The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2021 Abu Dhabi GP Review | Episode 167

Episode Date: December 12, 2021

What a dramatic final round of a thrilling season! The LB trio are back to review a controversial final race of the 2021 championship...JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAmSUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingTWEET us @LBrakingSUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage, Harry Yee and me, Ben Hocking. Right. Where do we start with that one then? Abidabie Grand Prix, last race of three. the season. Championship Decider, of course, Hamilton and Vestappen level on points going into it.

And Max Vostappen has broken the streak of Mercedes Drivers Championships. Max Vastappen winning his first championship. But he did so in the most dramatic of fashions. It looked for a long time as if Hamilton would be going on to his eighth title, only for a late safety car to turn the race on its head, and Max Vastappen taking the lead and winning the title on the very last lap of the Grand Prix. Sam, did you manage to catch this one? You know, I was doing the washing, and then I kind of thought, hang on a minute, there might be a Grand Prix on today.

So I did put the whitewash down, I sat in front of the TV, and I essentially shook for two hours because of how horribly nerve-wracking and painful that entire experience was. And whoever you support, you know, we try to be very unbiased here, very neutral as a three. All three of us were absolutely bricking it for an entire two-hour period. It was pretty nail-biting. So the whitewashing is another wash after what I've done to it, I'm afraid. Oh, dear. I mean, I just want to say,

you know, after what has been a lengthy season and intense season, congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for winning the Crypto.com overtake King Award thing. He is the king, the king of crypto. That's the real prize here, folks. And don't anyone forget it.

Oh, I mean, they put up the graphic with a couple of races to go, and I was like, nice try. It's a good attempt to try and get people invested in it, but come on. Come on, guys. They didn't it during the races, I was like, nice. I mean, I appreciate the attempt there, but no one's really watching that at that point. This is what the people want to see. So we did end up in a split. So obviously, Mercedes winning the Constructors Championship, Max Verstappen, winning the Drivers' Championship. but leaving it at that would be removing quite a few details.

We've got a lot to talk about ladies and gents. Thoughts on the lap one incident are later to come. Also Sergio Perez, his defence on Lewis Hamilton that helped out Max Verstappen a great deal. We'll be discussing that one, as well as whether Max Verstappen was indeed the best driver of this season, as well as being the world champion. But we'll start at the end. We'll start with Max Verstappenpin winning the title on the last lap. The safety car came out with five to go.

We weren't sure whether there was going to be racing resumed or not. Ultimately, there was lap cars, sorry, some lap cars able to pass, leaving Vastappen and Hamilton in a straight fight for the title, which ultimately gave Vastappen the opportunity to make that move on the last lap. Sam, the stewards, have they decided this? Did you agree with the decision? The stewards have basically entered themselves as an 11th team, it feels like, in this championship. they get as much mention as some of the actual drivers going around.

And you know what? If you're a governing body, you shouldn't be getting this much of a mentioning on a regular basis or in a championship review podcast after 22 seasons. So I think, if anything, that tells you already they've had too much of a hand in what has gone on here. Do I think it's the side of the championship? I don't know.

I don't know. I think Red Ball played it brilliantly in terms of their strategy. And again, I want to start by saying congratulations to Max Verstappen who, you know, did a fantastic job in managing a lot of pressure and a lot of differentiating moments, and they play a blinder with their strategy. Of course, Mercedes could have coming at any moment. At that point, when you sit there on, what, 40-lap-old hard tyres, and the person behind you is on one-lap-old, fresh, soft tyres,

you think this isn't looking good for me either way. Now, if the safety car reporting, as it was expecting, the initial decision that the stewards made, which was, lap cars will not come through. There is not the time we'd like to go racing, lap cars will not come through. I think Mustafa would have still had the advantage to be on the back of Hamilton by the end of the lap.

I think it definitely would have been harder. Obviously, we can't predict the future. We don't know what the alternate timeline would have looked like. But I do think for Staffen was still being a very strong place to possibly have got the pass done on Hamilton just with that tire difference. Again, can't make any fine decision on that. What I don't love about this is,

obviously, stewards have been controversial the whole season. They've set precedents where we don't necessarily agree in precedent should come forward. we've had drivers went off the track and sometimes with penalties, some without penalties, some with nothing being given, some of places being given back.

It's been very, very, very confusing. Of course, we're going to discuss that one as well. But now they've got involved with another rule set, a rule set that has, I think, been followed for as long as I can remember Formula One happening, which is that if there is time, lap cars will be allowed to unlap themselves and rejoin the pack.

And this has to allow for all lapped cars to unlap themselves and rejoin the pack. What was very controversial here, if you can pick up on it, then understand all, there was a lot going on. Only the five cars between Hamilton and Bastappen were allowed to unlap themselves and get out of the way, which you would argue that that was set up entirely to make the final lap of the Formula One season a show. It was there to make it look like a spectacle, to give fans something to shout about and to talk about. And is that what we want?

Has Formula One become a spectator's show rather than a sporting event? And this debate will range on. I can't give you a definitive answer. But I feel like if you're going to make a decision, you have to skip to that decision either way. The first decision was to not let that car's through, and I feel like you've announced that. Michael Massey announced that with the skewers decision.

And you've got to stick to it. You've made your call. It's not like you're driving 80 miles an hour down the road and a police officer pulled you over for speeding and goes, I'm going to give you £100 fine. And it goes, but I am trying to get to the birth of my child and I would like to be there on time. And he goes,

I'll give you a £50 fine and you can be on your way. It's not some kind of negotiation going on a change of decision. The law is the law, the rules are the rules, and these things do need to be enforced and stuck to. So I've got no issue with that cars coming through. I've got no issue of maxed staffing me right up behind Lewis Hamilton. My problem here is you let either all the cars through, as has happened, almost every single safety car event I can think of.

I can't ever think of an example that is like this in the history of Formula One. Please correct me someone later on if I'm wrong. I'm sure the stat now will have a moment if I am wrong. Or you let none of the lap cars through, and Max Verstappen has to get through via blue flags. And that's the race. That's part of the challenge of the race. I don't care who comes out with that championship at the end of that lap,

but I do want the rules to be followed, and I want it to be the proper way of doing it, because unfortunately, I think from Stappan or for Hamilton, it's a little bit tainting in controversy, and we will speak about this as much for the epic season we've had, as well as for the controversial moments the stewards have called. And I do think they've tainted it.

I do think there is a hint of it being a little bit ruined. Do I think it changed the result? I can't say. I don't know how good those soft times would have been on that one with that traffic. But they've definitely given a controversial talking point that they shouldn't have being at the end of this race. So I do think it's a shame.

I'd like to preface my opinion on this with just a few points. If you haven't listened to a review podcast before, firstly, welcome along. great to have you here. These are recorded pretty much straight after the Grand Prix. So you do get a very raw reaction to the incidents that have unfolded in a Grand Prix. I also want to preface this by saying,

I have no dog in this fight, completely unbiased throughout the whole year. If you want to call me out for bias, that's absolutely fine. I've heard it both ways, so it doesn't bother me too much. Go right ahead. That's your right. And I also want to add a third preface to this saying that, Max Verstappen has been sensational all year, and we'll talk a bit later on about Vastappan versus Hamilton

throughout the course of the year rather than just this separate Grand Prix. Having said all of that, I think the stewards have committed what might be the biggest disgrace they ever have done in this Grand Prix, and Michael Massey should hand in his notice immediately. In fairness, that last point hasn't exactly changed.

I thought that should be the case anyway, but this adds fuel to the fire and just adds another layer to the point rather than it bringing it to the forefront out of the blue. I cannot understand how he's reached this decision. Firstly, the decision to go back on his original decision is far from a surprise, but he's broken two elements of his own sporting regulation in making this rule on the fly, apparently. In the first instance, letting some...

lap cars passed is absolutely not acceptable. You cannot let some passed and some not pass. You let them all pass. You let none of the past. I'd have been fine with either decision, but you cannot select the few that you want to go because the only reason you're doing that is for the sake of the show. And my view is that Michael Massey and the stewards, they have a commitment to safety, they have a commitment to fairness, but they do not have a commitment to the entertainment of the sport. Because once you bring that into the equation, then suddenly you're weighing up decisions,

safety versus entertainment, or fairness versus entertainment. And I don't believe that they should ever go up against each other. That's why I think the stewards should look solely at fairness and safety and not look at entertainment. And that decision, I don't believe that they are any way biased against Mercedes or in any way biased for Red Bull. Don't believe that for a second.

But that decision was made for the sake of the race, and I don't believe that was that. should have happened at all. The second part of their own sporting regulation that they broke was the fact that once you let lapped cars passed, the safety car must come in on the following lap. The safety car does not come in on the same lap that cars are allowed to overtake under it. They have to wait to the following lap. That was not done. The safety car went into the pits on the same lap that the lap cars were able to overtake. So in two separate areas, Michael Massey, in making that decision, has managed to go against his own sporting.

regulations. And if this was a one-off incident, I would be absolutely fine with talking it down to that. Obviously, it's a pretty, pretty massive issue here because it's decided, it might have decided the championship. I agree with you, Sam. Max Verstappen might well have made it anyway. Completely by that, but he's got to be given the chance to do it the fair way. And I don't believe this was fair in any way, shape or form. If this was a one-off incident, I would say fine. you know, Michael Massey, that's all right. Mistakes happen. Drivers make mistakes.

People make mistakes. We're not robots. That's absolutely fine. But this isn't the first mistake. This is a long list this season where inconsistencies and poor judgment has reigned supreme. And as a result of that, I don't believe that Michael Massey is fit to continue in his role. Very simply put. Again, back to your point out, yeah, I think Max Verstapp and Mike Weller got

past. I don't know whether it decided it or not, but it certainly made it a heck of a lot easier. And it gave us a dramatic last lap. Yes, no doubt about that. But I think that fairness overalls entertainment. That's where I stand on it. Where do you stand on the incident, Harry? Yeah, I mean, fairly in line with what you guys have already said. So I wouldn't repeat this for the sake of what is going to be a long podcast already. Yeah, firstly, I agree with what you said, Ben, for Stappan and his championship. This is going to hang over it for a long time and there'll be people that saying he didn't deserve it

which would be wholly unfair because, you know, in fairness he didn't do anything to influence the whatever happened with this lap car stuff. So I think that's unfair to say. Secondly, I want to say is this lobbying and we've spoken about it already this year and it's a new thing for 21 being able to hear the team radio to the FIA.

But the lobbying by both parties, like in the bin completely get rid like the worst thing and we've seen a lot this year especially from the team managers but they should be the only people I think they're allowed to contact the stewards Toto and Christian both guilty of this but on the blower I mean that last lap every 30 seconds it was complete carload I didn't think I heard what they were saying

but yeah that just needs to go away but yeah I'm in line with what you're saying because even if you take the championship, you know, permutations out of this, you've let some lap cars go. What about the cars that were, you know, from whatever position down that weren't let past? You've disadvantaged them then because they're not allowed to go and race the five that were allowed to go. So how's that fair? So there's other ramifications to this than just the championship battle. So, yeah, I mean, it.

It's completely wrong. And the whole stewarding system needs to be heavily reviewed. And, you know, I'm not a strong opinion as Ben on Michael Massey, but whether that does mean getting rid of him, then, you know, so be it. But there needs to be some changes implemented quickly. Because you get the impression that they're making it up as they go along. And it's not the only incident we've seen where some rules are different on some races than for others. So it just makes a mockery of it, which is a shame because we've had such a fantastic year.

And like I said, this is going to hang over what has been, I mean, the race wasn't great up until that last five laps. But these rogue decisions are going to hang over what has been, you know, there's an argument for saying this is the greatest ever season of F1. But it's going to hang over it, which is, you know, for fans of the sport is a shame. so something needs to change quickly and I hope something is implemented over the winter months. Something that shocked me. Just one line that came out from Michael Massey

when Toto was trying to protest. I think Toto was fair to protest. You know, we were all in agreement that the way it was run was not to the rulebook it was not acceptable. So I think you've got everybody as a team manager to go, this isn't fair.

I think that's fair to say that. When Michael Massey turned around to Toto Wolf and said, Sorry, Toto, this is motorcar racing. You think, what a ridiculously... Firstly, unprofessional line to say to someone who is, you know, they're doing their job by trying to protest something. It was rude.

And also, you've got no validation for backing up your changes. You didn't give a reason. You didn't present an argument. You didn't... And if you've ever done any kind of schoolwork, folks, you'll understand P-E-E-E-E-evidence explanation. Michael simply basically stuck his finger up over the radio to Toto. So Wolf went, that's motorcar racing.

No, no, it's not motorcar racing. This is a rule book that you should stick by and you should be delivering. And then you're exactly right when you called out they should have no investment in the entertainment factor of a race. I would rather see the most boring race in the world, but know that it is 100% safe and fair every single weekend rather than a farce being creative

for entertainment purposes. The one thing that needs to change showing into the 2020 season of the new regulations is a full overhaul of race day. director and Ray Stewarding because we can't have another season like this. It just can't go on. That was absolutely farcical. And you know what?

I do feel for the fans of both sides because either way they're going to walk away feeling like they've been either hard done by or it's been tainted and they're always going to be an awkward argument against them for how this happened. And that's not fair either. They deserve a good experience. So not good. Not good enough at all. Yeah, I mean my view on whether the stewarding needs a full review.

I've been very clear on that for a long time now that it's absolutely necessary. What is allowed, what isn't allowed, what's a grey area, how do you determine this incident, that incident, that is what is necessary. And I really hope something does happen in that respect. But it really does feel like this race encapsulates the whole year perfectly.

It's like, of course it was going to end this way in that we had everything this season as represented. terrible stewarding decisions. We had controversy over team radio with Vastappan and Hamilton. We had great on-track action as they go side by side. We had an epic Vastappan overtake

on the last lap of the Grand Prix. It feels like this was the season person person. I mean, they were drawing up to a point in, but we might as have just had this race sack off the rest of the year.

Yeah, what was the point? What was the point in the previous 21? There you go, that's our conclusion, folks, what is the point in it all? There you go. That's what we think. Looking at the strategy, because of course Max Verstappen did come into the pits for fresh soft tires when that

safety car came out. We also had a VSC not long before it. That was also a strategic question mark. Mercedes left Hamilton out on both occasions. Sam, do you think that was right on both fronts? Or do you think that they had scope to get him into box? on the first front on the VSC I think it's a fair call the tyres are going to run long but up until the Landon Norris moment

no one had encountered any tire wear issues any puncture problems any risk it wasn't like we had the issue in Qatar where all of a sudden there were soft punctures coming out everywhere you get your car in that's understandable everyone was running fine and Pirelli said that those tyres could run 50 laps well Hamilton will have had them on for about 50 laps coming on the race We know that Lewis Hamilton is essentially the tire whisperer when it comes to making a set of tyres last longer than literally anyone else.

So the VSC call, I think, is fair. And it was paying off for them. You get 10, 12 laps onwards with about six or seven to go. About two months before the safety car came out. And Hamilton, they kept the gap up to about 11, 12 seconds, right? You know, they said to Hamilton, the Staffing League's eight tenths a lap to catch you. And we've seen that happen on both sides.

We've seen it with Hungary, where Hamilton caught the Staffing. And we saw it again where the Staffen managed to do the same thing to Hamilton. The hunt has been on, and we've seen it successfully paid off. And that wasn't the case here. And I think a lot of people suddenly went, uh-oh, Hamilton's going to start struggling. And the gap just didn't come down. Two-tenths, one-tenth the lap. It was nothing, which was quite impressive.

When the second safety car came out, and Hamilton still had a 13- or 14-second gap, you've got to take the risk. But for the Sagi's, they're caught up between a rocking a hard place at this point. What if the race never carries on? What if the Lack cars never do go through, or they do the safety car gets to finish that lap and because of that one bit stop, it doesn't count. The Stafford manages to just get trapped position in time and Max Mustafa wins the title that way. Hamilton loses out either way. I think Mercedes had one of the hardest

strategical decisions on that second time to make that they could have done. And because of that, hindsight is a wonderful thing, maybe they should have stopped under the VSC. Because come the safety car at the end of the race, at least they would have had 10 lap old tyres. And maybe Lewis Hamilton on 10 lap old mediums could have held off for a couple more corners on those tires rather than the old hard tides. The second is, of course, had no concept of this. Very hard to re-joggle them on that decision. But, yeah, I guess,

I think they played the right call for every strategy, which is really tough. And if the rules have been followed, again, back to this, by the stewards and by Michael Massey, then the race would have finished under safety car conditions, and Hamilton would be your champion. And they did the right thing. other than that they were a sitting duck and it went the way of red ball and the

stapling is our champion and you know of course it's uh it's not deciding over one race the staffing has been fantastic over the course of the entire championship um and that's arguably what's deciding it for him but this is tough red bull on the other hand play a blinder christian hall has said before the race we're on attacking team we're going to go out there we are going to attack at every form of strategy every option we can we will attack we'll be in the front foot and they did that they brought the staffing in whenever it was appropriate uh whenever it Sinks could do so. When they didn't lose a lot of time,

they, as a team made the right call. Their strategists made the right call. We've seen a theme of that throughout the whole season, I think. Red Bull had been on the front foot with strategies. And it paid off for them this time, properly paid off for them. Formula One is a dice roll.

The dice landing in their favour, and their strategies allowed them to take full advantage of a late safety car in the same wall that we've seen two weeks throughout the whole weekend previously. It worked for them. And I commend Red Bull strategists from taking the risk.

They had nothing to lose. they took the risk, it worked out for them. So sorry for saying, you had a really tough one to call, but well done to Red Bull for taking the risk when they did, and it paid off. It was a well-calculated risk. You know, I've just thought of something, which is admittedly completely unrelated to your point, Sam,

but I have just thought something incredibly important. Incredibly important. Vestappen won the title by more than five points, which means the sprint races did not decide the championship. Yay! Oh, I could see. Thank goodness for that.

Moving back on to the point of strategy, though. Harry, what did you make of Mercedes making the decision to not box Hamilton, not once but twice? Yeah, I agree with what Sam said here. I think the first one was easy decision. I think Hamilton's pace was so good that, you know, it was going to be a tough ask for Sappen to catch him out. I mean, he got about seven seconds into the gap or something, didn't he? And then it kind of petered out before the second safety car. Second safety car, it made absolutely sense for the stopping to be pitted again.

For Mercedes, yeah, I think the only thing that was stopping them, I think, would have been the fact that the race may not have restarted. And if they had given away track position, that would have been a disaster. Because otherwise, you pit Hamilton because if you pit him and Max doesn't pit, you're on the fresh ties, you've got a hell of. chance to overtake him again and if you pit him and he bits anyway then what does it matter so you're still ahead so um yeah like said that was a real tricky decision for them to make and you know ultimately it didn't pay off but i don't envy that at all because it was such a that was like the worst

time for a safety count for them to be honest because it was such an unknown when the when the race or if the race was going to restart yeah and red ball side you know they've been i think strategically they've been the better team this year overall. I'm going to give Sergio the mega disruptor Perez a shout out here because not only did they throw the kitchen sink in terms of tie stops, but they chucked Perez in there for good measure, and it gave it his best. He gave it a good go and held Hamilton up for a solid lap there

and allowed to just happen to get back in the game. And, you know, that could be a pivotal moment of the race. because before that, Vastappen is a long way behind. It's about 10 seconds, I think. Well, a bit less than that, but he's still a long way back. And with that gap there, maybe the race result is different. So, yeah, difficult one for Mercedes. I think the thing that also didn't help was that Valtrey Bottas was asleep for most of the race.

Not entirely sure where he was, but he didn't seem to be there. So they didn't get help that second wingman to help them. I don't envy the decision they had to make there. But yeah, I think neither team can be blamed for what they tried strategically, to be honest. Yeah, I would agree with that. To start with Mercedes, if we're looking at the VSC incident to start with, I have to say at the time I was skeptical, I was a bit on the fence about whether they should or shouldn't,

because it was obvious Max Verstappen was going to do whatever Hamilton didn't, which is fair enough. But I was unsure because Hamilton would come out, probably with about 10 seconds roughly disadvantage to Vestappen, but a lot of time to make that up on fresher tires. I was unsure which was the right way to go. Ultimately, Mercedes probably made the right call there because Vestappen, after eating into the gap a little bit in the first few laps,

it was never going to happen if the safety car didn't happen later on. So I think Mercedes made the right call there, even though I was a bit doubtful at the time as to whether they had. second time around with the safety car should they have boxed him I actually agree with their decision not to box Lewis Hamilton there just because it's something you've already

both mentioned of the risk of they're not being racing going underway again I had a look at that incident in the first case about five laps to go I wasn't sure we were going to get underway again so I think they were I think they played it safe but I understand their decision

to not box him because the situation where he comes into the pits, he loses the lead, and then they don't go racing. Could you imagine losing a championship under those circumstances? You wouldn't ever be able to live with yourself again. So I can respect the decision they made, but ultimately, yeah, they did get underway. At least with the decision that you made there, you give Vestappen, Vestappen has to make the move. The onus is on Vastappen to go ahead and get the job done.

You know, if he pits and they don't get underway, he doesn't even have to work for it. So I actually think on both situations, Mercedes were fine. I think it was pretty bad luck that they managed to find themselves in that scenario with Latifi bringing out the safety car. But ultimately, it's a 22 race season. The luck has gone one way, the other. You'd probably say the luck has actually gone more towards Mercedes than it has Red Bull. over the course of the year. So in terms of bad luck versus good luck,

I don't have a great deal of sympathy with that specifically. But I think Mercedes were fine on both decisions. In terms of Red Bull, I would echo what you said. I think Red Bull played a blinder all weekend long, and it started with qualifying. The slipstream tactic that Red Bull deployed was Sergio Perez, was grade A strat stuff. That was quality.

And Mercedes looked perhaps a little foolish for not doing the same thing. ultimately, I still think that the third sector was what won it for Max for Stapen in qualifying, but it was definitely held by probably about two attempts or so that he gained by getting that toe down the straight. So, you know, they nailed qualifying, they nailed the strategy in qualifying, did Red Bull. And then when it came to the race itself, they, yeah, they pitted Max whenever it was necessary. The Perez move, I didn't think it was going to work.

I thought Hamilton was going to blast past him, given the tire distance. advantage and fair play to Perez. We'll get onto that in a moment, but the strategy there was spot on. They did the opposite. They did whatever they could. Vestaffin did not have the pace to challenge at Hamilton. So they had to try every which way possible to get themselves back in the fight. And they did at every opportunity. So I think Red Bull nailed the strategic game out that. That being said, actually, before we get onto a driver of the day and worst driver of the day, just want to point out one thing, because I don't know, I don't know whether this is playing on his mind at all. But Nicholas Latifi obviously brought out the safety car late on.

I really hope, and he's not listening. He is a friend of the podcast, but he's not aware of it yet. I really hope, I really hope for his sake that he isn't blaming himself at all in any way for causing what happened towards the end. Obviously, there's a massive amount of controversy with what happened with the stewards in the last couple of laps. And obviously that's avoided if, if Latifi doesn't crash. I don't know whether he, I hope he isn't thinking that way because it's not his fault whatsoever,

but just want to put that out there. If you are blaming yourself, we still love you, Nicholas. Yeah, I love you very much. What a beautiful Canadian man he is. If you ever like to come on the podcast, you're more than welcome. Exactly.

We'll give you Nutella for free. Yes, we will. That costs a lot of money. We don't have that kind of budget. Okay, we won't. I retract my statement. Beer from Beer 52. Damn right.

Yeah. Great plug. Great plug. Driver of the day. Harry, who've you got? I'm going to go for the man that has probably scored the most anonymous podium in the history of Formula One. Going to give it to Carlos Seines, because I know he was kind of gifted at the end there with Perez retiring. But before that, he was having a belting race. He was kind of up there from the most part from the start.

So, yeah, because no one is going to talk about that ever again, I'll give it to you, Carlos. I think you deserved it, son. He has a way, Carlos signs, doesn't he? I'm just getting podiums when everything else overshadows it. You had the Ghazley Hamilton side by side in Brazil. You had the Ghazley win in Monza. He just can't seem to get a normal podium, can he?

No. He's like that meme when that charter's smiling and everything in the background is on fire. Yes. It's just him. I think he's more like the meme where, you know, that mum's playing with the kid, the other kid's drowning, and then there's a skeleton at the bottom of the pool. And Carlos Sykes is the skeleton at the bottom of the pool that everyone's forgotten about.

It's still in the picture, but no one's looking at that. That being said, who's got to drive over the day, Sam? I actually completely agree with Harry. Carlos Seitz was my immediate thought. The guy has managed to beat Charles LeCler at Ferrari over in his first season. which is fantastic, you know, considering that we say God McClure, Carlos Seiz has come along and beating him across the whole season, and he was brilliant again today.

He was great on the exit of the kind of the first lap. He took advantage of Norris having a poor run, and then he ran away with it, and I guess because of Perez, yes, he benefited, but everyone benefits from Perez retiring, everyone moves up a spot. So Carlos Seitz was in the right place at the right time, and I know we're talking about how he's always got pogiums that are overshadowed, But I think that demonstrates a skill of putting yourself in the right position when it matters

to really benefit from all this chaos or carnage or whatever's going on to take advantage. And yeah, it's not a wing, but the man is racking up podiums. And that will see benefits later wrong in his career. You know, if anyone ever needs a driver that can pull out those difficult scenarios, Carlos Seitz seems to be doing it. And he did it again today. He was really, really great. So Carlos Seitz, throw the day.

I would say Hamilton and Vestappen were as they have been all year really sensational but I would agree with you it's a three peat for Carlos Sines yeah he was brilliant you can't really have any complaints about what he did at all

went a bit longer on the first stint versus those around him paid off even with a few other drivers managing to benefit from safety car stops and VSE stops I know Gassley and Alonzo both did didn't affect him at all and yeah I mean he moved up a place because of Perez's retirement but you know that's F1

so fair play to Carlos Sines driver of the day for me as well other side of things worst driver of the day have you got Harry I've already spoken about him Vangy Bottas I know he started a bit further down but he lost out of the start and then he was nowhere

for basically the entire race and as I already mentioned Mercedes didn't have him as their sort of wild cards to play with, or at least it was more difficult for them to utilise that. So, yeah, I'm not blaming him for the result, but, you know, they could have done with him being further up the grid like Perez was. So, yeah, sorry, Botties. You're a bit anonymous today.

Oh, dear. Last race for Mercedes and Harry gives Bottas worst drive for the day. Dare I even go to you, Sam? Oh, Valtry. Oh, Valtry. You have my heart. but you also have my worst driver of the day accreditation. Because,

mate, it mattered so much. You saw what Perez was able to do. Okay, that wasn't the decider, right? Vestappen could get in a different way, fine. That was the deciding, that could have been the deciding moment.

And you could have done the same thing to Vestaffer. You could have held him up, lap after lap after lap. Where were you, sunshine? Did you give everyone a heck start? Were you still on the beers from the night before? Oh, Valtry. It could have been something so special,

but it wasn't. and it's a real shame. Yeah, Valtry was nowhere. He couldn't get passed off the cars. Hamilton's driving off and extending the gap on 30-lap-old tires and you can't get past Sengoda, who's brilliant in Middle Eastern tracks, apparently.

First time of places, that's the only ones he can do. It's just keeps his drive. Everyone talks about him really well for the first half of the season. I think it's a bit like, Sanghawee do what you're doing, mate. And then he goes, oh, that's pretty good, actually, mate. Next season it is.

Sorry, Botties. Also, I feel like it would just be tradition to give it to Botties on his last time with Mercedes. We'll see you now for next year, Bodies. Love you. And to be fair to Bodies, it is a 100% winning rate in terms of constructors, which is not bad.

I guess he can give him that one. Man, doesn't lose. Do you reckon he's going to go up to Lewis Hamilton going, I did my job, I want us to constructors? You didn't do your job, buddy? I beat Perez. You didn't beat Vastappan, mate. I'm the number one around here. Some of us can't always be winnings, Lewis.

I have a feeling that's probably not how that conversation is doing. Regardless. Yeah, so Valtrey, first of all, you mentioned actually Yuki Sanoda. I think he does deserve a shout out today. I know he didn't get driver of the day, but he was, you know, P4, brilliant effort. and I think it is true that Yuki Sonoda can only do the first race on the last race of the year and he can't do any in between it. That's the way it goes. Good news, Valtrey Bottas. Despite the fact that you were close, you will not be the worst driver of the day. Not from my side at least, so two out of three for you on your last race with Mercedes. I will say that I think my biggest reaction, and this seems crazy, with everything that happened,

my biggest reaction of the Grand Prix was actually related to Valtrey Bottas when he was one of the incidents where he was behind Lando Norris, just before Lando Norris Pitt. And we all know that Bottas is great at qualifying, has delivered some brilliant pole positions over the last few years. He's even, you know, he's won 10 races. But what's really been missing from his Mercedes career has been the ability to make these killer overtakes, which is probably what let him down today. and there was one where he was behind Norris going into the new banked corner I was like go on, send it Valtrey, go out on a high, go on and he backs out of it and I'm like

that was probably my biggest reaction to the Grand Prix I just wanted to see something happen but he doesn't get my worst driver of the day though as if you're probably the only person on the entire planet who had the bigger reaction to Valtry Bottos not overtaking Lando Norris than to the rest of the race It was just five years at Mercedes And he doesn't have these brilliant overtakes

That a lot of the other top drivers have And there was one right there for the taking And he's like, no, wait for the next lap Come on, Valtrey To whom it may concern I did nothing, Ben hates you Ben hates you Hey, I'm the one who's not giving him worse driver today

But the only reason that is It's because Chal LeCler was out there and you'll notice I called him Charle-Claire and not God-Laclair because he wasn't very God-Laclure. Oh, he's had his holy status removed. Yep. Sorry, you are a common peasant now, I'm afraid, Shal-Laclair, at least for the time being. Until you redeem yourself, you are now Shaul-Laclair because, well, I mean, he ruined the opportunity to beat Carlos Sines. He had the advantage going into the race, and he only started two positions, though, with him.

And it kind of just unfolded from there. I know I appreciate the notion of staying out to the championship fight but literally driving off the track the other way to get out of Max Verstappen's way that was probably a step too far Charles that was probably one step too far and then he messed up his tyres and you know stopped he flew off the track didn't he

I thought his brakes are gone I thought dear God here goes LeCler airplate crash just turns out what paying attention he was like I am not getting involved in this fight Goodbye. See you. Thanks very much. See you next season.

So yeah. I thought he was pretty disappointing out there, Charlotte. Obviously, good year overall, but not today. I was going to ask if, you know, if you were giving worse driver

the day to BOTS to be getting a triple run, I was going to get Dave out here with the gun because a special send-off, but you've ruined it. No, sorry, Dave, not today.

We haven't got the money to go around. Back in your box, Dave. Yeah. Too busy buying a teller for Nicholas Sateefi, apparently. Yep. on it, Dave.

Moment of the race. What have you got, Harry? I mean, there's a real obvious one, but I'm not going to go for it. We've already spoken about it. I'll go for Perez's defence against Hamilton because I thought that was a fairly inspired stuff from Checo, who's had an up and down year,

it's fair to say, but he played the team game and I enjoyed his use of the Lewis Hamilton Circa of 2016 tactic of just crawling through sector three I thought that was good so yeah that'll be

that'll be my moment I mean there are some other ones that you might pick I guess but I'll I'll pick an easy one first Sam moment of the race no Michael no please

please Michael honestly it is epitomized what I've realised I hate in Formula One and that is hearing these team principles begging over the radio to the rather useless Michael Massey. It was like, you know, oh, mum, can we get McDonald's on the way home? No, no, we've got McDonald's at home already, and you get home, and it's, you know, like a frozen patty from Asga's own that's just been put on your plate and it's warm. And, you know, Toto's crying in the car on the back seat as you go past the Golden Archers.

honestly I hate that I never want to hear that kind of communication of the radio game it was fascinating when it first got brought in and now it is being used

for drama and it is being used for lobbying and entertainment purposes not for actual useful points and it was hilarious to hear Toto

literally screaming over this radio Michael Mastersy but at the same time I think it epitomizes this season of what is going on what is happening

and let's move on from it So for me, yeah, that was it. Do you think, like, people in the lower teams are, like, just trying to get through to Michael Massey, and they're like, he's available again. Michael. Michael, our car's on fire.

Michael, Michael, a car is literally on fire right now. Sorry, just dealing with Jonathan. But it's in fire? Actually, guys, this is what we call Moeycar racing. Honestly. I do appreciate and I do love how, thank you, name is the equivalent of beep off. Yeah. I'm so done with you. Leave me alone.

Thank you, Jonathan. Sassy, massive. Yeah, definitely felt like that. My moment of the race, and it's, for once, it's not a Ferrari moment of the race, despite the fact that they, oh no, it's shocking. If it was a Ferrari moment of the race, it would be a 3.4 second pit stop for LeClair, which was described as a good pit stop, which tells you the usual standards of Ferrari. Honestly, I made the same point out loud When Crofty said it to the telly

It's like anyone else, no, it's terrible But Ferrari, yeah, it's pretty good Well done My moment of the race was It has to be Kimmy Reichen And deciding halfway through the Grand Prix That he's had enough And doesn't want to do it anymore

And he's like, nah, I don't want to finish my last race Oh look, brakes failed, oops And that was that I said that, I don't think it's great I said this to you before we recorded, but I don't think it's breaks I just think he put all the breakbys to the rear ties and was like, I've had enough of this. Off we go. I think he knows full well that the public will go about him drive for the day, and I think he went,

I don't want to have that stupid interview in my helmet, so I'm getting out early. See you later. You can have to catch me first, if you want to interview me. Bye. On the yacht, I'm off. He would have literally just said, why, wouldn't he? Why? Why?

Nothing else So yeah Plenty of moments to choose between No doubt about that And Harry's one is what we're going to get into next Which is Sergio Perez's defence On Yeah

You haven't reviewed her bold predictions I'd rather not to be honest Why? Why bother? Fine For the 22nd time this season So guess what, ladies and gents Our bold predictions were not correct Harry's probably brought this up for a change

because he was the closest one to getting his right so you can kick us off here. My one was there was going to be six on-track changes for the lead between Vastafin and Hamilton. I was a bit ambitious. I got 50% of the way there with three, but no mind. It says a lot that 50% of the way there is the closest that any of us got to a bold prediction

because Sam, yours wasn't very close. No chance, not even remotely close. I said that Nia, of them will be on the bloody podium and of course they were first and second again. I mean, just mix it up guys. Something so boring. I'm sick of it. And I said Kimmy Reichenen would finish

inside the top seven. No, top seven D&Fers. And to be fair, he did get Driver of the day, so you would think based on that he did finish in the top seven, but unfortunately, no, that's not how it went down. Are you happy we've managed to review all of our bold predictions

and confirm that they were all incredibly wrong? Yeah, you can move on now. Thank you. I hope you're happy now, Harry. What a sad little life. Bold predictions will of course return in 2022. Perez's defence on Hamilton. Seemed like there was a pretty massive gap forming between Vastafen and Hamilton, but Perez hadn't pit by this point on old soft tyres. And Perez was asked to basically do the job of hold Hamilton up as much as you can. And it nearly worked. It managed to get the gap down to about one second, one and a half seconds or so before,

Hamilton was eventually able to regain that time. What did you make of Perez's defence? Were you impressed by him, Sam? Honestly, what a brilliant defensive set of manoeuvres from Sergio Perez. If you ever ask one, how do you defend cleanly? You know, we're talking about running cars off the track and we're going to get to that turn, you know, that one maneuver that happened between the Staff and Hamilton.

If you want a showcase, if you would like a tutorial on how to defend against a fast car on a truck. track that has big DRS rates, Sergio Perez, demonstrating it. It was phenomenal. It was completely clean. It pushed the limits of the rules right to the edge and did not overstep them in any way. And you know what? Now I've thought about it.

I think inadvertently, Sergio Perez may have almost won the staff and the title on this last raise because the gap came right down. It stopped Hamilton extending the gap. Because of that, the VSC then came out and the gap was smaller than it was, meaning that Hamilton couldn't take the risk to box under VSC because he would have lost track position. It's allowed Verstappen to stop. Verstaffin kept the gap at where it was before the safety car appeared.

That again meant that Hamilton couldn't come in without trap position being lost. So in a strange set of dominoes being knocked over, I think Sergio Perez played a very, very key role in allowing Verstaffer to take home this title. The Stafford still had to do the lying share of the work and deliver the overtake and whatnot, and he did. But Sergio Perez, you take your cap off, mate.

You know, you deserve a lot of accolade, you deserve a lot of praise and Max Mustafa gave him a proper shout out over the radio, didn't he? What a legit, what a proper teammate he is. And he deserves another season in Red Bull. He has been really, really strong. This is what you expect

from a Red Bull's second driver. He was on much older tires. We all knew the plan. It amazed me when Corun Chandok came over the radio and said, guys, I think they're going to make Perez hold up Lewis Hamilton. As if the entire Formula One world

having been watching going, Perez is going to try and hold up Hamilton here about eight laps beforehand. And he did a brilliant job. It was a stout defence. He positioned the car brilliantly. It was a whole lap and a half, pretty much before Hamilton got passed. And you saw down the back straight, the camera panned up.

There's Hamilton, there's Perez. And about eight car lengths behind, Max Rastaf in his suddenly in shot. The gap came down from about eight or nine seconds to one second, which was phenomenal. Also, that combined with a fear that I imagine Lewis Hamilton was going through, of any contact for me, it's game over. I have to be so careful here. and Perez knew that, I took advantage of that. It was brilliant.

It was exactly what a tough defence should look like in Formula One, and I commend Perez entirely. He did nothing wrong in that instance. How impressed were you by Perez, Harry? Yeah, I've already mentioned it. Obviously, my moment of the race, thoroughly impressed with what he achieved there. And like Sam said, you know, it was all fair.

It was all fair, clean defending. And I know Hamilton was probably a little bit cautious because as Sam said, he wants to avoid a contact, but Paris took full advantage of that. And even though, you know, Hamilton got past once, or he got past him on the street, didn't he? He dived back down the inside, and, you know, it was all fair from there.

So, yeah, I was very impressed. And Julli, enjoyed the tactic of being very slow in sector three, which, you know, as I mentioned, we've seen done before, so I don't think there's anything bad with that. Yeah. I'm sure they're buying Checo a very nice, I don't know, whatever he likes, glass of beer, tequila tonight. So he played an epic team game there.

And as I've already mentioned, I think it certainly helped the step of get back in the game. Because I think without that, Hamilton is well down the road and they can't employ the tactics they did with the third and, or second and third stop. So he definitely helped contribute to the result, that is for sure. I mean, I'll keep this fairly short because it was fairly obvious they were going to try and do this. And I said from the off it's not going to work. And it did.

And I was very wrong on that. And Perez did a fantastic job. I thought that the tire difference, as well as the car difference you could say as well, I thought that was going to be too much for Perez to overcome and that Hamilton would blast past in the first instance. And then that would be that. And ultimately, that's not how it played out. They managed to do a lap of racing between. Perez and Hamilton, where Vestappen was able to gain on the pair of them by five seconds.

So Perez was able to be slower than Vestappen by five seconds and still keep Hamilton behind on that same lap. That's pretty impressive from him. And he didn't need to do anything unfairly in order to get that. I know Toto came over the team radio, say, was it, no, it was, it was, it was Lewis Hamilton possibly. They both did, I think. They both did about dangerous driving. There's nothing, he didn't do anything wrong. He was, as far as I'm aware, every move that he made was fair. And yeah, ultimately, it nearly, it was nearly enough to get Vastappan back in the fight. If Perez could have held on for maybe just one more corner,

then suddenly Vastappen is right there knocking on the door. But he did enough of a job and who knows, yeah, maybe he did decide the race out there. So I am sure, like you are, that the disruptor is being bought a big old bottle of beer right now. Perez, if you're listening, mate, and you don't adopt the name, Sergio, the disruptor Perez, and give us some accreditation, then you have missed a huge opportunity, sir, because you've got a whole branding line set right there. You can do so many things for that. Let's go back to the very first lap of the Grand Prix,

because we were asking before the race, how long would it take for controversy to reign supreme? And the answer was about six corners, which I don't think we should be surprised at, but there we are. Max Verstappen, despite having pole position, did not have a great launch. Lewis Hamilton stormed it off the line and took the lead into turn one. Later on down the lap as they approached the chicane that separates the two long streets. Max Verstappen dives up the inside, forces Lewis Hamilton off track.

Lewis Hamilton keeps the position. The official line from the stewards was that Lewis Hamilton gave back the advantage that he took, but of course kept in the lead. What did you make of that whole situation, Sam? Firstly, fairy tale start for Lewis Hamilton, right? Off the line on medium tyres from second place, getting a brilliant launch. His reactions were absolutely incredible.

I think he was a whole tenth faster than Max Verstappen when the lights went green. And you think at this point, damn, that's a real tough blow for Max Westappen on soft tires where he's going to have to stop earlier and now Lewis Hamilton's on the better tire in front, off he goes. Of course, this is Max Verstappen we're talking about here, now a world champion. He's not going to let it go just like that.

So he absolutely sends it down the inside. And unfortunately for Max Verstappen, I think he shot himself in the foot about five Grand Prix ago when we were in Brazil. Because if you were going to send it down the inside and crowd a car off track, you're now allowed to do so. There's now no issue about it. And with runoff, it means that you can carry on, right? The precedent was set that you can overcrow the car off the track. I stand by the fact that I think Bostappan didn't leave enough space for Hamilton to get round the track appropriately. I think Hamilton had to take evasive action to avoiding incident.

The studios then came across, and we should definitely trust every word they say, because it's always legitimate and correct, that Hamilton gave back enough time. Now, the issue, and I think Martin Brundel was very persistent about this on the UK commentary. I don't know if anyone else listens to it out there, I don't know how much you get it, but he was very adamant that they were side by side when that move was created, and therefore to give back the appropriate amount of time would be to put himself side by side with Max Verstappen again.

That's really tough to decide. I don't really know if I could give a decision about that, but I guess from my point of view, there wasn't a clear drop in the gap between Hamilton of Estabon. I didn't see the gap go from one and a half seconds down to one tenth, for example. We didn't ever see a point again where the Stappan's nose was almost touching near the rear diffuser of Lewis Hamilton's, you know, of his car. I think the move from Gestappen was wrong.

I do think that he pushed too far again. I don't think he was accepting a trap limits of both cars. You need to leave one car's width. I still believe that that should be the rule, and that is the rule that is written down. Despite precedent that's being set, I don't think he did that. But, yes, Hamilton did gain advantage going off the track.

The Stuart Cee is he gave that advantage back. He didn't get a lasting advantage. But that wasn't really fully reflected. So I don't think any penalty should be given. I don't think any further action should be taken. but I can understand complaints maybe from Red Bull fans, which of course are now irrelevant, it doesn't matter anyway, because the result went their way,

that more time should have been handed back. And I can understand Martin Brunzel's point of view when he said they were side by side when the incident occurred. That clearly isn't being reflected now in where this time has been given back either. I do hope, though, that going into the new season moves like this, where you could just lunge it in as late as you want, as long as one of your wills is technically still on the black stuff,

it becomes a legal move. I've got off-ang-off. I think that there needs to be some more restrictions put around that so we can have hard racing, but fair racing. But yeah, I understand the frustrations about Hamilton maybe not giving back enough time. They've got telemetry, they've got data. I'd like to think they've expected it properly

and they've looked over it and actually agonized it. Have they? We don't know. But I would like to trust in the fact that they've done that. I have no trust in that entire operation anymore. So it's a tough one. Really, really tough one. At the end of the day, the result is kind of flipped the opposite way anyway, so it doesn't really matter as much.

But for me, don't try an advantageous move like that where you force another car off the track. And also, if you get off the line properly, you wouldn't have to worry about it anyway. So, yeah, I guess it's all part of the scenario. So I'm a bit, you know, top and tail. I'm going to do a Harry Ead, sit on the fence and go, it was all right in the end.

Very good. Harry, have you got any splinters today? I'm so utterly lost with what you're allowed to do anymore and what you're not allowed to do. Yeah, I think the move, it was far back, but I think it was on, considering he was, you know, within that second. But, but yeah, you're right, Sam. This whole rule precedent has been set now.

Like, what? what are you allowed to do anymore? I'm so confused because you see in Saudi the Stappen gets penalised for not giving the place back and I'm not saying this is exactly the same but you've got this weird precedent where can you cut the corner and gain advantage depending on if you've been crowded out or not

and it's just a complete met and again this would be solved by grass gravel chaps we've been through this and you know arguably if this wasn't actually cane then Hamilton wouldn't have got away with that anyway so again that's another I think there just needs to be a hard, fast rule on what you can and can't do, because it is a complete shambles about what it's allowed anymore. Yeah, and with you, Sam, on whether they, Hamils and gave back enough time

because it never seemed to me that Vastatin was back within the same window that he was when the move was on. He was definitely, I think, within that second there. But for me, this is just a complete wider issue of it's a complete mess about what you can't do anymore so again this comes back to the review of the stewarding that needs to happen ASAP for me because

I was I was a bit like not entirely shocked that that that went the way it did or if it had gone the other way I don't think I would have been shocked either because I'm so lost with it now that I don't it wouldn't have been surprised either way so um yeah

exhausted is why it's exhausting watching Formula One now. It's very tiring. I mean, I'll give my view on what I think should happen. Not necessarily what is written down in the rule book right now or what might be these inconsistencies. I've spoken plenty enough about the inconsistencies of the stewards and how they give one decision, one weekend, one decision the next weekend, and quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen,

my blood pressure cannot take another week of be doing that. So I will just speak from my own personal viewpoint of what I think should be allowed in racing generally and what shouldn't be allowed in racing generally. And that is that the move by Vestappen that was made on Lap 1 should not be allowed in that front. And I believe Hamilton keeping the lead by skipping the corner is absolutely fine because you didn't leave him the space to go around the corner. if you want him if you want to take the position by all means do it but leave a car with leave one car width and i won't have any problems whatsoever i agree i think the move was on i don't have a problem

with him making the dive up the inside provided he leaves enough room for hamilton to go around the outside of him because if you're if you're side by side into a corner or if you're going into a maneuver into the corner you have to leave that space and if you don't leave that space my opinion is tough that guy can keep the position by going off track i don't quite understand what the stewards were getting at in terms of giving that advantage back or how you can even work out that number i've got no idea but so that that can sit entirely different i don't think campleton had to give anything back i would okay maybe maybe if he ended up 10 seconds up the road fair enough but the fact that he kept the position ahead of vastappen because vestappen forced him out there i've got

no problem with it whatsoever. And I completely appreciate that there are others, you know, Martin Brundel as an example, who have a different view on what should and shouldn't be allowed in racing. That's absolutely fine. But it's up to the stewards to determine what is and isn't allowed, whose interpretation is right, whose interpretation is wrong. For me, if we're looking at that move in isolation, because Vastappen has forced Hamilton off the road, that whole action has come to an end. That's done and dusted in that corner because of his actions. Would I rather those sorts of situations or situations like the Perez one where they can go side by side for a whole lap?

I find that way more entertaining than just shutting the door on the first attempt and then just saying, well, you know, he should have to give that place back. Well, leave him some space then. And you know what the most incredible thing about this is? Is that Vastapa didn't even need to do that. With the way that the corner works out, and we saw this with somewhat, else later on that I can't quite remember who. It might have been someone making a move on Bottas on LeClaire possibly, where essentially you don't have to cut him off completely

because Hamilton would have been so screwed by the line he was taking into the next corner anyway that Vastappen would likely have got past either before or at the next corner. If you think of that chicane, Hamilton's angle going into that second part of the chican, it would have been like the right angle where he would have actually himself been in a really difficult spot to keep that position regardless. So I don't actually think the Stappen played this very smartly at all. I think you would have been much better suited to go slightly shallower into the first part of that chican and then get the better exit because I don't think he would have needed to have made that move in the breaking zone if he'd have done it that way round. But here we are. Again, it's down to

it's down to your interpretation of racing. My interpretation of racing is you leave a cars width and if you don't leave a car's width tough but appreciate others have their own views i do think that the question needs to be asked of if the if the defending driver who has been cut off and has to run off the track turns into the corner to make it within track limits will there be contact if the answer is yes then i think you've pushed it too far at that point i think they have every right to take evasive action and leave the track to make sure there is not contact between two cars if the answer is no and they could fit in the track well you've done enough thing haven't you? You've avoiding. Formula One is a no contact sport. You've done enough

to avoid contact. Hamilton would have hit, or collected completely, Max Verstappen, on that corner had the move carried on fully on track. Hamilton did the right thing coming off the track. Yeah, I guess it's down to whether you are an advocate for back out or crash racing. I'm not, other people are. No. Yeah, I'm not. Moving on to our last point today, which is looking at more of the season as a whole because it has been an epic one from first race to last race. We started with the side-by-side action between Vastappan and Hamilton in Bahrain,

I think it was about a quarter of a century ago now, all the way to this point in Abbey-Dabby where it's decided on the last lap. And aside from Monaco and maybe one or two other races here and there, it's pretty much been banger after banger throughout this entire year. When we look at it all, Vestappen did hold the lead for a large percentage of this season. Do you think, Sam, that the better driver won this year? It's tough to say because I think both drivers, both Lewis Hamilton and Max Vestappen,

had stellar years. And if someone were to make the argument to me that this was the best Formula One season of all time, I would quite happily listen to that argument. Do I think Max Rastafing has been the best driver on the grid this year consistently? Yeah, I do. Just by a margin, I do. He's made the least mistakes. His DNFs have arguably rarely been his own fault.

Definitely the Baku issue and the, I know it's got a DNF, but also then the problem in Hungary. Completely not his fault at all. Lewis Hamilton has arguably been saved by a couple of red flag moments or a couple of things. gone his way and messed up on moments where maybe he shouldn't have been making those mistakes, such as taking a vantage at Baku, if he could have won that race at Baku, championship wouldn't have been going this way at the end of the season. That's a small difference that it takes. The staffing has made so few mistakes you can count them on one hand.

He got a little bit rowdy towards the end of the season, and when it started to slip away from him, Brazil, I don't think was fair, and then again in Saudi, I think it was a bit controversial and a bit unsportsman-like. But across a whole season, Max Verstappen has been pretty phenomenal. I think it's, what, 18 podiums or something like that? And I think every single one of them has been first or second.

He's never finished third this season, which is absolutely breathtaking. Absolutely phenomenal feat. And I do think that Hamilton and Verstappen across a whole scene if you get that, and then you actually score them, there would be a very, very small margin between them. They are far and above the top two drivers on this season. I don't enjoy the argument currently of the Staffling is on the greatest of all time

I would like to see more of his career obviously before I have that conversation but as one season drives go I think the Staffer can very proud of himself overall he's done a fantastic job and yeah I guess best man across the whole season did win although I would have said the same thing I suppose if Hamilton and won it today they are both being equally deserving they both work their socks off they both had to claw themselves back from difficult positions

or with a car that necessarily isn't the favourite car in certain races there's a reason why it went down to the same points on the final day. Forstappen made it come out on top for himself. And I think I'm happy with Verstappan being the champion of this season. Just as like I wouldn't have been happy with Lewis Hamilton. For me, Vastappen for a year is just the driver of the season. Yeah, for me, Max Vestappen was the best driver this year. And I'm not going to say it was a comfortable margin,

but it also wasn't like neck and neck coming into the last. race of the year for me. I do believe Max Verstappen was the better driver this year, which is almost why I'm finding this quite sad that it has come down to the ending that it has, because I do feel like the best driver has won the championship. I just wish it was under better circumstances because there are going to be those, and Max Verstappen might well not care, but there are going to be those who do hold a bit of an asterisk next to his championship this year. And they shouldn't, because as controversial as this last race was, and many other races were, In terms of pure ability, Max Verstappen has been sensational all year, all year long.

And again, if we're to look at the incidents where they've lost points, you look at Lewis Hamilton's instances where he might have lost or gained points. Well, Baku, it was his own fault. Silverstone, he won the race. The crash was deemed to be his fault. We've got Imola, he was able to gain back about five or six positions thanks to a red flag. So there are a lot of incidents where either Hamilton has dropped. points through fault of his own, or he's managed to recover for a bit of good luck,

whereas Max Verstappen seems to fall on the other side of the ledger, because if we think of Max Verstappen, we've got Hungry, no fault of his own. Silverstone, not his fault and was out of the race on the first lap. Baku, obviously nothing he could do about that. If even a few of those incidents go the other way, again, similar to your point, Sam, Max Verstappen has won this championship, probably not just with one race to go, but maybe two or three. If we're looking at luck across the entire season, it generally does go back and forth. But I think Max Verstappen has, generally speaking, had worse luck this year versus Hamilton. The one which is a bit of a question mark is Monza because that was determined to be Max Verstappen's fault.

I don't agree with that decision though. So I can't exactly include that one. But yeah, I think Max Verstappen, from first race to last, you've already given the stat of how many won first or second places is. had, however he's had no third place finishes this year. The only race in which he didn't finish in first or second that he actually got to the check of flag was Hungary, which again, not his fault. So the consistency from Vestappen was utterly mind-blowing all year. So I do think this, that despite the way that it went down at the last race of the year, I do believe the better driver won this year. What's your thought, sorry? Yep, I completely agree with what

you both said. I are both equally deserving of this championship, but I'm in agreement. I think Verstappen was marginally the better driver this year. And for all of the reasons you just listed Ben, you know, we joked that I was talking about how consistent he was and then he been doing calling. But I still retain that opinion.

I think he has been supremely consistent this year. I'm just trying to think when he's had a duff day, when he's had a day where it's just not gone, where he's not, you know, where he's not, you know, within, on the pace or in the fight. And I really struggle to think of one. I think his performances in two Austrian races and also at the US GP,

they stand out for me as some pretty supreme drives. But yeah, this is obviously not a question of who deserves it more, but I think for Stappen has been the better drive this year. so yeah I'm glad in a way that he is the one that won it but as you said Bennett it's sad that it's come under these circumstances yeah to be honest all I want is that I'm in a bit exhausted by all but I want just this again next year please can we um can we do that and without the stewards rubbish yeah yeah well yeah obviously um and that's chuck charlaclair and and maybe Carlos lines in there who knows uh if for russia russ will get involved

Rodgy Russ, of course, yeah. I mean, not to start doing 2022 already, but I just would like that again, because that has been, despite the controversy, an epic season of F1, and one we have, you know, sorely missed, I think, in the hybrid era. We've had some really, we've had some good seasons, we've had some not so good seasons. We've read it as my far-lambi. We. Wingo.

Wingo, it's me. Oh, dear. There you go, folks. I've been interrupted by my own stupidity of not replacing the battery. Yeah, I just want that again, please, because it was excellent on every level. We also need it for the content, so if you could keep producing that, that would be ideal. Absolutely. Please.

No one get a really good advantage over the winter because I are listening because they're going to suffer. What is your reaction going to be when Mercedes turned up to the first race of the year and Hamilton sticks it on pole by seven tenths? Or someone think of the listeners. No. 2021, come back. Oh, dear. I think that is where we will close things off for this episode.

Obviously, a great deal to get through. But a few housekeeping things before we go. Firstly, because it's the end of the year, that's us done. Apart from, it isn't. We're not going anywhere. We'll be back midweek with a review of our. predictions for the year, you are not going to want to miss that one. And then a week later, just before Christmas, we'll have another episode which will be the LBs, the LB Awards. And I can

guarantee they are all 100% serious. I can't quite guarantee that. Very, very legitimate rewards. And then we'll have either a one week, possibly a two week break, and we'll be back at it again in January all the way through until the new season kicks off in March. So just because it's the off season, we're not going anywhere. put it that way. Other bit of work doesn't stop. It never stops. The LB machine never slows down.

The last bit of housekeeping to do. Join the Discord. The link is in the description below. We've got over 270 people in there chatting F1, so definitely get involved. We did a quiz last night. Congratulations to Smiley Webb. I didn't want to say it.

Congratulations to Smiley Webb, who came away with a victory. Our own Harry Ead came pretty close, but in very Harry style, in very Harry style, he managed to mess up the last round and lose. We'll be doing more of those in the off season as well as plenty of other things. So get involved in the Discord. Link is in the description. Sam, if you wouldn't mind, for the 2021 season getting us out of here. Well, you say the 2021 season, I feel like I should do a little bit of housekeeping of my own. We are aware that the saying is have long. a double protest against Red Bull to the FIA. We are aware that this podcast is being recording before those decisions have been reached.

The chances are that things will not change because we're not just cured to like. They'll be pressuring into something, probably. But if something is to change, we will, of course, discuss it in our midweek episode. So do tune into the meeting episode, yes, Harry? As I say, aren't they protesting the FIA rather than Red Bull? Oh, well, they want to redo the classification, which theoretically would change the race results, which will change the world. champion.

We'll see you in a court in about three months of time, folks. Folks, we will be there in LBD outside court of law. Live from the court on Formula One. Anyway, yeah, join the Discord. You know, if you want someone to chat over the winter break and you don't know anyone at home

or in your area that loves F1, there are 200 and 70 old brilliant people in that Discord that are all chatting F1 and are lovely. We have quizzes, we'll have Patreon stuff. If you want to get more involved to support the podcast, if you love the podcast, firstly, thank you. Certainly, there is a Patreon, different tiers,

to get involved with. And yeah, please sit on us for the winter break. We are going to be here pretty much every single week until the season starts again and then we'll be here for every single race as well.

So thank you for your support. We're going to carry on with the award season. We love you dearly and it's been absolutely mega. That is the 2021 season in the meantime. I've been Samuel the same.

I've been bed hockey and I've been exhausted and remember, keep breaking late. Is that bloody fire alone? Find more great shows or join the team. at sport dash social.co.com.

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