The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2023 Abu Dhabi GP Review

Episode Date: November 26, 2023

The LB boys review the season finale, the Abu Dhabi GP, that saw Verstappen seal off his 3rd championship winning year with a final win and Mercedes secure P2 in the Constructors' Championship. The boys compare the performance and strategies of the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers, Perez's recovery drive and penalty, the pace of the AlphaTauri, and Aston Marin losing out to McLaren in the fight for P4. As always, they also review their predictions, name their Drivers of the Day, and hear your Moments of the Race... FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League BUY our Merch EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & 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 check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. And a very well welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Eid, Sam's Age and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing the last race of the season. The Abidabie Grand Prix, won by Max Verstappen in a rather routine fashion, shall we say. joined on the podium by Charles Leclair and George Russell eventually, although Sergio Perez did finish inside the top three,

five second time penalty for him, meant that George Russell found his way back to P3 and in the process, secured P2 in the championship for his team, Mercedes. Sam, usually we're recording within like two minutes of the podium ending. Today, not quite the case because, well, I'm here with Harry,

as you'll be able to see if you're watching this rather than listening to this. and technology was not our friend. No, I mean, it took you boys so long to sort of whatever was going on over there that I think we're close to the preseason of 2024 now, thank God. We're getting closer to livery reveal season, which is, you've done us a favour, really. Honestly, guys, Ben just realized that his camera is a touchscreen

and it blew his mind. It's genuinely a hilarious thing that went on there behind the scenes of late breaking. Yeah, go good. It's good to see you guys together. I'm a little bit all by myself overrepping. Big old smoke, big old London. It's been a big day for us all, I think. It really has.

Learning curves all round. Massive curves. Oh, man. Right. Abou dabby Grand Prix. What are we going to review? As you can tell, I'm probably a little bit less prepared as I normally am. Ben's desperately trying to find his...

There we go. I've got it. I have put together a schedule. Don't you worry. We'll be doing our final moment of the race submissions. I'm trying, mate. I'm really trying. The moment of the race submissions will be coming up a little bit later on, a little bit how Alfatari and Yuki Sonoda more specifically came very close

to beating Williams in the championship, but not quite. Sergio Perez, as referenced, got a five-second time penalty for a collision with Lando Norris, so we'll be discussing his race a little bit later on. We'll, of course, be reviewing our final bowl predictions of the year as well, which went swimmingly. But we will start out front. Firstly, just to avoid any comment of, I don't know, a bias or something like that, Max Verstappen, we don't want to like gloss over what he did today, but is there realistically anything to say? It was just really impressive, right?

Like, is there anything anyone wants to say on Max Verstappen other than he was great again? I really appreciate the fact that he let LeCler have a little go just to keep us entertained for a minute and then going, all right, you've had your fun. now I'm going to drive off. See you later, folks. I respect it. You know, I even said, you know, Perez, you can pit before me this time, mate. Don't worry about it. They just, he was having a good time.

He's very good. I'm sick of him being very good. Hopefully, 2024. Bit more drama. He did more than just let him have a couple of dives as well. He kept, you know, we just kept it a one and a half seconds for that first. He did. He's like, ah, these guys all happened.

Then they had a pit stop. Yeah. I don't want people to think that we're just going to skip over the race winner, but it's a compliment to say there's not too much to say about him. He was just that good out front. Let's focus instead on the Mercedes versus Ferrari battle because Mercedes just about by three points, I think, in the end, three, claim P2 over Ferrari.

Given George Russell's had a tough season, Sam, he was essentially the driver to clinch this for them today with a very good performance onto the podium. How much of a useful confidence boost do you think that will be for Russell going into next year? year. Firstly, before we get into this battle, I'll have to have a kick off. I've got a kick off.

That Abu Dhabi racetrack sucks the absolute life and soul out of any end of season, Sagario that we had. It is so boring. That might be the most boring race of the entire season. And I know there wasn't a lot to play for, but we could have had some fun drama, sugar there being an exciting Grand Prix, but good God. Yas, Marina Island is very deceptive. And more it's a meh, Marina Island is what they should call it.

It's so dull. Got him. Right. Suck it, Abu Dhabi. Abugabe. Anyway, on to the battle with Ferrari and Mosegis. Yeah, I mean, George Rossel, he did the business, didn't he? He got down to it and he got his hands dirty today.

And to be fair, I think he had to because he is essentially the reason why Mosegis are in this position anyway so far this season. Lewis Hamilton strolled away in that third place, of course, was in the battle for second in the championship for so long. Cauting over to Colomso, who just held on to fourth place in. in the drivers, was right up behind Sergio Perez until about a racing a half ago when it all started to go a little bit piqued on for him. And so George Russell, who I think is finishing the season in eighth place, I think it is, overall, miles off his teammate. And he is essentially the reason why Mercedes are having to put up this defense to Ferrari

in the last race anyway. So the fact that he was able to be the one that essentially clinched the second place in the constructors for them, yeah, I think he'll walk away. He even said it himself in a couple of interviews. He said, I've not been my best this year. I've let the team down a couple of times. And I think he came good at the end of the season. And you expect it of George Russell, right?

He's not having his best season. But you know the talents there, you know, the abilities there. He can put together a great result. And I think this is going to be a one-off. I don't think we're going to see another season like this again from George Russell where it's difficult to this extent. So the fact that he was the guy to pull it over the line to make up for maybe some previous points, losses where it should have been easier for them.

I think it's positive. And I think having a bounce at the end of the season will massively help you. It's a weird scenario to think about, but do you remember when Nico Rosberg in 2015 won the final three Grand Prix of the 2015 season and then came into 2016, absolutely swinging and, of course, ending up taking the title from Lewis Hamilton. I do think going into the end of a season on a real high carries you through that winter break. I think you have to be a really specific level of driver to know.

It doesn't matter how rubbish I was. For example, Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso, it doesn't matter how bad your last three races were. You'll be good enough next season. but maybe George Russell on the exact momentum boost we'll have to see. Can't do any harm

and I'm glad that he got a good result out of it because he has been a little bit off the pace. This was good to see from him. What did you make of his performance as mentioned that P3 is ultimately clinched Mercedes

second place in the championship but as Sam suggests kind, I don't want to say it's all his fault that they were in that spot to begin with so do you think that will be a confidence boost for him? I think it will but I think the last two races

I know Vegas wasn't actually didn't end up great for him but in terms of pace yeah, Russell has been the faster of the two between him and Hamilton. Fairly comfortably, yeah, I know. So I think more than the podium, the podium will be a confidence booster,

as you say, Sam, took him into that last race and get a good result. That's only his second podium of the year, which when they said he'd only had one podium, I was like, as he? He's only had one, just Spain. So, yeah, that's got a help. But I think, yeah, the pace will be more encouraging for Russell

because there's been a few times this year, he's not been on it versus Hamilton. I guess it's also interesting that they've ended up 11-11 in qualifying. Yes. It's again speaks to how close they've actually been this year and how it whilst they've been close in terms of pace in the races. It's just not worked out for Russell for various reasons. Sometimes his own fault, sometimes not.

So yeah, I think he'll take that away. Obviously, a draw on qualifying. And then these last two races have been strong for him again in terms of pace. And today he executed it, which is something he struggled to do. this year. So yeah, I think it'll help him go into the winter break with the just eases his mind a little bit because I think he's been quite harsh on himself this year. I'm rightly saying. Yeah. I think the post-race interview was quite telling in that regard because he was, I guess you were halfway here when George Russell was saying this, but he was,

yeah, he was relatively, I thought he was quite relieved about his performance and he owned up to the fact that he hasn't, I don't know, done what he's needed to do in the car versus what his teammate has done throughout this year. So to see out the year with such a positive result and a positive performance because they aren't necessarily the same thing. I mean, Las Vegas was proof of that, as you've mentioned. Las Vegas, good performance, not ultimately a good result. Here, he had both. You know, he still needed to ultimately work a little bit harder for it than he would have liked in that he finished where he started but had to pass two McLaren's in order to get back to that spot. But he didn't panic when it came to Oscar Piastri. He could have done very

easily. There were a number of arguably, I think it was Battle of the Race was Piastri versus Russell early on in how close Russell got to making that move. It would have been really easy for him to, I don't know, go a bit overzealous into one of those attempts. He didn't. He waited. He was patient and then made the move done when it was more of a certainty. Obviously, the Lando Norris quote unquote move was less about himself and more about Norris and his slow pit stop. But it would have been really intriguing to see if it had got passed anyway. I feel like he might have done, but it would have been a close run thing. So overall, George Russell, really impressive performance, had a few temps on Hamilton throughout the entire weekend and fully deserve that podium.

and yeah, I think that will be just what he needs going into 24. Sam, on the Ferrari side of things, obviously, Charles LeClair finished second place, again, where he qualified. Myself and Harry on the qualifying podcast yesterday were skeptical about whether the tire wear would stay good enough for them to keep that sport. Ultimately, it has, though. Do you think that was an encouraging performance from both himself and the team? Yeah, Charlotte, Claire displayed once again why he's one of these talents

that's going to be around in Formula One until he essentially chooses to not be in Formula One anymore. The guy is able to pull it out the bag. In his first lap in Q3, it was an absolutely diabolical performance. I think he was slowest of everyone in Q3. And then obviously final run, as I'm sure you guys discussed,

he pulled it out the bag to get... Yeah, it was. It was sick as balls. Fifth front row performance, front row start, rather, in a row in that carceston that you've got arguably the McCarran's a big faster at points. Perez is obviously there with Mastaping in the Red Bull. science should have been there as well. But Charlotte,

Claire, again, he's kind of found his way through the Magnus. He's delivering a fantastic performance. And whilst, again, the gap to Vestappan was a large boy, he did everything he could. He had so much time and so much ability in the car that is we have all heard at the end of the race.

He's there going, let's let Perez through, let's work through the five second pit strategy, the penalty that they had. Let's try and get the gap in between Russell. So Perez sits in third, and we sit second in the points and lost. It was a really interesting, mental race from Charlotte Clare to be able to run that through whilst in the car.

And I think it's credit to him to show that he's still got absolutely everything. I do think this season hasn't been as easy for Charlotte Clare. He does end up finishing in front of Carlos Sines, despite being behind him in the points for pretty much all of the season. And it shows why. I think the guy, when it all comes good, he knows how to deliver a really fantastic weekend. I think if Max Verstappen wasn't in a car that matches his talents perfectly and exceeds all expectations, we have.

could have a battle for the Agoson if we had LeCler versus Vestappen for a whole season. It would have been fantastic. So, yeah, it wasn't him that let down Ferrari to go. That's for sure. LeCle did everything he could. I mean, from Charles, Charles LeClau's perspective, he was obviously challenging Vastappen quite heavily on the opening lap of the Grand Prix. And then at least British commentary, David Croft comes and says, well, if he can stay within one second, that'll be interesting. And then obviously disappears almost immediately. Immediately. But then it seemed as if the McLaren duo were going to read. And I don't know if you were the same.

I was like, here we go. The McLaren duo right on the back of LaClau. And then, here it comes. And then it didn't. It was quite encouraging that Lecler, I don't know, he claimed second place, but he claimed it relatively comfortably. Yeah. Well, we said this in the quality review yesterday.

We didn't have a lot of hope for LeCleur to stay where he qualified, given that when he put scrubbed ties on in qualifying, he was so slow, slow as balls. And then only when he put new ties on, he was brilliant for some reason, which didn't build well for the race. But stay away from the soft tyres, you're all right. Just don't use the soft tyres, apparently.

Yeah, he was very convincing out there today. And as you say, Sam, you referenced signs. He was, I know signs started further back, but his race pace was not anywhere, not even in the same universe as LeClauze today. He was incomparable. So, LeClau was, yeah, very impressive. You could tell where you, I don't know,

he was driving, he sort of stepped up a bit, he was driving with something not on his shoulders, but he, you know, constantly on the radio, asking about the positions of the championship. Like, he was treating it quite seriously as a championship finale. I know it's for P2 and not P1,

but he was invested. And I think it showed in his drive today. So that would encourage him. They just froze and need to build a car that is predictable. Yeah. Yeah, back to back second places to finish the year. That is pretty good going indeed

from Mr. LeCler. And yeah, I thought he was assured, is the number one word I came away with that. It was an assured performance from him. And it never really, apart from that, very early on when McLaren were swarming. Outside of that, there wasn't a lot of jeopardy about his result there.

So as you say, Sam, if you remove the rocket ship that is Max Verstappen, he's got a back-to-back wins to end the year. So, you know, he's pretty well positioned going into 2024. On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Sam, just a note on Carlos Sines, because he has been, as you say,

ahead of Chau LeClair for much of this year, even though he has finished behind Charle-Clauil, it is by a grand total of, what, five points or six points or something along those lines. So it was very close all throughout the year. What do you think has just caused Carlos Sines' really tough weekend? Well, I mean, clearly there was that problem with the tyres, right? We saw it that the Clirlbang out.

on that scrub in Q3 and he was, he was nowhere, had to put new tires on. And I wonder if in qualifying, which I think was ultimately the start of his downfall, he had that troubling FP2. I think it was causing a red flag or he smashed a car into the wall. Comes into Q1, can't get the ties fired up in a way that a lot of his rivals can. But we saw people struggling. Hamilton was barely outside of Q1.

Both the McLaren's, I think, were in the teens when they went through qualifying, so they weren't far off either. Perez himself was struggling. Again, got his lap deleting in Q3, dropped down to P9. I think it was. So a lot of the quote unquote big guns of our sport currently weren't comfortable. And I think Carlos Sikes just found it a little bit more difficult than everyone else, which in result led to him being taken out in Q1.

But that was ultimately where the downfall began. We saw the overtaking. For some was super easy. And for others, it seemed to take an age, despite with DRS, despite with the ability to follow, it just was hard. I mean, at one point, I think Carlos Sons dropped back behind Lance Stroll by about three seconds. which was really surprising to see that the Ferrari was that much slower than the Ascom Martin, and not just the Ascomatting of Alonso, who we all agree is the faster of the two,

Strohl was able to comfortably putting a gap on Carlos Sainz, which I was a bit surprised on at the early stages of the race. But for Carlos Sines, who had qualified Bagley and essentially held it in his hands to dictate whether Ferrari got Peter in the championship or not, this was a perfect opportunity. He could not have been gifted a bigger opportunity to soligify this. With Lewis Hamilton, not in Q3, going out in Q2, not able to get any higher than P9 in the overall result standing, he picked up damage. He was not at his best. He's clearly not comfortable how the car

is sitting at the moment. Carlos Sites couldn't have been given a better opportunity. All he had to do was have a normal race. If Sites had finished being P6, P5, Ferrari Walk, P2, it's easy for them in the constructors. This was a real shambles, an absolute failure for Carlos Sainz. And a lot of people do say, science is so underrated, sciences get the credit he deserves. But it's results like this that do crop up four or five times across a season that I think show just the difference between someone like a Carlos Sikes and a Charles LeCler. Sikes can be very consistent. He picks up the points.

And on the odd occasion, he'll have a Stella Grand Prix, Singapore, for example, an absolute belter. But more often than not, he's just not able to take that next step up to get the job done. We saw Perez come through. We saw Hamilton make overtakes. We saw a long-so get overtakes done. Carlos Sainting arguably a faster car than a lot of those drivers just couldn't get anything solidified. I think it was really surprising.

So despite being relatively decent the whole way through the season, he's what cost them P2 in the championship today. It should have been better from him. Any thoughts on the strategy, by the way, because he went hard tire to hard tire, then Pitt obviously very late on. Do you think that would have salvaged something for, or is this just simply a lack of pace?

And it wouldn't have mattered what Ferrari did with his strategy. Pace obviously plays a part into it, but I think strategy could have made life a bit easier. The choice to go hard to hard, despite running super long on his first sting, was really confusing. And when you hear the reggae come over and Ricky goes, oh, you know, we're praying,

we're hoping for a safety car coming to the end of the race. There's only a 45% chance that a safety car even appears at Abu Dhabi. It happens one in kind of every three years that we get a safety car, you know, give or take, which is not great odds for a start. no cars retired, which hasn't happened a lot this Grand Prix, but reliability is so high around here anyway, that it's not really a problem. Typically, cars don't push themselves.

The reliability to try and run your whole strategy on a safety car moment is not good. He was the biggest crash on the whole weekend, and that was on Friday. So that doesn't make sense to me that you went for that option. Why you didn't swap to the medium and the middle sting, like a lot of the cars did, or at least trying invert, like Yuki Sangoda did, but the opposite, would have made sense to it.

At least you're trying something different. This just left you high and dry. They took so long to stop him the second time. He was being passed by everyone left, right and center. And at this point, when he's in 10th place, dropping quickly, and he's still got to make another stop, what are you hoping to do? How is the strategy so bang on for one driver and so far away for the other? I don't know.

You hear him coming for the radio. Ricky, I'm lost in this race. What I'm even meant to be doing right now. It just shows that once again, Ferrari, who we named Big Brain Strat over, still don't fully know what they're wrong about. They still don't seem to know how to get it across the line. there seemed to be absolutely clueless half the time. So his pace was not good,

but the strategy combined with where he sat in the race and the running of their race as a whole compounded the fact that this was a really poor weekend for that half of Ferrari. What did you make of the performance and, as Sam mentions there, the strategy? Yeah, Carlos undid his own weekend by not making it out of Q1.

So I think yesterday sealed his fate somewhat. And today his pace was, as I've already mentioned, and Sam's already mentioned, was not good at all. Not ideal. Not ideal, yeah, the pace from Carlos Sanger. He just didn't make his way through the field at all. Similar to what happened in Vegas, really, just started at the back and then ended up the back

and never really recovered from there. I will say, though, I know his pace was bad, but Ferrari didn't help themselves with what they did with that strategy. I'd like you say, Ricky, I'm lost. I don't think anyone knew what they were doing with that strat. And I don't get why they didn't because Stroll did exactly the same strategy. I mean, almost to the lap, they same lap, they pitted, hard, hard medium.

And Stroll got a point in the end? Did he leave a point? Can't remember. Anyway, if signs, if they just didn't commit, it was going badly. I think they realized it was going badly, and that's why signs are saying he's lost. And they said they were home for a safety car.

But as you say, Sam, statistically, it's quite unlikely at Abu Dhabi. And I think if they'd committed, when Aston Martin committed, to go into that medium, last stop to go into the medium tire, they could have, you know, salvaged a point. I don't know whether that would have made a difference. And to begin with, it's Carlos' fault for not being quick enough in Cawley and indeed the race. But, yeah, Ferrari don't think it helped themselves at all with that. It seemed like they were concentrating on Lechler,

maybe more than, maybe that's Ferrari's issue. They can't concentrate on more than one car at the same time. There can only be one. Yeah, they just need one car to retire at the beginning of every four and free and have a fine. Yeah, I, I'm not going to defend Ferrari about the strategy because I agree with you.

I also don't think it would have mattered. I don't think Carlos Seines had enough pace, simply put. I think even if he was on the optimal strategy, Yeah, I think even if you put him on the optimal strategy, I don't think he finishes that far ahead of what he actually did. 10th maybe? I don't know what was. Yeah. It was rather telling early on in the Grand Prix, if you noted that it was basically one massive DRS train like four or five laps in, right?

Apart from, Signs was like two seconds behind anyone else. Now, I appreciate he was on the hard tyres, so it wouldn't have been up to speed like some of the medium runners at that point. But there was a massive long DRS train that he couldn't stay on the back of, at which point I was like, oh, this is concerning. Even qualifying yesterday, as we mentioned, he went out in Q1. If he had scraped it through to Q2, I don't think he's making it to Q3. I don't think he would, I just think very simply put, he did not have the pace this weekend. And the crash ultimately, you know, derailed the whole weekend for him because no action in FP1 plus.

no action in FP2 essentially. That's a tough day of no practice for you. You're not going to get very far with that strategy. Cool. So yeah, I think the strategy was odd. I kind of, you know, I think once they'd got far enough into it, I was like, fine, you might as well. You're not, you're definitely not going to get a point by pitting onto mediums

when there's 10 laps to go. So fine, hang on now there until the last possible moment. But it probably shouldn't have got to that point in the first place. So, yeah, a tough one because he's done a reasonable job, obviously the only non-red Bull to get a win this year. But ultimately, he'll look back at that and say, you know, just four points, just eighth place. That would have been enough for him. So, yeah. Oh, dear.

All right, we're going to take our first quick break. We're going to be discussing Sergio Perez's Grand Prix on the other side. Okay, Sergio Perez had a bit of work to do after qualifying. He made it through to Q3. but ultimately his second run in qualifying had a track limit violation, which meant he started from P9 today. He did make up five positions on where he started to finish P4, although it would have been a podium,

if not for a five-second time penalty when trying to overtake Lando Norris. Let's start with the penalty, Sam, and then we can talk about his performance a little bit more after that. But at least in terms of the incident in isolation, Norris v. Perez, could you understand the five-second time penalty? Did you agree with it? Sorry, FIA. I don't know what you're doing.

Are you on holiday? Is it the end of the season? So you've decided, I will send the, send the rookies in, send the temps in for a go so they can practice before they get the season.

Because what a joke of a decision this was. Two wheel to wheel bangings of contact, essentially on one corner. And neither car comes away with damage. The position gets changed immediately. I just, I think as penalties go for contact, this is,

I actually think this is harsh. I think that Surgeon Perez has been a little dirty here today. I don't think it warrants it at all. We've seen so many more severe penalties that have been given the same amount of time where a car's been out of the race or severe damage has been taken

and they get a five second penalty. And then you're telling me that two drivers going through a court at the same time have a little nudge of tyres together and that's a five second time penalty. I just think that takes the Mickey a little bit. I felt actually quite, it wasn't great. It was not a good move from Sergio Perez,

but he was comfortably alongside, got a little bit of understeer, your bang tires, you both get on with your day. Honestly, I've had more bumps down the road and I'm trying to go to the shops and I think no one's getting punished there, Sunshine, are they? No, Sergeant Perez, hard done by.

This was a really bad call in my opinion from the FIA. I think it was poor. So racing incident from your side, just to confirm. A hundred percent. It's not only wrong to be a penalty, but yeah, okay.

What was your thoughts on that one? I was okay with the penalty. The problem, I think, lies here in that more severe incidents are given the same punishment as this one. So I think, I think the penalty, I think, Sergio, don't open up the steering mate if you don't want people to crash into you when you're mid-corner. It's a fair point. So I think that's fair for, for a pen, but I'm, Sam, I think to your point, we've seen so much worse this year, which is warranted the same penalty that this feels completely unfair because they, they're not, they're not comparable.

I'm thinking Perez into the side of Albon in Singapore. That was a five-second pen, right? I thought that I didn't even get anything. Did they get nothing? I can't remember if that even got anything. And also, what about the... What about Suzuki? When Perez was destroying cars their right at the centre in Suzuki,

and that was only a five-second penalty. Exactly. So I think this is where the problem lies. I think the penalty was fair for today. I think the issue is what we've had this year, the inconsistency between other... I thought the Perez won in Singapore is actually disgusting. I forgot that happened.

Yeah, that was a bad one. Oh, good Lord. But yeah, I think that's the issue here. I think the penalty was warranted. Maybe if they're going to do that like that, then you make three second penalties, but then at that point, what's the point in the penalty? But yeah, so I think the penalty is fair.

I think the issue is what we've had this year in terms of giving out five second penalties for many things. Many things that are not the same. Yeah, that was my takeaway as well. that I agreed that this was a penalty. And I mean, my verdict on it is, yes, whilst there was no damage sustained for Iva car, you know, should that have been a penalty if Lando Norris had been given a puncture? I always, I'd try to judge things based on the action rather than the result.

So I think Perez can be lucky that Norris didn't come away with damage and I would have penalized it by five seconds. So I agree with that. What you're saying is absolutely correct in that it seems incredibly harsh because of so many other incidents that have been given the same blanket penalty. I don't understand why. If something bad happens on a circuit, five seconds. Murder someone, five seconds. I mean, you know, sneeze, five seconds. It doesn't matter what you've done. If it's an infraction in any way, shape or form, five seconds going your way. It is pretty much like Oprah Winfrey is in there giving out those five seconds to absolutely everyone. as Sam's doing, spot on.

Yeah, I thought this was a five-second, a justified five-second penalty. But yeah, there are so many incidents that have happened this year that should have been penalized heavier that it just seems incredibly harsh. But yeah, I thought, you know, Lando Norris wasn't given the room to make the overtake. Perez could have avoided it and should have avoided it.

So, yeah, I thought it was fair. in terms of Perez's performance, Sam, made up five positions based on where he started with his teammate winning the Grand Prix. Do you think that was a good enough job from him or should he have got a bit further? No, I actually think that in terms of Perez's pace all weekend, even in qualifying, obviously he made the silly mistake of getting his lap time deleting and that's on his own doing starting P9, I think it was. But I think even his qualifying pace before that was solid. He was able to start putting any good laps and it came to the race. And His moves apart from the Norris one were pretty clinical.

He'd cut through traffic well. His lap times were good when he was in clean air. And had it all run smoothly, P.3 was comfortably here. So I think, to be honest, with how well LeCler was going today, that's the best that realistically could have been asked for from where he was starting after qualifying. So I was very happy with how Sergio Perez performed together. I think he had a very good end of season race.

He did himself proud. I think Red Bull Kill Falk 2O with a double podium. And I think they've been happy with that. I think the penalty, as I've already expressed, I think it was a little bit unfair. And so therefore, I think it doesn't reflect on him as well as it probably could have done. No, really, really pleased. I probably wouldn't have changed anything other than the slight contact he had with Lando Norris. I think it was good.

What did you make of Perez's performance? I know it's something we discussed on the podcast yesterday about should the podium be his target for the Grand Prix itself. And in a way, he got back there, obviously. So what do you think? Well, that's stunning move on Charlotte, Claire. end as well. Ah, yeah. Yeah. Wow. It flew by that one. Yeah. Yeah, look, Perez did exactly what I thought he should do today in terms of where he finished. I thought P3 at the most. He also wouldn't have caught Lecler under ordinary circumstances. I don't think. But yeah, just

slightly blotted his copybook by the incident, and yes, minor incident, but incident with Norris, because that ultimately undid the podium finish he got. So just, yeah, I felt, do you know what? This weekend, this felt like the summary of Sergio Perez's year. Like, this is, that's what's how, I know he won the couple of races early, early doors, but for the remainder, bad qualifying, having to make up for it, but sometimes some clumsy moves during a race. And then he ends up not where he probably should have finished,

2020, in the nutshell, for Checo. It's a fair point. It's a fair point, especially if you look where Vastappen, what's gone, son? I was going to say, his average qualifying position ending up being something like 10.1 in terms of where he's sat on the grid, which just shows that if he sorts out qualifying, this whole season could have been so much easier for him. He could have been comfortably ahead in the points. He wouldn't have been fighting with the long-so-war Hamilton for second place. It's just getting your Saturday sorted, mate, and everything might be all right for you. It's always a tough one analysing a race by Sergio Perez because the,

temptation, or at least the instinct, is always to analyze a Grand Prix versus your teammate, right? Because that is your closest competition. It's your most accurate reference point for how well you've done. But his teammate is Max Verstappen. And do we at some point have to turn around and say, okay, Sergio Perez, in his own right, is a great driver. He's not Max Verstappen. He's, let's face it, nowhere near the level of Max Verstappen, along with 95% of all other drivers that have competed in this sport. Should we, I don't know, should the expectations be lower from what we expect? I think it was a solid Grand Prix from him. I think he did, roughly speaking, what he should have done. I think overtakes in the first part of the Grand Prix were always going to be difficult because of

how much everyone was managing. We've already referenced how Vestappen had a one and a half second gap back to Leclair and wasn't really focused on building that out. And I think because of that, everyone in behind Vastappen was then also managing, which means you have a long DRS train and makes it difficult for even a car as good as that Red Bull to make overtakes back in P8, P9 as he was at the time. But as soon as the race started to break down a little bit after the pit stop, so that's where Perez started to be a bit more authoritative in terms of those overtakes. And I think he did a pretty good job, especially in that middle stint where he went longer than everyone else.

He kept those tires alive as is Sergio Perez's core strength. He did a good job there and that ultimately helped him out in the final stint. The Lando Norris collision, I think even if you don't think it was a penalty, which is fair enough, it was still clumsy enough that he should have been a bit more patient and made the move probably into the second straight, into the breaking zone after the second straight rather than the first straight. So that bit I think is on him. But ultimately, yeah, I think he did probably about what I expected of him from yesterday.

Should we do Driver of the Day? Yeah, I can't play the jingle because I've got the old soundboard. Sorry, mate. The Verdig. You're the driver of the day. All right, well, I'm not doing the rest. Okay, fine, fine, fine. Driver of the day, who've got some?

It's hard to pick when, you know, Macs. for Stappen wings by 10 seconds. So I'm going to give it to Max for Stappen. He was the driver of the day. He absolutely ran away with it. We don't give him enough credit on this podcast. And I don't think actually anyone does. It's hard to when you don't see him for the whole race.

He wins the race by 10 seconds. He's got pole position again. This is what he's 19th wing of the season. And he's, what, 16th pole position or something like that, which is insane. So yeah, he gets my brother today. A couple of the shout out. I think Yuki did really well, even on that one-stop race. I think he deserves a nod.

I think Leclair was great. Russell was also really strong. But yeah, Max Verstappen deserves proper credit. He's been incredible and driver the day for him. What do you reckon? I... Yes, to Verstappen, obviously. LeCler also very strong, but I'm going to give it.

And the result doesn't reflect it. But Yuki Sonoda, as Sam's mentioned, I mean, it's been great all weekend. But today I think he could have been... I think he could have finished where he started and that would have been a huge result for them. And obviously he didn't work out of that because of the strategy really cool. But Yuki was very impressive.

Very impressive of it and very calm, which is unusual for Yuki Sonoda, who was a fiery boy. Love the desert rice. Love to desert rice. Yeah. Start an end of the year every time. You remember he planted that move on BOTASAW a few years ago. Unfortunately, there was something else going on, so we missed it. Oh, of course. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a fair show. I am going to agree with the suggestions. you've put forward, they would make up my top three or four. Yeah, Max Verstappen was very quick, wouldn't he? It's difficult to go with anyone else, even though Sam has already gone for Max Verstapp and I will also go for him. The fact that this, if you were to put this win in front of nearly any other driver, you would say, wow, that's got to be his best win of the season, or is at least in the top three, it might not be top 10. That's how good Vostappan's year has been. it's just so standard that he ran away with it,

one by double digits, and it's like, okay, that's what he does. So, yeah, I'll go with the stop. Yeah.

Worst driver of the day, Sam. There are some contenders for worst driver of the day. I think it's a little bit of a more fun pick than the best. Carlos Sites springs to mind, both Ferrari with their strategy and his ability to drive quickly this weekend. I think Formula One, driving quickly, to be the key, the key feature.

Don't think Lewis Hamilton was particularly good to game. I'm sure it was worse for the day worthy. I'm going to go Carlos Sines, which is a shame. I do think that ultimately his performance cost Ferrari, and it wasn't very good. I don't think Oscar Piaastri was particularly good today either. I think that it's just properly off the pace, off Lando Norris and kind of let the side down a little bit as well

after it was a really good qualified performance. But Carlos Sines, for me, worst round of the day. Yeah, I think on the Oscar Piastri suggestion, I think it became evident pretty early on that he had outqualified that car. Yeah, he was a bit higher up than maybe he should have been. I'm going to go with Carlos Sines as well.

I think it is a fight between Sines and Hamilton on this one, but ultimately Hamilton finished a little bit ahead. So I'm going to go with Sines as referenced. I know the strategy didn't help him out, but ultimately, if they put him on the optimal strategy, I think he's claiming a point or two at best, which is far from where that Ferrari could have been, and it's not even theoretical because of where LeCler finished,

he was on the podium. So Carlos Sines for me. What about you, Harry? I agree with the Carlos Sines, but I, to mix up, we'll go with Kevin Manglinson because he could only make his medium tires do six laps. Oh, I don't even know that.

That is atrocious. He pitted on lap six. When we tell Hass, you need to cook. We didn't mean your tires. We meant more in a figurative sense. Not literally. Yeah.

And then he was just last. If you lived at the Time Tower, he was just last the entire Grand Prix from there on in. Just never came back. Having said that, though, Nico Hulkingberg started 8th and was basically with him by the end

because that's how it works. So what on Hasse again. I love how this season has gone. My brain like didn't even compute the Holkenberg was in the top 10 start the race. It's like you're so often to seeing him down six positions after the first three laps that my brain had already put him there before he was there, if that makes sense. Oh dear. Lovely.

That'll be the last worst driver of the day of the year. We'll take our next break. On the other side, we'll be discussing Alpha Tauri. Okay, a little bit of a reference in the last segment on Alpha Tauri and particularly Yuki Sanoda, strong performance. Sam, what did you make of Yuki Sonoda's result out there today? Very nearly did enough to clinch Alpha Tauri that seventh place in the championship over Williams. But ultimately, the strategy didn't quite work out for him. Do you think he was on the right strategy at least, or was that a mistake by the team?

I think Yuki as a driver, the guy in the car trying to pull out as much pace as possible, dig absolutely everything he could. Second Japanese driver ever to league a race, of course, which was very, very cool to see. and I think he delivered everything he was capable of. This was one of his best corporate. It might be overall his best drive as a Formula One driver since we've seen him come into the sport. I think that generally he was fantastic.

I think the strategy was the wrong call. The one-stop seemed kind of viable, which was fair. I'm sure in their simulation data when they were looking at how the tyres had worked, it became like, hey, look, we could just get this across the line. It'll be good. But the tyre drop off from the deck really caused the car to slow down. and we saw him starting to drop like a stone,

which is really unfortunate because at one point, it looked like sixth, maybe seventh, was going to be where he would stay. And that means that the points tally at the end between Williams will have been super, super close. And Williams got a little lucky, I think, with the fact that Alvatore just picked the wrong strategy.

I think if they went to the same strategy that everyone around them did, Nuki would have been in that fight all the way to the end. I mean, he managed to keep hold of the position in front of Lewis Hamilton, mainly because of a mistake from Hamilton, not because of the pace as well. As I said about Alfa Tauri overall towards this season, they picked up such great pace. The car development was fantastic, but it's too little too late.

I said that, I think in the preview for Abu Dhabi, it's too little too late. The faffing around with all the drivers, Nick DeVries at the start of the season leaving. Ricardo breaking his hand, of course, not allowing him to become consistently in the car. Lawson had to then get up to speed and did well, but, you know, one driver would have arguably been better than four across the whole season. So it's let them down a little bit. and it's cost them the place in the championship right at the end of the season. But Yuki as a whole, I thought was fantastic.

I think it was one of his best drives in Formula One, and he deserves all the credit. It's a shame that they couldn't get the points, but I'm sure James Vowellor and the Williams team are having a lovely time because as that car went, what a diabolical Grand Prix it was for them. We won't get onto bold predictions, but the curse has struck another team, and they were genuinely awful during their race space.

So this was a golden opportunity. Ricardo gets the tear off of the brake duct, and that screws his strategy, and they get the wrong call again for Yuki. So it's a shame. I've got no idea of the answer on this, by the way, and it might be more recent than what I think it is. But when was the last time a team had four separate drivers racing for them in the same year?

Any idea? That's a good question. Don't ask me. Don't ask me. I was just thinking, it's not something that happens all that often, is it? No. I was thinking it's probably like a tour or off. I was something about that, isn't it? Actually, that is probably going to be right, yeah.

Yeah, I, you know what? I think Alpha Tauri were correct to go with the strategy that they did, which sounds weird in that it didn't work, but I do actually think it was the right call if we're taking hindsight out of it, because I actually don't think Yuki Sonoda would have finished in the top six

if he was on the same strategy as everyone else. I don't think he would have had the pace to hold on versus, is Russell, Lecler, Vestappen, obviously, Perez coming through, Norris, and even Piastri. I don't think he would have had the pace to hold on in all honesty. And at least in terms of Alfa Tauri's Grand Prix, seventh place was as good as last, if that makes sense, in that they needed sixth place.

They knew early on that Daniel Ricardo was not going to get any points for them. So it was going to be either sixth place to beat Williams or anything else that won't. and it didn't work out for him, but I could understand the strategy call. There was a lot of one stops being spoken about before the Grand Prix. Ultimately, nearly everyone else went to the two-stop, but they committed to it. They did commit to it.

And I think they gave themselves every opportunity to make that work. If we're looking at Pirelli's estimations on when the one-stop was going to kick in, they actually stuck by that, I think, to the lap. I think it was lap 23 that both Pirelli and Alpha Tauri, converted on. So in terms of going from mediums to hards, I actually think it was the right idea. I know that a safety car isn't massively likely around here, but even at a 40% success rate for safety cars, I think it was worth a go on that strategy just to hang it out there because, you know, he was in, as you say, he led the race. If a safety car or even a VSC had come out

at any point in that Grand Prix, it probably would have benefited Yuki Sanoda. Yes, it's not as, wasn't an 80% chance of it happening. I granted, I completely accept that. But I still think it was a high enough percentage to give it a go. If you didn't feel like the pace was going to be on it with everyone around you, maybe they could have held on. But also, I kind of think that if Alfa Tauri thought that Yuki Sonoda could have mixed it with Norris and Piastri and Perez, they probably would have just done the same strategy.

And they didn't. So I actually, I give them credit for going forward. it, even though, even though it didn't work out. And ultimately, the one race where Alfa Tauri could have done with a little bit of unreliability ahead of them, they didn't get it at all. None for you. None whatsoever. But I agree with what you say, Sam, in that it was a little bit too little too late. And actually, I think they should have sewn this up quite a bit earlier on. I think they had the car to do it, but ultimately too much turmoil within the team. A few missed opportunities has caused them to miss out on this spot.

What did you think about Sonodas race? Yeah, I'm not much more to say, to be honest. I think, as you say, on the face of it, it was the wrong strategy call for in terms of getting the highest possible finishing position, because he should have been P7 at least. But you're right, in terms of that P7 wasn't enough for them. they need, well, without Ricardo being in the point, P7 wasn't going to be enough of them. So they, yeah, through caution to the wind in that sense.

Well, they're the only ones that one stops in the end. I don't think anyone else did. Did Holkenberg maybe? Yeah, there weren't many of them, at least then. So, yeah, it was a, it was a bulk. As I say, it didn't work out. I felt bad for Yuki, as I said, already, because I think he drove better than where he is finishing position reflected.

But, yeah, it's. it's, as you say, too little, I mean, Vegas was a missed opportunity because they were garbage there and they could have stole some points away from Williams there and made it a,

you know, a smaller gap going into the final round. So, yeah, too little too late, I think is a good way to summarize. Yeah, it's one of those where,

look, we spoke a lot about Nick DeVries earlier on in the year, but ultimately, I think if this season starts out with Ricardo and Sonoda, I think they do it. Even if it's Lawson and Sonoda as well, I think they'd do it.

Yeah. Yeah, ultimately that first half of the season was really, really tough for the team. Should we, let's get over and done with, shall we? Should we review some bold predictions? Sure. Sam, go on, kick us off. What was your bold prediction? Oh, well, as the man known for being, you know, horribly right with bold predictions, I'm basically the Max Verstappen are bold predictions.

I predicted that Alexander Album will be in the top seven in the race and you know what? I thought at the start, it looked like it could be possible. The qualifying wasn't too far off as well. The car seemed like. Album's been good.

And then he finished, I think, at least, what, 14th or 15th place? Double, what I predicted. So, yeah, not good. Didn't get the point there. Just miss it by a whisker. I think this is on everyone else. It's not on you, Sam.

This is on everyone else. You actually said 17, not seven. And we just missed her. Top 17. Again then, when I was explaining my point as well, it's not very good. It's very subtle, but yes. Alex Albin did not finish in the top seven.

Harry, what was your bold prediction? I said Mercedes were going to win the race. And I don't know if you notice, but they didn't win the race. In fairness, they were probably a little bit better than I thought they were going to be. Yeah. They didn't win.

They weren't close to winning. But they were on the podium. is what I should have said, but that wouldn't have been very bold. So it's, it's nil from two. We're really clutching at straws this year when it comes to near bold predictions.

I'm not, there's no straws to clutch with this one. I boldly predicted that Esteban Ockon would finally finish P4 when I predicted it. No. No.

No. I knew it wasn't going to go very well because as soon as I said the bold prediction, it came out that he was ill. And I'm pretty sure that was on me. So apologies, Esteban. And then, of course, the conspiracy took over. I've been tried.

They really tried. They really did try for me. Not only in terms of that prediction, but in terms of teammate wars as well. Hey, Estaband Ocon, clear number one driver. So, you know, they got to do what you got to do. But, yeah. Ben, you were running that team against me this weekend. It was all, you know, down with Sam.

You were really on Okon's corner. Yeah, I look, we gave it a go. Can we just quickly actually speak about Alpine? Because what were they doing? What are you doing? Why would you do that? As you said earlier in the episode, like this was almost a perfect summary of Perez's season.

This was a perfect summary of Alpine season in that they were 6'4-7 fastest, not really doing anything, apart from squabbling between each other over nothing. But with Lewis Hamilton in the middle a little bit, for some reason. And then prioritising how many Alps there were, yeah. And then you just prioritise the wrong driver. You're bringing Ocon first, and your wrong driver that was fighting for points

is now four seconds back due to being undercut by everyone. It was a disaster. Well, you asked the question, was the only one-stopper out there, Yuki Sonoda? He wasn't. Esteban Ockon was a one-stopper as well, I forgot. Oh, yeah. But the funny thing is, obviously, O'Con and Gansley were separate. by, I think it was about three seconds or so

going into those pit stops. And then Ocon comes in first, and they leave Gassley out there longer. So obviously the one that they one stopped was the one that they stopped first. What on earth was that cool? I mean, we haven't gone to it, but that was going to be my big braid strat is just helping.

How? I don't understand. Terrible. The funny thing is, you had a one-stop versus a two-stop, and they finished pretty much exactly alongside each other anyway. But yeah, this was just slow,

fighting between each other, but not a concern of anyone who's actually succeeding. That was Alpine's race and season. Oh, God. Not for this one as well, but this might be a midweek topic. Did you see that Pat Frye had some interesting comments about Alpine, of course, now working at Williams.

We might have a look at those midweek hurry. Man's grateful he left. Yeah. Juicy. Moving on to another team that was maybe a little bit further behind than they would have liked. Aston Martin. Fernando Alonzo, he wasn't very happy about how quick his car was in a straight line, Sam. Tough end to the season and a tough race for him, would you agree? Yeah, I think it kind of bubbled up, didn't it?

I think he went into it hoping it would be a little more than it was. Lance Stroll was just kind of there. Not a bad race from Lantz Stroll, but again, still behind Fernando Alonso. And when you're being passed by your own, what do we say your own, the same engine that you've got

in the back of your car, it's it must be frustrating to think you know, we're pulling away, we're trying what we can, we've been beating by McLarenow and the constructors and now we're being passed by a Mercedes who have got problems. And he's shouting we've got the slowest car in a straight line and then immediately passed the car again in a straight

lying on the next race and then drives off into the distance. Yeah, so long so. Oh, this is the worst. Okay, I'm three seconds ahead. And I mean, it's like Lewis Hamilton was saying, my tire's a dead man, fastest lap in coming. That, you know, these things happen. Clearly it's like, I don't know, the old man ritual of if you mown,

good things come your way. But, yeah, it's been a tough end to the season. They kind of had that mini bump where things lifted for them about for three or four races, a couple of races to go. And then it's kind of settles again. And they're kind of back to being the fourth or fifth. vast his team regularly. So some work to do. Let's hope Alonso doesn't get too angry and start burning bridges internally because I think there's a good relationship there. And I do think Ashton

Martin, if they make the leap again next season that they made this season, there's a real chance for them that they can start to make an impact at the proper top end of this championship if it goes to a plan. So I just hope that Alonso can see this is a bit of a, okay, the season's ended, we're focusing on next year's, it was a bit of gnaff. Let's focus on the new year. And I'm sure he's got that sensibility in him. But yeah, not a great end, not ideal, as we like to say. And McLaren solidifying that P4 in the championship quite comfortably in the end. It's a shame.

But I think you could be a bit of a fool to not see this coming, really, with how forms been running. I know both Lawrence Stroll and Fernando Alonzo have made comments at various points in the second half of the season to say that it doesn't really matter what happens to the end of the year. It will still go down as a successful year. But even with that, some frustration from Alonso over two. team radio in this race.

Any concern at all from your side? Do you think that Fernando Alonzo was justified in his comments? They were slow in a straight line. Like real slow. So I think he's justified in his comments. Yeah. We've only seen it maybe twice this year where that seeped through. I think Japan there was one.

Yes. And this one. But for the most part, and I think genuinely Alonzo is, I think he's found a happy, a happy home there. Obviously, if there's a massive downturn and form, then maybe things will change. But I think generally he's, he's, he's had a, he's had a good year with Astor Martin. So, and he still clinched forth. And he still clinched forth, which I saw that, I mean, just, but yeah, that's sneaky.

How? How? How, I don't know. Most of the lonesome thing ever to sneak that, but go on. On equal points. Like a Ferrari. Where did they come from? Like, all of the first five races.

yeah and one point had of norris yeah that's that's just sneaky um so yeah fourth place if you'd ask him this time last year fernando you'll have eight podiums and you'll be fourth in the in the championship by this time next year he i think you'd be pretty happy with that yeah um so yeah he'll obviously wanted to continue to improve there are things that you need to improve to you know sustain a battle for the whole year um but yeah i i know it was it was it was kind of classic lons as he said sam but i don't don't think that's we're not at we're not at the same level anywhere near the same level as gp2 engine uh suzuka 2015 so i think i think it's fine yeah i um i as you referenced sam

i think if you didn't see this coming whether you're an internal member of asthmartan or external watching um you probably weren't paying enough attention this this was always likely based on the form in that i mean it's not as bad as it was a few races ago i know mexico was probably the absolute worst. But the last two Grand Prix, I think at least from Alonso Anstrol's perspective, it's been, it hasn't been good, but it hasn't been awful.

But it's been a step behind the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, but not to the point where you are obviously outclassed. It's just one step behind. I think overall Fernando Alonzo will be relatively optimistic going into next year, depending on obviously where that car starts at, this year was a massive surprise when they turned up to Bahrain. We'll see what that's like when we

turn up to Bahrain next year. But yeah, I think ultimately Aston Martin probably finished where they deserve to finish in this Grand Prix. And we even got some break testing in there from Fernando Alonzo. So, you know, that was fun. It was good to see the return of DRS chicken. Yes. I enjoyed seeing that. Also, just like reckless driving, no investigation required. Nah. I love I love Abu Dhabi Fernando Alonso. It's my favourite version. He don't care. It always gets the last race in the season.

And unless he's racing against Petrov for a championship, he just doesn't care. Do you remember a few? I think it must have been his last race before his first retirement. Yeah, yeah. Where he just didn't do the chicane like five times. It just didn't bother with it. What are going to do?

I'm leaving. I don't know, it felt like the same thing here. There was one, it must have been maybe Hamilton or someone else going at the inside of him into the chicanne. And I feel like he was doing it for effect where he was like, ooh, oh, boy, the car, right, the eye. Leah, I loved it. He's such a drama queen.

He is. I love him. Yep. I've kind of spoiled your one on this, but big brain strategy. What have you got, Harry? I mean, it's really, it is Alpine in general, but the one I'll go for, And I think this may be just more confusion from Ted Krabbits. But when he came over to say that they were waiting out of the pit lane for Ocon,

and then Ocon didn't pit, but they're back out on the pit lane this time. And it seems like Ockon's going to pit and then Gassley Pits. It's like, Albin, decide who you want to pit, but goodness sake. Oh, man. They are, the other one I've got a shout out as well is George Russell, running thing this year, not wanting to pit. Yep. and more for his delivery of the of the tires seem reasonable.

That was great. I forgot about that. That was great. Oh, George. My big brain strat has to go to Cheryl LeClair or no, I was, I can't say that actually. Why? I was going to go to something strategy, but actually realized that that doesn't fit very well. if you go CHAT at the beginning of a word.

Oh, yeah. I'm glad I stopped myself before I heard that out loud. Something like the strategy. Yes, exactly. I'm going to go with him because I loved it when he came over Team Radio and put out this grand plan of how he can slow up so Sergio Perez can get slipstream

and go past him and Perez can be quicker so that even though Perez finishes ahead with the penalty, he still finishes behind Leclair, but also ahead of George Russell. He's out here playing 3D chess. I can just imagine the Ferrari because of that point like,

what is this kid suggesting? If that was any other team, it would have been the team telling the driver that they should do this. Here, it's LeCler going, I've got an idea, here's what we should do and here's why. And the team going,

oh, oh, yeah. It's the name with all the numbers flying around the head while it's going on and they just kind of count the maths in the air while LeClois is doing it driving at 200 miles an hour. He was running this, I mean, not the first time we've seen it at Friday, running the strategy of the championship permutations,

because it made me a laugh when the team radio thing came out and they obviously write the text. And it was like war and peace. It was like paragraphs of this team media message from him. Yeah, yeah. Oh, God. Just a shout out as well on the Charlotte-Clau's side of the garage. You know how usually with his engineer, it's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

question, blah, blah, blah, blah, understood. Today it was about two times track limits for Shaula Claire and just reminding him of that. And Charlotte Claire goes, yeah, yeah, okay. And he goes, copy, understood. Yeah, all right. Just the same different tone. It was great. Yeah, yeah.

Sassy, Sam. Sassy Zavie, isn't it? Sassy Zavi, that's the one. Big brain strap from you, Sam. Well, I was going to go down the Shabbie. Clairut, but there was another one that stuck to the mind, which we have mentioned already on the show, which was just Carlos Sykes going, Ricky, I'm so lost. Just what's going on in this race?

Help me, please. Someone get me a map and a plan because I don't know what's going on. And it's so Ferrari that one of the drivers is literally like, I am clueless, help me. And Ricky's going, goppy. And it's just, you're not helping him, you're helping this poor man out there who needs assistance. Again, just Ferrari, just blithering idiots. sometimes when it comes to any form of actual useful strategy. Good stuff.

We'll take our last break of today. And we'll go to Moment of the Race directly after this. Before we get into some submissions from our lovely Discord listeners, let's go to our own moment of the race. Sam, what have you got? So apart from when it ended, which I thought was great, my actual moment of the race that happened within the moment was when George Russell came over the radio and went, how's Lewis going?

How's it all going? and the engine here comes across, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's good. He's having his own fight. And George Rosser comes back, what that? F does that mean? How are we doing in the championship fight?

Tell me, what's going on? And he's like, oh, right, yeah, yeah, we're okay. Oh, yeah, oh, sorry. Right, great. Thanks for the hangs up, mate. And it's just hilarious. He's like, did you want a chit-chat? What more did you want from me?

Tell me how the championship's going. It was hilarious. Loved it. Good Lord. George. I'm going to go to Harry next because that was mine as well. was hilarious. What was yours, Sarah?

Mine's also Mercedes-related, but it's not Russell. It's the other side of the garage. It's Toto Wolf coming over the radio to G-Up Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion. Lewis just going, okay, thanks, Toto.

Thank you, Toto. Thank you, Papa. Thank you, Papa, I know I don't do it. I'm quite good. I got enjoying it back here, but thank you, sir. Oh, so good.

Good. Yeah, I mean, my actual moment of the race was George Russell's team radio, which seems fitting given last race of the year that we have to get a last George Russell team radio mention in there. I will instead go for kind of two things. Firstly, the iconic line from David Croft to say that there's no stop in Vassan. Oh, God, it's two in a row. There's Stappan's in Vegas,

there's no stopping the Stappen. It says a lot that this one was somehow better than last week. That's how bad. That's how bad Las Vegas is one was. And sort of related to that, another one I will give is, and this is the sadistic side of me coming out, folks. I really enjoyed for Stappan crossing the line,

but there's two cars directly in front of him that he's just about to lap, which means they're going to really, struggle to use that for promotional material because they're just going to have two random cars in front of the Stampton throughout the whole of next year. Got him. So, yeah, the only reason I enjoy that is because deep down, I am deeply sadistic. Already been mentioned as well, but shout out to Fernando Alonzo and Lewis Hamilton,

just being menaces with each other. They're laughing about it now. Oh, they are. They're having a beer. They're just chilling. That was funny, wouldn't it? Hey, remember when I tried to break test you? Good Lord.

Do you think on that point, Ben, that you made about the promotional material not being usable, do you think, I think it was Joe and Sargent, do you think they were terrified while there being a series of fireworks suddenly exploding next to their head while they're still on a lap? Bloody hell, there's a light show acting in my car, you know? Yeah. If I was more cruel, I would say something on the lines of, you know, massive explosions going off around a car like the Williams isn't that atypical. but I'm not going to say that because I'm nice at them.

Apart from I just have. Right. Moment of the race from our Discord listeners. Thank you very much to everyone. Not only who's submitted today, but anyone who's submitted on any of the moment of the races that we've done all throughout the year and indeed everything on the preview episodes as well. We've had a lot of them this year.

So thank you very much indeed. Let's go to Real Dad and James. Real Dad and James. moment of the race, Aber Dhabi. It's probably Toto's saying, Louis, you are the fastest car on the truck and thank God

Michael isn't here. You are all good. Happy Sunday guys. Great weekend and we're off now to finish building a rabbit hatch. I don't know whose access is mine or James is, but you know, great job. Love that. Enjoy the rabbit hutch. I'm a bit confused

because I heard real dad and I heard Toto Wolf, but I thought he said that James was going to be on there. He wasn't. Very good. Very good. Odd. Full disclosure, I've got no idea who this next person is. Oh, I forgot to label it.

It's been labelled MOTR, Moment of the Race, Abu Dhabi. Stop about that. So, whoever you are. Thank you. Here you go. Moment of the race has to be Yuki's drive. I mean, the man drove the wheels off that. car. Congrats to him.

That was kissing injure, I think. Ah, okay. Thank you very much indeed. Should we hear from Norm? Yeah. Oh, hello, my late breaking friends from across Lay Big Wet. It is I, Norm from Texas,

and I'm here to give you my one last final moment of the race and my moment of the race took before the race. And that was Yuki Sanota's message to France tossed on the formation lab. And it was a banner day for the papaya boys coming in 6th and 7th. Anyway, this one goes out to you, Bungers. Yeah.

A Bunger's tribute. Good. Let's go to Save Leclair. Didn't he save it all that much saving today. Yeah, saved himself. Yeah. Hey, everyone. I'm here to save Charlotte Leclair for one last time this season and what a season it has been.

this is actually my first full season watching f1 so it's been a lot of fun for my moment of the race i'm just going to say mercedes team radio from papatoto to princess george thank you guys let the podcast and see you next year both on top form today papatoto papatoto let's go to one of my all-time favorite names on these segments dorito dust hey what's going on boys is doredo dust coming from the great white north. My moment of the race would be when Crofty was talking about supersizing fries. I had to do a double take because I heard

circumcising fries. Honorable Mention goes to Yuki Snowdom. Great race from the little guy. Great weekend. It was a good wrap of the season. All right. Have a good one, boys. From the little girl. That's unfortunate after the first bit of that that exhibition.

I hear that far too often, not on this podcast as well. Right. Let's go to Joys that Kill. Good morning, lovely lads. I want to go for all the Ferrari garbage that happened at the end. We all watched it, so I know I'm going to hear it. But I think my moment of the race is obviously George still able to hold them off, even with Leclair trying to fight with Perez. George was still able to keep it within the points and get Mercedes at second of the championship,

even though they have a boat of a car. The boat. The boat. Let's go to Elplan Sam. Moment of the race for last race of the season. I can't believe it. Yuki Sonoda, leading the race and honestly driving the race of his life. I know they didn't get that P7, but he drove awesome.

Also, Fernando Alonzo, P4 the championship for the first time in so long. So happy. Love the podcast. That's a question actually When was the last time he finished in the top four of the championship You're going back 10 years for that aren't you? 23rd must be 2013 Yeah

2013 yeah Right let's go to Let's go to hybrid Hey guys hybrid ship 982 here Long time no see Hope y'all are doing good Moment of the race By far has to be when Leclerc

Open up the door for Perez I mean shout out to LeClerc man He's got to be like one of the few people at Ferrari with one brain cell remaining. So, hell yeah. Let's go him. When he's done racing an F1, I hope he ends up working on the team for strategy

because he might be the one to bring him back to a championship win. All right, take care, guys. Bye. Imagine the scenes if Charlotte Cloor works for Ferrari and then brings them a championship win but where he's not in the car. Oof. I can't...

I simultaneously could and could not believe this stat. at three of the last four seasons for Lecler. He hasn't picked up a win in the Ferrari. Oh, no. 2021, 22, 23. The only one he's actually won a race in is 22. Oh, dear. I know, right?

It just doesn't seem legit, but it is. Great names finish us off. Esco Pablo Bar. Oh, lads, it's Esco Pablo Bar here from Northern Ireland. Arriba! So, um, moment of that race. really cringe moments of the race if it wasn't bad enough

Crofty getting every driver and every team mixed up for the whole 58 laps. Yeah, rarity. His, there's no verse stopping, Max Verstappen almost made me vomit but just to top everything off Cooltharts postmatch interview with Charles Leclair

was cringe fest 23 asking him about his jewelry was he going to give it to him as a gift because he was a very generous person. I've had enough. I'm already looking forward to next year. Keep breaking late, lads.

Cheers. Yeah, the cringes off the scale. I didn't know Araiba was the common saying in Northern Ireland. I haven't bitten there, admittedly. That's huge, yeah. Tuesday, mate. Oh, anyway, thank you, everyone. Yeah, thank you very much indeed. And of course, I'm sure there'll be one or two of...

There'll be something over the winter break. We'll do some for. submissions for sure and we'll let you know as soon as we do something along those lines. I think that'll do it. Sam, if you could get us out of here and we can't stress it enough, we aren't going anywhere. The season might be over, but we are still around. Yeah, as Ben said, just because Formula One driver's going on a day off doesn't mean we do. We're here every single week. Weng's Sunday, regardless of what's going on. We've got big things coming in the winter break. You know, we've got the LBs, we've got the review of all of our

predictions. There might be some special winter episode that comes up around Christmas. And then when the new season starts ramping up, we've got the predictions begin. We've got Pimp My F1 is going coming out, which is a personal favourite of mine. There's loads of stuff that's still going on. And we might have some little treats in there along the way. Don't forget some extra stuff. And also be coming to Patreon. You've got Bill of Breaking. You've got extra episodes. You get this kind of merch. You can still get it in time for Christmas if you'd love to gift a loved one, a late breaking t-shirt, which I can assure you is the best gift anyone could ever receive. upon a Christmas day.

Join the Discord. That's how you get involved in all things. We like to do a lot of stuff with our listeners over the winter break because, hey, there's nothing else going on. So we like to have some fun. So make sure you get involved. Follow us late breaking F1 everywhere on social media.

This has been recording. I'm talking to a camera. Follow us on the Yubtub so you can subscribe. We're about to hit 5K. That's halfway to the 10K we need before Silverstone. We're getting there, folks. Pride of all of you that already joining in. You're making it possible.

You're getting more content out of it. The more you listen, the more you get. Love you all. Thanks for everything across the season. Again, we will be here twice a week, every week, regardless of what's going on. So stick with us. We love you all in the meantime. I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking and I've been Harry Ead.

And remember, keep breaking late. Bye! Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.