P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our reaction to Spanish GP practice

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

We're back ahead of Catalan chaos (unlikely) with some free practice, as Mercedes looked like they'll struggle and Max Verstappen looked like he'll lap the entire field. Never mind though, because the spirit of the number 33 is here to bring us some spooky vibes... #AlonsoToWin33Follow 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.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Spanish Grand Prix post-practice edition. Yes, we are here to discuss the new and improved circuit the Barcelona, Catalonia. And how buzzing are you after practice, Tom Bellingham? Oh, what a circuit. You say new, old. It's gone back to how it was in 2000. And yes, it's not made it any more of a thrill, but fingers crossed the right, mate.

I don't speak for yourself, mate. I've been absolutely on the edge of my seat over the last couple of corners of that lap. But before we get into any more Spanish Grand Prix chat, I need to read out a five-star review from one of you. This one comes in from Waveform 2020 from the UK. Great F-1 podcast, which has Out of this World presenters, probably just because we don't know anything and our brains are so out of this universe

because we're washed, who deliver so many great laughs and great F1 information, which makes my day. Thank you for making this out of this world podcast. Wow. Look at us going, Tommy. We shouldn't even be on this planet, clearly.

We have reached new heights. Thank you so much, Wai Ful. Now, let's get into some free practice, one chat then, shall we? And talk about how, it looked like it was the end of the world with Max Verstappen going over three quarters of a second faster than anybody else

and then you had a very close sort of second all the way down to 16th do you want to share a little tweet that you put out after FP1 Tommy yeah everyone from Mexico just skipped the video now but yeah there was the end of FP1 the gap between Vastapen and Perez

was actually larger than it was between Perez and Bottas in 16th, which I guess shows that I know it's only practice, but yeah, Max delivered a very scary lap compared to the rest of the field, but then it just showed that, boy, is it closed between everyone else. It certainly is. Esteban Ockon up there in P3. Nick DeVries did a very good lap as well to start,

making us think, hello, is this the turning point for Alphotauri and for DeVries after his drive-to-survite camera following in Monaco that's on Bellingham down on the ground, exclusive news. So that was interesting to see. Alonzo was down in sixth. Yeah, the Ferraris not exactly making many moves. And also the Mercedes as well, riding on board with them, they looked like a bit of a handful to say the least, didn't they? Yeah, the Mercedes haven't looked great all day, which is a worry because this is, I guess, a more normal, their first kind of normal circuit where they can do their running. And this is, of course, a test venue where you get a lot of different types of corners.

So if you're not quick here, you're going to struggle. And Mercedes don't look particularly good, even though they've got side pods now. Not as good as we thought they were going to be. At least not yet. They might just be dialing in those new side pods, which of course will need a bit of running. Now let's move to Free Practice 2, where you look at that timesheet and you go, maybe it's all not over. You're telling me there's a chance.

Yeah, kind of. Although I feel as though Max Verstappen was probably running his engine at around 50% power, that's the feeling I get from this when I see how close everyone else seems to have got. Or perhaps someone from Formula 1 has had a little word in Max's ear and gone, you're not supposed to go that quick so early. and he's just dialed it in a little bit. Maybe. Yeah, it is hard to know how representative that is,

particularly with someone like Nico Holkenberg up in third. But again, I mean, you look at the actual gaps. I know it's a season where, and understandably, a lot of fans are frustrated by Red Bull dominance, but the midfield and everything is unbelievably close. like one small mistake for them is going to change your qualifying from like 18th to 8th or something. So yeah, a lot of a mixed up order really for FPT. Let's not forget as well with the removal of that last chicane, it also takes out kind of another variable of drivers laps.

So we've got a shorter lap now, one minute 13, one minute 14, which means the gaps will naturally get closer as well. So that will be interesting going into qualifying. You could have a few scalps just through one of some of the drivers, not actually putting in a performance in Q1 and Q2 to perhaps take them where their performance, well, sort of where they belong. Question from Manny Green 14. Will Alonzo win?

A simple question with, I thought it was going to be a simple answer after FP1. FP2, the hope starts to kill you. That's a chance. Maybe the Red Bull aren't as far clear as FP1 suggested. I still am very much of the opinion that Red Bull have something in the locker. Vastappen first, Perez fourth in FP2. Yeah, it's, I don't know, I just think Red Bull have got that edge. But I think the belief of Alonso getting another podium is,

certainly back on. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I think Fernando looking like he's going to be best of the rest again, going for six podiums out of seven, which is insane. Perez, I don't know, maybe beatable, but I do think Red Bull have just something in hand. They looked unbelievable, particularly through that final sector, you know, might even suit their car, even more that they just can show off their unbelievable.

believable grip, where it just looks like it's a Skelletrics car and just completely gripped in compared to everyone else. Yeah, I think Fernando will need some kind of miracle, like some rain or something if he's going to beat the Red Bulls on pace. But boy, are there a lot of memes about this whole 33 thing. So many memes, so much aligning the stars. Fernando going for his 303 win. He's been part of 33.33333.3% of all Formula One races, which just highlights how many races we have these days. Not that Fernando has somehow gone back in time and raced in 1950, which is what that kind of seems to suggest. And then other things, that's the third Spanish race. Banish Grand Prix and so many more things. And what I reply to this is, has everyone

forgotten that Max Verstappen's old race number was 33? I know. And also, So everyone brings it up every single time. I'm sure it was Saudi where Croftio's like, Fernando Alonzo's grid, sorry, pit box is number 33 today. That's a sign, isn't it? And then we're just going to get to like race 15, where Verstappan and Paris are just on every single race. And they're like, oh, Fernando Alonzo took 33 steps to get into the press conference today.

That could be a sign. Anything. The copium is. strong here for an Alonzo win. And look, all it takes, especially if Perez is beatable, is of a Stap and DNF or a Vastappen problem. And all of a sudden, Fernando is thrust into a potential race-winning situation. So I wouldn't say it is completely off the cards. And when I said earlier about, oh, you know, it's the hope of Alonzo being back on the podium's back on, it was just purely from our predictions podcast we did where both of us believed Mercedes were going

to be back sort of towards the front with their new up. but it hasn't seemed to work out on Friday at least. It has looked like a handful, hasn't it? Yeah, the Mac's not looking very good at all. Well, they finished eighth for George Russell and FP2 and Hamilton 11th. Yeah, they're in that mid-pack, which is unbelievably close to be fair. Again, sort of you've got a second separating Niko Holkenberg in third and Albin in 19th. Or even first to 17.

You know, you could even say that, you know, that. Yeah, even Max is beatable, you know, by Yuki Sonoda, you could say if he, you know, just... Could happen. It is looking at a couple of clubs. I've just noticed, Max Verstappen, look how many laps he did in FP2. 33. Oh, my God. It's over.

I don't know what it's saying, but it's happening. And completely irrelevant, Nick DeVries also did. 33. Wait, did you just call Nick DeFries irrelevant? That was really harsh. Completely irrelevant to Fernando Alonso and makes a staff an end. And they're completely irrelevant, Nick DeFries.

Do you not say that he's being filmed by DTS? He is very relevant. Sorry. That came across far most savagely. It was meant to. It's good. We laughed at. Question, or anyway, it's actually a statement

from Telferino 147. Lance Stroll, discuss. What can we say about this man? 18th in FP2. I feel like he went for a few different flying laps as well on those soft tires towards the end. I went for biggest good surprise for him. I was hoping he'd at least score a point. He's not fancied it, as he?

No, he's done the opposite of what I thought he was going to do, just going to sit up, take notice, and really start to get something out of that Aston Martin, but a stinker of a Friday for Lance. If he manages to not even get like a P7, P8, to just sort you out with a loophole for that biggest good surprise. I mean, that's an absolute full performance. I will be flopping him for the rest of the year if he does that.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, he's flopping him left, right and centre. Your prediction is looking quite, quite good this year of the fact that Alonzo is going to just whitewash him, exactly like he did in those sectors as well with that savage graphic. Yes, that graphic is the best thing I've. ever seen. The person that made that, so it's essentially a track dominance graphic, you might

have seen it previously, where they essentially outline where one driver is quicker than the other over the course of a lap. And they compared Alonzo and Stroll, and Alonzo was just dominating everywhere. And I'm like, whoever made that knew that was going on Twitter, because just what a I mean. Lawrence Stroll went straight down to the graphics department. Literally like down the walking down the padet like, oh, saw this out. Yeah. It's not if, because Lance did all right against Fettel.

Like he wasn't terrible. He did. He did. He did pretty decent. I think, I think Lawrence has underestimated Fernando Alonzo and just how well, how well Lance will be able to. do against him because my God, is he absolutely owning him this year? He certainly is, to the level of which none of us really thought it would be up in P2, of course, at the end of FP2 for Fernando and potentially another podium on the way.

And what a surprise that would be for the Spanish fans after last year and him moving to Aston Martin. No one seeing this happening is quite unbelievable. A lot of discussion as well around Lance Stroll, just in general, and his seat and whether it's under threat. I don't for a second believe that his seat is under threat. The only way it's under threat is if Lance himself wakes up and says, Dad, I'm sorry, I can't keep trying to make your dreams come true through me. I don't want to race an F1 anymore, buy. That's the only way I see his seat being under threat.

Yeah, same. They're not giving up on him now. He's finally got a podium challenging car, like the second best car on the grid potentially. So, yeah, he's there until he decides that he wants to become a BMX rider or something instead or whatever. You know, just sort me this out. Right. Let's move away from Lance Stroll and talk about the removal of the last chicane, which is something we've been absorbing.

The fact that we were intently watching free practice today on Twitch really kind of shows, and it being Spain as well, that any kind of change like that, we were like, okay, all right, is the circuit of Barcelona, Catalonia, you're going to become one of the most. iconic, incredible tracks of all time. I am of the opinion that it's going to do wonders for the racing. I am actually looking forward to seeing how not only does it set up potential overtakes into term one, but also how it's going to affect strategy. There's talk of it being a two, perhaps even a three-stop race on Sunday.

Of course, if it's raining, it's going to change that a little bit. But that in itself is interesting. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, it's a short-up. that, which means qualifying should be a little bit more interesting as well by the fact that there should be less of a different differential between the drivers. So I'm, I think it's a great change that they've made. We haven't seen the racing yet. It could cause the biggest DRS train of all time and it'll be terrible. But I have positive hopes for it. There's absolutely no way that it can be any worse because that, there's a reason why everyone thought that was the worst

chicane in Formula One because it did separate the cars. You can't have a slow, clumsy, single file chican right before the biggest overtaking point. It just separate the cars out so much because it was hard to follow. Now, you know, you'll be able to go through those corners and get a better run through that corner. That's one of the main things that's going to help. But like you say, tire wear.

should hopefully make the race even better as well, because boy, have we been praying for something other than a one-stop? And I will say right now that if that race is a one-stop, Pirelli, you've got something to answer for. And look, we're not going to be happy. We'll send our P1 army down to Perelli, and we'll camp outside with signs with saying two stops, please, and start a little protest movement.

I'm sure they are shun. shaking in their boots after Tom Bellingham was called out Pirelli there with the P1 fam. Yes, it's going to be interesting. They were, of course, running a test tire as well for those that saw a team, wondered what that was. It was basically a new structure, a new compound of hard tire that the teams have to do a certain amount of mileage on to help Porelli get. Get some data from that. But yes, it can't be a one-stop.

It surely cannot be a one-stop. With how much of a beating those tyres are going to get, you would imagine the undercutter, going to be quite strong around here. So that could make for some interesting racing as well come Sunday. A few complaints, though, through those last couple of corners around bumps, especially the final corner, bouncing all over the place. The word porpoising coming back into the mouths of Formula One drivers. So I can see those bumps potentially being a problem,

not for the likes of Red Bull that have an amazing car, but the ones that are slightly, maybe just having to get that extra half a tenth to make it through out of Q1 or out of Q2, You could see a few areas, a massive swapper there and potentially a big mistake, a potentially a big crash as well. So it's all about confidence going into there, isn't it? Yeah, you need confidence to be able to do it. There was a fantastic video actually that you showed me when we're in Monaco that someone had got at one of the chicanes and it was the cars bouncing over the second part of the swimming pool and someone was filming it. And every car goes

over it and the back end sort of squirrelling around and flying around, the Red Bull comes through and it just, it just, it corrects itself immediately. It's like there's no kind of, there's no trauma at all. Yeah, it is like a scale electric's kind of like just going through. So it's absolutely perfect. So that's something that Red Bull will enjoy even more, you know, being able to go through that corner and probably just settle nicely on the bumps. But the other cars that have had these pops thing issues and stuff, probably going to be like, ah, this still exists.

I thought we'd got rid of that. Because we've not really heard that word in a very, very long time now, but clearly it's still an issue, an issue here. So yeah, that could also be something that helps improve the overtaking as well, because if, you know, people make a mistake coming out of that final corner, the car behind will get a nice run on them down

that main straight. and if they can't pass on that long straight with DRS, then we're having trouble this year. We ain't got no hope, have we? Question from Conman 81. As an American who would wake up at around 7 a.m. to watch, why should I wake up and watch this Sunday? Is it worth it to watch Max fly away?

Okay, here we go then. I am F1 salesman right now and also P1 salesman. The first reason you should watch on Sunday is because we're live on Twitch, back at it once again, for the watch along. So no matter how boring a race might be, we will be live on Twitch giving all our reactions, all of our stupid voice changes, anything to just keep you entertained. We are the nice second sort of secondhand screen, the accompaniment that you need.

We are the tomato ketchup to your fries. Anything that you need, Formula One chatting, fans, friends, whatever, we are there. Matt P1 Tommy on Twitch. Boom, good advertising. Second, we've got potentially some rain coming. It's in the air. It could just have a little thunderstorm, a little localized shower, boom. Race changes completely.

Fernando Alonzo pits for more mediums, then goes on to intermediates afterwards. And then me and Tommy will be discussing once again why Fernando Alonzo could have won the Spanish Grand Prix. So that's number two. Number three, it actually looks a bit closer than FP1 did. Surely qualifying could be very interesting. I am, for one, very interested to see if that last corner gets done flat by anybody, i.e. Max Verstappen, because when he does and goes five seconds clear of everyone else, perhaps I might change my spiel. Can you give me any more than those three points, Tommy?

The stops, two to three stops potentially. That's number four. Throw that in strategy. Any more? Yeah. Just look at the gap between every midfield runner. There's going to be so much more. Unfortunately, for Red Bull, even if they can't be caught, there's going to be so much close racing between all the other teams. because I could not pick who is best of the midfield in that. I don't think you can this year. And the way the track is, is going to be very, very close in qualifying.

So we might even get a mixed up grid as well. And there's also predicted rain on Saturday. So that could also mix the grid up. So yeah, don't give up. We're holding on and we're here every step of the way on YouTube, on the podcast, on Twitch, no matter what, we are here for you. you because we love you.

Right. And the final thing is that Williams look really slow. Yes, bless them. Just not working out this weekend. I just looked at it and I was like the 19th and 20th

thought I should probably mention that. Also, Alfortari didn't have a great FP2 at the end as well after looking quite promising in FP1. They were at the bottom end of that, although it is very close. Really looking forward to tomorrow. Tommy, we are going to wrap it up there.

What is your final thoughts? My final thoughts are that five minutes ago was 33 minutes past five Fernando Alonzo to win, 33. Look, it's all there. Wow, that is, that just blew my mind. Okay, so it's 1738 right now. My, no, yeah, 538.

Okay, it's now turned 539, but when I said it, 538, 38 minus 5, 33. Also, my Riverside is saying 99% uploaded. One third of that is 33. One third of that is 33%. 13, Fernando Alonzo, to win. Okay, that's the place that we record for the 99% of people that don't know what a Riverside is.

They will. We're actually recording this on the Riverside, having a nice beer and chatting away. I'm trying to find other links here. Grace was born 1433 Fernando Alonzo's race number For 27 minutes I've missed it

I couldn't do maths quick enough I saw the six second go past And then miss Anyway we are losing the plot here We'll see you tomorrow live on Twitch And also we're doing our podcast and YouTube as always Throughout the weekend and into next as well So thank you very much Tommy

My final thoughts are please Spain You've got it Just don't bottle it You've got a better layout Got some weather coming it should be a banger. Get me that prediction point of it being a worldly. And we'll see you very soon, i.e. tomorrow.

Bye! Bye! P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.