P1 with Matt and Tommy - Azerbaijan GP 'Sprint Day' Reaction

Episode Date: April 29, 2023

We share our honest thoughts on the first ever F1 'Sprint Day' as Sergio Perez took the win from Charles Leclerc. Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back. One podcast with Matt and Tommy. Today is a sprint day. The first ever dedicated sprint Saturday. And my God, was it awful? I'm here to talk about it. It's Tom Bellingham, the co-founder. Are we going to mince our words, Tommy? Are we going to start talking about how Formula One are potentially ruining the sport? maybe that was a bit too that was a bit over the top but I don't yeah it wasn't good was it that wasn't I don't think that was the best example of the new structure we said they were absolutely loving it yesterday

the fact that it played perfectly into their hands of less practice equals exciting qualifying and all those kind of stuff but the reality is today has been very much the opposite where we got a bit of a sting I think I think. We certainly did, but what was good was the five-star revating.

You went review and rating at the same time, didn't you? Let's just keep going. What was good was the five-star rating from CWS, 1967, from the United States of America. If you want yours read out, please leave us a five-star review. We read every single one of them, I promise you. And we will select one of yours to feature in the next episode. So CWS says, I've been following F-1 since the 1990 season. I wasn't even born then.

Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. When I had a chance to be at the Montreal Grand Prix, when I worked for a sponsor, over the years I've paid more or less attention to F1, depending on what was happening in my broader life. Having found Matt and Tommy in their past gig, and now with the even better P1, I am hooked on their banter,

and as a result, I found my focus on F1 to have intensified and grow to a whole new level. Thanks, chaps. Oh, thank you, CWS, 1967. Just don't listen to this podcast. we're about to slander it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sorry for what you're about to hear, but I think maybe you might have the same opinion. Listen a lot. Listen along, I can't speak. I've literally lost the ability to speak because I'm so in tune with my brain of how to fix Formula One that I can't do anything else.

So, right, let's talk about the morning first because we had lots of action today, Tommy. Well, I say lots of action. We had an hour of Formula One running over the course of today, which is the least we've ever seen for a long time when it comes to Saturdays, because usually we have an hour for FB3

and then an hour for long qualifying. Instead, we had half an hour for short qualifying and half an hour for the race. What did we make of this morning stuff? I had a lot of people saying they actually preferred the shorter qualifying session and wouldn't mind it anyway to have that shorter session.

I don't know. I saw it and I found it a bit weird after going straight into it, having had the really exciting qualifying yesterday. For me, I think the problem is, I didn't hate it. I'm not like, I'm not like really anti doing it. I just think I would have preferred maybe something a little different. It feels strange for me to go into qualifying and then do exactly the same format again.

I'm still going to die on this hill that they just do the one lap qualifying from the mid-2000s. goes out in order one by one, then you don't have the problem with part usage and all this kind of stuff. And it also makes it a little bit different. We get to see everyone's laps. And yeah, it's just a bit a bit different. So yeah, it was a bit of a weird one. I didn't despise it, but I would have preferred something a bit different personally. Yeah, the only variable that was really something that we experienced was the slightly shorter sessions, but I mean, does that really change much? But the fact that the mediums had to be used in Q1 or SQ1 and SQ2,

but I completely agree with you, Tommy. It just felt like we'd already seen it in some ways. We've got pretty much to say order, right? Yeah, and it's very similar as well to what we've seen today going into tomorrow. It does feel like some people might say teasers, other people might say spoilers for what we actually might be able to look forward to. And as I'm kind of still processing sprints and where it really places in my mind, I think the one big thing for me is just that I don't think I need this as a long-term hardcore Formula One fan,

which is not everybody. We've had a huge influx of newer fans. So I'll be really interested to hear what they think. But for me personally, I don't need actually. all the time. I don't mind having practice. I'm not saying three practice sessions, but I don't mind two practice sessions, for example, and that lead up to the big Saturday and the big Sunday. Instead, what we had this weekend, which is something that I was a little bit worried about beforehand, was having a big Friday, a Saturday, which eight points are on the line, it's a short, it's a 17-lapse sprint we saw today. And then Sunday, again, it's a big Sunday,

but have we already seen bits and pieces to be able to figure out, okay, Charlotte Clair's going to be screwed now and all that sort of stuff that kind of ruins the veil over a Formula One race, the mystery. Do you know what I mean?

Friday was more exciting, wasn't it? I'd say, I'd argue, that you had full qualifying, you know, the same thing happened in qualifying, and it was exciting that, you know, Shal put that lap in the end and got pole, but because we'd already seen it, it wasn't quite, you could see that from even your reaction,

that the Friday, it was like, oh my God, I can't believe this. I can't believe someone's actually beating the Red Bulls. This is epic. But then when you see it again, the next day, it's not quite that same feeling. So, yeah, I will admit I'll do that thing that you're not allowed to do apparently on the internet and say that I was wrong. But as the biggest kind of practice hater, I think this weekend has confirmed to me that I would rather them, ditch practice altogether than replace it with something. I think the less practice element has made it good because we've got Charlotte

Claire on pole. It's a bit of a mixed up grid and you had a bit of carnage in qualifying. But I don't necessarily think that means that you have to replace practices with every single crazy sessions for it to be like super entertaining all the time. Because also this sprint shootout, Formula One is massive in America right now. a lot of new US fans. And it was on at two in the morning for some people over there. And you think, what's the point?

And also, I looked at the crowd as well, and it was so early, you didn't have that many. The grandstand didn't look completely full like you would for a Saturday qualifying session. So it's clearly not, still not quite there, is it? Yeah, the timings have been all over the place. Tomorrow we've got the race at midday UK time. And you had the sprint race today at half two. and you had sprint qualifying or sprint shootout, wherever the hell they call it these days at half nine in the morning.

And then you've got this big period of time where you go, can I go and do something? Can I go out for the date? No, not really, because I've got to be back for the 17-lap shootout. So, yeah, it sounds like we're complaining a lot, but that's because we are. And I've just, it's not perfect.

And I genuinely think they've taken a step in the wrong direction potentially. I'll still wait and see it as we move forward for the other races. But I don't like this, that was my big thing that I was worried about and I don't think I like it as a more is less is not the way it is it's always less is more with Formula One in my opinion and you can have too much action

or too much let's go and maybe get some action but have one stint of a Grand Prix where nothing ever happens like we see quite a lot of the time in these sprints yeah the sprint that for me is the biggest problem with the sprint race on paper less practice, mini race, sounds absolutely perfect.

But the reality is, I'm not against the sprint. The problem is I don't like the fact that I just don't think the sprint format works because you're having the first portion of a race, no reverse grid. I put up my Twitter, no reverse grids, no, everyone's pretty much on the same tires apart from the guys that started on soft, which was disastrous, but no one at the front really rested. So everyone's on the same tires. They can go easily to the end.

Where's the, like, you're in an order where the Red Bulls are at the front because they've qualified. Of course you're not going to get any overtaking. Of course you're not going to get any action. And it's not really surprising. The only time you're ever going to get any sprint action for me is when, you know, it's raining or something because you're actually going to get some kind of variable. Formula One always plays out in that first half of the stint

where first 17 laps of Baku tomorrow, you might look at the crazy races we had at Baku in 2017 and 2018. I bet if you watch the first 17 laps and finished it there, it's not a particularly great race. But you get a pit stop, then someone goes off, then something happens. You have a full Grand Prix where things happen, and that's where things happen, not a very short step. You've got a question as well with this new format,

why we only have 17 laps or 100 kilometres or whatever they, you know, they restrict themselves at when we have less running. There's less running on a Saturday now than what there was previously. This is technically replacing qualifying, you're giving the fans less time. Yeah, there's one hour. That's all you see is Formula One cars for an hour on a Saturday. And you're telling me they're spending 100, 200 quid at least,

if you're going for that one day. Obviously, a lot of people get for three days. So for me, that's the big question And perhaps is now showing its head That they've perhaps rushed this They'd only signed it off on Tuesday So that's that in itself is pretty crazy You would think that would have been announced

At the top of the season They've thought about it a lot Let's adjust it But if I go on a Saturday You've got to wait five hours Yeah, you have the support series and so on But a lot of people are there for Formula One That's their main reason

that they would spend a huge amount of money and they don't get a huge amount on Saturdays. So what I would suggest is let's make the sprint race half race distance at the very least. Lando Norris has said, why don't we introduce an ultra soft tire that everyone has to go on or something like that, he said, which then forces a pit stop.

Pirelli can swap that out, surely. That's something that would add that element of spice, which I don't think many people would be against. We need to see something thrown into these sprints. Because as you say, Tommy, there's not enough in there in order for it to breed chaos. If that's where we're going down. If not that, reverse grids. There's all kinds of options we can go down.

Some will be worse. Some will be better. But this one is by no means perfect. No. And even with the now, you know, people think that Formula One drivers will, oh, they'll go for it more now because it doesn't affect their qualifying tomorrow. But other than the first lap, George Russell and Max must happen, other than the first lap,

you can't really do anything. And the cost cap exists. It's not like a free reign. Yeah, exactly. It's all right going. If you crash, it costs. Oh, they're not going for it. They're trying very hard.

And I'm sure someone like, you know, Alex Halber in a Williams, who was very vocal on the radio, going to that in a bit. But he, you know, would love to try and overtake people. But he's, you know, what's he going to do? his car isn't quick enough it's not that he's not trying

and not going to go for it because it's not going to affect his result the next day. I don't think that's an issue at all. I think the problem is as soon as you get past that first lap, it just kind of resets itself. And then you actually are just resetting the grid.

I think Alex Halber was vocal saying, oh, what a surprise. The top four cars are in the top eight. Top four teams, yeah. Top four teams are in the top eight. And then he even said it was boring, I think. Exactly. And that's going to happen every weekend, surely, unless someone crashes on the first lap.

100%. So it seems like the drivers aren't massive fans of it. I'm sure the top four teams don't mind it so much. But for those behind, it really, there's no real point in participating. Literally. No point. There was actually quite a bit of battling towards the back of the field. They're probably just having a bit of banter.

But I don't know. Well, let's get on to the actual race, shall we? and talk about what went on, even though the first part is Paris taking P1 from the Claire, which I don't really want to talk about. And again, sort of gives us a very big indication as to what we're going to see tomorrow. And that's a big problem, I think, in some ways.

The sprint needs to be so different that it doesn't ruin what could happen in the real race. And I think the ultrasofts or something that is only used for the sprint is something that then can work alongside the main race because that's still a little bit different. And I like the way that they were trying SQ1, SQ2 with just mediums. That's something we hadn't seen. So we were like, oh, Charles looking good on the mediums.

That was new information for us. So we enjoyed that part. But then as soon as we got some softs, we had, oh, you know, we've kind of seen this before. So, yes, Peres took P1. But Leclair was looking very handy for the first sort of 12 or so laps. It seemed like he was going to actually hold on. He had DRS for maybe half a lot of. of those laps, but then we realized that Vastappen had a hole in his car and LeClaire would have

finished easily third if Max didn't have that incident with Russell. Yeah, the fact that Max was right on the back of LeClaire with a hole in his car. I didn't see that it was that bad until the end. That was a big surprise. But yeah, LeCleur did everything he could. But I think one thing that was interesting that I'd forgotten about, and is this peak Charles Leclair's luck that the one? one time he gets himself into P1, there's a new rule in the sprints where you don't have to wait

three laps. Now, I don't know whether Lecler could have, for DRS, sorry, yeah. So I don't know when, sorry, yeah, actually finished that sentence. Yeah, but for me, if, it would have been borderline. I maybe don't think that he would have, it would have been, it probably would have been the same result anyway, I think, because they fell off at the end, didn't he? If you look at what happened as well when Perez, the first lap, when Perez didn't have DRS and how quickly he was catching him down the straight, I think you told me afterwards that Russell said that if they, Mercedes said that,

Russell joked. Yeah, Russell joked with a Sky interview and said that, and he was being, I think he's been serious in the same sentence that if Mercedes took off their rear wing completely, Red Bull would still be faster in a straight line by their calculations. That is mad. and that just showed that Perez even without DRS was catching LeCler and could go by and Perez is probably just managing the gap

and if anything LeClair probably being that close to Perez was the fact that he could stay within DRS. So yeah, that was a weird one. I don't think it changed much though, did it, DRS? Because again, it was on quicker after the safety car as well, wasn't it? Yeah, I don't know how to feel about that rule. that rule. I think sometimes it will work in favour of exciting racing. You might get people when Verstappen's leading, basically. Basically is what it is. The fact that the first time they've

done it, of course, is the time that an underdog is leading. Exactly. Which I think, but yeah, when someone like Vastappen or a Peres can be attacked on the first lap and it might be a bit close said, that's when it's going to potentially be a good rule. But just like everything in Formula 1, sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't. Unless it's the sprint, which it will always be terrible unless they change it, like it reverse quids. Well, I think Formula 1, let's look at the positive side. They're willing to try things. Yeah, yeah. So let's hope they do tweak it when they listen to the fans' opinions. I don't think it was a unanimous positive coming out of this weekend so far. I know that we speak for, you know, a few people, but we don't speak for everyone.

We don't speak for the casuals, but it would be interesting to see how many people actually tuned in to Saturday as well, because there was that big gap between short quali and then the sprint race. We've also touched very briefly, but we'll talk a bit more about it, Vestappen versus Russell. So Vastappen, we thought, well, we heard the team radio, didn't we, that he had floor damage. But it turns out he had a massive hole on the left-hand side of his side pod. which I reckon was costing him quite a bit of time, especially dragging down the straight. So I imagine quite a bit of extra drag there.

And that was through the collision with George Russell on lap 1. Verstappen was rather furious, was he not, after the race, actually went and spoke to George. And George kind of apologized, said, I got no grip, and he didn't seem like he was trying to be very combative. But then Max lost the plot a little bit. and even called him a D-head, which I'm sure you can fill in the blanks there. So for me, as the incident itself, I saw it very much as a racing incident.

Max was putting himself in that position. And as George said in his post-race interview, he was actually surprised that Max was continuing to go around the outside. I think we both were when we were watching on the Twitch watchalong. We were going, oh, Max is still there, still trying it on lap one with cold tires and the heaviest the car's going to be in the race. So I would argue that Max kind of put himself in that position in some ways.

And it was the tiniest of touches. We're not talking about a big lockup spearing into the side of him. I think he was very unlucky to pick up the amount of damage he did. Yeah, it wasn't like George Russell when he did the thing with science. Yeah.

It's very much two cars, not going to give an inch. And the nature of Baku, you're going side by side into that corner there, sharp 90 degree turns. And yeah, I think Vestappen, it's all right for Vestappen to say,

oh, you know, what's he doing on lap one, trying to, you know, acting like he's got nothing to lose. But that's the thing. Russell does have nothing to lose because he's starting 11th tomorrow. It's not going to affect his race.

He's going to try and do something and get a load of points. And that's even what Max's race engineer said was that they have nothing to lose. Yeah. But Vestappen does. So that's why I'm so surprised that he didn't just back out and think, you know what? Because Vestappen's easily going to get him on the, as soon as DRS is enabled, like we mentioned earlier,

Russell having no rear wing still wouldn't be able to out drag him. So I think Vastappen, yeah, probably you should have just thought about the championship in that moment, let him go by and he's going to get back through. So I just think it's a racing incident. I watch the replay. It's not like Russell's steaming into the corner. They're both turning full lock into the corner. Russell's made the apex.

Fustappan's ahead, but going around the outside. And I think the actual damage of Fustappan having a huge hole in his car is actually one of those things where that quite easily could have been just bumping wheels or a little chip off his end plate or something. the damage looks a lot worse than what the incident actually was. And I'm surprised Verstappen carried on around the outside again

for a second time and actually kind of hit the wall a little bit, trying to stay. And maybe he was concerned that he was going to lose a place to science as well if he let Russell go. But yeah, a surprising one, I think, for Vastappen,

but also not surprising because that's the way he races. Yeah, I wonder if this whole sprint race format is something that was, playing on Max's mind slightly in that sense of urgency of, well, I've only got 17 laps. I want to win this race. And if George Russell gets ahead of me for a couple of laps, you've got Charle and Sergio.

Yeah. And Checo's been really good this weekend. They've been on a level with each other. So there probably was that sense of urgency. If George passes me, then that's the race win done. But then, as you say, the championship should also be in your mind. Because if you DNF and Sergio scores eight points, that's a big swing in comparison to.

to him finishing third. So yeah, interesting, but racing incident for me. Yeah. And the clip of Estappen calling him a D-head, that's Drive to Survive in the trailer, every single clip. They're going to play that. That'll be if you watch the new series of DTS, they play Silverstone 100 times.

They'll probably use that in every single clip. They'll probably Photoshop George Russell with a different driver for every time Max has a collision calling him a D-Head. Yeah, yeah. I love it. Max clearly did not realize that that, Max clearly did not realize that camera had a microphone on it. Because not, I don't think it usually does necessarily, or at least the audio isn't usually turned up. No, and, you know, it's the heat of battle. Let's not forget that, you know, we've had it before. I think it was Hamilton called Vestappen, the very same word in one of the races back in 2018, I think, and equally, he didn't know that he was being recorded

and it's easy to kind of be like, oh, what an asshole or whatever, but you've just come out of Formula One car, the adrenaline's flames. And imagine what people are like on Twitter, and they've not been in a Formula One car with the adrenaline pumping and how passionate they are. And this is their careers and their jobs. Of course they're going to be stressed about it and passionate about it. And I'm sure, you know, once Max has calmed down,

he'll probably just be like, yeah, it is what it is. Exactly. It's not that big of a deal. Some people will be up in arms about it. It was clearly a moment. Oh, okay, hold on. What did he just say to him sort of things? You don't hear this from the F1 drivers usually.

But it will get smooth, though, very, very quickly. Had to be a Merck versus Red Bull, didn't it? It certainly did. Now, let's move on to a man that I wish to apologize to. God's sake. for the biggest flop in our Thursday prediction video. Of course, I went for Yuki Sonoda. And wow, we, did Yuki Sanoda have a race?

So how it unfolded for him, I didn't see this until I saw it on social media afterwards, was there seemed to be some kind of contact down at turn three with Nick DeVries. Nick DeFri, very similar to Verstappen and Russell in the sense of just getting squeezed on the right-hand side towards the wall. there was a bit of contact, it seemed maybe with Sonoda's front wing to Nick DeVries's right rear wheel. And then we of course all saw Sonoda just having a huge amount of understeer smashing into the wall. Then his tyre fell off and was just rolling down the hill, which was quite comical. But then what was even more comical was Yuki Sunoda going 45 degrees and just crabbing the whole way round. It was certainly a Saturday to forget for Yuki. And also for Alfa Tauri

for sending him back out after yeating himself in the wall. Yeah, I know. What a bizarre thing to watch his car like crabbing around for an entire lap. But I think the weirdest thing about this new format is he's going to be starting P8 tomorrow, which is going to kind of confuses my brain. What penalty are they going to get, though, after the unsafe release? Oh, yeah, this is the thing. They might get penalised. Because the part Femé and the penalty and all that sort of stuff is all very confusing as to where that actually gets applied to. Oh, my God. I've just realized that you've just cursed him so much that he's actually going to get a penalty for his qualifying position that he did

really well. Oh, for God's sake. I actually don't know if there has been confirmation yet, but I feel like that's going to happen just because you voted him biggest flop. But yeah, he could well easily get a penalty for that for that. And God, what a shocker.

What a shocker if they end up losing that an amazing qualifying position for absolutely no gain. Because as soon as his wheels fall enough, he's not finishing P8. You know, even if there's absolute carnage, we've said it before. The top four teams are getting those.

To be fair, though, if they had just had a quick look at it, I mean, last year they put a bit of duct tape on the rear wing. They may have just gone, oh, just stick a new wheel on it, mate. It'll be fine because every lap in this race weekend is crucial for a Formula One team just to gather data to find out. Especially for no practice as well. Exactly, to find out how the tyres degrade, what the car feels like, and so on. So I can understand why they sent him back out if they deemed his car okay,

but clearly they didn't see what actually went on or the fact that his right rear was completely mangled. So yeah, sorry, Yuki, I think is the main thing coming out of that. Dare you. Yeah, maybe I'll go for Yuki next time, I promise. So let's go back to Sprint Day, the format, the new thing. What do we think? We asked you on Twitter.

We've got 7,500 votes. And 78% of you do not like the new format. Hmm. Yeah, we asked, did you enjoy sprint day? Seventy-eight percent? No. Obviously, this, this, if it had been a bang-up, people would have been like, oh, my God, yes. But the problem for me is there, it's so rare for it to be a banger because realistically, how? How are you going to get a banger when they're on the same tires? There's no reverse grid. Say it every time, every single sprint. I mean, the only way, the only way. way we're going to get a banging sprint race, I think, is if it rains in the morning session and you get a mixed up grid, because then you're going to see people overtaking. But there's just not enough variety in there for it to work. And then I also think that I like the fact that you then at least had the grid to decide so there was something interested.

Not going to lie, this doesn't normally happen with Formula One, but we just added the results into the podcast sheet. And that is the first time that I've looked at it, because it doesn't matter from eighth downwards. I didn't even, I didn't even process where anyone else finishes because it literally has no meaning whatsoever. And for me, that's weird.

So yeah, it's just very odd. Crazy Nairo comes in with the question. Thoughts on whether you prefer last year's sprint format Or this year, I actually think I prefer last year. One, because it wasn't just action, action, action, action, action, action all the time. But mainly because it's all rolled into the same weekend. I'm not a fan of two race weekends in one, which is essentially what this is. It's a shorter one and a longer one.

Whereas in the sprint race, last year, if something crazy went on, you went, oh my God, well, this is going to impact the real race. I know on the other side of the argument, some drivers made up for their poor qualifying and came through in the sprint race. But there was always that sort of feeling of jeopardy that could be round the corner if Verstappen blew up or Leclerb or whatever, because it was all linked into one thing

and that was the main race on Sunday. It all crescendoed somehow into the main race on Sunday, even if some points were scored for the sprint, Whereas this, this is its standalone thing. Saturday is Saturday and that's it. And I'm not a fan of that. No, I completely agree. It's a weird one that you just have this mini weekend,

all condensed into essentially a miniature Formula One for the TikTok generation, 30 minutes, super overly quick. But the problem is there's no action. And I don't like the fact that for me, had a really exciting qualifying on Friday is taking me a little bit of time to sort of get my head around that that is now the order that we're going to be. And you know, things change in Formula One. I'm not against change, but there will be good things that they've changed.

You know, they've made some great changes to Formula One recently. But for me, I don't think this one has worked because, yeah, it's just, it's just made that kind of strange miniature day in the middle. And it to me highlights even more the problem with sprints where you're now dedicating an entire day to Formula One for very little action. And I don't understand when we're ever going to get a huge amount of action. We're not one hour of running on Saturday for a five, six hour potentially window that we have to kind of lock out.

I mean, you can pop out. I did. But you're always like, oh, I've got to get back for the Formula One. I can't go away or do something I know and this is the thing because like I've been a big sort of you know oh get rid of all the practice sessions

yeah this is your doing this is literally you're doing Tommy Formula One did this for you and you've ruined the sport no how day but this is the thing I think yeah now now I've seen it

it does feel a bit like I've won but at what cost generally like if there's a practice session on you can choose not to watch it. And my argument always for no practice is the fact that you, it makes the racing better when you don't have it. It's not the fact that it exists. And if it exists, it's fine.

I can go out and not watch it. And I'm fine with that in my life. But this has just shown that, yeah, like when there's like constant sessions, I'm not like, I'm a diehard Formula One fan. I'm not missing. This is going to happen again. And I'm not going to go, even if it wasn't my job, I'm not going to go, no, I'm not going to watch it.

Because it's a qualifying in a race. It's a qualifying in a race. And absolutely am I going to be tuning in again on Saturday, even if it's terrible. And I will think it will be terrible. And that's the problem. It is that kind of like, yeah, there's almost like too much. And I do now, now I see this.

I do think the building into the weekend is a nice thing. The final question comes in from at Ijo 345. The question needs to be, would you rather watch free practice for two hours or a sprint race for 30 minutes? Oh my God. I think I'm about to say I'd rather watch cars on track for two hours than a sprint race for 30 minutes.

I guess it's an hour fully. No, I don't know. It's weird there because the expectation. I want a mixture. You know what I mean? I want an hour. Absolutely. In three weeks time, you get this question again.

You're like, no, give me those five red lights coming on. I'm going to be absolutely buzzing. Yeah. But we come back to the less is more argument. Yeah. If you see those five red lights too many times, even in Australia, we're like, I've got another red flag.

Are you kidding me? Too much of a good thing, Tommy. It makes it less good. But I'm not saying I'd rather just have free practice for two hours, but I'm sure there's a happy medium in there where we can have a bit more running on a Saturday. It doesn't all have to be for bells and whistles and trophies and points and fastest laps and everything else.

Yeah. I think Formula One is in a very dangerous position right now where we could go down the wrong route and the integrity of what Formula One actually is could potentially be in a bit of bother. Because the problem is, as well, that fans, I mean, you know, it's only the fans that we've polled, but you look at the 78% that they didn't like it. Then it's like, do they listen to the fans and change it again?

And then you're like, oh, it's another change, there's another set of rules to learn. You know, even us that are meant to be experts in inverted comments, we're not. but we absorb a lot of Formula One content. And there's so much to learn. And we saw so many fans because they're, you know, they're big enough fans to join us for our Twitch streams and watch the racing and stuff. And they're like, which is this one again?

Because not everyone can consume Formula One every second of every day. We're in a very privileged position that we can. But a lot of people coming into this weekend going, wait, so there genuinely might be people that have watched that. that have no idea that that's not now going to be the order for tomorrow because you might not have seen it. It's very easy not to see things

because there's a lot of content out there and things going on in the world. So, yeah, it just make you wonder, three years' time, six sprint races in the weekend, like what's it going to be? Are they going to just keep changing it every time there's a bad race? I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. That's the problem. Exactly.

none of our suggestions that we've made in this podcast are perfect, but we'd be really interested to hear yours. So please do share them, whether it'll be on our social media or wherever, just message us, because it is one of those debates that doesn't have a right answer, but there's definitely a more right answer than what we currently have, I think. I think there are definitely changes that can be made.

And also as well, we have to say, yeah, this is sparked off of a bad sprint that we've just had. but that's the whole point of this discussion is that, okay, it is not currently really working. If Baku doesn't create some kind of chaos, then where will? But at the same time, I'm happy to give it a few more races.

I'm not saying by the next sprint race, we need to change everything again, but there definitely needs to be conversations. And even if the drivers are angry about it, that's where you have to really listen as well, because the drivers and the fans both go, nah, this isn't right. You've got to change it somehow.

So yeah, there you go. That was a spicy little chat. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? My final thoughts are, after all this, please be a good race tomorrow now because, yeah, a bit of back of carnage, pit stops. Maybe this is what it is, that it just makes the race more exciting

because at least you'll get to see a pit stop or something. And it would be more exciting than that. but now I'm just looking forward to seeing a proper race where there'll be strategies and you know let's see what happens please be good let's see what happens indeed my final thoughts are we'll be live on Twitch Matt P1 Tommy for our Sunday race watch along looking forward to it hopefully it'll be good as you say Tommy hopefully Charlotte Clerk can do something magical although I have absolutely zero hope after what I saw today and we'll see you

tomorrow for all of that action. Bye! Bye! Oh dear. P1 is a stack production and part of the A-cast creator network.