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00:00 Finally, 20 cars on the grid and the front two have been sat there for quite some time but their tyres are getting cold
00:05 But under the lights here in Jeddah, 50 laps to come for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
00:10 Where it's lights out and away we go and it was intended to start for Vladanaris Verstappen and Perez
00:17 Both getting away well into the first corner Verstappen ahead of Perez
00:21 Leclerc on the inside looks like he's been beat by the Red Bull
00:24 Off the line, gonna get squeezed here as he tries to battle on for that second place
00:28 Here comes Max Verstappen, wheel to wheel, Perez and Leclerc just ahead in second place
00:33 Alonso currently fourth ahead of Piastri and Norris and then the two Mercedes
00:37 Oli Behrens got through the first five corners unscathed
00:40 Really good, respectful racing there between Perez and Leclerc, gave each other space
00:44 The McLarens and Mercedes look like they've come through unscathed as well
00:49 Piastri still ahead of Norris probably
00:51 And Norris definitely had a very tentative start, did not get away well
00:55 And look at the gap between himself and his teammate already
00:57 And down the inside into turn 13, Oli Behrens already trying to pull off a move on Yuki Tsunoda in the RB
01:05 Well, no nerves on this guy tonight, he's trying to make moves on the first lap
01:09 Stroll has jumped ahead of Tsunoda, off the line with, we're being told that
01:14 Radio on
01:15 Oh, we're being told that George Russell has been on the radio to say he thinks Lando Norris jumped the start
01:22 Well, Norris already going to be going to see the stewards after Yuki Tsunoda pulled out of the garage
01:27 He's right in front of him on the lap to the grid
01:30 But let's get back onto the action now
01:32 Retire the car, say Alpine for Pierre Gasly, that'll be the first retirement of the 2024 season
01:38 I guess they were just taking a punt at the start with those
01:41 On board with Oli Behrens, into the final corner
01:44 He is all over the back of Yuki Tsunoda
01:47 On those soft compound tyres and Tsunoda gets all squirrelly coming out of that corner
01:51 Now Behrmans tries to pick up the slipstream
01:54 As Oskar Piastri is doing the same thing for Fernando Alonso
01:56 And Piastri gets past Alonso going into turn 1
02:00 There's Alonso's teammate, last stroll, and behind him, Tsunoda and Behrmans make contact at turn 1
02:05 I think he's got away with his front wing
02:08 But just to finish up with Gasly, clearly there was an issue, they took a chance at the start
02:12 It didn't work, Behrmans having another snippet for, it's too narrow there to make it work
02:16 I tell you what though, that McLaren without DRS breezed past Fernando Alonso, didn't it?
02:21 Yeah, McLaren thought they were going to be quick in race trim
02:24 And maybe like Bahrain, 7 days ago, the Aston Martin is a little bit slow on the straights
02:30 They're going to need some DRS, and we have DRS available
02:33 Now that we're on lap 2 of 50 here in Jena
02:36 Lap 3 of 50, so DRS now coming into play
02:41 And this is how the race unfolded from the lights out
02:44 You could see the McLaren of Lando Norris getting bogged down
02:47 And he was under pressure from the two Mercedes right from the start
02:50 But also under pressure, Charles Leclerc going into turn 1
02:53 Yeah, but watch on the exit there, Leclerc and Perez gave each other racing room
02:57 As did Sunoda and Stroll, you have to say
03:00 Now as we follow on to turn 4, Leclerc had the inside line
03:04 Braked just a little bit later and got it done
03:07 Verstappen's broken off that crucial 1.1 seconds trophy
03:10 Right, on board now, Fernando Alonso from the start
03:12 I'll tell you what it was for Lando Norris
03:14 Well summed up, George Russell
03:18 It did very much look like a jump start
03:21 He went forwards, then he stopped, then he started again
03:24 But did his wheels go too far forward?
03:26 Are the stewards going to have a look at that?
03:29 I think they will have a look, let's go on board, watch the lights
03:31 There, he's moved, checked in turn
03:33 Ah, ah, I feel like that might be a skypad and antelope rod
03:39 But to me it looked like he just crawled over the grid block
03:42 Once again, Perez is right behind Charles Leclerc once again
03:45 Charles Leclerc is not got DRS to try and defend here
03:48 Sergio Perez has got DRS
03:50 And he's trying to make a move down the inside
03:52 Here comes Sergio Perez on Charles Leclerc
03:54 It's a red bull 1 and 2 as Perez moves himself up
03:58 Behind his teammate Max Verstappen
04:00 Not much Leclerc could have done there
04:02 Maybe you could argue he could go more to the inside line
04:04 But I think Perez just had that momentum coming with him
04:08 And yeah, I think Leclerc realised he was done there
04:12 The normal trajectory through that corner
04:15 Just to get out of the dirt here, get some more clean air onto his front wing
04:19 Pick up some downforce and that'll help him
04:21 Look, he's got DRS as he comes through the left
04:24 Lance Stroll going into the barrier
04:26 Lance Stroll, who I thought might have been struggling with his tyres just a touch
04:29 And was certainly becoming a bit of a blockage of holding up the cars behind
04:35 Has gone straight in to the barriers
04:37 Now, will this be a safety car?
04:40 Will this be a red flag?
04:41 And thankfully Lance Stroll radioing to say "I'm okay"
04:45 That's the best news to start with
04:47 But what do race controls do here?
04:49 Well, they try and recover that Aston Martin
04:52 Because we've seen two red flags in previous years here before
04:57 And on the pit wall, as you can see
04:59 Your pit stop only 11 seconds behind the safety car
05:02 It's 23 seconds in a normal race
05:04 But on the pit wall they'll be thinking
05:06 "Do we want to come in and change tyres? Is it too early?"
05:08 Or will it be a red flag? Will we get a free change of tyres?
05:11 Yeah, but the thing is, will that be?
05:14 Now Ferrari can double stack with Leclerc and Berman
05:17 They are far enough apart on the track
05:19 We'll go back to that in a moment
05:20 Here's Lance Stroll, he touched the wall again, didn't he?
05:21 He touched the wall as he did in practice
05:24 And that then sent him into the barriers at turn 22
05:27 A slight error for him
05:29 Let's just have a little look then
05:31 At Fernando Alonso's pit stop
05:33 There's Perez
05:34 - Oh, I nearly crashed with a red bull - I think it was just a small one
05:37 So close, so close
05:40 Fernando Alonso obviously has a differing view of that
05:43 As you would expect
05:45 And that was how it looked off-board
05:47 It didn't look quite as close off-board as it did on-
05:51 Well, he's gone now just at the pit entry line
05:54 Slightly caught Max Verstappen by surprise, but maybe not enough
05:57 Right, and that might be part of nursing his tyres a little bit
06:00 As Charles Leclerc is going to be under pressure here
06:02 And with Oscar Piastri
06:03 Norris leads into turn 1 from Max Verstappen
06:06 Then comes the Mercedes and Hamilton
06:07 1 and 3
06:08 And Norris and Hamilton haven't pitted yet in this race
06:12 Fernando Alonso down in 7th place
06:14 And there's a skirmish going on there
06:16 As George Russell looks down the inside on Nico Hulkenberg
06:19 But nothing doing on that particular occasion
06:22 I can see why Hamilton's annoyed by this
06:24 Because he's got the downside of the dirty air from the cars in front
06:27 But if at least Norris has the clean air
06:29 He can protect his tyres and try and stretch it into the early 30s
06:34 With this first set of medium tyres
06:36 Well, he's got the jump on Max Verstappen as Lando Norris
06:39 And whether he's stressing the tyres in too much of a hurry or not
06:44 We don't know
06:45 But he's already more than a second clear of Max Verstappen
06:49 And that's important to stay more than a second clear
06:51 To not give Verstappen the benefit of DRS circuit here
06:55 And the Jeddah-Corniche circuit on the shores of the Red Sea
06:58 Here's Alex Albon down the inside into turn 1
07:02 Beautifully controlled under braking
07:04 Somehow didn't come a cropper with the RB
07:08 Might have given it a bit of a tap
07:09 But he's still got a battle on his hands
07:11 - What is he doing? - What is he doing?
07:13 And that did cost him a front wing
07:15 Oh, yeah, watch Magnussen there
07:20 Watch his hands, watch his hands
07:21 And I think he could have been a bit more generous
07:24 There's a wall on the right side for Alex
07:26 In a movie, you do have to be a bit more respectful in the racing room
07:30 This is the lock-up from Oli Wehrmann into turn 1
07:34 He was trying a move, wasn't he? Down the inside there
07:38 - Got it done - He did get it done
07:40 Very nice indeed, that's when he got ahead of Yuki Tsunoda
07:45 Race control for us today
07:47 He didn't give me enough space, so I would say he just scurried around it
07:51 Yeah, so he got squeezed into the wall
07:53 So he got squeezed into the wall
07:55 Well, he couldn't go any more to the right
07:58 Magnussen looked to be clearly moving his steering wheel towards Alex Albon
08:03 But here comes Max Verstappen in a straight line with DRS
08:06 Down the main straight, Lando Norris was leading this race
08:09 Max Verstappen is back in the lead of this race
08:12 Lap 13 of 50, and whilst Verstappen takes the lead
08:15 Sergio Perez getting past Lewis Hamilton and up into third place
08:20 Big news, Sergio Perez for an unsafe release has been given a 5-second penalty
08:27 That'll be added on to his race time at the end
08:29 Should he not come into the pits between now and the checkered flag
08:33 If he does, he has to stand stationary for 5 minutes while nobody touches the car
08:37 And therefore works on the car
08:40 It's a 5-second time penalty that's probably coming his way at the end of the race
08:43 Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen has been given a 10-second penalty for causing a collision
08:48 Steering towards Alex Albon and causing substantial damage
08:52 As we heard his team boss tell us, James Vowles, to Alex Albon's front wing
08:57 New guidelines being used by the stewards for this season
09:01 10-second time penalty for causing a collision
09:04 I don't think Magnussen can have any complaints for that
09:06 What is it, Bernie?
09:07 Plan B, well let me just pick up on the Hamilton-Piastri discussion before that
09:11 So Hamilton saying they're killing us in the high speed
09:13 What he means by that is through the 7.8.9 section
09:17 Mercedes yesterday were having to do a little lift-off throttle, losing a lot of time there
09:22 McLaren very good in that section of the track
09:24 So Lewis can see us coming
09:27 Sergio Perez is looking to make it Red Bull 1, Red Bull 2 for a second time in this race
09:33 Norris, remember, hasn't pitted in this race yet
09:35 Sergio Perez on the hard tyre has
09:38 And he pulls out from behind the rear wing of Norris' McLaren
09:42 And makes the easy pass going into Turn 1
09:44 This is what Perez was, we've seen earlier, we saw McLaren I think was what, hopefully, sneaked it in to last lap
09:52 But that was nice from Oli Berman, Kevin
09:54 That was patient and he did get a really good exit
09:56 And he's going to reap the rewards for it
09:58 As Oli Berman, learning by every single lap, swoops past Nico Hülkenberg and up into 9th place
10:05 Not in a similar position, Lewis Hamilton defending 5th
10:10 Or Oscar Piastri trying to get 5th
10:12 And there's a 10 second time penalty, another one for Kevin Magnussen coming his way
10:17 And down the main straight we go, Piastri with DRS is forced to the outside by Lewis Hamilton
10:21 Brilliant, defending there by the 7 time wall track, he beats Piastri in May once again
10:27 So Kevin Magnussen a 10 second penalty for causing an accident
10:31 He left the track and gained an advantage to get ahead of Yuki Tsunoda
10:35 And gets another 10 seconds for his troubles on that one
10:38 And that penalty has been revised from last season
10:41 You remember, when drivers were leaving the track and gaining an advantage
10:44 They were getting a 5 second penalty
10:46 Well the base guideline now is 10 seconds
10:49 The drivers are calling for it and that's what the stewards have given
10:52 Mercedes rear wing, that is an illustration of this dirty air that we're talking about
10:56 This was Kevin Magnussen with Yuki Tsunoda, was this movement of track getting him an advantage?
11:00 Yeah, he was on 4 wheels over the white line there
11:05 Trying to record with Tsunoda
11:07 He over took our truck, he over took our truck
11:10 He definitely should have given the place back
11:12 And people will be saying, hang on a minute, Magnussen was ahead of Tsunoda going into the corner
11:17 But he was only ahead for him because he left the braking too late to try and make the corner
11:22 Yeah, exactly that's right
11:23 Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda will love the sight of that
11:26 And look how Yuki Tsunoda is now just a car length behind Magnussen
11:30 Getting a very nice slipstream and powering his way in the RV
11:34 Down the main straight to take that 12th place
11:37 But Magnussen's going to fight it back under braking
11:39 And once again, Magnussen has to leave the track
11:41 And once again, Magnussen comes back on the track ahead of Tsunoda
11:45 And now Magnussen's the place to ask about Ockham
11:47 Who's got a very nice opportunist eye there to take 13th from Yuki Tsunoda
11:52 Yuki's got to stay calm here, he can't let the red mist get in the way of what his bigger picture race is
11:58 I'd like to see a replay of that properly
12:00 Whether Magnussen, do you think you had all 4 wheels?
12:02 Not all 4 wheels, but I think he could have gone away with that one actually
12:06 But it was a late launch, wasn't it? Around the outside
12:10 Tsunoda was, I thought, a bit generous there
12:13 Because he had the run, he had the move done
12:15 And could have just run his RV further out wide and not allow Kevin to come past
12:22 I'll tell you what, the frustration for Yuki Tsunoda can be felt, I'm sure, everywhere
12:27 Let's see, he thought he got that move done
12:30 He didn't need to defend
12:32 That, that was...
12:35 So, should have been less to the inside from turn 1
12:38 He had so much more of an overspeed
12:40 I think he could have just stayed on the clean side of the track, brake later on the clean side of the track
12:44 What a dangerous driver
12:45 What a dangerous driver
12:46 Alex Albon, and he's also left the track going to the party in those 20 seconds
12:52 Rather than against any thought that he might get driving
12:54 For the day, as Alex Albon steams down the inside on Yuki Tsunoda
12:59 And that was late, but that was lovely from Albon
13:02 Tsunoda on the power, trying to get back past the Williams
13:06 But he can't do it
13:08 And that was a super move there from Alex Albon
13:10 Only got in 14th, but what a move
13:13 I'll tell you what, Lewis has been doing a mega job on those tyres
13:16 Because he hasn't pitted yet
13:17 And he's been keeping Piastri at bay
13:19 But I get the feeling those rears are going a little bit
13:21 Piastri hasn't been this close for quite some time
13:23 Piastri is now wheel to wheel with Lewis Hamilton
13:26 Piastri is ahead, going into turn 1
13:28 Slows the car down, but not in time
13:31 So goes off the track and for the second time in this race
13:34 Gets past Lewis Hamilton and has to get the place back again
13:37 Because he left the track and gained an advantage
13:39 And that's a goal
13:40 Oh, and Hollywood tomorrow, they're all going to be handing out the Oscars
13:44 And we thought we might get an Oscar here
13:46 But it's just a nomination
13:48 Sadly, as Lewis Hamilton keeps hold of that 5th place
13:52 The statue is there, the statuette is there
13:55 For Oscar Piastri, but you can't quite grasp it with two hands just yet
13:59 He's looking for a 250th pole position for Ferrari this weekend
14:04 Got a front row instead
14:06 And he's going to end up behind the Red Bulls
14:07 As Daniel Ricciardo takes a little slide there across the track
14:11 And a little spin and can get on with it once more
14:15 Verstappen is going to do it again
14:18 As he marches on to maybe 10 out of 10 next time out in Australia
14:22 But here in Saudi Arabia with a 100th podium in Formula 1
14:26 Max Verstappen wins the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
14:30 And once again, it was a relatively comfortable night for the defending champion
14:35 Once more, as happened in Bahrain
14:37 Sergio Perez is the second car across the line
14:41 Red Bull start the season with back-to-back 1-2 finishes
14:44 For the second year running, Charles Leclerc takes the fastest lap of the race
14:48 On the final lap of the race
14:50 But all eyes now on his teammate, Oli Behrmann
14:55 Oscar Piastri is going to come home in 4th place
14:58 Alonso will be 5th, Rotten will be 6th
15:00 But on his Grand Prix debut after getting the late, late call from Ferrari
15:05 It's brilliant Behrmann as he crosses the line to finish 7th on debut
15:11 Take a bow, young man
15:13 What a brilliant race that was
15:16 Lando Norris holds off Lewis Hamilton
15:19 Nico Hulkenberg will come home across the line
15:22 To claim his first Grand Prix point in 20 races
15:26 - I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming - They never forget their hairlines, Verstappen
15:29 Yeah, good race, that
15:30 The tyres were a little bit cold at the end
15:32 But I think we had good pace
15:34 We managed the whole race well
15:37 Another fantastic weekend, well done
15:40 What a max, that was absolutely clinical
15:44 Another 1.2 finish, well done
15:47 Yeah, exactly
15:48 Good result for the team again
15:50 Great job
15:52 Now they're waiting to talk to our top three, which is just up front of me
15:55 To remember that
15:57 Let's take a look at the race result then
15:59 Max Verstappen wins once more
16:01 From Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc taking 3rd and the fastest lap in the race
16:06 Oscar Piastri battled away with Lewis Hamilton
16:09 Eventually Hamilton pitted and Piastri could take that 4th place spot
16:14 From Fernando Alonso who held off George Russell impressively well in the Aston Martin
16:19 Olly Behrmann will want to see that race result
16:22 Put it on his bedroom wall, I'm sure, for the rest of his life
16:25 7th ahead of Norris, Hamilton and Hulkenberg
16:28 Who owes his teammate Kevin Magnussen a big bear hug at the end of this
16:33 Magnussen lost 11th place to Alex Albon in the end