more exciting, take nothing away from

Red Bull and Max Verstappen. They have been super, super dominant. Now, what is

going on? That is an unusual sight, isn't it?

I think someone at the front was slowing down so much to try and keep the field

bunched up that they all did their practice start and then almost stopped

Yeah, absolutely.

Our fastest pit stop of the season goes to Red Bull at the moment, 2 .08

seconds. We're expecting a lot of pit stops today. Two -stop strategy?

Yeah, it's quite open, though, because we had... the pleasure of sitting down

with some team principals, Courtney and I, for a private audience, and we

learned a lot. And in fact, we also learned that, yes, two stops is going to

most likely, but just like Suzuka, there's still a remote chance for a one

to work.

And also with the tires, it's not so clear, because there's the medium,

the hard, and there's even some who have new stops.

Who could give that a try, you know? So up for the front. The likes of Fernando

Alonso and Lando Norris with those soft tyres that might come into play. Not

just as an option if there's a late safety car here.

It's not normally a race that's full of attrition. We don't see many retirements

here. But you've done it twice.

What's the secret to winning in Shanghai?

The secret to winning is taking care of your tyres.

And that's going to be a pleasure. I get to be on the screen here.

It's taking care of your tyres because this track... If you don't take care of

your tires, it will destroy your tires very, very quickly.

And it's an art to take care of your tires because you need to do it exactly

the right place. Some of it isn't braking.

Some of it in the high -speed corners, especially on the rear. And then some of

it in these long exits where you're, like, putting the power down and the

starts stepping out. You need to be so, so careful.

And Oscar Piastri, who was here for the first time, was struggling with exactly

that in the sprint race.

Let's see if he can make progress.

Yes, it's the eternal conundrum, isn't it? Push to hold your place or gain a

place. but don't destroy the performance too quickly. And it's drivers with

experience that seem to have that feel more than the debutantes, as it were.

Oscar Piastri, one of four, making their debut in this track, along with Logan

Sargent, Yuki Tsunoda, and Joe Guanews. Never raced here, certainly in Formula

1, but in single -seaters as well.

Look at the old Fox Fernando, holding back so that the Red Bull tyres just

down that extra little bit.

Any little advantage gained, and he will... doing. I meant to drop back more

than about 10 lengths. I think he was just on the margins there.

Christian Horner waiting and watching in that rebel garage as slowly but surely

The drivers make their way onto the grid. Lewis Hamilton's not even at the

hairpin at 7 .40 yet.

That's an unusual sight, isn't it? Yeah, it certainly is.

Maybe he's also doing what Fernando was doing and just holding back a little bit

as well.

His tyres will be absolutely in the right working place. So for Lewis now

unusual because he's going to have to do his start procedure so quickly and that

can really catch you out because it's like a completely... He's never done it

this way, you know? Very true. Because you have zero time now to do that start

procedure. Let's see if he manages to do it. time yeah he's got a few seconds

maybe hoping that they're held at the lights a little bit longer than normal

it's a random sequencing in terms of the time but we are all set now here in

Shanghai

For the Chinese Grand Prix, 56 laps. It's lights out and away we go. And

does go Max Verstappen. And here comes Fernando Alonso alongside Sergio Perez.

Verstappen leads into the first corner. Now Alonso's ahead of Perez, who has got

the inside line here. But I think the Aston Martin might just slam the door

on Sergio. And that's a fabulous start from him. We're riding on board with

Lando Norris.

Verstappen goes wide on the outside in the lead here.

Alonso slots behind him. Then comes Perez, Norris.

Already getting ahead of Oscar Piastri and moving further ahead of Oscar

Piastri. They're bunching up a bit. Valtteri Bottas on the break and getting

very close to Nico Hülkenberg at turn six. But look how Verstappen is flying

away. But what a phenomenal job by Alonso around the outside there. That

beautiful. Beautifully done.

So, lap one of this race of Max Verstappen gets to turn 10. You can see

advantage already.

Fernando Alonso in second place. His teammate Lance Stroll behind Carlos

who's lost a couple of places. Nico Hülkenberg and George Russell making up

places at the start. There goes Joe Guanyu trying to make a move on Kevin

Magnussen. Down the inside.

He thinks he's got that one done.

Nice move from him. Lewis Hamilton didn't get the best of starts. Down in

Already lost a... place in this race, as down the back straight we come, it's

Verstappen leading.

Who is going to be last on the brakes to try and make an overtake here? Charles

Leclerc is having a look at Nico Hülkenberg, and behind them, I think

Ricciardo getting involved in a potential overtake too, but there is

Leclerc down the inside on Hülkenberg, and now Carlos Sainz on the exit of the

corner, trying to get past the Haas too.

George Russell looks in a good spot in sixth, as he chases down Oscar Piastri.

The gap, Verstappen to Alonso at the end of that. That one, 1 .6 seconds.

What a terrible start by the two Ferraris.

I look forward to seeing what happens to them.

Big battle here, trying to go around the outside.

He's going to make that stick. That's going to work out fine.

Yeah, Carlos Sainz keeping ahead there.

Now from Nico Hülkenberg, he backed off a bit before I think he ran the risk of

damaging his front wing. Joe Granews lost that place to Kevin Magnussen, who

started on the hard compound tyre, and he's back down in 18th once again, and

Lewis Hamilton made no impression on that first lap. George Russell looking

get involved here with Oscar Piastri. That was amazing. So George didn't

try to overtake, but he put himself on the inside into the blind space, and

forces Piastri to leave a gap, and that slows him down, because he just doesn't

know where George is.

Hülkenberg had an impressive first few corners. Now he's starting to lose

to Leclerc, Sainz, and now Lance Stroll on the soft tyre, who's moved up in the

ninth place. Hülkenberg then down into tenth, and already the gap had in front

.2 seconds. Verstappen is having a race against the clock at the moment. He's

certainly not racing against anyone else on the track.

That's a lot of resignation we hear there, already on lap two.

That's not good for you.

Well, it's not what Mercedes were expecting. They gave him the faster,

tires, and it's not working out for Lewis Hamilton.

DRS enabled after the first lap gives you a pace advantage along that back

straight of about 20 kilometers an hour. It's quite an effective DRS here.

Looking back to see if Kevin Magnussen can make a move on Yuki Tsunoda. Nothing

doing for him. Just ahead of Tsunoda is teammate Daniel Ricciardo in 15th in the

gap. 2 .6 seconds now.

At the end of lap three, it's Verstappen in a race on his own. Behind them,

Fernando Alonso still holding off the other rebel of Sergio Perez.

This guy is moving like a... everywhere on the brakes.

I would imagine he's talking about Esteban Ocon. Yes, indeed.

That was not a happy Albon there.

No, it wasn't. Ocon, the car, and the Alpine ahead of Alex Albon currently.

You know, it was quick. It's George Russell in these opening laps here.

really liking that pace. It was putting a lot of pressure on Piastri. See, he's

very, very close there. And if Piastri dropped out of that DRS...

George could really have a little opportunity there and see if he can get

it. Ruffalo had a pretty decent sprint race yesterday, running the soft tyre

19 laps.

He is the guy who's made all the other teams think about soft for today.

saying, like, that was so incredible, so I guess we need to consider it for

today, they were saying this morning.

Yeah, Mercedes would have had plenty of data on those soft tyres, but, of

course, 100 kilos of fuel for this race as opposed to 40 -odd for the sprint

race. This is Lewis Hamilton.

That's Lewis Hamilton making a move.

Finally, getting a chance to make a move there. And it's Joe Guan Yu, the car

that he's overtaken. Hamilton moves up then into 18th place. There is a long,

long way to go for him and the rest in this race. And race control has noted

Lance Stroll for forcing another driver off the track. That driver being Nico

Hulkenberg. We saw just a lap and a half ago Stroll getting past Hulkenberg.

Perez getting closer now to Alonso. We have George very, very close after two.

To Piastri, he had a little look down the inside there, but I think it wasn't

quite enough.

Not for the time being, as they flash past the finish line once again.

Perez has got that DRS. Alonso hasn't got that DRS to use for a bit of extra

speed. So down the straights, I would imagine he's hitting that overtake

using as much energy as he dare, extra energy from the ERS system.

Try and stay ahead.

Yeah, I mean, come on, Fernando. You can do this. Stay ahead there as much as

possible. The problem is Fernando's race, and he knows it, is more with the

McLaren behind, so he needs to be taking care of his tires at this point in

time. Remember, with Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez, we had that brilliant

battle, didn't we, to the line in Sao Paulo, where Fernando managed to hold

the Red Bull for so, so many laps. Well, they're doing it at the start of this

race rather than at the end. So as we settle down a bit, Just looking down the

field, Daniel Ricciardo started 12th in this race and dropped about three places

in the opening laps.

Ocon and Albon and Gasly moving ahead of him. Hamilton's already got one place

by overtaking Joe Guanyu.

Fernando Alonso getting a place off the line and ahead of Sergio Perez. Now the

current gap, seven tenths of a second. That is going to disappear rapidly,

seven tenths, as the Red Bull now chases the Aston Martin down this 1 .4

kilometre long back straight.

Yeah, but it's too far away.

Can't make a move yet on this lap, but he's getting closer and closer. The

pressure is on Fernando.

I'm sure he's very, very open to that pressure and he'll be fine. I said it

going to disappear rapidly. It took about three -tenths of a second.

Sergio Perez out of the advantage, down that back straight. Well, we learned

this morning that DRS advantage is six -tenths of a second.

So you've got two DRS zones as well. Talking of DRS, Yuki Tsunoda is now

that magic one second of Daniel Ricciardo to help his pace.

Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly swapping places.

Albon down in 13th currently.

Lovely different lines that these drivers take through these first few

That's what's so lovely about this track. You can really offset yourself.

You can go looking for different lines.

Rich like Alonso is pushing their tyres a lot harder than us. This is good.

Is McLaren believe their battle today is with the Aston Martin as Sergio Perez

goes down the inside at turn six. And as they make the exit from the corner,

that's Perez back up into second place.

Yeah, that was Fernando just realizing also that he's really hurting his race

here because he's... He's having to drive the car much harder than he would

to keep Perez behind.

So he decided, OK, I'm not going to fight this any longer.

Perez, go for it.

And then now his race is on with Lando Norris.

Must be counterintuitive to an F1 driver, though.

You can see the place because it's going to do you better in the long run.

Exactly, yes.

Now let's have a look at the race start here. So first of all, let's look at the

Ferraris, what happened to them.

I think they had a bit of a very close coming together, the Ferraris,

apparently. And also Daniel Ricciardo, where did he drop back so much?

Right, well...

Turn one, we go.

It's two McLarens ahead of two Ferraris where we saw Vettel and Raikkonen

getting two folks together once upon a time. That's where Carlos Sainz went

way wide.

So Fernando did such a great job.

So Perez couldn't go out here any further because he was already there and

just bombed it down.

And it's so difficult because you just don't know where the grip is because

your first time there. He just bombed it down the inside where we're here. We

see a great move by Stroll. That's hyper -aggressive.

There you're really relying on the guy on the outside to A, see you, and B,

space. You know, so that was really an aggressive line.

That's been noted by race control, not passed to the stewards yet. Yes, but

Nico, it's the right of the guy on the inside to run you off the track there.

You have to make space.

We have that front axle far enough ahead.

Absolutely. And to be able to do that. Great move from Lewis around the outside

here. Brilliant stuff.

Yes. We'll replay again.

Kevin Maglinton has been passed then by Lewis Hamilton. And race controller also

noted Alvon and Gasly for forcing another driver off the track. They're

with each other currently.

So there's the man in second place then.

But I'm loving this Ferrari battle. This time it was Leclerc pushing Sainz off

the track.

This is becoming very enjoyable.

So that chat, then, that Fred Bessert had with both of his drivers, did it go

one ear and out the other?

It looks to be the case, yeah. This looked to be a bit of revenge here today

from Leclerc. He was like, take that, then.

Take that, take two from Charles Leclerc after the barging incidents yesterday

during the sprint race. But it hurt them both, though, because that allowed

Russell to go through, and that's obviously not good. Yeah, that is what

were at.

waiting. Delvin in seventh and in eighth. Right. And Ferrari.

Oh, sorry. Sorry.

No, Ferrari's struggling us so far a little bit. There's still a bit stuck.

We're somehow expecting a greater pace from them. Look, they're not putting

pressure on Russell because we thought they were the second best team today. So

not the best start so far from them. Ted to you.

They are stuck, Nico, absolutely true, but they're taking the opportunity to

nurse their tyres, to try and extend this first stint a little bit. They are

stuck, definitely, behind Piastri, then George Russell, both with the DRS on

each other, then Leclerc and then Sainz. They're not seeming, in that DRS train

crossing, which you can explain what that is, to make much progress.

And that's letting Lando have a little bit of breathing pace ahead of them.

The RS train, where cars get the benefits, the extra speed, but the

so does the guy ahead, and so does the guy ahead, and, well, the one ahead of

him is fast enough to keep them all at bay.

As popularized in the early 2000s by Yarno Trulli. Used to call it the Trulli

train once upon a time.

Absolutely, yes. Whilst we're seeing here, Lando is fast today.

Lando is driving brilliantly. He's really offsetting his lives. He has more

than Fernando.

Fernando used his tires too much already.

That was really not a good strategy from him there right in the beginning to

push so hard.

So it really looks like Lando has a great opportunity to be on the podium

here today because it's going to be difficult.

for Fernando to keep him behind. He's looking very fast.

It's a great call from the pit lane, from the pit wall as well, to say to

look, he's using his tyres, this is going to help us.

Just to say, don't worry about where you are at the moment. In a few laps' time,

you're going to get the benefit here. My question is, how does the McLaren pit

wall know that?

Because they don't see what Fernando's doing out on track and how aggressively

he's driving.

So that's my question. Someone back at Woking, Will, in the Mission Control,

they've probably got Sky F1 on down there.

Hello to everyone in Woking. Here we go, first opportunity. Yeah, here comes

Lando Norris with that DRS. Then he pulls to the inside.

Fernando Alonso's got to watch out here. Lando Norris was already there by the

time Fernando wanted to turn into the corner. And he had to back out of that

one. Otherwise, there would have been contact. And that was neatly done by

Norris. He's up into the top three.

Very, very nice overthink. Super overthink. You know, he also blocked him

little bit because Fernando was going to go for the cutback.

And Lando just...

Put him, blocked him off really nicely there. Sort of move that Lando might

learnt spending those years at McLaren, watching Fernando Alonso and learning

from him.

Meanwhile, we mentioned about Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.

You pushed me once, that's what the old clock.

But that looked very, very similar to Carlos Sainz's move on his teammate

Charles Leclerc yesterday, which didn't get a penalty.

No, that's different.

I'm not sure, actually, no.

You know, the ones out at the hairpin where you got the penalty once and

it was a bit wrong that Carlos got left off? Yeah, I don't think it was

comparable, though. Oh, OK. I don't think it was comparable.

In that, what, they didn't touch or he was a bit too far back?

Not sure. Maybe we can see it again.

It's Charles Leclerc. We're on board with him now.

Started sixth, dropped down into seventh place.

And he's stuck behind George Russell. This will be frustrating for Charles

Leclerc, who's this season...

And the only driver to finish in the top four of every single race. And he's got

a job on his hands to get into the top four here, even if Fernando Alonso's

tires might be going off just a little bit. Out in front, Verstappen leads

Perez.

And every race or Grand Prix we've had so far this year, it has been a one -two

finish for that constructor.

On board with Leclerc. I think we can see a first attempt here now. He's going

to be very close. Not too far away. George closing the door.

Leclerc trying to break down the outside, but there's no way. Cut back.

No, no grip on the exit.

George made his mind up there where he was going to defend from a long way out.

Yeah, well done, George. That was super. But Leclerc now is really ramping up

the pace. So it's good. This is only a matter of time.

He's got to stick with him for a lap here and stick as close as he possibly

or maybe even try around the outside at turn one. And look at that!

With that DRS down the main straight, Charles Leclerc gets past George

Move isn't finished yet, though. Now it is, as Leclerc closes the door on the

Mercedes. You have to hang it out through turn two and then hope you're

enough ahead to then cut the driver off behind.

And that's exactly what Charles Leclerc did.

And while that's happened, the stewards are going to have a look at that Alex

Albon -Pierre gap. of the incident.

Beautiful move there by Leclerc. But you can just see also that his car is

coming to life now. They're really picking up the pace and the Mercedes car

has no chance against that.

Early pit stops here and Joe Guan Yu in the pits.

Also the Haas of Nico Hülkenberg and Karun Chandler with guy race control.

Tsunoda into the pits too.

That's right, Crofty. He was within about 0 .6 of Daniel Ricciardo's

I think the team thought they needed to do a swap here because he was on a

softer tyre.

Perhaps they've undercut Daniel with his early stop. We'll see if it gets

reversed later in the race.

Thanks ever so much, Karud. Keep an eye on that for us.

Lap nine of this race.

How many seconds did Max win by yesterday?

Something like 93 seconds, I think, wasn't it, in a print race?

Maybe a little bit less.

He's already seven and a half seconds clear.

Yeah, and look at that pace difference also between Max and his teammate.

Let's have a look at this next lap now as Paris comes across the line to see

Paris' lap time now this time around.

It's six tenths of a second per lap in the same car.

I mean, that is just another planet. I mean, Paris is a great driver, like

seriously, and six tenths per lap is unbelievable.

George Russell, I think his tyres are starting to go off a little bit here and

lose their performance life after being passed into Turn 1 on the previous lap

by Charles Leclerc. He's now got Carlos Sainz right up behind him. Lance Stroll

has come into the pits and we're relieved to know that the stewards have

no further action for that move he made on Nico Hülkenberg.

Bottas has followed him into the pits. Ocon, Albon and Hamilton too. Ted

Kravitz.

And there's a problem on Albon's right rear, so a bit of a slow spot for him.

Lewis Hamilton also getting rid of those soft tyres properly, just all reacting

to the pit stops ahead of them.

Yuki's stop was a bit slow because he had to wait for Joe to come in so as not

to crash into him in the pit lane.

Thanks ever so much, Ted.

The undercut, we talk about it from time to time.

Trying to explain it as simply as I can.

You stop before your rival who's ahead of you and use your pressure tyres on

your out lap to get past him by the time they make a pit stop, probably at the

end of the next lap.

You might pay for that with tyres being one or two laps older towards the end of

their stint, but you at least get track position as a result of it.

Karim Shandok at race control for you.

Fernando Alonso has been on the radio crop that he's saying.

If we can extend even by a single lap, that's gold. Every single lap we extend

is gold. So they are struggling with tyres, but he's trying to drag this out.

Trying to drag it out in fourth place at the moment and lapping same pace as

Oscar Piastri, the driver behind him, in fifth. Now, George Russell managed to

hold off Carlos Sainz into turn one on the previous lap.

He's got a job on his hands to try and do that again.

So where does he place that Mercedes? And what can Carlos Sainz do to try and

maybe go around the outside? He's following George Russell through there.

That was the worst time.

Hamilton started 18th, running in 19th and now on the mediums and hoping for

something better. Carlos Sainz hoping for better traction coming out on turn

four and heading now towards the hairpin through the kink at turn five and

accelerating as they do all the way up to the hairpin at turn six.

175 miles an hour, down to 50 miles an hour. George Russell has that Mercedes

the right place, but you can see how much he's struggling, Nico.

Yeah, but I'm loving it. At least George is really giving it everything up. I

mean, he's using all of the track.

to keep sides behind.

But it's going to be, I mean, this is going to be impossible over time.

It's only a matter of time now.

But yeah, awesome job by George so far.

Awesome job by George.

Just looking further down the field, Logan Sargent currently running in 12th

place on the soft tyre and not doing a bad job in the Williams, it should be

pointed out. He started on those soft tyres as well.

Someone's been off on some turf that's...

Come away from the side of the track because down through that 10, 11 and 12

seem to be bits of grass and turf on the track.

Might help the grip if it's on the racing line.

Here. Oh, late defending there from...

The McLaren, as Charles Leclerc steams down the inside on Oscar Piastri, gets

the move done. Oscar wanted to defend, but just defended a bit too late. I

they had to back out of it a little bit, Nico, before the two cars came

together. Yeah, I mean, it could have gone a little bit earlier, a little bit

more aggressive.

But then again, I mean, Leclerc is just so quick now, so it was always going to

be difficult.

Do you know what's really quick?

It's Lando Norris.

He's just a couple of tenths, like one tenth off Sergio Perez's pace in the Red

Bull. Into the pits comes Fernando Alonso and George Russell. That now

the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

And two very good pit stops. 2 .6 seconds, 2 .5 seconds.

They come back out onto the track behind Logan Sargent on the soft tyres.

Alonso in tenth, Russell in eleventh. Pierre Gasly is now pitting from

thirteenth. And we're watching Russell and Alonso. And George Russell ahead

of the Aston Martins. Head to you.

Pierre Gasly's had a disastrous pit stop. The right rear went on.

But then it wasn't on properly, and as Pierre Gasly went to leave, it hit one

the mechanics.

And you'll get a replay, I'm sure, very quickly.

I'm just checking. The mechanic's just a bit bashed up and bruised. He's OK, but

it caused a right old fuss down here at Alpine. It's all sorted out now. They've

got the tyre on.

Everyone's all right, and he's on his way.

We've just seen a replay of Yuki Sonoda's stop. You told us about it

how he just had a slam on the brakes. He was released, but almost released

straight into the path of Joe Grandieu. This is Lance Stroll. He's the Aston

Martin who's now currently behind George Russell.

And I tell you what, that was a little bit closer than it needed to be as well.

It's so difficult for the chief mechanic to time it, you know, on the release.

He's got markers where he knows that if a car has crossed that marker, he has to

hold. It's a very, very challenging job.

Yeah, because you see the lights go green, and it's an automated system, but

chief mechanic still has to press the button once he's seen all those green

lights and say, yeah, it can all go.

It needs a human eye to override what the technology tells you.

So, some early pit stops, and on lap 13, we're with Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton, behind Tsunoda, just thought for one moment that he could get past

Yuki Tsunoda into that hairpin.

The Japanese driver is trying to hold Lewis Hamilton up and doing a very good

job of it. Sargent finally comes into the pits from 12 and gets rid of those

soft compound tyres as we head towards turn one now.

On board with Lewis Hamilton. He's got the DRS on Tsunoda. Goes around the

outside in the turn one of Yuki Tsunoda. Has he got at least a car length in

front? Yes, he has. And he can make that move stick. And he's up into 15.

Brilliant move by Lewis.

Awesome. I'm loving that outside move into turn one today. Yeah, working

well. But we know Tsunoda is feisty, so it looked like he could be...

He might want to try and get one back at him there, but no, okay. He just

thought for a moment. He backed out a little bit. He just thought for a

there's a gap down the inside, and I can go for it. So Hamilton ahead of

Ternoda, and that's Alex Albon behind them.

Yeah,

so we can really see. I mean, if we look at the pace in front, as we thought, it

would be Red Bull and then Ferrari not too far off. The surprise for me is the

McLaren. Lando still has great tires out there and is really hanging on.

Max Verstappen, race leader, comes into the pits, and his teammate Sergio Perez

also pitting. So Lando Norris, who's led, what, five laps so far in 2024,

takes over the lead of this race, and that was a very neat double stack there

Red Bull. Out onto the track comes Verstappen, crucially for him, ahead of

Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari.

So Verstappen down to fourth without pit stop, and he's gone on the hard

compound tyre.

Fernando Alonso. also running the hard for his second stint as well.

Yeah, it'll be interesting now how that plays out, huh, with these different

tyre choices.

So, Norris leads this race, hasn't pitted, from Leclerc, Piastri,

Sainz, Perez, Ricciardo, Alonso, Russell and Magnussen. And at race control,

Corinne Chatnot, who are you keeping an eye on?

Yeah, I've just been listening to Lando's radio. He says the pace is good,

feels good. It looks like property. Both McLaren and Ferrari have opted for the

strategy to extend.

Piastri staying out as well.

Piastri struggling a bit again today, though, isn't he? Ten seconds behind

Norris in the first 14 laps. We saw the same yesterday in the early part of the

race. So we're seeing a split. They're like Mercedes and Alonso going early on

that first spin, Ferrari and McLaren extending.

And we're watching Fernando Alonso making moves down that back straight.

this is what happened at the Alpine pit stop where the tyre is finally coming

off. But yeah, I hope that mechanic is okay. Yeah, Gasly's pit stop.

Oh yeah, see, Gasly went to go there and the tyre wasn't fitted properly.

And it's a good job he didn't go more than about half a metre.

Yeah, that looked very, very dangerous there.

Certainly did.

That mechanic's okay. Those tyres, not exactly the lifest thing you'll ever

to lift in your life.

Stewards say no further action. Albon and Gasly for forcing another driver off

the track. Is he okay?

Yep, all good here, Pierre.

And that's great to know. That really is.

Lando Norris, 1 .41 .6 last lap.

Oscar Piastri, 1 .43 .1. That is exactly what we need to talk about. That's one

and a half seconds slower per lap now from Oscar Piastri.

So he's still struggling massively with this degradation in his driving, in the

way he's driving, you know.

That's too much, yeah.

After, what is it now, 15 laps to be one and a half seconds per lap slower.

That's too much. He needs to progress there. He's still doing something very

different. And, yeah, it's not looking good. That's why Max Verstappen's passed

it easily as well.

The sapper made his pit stop and went on to the hard compound tyre and has

fresher tyres to get that move done.

And I saw that Daniel Ricciardo had pitted. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda, we

pitted a few laps ago. In fact, he came into pit on lap six.

Kijuki Tsunoda. Well, Daniel Ricciardo has come out behind his teammate.

a five -second gap as we watch Lance Stroll being pursued here by the hat of

Kevin Magnussen, who's had those hard trials on right from the start of this

race.

Lap 15 of 56.

The gap out in front, seven seconds, but neither Norris nor Leclerc have pitted

yet. The gap to Max Verstappen, under 10 seconds, and you lose about 24 seconds

when you make a pit stop, and that was Lance Stroll getting past Kevin

Magnussen.

Yeah, beautiful.

Nicely done.

And that is Max Verstappen catching Charles Leclerc, which is to be expected

because one of those cars was a long way in the lead at the start and has now

pitted. And Leclerc, well, says, this is the pace I've got, 141 .8 on his last

lap. Verstappen did a 139 .5.

Yeah, he's more than two seconds quicker with those fresh tyres, just at the

fastest lap of the race. Such was his pace advantage there, Nico. I think he

almost got a bit caught out coming out of turn four.

Is he going to make a move down into the hairpin? Charles Leclerc is leaving the

gap open on that inside and is not fighting that one little bit.

That would have been a bit pointless.

And when we say pointless, pointless because he's not going to keep Max

for very much longer.

And you just don't want to go overdoing your tyres, scraping them against the

surface, putting too much energy through them, because you're just going to need

that performance to try and protect what they hope will be a podium at the end

of this race.

Yeah.

Even the cutback, the old switcheroo, that wasn't going to work there.

Stewards are going to look, by the way, at that Alpine pit stop. Pierre Gasly.

moving before the rear right tire was fitted.

They're going to look at that at the end of this race, releasing the car in an

unsafe condition.

Let's talk about Lewis Hamilton a little bit.

He's doing the same lap times.

That is exactly what I was just going to say. He just seems completely stuck

doing the same lap times as everybody else around him, and he's 14th. I mean,

that's looking very dire.

Yeah.

So, they're the pit stops so far.

Norris, Leclerc, Piastri and Sainz haven't pitted yet, but there is a

coming in. And unsurprisingly, Nico, it is Oscar Piastri.

Yeah, it was about time they pulled him in because he was struggling so much.

They would have lost so much race time if we kept him out with the tyres and

state that they were in.

And away goes Oscar Piastri then. And making their way down the straight at

moment, Fernando Alonso, George Russell and Lance Stroll.

He's going to be behind them, but crucially, can he get ahead of Kevin

Magnussen? The answer to that is yes.

The Hasses having their little battle at the moment. Oh, that's a lock -up

there.

On board the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, big lock -up behind Carlos Sainz. So I

assume he was going for the move and just left his braking a bit too long.

Yeah, with the fresh tyres, trying to... He needs to get a move on, obviously,

to try and stay a little bit closer to Verstappen.

What do you think about Plan D for Delta?

If we are happy with these places.

So that's probably a one -stop.

Yeah, I was just about to ask you, is Plan D stopping Watts? Remember what

happened in Japan two weeks ago?

Yep.

where Charles Leclerc produced a one -stopper that I don't think was the

intention at the start, but it worked so well for Ferrari. Why wouldn't they try

again? Yeah, and the other one we need to start thinking about that is Lando

Norris, because his pace is still really looking good. Those tires are still

fully under control with Lando.

Well, here comes Sergio Perez, first and foremost, on Carlos Sainz.

Sainz doing a really good job holding up Sergio Perez here. He's going to come

into the pits. Perez has got ahead of him.

That just halts, I think, Sainz's momentum coming out of that hairpin

has to cross over to the right -hand side of the track.

But he's done a good job to hold up Sergio Perez there. That will only help

teammates, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, at the later stages of this

So Norris leads.

Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez have all gone through.

Sainz now pitting.

Alonso and Russell are going through. And I think Ferrari are hoping that

Sainz can come out onto this track neck and neck with Oscar Piastri. But I think

that hope is going to fade a bit because they've disappeared into Turn 1. And he

comes out, Carlos Sainz, just ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the Salva running in

11th place. Karun, down to you.

Yeah, Kofi, just to clarify on the... I think there's a split here.

McLaren have told Norris they believe Leclerc is going to try the one -stop

he is potentially going to extend with Leclerc just to keep track position.

So this is interesting, isn't it? We've got Alonso Russell gone really early.

You've got Sainz and Piastri sort of on that cut between a one and a two. And

maybe these two guys are going to try and extend. Let's watch Norris here.

Leclerc and Sainz are incentivized to go long.

Leclerc might even try the one -stop.

Well, there you are. That's what Karim was talking about.

Nico, what would you want to do in this situation if you were Lando Norris?

Oh, definitely straight for the one -stop. But you can see the tires still

look... It's not too snappy. Even the traction still looked good. So

go for the one -stop. Because now suddenly it's become a fight for P2

Because with the one -stop...

Especially Norris has a chance against Paris, who's really quite far. I mean,

Paris is 16 seconds behind.

I'm also thinking, if it doesn't work that one stop, Lando Norris does have a

new set of soft compound tyres at his disposal if they need to pit late and

him the best possible chance of making up a few places in the last laps.

So that might just help sway their decision a little bit.

Carlos Sainz gets past Nico Hülkenberg and up into ninth after his pit stop.

So we're still waiting for Norris to pit. We're on board now with Max

Verstappen, which is the car running behind the McLaren.

Lando Norris, the only driver other than a Red Bull or Ferrari driver to have

led laps this season and leading McLaren's first laps here in Shanghai

Jenson Butt back in 2013.

But I don't think he's going to be leading for very much longer. I don't

spoil this, but...

If we were writing the script, what do you reckon? Max passes him halfway down

the straight, I think, Nico.

Yeah, let's see. I mean, Max is just two seconds a lap quicker, you know, so,

yeah.

probably going to happen into the hairpin now. Yeah, you see, he gets

traction coming out of the final corner as well. He's got that DRS, extra 20

kilometres an hour of extra speed.

Lattner's kept it going all the way through the straights. And then Max

Verstappen does get into the lead. Had to get onto the dirty side of the track

there and onto the marbles, but that didn't bother him too much.

And he's swooping now.

Back out into the lead of this race. Lap 19 of 56.

He's on a two -stop strategy in this race.

McLaren still have the option to go for a one -stopper, which saves you 24

seconds of time lost in the pit lane.

But can you match the times you need with the tyres losing their performance

life to offset that 24 -second gain? If I was a betting man, I would bet on

Lando.

In P2 now. Finishing the race in P2. But it's very difficult to predict,

obviously. Paris is very, very fast behind.

Daniel Ricciardo is faster than his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, because he

later. And that is the old Aussie switcheroo for you there, ladies and

gentlemen. Daniel Ricciardo getting past Yuki Tsunoda and up into 14th place.

Nice one.

To Daniel.

But I think he probably deserved that, given that...

They stopped Yuki Tsunoda at RB a lot earlier. He had the undercut, and that

him the track position ahead of his teammates.

Verstappen's lead, it seems like about three seconds since he passed Lando

Norris, is now 2 .3 seconds in this race.

Get the feeling he's on for another victory here today.

He's been a quietly confident man, hasn't he, throughout this weekend.

Charles Leclerc running in third place. Charles Leclerc's lap times compared to

Lando Norris. He's starting to reel Lando in a little bit.

No, that's a bad example because Lando just lost time in the last lap for

stopping in the last sector.

Which is why I ask you. I still assume that they're going to be very similar

time or even Lando still being.

No, no, Lando's looking really good today. He's driving beautifully out

So now we get a good reference.

Off goes Valtteri Bottas.

As you can see, and is that car going to be stationary for long?

You can see it's getting very, very hot at the rear, but has he got a mechanical

problem here, Valtteri Bottas?

If he can find reverse and he's kept the engine going.

Engine is gone, engine gone.

Copy, copy.

That's answered that question.

And that is right in a position where they can cover it off with double

but I get the feeling Race Control will at least want to put a virtual safety

car in, if not a safety car itself.

That's all happening.

At turn 11, this is in the turn 1 on board with Carlos Sainz, who's right

the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, and he's going to have to stay behind the

Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. Voss's car is still stranded at turn 11. They're

still covering that.

Under yellow flags and double wave yellows. So inviting the driver to slow

in case of double wave yellows to prepare to stop. And stopping a bit too

Carlos Sainz. He locked up.

Tried the move on Lance Stroll. Didn't work out for him. Stroll holds on to

eighth place. That is a horrible thing to do because he really locked that up

quite solidly. That is going to be a big flat spot. And then you have this big

vibration and you know you still have such a long spin to do. So that was not

good from Carlos there.

So, Valtteri Bottas' car, I think, is stranded there with Bottas.

Double wave yellows at the moment, far enough off the track so they don't see

the need to put a virtual safety car out. There's the yellow flag you can see

the background.

That's Carlos Sainz now. Oh, and the virtual safety car has been deployed.

I was going to say Sainz will have another go at the end of the hairpin to

and get past Lance Stroll, but that won't happen under a virtual safety car.

can go to Karim Chandog.

Lando not happy at all. He's missed the pit lane entry.

He's not able to box on this lap. He's come on the radio saying, I'm not happy

about it.

Leclerc, though, the first of the cars allowed to pit under that VSC.

And he is in. Lando was reporting there was debris on track and actually saying,

I think it will go safety car.

But McLaren didn't call him in. He is not a happy bunny.

I am surprised that the VSC wasn't called a bit earlier there. I really am.

thought that might have come just a little bit sooner. As you can see,

Bottas clambering out.

Charles Leclerc, perfect time for him because he was needing to make a pit

and now instead of losing 24 seconds, which is during a normal race, he's only

lost 15 seconds. So a net gain of nine and track position.

as Lewis Hamilton is being called in as well, behind Fernando Alonso and ahead

of George Russell.

So Hamilton into the pit. Ted Kravitz, down to you.

Yeah, the pit lane burst into life with a virtual safety car. You lose so much,

so less time.

16 seconds as opposed to 24.

So Christmas come early for Charles Leclerc. That could put him onto the

Lewis Hamilton, of course, who was an early stopper. That's great for him,

Leclerc was onto the hard tyre, so could go to the end if he wanted.

Just still waiting, as Karun says, to see the mechanics of McLaren come in the

pit lane. They're kind of milling about.

Is this still a virtual safety car? Can Lando still get something out of this,

Crofty?

Yeah, Ted, I think he can. Hamilton is out ahead of Pierre Gasly. They almost

look like they were racing, but as long as they stick under the time, the

maximum time, or the minimum time they're allowed, I should say, they'll

right. We have still got a virtual safety car. I get the feeling that

stuck in gear, which is why the marshals haven't been able to move it yet.

And Lando Norris might not be penalized in the way that it looks at the end of

lap...

As you can see, Charles Leclerc just going round turn 11 now as Lando Norris

makes his pit stop.

And so he can at least have the same luxury as Charles Leclerc of pitting

the virtual safety car. And that might just have saved your Euro this afternoon

on Lando Norris for P2. Thank goodness for Bonsai's car staying in gear. That

would have been really painful. So now Lando is back in a great position.

and still on for a super result here.

The Stamper and Perez, one and two in this race. Lando Norris comes out in

third.

Question is, on lap 23 of 56, what does that do to the one -stop strategy?

Can he make the hard -tired last for the rest of this race, Nico Rosberg? Yeah,

that is something that I will not be able to answer. What I can answer is

Perez has nine lap old hard and Lando has fresh hard.

Lando's going to put massive pressure on Perez and might even be able to

overtake him.

That is the moment that Valtteri Bottas' engine rather gave up on him.

It's never a good way to come back to the pitch.

On the back of a moped, he'd rather still been racing in this race. He is

first retirement from it. That was Carlos Sainz locking up.

before the virtual safety car, trying to get past Larsenstroll.

That didn't work out for him. Just to go back to Bottas, I think what race

control were trying to establish is, the race director, what they were trying to

establish is whether the marshals could easily move that Sauber or not before

they threw a virtual safety car. But I'm still a bit surprised.

But I would throw the virtual safety car first and then establish whether

they're going to be able to move it or not. Correct. Because the danger is him

being there.

Even though there's yellow flags.

Exactly. And it was a single yellow, not a double. I don't think it was super

well managed. It was a single yellow as well, not a double yellow that we saw.

Big cheers for Valtteri Bottas, teammate of the course of Joe Granu.

And big cheers from the crowd. Right, safety cars.

We've got a full safety car here. Oh, wow. I think we have got a full safety

car. Max Verstappen is coming in to the pit. He's been told to box, as is his

teammate, Sergio Perez.

They're going to get rid of the hard tyres down at Red Bull.

I think we've now got the full safety car.

So, Ted, down to you.

It is the full safety car, and Red Bull had to do that because with a full

safety car, it destroys their 20 -second benefit.

Well, Max had 20 seconds on Perez, didn't he? And then Perez had five

Norris. And with that wiped out, oh, it's the soft tyre that's going to go

an Aston. I wonder if Alonso is going to go onto a soft tyre. I think he is.

That's going to be mouth -watering, isn't it? So, yeah.

He's got a new set of soft tyres, Ted.

Yeah, sorry to cut you off there. He's got a new set of soft tires. No, no.

Here he is, car number 14, Alonso. Which is why they're doing it. Here comes

Fernando Alonso now.

Right, out in front, Max Verstappen. Lando Norris has jumped Sergio Perez,

had to come in for that pit stop.

Norris has still got very nice fresh tyres, even compared to Perez.

Charles Leclerc has also jumped Sergio Perez. Oscar Piastri on the medium tyre

is running in fifth behind Perez. Carlos Fain, sixth. Then Alonso, now on the

soft tyre, seventh.

George Russell, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll have also made their pit

stops. Lance Stroll, two.

Two -lap old hard tyres. He's up into the points here by being on the track in

the right place. And Logan Sargent is 11th with plenty of others behind him,

pitting. And as Ted was saying, behind burnt Mylander in the Mercedes GT safety

car, they're all now going to be bunched up.

And, wow, we get a...

we get another start to this race, albeit a rolling start.

That'll definitely make things up here, huh? But I don't know if FIA managed

that perfectly.

I mean, that was like three different decisions that I think were... I don't

know if that was optimally managed. Anyway, so Lando is looking super now

in this race today. I mean, it's going to be a great battle for second place

for the rest of the race. Yeah.

The car's just sliding around everywhere.

It's just like something's broken.

It's probably just his balance.

It's really bad.

Okay, copy.

Down at 14th, Lewis Hamilton.

But at least having the chance to close up onto those ahead of him because of

this safety car moment.

And Orlando Norris was reporting debris on the track. Corinne was telling us,

Nico, maybe we had the fourth safety car because of that debris that would have

needed sweeping away.

And that was the decision then taken to bunch everybody up to allow that debris

to be swept clean.

Yep, sure, that would explain it.

I'm surmising. I don't know the answer, but it would make a bit more sense.

Anyway, we're happy.

We've had a big race on our hands here. We certainly are.

Because Verstappen, cruising in this race, has now been brought back to the

of the pack.

And it's Lando Norris who's behind him.

Leclerc ahead of Perez and ahead... ...of Oscar Piastri, the top five. It's

brought Carlos Sainz a bit more into play. And is that Oscar Piastri into the

pits? Yes, it is.

So he's going to lose a few places here, despite a very impressive 3 .2 -second

pit stop.

Alonso goes through, Russell goes through, and they're hoping at McLaren

Piastri out ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, and they have done so. So it'll take a

three -place drop there for pitting again, but at least now he's been put

nice new set of tyres. Corinne Chandler, now to you.

Yeah, Sergio Perez has obviously given up track position there, Crofty. He's

dropped two places, as we saw on that graphic.

But he doesn't seem so bothered about it. I think he knows the inherent pace

the Red Bulls should allow him to get ahead of Leclerc and Norris. And that

really is where his race is, as we see another slow stop for a Sauber this

5 .3, that's better than the 50 seconds we saw in Melbourne, isn't it?

I was going to say, that's not a slow stop.

That's actually, given the way Sauber are having to operate with the sticky

wheel nuts, that's not bad for them at all. Can it really be that difficult?

I mean, I know it is difficult, but still, you would think that by now they

would have sorted out those pit stop problems.

They found a temporary fix, but not something that's going to make a massive

difference. That'll be in a few races' time. Can we also talk about Alonso? I

mean, they've gone for a very different choice there to put him on a new set of

tyres. So there's going to be fireworks from Alonso.

And they've definitely then gone for going for another stop then. So they're

going to do two short stints now to the end of the race, which is a strange

decision, honestly.

Does it make a bit more sense that they were obviously struggling with tyre wear

and losing a bit of performance? They had a new set of soft tyres.

So try and give Alonso a chance to jump a couple of places, see how long he can

hold on for.

Yeah, sure. But look who you're racing in front of you. I mean, you're racing a

Ferrari and a Red Bull. You're not going to go very far, are you? I mean, even

if he does get ahead, he's going to drop back later on anyway. So it's a bit of

a strange one. But anyway, we're happy because maybe he's going to go

on that.

At the end of the day, I suppose they feel that they're going to have to pit

again eventually.

Put the sauce on, try and make up a couple of places, and at least you've

that before the next pit stop that's coming anyway.

Karim, down to you.

Yeah, that's exactly a conversation George Russell's having in the Mercedes

the moment about Alonso being the only one who has to pit again.

I will say, I think that the safety car here is helping the one -stoppers, isn't

it? Or anyone who's pitted now to extend, because...

When you come out of the pits with a fresh set of tyres, those early laps are

critical in terms of extending the life. You can be gentle when you first put

them on, as they are being now behind the safety car.

You will get the reward later in the stint. So this is going to help them do

next 30 laps.

So we think everyone will try and get to the end on the hard, apart from Alonso.

I was just about to say here, don't think that must happen.

All Perez are going to have to come in again. They don't, and they're on the

hard tyre.

If they can make it last 30 laps, that will do them nicely. Ted, down to you.

Well, it's just approaching dinner time in Australia on the East Coast, Crofty,

and they're going to be a bit disappointed over their pie and mash

Daniel Ricciardo definitely has to stop again. He's only run medium and medium,

hasn't he? Correct me if I'm very wrong on that so far.

And that means he's going to have to run a different compound, and he did not

pit under that safety car. So everyone in the top ten is going to go to the end

or try to go to the end, apart from Alonso, as the engineer just said, apart

from Daniel Ricciardo, who's going to have to stop again.

Sorry, Australia.

Yeah.

And Oscar Piastri's now down an eighth. Even more sorry, Australia, for that

one. By the way, Daniel Ricciardo running in the top nine for the first

this season. I think he was as high as seventh earlier on in this race. First

time he's been that high this year. Safety car is ending.

Nico Rosberg and Verstappen weaving from side to side as are the rest, trying to

generate some temperature into those tyres. This is going to get spicy.

Yes, unfortunately that weaving does very little because it's low load

they're going so slow.

But anyways, even if it's a couple of degrees, it's worth doing.

But yeah, and as I said, now it's the race for second place, which is the most

interesting because Lando Leclerc -Perez behind is going to really put the

pressure on. That's going to be great to watch.

Let's see if Lando can even surprise Mustafa maybe here at the restart,

that is going to be...

Difficult. When do you go? The answer, I think, is now.

Max Verstappen has decided before they get to the final corner.

Safety car's out of the way. It's time to get racing again. He's got a really

good jump as well. And Lando Norris seems to have kept away from Charles

quite well.

Leclerc, though, has Perez a lot closer to him. And Perez has even less distance

between himself and Carlos Sainz. And into turn one we go.

And it's Carlos Sainz behind Sergio Perez that could be the closest battle

With Fernando Alonso on those soft tires, breaking it up.

A little bit later, now getting onto the back of Carlos Sainz. Then it all gets

a little bit spicy.

Sonoda and Magnussen are swapping places for 13th. And towards the hairpin at

turn six we go.

Max Verstappen leads from Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, Carlos

Sainz, Fernando Alonso, George Russell holding off Oscar Piastri.

Max Verstappen one and a half seconds out in front and there's a car I think

spun round and it looked like one of the RBs and it is one of the RBs and it is

sadly for him Yuki Tsunoda.

Well, there was a lot of jostling around.

And Yuki Tsunoda has got involved in an incident there. And he is out of this

race. And Hamilton gets past Ocon and up into 11th place. We can see him just

coming towards us now. Ocon behind.

And that is Logan Sargent defending quite vigorously against Joe Guanyu. So

yellow flags as Yuki Tsunoda goes off into the runoff area. And Kevin

also involved in that incident. He's got a puncture.

limping home to the pits. Let's have a look at the replay.

So Robert Lance Stroll here.

Oh, it's before. Oh, my goodness. It was well before the restart.

They bunched up again into the hairpin there. But that was Daniel Ricciardo

got hit. That's into Ricciardo. That's not into Yuki Tsunoda.

Safety car deployed again.

Idiots just slammed on the brain. Take wing damage.

So that was Daniel Ricciardo that got hit.

It's just an unfortunate bunching up, and they were all too aggressive, too

on that restart.

So you wonder, who is it? Fernando locked up. Maybe it's Fernando actually

punches up everything, because he locks up, so he has to slow more than a four.

Yeah, it's like a Constantino effect. It's just a Constantino effect,

essentially, and they're all raring to go.

Look at that. Because it's not that he just slammed on the brakes.

Ricardo had to stop himself as best he could from going straight into the back.

of Oscar Piastri, and I think they might have touched anyway.

And Lance Stroll had no chance of avoiding that. And this is what happened

Yuki Tsunoda.

All right, Kevin Magnusson, that was seriously ridiculous. Like, that was not

good. Like, that was so aggressive and so unnecessary.

Like, Yuki can't do anything. He even left all the space.

There's nothing that Tsunoda could have done.

And that cost Magnusson as well as Tsunoda. Yeah.

How about copies?

I look where he's come from.

Miles away.

And then knocks him out.

That was not good. That was really poor driving.

Well, that was the result of that incident.

Yuki Tsunoda with damage.

And Ted Kravitz, he came into the pits of Yuki Tsunoda eventually. Did he get

going again?

No. No, it's Magnussen and Stroll we've had. It's Magnussen and Stroll we've had

in. So Magnussen, naughty boy with a front wing, rejoins. But Stroll has had

race completely wrecked. Spent a good minute or more as they tried to get the

car repaired.

And they couldn't get the nose off initially, Crossley. They did manage it

eventually. And Lance has rejoined last at the end of the safety car trail.

And we are behind that safety car once again. So Max Verstappen is going to

to survive another restart as the track is now cleared.

And we'll get going, I would imagine, at the end of the next lap.

And what I think we did miss is Alonso actually passed Sainz. I'm not sure if

saw that. No, we didn't.

And that's exactly what he has to do with that soft. He needs to try and get

past all those hards to have any chance of making that strategy work, which for

me still doesn't make any sense. Well, last time we saw Carlos Sainz, he was

trying to get past Sergio Perez.

And just missing out on that, Daniel Ricciardo saying that there's floor

on his RB.

You have Yuki Tsunoda out, along with Valtteri Bottas out of this race for

Sauber as well. 18 are running in it.

Fernando Alonso, was he... And I'd like to see it at normal speed, Nico.

And just to see if that was Alonso just...

breaking a bit more than he should have been. I'm not even sure it was Alonso

because Alonso went straight on.

But in the meantime, everybody behind was already like on top of each other.

actually, I don't even think it's Alonso.

Plan D for Delta for both cars.

Do you think it's over a bit?

Yes, we do right now.

Plan D for Delta, which we thought earlier in this race, was the one stop.

And Ferrari still thinking of that one stop. Right, OK, here's Fernando Alonso

getting past Carlos Sainz before we had the safety car.

Soft tyres, better exit out of that turn 13.

Easy move. Great move, great move. That's how it's going to go, with a soft

against the hard. I mean, there's going to be a big difference there.

Good need for lock -up going into the hairpin, which he had done before.

Yuki Tsunoda.

Confirmation then that he is definitely out.

of this race and couldn't limp back to the pits again.

But this is hurting Alonso's strategy even more now because the stints are

to be even shorter and that time lost in the pit stop is just going to be so

much.

They took the gamble and it might not have worked. Ted, down to you.

So if you could detect the doubt in Carlos Sainz's voice there, do you think

it's the best bet given that he's already on tyres which are 11 laps old,

they, Crofty? He didn't pit on either of the safety cars.

No, you're right.

I'm not sure that's... I'm not sure that's... Those tyres are going to be

old, aren't they, by the time we get to lap 56?

And he's going to be vulnerable from pretty much everyone around him, not

George Russell, who's behind him at the moment. So I'm with Sainz on this one.

I'm not sure that's going to leave him particularly confident at the end of the

race. We'll see, though.

The thing is, he's got a new set of hard tyres that he could bet, or a new set

of medium.

So... Is staying out there better than a new hard or a used medium to be fitted

at an extra pit stop?

Again, you just can't know that. You would need to have the computer

in front of you. But what you can know is that Sainz is not looking good on

strategy because of his heart being so old now.

He's going to do well then to carry on his run of finishing on the podium in

every single race that he's competed in so far this season.

Meanwhile, his teammate, Charles Leclerc...

is not in a bad position at all.

I mean, what I would say is Charles Leclerc has had eight laps of use out of

those hard tyres, but most of them have been behind the safety car. The same

will be true, of course, of Carlos Sainz's hard compound tyre.

And either way, Leclerc behind Lando Norris, both of whom pitted behind the

virtual safety car. Then we had the first safety car. Now we've got another

safety car.

Let's have a little look once again at what happened.

with Danny Ricciardo and Lance Stroll.

Well, I think we've established that Ricciardo had to get the brakes on

Piastri was then stopping.

Essentially, it was Lance Stroll that was just overcooked it.

Daniel almost got it stopped, and then Lance just gave him a big bang from

behind. There was a gap there, wasn't there? Maybe Lance was expecting Danny

Ricciardo to be a bit faster.

Through that hairpin, did he just not react in time to Ricciardo having to

because he was already touching the rear of the McLaren? Sure, it's difficult to

see also. You can't see what's going on two or three cars ahead of you when

you're bunched up and you're sitting so low in these cars, you don't actually

see much.

The incident involving Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda has been noted by the

FIA's race control. That will probably get passed to the stewards.

Nothing yet. If it goes straight to a penalty, it doesn't need to go to the

stewards. Well, no, it has to, because the stewards are the ones that give the

penalty. I know. I was just kidding.

It's like, yeah.

So it doesn't need to go to the judiciary. We can make our minds up on

The Stroll and Ricciardo incident has also been noted, but as yet not passed

to the stewards.

Albon and Sargent running 13th and 14th for Williams.

and not in a bad position either. Lewis Hamilton with a couple of safety cars

and now off that soft compound tyre has got himself up into 11th place.

And of him is Nico Hülkenberg. And I think for Hamilton, a points finish is

still very much on the cards here because we've still got a long, long way

in this race.

Yeah, Lewis has moved up nicely there.

And if we get going soon, Nico, those that are trying to go to the end on

tyres are still going to have a fair job on their hands. Karim Chand, up to you.

The drivers are all confused probably. I've heard Russell, I've heard Leclerc

all saying, what are we waiting for? There's no debris on track, it's all

Why aren't we racing yet?

Do you have any other thought? Because I agree with them. I don't care what

we're waiting for.

Absolutely no idea, but I'll tell you what I do know. Safety car's coming in

the end of this lap.

I'm not sure why we had an extra lap behind the safety car there.

And I have a change we need to make. We need better communication from the

safety car to us, so we know what's going on. And you've got Bert

phone number.

Send him a WhatsApp or something. Then you have a passenger in the car. Yeah,

exactly. Well, there you go. The passenger could be telling us what's

so we know why it's taking so long. Next time you come back with us, we'll have

a direct link.

Because we have no idea what's going on.

We do want a few things, but not what's going on in the safety car.

That is for sure.

Do you know why?

I mean, I don't see anything anymore on this track.

Double yellows are coming between turn 14 and 16, so I can only assume it's

debris. If marbles are debris, then maybe... There was marbles. There was

down there as well. Thank you for backing me up there, Mr Salmon.

That was very timely.

Marbles are not debris.

Here we go. We'll see now. There's no turf down there now. It's all been wept

away. Safety car is ending.

Five of the last six Chinese Grand Prixs, including today, we have had a

car period here in Shanghai. We have lost on this race Valtteri Bottas with

engine issues.

We have lost Yuki Tsunoda with what looks like Kevin Magnussen issues.

And we have Max Verstappen, who for the first third of this race had no issues

whatsoever, now having to restart for a second time. And he's got Lando Norris

on fresher tyres right behind him on it.

Holder tyres for Lando Norris, who then has Charles Leclerc behind him.

And Fernando Alonso behind Sergio Perez on the soft compound tyre.

He's going to have to stop again, we think, unless we get even more safety

But Alonso could still make a move.

As we get going once more.

And last time out, Verstappen got going about now, and he's done exactly the

same again.

Yeah, look, if it works once, do it again, quite frankly. And I think they

all expecting it, too.

So, Verstappen leads them over the line.

Lando Norris ahead of Charles Leclerc, ahead of Sergio Perez, and then there's

Fernando Alonso, who's sticking to the rear wing of that Red Bull as best he

can. Barreling into turn one, we go. And now, slowing down as the corner

tightens up, Alonso taking... a nice wide line to get a slingshot then into

next left -hander at turn three. They'll try and do that again. Different lines

to Sergio Perez, who has got his sights set on Charles Leclerc, but he's going

to have to watch his wing mirrors a little bit. Fernando Alonso is there

for him. Yep, let's watch Alonso with those soft tires.

I hope he doesn't get the one or other move.

Done now, going forward.

And they all seem to have survived the restart this time without anyone

into each other.

Nico Hulkenberg has got ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. He is up into ninth place.

And under investigation, Sargent and Hulkenberg now for a safety car

infringement. Was there a bit of movement as Hamilton now gets past

who said he got a bit of damage on the floor of that RV and it certainly seems

to look like that.

Did Sargent and Hulkenberg get going a bit too quickly with the remove before

the line? I'm sure we'll find out.

Whilst Alonso's trying to chase Sergio Perez, sadly for him, his teammates, or

sadly for Lance...

He's down in last place after crashing into the back. Now, Daniel Ricciardo

having to pit behind that safety car once more. But out in front, Max

by a second now from Lando Norris. Norris has actually stuck closer to

Verstappen on this first lap since the restart than he did on the last one. And

down the inside now comes the Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

And Daniel Ricciardo is going to lose another place there. He's dropped down

12th. And Alex Albon is right behind him. Yeah, this is going to go hard.

Horribly wrong for Daniel.

He seems to be struggling out there.

So Verstappen ahead of Norris. Out in front. We're riding on board with Alex

Albon. Into turn one we go. Ricciardo struggling, struggling to stay there on

the inside line that he really wanted.

Albon nips down the inside.

And that's the Williams now up into 12th place.

DRS is enabled on this lap.

And that's not going to help Danny Ricciardo's defensive capabilities, I'm

Joe Guanyu's under pressure here from Pierre Gasly. Right behind them comes

Kevin Magnussen.

And certainly looking pretty bad now for Ricciardo.

Magnussen all over the back of that salvo of Joe Guanyu.

The stewards are now looking at that incident involving...

Magnussen and Tsunoda and also Stroll and Ricciardo. And talking of Stroll,

trying to go down the inside there on Kevin Magnussen.

Didn't quite work out for him. One and a half seconds, the gap out in front. And

1 .7 seconds, the gap now Norris to Leclerc. It's so hairy from inside the

cockpit. When you put your nose down the inside, but you're not fully alongside,

you're just completely relying on the other guy to leave you that room. And

only know it in the very end if he's going to do it or not. So it's always

you're so tense in that moment.

Logan Sargent on the right -hand side of the... track ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

Sargent's got a 10 -second penalty for a safety car infringement, which is a

shame because he was having a decent race there.

Sargent ahead of Joe Guanion in the middle is Pierre Gasly.

And Lance Stroll is now gone.

A 10 -second time penalty for causing a collision.

Sargent leads Gasly, leads Joe round that final corner. So two 10 -second

penalties. One for Sargent, one for Stroll. And what's that diving into the

there? Daniel Ricciardo. Ted, down to you.

It is going to be Daniel Ricciardo. The RB mechanic's already out in the pit

lane. Oh, poor Danny Rick. Not his fault at all. Back -ended by Lance Stroll.

The diffuser is absolutely shot. No. understand, no doubt. I can see it.

Harper to choose with there. There's nothing there. No reason.

Absolutely understand why he says he's got no rear grip. He's out of the race.

Both RBs out of the Chinese Grand Prix.

Horrendous race for them.

RB stands for really bad in terms of their Shanghai weekend, I'm afraid.

Three out of this race. Ricciardo, Sonoda, Bottas.

Three now penalties for Sargent, for Stroll.

And also for Kevin Magnussen for causing a collision.

Lance Stroll gets past Kevin Magnussen. Nico Rosberg, I think, agreeing with the

stewards as Magnussen tries to fight this back.

And Stroll gets onto the grass. And these two are not going to give up this

battle very easily. Around the outside goes Lance Stroll. Almost goes

off the track.

Somehow manages to stay on it. But has that now compromised him? As they make

the exit and onto the back straight. He is just ahead.

This is a battle for 16th place and it's like both drivers are fighting for the

lead of the race. It's absolutely fantastic.

Magnussen has got the DRS though, Stroll, who was the fastest in the speed

on the Friday.

keeps with him, dives down the inside, and gets back that 16th place. But on

exit, Magnussen thinks, oh, I'm not going to give it up just yet. I'm going

carry this on, and finally through the final corner, just has to bail out, but

will now get DRS to carry it on. This is awesome.

I mean, Magnussen just never gives up. This guy is just relentless in wheel -to

-wheel. Let's see if he... Ah, he doesn't have the grip anymore.

He doesn't have the grip anymore to compete with an Aston Martin, obviously.

Denmark against Canada. It is the Viking spirit that finally the Mountie gets

his man.

And Lance Stroll takes 16th place.

Yep. And poor Daniel. That's a rough end to the weekend, which actually had gone

so well until halfway through the race.

If he wasn't having bad luck, he'd have no luck at all, I think is how the

saying goes.

For Daniel Ricciardo there. Right.

Let's concentrate back on the fight out in front. And Lando Norris is lapping

about half a second clear of Charles Leclerc at the moment, or faster than

Charles Leclerc, and preserving that P2 rather nicely.

Leclerc ahead of Perez, ahead of Alonso. That's the top five. Karim Chandler at

race control, down to you.

I remember saying Perez wasn't so fast because he thought he could make

progress. Well, that's not quite happened yet, has it?

He's struggling with low -speed understeer, and that's allowed Leclerc,

particularly Norris, to just break away here. So it's not looking as easy for

the Red Bull 1 -2 today, is it?

Not at the moment.

This is Nico Hülkenberg with Logan Sargent ahead of him. He came out of the

pits. I'm assuming this is behind the safety car.

Sargent ahead of Hulkenberg. And I wonder, did he just go a little bit...

I'm not quite sure what he did wrong there, to be honest. I didn't see it

either.

I think they can race up to the safety car line.

And I think the problem is, that replay showed, that Sargent should have fed in

behind Hulkenberg.

But he's kept in front.

So it was so tight, you can't actually make out. And really, the team should

have been watching that safety car line intermediate and made the call to

Sargent.

So box this lap, it'll be a 10 -tackle penalty.

Unbelievable, man. Such a joke.

He went into the back of Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo's out of this race.

Stroll not happy at all with that 10 -second penalty as he has a change of

tyres. But we've had one virtual safety car, two proper safety cars. Who says we

won't get a third in the last 20 or so laps of this race?

Now, Sergio Perez still not lapping, as Karim was saying, anywhere near Leclerc.

And Lando, for low speed understeer, suggest engine braking.

That's a cue.

Understood. What that does is you put a little bit more engine braking, which is

like putting a little bit of handbrake in, in the end of just as you're turning

finally into the corner, and it just helps the car rotate a little bit. The

downside, and I think it's super smart of Lando to say no, is it really puts

more temperature in the rear tires. As you can imagine, putting a handbrake on

the rear puts more temperature in the rear tires and will wear them more.

Yeah, and that's definitely, with 19 laps to go, not the right thing to do.

think that was very smart from Lando to not accept that. He doesn't want tyres

to get hotter.

Of course. All he needs to do at the moment is keep his tyres in shape,

then he's on for P2.

He doesn't care about a bit of understeer in the middle of a slow

because he's driving super lap time.

I mean, he's so fast out there. Yeah.

For those at home that don't quite understand the mystery of the Formula 1

tyre... I don't think there are many people in this world who understand the

mystery of Formula One tyres, quite frankly. You get them too hot, then you

start to lose a little bit of performance. Keep them under control,

your friends until the end of the race. And what we learned today is by now the

aerodynamicists put a lot of effort into using little flips and flaps on the

aerodynamics to push air onto the tyre so as to cool them for a race distance.

And apparently that is something that Red Bull does better than anybody else.

Hence, their race pace is that much better than anyone else. Max Verstappen

the moment, the only driver lapping in the 1 .38.

And he's 3 .2 seconds clear of Lando Norris.

His teammate, Sergio Perez, I said wasn't really making gains on Charles

Leclerc. He is now within DRS range.

He did go a tenth of a second faster on the last lap, and it's brought him into

play a little bit here. And Leclerc under pressure from Sergio Perez.

Not there, but maybe in the turn one. Fernando Alonso's dropping back a little

bit from this battle. He's going to have to pit again.

at some stage, because those soft tyres won't last until the end of the race.

Here, though, comes Sergio Perez.

DRS wants more along the main straight this time.

Not as long as the back straight, but opportunity in the turn one, if he's

enough. Doesn't look to be close enough at first glance, but as the corner

tightens. The car slowed down.

Often you can make a late lunge in the turn three and try and force your car

down the inside. That is great defending there from Charles Leclerc, because at

no stage was Sergio Perez given that opportunity.

And towards the hairpin now we go.

And once again, no opportunity there. Perez needs to get a move on. He wants

have a little chance still for P2. He needs to get a move on very, very

now, but I think with Lando's pace.

It's going to be very difficult.

A snap at 3 .6 seconds out in front.

His teammate, Sergio Perez, desperate to make it a 1 -2 for Red Bull here this

afternoon. 15th anniversary this weekend of their first win, their first pole in

Formula 1 as well, and it was a 1 -2 finish. And this season in Formula 1,

had 1 -2 finishes in every single Grand Prix in terms of the constructor, Red

Bull. And, of course, in Australia, Ferrari with Carlos Sainz and Charles

Leclerc. Is he going to be close enough this time around, Sergio Perez, to try

and make a move and get at least up onto the podium spaces?

There goes Verstappen. There goes Norris. Here comes Leclerc. Sergio Perez

behind him. Got TRS. Still not close enough.

No, still needs to be patient.

Has he got time to be patient? He doesn't have time to be patient.

Be patient, Sergio.

Don't be patient, Sergio.

Something like that.

Joe Granu. The one thoubert still in this race.

Trying to get ahead of Logan Sargent. He's going to go down the inside.

Try and nick 14th place off the Williams driver.

Looks like he's done that. And he's got a big cheer from the home fans as a

result. And so he should. Well done, Joe Granu.

As he now chases after Pierre Gasly. Alex Albon in 12th place. You can just

him going through into turn one behind Esteban Ocon. Still a chance, I think,

for Williams to get a point here this afternoon. Still a chance to get on the

podium for Sergio Perez.

And he's going to take that chance, isn't he? At the hairpin at turn six,

the inside on Charles Leclerc. He finally gets past the Ferrari, who will

and fight this for a little bit longer. But the Red Bull now pulls away.

Yeah, what a brilliant move that was there. Very clean, perfectly executed.

chance for Charles Leclerc.

In the turn nine they go. There's a couple of car lengths between them, and

was nicely done.

Key now for Sergio Perez is can he get anywhere near Lando Norris? Is that pace

of the McLaren going to be too strong for Perez to close him down? That will

become evident in about two or three laps, I think. Ted, let's head down to

in the pits.

Fernando Alonso has been on the radio to Aston Martin saying that his soft tyres

don't feel too bad.

Can he make 30 plus laps on that soft tyre around this track that's so hard on

tyres? Are we sure we are? I think we might give it a go. I think we might

it a go. I think we might give it a go. I think we might give it a go.

I think we might give it a go.

Everyone, including Fernando Alonso, it might be as well at the moment.

Well, they made such a bad choice with that tire on Fernando's car, and he has

no choice.

If he pips now, I mean, he's going to drop so far back, he has no choice but

try to go to the end with it.

So you don't believe that actually he's saying that because they do feel great,

he's saying that because he wants the team to not too feel bad about their

decision, if that makes sense.

No, he's saying that because he knows that...

The only way to have a chance to have a great positioning at the end of the race

is to make it to the end with them. And what about Charles Leclerc, who doesn't

feel that this is the best strategy for him?

I mean, he's lapping.

within two or three tenths of Alonso. Science currently in the moment. George

Russell actually going well. This man here chasing Carlos Science for sixth

place. I think you've got a bit of DRS to help him with that. I think Science

under pressure from a Mercedes that, if you remember back to Japan, last stint

of the race in Japan, the Mercedes looked a much better car. Russell was

Science on that. Yeah, but here it's just because Science has so old tyres.

How much damage do I have?

Oscar, damage is significant.

That's interesting. We don't know where that happened, right? I think we do. I

think that's when Ricardo went into the back of him. Of course, yes.

His diffuser, so the back of the car will be damaged. And that's like the

critical part for downforce.

So that would be costing him a lot of lap time. So perhaps a little chance for

Hamilton also.

Hamilton can still get Hulkenberg for ninth and then even Piastri for eighth.

And Russell is looking to get Sainz for sixth because Sainz didn't manage to

come into the pit during that safety car and has these tires that are 22 laps

old. And they're going to get just worse and worse.

George Russell then chasing down Carl Sainz. Hamilton on Hulkenberg. He's

to have to go the long way round potentially to make this one stick. Or

going to try? the cutback. Yes, he does.

Out of the corner. Hulkenberg manages to stay ahead. Hamilton then chucks in

behind the Haas and will get Diaris once again as he gives it proper drift.

Round that final corner as he now, with Hulkenberg looking in his mirrors, needs

to pick his move. Left or right stays behind for the time being but carries a

huge amount of momentum.

Into that second turn, Kevin Magnussen down in 14th. And Joe Guanyu battling

away strong as we now watch Lewis Hamilton trying to get back on terms

Nico Hülkenberg and just missing out. Magnussen -Joe battle ends with Joe

pitting.

Great defending by Hülkenberg there.

Certainly was.

This is 208th race.

Okay, he might be tying the record of Andrea De Cesaris for the most race

without a win in Formula One. Oh, that was going around the outside. Beautiful

move. Beautiful move.

Well, I say you have to go some to catch out Nico Hülkenberg. And that wasn't

bad at all, was it? Up in the ninth place. Yeah, and Piastri next.

Super turn of events for Lewis, huh?

We didn't expect that like half an hour ago. Well, no, Lewis was writing a race

report that was going to end in massive disappointment, but it's still.

might end with an eighth place here, which I think from 18th on the grid

not be a bad result at all.

I'm just looking here.

Piastri is struggling. 141 -1 from Piastri on that last lap.

If the likes of Albon and Hülkenberg can up their pace a bit, he might

struggle to finish in the points here. See how that turns out.

As we watch this move once again from Lewis. No, I think this is a mistake

Lewis here. In the last corner, he had a big snap.

Took too much curve on the inside. And straight away already there, the car

steps out on the back. It is a massive slide and that cost him a lot of time.

But here, amazing. Look how far he is. He just dives around the outside.

Has so much more grip and a clean air there.

Beautiful move. Wow.

Made his mind up the lap before that if he needed to, that's what he was going

to do. Yep.

Can't see whether that made Toto Wolff smile or not, to be honest. I doubt it,

unfortunately. That was a huss.

Yeah, good point.

Yeah, when they start overtaking the Red Bull, then we might see the smiles

coming through.

6 .2 seconds, the gap out in front, the Thappen over Norris.

If Sergio Perez making much impression on Lando Norris, one or two tenths to

lap. He's got five seconds to try and make up. Daniel Ricciardo starts the

debrief with his boss, Laurent Mechia, who celebrates his birthday next week,

and Alan Permain, the sporting director, who doesn't.

Down to you, Ted.

Crofty, do you know what I think is going to save Carlos Sainz's bacon with

really old tyres?

Go on.

George Russell.

because he's behind the Ferrari at the moment, and he's not going very quickly.

So Sainz is not coming under any pressure, really, from George Russell at

He's closing, Sainz is closing a little bit on Alonso with his ageing soft

tyres. So I think Sainz is optimistic that he can get Alonso in front and

up to Charles Leclerc. So I think Ferrari, by circumstance, maybe as much

planning, might have got this old tyre strategy right for Carlos Sainz.

In which case, then, what about Alonso and his tyres? He's the only one in the

top 10 running, or the top 15 running the soft tyre.

Karim Chandog.

Yeah, he's come on the radio, Crofty, discussing the next set of tyres and has

asked for a set of mediums. So he is still going to fit again.

And by my quick math, that's going to put him outside the top 10. It's going

put him in that sort of Albon Sarched area, which means a pretty exciting end

the race on fresh tyres.

For Alonso. Lando Norris, by the way, has had a poor lap. Lost 1 .2 seconds to

Perez last time round.

Yes, he did. 140 .7 for that last lap. Perez with a 1 .39 .5. And it's not like

Lando was lapping anyone. As there goes Kevin Magnussen on Logan Sargent. And he

moves up into 13th place.

Tony Magnussen not really giving up in terms of the attacking, but he has got a

10 -second time penalty to come for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda.

Don't forget.

We've had two safety cars and a virtual safety car. We've had Valtteri Bottas

out of this race because of engine problems. Yuki Tsunoda after the

with Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo after Lance Stroll went into

of him as we watch Magnussen's move on Sargent once more.

Throughout it all, Max Verstappen has looked pretty much in command even when

hasn't been leading the race. The car behind him currently is that man there,

Lando Norris. But is Lando Norris...

enjoying the pace and the grip from his tyres to keep him ahead of Sergio Perez

between now and the checkered flag.

Behind them comes Leclerc and Sainz, and now Fernando Alonso does make his stop

for those medium tyres.

So we're going to have, what, 12 laps of Fernando Alonso full attack mode on the

medium tyres to try and get himself back up into the points, because as you can

see, he's now in 10th, and make that 11th and 12th, because Ocon and Albon go

through into Turn 1.

Got caught out a little bit by the second safety car. He'd already made the

switch to the soft compound tyres.

But have they given him too much to do at Aston Martin to get him back up to

roundabout seventh or eighth?

No, sure he got caught out. That was not ideal that the second safety car came

up. But still, this was really such a weird decision on the strategy.

For me, that was never going to work.

So, yeah, really bad call there from Aston Martin.

If you were Fernando, and you obviously don't know everything and how the tyres

were feeling, would you have wanted to have stayed out and not just made that

pit stop then?

Again, they need to calculate that. They see where there's a chance of getting

back to now and how badly are the softs going to drop off. They would see

exactly what that looks like. So that's why they put him into the pits, because

they think he's going to go better this way. And I think, though, either way,

it's just...

Not going to be a good ending here for him. But he finds himself down in 12th

the moment.

Incidentally, next week, the Formula 1 teams will gather virtually to discuss a

proposal for the future to have points down to 12th place in Formula 1.

Obviously, we've got out of 10th at the moment, but there's a proposal to make

it points down to 12th, which I don't disagree with at all, because for those

running in the midfield, where it is very, very competitive at the moment, it

enables them to score points. It enables...

Fans, I think, to differentiate as to why one team is ahead of another when

haven't scored any points. But I'll go one step further. If you finish a race,

you get at least one point. I'd have points from first all the way down to

You finish, you get at least a point.

I like it the way it is. Of course you would. It should be hard to get into the

points. Of course you would. Anyway, for the Lando Norris fan, I can say

reassuringly that he's doing some great lap times now.

And so it looks like Sergio is not going to be able to catch him.

Well. It's the fourth second gap, Perez and Norris. For the first time in three

laps, Norris actually went a little bit quicker than Sergio Perez on lap 44.

We're on board with Max Verstappen.

Race leader by a comfortable margin.

Fourth driver in the history of Formula One to complete 3 ,000 laps in the lead

of a Grand Prix. He did that.

in Japan two weeks ago.

He's actually had to complete laps for the first time this season in a position

other than first or second, but only because he made a pit stop and others

managed to carry on. Fourth here in his last two visits and on his way to a

first victory in Shanghai and a victory to add to his wins this season in Japan,

in Jeddah and in Bahrain too.

If it wasn't for that...

Wasn't for that brake issue that locked on in Australia, Nico. We'd still be

talking, I think, about five out of five for Max Verstappen this year.

Absolutely, yeah.

Ferrari pitbull, Fred Vasseur, watching on there and wondering just how his

drivers are going to fare by the end. Alonso's got Alex Albon and has moved up

into 11th place now.

Just back to Max Verstappen. I don't know what you guys think, guys and

of course, who are listening.

I think he's moving himself into the top five of all time soon. Yeah? I mean,

yeah, especially towards the end of this year if he wins the championship again.

Just quickly see a move here from Fernando. He's trying to catch up now

fresh medium tires, but, I mean, he's so far away.

Yeah, but I'll tell you what, it's lap time.

Ran about three, three and a half seconds faster on that last lap than

around him. He could still, he could still yet get Oscar Piastri for seventh

there. I had a debate with Anthony Davidson in testing, not this year, last

year, when he said Max is one of the all -time greats in Formula One, even back

then. Yeah, it's true.

No, no, absolutely.

I mean, and the top five, I see it as Fangio, Hamilton, Schumacher, Senna, and

then for seven was not nicely into that.

There goes Fernando Alonso. And up into tenth place. That's not bad. Top five.

That one at all.

Up into tenth place. He's got the fastest lap as well.

And he's now got ahead of him Nico Hülkenberg. He could get him in a lap

the pace advantage that he's got. Ted, to you. Ten laps to go.

Yeah, and ten laps for Sergio Perez to please his Red Bull bosses and overtake

Lando Norris for P2. But I don't know whether he's saving his tyres at the

moment. Crofty, he can't make any impact on Lando. Lando driving brilliantly,

but Max doing more or less the same time as well. Four tenths of a second, maybe

half a second quicker than Sergio.

Sergio is just in that sort of position. We've seen him in a few races.

where he seems unable to make any impact on that car in front of him. So, I

don't know, what do you think? He just seems stuck in third.

Have I allowed to interfere with the vote for driver of the day? Well, you

make a suggestion.

My suggestion is Lando Norris. He's driven so...

incredibly well today. He's so fast and look where his teammate is. I mean, yes,

we know he has damage now, but even before the damage, Piastri was

much with those tyres.

Lando has been very close to the Red Bulls. It's been an incredible drive

All the talk from McLaren before this race was slow speed, corner steer, not

going to play to our strengths, we're going to struggle a little bit. And I

to agree with you. I think Lando's been faultless out there today. And you could

argue, yes, he pitted...

at the right time behind the virtual safety car, but so did Charles Leclerc

well. And Red Bull have also made their pit stops behind the safety car, so I

think that all cancels each other out. Yeah, but I'm talking about pace also.

He's faster than the second Red Bull. I mean, Perez is dropping back from him.

He's just on it. I think Perez has just overdone it and maybe pushed a little

bit too hard, trying to chase him, and is now paying the price for it. I think

he's safe from Charles Leclerc behind him, but if it carries on the way it

That could be a nice battle between now and the end.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is eyeing up ninth place.

So Nico Hülkenberg is going to have to watch out here because Alonso is coming

for him with DRS as well. Down the back straight we go.

On to the right -hand side of the track. Alonso is clearly ahead of the Haas by

the time they get into the braking zone. So that late pit stop is actually

working very nicely for Fernando Alonso at the moment. His pace, as I say, two,

two and a half seconds faster than those in front of him. And Lewis Hamilton, I

think, is going to have to watch out.

Because Alonso will be on him in a couple of laps.

Yeah, I wouldn't agree with it working out nicely.

Well, he started third.

He's just dropping further and further back. But when he pitted, he was ahead

science when he pitted. Yeah, he was ahead of science. But would he have held

on those soft compound tyres?

Probably not. He wasn't third when he pitted. And it's working out nicely in

terms of getting him back up.

into a decent points play sure it's uh making the most of a terrible situation

yeah but that wasn't necessarily his or the team's fault because that second

safety car rather ruined the gamble to go to the top side even without the

second safety car it was a bad it was a very bad choice now fernando yeah he

needs to go through traffic might be close to us at the end of the race

He's 15 seconds behind Carlos Sainz at the moment.

Let's see how close he gets by the end of the race. I tend to agree that

a bit too much traffic to try and get past everyone and challenge Sainz.

But he'll give it everything. He always does.

But we get the pleasure of seeing Alonso versus Hamilton, which is always

enjoyable. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be much of a competition.

disrespect to Lewis Hamilton.

It's just he's on tyres that he put on on lap 26, and Alonso's on tyres...

Sorry, he put on 26 laps ago, and Alonso's on tyres that went on four laps

And that's giving him so much more grip out there at the moment.

Maybe it's even a blessing because Alonso could disrupt Biastri at front,

could allow Lewis to come that little bit closer and actually have a shot at

Well, I think what will happen... Oh, dear, as Alonso dips a wheel into the

gravel there.

And that was just pushing it a bit too hard. He doesn't seem to have lost any

momentum now, but his right rear tyre is going to be covered in dust for a

little while.

Can I tell you the feeling in the car?

He will have been shocked.

He will have been absolutely shocked because that was 50 -50. Going in the

or I'm not.

Well, we saw Carlos Sainz yesterday keep his foot in and... go against the wall

in qualifying, and Alonso did well to get out of it, and now he's making that

challenge on Lewis Hamilton.

I don't think Hamilton's fighting that very hard, and I don't think there was

any need to, because Alonso, even with a dirty right rear tyre, is that much

quicker on the track. Now, the trouble for Lewis there is that Fernando's

him at a time where there's quite a bit to go before the next DRS zone, so he

can't get any DRS advantage or extra pace behind Alonso. Let's have a look at

it. Look how sideways he is. Oh, my goodness. Full opposite lock. But how

quickly. Look at how quickly he reacts here.

So puts the outside tires on the gravel. The car goes, you react so quickly.

43 years old almost, though. Yeah.

Reaction time is definitely still there.

Reaction time. Oh, very teenager.

Whoa, that was so close.

I mean, like, just a couple of degrees more and he was in the wall. Yeah, just

bit.

Wowzers. And Alonso, while we watch that replay, is now right up alongside Oscar

Piastri down into the hairpin at turn 14. And when I say alongside, I mean

of Oscar Piastri as well. So Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri dispatched on

this. lap on lap 49 of the race. Now he's 11 .5 seconds behind

George Russell as we watch Joe Guan Yu battling away with Logan Sargent and

every overtake that Joe Guan Yu puts in is cheered by this sellout crowd here in

Shanghai. He's down in 15th but he is giving them some great entertainment

today. Now.

Back to Alonso. He is 11 .5 seconds off George Russell.

That's going to be tight to try and close that down between now and the end

the race.

Even though he's now got some nice clean air and he'll be banging in qualifying

lap after qualifying lap.

He basically is going through turn 7 as George Russell approaches turn 10.

That's the gap that he's got to make on the track.

After he got past Lewis Hamilton, Alonso got past Piastri.

This is how he made the move. Alonso had to back off on the straight there. I

almost ran into the back of Lewis otherwise.

And that is how he got past Oscar Piastri, who is suffering from damage to

defuser after the contact with Daniel Ricciardo behind the safety car.

What about Sergio Perez?

We haven't mentioned him for a while.

On that last lap, he was a couple of tenths faster.

than Lando Norris. Lap 50 of this, that was lap 49, lap 50 of this race, he was

a tenth faster than Lando Norris. He's not making the impression that he needs

to. Charles Leclerc, three and a half seconds behind Perez, he's not able to

make much of an impression too.

And Carlos Sainz, a little bit of drift, ten seconds of drift on his teammate

Charles Leclerc. Looks at the moment that the top five of this race are

much sorted.

And guess what, Nico? Since you made your comments, The world, or 26 % of

have decided that Lando Norris is the driver of the day. I appreciate you all

listening to my opinion.

I don't think they were disagreeing with you, even before you said it on that

one.

Lewis Hamilton started 18th in this race, made his way up to 9th, and has

better race, I think, than he ever thought at one stage. But he needs to

into... That magic one second behind Oscar Piastri to get some DRS advantage

here and try and nick eight by the end of it.

Is it possible?

Not too far behind. They're on the same lap time.

The only thing that could happen is that because of Piastri's damage on the rear

end, that he slides more and hurts the rear tires more than in the last two

laps. maybe the tires could be really in a bad place on the rear. That could be

Lewis' only chance. So he definitely has to keep trying, obviously.

Five laps to go to the checkered flag, and I rather get the feeling that when

pulls into Parc Fermé, you are going to be speaking to Max Verstappen as a race

winner once again.

Nico Rosberg, a race winner. What would be a 26th different circuit for

Max Verstappen? What an absolute idiot.

And that is Logan Sargent and Pierre Gasly and Gasly's reaction to it. And I

think that is going to be looked at, well, certainly by race control and

potentially by the stewards as well.

I guess.

It needs to be looked at.

I could care.

I think Pierre Gasly cares about it. He wasn't overly happy with that one.

Alonso, that's how much he's cleared. He has to be by.

He's not making the deficit, really, on George Russell that he would have hoped.

But he will, I think, finish with the fastest lap of this race, which gives

that extra point, too.

Ted, down to you.

Yeah, so Oscar Piastri doing a valiant job holding off Lewis Hamilton behind

him, even considering the damage that Piastri's McLaren has. So well done to

him. And behind them, it's... It would possibly have been quite a good fight

the last points -paying position, Crofty. At the moment, it's Niko

but he's got Ocon behind him, who's not making much impression on the Haas,

because... Well, because the Alpine isn't particularly quick. Albon isn't

particularly quick either. And Joe Guang knew the intention of Sauber was to fit

that soft tyre and try and get back up to that 10th position.

But Joe is just stuck behind Pierre Gasly now. In fact, Joe is starting to

degrade off with his tyres. Now they're 11 laps old. So it was a nice idea from

Sauber with a late pit stop for Joe onto the soft to try and get a point. But

it's not going to work out today. Good stuff for Hülkenberg, though.

Another point finish, potentially, for Haas.

It's certainly looking that way to add to the points he gained in Australia.

of them and Jeddah at one of them this season. Hulkenberg with three points to

his name.

That's the way it's standing at the moment.

Now it's a little bit like the wind has picked up just a touch. It's gusting

around here.

It's been a little calmer today than it has been on previous days. And that

little gust of wind might have caused Fernando's little...

Snap and drop into the gravel just a few laps ago. Every time I go on board,

even myself, I'm still shocked at the speed of these cars.

The speed that they carry into these corners is just incredible.

The G -force is also so extreme because they're so fast nowadays.

They certainly are.

You don't fancy coming back, though?

No, I'm good, thank you.

I'm super enjoying standing here commenting on the action.

I thought that smile on your face rather showed that as well. It's been good to

have you here. Look how his head is hanging out. Look at George's head. It

goes hanging out to the outside of the corner because he can't hold it. You

Yeah. Because he can't hold the head anymore.

Even in this lower one, you see the head hanging out? It looks like it's almost

going to fall out the car.

And you kind of expected that if he was here last time out. It was only his

third race in Formula 1, but he's got a bit of experience now, though. Pierre

Gasly. Down the inside of Kevin Magnussen.

Loving these battles in the lower part of the racing order. He's through and up

in the 13th place. This is why I give them points for finishing all the way

at 20th.

You know, reward some of this overtaking. You'd see more of this if

points. Thank you. Now I give you a point. You'll see more fierce fighting

you give a point a few further back. Exactly. Because then there's something

fight for. So that's a valid point. Attached a $50 note to it, you get even

fierce fighting. You can review my opinion. I'm open -minded.

That's what I love about you.

Give us your verdicts on Max Verstappen, because you're going to disappear off

at the chequered flag.

He's not led for the entire race, but he's always looked like the race leader

for me. No, verdict is still historic.

I mean, I know it's not great for the action, but it's historic where we're

watching the performance of him and the performance of that car.

It's Joe Guanyu, who has also put up a really good showing today as well. His

teammates are out of the race.

He's doing his best for Sauber and he's up into 14th. I think Magnussen's tyres

are going a little bit as well. And he's on the soft compound tyre, Joe, after

that late pit stop. And gets another.

cheer and a round of applause as he passes the uh the grandstand lap 54 of

the advantage out in front nearly 13 seconds and whilst that might not sound

lot don't forget we have had safety cars in this race two of them that have

bunched up the whole field and max has just pulled away on both occasions once

we got going let's get it guys

I think that's possible.

That's possible. And if he can get Pierre Gasly, that'd be a 13th place

But, oh, dear, that's not going to help him much.

Pulled out a bit late there, I would say.

Yeah, next time pull out a little bit earlier.

That's A, not going to help Joe Guanyu because he's lost a front wing end

but it's a wonder that there was no puncture on Kevin Magnusson's hat from

too. That's very costly. That end plate is so important aerodynamically.

That costs many tenths straight away.

But Kevin Magnusson down at 15th, not been the happiest of afternoons for him.

doubt he'll care too much on that one.

Sergio Perez hasn't made the impression on Lando Norris that he looked like he

was going to do. Norris has had this very much in control for second place,

which you, I think, spotted a long way out that P2 was on for Lando Norris

today. It's been a super consistent drive for him. It really has. Yeah,

absolutely. And you know he's going to say thank you to Aston Martin.

I might have run over a little bit of debris from the check my tires.

All OK for the moment.

Yeah, from that front wing end plate and race control are actually saying track

surface slippery in that part of the track. That basically means there's a

of debris. Watch out, folks. That's always what happens when you're so in

control of the race and you're so far ahead. You start to listen more and more

to every little sound, bump, thing that you hit, you know, because you don't

have much else to do. You start to get worried that your car is going to break

down.

But anyway, I was saying, the one who's going to be thankful for Aston Martin.

Getting that strategy so wrong is going to be George Russell, who is looking on

for a P6 finish with that Mercedes.

George Russell, who so far this season is 27th in Japan, 17th bad and out

in the race in Australia.

With that crash, of course, 6th in Jeddah and 5th in Bahrain. So it's a

return, I think, for the Mercedes team that they could have hoped for today.

return that Red Bull were hoping for was victory.

And it won't be maximum points for Max Verstappen. Fernando Alonso has the

fastest lap of the race, and that's rather spoilt. His chances of getting

full Monty for this weekend. Victory in the sprint race and victory in the Grand

Prix and the fastest lap to go with it. But what are you going to ask him first?

What's your first question? Do you know that's a problem?

What's that?

Podium interviews with Max Verstappen. What do you say? What do you ask?

Were you ever worried during the race? Oh, she's got a little bit wobbly, I

thought.

He almost fell off his chair there. What happened?

I just thought from that angle he got a little bit nervous.

Yeah.

Ask him what his favourite cheese is.

Favourite cheese. Yeah, go on.

Do that in front of the whole world. That might be something.

You do that, I know.

Right, Max Verstappen, down the back straight then.

Off you go.

You've got to go to the podium. Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.

Nico Rosberg, the pleasure. Trust me, it was all ours as well.

14 seconds, the gap between Verstappen and Norris. It's been a double victory

weekend for Max Verstappen. He's going to win on a 26 -different circuit. And

for the third successive sprint weekend, he's going to take the sprint and the

marathon on the Sunday. It's another Grand Prix victory. It's first in China.

Max Verstappen wins the Chinese Grand Prix here in Shanghai.

And coming round the final corner, as Max starts his celebrations, Lando

What a performance from him. Another podium to add to his collection.

Lando Norris' second place here today. To add to his second place is in Italy

2021.

Silverstone, Hungary, Singapore, Japan, USA and Brazil in 2023.

It is Lando's...

15th podium in Formula One.

Sergio Perez comes home ahead of Charles Leclerc to take the final podium spot.

Carlos Sainz in fifth place ahead of George Russell. And Fernando Alonso

up the fastest lap point and finishes in seventh. Oscar Piastri will hold on to

that eighth place.

Well done, Max.

Great day's work.

Kept you on your toes. Oh, sure.

Yeah, that was fantastic.

It was on fire.

The crowd was really, really good.

Fantastic job, guys, everyone.

Well done.

I think we did really, really well this weekend.

Verstappen with his celebrations there.

And we pull away from our race winner just in time to see Joe Guanyu cross the

line in 14th place.

We missed Oscar Piastri holding off Lewis Hamilton by 1 .7 seconds to take

eighth. And Nico Hülkenberg does take that last points finish in 10th place.

Karun Chandhok, driver of the day, has to be Lando Norris, winner of the day.

And it is Lando Norris, winner of the day. Oh, two seconds.

I was going to say, winner of the day always looked like being Max Verstappen.

Yeah, a superb drive by both of them, really. You know, Max delivered what

become accustomed to seeing. But, you know, Lando, it was brilliant. He took

opportunity.

I told you

we would get passed up by the Ferraris.

Hold on.

Great race. Don't know how, but fantastic.

Well deserved. Thank you very much.

Yeah, well done. I wish I'd shook hands on that bet.

Great relationship between him and... They did shake hands, Karim. Yeah.

Great relationship there between him and his great engineer, Will Joseph. They

worked together for...

for such a long time now, and they make a great combination.

I think Pere has to be disappointed, Croft. He wanted to have not got himself

ahead of Lando there. He got one car off the race start, but not both of them.

Fernando Alonso, fastest lap, and P7.

I'm still with Nico. I think if they hadn't used the soft tires, if they'd

for a medium or a hard, he would have finished a couple of places higher.

but I'm sure we'll get a reason as to why they made that decision later.

I get the feeling, oh, Lando Norris has stopped before Parc Fermé here, and he's

currently, as you can see, rolling backwards.

Yeah, he's gone to the pit lane. I think he did know what the... Yeah.

He should have come to the grid, shouldn't he?

Well, they've changed it, haven't they? Because normally the top three will all

pull into Parc Fermé in the pit lane, and for today...

They've changed it around so that the top three should be parking on the grid.

Yeah, you might get in trouble. It's not like it's... Well... You might get in

trouble, Jenson Button. Hmm.

Yeah, maybe.

But he wasn't in the pit lane necessarily. He was in the pit entrance,

isn't the pit lane.

I was going to say, Jenson Button went to the wrong spot in Monaco in 2009 when

he won and had to run all the way down the main straight.

after he parked his car in the wrong place. Yeah, we'll see. But it's still a

popular win with the crowd here for Max Verstappen. Not as popular as this guy.

Great event. This is a dream to be here as a kid.

So thanks for all the Chinese fans here and also back watching TV. And thank you

to my team. All you guys.

Let's keep working.

I really hope that this isn't the last time we see Joe Guanyu racing in a

Chinese Grand Prix. And I hope he's around for a few more seasons as well.

Because I don't think he always has the best of luck mechanically.

And I certainly think that set -up sometimes has gone against him,

what I hear from that Sauber team.

But he gets to park in front of the grandstand here. Now, whether they've

special dispensation for this or not, I don't know.

Well, they must have done, because he's got his own parking spot there with his

picture on it. And I think this is a really good touch. Formula One back in

Shanghai after a five -year absence.

And we've never had a homeboy in a home race here in Shanghai. So why not let

the crowd have their moment as well? This, I think, Karim, a really nice

Oh, it's great. There's 1 .3 billion people in that country. They're all

cheering for this young man. Look at them. They're crossing.

It's a great moment for him.

He's such a lovely guy. He's such an unassuming character, isn't he?

Really, really humble.

And a great moment for him.

Certainly is.

He's in tears.

And he said this was going to be an emotional day.

It's going to be an emotional weekend. It's been a very tiring week and a half

for him. He's pretty much been in Shanghai since he left Suzuka after the

Japanese Grand Prix.

But he might have been able to walk around Shanghai once upon a time and not

recognised by too many people. I think that has changed a lot in his time in

Formula 1 and Formula 1 getting ever more popular in this country too.

Nico Rosberg has sprinted down the Parc Fermé and he's got the top three with

him.

Sergio, P3 today.

Got unlucky with the strategy there.

Was that where you lost it?

Yeah, it really cost us quite a bit.

Unfortunately, we got the safety car. We lost two places.

And, yeah, effectively became the race.

We did most of the race on the hard.

And, yeah, once you start fighting like that in the early laps, then the life of

the tire just...

goes goes off dramatically but uh at least we managed to to get into the

but yeah it would have been good uh one and two what about your pace there

during the race were you were you satisfied with that or do you think it

have been better like looking at max there was sometimes like five tenths

more per lap difference yeah i think we were definitely lacking some some pace

especially on the medium compound uh we did a struggle quite a bit with the

balance uh we changed a lot from uh yesterday to today so i think

conditions as perfectly as we could but um overall i think it was a strong

weekend and we understand the reasons why today the race was a little bit down

the start of the race today is still pushing for the win so you're going to

that again for next weekend next race out yeah yeah that will be the target

luck lando what

an awesome drive that was today you got driver of the day well deserved thank

you how do you feel out there

Good, yeah.

Yeah, surprised.

So I'm very happy. I'm happy for the whole team. They deserved it. Good pit

stops.

Just today worked out. I don't know why. I really wasn't expecting it to be the

kind of race we had today, but got comfortable, could manage the tires a

which was a much easier task than what I had yesterday.

And I could just push. The car felt great and I felt comfortable.

Good day, good points, and another podium, so I'm very happy. The race pace

looking, I mean, strong at times. You were even quicker than the second Red

there of Sergio.

Are you surprised by that? Like, that's really cool to see, no?

I mean, I was surprised by many things. The lack of pace from Ferrari today, our

good pace, and I guess more us comparing to the Red Bull, which was so

surprising.

Yeah, I mean, I just wasn't expecting today at all. I got everything ready to

home early and not be on the podium. So it's a pleasant surprise, but it shows

the team has done a good job. We're working hard and it's paying off. Yeah,

pre -race, you were thinking the Ferraris were going to be all over your

mirrors, but that didn't materialize.

I made a bet to how far behind the Ferrari we would finish today.

And I thought 35 seconds, and I was very wrong by that.

Yeah, happy to be wrong with myself and my own bets. But, yeah, good day for

everyone.

All right, thank you very much. And we hope you can challenge those Red Bulls

very, very soon.

Max, congratulations again. What an unbelievable drive.

How did it feel out there?

Yeah, it felt amazing. I mean, all weekend I think we were incredibly

And yeah, it's just enjoyable to drive every single compound as well. The

restarts, I think we all survived that well.

And yeah, the car was basically on rails and yeah, I could do whatever I wanted

to with it. And those kind of weekends are, of course, amazing to feel. And of

course, then to achieve basically what we did this weekend is fantastic.

You were worried there at the end, you drove over some debris.

Is that what happens, you know, when you're so far out front that you start

hear things and you start to get worried that the car will not make it? I mean,

you hear always, you know, noises a little bit.

Of course, I've had it in the past, but I've retired quite close to the end.

And then, yeah, there was a bit of debris, I think, from a car.

So I passed it with 300. And you know when the tires are getting cold and old,

it's very easy to puncture them. And I just wanted to double check.

And next race, Miami.

Are you excited about that? You think you're going to be equally strong there?

Yeah, it should normally be a good race for us. It's normally a little bit more

straightforward with the strategy, but it's always quite, let's say, a

track.

So I'm excited. It's always quite a crazy weekend there, so it's going to be

quite a busy one.

All right, thank you very much, Max.

Super epic driving out there.

Congratulations.

I can't believe he didn't ask him what his favorite cheese was. Nico promised

he'd do that and let us down there. Karim, we'll maybe try and find that out

bit later.

Well, you two can discuss that over dinner, Kofte. I'm sure you'd have an

enjoyable chat on that.

We've got a sprint in Miami again, haven't we?

For the first time.

And I like the fact that we've got back -to -back sprints as well, I think.

The team, speaking to the engineers, and they don't like the fact that there's

back -to -back sprints, which means that if they can't organize everything, we

might just get a bit of a variety and variables added into the racing. And I

think it's been an excellent weekend of racing here in Shanghai with the sprints

as well. Like the new format, that certainly works for me. And we've got a

decent race today. Plenty of overtaking in it. And that man there, Zhou Guanyu,

very much played his part with some of the overtaking.

Yeah. We lost three, Bottas and Odo Ricciardo. Sorry, Corey.

Yeah, I know I might sound like a bit of a stuck record, but actually, again, if

you take Verstappen out of it, the racing has been great all season long.

think you kind of have to watch it with two minds, haven't you? Admire the

greatness that we're watching up front and enjoy the entertainment behind him.

Very much so.

talking to Ferrari and to their sporting director earlier today.

And we were saying, once again, Max looks like being the favourite here. And

said, yeah, but that's the rest of us. That's our job to try and catch Red Bull

up. They've done a magnificent job and it's up to us to now do something about

that. And the fact that Perez couldn't get ahead of Norris and had to work

hard to get out of the club just shows once again that, you know, yes, the car

from Red Bull is great, but the guy behind the wheel is also having to...

deliver Hamilton.

Let's listen in here.

It does.

It feels so slow.

And I know decked hard.

So much. So much.

Like almost catching you.

And then... Did you get him in the start?

No.

Did I not sit?

Oh, right.

And give us on the top.

At the end, yeah. Yeah, well... Breakfast.

Yeah. I think the top worked much better. I think you managed to read it

beginning. Yeah.

You boxed at the BSC, no?

Yeah. Oh my god.

Was that on the circuit?

No way.

It's because of you, that.

Oh my god. My fault.

That was like me and Kibya back in the day.

Yeah, that was Kibya.

When you went there.

This is basically your first race here, right? Yeah, I finished the race in

China.

I do love the Max Lando Checo podcast there and

some of the reactions.

because they wouldn't have seen those incidents. There's not as many big

around the track here to watch it on. And I don't know if you spotted there,

Karim, someone is going to need to get Lando's cap.

He's picked up the cap for third place.

Yeah.

So you have Marco there with Lando Norris' dad.

He's very popular in China. I think Lando, you see the fans out there, lots

Lando Norris memorabilia as well in the grandstands.

Very much so. I think he's pretty popular all around the world, to be

Some Honda fans here as well.

Right, here's Checo Perez coming onto the podium then. First time he's

higher than eighth in Shanghai in Formula One.

A decent finish for him. Fourth podium for Checo in the first five Grand Prix

this year.

There's Lando on the podium in second place.

He's eighth.

second place in his Formula One career, and seven of them have come in the last

18 Grand Prix.

And this man, Max Verstappen, top of the podium. In the last 357 days, only

Carlos Sainz has beaten him.

Might be the first time this season that a constructor hasn't finished 1 -2.

That, I'm sure, Red Bull will delight in the fact that they are 44 points clear

of Ferrari.

As Max Verstappen takes the trophy for the winning driver, and if he holds it

aloft, you'll see that it lights up as well.

This trophy to pay homage to the old tradition of having a laurel wreath

around the neck of a driver. The only thing that hangs around their neck these

days is the FIA medal, Caroon Chandler. I quite like that trophy.

That's a great trophy.

Very, very cool.

Paul Monaghan on the podium, Crofty.

He is such an instrumental part of that team, isn't he? He's been there for

about 20 -odd years.

And, yeah, one of the... He's not very quiet, is he, when it comes to

opinions in the paddock?

Yeah, a big Liverpool fan, Paul Monaghan as well. Massive smile on his face.

I'm not saying he would swap that trophy for three points later today as they

take on Fulham, but he might think about it for a few moments.

By the way, it's live on Sky Sports Premier League if you want to watch it a

later. Lando Norris, an eighth second place. That's 15 podium finishes without

winning now, Lando.

I think John Alaci, Mika Hakkinen, Eddie Irvine all had 15 podiums before their

first win in Formula 1. Let's hope that that first win comes around for Lando

sooner rather than later.

It is time to spray the fizzy stuff.

And what a sparkling weekend it has been for Max Verstappen and for Red Bull.

Double delight as he takes both the Sprint and the Grand Prix. It was no

Shanghai surprise.

He always looked like he was going to do it. But come at the hour.

Cometh the Bessapheth, he delivers once more.

Yeah, that was fantastic.

We're on fire.