The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Japanese GP Review

Episode Date: October 9, 2022

The boys review a wet and shortened Japanese GP, where Max Verstappen claimed his second world championship! The boys break down the race, discussing the controversy surrounding the Pierre Gasly and the recover vehicle, naming their drivers of the day, and reviewing their bold predictions... 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 Eid, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. That's it, I guess. Max Verstappen is world champion. We're recording this not very long after it's happened. and it is quite possibly the most confusing

world championship win of all time, but apparently full points have been awarded for the Japanese Grand Prix. And as a result of that, Max Verstappen is your 22 world champion, back-to-back champion as well. I don't even know. We've been up since the early hours of the morning.

It's all very confusing. What's going on? Oh, I honestly, don't have a clue anymore. You could blame it on the three hours of sleep because it is so much harder being a European Formula One fan. So difficult. It's so difficult, you know, the pain. But yeah, that was baffling, wasn't it?

What a series of events that was. Obviously, the wigger goes through in the podcast. But I don't really know where to start. I don't know where to say for this intro bit. Usually we get an nice little rhythm going. I'm quite baffled. Harry, have you got anything to add? Well, I think when Matt Shostappan dreamed of being a two-time world champion,

he dreamed of being an album. He can do the dance. He can do the two-time. more chapped and him and Alonzo just there vibing. Biggieing.

Yeah, I'm sure he dreamed of it being announced by Johnny Herbert in part of Fermi. That's how anyone wants the second world championship to be announced.

So that is cemented now forever. Max for stopping wins. That is forever going to be the World Championship announcement at 2022. Get that on Crafts to smile.

You know what? Flicks. Actually, no. I'm okay with it because it's fitting. Perfectly anticlimactic, just like the season. It works perfectly. What you're all about it? It was on a life age. That's, you know, I think that's why they've decided to award full points because I was going to kick off the intro by, you know, trying to be a funny little boy by saying, oh, it's still on a life edge in it. And then the FIA caught wind of that and thought, we can't have this guy trying to make jokes anymore. Let's just give them the championship now.

If you look at the graphic they kept putting up during the weekend of the championship battle or championship contenders, like come on. I know. I know. I love the giant CGI trio of them. Like, yeah, if you go put them to size of their points equivalents, they need to be the size of a blade of grass and Maxwell stappings like the Empire State Building in between the two of them. Let's, you know, put it to, Harry just spit out his water going to get.

Sorry. So despite the fact that we only just about got in over half, for race and obviously a good thing that we did get that much in. There is still a lot to talk about. You wouldn't think so with a reduced number of laps, but there's perhaps more to talk about than usual on this episode. We'll be talking about the World Championship, how that was awarded, was it right to give out the points the way that they did a little bit later on? We're going to be looking at the Lecler-Perez incident towards the end of the race. Bold predictions, we're going to be reviewing those. Driver of the day, worst driver at the day. That's all coming up as well.

But we're going to go back towards the very start of this race when, of course, we had a brief get going before a red flag. And we know that Pierre Gassley, who of course started from the pit lane, decided to box after the first lap after the Rolex boarding got stuck in his front wing. Because he was very far detached from the rest of the grid, it meant that he wasn't part of the safety car group that went through very slowly. after the hairpin in the second sector, we know there was a tractor on the left-hand side of the track and Gasly going through there at a relatively high pace, at least compared to those going under the safety car. Of course, Gasly not very happy about that.

It was given opportunity to dissect by Sky and others because of the red flag. Sam, what did you make of the decision to get that tractor out there at that time when Gasley was still detached from the pack? Oh, was I seething? Was I fuming? Absolutely fuming, mate. It's quite lucky that we didn't record this podcast. Like, right the race off straight away

and we didn't come and record the podcast immediately because I was so angry at FIA and at the sky and their presentation of what happened as well. What happened in 2014 at Suzuki? What was the exact series of events? It's wet. We have to have a safety car due to an incident and they bring out a tractor or heavy duty vehicle onto the track grounds or cars are going round and we sadly lose a life of a driver, right? Bianchi sadly loses his life. And that's what invented the halo, right? That's why we have the halo now on cars because of that one incident. That is one of the most impactful incidents that we've seen in modern Formula One looking at it shaped how Formula One cars look, the safety requirements, what the reasoning before them is. Just because we have a halo on the car does not mean it is acceptable in any state of mind to have a heavy-duty vehicle out on the track. Even when it's dry, right, we had it in Mongsa, and I think Sky kept trying to use this as an example

to justify what was going on. Even in Monza, it was so out of order. It was so close to being dangerous. I think it was in between the two Lesmos. Blind corners, there was a car stricking off to one side with a bloody crane in the way. One sip of a tire, one touch of gravel at that point, on a dry track, a car could be under there. And it's not just the drive. drivers at risk, remember, people drive those vehicles. Skewicks have to monitor and maintain those vehicles. They have to chauffeur them on and off the track. They have to make sure the car is on the back of the crane properly.

There are people walking around. There's a clip of one of the cars going past in Suzuki today. A Marshall pushing Carlos Sites is stricken car onto the back of the vehicle, and it is metres away from him. The fact that there was any justification at all by any Sky presenter, because obviously the three of us watched the sky coverage. So if you haven't seen the sky coverage, you don't know what was going on here.

Maybe it was different for you. Maybe you got the right coverage. But the sky coverage essentially try to justify that Pierre Gassie should have known better and he shouldn't be doing what he was doing. Under a normal safety car, let's just take a normal dry track safety car conditions. How often do you ever hear a commentator, an official say, oh, that car shouldn't be driving at strong speed. to catch up to the back of the pack.

There will be complaints if a normal track occasion a car was dawding around at the back of the track going, oh, I've got to be safe because I can't get to the back of the pack too quickly because I might hit something.

You shouldn't be putting anything on the track where they could possibly hit it. Pierre Gazley came into that pit lane and he said, Harry, you've got to get the bloop ready. Why is there a tractor on track? I killed myself. That's right.

I said it. Harry's got to do a bleep. And it's deserved because we were so lucky, so lucky that someone did not get injured, let alone die on the track today. We've seen this exact moment before. It was an appalling decision. I don't know whether it was the FIA, whether the stewards, whether it was just, the track marsh was just came out and did it. Regardless of who it was, the decision was acrocious and needs to be investigated. It cannot happen again. There

should never be a heavy duty vehicle on track while there are cars, especially in those conditions going around with that level of visibility. I was absolutely shocked. I was appalled, angry. And I think Pierre Gassi has every right, regardless of how quickly he was driving under what he thought were safety car conditions to try and catch up for a race restart. The red flag only got called as he was literally at the heavy duty vehicle. What's he meant to do? How is he meant to know that? So, yeah, I was absolutely furious.

And it's lucky that we didn't recall this couple of hours ago because I've been losing my head. And I'll pass it over to the other chaps for a minute. Harry did you see this the same way? Yeah, it's it's completely unacceptable on any given day track weather condition still unacceptable as it was in Monza

they shouldn't have they just shouldn't have these massive trucks out on track and I know there needs to be they have to clear the cars away but you've got at least at least at the very least at the very

for wait until the cars are bunched up behind the safety car. But there needs to be way more communication to the drivers. If you watch Formula E, if anyone watches Formula E, you hear them, the race director has a direct fee to every single driver and they do like a countdown. There's going to be a full course yellow in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Watch out on the inside of turn 13. There's a car there or there's a recovery vehicle there. So be wary of that. There was nothing, absolutely nothing from the stewards or race control to any of the drivers. So even the one, ones that, even ones that were behind the safety other weren't Ghazly, they still didn't know that that, that recovery truck was there. And even, you know, they're going much slower than

Ghazly was, but that still could be a horrific accident, even if it's not with the driver injured. It could be the, the marshals that are injured. So it's just, the context of where we are, the conditions we were in today, it was just horrendous, just, it's absolutely nuts. And I don't, And look, I don't think Ghazley was fully in the right here, but they are two separate. You can have two incidents where people are in the wrong. Yes, Gassley probably was driving too quickly, but it doesn't matter because he didn't even know

that the recovery to vehicle was on the track, and it shouldn't have been on the track in the first place. So it just feels like we're playing with fire. And we literally mentioned this, I think on last week's on the preview podcast, and the indecision in race control lately, they've been a bit slow to throw safety cars and it just feels like the communication is all out of whack and I know they're having to

this year for obvious reasons they don't have the most ideal setup in terms of race directors they have more than one race director which I think arguably is not what we need for F1 so I appreciate their working was sort of one hand tie behind their back in that sense but there needs to be something needs to be change because that's that's just a horror show waiting to happen and and I'm worried that we're

going to get to a place where something bad does happen and that only then will something change the end because it seems like we've forgotten all of the lessons that were learned from from bianke's accident eight years ago so yeah just ridiculous I fell asleep at one point when we were red flags and I woke up and I couldn't believe people were blaming pierre gaisley for a truck being on track it was just that's insanity so wasn't gazdi's fault in that sense Yes, maybe he was going too quickly, but as I said, they're two separate incidents. Yeah, I particularly given the history of Bianchi at this very circuit, I mean, the same rules would apply what we're saying would still be the case regardless

of what venue we were at, but it's more, it carries more because of where we were this weekend. And it wasn't that long ago. It was within the last 10 years. So we're not going back that far for such a devastating incident. And it does make you ask the horrible question of, what will it take for the FIA to get their, you know, what together? Is it another death? Because what is going to be enough?

Is this incident going to be enough for them to wake up and realize this isn't acceptable? I don't know. You could argue that one death apparently wasn't enough to wake them up if things like this are still happening. you might remember from when they investigated the incident, they said very clearly in their outcome, in their conclusion that this sort of a thing with those vehicles, it cannot happen again, and it has.

You're right, Sam, in terms of the comparison with Monza, I was going to bring up the same thing, and that was an attempt to justify where that was in terms of the placement. And obviously, that doesn't take into account the conditions at all, but I've always said, I don't think Monza was right. I said in the Monza review, I'd have thrown the red flag, not for the reason that most people thought we should have had a red flag to spice things up, but because it wasn't safe.

And I generally, since the Bianchi incident, have a zero tolerance approach to those sorts of vehicles needing to be on track. If it needs to be in the position where it was here at Suzuki, the red flag should be thrown, in my opinion. And definitely in those wet conditions, but I would apply exactly the same in dry conditions. My opinion doesn't actually change either way on that front. So it was completely unacceptable for it to be out there. And to your point, Harry, you're absolutely right. People are apportioning blame here, which doesn't make any sense. People are trying to almost get 100%

of the whole blame pie, or whatever you want to call it, and give some out to GASLE and some out to the FIA. And it doesn't make any sense because you're right, they are two separate issues. Was Gassley going too quickly? Maybe. Was he going too quickly after the incident under those red flag conditions? Maybe he's being investigated for it. And so he should. If he's broken the rules there, so be it.

He should be investigated for it. But that doesn't impact there being that vehicle on the track. Regardless of whether he was going slowly or quickly or anything in between, that vehicle should not have been there. And that doesn't change anything in that respect. you know, treat them as two separate issues. And you're right in terms of the communication. It's not that difficult to make people aware of it as you come up to it.

It shouldn't even be needed, I think, in that scenario. But yes, you can be certainly more straightforward and upfront with these teams about what's happening on track. For me, the red flag absolutely should have been thrown. I don't agree with the way in which it's been dissected by certain members of the media. it doesn't align with what I think at all. This is on the FIA in terms of that vehicle being out there. And everything else we're discussing leads on from that decision. If that decision isn't taken, none of the other stuff about red flags, double wave yellows,

not being under the safety car, the speed of GASley both before and after the incident, all of those things that are being discussed, none of them are being discussed if it's not for the FIA's initial decision. So I don't agree with it either. and with you two on this. Another point there on the communication is a comment that stood out to me made by Christian Horner when he was being interviewed during the red flag period was he didn't know there was a car on track until Checo behind the safety car said, by the way, there's a van here, there's just a lorry on the track if you didn't know.

And Christian was like I had absolutely no idea and we were so lucky. I couldn't tell my drivers that they were at risk because I was never informed that a vehicle was going to be out on track, to think that that hasn't been passed down in any way to a team boss is appalling. And also, not to maybe make this more for entertainment, Ben, but your point about throwing the red flag for safety is correct. That is always a hundred percent paramount. We have, as a trio, always said safety comes first. But what's the negative as well? You get a bunched up grid. You get a new race start. You get a clear track. Right. In terms of, it's a wing-wing situation. For people who are fans of the sport, it's a win-wing.

wing situation. You get a exciting, safe, fun restart of the performance again, that is Formula One. We've got action never come first, of course, but there is a benefit to it. It makes sense as well. So they're just getting every single call wrong. It needs to be evaluated. It needs to be investigated. We had issues with obviously Michael Massey at the end of last season, but at least that

was for entertainment value. This is a safety call, and it is way, way worse, in my opinion. Just a thought on this because generally when it comes to Formula One, everything is in some way divided. Like even the drivers disagree on something or the drivers agree on something and the fans disagree. It feels like, at least to me, nearly everyone has a very similar opinion on this that it wasn't right. And it's very rare in Formula One that something brings together the community in a way like this. Obviously, it's unfortunate. It has to.

but it feels like that's the case here. I mean, does that just not make it more compelling that something, shortly something was wrong if so many people are against this, right? Well, a community famous for disagreeing with each other. Exactly, exactly. Danger brings us together. Yeah, but the comics at the media you have made

are hilarious, absolutely hilarious, the portion of blame. That blame pie that you brought up in, that sounds absolutely disgusting. I don't want to taste any of the blame pie. thank you I'd let the FIA all of the blame pie I guess

I'm so good sensible boys sensible to the point I got too angry I had to make something silly oh man I mean I don't even I don't even know

where to go with this I do want to make one final point on this because we know that Sebastian Vettel obviously not directly related to this we know he's leaving the sport at the end of this year

and there have been a few comments actually since that announcement and it made me think of it this weekend. Is there any fear that when he's gone, and maybe one or two others of the senior drivers as well, are there enough leading voices that can unite the drivers in an incident like this? There is a worry that there isn't. Would you agree with that or disagree with that, guys? I think that's a fair call. If you look at the people who have led the community, especially in safety or in the right surrounding Formula One,

whether that be cultural or human-based, you know, the racism topics or whatever it might be. It's the elder drivers that tend to lead that voice, Hamilton, Vessel, you know, even the likes of a longso speak up about these moments. And they're obviously all going to be off the books pretty soon. But what I was really grateful for was seeing people like Pierre Gasly get angry, right? That's great. That's fantastic. Carlos Sikes, he was straight up there on the microphone when he got an interview.

What is going on? That is not okay. The same with Albon. Can't believe what I've just seen. And also, Landon Norris, spoke up on Twitter, really just out there unfiltered. And I really appreciate to him saying, you know, what is going on? This is not acceptable. And I think it's fantastic that these younger drivers are taking the lead now and are calling out the authority when something goes wrong. They are being fearless about it, which I really, really appreciate because someone does need to fill those boots when the likes of Sebastian U.S.

Betel, who's almost the daddy of F1 at this point, is going to be leaving. So I thought it was really good to see. Yeah, I think they're in, I think F1's in safe hands in that sense. I think there are enough drivers, enough sensible heads within the drivers there to, to continue or to take over the baton when the likes of, obviously, Veto leaves at the end of this year, but the likes of Hamilton, Alonzo, as Sam's mentioned, they finally pack out of their racing boots. So yeah, I think in that sense, we're in a good place. Absolutely.

That's great. We're going to be talking about Max Verstappen's very normal championship win right after this. Yep, good. Before we get into Max Verstappen winning his second world championship, we'll do so in a second. We do have Patreon, if you're unaware. There are a few tiers available to you. If you're able to give anything towards the podcast every month, that is very greatly received. obviously no obligation from our side whatsoever, but you get benefits such as ad-free podcasts,

you get discounts off of merchandise, and you get an exclusive monthly topic, which I think will be recording midweek. So if you can, have a look, see if the benefits align with what you'd like to pay. And if you do want to, it's very greatly received. But we'll go on to Max for Stappen, winning his second world championship. It didn't appear as if that was going to be the case. But ultimately, full points were awarded despite the fact that not a full race was run. Now, I think most of us, including myself, was under the impression that we would get a certain percentage of those points awarded based on only just over 50% of the race being completed. But it turns out because the race was resumed after a red flag and not

suspended after that point, that full points can actually be awarded. If that sounds confusing, that's because, well, it is. Sam, did you agree with the way in which the FIA of handled the situation and Max Verstappen winning the title here today? I mean, this podcast really almost taking you through the stagies of grief, maybe grief for what was a good championship last year, because, right, we've had anger, now we're into confusion. I imagine next will be on to Schumer or just getting fed up with each other. It's funny, isn't it?

Both topics, just heart back to the FIA being what feel like a bit incompetent. Max Verstappen, a very deserved champion, regardless of what you think. of going on, right, he was going to win this championship one way or another. I know we joked about being an I-Fedge, but he was taking at home whether it be here today or probably in Austin next week, in a couple of weeks' time. But in the manner that he won

it is unfair on fans. It's unfair on Max. It's unfair on Red Bull. It's confusing to every person. If you look on social media at the moment, you can follow us on Twitter at or Breaking or on Instagram at the day, break in four podcast. The confusion is rife amongst the Formula One

community. The fact that when Max I just happen got out of the car. He was like, I haven't won it. I haven't won it. Well, you're going to. I haven't won it. And multiple people have to go, yeah, you have. You have won it.

You have won it. And then shots turn around and they pan to team bosses of both Red Bull and Masegeys on the pit wall, looking at the official document small print to try and work out if the right decision has been made. I've never seen something so bizarre, controversial, strange happening for a championship decider. Pretty much maybe since the, maybe Prost Senna, exist. and that happened again at Suzuki a long, long time ago with the disqualification. This was so confusing from the FIA. How you have made a good choice, right? We had SPAR last year.

Everyone has PTSD about SPAR last year with what went on with points decisions and how it's made. They realised that was wrong. It wasn't working. They went away and they made the rules, what we all thought anyway, were very clear. They changed the rules, right? And they published them and they gave them to all the broadcasters. And they said, here is X percent of race. points, X percent of race, X points, X percent of race, X points. Apparently, in the world's

finest print that they failed to disclose to literally everyone involved in Formula One, that doesn't matter if the race carries on after a red flag. It only matters if the race ends under red flag, which makes no sense, and I haven't told anyone. So I'm happy that Max has picked up his championship. I just think it's a shame that he's had to do it again under such bizarre circumstances that are once again being questioned and talked about. The FIA in more clarity. Again, communication from the FIA, from the Stuig's. Clarity. Be clear. Make it very obvious what's going on. Let everyone know before the events actually happen. Come on now. Yeah, silly, bizarre, confusing. You know how I can't clear what's going

on. Journalists, the officials, broadcasters, us, although we're not a surprise. It was bizarre. What did you guys think? Yeah, what do you think, Harry? I mean, it's, we used to it being this a big event when the champion is crowned in terms of maybe fireworks. We've got Crofti saying an iconic line. You've got specially made graphics. You've got everything basically ready to go for this crowning moment and this was the opposite of that. Yeah, one day, Max Verstappen will win a championship in a way that is worthy of his of his talent. Not this year though. yeah look the the the only good thing in this i think um well good thing max well as championship fully deserved in that sense he's been incredible all year

the other good thing kind of is that they did follow the rules correctly to to the letter to the letter it's just that the rule sucks it doesn't make any sense um why why why if it resumes, they could just resume for a lap and then they get full points because that doesn't solve any of the issues we had from SPAR last year. So it's like they did that very, what seemingly very clear rule about if a race isn't resumed after the controversy of last year at SPAR.

And I was glad, you know, happy they did that because that makes a lot of sense. I think it makes a lot of sense that it's staggered as the more, more distance covered more points you get. But why does that not cover this? scenario too. Like, come on, guys.

And the confusion at the end of the race, my dad, hi dad, he's listening, but my dad texts me saying, this is like James Hunt in Fuji in 176. Now, we've gone a long way since 1976.

And that's not, that, you know, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but we shouldn't be in that situation still because we shouldn't, we've got the infrastructure to not be in that,

in that situation now in F1. So, um, Yeah, it's a shame for Max. As I said, no one wants to be crowned champion by Johnny Herbert in part Fermay. That's not the way to do it. And it's a shame for him. And like you said, Ben, he doesn't get...

We didn't even see him cross the finish line. The camera direction was so bad at the end of the race. So we don't even at least even get a shot of him crossing the line, which is even more sad for Max. But, yeah, you know, as I say, fully deserved champion. It's just a shame that it wasn't crowned in near in the correct. way, but anyway, I'm sure Sean Max will get over it eventually.

But again, some clarification needed in FIA rules shock. I mean, the amount of times that I've come on this podcast and both of you, the amount of times I've come on this podcast to complain about the FIA not following their own rules.

And here I am complaining that the FIA did follow their own rules for the first time ever. Right? I mean, they wrote this up last year, and the actual statement that they have within the regulations, is that if a race is suspended in accordance with Article 57 and cannot be resumed, which is the most important point, points for each title will be awarded in accordance with, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And it could be resumed. That's the problem. That and cannot be resumed line changes every interpretation of what I had as the rule and what seemingly nearly everyone had as the rule. Because you know what? That would make sense. Why would you second guess yourself when the way that we thought that it works makes complete sense? If you complete X amount of laps or X percentage of laps, you get this amount of points in terms of the distribution. That's really easy to understand. Shame on me for thinking that they would have written a rule that's really easy to understand and really easy to implement.

Shame on me for not reading the regulations closer to think that they would put something stupid in there like this. You're right. What does it matter that it was resumed or not resumed? Are we seriously suggesting that this race could have gone down all the way to five minutes to go on that three hour clock? We could have gone back out there for two laps and that would have counted as full points. That's ridiculous. How on earth can you look at that and say that would have been fair? But that could have happened, right? Based on their own regulations, that could have happened.

Why on earth didn't they write this in a different way? So, yeah, well done. The FIA did follow their own regulations. Here's a point. Don't make them so stupid in the first place. Go away, rewrite them, rewrite them so they make sense. And all of this suspension nonsense, leave it out

because it should be based on the percentage of points. like I say, I don't feel great about full points being awarded for a 28 lap race. I would have felt even worse if it was a two lap race or a five lap race where full points are being awarded. So yes, they did what was right in terms of what they had written down. The problem is what they had written down. And another thing, all the way throughout that race, the F1 graphics that came up in terms of the championship standings as they are right now. I kept saying all the way through, why are they showing this? It's never going to go to full race distance. Why are they showing this? And, you know, I thought they were, I thought they were

wrong, quite frankly, which, you know, isn't that much of a stretch, right? But I just thought that those graphics were wrong all the way through. Turns out that they were actually right. They just didn't, they could have communicated it, right? Because based on those graphics being quote unquote right, all the way through. Surely they could have like put something out to say, these graphics are right,

we will be running four points. Everyone would have known and we could have had the, at least we could have had the championship crowning be a crowning moment rather than

whatever this was. So yeah, I don't understand what they were doing. rewrite your rules, please. God, you just got told off by B. Hock. That's usually reserved for me

and Harry, that kind of aggressive conversation off. off air, but suck it, FIA. Who do I tell off the most of my life? Sam, Harry, FIA, spring races, Ferrari. That's the five. Your five public children.

That is genuinely true. Yeah. In terms of Max Verstappen's season as a whole, because despite it not being the finale that maybe we wanted it to be, or definitely what Max Verstappen would have wanted it to be, he has still won the championship with time to spare. It's been a bit of an inevitability for a while now. Sam, what do you make of the championship?

Because we know the first championship, Max Vastappan won, came under controversial circumstances. And regardless of where you sit in terms of that controversy, it must be good for Vastappan and any fans of Vastappen who have won this championship with a lot more breathing room and a lot less controversy, at least in terms of the championships. What did you make of that? I'm going to come out straight away and say that last year he still deserved that

championship, all right, and it was not his fault or the crud happened with the safety car or whatever it might be, right? Okay, everyone, good. Right, this year, this year, he has been phenomenal, absolutely fantastic, dominant, incredible resilience when at the start of the season and looked like the car was struggling. They couldn't get the grip levels right. They had the reliability problems. And then he just came out swinging. The amount of wings he's been. picked up. I think he's now, he holds the record for most Red Bull wings in one season. He takes Sebastian Vessel's record, I believe, with races to spare. I mean, obviously, we've got more races across a whole calendar, but still, he's managed to do it.

The performance he showed today, even in the half race, right? I think we had 28 laps, and he managed to get a 27 second lead, which shows you just out, I know obviously conditions are harder for cars further back to you to spray and whatnot, but the speed that that man was traveling at, I think he's had maybe one bad performance. all season that I could think of. And that was actually the last time we were out in Singapore. And that tells you everything you need to know. We've said time and time again, regardless of who's champion, consistency, not making

mistakes, just being in the right place at the right time. Max Stauffin has done all of that. He's got all the talent in Spades. And he is a thoroughly deserving two-time world champ. And I hope he proudly does the dance next to Fernando Alonso because he, you know, he deserves that little buggy, whatever he might be boogey into. deserves to do that, does. No, it is great to see him crown this champion. I'm really pleased for him. Red Bull have built a phenomenal car. They've done well in keeping Sergio Perez in the fight.

Yeah, well done, Max. It was an incredible, incredible championship, and he fully deserves to enjoy this and basking it. And we'll see if any of those teams could take it to Max and Red Bull next season. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed, it goes back down to the wire. But he deserves all the credit. what do you think harry because um you know early question marks around whether Ferrari would get in this fight but but really certainly since the midpoint of the season but perhaps even in advance of that this has been the staffens to lose right yeah and i think yeah even with even without ferrari's issues with reliability or inability to to you know execute a strategy yeah to be a team be a coherent team.

I think even without that, I think Max has just been on supreme form this year. And apart from Singapore, which is probably his weakest race of the year, he's not really put a foot wrong. Similar to last year in that sense, only really had a couple of dodgy races there too. So yeah,

I think even without the issues Ferrari had, I think Max still would have taken this one because he's, there's been two classes at the field this year. year it's Max and Lecler, but I think Max is still above Lecler in that sense. And, you know, Lecler's thrown out of the wall. And we've seen, you know, in France too. So, yeah, it's just, Vestappen's just been, it's quite good at the F1. I think it's probably fair to say. And, and his win today was, was evidence of that. I mean, he pulled, he was flying. He pulled

such a gap over Leclair over what was only a, what was it, a 40 minute, 35, minute race in the end. So he was putting a huge amount of Eberlecler during that time. And, you know, he was pretty bullse into turn one. He could have let that one go considering his position, but he didn't. And there was a supreme move to hang it around the outside there. And after that, just didn't look back. So I think today is, apart from the way that he actually was crown champion,

the actual drive itself from Verstappen was sort of the perfect snapshot of his season, I think, because it was just completely dominant. So yeah, congrats to Max. I'm sad the way that it actually was crowned, but the year he's had has been very befitting of a two-time world champ. Yeah, I think ultimately what you've seen this season is what happens when you put the best team with the best car, with the best driver. You get a pretty easy championship.

Like, of course you do. You're Max Verstappen has been fantastic all year round. And he was fantastic last year as well, certainly the last two years. He has just been on such form that his off races are so few and far between that they are such a shock when they come about. Your right to highlight Singapore was a down week. And the fact that we're so far into the year and that's kind of the only one you can point at says a lot about how well he's performed.

And I've said multiple times this year that I really wish Ferrari was in a better spot to compete and, you know, push this down to the wire and give LeClair the car he needs to compete and not mess up his strategy every 10 minutes. But I think you're right, Harry. Ultimately, would it have mattered? Probably not. I think Vastappen still would have claimed this championship with at least a race to spare, even if Ferrari had all their ducks in the line, which they certainly don't.

Yeah, I, look, I'll say what you two said in terms of the gap today, just as a specific performance, pulling that kind of a gap to the point where you can go over team radio and suggest, yeah, should we have, should we have a pit, stop, you know, maybe get the fastest lap, you know, that says everything you need to know about those conditions, how quickly he was able to build that lead. and really it's just it's a metaphor for the whole season, I think, in that qualifying was fairly close

as it has been all year and then come race day, Red Bull and Max Verstappen, they take the lead and they do what they do. That's the season in this race. So congratulations to Max Verstappen. He's drove brilliantly all year, fully deserving of this title.

And, you know, if he retired tomorrow, he'd probably go down as an all-time great and rightly so. We don't know what Max Verstappen's appetite is long-term in the sport at the moment, but if he keeps going, there's nothing stopping him, nothing stopping him in terms of his own abilities regarding his overall success and overall number of championships.

So from late breaking to Vastappan, we just want to say conmaxulations. Hang on, I don't say not from late breaking, just from Sam. fine from Sam to for staffing Kong maxulations everyone say it with me Kong maxulations

thank you listeners they don't even rhyme man what makes a rhyme they share one quality they have an A in the middle of the word that is it

oh I do this more to annoy bend than I do for the comedic side of things oh rubbish in it. What, this podcast? Yes, very much so.

We're going to be reviewing our bold predictions and looking at our driver of the day, worst driver of the day, straight after this. Vastappen, brackets, well done. That's safe. Brackets, Yoda. Basil. The worst of all time.

That is so niche. You have to cut this out. No, we'll get it. Oh, dear. Parsley Amadala. Right, keep it in. Folks, once upon a time, we've made Stahles characters hubs. Oh, God.

Right. What we're talking about next? Let's have a talk about Lecler and Perez's penalty before we get into Driver of the Day and Worst Driver of the Day. So, Lecler and Perez, one of the ongoing battles throughout the race. Lecler and Perez, one of the ongoing battles throughout the race. Lecler at one point had a pretty substantial lead, but seemed to struggle with tyre wear as he got through the stint.

Perez ended up catching him. A few lap battle and then on the final lap, Lecler seemingly has P2 sewn up, goes deep at the Cassio triangle. Perez takes his normal line. Leclair able to just about force Perez offline in order to take P2 ahead of Perez. So Leclair P2, Perez, P3. but there is a penalty straight away, I'll get into that in a bit, straight away after the race has finished, which switches the position to five second time penalty,

Perez finishes P2, the Claire finishes P3. Oh, no, no, no, no. Was it a fair penalty, Sam? Yeah, yeah, it was. It was completely fair. It made total sense. Gained Alaska advantage, did give the place back, and squeezed a driver without a car's width left.

That's a very important part because how many times have we seen that in the last 12 months where a car's width wasn't left and no penalty was applied. So, yeah, penalty completely fair. LeCleur absolutely bottled it on the last two corners. He's absolutely throwing it in the bin there, all his own doing. And I heard someone say that LeCler cannot deal with pressure, which feels like a bit of a harsh statement, but there have been a few instances

where he has maybe faltered under serious pressure moments. Anyway, deserve the penalty. The Clair did not the Claire, other way around. Perez is a great job in clawing that time back and putting the pressure on him

after seemingly being nowhere and comparative to his teammate for most of the weekend. And in turn, technically wins his teammate the world title in a very strange manner about things. So, yeah, completely agree with the decision. the fact that they made it within three seconds of the race coming to again was diabolical, hilarious.

Do that every time. FIA, you morons. But apart from that, yeah, commit to agree with the decision. Well done. Did you agree with the decision, Harry? Yeah. I think it was a fair call and nothing more to ask for what sounds like to be honest. I think the main point is

they have the ability and the know-how to make these decisions quickly and what this shows is they choose not to okay they purposely do not make decisions quickly to wind us three up and I'm convinced of that now

they're just doing it to take the Mickey I mean what are they doing instead let us know what they're doing tweet us you know they have a bath are they going to have dinner together hours last week for the Perez one and the safety car. Hours, we'd finish the podcast and put it out

and it still hadn't been made. This one, as Sam said, 20 seconds later, there's a decision made. And both of those arguably were as clear cut as each other. I know they were different incidents, but the safety car ones and from Singapore and this one with LeClaire. Both pretty, they had the evidence in front of them.

So, yeah. Stop it. Stop winding us up because we now know you can do it. Stop it. My poor blood pressure. Think it'll be dead by the end of the season. If not this season, next season. I haven't got much left in. Raffel goes. Yeah. Who wants to be host after me? Get your applications in. Oh my word. Okay, the actual penalty itself. Yeah, spot on. Guess what?

Can't cut a chican. Not allowed to do that. It's not a straight line. No, can't do that. Good tip. Good tip. There's a quote. They were about, I know when Bonotto said afterwards,

they're not actually going to appeal this, but he did. He wasn't very happy because he felt like the advantage was still the same after he'd cut the chican. But I think they were in direct battle enough that him being there pressured him into going deep into the corner. And thus, I can understand. understand the penalty. I think that was absolutely fine. And then obviously the slight cheek of forcing him a little, did he force him off? Did he force him a little wide? Oh, he forked him. Yeah, that's probably the right term. So that was a bit cheeky as well. So I think it was right to give him the five second time penalty. Well done, FIA. You have given

the right penalty for something. And you did so straight away, which is great. Which is really great. Oh boy. Are you telling me that decisions can be made about on-track situations without consulting both drivers, both team principals, both strategy guys, Danny Kaviat, the janitor and the local Mercedes mouse? Are you telling me that you don't have to speak to all of those in order to come to a decision?

Yeah, you can. Well done. You're figuring it out. The hours after Singapore was completely unnecessary because they feel like they needed to consult with everyone before making the decision. You're the governing body. You're the one directing traffic. You're the one who gets to lay down your own laws when they're written properly. I won't get back onto that. Just do this all the time to the point where we can have instant immediate knowledge of what's going on. Are you going to get a few wrong? Maybe, but who's to say what is right and wrong? It's motorsport.

You're always going to have people on both sides of the fence when it comes to an argument about whether it should be a penalty or not. I don't think you have highly accurate penalty distribution based on you taking hours to make the decision. I think you'd have the same confidence value, regardless of whether you took hours or you took minutes like you did here. do this more often. It just really frustrates me that it frustrates me more that they've done it once than they don't do it at all. That's what's really got me. If they didn't do it at all,

it's a pattern. Here, they're just proving they can do it. They just choose not to. So, sort yourself out. Sort it at. Should we review our bold predictions and see how well they went? Harry yours was Degna 1 related I believe I think it was just Degna was related Both yeah well that makes any difference because it was completely wrong

How many do you say would go off there I think I said at least three and we had None Get your Abacus out everyone It was zero Oh the black

God they're retired Okay My bold prediction So I thought I'm gonna be cheeky I'm gonna say that Max Verstappen is going to win the title under controversial circumstances by claiming the fastest lap

right at the end of the race. No, he managed to win the race by being even more controversial. How can we have like a more messed up ending to what my bold prediction was? I don't understand, but I wasn't right. Sam. I said that a session would be severely delayed

by at least 45 minutes due to the weather and that something weird would happen to do with the break with the water. Now, I'm going to leave it entirely up to you too. I'm bored of arguing. I'm bored of losing at polls. We had a break. A session was very much delayed,

and the McLaren garage decided to play Oungo, which Crofty absolutely loved, and Jekison Button came out with the best quote of all time. I found things more enjoyable in life than Ouno, which is not something I thought I'd hear in a Formula One race. But still, we did. I'm going to leave it to both of you. If you're saying no, I'll walk away.

with my head held high. But I do think it technically works. But it's on you guys. I was really picky on this in the Discord because I went back and listened. And Sam said it was something fun in the water, i.e. a contraption in the water. I get your kayaks out.

They weren't playing Uno in the water. But honestly, I'm too tired to argue this one. So I'll defer. I'm saying no, but I'll go to plan. It's like being part of the skewers process. I didn't have my stopwatch out, but I think the delay was only 40 minutes. So, yeah. It's only 40 minutes.

Yeah, it was only 40 minutes. It really wasn't only 40 minutes. Yeah, I know. Harry was in bed. What other technicalities can I try and play here? I mean, you can do the one that Harry said, to be fair, I, with a slip of the tongue, did say, in the water. So if you want to do that one,

that in legality terms, technically you probably get away with it. I'm just kidding, you can have this one. Yeah. Oh, it feels so good to be justified. Retribution. Finally. Ben, you're such a softy, Ben.

Let me get away with murder. I'm murdering you in a minute. Don't care. It's not that deep fan. Should we go for a driver of the day, worst driver of the day, and moment of the race? Sam, kick us off.

Who was your driver of the day? Now, I should give it to Max Verstappen, but I feel like I'll never get to say this ever again, and I'll get to give Max Verstappen at some point. Nicholas Latifi is my driver of the day. Absolute hero. The goat stonks, as Masegis might say, from 19th on the grid,

avoiding all the carnage, called the strategy brilliantly alongside Sebastian Vettel, who also gets a big mention. But again, it's Latifi. Driver the day. What a little goat he is. What a little goat? Driver of the day from you, Harry.

Yeah, he, as I said to the boys before we recorded, going the wrong way on Friday practice was just a, psychinging everyone out. Just, just, he had them right mentally. Mentally, he had everyone where he wanted them. I'm going to go for, I mean, for Stappen again is an obvious choice, but I'm not going to go for him.

I'm going to go for Espanocon, because I thought he had a tremendous little race. He held off Lewis Hamilton for the entire time. which is quite hard to do. I guess he was helped that the Mercedes was as slow as a bus in a straight line. Every time he pulled out of the slipstream, it was like, no, not going back.

It's quite funny, wasn't it? Every time. It's like, Hamlet's like, yes, yes, yes. Pulls out, no, mind. Don't worry about it. But anyway, he started to defend pretty hard into breaking zones and stuff like that. So I think that's a...

Didn't bottle it? Didn't bottle it. It didn't do a Charlotte Claire. So, yeah. esther monochon for me. Yeah, I think that's a fair one as well. Big up, Nicholas Latifie, obviously. I'm going to go with Max Wastappen

because, I mean, he won half a race in half a minute. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Worst driver for the day. Who have you got, Sam? I don't actually think there are any hugely obvious contenders. Some people obviously got a bit unlucky

with a different strategy call, for example, Mick Schumacher, right? He was up there at one moment and then Haas. I think quite fairly when it's too late, we're going to try and stick out for a safety car. It didn't pay off for them. That's got his fault. That's got on him.

I actually respect Haas for just committing for it to go the other way. It's a fair shout. I think maybe I'll give it to scroll after what was such an excellent start and it looked really promising for him. Every other move afterwards didn't go his way,

didn't play out properly. When Sebastian Betel is able to be fighting for, what is it, P6, beats George Russell. You know, he was on it all weekend. He obviously he loves that track. I think Stroggis let himself down a little bit. He looks so good on lap one. I was like, hang on, here we go.

And to watch him plummet back down again was a little bit hard because Ascom Martin were looking promising. So, yeah, I think maybe slightly unfairly, but I'm going to give it to Strull. Who have you got, Harry? Just on stroll start, I was quite impressed than no one else tried, because that line along the pit wall was completely dry,

it had been covered up. The magic line. But no one else, apart from Strull used it. He flew off the line. Like, he was majestic. Anyway, I'm going to,

like, say, Sam, I think there weren't that many bad drives out there, but I'm going to give it to Carlos Sines because he crashed. Oh, okay, yeah. Is that fair enough, fair enough,

a reason for worst driver? Sure opinion, mate. Say it up you on. Did it? Wow. I don't know. I really don't know if he did anything wrong there. I don't know if he just completely aquplained,

and it could have been anyone. Could have been anyone, but it was him, so he's worst drive of the day. You're both really creating good arguments here. Yeah. But I think that's not a compliment to Carlos Seins, but I just mean there were pretty good drives all throughout the field today, so it wasn't a huge standout as worst drive of the day for me.

So sorry, Carlos. Yeah, I think that's. That's probably fair. I agree. I genuinely don't think there was, there was anything that bad out there. I think those that, those that went for,

those that went for the sort of alternate strategy that didn't work out like Schumack out of them, that's his fault. Like I said, I don't think signs his crash was actually, actually his fault either. Latifie, you'd always have him as a backup for this,

but he did well, so not him. It's struggling. me, I think to be fair, Daniel Ricardo, actually a brilliant performance, giving a really good job. Norris, I wasn't sure if it was strategy related or just got caught out, but obviously,

comfortably beaten by Ricardo today, I think. Ricardo was 13th. Oh, do I not pay attention to the very final standings, probably not. That's so. We had other things on, like, who's world champion or not. Three hours sleep and a lot of controversy.

I tried, Ricardo, fans. I've tried. I think he had an okay race. He just was behind, he got unlucky on the strategy on that one. Which I think a lot of those outside the top ten did. I genuinely, I'm not going to award one. I'm not going to award one. In a second, that's not allowed. It's never happened.

That's got allowed. If I awarded one, I would be doing so for reasons I don't really believe in. I don't care. That's got how we work. Award one. Sam. Horribly. Sam is worst driver of the day.

That means I'm a race driver. Yes. Let it be known for the record. That is what I'm saying. Right. This is a 22-man championship now. Me and Hulk at the back. I know that Ben tots these up at the end of the year

to look at how many times we've awarded these. So it's going to say one next to Sam today. I'm on the list. You will now forever be on the list. Well done. Good. It's always really eye-opening when I get to do that as well. It'll be interesting.

Harry hates Hamilton again. Yeah, probably. Moment of the race. Moment of the race, Sam. I think I'd always like to give it to like a funny moment, but I think I'm going to have to give it to the whole truck on the track moment incident. That was, needs to be investigated,

it needs to be highlighted. So a serious one, that needs to be present going forward. It cannot happen again. It's already happened twice now. Cannot happen again. my moment of the race I mean what an absolutely thrilling fight over the line it was

between Alonzo and Vettel God I would watch that one I would watch that one back a hundred times if I could yeah I didn't see it and no one else did either goodness for me it was good though

no no I was actually quite happy that I wasn't watching that and instead I was watching a replay that can be played at any point in time That was really great. Yeah. What was your moment of the race, Harry? I mean, that was going to be, that was one of my choices.

But I'll go for when Sergio Perez was like, are you sleeping to his engine? I was quite. I enjoyed that a lot. And he was like, no, no, no. Just get on with it. Checker, mate. Off you go.

Can I give a special shout out as well to the fancy chair that Max was a scaffold against. What a bizarre. The World Championship chair, which looks like the old Big Brother chair that they used to do the Big Brother diary rooming. Max Verstappen, you are the winner. That was a terrible Big Brother, Jordy, Exxon. Thanks for Stappen. Overtaking, Charles LeClair.

We just sound a bit like, what's this game? He does Formula E now. Sam Bird. Sam Bird and Kate. That's it. It's got Sam Bird. It says, Ferguson K.

You got to say Sam Bird. Verdekeke. Van K. San Bird. You won the World Championship. That's enough of that. Shout out as well to Alpha Tauri using tire blankets as a literal blanket.

That was, that was great. And Ooga reverse, of course. Just some breaking news, sir, lads. Pierre Gadsley's been given a drive-through penalty. What? Sir of weng!

He's into... Two, a drive-through penalty and two penalty points. Wings, you've got to do the drive-through. No, it's just at 20 seconds added to his race time instead. But why not just give him a penalty time, not a drive-through? It literally says drive-thru. Wow. I never see 20 seconds.

They've just taken the average time, I guess, to drive-through without stopping. Wow. Oh, we'll get us at another time. This is too close to the end of the episode. Oh, boy. We'll take a short break. We'll be back with some Discord submissions. for driver of the day right after this.

Bloody FI. Hey, man. Frederick. All right, here we go for some Discord submissions. If you'd like to get involved, late breaking Discord will be in the description here, and you'll be able to find it elsewhere as well.

We've got Link Tree. You'll find it somewhere, I'm sure. I was going to say something. I can't think what it was no. Nah, I can't think, no. Let's just play something. Good. Great content. It is fantastic. Fantastic content. Who should we start with? Let's start with,

I start with Norm from Texas, and I swear to God if the soundboard sends me for a bag of chips today, I'm not having it. Please, please, please, please. Norm from Texas here, figured I'd give my driver of the day and worst driver of the day. Driver of the Day goes to Charles LeClerc for spicy defending and there at the end. Worst driver of the day, man, it's got to go to Lance Stroll. you had a brilliant start but then you just tapered off bro come on oh honorable mention goes to that pack of vuno cards that the one team was playing with anyway keep doing what you're doing keep breaking late thanks god cheers norm poor lance he did such an amazing thing to start of the race and now the the worst drive for the day poles are just not on his side flooded in yeah flooding in like the rain at suzuka

let's go to Chrissy T Chrisy T here Best driver of the day Maximiliano for Stappan Congrats on that second world championship Worst driver today has to go to the man driving the tractor on track

And also shout out to my miss is Because I had to cook my own fry-up this morning Because of being the Discord It's second picture in the Discord And it's freaking raw That is one of the worst looking fry-ups I've ever seen Chrissy I'm sorry Is that another bleep?

No, I said fricking. I said fricking. Oh, freaking, freaking, okay, good. It's freaking raw. If you got anything of a skill, go have a look. Sorry, Chrissy. It needs to be pointed out. That is, oh, atrocious.

Please keep your submissions coming in, guys. You'll just get roasted by Sam, although it would be more roasted than that breakfast. I'm sorry, Chrissy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I think it was tasty, mate. Enjoy your bacon.

Enjoy your bacon. rollback. We would next go to Katrina May, but unfortunately we haven't been able to get Katrina May, so instead we've got not Katrina May. Good afternoon, fellas. It's only 7 o'clock here in Australia, 7pm. That was a wonderful race. I just sat at home, did some riding, you know, just nice and chill.

It would have been such a shame if I had to get up super early to watch it only for it to be suspended for two hours. Anyway, driver of the day, Sebastian Vettel. What, where did that come from? I love Vettel, very excited to see him there. Worst driver of the day is just the FIA, because screw them. Fair. Fair enough. That's a scapein I can get a board with right now.

If only these international fans knew how difficult it was to be a European F1 fan, right? They just don't understand it. I mean, I don't know what Katrina May is doing, but not Katrina Mays. Is they're writing, chilling out. We're there. What time is it now? We're recall this. It's 11 o'clock in the morning.

I think we've been awake for over six hours already. Look how hard it is for us. I've been away for days. We have to do this like twice a year. It's painful. We're to do it for Australia as well. It's really difficult to be a European F1 fan. Blimey.

Oh, I hope people understand sarcasm. Let's go on to Vig and Spiker next. Driver of the Day, for his defence against Hamilton. Worst driver of the day. Leclair, because you can't cut corners to finish a race. And shout out to Latifie for actually making the first half of my bold prediction come true. He's good for a bold prediction is Latifi.

Let's go to Rai guy. A bit of an asterisk on this one, because Raii submitted this before the race ended. I can't remember exactly what time he submitted this at, but it was in advance of the end of the race. Hey guys, it's Rai guy. my way too early driver and worst driver of the day mid-race driver the day goes to two-time world champion Max for Stappen

and my worst driver the day goes to my favorite driver who doesn't have a seat next year, Danny Ricardo it hurts anyways Ben Sam Harry, love what you guys do keep on keeping on Discord join the Patreon

Bye Good lad That man can not only predict the future, but he's doing God's work with our Patreon plug. Nice one, Rai Guy. Mystic Raii, absolutely love it. Thank you very much. New nickname there. Let's go to Jim Jammell next. Hi, this is Jim Jammel, and this is my best and worst drive for today. Best drive today, Sebastian Vetter, had a brilliant qualifying, and he got a lot of luck with the strategy, pitted early, and got a good race result with P6.

Worst drive for the day is getting up at 7 a.m. and needing to wait two hours for the rest of you. Enjoy your Sunday, guys. Love to podcast. Bye-bye. Jim, Jam, not only are you lovely. Where is Real Dad?

No Real Dad this week. I love Jim Jam and Real Dad. Very sad. No fake Dad, no Real Dad. Who knows? Who knows? But a good submission. Thank you very much.

Let's go to, definitely name of the week. Let's go to Tender Toffee. Hey, guys. Tender Toffee here. First of all, thanks, we do the podcast. It makes my drive to and from work much more enjoyable. Drive the day for me.

Thank you. Latifi. Absolutely fantastic from him. It was great to see such a positive race. Worst driver or drivers of the day. Paul and Corinne. I thought it was absolutely shameful how they were speaking about Gasly and the tractor.

And I think, I hope, in fact, there will be some consequence to that. Cheers, guys. Yeah, I think that's fair to call them out. Sky pundits for anyone. unaware. Thank you very much indeed. Tender Toffee. Great name. Absolutely great name. Let's go to, let's go to Ros next. Hey, late breakers. It's going to be Ross coming to you from Ontario in Canada, not Brandon, if you couldn't tell by my accent or lack of one. And it is currently 420 in the morning,

so. Blaze it. I've been up all night. But instead I'm going to give you two best drivers who are going to be Yes, fan Ongon, who just held off Lewis wonderfully and he really didn't slip up. And then Seb, I'm just so happy for him to have had such a good race and recovery in a circuit he loves so much. So there you have it. Fair shouts and massive respect for staying up so late in the early hours of the morning to indeed anyone. I think eastern time in the US probably has it worse. But I think anyone stateside is probably struggling at the moment. so well done indeed

let's go to let's go to O'TL next Hi this is real dad here of my best and worst driver of the day Best driver TFEP 9 Worst driver FIA for giving us a real live version of the office of having the most awkward end

to a season ever I mean is for Stappen world champion is he not I mean not even the FIA seem to know So, guys, after last year, which was very exciting, this year basically turned out to be a damp squid. So, thank you. Love the podcast, guys.

And I'm going to lie down now and have a sleep. Bye. Thanks, Real Dad. Good idea, Real Dad. Oh, I was worried. I was worried. I didn't think he'd be making an appearance. But always good to hear from your Real Dad.

I don't know what our actual dads think about that. My darkness is to every episode. He's never mentioned it. No, fair enough. Cheers, Real Dad. We'll end. Thanks for All dad. We'll end the Discord submissions there.

It's going to be a really busy one midweek because we've got a lot to talk about in terms of Ghazly moving to Al-Pee. We've got DeVries at Alpha Tauri. We should also have some news to talk about budget cap-wise because that is expected tomorrow, although that didn't work out last time. So we'll see.

So if all those come through, it's going to be a jam-pack show midweek. We'll be back even though there isn't a race happening next weekend. Sam, if you wouldn't mind until then, getting us out of here. Oh, what a palava that was. Anyway, we'll be back midweek. It'll be a lot calmer or not. You never go with this podcast. Thanks for sticking around.

Thanks for all your support across this season. Of course, we've got a few races to go. It means the world to the three of us. All the aforementioned things, join them. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I have been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late.

And to play us out on this week's podcast, Live Laugh for Latifie. You know, Ben, Sam and Harry always ask me, who's your driver of the day? Driver of the day, psh. I ain't got no driver of the day. I got a driver of the season. You already know who it is. It's the motherflipper max for staffing.

Trash compacting. All you other hate is gonna need some ass from when he's on the track. Is that live flat Latifie rapping? Yeah, I'm listening to every driver because they don't got crap. Because my Dutch motherflipper in the Red Bull Cap, doesn't matter where he is. My boy's got the pace. Pass unless I'm making all the DRA straight.

And I'm sitting on my couch with the cassidy. Not a door retrieval. And I'm pretty seniorita. I'm gonna see about the volume on my new home feeder. I'm all that it's breaking all my speakers. Come on, Luna Sandelton, had a great little street, but Max can out piece of many name of Louis, so it's time of him to even fade into the scenery.

Nico Ross were beat a men, nickel machinery. Lake breaking F1 podcast. Monaco is the best track on the calendar. Ten sprint races in 2024. Come on. Guys, so good. Ten sprint races. God.

Cast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.