The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 French GP Review

Episode Date: July 24, 2022

Ben, Sam and Harry review the 2022 French GP, where Max Verstappen returned to winning ways and Charles Leclerc crashed out! The boys discuss all the talking points from the race, review their bold predictions, and give their verdict on Driver and Worst Driver of the Day. JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! 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 Eid, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing today the French Grand Prix. A Grand Prix won by Max Verstappen, snapping the streak of Ferrari. his last two Grand Prix. It looked like that wasn't going to be the case in the first third of the Grand Prix or so,

but Charles Leclair crashing out from the lead, leaving a bit of a path for Max Verstappen to go on to victory and a first double podium of the season for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton in second, and then George Russell finishing in third. Sam, I am presuming on this one that you were actually in control of Ferrari strategies today.

Yeah, you know, famously really rubbish dictating anything, including the quiz that you're about to see. So when Carlos Saitz told me to pipe down about what a penalty was, I decided to write the quiz instead. What an absolute hilarity that was, wasn't it? I mean, it was very hot, very warm. But it was quite funny. It's good to see.

We'll get onto it, but bloody hilarious. Once again, Sykes had his strategy hat on and his helmet at the same time. Harry, I think you were there next to me, but it looked like you were too busy eating your gammon. I still have some gammon left, actually. I'm not in the same place as my gammon is being stored. But when I get back to her tomorrow... I've got storage for his gammon.

Gammond storage. I'm going to be back with my gammon tomorrow. I think I've got a few slices left, so I'll probably have that in a sandwich or something. Hashtag gammon boy. Thank you for the insight, Harry. That means a lot. And it's good that we're getting to the real crux of the issues.

right at the beginning of this podcast. Ferrari strategy is on the dock later on. We're going to be discussing Sergio Perez and George Russell, their fight over P3, bold predictions. We're going to review how well they went. Driver of the day, worst driver of the day. That's on its way as well. Plus, of course, the look at Charles LeClaire versus Max Verstappen at the front.

But first of all, Sam, tell us, or you're going to ask us, I guess, what happened? What happened in this race? Yeeha. Yes, it's the Sammy Obrammy Race Day takeaway. It's the worst. Queenie of enthusiastic.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it's hot. I got the fang on. I'm very warm. I'm done. We go again, Reggie. Yee. Yee.

It's the Sammy Roblami race day take away. The Speed easy. This is the easiest quiz you'll ever compete. Anyway, yes, it's Harry versus Ben. America. It's about the big events that happened during the race. And quite frankly, you should get them all right, because they're all pivotal moments.

I promise you, they're all very, very pivotal moments. I've definitely not taking anything minor and made it a question. I can't remember who at first. Ben, you usually do the hosting so you can go first. One to eight. We've got eight questions today. You can choose which one would you like? Since we are in France, after all, I'll go for numero wheat, please.

And de, two, catcher sanks, sit. That's eight, right? Eight. Yes. Oh, this is a fun one. I'll do that, I promise. I have to really put my GCN-C-N-C-Math. French, up to the test. French and not combined.

Oh, the worst two things. Right, here we go. Ben, it's a bit of a free shot for you. It's probably the best question on the quiz. Question eight. What are Ferrari doing? If I had any idea whatsoever what they were doing, I'd be working for them, is the right answer?

I mean, I can't say you wrong. So Ben gets a point. It's a good start to the quiz. Harry, over to you, sir. One to seven. What would you like? I have number seven, please. Oh, we're going back quix today.

Okay, right. Number seven, it's a good one, this. I mean, they all are. I put it together. Alonkso was told that the McLaren's were ganging on him. But what was his response? Another classic Fernando, Magic Alonzo response here.

He was like, yeah, want them to do that because I want them to destroy their tires. And lo and behold, I think they did. And then he gapped them by about six seconds. So, well on, well on, Fernando again. You are correct. His exact words were, I want them close,

so they kill their tyres. Your sentiment was exactly bang on. That is a point. Well done. It's one all. Bang, one to six, please. Number three. Number three.

How many positions did KMAG gain on the opening lap? Uh, seven? Oh, it's a great memory. Seven is the correct answer. That's two, one to Ben. Harry, you can now choose between one, two, four, five or six. Four, please. Oh, number four.

Okay. How many track limit warnings did Sergio Perez have by lap eight? Uh, he had, ooh, didn't it? It was his second warning, right? Correct. He picked up his second warning on his eighth lap. Uh, there was a lot of, um, Debate and conversation throughout the race of who was maybe cussing calls or running wide or getting advantage.

Perez was the first one to get those first couple of war. So, well done. It's two apiece and we have one, two, five and six. Ben, what would you like? Number two. Number two. Who took Senoda off on lap one, receiving a five second time penalty? Estia O'K.

It was Esteban O'Conn, as both myself and David Cautier, I'd like to call him. Correct. Three, two. Well done. Harry, with only three left, you can queue between one, five or six? Six, please. Question six. Who was very stupid and binned it on lap 18?

Moses. Getting away from facts and into opinion. I love it. I never said the quiz was good. I never said it was good. It was correct, though. Leclerr, binned it on lap 18. Saming in the interview later on the race, it was entirely his own fault.

So, you know, not great. We'll get into a Ferrari later. later on properly. But yeah, not ideal from a championship protagonist. Ben, you've got between one and five. Both great questions I'll have, you know. It means Harry gets the joke of picking the last one.

I'll go with number one, please. Yes. This is a throwback to original late-breaking content for this point. F-1 spotted. Who are you? F-1, F-1. F-1 spotted. F-1.

Who was the celeb. sweating it out in the back of the Maseguer's garage right at the start of the Grand Prix. All right, times three, Matthew McConaughey. All right, all right, all right. All right, all right. It was indeed Matthew McConaughey. Hey, he was there indeed. Looking good, looking cool.

Probably beat his chest like a digging Wolf of Wall Street, in that little song that he does. I'm sure you have a lovely time. So that means, Harry, you get to choose the final question. Would you like five or five up? please. He's gone for five. It's a fair choice.

This is probably my favourite question on the entire quiz. What analogy did Ted make about the tyres? Honestly, I think I zoned out so much. I can't remember the exact thing, but it was something about like getting sweets or something as a child. I don't know what happened.

I think that he got to him, to be honest. God stoppers lollipops. Yes. sweet scobstuffers and lollipops down the beach on holiday as a kid was the correcting allergy that means we haven't got a winger

so I'm the winger Yeha that was the Sammy Wobrami Race Day takeaways for all Poooooo see you in the speaking so if we draw

that means you win correct nice I don't think anyone wins the listeners the listeners win no No, I don't think they do.

Not with this feature. I love this feature. The non-listners. Oh dear. So a classic four-all draw would be pretty entertaining in a football match for sure. Arsenal Newcastle vibes here on the late breaking podcast. Oh, Chetioch, Tote. What a boy.

What a boy, indeed. Let's get on to the real sport that this podcast is supposedly on, which is Formula One. Shola Claire, obviously, looking on course at least to compete for the victory. He had the lead when he crashed out about a third of the way into the race. This isn't the first mistake that we've seen. He completely owed up to the mistake in interviews afterwards. Sam, do you think that is there any chance that Charles can beat Max Verstappen across this season, given the errors that he's made to this point? At the start of the season, I will be very confident to put down that if you put Max

and Charles in incredibly similar cars, as it is apparently have this season, that they could take it down to the wire that, you know, they could push each other for, you know, maybe not as well as well to the same extent that Hamilton pushed for Stappen, or Stappen pushed to Hamilton last season. But I think they get very far into the season. But this is now what, the second massive driver error from Charles that we've seen in a strong positioning of race. Imala, he hopped the curve and had a spin and lost some valuable points there.

And of course, we now have the events here where he has absolutely thrown it into the boonies at a very tricky call on in France. This goes against the perk that we always speak about with Formula One drivers. It comes to the great drivers, you know, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, what is fast becoming Max Verstappen. It's the ability, and Max Verstaffin spoke about this

actually in his pre-race interview. It's not always about the wing. It's about when you're not winging, you're picking up that second, you're picking up that third, you're making sure that damage is minimised. And damage limitation is key, and going to when to take your moment, is also key, and Charlotte Claire is not criticizing any form of damage limitation.

He had done a brilliant job weathering the storm at the start of that race, and he absolutely threw away what I think could have been a 25-pointer for him. And if you are to think apply that consistency, which he currently doesn't seem to have across the whole season, no, I don't think he can go toe-to-to-to-wheel with Max Verstappen in his current guys, in his current form. I feel like Max Verstappen, with the training that he's hang over the past few years, with the competition that you had with Lewis Hamilton last time out,

is so mentally prepared and so prepared in his form of talent that I think currently he's just one step beyond Charle-le-Claire. I think the Charlotte-Clair maybe needs this season, eyeing out those issues, come back and hope that Ferrari have got a car worth competing at the front again next season, and maybe that will be his opportunity. But currently, I think this might be out of his hand now. Harry, do you think

Charles Leclair can take it to Max Vastappen one on one, given the few errors that he's made, including this one that has of course cost him at least 18, possibly 25 points? Not if he carried, look, I've already mentioned that he's

Moses Leclair. I think he needs to be demoted again. Because I don't know if I'm an official ruling on this one, but that was not good to say that not ideal sorry to say the least

and LeCler as Sam's already mentioned it's not the first time he's made an error this season this one obviously far more costly than the one in Imola

but Vestappen is fairly bulletproof especially this year I mean we said it last year but I think again this year he's if not if he's not stepped up

he's at least at the same level he was last year which was pretty bulletproof anyway and you don't see him making those mistakes to be honest and even if he does, it's at the right time, not mid-race.

Very rarely you see Vastappen pinning it in the race now. So yeah, Leclerone needs to be on top of his game. And today was, I'm not saying today was an easy win, but he was there in the mix because I don't think at that point Vastappen could overtake him. Maybe strategy would have played out and we'll get on to Ferrari strategy anyway, but he was fully in there. I think it would have been a bit of a bit of a nail-biter to the finish between those two.

we never got to see it. So yeah, he's never going to, and I'll compliment him here. It's refreshing to see how honesty was. He fully accepts that was his own fault. We heard him being interviewed afterwards and he held his hands up. I'd like to see that, but he's 100% correct.

It was his fault. And if he wants to win his championship, you can't afford to do things like that, especially when they've already lost a lot of points through unreliability this year. And who knows when that might strike your game. We thought it was with this weekend. shockingly, it didn't. But yeah, Lecler cannot afford to do that again if he wants to go

toe to toe to with a little maxi vestibate. Yeah, and the approach that you talked about there in terms of being very honest about his race and his mistakes and he alluded to Imala in his post-race interview, it is refreshing. And it's important because if the first step in correcting your mistakes is admitting they happen in the first place. If that first step doesn't happen, you cannot improve. So at least he knows where he's going wrong and theoretically he's going to have a plan to do something about it. But you're absolutely right, Sam, in what you said, that whereas Vestappen has been using the last few years to gain valuable experience, particularly last year, but I'd also throw 19 and 20 in there as well. He's been gaining really

valuable experience going to toe to toe with the Mercedes. And it wasn't until last year, obviously, He had the full breakthrough, but he was the closest competitor to them for the two years prior to that as well. Whereas Charles LeClair, Ferrari are paying, I think, for how poor they were, particularly in 2020, but also 2021. They weren't in a championship fight. And I think Charlotte Clare's lack of experience at the front has somewhat cost him this year. And at the moment, I don't think Charles Clare can go up against Max Verstappen because of how reliable, how consistent. Max Wastappen has been this season. And ultimately,

Shaula Clare was doing the maths on the fly. If the championship comes down to it being less than 32 points, he can point at these sorts of results and say, well, there's why. Hopefully, for his sake, that doesn't end up being the case, and it's more conclusive than that. But it really is, it's frustrating. And certainly, from F1's point of view,

it would be great to see him in that championship fight. It would be good to see Farah. in the championship fight. It's what made last season so electric was having two teams, two drivers going at it until the end of the year. And we want to capitalize on the interest, the growing interest in the sport.

And to do that, you want these multiple protagonists at the front. And Leclair is at the moment, he is a step behind, Max Verstappen, maybe not in terms of pure pace. There's probably not much in it in terms of pure pace. But in terms of being that overall finished article, Lecler isn't there yet.

And I think there was evidence of that from both sides because you had Leclair crashing, obviously. That's the obvious one. But from Max Verstappen side as well, you really saw the maturity in the early parts of that race because lap seven, lap eight, when he was very close to Shell Lecler, I've got no doubt whatsoever. The old Max Verstappen would have made a lunge, similar to what we saw from Russell versus Perez. I'm pretty sure he would have done exactly the same thing a few years ago. And he didn't. He played a patient game.

We won't ever really know how that would have ended up, but certainly what he's saying in terms of points rather than wins, that is true. And he's experienced that, which does give him a very clear edge here. It was disappointing from Charles Leclair. He'll learn from it, which is the good thing.

But for the sake of the championship, obviously a massive hit, massive hit. We're going to be talking bold predictions in a moment's time. And also, would Charles Leclair have been in the fight with Max Verstappen? of course, Max Verstappen, a fairly easy victory after the retirement. We'll be discussing those couple of things right after this.

Sam, I appreciate this is hypothetical, but how do you think that race was going to go? Do you think that Charlerclo was going to stay in the fight when Max Verstappen? Do you think Max Verstappen would have forced his way past? What do you reckon? Well, it looks as though the Reg ball wasn't as potent during the race period that we were expecting it to be. Despite having such a brilliant straight-line speed advantage, they were clearly. struggling to capitalize on that. When they were both on the fresh tires to start the race, very cool, of course, starting the same compound, were running for the same length of time,

of course, both fresh sets of tires. It looked as though the setup that Ferrari had gone for with Charlotte-Claire's car, which was more downforce-focused. It was to gaining advantage in the final sector and the first sector, rather than the large straight in the middle sector, was paying off. You could see the timing screen on the tower, Now, every lap that went past, the gap would come down to about a second, and then they get to the DRS zone, and Max might just creeping, and the gap might come down to six or seven tenths. And then come around to the start, finish straight again, the next lap, the gap will back up to a second again, sometimes 1.2, sometimes 1.1. And it kept growing. Now, I don't think that the pressure would have ever fully let off from Max Verstappen. I feel like, you know, the kid's relentless. He goes how to manage his ties. He's very good now over a full race distance. And he's very strategically minded. knows how to outwit someone, but Charlerler was weathering the storm fantastically well.

He was fasting all the right areas, which is very key when you're a Formula One driver. And he was delivering that consistently. Right that down. Write that down. Right? Send that to Ferrari. Yeah, he was consistently good. No mistakes coming through. So do I think that LeCler could have gone on to have won the race? If the race happened exactly as it had without his crash, so without the safety car coming out, Yeah, I think there is a strong chance.

He got ahead at the start comfortably. You know, he kept his pole position spot. He was pulling away. Perez showed that the Red Bull maybe wasn't as strong as people thought it was, but Perez wasn't exactly having his greatest day at the office. And Max wasn't exactly tearing away from the Mercedes behind him either. The gap was, I think, 10 seconds coming in the race, and it was never getting to a huge level before the safety car either.

So, yeah, I think there's a strong chance that the clerk could have put up a very strong fight until the end of the race. I was actually quite surprised at how long he was hanging in there for because I thought by lap three or four, DRS activated, Perez would be, sorry,

for Staffman will be at the road and LeCleur will be company in second place. But LeCleur did a great job. He was driving brilliantly up until the incident. So yes, I think that Hanging's staying in the race for the whole duration of it.

I reckon there's a good 50-50 chance. Don't give that option to me that he could win this race. I think the key for Ferrari from the off was ensuring that Leclair had track position. because whilst Red Bull had the straight line speed to do something if there was a car in front, the Ferrari just didn't.

So this was always going to be about where Charles LeClau was on track. It did worry me a little bit how long they were leaving Charles LeClaire out for. Not that it couldn't be done from both a one and two-stop perspective, but just could he get past Max Verstappen, even with fresher tires? I know Sine's got the job done on Perez, so maybe the answer is yes, but certainly I know Vastappen is a harder man to pass than Perez's. So, yeah, I think he would have been well within the fight, and that's the point, really. It would have been close.

I think this is one of those weird situations where a lot of the times a retirement from one of the top guys can create a bit of entertainment in that it can cause some surprise results, results that you weren't expecting. Certainly a double Mercedes podium wasn't looking on the cards. That only happened because of Lecler's retirement. So retirements at the front can be a good thing for the race as a whole. But for this one, it definitely wasn't because really from that point on, you might as well have given Vastappen the 25 points there. And then, let's be honest, no one else was going to challenge him other than Charles Leclair today. So I think for the overall race, it wasn't something that actually added to the entertainment. But I think he would have been,

I think he would have been close. If I had to put my money one way or the other, I'd probably have said Charle-le-le-Cla would have kept on to it. Harry, you mentioned it was probably going to be a nail-biter. Any idea which way you think it would have gone? Yeah, I was going to make that point that you made it to Ben about they were leaving LeCla out. So I think if they'd pitted, he'd have been vulnerable anyway.

So it would have been interesting to see, I think it would have fallen behind, but whether he could have got past. But given the pace that he had in that first didn't, and how he managed to hold off for Stappen. I think you could have gone the whole way. Yeah, like I say, I think it could have been a proper nail biter. But I think the pace was in that car.

And we saw what signs as well later on to have, to be honest, Friday probably should have had a one to. I know the signs started at the back, so that might have been harder to do. But given the pace they had, I think it's not a bad chap. So they probably should have dominated that one. so yeah

it's a shame and as you say it's they're ruining what could be a really spicy championship battle at the moment it's just

slightly spicy like a medium bolty so yeah hopefully they can you know recreate that pace

but we'll see we should make that segment actually what would this race have been if it were a food or just more specifically occurring

Race day takeaways. Land booner, chicken booner, frog booner. All the booner. That's how Sam's writing this race. Fantastic. I love a lamb boonet, by the way. That's my go-to.

Wow. Is it really? Interesting stuff. Yeah, every time. Lambun Booner? Gammann booner. Oh, gamming in a booner. Come on, Ben.

I mean, you'd do it. All right. Let's move on to. some, reviewing some bold predictions. So I'll start with my own one. I said that in qualifying in Q3, they'd all line up two by two by their teams. That didn't quite pay off because,

well, for like 10 reasons, it didn't happen. Sam, what was your bowl prediction? I said that Lewis Hamilton will win the race by 10 seconds clear. What I meant to say was that someone will win the race 10 seconds clear of Hamilton. That's what I obviously meant to say. me. Oh, I can't really,

my head, a slip at the tongue. Wow. Such a close one. Maybe next week you can keep your tongue under control. Please.

For everyone involved. Harry, what was your bold prediction? I can't even remember exactly. It was something about French drivers

being in the top six, something like that? Top eight. Well, it didn't happen anyway. often decided

until Peter, Sonoda and Ghazi didn't show up so never mind. Right. So if you've got your abacus at home, ladies and gents,

you should be able to work out there. But that was nought out of three. None of us got one right, which is a turnout for the books. You don't see that very often here on the podcast. Can I just say I was, if Hamilton and Vastapen and I'd have been the other way around,

I'd have got my poor one to three bang on. But alas. That was never going to happen because I protected it. And guess what, Harry? If my grandmother had wheels, what would she be? Thank you, Gina. She'd be a bicycle. Driver of the day, worst driver of the day,

a moment of the race will go on to now. We've also got some submissions from the Discord on Driver of the Day too. Yeah, we'll start with Drive of the Day. What have you got, Sam? I have gone for Lewis Hamilton for Driver of the Day. he took George to school, I think, today. It was a much better performance that started as electric, keeping Sergio Perez behind.

He was having a bit of a shocker, but that Red Bull was clearly the faster car. It was a great drive from him, really, really strong, took advantage of the club, putting it in the booners. And, yeah, I think he's very much enjoying the direction that Mercedes are going. So, yeah, Lewis Hamilton.

Good run of form for Hamilton from the last few races. Obviously, this one, the best one so far in P2. Driver of the day from you, Harry. Maxi Vestap. It was a very assured, very assured drive from him. I give a shout out to Magic Alonzo just because it was in no man's land for the entirety of that race.

And his start, which didn't make enough of. Absolute filth, his start. But no one really said anything about that. So I'm going to big it up. Yeah, right around the outside of Georgie Russ. Anyway, I'm going to go with Vestabstap. happen for driver of day. Yeah, I have three shouts from me.

Firstly, and I don't usually do this, he's not getting my driver of the day, but I think he's fairly close. Carlos Sines don't usually give it to drivers coming from the back of the grid. It wasn't his fault. Well, it was, yeah, it wasn't his fault that he was at the back of the grid, of course. And I think he did about as good a job as he could have done from there. He was helped out by the safety car, of course, but I still think he's worthy of a mention here at least. Alonzo would be another shout out from me, but I am also going to activate the

British bias and say Lewis Hamilton. And before you come at me with British bias comments, I don't think I've given it to him so far this year, but he was brilliant out there today. Pretty much a faultless performance, apart from that one moment where he ran a little wide, but it probably cost him a second. And I don't know, I thought Sergio Perez was going to ease passed at multiple points and after a bit of an early onslaught, it didn't really look that likely. So pretty impressive stuff from Hamilton.

Such a bunch of Brexiteers, a pair of you. Gammon! I'm going to replace you with Beth. You can't replace a gammon boy with roast beef. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Worst driver of the day, what have you got, Sam? How are you part of the same crime fighting? aren't you?

Brexit beef and gammon book gammon guy you know you can't it's one without the other um

we only investigate poultry and related to crimes there's only there's only meat crimes we look into only on the shores of Britain as well

you wouldn't dare wander into Europe for those anyway worst driver of the day I'm going to give it to Checo despite Charlotte Claire

putting it in the booners uh I think that Sergio Parade was just not at the races today like obviously he was at the race but like he wasn't at the races you know what I mean?

He was just pretty rubbish, wasn't he? He was falling behind constantly. He couldn't get the job done at Hamilton at all. His start was four. And then despite George Russell battering him about like a fly around your head, getting a bit annoying. He still managed to just fall apart a sleep on the restart and absolutely get done around the outside of a restart.

He was probably gone to sleep in the cockpit. So really, really poor weekend all around from Sergio Perez. He's really falling off it this weekend. It wasn't pleased with him. Sergio Parade's worst driver of the day. My worst driver of the day. You might well have seen on the driver parade that happens before the race

that at his home Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly, was on his phone as they were going around the track. He gave a few waves and he was back on his phone and then he gave a few waves back on his phone again. Here's the problem. He didn't put his phone down for the race. Oh, that's what it is.

He didn't put his phone down for the race and he was on it the whole time, which explains, why he was so bad. Yeah, it was a messy race. At a Grand Prix as well, other than it being his home race, it looked like they had some serious pace.

Like something could have happened for Alfa Tauri this weekend. And ultimately they walk away with no points. So Pierre Gazley, worst driver of the day for me. And who have you got, Harry? Control C, control V for Ben. I've also got Pierre Gasly.

it wasn't a great race I think well Snowda we never saw his true pace because Ocon decided he didn't like him anymore but get battered

Sonoda absolutely yeah yeah absolutely dusted dusted Ghzley up in qualifying so I dare say he probably would have done

something similar in the race had he been in it yeah just bad weekend all round for for old P Gazzle not great not ideal again moment of the race

for you Sam it's got to be Ted talking about gobstoppers I mean didn't know what was going on felt like I was having a fever dream I was like am I unwell is it that hot

what is Ted on about but when you get talking about gobstoppers and lollipops it was wonderful and I want more of it every weekend please I appreciate Crofty alluded to this as well

but what year is Ted living in he's back in Margate in 1953. He genuinely is. I love it. I haven't a bit his batteries back in his pack. Oh yeah.

Ted? What are you doing Ted? Oh, Ted. Just put my batteries in, guys. Sorry about that. Don't worry that you're on, you know, broadcasting to millions and millions of people. Just put my batteries in.

Love that. Moment of the race from you, Harry. Look, I appreciate the radio messages are slightly delayed, but they're not that delayed these days. My moment of the race has to be when Carlos Seines is in the middle of a quite spicy little jewel with Sergio Perez

and they're like, box now. Are you for real? I mean, we'll get on to Ferrari, but are you for real? Ferrari? Look up from your desk. Look up and look at the screen. Look what's going on with your driver right now.

He's having a fight. Okay? He's not going to box. He's got past him for third place. He's not going to box. Anyway, that's my moment of the race. For sheer dumbness. I wet myself laughing at that.

Absolutely died. I don't want to spoil it too much because we do have Ferrari to talk about a little bit later on. So I'll leave most of it for then. But my favourite moment of the race also revolves around Ferrari and their team radio, which I think is the case for mine pretty much every Grand Prix. But I'll pick a different moment. My favorite moment was where Carlos Sines came over the team radio to tell his team what his penalty was.

It's like, you've got to drive through. You got to stop and go, sorry, stop and go. Oh, do I? A five second stop and go. No, this is what I've got. Oh, right, okay. Cheers, cheers, Carlos. You should not have to tell your team what your penalty is.

should be fairly straightforward. It might be the first time I've ever heard that happen. Ever? Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, Ferrari. I'd love to say that's the end of it for you on this podcast. But it is not.

Before we get into Ferrari, we're going to do Driver of the Day from our Discord submissions. We're going to do that right after this. You heard all of our Driver of the Day and Worst Driver of the Day, and worst driver of the day submissions. Let's get into a few from our Discord.

We're going to start with a sensational name, a first-time submission on this podcast. We're going to go over to Hyper Lima. Good. Long time listener, first-time caller. Georgie Ross has got a driver of the day for me. Incredible performance on the last few laps, defending from Perez, beautiful stuff,

and to have the balls to hit on the day. that restart, that was, yeah, seriously impressive. Worst drive of the day, I think sausages need to be put firmly away for Gasly. I think he's been nowhere this season. Maybe the car's trash, but yeah, nothing impressive from him at all. Sossages back in the fridge. I smelt some Brexit on that one. Get him in. Get him in, boys.

I'll tell you what, we've been doing these Discord submissions for a while now for Driver of the Day, pretty much all of this season. based on the ones that we've listened to, and there are some that haven't been able to make the show because of time constraints, but I don't think I've ever heard so many go for driver of the day and worst driver of the day for George Russell.

I think we've got like a perfect balance of people going either way on this. It's pretty interesting. Yeah, it's weird. Anyway, let's go on to Norm from Texas. Hey, everyone, Norm from Texas here. I figured I'd give my driver of the day and worst driver of the day.

Driver of the day has to go to George Russell because boy he caught Sergio Perez with his pants down. Also, worst driver of the day Nicholas the goat Teefe. Coming in with a very Nikita Mazepin-like

performance and to Ferrari, figure it out, bruh. Figure it out. Thank y'all. Keep doing what y'all are doing. Keep breaking late. Love y'all. Love you all. Leha!

Leha! The French Ihae has been deployed. Lehaah! Well, with Nicholas Latifie, it's a good thing he had the upgrades this weekend, right? I mean, seem to put it to good use now that he's on the same level playing field as Elvin. Yeah. Let's go. Let's go ahead.

Have we had a worst drive of the day of Nickas Latifie from a discork submission every single race of the season, I wonder. At this point, I would love to have like a, I'd love to have an LB version of Sean Kelly, who we spoke to on our most recent Friends of the podcast episode. Get the plug in

there. F1 Statman. I'd love to have an LB Statman who isn't me who actually like. That's you. I don't know in ins and outs of every episode we've done. I wish there was someone who did. Oh, I see. No one cares enough about us to pay attention for that one.

If that is you, please write to us at the various places you can write to us. I'm not listening to them now. Good. So we've got Skyler up next. Skyler's bold prediction from midweek was three seconds long. Skyla's taken a lot of time to do the driver of the day, though. She's doubled the time. driver of the day Carlos signs worst driver of the day is Carlos sign strategist

to the point to the point direct Skyler absolutely love it Carlos signs getting a shout out there let's go to let's go to Hazer next right guys driver the day and worst driver a day poor driver a day who's only one man for it in it Carlos science started last game 15 positions quickest man all week to be honest and you know when he's up against that and up against his strategy team who must have been down a weatherspoons this morning at a full English and 20 pipes that's the only way

you can explain how they was thinking my goodness worst driver a day sounds a bit harsh but gonna have to give it the shoulder clear geyser if you're you know looking for your world championship and you're out in the lead don't just bin it into the corner that's not going to help your points position is it son cheers boys valuable valuable feedback firstly just to say if there are any confused non-British listeners Weatherspoons probably does classify as a niche British reference so

I'd just encourage you to look that up to get a feel for that. Second point, Giza, if you're looking for a world championship, don't just bin it into the corner, is my favourite quote in a long time. Let's get out of the T-shirt.

You geez that. Love that. Let's go. Charles Leclair the Geyser. Scott to Kisenberg. Hey guys, Kisenberg here from North Carolina, United States submitting for the first time

to the podcast. My driver of the day is Carlos. I cannot go one race without being my own race engineer's signs. Worst driver of the day has to be scooter rear. I cannot go one race without spelling the alphabet.

Ferrari. What the freaking heck. Thank you for that. And as Harry mentioned, thank you for the self-bleep. We've got

one more submission to fit in for today. And for that, we're going to go to another great name. Dorito Dust. He'll it's Dorito Dust, your favorite chip

coming from the Great White North. My driver of the day would have to be Max Verstappen with an honorable mention to Alonzo. My worst driver of day has to be Ferrari Strategy. What, what, I don't know, like, what were they just doing there?

Figure it out. I love how many people have gone Ferrari Strategy. I'm going to go on a limb here. Doritos, not my favorite crisp. not a chip a chip is a

potato beverage that you dip in ketchup but a crisp A potato beverage Oh yeah What's a potato beverage We'll go with that A potato beverage

We'll go in that I Ben's gone I'm gone I'm fine I'm not that's my point out Don't just love a tea Of Gavin

with a side of a potato beverage. Oh, go away. I'm sick of this podcast. Oh, what do you have to see? Ham and chips. I don't know. I have a tomato

beverage. Do you want to get my coffee this morning, darling? No, I'll have a potato beverage, please. I'll be so rank. Just a blended up jacket. I'll blend the fancy a jersey royal.

Yeah. Times are tough. Just a most pipe of place. That's what we've got in? Basically, was your point that Doritos are overrated or something? Yeah, I just don't like Doritos that much. I'm with you. I'm 100% with you on that.

Yeah, sorry. Knicks, discos, prong and cocktail, hawkers or lays as you have. You know, many top choices, but Doritos for me, very standard. Very average. Nice and spicy knickmacks. No, ripping saucy, mate. Ribbon sauce all day long. Oh, but the Scampia lemon, also top tier.

I don't really like crisps. I'm just going to put that one out there. I'm not, you know, I'm going to room after that Gavin. I'm a potato beverages. Oh, oh, Lord. Should we try and get this back on track, maybe? Yeah, go on. Well, I don't know what to do now, Guy.

Full disclosure, guys. we're like nine minutes into this segment but I thought we'd go a little bit longer than this so we haven't got enough time to get into our next segment before the next break. What do we do? I'll tell you what. This is really well organised.

We'll get into Ferrari strategy because that is the next topic and we'll see how far we get until we have to get in that ad money. I mean, give ourselves a break. Here comes the money. Money. Harry, Carlos Samp.

Fine. Started from the back row of the grid. Made some very good progress. Overtook Sergio Perez. We've already briefly touched on how he did it and how he nearly didn't do it if you listened to his strategist. Pitting with 10 laps to go, ultimately finishing P5 with a fastest lap for 11 points. What did you make of Ferrari strategy? Right. Ben, you said this before we start recording. It's, it's, it's, it's almost unanalisable because it's so bad. It's that bad that it's just obvious what we're going to say here. But we'll say it anyway.

If they wanted, no, if they were going to go for that two-stop, which some people did and, you know, it could have worked out. And it was probably obvious that they probably should have them when they had to put the mediums on at the safety car, when science came in at the safety car. They had to go mediums because he was on, started on hards. So that strategy of him starting on hards wasn't great because they only actually ended up doing 17 laps.

So they had to get mediums, at which point, it looks like you're probably going to have to do a two-stop race. Then they somehow decide they think they're going to go for a one-stop. They're going to do 36 laps on the medium tires, which Pirelli said you probably shouldn't do that because that's too long. Ferrari ignore this. They go on. They decide they're going to try and make the one-stop work

and then with 10 that's to go, whilst you just got into third place, they're like, actually, I think we should two-stop this. If you were going to two-stop it, which was the obvious choice to literally anyone watching, they should have committed to it

10, 15 laps earlier than that. Like Verstappen and Red Bull did last year, I think they said in common truth, it was like lap 32 for Stappen pitted on in second stop last year. So there's enough time to make that two-stop work. Plodding around on your medium tyres that are getting past their,

best. Yes, he got past Perez. But that's just losing time. That's not the most efficient way to do it. So I just don't understand. We've already mentioned the radio calls as well whilst he's trying to be told to box whilst he's trying to get past Perez. It's just, I don't know. I don't know. I'm trying to think we are critical for our strategy a lot. And I'm sure Ben's going to be and Sam. They're going to say the same things as me. But I just feel like. Like it's almost so obvious sometimes. Why can't they see it? This is, this was, all right, some of the calls have been a bit more difficult.

But this one was such an easy call for them. Why would you not do the two-stop and, but do it properly? Don't try to do a one-stop when it's never going to happen and then have to do the two-stop. Because you lose third place and you end up in fifth. I think science could have been on the podium today had they done that properly, even with the five-second stop, well, not stop and go, five-second penalty. and in his pit stop. It's ludicrous.

I just throw a word with themselves because even without Leclair putting it in the Booners, they're never going to win a championship if they carry on like that. It's just insane.

Sam, are you going to be any more complimentary than that? I mean, Carlos Sainz started from the bottom of his fifth, but he could have been third, quite comfortably. and you know that it's a very famous gif now it's a famous scene from the sitcom community where um i don't know the character's name but i think it's played by charles can be in he walks back

into the cafe with Troy Barnes thank you Troy Barnes I've actually watched the program my favorite show of all time well that's why Ben has terrible taste of everything and the whole cafe is on fire and he's like oh what that is what that is what I am imagine it's going on on the Ferrari pit wall whilst they're racing, right? They're just everything's on fire. They're trying to put things out. Someone's brought some food. Doesn't really know what's going on.

And then they're trying to also talk to Carlos Sites at the same time. What a hilarious mess. It's just funny now, isn't it? It's just funny. Like, keep doing it. It's funny. I enjoy it. It's a good laugh.

I look forward to my weekly laugh. Yeah. Why not? Thank you for bringing something new to the show. Quite frankly, they need to fire. and hire a whole new strategic team. Try and buy off somewhere else's strategy team because you need to at this point.

I actually think the one stop was possible. Despite the grain, I think it would be a little bit risky. There was a split in the tire of Carlos Sunks, but he got past Russell. He got past Perez. What are you going to gain now by stopping at any point? You may as well push it.

You may as well keep pushing it. At most, your five second penalty gets supplied. You fall back behind him. You have to go a bit careful on your tires at the last cut of laps. Oh, well, this is what you've got got anyway. But with the pace he was managing, with those two battling behind him, we saw them fall off the track already. Why would you not push it that little bit further and see if you could just get yourself a five second gap?

Because it was possible. Hamilton's gap between Perez and Hamilton, whilst we were fighting, at one point, I think it hit nine or ten seconds. So the pace had dropped off and the battling was causing them to be much slower. So whatever strategy you were going for, whether it's Harry's two-stop, which I think was still a perfectly good and viable strategy, or mine, stick it out all the way to the end and take the risk, which again, I think is the better strategy. They're both significantly better than telling your driver to not do either of those things and then to box halfway through a very important heated battle with the rival team.

It is hilarious. If you want to keep doing it, go ahead because I enjoy a good giggle. But if you want to win a world title, then Giza, as much has been quoted, this is not the way to do it. You need to change things up. Just bloody commit, all right? Just commit, pick a strategy, stick to it. Don't be a proper wet flannel about it.

There is a great doll of irony in that they can't, they can't select the strategy when they've got like 30 prepared at the beginning of every single race, you know, covering the alphabet. Honestly, okay, here's where I'm going to start with this. Someone left a review for us a couple of weeks ago. And if you are enjoying today's episode, please do leave a review. It massively helps us out. But this person who left a review was not a massive fan of the podcast, for whatever reason.

Who knows? Shock. Yeah, I can't try too. But this person had one main gripe. His main gripe was that they felt that the hosts, aka us, they felt like we knew more than the teams. Yes, I do. And that's not even a compliment to myself.

And I'm not going to throw the other nine teams in there because you'd have a point. But with Ferrari, if you think that I think I could go in there and do a better job, you're damn right I think I could go in there and do a better job because I have a brain. Goodness me, what are they doing? So before we even got to the point of that strategic call, they had really messed up this weekend.

I've already seen someone try to defend Ferrari because apparently they nailed the strategy on Saturday to give Charles LeClaer pole, completely avoiding the fact that it was the most obvious strategic call of all time. How on earth were you going to go about it any other way? Well, that's a good point. But also, it's like, what else are you going to do? Carlos Seines is already starting at the back. He might as well give him a toe. There's literally no disadvantage to doing so I'm not giving Ferrari any credit for that.

But on race day, they had two slow stops. They tried to kill Carlos Seines by putting him in the path of another car, which just don't try and kill your drivers is a good motto to go by if you're an F1 team. Yeah, not that one. Then we had the issue of telling him to box when he's midway through. getting past Sergio Perez. And you're right, it was probably delayed somewhat. But he was in contention for that pass throughout the entirety of that lap.

It was on for him to make that overtake. And then they made the call which I've already said, sent me into an absolute fit of laughter. But I don't get it. And you're right, you have to commit one way or the other. I would have gone with what Sam said and just stuck it out because those mediums were still, at least to my eye, absolutely fine. He had got past Sergio Perez and I know Perez wasn't on the pace that he could have

been, but there was a podium right there in front of him. And it was so blatantly obvious that boxing was never going to get those points back. Yes, he was going to claim fastest lap. If you're getting fifth and fastest lap for 11 points, I've got some maths for you. That's four less than third place for 15 points. Come on. And it's so important as well where your other driver has retired, where points at a premium. Carlos Seines has put in so much effort to get from the back of the grid up to P3, only for you to then give two of the positions back due to mercy or something. What are you doing? This was so blatantly obvious. And you're right, Harry, with what you said. It's difficult to analyze a strategic call that had no right to even be the potential for a

strategic call. Make the decision earlier if you're going to make that cool. But honestly, I'm just, I'm so annoyed because firstly, I like a challenge. I like a challenge to rip on Ferrari. You're making it way too goddamn easy for me. Secondly, I want an entertaining sport. I want the best of the best going up against each other, driver versus driver, team versus team. and the fact of the matter is the Ferrari team is so far stuck in, I was going to say last century, but that would be an understatement. They're so, you know,

they're basically doing strategic calls with Fred Flintstone at this point. It's utterly ridiculous how they can be, have such a fast car and such a bad strategic team. It's letting the sport down, sort it out. Oh, God's sake. Ben's now going to go have a lie down, I think. in a calm, quiet dark room. I'm going to be even more annoyed.

I'm going to be even more annoyed when the championship is decided at Austin because Ferrari haven't got their stuff together, right? I'd quite like it to go down to Abu Dhabi if that's all right. It won't do. They'll keep messing up. Vastapal will win by Austin. Cheers, 2022.

You're done already. Well, that was Fury. I hope the person who didn't like the podcast appreciated that segment. No, they're probably not listening anymore. Probably stop listening. Along with everyone else after that as well. Right. I'm going to keep control of my blood pressure.

We've got one more segment after this next break. We're going to be discussing Sergio Perez and George Russell when their fight for P3. Sam, we'll kick off with you on this one. The Sergio Perez and George Russell. fight. First, you're all right, mate. How's it going? Welcome to the podcast.

What did you make, firstly, what did you make of the nearly move? The attempt by George Russell up the inside didn't pay off with Sergio Perez having to use the runoff area and then there being no penalty despite Mercedes obviously calling for one. What did you make of that whole incident? Well, I was very impressed that George Russell appeared. to keep a copy of the rule book inside his cockpit as he recited the article word for word of driving around the track. It was quite impressive. Look, we have a precedent, and I'd like to think that the stewards would be consistent, that when a driver sticks and goes up the inside, makes contact

with a driver and the other driver goes off track, typically, that's the driver at fault. That's the driver that tends to get a five-second penalty, and I feel like that move warranted a five second penalty. And I know that some people like a bit of rub on his racing and when it comes to something like NASCAR, sure, let's have a bit of rub on this racing. That's a bit of fun.

But Formula One, that's not how we play ball here. That's not the rules. And I think Russell crossed the line. I think he came all the way back from, I don't know, Spain to make that move. He was nowhere near as long as what he thought he was.

And Perez was already three quarters the way turned in for the corner all the time he arrived on the scene. And I think it was a bit of a doggie move. I think he really tried to take advantage of a very, very tiny gap, and I don't think it paid off for him. And I think Russell maybe saw some hopes fading of a podium at that point. And so we're throwing every single thing he could over the radio to get the move

of him back. You know, give the position back to me. I have my front wheel alongside his back wheel, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I don't think it was really that fair. I think Perez was already going through the corner. You arrived, you hit him. He had to go off the trap with him and you look at his trajectory as well as Russell came out of the corner.

He ran the car all the way to the white lines on the other side of the track as well, which will have implied that had they both made it through wheel to will, Perez will have been forced off the track anyway. Russell was never making that corner cleanly, thoroughly, fairly, will to wheel another car. It was never going to happen. So for me, that's a five second penalty. I don't really understand the difference between this incident and the one he got

given against Perez again, Austria, right, space left, contact made, car off the track. Just because there's gravel. and one faced the wrong way for a moment, that's again taking a penalty based on the reaction of the results rather than the action itself. So I wasn't best pleased with it. I think George Russell was incorrect on that. The battle overall was fun.

It was exciting. It was good. And I think we'll get on to this in a minute. But he drove the restart very, very well. But the overtake, the near move, the contact for me was Russell at fault, five second penalty. What did you make of the attempted move by Russell, Harry? Yeah, I think Russell, when he watches that one back,

we'll see it in a completely different view than his viewpoint during the race because he was a long side but he wasn't he wasn't slowing down enough for that corner so I don't know as go as far to say his penalty and it's established probably slightly more lenient or too lenient but yeah it wasn't peris is peris left in the width of a of a Mercedes russle took it and then it went a bit too bit too far and ran it ralers out of road so yeah, it was it was borderline, but yeah, I think, I think George, I know he was clearly felt like he was in the right, but he wasn't on that one, I don't think. And like I say, when he looks back at it, I think he'll see it the same way. But, you know, enjoyable little scrap, didn't mind it, to be honest.

Didn't mind it. I enjoyed it rather than didn't mind it. But, you know, yeah, I don't. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday, yeah, sure. Yeah, exactly, yeah, exactly. So, yeah, I think, I think it was borderline, but fine. Yeah, I'm, I think that George Russell is going to look at this one back and think, oh, oh, no. Oh, no.

Oh, dear. I haven't analysed that one very well. Yeah, this was, this, it wasn't on. Come on, George. It was a really desperate attempt. And I think it proved to me that, while, George Russell has come a long way, and I think he's already an exceptional talent, there's still a bit of a ways to go, because it was the sort of move that I don't think Hamilton makes

if he's in the same scenario. And he got past in the end, obviously, but if that was his one and only opportunity, yeah, it would have been bitterly disappointing for himself not to finish on that podium, because he had the pace to do it. It just wasn't the right moment. And really, I cannot understand why there was such a call from Russell and the team to try and penalise Perez for that because it just didn't make any sense to be whatsoever. In fact, I likened it when it happened to the scenario of Vastappan and Hamilton on lap one of Abu Dhabi last year, where Vastappan makes a move up the inside. Hamilton is forced wide, he can't make the corner and he has to go over the runoff. I kind of saw that as exactly the same thing here. and obviously the roles are reversed for Mercedes

and they call him for the opposite action. I get why they are doing it, of course. They have to do whatever they can to help their own team and their own drivers. But yeah, this was absolutely not on Perez for me. Russell was overzealous. And I think Russell just needs to remember that I have a lot riding on him beating Louis Hamilton this year.

In fact, my entire reputation is on the line. So I would really caution him. I would really caution him on making that sort of the thing again. Please, please, George, please, please, be it. Let's get his folder. I know. I don't know it is. In terms of the actual move,

the one that did stick after the virtual safety car, what did you make of that one, son? This cemented for me of Sergio Perez having an absolute shocker, although I haven't seen any replays of the full VSC between them because it was very confusing. There was some strange things going on with George Russell and Sergio Perez

it almost looked like halfway through the VSC. Either they both thought their green flag had gone running or they were fighting weirdly under the VSC. George Russell looked like he was alongside Perez at one point and then switching back on him. It was all a bit weird. But the actual move itself, we did get Green flag running.

And George Russell absolutely pulled Sergio Prince's racet suit off, didn't he really, absolutely took him for a bag of chips. There was no chance, or a potato beverage, whatever you fancy. There was no chance that Perez was defending that one. and Russell played it brilliantly. He got the move done there and then, and that was it. That was game over for Sergio. It cemented a bad weekend for Checo,

which is a shame because he's been on such a really good run of form. But it was cover play. And sometimes that's what you need to do to beat your rivals in Formula One. You need to think outside the box. And he did. He made it work. And I don't know what was going on with Checo. Poor decision making, poor timings.

But he paid the price for it. Well done, Russell, for getting the move done properly. What did you make of the move by old Georgie Russ, Harry? well i i think um rumour has it that sergey pears is still collecting the hot dog that um george russell sent him for in the key you're so proud of yourself for that as well are you so proud um yeah absolutely mugged it mugged in blind you don't often see we don't get it very often these days because i think the level of f1 drivers is pretty high um you don't often see a good mugging on a restart anymore and it was good to see it was good to see um

because, yeah, as you say, pulled his race suit off him. It was very intelligent stuff. He seemed to be lining it up quite early. Obviously, the VSE was ending for about three days before they actually ended it, which obviously gave George the opportunity to line up a move. But he was sizing him up half a lap

before he made the move when it did eventually end. And yeah, Perra's just napping, really napping, not even on the racing line, which I found really odd. So yeah, nice little move by George. Wasn't Sergio's greatest day, I think we can say. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, I can't understand why the virtual safety car took so long to end.

I think the ending message lasted for about four times as long as it's supposed to, according to their own regulations, which is pretty incredible. But, yeah, I can't understand that. but they're all on the same playing field. They're all getting the same messaging. So there was no reason for Perez to get caught out and Russell to benefit from it.

And yeah, I think it did cap off a pretty disappointing day for Perez where no Ferrari finishes on the podium. There isn't really an excuse for Perez not to be there unless he had some misfortune come his way, which didn't happen. So, yeah, I think Russell did a good job. He was on it. He was alert. So it was a good move from him. really, as you say, Harry, it happens so infrequently now that it almost has to go on the

defending driver as napping, or as Norm would say, with his pants down. It just wasn't good enough from Perez, out there. In terms of Perez's race as a whole, Sam, what did you, you know, did he let his team down out there today? Is that too harsh? No, I think he did let his team down. There was no excuse for him being that far off. I think this might. go down was the worst performance I've seen Sergio Perez do this season, if not for the entire time he's being at Red Bull. Last season, he's got the benefit of the doubt. He got the settling into the team, you know, getting used to things, coming up to speed, learning how the car grabs. There's a lot of excuses you could give Sergio Perez. And a lot of time, he overgrove what I

thought he was probably capable of. This season, it's not on, unfortunately. And when you, like you said there, the perfect point, neither Ferrari finished on the podium, the Mercedes isn't up to scratch, you know, it's not the same level of those two cars. When your teammate, wings the race by over 10 seconds, even with a safety car bringing the grid back together, you should be the driver in the second place, let alone third place. I think you let the team down. Max Verstappen even came over the radio at the end of the race and said, yeah, great points, great points, very check-o finish. Oh, P4. Oh, okay, good points for the team anyway, though. Yeah, like, really? Was that it? You only got P4. It really wasn't

good enough. It's not what you expect from your second red ball driver. And if, if Alexander Or Pierre Gazley had put that performance in when they were in the car. I feel we have been very critical of them doing so. And I think he deserved to have critics for this performance. It was really quite sloppy, quite bad. So hopefully the race before the summer break, Checo bounces back and we get a really fun and exciting Hungara ring performance from him.

Because I think he needs it going into that summer break. Two in a row, that's a bad time to have a slump. yeah without having gone through every single race so far this year i wouldn't be surprised if you're right with that sam in terms of it being his worst race this season there's nothing that's immediately springing to mind as being worse than this one and in terms of finishing position you know p4 it's not the end of the world it's more how he got there and how others didn't get ahead of him in terms of the ferraris so yeah i think his performance against lewis hamilton was surprisingly disappointing. I fully expected him to get past Lewis Hamilton pretty swiftly,

not to put Hamilton down at all, but it just looked like there was such an advantage, straight line speed for Sergio Perez, that he was bound to get past. And as I referenced earlier, there were a few early mini opportunities, but it became a lot more comfortable after that. And suddenly, his engineer was looking back rather than forwards. It was, you know, what's going on with Russell rather than what's going on. with Hamilton up ahead. I don't know why he didn't have the pace here this weekend because if you remember back to Paul Ricard last year,

it was one of his better races. He supported Vastappen brilliantly well. He managed to beat Bottas to P3, something that he didn't do all that often in the first half of last year. And it just didn't carry on. He didn't look like he had the pace in practice. I don't know if qualifying was a bit of a false omen

because in terms of Q3, he wasn't that far off. But certainly when it came to race pace, the start hurt him a lot. I don't know whether Hamilton would have been able to get past him if he had held the position. But even so, I think Vastappan's reaction was understandable in that he didn't know what to say for a second or two

because he must have been expecting him to say Perez was third and he wasn't. And that guy clearly agrees as well. So overall pretty disappointing. You're right, Sam, it would be mega important for him to at least gain some momentum back before we get into the summer break. Harry, what did you make a Perez for the race as a whole? Pretty similar to what you guys have said, to be honest,

it was, yeah, I think easily his worst race of the year. I'm really strong to think of a worse one off the top of my head. but yeah i'm i'm hopeful for at least perors's sake that this is just a bad just a bad track for him i can't really think of his track record here last year was on the podium obviously um but yeah i just i just hope this is a bad weekend and not not a sign of things to come because he has been on a very good uh runner form this year um yeah it was wasn't wasn't great i know he he was up there more than i guess still that more than you know alban and ghastly were but then i think the car was in a

more dominant position than Albuquerque ever had in their time at Red Bulls. So, yeah, not particularly, well, I've already said, not his greatest day in the office. I don't think for Sergio Perez, but, you know, that happens sometimes. If you're not, not everyone who's Max for Staffan or Louis Hamilton, they do have bad days. So let's hope it's just that and not a sign of things to come. Not ideal to give it a two-word title. Yeah. Pretty much.

Copyright. Anything else, guys? Anything else you want to get off your chest? No. Nothing about Daniel Ricardo, you sure, Sam? No, he definitely mentioned today. He just had an okay, which is a fine, okay. He did what he always should be doing.

He was fine. Yeah, he was just fine. Yeah. He did what he always should be doing, losing to London. Oh, that was a bit of said that. Come on. It wasn't me. It was in.

It was the creting over there with the nice glasses. The fishing rods out, ladies and gents. See if I get any bites. In that case, I think that will do it. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Folks, I hope you enjoyed the French Grand Prix. It wasn't the thriller that maybe we hoped it was,

but it wasn't a bad race. Let's know your thoughts, of course. You get in contact with us over on the Discord, which we are almost on the brink of 1,000 Discord members, which is crazy. Because I think we're starting it, what, a year ago, just under a year ago, that we're not having it at 1,000 Discord members. Many of you don't understand.

There you go. Oh, boy. If 24 of you join before Wednesday, we can celebrate that thousand. But if you want to talk to us about the Grand Prix or anyone else that's involved in the community, get into the Discord. It's very nice. It's very easy to learn. You'll have fun.

You can talk to us on Twitter, of course, at El Breaking. That's more silliness, comedic stuff, which we're very bad at. but have a little look. Instagram, which we've also got over a thousand followers on Instagram. Thank you for your support.

That's a late-breaking podcast. And when the kids come knocking, we go TikTok in. That is available as well, the late-breaking podcast. Down with kids. I haven't done much on there recently, though we definitely should do more there.

But hey, it's available. Yeah, that's true. My knees don't work as well as I used to, so I can't get down that far. We also have merchandise, mugs, caps, stickers, T-shirts, jumpers, anything for your appropriate climate.

If you want it, have a little look. It's all very nice. Thank you to those that have supported. And, of course, Patreon is available. Thank you for Patreon recently. And it is hugely appreciated. Thank you so much. Many tiers available, three.

In fact, if you'd like me to be specific. There are great perks. You can get some lovely stuff like an ad-free podcast, which is always very nice. And it massively helps us out more than anything else that you can do. That really does help us out. Thank you. I think that's everything.

We'll be back midweek for the Hungara Ring, the Hungry Grand Prix preview on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm your Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. I've been a potato beverage. And remember, keep breaking late. Cry out loud, come you, Jersey Royal. I can't believe we didn't say Djibui for the French review.

I tried not to. Jibu'i. Jabui.