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

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

F1 is officially back! We were up first thing this morning to see some cars on track, and came away with one big question: is it over already? 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. With Matt and Tommy, we are here. Formula One is officially back. We have cars on track. Lots to talk about Tom Bellingham. It was an early start this morning, 7am. The cars were rolling out. And it was a joyful occasion to see those beautiful machines back in our lives.

It was. Yeah, getting up very early our time, but very cool to see the first cars get out on track. And it's like F1 has never been away, particularly seeing a certain someone miles ahead at the top. Why'd you have to bring that up already? Because all the questions are about to say good luck. Okay, let's address the elephant in the room.

Max Verstappen, the main majority, as you say, of the questions are around him. So let's just, let's not even, you know, mess around. with this. At Kulowala. Is it over? Yes. So I think what we can say here is that 2024 is in the mud. Okay. Testing times do matter now. Yes. Well, let's testing times don't matter when things are quite close and you've got their rogue has. If Hass were fastest, testing times don't matter. But if Max is fastest, suddenly they're accurate. Yes. But I do. But I do. think that there is a slight bit of an ominous display there from Max Verstappen,

not just because of the lap time, but also the amount of laps he managed to do as well. I said at the end of the Twitch stream, it was pretty much a dream first day for Red Bull in 2024, if we're being completely honest with you. They look incredibly quick. Max was at the top for almost the entirety of today, and he managed to do a lot of laps as well, mileage, that's what we spoke about in our will knowledge YouTube video if you haven't gone and watched that which talks about what it actually matters

in Formula One testing. One of the key things is mileage and they've just had a dream first day. They did, although bizarrely the first kind of two laps maybe, and it wasn't much but the time, it looked a bit of a handful,

Max was running wide in a lot of corners and of course the big story is the fact that Red Bull having dominated last year and no regulation change. You think, I'll just bring the same car with a few upgrades and they've bought a completely different philosophy. I do wonder if like Adrian Newe is the biggest troll ever if he essentially is basically doing last year's Mercedes concept that they abandoned

because there's talks that they might even go down the zero side pods in a few races time as well and they've already got the big shoulders that the Mercedes had last year and the fact that Mercedes abandoned that concept and rather than Red Bull just like resting and going yeah I think it would still be pretty quick they're like no I'm going to I'm going to make that right

it's a challenge to me and make it really good and it's looking very good it looks a very very good car now I saw actually that Red Bull pretty much there was Chuck, I can't remember

who it was, but there was chat about that Red Bull could have just upgraded last year's car and they

would have been at the front but instead they wanted to change the philosophy so that they can dominate

as opposed to just being at the front. So that's great. Thank you so much Red Bull and Adrian Newee

for continuously showing how unbelievable you are at building a Formula One car. But to answer your question,

it's not over. It's not. We will reflect on this and go, do you remember on day one of testing when we said it was over and then Charlotte

Clair wins and wraps up the championship in Austin. You know, there's lots of things that we'll have to reflect on between those two kind of periods of time. Next question is venomous sneak. When will the torture of Max dominating end? Now it's funny that you said about, you know, those first few laps, maybe the first even half an hour to an hour, the Red Bull looked a little bit unsettled, to put it lightly.

You know, he was going wide, making mistakes. I think there was actually an agreement where Formula One basically said, you know, look, Max, could you just sandbag in testing? And then Max goes, yeah, all right, fine. The problem is they didn't actually specify how long they would sandbag for. Max did it for an hour. F1 thought it would be for three days. So that's what happened.

He then switched it on, took out the 500 kilograms of fuel, and then Bob's your uncle, Max, was stopping straight out there flying around. So the thing with Max is that he is an unbelievable driver. We've said this many times last year. It's not just the car. We'll see what Perez is able to do tomorrow. That'll be interesting to see if he also sits at the top of the timesheet for the whole of day two.

If he does, tennis is a very appealing sport and we might well have to pivot to it. Speak for yourself. Yeah, this is the thing like with Max dominating, the funny thing is about it. And I'm not saying it's a good thing. definitely not but this is

only the second year we're going into where like it looks like Max is going to dominate and it is crazy that I think we said there's so many times that you know 2021 ruined our sort of perception of what a Formula One season is

but if you take almost from 2013 onwards you know we've not really had title fights Mercedes dominated, Red Bull dominated. And we are only in a kind of, if Red Bull do dominate, this would only be like the second year of Red Bull domination, like fully. Not saying it's a good thing because of course, like we want people to get close,

but it's going to be extremely hard because there isn't a major regulation change. And yeah, we saw the teams. catching up at the end of last year. Max wasn't winning by huge margins, but the problem is, we spoke about this on stream that some people did, you know, get pole positions or have a little battle with him in the race,

but the problem is Max always came out on top. And even if, like, there were some races where he won by 40 seconds, but others, you know, he only won by like two or three seconds. And it's just kind of, he just,

he is that kind of driver that doesn't have a day like we say but it's going to be tough for the other teams but I wouldn't don't write the season off completely I know like not just about it but but you know there's there's so many to sort of put the jokes aside for a second like there are so many interesting stories in Formula One we had this discussion about Drive to Survive and I think someone on our Twitch was like well what Drive to Survive going to talk about because you know Max won every race but like drive-to-eye was really good when it first came out and Hamilton was you know wrapping the title up with five races to go they didn't even cover it it's the other

stories there's like so many stories up and down the grid that like it's exciting about formula one so like don't just kind of write off formula one completely as a sport just because the same person is winning I know it is annoying and it like it's frustrating because we all want to see a close title fight and close racing but you know there's a lot to look forward to this year it certainly is P1 content being one of many things

to look forward to exactly we'll be there no matter what even if it will look like moaning on Twitter about it exactly moving away from Red Bull now question from F1Ferell what do you think about Mercedes time today

I assume you mean just their general time in terms of how fun how much fun day one was rather than their actual time because we're not going to go into that because F1 testing times don't match. We only analyses that. Exactly.

But I think Mercedes, more than anyone, they're a team that just do not care in the slightest, whether it's even in practice where they are in regard to other drivers or teams or trying to set any sort of glory runs or anything. They're just doing their own thing. Russell did 120 laps today compared to Max Verstappen's 141.

Yeah, there's not much to extract from it. Obviously, Mercedes didn't make any sort of headlines today. There wasn't any points where Russell was really up there. Of course, Hamilton didn't run today either. George did a full day's test. But yeah, it's, again, if you're a Mercedes fan, chill. It's all good. It might not be good to challenge Max for Stappen,

but everyone else is in touching distance. Yeah, it looks crazy close. You can't just look at that time and go, oh well he's Russell is 2.7 seconds off max and you know even like a second and a half behind a V carb like it's not it's not gonna happen I don't think Mercedes had the best day by the by the look of it it looked like there was a few teething problems getting out the garage but

this is testing like it's so hard to judge like it's really hard to judge we we mentioned you know there's there's been times where like we hype up teams massively and it can be completely wrong or Mercedes themselves you look at 2021 is a great example where they were on the back foot they was struggling in testing they weren't doing as many laps as they wanted and then Hamilton went and won the first race so um they're not completely in the mud just because george russell is is 12th on the timing seats sheets sheets Seats.

The timing seats. That's a new one. The timing. I mean, they could be little seats. But yes, I think as well, we were speaking in the morning,

George, because obviously we were live on Twitch, we'll also be live tomorrow and for the final day of testing on Friday on Twitch if you want to come watch along with us. But I think we're saying in the morning, Mercedes haven't been out for an hour, an hour and a half,

whatever it might have been. You know, they weren't putting many laps in. Oh, that's not very good for Mercedes. And they end up clocking 120 laps. Unless it's a complete terminal issue that a team has, you know,

wipes out a whole. morning or a whole afternoon, then they can recover quite a bit of the laps lost from changing. Because it's not just having problems. It might be that they need to completely rejig the car and put a different upgrade on or try this out or try a different setup. So you do see quite a lot of the time drivers in the pits and changing things. So it's not the absolute end of the world. Williams didn't exactly have the greatest day.

And we'll actually get into the next question at DEDGV. Hussil, how much will it matter that Williams couldn't finish the first day of testing? I mean, they were probably the one standout team that you go, they're going to look back on day one and think, I wish we had a bit more mileage, 61 laps in total between Sergeant and Albion. Albon, I think, 20, 30 minutes left to go in the morning session and had a fuel pump issue. Sargent looked, I mean, James Val said in an interview that he was feeling confident,

and this, that and the other, and hyping up Logan Sargent. and then Logan was one of the only drivers to actually make a really large error into turn 10 losing the car and obviously very fortunate that there isn't a barrier to greet him at that corner. But yeah, not the best start for Williams, it has to be said, but they can recover it. There's still a couple more days to go.

If they have another day two with 60 laps and day three with 60 laps, then you're looking at potentially them starting on the back foot when we get to round one. Yeah, reliability is such a key thing at this stage that they're wanting to learn as much as possible about the car. So for Albin to not get as much running as he wanted and then have to, you know, sit in the garage because of an issue takes away so much potential data for them.

And then, yeah, Logan, very fortunate actually, like you say, that we're not maybe testing at Barcelona or something because he's straight in a gravel trap or a wall there. but lucky for him he could like recover it. And that is another thing what was made maybe the Bahrain test feel more like a test and there's not not as much kind of chaos as maybe a couple of years ago in Barcelona because it is that track where like even when people break down, there's no red flags or or too much drama really because there's quite a, you know, open track with lots of runoff.

So people can push the limits. It's seen so many lock-up, so many drivers running wide, whereas I guess at something like Barcelona, yeah, you do that and you're risking going in the gravel, whereas you know at Bahrain that you can just be like, well, I will fly into this corner a bit quicker and see how it goes and then there's no consequence. Exactly. It's a confidence builder, it's Bahrain. So it's one that you can really push the limits of the car. And I guess you could argue for Formula One teams, it's a great venue for them to test those limits.

Next question, Lucas Miro. Are we mentally prepared for a 1, 2, 3, 4 by Red Bull and V-Carb? Ricardo looked comfortable in the V-Carb or the RB. For some reason, they are literally seemingly sticking with R-B as their name, which is ridiculous. I kind of have come round to the silly name of V-Carb, but I know that that in itself is a stupid name, but calling them R-B, which doesn't actually mean anything. It's an abbreviation of Red Bull and the chassis name of Red Bull. racing like no.

We are an independent team, I promise. Otherwise known as R.B. Especially if they are as quick as we seemingly think they might be, then it will look even worse for them. So Ricardo, I guess on a good note, did look pretty strong.

He finished only 50 laps to be fair, which isn't the most we've seen for one session. So no, it's 64. But yeah, a nice little lap for Danny Rick. P4, again, he's about, three seconds off what the poll time was last year for Bahrain. So again, you take that with a pinch of salt, but it did look, it looked all right. The livery I've gone back on and I want to downgrade my rating by one or two points because, yeah, it doesn't look as good. The renders

looked all right. But yes, but in terms of the actual day itself, seemed pretty good for both them. It did. I think Diana Riccardo being up in fourth will create a bit of drama among your kind of Zach Browns and things that aren't very happy with how

V-Cab of sort of like approach Formula One and the fact that they're now sharing some of their parts in a factory with Red Bull and working a bit closer with them but you know they're adamant and so far

according to like the FIA it's all all good um they aren't breaking any rules but uh it's always the case where if uh cash app visa cash up r b were 19th and 20th no one would care a bit like has with their Ferrari uh ties um but they start battling your McLaren's your Ferraris uh there's going to be a lot of a lot of complaints about them. So that is, like I say, you know, before when mentioning about like, oh, you know, Max may well dominate the season, but like there's so many interesting stories about the season. I think that that one is going to be very dramatic and could get a bit spicy. Now, before we dive into the next question, we need to just quickly shout out the P1 live show,

which is coming to Cambridge, Bath and London on the 11th, 12th and 14th of April. There'll be a link in the description or on social media, link trees, that sort of stuff. If you want to go get your tickets, we're going to go into Cambridge, Bath and London, as I say, it's going to be an awesome event. We'd love to see you there. They are selling, so don't miss out. As you've seen with the other ones, they do sell out. And then people are like, oh, I wish I've got a ticket.

So if you do want to come to the P1 Live show, we've got lots to reflect on from the off season. And of course, we'll be a few races into the 2024 season as well. So we'd love to have you there. It's lots of fun. It's not just a podcast. It's a proper show. So yeah, thank you.

so much and we look forward to potentially seeing you there. Next question is from Kieran Daly. Which liveries look better or worse on track? Now I've mentioned that the V-carb looks worse. Are there any others that stand out for me? Ferrari still look great. McClaren, I haven't really changed my mind on it. I don't think it's a 10 out of 10, but you know, I mean, we're not going to go down that rabbit hole. Actually, no, I will say that the steak car looks better than what So I went from being like, oh, that's amazing to, oh, it looks a bit my team Formula One default livery on the game to now back to, God, that is a vibrant colour. So I was quite pleasantly surprised by just how bright it was. So I would say that.

Yeah, I'm actually surprised that the steak did look that vibrant on track because we've seen a lot of things before. I think Aston Martin are guilty of this. And I think they still are where like you can have a nice fancy car launch and make the rest of, renders how you want and you can boost the saturation up and make it look. You know, I Aston Martin did that time and then it gets to the track and it just looks like carbon or black. Like you can't really, it doesn't really show up. And I did wonder that, you know, if steak, kicks out,

whatever we're calling them, might not pop on track. But my goodness me, the moment it came out on track, it was like, whoa, that is bright. but it's very cool to see like again like it's super garish but I like the fact that it is a bit different and stands out on the grid I will I stick by the

I think McLaren's best delivery by a long way a long way I absolutely love it honestly I really really like it and and that's crazy disrespect to teams like Ferrari and Mercedes and what else the V-cab yeah

I dislike it even more than I did when we did our livery ratings, like that white sort of sash over the whole thing is so jarring. It just makes it, it ruins the whole thing and makes it look really busy and a bit, a bit meth. As Frank agrees. And Frank also agrees. I'm sure that V-Car won't care if they're finishing third and fourth. Absolutely not. It could be anything.

See if that actually comes to fruition. And finally, Monkey Man 16 comes in with should teams just focus on 2025 at this point? Now, what I will say for this, Max Verstappen, I know for a fact, listens to every syllable that we ever put out on P1. May I, and we've been asked about this term a lot, may I introduce you to sandbagging, Max Wastappen, just out of interest, just, just pretend like Mercedes used to.

If you're going to deliver, yeah, exactly, if you're going to deliver a perfect season, at least make us think you're not going to until the first round of the season. Do you know what I mean? At least give it till next week. You could have waited till day two of F1 testing, but no, it was day one.

And it was like, oh, okay then, for every F1 fan around the world that is not a Maxfuss-Happan fan. So in all seriousness, no, team should not focus on 2025 because if anything, that's a more pointless season than 2024. At least with 24,

you've got another year after that into 25 where potentially you can develop the car a little bit more. When you get to 25, teams are going to go, well, if we haven't done a great car in the off season now, there's no point us trying to really upgrade this because we've got a brand new set of regulations coming in for 2026. So I would say, no, they definitely should be focusing on this year to try and make their car as good as possible.

And that goes to mainly HASS. Yeah, we've not spoken about HASS. they did you can't take much from times. They won the test for mileage, didn't they? They did. You can't take much from times. 147 laps, come on. And I don't think they will be 4.3 seconds off the pace,

but it didn't look great, did it? The car just looks so, nah, and uninspiring. Frank also thinks that that's the case. Yeah, but no, they shouldn't just sack off the season already. There's still a lot to gain. Because essentially, you know, you're having two more years of this. So if anything, like you say, they're going to want to focus on 2026. Exactly. And that is pretty much that for day one of Formula One testing.

Don't worry. We've got two more coming. We've got lots more content coming your way. The wrap-ups and everything else, we are ready for another Formula One season. Can't wait for the excitement of those five lights coming on to maybe just maybe have Charlotte a win. But, you know, there's still unknowns to be honest. answered. I know day one hasn't been the best and Max needs to think about people making content about Formula One because he's honestly putting a lot of livelihoods at risk. He loves podcasts. He loves

that. He's like if I can win and also get rid of podcast in one go, I will. So there we go. Tell me what are your final thoughts. Final thoughts are yeah. Keep watching F1. Keep watching F1 and don't focus on like positives and don't be so like. I know. it is frustrating, but like, because we all want closed competition, but we'll be there no matter what and there's a lot to look forward to. And yeah, I'm looking forward to more, well, more testing, but I'm really excited for next week and actually, like, that is when it properly, you know, kicks off. And even if Max has finished the first three tests, well, you literally can't, there's a final thought. Max cannot be fastest tomorrow. There, there you go.

I'll leave you with that. Spoken like a true Max fan. That outro, so love that. Thank you everybody. See you on Twitch tomorrow morning if you want to come and join and watch along with us and we'll see you very soon. Lots of love. Bye.

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