Radio check, Nico. Yep. I hear you.

Loud and clear. Okay, six minutes till we go. And then set whatever you want for start brake balance.

Five minutes till we go. Five minutes.

OK, Nico, it's three minutes till we go. When we fire up, we'll put you on the deck, do a static bite point learn, then you can set the pit limiter, keep the limiter until the line, and then go back to mode RS for the start.

OK, Nico, tyres. Everyone's on a medium, except for Stroll. P13 is hard. Sainz P16 is hard. Bottas P18 is hard. And Williams, we have no info.

Two minutes till we go. Two minutes.

On target, Nico, on target.

Mode push, mode push.

DRS enabled.

Feels like the understeer is building for the moment.

Understood, Nico.

Your sliding is good. Lifting coast is good.

Only sliding issue is traction exit of 7, otherwise doing good. Yeah, that feels really bad there. Copy.

So far this C4 is looking OK. Nico, this medium, it's all looking OK.

Feels stable.

Looks like Sainz in front of me is struggling a bit for grip. Not that hard.

Copy that, Nico.

So Ricardo behind just boxed because he had like a cooling issue. So now you have Bottas and Zhou behind both on hard. Kevin's already gone on to the hard just to get out of the traffic in the back, so we'll see what he says.

Grip is free. Consistent again. Feels sweaty.

Copy that. Wind is gusty and inconsistent, similar to FP3.

Out of turn 7, I just got no feel on the rear. Copy, we'll take a look.

The track might look low at the moment, but we are sliding along.

OK, understood, Nico.

How is Kevin going on the hard? I'll check.

No feedback yet. He's doing 30.3.

Oh, it's a whole lot better than us. I'm starting to struggle here more and more.

Copy that, Nico.

I have the pressure from the Alfa.

Yeah, copy that Nico, we're watching everything.

Last lap, track limit strike turn 1. Brake balance half percent rearward.

Is the tyre going away, Nico?

Not really, but just struggling and slow. We can go now or we can carry on. OK, stay out, stay out.

Just see how you can go and let us know.

Mode T4, Nico.

Bottas is still behind me.

Bottas and Zhou behind me. That's Bottas on a hard behind you, Bottas.

We are just nowhere at turn 7.

Go box or what? Box now, Nico, box now.

Mode RS. Hold brake pressure. Verratic 0.2.

Mode push. Mode push.

Okay, Kevin ahead on 8 lap hard and you have Zhou 5 behind. He just pitted from medium to hard.

Which plan are we on? Plan A, I suspect. Yeah, this is plan A. Plan A.

So just give it a reasonably gentle introduction until we get up to temp. You don't have to manage too much, but just don't overdo it.

I think we should have added a bit more probably at the stop. OK, understood.

Okay, a couple more cars pitting.

Introduction looking good. Hamilton and Ocon both come out on hard ahead of Kevin.

Gasly is boxing on to hard. Gasly will be close at exit.

Exit of 14, that's a bit sketchy. Copy.

Okay, Nico, so you are doing a good job on introduction. Kevin is suffering from deg now on the hard. If we do a better job, we should be able to make it go a bit longer. Good job.

Mike, track 3 and left throttle. It's okay, they work together for turn 1.

Negative. They do not work together, so just left toggle.

Suggest shape 3. Shape 3.

Again, understeer building.

How come we didn't talk about aero balance? We could have stopped.

Yeah, copy Nico. We'll definitely put some more on for the next one.

Probably a good chunk of point 7 or something like that.

Yeah, copy that.

Suggest shape 4. Shape 4. No.

We'll be close to a stroll pit exit. Stroll pit exit.

This is the hour lap of turn 1. Lost the rear as a very good example of a poor ride with the aero problem.

Copy that, Nico. Noted.

Okay, we have Sainz four behind. He just pitted into a second hard, so that means he's on a two-stop hard-hard medium. Many cars who started on medium look like they're going to be doing a two-stop as well.

And Kevin's already pinned it on to his second hard because he was struggling with high tech.

Press oil pump button. How's the take now? How's the balance? Yeah, it's slowly going away. We're in trouble.

Well, I'd say it's getting harder to maintain the lap time. Starting to slide more.

Yeah, copy that Nico. We're just seeing how we can help you.

We suggest EB4, diff 22 with the balance now.

Who's in the front? That's Bottas on his race start, hard, doing 32.5.

So Bottas is struggling now.

We still need to go a bit longer, Nico. How much more flap do we need on the next step? 5.7

Brake pace will be higher, so more flap, come off the EB and everything a bit more.

Is this tyre coming back at all, Nico?

Welcome back. It's stable where we are.

Box. I was too late, I was past. Yeah, we're gonna box next lap, Nico.

Why? This is not crazy, man. Maybe create more tyre delta?

I'm not super happy.

I could hang out a couple more laps.

Copy that, Nico.

No transcript available

Feels just costly now, which might be annoying this guy.

Okay, let us know how it feels in free air.

Feels OK. I can go this pace.

Okay, that's good, Nico. See where it goes.

So the next car behind is Albon 2.4. He's on a 10 lap old. He's doing 30.6 hard.

We can't afford to lose Albert Albon, I guess, because he's there.

Yeah, copy. He's still 30.6.

Still happy 0.7. Let's use it all now. I think so, yeah. Yeah. Copy.

I just think about tools reset.

Box now, Nico, box now. Very close to Bottas on exit.

Mode RS. Hold brake pressure. Think about closing up diff, opening diff.

Boat push. Bottas 2 behind.

Bottas on the 5.0 BDM. I lost music there, a little bit soft, but it's OK, it seems. Copy that.

How many laps did I do in my previous set?

You did 20 laps. There's 25 to go. Albon's inside our pit window and he's pretty quick, so you can start using the tyre now. We're past the introduction stage. Good intro. All good.

Should be 21 laps to go at the line.

Good laps. You're inside Albon's window. He's doing 30.3. He has to stop again.

Good laps. Albon 30.3, Bottas behind 30.3.

I got 21 laps on my display now. Is it 21 or less?

It's 9.19 at the line. We'll be lapped near the end.

Nico, first hard set looked good. Front right, light abrasion, otherwise all good. Wear life, no problem.

Albon still doing 30.5.

Everything looks really good on the tyres from our side, Nico. We're happy. Yeah, it's just... Go ahead. Yeah, I don't think I will take it. I'm just sliding. It's not the moment, it's sliding fishing.

Understood sliding and what was the last part? It would not be efficient. I would not get more lap time, maybe two to the corners and then I go back.

If I push forward a bit. Yeah, that's clear. Thank you.

Albon's still going on his hard. He's still doing 30.4, so his stop again and he'll be like five seconds behind by the time he stops.

Albon boxed. He'll be six behind and 14 laps to go.

What tyre is he on? So Albon just put on a new hard. And then the car behind is Zhou. He's on a 7-lap-old medium doing 29. And then Albon will have to get around him somehow.

So everyone go into the end now. Zhou 5 behind and Albon behind him. Gasly's 9 ahead. Same tyre issue.

Diff 22. OK, so Zhou behind on medium doing around 29.0. We expect his day to go well. Leave it. Just let me know when he's close.

It's now Albon behind on hard. Three seconds behind.

10 to go.

So Albon at 1.5.

Gap behind him. Zhou is three seconds behind Albon.

Nine laps to go because we're not going to be lapped.

Tyre age of two.

14 laps old, medium, 1.6 behind.

4 to go. Good lap.

Two to go, Nico.

We're starting last lap.

Checkered flag, Nico. Checkered flag.

OK, Nico, mode slow.

Oh, very good drive, Nico. Shame it wasn't for bore. That was a P15.

2023 is complete now. I'll still be on Timor for next year. Very good drive though.

Yeah, yeah, thanks. Yeah, just not the pace, I guess, the downforce, but go again next year. Hopefully with better tools. Thanks for this year, for all this work this year, guys. Look forward for more.

Yeah, copy that, Nico. Good job. It's been fun.

So, P1 was Verstappen.

So P1 Verstappen, 2 Leclerc, 3 Russell, 4 Perez, 5 Norris, 6 Piastri, 7 Alonso, 8 Tsunoda, 9 Hamilton, 10 Stroll, 11 Ricciardo, 12 Ocon, 13 Gasly, 14 Albon, here 15, then Sargeant, Checo, Sainz, Bottas and then Kevin.

OK, man. See you back here in a bit.

Ciao for now.