The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Bahrain GP Review

Episode Date: March 20, 2022

We're back for the first race review of 2022! Sam, Ben and Harry discuss all the talking points from the opening race of the season, revisit their bold predictions and give their verdict on Driver of the Day... JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Ben Hocking. F1, 2022 is here. The first race of the season is in the books, and it is a great start by Ferrari and Charles LeClaire, taking a 1-2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton 3rd on the podium. The new era of F1 is here, Sam. Not exactly like it was last year. I mean, I'm buzzing. I don't know about you. But I'm about an absolutely lovely time.

Didn't expect any of that. I'm just having a really good time. That was really fun. So, well done F1. The regulations appear to have worked. You've done something correctly. Contact happened. The right person got penalised.

track limits are apparently now being monitored properly. Although there was some murmurings that drivers are allowed to just do whatever they want next to each other, which is an interesting call getting to that another time, I'm sure. But you know what? Gratziugazi. La da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da Ferrari. Look at this. You done it, lads!

You're bloody gone to dang it. I don't know what to say. I'm just too exciting for him. This is a lovely time. I mean, Ferrari, competent. In every way is something it's unusual. And Ben, I don't know how you feel.

Do you trust them anymore? In the mud, Ben. Hey, I mean, it's a long season. It's a long season. They've got a lot of time to mess up. But you are indeed right. It does seem as if 2022 is the year of it being topsy-turvy because Ferrari are suddenly competent,

Hasse are outscoring Red Bull, and Harry's actually getting predictions right. So everything is mental in 2022. and predictions we will come on to in a little bit. I think it's best to start with Ferrari, of course, with them claiming the one, two, the perfect start to the season, 44 out of 44 points coming out of this race weekend.

And we'll start, of course, with Charles Leclair. Now, everyone who was listening to the podcast at the back end of last year knows that typically we refer to Charleleclair as God Leclair for his godlike ability, but his God status was taken away as a result of a bad Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where he didn't do very well

and also he lost the signs on the season. So for the last few months he's been stranded as Moses Leclair. So everyone has been in touch constantly with me on this to find out whether he has his God status reinstated and all I can say is, yes, God Leclair,

you have got your God status reinstated. It will be God Leclair until he messes up again. So well done to you. The Ferrari won two, Harry. What did you make of the performance? You, of course, predicted a good weekend for Ferrari. Are you surprised that you're right and it actually came through?

I mean, yes. Utterly and completely shook us. I mean, it was such a weird, I felt like it ebbed and flowed throughout the weekend as to who were the favourites. Because, you know, Ferrari obviously looked strong, but after the final test, it was clear Red Bulls were there and perhaps looked like the quicker car. And even as we went through the practice sessions,

you know, Red Bull were quick in second and third practice. Again, through qualifying, it looked like for Stappen had it hooked up. And then right, the death, Lecler pops in on pole. So, yeah, it didn't look. I wasn't confident. I mean, I'm never confident about my predictions. And I thought, well, obviously it's not going to happen again. So, yeah, I wasn't confident.

But Ferrari proved, well, prove me right, I guess, and proved me wrong at the same time. but yeah they just as I said they just looked competent the car the car looked like it they'd handle anything leclair and signs wanted it to do it was better on its ties it was quick and qualifying obviously because they got pole and yeah it was just just lovely to see I'm very happy in Ferrari back I know they have been the butt of our jokes mainly Ben's jokes but the butt of our collective jokes over the past two three years but it is just nice to see them back and hopefully this is the sign that we have a three-way fight for the championship as long as the rebels can finish a race and Mercedes just get a tiny bit

quicker I mean that is a tantalizing prospect for this year first win obviously since the back end of 2019 two pretty terrible seasons by Ferrari standards Sam what did you make of the performance of Leclair the team generally and how do you think they'll fare going forward well obviously we bestowed Moses LeCler with his pure title of Goghler. He's back to that guggly status. But I mean, speaking of Moses LeCler passing the Red Sea, he became the Red Sea. He completely washed away the competition.

The man was on fire. He was ridiculous. I can't believe how strong they've come out this season. And, Harry, as you were saying, you know, we know what Ferrari had been like the past few seasons. They've been unreliable strategy. They've made poor calls. The car just doesn't seem to do what it is meant to do.

every time they get a smidge of good faith go their way, something bad happens and it all goes to absolute pot. But it's like a really bad scary movie, right? You sit down and you're thinking, okay, here we go, I'm waiting for the jump scare. Is it, okay, we've got an open door in the background. Is something like hide behind the blanket?

No, no, okay, we're fine, we're fine. And you get an hour and a half into the film where you're thinking, there's still no jump scare here, I'm okay. That's what it's like watching Ferrari this race. They manage to go through a whole horror film without a single jump scare, and you know what?

That's pretty damn hard to do. But well done Ferrari. Carlos Sykes was a little bit off the pace of his teammate, but you know what? I'm sure if you said to Ferrari, you'll get a 1-3, you'll get the fastest lap, and you're looking very competitive. I'm sure they're getting a bit in your hand off for that result.

I don't think they were going to be at all bothered by the fact that Scyx is running in third place. I think he's going to have to find his form a little bit, just to keep up with Gogler-Cler. But, hey, look, other teams make mistakes, other teams have problems, and Sikes was there to do exactly what we've always said a secondary driver should do, and that is to mop up what goes wrong where other people

have issues. I'm sure science is going to like being called the secondary driver, but as it stands, Lecler is the man who is leading in the championship. We'll see if that goes a little bit topsy-turvy and changes in the next few races. But well done then. They delivered absolutely everything they could, 44 points out of 44 points. And arguably, their closest competitors in terms of overall pace, Red Bull, walk away with nothing.

The gap between, who are the two title contenders currently, at 44 points. is an absolutely huge margin to overcome, not often to both cars at the front not finishing the points. So, yeah, I think Ferrari are going to have a very, very joyful week, and let's see if they could do it all again in seven days' time come Saudi Arabia. I mean, you say there's 44 points between the championship rivals, but there's actually only 34, because Haas scored 10, so it's a 44-10, 34-point difference there.

Yeah, that was an incredible race from Shao LaClaire, and indeed Ferrari generally. I'll focus on Charle-le-Claire firstly. That battle with Max Verstappen, firstly was fantastic for F-1 because if we can see that more often going forward in this season, that is great for the sport generally.

And we'll talk about how the 2022 cars stacked up versus what we expected a little bit later on. But at least looking at that series of overtakes and re-overtakes in isolation, that was fantastic to see. and I think a lot of people have slept on Charle-Laclair as a result of Ferrari not being up to speed in the last couple of years. I think some people have forgotten how good he exactly is. And a lot of the time throughout the 2021 season, the narrative was there's Lewis Hamilton, there's Max Verstappen,

and then there's a bunch of other guys. And there isn't anyone else on the grid capable of battling the two of them. And I think Charlotte-Clair proved today that he isn't to be forgotten about. he is still there and when he's given a car that is capable, he can absolutely take it to the best in Formula One. I'm convinced that Charles Leclair, I don't know, well, obviously Max Verstappen retired, so that changes things a bit.

But I am convinced that the majority of drivers in Charles Leclair's position would have been overtaken by Max Verstappen today. I think the majority of drivers would have been overtaken into turn one and tried to defend that position too hard and not giving themselves the opportunity back down into turn four. Charlotte-Clau was fantastic. He was more than happy to give up the position in the first instance because he knew, tactically speaking, strategically thinking,

he could get that position back if he's to stay in the slipstream and get the move done into turn four. I'm convinced the majority of drivers don't see that situation unfold. They try and hold on to the position into turn one, and as a result they lose the position. And Max Verstappen goes on to not necessarily win the race because of what happened with reliability, but he would have gone on to lead.

Darla Claire was fantastic in that respect. In terms of the team, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And we record this almost straight after the Grand Prix happens. So I still can't believe what I saw. I am pretty certain, or I was pretty certain, that it was a glitch in the graphics, because that wasn't uncommon today when it came up with a 2.3 second pit stop

when everyone else were struggling to break three seconds. That's Ferrari we're talking about, the kings of five second pit stops. and strategically, there was one call over the team radio, which was to Charlerclair, all it said was, we're staying with Plan A. What happened to Plan G minus seven laps? That is competent.

That's sticky to your guns. Well done, Ferrari. I don't think it was perfect, and this is going to sound, you know, this is going to sound strange, because normally this doesn't work out this way, but I actually think the safety car somewhat ruined the end of this race because I think it would have been fascinating to see whether it was Lecler or Vestappen

that had the better strategy and because we don't know that I can't throw my confidence behind Ferrari my instinct is Red Bull got that right and Vestappen would have gone on to overtake Leclair not sure we'll never know but until I see Red Bull versus Ferrari in a strategic fight like that one that was about to unfold and Ferrari get it right and win I can't I I can't say with confidence they've got this. There was a, there was a glimpse of panic, wasn't there? I know, and I see what you mean, because they pitted Vastappen, and then Ferrari reacted by pitting signs.

And I was like, hang on a second, that's the wrong, that's the wrong Ferrari for the wrong Red Bull. You're reacting to the wrong one. And then obviously, say, I came out, and then Rebel retired, so it didn't matter. But yeah, you're right. There was a glimpse of them going, oh God, mamma mea, oh God. Yeah.

I think by my rough calculations were that Vestappen was going to have to be on average two seconds a lap faster for the rest of the Grand Prix and Deg was high so I think he could have done it but again we will never know. I disagree with you. You're coming out with a hypothetical situation

and the amount of times that we've said in a Formula One race that staying out that extra lap controlling the pace and maybe a late safety car comes out is a viable and fair strategy and yeah, okay, it was a bit like hang on a minute, we need to do the workings out. What is the plan here before that safety car comes out?

But they reacted perfectly well the same two times beforehand. It paid off for them. Yes, it was close with the Stauffin doing the undercut. But it worked. LeCler is calm. He was dictating things well. I think over the radio at one point, you heard Ferrari go, you're pulling away, you're faster.

And then LeCle going, yeah, just remember, folks. He's on the used tire. We are on the nude tire. Let's remember there is a difference here. Just calm down, everyone. We're only eight laps into the championship here. And then, you know, I think staying out for a safety car is a fair call. And I think that LeCler would have had enough to maybe keep pushing and keep pushing.

You're right, we've seen it before. It's happened with Hamilton of the Stapen, you know, that famous Hungary Grand Prix where Hamilton clawed back the time, made the move. It definitely was possible that that could happen again. But fair play. I think Ferrari did enough. And you know what strategically, when the safety car restarted, they were well in front.

LeCleur executed the restart brilliantly by squeezing. the stapper on the eating side. It was, for me, for once, I can't believe them saying it, Ferrari, you were flawless. I thought it was brilliant from then. Huge. Huge. Forgive me. I want to see them win a Hungary 2019, a Spain, 2021, before I'm like, yeah, they got it.

Baby steps, please. That's true. That's true. They had to tell. They had to try and tell their drivers that if they don't get overtaken, they'll win the race a season. go. Let's just let them actually do wearing a championship first, please.

You mentioned that point about Lecler having to calm them down. I did enjoy that because it was like, they were like eight laps in as you say and they're like, we're winning, we're winning, we're quick. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, guys. Yeah, give us the championship now. Let's take a breath. Yeah, so maybe not

all of their previous problems have been resolved, but you're absolutely right. a step in the right direction, both in terms of performance and indeed in terms of tactics and strategy. Carlos signs, obviously until the safety car, he was considerably behind Charlerclair. He didn't seem to have much pace all weekend, really, throughout practice. He did put out the bag in Q3 to get close to Shao LaClaire, although he didn't out-qualify him. But in the race, he was consistently double-digit seconds behind. Harry, do you think that's a sign of things to come, or do you think this was a bit of a one-off?

I would hope to say it's a one-off. And we've already seen from last year that signs can match LeCler. I think Sines himself will be hoping it's a one-off. And after both Kuala yesterday and today, and, you know, admittedly he probably slightly lucked into that P2 at the end, but you ought to take them. But at both times, he seemed quite down and dejected about his own performance.

And I think he knew that it wasn't quick enough and that he, you know, because he can't carry out, If he wants to challenge Leclerc He can't carry on at that sort of pace for the rest of the year because Leclerclair will just run off into the distance. So, yeah, I'm confident that it won't be the case for the rest of the year. But yeah, I think Signs himself immediately recognised that he couldn't afford to be that far behind Leclair because otherwise it's going to be him versus Perez rather than him versus Verstappen and Leclair. Because that was the kind of level he was operating at today.

so yeah not overly concerned but he definitely needs to step it up for the remaining well the remaining races the rest of the season yeah my view is that Ferrari don't need to be concerned because if this is the absolute worst of carlos signs then they're doing okay and they've got a lineup that is capable of winning the championship as long as they are given that car that is necessary to win it yeah i think this is a bit of a one-off rather than a pattern and i'll need to see it a few times before I'm convinced that Charleclair is going to walk away with that Ferrari battle based on what we saw last year. But like I say, if signs is there to pick up the pieces and that's the worst version of signs, then they've already got what Red Bull have. So they're not losing out

to Red Bull in that respect. Sam, one-off pattern. Which way are you leading? I've got a lot of faith in Carlos Sankt. We've seen him deliver immediately in the Ferrari last season. You obviously, with a little bit of good fortune he finished in front of Lecler over a whole season, which we shouldn't disregard because of one race result. You know, this could have happened in the middle of the season last year, we may have said the same thing. It's totally fine to have something where you've got your best performance. And in his McLaren days as well, you know, you know how highly we all rate Norris. And Sykes has been a fantastic job there as well. So I'm not going to start, you know, putting the emergency fires out. I'm not going to have to start, you know,

setting a board meeting ready to talk about Carlos Sites. The man had a slightly off day. And you You know what? If Carlos Seitz is qualifying in P3 just behind his teammate, and he's finishing P2 in the race only a couple of seconds off his teammate, and he's being this critical about himself, he's demanding more, he wants to get more out of himself, he thinks he could do better. That was bad in Carlos Seitz's eyes about what his performance was. I actually think that's very promising.

I think that's really, really strong that Carlos Seitz goes, you know what, not good enough. Second place, not good enough. One, two, not good enough. Unless I am the one at the front, it's not good enough. I'm sure he's a bit gutter. He still doesn't have a race. wing in his pocket or on his stats. But I think it's coming.

And I do have faith in Carlos Sites. Otherwise, we could end up seeing Carlos Sites jump into the previous season Valtry Bottas shoes, where he is going to be resigned to fighting Sergio Perez for the whole season, getting out of the way of McClure if there's any problems. And he will have to play second fiddle under second driver. And we know that Ferrari, I'm not afraid to use team orders and prioritize one driver of another. It happened when Lecler went to Ferrari with Vesler.

selling charge. Obviously that quickly changed, but they immediately implemented driver team orders. And we've seen it, of course, with the likes of Schumacher and Barakello, alongside and Massa, you know, Felipe, baby, also is faster than you. We've heard it all before with Ferrari. So, science gets to make sure he's skill on it. I believe he will be. If he isn't, I'm sure Ferrari will not fret to start putting priority on one side of the gallery. Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live. Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips.

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physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Okay, moving on to Mercedes. Third and fourth place. Not ideal, as Sam might say, based on their recent history. But given the pace of their car, that might be all that they could have achieved this weekend. Would you agree with that, Harry? Do you think third and fourth was about as much as they could get, given the circumstances?

I think there's more, I think it's more than they probably should have got, to be honest. and, you know, they should be... Kareem Chandark at the end of the race made the very good point that Mercedes will be concerned that by lap 47 or whatever it was or late in the race, before the safety car came out,

they were like 37 seconds behind Lecler, or at least Hamilton was, and obviously Russell was further back, and that's, you know, not far off a second of lap that they were dropping to him. I know they did different strategies, but still, that's concerning.

So, yeah, for Mercedes, look this if they if they if anyone any team can turn turn it around this year it'll be it's Mercedes isn't it so they'll be concerned about the pace but I think given given the circumstances this is a this is a very good very good result for them and I get I think you know after quality yesterday probably not in one they were hoping for a three four from a five nine starting position that I think I think I'll take that because they know it's a long season and if they turn that car around and get it working properly then these could be very valuable points particularly when red ball have scored absolute jack all well if we look at

towards the end of this season if we do find that Mercedes are in a championship winning position or a better position sam do you think they'll look back at this race and think wow what a result that was given the relative performance i think they're going at absolutely thank their lucky stars. I think lucky is what they should be playing by Madonna on the bloody flight over to Saudi Arabia because it couldn't have been any better for them, I think. You know, not only did they not bring the car to Bahrain in terms of the car that could win a race, of course, they did actually manage to bring two cars, folks. The fact that if you were said to me a week ago, Mercedes will be closer to Haas than they

will be to Ferrari and Red Bull, I would have, I don't know, my head will have exploded. I'm not entirely sure how you're meant to do with that information after winning eight Constructors titles in a row that Kevin Magnuson would probably be the biggest bother to them after what we've seen recently. You think new era, new regulations who absolutely dominated last time, Mercedes, who's got the financial backing, the technical know-how, the ability, the drivers to make the most of a new era, Mercedes, what haven't they done? Make the most of a new era. And I think the fact that they've seen their two closest title rivals over the last decade, absolutely flounder, with power training issues, with three Red Bull power train cars out in the first race at the end of it.

It's absolutely shocking. That is worrying for Red Bull. They're going to have to do some big changes. So the fact that they're walking away second in the constructors and their drivers are third and fourth is, like I've said, lucky. They were the first team to try out the hard tire. That was an abysmal decision. They took forever to get George Russell off of that hard tire, despite seeing Lewis Hamilton going three. three seconds a lap faster on the medium tire than George Russell.

Why did it take you five laps? He was at 15, 16 seconds. The gap closed at that point. He almost won himself a whole pit stop back at that point. Russell, in qualifying as well, absolutely dropped the ball in Q3, missed the apex on turn one and was so off the pace for the last run, and it was almost pointless doing so. Mercedes may not have brought the best car,

but they definitely also showed a lot of chinks in their armour. Their pit stops were slow, the strategic decisions were poor, and Russell's qualifying was not really good enough. So I think the fact that they've walked away here with a 3-4, and you're right, if it comes to the final race of the season and there's maybe a 15 to 20-point gap to them and maybe Red Bull about who finished your second or first or wherever it may be, and misses the difference,

count your lucky stars, because you don't get a blessing like this often a sport as Ruthus as Formula One. Yeah, a point that both of you alluded to is not necessarily for Mercedes, I think, the worrying thing. I don't think it's most worrying where they are in terms of position. It's most worrying where they are in terms of pace, because if you're going to list the teams out in terms of pace first through 10th,

they would appear third, in which case you wouldn't be all that concerned, although obviously they do want to be fighting the two above them. What's most concerning is that gap, because the gap between Red Bull or Ferrari and second, back to Mercedes and third, that gap is larger than the gap between Mercedes in third and maybe Alpha Tauri or Alpian seventh. But that's the reality of it.

That third to seventh group, based on Bahrain at least, very, very closely aligned. The top two were a long way clear to the point where they had pit stops in hand. So this isn't just going to be a little bit of a resolution needed. This is going to be wholesale revolution needed for Mercedes in order to get back up. to those top two positions. Yes, they absolutely did the best they could in terms of the result. Third and fourth was better than what they deserved. And Mercedes were very adamant throughout the weekend that we just want to make it to the end.

We just want to make it to the end. We'll see where we're at. And we're all like, yeah, okay, yeah, you're going to be fine for the win. But they were actually truthful. They did just want to be there at the end. And this is why, because even though for a first race of a season, the attrition was relatively low. it still paid dividends that they were there at the end

when Perez and Vastappan and Gassley weren't. So, yeah, I think this was about as good as what we could expect. In terms of looking at one side of the garage in particular, Sam, George Russell, how did you find, I know it's not technically as Mercedes-Dabee, but his first full-time weekend in the Merck, how did you think it went? Well, like I've just said, qualifying,

considering that, you know, even Crofty brought it up, Mr. Saturday, which baffles me that we're still calling him Mr. Saturday, despite now being up against Lewis Hamilton, who has over 100 pole positions to his name. It's a big claim to bespoke that on someone that is literally only being a front-running car once in their entire career. He dropped the ball. The pressure got to him.

He was not good enough in Q3, and he is to immediately rectify that qualifying performance. He has to always be right up alongside Lewis Hamilton. Valdry Bot has proved that you can, be up alongside Lewis Hamilton in qualifying. It is a possibility. Despite how good that man is on a Saturday, you can be right there with him.

You can beat him on a Saturday. So George Russell needs to make sure that he's displaying that and not letting the pressure get to him. Come the race, it was a good start. He did well. He started to work through the traffic a little bit. But again, we only can really compare him to Lewis Hamilton, who, okay, he had a tougher start.

He had to catch up to Lewis. He was off the pace pretty much the entire race. The gap was never closer than five or six seconds. He never looked like challenging Lewis. He never dictated, I don't want to be on this tyre. We heard Lewis on the radio four or five times. No grip on this tire. What am I doing on this tire?

We've stopped too early. What's going on? Lewis was really displaying that seven-time champion ability over the radio. He was dictating his team. He was controlling the team. He was telling, and, you know, communication is key. And if you've watched Drive to Survive, folks, you'll hear that in the Alphotauri episode with Yuki Sanoda,

the revelation comes across him. Communication is crucial in Formula One. I don't remember hearing George Russell once. I know we don't get broadcast every single radio communication, but he didn't give anything meaningful, clearly, because otherwise we tend to get shown it. And Hamilton, we had four or five times at least. So, yeah, okay, he may have said something,

but we definitely didn't hear it. Russell, for me, was not good enough. He was not what I expected. I thought he was going to be a bit more potent, a bit more close than he is. It sounds pretty more scathing than it should, but I have high expectations for George Russell, and Ben expects him to win the championship.

So, you know, can't wait for that podcast of you all laughing at him, everyone. That's going to be fun. I'm like joining on that one too. But currently, subpar, not good enough. Early days, early days. And in all honesty, George Russell's performance didn't actually not my confidence in that prediction whatsoever. He was on par with what I thought he would be this weekend, given it was his second outing for the Mercedes team.

qualifying itself, I think, was better than what the results showed. He was there with Hamilton pretty much in Q1, Q2. He was a couple of attempts behind, the 10th behind. So he was pretty much there. So that was encouraging enough. Q3, like you say, he messed up that first corner. As far as I'm aware, that was mainly due to the fact that they tried something different on the outlap, tried to push too hard to try something different to get up there with Ferrari and Red Bull.

Didn't pay off, but I respect him trying something different. and ultimately, again, pace-wise, I think he was okay on Saturday. On the Sunday, yeah, he was about as far behind as I thought he was going to be. Yeah, Hamilton had the edge for the entire Grand Prix. It does need to be said that Hamilton was on a slightly different tire strategy where Russell in that last stint would have had fresher tires. So I think he would have closed the gap. I don't think it would have been enough to challenge him at all.

but I think it would have been less than what it would have been without the safety car. But overall, I think it was okay. He'll have better race weekends. I have no doubt about that whatsoever. Harry, were you slightly let down by Russell's performance? Do you think it was on part? Yeah, I don't... It was all undone and qualifying, basically, as you've both already mentioned.

that Q3 lap kind of not ruined his weekend because I think he recovered well but yeah it didn't help his cause so obviously and you know we know we know that was a mistake and I'm slightly uncharacteristic I guess from George from what we've seen so far

but he can't afford to keep doing that obviously his race pace I yeah I thought he recovered pretty well and like say he I don't think he had the pace on Hamilton Hamilton always had the edge during the race but I think you know the mid part of the race he was about, yeah, like say that five second mark. And then he was kind of left out hanging a little bit on that new strategy. And like I say, there was a reason for it because it was, so he had fresher ties

potentially at the end, but that obviously didn't pay up. So, yeah, it was fine. I mean, it's such a, it's such a, you know, tough one because you're judging him against Lewis Hamilton, which, as we found with Routary Botas, standards are very high because it's Lewis Hamilton. So it was a, it was a fine, it was a fine race. he needs to not make that mistake again in quality but I think generally it was

it was all right I think he was there or thereabouts with Hamilton most of the weekend pace-wise maybe needs to work on his race pace a little bit more but it would be really interesting to see if you know one day when they start alongside each other rather than fifth

and ninth how that will play out indeed indeed but at least for the time of being it looks like that will only be fifth and sixth rather than first and second driver of the day Sam moving up oh I get to go first

I mean I'll probably have to pick the obvious one won't I Sherlock Claire is my pick but I had some I'd be bothered for all the reasons I'm not going to dwell on it but I actually just do want to give out

some honourable mentions to two drivers who picked up points a day Kevin Magnuson box office is back baby hello look at him go Mr I can't stop locking up my brakes but still somehow managed to pick up fifth place. He was phenomenal.

Great to see Haast doing so well. And it was only going to be 7th before the double-rbby retirement. So well done to KMAG. And Valcied, Rotas, who had an absolute stinker on the first lap and fell backwards, ends up in sixth place. So also massively happy for him. Really, really, really successful. So I'm really, really pleased for them.

But, yeah, Lecler, he was just heading shoulders above the rest of the field, in my opinion. Easy choice for me, Charles Leclair. Godd-Laclair was driver of the day. For the reasons I've already given, his defensive driving against Verstappen was fantastic. His general pace was brilliant versus the rest of the field and indeed his teammate. Magnuson and Bottas both had pretty good races.

I don't think they were brilliant in that Magnuson lost those two positions to the Mercedes far too easily. And I get, it's not a crime to lose the positions to the Mercedes, but the way he locked up in doing so both times wasn't fantastic. Botas had a pretty good race as well I was a bit disappointed with his lack of clinical instinct on Yuki Sanoda he really needed to get past before he did

but overall good result for him as well but for me this was easy Leclair for me Harry yeah we're going to make a triple whammy on this one I think like you say there are definite

honourable mentions in Manglinson and Botas, also Joe Guan Yu, which I believe we should call him that. Solid first race from him, I thought. But yeah, for me, there were those two mistakes. Botas's start and Maglinson's, you know, entry into our Hall of Fame were those breaking zones. It means that I can't give it to them. But yeah, Charlotte-Clair was flawless.

And, you know, when he had Verstappen coming at him at those two or three laps, which was intense, did not panic. just, you know, retickle on the next DRS store, the next straight, didn't get flustered by that whatsoever. So very impressive stuff from LeClaire and fully deserving of the triple driver of the day award from us, I think. I'll give one additional shout out, Alex Albon, I thought he did very well. Oh, you're true, true. Sorry, Alex. Worst driver of the day, who've got some? well we speak of Alex Album

and then we flip to the other side of the garage it's all well and good losing to your teammate it's not too well a good to your teammate who's been out of the sport for over a year and you know you need to step up and the fact that we had a safety car seven laps from the end and he still managed to finish what

eight nine ten seconds behind Album both McLaren's in front of him I think he only finished a second maybe two seconds in front of Holkenberg who again stepped into that car let's remember on the Thursday he literally has to be doesn't touch this car properly in a competitive field at all, it hasn't been in a race car again

for a whole season for a couple of years now, other than the one tour races he responded for COVID, this is not good enough from Latifi. I know he brings financial backing into the team. We all love him. He's a lovely guy. But that performance, when your teammate is able to beat both McLaren's, and, you know, if there was a couple more instance getting to the points after got being effort for a while, Latifie, you've got to be stepping up, mate. You kind of don't know what you're expecting to beat him, but be right behind him. Be fine him. Be fine. fighting with him, move up the field, it just is not good enough from Latifi. That is a real letdown from him, I think.

If we're just looking at performance here and nothing else, for me, the worst driver of the day was Nico Holkenberg, but I am going to apply context to this as you've done, Sam, and give it to Nicholas Latifi because, yes, Niko Holcomberg stepped in at the last moment. Nicholas Latifi, he has been there for a few years and got beaten by a guy who has been out of F1 for a year and was moving to a new team.

So yes, it's Latifi for me as well. I'll also say I was pretty unimpressed with Alonzo. Agreed. It seemed like it seemed a very unalonzo race. It seemed like it was there for him to be the responsible, now oldest driver on the grid to be the one managing his tyres. And he was the one who struggled the most, it seemed. So I didn't think he had a great race, but Latifi wins that one for me.

Harry, for you? Maybe Alonzo just hates Bahrain. Yeah. He was pretty naff there last year as well. wasn't he? Yeah. Yeah, it's another triple whammy. I'm sorry, Nicholas. Yeah, like I say, Ben Holgerberg obviously was pretty slow, but you can't really fault him for that. He literally was still in bed on Thursday morning. I read, which I read earlier, he apparently spoke to Sky in Germany, and that the Seb call came on Wednesday night, but Holcomburg was already

asleep in bed, and then he slept over, and he was looking up by his neighbour, because they were looking for him so bad so that's how his weekend was um but yeah no i'm gonna give it give it to latifi because album you know he steps into a car into the car after a year out and and quite frankly whoops his ass it was it was it was it was a crushing crushing performance by album relative to latifu all weekend he he smashed him in quality and then smashed him again in the race so not great for for netella man he got that kind of He got that kind of whoop ass out And do you know what he did?

He opened it. Correct. Good. Moment of the race, Sam. I'm glad we've come to me first. I'm going to go with the obvious one and have that DRS first sector exchange battle with

Lecler and Mastappan. Those two fighting together really showed intelligence. It showed great wheel-to-wheel combat. No one was put at risk. No one was run off the road. It was really fun to watch. excellent strategy

McCleur thinking that through to make the move back again to turn four absolutely love that that is what Fong is all about to fight for the league of a race and I thought they were both brilliant at it so that is the moment

with the race for me I would have picked that one but I have got another one lined up because I assumed that was what you were going to go for and I've already mentioned this but you know I was sat there having a drink of water

I'm going to do it for a fact actually then spit it out then please go I was there Sipping away and saw the Mercedes of Hamilton come in and they did what a 3.2 second pit stop. Okay. Well, we don't really know what we're to expect. What the context is.

Okay. I guess that's around what we're looking at now. Three second pit stops. Okay. Here comes Carlos Sines. 2.3. 2.3 seconds. I still can't get over.

Ferrari are now good at pit stops. It's as if everyone else has slowed down because of the new tires and they're like, okay, we'll go quicker. so that was my moment of the race Harry from you for my moment of the race I'm gonna go for when Esteban wrecking ball o'con

on lap one just clouded into the side of Mick Schumacher and the Matt and Mick just styled it out like it was nothing styled it out and so nearly kept hold of the place he's pretty used to it by now wouldn't he?

Slick Slick frit the trees had a year of Mazavinna but I bet he was like oh god not you not my teammate oh wait that can't be right um yeah he started out um very graciously and yeah like say you only lost a couple of places from it so yeah i i enjoyed that one immensely but obviously the two you mentioned are very valid very valid choices mix just there like what are all these cars that are not white and red what are they

doing here before this was a test session why are the cars behind me and in front of me i can't deal with this. Can we just get one of those snowboard commentators dubbed it over the top of Mick Sping? It's like a flip side, 360, you know, like a tail grab.

I think he absolutely nailed it. It was great to watch. Good job. I mean, Mick, if you couldn't score points because we're about to get onto bold predictions, I would have been right, but I'm not going to be now. It's your fault.

Well, they did leave him out, didn't they? They did. They did leave him. Although if they pit him, I don't think he would have been there anyway. but by the bye this is usually the point of the show that Harry hates the most

but today this will be his highlight I'm sure because we're going to review bold predictions my bold prediction was that both McLaren's would be out by lap 25 they both finished the race although as I said to the guys before we started recording they might as well have retired they were that slow

Sam your bold prediction as you alluded to very nearly came true thank you for that That took so long The delays scare Both hash drivers in the points For you Sam And one of the two drivers lived up to that

Kevin Magnuson for HB5 Schumacher was in the points Until a few laps to go And he tumbled out And eventually finished P11 Oh I was so close But we now do something that

I'm not quite sure how to approach this It's not like I've had any experience but we now approach a correct bold prediction from Harry Ead because he said that Ferrari would complete the perfect weekend Charles LeClaire would win the race, he would get the fastest lap, he'd get pole position, and that he'd lead every lap, and he did it all. I don't understand.

Thank you. I don't understand. It's good on forever. This is longer than the race. Just the check. That goes on for another 36 seconds. This is perfect podcasting for. must as per usual. I just want to check. You have put that in live mode because the people are

going to be very confused otherwise. Good. Okay. Yes, I did. I was expecting there to be silence for like five seconds of the podcast then. Well, we're listening to a round of applause that they can't hear. One for one is Harry Ead on bold predictions so far. We'll move on to McLaren briefly because they weren't very good. they weren't very good at all um i think that could move on from that that's about it right yeah not what he's been said harry why weren't they very quick um oh good question uh i i don't really know look i mean there's some context to it i guess they their last well the three days in barren ricardo didn't get any because of covid although he beat norris in the end i'm not i wasn't

really paying too much attention to that fight but um anyway But yeah, they obviously had the issues with the brakes, so they were not really doing any running. But for a car that seemed not the favourite, but it was up there, you know, being whispered up there with a Ferrari as a good car after Barcelona, that's quite a turnaround in the wrong direction. It's a worrying one.

And I'm really hoping that it's down to the lack of testing and track time that they got in the second or the first test, whatever. There was only one test, Harry. What are you talking about? Yeah, yeah, sorry. Sorry about that. Yeah, I'm really hoping that's what it is and that there is a good car

that they've just not unleashed under there. The thing that is odd to me is how bad all the Mercedes power cars are. What's that about? Apart from the Mercedes. I mean, Mercedes isn't great, but it's still like up there. But yeah, really weird one.

Yeah, it's a worrying sign for me. McLaren and I I believe I'm confident I'm not saying they're gonna maybe regain the form they had last year I'm confident that they can claw the way off the back of the grid I don't think they're gonna remain there for the rest of the season I think they think they do have a good car that they've just not unlocked it properly whether it's track related or I don't know but I'm I really maybe I'm being too hopeful but I do think there's more to that car than they produced this weekend and it was just in effect a test session for them today because well ben you mentioned this already

poor lander norris in his four-year contract right now is it's getting nervous a bit sweaty but yeah i think there's more to come from mclaren today was just write that one off not good you make a good point with there being a pattern behind the murk power units all struggling it's odd and it might just be a coincidence but yeah apparently the power unit to be with is Ferrari they seem to have a clear hang on a minute I'm sure I've got a a table, what are they doing?

It's got to be one around this what happened to this year I don't it's as I said before Harry's getting things right Ferrari are getting things right Mercedes aren't winning Hasse are good what's going on

Macca, Sam, do you think this is something to be concerned about going forward or not? Well, you know, you mentioned the power train and the power trade can be so responsible because, I mean, okay, Mercedes weren't bloody running around one too, but look at them. They were fifth and sixth, comfortably, I think, by the end of the racing. Obviously, they got a little bit lucky with what was going on with the other teams around and managed to get a podium. Now, it's like the 2022 regulations have played a Uno Reverse card on the 2014 regulations, and suddenly the power train that you wanted to have,

which was the Mercedes one at the start of the hybrid era, has gone, hang on a minute, we're rubbish now. And Ferrari is suddenly the absolute pinnacle of engine power. So that isn't a good start for anyone that's running a Mercedes power engine. They've got work to do to develop that in a time where you've got budget allocations to work with, engine freezers are going on, it's not ideal, as I might say. But then you've got other issues, as you've already said. Ricardo, of course, missing entire session due to the fact that he had COVID.

He might have been struggling with those effects. You know, we heard that Hamilton as well when he picked it up, he took a long time to get himself back to full fitness. Ricardo might be dealing with the same thing. That doesn't excuse Norris, of course. And I think, as you said, Norris is going to be very, very nervous about what's going on. All of a sudden, the car that was picking up podiums. He was fighting possibly for a race wing. Ricardo got that race wing last year.

They were trundling around at one point in 18th and 20th place. and it did not look like they had any chance of moving up again any time soon. The Aero Package is clearly a disaster, and they do clearly to bring in massive updates soon. Fortunately, they've got the resources, the backing, the engineering capability to get themselves off the back of the grid. But I think that we will not see a McLaren top four, top five finish this season. And I wouldn't be surprised if in the constructors, they don't finish any higher than P6 or P7. At a real push, if they're lucky. This is a disaster.

They have gone back so much further than I ever thought. thought they would. It's very close to the Jinks of Button, Flanda Alonso era of Formula One about six, seven years ago now. Absolute disaster for them. Yeah, I concur. I think it is incredibly worrying because there is track variance. Track variance exists and there are certain venues you'll be good at and certain venues you won't be good at. We saw that with McLaren themselves last year. They were brilliant at Monza, but they didn't have that pace all season long. and it was that, you know, Monza is set up in a way that top speed is very important, and, you know, low speed cornering isn't as important, and they were fine there. But there's a difference between track variants and the drop that we saw from Barcelona to here.

In Barcelona, we were looking at McLaren as definitely a top four team, possibly in contention for wins. But it's not as if here at Bahrain, they fell short of that by a little bit. And actually they were only on the precipice of points or only eighth and ninth. They were probably the slowest team out there. It was them or Williams, maybe Aston Martin as well. All three of those don't look great at this point in the year. But they were not just worse than what was expected. They were so much worse than what was expected.

And is this going to be a turner? There are those mitigating factors that you spoke about. I don't know. I think this is a bigger issue. And yeah, they're going to need to bring some upgrades. and they're going to need to bring them fast. Maybe they'll be slightly ahead of where they were next weekend, but I don't see it being a dramatic transformation

where they're in a championship by or even contending for podiums. Let's have a chat about 2022 cars, shall we? Because these have been hyped up for a long time. The idea of these cars is that they would be much better in terms of following one another. maybe necessitate, you know, the necessity of DRS that might be reduced or removed. It was generally thought that these cars could create better racing. We've now seen one race and we're going to have a far better sample size as we go through the year.

But Sam, first inspection, are you happy with what they've been able to achieve? I'm happy, but to a degree. The cars look incredibly tricky to drive, which I, I actually think is a real positive moment for Formula One. You know, the cars are tough on the braking areas. We saw with a lot of the more skilled drivers, which is hard to say in Formula One, but the more skilled drivers in the grid locking up regularly.

We saw cars looking like they were going to spin. Lewis Hamilton, when he came out of the pit laying on the hard tyres. I know that tire blanket temperatures are different now, and tires are going to be cooling with the new 18 degrees. So that's all part of the new regulations. That was really hard for him to get underway. that's a seven-time world champion, almost falling off twice,

and Zhou Guan Yu, bloody makes a pass on him because of that difference in tyre temperature. So that's a real tick. And then you get to the thing that was meant to change the most that I have a bit of a problem with, and that is the wheel-to-wheel racing, right?

We were meant to see wheel-to-wheel racing. Now, we had a good few passes across the race, which is fantastic. We had some moving, we had some fighting. I would say still, 95% of overtakes, still came, majority of the year's for not 100% because of a DRS pass. Now, DRS has always been a necessary evil

over the last few years because it was so difficult to get a move done without DRS involved. And we were hoping to step away from that. And I don't feel like that currently is the case. Even with that brilliant fight with the Stauffin and LeCler, it only happened because DRS was available to them. The Sapper was able to come from God knows how far back because he had DRS.

The Clare was unable to recover the position because he had DRS. and I'm slightly nervous that when we get to tracks like the Hungara Ring, which are very dependent on cornering speeds and have no proper straight-line areas and the DRS zone is very small, are we going to see a procession? Are we going to have that happening again? I hope I'm proof wrong.

But the wheel-to-wheel racing was definitely good. We had some good moments. Ricardo getting past Latifi or Albu, I think it was, on the Williams, into the hair-thing section. Valtry Bossas kept the same with Sondola. There were some good moments. The Alpins fighting as well. It wasn't unheard of to have a wheel to wheel battle,

but it definitely wasn't happening as regularly as I would have liked to have seen. So, yeah, definitely the right direction. Definitely enjoyed it. The race was fantastic, and there are parts of this I absolutely love. But I would like to still see a little bit of closer following and moves in unusual places that aren't DRS straights. Great race. Still more non-DRS passing, please.

British football analogy in coming Oh Lord And it's one that's relevant to Sam as well Because I'm going to use Newcastle for this For those of you who don't keep up With For those of you don't keep up with The Premier League football, soccer

As the Americans would indeed call it Newcastle was recently been bought out By a very rich group of people To the point where they should be able to contend for trophies very shortly. Sam, if they were to spend, outspend everyone else by a huge amount. And next season, they start off first game of the year. They beat, let's say, Watford. They beat Watford 2-0. How would you feel about that result? Yeah, good. Good, right? Yeah. But it's not the real test, is it? Wofford's not the real test in the same way that Bahrain is not the real test. The real

test is Imola. The real test is Monaco. Maybe Jeddah as well. I know there are a few overtaken opportunities, but it is pretty narrow around the track. Bahrain was a gimmy. Barang was an easy win. Bahrain, there wasn't necessarily too much of an issue in the first place. There are going to be circuits where there is far more of a challenge coming up. So this is a good start. Encouraging signs. A few of them you've already mentioned, Sam. But we're going to need to see more and we're going to need to see more from different race tracks. Harry? Yeah, bang on with encouraging signs, I think.

I will reserve a complete judgment until we have a bigger sample size, as you've mentioned, Ben. I think it's going to be hard for them to be worse at this track, I think. When I say worse, worse than the previous generation of cars. But yeah, the mooms that Sam mentioned a couple into turn eight, I think is, when you go through the sort of sweepy left-right. So to make a move after that is really, I think it's really encouraging because that's the heavy, where we'd have had heavy turbulent air previously.

And also when they go into that tight turn 10, maybe, the really tricky turn 10, a lot of cars were following a lot closer through there. Also, on the first lap, I know it was the first lap, but that back end of the field where they were just like in a formation, that was bizarre.

I don't think I've ever seen that before. so another encouraging sign there but agree with sam's point maybe dRS is too potent slightly too potent still maybe they need to reduce it but i think this is something you can reduce over time and i'd for now i'd rather they they have it have slightly more of it i guess and then you you put you rain it in if it's proved that these cars are an overtake without it let's rain it back as much as we can but for now i'm fine with them having dRS as much as they did for this race um so yeah it was encouraging. I think I enjoyed seeing them struggle, especially out the pits. When Hamilton came out the pits on hard tyres, that was bizarre. Again, I don't think we've ever seen

that for a long time. So I enjoy that element. I enjoy the tyres degrading quite heavily and the cars look tricky to drive. I think the thing, and this is just an aesthetic point for me, they just look quite clumsy, especially when they're high on fuel because they're so heavy. Watching them on those first laps is a bit like, oh, okay, and you know it's going to get better but it's just like oh my gosh they look like buses and then monaco is going to be i don't know maybe maybe a bus will be better around monica i'm not sure but um yeah that's the only drawback for me but i i'd rather have that and the cars be trick of the drive and all of that well the benefits come with it and and suffer the slightly clunky looking first few laps and you mentioned the power

of d rs one of the times that vastappen planted a move on leclair into turn one i'm pretty sure he was nine tenths back at the start of that straight. So he literally used up almost every part of DRS to the point where he nearly didn't have it. So yeah, I think you have a point there. We'll round off this week's episode or this race's episode because we will be back midweek for the Saudi preview. We have two teams that performed far better than they did last year. Alpha Romeo, Valtri Bottas getting P6 and Jo Guanyu on his debut getting P10. and has who haven't scored a point in a long long time

to the point where the person who scored the point was someone who has gone and come back to the team Kevin Magnuson got P5 and of course McSumack are very nearly scored points as well just to rub that in a little bit more for Sam two teams didn't perform very well last year performed much better here of the two teams Harry

do you think there's one that is perhaps in a better position to succeed this year um I really tricky to read because they both had the top drivers in this race and then the second drivers

I would hazard a guess maybe I know I said I think in the preseason predictions I mean they're out of the window mate yeah what's the point in them I mean at the moment has has

look I think like the better package but I was quite surprised by the alpha maybe more surprised by the alpha than the Haths which sounds ridiculous but we've known for a while that Hasse had been working on this car so that's I guess we kind of half expected them to be good but the alpha's really surprised me

and Bottas that's like he's settled in really well especially in Kali and if he hadn't had a duff start I know he entered up basically where he started so it didn't matter I guess but if he hadn't had a duff start I would have been really intrigued to see where he would have been Yeah, I'll go with Hask because I think they're perhaps more advanced with that car than maybe Al-Farra. But it's great to see both of them up there.

It's such a weird, weird thing for two teams that have been straggling at the back for so long, but Kimmy Reichen has guttly left. I was literally just about to say that the list of disappointed drivers is Antonio Gervinazzi, Nikita Mazepin, and it would be Kimi Reichen if he cared whatsoever. He doesn't, he's not, I bet he's not even watched anything. this weekend. What's an F1 race? I don't know. Bottas could have won and he'd be like,

yeah, whatever. Oh well. Yeah, I'll go for Hasse, but I think it's going to be, that could be a really nice scrap between those two teams for sort of best of the rest, I think, in this season because it's clear with that Ferrari power unit and also the, the developments they made on their respective packages, they've got some decent cards.

underneath them. So it's going to be a really interesting one. And I wouldn't rule out a sneaky podium here and there this year based on today. Yeah, we'll see on that one. You know, Magnuson didn't need too much more carnage to get up there. So, yeah, I think of the two teams, again, as you say, it's just for both of them. The fact that we're having this debate as to which one is more encouraging is great for both teams. And I don't think either of them will be disappointed if they aren't chosen for this,

because they are both in a far better position than what they were. I'll go with Hasse as well, even though I think of the four drivers I have the most trust in Valtrey Bottas. I think Huss generally, just based on what they were able to do in 2018, back when they really should have finished P4 ahead of Renault. They have more recently displayed signs of being at the top of the midfield to the point where I have a bit more confidence. They have purely focused on this year in a way that we don't think Alphra may have quite have. And the fact that Kevin Magnusson can do that, given that he wasn't anywhere near that seat a couple of weeks ago, that's very, very encouraging indeed.

And they do, in their second driver, have a guy who has one more year of experience than Shoguan Yew. So I'll go with Hass, but from both sides, that's pretty encouraging. Sam? I am so happy for good for Steyner. I mean, the man is an effort. rock star and I could not be more of the joy for him. Look at, yes, Harry's showing us an image of Goodthur celebrating like he's just won the

World Cup or something. And you know what? I'm here for it. I am here for it. I am, it's like the entire grid simultaneously drop their keys in a line and hearts have run up and leapfrog. Don't you ever of that game used to play in the playground as a kid or you used to jump over

someone's back like that? It's like they've done it to about six, seven teams. And I can't believe it. I'm flabbergasted by the development. I knew that they were going to have a better car, right? When you dicks your whole year of development and you focus everything, then you think, okay, it's got to be better. If it's worse, you probably should leave the sport.

So it's got to be better. But then with the turmoil of Mazapin, with your Ulcali failure, with what's going on with, you know, internally with the team, having to bring Magnus singing so late again. I know he was obviously a part of the team a little while ago, but that's still risky. honestly, I'm so, so happy for them. It is such a brilliant development for them.

And you know what? This is brilliant for Formula One when it comes to US viewing. To have an American-based team competitive again, fighting for points and looking like they could be strong in the midfield.

This is great for Formula One. So for me, Haas is definitely the pick. Nick Schumeriker, I think, is going to come good. He's, you know, he showed off so well last year. He did so well an F-2. I think give it a little bit of time. a bit of tutorship from KMAG in the box office section, he will start also bringing in the results.

Over to... Over to Alpha, of course. At Bottas, I think, okay, yeah, we saw some classic signs of Valtry, right? Wasn't clinical in the overtaking. Not a great start. But then all of a sudden, he's found himself in a strong position.

When he runs on his own, he's incredibly well-paced. He can develop strong results. And I think if the car, which I do think is slightly worse than Haas, If they can continue to develop that and give Bostas the freedom to get him so into good spots

and be strategically strong, I think they can throwing some good results and you know what? Jeal Gagneux, I was really slating him off and I was not expecting anything good from him

and I thought arguably he'd be as bad as Nicholas Satifi this season. I am really impressed with how well he turned up this season he picked up points we have the same thoughts as Yuki Sengoda last season and obviously we know how that went

I was literally about this table. Just don't remember to do the rest of the season. Please, Joe. Remember why breaking zones are. Remember that other tracks exist that aren't in the Middle East. Don't crush the car all the time. Yeah. Come on, come on, Guan Yu.

I think that, you know, he can have a strong season here. And I think Alpha have got the car to give it to him. But Haast, by far, are the biggest surprise. I would be shocked to pushing one that thinks it's the other way around. Well done. It is exciting. It is fun. The season has been kicked off to a bloody, brilliant start,

and we are in for such a huge bang of surprises. So I'm pumped. I mean, you're down right. We're in for a season of surprises and entertainment. We're just one race in, and there should be another 22 left to go between now and the end of November. And we have, of course, start off with a double header. So we'll be back midweek for the soundy preview.

we'll be back this time next weekend for a soundy review we are we are here for the entire season folks sorry about it we're here we're not going anywhere although you don't have to listen it's up to you i guess but don't say don't you do you do have to listen obligatory have to listen and thank you to everyone who has joined in with our f1 fantasy league we set it up thinking oh you know four or five people might show up i think we're on about 220 230 people that ended up showing up for that. So we'll do a little bit of a points recap in the midweek episode, give you a top three and also where we are.

Harry's going to look forward to that one, I'm sure. McLaren is your team, right, Harry? Don't talk about it. Oh, well, some things never change is the moral of this episode, I guess, although nearly everything else has changed. Sam, if you want to get us out of here and mention that we do have a few more items on our store. Yeah, I got creative.

And when I say I got creative, it is the bare minimum of creativity. T-shirt, sang out on the store. You can find a link to the little LB Merck shop. If for some bizarre reason you want to wear the LB logo, we love it and appreciate it if you do, that'll be in the link, thank you, Harry. It's also on our social medias,

in all the links that you can find it. And if you're really struggling, drop us a message or tweet us, where's the store? And one of us will come to the rescue. But if you can't find it, I'll be absolutely baffled. Please subscribe, depending on your area that you're sitting in. If you've enjoyed it, leave a review.

That massively helps us continue to grow. If you haven't enjoyed it, just go, not for me. I'll move on with my life. Also, we appreciate that. Thank you. Do follow the relative social media's at Elle breaking on Twitter, late breaking on Instagram. And if there's some weird reason you've absolutely loved,

loved it and you stick around for a long long time. We do have Patreon available, which we're going to have a discussion about as a trio, little insider. We're going to look at some things to do with that as well to make it an even better experience for everyone on there as well. So thanks so much. As Ben said, we're here for every single race, and we will be here on every single Wednesday for the whole year,

regardless of race or not, we will not be missing an episode. So stay tuned, make sure you're about. In the meantime, having standards a safe. I've been bed hockey. That's been Harry E. And remember. Keep breaking late. Good for Starham.

B'Hop star. Oh, God. It's part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.