00:00But here we go, 19 laps ahead of us, lights out, away we go, Piastri, decent start, Norris is coming at George Russell here, it's a clear start for Oscar Piastri, and behind they're all queuing up, on the inside Yuki Tsunoda trying to get past Lando Norris, but Norris avoids that one, Russell in second, then Norris, then Tsunoda, and then Verstappen, almost getting past Fernando Alonso, swooping around the outside and trying to battle away, but Verstappen has got clear of the Aston Martin, Kimi Antonelli are getting involved there with Fernando Alonso,
00:29and also Isaac Hadjar, Piastri's out in front, 3 tenths for Lando Norris, ahead of Verstappen, that's where Leclerc went off, that's the second time Leclerc has been wide of the track, he actually just ran off the track, Verstappen fastest man on the track, gaining on Lando Norris, who's also got DRS, Norris has got DRS too, and that was key, he's got a little bit wide in turn 1, but you can do a bit of a wall of depth around the outside there, so they'll start coming back towards George Russell, if they can stay in his DRS, Max Verstappen,
00:59must be loving this, compared to what he was fighting yesterday, he's lost a little bit of ground this time, but if he can still stay within the one second,
01:10they are bouncing so very bad, that's the porpoising, now we're talking about where you get this aerodynamic effect, indicative about what might well happen in the Grand Prix tomorrow,
01:20so Norris got away well initially, second phase got a bit of wheel spin, had to get out of it so he didn't touch Russell, went around the outside, kept his third place, and behind, all extremely well behaved, we're about to see the Ferrari mid-pack, just wander off the track at the bottom right of the screen there.
01:37I'll tell you who does get his elbows out at the start, it's Yuki Tsunoda, and we might see him trying to come through in a minute, oh, did they bang wheels, Norris and Russell?
01:46Very close, didn't they?
01:48Absolutely, but just behind this, Tsunoda is really trying to force his way through, this is how Max Verstappen got past his teammate, just a bit squirrelly, exiting the corner and lost a bit of momentum there,
02:00and says, right, do you want to gap down the inside, Max? There you go, fella.
02:04Yeah, I think that was well orchestrated, wasn't it?
02:07Vortoletto getting a bit closer.
02:09There's Max Verstappen then, getting very close to the edge of the track, the car sparking along the ground.
02:15Yeah, that gap was 0.8.
02:18It's really, really bad, it's like really crackling.
02:22Yeah, same as yours.
02:23I haven't seen much of it so far, but ooh, what's that, bit of the Williams flying off there, around the right-hander, did he, did he, it went before he got onto the curbs?
02:36Oh dear.
02:37Look at what that is, whether it's a bargeboard, it's a bargeboard, isn't it?
02:41You know, Red Bull have turned things around from the sprints and then into qualifying, last year Max Verstappen finished, started sixth, finished eighth here, let's just look at Charles Leclerc, is he making a move on Oli Beffin?
02:52He's trying to, but Behrman once again, just has a car length ahead to halt the Ferrari's progress.
03:00Very calm, very composed, he won't be put off by Charles Leclerc behind him.
03:04George Russell being told, tyre degradation might be coming into play here.
03:09Well, Charles Leclerc having another adventure on the edge of the track, he's really fighting that car.
03:15So it is the black and white flag now for Tsunoda.
03:18As off the track goes Liam Lawson and battling away here with Charles Leclerc.
03:24As right behind Leclerc now is Esteban Ocon and Leclerc has dropped even more places as that scrap was going on with Liam Lawson, he's having a torrid time.
03:35Certainly the second half this year there, where they just keep refining, refining, refining the aerodynamics, they're harder to follow.
03:41Oh, and there we go again with that replay.
03:44That must be at least the third, if not the fourth time that Leclerc has been off the road.
03:48We said that Yuki Tsunoda had a warning for exceeding track limits as we get an Ocon eye view of the Lawson-McClaire incident.
03:59He will be behind Antonelli and in seventh, that is Alonso going so, so wide, he was almost on the main stage talking to the fans.
04:08Yeah, and that's given a free pass basically to Antonelli because Fernando Alonso lost all of his momentum.
04:15Antonelli gets the slipstream, gets his rear wing open and Fernando doesn't even bother fighting it basically because that was, he was going past one way or the other.
04:25Begging the stewards to recheck those track limits, he doesn't think he's exceeded them, but short change from the stewards, he's got a five second time penalty.
04:33That could be costly for Yuki here this evening.
04:38We've only got a few laps to go.
04:39I dropped off the jack, so anyway, because they're not going to score any points, this is just a bit of a test session.
04:46We don't believe, looking at the tyres, they all looked inflated when they came off, so they're going to see how the soft goes.
04:52Just a quick thought on Yuki Tsunoda, Crofty, such a shame for him.
04:56His lead is about two seconds, he just needs to bring it home, but he's getting a bit of vibration, which, you know, at this stage of the season, every little sound, noise, vibration,
05:07a thing that you don't feel is quite right in the car, is going to prey on your mind somewhat.
05:12Previous sprints here, and he's in imperious form currently.
05:16There's Behrman, latest to go off the track.
05:20It's a funny old business, isn't it?
05:21Grand Prix and Abu Dhabi to be champion.
05:24And now they're just to be careful with this understanding not to run on track.
05:29Because you don't want to be getting a five-second penalty now and throwing any points away.
05:34Max Verstappen has had a hat-trick of sprint victories at the Red Bull ring before.
05:39Piastri now to the line for a hat-trick of victories his own.
05:42It's Qatar, and a third win in the sprint for Oscar Piastri, the championship leader for 15 rounds.
05:49The championship challenger now takes maximum points in the sprint from George Russell, who comes home to finish second.
05:56And Lando Norris picks up third ahead of Max Verstappen, who started sixth and finished fourth.
06:01Kimi Antonelli credited with fifth because Yuki Tsunoda's five-place penalty has been applied.
06:07Fernando Alonso losing a heap of time before the line, but he makes it.
06:12And Carlos Sainz picks up the final points placed ahead of Isaac Hadjar, who was charging at him at the end.
06:18Max Verstappen has to beat Lando Norris in the Grand Prix tomorrow to remain in championship contention.
06:24He's 25 points behind now.
06:28Okay, that's the chequered flag.
06:29Very nicely done, Oscar.
06:31Yep, nicely done, everyone.
06:34Yeah, car was good.
06:36Let's keep it going.
06:37Let's keep it going.
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