P1 with Matt and Tommy - Spanish GP Race Review

Episode Date: June 1, 2025

A late safety car spiced up what threatened to be a fairly ordinary affair over in Spain, which meant we witnessed perhaps the most controversial moment of the season so far. So let's get into it!Live show tickets for 'The Delusion Tour' are now on sale! Join us at shows across the U.S, Canada, and Europe later this year - some have already sold out! Head to http://tix.to/p1live to get your tickets now.You can listen to an extended version of THIS RACE REVIEW over on our Patreon! Sign up to get an extended version of every Race Review this season. You'll also get every P1 episode ad-free, early access to 'The Delusion Tour' tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow 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. Spanish Grand Prix. Not a lot to talk about. Definitely nothing in the last few laps to discuss. Tommy, you're wearing that Max Verstappan shirt. Are you wearing it with pride right now? Or spoilers already. Spoilers?

Well, yeah, true. You're allowed to tell me how you're feeling, my brother. I'm feeling annoyed, angry, disappointed. Just the bad of the Ferrari fan. Yeah, exactly. I'm feeling the whole Ferrari pain right now. Yeah, what a crazy end to the race. So much drama, actually a pretty decent race that we thought before that

that safety car would be talking about how the strategy played out and stuff. But instead, we had a mini sprint race at the end and all hell broke loose. Okay, now before we dive into everything controversial and spicy and tasty from the Spanish Grand Prix, we need to, of course, mention the P1 Live Show delusion tour that we have announced this week. And we have Amsterdam on August the 28th. That's sold out. I'm really sorry. Seattle, November the 4th.

San Francisco, November the 5th. Denver, November the 10th. Dallas, November the 11th. Toronto, November the 13th. Chicago, November the 14th. New York on the 16th. Then Dublin, December the 10th. Manchester, December the 14th.

Glasgow, December the 15th. And London. December the 17th. although I'm hearing in my ear that maybe, just maybe, London is sold out. And if it hasn't, it's very nearly. So get your tickets now. So get your tickets while you can. Indeed, can't wait for that.

It's going to be awesome. It's my favourite time of the year doing the P1 live shows and cannot wait to get into it. Link will be in description, of course, as well if you want to buy your tickets. Right. Also, big shout out to our wonderful patrons who will be getting extra chat at the end of this podcast and also, of course, get priority questions in the pod as well. and you guys have come in with some really good ones this week. It has to be said. We've both be very impressed. We've got a lot to talk about. So let's dive into it right now. And start

with my most memorable moment. And no, it's not Charlotte Claire getting a podium. As of recording right now, he still has a podium. We'll probably find out during the podcast that he gets a penalty and I will be up in arms. But my most memorable moment is the Max Incident with George Russell. I mean, it should probably be plural, incidents, because of course. Yes, there are two, yeah. Turn one is where it began. Well, actually, it began the foreback. It began around the final corner.

Not necessarily with George, but the fact that Max Verstappen, again, another thing to talk about. There's so many things to discuss, Tommy, my brain can't cope. But of course, Max on hard tires to begin the safety car restart. One of the strangest strategies I've seen in a while. Oh yeah, we'll save that part. But of course he then loses the car. Charles gets in a lovely little, just gets a lovely slingshot because he didn't have hard tyres on.

And a little bit of contact there. We'll get into that a little bit later. We're talking about the Max versus George. Because of course, into turn one we go, George sees the opportunity. Fair play. George is an aggressive wheel to wheel racer, but usually very clean.

And he just popped up the inside, didn't he with the soft tires, saw the opportunity and made a bit of contact. with Max Verstappen. Now this is where, of course, it all starts to unravel for Max Verstappen in particular. Now, that one is to be dissected, of course, because George gets up the inside. He has enough of the inside to call it his corner,

but he could not say that he was in control of his car. And that is the part where we need to dive into. But let's talk about that first bit first, Tommy, because I think there's about 10 compartments to what we're going to have to all go through here. But that initial attempted move from George, it wasn't, for me anyway, a clean move. It wasn't because, yeah, we've watched it back on the skypad,

as we have it here in the UK, and they slowed it right down. And George is, of course, very close to Charlerc, because Max has only just been passed by Shal. George sees the opportunity, which he has every right to go for. and you see that Russell

basically loses control in the dirty air a little bit. He can't basically keep his steering wheel straight into the corner so therefore he's slightly out of control of his car. It's not like he's completely

like losing his car like crazy. He just isn't fully in control because he gets a bit of the dirty air going into that corner and he runs slightly wide and they basically bang wheels. Now watching this off-board which we saw, my initial thought was, well, and the same as Red Bulls, because we'll

get into this later, was, well, Max has just bailed over the runoff there, he's a sitting duck, and he's just thought, well, the only way for me to stay ahead is to just straight line the chicane and stay ahead. But actually, looking back, I think he had every right to be annoyed that he was not the consequences, but we'll get into that later. But, every right to be concerned and question why he was being told by his team to give that place back, because George did collide with him. It wasn't the cleanest of moves. And I think had the next bit not happened and he'd have stayed ahead, we would have been at the stage right now where they would have both of them in the steward's room and they'd be talking it out. And I think Red Bull would actually have plenty to argue and maybe even not.

not have to override it. Yeah, that was a very strange call. And there were a few from Red Bull today with the strategy and also with letting or telling Max to let George through. I know a lot of the time Max will argue over the team radio, I was ahead, I was this, I was that, like in Saudi, for example, but there wasn't really a leg to stand on there. I think there was this time out.

I think there generally was. A country mile. It's contact. Max can argue. And it was good contact. as well. It probably. Yeah,

well, there was big contact. It wasn't even just like a really small touch. It was enough for Max to be unsettled and to take to the runoff. And I think that

he is well within his rights to do that and to claim that George had not pulled off that move. So for that, had he just carried on his merry way

and Rebel had not told him to relinquish the position, I think we would have had a much more calm and composed end to that race, perhaps with Max and course, coming under pressure.

Over the radio, yeah. Yeah. But he would have stayed ahead of George. So there would have been maybe a little bit more of that to unfold. But instead, we had the next part. And we'll tear it up with a question from P1PITR member, Matthew Cole 04. What was that from Max against George? Was a 10 second penalty too lenient?

I am mystified as to why that happened. And I know that sometimes Max can boil and see red. We've seen it in the past. But this one seemed, and I don't think there's any better way to describe it, than unnecessary. The fact that he's gone to let George through, he's pulled over to the left-hand side, of course it's a left-hander coming up, but he's slowed down. He's allowed George to get half a car length ahead. and then decided that

I now no longer want you to come through and bled off the brakes. Yeah, like he changed his mind mid-cordid. Yeah, like he changed. Now, this is where it's hard to decipher what exactly went through Max's head because it could be one of a few things. Now, he lets George through, kind of,

and then actually goes, no, actually hold on, it's not my fault. I'm going to keep the position. Like at that last split second, he's decided, I'm going to try and stay down the inside. he's misjudged it because he's on hard tires and that's why that collision has happened. Or he's trying to make some kind of

put some message down where he's or he's tried to like play the rules a little bit where he's let George through but then overtaken him immediately into next corner which isn't actually allowed anyway. You can't give up a position and then not even give it up fully before you then take the position back.

He would have got a penalty for that had he kept the position down the inside. I've seen some, I mean, I saw someone replied to you, Tommy, who is, in fact, Dutch. And I think a journalist saying that the chal-le-cler move was a worse thing than what Max pulled off and that George maybe misjudged it. I'm like, how on earth? I don't think you've lent George for that one. I cannot see any realm where George is in the wrong there. he's taking the position

and Max has, in my opinion, I'm trying to give Max the benefit of the doubt that I don't think he's just full-blown, just wanted to crash into George. I think he was trying to make some kind of statement whether that be... Because as of recording, we also haven't heard Max's opinion on it.

Yeah, we haven't had Max's opinion. I mean, he haven't seen an onboard of his because apparently that wasn't available to Sky. In 2025, we don't have... the onboard of the world champion. I know that they have to select some things. And I'm like, but, but why? This is a, this is literally one of the biggest sports in the world.

Anyway, that's another conversation for another day. I, I would like to give Max the benefit of doubt that I don't think he's just wanted to crash into the side of George. I think it's more a case of him trying to put a statement and misjudging it on the hard tires and obviously making a fall of himself. And I still think he deserves an incredibly harsh penalty. but I'm trying to see a little bit of the, I think it's more of a mistake, which makes him look terrible than I want to wipe George out of this race like some people are maybe saying.

That's interesting because I'm, you know, I'm not wearing a Max for Staffan T-shirt and the fan of his, but I think his move was absolutely outrageous. And I think... I'm not saying it wasn't. No, no, I know. And I think it deserves a huge penalty. It does.

I just don't think it's gone in his head. I want to take George out right now, like some people might suggest. He's acted almost like it is like a video game or something where he's let his frustration show on track, and you can't do that in a Formula One car. I think the actual incident itself is absolutely ridiculous because Max pushes the limits all the time when it comes to trying to win the World Championship,

We saw what he did to Lando in Mexico, for example, and we had the discussion, it's not very sporting, but he's actually a net gain because he's stopped Lando from getting points. On this situation, he drove like he had nothing to lose, but he had everything to lose because he was actually sitting in a decent position. I understand the frustration and we'll get onto this, because I think the Red Bull strategy was ridiculous. with the fact that they then tried to call him to give the position back.

He probably saw the fact that he was fighting the McLaren's challenging for the Grand Prix and then his head thinking, oh my word, I'm going to finish about seventh or eighth here. But then in doing that move, he did finish way down the order. And it's cost him so much. He had nothing to gain from doing that. He has to have that part. I understand his frustration and their racing drivers, they have a huge amount of adrenaline. and it probably boiled over for him.

But your racing brain kind of has to go, well, me plowing into the side of someone, that was always going to be a very harsh penalty. You're going to lose all your points, never mind just a couple for giving the place back, even if you think it's wrong, but that's just not in Max's DNA to, you know, he's a very stubborn racer and always has been and always will be. And he clearly felt there's maybe at the last minute when actually,

you know what, I don't want to give this place back because I don't think it was. And on the evidence, I don't think he did need to give it back. But he definitely shouldn't have done that. No way. We don't usually do this on the podcast, but I've seen that the Max interview is actually available for us to watch. So we will return as soon as we've watched this clip that we're going to watch together, Tommy, right now. Okay. Right, we're back. We've watched the interview that Max has had with Sky and Rachel Brooks. and he told us nothing. So that's really, really useful. Well, he did.

He did tell us something by avoiding the question. And I personally, I'd love to defend him as a Max fan, but I think him avoiding the question and saying, does it matter? And then trying to change the subject, for me, tells me everything that I need to know about it, that I personally think it was a deliberate move out of frustration. That's my opinion.

And it will always be opinion if he chooses not. to tell you because... So let me go back five minutes. You know when I was saying that I'm giving him a benefit of doubt? Now, I'll take that away now. I'm taking that. After watching that interview, it's, yeah, sometimes... Why would you not say, no, I locked a break or whatever if it was indeed that?

I misjudged it. And he's fuming, you can tell. He can... His reaction is absolutely raging about the whole situation, the fact that he's not quick enough, he's spoken about. He was talking about his championship hopes being basically like, can I even challenge for the championship because we're too slow. So all the frustration is there, but he changed the subject of what actually happened there.

And, you know, I watched it, I watched it live. I think I personally, even before that interview, could see what he was doing. We've seen something similar before with Sebastian Vettel in Baku in 2017. And I think using your car as a weapon and terms of kind of frustration is one of the worst things. you can do in a Formula One cut. And it needs to be severely punished. And it was with Sebastian Vettel. He got, you know, to answer the question that was asked ages ago, because there's so

much to dissect it. Was a 10 second penalty too lenient? I would say, yes. I think it needs to be a drive-through penalty, which is what Vettel got. Because how he's still got a point from that, you know, I don't know. Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things I don't think. he still ended up with a point. It should have been a drive-through penalty,

which dropped him out of the points, personally, in my opinion. I love it. Personally, in my opinion, this is just coming from my brain. This is literally one Formula One fan's opinion of the incident. And people disagree, but that's just my opinion. People can disagree. That's absolutely fine. Don't worry.

We know that there's your thoughts, Tommy. We're all good. We're here to share. It's a safe space here at the P1 world. I agree, I think that it was a stop and go penalty worth 30 seconds at the end of the race. Using your car as a weapon is exactly the right terminology here. And if anything, I would argue that what Max did today is worse than what Vettel did against Hamilton. That was under safety car.

There was, it was very slow speeds. And, you know, I'm not here to compare the two instances as such. But yeah, it was not good enough from Max. and it's disappointing actually to see that that kind of interview, to be honest with you, because whether he's trying to skirt around it or not say much because could he get in more trouble, I don't know, but it would have gone a long way to say, I guess he has to be careful, doesn't it? He has to be careful, we're going, yes, I did use my car as a weapon. And it's Maxisdap, and he's never going to admit his fault, and that's part of his character,

whether you like it or not. He would never, never will. And I know it frustrates people because there are other drivers on the grid that are more honest where the heart on their sleeve and stuff. But Max is, you know, he will never take blame for an incident even when we got to the end of the championship last year. And he was asked about various incidents that happened throughout the year, you know, he would just shrug it off and go, well, I think even admitted in a Formula One interview going, well, I'd never admit to it because that's just his character. And that is what, what he and how he. chooses to go racing whether you like it or not because he doesn't want to show any kind of cracks or weakness but you can't you can't deny that this is a weakness of his game because

it showed that he's got completely hot-headed and done something stupid that has cost him a chunk of points when realistically just settle for either don't let him through and settle for fourth or let him through and just try and hold p-5 Yeah, and even in the interview as well, he kind of, again, probably in the fact that he was raging, saying, like, do I even have a chance in the championship? Max is incredibly calculated and he knows that there's a long way to go in this season. And I'm sure deep down he is probably kicking himself over what he's just done because it's cost him, as you say, a massive amount in this championship that can easily change between now and the end of the season. So yes, the penalty was too lenient and I am still trying to process what we've just witnessed.

Question from P1Petri member Zingy 13. How should the FIA handle the max penalty point situation? I doubt that they will want to give Max a race ban as the optics of having the reigning World Drivers Champion is not a good one. Well, I think if we look back to Vettel, he got three penalty points for the incident with Hamilton I expect, as of recording right now,

he will get three for this, which will put him on 11. And it's 12 for a ban. And it's 12 for a ban. And I know Tommy, you've said from day one, they will never ban anyone for a penalty point infringement over 12. And they did with KMAG.

They did. So I think Matt's in, after quite a while. I don't know exactly when they expire. I don't know, Tommy, you're a big Max fan. But in terms of how he now, navigates from the rest of this time that he's on 11 points. I am slightly worried for Max's appearances in the future.

If this is how he's going to react to difficult situations, it's so tough because, you know, we've been applauding him so much this season for how he's put that car in place as it doesn't belong. And I agree with Rachel Brooks in the sense of it kind of leaves a sour taste. It does. It really does. Yeah, it does. It's not why I support Matt Susserzstan and the kind of driving I like. I like, and this is the frustrating side of, you know, supporting him sometimes because he has these moments. I think he does go over the line. But then he has those brilliant moments like Imala, where you applaud him for being a, you know, bullse, aggressive driver.

And that's the brilliant side of it. This is the worst side of it where he does something silly. actually looking up the points now and he will have two expire on the 30th of June. So not till next month. And then it's not till November that he gets. So he's going to be, he's going to have to be very careful this coming month with the next two races. Yes. So will it expire going into Austria because we are on the first of June now? So I imagine it's only one race that he'll have 11 points. One race. So he's going to be very careful at Canada. Canada.

Yeah, interesting. Okay, let's go quickly before we head to your most memorable moment, Tommy. The thoughts on the Lecler incident as well, which is still under investigation as we are here right now. Of course, this was the fact of Lecler getting a better run past Max and then them going side by side and Lecler quite clearly coming over and then making contact. I am, and this might surprise some people, not of the opinion that he should get a penalty for this.

You know, there is the coining of some things just being a racing incident. And I believe that it's two drivers fighting for DRS. I think LeClair does make a small mistake here for sure. You know, he comes across and there is contact. Is it penalty worthy, though? Like, is Max impeded so aggressively by this light touch that it even deserves a conversation? Well, apparently, according to the stewards, it does. now maybe I am just blinded

by my fanboism and Tommy you're going to shoot me down here and LeClair does need a penalty but I don't think so and I don't think I would call for this and I know some people don't believe me when I say that I don't think I'd call for this in any situation where it was just a light tap

on the straight with two drivers trying to fight for slip stream ahead 15 penalty points and a disqualification I think for sure in my totally non-biased opinion no it's

I think think it'd be hugely harsh if he gets a penalty to lose his podium. It's a little bit naughty. It's kind of cheeky. They're battling. They've banged wheels, but we've seen that before and, you know, a little bit of wheelbanging on the straight. It's not affected Max too much. I think Max's reaction to it is more the fact that, you know, he's seeing his race go completely out the window with with the hard tires, the huge snap moment that he had. And then to have that incident, he was just raging at that point, basically.

I would be amazed if he got a penalty. I think it would be very, very harsh. It's not completely, oh, he's a completely innocent in it, because the overtaker needs to be clean with their overtake, but it's not like he's completely tried to move over, on him in a really aggressive way. He's just, he's basically edging slightly to the left, hoping that Max will move, and maybe he forgot it's Max Verstappen, who will never move, ever. Yeah, because that is what you tend to see, right, when two cars are fighting,

is that they sort of dance with each other and play a little bit of chicken and this sort of stuff, and Max was like, I will not play this game of chicken, thank you very much. Yeah, yeah, true. So that's probably what he thought, but it's, I personally think it's a bit of a nothing incident. I see why they're investigating it, but I'd be amazed if Leclair gets a penalty. But, well, we've still got plenty to talk about, so you never know we might find out.

It might come in whilst we're recording. Love it. Right, Tommy, what's your most memorable moment, please? My most memorable moment is basically just the Red Bull screw-up as well. Because, you know, I've spoken about Max completely, basically just making it 10 times worse. and had we not had this this incident between Max and George,

I think this would have been the biggest talking point is that strategy at the end for Red Bull. So, yeah, already mentioned that I think it's crazy that they told Max in the first place. I think that's an error from them to tell, tell him to give the place back to George. They know Max and what he's like. as a driver and how heated things get.

So they kind of added fuel to the fire there. I think from that was a mistake. But I can't believe they decided to go for the hard tires. And I know that it's all about tire allocation and what you've got left. But why you wouldn't gamble when there was only ever going to be a handful of laps? We'll get maybe into later about how long it took for them actually to get going with all the lapped car things. all that kind of stuff. But he didn't,

he would have done a lot better, in my opinion, being in the lead on softs, and yeah, in a couple of laps, Max would have got his elbow, that would have been fascinating to watch, but in a couple of laps, he probably would have fell foul to the McLaren's on fresher softs, maybe, but then, you know,

it's hard to pass. And then he's in a better position. He was always going to get mugged by the people behind him in a safety car restart when you're on hard tires, because they can't heat up and, you know, they don't switch on as quickly. So I think that was a really bad call from Red Bull when they'd done such a good call

to do that three-stop in the first place to kind of keep McLaren guessing and not just let the McLaren's run away with it. So I was very frustrated watching that as a Max fan wanting him to challenge the McLaren's to see him on hard tires. it felt very Ferrari-like, basically. Okay, go ahead. Come on, come on. Leave Ferrari alone for just two seconds. But it's true. It felt like Leclerot Silverstone kind of vibes, right?

Way back when, when it's like, why are you on the hard? So you're just going to be completely swallowed up by everyone. Yeah, I mean, we got six laps of racing action in total, didn't we, at the end of that, after the safety car just doodling around. And I get it, you know, dawdling around. You don't get Antoneli out the way. I appreciate that. Then it's the laparced cars coming through.

then we wait for the lapped cars for another lap, which I think is just one of the most ridiculous rules ever, to wait for lapped cars that are already half a lap ahead, they're not going to cause any carnage. To then wait for them for an additional lap, it's just bizarre. But, yeah, when we get to the actual restart, yeah, I am surprised that,

and maybe it's because there was, as an assumption, that we could get eight laps of racing, or nine laps of racing, I am still surprised that they didn't roll the dice with Max. it was so late in the race I don't think Max beats either McLaren's maybe not even Charles to be honest with you holding on at the end on those older softs

but at least he had track position at least he could do something to cause a bit of carnage do you think though this is what I find interesting that no one seems to really be talking about Max's tyres he had eight lap old soft tyres they weren't they hadn't done 40 laps

they hadn't done 20 laps it's eight why would you not want to be on better it's not like he's gone through an entire race cycle. He'd only just pitted, really. And I understand why the leaders would go, all right, we want softer, like, because we know how much the tire wear was. But, and maybe this is my delusion,

speaking here, but I don't think, I think if Max had started, been in the lead on soft tires that were only eight laps old, I think he's definitely on the podium. Let's not forget, though, that Max Rastappen was treating every lap like it was the last qualifying lap of his career on these tires. Like, he was not nursing them in like you would maybe, I don't think it's an easy comparison. No, bro, he came out and did a 17-1 on the soft tyres and was that eight-tenths clear of the fastest lap at the time.

Like, Max was not holding back. And I think that's probably one of the reasons why it's not the right decision. Definitely not. but maybe that's why they thought these soft tires. I don't know. I'm trying to put myself on the pit wall here as to why they thought, let's give the hard tires, but the hard tires were never a viable tire.

We didn't see anybody run it. So it was the wrong decision, and I think the worst decision they could have made, bar putting intermediates or wet tires on. Yeah, because we said this on the watch long, didn't we, that we had a comparison of Liam Lawson, was running at the bottom end of the points and we said that if he drops like an absolute stone

on his kind of used softs will know that actually that was completely the wrong decision and he didn't fall off a cliff, he finished 11th and he did lose a bit of time, but not loads of time. And we know how difficult, you know, dirty air is, things like that, it's six laps to try and hold off, even if you can't hold off the two McLaren's, it's crazy to me they didn't,

didn't go for the gamble and surely and this is a this is another debate if if max is in this this kind of opinion of well we're not we can't challenge for the world title red bull have to roll the dice then why not just go all out for the win because they have to win they have to win these races so i'm surprised max didn't though as well you know we're saying that red bull are the ones to make these strategy decisions i'm surprised max didn't go Maybe he didn't know it was going to be hard tires because I guess he knew after Yeah I guess he was questioning it immediately like

What are these tires? If you say pit, he's probably not in his head going Oh my allocation for the weekend is this is and this They probably just said come into the pits And then he comes in and he sees hard tires and goes If I knew that I probably would have said stay out Yeah

Maybe I would have liked to have seen an alternate reality way he did stay out Because I think we would have got a really exciting Last few laps Yeah Matches would have absolutely got his elbows out. I don't think, yeah, he would have had the McLaren's number, but perhaps, where he definitely would have finished higher than 10th, that's for sure. With everything else that kicked off.

Next question, P1, Patreon member, OK, Wafer 523. Does this pretty much end Max's chances at a driver's championship, assuming McLaren will continue to run 1-2 in a majority of the remaining races? It's, it's, it's, these, these weekends couldn't happen, whether it was a DNF for Max or a head loss like we saw today, they cannot afford these moments because not only is Max behind in the championship, but we can't categorically say

that Red Bull are going to be quick at many of the races this year. And he was reasonably quick today. He went for a three-stop strategy. He went really aggressive, and he was fast out there. He got Lando at the start, so he was running second for a bit.

He put himself in a good chance, and it all just came tumbling down for him. sadly and now 49 points behind Oscar yet there's what we've had nine rounds we're going into the 10th it's a 24 race season still a lot of races to go but any betting person would say that you would expect the McLaren's to continue to stretch that advantage with the occasional max victory at a potentially crazy race max needs to pray that the next seven races are wet and that changeable conditions and things that can bring him back into this title but I am of the opinion that he will require a few miracles from here on.

He requires now Piastrian Norris doing a Mercedes 2016 and colliding with each other and wheelbanging, which we still haven't seen and we'll get on too later. But I am still in my cycle of, it's over. Oh, never count him out, it's over, never count him out. And I am more... It'll be more... Montreal.

Yeah, I am more... Yes, very true. more, it's over than I ever have been before because I think we said that these are the races max has to win but at the very least he had to kind of stay within touching distance of the McLaren's. Let's not be around the bush here of the fact that that may as well have been a DNF his P-10. It's one point.

It's now two race wins pretty much that he's got, he's behind now on Oscar. And when McLaren can rock up to every circuit and even make a mistake in qualifying or have a bit of a scruffy race, they're still finishing first second or third every single time, normally first or second. So it is an absolute monumental task for the Stappen to still be able to win this championship. And I think that the big kind of kick in the teeth for Red Bull is the fact that this was the race they were banking on of the technical directive hits.

within a race win of the McLaren's, hopefully this now swings the performance in our favour and then we go, right, Max is absolutely in this. But instead, they're leaving the race with basically an entire, two entire race wins behind. Couldn't really go any worse for them. No, and I've just seen as recording that the paperwork from the FI and the stewards

for the Max Verstapp and George Russell incident, He has got three penalty points. So it is now 11. 11. In the current 12 month period. Just to kind of go through the reason, I think, as well. I think it's worth seeing what the stewards saw. From the radio communications, it was clear that the driver of Car 1 was asked by his team to give the position back to Car 63

for what they perceived to be an earlier breach by Car 1 for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage. In fact, we had later determined that we would take no further action in relation to that incident. Oh, my God. God, so they didn't even need to do it. Admit that they were not going to give any penalty for the Max George incident. I was convinced that they'd been on the blower to be like, yo, Red Bull, we're about to give you a penalty, give the position back.

Wow, so Red Bull had fumbled. Yeah, they have fumbled big time. Fumbled the bag with that one. Wow, what are they thinking? Goodness gracious me. That is a fumble. I mean, you can't, you know, it's still Max's hot-headedness that's got him in trouble. The initial fumble is that. Yeah. But the initial fumble is definitely on Red Bull there.

Why have you, it's basically, have you seen the meme where the guy's cooking the pasta that's already on fire and he throws it? That's what Red Bull have done there. They've gone, let, let, you know, you've got a massive beef with George Russell. And you get quite triggered by him and you've got a bit of history there. Let him through. No. That's just, that is literally like throwing, throwing fire. Sorry, throwing like oil on the bonfire, basically. Fuel, that's the one. Throwing fire on the fuel. Here we go.

All that, maybe. Additionally, it says the driver of Car 1 was clearly unhappy with his team's request to give the position back at the approach to term 5. Car 1 significantly reduced its speed there by appearing to allow Car 63 to overtake. However, after Car 63 got ahead of Car 1 at the entry of Term 5, car 1 suddenly accelerated and collided with Car 63. The collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1. We therefore imposed a 10 second time.

penalty. It's interesting that they're kind of in that wording, they've said that he's suddenly accelerated and then crashed into George Russell and then gone, that's a 10 second time penalty. Like it feels like the wording is almost leaning towards that was deliberate. Yeah. And yet still only gave a 10 second time penalty. Very lenient indeed. But good. It's like a live podcast. We love to see it. It's all kicking off. Getting things as we're continuing to record. Let's move. on now to the next question from P1

Petrie. F1 Audrey, is this Piastri's championship to lose? And do we see an F1 legend in the making? Okay, F1 Audrey is proper kicked off there. Well, that is a serious Oscar Piastri fan boy if I've ever seen it. He has

continued to impress me with most sort of notably his race pace. It's where he lacked in his initial stages of his Formula One career and we get into his third season of Formula One, three, third season

hasn't even completed three seasons yet and he's got Norris's race pace. He does. I genuinely believe that Norris might have the edge today if Lando could get some clean air behind Oscar and then close up behind him and there were points where Lando looked quicker but Oscar

was able to manage his tires. Yeah, he was able to manage his tires and push where needed. to keep that gap at around four to five seconds. I don't think it's his championship to lose as such. Lando is still a brilliant driver and we saw in Monaco, he's still got these performances in him that can close the gap. I think this, you know, if we're not going to have DNFs for one side of the garage that perhaps opens up the championship margin to something that's unassailable, I think we could get this go all the way down to Abu Dhabi, where it is taking points off of each other.

I think Oscar definitely has slightly more momentum at the same. the moment but I think it's I think it's a little bit presumptuous to say right now that Oscar is so far ahead of his teammate and that it's his to lose right now. He's not so far ahead but I think he is proving that he is the favourite I think personally you look at and I think quite comfortably the favourite Lando deserves all the plaudits that he got for his drive at Monaco but Lando's two wins have come from essentially like a wet race in in Australia where he was brilliant and tricky conditions that he thrives on and then Monaco where he put in that sensational pole lap but you know in the more normal dry races

Oscar's been the one that has been winning them and you know he's got five wins to Landos two and he is driving so well that I thought after Monaco maybe it's It changes a little bit. And at Oscar, Lando goes in with loads of confidence and puts in a great qualifying lap because that's the kind of thing that's maybe let him down a little bit. It's qualifying after, you know, because he had that amazing qualifying lap in Monaco, right, he's got the confidence in the car now. And actually what's happened is it's the biggest poll deficit all year.

And then Lando's not, you know, he's driven in all right race. it's difficult start again where he's been passed by Max, which meant that he was always on the back foot to try and catch Oscar. We kind of thought that might happen as well, didn't we? Yeah, we did. He was off the racing line. It's harder to get off that side of the grid. Indeed.

And then the fact that he's, every time he kind of really put the hammer down and you thought, we're finally going to get the McLaren fight, Oscar was just like, okay, see, yeah, you do that. You do that, hon. and then just pulled away. And Oscar just looks so calm and cool about the whole thing that it's almost like, yeah, like,

Monaco should have been like the big turning point for Lando, and Oscar's just come back and gone, now I'm still here, we're all right, thanks. It's an amazing, amazing drive again from Oscar. He is so, he's in the absolute pound seats to win the championship for sure. The thing about F1 legend in the making, though, just to just throw maybe a slight bit of negativity there is we're getting a rule change next year. And I don't know if McLaren will be this dominant force like they were. We're going to go into an engine formula where they don't have their own engine.

So this might, I don't think it'd be their last ever chance, but both McLaren drivers need to absolutely make sure they're world champion this year. because it could all change next year. So this is not just Piastri's moment, it's Lando's moment as well. They have to give it everything to make sure this happens because they may never get a better opportunity to be a world champion in their entire career. There's no guarantee that McLaren are going to be quick next year.

However, we did also say that when McLaren signed with Mercedes engines that they were kind of signing being behind Mercedes. It's true. Yeah, yeah. We did question it. Then we said, no way McLaren are going to be able to build a better car than literally Mercedes and they've done it. So it's, and also as well, let's not forget, they will have a Mercedes engine in the back

of their car next year, which we deem to be very quick or think it's going to be very quick from 26. So it's not over, but I fully expect the pecking order to be shuffled with sort of Ferrari 7 to 8 tenths clear of the rest of the field. So that sounds good? You sat you down for that? All right, perfect. B1Patry member Mike Savage asks

Are we ever going to see the McLaren's go wheel to wheel? No, I am convinced they're ghost cars for each other. They are in time trial. They're only led to fight Max basically. Of course we saw Lando and Oscar go to wheel to wheel slightly in Imola, but that wasn't fair. Oscar was on old tires and it was great to see them go wheel to wheel to and it was a great move by Lando.

But I just want to see a fair fight. But the thing is that they're so closely matched that when one gets out in front, like Oscar today, Lando couldn't really do much about it. And that's where it comes to my previous point about Piastrian, how impressed I've been with him, is that he is continuing to improve and continuing to have that understanding of the Pirelli tire

to be able to extract the performance out of it for the whole race. I'd love to see it. I think the way we're going to see a wheel-to-wheel bit of action is having one of the drivers clearly having a stand-out performance compared to the other, but the other is going to be in the lead of the race because then we need to see that pace discrepancy.

I think it's the only way. I don't, maybe this is too harsh to say, but I think that the way we get it is for Lando being ahead in qualifying because when Oscar's out in front, he just looks so comfortable. Which is mad to think when you literally last year

when it was the way around. But you look at the races where, and it's been very few, where Lando's been ahead and unqualified better and been ahead, we had Australia where Oscar was all over the back of him at one point before being told to kind of back off and then there was the lap traffic and then he had another go and was looking very racy and then of course it kind of never materialised because of the rain

and they both went off and obviously Oscar was the one losing behind there. and Suzuki, where Oscar was behind again and feeling like he was faster and could challenge Max, but realistically, that was never going to happen because they just couldn't overtake at Suzuki. So you kind of need Lando to qualify on pole and Oscar be the one chasing, because I think that's when we're going to see them go wheel to wheel

because Oscar seemingly has more pace in the race and is a bit more quicker and able to maybe push a bit more. and I hope I'm wrong because I want to see Lando in second place take the fight to Oscar because that is what we need for this championship to be spicy. Again, we've had another race weekend where the McLaren's a won to. It should all be about McLaren and we're talking about Max Verstappen again. And that pretty much sums up this championship, doesn't it? that we're not seeing the McLaren's fighting.

It's Max trying to get in there and try and do something. So we need to see them fighting, please. I beg. Please, I beg. We need to have some drama. Next question. P-on-Petri member, Captain Ovs 3420. How did Holcomberg not get driver of the day?

Drive of the season. Nick Holkenberg in the green wheelie bid to somehow rolled it to P5 at the end. I know we joked, didn't we, at the safety car restart, where he was running in ninth, I think it was, that he could come through the field because he was the only driver in the top 10 to have a fresh set of softs. Big brain plays from Holcombow to get knocked out in Q1, have all the fresh set of softs available to him, and then come through the field in one of the greatest. I mean, he was up five places at the start, somehow took to the escape road and still got away with nothing. It was just, it was chaotic for Niko. and then he pulled a move on Hamilton at the end on Fest Soft.

I'm like, what is going on here? What year are we in? But it was a brilliant drive from Nico Holkenberg. I love to see that kind of drive from him because I feel like he was almost having quite a an anonymous season. Apart from obviously where he scored quite a lot of points at the beginning, wasn't it?

Is Australia? Australia in that crazy race because of the wet. Some great points. But apart from that, you know, he's in a car that has been the slowest or second slowest car. so I'm actually really happy for him to have got such an awesome performance like he did today it's an amazing result because they've gone into this weekend and it's been a track that

they've seemed pretty good at so to deliver a p5 is absolutely insane can you imagine we do our top five predictions before the race imagine we like we like to get a comment if we're even put like a sometimes even a Ferrari or a or a Hadjar or something in the top five and people going, what are you watching? Imagine if one of us had put Holkenberg in there and the comments would have been and yeah, he's finished P5, absolutely insane.

And one thing that's actually quite funny, not funny to think about, is finishing three seconds off a podium the closest he's ever been to a podium and it's in a Saaba. It's quite a mad thought, isn't it? Probably the worst car he's driven in his whole career and it's within three seconds of that,

elusive first podium. Oh, just 15 more laps, Tommy. Just 15 more laps. And Holkenberg would have got that. Can you imagine him on the podium in third place in the salber overalls? You'd feel like you're playing literally the F1 game and career mode and everyone's been setting. Everyone's DNF door, yeah. Yeah, crazy stuff.

Madness. Question from people on pitch, remember, worm. What is going on at Mercedes reliability issues again? Yeah, it's not as if they're building a car that's ridiculously fast and fragile. It's all right, pretty decent, pretty good at times. And then fragile as well. Yeah, it's, of course, don't forget, Monaco as well. That's three in three, no, because Kimmy Antonelli had the breakdown in Imola,

then George in Monaco in qualifying, and now Kimmy Antenelli again. crazy. We are so used to seeing Mercedes as this bulletproof, and to be fair, just generally, Formula One cars in general. Yeah, being reliable. I don't really know what it points to, to be honest with you. Is it a case of them trying some experimental things with the car and it's not going well? It's hard to tell, but it's not ideal. I think Mercedes just realized that this year's, this year's, it's in the locker. Like, it's done. We'll focus towards 26. I think Mercedes will absolutely tools down pretty much now. Yeah, I think so. For 26 and beyond. But it's not ideal the fact that they're getting reliability issues. There's a lot of theories as well that, of course,

we know how Mercedes more than any other team basically run their car so low that they're scraping along the floor, which is something that Albin mentioned, didn't he? In Miami, I think, of like, how is that car even legal? And there's kind of talk that it's basically scraping along the the ground they're struggling with curbs and things and then they're so violent with their they kind of bumps that sometimes it like knocks the electronics out and things which is maybe what's caused it we don't know the cause as of the moment and but yeah to have three reliability issues with your car in a triple header in three races is just so unheard of in Formula One now, you pretty much see some teams just have maybe like, what, like two a year now.

So to have three from three is quite, quite insane, really. Yeah, pretty poor indeed. Let's have to biggest winner, driver or team, biggest win, Nikolkirsk, knock that one in. Nika Holkenberg, just phenomenal stuff. Anyone else as a... PR3, not to... Yeah, bouncing back from Morocco. bouncing back

it wasn't even yeah but I know you mean from all the the hype of Landau it's got to be Nika Holkenberg where is Holcombberg now in the standing he's 11th Holcombberg is ahead of stroll science

Ghazley Sonoda Behrmann Lawson Alonzo Bortolettit doing and Colapinto in a and I said it'd be last and I think I said it'd be like second last so I'll take the point when we review it at the end of the season.

But yeah, awesome stuff from Holcomberg. What about biggest loser? I wonder. Hmm. Oh, actually, Lance for all for not competing. No, no, no, before we go into biggest loser, actually, biggest winner, can we talk about the fact Fernando de one has I got points?

Well, some genius put him as their biggest good surprise, so we could talk about it then if you want. Oh, he did. Ah, okay. All right, biggest loser then. Max Verstappen. That's my locked in. Yeah, easy.

Oh, no, you've really cooked in these predictions. I've just remembered. How badly did someone have to do to be biggest loser other than Williams this weekend, by the way, who had an absolutely shocker? William. Stinker. Actually, yeah, I'll do an honourable mention and say Williams for there, because signs P-14 and Albon, DNF. Albon, what was going through front wings, like hot dinners in that race. And just coming off the back of four double points finishes to,

not score a singular point is a disaster, especially when it was a bit of a chaotic one as well at the end. So, yeah, definitely worth mentioning. Right, if we have to, it's now time to reflect on our predictions that we made on Wednesday to see how we did. It's 2016 to Tommy, and then Tommy decided to essentially press the accelerator from what I am gathering. So my good surprise, was Max Verstappen. Are you joking me? Wow. Wow.

And my good surprise was Fernando Alonzo, who finally he got... Score points. Yeah, and it didn't look like it was going to happen. He got two points. And I thought he's not going to get points again here. He went off, didn't he, as well? And, yeah, still managed to get points despite everything insane. Great work from Alon.

And so, and great work from you, Tommy. I hope you enjoy the point. For a big flop, I went for Charles Leclair and he was on the podium, unless he gets a penalty, in which case I will be taking that point for sure. Do we have anything, any news just yet? No news as of year. Not that I can see. So, because if he does get a penalty and it's 10 seconds, he will drop to P8.

That would be so harsh if he did. That would be flop territory as well. So if I am going to be crying tonight about him not being on the podium, I'll take the point in the predictions instead. If you just swapped your two round, actually. I know. That's exactly what I thought. Yeah, I would have been cooking.

I went for Oscar Piastri, an equally bad one who just won the race. Yeah, pole and win. Pole position, I went for Landa, Max Verstappen, sorry, which was no. And I went for Lando Norris. No. Which was no. In third position, I went for Lando Norris, which was no. I went for George Russell, which maybe.

Oh my God. God, you actually, if the clerk gets a penalty, I am cooked in these predictions. Because in second place, I went for Piastri, which was an absolute zero. And I went for Landin-Ros, which was correct. Yeah, you did. Well done. And in first position, I went for Max Verstappen, which, unless he gets a minus one-minute addition. No.

He argues the point that actually he shouldn't have been told to give the place back. So they reinstate him. They reinstate him as first position. Yeah. And I went for Roscoe Piestri. Oh, doggone. If you get the top three with a LeCler pen, I will be fuming.

I will then get a point for big flop. But that would be a great little top three cook from you, Tommy. Well done. Really happy for you. Right. I did something right in the crazy prediction because I went for a biggest poll margin of the season, which was correct.

So that's a W for me. And I went for Lantzrollout qualifies Fernando Lanzai, which he didn't. And then he chose not to do it even. He saw that he didn't come through on the crazy prediction. I'm not racing now. I'm not racing. My hand hurts.

Patreon prediction. I went for both Spanish drivers get points. And that was from DK1644-14. And sadly, only one of them did. And it was Fernando who literally hadn't scored a point. And then Carlos who'd scored four points on the bounce. Ridiculous. And this is insane.

His serene highness, seven different constructors in the top ten. And it was seven. McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes Salba, R.B. Alpin, Alpin, Mastin Martin. Oh my God, I didn't even think you'd got this one. Are you joking? All right, Grace is doing your predictions next time out. She might have to.

That is insane. That's crazy. Yeah, so you scored one. Max needs a drive-thru. Max needs a drive-thru, and then we get six constructors. Then Lawson will be promoted, and then it'll be two racing balls in the top ten. Lovely. I know it's still

Wait, wait McLaren, Ferrari Mercedes Salba Arby, Alpine Asteroi Red Bull is eight That's still right though Eight

Well, does it say Set Right we're going to go to No way No No we're not matching that That brilliant prediction Hold on

Wait wait wait Wait wait you're going to take away That amazing prediction From one of our Paying Patrians How day Absolutely Can I just

say, just for those that love terms and conditions, it says in the sheet seven different constructors in the top 10 and there were eight. They were eight. They were eight. Seven of them were in there. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Yeah, yeah.

So, but no, God, if you want to come support me, I'm more than happy for that. Right. Let's get to our family top three then. Wait, wait. Let's just calculate the scores just so we can see it. Why are we calculating the scores at this point? What's going on? I just want to see.

All right. Go on then. Calculate it. One, two, three. We're doing it. All right. for me. Four for you.

Well done. So 2417. Got two, didn't I? Did you? No? No, you didn't. Oh my God,

I got one. I am so cooked this year. It's crazy. I can't get anything right. Oh, no, you are seven ahead. This is the worst. I'm,

nah, I'm never turning up ever again to the P1 podcast. Family top three. It's six two to the Bellingham's. You're literally winning everything. In third position,

my mother went for Max Rastappen. Close. Which was where it was going to happen until they put hard tires on the car. Indeed. My mum went for Antonelli. No. In second place, my mother went for Charlotte Clare, which was actually not far away in the end.

No. But alas not. P2, my mum went for Max de Stappen. No again. And in first, my mum went for Oscar Piastri, which was correct. Well done, ma'am. Love that. And my man went for George Russell, so no, so it is.

now six three. Oh my goodness gracious me. No, I closed up a bit. Shut it. You've got to score three points in a weekend. I'm going to have to get some serious will knowledge for the Canadian Grand Prix. And that is it. That is carnage, that podcast.

Let us know your thoughts. I'm sure you already have on how you saw the Spanish Grand Prix go down. It's been an absolute pleasure to bring you all of this as always. Love Formula One. always gets me going and those five red lights are counting down. And we've got a week off now so everybody can collect their thoughts as to whether or not Max Rastabin should be banned from Formula One for life. And we will then come back for Canada where I'm sure Max will be so much more calm,

won't he, Tommy? And your final thoughts. And then he wins and I say, I was so back championship on. We're going to be talking in the run up to this. Will Max be banned after Canada? And then he'll actually just end up winning. We never know. Yeah, what an insane kind of end to the race.

I didn't expect to be kind of diving into such a mad incident. And of course, the P1 live shows will have plenty to talk about for this season. Even if it's not the McLaren's wheelbanging, I will mention that every single podcast until it happens. Or maybe I don't. Maybe I'll stop mentioning it and then they'll finally happen. I think that's the case. But yeah, we've got a lot to look forward to.

in those live shows, it's going to be a lot of fun. Yes, please come to the P1 Live show Delusion Tour. If you are in the places that I read out at the start, the link to that will be in the description, and we will see you very soon, unless you're a P1 Patreon, and then you've got an extra bit of waffle coming right now. So look forward to that, if not.

See you soon. Lots of love. Bye! Goodbye. P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST's creator network.