The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2022 U.S. GP Review

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

Yeeeehaaawwww! The LB Boys review a wild United States Grand Prix, which saw Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battle it out for the win, whilst Fernando Alonso tried to turn into a plane, and Hall of Famer, Big Shaq turned up again... JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the very, very late breaking podcast, late night, late breaking podcast presented by Harry Yead, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing the United States Grand Prix from Austin, Texas. so naturally a bit of a late one that we're recording, but we are committed to the cause. So we're getting the episode out there as soon as we possibly can. Plenty to talk about.

We'll be reviewing the race, a stroll and Alonzo crash, one that we, you know, a pretty epic one in that respect. We've got driver of the day, worse driver of the day, all to come later on in the show. But Sam, I mean,

given how tough it is to be a European F1 fan, it's really remarkable that we're here at such an hour. You know, medals all round for the three of us. Well done. Well done to all Europeans as well that are staying up this late. Also, late night, late breaking.

Right? Sounds like a late night chat show. The live audience are here. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. If everyone wants to hear a late night, late breaking chat show, let us go.

We probably won't do it. But there's the option for you. So, you know, hopes up. Might happen. Harry, you're still awake. Good to see. Just about guys. Just about.

and it's really good to be back in the 2021 World Championship again. Really missed it, actually. And I got quite nostalgic today, got to say. Yeah, yeah, it was something like a blast from the past, wasn't it? Yeah, even had a hammer time. Even at it, I know. A waste. That was a waste.

I'm sorry. What a waste of a hammer time. You've got one of the season, I reckon, Boggo. You throwing it away on that. Bonnet, you so nearly swore that as well. Bono. Worst drive of today, Bono. Got really overexcited, didn't he?

A bit too ever-excited. Poor, never mind. Never mind. So, yeah, despite the World Championship being secured and now the Constructors' Championship is secured as well, doesn't mean that Vastappen has any less interest in winning. Despite a slow pit stop, despite safety cars trying to ruin his afternoon,

he still managed to come away with a victory. He was made to work quite hard for it, though. Lewis Hamilton and Shao LaClair in particular, pushing him to the end, but Max Verstappen ultimately coming away with the 25 points. Sam, how impressive was that Max Verstappen comeback? He obviously built a bit of a lead in the first part of the race. Safety card brought things back together,

and then the slow pit stop really cost him, but he still managed to come back and win. How did you find his comeback? I feel like this Grand Prix, the US Grand Prix was almost a metaphor for how the season went for him, right? Looked strong, laid out from the frung. It looked very close, of course,

with Ferrari at that initial part and then he stretched his legs, looked really comfy. And then we had, even, you know, the safety car restart, good again. And then the pit stop phase came, right? Where disaster strikes. For the first time, I think,

for the whole season, Red Bull have a bit of a mishap, have an issue. It happened on both cars, but worse for this happened. But what a turnaround, I mean, that shows you why Max Verstappen is. at the top of his game.

It shows you why it's a two-time world champ. Do the dance, everyone. Thank you. And, you know, it makes you show, makes you realize just how classy the guy is at the top of the field now. The fact that he was able to, you know, fend off Charlerc, get past him as well, drag that car back and then overtake Lewis Hamilton,

which felt like with ease once he got there, which shows that there's still such a huge deficit between the Red Bull and the Mercedes to spite, I think Lewis Hamilton's quite valuing efforts. That victory, I believe, uh, makes him the last driver since Alan Jones in 1980s in 18, to win two US Grand Prix in the same year. So, um...

Cheers, Christy. There is, um, Max Verstappen, number 13 for the season, matching Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vessel as well. It's, you know, he did brilliantly. He absolutely defined the season with that race wing. I was quite impressed with it. What did you make of Vastappen's come back through the field, Harry? Yeah.

It's kind of... this happens in F1 it seems when we had Hamilton and the days of Schumacher as well when driver and car are working as one together you can throw a fair bit at them

and things can go wrong and then they still seem to win the race like we you know it happens back in Hamilton's dominance during the Mercedes days and it happened with Schumacher as well they'd have like dodgy pit stops etc but it doesn't matter it just seems like we go motor racing and

And then Max for Stapin wins. Yeah, he was, he was impressive once again. He felt like he lost his cool more so than he has done at all this year. And maybe that's because he's just had a really good year. But I thought at one stage, I thought his, after that pit stop had gone wrong, he was quite stressing on the radio. He was stuck behind Leclair. And I thought his head was going to drop here.

But maybe it would have done in years previous. but it didn't this afternoon and he just got his head down and he stopped back in it and it wasn't an easy one he didn't just cruise up to the back of either Leclair or Hamilton and he had to work for it but yeah it was pretty impressive stuff

yeah I mean I don't I don't think Vestappen was like phoning this in whatsoever but certainly in the first half of this race Vestappen was very sensibly doing exactly what he needed to do in order to claim victory which quite honestly was drive at about a seven

10. It didn't feel like he needed to push much more than what he was doing. And it was almost like this pit stop happened. Obviously, the safety car happened as well. And that kind of awoke something in Vastappen. It's like, oh, okay, hang on. I've got to do a bit more than that just for a little bit. Hang on. I'll get on with it. I'll take the win. It just feels so, it feels so easy and it isn't. That's really when you can tell someone is doing such a great job at something, is when they make it look easy when you are very fully aware that it is not. And you're right, Harry, it is that harmony between driver and car that you don't often see. And he is in such a place right now that you can throw a few things at him in a race,

which would, in normal circumstances, derail an afternoon. But in this situation, it made it tougher, sure, but he still managed to pull it out of the bag. It was like the switch was flipped and suddenly he had an objective, overtake Nicolaire and Hamilton. And he went straight ahead and did it. And I think it was a very impressive comeback. I mean, it's not, the fact that it doesn't really stand out across the whole season says a lot about how good Vastappan season has been. I think if this sort of race had happened for pretty much any other driver in any season, it would be a standout wow performance. It was more of the same, really, in terms of what we've seen from him so far.

And you're absolutely right. It is a bit of a metaphor for the season as a whole. the Stappen wins and Ferrari don't so yeah I mean that's just kind of 2022 in it well

sorry Sam I was just gonna say this podcast is on planning that's how all over the place we bloody are but you go for it mate you give some in-depth analysis if you're trying to indicate we're on the fifth plan

you are well out we are well in the hundreds by now yeah this podcast is yeah hundreds of plans later no it's just going to say, as I said of the intro, I do hope Mercedes get back in it next year because

because as we said, Ferrari are incompetent of, you know, giving Red Bull a challenge. And we saw today that even a you know, Mercedes and didn't have the fastest car again, but Hamilton was on, Hamilton was on Hamilton form this afternoon.

And it was just, it was just nice. I had like I say a bit nostalgic to see those two battling. I think maybe the scars of 2021 are finally healed. on my mind and I'm ready to I'm ready to love again. I'm ready to get hurt again. Yeah. Yes.

Well, that was beautifully said, Harry. And to be honest, that does make you king of the segue now because that very nicely leads into the next point, which is this fell nostalgic, right? Yeah, go on, you can have a crown. It feels nostalgic in a way in the Mercedes were back in the fight and we've only seen it a few times this year. But when Mercedes have been in the fight with Red Bull and Ferrari,

it's generally produced the best racing. So in terms of the sport as a whole, Sam, how important is it for Mercedes to be on this sort of level within the fight for the overall gain of the sport next year? I think before Drive to Survive came out, it would not be as important. But I think we have such a huge demographic of new fans that expect immediate excitement

that when we get maybe next season, potentially a season that is possibly going to be, to be dominant, too dominant by one team. They are going to go, hang on a minute, I watched Drive to Survive. The first season I watched Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstaffing had this absolute belt in a battle all the way to the final race of the season. And then the second season I watched wasn't as good, but we had a lot of great on-track action.

I think all these new Drive to Survive fans are going to be for a bit of a shock to the system if we get a season where Red Bull absolutely dominate. And I mean like 2014 Mercedes dominate, right? Every race, one, two, pretty much by, no, don't do it. Don't do it. I want a 2012 season. And again, what one, what a niche reference that is. And secondly, if you haven't seen the 2012 season and you've got the winter break coming up,

go and watch it because it is a belter. But I think it can really negatively affect the standing of Formula One with a lot of these new fans that the sport, due to, oh my voice, the sport due to drive to survive is very much like a show to a lot of new fans. And that's not a bad thing, although I do think people need to come around to the idea that a sport is a sport and you're not always going to get an absolute, you know, thriller. Sometimes sport is boring. It happens in every single sport. And they need to come around to that. But if Mercedes, Ferrari, and maybe someone else, if they want to turn up and actually

challenge at the top, you know, McLaren, Alpine, Ascom, Martin, anyone, if they want to decide to show up, it will do the sport, it will do Formula One, it will do the longevity of this new fan base, so much good by having at least one team that can competently challenge Red Bull at the top for the next couple of seasons. I think Ferrari tried, but we saw, I don't into comment anymore on what's going on there.

They tried, and they very quickly barbecued their own dreams. So, yeah, hopefully at least a couple of teams could turn up to the very top. It was a Texas reference, everyone, if you're wondering. So yes, wing it. Ye, Harry D, wing it. I'm very much on the same line of thinking as what Harry's got here in terms of

there was a lot of toxicity around the 2021 season and maybe this is proof that that is starting to heal at this point because I found myself wanting more of this. We got almost, we didn't get the perfect race, but we had the three drivers that it would be brilliant to see some sort of three-team, three-driver championship battle, right? We saw LeCler and Vestappen, who, to be honest, are probably similar in a lot more ways than they are different. And whenever you see those two go wheel-to-wheel-on-track, it's always entertaining, as it was today.

And then you've got that Lewis Hamilton, the different generation, but still clinging on to, clinging on probably isn't the right phrase, but, you know, certainly putting off the next generation with how good he is still performing and again having that battle resuming that battle with Max Verstappen. Yes, it got, it went to places where we didn't exactly enjoy it last season, but overall, the championship battle was such a spectacle. And throughout this season, we've seen that where we've had a third team included, where we've had the skills of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as well on display, that's where we've generally had the best racing. Today was great. Hungary, arguably one of the best races of the season, if not the best race of the season,

was the race where you had that competitive battle out front. And I know factors such as the safety car and the slow pit stop really hindered Verstappen's progress today. But just seeing a glimpse of what F1 can be with Lewis Hamilton in that fight and Charles O'Clair in that fight and really good wheel-to-wheel battle, it got me encouraged and it got me engaged and I want more of that. So I think it's really important that Mercedes get back in that championship fight next year. Even if they're not right there till the end, if they can just provide more of what we had out there today, it will do the sport a world of good, I think.

What are your thoughts on this one, Harry? Yeah, you make that point then about Hungary. I think Silverstone, Hungary, and this race, three best races of the year, or at least in my opinion. And what's the common thread throughout all of them? that we had three teams involved. We had Mercedes in the fight where they haven't been in other parts of the year. And you're right. We want 2012 vibes, not 2015 vibes.

So, yeah, it'll, it, I have no doubt Mercedes will be back. This has been a duff year for them by, by a long stretch, by their standard. So, yeah, I'm excited for, for them to be back in it, because as we saw today, it just makes the race and more interesting it and you're right Ben there were contributing factors to how that happened but it just gave us a glimpse of

how good or how much better it can be and to see Ferrari versus Mercedes versus Red Bull that's what we're after here so why we sit down and tune in every week I mean it's not we would do that anyway but you get my point

true very true in terms of the race weekend as a whole obviously Sam you've already alluded to the fact that Vastappans had multiple wins in the US this year meaning of course there have been more than just Austin as a US representative on the calendar and that's only going to grow next year and I think there were concerns perhaps that the glamour of Miami and the incoming glamour of Las Vegas might dull down the Austin weekend a bit that is a bit more of an established circuit on the calendar but we saw record-breaking attendance across the entire weekend.

I think it might be $440,000 across the weekend, which kind of implies that that whole F-1 spirit in Texas isn't going anywhere. What did you make of the weekend as a whole, Sam? And what did you make of the race? The weekend as a whole in terms of production. Can I just say that, you know, Texas, I know that there is obviously the worry that old Vegas might outshine it or, you know, Miami's got that Miami feeling,

a lot of celebs, bloody love Miami. Texas is so unique in its identity, and I think it started to really exploit that this race weekend. You know, the first thing I noticed, when I turned on the TV on the first Friday practice, this colossal American and a Texan flag that if you were to put them on each other, it would put the United Kingdom to beg like a big duvet.

That's how big those flags were. And I love it. I want giant flags on every corner. And I think that's great. I think Texas has got some identity. We saw that with the way Danny Rick swaggered into the paddock this weekend on horsey mccourse. You know, the cowboy boots are out everywhere you go. The Ferrari boys are wearing fedores with stars on them.

You could give coat of this personality. You can give, you know, this racetrack, its own style. And I think it works really, really well this race weekend. I also think that the race weekend was really fun. Qualifying looks really, really competitive. I think at one point between 10th and 18th in Q1, there was only two tenths between those drivers between 10th and 18th place. And that shows you just how close the cars can get around what is actually quite a long track around the F1 calendar. And then we saw the racing.

I think last time we were here, we only saw 17 overtakes across the entire race, which is hilariously small for what you think would be such a great overtaking track. But this time we saw mistakes. We saw the wing blowing up an absolute storm. It was a nightmare for them. We saw moves, so many different corners. We saw carnage with collisions. Honestly, it was a really, really well put together race weekend. And also, well done to the FIA.

You called out the safety car immediately on both occasions when it was needed. And I would have called a reg flag personally for the scroll, a long-so incident. That's probably the only difference in the decision I would make. But despite not throwing the red flag, I do think the safety car procedure was handled very, very well. And we saw the new procedure put into place where teams were immediately told that there was a vehicle on track. They immediately have to tell all drivers there is a removal vehicle on track. And you saw how slow they all went down that straight. I don't like it.

I still think a red flag is the much safer and better option for everyone involved. But it's a step in the right direction. We'd rather have to have the red flag. But overall, apart from that one little incident, I think it was a very, very positive race weekend for Formula One. Yeah. And if we're talking about enthusiasm for F1 in the state of Texas as a whole, there's no better proof of that than your appearance on 97.1 The Freak from Dallas, Texas, radio station.

I mean, I don't know if it's available to relisten to at all. But Sam, did us LB boys proud, didn't you, Sam? I don't know, boys. Yes, folks. I was on a radio show. You spoke about radishes. It was great. I mean, for the first.

And your downtown thing. Yeah, 10 minutes. We did what radish shooting homesberg. And that was, you know, that was it. And then we talked about dumplings. But we did also get some Elbee stuff in there. We got some Formula One stuff in there as well. They were lovely.

And it's great to see, you know, the state of Texas really embracing Formula One. It's, you know, I feel like Formula One after the disaster that we had in the mid-2000s is well and truly back. It's established. They are loving it. They've got F1 fever. Fantastic to see us being embraced by such a huge sporting nation. So yeah, big up the states. Lovely to be there.

I'm glad we've got three races there next season. I'll tell you what. I thought today's race was really great, but boy, was it lucky. That could have been completely the other way. And it was heading that way as well. Thanks to bowling ball, ball, Russell, taking over the title,

taking out colour signs. I mean, that was heading towards. a very basic afternoon, I think. So massive thank you. So I guess Landstrol, thank you. Thank you for being incredibly dangerous. Appreciate that. We've got to give the original thanks to Valtrey Bottas for just forgetting.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, cheers for that. He should score points. Oh, well, I won't be thanking him, but we'll get on to that in a moment. We're going to take a short break, but we'll have a look at that signs and Russell. crash right after this. Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived.

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the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Gambling problem call connects Ontario 1866531-260, 19 and over, physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Gold than Nuggetcasino.com for details. Please play responsibly. So Carlos Sines claimed his third career pole position. He says very unconvincingly on Saturday. Stadman?

Sounds about right. Anyway, he did a very good job on Saturday. Claimed poll position. And he had Max Verstappen on the front row alongside him going into term one. Max Verstappen managed to get a far better start and took the lead. But any thoughts of Carlos Sines neatly tucking into Pete. were soon to be dashed as George Russell contact between the Mercedes and the Ferrari. George Russell took a five-second penalty for the incident.

Carlos Signs was completely out of the race. Harry, do you think that the penalty was a fair one in terms of Russell? Do you think it should have been more? Or do you have some other opinion? First on this, FIA, pretty quick decision-making today. Do we agree? It's mad, isn't it? But there is only one race director.

So that might be why for the first time. We're back to one race director. It's almost like that that did work and everyone got scared by Abidavi. Anyway. I've just that confirmation. Perez in Singapore, we're all good. It's fine. Oh, food.

Yeah. It's all good. Cheers, that's fair. Good. That's a lucky one. So yeah. Was it a fair penalty? Yes.

It was. I think, I don't think it deserved. more. It is 100% George Russell's fault. I think the only slight defence I'll give him would be,

and this is not, Martin Brunner was trying to make this point as well on commentary, but he didn't make it very well because he said something that along the lines of you can make sure

you're looking out for the drivers behind you. And I was like, no, I know what you're trying to say, Martin here, but that doesn't work. Because how can you be looking out for the drivers behind you

that's just, that's not your responsibility. Look out, guys. Not Carlos' responsibility. All right, get out of the way, sorry. But I think what I, the gist of what he's trying to say is it was, it was just a bit clumsy at that turn one because Carlos had tried to get a cut back. And he didn't cut across George Russell. George Russell was going too fast into term one. And to be honest, I think him and Hamilton were heading off, off the road anyway as they entered turn one.

because at least Russell was because I think they were going too fast. So totally Russell's fault. I think the penalty was there. Do we actually know if the water leak was related to the punt? Was it a separate water leak? No, they mentioned it was due to the impact in the radiator. I mean, and I would trust Sam on this

because if anyone knows about leaks, it's that leak expert. I've got two of them now, too. Ridiculous. Just to go with your radishes. So, yeah. Fair penalty for me. I've just caught a fly.

Look. He actually has. I'm a Formula One driver. The reflexes. The fly man. Sorry, that was so irrelevant. Carry on with a point. To be fair, I don't, I don't, I don't, this has been a very, very interrupted point.

I didn't think I had, I don't think I had much more to say. Fair pen. George Russell, don't lock up into third one next time. Great advice. Listen to this man, George Russell. What do you think, Sam? Do you think five seconds was fair? Oh, he just cut across me.

Shut up, George. I'm sick of hearing your moaning radios after you crash into people, honestly. Yeah, penalty was completely fair. It was a lap one instinct. We all know those are rather leaning. But also folks who might be thinking, what are you all about? Carlos Sites ending up D&F in from this.

We don't judge penalties based on what happens after the incident. We judged them based on what is the impact, what is the contact between these two drivers. It was a front of a car hitting the side of a car

of the spin. And that's how you're looking at it. And that has been, that's got a precedent throughout the whole of this season, the whole of last season, I think, as a five second penalty. It stayed in line

with that uniformity, more than happy with a five second penalty. That is fine. Russell gets served, fully in the wrong on this one. So unlucky for Carlos Sikes. I, you know,

I'm not sure he would have gone on to fight for that victory. victory, but nonetheless, the guy did everything he could on Saturday, and George the torpedo Russell turns up and absolutely ruins his weekend. So, yeah, Russell in the wrong, deserving penalty, gutting bit for science. So in terms of the F1 grid, in terms of teams and drivers, I don't have much of a leaning in terms of who I want to win and who I want to lose. I try and be completely unbiased in that respect, but there is one thing I do like, and that's being right. And you'll know that.

at the beginning of this year, for anyone who's been listening long enough, that I predicted George Russell would beat Lewis Hamilton across a full season. And everyone said I was mad, but it's still in play and he's still leading. But boy, oh boy, he be making me nervous because these last few races are not going to plan. And honestly, when George Russell made that move and we got to saw the replay of it, the only way I can describe what my reaction was, was, you know, when in the, the US office when Stanley's like, boy, have you lost your mind? Like, that was like my...

Boy, have you lost your mind? Because I helped you find it. That was pretty much me after he did that. What are you doing? And Crofty's first reaction over the radio is, oh, sign just turned into him, man. You what, pal? What?

He turned, he what? Okay, here's a little bit of racing 101, right? signs is already going through the second part of the corner before George Russell gets there. Signs can do whatever he wants because he's not racing George Russell. He's that far behind. George Russell just went way too far into turn one. We know what term one is. Sam, you know, knows that it's the best term one in all of that one.

Best term one on the calendar. It's brilliant. And to be honest, Sam, I still don't think you're quite right. But you raise a very good point because it is a great term. turn one. And it does cause the likes of George Russell to make a massive error going into turn one. Five second penalty was the lightest penalty, I think, that would have been appropriate here. I possibly would have gone for 10 because it was just so blatantly obvious that he wasn't going to, it didn't matter what signs was doing. Signs could have taken the most outside line there

was available. And I don't think it would have made a difference. I think Russell still would have gone into the back of him. It was very obviously, Russ. Russell's mistake here. And like I said, you are making me incredibly nervous. And until you produce a good performance, George, you will still be George O'Pantano until you prove otherwise. There's so many people that will not understand that. Google it. Ask your parents. Anyway, I mean, just to talk quickly on signs is qualifying lap, Sam. What did you make of it? because, you know, it's very rare that we see signs outperform not only LeClaire, but Vastappen on a Saturday. And there was a real fight at the end of Q3 and he was the one that came out on top.

The amount of times that we've gone into a weekend and asked more of Carlos Sainz, we've said, well, what are you doing? You're clearly just the number two driver behind LeCler at this point. And LeCleur has been almost phenomenal, you know, when it comes to the Saturday performances, when it comes to a pole position. I think he's got the most out of anyone, despite Matt's Vastaping having our 13 victories this season, really puts that for Ferrari to the test on a Saturday, won that pace. Carlos Sykes massively behind that, you know, almost, I think, eight or nine pole positions across this season behind Charlerclair.

But this weekend, all he had to do was tuck him behind the Claire. You know, the clerk could get pole, science had to be second because the penalties, he would have picked it up. He had to be the next in line for the top seat. And he didn't need to. He absolutely nailed it. And he looked feisty in practice as well. And then he looked feisty going through.

qualifying period. I think at one point, he went out and slapped down a lap that was four tenths fast and everyone else and no one got near him. He absolutely smacks LaCleur across the face with it. He went, there's your four-tenth sunshine. What are you doing with that? Honestly, Carlos Sykes, on that Saturday, I was willing him on to have a great weekend, a great Sunday because he absolutely demonstrated he's still got what it takes on Saturday. He did everything he needed to do. Doesn't need no penalties to give him number one. He got it himself. and I applaud him for it. I was really looking forward to a scrap.

But it says a lot when the first thing I said on this podcast was, I don't think Carlos Sitesway gone on to challenge for the victory. Despite being on the front row of the grid, it needs a little bit more of a consistent top level game, I think. What did you make of Harry? What did you make of Harry's... I had a great raise, actually, Ben. Thank you for asking.

What did you make of Harry's pole position lap, Carlos? It was amazing. Yeah, I slapped that four tents down. Boom. Yeah, I, it was, look, I think, if you look back at the start of Carlos Sines' year, um, he's,

he's, he's, Sam actually just, what, you're such an idiot. It's just turned around in his chair. Don't look back. Oh, man,

go to bed. Um, if we have, if we, if we reminisce, if we recap on, uh, Carlos Sines's,

uh, early part of this year. He's coming a long way. And look, yes, he probably still has a little way to go to be consistently challenging at the top. But, you know, I think there were genuine concerns when he kept spinning into gravel traps or walls that maybe this was, you know, not working out for him at Ferrari. And I think he's definitely proved those doubts wrong.

So, and that includes the excellent poll app yesterday, because it was, you know, It was very impressive from Carlos, so I hope that momentum continues. He was unlucky today. I think he could have been in the mix there today. I mean, he was on pole. The Ferrari clearly had some pace, although it still seems to chew up its tires slightly, so a little bit off towards the end. But yeah, it's been much better from Mr. Science Jr.

Yeah, I don't think I've got too much more to add versus what both of you already said. It was a quality lap from him, and, you know, love to see more of that from him. on a Saturday. And Charles LeClair might well have been unhappy that he couldn't get a bit more out of the car and he might have made a mistake on that final Q3 lap. But that's how it goes. That's the beauty of qualifying. If you don't produce the goods on that one-time lap, you don't get the rewards. What a great way to decide the grid qualifying is in this current format. I'd never think to change it, actually. It's really good. Yeah. And don't add like a little mini race after it where where you can make up for the mistake you make in qualifying.

That would be a stupid idea. I really love how qualifying works. Anyway, moving on from that decision. Carla Science, though, does, I think, need to be a little bit nervous and he's got to deliver the last two races. He's only four points ahead of Lewis Hamilton who sits in sixth place at the moment. I think he's about 55 points away from Charlotte Clerk, who is in second now.

If the gap grows any bigger, it's going to start looking a little bit negative on Carla Science, I think. Interesting. That one might well be a discussion for mid-week. or otherwise. But we'll get into driver of the day, worst driver of the day. Actually, let's review bold predictions first.

Sam, if you wouldn't mind reminding the people, and me, what was your bold prediction? My bold prediction is that the lovely listeners are all going to go out and buy some of the new merchandise that's on the website. I swear this was online. That's a hell of a segue. I have not.

No one's planned this. It's improv. Yeah, there's a link of the description. We've got loads of new merch. It looks really really cool. Hannah's an amazing job of design it for us. Thank you, Hannah. And if you're a Patreon member, you get a bit of a discount code on a certain tier.

So check it out. I'm actually you don't miss out on that. Anyway, my bold prediction was that. It was incorrect. That's why I've kind of ignored it. I mean, it was fairly obvious from the start. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I kind of forgot what World Prediction I was doing in the preview, if you listened. I said there will be five different manufacturers teams inside the top six. and there were not. Yeah, that wasn't quite right. Harry, you said that a podium place would be changed as a result of track limits late on, and they really teased you on that. Oh, boy, did they?

Did they ever? Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, you saucy little tease. Yeah, I thought it was going to happen. I really did, but alas, they were good boys in the end. I'll tell you what, Lewis Hamilton. I don't know what his plans are, post-racing. He's got quite a few avenues.

He might go down, but umpire might be one of them because he is right on it. Like, you were out, some. Eyes like a hawk. Is eyesight?

Yeah, eyesight is incredible. He's off. You're out. And again, turn nine, turn 20. Oh, done it again, turn 12.

Are you watching this, Stuart? I'm really annoyed about my one, because I predicted that after nine schoolless races, Valtry Bottas would finally score points here and finish in the top eight. And throughout practice, it was like, yeah, Alpha have got something here, sure.

And then he gets into Q3, all right. And I mean, it went a bit hairy at the beginning because Perez decided to use him as a, I don't know, some sort of cone, just knock him out of the way. But other than that, it was going quite well. And then he decided no. And that was that. I'm sorry, I've complained so much about Cota and the fact that there isn't enough grass and there isn't enough gravel, yet Bottas still managed to find the only bit of gravel that actually exists on that track. It's impressive. It's when the yellow flags came out and they were like, oh, yellow fly, oh, it looks like Bottas has spun in sector three.

And I was there thinking, oh, well, you know, that will go green in a second. He'll get going again. But no, no. Yeah, he'd found some gravel. Unbelievable. So, ladies and jents, if you get your Arbacus out, do some tossing. up, you'll note that we are naught out of three this week.

Normality is presumed. Can I also just say that I was tantalizingly close on my top three as well, because I said Vestappen, LeCler, Hamilton, and it was Vestappen, Hamilton, LeCleur. That's right, folks. On the evidence, just keep it another zero

for Harry there. Yeah, yeah. I had another maybe, could have been, but it's still zero. Also, an interesting point there, Ben, that you brought up, that you thought it was Perez's, fault in that incident between Perez and Bottas? To be honest, I'm just angry that Bottas didn't get at the top eight.

Furious. Yeah. It could have been 100% on Bottas. Like, Bottas tried to kill Perez and I'd still be like, what are you doing, Perez? Like, I've really got this win. Bold prediction or nothing. Exactly. It means everything to me.

Driver of the day, who have you got, Harry? Look, there are quite a few contenders for this one, which means it should be quite difficult. but I'm sorry, I'm going to sound like a fanboy. He was on two wheels and then he was in the barrier and he came seventh. It's Fernando Alonso. I don't care.

Sensational drives from Verstapp and Hamilton Bettle but it's Fernando Alonzo the whole way. I mean, he was on two wheels. He was mid-air. He was turning the wheel, mid-air. It couldn't stay because he was mid-air

and he still finished seventh. Azerbaijan-esque. It was very Azerbaijana. I didn't really, I didn't really fully, because I thought after that, you know, after being in mid-air and hitting the barriers, I thought he, you know,

he might crawl around at the back for a bit and then they'd be like, oh, the car's, car's fudged. Let's just, that's just retire him. So I didn't really pay attention to that far down the, the order.

And then suddenly he was in seventh. And I was like, how? Do you know the level of shock that went through my mind where he pulled into the pit legs, stuck on a set of tires, was back off again? I'm like,

how was he not? out of this race. He's still there. The man currently thinks he's been 21 years old and is never going to give up racing. He was... I mean, he's got to look after himself. He was definitely winded.

He was like, oh, I'm okay. He was a bit late. And despite all of that, I made this point to Harry before he started recording. Alpine, you voluntarily gave this guy up. You had a choice.

All for Pete Gassley. Go on, Pete. Oh, what a guy. So, yeah. What about your driver of the day, Sam? Well, I'm going to go for Sebastian Vessel, because the man was phenomenal. The start that he had was absolutely incredible,

right down the middle there, which was fantastic to see. Held on the top page through really well. It was, you know, yeah, okay, he was getting past, but he wasn't disappearing, you know, off down the road after they'd passed him. He was properly, following along, using the DRS and slipstream, he was keeping it up, and then disaster strikes.

Asthma mater given the duttist pit stop they could have given him. But what a display he puts up at the end. Pulls it all the way back, I think, to P8, fighting Magnuson through the smoke bombs, which is incredible. And it was absolutely phenomenal to see the way that Vettel still got it, that Wiley-old Fox on his retirement year. Absolutely brilliant, fantastic drive from Vettel. So, grab of the day, for me, Sebastian, Vettel. I've elongated what I'm saying, because Ben's disappearing for me, and I got slightly panicked.

Ben, are you there, my friend? The sheer panic on mine and Sam's faces when Ben disappears. I can't go on this alone. So I do have a question on Driver of the Day. What do, because I think all of these are contenders, what do Vettel, Alonzo, Hamilton, and Vestappel?

all have in common. They've all got world titles. Wrong. None of them did 38 laps on the medium tire, but one person did. Kevin Magnuson. Kay Mag. I'm sorry.

On that first stint, everyone, was it lap 10, lap 11, lap 12, everyone was like, getting rid of these medium tires. Kevin Magnuson went over three times that length. You saw him battling Vettel at the end. They were dust.

there was nothing to them and he still managed to come away with points I don't even care that he managed to get overtaken by battle at the end the fact that he came in away with anything from that race is a miracle particularly because of the likes of Ocon actually deciding to bail out of the strategy and ended up outside of the points I'm giving it to Kevin Magdison

home soil for the team managed to come away with points well on but all of those other names I did say were very very good speaking of very good what about not very good Worst driver of the day, who have you got, Harry? Okay, Vashti Bottas, mate. I just, what are you doing? You were doing so well. There are a few contenders there, Latifie, Danny Rake, sorry, mate,

but Botties. Like we already said, you found the only gravel trap around this circuit. So well done. The state of Texas. Yeah, almost impressive at that point. Sam, your worst driver of the day? Now, before I rinks him, what happened to Daniel? Did he do anything or was he just bad?

Did something happen? Did I miss it? Because it happens. I miss a lot. They've got to the point, right, where, like, Crofty and Zach Brown are just kind of having a laugh about... They were just in a laugh. They were. Yeah.

They were like, as Daniel sent you a postcard, I haven't heard from him. And it's like, you know, the man is going probably through like a crisis and identity right now, right? He's desperately trying to click on to his career. Are you there like, oh, I'll meet up with my man. like Crofty. That was the wrong impersonation. That was definitely

not a Zaybrow, but please. Hold on. Hey, and all me's up with my maid, Crafty. Again,

that might have been worse. Yeah. Anyway, Daniel Ricago is my worst driver of the day. It looked like nothing really

happened, but hey-ho. But you got a shout out Lank Stroh despite every other part of the race that he did was so good

and that's why he isn't the worst driver of the day. But that silly last-minute jink out of Loxo was attacking him was awful.

and we'll get onto that later on. Yeah, Latifie also, rubbish. And I think George Russell was pretty bad, despite obviously he took out science. He never regained any pace. He was off the place of Hamilton or weekend anyway. But yeah, it is Danny Rick. There are sometimes for these awards,

well, I'll have one contender, sometimes I'll have two, sometimes I'll have even three. There are five names, and I'm really struggling to choose between them, mainly the ones that have already been said. Lanchdroll, we'll get on to that in. incident in a bit. Daniel Ricardo, as Sam's already mentioned, Nicholas Latifi was nowhere,

and Valtrey Bottas found the only gravel trap in the entire state of Texas. And the thing is, with all four of those drivers, all four of them had cars that could have got points because Norris did and Vettel did, despite Astor Martin trying their best not to get in there. Albin, you know, he was well within that fight as well. And Bottas should have been in that fight. And he was before he found the gravel trap. So all four of them are definite contenders. But I will ultimately go with the fifth guy, which is Giorgio Pantano.

Like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Even, to be honest, even without the crash at the start, he still might have got it for me. Because whereas Hamilton was very competitive all day, George Russell, and I don't know how much the crash at the beginning affected his performance, but he wasn't there with him on pace. It was only, and even though Lewis Hamilton didn't improve on his Q3 performance in his second run, he still managed to out-qualify him.

So it was a really rough weekend for him overall. So I'll go with him. George Russell hasn't out-qualified Hamilton since the summer break, is he? That's six-gneill, I think, now, which is, you know, is Russell's form has dropped off massively since the start of the summer. boy I'll be nervous I'd be real scared right now that's the quote for this week's episode boy I'd be nervous

boy I'll be nervous yeah moment of the race what we go Harry quite a few contenders here but I even missed this because I was laughing about after the race but hall of famer boy big shack

he's back I hope he is there for every USGP from now on. Yeah, how could it not be? Hall of Famer, Big Shack, making another appearance with the trophy in a massive car. It's the same car. It's the same car. It's all I ever wanted from this Grand Prix, to be honest.

Martin was like, he's so tall that I feel like he doesn't need to go up to the podium with the trophy. He could just hand it to them whilst. standing up normally. Great dad joke. Cheers, Martin. Moment of the race for you, Sam. Well, I'm going to throw it back to Martin a bit further.

Sorry, but Pete Gassley is absolutely iconic. No, he's ever called Pete Gassley, and he just dropped it like it was nothing. I moved on with his day. I thought I misheard. No, he said, get on Pete Gassley. Like, what? What?

So, yeah, that absolutely sent me when I heard it. The Discord absolutely loved it. Pete Gazley, live on. Oh, boy. I thought there were a lot of contenders for a moment of the race. I do want to give a shout out to that filthy switchback that Leclair pulled off on Vastaf. That was naughty. Spicy.

Yes, very spicy. That goes well beyond Lehmel and Herbert Nandoz. I can tell you that much. Also a shout out. for that random ass octopus because big up the octopus you know

the one that was there last year why? I don't know that's why I love it but my moment of the race without a doubt was Sebastian Buebe

getting a shout out of the formation lap because why not because obviously don't blame me don't blame me don't blame me I'm surprised

I'm surprised I'm surprised Harry got there first on that one Anyway, we'll come back with Driver of the Day and Worst Driver of the Day from Discord submissions right after this. It's spicy. Oh, my God. Let's see if at 20 past 11 in the evening, the soundboard is going to dare not work for me, because otherwise this laptop might well go out of the window. Let's go to Czechosan, first of all.

driver of the day has to go to Fernando Alonzo. He was punted into the air by a menace landed it and still was solidly in the top 10, which leads me to my worst driver of the day, Lance Stroll. First he tries to assassinate the go-tifie in Australia and now he tries to take out

the giga-chat Alonzo. Absolutely unacceptable. Special shout-out to Tim Apple for the weakest flag wave, I think we'll ever see. I'm glad he made that final point. Excellent Donald Trump reference there. It was the worst flag wave all time. Could you imagine if Flando Alonso did get punted by the menace, like scroll?

And then over the radio just comes here and goes, landing it, it just carries on. Lanned it. Cushed it. Pops a wheelie and a quick barrier grind and I landed it. You know, when they went on board with him, right? And he was two wheels up in the air. It kind of looked like that, oh, it's a long time ago ago. That meme, it was like, bam, borghum.

Bim, bim, everything flew off into the sky. That's what he looked like, and not like these Frank Mills were never coming down. Oh, man. What an era. Let's go on to Adam next. Hello, all. My name is Adam. My first submission for Driver of the Day and Worst Driver of the Day.

Driver of the Day, probably should go to Max or Stavin overcame, you know, 11, 12-second pit stop and all that. But my heart of hearts, I want to give it to Vell. Worst driver the day was all ready to give it to George Russell at the first turn of the race But you know Lance Stroll Stepped up rose to the occasion And yeah worst driver of the day This is my first time watching a race

With everybody in your Discord And it was a whole lot of fun So I wanted to say thank you to everybody for that It's good to hear And obviously Yeah link in the description If you want to join Adam and others on race there and indeed not on race day,

we're always there. Let's go on to beef. Oh, we're watching. We never leave. Brexit beef's up next. Oh, sorry, handbag beef, I guess, is the current name. Fair warning. Not sure beef sober here.

Hello. My driver on the day is Alonzo. The f***. I'll see that. That's a bleak. Babe. My drone the day is Alonzo because he literally launched that car and it turned into a rocket ship. I have no idea.

But worst drive the day is lunch stroll. Because what's he doing? He did it. Okay. Bye. What? What? Giggly beef.

Did she get remixed? Carfay through that. Shuckpid. What? What? Finding Nemo gets a reference. Oh, dear. Thanks.

Yeah. Cheers. You know, it's bad enough beef. This is a bloody late recording. And you add extra bleep working. I've had a private message. She's sober.

Wow. She's sober beef. Sober beef. Okay. Interesting. What her, beef. Moving on.

Hi, guys. My name is Danny and I am reporting from Ireland. My driver of the day today was Sebastian Vettel. For sure he did fantastic today. And the worst driver of today, I have to say, pains my heart for Daniel Ricardo. Danny Rick is not looking well. This needs to be over. Well, guys, love the podcast. Bye bye. She makes it sound like she's going to put Danny Rick down like he's a sick dog. Don't do that. Yeah, please. Please, don't.

Thank you very much for the submission. Let's go to, let's go to Skylar. A fair warning. Skylar, you know, likes to go on quite a lot in these submissions. This one is going to be a new record. I think this one is all of eight seconds. I'm probably a broken record, but Hamilton's my driver. today and my worst driver today is Vettel's pit stop.

So she said so many words that she couldn't get half of them out properly. I think her best drivel. We love you, Skada. Thank you for that. After four seconds, that's it. Just break down. Dang, shut itself. No more.

Let's go to JJB for the next one. Hi, this is JJB from the Netherlands with my driver of the day submission. It has to go to Seb Fettle with an, honorable mention for pilot Alonzo and the worst driver of the day has to go to Landstrol

keep doing what you're doing guys love the show you know what it's really lovely to get a submission from the Netherlands don't get too many sorry does anyone else miss

JJB Sports oh JCP Sports also that JJB's name reminds me of that song which this is going

be niche. Remember the group Nisloopy? And they did that song that went, and I'm rumbling in my J.J.B. It's J.C.B. Right. But that was a great song. Sorry.

I'm just thinking back to J.J.B. Sports. I was thinking, what memories do I have of J.J.P. Sports? The only one I can think of is walking into the entrance and someone just full on vomiting into a bit outside. Was this thing that's hostile?

True. Surprisingly. Oh, God. Bloody Cornwall. Oh, man. I hadn't thought of that in so many years. J.J.J.B. Sports. Vomit into the bin.

Jensen, Jensen, Button sports. Jeksen, Jeksen Button. Oh. We've got time for a few more. Let's go to Future Nazia for this one. This is Future Naisa here. And I would say, Driver of the Day. Just Landon Norris.

Man's was cutting everybody today. Late breaking on everything, just like the late breaking podcast. And who is my worst driver today? Horsey and make horse horse, horse, Daniel, what you're doing, bro? You need to get it together, please. Great horse noise.

That was a great wingy. Great winnie. It's pretty far. Let's get later in the day, in it. Yeah, we've just descended into numbers. since now. Hey, y'all. It's Ross from Ontario, and my driver

of the day is going to have to be the safety car for bringing Chuckles back in the race. I know Chuckles had a good race, getting back up there, but I've got to give credit where credit is due. And also to Seb for leading that lap, that was awesome. And I didn't really think about my worst driver of the day, so I'm

just going to guess it was Latifi. It's a great guess. It's a safe one. And to quote the immortal Sam, age on this one. Chuckie McClucky, I think, is appropriate.

Yeah. Let's go on to the next one. Hey y'all, this is Allison from the US of A, and my driver of the day is a toss-up between Vettel and Alonto, because homie went flying. And my worst drive of the day is

Russell for obvious reasons. Okay, please that. Love the attitude in that. Also, I loved the obvious reasons. Like the sass. It was a bit like the, what's the song by the guerrillas that goes, Ah ha ha ha ha ha. Feel good.

The laughing feel good. That's what it's sounding like. June. Absolutely June. Sing them live, brilliant. We are really going all around the houses with these references. This is late night, late breaking right here. This is utter nonsense.

It's bad. We'll do one more drive-the-day submission. It's a double submission, of course. Here we go. Hello, it's James and Real Dad, live from New York in our Irish pub. Nereko, I've just won this championship because Max won a race, and Lewis is so happy. My best job of today is Fernando Alonzo. Fernando Lonson flew for the air, did a wheelie on 20 meters, and then looks at his right

mirror, hard damage, and almost held off Nando Nara's at the end. then and still finish P7. What's your worst job of the day? Wester of the day. Got to beat Danny. Oh my God, Danny. What are you doing? You finish almost last.

If it wasn't for Latifi's time penalty, please free races, go out with style. You can do better. Love the podcast, guys. This is over and out from a very busy Irish bar. What a race. They're just so excited. James and real dad.

What a duo. I found out an Irish bar in New York, because obviously. What a life. Honestly. Ant and Deck, Morkman and Wise, James and Real Dad. So, that's such a niche reference. Anteck and Morkman and Wise. No one outside the UK is going to know who they are.

Fair. Fair. Fair. I'm in Deck. Why, I? Representing Newcastle. We won today, everyone. Well on, Sam.

We're going to break now. We're going to talk about Lance Troll. I'm so sick of it. I'm so sick of it. We're talking Lance Stroll's crash next. All right. I promise, folks, this is our last segment. The chaos will soon end.

Landstrol and Fernando Alonzo involved in a pretty unexpected crash because at that point, even though Bottas had brought out the safety car, it was a tame affair, I think it would be fair to say. And then Stroll and Alonzo decided to run, rip up that storyline completely.

Fernando Alonso trying to make an overtake on the safety car restart on Landstrol. It didn't go to plan if you've watched the race at all. You'd probably know that. Landstrol completely out of the race. Fernando Alonzo, you would have thought was out of the race, but it's Alonzo. So, of course, he scored good points. In terms of a penalty, we are recording this. We don't know yet any penalty, what the penalty might be.

So Sam, what is your verdict on the accident itself? I mean, yeah, it didn't go to plan. More like it went to plane because Alonkso literally took off down that runway. So good, right? So good. It's hard to say, actually, because we don't get inks like this very often. The last time we came close to this, I think you guys remember, was we had a lot of complaints with Grogon, who was moving in, you know,

awkward places down straight, so people who were trying to overtake. And then, of course, we've seen the flip that almost replicated what Alonso had, I think, with Mark Weber and Valencia. But they are all very separate to what we've happened here. We haven't had too many defensive maneuvers where half a down the straight. The defender, Lance Strong on this occasion, will move after. And it was very closely timed, but it was still after. The attacker has made their initial move to attack the driver in front. It's not on, is it?

This is the kind of move that could cause serious damage to skewers. it could be fatal to drivers or to people who are supporting the track. We saw already with Lank Stroll's car, it can absolutely destroy a Formula One car. Think of what it could do if it was in a slightly less functional location on the track. I'm going to go and be quite harsh on this one. I think a lesson needs to be learned. I think we need to set an example. We've had too many complaints of this recently.

I'm going to be a bit over the top maybe, and I'm going to go for a race ban on this one. Yeah, I think he sits out next to California. Ice. One race. Spifey. Yes, I think he sits out Mexico. I think he comes back in Brazil. Autonic de Frees racing.

The mind doesn't rest. No. Wow. Okay. So Sam is laying down the law. One race ban, according to Mr. Sage. Harry, what was your verdict on the incident and what would your penalty be? Yeah, I mean, look, it's, it's, you can't be doing that, that, you know, that last minute.

jink out in the direction that your opponent is jinking up behind you because because it's an airplane crash quite literally almost an airplane crash the way that Alonzo went up in the air and that's you know Martin Brundel said it in commentary it's it wasn't far off being so much worse because you know remember back to you know Mark Weber in Valencia in 2010 he literally did take off and it was a very similar incident there. So you just you just can't do it because you know, I think we're fairly lucky today. So I was trying to think back to the last time a driver was banned for something like this and I think it was Grosjeon back in 20 with this, that infamous spa incident. Look, it didn't

take out as many cars. But it's up, it's probably up there as just as dangerous. So I'd be I don't know whether I don't know whether I'd give him a race ban or not. I don't think I would this time around, but he's on a, he's on a knife edge. I'd have given him a very, very harsh penalty for next race, maybe back of the grid, maybe PIPA start, something like that. But it's, that sort of driving is just insane because, because that could end it, that could end so much worse. And it needs to be, needs to be, uh, close.

clamped down on harshly. So I won't go for racebound, but it's very close for me. I mean, this feels like pump the brakes. I mean, I get the deciding vote here because obviously the late breaking committee is what decides these penalties. Who's getting gunged? Who's getting gunged? Is it struggling or Alonzo?

Now, on this point, I've seen some people defend Lans stroll here and say it was Alonzo's fault. I have and I know I've watched this back. I wanted to check because I've seen a few people say this is Alonzo's fault. So I have watched the footage back to make sure I'm not missing anything and I have probably watched it about 50 times both on board from stroll and on terms of, and on board with Alonzo and indeed like the overall camera,

watched it back that many times. I ain't missing anything. This is on Strong. Man, don't miss. Not on this, I don't. I don't understand it. How can that not be Landstrol's fault? So, I'm happy that, yes, Landstrol moved just after Alonzo.

I'm happy that this wasn't intentional, and I don't actually think this was a response to Alonzo's move. I think it was a genuine defensive move that he has made split second at the same time. almost that Alonzo has also made the decision to go left. So I'm okay with it not being intentional and I'm okay with it being a genuine defensive move. The problem is it is so ill-advised and so dangerous to the point where it almost doesn't matter. You can't make the decision that late in the day. You cannot wait until Alonzo is as close to your behind as he can possibly be before you make that decision. because guess what? Alonzo, who has got the slipstream, is not going to drive straight into you.

That's not in his decision-making capable. He's not going to do that. So you know Alonzo is going to pull out from where he is. You know he's going to either go left or he's going to go right. And based on where he was on the track, he's probably going to go left, Lance. You can't make that decision so late on because it's going to result in that sort of an incident. and it reminded me of, I know you've already brought up the Grosjean incident, it reminded me of an incident at the same track. You might remember Reichen and Vestappen, probably about five years ago or so now, where Reichenen was very nearly put in the wall from very late moving on a straight. It reminded me of the same thing. And again, I don't understand how people are viewing this slightly differently. I looked on what it's very clear,

he moves his steering wheel to the left, almost immediately after he moves his steering wheel, wheel to the left, they crash. And look, there's nothing wrong with making your move on a straight to defend as long as you do it well in advance. I mean, there were a few question marks about, I know this was underbreaking, but there were a few questions marks about Lewis Hamilton, whether he made his move too late when defending against Max Verstappen. But he still made that move about three times sooner than what Stroll did way further back on the same straight. And again, a few arguments are that, well, it's not too. bad because it's not in the breaking zone? I would probably say it's worse that it's not in the

breaking zone because they're going like three times as fast. Come on, people. I'm actually going to side with Harry here and say that I wouldn't go race ban just because whilst it was incredibly dangerous, I don't think it was, if it was intentional, I would agree with Sam and possibly go even further. But because I think this was incredibly dangerous, but it was an incident. rather than a purposeful action. I would say back of the grid for the next race in Mexico. No matter what happens with other penalties there, stroll starts from the back.

If pit lane start, that's fine for me as well, to be honest. I think you should basically take whatever they think the maximum penalty should be outside of actually a race ban. But honestly, if they do turn around and give him the race ban, as Sam has suggested, I'm not going to go out there protesting for you, Lance, put it that way. Oh dear. Sorry, Lance. And you know what? Don't do that. He's doing so well.

So he's having such a great race. If he was like 14th and not doing anything, that's one thing. Aston Martin had a genuine chance here today to score 14 points probably. Like they could have come home six, seven, right? Possibly higher. You know, you never got how the race might have played out with the pit stops and what got. In theory, if they're there, I reckon they could have maybe picked up fifth, sixth, if they really been lucky with it. They held up Perez and that last little bit.

I don't know. But they could be easier brought home, yeah, 14 to 16, maybe even 18 points. Anyway, the good thing is that Fernando Alonzo doesn't hold grudges and he won't hold this against his new teammate for the rest of eternity. So that's good. Definitely won't run him off the road the moment they're in the same car together next season. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that'll be fine.

This is, I mean, Lance is literally going to be terrified from now until the beginning of next season at the prospect of meeting his new teammate for the first time because he knows a lot of those not again. The only reason Alonso did it rip larks and new one over the radio

was because there was no air left inside of the man to making argument. Has anyone got eyes on, Lans, actually? He's probably... He's hiding. Witness protection. Checking.

Checking on him. Wittler's protection. I could just imagine it's lads, but we have like a really bad moustache and it's like Turns up Lance pace

Yeah I am long Run Land stride And I'm from Alaska No This has gone on far enough As in it

As a I mean as a podcast Generally I think we should just I don't even think We should call the episode I think we should just call it quits now Like the whole thing

Like this is I mean We've got to do it again Again next week. Another late night one next week. I'm going to go it alone, folks. Actually, you know what? I've changed my mind. I'm staying. We're back in my mind.

Until the midweek episode, Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Folks, hope you enjoy the USGP. Let us know what you think, either on Twitter at or on the other social meetings, we are the late breaking F1 podcast. That's Instagram and TikTok. Something like Kigsawking on Dawkins. Thank you. Brilliant. links are in the description for Patreon if you want to have a look at the tiers so you get some great extra content

you get discount on your merch and you get ad-free podcasts every single episode is ad-free or you can just pick up some merch it's very helpful, it supports the podcast and you get to look really hunker-licious and cool anyway

nothing says hunk-lilish like a sticker yeah right god damn right anyway just because both championships are wrapped up doesn't mean we don't have a logg to talk about We'll be back midweek, of course. Stay tuned.

Can't wait to chat to you then. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I have been, Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. Before we go, one last submission. Oh, yeah. One last submission from Live Laf Latifie.

Hey, guys, it's Live Laf Latifie. Love what you do. My driver of the... Live! Live! Have you checked on your gammon? I think it's smoking. Not right now, real dad.

Ask Katrina May to check on it. But I don't know who that is. Anyway, my driver of the day, is Charleclair. And my worst driver of the day is... Hold on. I think my smoke detector's going off. Stupid thing.

It always does this. F1. Nick DeRees is a seat warmer for Alphotauria in 2000s. What? No, Siri! Call the police! Boys, open up! Oh, thank God! Oh, sir, you're under arrest for orange smoke at Sochi.

What? That track's not even on the calendar! Yeah, tell it to the Discord. What is happening? Ben Sam and Harry! If you get this, my worst driver of the game is the game is the... is Latiti! Oh my word.

Oh my lord. Anyway. Part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.