Russell: "Tyres are gone, we need to think about boxing."

We might hearing 'box, box' very soon for George Russell, as the Mercedes man tells his pit wall the tyres are done.

David Dalton: Who would've thought it, Ferrari have a Plan A in 2023

Laura DS: Always happy to hear what Plan Ferrari are on

Fernando Alonso can sense it's time to try and bump one, or both, of the Mercedes boys down the pecking order.

Jack Nicholls
BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

So Hamilton is struggling and Russell saying he has a bit more pace - he looks to be less than a second behind him.

First pit stop goes to the pink of Alpine of Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman switches to the hard tyres.

Verstappen: "Downshifts are giving me a bit of rear locking."

Team: "Understood, stand by."

Team: "Go back to strat eight Max and let me know if the downshifts change."

Hang on. Trouble at the Red Bull mill?

Max Verstappen radios in to tell his pit wall his downshifts are giving him a bit of bother.

Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter

Just been down to the Aston Martin and asked whether there was any damage on Fernando's car. They said haven't heard anything yet and everything seems ok so but fingers crossed the team-mates coming together won't have an impact on their race, going a little further into it.

The purple stopwatch decides to jump ship from the Mercedes of George Russell and makes its way over to the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. The Red Bull is flying out in front.

George Russell: "Is Lewis managing or is he slow because I feel like I have a bit more pace than him?"

Team: "Struggling, struggling."

Sam Bird
Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

Charles Leclerc's fastest lap is about eight tenths of a second slower than what Max Verstappen can currently do. At the moment Verstappen is very much in a league of his own.

George Russell is banking fastest laps but the 25-year-old wants to know how his Mercedes team-mate is getting on?

"Struggling. Struggling," comes the reply from his race engineer.

Trouble for the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda, as the Japanese racer thinks a tear-off has found its way down to his side pod. Tsunoda is down in 14th place.

Image source, Getty Images

Jack Nicholls
BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

There were concerns that Williams were going to be at the back of the grid but at the moment they've started fairly strongly. Solid so far from Sargeant.

Pierre Gasly has made tracks from the back of the grid in P20 to dizzy heights of 18th. His former childhood buddy and new Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon is just about hanging on inside the top 10.

Sam Bird
Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

That was a big lock-up [from Charles Leclerc] going into Turn One. That is not going to help his tyre life. It was mid to end of the braking zone so it should be OK but he can't do that too many times or that could be a big problem in this first stint.

Back to the battle of the team-mates now after Lance Stroll picked off Valtteri Bottas to go P8. How will Fernando Alonso react when he finds out it was the Canadian who hampered his chances within the opening few moments?

Valtteri Bottas finds the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll wanting to steal his position. The Finn loses out to the Canadian but at least Bottas is into the top 10 in the Alfa Romeo in eighth, having started his day in 12th spot.

Steve: Aston Martin team harmony already scuppered

Andrew: Alonso isn’t going to humour that sort of behaviour from his teammate for long, no matter who his dad is!