P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our 2023 Bahrain GP Predictions

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

In the first of our race prediction podcasts, we make our choices ahead of the opening round of the season. Who will be the biggest surprise? What about biggest flop? And can anyone stop Max Verstappen from taking P1? 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. One podcast with Matt and Tommy. I actually feel like I forgot to do with Matt and Tommy last time we did a podcast. I apologise. People have been sat there listening going, who is this with? I can't remember. I can't fight you this time now we're co-founders.

I know. The co-founders. Lovely stuff. Welcome everybody to our very first of 23 Grand Prix. Grand Prix prediction series where every Thursday we are going to be basically sharing our massively washed predictions

every single race weekend for you to enjoy before and to maybe even reflect on afterwards when Tommy goes and predict Logie Bear Logie Bear Logan Sarge what was it?

Logi Sarge. And then I was calling him Logie Bear, I got completely utterly brain frazzled by that. But either or, welcome along. This should be fun. I'm looking forward to being right maybe once, twice over the course of the year. And then milking out on social media going, oh, my God, look at this. Because if you think how many predictions are doing, like five or six predictions here, 23 races, there's two of us. We're doing over like 200 predictions here.

So one of, like, surely one is going to be right at some point. Exactly. So a broken clock is always right twice a day as well. So that's what I'm going for is some saucy clips to pretend like I know something about Formula One. But first, before we get into this, let's read out our five-star review. If you want to be read out, go and leave us a five-star review and tell us why. The more inventive, the better. This one comes from Mukulmdy in New Zealand. Love the new show with the new segments. You guys are such epic hosts. And so thankful you are not leaving the podcast and YouTube space. I'll thank you so. much, McLumdy. Really appreciate that. We're glad we're not leaving either because we love you guys very much and we love being in your ears. But anyway, so we've broken it down into biggest good surprise, biggest flop, pole position. Who do we think is going to finish in P3, P2, P1 in the race, and then one crazy prediction.

All right? It might be crazy. Just something outlandish, a little bit like, whoa, if that happens, that would be upsetting or whatever. Rearranged prediction. Yeah. Yeah. So let's begin with biggest good surprise. Now, I have gone for Logan Sargent.

My biggest good surprise is that Logan Sargent comes out the blocks with Tommy's audio ringing in his ears about him being a P20 merchant. And he's like, no. And then he finishes like, he won't, yeah, he won't score any points. Let's put it that way. I'm not saying that he's going to score points. But I feel like he might. he might just have a good race

with Williams potentially not last at the moment, just sticks it in a little P-14. And then everyone goes, go on, Logie Bear. Look at you go. And, you know, all of a sudden, Tommy's apologising, the world heals a little bit with that.

And realistically, we all go, you know what? We doubted you, Logie, but you smashed it. So that is my biggest good surprise, slightly left field. I know.

When that prediction comes in, Logan's P14, the video you'll see on P1 on Monday morning would just be a thumbnail where it's me sat in this chair and then the title is just, I'm sorry. Dot, dot, dot. It's going to be one of those YouTuber apology videos. Yeah, 100%. So yeah, Logie, Logie bear. Let's not make that a thing, but we're going to make it a thing.

It's happened already. dear. My biggest good surprise is Hass in general. And I've gone for a team because I was going to say Holcomburg again, but that was exactly the same as what I did for the season. But I think this is where that house prediction, I hope, is going to come in because they hit the ground running last season. I feel like they're going to do the same this year. And I think with two more experienced drivers driving for them, I think this could be a race where they bag some

sweet sweet points. Yeah, you're basically betting on Hass coming out of the blocks firing like they do almost every single year. So would that even be a surprise? I'm already challenging. No, I'm saying like,

just does well. Good, good, good, like good, good. Good, good. Maybe both in the points. No, no, both in the points. I think it would be a great start. But reality is they probably realize that three men on the pit wall is a terrible idea.

and they're completely washed and I'm useless. Oh, I look forward to all of that very, very soon. Sign me up. Okay, thank you very much for that, Tommy. We now move to Biggest Flop. Oh, so I feel bad saying this because I love the man. But I've gone for Esteban Ockon. I don't know why.

And this is the thing with these predictions, is that sometimes you won't know why. You just get this feeling, okay? I just feel like, he's not going to have a good weekend. I don't know if it's because maybe Gasley will out qualify him and it will get in his head. I don't know. But this is the beauty of this kind of prediction format.

Sometimes you don't need to explain what a feeling is deep down in the core of your body. You'll know as Formula One fans. Sometimes you'll just wake up. You'll look in the sky and go, today's going to be a crazy race. It's one of those. I just feel like Ockon's not going to have a good weekend.

It's not going to click for some reason. And that goes against everything I've predicted over the course of the season where I said that Ockon's going to beat Gassley quite comprehensively. But it doesn't, I didn't save the whole season, just for Bahrain. Watch him finish P6 now or something. This is the thing.

These are our like one race predictions where it can be a bit more crazy because not every race is the same despite. And if it was, these predictions would be very boring. We'd get it right though We would get it right Biggest flop I have gone for

Oscar Piastri Oh leave him alone I know I don't want I don't want it to be but I can't see it 13th in the driver's standings He's flopping straight out the blocks

If you're listening to this Oscar I love you Don't know about Tommy It's not a hate thing though He's driving that useless McLaren where the blue and wheelbrows Can't stay on By the way

Whenever you say wheelbrows I just think of eyebrows immediately. Like it just doesn't, as a word, wheelbrows just doesn't make sense. Yeah, because you can't call them wheel covers, can you? Because of the little extra thing that they've now got, the wheel covers, basically.

They've got wheel covers and the covering of the wheels that are not called wheel covers. So, yeah, Piastri, for me. I wish I was wrong. But, oh, that McLaren's not good, is it? And Frank is very annoyed. Frank is a big Piastri fan boy.

I'm going to just get. Yeah, I'm actually one thing. Okay, so we've just had Frank join this particular piece of content. Frank, could you yawn for us, please, if Oscar Piastri will indeed be the biggest flop? Can we get a word or two down the microphone, please? Oh, no. Oh, God, he agrees. It's not good for Oscar Piastri.

So for those audio listeners, Frank just yawned. You may have heard the slight squeal as he ended that yawn via audio. So, okay, wow. It's not looking good for Piastri. Yeah. I mean, it's just, I think it's the lack of testing as well, the fact that they didn't, didn't have the best test. And he's going into that, I think, as well, it's quite rare that a rookie comes in where they've not done much driving for that team because they've normally done FP1s the previous year. But because obviously he was Alpine, he didn't get to do any of that kind of side of it.

I only did the Abu Dhabi test, but I just don't, I don't see it going well. I hope I'm wrong. Here's the thing, Tommy, that we actually haven't explored yet before we go into our pole position predictions. Do you think Oscar Piastri's potentially not looking back at his past decisions thinking I could have gone to Alpine here? Maybe. Yeah.

We did say that it's a bold choice to do it. Because obviously, if he goes to McLaren beats Norris, he looks like the biggest legend. But if it goes horribly wrong like a down. Ricardo style. He's potentially like the hype is going to die down quite quickly. Because I'm assuming he's bet on McLaren being a better team in the future and will, you know, hopefully give him race wins. But the problem for him is that not only it looks like he's gone to a team that's slower,

but he's up against a more difficult teammate. So I would say that's a double loss for Oscar at this stage going into round one where not only has he got to fight a difficult car, but he's got to go. up against someone that is highly rated and probably one of the best drivers on the grid. Yeah. It's going to be tough for him. Okay, cool. So biggest flop.

I'm so sorry, Oscar. We move on. Pole position. Who is winning on Saturday? Oh, well, you'll be pleased to know all you Ferrari fans out there. And I've gone for Max for Snapping. It's, can't see anything else, really, in my mind's eyes. I genuinely feel, you know what, let's add something into this.

Pole position and by how much? So it can be in tenths. Okay, so how far will the poll sitter be on poll by? And I'm going to go by a whopping four tenths of a second, Max Verstappen will be on poll. Wow. You were already bringing in some jeopardy because otherwise it could end up being Max Verstaffin. Max Verstappen at this right. I've also gone for pole position, Max Verstappen.

Yeah, nothing more needs to be said in terms of how quick that Red Bulls looked in testing. So I will go for two tenths because I think Checo, no, Checo's qualifying is not his strong point. Three, three tenths. Three seconds. Okay, cool. So a large margin to start off the season. Okay, we now break down P3, P2, P1 in the race. So in third position, I am going to go with Charles LeCler.

I think he will just scrape a podium, be a lovely time for absolutely no one if you're a Ferrari fan. You won't enjoy the race at all whilst Red Bull are clear, home and dry. They'll finish the race unlike they did last year. And it will be a wonderful occasion for not the prancing horse, but the Red Bulls. Maybe after qualifying, if it is as bad as everyone fears, do you reckon? that everyone else should be allowed to do the Bahrain mini circuit and then Red Bull have to do the full one. I think that's fair.

Or maybe that old endurance layout that they did in 2010 that was absolutely horrible. I think that's completely fair, yeah. Still probably be up there. To be fair, if they did that in qualifying, they still probably would beat McLaren. Savage victory. P3, I have gone for Carlos Sites.

As if you're not backing Schall. Like, what's wrong with you? No spoilers. Oh, hold on. We'll find out. Hold on. Here we go. The comeback's on.

Championship back on. Now, I've gone for Carlos Sites in P3 and we'll find out later if that's good or bad. Okay. All right. P2 for me is Sergio Perez. It's going to be a wonderful time for him. Not in terms of winning the race because Max will be 20 seconds down the road. But Sergio will just cruise to P2 and be thinking about that vice championship role.

almost immediately and he'd be having a lovely time doing it. And then Drive to Survive will say that he didn't drive very well and that his seat was up for grabs after race one because that's what Drive to Survive does. Can see it happening. P2, I have gone for drum roll please. Sholaclair. You're going to say Druggovich.

Drummerl, please. Yeah, Ashton Martin. We don't know yet. He could be in the car at the time recording. No, I've gone for P2. Charlotte Claire. So not a Red Bull 1-2. What sorcery is to tell me up to here?

The sorcery you're going for is Perez-D-NF. I can see it already, but we move. Is that right? Yeah. We'll find out. We'll find out very shortly. Okay, cool. Anything else to say on that one?

No, I still think LeClaire will beat Sites over the race. And I think Ferrari have got the better package than Merck, even though I do worry, like you said in the previous one, about those tyres and how much they burn through them quickly. Me too. I worry a lot every night. And finally, the winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix, P1, as we'll call it, you know, branding and all that, is Max Verstappen for me.

What? Yeah, I didn't know that. What a left field prediction that was. But look, I'm going with sensible predictions for the first round, and then I might get a bit more loose as we go down the journey, the path of this 2023 F1 season. But he's inevitable. It's going to be Vastappen.

And if it isn't, then something seriously bad has happened to his car. Like my prediction, I have gone for P1, Sergio Perez. I'm calling a Maxusuf and D&F. Now, yes, go on. I know what you're doing. No, I'm not. No, I know what you're doing. You are.

You're doing that thing, right? because you predicted Vastappen to win the world title and you're like, God, I've predicted him for the first time ever to do well. So in all of these, you're going to say that Vestappen's not going to win. It's not actually that. The world championship winner never wins the first race. That has happened every single year since 2017, and it will happen again. We've got to have a bit of jeopardy.

You know, everyone else needs to have a head start. And then he can 22-0 the next race is. But there's always something that happens in that first race. I don't know what it is. The championship winner has happened every year for the last, goodness, how many seasons. And I don't think Max is going to win. So what you're saying is you've seen through my plan and I knew this all along

and I wanted Vestappan to win. I always knew you're a secret Vastappan fan. And then Perez wins the world title. So that's probably how the Ferrari fans luck works if that particular trend continues. But okay, so a Perez P1 And then it'll be the whole Oh, is Perez a championship contender? And we'll talk about that for a few weeks

And then Vastappen will win by 200 points. Yeah, that. Fair, all right, we've predicted the future. And the final, final piece of prediction puzzle is our one crazy prediction. Now this one, it depends how crazy you think this is. But for mine, it is Fernando Alonzo DNFs.

Get out. Don't you dare put that into the atmosphere. It's there. It's gone. I just feel like Fernando will be running in a really strong. I reckon he could even be running in a nice little P5 ahead of the Mercedes, having a great time, and then boom. And then he's on the team radio.

Literally boom. GP2 engine, all that good stuff. Not good stuff if you're a Fernando Alonzo fan. But I just feel like he's going to be having a team. a really nice race and something goes wrong. That's, that's my prediction. I can see that happening. It's, this is why we can't have nice things in Formula One. You have those moments, aren't you? Where you get that feel good story and then it doesn't, doesn't quite happen. I can see that, definitely see that happening. My one crazy prediction actually was going to be

that Alonzo would beat one of the top three on pace over, over the race. But I also kind of thought he would also retire. It's only going to go one of two ways with Alonzo. isn't it? It's epic or wins the title or gets beaten by Logisage. Imagine. Yeah. He's actually been doing the entire time just runs on like a drop of fuel because basically like Lawrence Stroll has gone. We need to make the astronaut look really, really, really good.

And then he can say that Lawrence, sorry, Lance would have won the race. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We've got it. So what is your prediction then? So my crazy prediction is, and sorry again, McLaren fans, because I'm twisting the knife even more, it is that Alex Alburn will out-qualify a McLaren, at least one McLaren. I don't think McLaren are going to have a very good time. I still don't think Williams are going to be particularly good, but Alex Alburn, in qualifying, I think, has been very good for Williams.

and I could see him just, you know, popping into P-17, P-16, something like that. I don't know if he's going to get into Q2, but yeah, I could see him maybe out-qualifying A. McLaren, and if this backs up my biggest flop, maybe Piastri, because he's done one lap and his wheelbrows full enough. I'm going to keep saying that again and again. The word wheelbrow, the phrase wheelbrow just doesn't fit right in my brain. brain, just can't process it. Anyway, okay, there you go. Well, thank you very much, Tommy, for your, I would say, insight. It wasn't really insight. This isn't insightful by any stretch.

No, no, just the whole video, really. It's more just plucking things out of thin air and hoping something actually is real. I'm waiting to get abused by that fun based on social media. Yeah, yeah, McLaren fans are not going to be happy with you today, Tommy. I can tell you that for free. But that is it. So we'll be reacting to these during our post-race podcast, which you can listen to, if you didn't know, after the race, we are releasing our audio podcast on Sunday. So yeah, look forward to that one. Go follow us on whatever good podcast platform you use to get ready for that.

Or if you want to see our faces, you can watch it in full, yes, every single second on YouTube on Monday. So look forward to that. You're welcome. You are most welcome. And also you can join us on Twitch for Free Practice One tomorrow at Matt P1, Tommy. and you can of course find us for qualifying and the race as well. That is it.

Thank you very much, Tommy. What's your final thoughts? My final thoughts are I am very sorry to Frank. I know he's a big Piastri fan and he's interrupting a lot of podcasts these days because he just doesn't like this McLaren Slander. So I'm sorry, Frank. Sorry Frank and sorry, Oscar. My final thoughts are it is almost race time.

It is almost race day. I cannot wait for this season to start. Thank you, as always, for supporting this P1. venture. We are going to cover every single angle possible for this Formula One season, and I hope you'll join us. See you very soon. Bye! P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.