P1 with Matt and Tommy - Weird issue causes disrupted Canadian GP Practice

Episode Date: June 17, 2023

Tommy’s joined by a familiar face for a recap of Canadian practice: Katy Fairman join us!Despite some bizarre delays, we did actually get some practice in, where Mercedes posted some cautiously promising times and Carlos Sainz looked super sharp! For more info about the Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix, click here! [US residents only]Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy, but it's not Matt and Tommy. It's Katie and Tommy. Welcome, Katie Fairman. Thank you very much. Hi. It feels weird to be back recording a podcast with you. But yeah, I'm very happy to be here. Thanks for inviting me. You're very welcome. It's very weird to feel so nostalgic about it when it's been like five months, if that. and I'm sure a lot of people think the same. For those that don't know you should probably, you know, there will be the odd person that may not know, be like, who's this person? So who are you, Katie? Who are you? Well, I used to work with Matt and Tommy in our previous venture,

so that's where lots of people might know me from. but I'm a motorsport journalist, writer, all that kind of stuff. I've also got my own podcast. And yeah, I write about Formula One, Formula E, all that good stuff. And I'm really bad at doing elevator pictures. So there we go. Right, let's get into FP1. Although there wasn't really much of an FP1.

What a session it was. We had Pierre Gasly breaking down immediately, causing a red flag. and then we were about to get running again and then there was a weird issue with the CCTV which meant there was absolutely no running at all. Have you ever seen anything like it? Well, I can't remember which Grand Prix it was at a few years ago but I'm sure we had something similar with a GPS issue

where the GPSs weren't running so they had to red flag the session. So we've sort of had like a tease of that before but nothing quite as extreme as what we saw in FP1 because it was like, I think, was it 56 minutes of the session or 54 minutes of the session, which is completely red flagged. So a real shame. And I think a lot of people, obviously, fans are getting a bit agitated because they've paid good money to be in those seats and they haven't seen any action. But even the comms teams were getting involved on Sky that I was listening to saying,

oh, come on, just you should get going. But I can see why the FIA did what it did. you know, you get these cool shots of the control rooms that all of the FIA work from and they have to rely on a lot of CCTV around the circuit so they can check that everything's in order that some, I don't know, groundhog hasn't like gone and made its bed in the middle of the circuit and they've got to somehow red flag the session because it's not being picked up on TV direction. So they've got to keep an eye on all sort of areas of the circuit. And with that being down, I can see why they might be a cause for

concern, but it meant that nothing blooming happened. I know, right? Yeah, I think it was Australia, I want to say, that had the GPS issue this year. But like you say, that was all of a few minutes, whereas this actually meant there was absolutely no running at all, which was, yeah, I don't remember anything like this. Normally, you know, you get sessions sort of red flagged and cancelled, because of weather, but never a CCTV issue. It seems very strange for the pinnacle of motorsport,

but like you say, I think it is the right choice that they did it because they do have to prioritize safety. You're joking about groundhogs, but I guess even though it'd be a very rare or an extreme thing, but only takes some like one idiot to run on the track or something or whatever, and if they can't pick it up, you know, they have to think about these things.

So I understand why they did it. But speaking of grand hogs, that was pretty much the only thing that happened. You put a great tweet out saying that FP1 was basically a nature documentary. Yeah, thank you very much for the approval of my tweet. Yeah, we saw lots of different groundhogs. I'm sure there was a shot where they were like five of them just chilling on a corner or by themselves. and I'm becoming quite emotionally invested in these groundhogs. I'm not going to lie to you.

And I'm going to be having stern words of any of these drivers get any of these groundhogs is all I'm going to say because there is definitely some sort of emotional attachment forming to them. I'm beginning to think, do we name them or is that a dangerous game? You know, Gary the Groundhog or something like that, you know. But yeah, they are adorable, but they've got blimming nerves of steel. They're just chilling at the side of the track and just don't seem to care. We've seen it a few times over.

recent seasons that they have just no fear and they'll run onto the track in front of an F1 car. Either they have no fear or there's just not much going on upstairs. But either way, they are a real staple of the circuit, but it does give me quite a lot of anxiety seeing them being so close to the track. Yeah, it is weird, isn't it? There's no other circuit that consistently has animals just roaming around and it's just part of it. It seems to happen every year. You at least see one every year but I think we saw a lot more than normal just from the fact that nothing happened. But what did happen is a few people did a lap. There's only 12 cars that actually did a flying lap. One of them was Valtteri Bossas, who was fastest in FP1. Is he the goat or was it just because

he was the only person that did a proper lap? I'm thinking the latter. No, I think he's the goat. I think he's got the mullet is looking as beautiful as ever. And he's got a snazzy little helmet this weekend with groundhogs, beavers. I don't know. Every single year when we come to Canada, there's always debates about what these animals are called. And I don't want to get too political because some people might be really particular about naming these animals. But yeah, he's got a funky helmet design this weekend.

But it was certainly an interesting. top three. We have both Aston Martins in there as well, Lance Stroll up and P2. You just think Lawrence Charles probably just got a screenshot of that in his office and he's like, that's, that's my weekend on. Just tell everybody that was the result for the whole thing. And we can go home. I mean, that would be quite the race if it was a bot astrol one two on Sunday, but we'll have to wait and see on that one. On to FP2 then, a session that was strangely extended by 30 minutes just because FP1 didn't happen. Now, do you think that was a good idea? I mean, it's very unusual for Formula 1 to do that because they're very much, they're very extreme when it comes to the scheduling,

aren't they? And it's got to be exactly as it is and broadcasting and all that kind of stuff. But I personally think fair play to them for adding an extra 30 minutes, even though you could argue that we don't want practice running because it makes the racing better. But on this occasion, and you do have to feel sorry for the fans that basically got to see nothing at the start of the session. And another thing actually, what I just mentioned when I just said that is the fact that the CCTV actually took so long to clear up that I think the support races and stuff as well were like couldn't happen and stuff. They only just got it sort of ready for FP2, which is fortunate, especially when they are doing it 30 minutes early as well. Yeah, no, I saw a tweet from Jamie Price, who's an amazing photographer, and he said, yeah, that the CCTV issue wasn't really fixed about an hour

or maybe even like less than that before FB2. But yeah, completely fair play to F1 and the FIA for sort of moving things around. They've got quite a strict rule where there's only a certain amount of allocated time that you're allowed in between sessions, so from FP1 to FB2 and then also FB2 to FB3 and so on. So, you know, they were able to take a look at the same. the schedule and move some things around. But I'm glad they did because we've got lots of teams that are only going to get a certain amount of dry running this weekend because tomorrow,

hopefully it's going to be raining, which we'll talk about in a bit. But also we've got some rookies on this grid that have never driven here before. Oscar Piastri, Logan Sargent, the likes of those two really need that time on the track. And also we've had so many upgrades this weekend. So getting some dry running with those is important for the teams. But yeah, it was, I don't know, it felt like quite nostalgic having a 90-minute session. I quite liked it. Speaking of nostalgic, it was a Mercedes-1-2 as well. Hamilton from Russell.

Are Mercedes back, or was it just, you know, a strange session? I saw an interview with, was it James Allison, I think, saying that they're not back. It was very much sorry to burst the bubble. But it seemed like he was saying that, you know, it was a good session, but in a normal session, they wouldn't have been one-to. And Mercedes-do-do-do-do-been-a-pocket-up the Mercedes-a-back hype. Yeah, he was very much keeping his cards close to his chest. Some people, if they put their cars, one-two, would be, you know, flancing around,

oh, yeah, we did really well. And he was just like, yeah, it was more luck than anything kind of vibe. He said that the cars, they set their times, their fast times, earlier on in a session compared to their rivals. And then the end of the session was a bit chaotic because the heavens opened and it was crazy rain. So basically they got their good quality times in a sensible time, which is why they were one two.

But yeah, I mean, you can take some positives, I think, from that definitely. I'm not going to say that we're going to get a Mercedes one two this weekend, but it's certainly not going to dampen any spirits in the Mercedes garage by having that result. Although I have been surprised. Yeah. Look at me go. But yeah, that both Mercedes drivers were saying how bumpy the track was, which I thought was quite an interesting comment.

So, yeah. The commentators were saying that they've never really noticed it. And I don't think it's ever been that much of an issue. but I think it was Jensen Burton saying like it looked like an indie car circuit, the amount they were like bumping around and stuff, which is a bit, a bit weird. Normally that's kind of Mercedes big problem. But they seemed all right. I've got a question from Game Over Penguin that says,

are Ferrari and Mercedes actually cooking or will it be another weekend where it looks close in practice and quality only for Red Bull to win by 30 light years on Sunday? What do you reckon? I think, well, we had a chart, you know how F1 liked to do the splits times, and there was one of Science versus Vestappen, and Science was looking pretty good. I know this is a circuit that he came so close to getting his first win at last year. Fortunately for him, he was able to do it the next race in Silverstone, but I think science is somebody who you should really keep an eye out for this weekend. He seems to be pretty comfortable with it. And if the car, can get into a good window.

Tide, Deg doesn't seem to be as much of an issue here. Maybe this could be a good chance for Ferrari and science. But the reality is Max was 7 probably end up winning by 20 seconds on Sunday. So why are we even having these conversations? Yeah, I mean, to be fair, the Red Bulls didn't look like they were really pushing or, you know, going for a blistering lap like we normally see maybe. I think it's interesting that this person's mentioned about Ferrari and Mercedes because the big challenges, if you listen to them, is Aston Martin because they are hyping themselves a lot with these new upgrades. Do we think, can Aston actually catch Red Bull?

And I can't believe, you know, this is the first time we've done a podcast together all year. But could you have ever imagined be having this conversation after last year and a sort of, roasting Alonzo's move to Aston Martin thinking, what has he done? And could they be the biggest challenges? We'll have to wait and see. They seem to have had quite a lot of significant upgrades onto the car. And although that might seem great on paper, that's a lot of new pieces to sort of get used to, get to grips with.

It's very unlikely that, you know, you can change so many elements of a car and every single one of them is going to work in perfect harmony and you're going to be a rocket ship and, you know, doing lapping max for step and by lap 12 or something. But yeah, we'll have to wait and see. They've obviously not just quietly confident, but also just generally very confident with what they've got there. And we'll have to have to wait and see. But they seem to have, apart from the second and third that they got in the very weird FP1 session, there wasn't anything that I saw in FP2 that I was like, oh, wow, okay, I'm putting all my money on Lance Stroll victory here or something like that.

But maybe they're just being, you know, a little bit sneaky, seeing what's available, making sure not to bin it, and maybe they'll bring it tomorrow. We know Alonso and Stroll are both very, very good in the wet, so maybe we could get an Aston Martin front row lockout. Yeah, fingers crossed. I mean, Fernando Alonzo last year, of course, in the Alpine, got a front row. So what could he do in an Aston Martin?

Speaking of rain, there was a 40% chance of rain in FP2. And it felt like we got constant radio messages saying every 10 minutes, I was going to rain, it's going to rain. And to be fair, it got very dark, like loads of black clouds everywhere. and then it absolutely threw it down with about two minutes to go. I'm sure you'll agree that if that was the race, they'd have red flagged it because it was absolutely, you know, apocalyptic rain.

Do you reckon we'll see some rain in Kwali? If we do, please don't be that much because if it is, we'll be waiting around a lot because they won't be going out in that. That's true, yeah. With the circuit, like thoughts and prayers with everybody, the hairpin because my goodness it bucketed it down there. It was insane. We even saw Bottas have an aquaplane moment where I nearly went into one of the Ferraris which was very close. But yeah, it will be an interesting one. I like you say, I hope it doesn't rain that much. But at certain

parts of the track there was a few spots of rain. Like when we had the cars in this huge, I don't even know how to explain it like where it was so wet and it was just you couldn't see what was going on. No, that picture of science, wasn't it? Yeah, and you cut to a pit lane and there's just a few drops of rain there. So it just shows like how crazy the weather conditions can be at that circuit. But rain normally plays a factor into these weekends. Despite us doing it in the middle of summer, we've seen a lot of wet weather races and sessions there. Like you say, only qualifying last year we had exactly the same.

And that caught out a lot of big people, including the likes of Sergio, Perez, you know, where he managed to bin it. I think it was in like maybe Q2 maybe or Q1 and had to do that walk back through. Yeah, he does not need that for a third race in a row, not getting into a Q3. So yeah, it's weird you mention that because I hadn't really thought about that, that the whole thing with the pit lane being dry because to me that is so weird because Montreal is such a short track. You know, it's a one minute 10.

You see it at a spa and you kind of understand because it's a massive track. We saw at Le Mans, you know, recently that you have part of the circuit that's wet and a part dry because, you know, it's a massive circuit and there's different parts. But that was really bizarre that it only seemed to just be this one concentrated cloud on the hairpin that just absolutely yeated it down. I mean, that would make for a brilliant, brilliant race if it's just one corner that's completely wet and then we just have to see if they survive on dry tires. A couple more things. Alpine's reliability, what on earth was going on with them.

Gassley came straight out of the pits and FP1 broke down. Ocon didn't even make out the pits. And then he did an FP2 and broke down again. Really strange one when this year, reliability has been so good. Yeah, Alpine just seems to be the car just falling apart. Weird.

It was very, very weird. Like you said, very uncharacteristic, at least for this season for Alpine. But yeah, it doesn't seem to be that like the issues that Pierre had in FP1 were the same as Esteban. Establan apparently had a suspected loss of water pressure with his car

and so he was told to stop. And actually, from what we saw on TV broadcast, is the perfect example of how team radio and what we see sometimes on TV is really out of sync because you might see an incident and think, oh, their team radio is a bit unnecessary for like that thing.

But with what we saw on the national or international feed today with Esteban, they were like, stop the car, stop the car, stop the car, and then they go to a shot of him and you can hear he's like shifting up and going full speed and it's like, well, that's clearly not synced up well. But yeah, don't know what Alpine

are, have done what, you know, if they walked under some ladders, maybe broken some mirrors, because their luck was just awful today. But hopefully they'll be able to bring the challenge to tomorrow and Sunday and put these days behind them. Fingers crossed day. I'm going to leave you with one,

I want one bold prediction from you for qualifying. Oh, I saw this as well and I didn't think of what. You didn't think of anything. This is instead of final thoughts, I thought I'd go for this instead. Yeah, this is good. I will go, seeing as I was singing his praises earlier, I'll say Carlos Sainz's second row. That's a bowl prediction.

Okay, interesting. Amazing. And the good thing is, I can roast you about it on Sunday, if you're right or wrong, because you'll be joining us, well, joining me, for the watch-along. Matt will be on a flight, apparently. so I'm very much expecting the craziest race of the year,

loads of carnage, probably a Ferrari one too, LeCleur winning, and Matt will be on a plane. Yeah, it's going to be good. Looking forward to the watch along with you on Sunday. Exciting times.

It is. It's going to be just like old times. It's going to be great. Good stuff. And yeah, Tomo is joining me tomorrow for the qualifying podcast and watchalong. You know what?

Just to be annoying, final thoughts, Katie. I knew you were going to do that. So cruel. My final thought, actually, is going to be thank you to everybody that left such sweet messages when you found out I was going to be on the podcast and watchalongs. I've seen a lot of them,

and yes, it warms my cold, cold heart. No, I don't have a cold heart. I'd like to think I don't have a cold heart. But, yeah, it was so nice. so thank you very much for wanting me back and accepting me on the on the pod replacing mat this weekend or covering i should say not replacing he might get a bit touchy about me saying i'm going to replace him p1 with tommy and katie coming soon yeah i'll change the logo and you'll come back and be like wait what's going on here um yeah no it's great to great to have you back it's been great to have you

on the pod and yeah uh look forward to sunday i'm sure a lot of people uh will be buzzing that you're back because, yeah, had a lot of, lots of messages. And also close up any wild conspiracy theories that we fell out and don't speak, which is obviously not true because for any doubt, you know, we probably speak just as much as we did when we're working together, to be honest. It's true. I was going to make a cheeky joke then to be like, did you hear from my lawyers about the fact that I don't want to speak to you after this I was like, no, because people will take this the wrong way.

And be like, oh my gosh, he's got lawyers and all this. But yeah, it's fine. We're just as good friends as we were. My little bestie over there. Frederick besties. Right, good times. Bye. Bye.

P1 is a stack production and part of the A-cast created network.