Thanks for the air check.

Yep, copy.

Okay, tyre-wise ahead of you is George Verstappen-Hamilton in 5-6-7 there on the hard tyre. Ocon P11 on the hard tyre. That's a good string of hard tyre runners from P13 to P17.

Rest on medium.

Limiter on.

So we've half the grid on hard tyre and more on plan B. Copy.

Yep. Copy.

That's 30 seconds.

That's 15.

At 5, remember, go FOM.

Temps are good. PU temps are good. Both Alpine confirmed on the hard tyre, Alex. So it's just you and Tsunoda on the medium around you.

Grid launch was on target.

So looking for four burnouts. And we'll go 2% shallow to target.

Check pull-toggle.

OK, so red flag Alex, red flag.

Safety carb on. No overtaking.

Coming through the pitlane, leave yourself some room around the car when you stop.

OK.

Yeah, Paris is okay, yep.

Just check the floor because I had to skip the door to the turn 1 kerb. Understood.

Radio check, Alex. Yeah, copy. Okay, copy. Target 42.42.

So it will be a standing start. Once we fire up and send you, the safety car will pull off to the side of the pit exit and it will just be a formation lap straight to the grid and then the start. Yeah, have all the other cars made it. All the repaired cars.

I don't have tyres.

I've got potentially pitlane start.

Formation lap. I'll give you the gap to Tsunoda in the gap ahead of him.

Pace confirming. P9 on the grid.

The clutch drops, it'll be go form when you're ready.

Just one minute till green.

And Ocon did not make the start. He's out.

20 seconds. Mr Tsunoda on a hard in front of you. Gasly on a medium behind.

10 seconds, that's it, and then you're straight to the formation up.

Gap in front of Tsunoda currently 5 seconds.

Gap in front, Tsunoda, 8 seconds.

That's going to be four burnouts. Four.

Target is the pitlane.

DRS enabled.

We can get the softer shift settings in whenever you need. That's green, 10, position 2, whenever you need.

There's so much management, it's really hard to keep the car straight. Just with all this fucking up and all the corners.

So the top four all fitted the hard in the red flag.

Turn green, turn position 2 will be the softer shift settings if you need.

We're happy for you to go forward on brake, guys, if you need to help generate a bit more front temp.

I've lost all the beats in my ears for shits.

The fact is...

HPP on. I'll confirm the switch.

Switch is good.

Tyre temps are still gradually increasing.

What's the communication on Lewis? What's he saying?

So George Verstappen-Hamilton on the medium.

It doesn't look like George can pull away too far in front of Verstappen at the minute. So gap between the two Mercs is about 8 seconds.

I have a tough run ahead of these, George.

He needs twice the gap to get a safety car window, fam.

So, technically, the two Mercs from Verstappen do not need to pit again, but they're all on the medium. 65 laps to go.

And we're just watching lifting coast levels for you. Tyre temps are still coming up, but we may need to think about reducing to keep some temps up.

The gap to George is P5 on the medium is only seven seconds ahead.

So two Mercs have started to pick up the pace.

Yeah, but Yuki isn't. He's just cruising. I mean, we are driving around at about two seconds behind him. Yeah, I found...

When you can, there's a switch change. Blue 3, position 5. Blue 3, position 5.

This guy is just taking the views.

So, 58 laps to go. We're happy with tyres at the moment.

So, George has now got a VSC or a safety car pitstop.

Tsunoda is probably going to pick up the pace a bit.

What's Yuki's team playing about him? Are they just telling him to drive slower and slower or is he struggling at all?

It would be worth me just trying to put in a little bit more pressure.

And there's no strategic comments gone through. They've asked him to reduce lifting coset.

How's the tyres for you at the moment? I'm driving around at about...

No transcript available

Tsunoda has been told his pace is good.

And it looks like they're happy to give safety carpet stop to the Merckx-Verstappen now.

How much slower are we than the guys up front?

Top four, they're mid-18, so about two seconds.

There's been comments from Norris and Ricciardo about front left abrasion on hard.

Nope, not for me.

So Tsunoda has been told to hold pace and that's probably a free pitstop for the two Mercs Verstappen now.

Tsunoda being told to push a little bit more on the tyres.

What's going on behind me?

So it's eight seconds back to Gasly and Stroll. They're on the medium. They don't need to pit again, but they're on the medium.

So that's just a case of everybody managing tyres to prevent any graining. There's 42 laps to go.

Feedback on tyres when you can.

What?

I'm just trying to reduce the lyco and get the bulk off a little bit. I'm strapping a little bit too much.

So, to pre-empt some of the drop, I can push a little bit more through three.

So the gap to Tsunoda was four. He's been asked to slow down. Gap now two and a half.

For what? Why are they braking so damn much? Probably just trying to get to the end. There's 37 laps to go.

What's the gap behind?

Capture Gasly at 7. He's managing on the medium.

Is he holding the whole train behind him?

Currently not, behind Gasly is a 10 second to race leader Leclerc.

Let me know when Charles is about three laps away from me.

We'll do things to help temps. In the meantime, green 12, position 9 when you can. Green 12, position 9.

The problem is this pace is too slow for my tyres. So I need to get Yuki to get a move on.

This will be about four laps until we start to get the blue flags. We need to try and pre-empt some of that temp drop we're going to get.

So the green switch has already been done and if we can push a little bit more through 3, I'll put some pressure on Tsunoda, that may help.

OK, so the top four now pass Gasly. From P1 to P4 there's a six second gap.

Two cars, six seconds. It's six seconds to Leclerc and the top four are separated by six seconds. But they're continuing too quickly.

Three sets, four laps.

They were doing low 18s.

So it's three back to Leclerc, four back to Piastri.

OK, that's Blue, Leclerc, Piastri one second behind Tim and there's a two second gap to the next one.

And lean on it 33 if we can.

I believe that Sainz Norris is right behind him.

Okay, so Gasly is six back, no threat. Let's put some temp back in and Tsunoda will struggle with taking four blues.

The tyres look back to where they were pre-blue flags.

Very happy with the tyres. Tsunoda has been told to push on a bit.

How is he? Is he stressed?

Is Tsunoda stressed? He's just been asked to push. It's very slow still.

OK, we need HPP off. I'll confirm the switch.

Tsunoda is trying to back you up so that we don't get a safety car pitstop window on Gasly.

He's 12 seconds, Gasly, he's 12 seconds behind. And in four laps we'll see George.

If he slows me too much, like he's doing now in turn 3, tell the stewards if I hit him, it's his fault. He's just slashing the brakes into turn 3. Very dangerous.

Copy that. He's doing it awesome in 10, 12 and 13. Like, you don't have to be crazy to take it around like this.

Yeah, he's really dangerous.

I expect Georgia Verstappen in about one lap. Tire temps are good at the minute.

I'm going to take out my front wing with him.

The situation ahead has been reported.

It's reported but it's not changing.

Copy that, so that's blue for George Verstappen right behind him and then a four second gap to Hamilton.

I expect Hamilton in one lap. That's it.

OK, that's pretty fair, Watson.

14 to go, 1-4.

HPP off.

Switch is good.

Suggest push toggle turn 10 if you're struggling with rear locking.

He's doing it again. Yeah, they're playing games with the safety car window.

Eight laps to go, eight to go.

That's Zhou for exit. Easy lap down.

5 to go.

Three laps to go, three to go.

Starting the last lap now.

Lovely stuff, P9.

Yeah, yeah, well done. I'm not sure what race that was, but the hard work was done yesterday. Well done, well deserved. Yeah, it was too slow to pace. My tyres just fell out the window and I could never get them back up to temperature.

Well done everyone. A lot of hard work and I know it's been a tough start to the season. Hopefully this could be the start of where we turn it around.

Well done, Alex. It's our first points of the season together at a place that's always been a challenge for us, but it's great to see your laps yesterday and just how you brought it home today. Well done. The start of our season is here.

I'll give you some switches before the tunnel. Blue 3, position 4, NHPP off.

Go race, go race.