P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our 2023 Japanese GP predictions

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

We're straight into another GP weekend, as we head to one of the most infamous tracks on the calendar. Will it be a return to normal proceedings? We're now on Patreon! Sign up HERE for ad-free episodes, bonus content, exclusive early access and loads more!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P. One podcast with Matt and Tommy. Tommy giving it the Doublet wave. Both hands in the air like he just don't care. Welcome to Race Week once again. Japan, Suzuki. The iconic track awaits Tommy. Are you excited?

I do love the track. It might not be the best for overtaking and stuff. Oh, why do we always say? No. It's a great track for overtaking. Well, it's not a great track for overtaking, though. My God, these new cars are not suited to it. But I love the track.

Quali is going to be thrilling. And look, I've not checked the weather forecast. We always mention it. Is it going to rain? Who knows? Probably not. I have checked the weather forecast. It looks like at the moment it's going to be dry,

but there is wet weather just beforehand, which, you know, could be pushed. Who knows? But a dry weekend's absolutely fine. me. Now, before we dive into our predictions, we have a five-star review from Sally Hancock in Australia. If you want yours to be read out, please leave us a five-star review. Let us know why you love this podcast. We read every single one of them and we appreciate the kind words. It helps us massively. I love listening to Matt and Tommy Waffle about F1. It's fun,

light-hearted and you just have a good time every time you are listening. Keep it up, Lans. Short, sweet, and to the point. Love that from you, Sally. Every time, though, you have a good time every single time. You must be a Max for Stappen fan. That's all I'm saying. Right, let's get into our predictions now then, starting with Biggest Good Surprise. I couldn't put my finger on where I was going to, I'm not going to say bless, probably curse with my biggest good surprise. And I've gone with Nico Ugenberg. I don't know why, mainly because, look, KMAG beat him in Singapore in terms of qualifying and also getting that point as well in the race.

I feel like Nico, it will light a fire. fire inside of him. He might do a little cheeky Q3 performance. I'm not saying that Hassan are going to score points with this. A little cheeky P11, P12. I'm going to be at least arguing half a point. Surely Hasn needs to get a point in the biggest good surprise. After KMA got a point in the last race.

But yeah, it's all vibes, isn't it? Speaking of vibes, my biggest good surprise is Charles LeClaire. I promise this is not a paid advertisement from Matthew Gallagher. But no, I feel like the reason I've gone for biggest good surprise is I don't think everyone's writing them off. But obviously, Carlos is the man of the moment and rightly so at the moment. He's been driving superbly.

I don't think it's like, I don't think LeClaire's maybe been as bad as people think or maybe the perception of him. Obviously, it's been a big surprise that Science has kind of beaten him in the last few races and done so well. But LeClaire has been there and I think he's going to deliver a good weekend. So I've gone for Charlotte Clare. I was going to say, if it was a paid sponsorship thing for you to put that in there, I think I'd actually pay you to not put it in. Yeah, true.

Some of your biggest good surprises have gone this year. Oh, God, yeah. So thanks so much for that, mate. Really appreciate you trying to bless Charlecler and it's going to go the complete opposite. We now go to Biggest Flop. So the flop curse worked incredibly well last weekend. Some people were saying, how can you possibly give Max Verstappen biggest flop for P5 in that car?

He won 10 in a row. Do we not understand what biggest flop is yet? Like, surely that was floppy, Tommy. It's the comparison to how they're doing as well. And I know we say biggest flop, but it's not like, it doesn't be the biggest flop. Both of us couldn't get points. Otherwise, you have a one in 20 chance every single thing.

We'd never get any points. So it's basically will they have a bad weekend? Will they have a large flop? Yeah, and Verstappen did. You can't argue that when he's won 10 in a row. Of course he drove a very good race. It's very rare that Verstappen doesn't, but he still finished fifth when the car won every race.

So it's a flop. Yeah, take that. Anyway, my biggest flop is Carlos Seines. So I've gone kind of the other way in the sense of, well, similar thinking. Carlos Seines, he's got the world with him, the momentum is there. And I just feel like that Choo Choo Chene might come to a halt in Suzuki. I don't know what it will look like.

This is all based on vibes. There is no reason. Just Carlos Sines fans, I am sorry. It's just a hint. It's just a feeling. right now that this might be the case around Suzuki. Don't hurt me. The force field of him like blocking the P1 curse is like, yeah, the power is like dying out.

He's like Spider-Man on the front of the train. That's basically. Yeah, yeah. Nice. I just realized what we've done. Biggest flop I have gone for Kevin Magnuson. So we've both gone for two asses and two Ferraris in our. thing. But yeah, biggest flop.

My thinking here is that, I guess, kind of what you went for with biggest good surprise is more that I think KMAG had a good Singapore Grand Prix, particularly in qualifying, a rare W against Niko Holkenberg. And I just think you might go back to being a bit washed. I think Singapore is that kind of track that suits the KMAG, you know, where you're like wrestling it round and that kind of driver.

barging people out the way and mistakes and losing five positions and then getting a great strategy. At the end, yeah. But no, I just, of course, it's always on vibes, but I just feel like KMAG will go back to being a bit washed again.

KMAG doing KMAG things. We will find out. Pole position now. I'm sorry, everybody. We're writing the wave of Singapore, but it's Max Verstappen. He's just going to do something we're all not going to like this weekend.

He is going to ruin everything. He'll win every single race from here to the end of the season. He'll say, look, you had your one race off. I had my little blip. Now it's time for me to go to the top step of the podium to remind everyone what the Dutch National Anthem sounds like. And it's going to start on Saturday with pole position. The Maxis Step and Revenge Tour, as a lot of people are calling it this weekend.

my proposition I have gone for Charlerclair I just don't I feel like it's going to be close in qualifying Red Bull has to say to this sorry quickly Go on Daddy please Sorry I can say

Yeah I think Look look Quali has been incredibly close We'll go on to whether I think Max or win again And I think Max will be in a best position and will be fighting for poll. I don't think they're going to have the stinker that they had in Singapore. But I just think that Red Bull, yeah, that they're not always about that pole position. I know Max has had a lot of polls, but yeah, I feel like part of this biggest

good surprise theory of Leclair is that he's kind of back to his best in qualifying. It's a high speed circuit that you have to proper go for it and it rewards bravery and speed so it's either a Lecler pole or Lecler in the wall in Q1 and out. In Q1. Geez, come on. Let's say Q3

mate. God. He's not a peros at Monaco. Jeez. Right, let's go to our top three then. And in third place, I have gone for Oscar Piastri. Oh yeah.

McLaren, all they love, they love a mid to high speed corner. And that is what Suzuki offers. I think McLaren are going to be right there and they'll be the closest team to Red Bull this weekend. Piastri, of course, if you've not seen our wonderful video of him doing his ultimate circuit, it was Suzuki, wasn't it, first sector?

Zizilva Rusty and Sus was the first part, yeah. It was because he said it would suit McLaren. A lot of people actually in our one crazy prediction that we'll get into later. Picta Piastri podium. So there's a lot of... The one time we maybe don't include it is the time you'll get a podium. Yeah, we'll see. So for my P3, I've gone for Lando Norris for a similar reason that I think McLaren is going to be a track that is suited to

McLaren and you won't but put a bet against Lando with the way he's kind of been driving at the moment superbly well and if it's a track that suits him, podium is definitely doable. In second place, I have gone for Lando Norris. Echoes my thoughts about Piastri. Lando will just have the slight edge over Oscar, but remember that both of them will have the fully upgraded McLaren now for Suzuki

as opposed to Lando just having it in Singapore. And yeah, it will be a lovely, P2 and P3 for McLaren, I don't think they'll be close to Max Verstappen because of reasons I have already mentioned. I mean, come on. I think we all know who I'm going to say for first. But yes, Landon or a second.

So my P2, I have gone for Charlotte Clair. Not getting the dub, but the P2, the elusive P2, which I think will be back to being an elusive P2 after Max Verstapp and Revenge Tour. so yeah that's what I'm going for yeah

in first place I have gone for Max Vastappen just be wary go into this weekend with low expectations and you will still be disappointed

that's how I think the battle for first is going to be this weekend and I hope I'm wrong P1 I've also gone for Max Vastappen yeah it's I do think Singapore is a blip if the Stappen is generally qualifying

in Q2 again and you know, finishes P11 will be like, oh, the technical directive has shafted Red Bull and would all be on that hype train of Red Bull are now washed. But I see Max being back comfortable in a car that is going to suit Suzuki a lot. I know Red Bull are good everywhere,

but this does feel like an even more dominant Red Bull track and one that Max really enjoys. So yeah, gone for Max has happened. We now go to our one crazy prediction. For me, my crazy prediction is Charlecler beats Carlos Sines. That's a loophole, McGee. Yeah, that's loophole. I saw the last three races.

He hasn't beaten Carlos Sines. I am locking in this crazy prediction because that is rare in the race? Or is it open-ended so we can argue for some half points and things? In the race, he will beat Carlos Sines. Interesting. We've really back shall on this podcast. Could be really bad for me. Yeah, could be in big trouble.

My one crazy prediction is Liam Lawson in the points again. Yeah, I totally backed that as well because he's actually raced around Suzuki, isn't he, in Super Formula. He's a Super Formula recently. I think he's going to be good around here and could deliver something quite special again. And then we're all talking about pray for Yuki and his seat. Well, I mean, it's weird, though, because what I've been seeing, the rumours flying around is that they're going to keep Yuki and they're going to keep Daniel Ricardo and they're going to put Liam Lawson in plan. for 2025. And I've also seen rumours flying around that Williams are going to keep Logan's sergeant.

So it genuinely seems at this stage with things that are flying around and obviously sometimes they can't be true, but there are some quite reputable sources, aren't they? Saying these kinds of things. So, I mean, I feel for Liam Lawson, I really do. I feel like he might need to win the Japanese Grand Prix for the Hamit Marco to maybe come in

and step in and do something. But for now, it doesn't look like Lawson, and despite that incredible Singapore Grand Prix is going to get a seat next year. Who knew that knocking Max de Stappen out of qualifying would annoy Helmut Marke? Yeah, they're like, just... Because the thing is, they're supposed to, potentially,

announce Yuki at the Japanese Grand Prix. So... Oh, but... Yeah. Okay. So we'll see. If they don't say anything at the Japanese Grand Prix, then it's game back on for Liam Lawson

and they've decided actually no, Yuki, when we've not decided yet. Yeah, I mean, if, it'd be weird, wouldn't it? If, if Sonoda, yeah, gets announced staying with Alpha Tauri, and then Lawson puts in another mega drive and maybe like a, I don't know, just in a theoretical world is like a seventh or an eighth or something, everyone would be like, oh, what does this mean? Does Perra start to sweat that Lawson goes straight into the Red Bull?

Like, there's loads of theories and maybe, yeah, they want. I don't know. It's a difficult one. Red Bull is such a weird team where sometimes they have no drivers to put in their cars and then they only ever seem to have no drivers or too many drivers and there's never like a good amount. So there we are. And also as well, I found it quite interesting with a tweet I put out around, oh, you know, if Lawson doesn't get locked in by Alphotari, then Williams should get their, get their millions out to sign him and then a lot of people replying, yeah, but what about Daniel Ricardo? Like, you know, why is he safe?

And, you know, we've spoken about it before, but I just want to reiterate that there's more to it than just the driving. Marketing. Daniel Ricardo has a lot of experience. We can't really judge him yet as to how good he is at this stage after only a few races and breaking his hand. But also, as you say, Tommy, marketing. There's a lot to be gained with Daniel Ricardo being the face of your Formula One team.

I'm not saying it's right, but have you watched Drive to Survive? like especially for a team like alpha towery they want to almost bring in that fan base to get behind yeah that team especially if they're going to rebrand to this like hugo boss thing like they're going to want a big name to to to to do it so um he does have credit in the bank that um he's probably after hamilton like the biggest was the biggest name in america like um in formula one other than hamilton So yeah, he's got credit in the bank there. And that's why I think he's pretty much a lock-in. I'd be really surprised if they decided not to do it.

I mean, there's a reason they chose him over Lawson in the first place because they wanted him in there. So, yeah. Absolutely. So if you don't have the Formula One driver talent, just be able to smile and be really funny. Just be really funny. Charismatic.

Right. Finally, three crazy. predictions from you wonderful lot. Remember to reply to our Twitter or Instagram posts asking for it. And you might be able to feature on this podcast, Matt P1, Tommy, if you don't follow us already. Dan the United fan comes in with Stroll, Top Six. Bold.

Top six, what, DNFs or if we were to like reverse the qualifier? He makes six laps. That would be an achievement. Quadrado Manuela, LeClaire returns to the podium. There you go. locks in with that, is that your burner account, Tommy? The Leclair hype train at this podcast. Not good.

I'm not enjoying how much hype are actually there. But then this one, Nordy 2-1-4-5, one Red Bull, one Ferrari and one Merkel DNF. I bet the one Ferrari bit will come true and it'll be Shao LeClaire. And then it's because of everything we've said in this podcast previously. So thank you for your three crazy predictions. Tommy, what are your finale thoughtes? Good luck, Charlerclair. I hope you can survive the predictions curse,

like Carlos has done with the P1 curse, because boy, have you been hyped in this podcast. But that being said, I do generally think it's going to happen. It's not just a bounce, so we'll see. The only thing I've actually done is say that he'll beat signs. Everything else was you or the list. You didn't actually put him on the podium.

No, I didn't even put him on the podium, so technically you can't blame me. And that is it. My final thoughts are, can't wait for Suzuki. Glad it's another race week straight after. I feel like we've got momentum now. I feel like we've got enjoyment from Singapore. I really hope that I'm wrong about Vastappen and what he's going to do to all of us.

But let's see. Of course, we will be live on Twitch early. Remember it's an early one. I think it's 6 a.m. start UK time, isn't it for the race? So that'll be fun. We'll be dosed up with coffee. What are you laughing at? I'm laughing because I remember looking at the times going,

oh, God, it's a really early start. And then because I have grace now, I remember being like, oh, this is actually the time I get up anyway. So you'll be normal and I'll be there like, hey, chat. Yeah. So that'll be good fun. It's when we get to America when it's like a 10 p.m. race for us and I'm falling asleep. When we go to Vegas, you're going to be there.

Like it's going to be lights out and away we go and you'll literally be lights out and asleep. So looking forward to that one. I'll slap you around the face. And that is it. Thank you. See you soon. Bye. P1 is a Stack production.

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