The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Dutch GP Review

Episode Date: September 4, 2022

The LB Boys review a dramatic 2022 Dutch GP, where Max Verstappen took victory ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell. Sam, Ben and Harry look at whether they got their bold predictions right, name their DOTD and ask whether Mercedes threw away a race win? 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

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 Ede, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Max Verstappen taking the win at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zanvort for the second year in a row. join on the podium three different teams on the podium by George Russell and Charles Leclair. Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth when it looked like he might well have been in contention for the win for much of the Grand Prix. A virtual safety car and a safety car throwing up a very interesting

second half of the race. We've got a lot to get into on this podcast as we always do for these reviews. We're going to be talking about the Merck lineup. Did today prove that they actually have the best lineup in Formula One? Bold predictions. We're going to be reviewing those. Driver of the day, worst driver of the day. We're going to be talking slash laughing at Ferrari and all what happened with Mercedes versus Red Bull. But as usual, we do start with the most important things here on the late breaking podcast. Sam, how were your chicken nuggets? They were absolutely fantastic. I ate all 20, got them from McDonald's so I was interested. I also had a mayo chicken, which is like the little saver chicken burger, but I ordering it with extra mayonnaise and extra lettuce because,

you know, hashtag healthy boy. Yeah, really. I also gave my cat half a nugget. She absolutely loved it. You know, Ian. She's always on the podcast. So all round great race day. How a great time. Maybe this is how we start our podcast now.

Because last time we had burger, fish pie chat, and spag bowl, which for some of our American audience, they didn't realize all that was. So sorry about that. Yeah, I enjoy it. I think we should, This is how we move forward.

We start with food chat every time. I mean, you've just had a ham toasty. That's a lovely selection for an afternoon. I had a ham and cheese toasty just before we started recording because I was absolutely starved after that race of action. There you go. I'll segue for you, Ben. Off you go.

That was beautifully done. Thank you, mate. Really appreciate that. We'll start with Mercedes and how their race went. So they both started on the medium tires, unlike the duo of Red Bull and Ferrari, and it looked like it was going to pay off for them. And it might well have done without a late safety car

that threw things out into the open, and Max Verstappen managed to claim the victory ahead of George Russell, who still claimed second place, and then Lewis Hamilton, who was first at the safety car restart, but then dropped to fourth with old medium tyres. So, Sam, simple question here. Did Mercedes-Fropew it away for Lewis Hamilton? I would say it wasn't necessarily thrown away.

I feel like Vastappen with the pace that he's shown across this weekend. After it was a really difficult Friday for the Red Bull driver, he still looked like he had it. But Mercedes definitely allowed it to be a lot easier for Vestappen to find his way back to the front. I mean, making it very easily have shut down George Russell begging for soft tires. And you never know, maybe George Russell had the right state of mind, and Mercedes will run all along,

and both drivers should go ending up on the soft tires. But they didn't help. They very quickly decided that they weren't going to work as a team. They weren't going to use the two versus one advantage that they had out there, which they often worked so well. Remember when they were dominant a couple of seasons ago, and it was always two Masegis versus one Ferrari or one Red Bull, and they would happily dominate.

And they get a 2V1 scenario with, what, 12 laps ago? Hamilton, no communication, keep him out as it is. Russell is coming to the pit lane. He commands soft tires. they giving immediately, not thinking about what that might mean for two laps time. And I'm incredibly surprised that while the likes of Reg Bull with, you know, big hanger, big up to the, you know, the strategy queen, throwing Max onto the soft tires, and then even Ferrari knowing that maybe that's the right call to make, Mercedes go, we'll split it. The warm up on army games are terrible and it takes ages to get them going. And George Russell is now going to be behind Max de Stappen, removing the buffer that we once had.

But yeah, that'll work out for us. And it didn't. They went from a 1-2 before the safety car came out to a 2-4. Sounds a little bit reminiscent of Ferrari's patented 3-6 that they previously had. It wasn't all Mercedes. The restart from Lewis Hamilton was shocking. It was possibly the worst restart I've ever seen from him. I know his tyres were a compound harder.

I know it's tough to warm those up. But he could have played that much better, I think. I think he could have taken the cars all the way up to the start, finish line, and then put his foot down. he allowed the staffer to have the entire banking corner to get the run on him down into the to turn. He had the move done before turning up. And obviously, Hamilton himself is more than capable of going, what tyres is, are they coming out? Are they going to put tyres on?

Get me on the soft tyres. Take a risk, do it. We need to take a risk going on race. And they didn't. And it didn't pay off. And Hamilton went from first to fourth in the space for about two laps. So, yes, Mercedes did age throwing it away. I don't think they're the only culprit.

but it was on them to not have a better strategy between both drivers at the end of what is a very pivotal race for them. I don't know if they'll get another chance like that again. What do you think, Harry? Do you think Mercedes threw this one away for Lewis Hamilton? They were thrown into a tricky situation at the end of the race because when that safety car came out, the second one, the Bottas one, Bastapen obviously came in. That game track position, which he might have fancied around landlord, not the easiest place to overtake, um, that they, they could hold on. But I think given the

if this had any other year, but given the problems Mercedes have had this year with tire warm up, I, I, it baffles me why they didn't bring Hamilton, both Hamilton and Russell in straight away, because they also, I don't know if they were waiting to see what Vastappan did. Um, but, but what, why wouldn't they? Because as you say, even Ferrari realized that having the soft tire for the last time maps is a good idea. And when Ferrari realized something, you should realize something. I think that's a general rule. But yeah, I don't quite understand why.

I mean, I get why, but given the context of this year, I don't know why they didn't bring both in straightaway. And they had to wait for Russell to call it himself, which should never be the case. I mean, it's great that Russell's taken into it. It's his own hands. even he realized this is going to be bad my tires are going to be too cold we can't warm up our tires very well I need to be on the softest compound obviously it paid off for him so um yeah it was it was

you can't hear can you hear a vibration whilst I'm talking about the way is it the tumble dryer yeah tumble dryer's going sorry folks I thought it might be just you know Sunday we're doing washing boiler tumble dryer what's it going to be next a shower it's been that before are you spok-s are you spok-s about curries in there Harry, have you got a home depot in there? The tumble dryer of mystery, which I think is a very old reference. AKA me. Yeah, I feel for them a bit because it was a tricky situation they were thrown into,

but they had the pace today. I think who knows what would have happened if they were both on the soft ties, but still behind this happen, maybe they could have held on or even challenged for that win. So yeah, I think they've got to look at themselves and say that we mess that one up because it was clear that the soft tire was the right option for those last 10 laps. So unusual for Mercedes. Glad to see them back up there. And yes, it was unfortunate with the safety car, but you've got to roll with the punches.

Red Bull did. As you say, the goat, Hannah Schmitz from Red Bull, the real driver of the day, smashed it once again. So Mercedes, sorry, you didn't get that one right. I'm going to replace. It's not cynical Ben today. It's not cynical Ben today. Today is time for controversial, Ben.

Because I think Mercedes, I think Mercedes was spot on, and I think Red Bull were very lucky. I think Red Bull were very lucky to come away with this win. And actually, I don't think Red Bull strategically did very well at all out there today, and they got quite lucky. In terms of the Mercedes- Yeah, I'm going controversial today.

Let's not forget the Mercedes- where they started. probably weren't looking at contending for a race win. I think Mercedes brilliant strategy in the first place is the only reason we're asking the question whether they threw it away or not, because starting where they did, they started on the medium tires.

I think that was the right call for them. And it opened up the strategy. Clearly the top guys weren't really thinking about a one-stop race. The Mercedes allowed that to become an option, and then when it transpired, the race transpired, and it looked like it was going to be a good call. it looked like they were on course for maybe a one two, maybe a one three, and ultimately I think the safety car saved Red Bull and indeed Ferrari as well.

I don't think LeClair was, I think LeClaire was fortunate or Ferrari were fortunate to get a P3 out of that race. I think both Mercedes would have covered Lecler quite comfortably. And ultimately, I just think the timing of the safety car was a bit horrible for Mercedes. I don't understand what Red Bull did. I mean, they pitt under a safety car when they needed soft tires. Well done. But then Merck didn't do that. Surely that's the...

Well, yeah, I mean... Mother down are fighting, everyone. I'm not going to fight with Ben. No. I would say in terms of Russell, I think it made complete sense to go on to the soft tire. And actually, that's probably where I would blame Mercedes most, is that Russell had to make the call,

rather than Mercedes had to make the call. But for Lewis Hamilton, at least at that set at when Russell Pitt, you're asking the question, okay, do you try and stick it out on medium tires and have a chance at the win? Or do you pit for soft tires, condemn Hamilton to P2 and give him for Stappen's pace, he's not going to get out in front of him. Now, for an overall result, the ideal would have been to pit both drivers at the same time for soft tires. I have no doubt about that, because they would almost definitely have finished two, three.

But are you going to be the person who's brave enough to tell Lewis Hamilton, look, we're going to sacrifice any chance for a race win here. we're going to bring you off those tires. We're going to give up track position. You'll claim P2 more than likely, but P1's probably not going to happen now. I don't know. Hamilton having not won a race so far this year,

was he entitled to at least give it a chance? In hindsight, yes, it wasn't the right call because Hamilton finishes P4 rather than P2. I do think the poor safety car restart somewhat played into that. But I don't know. I think Red Bull and Ferrari got luck. I think Mercedes strategically nailed this race.

and the safety car bailed them out of it. I don't know. For the overall result, would have been best to pit both for softs to at least give him a chance at holding on to the win. I think he had to stay out there on mediums. And I don't think Russell,

I don't think both cars staying out on mediums was a good call though. I'm glad that one of them picked because I don't think it would have mattered that Russell was in between Stauffin and Hamilton, based on what we saw in the last 10 laps, I think Mustafa would have got them both anyway.

But yeah, I don't actually think, I'm not going to say they're blameless, but if I had to pick who actually played the strategy game the best, I'm giving it to Mercedes. Do you think that Hamilton, obviously, he was so animated over the team radio, you know, a lot of swearing, angry Lewis. Do you think that was justified then? Do you think that Lewis has every right to say I go, you have effed me? George Russell's there overtaking him and flying off down the road in P2 and he's going, I'm the leave driver, I've been in front all race, why wasn't this given to me? You think that's his fault for not demanding it or should the team have gone keep us the same or giving it to him

first as an option? He was incredibly angry. Yeah, I don't think it was unjustified. In the heat of the moment, I think it's absolutely fine to vent your anger because part of it's not in your control. It's just how you're feeling. I would say that I don't think Russell's, Russell was out there by himself fighting on his own, and I don't actually think Russell's strategy should have played into Hamilton's strategy at all. I think they should have had their own race. Like I say, I don't think what Russell did would have actually affected anything. I think probably where Mercedes fall down here is assuming they didn't give him the option. You basically, you lay it out in front of him. If you stay out on mediums, you'll have trap position, you'll be in first, but you're going to be,

it's going to be tricky. Or you say, okay, you can pit for softs, you can go to second place. you're basically level with Verstappen in terms of tire life at that point. You're probably not going to beat him based on pace, but it's up to you. If he turns around and says, I'll gamble, I'll stay out there, then, you know, that's on him. But if that choice wasn't at least presented, I can understand why he would get frustrated. But also, like I said, the reason Mercedes were in the fight to have a win in the first place is because how well they did strategically. So, I don't know, swings and roundabouts. do you think then if we had no if a race played out with no safety cars VSC do you think

Mercedes win it I think they have a very good chance to and even if they don't they still improve on the force you know the four you know where they started so I think there is a very good I think he probably would have done I think he would have won the race if there wasn't a safety car but like say even if he finishes a narrow P2 you you look back at that and say that's a really good race well done from Hamilton and the team. So I don't know. I think I appreciate it's controversial, but I think we're being too quick to praise Red Bull for something that fell on their lap.

I think Mercedes have a bit of an issue with reacting under safety car. We've seen it multiple times now. I mean, obviously we saw the Avery-Dabby situation. That caused havoc and still is plaguing havoc. Giggleport up today during the race. And we've also had issues with them when they are in a 2V1 situation over the last 12 to 18 months. France comes to mind last season where they just don't seem to be able to react fast enough in implementing the right tire onto the car when they're in a stress-heavy scenario.

When they've got build-up, you're right, the start on the mediums, if they get away well, works for them brilliantly. And I mean, Russell didn't actually get away well, but he recovered brilliantly. and Hamilton managed to hold on to that P4. It's a great strategy, and it was working out well for them. But it just feels like the moment they get put under pressure and they haven't got a whole 12 hours to work it out, they can't seem to make that right call that suits the team properly.

They seem to always throw something away, and it's very evident that if there was another team that could compete with them properly for the last eight years, would they be anywhere near a successful, or would they be making way more mistakes? wonder if the car quality has allowed them to look much better strategically than they actually are. And in high-pressure scenarios, they're having blunders. I've got to say, though, I think I agree with Ben for the most part of the race. They were, they were pretty spot on. And it made

me miss the Mercedes Red Bull rivalry compared to what we've got with Ferrari this year. So, let's come back, Mercedes. Yeah, I mean, interesting. If it, yeah, I mean, if it was, if it was, if it was Ferrari controlling Mercedes race, you know, Russell would have been on the inters after 20 laps, so that's probably a good thing. Or just three wheels. Get their heavy wet, son.

Yeah, you'll be glad to know, folks. We are getting into Ferrari in the next topic. No, we'll save it for them. In terms of Lewis Hamilton's race, Harry, what did you make of the safety car restart? Because it is pretty rare that we, we see, and the entire warm-up is definitely a factor here, it's very rare that we actually see the driver in P2 overtake P1, because it is P1 ultimately deciding the pace up until the last

moment. Everyone is reacting to what they're doing. Were you surprised to see Max Verstapp and get by as quickly as what he did? Could Hamilton have done anything about it? Yeah, I mean, it was surprised. You're right. You don't see that very often on a safety car restart these days. I think, I don't know, I watched the Formula 2 race this morning and, think it was Liam Lawson did the restart. They had a safety car. He did a restart, but he backed them up. He didn't go until, I mean, halfway down the straight, the main straight.

It did cause a pile up, but I don't think that was his fault, so I don't think he changed his pace. But my point is, because the final corner is a flat-out banking, it's quite, you're in the toe, effectively, for quite a long way. So, yeah, maybe there was a bit of an error on Hamilton's part to maybe not quite clock that, because effectively, from the penultimate corner, Verstappen could just be in his toe, obviously engage all the overtake, whatever he needs. Yeah, it was a done deal

before we even got to turn one. So, yeah, I think looking back, Hamilton might have done that one differently, maybe study a study a few restarts from the junior formulas as well, because I think that's definitely the way to go with this track. Either you jump them out of the sort of hairpin

in the stadiumish section and go from there, or you wait and then and then drop the throttle halfway down the straight. So yeah, a rare, a rare error for Mr. Hamilton. He tried to do another reckless lap one. He gave a good, good go into signs in the first lap. But other than that, I think it had a very good race. But yeah, it was an odd one.

That lap one, that was just a bait and switch. It was like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. Nah, nah, nah. Sike. What was your take on the restart? to cut restart for Hamilton, son. It was shocking, as I said earlier.

I genuinely think it was... I wonder where that was going then for a second. It was shocking. Shoddy. It was so bad from Lewis. And I think this maybe shows how good Mercedes had been with the car. I don't think Lewis took into account the speed of his car. And it isn't very good in comparison to the cars behind them.

I think he was like, ah, look, I'm leading the racing a Mercedes. Here we go. You're trying it again. Yeah, woo. Yay, lucky me. Oh, wait, we're rubbish.

We are rubbish in comparison to Red Bull. And I think he completely forgot that. So I think he went, oh, put my foot down, a round of a bank to corner, which is going to be hard to follow round because that's how aerodynamics is working in Formula One. Oh, wait, it's 2022.

The new regulations of Kittin. It's proven that actually they work around here in Zambor. and he's been absolutely done from the moment he pressed the loud pedal and he should have taken it all the way to the start, finish line. Harry was writing saying that, yeah, okay, it calls him a pile up

in the junior formulas. I don't care. Lewis Hamilton shouldn't care. That's not his concern. It's got his priority. That's up to drive us behind to be safe. He could do whatever he wants as the leader. And I expect Lewis Hamilton

to be able to employ a more forward-thinking strategy when it comes to these race restarts. We've seen him do it before. Cast your mind back to when we have the safety car restart, spa and he was leading Vettel and the science and analysis is going to show that he would lift off slightly through the Oroo's Radion complex to ensure that Vettel could not get the full

speed of the follow through after the safety car restart. Hamilton has thought that far ahead in previous restarts. Today was a little bit amicshire feels harsh but rushed, you know, trying to make up for something very quickly like he knew there was a chance to win this. It was slipping and he just threw himself into the situation without giving it a full you know, round look at the analysis. And I think he messed it up for himself, unfortunately. I think he would have lost the lead anyway because of the tyres. But I think it happened even quicker because of the poor restart.

Yeah, I don't think it was a very good restart. And actually, I think it was the only, only poor thing of Hamilton's race. I think he drove an exceptional race out there. I think it was the one thing that let him down. And yeah, it was confusing as to why he went when he went. And ultimately, I think the pace of Vestappen's car would have have at least led to a side-by-side into the corner, but as you've already mentioned, the move was done before the corner even happened. You know, if you at least delay it to the point

where you're going side-by-side through the corner, Vestappen's competing for a championship. It's not all that close, but he still needs to think about championship points more than he does outright race wins, whereas Hamilton's not in that fight. So you at least give Vestappen the question of how much do I push this before I risk contact? And who knows, maybe he doesn't risk it as much as he might have done in previous seasons. So I think at least make it so it needs to happen in the corner. I think you're right, Sam, that he probably gets by anyway, but certainly those medium tires, yeah, you're right, tire warm up was the issue.

So theoretically, lap after lap, that gets easier and easier to manage. By the end of the race, Hamilton's medium tires, they weren't quite as quick as what Vastappen was doing. but it was probably enough that if they were fighting, he probably could have held him off, I think. So at least if it doesn't happen on the first lap, it makes it a bit trickier to do it on the second lap for Vastappen. Who knows at that point? But yeah, I don't think it was his best safety car.

I'll restart put it that way. Speaking of things that weren't the best, yeah, and speaking of having better days, I'm going to be chatting Ferrari straight after this. Good. Ferrari Oh, every week. Folks, for some context,

I'm sure a lot of you know this now. When we discuss the topics before we come on, Ben says they become a preliminary routine of what we go, walk through the topics. Ben was saying to me earlier that Ferrari Gargis almost has like a permanent fixture and he's just written fricking Ferrari in topic two now. We don't even need to go to details.

It's just like, there you go. You've got yourself almost like a mainstrand. day every single week that's my issue, every week. Ferrari, I've got some good news. Your patented 3-6 didn't happen.

You traded it in for a 3-8. Goodness, Lorde. Charles LeClair found his way onto the podium, although as we've already discussed, that wasn't looking likely for some parts of this race.

Carlos signs it went even worse for as he turned a P3 on the grid to with P8 after a five-second time penalty was applied at the end of the Grand Prix. Solid stuff. It means Mercedes closing on Ferrari and the championship, even with Mercedes losing positions late in the LaGronprie. Sam, what did you make a Ferrari strategy calls this week? Oh, I mean, I'll try not to burst out into pure laughter for you all again.

It is how I got to. I had a little giggle throughout the race. You have to feel a little bit sorry here for the likes of Carlos and the collaboration. don't you? Because the unsafe release isn't ever the driver's fault, right? They are released by the Jackman and the light sensor they've got above their pit lane. And that's where the big fumble came in. The strategy team told Carlos to box. The engineers were not ready. They hadn't been informed by the strategy team at all. So Carlos comes in. No tie is properly ready. So one of the ties is still not on the car when Carlos has been sat there long enough to have his dinner. And then when they go to drive off again on the next pit stop,

of course, it's an unsafe release. And Carlos tries to beg and plead and borrow anything he can over the team radio by saying, if I get a penalty for that, that's fake. Well, mate, I don't want you think's real, because you were released straight into the pathway and Fernando Oaksa, where he hit you.

I mean, that's literally the definition of a guy and safe release, whether another team is around you or not. It's comical, it's hilarious. I even said to my partner, she was in the room when we were watching Formula One, and, um, oh, it's quite funny.

Mercedes-Bos-Hamilton came in for his hard tyres. And the next lap came round, and Mercedes came to bring rustling. And Crofty, when, oh, Mercedes have come out for a pit stop. Who is it they're bringing in this lap when Hamilton had literally just pitted, right? And I'm not going to, right? Big question about that. We're on Ferrari here. But anyway, the point I'm making is, and I said, I'd like to shout at the telly,

if you've ever seen a live watch a lot of us watching it. And I say, Crofty, who else is going to be other than George Russell? they're a top Formula One team. Of course they understand their strategy. And then I went, it's Nick DeVries. Unless it's Ferrari, where they literally don't understand

their own strategy. And they applied it again. We had every letter of the alphabet. We had people running over pit guns because they just left it screwing across the pit lane. Everything was wrong. Everything was wrong. Charlotte Clare still managed to get a podium.

I think out of sheer luck, but they managed to go, we're a bit behind. What's for Stauffin doing? Because that tends to work. Let's put him on the soft tire. Oh, good. Yeah, no, it wasn't good.

It's very funny. You're quite an embarrassment, and you've thrown away what could have been quite an exciting title fight for us. But, oh, well, onto next year anyway, cheers Ferrari. Hopefully, you'll say it's come back and take your place because you're just a bit pointless out, aren't you?

What do you think of Ferrari's race, Harry, mate? Again, wasn't ideal, was it? It didn't go quite to plan. Look, I think firstly, I always love to throw in a little defence beforehand. This wasn't as worse or as bad as Spar and Spar wasn't as bad as hungry, so they're on a downward trajectory.

I mean, Nicholas Latifie's not as bad as Nikita Mazepin. I'm defending something. Secondly, they were, this is not a defence anymore, they were just slow as balls in the race. They were so slow. Like, why? They didn't have any answer for, for either Mercedes or Red Bull.

And the fact that Motea Bonotto at the race was more worried about Mercedes than the Red Bull that was in front of them on the grid was slightly worrying. I swear to God at one point, the engineer said to LeCler, before the safety cars, we're now on Plan C, you're going to get overtaking the finish fourth. And I was like, is that what Plan C is? Is that the plan? But they've drawn that plan up. I thought it was that they said Plan C is not an option

earlier in the race and then they said if we go with Plan C this is what happens and then the safety can happen so I don't think it happened anyway so I think it went down into Oh God I don't know I maybe I'm misheard but it just sounded like they said Plancy is getting overtaken and finished fourth and I was like sure

okay um yeah and then and then the leaving the pit pick and just strewn about I know they would normally tuck them in and it's quite a type pit lane there, but give Perra has a bloody chance

to get out of his pit box for crying out of loud. It's just lying there as if they've forgotten about it. And they'd obviously forgotten signs his wheel. He had three wheels on his wagon and Ferrari, if you're listening,

you need four. Well, Lewis Hamilton in Silverstone. Maybe they watched that before, maybe they watched that one before this race away. He could do it with three. Sikes could do it.

Give that one a while. Yeah, see. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I mean, yeah, like I said earlier, it's just, it's sad. It made me, today made me miss the Mercedes Red Bull rivalry because Ferrari aren't quite capable of giving us, giving us that. And I just feel like now they're not even looking towards, look, fine, they might not have the pace, but they, for that their attitude towards beating backs.

They didn't, they didn't really think they can. They're all sort of like, oh, yeah, we've got to defend from the Mercedes. today which which sucks. So, yeah, freaking Ferrari. I think that's fair enough, Ben. Yeah, not my deal. He's a good summary, actually. I am convinced to this point, actually.

There have been a few times in the last few podcasts that I've tried to stop myself getting too angry at Ferrari. And I think it was a good course of action. But at this point, I feel like it's a done deal that Ferrari will kill me before the end of this season. So I might as well just leave into it now. We're appetising for a new host. Yeah, get your applications in, get your CVs in to at L breaking,

because I ain't going to be here for 2023, folks. Funeral plans are already in the making. I'll start at the beginning because there is that much to get through that we might as well do that. Firstly, I have a notepad and I jot down things throughout the race that I think might be worthwhile remembering when we get to this point. the first thing I jot it down was Ferrari didn't split strategies, which I thought was a mistake. And actually, I think, again, the safety car kind of ruined it a bit, but if there were no safety cars, they would have been exposed for that.

You've got a two, three behind Vastappen. I understand Charlotte Clare being on the soft tire in order to threaten Max Vastappen off the start. Completely get that. Put signs on the mediums to begin with. Split your strategies. Get Vastappen and Red Bull to think about what they do, who they cover off. Now, it might have been for nothing, because as Harry said, in maybe slightly more unsavory terms than this, signs wasn't very quick, but...

He means slow as balls. Yeah, I was going to be nicer than that. But he was, so it might not matter anyway, but at least if you've got two different, two different tires on at the beginning, then signs maybe goes on the one-stop. You've got the chance to do that. They didn't. They just went with the same strategy that I don't think it would have led to anything. But regardless, I think they did a good job.

as slow as signs was, they made a good job in making sure Mercedes could not undercut him by putting him in around lap 15. Good call. I like that. Execution, not quite so much. I don't quite have the exact times in front of me, but I believe that Mercedes were able to double stack their drivers in about five seconds quicker than what Carlos Sines was able to do one pit stop in. 12.7 seconds was the pit stock for Carlos Sines, which if you've paid any attention, usually you can put the one off it and you get around where the average is at 2.7. What was brilliant about this, or not so brilliant, was Sines's reaction, which was just like, yeah, sure. Oh my God.

At this point, fine. Whatever, I'm out of there. Pretty much. and then Benotto, who was on the, who was talking to Sky all weekend. Great timing on that, by the way. Was asked, what was that about? It was a mess, crofty mate. Basically what Bonotto said.

Pretty honest, wouldn't he? Yeah, that was just the mess. Apparently you're allowed to leave pit guns wherever you like now in the pit lane. That's good to know. Thought there'd be some regulations behind that. In one of the tightest pit lanes of the year as well. Now, I don't have a huge amount of sympathy for Carlos Science, because he was really slow.

I know you said Ferrari was slow, Harry. I thought Clare had an okay pace. It was signs that was well off the pace, right? So I have a limited amount of sympathy, but even so, putting a driver through a 12.7 second pit stop and then having the outright audacity to go over Team Radio and say, we're still on Plan A. Have a day off. You can't say that.

Plan A is not a 12.7 pit stop. stop. And I'm convinced, I'm convinced now that it does not matter how good or bad the hard tires are on a race weekend. Ferrari will make the wrong decision about whether to use them. If the hearts are viable, they will avoid them as much as they possibly can. If... I think... I think I've learned something about Ferrari and hard tyres, which you're right.

when Fernando Alonkso came along and whacked on that hard tire was faster than everyone else in front of him and it was like, oh, yeah, the hard tire works. Remember last time out or they were like, oh, we'll try the hard tire and it was the slow as balls tire. I feel like they forget that the compounds change

and tracks have different reactions and the rubber is different, right? You go, you run them in practice Ferrari to see how they do and then you go, oh yeah, that's all right, that one. We'll give that go in the race show. like everyone else worked out was probably fine. The saying he's clearly had the hard tire on their strategy

from the end of practice one, because Hamilton was doing runs on the hard for over half the bloody time. What are you doing? I'm bored of you. I'm bored of that time. I am. I also enjoyed,

I think they admit, Hamilton, yeah, it must be after, well, first pit stop. And they're on the hard ties. And he's catching the clerk at a rate of knots.

He's done, Perez, catching the, Lecler are rating arts. I think the gap's about five seconds. And Lecler's team radio says, Hamilton's quicker than we expected on the hard tires. Great. I mean, great, great stuff. You're telling him now? Like, he's hunting him down, like chunks of time every lap. Oh, you might want to know this. He's actually quite quick. It's quite going to be F1 today. 30 laps earlier, I think. About 30 laps earlier, Alonzo was going pretty well on the hard.

tires. So it's even for us, and we're called late breaking, that is very late breaking news. Goodness me. Could have got there a bit sooner. Last point I will say in terms of the five second penalty for signs in terms of the pit stop. I might need to see this one again. I think it was pretty marginal. I think it was close because a harsh one. Basically, if it would have been McLaren ahead of them, right? If they aren't pitting and as well, I think they're fine. I think they're absolutely fine. But because of the narrow angle of trying to get out,

I don't know. I could see that one going both ways. So I'll at least give them a bit of slack there. But overall, if I had to give it a rating out of 10, and you know I like to stay within the boundaries of these, I would give it a minus six. I'd give it a knots very good. I would give it a...

minus 71, because that's what happens if you add their driving numbers together, but in the negative. I like that good thinking. We're going to move away from Ferrari for the sake of, I think, all of our blood pressures this week. We're going to be back with bold predictions, reviewing how we did, and driver of the day and worst driver of the day. That's coming up right after this. Bold predictions. Let everyone get your abacus out, try and work out how.

many we got out. Hey, tell you what, if Ferrari want to borrow an abacus to see how many tires should go on a car, they're more than welcome to. An abacus to work out how many bold predictions we got right this weekend. We'll start with you, Harry, because yours was the one that was essentially covered off first and you hit the crossbar, mate. Oh, me and Sergio Perez are going to have words. For the love of God. It, look, I didn't think it was going to happen, but those last runs in Kuali were looking supreme from everyone involved. I'm what I'm going to say

Just remind them It was yeah It was the top five covered by three tenths or less And we had Verstappen, Lecler And then it was It was in third Oh signs

They were covered by like less than the tenth And we had Perez and the two Mercedes Stilled across the line And I was like oh Here we bloody go lads Oh baby There's three Now it's gonna be five

Shrefer Yeah, and then Perez was like, actually, nah, don't fancy that. Don't fancy that one, so well, I'm just going to spin out the last corner, which I didn't finish their laps, and I was wrong. Yeah. I mean, yeah, they could have put you out your misery earlier than that, and they just, it's the hope that kills you. It's the hope that kills you.

It is. Fortunately, I can recover it a bit because I said that Fernando Alonso would make an epic move around the outside of the bank corner at Zamvore, and I distinctly remember an Alpine making a very good move around the outside there. Oh, no. One, no, mate.

Listen, I don't care for your technicalities on this. I saw an Alpine going around the outside. I think I should get that one. No, get in a big thing. All right, we're nought out of two. Sam, can you save us? I mean, don't say it's the hope that kills you then come to me last,

because that's just not fair. Firstly, I was right on my first, second, third. I can't even get brought up, so I'm bringing it up. I've got my first, second, third. I know, I know it doesn't count. I'm fully aware of the misery I'm in. And then, my wrong prediction was that Sergio Perez would not finish in the top five. Right, okay, in qualify.

He bings it in the wall. I'm thinking, okay. You know the Jack Nicholson gift or is he in the weird, like, yeah, smile? I'm like, he's damaged the car. You probably get a penalty, maybe new gearbox or something. No, okay, fine. He's not in the right position, though. good start. Then

bag start for him off the line. Landon Norris does well, George Russell does well, Hamilton holds him back. I'm thinking, okay, here we go. And then, and then we get to the actual end of the race, and Perez isn't in the top five, but then after they cross the line, Science gets his

penalty applied. And then he is in fifth. He's in fifth, not fourth, not that, no, fifth. So I'm wrong on a penalty from Ferrari. They've managed to kick me in my slow as balls, ball. because I've mocked them for that many weeks. They've had one back at me. So I'm still wrong.

Okay, so if we count them up, we've got Harry zero. If we plus that to my zero and we plus that to Sam zero, I count that as zero. No, no, I'm going to give us a point because of Sam's one, two, three. I'm doing it. yes that's the nicest thing begs ever done I'm breaking the rules that is genuinely the nicest thing I've ever done

not even close that thinks I lead hang on on the bold prediction we're actually going to give Sam a point so it's now one one two yeah it's done now written in stone then what you're doing just keep him quiet keep him happy it's the easiest thing to do jeez someone write that down

remember this at the end of the season when we celebrate I'm going to edit this bit out. Harry has overall control of this process. Driver of the day, who have you got, Harry? I think I already mentioned it. I would give it to Hannah Schmitz. I know you don't agree, but if they get lucky, lucky,

which I guess there's a degree of. But actual driver who was driving a car, I'll give it to, oh, tricky one. There's a couple of good choices. are gone just because I love him. Fernando Alonso

he was just even though he didn't do his start he still ended up well he was six in the end I think now Fernando just has to by the end of the race as long as he's within

five seconds of a Ferrari extra place for him that's how that works what a plan L plan that is L plan yeah I thought I had a very good race

out there he didn't have a great quality but I think he finished where he around where he should have been in qualifying. But yeah, I mean,

Vastappan again was pretty good. Hamilton was pretty good at the F1 today apart from the restart by then. So I can't really give it to him. Yeah, I'll go Fernando Alonso because long live the fan club. Of course.

Of course. Driver of the day from me, Hamilton and Vastappen, both contenders. They were both great. But I am going to match Harry's answer. I'm going to go Fernando Alonzo. You could argue his

his poor qualifying gave him the need to make the overtakes, sure, but they were still pretty good, weren't they? And who knows, maybe there's still something in Fernando Alonzo, maybe something that's enough to give him a multi-year contract. Maybe Alpine should seize the day on that and give that a go. Loll. Carpe Diem. Missed the boat.

Sam, who have you got the driver of the day? Well, you've said the name is that I would agree with entirely. There's not really anything else I'd add to the list. And I like it when we get to a decision like this, where it's actually quite difficult to kind of pinpoint who you think. And I would have given it to Lewis Hamilton had he got fumbled that restart. Even if he didn't win the race, I would give it to Hamilton. I think he was sublime.

It felt like it was Lewis was back on that race. I'll go here to Vestappen. He executing his overtakes when he needed to brilliantly on the return through the pit strategy. He did wrestle like an absolute kipper. And you know what? He brought it home brilliantly. He got that restart bang on. you know, just because Hamilton fluffed it,

doesn't mean Vastappan had to nail it, but he did. And he showed his absolute dominance again, even with the twist in the tail. So, yeah, Vastappan, well done. Champion already. You may as well as well as, he was a fantastic drive today. Might as well have said it in Bahrain, to be honest. Worst driver of the day.

Worst driver of the day. I'll kick this off because I think, honestly, there are two contenders, and whichever one doesn't get it, might be a contender for worst, worst driver of the day not to win the award. These two were so similarly bad, Ricardo or Latifi. I'll give it to Ricardo just on the basis that his car could have scored points and the TVs couldn't have.

But honestly, give it to either of them and I think you'd be justified. Sam, who's your worst driver of the day? Look, Daniel, mate, pal, buddy, chap, I need you to do better than this. Well, your teammate is rivaling Fernando Alonso and chasing down Ferraris in the final stages of the race for strong points. And out Pee, I've got two cars in the points. And you're in 17th place. 17th place. It's not really good.

Now it's not the science on the beach, lad. You need to be a big Daniel Ricardo smile-sized advertising board going, look, I'm really good at the F-1. You should take me on because I haven't got to drive next season. and he was once again the big outlier out of the teams in the points, not being there. He was panx. I'm going to bother mentioning Latifi.

Ricardo was panks. By far my worst round of the day. And yours, Harry. It's an odd one with Ricardo, wasn't it? Because beginning of the weekend, he looked like he had some pace. It was pretty close to Norris all the way through practice. And then it obviously fluffed it in qualifying. But I thought maybe he might still be able to get some points back in the race.

or at least in positions. Just never happened, did it? I won't go for him, or the Tee-Fi. I'm going to go for Mr. Kevin Magnuson. I don't know what he was doing today. I'm not saying he was slow, although he wasn't great in qualifying yesterday, but he was a bit more box office.

We missed it from him this year. He was a bit more box office. Decided to spice it up on lap two, was it, and flew off at turn two, hit the barrier, but he was fine, carried on. then he tried to dive bomb Latifi and Latifi switched backed him, which

you know, that's rare, doesn't happen very often. It wasn't a great day out there. And even when Mick Schumacher had a pit stop that was trying to rival that of signs at Ferraris, Schumacher still finished in front of him. So not a great day, but I think the two names you mentioned as well

are very valid contenders. I mean, the nice thing about KMAG is that he still beat Ricardo, even with all that trouble. So, you know, it's a fair point. I'm sorry, sorry, Daniel. Moment of the race, Sam.

I'm sorry. It's got to be the old baiting switch with Yuki Sengoda. What was good? That was one of the most confusing moments in any Formula One race I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of Formula One races and he's absolutely sent everyone watching for a bag of chips.

We're there, he's pulled over, yellow flags come out, we're thinking, right, here we go. safety car. Conspirity is coming out. Your two four hats are wrong. Alpha Tauri have thrown this. They've done it for Vastappen so he can win his home race. Two four hats are on. And then, and then switch back the house in the first half. He's driving down the road again. Like, what are you doing, Yuki? Where's you going? Then gets back to the pit lane. My tire is not on the car. It's literally not attached to my car. Yuki, your seatbelt's got on, mate. Off you go. No, guys, the tire is still not on the car. I'm going to have to retire the car again.

the most confusing series of events, but it was also hilarious, absolutely hilarious, and I loved it. So that wins my way. To be fair to Yuki, I don't know whether, well, firstly, why don't Al-Fatari believe him that something's wrong with the car? That's a weird one initially. You're a liar, Yuki. He might, but he might have been, he might have been wrong about the tyre because, I don't know, they, well, whatever, we'll find out one day. I think the seatbelt's being done out because he undid them

when he pulled over the first time potentially. But anyway, that was a very odd turn of events, I've got to say. Just believe your driver. What was your moment of the race, Harry? My moment of the race has to be Sebastian

doing it for the content Vettel. He came out of the pit. I just obviously was like there isn't two sort of race challenges but race lead challenges behind me in Hamilton and Perez just going to sit on the race in line do the crossword

yeah yeah la la la la oh wait hang on I've got to let these two three sorry sorry about that yeah I don't know what's going on there that was it was hilarious but yeah it just said it spiced it up but then it got even spicier so so thanks for the effort but then Yuki and Daltri

give it a better go. Just a quick word on Aston Martin because I think this one must have really hurt. I think this might have been pace-wise the best weekend they've had all season and they end up with a grand total of one point. And Milan Stroll, it is the law. He cannot finish better than 10th.

That's all he does. If he scores points, he finishes 10th and that's it. Anyway, just a moment there on Asthma. My moment at the race, I do think Nicholas Latifi sending Kevin Magnuson for a absolute bag of chips. 20 chicken nuggets. That was good.

But I will give my moment of the race. Now, I appreciate that when you're on, there's a lot going on in the race, right? And you're doing it for like an hour and a half. Like a lot is going on. But Crofty's commentary line about the zoo might be up there as one of the best slash worst lines of commentary I've ever heard. What was he trying to say?

I'm not sure. You fight like a lion. Well, lions are in zoos sometimes, so you should have the whole power of a hole. Then Jeksen Button comes in with the zinger of there's penguins in a zoo. I'm not sure how well they can fight. What is going on?

That rivals the past the duchy on the left-hand side coming that they made before the race, which was just bizarre. It was bizarre. We had Teddiv's. and Croftie gate from practice as well. Oh, God. It wasn't in the race,

but Ted and Crofty having an old wives bicker. Another honorable mention from the Sky team for me was, was Nika Rosberg when he said he was fully rooting for Lewis Hamilton. I was like, is it a joke? What's happening? I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Imagine telling that to 2016, well, F1. I feel like PR have gone,

there's a lot of people saying that you hate Lewis, so, you know, we ain't going to win this race. Come on, let's be real. So you should just say, I'm rooting for Lewis. That'll get a lot of people on the side. It's like, you know, that Ant and Deck thing they're doing this very nation, but Saturday Night Takeaway. Now say you love Lewis Hamilton.

Yes. I'll tell you what, that is, that is pretty good PR. I'll tell you it would be even better PR, though. Getting vaccinated. Get vaccinated, yeah. Come on, Nico. Oh, come on. No, no, he's not there

He's not there through choice You know, sure A little bit of Pfizer in your system Get some Pfizer down your sunshine We're going to move on to We're going to move on to Driver in the day submissions from the Discord next Look at Rosling on the Pfizer Chiefs

Oh It's got silly again But we've got through a whole so with it out of this happening. Oh, anyway. Come on. All right, let's move on to some driver of the day's submissions from the Discord. If you want to get involved in these segments,

again, the Discord kind of rights itself, doesn't it really? But yeah, we're going to start with, we're going to start with, I was going to say Brexit beef, but that is not calling her correctly. It is Brexit bridesmaid beef for this weekend. Triple B. Um, sound board. Not,

not today's sound board. Maybe, maybe trust someone else first. As I was saying, we're, we're going to start, we're going to start with someone else. You know what,

actually, we're not going to start with someone else. Absolutely sent you for your roasting here, mate to do it, man. I'm waiting for, I'm going to have a roast dinner in a bit.

And I think, did you know, folks? Did you hear that? I'm waiting for a, roasting her. Like, bring me my roast.

I've got to go and make it, obviously. But, oh, yeah, Ben, you want me to have a world. See what you can do, mate. Oh, man,

I love scrolling through our soundboard. Apple, Akbar, good stuff. Right. Who am I playing first? Who do we want to on? Beef.

We'll start with Brexit's beef. This is great. Brexit beef. Here we go. It's got working, lads. Oof size large. Here we go. Brexit, bridesmaid, beef.

Hello. Hello. Driver of the day. Oh, by the way, no two-day hungover, so I was wrong on that ball prediction. You did quite know. Driver of the day is George Russell because picked his own strategy,

even though he shouldn't have to. And P6 to P2, nice one. Worst driver today, probably the T-Pee. literally got lapped by the top five before halfway. I'm sick of this man. It's daylight robbery.

Please replace this man. I've had enough. Harsh words. Very harsh from vomit, vomit beef. That's disgusting. Vile beef. Vile foamy beef.

Thank you very much indeed. Let's go on to Hazel next. All right, guys. driver a day and worse driver a day, a driver a day, I'm going to actually give it to your boy Fernando Alonzo. Right before the race, you're on a

journalist saying, oh, you can't overtake around here, you can't overtake around here. Alonzo goes, I'm having none of that, mate, and just overtakes everyone, brilliant driving lad. Worst driver a day, it's low-hanging fruit, this one, isn't it? I mean, Ricardo's reaching Latifi levels of

uselessness now. I mean, to be your teammates battling away for P-7, and you're drudging around at 19th. I mean, it's almost embarrassing now. I mean, they've made the right court to get rid of them. As asked it sounds. Cheers, lads.

Cheers, Azza. Scaving. Absolutely scaving. Let's go on to, let's go on to Cali next. Boy, where's my strupewaffle? Because your boy, Callie is going fishing. My driver of the day, going to be Sebastian Vettle for taking it on his own hands to give us a good battle and make this race good

by holding up for stabping and Lewis. Our worst driver of the day gonna give you a shot to the Brits. Get in the bin, Lewis. You washed old man, ruining it for yourself at the end. You're terrible. You're washed. You should retire. All the young guns taking you out.

Bye-bye, Lewis. Oh, what are you doing to us, Callag? It's actually a hate crime. You know the phrase, get into being? You know the three of us say it at least eight times a day. Yeah, is it, have we, I don't know if other countries say it, like before we said it live?

Have we invented a phrase? Is it like the Mandela effect? Does everyone think that getting the bin is a normal saying, but actually- You can't compare us to Mandela. No, a Mandela effect, the phrase, a Mandela effect. I'm not saying we're Nelson Mandela for crying about. Do you know what, guys?

I was influential as well as my end up I heard his middle name was late breaking yeah okay oh no

moving on me moving on now we're going to go to Canada we're moving to Canada we're moving to Canada oh heyter guys it's a resident Canadian here

driver of the day gotta go to Lance stroll getting some points for the Canadians and Nicholas the goat Latifie for not finishing last worst driver of the day

got to go with science what are you doing there bud what are you doing there bud we're going to go south from Canada to Texas that's right Norm from Texas Norm from Texas here figured I get in my drive

of the day and worst driver of the day driver of the day. The driver of the day, Esteban, all gone. Worst driver of the day has to go to Ferrari and Carlos signs. Ferrari, figure it out, bruh. Brough. All right, peace out. Keep breaking late. Love y'all. Love you, Gail.

We will, Norm. All right, let's go to Charlie next. Surprise! What? It's beef again. Charlie wanted you all to know that his driver-in-day is Alonzo and Yuki is his worst driver-in-a-day. He's on a plane. I'm dedicated to the cause.

It's ambush beef. Can I hijack people's submissions, beef? What are you doing? Next podcast, it's actually just going to be beef. He's just going to, like, abduct all three of us and take this over. Both. The late beefing podcast. Keep beefing late.

VOM of the day submissions Worse mom of the day it would start like this Hello Vom on the race Bit of double beef Love it

Checo stands on next What's up guys It's Chekot Starved Stan here Driver of the Day Maxer Stappen Worst driver of the day

Carlos Seins Special shout out to Yis Sonota for forgetting how to use a Formula One car. deserves a shout out there. It does deserve a shout. Whoops. And last submission for today, we will go to Card Jam.

Hello, Sammy Neutron and the rest of late breaking. Yes. Wow. Crazy race. I'll try to be quick. Worst drive of the day has to go to Carlos Seines. Man is about to lose all of his lunch money on all the fines and stuff. He's racking up today.

best drive of the day I don't know maybe sympathy but has to go to Hamilton he did literally everything he could have done and then Toto just kind of ran him

through the wash today with his strategy but yeah incredible race I'm about to head on out to the speak easy hopefully I don't spend as much money

today as Ferrari is going to have to pay to the FIA yeah no sad Pugh Pughes today it is a full-blown Poo Poo Poo! Enthusiasmatic Poo! reason when, sorry, I'm just going to back with something completely irrelevant.

You know, when he said there, Carlos Sitesky's suspended as lunchmoney, I was immediately transported to Ralph Wiggum going, I spilled my milk. I don't know why. We love a Simpsons reference on the podcast. Oh, great. That's the second one in a week. Big Simpson.

True. Very true. You remember. Not again. Sorry, Ben. Sorry, you remember at the beginning of the podcast when I said that we'll discuss whether Mercedes it confirms that they have the best

driver combination on the grid. Yeah, we don't have time for that. Sorry, false advertisement. We'll discuss it on the preview. If you've got any complaints about that, we don't care. No, no, no, but you can. It's at Harry Ead, F1.

Get in touch. Yeah, so we'll probably talk about the preview. It's all a marketing ploy just to get you to listen to the preview for Monter, to be honest. Yeah. We'll actually discuss a slightly quicker topic, which is the whole Vettel mess where he came out of the pits and was very directly involved in the Hamilton and Perez fight that was actually one lap ahead of where Vettel was on the track. Already briefly discussed this, but Harry, what was going on? Firstly, the irony, now look, if you weren't watching Formula One, in around 2016, 2017.

When Vetta was in the Ferrari, often at the front, if people got in his way, there was, who were a backmarker, he used to just scream bloody murder for blue flags. So much, in fact, exactly. So much, in fact, there is a song on YouTube of him just singing blue flags. If you've not seen it, pause this, go and watch it,

come back. It's a classic. And John, that was Simpson's reference. You know, when Bart lights up all the microphones out the window and then the fly buzzes fast because actually Sebastian Veto and it goes Blue flags Blue flags

So funny Going to that one up to That's a classic Oh man The old school F1 on Twitter That one Yeah anyways The irony of that

It is not lost on me A bit odd from Seb I feel like the man's just checked out now Fair doves He's on his sort of Lap of honour As it as it were in F1 not condoning the behavior

because it was not good but yeah odd from him that he didn't notice them in the mirrors odd from his team to not be like when you come out

as you come out the pit Seb you're going to have two of the leaders in your way or not in your way behind you maybe jump out of the way I would

you're probably going to get a blue flag and he didn't do that so yeah very odd one as I said this is my moment of the race because it made it a bit more interesting

but it was strange, very strange from Sebastian and he is generally one of the better ones of doing that sort of thing and being respectful on a racetrack. So I'll put it down to human error, but an odd one. I mean, as the statman, I shouldn't be asking this question. I should be answering it, but I genuinely have no idea. This is probably one for, for Sean Kelly, friend of the podcast, F1 Stapman. That's full friend of the podcast. And actual Statman. How many times has this happened? and has it actually ever happened before, where Lance Stroll has made Q3

and his teammate has been knocked out in Q1 because that ain't a great look, right? I know Vettles on his way out and he probably doesn't care, but yeah, it's not a great look for that to happen. On the incident itself with the blue flags, I have a little bit of sympathy because I feel like he needed to get that done straight away, right?

He had to let them pass pretty much as he came out of the pits, because actually after that point, Zamvort's so narrow and you've got two drivers who are directly fighting behind you that could go side by side at any moment. I think it was actually genuinely difficult to let them by probably after the bank corner. And when he did let them pass was probably the next safest moment.

I think he just needed to get it done early. I understand the penalty, but I think he was really caught in a horrible position there. So, yeah. Should they not have told him, sorry, Ben, to interrupt your point, should they not have told him to because they would have seen it on the track, Matt, so I'm saying about the team.

Should they not have told him just wait when you come out of the pits a bit? Yeah, I think it's on the team as much as it is on him. Yeah, don't get me wrong on that. Because we see that all the time in terms of qualifying. And whenever a driver messes up someone else's run, it's generally on the team, not warning them rather than the actual driver themselves. So, yeah, I think it was probably on the team just to let them, to make him aware of that straight away.

but actually when they were both going through the, all three of them were going through the first sector, I don't know whether it would have been safe for Battle to try and let them pass before when he actually did. How did you see that one, so? It is entirely on the team for the most part. He had almost the perfect chance to let two leaders go through without even really slowing himself down.

Ironically, it ended up being slower for everyone because if the team, because Raygo came as he left his pit box, Hamilton Prez coming down South finger straight they're going to be right with you on pit exit just lift off coming out of the pit lane and they'll fly straight past you he would have been fine

he can always follow them through and if he's stuck with them for a lap he might be able to get DRS off them while they were battling it might have worked out for him better it was a bit of a what are you doing moment though when he was drifting across the track

as he came out of the pit lane he came out of the pit lane and instead of hugging the right hand side on the pit lane he did just kind of pull straight into the middle of the road, which is quite dangerous. And I think the penalty is just, right? It was a bit of a mess. But what I did love about this, and I think it proved to me in my mind that this is something that I want now in Formula One is a rule change where blue flags don't mean get out of the way.

Blue flags mean that there are people behind you on a lap that is, you know, the lap ahead of you. For example, if Verstappen was lapping Latifi, Latifi would be told the leader is behind you, just so you're aware. But I don't think the blue flag runners should have to get out of the way. I think they should have to be overtaken. And we saw in that split moment on the bank's corner, just how pivotal that could possibly be to a race result, should a blue flag runner get in the way. The penalty was just,

but I think that blue flag runners shouldn't have to move. I think it creates around tracks like Monaco or Zanville or Hungary, those tighter winding tracks, no, Singapore's coming up. I generally think that that could add some excitement from spicing this to the race. Just maybe to get on on. race you to get on your race. You've got the faster car. You get all with overtaking them.

As long as they're safe about it, of course. For me, it proved that the rule should be scrapped. But yes, for this race with the current rule set, Aston Martin should have acting faster. Vettel deserved the penalty. It was a bit unsafe. The way he was just drifting about all over the place, they should have let him go while he was in the pit lane. I'm really horribly on the fence about blue flags, because I can see where you're coming from, and I'm not quite there. It's as if I just need, I need you to put like a presentation together like George Russell style, just to send me to your side of the argument on this

because I'm a Harry Ead on this. I really don't know. What about indie car ways of doing it, where you don't get a blue flag until you've already one lap down and I feel like you have blue flags. That's correct, right? Yeah, I think you're right, yeah. Okay.

I'm kind of in favour of that one. So first time you don't have to get out of the way, but then after that you slow coach, get out, get out of the way. I mean, it's fair, is it? Because technically, until, let's just use the staffing and Latifi as the example. The Staffing has done 25 laps.

He's caught around to the back of Latifi. Latifi still isn't technically a lap down at that point. He's just 99% of one lap down at that point. If in theory, Latifie could suddenly find, I don't know, two seconds in that Williams, he's got every right to carry on being in that track position. He doesn't have to suddenly move out the way. But I do agree with your point about if he's already,

your lap down at that point, you're out of this. It's Dan and Daski if you've been caught up to again. But yeah, why do they need to move out the way immediately when they're technically on the same lap? Yes, they're on the other end of the same lap, but it's still the same lap. So I think you should still have to get it down on pace. Interesting. Probably a full-on discussion for another podcast, I imagine. But I think that will probably do it for today. Obviously, we've got previews and reviews still coming up for Monza. Full disclosure, don't really know what we're going to do for the Italian review yet, because sorry.

Just going to be me and me and Ian, I think, at this rate. Yeah, I'll get fair. Ian's, she's still here, the cat. Yeah. She's a very vocal young girl. He's getting nuggets on the screen. She'll be all for it. Yeah, I mean, for people that, sorry, Ben, people that like Sam Sage, next three podcasts,

you might not like them so much. Yeah, I am gone for the next three episodes because America, I am in you. if you reside in Vegas, Los Angeles or San Francisco between the 7th of September and the 20th of September, I will be in those areas. Spot the confused English man who talks too loudly. That'll be me. But I won't be on the podcast.

But Harry will be here for the preview and the next week's Wednesday one, but it will just be bang, and maybe a random guest for the Italian review. We don't know. But please, Qudin, we can assure you that the confusion will provide hilarity. Almost certainly.

Almost certainly. We'll figure it out. It'll be fine. When I say, it's going to be Ben. I'll try and put something together, folks. That's a real downer, because basically,

this time next week, Sam's gallivanting across the west coast of the US. Harry's in Monza watching a Grand Prix, and I'm sat in the middle of Cornwall in the rain. I have not one here. I'll try and do some trackside submissions maybe. We'll help you along. We'll keep the intrigue going.

People will tune in just to see the car crash take place. But Sam, if you wouldn't mind for this episode, getting us out of here. Yeah, I mean, I can't wait to hear the outroes when I'm gone. See, this is an IOU, Ben. I don't know, in the off season, you can have a week off and me and Harry will try. desperately to run the show together without you. Oh no. The discourse has been mentioned a million times already, but you can join it.

There's loads of lovely people in there. You can get more involved. Join us on the social. It's at all breaking on Twitter, the late breaking podcast on Instagram. And if you're down with the kids, we're on TikTok as well as the late breaking podcast as well. There's merchandise available. And the wonderful thing is, if you're a Patreon member, which is available too and the best way to support the podcast, certain tiers get discounts off of the merchandise.

And I've seen people using it. We get the analytics through. People are using it. Well done for finding the code, applying the code, and saving yourself some money. Whilst also supporting us, it means the absolute world that you're willing to put that in. So thank you. We will. Well, some of us will be back on Wednesday.

Not me. I'm going on holiday now. Look after these two plebs because they don't know what they're doing. And I'll see you guys when I get back. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I have been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late.

I was waiting for Nelson Mandela. I don't do it on these ones. I'll do it on Wednesday. Cheers, guys. The podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.