P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our 2023 Azerbaijan GP Predictions

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

It's time for another round of predictions! Who'll take P1 in the new Sprint format? Who'll be the biggest surprise? And what about our bold prediction for the race weekend?!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, everybody and welcome back to the P-1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. It is Race Week. It is Formula One talking about week, but not like talking about Formula One as if like, oh, can't wait for to come back. It's so long away. It's here. We are about to go racing, Tom Bellingham, the co-founder of P1. How are you feeling, big boy?

I'm feeling good. This feels like way longer than the summer break because at least you've had quite a lot of races. I really hope this never happens again because it's just the weirdest thing to have three races and then F1 just disappear off the face of the earth. It really does kill all the hype. So I'm looking forward to just getting back into it.

Got a sprint weekend of all things as well. So it should be juicy. I can see the headline now. Tom Bellingham, never a break in Formulingham. Never a break in Formula One again. Tom Bellingham does not want anyone in Formula One to have a rest. He wants 52 races a year. He wants constant action and constant dopamine.

Unbelievable. Now, before we dive into our predictions for this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, God, that feels good to say out loud, doesn't it? This weekend's Grand Prix. We're going to read out our five-star review, which comes in from, Tommy, what is this username? G.S. Badgis Chevrixy. And honestly, this is spelled G-S-B-A-J-I-S-H-E-V-R-V-X-Y.

That's a keyboard mash if I've ever seen one. Yeah, it absolutely is. How do they remember their username? Anyway, they're from Australia, and they said, Absolutely Brilliant Podcast. I've been listening to Matt and Tommy for years, and they never fail to produce a brilliant episode. Oh, thank you.

Tune into P-1 every week is a ritual. Great banter and interesting perspectives every week. Definitely not washed. Thank you so much, G.S. Bashi. If you want yours read out, please leave us a five-star review. Let us know why you love this podcast, and we may well read it out in a future episode. Now, let's get on to the predictions, shall we, Tommy? Let's do it.

The biggest good surprise. Okay. So I've based this one off of a run of form, and my driver, the biggest good surprise, is Alex Albin. After having a bit of a yeat in Australia, flew into the barriers, of course, that I actually really enjoyed, by the way, James Vowl's explanation as to why he crashed. It was like very technical, really interesting.

Did you get tagged in that a lot because we gave him a low grade in? Yeah. I got, yeah, so did I. Yeah, but the explanation was kind of like, guess he just took too much speed in. Yeah, so he explained why. Yeah. So I'm gone for Alex Albin.

One, because Alex, I'm sure, will bounce back and have a great race. But two, that Williams is an absolute monster in a straight line. And that has got an Alex Albin five-way overtaken to turn one, written all over it after a safety car. So that's why I'm believing in the Alex Hypertrain. If they get lots of safety car restarts, yeah. Williams are on the podium to win. Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. I have gone. Biggest good surprise for Yuki Sonoda. I have finally back to Yuki. You're laughing so, I assume, something's about to... You are going to love my prediction later.

Oh, no. So yeah, Yuki Sunoda, he had a good race there before his DRS kind of pooped itself last year. And yeah, I feel like, hopefully, please, just Al-Fa-Tauri be good at at least one track and they're normally quite good at Baku, so please just be good

because they are quickly becoming the worst team in Formula One now, which is quite painful. They certainly are. Are you a little bit too late to the Yuki Hype train? Are you going to do your usual reverse jinx that you tend to not put on Vastappen

because you want him to win? So very interesting to see Yuki Sonoda is your biggest good surprise because I would say that he's set a level now where he beats his teammate. So what is a good surprise for Yuki Sonoda? I'd say like a low points finish. Not putting a number on it there.

Not P11, not P11, that's for sure. Okay, we now go to biggest flop. Now, we know the power of this biggest flop. It's been executed unbelievably well. I apologize for each driver that I have put this on. My biggest flop is Yuki Sonoda. God's sake. So I have based this, just firstly on vibes,

because that's all I ever put biggest flop on. Sounds weird. And secondly, I think he's had a really good start to the season in comparison to his teammate, a P11, a P-11 and a P-10. I feel like Yuki still has a mistake in him at times. I just feel as though Baku might be that one, and Nick DeVries will end up beating him. That's my gut feeling.

I'm so sorry in advance. Biggest flop for you. Yeah, that basically means that Yuki's DRS is going to fail every lap and they'll come into the pits, fix it, and then it fail again. and goodness me. If this happens again, by the way, this is genuinely scary. Biggest flop, I've done my favourite

and gone for a team again. And I've gone for Aston Martin. Now, no, this is, again, just based off vibes, but Aston have had a great start to the season. Alonzo's had a podium in every single race. And I feel like there will be a stage where they just have a bit of a mare. and Baku is one of those crazy tracks

and I can just see potentially Aston Martin having a bit of a struggle You absolutely love a team prediction whereas I never go down the team just purely because both drivers have to have a stinker in order for that to come true

because if if Lansdrail pops on a little podium again in Baku you can't call it an Aston Martin flop but I enjoy it to me means that you're giving me more of a chance to score points after your very cheeky way of scoring points last time out where you were just like, there will be a race and then you scored a point. Disgusting.

No, I was really good because I was basically getting no points until that final safety car restart and then all my predictions just came in right at the end. Yeah, you told KMag to just do a little whoopsie into the wall. Lovely. Okay, we now go to pole position. All right, hear me up. Well, I already know who that is just from you saying that. I have gone for

Charles LeCler Pole position. Look, this man is a monster in qualifying. They're not that far away in a one lap, little doodar. And I'm not going boring and going Vastappen, which I'm sure Tommy has to score points. I am keeping this prediction championship interesting

for the entertainment. So Charles LeClaire's going to get pole. I remember he got an amazing pole position around here in a, for a, Ferrari that did not deserve to be on pole position a few years ago, and it's going to happen again. And he's not going to get a podium, but he's going to be on poll. You hear that everyone?

It's going to happen again. Looking forward to, yeah, another clip. We'll see. I'm stupid. I'm stupid. Poll position. Max has happened. Next.

You're so boring. I promise that there are some more interesting ones. Yeah. I feel like you can't go. for the same driver, like more than three times in a row, because that's disgusting. I don't think I've used that. Okay, two times in a row. Maybe more than one time in a row.

You can't use for Stappen. You're going to use for Stappen once a season. Any reason why? Or is that it? You're just literally going to go next Max Verstappen. Pole position. By how far? We haven't done the thing where we do by how far.

Charlotte-Clau is going to get pole by 0.002 of a second. I'm going to go for two-tenths. Cool. So a really exciting qualifying ahead of us if Tommy comes true. Thank you, Tommy. We now go to the sprint winner. Let's not forget, sprint race weekend. So even more carnage, we will see.

Anyway, we will see if it's carnage. I have gone for Max Verstappen as the sprint winner. Because I'm going to be half boring because you've got to score some points in the championship, otherwise what are we doing here. Red Bull are still clear. Hopefully, maybe some of the teams are fig. get it out over this month break and Ferrari have actually learnt how to plug in their wind tunnel and make it work in correlation to what actually happens on track. So we will see, but Max will still

win the sprint. So for sprint winner, I've gone for Sergio Perez. Still a red bull. I think in my head, I see this just being a, they've locked out the front row, Perez beats him off the line, and then they just run to the flag because they don't want to risk too much. But yeah, we've both gone Red Bull for the sprint winner. I think that sprint in Baku is just, everyone thinks it's going to be chaos. I don't know.

Maybe it might just be, unless we get a safety car or something, I'm not convinced. I feel like it's more likely going to happen in the race where you've got pit stops and things that can happen. Also, if we do have two qualifying sessions, if Charle of Clare gets polling either of them, I'm taking a point. I don't care. I'm just saying that straight away.

There's no terms and conditions about it being for the race. I'm taking a Charlotte Clare point if he gets either, if it comes into fruition. Maybe that is a thing on sprint weekends. You get like an extra chance if you don't predict a Red Bull. Yeah, I think so. So you get a little bit of an advantage. So you'll never get an extra chance because you always go over Red Bull,

whereas I will. Perfect. Sounds great. Can't wait. We now move to my top three and Tommy's top three for the race this is. In third place, I've gone for Fernando a lot. No, Shal-Cler! I said he wasn't going to get a podium and then I'm like, no, he will get a podium.

He needs some goddamn silverware this year, okay? He hasn't had any yet. His car's blown up or he's been in backwards into a gravel and need to see him on the podium, even if it's on the lowest step, third place, Shao LeCler. So third place, I have gone for George Russell. Oh, someone's sensing a little Mercedes in the battle. Yeah, maybe. They're going to be dragging down the straight, but I just feel like,

I'm just manifesting some carnage, please, for the race, because I can't see it happening in the sprint, but Baku, we've not had that craziness since 2018. Everyone thinks Baku is like, oh my God, it's mad. And yeah, we had the one-lap shootout thing in 2021. But I don't know. It's due some craziness and some safety car restarts again because those two races, 2017 and 2018, were unbelievable.

Okay. Let's now go to second place. I have gone four. Sergio Perez. The pause. The pause. Red Bull. Yeah.

Sergio Perez, I think he will have a decent enough race and have a great time with a very good Red Bull that's clear of everyone and he won't be as quick as who wins. So for P2, I have gone for Charlotte Claire. Celebrating a P2. That's what it's come to. But I mean, I'm sure he'd take it because he needs to get some big old points on the board. But yeah, not going for the Red Bull 1-2.

hoping for a bit of craziness. Hell yeah, I like that. I like that a lot. And my winner for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is Fernando Alonzo. Fernando is going to win Baku straight up. Vastappan's going to have a little DNF or something is going to go wrong with his car.

It's not a bulletproof car right now, and I truly believe Fernando Alonzo will make everybody happy and he'll go third, third, third, third. first, boom. And he'll celebrate his new, new life with Taylor Swift. And then she'll write a song about it, maybe. I can't believe that style was written about him.

What, like, that's when you know Formula One needs to come back. The only bit of news has been Alonzo might be dating Taylor Swift. Pretty wild. But yes, Alonzo, I actually think we'll beat Perez. Like straight up just, it'll be a Titanic battle for the win. and we'll have a great time. Come on Baku. Well done, Baku.

So for my race winner, I have gone for Lewis Hamilton. Yes. Okay, pop off. I just, yeah, I just hope we get a bit of craziness, maybe a little crazy finish. And I saw a stat actually, which was quite.

mad is that Hamilton has now gone the longest time without a win than Vastappen has ever gone without a win in his career, which is quite mad to think that he was at Torosso and Red Bull when they weren't dominant and stuff. So I feel like Hamilton's due a win. Baku can sometimes deliver something crazy. And yeah, Lewis Hamilton. Interesting, because I've kind of written them off in my head because of how draggy they are. So I just thought Baku... Yeah, I think there will be draggy. I just think that we need some chaos, please.

Oh God, both of us are cooking in these top threes. We're like, yeah, okay, we'll have some boring predictions for qualifying. But the race, here we go. If either of ours comes true, we're going to be having a party. You're welcome. Yeah, we really will. Yeah, exactly. Okay, we now move to our one crazy prediction.

Tommy, why don't you go first? Okay, my one crazy prediction is that I'm doubling down on my prediction and going for a double Red Bull DNF. Not necessarily saying they're going to crash into each other, but yeah, they've had a almost perfect start to the season. The car is very, very quick, but we're just banking on some back of craziness right now. and I think it would be a crazy and exciting way to welcome Formula One back, even as a Red Bull fan myself.

Just, you know, throw something new into the mix. Okay, here we go. God, we're going to be scoring zero points this week, aren't we? My crazy prediction, there will be a last lap battle for the win. Oh, please. Yes, we are cooking. Chef Tommy and Matt are in the kitchen. hopefully one of our recipes taste good.

Chinting for the worst Formula One race of all time. Oh, you just know it's going to be so bad. Oh dear. Hopefully not. So an Alonzo or Hamilton victory, I'm absolutely here for reading with those. I mean, Hamilton and Alonzo battling out for the win on the final lap. Who doesn't want that? Well, neither of them will win the race.

I can promise you that. They'll both be in the barrier, won't they? They'll be trying to go side by side into the castle section and just explosion. So that is an absolute chef's surprise. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? My final thoughts are I'm absolutely here for a different winner. I saw another stat that if Alonzo wins the race and my prediction comes true. So we need your prediction to come through of Alonzo winning the race and a double Red Bull DNF.

Fernando Alonzo would be leading the world championship. How wild would that be? let that sink in everyone. My imagination is just going wild right now. You can tell we've had three months. It feels like three months. Three months. Three weeks.

Four weeks. Four weeks. To think about this and just go, God, wouldn't it be great if everything happened? I love how we've had like a really quite mediocre start to the season. Red Bull are clear on pace. And we're like, everything has changed. It's like, it's the first.

race again, isn't it? The cost cap has been written off everyone's spending. I mean, I'm still, wouldn't be surprised of Aston Martin, literally everyone off the cost cap anyway, because they're three seconds a lap quicker than they were last year. But we're here for it. We are, I think we've set our expectations a little bit too high, I think, Tommy. Just a little bit. I think we've just looked at Sprint Baku on a piece of paper and gone, yeah, no, I'm going to select chaos.

And we're going to have a chaotic, incredible Grand Prix, aren't we, Tommy? Jinks Express. One, two, here we come. Totally. Right, thank you everybody for watching and listening. We will be back for more content for the rest of the year, basically, because I think we've got five races in six weeks, which means you're going to see and hear a lot from us.

So I hope you're ready for that. And we'll see very soon for another video. Bye. Bye. Or podcast. Bye. Matt P1, Tommy, on socials. Bye.

Bye. And we'll be live on Twitch. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.