Live: Piastri flies into second after rapid start to Azerbaijan GP

“The soft tyre can clearly go half the race,” Verstappen says on the radio.

His engineer tells him he needs to be “patient”.

The track position is clearly the issue and there is no window for him to be put into that won’t compromise his race.

“I’ve got no front now, can’t really turn,” Hamilton, who is on the soft tyre, says,

He’s the first soft tyre driver to say he’s struggling.

Hadjar has gone for the overtake on Verstappen!

“Can I go for it or not?” Hadjar says on the radio!

“Keep it clean,” says the team.

Max Verstappen has been told nothing and is defending.

This is Webber vs Verstappen in 2018 all over again.

“I nibbled the wall on the right side,” George Russell says on team radio, asking them to check the pressures.

“It just doesn’t feel quite right,” he adds.

The team assure him everything is fine.

He hit the wall with a glance on the outside of Turn 15.

He’s clearly pushing, though.

Hadjar is told that the soft tyre is “the best race tyre” and he’s told to “look after it”.

I believe that’s code for: you’re staying out for as long as you can on these.

George Russell is flying, setting back-to-back fastest laps.

We are in the pit stop window at the moment but there is no window behind for him to drop into without being caught in traffic.

So he’ll stay out. But his lead is 9.4 seconds.

Aston Martin have decided to make a stop for Fernando Alonso.

And he’s going to stop.

Double DNF for Aston Martin.

20 of 22 runners still going around at half race distance.

Piastri is on the soft tyre.

Hadjar is on the soft tyre.

Neither of them are struggling.

Max Verstappen is on the medium tyre and is: “These tyres are not good,” he says.

George Russell is on the mediums too, and leads by almost nine seconds…

Hadjar makes a move, perhaps, but Verstappen defends.

“Tell him to keep pushing,” Hadjar says to his team, about Verstappen.

Blimey, he’s brave.

I think they need to let him overtake.

“Is he struggling now or not?” Hadjar says.

His team reply in the affirmative and say he’s going through a “tough period.”

“OK, but I have pace,” Hadjar says.

Permutations are being argued about in the background, you can be sure…

Verstappen’s tyre issues have got Red Bull a bit interested.

The team asked how much faster Hadjar would be able to go with clean air.

“2 or 3 tenths but honestly I’m happy here,” he says.

Interesting.

Lewis Hamilton, one British former World Champion, has come right up alongside Lando Norris.

Norris struggles and gets it all wrong into Turn Five and locked up then, at the end of the lap, Hamilton flew past into sixth.

Max Verstappen is getting annoyed on the team radio.

Fox Sports are reporting that there is plenty of bickering about strategy options and the tyres.

The field is all pretty compact so there is no real choice to pit at the moment because the traffic that would throw him into.

Verstappen is not getting the type of drive that he wants at the moment and we’re in a holding pattern at the moment.

George Russell is sailing off into the distance at the moment.

He leads by 6.5 seconds at the moment from Oscar Piastri.

He’s on the medium tyre that Max Verstappen is moaning about.

Verstappen is getting to within 0.6 of a second of Piastri at the end of the lap.

However, that gap is growing up to around a second through the first and second sectors.

Kimi Antonelli is sitting 12th at the moment.

He’s very close to Liam Lawson though, having just got past Alex Albon.

Still out of the points, but he is making his way steadily through the pack.

He is getting a lot closer to Piastri at the moment…

“I’m not sure these mediums are very good,” Verstappen says on the radio.

The tyre degradation has not been an issue at all this weekend but the former champion is complaining about his.

Colour me shocked.

His Aston Martin has developed an issue and he’s told to stop the car.

There is a yellow flag shown at Turn Three, just as Max Verstappen thinks about having a look at Oscar Piastri into the left hander.

There will be no safety car, virtual or otherwise.

Stroll has got quite good at parking the cars this season, to be fair…

This is good stuff from Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen is just being held at just over a second behind the Australian as things stand.

However, he gets a third of a second through the slipstream down the main straight.

Isack Hadjar is told in no uncertain terms that Max Verstappen is going to pass him.

“Max is behind you. Remember, race time is priority here,” says the radio.

Seconds later, Verstappen flies past his teammate and into third.

Next up, Piastri.

Max Vertsappen was 11km/h faster than his teammate Isack Hadjar on that lap down the main straight.

That’s serious pace.

The Red Bulls are on the charge, and they have the Papaya McLaren in their sights.