The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Abu Dhabi GP Race Review

Episode Date: December 7, 2025

After a tense showdown, a new first-time World Champion has emerged! The LB boys break down all of the nail-biting action in the desert, where multiple obstacles stood in the way of Norris and the trophy, from rivals giving it their all, to a Ferrari with inexplicable pace, to a weaving Red Bull. But in the end, it’s congratulations to Lando and McLaren! Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Give the 'gift' of Late Braking this holiday period with a Patreon gift subscription,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and your favourite F1 fan can enjoy anywhere from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Think you can beat us? Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and prove it! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 Podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast, presented by Harry Eid, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Last race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, has crowned us a champion. That champion being Sam, Lando Norris, as he takes the title two points ahead of Max Verstappan. Lando, Lando, I can hear it now, echoing all the way from the Middle East.

Yeah, we have a champion, a new champion. Max Verstappen, despite winning the Grand Prix and in some style as well, unable to hold on to his four times to turn it into a fifth with Oscar Piastri, somewhat sandwiched in the middle of the both of them. You guys are in the same place, which is bizarre.

To celebrate the new war champion, I travelled all the way to Cornwall just to be sat next to Ben for this. This is the fan club. This is the Lando Norris fan club. Yeah, yeah. Says it on your front door. Yeah, that's why I'm getting invited.

Okay. If you turn it down, Sam, you might be the coolest out of the three of us. Lano Norris wraps up the driver's championship with that third place finish. His two title rivals finishing ahead of him on track, Oscar Piastrian second, Max Verstappen, taking the win. His third consecutive win, ultimately for both of them, not quite enough as Norris secures his first driver's championship.

And that seems a fitting place to start, Sam. We knew coming into this Grand Prix as a result of that rather late overtake on Antonelli in Qatar that he needed third place regardless of what, was to happen to Vastappen or Oscar Piastri, started the race second, found himself third quite early on. From there, it was a case of if he could hold it. And the answer was yes. Yeah, I want to start my point with saying that Lando is a very worthy world champion. And he has had to go off against two incredibly tough competitors, one newcomer to the stage and one kind of old heads now in Max Verstappen. He's dealt with a lot of challenges throughout

the year. You know, he didn't lead the title fight for a long time when Piastri, kind of reign supreme throughout the middle of this season. But he fought back valiantly. And the end of this season did throw some challenges at him. Getting past, Dancinelli, would have been crucial in Qatar. And this race, not as plain sailing as I think he would have liked. It felt like he was a little bit nervous coming on to the grid before the race started. And whilst he got away all right, the move that Piastri put on him around the outside

early on the hard tide was a pretty bullseying supply move to make. It was a kind of a do-or-die for Oscar. And I think Lando was sensible enough. to realize, not going to fight this one too hard, don't end up going to end up having a collision, taking myself out of the Grand Prix. Then, of course, he ends up kind of pitting into traffic and we saw some very bold moves from the guy who had the championship on the line overtaking two cars at once, of course, in Lawson and Stroll, getting past Antingelli, diving down the inside. He did well to cut through traffic that could have been very decisive

in his fight with Lecler, who he had behind him the whole time. I thought Lando had to deal with a lot of hurdles throughout this Grand Prix, including Yuki-Singoda as well, of course, the other one to mention. But he handled them well. That is a point we'll discuss later on. But for the most part, he handled it brilliantly. He finished where he needed to finish,

and he comes home at World Champion. I think Martin Brundle on Sky Commentary put this quite well in that it was more tense than it was exciting. That's not to say it was completely unexciting, but it was the tension of this Grand Prix that I think could have got to Lando Norris. And in the end, not enough. and he was able to wrap up this title. Yeah, I think, and I echo what Sam says,

congratulations to Landon Norris. He is a worthy, worthy world champion. All three of them would have been worthy. Obviously, for Stapinari is one. But yeah, they were, they were, it wasn't the most exciting race because, by the way, Abidabi GP sucks. But there were many pitfalls for him to get over

during this race, the start being won. He had to fend off from N'cler for quite a few laps. obviously the move that Piastri did on lap one, which, yeah, was pretty dirty, to be honest. But like you said something, I don't think Norris was going to. He didn't need to defend it. He didn't need that second play. So why risk an accident there? And then I think the most impressive thing was, like, say, how he got through that traffic after the pit stop.

Because that could have really swung it the other way, especially with the Claire, not far behind and Russell. he had to make some decisive moves, which he did. I mean, the one, Antonelli was pretty strong. And then he obviously had the two, I know they would DRS assisted, but still double overtake down the backstreet. Still, up the inside of two cars. That is shaky. If you go to do it against two cars, those two?

Yeah. I was like, it could be anyone. Not those two, please. Yeah, it was some shaky moments, as he say. So, yeah, an impressive drive. I think it was cautious when it needed to be, bold when it needed to be, and that's exactly what he had to do. So fully deserved by Lando.

Yeah, and I will continue the echo to say congratulations to Lando Norris on what was a mighty fine championship win. And you're right when you say it wasn't under the easiest of circumstances, even with such a great car as McLaren have had all year. By the way, anyone who wants to say Norris isn't a worthy champion, a bit of a hint for you. Pretty much every world champion in history has had a very very, good car behind them. That's kind of how F1 works. But he didn't have an easy task today or indeed

throughout the year as Piastri at one point did hold that over 30 point advantage. And the other driver in the mix was, well, Max Verstappen. So not easy for him to come out on top in those circumstances. But he was impressive today after what was I fought, and I agree with you, Sam, a nervous, shaky start. I think the McLaren weirdly struggled on the medium tire. versus Red Bull. I think Vastappen got more out of it than both Piastri and Lando Norris did. And there were a couple of hairy moments, particularly in those first 10 laps, as we found that LeClaire and Ferrari had actually put together that Abu Dhabi package at the last moment. Who knew? Yeah. So it was a bit shaky, needed a few overtakes to make it happen. But I felt

the further this Grand Prix went on, the more confident Lando Norris got, the more he realized this could all come together for him and I fought the last 10 or 15 laps or so he was thoroughly impressive. So congratulations to him. Of course, as mentioned, on yesterday's qualifying review, myself and Sam were speculating,

could George Russell be in the mix and be the driver that could cause this to go a little bit shaky for Orlando Norris? We were kind of right, but it wasn't George Russell, it was Charles LeCler. out of nowhere. Yeah.

I, pardon me, still thinks that car's going to get as qualified. There was a pair. There was a shot of it sparking quite a lot. There was a comment later on. Oh, that's quite low to the ground, isn't it? So, yeah, brace yourselves, folks. No, LeClair and Ferrari, I think, surprised themselves with the pace they had in the end.

That car in qualifying yesterday was disgusting. So I didn't expect much from LeClaire this afternoon, but his race pace was pretty good. He threw everything at trying to get that podium and not because he didn't want Norris to win the championship. He just had wanted a podium. But his pace, yeah, it was a surprise that it was him and not Russell. I know Russell had the bad start, but Russell's pace sucked.

Like, it was not good at all. No, no, not at all. And I don't think that's down to him. I just don't think the Mercedes was set up right here. So, yeah, a surprise that it was LeClau, but yeah, he made Norris. and McLaren's sweat a bit, especially in those opening laps and towards the end, not necessarily the last 10 laps,

but when he came out on those mediums and was starting to catch him, again, a bit shaky for them. But as you said, I think Norris was really impressive and just keeping his head, he knew he had the tire, the tire life versus LeClau on those mediums. So, yeah, who'd have thought Ferrari were the main protagonists in this championship finale? I know, right.

It felt to me the same, like Sam, there were the two moments you had the early laps where LeCler was able to stay within the DRS of Lando Norris that it felt like it might go sideways for him and then also that final stint when he comes out on his second set of medium tyres, a second set that McLaren didn't have, so they were on to the hard tire.

It was kind of those two moments that might have given them a brief moment of concern. Yeah, that's where I think the tension was setting in for McLaren and for Lando Norris. you think, okay, nothing could go wrong here, apart from Ferrari, which you go, Ferrari are used to that, so that's fine. But everyone else having to be a victim of that is always difficult. And it looked like that was the case across both sides of both garages. It mirrored the performance where Lewis Hamilton and Kimmy Anting Alley started well outside the points.

Lewis Hamilton looked like he was able to, not necessarily cut through the traffic like a hot knife through butter, but he definitely progressed. Showed more than he has recently, right? He was good. He was good. He had a good race. I mean, it's a shame you didn't get past the goat o'con and then for a lot so fucking on at the end there but it's okay though

we got to watch that in a box in the corner yeah I love my one inch overtake box in the corner this is where I would actually slightly challenge the it's Abu Dhabi it was a terrible

I think this might have actually been quite a good race we just didn't see 90% of it like I saw Landon Norris like a pocket of five seconds either side of him just driving around right yeah

like cut to something's changing but there are overtakes happening yeah Lewis Ham would take a great and it also showed that both the Clare and Hamilton in that Ferrari, suddenly the car has pace. The race pace was strong for the Ferrari and stronger than was expected. Vice versa, Mercedes. While Russell got a really poor start and was kind of fish tailing all over the start line,

bless him, the wheel swing he got was ridiculous. Kim Mancinelli also showed that the Mercedes just wasn't fit for purpose around this Aberdabee racetrack and both just ending up being no man's land in the battles that they were in. You know, you've got shots of Kimi Antigli being overtaken by a hearse at one point, and then you've got shots of George Russell being 10 seconds behind the likes of Charles LeCler. It's a real stark difference in performance between what we've seen previously from both Ferrari and Mercedes. It's almost flipped on its head.

So, thank goodness for Ferrari for this race, because it did give us something to question when it came to if Landon Norris could deliver the third place that he needed. Because without it, it might have been a little bit done up the front. Well, ordinarily, after these races, when we do these race reviews, we'll focus on the driver that took the race win. Obviously, we've deviated from that slightly today with this crowning of a new champion. But let's focus now on that race winner, Max Verstappen. Three races in a row to close out this season puts him just two points away from Lando Norris

as the checkered flag came down. Harry, he kind of did everything that he could write to that. There wasn't much more that he could do. No, and they knew it was a tall order going into this one for, Vostappen. All he could do was win the race, and he duly delivered on that. He had some great pace out there.

I think it was the quicker of the three championship contenders all weekend. The only thing I'm surprised at is that they didn't pit him again. Well, that's the next question is, could they? And when I say they, I'm talking more about Red Bull. Could they have done more to try? Well, yeah, because I don't think Vestappen could have done it anymore. and you know he was he was always relying on a bit of luck to come to play here he could only do what he needed to do and that was a win the race um i'm just surprised red bull didn't decide especially

when piastra was held for an extra lap more it gave him a 24 second gap i know it's risky but at this point it probably was time to start taking some risks so i'm just surprised they didn't try it and put him on some fresh ties and and do a lewis hamilton 2016 style you know back back him up and it may well have gone wrong and that's probably what they were worried about but again at that point what does it matter because they were losing anyway I'm just surprised they didn't

they didn't try it especially Red Bull given they are Red Bull and are often the ones that are willing to try those sorts of tactics so yeah I mean absolutely fair play to his time his run in the last three races has been absolutely ridiculous and showed why he is the four time board champion

he misses out by two points there might be a few errors during the year not there many. I think in Spain, error. Yeah. Spang is lost in the title. Yeah, so he might look back and regret that one, but I don't think, as he said,

I don't think he can be disappointed. They did stage one of the best comebacks, I think we've seen for a long time. Needless to say, Sam, a flawless performance today from Max Verstappen out front. But as Harry mentions, there is the opportunity to try something different to go on to that two-stop to condense the field a little bit.

Red Bull instead opting to just focus on themselves, winning the Grand Prix, and hoping that something like LeCler overtaking, Norris would happen that would then give them the title. Did they play it correctly or incorrectly? It's really tricky to say, isn't it? And Max's season has kind of, of course, all rolled into this final Grand Prix. He's arguably had the toughest season of the three of them here. That Red Ball was really poor for quite a few Grand Prix. You only have to look as far back as the likes as Hungary. Hungary was awful. It was sort of a minute off the lead come the end of the Grand Prix. It shows you how poor that car has been.

Our reign, another one place. Yeah, and the way that they've had to experiment with strategy and be so risky. You think of Silverstone and the rain, of course, when they set up to be completely straight-line-focused, they've had to overcome a lot of hurdles. So it is, I think, a little bit, from just a viewer's point of view, frustrating that Max's hot head in Spain is what's cost him, realistically being a five-time world champion. But before I just dive into their strategy, I want to compliment Max. The way he handled himself in the call-down room, when they go out of the country,

cars afterwards. It's a very different, Max. Obviously, he could be different now. He's successfully cementing himself. He knows who he is. He's a father for crying out loud. But the way he got out there with a big smile on his face and he went over to every single person. Congratulations, well done. It was so kind and humble. And I thought fair play to you, mate. You've come a long way as a person. And I thought he really displayed a great nature. I think he could be proud of how he held himself up in this one. But when it comes to Red Bull, You're Red Bull. Why aren't you doing everything under the sun to make yourself an absolute nuisance from McLaren?

You're going to deal with Yuki Sanoda, you know, hold him up as much as you can. Charlotte Clare is two seconds behind you. Make sure you could do whatever you can to stop him getting past. Okay, well, he gets past that hurdle. Well, why not do it again? Why not come out and try something different? You're not going to win the championship by winning the race as it stands. So why not be ridiculous?

Why not put on a set of soft tires and back the cars up to half pace? Charlotte Clare and George Russell will just go gung-ho and send one down the inside and maybe for the annual also rocks up on the back of this pack and goes, yeah, okay, I'll have a poe if I'm going to muck about with it. That's the kind of thing that could in theory happen. I will surprise they didn't

try it. Equally, fair play for being sporting, fair play for being clean and just winning the race. There's only so much you can really have a problem with that. But I was surprised they didn't try something and just let the race run to the end. I was shocked that they didn't try something because, for

regardless of whether he wins this race by 30 seconds, 15 seconds, or 0.5 seconds, the result is identical. It's what's happening to Lano Norris that is ultimately going to decide whether they win the championship or not. And it became quite clear fairly early on that while Charlotte Clair's pace was good, it wasn't good enough to get him back in DRS. Like, it was going to remain fairly constant, if not open up as soon as those medium tires went off versus the hard tires that Lando Norris had on, I was surprised that they didn't pull him in and just try something different. But credit to Max Verstappen, he drove a wonderful Grand Prix today. And I don't want my words to be twisted when I say this because Lando Norris is a very deserving world champion,

no doubt about that whatsoever. The fact that Vastappan was in mathematical chance of winning today is utterly ridiculous. That car has at points this year been dreadful. And to win a nearly win a championship when your teammate is, you know, languishing in sort of 15th place, roughly, in the driver's championship, that is, that's a pretty insane achievement to even get within two points. So it doesn't change the fact that Lando Norris deserved this title and he has been brilliant all year. But I really think the Stappen being in the fight at this stage is pretty ridiculous. The other thing that Red Bull, of course, tried was getting Yuki Sonoda involved. and you got a five-second penalty for his troubles. Did you see it the same way the stewards did?

This was, by the way, Sergio Perez vindicated for all of his work in 2021. Yuki Snowda is not the Minister of Defense that Perez was, but I had a problem with the weaving down the straight. There's too many times. I know he's trying, he'll claim he's trying to break the toe. The, I struggle with this. Sonoda's committed to that.

He hasn't moved again. Sonoda's committed to moving left as Norris is getting closer. And Norris also commits to going left. So they're hitting a pinch point when Norris goes for that move. I think Norris does, I don't know this is all based on instincts, obviously, but I think Norris has got time to go right if he wants to. Now, if he hadn't got the move done, then we don't. we'll obviously criticise that.

So this is why I'm struggling a little bit with it. I don't think, I don't think Senoda's necessarily forced him off the track. And that wasn't the bit I had the issue with his defence. I think it was the weaving that I didn't like. Honestly, Norris has gone off track to make the overtake. Again, I think it's all irrelevant. Had they given both on the penalty, it wouldn't have made any difference to this championship result anyway.

I just not sure I've read it the same way that the stewards have in that I don't think Sonoda necessarily forced him off. I think it was, they just met in the middle. It was, it reminded me of Canada with Norris and Piastri and that move that Norris went for, that he went for a narrowing gap. And I know it was different, because obviously there was a wall there in Canada

and there wasn't here. But that's, that's what came to mind for me. So I don't think so necessarily pushed him off and I don't think that's all the penalty should have been for. I had an issue with the first part. of that, and as for Norris overtaking off track. Yes, he did, but they've obviously written that off, given that they believed that Sunoda put him there, so fine. Did you see it the same way, Sam? It's actually quite a, so difficult to analyse incident. It's more complicated, I think,

than it should be, I suppose. Yuki Sago is wrong for the way he defended. He moved more than once to defend against Landon Norris. Now, if I'm not wrong, the wording of the penalty isn't forcing a driver off the track, it was irrational or, you know, dangerously defending, reckless defending or something like that. It wasn't not leaving space. Because if you look at the camera angle from the front on shot, there is space for Landon Norris to be on the racetrack. I understand entirely why Landon Norris is veered as far as he has. He's got a championship on the line. He's driving at 200 miles an hour. The guy wants to make sure he avoids this swerving Red Bull in front of him who is doing anything he can do to help his team,

mate. I get it. The penalty is fair for Yuki Sagoda. He did drive, I think, a little bit over the line. He should have been as for long as that. But should Landon Norris have got off entirely scot-free? This is where my debate sits and where I'm probably not 100% sure, because it's not like the only choice Landon Norris has here is to go off-track, pass him, move on with his day. There was space to keep a tire on the right side of the white line. He has a brake pedal. He also could choose to give the place back. He also could choose not to carry the momentum into the corner and go again down the next straight, which of course is coming up for the breaking zone. So whilst I think two wrongs don't make a right, you can say I definitely deserves a penalty. I don't 100% know about Landon Norris. I've just realised as well, I'm totally wrong.

They gave him the penalty for the change of direction, so I agree with that. Yeah, I thought, okay, they did, all right. It's the Norris one, which then, because I thought it was as a result, the fact that they thought that Snowder forced him off, that they didn't give Norris. Norris penalty, so I'm not very... That's where my issue sits. If the penalty isn't for forcing him off, it's a changing direction. Yeah. In that case, maybe I would...

Maybe I would go for a penalty for Norris too, but... I was fine with Yugi Sonoda taking the penalty there for moving twice under breaking, which I think is about seven times too few. It might have been closer to about, yeah, about 10 times if we've done that break. Definitely two or three in there, wasn't there? Yeah, and Yuki Sonoda's confusion might have been moment of the race. We'll see coming up on that. For Lando Norris, I'm on the side of I'm okay with him not getting a penalty here.

I feel like the weaving ultimately led to his decision to go slightly more left that briefly saw him go off track. And that's why I'm okay with him technically leaving the track and making that overtake. I don't think it's necessarily on Lando Norris to hit the brakes, slow down, give the position back. when it has come as a result of something that hasn't been allowed from the stewards because they have given that five second time penalty, which, by the thought five was a little light, to be honest, I probably would have gone with a 10 second time penalty because it was a pretty dangerous, I thought. But yeah, I'm okay with Lando Norris not taking the penalty here. I think if you are, if they're given, if you're just looking at racing room,

Norris did have room to stay on the track. I think Sunoda left enough. room on the left-down side, but with the way he was weaving, I don't blame him for using that little bit of extra space in order to get the move done. So if Sonoda hadn't been weaving and had just gone to the left-hand side of the track and then Norris had gone off, I would have said penalty for Norris. But because of the weaving, I'm going to go with no. You briefly mentioned, Aaron, Sergio Perens. It just shows you how good job Perez digging in 21 to defend against Lewis Hamilton. I mean, he got past Landon Norris in half a lap. Perez was a bloody nightmare in 21.

If you knew to F1, you haven't seen the 21 season. Firstly, go and watch it because it is an epic battle. But that fight between Paris and Hamilton was amazing. He defending on the line, but it stayed next to him for laps. It was amazing the way he kept up with him. So, yeah, it shows you what you can do. Yuki Sanoa did not do that. I just, I'm not that I'm annoyed about this in any way,

but if you used to know just saying, leave me alone and I know what to do and then just basically not doing anything, are you sure? You sure about that? Yeah, doesn't slow down enough in sector three, breaks the rules. Have you seen, I urge people to go and look at this,

Sergio Perez, and I'll send this to you some, his repost of a F1 troll tweet. Yikes out. I said that people listening go and look it up. Right, should we take our first break on this episode and then on the other side, we'll get into the Valiant challenge of Oscar Piastri. At Fandual Casino, you get even more ways to play.

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Step into a winter wonderland filled with millions of dazzling lights, festive shows, rides, and holiday treats. Plus, Coca-Cola is back with Canada's kindest community, celebrating Acts of Kindness Nationwide. with a chance at a 100,000 donation for the winning community and a 2026 holiday caravan stop. Learn more at Canada's Wonderland.com. Welcome back, everyone. We've discussed the new champion Lando Norris, the outgoing champion, Max Verstappen. Let's go to the nearly champion of Oscar Piastri. least experienced of the three drivers in this fight, the driver that led the title fight for

the majority of this season, but comes up just a little bit short with his second place finish today. Sam, he went for something different, started on the hard tires versus the medium tires of both for Stappen and Lano Norris. Can you understand that call? Do you think they played it correctly? Completely understand the call to do something different, especially when he's starting third on the grid. It makes sense to trying. He's got to be the riskiest realistically out of the three to make something happen. He has to force the other two into a rash

decision or a strategy call that doesn't fully make sense or to try and do something a bit left field. So fair play to him. And the move that he does pull on Landon Norris, whilst he knows that Norris isn't going to risk his car, doing it around the outside of that corner can lead to some rather tricky scenarios when you meet each

other again on the exit. Lap 1, not optimal tyres. Yeah, yeah. Or maybe a slightly not green track on the outside. fair play to Oscar, fair play, because you're absolutely sent it around there and a valiant effort it was indeed. He's going to be gutted.

I think probably the most gutter out of the top three here. Obviously, Lando walks away a world champion. Maxter for a time, world champion. And with that card, dragged it all the way to a two-point gap at the end. Oscar Piastri led the title to fight longer than anyone else for more races than anyone else.

And up until the last four, had more wings than anyone else. And now he leaves this season with the least wings, the least poles, the least podiums of the lot of them, and the least points of the lot of them. But he tried. For me, it was the moment we saw Lando Norris get to pit before Oscar Piastri came off. The hard was McClaring have made the decision that Oscar will not win this title.

And no matter what changes, Oscar was in that place, it was the toughest for him to get there. But I think at that moment, it was a, we're getting Landon Norris home. Oscar, you've done a great job. That's it. You've had your time. You've had your chance. It's now Lando's moment. So whether you agree with that or not, Liskers, fair enough, but I think that's when we knew that this wasn't going to be Oscar Piastri's Day. What did you make of Piastri's Grand Prix? Makes that brilliant start to get up to P2. Ultimately, doesn't quite have the pace to chase down Max Verstappen.

And second place, third place in the championship is what he takes away from 2025. Yeah, I thought he had a good race. And again, like Vastappen, I don't think he could have done much more. He obviously went for the alternate strap starting the hard tires. That move was filthy around the outside. I know, as we know I said earlier on, that Norris may not have fought it as hard as he needed to, which is fair, but he

still defended it and Piastri still had to go around the outside to get that done. So, a superb move. But yeah, it was always it was always going to be a tough one. It was tough of a step, and it was even tough for Piastri going into this one. He did as, he

did as much as he as he could to be honest but there wasn't wasn't a great deal to do with no other intervention but just just to say on piastri's year as a whole i know there was the dip sort of after the summer break but to be in the title fight and i know mcclaren has been a superb car but to be in the title fight uh in year three of your f1 career i'm not sure i would have said lando would have been ready for step and maybe not either although hard to hard to know because we never got that opportunity, but that in itself is, is an amazing feat. So I've got no doubt that he will, he will be one one day. And to take it all the way to the wire, it's still pretty impressive for year three of your

F1 career. I think Piastri, for the most part, did all he could on a track that probably isn't best suited to his abilities. These grip is something that tends to matter more for Piastri than it does for Orlando Norris, and we've seen some tracks this year really suit Piastri and others not so much. I entered this weekend thinking this wouldn't be one of Piastri's strongest. But he turned that on his head with what was a really good performance. You've both said about the lap one overtake.

I don't need to say anything more on that one, super impressive. He was able to put pressure on Max Verstappen in that first stint. I think ultimately he would have needed to overtake Max Verstappen in the first stint to stand any chance of winning this Grand Prix because as soon as, as Vestappen was able to go off those medium tires and onto what I think was a stronger tire, the hard tire, it was very unlikely that he was going to be able to chase Vestappen down and take that win. But respect to what he was able to do and what McLaren was able to do with that strategy,

it made complete sense that they try something different to Norris and Vestappen. Doing the same wouldn't have yielded anything better. And even though one never came, the chance of a VSC and a safety car wasn't nothing. Like if he manages to get that timing correctly and gets the safety car when he, before he's pit, he's in a really good space going into the second half of this Grand Prix. And there was a lot, because it was a difference between a one stop and a two stop was quite small, there was a lot of on track action, particularly in the midfield and lower down, that could have caused a VSC or a safety car.

I'm honestly quite shocked that we ended up with 20 drivers finished this race and no safety car or VSC, no yellow flag making appearance. I felt this was tailor-made for that sort of an incident. So in that respect, they were playing into that strategy, didn't quite work out. But Piastri deserves respect for what has been a great season. And I think you're right, Harry, to highlight the year three of his F-1 career versus a far more experienced champion in Max Verstappen, a far more experienced F-1 and McLaren driver in Lando Norris.

I didn't think he would be in this championship fight at the beginning of the year. And I'm very glad to say I was wrong on that because he has made this championship. fight, all the better for being in it. And I don't think he crumbled. I don't think at any point this year, you would look at maybe the Baku DNF as the one really horrible weekend he had, even though it has gone, it's been tougher as of late, and he has let that championship lead go. I think it's just been a lack of pace rather than he has wilted under the pressure of being in the title fight, which bodes well, I think, for future seasons. in terms of the season as a whole Sam

this will be something we get into a lot more next week if you're listening to us for the first time this won't be the last episode of the year don't you worry we've got another episode coming out on Wednesday and then a week from now we'll do our full season review so there will be much more opportunity to talk about all three of these championship contenders and indeed all 10 teams and all 20 drivers

so 21 drivers rest in peace chat doing plenty of opportunity to talk about all of them in a week's time. But just as your first reaction, Sam, to what Piastri has accomplished this season, how do you think he shapes up going forward at McLaren? I was hugely surprised at what Oscar Piedashtra was able to achieve this season. I think half and through the season, I pretty much think it was going to be him or Hajar that would be my surprise of the season because he has really outshung himself and dug himself very proud, despite him probably being very gutted right now that he's got

one to win this title. The fact that he could say that he is gutted not to go on to win this title tells you just how far he's come in such a short amount of time. How he shapes up moving forward is a tricky one. He will be a world champion. If the car is right for him, as it is with any driver, he has the talent to be a world champion. I have no doubt about it. Age is on his side. Ability is on his side. He is quick enough, consistent enough and most importantly calm enough in the cockpit to win a world title when it matters. How he shapes up at McClare now is really interesting. I don't know how good the relationship will be between Oskopiastrian McClaren. I think he's done a really good job, at least publicly, at fighting his own corner, but also

trying to play the team game. And I don't think there's any major issue between himself and Landon. I think they're both very aware that they both wanted the same thing. They're both fighting for the same thing in the team. And only one of them could come out on top. But I do think he'll have some issue with how McLaren handled his season. Moments such as Monza come to mind. where problems that weren't his suddenly became his problem and he had to rectify them for the team. He had to give up moments for the team. Changes to the car.

We're not entirely sure what the details are of those, but it's very odd that a driver that went on winning and picking up pole positions time and time again suddenly can't get a bigger than a fourth or fifth place for five or six races in a row. Something happened internally, culturally, with the way the car was being set up there. He will have conversations about that.

Mark Weber, no by no means, will be staying quiet about that internally. That team will be looking at how Oscar Piastri sits in that team and if it's right for him to continue in that team for them long term. So no bridges have been burnt, no problems I don't think of properly arisen, but I wouldn't be shocked to hear rumors of Oscar Piastri being looked at by other Formula One teams around the paddock. It's really interesting to look back at this season and think

if one or two things went slightly differently for each of these drivers, we could be looking at a very different picture right now. We've already spoken of the Spanish GP incident for Vestappen. If you just add together what happened at Monza, plus what happened at, say, Hungary way he could argue he was on the wrong side of the strategy. Qatar as well, that's enough for Piastri to win the title this year. And equally, Norris can say the same thing

if I didn't have the mechanical DNF at Zandvort, we wouldn't even be going into this last race with a championship fight. So that would be really interesting to get into next week. I don't know when it comes to Piastri, I feel like he needs to work out what has happened in these last seven or eight races. Today in Qatar have been better, which is more encouraging. I know we're going on to a new set of regulation, so you could argue it's not overly important, but I feel like regardless of whether it's him, the team, or a combination of the two, they will need to figure out where it went, because it's not usually.

for a driver to have an over-30-point lead in the championship and then to come third that season. And yeah, that's what's happened here for Oscar Biastri, but well-fought for him throughout all 24 races. Shall we now head to Driver of the Day? The verdict is in, you're the driver of the day. You're the driver of the day. You're good at driving. Now, of course, our driver of the day and worst driver of the day rank will be very important. They will feed into power rankings that takes place on our Patreon.

Last one of the season will be in the city tomorrow, in the beautiful city of Patreon. So if you're not already subscribed to Patreon, come along and you can listen to that final power rankings episode tomorrow. But Driver of the Day, Sam, who have you got here? Oh, that's a good performance.

It's up and down the grid. And the likes of a long-so spring to mind. I think he did well to again, then bait and switch the people behind him. I think he kept Okonging his DRS right at the end just enough to then kick off so Lewis Hamilton couldn't get past him, who was the real threat. I thought that was very savvy. I thought the Clare was absolutely incredible for stopping as well,

delivering a really good performance. I'm going to give it to Charlotte Clare for me. I think that car all seeding has been an absolute dog, as I said. And the way he was put in the pressure on a McLaren that's already won the constructors and he's about to win the drivers. I was pretty solid. When was the last time we saw multiple lapsing a row where it's like a Ferrari was the fastest car in a race?

That boy was hustling with a capital, ha. So, yeah, fair play to the Claire. He just gets it for me. They found that form just in time, didn't they? God, I'm writing. I'll tell you what, that young driver test, they are going to be cooking a Ferrari. I don't know who's in it, but they're going to be cooking.

Driver of the day from you, Harry. I think LeClau is a fair shout and Alonso too, but I'll go for Vestappen. Obviously, he didn't win the championship, but he convincingly won this race, and I think on any other day we'd be a, we'd talk about that more, but obviously it wasn't about the race with today, was it?

So, yeah, I'll go for Vestappen, easy pick. Yeah, I thought Alonzo was excellent as well. And you know, when you have sort of like a blind ranking or like a blind resume and you have to like a pick between two or something like that, I feel like if you had just given a summary of Alonzo's race but redacted all of the mentions of the team and his name and then you were to ask,

okay, guess who had that race? You would guess Alonzo in like a second. It was the most Fernando Alonzo Grand Prix, I think we've seen all year. But I am also going to go for Max Verstappen. I couldn't find a fault with what he did. Apart from what was not the best start, he probably had the worst start of the three.

just off the line and was maybe, I don't know to say fortunate, but he would have been quite thankful that it wasn't a longer run down to term one at, say, Spain, because I don't think he would have held the lead. But apart from that, it was a pretty much flawless day from him. Worst driver of the day. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, best driver of the day. Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, worst driver of the day. You suck at driving. I think there are a few contenders here, Sam. few contenders here. A few penalties have arisen.

There's been a few moments between drivers. For me, I'm probably going to give it to Yuki, just to cap off his Formula One career currently, as it stands anyway. I saw the F1 post that was captioned. See you down the road, Yuki. And I thought, what was that even mean? What are you mean by that?

Not committing. We don't know. We just have to say something, guys. It also said, enjoy the race, Yuki. like, oh, patronising. His defence was poor. He didn't hold up Norris, he went near enough. His pace on those hard tyres were really average.

He then picks up the penalty, correctly so, for basically dangerous defending. And then he finishes well outside the points, partially cute to that as well. So, yeah, I mean, he's always going to be sacrificed a bit. But even with the newer tyres at the end of the race, he wasn't really able to make much of the impression. So for me, I'm going to give it to Yuki. Well, Yuki, it's been great going you. See you down the road. road.

Thank you, F1. Now, Harry, who have you got as worst driver of the day? I think Snowder's a fair shout. I am going to go for Antonelli,

though. I know he didn't qualify well, but I thought maybe he might do a bit better than he did today. And I know

to say he's pace wasn't great out there as Russell evidenced, but I thought he might score some points, but knew. Well, he did a

hard-to-medium strategy, did Kimi Antinelli, and so did the driver that started behind him on the grid, Landstrol, which one of them finished ahead. Also, I saw this on Twitter just now. Stroll did Bearman around the outside on the last lap,

you know, like Hamilton and Russell last year, for that last point. But didn't he get a five-second penalty? But he still got, I think he's still got a point, isn't he? He did, yeah, and Bortoletto also did Bairman. Stroll. I thought that dropped him to 11th. No, he still got a point.

Oh, well, in, mate. Well, Trump's best performance keeps them in a game. Yep. Antonelli and Sonoda are two of the three names that I've got written down for potential worst driver of the day. I'm going to go with the third option, that being Liam Lawson. Five second time penalty really ruined his day. And to be fair to racing balls, they didn't have a great car because Isaac Hadjar also fell

quite a long way down the order based on where he qualified. But of course, Lawson didn't have as far to fall because he didn't qualify. quite as well as Hachar did. And he was just essentially after that five-second penalty, uncompetitive and out of the way, with the exception of the Alpines. But, I mean, that's an Alpine. Racing ball crap, I think is what they were to go. Nice.

Sodom! Stuck on that. See you 26. I'm off. Bye-bye. Signing off for the year. Big brain straps. Ah, bye.

Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about? Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance, let your teammate pass you. What? He crashed out. He's not even in the race.

Sam, a lot of strategy talk today as a result of the top three, likely needing some strategy to go their way in order to win the championship. But other options available as well, what have you gone for? Yeah, obviously we always try and do a little bit of a funny spin, a big brain strap. For me, it was sacrificing piastri. I just thought, come on, Oscar, if we're going to do anything now that is more kind of fight for yourself, put yourself first for one race, you've got to be out there going, bring me in, bring me in now.

He wasn't, he's just left out to be slam to a lorter, as I was about to say. Oh, an absolute slam to a lorter. That new expression, slam to a lorter. So, yeah, for me, it's McLaren with Piersbury. If you like any smint sauce, would you slap? It wouldn't be sauce, you biggie it. I'm sorry, yeah, sorry, smit lorse. Mate, you messed up the mess up.

If you got mock me, do it right. Pobles and scurface. What was your big brain strut? I've already mentioned this, but there's the Sonoda. the Sonoda Strat of trying to hold up Norris Right intentions poorly executed

Yeah I'm so bad I just thought like a lap Like one complete lap Maybe And then just I also enjoyed that he It was like looking like it was going to be an absolute repeat

Because Norris obviously gets past him on the straight and then I was thinking Hamilton and Perez in 2021. Perez and slips back down the inside. Snowden jinks to the inside to think about it. And he's like, nah, no, boy. Nah, I don't do that. Everything comes back to his mind of like what's happened this year and maybe not getting the same parts as for staff.

Actually, do you know what? And let him go. I'm okay. Yeah, so I had the same one as well. Shall we take our second break? And on the other side, we'll get into some of the midfield scraps and talk a little bit more about Mercedes. Welcome back, everyone to the third part of today's Abu Dhabi GP review.

We've spent a lot of time, Sam, on the top four in this Grand Prix. Mercedes, George Russell, was fastest in Q2 yesterday. wasn't then able to replicate that pace in Q3 as the two McLaren's and the Red Bull for Stappen went past him. And then we get to the main Grand Prix today, terrible start, and ultimately not able to keep up with the Ferrari. What happened there? What happened there is Mercedes hate the ground effect era.

They despise this era of Formula One, and I think they will be so glee, full of glee, that they are able to move away from this. I think they picked up only seven race wings since the start of this era beginning, of course, in 2022. You compare that to the fact they won eight world titles in the last era of Formula One, there's a stark difference.

More world titles than they have race wings in era to era, is quite a stat to go against. And I also saw someone say that the side-poglis design was the most competitive. Now, there's a lot to be debating upon there with, you know, different cars also being more or less competitive and the way the gaps have changed around. So it's subjective. But in theory, the stack does exist. It's at least subjective.

Like, it's a debate. You can make the argument, at least. There's a lot of bouncing up the saying is, a lot of vibrations. They never seem to work out tires. They're hot and they're cold. They're yes and they know. Sorry, that's quite Katie. Thank you, Katie.

It's just. Good stuff. She was there this weekend. She was there. So is Nigel Farage. I'll give, hang on. I'll give, I'll give. Good friends.

No, no. I'll give. you, I'll give you 20 pounds, either one of you, if you can guess. He's posted a photo on Twitter. Who was he having a photo with? Just one person, Nigel Farage, and Connie Hug. It was Flavio. Of course, it's Fabio.

Was it a game of spot the difference? Spot the dictator, sorry. Flavio loves Clacton, actually. More than Farage does. Probably spends more time there. It's probably where the engines for Alpena are getting made. Yeah, relocated. Great.

The Constructed as champion. My point being, Mercedes had a dog of an era. I was using the word dog a lot. You're back rep for dogs. Yeah, I love dogs. Pick a worse animal.

Absolute hamster of an era. Right, yeah. Too many gerbils this era. And now what, I bet they're happy to see the back of it because I think it really epitomized their whole last three or four seasons. Stuck in the middle and I wear in fifth for George Russo,

who's had a belt for every year. He's done really well, picked up a couple of wings, multiple podiums, but a lot of it feels. like it's through sheer will, dragging the car around from George Russell, where it really fit in, the moments where he can make magic happen, he did. The Antingelli is really blossomed towards the end of the season. It's really displayed what we wanted Antigelli to display.

But the car has just never been there. And today was proof of that. They were just nowhere near the front. And that's how it's been for the last four seasons. I'm not sure there's anyone on this grid that will be happier to see these regulations go than Toto Wolf. It's, we've barely, we've barely had coverage of him all year because of how little he's a Mercedes. How many hats did he wear? I don't know.

He's just trying to like get attention to himself by wearing an extra hat each week until they notice. More or more audacious outfit every time. He's to get no screen time. It's like how many hats before someone notices? Apparently it's endless. I don't know that breast is a full sultan. I feel like today was a bit of a summary of Mercedes year Like if you told Mercedes at the beginning of the year You're going to be runner up in the championship

You'd be like, okay, I was two positions higher than we were last year Probably shame we couldn't win the championship But that's a pretty good year And I guess to some extent it is But they've got two wins Yeah, that's it Yeah, but a weekends where they probably didn't think They were going to get wins as well

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they'll be delighted to see the back of these regulations They just never, again, they just never know why they're quick or why they're slow. And they just have never worked it out. And it was the same for today or for this weekend. Mercedes were pretty convinced they were going to be in a fight for poll yesterday. And I guess there was an argument to say Russell made a bit of a mess of that final corner. So that cost him, but I don't think he was going to grab it anyway.

But then they were like, well, at least today we'll have some good race base. And they didn't have any. So, yeah, they will be, they'll be pleased to move on to 2026. George Russell will be delighted, I'm sure. But yeah, these ground effect cars have just not treated them well. And yeah, I saw the same thing as you the other day, Sam, about the zero side pod car that actually has been its most. I can remember what it's based on, whether it's based on podiums or something.

It might have been. He's definitely got podiums. Maybe it's points. I don't know. Either way, yeah, they will be delighted. to see the back of these regs. It's not been their finest hour. And again, the telling thing is just how much Kimi Antonelli struggled.

And I know his rookie year has been up and down, but there have been more ups than downs, I would say, in the last, you know, third of the season. But whereas he, again, hard to medium strategy for both him and Lance Stroll, Lance Stroll goes from 15th to 10th, Antonelli goes from 14th to 15th. Like, he just really struggled to get anything going.

and George Russell was just in no man's land. Couldn't keep pace with Lecler. Tried the one-stop versus the two-stop that the others had. Didn't work for them at all. As I say, I think Toto Wolf might be the happiest person that we're getting a new set of regulations next year. There you go. Sorry, Harry, you are right.

I'm going to correct it at F1 Guy Dan on Twitter, who came up with the stat. It's officially confirmed that no mistake is car of this area will have scored more points or collecting more podiums than the no sideponds W13. In 2022, they had 50015 points and 17 polymiums at W16, current year car. It's come second with 459 points and 12 podium. So make of it what you will.

There's a lot of other mitigating factors going on there. But in pure numbers, it is the most competitive car. Should have stayed with the no cypods. They also had neon green numbers, remember? Yes. Yeah. And that was the bigger crime, actually. What about the rest of the midfield scrap?

So I think even though we didn't get. to see as much of it as I would have liked to or any of it. Well, yeah, just in that the box. Unless you have incredible telescopic vision to see the smallest box in the world. One pixel of your screen showed the overtake. Yeah.

We had like Hass and Salba and Aston Martin kind of all quite close to each other in the championship and ultimately quite close on track as well. Yeah, they were, I mean that result for Austin Martin, they've only finished three points behind racing balls. Yeah. In the end they've finished P7, but P-7

outland stroll qualifies a little bit better but yeah I think it was good again we didn't really see much of it but it was kind of the story of what we've had with the midfield this year super super close on on track throughout and the points have shown that Ozzie Holcomb grabbed a couple of points at the end as well Alonzo was pretty impressive

that's what Alonzo should have done in Qatar but didn't basically because he had the spin but that's two weekends in a row that he's managed to do that effectively and yeah the battles with the Hasse turned up again so it's good to see. Yeah, again, that Haskar just better in race trim than it isn't quality track.

I know Ocon had a good. Yeah, yeah, and you're right, both good. Yeah, better than going a bit earlier into the pits so Ockon had the better of the tyres in the second stint, but ultimately, you know, Ocon, a good showing from him on what has been a tough last quarter of the season also, Sam. Yeah, I think it's about timing banks back, actually. And, you know, if you're going to do it right before a new era,

and maybe when the fact they've just signed this partnership deal with Toyota, of course, you've got Toyota racing as a title partner, a money grand no more. And also, it's going to be amazing to have Toyota the game back on the grid. I'm very exciting to see them come back in. You've got to start impressing. There's a lot of money being put into that team. There's a lot of stakeholders involved.

And there's quite good Japanese drivers out there that might be looking for a racing seat. So. So that is exactly who I was implying, I'm glad you've read my mind. So, Ocon, you can't be resting on your laurels. You've got to be delivering, and that was a good time to deliver. Yeah, and I thought when it came to the salbers as well, it was good to see them in the mix, even if I think Bortoletto's pace kind of dwindled as the Grand Prix went on. He was behind his master, Fernando Alonzo, for a good chunk of the first stint,

and then ultimately fell away a little bit with the tire, where Holkenberg, making that two-stop, worked quite well of course he started on the soft compound but that only went about seven laps or so but that he's finished ahead of Bortoletto so clearly a good strategy was that two stop not enough

for them to change championship positions but perhaps more excitingly it does give them I think 69 points for the season so way! Come on and that's the OG best number yeah down with the six seven we don't care for that also Max Verstappen

might pick 69 now he hasn't got a number one. And I am still waiting for the day at Formula One driver, does it? We'll see. Maybe he could be the one. Should we review our bold predictions? Sure. Oh, should we? A year of misery.

It's really been a tough year. Even by Austin. It's been an awful year. Before this comes in, I think overall it's what, three to one or something like that? Maybe. It's not more than that. It's been bad.

Sam, our bowl predictions were remarkably similar. We said that I was more specific to say that Piastrian Norris, there would be contact between them at some part of this Grand Prix. And they went side by side, but kept it very, very clean. And Sam, you said any of the top three championship contenders would have contact. Of course, that was the closest we got all day. You said that the champion would not finish on the podium? Did I say that?

Or did I say that all the champion... No, I think I said all the championship protagonists wouldn't be on the podium. I mean, either way. Yeah. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong is the answer.

It's a big, fat. No. Hey, well done, though. You managed to correctly predict the world champion. Who knows actually won? Congratulations, who knows? A worthy one-time champion. I mean, we might be back with bold predictions next year, folks,

but honestly, we might be banned from doing them after what has been a horrific season. A lot of bold things happen this year as well. Yeah, yeah. Most of them right. No, they've always been like the thing that's very close to the thing we've said. That's how you know what's going to happen in the weekend. Maybe we should play a new game called Nearly Bold Predictions

and give ourselves like some mitigating circumstances. When it doesn't improve things, that'll be really funny. You take our final break on this episode and then on the other side, moment of the race. Welcome back, everyone to the final part of today's review of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and it's time for a moment of the race, the final one of 2025. We've, of course, got some final Discord submissions. But before we do that, Sam, what was your moment to the race? it was that beef

a Hall of Fame announced that she once matched with Lando Norris on Tinder I'm sorry, what? Apparently, there's a story there apparently, so we left. Cap. That means a lie to anyone

older than the age of 28. I need some receipts on that beef. I'm also waiting for safe receipts, but so I've opened that cag of worms, you better pluggy deliver, all right? My actual moment with the race is George Russell putting off the filthiest double overtake I've seen a while down,

not down the DRS straight, But round the outside of one, I think straight down the inside of the other, after the two DRS straights on that Stroll Lawson debacle that was going on. So I thought that was bloody lovely. I won't waste too much time with my one because it's been mentioned about seven times already on the episode. Piastri and Norris, Piastri around the outside, lap one. So good. Filthy.

Yeah, filth. Your moment of the race? That was definitely going to be one of my nominations. shout out to Yuki Sanoda with penalty what penalty bro

bro the bro the new man bro I don't even remember a McLaren being behind me

what you talking about yeah Orlando who happy what where are we but I will go

for um hello is this the world champion hotline no

that is not the moment of the race that is the worst moment of the Grand Prix no I've been sick in my mouth. Also, Lando Berry or whatever it was.

David, shut up. By the way, commentary was on Sky. Terrible this race. It was done. It was pretty poor. Bernie, once again, the only good thing to come out of that whole programme. Can we just have Bernie do the whole race by us? Do it all Bernie, please. Bernie do every job, please. Antony Davis could come in every five minutes.

But McLean obviously orchestrated the swap up and that one with Pistria and Norris. Oh, yeah, I think you got to know that. That was obviously planned. Yep. Okay. I've already mentioned the next two episodes that we're going to have. It'll be a regular episode on Wednesday and then the LB, sorry, not historic review, season review next year. We're just going to put a random history.

Technically historic. Yeah, I guess. It is historic. But another upcoming episode will be the LB Awards. I am on air saying there should be an ick of the year award. Yes. And that's the winner. Because that is a contender.

That is up there. That is up there. Well, I'm Landon Norris' dad. That's up there as well. Is this the world champion hotline? Oh, no. No, it's not. God.

Also, sorry, Zach, I'm going to call you out. Who designed your book cover? Was it like a five-year-old doing graphic design? Is Zach Brown with an orange background? It's terrible. Go and look it up. Someone spent money on that. My dad text me a picture.

What is this? What is this? It's going to be really an inspirational story behind it. now, you're going to feel awful. No, I won't. Nope. Because it's terrible. It's graphic.

It's like us doing Photoshop on Instagram. It's so bad. Ben's going to Google that now, so I'll carry on with our Discord submission. I'll try to find that. Thank you, everyone. It does the job. It is South Brown. First up, we have Eames.

Aims. Hey, it's Eames. LAP 32 out of 58. Space is still. going on, but moment of the race is Yuki Sonoda picking the one course of action that was guaranteed to upset everybody, achieve almost nothing, and get himself

a five-second penalty. Adda-boy, Yuki. Well done. Adda-boy. Adda-boy, bro. One moment to be remembered by. Achieved it. Next up, we have Bungers. It's the McLaren

CEO. Yeah. And the moment of the race, not only Lando crossing the line is the world champion, but Ooh, that's saucy, overtake to get past Kimmy Antinelli, the dive bomb. Oh, man, it's a great day, yeah. If Bungers could actually be the McClara's CEO, yeah, then I'd be very happy. He doesn't call the World Champion Hotline, so.

That's one in the corner of Bungers, yeah. Watch all you're the World Shab sat there by the phone. The coolest world champion, cool singer. Jackie Stewart, though. Hello. He'd do it as well, would he? Hell, Lord. Full tartan phone. Tartan phone is well.

He would be sponsored by Rolex as well. Of course it would. Next up is Scooteria donkey. Hi guys. My moment of the race is listening to Zach Brown sounding like an absolute bloody dad going, Hello, it's the C-World Champion hotline. That's a f***.

You're so right, mate. It's so right, though. Yeah. You've had them, man. It's got no kneecaps left. Don't normally bring out the B-bomb, but that's worth it. It's not the British of insults ever. Oh, no.

Oh, good. Thank you for that. Next up we have Norm from Texas. Oh, hello, my Lake Breaking Friends from a Cressley Big Wet. It is I. Norm for Texas, and I'm here to give my moment of the race, and my moment of the race is the TV direction, deciding to put all the better overtakes into the small.

window where no one's looking. Anyway, congrats to McLaren. Congrats to Lando. Honestly, at one point, how once it had got past Ocon into the first chicane, Ockon comes back past him and we're still watching in a tiny little box. There's so many moments like that, though, where like Bortoletto was another one, where it was, the overtake could be done, but not completed for multiple corners and we don't see any of it. Ridiculous. A few minutes. It's like going to the cinema and you're paying to watch a film and they're on the actual cinema screen is just some grass and someone's holding their smartphone in front of the corner of the screen and that's the actual film you're watching and everyone's having to do this in the corner

to pay attention. It's that bad. Yeah, it's just a nice sort that one out, F1. Next we have Tim. Hi, boys. We all know that Landau winning the title is the moment of the race. So I'm going to go different and I'm going to say Ferrari setting the fastest lap of the race with the last lap of the season. Classic Ferrari. The stats will tell you that they were the fastest car at the last lap of the lap. Yeah, you can't argue with the, with the facts there. Honestly, they will, knowing what they do claim on social media, they will really big this one up, like.

Leaving this ear as the fastest, dust in their eyes off. I've forced this scene, sorry, seen on Twitter, Hamilton's like quite a nice message on the radio after the race, and then there's quite a long pause. Copy. No, but he radio's again going, why, are you there? He's like, all the times you don't reply to me. Left him hanging.

They did apologize. They were like, sorry, we were talking in the background. I was like, he was doing a really heartfelt message. It's been such a great year. You know, thank you for your efforts. And then they just don't reply. Oh. Oh, no.

Anyway, thank you for that. Next up is LJ. He's been an incredible all year, so consistent. Obviously, he had some reliability shocks. He's had to get over and obviously secured the constructors as well. So, you know, it's my pleasure, really, to say, Fernando Alonzo, you are in the top 10 of the championship standings. Well done, so.

What done, mate. I've done. Great job. Yes. Well done to Fernando Alonzo. 56 points for the season. So only loses out to the Williams guys and the top three teams. So well done, Fernando.

Good effort. Sure someone will hate that on YouTube. Yeah, probably. Next up is Kate. My moment of the race is Lando Norris becoming a world champion. I'm staying incredibly quiet because, The rest of my family is asleep, but as someone who started watching Formula One on Landers' debut season, this is just so full circle for me and I may have cried a little

bit. Hey, when that person wins that title, we've all had a little cry about it, so it's okay. It's okay. I cried a lot on Jack Villeneuve one, actually. Cryed out. Whoa! I was won. Thank you for that cake.

That was lovely. Next is Pittsburgh to Fossey. Hello, Late Breakers. This is Pittsburgh to Foce with my moment of a race. The moment of a race was McLaren taking that monkey off that proverbial football and having a flawless pitch strategy today to get Lando the championship.

Once again, late breakers, join the city. Join the city. I don't understand the monkey on a football reference. I always thought the monkey was on the back, not the football, but. I don't go, but okay. Monkeys on foot. footballs.

But, you know, like, get the monkey off your back as a phrase. I put a monkey off the football I've never heard of. It's a good shout, though. Like the McLaren, again, they have had errors at the pit stops this year. I'm not sure they even had like three perfect stops, but they had three good enough stops. So all eight out of tens. Yes, exactly. Yeah, all that was needed.

Last but not least is A-Dog. All right, it's A-Dog with my final moment of the race. First off, I want to give a shout. out to Lando no wins, becoming Lando champions. That was a great race. But I want to give my moment of the race to Oscar Piastri for that opening lap move on Lando.

That thing was filthy. And I could watch that over and over again. And I probably will in the offseason because I'll be just waiting for the next season. Anyways, keep breaking late, join Patreon. Love you guys. I really enjoyed that submission. I am still waiting to hear from a dog.

True. There was no barking, was there? No. Or skiffing or anything. I can't wait to see if the overtake he referenced is the number one in the crypto currency overtake of the year. That is the more important award. I think that's going to do it for a moment of the race and indeed for this episode. But as I've already referenced like three times though, Sam, we're not going anywhere.

Yeah, go on, Ben. Shut up, man. Because we are going anywhere. We are back every Wednesday, every Sunday, all the other. the way through that winter season, right into the news season. So if you want F1 content, news stories, debates, best ofs, we're here the whole way through. And there's even more content over on our Patreon. So if you think, I just want to hear these three British lags talk a load of waffle and help out the show in the meantime, then please do. Come on down to the

city. It's a beautiful place. You get great, great content for a really cheap pricing. It's must be appreciating. Thank you for listening to us this season. Thanks for joining us for every review both qualifying race, spring, wherever it might be. We've massively appreciated it. We hope to go bigger and better again in the new year. See you in the midweek. In the meantime, I'll be Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking and I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. Podcast Network.