The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2024 Azerbaijan GP Review

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

How about that for a race?! Ben and Sam are back to review an epic Azerbaijan Grand Prix including Piastri and Leclerc's battle for the win, Perez and Sainz's dramatic late crash and well-earned points for Colapinto and Bearman. 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. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing today the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from Baku, and oh boy, did it come with a little bit of spice, Sam. Oh, Baku giveth and Baku taketh away, and Baku gaveth an absolute banger of a Grand Prix.

This is the worry with Baku, we've had it before. Sometimes it's been a snooze festival. You never really know, but that was a, it was a slow burner, and then it turned into an absolute bonfire at the end of that Grand Prix. What a race, what a battle, drama with the crash. The Stapp and Norris battling out over what felt like sixth place. Good Lord, we've got so much to discuss.

The rookies as well, honestly, this is going to be an action-packed episode. Yeah, let's waste no. time because as you say, there is a lot to get through today. Moment of the race submissions, driver of the day, worst driver of the day. As you say, the rookies, Colopinto and Bammer, both scoring points. Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris trying to get back through the field. But of course, let's start out front because for the second half of this race, it was a three car, which then came a four-car battle for the lead. Now, we will get to the crash that ended the race for two of those four very shortly. But let's start with Oscar Piastri and Shao LeClaire. You can call them the two

main protagonists in this Grand Prix because Chau LeClaire led the first part of this Grand Prix, starting from pole. Second half of this race, hard tires. Oscar Piaccici manages to make a move on Shao LeClaire into term one. Kept it very close throughout the rest of that race. But Oscar Piaastri, getting away from Chau LeClaire in the last few laps with Leclair struggling on his tires, Piastri winning by what would have been a few. seconds, but of course, VSC making an appearance at the end. What did you make of Oscar Piastri's overtaken how he managed that Grand Prix? It felt like only a few races ago, Oscar Piastri was, again, even coming up to this race, he was the supportive role. He was the guy that was there

to assist Landon Norris. He was a star for the future, it felt like. Even at the start of this season, we were claiming how he's not quite there yet. He's going to be great, but you know, he's going to give him another season. That leading role has been gifted to him already. He is already on the scene. He's already a star of Formula One. He is here. He is a protagonist.

He is someone we should be cheering on. And a LeCleur-Piastri battle maybe could be the kind of battle that we are going to see for many a season to come if these two teams can keep up that fight moving forward. What a drive from Oscar Pistri. Right from the get-go, he was competitive, keeps it up there up front with Lecler,

gets away well off the start, and he slowly eases those tyres in. And it felt like at one point, before the pit stop strategy came into play, we saw the old issues come back to plague Piastri, tireware built up, couldn't keep the mediums on spec as much as we expected. We heard the radio come over to Landon Norris,

where he said, the other car struggling on rears, the mediums are falling away faster. But the moment they switched on to those hard tyres, boy, did they suit Piastri in the way he drove. He was able to pull straight back up to the back of the clare. The gap closed down super fast. and LeCler, almost an unusual, a uncharacteristic mistake, I feel like, from Lecler,

where he left the door open for Piastri. I mean, you heard it in the call-down rim afterwards. I just don't think the Clare expected Oscar Piazsche to lift off the brakes and come through the gap there because he was quite far back, but it was calm, it was aggressive to the right level, gets the move done. And from then on, the defensive maneuvers from Piastri,

and LeClaire before that, I must give Craigett too, They both delivered such an aggressive but clean Grand Prix. They really held themselves to such a high regard. And we got such a phenomenal battle for the race league. I loved every single lap of it. They didn't let the excitement go. Piazsche really was phenomenal today. I was so, so impressed.

And he didn't start massively. Well, obviously he started in second place. I think it's a short run down to term one, Baku. I think if it's a longer run, I think Perez gets him for P2 because Sergio Perez did get a very good start in this Grombrose. pre, which was obviously good to get him up to third. I think it maybe would have become second if it was a slightly longer run. That first stint was okay. Like he does fine, um, early on, it's pretty good. Like he keeps touch with, with chau-lauque quite impressively. But as you say, he cooks his tires.

And that second half of the first stint, um, he was, he was really falling off. And I figured that P2 at that point was probably going to be Charle-le-le-Clear ceiling for the day. No, it wasn't. Obviously, they move on to the hard tyres and he does a far better job. In terms of the overtake, this happened about lap 20 or so

into this Grand Prix. I can sit here and say, Charles LeClair, you're a fool for not defending. But I would also be calling myself a fool because I didn't think he was going to make that move. Were you taking by surprise by that move? I, um, watching along, he was about seven tenths or so back. And I was like, no, he's going to run out.

He's, he's not going to get there. Not quite. I thought he was going to get right onto the back of him, but I didn't think he'd quite have enough to make that overtake. Um, and then of course he did. And maybe Charlotte Claire should be expecting an overtake more than I should be expecting an overtake, given he's the one driving the car. But I, I was shocked that he attempted the move, let alone made that stick. That was phenomenal. What a brilliant overtake that was because it would have been so easy for him to have overdone that. And he didn't like he nailed it absolutely perfectly. And I think the other thing as well is that with overtaking at Azerbaijan, with that very long DRS stretch, I think once you have like one attempt, let's say Piastri failed and he didn't get by,

Charles LeClaire then knows automatically, like the exact, he can be told by his team, the exact delta between the two spots where he becomes in danger. So that's seven tenths or so. Lecler knows from that point on, if Piastri is seven tenths behind, he has a shot. And he can play it, right? He can work out how to defend based on that. But first time around, you have that element of surprise. So I do feel like Piastri's attempt was a bit of a, if not now, maybe he would have got another shot. who knows.

But I think it was quite crucial for him to get by when he did because he wouldn't have had that element of surprise again. Yeah, question for you then, based on that, we saw during the strategy phase of the one stop that they put together, that Lecler stayed out longer than Piastri. Of course, we know that his tyres fell away from Lecler had that kind of almost eight-second gap to science at that point where he was able to kind of Perez stopped, Piastri stopped. They had to cover off. Norris, we saw, backed Perez up to make sure that Piastri could get in and out in time.

And Lecler stayed out a little bit longer. and had fresher tires right at the end of the Grand Prix, which is surprising that saw them struggle so much. Do you think that they should have stopped the same lap as Piastri and actually just maintain that gap? Or do you think the undercut that they got because of that was actually the downfall of Lecler going on to win the race? Or do you think Piastrian and the hard tyres had enough pace to jump him anyway?

I think Ferrari played it right. I think they brought him in on the correct lap. Of course, Lecler building that advantage did give him the space to go a couple of laps longer. And, you know, it didn't work out this way. but in theory, him having a couple of laps fresher tires might have been the difference at the end. It is odd that it went the other way, given last race,

we were talking about Charles LeClaire's brilliant tire management, and today it's almost let him down compared to his rivals. He was early on in the stint questioning, how is everyone else pushing this much? Surely their tyres are going to go off, and maybe he was goaded into defending more than he was capable, or his car was capable of. So I think Ferrari played the strategy game correct.

I think if they had left it any longer, they were at threat of Piastri getting by. So I think they came in on the right lap. I actually think McLaren's strategy was wrong. It didn't cost them. I thought that Piastri should have come in the lap before he did. And I know there was Lando Norris holding... I'm talking more Piastri back to Perez now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I know Lando Norris did some work in the middle sector on the second lap that Piastri did longer. about a second, I think. Yeah. But in theory, like, they could have just stopped him the lap before. As soon as Perez came in on, I've got this at lap 13, it should have been Piastri just coming on on a lap 14, in my opinion. And they left it one lap longer, did this whole holding up thing, which worked. But pure luck, pure chunks that Norris was in the right place at the right time to hold him up. Because a normal Grand Prix, Norris is up there fighting at the front anyway and would be an instrument in that battle. And they would have been passed by Perez. Yeah, I just don't understand. Because if they'd just pit him on lap 14, then the fresher tires that Piastri would have had for one extra lap would have equaled probably the same delta that Norris was holding him up by.

It just seemed like an unnecessary risk. But in terms of Lecler versus Lecler versus Piastri, I think Ferrari, I can't question what Ferrari did. I thought it was fine. I think Ferrari called it a little too close, you know. I think Ferrari maybe should have gone the lap before. I think they got lucky that Albon who was running that hard tire for so long was almost sandwich between himself and the Piastri pair. battle, it allowed him through that middle sector on colder, hard ties to build out the gap from what was mere tense to 1.7 seconds as they come on to turn 16, onto the start,

finish straight, which meant that no DRS was active between himself and Piastri, and rather Albon was having to face the brunt of that attack from the cars behind. I think if they had done that, and Albon hadn't been there, I think LeCler could possibly have been glued to the front of Stacri of Piastrian Perez and then attacked with no DRS for safety as they came around the next lap. I think if they stopped the lap before, he's able to get away with a second or so and then push on away without any problems. They haven't got to use or hope for someone like Albon to be the intervening factor. The other two cars that became part of this fight were Sergio Perez and then later on Carlos Sines. We'll do this backwards.

We'll look at the incident that ended their race and then have a look at what actually happened before that to get them into the spot. The crash itself, it has proven to be relatively divisive, I'm going to call it. Difficult. There are plenty of people who are adamantly saying it's Perez's fault. There are people adamantly saying it signs his fault. And it is being investigated at the moment. We don't know what the results of that investigation are. How did you see it? Yeah, we were discussing this, weren't we, before we came on air? Because we were both still a little bit unsure of what was going on. Let's go from both drivers' point of view here one at a time.

Carlos Sainz is able to nip in front of Sergio Perez because the clergy did a pretty robust job at getting back in front of Perez going into term one. And I think that move was perfectly fair. I've seen a few people critiquing that move. I thought the LeCler re-overtaker Perez was strong, but I think it was perfectly within the rules of Formula One. I have no issue there. And Sykes being very optimistic, gets in front of Perez,

and then goes for a little sniff on LeCleur. And I actually think that might be where the downfall of this incident comes in. I think Syntz got greedy, trying to make a little move on LeCleur, maybe, trying to take advantage of that secondary move there. So they come back on the corner. And because Sites has tried to get the move down on the Claire, he's actually off of his lying,

he runs onto the dirty part of the track outside, the far right of the exit of turn two. And it compromises his exit, allowing Perez to get up close and personal again with Sites. Now, something we were discussing before the show, is that the corner exit is wider than the actual race track is for the rest of that straight. It kind of narrows up about 100 metres down the road.

And I think Sites is working with that. I think science is prepared for that, and so therefore the trajectory of his exit out of turn two is not a century a 90-degree exit. I wouldn't be surprised if he's on kind of like an 88-degree exit, which means that actually he's always ever so slightly coming over to the left. You look at the onboard of Sykes as well, steering wheel is not moving left or right. He's going in a straight line, and he looks very confused while the accent has happened. So, from a Sykes-only POV completely closed off, I can't blame Scyx there.

Perez, on the other hand, tries to get the overtake done, tries to get right up alongside Science. He's not right up alongside him. He's got his front wing and front right tire just in line with Science's rear left tire. He's squeezing Science as close as possible. There's a lot of empty room on the left-hand side,

but if you go on board with Perez, the steering wheel is also not moving. So for me, it feels like a 100% racing incident. Science is trying to compromise for the wall change. Perez hasn't put that into perspective. Perez is the attacking driver, ends up being the one that, technically collects Sikes, but I don't think he really does.

I think no one is properly at fault here. I think this is clumsy. I think it's a silly, silly throwaway crash where both of them can go walk away with either a podium or a great amount of points. This will have been Peres' best result for, what, nearly 10 races now? This really would have been a fantastic result for him. And Sikes doesn't need this. Scyx is falling further and further away from his teammate with every Grand Prix that passes by.

This is clumsy, is silly. I do think it's a racing incident. Neither of them needed this. I think Sikes should have been a bit more aware that there was a car on his inside. I think Perez should have been aware not to squeeze him so much and how the track of voles moving down that straight. Silly, clumsy, pointless crash that neither of them needed. I'll tell you who's happy.

Andrea Stella, that is a pretty influential crash for the Constructors Championship because you've got essentially 18 points, sorry, 15 points going away from one of those two drivers and then 12 points going away from the other rival in the Constructors' Championship. Lando Norris picks up two spots. Piastri is able to hold off Leclerc. That race could have gone very differently for McLaren. Instead, it's helped them. At least I've got it a 20 point advantage between McLaren and Red Bull now and Ferrari,

another, their 51, I think, behind McLaren. It's really swung in their favour to go, isn't? Yeah. They take the league for the first time in a decade. Yeah, and that could have gone so differently if that crash doesn't happen. so I think Macarone will be very happy that it did. The incident itself, the LeCleur re-overtake, it's one of those where Sergio Perez very rightfully decides to get out of it.

Steps out the way, yeah. Yeah. If he chooses not to, I think that's on LeCler, because he would have not left Perez the room on the outside. LeCler had to use every inch of that racetrack to stay ahead. And Perez basically had a choice to say, either back out of it or we crash. And if they had crashed, I'd have put that blame on, on Chau LeClaire.

In terms of the incident between Sines and Perez, I'm going to call it a racing incident. I don't think Perez is to blame at all. I think Perez just is going straight ahead. I didn't see any change in the steering wheel from his side. I do think Sines ever so slightly veering to the left. You are right that the track does close up. later down that straight. I think the question that the stewards will ask is, did that need to happen

immediately? Or could that have happened later on down that straight? I'm honestly unsure of the answer. My general philosophy when it comes to these incidents and trying to assign blame or not assign blame is if I have to look at an overhead shot 50 times and I have to look at an onboard from both drivers 50 times and I'm still not quite sure, it's a racing incident. Like, if, if, you're a head shot, you have to go to those depths to try and assign blame, just fine, racing incident. Like I, and I've seen a lot of people are very adamantly saying, this is Perez's fault. I've seen a lot of people adamantly saying it signs his fault. The way I see it, it was a clumsy racing incident.

They both paid the price, haven't they? Neither of them get points, neither of them walk away with any advantage. The penalty is you both take each other out of the race. Highly frustrating for both drivers because Sergio Perez has struggled for a long time this season. He was on merit very much in that fight for the win. I agree. I think this is Perez's best performance this year, I think. I could go as far as to say. He outclassed Max Verstappen, not something that comes out your mouth often. He was hanging his shoulders above the best red ball driver for the whole weekend. He was on the pace of Lecler and Piazsche, pretty much the entire

Grand Prix, in a car that I would argue is slower than the two of them. I think he was doing a good job managing his tires. He was fully in that fight. just a shame that it comes to such blows because a podium here would really help Perez, I think in the conversation at the end of the season of, hey, I picked up that podium when Max Stauffin was languishing all the way down in sixth, seventh place. I can still do this. I can still be a driver to fight for you. He hasn't got that on his record anymore. They'll still have the data, but the records don't say it. So it's a real shame for Perez because he deserves a really big plaud it for this weekend. He really was very good. He was brilliant. And

He was in that fight on merit, and I know Piastri and Leclair were almost slowing each other up, but Perez got his way back into that fight, and he was on the back of them. And honestly, we spoke about this in qualifying. That red ball down a straight line wasn't quite as quick as the other two cars. And if it was, I wouldn't be shocked if Perez goes on to win that race, because he could close up, and he closed up quite a few times to be within half a second or so. But making that clinical move was very difficult for him. because I just don't think on that back straight,

on that start, finish straight, excuse me. I don't think he was quite, he could quite generate the same amount of pace as the other two guys. I think the telltale signs for that was when they, the cars had started to pass Albon and Perez

at one point was stuck behind the album because the Williams, when it had the DRS of the cars in front and Perez had the DRS on album just not make any impression on the Williams car. The others eventually got passed. They made the time off in the middle section. certainly they were close enough to get the move done.

But Perez was three or four laps glued to the back of that Williams. And it ends up being about a three-second gap at the time he ends up finally getting past the Williams car of Albem. So it just shows you the deficit that Red Bull are running in a straight line, probably to compensate for any kind of downforce that they're trying to extract from the car through that middle sector. Strategically, I think we were quite close to Red Bull, maybe trying a two-stop here. I, it was interesting when Album was still on those hard tires and Norris was still on those hard tires because Album was holding up Norris and Russell and Vestappen. And it was starting to get to a point where the gap between the top three cars and Albin was about 20 seconds, which isn't quite enough to appear ahead after a pit stop. If that gap had extended out just enough, I think Red Bull might have gone for a two stop with Perez. seeing that Piastri and Lecler, battling for the win, might just wear the tires out between them, leaving Perez with a chance to attack late on. I think that would have been a good play,

but it never quite opened up. Just as it looked like it would, Albin comes into the pits, and Norris actually had such good pace that that gap, you know, wasn't there. So I thought that was interesting. Yeah, I agree. And whilst the medium tyres for the starting runners were really not a good tire. Once the fuel had come off and the cars were lighter, you saw how Will Norris rang on those medium tyres at the end of the race in comparison to Max Verstappen. He closed up a 20 second gap in under 15 laps, passes him. And of course, then Max Verstappen stops and puts the soft ties on when the crash comes out and everything kind of is held in place. But I think a late run on a medium set for someone like Perez could have closed up, especially maybe on

Lecler, whose ties we saw completely drop off the cliff. Second place could have been on the cards. Yeah, the only thing is, I think Perez would have had to have gone on to a new set of hard tires and not medium tires, because I think the only medium tires he had available to him were the ones he started on, which was the case for most teams, to be fair. But even so, I think maybe it would have happened. It would have been very interesting to see it play out that way, but never quite came to be. It was a great performance from Perez. And indeed, science, I think, does a good job to get back in that. It's a great job.

Yeah, yeah, I was surprised to see him there. All of a sudden, he appeared. and he was suddenly a part of this leadership battle. He really brought himself back into play. So a great drive from all four, just a shame that two of them ended in the wall. Okay, after the break, we're going to look a little bit further back.

Lando Norris charging through the field. Max Verstappen in the woods. We'll be debating both of them next. Okay, Landau Norris, after starting, was it 15th in the end, wasn't it? Ends up being 15th after Gasly, back of the grid, and Hamilton engine take. Yes, so qualified 17th,

but ends up starting in. in 15th place, manages to get all the way back to fourth. Certainly wasn't looking like it was going to be fourth until that late crash, but he'll walk away with 13 points, having also claimed the fastest lap. It's three points more than Max Verstappen, who will finish in fifth place, again, looked like it was going to be a bit worse than that without the crash. So overall, a three-point gain for Norris in the Drivers' Championship. Who's going to be happy with that?

Oh, Max Verstappen. despite having the world's angriest day, good Lord, was he grumpy over the radio? Both rebel drivers. They were having a good old wigs, weren't they, the pair of them? Not happy at all. But Max was stopping after having a day like that, he's going to walk out and go,

I only lost by three points. Yeah, I'll take that. He's not gaining on me enough currently to win the championship. He's not taking it off me. This would have been a perfect day for Landon Morris to get it right for him to get himself in the top three in qualifying, and then if Piastri could go on,

to win that race as he did, there's every chance Landon Norris could go and replicate exactly the same thing. And with par parrules being in full effect, supposedly, then there's every chance that Piastri would have been told to give up that race wing for Landon Norris at that point. And McLaren might have had won to with Norris taking a full 26 points. And that would have been not just a three point game,

but a 16 point game. And that's enough. That is enough to start clawing in the World Title Challenge. Max Verstappen seeing having a disastrous Grand Prix being past left, right and centre, George Russell was absolutely mugging him off with that car that also didn't look particularly quick. I'm sure he was thinking, oh, this is it. This is where the tide's turning.

I really start to struggle. Comes home in a miraculous fifth place, he only loses three points to his direct rival. It's almost the most perfect, imperfect day out I think you can have for a title challenge. Yeah, it's really odd to analyse it because if you're Maxfussappen, you're in a position where your rival has had

an awful qualifying has qualified a long way back from you in 17th, manages to gain two positions thanks to other penalties, and he's still beaten you, but it's only by three points, which if you'd come into the weekend saying that, it probably would have been a good thing. And McLaren, you could argue, didn't have maybe the outright pace advantage that they've had at the likes of Zamvort. So it's a very odd one to analyze. Like, it's, I think Vastappen should Given the buffer that he has, be happy with this. But it's, if you'd have given him this result after qualifying yesterday, he'd probably have gone, oh, I would have fancied my chances of beating Lando Norris quite comfortably.

Yeah. What is, what's happening here is what I mentioned, maybe about 10 races ago now. Once we started to see the tide shift, once we kind of around the Spain, Canada area of the season, is the cannibalization of the other teams around Red Bull are going. to help Red Bull to at least one of the titles, maybe got the other now, because obviously that has swung. But Ferrari back in the mix,

McLaren is still leading the way. Nosei is picking up points left, right and centre from other teams where they can. It is inadvertently helping Max Verstappen hold on to this league, because if it was a straight fight every race where McLaren has now got dominance, Piastri or Norris,

is the only two that can wing, where we've got team orders, Norris will go on to wing, that title will crumble very quickly. But where you've got, Lecler pushing for, wings. Piastri is able to assert dominance. You've got Scyx being incredibly strong these days. Paris having a day like today as well, it's confusing. It means that Norris is not able to gain

the level of points race by race that other title challenges would have done historically. So fifth, sixth places for Verstappen is actually still good enough to hold on to the driver's title overall, which is very bizarre. Norris is actually being hindered by the success of other teams not falling away, rather than Red Bull being good, which is a very confusing situation to be in. So the staff can come away happy, I think. Yeah. And an odd one at the end of the race as well, because he's essentially gained two positions as a result of this crash, but also lost the opportunity to get the fastest lap that he pit for. So obviously, that's only worth one point, whereas the two positions he gained worth more than that, so it's still a net gain. But yeah,

as similar to the discussion we had with Perez, I think just that Red Bull in sector three, wasn't competitive enough for them today because he was stuck. Like he was, where Carlos Sines and Vostappen were relatively close in the first stint, Sines was able to get by Albin and just eventually become part of the battle

for the lead. Vestappen, on the other hand, is trapped behind Albon, can't get by, and then obviously is then victim to Norris late on. Even with all that, that was poor from Vestappen today.

I was going to ask, because Vestappen and Perez are driving the same car and the gap between them was unusually large, what do you think is going on for the Stappen that Perez is able to overcome today? Because that is not a usual circumstance for that team. Well, as we referenced in the in the preview, this is a very good race track for Sergio Perez. And I'm, I'm not surprised to see what happened today with how good Perez was, because he's won here twice. And he's got podiums here for Force India. Like he has typically been pretty good at, let's say, all street circuits, but particularly here. So I wasn't shocked at

so. I think the gap, like the severe gap between them, again, I think is down to how they were the other side of Alex Albon. I think that massively played into the deficit. But even so, Perez had this comfortably in hand over his teammate. So, yeah, it was a great race for him. I will keep complimenting him for how well he's done today. It doesn't change anything for me long term because he's always been good here. You know, it's not here that he needs to get better. It's these other traditional race circuits that he needs to get better at. But if we're analysing today's performance in isolation, yeah, he was one of the best out there.

Yeah, agreed. We can't be, Paris can't be running a career at one of the best teams in Formula One on two good races out of every 10. That's just not a form book that you want to be bringing into that kind of team. The staff and sounds like he has some issues, though. breaks were fading, men needing up the confidence in the breaking zones as well. It wasn't a good performance.

I think there might have been some mitigating circumstances, but if the brakes were that much for a problem, the team would have brought him in. If that was a safety issue, the team would bring him in. So, yeah, Max, one of his worst of the season, I think. And I don't think he's crumbling under any kind of pressure. I don't think that's Max for Stafford,

but I do think that they are being a bit radical with setup and development to try and hold on to this title challenge and it is costing him how comfortable he is in the car. Okay, shall we review some bold predictions? Yeah, well this week, didn't it? No, not really. Harry, what did Harry say?

He said that someone knew was going to win this weekend, which to be fair, not that he predicted it would be Perez, but it was looking like that could be on for the majority of this race, but ultimately that crash between Perez and signs put an end to that. Piaastri has already won this season. Harry, your bold prediction was wrong. On that point, is that five different multiple race winners this season? Sure. That's pretty crazy.

What a season we're having. Honestly, what a season? My bowl prediction was that Oscar Piastri was going to refuse some team orders. That was pretty dead in the water on Saturday because they were nowhere near each other. You have a chance, did you? You got a chance. The only team orders that happened were Norris Helpy Piastri. Um, which is...

Literally the opposite thing happened to you. Yeah, I predicted that there would be team orders and Piastri would refuse them. Instead, there were team orders and Norris accepted them. Papa rules. Papa rules. Um, might was good, though. Yeah, you said that Sal were going to get points, which... They almost DNF their way up the order.

They got to four teams, even with four DNFs. What I was relying on. I was relying on DNS to come through. Just more. More of them. Yeah, 14th for Joe. Ooh,

I had a better race. I know what's going on in the Botteas. I don't know if I had a problem but I've just missed. But Joe wasn't far off the pace ago. Shall we do? Driver of the day.

Yeah, go on them. The verdict is in. You're the driver of the page. You're the driver of the day. You're good at driving. Who you got? Loads of options. Genuinely loads of options.

I thought, obviously both the Clare-Opieastri were absolutely sensational. I thought Paris, all right up until the crash, I had an absolutely brilliant Grand Prix. I thought Albon and Colopinto were both brilliant. And also somehow sneaks into a sixth place. I thought, Bearman did a really good job. Obviously, there's so many that I could listen.

I love it when it's like this. I am just going to go for the race winner. I am going to go for Oscapiery. I think he held onto ties that didn't suit the car and maybe learned a lot from them. And then I think he was by far the best driver on those hard tires for that second stink. So, yeah, Piastri deserves it.

Giving it to as well by the public, which is a change. Usually it's Mr. Lando Norris. Yeah, that's true. And given his progress through the field, like that's a very classic driver of the day vote as well. They love that. They love that. Yeah. I thought some of the contenders were Alex Alburn,

Sergio Perez, Pierre Gazley and Charles Lecler. Piastri was probably second place for me. Fernando Alonzo had no right to finish sixth in this race. How was he always scampering off down to? the row from these battles behind. I don't know. He just kept not being involved. I don't think that car was good enough to beat the Williams.

I don't think that car was good enough to beat the Hasse. I don't think that car was good enough to beat Lewis Hamilton, which if you add all of those together, I'm not sure Alonzo should have got points from this race. So the fact that he's got eight of them, that's pretty good going. They nailed the strategy. They brought him in quite early,

was able to, he always had like Colopinto fairly close, to him, but you never felt like it was really in much danger. I think he just managed the race absolutely expertly. I thought he was really good today, Lonsa. Every time that Colopinto got within a second of a longso, I thought, right, here we go then. It's going to happen now.

He's finally caught up to him. And that Aston Martin has got no chance of holding off this Williams in a straight line. So the gap is going to keep closing. I think you look back on that later, it's a second and a half again. And I just don't understand how he kept doing it. He kept running away from the danger. So note to self, if you were ever in danger, do a Fernando Alonso.

Yeah. Pretty good going. From good to bad, worst driver of the day. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, bin, worst driver of the day.

You suck at driving. Who've got for worst driver of the day? A couple of options, I think, out there. I'm going to go, just go with two today. I think Lewis Hamilton had an absolute stinker. Well, I do not think that that Mercedes was. great. George Russell winds up on the podium. He was fighting alongside the Ferraris and he beats Max

for Stappen on pace alone. George Russell had a good race and Hamilton just could not get anything out of that car. We said after the qualifying review, has you set the car up to really ultra-effective in race trim? He could get near anyone. He kept overheating. He couldn't get up to Berman multiple times. Barely got past, you know, where the hauasses were. I think it's a really bad Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton. Really gets pointed. But I'm going to give it to Lance Stroll, who quite simply deciding to not break when Oakhron overtake Yuki Sankoda and Rewik his own Grand Prix

and then Ruin Yuki Sanooga's Grand Prix and there was no investigation about it whatsoever either. So for me, Lance is the worst try of the day but Hamilton, that's a skinker from him. Land Stroll's move for me was ambitious. That's a polite way of putting it. Yeah, that might be the best way

of putting it. I do want to see an onboard from Stroll just in case there was more of an opportunity than I thought there was. But even so, lap one, come on, man. I don't really think there was much need to do that. I think this might be the first time I'm ever saying this in the history of worst driver of the day. It's a toss-up between Vastappan and Hamilton for me.

Cricky, are you sure this is the worst driver bit? Yeah, this is very odd indeed. I am going to give it to Lewis Hamilton, actually. And if something comes out that there was something incredibly wrong with his car, then so be it, I will apologise. but in terms of the outright performance, yeah, he really struggled with those back market teams that I didn't think he'd struggle with.

He was behind Gasley for so long. Yeah, and I'm not saying that I expected the exact same recovery from Hamilton that, say, Norris had. I wasn't expecting that. But I did think he would quite comfortably get back to ahead of Alonzo and almost the back of that four-car, a four-team pack. And he didn't.

He scored two points, but he shouldn't have, if that makes sense. Lively lucky two points for Lewis Hamilton, that's sure. But yeah, I know he took the penalty, but equally he wasn't in a great position in qualifying anyway. He was just, this was one to forget for him because he was off from really the first moment. Like, it just never happened for him. No, I completely agree with you. Really, really, really disappointing. Hopefully he goes back to a place where he enjoys Singapore and we see him bounce back.

And what about big brain strap? Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about? Big brain strap. I'm going to use a positive one. I'm actually going to call in the, I think,

momentary decision to call upon Landon Norris to block Perez because it turned out to be a terrible strategy from McLaren to leave Piastri out so late. But I think the way that Norris complied and got the job done, kept it viable. And I think McLaren and Norris specifically deserve some commendment for the way that they kind of jumped to action and they made sure that their teammate was able to have stature. I think go on and win that race.

So what turned into an awful call was a very clever call by the rest of the team. I'll go with Alpine, just like not doing pit stops. I can't be bothered. No, no. They're just like, go on. Out you go. Hard ties. We'll wait for the safety car.

Three hours later. No safety car. And they eventually obviously did pit, but yeah, they went with the same strategy as Albin and Norris, but then didn't do the pit stop pit, which I kind of understand why, because they were just nowhere anyway, but... Ockon was bad. Yeah. Is there something going on with that car that he hasn't got, and Gassley has got, because he was off it? Yeah, I'm not convinced there wasn't something wrong with that car, because he, it's very rare to see those two drivers so split. and we know that Ocon basically, you know, didn't do first practice, didn't do third practice,

ended up in the pit lane after qualifying. Like everything went wrong for him up until this race and then it didn't stop going wrong. So, but yeah, I think Daniel Ricardo did it as well. Just not really pitting until like the last possible moment. Right, that'll do it for Big Brain Strat. We've still got plenty to come on this episode. We're going to take a quick break now. we've got the midfield to get into right after this.

Okay, everyone, welcome back. Should we have a look at Mercedes? We've spoken briefly about Lewis Hamilton's comeback through the field, but of course, George Russell, a far better day for him, an unexpected podium, which might be Russell's new nickname, now that Mr. Saturday might have gone away. What did you make, it? It did feel like they were certainly a step behind Ferrari and McLaren today,

but of course they have still come away with a podium. So is it a good result? I think Russell will not count his lucky stars. I think he'll come out and as a guy was owed some good fortune. I think Russell has had a bad run of races and many of them I do not think

have been caused by his own doing. And so I think this is kind of swung back his way. We said this so many times. Formula one is, you know, you take it when you get it and a lot of the time it can go the wrong way for you. George Russell was owed some good luck and he got good luck.

And this is the second time this season that two people in front of him have come together and he has found himself in a very fortuitous position. But Russell's race was good. I think Mercedes were the fourth fastest car today. I do think that even with Vestappen's ailments and his poor performance, I do think that the Red Bull was better than them today. And the Ferrari and McCrory were heading shoulders above them.

So the fact that he got the move done on Vestappen, the fact that he was fighting in around that Sikes, Vestappen and then Albon position that ends up coming through was positive. And I think he was very consistent, very quiet in his Grand Prix for the most part. but got the job done, picks up a podium, I think he'll walk away with this, frustrated at the car, but positive about himself, which isn't a bad thing, because he can only work on one of those. Overall, good weekend for him.

Yeah, and I think the rest of this season for Russell and Mercedes is probably just going to be a case of not making any errors and just seeing if a win or a chance of a win comes about, because it's clear that whilst they did win at Spa and whilst they did win at Silverstone as well. I know he won at Austria, but they certainly weren't the fastest team there. It seems after the summer break that it's a case of we're probably not, or most weeks, going to be the fastest team. But equally, there might be one weekend where everything goes right and we do have that chance, in which case they've just got to be there to take advantage of it, which I think is what Russell will be looking to do for the rest of this season. I don't think that

car was good enough to be third today, but he's managed the race well. And I think he got better and better as the race went on. That first stint wasn't particularly great for Mercedes, but they seemed... Bagged up for them, wasn't there? Yeah, and they seemed to like the hard tire a bit more than the medium tire, so... Oh, shock.

Mercedes likes the colder hard tire. Yeah. It's been in the behaviour of their car for about a decade now. Yeah, most of this season has just been a case of... Mercedes weren't really anywhere in the first stint. Then they got a bit better,

but it was a bit late, which is kind of the summary of today. I think Russell's done a pretty good job. I thought the overtake on Vastappen was very good, very clinical, no problem with that at all. And yeah, it would just, maybe it would have been interesting to see if he'd qualified a position or two better. And again, it was, Alex Album was the great divider in this race. That's what my new nickname for him, I think.

I like that. Whether he would have been anywhere close to those top four cars, my instinct tells me no, but it would have been interesting to see nonetheless. I think he would have comfortably been sitting in fifth place anyway behind Sanks Perez, Piazsche and Lek and Lecler. I guess without the crash, I don't think he could be in anywhere close or without Albon rather.

I think he could sat in kind of a five, 10 second gap away from them, to be honest. Yeah, and I think the very faint chance of getting part of this Constructedist Championship battle that we may be talking about just before the summer break when they were looking pretty good.

That's now really faded. Yeah. Yeah, which... They are settled to four for the rest of the season. Which might not be the worst thing in the world because, you know, they're not going to get caught by anyone behind them. and maybe now they can just start to look exclusively at next season.

They will, of course, get more wind tunnel time as a result of being four rather than third, second and third, so they can use that as well. But yeah, I think that's dead in the wind now. Let's move on to some of the other midfield drivers. We've already mentioned Fernando Alonzo somehow finishing in sixth place, but it wasn't a double Aston Martin points finish. It was a double Williams points finish. Alex Albin and Colopinto went on completely different strategies.

Albin, of course, starting on the hard tire, went very long into this race and ended on the mediums. Colopento was pretty much the first driver to come into the pits on those medium tires. He only did 10 laps, I think, before switching to the hard tires. They finished this race, 7th and 8th, which is good for 10 points, which I think means they've scored more points from this race than they have the rest of the season combined. Yeah. What did you make of their race? Genuinely, so, so impressed by both Albon and Colopinto.

The car itself, I don't think was head and shoulders above any of the rest of the midfield. I think the hearth was with them there or thereabouts. I think that the Mesegis probably should have beaten them both. And obviously, Hamilton didn't manage to get back through. They are straight-line merchants and they put that to full use today. Colopinto's ability to run long on that second set of hard, you know, the Arphrey Pittig brother, was really, really impressive. I know that he's still a rookie, and I know he's been to two

tracks that massively suit the Williams, but that still doesn't mean that this wasn't a massive challenge. Back who is such a tough place to coming. We've seen drivers far superior to Colapinto in terms of experience make many a mistake around here. And I really do think he earned his stripes today. I was very, very impressed by what he was able to do. Equally, Alex Almond's first stint on that set of hard tires, holding off the likes of Bastappen, Norris, Sites, repeatedly, I was blown away by how well he defended, by how well he hung on to that top group. I don't think the Williams had the outright pace to be with them, but because of the straight-line speed that he was able to execute, maximising his exits, holding onto those hard tyres, he delivered a fantastic performance for Williams.

So those two coming together just tell you that actually they mirrored each other's strategy, they ran it completely differently, but because Colapinto, clearly he's a good driver. He's clearly got something there. And Albon is Alex Albon. They were able to bring home such success for Williams. Someone said to me in the stream, would Logan Sargent been able to have done exactly that? I don't think they hang on to that many points. It did feel like a race where points were very much possible for Williams.

I don't think he picks up the same amount that Colapinto does. And that was essentially what James Vowell's made the decision based on, wasn't it? When he made this decision, he very explicitly said, we think with these upgrades, we're going to have a better car to be able to fight for points. And we want two drivers that are going to be able to get in those positions. Today was evidence that Colopinto was able to fight in the points where Logan Sargent, let's face it, probably wouldn't have been.

Now, I wouldn't have put Sargent in the car to start the year, but, you know, that's a discussion for another day. Yeah, I think they both did a very good job. And I think Williams played it correctly to split the strategies. I think Williams were almost a little bit unlucky in that Alex's album was alongside some other drivers as well, waiting to see if a safety car was going to appear or a VSC. It's Baku. They usually do, and they didn't. So I think it's difficult to say you're unlucky because a safety car doesn't appear,

but equally there's such a good chance of one happening at Baku. They played for that strategy. It didn't quite work out. It's a fair strategy to aim for. Yes. And it's still a good strategy even if a safety car doesn't come out, as Albin showed. But yeah, maybe a little bit unfortunate they didn't get that break. But yeah, the way he was able to hold off the much quicker cars behind was great. He, I think he gets a tad unlucky because if he is just a couple attempts faster on his in-lap

or if the pit crew is a couple attempts faster, he gets clear of Nico Holkenberg straight away. And that slowed him down a little bit because it took him a couple of. a couple of laps to overtake Holcomberg, which was, it's a Hass. Of course, it was going to be pretty good in a straight line. And yeah, I think maybe, I don't think it had got Alonzo anyway, but he might have made a bit more of an impression on him if that goes differently. I think they can have got Alonso. I do, I do think the challenge was there. So many times they were inside of DRS. And I think that showed the difference between Colopinto's growing ability and someone like Albon, where if Albon gets within DRS range of Alonso,

I think he might be able to make the difference. And I appreciate with Colopinto, I know we're talking about vastly different circumstances here in terms of like what you're doing in the race. But we saw Shao Leclair struggle on hard tires to end this Grand Prix. They fell off a cliff, right? Colopinto did six more laps on those hard tires than Lecler did. Fair play to him.

Like he kept those tires alive for the entire stint. Now, I'm not going to blow the Colapinto being trumpet too hard right now. we've had two very straight-line-focused racetracks. And yes, I think he is being impressive. The real challenge comes next weekend when we go to Singapore. If he's able to... And I don't think points are properly on the car to Williams in Singapore. I'd be surprised.

But if he's able to be right there on album the entire weekend, do Williams have a tricky conversation on their hands? In fact, they've gone out and signed science, and their young driver is actually currently good enough to drive that race car. I don't think so just because of how good the incoming driver is. Like if they had settled for someone worse, then maybe. But I think just because it's Carlos Sines and it's Alex Albin, like that is, as we've discussed already, such a great lineup.

There's not much you can do. Like, they're not going to do anything with Carlos Sines. I think what probably happens is Collar Pinter has to sit on the sidelines for a year and see if the likes of Carlos Sines maybe move. Carlos Sines gets another opportunity at a top team. and then he can walk in. And if not, then maybe he goes elsewhere. But I think he'll at least be content.

Well, not content, but he'll be okay enough about sitting on the sidelines for one year while seeing what unfolds in the driver market. It can move very quickly. It can. I will be nervous if I was Colopinto. He's doing a great job. We're only two races in.

So, you know, he might have an absolute shocker for the next six. But Liam Lawson had a really, really good stink in that RB team. And he's still yet to have even, seek, we might have an announcement this week, folks, who knows, it might all change, but Liam Lawson currently still out by Formula One seat, and I would argue is as good as Colopinto has been. If he doesn't get that seat locked down as soon as possible,

he might spend the rest of his career firmly sat on the sidelines. There is at least a notable difference that Liam Lawson was, let's face it, basically promised the seat for next year, and we'll see if that comes to be. I don't think, I think James Vowse is being pretty upfront about this in that, you know, the lineups already locked in for next year. This is a complete bonus. for Colopinto that he did not know was coming.

Very true. And he, that might be one of the reasons why he's, he's been doing such a good job over the last two races, is that he has got a sense of freedom in the car. There's a no pressure job right now, right? If he gets it right, well done. That's a great turnout for you. If you get it wrong, oh, well,

we never expected you to be brilliant anyway. I'll tell you what, obviously, Williams have had a good result today. Hasse haven't had a great result. They've only scored one point, but equally they were in the fight, and I think they'll be disappointed not to come away with more. but having said that

other races like they're probably in the mix again they're in the mix of Monza they're in the mix here RB got to be a bit worried at this point RB are going nowhere

for both teams right they were already worried about HASS they might need to be a bit worried about Williams now yeah exactly if Williams can pick up if they can have another

couple of races where they end up with maybe six eight points it could quickly flip over for them the development of the car's going nowhere because they always find themselves

in the midfield they are regularly going to become victim of collisions, retirements, punctures. You know, they're never running in complete clean air. Ricardo is not, he's not back to his best self. Despite having a better stink, he's not there. And Yuki Senoda may be coming back

into his own, but if he can't get a race finish, he's not going to have to score anything anyway. And even if both drivers were in the mix for the whole Grand Prix, I don't think they're scoring a point. I don't think they're coming close to scoring a point. R.B. are in trouble. Red Bull are at the mercy of the other teams around them. It's not a good time for the Red Bull family right now.

R.B. I've got to be hoping that Daniel Ricardo had a stinker today. Because if he didn't, and he had a good race, and that's just what the pace of the car was, they got bodied by Gassley. Like, Gasly and Rikado were on the same strategy, and it wasn't close. That's worrying. Yeah, I am, I'm nervous for the RB family right now. If they go into 2025 and they can't kick on from here, we might see a top three that doesn't show Red Bull and we might see a bottom three that shows RB. It's not looking good. No, it isn't.

From the beginning of this season, talking about top five finishes. Top fives are coming. To the end of the season, that could be a fight for eighth place. It's not looking good for team management. Lauren Mecca's probably not having a great time at the moment. There's a longer money being spent on Ricardo being there.

The whole team feels like it's going in the wrong. direction. Quite possibly. A quick shout also for Olly Berman managed to get a point. I was impressed. I was impressed with him. First driver to, was it ever score two points for two separate teams in your debut season. Oh, okay. That's interesting. Yeah, which is a fun little stat. I'm glad to end it. I know he'd got it through the crash, but I do think he earned it. He was there, though, wasn't he? Yeah, the whole time. He drove well. He fell off the back of Hamilton once Hamilton eventually passed him, but I think he was better than Holkenberg from actually the entire weekend. which I think Holkenberg more had an off race than Bearman was just better.

But Berman was good. And yeah, I think a little bit of fortunate, but I'm glad to got the point. I don't know what happened with Holkenberg late in this race because I thought – He just disappeared. Well, yeah, I thought Holkenberg actually had a very good race and was better than Bearman. I know Bearman had the advantage of qualifying better, of course, but we know Holcomberg got by Beerman.

It looked orchestrated, I think. I think Beirman moved out the way, yeah. in either, I think he was getting by, even if that wasn't orchestrated. But, yeah, Holgerberg was having a pretty good race. And then the last sort of five laps or so, he, yeah, he disappeared. And I don't know if there's a particular reason for that, or if it was the same sort of thing happened to Holkenberg that happened to Lecler and his tyres just completely died on him.

I don't actually, I don't have that information at the moment. So I won't assign too much blame to Holkneberg just yet. You did lose seconds. Yeah. So I don't know if it, yeah, maybe it was a power unit issue. I haven't got a clue. but Behrman himself had a good race. As I said, on the preview midweek,

if Holkenberg is in the fight for points, Behrman will want to be the same. And he was. So I think he can go away happy with his result. The thing is, I know as well, he's not going to be over the moon with it. He'll be, he'll look at the two Williams ahead and go, maybe I could have got them,

which is fair enough, but he has had a good race. The right attitude for me. He'll know that there were improvements. And I think Hars will look at this and go, we got a good one in our hands. I'm glad we've got a driver here for the next season. And maybe if Ocon does turn up and we get the good Ocon and not the terrorising Ocon,

then they've got a good line-up for next year. You know, Behrman and Ocon, that's a tasty lineup. I think that's pretty good. I think for a, or it's not a back market team because they're not anymore. But for it's a lower midfield team, I think it's a solid pair that they've got. They'll miss Holkenberg naturally

because he has done such a good job for them over the last couple of years. But that's a pretty good way to replace him. Yeah. If Bermann really comes into it after the first few races, I think that they're going to be in a really solid place. Okay. One last break on this episode.

On the other side, moment of the race. Okay, everyone, moment of the race coming up on today's last segment. But before we get to Discord submissions, as we always have, we each have our own moments of the race. What have you gone for? I've just gone for the Piastri Lecler battle. It's not often that we get literally wheel-to-wheel lap after lap battles. for a race lead and they were glued to each other for so long,

capped off, of course, by what I thought was a brilliant, advantageous, you know, really grabbing it by the moment. The scruff of the neck was Piastri getting a move down on the Clare. They were sensational, brave, clean. It was a brilliant fight. We don't get to see it enough. I don't think I meant to say this earlier when we discussed it, and I didn't give him enough praise for this, Oscar Piastri,

because it was excellent defence. What I was, I think, most impressed by was he didn't over-defend. Like, no. He defended as much as he knew. needed to every single time. Like when it looked like there, let me rephrase this. If he was a bit less experienced or just a bit worse at defending than what he is, he might have just dove to the inside where he didn't need to a couple of times because Lecler was a few times back on a few occasions and he knew exactly when Lecler was and wasn't going to give it a go. And it would

have been very easy for him to have needlessly defended the inside of turn one and then get completely out of shape for the next two corners and then be overtaken into turn three. The fact that didn't happen, I think was the most impressive thing that he did. He is as cool as a cucumber that kid. He just is a sponge. He just soaks up pressure like someone I've not seen for God knows how long. Pressure. What?

Pressure. Pressure. Pressure's for tires. Obviously, went through my head so many times. He is a star. He's got a star in the making him. he's a star. My moment of the race, I'm going to go less serious.

It was Charles O'Claire and his chat over team radio. Yeah. Come on. Great encouragement. Just, woo. Come on. Come on. You can do it, Charles.

Yeah, I'm trying. Yeah, thanks. I didn't think about that. Cheers. Also love the, what do you think of Plan C? Not stupid. Yeah. That is a good one, that.

Did you do Plan C? Did we ever see Plan C? Who knows? I reckon, I plan C might have been the two-stop, I think. I think it was the two-stop, yeah. And then I think they realised that Paris wasn't going anywhere. Yeah. Right.

We've got Moment of the Race submissions from our Discord. We've got a lot of submissions today. So if yours isn't played, apologies, we do have to, we can only get through so many. But if you aren't played today, we do have plenty of opportunities for you to get involved. Of course, it's a race next week. We've got the Singapore Grand Prix. So we'll be back with Moment of the Race next week. And indeed, who's under pressure submissions?

in our midweek episode. Who have we got today, Sam? We have gone. There's the bong, the famous bong. We could get it out. No, I've referenced it now. I can't really... The bong might be a Hall of Fame contender

for the end of the season. Fair. For the albys. Coming up first, we've got a great name. It's the law, son. It's the hammer. It's 8 o'clock on the East Coast. It's up late watching the USC,

and I'm up early watching F1. It is a brutal day for me. A little bit of a Sunday hangover. But my moment of the race is going to be Lando's engineer, telling them to imagine Indra Estella, telling them no wheel spin. Just imagine it while you're driving 200 miles an hour through tight, narrow corners and straights.

Keep breaking. late. I love that. I love that. Imagine Andrea Skelis, sat your shoulder. No, Will Spin Lando. Like, great. Yeah, thank you. That's what I need to hear right now. Some of McLaren's team radio, man. It's just... What are you on? Sometimes. Wind it in. They're doing a good job. Another fantastic name in the Discord coming out next. Mo Bigness. What's up, LB, boys? It's Mobinness coming at you from the States. First Time

submission. Moment of the Rates. Listen, Oscar Piestri. absolute incredible defense defense wins championships for mcclare and that is the case what a masterclass also sorry harry no sapper points keep breaking late love you guys well i mean it was mine my bigness but equally i am sad love the first time we love a first time me we absolutely love a first time me coming up next we have got uh another fantastic name one of our favorites collectively mojo dojo casso All the lightbreakers, Mojo Dojo Casa House here. My moment of the race has to be Olli and Franco are on the points today. Great job for the new rookies on their second Grand Prix.

My guys, love the podcast. Keep breaking late. I think that's a concern moment of the race. Not often you get essentially two rookies like that scraping into the points after a really, really good drive. We've had a phenomenon in Formula One these days. Yeah. And I know what you mean when you say scrape.

but like they it wasn't luck they they were in the fights with their teammates like full credit to them yeah yeah a little bit of luck but hey in formula one as we've already addressed with the likes of uh it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't you need it and it went their way and they deserved it up next is spicy pastry hey boys spicy pastry here my moment of the race was trying not to wake up my three-month-old son while screaming at the screen for pastries a filthy the overtake and now I'm about to listen to the Aussie anthem. Love it. Good one, boys. I love that he's still whispering. I love that the king is clearly still a soup. So you've succeeded the fact that you've got to this point and you've then gone, ah, crap, I've got to do a moment

of the race and mission for LB. But you were rewarded with an Aussie wing. Admire the effort. Yeah, well done you. Maybe don't play the podcast out too loud either. Coming out next is Nick the Quick. Hey, what's up, Blake Berger's. this is Nick the quick moment of the race is Red Bull changing the floor before qualifying and giving Max another terrible car. Unsurious team. Can't wait until I lose the constructors. Max need to get out of there.

This is ridiculous. Banger of a race though. Congrats to the Piastri. Absolutely amazing. Signs, not sure what you were doing. But anyway, see ya.

Interesting, isn't it? Interesting. The narrative is really shifting for Vastappling at Red Bull. You know, not serious team. Get him out. Aston Martin, Mercedes, maybe.

It's very quick how, you know, he's won three in a row, and he was so dominant last year. It's amazing how quickly the ties could change. I really hope that what we saw from Perez today, we can get from him for the rest of this season. For his sake, obviously. But for the constructors' sake, that would make this a fun fight.

So remains to be seen, but I'd love to see that. Yeah, I'd just like to see Perez be a better give, please, more than one race of season. That'd be lovely. It's the beef Baku Club, everyone. She's here. Hello. You know, I'm actually not a very hello person in real life.

I'm over. I feel like I've lied to you this whole time. Anyway, moment of the race. I bloody love Baku. It's so good. But maybe not the moment of the race, but the call-down room just now of Oscar saying that Carlos and Perrism have been good friends

and Carlos just finished the job off. Love it. Okay, bye. Brilliant. Thanks, Bif. Not good friends. Not good friends. Don't like you anymore, mate.

No, no. Come out next is our good friend, Inspector Seb. Hey, guys, Inspector Seb here. I've gone from not submitting in almost a year to submitting twice and two races because, yes, Oscar Piastri, yes! So my moment of the race is

when Oscar's race engineer came over the radio and told him to pitch out on Drey. Estella on his shoulder, like some sort of Darth Toot voice in his head. And I can just imagine hearing Mark Weber's not bad for a number two driver. Go, Oscar, win that race. Amazing. Did you see Mark Weber's gleeful face as Piastri was being interviewed at the end of the Grand Prix? Yeah. I can't blame him either because so much of the narrative like this week and last week has been, what will McLaren do about team orders?

And then Piastris just delivered a brilliant weekend where it just never even, it didn't matter. Like it never came into existence at all. And look, he's on, I think he's on 222 points now in the championship. That puts him just 13 behind Shao LaClaire, puts him 32 behind Lando Norris. It's close. It's very close.

I'm watching it. Final one for the day. And again, thank you to everyone that submits. We get so many and we love them more. we've got to pick a few to make sure they fit on this show, but it is Brackett Dom to round us out. Hey, late breakers, bracket Dom. A lot of great options for moment of the race this week.

You could have Norris chasing down versus stopping and getting fastest lap to still cut into the championship lead. Obviously, the huge crash on the final lap. But I'm going to pick one that probably no one else is talking about that's kind of peaving me. It's race control absolutely screwing over Nico Halkenberg on the final lap. not throwing an immediate red flag and costing him P9. I love that.

Kind of peev in me from an American is fantastic. Should it have been a red flag? I was shocked it was only a VSC. Yeah, absolutely shocked. It was only a VSC. Two cars in the wall. There's a steering wheel being thrown out. There's a driver getting out of the car on the racetrack.

Baffling. I mean, we have not seen the safety cars in Spain. I cannot believe that was only a VSC. They went two laps ago. Don't bother. Let him round. I can't believe it. Safety rungs to the end till all the cars are in the paddock. Yeah. I think they red flag that if it's 10 laps earlier, which should tell you that they should have red flagged this.

A VSC only was a bit crazy. But yeah, regardless of what that would have actually caused for the results, I feel like that was the correct call. I agree. Completely agree. Really shocked about it. Right. And that's the final one. Thank you again to everyone who's submitting moment of the race. And again, there will be another opportunity midweek. The good news is, though, Sam, if you're not quite done with this epic race, you can find out how we're rating every driver. Power rankings is going to be live with you on Monday evening, on the Patreon only. So get down there, subscribe to it.

It's great value. You don't just get power rankings. You get your beer breaking, your classic Grand Prix review, you get two extra episodes, you get birthday shoutouts. Everything is ad-free as well. well. You also, as we're going to be live in Texas, get early access to tickets as well when they become available. Of course, we have sold out, but for next events that we do, and there will be some in the future. You will get early access as well. So, thanks to everyone that supports us on

there. It has been incredible to see the sport this year. Really, really appreciate it. Get yourself from the Good School to make sure you are part of the submissions for the Singapore preview. Make sure you follow us for live streaming, late-breaking podcast, follow us on social media, late-breaking F1. And you can watch it on YouTube as well. It's been Vigio recording, late breaking F1 as well over there. We love all the support. Thank you so much. Harry, I'm sure we'll be back very, very soon

if he remembers where he places his microphone and would be bringing you all the fun. We'll see you soon. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.