The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 Spanish GP Review

Episode Date: May 22, 2022

Sam, Ben and Harry review an eventful Spanish GP, where Max Verstappen took victory despite a trip through the gravel. The boys discuss Carlos Sainz' performance, team orders at Red Bull and the Mercedes comeback. They also review their bold predictions and give their verdict on Best and Worst Driver of the Day. JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Oh, and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Eid, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Spanish Grand Prix review time. We're going to look at our bold predictions. We're going to review the race itself where Max Verstappen, managed to take victory and a Red Bull won two, maximum points for Red Bull and a bit of a

disaster for Ferrari, no podium and indeed a DNF for Charlotte Clare after it looked like he was well on his way to taking a victory. Plenty to come up. Bull predictions, as I've already mentioned, our driver of the day, worst driver of the day, looking at the team orders situation between Red Bull, but Sam, what did you make of that one? About team orders, it's so tricky, isn't it? We've seen some real moments in history of Formula One, big offenders of Team Orders. Ferrari, usually the main ones.

They kind of know for... Wasn't Ben just asking you about the race? Yeah. Oh. We're getting on to Team Airwaters later, mate. That wasn't very clear. Well, it's in the bloody schedule. The schedule's over there. I haven't looked at that.

What are you on about for crying out loud? Folks, there's a football match going on that Sam is slightly paying a attention to us as we record. It's not part of it. I had to keep them on track. It's not part of it, I promise. How's the race?

Race of the season, I think, as I mentioned in the preview, Spanish board free. That's probably we'll get on to. It has turned up. Well done, Spain. For the first time in maybe 50 years, you've decided

you wanted to take part in the championship. I actually thought it was quite good. And you know what? The DRS case study, the moving case study of Max Verstappen of how the Spanish Grand Prix could run without DRS access was very, very intriguing. And it was very hot.

And I feel like I could be at the Spanish Grand Prix now because I feel very hot. It's about 24 degrees in London at the moment. But also humidity is about 80%. So it's like breathing in an actual fog machine being pumped into my lungs. It's quite unpleasant. But yeah, no, it was better than I expected. But we'll get on to Race of the Season predictions a little bit later on. What do you guys think? Let's not talk about Team Orders just yet. We'll talk about the race.

I think it wasn't bad. And I think that's probably the best compliment that we can give a Spanish GP. It wasn't bad. I mean, I say it genuinely wasn't bad. It was pretty good. So, I mean, yeah. Well, well done. I can't tell if it's the track or the cars. It's going to go with the cars. So I guess, well done cars. Hang on, I will add something in here, and this wasn't intended to start out the podcast with a, what is the Spanish Grand Prix like? But it was all right last year as well, if you remember. True. Maybe this is now the best track on the calendar because of how good it's turn one is.

Come on. Oh, give it a blinking rest, sunshine. Three podcasts in a row now. This is enough. All right, fine. But, you know, there was some good moves through turn one. I'll just leave that. there. If you're unaware, folks, we're going to be talking about much more later on, including

team orders. Team orders, that's coming up later on. Good, good. But we'll start with the tricky weekend that Ferrari had. They look pretty good in practice. They look pretty good in qualifying as well. Charlotte Claire getting pole position, but of course, LeClaire, he seemed pretty set to win the Grand Prix before his retirement. But our attention is going to the other driver at Ferrari, Carlos Sines, who wasn't there to pick up the pieces from Charles LeClaude due to his own mistake, having to make his way back through the field. And ultimately, P4 was the end result.

It looked like it was going to be P5 until Mercedes had to go into DNF prevention mode. But no podium for Carlos Sines. So the question for you is this, Sam. Can Ferrari win the Constructors' Championship with Carlos Sines driving this sort of way versus Sergio Perez as the second driver at Red Cross? ball. This was the weekend that I imagine Ferrari and all Ferrari fangs feared was coming.

We spoke at the start of the season how well they got off the mark, how dominant they looked, how the luck had been thrown their way with the DNFs of Reg Ball, who of course their closest competitor for the first three races. And we thought, Ferrari have got this coming. And Ben, often will I bring up a point that you made and fully agree with it. But I believe it was you that said at some point throughout this season, you're waiting for absolute panic and calamity to consume Ferrari essentially. I think this is essentially where that catalyst with a spark strikes for Ferrari.

They've now lost the league of the championship. They did not take on any podiums. They've signed Carlos Sykes up for eternity after, let's face it, a pretty poor string of results for the most part from the Spaniard. Firstly, Charler, gutting, right? Charle deird would dig absolutely everything he needed to do this race weekend.

Stuck it on pole. Brilliant that from him, messing up his first run. That was a true mark of a future champion, I think, recovering in that intense pressure zone, you know, the pressure cooker that is Formula One to deliver a brilliant pole lap. Got off well, defended turn one well. Then, of course, Max Verstappen makes the mistake, gives him a huge, huge lead. You know, in this day and age, a 10 second lead, you would bite someone's hand off for a 10 second lead. You would take that at any opportunity, and he had that. It looked to be all sewn up for Charlotte, Claire, and Ferrari, engine failure, absolutely going.

cutting. Now, we've seen this happen with teams before. We've seen it happen with the likes of Hamilton and the same is when Botas was there, for example. We've seen it happen. Remember where, of course, Max Verstappen had the absolute issue in Baku and Perez did well to take home the race wing after that. Your second driver is your second driver for a reason and you need them to be delivering in difficult times. Carla Sykes, entirely of his own, you know, doing, entire of his own fruition, puts it into the gravel and throws away any chance of supporting Ferrari in a remote opportunity of a podium, a remote clawing of the points back. He threw that chance away, so much so that if it wasn't for a possible, I think, Water League is what Mercedes is referring

it to, impacting the car. He could be outside the top four. This was disastrous from Carlos Science. It was a really shocking Grand Prix. Entirely brought up by his own racing, his own ability at that point. It's not one else's fault, and you know, that you can really attribute it to anything else. Martin Brunner in the British commentary box, he even said, is there something on the track? I don't understand what's going on at that corner. A big gust of wind is what Max Vastappen got attributed to, but no one else made that mistake. Just Carlos Sites, just Max Westappen. Max Wastepin wants to win the race. So he kind of gets away with it. When Carlos Sites is knocking out performances like this as of late, against Sergio Perez, who looks like with each race is

coming more into his own, he's finding his own stride. We heard him on the team radio. complaining. This is unfair. You're taking away a race wing from me. I want to have words after the race. It's looking like he's feeling more and more comforting at the front of the grid. The results are really starting to come his way, delivering exactly what Red Bull needing a second driver. Carlos Sainz, losing to George Russell, he did essentially lose to Lewis Hamilton if it wasn't for a car issue, and he only just got Valdry Bottas with a couple of laps to go. This is really disappointed from Carlos Sikes. Can Ferrari go on to win the Constructors' Championship with Carlos Scyl. science performing like this, I don't think so. I think the ball is firmly in the Red Ball's Court, and I think they are doing everything they need to do to run with it. They're not keeping the best of terms at the moment with Sergio Perez, who of course is still not signed onto a further

contract deal, but in terms of winning trophies, they're doing everything they need to do. And I think that experience from last season is really starting to show through from them. Carlos Seitz on the other hand is dropping the ball at any sign of pressure. That was not good enough today. And if it stays like this, they're in trouble. Just before I head on to Harry for the same question. Just a quick note, you mentioned the contract talks for Sergio Perez. How much does that result for Carlos Sines actually help Perez in his contract negotiations? I think every result where Perez is essentially keeping the Ferraris in check and letting Max Verstappen go on to win races boosts his worth, boosts his monetary value at Red Bull, right?

Why would they take a risk on Gazzley, who might not want to be there? Yuki Sengoda, who despite showing really strong promise at the start of this season, you don't want to risk him too soon. Alexander Albon, you know, he's done well so far this season. But again, he was at Red Bull. He didn't succeed. So, Sergio Perez is your safe pair of hands. Sergio Perez is, you know, the Ministry of Defense for Mexico.

And he's, you know, he's deploying that exactly as needed. The guy is getting the job done. So every time that he trances the second driver of their closest championship rival Ferrari, it ups his worth. It ups his value. I think he could walk into a contract negotiation after this Grand Prix and go, I'd like a bit more money, please. And you know what?

I'm sticking another year on that. Do Red Bull think, actually, that's got looking like a bad offer right now with how he's driving. If the most he's going to do is mow a little bit about going, I wouldn't have minded that race wing. Can Red Bull deal with that? I think they probably can. This is a very good turn for Sergio Perez. Harry, do you think Ferrari can win the Constructors' Championship with signs driving in this manner? no I don't think they can because if you look at like last year with Sergio who

obviously talking about a lot here but the first I don't know quarter of the year obviously as Sam already mentioned he did have that win in Baku but yeah maybe first third he wasn't there enough to support to bring up the rear in that championship fight and in the end Red Bull didn't win the constructors and I think it is a fair argument to say well because there was only really one car in that. And it's the same for Ferrari. I think if it carries on like this, they're going to lose out to Red Bull

who are clearly, well, both drivers comfortable at the top of the field at the moment. So, no, I don't think they can. And obviously, they can't afford engine failures too. That's part of it. But they need the other car to be there when things like that happen to their main driver,

which, you know, LeCla is really this year. So, yeah, Carlos needs to, I don't know what's happening with Carlos. It's clearly like a mind, something in his head. I don't know, maybe the pressure of finally being at the front end of an of an efforn grid. But yeah, he can't afford to keep doing, making mistakes like that. It's a lot of mistakes. A lot of times we've seen signs this year in a wall or in a gravel trap. It needs to stop.

You know, I'm not going to absolve signs from the mistake he made, but quite honestly, I don't actually care too much about the mistake, the error that he made where he went into the gravel, because as much as it cost him a great deal in the Grand Prix, I can allow it to an extent. Max Verstappen, as you already mentioned, made the same error. He was able to recover the Grand Prix. So I'm not actually going to focus on the incident.

It wasn't great, but ultimately, every driver will make errors like that. some point. Because everything that happened this weekend, that was the third most concerning thing from Carlos Seins's point of view. And actually, it was his quality pace and his race pace that were way more concerning if I'm Ferrari. To start with qualifying, remember back to Australia where you might remember Carlos Seins was unable to get two runs in in Q3 because there was a red flag, I believe, very late on in the session, which cost him a lap in Q3. Which cost him a lap in Q3. And everyone was like, well, you know, Leclair's managed to out qualifying him again, but ultimately he got two runs. Signs got one run. Let's wait and see it. Some other Grand Prix.

Well, here's your chance on Saturday, right? So, Charles Leclair, due to his own error, only got one run in. He had one opportunity to perfect the lap, and he did so, and he beat Signs to the tune of two and a half tenths, three tenths of a second. Now, signs had two runs at it. Signs had two attempts, and he wasn't able to get within two and a half, three temps of Charles Leclair. Now, that might speak to the brilliance of the lap itself because it wasn't just signs that was miles behind Leclerc. It was everyone, including Vastappen and the Merckes as well. So that was a great lap from Lecler, but Carlos Sines wasn't there on the front row with Charles LeClaire.

I can't quite remember the stat exactly. I think it was four out of the six races so far have been a front row of LeClaire and Vestappen. That's telling you that Sines isn't there in terms of qualifying pace alongside LeClau. So that's number one concerning point for me. The second concerning point, again, I don't mind that he made the error. It was the fact that he didn't recover it as well as he could have done. Or to give a direct comparison, he didn't recover it as well as Lewis Hamilton did in the Mercedes. And Lewis Hamilton was not out of position due to his own error, at least in my view.

We're going to discuss that later on as well. Lewis Hamilton had to fight back through the field and he did so far better than what Carlos Sines did. Sines only dropped to P11, P12, as a result of the incident in the ground. Hamilton was essentially right at the back and he did a better job of recovering, even if the end result doesn't quite reflect that. So actually, his inability to recover and him being out of a position at the start of the Grand Prix, that was way more concerning for me than just that standalone incident he made going into turn four. And say what you like about, we've already spoken about Perez,

I'll bring Bottas into this as well as the ex-Messécedes number two drive. driver. Say what you like about them. Perez's quality pace can be on and off. Valtre's race pace can be on and off, but they have a very low issue rate. They very rarely get into DNFs. They very rarely crash out. They're generally mistake free. And Carlos Sainz is not heading down that direction at the moment. Signs needs to be there for when LeClair has these incidents, not be six or seven positions back and allowing Red Bull to claim a maximum of 51 points. That can't happen. 51, 44. What am I talking about?

I'm giving Red Bull points for free, apparently. Thank God you are a stat man and not math man, because that was atrocious calculations. I corrected it on the fly, all right? I got there in the end. I just thought that Perez and Vastapa deserved the win, so I gave it to both of them. We saved it better than Carlos.

I'm sure Perez will be delighted. Can I interrupt this with something I've just seen? Go on. Drake, as in the singer. Friend of the podcast, yeah, yeah. Where's this doing? He put 230K on LeCler to win today. Oh, the life of a rich person, eh?

That's, I mean, why? I mean, it's not worked out for him. Let's be honest. Drake, a bit of advice from me to you. I know we're good friends and you'll want to hear this. Very close. When it comes to betting on Ferrari, all I can say is this. It's a trap.

It's always a trap. There it is. Yes. Admiral Akbar coming through on the podcast. Let's get into some Driver of the Days. Yeah. Who was your driver of the day, Sam? You know what?

I really enjoy when we have a race where there are numerous games that I think apply to a driver of the day. And I always like to run through a few honorable mentions. And it's funny a lot of the time, when we have this many, will get to the podcast, shock, and I will have not fully made my mind up about who I think driving the day is at this point. And so, you know, both Red Bulls do a great job. I think Perez did a better job than the Stappen, despite the outright pace, just because Perez kept it on the track. He was so consistent. He recovered well. Russell, fantastic defense. I know we obviously had the DRS issue, which make it a little bit easier, but he drove fantastically. Hamilton, what a drive

back through the pack, despite his head dropping massively. We could hear the misery in his voice. you know, ah, come on, mate. It's getting a bit frustrating listening to your moan.

You've still bloody gong it, chap. That was very English. But I'm actually going to... You got an old chap. Pick yourself up, old bugger.

I am going to give it to magic Alonzo. Because, you know what? Fernando, Ocon, you were two places behind him at the end of the race.

You started on the back row of the grid. That Alpine is not one of the fastest cars on the track. despite some upgrades coming in, they are a midfield runner. And I think you did a fantastic job of working your way past people, making sure the strategy was correct, deploying constant speed.

He was really, really good today. Also, it's always nice when you get to do it at home and front your home fan. So really, really close. I think maybe a bit of an outside shout. But you know what? For I don't know so. You deserve it this time. Driver of the day from you, Harry.

Yeah, I agree with what Sam said in terms of there's a lot of options here. I am going to give it to Sergei at Paris though I know we didn't win the race and arguably I will get on the team orders but arguably I think he wouldn't have won without he wouldn't have won anyway

even if we didn't have those team orders for Red Bull but yeah I think he drove a great race one of the best we've seen from him in a long time so yeah Sergeant for me but yeah Alonzo is a good shout Hamilton I probably would have given it to had it not been for that initial radio message, which was just a bit infuriating to hear,

but he had a tremendous comeback. I think Russell is in with a shout of it as well, to be honest. So a lot of options, but I'll settle on. Jek-oo. Go to be honest, Harry. I don't think I'd have to give anywhere near to Sergio. I'm trying to go down my list. I don't think he makes my top six or seven.

You can find you. Oh, you think term one's good. That's true. That's true. Tomon's great. This race proved it. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Yeah, for me, a lot of the names already mentioned.

So George Russell had a great race. Give him props. Yeah, Alonzo, great recovery from him as well. Slightly self-inflicted, but at least we are looking at the race itself rather than qualifying as well. Valtry Bottas, I thought, got really screwed by a strategy, to be honest. If they had done something similar, I'd have been interested to see exactly where he finished. But even without that, he had a great finish.

So he did very well. Driver of the day for me, I decided to ignore the radio message and give it to Lewis Hamilton. That was a sensational drive. Coming from all the way at the back of the grid up to what really should have been fourth place and about 10 to 12 seconds behind his teammate, granted Russell had to do a lot of work in keeping the Red Bulls behind. But Hamilton was on a charge. and I thought he was very impressive. Racking up fastest laps towards the end of the race,

which in any other season wouldn't seem like much of an achievement, but here in this year, apparently it is. So I'll go with Lewis Hamilton. We're going to be back with Worst Driver of the Day and Bold Predictions just after this. Worst driver of the day, who are you going for, Sam? It comes down to two people, although you'll find out later on, folks.

Our Discord submissions have quite a varied spread of work. driver of the day. But for me, it comes down to two. Daniel Ricardo is one option. When your teammate essentially calls up his boss and goes, oh, Zach, I feel so unwell. Don't make me drive today. And Zach goes, Lando, get in the car, mate. And then he still trounces you by that many places. He still beats you so comfortably, despite being sickly little Lando driving around, bless him. Actually, underrating a pretty good job. Ricardo, you've got to get sorted. Your stock in Formula One is rapidly falling downhill, which is real shame to say because I bloody love you as a person.

But come on. But my worst try of the day, I think it's a bit obvious one. Carlos Sites, you can't be driving the car that gets put on pole position with a guy who was probably going to go on to comfortably win the race and not be able to realistically get yourself back on the podium or even fight with the likes of Russell and the red balls. You got passed by Hamilton who, Ben said, had a fantastic charge. And he was 20th with a puncture at one point. Magnuson was the only car behind him.

Carlos, this really is bad stuff. You're going to have to come back big time over the next few races to redeem yourself because this isn't good enough. Carlos Sainz was the worst driver of the day. I think those two options are fair, and they were my two leading candidates as well. A few other mentions as well, Pierre Gassley seemed to struggle again versus Sonoda. And Alex Albon was a couple of years behind Latifie.

Now, granted, Latifi might have a case for driver of the season thus far, but still, you don't want to be that far behind your teammate. Basically, the same reasoning as you, Sam, but I just went on the other side of the fence. I went for Daniel Ricardo because to be, I think it was about 40 seconds at the end, 40 seconds behind your teammate who is unwell. That's not great. And also, I always think that the circuit to Catalonia is a very good indicator of where you are versus your teammate, because by and large, every single driver on this grid knows that track like the back of their hand, given the amount of running they do in junior formula there and also testing. Everyone is on a level playing field when it comes to knowing that track.

And ultimately, there aren't too many places where you can make up that much time over your teammate. Generally speaking, this is one of those that will lend itself well to like a Noah's Ark type of grid. so to be 40 seconds behind your teammate and to be passed by your teammate as part of that process not a good look Harry, your worst driver of the day both valid picks

from you both but I'll go for that other person that was mentioned Alex Albon because he got absolutely dusted by Latifie and something must have happened something must have got yeah Latifi was brilliant Let's see if he did

Well, I was watching it on the timing tower. And the thing Latifi just overtook him of the start, or not at the start, but like a few laps in, and then just didn't look back. So a weird one, because Albon's been pretty impressive so far this year. But yeah, terrible race for him today. So yeah, sorry, Alex. Latifie planted a solid move on Magnuson as well.

Give him credit for that. True, yeah. I mean, Magnuson was probably another shout in that one, because I don't know, I feel like he did actually give up. But anyway. It's like, nah, not for me today. Never mind. No.

What about moment of the race before we get into driver of the day and worst driver of the day from the Discord submissions? Moment of the race from you, Harry? I'll go for when they went into the cool down room and there was a lady in the background saying, please don't swear. Winging one of them here for me. Really, and then George Russell was just. laughing. But yeah, I'll go for that. There's a lot of good moments actually in the race, but I enjoyed that.

I can't wait for when it's the British Grand Prix cool room and you just get the complete contrast where it's just this world we're going, Oi, George, Max, don't you even bloody well think about it. Doris without tea trolley. Exactly. My moment of the race is, I feel like this is a relatable one because it's everyone's temptation when something isn't working to press it. like 50 times and it's good to know that F-1 drivers are no different in that respect.

I think a lot of people can probably vouch on possibly on both sides of the fence here in terms of like IT technical problems of yeah, it's not just because you've pressed it 50 times, it doesn't mean it's now going to work. And I feel like that was the relationship that Max needed with GP back on the pit wall. So yeah, I appreciated that a lot. What was your moment of the race? Oh, God. So I just, I just, I enjoyed, I enjoyed it when GP was like, yeah, that time, Max, you just turned it off again. Oh, I feel quite sorry for him.

I imagine it at 200 miles an hour. That is incredibly frustrating. But yeah, you're going to just turn it off and turn it. Oh, again, don't you? That's how we fix all these things. My moment of the race, I think, I'm hoping this might be a bit of a catalyst moment for this individual. The Lewis Hamilton Pass on Carlos Signing. I thought was a phenomenal move all the way around the outside.

The charge throughout the Grand Prix was absolutely spectacular, and it's what I want to see from the likes of Lewis Hamilton. I'm going to have a rung of Lewis Hamilton later, folks. So, you know, just get your Howard hat song for that one because it's coming. But that was spectacular. More British bias on its way. Yikes. Yeah.

Stay tuned. Nothing we do better on this podcast. Let's get on to Driver of the Day, Worst Driver of the Day. from the Discord submissions. So we have a Discord server if you're new to the podcast. Feel free to get involved. The link will be in the description.

And we ask just after the race is finished whether you have submissions for driver of the day and worst driver of the day. And yours could well be played. We're going to start with, we'll start with Skylar, because Skylar did submit one a couple of races ago.

Unfortunately, the audio quality wasn't quite good enough for us to play. So it's only right to kick off for Skylar on this one. Hello, hopefully this one works. My driver of the day, Lewis Hamilton, he went from basically last, up to fifth. At some points in the race, he was in fourth. Not sure if he went up to third, but still incredible.

My worst driver of the day is Mick Schumacher. He was in seventh at the start. He got up to seventh, and inevitably he lost five positions and finished, what, 12th? Horrible. disappointed. I was hoping he'd score points. Oh well. Hopefully this will have been I love the resign though well. That's fantastic. Oh well. You're fishing well for thank you. Let's move on to Checo Stan. Driver of the day, Fernando Alonso El Plan worked to perfection. This man was on a mission from God 20th into the points.

Beautiful. Worst driver of the day, I'm not even sure. There are so many. of them. Danny Rick, Pierre Gassley, Lens Stroll, all three of these guys did horribly, and they all share it for me equally. A shared worst driver of the day. It's allowed. Oh, we allowing that. Get in the big, Checo Stang.

No. Stop telling our listeners to get in the pain. We do really appreciate all of your submissions, folks. Let's move on to Rath. Driver of the day is George Russell. amazing defense against the two Red Bulls. And also a shout-out to Yuki Sonoda. He did a good job today. And worst driver of the day is Lance Stroll.

He didn't really do anything at all. Brutal. It's an excellent summary. You did nothing. It's like that meme. That meme where it's like poking and saying do something. Do something. Good of mind, giving the credit to Yuki Sanada,

this will probably come up as a podcast topic over the next couple of weeks or so but, you know, Sanoda's definitely had something of a turnaround this year. I love him. Enter into the Hall of the Fame. Well, that's it. That's going to inspire anyone, isn't it?

The Hall of the Fame. That's what they said. It's the Hall of the Fame. It's not wrong, isn't it? This is funny. Let's move on to Beth. Drive of the Day is George Russell. We now have

a Minister of Defence for the UK, which is great to see. Worst rival in the day for me is KMAG purely because he'd done all the hard work on Saturday, getting that hat in a really good position, just to throw it away in one lap and unlike Hamilton,

could not recover. So much British bias there from Brexit, Beth. Ah, man, back on it again. We're proud of you, Beth. Let's move on to Ryego. You guys, this is Ryeguy 26.

Greetings from Charleston, aka Chuck Town. Driver of the Day goes to A musical interlude. Even though he got robbed, worst driver of the day pains me to say this, but he had a bit of a mare.

I gotta give it to Danny Rick. It just hurts. I can feel the pain in that one. For those unclear, Checo was his driver of. It's nice to hear a bit of a mayor, come from other areas of the world

because of the UK. That's a very English specific phrase, I feel like, well, British phrase, sorry. Bit of a Mayor. A bit of a Western Super. Wow, now you've lost people. Now you've lost people. Western Super Mayor.

I didn't think that nightmare rhyming terms would ever make it onto this podcast as much as it's been a staple of our friendship for the last 10 years. Didn't think it was going to make it on him. We've made that since we were like 16, 17. West and Superware. Not even joking,

at the Western Super. Oh, sorry, Tony. We've got two more to go through. We've got Hazer for the next one. Lad's doing my best and worst driver a day. Best driver at day. I'm actually going to give it to Checo Perez. I thought he'd done everything you need

from a second driver at Red Bull. He played the alternate strategy. He let Max through when was needed. He was a comfortable P2. He got the fastest lap. Christian Orner's got to be delighted with him. Just does everything you need from a second Red Bullseet that's been the tourist yard to fill.

Worst driver of the day, I'm going to give to Kevin Magnuson. I deemed him at fault, to be honest, for the Hamilton collision. And then while Hamilton got through the field after that, Magnuson just seemed to do nothing in a has car that we know has got pace. I think he even got done by Latifie at the end.

So, yeah, pretty poor from him. I also want to give a shout out for worst performer of the day, and that being the producers at Liberty Media or the TV production. There was a moment in the race where Vastappan was chasing Paris for the lead up the home straight and instead of focusing on the cars, they decided to zoom in on a reflective window on the grandstand.

We sort of see the cars go past. Like, Giza, you ain't our Hollywood movie producer, right? You're not doing Lord of the Rings. We don't need artistic creative direction. Just show the cars on the state, all right? Jeez. Oh, go. Such a rant that was.

I love it. I was almost going to disqualify that for, We don't have a worst performer category, but based on that, I've got to give it here. I also love that Hazer, despite his game starting with a H, decides to omit the letter H from 90% of the words that he uses. I'm all for it, Hazer. Love it. Oh, love that. Well, we reach our last one.

I'm just going to press play. Okay. Feast off, drive you're out to die. I'm going to hear to think you'd be at this one for a while. I gotta go with Lewis Hamilton, mate. I used to just trying to down the straight the whole time until the end and then he was coasting down the street. Next up, Honourable mentions, I've got to give it to Fernando Alonzo

and slightly to Sebastian Vittle. I mean, they both had great pace throughout the race. That rhymed. Next up, worst driver of the day, Alex Elbon. I mean, I didn't see him on the thing in the entire time. I don't know where he was. Maybe he had issues, I don't know, but I don't know. He finished behind Latifie, goat Teefy, by the way.

He's the best driver on the grid. I forgot to mention. Driver of the day, Honorable Mention goes to him as well. And lastly, I think Charlotte Clare has to get worse, sorry Paisant LeClair has to get worse drivers as a day honourable engine just because

he his engine failed and that's definitely his fault okay I talk to you guys later in a good podcast If a good podcast If we single rights there is one

there is one submission I might be saying the obvious here but if you couldn't tell by the Australian accent occasionally slipping. Rufus Dufus is not in fact Australian. Sike! That's the wrong accent. We appreciate the submission nonetheless.

Should we take a look at our bold predictions from the preview podcast? I'll start off with mine. I said that Carlos Sines was not going to make half-race distance and I picked the wrong Ferrari. But also I said Alonzo wasn't going to either. And that was a mistake because why do you bet against Fernando Alonzo.

I did. Sam, now yours was a two-parter, and we can be very definitive about the first part, which is Carlos Seins did not win the race. So yours is not true regardless. But there was a slightly debatable second part, which is, you said that Spain would be the best race of the season so far. Do you think, Sam, that you were right on that? Now, I'm caught in the ultimatum of saying one answer to make myself,

sound a bit right. And this is what I set up a poll. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your ball predictions wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Do I think this was the race of the season so far? By a hair, yes, I do. You are.

Absolute bag of lies over here. No, no, I don't. No, I don't. It was a very, for the Spanish Grand Prix, it was actually pretty good. You know what? It won't go down this season as the worst race of the season, which usually it does.

That's coming up next weekend, folks. We'll get on to that. But this was all right for Spain. This would go down and it's just a good race across the season. And we even set up a poll in the Discord, and I've won that poll. The poll voted, yes, this was the best race of the season so far. So, you know, it's all opinion-based. And this is maybe why it was a bit of a scandalous bold prediction.

But in my own point of view, no, not quite. So I am wrong on both counts. Can I just ask the Discord here? Just speaking, I was going to say one-to-one, but it's one to 600. Why do you like this man? Because Sam goes out of his way to insult members of the Discord. Yet every time he posts a poll, they back him. Thanks, guys. I do love you so much.

Anyway, I probably agree with you, Sam. I think it was a good race, but not race of the season for me. But I think it was a fairly good shell. I'll give you that much. Harry, just, do you think he was right or wrong on that? no it was a race of the season but it was it was pretty good race pretty um it it i think the first half much better than the second half it correct died down a bit yeah um but yeah i think if the if the second half had carried on in the same way as first half the race

had done then maybe it would be but yeah not quite um and then lastly harry your bowl prediction was that there would be three on track moves for the lead Was it two or three? Did you... It was two. It was two. It was two. Yeah, there were two.

Were there? Well, there was, there was, um, Perez, uh, Vazappen on Perez, but before that, there was, uh, Perez on Russell. Oh, yeah. But LeCler lost the lead, my friend. Ah, that was a, I was it on track. It was a D&S. He was coming in the, he was coming in the pits, right? Well, yeah.

Depends when the overtake was made. I thought it happened in the pits. If it's in the pits, fair enough, you didn't get it right. But I don't... Yeah, I think it was in the pits, wasn't it? Damn out, I should have said it wasn't. No. No, but I think I can't count that.

Fair enough. There doesn't really count. So, in summation, we all suck. We suck. Again. Every week, again. Good news, folks. We're going to talk about team orders for the second time today in just a moment. Right. Red Bull 1-2. They did get maximum points, which is 44.

and not 51 in case you are mathematically wrong on that. But the way in which they got there didn't come without a little bit of controversy within the team itself. Sergio Perez had to not only give up the position to Vastappen to ultimately take the win, he also did it earlier in the race in order to give Vestappen the attempt

to get by George Russell when they were struggling to overtake the Mercedes driver. So, Sam, I appreciate you've already spent 12 minutes discussing this already, but do you think Red Bull managed their drivers as well as they could or should have done today. So as I was trying to say previously on the podcast before I realized that we were having a completely separate conversation, team orders are no, you know, no stranger to Formula One.

We've seen many offenders in the past. Ferrari, as I was saying, being the biggest one. You'll remember key phrases such as Felipe, alongside as faster than you, echoing through the halls of Formula One. You know, there are big moments. We've seen it with Mercedes as well, with Bottas getting out the way for Hamilton. And now Red Bulls seem to being a more frequent championship fighting position. They seem to be not against deploying these. The issue was last season, of course,

Sergio Perez was never in with a shout of taking the championship top spot. He was never going to win the title fight. Max had that sewn up in terms of the Red Bull side of things from race one, right? Hamilton was his only competition. The issue this season is, we're what, six races in? Yes, the staffing is a Heger-Perez, but not by a long shot. And I think Perez did

do almost anything, everything he could have done to win that race. And he got out of the way twice. And I understand quite, it feels fair that he's a bit annoyed. He's a bit frustrated by what's going on. It's so early on in the season. Red Bull were going to pick up a one-two, that race.

It wasn't going to change the result for them, swapping them around. It isn't going to win or lose to the championship at the moment, swapping them around. It just showed a clear, first and second driver. And, you know, Perez, as I've already mentioned, came on the radio saying, we need to talk about this later. I want to have a conversation. You can tell he wasn't pleased. You thought it was unfair. Oprah said it was unfair. And Max is desperately on the radio going,

great teammate, is the best teammate. You don't your teammate saying that about you. It's not like a little patronizing brother that you can mock for, oh, it's nice. You did a good job. So Red Bull, for a championship perspective, are using team orders. I understand in the right way. They're consolidating all their points behind one driver to maximize the top spot. But in terms of relationship building and culture building and maybe creating a longevity approach that ensures that Perez is happy at Red Bull for a long period of time and continues to deliver in the manner that he is doing so, this felt like it was not needed. You know, they could have just said, let them race.

Be careful with each other, please. Let them race. And if Max gets past, then Max gets passed. But I do feel like this is slightly too early in the season to call it. and I do understand Czechos paying a little bit in this one, because they would have walked home with 44 points regardless. This doesn't change anything. Later on in the season, another 10 races time, I get it.

It makes sense. But this is too early. So looking at the first time that Sergio Perez let Vestappen pass, this was when Perez was stuck behind George Russell. Stappen was well clear of the two of them, but Vastappen's venture out into the gravel meant that he ended up just behind the two of them. Perez had ample opportunity to get past Russell. I think it made sense that they switched the drivers around to give Vastappan a go.

Ultimately, they were probably unaware of the severity of the DRS issues of Vestappen at that point and thought it might be easier than what Vastappen it ultimately was for Vastappen. So I understand the move there, that's absolutely fine. The move that happened later on in the Grand Prix, where essentially it's for the lead of the race, fundamentally, I think it was wrong because whilst the call over the radio was, you're on different strategies, that's correct. They were on different strategies for Stapp and Pitt one more time than Perez did, or at least he would have done if Perez didn't have the late pit stop for a fastest lap attempt.

It would have been three to two pit stops. So whilst it's true that they are on different strategies, that is irrelevant when there are no more pit stops left to go. So if Perez, and I know he pit once more because of that fastest lap attempt, but just ignore that, if Perez wasn't going to pit again and Vestappen wasn't going to pit again, you are fighting for position. There's no strategy at play here. Yes, there might be a reason that Vastappen has younger fresher tires, but he has to work his way past Sergio Perez in order to get that position now. If there was still a pit stop to go for either drivers, fine. You can say, look, there's different strategy at play here. We need to let them both play out. They already were played out. All of the

pit stops have been done. So that should have been fought for position. And I think it would have been better, because my opinion is Vestappen would have blasted past him. And this could have been completely solved by Vastappen just getting the move done. Perhaps they were worried that without the DRS, he wouldn't be able to make the move immediately and there'd be too many awkward side-by-side situations where Vastappen can't quite get passed. Fine. But I think if Vostappen had worked his way past naturally, so to speak, there wouldn't be this question mark. Because ultimately, and I'm not going to be very popular in Mexico for this, the reason Sergio Perez didn't win this race was not because team orders were deployed. The reason Sergio Perez lost this race is because Max Vestappen was 100 times quicker than him.

Perez had a good enough race, but Vastappen made a clear error and still had the pace to beat him. I don't think there would have been any difference whatsoever to the result. Vestappen was the better driver out there. Now, it might seem a bit unfair because of the way that it came about. But ultimately, like I said, if Vestappen had forced his way past without the blessing of team orders, I think he'd have done it very easily. And I don't think there would have been much of a challenge at all.

So I'm afraid to say, get away the tissues. Perez wouldn't have won anyway. Sorry about it. Bruttle. I do actually think it was a pretty solid race from Sergio, but ultimately he's not on the same level as Vastappen. I think Vastappen would have won regardless. Harry, what did you make of the way in which they managed the situation?

Yeah, I totally get why Red Bull did this, and I think you bring up a good point about the issue with Vestappan's DRS and the uncertainty around that, because I agree, I think maybe they should have given it a couple of last, to see if Vastappen could just get past him because I'm with you, I think he probably would have done anyway and won. Yeah, maybe they should have waited for that

and then and then and then given the order. But yeah, it's a shame, especially, you know, he had to do it twice during the race. The first one I get, the thing that rankles with me slightly is that when Perez Pitt and then came up to the back of Vestappen who was stuck behind Russell,

at that point, it made sense from my point of view that they should have given Perez a chance to get past because I think that affected his race slightly because then he was stuck behind those two for a little while until the staff and pit and then Perez did eventually get past Russell so

yeah that that's annoying because I think it does seem slightly unclear in that sense that when he asked about getting past Max he wasn't allowed whereas Max was given that favour twice in one race so yeah I understand where I did it

I'm with you, Ben. I think he would have lost. Perez won the one anyway. He would have lost race anyway. But, yeah, maybe they should have given it a couple more laps and see what what Verstappen could have done in a fair fight. But yeah, I'm a fifth of our classic sound offense. I'm kind of 50-50 on this one.

I don't want to see it, especially this early in the season, but I get why they did it. Yeah. And ultimately on the issue where Vestappen couldn't get past, and Perez caught him back up. I feel like Red Bull should have just avoided that by pitting Vastappen like two laps earlier. Like they ultimately, that's the way they went. I think they'd probably just two laps,

too late on it, to be honest. But there we go. We'll move on to our next topic. We'll move on to Magnuson and Hamilton. So they had a bit of a coming together, turn four on the opening lap. What was your thoughts on? that, Sam. Do you think that it was right for no investigation necessary, or do you think that

one of them should have picked up a penalty? I mean, let's all start with the understanding that the stewards, the FIA, if anything happens on turn one, you know, you could have an alien abduct half the grid, interrogate them in space and remove several of their limbs and put them back in the car by the end of term, at the end of LAT 1, there will be no investigation required because it's a LAT 1 incident. You know, these things are. are allowed on that one. You do whatever you want, folks. Have fun. It's a free-for-all. This is a tricky one. And you need to apply, I think, a lot of the logic that's actually being introduced in the latest season. So it's a rule sets, you know, how far a car could be alongside

the other car, who has the right to the safety element, you know, who's in charge of protecting who, for example. Hamilton was in front for the corner. Magnuson was trying, you know, I love this about Magnuson. He'll just go for it. We love a bit of boxing. office, go okay, Mag, and he had elbows out, going around the outside, he was on the soft tie, it makes sense. Take advantage on that one. It makes total sense. So he went around the outside. And you would understand that with that long flowing corner with drivers right in front of you, that the car you're trying to overtake around the outside might, might come under a tiny bit of understeer, which I believe is what happened to Lewis Hamilton. Yet, the tiniest amount

of understere applied to his car. Magnuson turned in pretty early for the corner, and they touched. Now, I do think that this. this was a racing incident. I think it was incredibly unlucky the damage that Lewis Hamilton received from this racing incident. But I also think that Kevin Magnerson, if I had to blame more fault one way or the other, if I had to do it, I think KMAG is more at fault here. He's the attacking driver.

He has the, the, the ogreys is on him to respect the other car in the situation and make sure that sufficient room is given in that moment. But I think it's very marginal. And I do think that this one was a racing incident. and at the end of this segment I am going to talk more about Lewis Hamilton coming out of this.

Can we leave? Me and Ben will do our bits and then we'll just go and leave Sam on a zone. This one for me was it was so simple bear with me one second actually. Ben's walked off.

Where's he going? Right. I walk off. I've got a ball. Basketball in front of me. Why have you just got that? Where was that? Where's this going?

Why have I got a basketball in front of me. Because, folks, this was a slam dunk penalty. God. Oh my God. Nice. Late next, you can't see the prop. You can't make it up. You couldn't just say I've got on basketball. That's a very good point. I don't have basketball. I like to be authentic. This was a slam dunk penalty for Kevin Magnuson. I guarantee you. Garrett, even though it was lap one, and you're right, you can usually get away with murder on lap one. If this was the other way round, So Lewis Hamilton is a head going into the corner. If Lewis Hamilton was on the outside of the corner and Magnuson dived up the inside

and the same collision happened, there is no way that Magnuson avoids a penalty because he's just dive bomb someone and gone and had contact. But because it's the outside, apparently it's okay or perhaps because they were both because Magnuson was already so far behind because of the incident. They didn't want to penalise him. This was, for me, obvious. I think this was at least a five-second penalty for Kevin Magnuson. I admire the effort, and I don't want to detract from that attempt,

but you can't, top tip, folks, you can't crash into another driver we're making an overtake and get away with it. I thought this was a penalty. What about you, Harry? Yeah, I initially was like, oh, that's just a clumsy lap one racing incident, but a couple of hours later, I probably would have given a penalty to Manxon. British

Pires. Yeah. British Pires again. So I'm going to balance that one out in a second. Yeah, I just, you're right, Ben. I think if it'd been the other way around and he had, you know, flung one up the inside, then I made a contact. It would have been a penalty.

So, look, as he said, appreciate the effort. We love a bit of box office. But he did just, it wasn't a case of Hamilton understeering wide into him, whilst, was on the outside. Manxen was just on the outside and then just sort of turned too much. It was just like as if Hamilton wasn't there.

It was a weird one. So yeah, I would have given a penalty to Manston. Maybe again, this jurors had based on the fact that he was at the back. But then also Hamilton went down to the back. So they both lost out. They're basing penalties on where the drivers end up. Exactly. So yeah, I don't give a,

I've given a cheeky penalty to Magnuson. on that one. I'll tell you what, folks. I'm getting good at this building anticipation, Malarkey, because coming up after this short break, Sam is going to have to, like Sam is going to say what he wants to say about Lewis Hamilton. Strap yourselves in. Well, Sam, this is, the floor is yours. What do you want to say? Right. I'm going to prefix this little rant with, you know, on this podcast. Yeah, go have a drink. You know, if you're interested, stick about. If you're not, you know, have a break. It's good. I'm going to go play basketball for us.

That's great. He's got a ball there. Brilliant. I'm going to pre-fix this with this statement with on the podcast. I am probably the largest supporter of Lewis Hamilton. I've probably been the most vocal about, you know, his historical comparisons to other great drivers. Famously, yeah, you know, famously. I've always been the one that will turn around and championing him if in a close situation, I think. This is not the case today. Lewis, when you have an incident in a turn one race, and the sixth race of the season, folks, remember we've still got another 16 Grand Prix to attend. Points can be won and lost many a time over. And on lap two of the race, you radio over and go,

let's just save the engine on this one, chaps. That is the most defeatist, miserable, downbeat expression, I think I've heard, on a team radio in a long time. it's the sixth race of the season. Now, we can't necessarily assume that what Hamilton means by this point is, let's bring the car into the pit lane and retire it, save the engine. You know, that isn't necessarily what he has gone with.

But a lot of people do choose to believe that that's what he meant by that statement, that he should retire the car on lap two. Now, if we're going to run with a thought that is what he meant, let's bring the car in, we'll leave it there, right? You're Lewis Hamilton for crying out loud. You've got seven world titles, you've got over one, hundred Grand Prix victories. You've got the most podiums of all time. You know, you are considered the greatest of all time by many. And if not the greatest of all time, you're up there

in the top two or three in every single person's discussion across history. What are you doing? George Russell is driving around in third place. He's having a fantastic season. And you, the man that has done so much with your career, are too busy mowing on social media about how, oh, I need to work hard today because I spoke to someone at the track and you're still just moaning over the radio and I'm getting tired of it, mate. Get it together. Pull out some results like you know you can do. Learn this car, overcome the issues that you're struggling with. Get over the bloody hill, mate.

And start driving the car. Yes, you may not be the Lewis Hamilton of 2018, 2019, 2020. And that's okay. Every driver will fall off their peak. That's all right. But the Lewis Hamilton off his peak is still better than 95%. of drivers across history. That's how, it's the same as Schumacher.

It's the same as Schenger, Senga, not Schenger, it's the same as Senga. Schenner. It's the same as crossed. No. It's the same as Prost. It's the same as a longso even. These guys, even when they're not at the absolute best of their careers, are still better than what, 17 of the 20 drivers on the grid, for example.

You're Lewis Hamilton, mate. Stop mowing. Stop winging. And just get the job done because I am tired of it. I'm bored of you complaining about stuff. You're having a bit of bad luck. Yes, the safety cars haven't been in your favour. Yes, that collision wasn't your fault.

There's 16 Grand Prix to go. You're saying his car is improving. You can win races this season if you're bloody get on with it, chap. But instead, you're moaning. And I don't want to hear it anymore. You've made me moan like this. And I sound ridiculous at the end of this podcast. Do your job.

You've paid ridiculous amounts of money. start getting the results because I'm bored of it. Thank you. We don't. Man shouts at cloud. Literally. I'm Abe Simpson.

I'm... What do I think about that? I might... I might select my thoughts a second. Have you got any initial thoughts, Harry? Yeah, it's... Look, I don't... Maybe not as passionate if it feels passionately

if Alice of Sam does. But I get the frustration here. And, um, yeah, I don't know. And it's almost even more frustrating is that then he went and did what Lewis Hamilton does in and deliver a stonking performance because that race today was, was pretty vintage. I know he didn't, you know, get a podium or anything, but that comeback was pretty vintage Lewis Hamilton.

So it's all the more frustrating. And I don't know. He, he, he. I don't feel like Lewis Hamilton is very calculated, or that often that calculated with his radio messages. He just says what he is thinking. And I think that's a case of what happened today. But, you know, when you've got a team that are clearly working hard

to bring this car back up to, you know, where they want it to be, they've obviously been working flat out to get these upgrades on the car. And it's worked. The car is much better at this race. And, yeah, you've had an unfortunate start. It's just, you know, imagine what they think when you're like, oh, we should just retire this. And they've been working hard for a long time to get a car that's good enough for your talent. So I get the frustration here.

It's not what you want. And it's a, I don't know, as a mentality for a racing driver, it's not, I don't want, I don't want to say concerning, but it's worrying. I don't know. It's not what you want from your racing driver. Maybe he is a bit worrying. It's not what you want to hear from your racing driver because they are naturally. They never tend to give up.

And that sounds like he gave up there. Obviously, he didn't because then he delivered a great race. But it's a weird attitude to have. I'm going to defend Lewis Hamilton on two counts here because I don't disagree with, it was a bit of a moaning message. And it's certainly not the first one we've had, I was going to say this season, but he's been known for them.

But I am going to defend him on two counts. Firstly, for the reason that you've kind of already given, which is action speak louder than words. Yeah, it was a moaning message, but he still delivered. And ultimately, you know, was it worrying what he was saying? Was it concerning? It would be if he didn't deliver the performance afterwards, but he still did. So the fact that he did means I'm not too worried from his side.

And secondly, this is not just relating to this race, but perhaps more generic. Because we have said this about Lewis Hamilton's team radios over the years. We hear way more of Lewis Hamilton's team radios than we do other drivers. And there is a very good chance that we hear, we don't hear these sorts of same messages from other drivers, not because they're not said, but because they're not played. You know, maybe Kevin Magnuson said exactly the same thing after his crash.

Entirely possible, but generally we don't find out because his team radio messages aren't played. Now, you could argue that they're not played because they aren't as divisive as something that Hamilton said in the moment, in which case, fine, but there's also a chance that he just doesn't get his radio messages played as often as Hamilton's

because he's not as big a star as Hamilton. So there is a chance that we are exposed to more when it comes to Hamilton, and I'm not overly concerned because of the performance that he gave. But your original point of, it's a bit of a moaning message and doesn't send a great response back to the team. It is right.

It's just that if I'm a member of Mercedes, I'm more infused by the performance he gave rather than the negative one-liner he gave back earlier in the Grand Prix. And I think that is a brilliant point to make, and that's what I want him to see. You've got to remember who he is and what he's achieved. I want someone to sit him down and go, look, what you were able to do.

You finish 10 seconds behind him. Russell who had a brilliant Grand Prix. He was flawless and every action that he made. You were only 10 seconds off of him after a full lap puncture. What a brilliant turnaround. Look what you're doing. And I just want something. I give him like the most metaphorical slap you could give someone and go,

get your head together, man. Look what you're doing. We can do it, right. I want them to G him up and want him to get going because you're right. You have a proper mony little backside today. And yet he's still delivered one of the best performances we've seen. this season. So I hope from here on, someone will show him that and he'll start to think in a different mentality. Maybe he doesn't even need to be shown that after that performance.

Maybe the performance itself is the showing where Hamilton hasn't typically been in this sort of situation too many times where he's got a slowish car and he's had to work his way from the back today. But today was definitely the best performance we've seen from Hamilton this year. That could be, if he finds himself in the same situation, maybe not Monaco, because overtakes, but somewhere else, if he gets in that same spot again, maybe that is like, okay, look what I did at Spain. I went from 19th to fourth. Maybe I can do that again. Maybe this is the performance that is that slap. Maybe he doesn't even need to be shown it. Hopefully. Fingers crossed, let's see. Anyway, Lewis Hamilton fans, don't come at us for that place.

If you do, at Sam, say, F1. Sam, you'll say Jeff one. Sam say Jeff one. No, so go with the first one. It's wrong. at Sam on Twitter I hate it when British bias just leaks through into our podcast is awful isn't it

perhaps a wider point on Mercedes it was I would say the most encouraging weekend of the year thus far all the way from practice

through to end of race Sam what do you think in terms of Mercedes what they can do from here can they compete with Red Bull and Ferrari. Does this give them enough encouragement in that respect?

Mercedes are a technological powerhouse. The development that they make, the strides that they can take is huge. And I think they actually really displayed that here in Spain. And I think if they can get another one of these at some point in the season, which of course with budget levels that have obviously budget caps that have been installed, and obviously other teams will make developments too. It's not just there. But if they can make another big strike like this, I don't think they could go on to win championships this year. I think Red Ball have comfortably just got the best car overall. But yes, I think they can win races.

Yes, I think they can challenge your podiums. And yes, I think they could be a very frustrating nuisance for the other teams in that kind of Ferrari Red Bull area. They're much closer than they were. This is incredibly promising. And I think all of those back at Brackley at their factory and the team on the wall should give themselves a pat on the back. because this is a fantastic turn around for them, and they're doing what they need to do is to get themselves closer to that top spot again.

Very promising, excited to see what they could deliver for the next few races. Yeah, I think it was promising to an extent. You have to remember that qualifying, whilst it was pretty good, from both Russell and Hamilton, they both did a good job in qualifying, they were still about as far away from pole

as they were in Bahrain. So it's, you know, it's better than some other races they've had this year. Certainly better than the likes of Imola or Hamilton at Jeddah, but it's not quite there yet. In terms of race pace, Hamilton's last stint, that was very encouraging. Outside of that, I mean, you know, Russell did a good job of defending from the Red Bull drivers, but the fact that he was defending at all, perhaps isn't all that encouraging, because if Verstappen had working DRS, he's probably,

be getting passed pretty easily. And ultimately, when Vastappen was past, Russell wasn't a factor in fighting with the Red Bulls. And we know he wasn't a factor in fighting with LeClaire either. So I think for me, this reassured that third place is going to be the worst case

scenario here. They're not going to be caught by McLaren or Alpine. That's not happening. But did this make me think that they're going to be in touch with Ferrari and Red Bull? Not particularly. I think if they make it work at a certain racetrack, they can maybe claim a win or two.

I'm going to go a step shorter of saying any more than that, though. What do you think, Harry? Yeah, I'm with you on that one. I think it's definitely more encouraging for Mercedes, and I think they have a better base now to work from to develop this car. It feels like they finally understood it as well, because they've got rid of the porpoising.

I'd also wait to see, I mean, Monaco's a bit of an anomaly here, but wait to see in a couple of races' time whether that transfers from this weekend. We said before on the preview, obviously, they've got a lot of data from Spain from the preseason test. So this could well have been a better weekend for them, and it was. But you're right, I still think Red Bull and Ferrari have quite a bit of pace in their pockets compared to Merck. Yeah, I mean, Verstappen, that final stint, he was kind of cruising, wasn't he? And we didn't have a clue who I think probably would have been even quicker. So, yeah, I don't know pick up a win at some point, a win or two,

but I don't think it'll be on pure pace. And what is very clear is that I am, in fact, a motivational genius because me comparing Mercedes to the Dallas Cowboys on the preview podcast, clearly got this result out of them. We are a cast. Cowboys! Giggie up! Roll high, gigging on, roll high.

American audience. America's just switched off. Yeeha! I've been the cowboy! Bang, bang! I'm not a Dallas cowboy! I'm actually successful at something. Oh, sorry, Cowboys, first.

Oh, ding. Yehow. This has been a review podcast. No doubt about that whatsoever. But we've got a preview podcast coming up midweek. And, well, if you thought that Sam's rant today was a good one, and indeed it was a good one, watch out because Sam's views on Monaco. He doesn't sit on the fence, do you, Sam?

No, as many things is to be on in Monaco, and I'm thoroughly on the It's Crap side of it. Thank you. Well, until then, do you want to get us out of here? Yes, join us midweek, of course, for the Monaco preview. It proves me, I want to be proved wrong. I want to be so wrong. I want Monaco to turn up and be the absolute corker of a Grand Prix that it always should have been.

It hasn't been for so long. So turn up midweek to see what I have to say. And of course, the rest of the chaps over there. And let us know what you think as well, of course, about the Monaco Grand Prix in the midweek. I hope you enjoyed the Spanish Grand Prix. I hope you enjoyed the podcast. Thank you for skicking around if you have.

It's been a longer one today. Leave a review, if you have enjoyed it. We've had some absolutely incredible reviews recently. So thank you so much for everyone that may be, effort to leave a five-star review. It really helps us as a podcast to grow, to solidify ourselves, to hopefully one day make this our full-time job. So thank you. We've already mentioned the Discord. The link is down in the description. Join it, chat to us for the week about all things F-1. Of course, we'll always be in there talking to you, lovely, lovely people. Many people

have said that they wear their LB merch on Race Day, which is the most surreal and wonderful thing I've ever heard. It genuinely makes us a bit giddy. If you'd like to get your hands on some LB merch, the merch, the merch. The merch story is obviously the link in the description. You can find it as well on our social media, Twitter, at Lbreaking, Instagram, the Late Breaking podcast. And of course, we are down with the kids and TikTok, the late breaking podcast. Down with the kids.

So thank you so much for all your support. Thank you for joining us here for the Spanish Grand Prix. Review podcast, and of course, we'll be back next week. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Save. I've been Ben Hocking. I've been Harry. Haven't you just? I don't remember.

Breaking life. Yeha! Part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.