The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Azerbaijan GP Race Review

Episode Date: September 21, 2025

Have we time-travelled back to 2023? The LB boys break down the Baku race where we got yet another Verstappen domination, as well as disaster for the championship leader, a missed chance by his teammate, and a WILLIAMS on the podium (or a Wodium, if you will)... >>> Don't miss out - limited tickets left for our 2025 LIVE SHOW in Austin TX! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to grab yours or for more info!

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing today the Azerbaijan Grand Prix around the streets of Baku and a win for Max Verstappam from pole position, joined on the podium by George Russell and following his second. second place starting position, Carlos signs for Williams, a rather unexpected podium. No McLaren to be found. No Ferrari to be found. Okay, not that surprising. But yeah, we had a bit of an

interesting top three. Sam, tires, they went, didn't they? They keep on wenting. They keep on going, Benjamin. They don't stop going. I don't want to say that we're all right at this, you go. but we maybe did cool that the next time Max Verstappen would be at the back of Grand Prix. We do get the odd thing occasionally right. One of you two as well, say it in your actual poll 1, 2, 3 as well. I got something right.

Well done. Good shout. Well done, Benjamin. At least one of us got something right this weekend. Yeah, it was a topsy-turvy weekend. We had that thrilling qualifying, which was on so long that I could even make it. And thank you, Ben, to holding down the fort again.

But then we're getting a race that after lap one just turned into no strategy, ties going on forever, and the strategy was just so dull, unfortunately, even with this DRS train that you've had two or three of up and down the grid. Harry, you've been on expedition after expedition this week. Was it, were you looking forward to coming back

for a fun Grand Prix, did it deliver? I was, and I was watching qualifying on my phone while sat in Edinburgh Airport, and it went on so long that I was still watching Q3 whilst we were taxiing, and I still didn't see the end of it. Because we were in the air.

I was like, we couldn't see it. So I thought, well, at least I've got today. And as you see, after that one, nothing. That was it. So thank you for that. I must always watch in Edinburgh Airport now to make it exciting, it seems. Depending on the time of your flight, you could have watched Q1 at Edinburgh Airport,

got on the plane, and Q2 would have just started. I did think this. I was like, I'm going to land, and they'll still be trying to do Q3 at this rate. It was longer than last year's race. What a ridiculous session. Yes. Six red flags in yesterday's qualifying session. None today. Only one safety car that made an appearance on the first lap. More about that a little bit later on. But let's start out front with Max Verstappen. The first time this season that he's managed to secure back-to-back victories. Sam, two very dominant victories. We didn't see a lot of Vastappen today, but that's because he wasn't under a lot of threat for pretty much the entirety of this Grand Prix. A grand slam win, if I'm not mistaken, in that he had the fastest lap, led every lap from pole.

How impressed were you of what he was able to do? You could just copy and paste whatever I sang in Munza, because it was sensational again. You run out of ways to describe just how good this man is at driving a race car very quickly around a race track. It feels like the Red Bull has very certain characteristics. And when they go down an experimental route that pushes the car on a certain direction, namely heavy braking traction straight line speed. And you saw that throughout the family of cars as well. Sengoda was holding on relatively well,

but unfortunately had Lawson in front of him who also had a very slippery car on a straight line. It looks like the way that this family of cars in the Red Bull group has been developed, it really suits these characteristics. And when you have such a crazy qualifying as you did, which means that most of your key players have been taking out of the game, Max Verstappen will always prevail. He's going to rise to the top, the cream always does.

and there he was. And I'm not saying it was easy for him. But when all of the key players, all your key rivals have been taking out and Russell's going to make his way through and Piascri's out and Norris can't get through traffic and the Ferraris are being Ferraris, you kind of have to give it to the step

and that he's just been, head down, job done, does what a multiple world champion does. And he draws level of grand slams with Lewis Hamilton, only I think Jim Clark in front of them both now, which is a real achievement for him in his career was so much left to do. Blowing away by just how. how calm and well executed this was at every single moment with the wind, the threat of rain,

we saw how many incidents took place across qualifying, a slight slip-up at any point could have thrown this away, and it never, ever looked in doubt. Maxx has happened. What a beast. Harry, I don't think going into the last two races, we were overly disappointed of how 2025 was playing out, but we might have said once or twice, it'd be great if we could have something close to, close to 2024, did we misspeak and just say 2023? Because the last two races feels very much like that from Vestappen. Yeah, I mean, they said this in the sky commentary, but again, like Monza, this has been, it was a very 2023-esque victory for Vestappen. Just ran off and hid. But it's hard to say whether if he hadn't had, you know,

signs in Lawson directly behind, whether it would have been the same. but I think it might have been, because I think he had more pace in it, as evidenced by the fact that he did the fastest lap on lap 50 or 51. I think he, I think he had more pace in that car all afternoon. So he, you heard GP,

you know, it's a good day for Max Verstappen. When you only hear GP on the radio and there's no response from him, just a couple messages, just like, it's just a good, chip away. Nothing from Max at all afternoon until he won.

So, um, yeah, it was, it was just clinic, clinical for Stappen, like you said, A lot of the work was done in qualifying yesterday

where he was superb to get that pole position. And for there, never looked back. And he always had the option to do whatever he wanted, strategy-wise. He was never going to be undercut. And then he could stay out as long as he wanted. He was the last one to pit, I think. And then he could, yeah, he could do what he wants. So I'd like to maybe retract what I said in the midweek episode

about people who think this happened could win championship are Borchletto. what's last to be wrong. He still does think that. It's just maybe there are a few more others on top. Very true. But, yeah, he is that good that I just, he's never counting him out.

Never count him out. It just happened. You're what, Harry? Say the love, Harry. Say the love. Your peril, bloomin peril. He came to town after you and call it peril. You imagine Cheryl from peril?

Yeah, Mustafain very good. Honestly, like, I don't have a lot to say about it, and that's just how good he was. I said a lot of how good he was in qualifying yesterday, and a lot of that just applies, but in a race circumstance today. You never felt like he was under any pressure. He wasn't under any pressure, and yes, maybe the way in which the rest of the grid panned out

helped him a little bit, in that Russell needed some time to get by his teammate and Liam Lawson via strategy and Ferrari did Ferrari things and McLaren did McLaren things. And it kind of just left for Stappan out front to run his own race and he didn't need to strategically think about what to do. It was always going to be a case of wait until Russell Pitts pit the lap after him and just ensure like double check that there wasn't going to be anything safety car-wise that was going to ruin this one for him and the team.

And ultimately, it was a race that was filled with very, very few incidents. Another one where tyres weren't much of a factor, and it was a one-stop that helped Verstappen and Red Bull to victory. I'm still questioning where there is more tire wear, whether Vastappan can keep up this dominant form. But on the day, today, like, he had no competition whatsoever, thanks to how great he was. So great result.

Mercedes had a very good day. They move up to second in the Constructors' Championship as a result of Russell finishing second and Antonelli finishing in fourth place. We saw both of them go up against Liam Lawson early on in this Grand Prix. Mercedes using that two-on-one-one advantage to essentially force Lawson to cover off Antonelli, whereas Russell went far longer into this race. Ultimately, it is that strategy the latter that works out well for Russell as he gets on the podium. Antonelli, just. missing out. But Sam, let's start on the Russell side of the conversation. Wasn't very well this weekend whatsoever. I referred to this on the qualifying episode. If you heard him in FP1, giving feedback on team radio. Man sounded like he was on his deathbed. But he persevered throughout the weekend. Delivered a great result. How do you think that went for him? And what did you think of Merck's strategy to leave him out as long as they did? If you ignore Canada, I think this might be his best performance across the entire season so far. He started really shakily. It didn't go too well for him. It looked like he was getting caught up behind Antingelli, which was surprising. And the way that the

jewels were happening, it meant that he was stuck behind the likes of Law, so Anteilly wasn't. And you think, uh-oh, is this, the shifting point has it swapped for this Grand Prix where Antinglli might get the kind of rubber the green and Russell is going to be stuck. And the Mercedes is often a bit slow and a straight lining and they can't get past people where they need to. But he was great. The hard tire, the option to choose the hard tire, I definitely think it was the preferred strategy. That, for me, is the one that I would want to be on. I think the run long, go to medium and be quick on the mediums at the end of the race was the right thing to do. And that allowed them to do what you make sure, which is debate, Lorson and together being covered off by Antingelli. They had their little jewel, their little moment. And it worked out for the best for both drivers in the end, both beating Lawson coming in the Grand Prix.

So I think the strategy call from Russell, from Mercedes, was right. And I really enjoyed that he preempted what he's encouraging. changing is said by saying, I want to run longer. The hards are good. You saw just how limiting, I've really moaned already, but how limited the tire wear was, those tires could just keep going. The hard tires were going anywhere. It's a great race tire. And the wear was just so minimal that you could see the gaps weren't going down at all.

It was just continuing to grow and grow and grow. So make the most of that while you can, especially with this rumored threat of rain, potential on the horizon, especially as we know in Baku, the more often than not, the longer you wait in a Grand Prix, the higher the chance of picking up a safety car. And when you're growing that gap anyway, you may as well play, you know, safe. You may as well take away the risk, which I think Russell did brilliantly. Got on the back of Antingelli. I'm glad they did the swap. I think that was really sensible from Mercedes. And they didn't dilly-dally. No silliness. We've seen them do it previously where they kind of, oh, bit of this,

all bit of that. McLaren, take note. Get on with it. Rip off the band-aid, make the call. And I dig it really, really well. And a brilliant performance from them. I was a bit gutted that Anthony-Elly couldn't get on that pokey, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice sights for that one. I do think it will have helped Antigli's confidence even more so. But Russell, today, was phenomenal. After we got out of the little debunker in the first couple of laps where he was fluxing around those positions and not staying where he should have been,

he moved up so well. I was so impressed with him. I do think, apart from the wing, this is his best performance so far. Harry, what did you make of the races of both Hansenelli and Russell? Yeah, it was clear Mercedes had some good pace. again, colder street circuit. They kind of just like it, don't they?

So watch out Las Vegas. Yeah, I thought Russell's pace was really good. He survived the slightly attempted murder by his teammate in turn 1, which was good stuff. Yeah. But I think even from that, yeah. But he just swore with nothing else was very challenging. But yeah, even from that movie was clear he had the pace.

over Anthonylli and the few others in front of him. So he made his way back and then they made the right call of the strategy. I know the tyres were, they could still be running on them, quite frankly. But he managed that well. And typical George Russell style was sort of making the calls from the cockpit. He joined his race engine and saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was about to say the same thing. No, you weren't. Whatever, mate.

Many of the times have I done that to a manager at work, I always had to have the same thought. and call. I don't say my age. It was on the Tiff, my time. You just got there before me. But, yeah, so once again, Russell driving that from the cockpit,

but it was the correct call. I think they probably would have got past signs either way if they'd undercut or not, but I think we saw with Lecler and somewhat with signs, although signs obviously held on the undercut or going early for that first pit,

or your only pit stop. Wasn't really the right call, so I think they played that well. So good race from Russell, good race from Antonelli, what he's needed for quite some time. Like he said, so I'm probably not going to criticize him too much from not getting past signs in the end because signs was genuinely quick. It wasn't the case of he was lucky to be there.

He had a lot of pace. And also Antenelli, in that half of the race had older tires anyway. So a good solid result around four for Mercedes. And as you said, they played the team game well. I like the use of Dili Dali, by the way. That needs to be brought up more. Thank you, sir. Good phrase.

agreed and I'm going to leave my point there. Nothing else needs to be said about Mercedes. I just agree on the Dilley. Yeah, excellent from both of them. I thought Russell, even with physically struggling throughout the weekend, he pulled off the best race that he could have done, given the circumstance. The key of today and not just for Mercedes was don't get stuck in traffic. We saw plenty of midfield drivers that we might get onto later on in the episode.

we saw the likes of the Ferraris and Lando Norris really get caught up in traffic. And even if they did have a pace advantage, they really struggle to show it and to make it count. So the key strategically was always going to be go long or basically don't get stuck in the middle because otherwise you are going to get caught in these DRS trains. Russell and Mercedes played that to perfection. From Antonelli's side, okay, it's not his best result of the season. there is a case to say it's his best race, though. Canada was great as well. Don't get me wrong,

but I think this might be on a par with it, because at least in Canada, you had George Russell fairly comfortably winning that race, and I think Mercedes were even stronger there than they were here. Here, it was a bit more up for debate. Like, Vastappen had a pretty clear advantage out front. Yes, Russell had to make the overcut work, but Antonelli was there or thereabouts. And like you say, Harry. I don't hold it against Antonelli too much that he couldn't get past Carlos Science because I think that pace was pretty genuine from the Williams this weekend. So good work from both of them. Speaking of Carlos Sines, a first podium for Williams, a first podium that isn't in a shortened race for Williams for many a year. We're going eight years back into

the pass for that one. We know, Sam, that throughout this season, Carlos Sines has been the least effective of the two Williams drivers. In some instances, you'd put that down to luck. In other instances, you'd just have to say Albin has been the better driver. This weekend, though, Albin's had a lot of highlights this year, but Carlos Seines currently claims the top spot of Williams' highlights for this season with that third place finish, only dropping back one place from where he qualified. How impressive was that? Can you believe that it was Lank's stroll at this track eight years ago that was their last full race podium? That is horrific as a statistic.

Thank goodness he's come along and change that one. Yeah, absolute smooth operation. That's what his first smooth operation as he proudly announced over the team radio and I love that they were playing it outside in the podium

and the pit leg of full volume as he was running to his team. That was so brilliant. Great moment for F1. Great moment for Carlos because he has been needing it as you said Ben, rightly needing a very strong result

by saying in our Discord chat. You can join it, the links in the description, free to do so, that Carlos needs a wing. over Albin today. He really needs to capitalise on the way that qualifying went for him. Albin out so early on in qualifying, of course, the first of so many red flags that we saw on the Saturday. And the fact that he was sitting in pole position for so long in Q3,

obviously bumped to the side by Max Verstappen. He did a lot of the hard yards on that Saturday by being one of the few to make it through unscathed. And then it looked like, sorry, because voices breaking him so emotion over Carlos Science doing so well. He did so well. I'm so proud of you, Carla. me as Ian Beale crying over Carlos Holmes. But I'm just so impressed with the actual genuine pace that Williams was able to deliver.

I think it helped that, again, it was one of those races where the key competitors had kind of been cast aside before the racing even begun. And the way these DRS trains panned out, he only really had to contend with the Mercedes guys. Sengoda felt like he was never really going to have the pace to get up to him. We know what Sengelhoegov was been like this season. Anthony E and Russell were really the two

that looked like they were going to challenge him. So to only lose out to one of them, or he had to deal with a full team up against him, I thought it was fantastic. He's placed in the early race. I think it's Max Verstappen, and 10, 15 laps in, the gap's only a couple of seconds.

It did start to grow. We saw that. But the difference is Max for stopping in a Red Bull and Carlos Signing or Williams. And it took a lot longer than I was expecting for the league gap to really start to pull out. Williams executed that strategy fantastically well. They dropped him right into a really nice gap where he needed to come out.

Carlos, very clear on the car. you know, don't let this guy undercutters. Unfortunately, that is what happened. But then the way that he kept putting the gap out to Antingelli at the end on similar tyres, but in a slower car, was just special. It was what we all going to see from Carlos Sites. It was great to see him towards the front again. I thought Antingale would have the pace to close him down.

I thought we'd see that from him today. I think it's Carlos Sikes, who is the difference maker there. So, so glad to see him on the podium. A well-reserved performance, and hopefully this is the confidence that he needs after a really tricky first season. teams really. Yeah, I mean, based on that,

Harry, how big was this for signs? It was a huge result. And like you said, it's not been a great overall year for signs, whether that's been through bad luck or his own mistakes. I think it's been a pretty even mix of that. But he's been,

from Saturday onwards, he's been sensational. And whereas his teammate dropped a bit of a clangor all weekend. in a car that I think that was evidently quick. I honestly think both Williams could have been near the podium or if not, essentially both on it, depending how everything played out. But, yeah, Sines is the one that,

signs, they said this in SkyComptuary as well. This is exactly what they wanted Sines for, you know, to be the leader in terms of that sort of high pressure situation near the front of the field. He's been there before. He knows how it works. And yes, I know they, you know, He said about not being undercut by Russell.

They got overcut anyway, so it didn't really matter. But I think that sort of cool, cool head in those situations was one of the main reasons why Williams got him, along with many other options, other reasons, obviously. But yeah, it was a superb race from him, well managed, didn't sort of crack under any pressure from when he came out of the pits. And Anthony was directly behind him because Antenelli did chip away quite quickly at that gap. but managed that well and yeah brought home a very very deserving

podium like I said it wasn't you can't say that was luck he did the work in qualifying yesterday and then and then stuck out and I know it looks like you know from second to third but we're talking about Williams here so a very a very good day and well well executed I think

from science and William so very happy to see them on the podium my dad is a lifelong fan of Williams I just had a little nervous breakdown like in Cornwall, but I think he's okay. And a year on from when he suggested that one of them should have been shot for what happened. You ever want some mixed words, is Papa Reed?

I mean, there are other texture in the race that he was unhappy about, but he's happy now. Okay. So that's good. So good. Shall we review our bold predictions before we go to our first break? A real mixture here. Well, not a mixture in terms of rightness.

We're all wrong, but a real mixture in how we were wrong. Sam, can you remind us what your bowl prediction was? Yeah, I said that Ferrari would be one, too. They were? They were. Just not in the race. Friday practice two, baby. That's what I was aiming for.

Practice two jumps. Right on the board. Hey, don't give them ideas. That will be their next social post. Right. Not quite. Harry, somehow you might have been more wrong. You said that there would be five passes for the lead of this race.

There wasn't a pass for the lead in the pits. It's the same leader, the entire way. So you're welcome, everyone. What did you say, Ben? What was it? So annoying. Yuki Sonoda has his best result of the year. I called it.

Apart from, I said it be a top five and not a top six. six, and he was right behind Leiblo. He was on the cusp of overtaking him a couple of times, which would have made my prediction right that Senoda would finish inside the top five. Instead, he finishes P6. I think the worst part was he came out of the pit laying in front of him. Yeah.

For a brief moment, you were going to be right. He was fifth early on in this race as well. Never mind. No scoring this week on bold predictions. We'll see if our luck changed. changes in a couple of weeks time. I'll tell you what I'm not looking forward to is the fantasy readout this week. My team has had, as taking absolute kicking.

Honestly, you might be all right because I feel like a lot of teams are going to be bad this week. There are a lot of people, me included, that have Piastri and album. Yeah, Piazzi album, Hajar bought a letter along. Yeah, that's very similar to my team. Okay, it's rough. It's, yeah, it's going to be an interesting one. We'll give that update midweek. I've just looked at my portrait.

That's disgusting. Going to move away from that immediately. Is there a minus there? Is there anything but a minus there? No, that's so bad. Anyway, you'll find out. Yeah, that's a reason to tune in midweek for sure. Let's take our first break of this episode on the other side.

We're going to be talking McLaren and Ferrari. Welcome back, everyone to the second part of today's review of the Azerbaijan GP, and we now get onto McLaren. Now, we've been used to talking about McLaren a lot early in these reviews, talking about a dominant win, a dominant one-two finish, a double podium finish. Not today. A real struggle for McLaren, and we'll start with the biggest struggle, which was Oscar Piastri. Didn't have the best qualifying session, made it through to Q3, but then crashed, meaning he would start just P9 in this Grand Prix.

didn't go brilliantly from there. False start gave him a five second time penalty. Didn't get to serve it in the race because he crashed out four corners later, just locks up going into, I think it was maybe turn four or turn five, goes off, that's the end of his Grand Prix, and breaks a very long streak of finishing and finishing in the points as well. Harry, that was something. Are you surprised about what happened to Piastri there?

I'm very surprised because based on the evidence we've seen of the past two and a bit years, that was very unlike Oski Piaestry. That was, the past 48 hours have been real stinky for him, like, fewey. That's, that's a, that reeks, son. The poor McLaren mechanics, who rebuilt his car yesterday and he throws it in the wall on his own five lap, five corners, sorry, not five laps, five corners into the race. Yeah, just, he must be hoping that he's used all his crappiness up in one, just one fell swoop.

It's not a bad tactic. Obviously, if that happens, good race to pick. And given, you know, where his main championship rival finished, a net, I mean, it's not a net game, but basically a net gain out of this, because he's not really lost that much. But yeah, even so. just very uncharacteristic.

The false start in itself. I mean, if you're going to false start, at least do it like Fernando Alonzo and just sort of carry on. Just over. False start's not an anti-stool. For goodness sake, man. So you end up last, having said that, you know who's last by turn one?

Before he had that accident, he'd already got back from a Gassley, which is really funny. Says a lot. Great weekend for Alpine. But, yeah, just an absolute stinker for Piacteri. yeah it just it seems like it seems odd for it to happen for so many mistakes to happen so consecutively and and for a driver that's been so so level-headed for the entirety of this year

you don't want to start saying oh the pressure's got to him because I just think it's been this is such an anomaly that it that it doesn't feel like you can say that yet but yeah it can't be afforded to do that again anytime soon but yeah, he will be, he'll walk away from this, thankful that the damage is not as bad as it could have been. But I think he does need a little reset before Singapore because all of the mistakes and the small points loss have all come from him.

It's not like he got tangled up with an incident with another driver or there's something wrong at the pits or it's a mechanical failure. were all on him. The crashing quality yesterday, the false start, and then the crash again today, all fall at Piastri's feet. So at least have a little word with himself. Mark Weber will be having many words with him, I imagine. He was there today.

I saw a picture of him on the grid. So, yeah, just it's not the end of the world because of how little the damage has actually been in terms of points. But, yeah, he cannot be affording to do that again. Sam, the good news is we are only one DNF away from Oscar Piastri, meaning we can go racing again, the two McLarences. It's now 2-1. So that's great news. No points for Piastri today. I'm surprised that we didn't get out. Yeah, Lando, if you could just put it in the wall so it's fair, please. That's how we go racing here, McLaren.

What are you doing? It's the same crash two sessions in a row, different corner, but it's the same crash. He's locked his inside front tire. on a left-hand turn and sailed straight into the barrier. The most miraculous thing about this for Oscar Piastri is, if they were to finish one-two and Landon-orris were to wing with Piastri second, he would have lost more points. That's a gap of seven. This is a gap of six.

He's actually done better here. He's had a better result than a one-two with a big for McLaren. Somehow he has kind of gotten away with it, which is miraculous. Oscar Piastri kind of hates street circuits. He did well at Saudi, he did well at Miami. But Albert Park, a bit of a stinker, didn't do well there. You then go, of course, to Monaco. And one of his biggest shockers of the season at that point in Morocco could barely match his teammate.

We then moved to Canada. Of course, yes, Landon Gora is crashing to the back of him, but no podium again there. And how we come to Baku? And he's out immediately. This is disaster stations. This is all of it done. One weekend, you can. wrapping up in a big ball of misery, throw it in the being, sweep it aside.

Yeah, move on. Big stinky ball in a big stinky garbage for Oscar Piaspray. They can throw it away, taking it to the trash. The good thing for him about the street circuits is there definitely isn't any more coming up on the calendar. Oh, ah, might have Singapore next. So hopefully he kind of removes all of this negativity and he gets his head down and sorts himself out. because we know Piaastri is so cool, calm, collected. We know that he handles his pressure so well.

Something just wasn't clicking. It just, the whole weekend, it just wasn't right for him. And it was that front left break that caused him so many problems. So I wonder if there's a set-up thing that's gone there, that meant he was snatching it at the inside. But to see someone who has been so consistent, across just this season, but across their whole career in Formula One, the fact that we were only complimenting him for what?

3D and F's his entire Formula One career so far, to then crash out twice in one weekend. It's an anomaly, hopefully. That's all it stays as, and we get back to a big Macquaran head-to-head battle next time out in Singapore. So, Camus' lucky stars a little bit, that he lost less points and he normally will go down from a second. Yeah, that was, to state the obvious, pretty rough for Oscar Piastri. The crash in qualifying, and you say that there are similarities between the two crashes he had this weekend, and I would agree with that in the way in which they went down.

The one in qualifying, I can at least partly excuse. You are going flat out at that point trying to secure the best lap time in Q3. He wasn't the only one who did it. Yes, it's still an obvious mistake, but he wasn't the only one I can understand it. This one, I thought, was a poor decision. Like, I'm not sure what he's trying to achieve. Obviously, the start line, what happened there, not great either. But, okay, there's still the opportunity to recover.

He's trying to go around the outside of what is a fairly, you know, tight chicane. And we saw one of the Salba drivers also pull off a fairly similar move, but there was contact on the exit of that corner. I kind of expect it to go the same way if he does make it through this corner. It's not the sort of place where the risk versus reward factor here, is there much point in trying that move? It feels far safer to just bide your time and wait for a slightly more obvious opportunity. Around the outside of a corner like that, lap one, cold time.

as track's not, you know, fully there yet. I think the result was not inevitable, but it was entirely possible. And again, even if he does make it through okay, he doesn't lock up, that gap is probably going to close very quickly on the exit. And he might have ended up doing the same thing as whoever went into Ockon, one of the Salbers. Again, like, it might just end up being the same thing. So very poor weekend for Oscar Pastery, no spoilers whatsoever.

but power rankings tomorrow, I don't expect he will be achieving a great score. I think in the history of power rankings, which started last year, Sam historically has given out one zero out of ten. I don't know if it will be another, because if it's not, it will be fairly close. The other side of the McLaren garage, Lando Norris. 31 point gap between Norris and Piastri, heading into this race. Piastri, McLaren, Bulletproof reliability and consistency up to this point in the year. Suddenly, lap one, Piastri is out. Golden opportunity for Lando Norris.

If he can get on the podium, even P3, he halves the gap between himself and Piastri in the championship. If he can come out with a win somehow, we're talking six points separating them again. Instead, he finishes where he qualified. He finishes in seventh place. Sam, this feels like a massive missed opportunity that knowing what McLaren have done to this point in the season

might not come again. You couldn't really ask for a better gift, right? You can never look a gift horse in the mouth. And this was the open door that Landon Goreskiyed. After he was unceremoniously booted out of the Dutch Grand Prix due to an ancient failure through no fault of his own and it's made this whole championship battle such an uphill slog for him.

this was what you wanted. You must be, he must be gleeful in his race car, thinking, ha ha ha, ha! He's not in the race. I'm going to get it all back. It swung my way,

only to be stuck behind Lawson and Sondoda, mucking around in front of him for 20-year-old laps, brilliantly by the way. Lawson was fantastic. But how unfortunate that the one time his teammate has an absolute bottle and loses his head after jumping the start and then crashing, he can't get past anyone.

barely make an overtake. The slip stream was bizarre around here at Baku. I think the wind's playing a big part into it. It's shifting a lot over the weekend. And I think it may a lot of cars struggle with braking. And I also think it's shifting again. And the traction zone out of 16 is so integral to overtakes around here that if you can't nail that, it seems like many could and exits were all over the place, it looked like you were then struggling to get anything done. You need to be within about half a second of the car in front of you to get a pass done. And if they had a car in front of then it's not impossible to get the move done. The DRS train really was inaction this service race weekend.

And Norris fell so foul to that. He was a victim of the scenario that this race unfolded into. And I can't really blame him too much. He was unlucky with the slow pit stop, which meant that he ended up back behind that Sonoda fight because if that goes right, if he even do a normal pit stop, he comes out in front of that group and he maybe finishes in fourth or fifth.

Maybe he challenges Antingelli for that fourth place. and that's 12 points he maybe picks up. Even the 10th of 5th will be a bit better. And yet he's stuck there with Lewis Hamilton driving around behind him going nowhere. So whilst he has to pay the price for qualifying, not going the right way, and he has himself for that to blame, you know, that's on him. He should have got the lap in when many didn't. He also did not.

The race was a bit of a more tricky situation that didn't unfolding his manner. I can't be too critical of Landon Norris here. It wasn't his best Grand Prix, but I also think the situation of the, the race didn't go his way. Harry, your thoughts on Norris? It is a massive missed opportunity points wise. I don't think you can say it's anything else. But

I think in terms of how the race played out for Norris, I'm kind of with Sam what he's saying here. It's, I don't sure what more he could have done. The McLaren didn't have any massive pace advantage over any of the cars in front of it this weekend, to be honest. And so therefore, I think the damage was mainly done in qualifying. I think, Norris will rue the fact that he never

delivered the lap at the end of Q3 yesterday because it's it basically locked him into where he where he finished the bad pit stopped during the race that obviously didn't go his way whether that would have benefited him he potentially might have got past those that he was stuck behind but even so that's not again it wouldn't have been a huge swing

he would have really really wanted to really wanted to have been at least on the Napoleon winning this race to claw back those points. So it is a missed opportunity. But I understand what Sam's saying. I don't think during the race there was much more he could have done. They tried something different by going super long on those medium ties. It didn't ultimately work out.

So can't blame him for that. But I think, yeah, the blame lies that his performance in Q3 yesterday, to be honest, because I think that sealed as fate. I'm annoyed by McLaren's struggles today because it at least somewhat takes attention away from what on earth that was from Ferrari. Eighth for Lewis Hamilton. Ninth for Charles Leclair.

Good for six points. So in a day where McLaren have had an absolute disaster in the Constructious Championship, they've managed to equal the amount of points that McLaren have taken away from this race. Great work, Ferrari. I think maybe the most frustrating thing about this, Sam, is that it felt different. Going into this weekend, or at least after Friday, it felt different.

Like, Lewis Hamilton and Charlotte-Clair led FP2. And not by hundreds of a second. They were a few temps clear of their rivals. We get to Saturday, and it's just disappeared. And that seemed to then carry over to Sunday as well. We had the likes of Antonelli able to overtake Liam Lawson, Lecler, not able to do so. Hamilton doing his best on the same strategy as George Russell, but whereas Russell climbs the second, Hamilton's there in eighth. It feels frustrating. Like, there should have been

more here for them. Yeah, and the worst part is the issue isn't obvious. There isn't something that I think you could point to immediately go, you know, Hamilton, shock of a race. Wasn't that bad. Yeah, he had that lockup, but I don't think that lockup cost him anything. He ending up pretty much where I expect him to be. The fact that he got in front of Lecler, I actually thought was credit to him. I wasn't expecting him to beat the club, even though he did so awfully try and hand that place back at the line, which was quite funny to watch him slow down and then fail to hand it back. I guess the thought counts, which is good.

Flat out right until like 100 minutes full of line go, yeah, yeah, I'll back off. I tried. I really tried. You can't say I didn't back off. And it's over P8 for four and two points. I really try not to swear. It's so goddamn sad, man. Yeah, who cares?

You know, Charlotte Claude doesn't got care. He's like, whatever. Yay. Four points rather than two as he watches for Stappen get another grand slam. Oh, God, but man's career is it the toilet? Yeah, the issue is the car just seemed to lose all the ability it carried through on Friday. Now, there was some differences between Friday and Sunday. The weather, it was warmer on Friday.

The wind wasn't as intense throughout certain parts of the racetrack. It was much cooler on the race day. And we know that the Ferrari actually thrives quite well in hotter temperatures. But it looks like some issues are still existing in that Ferrari. We saw Lewis Hamilton very early on pulling out of the slipstream of the cars in front of him. I don't know if that was simply to keep the tyres in check, to cool the engine. But no one else was doing that. It was a cool race day.

Why he wasn't able to sit behind the cars in front of him in DRS consistently, it's a worrying factor for Ferrari and their top end speed. it looked like they have that top end speed but they can't get out the corners fast enough to make sure they're close enough to actually execute on that top end speed. We heard that Lawson's engine was clipping at the end of the start, finish rate and the Clorhag's serious straight lines being over Lawson.

But they're not close enough. They cannot get close enough in the slipstream to make anything happen. And what's the point you're having a car and a straight line if you're starting from an extra 500 metres behind him? It's irrelevant. You've got no game there, son.

So really tricky day for Ferrari to turn a 10th and 12th into an eighth and ninth and you beat a car that DNF in front of you and Fernando Alonso had a penalty for jumping to start, it don't look good. Hagear was the only car they legitimately beat today after where they were starting. Hagear, they have a good race. It could bounce into his teammate. So it says a lot for you.

Really, really big, stinky poo-poo day for Ferrari this was. Let's hope it's one to forget. Now, Harry, appreciate you. You need to depart in a moment or so. So before we get to Driver of the Day, do you just want to have a quick, at Ferrari. Yeah. Terrible.

Just like really... Do you know what? As people often say, it's the hope that kills you. And that is always the case for Ferrari. One, two, in FP1. Or FP2, whatever it was, on Friday. And now,

Aiden, the night. Oh, Ferrari. Oh, Ferrari. Let's go to driver of the day, shall we? The verdict is in. You're the driver. of the day. You're the driver of the days.

You're good at driving. Sam, it was Carlos Seins that got the vote from the public. Do you agree with them? I'd like to. He was sensational. He is up there. There's a few drivers that I want to give credit to Lawson, Science, Russell, but I've got a go from Max for Stappen to pull out a grand slam like that.

The pace just, you know, it's just, the fact he set that fastest lap on that 51, whatever it was, it's just mind-blowing how good this guy is and a car that was not the most dominant car. Yes, the cards fell his way, but he was there to take hold of it. So for me, Max is driving the day. Harry? Yeah, all the options Sam said there, I'll give it to Liam Lawson because the driver that started this year so, so terribly, I feel like deserves some credit here. And he drove really well today. Obviously, he didn't quite convert from where he started, but he's in a racing bull and he held up the literal, his car that he used to have in race one was behind him

for basically the entirety of the race. So superb driver by Lawson. I had three contenders and in a rather boring fashion, they all finished on the podium. But I also landed with Max Verstappen as my driver of the day. Let's move to Worst Driver of the Day. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worse driver. of the day

worst driver of the day you suck at driving piastri yep yeah sorry he's had driver of the day plenty of times this season

so I don't feel too bad but I didn't think very hard on this one can't argue shout out to Alex Albonne as well for just murdering Colipinto Where's the gap son What are you looking at?

And all the Also shout out to the barely moving chicane of Landstrol. Like, that's great work. Yeah, really good stuff from that, that backside of the team there. Backside. Backside. Yeah, that's where the poop comes from. Big bridge strath.

Bob, we're going to need you to box for wet. What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about? Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance, let your team. What have you got, Harry? I might just continue to keep giving it to this driver and team combo but has to have not got to get.

It's so good. You're not allowed to pitch unless it's lap one. Are they doing it for laughs now? Why only at the end or the very start of the race because this man have new tires? It's not fair. So, okay for him. It didn't work out yet to let them pass afterwards.

I'm going to keep it short because I had that as my big brain strat as well. but it was kind of worth it in that I don't think he was going to score points if he didn't do it. Like, I think it was worth a go with how long the tyres were running in this race. It was just otherwise he would have finished probably where he was anyway. So give it a go. Sometimes it will work out as it has done for Ocon a few times this year. But this just wasn't one of those where it did. But respect, I mean, some of these other teams I think should be considering this sort of strategy.

It might, might pay off. Sam. You got a laugh at them for getting disqualify. for a issue with the car. It was still so bad. Yeah, at least be quicking it. If you break the rules, just do it to be fast. Yeah, that was mine as well.

So I'll go for something a little bit different. I'll go for Russell leading the line and running super long and the hard, which I think set him up brilliantly for the end of the Grand Prix. A very good shout indeed. Harry sadly needs to leave us at this point, but before you do, a moment of the race? Fernando Alonso,

admitting he did something wrong. I almost fell off my chair. Yeah. Admitting a mistake and apologising. I was like, whoa, son, are we feeling well? Because that's not usual for him. So I'll go for that. I think that's a good shout.

Myself and Sam will give our moments of the race a little bit later on in the episode. We're going to take our second break. On the other side, we're going to be getting into R.B. And the rest of the midfield. Welcome back, everyone to the third part of today's episode. We've covered off a lot of the top 10, but we haven't spent a lot of time yet, Sam, on racing balls.

And they had a great day. They're kind of in a battle with Williams, maybe, for fifth in the championship. And Williams have still managed to outscore them, thanks to Carlos Sines his podium. But double points finished for them. Lawson with a career best fifth place. And Isaac Hadjar also just about in the points in 10th. They look pretty good. Surprisingly so.

It seems like straight lines and heavy braking is what suits this car. And for once, Liam Lawson hasn't crashed into someone. He's had a fight with Yuki-Sing-O-Bakou. At Baku, he's not crashed into someone or something, and it's worked out because what a drive for Liam Lawson. We have spent a long time this season, I think fairly so, giving him some stick. He has had some poor performances. He has been the cause of a few incidents.

He has been in the wars a little bit. But to turn up to Baku and go wheel to wheel with. many of the top runners and hold them off, you know, in the Ferraris, in Norris, Sonoda, who is, I'm sure he's so angry that he's having his best Grand Prix of the season. To still be beaten by one of the racing balls must be so frustrating the car that he was in the previous season. But Lawson was phenomenal. The car works, they say it up so brilliantly to just be really tough to overtaking a straight line.

And the fact that this DRS train was being led by Lawson, lap after lap after lap, no DRS support for him. And yet he's holding off a Red Bull, a Red Bull, a. McLaren, two Ferraris, who all have the RS, and none of them seemingly can get close. I do feel sorry for Norris, because I wonder if that was swapped around, that maybe Norris could have got the move down on Lawson. But he played it brilliantly. Took advantage of the fact that his tyres were warmer, when Sengoda came out the pit lane, got that move done immediately, and that was crucial.

The gap that he built up to in two seconds, just allowed that bigger breathing room as well. And effectively, by defending from Sondola, he was keeping Norris and Hamilton and the clare behind him. And it worked fantastically well. So raising balls and go away happy. The fact of their worst driver, who is not usually, Hajjar, but today it was, still finishes in the points. So the bad day for him, it's just sensational. They must be gutted to look at the order and go,

wow, we've scored so many points. How are Williamson third? How have they got that many points more than a still? Like, what do we have to do? But yeah, brilliant day for them. They'll walk away very happy. Let's see what they could do for the rest of the season. I don't know how many more tracks suit this style.

Maybe Vegas is the next chance they have to throw something else. I'm not sure, but I mean, look at Hadjar's podium at Zamphor. It's possible that this car is actually just pretty good at most tracks at this point in the season. And even though William, in terms of Williams, like that they've lost points to them today and not many points, they have at least gained some really good ground on Salba who haven't scored, and that's the Martin who haven't scored as well. This, I think, is another example of how important qualifying is in 2025. The midfield is so close now that based on how long the tires are going in some of these races and how difficult it can be to make overtakes, if you can nail qualifying, you have the opportunity to hold on to at

least some of those spots. So I think pace-wise today, Lawson and Hadjar, I don't think there was anything in it. I think they were as quick as each other. But, and ironically, this is where Hadjar has really thrived so far this year is. He's been the one that's more often than not got the most out of qualifying, Lawson's been the one who's maybe struggled to get out of Q1 or Q2. And I've said it in reverse where Hadjar's had a good finish. And I've said, I'm not sure his pace over Lawson was actually that different. But the qualifying position is what's deciding it here. I think we've had the reverse of that situation today where Lawson, you know, he's able to, as a result of being pretty slippery in a straight line, he's able to hold off Sonoda,

sort of get out in front, whereas Hadjar is forcing to, he's forced into a somewhat battle with the Ferraris, who got past him fairly comfortably, but he's losing time because he's not focused on just outright pace. But that's fair play to Lawson. And I've criticized Lawson a lot this year for, again, not pace related, but some of his situational race by race, side by side racing has been questionable. I think he's been one of the worst drivers on the grid when it comes to that wheel to wheel racing. Today, he was excellent. He positioned that car, I think pretty much faultlessly when it came to defending into turn one, or even just ensuring he didn't need to defend properly into turn one. I think he nailed it. So this was a really big

opportunity for Lawson to show RB why he should be there for another year. I put him under pressure midweek as a result of that. I thought this would be a really good opportunity for him. And I didn't even know how big of an opportunity it might be because he's defending against the very car he was in earlier this year. And he's passed a test with flying colours. So well done to Liam Lawson. Well done to racing balls. A very, very impressive result. In terms of the rest of the midfield, Sam, we saw the six different teams score points today. So we've got the four main big teams at the front. And then the two teams that we've already discussed, Williams and racing balls, picking up the rest of the points. But that does leave us four teams. But that does leave us four teams.

teams without any points today. So that's Hasse, that's Alpine, that's Aston Martin, and that's Salba. Any, I'll leave it up to you as to which direction you want to go with this, but anything, catch your eye within that group. Well, we can laugh at Alpine, right? We're just straight off the mark. So bad. We always have a slow team.

We always have a team that's last, but good Lord, the fact that they were dueling for 18th and 19th and maybe, what, 15 seconds off the rest of the pack at that point. just abysmal from Alping. The one that I felt was a miss. And I think it had a good Grand Prix and got a little unlucky in how things played out was Borseletto. It was Hulk that obviously made the collision

right at the start of the Grand Prix by trying to go around the outside of that chican. I think Boroletto had a really good race. His strategy was good. At one point, he could be challenging Hajar for that final point, but I think the racing bosses had too much in it. He had a good race.

I was quite pleased with how he went, especially when the likes of Alonso has picked up this penalty, for jumping the start and stroll is quite literally strolling. It felt like this was a good opportunity for him. It just didn't go his way. But Haas and Alpine, so far from it. I don't feel like they were ever in contention of a points at any point,

either driver at any point for me. Ockong, of course, with the disqualification, had a lot more to do. But even though I thought Bearman drove well, it felt like the car never had the ability to get close. And maybe that's slightly worrying. Hopefully they've turned a lot of their attention now fully to everything next year

and they're not trying to work things out, they know what they're doing. But this is the kind of race that is going to make or break where you finish in that midfield. And two teams have really prosper today. Another couple have really struggled. Yeah, I think Bortoletto's race was pretty solid. And I think 11th place was actually the maximum he could have caught from this Grand Prix.

This was, I think, just the day where Salber were outclassed by racing balls and Williams when it comes to that midfield fight. So I didn't quite agree with the way Salber attacked this strategically. I thought they went the wrong way with Bortoletto because he started on the hard tire, but pit after 26 laps, which put him after a couple of laps of clean air, that put him directly in the Landstrol train that was very quickly forming. Now, he eventually got by because of the fresh tires and Stroll ended up pitting. That cost him way too much time. And the good news for him is it didn't matter whatsoever because the top 10 were so far clear that I don't think it would

have made a difference to his finishing position, but in terms of his overall race and how far he could, how close he could have got to Hadja, I think that was the wrong call from Salba, but a solid race from Bortoletto nonetheless. The commentary called that out, didn't they? That Borsaletto could be really important to how that group filtered through because he was on the hard tire, so they expected him to be a little slower, but being out for much longer. And then as they were saying that, he comes into the pit lane. He does half the race on the mediums. I just didn't understand it. Like at that point, the train that was behind Landstrol was pretty well formed. And there were,

there were cars that I felt were quicker than Stroll that could not make an overtake to the point where I thought at the very least, Borseleto, even if he could get through, it was going to take a little bit of time to do so. I just don't understand why he'd be put back into that. Because if he stays out for a few more laps, I'm pretty convinced he's got the pace to get ahead of Stroll,

as in when he comes in for his pit. Stroll hasn't pitt at this point. He'll still come out ahead of Stroll. that's what Hadjar did. The exact same strategy that Hadjar did. And I thought he'd do the same thing. It was a bit weird, I thought. With Hass, I think they had more pace again than what they were able to show.

Ockon was difficult to judge because he was on that weird strategy. But Behrman, I've said this so frequently this year. I think Beerman had good pace. And as soon as he wasn't in the wake of another car, he showed it. He had the fastest lap for a good number of laps in this Grand Prix. As soon as he went in for medium tires, he looked pretty good. But the problem is he was stuck behind Colapinto, who was forming a train. And as soon as Colapinto pit and eventually was boffed out the way by Alex Albin,

he was just stuck in the Landstrol train. It was only really when he took his pit stop that he was able to go, okay, I've actually got some all right pace now. And he closed up well to Bortoletto and to Alex Albin. I think he had the pace to be probably 11th on the day, which is very Olly Behrman for this season. But they have to sort out these qualifying Woz-Hass, because they're just starting too far down the grid.

Yeah, I think you see where the likes of Hage are regularly put in the car, or Albin, who is having a good weekend, is so often now featuring Q3. But how, you know, I'm sure you, Mr. Statman, would know how regularly a Hasse is actually guessing into Q3 in comparison to the rest of the teams. it must be far lower, even than Salba, who have jumped them quite comfortably, it feels like. Yeah, exactly.

So I think that's where they need to sort things out. Because as soon as they get into some clean air, I think they're pretty competitive, but they're a minute behind by that point. Alex Albin, we've already referenced this, where his teammate was on the podium, he had a really tough weekend out in Q1 as a result of going into the inside wall at turn 1,

was going to start 20th until Ocon's disqualification. so starts 19th in this race goes for a weird strategy I didn't understand this I had no idea what they were doing I thought they were copying what Ocon was essentially doing

and going hard straight away under the safety car to try and run all the way to the end but they weren't he went on some mediums and then didn't have any of the pace that I thought he might have had by using the softer of the compounds he just didn't go anywhere I thought this race was

was again ruined by qualifying because, and I made this point in the qualifying review, it feels to me, based on what I could see in terms of the data, that Albin and Williams decided to change their strategy overnight, Friday to Saturday. They were very quick in the first and final sector on Friday. We get to Saturday. They are very quick in that middle sector. And I think that was for overall race pace, the better way to go. But it relied on a good qualifying position because if you don't get a good qualifying position with that type of setup, you are going to struggle to make overtakes out there. I think that's why it works so well for Carlos signs and would have worked well for Alex Albin if he'd qualified well. Because again, I think

his pace was pretty good. He had that 10 second penalty that only cost him a position, I think, in the end. But starting so far back, getting involved in that incident, his race was kind of ruined before it started, I thought. William's going to clear this up. They have not had a weekend where both cars have been right with each other doing well for quite some time. Now, I can only think of maybe one or two scenarios this whole season, where they both being in the points or regularly fighting for points around each other. So many of the teams are, you know, usually with two or three cars around them fighting with each other. You know, Alonso's stroll, whilst we know stroll isn't up to Alonzo's match,

more often than not, there's only a couple of cars that sit between them. The same with Haas, they regularly finish right next to each other. And even racing balls, you saw today, whilst Hageau was having a point, Grand Prix in comparison to his team mate. He's still in the points. So William seems to not be able to do this. It's one or the other on a more extreme version than anything we're seeing up and down the grid.

And it is costing them despite, I think, now being over, or just under, sorry, 100 points for the season. Yeah. I think this one was on Albin rather than the team. I think he has the capability to do what signs did in qualifying and just blew it. But the 10 second time penalty versus Colopinto is slam dunk for me as well. by the way. Oh yeah, no, I don't even need to discuss it. It was that bad. He just drove into the guy. It's not on. He is not anywhere close to being in a position where he's deserving of space there.

It's penalty points. It's a slam dunk 10 second. And they made it nice and quick as well. We actually got a nice, quick and efficient decision. Yes, I did want to compliment that as well. They got to the decision really quickly, which was great and unusual. And it's bad that it's unusual. But well done to the stewards for that at least. did the same with the jump start as well. Yeah. Genuinely quick and efficient. Well done. Miraculous, right? I did want to say one thing quickly on Colopinto.

I think he raced quite well. I was pleased with his performance. And he's had a couple of good ones recently. Monsa was also an improvement for him. He's since the summer break, it has been a step in the right direction. He was having a better job of keeping drivers behind. And he was in a, he was the front of the train because the Alpine is awful. But so was Gassley a bit further back.

drivers, I think, found it easier to get by Gasly than they did Colopinto. And the fact that even with the collision that obviously cost him a lot of time, they're still battling at the end of this Grand Prix. I think Colopinto was quite comfortably the better Alpine this weekend, which I appreciate isn't much of a price, but I think he was the better one. He had the worst strategy of the two of them, I think, as well, because I think they are on alternate strategies. I know that Gassi finished on mediums, Colopinto finish on hards,

which is part of the reason why they swapped. But I think, yeah, I think Colopinto strategy could have worked because, again, he was, drivers were finding it difficult to overtake him, even if he wasn't quick. So if he, even if he doesn't stay ahead of Albin in that battle, he has a good chance of keeping Ocon, Alonzo Holkenberg stroll behind as soon as they've pit. Yeah. They weren't going to undercut him at that stage.

So he could have finished, I think, if it weren't for that collision, I think he could have finished like 14th, which I know isn't much, but in an alpine. In a power track where you need an engine that they don't have. Yeah, this is good signs for Colopinto. He's got to keep it up. He can't be a couple of races and he's a few more like this. But yeah, good signs. Yeah.

And not one to discuss today, but if Flavio Brio Tori is to be believed, which he never is, it's a battle between him and Paul Aaron for the seat next year. Of course it is. I can't wait for someone else to get it now. Just there'll be a whole different game comes in, just a long time. Flav will drive it himself, probably. Probably. declare myself first driver and team principal.

Do you see the comments about qualifying how both drivers tried to be PK? No. I saw some comments on the interweb about, of course, Renaud and Alpine known for some tactics in the past if you go back to 2008 Singapore. And obviously it's not relevant because it's qualifying session rather than the race,

but of course they crashed in the same area. It's like they're both trying to be the PK in the PK versus... I'll help you. I'll help you. we can't ever do that properly. Good. Right, let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, we've got Moment of the Race.

Welcome back, everyone. I have to say my moment of the race, Sam, fits in quite nicely with the discussion that we just had before the break. My moment of the race is the Alpines battling over 18th and 19th for no reason whatsoever. It is a sag state of affairs at that team.

That's all they can do. That is all they can do. But yeah, funny. Yeah, I just thought it's funny. Yeah. Yeah, it is funny. I have a couple that I'm going to go with. One was, I'm actually earlier,

a smooth operator being played across the pit lane with Carlos side. I thought that was really nice. Martin Garrix at work. Yeah, loved it, loved it. But for me, I'm sure we'll get a lot of this from the Discog as well, but Piastri sitting trackside with a Marshall's phone watching the Grand Prix. I loved it. I loved it.

It's just a cool guy. It's just chill. I'm so annoyed, though, because if we just stay on on with Piastri for like 30 more seconds, we get the crash between Alman and Colopinto from his POV. And you know he's turning to the camera and putting a face. Oh, one of those again. Yeah.

He's got a few classics, isn't he? Right. Moment of the race. That's ours covered off, but we have some from our Discord submitters as well. Thank you again to all of you that put in submissions after the race. We appreciate we ask for them very quickly after the race comes to an end. and we'll play as many as we can.

Let's start with Alex C. 458. Hey, guys. Alex here in New York City. I woke up at 6 a.m. just to watch Oscar crash on the first lap. But my moment of the race is Carlos with the wodeum. Give us the wodium. Thank you, Sam. Good job, Carlos.

Hopefully Williams can get back on top. Cheers. What's a wodium? Two year ban. Don't care. year back. Do I say it? Did I say Wodium? Oh, okay. Yes, the Wodium. It's my new thing that I definitely said before that I can't remember anything, folks. You and Alex are both banned two years. Thank God, a holiday. No more moments of the race. I can have a holiday. And appreciate very early

start for particularly the West Coast in America this one. So well on to all of you that got up early for this. And no, Australians, that doesn't mean that we don't care when you have to wake up early. We feel for you, all right. famously this Grand Prix that takes place in Asia is not particularly complimentary to North America. Let's go to Bugety, Bugatti, Bugatti, Bugatti next. Bugety, boogity, boogity, buggy. Let's go racing late breakers.

I think the moment of the race this time, it's got to be Liam getting past Yuki. Unclear if either of those guys even are going to be in Formula One next year. But good for Liam getting one back on his former teammate and the guy he was swapped for this year. Keep breaking late. genuinely great move. He had some pounce at that moment

because I think he had been stuck behind him just like Yuki was stuck behind him the other way around. So he had one moment to get done, got to get done. Brilliant wheel to all racing from Liam. 100%. We go,

and I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly. We go next to a dog. Hey dog here with moment of the race. I got to give it to me waking up at 3.30 in the morning just to watch Oscar Beatty put it in the wall. first lap. Pretty rough way to start my morning. But I'm also really happy to see Carlos signs on the podium with Williams. Very impressive. Well done. But a dog's going back to bed.

So woof woof. We've got that wodeum, guys. What is it with animal noises in this podcast, man? What is it? We've got ducks and dogs all over the place. Meow. I was great. And hey, I mean, the Piastri incident might not have been a good one. if you're a Piastri fan or a McLaren fan, but I'm sure it would have woken up quite a few. Like that's, oh, I'm awake now. Like, what? I sat up when that happened.

I was like, wow, big scenes. Because I thought we're going in. Norris is going in. He's going to lock into this one. So, unfortunately, we can get to that. But at that moment, intense. From dogs to ducks and dairy, it's quackers and cheese. Good morning from Canada.

It's quackers and cheese. other than the smooth operator, I would say the moment of the race today was the Oscar just with his feet up sitting on the side of the track. A lot of people would pay a lot of money for a view like that. Anyways, quack, quack, quack, quack.

I don't know if you saw it, Ben. There was a gentleman in our Discord chat who was sat, I think, on the other side of the corner that took a picture, very zoomed in of Oscar, sat there watching it on his phone. And little did he know Oscar was taking a photo of him. And listening to the most recent, your qualifying review, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, big up.

A big fan of the podcast. Well, maybe not after today, but he would have been before. Right, that is Quackers and Cheese done and Dusted. We go next to, I'm sure we've had this discussion before, whether it's Kipes or Sipes, but here we go. Hey, Sipes here from Wisconsin. Moment of the race was Yuki Sonoda. Sixth place, baby.

Let's go. A yuki love. I can't say this without sounding horrible. There hasn't been a lot of opportunity to be happy about Yuki Sonoda this year. So I'm glad people are happy, even if it is only eight points. It still sounds horrible.

I'm sorry. I am genuinely happy he's got some good points, but it's tough when your teammates winning, isn't it? If he had done that on a day where the Staping was struggling to get on the podium, it would be great. But of course, it dominates. If this is a springboard for better results, then by all means.

But glad to hear you are happy. Saipes, not Kipes. We go to Finaglius. Finagli? Just words, player. My moment of the race has got to be that on F1 TV commentary, Alex Jakes could not stop telling us that Max Verstappen is now 69 points behind Oscar Piastri.

Nice. Keep breaking late. And that's two more than six seven, Sam. Oh, six seven. Down with the kids. What does it mean? Hit the gritty. Oh, I'm six seven, Ben.

No, you're not. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. Viva la Zuzu is at next. First timer, first timer. Hey, boys. first time, long time. Moment of the race has to be Carlos Sines' podium.

Great work from him. Great drive. And also the awareness that Max Mastappan has at the end, where he pointed out Carlos Sines had a new mascot on his helmet. Keep breaking late, boys. Yeah, hit the gritty with the Wodium. Come on, back. Do it with me.

I hate this life. It's like a funny shrimp for you. God. Wodium. Hey? April read is next. Not at pre-read. Hi, boys.

Not so much a moment of the race, but the drivers, trying and failing to keep a straight face during the National Anthem performances always makes me giggle. And I want to know what the Grid Kid was doing in front of Lando because he was absolutely wetting himself. Keep breaking late.

I didn't see this. Yes. So obviously, classic National Anthem performance, which is great. It pans across the drivers. And they're all doing the whole mouth, wibble, you know, the whole... Tierra Henri, yeah, yeah.

Teryonri, lip quiver. And this kid is just trying to hold back something. I don't know what he's been up to, but he has proper, got a little gig along. I tell you what, not a bad national anthem, but still no Belgian John. Oh, Belgian John. He will forever be in my memories, Belgian John.

Watching a log of so react to Belgian John is so good. That's one of those that you just have to go back to once every couple of months because it's quality. Yeah, never lose spa for that moment. Final one for today, it's Inspector Seb 13. Hey guys, Inspector Seb here. Trackside at Azerbaijan celebrating the moment of the race, which is obviously the smooth operator, Carlos Sines, getting a podium.

Mispronged that there. No, that was the perfect pronunciation. Well done to you, Inspector Seb. Thanks very much. We love an in-person at the track submission as well, so very much appreciated. And all of your submissions very much appreciated too. Next opportunity will be ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix in a week and a half's time. Sam, I think that's going to do it for today.

We've tried to get through as much as we can on this review. But good news for the folks out there, particularly those of Patreon City. We're going to be focusing on all 20 drivers on tomorrow's power rankings episode. Yes, the power rankings parade will commence tomorrow evening. Through the streets of Patriot City. With massive effort-taffs of each driver as we rank them as they come down the street. Maybe big marches in cities isn't the place we want to go to at the moment. I think that's better left alone right now.

I was thinking more like Rio. We have like a parade. That sounds better than what was going through my head. Oh, good. Cagival in Patreon City. So make sure you sign up. It's very affordable. and it helps us show up massively.

You get way more than just power rankings as well. You get Beaver Breaking, which has gone live this week with our votes of what our walkout song will be for our live show. You get historic reviews. We're going to be recording back coming up this week as well, so that'll be out soon. Loads of stuff on that. And you get the entire backlog.

You get unlocks everything we've ever recording on there as well. So you don't just get what goes on. You can cancel it after a month, and it's not for you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for supporting us. I'm sure Harry is the most thankful. And I can say that because, you know, he's not here. He trusts us implicitly to say things.

of his behalf. So thank you so much for listening. We will be back in the week. Unfortunately, no preview, but plenty more F1 news and chat to come your way. So sit with us even though there isn't going to be a Grand Prix. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.