P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our reaction to day two of F1 testing

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

Day two of testing, Ferrari championship back on, cheers. WE'RE GOING BACK ON TOUR! Tickets for our April live shows are available 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 P1 podcast. We are more than midway through of Formula One testing 2024, two of the three days, done and dusted. And plenty of things to speculate on and get excited about or not get excited about. But what I will say is Ferrari on top, championship back on. Yeah, you seem in a much better mood today than yesterday. Wonder what's changed? No idea. Carlos Sines, 1 minute 29.9.

Thank you very much. Cheers. Before we get into all of that, though, we have a five-star review in order to share with you. This one comes in front mustached bicyclist in the USA. If you want yours to be read out,

please leave us a five-star review. Let's know why it helps us massively if you enjoy this podcast. As an American, struggling to find like-minded wheel wizards, I cannot recommend these two goobers strongly enough. Boofy goobers.

Not only will you feel absolutely plugged into your new favourite sport, you will feel as if you're old mates and simply the quiet one at the pub, grateful to be included in some waffle. Oh, you can have as much waffle as you want, moustached bicyclist. Thank you so much for that lovely five-star review. And it's funny as well that he says around him being the quiet one. Does he think you're loud?

Is this what this is? He's the quiet one at the pub. I guess the only way anyone's quiet than me is if they're literally listening and not saying a word. So yeah, I guess that's what it is. Fair enough. Right, let's get into day two of testing. then shall we?

A mixed day for the team that I was celebrating at the top of the show, Ferrari, because not only, well, not only, they had Carlos signs going fastest, but it wasn't smooth sailing for my boy, Shao LeCla. It looked okay, it looked fine through, you know, the start of the session. He was very much at the top of the timesheet. I'm getting all excited, fantastic. But the big talking point, exactly, the big talking point was, again, a drain cover.

Now, these things love, love to come unattached, don't they? They love to just watch a bit of Formula One, just every so often, just pop their heads up and go, oh, this is great, isn't it? Look at these Formula One car. And then Charleuil just goes and drives over it and it destroys his floor. Yeah, something we've seen happen more on street circuits, because, you know, that's when you're going over, like, the normal drains that you have on a row. So it's unusual. We have had it before.

I want to say Portama one time. I seem to remember them doing something. And yeah, it seems happens more often nowadays. I guess it is the extreme downforce of the new cars and it just like pops the drain cover off. But yeah, it's not the greatest thing to happen and quite unusual for Bahrain. Probably our fault that we spent yesterday going,

You didn't get many red flags because it's not a Barcelona anymore and then the circuit decided to disintegrate. Well, just the drain cover. Yeah, thankfully the whole circuit didn't disintegrate. I did find the whole method of them testing whether or not it was dangerous by stamping on things and seeing if they became dislodged. And I do still wonder whether there is a slightly more aligned and productive approach to figuring out whether a drain hole can. covers and etc. are going to come loose than just someone kicking things and going, well, you know, that kind of move, that didn't. You know, and there's people going around stamping things. That is not replicating anywhere near the amount of suction that a Formula One

car can produce. So, uh, was that be a sarcasm? Me, never. No, just, yeah, kicking a drain cover. Um, it's hilarious, isn't it? Yeah, like, oh, this, this will replicate. You. You know, Yeah, Formula One car's downforce. So you do wonder whether there is a suction machine that needs to be deployed when things like this go wrong, just to check whether things will then become dislodged again. But thankfully, they went and checked everything. They made the right decision.

They stopped the session, and they did not resume it until the afternoon, although they did resume it earlier by an hour. So we didn't lose a massive amount of time in terms of running time. I think it was maybe about half an hour to 40 minutes, perhaps, that we lost. to the depth of the whole day. So that was good from Formula One, I think, to add the time on when they can.

They can just plonk it on. It doesn't really matter. It's just lunchtime, in it? So yes, so that was that. Unfortunately for Charlotte-Cla, as I say, that his day was ending. But then at the same time, kind of got away with it

just purely because no one else did running in that period of time that he would have been out on track as well. But as I said, positives as well for Ferrari. Carlos Sines. I know he was on the C4 tire, but it was earlier than when, Sergio Perez put in that 30.6 on the mediums.

So it would have been hotter. And of course, as the track cools down, as the sun goes down and nighttime approaches, that's when the track becomes so much easier to set faster lap times. So I'm saying that Carlos Science is four seconds clear everyone else, basically, is what I've deduced from all of this.

Yeah, a very mixed day for Ferrari to have the drain cover problem before we move on to science. Like, as if it's hit a Ferrari again, by the way like just you couldn't make it up had to be a Ferrari

and of course Hamilton on his way to Ferrari was the one that started it in the first place shocking so the Ferrari luck is already sort of hitting Hamilton

one thing that was quite funny that I saw I say funny just like a strange thing is that Carla Science was actually stood at that corner watching a bit of testing

and basically could see it happen before his eyes He was stood right at that point, saw Hamilton hit the drain cover, and as he was telling a marshal, you need to yellow flag this, Lecler run over it.

So he was literally like five seconds away from saving Lecler and Ferrari's floor. But alas, he was too late. But then went out himself and, yeah, put a very, very good lap time in. And we'll all hype Ferrari, just like we did with Max yesterday, you know, so far clear, championship over.

Yeah. Yeah, easily. Question from musto man won. Will Ferrari win all 24 races in 2024? I promise musto man is not my burner account. I still have very little belief that we're going to have Ferrari at the front in terms of a head of Red Bull. I think it's promising from a one-lap perspective that Ferrari still have that speed.

And they have spoken about how the driveability has. improved, which should in turn help their long run pace and their tire degradation more importantly. But I think it seems, as F1 testing times don't matter, but from the perspective that's going on here, it seems like Ferrari do have a good car over one lap still. You just watch their onboard. It looks very silky smooth when they're clearly on a little bit less fuel and on a slightly grippier tire. It looks like it behaves quite predictably, just like the Red Ball does. So that gives me a tiny bit of hope that Ferrari have not lost any time compared to last year.

And just perhaps they might have gained some and get more than one victory this year. Yeah, we don't know about tyre away yet, which has been their main problem with the race pace and stuff. But I don't think it would be any surprise if Ferrari looked very quick again. They had a very quick car last year. They were just, you know, they didn't have the race pace because of them cooking their tyres. But yeah, it's looking promising for Ferrari, but of course, like you say, they are on a better tire. But of course, we can't look too much into lap times, can we?

That being said, you can't. That being said, you can kind of get a little bit of an idea in the fact that, like, if you look at the front, it is Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, sort of like at the front. and then at the back is your has's six seconds and seven seconds off the pace, which I don't think they'll be that bad, he says. I hope not for their sake, because they won't actually qualify for the race. Yeah, they won't be allowed to race with the 107% rule. So, yeah, fingers crossed, they're not that bad, but you do get, it does seem like the kind of usual suspects are going to be at the front,

and Ferrari will be one of them. Next question, Sam Dougie Douglas. how Ferrari got rid of the wrong driver? And it was a smiley face and a fishing rod emoji, which Sam Ducky Douglas, I know, is a very avid twitch watcher. So I know that this is done in jest. But what I will say is that, you know, Charlotte-Clair, much hotter condition, C-3 tire,

had his floor destroyed by a drain cover. So realistically, the odds were stacked against him. But I will say that Carlos Sines has been driving very well by the looks of things, you know, looking very confident in the car. And of course, as well, in those afternoon sessions, you can drive quite a bit better, as I said, about the track conditions and whatnot. But they're just running through the processes right now. And look, I think Ferrari are quietly confident that they could at least be challenging

for second in the championship, if not maybe the odd win. I think that, yeah, it hasn't been a disaster. They've put in the miles. They haven't messed up a pit stop as far as I'm aware. it looks like the ship is steady at the moment. Yeah, I know this question is, of course, in jest, but for all the people that will take it seriously, you know, you can't determine between two drivers

from completely different sessions. You know, I would be amazed if Kevin Magnuson, for example, was a second faster than Nika Holcomberg this year based on testing. But hey, maybe testing times do matter after all. Calas will be the go. Yeah, and Nukki Sonoda is 8.1 seconds off the pace. Yeah. And Sonoda is absolutely awful.

But yeah, we've said this, we've had this discussion on our, you know, Lewis Hamilton going to Ferrari. Obviously it's an incredibly exciting thing to happen. And Carlos is really unfortunate that it's only really Vastappen or Hamilton that could have got him out that sea. He did a fantastic job. He's quite an underrated driver, really consistent, and does a good job. And I think if you actually put the fact that it's Lewis Hamilton taking his seat and take that out of the equation, you could argue it's probably one of the most unfair dismissals of a driver ever in Formula One because he's done a really good job and doesn't deserve to lose his seat.

But alas, you know, when a seven-time World Championship. income's knocking and can increase their stock by four billion or whatever it is. Sadly, Carlos is the one that has to pay the price for that. Not quite four billion. That was obviously an estimate there and we do not reflect the current stock prices. But what I will obviously caveat that with is that Carlos technically didn't lose his seat, that it was the end of his contract and, you know, he can go over everyone's up. That, yeah.

He wanted to carry on, though, didn't he? Of course, yeah. Yeah, it's more that the emotion was there to want to carry on. But you can't ignore a Lewis Hamilton DM, that's for sure. Question from Mappelli Filippo. Is Perez speaking with Toto and Carlos Senior speaking with the Red Bull higher-ups a sign that the top three teams might switch the drivers between them? Oh, Mappelli Filippo.

For all we know, those conversations could have been, are you having the pasta or are you having the fish and chips for lunch? Like, you can only take this stuff even less amount pinch of salt than Formula One testing times, I would say, is people speaking to each other in the paddock. I think that Perez going to Mercedes is, I mean, why would, why? Mercedes would never sign Perez. That would just be the weirdest decision, in my opinion, for Mercedes to make.

And then Carlos Sr., speaking with Red Bulls, again, they've known each other for a long time. Carlos used to race at Red Bull. So there are connections there. So again, I don't think we can... Just person saying that Carlos Senior is going to Red Bull, yeah. I mean, he is a very good driver and could well perform very well. So, you know, he can wrestle a car, that's for sure.

But yeah, that is typical Formula One testing, like, rumor of rumors is when people start talking to each other. Yeah. And there's so many, you know, Perez has probably spoken to Toto Wolf a thousand times in the paddock over the last few years but now because of seats free the photographers know exactly what they're doing

when they're capturing that image of them going together going oh this is interesting like you say Carlos Carlos Sainz Sr. is a rebel athlete Carlos Jr., of course he knows those guys really well so he'll be having a conversation they do have talks like that and it does happen whether they do it in an open paddock if it was that that much going into these details

then they wouldn't but yeah like I don't think it's I don't think it's out the question that Carlos could go to Red Bull personally but just because they're having a chat doesn't mean it's like sign till delivered, oh my God, it's definitely happening. Yeah, I think Carlos is definitely a bigger shout in this position than Perez to Mercedes.

I can't quite see that one at all. But yeah, that's the thing as well. Like having conversations about seats is probably something that happens much more than we as fans would ever anticipate. I'm sure they're all just talking about who's going to go where and what's available. We know loads of drivers contracts are out.

So they have to go sort of. of test the water a bit around as well. Just a little bit of flirting, you know. Hey, you know, you got a seat available. You know, I set fastest lap once, you know, sort of thing. So, so yeah, I think there are conversations, but it's probably been taken slightly out of context. Grokey 4 Smash comes in with,

do you think that Red Bull will be concerned about the reliability of their car? No. Perez obviously had a few problems with his brakes in the morning session and then had another problem in the afternoon as well, didn't he, which halted his running slightly, but if you actually look at the mileage,

he still managed to do 129 laps, which was the most of the solo drivers for the day, and not far off, I don't think, the top combined laps of the day. I think Ferrari maybe were up there the most with 138, but there's not really a team that's doing an outrageous amount more than other teams that kind of stand out. but it's teething issues.

Red Bull are usually absolutely bulletproof. Max had one of the cleanest, most beautiful day ones of Formula One testing ever. So I'm sure Red Bull aren't too concerned about that. I think there'll be concerned to a point that the cars had some slight issues, of course. I'm surprised to be honest that Max didn't have any issues, but maybe now I've said that out loud,

people would be like, well, of course Max never has any issues. but because Red Bull favour Max yeah they give him more calling but with a new with a new car

there's always going to be those problems and I'm not not for a second saying that Red Bull are going to break down in every single race

but they're but you know Adrian Newee has you know made cars in the past that are incredibly quick we've seen that

I think that we didn't mention it yesterday but the the the picture that did the sorry the video that did the rounds of GP sort of laughing when Max went a second quicker

we don't know the context maybe Max just said something funny on the radio maybe it was exactly I've got another four seconds in me but we don't know but Adrian Newe has built cars before that are fast but fragile and he's gone for a very

radically different car that has extreme you know, side pods and things and might not be able to cool as much as normal. So maybe there will be a little bit more reliability problems than before, like, that they've taken... So, yeah, you can never say never. I mean, start of 2022, they were very quick,

but both cars broke down in the first race. So, yeah, like, I think there will be slight concern, but it's not like a Williams yesterday where Albin had a problem and then it kind of ruined his whole day. I think Perra's got out quite quickly after the second issue. He did. So, yeah, it's teething problems. It's not as bad as, I think it was 2014 when they first got the hybrid and Red Bull barely set a lap, did they? Their car kept breaking down and there were so many.

engine and turbo issues. But yeah, it's not that bad, but probably a bit maybe just kind of, oh, it's not, this F1's not as easy as we thought, maybe. Just maybe a little, little bit of thinking. Oh, no, we'll have to try a bit harder. But maybe if tomorrow, if tomorrow... Yeah, exactly.

And still be quicker. I think if tomorrow they are riddled with problems, that's when perhaps we do start to talk about whether Red Bull have a fast but fragile car and perhaps, as you say, this radical design, we've questioned it as absolute technical gurus around the cooling of the car and this, that and the other.

There are obviously massive sort of air vent things around the sort of halo and whatever. But yeah, I think that Adrian knew he's cooking. I don't think he's cooking the car too much at this stage. But look, if tomorrow Max Verstappan comes to a halt, you best believe the media's all over that and championships on and Ferrari are going to win. So I will jump on that almost immediate.

and that is pretty much everything, I believe, Tom Belling. Obviously, Vastappen, Albot and Russell with the three drivers not to take part. I will say that it was a momentous occasion for Formula One that at one point during F1 testing, Logan Sargent went fastest by three and a half seconds. And I missed it. I thought that was, yeah, that was quite a big thing. I'd say that R.B again looked quite good in the hands of Daniel Ricardo in P5. McLaren actually worth mentioning as well before we go around.

around some problems that they've been having with Landau's car today, which actually, if you look at McLaren, they're probably one of the losers of today with 87 laps fully completed. It's not an absolute massive dilemma, but it's noticeable that they didn't manage to do as much running as they wanted today. Williams did 117 with Logan, so yeah, a fair chunk of laps. But yeah, I think that pretty much sums out, doesn't it, Tommy? What are your final thoughts? Final thoughts are it's drive to survive tomorrow as well which is something to look forward to

to probably going to be the sponge bob me and whereas I's like facing in different directions watching testing and DTS but that's something to look forward to as well and then yeah like one more day of testing and then the next thing on track will be when it I say when it really matters FP1 but you know what I mean practice exactly Practice on Thursday, everybody.

Do not forget. Practice is on Thursday. Qualifying is on Friday and the race is on Saturday. All right. We will see you there. P1 live show ticket still available. Cambridge, Bath and London. Links on all of our good social medias as well as on YouTube.

Be sure to not miss out on that. The 11th, the 12th and the 14th of April. Right, we'll see you tomorrow. Be sure to join us on Twitch. If you don't already, we're live from the second the car's rollout at 7 a.m. UK time and we'll be there for all of the more. morning probably and then we'll be binge watching DTS and then doing all of the other content that you love from us. So very busy times but we're loving it. Great to have F1

back and we'll see you soon. Bye! 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. Finally, make sure you're following us on Spotify. See you soon. P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST's creative network.