The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Hungarian GP Race Review

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

The LB boys are back as a THREE to break down the pre-summer showdown, where Norris closed in on championship leader Piastri with a risky strategy. They unpack all the action, from the McLarens taking it down to the wire, to Aston Martin’s impressive performance and, of course, Ferrari once again raising everyone's blood pressure... >>> 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. That's right. That's three names. Three! You are absolutely correct, BBC Slugs. That is three of us here for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Is that our podcast get going now?

the BBC slugs. It might be. Sam, you're back from smashing plates in Greece. I am. I got a lot of fun smashing plates in Greece. We had to dark around the car park and I had plates above my head and then they set fire to the floor. It was a lot. It was a lot. I was a lot. And you left me and had to go on the plane. Yeah. Yeah, that was just in the airport. I drove a quad bike and all of Greece rang in fear and then I swam under the ocean. So it was a great time. But I'm really. this podcast with every single second of my holiday. So it was great to come back to that race because many things can be moored about. Good job on the show, lads while I was gone.

The outroes were, chess kiss, perfection. Me and Sam both went, we didn't go on holiday together, sadly, but we both went to Greece. Very different holidays. I didn't smash any plates. No-core bikes were harmed or driven. You can do anything? It's great.

Yeah. No. Nah, not It's great to be back as a three Finally, it's felt like Well, it's been three weeks, ironically, I think. It's been a long, long old time. Three.

Thank you very much, PPC Slug 2. Yeah, we have got our Hungarian Grand Prix review coming up today. Moment of the race. We're going to be reviewing our bold predictions from midweek. Driver of the day, worst driver of the day. how Ferrari managed to turn a pole position into a fourth place.

But let's start with McLaren as that's how the race panned out, the battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. On opposing strategies, Oscar Piastri, on the two-stop strategy that was perhaps a little more standard going into this Grand Prix, a bit more expected. Lando Norris trying his luck with the one-stop, and ultimately Lando Norris taking the race win and in the process taking the championship lead

down to just nine points. that Piastri has over himself. It was very close at the end. A couple of DRS near misses for Oscar Piastri as he was trying to get that race win, but ultimately, Lando Norris getting the job done. Sam, how impressed were you with how Lando Norris managed that Grand Prix,

taking those tyres quite a long way? This was a race won and lost on strategy. We get these sometimes throughout the season where it's all about the long game, thinking forward. How can you make sure you're not pull, into being to come back, to quote the F1 movie, for you New Watchers,

with someone else who actually isn't key to your Grand Prix. And it did feel like Oscar Piastri's race was brought into disputes with Charlotte Clare rather than focusing on Landon Norris' his rival in the championship. And that's interesting because over the radio you heard, would you rather have a better chance to say she at beating LeCler in this race or going up against Landon Norris? And Piastri, rightly, said, well, I want to be.

Norris in this Grand Prix and that ending up to not be the case. But regardless of that strategy call, this I think is Landon Norris' best Grand Prix Wing. He's hanging of them. I think this is his best Grand Prix wing. He did such a brilliant job at getting himself back into the fight. Starzig behind his teammate, behind Charlerc, falls back at the start and manages to make a one-stop strategy work where he goes over half distance of the Grand Prix on those hard

tires being hunted down by Oscar Piastri. and we know just how clinical he could be at getting moves down. You saw the move that he put on Charlotte Clare. Had one opportunity to do it. Coggett down, drove off into the distance. When he rocked up to the back of Landon Norris, Lando was placing his car exactly where he needed to. The exits off the last corner were sublime, so good

at using the last bit of tieware that he had to ensure that the one exit on the whole racetrack that is integral to staying in front with someone, especially like your teammate, is that last corner in the Hungara ring, and he nailed it. No mistakes like we saw at Sparrow. Bar, brilliant Grand Prix, brilliant control. And whilst Piastri, had a couple of very close goes, very near misses,

especially with that lockup into turn one, where he could have, as George Russell said, teaboned him. It worked out all right for Lando, and he absolutely measured it to perfection. A brilliantly well-crafted race from Lando-Norris, playing himself back into this brilliantly and executing a really tough strategy when a lot of different drivers found tyreware harder than I think they expected to. Sublime from Lando-Morris. Harry, as you know, the streets are talking about the epic Patreon bonus episode two that took place in July.

I got this again. And as part of that episode, we were looking at Landau Norris' top three wins in F1 so far. Has Lando Norris done that today to invalidate our lists after not even a week? Yeah, he heard how popular Patreon bonus two of July was as an episode and decided. I don't like that. So yeah, because I think there's a... It's so stupid. It's so stupid.

I think there's a valid shout or valid call to say that this race ranks in that top three now because he was super impressive today. And obviously they gave him the strategy. But he had to execute it. And it was tough. I think we were seeing that the tires were not, it was on a knife edge as to whether one stop or two stop was the best strategy here,

which again, I'd like to point out really good for racing and F1 in general. Good racing is made by those sorts of strategy. So yeah, it was a tough one, tough one to cool, but he executed that one stop brilliantly. I mean, maybe a few more laps and it doesn't happen. I think the way he was driving, particularly in those last few laps, uh,

or defending from Piastri, I think the way he was driving was, Pestri may never have got past him because through sector three, he just always had enough. I know there were a few, few scares, but I mean, they were,

they were lairy, uh, overtaking attempts by Piastri rather than anything nailed on. Um, so I think, I think he could have kept going for, for a while with a Pistra behind him. So yeah,

super impressed by Norris. I think this is one of his, one of his best ones. I think when we spoke about it on, on a patron, bonus two, Ben. We said about Austria and how impressive that was

from this year when he had the pressure of Piastri behind him. I think this is a similar and perhaps more impressive when than that one was. And exactly what he needed goes into the summer break.

It's just nine points between him now. So one of the things that we spoke about on the preview episode is how on a knife edge this championship fight is at the moment, but how critical something like this situation

was going to be for Lando Norris, because there is a heck of a difference between single digits, nine points separating those two, and 14 points, sorry, 23 points as it would have been if Oscar Piastri had managed to get by, which is almost one race win. So the way in which Lando Norris was able to defend at the end of this Grand Prix, I thought was particularly impressive, as you've both sort of referenced, the way in which she was able to control sector of three and coming out of the last couple of corners well enough that even with DRS, Piastri was able to manage that. I do feel like even though Lando Norris, understandably, had some words of complaint about the traffic heading into the last few laps. It might have been one of the

things that saved him. It gave him a few laps of DRS that otherwise he might not have had. But yeah, the way in which he, I think it was about a 14 lap deficit or so that Norris had in terms entire life, the way in which he managed that from the off was so good. The one stop and the two stop were viable here, as Harry says, that's good where you've got two different strategies that are viable. And maybe it was a bit of a blessing that we had a cooler day today. Otherwise, I think everyone would have been pushed to a two-stop. But because we had these cool attempts, a one-stop became more viable. And I think in the midfield, just based on the way some of the gaps emerged, the one stop was definitely stronger than the two-stop.

But out front, those on the two-stop didn't have to make those overtakes that someone like a Vastappen needed to in the midfield. So that makes it really close between whether a one-stop or two-stop was best. I'm not going to say Norris was lucky strategically because he still has to execute it. But sometimes if you're the second car, as Lando Norris was, he was the one that found himself in a, I've got nothing to lose situation. therefore he went for the one-stop and that's kind of based on Piastri out qualifying him.

So, you know, luck kind of evens itself out across a full season, but he still needed to execute it and there's no guarantee that that one-stop was going to be the best strategy. On Oscar Piastri's side of the garage, Sam, strategically you've already sort of touched on him focusing on Norris rather than focusing on Lecler at various points in this Grand Prix. in terms of him not being able to get that overtake done at the end, we saw one quite sizable lockup into term one.

Based on what we've seen from him before with these clinical overtakes, is there disappointment that he couldn't have taken the race win here? Yeah, I think that's probably one of Oscar's biggest strengths is how clinical he is when it comes to wheel to wheel racing. And you would have thought that if anyone had to get a move done right at the death to take a race victory, you put your money on Oscar making this work. As I really mentioned, look at what he managed to do to show. Charler-Claire, who was at times so quick throughout this Grand Prix,

absolutely breeze-past him with an excellent launch off the last corner, and then a brilliant lunge down in the inside. And I think Charlotte-Cleard tried to learn a lesson when he was defending from George Russell, and it maybe didn't come off Leger wrong. We'll get on to that later. But I was a little disappointed with McLaren from Oscar's side. I think the two stop, they committed to it far too early. When the tie-wear, it was quite clear that the tie-ware wasn't as bad as expecting.

medium runners running well into the 35, fully lap territory on those mediums, the likes of Bortoletto, Lawson, they were all able to run that much longer. And they stopped in far too soon. And on the track, which it became really evident, really clear that whilst you could overtake, you see such a pace advantage. I was thinking about a second between you and the car in front in terms of outright raw pace, and especially Tyadeg to get a move done. It just wasn't particularly viable. It was setting Oscar Piastri up to fail. And I think McLaren put him in a much harder track to win this race than what Landon Norris managed to do. Now, weirdly, I think Landon Norris benefited by having such a bad start. Because he was so far off the pace, so far away

from Lecler and Norris, it meant that he was essentially able to play with his mind, the B-straat. They had to go for something different. They had to go for something risky. And I think actually, because of how good the tyre was on these cooler temperatures, as you've really mentioned. That means that he was just sat in clean air. No dirty air. No having to try DRS pass people. The only trouble that he got up to was that lap traffic right at the ending. As you said, because of the DRS that he actually got given, it meant that even on those older tyres, he was able to hold off Piascari, who realistically got two attempts at it. And it was Rastram Oscar Piascri. I did expect Oskirts to maybe set it up a little bigger. I thought actually he'd end up going for the movie to turn two

and try to go around the outside of turn two into three and then maybe get the overtick done going up the hill to four. But actually, I think he rushed it. I think he went too soon and I think he made the mistake into turn one, which essentially meant that the opportunity had gone. It slipped away. So whilst Piastri should have been more clinical on that one move, I do think he was set up to fail by McLaren in this Grand Prix.

And I do think that he was given the far harder strategy, much like what Max Verstappen had to execute, but further back through the Grand Prix, it was by far the worst of the two strategies. And I think Piastri took a really good job at trying to bring it back even close to have a fight for that lead. So tough one for him. I think he should have got the move done. But, yeah, really difficult one to come back from.

I think there's definitely a case for Piastri going longer than he did on that first stint. Because lap 19 is when he made his first pit stop going from mediums to hard tires. Charlecler comes in the very next lap. So even though they are talking about Norris versus Piastri, there is still Lecler in the mix at this point. the problem with pitting on lap 19 is you are basically committed to a two-stop at this point. We saw a couple of others like Ockon, for example, I think he won't stopped after stopping on lap 15. He really struggled at the end of the race. Might well have done the same thing if Piastri had one stopped after pitting so early.

If they attempt to instead versus Lecler do the overcut and get a bit of a delta that way, you are then giving yourself the chance for a one-stop as well as, still play in the two-stop games. So you've kind of closed off one potential option by going as early as Piastri did. Even so, I think with, it was like 14 laps or so that the difference between Piastri and Norris's tyres, I think he should have had a more clear-cut chance than he did. Even if he doesn't get by, the opportunity to at least go side by side or something like that, I feel like should have been, it should have been there for him in the last few laps. Instead, I do feel like the move into turn one was rather rash.

I think it would have been better on that particular lap to have shaped it up going into turn two or turn three. I can't remember which the first corner is actually two corners. But you know what I mean? Yeah, so I think he could have maybe waited, but those laps ran out. And Norris deserves a lot of respect for the defensive work that he put up against his team. How are your thoughts on Piastri side of the garage?

Yeah, I'm with you in terms of the fact that McLaren McClaren boxed him into a corner somewhat with his strategy because they were flirting with the idea of a one-stop and then once they'd pit him that early, there was no chance. And you referenced Dockon, but he towards the end of that race fell like a stone through the field. He did 55 laps on the hard tyres, which is less than ideal. but yeah so and they even you know they even asked piastri later on do you think you could

one stop this on these hards or go to the end of these hards he's like yeah if you pit me again so they they had no choice um so yeah i do i do feel for him a little bit like i said though it was it was a pretty 50-50 choice on which was the best strategy so i don't come down too harshly on on mclaren for this one because i think it was it was a hard choice to make. And obviously they were battling Leclair, but I think like you said, Sam,

they didn't perhaps read the, weirdly read the situation with Norris, quick enough for Piastri to react. Because I think once Norris had boxed and came out, he was only a pit stop behind, it was going to be difficult from there and in.

And as I said, on the sky commentary, it has and always will be the case that a hungry track position is key, especially towards the end of the race. you can be quicker, but if you've got the track position, you're more likely to be able to keep that position. So yeah, I feel hard done by for Piaastri.

I thought he fought back pretty well. His couple of moves at the end were a bit dicey. And obviously that's shown by the fact that McLaren interjected, but remember how we race radio message. Twice. This is a reminder again, Oscar. Getting sick of here on that, by the way. Popo rules now.

Remember how we race? Oh yes, we're all friends here. Shag up. I mean, he did almost T-bone his teammate. I don't care. Let him T-Bonging. T-Bonged. Yeah, listen to Russell.

Okay, Sam's come back to the podcast, is, T-bone your teammate. Close to everyone. But yeah, I'm with what you said, but I think it was a little bit rash towards the end. And I think he tried it on the penultimate lap. And it was, yeah, it was done then. Yeah, I don't think he had enough.

he'd lost too much time in that attempt that it was game over. So yeah, tough race. He'll feel a bit hard done by, but he still leads to championship as they were keen to point out to him. Your under pressure, believe, was the Hungarian Grand Prix. What were your thoughts on how that race then unfolded? I mean, it seemed like quite a stalemate for a lot of the Grand Prix. Do you think it was good for new viewers?

It did a lot of brewing. It was like a really strong cup of tea But when you finally tasted it It was pretty good I feel like that it was always brewing up to be What we got at the end of the race But I don't know You wouldn't say it's an instant classic

But I thought it was pretty enjoyable Especially at the end You just had to wait around for a bit Which I guess for new viewers You might not want to do But you could see that was probably the way it was going to go I'd say it was like a six or seven out of ten Ben

That feels about right It's a very, very classic, typical Hungarian Grand Prix. You know how sometimes we have races where we say, even though there wasn't a battle for the lead, it was still a very good race because of everything else that was going on? This was the opposite. It's like if we didn't have that battle for the lead, there was not going to be much in that Grand Prix to talk about.

So it's very good that the McLauran strategy came together as it did. Otherwise, it was fine. But if you're expecting more from a Hungarian Grand Prix that doesn't feature crazy weather. That might be kind of on you. That's a classic Hungarian GP. It'd be interesting to see how it fares next year with those new regulations.

Very true. George Russell, he's had a difficult run as of late, as I mean, Mercedes have more generally, but he's back on the podium here with a P3 taking advantage of Charlotte Clare's misfortune. More on that after the break. But what about Russell, Sam? How do you think he said?

I think Russell played this Grand Prix absolutely brilliantly. it felt like he was properly up for this. We have the news come out, of course, from Max Verstappen's camp, from the words of Max Verstappen himself, that he's committing his future to Red Bull. Excuse me, sorry, man.

He's committing his future to Red Bull for next season. I do think that's maybe relieve the pressure from George Russell's shoulders going into this weekend. He drove a stellar race, I thought. Did he outright get that podium? I think they gave him the right strategy. I think the car was working better in slightly cooler conditions. And I think when you're going up against

what felt like a very floundering, confused Ferrari team once again. It was ripe for the taking. And George Russell, being the burglar that he is absolutely snucking and stole it away from Charlotte, Claire and Ferrari. Brilliant drive from George. I think the car was probably third best this weekend, qualifies well, has an all right start with the likes of Alonca around him, does well to get in front of Norris right at the beginning.

And then he capitalises on that. And I think that was a really strong race from him. He very quiet for the most part, gets the job done right at the end. Classic Russell, really, really impressive. Lots of good radio as well from Georgie Boy. And when he needed to make that move on the Clare, which that defence, there's a reason we got a penalty for it. That was rather questionable.

He stuck to it, though. He kept his footing. He kept his nosing. He got the move done. So brave, bit cutthroat, classic George. It was a really good Grand Prix from him. Harry, was there anyone happier on the grid today than George Russell? when we learned that it wasn't going to be all that warm?

No, probably not. Yeah, the weather conditions certainly helped Mercedes yesterday and today. But as another classic George Russell burglary, he's nicked your wallets and at a podium in the process. I think, yeah, his pace was super good. I don't think, as he said, Sam, I don't think he had necessarily a car that was actually third deserving, or third place, but the strategy and his and his base route at the Grand Prix made it happen.

And like you said, nailed that move on the Clare after the second attempt and, yeah, stuck with it when, you know, you could have could have backed out of it potentially with the slightly exuberant defending that Charlotte Clare was offering up. But I was, yeah, super impressed with Russell. As you said, not the greatest run of races from his side since Canada, basically. back on the podium and I think very well deserved and not the well they needed to show toto wolf this but it was kind of a oh yeah I'm I'm still here I'm still here and I'm I'm pretty gatchy pretty damn good I'm pretty good I don't drive McLaren I'll just finish third instead so

yeah timely race for and result for for Russell and that's going to lead us into our first break of today's episode on the other side the debut of Ferrari's new screenplay to fourth. Good. Welcome back, everyone. Charles Lecler managed to pull off an incredible lap in qualifying to take an unexpected, a surprise pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

And in the early running to this race, it continued to look good. When I did the qualifying review yesterday, I was asking whether McLaren would just sweep by him quite quickly in this Grand Prix. The answer to that was no. He stood with Piastri, toe to toe, and it looked like in that first stint, Ferrari were on the ball.

And then it went absolutely horribly wrong to the point where he was overtaken by both McLaren's and indeed George Russell, meaning no podium for Charlotte, Clair, no podium for Ferrari. They were in a quest for poll to points, Sam. And in that respect, they did succeed, but maybe not as much as they would have hoped.

No, I mean, two fantastic social media posts from Ferrari so far this season. all of the points when they didn't actually score all of the points. That's been one, the second of course, coming this weekend. Poll to points in the race. Yeah, you meant to aim for the wing. You're starting at the front. That's what you've done the hard bit. Just drive now.

Do the race. You're going to overtake Ferrari. Charlotte Clare is so good at putting it on pole and not winning Grand Prix. You know, Landon Norris has got more wings of him now. He's now one above him. That is so painful for Charlotte Clure and the Clare fan. It's Piastri won ahead of him as well. He's now level.

Piazzi is level. Yeah. And I ignore it. Piazri will likely pass him as well this season. It's going to happen, right? Lecleras been sat on eight with Ricardo for so long. The man needs another wing. Yeah, this is disastrous from Ferrari.

Absolute, you know, when we took, you know, the strategy of the day that we talk about, that, you know, great big brain strat that we talk about, this is Ferrari 101. They got sold an absolute beauty by McLaren, you know, twice in this race. Pitzer overtake the Clare. overtake the Claire.

Oh, do-de-do-do. Lecler, doodles into the pit laying. Oh, guys, they were getting a pit, weren't they? No, no, no, no, they're still going. Off they go round the racetrack. Honestly, if you had the weird manning a van on the corner pretending that he's got sweets with a big McLaren on the side

and the Claire was walking up. Oh, I'd like some sweets, please. Ferrari chucking him in the back of the van. You take him off, you go, sold it. Absolute beauty. Easy peasy. I can't believe how bad they were at their strategy. The worst part is they did the opposite for Lewis Hamill

Like, you know, the meme where the kids dying at the bottom of the swimming pool and the mum's playing with the other child? Lewis Hamilton's like, can I come in? Can I ever come into the pit lane? Am I allowed? No, Lewis, you'll just stay out on those hards forever and you'll pick to 16th place or Kimi Antigelli who's starting behind you is now in the points. So bad from Ferrari. So bad. Because the place at the start of that Grand Prix for the clerk was a beauty.

He was so good. But then we get that paragraph of a complete. plate from Shola Claire, being like, it's undrivable. What we're doing is literally undri- He's cracked. He's gone. It's over for you guys. Yeah, absolute 101 disaster class. Welcome back Ferrari.

Obviously, fire the whole house. Get a whole good seeming because it's just not gotten better since 2005, has it? 20 years of crap. Good job. You say welcome back Ferrari, Sam, and rightly so. But I want to say, welcome back to Sam Sage analogies. We've got kids being abducted and kids drowning in the same set. Like, great stuff.

We are so back. We are so back. And so a Ferrari, they're so back, aren't they, Harry? You know that meme like grafting where it's like, we're so back? And then it goes down to it's so over. That's where they are. Yesterday we are. It was.

We are so back. Today it's so over. For the first part of this race, I don't fully blame them for what they do on the first pit stop. I think it made sense. They had the gap to Piastri.

He blink first. And I'm not saying the two stop was the correct call as it was hard one to judge in the end, but he blink first.

But LeClair, build out such a gap that he could do another lap and the hard, because the hard tire switch on, the heat up was quite difficult.

It meant he could pit. They smashed the pit stop. And then he went on his way and retained the lead. Now, after that, went way, way worse. And I know the many radio messages from Charlotte Club were coming through about he seemed to think there was an adjustment they'd automatically made

to his front wing when they put the hard tires on. I've seen since on Twitter or X that the team have told him that actually it was chassis damage and not the front wing. Why didn't you tell him that in the race, if that's true? I smelled an absolute rat there. That is horse manure. Like a rat. That's my little poor.

Shatted. Shatted. So I don't believe that for a second. Yeah. So that aside, whether they made this adjustment or his damage or not, but his pace didn't drop off massively in that second stint, but he certainly wasn't able to build a gap as much as he had the first time round. And then absolutely scared into a pit stop. I've never seen a team scared into a pit stop before,

but they were sold, absolutely sold. And I know it obviously plays out slightly differently on the TV, but it was literally Oskar Piacström, to Oscar Piacstrary saying box, box, and the next thing, the shot is Charlotte LeCler coming into the pits. I mean, it was perfection in terms of timing there. But, yeah, they got utterly sold. And I think in the same way that we said with Piaastri, and we're watching LeClaire a bit too much,

I think LeClaire and Ferrari were watching watching what Piazsche was doing too much and not at Norris. I think people were not quite paying attention enough to land a Norris in this one. So yeah, a bit of a Ferrari disaster class. It was like too many stops for them. I think the first one was okay.

And then they throw another one into the mix and it's a disaster. So yeah, well done Ferrari. You bringeth hope and you also takeeth away the hope. So thank you for that. It's an excellent summary. I might as well not say anything.

Oh, boy. You know how we've been saying all season long? Like, there's something in this Ferrari, but it's difficult to know exactly what. Some of there. This race. That was this race like completely in a nutshell. Like there was something in this Ferrari

to the point where they were leading a Grand Prix legitimately. Like they had legitimate pay. and then it just disappeared in the second half of this Grand Prix. And as you say, looks like it might be chassis damage, in which case, why don't you just tell the poor kid? I just reply to him. Just answer his poor, poor cries for help.

Just tell him. Honestly, just give him something to work with. He is a man who has been given hope as a result of his poll position on Saturday and then just seen it all completely dwindle all. way. I don't mind the first stop. I actually don't even mind the second stop. I know they've gone maybe slightly early with that second stop, but equally, if Piastri had undercut, Charles Lecler, and they'd got the jump, we would be sat here saying, Ferrari, what are you doing? You can't let McLaren do that to you. So he'd done 21 laps on the hard tires, which meant he needed to do another 29 on the

second stint. It's not too, you know, badly proportioned across the two stints. So I was, I was, I was was okay with the second stop. The problem is that their pace just wasn't there and it just completely dropped off thanks to this damage and it was painful watching particularly the gap to Russell come down just like multiple seconds per lap at one point and you just know it's going to happen. Unfortunately for him at that point there was such a gap over everyone else that it was only going to cost him one spot. On that point though, I know it was never going to be achievable. Alonso caught him by about, it was like over 10 seconds in that last part of the race.

He was flying along by, which is ridiculous. Yeah. The LeCler was on pole. Yeah. And gaping Alonzo by about the same amount for the first half of this Grand Prix. It's just so typical,

but at a circuit where it is notoriously difficult to overtake, a pole position is not even converted into a podium. That's sad. Sam, we saw a five-second penalty to add insult to injury for Charles Lecler. following the overtake by George Russell. A fair penalty in your eyes? Yeah, you know the old phrase,

throwing poo at the wall, hoping it sticks? That's what Charlerler was doing at that point and hoped that he could cling on to this podium. The old fingernails holding onto anything he could get while George Russell was there like, fall down the cliffshall. I'm climbing up it over your corp, Ferrari, get out of here. Honestly, that's what it felt like. No chance of clinging on.

No chance of survival. and he was doing anything he could. He did move underbreaking. The first was, that noise exactly is how I would describe it. The second was a slam dunk. And I actually think five was polite. I do think that we shouldn't be taking that one lightly.

I think moving underbreaking should be a 10 second. I think it should be a flat 10 second. It is so ill-advised. It is so dangerous to do. Whether he did it by a few inches, whether he does it by a car's width, whatever it might be. I might be seeming harsh here,

but it's a huge no-no, and we've seen some monumental crashes in Formula One based on moving under braking. And he did very clearly. I think George Russell pay every right. I have a good old winged over the radio saying that it really wasn't allowed. And I absolutely loved it.

I love the way you kind of chatted back at the radio to make sure it was very clear that it wasn't allowed. But yeah, I think McClure was just desperate at that point to hold on to anything. He could when that car was so clearly. not what it was at the start of the Grand Prix. And he had been through a race of turmoil. I'm not sure I could ever see anyone more unhappy

picking up fourth place in a Grand Prix. It was a pretty tough day for Charlerc. So penalty deserved. I have gone harsher, but yeah, tough one for him. Thoughts on the pen, Harry? Yeah, I thought it was a fair penalty, a fair cop. If Charle de Claire's defense on George Brosser was an alcoholic beverage, I'd say it was a desperation.

It was quite desperate, wasn't it? Really squeated them in today, aren't we? Get them out of the system. But, yeah, like you said, Sam, the first one was a little bit, a little bit on the edge, but I think just okay. The second one was disgusting, because he moved twice in the breaking zone, and it's after Russell's committed. Like, you can't do that.

It's just not allowed. and then not only that, I know that that wasn't investigated, but then into the next corner, he almost has another lunch there, like, give it up, shall, it's done. And I appreciate the frustration he must be having in that cockpit, but those sorts of moves you can't do because they could well end in a huge, a huge shunt. So I think it's a fair pen.

I agree. I'm with you, Sam. Five seconds is light. I think 10 is worthy for that one. think the first one, not that they had the time to actually judge because they happened almost one after the other, the first one is almost like black and white flag worthy, I think. It was very borderline, whereas the second one is not borderline. That is easily 10 seconds. That's pretty dangerous to the point where I don't know if LeClau's going to get a lot of slack for it. You obviously

got the penalty, which is completely inconsequential, but how do I say this? If this was, I like Charlelele a lot and he's very popular. If this was a less popular driver, who had done the same thing, people would be going after him for it. I think if Grojean does this a few years ago or something like that. He definitely did do it a few years ago. Well, yeah, but I mean, like, you remember the response to it. Like, it was, whereas he might get away with it a little bit here in the eyes of the public when I don't think he should do.

This was pretty bad, I thought. We had a few different skewers decisions throughout the Grand Prix. one of them hasn't still not come through yet. They weren't investigating anything else. Why are you waiting? 30 laps from the end. 30. We're halfway through a Grand Prix.

How hard is it to look at a replay and make a call? I don't care if it's a penalty or not. Just tell us. It's still not decided the race ending an hour ago. Why? I don't get it. It's not like they had investigations piled up to the point where, you know what, we just don't have the time to look at this one.

They had nothing to do for like 30 laps. Now we'll wait till the end, lads, it's all right. It's not when you get an email at midday on Friday. You're like, they're all five hours. That's Monday morning job, that one. That's clocking off time. So I hope for me to come back next week, I think. Right, let's do Driver of the Day.

The verdict is in. you're the driver of the page you're the driver of the day you're good at driving Harry you've got the honours who have you got gosh tricky one there are quite a few standout drives today

Lando Norris obviously is a good one although I would mark him down for the fact they lost those spots at the start I'm going to go for Gabby Bortoletto I thought he Now I know the sound was much better

than it was But he was superb all weekend I think he got past stroll at the start And kept that place for the rest of the race And drove And drove a superb race And was well in front of his His illustrious teammate Nico Hockenberg

So I'm going to give him all to let it But quite a few great drives out there We've got to mention Alonso As head of the fan club as well With his bad back Oh poor man had to set out F-1. Yeah, but then for the car was alright.

I'm getting back in the car, lad. Give him a car. Help me back. If stroll was P-18, he was going home for the weekend. You saw how Stroud did. I'm like, yeah, I got some chance of points here. I will drive for a broken back. Any chance of points.

Yeah. I'm going to go with Lano Norris, even with the slightly difficult start that he had. I was very impressed with the way that he executed that one-stop strategy and held off Piastri for the race win. But some other notables that you've, already mentioned. Sam, your driver of the day? Portoletto.

Portoletto. He's driving. It's fabulous. He's driving. It's fun. Yeah, Gabby was so good. So good. No mistakes. Exquisic a brilliant strategy. Stayed ahead of a lot of faster cars behind him, including Verstappen, who was pressuring him for a while, did a brilliant job

against him, kept up to pace with the Askin Martin's in a fantastic way. I was so impressed by him. He is really maturing into a big of a superstar towards the big part of this season. And as the sail becomes good, so does he. And it really made me laugh the way they completely got the wrong salver for the false start. And I thought that was really, really funny.

So it wasn't him either. Good job. Good job. From best to worst. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, bin, bin, been, worse driver of the day. You suck at driving. Have you got some?

Now, there wasn't really a disaster class by anyone here. It was, you know, some good drives, I think some drives. I'm going to have to give it to you, Key. They only beat the Alpins. Now, whilst I go that my bold prediction was Gassie was going to get top six, he handily went completely the other way. So thanks for making it, you know, nice and easy. Rip off the Band-Aid there, Gassley.

He looked like he squeezed off Hulk at one point and didn't get any investigation from that either, left no racing room on the outside. He was so much slower than anyone else on the racetrack. And I know DeSappan was struggling, but that car's better than a few of those cars back there. And it looked like, while starting from the pit lane, he had no chance of moving forward.

So for me, it's Sonoda. Sadly, I will also be going for Yuki Sanoda. And I say that sadly because I gave him praise on yesterday's qualifying review because I was impressed with the gaps that he was able to, to land within versus his teammate, even though it was still a Q1 elimination, he was two tempts away from Max Verstappen on the first run of Q1. He was only a tenth and a half behind Max Verstappen on the second run in Q1. And I was hoping that might follow through into a better Grand Prix today.

Sadly not, starting from the pit lane. I don't think, I'm not a great call, I think, from Red Bull. I'm not quite sure of the reason why. But he had 16th as a starting position, which isn't too bad, to voluntarily give up a few spots in terms of track position. here. I don't think that's a great idea, but he was really struggling to keep pace with some cars at various points in this Grand Prix. Harry, for you? Sadly, it's a trio for Yuki Sonoda. Sorry, sorry, Yuki. Yeah, like I said, I know the Red Bull was not good here at all, as shown with Max Verstappen, but where he was close and qualifying, he was not in the race to his

teammate and couldn't make the progress. And as you said, Sam, the only people he'd beat with the two Alpines and they are sheds. So it's not really saying much. Shed. A shed? Like a garden shed. Sorry, yeah, move on. It's a load up.

I don't recall seeing Gaside's collision, by the way. There you got that 10 second. I've just seen it on Twitter. He absolutely ram signs off the road. So it's a fact of God. Does he? I'll see it later, mate. Big brain strap.

Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about? Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance later. Sam, what have you got? Lots to choose from. For me, maybe a slightly outside choice here,

I'm going for Niko Holkenberg stopping within the first three laps to catch up to the back of the field. They have to take a five second time penalty on his second stop to end up right at the back again. I've been going in a fight. So really productive day. from Zalba on that side of the garage. It worked really, really well.

That's mine. Also a shout out in conjunction with that to David Croft, who suggested that Nika Holcomberg to mitigate that five seconds should do a one-stop race, having pit on lap five for medium tires. Yeah, I don't think it's run the 65-lap medium strat, David. Yeah. Can I see?

Not to make this podcast, a constant, Crofti bashing. Don't bring it out. Don't bring it out. But he was saying, like, Alonso hadn't pit and Bortaleza hadn't

pit and Strow hadn't pitt yet neither at Larson it was lap 33 is like maybe they're going for the one stop

what are you think you moron we're half through the Gros and they've done the soft attire my favourite though

to put the cherry on the David Croft cake was it's not last lap Lando it's last lap

Pastery this time you're just literally stuffing a square peg into a circle hole at any charts now aren't you

well Well, that escalated just as I wanted it to. Harry, what was your big brain strut? Second week in a row, but Hass and Estaband Ockon, do they hate him? I think they do. What are you doing to him? Poor guy, last week you had a terrible strat left out there. This time they're just like, no, you can't go in again.

55 laps on the hard ties. Go, off you go, Esteban. Learn your lesson. I'll have a screwing your tyre for quality as well, just for good measure. That was so funny. It will fall off. they'll be fine. That's not the point.

It's something sharp on your tyre. The worst thing about Ocon's strategy was it was actually improvement on last week because at least they gave him new tires this time. They didn't even bother to give him new tires for that awful strategy in Belgium. My big brain strat, and I stand to be corrected on this one because it happened very quickly and I might have just not seen it correctly. But if I did see it correctly, this is fantastic. So we were getting to about lap 22 or so, and quite a few drivers at that point had already come into the pits.

One driver that was considering a pit stop was Antonelli and Mercedes. And they did come into the pits. But not after Ferrari bluffed them or tried to bluff them into thinking they were going to bring Lewis Hamilton in. But if my eyes were correct, they were trying to bluff them by bruce. bringing out the hard tires for Lewis Hamilton that he was already running. You're right. You're right. Come on. You've got to bluff correctly by at least bringing out the right tire that Hamilton's going to go on to. Oh yeah, Mercedes are definitely going to fall for the old hard, hard strategy

that will see us disqualified. You know, the analogy I made earlier about McLaren with their sweets van, Ferrari would set the same thing up and they'd be waving celery at kids, you know, want some raw broccoli children? No, no one wants that. Except their van has no wheels on as well. Right, that's going to do it for Driver of the Day, worst driver of the day, and Big Brain Strap. On the other side, we've got more discussion from the midfield

and a review of our bowl predictions. Welcome back, everyone. A very successful weekend for Aston Martin with Fernando Alonzo finishing in P5 and Lance Stroll finishing in P7. And that's good enough to elevate Aston Martin two spots in the Constructors Championship.

They've overtaken V-Carb. They've overtaken Salber as well. So they're now sixth. With the potential of chasing down Williams for P-5, Harry, I'm sure it was no surprise to you whatsoever based on your bowl prediction, which lends the question, what did you know?

It's all that money they saved on those chips, boys. You know it's. I need to write that out for most. moment of the season, by the way. I was as shocked as everyone. Let's not forget, those two cars were 19th and 20th last week in qualifying, and this week they were a tenth off poll in fifth and sixth.

That is ridiculous. I've seen a couple, I've seen a rumor, and now this is a rumor, and I don't think it's true, but I saw even F-On-TV speak about this. So there might be some truth to it that they didn't bring the right floor to spa, which is like a real... Well, they bring the bathroom floor.

And they just brought the pre-immeler floor or something ridiculous. Just got bathroom tiles on the bottom of the car. Yeah, exactly. Porcelain. It's quite having this car. That's why, so slow and straight line. But anyway, either way,

they brought the front wing last week, that same front wing this week. I know they have two very different tracks, and sometimes that's how it works, but it does seem quite odd that it suddenly was really good. And this wasn't like a sudden change in the weather. I know we did have a bit of changing the weather on a Saturday, but they look good all weekend.

As mentioned, Stroh was pretty good in FB1, and magically Alonzo's back was fine. So, yeah, I mean, much-needed race for them. It felt quite strange for them to be that close to bowl position. I think in the race it obviously transpired a bit more. It sort of reverted back to where I think we thought it would be. Yano Alonzo did all his best train work once again. This time it wasn't for anyone's benefit apart from himself, but I really enjoyed it.

We spoke about Bortovetto, obviously I gave him the drive of the day, but he was having lesson number two of the season from his manager. this time he had the defense from him in Austria this time it was how to bring your tyres in and do a long stint because he did it both times he just sat him in his DRS

for a few laps and then made Bortoletto cook his tyres and then Alonzo took off so excellent work excellent work by him but yeah a surprising result but they looked the real deal and encouraging for them

that I know Spar didn't it didn't work, but once again, it does seem that they've put upgrades on the card that have turned out fine. So hopefully that continues. And as he said, they've jumped a couple of spots, but hopefully that continues them as they move into the rest of the year because that's encouraging science for next year. And I still do not believe that Adrian Newey has not had any involvement. I saw a great tweet that said Adrian Newey has sneezed on the upgrades, which may be laugh a lot, because that seems like magic dust that he puts on these upgrades. But Yeah, a great weekend for them.

First point, Felipe Drogovic will never drive an F1 car in a competitive session. It cannot happen. Like, if, for whatever reason, Astor Martin, like, the full team got food poisoning as a result of those fries that they're not eating anymore, if they, he'll find a way to be more ill. Like, Drugovic just will never get a chance. I'm convinced at this point, because every near miss never goes here. his way. And unfortunately for him, he might have actually had a good chance of doing something this

weekend based on how Stroll and Alonzo have done. I thought this was a really well-managed Grand Prix from Fernando Alonso. And it was a bit difficult to judge his pace at some points in this race. I think he was managing the whole way. I think he's strategically worked out how to get this P5 because he didn't put up much of a fight against Lando Norris. He didn't put up much of a fight when a couple of the other drivers needed to re-overtake Fernando Alonso when he went long on that first stint. The way that Aston Martin strategically approached this weekend, we knew going into this race that they were only going to have one technically used but new medium tire and one new hard tire, which means they were, unless they wanted to use the soft tire, which

was a bit more viable than I think it was going to be. It still wasn't a great tire. So they were probably looking to do a one stop from the off. And I think Alonzo does a very good job in that first stint of just not being goaded into chasing the top four cars. Like, he drops off quite a lot. And you start to question, is he intentionally doing this or is he managing his pace? Because Bortoleto did get a bit close. As soon as he was able to push a bit more, that gap extended out quite a lot. Same thing again happened in the second stint.

It's quite close early on. Stappen makes a pit stop that makes you think, am I going to need tire life at the end of this Grand Prix to defend against the fast chast. charging Max Verstappen. That obviously he couldn't get by Lawson. That fret fades. Alonso again is able to extend the advantage. So I do think he was managing very well in this Grand Prix.

Stroll, maybe a bit annoyed that he managed to pick his one bad race start of the season at a time where he actually had a good qualifying performance. But even so, solid points for him. And I believe they are now dead level in the driver's championship as well. So maybe we can finally put some respect on financial. Randol-O-Lonzo's name. Not quite yet. No.

Sam, what did you make of Astorvine? I mocked the F-1 movie for a storyline that they had where the team in question produced one development and suddenly went from being 19th and 20th in a Grand Prix. And in the next race, they were secondly fighting for podiums. That's exactly what Aston Martin has just done. They went from being embarrassingly slow. At one point, I remember watching Spar and Stroh's name was like a marble falling down a hill. He just toppled.

It didn't stop. It just kept rolling all the way down to the bottom. And yet today, they were incredibly competitive. And whilst I think Stroll ran and could race, it's a shame he was beaten by Bortemetto. I think the pace was in the car, that he sure got past him. Still good points for the team. Alonso is once again producing a master class. He's back to his very best.

And we've seen Fragato do this time and time again where he knows where he's race is. He knows who he's racing and he knows who he should and shouldn't use the precious resource of tires. up against. You see the likes of Russell around him. You see the cars that have stopped coming back through, Russell, Piazcri, Lecler, those people that are around him, Norris. He doesn't put an ounce of effort in. He gets

out the way in the DRS zone, tucks him behind, picks up the DRS against that, and they move on with their race, and he just keeps plugging away, lap after lap after lap. And that's what won in the Grand Prix in terms of the midfield battle. That's what allowed them to beat so comfortably, the likes of the racing balls. Williams

nowhere to be seen. Salber, Bortoletto had to have a great weekend to become close to one of them, let alone both of them. Their fastest lap times were actually comparable to those at the very back of the Grand Prix. And the reason for that is they weren't going for outright pace. They were going for consistency. They did all the work in qualifying. They knew that overtaking here would be difficult and they were just consistent and strong on their tires, delivering a really brilliant race performance.

So I think they might be shafted if a safety car came out. I think they might be a little bit in trouble. But hey, you play the races that unfolds and they did that super. well. So well done to Alonso, well done to stroll. I'm just surprised that Aston Martin now

will gain so many points for we're about to have that development cycle get set into place for the new year and then moving up the table. But hey, good job, Astermine.

Wintertime's already locked in. Yeah, I mean, for the end of the season, tell, this is going to be the end of the year, they're going to be further forward. You might as well lose as many as you can get.

Yeah, but isn't that locked in already? No, but when we get to the end of the year, is that, is there not a new one at the end of this season? It's every six months. Yeah, that's what I thought. Oh, I see. Don't gain points now.

Get to the back of the grid, son. Right. Be bad is the motto. Another motto from this one. Be bone your teammate and be bad. Be bad to be good. Anti-mongrel. Be bad.

Be dressed like a giant alongside. Well, where to go from there. Yeah, Astor Maston, congrats on the fifth and seventh place finish. I do just want to say one thing about the sixth place finish of Gabriel Bortolet. I'm really annoyed at him because I had, in my head, I had accepted, I'd reached the acceptance stage that Holkenberg was going to beat Bortoleto in teammate wars this year

and then it was over. And now he's just like, he's just opened the door a little bit. And I'm like, it's Hajar. It is warning door Hajar for me at the moment. But we'll see how that goes. Aster Martin and Bortoletto competing for fifth, sixth and seventh was as a result of, a few drivers who we would maybe more normally see higher up, not performing too well.

So Max Verstappen did get points, but only just. He was ninth for two points, Kimmy Antonelli, 10th for just one point, and Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari out of the points for the first time this year, down in 12th. Harry, should we start with Vastappen? What did you make of his race

and what was a tough weekend? I think Max Vestappen did as much as he could. could. I don't think I don't think that car was capable of much more. He was having to make moves when no one else was making moves. That chicanes has never seen so much action at the Hungara ring before.

And respect to it. But yeah, it was a tough day. And he seemed pretty racy at the start. But as we've seen a lot this year, the rebel just doesn't hang on to its ties. So that early pace he had, what he was making these moves. quickly fell away

and he can really improve the only thing I would potentially criticize him on but it feels harsh I don't think the car was very good

but when he came out with the fresh tires in his third stints after the second stop he didn't make any impression on Lawson and Coe in front where I thought he would do

so that yeah a bit disappointing but yeah a tough a tough weekend tough weekend for Vestappen it was I said in the preview, I thought

he might be able to string something together here, but that car was nowhere right from the off and FP1 and sometimes they turn it around Red Bull, but it was not to be this weekend. It was good to see Lawson not jump out of the way for Max Verstappen, but it also, I think, tells you

where Red Bull think this championship is gone. Otherwise, they are making that switch straight away. I know it would have only been for two points, but they didn't make it. that call, which was interesting. Sabio thoughts on Vostappen? They strategised him into oblivion. The car was not good and at least his qualifying was somewhat dealable. It was usable. He could have gone forward if there was a little bit of chaos up front, if there was a collision, if whatever it might be. But they put him so far back into traffic that whilst Max Verstappen is a god behind the will of a race car,

there's only so much he can actually do. You know, the guy was trying to make moves where moves have never been made before. You've never seen them at that point and he was trying to make it happen. He was brutish. And sometimes it was the right side of the line, sometimes it wasn't.

I still want to see a proper replay of this move against Lewis Hamilton. I don't know if that was Hamilton being cautious and getting out the way. I don't know if there was a bigger way of concept there in one of the fastest call as possible. But whilst Verstappan is desperately telling them, you know, I've got no grip.

I don't know why you put me here. I can't get past. one of the most difficult tracks to overtake. Shapiro Lambiasi comes over the radio and he goes, go on Max, we'll get past these guys. Oh, I'll just turn the water into wine, one of a minute, shall I? Let me just work a miracle on the racetrack for you.

Sure thing. It's just trying to achieve the impossible, and he was never going to do it. So, ninth place, I don't think he's at the end of the world for that car and that strategy. I actually think he's done okay. But one of the first times in a long time

that we see the racing balls team outscore the red, Red Bull team entirely on strategy and pace alone. It's not happened often and doesn't happen regularly, but today it has happened. I think most concerning for Red Bull is the fact that they were probably on the wrong strategy finishing P9. The issue is the right strategy might have got them P6. It's not like they cost themselves a win thanks to a bad strategy call or a podium. They were just pretty uncompetitive this weekend from the off as well. It didn't look any different in practice. And as you kind of alluded to, Harry, early in the stint, it looked better for Vastappen.

Like they'd almost unlocked something overnight that they didn't have in qualifying and in practice. And then you get throughout the rest of the stint and you start to realize that Vestappen is really hustling with a capital hurt to make some of those moves and really hurting his tires in the process. I was equally a bit disappointed that he couldn't make his way past Liam Lawson in that second stint. He had nine-lap fresher tires to work with, but this just was not a good car, not a good car for that track whatsoever. So, disappointing for Vastappen. Even, fairing even worse than that. Kimmy Antonelli, he did at least finish in the points, which hasn't been regular over the last few Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton, no points for P12.

Samuel Forts on both of those drivers. Kimmy Antigli, I think, had a good comeback, I think, for his current experience, I think, for how hard it is to overtake around. around the Hungara ring, the fact that he had to make the two-stop work and get through a lot of traffic around him. I'm not going to be too critical of Kimmyantigan. The damage was done in qualifying when you start that far back.

What I am getting tired of what I'm getting frustrated with is Lewis Hamilton in his attitude at the moment, really struggling to hear him moan every weekend. Qualifying has been poor three times in a row, you know, out in SQ1 in spa, out in Q1 in spa, out in Q2 here. And he's come out to second himself. It's on him. He's the problem.

One car is on pole position. Lewis Hamilton has more pole positions at anyone else in Formula One history. He's the most successful driver in Formula One history. And we know at 40 years old he's not at his prime. We know that. No one expects him to be the world beater of Lewis Hamilton that we saw in 2019, 2020. That's unreasonable. But this is getting a little frustrating to see him go through this process now.

And I desperately hope as someone who is in my Lewis Hamilton for his career, that the new cars in 2026 will be more favourable for him to drive. But it says a lot when you're clinging on to the hope that maybe a new set of regulations might allow for a more favourable result for a driver. When other drivers are able to power through this

and it is frustrating. This is self-inflicted from Lewis. He had some good pace. He was there a few times regularly with the Clur in practice. It looked like the early part of qualifying. Whilst he wasn't beating the Clare, he was right there with him,

a couple of tents away, but it was there or thereabouts. It just fell away from him and that was the damage done. Starts on the hard tie, which I think was the wrong choice to start on. It meant he had no purchase. He couldn't get past anyone. And when cars started to pit, it meant that he was just stuck behind the next car.

And he struggled to push up. And then later on, when he did get on the mediums and he made a couple of moves. The tyres didn't seem to last very long for him. You got stuck up behind Hajjar, could he get past him. Never threatened the points when the likes of Antigelli, who started behind him, does get back into the points in a car that arguably is slower for them. I know the strategy was bad, and Ferrari did give him a bad strategy. They kept him out for far too long, but I do think that was in a hope to keep the mediums alive at the end of the Grand Prix.

It's just being a really poor last few Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton. I'm really hoping that something clicks after the summer break because this has been a really tough watch. And it's not what anyone would have wanted to see when Lewis Hamilton went to Ferrari. I thought his pace was reasonable when he had clean air. The problem is he had clean air for about four laps in this Grand Prix. Ferrari obviously trying something a little bit different starting on the hard tire. It was only him and Pierre Gasly that started on that compound with everyone in front of him starting on the medium tire.

But you could kind of tell from the off that it wasn't going to work. Whereas at Spa, again, he was out of position at Spa, but a different race. Strategically, they were able to get him much higher up the grid. He made a few overtakes, obviously last week as well. But strategically, that was easily the biggest jump that he had. I think they were boxed into a corner thanks to this qualifying performance. If he tries a slightly different strategy, maybe the same as Antonelli. Maybe he gets to P10.

I don't think he gets any further than that because all of these guys like Bortoletto and Lawson and Stroll, both Aston-Martins, one-stopping this race and going quite far into this Grand Prix, they just ensured that they weren't stuck behind anyone and could kind of run the race they wanted to. Lewis Hamilton either had a choice of being stuck behind Olly Bear. as he was for quite a long part of this Grand Prix or pitting and just going to the back of that queue, which might not have actually helped him at all. So maybe they should have started on the medium tire.

Lewis Hamilton, of course, lost a couple of positions early on. Maybe that's to do with being on the hard tire and the warm up being a bit more difficult for that tire. So maybe there's a case to actually go medium. He lost him because he rang wide in turn two. At the early fight, he rang off the track and he lost grip and then they went down the inside of him. It was bad driving.

Which, again, that that might, if he starts on the medium tire, maybe that helps him out. We know those. Gassley also on the hard tire went backwards on that first lap. So I don't think they set him up for success in that regard. But they don't have to try something like this if he makes it through to Q3. So I think that's really where the fundamental issue comes in. All right. We've waited long enough for smug, Harry.

It's time to review bold predictions. Harry, I'll let you do it rather than a. announce it so you can you can do your smug voice what was your bold prediction midweek do i have a smug voice um my bold prediction this is it my ball prediction was that both astermartans would be in the top eight and should you know what towards the end lance make me a little bit nervous was a little bit because i was like close up a little bit yeah and lorce was getting he was under two seconds i was like don't you don't you dare lance come on son um but they did they did deliver which as i said earlier on I'm as surprised as you are

because it was a real shot of the dark given they were 19th to 20th the qualifying last week. But thank you everyone. Well done for saving all that money on the chips. Is that your first of the year? No, number two now. Oh, well, done me. Takes a lead.

I'm on two as well. Oh, yeah, you're on two. Don't give me that. Don't put me down, Ben. It's on countback. It takes a moral lead. Count back, I'm still leading, then. It works on countbacks. So the most recent one you've got is the decider if you're level.

So, um, I hate this one. I'm back. So Harry was correct. And we now go to incorrect. Which features Sam and me. Sam, you said that Pierre Gasley was going to be inside the top six.

Was he inside the top 16? I got to sit back and enjoy being wrong well ahead of time. Don't you worry, Bing? I was like, yeah, you know, I'm wrong.

I wasn't even sober when I made that prediction. So I accept that I'm wrong. Ben, on the other hand, how close to right were you, Ben? Agonisingly so. At least I didn't have to worry about it going into today, because mine was a qualifying bowl prediction. I said that pole position would be separated by just 0.0.02 of a second. And annoyingly, like, it was such a close qualifying.

The top four were separated by half a tenth. The top six, just over one tenth of a second. But the top two, nought. 0.026. The closest qualifying ever. It was. It's recording as the closest qualifying ever, and yet the gap between one and two was going it.

I mean, no, when it, you talk about it. In Formula One terms, going it. Six thousandths of a second is nowhere near. Nope. When you're wrong, you can't even claim like rounding to the nearest. I know, yeah. Because you'd have to round up, mate, and it'd be further away. So that's the real shame.

Do you want to know something quite funny? I knew that there was going to be my bold prediction coming in. But initially, I was going to go with a quarter of attempts, so 0.0.025. If I'd said that, I'd have been even more annoyed. I would have enjoyed that so much more. Yeah. But Harry does get another one correct.

So well done to you, sir. We're going to take our final break on this episode. On the other side, moment of the race. Welcome back everyone. Sam, what was your moment of the race? I put it in our chat. I've asked for it to be a good at the soundboard. And it is during the dive bomb from George Russell and the clerk. And he comes out with this radio message.

Some reason George Russell's radio seems to be like fading and out with volume, which I think adds to the comedy. But it's just at the end where he goes, it's clearly not allowed. And you can see it's such a British child. thing to say like teacher teacher this is clearly not allowed no he's broken they just is so george russell and i know we get some great russell radio this really felt like russell one i won and i loved it so for me that was my moment in the race i mean very small correction here but actually the reason why you

heard the fade at the end is because f1 uses i movie for their radio and they forgot to just drag that so you don't get the uh the fade at the end good yeah um my moment my moment to the race has already been referenced, but I need to reference it again. Charles LeCler's rant where the text fell off the screen is fantastic. They ran out of space. It's very funny. It was like a Star Wars intro, watching that text scroll backwards. I think like F1 just thought, you know what, we're going to cut it off here.

That will do. We cannot fit any more words. They would have to have gone to like size five font to have fit everything that he was saying. There's a rumor that they turned his radio off. Don't blame. After that rant, there was a rumor they turned it off. Harry, what was your moment of the race? Mine was also the Shal LaClair radio ramp falling off the page,

but I'll shout out a couple of others. One that probably will go under the radar now, but it was before that his first rant where he's being so cryptic about when we're discussing those things, we should discuss those things when I say. we should say these things to discuss. What are you talking about, Shal? I mean, how are they going to understand that?

For the good of sake. So I enjoyed that a lot. The other one I really liked was from McLaren, actually, which was Will Joseph, Landon Norris's engineer, just going, Lando, one stop, keen for it? Just like, is that really how you're going to propose this? Pub, king for it? Yeah, it's how you asked you made to the pub?

Okay. Or a pint, okay? King, yeah, all right. And Landa's like, yeah, go on then. Sure. There's a lot of good radio today, actually. A good radio. If we have a safety car, hard tire, soft!

Just over the radio at full volume from Lando. I also need to, I know we've referenced it, I need to shout out Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton fighting for P11. And the move that just was never a move, like, just sticking. We're having a crash and you need to move out the way, so do it now. And obviously Hamilton does, but goodness me. It's good to be back.

11 world titles fighting for 11th place. Yeah, the irony. The irony. Speaking of 11th place, I know he didn't finish there, but you know how Olly Bearman was doing right in this Grand Prix? He would have finished 11th if there wasn't something wrong with this car. Yeah, and Crofty brought it up again.

Yeah, yeah. Crawfrey would have popped. He actually would have exploded. Oh, my God. Right. that's our moment of the race, but what about our Discord submitters? Yes, thank you, everyone, for your submissions. Quite a few, so we will get through as many as we can here.

First up, we have got bungers. It's McLaren's CEO. Yeah, and the moment of the race for the Hungarian Grand Prix is the paragraph long radio message that Leclair sent to Ferrari, and I assume they said, too long didn't read. Yeah. Thank you for that bongers. Next up we've got ozone Jedi.

Hello, it is the ozone Jedi from Mexico. And my moment of the race is crofty, talking crap and acknowledging it. I'm talking crap people, sorry. Keep breaking late. What? I'm so confused. What's going on? Also, can you start your messages with

as if you're betting off a lightsaber, please? Next up is Tim. Hi, boy, this moment of the race was Lando's 1.9 second pit stop. Fastest pit stop we've seen probably since the tyres got bigger and since the pitstops got slowed down. Gap at the end half a second, that definitely won in the race. Wow, an actual serious and good talking point there. Well done to you.

sir, that was a great pit stop. We don't get a lot of Craig, but that 1.9 on those ties is mad. It's a good show, but Piastri's 1.9 as well, I think. I think they did two pit stops under two seconds. Damn, 1.9 got hands. Yeah. McLaren got hands.

This is really quick ones. Next up is Chloe, who I believe is a first-time submitter. My moment of the race has got Landau win. I know everyone seems to hate him, but I love the guy. And those last five laps were mega. keep breaking late they um they went through a moment of the race where they suddenly pan to all of the

girlfriends of the drivers and um for all you lando girlies or boys uh yep big bang over there they finally confirmed that that is lando's girlfriend so the rumors can get to bed there they good bit of gossip if one gossip on the show i was on the edge of my seat as well i just didn't know which way it was going to go i bet you're gutted but he's taken uh you know these things don't last forever, do they? No soft launch here for Philando. Soft. Next up is Clary Berry, who is another first-time submitter.

Hey, late breakers, first-time submission here. My moment of the race is George Russell, aka the burglar, spawning out of nowhere, into P3. I just got a spawn point. That's really good. Respaunted to P3. Well, don't, George. Thank you for that.

Lance is next. Benjamin Rahim Hawking, Samuel Rayshan Sage, and Elijah Harold Ede. It is I, better than stroll, my moment of the race. Moment of the race is

Alonzo just going slow, backing up the pack to then proceed to be faster than the leaders as soon as he got a chance to. Typical Fernando. So subscribe to the Patreon. It's good to be recognized by my brother.

Thank you for that, Lance. Next up is Tom. This is a third first time in this episode, so thank you, Tom. Hey, first time, long time. My moment of the race was when the race stewards couldn't decide which Sabre actually did a false start. Yeah, that is bad, isn't it? That is quite bad.

And only because they showed the replays and they were like, oh, hang on a second. Lassano, right? Brundle's like, oh, it doesn't move. Nothing happens. They weren't alongside each other either. They were 12 spots between them on the grid.

And then Holkenberg barely moved anyway. Yeah, I mean, it was, that felt harsh, but anyway. Last but not least, oh God, it's Cool Hand Luca. Hey, lay breaking lads, it's cool hand, Luca. My moment of the race was when Landonor has proved once and for all. that a one-stop strategy always works, no matter the track or the weather conditions, these stupid tires will never die.

Maybe my boy, Oscar, will get a one-stop strategy one of these days. Oof. Size large. And that's it. On the Discord stuff, I just want to do a special shout-out to Dude Rainbow,

who is in our Discord every day. And every time someone joins, that man is there welcoming them. Like, you're not when you drive into a new town. It's like, welcome to Patriot City. He is there. welcoming everyone. So we love that. We love that energy. So thank you to you for your extra special Discord energy. Big up, Fat Tony. Speaking of Patreon City, Sam, how was it your, how was your time

serving beer on a, on a swan boat? Honestly. Is it good? The leg's got a little tired being on there for a whole week on those little like pegalows going around. And it's hot, I don't know how I kept the beer supplied in the middle of a lake. But we managed, we managed, a lot of drunk swans out there in hatred sitting. This is easily the most one minute, one hour, 15 minutes into an episode chat ever. Like, it's just, yeah, this doesn't have for 20 minutes in folks. You're a proper fan if you're listening to this. Yeah, you've made it to the real, the real fan bit. Thanks for all these submissions, at least in terms of race previews and race reviews, it'll of course be a few weeks until we need to hear from you next as we go into the summer

break. Sam, does that mean that we stop our episodes? We will be back midweek for lots of F1 shit chat. We're not going anywhere throughout that summer break. So every Wednesday, every Sunday, you'll still be getting a standard episode. Thanks for listening. We appreciate all your love, all your support and listening to our have. You've done a great month last month, our best month ever. So thank you to everyone that tuned in. If you want to be a part of Discord, it's free. It's just a chat app where you get involved and talk to over 3,000 late-breaking listeners about Formula One and other things. So get down there.

Thanks below. Click free to join. Just downloading up on your phone. If you're all joined Patreon and you want more content, especially now as the summer break, and you heard about special episode two that the boys just did. Well, Corey,

you can go on make sure you hear that one. Check it out. It's really, really affordable for what you get for a month. You get a classic history episode, two bonus episodes, beer with breaking, a birthday shout-out.

You get extra discounts on things like tickets, early access, whatever you might have. Check it out. You can always say, no, after a month. It's done. It costs like 10 quid,

and that's it done at the top. level. So we appreciate everyone that supports down there as well. Follow us on social media late breaking F1. Oh, oh, social media platforms. Yes, that doesn't include Facebook. Thanks for listening. Can't wait to chat to you in the summer break. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage.

I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.