The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2024 British GP Review

Episode Date: July 7, 2024

Ben and Sam review the sensational British GP thriller that saw Lewis Hamilton storm to a record-breaking home victory and beat Max Verstappen for the first time since 2021! The boys break down all of the action and hear YOUR moments of the race... FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes, 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. And a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing the British Grand Prix, a Grand Prix where we had George Russell have the lead, Lando Norris have the lead, and then finally Lewis Hamilton have the lead for his ninth British. Grand Prix win. We started out dry.

It got to intermediate conditions, Sam. It then got dry again. This was, I feel like, every single typical British Grand Prix rolled into one. Crikey. I mean, what a typical British response you got there for me in one word. What a race we saw. What a race we saw.

When we heard about the premise of rain, possibly appearing at the Grand Prix, you know, the way that the British summertime could go from being absolutely bloody soaking wet, as it's happened outside my house in the last afternoon to be scorching heart

of drying instantaneously combined with cars driving over 200 miles an hour through sweeping corners with gravel traps on either side you think we'll have a great time and you know what? Silverstone once again

bloody delivered. It absolutely slapped. What a Grand Prix we just saw to go then. Absolutely. Which does give us plenty to talk through on today's episode. We'll have a look at our moment of the race and the moment of the race

from some of our Discord submissions as well. A tough day Ferrari, just Carlos Signs, scoring for them in fifth place. Max for Snap and making his way to the podium in second, a third and a fourth for McLaren. But let's naturally start with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Started on the front row of the grid, out qualified by his teammate. It's been a difficult spell for him at the Mercedes team, at least compared to his lofty expectations. By far, the longest gap between wins in his career. We have to go all the way back to the end of the 2021 season, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for the last time he took victory.

But today, though, Sam, managed those soft tires in the last stint and saw off Max Verstappen by about two seconds. How impressed were you about Hamilton's win? Someone who has obviously had a lot of success, but has come under fire at times in the last couple of years. Yeah, I mean, like you said, over two and a half years since his final victory in Formula One took place at the Saudi Grand Prix. And since that time, his teammate, George Russell was won twice, of course, swinging in Brazil.

and then winging earlier on this week, essentially, in Austria. Russell had regularly been kind of the guy in the right place at the right time, deploying the pace when it was needed, out qualifying Lewis Hamilton a lot this season, and did it again at the British Grand Prix, of course, this weekend, securing pole position away from Lewis Hamilton, who joined him on the front road by about a 10th and a half. And I'm sure Lewis Hamilton got out of the car on Saskayne and was kicking himself a little bit. I'm sure he thought, okay, amazing that we're on the front row, both cars,

but I would have loved to poll here. And once the race got underway, the first maybe 15 laps or so, Russell was doing a fantastic job at extending that lead. I think the gap got up to about 1.8, 1.9 seconds, and Russell looked really comfortable. But then Lewis Hamilton dig what Lewis Hamilton does so well. And that is delivering uncertain, uncontrollable conditions where you've got to make things count.

It wasn't all plain sailing, of course, because he managed to get past his team, and drive off into the distance a little bit. And then all of a sudden, both McLaurants decided to come back at him when he faced another challenge in the sense that another team was going up against him. They had to pit. They had to make the right call to pit. Of course, we saw Pastery staying out for an extra lap, which dropped him all the way down to P6 at the

time before Russell then retired. But what was the most impressive thing was the way that Lewis Hamilton famously hates rubber. He hates tires. He bemoans them at every opportunity, criticises them at every chance that he gets. And yet, when he needs them most, when he caresses through the final stages that Grand Prix, he nurtures them, he grows them, and they deliver for him. He made those soft tires sing. I was really shocked at how much life he got out of those soft tires because Max Verstappen was arriving and arriving fast on those hard ties.

I think that was the right call for tires. I think Amigna Meegaher a hard tire was the right call. And the moment of Vastaffa got past Landon Norris, Landon Norris disappeared. He was unable to hold on behind him. He was unable to say in the DRS. He couldn't close the gap to Hamilton before he got passed. And he essentially became a non-entity.

in that fight for the win in the final five or six laps. And actually ended up much closer to Piastri than he did to that fight for the lead. So the way that Lewis Hamilton extended those soft tires, he eked out the pace. He kept the gap to Stapham to three seconds until two laps from the end. It just shows you that whilst Hamilton has come under fire,

he has come under pressure, he's come under some criticism, rightly so. He's the old man still got it. And to see him cross that line, emotional, crying his eyes out. He'd bongo crying his eyes out. He looks like the whole British crowd crying there. eyes out over a 40-year-old man

winging a race around a circle over 50-odd laps. It shows you how much it means to him, how much he cares about it, and it was a real moment. The first guy ever to win nine Grand Prix at one single location. History was made today, and I hope you all enjoyed it,

because I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a fantastic Grand Prix, and we got a really fantastic end to it. I thought it was a brilliant, brilliant Sunday. It was an exceptional performance by Lewis Hamilton. Someone I've been quite critical of, certainly this season, but also at times in the last couple of years, as we say, it's been a while since he took a Grand Prix victory. And granted, the car hasn't

exactly been there for him to win most of those Grand Prix. But even so, Lewis Hamilton hasn't had plane sailing a couple of years. But today, he was in that Lewis Hamilton zone. The very top drivers seem to have the likes of himself, the likes of Vestappen. When he gets in that zone, he is very difficult to beat. And yes, he was outqualified by George Russell. And I think we have now reached the stage of his career where that's probably going to become the norm as a prediction for next year. I think Shao LeClaire, regardless of what the points look like, I think Charles

LeClaire will out-qualify Lewis Hamilton because I don't think he has that absolute one-lap raw pace that he had a few years ago. But in terms of ongoing race pace, in terms of the. consistency in terms of tireware. As much as he hates tires, he's very good at it. He is very good at tireware. I don't believe those soft tires were fit for purpose in terms of a race tire. Obviously, they were fine and qualifying.

But as a race tire, I don't think they were really working. Lando Norris proved that the way that Lewis Hamilton was able to manage the gap out front, supremely impressive. And you say, you know, the early stint where he was behind George Russell, George Russell, yes, he did look relatively comfortable in front, but actually Lewis Hamilton looked relatively comfortable in second. He knew rain was on the way. He knew that that race was not going to be won and lost in that first stint. I think Lewis Hamilton was biding his time, knowing that an opportunity might welcome when the rain starts to come down. We know he was running

a higher downforce package compared to George Russell. That ultimately helps him when the rain comes around. And they were just able to execute exactly when they needed to. This was a this was a great performance. And you're talking about the emotion that he had at the end of that race. We've heard Lewis Hamilton be emotional before on team radio. But generally speaking, it's been more jubilance, I think is probably the right word. We hear him when he's, he's raised himself up, doesn't it? Yeah, when he's won, obviously, he won quite a few world championships at this point. When he's won world championships, he's come across the team radio and he's been ecstatic, right? here, this was sheer relief.

This was two and a half years weight off his shoulders that he was finally able to, in front of his home crowd, no less. I'm pretty sure it would have been an emotional response regardless of where it happened. And he knows, and I know they all count the same wins, but he did it on pure pace. He did it on pure pace, pure skill, great team management. He didn't luck into a win here. I think he deserves all his flowers for the performance out there today. I'm sure there are some that will try and take it away from him, but this was exceptional.

Yeah, you're right. It was exceptional. And we were live streaming throughout the race. And even the Vestappan fans who have every right to have their rivalry with being incredibly complimentary, very, very kind, saying how well he had driven, how the gap that Vastappen had brought, you the gap down to those final laps, wasn't enough and how well it nurtured those dyes. and he displayed why he is considered one of the greatest of all-time in a race like today. And when you think the last time he won a Grand Prix was essentially when he had that

world championship removed from his grasp, essentially right. Salieri Grand Prix was what the penultimate race of the 2021 season. And we go into Abu Dhabi, of course, all those memories of the Staffman-Hamilton come together in that final moment. That's the last time he takes his success. That's the last time that he remembers being on the top spot to then finally replenish that and get that moment back. I'm happy for him.

And I loved his emotion towards it. I really think F1 will benefit from this massively, I think. His teammate was obviously in the fight for a good chunk of the Grand Prix, but very unexpectedly, I know all retirements are somewhat unexpected, but it was very much out of the blue, wasn't it? How he dived into the pits and questions were about was this strategy because there was no indication that he was going to retire from a mechanical reason. but of course, George Russell won last week, as you've already referenced,

not far off winning again. How disappointed is he going to be to see his teammate on the top step of the podium? I just want to call out George Russell first for once again being such a good sports person, immediately congratulating Lewis Hamilton. And I know it's not world champions. It's not like Lewis has won the world title. Lewis has lost it. It's a race wing.

And George had won last week. So I'm sure he's a little bit less frustrated if he hadn't had that race win last week if this was his only chance. But well done to him, because I always think that's lovely. George was electric. George was fantastic. His qualifying place was sublime.

The way he held onto that top four, even when he was faltering a little bit with that wet weather when it came down, he was still in the fight, comfortably in the fight. It did start to unravel a little when we had the intermediate pit stop and he came up behind Max Verstappen.

He was right in front of Carlos signs. It looked like it was just starting to falter for him. But nonetheless, I think if he got to the end of the Grand Prix, he would still very much be in the mix. for that victory. He's going to be gutted. Any race driver is going to be gutting. When you see your teammate go on to wing, especially one that started behind you in the Grand Prix, you're going to sit there and think, I can't won that race. That could be my Grand Prix. I should have won at home. And he's never qualified in the top five until Saturday, until yesterday.

So this is a real weekend of a real month of firsts for George Russell, really. So yeah, he'll kick himself a little bit, but he knows that one, it's not his fault. He didn't crash the car. He didn't cost himself in any way, I don't think. It's a, a, man. a failure within the car. It's a DNF that he can't control. And sometimes in Formula One, you just go, can't do anything about it. Nothing I could do.

I think that helps him. I think that helps him a lot. Two, he'll know that his pace was good. He'll know that he was very competitive and he could take that into whatever weekend we go to next in terms of where the machines might be competitive and reapply it. I think if he was driving around in first by 15 seconds

and he had that failure, he kick himself. Equally, I think if he was driving around in 10th place and Lewis was winning, he'd go, what was I doing wrong? What was the matter with my performance? So he drove a great weekend. He had some bad luck. It happens.

He's reacted to it brilliantly. It's all you can do. It's all you can get out of it. Yep. Sometimes it is just racing. It was a good performance from Russell. I was a bit disappointed with the way he seemed to lack pace when the rain started to come down versus his direct rivals.

That was a bit of a shame. But equally, if you take that away and you just look at everything else that he did, it was a good performance from him. He would have been in the mix. And, look, I mean, at times where, you know, you've got Ferrari strategically getting things wrong and only one team, one driver in the points, and you've got Red Bull only one driver in the points, the fact that George Russell can look at his own performance and say, look, I'm not the cause for the fact that we don't have two drivers up there today. He can take solace from that. I know he obviously won last week. I don't actually think that will help or hinder how much this.

It will hurt nonetheless, because this was an opportunity for him to win his home. Grand Prix. I don't think the fact that he won last week is actually going to help him or, or I don't know, make it less of a, less of a pain. But yeah, it's still a good performance from him. What about McLaren, Sam? They were at one point, first and second in this Grand Prix. They finished third and fourth. How much did they let this get away from them? I actually think it all started from the start. I don't think Landon-Loris's start was very good again. and this is becoming a little bit of a reoccurring problem for Landon Norris and something that he needs to go away and work on because that McLaren

So when you say the start do you mean his getaway or you're talking about strategically how he managed the first part of the lap? So be honest, both and I think both need to be called out because he, what gets jumped by Vastappen, right? And then, you know, it takes time for him to rebuild the distance between the two of them. He falls back a little bit and Piazcri is right behind him. and then he catches back up and gets the move done. Great.

But because he's been jumped by for Staff and right at the very start, it means that I actually think the McLaren was probably the fastest race car today. And has been for many a Grand Prix. I think that McLaren is up there as a real race winner contender for a lot of these races. And time and time again, the reason why McLaren aren't going through and winning races is because the drivers aren't and the strategies aren't delivering. They're not being ruthless.

They're not being cut through it. They're not elevating themselves to the top level. And when you think all of a sudden, well, McLauri have a one too all of a sudden. They've managed to not luck their way into it because both Norris and Piuscari drove through those difficult conditions fantastically well to get back past Hamilton and Russell. And Piascri did well as well to get back past the both. You think, right, you're now in the driver's seat, no pun intended. You're able to execute something here. They set Piusr around for another lap, cost him massively.

Ends up being a sixth place. I don't know why double step wasn't on. even if Piastri backed up by a couple of seconds on that lap, there was the ability to do that and they decided not to. Masegi's executed a brilliant double stack. Yes, OK, Russell ending up behind Bastappen, but at least he was still in that fight. There's only a couple of seconds between them.

But the time that the McLaren's got back round, Norris was only four seconds behind Piastri. It would have been worth waiting in the pit lane for a couple of seconds. So that was frustrating. That was a bad call, in my opinion. And then Norris, just for some reason, was unable to be ruthless enough when it counted to get the job done. time and time again. He mistakenly misses his own pit box. He slides into his pit box. Every other

driver up and down the grid hits their marks with no problem. And Piazra does the same thing in the box, hits his marks with no problem. Norris has a lot to learn. The raw talent is exceptional, absolutely exceptional. And he's up there with one of the best. But time and time again, we are seeing that it's his own mistakes that are costing him from going from being one of the very, very, very good drivers to an elite, a winner, a guy that's going to challenge the likes of Max for stepping at his peak. And he needs to fine tune. He needs to tweak things. I've got a lot of love for Lando, but he just needs that little bit more tweaking and learning, I think, because that race should have been on his. He cooked his tires at that last sector,

the last portion of race. If Hamilton made them work, Norris should be going to make them work. They're the same tires, right? It's not like there any difference. The cars are set up relatively the same. You should be how to get those tires to do then, not end up being eight seconds behind Lewis Hamilton coming at the Gronhamilton. I was surprised at the difference between the both. So I think as much as the strategy wasn't perfect, I think it was Landon Norris today that cost them winning this Grand Prix. McLaren and I include driver strategy team, everything in that.

You fumbled bad. Your bottle job. That was bad. That was really bad. Like I say, they were in first and second at one stage in this Grand Prix, and I agree with your assessment that they had the fastest car on the day. And when a fastest car comes away with third and fourth place, you can only count that as a disappointment.

Yes, they have got two cars in the fight, unlike all of their other rivals, but it should have been better. It continually feels like, and again, I'm not just placing this on drive, I'm not just placing this on team. I think it's a collective here. they are being given a real opportunity by Red Bull to catch up. And they are somewhat catching up. But they're not doing it as quickly as they could have done in the last few Grand Prix.

If you think Max Verstappen and Red Bull are walking away with 18 points today. McLaren will take away 27. So they've beaten them by nine. It should have been more than nine. And this is a continuing story that they are essentially, through Sergio Perez, not scoring many points whatsoever. Red Bull are handing them a full cake and McLaren are going great, I'll have that slice. It's like, no, take the whole thing. You're just taking a very small amount of what you could do.

I agree with your reckoning on where this went wrong. I think Norris and Piastri both showed good pace early on in the Grand Prix. It took them a little while, particularly Norris to get into it. But they definitely got there by the end of that first thing that they had. You have to double stack. That was an awful call to get. to let Piastri go around again. Even if Piacci doesn't slow up and he is still, and I think what Piacci was trying to do basically is, I need to get by Lando Norris on this lap,

so I'm first in the box. Completely fair. Even if he goes right, I'm actually not going to slow up at all. And I'm going to follow him into the pits, three temps behind him. That is still way quicker than going around once more. Sure, the sensible thing would have been

at that point for him to drop back a couple of seconds and then double stack similar to what Mercedes did. Even if he doesn't do that, he has lost so much time. Conditions can go like that in an instant. And we saw that on that lap that Piastri was the only one who was really struggling around on those dry tyres. If you're that worried about not double-stacking them, put one of them in the lap before Lando Norris came in.

I actually think they all came in a lap too late. I agree. I completely agree with you. I think that the way that Piastri got sold out, essentially, what was that call all about? He could have sat in the pit lane for an extra 15 seconds if there was a problem with Norris's pit stop. And still, we're going to be further up the grid. They're lucky that Holkenberg and the like were so far back.

He only just came out in front of Holgerberg when he finally got the tires old. Yeah, I was very disappointed about that. And then, yeah, the last pit stop, this is an error from both driver and team. Lando Norris has a four and a half second pit stop. That is firmly on Lando Norris. He has not stopped on his mark. And as a result of that, he has. added probably an extra two seconds, if not maybe even a little bit more, to his pit stop time.

What was the gap between Norris and Hamilton when he came out the pits? Two seconds. That is the difference between him, you know, going ahead of Lewis Hamilton or being a couple of seconds behind. And that left him vulnerable to Max Verstappen. Who knows? Even if he comes out ahead and Lewis Hamilton has better pace and Lewis Hamilton gets by him, by the time that happens, he might have enough of a gap to Vastappen to stay ahead of him.

That is... What was the gap between Hamilton and Vastappen when they cross him? the line at the end. Barely in a minute. It was two seconds. So that would have been the gap that Norris would have at least be in second place. I think Hamilton had the pace on Norris at the end anyway.

I think he was better. But my point is, you're right, he would have had a chance at winning that Grand Prix. And I'm sorry to go in on McLaren here. Another issue is the fact that they went on those soft tires. That was an awful call. They, I appreciate only two drivers started on the softs, those being Joe Guan Yu and Estabana-Ockon.

And I appreciate pace-wise, they are a long way away from the McLaren duo. However, those two drivers were slow as balls. They were awful on those tires. They should have gone nowhere near the soft compound. Lewis Hamilton is why I think Lewis Hamilton did such a great job on them because I don't think they were the right tire to be on. They had brand new medium tires.

That was absolutely the right cool. Piastri proved that lap after lap. Yeah, this is a continuing problem where they will ask their drivers. And I appreciate you want to get information from your drivers. It'd be stupid not to. But there are times where you just need to make the call. You are the one with the data. Make the call yourself based on the information you've got in front of you. They should have been on the medium tires. Lando Norris and the team have thrown away a better result here. Oscar Piastri, I think, has had a great race. And I think he does not deserve to be fourth.

A real shame for them. I think a prime example of what you've just spoken about with driver team making the call on tyres was, and I want to compliment him because he was fantastic, was Max Verstappen when he made the call for Intermedias. You heard them come over the radio and go, great shout on Intermediates that lap, Max, nailed it. We're back in the race.

And that's because when it's getting wetter, the guy driving the car is the one that will be able to tell you, this is that we're not going anywhere. This is the wrong. I feel this is wrong. and he made the calls go on to see him to me against that lap and it was bang on. He got himself from being a distant fourth, fifth position, straight up there again with the leagueers.

And that's why he's a world champion. That's why he leads the way he does, and that's why he's so successful because he knows the right call to make. And also, most of the time, trusts his team to make the other calls, makes the other shouts, knows the data. They are cohesive. They are won as a unit. McLaren, it's a while ago now, but we saw Norris do it in Russia,

didn't trust the tire call made the wrong mistake cost him a race win it's coming back to bite them again and it's happened time and time again with other teams so you need to be as a team dictating what your driver does as you said they can see what the other 20 other 19 drivers are up to they can see what the weather's doing they can see if tires are wearing or what other kingy pigs are up and down the track peris starting on hard for example he could have got the first what 15 laps or it was on the hard and they know the data they go those were great tires we're going to use them later Max Verstappen went onto the hearts at the end. I almost think it worked for them.

I think it's actually Lewis Hamilton that was the difference between the two, not the hard tire. So that's where you have to trust your team. The team has to be assertive. I think McLaren are floundering how they've found themselves at the front. I think they've almost forgotten a little bit

how to make sure they need to win when it comes down to them making the right or wrong call. Okay, let's take our first break on this episode. On the other side, we've got a bit more chat on Max Verstappen. So we saw Max Verstappen, obviously qualified on the second row of the grid, made the move on Lando Norris quite early on in the race, but it became quite clear very quickly

that he didn't seem to have a great deal of pace, at least early on in this race. Lando Norris obviously gets by him. He then drops back to fifth place, at which point Carlos Seines is very quickly catching him. He's walked away with a second place here and was obviously very good in the final stint. What did you make of his race?

It was odd to see Red Bull struggling as much as they did. Really odd to see them struggling as much as they did. that obviously during the qualifying session, Max Verstappen damaged his floor and overnight, they replaced it with a like-for-like spec of floor. We are not engineers on this podcast, right? It's not why you come to this show, but that definitely might have provided some difference in what his raceability could have shown. The fact that he was able to qualify fourth with a damaged chassis tells me that, hey, the guy's clearly got pace around here. And I even second on our live stream, watch Max Verstappen. I think now he's got a fully repaired car. I really do

think like he's going to be a considerable threat for this Grand Prix. And that very quickly went the other way. He fell away into the race. And it was very unusual to see not just George Russell, but Lewis Hamilton in the second place, maintaining a two, three second gap to Max for Staff. It's almost I've heard of over the last year and a half. So very peculiar that the rebel was unable to perform around here. Obviously, Sergei Perez went nowhere.

Well, I'm sure we'll get onto that. But the way he changed his strategy, the way he was so proactive in making those calls. And then the way he utilized that hard tire, crows into his two capacitors in front on the soft tire, it was him that made the difference again. I really do think that car was not tip top. I really do think that car was unable to compete, especially with the McLaren,

but seemingly the Mercedes as well, because I think the conditions really suited Mercedes this weekend. I think the cooler temperatures, a little bit damp. I think that works perfectly for Mercedes. They did the same in Canada. It was a bit colder in Canada. Obviously, we saw George Russell get pole, and they picked up that first podium.

I'm a little bit worried for Mercedes later and down the line when we get to the hotter stuff. I think they might start to struggle a little bit. But it was all Max Verstappen today. I think he was, again, the difference maker. And I think that his pace to still be in it at the end of the Grand Prix shows you why Max Verstappen is Max for Stappen and why he's got that many race wins and those world titles.

Because I don't think many other drivers will have kept that Red Bull fighting for a second place, if not a win. It was a really good drive from him. You have to say, on yesterday's qualifying review, I was, as turns out wrong, I was worried that the Mercedes would not be able to keep up race pace. I thought it was going to create an interesting Grand Prix was I figured Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in third and fourth would have a bit of a pace advantage on Russell and Hamilton in first and second. And I think Norris got there at least on that first in.

I think he eventually showcased that that was maybe somewhat true, not for Max Verstappen. And I feel like we've got to a point now with the Red Bull team because, again, Sergio Perez is so frequently not in the same fight as Max Vastappen or even really close. You know, if Perez spent the first in stuck behind other cars, not really being able to make many overtakes, it's difficult to know Vastappan's pace based on not having that Perez comparison. We don't know if Sergio Perez does qualify in that top 10 and he's, let's say, sick. place somewhere around where Sines was. You know, is he having the same struggles early on as Vastappen does? Is this driver led? Is it car led?

It's very difficult to know. It was a surprise to me to see him so slow. I mean, based on what Vestappen usually does, of course he wasn't outright slow. But at least comparatively, it was a real shock. I think he did, you know, he managed to eventually get back into that fight when the four cars ahead were starting to slow each other down a little bit as they were kind of going back and forth from positions. But yeah, I was, I was surprised. In terms of, in terms of Redbourne Vastappen strategy, they absolutely nailed it. I think if you'd have got, I don't know, 15 laps into

this race and you'd have said to Vestappen, okay, Max, you can either keep racing and see if you can win, or we can take P2. What do you? He'd be, P2, yeah, that's good. Or at least he should have done, because that he did not at any. point in that early stage that Grand Prix looked like he had the pace to finish on the podium, let alone in the top two. And yeah, I think what he did on the hard tire, he was clearly on the right tire, compared to the soft at least. The medium might have been a little bit better. But yeah, I think as he crossed the line, 18 points, that's not too bad at all for where he was looking. It's what we used to say about Lewis Hamilton, wasn't it? It's the consistency. If you're

having a bad day, your bad day turns into second place on the podium, that's what we're what world champions are made of. He walks away. He's extending his championship lead again. Had a terrible race day. Didn't qualify the top three. Look like he was struggling. Got overtaken by all of his key competitors.

finishes in front of all of them. Lewis Hamilton, seven, the championship. Who cares? What he's doing? Oh, I've got a win. Cool. I'm a head further in the championship, mate. When it comes to Abu Dhabi,

I'm the one lifting the trophy. He's happy. He'll walk away totally fine from this. He did what a world champion does. And that is get the points in the bag and walk away onto the next. next one. A wing is a nice thing to have. The guy is smashing out the park. So another three points on Landon Norris. There is a very realistic chance that for the rest of this season,

he does not have a worse two-race stretch than what he's just had Austria to Silverstone. And I don't mean that as an insult to Vestappen in any way, by the way. Obviously, he had the pace to be competitive in Austria before the crash he had with Lando Norris. Here, he's finished a couple of positions ahead of where he probably should have done. Again, some of that credit absolutely goes of us happen. But there is a very realistic chance based on what we've seen from him in the last few years that he will not struggle like that again. And yet none of his rivals have made ground on him. Sure, he might not have made much of an advantage either. But when you're that far ahead in the championship, who cares? Yeah, yeah. Again, that that's why he's so good.

That is, and he deserves all the plug that's for it. And I was saying that on the screen, the level of drive that he put into go, he elevated that Red Bull. That Red Bull is not, was not a second place car today. It did not deserve him to be on the podium. He was the difference maker. And as much as Lewis Hamilton was sublime, so exceptional. And it was a wonderful moment. We say this all the time. There are several drivers up and down the grid that do deserve that credit. And it's nice to give Maxa Stapp and credit for something that isn't being 10 seconds down the road. He really drove well. What are your thoughts on his teammate? Because obviously he started from the pit lane, which was always going to compromise his race. He was due to start on the back row of the

grid, so it made sense for him to take that penalty. He makes a few early moves, but after making a couple of moves, he was stuck behind other cars when this was still dry conditions. He is then one of the drivers to make that early move onto the intermediate compound, which absolutely did not work, which essentially ruined his race and anyone else's race from that point onwards. How do you read his Grand Prix as a result of that? Don't put yourself at the back in the first place, mate. as simple as that. I think, you know,

we do big brain strap, which we're coming up to. Big brain strat for me is giving Sergio Perez a two-year deal. What an absolute joke. I'm sorry, but that qualifying was embarrassing. Beach kit,

everyone else manages to go around. I know there's a few mistakes made, but he's the only one that beaches it. He ends up having to start at the back of a racetrack that is, can be so hit or miss with if you can pass, right? It could be so difficult sometimes to follow.

It was tough. If you set up, you can, we saw a shoulder class. sat behind Lance stroll, for example, for ages. And obviously, LeClau was another person affected by the poor strategy call. And I think it was exactly that.

I think it was a really poor strategy call. I think that both driver and team are responsible for that kind of strategy call. In this race, we heard some drivers siptating the kind of the field of play. We heard some teams sititating the field of play. Sergei Perez is experiencing enough to sit there and go. I don't think we're there yet.

Other drivers are making it around. Other drivers are making it work. Drivers with far less experience. We're doing a much better job than Sergio Perez. I really think in those kind of conditions, you should look to those with experience to go, hey, I can make some passes here. Drivers are falling off the racetrack.

I can get into consistent laps. I can move my way up. This was not a boring Grand Prix wherever it sat processually going around with each other. He had opportunity to make moves here, and he didn't. He permanently stayed towards the back of that grid. I know the car wasn't a race-winning car,

but the race car was also more than good enough for a top six, top eight finish, I think from the back of that grid today. I think opportunities could be made, and he got nowhere. He went nowhere. So whilst I think there was some mitigating circumstances, I do put the predominant blame on Sergio Perez

for not getting a result out of this. Hugh Bird over Team Radio, of course Perez is race engineer. Straight after the Grand Prix said that it was worth the gamble to go on to the intermediate compound. I 100% agree with them. I know it didn't work. It definitely didn't work. It was nowhere near working.

I still think it was the right idea to go on to them. because at that point, what on earth have you got to lose? What have you got to lose? For Charles LeClair, and we'll get on to Ferrari a little bit later on in the episode, for Charles LeClaire, it was a stupid call because there are still points to be gained for him in this race. He was in a solid position. He had, as you say, just past Landstrol. He still had an opportunity, if there's a safety car or something like that,

to get back in the fight with the drivers ahead of him. For him, it was stupid. For Sergio Perez, we saw he was making no progress. He was making no progress after he'd got by, I think, Joe and O'Conn, and that was about here. And I think he was stuck behind Kevin Magnuson and Daniel Ricardo for quite a long time. Through strategy, might he have got up to P10? Maybe. I don't know.

But for the gain of one point, I think you might as well just go for it. And if you get it right, you are propelled way up the field at that point. So I agree with the Red Bull strategy call, even though it didn't work. work when you've, Sergio Perez has put himself in such a position where they have nothing to lose because they've got nothing in front of them. They've got nothing that they, surgery Paris has put them in a position where qualifying wise, they haven't got points to lose. So I thought it was fine. I think that's my problem with it. The fact that he put themselves himself in that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They have to make a call where, hey, you're, you're passing such

a bad position to start with, but we may as well try some outlandish, reckless bold choice to see if we can make the gains back up because you screw us in the first half, because you've started us so far back that we have to do something over the top, so try and get you back in the fight. There's going to be some serious conversations with that team. That qualifying, this whole weekend, another weekend is not good enough. Now, sixth place in the driver's championship, and I believe single digits away are both Russell and Hamilton. Seven away in total. And of course, Brussels would have been ahead of him if he'd finish this race, you'd have to believe. Should we do Driver of the Day?

Oh, go on them. Little jingle. You're the driver of the day. You're the driver of the day. You're good at driving. Who's on your list of contenders? There are a number of drivers. In conditions like this, you do tend to get a few that thrive. I thought that Niko Holgerberg was brilliant.

you know, the way he kept that car in that top six area. I thought it was fantastic. Out qualifying, both works, Ferraris was brilliant. Max for Saffin, I think he was also really, really, really good. I thought Albon had a really great race, getting past Sonoddy. It was the end there, finishing a ninth place. Sergeant had a good weekend. I thought he was really strong as well.

But I'm going to be obvious, and I'm going to give it to Lewis Hamilton. I thought the way he managed, he was always really good, but then that final stink sealed it for me. The way he delivered on those soft tires was vintage Lewis Hamilton. It's what he does. And it was a real moment for Formula One, I think. So, yeah, drive the day, Hamilton. The only other honourable mention that I did want to throw in there is Carlos Sines. I don't think he could have done much more.

Mr. Consistent, right? I think 11 points, which was fifth and a fastest lap, that is the absolute pinnacle of what Ferrari could have achieved today, which is an indictment of where Ferrari are, the fact that that was probably the best they could get. in terms of pure pace, he was comfortably slower than the cars in front. But equally, when we saw the conditions get to, you know, between dry and wet, that was an opportunity for some of the drivers to really, you know, taking away the car performance a little bit

and showcasing what you have as your ability as a driver. Carlos signs did very well in those conditions. Now, of course, when it got to full inters and it got back to full dries, that's where the car performance takes over again and you can't do a great deal if your car isn't fast enough to compete with the top four. But yeah, I thought he had a good performance.

My answer is Lewis Hamilton. He was driver of the day. Worst driver of the day. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Worst driver of the day. You suck at driving. Who's on your list for this one?

A few contenders again. Unless I'm mistaken, someone like Joe Guangyu was just incredibly slow. Slow, Guangyu, maybe we should start calling him. Because do you have a problem, Ben? Fill me in. Have I missed something or was he just that bad? Well, he was one of the drivers that started on the soft compound. So he pit early, didn't he?

Yeah, he pit early for a second set of dries, which of course didn't work very well because there was rain on the way, Salba. they really fumbled that. So, yeah. I mean, he wasn't very quick anyway, but. There was a moment on the timing board where George Russell was in the process of retiring and dropping down the timing sheet and everyone had passed him. And then it just said Joe Guangu plus three minutes.

And I thought that's a moment in my career. I wouldn't want a screenshot. So I know he was having a bad day personally. I thought Ricardo was well off the face of his teammate, just nowhere near him for the entire Rompere. But I don't think it was anywhere bad enough to go worse throughout the day. I'm going to give it to Charlotte Claire. I thought that, you know, he took ages to get past Lankstrol,

off of his teammates' pace for quite, you know, for the entire Grand Prix. I think he has every right to stand away from the decision of moving on to the intermediates. We've heard them dictate for Rowe before. We know their strategy is not something to be trusted. And it's almost the same thing as what happened in Canada, right? They got the tie call wrong because of the weather again. Let him down massively. Points from the table.

Even if they weren't the best points, points were on the table. And they got absolutely thrown in the bin. So I'm going to give it to the clue. My contenders are Sergio Perez for the reasons that we've just spoken about. I think Kevin Magnuson was poor. I know he made some progress, but equally, Holkenberg showed what that Hass was capable of. I think they were quite comfortably the sick fastest team on the day,

if not the fifth fastest team. So to finish 12th is a disappointment. I'm going to give it to Ricardo. I was disappointed. He did a good job of getting back in the fight at one stage, although I think, again, he might have got a bit lucky because strategically he seemed to benefit a bit more than a few of the other cars in front of him.

But that lasted, he was nowhere, and he was quite comfortably off Yuki Sonoda. So I will go Ricardo. Fair. Big brain strat. Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out.

What are you talking about? Obviously, with mixed conditions, there's probably quite a few contenders, but what are you going for? Yeah, I've got two on the cars. One I've just mentioned with Charlotte Clare, but the other one I'm actually here giving it to, which is keeping Oscar Piastri out for the other lap. I really think they absolutely threw away a chance of having both cars on the podium. I think they threw away the chance of having at least one of those cars pushed for the wing. I think it was a, oh, a devastating move for Piastri.

I just think that Piastri's been shafted there from totally honest. I think he drove a really, really good Grand Prix, right with this team at the entire time. That's cost him big time. In a race where they're the only contender to have two of their cars inside the top six, finish a Grand Prix. They could have out. I think a one two was comfy on the cars. And as you said at the start of this podcast, Ben, they fumbled. And I think this is one of the big reasons why that happened. So, Piazori having to go another lap round, big brain strike. I had two contenders. Those were the two. I won't mince my words. They were both rubbish.

Rubbish calls. I can't put it any other way. Since you've given it to the Piastri one, I'll give it to the, to the Charles Lecler one. Again, I don't mind that call if you're Esteban Ockon or if you're in the bottom 25% of the race at that point. Sure, go for it. You've got nothing to lose.

Charles Lecler had finally just made his way past Landstrol, and then you've decided to throw it all away. Awful, awful error. Well, oh, we've got to review bowl predictions, don't we? Oh, why? My, mine was so bad. What was yours? Mine was that Perez would beat Vastappan.

Yeah, that's... Let me count. Oh, yeah, you count. How fun. We'll be your while. Yeah. Perez, 2019, 18, 17. Second and 17th, that's...

Yeah, not good out of 10. No, I think it's not good out of 17, actually, mate. It's pretty rubbish. So, yeah, that's not right. I was encouraged by Daniel Ricardo's performance. at the Austrian Grand Prix. He must have heard me because he deliberately delivered a bad Grand Prix

so I could be wrong. What was Harry's? I've forgotten it entirely. I'm not sure. Maybe we'll hear from Harry a bit later on. Okay, great. Right, let's take our second break on this episode. On the other side,

we're going to be chatting more about Ferrari and some of the midfield contenders. Ferrari's difficult run of races continues, whereas Lewis Hamilton is triumphantly winning the Grand Prix. Max Rastappen is. making another great claim all the way up to second place. McLaren have finished third and fourth. All they get is 11 points.

Carlos Sines finishes in fifth. Of course, takes a point for the fastest lap that he pit for late on. But Charles Leclair is all the way down in, he recovers to 14th in the end, but really that intermediate decision really cost him. Well, you'd have to say, Sam, on pure pace, he's probably not getting any higher than sixth.

This is, again, strategically not a good race for Ferrari, but equally, it's not like they had the card to win it either. It's like talking to an addict. You know, they recover. You think they're on the right road. Well done. It must be hard. It must be so difficult to go through that.

And you're, you know, I'm one week clean. I'm two weeks clean. Or, you know, I've given up smoking. I'm a month clean. And this is like Ferrari, right? They've had a great run to the start of the season. Oh, we're really knocking down the points. And they think, oh, that poor strategy call, that bad upgrade path,

those bad performances, they're sitting on the, the shelf and they look too tempting. I'm going to have to do it. I'm going to have to have have to have a siggy outside. I'm going to have to take another hit. And there they go. Off the broken track, away from the clean path. And they're just going down another path of just hurting themselves. The upgrades haven't worked. The strategy calls are bad. The place is going out the window. Whilst McLaren arguably have the fastest car now, whilst Fasperin is delivering time and time again, whilst Mercedes have finally started to understand what's going on and take good steps forward, Ferrari are now closer, it seems, to the back of the top 10 than they are to Rebel.

When a time that Rebel can't seem to deliver the top car anymore, they should be the natural successes. And yet, you come to a track where at Silverstone, they've had great success many, many times, and they've let themselves down again in a race last time out in Austria, where the leaders take themselves out. Are they the car to pick up the pieces? No, they're not even in the top two. They fail again.

So why King Ferrari does not consistently deliver? something that helps them take good, consistent steps forward. They were so exciting about these upgrades. Do you remember all those months ago now? LeCler, science come out into the radio. We're going to be up there with Red Ball. We're going to wipe a second off their pace. We're going to be fighting for race wings. Sorry, where is that? Was it 2025 that was coming? Is it a real thing? Is it a fantasy? Have we created a fictional tale? Because where has the pace gone? Like Jack Sparrow, where is the rum gone? Well, the rum in this case is paste. Ferrari haven't got a clue and they don't have a search for it because they are lost at sea.

And I don't know what they're trying to do anymore because they can't seem to get any higher than at best a fourth or fifth place. They are miles away from the lead and the drop off is quite staggering. Well, yeah, I mean the fact that obviously Carla Sines finished on the podium at Austria, but it wasn't due to his out and outpace. It was the fact that he should have been fifth and two cars in front of him took each other out. Yeah, it's not good. This is their pace.

I know Lecler, you know, some of the distra... I don't want to call it a distraction because it's what happened. But obviously, Charleclair being out of the points and having a bad strategy call is one thing. But again, it's not like they would have been great if that didn't happen. They would have been very comfortably behind McLaren, very comfortably behind Mercedes and very comfortably behind Max Verstappen. That they weren't enough. The only reason at one point, Carlos Sines was fairly close to Max Verstappen, was because of those mixed conditions. As soon as that stopped again, I know strategically they didn't even get

Carlos Sines' call right, really, because they were a lap late with him on the second go round. But I think he would have dropped back there anyway. We saw Piaastri was all over the back of Carlos Sines in that middle stint. And that's because McLaren and Piastri are far quicker right now than that Ferrari. And like I said, I put Carlos Sines as a mention for driver of the day, because I do genuinely think he did a very good job. And I don't think this Ferrari has anything more. And we shouldn't be surprised at that, because you've got Charles LeCler, who was running the

new spec on Friday, changed over to the old spec yesterday, has been running that for the rest of the weekend. Carlos Sines is running this old spec car as well. Of course, Ferrari are behind all of these other cars that have made upgrades. when they're running a car that is exactly the same pace-wise where it was like seven races ago. That's what happens in F1. Teams make progress. So if you don't make progress, if you stand still, it will look as if you're going backwards. What's happened the last few races?

McLarenov not far behind now. Yeah, I think the most frustrating thing for them is that this isn't the one-off. This isn't like they've made a bad strategy call and they set the car up wrong. This is now the norm. This is, you're going here. The fact that Hasse, I think, I think, Hulkberg, not Magnuson, genuinely was better than both of them. I think if you gave Holgerberg an equal car, he could beat them both.

That's how bad they'd become now. Let's have a look at some of the other midfield contenders. You mentioned, Nick at Holcomburg, that is a second consecutive top six finish. Now, he didn't get a good start to this Grand Prix that Holkneberg, but still managed to make his way back into a strong point scoring position. And now Hass are not that far behind the Menardi team. It's interesting. Yeah, you've got to give Holgerberg a round of applause.

You remember a couple of seasons ago, out of the sport, people thinking, who's this old-timer? As he still got it in him, you know, he's been away for too long. I'm not sure he's anything better than a sub now. He is one of the drivers of the season. The performances that he continually puts seeing are above and beyond what that horse is capable of. Look at how he's out driving Magnuson.

Now, Magnuson is no slouch of a racing driver either. I'm not saying he's up there with the top 10, but he's a good driver. And Holgerberg is making him look terrible. generally terrible. No wonder Audi wants him because the performances that he's delivering a car

that I do think is not as good as the likes of Menardi is not as good as the likes as Ferrari. He's up there with them. He's driving with them. He's beating Astor Martins who were getting regular podiums last season. Remember where Harswear last season?

I was mocking them. I called them impostors. I said they didn't even know how tyres work. And now two six places in a row. The guy should, I'm running out a good thing to say about it, but it should not go unnoticed. just how brilliant Nika Holkenberg is driving.

Yeah, fair play to Nika Holkenberg from an individual point of view. Like I say, he had a poor start to the Grand Prix that might well have cost him time in this race because, of course, a lot of the talk is about how Shal Leclerc was stuck behind Lancholy. Of course, Holkenberg was stuck behind both of them. So it definitely cost him in terms of time. It probably didn't cost him in terms of position, let's be honest. I don't think the top five were within play. but I want to give some more credit to the HAST team

because I actually think pace-wise they were very good this weekend and that's why I'm disappointed in Kevin Magnuson finishing 12 is that I genuinely think that that HAST team has overtaken all of its rivals in the midfield. I think it has overtaken Minardi. I think it has overtaken Aston Martin, at least at this point.

You think it's the fifth? Yeah, I do right now. Yeah. Holkenberg's race pace on Friday in practice looked pretty good. qualifying yesterday, he was 10ths away from being in the mix of a few drivers in front of him. I think Hasse have developed a very good car at this point in the season. I think they do have the potential.

If Menardy don't get things together, including their upgrades, they do have the opportunity to get in front of them. And again, I mean, they probably, I think they should have had two drivers in the fight here. Holkenberg as well did a very good job in that final stint because he was on the soft compound, I believe both of the cars behind him, both Asthams were on the medium, certainly Stroll was. And as we know,

I think the medium was the better compound to be on. Hulkenberg still did enough to hold off stroll, even though it became quite close in the closing laps. So he deserves respect for that. But yeah, I think this has team, the last two races, I think they've been there. I mean,

I know that everyone loves him, but it has to make you question what Gunter Steiner was doing. Because Kamatsu has been there for, well, as a team leader, for what now? now, 10 months, eight months, and he has turned that team around. Remember, two years ago, they were slogging it around seconds off the pace, at last place in the championship.

And now they're beating Aston Martin, who realistically should have had a race wing last season. The turnaround is incredible. It's such a short amount of time. Yeah, it's always difficult to know as well because, you know, you can look at the uptick in performance this season and just say, automatically Kamatsu is doing a great job, Steiner wasn't, which might be the case.

But equally, as we know sometimes in F1, you don't get to reap the benefits of decisions that you take until months after they happen. Gunter-Steiner might well claim, and he might be right to say he did all the foundational work last year so that they could prosper this year. Again, I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but it is difficult to know.

It is, you're right. And that's a fair shout-out, and he doesn't immediately exerts to be criticised because you're right. Timelines do happen. But there's a lot of coincidences lining up with this immediate tick-up in form, because there's no extra budget

and there's no more people working on that team. Yes, that's very much true. Williams, 9th and 11th? One of what, if not their best performance as a team this season? Logan's sergeant was really good, and this comes after James Vowles came out and said that there's a real chance

that he could lose his seat midway through the season. And again, as much as it's harsh, maybe on Logan's target to hear that, I think James Vowles is Augusting in the media, is incredibly refreshing. and I think it's good to know that everyone knows where they stand, Logan Sargent included. He has been subpar.

He has not been good enough. When the car is now seemingly able to score points, he needs to be there if Albon's suing the job. Albao did do the job. Albon was very, very good today. He delivered. He beat the RB of Sonoda and, of course, Ricardo, who was beaten by both Williams drivers.

And I think that if another retirement happened, sergeant's in position to pick up some points. So, fair play to them. I'm not really sure what more they could have done, realistically. I think maybe Sargent could have been closer to Sengoda and the like in front, but realistically, it's a tough ask. I think Albuhrin out drove the car. I think the sergeant did a very good job.

So we'll see if they can maintain that form, or if this was a weird one-off, maybe due to conditions. And, of course, the Claire being out, Perez being out, and then Russell retiring, might have benefited them. For much of the first stint, Alex Album was not in the DRS of the car in front. I think they were just outside the top 10 at this stage. Alex Albin for a large chunk of that first stint

was not in the DRS of the car in front. Logan Sargent consistently was in the DRS of Albin. He stuck to the back of Albin for nearly the whole of that first stint. Now, of course, the gap did eventually play out to be much more. However, I still, I agree. I think it was a good performance from Logan Sargent today. Alex Albin was very good as well and better, obviously, than Sergeant based on the finishing position.

But if Sergeant delivers... This Grand Prix, every single race for his career, he's not in danger. This is absolutely fine. And we've never claimed that Logan Sargent needs to be beating Alex Albin. It's always natural to have a best driver at a team that happens at nearly every team, right? But he was not that far away. And unfortunately, we didn't get to see it because there was so much attention on the race at the front towards the end. He overtook Kevin Magnusson.

in the Hasse, direct fight. They were both on soft tires. Logan Sargent was behind Magnuson for a few laps. It was looking threatening that he would do something. Sergeant then got the move done on Kevin Magneton. I'm looking forward to seeing that at some point on Twitter or Reddit, I'm sure. A week's time.

Yeah, right. But yeah, he deserves respect for getting that done. And I think there was, he was slowly catching Yuki Sonoda towards the end of that race. But yeah, I think he deserves a lot of respect. Well done, Sergeant. Yeah. Big up.

Last midfield team that we'll just focus on before our last break. Let's have a quick look at Astor Martin because they've had a difficult run as of late. At least in comparison to some of the other recent results, this would be a step in the right direction. They've got Lance Stroll who finishes in seventh place for six points, Fernando Alonzo in 8 for 4.4 points. What did you make of their two races? I think their blushes were saved by a few external. circumstances. I think they both drove good races. And it was interesting to see just how much better Lank Stroll was than Fernando Alonso. Now, to my knowledge, there was no problem with either

car and neither of them ran into serious trouble. Lank Stroll just had the upper hand. Ben, do correct me if I'm wrong there. Yeah, well, certainly Lansdroll got a far better start. So he was three positions ahead of Fernando Alonzo early on. And of course, Stroll was defending from Hulkenberg and from Leclair. At that point, Alonzo, was unable to get in that fight, at least early on in that stint. So early, Stroll seems to have the advantage. As the stint went on, Alonzo got quicker to the point where Alonzo was on the back of Lanchstrol, but I think what happened was Lans stroll got the right lap in terms of pitting.

Fernando Alonzo didn't, and suddenly that gap that was only maybe a second or two went to be 10 seconds. I think Alonzo then managed to work his way back into it again. But certainly towards the end of the race, when they were back. both on medium tires, Stroll did have the upper hand, I think. Alonzo wasn't threatening Holcomberg in the same way that Stroll was.

It was a positive experience for Stroll. And I think he will look at this Grand Prix, very funnly, I think I've done a good job. I don't know what more I really could have got out of this one. Now, I do think, when I say, you know, outside circumstances, I mean that Magnuson wasn't quick enough. The RBs haven't got their upgrades working maybe to full force yet.

And Sonoda was the best of the two. I think he was driving a good race, Ricardo and not. The Alpins had an absolute nightmare. Gassley barely got going, obviously, as we saw, had a gearbox failure, and O'Con, had one of the most non-existent Grand Prix. I ever saw him appear on the camera. You beat Gassley, I thought it was a good performance.

No points, mate, I'm afraid. So, you know, it means nothing. And then, of course, in front of them, Perez, and I muck up in qualifying, doesn't start around them, it doesn't make any progress. Lecler has a terrible strategy call, falls backwards. George Russell retires. Those are three cars that ship you in front of them.

If those three cars are in front of them, neither of those guys score points. So for that reason alone, cook result for the team, I think this will not be the same next time now. I do not think they'll be able to deliver on this. I do not think this is the car delivering the pace. I think that they rightly benefited

and you have to race what's around you. They can't control that. I'm sure they wouldn't go, oh yeah, put everyone in the race. We'll be in one pace anyway. I'll take what they could get. But I do think this was a result

because of fortunate circumstances in their favor rather than them having the car that's sounding deciding to turn up. Okay, let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, we've got our Moment of the Race submissions. Back, it's time for Moment of the Race. We do have some Discord submissions that we will get through in a little bit. But before we get there, of course, myself and Sam have our own submissions.

So Sam, you can start. Well, for me, it's quite a long one, I suppose, but it's that entire last segment of the Grand Prix. Whilst this Silverstone Grand Prix might be a nine-long. or 10 out of 10, to be honest. It really was a fantastic Grand Prix. That battle in the pit lane, the fight between Hamilton, Norris and Bostappen, and then Hamilton's emotion coming around to win that Grand Prix,

his first for two and a half years, as we mentioned. I think that was a Formula One moment, and I think that's what we watch the sport for. I think that's what, same with Norris' first win earlier on in the season, right? The same is when Piastri gets his, which will eventually come. Those, when we show a one at Monaco,

these are the kind of moments that we live and breathe Formula One for. and if you've gone on Twitter you'll see that even I was welling up at it. It was a brilliant moment for sport. So that entire segment in his message in the way he was like getting his mum and dad and everything, that for me was the moment with the race. It was a really

lovely, lovely moment. Absolutely shameless plug on this as well but it's the sort of race that in 10 years time we'll be including in our polls for what historic race we watch as part of our patron offering. It's that sort of

of classic that we'd look back on. My moment of the race is something far less serious. Good. My moment of the race. So we're getting down. It's actually somewhat related to yours. So we're in the dying stages of this incredibly exciting, incredibly emotional Grand Prix. We don't know exactly what's going to happen.

Max Verstappen is bearing down on the two leaders. He's overtaken Lando Norris. Is he going to get Lewis Hamilton? Is he going to get within DRS of Lewis Hamilton? Are we going to get a fight right to the line? TV director. We need to show Rowan Atkinson. Mr. Being himself is sat there.

Really? Could you not have done that on lap 10? You're being there in the old time. Seriously? I thought that was very fun. Nice to see you, Rowan, but what are you doing? I'd like to watch some racing. Hello.

We do have some submissions from our Discord members. because Harry's not here. We'll have Sam do the honors of playing them. Right. So here we go. I've got to find the first one. Here we go. Folks, I've nailed it.

Here we go. Submissions. First up, it's Woody. It's going on, fellas. It's your boy Woody from the homohas in North Carolina. USA. Moment of the race has to be at the end of the race, actually, when the guys on the podium were all in the room.

And Lewis is ragging on Max, calling them a ball hog for keeping them off the podium. two and a half years. Love the bands between the boys. Keep brick and late. I actually love that. I thought that was such a great line from Lewis Hamilton. Who did you hear called him some of a bullhog in Formula One? That was such a great line. It's very Hamilton there, isn't it?

It's very British, yeah. And of course, we've got live show attendee times two, Sebelicious, and it will be Sebelicious again. So, hello, Sebelicious. That's what you have to say. Hi, you sexy people. Melrose is pretty obvious. It's my emotional support.

human being Lewis Hamilton. I love you. And, you know, George D&Fing just the chair on top in it. Right.

Adios. Oh, and a little extra. Also, part two, it's coming home. Brilliant. Good stuff.

I'll tell you what, I'm not on board yet with the double submission trend that we've got going on. I'm not quite there with it. Maybe I can be swayed, but not at the moment.

Got a late converter. from dang hawking. Let's see if you could get on board. Of course, coming up next is Mr. Sangman. Hey, late breaking. A long time listener, first time, caller, all that kind of stuff. I'm going to go with a little bit of a different moment

because I'm sure a lot of people are going to say, Lewis. I'm going to go with George's car just deciding that it was done halfway through the race. I'm sure I think Joy flew a little bit too close to the sun

with their under pressure prediction at the live show. So anyway, love the podcast, guys. Bye. This is on you, Joy. You never thought I'd say this, but to quote Uncle Ben, with great power becomes great responsibility. And Joy, I think you were, I think you much that one up for him. It's all on you entirely. I hope you say, okay, personally.

Coming up next is Tim. Hi, boy, Tim here from the grandstand at term one. My role was the battle between Yuki Samoda and Fernando Alonso. I don't think it was shown on the screens, but it was the main. and also Lewis I'm getting. Bye. Always cool to have a message sent in from someone at the track.

I don't think we've got any more of those. Definitely not coming up later on. No time for that. No time at all. A friend of the show and someone we met at our fan zone down when we were at Williams last year, a big album fan who brought me Whirley bars. It's Jeff One.

Jeff One here, first time submitter, previous Whirley Bar Donator, moment of the race. They go, he's back, Lewis Wynne, shout out to Alex Albon, getting points in the Brexit means Brexit car. We love that Brexit car. It's a very Brexit he car, wasn't it? Big old flag on the back of that one, wasn't there?

I love that we can't have a national flag because we were just looking at it and go awful, represents terrible things. Harry's microwave beep beep is here, but not Harry. So thank you, Harry's microwave, beep, beep, for making appearance. Carrie's microwave here, FTLT.

Moment of the race was obviously Lewis just sobbing on the radio because that was really adorable and it made me cry, which made my husband think I'm ridiculous. Anyway, thanks for the podcast. Bye.

We don't think you're ridiculous. No. I love the double take there of I thought it was going to be the husband started crying as well, but it's knife. Yeah, I go. That's savage, isn't it?

I crying, and so my husband thought I was ridiculous. Like, yeah, brilliant. Cheers from mocking me in my tenderest moments. Syth Lucifer. It's a very dark name, Syth Lucifer, but it's good to have you. This is Syth from Texas here. First time, submitter. My mum of the race has to go to Nico Holkenberg,

beating yet again Charlotte Clare and a Ferrari. I mean, what are we doing, Charlotte, Claire? You're losing to your customer team again for the second time. not even in the points again but great job the Haas and great job to Nico Holkenberg for beating the Ferrari and being the second fastest Ferrari powered car. Even

mentioned by the commentators yet again. Great job. Love that. Love that. I mean the Haasks deserve some love, right? They were great. Well, half of them were. Yeah. Sure. Good. Good, sure. Emma Scott. Next up. Hi, everyone. Emma from Scotland here. I finally stopped crying

so I thought it would be a good time to do my moment of the race. At the risk of copying everyone else, I have to say that the moment of the race was Lewis Hamilton winning and me crying, everyone on the Discord crying, everyone on the TV crying, Lewis crying, his dad crying. Very emotional, very lovely. Hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.

Okay, thanks guys, love the podcast. Bye. There you go. The nation is crying. Everyone is crying. The world is crying. Just what a silly little sport we all love. A short and sweet one coming at the end here.

It's Cronhamberg. which is a beer or a cider, I think. Lewis Hamilton. I love that. That's great. Actually a massive McLaren fan and he's talking about when Hamilton was overtaken for the lead.

That would be it. Who's the overtaking? Louis Hamilton. Brilliant. Oh, do I have to do this one, Ben? What one? There's another guy here who is something to do with the show, apparently.

No, I don't believe that. Well, how many seconds is the submission? 32. He's over the limit. Oh, okay. Well, that's stunning. I guess we won't be playing it. Good stuff.

Right. No, go on then. He's even got, capturing it Smug Harry. Goodness me. I love the smell of a yet another bold prediction. That's right. Hello, yes, it's Smug Harry here. Sorry, I'm not on the podcast, but I am indeed at Silverston.

My moment of the race is undoubtedly Lewis. and winning because it made me right again, which quite frankly, is unbelievable. From the ground side, I've actually no idea of what happened in that race. It was carnage. The only thing I remember is Alex Albon's dirty, dirty move around the outside of Stowe. Hello, boys. Hope it well. See you soon.

Can I tell him to bugger off? Is that all right? I think you kind of already have in asking the question, but sure. Good. Bugger off. I'm actually bringing in a new rule to bold predictions from now. in the same way that if Sam, you know, I ask you a question. If you get this question right, Sam, you win 20,000 pounds.

You get the question right. Surely that only counts if you come and collect the 20,000 pounds from me. Harry's not here to collect this bold prediction point, okay? Doesn't count. That's my new rule. I still can't remember. Was Hamilton to win his bold prediction? Yeah, I think so.

Honestly, he should have put money on that. You know what? He probably didn't. Maybe he'll have won 20,000. Maybe you could have bought late breaking out. I bet he kicked him out of his fantasy team whilst also predicting it. I think Lewis Hamilton. I think Harry Eads fantasy team's just got nothing in it.

I think it's just an empty paddock. Well, we'll get to talk to him about it tomorrow as we're recording this actually on a Monday. But we will be back midweek, Sam. We will be back midweek. But first up, we've got power rankings. So if you want to be a Patreon member, then check it out. Link is into the Scrippy. You get loads of extra content.

you get extra episodes, you get power rankings, you get people breaking, you get the historic thing that we do every single month. You also get a birthday shout out on the month of your birthday. So for those July birthday babies, it's coming up really quick for you,

20 days, and then we'll give you a good old birthday shout out. So thanks for your support anyway. Thanks for support of the Twitch stream that we're doing as well. Loads of stuff coming from us as well. We won't just stop because there's no races coming up obviously on those weekends. We're here every single week, all the time, every time. What a day it's been.

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.