Round 47/58: Hamilton overtaking Russell would be a symbolic gesture anyway when he ends his time at Mercedes. Even if he can’t reach a podium.

Round 45/58: Hamilton was 1.2 seconds faster than Russell on the previous lap!

Third-placed Leclerc is 22 seconds behind his teammate Sainz. Sainz is 5 seconds behind the leader. The commentators suspect that Sainz put too much pressure on in the early stages.

Round 45/58: Fifth-placed Hamilton shortens this gap a little. He is 12.2 seconds behind.

Round 44/58: Hamilton is now in fifth place! He is 13.9 seconds behind his teammate Russell, who is fourth.

“What is the gap?” Hamilton asks his team on the radio.

“You can do it,” they insist, trying to close the gap.

Round 43/58: At the front, Norris drives like a dream and extends his lead to 4.9 seconds.

Round 42/58: This is Jack Doohan’s first Alpine Grand Prix. The Australian is currently 14th and may be wondering if this is all just a dream.

McLaren’s Zak Brown chats: “We’re happy with how it’s going, Lando is happy with his tires… Lando looks good.”

Round 40/58: The gap between Russell in fourth and Gasly in fifth is 11.9 seconds.

This is the main reason why a podium finish is not in sight for Hamilton before he leaves for Ferrari.

Round 39/58: Magnussen sets the fastest lap.

Round 38/58: Hamilton is seventh. Brundle notes that a podium finish seems extremely unlikely. But that fifth place is easier to manage.

Round 37/58: Norris now leads by 3.3 seconds. This is a strong performance from the Englishman and his team will be praying he can pull it off.

Round 37/58: As it stands, McLaren will win the constructors’ championship by 13 points.

Round 36/58: Hamilton has now pitted and is in seventh place. He has Alonso and Verstappen behind him. Hamilton has medium tires.

Round 35/58: Nice repeat of Leclerc’s start. He catapulted himself from the finish line and gained several positions on the straight to the first corner. He is now third!

So currently it’s McLaren, Ferrari, Ferrari in the top three.

Round 34/58: Norris leads by 2.3 seconds.

Round 33/58: Could we see a safety car? I think Hamilton said there was a lot of debris on the track.

Round 32/58: Bottas is out of the race after an accident with Magnussen.

Meanwhile, on team radio, Verstappen calls those in power “stupid idiots” for giving him a 10-second penalty.

Round 31/58: Mercedes said in a radio conversation with Hamilton that they had a plan to secure third place for him.

Round 30/58: Lawson receives a 10-second penalty for leaving the pits with a loose screw.

(His front left tire was not screwed in.)

Round 29/58: Hamilton is in fourth place. He wasn’t in the pits yet. Verstappen now goes in and serves his 10-second penalty there. He returns in 11th place.

Round 28/58: Colapinto (Williams) is retiring.

“I’m sorry, Carlos, this is how it should be now,” comes a voice on the team radio. “It was a pleasure this year.”

Round 28/58: At the front, Norris has a 2 second lead over Sainz, who is pushing forward strongly from second place.

Round 27/58: Norris comes into the pits and it’s a textbook two-second stop that means he can re-emerge with the race lead.

Round 26/58: That was lucky for Lawson. He left the pit stop with the left front wheel detached, although – perhaps miraculously – it remained attached.

Round 26/58: Sainz pits for Ferrari and switches to hard tires.

Then Norris will soon go to the pits.

Round 25/58: It looks like Lawson has a problem after a pit stop as the left front wheel is not properly secured.

“The car fell over,” he says over the radio… but he’s back in the pits and there will be a penalty.

Round 24/58: Second-placed Sainz narrows Norris’ lead a little and it shrinks to 3.8 seconds.

Round 23/58: Leclerc is now eighth after his pit stop.

Round 23/58: Norris’ lead is 4 seconds.

Sainz, Russell, Verstappen and Hamilton now make up the top five after Leclerc pitted.

Round 21/58: “Watching Formula 1 from Swiss SRF footage is quite refreshing and neutral,” writes Dirk via email. “Verstappen was over half of Piastri in the first corner. Shouldn’t Piastri have made the wiser choice and given space under F1 rules?”

“That was also the SRF comment at the beginning.”

The stewards disagree… and the video evidence I’ve seen is that he didn’t get more than halfway through.

Round 20/58: “At the start there were two McLarens against a Ferrari. Now it’s the other way around. “That will put a lot of pressure on them and they have to do everything right from here,” said Brundle, observing the final of the constructors’ championship.

Round 19/58: After this penalty and his earlier spin, Piastri is now in 13th place. He tries to get past Fernando Alonso.

Round 19/58: Hamilton is sixth and has gained twelve places since the start. Verstappen fifth, Leclerc fourth.

Round 17/58: Norris’ lead is almost four seconds for the first time.

A few moments ago, world champion Verstappen complained that the tires on his Red Bull were getting too hot. “I can’t slow down,” he said.

Round 17/58: Hamilton and Gasly are the only drivers in the top 10 running hard tires. Everyone else drives medium.

Round 16/58: The top 10: Norris, Sainz, Russell, Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Lawson, Tsunoda, Gasly, Doohan.

Norris leads by 3.8 seconds.

Round 15/58: Lawson has moved up to seventh place at RB!

Round 14/58: Verstappen now moved up to sixth, overtaking Hamilton, who still did an incredible job to move up from 18th.

Could Hamilton secure a podium finish or, better yet, break up with Mercedes?

Round 13/58: Norris leads by 3.5 seconds.

Sainz, Gasly, Russell and Leclerc make up the top five.

The official times can be found here once you have registered.

11/58: Brundle is right about Verstappen. It was a stupid, selfish move that resulted in him and Piastri spinning in the first round. But on the other hand, it made a possible one-two for McLaren even more exciting…

Round 10/58: Lando Norris leads the race for McLaren by 3.3 seconds. With Piastri so far behind, it’s all about Norris getting the win. And if he wins, he will secure the constructors’ title, no matter what Ferrari does.

Ten-second penalty for Piastri!

“So unfair to Max“says co-commentator Brundle about the shunt in the first corner. “Red Bull is not represented in the (constructors’) championship. To make such a risky move. Did Piastri know he would do a lunge like that? It wasn’t necessary.”

Round 8/58: Piastri is currently under investigation for working with Colapinto at Williams.

Round 6/58: Ferrari’s Leclerc is in seventh place! He started 19th.