P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our 2023 F1 season review

Episode Date: December 2, 2023

Here it is then: our end of season review. We’re looking back over plenty of your - and a few of our - favourite moments from a season with plenty of exciting drama! Tickets for our London and Glasgow live shows have now sold out. You can purchase the last few Manchester tickets right HERE!You can sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to exclusive episodes you won't hear anywhere else, every P1 episode ad-free, full driver interview videos, early access to tickets and more!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

everybody and welcome back to the P-1 podcast. With Matt and Tommy, we are here today to review. 2023F1 season, but in our favourite moments, not just from us, but from you wonderful listeners and watchers at home as well, which means we have collated what looks like to me, the greatest season of all time, Tommy, isn't that right? Yeah, it's pretty much, I think, like the ten best moments and basically the 10 things that happened

showing the 2023 F1 season. That wasn't anything to do with that happened, basically. Oh no, some things are actually about Max as well. There are, you get some mention a few times. But yeah, you'll be unsurprised what the most popular one was, but we'll get into that later. Anyway, that was mine. Right, before we get into it,

I want to share a five-star review. And if you want yours to be read out, please do leave us a five-star review. Let's know why. Because at the end of the season, if you've enjoyed this podcast, please just take a minute to let us know why you love this podcast. We read all of them.

We love them and it helps us massively. So thank you very much. This one comes in from God Emperor 09 in the US of A. You don't have to be the most knowledgeable Formula One fan to enjoy this podcast. Let's be honest. The host aren't always experts. All right, Jesus, this is a good or bad thing. Which is perfect.

The hosts are basically two guys chatting, enjoying one together and analysing its many topics. And for folks like me who are from small towns and cannot enjoy Formula One with anybody else, I find it keeps F1 interesting and enjoyable so guys keep it up, fantastic podcast. I can't believe we're not experts, Tommy. I've been saying this all along.

I thought we were. I've watched opinions. No, no, no. I've read enough driver ratings comments to know that I'm not an expert. Love it. Okay, then. Right, let's start at the very beginning of the season

with Bahrain. And no surprise. This is where Tom Bellingham's favorite moment comes in. You peaked at the very first race of the year. I sure did. My favourite moment was, of course, Fernando Alonso, passing Lewis Hamilton, and just that battle in general, between the two of them. Like you say, first race to the season, peaked early, but, you know, such an exciting season. We'd just launched P1 as well. It's my birthday. We were on Twitch, and we got to see Fernando Alonzo and Lewis Hamilton race wheel. We all.

to wheel and we were like, wow, the greatest season ever is on the way. But joking aside, the move, oh my word, the move was so good. And yeah, it was just Fernando doing Fernando things. The thing I liked about it the most was I am basically a boomer when it comes to Formula One racing and I find DRS passes while necessary and I understand that there's a necessity of DRS to make the racing close. sometimes the passing in DRS zones can be a bit meh but the fact that Fernando did it in an unexpected place

and we were you know if you watch our reaction on Twitch we just didn't expect it the commentators didn't expect it because he just assumed that he'd wait and then DRS down the main straight but no sold him the dummy dive down the inside of the turn 10 hairpin and what a move and then had DRS hairpin yeah it is a hairpin Yeah, it is a hairpin, kind of. Yeah, I don't know. It's like a wonky hairpin.

It's like a... Yeah. Interesting. Well, either all, I'm not surprised that this is your favourite moment. And it's funny that you kind of mention our P1 just launched. It was your birthday.

Fernando Alonzo's in a quick car. All things seem to be good, hey? Apart from the fact, Charlotte Claire retired, but you didn't fancy saying that part, did you? Didn't fancy saying that he gifted a lovely little P3 to Fernando. He definitely wasn't going to lose it on track.

Not at all. No chance. He would have fought tooth and nail to keep that P3. And that could have been the difference between finishing fifth in the championship, Michelle LeClau and finishing first. Oh, no. You are joking. You are actually joking.

Right. That's it. Thank you so much, chat, for watching this F1, 2023 season. It's been an absolute pleasure. I've enjoyed all 26 laps of it. I'll see you in 2024. Ferrari Hyped train. he's gone

I'm taking this with me all right see you later cheers absolutely yeah your your hopes and dreams were shattered

in one single race but look we started where we left off and the Twitch the Twitch stream everyone tuned in to see your Ferrari pain and we've got a nice

little montage of Ferrari pain already after one season of P1 so after one race and Ferrari. Really. Yeah, we did. We did our live show after three races and we had a compilation already.

We certainly did. It really didn't go too well, did it? But no, Alonso's move on Hamilton was brilliant. You don't see moves at the turn 10, double left hander. It's one of the trickiest spots on the track to spot your breaking point and so on and so forth.

It is not an overtaking spot. And Alonzo just fancied it. It was obviously a lot quicker at that stage in the race. And just, I think the fact it on Hamilton as well. This is not your favourite moment if that was on Logan Sargent, is it really? You know what I mean?

If Alonzo... No, we've said this before, moves are always better when they're on a world champion. 100%. So yeah. Well done Alonzo. I hope you're happy

with the podium from Bahrain. Australia now. And this favourite moment comes in from Rowan M.04. Australia's red flag restart chaos. And my goodness me, wasn't it chaos?

So that was all, it all started from Magnuson hitting the wall to bring out a red flag. And then we love, we love a two-lap shootout, don't we tell me? Like I'm right at the end of the race, red flag, let's go racing again. Forget everything else. It is now, it is like next goal wins, essentially. And that is exactly how the driver's treated turn one, Australia. when it was the restart, of course, with the really low grip

that they were all experiencing, it actually surprised a lot of the drivers as we saw. Yes, so many people locked up into that first turn. And it's something that we mentioned in the podcast that we did with Ocon, because we actually spoke to him just not long after this race and said, you know, you can't win at the first corner,

but when there's only two laps to go and there's the first corner and it's a standing start, you absolutely can. And that's what everyone wanted to do because they know that even if you're fifth in the race and you make an absolute dive bomb in second place, you're probably finishing second because there's going to be no DRS because it's only two laps. And this is your chance to go for it. Everyone went for it. There was utter carnage.

And yeah, it was just absolute chaos. And the funniest thing about it is it created this whole. debate of whether, you know, sport versus show, is it ridiculous? And, you know, why are they prioritising the show over pure racing? And then we had pure racing, where matches happened on every single race and we were complained that it was boring. And then we would have taken a two-lap shootout for the rest of the season. Yeah.

So obviously, with Alonzo being hit by Sines, Sines got that penalty, which was a massive discussion as well, wasn't it, around, oh, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, can a lap not really count and yet signs gets a penalty and then it obviously transpired that the lap did count and it was actually the next lap that they then started again after another red flag because the two Alpines exploded and it was then

that was a whole discussion as well where you had oh well that's a surprise that no one got a penalty despite Gasly yeating Ockon into the wall because they are teammates and of course they probably both went no no neither of us were at fault here absolutely not and then one of my

most well yeah one of my favorite moments, at least from Twitch, is of course, your reaction to Holkenberg being in four. It was, I've never seen, look, for those are people that think that Tommy isn't a Max Rastappen fan, I agree. He is a Nico Holkenberg fan, and it came out during that Australia red flag chaos. We never saw me on Twitch when Max was at Toro Rosso and was an underdog and when he was doing things, because then I would have been exactly the same. I love an underdog moment. Bruce?

I don't see any. But this is the thing with Holkenberg. I was watching the timing tower and I was like, wow, Holkenberg's really high up. Science is probably going to get a penalty. Then I think it was Lance Stroll locked up into the corner and he made through some more places. And the reason I was like, oh my God, he's fourth was because I thinking, if science gets a penalty here, Holcombberg's actually going to get a podium.

This is, it's happening. This is it. And then, alas, they, what did a countback, even though a lot of drivers had already been crashed into, so they couldn't do the countback. Sainz still got a penalty, even if it was a countback, which is another kind of topic of debate. And then Holcomburg just finished, like got dropped down the order anyway into seventh, I think it was. So I still got some points, but it did feel like it was so close to that. that first podium.

And then it's actually funny that science, the whole debate over that penalty has just reminded me that science got that controversial and probably he said the most unfair penalty in existence. And then I think he probably said the same thing about this, like the two most controversial penalties of the whole year were both Carlos Science. Very true.

It's very true. So yeah, that feels so long ago that whole. It does feel forever ago. Right, let's go to Monaco next. With, that's a great username, isn't it? Clapped SDI. And they have come in. And theirs was Vastappan's Monaco Pollap.

Yeah, here's your Max. This is the Max moment now. Monaco qualifying in general was unbelievable, wasn't it? There was action everywhere. In the end, I think everyone was like, oh, Max has done it again. But that was mainly because Fernando Alonzo was on provisional poll at that very moment. And Max Verstappen had one of the best final sectors you will ever witness in the history of motorsport ever to claw back almost three tenths of a second of the deficit that he had to then take poll by, what was it in the end?

It was 0.08.08. Just under a 10th. Hit the wall as well, didn't he? Coming out. which we were lucky enough to be out in Monaco and we saw when we were going back to, was it going back to a hotel or whatever it was? We got a taxi down the main straight

and you could see the tire print in the wall, which was really cool. And you got out and licked isn't you? Hey, that was private. Yeah, it was an unbelievable lap. Obviously, for me, mixed feelings because Alonzo was on provisional pole, but it was witnessing Vastappen

greatness really. And I know a lot of people, mainly for Stappan fan, sort of count that as almost like we're over the Saudi lap that never was in 2021 because he kind of did this incredible qualifying lap. Didn't Christian say that,

oh, you know, this was the last sector or something from Saudi that should have been or something? Yeah, that could have been, yeah, because he, he, it was almost the reverse that in Saudi, he was so far ahead of everyone that he just needed to cool down, but he wanted, he was Max Osteppenham, wanted to do that perfect lap and go absolutely ham.

But instead, he, yeah, in this case, he was two-tenths down, so had to go for it. And the second part of the swimming pool might be the greatest corner ever taken by Formula One driver. If you watch the precision of how close he was to that wall, it looks impossible. that you cannot get a better line through a corner than that, because a millimeter closer,

and we've seen this so many times at that second bit, the swimming pool, he's bumping the tire, knocks you off balance, and you go straight into the wall. He's done it himself in practice. He's done it himself, he has, exactly. And it's just precision. It was insane. And then I love seeing a Formula One car,

just kind of look a bit crazy and on edge. and the fact that he like, you know, smacked into the wall on the fire straight showed that he was just like giving it absolutely everything. And Monaco qualifying in general was just absolutely amazing. And just a shout out to Monaco that basically justifies it because the Saturday is so good that it doesn't matter if the sun is terrible. But then also at the same time, I still had to get it in. But although at the same time,

Monaco arguably was one of the better races at the start of the same. season, ironically, because, you know, had a bit of jeopardy in the rain and stuff. Yeah, jeopardy in the sense of the rain coming down and yet nothing happened despite the rain coming. That was the strangest thing for me is like there was a, almost a flash flood in Monaco. They were all on dry tires and no one ended up in the wall. It was just, it was such a weird thing to watch before our eyes. Because this is going to change everything. And then it was, it changed nothing. Yeah. Yeah, it did. It was, it was. It was a crazy race, really.

There was always that we were, of course, lucky enough to be there. And I was sitting in the groundstand at the point where it started raining, and I rushed back to the energy station to watch it on TV so I could absorb what was going on. How often do you think about Alonzo not pitting for Wets? We simulated the F1 manager scenario, and it was possible. Yeah, I think looking back on it now, the fact that he didn't get that win,

this was the one where he could have definitely won because also, you know, if Max hadn't done that lap, he was P5 at that point. Yeah. You know, if he starts P5, he's not winning the race. And he was two-tenths down to the middle sector. You're thinking, well, he's not even going to improve at this point.

And then he got pulled because Max things. What might have been? Because Max has happened in 2023. Yes, absolutely. Silverstone is up next. and P1 Patreon member Ruben and Katie Loves F1 both picked this as their favourite moment and it's of course Lando Norris taking the lead

and this this gives me serious goosebumps it really does watching it back the cheer just the fact that McLaren were actually going to give us a fight for the win was it hit hard it hit right to the fields because of course McLaren only at the start of the year were incredibly washed

and then come Silverstone. Micahacken and the Oracle has predicted this and it's come true and it was, yeah, what an amazing race. And again, we were very lucky to be there. So for those people that say that we jinx races, we don't because we had a great Monaco and we had a great Silverstone.

And we had a great Vegas. So look, Tommy, we aren't the problem. We aren't the problem. I mean, McLaren had an awful start to the season. And a great example. Sorry. Yeah. Actually.

Are we the fix? It was every, I'd say they were some of the best races of the year. You're welcome, everybody. We weren't at Singapore, but we did into colour signs and it made them the goat. Everything leads back to us, yes. Yeah, Silverstone, the fact that McLaren, we're having an awful start of the season, they'd,

they'd done, Lando had done well in Austria, the previous race, but he always does well in Austria, and we kind of just thought it was a bit of a flash in the pan. So when Lando put it, P2 in Kuali,

Piastri, P3 as well, it was like, what? Where have McLaren come from? And you mentioned McAheckenun. It's the fact that it was such a specific prediction as well. He said something like, an upgrade's coming at Silverstone and they'll be challenging Red Bull and we're like,

ha ha, that's hilarious because at that point they were like seventh in the constructors and nowhere. And then boom, they're there. Lando's taking the lead into turn one, which shows, it's impressive because we've seen time and time again, even that very last race in Abu Dhabi that it takes a lot to get past Max into turn one because he is super aggressive. you really have to like absolutely nail it. And Lando just got the perfect start and the cheer, like you say, it is goosebumps, even as a as a Max fan there, like being at Silverstone. As a Nika Holkenberg fan, you mean, sorry, yeah.

Sorry, as a Holkenberg fan, yeah. We've got a race on now. This is, this is going to be epic. And Lando was leading for quite a few laps. And then even Piastri was like challenging Max into some of the corners as well. like, oh my God, McLaren are the goats? Like, what? Like, is everyone going to start painting their car chrome now to, is this what the secret is? Like, it's insane. I do wonder, um, I just thought, you know, Mick Aiken, oh, he's the Oracle. What about if he has just leaked information that he's

been told by a McLaren engineer or something, he's gone, yeah, mate, honestly, don't tell anyone, but we've got a serious upgrade coming. We've seen on the simulations. We're going to be seven tents are that quicker than we were. And he's just gone,

McLaren are going to be really quick at Silverstone. What about that? It's mad

that, yeah, the fact that he called that he must have known something. Like,

he must have heard something. And it's weird, isn't it, how they seem to know how the other teams are going to

participate? Like, because there was someone else that mentioned it. I can't remember who

it was mentioned that McLaren might be good at Silverstone. So there's obviously this rumour going around that they bought upgrades and it's strange that everything gets back to all the teams and somehow they know that it's going to be good. But for us, as fans, it was a complete surprise, really, that it happened. To that extent, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you, McLaren for giving us that great moment of Silverstone.

Zandvort now. The favourite moment comes in from Nimueh-Eleven. The Zandvort, Grand Prix, Chaos. And we, as we mentioned, we were in Zanvort. We were sat there on Sunday in the little Red Bull motorhome hospitality type thing. Thank you, Red Bull for having me across the season at occasional moments and not kicking me out for being a Ferrari fan. I really appreciate it. We were watching, weren't we on the TV screen in there, we could kind of see a tiny bit of car go past as they entered the main straight, sort of just past the curve.

and we were sat there and it was amazing it was such a unique viewing experience to be sat there watching on TV but knowing immediately if the rain was coming or not and changing. And we saw the rain, yeah.

Because that was obviously the big thing was, is it going to start raining again? Is it not? Is it going to dry up and so on and so forth? And you know, you see it and you go, oh, it's dried up. And then the heavens opened at the end and it was just, it was carnage throughout.

It was. I remember being sat, like you say, watching in the Red Bull, like, energy station, could see a bit of the track. We saw that, you know, we knew they were on the formation lap and looking out the window. And I remember, do you remember those, like, seats next to us where they were kind of, like, essentially, like, you could see the water, like, pooling in the seat. So you knew how much water was falling. And on the formation lap, we were like, oh, my God, it's properly raining.

Like, are they going to, like, and I think, you know, every Formula One fan, can relate to this where you're just like, but don't rain too much because then they'll stop the, they'll do a restart and they won't do the proper start. So like we need to get going, then it can rain. That's exactly what happened because they all started on dry tires. I think, I want to say Bottas even thought that he should come in on the formation lap and do a Marcus Winklehock, which is a bit of an old school reference.

For people that don't know, he was, I can't believe that's an old school reference. it's only 2007 in my head is recent, but it's not, who pitted basically like on a formation lab, it rained, and then he ended up leading in what was essentially the worst car in the field. And I thought someone might do that. It was nerve-bearing, I thought it was. And I thought something might happen again like that, but instead they all got to that first sector,

sorry, the final sector on the first lap, and it was like torrential rain. I can't believe not everyone decided to come in the pits. At that point, it was only Perez and Leclair and I think a couple of others. Yeah, Ferrari did a really good pit stop for Leclair. Yeah, that was the 1.2 second pit stop, I think it was. Oh no, sorry, that was the one where they had no tyres and he was not there. Yeah, that was it.

Sorry? I thought we're reflecting on good moments. I'm allowed to bring up little Ferrari fails here and there. You don't then just, you know, twist the knife, you know what I mean? That's crazy. But yeah, on reflection, that's one of the ones I'm like, why did not more drivers come into the pits? Because it was absolutely heaving it down.

Well, Perez came in first and he had a 14 second lead on the stapler. Yeah. Just by doing one extra lap on him. And lost the 14 second leads about five laps. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But it just shows that, you know, say like a Fernando Alonzo had come in on lap one,

who was running near the front, you never know, like maybe he wouldn't have been caught as much by Max or something or and then the fact that was was that the race where Lando was out on dry tires and McLaren said you're running at the same pace as the inters and he went are you dumb? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was, I remember that. Yeah, that team radio.

He was genuinely because he was getting past left right and center. They're like, you're running at the same pace as everyone around you. And I can only imagine his engineer has looked at his lap time compared to drivers that have just done an out lap and gone, ah, well, you know, you're running at the same time as them when they'd actually just come into the pit. Everyone's flying past them on Inter's, and Perez is already 14 seconds down the road, and he's like,

no, we're not the same. I wish McDarron one day would just get a good, a good call for a changeable weather conditions like that. Well, yeah, like, you know, they were good at Zandvort, so it's a really hard track to pass, like I said about Alonzo, but yeah. say like Lando did the call and he was 14 seconds up the road on Verstappen, maybe it was a different story and he could have challenged for the win there,

but alas, they just lost so much time. And then we've course had another rainstorm right at the end, which caused more chaos, just when we thought the race is kind of, you know, ending. And now I've just remembered, off the top of my head, that that was the most overtakes we've ever seen in Formula One in a race. Zandvort of all places. Like the one track there everyone says is not suitable really for modern Formula One

is only there because Max is winning and we had the most overtakes in the history of F1 in one race. That is a serious F1 pub quiz question to have that locked in. Is everyone to be like, oh, yeah, because no one everyone will be like, I must be Silverstone, must be, yeah. No, Zandvort.

That is quite something. And then of course, I'm surprised you haven't brought it up already yet, Tommy, but you know, with five laps to go. There was the restart after the chaotic rainstorm that we saw come in towards the end of the race

and it was like for those, you know, when you're at home you go, oh, why have they red flagged it with you know, so little time to go? But when we were there, like the wind was ridiculously strong. The rain was coming down like no tomorrow. So you kind of were just,

you know, you had a bit of an understanding as to just how bad. And perhaps, you know, cameras don't do justice to sometimes the weather that is actually unfolding. Yeah, and then a weird moment for us was essentially the legends at Red Bull, who you mentioned have been lovely to us this year, invited us to come under the podium at the end.

So we kind of, we were so conflicted, weren't we? Because we're like, oh, my God, there's a restart with five laps to go. And it could be close. We don't know what's going to happen. But also, so we kind of had to just like listen to what was going on. and kind of keep up on our phones before like legging it through the garage on the podium and that was...

We made a measured decision, didn't we? I think it was like two laps to go and we thought, well, Vastappen is over a second clear of Alonzo now. No problem. He's got this in the bag. And that was the first time and of many times now, Tommy,

that you took up running. You were like, next time I get back to a podium, I was when I decided I need to run. I'm going to shave off some tents. Because yeah, because that would have been, can you imagine if we'd left with five laps to go, gone to the podium, and then you would have seen Alonzo on the top step,

you would... I'd be like, what? Yeah. And yeah, that, just from a own personal perspective, that was one of the most unbelievable things as a Formula One fan to experience that was like, just never could have dreamed of experience something like that.

It was so, so cool. So good. It really was, wasn't it? It was a moment we were both, both completely in utterly in awe of, and I still haven't washed my jumper, which is the Danny Rick-on-Sciante jumper. It's still covered in celebratory fireworks from the podium

and Vanada Walanzo's champagne, I'm going to call it, just from the sake of being PG. Italy now, apparently nobody decided to put this in as their favourite moment, probably because the only people that might have done it was Ferrari fans, but it wasn't actually a good battle, was it? It was Sines versus Lecler. Signs versus Lecler.

for P3. Yeah, no, it wasn't my favorite moment. It's one of my least favorite moments, to be honest with you. How is your heart rate? Not good. If that had been for P1, I might have keeled over and died. Because it was the moment we've spoken about for so long. They're going to come together.

Signs v. LeClau. Then they're not going to get on. Yada, yada, yada. And it's never really happened. But when Charles locked up both of his fronts under the rear wing of Carlos Sines, I thought it was done. How did they not? I've watched it back since since, because I was writing these notes about what happened.

And there were two moments. There was one where, with four laps to go, Leclair made the move, he passes, but then he locks up and Sites out the first corner, gets the slingshot. And he, the commentary when you watch it back from David Coulthard, he's like that the car ghosted because they must of touch.

Like, I've never seen two cars get that close together. Like, it must be a millimeter from them crashing because he just pulls up alongside him and there is no gap between them at all. It's absolutely insane. Like, my heart rate was going. I can't imagine what it was like for, to be a Ferrari fan on the Tofos see there. Like, it's just insane. And then the bit at the end, yeah, well, LeClaire almost hits the back.

and then the most ironic thing as well where there was a team radio saying no risk seconds before it and then they almost plough into each other. It was at no risk and then shall look for the biggest dive bomb of all times. Which, yeah. When it happened and you knew you're all right,

everything was all right, it was like fair play for Letterdam Race but I think you said in the podcast, why did the letter to race? Yeah. I was like of all the times to call it off. It's in Italy at Monza when you've got a podium against both of your own drivers. There was...

Ferrari, when Michael Schumack has a 300 point lead in the championship. No, Barry Kelly move over. And then when it's for nothing and it's P3 and P4 just to secure it at Monza, they're like, no, battle it out in the last lap to win. And as we discussed, if you crash, it doesn't matter. And as we discussed, if it was the other way around, I think that they would have maybe called it off. But we won't get into that topic. So yes, that wasn't, yeah, it was a very cool moment.

It's one that you go, as you say, fair play. It's awesome to watch back now, but maybe people didn't pick it because it just, the too much trauma from it, because if you're, yeah, a Ferrari fan, it probably wasn't fun to watch even though it was those two battling. It wasn't fun until afterwards knowing that they hadn't crashed. Yeah. Then it's great.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, how close was that? That must have been millimetres. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, they nearly hit. Here we go again. Oh, no.

Do you need to change your trousers yet? Yeah, it's a good job. You can only see my top half. That's all I'll tell you. It's a very good line from Charles. Last lap. This is the last opportunity. Oh, he's gone.

Oh, my God. That is insane. No risk, immediate dive bomb. Charles too tense behind. Charles. Oh my God. He almost spinned it on the final corner. That is insane.

Wow. What a finish. Singapore is up next. P1 Patreon member Duwajus's favourite moment and also a lot of other people's favourite moment, which was of course the four car battle

for the win. And of those four cars, not one of them was Max Vestappen. We could not believe it. We thought it was was going to be a Red Bull clean sweep until Singapore where they were just horrendous. Singapore is the giant slayer of Formula One tracks

and it just didn't work for Red Bull. And instead, you had LeCler, Norris, Russell and Hamilton at the end fighting for the win. It was sensational. And Sites. I'm updating you said that. Either all, you know that Sides obviously was in the mix because he won. yes yeah yeah um yeah it was unbelievable the fact that max was well yeah he was nowhere uh i can't believe

he finished fifth and almost got fourth and he was absolutely flying at the end and showed that maybe what might have been um because essentially red ball got screwed with strategy because uh they lost a pit stop because there was a safety car at a bad time and then also the vSC came just after they decided to pit. So if they'd have pitted behind the VSC, it would have gained a bit more time. But it was incredible to watch. And the fact that the Mercedes took that gamble

to go on the medium tires at the end. And because they were all running together, it was one of those weird races where it's so exciting, but there's nothing happening in a weird way. They're not passing each other, but it's just tense because you know it will come down to the end. And the fact that the Mercedes, yeah, pitted for the mediums.

Russell giving up track, quite a good track position, I think he was running second at the time. And then they obviously caught up to the back of them. And I will just never forget that moment of watching where you had all four cars within about a second and a half of each other.

And, you know, we'd had, it's not just about the Red Bull dominate the season. I think we'd had quite a lot of lacklustre racing as well, like there wasn't too much to shout back during the season. And it was like, and we now have a four car battle for the win. And somehow none of them are a Red Bull. It was absolutely insane. And it was, your heart was just like racing.

It was that weird kind of moment where there's no overtaking and no one's really doing too much. But it's just, it's just what you love about Formula One is just heart is like racing. you're just like, oh my God, this is so tense. Yeah, it was massively. And it doesn't have to need overtakes in order for it to be an exciting race. When Gazley won at Monza and Danny Rick won at Monza, these are two examples we constantly bring up of times where it wasn't like it was side by side for the last five laps to see who wins.

And this was a similar thing. Carlos Seins executing one of the greatest strategies of all time, of giving Lando Norris DRS in order for him to defend from the two Mercedes behind. And I think we forget just how. close Russell was to overtaking Norris. And had he got through, that was it. That would have been George Russell winning another race for Mercedes. And then, you know, Hamilton missing out once again.

Of course, there was that whole conversation around should Russell have let Hamilton through to try and attack. There's no way in hell. George Russell would have ever let Lewis Hamilton through, even with direct team orders. I think he still would have gone for the win, which is fine. You know, they're a racing driver, right? It's just on reflection, you think, oh, if Hamilton was the, car ahead. I think Hamilton might have actually won that race. But yeah, what a, what a Grand Prix,

race of the season, a lot of ways just by how it ended. And then of course, George making that mistake right at the end and hitting the wall. Lando sort of baiting him into smashing into the wall by brushing his right rear onto the, onto the barrier, which then brought George into it as well. It was, yeah, it was manic. But I just remember being on Twitch going, look, Tommy, look, they're all there on the straight together. to win the race. Like, it was, it was crazy. Oh my God, four laps to go.

Look at Hamilton on Russell. Look at them. They're there. That's a good strategy. That is good from Carlos. That's clever. That's intelligent. Oh, look at this.

This is what dreams are made of, chat. This is what dreams are made of. Look, this is... Oh, my God. One point seven seconds separating the top four. Frontis are finished. Three laps to go. The Hamilton right behind Russell.

Oh, my God. Oh my God. Lawson's got a point. W, big W. Lohsen. Land is in trouble. Land is in trouble. Oh no. God.

No. Russell's gonna get him. Look how close Hamilton is. Oh my God. Looking at. I hate to say it. If Russell would let Hamilton through it, Hamilton can win. Oh, oh, Russell!

On the last lap, what just happened? Here we go. Carlos Seines. What a win. Come on. Yes. What a win. What a drive from

Carlos. It's funny because, yeah, the five-star review at the start of the show is like, these guys on experts, they're just Formula One fans. And I think that, that moment was us being Formula One fans and not experts, because we probably gave absolutely no analysis at all. We were just going, oh my God, oh my God, look at them. Oh, my God, this is amazing. Because it was just so exciting. And, yeah, the science strategy was incredible. and of course Ferrari being Ferrari were like you do realize Lando's behind you what are you doing is like I'm doing it on purpose that was cold that was such a cold

it was it was awesome wasn't it it was like I know what I'm doing it was basically the science school of Kimmy leave me in and know what I'm doing yeah awesome and what a win from science to do it in that way where does such a clever bit of strategy and and kind of like It was a thinking race rather than like pure speed and sometimes that is really, really cool. And science just executed it to perfection. He certainly did. Next up, Qatar.

Anna Maggiore comes in with their favourite moment. When Piastri got his first win as a rookie. Okay, it's a sprint, but it's still impressive in brackets. Yes, Qatar, the time where we kind of wondered what if? for McLaren because they turned up on the wrong day to obviously win the Qatar Sprint with Piazri. Norris had a little bit more pace, definitely, made that mistake in qualifying.

But the limelight went to Oscar and quite rightly, he delivered when his teammate didn't. And he ended up winning the sprint, which on one side we go, well, that's such an amazing achievement. He's a race winner. On the other side, doesn't feel like he's a race winner. Yeah, it's tough because you can take nothing away from him.

It's a brilliant achievement. But yeah, even the drivers know, I think you saw what happened with Lando in Brazil when he qualified really well for the sprint and didn't for the main race. He knew he was going to be quick in the main race and looked very dejected. And he was like, oh, yay, there's a sprint tomorrow. It still doesn't mean as much to the drivers. but that Piastri, you know, no one, he's one of only still in a race. If you, you know, you've got to count it as a race to a point that other than a Red Bull that won something.

You know, he beat Max Astappen, which is Max also won most of the sprints, didn't he? So it was incredible from Piastri. He managed it really well. Isn't this the only sprint that Max didn't win? I think Max? Perez won the sprint in Baku, I think. Oh, yeah. Max didn't win all of them, though. Yeah, but Red Bull, obviously,

won all of them apart from this one. Yeah. And the fact that, yeah, he kept his call that he was on mediums and Russell was on the softs and Russell actually got into the lead. There was so much action in this Qatar sprint. It was changing. The fact that this is the dream,

that we always want from the sprint is just have cars on different tires and then some absolutely fly through the field and the tires go off at the end so they have that advantage at the start and lose it at the end and that's exactly what happened. Russell, it looked like a brilliant decision when he was in the lead but then he dropped all the way back

and then you realised that mediums were actually the way to go. That makes it really exciting. And it was an awesome spring. and then until I watched this back, I completely forgot this was the race, in inverted commas, the race that Max was actually crowned champion. So Oscar won his sprint,

and then of course Max was crowned champion on a Saturday, which was quite unusual as well. Crowned on a Saturday and also crowned by not winning, which felt wrong, considering he'd won almost everything else. Yeah, the only thing.

It was crowned as when he didn't win. But yes, Qatar was definitely a great one. Brazil. Ace 12 Adams' favorite moment, Alonzo and Perez battle in Brazil. We didn't have an absolute worldie into Lagos, did we? It was...

Sprint was very good. The sprint was better than the main race, which I remember was one of my crazy predictions. I was going to say you're welcome. I'm sorry, because we didn't want that to come true. But Alonzo versus Perez, where do you even begin? with how Fernando Alonzo, the sensei,

just teaching everybody how to defend in a Formula One racing car, it was stunning. The way in which he just took different lines, he didn't go for the orthodox way of doing things and defending. And it was simply the greatest defensive display, I think, there's ever been seen in Formula One.

I'll say it right now. Since Fernando Alonzo. Ando Alonso, yeah. Hungry. Yeah. This is literally the last chance. It'd be into turn four. He has to stay with him. Go!

Perr's defending. As Peres spotted it, as Peres spotted the apex. He's a bit compromised. He's gonna have a good chance here. Go on Fernando! Are he close? He's close! He's close! Go on!

Come on, Fernando! Come on, Fernando! Come on! What a move! Here it is! Oh my God! Here it is! Get one exit, one more exit of dreams

from Fernando. Oh, he's dived it! Oh my God, this is going to be so close with DRS. It's three-tenths. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's got him. He's got him. Surely he's got him.

Please, please. He's got him. Surely, he's got him. Yes, Fernando. I think, yeah, I think with it with being Brazil as well, this was almost a harder thing to have managed. Oh, yeah, yeah. It was a sitting duck, really. And also got back past and got a podium as well.

That is the most shocking thing for me is that you think, you think, thought, oh, Fernando's not going to hold on here. And you're like, he has to stay ahead because as soon as Perez does ahead, he's gone. Like, no chance. So the fact that he managed to do the smart thing, because when he didn't get back past him, like Perez made that move with a couple of laps to go. And then when Alonzo didn't, he obviously gets DRS, but he didn't pass Perez at turn four on that lap.

He thought, that's it. It's game over. but to stay within the DRS, then he knew he'd get a nice run down to term one. And then just, Fernando just essentially like outsmarting Perez, rather than making a big dive or anything, he just did enough to bait Perez into defending the inside, knew he'd get, as soon as Perez is offline,

he'd get a great run down to turn four, and it just worked perfectly. And then even then it wasn't over because you knew that Perez would get an amazing, an amazing slingshot. And of course, Formula One shared a screenshot of like the camera on the line. Photo finish, yeah. It's so rare in Formula One to see a photo finish.

And the fact that, yeah, two cars crossing the line for the final podium spot, 0.05 is absolutely insane. I think it was probably about a tire in it over a whole, you know, 71 laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix. It was just awesome. And looking back on this, and spoiler into the next one, been a lot of moves on the last lap, actually.

The best moments are the kind of the battling on the last lap. And you don't tend to see that lot in Formula One, but for quite a me season, it's been a few of them. What a beautiful segue to the final race that we're going to go into, and is of course, Las Vegas, and my favorite moment. Charle-le-Cleur passing Perez on the last lap. And I think more encompassing just the fact that we had a battle for the lead,

including Charles LeClaire. That was lovely as well. I really enjoyed that. It felt like it had been a long time since I actually believed. And my belief wasn't misplaced for a lot of the time during that race. and had it not been for a rogue safety car, thanks to actually Vastappan and Russell coming together, Charles Leclair might well have won that race,

which doesn't haunt me at all. I don't think about it when I go to bed. But he left a mark, old Charles Leclair. Of course, on lap 43 or 50, he locked up and lost P2 to Perez, but on the final lap, last corner just sends it. And I will say that Perez didn't execute

the greatest defence that anyone's ever seen. It wasn't like he'd learned anything from Fernando Alonzo in Brazil and decided to apply it for himself. Instead, he left the door open. Go on, Shal. Outbreak me. And he went, okay, and then did. And it was, oh, beautiful move.

Could have easily overshot it and ended up in the barrier, but instead slowed it down beautifully and secured a lovely little P2. Yeah, it was a sensational move. The fact that he executed it so well that Perez obviously got a nice run on him, but ironically, Vastappen was trying to help Perez, and all he ended up doing was towing Shal across the line a little bit,

a bit more, which helped Shal out as well. But it was a fantastic move. Like I said before, watch that clip back again, and I love that final sector of Vegas. It looks high speed and dramatic, and watching someone like pull off an overtake, and then as they kind of like, race around that really quick corner into the final across the line. It was it was awesome and

and Vegas was a really really good race. The fact that you had three guys battling out for the win was very unexpected and just a really thrilling, thrilling race. It felt the high speed nature of the track reminded me almost a little bit of like Bahrain short where it just didn't feel like you ever had a breather because there's no real not met I think there's like one slow corner isn't there on the whole track really and not like a silly you know oh we've got to have a slow bit where all the cars go really slow and it's really clumsy just no just high speed corners everywhere and yeah it was it was a really really cool race really enjoyed it i really enjoyed it charlerc converting pole position once again uh for another victory uh lasted all of about 100

12 in a row. But then, you know, Max got that penalty and so on and so forth, and we've discussed that many times, but Shal had a good lead for 50 metres. It was great. And then finally, there's one shout-out that comes in from Ghetto Trude that says, I know it's cheesy, but my favourite moment, we're experiencing the season with you and the P1 gang. It's so nice to have a community of nice people enjoying the same things oneself does, sharing one's excitement about something as well as sharing the Ferrari pane. Thank you. Well, look, 2024 is going to be different. If you enjoy P1,

just purely for Ferrari Payne, then you've got another thing coming. So you're going to hate 2024 when Charlotte Claire wins 24 races in a row. And then the entire one of these season review favorite moments will just be the whole season and over again. I'd be like, round one, Bahrain, and shall wins.

There'll be, every social media comment will be like, what was your favorite moment of the season? Oh, the one that Charles didn't win. So boring. Yeah. Singapore. God, he lost that.

He almost got a Ferrari clean sweep. Unbelievable. But yes. But no. Thank you to that. Like, it's very nice. It is, yeah. Yeah, that is a lovely message from you, Ghetto True.

Thank you so much for that. And thank you to everybody else as well. I'm sure we've had a lot of messages. People clipping up, screenshotsing, that's the word. The Spotify unwrapped and lots of people saying that they love the podcast and listening and they've been listening for thousands of minutes since we launched in February. So I want to apologise

for the fact that you've had to absorb our washed opinions for so, so long. And thank you for spending your time with us doing that. Tommy, what has been your favourite moment, but not on track? What's been your favourite moment? It's not final thoughts today. It's what's been your favourite moment?

On track. Off track. In terms of, just as in like Twitch. Well, anything. anything that you've done, that's been your favourite. Well, I guess during the year, I kind of mentioned it,

that we've done some incredible things this year. And that is, you know, thanks to you guys supporting this venture and helping the success to it. Because we did this, hoping that we'd, you know,

get to do some cool experiences. And I could never have imagined the experiences we did. I mean, the one that sounds out to me is that, that podium, as a Formula One fan. Like, I never, it was just like so, and it sounds such a weird thing to say,

but like, just experiencing it with my own eyes, I just, like, my brain was just going, you're under the podium, you're under the podium, you're under the podium, this is like insane. And you could, like, I was right near where they were coming into Park Fermé and celebrating and stuff. And because you've just watched that moment as a fan for years and years and years and years,

and didn't think that was ever possible unless, like, you became a mechanic or something for a team. or whatever. I'd never thought I'd be able to do it. And of course, the fact that it was Fernando Alonzo and Maxis Stappen up there as well. I was just like, just champagne, just go for it. And yeah, it was incredible. And again, just thank you for that kind, kind message in everyone that supported us. I have so many Instagram tags of Spotify wrapped and it blows my mind seeing like 6,000 minutes listened and I just think

how on earth are you listening to my dulcet tones Oh, it's such a dulcet tone, isn't it? It's beautiful. It's funny, you know, that Alonzo podium moment in Zambour you'd have been absolutely fine if you'd been camping

because you'd already pitched a tent when that was happening. I thought that ended in something terrible. And my favorite moment, thanks for asking Tommy, is, what do you think it is? Charleclair in Bahrain? No, Charlotte in Miami.

No, Charleclair in Spain. No, Charlotte Claire in... Oh, I just realized what you were doing, you absolute tallbag. No, it's when Charlecler called me babe. Yeah, of course. That's it. Of course. That's the highlight.

They'll never be topped. That will never be topped. That's when you pitched a tent. When Danny Rick held my leg as well. And on that note. Oh, God. You've had it all. I really have.

Thank you everybody for watching and listening. Sorry we ended it in such as crude manner. And we will see you very soon for another piece of content. Lots of love. Bye! P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.