00:00Now we get the race start.
00:03So they are going to be making their way to the grid
00:07for what we think will be a standing start,
00:08but the official guidance from the FIA here is this is the race start.
00:14So lap one of 55 as the teams file out.
00:18George on intermediates as well.
00:20Intermediates for Max Verstappen on pole.
00:22Lewis Hamilton on soft tyres.
00:24Antonelli on intermediates.
00:26Gasly's just gone off the track on the soft tyre.
00:28There he is, soft for Bottas Perez and Colopinto, his team mate.
00:32Inters for Liam Laws, for Arvid Limblad.
00:35And there is Pierre Gasly making his way back onto the track.
00:39Let's have a look at what happened.
00:40I said it was a bit wet through turn five and six.
00:43And even when you're taking it steady, whoa,
00:46no chance of staying on the track.
00:48I'd be thinking that's going in the barrier if I was sitting in that.
00:51And he just gets away with it.
00:55So.
00:56We have waited an hour and 40 minutes from when we should have got going to when we are going
01:02to get going.
01:02And we've waited nine years to race here in Sepang.
01:06And we are finally going to get the race we want.
01:09It's the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
01:12It's lights out and away we go as Max Verstappen crawls off the line.
01:17And Kimi Antonelli goes straight through the middle and says thank you very much.
01:21Followed by his teammate George Russell.
01:23Hamilton struggling, Verstappen struggling.
01:25Great start from Liam Lawson in the racing balls as Antonelli leads into the first corner.
01:30George Russell on the inside going wide there.
01:32Max Verstappen as Hamilton is dropping places and his teammate Charles Leclerc.
01:37These tyres are starting to go though because they're lapping more slowly than the previous lap.
01:41Russell runs wide.
01:43You heard the big cheer in the grandstands there as the Red Bull and the Mercedes got very close together.
01:49And look, no grip even on the intermediates for George Russell.
01:52Dropping down the hill is a sitting duck on the straight here to Max Verstappen who takes second place.
01:58And a collision between Leclerc and Hülkenberg has been noted which is why Leclerc had to change his front wing.
02:04Great reaction from Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.
02:09And those on the dry tyre just got swallowed up at the start.
02:12They did.
02:13It's Max's car bogged down, didn't it?
02:16He had to really coax it back into life.
02:19And he got himself back up into third place there quite well.
02:22Let's watch this.
02:26Just had all the grip he wanted.
02:28Lando Norris ahead of him with slip sliding off the line.
02:32God, that must have felt good if you were George Russell.
02:34Yeah, tremendous start, wasn't it?
02:36It certainly was.
02:37There we go.
02:38So, yeah, it's the dry tyre runners.
02:43It's just, it is hopeless now.
02:45It's absolutely hopeless with the amount of time they've lost.
02:48So, this is Leclerc and Hülkenberg that has been noted for causing a collision as Hülkenberg comes across.
02:54And that's, yeah, big damage on the front wing.
02:57And that's why the marshals would have come on the track to collect the debris too.
03:01So, it's just Antonelli separated by about two or three car lengths from Max Verstappen.
03:07But Antonelli's run wide at the hairpin there and Verstappen is all over that, takes a tighter line and is
03:14just a fraction behind the Mercedes down the straight.
03:17Now, tries to pick up the slipstream.
03:19There's no room passed around the outside at turn one.
03:22But what's Verstappen got in his locker as he tries to go around the outside?
03:26If he can hang it on in there as they slide their way through that corner.
03:30Could take the inside line.
03:31Antonelli has it closed off.
03:33So, this is the time.
03:34Oh, and he's off the track.
03:35That's the Cadillac.
03:37Right.
03:37Perfect time to pit stop then, isn't it?
03:40Surely, they know that that'll need a vehicle to drag that out of there.
03:44And for Boutou Bottas, the seventh DNF of the season.
03:47This is how it happens.
03:51There's a gravel trap waiting for you on the right-hand side.
03:56And on the left-hand side.
03:58And it just went from underneath it, didn't it?
04:00Nothing he could do about that at all.
04:01Just swapped ends.
04:04Um, from nowhere.
04:06Now, this is Oscar Piastri into the pits.
04:10Ooh, I tell you what, the Williams slowed down a lot there.
04:14Alex Albon in front of him.
04:16And I wonder, will they look at that, I wonder, as to it's going a bit too slowly.
04:22Coming out here, that's how Lance Stroll had the opportunity to get ahead of Alex Albon.
04:28They're in the pit lane until that line across.
04:31And Lance Stroll, was he just ahead when they got to the white line?
04:36Kimi Antonelli can get going and Max Verstappen is right behind him here.
04:39And knew exactly when to pull the trigger.
04:43Is there a way through?
04:45Is there a way through under braking?
04:45Antonelli leads into turn one.
04:47Verstappen goes round the outside.
04:49If he can stay level with the Mercedes.
04:52He's got the inside line for turn two.
04:54And there you go.
04:55Max Verstappen trying to take that position.
04:57But Antonelli is quick on the throttle, fights it back before Verstappen goes through and takes the lead of this
05:04race.
05:04Yellow flag out there for somebody.
05:06We've got some marshals on the track once again, picking up a bit of debris at turn nine.
05:12As down the inside goes Lewis Hamilton on the Audi of Nico Hülkenberg as his teammate Gabriel Bortoletto.
05:20He'd dive into the pits.
05:22Yes, he did dive into the pits.
05:25Stroll ahead of Leclerc.
05:27Hamilton now down the inside again.
05:29This time on Nico Hülkenberg.
05:31Has he got the move made?
05:33Hülkenberg knows he's a former winner here in A1 GP.
05:36But turn two might come to his favour.
05:38But Hamilton is quick off the mark.
05:39Out of turn two and has got that place.
05:42He's up to ninth.
05:43But Antonelli might just think, do you know what?
05:45There's a move on here.
05:46I'm not going to stay behind my teammate for much longer.
05:48And he is going for the move.
05:49And into turn four, Kimi Antonelli does get past George Russell.
05:53So back up into second place.
05:57We just got away from that.
05:58But on the GPS, I think he is ahead through turn three.
06:03But his engineers come back.
06:04He's then asked if the piece is OK.
06:06And his engineers come back.
06:07The piece is still good.
06:07He doesn't give me space there.
06:09And that is why Gabriel Bortoletto got a ten second penalty for causing a collision.
06:14This is what it felt like or looked like if you were Carlos Sainz.
06:18There's the gap.
06:19There's the gap.
06:20No, no, there's no gap.
06:21Oh, dear.
06:22God, have you left him all this place in the world?
06:26Oh, jeez.
06:29Now, what's happened to Kimi Antonelli here into the hairpin?
06:32He's gone deep, deep, deep and collects the bollard.
06:37He neither went to the left nor went to the right.
06:39He went more to the left than the right.
06:40Yes, he turned.
06:42Check front wing.
06:44For P.
06:46And, um, yeah.
06:48And he just, it looks like he just sort of missed his breaking point almost when steaming in.
06:53And it will lend, if that's the case, Martin, a bit more strength.
06:56Hamilton behind force.
06:572-0.
06:58He's faster in all corners with his nervous.
07:00Oh, okay.
07:02I am done.
07:03Done.
07:04How is that possible?
07:07Hamilton has gone used medium.
07:10That's his used medium.
07:11Yeah, this side feels terrible.
07:13How far we have to go with this side.
07:15To the end.
07:17Right on cue.
07:1920 seconds away.
07:19That's six currently.
07:21Let's have a little look at this off board, shall we?
07:24So into the corner.
07:26Linblad's just ahead.
07:28But Alonso's eking that out through the corners.
07:31And this is the bit where they switch around.
07:34And that was crafty.
07:36That would have caught Linblad out.
07:38I think he might even have been looking in the wrong mirror for that one.
07:40And there is Alex Albon by the side of the track.
07:44But this just...
07:45Oh, this gearbox has gone.
07:47Oh, it's such a shame.
07:49It really is.
07:50It just neutralizes things a little bit.
07:53Sergio Perez is well out of the way now.
07:55So this should be the last lap.
07:58But what's that?
07:59George Russell pulling over to the right-hand side.
08:01There's a Mercedes pulling over.
08:03And George Russell's out of the race.
08:07Oh, no.
08:09Ten year on.
08:09And that's Lando Norris off into the gravel.
08:13Well, ten years ago, Lewis Hamilton's engine went up in smoke.
08:18And with it is championship chances.
08:21Has history struck twice here in Sepang.
08:23This time with George Russell.
08:25And a power unit issue for him.
08:27They can't restart the race, though, with him there.
08:30So the safety car will remain out on track while they move that car.
08:39So he's warming up his tyres and brakes.
08:42Lando Norris gets to turn one.
08:45Puts his brakes on.
08:46And it's always taking avoiding action there.
08:50There's a car right where he didn't expect it to be.
08:52The pack all just backed up because of George Russell moving over.
08:56Going a lot slower than Lando was expecting.
08:59What happened?
09:00I wouldn't need to diagnose it, but it looks like a PU issue.
09:06Hamilton's going for it with Isaac Hadjar.
09:08He'll get overtake now.
09:10An extra half a megajoule of energy.
09:11And I don't think Hadjar's got that behind Kimi Antonelli.
09:15Here comes Lewis Hamilton.
09:16Hadjar's protecting the inside line.
09:18Hamilton's gone.
09:19And he's up into the podium places.
09:22Lewis Hamilton is third in this Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
09:26And you can hear what the local fans think about that.
09:29Mick Doohan, he knows a thing or two about a grandstand finish.
09:32Waiting to wave the chequered flag.
09:34Here comes Charles Leclerc.
09:35And making the move on Isaac Hadjar is not.
09:38And the best of restarts has now lost two places to two Ferraris.
09:42And he's down into fifth.
09:43He's got one more corner to go.
09:45It is the record for the longest gap between victories at a circuit.
09:49And it has never looked in doubt really this weekend, has it?
09:52Max Verstappen, nine years on.
09:54Rolls back the years.
09:56Wins in Sepang.
09:58Wins the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
10:01It's like he used to when he was winning the World Championships.
10:03He did the fastest lap of the Grand Prix on the last lap.
10:07I won 38-2.
10:08Yes, Max.
10:10What up, mate?
10:11Never a doubt.
10:12You're the man today.
10:1572, mate.
10:1672.
10:19Amazing job, guys.
10:21What a fantastic weekend.
10:23I have to give it to myself.
10:24Good to meet each other, everyone.
10:27It's been proud of me, it's up.
