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  • 23/03/2025
Transcript
00:00Standby for action, five lights on ahead of the drivers, it's lights out and away we go and Oskar Piastri didn't get as good a start as George Russell
00:09The Mercedes is coming right at him and has got the inside line in a turn 1 but Piastri holds Russell off
00:14Round the outside goes Lando Norris, on the inside Lewis Hamilton is ahead of Max Verstappen, ball start for him
00:20And Charles Leclerc is getting keyed on the Red Bull 2
00:23Now as we swing round and out of this first series of corners it's Oskar Piastri in the lead from Lando Norris
00:29Who's managed to get past George Russell, then comes Lewis Hamilton, then Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen
00:34Already down a couple of places
00:36Norris given that he's driving in clear air and what are we going to see here
00:41Leclerc is behind Lewis Hamilton, Hamilton goes wide and then just squeezes Leclerc
00:49We have 20 to 30 points loss on the front, if we can survive we wait the first stop
00:56Only if we can survive
01:26Leclerc still gets pretty feisty around the lap doesn't he
01:29I think George Russell got a better getaway
01:32Yeah he did, that's why Piastri had to come and squeeze him hard
01:35Yeah, left him a car's width just didn't he
01:39Oskar breaking that little bit later and then Lando Norris after Russell was squeezed
01:44Hopping round the outside, that's the contact between the two Ferraris
01:48Yeah it's quite a leap off the kerb wasn't it for Charles Leclerc
01:52You can see really low revs, Norris keeps pulling through the gears
01:58When you're in that pack it's not quite as crazy as you think it is
02:03Because you're all hopefully moving at roughly the same pace
02:06You have to have your wits about you, you live on your wits
02:09Oh there we go and that was then
02:12A little bit hit by someone
02:15Someone is Charlie Leclerc, your team mate
02:18Now Kimi Antonelli and Isaac Hadj are in as well
02:21So well done Alpine, nice strategy there
02:24Bad luck Ocon, oh no he's past now
02:27He has got past him on this lap as out comes Kimi Antonelli
02:30And through goes Yuki Tsunoda
02:33So the undercut working for Racing Bulls
02:36Getting ahead of Kimi Antonelli and we can look at Esteban Ocon
02:39Down the back straight and the DRS starts to take effect
02:45Which way is he going to go
02:47Kimi Antonelli now on the left hand side under braking
02:50Esteban Ocon thinks I'll have that, thank you very much indeed
02:53Nice move from Esteban Ocon
02:55That was brave, very brave indeed
02:58Ocon did not lift the throttle despite being heavily on the grass
03:02I do notice when we were riding on board how much he got onto that grass
03:06But you'll notice it from here, there's not much traction out there
03:09Piastri goes through and it's going to be nip and tuck with Lando Norris
03:15Lando Norris is coming out now, Oscar Piastri goes through
03:19Then comes Lance Stoll, then comes George Russell on the inside
03:22Is Lando Norris and Russell goes round the outside
03:25And Aston Martin really was in the wrong place at the wrong time
03:29As far as Lando Norris was concerned
03:31And he might just have conceded a place to George Russell, he has
03:34Mercedes have got the undercut working perfectly
03:37Claire has got a new front wing on his car
03:40And I'm sure will be a lot happier with that
03:42And we can just watch Lewis Hamilton's exploits
03:44It's Liam Lawson who hasn't pitted yet
03:47And he gets past him going into the hairpin
03:49Lawson intently with a birthday present for him as well
03:53Carlos Sainz getting involved in the hairpin
03:56George Russell really now has Lando Norris for company
03:59And close company too
04:01Into the pits comes Carlos Sainz down the main straight
04:04Lando Norris is going down the inside on George Russell
04:07Who had to leave him a little bit of room
04:09And knew he couldn't fend that one off
04:11Such was the speed with DRS of the McLaren
04:14And Lando Norris gets back ahead then
04:17Charles Leclerc getting closer to Lewis Hamilton
04:19There's Lando Norris behind the Williams of Alex Albon
04:24Lewis Hamilton pulls out from behind the rear wing of Lance Stroll
04:28And Charles Leclerc gets very, very close to Lance Stroll
04:31If he had a front wing end plate, might make contact with him there
04:34Stroll trying to fend off Charles Leclerc
04:36They're racing for track position
04:38And doing a decent job out of the hairpin
04:40Now with DRS for both drivers
04:43Has Charles Leclerc got the pace down the straights?
04:45You betcha! Into Turn 1 he goes
04:48Charles Leclerc is up into 6th place
04:50So, cleared the Aston Martin going long
04:59And that's just a replay, Ted, of Charles Leclerc
05:02Well done, sorry about that
05:04Keep pushing
05:06Before they got the swap on
05:08Charles Leclerc's pace is still pretty electric
05:11Leclerc getting very close to the DRS
05:13Behind George Russell now
05:15And now 6.7 off the lead
05:17He was nearly 8 seconds off the lead
05:19And Alex Albon trying to make progress through the field
05:22That's how he cleared Pierre Gasly
05:24And moved his Williams up into 13th place
05:26Out in front, the gap maintains at about 4 seconds
05:30They've probably told Piatrick to get a move on too
05:32Yeah, so what they're nervous of
05:34Is that Mercedes pits Russell
05:36Oops-a-daisy
05:38Rear axle locks, like pulling the handbrake on
05:40That's costing some metres, hasn't it?
05:43He's been damned near on the brakes down into Turn 14
05:46The last few laps
05:48And basically, yeah, downshifting
05:51This is Liam Lawson who pitted just a few laps ago
05:55The car ahead of him is Nico Hülkenberg at the Sauber
05:58And at the hairpin, Lawson gets the move done
06:01For 17th place
06:04Why do they make such a difference?
06:06I asked someone at Ferrari about this
06:08They said, imagine, as here goes Olli Bergman
06:10This time round the outside into Turn 1
06:12Where he will carry more pace in
06:14And that was very nicely worked out
06:16By the young British driver
06:18One or two teenagers in this race
06:20He's up into 10th place
06:22We've barely heard
06:24We're losing some time in Turn 2
06:26Maybe try one lap without using the kerb
06:28Nope
06:30He fancies doing it a different way
06:33Shaking all your moves
06:34And then nobody joins you
06:36And it's like, oh, OK
06:38I'll go and sit back down again
06:40Big lock-up from Jack Dewan
06:42And that then forces Isaac Hadjia off the road too
06:45Otherwise the two cars would have made contact
06:47They come back onto the track
06:49And we're doing still ahead of his fellow rookie
06:52Defending world champion
06:54As they power past the start-finish line
06:56Mustafa thinks about diving down the inside
06:59Has to go the long way round the outside
07:01Seems to have a fair amount of grip going round the outside too
07:04Leclerc cuts back in front of him
07:06Verstappen saw that coming
07:07And now just eases ahead
07:09But Charles Leclerc will try and fight it
07:11To no avail
07:12Max Verstappen thought that through
07:14Absolutely perfectly
07:15And takes 4th place
07:17Just how much is Ferrari washed out across the road
07:20And Max literally, whichever way you go
07:23That's why I say, it's like Northern Cross
07:25Whatever you do next
07:26I'll do the opposite
07:27And I've got you
07:28It was that move there
07:30Where Leclerc moves across to defend
07:32And Verstappen has got that thought out of his mind
07:34Norris is going to come under pressure from George Russell
07:37As into the hairpin they go
07:38Out of the final corner comes Oscar Piastri
07:41There's the chequered flag
07:42And there's his first win in 2025
07:45Oscar Piastri wins the Chinese Grand Prix
07:48Who's going to finish second?
07:50It's Lando Norris
07:51George Russell gave it everything on the final lap
07:54And he just had enough brakes
07:56To survive 3.3 miles under pressure
07:59It's a 1-2 for McLaren
08:01Well done Oscar
08:02Great drive
08:03Really good
08:04Great job mate
08:05And it's a 1-2 for the team
08:07Yeah, mega job guys
08:09Mega, mega job
08:10Thank you very much
08:11The car was very lovely
08:14And good work on reacting with the tech
08:19Great team effort
08:21And that is one satisfying weekend
08:23Thank you everybody
08:24Thank you
08:26Thank you
08:56Thank you

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