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00:00I'm glad, in a way, he pivoted because, you know, the colour that he brought to the paddock as a team owner is brilliant.
00:08Albon there, long, long right-hander, and then the rear of the car stepping out of line.
00:13Carrying too much speed or just a bit spooked by the slow-moving Haas on the inside?
00:18Maybe slightly had to change his line because of the Haas there.
00:23This is Liam Lawson, similar part of the track.
00:25And I think it is just low grip, you know, just look at him seesawing at the wheel.
00:29It's low grip.
00:30It's a brand new surface, as you said, and just the car stepped out of him.
00:36That's an unusual place.
00:37We don't often see that at such a late point, but it just shows how low the grip is.
00:43As they come down the hill here, it looks quite narrow.
00:46We often see them inside, outside, trying to find some grip.
00:51Cascades down the hill quite dramatically, and then they take off into the countryside,
00:58which is exactly what I'm doing.
01:00Into the second quicker.
01:01Then his teammates, Orlando Norris with the 1.33.3.
01:05This is Lewis Hamilton into the hairpin.
01:08And one of the two heavy braking zones on the track.
01:12And as you can see, just losing the back end a little bit
01:17as he made his way through that right-hander.
01:20You know, do I want to make a tweak?
01:21Am I happy with where the balance is?
01:23You've had a big stop a few corners earlier into 11,
01:26and you get the cues from that in terms of where you want the car.
01:30But came into the pits.
01:31He did the first two sectors three tenths up on George Russell's time.
01:35So that would have been into the 1.32s.
01:37Lewis Hamilton, what is he up to at the final corner?
01:41Giving it full beams around that final corner is what Lewis Hamilton was up to.
01:45And by the way, don't be surprised to see Lewis Hamilton right up there.
01:47He is the most successful driver in the history of the Shanghai Circuit
01:51with six pole positions and six wins, two.
01:56Here's Lando Norris into the hairpin.
01:58You've seen the markings down at Turn 1 already.
02:01Just people with the compression, the amount of g-load and the downforce
02:05pushing the cars into the ground.
02:07It's a good illustration for how it works.
02:09Under that, going wide at the hairpin was why Lando Norris came into the pits.
02:13There's a lot of them struggling into that hairpin.
02:16So do you foresee some teams doing that, putting a bit of fuel on
02:20and doing a, I don't know, eight, seven, eight, ten lap run?
02:23And that's one of the things that makes a sprint
02:25a particularly difficult session for the teams.
02:27You generally do your first run at sort of a medium-ish level,
02:3030, 40 kg as you would a normal P1.
02:33Some teams will put fuel in for this middle section of P1, like you say.
02:38The best car to hit is the Mercedes. I have no doubt about that.
02:41In terms of how early they pick up and how hard, how crisp the exhaust note is.
02:47And also you get a little bit of movement, as the back end of the cars complain,
02:51under heavy torque.
02:53But the Merc is keeping a tight line.
02:55It's a brutal crosswind here, which must be giving them a few challenges as well.
03:00But this is the end of six, seven and eight really high-speed corners
03:04that just start to overheat the tyres
03:06before they've got a tiny little left-hand hairpin down at nine.
03:11So, yeah, really, everything looks so good, I've got to listen rather than look.
03:15Back to you.
03:17Love it. Thanks, Martin. We're looking at Lando Norris.
03:21He'll be one of those.
03:23That is Charles Leclerc, who has made his way off the track
03:28just out of Turn 2 before Turn 3.
03:31He's not the first driver to do that today,
03:34but he is the first driver to have a little spin in doing so.
03:37Overheat the rear tyres, or if you get to this point,
03:41it's like an elastic band. You stretch, stretch, stretch,
03:43and at some point, it might go snap.
03:46Let's have a look here at Leclerc.
03:48He turns it in. It's staying with him at the moment.
03:51And now, look, load, load, you're pulling elastic, pulling it,
03:53and there, there, it starts to snap, and it's finally gone pop.
03:56So getting it right into the balance
03:59is literally stretching that elasticity
04:03without it giving up on you on the rear end.
04:06It's so not easy, the first one, two, three corners here.
04:1119 laps on those tyres.
04:13So they've not done a great deal of laps
04:15on the medium tyres at this stage.
04:17It's a sprint, isn't it?
04:18It's a sprint, yeah. A sprint is 19 laps.
04:20Well, George Russell, I think, was the only one who did this.
04:23Oh, Lewis, that's...
04:25There's no gravel anymore.
04:27I was going to say, that used to be a gravel trap,
04:29as I'm sure he remembers all too well.
04:32You know, he would have been a rookie world champion that day
04:35if they pitted him two laps earlier.
04:38Yeah, why didn't they pit him?
04:40I tell you what, I heard an amazing stat
04:43from Dan Prosser, who runs a...
04:45He's on a podcast, the Intercooler.
04:48Lewis Hamilton, if you take four results
04:51which were outside his control, to be different...
04:54OK, so Malaysia 2016.
04:56Yeah, Abu Dhabi 2021.
04:58You take the 2007 sensor issue in Brazil,
05:02which dropped him a few places,
05:04and you take the puncture in Spain 2010.
05:09Right.
05:10He would have been an 11-time world champion.
05:13Yeah, there is that.
05:15It's a very good point.
05:17Jack Dewan's come to a standstill.
05:19I have an issue. No power steering.
05:21Car has switched off.
05:23Let me know your instructions.
05:28Clear and concise and nothing to do with Jack Dewan.
05:33As to why the car has stopped,
05:35the instructions are, get out, mate.
05:36We're going to have to get that back.
05:38And we have a red flag,
05:40because I'm assuming they're going to have to
05:42get the car to go back.
05:44Lift it over the barrier there, maybe?
05:46Possibly. I'm not quite sure they can do that.
05:49Let's have a listen.
05:51Oh, yeah, it went quickly, didn't it?
05:53Yeah.
05:54And then just coasts to a standstill.
05:56Yeah, that looks like hydraulics to me,
05:58but I will wait to be corrected
06:00by someone much more knowledgeable than I am.
06:03Well, talking of which, Ted Kravitz.
06:05He's got a man for that.
06:07Ted, where are you?
06:09Still stay Hamilton hanging on out of the hairpin
06:12or into the hairpin.
06:14And his teammate Charles Leclerc hanging on
06:16out of the hairpin at the same time.
06:18As Leclerc crosses, the line goes quickest.
06:20With a 1.32.1 puts nearly three tenths
06:23between himself and George Russell.
06:25Here comes Kimi Antonelli.
06:27Goes fifth fastest.
06:29Did he push a bit too hard and lose
06:31in terms of tyre grip in the final sector?
06:33Hamilton crosses the line.
06:35Goes second fastest.
06:37Separated by only nine one hundredths of a second
06:41to his teammate Charles Leclerc.
06:43Lando Norris will be next across the line.
06:46And he's now put his McLaren
06:48in between the two Ferraris.
06:50And Oscar Piastri is next across the line.
06:53And he goes fifth fastest behind George Russell.
06:56Norris struggling for grip,
06:58as you would expect at the end of a second lap
07:00on these soft compound tyres.
07:02But he's got enough grip to floor it
07:04around the final corner.
07:06And to go fastest overall.
07:08Six tenths between himself and Charles Leclerc.
07:11Can Leclerc reduce that deficit?
07:13He can, but only by about a tenth and a half.
07:16And Lando Norris, or as Oscar Piastri,
07:19goes wide at the final corner
07:21and crosses the line third fastest.
07:24It might even be the first day of spring.
07:27I don't know.
07:29Lando Norris was the fastest.
07:31Sprung back into action
07:33after springing into life at the start of this season
07:36by winning and taking pole in Australia.
07:38And he was nearly half a second clearer
07:40as Charles Leclerc.
07:41Lando Norris, by the way,
07:43the only driver in the last 21 Grand Prix
07:45to lead an FP1 session
07:47and then go on to win the Grand Prix.
07:49Maybe that's an omen for this weekend as well.
07:51Piastri, Hamilton, Russell completing the top five.
07:54Hülkenberg and Albon for Sauber and Williams
07:56will be really happy with that.
07:57As will Fernando Alonso
07:58as they make their way into the top eight.
08:01Pantanelli and Tsunoda.
08:02And then comes Olly Behrmann
08:04about a second and a half down,
08:05but a much better practice session here
08:07than he was enjoying or not down in Australia.
08:11Stroller knock on Gasly and Sainz Verstappen
08:14didn't complete his lap on the soft tyres.
08:16Hadger Lawson, Bortoletto and Duin.
08:18That is practice done.
08:19See you for sprint qualifying.