The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Saudi Arabian GP Review

Episode Date: March 27, 2022

The LB boys review Round 2 of the season, after a dramatic weekend in Jeddah. Did they get their bold predictions right? And who was their 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Reviewing today the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix at Jeddah, Sam Sage, Harriid and me Ben Hocking along for this one. And I'm just going to start off by saying, I think we should just call the season here. I know that sounds crazy, but after two races, I think we should just end it. Yeah, you had enough already? Yeah. This is absolutely nothing to do with the fact that now George Russell is beating Lewis Hamilton, making my prediction correct.

That's nothing to do with this. I think you should just end it now. Oh, good. Yeah. That's for 2020 season. Thanks for turning out. We'll see you in one year's time. Bye.

Cheers. I am just kidding. We're not going anywhere. And we've got far too much to get through today anyway because it was another drama-packed weekend. I was going to say race, but I think weekend would cover it a bit better. But specifically looking at the race,

we'll kick off with that because Max Verstappen won. It was another duel between him and Charles Leclair, this time going in the favour of the Red Bull driver. But it didn't look that way for a lot of the race. Of course, Sergio Perez led early on, undone by the safety car that came out as a result of the crash of Nicholas Latifi. And then it was Vestappen versus the Claire all the way to the flag, a very close finish between the two of them.

But as I said, it was Max Vestappen out in front. And it seemed as if there was a massive tactical battle, as well as it just being a pure racing battle between the two drivers. So Sam, we'll kick off with that line of questioning. Is Vestappen evolving as a driver, do you think, to be more patient and tactical. And does that sort of come with the territory, with these new cars allowing that a bit more?

I absolutely love the intelligence level that we see from these Formula One drivers sometimes. There's a tactical level that goes on behind the visor while they're driving around 200 miles an hour with walls less than half a meter away from them is mind blowing because I sometimes struggle to remember whether I'm putting the milk back in the fridge after making a cup of tea or if I've still got the tea bag on my spoon.

So the fact that they could do that so well at such high speeds is phenomenal. And we've seen this type of battle in previous races beforehand. You know, the likes of Fernando Alonksa and Lewis Hamilton, when they've gone wheel to wheel and they've come up to a DRS line. We've seen them hit the brakes one after and others to try and be the ones to steal DRS away on the next straight. It's such an advantage when it does work properly. And here it was a really potent force.

So, Sherlock Clare proved at Bahrain last weekend that being smart behind, the wheel really, really works. We've said this before. Again, Fernando Alonso, we always often see him as one of the smartest drivers behind the wheel. When we were in Zangvort last season, driving right around the outside or the bank corner and everyone driving around the inside, even though we've known for the whole weekend and that was the fastest line. It was obvious, but Fernando Alonkso, the only man to do it then.

In Bahrain last week, Charlotte Clare, cleverly managed the breaking zone into turn one, managed to steal back first place every single time from the Stappen due to where the DRS placement was. Brilliant thinking there. and it looks like it's clicked there for the Stappen. The first time when they were wheel to wheel going into that DRS zone across the DRS detection line, LeCler, yes, he didn't get the braking right.

The Stappen technically picked up DRS, but because of how he managed the wheel-to-wheel combat, the exit of the corner, he had such an advantage. And then it comes in and comes around round two, the Stappen absolutely nails it. He really delivered the... We're going to talk about the other factors in the race that brought him back into that battle.

But when it comes to Wheel to Wheel to Racing, when it came to getting the advantage on track. I think we saw Vastappen almost level up on the track here today. He really brought the action that we've seen LeCler deliver, we've seen Hamilton deliver, we've seen Aloncso deliver. All the greatest drivers have this other element to their racing ability. It isn't just raw pace. You've got to be able to deliver the intelligent sign of it as well.

And I think Vastappan really did go above and beyond. He really demonstrated that something that I don't think I've properly seen from Vostappen here. He was playing the game on all fields, not just. outright raw ability and pace. So yeah, I was impressed, and it paid off for him. He got the wing over LeClaire. Harry, do you think we're seeing an evolution of Verstappen as a racing driver?

Yeah, I think last year with Hamilton, he often just absolutely sent it, and it was a different... I think what's contributing here as well, so these cars are, as we've seen for the second race now, you can fight back. It's not all over once you've been overtaken, because you can stay behind them

and then fight back on the next opportunity. So I think that's having to make these drivers think a bit more. Whereas last year just happened often if you did send a move on Hamilton, more often than that Hamilton then couldn't get past because of turban and air and all the rest of it.

So yeah, I think that's a factor here. But yeah, it's evident to see and it's a joy to watch. I tell you what, DRS chicken is my new favourite game because I love them like. I love they almost, we saw it last didn't we when Vestappen was trying to give the place back to Hamilton and obviously it didn't end well

but yeah this was that was amazing um but yeah it's it's really interesting to watch because obviously that first time round first movie made he it was Vestappen just sending it he but he the move up you know opened up he went for it and you know wasn't going to wait obviously that didn't pay off because Lecler came back at him on the main straight so obviously then you can see that he then thought about it we had the game of DRS chicken which again didn't quite work out and then in the third attempt he got it nailed

so yeah it's really interesting to see and maybe it's Lecler is a factor in this as well because I think Lecler is proving his racing IQ is big he's got some big IQ on him does Charlotte Claire because he's 5D chess

yeah playing that 5D chess you can see he really thinks about it and it's making for staff and think about it too yeah I would agree with what you both said there, I think Vestappen is evolving as a driver, but he is being forced into it, which I think is a good thing for him and indeed the sport, because it is the cars, it is the competition that's forcing it to be that way. Vestappen was blindly quick last year. He put together one of the greatest recent seasons I think we've seen, and he was on pace every time he went out there

in a racing car. We saw only a couple of times all season where he wasn't in, he was in, he. He was in, either first or second place. And he got there as a result of blistering pace, but he had to. Every time he had an opportunity to send it, every time he had the opportunity to go up the inside of Hamilton, or indeed another driver, he took advantage of that straight away with no questions asked,

because there was that feeling of if you don't get the move done there and then, are you going to get another opportunity? If you're 20 laps from the end of the Grand Prix and you don't choose to go up the inside, you know, should you just, should you actually just wait back, give it another go at a better opportunity. Now these opportunities are more commonplace, at least through the first couple of races of this year, where, okay, the first time around, it doesn't work out, but you can fight back. And we've seen that Charler-Claire

has been willingly giving up the race lead momentarily in order to then get it back because he has confidence that he can make the move back later on in the lap or indeed at the start of the next lap as we saw today. And it is fascinating to see. And it's, it's a good early indication for these cars and this new era of F1. I'm not saying it's, it's there. It's still got some work to do. And DRS is still pretty important for most of these moves. But to at least see these battles extend further than one corner, it's brilliant to see. And you're right in saying that uh chau lecler's high IQ is playing into this um high racing IQ Lecler would be his nickname if he wasn't already god leclerc maybe tactical god lecler should be should be factored in here um because two

races in a row he has forced that out of max fastappen the first time around it was the cler that held the advantage throughout second time around max fastappen wised up he didn't throw a move where contact might well happen. He waited. Even though it was late in the Grand Prix, he waited. And ultimately, yeah, he made the move stick. I will also say that with this race track, and we will get on to the suitability of Jenna later on in this podcast, but I will say one thing, and that is that it allowed for two very different setups to work alongside each other. So Red Bull and Ferrari went completely different directions with the setup this weekend. Red Bull much more focused on top speed in the third sector as Vastappen played to his advantage.

Leclair and Ferrari going much more in the first two sectors. And both were viable. Both worked. And ultimately it was always the case where if Vastappen could get close enough through those first two sectors, he was always going to have an opportunity. But he learned. He learned lap on lap. The first time around, you know, Leclair played him like a fiddle.

He was able to, he practically broke to a standstill. to allow Vestappen to get passed, and that worked out for Leclair. Second time around, again, Leclair was wise enough to know that Vestappen has probably learned something over this last lap. He couldn't do the same thing again, so he kind of goaded him into the move,

but then just bolted away around the outside. Again, not giving Vestappen that advantage. Ultimately, though, Vestappen did learn, and he did get that move done. I think it was a fascinating race between two brilliant drivers, and if we've got more of this to come throughout the season, Count me interested is all I will say on that one.

Hell yes. I'm going to take back what I said about the rate of the season finishing after two Grand Prix. Even if it means my prediction goes down the drain, I want to see more of it. Can we also just bring up the fact that Harry's created a brand new childhood game called DRS Chicken? I would like to see children. Well, I don't want to see children in the playground personally, but I'd like to see kids enjoying themselves. Christ.

With, you know, a bit of cardboard above their edge as like a... You run with it down, and then the moment the person turns around, you flip your DRS chicken cardboard up. That could be a great child again. I sense a piece of a lot of John's way here. It was bad enough as it was, Harry. We don't need merch on it. Would you like a cartoon chicken with a DRS on it?

I will get it out of the door immediately. I know this is probably going to be a reference at some point anyway. I just want to put it out of people listening. We are recording this now, but as we speak, the entire last two laps were under investigation, so all of this could be irrelevant. This could be wrong. Sorry.

Which drivers? Which drivers are a new investigation? No, no, no. The laps. They were gaudy, gaudy boys. Lap 49 has been summoned to the stilis. It's Wookie Harlow got the flag again. Oh, dear.

Yeah, as you're listening to this, I was bad to say there's probably been a conclusion, but who knows, there might not be, given the usual speed of the FIA. Maybe Frederick's working over time and he has got this decision made in time. Not too short. Come on, Freddie. So even with Vastappan taking the victory, of course, the DNF in the first race of the season

means that Charles LeClaire still sits first place in the driver's championship. It's still early doors, Sam, but has Charles LeClaire done enough for you to convince you that he can take it to Vastappen? He is amongst that elite of F1. Oh, 100%. I think if we're going to see this level of ability between the Clare and Bastappen, almost like we saw with Hamilton of Bastapen

for the whole of the last season, but for the whole of this season. Firstly, the Stappling will be exhausted. The poor man has had to put up a fight every single race for about two years straight at this point, if it's going to carry on in this manner. But secondly, that's what we want to see. I want to see two different constructors

wheel to wheel every single race. And obviously every single race has a different layout, different abilities will shine through, different setups will prosper, different perks of each car are going to succeed over one another. For example, we saw the difference here when it comes to Jedder in comparison to Bahrain. Of course, the cars were close in Bahrain, but you would argue that the aerodynamic prowess allowed for Red Bull to really show off a bit more what was going through those high-speed corners

are where Red Bull really show off well. And it came true here. The setup that they were working on as well was fantastic. So when we go to Melbourne next in two weeks time, it's going to be different again and I feel like it's going to be a mystery as to what the fastest car is going to be and I love that. I absolutely love that. Now if you look at Charlotte-Clau's performance in the last few races, it's coming away with two fastest laps in both races. Great. That shows real pace, real ability and it's coming away with a wing and the second place. Now, if you were to compare that to what Max Verstappen was doing last season, technically, you say it's pretty much on track, right, to challenge for a world championship. And I think Charlotte-Clair has got the same level

abilities for Stauffin to challenge for a whole season and get the job done. So, So keep it up. If the Ferrari boys could keep going as well, we can see the strategy being employed. That dummy switch that they managed could do on Perez worked an absolute charm. Of course, the safety car then came out. I'm not going to take that into my conclusion of that move. But it looked like Perez was going to be stuck behind Russell for at least a lap or two, which we're going to allow Cher to, I can't miss speak, they allowed Charler to do the overcut. And so, tactically, it looks like Ferrari are wronging.

I can't believe I'm saying it after last year, but it looks like they are the leaguers of pit stops and tactical prowess. So yeah, I do think that LeCler, Ferrari, Sykes backing him up, and that's already ominous for science if we're saying that science is backing someone up after race two, but we'll get onto that in a minute. I think LeCler could be a title challenger

for the whole season, and if it's going to be that way, less than a race win between him for the whole season, this is a season that I can't wait to watch. Give me a few races on the tactical prowess bit. It's building. It's building to a colossal mess up. I can feel it in my bones.

It's coming. But you're right. I mean, that dummy switch. They've been practicing that all winter, haven't they? Great acting there. The last decade. We can pretend that we're going into the pits. Here we go, guys.

Now's the time. 2012 we started this practice. Go. And it actually worked. To be fair, I bet some of the mechanics were still there like, why does you not come in? What's happened? Where is he?

They actually just, stood there until Carlos came in through the safety car. I was like, okay, maybe it was just an early call. That's our slow pits come, right? Exactly, yeah. It's the Nissan Black Friday event where you can... Wait, wait. Isn't it like a month long now?

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apply what's your thoughts on chau-laclair harry do you think that he can take it to max for for stopping for the duration of this season if indeed the car holds up yeah i think obviously depending on the car i definitely do and i think we've seen in the we've seen glimpses of this battle brewing that you well years ago now i guess you know, 2019 when the Ferrari versus Red Bull back then in Charles's first year at Ferrari. And I think it's showing now that, you know, Shal is, you know, they've been out this for years. They've been out of it since Carting. I mean, that clip of them from Carting is going to be brought out every 30 seconds this year, isn't it?

But never mind. Yeah, I totally think, I totally think LeCler is capable of bringing up, bringing up, bringing the game to Vestappen because you know I think we've always secretly known maybe last year was a bit of a bit of a duff year for him but we've always secretly known that he's up there with

with Vastappan's pace and the pace of the top drivers so yeah it's a tantalizing prospect isn't it and I think you know in the same way the Vestappan and Hamilton brought their games up you know brought their levels up last year and they were far in away the quickest two people in the field

but I got a feeling we could see the same this year because that latter stage of the race, Vastappan and Leclair were just clear of signs and Perez by a long way, even if they weren't at the start. So, yeah, if it's 21 more races of that, boom, sign me up. I'm, I am interested. There is a lot of interest here at the late breaking F1 podcast

for what might happen this season. Yeah, I, I think Leclair, I mean, I gave him the moniker of God Leclair, so naturally I think he's pretty good. And I think he can compete with Vestappen throughout this year. Again, it's car dependent, as everything is in Formula One. But ability-wise, they're both fantastic. And I actually think it is somewhat of a blessing in disguise here that Vestappen has won this race. Obviously, Leclair would have wanted those extra points, needless to say.

but I actually think this sort of setback early in the year is not the worst thing in the world for Shao LeCla, because after what happened at the first race of the year at Bahrain, obviously it was the perfect weekend for him. He came out on top in the battle against Vastappen. This should serve as a gentle reminder, or even more than gentle of a reminder, that Vastappen is pretty good and he is going to come out on top in a lot of race weekends. that's unavoidable. It should just act as a reminder that even with Leclair at his A game, you know, being very intelligent with the way that he's defending.

Sometimes it isn't going to be enough and he needs to dig down deep and ensure that he is producing that A plus performance every weekend because we know that's what Vestappen will do. So this should act as a pretty stark reminder that that is the case. Looking at the other side of the Ferrari garage, Carlos Sines, similar performance to Bahrain, you'd have to say, where he just wasn't on the pace of Charles Leclair. He has ended up on the podium for the second race in a row,

which is something. He's picking up the points, but in terms of pace, it's not quite there versus Lecler at the moment. Harry, what does he have to do? Can he do anything about this? Got to get faster, mate. Sorry, Carlos. He's on to something here.

Yeah, I mean, you can see it in Carlos' demeanour. I think this weekend was a better weekend for him, than it was in Bahrain, but it's still not enough. And I think you can see on his face that he's, I think he's concerned that he needs to step up his game even more if he wants to match Lecler and Vestappen. As I just mentioned, I think, those two are bringing their levels up a notch, and the rest need to try and follow on. So it's early days.

Signs has proven that he can beat Lecler, or at least be on the pace of Lecler. He's just going to really dig deep because, he's up against two very impressive drivers. So it does sound ridiculous. I know I was joking saying going faster, but he's just got to find a bit more pace, especially in the race. I think qualifying, he's getting close,

almost beating Lecler. I think it's race pace where he's struggling at the moment. So that's obviously got to be his main focus. But yeah, even after we had the safety car, he didn't even look like he was going to challenge Lecler and Vestappen. So he's just got to find a bit of a bit. more race pace. Sam, can he find that extra race pace? I'm a little worried for Carlos Sikes. I've been

someone that is really champion Sikes that's really complimented him and said that he can go on to achieve some really big things in Formula One. And this is crazy to say this as someone who is 27 years old. But Carlos Sikes, who is, I think pretty much the same way as I am and far more successful in anything in life that I've ever tried to do is... No, no, no. What, you know, just, just buries me. He doesn't have a podcast, Sam. Well, if he's someone up tomorrow, it might get more down there, who knows. My point being here is that Formula One drivers get younger and younger by the year.

Look at where LeCler came in, look at where Norris came in. Look at where Scott came in. Hang on the second. That makes it sound like the de-aging. Let's take his point. I know what he's saying. You know what I mean. Jesus, can't speak to them.

Like bending and button Yes, in 10 years time They're all going to be 11 years old The point here is That these drivers are of incredible talent Are coming through With so much of their career ahead of them Whereas it used to be

You remember when Lewis Hamilton came into the sport He was what 23, 24, Vettel Even then was older Than what the snap of it is now When he came into the sport Science is getting to that point Where he's going to be looked at as a standard commodity in Formula One.

And it's motivated to see that he's getting out the car after another podium finish where he pushed his teammate in qualifying hard and he's only second season a team that is very notoriously hard to adapt with. That he's still disappointed with that performance. That is promising. But I think he's got to start beating Lecler in the next two races, two or three races, absolutely maximum. And he's going to do it convincingly.

because if the Stappan and the clerk continue to be the top two guys that see they trade first place or second place, first place, second place for the next three or four races, they are going to very quickly become the contenders. And Ferrari would almost be well within their right at that point to start implementing team orders to make sure that they pick up their first championship of any kind since 2007. You know, Ferrari are going to be desperate for this.

Red Bull have got one under the belt recently. Ferrari haven't. Now, science needs to get on with this. Otherwise, I fear he is going to end up being... given the same media reputation and from the fans and the F1 community as what Bottas was to Hamilton, what Felipe Massa ending up being to Fernando Alonso, you know, those drivers who all had great capabilities are all very, very successful if you were to put them into any other sport, never amounted to that final step. Carlos Sites could be on that journey. So he's got to start

beating Charler, and not just kind of one racing five, he's got to start beating him, you know, two out of four, two out of three. He's got to really, he's got to really. start taking those top spots. Otherwise, come race six or seven, it could be number two duty for Carlos Sines. Yeah, I would agree with what you said. Part of that, Sam, that the most encouraging part for Sines right now is that he's not happy with where he is because we have seen that sort of performance has been replicated by Bottas in the past, by Perez in the past. And they've been not necessarily happy with it, but they haven't also been unhappy with it. So the fact that Carlos Sines it still believes he can get up there is the encouraging part of this.

The reality for me is I don't think he does have that A plus game that Leclair and Vastappen have. I know Signs was close last year and I was very wrong in thinking he wouldn't be to his teammate. But it seems as if as the car has unlocked that level of performance, where the drivers can give that a little bit extra, Leclair is able to signs, not able to. It's still early enough that I want to see, I'd like to see a few opportunities for him to do so. But I agree with you. I think it is slightly worrying. And if there's one team that isn't going to be scared of going ahead with team orders, it's probably Ferrari. So yeah, I think it needs

to be sooner rather than later. Let's review some bold predictions because that went very well between the three of us. O for three. So after that reasonably good first week, we're back to standard on this one. So I'm having fun being as incredibly wrong as I possibly can be this year so far. So I said there'd be no Ferrari on the podium. You might have seen there were two Ferraris on the podium. Maybe the stewards can save me. Maybe by the time you listen to this. Actually, there is only one because someone's got a penalty. Don't know. But at the moment at least, there were two on there. Sam good effort

you said that a Mercedes driver would be out of the top 10 on pace and Lance stroll let you down there and one spot away for the second race in a row this is becoming frustrating can I get anything right I've become Harry Ead

is becoming very frustrating yeah really really are it's so close but yeah speaking of so close but yet so far Harry you were given something of a head start on your bold prediction,

because your bold prediction was only 10 drivers would finish. F1 did you a favour by only starting 18, but it still wasn't quite enough. It was a good effort. I'd still a couple off. When three cars broke down on the same lap,

I was like, here we go. This is it. At one point, I was like, hang on a minute, are they doing it for him? Have they listened to... I know they're all friends on the podcast. They just don't really know it yet,

but have they all gone, and three, two, one, now, D&F Harry. I thought, here we go. You'll get the bold prediction right. Every single race is an absolute. folk.

I don't mind. Strong effort, but alas, just like myself and Sam, incorrect. So naught for free on bold predictions. Stay tuned for Australia. I have absolutely no doubt that they probably won't be better. Driver of the day and worst driver of the day. We've actually got some submissions from our Discord server coming up in a bit on this. We'll give our own ones first and then hand over to a few members that have very handly pre-recorded messages on that.

So if you do want to get involved in the future, make sure you get in the Discord. But Sam, start us off with driver of the day for you. I'm going to go outside the box on this one. I don't know how many, I mean, it turns out all three of us might end up giving the same result. But I'm going to give it to Landon Norris. The McLaren has been tough to drive. They qualified not too well. And the man has currently stuck at well inside of the points.

Now, I know that certain situations have benefited them, but they played the safety car well. they played the VSC well. He drove consistently. He got some good moves done, cut through the traffic, a lot fast now expecting him to do as well. And you know what? He brought good points home to Macca.

So for me, it's an out-shodd Joyce, but I think he deserves a shout-out for that result. It was a really strong finish from him. That's something of an indictment of where McLarenar this year is that you wouldn't expect that sort of finish for Lando Norris to have been a driver-at-the-day-esque performance, if you were saying this a few weeks ago. the reality of where their car is.

Harry, drive it the day for you. I'll be obvious then. I'll go for Max for Stappen, but I think you could equally put Charlotte Clare there. I think both of them were absolutely sensational today, but I'll settle for the one that won, I guess, obvious. And I'll go for Stappen. Also, honorable shout out to Fernando Lanzo

for remembering that he is a two-time-one champ. He was having a stellar little race. before his engine was like, nah, for all of that. But yeah, I'll go for Vastappen. Yeah, I agree with all those shouts. Vastappen was fantastic. Landon Norris, you say it was outside the box. I think it was, but also I did have his name in consideration for this.

If he had that last overtake on Ockon, I might well have given it to him. I'm actually going to go with George Russell here, because the man stood out from the midfield, which sounds very weird to say. given it's in a Mercedes, but again, reality of their car. He had a massive gap after, sorry, before the safety car, completely wiped away, and then he just built it back up again. He was never really threatened in that fifth place. So, yeah, an astounding performance from him.

Really a standard performance from George Russell, you know, making Q3 when his teammate can't get out of Q1. That's what George Russell does. Just doing George Russell things. Yeah. Very standard He hasn't really changed teams at all So Worst driver in the day

Sam Sorry to To Lans But you've been pretty Panks to the start of this season And then you've decided That instead of using Your left foot to break the car

You would just use Alex album Which feels harsh On poor Alex That was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time You've just sent it literally sent it and gone not slowing down today. Was it because Yuki also got on the track?

Did you think I must be the one not to break for a corner? I don't know. The fact that you were almost getting beaten by Holkenberg anyway at certain points in the race before the safety car threw a curveballing with the strategy wasn't great either. Larks, this is not ideal for you, mate. This has been bad.

So, yeah, Lance Grohl, worst ride the day. This has been bad. This has been bad. How are you going for? I can't remember if I gave this as the same person last week but I'm going to go for Latifi because he's a magnet for the walls in Jeddah for some reason

crashing in places where no one else is crashing is a skill he's crashed on two corners I mean to be fair Matt Vastappen pinned it last year the final corner but yeah this weekend he just found new bits of barrier than no one else seemed to find and yeah it was just a bit

I mean the crash today was no offence because obviously they're great driver was but it was lame it was quite late it was so rubbish wrong it like oh come on man it was a bleak crash i'm glad he's not hurt but geez do it with some finesse and style do it properly next time no obviously not but um yeah it just wasn't just wasn't great and again he was being outpaced by by uh by album yeah um i'm trying to find a way not to give this to latifie because i know he's going to take a hammering from the people in the discord in a moment.

I'm trying to, like, the mitigating circumstances still need to be there for Nico Holkenberg. I know Joe Guan Yu had a pretty, pretty tough race. He must have been on cloud nine after the first race in Bahrain and he was shot right back down in the only.

Alpha Mayo can't count. Was that five? Yeah, close enough. Fring off. I do have to give it to Latifi, though. if you crash in qualifying and then you crash in the race your weekend has in the words of sam sage not been ideal so let's say well when that that safety car came out i started sweating it was getting me really bad PTSD a latifi safety car can't deal with it's like gang please now

no don't do it and you'll you're soon you're soon here why i was reluctant to give it to Nicholas Latifie. We're getting to worst driver of the days here. We've got four submissions this week. We'll start with Aleximo. He has just given a driver at the day and a close near second as well.

I promise I've pressed play. It's just been really slow. Good professional software that we use literally thousands and thousands of people listening every week. You didn't... It's there.

I'll tell you what, Aleximo. Just wait a minute. We'll go to someone else and see if we can come back to you. Let's go to Rath Go on Raff This is going well All right

No, Raff's not interested either Driver of the day Would have to be Max Rastatin And Worst Driver the day that finished Lance Stroll Worst driver the day that didn't finish Nicholas Latifie

That was Raff We got it working Did I've review press that? Yes, I did it Okay Sam Carrey on. All right. For once I'm allowed to use the soundboard. Drive of the day is Max, I

finally have some patience for Stoppin. Worst driver of the day is Max Verstappen's guardian angel, Mr. Nutella himself. Nicholas, I can't finish a race if Max is losing Latifie. That was retro coughing, and he has absolutely ruined Latifie's career. No one is allowed to have. a name unless they also have a nickname in between their first name and surname.

Right. I apologize for this, I don't know, tradition. Anyway, uh, Ryegai 26. Let's see if this plays. Driver of the day, Max Rastapin. Worst driver of the day, Nicholas Bin Teefe. There we go again. Absolutely savage from the Discord.

And then Alex, I don't think we can get it playing, but I think you gave Max and then a close call was a long so, I believe. Yes. But apologies if we've got that wrong. And thank you for saying that me and Ang, if you are interested in being featured on the podcast, getting your opinion on here, we like doing this. It doesn't work too well with our software,

but get the Discord, and we will be asking for this more regular. We promised hopefully to be more slick. We ain't. Hey, I mean, given how seamless it's been the first time, I've got no idea why we wouldn't do it a second time. We are the Ferrari podcasting. Based on this season, I don't even think we're that.

Oh, dear. Anyway, let's move on. And we'll go back to Saturday because it was qualifying and Sergio Perez decided after... Ben, yeah. We want to take on the race, pal. We're not doing that, again. There weren't any.

There weren't any. All right. Do you have a moment at the race, Harry? Yeah, I'm going to go for the two Alpines absolutely ripping it up. I loved it. Othmar was about to poo himself on the pit wall and then Sky were like, yeah, let's talk to him.

And Opelma was like, for the love of God, leave me alone. Please, no, don't put me on live television. That was spik-see. Ocon trying to put Alonzo in the pit wall. Alonzo then was like, not having any more of that. Took him, then O'Kon got him back, and then Bottas and Maglinson were like,

this looks fun, let me get involved. And everyone at BWT was, you know, delighted for the airtime, I think. So everyone's a winner. All right, guys, Russell is one and a half, seconds up the road we've got two drivers behind him i reckon we can work together to go and get this guy 10 minutes later they are seven seconds behind and more than the eye bottoms great workout fete moment of the race for you sam i'm going to have to go for a bit of cheeky dRS chicken you know um for me that sounds like the perfect post-race dinner and at the same time absolutely loved

the uh the mind games on the track it was brilliant heavy braking the lock up you can see that they were playing each other in the mind and on the racetrack. And I love that. I want to see more of that. So, yeah, D.R. Chicken, man with the race. That's a good one. It's a good one. What will I go for?

Oh, yeah, Lance Stroll being unhappy at cars being on the racetrack. That was fun. You know, they're going to be there, Lance, I'm afraid. There's nothing to have to do about that. Normally 19 more of them. You know, you have to deal with that. Yeah. But yeah, some pretty good moments in there.

And with that, I will actually go on to Sergio Perez now because he did claim. He did claim pole position on the Saturday. He broke Mark Weber's record of most races before getting a pole position by about five seasons, it feels like. It has been a long time, 11 years since he debuted, and he's finally got a poll. The question is, we know it was a good lap,

but Sam, do you think that this was a one-off miracle of a moment from Perez? Or do you actually think this could be the start of something? Was it encouraging? Is it a start of something closer to Vestappen from here or now? I think Perez has started the season well. I think he's starting it better than he did last season. And I think that's promising. I think also results and race events have not gone Perez's way.

You look at Bahrain. He was pretty close to the top two. He was doing well fighting with science. He was being the perfect wingman that we saw from him last season, right? You know, you heard of the Ministry of Defense in Mexico. That is Sergio Perez, and he displayed that brilliantly last time out. And it looked like he was doing very much the same here in Jeddah. He was keeping that gap to the clear.

Ferrari had to try and be smart to actually get the better of him. Perez displaying it brilliantly well. That qualifying lap, he managed to do what Max Verstappen couldn't do last season. he got all the corner's right, apart from Max who got the last one wrong last season. It was a great lap. It was really, really good. And qualifying is not Perez's strong point.

So if he can bring that to the rest of the season, Perez could be a dark horse for some great championship results. He could be a dark horse for the wing. But more importantly, to Red Bull, he could be absolutely crucial to securing the Constructors' Championship, which they missed out on last time, because the same is have Bottas, who comfortably ending up beating Perez in the portals.

But this time Perez has to go up against science. A completely different opponent, a pretty different team. If Perez could keep putting in those qualifying laps, which I don't think could be a one-off. I think if he continues to practice that one-lap ability, if he continues to improve it, has to go up in pole every time. But if he's right there alongside Max every single time,

then the guy could bring home some serious points. It was good to see Perez step up to that front row and lead the grid away. I think he did a really good job until the safety car basically came out and ruined it for him. Although I don't think it looked too positive. with the strategy call from Red Bull before. But again, I don't think that's Perez's fault.

So I'm quietly quite pleased so far with him so far. My instinct on the strategy is he would have been all right. Because whilst we saw a similar thing unfold in Bahrain last week, it felt like Deg was far higher at Bahrain than it was here in Jeddah. I mean, Lewis Hamilton went, what was it, 40 laps on those hard tyres. And even when he and Magnuson went on the medium tyres late on, it's not like they had that burst or that boost that people were expecting. So I actually think the gap between Perez and Lecler

would have been just about all right for Perez to maintain that lead, even with, as you've already said, the Russell factor of him going with him behind him. I think he would have been all right. Of course, we've got no idea on that. In terms of the qualifying lap on Saturday, it was a great lap from Sergio Perez. I think we need to be mindful not to get too carried away by this because this is the second time that Perez has been able to out-qualify.

Vastappan. The first time he did it was very early on last year. It was Imala, which came about as a bit as a result of Vastappan not being able to hook the lap together. Was that an encouraging sign? Yes, was he able to capitalize on it later on in the year? Absolutely not. He fell into that trap of consistently being slower than Max Wastappen. But generally, I do think there is a level of comfortability about how he's been this year that wasn't there last year, or at least in the early stages of the last year. He was getting there towards the end of the season. So I think it is overall encouraging. I wouldn't expect this to become a regular occurrence. I don't think he's going to be out qualifying Vestappen most weekends now. But if he can get into that Bottas role of doing it

once every three or four races, I think that's more than enough for Perez, because as we know, as he've already said Sam, it's not a strong suit, which is absolutely fine if he can claw it back in the race. I think overall, this was a good weekend for Perez and I think he can be very happy with the way that he drove, even if the result at the end of it wasn't what he necessarily might have felt he deserved. Harry, encouraging that lap from Perez on Saturday? Yeah, I think it was. And like said, you know, we don't want to get carried away with it. But last race, he was only point two behind for Stappen this race he was 0.2 in front I think if he can

stay if that's the leeway either side is a 0.4 leeway then I think and he can continue that for the rest of the year I think like Sapan that's all he really needs to do I think it's just to be close out qualifying max every so

often would be good but I don't think he necessarily needs to and yeah I feel sorry for him because I think he was having one of his best weekends ever with Red Bull and he just did get and yeah I agree I think that strategy would have been fine and he just got unlucky with that safety car and after that maybe you know maybe his head dropped a bit

but genuinely that first stage of the race I thought he seemed to just it just sod off he left everyone for dead and I know LeClo was starting to close in towards that stop but we were getting towards stops but yeah he looked like he really did have the pace to keep it under control so it would have been really interesting to see had the safety car not come out, whether he would have been able to hold on for the remainder of the race. But yeah, definitely encouraging.

And I think it builds on what we saw from Perez at the back end of 2021, because I think his form was improving there. And, you know, I think these cars maybe slightly suit Perez slightly more than the, or at least this Red Bull suits Perez more than the 2021 Red Bull does. So, yeah, encouraging signs. And it's good to see because I think, you know, finally Red Buller found a second driver that doesn't seem to be miles off the pace of of Max for Staffman so definitely encouraging signs

it's week three of Canadian tires early Black Friday sale if these prices won't go lower this year maybe too long freezing save up to 50% November 20th to 27 conditions apply details online let's move on to our next topic and slight behind the scenes glimpse here but as as the weekend goes on I usually have a have a notepad that I I scribble some, scribble some things down, topic ideas and the like. And one of the things that I wrote down this weekend was, is Jedder suitable for F1?

Before realizing that actually that covers off two different topics, as we'll get into both of them now, because there's certainly the circuit element to it that was brought to the forefront after Mick Schumacher's crash, but there's also the general safety of the event element of it as well. We'll get into that bit second. So we'll start with the circuit itself. We saw McSumacher obviously not able to race on the Sunday due to a crash on the Saturday.

And a few other high-speed crashes, both in F-1 and in F-2 as well. Given we've got two years of data to analyse now, Sam, is it from a pure track perspective safe for Formula One racing? The bit of the track that is not safe are quite simply the barriers. I know that sounds so obvious when you say it out loud, but the track layout itself, we've seen it two years and a row with two different generations of cars now.

The racing is fun. We've seen fun racing. And I would argue that, you know, this race maybe was more fun up and down the grid than what Bahrain was. We saw overtakes all the way through the midfield. We saw packs of four or five cars tussling it out. Cars were able to come back against each other.

The track itself works to create fun and enjoyable racing. It might go down to the race of the season, but I certainly enjoyed watching the race. But when it comes to accidents like what we saw with Mick Schumacher, that can't happen. That can't happen. A Formula One car going 190 miles an hour, can't hit a completely naked bit of cemented wall.

That is awful, absolutely awful. Anywhere in the world, and we'll get on something to the political side in a minute. But what I would suggest, if we were to keep this track in Saudi Arabia, literally, it's going to copying and placing it somewhere else, demolish the walls, cover the whole place in grass or with gravel or something like that.

Allow for no runoff zones. I don't want runoff zones. But everywhere there's a barrier, put some grass instead. Because at least that way, if someone makes a mistake, if someone goes too far over the limits, if someone misses a braking zone, at least they're running over some grass first. At least they're going to have a bit of time to slow the car down. At least there could be a moment of recovery. And they'll still be punished.

They will still have to recover time or be out of the race. It just won't be as severely dangerous as what happened. because it's a miracle that the Formula One cars we have now are so safe. Thank God for the halo. Thank God for the new mechanism at the back of the car that splits off the fuel cell from the main part of the car as well. We saw that and affected Eskadee with Mick Schumacher. That worked as intended, which is great to see. He got out of that car and we saw him conscious, which is brilliant.

10, 15 years ago, I don't know. You don't know what might have happened. And we need to be aware of that when building tracks. We love a street circuit if it works, demolish the walls, put some grass. walls, put some grassing, allow for more visibility, because that is scary. That is really, really, really scary. And I think the whole community, whether you follow late breaking or not, if you know, if you're an F1 fan, it felt like the general vibe was, this is too dangerous,

we shouldn't be here. So yeah, for me, I wouldn't change the layout of the track. I'm quite happy with how the track runs. I think as we've already discussed in the podcast, it allows for different setups, different cars, different abilities to shine, to flourish. but you need to remove that incredible fear factor of a barrier right next to you at 190 miles an hour. It just isn't safe at the moment. Harry, what are your thoughts on this one? What we should do is lift up, cut the Jeddah Cornish circuit, and throw it away. All of it in a bin, just in the nearest available bin facility, because I hate it.

It's walking soon about. I know we and I agree with Sam we had a fun race today and it you know I enjoyed it it wasn't the best race ever but it was a good race and obviously some of that is down to what we had with the track but I just makes me scared to watch an F1 race around here and the thing that gets me is and I've I've heard other people I think Alex Jakes made this comment in an F2 race they could this purpose built they could have built literally anything and they've and they've built this. Like,

they didn't have to have the barrier so close. And I think, you know, Baku has proved you can have a high-speed street circuit and it's exciting. And Baku's proved, it's really exciting. But at Baku,

I don't get the same feeling of fear watching the F-1 cars go around as I do here. It's just, there's lots of things run with it. I know they've moved a few barriers back, but even today when Alonzo was breaking down, that made me worried as well

because he was trundling around I know he's trying to go back to the pits, but he's trying to be around in. If another car comes around the corner, there's no way of knowing he's there. And that's an aeroplane accent. As we saw it with Mick Shimaki yesterday, why is that curb on the outside? Why is that curve trying to kill you if you go over it? Again, it doesn't need to be there. Yeah, I just don't like the circuit.

And, yeah, they could have done anything. It's not like it, yeah, I know it is a street circuit, but it's not actually around streets. It's completely purpose built, so they could have done anything here. and maybe there are things that they can do to make it safer by putting barriers back and as Sam says, put some grass and gravel in. But for me, I just, we don't need, we don't need, it feels like we're dicing with danger here and that, you know, we've had two years and we've got away with it, just. But it feels like that we're, you know, it's a ticking clock and that one day we're going

get a huge accident and someone's going to get hurt and it's all down to the track. So as I said, I'd put it in the bin. Don't like it. Yeah, I mean, it'd be easy for people to say at this point, well, we've been there two years. We haven't had a crash that has resulted in a major injury to which I would say, what, should we wait until that happens? The whole point is preventing that sort of thing happening in the first place rather than not going to a place after it's happened.

I'd much rather go with the first rather than the second solution there. It has delivered a great race today. And I do generally believe that the drivers enjoy the challenge of the circuit. But there's a limit and there's a difference between a challenging circuit that the drivers enjoy and a needlessly risky race when there are hundreds upon hundreds of circuits all around the world that can do a great job. And you're right, it's purpose built. This doesn't need to be the way. they could modify the track to make it safer

the Schumacher crashed specifically I heard a comment saying that well it's very rare that someone would go into the wall there you basically hit exactly where Cambolic Basi went in in in the F2 so I'm not going to say it's rare to go there and ultimately boil down to one sentence

it is too quick for not enough visibility that's it in a nutshell it's a very quick street circuit which by itself is risky but the fact that you can't see around a lot of these corners is seriously hamper the safety of this track and i would rather something was done about it either you know it was abandoned or it was severely modified before we have to deal with something that is far worse than what schumacher dealt with on saturday I feel like, you know, that was a warning in the most in your face way possible, that that could have been way worse and probably by all accounts would have been way worse in previous years and it wasn't.

So I think we should take that as the warning and do something about this. But whether that's the case, I don't know. And a lot of comparisons were made to Baku, but I do think that there is a difference between those two tracks. I even heard, I can't remember who it was, say about how, well, you know, the Vastappan and indeed Strol, tyre blowouts in Azerbaijan last time around, that could have resulted in something way worse in terms of an incident. To which I would say, I mean, that sort of freak accident would, could cause harm anywhere because you can't account for it whatsoever. You know, that, I don't think that's related to Baku at all. But ultimately, yeah, we need to find a way that,

the drivers still feel like they're getting the challenge of the circuit. Again, it created a good race, but the risk needs to be minimised as much as possible. You're never going to make Formula One safe, but you can always make it safer, and any strides to be able to do that is welcome in my book. And staying on is Jeddah suitable for F1? It did seem as if this race might not even happen as of Friday evening. The drivers had a massively long meeting between the. themselves and team bosses, Ross Broad, Domenicali, both got involved in this.

Eventually, it was agreed that the race would commence, but thanks to the terrorist attack on Friday, it didn't look that way for a while. Sam, should this race have gone ahead? I was really proud of the drivers when they were in a meeting for over four hours discussing this. It felt like the drivers really found their voice and we haven't seen that happen since, what was it, the South African Grand Prix in what in the 80s, I think it was, which was a marvel to see the drivers come together like that. And then I was a bit disappointed that nothing had changed because I don't believe the race you have gone ahead.

Now, a lot of drivers came together. I think Lewis Hamilton was only one that missed it. That was because his plane was late. So it's not through options. It was because his plane was late. They came together and they stood together for Ukraine and said, no to war. We won't race where war is.

Get Russia off the calendar. don't go to Russia. And it almost feels like now, especially with Liberty and the FIA, that that felt very media driven. And this war is going on between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and I'm not going to comment on the war itself because I am not educating enough in the dynamics of that war to do so. But the point is, there is a war happening there between those two nations. It is the same theoretical display as what's going on between Russia and Ukraine. There is a war happening. One country has declared war on another for reasons, right? And a lot of drivers have gone, no to war, say no to war, we don't race where there's war. Max Verstappen has said it is wrong

to white race at a country that is at war. And yet, we've gone to a racetrack in a country that is very much in a war zone. A missile was hit 10 kilometers away. That's not very far. And I saw someone ask the question, if we were racing at Silverstone over the weekend, on a Friday night, a missile got struck into the ground or a necessary resource 10 kilometres away. Would the drivers still be made to race? Would that happen? I don't think so. Now, this really shows that in the world of Formula One, we all knew it anyway, that money talks until the media pressure really piles on, money talks. And let's face it, the world coverage of this war in comparison to the Ukraine and Russian war is minimal in comparison between the other one.

It's definitely not getting the same amount of press that the war in Europe is getting. And again, there may be several reasons for that. I'm not going to go into them on this podcast right now, but it's definitely getting less pressed than the other war. And I wonder if that's caused the FIA and Liberty Media and the race control to go, you know what? It's not that bad. We'll get on with it.

So that is worrying. That is absolutely terrifying that a missile has come back close to the track that the staff of coming to Kekas smell burning, which was potentially from that attack that happened. And then it came out that all of a sudden in a press release, the drivers wouldn't be allowed to leave anyway. And that's in their contract that's been signed by Liberty Media with the race owners in Saudi Arabia.

Why is that in a contract? Why are they literally allowed to detain personnel who haven't broken any laws? They've not done anything wrong. They've opted to not take part in their sport to their own detriment because they won't score points. They might not get paid. But if they don't want to do it for safety and protest reasons,

they shouldn't be withheld against their will in a country. that feels out of line. So this has put huge question. Now, we're already question marks over this Saudi Arabia Gornpril last year, and a lot of people raised that, huge human rights issues. But this is really, you know, put a huge question mark on whether we should revisit. And I think we're going to a new track in a couple of years. So it looks like Saudi Arabia currently is here to stay. But it tells you that war, human life, human rights, do not come before money for liberty media.

We race for money, and that seems to be very, very clear, that the safety of, people, the safety of drivers, the safety of teams and personnel should be absolutely paramount when it comes to Formula One and it was once again displayed that it wasn't. So I was really quite disappointed that this race went ahead. I would have no issue with it being cancelled on the Friday, even on the Saturday night. It wouldn't have got to bother me at all,

and I feel like it should be moved. Yeah, I think one of the problems is at the moment we are dealing with unknowns, at least to us, as the wider public. We don't know exactly the goings-on of that. that four and a half hour meeting that the drivers had, we are told that the drivers were given assurances. We don't really know what those assurances were,

apart from it is safe. We don't have more detailed accounts of it. The drivers have, for the most part, been very hush about this since that meeting, whether that is out of choice or whether that is because they are being told to remain quiet. Again, we don't know. So there's a lot of uncertainty going about.

out here. What I will say is one of the very few people that said something after this was Toto Wolf. He said how basically if a missile strike happened in the UK or elsewhere in the world, we would say it is completely unacceptable, but we have to accept that the culture of Saudi Arabia is different and it's you know, you have to go with that. I don't quite understand that reasoning whatsoever. I completely appreciate that culture is different all around the world and the world is better for it. But how can, you know, a missile strike is a missile strike and it will do to a human body what it would do anywhere in the world. A missile strike does not care about culture. It is as dangerous there as it is here. So I am struggling to understand how a government can provide a

assurances to a set of drivers that nothing is going to happen to them when they couldn't provide the assurance that something is going to happen within 10 miles of them. It feels dodgy to me. And I think what's really important to bear in mind here as well, the team principles were unanimous that the race should go ahead. It's believed that the drivers were unanimous or close to unanimous that they don't want this to go ahead until they were convinced otherwise. I'm not, you know, the drivers, it should not be on them to decide whether this race should go ahead or not. It should be based on the FIA making the best possible decision. But at least the drivers have somewhat of a say and have some sort of collective bargaining here that they

could have maybe not gone ahead with this if they wanted to. There are hundreds upon hundreds of team members, of marshals, of event staff that would have had far less saying than the drivers. And I think it's very poor that they were left there without much of a say whatsoever. I know the team principles were unanimous in their decision. I feel bad for the mechanics and the crews who probably had no say whatsoever. So I would not have been disappointed if this race didn't go ahead. I think once they are on that play in and outer there, the serious discussions need to take place to find out what happened

and the risks of it happening again, because it's easy to say in hindsight, nothing happened, we don't need to stay on this point for any longer. But again, we don't want to talk in hindsight here. We don't want to talk after the fact that, well, nothing happened, therefore it was perfectly safe to begin with. We don't know that. I think it is still important to raise the point now.

Harry, what are your thoughts? I mean, not too much more to add from what you guys have already said, but it's, in all likelihood, I imagine, the attack on the Aramco Petroleum Factory was a kind of scare tactic because it was close by, but I think the chances of an attack on the actual F1 event would have been rare but that's not the point and you know I've seen people I think it might be to again saying you know this is the safest place to be right now and I was like well how can you how can you how can you uh how can you say it's a safer place in Saudi Arabia because if it's a missile attack that could go anywhere it doesn't matter if you're in

it's not impervious to an F1 event it could go wherever it wants to so yeah just you know as I'm already said I think cash is king on this one I don't think we should be racing there You know And I've seen arguments And I think it's from Stefano de Benicali That you know F1 is trying to help Saudi Arabia change Fine

Good I like that But but you can't go to this place If it's not a safe place to go and race It's just It won't work You know And again it's a similar point to what I had with the circuit

It feels like we're dicing with danger again here and like you said ben it's you don't want to be acting in hindsight let's you know prevent it happening in the first place when was the last time we saw i was getting major australia 2020 vibes on friday night because it seemed like we were going the same way again and i guess the drivers were less unanimous that time but there were some who who'd already said that you know vetting and maybe reichen and as well had already said they weren't going to race and mcclaren had dropped out at that point but when was the last time we had all, or if not maybe 19, 18, 19 of the drivers, unanimous over

something like this. I think that proves that this wasn't the right decision. And yeah, look, they've got away with it, but as you've already said, I don't think it should unless something changes, I don't think it should go ahead again.

And as Sam said, you need to back yourself over that, you know, no more photo opportunity which i'm sure the drivers obviously i know and everyone does agree with but you can't then just continue racing in other places if it's not mainstream news which this did become on friday and if it got any worse would have been very bad for everyone involved so um yeah it's not when you're watching free practice one and you can see a cloud of billowing black smoke ask yourself is this the right place to be racing and i i feel for you know people in sally arabic

if we've got any listeners there. Thank you. But it just doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem right to put a whole event's worth of people in possible danger. One final point on this relating to Frederick Ian Anderson, aka FIA, because they've outdone themselves yet again. You might remember back if you've been listening long enough when the Russian Grand Prix was, well, I say, cancer.

It was very tentatively cancelled. I was very unhappy with the wording that the FIA used there. It's certainly not the first time I've been unhappy with the way that the FIA have gone about things. In their statement for this, they referred to it as a widely reported incident. I mean, come on. A widely reported incident. You could call it anything you want and you've gone with that. I just thought it was weak and spineless.

I think we're probably the two words that come to. of mine there. I think their PR statement writer might need a bit of retraining. He's not been great on that front lately. Get us on it. Get us on it. Yeah, we'll tell that how it is.

I would not trust us to write any sort of statement whatsoever for anything. It would be like, Frederick would call us up and go, hello late breaking boys, we've got a statement that needs to go out. Basically, let's use the Russian Grand Prix's example. We're going to say no for now because of the news.

Can you put that out in a nice phrase? And we would go, you know what, Frederick, leave it with us. And we'll just go, by the way, we ain't going. End of, thanks, bye. I think we've managed to annoy our employers on the first day that we never get to do it again. You would use some sort of analogy that would probably make sense to us, but no one else.

You'd kick off the statement with something like, it's like when you go down to ASDA and you've got the smart price pasta and you've got the better pasta. And it's just like that, isn't it? It's so accurate. It would go down that. sort of route.

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Ikea. Bring home to life. Before we close off this episode, I think Mercedes is going to be one we focus on a lot more in our midweek episode coming up Wednesday. So we won't spend too much time on this. But just a quick one, Sam, your reaction to Lewis Hamilton out in Q1? Right. It clearly wasn't a great time for Lewis. He clearly wasn't on it as much as we've seen in the past,

which is great, right? Seven time World Champion going out in Q1, it's got really what you want to see. I know a lot of people got kicks out of this online, but it feels like there is something else at play there. Lewis Hamilton, he has a bad day, doesn't typically struggle that much. Toto came out and said they tried a strange setup on his car

to see if that were making a difference. It clearly didn't work, and they clearly altered something between Saturday and he did well, I think. It wasn't perfect. They got unlucky with how the BSSs. the safety car wing but he did well he caught the spots back and he managed to get himself into the points but they can't keep doing that whether that be strategy whether that be Lewis himself you know that can't be a regular thing that happens across this season Russell did a very good job

and deserves the the praise that he gets and a pat on the back he really delivered they need to make sure that both sides of the garage are doing that yeah um obviously a shocking result first time out in Q1 on pure pace for uh 13 years I think it was 2009 last time that was the case. So a long time. Thank you. So I'm willing to believe that based on this being the first time in 13 years that it was possibly more car driven rather than Lewis Hamilton driven. Believe it or not, I still think that Lewis Hamilton is pretty good at the F1. So he made a good comeback in the race, to be fair.

I think he probably got the most out of that. At least within the confines of the race itself, I think he was pretty unlucky not to be able to take advantage of the VSC. He stayed out there long enough where that strategy does become viable. And then obviously it just so happened that the breakdown happened right before the pit lane and he couldn't go in. If that was the case, maybe he gets a few more positions. Perhaps he's looking at P8, P7 possibly. But yeah, I think you put together a good performance on race pace, but Mercedes have got a lot of questions they need to answer.

that. Harry, you're right about everything, so I'm sure you were expecting Hamilton to go out in Q1. Yeah, so I saw that one going, obviously. It's mile away. Yeah, so marching down the road. Yeah, no, look, it was a shocker. And it's something weird this year,

I think, about these cards in Kuali. We saw with Max, obviously not to the same extent, but Max in Q3 couldn't get his ties to work. And I wonder if there's something similar here with Hamilton. and we saw it with Russell, I think, in Bahrain when he qualified 9th, he didn't get his tyre one right, so I wonder if that's something they're not quite used to, and maybe that was the cause, but yeah, it's not expecting Hamilton to be out in Q1 for the remainder of the year, let's put it that way, and as you say, he was on for P6, I think today,

until that VSC strategy didn't work for him, but I think he proved today that the car's definitely got more pace than the bottom five of the grid, weird one odd to see there's clearly something you know the setup window for that Mercedes is a small one I think and it's obviously hard to find it so it's interesting to find out what they actually did on that car

that was so different or so experimental as Toto said but yeah I would imagine probably won't happen again for a while yeah we'll focus on work as I said a bit more in our midweek episode

no preview or review, but we will be back in a few days' time. I think that will do it for this review episode. We'll also provide an F1 Fantasy Update midweek, so if you are involved in that, you can be sure to look out for where you are. Harry, you know, there's got a bit of ground to make up there, so tune in to see if he's done so or not. But until then, Sam, if you wouldn't mind, getting us out of him. Yeah, a long of highs, a log of lows.

and a lot of questions that need to be asked, and that's just about this podcast, let alone Formula One itself. If you have enjoyed it, folks, thank you for sticking around. It's been a relatively long one for us, about 10, 15 minutes longer than usual. Do let us know what you thought of the events

and the race weekend, and the situation that Formula One found itself. You know, come and speak to us on Twitter, or breaking Instagram, just the late breaking podcast. Join the Discord. About 500 people in there chatting away, and as you've seen, we'd like to get you featured more and more.

We'd like to get you involved in the recording. It was nice to hear some other voices other than these two on the podcast for Wipeswe's always lovely. If for some bizarre reason, you've absolutely loved the podcast to an extreme level, we've got merchandise available, Patreon is also available as well, so thank you to those that continue to contribute to that. It means the absolute world to us.

We're baffled all the time that there are people that contribute to that. And leave a review, if you've enjoyed it, leave a review, if you haven't, please just be nice and leave me alone. I'm a sad, man, I just want a quiet life. Thank you though. We've had some lovely words, really lovely words over the last couple of weeks on some reviews and it means a lot. It helps carry on growing. Oh, what a crazy weekend. We'll be about midweek for just a standard LB podcast, no race of course next weekend. So yeah, in the meantime, I've been Sam to Say. I've been Ben Hawking. And I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. I need a game of DRS chicken now.