The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2024 Spanish GP Review

Episode Date: June 23, 2024

The LB boys review the Spanish GP that has left us ever more hopeful of a competitive season - though Verstappen reigned in Spain, it was CLOSE! They run through the action, from questioning whether there was anything McLaren could have done to secure a victory to discussing the performances of Mercedes versus Ferrari, and the recovery drives of Perez versus Piastri... LONDON LIVE SHOW! Join us as we preview the British GP live in London on 2 July, full event info + tickets HERE FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes, historic race reviews & more! JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League: SIGN UP & create your team, and JOIN our league (join code: C3PHEQHPU04) BUY our Merch SEND us something! We have a brand new PO box - address: Late Braking Podcast, PO Box 821, TRURO TR1 9PE EMAIL us at [e-mail] & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. And a very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking, today reviewing the Spanish Grand Prix, a race won by Max Verstappen, with Lando Norrish chasing him down at the end, finishing in second place, and Lewis Hamilton claiming his first podium of the season. and three different teams on the podium again, Sam? Three different teams on the podium. Lewis Hamilton's 18th consecutive year

of scoring a podium in Formula One. We had some good battles, some spicy moments. It had some good parts, this Grand Prix. Not an absolute all-time thriller, but enjoyable race nonetheless. Harry, you weren't here for qualifying, obviously, yesterday. How did you find the weekend so far? How did you find the race?

I think we can safely say now, we can have a battle at every circuit we go to, right? Oh, no. No, he said it. I've chinked it. You've jinxed it. I said I give it one more race and I've given it one more race and we've had another one. It's going to be 30 seconds next week.

Oh, Harry. Harry. Sorry, guys. Yeah. Anyway, so I hope you all enjoyed that one because that's the last enjoyable race we'll have this year now. Yeah, a pretty close battle. We're going to get on to the likes of Mercedes versus Ferrari, ultimately finishing where they started in, in third, fourth, fifth and sixth.

Piastrian Perez having to fight their way back through the field. A bit on Alpine again, scoring points today. Aston Martin, though, no points for them. And of course, our moment of the race will close out the show. But let's start with the battle out front. Max Verstappen, of course, after George Russell claimed a very early lead, was able to get by George Russell, build up a bit of a gap. And even with Lando Norris being able to catch him in that lasting,

it wasn't enough in the end, but only by a couple of, of seconds. Sam, do you think that this race was won and lost on that opening lap

or even before we got to turn one? Tell you what, I just probably go into a little bit of praise for Georgie Russ on that start

because Dutty indeed absolutely chucks it around the outside and you heard them in the call-down room actually going Lando I think said to Max

I think we slowed each other down a bit much there because George going clean around the outside and then your favourite turn one delivered a

sensational performance And we pulled this up in the, and Ben, more specifically, you pulled this up, and Gregor to you in the preview episode where we spoke about race pace and whether we were able to, Mercedes were able to hang on with good race pace throughout the entire Grand Prix. And it evidently became clear that actually Max and Mando will probably have the legs on the Mosegis guys throughout the overall Grand Prix. But George Russell did exactly what he needs to do,

which was make it difficult, at least for a little bit anyway. They're sending around the outside like that. I love it when a turn one opens up that opportunity. It's very similar to. to Mexico's turn one and two is well, in the sense that because of that running down to the breaking zone is so long, 11 seconds is that run down from the start to the turn one breakers zone. It allows for slipstream, it allows for late breaking,

which of course we love, hence the name. So pick up George Russell, pick up that turn one. It was good fun to watch, but was it one a loss for Lando? Lando start initially he got a good getaway, and then obviously dropped the lead to Max almost immediately. And then strategy as well, wasn't perfect, I think, for McLaren. They kept trying to go for tyre offset,

and this just meant that because of the clean air that Lassapen was running in, even though he got caught towards the end, he had done so much throughout the Grand Prix, where he was just able to extend a little bit, extend a little bit, cruise, maintaining his tyres, that even though Lando was really rapid towards the end of the Grand Prix,

Max just had enough in the bag. He was never really under pressure, despite it coming down to under three seconds at the end there, he just got the job done throughout the Grand Prix. So I think the race was pretty much, which lost for Lando before the first set of pit stops are taking out. I don't think they were close enough come that first strategy call. And I was also very surprised that no one was starting on the mediums,

other than Albaugh who came out the pit laying, of course, on mediums. I thought the soft tyres at the start of the Grand Prix and with qualifying war very quickly. It makes sense that they went on them at the end when the fuel was much lighter. I think the track had cooled slightly, but I was really surprised that Noah went for a slightly the alternative strategy of starting on the mediums. But yeah, I think it was lost by the first pit stop for Lando. Unfortunately, he had so much time to gain back again. by that point, it didn't feel really plausible.

Harry, I guess in a weird way, you could term this a positive for the F1 season, but Lando Norris was gutted with his second place finish, which in itself proves how far McLaren have come that they would be disappointed by that sort of a result. A couple of years ago, of course, they would have bitten your hand off for something like that. What did you make of Lando Norris's effort at the start? And do you think that's where the race was won and lost?

Yeah, like you said, Sam. I'm a dutty start from George Russell, and I really appreciated it, but I'm also a little bit annoyed because I think he ruined our battle for the leave at the end. Because I think that's where Corrine Chandog on the Sky Commentary

was pointed this out. It's where that gap was, it was about four seconds with, you know, what was it, five laps to go, six laps to go. That was the gap that he lost, basically, in that first stint stuck behind, this is Noro, sorry,

he lost, stuck behind Russell. so yeah i think that's kind of where i think even if it's either he he he doesn't they don't lose out to russell but also uh he doesn't lose out to vestappen on that start i think he needs one of those two not to happen but he had both unfortunately so not only did he lose out to vestappen he lost out to russell i think if you if russer still gets on in front of the start and norris's second i think that's a different we've got a different race altogether i think if russell's not in the picture and for Stappen still gets past him. Again, I still think we've got a different race on our hands.

So yeah, it's a shame in that sense. But once again, a nice, very close, and a gap of two seconds. You guys thought it would be more than that. We're getting on two ball predictions. But this is why I'm a bit more confident now about the, I think we can have some close races for the remainder of the season,

because this is now, we're at a classic European track here. This is vintage European motor racing, circuit. And we had another two second finish between Bostapp and Norris. So yeah, and that says it's a good sign for the remainder of the season. Obviously, Norris was gutted because he thought the whims on the cards. And he does say it probably could have been had that start going better. But hopefully there's more of that to come.

Yeah, it was one of those where I think you could argue not only was this race won and lost on the opening lap, not even going into term one. I think you can look at the first 10 meters of that Grand Prix. and that's where it was lost because ultimately Lando Norris so nearly had the gap to Vastappan at the start to be able to cover him off on the outside or what would become the inside of turn one. If he was able to do that,

then suddenly I think Vestappen is the driver in the middle of those three cars and he's the one that's sandwiched into third place. And even if Russell still gets around the outside, at that point is Lando Norris in second rather than Vestan. and if Lando Norris can then make the move as Max Verstappen did very early on, and which ended up being such a crucial move that how quickly Vestappen got that done, then I think we are looking at a completely different race. Like you say, Karin Chandott was quick to mention how the gap in that first stint

was ultimately what caused Vastappen to be able to win this race. I do just want to give a shout out to friend of the podcast, Corinch Chandok. I thought he was excellent today. and I mean no disrespect to Martin Brondo who's often the co-commentator because he's brilliant in his own right but having Corin Chandok there who is way more on it strategically

than anyone else I think they put in the boove was really good particularly for a race like this where there were so many two and three stop races but yeah I was going to say on that point he Karun called what was going to be an exciting end of the race like halfway through the race which I think is very useful.

For a viewer, at that point, you could easily switch off. But calling that was actually really useful for maybe someone slightly more casual. But yeah, agreed. 100%. In terms of the strategy that McLaren deployed, Harry, we saw Landon Norris go quite a bit longer on the first stint, trying to get that tire offset to work for them. Did you agree with that call?

I did, I think, because after he got stuck behind, for so long they had to try something different with it. This race and I guess a couple of others now like Imala are giving me real 20-20 vibes. It's given me Max Verstappen trying to and Red Bull trying to beat Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes and Mercedes by doing something different and it's not quite pulling off at the moment but hopefully as we keep going on we will get a closer battle. Yeah, I think they had to try something different as soon as that gap was pulled with with Vastapin in that first stint, I think if they followed suit,

they wouldn't have caught him anyway. So it probably didn't quite pay off with the traffic he had to get through, but it was worth a pun. And like we said, I think the time was really lost in that first thing anyway, rather than what he had to do in Stint too. So worth a shout from McLaren. They tried it.

They've tried it before. It hasn't quite paid off, obviously did in Miami. And again, if a safety car had come out here, then it could have, they could have looked like heroes again. No yellow flags, even when Alex Albon's just languishing in the gravel,

by the way. They were still scrambling to pick him up. Like, hang on, what colour is it? No, he's already out. He became the world's angriest man when he did that. Yeah, yeah. Why is my car done this? Don't tell me.

Don't tell me. Don't talk to me. I've asked you a question, but don't you dare talk to me. Don't reply immediately. How dare you? But yeah, so if a safety car, I'll come out for McLaren,

then again, they could look, They could have looked like heroes, but it wasn't to be, but I think overall was worth a shout. What do you think, Sam, strategically could McLaren have done anything different to try and try and take this win away from Vastappen, or did they do all they could? I think with Norris's car, they did all they could. It was fine. You know, it made sense. Norris was able to execute overtakes really really well. He was rarely stuck behind anyone that was slower than him. What I wanted more involvement from was from Piazsche, who was languishing. That first stint, Max Vastepin Pitts, it comes out behind.

Oscar Piastri, and I thought, I said it on our live stream that we were doing, I said, right, Piastri now, defend like a lion, you know, you've got to make sure that you get the elbows out and you hold up Max, even if it's for half a lap, it might bring back a second, you know, just be difficult. And Max literally whipped it around him so easily. It was like passing a back marker. I know the tyres were upset. I know that Max was on brand new rubber and Piastri would be running from the start of the Grand Prix on that set. But it's Catalonia.

This isn't Monza. fly past anywhere you want. And we saw, you know, multiple drivers get stuck for half a lap or so behind drivers while having to make the overtake on the start, finish rate. And that could have been the difference maker. That could have restored the gap that got lost on the first few laps when Norris was stuck behind Russell. Piasch was never going to really make it back to the front. He was never going to be inside the top six, I don't think. That was evident when he was stuck behind Gasly for quite a while at the start of the Grand Prix. So you may as well let him know, sacrifice him, do it for the team, and tell him, you need to make this as humanely difficult for Max

and Staffing as possible, because it could give us a chance to win here. Do you remember a little while ago when it was like, don't bring out a safety car? Do you remember that? When Piastri got the call, that's what they needed. They're almost the opposite. Do whatever you can. Get the car all over that racetrack. Make it so difficult. So it wasn't necessarily about the strategy of the pit stops, but I expected a bigger call to Piastri there to be like, our main competition is the guy right behind you, get your elbows out. You need to make this hard and we might win this race. It didn't. He breathes right past him. I didn't hear any radio anyway. Maybe he did. But there was nothing from him and I was a bit disappointed. We'll talk more on Piastri and his

race a little bit later on in the show. I've got to be honest, I don't think there's much he could have done there. But we'll talk Piastri a little bit later on. In terms of strategically for Norris, could they have done anything different? I'm going to be a little bit critical of McCarran here. And I might be wrong in doing so. I'm happy to be corrected. I think they could have done something a little bit different. So I think they got like 80% of the way there in terms of the strategy. I think they should have deployed, but they didn't do the last 20%.

So what I think they should have done was almost what LeCler did. So LeCler obviously stayed out longer as Norris did. But LeCler stayed out a few laps longer than Norris did. I think they should have done that because Norris, yes, Norris was able to dispose of traffic in after his first stop. But actually, he came out just behind all of the cars that he would need to overtake. It still slowed him down a bit, I think. If he goes and stays out a little bit longer, he obviously drops back even further from

that group. That gives him the clean air that suddenly by the time he's caught up to that group, they're probably already considering their second stop. So I think that might have just given him a little bit more clean air than the strategy they did deploy. and if he goes, say, I don't know, six, seven laps longer, I think you then start to get into the window of contemplating a one-stop. Now, I know no one tried it,

but I think you've at least got the flexibility then at that point of saying, well, with 15 laps to go, we can either, we can make the judgment call at that time. Do we have enough tire life to be able to hold off everyone else and potentially win? Or do we pit for soft tires with 15 laps to go? And then we've got slam dunk passes on cars. around us rather than we're going to get it done, but it's going to take a little bit of work. I just think they should have extended that first stint a little bit longer than they did. I'm not sure whether it would have actually worked, but I think that might have just given

them an option or two more than what they had available to them. Were you shocked and no one tried the one stop? I was a little bit shocked, yes. I think it would have been worth a go from someone, particularly we saw no retirements today. So I think those back, you know, you've got the likes of three teams battling from 14th down. You're not going to score any points unless you try something radically different. So I think it would have been worth a go. The only issue was that hard tire was not as good as it was expected to be.

If it was as good as it was expected to be, then I think maybe it was worth a go. But yeah, I can understand why no one in the top 10 tried it. It's just if Norris extended a bit further, you've at least got the option to. Even if you then decide actually it still makes sense for us to go to a two-stop and be very quick in that final stint, you can do that. But once you've pitt that early, you kind of just take that away from yourself. Yeah, I see your point. I think my only reservation about what you're saying there is,

I feel like Norris can give more laps to catch up to Verstappen. I don't think he need less laps in that final stint. I think even if he had a bigger tire advantage, I still don't think it's enough. I think the damage was done too early. I think we've all harked back to it. Realistically, you need some other kind of intervention. to prevent Max Verstappen getting away further, or you're easier to change right at the very start of the Grand Prix.

I don't think 15 laps, 25 laps on the soft, whatever it might have been, would be enough. I think Gestapo had the tire life in the bag. Should we review some highly successful bold predictions? Oh, I can't wait. I love this part of the podcast. Okay, so Harry, you predicted, if I remember correctly, that both Mercedes would be on the podium.

You were 50% of the way there. Well done, mate. So close. But yet so far. You're just like hoping that in the dying stages, Norris and Vostappen were going to crash into each other leading to a one-two. Yeah. Yeah.

Just saying, I was hopeful. Anything would have done. I was hopeful after quality, I'll be real. But yeah, damn you, Norris and Vestappen for being good. That's the quote of the podcast already. Sam, you said that Vestappen would win by 10 seconds or more. And at one point, the gap was 8. seconds and I was thinking, yes, here we go. I'm going to be right. And I was very swiftly wrong.

Ben, what did you say? I said that Vestappen was going to win by 2.0 seconds. So I think I was right. I think you've got the decimal in the wrong place there, maybe. I don't know. Someone I have to watch it back because I don't quite remember. Maybe I accidentally misspoke and said 20 seconds, but. Yeah, I think two zero point. You know what? I don't mind being wrong on that. It was a good race. And I would rather,

I'd rather be wrong for the fans. Oh, no. We pulled this up. If you've heard that noise, it's because Harry, you can start screen sharing something. What's this, Harry? Sam, Sam says something on a,

on the live stream he was doing on Twitch. I'll just play a few folks, hang on. Press. Oh, dear. It's done. It's done. Whose bold prediction is going to be right? This guys.

Who's going to brag all over the podcast? This guy. Who's going to clip this bit if I get it wrong later on in the stream? You lot. You damn fool. Yeah, what are you saying that for on the internet? Come on. I'm, you know what?

I live and die by the sword. I'm proud of myself. I gave you a good go. You put the sword out for yourself. That's fine, because if it works, I can celebrate. It's fine. We go again. Stabbed yourself.

Damn this sword. I love the sword. Yeah, go, good, good, good, good. Still rum. Great. So highly successful week for our bold predictions. We'll, of course, be back with more bold predictions for the Austrian Grand Prix taking place next weekend.

We'll take our first break of this episode. On the other side, we're going to be chatting about Mercedes and Ferrari. This Giving Tuesday, Cam H is counting on your support. Together, we can forge a better path for mental health by creating a future where Canadians can get the help they need when they need it, no matter who or where they are. From November 25th to December 2nd, your donation will be doubled. That means every dollar goes twice as far to help build a future where no one's seeking help is left behind.

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Okay, everyone, welcome back. The Mercedes and Ferraris. They qualified third and fourth for the Mercedes and fifth and sick for the Ferraris. That is exactly where they finish. We were asking Sam on the qualifying review whether Ferrari would have the race pace to overhaul the Mercedes. The answer was no. Yeah, I was quite surprised. And actually during the race, I even said, oh, right, we're starting to see that race pace fall off.

The Ferrari's race pace is improving. You know, at that moment for the first pit stops where Russell's pit stop was a little bit slow and science managed to jump Lewis Hamilton and he was right behind George Russell. I thought, here we go. This is going to be almost forget the changing of the guard in this Grand Prix. where the Ferrari's going to end up being in front. We've had a slight slip up of strategy from Mercedes. They'll start to run away with it a little bit.

But very quickly, Russell trussing off down the road, and Lewis Hamilton turned up again, despite being jumped. It's like, oh, hello there. It's me, Lewis Hamilton. I'm back. And he just kept coming back. Lewis Hamilton didn't want to go away, this Grand Prix. And I respect it because it's like, not back, not back, not back.

Oh, by the way, I'll be it all again. Also, he came out after his race in the interview. said, hard tires were never in play for me. It was always going to be a soft media stuff, which is interesting where George Russell was the ending on the hard tire. He hates tyres, though. This is not a surprise. It's sabotage, right, isn't it?

Yeah, literally. I'm sure that everyone is sat there thinking, dear God, it hasn't worked for him. Toto Wolf is trying to kill his career, or whatever email was apparently sent by a fan. Ridiculous. But yeah, so fair play to Masegis. It looks like the developments they're making are finally working, a special. Spain merchants.

No, no. No, not believing it. Two podiums in a row. Two podiums in a row. Two very different Grand Prix, different weathers, you know, different types of tracks. So they are Spain merchants and they do always go well here. And I would believe that they are still just Spain merchants

if they hadn't also got a pole and a podium back at Canada as well. The gap is closing, I think. And I was quite impressed with both Hamilton and Russell. Moves from May, we said already how good Russell start was. Hamilton was very consistent throughout the. the Grand Prix. He made a lot of good moves that were well-timed, concise. He'd get stuck behind behind him out was the second time he overtook science. He was behind him for pretty much a whole lap and I thought there were two or three occasions where you know what, Hamilton of

old, he'll have sent that. You can send that down the inside and he can make it work. Didn't, held on for a whole lap before we got the move done. Was it worth it though? Oh yeah, he got the same result, you know, right? Like in hindsight, he got exactly the same end result. He wouldn't have got second had he overtaken science half a lap beforehand. And he goes better than I do, broke's one over a hundred races. So I'm sure he goes... It's a close one.

But Sam said, I should have done it half a lap before. I'm sure he's listening. He sounded like Shrek earlier. Great Lewis Hamilton impression. What does he sound like? Hold on, hold on. But Sam's sick, man. I should have done a half a lap before.

I'm retiring. How's that worse? Good stuff. The many voices of Lewis Hamilton. He's got as many voices as he has raised. swings. My point here is it was a very well-managed race, actually, I think, by Lewis Hamilton. I think Russell is maybe going to be kicking himself a little bit to the fact that he was leading the Grand Prix over the first lap to finish behind his teammate again. Even with the slight

delayed pit stop, he managed to come out in front of him. So I was really surprised to see that Russell finished behind Lewis Hamilton. Overtaking on pure pace. It wasn't team August to let him through. He couldn't keep up with the Haas. We know the Haars didn't perform as well as they were expected to do. But I thought with the way they fell off, I thought Russell was hard to. tires were going to be able to maybe regain a bit of pace before the end of the Grand Prix. But the gap just kept growing. Obviously, LeCler was right behind him before the end of the Grand Prix. So, surprise Ferrari can't make the move earlier or at all.

And I'm surprised that Russell didn't finish in front of Hamilton. I think this was a really good weekend for Lewis. Harry, what do you think, obviously third and fourth for the Mercedes, exactly the same as what they had in Canada? Were you impressed by the fact that they were clear of both Ferraris? Yeah, I know I said they're Spain merchants and they're still, well, there's 10% of me that still wants to wait until Austria before I say Mercedes have made an actual improvement here.

But yeah, it's encouraging for them because they were, they were comfortably, apart from obviously LeClercatching Russell at the end, but that was just down to tire offset more than anything else. They were clear of Ferrari. I have a request for Lewis Hamilton. Can he stop making his own life hard? Because he did all the hard. Instead of borsing up qualifying yesterday,

He did all that hard work, got to be three. Do you start properly, my guy? I mean, to be fair, his turn one was great, though. His term one was excellent, but he's had to make up for the fact that he did. True. I'd be in a harsh limit because he's Lewis Humpton here. He's a sometime or champion. But yeah, it just would have been interesting if had he had his start gone better.

He even said it in the cool-down room when he saw the move of George. He was like, that should have been me. I was like, yeah, he should have been. Do it next time. It'd be funny if Vastapel and Norris had said that. Yeah, yeah. should have been you to be honest Lewis.

I'm, you're really? Should have him. Come on old man, what you doing? Did you hear him in the cool down room? Hey,

Hamilton. Yeah. He said if I didn't get a rude word start, I'd probably a bit up there with you guys. It's like, well, at least it's aware

that it was bad. But that's, I think he had more pace in Russell as, as evidence by the fact that he did finish in front of him, but he just compromised

his own race from there from there. So it's a bit disappointing but I'm glad to see him on the podium for the first time this year, which is, I know they've only had

Race nine. That's crazy. He'd have said that two years ago, three years ago. Yeah, anyway. But yeah, I think definitely more encouraging for Mercedes. They could clear Ferrari like this. Ferrari, again, I don't know whether it was better than Canada, but then anything was better than Canada.

So I'm not saying too much, but they were just visibly the third, well, third, fourth best team there, the McLaren's, I think, were quicker. Obviously, Pia student finish in front of them, but Ferrari were, they can't be too happy with where they've got to around Spain, I don't think. Yeah, I don't think they can. I said in the qualifying review yesterday,

how disappointed I was in Ferrari's pace, and I'm just as disappointed today. I really expected more from them. I know that they weren't overly optimistic about this circuit, but equally, they have been overhauled by Mercedes at the last two Grand Prix. and, you know, I think probably the worst thing for Ferrari is they didn't mess it up for themselves.

Like normally when they don't do very well, you can point to something that they've done, which is a bit stupid. I don't think they did anything stupid today, apart from nearly killing each other early on. Oh, come on. What are they doing? I don't know.

I guess. My guys, it's like lap three. What are you doing? But yeah, I don't know. Carlos scientist strategy was essentially identical to George Russell. so there was barely anything in that. George Russell beat Carlos signs.

And even with Charles Leclair, who I think, I think they nailed the strategy for Leclerler. They left him out really long on that first stint. It meant that on the second stint, he wasn't in any dirty air. He was just able to run at his pace. And it almost got him back to George Russell, obviously.

I think they pretty much got what they deserved, which isn't good because they only got fifth and sixth, but that's where the pace of the car was. So I think they're going to be, I think they're going to be quite disappointed. from Mercedes perspective. I think you're right. Lewis Hamilton would be disappointed by the start

because he is just really quick around Spain. Just generally. I know a couple of years ago, do you remember when he had some sort of incident? Maybe with Magnuson. I can't remember what happened. But he had an incident and was essentially at the back of the field and had to work his way back through.

And he was seriously good. And he'll be annoyed, similar to Canada, that he wasn't in a better position to take, take advantage of it. Now, I still don't think he had the pace to catch the top two, but he could have maybe made more of a fight of it. I don't even think George Russell would be that disappointed either, because he can point to the fact that he was on the significantly worse tire, because that hard tire, for whatever reason, just didn't really work for anyone who used it. And he was ahead of

Hamilton when they were on the same tire for the first half of that Grand Prix. So I think he can point to that and say, if it was the other way around and Hamilton had come on into the pits for half, and I'd seen how bad they were working and I'd gone on to softs, I'd have beaten him. I know as if buts and maybes, but I don't think he'll look at this and say I was comprehensively beaten by Hamilton on the same strategy here.

So, yeah, a good day for Mercedes, certainly working towards where they really should have been at the start of this year. But Ferrari, yeah, I am disappointed. Speaking of Lewis Hamilton, I've just posted this thing on WhatsApp Grinch. I'm sure you've all just seen.

This is a great story that's actually been tweaked. live by Luke Smith. Luke Smith, obviously, big journalist. He said, Lewis Hamilton's first of the post-rose press conference. He's put his glasses on and said, I'm going to take a nap. He's now promptly started to fall asleep on the sofa. And then he said, Hamill said then started playing,

could you be loved, allowed from his phone while waiting. Max, and Stafford, walks into him still flat on his back. And Max said, he's clearly getting old. Do you need a massage? So there's a lot going on. There's a lot going on in the post-road. That's got so much mean potential. Oh, good Lord.

That is a meme. It's like, I'm going to put music on my phone, and I'm going to fall asleep. Thanks, guys. So, you know, I'm exhausted by this F-1. Oh, good. I'm exhausted. Should we go through Driver of the Day? Yeah, oh, hang on, I need to play it.

Well, done. Go on, Ben. I'm on it, I promise. The verdict is in. You're the driver of the day. You're the driver of the day. You're good at driving. Sam, who was your driver of the day?

Such a zesty little tune. My driver of the day is Pierre Gazley. Absolute boss man. The sausages are out. Teammate wars is in the bag. He held off Sergio Perez until quite literally the last lap, which I was raging. I was Bruno fuming on the screen.

I was so annoyed that he got past before the very... I was annoyed with whom. watch it. I know. And someone even called it in the chat that said, can't wait for us to cut away from that last lap overtake to watch Maxisap across the line because we know he's already getting a wing. And that's literally what happened. So yeah, Pierre Gassie was sensational all weekend. It's his best weekend so far this season. Drove brilliantly, qualified brilliantly, put up a great fight against the likes of Piastri and Perez. Despite having an incredibly slow pit stop, still got back past his teammate and beat him comfortably.

Well done to Alpine. Double points finish and Gasloo smash it. The popular vote went to Lando Norris, Harry, and obviously Sam's vote's gone to Gasly. Who's your vote going to? That's really boring, but I'm going for Max Verstappen. You did win the race, to be fair. Yeah, won the race. You know, not I get Norris, but also do you start better, Lando?

You might do better then. But I think Vastappen, I think it's, the thing is because he's continuing basically winning from a position of dominance. It's not the position of dominance, anymore. And if you look at where his teammate was, get on to him,

he's out driving that car. That Red Bull was not the fastest car today. I don't think it was. I think Lando and the McLaren was quicker. And he obviously got a better start, but also, and they mentioned it, GP mentions it before he gets passed, but that overtake on Russell was critical for that race for him

because I think if you didn't get that done, then we had a very different outcome. So Max for Steppen for me, which I know is quite obvious and popular, popular driver that they vote but i think you deserves it i um saw quite an interesting quote on on the twitter uh earlier after the race that was we're seeing here a very good driver in a great car and a great driver in a very good car with no names i think it was quite clear who they were talking to at each reference i think it describes it quite nicely

Alex alban a local sergeant that's what it is yeah obviously it's quite clear oh dear williams um yeah But driver of the day, I think Pierre Gasly is absolutely a fair shout. He would have been clear of the rest for me without a doubt if he held off Perez. The fact that Perez got by makes me at least consider a couple of other contenders, including Vastappen. I have to give a shout out to one other driver here who I thought had a very good race, and that is Joe Guan Yu. He was far better than he has been in a long time. He was a long way clear of his teammate.

He beat one of the Aston Martins. he was way clear of the Williams and RB drivers. I thought that was one of his best races of the season so far. And actually, I think he is in this conversation as well. I will go for Max Verstappen because of the reasons that Harry said, the clinical move on Russell was highly impressive. And on a day where he didn't have the best pace in the world, he's still managed to, he's just finding ways to win, isn't he?

And that deserves a lot of credit. Well done, Pierre Gassley, drive the day for all of us. Love that. Let's move on. Good stuff. Good. worst driver of the day good in the bin bin bin worst driver of the day

worst driver of the day you suck at driving Harry who've you got Sergei Perez are people going to come after me again because I feel like I keep I keep giving it to him

but he only just as you just mentioned he only just got past an alpine okay and your teammate he won the race my guy that's you can't you can't carry on doing that that's not how this works you can't win constructors championships like that maybe they will but i mean yeah you're right i mean so they've

come away today with 29 points as a result of vestappans winem Perez is 8th place finished of course McLaren didn't have the best day because piastri was only seventh so they've come away with 25 points. And then Mercedes on 27. So actually it's fairly close between those three teams in terms of how many points they've scored, don't know? Yeah, I mean, that's fair.

I just think on a lot, this, I know he had the penalty as well, but he didn't make any moves through the field, really. He made a couple. The last one was on the last lap. And again, I'd like to reiterate. I know they were best this weekend.

It was against an LP. It was. It was against the chunkiest of all the chunky boys. Mr. Chunky has a car. Yes. No, no, because doesn't Ocon have the chunkiest of the chunky boys? Oh, I don't know. It might be back to Gassie.

It might put in a grain of rice on the bloody bonging at the car. It's really making a difference. Who was your worst driver of the day, Sam? Sergei Perez is a fair shout. I do think he had the strategy from hell today. Soft, soft, medium. It's pitted a gang, I think. Did Perez do a three-stop?

making up. Yeah. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, so bad. I'm going to have to give it to Logan, Sergeant. I'm sorry, literally non-existent in the entire Grand Prix. Social President is a very good shouting up there as a contender for me, but to be 18 seconds behind everyone else, I know that there was some mitigating circumstances there, but he was never involved in anything ever. He may as well be driving around in like a Chrysler Voyager people carrier. He would achieve more. He would achieve more because at least he's got more seats to help people out. He was atrocious. So he's by far the worst driver. I'm going to give Logan Sargent a week off because even if he had a good day, he's not scoring points. I think Sergio Perez is a fair shout as well. I want to

throw Kevin Magnuson in there as well. He was pretty anonymous where his teammate was 11th and not far off points. He was down in 17th place and was there for most of the day. I'm going to agree with Mr. Harry Ede and go Sergio Perez. He was eighth and his teammate won the Grand Prix. Longstop. Yeah.

Doesn't look good, does it? Two you do, though. Two you do. Okay. Time for big brain strut. Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out.

What are you talking about? Love that. Harry, Big Brain Strat. This doesn't really relate to actually strategy, or it does relate strategy, but an actual strategy from a team here. If you're watching Sky, we had, as I already mentioned,

Karin Shandotte, David Croft, and Bernie Collins was on the team. And they were discussing, when she wasn't choking, and Crossie's just laughing. No. All right, Krusty. And then just threw it back to her again,

she's still got a mouth full of water. Leave the woman alive. Anyway. But it was when the big brazen track was around Lando Norris and could he extend to a one-stop? And Bernie Collins is explaining, no, no, no, he'll do, he'll extend to do a two-stop here. He's not going to do a one-stop.

And then Crofty comes back and he's like, but maybe he's extending to a one-stop. And Bernie Collins comes back and goes, no, he's not doing that. Shut up, Crofti. I'm actually a race strategist. I'm like, stop, yeah, exactly, stop questioning. the person who literally did this as a job for years. Goodness me, Crockty.

My big brain strat is Charle-le-Cleur questioning why they are on Plan A because usually in a Grand Prix, they've moved on from Plan A by the first corner, but they were still on Plan A quite late on in this Grand Prix, and Charle-Cleur was clearly agitated about it. But the craziest thing about this is Ferrari were actually right.

They should have been on Plan A because they managed to get him far closer to Russell than signs ever got. So, Charles LeClair questioned a strategy, which is obviously the default if you're a Ferrari driver. But on this occasion, Ferrari seemed to have done all right with it. Sam? You've nailed it, Ben. That was exactly my one.

Was Charles being very annoyed at Plange A, despite Plang A, being 100% correct. The other one is what I've really mentioned, which I think was Sergio Perez, being the three-stop. It was just crap. So those are my two. You go on.

We got him. Right, that will be our second break of this episode. On the other side, we're going to be chatting through the likes of Alpine, Aston Martin, Oscar Piastri, and Sergio Perez. It's week three of Canadian tires early Black Friday sales. These prices won't go lower this year. Maybe too long. Freezing.

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Okay, everyone, welcome back. So Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez qualified out of position. we had Sergio Perez starting in 11th place, Oscar Piastri starting in 9th. And the question obviously from yesterday was how much progress could they make throughout the field. The answer was Oscar Piastri finishing in seventh and Sergio Perez finishing in eighth. Sam, what did you make of both of their recovery drives? Neither were particularly great. I was more frustrated with Perez than I was Piastri.

I think Piastri was probably as high as he could feel. feasibly get. I don't think because he rublished himself in qualifying through his own doing, he wasn't going to get any further than beating the Ferraris, the Mercedes, his teammate, or Max Verstappan. So

once he got past the Alpins, eventually he got clear them. Although Gassi was a bit more pesky than I think they expected it to be, he basically did the rest that he could. Wasn't great though, and he put himself in the hole and he wasn't able to really dig out of it. I was expecting far more from

Sergio Perez. The pace was bad and qualifying, but I thought through raised pace where tyres typically are going to get burned up. This is a strength of Perez's. He's making tires work. He's able to go the distance. He's about to do something different from other people. In a track that he's very comfortable with and historically he's done okay at, I thought he would be able to do something a bit different, make it work, and at least beat Piastri. I thought he could have beaten Piastri, and I thought he might have been a bit of a weird outside chance of maybe catching up with a Ferrari or whether the Mercedes had dropped back at that point might have done it. But the fact he was only just overtaking Alpins come the last lap of the race.

I was really quite disappointed. I thought he'd be well and truly ahead of that group. And he wasn't. I've just seen someone tweet a meme that the greatest battle of our time is Sergio Perez versus Stake Williams and Salba, or and Haas rather, which is savage, but actually incredibly true right now. So I was really disappointed with the Perez able to achieve. Piazzi ruined his day on Saturday,

but I expected more from Perez in that car. How are your thoughts on those two drivers? Yeah, I think they both obviously undid their weekend slightly with Saturday. Perez, as you say, Sam, was the more disappointing of the two. I think Piastro probably did get as far as he could. But, yeah, Perez, Perez should be further up with the car. I know that's not a dominant car anymore, but fighting an alp, getting, nabbing an extra place of an alpine on the last lap,

mentioned is isn't isn't good enough for him so um yeah it wasn't wasn't the best um weekends for either of them uh as you say as you already mentioned but i know i said about perres they're not going to win a championship like that but piastri can't afford to if they want if mcclaren want the challenge as well piastri can't afford to have more weekends like that uh also so um disappointing again on the whole you'd have to be more disappointed in perres and piastri given experience car they've got, etc. But not great, not great for either of them. Yeah, I think they're both achieved what I thought they were going to achieve.

With Oscar Piastri, I said it in the qualifying review yesterday. I felt that there was going to be a lot of missed points from him this weekend because of his qualifying effort. And ultimately that came true. He might well have had the pace to mix it with the Ferrari and the Mercedes drivers if he had started in and around where they qualified. He didn't. And as a result of that, he,

much like his teammate, to be honest, was stuck in that first stint, and it wasn't until the latest stints where we get some difference in strategy that he was able to make some progress. So, yeah, I think Piastri did, he did everything he could on the day, but really his weekend was ruined yesterday,

and you're absolutely right, if they want to compete, particularly with Ferrari, who, of course, I think at the moment, there is a realistic chance that the Ferrari versus McLaren battle and the Constructors' Championship

is going to be decided, by whether Oscar Piastri can get much closer to Lando Norris than he is at the moment. From Sergio Perez's perspective, I can't even really say I'm disappointed because that is exactly what I thought he was going to do, is to get back to about eighth place. I didn't think he'd have the pace to beat Piastri. I didn't think he'd have the pace to beat Mercedes or Ferrari drivers. And I know his qualifying pace has come under scrutiny, I mean, last season as well, really, but this season is in addition to that.

but his race pace that he demonstrated in practice sessions was no better than what we saw out there today. He was barely quicker than the hash drivers in practice on those long runs. And that's what we had today. He was barely quicker than Nico Holcomberg. It was barely quicker than the Alpins. I can't remember what the exact gap was between Piastri and Perez at the end as well, but it wasn't close.

Perez was quite comfortably behind Piastri. So, like I say, at this point, if his race pace was better, in the practice sessions and he wasn't able to capitalize on that in the Grand Prix, then I would have been disappointed. I'm not disappointed because that was his pace. It's quite damning. It's damning, yeah. The three of us on this show are expecting nothing more from him at this point.

And Ben, you brought it up before we start recording. And obviously, we haven't seen the clip. But you said that Christian Horner has apparently said that he hopes that he's gained confidence by overtaking Gasly at the end of that Grand Prix. If that's a real quote from Christian Horner, that's like, you know, me being told, well, I hope you've gained confidence that you can lose weight by eating a banana

and not a chicken nugget. You think, well, it's the bare minimum. The freaking irony of overtaking Pierre Gasly, a man who was dumped from Red Bull. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, no, no, no. Who was beating you in a car far worse for 99% of this Grand Prix,

a car that was at the start of this season, last. This guy's awful. Two year deal. I'll say it again. Two year deal. I'm baffled. I love Serchio.

The decision just becomes more and more baffling. It goes back to the, what really you said, Harry, about how you appreciate that the Red Bull car isn't as dominant as it was at the beginning

of this season. But that's kind of the point, isn't it? It's you can't guarantee that your car is always going to be dominant as it was at the beginning of this year. And when it gets tougher,

when the competitors around you, like McLaren and Furrow and you're starting to step up and really give you a headache on on race day, you need two drivers in the fight who are going to be able to more often than not see them off. And whilst, and at the moment, the team is so reliant on Vestappen outdriving that car. And Perez is underdriving the car. Should you move on to a couple of other teams? So Alpine managed to score points at the Canadian Grand Prix, which was a surprise. And then they thought, oh yeah, we'll score points again at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Both of them score points. Yeah, Gassley, finishing 9 for two points. Esteban Ockon finishing 10 for one point. Harry, that was expected, right? I'd tell you what, they should not change this driver lineup for 2025. You know what? It works well for them, right? Both got Q3, both scored points.

It's a tasty little lineup they've got there. Yeah, I do you know what? They've had a lot of problems, Alpine, but I'd keep that driver line up exactly as it is. Doing a show next year, I'm going to cook. Goodness me. Yeah, I mean, this, again, I don't want to, I don't want to be the same, caught by the same trick as Mercedes have pulled in the past couple of years, but this is encouraging for Alpine because it's, it's a, the backing up a good result with another good result, and in totally

different conditions around a totally different track, which is, which is encouraging to the least. So, yeah, it's been a tough, tough year for them. That's probably understatement of the century. But finally, maybe it's starting to turn around. I mean, the complete, I know we're not in a Pimp My Ride livery season here, but the lack of any color on that car now is. It should be deducted all of its points just for that.

Agreed. There is no livery to it whatsoever. And I feel like they've taken more off this weekend. because they had added a bit more blue back on but no, no. Ocon's out there running. No pedals. Taking his shoes off.

Yeah, yeah. I don't need a helmet. Anyway, it seems to be working on whatever, when they're doing, the improvements I make to that car. That can only be, you know, for a team that's had a lot going on lately, and been through the ringer a bit, it's going to boost morale if nothing else.

And obviously, get some points on the board. So, you know, and to finish in front of both Aston Martins, which is given where they were at the start of the season, is actually very encouraging. You think sixth in the championship is achievable with how poor RB were today? I'm not sure I'm buying the RB. I'm hoping.

I'm thinking that's something you track specific because, I mean, if I was Yuki Sonoda and Daniel Riccardo, I'd ask to have those upgrades taken off my car immediately. I don't want them. This is way worse. The other scene of wrong swang-sing somewhere at the same with the PC over his head in parks and actually thrown straight in the bin.

That's Yuki Sagoa. I won that. Just the car in the bin. Also, just a shout-out to Daniel Ricardo. Can he have better races when the car's good? Because he was all right, well, clear of Yucco-Sol- No, no, no. He can only score better than Yuki when no points are on the table.

When there's nothing to play for, yeah. I'd hazard a guess that this was just an anomaly for because I don't believe that that car suddenly the second slowest or something. So it could be doable for Alpine, but I was suspect it's going to be a bit more of a fight, not like it was, not like it was today. What do you think, Sam?

What do you think of the performance of the Alpine drivers today? And also, same question, could at least sixth in the championship be doable, the seventh at the moment? Alping have been the laughing stock of the season, for us especially, right? They've appeared on every single episode,

it feels like both Patreon and normal, and we have laughed audibly at them. It keeps you sane. It really does. You know, it's a little bit of laughter in my life. It keeps me happy. It keeps me smiling. I go, oh, I've had a bad day today, but I'm wanting Alpine.

So, you know, the strange thing is they were terrible at the start of the season. First cut of the race is really, really rubbish. And yet, they've made this small but concise progress in every single Grand Prix. You know, Miami, both cars were fighting just outside the points right towards the end of the race. Monaco both drives right on the cusp Of course that's why Ocock has been dropped Because he did that silly dive bomb But Gasly scores points

Canada points again Spain comfortable points Right The fact that realistically It was half a lap away From being an eighth place finish on merit Really tells you that someone in that team knows what they're talking about

Someone in that team understands Where I'm the only one in I refuse to you I'm literally the only one in must be me. Let Ben Cook. And finally, he's listened to himself finally. You were the only way at the start of the season.

But someone is talking saints in that team. And we need to give them credit. I would like whoever it is known publicly because they started this season appallingly, but they are making slow and progressive progress throughout this season so far. Do I think that six places on the cards? It depends how consistent these poor upgrades are, right?

Because we saw it with Ferrari. Ferrari brought upgrades to Canada. The car specifically didn't work in Canada. They were both outside the points. We come to Canada. They come to Barcelona, sorry. And whilst they've fallen behind the Ségis here, the Spain merchants, they were much faster than they were in the previous race.

Not the perfect result they wanted, but well inside the points again. If R.B followed that exact trend where they need a bit of time to get used to the upgrades. The car specifically doesn't work here at Spain for some reason. They've got to make a couple of tweaks and it will work again. Sago and Rokanecova Rokane can very easily replicate. what Alpin did today and boot Alping straight out of the points. And I think they've had a good enough head start that sixth place is going to be

very difficult for Alping to achieve. What impossible, because if they continue to make this progress throughout the whole season, sixth is achievable. I think it's still an outside shot. I think R.B. is still come through the favourites. But I don't think it's impossible. The line-up they've got is so good

that I think they will surely, surely put up a good fight throughout the season. Because they're together as a team really cohesive. I think SIF is achievable for Alpine. Just because back there in the championship, it only takes one or two good results to really flip everything. So I think it is achieved. I'm not saying it's a likelihood,

but I think it is possible for Alpine, at least based on the last couple of Grand Prix. Gazley was, as we've already mentioned, in the driver of the day discussion, Gasly was very impressive today. And what he will take most encouragement from is the fact that he wasn't that far off in qualifying. We spoke about how good he was in qualifying,

but actually the margin he had to the leaders in qualifying was basically the same in the race. Now, of course, it's extended out much further because we didn't have a safety car, we didn't have any yellow flags, no VSC, and it's over 60, however many laps the Grand Prix was, you're obviously going to have that margin increased lap over lap, but actually per lap, they were still pretty good.

So I think race pace-wise, they're similar to where their qualifying pace was yesterday. Ocon struggled a little bit more than Gassley. He seemed to struggle with tireware a little bit more, I think. You know, Nika Holkenberg wasn't too far away from overtaking him. But even so, O'Con had a fine race as well. But yeah, I think they've got something to work with for the rest of this season, at least based on where they were at the beginning of the season. It's all relative, because if you,

you turned around at, you know, last October and said, okay, Spanish Grand Prix next year, you're going to be 9th and 10th that are gone, oh, all right, fine. That's probably, that might be a bad race for us. Yeah, not quite. But yeah, I think it was, it's an encouraging race for them. Less of an encouraging race for Aston Martin, because both Fernando Alonzo and Landstrol finished outside the points. They finished 12th and 14th today, Sam. It's not going very well for them at the moment. Yeah, Lansdroll didn't move from qualifying, basically, you know, finish exactly where he qualified. And, you know, Alonkso got a little boost because he technically started in front of Perez after that penalty was applied, starting in 10th place and then dropped

back to 12th, finishing behind both Alpins, finishing behind Holkenberg, even with a penalty applied. And he wasn't close to Holkimerg at all. I think before the penalty was applied, there was about a 16 second gap between Alonso and Holkaburg, which is sizable. For Niko Holkenberg in a half, to be 16 seconds clear of Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin. If you could have said that at Zangvo last year, if you said to Alonso, next year in Spain, you'll be 16 seconds behind Nico Holkenberg in a hearse.

He will lose his mind, I think. 12th being probably the best it could get for that car. I don't think they know what's going on. I do not think they understand the journey of what's happening with that car. We've joked about it with Mercedes. Do they understand the development? Do they know where they're going with the upgrades? Ashton Martin are the embodiment of that.

I think Williams are going through a similar journey. I don't think they have a clear understanding of where the improvements of the car and eating are what's holding them back. Because 12th and 14th, it's a real struggle. A track that I think feasibly they should be quite good at. The engine was killing got a problem here, so you can't be blaming it on that either. This was a struggle city for Asken Martin. They need something to turn them around before the summer break.

Otherwise, this is going to be a really tough year for them. and I think they'll be praying for the new regulations sooner rather than later. Harry, we saw at the beginning of the season that Mercedes and Aston Martin, not too much to separate them, particularly Alonzo, obviously, versus the Mercedes. They're not very close now. They are not very close now. The only, I think, saving graces for them are, they didn't bring any upgrades for this weekend.

I know not everyone did either, but they, they've not, you could tell. the other thing is they were pants here last year as well so I'll say I'm sorry grow up Sam but I think that's

that could be said you know you can't hold that against them but it was not a good weekend for them and as you say looking where they were versus Mercedes at the start of the year it's

with Mercedes third and fourth and then, you know, not even in the top ten. I'm not even close to the top ten, as you said. It's not a great, not a great weekend for them. I don't think this track suits whatever, you know, the direction of their car is. It didn't last year, right, did it? No, exactly.

They were not good here last year, even when the car was in a, you know, could get podium. So that, I think they'll take that away as a, like, not positive, but something to, you know, as an excuse, I guess, in that sense. but you'd have to say other tracks will be better, like potentially Austria, but yeah, not great for them. They seem to think they know.

I know we've heard this on Mercedes before. They seem to think they know what the issues are, but it's not looking massively great for them at the moment. Yeah, I mean, 12 months is a long old time in F1, and it's a massively different picture to what we had this time last year. Fernando Alonzo, he had a really tough start. Obviously, he made an error early on in the Grand Prix as well. But I think at that point, there was a question of, oh, is something wrong with Alonzo's car?

Is it? No, that's just his pace. And you see, he worked his way back a little bit because he was at one point behind Landstrol. And he ended up quite comfortably clear of Lanchdroll. So obviously, Alonzo improved as the race went on, but not really anywhere near enough to threaten the 11 drivers in front of him. And we know Alonzo, he's quite good at the F1. So if he's languishing down in 12th,

it probably means that's all the car has. Oh dear. We'll take our final break. We've got some moment of the race submissions on the other side. At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice, and we can talk your ear-off about transferring your business when the time comes.

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Okay, welcome back. Final segment on today's review episode is, of course, moment of the race, and we've got some Discord submissions that we will bring you very shortly. But before we get there, we each give our own moment of the race. And Sam, we'll start with you.

Thank God. I'm going to pick the obvious one. George Russell, Lando Norris, insane battle, wheel to wheel for essentially half a lap. It was so good. It was such a clean battle. I was going mad about it.

Loved every second. That was by far the best moment at the race. I'm glad I got to choose it. How fun everyone else picking something else. Just to speak about the battle for a second, that's what we love to see and F what. We get enough.

What it's about. That's what it's all about. It's all about. We get a good amount of overtakes per race now in F1, but it's the real quality overtakes that make a Grand Prix or not. And that sort of thing, if we can have more of that. Go on, Harry. I was just going to say, sorry, a lot of the time in F1 now is tire management. A lot of the time, most of the race, you're just managing your ties.

If the car behind is quicker, you just see them, let them through. So thank you, George Russell, for not being that person. and he put up an actual fight. I'm not, I'm not calling out everyone else here and saying they don't put up fights, but more often than not, it's not worth the overall race time to battle. And I appreciate and respect,

George Russell, for not bothering with race time and just going out for a good old scrap, good old fashion British scrap. Yeah, it was. It was like going down, bloody Toby Carverie and having yourself a real old scrap for dinner, put it all on your plate.

Yeah, I thought it was absolutely sensational. I had a little mowing, actually, about some of the DRS passes that we were seeing. Some people were halfway down to start, finish, and they were passed, and there was no fight going to the break in zone. It is boring. A DRS pass is so dull, so that was great to see. I can't obviously go through a Spanish review

without saying something about this as well. Oh, God. It all started at turn one. If turn one was a slam dunk pass, we wouldn't have had any of that battle that followed it. But because you can take multiple lines through turns one, two, and three, we got a good battle that lasted nearly half a lap. I reckon we should rename turn one, Hocking Corner.

Oh, nice. Name it that just before it leaves the F-1-Calab. Literally, the Langout sits leaving a minute after we rename it, Hocking Corner. Absolutely. Your moment of the race, Harry. I was going to go for that. But my other moment of the race was Trent, Alexander Arnold,

not getting the right rear off Gassley's car. That was just banter. We just wanted to give it. him something to do to get back ahead of off on again. Because, you know, maybe without that, he would have beaten Perez. Anyway, no, I just made me laugh at all the problems Alpine has and then they can't get a tire on or is it Tyrol on. I can't remember. But yeah, that made me laugh. But yeah, my real moment is that battle slash George Russell's dutty, dutty start.

Yeah, I was considering going for the Alpine pit stop, but not just the Ghastly pit stop, because I audibly went, dear God, when they did a 2.1 second pit stop for Esteban Ockon, like two minutes before that, and I was like, damn, how about, oh, no, that Ghazly one was like seven seconds, back to normal.

Okay, they used up all of the, we used all the people on the first stop and we forgot we had to go back out for a second one. I mean, I've drawn the short straw. I haven't even drawn the short, I've just given myself the short straw by going last here. I will go with the George Russell start because it is not very often

we get a driver come from fourth on the grid to lead into turn one. There's only a couple of circuits on the calendar which even give the opportunity for doing so. And hey, we go years after it happened, we go mental about what Alonzo did going into term one. I was about to say that.

It deserves the same thing. Yeah, yeah. It was from the same position, right? Yeah, I think so. In that 2011 race, hang on. Yeah, very bad. We do of course have some submissions from our Discord. Thank you very much to everyone who did put a submission in.

We had loads. So thank you so much. And that does obviously mean that we can only play some of them. So don't be too disheartened if yours doesn't make it today. There's every chance that it will get there. Next time we'll be back for more Discord submissions in our preview of the Austrian Grand Prix on Wednesday. I'll hand it over to Mr. Harry. Udoz Control. Yeah, thank you, everyone.

first up we have Please hold Just scrolling down First up we have Faster than Y'all Mama Best name Hey y'all My moment of the race was

George coming out of nowhere On turn one Like Max and Lando We're just sitting still That was kind of wild Good start of the race Really supports Ben's theory The Barcelona turn one

Also worst driver of the day Definitely Perez It took him until like the last second of the last lap to pass ghastly. That was ridiculous. Keep breaking late, y'all. Can we just quickly draw attention to what the file name on that one was as well? I don't expect the British Inquisition.

Brilliant. Goodness me. Excellent work. Next up we have is Joy. There was a graphic that came up about 10 to 15 laps ago saying that Lewis was simulated to be in fourth place. at the end of the race. I'm assuming it's because George was on hard tires and Lewis was on sauce.

And George was still four seconds behind him by the end of the race. So I really appreciate the false hope there, F1. Also, if you enjoy LB, I highly suggest watching Sam's Twitch streams. They're very, very entertaining. And I look forward to more.

Big up. Thank you, Joy. I had some of Joy's chocolates the other day, by the way. Sensational, as always. Me too. Yeah. They are delightful. They are delightful.

We all love Joyce chocolate. Right. I'm just on the graphic. I want to make sure I got this right. They were saying that he would have been fourth if he stopped for hard tires, right? Well, that's the problem. AWS brag about these graphics.

That's got clear, is it? Clearly. But it said up the graphic, didn't it? If he's pitted for hard tires on lap 35, whatever it was, then they projected he'd have been fourth rather than third, which I've quite liked. Sure. Good stuff.

I didn't pay attention to that bit, but you're sure. Also wasn't actually watching that bit. Next, good. Next up is fry up the sausages, Barry. Hey, everyone. Fry up the sausages, Barry here in Perth, Australia. Gotta be, the race was there. It was all right, but it got to be Flavio Brilatore right at the start.

That man was an absolute mess. and the fact that he's going to be making any decisions for team Alpine. Ooh, buddy, strap in. No, Flavio. Mark retired 10 years ago. We can't have Weber. To just defend Flavio Ruador, I don't want to defend him very often,

but the man did have some pretty serious heart surgery recently, so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, but... Was that for the shock of being allowed back on the grid? Not that convincing. Um, next up we have Norm, from Texas, sorry, Norn, it was me,

Norm from Texas. Oh, hello, my late breaking friends from across lay big wet. It is I, Norm from Texas, and I am here to give my moment of the race, and my moment of the race was finding out that Logan Sargent

does not have two wolves in them, and apparently one of those wolves got replaced with the turtle, because good Lord, how do you be 18 seconds slower than everyone else? anyway, keep breakingly. Do you have two wolves in you?

I have three, I stole one of Logan's. That makes sense. Oh, ooh. So Shakira. Thank you, Shakira. Next up is Tim. Hi, lad, Tim here, long time first time. Moment of the race is that dirty 1.8 second pit stop from the Red Bull boys.

Difference between Lando's pit stops times stationary and Max was over two seconds today and that's got one max the race. That's a great shout, Tim. That is actual analytics that we've got there. Brilliant. That's so rare. They don't do that.

Well done. Yeah, wow. First time, long time. Enjoy that a lot. Next up is Lance. Hello, fellow late breakers. This is Lance, friend of the podcast and training, aka Better Than Stroll,

with my Spain moment of the race. moment of the race would be well I'll give an honorable mention to that passed by George on the first lap because the moment of the race for me was Alpine getting ninth and 10th after I put team principal hawking under pressure

he said let him cook I let him cook double points finish look at that I apologize Ben I was not familiar with your game thank you Lance appreciate that speaking of cooking fry out the sausages Barry's back again

Part two. Oh, wait, new moment of the race. The guy trying to give the wrong trophy into Hamilton, having 5,000 podiums telling him, that one actually goes to the other guy. Thanks, though. I forgot about that. That's a good shout that one.

Oh, no, no, no, no. Cerebe's next. Hello, my moments of the race are going to be quick firearms, baby. Flavia at the start saying as a daughter can to get up in the front you did it last time, mate you lost your job

Norris spot in the start Long's 11 seconds yep it was mate Signs crying yep that a lot mate Leclair and signs hitting each other Signs crying again yep that happened

Norris and Russell doing the Pride of Britain and going around and not touching each other yeah I wouldn't want to touch George either Carol Vorderman now giving him an award Godestly.

Brian in Britain, that is niche. Can we get more of Seb giving 30 second race reviews? 30 race recap. I love that. Yeah. Love that. And finally,

last but not least, is Gierre Pazley. My moment of the race was Alexander Albans sounding like my mom after I cleaned my room. Okay, sure. I don't want to hear it.

What a wild ride that was through the land of submissions. And as mentioned, we'll be back for under pressure submissions midweek ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. And we'll be back for a moment of the race in one week's time. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of it. Folks, the next bit of content we'll be making will be the power rankings over on Patreon. So if you haven't caught up with them, everything's available to you. even if you subscribe right now, go back and get all the great content.

We're also going to be doing the historic race review this week as well. We're looking at Britain 08, a really good Grand Prix. So you're going to go and watch it. Make sure you dissect it yourself and we'll be reviewing that as well. Sure, this midweek for the Austria preview. Make sure that you're tuned over the weekend, of course,

because we'll be doing content all over the weekend as well. Thanks so much for your support. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.