The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Mexican GP Review

Episode Date: October 31, 2022

Did you manage to stay awake for that one? Sam, Ben and Harry review a fairly uneventful Mexican GP as Max Verstappen took a record-breaking 14th win of the season. They discuss Mercedes' strategy, ask where Ferrari were, and (as always) name their 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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responsibly. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ede, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. A max for staff and victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Another interesting twist in this championship tale. Gour, be excitement continues. Very similar to Austin in the way that Max Verstappen took victory with Lewis Hamilton, his closest challenger in second. But unlike Austin, it wasn't particularly close. Somewhat of a formulaic race, which might be a nice way of saying boring. But we got there. We've got two races to go in the season. We've still got plenty to talk about today. Sam, I presume you are still awake.

Yeah, I had a tiger in curry for dinner, so it's kept me up. It was also very nice, thank you, had some baby corn in it, you know, how it goes, a little bit of potatoes and nice well-cooked rice. That's put the fire in my belly. What I was hoping for a fun race, turns out the tiger and curry really was the highlight. I'm just going to intercept here and say that I don't think it really mattered what my question was to you, Sam. I feel like you were going to go down that direction regardless. I had a few complaints over the week that I've not been talking about my dinners enough

so that's for everyone out there that want to know, tiger in curry and I had a cookie sandwich, birthday cake flavour. We got it from the market today for pudding. Really, really good. If you ever in London, pick one up.

There was apparently a race. And you missed out of the most important. What did you just eat before we started recording? I had a whirly bar. Now, these are, you get these, I've been corrected. Oh, yes, pick up the wordie bar. Woo! If you know what a Milky Way is, Americans, sorry if I've lost you.

This is like a rip-off Asga's own version, niche reference maybe, I don't know. And you get, I've been corrected, it's a pound for 15 of these bad boys. And they're phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. So get yourself down, Astor. Get yourself a word. bar. No other podcast does this.

I'm just saying. And with good reason. What did you have for tea? Dinner. Or for dinner. Lazzania. Oh, lovely.

That is delightful. Sorry, did I pronounce that correctly, Sam? Or should it be lasagna or I don't know. Lazzania? Yeah. It's lasagna. Great. Harry, round us off.

No, Ben, stop. Harry, please. Oh, the goodness sake, come on. I had a Wagamama. So I had a yakama, so I had a yaki-o-don something, noodley with chicken and vegetables. It's delightful. You really are global. I don't know if, is Wagamama global?

It's from Japan, mate, so I guess so. I know, but I get the, we get the... Yeah, anyway. So there was a race today, Ben, off you go. There was a race today, you're right, Harry. Although actually that might be arguable based on what happened in those 70 or so laps. We're going to be discussing Fernando Alonzo and Alpine having a tough day in general. Can Mercedes get P2 in the championship?

An encouraging result today far ahead of Ferrari. Can they? With two races to go make an impression there. we're going to be going through our poll one, two, sorry, we're going to be reviewing our bold predictions. We're going to be doing driver of the day, worst driver of the day. It's late. Apologies. Washed. Washed. Washed. Absolutely washed.

Oshed toast. Oh, host. Sorry. Breakfast tomorrow, so it. 20 to 11 here in the UK folks. Did Mercedes throw away a win? It was apparent from a very early point in this Grand Prix that Ferrari was. weren't going to be a factor, but Mercedes certainly were, at least early doors.

Early pit stops from the Red Bulls to go from softs to mediums, perhaps, presuming they would go to two-stop. The Mercedes bringing out the hard tyres, of course, the Red Bulls able to make it home on the medium tyres fairly comfortably in the end. Sam did Mercedes throw away a chance at a win by trying something a little bit different. I feel like this is a classic conversation where hindsight can play massively into the decision here. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Hindsight is 2020 as everyone likes to say. And it's very, very clear now looking at what other teams did, looking what Red Bull did. So look at yourself and go, well, obviously, that was the wrong decision. The hard tire was not competitive in comparison to the soft,

medium or medium soft strategies. So many teams did drivers did successfully and worked for them well. Clearly it was a bad, right? They got a two four, which is, which is okay. But when they are the only other team in contention for a top spot finish, it isn't great for them. I think they were baiting a little bit I think they started on the medium which I think was actually quite crafty and I think then they fell into the crap of Red Bull are going to definitely two stop

and they've massively overestimated how high the tire wears can I be this race and gone we'll cover that off with a one stop we don't mind being a little bit slower you can hear Bono over the radio the entire race going don't worry mate these tyres are going to last we saw a big degradation on your mediums

at the end of the stink don't worry mate the word mate was thrown around far too many times this race weekend as well by the way were not their pals, shums, pals, mate, buddy. Yeah, I don't think they threw it away. I think the Red Bull,

I think Max Verstappen, not Sergio Perez. I think Max Verstappen was too much regardless, but I do think they threw away their closest chance of a win other than maybe the US that we just saw because they killed a bit closer. That first thing was actually quite exciting

so you can just how close Hamilton and the Stappan and then Perez following behind really were a couple of seconds between all of them. I'd love to have seen that kept up for the rest of the race, but that hard tie really nullified it, unfortunately. So throwaway is harsh, but they definitely set out their own destiny into failing, unfortunately, I think. Do you think they optimise their race today, Harry, or was there more on the table?

Was a two, three on the table? Was a win on the table for Hamilton? What could have been? Yeah, definitely more on a table. And with Sam on throwaways, maybe slightly too harsh, because that makes it sound like they had it two. throwaway. I think that's probably slightly unfair to say. But I'm, I'm quite frustrated at Mercedes because we, last week, we complimented them. It was, it was nice to have Mercedes back in the battle because you can rely on Mercedes to give Red Bull a challenge. And they heard,

and they were like, well, we're not going to do that again. I'm not going to give these guys, you know, praise and make them look good. Yeah, I'm just, I was just frustrated with Mercedes because, you know, Total Wolf on the, on the grid was, you know, giving it all. Yeah, we're going to be proper racy, you know, we're going to challenge them. Spot on impression. South London, Toto. Yeah, it's this place from originally.

The rest is all of facade. Toto. It's actually, it's not Bono on the radio, it's just Toto. Anyway, um, yeah, you know, saying they were going to, you know, we'll sacrifice a driver if we need to, if it means we can, we can get the win here.

And I'm not, not necessarily. really mad with them for putting the hard tire on Hamilton because they had to do that, I think, you know, to cover off Perez because they were, you know, looking at losing track position. It was pretty tight. There was only a couple of seconds in it when Hamilton emerged from the pits. But then they had the opportunity to do something different here and split your strategies up. And that's the whole, that goes back to the whole point about being racy and, you know, trying something different. They could have used George as a roadblock, but then put up on the soft tires at the end of the race and made him, made him quite racy towards

the end of the race. But they didn't and they almost based the decision to put George on hard tires after just a couple of laps of Hamilton being on hard tires which what's their what's their evidence that it's a good tie to be on. So because Hamilton was the first driver to put hard tires on. So that frustrated me. I can see why you've discarded it. Well, third drive. I didn't really see Latifia at all today, did we? I don't remember him being there. Anyway, um, sorry we're a lap. Yeah. There was

There's absolute burn from Crofty at one point where he said, oh, is that a car terminal? Is that car got terminal damage? Oh, no. It's just a Williams. Like, Zing. Um, but yeah, so I was, I was frustrated at that, that second decision with, with Russell.

Because as, you know, Brundle said in commentary, it was, like, they were in, like, his half-hearted strategy on what did they gain? Um, they should have gone, they should have gone bolder with Russell in that, in that case there. I think it would have changed up the race. And we saw at the end of the race how quick Ricardo was having changed those soft tires. What could have been?

Imagine if that was Russell or even both Mercedes hunting down, hunting down the Red Bulls and the remaining few laps because they were on a harder set of tires, the Red Bull, for the entire race. Why did you do that? Doesn't make much sense. So I was frustrated by Mercedes than this one. it's not up to their usual standards of strategy. And they've normally,

they've normally been pretty good at that like pincea play of two cars against one, which they did have the opportunity to have, I know they have their two Red Bulls here today, but they have both cars in the fight here. So, yeah, I won't say throw it, they threw it away, but it was, you know, they did not optimize their strategy as, as you said, Ben. Yeah, I was surprised that Mercedes didn't opt to split at the beginning of the race. I was really surprised, actually.

Completely understand Red Bull's decision to put Max Verstappen on the soft tire. Obviously, it's notoriously difficult to maintain the lead from pole on the opening lap at Mexico. So they gave Verstappen every tool available in order to do that. They gave them the soft tire. I was really surprised that probably Russell, but at least one of the two, didn't also go for that soft tire because whilst Mercedes looked pretty quick throughout practice, it was also pretty clear that Red Bull once again were very quick in a straight line and that was where their advantage would be.

So if your Mercedes, even if you think you have the fastest car, there's probably only two ways in which you can win this race. Number one, you undercut and you manage to play the strategy game or number two, you get it done on the first lap. And I think they had a real opportunity to try it on that first lap, again, given how far the grid is to the first corner, I feel like they had a real opportunity. opportunity that they just didn't even try to. They almost resigned themselves to, we'll play the longer game. And like I say, I don't think that they have the straight line speed to get it done on

track in a non-lap-1 circumstance. So that was really surprising to me. And then in terms of the pit stops, so I am relatively speaking on the same wavelength of both of you are here. Lewis Hamilton onto the hard tires, I agreed with that call. I appreciate that they didn't have much data when it against the hard tire. It wasn't presumed that it was going to be a quick tire at all. But it's not like, you know, Pirelli were also leaning towards the two-stop being the fastest strategy, right? So it was not unfeasible to think that that's the way Red Ball were going. I think everyone fought at the time where Vastappan and Perez came into the pits on that first lap round, like the first time round, they were they were leaning towards two stops.

So I can completely understand then putting Hamilton on the hard tire and then just going, going to the end. Of course, it didn't work out for them, but as you say, Sam, hindsight is 2020. I think they actually made the right call with Hamilton, even if it long term didn't work out for them. But George Russell, they really mess this one up. I cannot understand why they went with this strategy call. They had, as you put it, Harry, they had two options and they didn't do either. They kind of just sat in the middle and they, you know, Russell had a minor advantage tire lengthwise for the rest of the Grand Prix, but it was never going to be enough to do anything with it.

They either should have, number one, Sergio Perez had a five second stop, pit him the lap after, if you think. Because there's your opportunity to get an undercut on Perez and at least secure P3, even do that, or, as George Russell himself suggested, go way longer and then put on the soft tire at the end of the Grand Prix.

And as we saw from a few drivers out there, Albin, Gassely, Ricardo, it worked. That strategy worked, and everyone who went on the hard tyre didn't really like it. So you had to pick one or the other. Merck didn't. They kind of went down the middle. And as a result, Russell had no shot of advancing any further than forth with the fastest lap, which, as you'll know, I'll be very delighted with, given I've got a lot riding on George Russell doing well in the last few races of this season.

Boy, I'll be nervous. There are these folks. there. I think we need to call Mercedes out at this point. Strategically, they seem to crumble the moment there's any pressure involved. And I think for the last seven or eight seasons, of course, they've looked so good with it because

even if they do have a bit of a kerfuffle with the strategy, they're able to overcome it because of the sheer pace of their car. But now they're not dominant, now they're not the leading team, even when they've got both cars fighting for a podium or for a win, they seem to make an immediate slip up. It never seems to be certain. They ever

seems to be, you know, properly on the ball. They're always a step behind at the moment. I think the only reason they don't look awful with this is because they've got Ferrari in the same ballpark who are atrocious. You know, right? If Mercedes are bad, Ferrari just go right down the other end of the road feeling rubbish. But I think next to Red Bull, this is a major failing for Mercedes that needs to now be rectified going into next season,

if they want to be compensating, if the cars are equal on level playing fields. I mean, it's a fair, sorry, Ben, fair point. bringing up Ferrari who I don't think turned up today I don't remember them being there but if they had exactly if they had been there Mercedes could have been punished even worse well not punitive they weren't really punished this afternoon

but they could have been punished more for that sort of error I'm not saying Ferrari would have called it any better but they did this they did the same strategy as as Red Bull did so if Ferrari had been in the mix then it might have been a worse result for Merck and like say Sam, they can't afford to do that if they're going to be in a championship fight again next year. A bit of an observation and I'm interested to hear Sam, whether you agree or disagree with

this or what your thoughts are. If we look back at like 2019 and 2020, it was almost roles reversed pace-wise when Mercedes had a clear advantage. Vastappen hung on in there, but it was Mercedes clear of Red Bull. It feels to me like at that point, Red Bull had to try something different. and they had to go a bit different on the strategy, a bit riskier, because they had very little to lose from behind, but they had everything to gain in terms of Mercedes.

To me, it feels like the roles in terms of pace of reverse, but in terms of strategy, they haven't. It feels like Mercedes are playing the strategy game as if they are in Red Bull's shoes pace-wise, and they're not willing to do something different like Red Bull were a few years ago. Do you think that's right, wrong? What's your thoughts on it? I completely agree.

I think that's a really, really good point. I think the person that's helped Red Bull, Hannah Schmitz, is doing such an incredible job as that kind of leading face. You know, there was a hilarious clip of Hanger Schmitz walking down the pit lane in front of a logo fans and a Ferrari fan was filming and you kind of hear him mutter in the background, please come to Ferrari. You know, you can see, she's always becoming a bit of an icon of strategy.

Clever guy, by the way. Yeah, he knows the talent, right? He's just getting the right people in. the point being that she has adapted that team have gone from being the challenger to the hunter to the hunted they're at the top of the game and she's learned that she's adapted that Mercedes are not changing their perspective they don't seem to be changing their personnel we're not seeing any big shifts around to maybe pick up that these downfalls are happening like I said that Mercedes could get away with the doggie strategy when their car was half a second faster than everyone else Red Bull would go and go and out there and try something absolutely ridiculous or something silly. And we saw it in Abu Dhabi, right? I hate to bring up the most scarring race of all time, but in 2021. What are you doing? Sorry, Red Bull win. Well, what do we do? What do we do? Toto at the start of this Grand Prix said,

we will sacrifice a driver to, you know, to get the wing here. What do they do in Abu Dhabi? What do do? Sergio Perez fights for his life and gives up that race. It ought to hold up Lewis Hamilton. And it effectively worked. It brought Matt for Staffen right into that race. Is George Russell staying out at the end there to hold it Max Verstappen? Is Hamilton hoping for a one stop to keep Maxelstappen behind so Russell could win? No, there's no risk going on. There's no jumping to try something new and different and exciting in the hope that you might pick up that wing. Mercedes aren't going anywhere in second or third in the championship.

They don't need the extra prize money. It's not like they're scrap for cash. So try something new. Be a bit adventurous because I think it's been really, really poor. And I think if this carries on into the new season, if their car is competitive, they need to change something internally because it's their, I reckon it's their biggest weak point. That and their engine power, which is hilarious, are their two biggest weak points?

I don't want to turn this into a Mercedes bashing because they are still pretty good at the F1. In fairness, we usually do a lot of Ferrari bashings. True, true. They just went there. So there's nothing to bash this race. but what they were saying on the radio to Hamilton and Russell when they put the hard tires on they were like I don't think these are the right ties

and they're like yeah yeah we get that but also we think they're going to drop off the end as this is in the Red Bulls are going to drop off the end of their stint and then they just kept coming back to the same message and Hamilton's like but they're not but they're just getting away and he's like yeah yeah but it'll happen it's like why are you so certain this is going to happen because both Mercedes before they pit after their medium stint,

both said their tyres were good. We both heard them say, oh, tyres feel great. So where was your evidence, Mercedes? I understand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the answer, but I want the question. What's the question? What's the question?

In fairness, I will defend Mercedes on this because I think they were right to do that. And I think you're absolutely spot on. There was no evidence that was going to happen, and it was looking increasingly unlikely they were going to be wrong about it. But honestly, I think they knew what they were wrong. But you might as... What's the message to the drivers?

Yeah, true, true, true, true. I don't know. Yeah. I feel like you've got to keep them motivated even if you're sure you're wrong. No, it wasn't... I'm not, yeah, not criticising necessarily the calls because I get why, but it was just...

Yeah, where was your evidence, lads? But F1 is so ruthless like that. It's not like, you know, a football match. you get 90 minutes, you can change your formation, you could bring some subs on, you can adjust stuff. You've got one shot to make it count. You'll never get this one again. And you've got a...

A chairless reference. And they are making that cool. Big up, ask the merry-go. Big up. They're not making that cool when it's needing. Red Bullar and Mercedes are not. And that is the difference between the championship winning team and Ben. But I mean, Harry, you brought up Ferrari,

that it's really important to. That's what I think makes this even more egregious, is the fact that they had nothing to lose. Like, Russell could have completely messed up his strategy. He's still finishing fourth. Like, they had nothing to lose from Russell's perspective. From Hamilton, sure, you've got third to lose, but Russell was so far clear of Carlos Seinfant and Charlerclerc

that it didn't really matter what he did. So you might as well try something different. And not in every circumstance, you're going to get that liberty. You're not going to get fifth and sixth that far behind. in most situations like this. So not a good day for them overall. Still better day than Ferrari just to get a dig in there. But yeah.

We're going to be discussing another team that might well have missed out a bit today, Alpha Romeo right after this. So we saw in practice and qualifying that Alpha Romeo and in particular Valtri Botas seemed to have a little bit of pace this weekend, much like they did last weekend, which is interesting and quite well-timed, their battle with Aston Martin. Valtry Bottas had a very good starting position, but ultimately came away with just one point. Good news for Alfa Romeo is that's one more than Aston Martin came away with, but it still means the battle is very close between those two teams. I think it might be

four points or so separating them right now. Sam, do you think that Alfa Romeo, despite the fact that they extended by one point, might have missed out on an opportunity to almost put this one to bed? Um, firstly, completely irrelevant to your point. I know you go roll your eyes. Schillenoid that Alpha Romeo haven't launched Alpha Ramayanaise at all. It's a missed marketing opportunity and I would buy some. What do you mean still? That was never a possibility to begin with.

I'm picturing it to them on the daily. Anyway, back to the actual racing. Big Helmand's rival. Big Helmand rival, Alpha Ramayana's. The fastest source in the West. Anyway. Bautas, right? On Saturday, looked phenomenal.

Botties are turned up. We want more bodies just like that. It was so good to see him in Q3. He was challenging. He was the best of the rest. I think he out-qualified a Ferrari, didn't he? Or he was there for a lot of the session, right? That was so good.

Actually, Zhoguan Yu, I didn't let himself down a bit. The car clearly had that level of performance. He clearly had that ability. He wasn't there to back up Bottas going into the race weekend. and then you get to the race weekend and Joan never looks like he's able to put anything out of the car. Great battles, great to watch him, you know, go fighting wheel to wheel to some people

and there were some good moments, right? Very fair, fun, great job with the Ashton Martins. But on a weekend when you get Sebastian Vesso over the radio going, this car is rubbish and their engine air goes, just the brakes, and Vessel goes, no, no, it's all crap. And you're like, oh, cheers, Seb, good feedback. like, Joe needs to beat them.

He needs to beat them and does it. And then Bottas, he gets caught up behind Q2Train Alonso, who once again decided to queue up the entire Formula One historic grid behind him for half the race. And then Daniel, I'm getting a punk Yuki Senoga off the bloody track. Also, steams past him, even after he dang out a 50 Cuff's match, half around the race. You wanted that little bit more. And I know he's probably slightly outperformed that Alfa Romeo this race.

But it looks like such a good opportunity. And I think you're right. Putting that to beg with there being a really, really good chance here. Also, because I think Ashton Martin will go better at Brazil. I think it's suiting their slightly more heavy downforce package that they've got, that rear wing that they've

got, the new front wing upgrades that they had a little while ago. They are suiting areas of the track that are downforce heavy. And I think that the only place that suited them here at Mexico is that middle sector. So, yeah, I think Bottas had it all in his hands. He lost it, and Zogi is to do better because I think the car was capable.

So, so lucky. Well done, Bottas. in the point so hopefully that kickstarts a good run of the fall thing of the season. What do you think, Carrie? Do you think that Alfa Romeo and in particular, Bottas, who seems to have the opportunity after qualifying, might have missed out on a few points here? Yeah, I agree with Sam. It's a missed opportunity for Alpha, considering the relative pace, pace differences between themselves and Astor Martin this weekend. and Aston Martin, obviously, this track just does not suit their car,

despite the improvements that had been made to that car over the latter half of this year. Whereas the alpha was alpha, in particular, Bottas was flying. At one point, we had a Hamilton-Vastappen-Bottas top three in qualifying. It was like not the old times. I felt nostalgic. But yeah, I missed opportunity because I think, honestly, Bottas could have been best of the rest of day. and not. Oh, Daniel Ricardo, yeah.

I think he could have been there. So, yeah, definitely missed opportunity to only gain one point on them. And with Sam, I think the Astrid Martins will be better at the next couple of races, well, the last two races, sorry, I should say, last two races of the season. So they're still leading alpha, aren't they? But it's not by a huge amount anymore. So, yeah, they may rue a missed opportunity here. Yeah, I don't know if this is just me.

And I don't mean this as a compliment or an insult, probably somewhere in the middle. This weekend was Valtry Bottas in a nutshell, wasn't it? It was just Valtry Bottas's career condensed into three days. Look really good in practice. Did a hell of a job in qualifying. He's a great qualifier. And then in the race was not clinical enough to make key overtakes when he needed them, particularly on Alonzo.

And then the one opportunity that Ocon had to get by, he did. Absolutely mugged him blind as well. It sucks a good move from O'Con. It was, but it just feels like that's kind of who Bottas has always been. He's been generally a quick driver, particularly in qualifying, who just can't make overtakes when he needs to. And today felt like a prime example of that. He still takes home a point and he is still far clear of where his teammate was.

So for that, he deserves credit. And he didn't come away with nothing. He still came away with something in that battle. And who knows, that one point might well prove the difference at the end of this year. But ultimately, yes, given where he qualified, 7th was definitely on the cards today. Much like other drivers in that midfield, I think all of them will be ruining the fact that none of them went ahead with the soft tire in the second stint.

I think if Norris or Ocon, Alonzo, I know, retired but probably was thinking the same. Bottas, if one of them went for the soft tire, seventh was probably there for the taking. So I think he'll be disappointed in that decision. But overall, it's encouraging at least the last two races have shown more from Alpha Romeo. Bottas has snapped a 10 race, pointless streak.

So it's going in the right direction, certainly versus where it was in the middle of this year. It's exciting. At least we have a few exciting battles to decide. towards the end of this year, even if it's not at the front of the field. Let's review some bold predictions, shall we?

Oh, can we? It was successful. Harry, what was your bold prediction? I said something about there would be controversy over someone cutting the first corner and out would decide a podium place, but I could only dream of something

that's exciting happening this race, so sorry, folks. No. I mean, the closest anyone came to cut in the first corner was Fernando Alonzo, but he just went to retire. Yeah, I mean, I mean, maybe shout up for Pierre Gasly. He tried not doing a corner at one point with Lance Dros side by side, but that's about close as we get. We're going to go with no on that one.

That's a no. Yeah, so my bold prediction was somewhat twofold, but it doesn't really matter because it could have been one fold and it still would have been wrong. I said a Red Bull and a Ferrari would retire due to a power unit issue. Nice. Fernando Alonzo used to drive for Ferrari. I'm going to take that as half a point. What was your bold prediction, Sam?

You know, mine was incredibly close to the wire. Oh, you know, nail biting that both Marsegis cars wouldn't make it to 50% of the race. And, oh, as you can see, they finished 2-4 and were quite successful in their points. So, you know, I nearly got them. Absolute nail-bite. sir, but everyone get your abacus out because it's time to add up the points. Harry, how many did you score zero? I scored zero and Sam scored zero.

So if you get your abacus, that should mean nothing has changed. What's now plus 10? Zero in our instance. I'd say someone has a request to the late-breaking abacus, but unfortunately the supply we use, they don't make them. They don't do that. No one does, Harry. No one does.

Yeah, our supplier specifically doesn't do it. If only we had a different supplier. Everyone else has got a good supplier. It's a really common product. Yeah, sort of out spring. Go on. Let's give our driver of the day, worst driver of the day and moment of the race. And then in our next segment, we'll look at some Discord submissions.

Driver of the day from you, Sam. We say this quite often. there are some races where you have like a borgillion options for drive of the day and worst driver of the day and there are some races where it just gets a bit like, I haven't got anyone. Can I not give it to anyone, Ben? Am I allowed to do that?

No. I'm going to give it to the Stappan, then, because that final stink was pretty immense to pick up a 15 second lead, 14 race wings in a season. He looks good and he's quite good at the old F. one. I'm uninfused.

He can race a car. Yeah. Brum, beep, beep. Harry, driver of the day. Yeah, I'm with Sam on this one. It's slim pickings, as they say. I, can I think of anyone that would be different to that? Harlonzo was quite good, but then his engine went no.

Oh, no. I went, no, he, that's so niche, I was going to get that. I saw her go for Stappen as well, because he is quite good at the F1. To be fair, his second assistant was pretty impressive. He was pretty good at the F on there, so he deserves it for that at least. I would also give a mention for Lewis Hamilton, because whilst he was a long way behind eventual winner Vestappen, that hard tyre was cursed, and he had to use.

use it, whereas for Staffan didn't. So the fact that he finished ahead of Perez, I think, does deserve respect there. Big shout out to the Ferrari guys for not falling asleep. Respect to them. Okay. I can't give Daniel Ricardo driver of the day for two reasons. Number one, can't knock out a late breaking hall of famer. That wasn't on.

Appreciate the effort to spice things up, but no. Also, the second reason, he made the strategy work. I get that, but he was on the far better strategy at the end of that race. If any of the likes of Ocon, Alonzo, Bottas, Norris, if any of those had also gone onto the soft tires and not done as well as Ricardo, I probably would give it to him, but there was no comparison point. Everyone else was on that cursed hard tire. So I can't give it to Ricardo either.

shout out to Alex Albon who nearly again he was on that strategy but he nearly got the worst car out there to the points so respect for that but I also will go for Max for Stappen because he won the race and he didn't look like he was going to lose the race and he was fast

oh yeah crikey we are good at me damn right worst driver of the day Sam um I'm going to go with, boy, you'd be making Ben nervous, George, you Russ. Nah, I have a day off, right? This is a conspiracy. He had the strategy and Mercedes, knowing my prediction of Russell beating Hamilton in the season,

have conspired against me to give Hamilton the better strategy. Russell's like, I think this would be better. No, George, no, we'll have to go way too long for that. Seb Vettel was on soft tires until lap 962. But apparently he's still out there. Somebody to tell him to come in. But, yeah, conspiracy. Not having it.

F1. F1. F-1, isn't it, mate? Yep, absolutely. What I want to see from Georgie Russell in those scanners, he moaned a lot. And I get why. Like, it was rubbish. It was a bad call.

But he moaned a lot. What I want to see from George Russell in those moments is to, you know, put his foot down over the radio and go, no, I believe this is the right call. If he learned to play surprise me or race that means nothing, do that. But, you know, champion. you know, declare what they're doing

and they make it their own. George Russell was like, I feel we should start a guy sauce, actually. And then Mercedes went, no. And he went, oh, all right. And it was rubbish. No, I'm not having this, right? Here we go.

A second. Not having this. Mad respect to George Russell because he was not like that. He did something completely different. He managed to nearly beat. He nearly beat the system. Whereas every other driver would be like,

no, these aren't the tires for me. George Russell's like, I'm going to beat the system here. Got a puncture, lads, haven't I? They're like, not having it. Not having it. No, you don't, George. It's like, need new tires, got a puncture. He was on the verge.

He was on the verge of just turning up in the pits. He'd be like, just change them. I don't recall anyone trying that, so I give him respect. I love how many times he was like, come on, just let me. Just let me in. I mean, this is pretty a spoiler from my moment of the race now, but when he was like,

please let me in, and they're like, no. And they're like, I'm not going to, he's like, oh, my ties are gone. And they're like, yeah, but Perez's might be gone as well. It's like, well, that's not a helpful thing to say. George, the pit crew have gone home. So just get on with it.

Worst driver of the day from me is Latifie. He was a long way behind everyone. He was a minute behind the next car. Yeah, I mean, I don't really want to labour on the point any further because it's just a bit obvious why it is. Harry, worst driver the day from you? It's Latifie, isn't it? Yeah.

He cannot be... I mean, I almost said Joe, but he wasn't that far behind. Bottas, I think, that, you know, they both just didn't have great races. so um he had a tiffy was was more bad than usual worse worse than usual why i say more bad no more bad we are native english speakers everyone again arguable moment of the race uh harry you might well have given yours away already um just to assume it is george russell wanting to come in it's just george russell pleading with his team to let him change his die.

Yeah, I've already said that's my moment at the race. The other one, as Sam's already mentioned too, is just Fernando. Sorry, Fernando Trilly, just holding everyone up because that's what he does in F1 now.

If I'm not going to be in the top six, then no one is. And that's how it's going to stay. Life motto. A moment of the race from you, Sam. I have two. Technically, one is before the race started. Martin Brundle's Grigwalks always one of the most confusing and strange things.

But the fact that he's just walking up now to random women on his walk and going, Hello, who are you? And she's like, I love you. And he's like, oh, great, you're not Brad Pitt. Cheers for chatting to me. She's gone, anyway, bye, that's random. Love that. Talk to more random as my.

Marty's random person, a great feature. Yes, kick that up as that feature. The in-race one is probably as random. as spreading ganache on a bratwurst because Fernando Oloxo just randomly going, why is this season? Why is this season? Like, sorry, Fernando. Nothing's happened.

You're just driving around in seventh place at this point and you're randomly very angry. I loved it. It was so bizarre and so unprovoked that you thought it's brilliant. I honestly, I, look, I know I'm a Fernando Rolze fan here, but I would love the self-belief that that that man, has. When they came onto the radio and like the hard tyres, hard tyres look pretty good here.

Hamilton's just put them on. Do you think we should go for that? And he's like, mate, I'm good in all ties. Just put whatever one. I don't care. I'm so confident. Did you see the render that came out of his face? Is God. I love that. I also is God.

Gigacad. True. That. My moment of the race, to be honest, I was going to go for high IQ. Russell with matthias punctured

you liar what you're lia for since I've already got had that and there hasn't been a shout out for it yet

I presume that would be by this point but the band the Mexican mariachi like that's

sensation what a theme the second best version of the F1 theme after the flute version

that is sensational true very true Anyway, we're going to be back with some more driver of the day and worst driver of the day selections from our Discord right after this. Maybe we should be a mariachi band. Oh, God. Mid-segment thoughts with Sam Sage.

I'm going on, just staring off into the distance. Having a lot on the air brakes. Honestly, do you know, I leave all these bits then. I know. I know. I know. Yeah. Right.

Here we go. Submissions from our Discord for Driver of the Day and Worst Driver of the Day. If you'd like to get involved in this segment, we have a submission channel within our Discord, and the link to join our Discord is in the description to this podcast episode. We have had definitely today the most submissions we've ever had. So we have to be more and more selective as we get more and more submissions. So apologies for anyone who doesn't get there as played. We'll try and get through as many as we possibly can.

and we will start today. Let's start with Jimmy. Jimmy here. First of all, just like to point out my bold prediction that came true and you laughed at it. So jokes on you guys. No, driver of the day, clearly Ricardo, worst driver of the day. Well, must be Sonata, just didn't give him the room. Don't care if he didn't need to, but should have given him the room.

What? I love the reasoning. It's just like he didn't need to, but should have done. Oh, dear. I mean, if he wasn't a Hall of Fame, and maybe I'd agree, but tough. So we've got one for Daniel Ricardo. I feel like that's not going to be the last one.

Let's go. Great name, Sam's favourite of the week, without a doubt. Polly Walnuts. What a name! What do you hear? What do you say? It's Pauley Walnuts. Here he is. What up, guys? My driver of the day was Red Bull, not the team, but the energy drink because I needed it to stay awake.

And the worst driver of the day was Mercedes Strategy. All right, see you. Hey, come up and see Pauli Walnuts. Like, so good. Play in the next one before. Sam does any more accent. I'm going to hit you in the poorly warmups in a bit. Let's go to JJB Sports.

This is JJB from the Netherlands with my driver of the day, Maxico for stopping. Very good. And the worst driver of the day, Nicholas L. T.fi. Blood worst. Oh, that's going to be reference. It's a bratwurst at the edge. Sartman asks people to put Bratverse

somewhere in their submission today. Why we've got more than usual, probably. No, that's, yeah, that's the secret going forward, make people say silly words. Oh, I love it. Let's head out to Texas and hear from Norm. Yeah! Ola, compadres.

It is I, Norm from Texas. I figured I'd give you my driver of the day and worst driver of the day. My driver of the day is Lewis Hamilton for finally getting a car that can, somewhat compete. My worst driver of the day has to go to his teammate and overcooked Bratworths of a human being,

George Russell. Oh my word. All righty guys, love you all. Keep breaking late. You can't call George Russell and overcooked brackwurst. That's not how that works.

There's so many brackbests. We're having a cookout over it. That's the episode title, by the way, Harry. You can't call George Russell and overcooked Bratburst. Okay. Done. Let's go to my favorite name of the week. Heavy Harve.

Hey guys, Heavy Harp here all the way from Ontario and Canada. So drive for the day for me, it's got to be Danny Rick. Broke 10 seconds clear of O'Con getting that seventh place. And Yuki honestly deserved it. So who cares? Worst drive the day, got to be a Vats for your ball test. I don't know what he was doing out there. Didn't have the pace.

Another hard tires weren't the best choice. But I just didn't see anything exciting from him. one thing one thing of that one actually because maybe it was you some that shared this clip of Russia

Grand Prix a few years ago when Daniel Ricardo was at Reno and got a penalty and he was told to pull out I think it was a five second gap then and he was just like yeah I'm on it and he did

just seems very coincidental because he ended up and he didn't do exactly the same thing here also why did show Guan you not exist in your world yeah that was that was that was hard

I mean, it wasn't perfect for Valtry, but he was the alpha that scored points. Point. Alpha, male. Sorry, singular, yes. Alpha male? Yeah, my alpha male. Oh, I thought he meant like a postal service. Oh, that too.

Like alpha royal male. Save us, Chrissy T. Save us. Hey, boys, Chrissy T here with his best and worst driver for the day. Best driver for the day goes to Daniel Ricardo. Great to see him back up there and kicking the balls there for Samuel's age. Come on. Dude. He goes to Ross Bronwyn.

He promised us the closest race. On Poland. Lots of way we've taken, but we've ended up seeing one of the most dominant seasons in Formula one ever. So, yeah, roll on to 2023. Good luck with the late podcast, boys.

Cheers, Chris. See, have a good sleep. I do like that. It's all on one person. All on you. Let's go to, let's go to Tender Toffee. So many submissions.

I've got scroll up so far. Hey guys, Senator Toffee here. Driver of the day for me, Danny Rick, even though he caused that little collision there. Still a great race. A little collision. Probably the first time of the season.

Like a salt-based sprinkle of collision. The old Danny. So that was good. Worst drive of the day. George. Georgie boy. You were just acting like a brat. It was just the worst.

Oh! Thank you, guys. That's accidental. He's not, he's not put the versed in there. Surely not. He's got it in there. Sandwiched.

I love it. No. Someone else on board with the conspiracy. I have some toys, please. No, you're a brat burst. You're over-cooked. It's all one big conspiracy, I'll tell you. Let's go to Skyla.

Skyla, you better have something good to say for once. Driver of the days, Lando. Worst driver of the day is Ricardo. Well, Jesus. That is controversial. Has Skyla ever not given Lando Norris driver of the day? That's a good show, Matt. I don't think she has.

Maybe one of us is actually Skylar, and we just put Skylar on to make us look less British biased. It's definitely you, Ben. That's the real conspiracy. Okay. Skylid's a real human being just for legal reasons, okay? It's not as legal reasons. Hey, late breaking, it's joy.

Driver the day has to go to Bates. I mean, you started great and ended great. And I shout him out just because it's my friend's favorite driver, so I try to when I can. Worst driver of the day somehow is Ricardo because I know he did get driver of the day. I get it you got to P7, but I didn't like the Yuki move. Shout out to the Mercedes team for turning into the Strat team

and crying about their tires constantly. And shout out to Ferrari for being a midfield team today. I totally forgot you guys were on the great. today. Where are you? We're asking the same question, Joy. No idea. Joy's managed to summarise the entire racing about 30 seconds while we're skilled blabbering on. Yeah. Yeah, why do we make this last an hour and 20 minutes? We don't need to.

Just having done it. I mean, old school LB, our podcast used to be like 30 minutes long. Yeah, we got in and out, pish, bash, bosh. Mad. Real good, gosh. What do you have? Do we have? Do we have time to listen to beef? Yeah, I'll get my life up there. All right.

Go on, Big. Go on, then. Hello. Hello. Driver of the day is Daniel Ricardo, because he remembered how to drive the car. Once you're on the day is Chuckles. No.

I was going to say a rude word, but I don't think Harry would have been too happy with me. Where was that man? Don't know. Okay, bye. No, I would not. She can't rhyme. The F word.

She was speaking in the world's slowest sentence. I would not have been happy with you. Harry would not be very happy with me. Slow beef. That's what we're coming this week. Slow good beef. Slopee. Right.

That's enough for submissions. Thank you to everyone who put a submission in, including those that unfortunately we didn't get to today. Really appreciate all of them coming in. And like to say, more coming in now than ever before. So my uploading might be taking longer, which I'm not thankful for, but it is good. Thank you. Also, if you want to have yours played out, what helps is if you leave a five-star review for our...

Oh, we're not on that again, are we? Weigh! Not true. This is not bribery, okay? but please do leave a review, okay? It's a gentle nudge. Just a gentle little nudge. Just a bit of a quick discussion on Mercedes versus Ferrari, because whilst we've had a bit of a session of taking the Mickey out of Mercedes for not quite being on Red Bull's pace, Ferrari definitely weren't either. And whilst they didn't really get anything strategically wrong,

they weren't even quick enough to get anything strategically wrong, which is impressive for Ferrari. It was the first time this season, I believe, that they didn't have a car in the top four in qualifying. Science started fifth. Leclair started seventh. Whilst Leclair did manage to get past Valtry Bottas at the start of the Grand Prix, that was it. That was their afternoon, fifth and sixth. They even managed to avoid the hard tyre, which they seem to always go wrong on, and they still managed to only get fifth and sixth. So with 40 points separating the two teams, Mercedes in third and Ferrari in second, Sam is,

Is there any hope whatsoever of Mercedes overhauling Ferrari based on today's horrible performance from the scuderia? I don't understand what goes on at Ferrari. It's like they can only do one thing well. They either do the on-track stuff well, so the likes of the clerks, scatching pole position, the cleras sikes fighting well up the front. But the strategy is awful. The calls are terrible. We're on plan. X equals MC squared y to the ed.

I don't know what ed is. I've just made that up. You know, one thing is good. the other thing is terrible. They got everything right in terms of the off-track performance today. Their strategy was perfect. It was the same as what the staff and manage should do. Their ability to say to LeCler, no, we should not come in at this point because we'll be hit by traffic and that will slow us down. Brilliant. Well done. Well managed. Understanding of everything going on on the track. Well done. What has gone on there? What has happened on the track performance there that

we've had such a poor turnout from Ferrari. I haven't really heard any major solution as to what this reason might have been as well. I know LeClau wasn't particularly happy with the car on Saskeying in practice. Engine. Yeah, okay. But I mean, both cars being that far away is really, really disappointing. But can this one-off really mean that Masegis, I think there's about a 40-point gap between the two teams. With two races to go, sorry, Masegis, it's too little too late.

I think even with Ferrari's absolute shenanigans up front, you've got to be able to pull off results when maybe they should be doing. I still can't see it swinging that far in the Segey's favour. I think Ferrari will be comfortably back for Brazil, and I wouldn't be surprised if they go all gung-soe for Abu Dhabi as well, because again, why not what are you losing? Mercedes just haven't got it at the moment. They have not got that little bit of pep and zip that they used to have,

and they are throwing it away too early on in the season. So for me, no. They can't overturn it. The same is we'll finish this season in third. Do you concur, Harry? You know that a meme where the guys like tapping his heads because it's like, yeah. What that applies to Ferrari in that no one can be mad about your strategic mistakes

when no one notices you're in the race because you're that slow. It's a good verbal meme, Harry. Well done. Yeah, everyone can see you doing it. level memes it's the new craze it's my Harry spin-off show

verbal memes because someone photoshop Harry's face onto that meme please if I'd just take a picture of myself doing it anyway I don't know

what my point was now I don't I I I've I almost believe in Ferrari. I want to believe Ferrari will hold on, but they're not making it easy for themselves with days like today.

I would suggest a day was a one-off, although, I think I read, you mentioned the engine already, I think I read something that they've had to turn stuff down because of the altitude and not getting enough air through the engine, which doesn't both particularly well for Brazil. I know Brazil's slightly not as high up as Mexico is, but still higher,

so they may struggle again there. but having said that they've had their issues this year and the car's not as good as it was or hasn't developed as well as it as the others have compared to the start of the season but it's still a good car underneath

underneath Leclair and signs so I'll say they will hold on but now I'm going to boy I'd be nervous because because now it's getting close between the two of them.

And if they have another weekend like this, then I'd say not. But I believe just about that they were having the pace in the last couple of races to just hold on. But the fact that they are only just holding onto the second place anyway, is shocking considering where they were at the start of the year. I mean, if we look back to Australia and Leclair was dominant, Verstappen was out with an engine failure or something failure. And, you know, we weren't calling it Varrois championship,

but it looked at the time that Ferrari were in the in the pound seat and now they're in the, you know, penny seat. Good. Brilliant. Your best one yet. Thank you. Another one for verbal memes. Verbal memes starting next week. You're done. If you want to be more embarrassing, this is going to go on to be our most successful month

for this podcast every time and there's us going verbal memes. Yeah. Hashtag verbal memes. So, 40 points in it. two races to go. Double points at Abu Dada... Oh, wait, no, it's not sorry, it's not 2014. Loi!

Throwback! Could you imagine, like... If you had F1 Twitter with double points at Abu Dhabi. I feel like the world would just implode. But 13 points was the swing today. So, second and fastest lap for Mercedes, 31 points. Fifth and sixth for Ferrari, 18 points.

So 13 point swing. even if they did exactly the same thing again next time out, it still wouldn't be enough. If they did the same thing for both of the next two races, Mercedes would win it by six. Could this get any worse for Ferrari? Usually the answer is yes. And indeed, the answer is yes,

because both of their cars finished and both of their cars finished in the top six. There wasn't any disastrous spins or crashes or strategic decisions that, causing to go down at P9. It was pretty bad out there today, but could it be worse? Yes, it could for any team, let alone Ferrari. So I think it is still on the cards for Mercedes here. They will probably need one retirement for sure in the last two races for their guys. And they probably need Hamilton and Russell to keep finishing in the top four in the last two races as well.

It's a tall order and it's unlikely, but is it on the cards? Yep. I think it is. Look, if you bet against Ferrari consistently, you're probably not listening to this podcast because you're too rich, all right? And that's probably the strategy I'm going to adopt for the rest of my life. So I'm going to say that they will somehow screw this up and Mercedes will end up getting P2. Why not? Ferrari. Ah, Ferrari.

Well, we've got one more topic to discuss today. We're going to be talking Alonzo and Alpine after this. So, Alonzo and Alpine, it was a good day until it wasn't. Fernando Alonzo and Esteban Ockon were running comfortably in their points in their ongoing battle with McLaren until Fernando Alonzo was overtaken by his teammate, started to slow down for a few laps, and then it all came to an end. at turn one with just a few laps to go, meaning no points for Fernando Alonzo and a double

points finish for McLaren. Fernando Alonzo, as Sam has already said, was lamenting his season on the team radio after he retired, saw quite a few animated gestures from him as he got out of his car. Sam, are you worried at all with his move to Aston Martin, which at the moment at best seems to be a sideways move, right? Are you worried at all that if he encounters the same sort of season again, that his motivation is just going to disappear? I think sideways is very complimentary. At best is.

Yeah. If you're playing snakes and laggings, you've hit one of the big snakes there, Fernando. Fernando is one of the most, as we've already mentioned on the podcast, self-motivated people, the self-belief that man, has is, you know, when you get given the certain traits as a baby, self-belief was through the roof. It's like they gave me, make people self-beliefful to himself. And I feel like he will go into that team with a multi-year deal, remember, knowing and thinking, we can achieve something here. I think he thinks out of every single team that he signs for across his whole career,

whether it be McClaren for the second time, you know, whether it be back in Ferrari days, whether it be when he rejoined Formula One and moved into Alpine. I think he thinks the moment he puts pen to paper, there will be a story to tell and he will go on to achieve something. But unfortunately for Fernando, if the whole team was made of Fernando's, it would the scariest place in the world, but they would never ever tire until they won. Which, you know, not necessarily a bad thing, I guess. Asken Martin isn't made up entirely of Fernando Alonso's. A lot of those who could be Fan de Alonkos are in fact Lankt scrolls and similar personality types. And that car is not progressing in the way that it should be. It's not moving up the table where they thought it

would. I'm sure Lankstrol and Lawrence Stroll as a pairing are probably thinking, well, at this point, why aren't we more competitive? Why aren't we going somewhere? And I think Fernando Alonkso, if Ascom Martin continued the same vein that they have done since coming to Formula One, are going to frustrate him very, very quickly. I think he'll get to this point next season. If he doesn't see any progression properly, we'll go, what by doing? I'm, you know, I'm in my early 40s at this point, my career has only got so long left. It's only so long, only so many teams that are willing to pick me up and try something. He's running out of options. Asking Martin does feel like a bit of a last chance for him at this moment.

And I feel like Asken Martin aren't going anywhere. So I've got fingers very much crossed for him that the upgrades in the facilities area that Ascom Martin have made are going to really produce some, you know, top quality results. And we see Fernando at the front once more, maybe not winning a championship, but some races, maybe a pole, fight for podiums. I'd love it. I would love it. But if he's not given that, I have a feeling that Askin Martin had going to really be subject to his two-time World Champ wrath. And I think he'll unfortunately leave Formula One at the end of that contract, feeling somewhat disappointed. And that feels like the more likely option, which is a real shame.

What do you think, Harry, do you think that him lamenting how his season has gone at the end of this race today is worrying at all if, and this is possibly likely, that he has another similar season next year with a car that isn't capable of competing? I think it's, so I think, I'm not sure I agree with his outbursts on the radio today, but I think he's, in his mind, in Fernando's mind at least, he's been unlucky, for whatever reason with issues, you know, reliability issues

or taken out, et cetera, et cetera. I think it's for where, things that are out of his control that he get, which is for most F-1 drivers, I guess, but more so in Fernando's case. So if there's less of that, which there may well be, the Alpins

being quick but also unreliable, then maybe not. I don't know, I'm with Sam, I agree that it's his last roll of the dice, but I think Alonso knows that. Whereas his move to McLaren

back at this, sorry, second move to McLaren, back in 2015. That was a big project that was going to make him the next three-time world champion. This feels different in a way that it might work out for him, but also it might not. And it feels like Alonso is more apiece with it.

He's still pretty spicy on the radio sometimes, or most of the time. But I don't know. But there is some maturity to Fernando Alonso version 22 than it was to Fernando Alonzo version 20, circa 2015. So yes, there may be some more of the same next year over the next couple of years. But this is more just a feeling or an opinion from my part,

but it feels like he's more accepting that this is, you know, last chance saloon. It might work out. If it doesn't work out, great. if it doesn't work out, I don't think he's worried about his, you know, legacy or in any way like that. So, I don't know, remains to be seen. We know how frustrated he can be. I think today's the most frustrated we've seen him since he's come back.

But arguably, he's been, you know, he's driven much better this year than he did last year. And he thinks he's owed more for his effort. So time will tell, but I would suggest he'll be okay. I think I disagree. I don't think there is a version of Fernando Alonzo that will ever be at peace with not winning. And I mean that as a credit to him. I don't mean that as an insult in any way.

This guy, he is built different compared to the majority of drivers that come through Formula One. He is so determined to win to the point where he's been chasing victory again for 15 years. and he has tried everything, right? He, okay, if we go back to 2007, right, he goes to McLaren thinking, that might work. McLaren have chased me quite hard in the last couple of years,

and he was right on that, but it didn't give him the championship. He then goes back to Renault. Okay, I won there before. Let's try that. Didn't work out. Goes to Ferrari. They won a championship a few years ago. That was a line that was actually applicable in 2010.

Didn't work out. I got a bit close a few times, but that was more down to him than the team. He goes to McLaren Honda, exciting project, completely and utterly fails, leaves Formula One, and then he still has the motivation

to come back and win to the point where again, he goes back to the team where he won his two championships. Doesn't work out. And now, Aston Martin, it's another role of the dice.

Well, it's the seventh role of a dice that I'm counting here. He is so determined to make this work. that he has gone all around the houses in order to get there. And yeah, like I said, I just don't think Fernando Alonzo is built at 21 years old, at 41 years older, at 91 years old, not to win. I think he has unbelievable self-belief to the point where he will just keep going until he cannot go anymore.

And again, it's a credit to him. I don't see that him settling. I think, you know, and he is possibly a bit more mature, but at the same time, I still think his overriding concern is with winning. I don't think he is Kimmy Riker and I don't think he's there for the enjoyment of it. I don't think he's there for a paycheck. I think he's there to win, plain and simple, and he's not. And if Aston Martin can't give him that opportunity, I worry for what will happen. I could see this, I could see it going very well. Ashton Martin have improved quite a lot this year and if they can continue that trend to next year, then potentially there's

something there for him. But if they don't go forwards versus where they are right now or worse, they go backwards, I don't see him sticking it out for the two years. I think there is a chance it implodes in on itself if Aston Martin can't give him the car that he feels like he deserves and probably does deserve. What options are left for him if it falls into? There's nothing, right? A new team would have to come in and pick him up as an experienced head that maybe could guide them into something new. And he'll give it a go. He would, right?

Yeah. He would try it. He would. And I really admire him for it. I really, really do. I wish I had that level of self-beliefing anything that I did because the guy is relentless in his pursuit of success. And fair play to him, right? Fair play to him.

Indeed. He made some spicy comments about Lewis. in this weekend. Maybe we'll get into that midweek because I'm just going to post a picture with a thumbs up emoji and end the old argument in one swift move. In the pettiest weekend in Formula One history this one. Yeah. I don't know what's been going on. I don't know what's in the water over in Mexico.

Yeah. Avocados are grown there by the way. Oh my God. I definitely don't have avocados from Mexico on the sound mode. Oh, come on. I love other car that's from Mexico. So as referenced, I'm not quite sure what the topic list is going to look like yet, but we will be back midweek, despite the fact that it's not leading into a race weekend. We will still be here.

And then, of course, we'll be here for previews and reviews and reviews of Brazil and Abu Dhabi still to come in the next month or so. We'll also be here throughout the winter because we haven't got anything better to do with our lives. Sam, if you wouldn't mind, getting us out of here. I'm really tired. Thanks for all listening to the food chat and hashtag verbal memes and many other ridiculous stuff that happens on this podcast. Thanks for sticking it out because it can be tough for everyone, including the three of us. And you've done well to make it this far. So, bravo.

Yes, as Ben said, we're going to be back midweek to talk all about general and F1 stuff. Follow us on Twitter at Elbreaking. Social media is late breaking up on podcasts on Instagram and TikTok. Join the Discord. The links of the description over 15, 100 people chatting Formula One. the time over there. It's lovely. Everyone is so lovely. And you meet people like Pauley Walnuts. It's fantastic. And of course, new merchandise is available. Go check out. Thank you to everyone that's bought something. It massively supports us. But if you want a

cheeky discount, have a look at the Patreon. You get Agfree podcast in there as well. And an extra topic, which, Ben, I think that's live, right? That is live. We're talking Logan Sargent. Was he worth a punt from Williams? There you go. So if you want access to extra topics out on each month, then make sure you have a little checkout for Patreon. Thank you again. It means a lot. We really appreciate it.

In the meantime, I've been having time to see. I've been Ben Hocking. I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. Verbal memes. Shut up, you laugh first. Vibor memes. Past is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.