P1 with Matt and Tommy - Japanese GP Race Review

Episode Date: April 6, 2025

A pretty uneventful race at Suzuka was defined by one incident between Max and Lando - it’s just a shame that the TV directors ensured we all missed it… We ask why McLaren can’t work themselves out and praise a faultless drive from the greatest driver on the grid. Plus, with Suzuka delivering another poor race, we wonder about the future of various classic F1 circuits in the modern era – do the tracks need to change, or the cars? Listen to an extended version of this episode over on our Patreon! Sign up to get every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every Race Review episode, 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 B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Here we are, everybody. I bet you're excited for this one. My God, was that a banger? That was, I'm smiling from here to ear right now, Tommy. Where do we even begin for this podcast? Of course, reviewing the Japanese Grand Prix. I don't even know how we're going to come up with our most memorable moments.

I think there's plenty to talk about it was an absolutely awful race of course but yeah that's why it was yeah oh yeah I know it was the fact it was an absolute stinker but yeah as we've said before stinkers usually create slight rants and things like that

and that's kind of what we're loading up with so look forward to that one we got early morning I've seen him been sipping the coffee so I believe he will be ready to are you riled up Tommy are you ready to go I am We got, I just thought of this actually, that we basically had a replica of, was it Monaco 2021, where there was no overtaking and then the only moment of drama was missed by the TV direction. So proper throwback there. We'll get into that, I'm sure. Before we dive into

everything, a quick shout out to our wonderful P1 patrons who will be getting extra chat at the end of this race review podcast. You also get ad-free listening to the podcast. You also get exclusive access to live tickets, you get access to the Discord and plenty more. So look forward to that at the end of this Race Review podcast. We're doing it across the whole season. Thank you to those that have joined the P1 Patreon so far. I hope you are enjoying the extra waffle. Okay, let's get into it.

I'm going to start with my most memorable moment. And it is McLaren strategy. I said after qualifying, McLaren still have to be the favourites to win this. They are second and third on the grid. It could be Monaco. And I genuinely would still think they've got a good solid chance of trying something. But McLaren, in my opinion, seemed, and it's been a running trend now for ever since they've got quick,

is they are conservative first over pretty much anything. they will just try and score good points, even if that isn't the victory, and they will see that as quite a decent outing. Now, second and third on paper is a decent result. However, it's not a, in my opinion, again, a championship winning mentality for the drivers more specifically. McLaren it is such a great position for the constructors.

Don't get me wrong. But I think someone needs to remind them, everyone cares about the drivers. The constructors is obviously a great thing for them to win last year and it was an awesome achievement for them. But the drivers is what they need to be focusing on. Now, I'm not saying it was an absolute slam dunk. They could have won this Grand Prix if they did X.

However, I think the most frustrating thing for me was just watching them do nothing. That was what they did. They pitted Oscar slightly earlier. Oscar obviously being the third in the train, maybe it was about three and a half seconds back from Max when he came into the pits, that's not possible. Obviously, Max is going to come in the next lap.

Why they haven't attempted something with Lando, the excuses throwing around are there wasn't much, you know, the drivers behind had pitted, obviously the talk of Oscar Piastri then getting track position over Lando, if Lando decides to do the overcut. But instead, obviously, they pit, at the same time with Max,

they get slightly fortunate by the fact that Red Bull had a one second slower pit stop, but still didn't come out ahead of Max. And then you are signing your fate right there and then for the rest of the race. You've got no tire offset and you don't have track position. So for me, I'm like box opposite Max Verstappen is my radio to Lando Norris. Go longer. Allow Oscar to go into second.

And then as a team, you should be able to make that call of, OK, Oscar, Lando's on fresher tires, let him have a shot, let him get the position back. In my opinion, that should be the foundations of the team anyway. but they didn't. And that's why I'm so frustrated is that because it was such a stinker, we didn't even have the element of, oh, Lando has slightly fresher tires.

Maybe he can go on the attack at the end because they were on the same tires. Yeah, the silly thing is that if they had done something different, they'd have finished second and third anyway. Exactly. That's the most annoying thing. There was no risk there. And also, they could have got them to swap back.

Say Lando had pitted a lap later, lost a place to Oscar, where the Oscar would have lost. let him through is another question and we'll maybe see that later in the season how they play that but McLaren yeah they definitely have played it too too safe they have the best car in formula one whatever you think of where max is right now because I know a lot of people think that oh it's still a decent car some people think it's absolutely terrible an attractor some people think that well it's maybe still second or third best but whatever you think the McLaren is the best

that is a fact. And they should be winning every race at the start of the season like Red Bull did last year. And a two, three, while it looks good on paper and yeah, they're going to win constructors, Lando's now only one point ahead of Max in the Drivers' Championship when he's had that dominant car that he should, this should be the point where McLaren are stretching their legs and getting away and making it difficult, like Max did last year when he had that rebel advantage, to pull a gap that should be uncatchable by the end of the season if the other teams do catch up.

But instead, it's crazy that they made no attempt to win that race at all. And they just seem scared to kind of do anything. You had Oscar behind as well, who looked quicker. And they just didn't really try anything to win that race. They just seem so content with just thinking, well we've got the best car and we'll win the Constructors Championship again like we did last year because even last year they only just got it over the line when it should have been the most comfortable thing in the world and there's so many team decisions that went wrong last year they need to start having a winning

mentality as a team as well now I know that some again reasons let's call it reasons from McLaren I you know there were drivers that were pit behind as much as I'd love to say Charlotte Clare was a threat. I really don't think he was. Even for Lando to go two or three laps longer, we saw with Kimmy Antonelli, for example, out in front, he was going half a second to maybe seven tenths a lap slower than what Max Verstappen was doing out in front. You put Alando Norris there, that gap's going to be maybe three, four tenths slower in those initial phases. It's not that big of a difference to then at least have some kind of advantage. And that's why I'm sat here slightly frustrated, probably more so frustrated by the,

just the absolute stinker that Suzuki has provided us. But one other thing I want to bring up on this whole, you know, safe strategy picking up a second and third. And I think you've just said, Tommy, about we don't know how the teams are going to progress from here. Christian Horner said in the Sky interview, and it's quite interesting that he called it a big regulation change for round nine being Spain. The fact that he called it big, I thought was actually quite an interesting

insight as to... This is the wings, right? Yeah, the flexi wings and you might deem this, oh, it's quite a small thing that they're changing. But Horn has kind of more suggested that it's a bigger thing than perhaps we all reckon.

And that could change the pecking order completely. Like it did last year. Yeah. We saw it last year. There's already been rumours that Red Bull are going to potentially benefit from this regulation change come round nine. And I completely agree with you, Tommy, that McLaren need

to be trying to go for wins. Seconds and thirds to Max for Stappen especially is not good enough at this date. I know it maybe seems like an over-exaggeration to be going in on McLaren when they are leading both championships. But they have to be clear. They should be clear. They should be a long way clear.

And second and third, when you have a car that should be dominating is not good enough. And in qualifying, I'll be real. okay, McLaren were very, very close. They were 400ths off, securing a one-two in qualifying and probably securing a one-two in the race. It was very, very fine margins. And I'm not going to say that McLaren have had an absolute disaster class because they haven't. But I think it's just a do you want to win the driver's championship kind of question? Because if they continue this and it is close with Max Verstappen in races, they have to beat him.

They have to roll the dice to beat Max Verstappen in a race. So that's me done with that. P1PH member Harry B. Do you think they should be more risky with their strategies? Yes, that's the overall sort of consensus from me. And I'm not saying

go something crazy. I'm not saying to start on hard tires. Even that might have been something to try. They had nothing to lose. These things, exactly. They had the pace. I think hard tires

was obviously a risky thing to do at the start because you just don't get the same purchase off the line and it would have put perhaps Piastri or Norris on the back foot. and they needed to try to get Vastappen in term one, and that didn't happen.

But I would like to see McLaren do that. But then, you know, they open themselves up to the other side of things of doing a risky strategy and it not paying off and actually finishing second and fourth or second and fifth. So that's what a conservative approach brings you. And we just want to see action as well. I think that's probably from a fans perspective. The biggest thing here as well is that Red Bull's second driver that we've spoken about so much going into this season and everything that's happened with Lawson and Perez and all that

kind of stuff. The big thing was always that Max didn't have anyone to help him in the championship and, you know, take points off the others and stop. McLaren had the luxury of having two cars against one and they didn't do anything. And that is a situation that should be capitalised upon. the McLaren even particularly this weekend I know I know it got taken out of context but they are right in a way that you know they have a very very very strong driver lineup and having two number ones if that's the case and you want two drivers at the front this is where McLaren need to capitalize because that race having two number ones or or and you know the way McLaren did their strategy it didn't work for them because they should be. been able to outfox for Stappen and Red Bull in that situation by having two cars in the fight. Yeah, accepting a race where both of their drivers are stuck with the fastest car in dirty air just doesn't make sense in my brain. It's as simple as that, whether it was a starting on the hard tires, which I think obviously was more of a risky one, but doing the overcut, having that

clean air with Lando, he could have stretched his legs a little bit. Now, they were pushing flat out, which I think is actually quite a cool thing. We don't usually tend to to hear that they were pushing flat out throughout, but Landau's just sat in dirty air the entire time. So yeah, I think that's an interesting one. I look forward to seeing your opinions on it as well. Another moment, or non-moment, I suppose, to discuss, and it's from a P1 Patreon member M Lacken, should McLaren have let Oscar go with a driver swap? Whilst watching it live, I was of the opinion, yes, especially at times when he was so close. I think he got within three, four tenths of Lando.

I think on reflection, I can understand why they didn't. They didn't want to have another Hungary. They didn't want to have another Oscar saying, well, actually, I'm actually a bit quicker. They didn't want to, again, it's on the conservative approach for them to do that. Both their drivers are in a championship hunt. So I can understand in some ways why they didn't swap them at this stage of the of the season, sorry.

And I think Andrea Stella, I think quite rightly said as well, you needed eight tenths of a second on the driver ahead to actually have an opportunity. So if Oscar couldn't get through on Lando, the likelihood of Oscar then getting through

on Max was almost second to none. Oscar did look faster at certain points, but then once he got close enough, he then had to pull back because his tyres start overheating and maybe had to save a bit of energy. So for me, no, on reflection, I think it was fine the way they did it. Yeah, they, I do understand Oscar's frustration because he probably thought we can win this race. And I guess the argument is that from a team strategy point of view, and if McLaren are this,

this team that is very much the constructors, it's all about the constructors, regardless of the driver's championship, a one, three is better than a two three, whether I think, think Oscar would have been able to pass Max, maybe to put him under more pressure. And Oscar was looking very quick, but I do get why they don't want to rock the boat this early in the season when both of them are going for the driver's championship. They need, I guess, I guess from that side, I can understand why they elected to have team harmony at this stage of the season over going for a huge risk of Oscar maybe being able to pass Max on track because as we know from the rest of the race,

overtaking was pretty much now and impossible. And in fairness, Oscar wasn't particularly frustrated with the call that he, he, no, he wasn't fuming, it wasn't like he threw his toys out of the Pram and he mentioned on the team radio. He said after the race, he said, look, I get it. I get why we didn't. I obviously put it out there to see if the team would allow the switch. But they didn't.

And Oscar is, if Oscar understands, then we can as fans as well, that they didn't swap the cars. Next question, P1 picture member MK underscore in underscore LA. Who is McLaren's number one driver? And at what point are they going to have to decide this? They will decide it never. As late as possible. They will decide it when Oscar Piastri is mathematically out of reach.

And I'm talking maybe even... Orlando. Orlando, of course. But then I think we can kind of see maybe where McLaren still have slight more allegiances in my opinion. I think that Lando has deserved to be this, the number one driver at McLaren purely from experience and, and whatnot. But on the flip side of that, Oscar Piaastri is taking some serious steps forward now, where we're coming into a season and in dry races, Oscar looks to have Lando's number, which is something that we

haven't seen in the first two seasons of him learning and building at McLaren. So now, it's an even harder decision for McLaren to make and one that they're not going to make in my opinion because the two are so closely matched. So for me, it's going to cause problems later on in the season, especially if Oscar and Lando

are both in the title fight and we spoke about this in the predictions into the season, they're going to take points off each other. And this is where Max, and this is where Max is going to enjoy this. If he's winning, and Piastri is finishing second and Norris third

and then Norris is second and then Piastri's third it's a gain for Max every time Yeah it is and this is the the kind of double-edged sword of how you kind of play it with the two drivers they get great points and they actually have drivers at the front which we've said so many times that's what Red Bull seemingly should and should have

and want to have that second driver up there but then when they are as quick i think oscar piastri this year has proved that he is absolutely on the pace of of lando and i i personally think it's too close to call between the two of them at this stage because i think oscar um you know minus the the mistake which was very unlucky in australia um is right right there with lando as well you know on the back of him beat him in china uh and was racing him very hard in in australia as well so they look exceptionally close i think it's too close to call between the two of them at the moment. And at the moment, it's a nice thing for McLaren,

but it could be a headache when we get later into the season. And already, Max, is, and shouldn't be, one point off the championship lead. Yeah, they'll win the constructors by 250 points, but they could easily lose the drivers. Well, this is the thing. Like, they, last year, they sell a, they sell, and rightly say,

because it is like an amazing thing to do, but obviously they were like so celebrating the Constructors' Championship and stuff. But I think they can't do that again this year because it would be considered a failure to not win the drivers. The drivers is the big prize and they can't have another season where they take the Constructors' Championship and don't win the drivers because I don't think it will have the same kind of wholesome, yay, they've won the Constructors' reaction to it if they do it again. It's a fair point because if you win the Constructors, you essentially have had the best car over the year. Therefore, if you don't win the drivers...

It's not spoken about enough that, yeah, like last year, if you win, the drivers should not be happy winning the constructor's title and not the driver's championship. That's a fact. Yes, but at the same time, I can understand why McLaren were really happy last year. Of course, yeah. But as you say, they need to build on that

and not just get the same result, which they're very likely to do in the sense of securing the constructors. And look, they can sacrifice a few points if they want to be a bit risky to try and get the drivers as well. That's what I would say to that. Next question, P1 Patreon member, Hazer. Is Max more of a contender for the championship than we originally thought? Tommy, should we roll the tape at this point?

Do we roll out our first to 20th? How early can we be smug about the comments? He's not leading the driver's championship yet. No, he's not. But it's panned out exactly as we predicted so far, that the two McLaren's have got the best car. and Max is there and just just doing Max for Stap and things he's he was he's basically a tenth away from winning two of the first three races

which is insane Tommy's rolling out the if spots and Mabies as well now okay here we go Max for Stap if but in all seriousness yeah an amazing start to the season when the discussion we had earlier about things might change did last year we're having a regulation change as Christian Horner said and he's and he's there and you can't write him off regardless of if you think he's in the second best car or the eighth best car and there's a lot of

opinions on where that is and he's there and he's won the race again. Max Verstappen is the only driver that can just all the time considerably beat his teammate win the race, have his teammate finish 12th, and people go, it's got to be the second best car, isn't it? That's got to be the second best car easily. Like, you know, he's got a decent car under him now. Like, anyone else, right?

Charlotte Claire wins Lewis Hampton down in 12th. It's lauded one of the greatest drives of all time. But Max, because it hits so normal for him to outperform the car, people then go, well, it must be the car then. It can't surely be, it doesn't process in my brain. And this is a thing with his teammates as well that the narrative. The narrative of Max has useless teammates.

You know, Perez, everyone was singing Perez's praises before he joined and then suddenly he's the worst driver in Formula One but there's never any credit on the fact that Max is absolutely demolishing them and it's not just the fact that they're useless and he's got the best car.

It's not the case. And yeah, he's had a phenomenal start to the season and basically for all the kind of, you know, we're obviously joking about feeling a little bit smug about it because we got so much ridicule for saying Vestappen would win the, the driver's championship based on how it was going. But it's gone exactly the way you kind of, we thought it might, that you can never write him off and he will pick up the maximum from that car, which he has done in every single session and

more, you know, he's overperformed. And that's why he's only a point off Lando already, when he's, you shouldn't be there. The best driver in Formula One without a shadow of a doubt. And he is delivering at a level that, yeah, has not been seen many times in the past. But yes, to answer the question, yes, Max is a contender. And we will see if round nine brings a shakeup of the pecking order and another twist in this championship. Because as much as we've had two out of three stinkers, the championship is beautifully poised.

We've had four different winners as well in four races. Yeah, that's crazy to forget that. That is absolutely crazy. Now, before we dive into your most memorable moment, Tommy, very quickly, I think as we're talking about McLaren and Red Bull, we need to discuss the Lando versus Max Pit Lane incident. Maybe we'll call it that. Is it an incident? Yes. Now, obviously, Lando came over the radio and said, he's pushed me off.

Max did probably a 0.2 degree turn to the right to just make sure Lando does not try anything. because he's not going to give you space. And he doesn't even, he can't really give you space because he can't cross the pit lane exit line on the left. He can't just go all the way over to the left and go, yeah, Lando, come along, mate. Come down the inside of me. Here we go.

So he's going to stay there. Lando can see the grass coming very, very quickly. And he tried something. And fair enough, right? I think if you put any of us in that situation, that's the only opportunity Lando has to beat Max now, is out the pit lane. He's gone for something crazy.

it's not worked. Some people say, why don't he just like sit behind and stay close during the lap? He's going to fall away with dirty air. He's not going to get a chance. That gives you to pass circuit that they're at. So, look, I'm not going to be too harsh on Lando for that

because he's gone for it. He's tried it. It's been a bit cheeky over the radio. He's gone, oh, Max has pushed me off. We've seen that a million times in Formula One where drivers will try something a little bit. They're like, well, they always try and get an advantage. But I'll pop over on the radio and say,

I think this needs to be looked into. Then they look into it and realize, that nothing should happen. There was no penalty given and that is the exact correct decision. Max did nothing wrong. And Tommy, we need to talk about the TV direction

of this particular moment because it was the one thing. The one thing that happened in this race. And as much as I love Charles Leclair, I did not need to see his pit stop at the time because we saw them come out side by side. And it went, boom. Reader Fuser of Ferrari.

How do you like that, Mon Matt? I'm like, I love it, but can we go back to the action? It then cuts to Lando on the grass. And I reckon the majority of Formula One fans have thought Max has done something there. I did. Watching it back, I think I said, oh my gosh, he's pushed him off. Yeah. And then you watch the replay and went, oh no, Lando just drove onto the grass.

But I was very upset. We were both very upset, weren't we? The one thing that for the lead of the race wasn't caught at the time. that they're so set in their ways and we've said this so many times with a TV direction that it feels like it's someone doing it that has no Formula One knowledge and they've been given a book and it says in qualifying you have to show the car who's on the track first and then cut to everyone after regardless of if they're not doing a quick lap and then when someone comes into the pits you have to show it even if there's a six car side by side

battle for the lead. Make sure you show Lance Stroll coming into the pits because we have to show the pit stops. This is continually like it's happening all the time and it's just ridiculous that they keep doing it and they just needs to be someone with a bit of

knowledge it seems that can just know that this is going to happen and why they need to you saw them racing out the pit so there's no excuse to show Charles Leclair. We could all see it happening in front of us. And it's not even like it's just a mistake. It's it's it's so frustrating when when they miss these moments and they're so, we know they're so obsessed with replays and showing them a thousand times and missing all the live action. Thankfully for them.

There wasn't much live action. Um, but they've put a live action box in now. Exactly. Yeah, but they managed to miss the only moment. For me, it's funny that you say that Lando kind of going for move. I saw it differently and I saw Lando as the, uh, that gif of the dog with the cupcakes, uh, with the flashbacks and he saw the Mexican Grand Prix and saw the tiniest little movement from Max and went, oh my God, he's going to push me into the wall and just bailed onto the grass. Um, and, and maybe that is part of, uh, the way Max does, does things. And, um, we've, we've said not to put any blame on Max at all, but he's got that reputation now and so many drivers have said it that they do just let him go past because they know it's either a crash or it's

going to happen. And when you have that kind of perception, it can work in your favour because I do think Lando saw the tiniest little twitch and probably was a bit like, oh, and kind of maybe panicked a little bit. But yeah, he was maybe he thought that was his only moment, which I can see why, because of course they didn't do anything with the strategy. But I think he himself, I have not seen any quote from him, but I think he himself can now, will probably admit that there's nothing in it. I've seen Lando's post-race interview. He said there was nothing in it.

He doesn't hold. And all drive the snitch on each other. Max even snitched on Lando to be like, check his, what was it, his pit limit. So they all do it and it's part of Formula One. Exactly. So what I would say to that is Don't take Lando Norris's He pushed me off Team Radio so seriously

I know that social media loves to jump on that kind of thing Oh yeah it'd be the new George Russell He turned into me And things like that It's like guys everybody complains about everyone Out on track and he tried it And so he saw that point two degree movement From Max Verstappen still tried to go for the move

Drove onto the grass and Gave it a go It's as simple as that It's not that deep Okay Tommy what's your most memorable moment, please. My most memorable moment. It's a bit of a sad one, really.

And it's watching Suzuki just under deliver. And it's a shame to see all these tracks that, and it's a proper repeating cycle that we see so many times that we get to tracks like Suzuki, spa, all these classic circuits. And the whole buildup is, you know, all. the amazing moments in history that we've seen and all the drivers saying, I love this circuit, it's the best in Formula One. I absolutely love it.

It's a proper driver's track. We get to qualifying. It produces an absolute banger. And then in the race, they can't overtake because the cars are too wide. They're too quick. And the problem with these circuits, and it's a real shame to see is that the Formula one, sadly, the cars are now too quick for these circuits. So back when, you know, we were doing one minute 40s around Suzuki,

these medium speed corners, they actually had to break or lift off and that made mistakes. But now because it's so flat, nothing, you know, they can't overtake. And that's exactly what we saw. Yes, it certainly was. Let's get into the first question about it. P1, Patreon member, RNB, sheep. Does the Suzuki circuit need changes? There are not enough overtaking opportunities.

Yeah, it kind of links in with what you were saying, Tommy. Too many medium speed corners. Term one is the only sort of DRS zone, or just before that down the start finish line. Unless you are side by side, you're not got an opportunity. There's no heartbreaking to be had. The last two corners leading on to the DRS straight

is almost similar to the circuit of Barcelona, Catalonia's last chican that now no longer exists. It's not as bad as that, but it's not far away. And you just don't have an opportunity. You don't have really much of a slipstream and DRS zone to get close. There was low wear as well, of course, with the track circuit surface changes.

So then that was another thing to kind of lean towards a more difficult race because we didn't have that massive tire discrepancy between drivers. what they would do to change it, I am not sure right now, because it kind of all comes down to having more low speed, heavy braking zones, in my opinion. You look at Vegas, for example, that's literally what they created was long straight, hard breaking zone, long straight, hard breaking zone.

And we've had great races around there. Now, you can't just follow that blueprint for every single circuit, and some circuits are very much restricted to what they have within their their sort of area. It was difficult to watch. I think it's more just It's frustrating, isn't it?

It's really frustrating. You saw the aerial shots from the helicopter. The cars are taking up half the circuit. And you can see how much quicker like Piastri was as an example where any other circuit, that's Bahrain or whatever, is having at least an opportunity to overtake. But you just can't.

The width of the car. cars are half the circuit. So it's like, no wonder they can't overtake or have any opportunity to overtake. Piazri was six-tenths out of the final corner behind Lando, still couldn't get within two and a half tenths. So I don't, again, you know, I've seen people floating, well, you know, should it be a two-stop mandatory? Do we put in two-stop mandatories for every single track we can't overtake?

Yeah, a classic race, yeah. And how long can Formula One go with? this circuit is difficult to overtake. Next week we've got insert X here, which is also difficult to, obviously, but then how long is it before the circuits even that are produced in the kind of mid-2000s or late 2010s get outgrown by Formula One

as they're getting faster and faster because I don't think it's even the width of the cars. That's obviously not helping, but it is just the fact that they are so quick and all these corners are flat out. You watch, it's really depressing, actually, to think of the Suzuki final chicane, which is an iconic corner in Formula One, and we've seen so many amazing overtakes and, you know, championships being decided into that corner because you could follow all the way down

that main straight, 1.30R, you had to ease off and, you know, you couldn't just take it flat, and then it gave you an opportunity into the chicane. Now you can't follow and then by the time you get close the chican breaks it all up and then the start finish rate is not long enough to do it either and the sad reality is that like how I know Monaco is the real extreme example of it but we're just having this conversation about Suzuki, spa you know all these kind of old school circuits and and should where's the balance of kind of do we just completely change all these classic circuits because,

or do they, or does the sport have to move on and kind of say sadly, well, it's not suited anymore. And I think that would be such a shame because Suzuki is such a legendary part of, of the sport. And it's always the same situation that if they drop Suzuki tomorrow, they'd everyone would be outraged.

Yet at the end of every single race, we're all going, it's a terrible circuit and they can't overtake. but if it leaves the calendar like a spa, everyone's upset about it, and it's being replaced by Vegas, but Vegas you can overtake it. Formula One is too heavily reliant, or at least, I think for far too long, Formula One has been about who can create the fastest car, let's have regulations where the cars will be so incredible to watch at high speed. But I promise you, I can say, with my chest,

that people would still watch Formula One, if they were six, seven seconds a lap slower, the drivers were having to work through these corners, and we had action. People would take that every single day of the week over these current races where, oh, wow, 130R, you can basically go through one-handed now. Yeah, oh, they've done another lap record.

Oh. Or another lap record, let's celebrate it. Who's really celebrating that? Maybe the teams, maybe the designers. are the fans, the fans of the lifeblood of the sport. That are watching the top 10 not change for the entire race. So something has to change. Obviously we've got the new regulations in 2026,

how fast the cars will be is a bit of an unknown. But something has to give. It's either the Formula One cars themselves and Formula One making decisions about the regulations and how do we fit these cars into these classic circuits or we're going to have 20 races in America and everything is going to be a new purpose-billed circuit at a street track

because they're the only ones that can actually accommodate these cars because no other racing series is like this. You know, you go to, every other race series goes to these classic tracks and can actually, you know, overtake and put on a decent, a decent show. But Formula One, yeah, like where does it, where do you draw the line of, you know,

Formula One should be the quickest sport in the world, but should it, should we be prioritized? advertising lap records over actual, you know, being able to overtake each other and have a good race, in my opinion, absolutely not. No, I mean, it's kind of gone under the radar slightly, hasn't it? I mean, the start of this year's not been great, but the still the inability to follow well. Like that, when you consider what 2022 was like and the amazing back and forth action that we had to now, teams obviously are trying to make the fastest car, but that in turn makes the following. of cars more difficult once again. Like we had non-wearing tires in this Grand Prix and yet no driver could get close to each other.

So I'm looking at the cat, looking at the F1 calendar and you've got to say that I feel like we're going to have the same conversation for Imola, Monaco, obviously of course we always do. That's very different. Canada, it will happen again. Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, maybe even Montever. And it shouldn't be that way. Yeah, how many races?

Right, so Australia, we definitely would say that is one. If that was a dry race, can't overtake. Yeah, that would have been a stinker. Chinese Grand Prix is either a banger or horrendous. Suzuki can't overtake. Difficult to overtake. Bahrain, I think will be good. Saudi, I think will be good.

Miami, terrible. The Amelia Romagna Grand Prix. Can't overtake. Difficult to overtake. Very narrow. Monaco, good luck. Spanish Grand Prix, still not fixed after the chican. Because it's medium-speed corners again.

Yeah. Canadian Grand Prix, difficult to overtake. Austria, difficult to overtake. Silverstone, great track. Spa, difficult to overtake, despite on the blueprints of the map being, you know, the track map being pretty good. Hungarian Grand Prix, difficult to overtake. Zanvork, can't overtake.

Monza, you can't overtake because the DRS. Everyone has the skinniest wings possible that slipstream is horrendous. Baku used to be able to overtake, but now apparently you can't. Singapore can't overtake Singapore you can't overtake Kota great track can overtake Mexico can't because of the altitude Brazilian Grand Prix is just the greatest race of all time

give us 24 races of that Las Vegas good because again the track is made for overtaking Qatar is a Moto GP track so good luck again and then Yasmarina is always known for not being able to overtake so essentially we watch races

where you can't overtake that is actually until we've actually kind of gone through that that is quite a damning kind of look at Formula One and how that that to me is just proof that the cars need to change it's not the circuits because if they're going in this direction you are going to have to replace all of those

with Bahrain's and Saudis and Vegases which no one wants so it's not feasible lose the character of the sport, you lose the history of the sport. So yeah, I agree. I think just make the cars literally half the size. Lovely. We love some great racing.

But I know it's easier said than done. Right, that was a good pop-off. We told you that when boring races happen, we're literally about two overtakes. We're already nearly 40 minutes in. Okay. CMA K-17 comes in with, should Suzuki be replaced?

What are other options? I don't want to see Suzuki replaced. Absolutely not. I think that qualifying was awesome to watch like one of the best qualifiers around here. We've discussed the options, but I don't think it's replacing. And I think what is the sort of,

as you say, the damning thing, the biggest thing to highlight is that there are so many different characteristics of tracks there and so many of them still don't work. So there's only a certain small window that Formula One cars actually work

where we're going, oh, that could probably be a good race. So yes, it's more on the four. Formula One cars and Formula One to just sort it out and make the cars fun to watch. People on Patreon member, OK, wafer, 5, 2, 3. We're moving away now from Suzuki, the track itself. Were you encouraged by Yuki's performance, or is it time to move on to Hajjar?

All right, relax, for God's sake. Helmut Marco, is that you? Yeah, is that OK, way for 5, 23, is that you? Yes, I am very, I'm actually encouraged by Yuki's performance. qualifying was the nail in the coffin for him. You couldn't really improve from there. He still did, obviously. He started 15th, 14th actually would have been with Carlos' penalty.

Moves up to 12th. You're stuck in the train. And he's already shown more promise than Liam Lawson did after the entire preseason testing and the first few races. So I think that Yuki can build from this. I fully expect him to be challenging for points in Bahrain. and then we'll see where they go from there. But no, it's not time to move on to Hadjar.

I think Red Bull have found some small potential there, not small, medium-sized potential with Yuki. They just need to build with him, and time will tell. Yeah, their headline on a kind of post-race graphic showing the Stappen P1 and Yuki P-12 obviously doesn't look good. But it is an encouraging sign, and it's so much better than what Lawson was doing because Lawson qualified, of course, poorly

and then was at the back. And I think, you know, when Lawson was racing in that Red Bull, he had no pace at all during the race. And I think Yuki's problem was the fact that he was stuck. He qualified poorly. And, you know, if he'd qualified better, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd finished maybe eighth, seventh or eighth or something.

I think he had the pace in him to do. do that, but it was just the nature of the circuit and you couldn't overtake. And I think, weirdly, I think, I think it's a very positive sign that I think that they're going to be, he's definitely done a lot better than Lawson. And you look at Lawson as well, he's had an absolute shocker in a car that people thought he might swap back into, me included, and do a really good job, but instead he's had similar problems and finished way down the order. So I think it's encouraging what Yuki's done. And even in that race, I think, take away the P12 and Max has won the race.

It's justified the decision, 100%. It's mad, though, isn't it? When we look at this and we go, oh, you know, if you could finish P8, you know, that's fine. You kind of, you enter then the conversations of should Rebel have just kept Perez for another year, there because Perez probably would have been doing better than this, especially from the start of the season. And it certainly does continue to highlight the struggles that he went through. And he's rumoured to be in talks with Cadillac and things like that. It'd be cool to see Perez back and sort of get back to the old Perez that we saw before Red Bull.

And obviously there were moments in Red Bull where he had amazing performances as well. Because, yeah, it's mad to think what we now see him as after leaving Red Bull. ball, but then you remember all the great performances he's had in the likes of racing point. But yes, we move on to speak about Hajjar's performance, actually, because it was brilliant. Like, I don't think there was much he could have improved on. Qualifying P7, finishing P8, obviously he was going to lose out to Hamilton, finishing best of the rest as a rookie that has bounced back from a disaster in Australia. There's no two ways about it.

the fact that he's had the mental resilience as a rookie, as a young driver, to already be putting in performances like this, he's quick. He is very quick, especially in qualifying. And, you know, we've just been speaking about this day and age of Formula One,

qualifying does sort out a lot of the weekend. You might think, well, quali's on the Saturday, but the race is where it really happens. You kind of now have to say quality is where... 15 circuits you can't overtake at. It's quite good to qualify.

Exactly. So Hadjar, he's only going to improve from here. He said that he was struggling a little bit physically towards the end of the race. That will, of course, come as well. But I've been thoroughly impressed with Hadjar's bounce back after Australia. Oh, yeah, he's been really impressive. And probably one of the most impressive rookies is been really good. And the fact that V-Carber finally kind of maximise that car's potential with

Hadjar and he's done an amazing job. Didn't start him on intermediates as well. Yeah, didn't go for some hero strategy. They did that with Lawson where they put him on softs randomly. Always have to do something, don't they? But for Hadjar, the way he's bounced back. Yeah, amazing quality in China and Japan and then delivered it in the race. And yeah, just so impressed by him.

Not, you know, this is the thing. people are joking and going, oh, Hajjar, get him in the, get him in the red ball. This is the exact problem. Like, don't, don't rush this guy. Yeah, you keep doing what Hajar. Yeah, don't kill his career immediately. He's very, very impressive. Let the guy do what he needs to do at V-Kalb.

And, yeah, really, really impressed by him after basically the worst way you could ever start your Formula One career to crash on a formation lap. Yeah, you wouldn't think after what three. rounds that you would be saying, what a phenomenal start to his rookie career after literally DNSing because he crashed on the formation. Three rounds, he's ahead of Sonoda and Lawson in the championship. Yeah, it's impressive work. It really is.

Next question. People on Patreon, but Woodsey. Will Lawson make it to the summer break? Oh, yes, Lawson will make it to the summer break. Can we relax? Okay. He's had a poor weekend. He's had to go back to another car.

Let the man just try and figure out what's going on. He's probably feel like a flashbanger has just gone out. front of his face in the last couple of weeks. And he's just like, obviously, he's had a poor weekend. Don't get me wrong. But he's going to Bahrain next time out. Yes, Japan is actually where he's had experience, but obviously not in a Formula One car. We go to Bahrain.

He's done preseason testing there, obviously in a different car. We'll judge a little bit more about where Lawson's head is at after this one, because again, very difficult to overtake. He went really long to try and help Hajar as well. I'm sure the team kind of sacrificed him at that point to, to try and secure Hadjar's P8, which, which happened. But yeah, I think after Bahrain, we'll be able to see if, you know, Lawson needs to be where Hajar is, for sure.

But again, it's similar to Sonoda. You can't just jump on the fact that he's not, he's finished and this, that and the other just because of Suzuki. What a crazy thought that Liam Lawson went into the season, expecting to be a number two driver to match for Stappen, and he's been a number two driver in the third race to Isaac Hadja. is quite in the same thing to think about

but it is funny isn't it that the F1 fans are saying Red Bull are so brutal and cutthroat and too harsh also Formula 1 fans get Yuki out already get Hajjar in and also completely ditch Lawson who's next

he had a shocking race and yeah a poor weekend from him at a circuit that he really loves but don't need to make a snap decision already. You know, he's had a very kind of well-winned couple of days to say the least. Sorry, a couple of weeks to say the least.

And, yeah, see how he does embarrass it. Next question. Pfeffer rice tea. Do you think that people have disregarded how impressive Antonelli's results have been because he's at Mercedes? I don't think he's been disregarded at all, to be honest with you. He's quietly going about. his business. I don't think it's anything that's absolutely front page headline worthy because

Antonelli, he's got Russell as a teammate who's been delivering incredibly well. Kimmy's lacking a little bit over one lap speed, that's for sure. Of course, he was next to Russell on the grid, but Russell, of course, made that mistake into term one on his final Q3 lap. Anthony, he seems to be about half a second or so behind Russell over one lap, which he'll want to close up for sure. but in the race I think it was a really great drive from him he did exactly what I was expecting

a Lando or an Oscar to do at the start of the race and go really long and just try and make something different work I think I asked you Tommy halfway through can me the tire whisper now is that who are we coining him the tire whisperer now because I feel like that that goes around to a certain driver at certain points during the season

anyone does anything different on tyres that the tire whisper yeah literally but his lap time's really competitive and to finish only a couple of seconds behind Russell at the end was a great drive. I think the Mercedes strategy for Kimmy was great because he was at the back of that kind of front train. He was able to then go as long as possible because he wasn't under threat from Hadjar and the like. Even Hamilton, of course, you know, it came out close with him. But Mercedes nailed it with Kimmy's strategy because they utilised the free air with the mediums, came out just ahead of Hamilton on fresh hards and then could utilize that free air all the way back up to Russell,

whereas the other, like Russell, for example, Pitt really early, had the undercut, but then was stuck in traffic. So Kimmy's strategy was great, his drive was great, and I think he'll be very happy, as will you Tommy, for his start to his career. Oh yeah, he's been very impressive to, if you'd have just said that he'd be fourth, sixth and sixth, have absolutely taken it. Based on the start of the year and how there was a lot of worry that he was going to

maybe be crashing and having lots of mistakes and the pressure of going in to basically replace Lewis Hamilton and in your third race of the season you're finishing a second just over a second of your teammate at the end of the race.

It's really, really impressive and to have the kind of already at the stage of his career to be able to do a good job and you know be able to do what he's done on the tires. So in a lot of people saying that the the approach that Red Bull versus Mercedes have had with with how like Mercedes have really nurtured Kimmy and let him do loads of testing and things like that has worked wonders and you know he's come into Formula One and done a really, really

good job to sit fifth in the championship after three races and be consistently getting good points finishes is they're going to be really really happy with that and I think he should be as well definitely someone that might not be so happy is lance troll people on patron member mayve is it time for lance to be kicked out here we go goodness graciously last week now he's poor lance stroll has ten points to his name has one absolute lance stroll weekend and we're saying that he needs to be kicked out. May I remind you that Fernando Lanzer has zero points? Okay. Lance Stroll is the team leader at Aston Martin these days. But no, Stroll, it was a bizarre race from him. He kind of signed his fate, didn't he, in qualifying

where he literally was last. So they did something, maybe it was just a test session. I don't know, maybe he was just driving around chilling, whatever it was. It's not time for him to be kicked out because he's the only driver that scored points Aston Martin this year. It was, it was, it is funny to see everyone now jump on him and realize that the start of the season's maybe a bit overrated and Alonso is still the best. I don't think people were rating him necessarily, but, you know, they were. They're saying like, oh, Strahl's now the best and stuff, even though he's behind Alonzo in both places. Who has said Lance Stroll is now the best? I would love to know.

Loads of people have been saying that like, well, they're saying Alonzo was finished. I don't, I think Stroll being the best is not what's happened. It's more that Alonzo is not there. I think that's more probably where you're seeing. Well, I was seeing that people genuinely thought that Lance Stroll was the better driver this season now. And that's just not the case. That sounds like Twitter troll accounts to me.

Yeah. But it is, it's not the case. And let, he's had a shock over a weekend, but it all came undone in qualifying because that is the way it goes, the way it goes, a track like this. Indeed, we now head to our predictions where it is currently 7.5 to me. So I looked in for a good surprise, Fernando Alonzo, and he finished 11th, which is nine places higher than any other race he has done. So that is half a point. No, it's no, it's no point, is it?

But if he'd scored a point, I would have argued. Yeah, I was going to say you could have maybe I'd give him the point, which is so annoying. And my good surprise was Liam Lawson, who definitely did not surprise at all, had a shocker. We've not done well this weekend. We really haven't. Yeah, looking down the order. Let's go to my big flop, where I went for Max Verstappen. I'm so sorry, Max.

I really am. How could I ever doubt you and that donkey of a car that it looked like it was coming into Japan, which is a narrow circuit with gravel traps. And just generally, I don't know. But look, my big flops have gone too big. Okay, they've gone far too large. They've gone all the way round. I've gone for Hamilton.

I've gone for Vestappen. Who do I think I am? I need to warm up the flop before I then get to the, you know, the big dogs towards the end of the season. I'm now realising my problems. So, big flops created two winners is quite insane, actually. From three races. So, so Charlotte.

I will My argument actually for this is that Estabon of a faster slap by one tenth to Kimmy Antonelli so it wasn't the perfect season Big Floptony. Well the race last year by 20 seconds

so actually Oh yeah That's just funny Only a second That's crazy That's a fall off If I've ever seen it Mine is equally as bad

Well not as equal as bad But also bad Yeah Kimi Antonelli Which didn't happen Drove a really Solid race And yeah he didn't

really, it had a few moments over the chican and that was about it, really. Very impressive race from Kimmy, as we said. Indeed. Pole position, I went for Charles LeCler. Now, we haven't actually mentioned Charle-Clau at all in this podcast, so we may as well use it now. I think he's actually done a really good job in a car that is not there, beating the likes of Russell.

I think, again, that helped in qualifying with a very decent lap for Charles. At one point, I was believing on Saturday. It's like, oh my goodness, me, if he gains a tenth or two, he could be here with a shout of pole position here. It didn't happen, but for what we're currently working with here at Ferrari, I say this like I am a spokesperson for them, I think it was a really good weekend for Charles to finish P4, but sadly it wasn't pole position.

Yeah, he's done a good job. You know, I'll just kind of mention him like you say, because we've not mentioned him. at P4 probably higher than he should have been I think the Ferrari is looking like

it's basically like a slower than the Mercedes at the moment and he's finally put to bed the Lecler Stroll driver's championship fight after that huge haul of 12 points

he's up to P6 now Alex Albon who's split with two Ferraris probably driver of the season so fast he's having a great race Yeah, so yeah, good job from Shell But no pole position

And I went for Lando Norris And he was out by a hundredth of a second Okay, our top three In third position, I went for Lewis Hamilton Do you remember the predictions When I was like really cooking with Ferrari It's going to be really good

So that didn't happen third place, zero points I went for P3 P3, Oscar Pistri which is a point well done we finally scored a point after many predictions yeah oh my god that's our first point that's crazy in second place i went for lando norris let's go he scores a point as well

huge from me and i went for matters just happened in p2 underrated him oh my god you so nearly cooked oh that's so sad for you i'm really upset as you can tell with the massive smile on my face and finally in first position i went for Chal-Claire, which was no points.

So despite, Oh my God. What was your first? I went for Lando first. So I got the top three minus the order and one of them actually correct. And your kind of

banter Ferrari prediction, we've scored the same. I can't believe it. I'm absolutely few men. I essentially, you have frauded your way to the same. With that Ferrari banter prediction,

I essentially just put one prediction down which was Lando Norrison second. I got it. And I got it. I was genuinely half, like a kind of half a second slower pit stop from Vestappend and getting that exactly right.

You would have got three. That would have been phenomenal. I've had a three already this year. That would have been quite crazy to have both of us get it in three rounds. But sadly for you, you didn't get it. Okay, family top three now.

It is two one to the Bellingham's. Boo. So my sister and Tommy's wife were involved in the family top three this week. In third position, my sister went for Max Verstappen, which was incorrect. And my wife went for Vastappen as well, incorrect. In second place, my sister went for Hamilton, which was incorrect. And my wife went for George Russell. Which was incorrect.

And then finally, my sister went for Norris, P1, which was incorrect. And my wife also went for Lando Norris. The goal hanging worked there. Yeah, goal hanging. Two one still. Yeah, two one still. As soon as I saw that it was the same for first and third and Georgina went for Hamilton second, I knew it was over.

Like, there's no points to be scored. So sadly, well, I said that. I was actually very delusional at that point in the prediction. So maybe that could have happened. You didn't go for a Hamilton podium yourself. I did. I did. But it did not come true.

So it's still two one to the Bellingham's screw you. My crazy prediction was that. racing balls score more points than Red Bull. That went well. That went really well. I really went all in on the Red Bull not being good around here. And look, without Max Verstappen's result. We were also one Max Verstappen engine blow up from that actually coming true because Hagell would have would have brought him to points. Or a little Lando Norris into the right rear tire of Max Verstappen as they exit the pits away,

you know? But alas, it was wrong. My crazy prediction was that McLaren would be half a second. can clear and qualifying, and they were not. They were behind. They didn't even get pole. That's how bad it was. We have been so bad this week. What about our Patreon predictions?

Now, if you're not aware of that, if you are part of our P1 Patreon, you have access to our Discord, and we ask every race weekend, or just before we do our predictions, for you to put in yours. And then we can select one, which will be part of our overall tally for the year.

My one was from Royal Ted. One team has a double DNF. Everybody finished. That's crazy. That is crazy. For God's sake. And mine was from Katie Stiles. Lawson out-qualifies both Ferraris, which also didn't happen.

Okay. High Jarligh I qualified one of them. This must be our worst set of predictions we've maybe ever done. Yeah, this is bad. And we have more predictions this year than last as well. And still only got one right between us. That's mad. And then the bonus prediction, which we had for this week,

which was where does Yuki qualify on debut and the closest get. gets a point. I went for P12. And I went for P9. Yeah, thank you very much. Gigi's. I'll take that point. We need to, right, I need to just talk about this. You have extended your lead by one point, having gone for a Charler pole, a Characler win, and putting the literal race winner as your biggest flop. And you've somehow extended your lead.

I am absolutely fuming. How does that happen? How has that happened? I inject it into my veins. I love the fact that I... There's no justice in the world. The thing is as well, because we said, didn't we, that I've got a two-point lead,

so I felt comfortable to just go all in on Ferrari, and I've extended my lead, which is ridiculous. Oh, I love it. So the points now are nine six to me as we head into Bahrain. How is that happened? Yeah, you are fuming. I'm sure we'll have more of a debrief over in our Patreon extra waffle coming up very shortly. And yeah, that's what's going to happen.

So if you want to go to patreon.com for slash Matt P1, Tommy, you'll be able to listen to all of this wonderful extra goodness that we're going to talk about with some more questions from you over on the Discord. Tommy, final thoughts, please. Final thoughts? We did say that we'd manage to waffle on about a race where nothing happened. And boy, did we do that. Had a few rants, always the way with a stinker of a race.

Certainly is. We're going to carry on, but we'll see all of you normal feed listeners next time, next race review or before. I hope you listened to them before. I was going to say, bring on driver ratings and everything else and best reactions over on this week. Yeah, driver ratings just, oh, how much qualifying? Okay, there we go. Out of ten. Boom.

See very soon. See you very soon. That is a sentence. God, wow. I've had four hours sleep. Bye, everyone. Bye. P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST created network.