The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Monaco GP Review

Episode Date: May 29, 2022

Ben and Harry review a dramatic (and long), rain affected Monaco GP! They discuss Sergio Perez' victory, the Ferrari team's strategy and the FIA's questionable handling of the race. 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800- 426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1- 888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/ NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead and me, Ben Hocking. No Sam Sage today, as we would have referenced on the preview podcast. as you know, if you did listen to the preview podcast, Sam underwent some surgery this weekend. Good to say that everything went well. We don't know exactly when Sam's going to be back.

It might be a couple of episodes before you hear his dulcet tones once more. But we will do our best to infill with out there analogies. And Monaco hate, maybe, who knows. We've got a lot to get through. it's a very annoyed late-breaking F1 podcast Harry because because of the delays we're missing the start of the Indy 500. Yeah, folks, currently the Indy 500 is about to start in 32 minns, I think. So this could be the shortest podcast we have we've ever done. So there you go.

Yeah, I mean, there's no Sam here. So maybe it actually will be slightly shorter. And unfortunately, you know, we can confirm that they don't remove Moron as a a personality trait when you do surgery, which is a shame. So he'll still be a more when he comes back. They wanted extra money for that and we just didn't have the money to pay them. But sorry. Sorry, guys.

But even though the Indy 500 is mere minutes away for the two of us, we are still committed to doing the podcast straight away after the Grand Prix, despite the fact that the Grand Prix took 12 days to finish. But it did finish off with a Sergio Perez victory. certainly didn't look like that was going to be the case early on in the Grand Prix, but strategy threw everything out the window, Perez first, Carlos signed second, and Max Verstapp and third. And Charles LeCler must be delighted because he's finished a Monaco Grand Prix.

He must be over the moon with how that went. We've got plenty to discuss, but we're actually going to start with the race itself. Out of ten, Harry, where would you rate it? I feel like this rating might change might change with some more thought we've had you know half an hour to think about this one but I think I might give it a seven out of ten for this monoco GP and when I say this I'm not counting the times where we weren't racing as a part of my rating I don't think that's fair but the parts where we were racing you know, fairly decent.

And I've seen a lot of conversation on Twitter already saying some from people who don't like Monaco and people have very valid reasons not to, saying that, you know, it wasn't that exciting because, you know, you still can't overtake. But, you know, if that was the case at every race where we had those lead four drivers and no one could overtake, then I'd get it. It's quite unique for Monaco. and actually that last 20 minutes, especially when Perez's ties were going off

and we had the four of them within about a second or a second and a half, I really enjoyed. I thought it's really exciting, tense, and it's something a bit unique for Monaco. So I know Sam's not here to balance this view out with his Monaco hate, but I quite enjoyed that,

and it's sort of unique for Monaco in that sense. So, yeah, overall, enjoyed it. We'll get on to the rest of the delays and stuff, But the race itself, that rain, rain always mix things up, especially in Monaco. So I think that really did it, some good service. But overall, I've quite enjoyed this one. I was worried before the start, well, 10 minutes before the start when it hadn't rained. And then it did rain, then it got much better than I think it was going to be.

So, yeah, I'll be kind of seven out of ten for Monaco. We will go into what happened at the start of the race. or rather what didn't happen at the start of the race in a topic later on in the show. I've got my I've got my walking boots out because I'm going for a hike. Maybe it's because I feel bad. Maybe it's because I feel bad that Sam isn't here and I need to replace him somewhat. But I'm actually hiking to get up to the hill that Sam is on when it comes to his opinion on Monaco and I'm joining him. Collectively, we're going to give this a 10 out of 10.

The only problem is that's because you're giving it a seven and I'm giving it a three. I am perhaps not quite as far as Sam when it comes to Monaco hate. However, I am certainly closer to his viewpoint rather than the viewpoint of Monaco's great. The bit that did it for me was very late on in the Grand Prix and it was the Lando Norris team radio, where Lando Norris is closing in on George Russell incredibly quickly. As we know, he took an extra pit stop because he had the gap back to Alonzo, who became Yarno Trilly for one race only. It was great to see.

So Norris had that gap to make the pit stop. And it meant that he caught him up on fresh medium tires. With a couple of laps to go, I think it was about three or four seconds. When over Team Radio, Lando Norris is unsure how, we're unsure how many laps they're going to get in. And Lando Norris, rather than being incredibly determined to catch George Russell, being incredibly optimistic to try and make that overtake for the extra two points. It had a good Grand Prix up until that point.

He was looking to make it even more successful. He came over the radio and it was almost as if it didn't matter. It was a jovial response back to the team. And it's because he knew. Because he knew it didn't matter if he caught up to George Russell or not. He wasn't going to be able to get past. And for me, that's quite demoralizing. In that situation, I want the driver to be like, head down.

focused. I've got this gap. I can make this happen. And I'm not saying Lando Norris doesn't care. He certainly does care. But I think it's that overwhelming sense of I'm not going to be able to get the move done, which made it seem as if it didn't matter. And ultimately, I think it was exciting to an extent the top four at the end of the Grand Prix. But I don't, I don't necessarily want to see the four drivers separated out based on, I want to see the four drivers separated out based on, I want to see the winner claim the win. And I'm not putting down Sergio Perez's performance at all. But ultimately, he didn't pull away when he got into the lead and he wasn't the best driver out there. Did he defend well? Sure. He did very good job on those awful medium tires after

he made the lockup very early on in the stint. But if one of the Ferraris was quicker or one of the, or Max Vastappen was quicker, I want to at least see the opportunity for them to make that happen. And I don't think that opportunity was ever there. I think those drivers at the front are too good to the point where I didn't ever feel like Perez was going to make the error necessary for signs or Vastappen to get past. If it was F3 or maybe F2, then suddenly I'm thinking, hey, these drivers are not yet refined. Maybe they will slip up. I didn't ever get the sense that Sergio Perez, or as Crofty likes to call him, the wily old campaigner. I didn't think he was going to make that sort of an error. I appreciate the opinion that he,

is a completely different race to everything else we have on the calendar. And I do think that uniqueness is valuable to an extent. But I just can't quite get behind the idea of a procession. So I'm going to balance it out. I'm championing Sam's effort here today. I'm going to give it a three. I can hear him cheering all the way from here. Yeah.

It's just me. Yeah. Just me going all soft. about this. So we've got a slightly different view on where this Monaco Grand Prix specifically was. But in terms of the race itself, we know at the moment this is the last race of the current contract. We believe talks are underway in terms of whether it will return next year and years beyond. Let's just say theoretically it does return. Is there anything you want to see in those contract talks, whether that's renovation to the circuit,

whether that's potentially the TV direction, I'm not sure. Is there anything you'd like to see as a result of these contract negotiations if Monaco stays? Yeah, I think some circuit changes. Look, I know I was on the other side of the hill in terms of today's race, but Monaco generally isn't that exciting. And I think it does need some tweaks for modern F1 to continue to be enjoyable there. I don't know what those tweaks look like,

and you're very limited on space in Monaco, but they need some longer runs, longer straight line runs into a hard braking zone. I don't know where you do that because they're right on the edge of the sea, but I think that's what Monaco needs. And they could, I don't know, expand further out into the hills or something like that.

I don't know. But maybe some circuit changes. I think this next one goes above that because I think I would enjoy the Monaco GP more if they change the bloody TV direction because my God, I forgot the whole Lance stroll meme last year and I forgot the Monaco

for those of you who are unaware and might be new to F1, Monaco has this really weird, unique deal where they are the only F1 circuit that controls the TV direction. The rest of the year it's done by FOMOM 4101 management because that's

that makes sense not to have it done by this circuit. It's how it used to be done back in the day in F1, but obviously Bernie sorted that out, but for Monaco it hasn't changed. So that's why you get, like with the Perez crash yesterday, the only reason we saw on Saturday this is, the only reason we knew that had happened is because the camera lingered on that shot for weirdly too long, and then you just see Perez flying into frame,

and then it cuts away. It's that sort of thing that's just so frustrating to watch. And again, with the red flag, we had a red flag, and it was about two minutes later we saw a replay of Yuki Snowder hitting the barrier. and you know even the commentators and me to be fair to Sky they're not I don't you know not the greatest commentary in the world

but they're working off what we're seeing too and they can only see what we're seeing and you know they're having to sort of make it up on the spot and that combined just makes the whole viewing experience quite I don't want to say unbearable but it's not far off it sometimes some of

some of the you know the missed action cutaways a lot of focusing on Charler-Clair, especially not so much today, but during Saturday and Friday, it was you're either Charlotte-Claire or you're nobody, because obviously he's the local hero. So, yeah, I mean,

I think that would be top of my list because I think you'd improve the Monaco GP viewing experience by 40% at least if you get FOM to do it again. But, yeah, I think Monaco, with all these other big names coming in, Miami, Las Vegas doesn't sit on its own,

doesn't sit on a pedestal anymore, and I think it needs to accept that it needs to relinquish some of the perks that this had previously like its own own TV direction. I also read they got one of the sticking points

is that Tag Hoyer, the watch company, sponsor Monaco GP, and Formula One don't want to sign again because obviously Rolex sponsor the whole series of Formula One, and that's the sticking point.

I'm like, do you want a GP on? not because I reckon this is what this will be the stupid reason we don't have the Monaco GP. It won't be anything else. It'll be over the watch sponsor for the race. So yeah, it's things like that that I think Monaco isn't in the same position it was to demand these things. So yeah, a few things I think need to change if Monaco is going to stay if it does stay at all. I mean, the TV direction is at the top of the list, isn't it? Goodness me. And it's not as if we are generally complimentary about it every other race weekend of the year. But it's light and day

when it comes to any other race versus Monaco. I think in many ways, it goes to the wrong end of the extreme. So what you'll often get with, one thing I often have an issue with week to week in terms of the TV direction is that there's too much cutting away too soon. It's often the case with the start of the race. They want to replay the start of the race like two laps in when there are still things going on. Like wait, wait another five laps. Then we can go back. They're too quick on the replays. With Monaco, it's the complete opposite. We don't get them. You don't get to see what's happened. There were numerous occasions where Sonoda managed to, well, I think Sonoda managed to miss turn one pretty much every time he went round. So maybe that one's a bit of an

exception. But there was Ocon getting by Vettel when no real overtakes were happening. Didn't see that. We didn't get to see the Ocon and Hamilton move on when it was happening. We didn't get an onboard view of Ocon the entire race unless I missed it, which you'd think you'd probably want to go back to that. And normally, normally, I would be like, okay, there's other things going on. They didn't cut back to it fine. Firstly, it's Monaco. A lot of the time, nothing's going on. Secondly, there was a massive red flag. Show it. Oh, God. The best one for me was the cut back to Kevin Magnuson after Mick Schumacher had crashed. Why? Because that was the first mention that he was out of the race. He'd been out of the race for about three laps.

I like that because Sorry, then to interrupt because Crofti had to be like That's the other Hass He was also out Because it looked like Hats in the wall Kevin Magnuss has just got out of this car

Honestly I will give it to the normal week by week race direction It's not perfect It's a long way from perfect But it's smooth And it's so noticeable With the Monaco Grand Prix

It's just really there are so many shots where it's so jarring isn't it it's like one scene to the next there's no there's no transition it's just like we're here and now we're here and you like trying to keep up which tv if tv if tv direction is done correctly you shouldn't have to try to keep up it should do have to work for you so that would be number one on my list of things needed for if monaco renews i know people have said about potential track changes i i think there are some sketches out there in terms of where you could go. I won't comment on them separately,

but you want to explore your options there, I would say, just to at least do due diligence, really, to make sure that you're doing everything you can to create an exciting race. I have to say personally, I wouldn't be mortified if Monaco went off the calendar, and I know many people would. I think we've got enough heritage in other races like Monzo, and Silverstone and Spa.

I don't necessarily think we need the heritage of Monaco as well. Maybe I'm wrong on that. But it would be interesting to know, because we've got slightly different views as to how good that race was. It'd be very interesting to know the views of those who are new to the sport. Maybe this is like their first year or second year. Let us know in the Discord on Twitter. We'd be really interesting to know because there are going to be some fans that

tuned into Miami for the first time, and this is maybe their third, second race watching. you know, has the interest gone as a result of this race, or has it doubled? I don't know. We're always speaking on the perspective of two fans that have been around for a long time, not as much as Sam, obviously. He ages us by 20 years, but we've been around a while. I'm a Farina one, wouldn't they?

Exactly, yeah. Can someone please Photoshop like Farina winning the first ever race at Silverstone was Sam just in the background? I would say I will pay good money but I definitely won't because I don't have it. Yeah, you'll win a cookie. Should we look at some driver of the day and worst driver of the day because not only have we got our own ones

will also share some of those submitted in from Discord so again if you're not part of the Discord and you'd like to be on the podcast submitting your best driver of the day and worst driver of the day, we do it straight after the Grand Prix. So we've got quite a few submissions coming up but we'll start with our own views because they are the least important.

Harry, driver of the day from you. Well, before I do mine, Mr. Sage's kindly text his to us on our group chat, Salala. I'll just do his. His driver of the day is gone to Checo, Checo, and his worst driver of the day, he's gone to Mick Schumacher. He's not given any reasoning behind it, so we can make that one up. driver of the day for Cheko

because he is a lovely looking man. Worst driver to Mick because Sam hates Germans? Don't know. No? Yeah, let's go with that. I'm sure he'd be fine with that. Yeah, sure I'd agree with that one.

Anyway, so that's Sam's picks. My driver of the day, no, I this probably isn't very valid, but I'm doing it because it made me full on belly laugh when this happened. is Fernando Alonzo because the absolute boo-housery

of that man for driving like three seconds a lap slower for about 20 laps and then it's just like lo, joke, I'm actually not slow and then bangs in the fastest

half of the race and by the end Hamilton was about five six seconds behind him like he was gone so it was just I don't know honestly

it probably not deserving of driving a day but for the only reason that it I really laughed at that. It just made me chuckle. And as Ben's already mentioned,

he was taking some tips and his old teammate, Trilly. A bit of a Trilly train there. And the worst driver the day for me is, I think this is going to come up a lot, but I'll give it to Yuki Sanoda. Mainly for just not bothering with turn one, ever,

apparently. There's a few choices out there. Latifie potentially, yeah, crashing on the formation lap, same for Stroll. Schumacher, I guess, is another one because he threw it at the wall. But yeah, a few clumsy ones out there. But yeah, I'll give it to it, Sonoda.

Yeah. Driver of the day for me, I have to be honest, again, this almost goes back to the first point I made. I don't think there is that much of an opportunity to make yourself driver at the day versus the rest of the pack. Because, you know, I could go for Perez, as Sam has done. done, but honestly, he was only there because of strategy. And he defended it well. I can't take that away from him.

But also, did he have a better race than Charles LeClerh, who finished fourth, who was first outright and deserved to be there? I don't think so. In which case, I'd probably revert back to George Russell in fifth because, you know, he got the position on Lando Norris. Yeah, he had to manage his pace, particularly in the second half of the last stint. because Norris was catching him quickly. He did that to the tune of two temps,

that it was really close at the end, but he managed to finish ahead of Norris. He's in the top five again. I'll go with Russell, but again, I think there's less opportunity to make yourself driver of the day here at Monaco versus other tracks.

But I know Sam's obviously voted for Perez, and as you'll hear from a few submissions in a bit, some others have also gone for old Czechos as well. Checo. Did you have a moment of the race, Sarie? Yeah, I'm going to go for... Imagine one day you asked that, Ben, and we just go, no. No, not really.

Not really. No. Yeah, I'm going to go for, and this is not really a singular moment, but it was sort of encapsulated in about 10 laps or so during the race. But Ferrari just having a bit of a meltdown. It was good to see, good to see them back to their usual tricks on that one. there was telling signs to box and signs saying nope don't want to do that and it turned out to be the right call for signs then they bring signs in and at the same time they bring LeCler in for the second time because they put him on intermediates and then and then obviously LeClau is very unhappy with that call as he's coming in because he's he as soon as he turns into the corner of the pit lane you see the onboard with his hand on the steering wheel and he's he realizes what's happened because signs is sat in his pit box um yeah it was I guess the only good court they made was keeping them on the hard tides,

but it didn't matter then because they were behind, they lost track positions. So, yeah, I'll give that moment of the race just because fairly significant in the championship fight and Ferrari can't afford to do that, because Red Bull just outfought them. I almost said out-thunk them then. Oh, dear. I would say they did out-thunk them. Let's go without thought.

Yeah, better way. My moment of the race actually comes courtesy of, not from a driver, it comes courtesy of Pete Bonington, because he was given the task. How do I tell Lewis Hamilton where he is without telling him where he is? How do you avoid the term 50 seconds behind the leaders, but also give him enough information that he won't press on it? Very well played, Pete.

very well played that was a difficult one how far am I behind the leaders well so this is the situation I loved it you can imagine him like on the pit

well they don't have a pit wall there in the garage aren't they but like his arm is properly outstretched from the button the radio button like oh I don't want to do this I don't want to do this yeah well on Bono

well played I should have Sam for a moment of the race I forgot to do that should make one up yeah Sam's moment of the race was Patrick Dempsey on the grid. I mean, that does sound like Sam, something Sam might go for. It does actually, yeah.

Maybe that was right. We've got some driver of the days and worst driver of the days coming in from the Discord submissions right after this. Good to see we've got some recurring names, but also some new names for this segment. We'll start with a recurring one. We've got Skyler. this is a very monumental race Perez getting first for the first time at Monaco

and Leclair not crashing for the first time at Monaco Driver of the day is Lecler just because he didn't crash I love the logic Skyna I almost forgot what she was recording for at that point but cheers Scala I love it didn't crash driver of the day fair play

in which case why didn't Latifie get it. I mean, he finished, right? He did crash. Yeah, to be fair, he did crash. We'll go to Cali 17 next. What's going on, late breakers? All the way from across the pond in the States, giving you my best driver of the day. Gotta give it to sausages out for Gazzley. Pierre the man, made the early tire change, getting in the pits very early, went to the Monaco, casinos, took the gamble, made it work. He was cutting through the back of the pack like nothing. Worst driver of the day, I guess you can also go to the casino and flip a coin. For Nicholas, I shouldn't be there. Latifie and Lance, my dad owns a team stroll.

Both crashing in the practice formation laps leading into the race. Also, Lance Stroll almost killing someone in the pit lanes like he always does. It seems to be like every single race this year. so take your bet doesn't like the Canadians it seems are we allowing a tie I mean yeah they both do crash on the same lap

on the opening formation lap so I think that's a fair cool we'll allow it Cali we'll allow it Elm Street Driver of the day Czecho worst driver of the day Sonoda I love it direct to the point

We love the lengthy submissions, but sometimes this is very good for our runtime. So thank you. Thank you for the directness. Another recurring name up next. We've got Hazer, but as you'll find out, it's not just Hazer. Best and worst driver of a day. First of all, Sam, glad to hear your operation went okay. My driver of day has got to be Czechos.

That was really hairy at the end, and I just think he done really well to hold on. I'm delighted for him that he won the race. top top performance. I'm going to hand over to my wife who's going to give me her worst driver a day. Worst driver of the day, as much as I love him, is Danny Rick.

With everything that's gone on, he did nothing. Cheers, guys. That's the second week in the row. We've had someone who just said driver didn't do anything. I think we had a stroll one last week as well.

Solid logic, really, isn't it? I'll argue with it. And thank you. on behalf of Sam for the well wishes. Let's go on to Beth, Brexit, Beth, back at it. Driver of the day for me, has to be Carlos Sines. I cannot believe I'm saying this, purely because once again he decided his own strategy and saved his own race because Ferrari couldn't do a strategy, believe it or not.

Worst driving of the day has to be Ocon. He tries to take Hamilton out multiple times. I thought this guy could drive in the wet, but apparently not. It's only because he's French, isn't it? Beth. Yeah, Brexit, Beth back a day again. Doesn't like the Brits being challenged. She's going to tell me off again, isn't she? Let's go on to right guy.

Monaco Grand Prix, drive through the day. I got to go sausages out for my boy Gasly. He made two on-track overtakes in Monaco in places where you normally don't overtake. Alley, Gasly. Worst driver of the day goes to Mr. Nettella and Nicholas Latifi. He found the wall before he even got started and then said, the car just doesn't turn. I don't know what's going on.

Latifie, that's called understeer bro. You're a racing driver. Figure it out. Well, we've got the title for this episode. That's called Understeer, bro. Got to get a t-shirt with that one. Yeah, that's a new merch opportunity right there. Let's go on to Cheyenne.

Okay, honestly, I'm going to give best drive of the day to the Claire. Yeah, it wasn't that amazing, but he finished for once in Monaco and let's go. But those strategists, am I right? I feel terrible, but I'm going to give worst driver the day to Hammy because he didn't pass Alonzo. And I feel like he could have, but he didn't. And that just sort of held everyone back. but let's go along, so am I right? Poor hammy.

We're never calling of Lewis Hamilton again. Forever hammy. Oh man. MLG has got a, I think this one's about five minutes long, folks. So strap yourselves in. And there we go. Good stuff. Driver of the day, presumably, could be worse driver of the day.

We don't know. That was MLG. Mr. Number. My driver of the day of the Monaco Grand Prix is Sergio Perez, the Mexican Minister of Defense himself, once again proving why he has that nickname. And yeah, there's nothing much more to add. My worst driver of the day, or the worst think of the day, I should say, is the Ferrari pit crew. Because ruining Charlotte Clare's win like that at his home turf,

it broke my heart. It broke not only mine, but the heart of all the fans in the world. All of the fans. Every single one of them. Well, sorry, sorry, Mr. Nunn, that it didn't go your way.

We've got just one more, and it's Card Jam. For Best Driver of the Day, for this very interesting Monaco Grand Prix, as a wise man once said, And for worst driver of the day, there's only one person who can get this, and that is Sir Latifie.

If you find a way to crash on a safety car lap, you should just go straight to jail right away. Seems a bit harsh, but who am I to dispute it? So thank you. Thank you for submitting your driver of the day and worst driver of the day. It's much appreciated. Let's have a look. Well, do we have to? Yeah, I guess we do.

Let's have a look at bold predictions. Harry, your bold prediction, if I remember correctly, was that only 10 drivers would finish, which would have been correct if seven more drivers didn't finish. So we're going to call that one a no. Did Sam say it was going to be a double podium for Merck? that was definitely in his top three I mean it was in mine too

but was that his bold prediction What was Sam's board prediction? No Should I text him? Yeah, just made sure we got that one right And we'll just gloss over my bold prediction Because I said whoever would start 20th We'll get in the points

And that turned out to be Joe Guan Yu And Joe Guan Yu made up four positions admittedly three drivers didn't finish. He gave it a good go though, didn't he? That one into the new Velasher cane where he pooed himself, which I don't blame him. Oh yeah, it wasn't Mercedes one, too, with his population. Nice one, Sam.

Good stuff. I'm willing to say because really here at the late breaking podcast, we're all about effort and not output. So I think that Zhoguan, you did enough to Warren that. one. He put, he gave it a go. He did give it a go. He did give it. Bless him. Bless him. Oh God. Let's, let's have a look at Ferrari because Ferrari managed to produce a magic trick of sorts. They went, here we have a one-two. Now let's see how we can magically turn this into a two-four, which they did with unbelievable style. Carlos Sines. stayed exactly where he was from the start of the Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Charles Leclair,

who managed to turn a first place into a non-podium in fourth. So, Harry, what did you make of the way that Ferrari managed their drivers here? Because you could argue the only reason one of them fared okay was because they ignored the team. This is very true. Chaos, I think is the word for how that strategy went down at Ferrari. and look, I think first of all, it was, I can see what everyone was trying to do. And obviously, some did it, signs be one, Russell being one, I think Alonso did it too, where they went straight from wets to slicks.

Because obviously, we saw with Gassley, it was quicker to be on the intermediates, but if you're stuck behind people, then it's no good. I know Gassi made a few overtakes, but track position is still key. Doesn't matter what tire on at Monaco. So, yeah, that's obviously what they were concerned about. but when Perez went in, I think it was then already too late for them to bring LeCler in because Perez had had the clear track.

The only person you had in front of him, in fact, maybe it wasn't when Perez came in, it was when Norris came in, the lap after Perez and gave Perez that free space. Once that had happened, it was too late. They should not have brought LeCleur in because I remember thinking,

as soon as that had happened, the gap to the Clare was less than a pit stop already from Perez to LeClau. And then Ferrari still brought him in. And no one really picked up a, it or on it on sky commentary but I was sat there going well Perry's is going to jump Lecler here

he's going to jump Leclair and then he did and then obviously Lecler has lost another place and then at that point they got this weird split strategy where they know they both going to have to pit again for dries and then he brought them in on the same lap and it was just chaotic so I think it was

look it was a hard call to make but Red Bull played a blinder by Pittick they were the only real drivers that did the made up places really. I know guys did it as well, but where it really worked for them on that inters because the wetst dry strategy mainly worked. I think

it worked for Alonzo. It worked for Russell. Norris didn't do it, but he kind of stayed where he was anyway. So yeah, it was just slightly chaotic from Ferrari, and I think it showed, we've seen it before where Red Bull are so on top of their strategy, and they have already said the word, but outthought them, or out-thunk

them today. So yeah, I've said this really, they can't afford to do that again. But yeah, they just kind of shot themselves in the foot. I think once the Perez pit stop had happened, the horse had already bolted from that stable. I think then they should have just left Lecler and signs on that same strategy

and tried to keep them going to drives. And obviously the only reason they left signs out is because he argued back. And then maybe that's another thing for Leclai. He's got to argue back because he obviously just followed what they said, and it really didn't work out for him because he was on, I think, the slightly slower strategy

and then got stuck behind his teammate in the pits. So chaos from Ferrari. I think if they have too many more races like that, then the championship's not going to go their way. So they can't afford to keep doing that. But it was, as I already said, it was good to see them back in usual Ferrari strategic form. It was good, good stuff.

Oh, ladies and gents. I've been waiting for this all year. Oh, I've been waiting for this all year. I told you it was coming. I told you it was coming. People wonder why I don't have the faith in Ferrari to go ahead and beat one of these top teams in a straight fight when it comes to strategy. This is it. This is what the whole season has been building towards a catastrophe of epic proportions from Ferrari. And the only thing they can be happy about is the fact that no other team was close enough in order for them to take advantage as well. And they've only lost. theoretically, a one-two, and it's turned into a two-four rather than anything worse than that. But this was poor. There were two options. Pit early for inters or don't pit for inters. They did neither. They pit late for inters. That was the one option you couldn't go for. Exactly. Thank you very much for Nkai on that one.

come on now Ferrari come on Pierre Gazley pit very early on and immediately it presented itself as an opportunity for the frontrunners I understand they would have been behind some cars but I think they could have made it work ultimately Gasley did catch up to some he struggled to get past Ricardo and Joe before that but he did make it work and ultimately, Ghazly started 17th and he finished 12th, which I believe at five positions was the most anyone made up in the Grand Prix. So it worked. Pitting early worked for Gasly. And that was an option for Ferrari and Red Bull to at least split the strategies. They could have gone in that direction because ultimately the pace was there in the inters pretty much from the off. Gasly, I think in his first true lap was seven tenths behind Shao Leclair,

which, when you think about it, seven temps for an alpha tower behind a Ferrari is what you would have expected when there were no tie differences at all. So if they were quick on the inters, literally from lap one, there was the opportunity to make something work there. And ultimately, even though Sergio Perez didn't do that, he still, he went earlier than everyone else did when it came to the frontrunners of Vastappen and Leclair, which was enough. in order for him to claim the win. So even though he didn't go early, he went earlier, which was enough.

And ultimately, the other option was, don't pit at all and wait for the dries. And it became increasingly evident that we were getting very, very close to that mark. Leclair was out there on intermediate tyres for a grand total of three laps, three laps before he had to come back in and change to drys.

it's not as if this was 10 laps out, in which case I can maybe understand that a bit more. And ultimately, it was right there in front of them. They could see, and you're right as well. It's not as if pinning for interns was going to work because of what Perez was doing. So I really cannot understand how they managed to get to that decision. Carlos Seind was correct in overriding the team, so well done to him. Charlotte Clare, I think you make a good point. maybe he needs to do something similar.

I could understand it a bit more when he was more inexperienced than actually we saw it when Vettel was his teammate. I remember a couple of occasions where Vettel overrode the team, overrode. It's so good with the words tonight. Is that a word? Let us know, folks.

Hungary, I think it was, where Vettel managed to make that call and he ended up benefiting a lot a couple of years ago. But you could understand, at that point because Vettel was much more experienced than LeCleur was, maybe not in terms of pace, but in terms of experience, very much a second driver. Now it's a bit more of an even keel. Maybe LeClaire needs to be a bit more forceful about what he wants to do with his race.

But this was a bit of a disaster from Ferrari. Am I surprised? Nope. Yeah, they, they ballsed it up, didn't they? I mean, that's a, they, they, they, they look back at how the race went, the comfortable one-two to a two-four. Some good stats. And it's difficult to keep a one-two at Monaco.

So many opportunities to overtake. It's easily done. Sorry, for a moment. Someone on Twitter just now pointed out that the almost prioritising signs they were at Clare, which I'm not saying they necessarily did, but it's what it looks like

in the end. It's like when they prioritised giving Kimmy Reichen in the toe at Monza. even though he was out the door and Vettel was getting the, was in the championship fight. So that's good to see. It's good to see, guys. That's a nice throwback.

Speaking of catastrophes, you'll be delighted to know I'm done with Ferrari now, but there's another organization beginning with F that we're not quite done with. And it's in A. We're going to be talking about the start of this race right after this. Harry, as you know, this race did not manage to get all the laps in. We didn't go racing until just over an hour after it was due to start. Explain. Right.

Future Harry, I want to say future Harry is about an hour from now. You need a bleep on this. What the actual... You just create a work for yourself. I love it. But it's deserved because what on earth? What on earth? Right.

There's two major points on this... on this, and on this whole shambles. The first one, why we had a delayed start? Because that initial, if it was a downpour, so I was trying to think back

when we've had this before, and the one that sprung to mind was quite a while ago now, but Brazil 08, they're on the grid, and this is like a championship finale with Hamilton and Massa, massive downpour,

and they delayed the start because it was humongous downpour and they had to change, had to change, or had to change tires. get that. But this was spitting. And if you go back,

I think Sean Kelly, the F on Statman, he did a tweet of the tire choices prior to that delay start because some were not convinced it would be wet enough and some were convinced. And that would have been

amazing because obviously he did get wet enough and it would have really shaken up the order. So why we had that delay start because it was a bit chaotic for the mechanics. These lot,

they are the pinnacle of motorsport. They are highly trained. let them sort themselves out because they would have been fine. I know it's a bit difficult in Monaco because it's not as narrow. It's not easy to get to the grid because the way the pit lane is, it's back to front. But so what? Like, come on. Anyway, so delayed start.

And then they're saying it's because they're monitoring this weatherfront. But by the time we got going, the weatherfront had got in and we had to red flag. We didn't get going to a quarter past. So we could have had 15 minutes. And I totally agree that red flag that when they brought it out, was a right call because it was it was soaking by that point but we could have got to that point anyway we could have been there whilst we were racing so I look I get there's a safety point here but we we if we got going at that first when we were supposed to get going

what is the point in a wet tire I mean again I don't want to be crass about safety because obviously we didn't want to see massive. crashes and even when it was drive, we saw a massive one today will look quite big for mixture of Macca. But what is the point in that in Pirelli bringing along a wet tie? Because when we got going again, it was intermediate, it's almost straight away because that's why Gazley and Co. came in within a lap or so. So what are we doing this? What's the point in bringing along? If we want to be, you know, more conservative when it comes to how far we go around the world, how many times in terms of the environment, then why are we wasting rubber

bringing along wet tires? If they're not. never really use for anything. I know we did use them, but they were, they were pointless in the end. I think in any other racetrack, they'd have got rid of them within, all of them got rid of those in a lap. So, yeah, I just, that was a shambles. It was like a bit of rain. And the FI. just went into meltdown. And it's concerning, because I know we've got new race directors, but we've got people like, Herbie Blash, he's back on the, on the stewarding panel now, been brought out of retirement, bless him. I don't know if there's, because I heard there were, comments about conflicts within the

student room about how we should restart the race and that makes me, that makes me worried because that feels like we've got Herbie Blash I'm not saying this is who it is, but it feels that we've got the experienced guy and then the new guys and their butting heads and that is not how this needs to go down because otherwise we'll never get a race and I think like I said I'm fine with the red flag

but the way a race has to restart just takes so long. It takes far too long. And, you know, and this is not necessarily coming on the FIA, but we're in a world where attention spans are short, especially in this new Netflix era of Formula One, when episodes are condensed into 45 minutes. People aren't going to stick around for 45 minutes

watching Lewis Hamilton under a gazebo. It's not going to happen. So that just needs to be sorted. I know it shouldn't all be for the show, but in this case, I think it has to be. I could go on about the start. I'll move on because he need 500 time, guys. The second one was we cut to Mick Schumacher heavily into the,

I mean heavily into the tech pro. It looks worse than it is because, you know, the rear end is designed to come off these days. I've seen a lot of comments on Twitter about how that's not supposed to happen, but it is. But it looks pretty heavy. The tech pro is done. And they throw a VSC.

What are you doing? What are you doing? and I want to save some random to bed. But I was there going, why is it a VSC? It should at least be a safety car. I think immediately should have been a red because that's what we ended up in the end anyway because it was clear even from the outside

without being next to the tech pro, that that was going to take a bit of time to put that back into place. You'd go in heavy and damage that tech pro barrier. So it was going to take longer than a safety car period to get it done. So why didn't we go red straight? I mean, I understand going safety car,

but why not really red straight away? but FSC? What? Who looks that? The rear end of the car is off off the car, off the chassis and someone goes, I think that's only a VSC.

I think that's just a virtual. I think we'll get this one cleared up in a couple of minutes. Honestly, I think we're getting worse, FIA. I mean, I don't know what to suggest. The changes have been made.

There's no longer Michael Massey, but it's a shambles. Today was a shambles. and now I hand over to Ben. To be honest, it might be a short rant from me because I agree entirely with everything you just said. I just want to, one thing I want to add in particular here, I just want to simulate a potential situation

and let me know if you think that this would ever, ever happen. All right, let's pick Max. Max just happened. Max must happen. All right. Box, box, Max, box, box. We're going to go onto the dry tires. We're on the intermediate tires right now. We're going to go on to the dry tires. Why? It's still raining. Yeah, but it's going to be dry in 15 minutes time. So let's go on to dries now. Yeah, but it's, it's raining now. So I still need the intermediate tires. Yeah, but we'll go on the dry tires

now because that will be right in 15 minutes. The point I'm trying to make here is that the FIA tried to delay this because of a downpour that was coming 15 minutes in the future. Great. Race until it comes then. Then throw the red flag. I've got absolutely no problem with them throwing the red flag when they did. I think that was absolutely fine. It was pretty bad out there in terms of standing water.

So that part of it is pretty much the only part I don't have an issue with. But you at least race until you. get to that point. And we know, as having seen multiple wet races, what helps more than anything else when it comes to wet races in terms of getting racing? It's cars going around the track, right? Even if it's behind a safety car, even if it's, I'm not saying the red flag wouldn't have been thrown. It definitely would have been. But when you've got cars going, 20 cars going around this relatively short circuit consistently, you're going to move that standing water. at least to an extent.

So I reckon that red flag probably still would have come out, but would have come out slightly later, because, you know, it's crazy. As soon as you get going, that's the point where that standing water starts to get removed. So the delayed start for me was bonkers, and you're right, they have to find a more efficient way to deal with this.

And you're right as well on the wet tire situation. If you've got a situation, the wet tire exists for, a reason, let it do that reason. Ultimately, by the time everyone went racing again, it was far too delayed because even though they didn't, and you're right, they would have done it any other circuit, any other circuit that'd have all come in for inters pretty much the lap after the safety car went in. So there shouldn't be a situation where you've waited so long that intermediate tires are the correct tire straight away. It should be that transition from wet to enter.

appreciate that's actually what happened but it's only because of the nature of the circuit otherwise everyone's on intermediate strays away and in terms of the via I said exactly the same thing I'll tell you what I did as soon as that VSC was called firstly I went I'm not going to swear because you've already created

one bleak for yourself but I thought it was utterly ridiculous I went immediately to the timing tower because I wanted to see exactly who under VSC and safety car both of them who's going to pit because I was ready to lamb bust anyone who pit under that VSC and safety car. Why? Because it was so bleeding obvious that it was going to be a red flag.

The only thing is the FIA took 10 minutes to work it out themselves. I knew straight away that is a red flag. And then they waited and they waited. It was the, apparently it was the day for waiting. And finally they made the decision. So I knew that anyone who pits is. is going to screw themselves basically because they're going to be on, they have a free choice of tire at a red flag.

They were, all the teams were clever enough to know that, hey, this is going to be a red flag. It seems as if everyone caught on one after the other that this was going to be a red flag. And the last person was the race director who managed to them throw it. This was never, VSC.

The BASC is like a bit of deadbread, like a tight, like an end plate that was on the racing line. someone can run out and get it. That's what a VSC is for, not when Mitch Mack has gone flying into the barriers and his rear end is not attached to his car anymore. Barriers like five metres away from where it should be. Looks good to me, boss. What are you doing? Oh, I actually don't really have much more to add because I kind of just agreed with everything

you said. This was a shambles. Imagine, and I don't want to sound like an old fuddy-duddy on this one, but I'm going to imagine if we had that sort of, going back to the start again, that sort of procedure, if you want to call it that, at the 2007 European GP, famous, because Marcus had been caught on, and pitted for wet tires and it threw it down, and he led the race.

We would never have never, we would never have that today if this is how this is going to go down because they'd have seen the weather coming in and they'll say, well, no, we're not going to do it until it dries up. Well, what is the point? So from a show point of view, I think there's some, Liberty and FIA have to work in,

or Formula One management and FIA, they work in unison. But I think there's something to be done there because F4 management have done a lot of work to improve the viewership of F1, and I think they have. And they brought these other fans in, but like I said,

no one's going to sit and watch. I love F1, but I got up and did a lot. couple of other things whilst we were under the red flag because I don't need to watch F1 drivers sat under gazebos or is it I just thought is gazebo a British niche reference or is it worldwide? Good question. The tenty things they put over the car's called if you don't understand what we're talking about firstly that's probably a good sign but secondly let us know because we'd like to know what it's actually referred to let us know if you know

what a gazebo is. Anyway, rant over FIA. Frederick. Frederick Ian Anderson. Sordid out. Well, that was cathartic. We've got one more topic before we end this one, right after this. One thing that's been going on in the F1 news pretty much since the Spanish Grand Prix is Lano Norris and his tonsilitis. We didn't know at the time of the Spanish Grand Prix what it was exactly, but we knew he was unwell, had a good race result, has been struggling with tonsillitis a week, still struggling this weekend, but again, has been able to produce a pretty good result well in the points. Do you think he should have been allowed to race, or do you think that there should be something a bit more formalised in terms of a minimum health threshold in order

to take the start of a Grand Prix? I think he was fine today to race. I think he was fine today, to race. and we've seen interviews with him over the weekend. Look, I've never had it, touchwood, but tons of light as is pretty nasty to have. So, but yeah, I think it was fine today for this weekend. I feel like he's maybe over the worst of it. But for last weekend, and I feel like this could be another FIA rant,

but I feel like this is something where the FIA need to step in. They've got these amazing doctors on site. And I feel like they should, you know, step in at some point, point when it gets too bad. And last weekend is where I think I have the issue more. And we didn't really know too much about it. It was initially hay fever. And then by the time we got to race date, it turned out that he was actually really

unwell. And so unwell that at the end of the race, he couldn't even, you know, he just clicks the button on his steering wheel because he felt so rubbish. And obviously it really hurts your throat, so he don't want to talk. So he couldn't talk to his engineer. And I think, you know, whilst he, he obviously made it through, you're playing with fire a little bit on that one. because if it's something else,

you know, some other illness you have where it makes you drowsy or dizzy or something like that, something where there's a risk where under the extreme forces that they're under and it's hot, it was really hot in Spain last weekend, where a driver could pass out because then it becomes a risk not just to the driver, but then to the other drivers on track or spectators or marshals because the car could just fly off if the driver's not conscious.

So I think there needs to be a review of this. and I'm not, excuse me, I'm not, I don't want to get to, you know, cotton wool or bubble wrap with our F1 drivers because I think there's at some point, you know, they have a choice they want to race, they race. But I think there's got to be a point where the FIA might, should have to step in and say, look, you're on well. I don't know if it's true because I thought I heard that he asked that Brown not to race

and Zach said, you're racing. I don't know how true that is, so I don't want to. don't want to comment on that. But I think that sort of attitude, if a driver's feeling that unwell, then I think the FIA have to step in and be like, no, you're a flight risk here.

You're not racing. So, yeah, I think there needs to be some procedure on that one because, you know, it's never happened, really,

where a driver's been that unwell, but they've caused a massive crash. But it could happen. And in the interest of safety, I think that they should be, there should be some procedure in place to stop a driver if he's at on well or she's that on what I should say. I think it's very easy to look at the last two Grand Prix

and to say immediately what's the issue here because Lando Norris had a very good finish in Spain. He had a very good finish today in Monaco. But it's easy to say that after the fact. It's easy to look at the results and say, what's the issue? Why are you even talking about this? But you don't know how it's going to go until it goes,

if that makes sense. you know, what if we were to be sitting here and Landon Norris has had a massive crash individually or with someone else because of his weakened state, then ultimately that does become a talking point. I do think that there should be some sort of, I'm not quite sure how to refer to it. There needs to be some sort of check, probably done by the FIA, to suggest whether a driver should go racing or not. And I agree with you, we don't want to get too far extreme the other way in terms of he sneezed twice, he's not racing

anymore, there needs to be some common sense with this, but ultimately if a driver is that unwell that they have apparently slept eight hours in the last week, if a driver honestly, if a driver's that unwell, that they

don't want to do media commitments, my opinion is that if they're not well enough to do media commitments where they're sat there answering questions, they're not well enough to drive a car at 200, hundred miles an hour. That's my view. One is more dangerous than the other. And ultimately, you're not just a risk to yourself. You are a risk to all the other drivers on the track. You do have a duty in that respect. And actually, I think the drivers do need to be somewhat saved from

themselves because given the opportunity, pretty much every driver is going to go out there and race, unless they are that unwell that they are asking for it. But in most situations, they're going to want to power through because they know what's going to happen if they don't compete. They're going to lose out on X amount of points. They're going to lose that rhythm weeks a week. They don't want to lose out on that. So they need to be saved from themselves somewhat in that situation. And really, at that point, it should fall on the team.

But ultimately, the team might well have the same opinion as the driver in that they don't want to lose out on points either. They've got everything to fight for. So maybe at that point you do then head to the FIA who do step in and suggest, look, this is the guideline to race. Your driver does not meet that. They cannot race. I'm sure there are going to be a few listening to this and say that we're being far too extreme about this. And to be honest, I'm coming at it more from the point of a general rule rather than just looking at the Lando Norris situation. I can't really say too much whether Lando Norris should or should not have raced because there aren't those checks or at least there aren't those visible checks

in place at the moment. But ultimately if they are put in place, then we can come to a decision as to whether they should go ahead or not. What I will say is a driver having eight hours of sleep in like five days, as I think it was, that feels like a risk to me. And I appreciate motorsport is a risk fundamentally, but there has to be a cap on that risk. Feels extreme.

Interested to know people's thoughts on this one, though. Yeah, it is an interesting one. I think it needs to be, I think, and again, emphasizing, if they have a sniffle, we're not saying, don't race it, we've got a bit of a cold. But I think for the illnesses that, like Ben says, you can't do immediate commitments because you feel, that and well. It should be treated as the same as a physical injury, shouldn't it? Because when

Alonzo had his massive shunt in Australia a few years ago, I think he broke a couple of ribs and he wanted a race in the next race and they said, no, because you've broken two ribs, Alonzo, Fernando, you're not racing, so that's why they got Van Dorn in. So I think you need to look at it from that same point of view. I think, you know, if you're in a state where you're not able to drive the car, well, not that you're not able to drive the car because they can, but we're you shouldn't, whereas a danger to yourself potentially, then you shouldn't be able to drive. Well, what would Sam say about that? Should we put in a Sam comment? Sam would say...

It's like an as to pizza, really, isn't it? It's something about as to pizza, yeah, as well I was literally about to say. Yeah, I was trying to think of something related to as to pizzas, but it's like an azda pizza. Sometimes you can see the injury like the ribs of Alonzo, which is the cheese of the pizza, but sometimes it's the tomato that's underneath. Sometimes that's hidden. Hidden, yeah. Like a stuffed crust.

Hidden inside. He's going to be so proud of us. Oh, I really hope he's listening this far. I bet he won't, but Sam, if you listen this far, text us. We'll let you know on Wednesday this week, folks, whether he did. I mean, Sam definitely stopped listening like after minute three. Okay. So we don't have a race next week, but we will be here for a non-race episode.

And then in two weeks time, we've got the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. So it would be preview and review of that one. I'm sure that will be nice and straightforward, no carnage at all when it comes to Baku. What do I do now? How do we do this bit? Hang on a minute. I never disband. I remember, what does he say?

things about the Discord. Yeah, we've got Discord. That's one thing we have. Join that one. Yeah, that's number one, tick off. We're down with the kids. We've got TikTok. Yeah, TikTok.

Yeah, down with the kids. We have a Patreon. Oh, yeah. Give us money because we don't have any. If you want, I want some ad-free podcasts. Add-free podcasts. Yeah, absolutely. Good one.

We've got merch. We do. If you want merch, we'll send it to you. In description. You'll have to pay a bit for it, but. we'll do it Twitter at Lbreaking we tweet sometimes

sometimes we're funny not that often but give it a go you can follow Instagram if you want you know we're on there as well yeah do that yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah that's good idea a late breaking podcast that one I think I mean that that went smoothly what an outro God how many more of those are we got to do Sam please come back please come back we are utterly lost this is

it, this is the end. I've been Ben Hocking. He's been Harry Ead. Keep breaking late.