P1 with Matt and Tommy - Bahrain GP Race Review

Episode Date: April 13, 2025

Bahrain delivered the race of the season so far, within changing strategies up and down the grid providing some AWESOME racing! We chat about all that good stuff and still find time to pop off about the latest round of questionable TV directing...You can listen to an extended version of this episode on our Patreon! Sign up to hear extended versions of every Race Review podcast this season. You'll also get every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now!Matt's running the London Marathon for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. Click here if you'd like to donate - thanks so much!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Yes, Tommy has returned from celebrating love. And he decided, you know what, I'll turn up. I'll turn up for the race. I'll turn up to chat about the race. The barring Grand Prix should be a good one on paper. And it was on paper and in real life, very good, Tommy. Oh, it's very good.

Yeah, my reward for missing yesterday was getting to witness seeing P20, Max of Stappen at one point in the race, which I didn't think I've seen for a very long time, if ever. And yeah, it was a great race, though. I am just, despite the Stappen's result, I'm just happy because we had the race we were promised a lot of the time when the anticipation is so high, sometimes it underdelivers, but I think we just got a great race there. There was a point in the race where Tommy had his head in his hands, where Max Verstappen

came out of the pits in 20th and it was a moment I had dreamed of seeing Tommy's pain but it didn't last long and then five laps later you were leaving the room because Charlotte Claire was on her tyres so yeah you got your comeuppance immediately

I certainly did right we'll get into everything barring Grand Prix but before we do a quick shout out to our wonderful patrons who'll be getting extra chat at the end of every single race review across the season where we do 10 to 15 minutes I answer more questions from you guys and just give you a little bit more premium waffle. And there's a lot to talk about

from this one. It was a brilliant race. I really enjoyed it. We didn't have one overtake for the lead, but it still was the best race of the season, in my opinion. Tommy, let's start with your most memorable moment. My most memorable moment was different strategies. And like you say, I think on paper, if you'd have said that you get two races, one where the winner is just never get seen at any point to the point where he's shown in a mini box winning the race but we'll get into that later um don't you start with that now tell me wow and then the last race where we had the top three separated by about a second and a half for the entire race and one of them was terrible one of them was great you'd probably pick the wrong one but no this race was so great and the

reason was because of strategy um i got a i've got a a screenshot shot on my phone from lap 34 and I you know I put this on Twitter saying I've prayed for times like these because it's so true the tire graphic at this point in the race 34 laps into a 57 lap race was medium hard medium hard hard hard hard hard medium medium hard hard hard hard soft soft medium medium soft hard hard hard medium soft we need that every single weekend because the problem with Formula 1 particularly now we don't have you know I know we've really refueling's long gone. But now we don't have refueling. So many, if you have a one-stop race, it's just always going to be most of the time dull because they all start on the same tires,

they'll finish on the same tires. Whereas that, because we actually got drivers, you know, it was still difficult to overtake. There was still a challenge. You could see the dirty air was was tricky. But because the cars were all on different tires, the race ebbed and flowed and you had some people quick and then they were a bit slower and, oh, it was just so good. Like that is what we need. And it can be achieved if we just had some degrading tires, basically. I completely agree. I love strategy.

Wow, I'm choking up right now. You love strategy as well. I mean, you yourself, I think, were a white-walled Porelli tire for most of that race. So it was really great. I was my maxus B-20. I love how I was mocking you. literally for this two positions behind Charlott in the end, which is absolutely outrageous. But we'll get on to that. Yeah, the strategies were awesome to see. It was so hard to keep up at points

because there were drivers out there on 20 lap old soft tires trying to go really long. You had others that had gone for aggressive undercuts. Ocon, for example, I think was one of them that managed to get himself absolutely in the mix and it worked out for him, maybe saved a little bit by the safety car towards the end. But you just had this, yeah, this massive, variety of races unfolding, which made for not just intrigue as to who's going to be fast at what points, but overtakes. Having an abrasive track surface like Bahrain caused for a non-repeat of Japan, where everyone had similar tire life and no one could really get through. Here, you didn't know where to look. You had four cars going into term one at points, and it was just

brilliant. I really enjoyed it. I can't remember a race I enjoyed as much as this when the leader had checked out from pretty much lap 1. And won by 15 seconds. Exactly. We're here saying it was probably the race of the year so far. Now I know that some people will go, yeah, but what about Australia? I prefer a race like this every single day over an Australia. Australia is entertaining in its own right.

You have the craziness, the sliding off and things like that. Don't get me wrong. I love that. But as a hardcore Formula 1 fan that's watched the sport now for goodness gracious, it's like 25 years, maybe more. I, and the reason why last year my favorite was Silverstone was because there was more to it than just a bit of craziness. There were loads of different drivers, changing positions, and obviously I'm not likening today

to Silverstone, but I don't know, it just felt like a proper race where there wasn't any random showers and things like that. It was just drivers fighting for their lives out there. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Question from at Precision underscore Peter. Should the mandatory two-stop rule be used at every race, not just Monaco? Bahrain showed how much excitement and potential for different strategy there is with multiple pit stops. No, no, I don't think so.

We haven't seen how Monaco is going to unfold. Bahrain worked because Bahrain was a two-stop, not because it was forced to be a two-stop. If we have and go to tracks that are less abrasive, are we going to get the same kind of race? I don't think so. When we start putting in too many, it has to be this, it has to do this. I think you're kind of forcing it in a lot of ways. And then it's a question of where do we draw the line here and keep it a legit sport? But don't get me wrong.

The two stop was great. I want to see more two stops. But I would like that to be introduced through the medium of, pardon the pun, because I'm talking about tires, but tires degrading rather than you have. have to pit twice and that's the rule. Yeah, yeah, it's true. I mean, this race probably does help the kind of thing that we've discussed in a while of potentially having in Formula One, you have to use all three compounds of tyre.

And then, of course, that means you would have a two-stop. But then I guess the other argument to that is the reason it was so good is because if that happened you could still get in a situation where everyone goes hards at the start then they all switch to mediums then the all switch to soft whereas the reason here was that people went medium medium and then at the end because there was just enough laps and it was kind of borderline this is what we saw between russell and leclair for example one went for softs one went for hards and it was kind of a toss up between how that was going to kind of pay out um so

mandatory two-stop we don't need to be that extreme we just need the tyres to be a bit more unpredictable in terms of like degradation but not and this is the this is the problem that we've seen in previous races is not at the moment they degrade to the point where you can just save them the whole race which is when you get boring races because everyone just thinks about tires but you almost need them more extreme that we then see this kind of moment because people were having to pit it looked like, you know, people would

there was one point where we thought people were going to do like a three stop for example because until the safety car because they were, they just kept thinking on their feet really. It was almost like a, it felt like a race where we had a sprint where they haven't had a lot of practice where they didn't know what to do. And that is what we need is those moments where it's not just laid out on paper this is the prelude tire strategy do it

it's it's strategists and teams thinking on their feet going oh there's a safety car oh this has changed oh actually the hards aren't very good so we need to do this or we need to do that that is what formula one needs and this race is just

complete proof that this is the thing that will fix everything like all those kind of overtaking problems because overtaking was still difficult but it was just right that you still, you know, could have overtakes and strategy and it made it good. It was the perfect storm today because Bahrain is a great track for racing. It's wide enough for drivers to go side by side and have these moves. So it's not going to work when we go to

others because the fundamental problem is the cars. And, you know, if we had this abrasive circuit around Japan, would we have had a better race? Yes. Would we have two stock? Potentially. But I think Bahrain is definitely one of the best tracks on the calendar. Back to your point about the sprint and this is what I said to Alex after qualifying was that leading into qualifying and this weekend FP1 and FP3 were a write-off.

It doesn't matter that they've had three practice sessions only one of them was anywhere near representative so we've had exactly the same running. Yeah, no, it's not getting rid of though, is it? Make them unrepresentative. Make them to a level where they have to use a different set of tyres but then again,

gives them some crazy fans. And it's the argument of, you know, where do we, then the team's like, well, why are we running anyway? Yeah, exactly. So the fact that they're forced into it, yeah, then it would just get into a very difficult discussion, I think, between the team. Every track is a night race and then you run FP1 and FP3 in the day. Yeah.

Yeah, or, yeah, or maybe you have FP1 at midnight and even when it's a daytime thing, that's when you, FP3 in the day, FP3 to be gone. Yeah. yeah, that would be carnage. But yes, it certainly did work in Bahrain. And we're not surprised, are we? Because we knew it was a track that can work with these cars and throw in the two-stop. And it was brilliant to watch.

Okay. Let's get in my most memorable moment. And it is the kind of final lapse between Russell, Norris and Lecler. I don't know how positively I will look back at this because Lecler came out the worst of all of this. When I say it's memorable. It doesn't necessarily need to be a good memory. It's a memory all the same. Of course, you know, you kind of rewind to the safety car and the decision that was made by Ferrari. P1, Patreon member Zingy 13, should Ferrari have put on the softs at the safety car stop, given that everybody who had run the hards were complaining that they were bad? Yes, I think Ferrari

were in a little bit of a difficult spot where they've, well, I'd like to think the strategy team have said, right, if there's a safety car up until this point, we'll probably have to put the hards on, because they had to put either the hards or the softs on. Without the safety car, I think Shaw was looking really good for a podium finish. He would have gone a little bit longer than everybody else and then boxed for softs and been pretty quick. May have won the race. Probably not. But that didn't happen. There was a safety car. And it came out with like 24 laps to go, which was on the limit. Russell was surprised to see the softs go on his car, but he did a great job in making that work. And some drivers behind as well managed that

as well. So in hindsight, yes. And I was disappointed even at the time that they decided to go for the hards, which was like a safe option, but not even really that safe. And we saw LeClaire around the final corner as they were restarting the action. He almost lost it because the hards were so horrendous with the tire warm up and Norris was all over the back of him. So it was a conservative approach, one with which I wish they had just, I mean, what have they got to lose? They're not fighting for the constructors already. I mean, they're out.

They're out the shot. Savage. It's fourth and fifth. What they're kind of happy to finish. It just didn't feel like the correct decision then and it definitely doesn't feel like the correct decision now because, again, Ferrari didn't even look bad on their tires. Shah was going long. He was doing pretty well.

obviously started on the mediums, but he was still able to keep them what looked like in a good window. It was the safer option, wasn't it, to go for the hard tyres, I guess, because, yeah, Russell, of course, was very much like, oh, that's a, that's a long way to go on the soft tires. And in hindsight, yes, that did work out better. Yeah, it'd be easier to bring out, like, the clown memes and stuff for Ferrari and say that it was a joke. But they were, I think they were unlucky with the timing of the safety car, because it was looking quite good. I'd love to have seen an alternate world. I'm not complaining because, of course, we saw that really good race.

Where Charlotte-Clau wins. Yeah, I agree. No, just an alternate race where we did see how that strategy for Ferrari paid out because they would have gone longer on the mediums into the race, potentially, and then maybe they could have gone pretty quite late and then gone aggressive on the softs. I don't think they were ever beating the McLaren's, and of course, Russell is also very quick, of course, as time of recording might get disqualified as well. So if that

Sorry, not just qualified. A penalty. Gracious me, Thomas. He's your good surprise for the weekend. Why are you trying to channel a disqualification? A penalty. You know, you still might get the penalty. So four, five, I know it's disappointing based on where they were,

but that is kind of where Ferrari are, sadly, with their car. So it's not the end of the world. Not the end of the world, no, definitely not worthy of clown memes. But, yeah, just a decision that could have gone one way. or another, but it would have been interesting to see, firstly, you know, the world where the safety card didn't come out at all, and also one where they went on softs. But we will move on to Imperator QG. Does Lando need to be more aggressive with his overtakes to win this championship? It's hard to say whether it's aggression or if it's just making the right decisions.

there were a lot of feints to the inside but never going. There were, I would say he was aggressive enough because he locked up at times and misjudged. So the aggression was there, but the amount of times we saw that kind of look to the inside but it never happened. That is the rule 101. That's the first thing you learn is down the inside into a hairpin

is probably going to be the move for you. But maybe there just wasn't the confidence underbreaking, Philando, that perhaps other drivers have or just in that McLaren, whatever it might be. I don't think he's not aggressive enough, but I would say that his racecraft when it comes to making those moves is something he needs to improve on if he does want to win this championship,

especially if he's going to have these moments in qualifying where he is fifth, sixth on the grid, and has to get through the field in order to potentially fight Oscar. He was up to third on lap one. Of course he had that five second penalty, but you're wondering, okay, maybe it's on. And you put Max Verstappen in that scenario in that car.

He's through the second in a matter of laps and he's chasing down his teammate for the win. I have no doubt in my mind that that would be it. So Lando does need to improve his racecraft when it comes to overtaken, in my opinion. He does. I got kind of deja vu from the race in Austin actually watching Lando try and pass Shal and thinking how has he not passed him yet because he's in a much quicker car, you know, a car that's winning the race by 16 seconds and he needs to be making those moves.

I feel like you could you could argue that to win a championship, you know, this is something we've kind of praise Lewis Hamilton for is to not do anything silly. Don't take your front wing off. Sometimes that kind of approach is just about picking up points in the consistency of a 24 race championship. But at the same time, Landau doesn't have that advantage to maybe be like that this early on because Oscar, despite a nightmare race in Australia that we thought that's going to be really costly for the world championship and it's a massive point swing in Landau's favor. Oscar's now only three points behind him in the championship. And Lando can't just be picking up points. I mean, it was a messy, messy P3 and he could even end up being, he could still end up being a P2 if George does get a penalty.

But he just didn't look very convincing, you know, he made that amazing start that we were going, oh, finally Landau's got a good start, but then he's messed up the pit box. Obviously, he had a disaster yesterday. Gridbox. Grid box. Grid box. I always say pitbox. Grid box that it's had the issue with. And then in the race, you know, a few lockups kind of getting, I think Charles's move

was aggressive, but he kind of got bullied out the way. Obviously couldn't pass George, which I think other drivers may have been a bit more ruthless and made it stick. So it's a weird thing to say when Lando started the year with a first, second, second, third, to think that it's kind of a bit disappointing. But I think there are a bit kind of worrying signs there that they're so far that he does need to kind of be a bit more ruthless and be more aggressive because he can't play that kind of safe approach for a whole season

if Piastri is driving the way he is. The leads already eroding massively. Yep, the step up from Oscar this year has been pretty awesome. Of course, that mistake in Australia costing him dearly. Without that, he would be handsomely in the lead of this championship, but he has also got mistakes in him, and that's what's going to make this championship very interesting to watch as it unfold. Sadly, we still didn't get to see an Oscar Lando fight out on track,

and I would have loved to have seen that around Bahrain. Yeah, we need to see that at some point, don't we? Yeah, we'll have to wait another eight races for the next. track that we can overtake on. No, I'm kidding. Saudi's coming up. So that should be, fingers crossed,

a good one as well. Next question, P1 patron member Hayes Ash. With a solid weekend like that, does Oscar look more like the favorite this year? Ooh,

it's, I'm trying not to be too knee-jerk here because we do love doing that as Formula One fans. Oscar is on a great trajectory. He's shown from the get-go that he's right there with Lando. I believe the momentum is with Oscar now.

If he can continue this over a 24 race calendar, we've not seen it from either of the drivers, whether they can keep this consistency up. I think Oscar is definitely more ruthless, more ice in the veins than Lando is. Lando is, he feels the emotions more, or at least shows the emotions more.

We see that a lot, whether it's in interviews or whatever it might be. That can work in his favor, as I said, sort of pre-season, I think that once Lando gets some momentum, he can also win races on the bounce, in my opinion.

But right now, he's definitely on the back foot. All he's got to do is beat his teammate, I think, in order to win this championship now, unless Red Bull can figure it out when some changes come in race 9th of Barcelona.

His infamous quote about Hamilton, that sounds much a lot like, you only have to beat one guard, but yeah. Yeah. At this rate, it's Oscar Biasri. And Lando, if he just, it's so difficult, isn't it? Like, it's, I think it's hard to crown a favourite because I think it could go literally either way. I'll be new joke then and say yes, Oscar's the favourite. I think he's looked, he's looked, I think he's looked better than Lando this season so far. I'm not going to be around the bush about it. I think he has in my opinion, of course. It has been close.

Lando is the one of course leading the championship but I kind of felt this after Japan that he's had a very good start to the season even the two races where he's been behind Lando he's been chasing him and looking quick but obviously had

troubles passing due to one of the tracks being impossible to pass that and the other one of course had that mistake which was costly of course but that was a big statement drive from Oscar Piastri, I think, to yes, he's got the quickest car underneath him. He's even, I think quite rightly said it himself, that yes, I can't pretend that I don't have

the best car. And I think it's quite clear that Oscar is a lot more comfortable in that car. I know people are roasting Lando for saying that, or he's trying to kind of make excuses and stuff, but I do genuinely think that Oscar is more comfortable in that car. Maybe it suits more of his driving style or something. But whatever the case, Oscar is the one that's looking. looking very, very good right now. He's looking incredibly quick. It is just about that consistency if he can do it over the whole season. But so far, he's just looking very comfortable in that

car. I think the telling point is when we get to that nine races in when we have that big regulation or rule change or whatever you want to call it with the front wing. If McLaren is still rapid then, it is going to be a two horse race between the McLaren's probably. And it's weather this car and Oscar driving it is still comfortable in it because at the moment yeah he's looking so so good yeah the reason for my hesitation uh when it comes to who i think is the favorite here is that i do genuinely think outright pace even into the third season of piastri's career and whatnot i think norris is the quicker driver when he overcomes his demons i just don't want his demons to take over here and for mistakes to creep in because i still do think already

Like, really. Yeah. There has been a lot, but also he's leading the championship. So you also can't be too harsh on him. He will be very happy that he's leading the championship after four races. Yes, it's not gone the best way it possibly could. But you have mistakes in, I think it's because we're so used to have a Stappan or a Hamilton leading the championship and driving away and being so consistent

that we expect that from anyone that's leading the championship. But at some point, people need to accept that some of these drivers are not on the same level as Vastappan and Hamilton. Maybe they will be one day, but they're not right now. And those two are generational talents that we've seen in the last five, ten years. So yeah, that's why I'm on the fence slightly. But if Lando ever comes to demons, I think he, I think who's the favourite will chop and change as we go across this year.

I don't think it will be a case of Oscar running away with it, if that's where we deem the momentum to be. Next question, P1Bictorian member Winter Ted. with George being on the podium, should they be investigating his issue before the end of the race? This, I'm always in favour of get everything sorted before the podium, please.

But in Formula One, with 12 million different rules, it just never is going to happen. I mean, I'm constantly refreshing my feed right now to see if the George Russell penalty or non-penal comes through. And it probably will come in whilst we're doing this podcast. So I think in this occasion, no, they have to investigate. Why?

Because it's not a slam dunk. I saw basically, just to go on this, I saw some people going, well, if Lando got his penalty deemed so quickly, why is this one taking so long? But Lando, you can literally see it. It's a is or it isn't. Whereas this, it does need investigating. So I don't want to be too harsh on the stewards here because it needs looking at properly rather than making a knee-jerk reaction.

It's weird though, isn't it? Because it depends how you look at it. I guess it depends. We don't know the evidence, do we? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. And I think that is the case, is that his DRS did open when it shouldn't have. And they're now investigating why that happened and whether he needs a penalty.

Surely, and, you know, this is. no disrespect to George, but in every other realm of the F1 FIA rulebook, it's, well, if your car doesn't pass all of these tests, whether it's floor height, whatever, then you get penalty or disqualification. Why is this any different if they've had an electrical fault in their car? It's still a fault. The DRS opens when it's not supposed to be. From where I sit, that should just be a, well, your DRS opened and it wasn't in a DRS zone. That's a five second penalty or whatever it might be. I don't know what circumstances other than Mercedes going, well, we had a fault with our car for them to go, actually don't worry about it. Yeah, because if you,

I don't know, like it would be quite easy to say, there's been so many incidents where you can't really say, oh, if someone say, I don't know, you can have a fault with your car when you plow into the side of someone or something. I don't know that there's it is kind of a black and white thing so yeah if that is the case and they have seen that there is a DRS it's been opened outside

the zone or whatever or not when he's meant to yeah surely that is slander unless there's a reason that they want to there's reason to believe that there's actually nothing to do with his car and it's something to do with how his car is communicating with some DRS sensor or I've never seen that as well because that

There's such a weird thing to happen. Yeah, the transponder was not mentioned it yet, but his car just seemed like he was in all sorts of problems. You know, he made a joke that, well, as long as the steering wheel doesn't fall off. Because he even said at one point that he was potentially going to lose, you know, all his information. We saw what was happening with the timing tower, which we'll get into of him, like, flopping and changing all over the place. And then, of course, all the cars around him because his wasn't working. And he had a brake by wire failure where his brakes were going along and then short. It was constantly changing.

I mean, he did an incredible job to still finish second. He did. And it was a great drive from, George. It would be a real shame if he did end up with the penalty. Of course, you're saying that so you can cash in on a good surprise. I see you. I see straight through that. Next question.

Kotai Ryu. Genuine question. What is going on with the F1 graphics? Everything seems to go wrong every race. It's, you would think that is like absolutely. priority, absolute priority that the graphics work.

I don't know whether they've changed the programming behind it or whatever it might be, but it's not been a great start to the year for F1 graphics and just generally TV direction as well I think has been poor at times, especially

in this race. Now, I was quite aggrieved. I went over on Twitter and I was like, Why have they got rid of the live timing full stop just because of George Russell's transponder issues? Because every other driver's transponder was working. I was literally logged into multi-viewer and looking at the live-timing there. It's not as if everything went down and it didn't work.

In my opinion, what they've seen is, oh my God, Russell's going up and down the leaderboard. This looks terrible. Let's have a clean feed of just the cars going round. All Formula One fans around the world do not care if Russell's jumping up and down a little bit. as long as we can see the other gaps. We are not in 1990 where we need to have gap intervals each lap and have a graphic come up.

That's old news, boy. No, no, no, no. I want it now. And it also, it genuinely, every time it happens, I realize just how much I stare at those times all the time. It is constant brain scratching.

Yeah, it feels like a practice session. So it's not good enough. I'll be completely and utterly frank with that and not your dog because it is a paramount part of watching Formula One is that those things work

it's not the same with football or tennis or whatever you can see what's going on you see the whole picture there and then that leaderboard or graphic or whatever it might be is part of the viewing experience tells you everything that's going on on the track because you can't like you say

you can't see every driver so you need to know like oh that person gained a bit. And for them to basically get rid of the whole thing, just because they may be embarrassed that it's a bit of a meme that Russell's bouncing up and down the timing tower is not the right way to go in my opinion. And then they tried to fix it and broke the whole thing. And then they got it back up. Russell was in second and none of the live timings were updating properly. Yeah. And it was really weird because even at the end when Max obviously made his move and we'll get onto the TV direction missing that later. But Max made his move

and obviously that didn't update until pretty much as they were crossing the line, which showed that the whole thing was just completely broken at this point. And yeah, you can't predict that George is going to have those issues, but it's not good enough from Formula One, this multi-billion dollar sport and all the money they're making and how much they're charging fans and everything, to have that experience where they can't basically put on, especially because we're having such a good race as well. It wasn't, it's not to the point where I'm like,

oh my go it's completely ruined the race but it was very annoying because at the end we're having such a good race there's so much strategy going on there are people kind of and it does take away from the experience not to see that because you're so used to it now and it's such a big part of Formula One we've evolved so much more than just watching the cars on the track we need to know this information and that is part of the Grand Prix and part of what makes it enjoyable so yeah a shocker from from the graphics And then, you know, even worse was the TV direction, I think. It certainly was.

I think that, you know, there were moments that just really peed us off. Question, got to keep walking. Can we start a petition to have Matt and Tommy take over TV direction? Coverage has been absolutely terrible this year. Bahrain was the worst yet. There was a moment, I think Tommy, you shrieked, have some wheel knowledge, was when it was looking. LeCler and Norris.

The switchbacker dreams was happening, I think, for Norris, out of term one. And we were focusing on Hamilton passing, whoever it might have been at that point. And we could see the three-tenths, two-tenths, one-tenth, and then we cut when they're side-by-side. Now, we didn't miss it completely. But then we had an onboard of LeCleur, I believe it was. Stop sharing the onboard. So then we didn't know where Norris was at the time. So again, it's like a...

We need to see the picture. get many overtakes. Okay, as Formula One fans, we don't get a lot. We've had some tough couple of races, and we finally get overtakes. We need to see them, okay? If in doubt, go to the offboard. Just show us a lovely little, you know, at the turn, whatever it might be, why are we, why are we doing that?

It just, it wasn't good enough. And it's, it's disappointing, isn't it? We go back to the whole, how much money does this sport make? can we please just tie I mean we've been talking about the TV direction for so many years and there are periods of time where it's decent but then you you watch a race like Bahrain and go have they got the interns in like why is it such a marked difference to what we've seen in previous races I I'm I'm sick to death of actually just constantly having this this conversation on this podcast yeah you're going to pop off anyway I'm going to pop off anyway about it because it's a joke

go. Everybody get your popcorn. Sit back, relax. Tom Bellion was about to pop off. How many times we have to keep saying just allow someone that understands Formula One racing to control the TV direction? Because like you say, we were watching that. Of course they're showing Hamilton's move.

But Lecler versus Norris was literally for the podium positions. So that has to take priority because it's the podium in the higher positions. and we're getting that amazing battle and I understand the frustration and the difficulty of Formula One when you are getting overtakes that are happening

while overtakes happening and you're trying to capture everything but we've gone from the last race where they were literally showing Charlotte Clover's pit stop during the only moment of the entire race where you could literally see I don't go back to Japan but you could literally see them leave the pit

so you knew they were going to be side by side so anyone with any knowledge would go stick on that camera because they're going outside side by side. And equally with this one, you saw Lecler and Norris go into the corner. The wet, it just needs someone that knows how cars are positioned and how they race and have that Formula One knowledge to know that Lecler, sorry, Norris is now going to get an amazing run down that straight. So show it. They missed Maxis Tappen's move as well on Gassie on the final lap. I put something about the fact that they showed Oscar Piaastri in a mini box and people were

kind of some people were going oh but you know we've complained for years that they they don't show the leaders norris and russell were never going to change at that point you could have shown them in the minibox and i've respected it but there was no when do you ever see an overtake into the final corner at barrain never so it's just respectful to show the winner of the race and then show the miniboxer you keep on so just in case something absolutely crazy but it was never going to happen. And there's just so many moments like that where you just feel like the person in charge is not having the same understanding as the fans at home that know Max is in two-tenths here. He's going to have a run at Gassley into that corner, which he's already tried once.

Why aren't you cutting to it? Why aren't we seeing them in a mini-box? All these moments. And it's just so frustrating to watch. I genuinely thought it was borderline disrespectful to not show Oscar Pastery coming over the line with the big box. It made absolutely no sense. That should. I think in any situation, apart from if it's a championship fight and their fifth and sixth on the final lap in Abu Dhabi and they're going for the world title, fine. Then we put them in the mini box. Someone else wins.

Congratulations. Any other scenario, you have the winner in the main feed and in a small box if you want to show something. Absolutely every time. I don't care what anyone says about that. because Oscar has not been shown the entire race because he's dominated. He deserves that moment where everybody looks at him coming over the line to celebrate. I don't feel any differently apart from that about that particular situation. So why they decided that, I'm not sure.

And that's if they were side by side, which they never were going to be. No, it was never on. You can't overtake at that point of the track. And that again comes to someone that knows Formula One and with a bit of wheel knowledge that knows that is never on at that part of the track. exactly. Well, goodness gracious me, look at us. We have, we've, we've lost it, Tommy. We've absolutely lost our marbles. Well, let's speak about maybe your marbles being lost. P1, Patreon member Thimmer. Is it now officially championship back off for Vastappen? Tommy, why don't you give us your thoughts? Come on. How are we feeling as a Max fan right now? I mean, you salvaged a P6 somehow, nice safety car merchant. How are we feeling? Very, very conflicted because when I saw that

Max has happened to P20 graphic, I think we said, didn't we, on the watch along? He's not scoring a point here. So the context was when he came out the pits. Yeah, in P20. And he was literally 20th behind Bortoletto. Yeah. He'd had a slow stop because the Red Bull light didn't work.

The car's terrible and not working. He's been put on a terrible strategy with the hard tires. and then they didn't even put the tire on properly when he changed. And I was here thinking, is this following? Yeah, yeah, how has it got this bad? This is the team that were dominating Formula One this time last year. And they're making errors, they're making strategy errors,

they're making pit stop errors, the car is slow, matched the step in his 20th and last in the Grand Prix, regardless of it being strategy. He is 20th and last. And if you'd have said, would you take, would you take a P8 at that point? I'd have said absolutely. So P6,

how far Red Bull have fallen that you'd take a P6? But it is true in that situation. And I watched that race thinking, my God, it really is going to be a McLaren P2, but it is funny that literally last week we were talking about Max is there, isn't he?

And he is driving an absolute S-box at the moment that and he's eight points behind in the championship, he just needs to hang on until maybe that rule chain comes in in round nine to give him an opportunity because seven points, sorry, eight points isn't a lot

really at this stage of the season, but it's not looking good for Max at all, is it? It's not looking good, brov, not at all. I think that Bahrain is a unique track, compared to the first three that we've had, as for the things we've mentioned, the tyres and everything else, it was a different kettle of fish to the first three. He'll have to hope that going into Saudi,

a different track once again, very high speed, that perhaps he won't be as bad as Bahrain and it will just be a one-off. I don't think you can really ring the alarm bells just yet. The fact that Max has finished sixth is utterly ridiculous. Even that I think is a brilliant drive from me. him. He was on the back foot. He was on the back foot for literally, as you, as you mentioned, every part of his race was going wrong. And I can already hear, I know you joked about safety car merchant and stuff, but like, it's funny how all these drivers that have these moments

are always lucky, there's always a reason. But like, he's finished sixth again. And all these people that said his, I think in the last race were going, the Red Bull isn't that bad. We saw how bad that car was. The first race of the season, he's been flattered by, essentially wet weather, and we all know he's the best driver in the wet, to finish almost to finish almost within a tenth of the win. And then Suzuki, he's put in an absolute godly qualifying lap, a circuit you can't overtake, so he's been able to manage to stay ahead of the McLaren's. He should not be where he is in the championship at all with that car, but he is. So you can't write him off yet, but he's 35 seconds off the lead when there was a safety car. And he was

battling what felt like Ocon the entire race. Which is not something you expected coming to Bahrain. Exactly. O'Con in a half. So yeah, he's still in the fight, but I am so much less confident now about him challenging for this championship than I was. And I know it's only one race, but this is more. Love it. Look at this. You are showing your, you wouldn't, you wouldn't last a week if you're a Ferrari fan. You really wouldn't. But, you know, boo-hoo, Tommy, you've got a bad car now, deal with it. That's that, oh God, I'm drinking it in right now.

Welcome to the pain club. We can both just enjoy McLaren dominance this year. At least I don't have to, you know, speak to you smugly every single weekend about Max winning by 30 seconds. And we can both be in the pain boat. Okay, let's, well, I think I kind of echo what you say in terms of, of, of, Max, it's, it's hard to write him off at this point. I still don't think we should write him off, but let's see.

Let's wait till after Saudi at the very least. Next question, P1, patron member, Wilderness Ted, is Yuki the answer to Red Bull's second driver problem? Yuki had an all right race, you know? I don't think he had quite the same amount of painful moments that Max did. And Yuki was still definitely slower than Max. Let's not, let's not be, you know, too crazy about this. But he scored points, and I am totally fine with that.

That's kind. I think I expected slightly faster, Yuki Sanoda, but then again, if you look comparatively to where Max was, it's probably what can be considered a decent performance from Yuki. So where did he finish in the end? P9. P9. 45 seconds off.

He was 10 seconds behind Max at the end there. So yeah, it was good enough, I would say, for Yuki, getting his first points for Red Bull, finishing ahead of both RBs that had shockers, to be honest with you. So I don't know if he's the answer yet, but he's certainly, he's figuring out the question,

if that makes any sense. I actually think he's kind of embarrassed Red Bull a little bit here that they didn't put him in in the first place because with absolutely no testing, and yet he's gone to a track that he knows a bit better and had the practice time. But Liam Lawson led us to believe that that car was undrivable

and you couldn't even score a point, you couldn't even not finish last. Beat the salvers. Yeah, genuinely. And Yuki Snowda has finished, you know, 10 seconds off max, he scored points, had a bit of a messy racing moments

where maybe Red Bull's kind of decision not to put him in. I was a little bit wincing sometimes when he was sticking his nose and going, Yuki, don't take your front wing off. This is what Red Bull were worried about promoting you in the first place. But he has finished in a good position. And Lawson's form, just while we're on the subject, is woeful. I mean, the fact that he has gone back into the RB that a lot of people thought was quicker

quicker than the second Red Bull, whatever you think of that seat and it's cursed or whatever. people expected Lawson to be potentially even beating Sonoda and Lawson's having an absolute shocker. He got two penalties for crashing into people. He's got no pace. You know, nowhere, just an absolutely awful race from him. And Yuki's done a good job which shows Red Bull. Why did you not stick him in in the first place?

Because he has certainly not done that bad at all. Still have no idea why they chose Lawson over Sonoda. there was nothing really to go off that they decided to not go for the driver with money from the engine more experience and more fans and they went no we'll just the underdog in the underdog in here we go

oh no we'll get rid of the underdog very quickly yeah just yeah very soon for driver experts Horner and Marco they don't make a lot They do make a lot of crap decisions, don't they? Oh, Tommy. That was a bit of a naughty word for the podcast. Goodness gracious me. Usually you see that on Twitch.

Yeah, I think what you're saying is completely correct. Yuki was the decision when it's the two drivers of Lawson and Sonoda. Whether he's the answer to their problems, which is kind of what I was more leaning towards. It depends on the answer to the problems in, because if Max disappears at the next race, they're absolutely screwed because they've got a car. built around like, you know, made for Max Osteppen, and he's not driving for him next year, and they don't have a star driver. So at the moment, he's a, he's a good, he's in a, like, good spot and they're doing what he should be doing. So I'm, I'm impressed. Yeah, a good step up

from Yuki this weekend. Okay, let's head to our predictions. Just before we do. Oh, oh, what do you want to say, Tommy? Oh, it's not actually, so it's not actually George Russell. It's a lot less exciting, but just a weird one to, to mention. is that Nika Holgerberg's actually set to be disqualified because of excessive skidware, which I know it's only 13th, but it's still an interesting point that it's going to be another disqualification, which of course happened to the Ferraris. And yeah, is that why you brought it up? Because it changes nothing about the points, mate.

It doesn't. Do you remember that time back in China? Remember that time the Ferrari got disqualified? Oh, that's such a bleak. But no, it's unusual that we're kind of seeing. this happen again. Unusual. It shows how low these cars have run now with this kind of ground effect. Okay, we now head to predictions unless Tommy wants to add something else. No, just that I really wish they'd made the Russell decision by now because this could all change. It's fine.

Well, you just wait a second. We post the graphic, don't we? Yeah, but don't worry. Don't worry, because I've got something to tell you before, you know, when we're going into that. So, you know, just relax. Just take a deep. So it's nine six to me coming into this and we had to a good surprise. Mine was Yuki Sonoda. I believe he was very good surprising, which is not good English, but it's definitely a point to me. Thank you very much. Yeah, I think Yuki Sanoda, definitely a good surprise. I think we said it during our watch along, didn't we? That when was the last time you could look at the timing tower and see two red bulls in the same kind of vision? Yeah, never. It feels like ages. So my good surprise was George Russell. And this is where I'm going to come in, Tommy, because I'm going to give you a point no matter what. It doesn't matter if George gets a five-second penalty.

If he gets disqualified, you can get rid of your point. That's straight in the bin. But if it's a five-second penalty, he'll still finish fourth. Charlotte Clare on the podium, that's still a W for me. But I think George had a phenomenal drive this weekend, so I'm not going to dispute it.

And you, of course, offered me two points as well, so thank you very much. Wait, hold on a second. The regret. The regret on your face. immediately. You're like, oh no, actually, no, let me think about this. Oh my God, I completely forgot about that. Yeah, it was the double pointer because I had to change it from Eiki. So I deserve. So I'm going to change. I'm going to change my offer. Okay. So if he stays

and second to get two points. I knew you were going to say that. If he gets a five second penalty, you get one point. Yeah, simple as. Simple as. Oh, God, why do I? Oh, no. Okay. Let's go to a big flop. I went for Shao Lecler. That didn't kind of work, sadly. So I don't get a point. and he didn't win. So no one won for big flop, sadly. And I went for Alex Albin, which he got knocked out. Well, he did and didn't get knocked out in Q1 and had his worst race of the season.

Oh, P12. Is that a flop? That's a flop. He finished fifth, seventh and ninth in the first few races. Is that a flop though? I think that's definitely a big flop. Is that a sizable flop? That's very interesting. It's on the fence, isn't it?

It seems like Michael Masseying is trying to carry you. We'll put a TBC, shall we? TBC and we'll see what people say in the comments. Just so you're aware, Alex Albon finished 12th, and his teammate didn't finish, so realistically beat signs by eight positions. So, you know, you vote however you like... Yeah, as far as his lab was two tenths off,

science, so, yeah, it's inferior driver this weekend. Albonne finished just behind a Mercedes, so that is a phenomenal drive from him. Pole position. I went for Lando Norris and I did not get a point. And I went for the other one, Oscar Piastri. Well done. Congratulations. In the 50-50 McLaren Campbell this time. This is actually concerning me. I haven't thought about this.

So my top three were Norris Piestri Russell, which are all wrong, which is ridiculous. Yeah. I would love to know how many times I have gone for a Norris win and it's actually come in. Because I think it's zero. I think every time you've predicted Norris to win in either the podcast or the graphic, he has a shocker. I genuinely feel like that's true. I genuinely think we could clip back and it always seems to be the case. Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Lando fans.

I really am. I don't mean it. I genuinely think he's going to win the race. Yeah, well, he was favourite, yeah, to say. I went for Russell Piastri Norris. So of all those to be right, it was Norris and P.3. three, which was a surprise. Which might change. And just on just on that actually. Yeah. So that that might change. We might both end up with with zero of course. Just like the FIA will put a graphic out

on our social media with the updated scores. I mean, we've shown a bit with wind-lides there. We've got the top three just in the wrong order. Indeed. So, but not good enough will-knowledge to score any points, or at least for me. Okay, let's go to the family top three. three, it's currently two one to the Bellingham's. I'm really, really happy about that. My mother went for third place, Piastri, and that is wrong. My dad went for P3, George Russell, which is wrong as of recording. And we'll always be wrong.

Unless he gets a three second penalty. You never know he got a one-place grid penalty. He loves an obscure penalty, doesn't he, Russell? In second place for Stappen, my mum went for, goodness gracious me. Does she want to like lock in with some wheel knowledge? for P2 Lande Norris My dad went for

So wrong Wrong indeed And in first place My mom went for Norris And my dad went for Piastri which is correct And it was looking like That was going to be

It could have almost got the top three I think he's probably gutted For not getting a three pointer Because we were one kind of Norris dive bomb away from potentially that happening But it's another point for the Bellingham So three won Oh

Derry me We're going to have to mind Michael Massey, the Gallagher's versus Bellingham's Championship as well, aren't we? Because you are steaming ahead. One crazy prediction, I went for Carlos Hines' best of the rest, which was absolutely on.

Like, that was... Yeah, it was, actually. He was fighting Ghazley for P5, I think it was. I can't believe he's DNFed. Unlucky race. I went for Alpine score a point, which they absolutely did. All right, babe.

I'm on a roll. You're just a tri-hour, aren't you, really? You don't need the two. points for Russell now. You can get that in the bin. And then our Patreon prediction, oh, for God's sake, I've had a stinker again. Alonzo finishes in the points, J-KM-92.

Fantastic. That's zero points because Lonson is 16th. An absolute joke, by the way. I'm sorry. Alonzo switched a minute off the lead when he was... Oh, what a joke.

Yeah. And I went for Poposition doesn't win the race, which again, no. Thank God that didn't come in. Otherwise, you'd be leading by 50 points. So, okay. So I've got one, two, three, four, five as of now.

That takes me to 11. And that's five with an Alex Albonne TBC. That's not including Albon. So if we just spread that. Oh, we're scrapping that. Okay. Albon's, yeah. I don't need it now.

I'll take the win. We'll just, no. That's really annoyed me. I know. I know. I know. As I can tell. which you care about it.

And it's so funny. But yeah, at the moment it is. Oh, wait, have I actually got this wrong way? You added that correct. You came into it nine,

six and you scored five. So how is six plus five, ten? It's eleven. No, 11. Oh, so why have you put it that side?

Just because it keeps the same. So for context, Tommy's just updated the sheet and put it in a strange order so that I, so you are now leading 11. 10. 11.10. That's ridiculous.

I, I came into this with a three-point lead. Hold on a second. So in China, I went for the most ridiculous predictions ever and gained a point on you. I went for a flipping McLaren 1-2 with a Russell 3rd, some very just solid predictions. Solid sensible predictions. Yeah. Alonso gets a point. Norris pole.

Just went for the safest. So looking forward to Charlotte Clare being P1 in your predictions next week. Yeah, we'll see about that one. Okay, that is it. Thank you, everybody, for tuning in to this podcast for the Barron Grand Prix. I hope you enjoyed the race. I certainly did. I know Tommy did as well.

We can go and see some Patriens now for 15 minutes. Patreon.com 4 slash Matt P1, Tommy, if you want to tune in for a bit longer for these race review podcasts. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts? After the disappointment of Suzuki is just so great to see an exciting Formula One race again that I didn't have to complain about the whole time and just have some positivity and just enjoy like why we love Formula One all over again.

Exactly. Thank you everybody. It's Race Week literally tomorrow, Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend coming, as in next weekend. And we'll see you there. Lots of love. Bye. Bye. Right, we just finished the podcast and we were doing our Patreon waffle, but this is now being

included at the end of the podcast because we need to still mention it. And the fact is that George Russell is not getting... getting a penalty. So the FIA document came out and essentially in a nutshell, because there's a lot of words, a lot of words, he accidentally opened his DRS and gained 0.02 of a second, but he gave up time and that showed in the telemetry and with all of the issues that was going on in the Mercedes car with the fact that whatever gain he had, he gave up, there was no sporting advantage considered to be gained from the stewards, which is fair enough, and therefore no penalty is applied. So George Russell, P2, locks in a lovely 18 points. Indeed. And it also

mentions, you know, that it's a kind of, it's a car problem, but it's not from Mercedes's issue, if you like. So that's probably why they've been a bit more lenient. So the car failed, and was to do the DRS activation system due to issues with a timing loop provided by an external party and then that's caused the authorised manual activation of the DRS which then caused more problems

so maybe yeah there were a lot of factors So when we had that conversation about oh well if it's slam dunk if Mercedes had a car issue it wasn't Mercedes's car issue that this is something that's outside of their control so that's understandably why they've been lenient and chosen for no penalty.

Yeah. So there's definitely been consideration there. And yeah, fair enough. I actually think they just wanted me to have the predictions championship lead. I think that's the clear. It did actually say that in the bottom of the FIA doc. It did. It did. Yeah. Up the Bellingham's, I think it said actually, for the end.

All right. See you later. Bye. B1 is a stack production and part of the A-Cast's creator network.