The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2024 Austrian GP Review

Episode Date: June 30, 2024

The LB boys review the Austrian GP where Russell picked up the pieces with a surprise win after a dramatic Verstappen and Norris battle ends in collision. They discuss who was in the wrong in the fight for the lead, the performances of Russell and Piastri, the battling Alpines, and a good day for Haas. As always, they finish by hearing your Moments of the Race... LONDON LIVE SHOW! Join us as we preview the British GP live in London on 2 July, full event info + tickets HERE FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes, historic race reviews & more! JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League: SIGN UP & create your team, and JOIN our league (join code: C3PHEQHPU04) BUY our Merch SEND us something! We have a brand new PO box - address: Late Braking Podcast, PO Box 821, TRURO TR1 9PE 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. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, today reviewing a rather uneventful Austrian Grand Prix with absolutely no highlights whatsoever, Sam. Yeah, I was on live stream for it and I actually fell asleep for two hours. It was so dull. No screaming.

no nipples and absolutely no drama took place on the live screen. Harry, what were you up to while the race was very dull? I've firmly had my nipples underneath my t-shirts, I'd be pleased to say. Niffles out for George, everyone? No, we're niffing this in the bud right now. Niping it indeed. It's not a thing. Welcome, if you knew.

We've just had one of the most dramatic incidents between two leading drivers in many a season, and here we are talking about George Russell's nipples, because why not? Right, what have we got coming up on today's show? Moment of the race, of course, later on. Our thoughts on the Alpine duo continuing to battle. A much better day for R.B. Of course, George Russell's win, Piastri's podium, Carla signs his podium as well.

But we would be remiss for not starting, of course, with the battle for the lead that took place between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, a slow pit stop from Max Verstappen, the two to be far closer on their final stint compared to the first two stints. This led to a number of very close calls going into turn three. And eventually there was one close call to many when Max Vastappen and Lando Norris had contact both of them receiving damage. Max Vastappen limping back to the pits and eventually finishing in fifth place, Lando Norris limping back to the pits and was out. Sam, there was a lot to get into there. So we'll

start at least with the early parts of this battle. How did you see it? Yeah, I mean, weirdly, the battle started to unfold because Red Bull's greatest strength, which is so often their pit stops, you know, last race out in Spain, they put together a 1.9 second pit stop for Max Verstappen. And he had a seven second lead before coming into the pits. So when they deliver a 6.5 second pit stop, that is so unusual for Red Bull to make such a fluff up like that. It looked like they were having problems because of course when Perez came in as well afterwards he had an 8.5 second pit stops so it was just to say on that one I think that was that penalty related five second penalty nah we're going to pretend that that thing happened um wash Red Bull doesn't help my point at all so um

we could spend the facts here so yeah so pit stops were not the rule of the day for Red Bull and when they needed to deliver it you heard Maxis Sappen's expression when it came out the pit lane it was just kind of like oh great yeah of course of course I'm having issues with my car they go from the tires We've coming down a pit stop. It's the longest pit stop I've ever had. And now Landon Norris is within one second of me within the rest of that lap. He then locks up, of course, going through turn four, massively damaging the tire, I imagine, straight away, which is great.

And Lando was on him, like a cat chasing a mouse. He was desperately trying to get a hug of it. Sorry, I was trying to search for that metaphor as I was going through it. You often are, but that's an animal and it will probably work. That's so true, in it. We got there. This worked it out. But yeah, then the battle ensued.

Now, there was a lot of moaning, a lot of winging for both the drivers while this battle was going on. Landon Norris was sending it from every country within Europe to try and end up at the apex of turn three. Came back from Germany, he came across from France, and he dived all the way from Italy. He was really sending it from anywhere that he could. And he continually moaned over the radio. Oh, he's moving under braking. He's moving underbreaking. He's moving underbreaking.

And you know what? There's a lot of people that we had in the stream chat that were saying, oh, he's winging. Just drive the car. Just drive the car. but I have to say, if you are, as a driver, witnessing someone moving around under braking, they're condensing their speed from 200 miles an hour down to about 30 in a matter of seconds,

that's very scary and quite dangerous. So if Landau's witnessing that, I'm okay with him calling it out, and you've got to win anyway you can. Max Stapling is one of the best opponents you will ever go up against. Use every tool that you've got in your locker to try and dethrone him.

I don't mind Mando calling this out. Anyway, they get closer and closer. Lando, of course, runs wide. he outbreaks himself and kind of holds Max up, overtaking him off track. He gives the position back. I'm glad no penalty was given there. I think it was the right call. Lando gave it back almost immediately.

It was a little bit touch and go, but he gave it back within the same straight. I think that was right for them to carry on. It gave us great racing. And then eventually we come up to the form of the incident where Lando went for a dive down the outside. And Max Vassappon seemingly was breaking slightly in the direction towards the outside of the corner. So the gap that initially existed between. the two, rapidly close.

The cars are so feeble these days. We're seeing how sharp those front wings can be. Front wing touches you get a puncture. I personally put the blame on Max for stab and I think this is Max's fault. I think the penalty that he was given was correct. And I think that the penalty was given in terms of the amount of contact, not the damage in the DNF that ensued after that, which I think is correct. I think that's fine.

Wheel to wheel banging, one car got driven wide. Track was essentially closed off. And I was happy with that decision overall. because I actually think as much as it was dramatic, it's a bit of a shame because I think we could have had a pretty epic battle all the way to the line

between those two because I think if Landon did get back in front, I think Max Comfortably would have held on. I think the cars are very evenly matched. So it's a bit of a shame that we saw the damaging suit, but equally, I love the drama Mick,

and I'm here for it and I'm glad it happened because it was great to watch. What did you make of the battle, Harry? The fact that, firstly, it even happened because Vastappen looked relatively comfortable early on. Your thoughts on Norris being able to

along with the help of the slow pit stop, him being able to catch back up to Vastappen, but then the action that happened afterwards as well. I mean, firstly, welcome back F1, 2021. It's a pleasure to have you back. A British driver in Max Vastappen having a controversial crash whilst battling for the lead.

We have missed you. Twitter is on fire as we speak, and it's good to be here again. Is that why I can smell? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's burning as we speak. Yeah, look, it was for the most part, I think quite an enjoyable, an enjoyable battle. But there are a few moments in there that were a bit dodgy.

I don't say also, Max Vestappen complaining about Norris dive bombing, I thought was rich, given his past. What do you mean? What are you talking about? Given his past antics. You can't just dive bomb me. I was like, okay. Okay, Max.

But, yeah, for the most part, I think it was okay. I think the problem is with Vestappan, there are a few things that have gone maybe unpunished that have needed to be punished in the past that he's done, that he's still doing here. And it's kind of led up to this incident. I think the moving under breaking that he did once or twice was not not on,

especially after Norris had already committed to the move. Again, I know Norris was dive bombing quite a couple, a few times there, but Norris was committed. You can't then move on in on him. So I didn't like that. But like you said, the move that they made word Norris did send one, he went off the track,

he gave it back, like, fine, I'm absolutely okay with that. It was hard racing. Obviously, he went off the track, but he gave the place back, fair dues. But yeah,

the Vastappan movie underbreaking, not happy about. The incident itself is probably the most marginal one they had, and it's ironic that that was the one that ended up being the sort of racing ending incident, or battle ending incident for them, because Vestappen made his defensive move. Norris Dengue commits to the outside.

And it's the slightest, I, to blame Vestappen, but it's the slightest of, he's drifting. It's not a movement. He's just drifting out wide. I don't think that's deliberate at all. And they have the merest of contacts and it's a puncher for both of them. So that for me is probably the least offensive

out of all the battles that they were having there. So for the most part, I can't enjoy it. I think maybe I just enjoyed having a battle for the lead again, but it was spicy, to say the least. It was spicy. And for the most part, it was unexpected because, you know, Max Verstappen led away relatively comfortably at the start. And the first sign that this might have ended up becoming a battle was how the hard tires

didn't really do all that well. We're often, we're accustomed to seeing an F1 how the hard tire, not used at all during qualifying, but come race day, it tends to be the preferred tire. Here it was established quite early on that actually the medium is the better compound. And of course, we knew from the very start that Vostappen was the only one of those front runners that did not have two fresh sets of the mediums. And he only had one, Norris, of course, and others had two. And you can tell Vastappen in the middle stint on the hard tire wasn't very happy,

even though he still had a good lead. He wasn't very happy. The slow pit stop has obviously brought them far closer together, far quicker. But I do think in that final stint, Norris might well have caught up to the back of Vastappen anyway. Not saying he would have got by, but I think those older tyres that he was on, that the older medium tyres in that final stint, were costing him a little bit. In terms of the action itself, I largely agree with what both of you have said. I do think there was at least one instance of Vastappan underbreaking that was unacceptable.

I also agree with you where Norris has given the place back. I haven't got a problem with that. Yes, he left it until the last possible moment and made sure he wasn't too disadvantaged by it, but any driver would do that. So I'm not too fuss there. I also agree that Vestappen was the culprit for the crash that ended it all. He is the one that moved over on Lando Norris. Again, it is so marginal.

but that's racing. He moves over across him and they have contact and they both suffer for it. So I agreed with the stewards on that one. I will say Lano Norris, it's two sides of the same coin here. But his pace recently has really impressed me because he is the only driver that has been able to touch Max Verstapp. I really get close to him. And I appreciate that he is giving us the. battles. On the other side, it is disappointing that he's not able to take advantage of some of the

situations he's putting himself in more than he is. That lunge up the inside where he knew that he only had one more track limit violation before he would get a penalty was foolish. Let's say he pulls it off. I still think it's a foolish. It's a low percentage move to try in that spot. and I appreciate him going for the win and maybe not playing the team game where the team might prefer that he bags 18 secure points. I don't know, but I just, as I mentioned on yesterday's episode,

he's so close, but he's just missing a couple of things that would make him an exceptional driver, in my opinion. I was thinking as we were watching. And again, there are a couple of marginal moves from Vestappen, but I think for the most part, Vestappen was outracing Norris in that battle, and so obviously the collision happened.

I think there were a couple of times where I thought, you thought Norris had it done, and actually Vestappen came back or defended it. And again, we saw that in the sprint race where he made the move, I'd got the move done, and then Vastappen came back at him, he just left the inside wide open. So, yeah, I think it's a fair point.

I think, but then does that come from Vestappen, having had a year's worth of battling Lewis Hamilton for a title and Norris not having that experience, I don't know, but yeah, that's a fair point. It was called out that the moves that Landon Norris was making reminded them of early Max Vastappen, sending these dive bombs a little bit less of care for if there's going to be, you know, a crash or they can wipe themselves out. It's kind of all guns blazing for the absolute, you know, main prize. And actually, a world champion isn't built on one race wing across in a season.

It's built on being in the top two every single race across the entire year and actually you pick up the best points and you're the most consistent and I think that's where we're seeing that Vastapel has matured, he's growing, he's a world champion we've seen him succeed over time he's come up against great adversaries

such as Lewis Hamilton and conquered and won those battles and now he's up against this almost fresh challenge during Landon Norris and Landon Morris hasn't been through those hurdles yet he hasn't faced those battles, he hasn't come across those challenges and this is his training field at the moment. That McClain I don't think is

get a win in the driver's title right now. So maybe it's best that's happening as we speak. And maybe next season, if my clarion are closer, he'll be aware of what to go ahead with and he'll be able to push through. But the moves look rash. The Staffen's lines through some of the breaking zones and out of some of the corners were fantastic. His defensive ability has really come on leaps and bounds of the last two or three years.

And he displayed it brilliantly here, Austria, a place where if you get one traction zone wrong and you lose the back end, you could be passed so easily. And he didn't. He didn't make those mistakes. So I was, apart from the. moving and breaking, which we've all, you know, said we don't agree with. The Staffan was, again, sensational, apart from where he caused the incident, which is a real shame,

because that could have been one of the battles for the ages if that got all the way to the end of the Grand Prix, I think. Still extended his championship league, though. Ridiculous that he's still beat Perez by 15 seconds. I think we need to come onto that. That's ridiculous. We're getting on to that. Harry, what are your thoughts on the mentality that Lando Norris does have and what mentality he should have? So you could argue he's in a position at the moment where if he doesn't make these, let's say, rash moves, he's not going to beat Vastappen in the driver's championship. You could say that's not going to happen anyway, but unless he takes wins away from Vastappen, that's not going to become a fight.

Should his mentality be more about beating Vostappen or more about this still ongoing battle between McLaren and Ferrari and the championship? I think for not if you if you base it on you know realistic options here should probably be focused on Ferrari but for Norris he doesn't he's not going to care about that he wants race wins he's had the taste of one now

and he wants that to continue and yeah a challenge you if I were to him and Max is probably unlikely but where he can take a race win off him I think yeah I would I'd be I would disappointed if he held back for any reason

season to preserve a fight against Ferrari. And yes, you might look at the end of the year, Ferrari do beat them and say, well, you know, Austria could be a pinpoint of that. But Norris isn't here to finish second to Vastappen. He's had so many years of watching Vestappen in a top car. And, you know, him and the McLaren has not been a top car and not been a top car very often.

And he probably knows more than a lot of drivers that these sorts of opportunities don't come around all the time. Next year, McLaren could build another. 17th and a DNF. It's unlikely, but it could happen. So he knows these opportunities aren't always available to him. So I personally don't see a problem for him going for the winds like this. I'm going to take a wild guess and say this isn't the last we will have heard about what has happened today. But until that day comes, let's review bold predictions. Harry, you'll kick us off. What was your bold prediction?

My bold prediction was that the top three in the sprint and the top three in the race would be totally different. And Oscar Piastri, I hate you. There was a moment. There was a moment where I thought, oh God, he somehow got this right on the last bit of the race. And then I saw Piastri. Yeah, same.

I thought I'd nailed it. But never mind. Well done, Oscar. You idiot. Sad little life, Oscar. Well, Sam, your bold prediction, whilst not being right, became slightly less, slightly more right than it would have been if Verstappen had won the race.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was bold. It was the aim of the game. No points though. Remind the listeners what that was. Every single session that could have been competitive would have a different leader at the top of it. So different sprint poll, different sprint winner, different pole position holder, different race winner.

So four different winners of each competitive session, so to speak. They were all max for Stappen, and we're going to be all-matchel. for stepping up until the very last one as well, if George Russell didn't come along and lead after they came together, of course. So, yeah, at one point, it could have been more wrong if I tried. Yeah, my bold prediction was that five different teams

would be eliminated in Q1 or SQ1. It was relatively close to happening in SQ1. Four different teams were eliminated. So I thought, eh, just one more needed tomorrow. And it was further away from being right in actual quality. So I will, as is custom this season, take the out. It's got well. Shall we take our first break on this episode?

On the other side, we've got more chat about the likes of Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari. So, of course, all that battling out front between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen led to a somewhat unexpected podium where George Russell took his second career win ahead of Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sines. Firstly, apologies, George Russell, because nearly every... every single situation in a race review, we would focus on the race winner first. We have taken an exception to that today. I hope you understand.

I know you are a big fan of this podcast. So we've got a Russell, Piastri, and Signs podium. I appreciate, Sam, that Russell might well have been handed this win, but at the same time, an impressive display from him across the whole weekend. Speaking of impressive displays, I did predict that George Russell will win the feature race. So... Great.

Did you bold predict that? Cool, that's no points then. Damn. Okay, good. Anyway, yeah, no, he was impressive across the weekend. And I've said it multiple times so far, but you've got to be in it to win it. And he had beat Lewis Hamilton in every single session so far across the Grand Prix.

He was sensationally good in qualifying. He put the car where it needed to be. Ended up being P3, of course, in qualifying because Piastri got his lap time deleted. And then he held his own throughout the Grand Prix. He managed to get away from Carlos Sainter-Lewis Hamilton, who ended up having a little battle behind. And he fell behind Norris and Bostappan, right?

The gap was large. It was about 10-15 seconds, and then it kind of dropped down a bit to 8 to 10 seconds. But like I said, it gets to win it. And if Piastri had a bottle his qualifying lap and qualified in either third or fourth, there's every chance that Oscar Piastri goes on to win that race. Well, he didn't because he mucked it up himself.

and George Russell was the next man to take to have take advantage of that and fair play to him. Deserves a lot of credit. He was consistent. He got the job done. It was calm from George. And sometimes you get a little bit lucky.

You get a bit of luck on your side and he picks up his second Grand Prix victory in Formula One. So well done to George. He did get handed it, but you've got to be the person there to be handing it to. And that's exactly what he did. It's been a long time coming for Mercedes, Harry, but your thoughts on Russell's win.

Yeah, we're not going to say they figured of the car up. No, I'm joking. Can we talk about that? Can we talk about George Russell's comments when he came out and said, in Bahrain, who the fault this? And I thought, hang on, George.

Hang on. The car is suddenly... Us Minos, Mercedes, yeah. Like, sorry, who's... Firstly, you're an eight-time consecutive World Championship team. Record-breaking. Secondly, you haven't won this on ability.

You won it because the top two took it. Ah, pure pace, mate. All pace. No. Sorry, George. I appreciate he didn't finish there, but can we just mention that he was throughout the first part of the Bahrain Grand Prix in third? Yep.

Yes. Good stuff. As you, I don't really have much more to add than what you said, Sam. Sometimes in F1 and motor racing, you have to be in it to win it. And George Russell was the man that was in it today. And then he won it. So I think full credit to him. The Piastri, that's a pretty side point.

you guys probably covered it in the quality episode yesterday, but I know that's the rule, but fairly, very harsh that penalty. He said the same thing. Yeah, anyway, but they're the rules and you've got to play by them and he obviously didn't. So, yeah, Piaastri will be kicking himself for that. But Russell, I thought was impressive.

And I thought he drove of quite a measured, his pace was good, quite a measured race, especially at the start because he had his teammate, his vastly more experienced teammate, clambering all over him at the start of the race, he was then after that what happened I don't know

just disappeared into into the ether but George kept his head didn't wreck his tyres or anything and yeah his pace was very impressive and especially at the end

when he had Piastri closing in on him on different tyres fresher ties I believe over Russell they were at least different ties but anyway

honestly Harry there were so many it stops in that Grand Prix but I don't know what's going on half of them made by Charlotte Claire oh my God

the man loves the pit lane unless a spotted 12 stop. Plan double Z. It's when Martin Brundel said he's on his fourth set of tires and it's only halfway through the race. I was like, goodness me. Anyway, yeah, Russell, yeah, very fortunate, but yeah, some days you just have to have to be there.

And to be fair to him, it's not like he's, this is a real fluky one. As he said himself, he's kind of been in this third place position over the last few races we saw it in Spain. I knew didn't get the podium and Hamilton did, but saw it in Spain. that he was there.

Obviously, Kennedy had poll and then ended up on the podium. So Mercedes have been there and that's, whilst they don't have the overall pace,

I guess it's the best they can hope for the moment is to be at that back end of the podium. We're in the top five and pick up the pieces if there is an incident like that. So yeah,

fair play. George kept his nose clean and takes home a win. I'm not, and you can't say it's not well deserved because he didn't crash into anyone, so well deserved. Yeah, I don't have too much to add.

It was a very impressive performance from him. And I would have said that if he'd finished third. It was a very impressive performance nonetheless. And sometimes that's how most racing goes. Yeah, overall, very impressive. And speaking of like the early battle that he had, who would have known how important that would have been? That's why you race for every position, right, is that you just don't know how critical that's going to be to come the end of the race. Now, who knows? Maybe if Hamilton had made that stick, he'd have still found a way past,

I don't know. We can't, we don't have a crystal ball. We can't guess. But equally, you know, because George Russell was able to keep his composure and stay ahead of his closest competitors, that's what's enabled him to be in the right place at the right time when an opportunity has presented itself. So, yeah, they'll still want to get there on pure pace. Obviously, the last time and the only other time that Russell's won, it was more based on pace that he had

rather than an error from someone else. But, you know, you win enough races in F1, you'll win both. So, yeah, fair play to him. Sam, you've already alluded to this. Oscar Piastri, when we mentioned him in the qualifying review yesterday, we were saying what would represent a good day? Would it be getting past one of the Mercedes or one of the Ferraris? Obviously, he's made a lot more progress than we thought he would based on some other factors.

Seemed to have very good pace. That could have been a win. I'm a bit gag for him. I think he drove brilliantly today. If you just remove the disappointment of qualifying, I think he drove brilliantly today. he made exceptional overtakes. Going around the outside of two different cars, both Sites and Perez,

through that middle sector is a phenomenal. Yeah, it is dirty. And he did that again in the sprint race over his teammate. Remember, he got past Norris in that manner as well. It's the Piastri corner at this point. And his pace was great. He managed to make the strategy work really, really well. You just think, mate,

if you've just backed off on qualifying by half a tent and kept in side track limits, he would have won that Grand Prix because he had the race pace. His race pace was better than George Russell. You know, the fact that he was able to close that gap up so much and it only was only two seconds come the end of the Grand Prix. The McLaren was great.

Piastra was really strong. He should have won. He should have won and he'll be kicking himself a little bit. And if you, again, like I said, if you remove qualifying and you only look at the race, he is in consensual for driver of the day with how he drove. He was exceptional. He got damage from Perez who forced him off wide

and we're going to get on to batting a little bit as well. He then had to make his way back through all of the people in front of him. He overtook cars are very similar in pace. Calm, measures. I've got so much love and respect for him with how he performs on the radio and on the mic as well. He should have won. He will walk away from this and go, I've got loads of time, but that should be race wing number one for him.

And I think he knows that. Harry, how do Piastri and McLaren look at this result for him? Because you could look at it and say, as soon as Landau Norris and Vestappen had that incident, he was pretty much in that fight. I know he finished second, but he was somewhat there to pick up the pieces, but equally,

he could have had one more position. How do you think they'll view it? Yeah, I think they'll be disappointed. I'm sure that he wasn't quite there to take the win because he should have been technically. Russell qualified third and was the one who won the race. It should have been Piastri, who qualified third and won the race. So they'll look at that with some disappointment,

but again, his early days in his career is Piastri. I feel like I always end up saying this, but he's very impressive for where he is in his career. A mistake, as I said, I think it's harsh the penalty goal, but it was a mistake from his side of that they are the rules. And he, you know, punished for it because today he could have had a race when he'll, that will stick with it, I'm sure. So he was very impressive today.

Unlucky with the penalty yesterday. And I'm sure McCarran would be disappointed. but they're going to be disappointed anyway because they lost out on a win with Norris. So I'm not sure they'll hold it against him too much and he still takes home some pretty valuable points for McClaren. So yeah, he was impressive again today.

The boy's still learning. Yeah, he was very good. The only other thing I wanted to mention on top of what both of you have said and I think this is arguably the number one takeaway I've had from Oscar Piastri and at least this race is that his biggest weakness to this.

point in his F1 career has been his tire management. It's one of the reasons I think he does quite well in sprints is that it's less of a factor. Here, the second and third stint where he's making a lot of progress, that is unlocked by the fact that he has gone longer than anyone else on that first stint on that first set of mediums. He did a very good job making those tires last because as soon as he makes a couple of laps difference over his competitors, he's got that advantage for the rest of the Grand Prix.

So I thought he was very impressive. I think he did have the third best pace out there today after Lando Norris and Max Fus Dapen, in which case you would have to call it a disappointment that he wasn't the one there to pick up the win. But even so, I actually think that takeaway of how well he managed the tires in this race. A very, very difficult race to manage the tires. I think McLaren will be buoyed by that. Ferrari, let's get on to them.

So, Harry, they managed to capitalize on Red Bull's difficult day by scoring one fewer point than them. what did you make of that? Oh dear. I mean, Lecler is an incident with Piastriot turn one. I can't really blame him too much for that's just turn one. He obviously compounded it later on by running into him on the same lap. Yeah, that was good. Which maybe don't do that next time, Michelle.

But it was, you know, race kind of done from there. From his point of view, that's the ice cream. The ice cream is going past. Come on! Not you're going to everyone! Get your flanks out! No. Yeah, a variety of disappointed.

I think they'll be encouraged, I guess, a bit by the pace that they had. But it was, I guess, better than it was in Spain, I think, in my view. Obviously, the clerk can't really unlock it, but for signs at least, and he picks up the podium. But it... it's quite intriguing that Ferrari's they really have just done Monaco and that that is all that is all we're doing for what's happened now we are doing street circuits this year yeah yeah yeah nothing else um it's it's an interesting one because again they

they they still didn't look as promising us potentially if we thought they would be or others thought they would be this weekend so they're disappointed to still not pick up that many points, especially when one Red Bull has an incident and the other one is slow as anything. So, yeah, it's an interesting one. And Martin Bruno made a comment yesterday in Qualifying because Science said something about it's a lot of bouncing on one of his laps and whether they've got some porpoising issues, which goodness me, that's... Oh, Lewis Hamilton's going to cry.

He will have a breakdown. He's too old for that. Not again, please, that's why I'm moving. I've got down back. I just think of a soft ride. which is interesting if these upgrades have brought that back into play but yeah who knows so yeah they'll be scratching their heads a little bit on on where that pace is gone because even before monaco which i know is a guess now you can say as an anomaly their pace was looking good and obviously

they won australia as well so uh yeah a tough a tough weekend again for them um for the for the scuder rear gang yeah not great i feel like carlos signs his podium is the biggest podium of all time, just like, yeah, okay, fine, I'll take that. But as we know, he was on course for a fifth place finish. Lecler, it was difficult to judge his progress, I think, Sam, but ultimately he comes away with no points. Yeah, my fantasy team is absolutely gutted. Landon Norris and Charles LeCler, great.

Cheers, guys, appreciate that. In the mud. Still be Harry, I'm sure. It probably has, yes. Probably has, yes. Ferrari will be kicking themselves. This is an opportunity squanded, in my opinion. If this happened four races ago, there's every chance that Ferrari end up being one and two or one and three, perhaps, with Piastri in the middle.

Their race pace used to be much better than Mercedes. They were equally fighting with McLaren, pretty much racing race out. And of course, they were regularly beating Perez. And now they come to a race like Austria where their upgrades should be effective, their energy should be strong, they should be very competitive. And what's Carlos Science, I think, had a very consistent race weekend. I don't think it set the world on it. I don't think he was anything particularly impressive. And lucked into that third place.

It was going to be a fifth. And Charlotte-Cler, of course, had a bit of a nightmare. They should be the ones to pick up the pieces when that all falls apart between Manda and Max Verstappen. And the fact that they're not, the fact they're not even next in line.

Their third in line, the fact they've walked away only from this Grand Prix with 15 points. It's really disappointing. I expected the upgrades be far more effective. And I thought Ferrari be far more in this fight. I think Red Bull can kind of dust the hands off and go, you, that could have gone worse for us.

Mercedes picked up the most points. Thank God we haven't got to worry about them because they're so far away. It doesn't matter. So, you know, they can have an awful weekend because the other teams can't seem to put two drivers in the right place and have a car that actually performs.

It doesn't matter, Red Bull. They're all right. So I think Ferreau will be disappointed. Okay. It's time for driver of the day. The verdict is in. You're the driver of the page. You're the driver of the day. You're good at travel. Here you got, Harry.

Nicah Holkenberg. Great shout. My Jay. I thought he was tremendous today. Despite the fact that both, they two-stop or three-stop, I can't remember, at least twice, past pit him after.

They two-stopped him. So both times. They pit him after Magnuson, despite the fact that Magnuson was behind him, both times, whatever. It almost cost him the place on there. on the first pit stop. But he

yeah, he was excellent all afternoon and kept behind Perez at the very end of the race. So, and take P6 after the Vostappan Norris incident, which are some very, very valuable points for Haas. So, yeah, Nikolkirk for me. Yes, Nico Holkenberg. Sometimes I think there are multiple candidates for this award today.

I think Holkenberg is the only one. I thought he was head and shoulders above everyone else. So, yeah, that's. two votes for Holkenberg. Sam? I do think there are some candidates. I think Ricardo deserves a shout. This was by far, I think his best weekend over his teammate, Sonoda.

I think Gasly deserves a shout. He was really, really strong in the car that is technically slower of the two Alpines, which is quite funny at the moment. I think Piastri, how are really good recovery, but he put himself in that place in the first place. But three for three, Nicodberg, you are the Dong, my sir. What a great drive from you. And what a great day for Haas.

They've had some great points all from them. So I'm sure Kamatsu's cooking. Damn right. Of course, where there is a driver of the day, there must be. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. You suck at driving. It's a little part of me that thinks that Livlaf Latifie is secretly saying

Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, and now I can't unhear it. Not getting in the Ben. No, but he's the worst driver of the day. I understand. That is quite common, so that would be fair. Sam, movie cut. I'm going to give it to Circio Perez. Why?

Well, many reasons. We could do a whole show about it. But to keep it short, your team mate got crushed into someone else, like a puncture, got a penalty, you still finished. Hold on through the maths here. 17 seconds behind him.

And you got beaten by Hulkabug on the last snap. Absolutely mugged off. What a great defence. from Hulk that was. So, yeah, you suck. Two-year deal. You suck. Sorry, he did.

He sucks. It was just bad. Harry? Yeah, I know I've given this, I think, to Paris with the past couple of races, but today is not a good day. Yeah, Vestappen, he had a crash, had a puncher and was on three wheels for a whole lap, and then had a pit stop and still, oh, and then a 10-second penalty and still miles in front of you.

That is... It's embarrassing. Vody embalison. Are you got embarrased? Embarrassed. Yeah, and I feel like I don't want people to think I'm being harsh on Peres, but there's being a distance of your teammate and then there's that. That's just not acceptable as a result. And if Verstappen is up front leading the race and battling for a race win, if there's an incident like that, and as we're saying with Piastri, who wasn't quite there to pick other pieces, Perra should be there.

You should be in that battle as well. to pick up the pieces of an incident with Verstappan and Norris, and it was nowhere close, and he couldn't get past. Ahas, I'm sorry, that's ridiculous. Yeah. The classic thing, yeah.

Oh dear. You know what? I am going to give a different answer on this. Sergio Perez is 100% a contender for this. The writing was on the wall, really from the point where Piastri got by him and he couldn't keep up with him. You knew at that point,

this isn't going to go well for him. I also thought Yuki Sunoda had a poor day. The other one, I am going to give it to Fernando Alonzo. He beat Logan Sargent and Mando Norris, and that's the whole list. He got 10 place, I mean, we'll get onto it, a 10 place penalty for killing Joguan Yu. 10 place? 10 second, sorry. 10 second penalty for killing Joguan Yu.

Yeah, that wasn't very good. Just a rough day overall. Landstrol has finished quite a bit higher up than him in 12th place so I think Perez Alonzo and Sonoda were all towards the back

of this vote but I'll go Alonzo What do we Why did they pit him without two laps to go Two laps to go is Well this is my moment of the race Because I've got no idea why

But he set the fastest lap He got the fastest lap On the last lap No reason You're not having it No he won it He maybe he's just been pettie Yeah

Yeah, maybe so. Oh, and we've got Big Brain Strat as well. Oh, Bob, we're going to need you to box for Wentz. What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about? Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance, let your teammate pass you.

What? He crashed out. He's not even in the race. Harry, Big Brain Strat. Um, are there a couple. here. One of them being, I don't know whether to choose between these two,

okay. One of them is Kevin Manxon's engineer telling him he needs to save ties and Kevin Magnuson telling him to F that. That was fairly direct. Yeah. What's for the point quickly?

I'm not doing that strategy. Terrible. Maybe sure then and beating your teammate. The other one was the two Alpines. They were in that battle with Alonzo, Ricardo, the two hats, is only a second two at the road. points on offer here.

And I know they stayed out longer because I think they went onto the mediums for the last bit whereas the rest of them went on to hards. When you're doing the overcut, what you shouldn't do

is then have a battle with each other because that slows you down. Help each other. Yes. DRS chain. We've got an opportunity here to get double points.

What should we do? Battle each other. Yeah, definitely. Put each other off the track on multiple occasions. Definitely battle each other. So I think I love the KMA one, we're going to have to go

with that with Alpine because I, appreciate the effort. It kept it smartly doing it in the middle of the Grand Prix. It was a little quiet. They had fun. Cheers, guys. Yeah, and we'll get on to Alpine after the break as well,

but they have miraculously managed to turn what would have been one point on the grid after two cars in front of them have crashed out to come away with one point. That's as Alpine as it gets. My big brain strat, Shalachler, in it? Like, how many?

He's stopping now, is he? Look, first of all, I don't mind the strategy itself find. I mean, they are so far behind at that point, the fact that they were fighting about, okay, it's the fact that they said over Team Radio, we're still on course for points here. Are you? I'm sorry, they thought they were still on course for points. Two cars in front of them crashed out and potentially could have given them two more spots. They did get one spot from Lando Norris, and that's still.

wasn't enough to get further up than 11th. What simulation were you running? Was Charles LeClair suddenly in the Red Bull? I don't know. I don't mind the strategy itself. It's just saying to Charles LeClair, yeah, based on our simulations, we think you can get back in the point. So, yeah, if you don't, that's on you, mate.

The optimism. The optimism is what kills you. Your submission, Sam. All great shouts, and I will have picked a couple of those, so I'll go for something a little different. And I'm going to go with something that happened right at the very start of the Grand Prix, and that was Lewis Hamilton giving the position back to Carlos Sines after a Lapwang, turn one incident,

which has famously never, ever been policed or penalised, and not even a command from the steward to say, give the position back, which they always give before they immediately penalised. No, Hamilton just went, oh yeah, I'll give it back immediately. And I think that was a really ridiculously bad choice from Lewis Hamilton. So it was under investigation at the time, right? So you think they would have come back with no action? I think they would have come, yeah, it was lap one,

turn one, if you look at the replay, Hamilton's wheel to wheel with science. He's got nowhere to go. Has to take a base of measures. The amount of times that we've seen, do you remember Lance Stroll crashing on the first lap in Russia, like five or six years ago? No action taken. I think he took out two individuals. Hamilton being wheel to wheel off the track, is that going to be a 10 second player?

I mean, the stewards you never know. But to me, shocking cool. Yeah, MacMefie's just like, I don't, you never know these days. I just, I can't. I can't risk it. Just give them back. Yeah, I don't know. I can't risk it. I might be out for a year.

I don't go. Okay, we're going to take our second break on this episode on the other side. We're going to be talking about Alpine, Hass and Sergio Perez. Good. Let's take a look at Alpine because Esteban Alcorn managed to get into Q3 yesterday, started 10th, Ghazly just outside of the top 10. Early on, they were, as is always the case with the Alpine drivers, together on track. battling with the hash drivers.

And obviously, Hass have come away here with a sixth and an eighth. Alpine have come away with a tenth and a twelfth. Harry, how did that happen? Alpine. Says it. Oh, good. On to the next topic.

I don't know what. And we're going to take our third break on this episode. I mean, like I always said, I think Alpine could have been on here to get some good points. It would have been nip and tuck, I think, because they were going for an overcut. We're not going to an overcut because that,

didn't work at this where the tyre deck was, but they were going for, we'll go for the faster tire, for a shorter amount of time. We could try to take these guys at the end. They didn't help themselves, but then having a ding-dong battle

whilst they're trying to do the overcut and the other guys are just pitted. So because the Haas pays today, I know it gave Holcomb Road Drive today, but KMAG was up there. Very good. They like Austria, apparently. It's their best result.

Since 2018, right? Austria two years ago. Yeah. Oh, two years ago, yeah, yeah. Well, they technically got seventh in the sprint as well, so I think that weekend technically wins, but at least in the main race itself,

six and eighth. We worked out a little while ago, didn't we? Because they got a double points finish a little while ago, but it was like ninth and tenth. So that was the last time that they got a double points finish.

Correct. Yes. So yeah, the Hasse pace was very good today. And I'm sure they'll be encouraged, but it's just because they're Austria merchants, apparently. But yeah, Alpine. I think didn't help themselves with a, is the ice cream trap.

The ice cream tracks just got that fast. Alpine didn't help themselves with their intra-team battling as they always like to do. I think they could have probably gained, they could have gained maybe on like the Lice of Ricardo and stuff like that. But alas, they just wanted to battle themselves. So yeah, as you said, Ben, they've turned a one point on the grid with a car in front retiring into a one point, which is excellent. and worked from Alpine and Hass were very, very impressive.

I thought the strategy was a bit dodgy with how they pitted Magister first each time, but Holkenberg had more, more pace anyway than his teammate, and as we said, held off Perez, which was actually an excellent,

excellent drive. What do you think, Sam? Oh, Alpine. Let's just put it out here. Ocon's a terrorist. All right, no, let's not. Let's not, let's not do that. He's terrorising everyone.

I just won't let it go. Just give him a job and it'd be fine. No, he doesn't deserve it now. Sorry, Ocon. What are you doing? What? Running your teammate off the track so many times. That was on Gassley.

Come on. He didn't blink there, Kirstie. Honestly, it's on Ongon. Gassie was great. Gassie was so good to this Grand Prix. I really do think that he was strong, and I think it was on Okon. He was slower in front.

He didn't make the passing along so quick enough if you had Gus and marrying about it. Then they kept fighting time after time again. Why are you holding each other up? Why are you slowing each other down? In Okon's defence, why wouldn't he? I know. Why wouldn't he?

You're exactly marketing yourself to other teams. Oh, he's a real team player, this chap. Let's bring him in. I heard he's free agent. Bring him over. No! No! He's just going to run you off the road.

He hates his teammates. He hates helping out his own team. Even the old teammates are not your teammates anymore, Fernando Alonzo. Alonsoe's trying to... Oh, God, get me away from O'Cohl is going to kill me. Wow. What reaction? I mean, Wilson's in the car.

Wow. That's why you're at one point. Because O'Cog's an idiot. Sorry, O'Cong, but that's two races now in the last three or four where you've been a bloody moron. And it's his fault. Gassie was great, sublime. Teammate wars.

We're on a roll. Can't wait if you used to cry in misery later on the end of the season. Cast, on the other hand, took full advantage of everything given to them. Perez was crap. We got on swimming a minute. And Hulkabird did a great job of holding him off at the end. Magnuson had a great race. I know he didn't beat his teammate, but I thought he was really strong.

He battled with his teammate, but they battled once. And they moved on with themselves, which I respect. And then, and then they crashed. Obviously. Sorry, I thought I was going with that point. And then Norris, Norris of the staff and crashed. My point is here. And that obviously elevated them. And Haast took full advantage of that. You know, Haas picked up the place with Norris.

But then it looked like Alpine could have got a double points finish, as we've all said. And you're still outside the points. Ricardo shouldn't have been beating both of those guys, really. He should have been in that fight. The Alpine is better. And yet he is. And I think Ricardo deserves a mention because he, I think, yeah,

he had a really good Grand Prix today. I'm going to get on to Perez and a separate point in a minute. I'd like to hear your thoughts. More and more, Sam, you are becoming Michael Scott. Starting a sentence and just not knowing where it's going to end. Oh, I just hope to find the end along the way. Yeah, so, Alpine. To be honest, at this point, if you're expecting them to be anything more than just comedy

value to this sport, then that's kind of on you. It's well established now. I would say this, some of the battling itself, I haven't seen Ocon defending from Alonzo on board Alonzo. I'd like to see that because we saw it obviously as it happened and we saw it from Gasley's perspective. It looks pretty awful and I'm not sure how it wasn't investigated. I will give him somewhat of a benefit of a doubt

until I see it from Alonzo's perspective because maybe it was not as bad as it looked. But the fact that the stewards didn't even pick that up, didn't even note it as far as I'm aware, was a bit odd. driving Gazley wide on the exit of turn three, come on, there's just no need for that. In terms of like their pace and Gasly being let by to attack Alonzo because Ocon couldn't get by Alonzo, I don't think that would have mattered at all. So Ocon couldn't get by Alonzo, who in turn was in the DRS of Ricardo at this point.

As we kind of saw, Gasly was hounding the back of Ocon, but Ocon still had DRS from the cars in front. later on in the Grand Prix, we saw Gazley was behind Daniel Ricardo in the DRS and Gasley could not get by him. I think this was a set-up thing of the Alpine drivers really struggled to make over.

They had a solid car, but not necessarily for making overtakes, which isn't too much of a surprise given their engine is the slowest on the grid by quite some distance. So I think if Ocon had let Ghazley by to try and attack a lawns her in front of them, I don't think that would have made any difference whatsoever.

but both cars struggled in the DRS of the cars in front. But yeah, I don't understand. It was great battling. I actually thought the battling they had when Gasly got by was superb. That was brilliant action. But the stuff beforehand where, like I say, running Gasly out wide into turn three, you are just slowing yourself down at that point to no benefit.

But on the flip side of all of that, you do have to give credit to Hass because Hass very, I love it when a team who doesn't have outright brilliant pay, like one of the top few teams, comes to a track with a very clearly defined strategy of how the race will go, because that's what Hass did. They said, look, we are going to set up our car

to be very fast in a straight line, and we are not going to be undercut. We are going to come in very early for our first stop, as Magnuson did, and we are going to ensure that if you want to beat us, you are going to have to overtake us on track, and we are going to make our car too quick in a straight line to do that. The fact that Perez couldn't get by Holcomberg

is proof of how they pulled this strategy off. So they deserve a lot of respect. And that respect comes in the form of 14 points. Excuse me, 12 points. I'm overselling them. Harry, your thoughts. On a hat, sorry. Oh, both. Hassan, I'll be. I do it first, mate.

He's gone first. I've done it. Do you want more thoughts? We're doing it forever. I don't have more thoughts. Harry's had a lot of thoughts. I think of that's a nice and bestaff. Do you want to give you thoughts on? And we spoke about George Russell. yeah.

No, we should probably mention that. Okay, so driver at the daytime. Oh, we're a professional show. Goodness, me. Perez, I appreciate we've already discussed him somewhat in worst driver of the day,

Harry, but this was eerily similar to Spain. Yeah, I'd say it's worse than Spain. I don't know. He just, like I say, it's not,

it would be over. okay if he was he you know he was there are other teams in this mix now with red bull and and it's i'd be less annoyed about this but i'm not annoyed i don't care that much but i'm less it's not that team but i mean less frustrated with the peres if he was at least you know say he was like um fifth he's like in that fight or he's in the fight with russell piastri and signs um not even beating them but he's just in that fight he might still be a way off of Vestappen. But the problem is, like today, he wasn't even

anywhere near them. He just was miles away from the rest of the top teams. And as I've already said, he was, he can get past the pass. And I know Holkenberg did an excellent job, and I'm not taking that away from Holkenberg, but Perez is in a Red Bull that was fighting and leading the race for

60 laps. And he struggled to get past to Hasse at the end of the race for P6. so if you're Red Bull, you must be, I would be a bit worried here because this isn't, this isn't good. And I guess they're lucky again that they've not really lost much in the, well, not lost much, they gained in the championship.

I know, they're not getting, sorry, because have they, no, they can not gain on McLaren. Sorry, because Piastri came second. But have they gained on McClaren on that one? I can't well, out of my edge. They've gained by two. McLaren have gained two points. Two points.

So they're lucky in that respect that they've actually, there's basically a net, no loss on that. So they're sort of getting away with it. But if this carries on and, you know, Perez is that far down whilst you've got both McLaren's in the fight up of the front, it's going to hurt them. They could lose the constructors.

And this is a guy who signed for two more years, which, again, baffles me. Yeah. I think Perez can somewhat count himself, lucky that Norris and Vostappen did have that incident because they wouldn't have been far off lapping him. I think it had been fairly close. So, yeah, that would have obviously added even more insult to injury. Samuel Forts, this was, yeah, seventh place for Perez today. This was a bad race from start to finish for Sergio Perez. The incident at the start with

Piastri, how he forced him wide going through turn four, I don't know how that wasn't a penalty, He ran him cleaning off the road. Again, not investigating, right? Not even investigated. I think Perez picked up a slight bit of damage. I even said on the live stream, I said, good. I said, you caused it, and you're getting a penalty for it. So at least you get something that's going to slow you down

because that's not how you should be racing. I expect better from Sergio, wasn't good enough. He was then slow for the majority of the Grand Prix, basting around with the hasses, with the Alpines. That's not where you should be. I'm going to race where your teammate crashes from the League of the Grand Prix and both one and two essentially drop out of this. Reg Bull, who are a championship winning team,

need to have a driver that when an event happens like this, needs to be able to mop up the pieces. They need to be able to gather up the points. They need to be able to deliver when the other drivers had the one race of a season where the Stappen can't go on to be in the top two or three. They need to be there to gather it up for them. And he's let them down again, has Sergio Perez.

The worst part is that in the point standings, right, for Stappen first, Norris, Lecler third, Seinx fourth. Perez is now fifth place in this title race, with Piastri only six points behind him, and George Russell only seven points behind him. At this point, Perez could be seventh in the title fight, while his teammate is nearly 80 points clear.

That is devastating. It's not good enough. A two-year deal feels like the biggest joke of a decision in Formula One right now. He's frauding a career at Red War at this point. It is a mickey take that he is able to carry on driving in one of the most dominant teams in Formula One where there are drivers scrambling for a race seat. It's embarrassing.

That drive was embarrassing. He should look at himself and the fact that he can't perform at these European tracks not good enough anymore. Not good enough. It was atrocious. The fact that he still lost to his teammate by 17 seconds is disgusting.

Awful. Yeah, this was not a good drive whatsoever. from him. And like I said, I think the writing was on the wall very early on in this race when Piastri got by him so comfortably. No, I mean, there's not too much you can defend Perez with at the moment. I think we have to somewhat reach a point here of, I appreciate they might not be the same drivers, but we've had Alex Album, we've had Pierre Gasly and we've had Sergio Perez be teammates to Max Verstappen in all three instances. To a fairly similar degree, Vastappen has been utterly dominant against them.

Albin is far better respected now than he was a few years ago. Gassley is far more respected now than a couple of years ago. Perez was far more respected before he joined Red Bull. There's a common denominator with these three drivers. They've all got Vastappen for teammates. I'm not saying that another driver couldn't go in and do a better job. I'm pretty sure there are a couple that could go in. Equally, there is a good part of this where I think Vestappen is making him look worse

than what he is and actually that car is not, I mentioned this recently. I think that car is perhaps a little bit better than what Perez is making it look. Sorry, Perez is made a little bit worse than Perez is making it look, but I do also think Vastappen is making it look a little bit better than what it is.

I see a point, I do see your argument, but Albon was so early in his career that he has grown into a competent driver. Gaston was so early in his career that he's grown into a competent driver. driver. Perez was a competent driver. He's not displaying that anymore. He was better earlier. I guess my point. Can we confidently say if Gazley and Album went back into that Red Bull seat, that they would be doing a far better job than Perez is doing at the moment? I can't say that

confidently. Maybe they would, but I can't say that confidently. Interesting. Let's go, folks. Let's go. Let's move on to the junior team for Red Bull, who managed to pick up a couple of points in the form of Daniel Ricardo finishing in ninth place. Obviously, they had a very tough race, Sam, in Spain, but they have, at least in the form of Ricardo, bounced back quite a lot today. Will this give them some encouragement, given the upgrades that came in in Spain and didn't work very well, at least initially? Yeah, it looks like they really grew into the weekend at the start of sprint qualifying and

through the sprint race, they were struggling. They looked like they picked up some nice setup changes, and especially in the form of Ricardo, who I've said this a couple of times. I think this might be his best weekend. far this season. And finally, gets in the points, paying positions and how it's a great,

great race. Well, it matters. He picks up two points. I think that's really good for Ricardo. I think that's good for the team, especially in a weekend, shrouding a little bit of controversy, with some comments made by Yuki Sanoda,

of course, that were not really acceptable. I'm sure we'll get into that on another episode. But Ricardo has shot a positive light on the team, and I'm sure if they could keep tweaking those upgrades and the setups to work better, and they can get themselves back in the fight, great.

The negatives here are that whilst they scored a ninth place with one car, both harsh drivers were in front of them. The Alpins were right behind them as still, I think was a less than optimal race for them both. You know, they also benefited for the fact that one of the drivers that was in front of them crashed out of the points. Lecler finished outside of the points.

So realistically, if everyone finishes where they're supposed to finish, R be both cars out of the points again. So I think it was actually more of a better drive from Ricardo that was advantageous of a situation rather than the car itself being good enough to be inside the points. I think that's where the difference is. Sorry, I just realised I'm glowing in the camera.

You can't see it, guys, but my camera's having a moment where I've just been incredibly ever exposed and I've been blinded by the sun. But yeah, basically, I think Ricardo's doing a really good job. I don't think the car is actually good enough for proper points scoring.

What do you make of Ricardo today, Harry? I thought Ricardo was impressive from Saturday afternoon. I was very impressive. Given where Sonoda was, and again, I don't know whether that was Sonoda struggling. As you say, Sam, Ricardo kind of making the car look better than it was.

It's clearly better than it wasn't Spain. I don't know whether they took the upgrades off again. I don't think they have. But yeah, it was clearly looking better than it than it did last time out. And I thought Ricardo drove quite, again, like George Russell, it was quite a quiet race, but quite a measured, understated, but very good race out there. He, when we spoke about the battling Alpines and we had Alonzo, that was all happening behind Ricardo

and Ricardo, I know it was a DRS train but Ricardo was holding them off without any DRS assistance from the Haas in front of him. So I thought, yeah, he had a pretty solid race. The car, I don't think, again, as you said, I'm right up there to be scoring regular points at the moment as it maybe was

earlier in the year, which if Ricardo's going to have an uptick in form now, that's a bit of a shame because that's, I guess, two races on the bouncer, he's beaten Yucas and Oda kind of comfortably, at least this time he's got some points out of it. But it was a bit trickier than it did earlier in the year to get regular points as Sonoda was doing. So yeah, I don't know how happy they'll be. They'll be obviously happy with

Ricardo getting getting a couple of points. But the car still doesn't quite as good as it did. Yeah, it's well-timed from Ricardo's side as his seat still hangs in the balance with Liam Lawson waiting in the wings. This certainly won't help his, certainly won't hurt his course apologies. So, yeah, I thought he was one of the better drivers out there. today Ricardo. He did a very good job and deserves the two points that he gets from it. And like you mentioned, he did a fairly good job in Spain as well and got nothing

for it. So it's good to see good performances get, you know, something out of it. Yuki Sunoda obviously quite a bit more off the pace. He really struggled even early on to stay in the DRS of Ricardo because I think early, very early on in this Grand Prix, they were

next to each other, at least in terms of the standings. But whereas Ricardo was able to stay on the back of the DRS train in front of him, Sonoda could not do the same thing. So a good weekend for Ricardo. And I guess it depends how you want to look at it, because you could look at it from a perspective of,

look where we were in Spain, look where we are now. That's good progress, which is absolutely true. You could also say that versus where they were before these upgrades, they're still probably just behind. So overall, they haven't made progress. But if, you know, if Spain was the worst possible point for these upgrades,

and this is a little bit better and Silverstone's better still, then it will all be worth it. But we'll have to see as the next couple of races roll on. Okay, we're going to take our final break on this episode. On the other side, we've got Moment of the Race. As always, we've got Moment of the Race submissions coming in from our Discord members. Thank you to all of those. And there are a lot of you that are brought in submissions for the moment of the race.

But before we get to those, myself, Sam and Harry obviously have hours to share. So we'll start with you, Harry. I don't know where to start with this race. So many. Okay. Fernando Alonso just battering Gaguanio out of the way as a fair overtake. I'm fine with that. That lockup is still happening.

The Alpins battling with Alonzo and Alonzo, I know we've already said this, but Alonzo just saying, wow, like his own Wilson, followed by Gassley getting past and saying, Chow. That is so good. That I've got that written down. Chow. Which is sensational work.

Obviously, the Norris... You did a Kerr in front of it, right? Kuchal. Nice. Nice, Ben. Excellent work. That's sensational. The Norris for staff in battle on its own. Excellent. The one I'm going to go for is Toto Wolf getting so over-excited

by the fact that they could win the race. He shouts down the radio. George Russell, he's in the middle of a braking zone at a corner who goes, we can charge, we can win this right. And he's like, yeah, I know, Toto, leave me alone. I am breaking the car. I wasn't even his only great team radio of the race.

He had another one for Lewis Hamilton earlier where he gets the penalty. And he's like, it's still all to play for or whatever he said. Like, Toto, I don't know what came over him today. She was very over-excited, but I really enjoyed that. Some classic Toto Wolf, uh, Wolf, radio there. That'll be mine. That's a fair submission.

That was one of the three that I had written down as well, because I feel like, you know, George Russell might well have been the king of team radio last year. I feel like Toto Wolf has taken that on because we had Ocas George Focus. Not that long ago as well, right? So, yeah, Toto Wolf's Team Radio was one of mine.

One that was mentioned earlier, Fernando Alonzo, just taking away the fastest lap from Max Verstappen for no reason. That's not a batter. I'm afraid, Fernando, but airplay to you. He just wanted a bit of fun, didn't he right at the end of the race? But I think my moment of the race is actually going to go to Mr. Ted Kravitz, who after the Alpine's battled, which in itself was a moment of the race,

he just goes, what are they going to do? Fire him twice? Yeah, probably. They will find a way to do that. Do I mean for an extra op-reepre. If anyone can find a way to fire someone twice, it would be Alpine. Sam, your moment of the race. You've mentioned so many great ones.

We've got a couple of serious ones in terms of battles, Piastri going around the outside a couple of times, the Alpine battle with the chow on top. I don't know, you've all mentioned King of the Radio, because you're in Graswold, there's a lot of great radios, but crossing the line and going, boom, shakalaka, yabodabadoo, is by far the best radio.

That is the moment of the race. Boom, shakalaka, yabadoo! as you cross the race wing, is iconic behavior. You know the Jose Marigno meme where he gets his headphones? He's like, I have got to take my headphones off

because I can't listen to that. Spectacular. Spectacular. He quotes Fred Flinkstokes where he wants, and I love it. So, yeah, that's why I'm going with the race. Time for the Discord submissions then. Okay.

As you mentioned, Ben, we've got a lot in here, but first up is Hazer. Right, boys, my moment at the race, was a Liberty Media, finally, after all these years, understanding how to do a picture in picture, which I did on Windows Movie Maker 20 years ago, but it was very refreshing to see. Fantastic, keep it up.

Right, I'm off to the boozer to watch England, progress through the Euros. Cheers, boys. Yeah, I'm missing that. I'm quite annoyed. Progress is ambitious. I want to forgot to say as well is the graphic, the really unnecessary graphic of the gap

between Max Verstap and the Charlotte Claire after he came out of his point. six-eight seconds. No need for that. Lapped. No need. Absolutely savage. Thanks for that.

How's it? Enjoy the game. Blair is next. Blair, calling in from New Brunswick, long time, first time, etc. My moment of the race is Toto's best impression of a giddy kebler elf. You convince this,

Shores, you can vind this. Excellent. Great accent. Almost as good as mine. Almost. Next up is Ruth. I hope this works. Hi, it's Lee all the way for South Africa

with my moment of the race. Ooh, spicy, spicy race. Between the two harsh drivers fighting each other or being fighting each other, the radio messages, and then poor Charles the chuckles the club.

Worst strategy ever on lap 35 who already stopped free time. I mean, come on, guys. Anywho, tittle do. Oh, I love Ruth's enthusiasm every time. Tiddledoo. Next up, I follow this as a return.

Darth fart noise. Oh, yes. It's been a while. Hey, guys, Darth fart noise here. My moment of the race was when we actually went back in time. I did not believe my eyes. We actually went back into our time machine and went all the way back to 20.

2018 and saw the Max first step in of old. I mean, it was clearly his fault, but I just cannot believe after all this he still extend his championship lead. All right. Bye, guys. Love the show. And Darfur No is out. That is still the best side of. Oh, get yourself for TV show, mate.

Do that. What are you doing, honey? Sorry, just doing my submission. I'm going to podcast hundreds of thousands. Why are you doing that? Action work. Next up is the first of two submissions from Bristol Liam. God save the king.

Ophiastriot's a filthy move today. George Russell. I'm going to win off everyone else. But the main of the race, probably the picture I took of Sam and posts on my Discord. That has been deleted, by the way, so you can rest easy. Ciao.

It was horrible. He caught me in one of the most disgusting poses. I'm halfway through a word, and I'm like this. Honestly, it could not be less attractive if it tried. So thanks for that. I was going to be your nipple again. So quite frankly, there is a video of my nipple on Twitcher if you'd like to go and see it.

That's fine. Don't need to. No. No one wants to see that. Next up is faster than your mama. Hey, y'all. I haven't a hard time with my mother of the race this week. It's between Chuckie's first pit stop,

second pit stop. third pit stop or it's fourth pit stop. I can't decide. Let's keep breaking late, y'all. That's great banter. The third one was underrated. Very good pituit. Very good one.

It's always the sequel, so I'll ever get the love. Next up is submission two of two from Bristol, William. Nichols out for George, by the way. Giffles out for George! No. No. Oh, yes, Liam. No, I think we might have to ban Liam.

It might be a yellow card going to come in there. might make him a VIP on Twitch. Ben's lost of words. Next up is Norm from Texas. Oh, hello, my late breaking friends from across Lay Big Wet. It is I. Norm from Texas, and I am here to give you my moment of the race, and my moment of the race was Sergio Perez in turn three,

getting absolutely slapped with the sausage and a croissant. Bro, you got passed by two alpines. Oof. Anyway, keep breaking late. sausage and the croissant goodness me I'm off to Paris next week so I'm looking forward to that

sausage and a croissant I'll be kicked out of the country if you ask for that I'm never going to make it in next up is wrath the moment of the race wasn't actually from the race

but it was when Holland December decided to join in with the champagne spring I thought that was really funny that other than that incredible race are yes speaking of

thoughts on the anthem oh it was something it was they certainly did an anthem they tried it good job let's move up no one can deny an anthem was played

no dig it next is joy yes even Papa Toto was there to celebrate it with him because he didn't get to in Brazil I literally cried for like

I think 10 to 50 minutes. This has been all amazing, all freaking beautiful. And how could I, I enjoy. I'm going to pick George's the moment of the race. Um, absolutely amazing race. 11 out of 10. Chow. Chow. Would have been an 11 out of 10 submission if it had a yabba dabbardoo at the end. She got the chow in there. I respect that little reference. But yeah, I mean, joying name, joying nature to go. Um, finally, I just realized joy has been constant. putting George Russell under pressure for the weekend.

It's worked. It's worked out. Next up, sorry, last but not least is Big Philly style. Hey everyone. My moment of the race has definitely got to be total wolf on the radio.

George, we can win this one, George. If you bring it home, we will give you all the pomp and nickel as you could ever want. Cheers, folks. Yeah, get the

pumpkin nickel out. Appreciate you laughing. at your own submission as well. That's our kind of humour. We are funny, laugh at ourselves. No one's as funny as yourself. That's the late breaking motto. That's a life you have to live with, okay?

You've got to be funny for yourself. Goodness me. Thank you, everyone. What an absolutely exhausting review where we have somehow managed to pack in nearly everything that happened. I'm sure there are some other drivers and teams that we haven't got onto,

but we will, of course, break down anything else in our preview and some Patreon episodes as well. And most importantly, Sam, some power rankings tomorrow. Power rankings coming up on Patreon. Get yourself subscribed. Thank you for all the love that you've shown us.

You know, we've got our live show coming up. So there's lots going on for LB. Silverstone coming up as well. We're going to be doing our preview as the live show. And then we'll be back at the weekend as well. So loads to roll into. Get yourself in the Discord. Get yourself to Patreon.

If you're enjoying the free episodes, you think, oh, I'd like a bit more of this, please. I don't know why. But you can pay for it. And it's not actually that expensive, despite man who doesn't understand money thinking it's about 750 quid a day. Loads of good stuff over there. I was back.

Follow us on social, watch it on YouTube, follow us on Twitch as well. Loves going on. We love you. We appreciate you. We'll see you soon. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking and I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breakingly.

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