P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our 2024 Australian GP predictions

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

We're back racing, so it's time for some predictions! How will the Aussie's fare? Should we expect a Charles masterclass? And is Valtteri Bottas now an honorary Australian? We answer it all!Tickets for our live shows in April have almost sold out - get yours 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.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P. One podcast with Matt and Tommy. Yes, it's Race Week again, the third race of the season. And it is a Grand Prix weekend where we are not even once going to comment on the start time of any session from here on in Tom Bellingham. No, we're covering it off there and then because I know all the your season. Everyone that's in an unsociable time zone usually, they do this week in week out. We need to suck it up and get over it. But oh my God, it's 4 a.m. race stop. How are you, Tommy?

It's an early triple header because we've got China and Japan afterwards as well. Wait, is it a triple header? No, sorry, not triple header, but like three in a row that are early starts. Oh, God. I was like, wait, my schedule's all off made. It's a triple header. But I don't mind getting up early if it delivers because I have just watched Formula One uploaded a great video of basically an hour of absolute chaos and carnage

from the Australian Grand Prix, so please deliver. I don't know if that's just, that's foreshadowing that just nothing's going to happen so people can watch that instead. But God, please be good. So there's an hour-long highlights of every Australian Grand Prix that has some sort of chaos in. Just, just loads of moments because it's a race that's produced so many. It's got your delusion levels a little bit. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we did the, we've done the patron thing as well, haven't we of a race where like everyone was just spinning off and going crazy. so yeah. So maybe, just maybe, it will happen this year as well. We don't know. But before we get into it, we have a five-star review. And this comes in from A.K. Parker in New Zealand. If you want your five-star review to be read out, please leave us a review. Let's know why you love this podcast, because it helps us out massively. So thank you so much. And this one, as I say, A.K. Parker, I was depressed, utterly despondent. Matt and Tommy had departed these lands and darkness had taken root. Then a glimmer. A flickering flame danced upon the waters. And a voice came from the barren wasteland, heralding the chain. Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Hope was rekindled, life restored, and from that small flicker a flame spread and remnant rejoiced. The voice of Formula One has returned. Will knowledge has come back to us, we lowly believers. Rejoicing, built the streets, dancing and music flooded the cities and children laugh with joy.

May there be the peace in the lands forevermore or hail the Kings of F1 Man tommy. Wow, that is, that's creativity. That is amazing. Thank you so much, A.K. Parker. We really appreciate it. it. Right, let's get into our predictions then, shall we? Have we been getting the spices out this week? Let's find out. Biggest good surprise. I have gone for Esteban Okon. Yeah. From a step up from the, well, quite literal nightmare of Bahrain, I think for Alpine, to then, okay. Okay, Ocon. Obviously, Gansley's car was not put together properly, but Ocon, okay, a little 13th, I see you.

He's going to, it's going to be there. I'm not going to say, terms of, I'm not going to say, no, I was about to say it. And then I was like, I'm going to regret it if he finishes 11th. But that, I think is still going to be surprising for Alpine. So I think they're going to be not great. Don't get me wrong, but fighting for a point. well yeah I mean based on the season that they've had and been the worst car so far that if they beat really a couple of teams

then they're doing all right aren't they fair and biggest good surprise I've gone for Oscar Piastri the home hero and yeah I just feel like he's had a great start to the season

McLaren got a pretty good result there last year even though they were terrible starting the year and they're better this year than they were last year. And yeah, Oscar's driving really well and I hope for his sake that he does have a good race because, yeah, it'd be fantastic to see at his home track. Yeah, that's a nice little prediction.

Of course, he had a great Saudi, I think very quietly finished P4 and it just had such a sort of unseen race but he drove very, very strongly. And I hope for his sake that he has a banger. Biggest flop. Okay, so I'm two from two right now. And I've printed out, I've printed out the blueprints.

And we're going to continue with the trend, Sergio Perez. Oh, God's sake. I am two from two. This is cheating. How is it cheating? I'm referencing last year. I've not seen the races this year. However, why not?

Why not go for what I went for last year? And I just think Perez, he's had a great start to the year. And it's likely to go wrong at some point. so let's flop it where I flopped it last year and bag myself an easy point and to be fair he finishes any lower than second that's a flop in my opinion

so for God's sake yeah true I'm finding the loopholes the loopholes left right and centre biggest flop I've just realised something but I've gone for

Daniel Ricardo so two Aussies biggest good surprise biggest flop I hope I'm wrong on this one but he's not having the best of times at the moment and the Australian Grand Prix has been a bit of a cursed race for him as well I want to say that

he's never scored a podium there I know that for a fact the only time he did and finish in a good second place he ended up getting disqualified and then I can think to the you know the the Renault

the race in the reno where he ran over the grass and hit i can't remember if it's a drain or something like a little bump uh ruined his race from the start and he's just had a bad a bad time there really so um maybe there'll be i feel like there's going to be a lot of pressure on him based on how he started the season i saw there were comments in the australian media about his start and a lot of like Australian sort of old school Australian F1 drivers sort of saying that

oh it's you know is he finished and all this and I hope he proves me wrong and based on my biggest flop they normally do quite well so here we go. Yeah podium podium this year and he's been round the block enough to be able to deal with Australian old drivers

saying he's washed and stuff yeah exactly he's done it enough so I doubt it would be too much too much pressure on his shoulders but fingers crossed for his sake, he does not have a terrible weekend and that Thomas Flop continues to be completely and utterly irrelevant. That is a wild statement, say out loud. Pole position! I've been, I've properly, I've properly gone into the depths of my brain right now, which isn't very deep.

I am going for Max Verstappen. So I've finally unlocked, yeah, I've unlocked some IQ here and gone, why are you throwing away points just for banter here. You know, Tommy's just racking up little points here and there. I'm going for wild little pole position. And this is when Charlotte-Cla does get pole, and I'll be then crying in the post-race podcast that the one time I didn't go for him, he got pole.

But no, Max is getting pole. And because Max is very good at doing Grand Prix racing. It's so funny. It's so funny where we have to explain why with Max the staff. And you're like, why have you gone for first? Why have you gone for pole position? Why have you gone for world champion? Have you watched Formula One?

Paul position, I've also gone for Max Lest Happen. Yeah, I just see this one being a clear poll for Max. Great. The last two, Charles. Everyone's tuned in to our 4 a.m. Twitch watch Along, though. It's not going to be that clear. Well, there'll be a lot of intrigue. The fight for P2.

It's going to be incredible. But no, it's, yeah, Charlerclair obviously has done very good in qualifying. Ferrari are looking very good this year, but I just not seen it. I think it's funny that we've gone for Max, it seems quite boring, but I think that's the first time you've predicted Max this year.

It is. It is. I'm clearly learning because every time I haven't gone for Max, Max has done whatever I was betting against him for. So, okay, interesting. A couple of Maxes for poll. What about our top three? in third position

I have gone for Carlos Sines he's going to come back fire in his belly he's owed a podium from last year robbed the stewards giving him a big old penalty

when they finished behind a safety car and Carlos after seeing Olly Berman in his seat is going to be like absolutely not get away from that

I've got at least this year no I've got at most this year sorry to go and I'm going to enjoy every single weekend from here on in that Ferrari and yeah

he's going to going to get a podium and everyone's going to mark it amazing because he's come back from surgery to stick it on the podium. Nice. We've not had confirmation as a recording, have we, that he's racing? No, but I know for a fact, if Carlos Sines is walking back into the paddock the day after the surgery. He wanted to be seen, didn't he like, I'm here. My guy is going to get into that car no matter what. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, for a fact. So my P3, I have gone all in. and gone Oscar Piastri for a podium in the Australian Grand Prix, which would be quite the story. It'd be a massive story, actually, because I want to say, off the top of my head, I don't think Mark Weber got a podium, so I don't think an Australian has got a podium in Australia for, I'm pretty sure Mark Weber hadn't been on the podium either.

I'm sure he had a pretty bad time at the Australian Grand Prix. I could be completely wrong, and he's won like, six races there but I want to say that he didn't get podiums. I now want to check it. But I think it'd be the first Australian

podium finisher in a long, long time. You're now checking. Yeah, I'm seeing Mark Weber on the podium at the 2002 F1 Australian Grand Prix. Well, technically that was not a podium because, no, he so that was Minardi when he basically finished fifth and it was,

was such a good result for Menardie. They were like, get him on the podium for a best of operation. Oh, right. Okay. That's the encyclopedic knowledge that we absolutely love from you. That's, that's fair. Okay, cool. All right. In which case, no, I don't think he did get a podium. So, yeah, I don't think, I don't think it would have been years then, probably, yeah, like I guess, probably Jack Brubbins or something. So it'd be an amazing story if he does it. What a story it would be if he did it. Are you envisaging, is this chaos or a MacLeod McLaren Legitism.

No, just McLaren just being good. And I hope it's true. I mean, I'd love a bit of chaos as well. Sign me up for a bit of chaos. Please. And anything, because otherwise it's going to be a Twitch watch along. It's going to be one of those Twitch ones. It's just a sleeping stream.

Yeah. Just constantly be like, Matt, stay awake. Come on. Exactly. Yeah, it's your normal time because you're a dad, so it's fine. Right. And second place, I have gone for Charlotte Clair. Okay.

Because that is first place in a lot of people's eyes. So he is technically going to get a win in second place. Don't ask me how, but he's going to have a great... Ferrari is still, in my opinion, the second fastest car. And I think both Ferrari drivers will outperform Sergio Perez this weekend. So come on the Ferrari. I do not because I've gone P2 Sergio Perez. I think he's going to continue his good start to the season.

And I'm saying this despite the fact that you've produced in biggest flops, there has absolutely no hope. Surprise you haven't changed it. I will revisit this because that is what did me in last time when it was Bottas, I think, wasn't it, in the final race when we're neck and neck on points. And I was like, no, I'll stick to it. And then Bottas just might as well have not turned up. So true.

So fingers crossed, Sergio Perez, keeps having his good start to the season that he has had. Okay. Fingers crossed for your prediction or figures crossed for Formula One that Perez has a... I don't really know. Well, I don't think it's really fingers crossed for a Red Bull 1-2, let's be honest, is it? No, no, it's really not. I think many people are hoping for that one. It's weird because you're like, oh, do you want a Red Bull 1-2 and therefore Paris is still, you know, one DNF away from Max Verstappen?

Or do we want... The Rossburg seasons? Still on. Yeah, exactly. You never know. But okay, cool. And in first position, here we go. Oss Max Verstappen.

Oss Max Verstappen. Of course Max Verstappen. Can we just insert reasonings from previous predictions videos and just copy and paste it? Because Max Verstappen is going to probably win 31 races in a number. a row by the end of this year. Can we just? It's like on Twitch when you can do a command that just explains a reason, like exclamation mark Y max and then it just says because, like we said earlier, have you seen Formula One? Yeah, I mean, I pray in all of my heart that Charlotte Clare wins the Australian Grand Prix.

It will take me back to 2022, where at the end of that, God, I was so cocky. 34 points clear in the World Championship. Charles LeCler led the world championship and that wasn't even to bloody Max for Stapp and that was to bloom in George Russell Yeah, it was Oh my God, those were good times

I really enjoyed Ferrari posting the highlights today I had a little watch of that That was great, you know Oh, oh Charles got a little bit of a bad safety car restart and then drove away on one by 20 seconds That was when Formula One was at its peak when Charlotte Clare was dominating by 20 seconds

No one had a minute A minute's criticism to give it But yes, this time Max Verstappen's going to win. You joke, but during that period we were like, these new rules are incredible. Look how good it is. The racing's amazing. And now we're here with P1, Max Verstappen as well.

Again, reasons why. It'd be 10 in a row, wouldn't it, I think now? Insane. He can't win every race. We've not said that this year. Yeah, we're starting it now. I know, but I just... Because he can't, right?

Surely not, but I just don't. Australia is one that... It kind of is. And Australia is one that could be a bit chaotic. I want to say... Tessing my... Chaotic it was last year. I want to test my knowledge again.

I'm pretty sure his last DNF would have been Australia, no? No. Maybe? When? In that race that Charlotte Clare won, surely. Bahrain? Did he DNF in Australia? Yeah, his last retirement.

Oh my word, I'm just looking at his Wikipedia. There are a lot of ones there. No, I don't want to look at it. I saw the most... What did he DNF from in Australia? I can't remember. Just a car failure. Because they had the two car failures, didn't they, the start of the year.

Yeah, I mean, barren. And then it was like, oh, Red Bull are washed. They're never going to do this. And then Max was like, okay, right, I'll start winning now. And then hasn't stopped since. Please stop! I saw an absolutely bonkers stat that in the last 25 races, Max de Stappen has won the same number of races as Kimmy Reichenen's entire career.

That is absolutely ridiculous. Oh, there's just more and more stats like this. I know, it's just an insane run. I'm just looking at it. like it is utterly bonkers. I've not actually, well, because you kind of know, you know he's winning,

but until you actually see it in front of you and see like all the, all the yellow, the yellow on Wikipedia of one, one, one, one, run, one. And then just occasional, very rare, um, non-victory.

It's just absolute madness. But yeah, it would be, it would be quite something for him. not to win now, but we're not. Neither of us are predicting it's going to be this race, but we'll wait to see. How long is Singapore? Yeah, literally, that might deliver something other than a max win.

Who knows? I would happily just pass off a point there so that we can have a great race. And let's move to our one crazy prediction. So this is interesting because it kind of counteracts a little bit of what you've predicted, Tommy. Because my crazy prediction is that all the Oz's won't do well. So that is Piastri, Ricardo and Bottas will all not do well this weekend. It will be up for discussion as to what well is, but I am obviously going along with the Bottas joke of,

was it Australian GP? Yeah, and everyone... An ad with Bottas in it. Everyone remember that he's locked it in now. So when Piastri and Ricardo retire and Bottas... Wednesday, yeah. Yeah, then it doesn't count. You don't get your point.

No, I'll get two-thirds of a point. You'll be claiming he's not actually Australian then. Yeah, yeah. No, it was a joke. It was a joke, yeah, it was a joke. Okay, for disclaimer, it was a joke. Unless it comes in, it was a joke. What's yours, Tommy?

Mine is that Alex Albin makes Q3. Round here, okay. Why not? Something a bit different. Little Albin Masterclass, it's been a while since he's kind of done something. thing. So yeah, why not? Okay, interesting. Let's now go to three crazy predictions from you, wonderful lot.

First comes in from Slosh 4,000. There will be contact between Yuki and Danny. Oh, that would be spicy. That would pop off. I love a little Yuki team radio. Frowning Freeman, Lando podium. Okay, so we've got a different McLaren on the podium from Frowning Freeman and Lando. And finally, Rodaf 1899, Max Dio. NF. I feel like that has come in at least three or four times over the last year and not once has it actually come in. So look, we'll keep going until it does. And thank you Roda for, you know, putting that into the atmosphere and maybe we'll just see an interesting race. But maybe Max will be off the pace and we'll all have a lovely little ding dong, six way fight for the win. And Alonzo

down the inside takes the victory in the final corner or something. Maybe. Imagine if we get, Did you see the sim racing clip of him, like, avoiding all those cars? Who's that? You've seen that? Max, when he was on eye racing and he's like, oh, you need to see it. It's absolutely hilarious. Like, it's absolute carnage and just peak Max Verstappen that he manages to avoid all of it. It's literally like Spar 98, 98, cars are going, like, diagonal across him, and it's so funny.

Like, his reaction is hilarious. And, of course, you know, just carries on, like, it's nothing. Well, that's Max Verstappen for you, isn't it? So, yeah, that is it. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening. We appreciate you. We'll be live on Twitch for qualifying and the race, yes. So please come and join us.

Matt P1, Tommy, set your alarms if you're in Europe. Please, please come and join us. We will make it worth your while. And, of course, all the content you are used to seeing. Also, P1 live show tickets are still available. So please go and get those if you haven't already. All links are all over our social media, and we'll see you very soon. Lots of love.

Bye. Bye. Oh, and a bye from Frank as well. He just knew. Make sure you follow us on all of our socials. We're Matt P1-Tommi on Twitter, TikTok, Twitch and Instagram. You can also sign up to our Patreon at the link in the episode notes for ad-free episodes, full video interviews and extra bonus episodes for as little as $5 a month.

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