P1 with Matt and Tommy - Brazilian GP Race Review

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

We discuss a masterclass from some, a TOTAL nightmare from others, and some of the weirdest TV direction we've ever witnessed. It's Brazil GP race review time!Tickets for our UK live tour are selling fast! You can purchase them right HERE!We're now on Patreon! Sign up HERE for early access to our December tour tickets, ad-free episodes, bonus content, and loads more!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. I don't know why I gave that so much energy for a P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy because this is the Brazilian Grand Prix and I know I have to do some talking about things I don't want to talk about. But that's fine. We're all good.

You're good, Tommy. You're great. I mean, your goat and your favourite driver, both on the podium. So, you know, at least one side of the P1 camp is going to be happy. Yeah, it's normally me, isn't it? There's always you.

Australia Twitter. Oh, no, Austria, Austria, That was the last time it was me. Boy, that was a long time ago. Yes, it was. Thank you. It feels a long way ago. But before we can dive into all of the Brazilian Grand Prix shenanigans, we need to mention that the P1 Live show is happening.

3rd of December, Manchester, 5th of December, Glasgow, 10th of December, London. Glasgow is sold out. But London and Manchester are still available if you want to grab a ticket before they. They probably sell out as well. that'd be amazing. Can't really even believe that that's even a thing that's happening.

But anyway, if you want to go find out more about that, there's links in our YouTube and also on our social media as well and we'd love for you to come along. Right, Tom Bellingham, Brazil. Shall we start with your most memorable moment? You'll be shocked to hear

that my most memorable moment is about Fernando Alonso. And of course, yeah, you wouldn't have guessed, would you? But of course, It has to be those last laps with Fernando. Just superb driving. It was, if you watched our Twitch stream,

you'll know, I mentioned it as well, that one of my favourite moments of the year, to be honest, because it was such a surprise, I think. I think that's what made it so exciting was it felt like Alonzo was such an underdog in that situation. You know, Perez is driving the Red Bull, which is, you know, dominating the season. Alonzo, Diastin Martin had fallen off massively,

looking a lot better this weekend. And he was hanging on and it looked like he wasn't going to, well, he was going to just about hold on. And then as soon as Perra's got by, I was like, that's it. There's absolutely no way. Like, it's over, gutting. Last lap, he's not going to do it. And then for him to actually fight back,

repass him and do it is sensational. Like, what a man. What a man. Surprised you've got a hoodie on me. You seem really hot under the collar at all the faces. I just love him. I just love him, honestly. Just so good.

I absolutely loved it. I need to get you and him just in a room, have a little meal together, you know, just really, really let the love, let the love really come in. But yes, Fernando Alonzo, my goodness me. I'm glad this happened at the end because it made me forget. And it was such a brilliant battle. There's a question actually from Oblivious 92.

How was Alonzo able to hold Perez for such a long time? Because the go. Fernando Alonzo, that's not the answer, Tommy. It's obviously helpful, in your opinion, that he's the goat. But how did he keep Perez at bay? I mean, it's a mystery in some ways, because I'm sure up and down the paddock, they are like, how did Perez not get on the podium in a Red Bull?

But we have been asking ourselves that for quite some time this year. But Perez had been looking better this weekend. I wouldn't say miraculously better because he still finished 34 seconds off for Stappan who was ultimately cruising at the end. But back to Alonzo, it was experience. It was years and years of experience and he knows how to defend like no other.

He's one of a very few amount of drivers that I think could have pulled off that masterclass that Fernando Alonzo did for this Brazilian Grand Prix. he took such unorthodox lines. I found it absolutely bewildering the kind of lines he was taking, especially around Juncao, I think it's called, which I mentioned in funniest tweets

where he wasn't going anywhere near the apex. He was going right around the outside, squaring off the car, sort of ving the corner, I think as Martin Brundall called it, and just always focusing on getting an amazing run out the corner. And he did that time after time, after time, until a couple of laps from the end

where he was still doing it but Perez just got close enough to give it a good old go and managed to get through Alonzo somehow through the warrior the lion within him managed to stay within DRS

had no chance into turn one on the final lap but he just, it was all about nailing that Senores if you wanted to have a chance at the car ahead this weekend and he did. Perez, I would say didn't. Perez had to do literally what Alonzo's been doing for 15 laps for one corner.

And he didn't manage to do it in the same way that Alonzo managed to do it. And he steamed back through. Tommy screaming. I've never seen so much energy come out of the Bellingham side of the house before. But my God, it was great to watch on all counts. It was so good. Like you say, it was that final corner was the key. The fact that he managed.

because I was actually watching the race back just then because my wife was watching it on a delay actually and I went back up, saw that it almost felt like it was just happening at the end but it was like 40 laps into the race and Perez was about a second behind Alonzo so he was holding him off for like the whole race. It wasn't just like the last four or five laps and yeah it was it was superb. The fact that he like you say squared off the corner and that just gave him just enough that Perez couldn't get the DRS, but he couldn't close quick enough.

And one thing I will credit Perez with before I uncredit him for something else later is the move on Alonzo was very good, you know, dive down the inside. It was very brave. And then he was able to do just enough that Alonzo couldn't get back past him. He covered the inside line, which is something Hamilton didn't do actually at the start of the race that we were kind of saying like, why is Hamilton? not covered, you know, the inside for Alonzo there. Perez did do that really well.

But then Fernando was just clever enough to stick with him through that whole infield section. And the clever thing that Alonzo did was he knew that he was never going to beat the Red Bull into turn one. And he had to almost scare Perez into thinking that he might do a dive bomb down the inside of turn one. and that's exactly what Perez thought he did. So Perez actually ended up defending fresh air a little bit

and Alonzo could just take his normal line through those first few corners and it meant he got an amazing run through those corners. It was just a tiny little, tiny little jink from Fernando. It wasn't anything like I'm coming. It was just enough to scare him. I might be coming now and then Perez, I don't think Perez again, he didn't necessarily defend a huge amount

but there was just that part in the back of his mind. He had to compromise his corner, yeah. Just a tiny bit of compromise. That's all he needed, right? It wasn't like he went really deep and it was an easy move for Fernando. It was just not as good as a Ceneres if Perez was on his own.

And that was the key difference, wasn't it? It was. And going back to the, well, we're still just mentioning some Alonzo brilliance before we get onto the pain train for you. All aboard. Or Choo-Choo, but not in the Choo-Too-U you were hoping for.

Not the Ferrari hype train, that's for sure. We were actually just discussing when we were watching the highlights back, kind of forgot how crucial for Alonzo's race that move on Hamilton was as well. You know, the bravery to go up the inside and just know that he had to make that move because that's another reason why he's stood on that podium when he may well shouldn't have been. The Aston was, of course, a lot better. and it pains me a little bit because they've almost un-upgraded the car to get back to it. And I didn't even think about this.

So just to have a little bit of pain for me. But God, why now? Because Singapore was meant to be that race where the Aston was going to be really good. and I'm like, oh, if they had this car for Singapore, they could have been in the mix, but they fell off at the most annoying time because I really, really want to see that Fernando win. But it's good to see him back up there.

You know what that is? We don't live in a fairy tale, all right? You got your Max Verstapp and 17 wins. You've got your Fernando Alonzo several podiums. What more do you want? A win. Alonzo win. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, fair enough, fair enough, fair enough. But yeah, it was incredibly crucial for Alonzo's race, but it just let it was my amazing. immediate reaction on the Twitch watch along, which was, why isn't Hamilton defending that? Did Hamilton know deep down that his race wasn't with Fernando Alonzo and the Aston Martin, potentially? But it was still just like a, he left the car's width, and Fernando took it. And I don't know, maybe Lewis went into it a little bit dejected, knowing full well what that Mercedes-Pace had after the sprint. But, I mean, there was a strange team radio as well, wasn't there with him where he was basically laughing back at them.

saying, like, I am pushing and I have been for the last five laps sort of thing. So, yeah, all was not great in the Mercedes camp, but we will get on to that. Before we do, it's time for my most memorable moment. Memorable? Was it a moment? Charles LeClair, this, this moment, this, this, this thing that happened was one of the worst experiences I've actually had as a Cholacler fan. And you might be thinking, how, Matt?

He's not challenging for anything. He's not in the championship hunt. Was he really going to win the race? No. But there was hope. Delirium. Delirium always goes up, especially when Charlotte Clare's on the front row,

and I saw those brand new, just squeaky clean, polished soft tires, ready to throw one up the inside of Max Verstappen into term one, and then anything is possible. Anything, maybe not. Maxwell's happened. We're still going to win.

But there was just hope. And then just to, you know, it was unsuspecting as well. I think that was the main problem for me. I was just sat there, you know, formation lap, getting ready for a resilient Grand Prix. Hard cut straight to Charle-le-Cleur and the wall.

Yeah. How does anyone emotionally and mentally prepare themselves for their favourite driver to be in the wall halfway around the formation lap in dry conditions? Yes. I mean, I know other drivers have had bad luck and even Sites. I think, I can't remember what race it was that Sites couldn't even start. Was it Qatar maybe? So, you know, I think it was, yeah. Yeah, Ferrari have had that both of them have had like bad luck and stuff. But it did feel like that kind of thing like this could only happen to charlaclair um you know he's not even got to turn one and had a problem like how is the car failing when they're just pootling around to get on the

grid it's it's quite unbelievable really um and he's not wrong when he gets on the radio and says why am i so unlucky like the guy must have like how many ladders is that man walked under uh around Monaco because, yeah, he's having no luck at all. And it would have been great to see what LeCler could have done because, yeah, maybe it would have dived up the inside or whatever or at least had a go on those soft tyres. We didn't even get to see it. No, we did not.

You know, perhaps he takes the lead. And then Lando still has that amazing start and he gets up to P3 and all of a sudden it's Lecler Vestappen Norris and they're all fighting around. And who knows? That is the main thing here is that no one will ever know because it never happened. Question, Marco remodialating.

How does what happened on the formation lap affect the monthly cost of Matt's therapy? No, realistically, it doesn't affect my monthly cost of therapy. What it does cost me is, well, no, actually, it helps me with my, my delirium in the sense of like, there's always a part of you that goes, but Matt, you're just coping, you're just delirious. And each time something bad happens, the sort of sane side of me will start to override.

So eventually I'll never get excited about any Ferrari performance ever again. And perhaps that's the best way to protect myself moving forward. Although when Charles gets a pole position at Las Vegas, you'll be jumping for joy, no matter what. Who knows, Tommy? We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Yeah, I mean, goodness me, a little plug for our live shows, but if anyone listened to the first live share, we did a very short section that was actually surprisingly long to say that our first ever live show was in April and we did a little compilation video of Matt's Ferrari Payne. Not sure if the runtime is long enough to play all the clips from this season now. because there's certainly a lot of them. But...

Yeah, I mean, and this particular clip was, you know, I didn't actually really say anything in the clip. It was more just you laughing at me and not really quite believing what happened. I just love your instant reaction is laughing when you see Charles LeCler in some kind of DNA. Because I just know that you're just going to be, your eyes just light up.

You get the like, no... Your reaction is brilliant. Yeah. I'm just like, it's mainly as well because our Twitch chat goes absolutely nuts. And we had about 6,000 people at the start of the race or 8,000 or something. And it got up to 21,000 live people watching.

Which shows, was it 23? Which shows that an additional like, you know, 10, 15,000 people are like, all thought. Oh, I need to go and see what Matt's up to right now. That was their instant reaction to that. And if you see that on paper, you go, oh, isn't that lovely? They're all checking in on Matt to see if he's doing okay.

Oh, no. No, no, no, no. They want me, and I know there's probably a lot of you that are listening to this podcast right now, and you are one of them that, you know, you just like to watch the race. You don't tune into our watchalongs, but you might do when something big happens.

And you want to see me crying, me emotionally in turmoil, And then you're all like, Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, didn't even make the first corner. And, you know, whatever, it's fine. And I just told you all to F off. So, you know, who's the real winner?

Right, let's move on now because there's no much, there's nothing. I mean, how do you reflect any more on Charlotte-Clau's race when it was half a formation lap? You don't really. Let's in fact reflect on another team that we have slightly touched upon. Mega versus Primus asks,

what on earth happened to Mercedes? They went from a 1-2 last year to a P-8. DNF. I think they just got everything really wrong this weekend. Perhaps it was just the one practice session. Of course, that's when Park Fermé is locked in after that. And teams are very much forced into basically trying to learn everything in a one-hour session.

But everybody's got the same problem ahead of them. So it's not like it's just for Mercedes. But they whacked on a whole load of downforce. I'll tell you that for free. We saw that in qualifying. They were both the tenth and a half up on Norris going through the middle sector of the final Q3 lap, only to end up four tenth slower. That in itself just tells you everything you need to know about how slow that Mercedes was in a straight line. We had Alpine, the wheelbarrow in a straight line going past them, although I will say in FP1, they did have the fastest speed in the speed track, but I feel like they may have dialed that back slightly for the actual race because it didn't seem to be the fastest, but don't quote me on that.

but my God, they were, they just got it wrong. I think the setup of the car was completely wrong. I don't think that Mercedes is inherently bad. We've seen it be very, very good in the last few races. But every direction they took in that one hour practice session to then lock in their setup was wrong. It sure was. I mean, it's absolutely insane to me.

And it's maybe unfair to go too in on them because they still are second in the championship. I think that's more the fact that a lot of, of teams have maybe flip-flopped more. You know, it is a close fight between other teams and it's helped that they've got two brilliant drivers. If you were a new Formula One fan and didn't know anything about the sport and you watched that race, you would be very surprised to hear that that was the team that had

dominated Formula One and looked unbeatable for years and years and years. to the point where you'd go into races and go, well, it's a foregone conclusion. No one will stop Mercedes. They're the best. They're going to win everything. There's no point watching. They're so far clear.

And it was everything. You know, the car set was bad. The straight line speed was embarrassing. The tire wear was abysmal. Even to the point where it was quite clear that Russell was quicker and they should have just let him go and see what he could have done

and Hamilton was holding him up and they did a Ferrari, we are checking, I can't remember what the exact phrase was. We are discussing. We are discussing. You know, and then even like the pit stops

are just a bit mediocre. It's like, how is this the team that was so bulletproof and incredible? And I think, yeah, I think you saw the kind of anguish

in Toto's face really that I can't believe it's, you know, two years into the regulations. And they look, you know, Hamilton has finished one minute behind Vastappen. And you thought, after Imala when Hamilton got lapped by Vastapen, you were kind of like, well, you know, Mercedes, they've got things wrong. they need to, you know, next year, they'll come back and be better. They came back, the side pod thing still wasn't right.

They've changed their philosophy. Still nowhere. And it's even more embarrassing that customer teams, McLara and Asa Martin, are ahead of them. That's the big thing. That is the big thing. They have to be finishing ahead of customer teams. Oh, 100%.

Given an engine and you're like, we'll go figure it out. they're the ones that build it. They know everything. They know the ins and the outs every millimeter. Yeah. I know I know McLaren and Aster Martin are more established teams than this, but, you know, we ban to it Ferrari,

but if they were getting beaten by Hassan Alfa Romeo, like, that's absolutely shocking. And that is, in theory, kind of what Mercedes are getting done by. You know, they're supplying engines and then getting beaten by them. That should not happen. and I think

I got to say that since they were winning the championship and in this new era I think that weekend has got to go down as like the lowest of the low for Mercedes of just how poorly their weekend was can't really got any worse Yeah it was a weekend to really forget

I think for the Mercedes the sprint was dreadful and you think, oh, the race will be better because they won't be forced to go on 24-lap old softs and this, that and the other. And then for Hamilton's final stop, he had to do 25 laps on the soft tyres. And you're just like, okay,

so maybe they do have to do exactly what they saw in the sprint. And they didn't have pace on the mediums. Hamilton said after his final pit stop, he wished it had gone on the hards rather than a scrubbed set of softs. And it just seems very disjointed because everything we've heard about the hard tires that weekend in particular was they, only thing they're good for, I think Martin Brundall said, was to prop the wheel rims off the floor.

So it's, it's, I don't know, it just seemed like a weekend. The Hamilton was maybe just desperate at that point. Yeah, yeah, probably desperate to do something different. But I think, you know, with hard tires, it could have been even worse. So, yeah, definitely something to forget, especially considering it was a one-two last year. And, you know, we say about this customer engines team, you go, oh, you know, maybe, you know, they're beating them. But Landon-Royce finished eight seconds behind Max for Snap and there is potential.

It's to do with the. actual car and how they're building it rather than the engine, which of course is something that has been so important for so many years in Formula One. One thing before you move on, actually, and I'm very sorry to the person. You'll know who your question was. I thought I put this in this sheet, but I thought it was an interesting point that's all I made on Twitter. I'll try and find it to shout you out during this.

But someone asked actually that should Mercedes have maybe even thought about starting from the pit lane? because their setup was so wrong. And it's maybe in hindsight that you look at it now and think that it may be a bit silly to do that. But when you look at the fact that, say like a Yuki Sonoda, started right at the back and has got points and only finished a few seconds behind Hamilton,

you do wonder if Mercedes maybe should have just started from the pits, completely reset the car and then just hope for the best because based on how the sprint went, it went very similar and they just had absolutely no pace and had to essentially drive a 71-lap race with a car that was just completely wrong because of Park Fermé rules. Yeah, I think I would say for that particular comment,

it's very much with benefit of hindsight. You know, track conditions can change. Cars can come alive for reasons that even F1 team sometimes don't understand. So, you know, can you imagine if we'd said, ah, Hamilton and Russell have given up wherever they started on the grid.

Was it fifth and sixth? Yeah, yeah. Lannistered sixth, didn't he? Hamilton was fifth and George had a penalty and was seventh. Oh, that was it, George had the penalty. But yeah, can you imagine, like, yeah, that they gave up those positions?

We'd be sat here going, why would you do that? Like, is that, what a stupid thing? And perhaps maybe as well, that Mercedes maybe didn't have an answer. Maybe Mercedes would have, again, been throwing sort of caution to the window, and gone, okay, well, you know, we're going to change the car to this,

but we don't know if that's going to be any better, because again, they only had one hour of practice. So I think it's easier probably said than done when it comes to that one. Next question, Margaridaps 18. Do you think Lando should have stayed out in the last 10 laps and tried the two-stop strategy? Okay, Max was gaining quite a lot per lap, but considering how far third place was behind them,

did he have anything to lose by trying? Worst case scenario, he would finish P2, like he did anyway. I understand why McLaren did what they did. They stayed out for a couple more laps, didn't they? They allowed Lando to lead the race. Max Verstappen starts closing in two, three seconds a lap easily on Lando. And I think from a fan's perspective, obviously we're wishing, we're praying, oh, Lando just stay out.

You never know what could happen. You could get a safety car. But even if the safety car had been thrown after we, you know, after Lando made the decision to come into the pits, he still wouldn't have had a free pit stop to then be ahead of Max Verstappen. So what McLaren have done is, okay, well, let's see if we get a free,

a free-ish pit stop in these next couple of laps. No, we didn't. We're now going into the territory of, do we take these medium tires another 10 laps, into a bit of an unknown? We don't know that we could get a puncture. There could be a massive drop-off with Landau's tires. Does he then come under pressure

from Alonzo and Perez on a much more, conventional strategy. So I can see where all the team are just constantly thinking about all these scenarios and it was a role of the dice. There was no way Lando was going to beat Max for Stappen, especially after the fact he wouldn't have got a free pit stop and stayed ahead of Max. So I get it. I totally get why they would have, why they pit Lando when they did and I'm not even angry

about it. No, I mean, I'm glad they tried to do something a little bit different, like leave him out just long enough to see a kind of, oh, maybe this could work. but as soon as Max goes two in a bit seconds quicker, it's like, well, yeah, it's not going to happen. And then of course, now we know, with the Alonzo and Paris battle, that risk, if they had dropped behind Alonzo, Alonzo proved in that race that he's not an easy man to pass.

And even though Orlando finished 30 seconds clear, he might not have easily just flown by Fernando. I think he may have got past him, but, you know, so if he's stuck behind Perez and Alonzo and the DRS isn't powerful enough or he can't get by, then they look really stupid. And they've just thrown away a second place just for like a, oh, we might beat Max if something crazy happens.

But yeah, it's tough because as fans want to see Max get challenged, And we, and it's almost like a less extreme version of Mercedes when, you know, we wanted Hamilton stay out in Austin and things like that that. That we're kind of like, oh my God, please just try anything to do it. But then you get into the territory of teams just throwing away really good results in the hope that they can beat Maxa Stappen, which is very, very difficult. And actually looking back on this race, because there's not a question of it. who might as well mention it now, is it almost, because the middle of the race was actually quite dull,

I've almost forgotten until I watched the highlights that Norris did actually catch Max at one point and have a very good chance to pass him. And it didn't quite happen, and then it was literally only that one time. But what might have been, we were like, oh my God,

Land is actually battling him for the lead. This is insane. Then I tweeted, and then it was 1.6. seven seconds of the gap. So I want to apologize. Sorry, I got excited. I think everybody got kind of baited.

I think even Max, he's toying with all of us. He's like, all right, I'll let Lando get a bit close. We'll give the TV, you know, just a little bit of action. Four corners, to be precise. And then, by, 2.3, 2.7. We'll keep the gap there. And then we'll just constantly extend it. It was, yeah, it was a bit of a strange moment to see Max Verstappen

actually throwing a defensive shape. to any other car. I was like, oh, wow, Max's defending. This is, this is new. Has he forgotten how to defend? Yeah, exactly. But, no, it was, it was good to watch, but sadly it didn't continue for more than two corners.

Yes, exactly. Sad times. Next question, zero Xfusions. Why were Daniel and Oscar not allowed to unlap themselves before the restart? In the past, we have seen cars be let out before the others complete a lap and then join the back of the formation lap and be back on the lead lap.

You got any insight to this time? Have you got any extra insight? No, if we find out, we'll maybe mention it more in the driver. I had to listen to Daniel Ricardo's interview and he just said like it was annoying because, yeah, that they found out that they were a lap down. And it was strange because obviously they had the issues. They came into the pits. then there was the red flag

and you could if you watch the start again you can see that Daniel and Oscar drive down the pit lane they come in and pit on the first lap and then

yeah they're already a lap behind so it's yeah it's weird that they didn't essentially start at the front from the formation lap and then could unlap themselves there must have been some

some boring procedure yeah they could You think in 2023, they can't just click an extra lap on the timing system or something like that. But yeah, it was really frustrating for sure because, you know, you think when you're behind a safety car, the lap cars are allowed to go through. It's so early in the race as well that you've essentially lost a whole lap one. Yeah, it's actually mad, especially when you've had a formation lap to go to the grid. Like, why, I don't know, maybe it's because they don't want to do any more running. than that. I guess it's not behind a safety car, so they wouldn't do any more than one lap,

so how would they then unlap themselves if they're going straight to the grid? I don't know. I feel like there is definitely a solution that could be done for this, and this is like one of those archaic Formula One rules that's just been there forever, and they're like, well, you know, this is how it works. Because of timing and because of procedures and it's all on an electronic system where they have to go through certain sectors rather than them just going on a bit of code and typing delete one lap do that I mean

code to me go on your locker of you yeah hacks you get the odd HTML coding but no it's a shame for Daniel and Oscar

because you look at the rate of attrition as well very rare to see only 14 cars finishing and obviously two of them were just game over

from the start because they were a lap down and ricardo had very good pace piastri again wasn't wasn't that far behind ricardo as well um i don't think piastri's pace was to write home about but i think the two of them would definitely have scored points and if they'd have been allowed to race you know uh well maybe not definitely but i think they'd have slotted in behind sonoda um and yeah we could have seen a double alpha taurie points again and they'd have had an unbelievable weekend after what looked like a very floppy start. Yeah, it's really hard to kind of measure Ricardo and Piastri. Of course, Ricardo beat Piastri in the end, but Oscar was absolutely and fairly being

used as a bit of a guinea pig for Lando Norris sort of telling the team how the medium tires are feeling and this, that and the other. And I think that's why Lando stayed out for so long on the softs. And they couldn't fix his car as well, because I know everyone would be shouting that, that his car wasn't a whole. 100% fixed piastries either exactly um so it's hard to to really measure on that one but um they did a great job both for danio ricardo's car and for oscar piastri's car to even get them into the race although i think they probably both were wishing they'd just kind of like had been able to just have a chill rather than be a lap down for the whole race and just do a test session basically uh but i'm

sure piastri's uh feedback helped help lando in the long run not that it would have really changed this result because he was 26 seconds clear of alonzo but um yeah a shame for both of them because it would have been nice to have seen where they would have ended up. Gene Sullivan 27 asks a question, who was a bigger disappointment, the TV directors or Charlotte Clare's car? What are these questions? Did you pick that one on purpose, Tommy?

Are you Gene Sullivan 27? Is that your burner account? You just like seeing me hurt, don't you? For me, I mean, quite obvious that I would probably pick Charlotte Clare here, but a very close second. was the TV direction? It was one of the poorest races I've seen in terms of the direction that was happening via the international feed and how they were basically cutting away from the most...

Well, there wasn't that many important parts in this race, but the important parts that we were having, we could only see via the split time on the... the left of our screen because we had, was it Perez and Alonzo fighting out of the pits? We're like, oh, where's Per is Peres going to come out? Where's Perez going to come out in the grand scheme? Oh, we're looking at Hamilton getting passed by an Alpine or whatever it was. And it happened again.

There was two separate occasions where the pit lane, we were focusing on the pit lane. I think one of the times it wasn't actually that close. It was like three and a half seconds. But there's one time, sorry, one time okay, you're like, fine, you've made a mistake. twice what are you doing do you have any will knowledge whatsoever

the person that is making those decisions it's bewildering and it was so infuriating not just that but the battle for the lead

which lasted a very small amount of time but the second I see Landau Norris under a second behind Max Verstappan show me it whether it's a small box

or a big box one of them show me it. That is what we're here for, not for your stupid replays. Oh, the replays was fricking me off a lot. Like, yeah, it was actually infuriating. This is something that I've rented about for ages.

And I think, you know, we had races in 2022 where I said the same thing where when you get tracks like Brazil, where, and we saw this with Fernando and Perez and stuff, that the other person gets DRS back, just because the move has been completed, don't cut to the replay the second, like I want to see a bit of live action,

I want to absorb the overtake, I want to see if the other person can get back, even if it's not in an overtaking zone, I want to see two cars close together going through the infield section. I don't care that they probably won't be able to pass there. I want to see live battling. We don't need to see the replays. There was enough of that race

where not a lot was happening that they could have shown their 50,000 replays that they need to do. It's too quick. They're too trigger happy with the replays that they feel like they have to show it. And I don't know about you, but when I see a brilliant overtake,

I want to kind of absorb it. I don't need to be like, oh, what just happened? I need to see that again. I've forgotten. Yeah, I've forgotten. and if it's a case where like people are like on their phones and miss it then that's their problem but it's true exactly like wind it back if you've got that luxury or or like they'll show the

replays later but it's but it's true like to get jess out exactly it just annoys me it annoys me and also we i can't believe this happened The only time I felt like we saw the mini box, the whole race was for a Lance Stroll pit stop. It was. Why? It was. Why now? It's like they were, we're just going to remind you that the mini box exists, but we're not going to show anything interesting in it.

They're basically baiting us. They're like, we could use this box. Here's Lance Stroll. I reckon they've memed us. I reckon it is literally... We're getting criticised here and let's not forget, the biggest criticism they've ever got

is the Lance Stroll replay at Monacoast. They've gone... Let's stick a Lance stroll pit stuff up on the small box, shall we? Even though it's not the case, it literally felt like they watched our rant yesterday and they were just trolling us the whole time. Like, let's do the mini box, but for a relevant thing, this will piss them off.

Go on, do it. Yeah, I do it. To go even harder on us, guys. Come on. Wow, that was a squeak. I don't know if that was your chair or your voice. It was my chair, yeah. No, I think that was your voice.

It was like a, eh. Anyway, yes, the TV direction was really, really disappointing. I think it hits harder when the races are not great. Brazil, unfortunately, didn't deliver to the level of which we wanted it to and we're praying for it to be. And perhaps the level of expectation was so far through the roof. And perhaps it's due to my Brazilian wig that I was wearing that maybe I cause some problems for the Sunday race,

but it makes it even more frustrating when something's going on. And I know that Sky Sports don't manage the TV direction, but their whole messaging is like, Sky Sports, it's only live once. It's only live once and then, yeah, it's not their fault. It's live zero times, but we have four replays for you. Here you go.

Yeah. It's only live, not once, but you'll get to see it again six times from every angle and then this. the next bit of action because we're showing replay. And then we'll see a replay of that action that you've just missed. But it's not obviously not Sky. That does that sort of stuff.

But anyway, let's move on. Biggest winner, driver or team? Ooh, I know who you're going for. No, Aston Martin, I think. Team is very fair as well. Yeah, I think Aston Martin. The Stroll's fifth. Finished six seconds behind Alonzo.

I know Alonzo was pulling a lot of defensive maneuvers, which would have lost them a bit of time. but still, Lance Strull was Sheffing as well. So fair play, Aston Martin. Yeah, I'm going to lock in biggest winner for that. And are you going to go for Aston Martin or Fernando Alonzo in particular, just so that you can talk about him a little bit more? I mean, to be fair, I'd almost say Yuki Sonoda,

the fact that if we're talking about the whole weekend, the fact that he got double points, which is a minor miracle for Alpho Tauri, when they've not scored many points. And it is absolutely insane that we went so much, of the season with only a few races left where Alphi Tari barely scored any points and were so far clearly last in the title, they're now seven points off Williams and could end up P7. And that doesn't feel like it's absolutely outrageous for them to do now.

No, and I mean, they're only 87 behind Alpine, so a really good couple last races and they could get sick as well. But no, that is the triple points finale in Abu. Can you imagine that? They're looking at the Vastappen to Perez Gap and oh God, we're going to have to give out 10 times points in order for Peres to even have a shot here, which is crazy to say out there. Which is still almost not enough.

No, it isn't enough. That is actually mad. 11 times. You could do 10 times the point for the finale and Perez still wouldn't win if he won and Max DNF. Oh my goodness. That is actually bonkers, isn't it? That is depressing.

If you like competitive sport all the way to the last race. Biggest loser, drive it all team. Mercedes. Yeah, Mercedes is very much up there. Alpha Romeo is also up there. Both of their cars out. And what we've just spoken about as well, they were in a fight with Alpha Tauri,

but they're losing ground on them now. They're now five points behind Alpha Tauri with a couple of races to go. So I would say probably Alpha Amio are losing more by the fact that they are, losing touch with P8 in the constructors. It's a lot of money for these kind of teams. Hasse with a miracle performance,

could they overthrow them? Four points behind with a couple of races to go as well. So yeah, I'm going to lock in Alfa Romeo. Fair, I will just go for Mercedes. Just maybe it's almost like it's not that disastrous, but it is for Mercedes standards and the fact that there was so much hype. And I guess it does put maybe some pressure

on them, like put pressure with Ferrari going into those last two races when when LeClaire was in the barrier, they should have quite easily, you know, come away from that race with a lot more points than Ferrari and they ended up losing ground to them. Yeah. Yeah, that was crazy to think that how quickly signs got on the back of the pair of them, got past them, and then of course, Russell having that DNF meant that signs, yeah. It's called a P6 and Hamilton a P8. So, yeah.

It could be interesting. If Ferrari come out, the blocks firing in Vegas, as to who gets P2 in the constructors, it's a lot of money. Right, let's now look back at our predictions, shall we, that we made on Wednesday. Good. Let's start with the biggest.

Let's start with biggest good surprise, then. I went for Charlotte-Clair. Do I regret it? Yes. Every fibre of my being regrets putting Shao La Clare into my basket is the only driver that I was going to pick X Y's into my basket

and I've paid the price. You have. My biggest good surprise was Fernando Alonze and boy, was that probably the only good prediction I don't know, was he really that good? Was he really good that good? Was he really good getting a pretty? Yeah, that was, I mean, even

even I said biggest good surprise thinking I was like I might get a P5 or six and I think that would be a worthy surprise podium. A podium was wild so yeah. Very wild. So well done. One point for you. How many points were you behind?

Tommy going into this. Can we remind the audience please? Two. Good. Oh well that's fantastic. Biggest flop. I was in Dreamland after Friday, not because I wanted to see Alphatarie do badly,

but because I thought I'd been on to an absolute. absolute worldy. And then they scored double points, which I don't think they've done the entire, and double points, obviously, with Yuki Sunoda both times. I don't think they've done that the entire year. So well done.

Your, you normally nail these. I think the universe got confused and thought you said, yeah, got it the wrong way around, because Charler-laire has literally gone off on the formation lap, so it would have been probably the biggest flop. And Alvatore, arguably,

one of the biggest good surprises of the whole whole weekend. So I think the universe is being confused. What you're telling me right now is half a point. It's minus point. No. Biggest flopper went for Red Bull, which, no,

it masked up and is too strong. Why did I even attempt it? You tried. You tried, my friend. You tried. At pole position, I went for Charlotte. No.

I went for Lando Norris. And that was actually a really good prediction. And it was just like, no. He's going to, yeah, wrong one again. That's happened twice now. To be fair, you got it the wrong way around as well for Poland sprint shootout.

Yeah. So sprint shootout, I went for Charlotte. No. No. Good. And... You went for Vastappan. I went for Vastappan.

Zero. Sprint winner, I went for Charlotte Clare. Oh, God. And you went for Vastappan, you boring. I'm joking, well done. Congratulations. So now we are level on points right now. Oh, my word.

Oh, we are massing this up. Good. Right. My top three, or our top three, because we go through both of them. Third place, I went for Charlotte. I went for Charlotte. Good. You went for? Color science, also not really good. No. In second place, I went for Lewis Hamilton. No. Lando Norris, yes. Tommy leads. Tommy is one point ahead. What a move.

Oh, but look at this. Fernando Alonzo is coming back on the last lap because I went for first place Max Rastappen. And he's leveled the points again. What's Tommy gone for? Lewis Hamilton. Yay! And hold on. There's another final one crazy prediction.

Gallagher, out of nowhere. The sprint will be better than the main race. Oh, what a move. We're back to one point ahead. Definitely, right? Yeah, yeah, it's fair. It was. I've nailed that.

And I didn't want to nail it. I'm sorry. How could you? What did you do? Can you level it? No. Red Bull won't win. What was I thinking?

Well, you hedged events. Well done. We're within a point now. We are cooking with this thing. One point with two races to go. The funniest thing is we haven't actually, that's wild that it is actually this close. I know we banter that we're kind of like Michael Massing it,

but we do predict what we think is going to happen. Our predictions. No, no. The first time we talk about our predictions is in the show because we want it to be a bit of a surprise. And that's amazing. It just shows that we are equal on wheel knowledge slash delirium. And finally, the three crazy predictions from you wonderful people.

Hector 4 Smash, Checo podium. You are half a tenth away from getting that right. King Leon juiced. There won't be any VSCs or safety cars. That's incorrect. There was a safety car at the start. And Jones, RF 873, double has points. No.

No, that did not happen. And that is it. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening to this P1 podcast for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Thank you for joining us over on Twitch over the course of the weekend. It was lots of fun. We're flying out to America on Saturday. So we won't be here for the Twitch watchalongs for Vegas, but we'll be doing all of our normal content, as you know and love from us.

And we'll be bringing you all of that and some extra stuff as well whilst we're out in America, which is going to be very, very exciting. What are your final thoughts, Tom Bellingham? My final thoughts are make sure you grab those P1 live-shared tickets. Don't I'm an R because they're selling quick. And we all need to see the six-hour Charlotte-Clauer compilation live. The one we did in April, obviously, that was quite a short clip. But it was such a weird thing because obviously we do Twitch watchalongs and we do podcasts and stuff.

But we never have that sort of audience feedback, that like media audience feedback. And to have people like literally like, bellow laughing in the show and stuff. And like, you were like dropping, even not in the Charlotte Claire stuff, but you'd just be saying the odd thing in, you know, the Tom Bellingham kind of way. And people were like, ah!

That's very weird. I know. It was mega. But it was such a cool experience and we've gone bigger and better this year. So if you want to come to the P1 London live show for or the Manchester live show, the Glasgow one has finished now in terms of sales. So sold out. That's the term. I'll get there eventually. Then please do come along. We'd love to have you there.

And that is it. Thank you for. everybody. We'll see you very soon for driver ratings tomorrow and lots of other content that you know that we do. Bye! Bye! P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.