The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Canadian GP Review

Episode Date: June 19, 2022

Sam, Ben and Harry review the Canadian GP, review their bold predictions and give their verdict on Best and Worst drivers of the day from the race in Montreal. They also discuss Fernando Alonso's qualifying, Mercedes' pace, and whether Sainz should've done more... TAKE our survey! https://bit.ly/3QoVyta 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! EMAIL us: [e-mail] 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 Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Canadian Grand Prix review time where Max Verstappen once again took victory in this 2022 season. although he was made to work hard for it by Carlos Sines, less than a second, separating them at the end of the race, with Lewis Hamilton claiming his second podium of the season in third. Charles Leclair, starting from the back of the grid, managed to recover up to fifth place.

Daniel Riccardo, though, has to be driver of the day, I would say, wouldn't you, Sam? I swear, you and the entire 800 individuals in the Discord are trying to poke me like some angry bear, Like, he's the honey badger. I'm the angry badger of England. You know, we have the black and white ones here. Far less ferocious. And I'm far more useless than what Daniel Ricardo is. He, no, you know what, I'm not even biting.

I'm not taking a bait. It was a good race. I really enjoyed it. And we're going to discuss many, many fun things on the podcast. And I'll probably be very silly. And Harry will probably emphasize my silliness by allowing it to happen. yes i mean that's purely the reason i'm here right you just summarized the podcast i don't have anything else to i contribute nothing else

this podcast is it's a weekly effort for me to keep order with me failing every week that that's the podcast you're at numbered sunshine it's never going to work very much so that was so self-deprecating that intro it really was if you're new folks um keep listening to point. Yeah, you might learn something. You might not. We've got plenty to discuss, of course, being a review episode.

We're going to be discussing Fernando Alonzo's exploits in qualifying, allowing him to start on the front row for the first time in 10 years. We're going to be talking about the Mercedes Battle, where Lewis Hamilton had the edge claiming the podium over George Russell today. We're going to be reviewing our bold predictions that went very well as per usual. But we're going to start with the battle out front, because Max Verstapp and it looked like was cruising. towards an easy victory until Yuki Sonoda decided, no, I don't like how that's turning out.

I'm going to make it interesting. Safety car came out as a result of Sonoda's crash, meant that Vastappan and Sines were next to each other on track. And that is how they stayed, despite Sines' best efforts to get past Max Vastappan. So, Sam, what frame of mind are you looking at this? How do you view it? Are you saying that you're encouraged because of how close Carlos Sines got to the win? Certainly better than he's done in previous. races or are you discouraged by the fact that he just couldn't get it done? Well, you kind of need to look at the race in two halves, the race before the safety car and the race after the safety car. Before the safety car, if there was no safety car, you know, with hindsight

we can see how the battle played out, but if there was no safety car, would Carlos Sainz have ever been within the DRS range of Max Verstaffan? Would he ever remotely close to closing that doubt properly? I know that the staff has started having some tireware issues due to his laps due to his tyres being 10 laps older than Carlos Sainz's. But the gap was coming down marginally, you know, a couple of tents each lap. Nothing scary, nothing where Maxwell Stapham needed to panic. And he wasn't panicking, as we know, he's got such a mature head on him now. And I think Carlos Sites was made to look good because of the safety car. And not even that good. It just made him look better than what was going on. He was the only top car on the grid

when you think that Sergio Perez didn't qualify inside the top 10 and they had the DNF and Charles LeClau's starting on the back row of the grid, Sykes was kind of a Staffing's only competition for this entire race, despite not starting on the front row, which is not great either. I think it flattered him.

I think him being able to sit within a second for the last few laps of the race, flattered Carlos Sikes, and him not being able to craft something, get something done, get closer. It's all what ifs, but what if it was Charles LeCler? I do feel like the clerk has the ability, has the pace to go that extra 10th, to push for stepping into a mistake, to force a on-track battle.

The Red Bull is clearly the faster car, but I think the clerk just has that little extra, you know, little extra spice. You know, unfortunately, for Carlos, that allows some magic to happen. So for me, a lot of people are saying that Carlos had a really good job. I think Carlos did the bare minimum that was expecting of him. and I'm not particularly blown away by what happened with Carlos. So the staffer did a great job. He defended very well. He kept the gap comfortable.

The rest of the race beforehand was pretty imperious, you know, pretty dominant from Max up until the safety car. He looked untroubled for most of it. Carlos Sykes was just there as the second place man, in my opinion. It wasn't really what I expect from someone that maybe wants to be a world champion one day. I mean, if we're looking at the scale of encouraged and discouraged, it looks like Sam is much towards the latter. Harry, are you joining Sam on the dark side,

or are you going to be Obi-1-Connobe here? I've always Obi-1-Kinobi. But, look, I was more encouraged by Signs' race. I think this is probably one of the better, if not best races he's had this year. It would have been interesting to see how that strategy played out with, obviously, for stab and pitting and then came out about 10 seconds behind signs.

where the signs then had to pay had the pace to hold on on that on that what was possibly a one stop um but yeah i agree with sam i think um uh signs was slightly his pace was slightly flattered by the fact that in those remaining laps he he he just sat you know he was behind vestape or so close to for stape and he was sat in the d rs zone for for so long and couldn't really do anything to actually get past him so um it was It was definitely more encouraging, and it's what, I think, as Sam says, the bare minimum. But it was definitely a better race from signs. But, yeah, I felt like for Stappan always had it under control.

And like I say, maybe it would have been interesting to see how that strategy was going to play out. But, yeah, you just, I don't know, I just wanted signs to absolutely send one. And he didn't. I don't know it was harder because he was, just couldn't quite get close enough, but don't know, you feel like if it had been a Leclair of Vestappen, they might have,

they might have well done that in signs' position there. So encouraging for signs, but, you know, I think it's today, or those last 15 laps or so, shows what is probably the difference between the likes of Vastap and Lecler, Lewis Hamilton, etc.,

and the likes of, the drivers at like Carlos Seins. I think that's just the way it's going to go, unfortunately, for Carlos. I'm sure a wind's going to come through him one day, but I just don't think he's going to ever be quite on that same level. I feel like this race was the toughest and the biggest test that Carlos Seines has had in the Ferrari to this point, in that it's certainly not the first time that Charles-le-Claid's faced trouble this season.

If we're looking back at a couple of DNFs, we look at Spain. obviously that went wrong. We look at Baku, that went wrong as well. But in both of those instances, Sines was kind of already done, right? So it's not like the onus transitioned from LeClair to signs in those spots. Here, we knew from the off,

LeClaire was taking at least 10 positions in terms of a grid penalty, if not more, and it did end up being more. He started 19th in the race. So all of the responsibility of the team, this was his Baku, 2020, when he won in terms of Perez, right? Vastappen, no fault of his own, went out of the race.

It was time for Perez to step up. That's why they brought him in is he could be that driver when they needed him to be. This was almost the same spot where they knew LeClaire was going to have to fight through the field. It was Science's job to take it to Max Verstappen. And in many respects, because of Perez's Q2 error, it made it all the more easy because it was looking like it was going to be a bit of a

ganging up on signs sort of mentality throughout the weekend. It didn't end up going that way because of what Perrits did. So it was actually a straight one-on-one fight. And he just wasn't there. The fact that he couldn't get on the front row, that was pretty worrying. I know Alonzo did pull out a great lap in qualifying on Saturday. Definitely appreciate that. We'll talk about that more a little bit later on.

But signs only needed to be like half a second or six-tenths slower than Max Verstappen to get P2. It's not like Alonzo was two temps behind the Stappan or three-tenths. It was still a decent enough gap that Sines should have slotted in the middle of them. So I thought that was disappointing.

And I have to agree with you both in terms of the race in that Sines just couldn't quite build up that one opportunity he needed. You kept looking at it. Every time he came out of the hairpin, I kept saying he needs to be five temps, maybe six temps for him to have an opportunity.

Every lap, seven thames, eight temps, nine temps, eight temps. And it just wasn't going to happen. He needed to essentially stockpile everything into one effort, do or die scenario and go for it. But it just seemed as if he got stuck in the same position lap after lap after lap without being able to take advantage of it. I was definitely encouraged by this was a better race for him than other previous races. But in a spot where Charlotte Clare and the team needed signs to step up and be there number one, Did he pass the test? The honest answer is no.

But we do know he did at least claim second place in a race where Charles LeClair didn't get a podium. So Sam, are you, I saw you nod your head when Harry said something along the lines of LeClair might have tried something, might have tried a dive bomb. If signs had tried the same thing and ended up in a crash, do you think he was right not to do anything too risky is essentially the question here? The example that immediately comes to mind, when you bring up this kind of scenario is what happened to charlerc in imman right we spoke about this this

ability that lewis hamilton has when he used to run at the property at the front when mercedes could put a car together that will finish first or second regularly if lewis hamilton couldn't take the wing where was he second place 99% of the time if he was not winning second place max was step in last season if he wasn't winning races where was he second at work i don't think he even got a third diggy I think it was first or second, or he was either taking out of the whole race or some serious bowling ball damage it was down at Hungary. So, you know, that's the consistency I want. And to be fair to Carlos Science, coming second after the string of results he's had recently, that's not a bad thing. That's not negative. But if we're looking at Carlos Science as a potential world champion, as a potential regular race winner, as a championship leader, that wasn't the performance you need.

If we're looking at Carlos Sines as a, he's the Ferrari B driver, he's the second driver. Charles Clare leads that team. He will never lead that team. If that's the Carlos Sikes that we're assigning ourselves to, that we're happy to go all the head with, a safe second place, getting the points across the board, more points scored than Red Bull as a whole team. That's not a bad result from Carlos Sines. That is fine. I'm all right with that.

So it depends how you want to look at Carlos Sites. And I would have liked to have thought that Carlos Sikes potentially could have been a regular race winner and with every race that slips on by, that thought disappears a little bit. And this race has kind of cemented that. I don't think he'll get a better opportunity unless there's like some massive crash at the front of the grid

and he gets lucky to not be involved. I really can't see him having a better chance right now than a one-on-one at a track that I think relatively suits the Ferrari. it's not as power base as the likes of Baku, that longback straight. It's quite similar in some senses to Australia, where Ferrari thrived. And he just couldn't jump on top of it. And maybe that strategy will have worked, but that's maybe, so we'll never know the answer. So for me, Carlos Higga good job.

He did fine. That's what I said. He did the bare minimum. He brought home second place. That's what I expect. That's fine. It's what Bottas would have done from the sameies, and that's fine. But he'll never be currently a world champion if he carries on driving in the same manner

that he is now. that's why I find it a bit frustrating. Given the pressure he's been under in recent Grand Prix, I am at least encouraged that he didn't feel the need to make a dangerous dive bomb. Of course, the better alternative is that he would have been alongside Vastappen and had a 50-50 chance or better to make a move. It's discouraging that he didn't even get the chance, but it's encouraging that he didn't at least force it

because he could have done, given everything that's happened. and Ferrari need to pick up points. And this is going to sound crazy, but they need to pick up points to stave off Mercedes. I know Mercedes don't have the pace of Ferrari, but if Mercedes keep on picking up third and fourth, third and fifth, fourth and fourth and fifth,

they will add up if Ferrari kick making errors. So I was glad at least that he was able to take home the podium, take home the 18 points. Harry, did you see signs possibly making a risky move? glad he didn't. I think it's definitely, it must definitely have been playing in the back of his mind because as you say,

he's had this string of retirements this year and he does need to put some more points on the board and that's exactly what he did today. So yeah, I agree with you in that sense, Ben. It was, I guess, encouraging to see that he didn't get too hot-headed in that sense. I think, as Sam already mentioned, though, I think it does sort of cement him as a,

and this is no offence to Valtry Bottas here, but as a Valtry Bottas kind of teammate, in that he just doesn't have the last little bit. I don't know what it is, but the last little edge that means he can, you know, be in that position where it is 50-50 or even better, as you say, to make that move. He's just sort of just not quite close enough.

And we saw it many times with Bortas, when he was at Mercedes. So, yeah, I guess it's, for Ferrari, this is what they want. It's the same for Red Bull and Perez, as you've already mentioned. They want that driver to be there when the other one isn't. And I guess you can say signs was there today, although it just wasn't quite enough to topple the driver.

They need to top the driver that they need to beat. But in that sense, I guess that's good for Ferrari. But from Carlos's point of view, it's not what he wants, is it? and it's not why he's in F1, I guess. But yeah, just have my doubts as to whether he can have that, whether he does have that last little bit to get past likes of the Stappen and then LeClair. On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Charles LeClaire starting 19th due to grid penalties,

changing power unit components, managed to make his way back up to fifth for 10 points. Sam, a great recovery drive, an OK recovery drive, somewhere in the middle. What are you saying then? Oh, I think I've got the potential this podcast to be a little bit too harsh on Ferrari, but, you know, sometimes you just got to give it up, right?

Right, right. Someone's got to take the mantle from you and someone needs to, you know, take the slipper off and just give them a bit of a whack, you know, go, come on, saw it out. A lot of people giving a lot of credit to Charlerclair, and a lot of people seem to forget that that car has been on pole position

at the hands of Charle of Clare, multiple times. And before we all jump on my actual head, I'm not suggesting here that Charlotte-Cler is shivering on pole. Obviously, he had multiple penalties to take. He had to start at the back. But the guy has the pace in that car to be the quickest on track. The guy got to start on whatever tie he wanted, it's like everyone else. So it's not like he was hindered in any way, shape, or forming strategy. And Ferrari and the Claire together struggled it, felt like almost every turn, every overtake that the Clare needed to make. It was painful. It was long.

He was not cutting through the field. Like we've seen with the likes of, what was the last time it happened? Hamilton and Brazil, right? The guy made up, I think, what, 25 places across the sprint race and the main race? That's what you expect from a title challenger. Especially on a fresh power unit.

You've got a whole fresh power unit in the car. That, for me, feels like the direct comparison. Lecler got stuck behind Ocon, lap after lap after lap. It just kept going on. And now I know that that alpine at the hands of Giga chagalon, And to be fair, Ashtamang Okong, who had a good race, is quick and a straight line.

But there's a reason why that car has been at the front every single race. It has ability. It has the power. It has the chassis, the aerodynamics to get in front of these cars like Halepin. And you saw Lewis Hamilton breeze past Fangio Alonso. We saw Carlos Sikes get past Fangando Anno alongside easily. It's not like O'Conn had new attires either. They were on the same strategy.

They hadn't stopped while they were battling in the first time round. So I expecting Charles LeCler to be more cutthroat, be more aggressive, get the moves done. And I think that that caused him to slip away from any chance for a poker game. I think fifth is a safe result for him. I think fifth is relatively good damage limitation. But I think fifth could cost him a world championship because he hasn't been more aggressive getting to the front. That's where you should be more aggressive. Carl Sons could the right thing, be safe.

You haven't got a clear opportunity. Fine. come home for second place. It's not perfect. It doesn't show you off as the best driver of all time, but it makes sense for the team. Charlerclair is going for a world title, and he's not cutting past his midfield cars,

that Ferrari had been dominating most races. I generally don't think this was amazing. A lot of people are giving a lot of credit. I think this was good. I think it was fine. It was safe. That's all right. But I think it might cost you at the end of the season.

Harry, is he being too harsh? I don't know. I think the fifth place that LeCleur had was it was helped massively by the fact we had the safety car because I don't think he may well have got that anyway, but I think without that he might have struggled to get that fifth place.

And as Sam says, could he have been aiming for, you know, considering he had all the fresh bits in the back of his motor, should he have been aiming for a bit further up than fifth in the end? I think Ferrari probably hoped he could. And, well, Mercedes had better race pace, which we'll get onto. But, you know, Red Bull of Ferrari still are the two fastest cars out there.

So they look like theoretically should be able to cut through everyone in the field. And yeah, maybe it was a case. He played it slightly too safe today. And it could come back to bite him. But then so too would a dodgy move down the inside of someone where it ended up in a crash. So it's a tough one. And I get Sam's point here because I think, you know, he obviously had a difficult position to start in. But fifth compared to Vastappen's, another Vestappen first, does nothing for LeClaire, to be honest, does it?

It's damage limitation, but he still loses more ground than what he's already lost. So, yeah, he might look back, come the end of the year. yeah, he might look back at his performance today. I think I should have been more aggressive, but again, as I say, could also have gone completely the other way and he ended up in the wall. So it's a tough one.

I don't, I, I sympathize with Charles's or chuckles, as Penn's called him, chuckles his situation. Chuckles. That makes me chuckles. Well, I'm going to activate the Harry Ead strategy, I'm going to press a button

or is how you do it? Do you press a button to activate your strategy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, every time. Press the blood. Big red one. Get out of my chair, pop it right up on the fence,

here I am, and here's where I'm going to stay. I'll get the Tweezers later for the Splinters. I will need them because I am very much saying here that he maybe could have done a little bit better,

but also I didn't expect that much more from him. I think this was about where he should have ended up, really. And I think actually, the good luck and the bad luck almost balanced itself out because we do know that the safety car came along later in the race, which obviously shot the field up, which was great for LeClaire's sake. And he also didn't need to, he didn't get a free pit stop, but he also didn't need to take another

pit stop because he'd pitted so only a few laps before it came out. So he was able to stay on those relatively fresh, basically new medium tires. But actually, I think it was almost the bad luck of the first half of the race playing itself out, because realistically, what does Charles LeCler need? No early VSC, no early safety car. Because at that point, he can go long. When everyone else comes into the pits from the medium tires, he's got some free track to work with, and that's where he makes the strategy work.

But that's not how it played out for him. He had two early VSCs, which basically all the medium tires, apart from the out, Alpine strategists who were asleep, everyone else took advantage of it. And it was smart of them to do so. It kind of left Leclair in a bit of a no-man's land because, yeah, he could have pit to get out that DRS train, but he was on the hard tyres. It wouldn't have helped him at all. So realistically, I think he probably did what was expected of him. If you'd have said fifth place to him beforehand, he might have said, yeah, that's probably about right. But that probably would have included Perez in fourth or third, given he was projected to make a similar comeback, and he didn't.

So to lose out to two Merks, I don't know. Maybe he would have wanted one more position, but I think he did an okay job overall. But I agree with you, Sam, that I don't necessarily agree with the stream of driver of the days coming in for him. I don't agree with that. I love that Ferrari back on the Plan D again. Oh, Ferrari. It's good to hear it. fat of God, Leclair, already.

He's like, yeah, whatever, I don't care. Hey, let's get you out of this DRS train. Hang on, let's do a five-second stop and put you in another one instead. Lecler will take off his helmet and his fire suit at the end of the season, and he will have the face and the body of a 93-year-old man. I'm so stressed and worn out from Ferrari. The pain. I mean, just look how much more hair said's got now.

exactly right exactly we're going to be reviewing our bold predictions and giving our actual driver of the day right after this before we get into bold predictions and indeed driver of the day just a special mention that we did just pass 200 episodes a couple of episodes ago which we forgot about when we were recording we figured we should actually do something for it and that's kind of as far as we've got in terms of planning. We're going to do a special episode. We are open to ideas is basically what we're saying. What would you like us to do for a special episode? We have ideas such as doing a bit of a video Q&A, maybe getting roasted. We don't do video being off. We just don't belong on the camera. No. That's fair. A Q&A.

We've also gotten the idea of a Discord roast, want to roast us. Maybe that will work. I don't know. But we are open to ideas. So let us know. Maybe we can roast each other as well. Maybe. We do that anyway. We just, yeah. Oh, I know. Yeah, that's true. You just described the podcast. Yeah. We do hate each other all the time.

Three friends who roast each other. I'm going to change the description to that. If you haven't any ideas, Discord, Twitter, pigeon, whatever way you want to get in touch with us. Where do they need to send their carrier pigeon, Ben? Yeah, because I don't accept pigeon. Of course you don't. Let's move on to reviewing bold predictions. Bring on the Sunday roast.

So Sam, your bold prediction was that Lewis Hamilton would make the podium. Full stop. Yay! And then there was a second part, which was that George Russell would DNF, which would aid Hamilton's podium, which didn't have them. You didn't even need a Russell DNF. No, once again, I've been hit by a 50-50, situation and I've only got half of it right again.

When will this curse end? Please. Lord of motorsport. Give me some grief. Or don't take the grief away, please. It's hard, always being wrong. I'm not going to lie. Well, you were 50% of your way to a correct bold prediction. Harry was 20% there. Harry, you said there would be five safety cars, which was correct. if you don't include four safety cars.

That's how it works. Yeah, it's close enough, isn't it? I mean, thank God for Yuki, because otherwise that would be nopcent the way there. So, cheers. Cheers Hall of Famer. Late Break, Hall of Famer. Yuki Sanoda helping us out.

I was, at least if you look at the results, absolutely nowhere near, because I said that only the top five drivers would be on the lead lap. But I think without Yuki Sonoda, so I don't have a Yuki Sonoda to thank. without Yuki Sanoda safety car, I think it would have been close.

I think I might have ended up a position or too short, but I'd like to have seen whether it would happen or not. We're all still wrong, though. It's still one, one for the season, if anyone's keeping count. Conclusion, none of us were right. But anyway, let's get on to Driver of the Day, worst driver of the day, and our moment of the race.

Sam, what have you got, first of all, for Driver of the Day? This was one of those races where I think there were lots of options Some really great performances Up and down the grid I guess some honourable shouts Joe Guangyu I thought he was really strong

Got a little bit stuck behind one of the cars at one point But he defended well He attacked well He was clean It was really good to see Botas played the safety car strategy I hope people don't like to claim it But more Botties please

He claimed that strategy Make it his own Lance Stroll You're doing well Why are you here Get out Sunshine I'll see you next week when you're rubbing a stroll. Gig a stroll.

But for me it's between two. Max was stepping, Imperious, controlled the race. He was fantastic, right? If the safety car didn't happen, we can ever see him again. He'd still be going. But I am going to give it to Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton was on it on Sunday, on it like a car bonnet. And George Russell in his back pocket, mate.

No fuss. No trouble. Stop it with the bait. No drama. For God's sake, man. I've got the rod out. I've got the Fisher rod out with a little George Russell face

on the end of it swinging in the shores. Who's buying? No, Lewis Hamilton is fantastic. It was a bit of old school Lewis and I enjoyed it. So yeah, it was good to see it. Old school Lewis, O.G. Lewis

back out of this weekend. Lewis Hamilton is driver of the day from Sam. What about from you, Harry? To be fair, Hamilton's is a very good shout and also show when you, but I'm going to have to give it

to Vastappen just because I mean he soaked to the I know we were not not sliking off for Sainzboe, but you know, we said it was perhaps slightly easier for Vestappen, but he did soak up that pressure

fairly well at the end of the race, considering that Sines Ball sat in his DRS for 10 laps. And also, even though, you know, Giga Chad Alonzo, as the disc was named him, even though he was sensational on Saturday, that almost, I think, overshadowed how good

Verstappen was during qualifying as well. I know it's driving of the day, but I think it's just been on it all weekend. So, yeah, it's going to be Vastappen for me. I think the Vestappan pressure, obviously we haven't been too kind to science. I don't think we were rude, but I don't think we've been too friendly to him at the start of the podcast. But if Vastappen three years ago,

if he was leading a rags like that with a Ferrari, less than a second behind him for lap after lap after lap, I don't think I'd be unfair to say that a mistake might creeping, and a rational move might happen. might happen. He made it look incredibly easy having signs like close behind him. And I think that, if anything, proves how good he is really becoming. In fact, it looked like he was having a Sunday drive while a Ferrari was charging towards him with more point three of a second behind him. I thought it was brilliant. One additional mention, a name that hasn't popped up yet, Alex Albin, I thought,

did very well. And if it weren't for him pitting, I think it was two laps before. the VSE came out, he might well have been in that stroll position of the back end of the points. He got really unlucky, basically, timing-wise. But he's not going to get it for me. The driver that is going to get it is the same as Harry Max Verstappen. He was very good at the F-1, wasn't he?

It's quite good, wasn't he? He quite good at the F-1. He did some good driving. That is my reason. Brum-brum, beep, beep. I'm first. Yes, that is exactly. exactly what Max Verstappen said over team radio.

Of course, we didn't hear it because of the communication breakdown, but that is what he said. Robbed. In terms of worst driver of the day, what have you got, Sam? Um, I think, again,

I might just sound well arsh on a very, very harsh, which is a very English, British reference, uh, going back to X factor. Very harsh. Very,

very, very, I'm going to give it to Giga Chang Alon also. I expected him to command his pit wall He's on the front row And he didn't deliver on any of the guarantees That he gave at the start of the race Mr Billy Big Talk coming in here

I'm attacking I'm going for it We're all going for it come on let's have you You know come on have a go if you think you're hard enough Says Fernando also And he just disappeared into the ether His defensive maneuvers were average He lost to his team mate because of the strategy on Alonso's side

was so poor. Yeah, Ocoy had a good strategy and a good race. But when you're starting that far ahead and you have the pace and your Fernando Alonso, I expect Fernando Alonso to go as a VSC guys, the second one. Shall we come in now? I don't know what was going on. It wasn't

Fernando. The pace on Saturday was fantastic, but Sunday somewhere else is in the car. Clearly, that's what's going on. Oh, man. We're going to get so many. At San Luis F1, everyone. Don't even don't even come to me and Ben of this. This has been a horrendous bait-bye.

This whole section by Sam. It's not Alonso's fault that he has a strategist who has the know-how of a flapjack. Like, that's not on him. That Alonso's knowledge out well as his every flapjack.

Also, Flapjack massively underrated. Oh, throw a great underrated. That would get a massive underrated. I don't know. care. Chocolate, no chocolate. Few raspberries. They can be a little bit crumbly.

They can be a little bit dry. The best ones are the little M&S flapjack bites. Oh my God. Oh, in the tubs that you get, right? You know we have a big office party? And someone brings them in. Here we go. A little bit of filth.

Absolutely disgusting. Almost as disgusting as Alonzo getting worse driver of the day. Alonzo finished the rest. Yuki Sunoda didn't. He's my worst driver of the day. I'm sorry. I was thinking to myself, didn't one Pablo Montoya do the same thing that Sunoda did? Like, I think it might have been Mr. Chunky. Was it Trilly who did that? I think it was Yarno. I was thinking the same thing. But you might be right about Mr. Chunky. Maybe he did it too. Anyway, he's no Montoya, put it that way. He is a Hall of Famer for a reason. He is a late breaker. The problem is you do actually.

at some point have to break. So Sonoda is my worst driver of the day. Harry, are you going for Alonzo? I'm not going to go for Alonzo because I am agreeing with you, Ben, because as a criteria goes for worst driver of the day, near the top is crashing on the way out of the pit lane or pit lane exit, automatic. That's automatic entry into worst drive of the day.

So sorry, UK. I think you're being harsh. So harsh. Give him a break. I know it was a bad mistake. It was a shocker, but every single other part of his racing, a car that wasn't performing was really good. Yeah, but that's the same argument as the Vostappen's lap

was the greatest lap in history until it wasn't. I don't care about that. That's not relevant to this. That doesn't back up my point. That is one of the best comebacks I've ever heard. I don't care. Shut up. I don't care. Oh.

Do you have a moment of the race, Sam? I've forgotten what happened. That's really, it probably would be Yuki Sinoj is not breaking into the game, quite frankly, because that was quite funny. Yeah, I'm going to go with that. I'm going to go with Yuki Sandoah, not breaking out the pit lane, because he was doing so well, and then he was not.

So, Yuki, onto the next one, mate. moment of the race for you harry um i'm giving it too and you you mentioned this person last race but you got the name wrong ben but i'm going to give it to sassy gp who is a new new character that i love um when vastafan came out the pit's behind him he was like mate why am i behind him and he was like did have the pace mate you just slow you don't have a pace you just damn slow shut him down Oh, I live for it. I live and breathe it. It gets it into my veins.

Sassy GP is a, yeah, I'm loving it. I want more engineering ears to just tell their drivers how it is. Just be like, shut up, go faster. You're being rubbish. Don't want me in your mowing anymore. I think my moment of the race, it actually does relate to Fernando Alonzo. And I do think there is some humor in this. That you are right.

Alonzo talked up getting Vastanid's turn one, which I absolutely loved. But everyone in the community were saying the same thing. Who's going to come out ahead down? It's basically a two-meter run down to turn one. Just that one was going to have it. And then... It's a hundred twelve or something, but yeah, sure. Five red lights go out and a lot of gets a terrible start.

I just thought, yeah, it's about right, isn't it? That's classic. And that's why he's the worst drive of the day, proven. Slandank. Well, there you have it. Let's see if anyone agrees with you from our few Discord submissions. that we've put in, if you'd like to have the chance to be one of these Discord submissions, you have to, unsurprisingly, get in the Discord and do a submission.

Who should we go to first? Let's go to Rai Guy. Hey, guys, this is Rai Guy 26. I'm at a bar and made some friends, but driver of the day has got to go to Lance Stroll because my bold prediction came true. Ha ha. And worst driver of the day is to Hall of Famer, classic Yuki, just right out of pits in the wall. Yeah, this is Curtis. Driver of the Day is going to Verstappen because he won the race and Yuki can't drive. So where's the driver of the day? Oh, come on.

And this is Ian kind of the same thing. Driver's Day has got to go to Max. Led the entire time wasn't even close. You know, Yuki's crash was probably one of the more embarrassing things I've ever seen in F1, so it's tough to beat that. Three for the price of one. Do I guy's friends count as friends of the podcast? They do, right? We'll claim it.

How wholesome. How wholesome? He's gone to a bar to watch Formula One. He's made some friends and thought, I'll get them on the recording. That's lovely. I really appreciate that. Let's go to Sea Dog, because Sea Dog is actually in Canada. We're coming to you live from the Montreal GP.

This is Colin from Canada. And Sarah. And our driver of the day for. Colin is Lance Stroll for finishing in the points. Have to give it to our Canadian boy. I'm going for O'Conn and LaClair for a clean fight. And an honorable mention. To both Canadians for finishing the race and the bag of chips that beat Latifie down the track.

Thank you and goodbye. I mean, Colin and Sarah sitting in a tree. What should the Canadian grow, It's adorable. Love it. He's been preparing that for hours, folks. Yeah. I definitely gave it some thought.

Didn't turn out as good as I won't get it to. No, I appreciated it. If you are at any Grand Prix for the rest of this year, and indeed any year, let us know about it. Either have one of these submissions, share some images in our Discord on Twitter. We've had a few come in this weekend, which has been lovely to see. So, yeah, love to know your experience. of the races.

We're in our merch as well, which is quite completely baffling, to be honest. That you're in a pit lane or in a grandstand with late breaking on your top, or more bodies, please. So anyway, that's a nice merch plug there. If you go. Link in the description. Seamless. George Ramies up next.

Everybody, this is George Ramius. My driver of the day has to go to Sir Hammy Hamilton. Sir Hammy just, you know, overcame some pretty tough starts to the weekend and made it happen at the end. My worst driver of the day has to go to non-sur crashy Sonoda out of the pits, light up the hard tires into the wall. What the heck? That's just terrible. Man.

I'm going to eat some sushi tonight, though, so shout out to Japan. I love the realization I'm being too harsh on someone from Japan therefore I'm getting the mention that I'm eating sushi Let's go to Norm

Howdy y'all It's Norm from Texas Vowd Dallas Cowboys fan I'd like to give you my submissions for Driver of the Day and Worst Driver of the Day Driver of the Day Driver of the Day goes to

Lewis Broken Arrow Hamilton bringing it in for a third place and Worst Driver goes to Nicholas 30 seconds from the podium Latifi. Yee ha. Yeah. The Dallas Cowboys. No.

No. Moving on. Sam is that serious. Ging up. Pony's. I will do it, folks. I'll keep up the American football references. Or football references.

Come down to my speakeasy. We've got to have ourselves a shootout. Yeah. Ha. This is literally. seminar in how not to treat over 50% of our listener base. I love it. Weirdly, yeah, you're somehow right.

Let's roll the next one. Hey guys, I'm Becky, relatively into the Discord. I'll first disclaim the submission by saying I'm a Lewis Hamilton ride or die. So today he is my driver of the day. I just think his pace was insane. I love watching him race this track. So Lewis Drive the Day, close second signs. He was just, it was brilliant to watch him put for Staffen under pressure.

And worst drive of the day has got to be Ricardo, lost two places. And I just don't think he has an explanation for it. And he's just been racing so bad all season. Sam's new favourite person. Yeah, Becky, Becky the bait. I mean, she's absolutely baited the Discord there. I genuinely don't think he had a bad race. You know, McCarran was not good here.

A horrendous pit stop as well. Yeah, I mean, he got the better half of it. But, I mean, it wasn't awful. Bless him. I enjoy, I enjoy, he's not been good this year. So, worst driving today as well. This race, he sucks. But Becky did agree with you, Sam, on Lewis Hamilton.

And thank you for joining the Discord, Becky. It means a lot. And the last one for today. Live, laugh, Latifie. What a name. Ben, Sam and Harry. Salmon Harry. Sam and Harry.

My worst driver of the day is Nicholas Latifi. Oh my goodness. Little Tifi. Figure it out. You're a driver, bro. Maybe you should be a podcast host. Like Sam and Harry. Mike can't whiskers the driver better race

and he died six years ago. Oh, rest of the peace. Oh, man. I'm just going to make an announcement now. I'm stepping down from jingle writing forever, live laugh atifi. That was incredible. Actually incredible.

No words. That's going to be saved forever. Definitely. And because I've got no words left, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with more Mercedes chat after this. So we've seen over previous Grand Prix that it's generally been George Russell

with the edge, at least in terms of finishing position. It can be argued in terms of performance. But here, of course, Lewis Hamilton at one of his most successful tracks, the track he took his first victory at. It was him who was able to claim the better position. He finished third, of course, for his second podium of the year,

with George Russell, still claiming strong points in four. Lewis Hamilton Do you think that Russell cost himself a podium Sam because we know that Russell had pretty good pace and quality but ultimately took the decision

to try the slicks where no one else did didn't work out for him Did you think Russell cost himself here? Firstly, Georgie Russ, Russie boy, I want to give you four commendations for just going, you know what? I'm going to be bold. Slap on the old slick tyres

or whatever else is wrung around against us. I love that. is big bold. That is bold prediction level bold. I admire it. So I'm not going to be horrible to you. I love that you went and tried something different when your car wasn't, you know, able to get a top spot. Well done. Fair play. In terms of throwing away a podium, if you look at the race as a whole with hindsight, he had every chance to get a podium. There was a safety car with 15 laps ago. He's driving the same machinery as the person that got a podium. At any chance, he could be on the back of Lewis Hamilton, he could have stayed in the DRS range,

he couldn't make a pass. You know, the option's there. All strategy was null and void come 15 laps ago. He had half a second to make up. 10 laps on, the gap between Hamilton and Sikes is smaller than the gap between Hamilton and Russell. So whatever you might think about how Russell performed in qualifying or what went wrong or went right, Hamilton had the pace over George Russell today.

We saw a completely unhindered performance between both Masege's drivers. And I think Hamilton comfortably had it. the Sunday. It looked like throughout practice and then throughout qualifying up until the final run, George Russell was dominant. There were laps coming in time after time that were, what, half a second fast in the Lewis Hamilton. The car just didn't seem set up for qualifying runs. Russell looked like he had got sorted. So you think come Sunday, okay, he's going to catch up. He did really well to cut through the field. He did really well to get past those alpines and sort himself out and be the car behind Lewis Hamilton. But he was gifted a golden opportunity to get him

himself on the podium. And he didn't, he didn't deliver. His tires are the same age. He has the same machinery. He's pushing to be number one long term. I'm saying is obviously when Lewis Hamilton goes, but Hamilton today was on it. It was a great Sunday performance from him. And as much as it sounds like I'm baiting, I'm not, Lewis Hamilton did have George Russell comfortably tucked away behind him for the race. At no point did Hamilton ever look like he was under threat from George Russell. And this was just a good week, a good race from Lewis Hamilton. I think hopefully he'll bounced back and we'll see both of those guys now really at their top level going at it for the rest of the season. I think this is what was saying is needed. This was a good thing.

Harry, do you think Russell cost himself via qualifying or do you think he cost himself in the race? Or do you think Hamilton just had that edge this weekend? I mean, definitely didn't help his calls in qualifying. I'm with Sam. I completely admire the bold, bold call there because, you know, realistically he was going to be in fourth or fifth where Hamilton was. If it worked out, it was on pole. If it didn't work out, he was where it was an eighth. So I'm not mad. Not mad about that call, to be honest.

I agree with Simon that I think Hamilton, during the race, this weekend in general, especially in quality, Russell was always two tenths ahead. Every lap he seemed to do, two tenths ahead. Obviously, at the end it didn't count because he didn't count for anything because he put the slicks on it and it wasn't the right call. but during the race, I think they were on us. It was kind of the same story we've had this year. I think they were on a similar pace. I was a bit surprised at the end where, as Sam said,

Russell didn't really go with Hamilton on that restart, especially considering his, you know, ties were the same, if not slightly younger than what Hamilton had on the car. So, yeah, you know, I think during the race, he was on relatively the same pace as Hamilton was. So if he had started further up, I would be he could have been in that position where Hamilton was. But yeah, I think it was a good race from Hamilton anyway.

So, you know, maybe George wasn't going to be able to get past him had he started further up anyway. But I don't think it was, I don't think it was a bad race from George. I just think they were on the same sort of pace that they've been on for most of the year as teammates. So yeah, it's encouraging. and go in to see both of them up there. I think Mercedes-Pace in general was very good. I just hope it translates.

We don't have another Spain situation where it doesn't translate to the next track. I think Solston should be good for them because it's like a billiard, billiard table of smoothness. So hopefully the porpoise doesn't come back, but there's some really, really encouraging signs of pace today. But, yeah, like answer to your question,

qualifying didn't help. But, you know, I think he could have been challenging for a podium, but I think Hamilton had just had the edge on pace over Roger in the race. I believe that if Russell goes back out onto intermediate tyres for his second run and qualifying, he gets a podium, quite simply. I think that's what ultimately cost him. In terms of qualifying, Russell did seem to have the advantage.

It looked like he was set up more for qualifying than Hamilton was, seemed to go different directions there. Having said that, even though I think if he goes out on the intermediate tires, I think he does out or qualify Hamilton. Honestly, I think he challenges Alonzo and signs for P2 and P3. But realistic, but I still think it was the right decision to go out on slicks from George Russell's perspective. And honestly, I'm surprised that it came from George Russell. And I'm surprised that it didn't come from probably Daniel Ricardo and Joe Guan Yu,

because they were the two drivers that really didn't have anything to lose in qualifying. And I thought they might give it a go. But it was George Russell who tried it. And I still honestly believe, and I know it's if but some maybes, if George Russell gets through turn one, I think he gets it. I think it was ready for slicks outside of turn one. Because we noticed there were still considerable standing water going into one, which is where Russell's lap started and indeed ended when he went out on the soft tyres. I think if he gets through that, I think he has a very good shot at it. Who knows? We'll never know, but that was the most

treacherous part of the track for me. And ultimately, I've said this weekend to weekend, Russell and Hamilton at this point are so well balanced to the point where I think track position is key. And whoever has track position between the two of them or has the better luck on strategy, as we've seen multiple times this year, that's the driver that's going to win. Because I don't think either of them have ever held a pace advantage over the other to the point where they can actually get overtakes done on track. I think they're just so well balanced. Hamilton had the advantage today with track position, he made it count. I think if it was the other way around, the same thing would have happened. I think George Russell would have got the podium and Hamilton

would have been fourth. And that's great for Mercedes, knowing that they've got two brilliant drivers who can, whichever one has got trapped position, they're the one that can take it home. I think it was important for Hamilton to have a confidence-building race here because we know that he's generally been on the suffering end in terms of luck this year. So it was good for him to have the advantage this race weekend. But honestly, I do think that whichever one of them had the trap position would have gone on to claim the podium. I will say that Hamilton's pace on that final 15 laps or so, or however many it was,

that was very impressive. And he did outpace George Russell in that stint specifically. But yeah, I think Russell cost himself in qualifying. But I love the bowl. How well. So I don't hold it against them. We just love a bold strategy call here at Lake Break and then. We love a bold strategy cool.

It's like a heart, isn't it? Just the more audacious you want to be, the more we're going to love you for it. Yeah. Like Pierre Gasly going out on the wets on a completely dried track back on the day. Gasly boy! Gisley boy!

I've waited all episode for someone to bring up Pierre Gasly. He didn't even do anything, did it? He wasn't like, do something, Gasly boy. Ah, dear. We love a little. bold strategy call. Apart from Yuki Sanoda's strategy call of

going into a barrier, that doesn't work out very well most of the time. Our final segment of today's show is looking at Fernando Alonzo. We'll get to that right after this. Before we talk about Fernando Alonzo's qualifying efforts and Sam can shame him

from here to the end of time, just a quick mention that we do have a survey out at the moment. We brought it out earlier in the week and we've already had a ridiculous number of people submit it. It's only five minutes of your time. So if you haven't done so, really appreciate any feedback. We're not looking to completely change up the show unless you tell us. We're just looking to make some minor tweaks here or there. And any feedback is really

appreciated. Anything positive, constructive, it's all helpful. And you'll find the link in the description provided Harry remembers it. But Fernando. I did last time. You did. You did. You did. You did to be fair. You did. Well done. You do a lot, Harry. behind the scenes. Well done. Remember things that I'm supposed to remember. That's why I do behind the scene. You do a lot. There's no one better.

No one better. Fernando Alonzo had a great qualifying effort, qualified P2, and it's not as if that was completely out of form as well. He was pretty good throughout the entire qualifying sessions that we had. But it all unraveled in the race.

Didn't exactly go very well for him, and he ended up losing out to his teammate. you know, flapjack strategy at play, of course. Sam, what did you make of... Let's just look at the qualifying effort here. What did you make of his P2 run? And does this prove that Alonzo at the age of,

is he 40 or 41? 76, isn't he? Old. Basically, can he still get things done in F1? That qualifying lap, I mean, it was only overshadow by the fact that Max Mustafa's qualifying lap was sensational. but that was in an alp which is not a front three car sometimes not really a front four car you know it's a big field team and alonso slaps it on the front row Fernando has always been a saucy little bugger and he proved it here once again you know he's not the world he's not 100% like he was back in you know the 2006 to 2014 era of Fernando Alonso where he was real prime time Fernando but that Saturday performance

was sensational. It was stunging the way he pulled that lap out of the bad because theoretically, if Fernando and that Alpine can put P2, Carlos Sites should have been able to do it, Sergio Perez should have been able to do it,

Lewis Hamilton should have been able to do it, George Russell should have been able to do it, and in theory, S. Malcolm, should have been able to do it. Were any of them close to him? Not really. The time difference between those front few places was quite big,

considering the track that we have here at Canada. And he, unlike Ferrari, delivers on every bloody well once, you know, next day delivery, same day delivery. He does it all. Amazon, he was stunning. Yeah, that's what they call him. It was fantastic to watch.

I love seeing Alonso on the front row. I bloody loved it. It's a shame what happened the next day, but we'll get onto that coming it. But Fernando O'Donkso, knocking out on a one lap, you know, time period, that's what he needs to do. He bloody did it.

I loved it. Harry, we know you are ahead of the Fernando Alonzo fan club, so I can only imagine what you have to say about his qualifying effort. Yeah, I mean, you know, stuff of legend. Yeah, look, it, it, it, he's still, like, he's not, he's not, he's not, as Sam said, he's not 2005, 2006, 2012 Alonzo.

You're not going to be, because he is, he is 83 now. Old. Old. Um, but I think it still proves he, he's, he's, you know, he's got what it takes to be at the front of a Formula One field. and I think it also, for F1 in general, I think the noise from yesterday night up until, you know, today or, you know, after qualifying up until race, race start,

it was all about Fernando, all of it. Just everything was about what a great lap that was, what's going to happen at the start, as you already mentioned, Ben. It was all that talk. And I think that shows what a character Fernando Alonto still is, even with, you know, the likes of Estappan and Hamilton and Leclair and the young people coming through, Alonso still has a massive draw

within Formula One. The hype around what was, you know, a great lap, but obviously it was a mixed up qualifying, was humongous. I think in reality, most people expected Alonzo to drop back during the race. Maybe not to seventh,

or at least behind his teammate, but I think we expected him to drop back a little bit. So, yeah, I thought that was very interesting. But, yeah, it's just Alonzo doing Alonzo things. I do you think there's ever a time when Alonzo won't be either A, 100% committed

and B also have a 100% self-belief because I think that day comes he stops driving, but I don't know whether that day will ever come because he just is that man has the most confidence in the world. He's just like, I'm just right about everything.

He turns, yeah, he turns up and I think regardless of what situation is going on, Fernando goes, I can win this right now. I can win it. Like, it'll be in the pit lane. His car will be in pieces on the floor. I'll go, I'll win this.

I'm still going to win. It never accepts it. That is what an F-1 driving needs could be. Never, never give up. I love it. My man was still strapped up. His and still strapped up from the crash in Australia. It's cried out loud.

Boom, Peter. Come on. You're right, though. I mean, the year will be 2037. Max Verstappen at the age of, 39 will have just won his 13th World Championship. And the next season will come along. And Fernando Alonzo, at 55 years old, will say,

I reckon I can take him. And I'm only half joking. He probably would think that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I love a bit of Fernando Alonzo. Just that there is something special to it. And I will say that I was wrong.

I didn't think he had another day. like this left in him. Now Alonso is a perfectly solid driver, a wily old campaigner, as David Croft likes to say, about 12 times a race. But he is at that stage of his career, where he can use strategy to,

he can use strategy and big brain thinking to overcome a little bit of a pace deficiency versus where he used to be. But ultimately, I didn't think these sorts of special days, they were still ahead of him in his career. And Saturday was a special day because you're right, Sam, when you listed off all those drivers that could have theoretically been in Alonzo's position, and they weren't. And Fernando Alonzo proved how good he was in that sort of condition.

And it's actually something that's crept up a little bit because someone mentioned, I think I saw this on Twitter, where someone mentioned how Belgium of last year he didn't get along particularly well in wet qualifying. And he didn't think he'd add enough exposure, basically, to wet conditions. And then someone posted his qualifying record ever since that point in wet conditions. And it's like all top six. And I hadn't quite noticed until this one, because this one was a bit more standout. But it's true.

He is doing a great job when conditions are a bit lairy. And ultimately, I thought he did a fantastic job on the Saturday. The Sunday we already know what happened. but I will say you're right about all the attention that he got for being P2. It is refreshing and it is brilliant to see someone with the self-confidence of Alonzo actually say, fine, Max West happened, you know, he might be the favourite. Gonna hammer him down into turn one. Didn't happen.

Wasn't close to happening. Don't care. It was great banner he said it in the first place. I was close that. But he said it. I am sick and tired of the top two or three. teams basically saying, do you start second today? Do you think you've got a chance? Nah, I've got the pace today. I reckon they've got it. And the other team going, nah, don't

think we've got it. They've got it. I hate all of the back and forth basically trying to play yourself down. Fernando Alonso is bucking the trend just saying, yeah, I'm good at the F1. I'll take him in a turn one. Do we need more for like more F1 smack talk like wrestling? Absolutely we go into a boxing match, right? Absolutely. Eam there going that little little Verstappan twirp, I'll have him, I'll have him, come on, mate, I'll have you. Lewis Hamilton there throwing out Shane

for him, Stappanagan, they're like, what's he got on me, mate? I know how big Canada is, if you see the clip. So, you know, guys obviously brilliant. But I love it, you're right. I want to hear it, I'm going to absolutely mugger you off at Turn 1, Sunshine. It might happen, but I want to hear it. And Fernando Valonze does talk just like that.

Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I just, I do want to see more. I do want to see more. A sport is made on rivalry and characters, right? I don't want this whole back and forth of, we're not fastest. No, you're not fastest.

We're not fastest. You're not not not fastest. Come on, give me a break. It's a lesson that I think everyone needs to learn from IndyCar because I feel like IndyCar drivers are much better at that smack talk. There was one the other day. Was it Willpower someone? He was like, wait till I see

so and so after the race. Yeah, Rogue America. He got taking off. And on the team radio, he went, you leave it to me till after the race. You wait till I see him. And I was like, oh, my good Lord, there's going to be an altercation.

Just put Graham Ray Hall in F1. That would make it interesting. Ray Hall. Ray Hall. Every two minutes, he has a disagreement with someone. But yeah, generally, that's my point. Now we get on to the unfortunate side.

because unfortunately points are not giving out on Saturday. At least it is unfortunate if you speak to Fernando Alonzo. Sam, his Sunday performance, or at least his Sunday strategy, you've already said a bit about it, but have you got anything more to add? Yeah, I got this. Oh, no.

There was something in the air that night. You were sh-h-franos. Come on, man. Yeah. I do a lot of bleeps. Come on. I'm not talking. about the bleep, I'm talking about the sentiment.

He wasn't, that, I expected more. I expect more from Fernando. I do. I don't care whether he's a wild old fox or while old campaigner is Crofts likes of bloody going about. When you stick it on second place

and it proves that you've got pace over the likes of Mercedes at that point, okay, you might not be at Ferrari, but the strategy calls, I expect more. We hear Charles LeCler barraging his, his strategist over the radio, We've heard it from Hamilton. We hear it from Russell.

You know, Fernando has this capability. Ben, you just brought up his big brain thinking about having that ability. What didn't he do today? He didn't bloody have a brain cell. He didn't use it. What was he doing on the radio? Why are you not coming in to pit? All your rivals have had two opportunities to pit, and you've not taken any of them.

And it hasn't paid off, and it hasn't paid off so badly. The S. Van Ockon, who started in Texas and has turned up at the race late, has had a better strategy than you in finishing, frankly. you. It was appalling. You can hear how annoyed he was over the radio when he bragged about being a hundred times faster than Ockong. I don't care if you were a billion times faster than Ockon, mate. Your finger shouldn't be armed him. Less points for you, Fernando. It was so bad. And I expected so much more from two-time World Champ and a guy that could still knock out the parking on Sasko like that. He has got big brain

thinking we've heard it race after race after race. He didn't deliver. This was really poor. That's, that's a, that's, that's, a, that's, a, he sounds called him sensational and really poor in the same segment. And I think that's, that's, that's, our podcast is ridiculous. What is, what is, what are we doing it? Can we end it? The whole thing. We're down. I'm not saying anything because, I just need to focus because I'm really trying hard not to take the bait.

I'm finding it really difficult. Oh, it's like a Ben Hocking we've got on the, I'm pulling tight. Can I just add to Alonso's bad day? He's just been given a five second penalty for weaving

on that last lap so he's in ninth now. Oh, he's rubbish. Get in the big! Yeah, that probably doesn't classify as big brain thinking, does it? Worst driver of the day by a country mile,

I don't care of you, keep putting it in the wall. Um, Harry, are you? You're already on bleeping duty, aren't you? Oh. Yeah, go on then. Shut the fuck up. Alon's in.

We got your big one. You real be in. We've got a live one. Oh, so much of Lonzone. I'm going to stand up and do one of them family photos, you know, where those people hold the fish up. It's going to be you in my arms. Hang on a big on.

Someone's going to do that. Someone's going to Photoshop my face. sort of fish now, aren't they? Please do it. I will have it as my wallpaper on my phone. Also, why am I the one baited by this? Harry, you're the leader of the fan club.

I'm being a sensible sensible boy. I mean, he's so wrong that I can't even I just, I'm just, all I can think of are the people adding us on social and on the discords. He's hurting already. Anyone else goes from

second place to ninth place without them being colliding into by anyone and you would be putting them in the big. Anyone that goes from starting the race to not finishing the race because he's crashing out, that's more worse of the drive of the day. I don't, I don't disagree the race with Baira for Alonso, maybe he's in some part to blame. But the Yucisinaoda literally crashed into the wall. Also, Latifi existed.

I mean, I don't bother bringing him up at this point. Awesome point. It's a free excuse. Oh. My blood pressure is way too high, so I'm going to have to end it here. It's usually spring races that cause it, but today it's Sam. Things are being with S, apparently.

We are going to be back for a midweek episode. It's not going to be a race preview. We might not be after this, to be honest. Well, actually, yeah, I don't even know at this point. But we should be back midweek for another episode. who knows what we're going to be talking about there, but really hope you have enjoyed this episode. If you haven't, apologies.

We might be more cordial next time. Sam, we... Sorry about Sam. Sam, redeem yourself. We've got caps. We do have caps. I've made caps, everyone. On the merch store, you've been asking for it for a while.

There are three different styles of cap. We have a... I didn't know these exist. We have a trucker cap, a snapback cap, and what's called a dad hat. I don't know why it's called a dad hat, maybe because dads wear them. That would make sense.

They're all black. They all have the green Elbe logo on the front. They're very nice. They look very cool. We've had lots of people in the Discord pick them up already, which is absolutely lovely. So thank you if you ever have picked up some merch.

It really supports us, more than you probably realize. The link will be in the description because Harry, the man who works so tirelessly behind the scenes, will put it there, I'm sure. So go go and pick yourself up.

Go have a little look. Have a gander. Might do. You might do. do if he if he was going to be nice to me um anyway it's the end of the podcast now folks well done for sticking through it uh it's been a ride um if you have enjoyed it maybe leave a little review let's know what you think was i right was ben right um i was right come and talk to us on social media at l breaking on twitter late breaking podcast on both instagram and on ticot i can see ben

getting more and more frustrated um join the discord over 800 people in there talking F1. And you will get a serious say in things like topics. You will get a big say, and things like what we do for our special episode. Remember, it could be a comedy roast of the three of us from you, or it could be a Q&A,

or it could be anything else. If you've got a brilliant idea, and people like to hear it, let's know. And finally, we have Patreon. We have loads of brilliant, wonderful supporters on Patreon. Thank you to all of you. If you do want to get involved,

you get lots of extra perks, like extra entries into free giveaways of merch. You get ad-free, podcasts and a few other bits of bobs as well. Go and check it out. Have a little look. If you've got the spare change coming in the month, we do really appreciate it. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage.

I've been done hockey. And I've been exhausted. And remember, keep breaking late. We've got a live one. We've got a live one. I've got so much. Past is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.