P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our reaction to Austria GP Sprint Race

Episode Date: July 1, 2023

Mixed weather conditions helped deliver the best Sprint yet, perhaps even the best race of the year so far? We try and discuss so many talking points from those frantic 24 laps.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.

Welcome back to the P-1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Today, we're going to be talking about the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race shenanigans. And my goodness me, we have got a lot to talk about, a lot of excitement. But before we do, we both thought it was a good idea to just share a few words of respect for the tragic loss of 18-year-old Delano Van Tof who lost their life at Sparta Day racing in Frecker. there's not really many words that you can actually say on this matter apart from the fact that we fully share our thoughts and our condolences towards the family, the friends that have suffered today 18 years old.

Like it is absolutely tragic. But I didn't feel comfortable not saying something at the top of this podcast because I felt like it deserved to be there. So yeah, just such sad news. Yeah, really sad. a horrible, tragic reminder that most sport, this sport we love is also, you know, incredibly dangerous no matter what they do to safety.

There's always be, sadly, you know, we've had these kind of accidents and, yeah, horrible stuff. And, yeah, much respect to thoughts with his friends and family as well. Absolutely. Okay. So we're now going to move to our five-star review, which comes in from Issa underscore May from the UK and try and remain upbeat for the rest of this podcast

because we've got a lot of exciting things to talk about. So this comes in from Issa May, as I say. Gave a few F1 podcasts ago over the years, but they tended to be either lots of fun but lacking in insight or plenty of insight, but a bit stale. Matt and Tommy have found the perfect balance of being completely stale and lacking an insight. No, they didn't say that part.

Keep them coming, says Issa May. Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed the podcast. If you want yours to be read out, please leave a five-star review and let us know why. We do read all of them. So thank you so much. Right. Let's start with a very simple question then, shall we?

From at Lenny Weon 18. Was it the best race of the season? Yes. Jigs. Wow, we. What was it? 20 laps? 20 laps?

24 laps. 24 laps. And we had scintillating action. Can you imagine saying that this was the best race of the season? not just purely because it was a sprint, but by the fact, Max Verstappen won by 20 seconds. In a sprint. Literally, second a lap quicker than everyone else,

won by a massive margin in a very short race. And it was, it was the best race of the season, even though it was a sprint. And, look, me and you would have gone into today. We spoke about it a lot in our watch-along, very much expecting to, you know, be a bit, moody after the sprint because we don't like the new format but that delivered but there are reasons why

it did which we'll go into in a bit you're so angry because you were so ready to just rip the life out of this Saturday event a good race I'm actually happy are you going to save your sprint nagging for another time no it's coming next okay perfect coming next find out after the break Okay, question from at Librarian Bert. Are we now sold on sprint races, or is it a case of rain equals epic sprint race?

Yes, I think that's the key differential here is that Saturday sprint shootout shenanigans, constant dopamine, TikTok generation, short explosion, woo, yay, ha ha ha, love stuff. That's still the problem. the good thing was that we had a short race we had changeable conditions it was literally the perfect changeable condition race where it was wet it was tricky it was slippery and then with about 10 or so laps to go

it started to develop and evolve into a dry race so some drivers risked it and it was almost perfect in terms of the crossover Holcomburg of course pit he pretty much surged back through the field to where he was when he did pit

So it was epic. It was just the conditions suited what we had in front of us. It did. And I would argue that it's not even like this person suggests, rain equals epic sprint race, because if it was inters the whole way or a full wet race the whole way, it might not have been as good. But this shows what we've been saying every time we go into the sprint race.

We could have this every sprint. and it would be an enjoyable format if you just had a pit stop and even better, a borderline pit stop. You know, if we went into the sprint knowing that Lando said it, I'm pretty short after the very first sprint race, introduced a hyper, hyper, hyper, hyper soft tire

that's going to absolutely shred itself and maybe last 22 laps of a 24-lap race, then you go into that race knowing that some people are going to go, you know what, I will gamble, I'll take a pit stop. Charles LeClair in the F2 race, you know, way back when, when he pitted for the softs and went through the field and it was awesome.

We could have that. This to me shows, you know, I'm not going to sit here and go, yes, the sprint's the best thing ever now because we had that one good race. If anything, it showed that this is the way to go. You need a strategy element and it can be enjoyable if there's some kind of strategy. Okay, well, I'm now going to put my hat on as Porelli and here and say, how dare you, Tom Bellingham, try and get us to create a 22-lap tire that lasts the exact time you want for it to become a chaotic race?

What I would then say back to the Pirelli ambassadors and now I am back in your shoes, Tommy, is, look, we don't need this miraculous tire. We just need different tires to what we will see on Sunday. And therefore, we will not. So, like, now, we've had our Saturday action. Wow, wasn't that fun. We then go into Sunday and we don't know

what's going to happen necessarily, apart from obviously Max for Stapen being inevitable, yada, yada, yada, yada. We don't know the exact stint length of a medium whether the Ferraris are going to fall off,

whether Max is going to clear off into the distance at three seconds a lap. We don't know any of that because we had the wet weather conditions, but that also would work with dry if we had different tire compounds available to us. So, yeah, I would love your scenario, Tommy, but it's not going to happen.

And what we can do is easily implement different tires. We've got six different compound of dry tires, that's C0 all the way to C5 because now there's C0. Anyway, they've got other tires that they can whip out. So just whip them out, you know what I mean? This is what I mean. Like, they're just really degrading tires would actually work really well for this.

Obviously, you know, you're never going to be able to build the perfect tire like you were saying, that is exactly the length because they'd have to essentially run a whole Grand Prix and then find out exactly how long it's going to last. And there's so many different scenarios because this showed that it was just perfect. But, you know, degrading tires could make it still really good. So it just shows some kind of strategy makes it good.

And, you know, if we have, if I just hope F1 learn from this and they don't go into the next, which they will, they're going to the next sprint and go, right, because when we have a dry sprint again, it's going to be terrible because there's no variable or interesting strategy element. Like looking at the order at the end, it's so refreshing to see the tyres

and it's like inter, inter, inter, medium, inter, soft, inter soft. Like people finishing in different positions on different tyres, sign me up. I can just imagine Formula One, sat down after a long, hard day and they turn on a bit of P1 with Man Tommy and they're like, no way can they have a go at the format

after today's action. But it's not the format. It proves that it's wrong at the moment. It is a weird thing, though, that that race proved that the format is wrong but can be good because we won't get that. One simple solution. It is literally one simple solution.

We, I can't remember. Where's the next sprint? I can't actually remember. I don't actually know. But basically the next sprint, We go into that and it will be, I think it is it spa? I think it's spa. So we go into the next sprint race and if it's just a normal dry race,

you're not going to have any strategy elements or anything different. So, and then we just go back to what we're going to do, what we were originally going to do and just say that it's not particularly great. But it was really good. It certainly was. The next one is spa. Then it's Qatar. Then it's the US GP, Austin.

And then it's Sao Paulo. Okay. So six sprints, everybody. Strap yourselves in. Right, let's actually speak about the race itself, shall we? And the beginning. Because it got a little bit tasty. Vestappen versus Perez.

Of course, off the line, you had Vastappan looking like, well, it looked like Perez got a good initial launch. Then Vestappan got a nice launch. And then Perez got a nicer, nicer launch. It was a strange, we were like, oh, it's done. And then the camera angle changed, and Perez was going up the inside. And we were like, okay. Then he went wide, bottled it.

then squeezed Max, didn't he, gave it a little squeeze in, which he didn't see him. He did not see him and then gave him the place back. Did you hear that? After the interview, the post-race interview, tried to claim he gave the position back when in fact it was Max Verstappen, yeating it up the inside,

and that's 2021 for Stappen right there. Yeah, seven carinks back. Yeah. Sends it, fuming, Perez on the radio. Wow, what's wrong with Max? but I gave him the place back. Yeah, I'm terrible for, I call myself a Max Lestappen fan

and I can't believe in the podcast that I was going. Yeah, so in the prediction podcast, I said, you know, Perez jumps him off the line, gets into the leader, Max goes, oh, gone, Paris, he can have this. And then why did I think that? It's Max Lestappan.

Of course, he just wants to win everything. Got his elbows out. Yeah, Perez, the way that track goes wide, and then Thins, if you like. It was, it did maybe look worse than it was. But I don't think Peres didn't know where he was at all. That's a load of rubbish.

And then to say that he let him through when it was a big old dive bomb. But yeah, it got a bit fruity on the radio as well, didn't it? They were calling each other out going, what are they doing? What are they doing? Which is nice because the last few races, we really saw three laps of two Red Bulls battling or two laps or whatever it was. rather than Vostappen being first and Perez being down the back. That's tomorrow.

It certainly is. Perez got a taste of what he could have had tomorrow, but he won't. I just need to talk about that dive bomb. How's Perez getting overtaken from that far back? I've got to know, part of it is Max getting a little bit hot under the collar. And it gave me very much like Saudi turn one sort of vibe or like, you know, just full dive bomb. I'm having this place.

Because people would argue, like, where's Perez supposed to go? It had hallmarks of like his dive bomb on Hamilton in 2021 Abu Dhabi, where Hamilton had nowhere to go. Hamilton then steamed over the inside of term, whatever it was after the hairpin. So there were a few people going, oh, did Max deserve a penalty for that? It was borderline.

If he'd hit Perez or pushed him any further, it had the hallmark. of Rosberg versus Hamilton and how far Nico squeezed him but I think it was just about fair play yeah it was pretty close I mean there was that famous incident with Rosberg wasn't there that like you're saying

that it goes straight on and he just wasn't turning into the corner Verstappen just made the corner but it looked like Rosberg had absolutely you know he was he was going straight on to Belgium or whatever like on that bit and would have just carried on until Hamilton decided to turn but this is the thing

like Vestappan is a big send it's a massive send It's an unbelievable send It is actually unbelievable send If you watch that back How he has slowed that down And made the corner is beyond me And cover your ears Matt

Because you'll be going boohoo Oh you must be gutted that Vastappan You know winning every single race But that's the Vestappan I miss Because that's what I want to see I don't want him to win every race by 20 seconds like that he's an exciting driver whether you love him or hate him and the way he drives but but you know how much better is Formula One

when we see stuff like that yeah it's so much better well it is that race was really good and dare I say that race was actually really good even like we were saying at the start max 1 by 20 seconds because there was so much action going on everywhere else you kind of forgot about this happened it was like it kept his entertain all the way through so it was like it certainly did it was constant question from Sam Garan Foley. Is the tension in the Red Bull team getting higher now after today's sprint? Who was at fault in the different situations between the two?

Perez was definitely more at fault if you collectively look at both of them. Like Perez was more in the wrong by squeezing him onto the grass. It almost, yeah, then Vastappan just gave him, gave it back a little bit, a little bit rude. But it was all fair in love and war, really, in my opinion, overall. There was no penalties deserved. I think I believe Checo and the fact that he potentially, didn't see him, but I don't think he made much of an effort to see him, potentially. So, and in terms of the tension, I don't think there is any, you know, they had a conversation

afterwards. Perhaps there would have been more tension if Sergio Perez had won that sprint race and Max hadn't won by 20 seconds. I don't think Max would have let that go maybe as easily. And then we'd see like nine months down the line that Max will do something and go, this is for, this is for Austria, 2023 sprint race. Imagine when Perez is trying to, oh, he really wants to finish fifth in the title. but yeah the the way it panned out showed that to me it's a different situation and

tensions aren't going to run high because dare I say that you know Vastappan is so far clear of Perez now and the way the championship's gone and stuff and the way tomorrow you know Perez is going to be starting absolutely nowhere near him but it does just show that when they do start the front together and you know peris gets a good start and max is racing someone things can happen and max estappen is one of those drivers that is very easy to go oh he's matured so much and he doesn't really you know bang wheels and do all this kind of stuff but the second he's in racing he will do it again and it happens every time he's racing on it happened with you know george at uh back here and stuff like that.

The only reason that we're kind of this, oh, he's so much more calm and matured now is because he's 25 seconds up the road in a sprint race and doesn't have anyone to race. But you give a bit of wheel to wheel battling and he's getting his elbows out and absolutely sending it from eight car lengths back. And I think it's fair the comparisons we made previously

about the fact of how Vostappan fights Hamilton is different to how we saw last year with Vostappan versus Lecler. But the difference is Lecler is very much a, no, you can have some room, my friend. Because if a Stappan's given room, I don't think he acts up. But the minute that there is any kind of squeeze, he's like, well, get squeezed times 10. And then that's when the crashes happen.

That's just his driving style. He's proper eye for an eye, isn't he? Yeah, 100%. You know, that's been instilled in him since, you know, since a very young age. referenced earlier. You know, he went back to Monaco 2020 at the end of the season when it didn't matter in any stretch just to be like... 2020?

Sorry, 2022. Did you do that all the time? That date, I'm just not allowed to ever say it correctly. God's sake. But yeah, he is proper like eye for an eye driver, you know, you squeeze him wide and he's like, well, I'll squeeze you more at the next corner. Yeah, literally. And he is one of those drivers and every F1 driver is guilty of it.

that, you know, people complain when you get raced hard and then someone does it to him and he's like, what are you doing? But every, especially every really good F1 driver is a hypocrite. And it's just part of their game, isn't it? I love it because he's like, ah, you know, we could have had a massive crash at turn two, which is obviously the small kink.

So he was like, how I'll rectify this is a massive diaboliter. Yeah. To the point where he slammed the brakes so hard. I'll go into this, I think, next, that I think it might have, I think Lando was so close to hitting the back of Estappen, he had to, you know, hit the break so hard. I think maybe he went into anti-stall or something or just couldn't get any traction because it cost Lando big time, because he was so close to slamming into the back of the Stappan because the Red Bulls were just, you know, fighting on that corner. Absolutely. Let's move to that question from one Pablo

SF1. If Norris didn't get compromised into turn three, would he? He have finished in the top two? No. There wasn't the pace there. I don't think for Lando to necessarily finish in the top two. I think he probably could have... Got third, maybe. Yeah, could have been fighting signs.

Yeah, signs was really good. But it was such a shame because that moment, that turn... I was like, oh my God, Norris is just going to cut back and take the lead. Then he just got stuck. I actually think, we joked about this a lot on the... Matt Pee-1-Tor-Titch watchalongs about Lando. constantly doing the carting line. Like, there was no other line

that that man was going to take than the carting line. But the problem is, because obviously in his head, he's like, let's do carting line. It's raining. It's carting line time.

The carting line at turn three, there was two red balls fighting each other. So he got stuck behind it. So he committed to that outside line. If he hadn't, I'm just saying, I reckon he could have led out of that,

out of turn three. And then there was the moment where we're like, wait, is Holkenberg going to lead? Because he got a great run. and obviously he ended up in P2. But yeah, it was a shame for Norris because after that he was screwed

and was just stuck battling and you just lose a lot of time, don't you? You've got no DRS. You have to have a huge amount of time over your opponent or a mistake from in front to get through. It showed how much time you are losing,

actually, in something like that. Yeah, the fact that Lando, you know, we're questioning, could you finish in the top two? Maybe he'd have been on the pace of Paris because Paris was so far back on Max. He'd have had to maybe challenge Perez or, you know,

he'd been around science, I reckon. But it just shows that when you are in the back of the pack, so hard to pass, particularly because DRS wasn't enabled for a long time because it was, you know, too wet. And he was just battling that unbelievable, has to be said, probably one of the fights of the year.

Ocon, LeClair and Norris, just brilliant, respectful, great driving from all of them. to, you know, even stuff like we said on the watch along, Charlotte Claire knew exactly what Norris was doing, always sending it around the outside of every corner, and he anticipated it, you know, sent it in, then Ockon did it later.

It was absolutely brilliant between those three, really, really good. It was so good. I actually don't remember a better three-car battle in a very long time. That was so good. They were on a knife-sedge the entire time, and it was just brilliant to watch. because they were learning as they went about, you know, where was the quicker line? Obviously, there is a understanding that off the racing line is quicker, but not necessarily all the time.

Ocon stuck it on the racing line, then drifted off the racing line to keep the position. Is that through what corner is that? I feel like that's like Nicky Lauder corner or something. Is that the left? Yeah, I think so. The double left hand. It's in the middle sector, that double left hander anyway. But yeah, just absolutely fantastic to watch.

Another driver fantastic to watch was Nico Hulk. And a question from at Pekorni Votcha. Should Holkberg have stayed on inters or was it the right call? It makes perfect sense at the time. I think a lot of people questioned it. We thought, ah, is it a little bit too late? But Hass nailed it. I think to the absolute tea, they got the right lap to pit for dries.

I won't talk about, you know, how Ferrari pitted with five laps to go for Charlerc. That was a fantastic choice. But Holkenberg went a few laps earlier, went on to the mediums. obviously must be to do with tire allocation as to why they went on to fresh mediums. But yeah, made it work beautifully. He sighed through the field, got Ockon and Norris. Norris?

But then Norris pit, didn't he? Who was it? No, no, he got Ockon and Russell at the end. Russell. No, sorry, Russell was on slick. No, it was Ockon and Norris, because Norris hadn't pitted. Yeah, Norris was on Interest. And then Norris pit, yeah, which was, yeah.

No, he didn't pit. Norris didn't pit. Norris didn't pit. Okay. Neither did Ockon. So much. I know. I feel like we've,

there's so much going on that, that we've had an insane amount happening in a 20-fall-up sprint race. Yeah, our brains haven't switched on to the fact there were pit stops in a sprint race. And just loads of battling. I feel like we've seen like the better entertainment,

just all the entertainment that we've been hoping for all season just condensed into that sprint race of just amazing battles, changeable conditions, strategy. Oh, it was epic. and Holkhamberg's race didn't actually clock that he got the fastest lap as well, but I guess it makes sense because it was flying through the field on quicker tires. But Holkberg's race, do you not think, just reminded you of like a F1 game or like F1 manager's scenario mode

or something where you have to pit and it's like the exact amount where he's flown through the field and ended up exactly where he was before. One more lap, either got Stroll and Alonzo easily. easily, easily. And it would have been a worldly. And then, dare I say, a couple more laps, the way he was going. It was five seconds a lot quicker. Yeah, maybe two more laps.

He'd have been on science and perors. Two or three more laps, which that would be in Pete Colcomberg. And then Tommy's like, ideal scenario, six more laps. You've been on the back of a stab. Yeah, but I guess that's why, because, you know, it's all right saying that. But that's why people didn't risk it because it was so borderline. It was one of those things that it's hard to be, it's exactly that kind of strategy where you look like a hero when it goes right

and an idiot when it goes wrong, but you can't be too harsh on them because sometimes it pays off. Sometimes it can look really bad. But yeah, Holcombag really thought he was going to end up getting a P3 and not counting as a real podium and all this kind of stuff. But it didn't happen in the end. But still a really, really good.

and fun drive from him and just showing that he's got skills. Got skills to pay the bills. So do you think Holkenberg should have stayed out? Or are you happy with the decision for them to go on drives? I was absolutely the right call. Yeah, because he was falling off like a cliff. He'd have ended up behind. Yeah, Ockon and Norris who was battling.

And he actually ended up being them by five and a half seconds. So it's definitely the right call. Crazy. Yeah. Let's now talk about Alex Alburn, because I've got a bone to pick with them. And the question from Opolanma, would Albon have scored points if Williams left him out?

I think so. He was ahead of Ocon. And he was the hype train conductor of this particular crazy battle. Now, Williams may have seen the fact that, you know, there's a bit of tire wear going on, potentially he's going to fall back behind Ocon and Norris. But there was another eight seconds back to Hamilton, although, to be fair, points are to the top eight.

so let's talk about Russell. He definitely would have been at least in the fight, whereas they pit him maybe on the same lap as Ferrari, I want to say, in LeClerc. I think so, yeah, it's later on. It just didn't make sense because he didn't even get in the top 11. Like he was nowhere. Yeah, he was too late to actually do it. And then it just didn't make sense, really.

You know, it is, like I said earlier, it's a tough one because you look an idiot if it, goes wrong and you look absolutely incredible like a house if it pays off because I remember thinking, oh my God, why have they pit Holkenberg? That seems a bit crazy. But I guess he is falling off a cliff and he's going to drop out the top eight so you just run that risk. But we've seen Williams before, like you say, that they're really hard to pass. Albin. Albin loves getting a DRS train and being the conductor, like you say. So maybe he could have hung on. And because you're pitting later, than everyone as well. You're also losing positions to them.

So it was never going to work. Like you're never going to get those, uh, past those dry runners like Russell and Hamilton or whatever that pitted earlier. So you're never going to get them. So yeah, it didn't really make, uh,

sense at that point in Williams raise, especially when, you know, points are only there to eighth and you're running in the top eight and you've had other people doing dry, uh, pitting for dry tires. You just have to take the risk and just,

if he falls off, he finishes 12, but exactly what happened was even if they pitted for dries, he's out the top 10. Yeah, it was a strange strategy considering that is the whole Williams ethos at the moment is do really well in qualifying and then hold on for dear life.

But then they're giving it up with five, six laps to go was a strange call and one I'm sure they'll probably regret. I want to shout out George Russell, to be fair. He was one of the first drivers to make the gamble, went on to the soft tyres, and ended up scoring a point in the end and missed out on 7th by 9,000ths of a second as they came over the line.

But yeah, George had a great drive, didn't he, after that gamble? He did, yeah, yeah, good drive from Russell to get P8, to say that, you know, Mercedes, what were they 15th and 18th? They started, I think, miles down. And it just showed that the gamble paid off and they're in that situation

where they had nothing to lose because the sprint race only offers to the top eight. They were, for some reason, battling Magnuson lap after lap at the start and just thought, let's go for it. And it worked very well. Russell, in fact, yeah, I've just seen the gaps.

Russell was so close to getting P7 as well. And it's only one extra point, but it was incredibly exciting finish with Ocon going side by side across the line. Certainly was. Let's now talk about two drivers we hoped we're going to go side by side, but didn't really.

Alonzo versus Stroll. Question from Big underscore T Suts. Do you think that Alonzo is actually making Stroll a better driver? That battle towards the end was probably the best racing Stroll has done. I think this is getting a little bit on the generous side. I think Stroll did have a very good sprint, finished P4, can be very happy with himself. To say that Alonzo is making him a better driver,

I don't, I'm not sure about that one so much. He has had great performances in the past. It's not like he's been terrible and then slowly but surely got better and are we scoring sort of points in an Aston Martin well done. He's had podiums in the past. He's had a pole position in the past. It's not like he's, yeah, as I say,

always been on the increase. If anything, he's declined massively and then maybe showing signs of potential again. I wouldn't say that's down to Alonzo. I think it's just... No, because we were talking literally last week about Alonzo. You know, we were having conversations about could Lawrence Stroll drop his own son?

because of how well Fernando's doing. So you can't really claim that Alonzo is helping Lance's career. If anything, he's put a lot of pressure on him. But fair play to Lance had a good race. And did look like Alonzo unlike Spain, where he sat behind him and kind of made it clear. It did look like Alonzo was genuinely really trying to go for it. But obviously with the back of it. There was in the back of his mind.

Don't hit the sound. Don't hit the bottom. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. If he's back at Alpine. Esme knock on, he's absolutely sending it. But because his dad, yeah, exactly, because his dad pays his wage, he's probably thinking

better of it. And, yeah, Alonzo's got to wait at least one year before he burns his bridge with his team. Love it. Absolutely love it. And finally, I've now, I don't think you've ever had so many questions about different drivers, especially from a sprint. This comes in from at BTO-131. How did Carlos manage to secure third?

They never really showed him, but Charle was slipping and sliding on both tires. Carlos Sines this weekend has been absolutely phenomenal, in my opinion. He's done an incredible job. The way in which he drove in that sprint as well to only finish a couple of seconds off Perez in the Red Bull shows that he's taking steps forward personally. Charles, it hurts me to say, but he's not had a very good run of form recently. Yes, he's had a good qualifying into tomorrow and perhaps he'll win the race.

And then I'll say delete yesterday's podcast. However, right now, Carlos. looks like he's got the measure of him and some at the moment. Usually you expect Charles to be pretty good in qualifying, you know, maybe slightly changeable conditions, whatever. But no, he was pretty washed in quality, I'd say, earlier today. And then in the race, he just couldn't seem to get in the groove. It just seemed like he was constantly struggling.

At one point, he was trying to get through an Ocon. Then he was losing to Lando Norris. And yeah, it just hasn't been working out for him at the moment. Yeah, and Carlos had, you know, a quite. clean race where he didn't have a lot of battling whereas you know shal was like you say battling constant people and he had the penalty but carlos has been really really good this weekend um yeah he has looked like you just waiting for that one weekend where you know he really does have the measure of shal and obviously we go into tomorrow where shal did uh beat him in

qualifying thanks to realistically an unbelievable final two corners where he just went absolutely going for it. And still lost time to Max. And still somehow lost time. But yeah, Carlos, I think we've got to give him some credit because he's turned that Ferrari form around and he is looking like he can be there with LeClaire now. And if not, you know, beating him in the pace, which looked impossible like last year. You know, even when he won that race at Silverstone, we were going, well, it was kind of a bit

of a lucky, fortunate win because they screwed Charles' strategy. But science is actually just doing a really good job at the moment. So fair play to him. And please do well tomorrow so I can cash in bigger surprise as well. Thank you very much.

You're unbelievable, you are. Well, both of us, we need to both cash a podium. So that'll be interesting to see how that goes down. And that is it. Thank you so much for watching or listening to this Matiwantomi content. What are your final thoughts, Mr. Bellingham? I've just realised that my prediction for the race was bang on what the sprint was.

So I'll be absolutely begging for half a point. And please say in the chat, sorry, in the comments, say. In the chat, we're not live. So used to Twitch. We know so many twitch things this weekend because of the new sprint format. But no, final thoughts are just F1 learn from this bang in sprint race and what we need to throw a bit of spice into the mix because it was really, really enjoyable

and please be a good race tomorrow. Yeah, it's a nice bit of seasoning, but it wasn't over the top. You know what I mean? Right, that is it. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening, and we'll see you very soon for another piece of content. It'll be live tomorrow on Matt P1, Tommy, Twitch, for the race.

So come and join us then, and of course we'll have our post-race content as always, and we'll see you very soon for another thingy, because I've already said content, so I'm going to say Thingy this time. Bye! Bye! I love Tom Belly. P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast's Creator Network.