The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Italian GP Race Review

Episode Date: September 7, 2025

The LB boys break down the fastest race in F1 history (have you heard?!), where Max delivered a Monza masterclass and McLaren... well, not so much. They dive into all the action up and down the grid, from Ferrari’s home performance to some questionable calls from the stewards... >>> 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 the Italian Grand Prix won from Paul by Max Verstappen, his first victory since Imola. Loves Italy. Loves Italy, does Max Verstappen. joined on the podium by both McLaren drivers,

Lando Norris in second, Oscar Piastri in third. So McLaren's first non-win in a little while. Sam, we're all calm. Yes, there definitely won't be any loud reactions on the show. We definitely will be calm about all events that took place. And I promise you there will be no controversy discussed. I only kidding, it's the late breaking up on podcast.

Harry, I'm sure you enjoyed every moment of that Grand Prix. Famously, you love Monza. So this must have going to be heaven for you. And yes, and I'm so pleased and happy that we have now had the fastest ever F1Bridge. That is what he cares about. I didn't have the round of applause lined up on the soundboard. I'm sorry. Sorry, mate.

Yeah. That's all right. Don't worry about it. I don't care. First thing out of his mouth, folks, we talk before we record. Harry, I do not care that this is the shortest grocery of all time. Who cares? Not talking about it. Good.

We'll get to the battle in the top three. We've got Ferrari, fourth and sixth to discuss. So many incidents, so many penalties that we'll be giving our thoughts on. Driver of the day, worst driver of the day. Big brain strat, not big brain strat, as I called it on yesterday's review. And moment of the race is coming up later on as well. But we'll start out front as we always do with the race winner. Max Verstappen taking the win from pole position.

Had to work a little bit on the first couple of laps in order to dispatch of Lando Norris, but from there on out, seemingly a pretty comfortable victory just short of 20 seconds separating Vastappen and Norris at Flagg. Sam, how impressed were you with Vastappen a return to victory for him after a little while? Seemed to be pretty elated about it after the Grand Prix, not something that we saw routinely when he was winning routinely

a couple of years ago. how impressed were you with what he did? Yeah, I think I saw someone call it a Max de class, which I'm not sure if that's something I can get on board. That's the end of the show. Thank you, everyone. I have to deal with. Yeah, I mean, what a drive.

The Italian double for Max this season. He goes from winning Monza, an incredibly downforce, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Imola, incredibly downforce heavy racetrack, almost the opposite of Monza, which is pure straight-line speed, heavy braking through those tight corners

that we saw in Monta-Sagay. And what's a performance. was, gives the position back to Landon Norris right at the start. And I think rightly so, it got a little bit hairy into turn one, which it often does in Mons. And we love that, we love that corner for the drama that gets supplies. But once he kind of let Norris back through, the hunt was immediately on. And the way he turned it back on, the way he went from going from being, yeah, fine, bit grumpy about it.

I'll let him pass to, okay, I'm coming back through now. The move was sublime, gets it done nice and easy, being able to tussle with Landon Norris, you're thinking, here we go. we have one of those races on our hands, one of those days where we're going to see it go back and forth, back and forth. Ben's got bold predictions definitely going to come through and it's going to be a generational day for Formula One and Max Verstappen just kind of wiggles that finger.

You just ran away. The guy just rang away. There was no need at any point for him to worry, for Red Bull to worry. Lauren Meckis, of course, gets his first victory at the helm of Red Bull. And what a sublime victory it was. It never looked in doubt. Once the staff had gone out in front, the management of the gap was eccentric, just head down, pushing the whole way through.

The tyres were starting to grain, starting to tear. We saw the blisters. I just didn't stop him, didn't phase him. He just kept ongoing, built that pit stop gap. And then once we got to the end of this Grand Prix to be nearly 20 seconds clear, the McLaren's after the dominance that they've displayed, the biggest winning margin of the entire season. Tells you a lot.

What a butt to the trend that we've seen so far this season. an absolute incredible performance from Max Verstappen. Once again, you're wrung out of superlatives to describe just how good Max Verstappen really is when he gets to the car running into. Harry, I'm mistaken. I thought the year was 2025, but apparently it's 2023. I know, it's good to be back, everyone. Just never give him a sniff.

Never give him a sniff of an opportunity to win a race because Max Verstappen will seize it. And as you said, Sam, just run away. just ran so far away. And it was obvious from, well, I think from practice, but then I think qualified yesterday, that first running Q3, and they cut to GP on the pit bull and I was like, oh boy.

This is barrage all over again, free season testing. You try to not look smug because he knows what's coming. Yeah, this was, to my point, never give him a sniff, but if you do give him a sniff of a win, Vestappen is going to deliver on it as he did today. And even with the Rgy Bargey at the start of the race, it didn't phase him. And he eventually got the move done to get back past Norris.

And then, yeah, just disappeared off into the distance, which has not happened that many times this year. But, yeah, that was massively dominant from Vastappen, I think, very well managed. He was clearly great. on his tires. I mean, everyone was great on the tires because you could just run the same tire for about a year around here for some reason today.

But yeah, he managed that very well. I think they were very calm. And once he'd made his pit stop, there was obviously the risk of a safety car. But he closed down that safety car window to the McLaren's in front. It was done. It was all but done. So, yeah, superb, superb drive by a, by, of Vastappen. Yeah, this was very much a reminder of 2023 where we didn't see Vastappen a great deal in

this Grand Prix because he was so comfortably clear of the rest of the field. And I appreciate there is the point of these tyres and how seemingly this weekend, I think they just painted the tyres wrong and all of them were the medium tire. The soft, medium and hard tires seemed to be able to go as long as each other. And all of them were able to go well into this Grand Prix. We had multiple cars pitting with a lap or two laps to go. The Stappan didn't go that far, but he was setting purple sectors on what I think was lap 36 on his hard tires, on his medium tires, excuse me. So you know, even so, that was impressive the way in which he was able to not only extend the lead, but know how much he could extend the lead, but still keep those tires alive. To the point where

strategically, you don't want to be in an undercut window. You want to negate that 2V1 advance. that McLaren technically had, and he had the gap to do so. There was just, there was no fear at all. I was a bit surprised when he came in for his one and only pit stop, because he came in earlier than both McLaren's. And it's like, why not just wait for both of them to stop? You're not in an undercut window at all. But that's how unwarried they were by what McLaren were doing today. McLaren shouldn't be overly worried about this because they've been dominant at so many other circuits and going into this weekend in our preview, we said it's unlikely to go that way this weekend. It's possible that either Mercedes, maybe Ferrari or Vestappen could mount a challenge.

It ended up being Vastappen. But he, as you rightly said, Harry, you can't give him a sniff, because as soon as you do, he takes advantage of it. Yes, there was something he had to navigate in the first couple of laps, but as soon as he re-overtook Norris, bye-bye, he was off. There was no no doubt about the result whatsoever. It does come back to my annoyance that Red Bull haven't developed a slightly better car because we'll get onto McLaren in a little bit, but these games that McLaren are playing,

they wouldn't be able to play them if Fostappan was just a little bit closer. He's not, and that's on Red Bull, but at least today, excellent performance. I thought games are meant to be fun then. What sort of game they're playing? pure torture for everyone else involved. Maybe so.

A quick mention, Sam, on the first lap incident, you said that it was right for Vastappen to give that place back. Why is that your understanding of the situation? Realistically, I think Norris has the inside. They go into the corner wheel to wheel side by side, and it allows him to get a lasting advantage. Because of the way the corner sits out, I understand that he's putting a gating and he contact.

I think that's sensible. It makes sense that, you know, it's like one turn when you don't. or take your front wing off or pick up a puncture or, you know, destroy your suspension like Fernando. I also dig on the exit of Ascari, poor Fernando. But I do think that, you know, by taking the exit road off the racetrack, wasn't really the exit right, he cut the chican. And I mean, immediately giving the place back,

whilst I feel like he was trying to get away with it. And hey, that's what every great racing driver does. They try and get away with it. It was right to know that he had the speed. He didn't need to risk it. They were in their side by side. And even if he gained a whiff of an advantage, you give that place back. you take it back again.

It cost him nothing in the long run of this race. Red Bull were very confident in their ability as they should have been, and it led to no difference in the results. So for me, this was the safe and sensible option from Red Bull to ensure that they got the result they needed without any bizarre penalties. We'll get onto the stewards, but they're on a mag one today.

So you can never go how that could have gone. They did the right thing by swapping that place back and then winging it back. So, yeah, it's just because it was so close, wheel to wheel between the two protagonists of this race at the front. I'm going to force Harry not saying, on the fence here because I'm going to give him the deciding vote here. I actually think he was right to give the place back because I do agree. I think it was just the safer option in a race where he had, I think, a car that was capable of winning. But in terms of the incident itself, I don't put it on

Vastappan. Like, it's very similar to the one that we had at Saudi Arabia where Vestappan was penalized. That was against Piastri, but he kept the lead on the outside. Norris gives him no room on the outside. And I just hate the way that they go racing at the moment. Like, why are we just enabling this? Now, McLaren will claim Vestappen was not making that corner anyway. Leave him the room and then he can prove that he isn't going to make the corner. Then you penalise him. Like, it's just so straightforward, I think. If you leave that gap and Vastappen still can't make that corner, he has to give it back immediately. But whilst Norris is running him off the road, I'd just like to see

you put him out there deal with it is the way that I would go racing but Harry I'll give you the deciding vote on it I was the same as you Ben I think it was the safest the safe option to do and you know given the pace that they obviously had why wouldn't you do that

it was so early on in the race so it was the right call from Red Bull but yeah I don't I don't buy that this to happen was in the wrong to be honest yeah He was given no room. I do think the irony being that Vastappen came on the radio was like he just opened up the steering and the brakes

and ran me off the road. I was like, Max, mate. Oh, there's a lot of I. Huge amount of I. So in this scenario, you are correct. That is what has happened. So I don't think he was in the wrong at all. But yeah, funny, funny nonetheless.

But yeah, I agree. It was a right call to do there and then. Had it been later on the race and they'd done pit stops, etc. You might say, well, probably worth just taking the hit and the five seconds or whatever they're going to give you. But at that point in the race, I think it was the sensible call to swap back. Okay, we can't leave it any longer. Sam is practically frothing at the mouth.

He's almost out of his seat because we need to get on to the McLaren discussion. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, they both pit later than Max Verstappen. It's Lando Norris in the lead, Oscar Piastri in second. After a discussion on team radio, it's decided that Piastri in Texas, second will stop first for new soft tires. Lando Norris comes in the lap after. Piastri's stop, pretty much perfect. 1.9 seconds. Lando Norris's stop, not perfect. About four seconds slower, a problem with the left front leads to Piastri getting an unintended undercut. Piastri is then asked over Team Radio, can you switch the positions? Piastri not entirely happy

about that, but does agree to do so, meaning they finish second and third, not. I guess there's a couple of different angles here. There's the decision to pit them that way around in the first place. There's the call from McLaren to make the switch and then there's Piastri's decision to actually agree with it and go along with it. What did you make of all of it? I hated every second of that interaction. It made me feel sick. This is not what I want from title rivals. This is not what I want from our championship fight. This is not how Formula One should be played out. We were saying before we came on air,

bring me back Hamilton and Rosberg throwing cats at each other's faces. Bring me back, Catalonia, where they throw each other into the wall. I'm all about, you know, doing it for the team. The team are winning the championship next race. You're going to be champions in Baku.

So stop being nice and nice and holding each other's hands, throw each other off the bloody racetrack to win a championship. It's your dream. It is your lifelong dream to do this. And what are you doing? Oh, I want to make sure he gets the undercut on Lecler and he's a beaten bite. Why? Why, Norris? Why are you bothered? Let him lose points to LeCleur. Let him fight with LeCleur might have a crush. You'll be back in the championship fight. Why are you doing that in the first place? If you arguably just stop first, you're probably about the wheelgun problem. You'd be off down the road. No issue whatsoever. Piaastri gets that shout because you've so graciously given it to him, your title rival. You're now 34 points behind. Why, I don't know. But then Piastri gets the perfect pit stop.

It's four seconds clear of Lecler, proving that there was no threat whatsoever. And then McLaren screw you over. The wheelgun doesn't work. You lose out. Piastri goes through. Is that Piastri's fault? No.

You let him have to stop. McLaren are the ones with the bad will gun. Oh, can we swap, please? Please, can we swap? I'm really, oh, I'm really sad. Does it do you? Shut up. Shut up, stupid sport.

You should be trying to attack him. Get back over him. Make the overtake. Put a move on him. There's no right or wrong. What? Oh, can you move out of the way? No.

Stop it, farcical, stupid papaya rules. And why Piastri is allowing it to happen? You've just been given a freebie. See you later. Bye. Three more points for me. Championship dog for you. I can't believe it.

I cannot believe it. I got a message on Twitter. And fair enough, being like, please don't be hysterical about this. Do you know who I am? Thank goodness you stuck to that. This is a joke, an absolute joke. I hate this, McLaren. I hate it so much.

It was embarrassing. It's one of the worst calls of seeing a championship fight from a spectator's point of view. Piaastri is, I have some kind of saint for allowing Matt to come back through because it blows my mind that a championship rival will just let one come back through due to a team mistake that he had no parting. Absolute joke, that is. I was appalled watching it on the telly. Bit of a niche visual reference,

but when they were talking about the possibility, the threat of Lecler, which was an absolute tractor through the corners, by the way, that Ferrari, it was a bit like, do you know the LeBron James gift, the one where he's on the call? Like, oh, yeah,

Lecler is fourth in a Ferrari, like terrifying. Barry. Right, so Sam's verdict was inconclusive. Harry, what about yours? This championship rival we got is like ordering a house and Roswell

you can't call it rivalry it has it doesn't deserve it I mean there isn't one it's pathetic there's just all of them

are so stupid why you're so stupid for a championship winning team it hurts my soul all of you Norris to begin with why are you making that

cool why are you even offering that up do you not want to win this championship why would you not have the better strategy here

and pit first you are in front of Piastri, you get to call it. Say LeCler is a threat, which he's not, because as you say, Ben, the Ferrari in a corner was attracted. Every time I went in trying to kill the Clare. Awful. But, yeah, even if he was under threat, which he wasn't, why would Norris not want that?

Why would you not want Piastri to potentially lose a spot and gain more points on him? It's like you said, Sam, it's like this all too nice. and I hate it. I hate it so much. I just, the point being, what precedent they've set now?

Because what happens if this happens at another race, but it's the way around, and Piastri has a slow stop, and there are other people in the way. I don't know. Where do you go from here? And if you're Piastri, it might come back to bite him.

You might get to Abu Dhabi, and he'll go, and I really wish I had those extra few points I gave up in Monza. it's frustrating to watch as a fan. You know, McLaren had been so dominant, and I think the one thing we've always said about Mercedes when they were dominant in the start of the hybrid era,

what we credited them with and Toto Wolf and Nicke Laudeau with, they let their driver's race. There's not hope in hell that Lewis Hamilton and Nica Rosson. The drivers won't let the drivers race here. The drivers won't let themselves race. It's abysmal. It's amazing to watch that. And another example.

Imagine GP coming over the radio to Max Rastappen and saying you need to let him back pass because there's been a problem in the pit stop. Max would have told him to shove it. I can't say what he would say because it would have to be bleached. But yeah, it just, they're so far out in front. It's almost like they've forgotten they're fighting a world championship, as in the two drivers this is.

And they're just fighting the team game. It's quite a weird it's quite a weird mentality they've managed to instill here where the team comes first above anything. I don't know what Zach Brown's threatening them with if they don't oblige by these rules.

Like, he's got people hostage? I don't know. Not and blink twice. Lando and Oscar if you're in danger because I can't think of anything else otherwise. Why are you being so nice? You're fighting for a championship, you're morons.

Yeah. It's funny you bring up for Stappan and what he's. his reaction would have been because we did hear from Vestappen what he thought of the incident. But it just reminds me of the Brazilian GP a couple of years ago when he wouldn't give Perez, what was it, like sixth place, when he'd already won the championship. It's just so contrasting. The phrase I think it was, don't ever ask me to do that again.

Yeah, right? Right. Yeah, you're punks. I wish I could come on here and give the alternate view because I know there are going to be people on both sides of the fence here, but I can't. I'm with you both. Like, it's just so stupid. And if the Constructors' Championship position was different,

I could understand it. Like, if they were locked in a fight with Ferrari or Red Bull like they were last year, okay, I get it. They're not. They are so far clear. It's done. I know mathematically it's not done, but it's done. To the point where these drivers,

they should just be able to go out 100% for themselves at this point. and you're right, Norris shouldn't care that Piastri, well, actually, he should care that Piastri could lose a position to Leclair, but care the other way around in that he doesn't want to help him get that spot. He should be doing what he could to make him lose that spot because he's got an over 30 point deficit in this championship and today hasn't made much of a dent, three points. That's it. Piastri, even with making that switch, hasn't lost a great deal today. And there was the potential maybe to lose more than that. I'm a little bit annoyed at Piastri for letting it happen.

I'm a bit annoyed. I'm maybe even a little bit more annoyed at Lando Norris for suggesting it. I think I'm still most annoyed at McLaren and the fact that they would, it's this wishy-washy over team radio, we're going to do this. Well, how about this? Well, yeah, okay, then yeah, we'll do that instead. No, like say what you're going to do. stand up for you.

This is why we're doing what we want to do. You are our driver. comply with it. Like, we're the ones on the pit wall with all the information, all the data. We're making this call for a reason. Stick by it. There's so much team communication that I think goes wrong for McLaren. And I agree, I think, Harry, you mentioned this a few minutes ago.

I agree with it entirely. It's a good thing that McLaren aren't, it's a good thing McLaren have a rocket ship of a car. because if they were in a direct championship battle this year, some of these things would potentially cost them. But as it happens, they're able to sail off into the distance. Yeah, I appreciate, again, I appreciate there are going to be others out there that hold the view that Piastri did the right thing here. That's absolutely fine.

But I just think the Constructed Championship's over. Let's focus on the drivers now. If you're going to, like, this is an extreme view here, but if like that's how you're going to manage this championship, You should have told Piastri to pull over when Norris broke down in the airport. Yeah, no points for either car today. Yeah, yeah. Well, none of you are getting them then.

It's not fair. It's not fair, is it? So neither team. Either side gets points, actually. I'm annoyed you've said that, Harry, because if they're listening, they'll probably do that now. They're so easily swayed, they'll probably do it. We won't put Piastri out for Baku, actually. It's only fair.

Yeah, just don't run in that. He won the race last year. so we'll give someone else a turn this year. The Twitter reaction was insane. I don't know if you guys are watching it, but yeah, they've shot themselves at the foot there with a bit of public opinion.

I just saw one and there are so many, but someone said, Piaastri literally gave up on his position because his rival had a slow pit stop. Max Verstappen tried to kill Lewis Hamilton here in 2021. The difference. The mentality, the difference. Is he not true?

He didn't try to do that, but point proven. Well, that's our verdict on the podium finishes in this Grand Prix. Naturally, a lot of time for what happened at McLaren there, but we've got plenty more to discuss after this short break, including Ferrari. This podcast might be longer than the shortest race of all time at this, right? I think it probably will be.

Have you heard about the shortest race of all time? Yeah. Oh, God. As well, the fastest qualifying lap of all time as well, that's great. Have you heard about that? Yeah, yeah. I heard all about it when we weren't calling Vestap and going across the line. It was great.

Oh yeah, man, just half of one. Good. Welcome back, everyone. We focused on the top three, which notably did not have a Ferrari in it. Fourth and sixth place for LeCler and Hamilton, respectively. At least LeCler did hold P3 for what felt like two minutes before that Ferrari decided,

whilst it was quick in a straight line and could therefore defend against George Russell, it was nowhere near quick enough through the corners to keep up with the top three. Harry, should they be content with what is a pretty solid result after the disappointment of Zamvort or Home Grand Prix, no podium? Is that a tough result? I think they probably were hoping or expecting a podium here at least, especially after the promise of Friday. They looked pretty quick, but obviously the route they went down was the ultimate one-lap pace by having a very skinny rear wing.

which in the end didn't really help them that much in quality anyway. So I wouldn't say it was worth it. But it made their race car, it made their race car not good. As he said, it tried to kill LeCler in every corner, especially when he was defending early on. Like he was having a hard job to keeping that car on track when he had Piastri behind. I mean, it's a double points finish. So there is that.

But I think Ferrari will be disappointed. I think, you know, it's the home GP is a lot of, a pressure there. They obviously won it last year. Lecler started in exactly the same spot as well, but I think it was so clear early on that he did not have the same car underneath him that he did here. He did here last year

that it was going to be a tough day. So yeah, double points, but not the greatest, the greatest day at the office. Also, I think Hamlet did a good job to recover from where he was. And I'm not sure he could have done much more given the pace and the performance of that car.

So relatively given recovery from Hamilton as well. So an average day at the Ferrari office. Painfully, yeah, painfully average. Sam, what was your verdict on Ferrari? You have to ask the question. If Max Verstappen is able to have the races that he's gone through previously being so far away from McLaren, then one of those Ferraris in theory

could have been able to produce the same result as what, that Red Bull was able to produce, at least slot into the gap between, you know, the 19-second gulf of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in second place. Surely, surely the Ferrari was able to come up with something to put one of their cars, especially LeCler, who looked mighty, feisty at the start of this Grand Prix. I loved how elbows out he was.

I loved how aggressive he was. He really tried to seize the day in the first few laps. And the battle he put up against Piastri was sensational. You know, he had to produce a brilliant re-overtake from Piastri. to go around the outside of him through the Lesmos. Great move. Really enjoyed watching that. And I thought for a little while he was going to hang on

until it became incredibly apparent that, as you both mentioned, that Ferrari was set up essentially to run the world's longest straight line and any corners were going to topple any hopes of a poidian performance. Thought Lewis Hamilton maybe had one of his best performances, if not his best Ferrari performance,

like a feature-length race. Of course, he's done Ben-Ring Springs. But do a really good job at getting himself through some quite quick cars. we saw with that Ferrari being so tricky through the corners. I think he delivered a really solid Grand Prix. Not spectacular. I think there was room of the cards for him to beat Russell.

He got closing up a number of times that you saw with the gap that Claire was able to pull over Russell, that maybe Hamilton could have got past him. We'll have been tricky, but I think it was possible. But a good Grand Prix overall for Lewis to recover to basically where he started before the penalty. It's the Clarily set up that was so frustrating. I do think there was something in that car that meant that when McLaren were having this weakness of playing their silly, silly games, one of those cars could have stuck it into P2 overall in this Grand Prix.

So they'll be disappointed that there's no podium with this home Grand Prix, but it is just standing running for Ferrari. I don't know what the point in this race was. It was very early on when it was like, oh, okay, Ferrari, they haven't got it. And LeClaire was like, LeClaire had dropped back to like three seconds behind Piastri after the move had happened for the second time. And it was like, oh, okay.

Yeah, I see what kind of an afternoon we're in for Ferrari, in which case they probably got about as much out of this weekend as they could have done. It's just frustrating that that was as much as they could get out of this weekend based on what they did last year as well, with Lecler starting in the same position, but obviously mounting a challenge for the race win. 25 seconds behind Vastappen was Lecler at the flag, which given strategically they were pretty similar. That's a tough one to take because there have been plenty of races this year. We're Red Bull haven't been on it. And Ferrari, even the mites of Ferrari have been able to beat Red Bull.

So to see a difference of 25 seconds between Verstapplin and Lecler will definitely frustrate for Ferrari. With McLaren, I think the time gap is maybe a bit more difficult to judge just because Piastrian Norris were very clearly goal hanging for a safety car and seeing what they could do differently to Vestappen. They didn't have the ultimate strategy for speed today, did either McLaren. And the fact that they went so long on that first stint to then pit quite late on for softs. I'm pretty sure if they had gone for the optimal strategy, if they'd pit when Vestappen pit,

they'd have been quite comfortably ahead of Lecler as well. So pace-wise, disappointing. It's never great when you go all out for one lap pace, and then that's only good enough for fourth and fifth. And maybe Ferrari knew after fourth and fifth in qualifying, what a tricky afternoon they were going to be in for. sixth place for Hamilton, I thought, as you've both said, I think it was pretty solid. I think he got the job done, which sounds a bit negative, but he got everything done he needed to get done, which was dispatch of the cars ahead of him that were going to be marginally slower than the Ferrari.

He did that pretty easily, and I thought pretty clinically. And then as soon as that job was done, it was a case of, is there any way I can get past George Russell? And he put the pressure on. He was right there with Russell and LeCleckle. for most of that race. So I think his pace was good, just not exceptional enough

to make any further gains from where he was. What about Mercedes, Harry? George Russell, in between the two Ferraris in fifth place, Antonelli, a bit further down in the points, not helped also by a five-second penalty for driving erratically, as said by the stewards. Thoughts on what Russell was able to do,

and a Mercedes in a position here, particularly versus Ferrari, where they are missing someone in that fight? I thought Russell did a pretty solid job all race, to be honest. That car was not set up in the opposite way to Ferrari. It was not set up for straight line speed. It had a bit more downfalls for the corners, which I think probably made it overall a faster race car, but it couldn't ever get past anyone ever,

which made it a tough day for him, because I think probably he could have been P4, but it just never worked out, never worked out that way. But yeah, overall, I think it was a good race. I think you're right, they're probably in that scenario where they had Lickler and Hamilton sandwiching Russell. They were missing Antonelli, who, again, just, watching him every time, it's just eventful.

Like, I'm exhausted watching Antonelli, because it's just always something happening. he obviously he did pick up point a point points in the end two points after the five second point nine points which you know is a is better than no points obviously um but yeah again just an event for race when he just needs maybe slightly slightly quiet to one obviously the pace he was sort of starting further back so hard for him to have him to catch up into into that Ferrari battle and to begin with so yeah it's something Mercedes would would want I'm not really sure, like today specifically, that it would have added, but certainly moving forward,

they're going to want that. So again, like Ferrari, kind of an OK average day at the office for Mercedes, too. Sam, what did you make of Mercedes? We've kind of got the solid performance of George Russell where he's finished, where he qualified. Antonelli was there alongside him on that third row of the grid to start this race. Pretty costly first lap. Shocker of a start from Anthony. It's got the first time we've seen this from Kimmy as well.

It is starting to cost them. I think we were unanimous in saying a few episodes ago that through this latter stage of the season, Mercedes are pretty likely to actually catch Ferrari as they start to understand their car further and they've made changes to their upgrade package to make him the answer to make him feel more comfortable. Now, whilst that definitely ran true

and his qualifying, being right there against to Russell, I think that was really positive that he was able to be there right against to Russell, you make scoring points in qualifying. And having a start that is that poor, that meant he just had to try and climb through a really tricky, tumultuous top end of that grid there. And he was never getting a challenge, especially when Hamilton and LeClau, we're doing all that they could in that Ferrari, I think.

Russell really solid again, so much so that my voice broke saying that. It's a really fantastic testament to how good Russell is that that car looked like it couldn't get past anyone without having to throw it down the inside. He's stuck right there with LeCler for most of the Grand Prix. They put him into a tricky position who tried to box early to get to an undercar, car and he made good work, light work of the likes of Stroll and Ocon, who he came up behind on the oldest size, yes, but even though the car was at fasting the straight line, got the job done. And he was putting pressure on the Ferraris because of that.

He was able to cut through faster than I expected. So Russell, once again, just showing why he's so good, it is Antingelli's seat that's costing them right now. And they're really fortunate that they're not playing for anything. It doesn't really matter if they finish third or fourth or second. They get more wind-tonged time, the lower down that they finish. so maybe that's a bonus for them, but they're going to need Kimmy Antingelli to come to terms with whatever rookie bugbear issues he's got right now, because if the ex-season they have got

a car that could compete, he's going to be way closer to the front of what he is right now. This felt like the first time in a while that we might have got a true representation between Russell and Antonelli, because Antonelli has had some qualifying woes as of late and various reasons, some DNFs in there as well, various reasons why drawing a comparison between Russell and Antonelli has been quite difficult. Here it felt like starting on the same row of the grid, a circuit like Monza, if they get an OK start and they're still fifth and sixth,

we can actually see, can Antonelli keep pace with Russell? And if so, by how much? If he's going to drop back, by how much? But that poor start has just cost us that comparison point again. And Antonelli had to spend far too many laps trying to get back to where he was. Now, of course, he got the five second penalty in there as well

for what we believe was his racing etiquette versus Alex Albon. So disappointing for Mercedes and Antonelli that they're walking away here with 12 points, whereas Ferrari are walking away with 20. You're right, Sam, it's not one where it's going to be pivotal for a championship this season. George Russell, again, has just done exactly what George Russell seems to do and has been doing all year long, which is making the most out of whatever Mercedes give him. It's just frustrating from his side that only once or twice this season, well, once this season, Canada, it's actually been enough to properly fight for a win. And on too many occasions, it's been good enough to fight for fifth place, which is what he's got today.

Shall we give out our driver of the day? The verdict is in. You're the driver of the day. You're the driver of the day. You're good at driving. Sam, you've got the honours. Lovely. I've got three games, but as I'm first, I shan't reel them off. I'm sure maybe you'll pick them up.

I'm going to go for the easy one. The guy that was 19 seconds clearing the car that wasn't the favourite. Max Verstappen is my driver of the day. A sensational performance, and it was good to see him back at his very best. So good to see Max drive when he's got a car that is worthy of his fantastic talent. A brilliant performance.

Harry? Max Verstappen. He's quite good at the F1. There is. Yeah, 19 seconds, as Sam said, that is a dominant win in a car. It's just not for the dominant car this year. So highly impressive. I know it's the obvious one, but don't care.

He's really good. He is pretty good. Some contenders in the midfield as well, I fought, including, and I was tempted to give it to him, Fernando Alonzo, who was only there for half the race, but he was brilliant for that half of the race. And I just want to make sure he gets his flowers, and I'm sure someone out there will be annoyed that I've done that.

But it'll get even more attention. That pit entry, big. That pit entry behind Borderless. It's so Alonzo, isn't it? So good. It's so Alonzo. Lesson number three for the year for Alonzo and his master class. Don't leave a meter to play with.

I'm still not convinced that Aston Martin was quicker than maybe the eighth fastest car this weekend. I just don't think it was suited for this track. And the fact that he was probably on course for eighth place, I think, if not for that suspension failure, I thought he had a great Grand Prix. But I am going to make it three Max Verstappen shouts. So, yeah, Verstappen gets by Driver of the Day. My other two were Hajjar and Album.

An album was definitely in the fight, for sure. Let's go to Worst Driver of the Day. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Worst driver of the day. You suck at driving. Harry, who have you got? Call off signs.

Terrible day. The stewards disagree with you. I can't wait to get on to that. On everything. Yeah, it was just a messy, messy day. And, I mean, to be fair, you only got a reprimand for not doing the chican. How does that work? What's the point in that if you're not?

Anyway, we're going to stewards. We had just a messy day all around that ended. with no points for him and his teammate getting points instead. Yeah, I had Carlos signs in the mix for sure, and he is a very dominant 19th place, if I'm looking at my driver ratings, but there's one driver I'm, who's just pipped him for me,

and that's Yuki Sanoda. Oh, when your team... What are you talking about? That's tough to watch. I was not going. The fact that he was struggling throughout most of the first stint to stay within DRS of the cars in front when he's battling with, his teammate won this race by 20 seconds. And I know we've seen it before.

This is a repeated story of Verstappen suiting that car where others don't. But this felt like an opportunity. He had a solid starting position to actually gain some solid points. But he spent most of the second half of this race battling against Liam Lawson, who had much older tires, whereas the likes of Bortoletto and Behrman had got by Lawson and was shooting off into the distance and Sunoda is still there battling Lawson.

This might have been his worst race of the season. I thought it was really bad. Sam? You've picked the two that I would have gone for. The thing about you, He's and Ongova, I think his fastest lap was the second slowest lap recording in terms of fastest laps of all 20 drivers, well, not Holgerberg, obviously, Rip.

I don't know. That formation lap might have actually, might have clenched it, I don't know. I think only Behrman in the Haas had a slower, fastest lap, the Nuki-Singoda. So that's pretty rough. I'm going for science, though. Screw the skewers on this one. We'll get into that in a minute, but you get to cut the chican so audaciously that even

Martin Brund was like, why doesn't everyone just do it again two seconds? It just take a reprimand. Just do it. Why not? There's no rules. Yeah, sorry, mate. You can't describe it to people acting like they're not there. You had such a go last time out in Netherlands, because

Lawson was hitting you on the outside and you do that to bearman. Yes, stinker. Both of them got great. Nine to 13 from Sanooga, shocker. But for me, when you start front of your teammate and your teammate ends up in seventh and you end up outside the points, not good. Big brain strat. Sam, what have you got? McLaren debacle from earlier. I'm not going on them again, but that was just farcical. How are your big brain stratat?

Charles LeClair pitting for hard tires than him questioning it afterwards and Ferrari clearly not having an answer and just say we'll discuss it later because you don't know why you've done this. They were scrambling in the last part of this race to come up with reasons as to why they did it so they can explain it afterwards.

What do we say? What do we say? We lost the tyres. Passing notes of one pit will comparing like, oh yeah, that's a good reason. That's a good reason. They don't realize they've left the radio on so Charlotte Claire can hear all of this.

You know what? It wasn't even shock him. You'd be like, yeah, here we go. My big brain strat just to offer up something different. It's just so funny at this point that Esteban Ocon isn't allowed to pit. It's just great. Ocon has a restraining order against the pit lane. He can either pit on lap one or the last lap and nothing in between.

Do you think has ever considered like a normal mid-race? No. No, can't be one. They did it with baremen and they're like, that's enough of that. It works once for them and now they're like we must put on lap 1 or 53. I appreciate the five second penalty essentially left him fighting for nothing, but it was just, it's just really funny. And with that, we will take our second break.

On the other side, we're getting into some of the more midfield battles, as well as reviewing our bold predictions. Welcome back, everyone. Let's focus on some of these midfield scraps. I'll tell you what, Sam. It feels like Alex Albin at Williams is intentional. getting knocked out in Q2 these days because he knows he'll gain like seven positions in the race and come home with solid points. What did you make of his day? I think he just finds it so easy.

He's got to play on hard mode. I think that's what he's doing. He might be the most underrated driver in Formula One right now. Genuinely, we gave him a lot of stick at the start of the year, a lot of all, can he cope with Sikes? Is he going to be able to deal with Carlos Sikes? Will Sikes make it his team? He's going to, Sites. Sight Schmites. This is Alex Albon's team. Got him. So on him. A bag of chips there. Anyway, yeah, this was such a brilliant drive from Alex's album.

He got caught up behind his team mate, and we heard the protest from Carlos who were like, oh, guys, please, this is in the right call. I don't want to let him go. And the album just drives off into the sunset, drops him out of the IRS so quickly. Such a clean and well-executed Grand Prix starting on the hard tire. It did brilliantly. We got onto the medium tire to perform the overcut,

which is great strategically from Williams to getting a man. out in front of that battle that was happening behind with the likes of the hearse drivers, with stroll, with Lawson, with his teammate. They just kept on driving. And they, of course, had to deal with the erratic Antingelli as we are, I haven't seen the footage. Have you guys seen it anywhere?

Is this the one where they're going through over grande, right? Yeah, is that what we're talking about? Okay. I didn't see another thing, but. All right. Five seconds for Antigeli. Gangster Place.

Albon has an absolute scorcher of a Grand Prix. Brilliant, brilliant performance for Alex Album. deserves his flowers, deserves his points, and I'm glad that he got another great result because he went through a bit of a tricky peering in that middle part of the season. I'm a bit surprised in the midfield that there weren't a couple more drivers

that tried this Alex Albin strategy because it worked really well for Albin and Albin deserves a lot of credit because he made it work. I am surprised there aren't one or two more, whether it's, you know, Behrman, whether it's Sonoda, who also tried this,

because the way in which this race unfolded is quite common for an Italian GP, where you kind of get the top six or so go off into the distance. And then you get something of a DRS train from seventh, four, eighth back. And Albon essentially was happy to sit at the back of that train with his hard tires, knowing that, okay, at the beginning of this race, it's likely the medium's going to have a bit of an advantage. But later on, when we start to get some pit stops, I'm still going to be directly behind some of these guys on mediums, and I'm going to have better tires at that point in the race.

And that's what we had with him versus his teammate, right? As soon as some of the gaps started to, you know, appear a little bit more later in this race, those hard tires came into their own. And Alex Album, fair play to him, he really made it work. It's not the first time we've seen him do really well on tireware late into a Grand Prix. But even with that, he still needed to make this strategy work with a couple of overtakes on those medium tires towards the end. He got it done. Yeah, I know there was a little bit of difficulty with,

Antonelli, but also Antinelli's driving a Mercedes. So you'd expect something of a challenge there. And he got back to exactly where he should have been. His pace versus Hamilton, Russell, LeCourne, in front of him, wasn't that bad either. I think he might be a little bit annoyed about one-lap pace and that he wasn't a bit higher up to start this Grand Prix. But ultimately, it hasn't really mattered. I think he's got the maximum amount of this. Harry, your thoughts on Alex Albin and maybe give us a thought on the driver who finished behind him as well, Gabriel Bortoletto.

yeah I agree with you I think Albon album was very impressive today and I think turned around what was looking like what could have been a difficult weekend I think certainly on Friday didn't have the pace of signs but didn't let his head drop and obviously worked on it and has come away with points where signs didn't so yeah I'm with you Ben

I was a bit surprised not more didn't try that strategy some were just going like for the Ocon stroll Hail Mary strategy which didn't work at all but yeah well well executed from from alban I know he was was let past the team letting pass but I think it was it was pretty worth that cool um Bortoletto continues to

continues to impress um this album will look good this weekend but once again he out qualifies Holkneberg and now I know Holcomberg uh didn't even get chance to to rectify that in the race with the with the car issue but um yeah Bortoletto is is driving that car super well, super consistently at the moment as well. And yeah, once again brings him some more points for Salba.

He is taking the lessons from Alonzo seriously, I'm imagining. But yeah, there was a point where he had Alonzo behind him for quite a long time. Now, I'm a little bit convinced Alonzo was just sat there because his car's really stolen a straight line and just wanted DRS. But that's still pressure. You got two-time world champ right behind you for a number of laps. and it was only the pit stop the cost in that position to begin with. So, yeah, once again, more impressive driving from Bortoletto.

They've got a little star in their hands there, I think, Sal, but maybe unexpectedly, I don't know that's harsh to say, but perhaps he's impressing more than most thought. So, yeah, another good afternoon for those two. Yeah, I think from Bortoletto's perspective, it's, he took advantage of everything else that was happening around him, and the strategy that he was on, which he was one of the early stoppers, there wasn't that much of an advantage to that strategy.

You know, we saw with Alex Alburn and Isaac Hadjar, there could be real gains made by those going late on that first stint and then making their stop. The undercut or the early pit stop wasn't that great of a play here, but Bortoletto still made it work. Now, he's probably what would have happened with him versus Alonzo, we don't know. And that is definitely a learning moment for him,

fact that he didn't make the most out of that breaking zone, like Alonzo or Charles LeCler definitely did later in the race. There's time to be found there. But his overall, you know, his overall what he did on the racetrack was, was brilliant. And 19 points separating him and Holkenberg now. I know you can't let it go, can you? Yeah, Fortalato won't let me let it go. He keeps coming up with these performances and just that gap is shrinking.

There's a little part of me that hopes it gets sad to one point. That's how it stays. You know what? No, my like, yeah, that's pretty how it will go. But he was exceptional. Sure, that car was better than it was at Zamvort, but he really took advantage of that. Also in the points, Sam,

we fought after qualifying, we'd finally found Isaac Hadchar's kryptonite because he has a knack of qualifying in the top 10 and basically just staying there and getting some good points. First Q1 elimination, and made even worse by the first, fact that he has to start from the pit lane, maybe finally we see a bit of a weakness overtaking. We haven't had to see him do much of that this year. Pit lane's 10th, no boys.

Easy, breezy for him. I mean, it helps that so many in front of him across that Grand Prix experience some kind of problem. You know, you had the Berman Science Incincts, and Sinelli, of course, going backwards. I know he finished behind him, but I think he probably helped. Singoda went from 9 to 13th. That's what could be optimal. Hulkeberg didn't start the Grand Prix. That's another place. Now, that's not to put him down. Hadger. I had a sensational Grand Prix. His pace throughout the race was really, really strong. Managed just sicken that DRS trade,

much like what album manager do as well. And he got clinical moves done when they actually matter. They weren't too many to write home about, but he was really, really solid. Pitt strategy seemed like he was just keeping himself to himself. It was not stressing out. Comes in just before the likes of stroll, comes in before Ockon, who were the cars in front of him at the time,

right when Russell got to the back of him. And it just allowed him to basically split this race down the middle, run fast for both sets. sets of tires, stay clear of any trouble, picks up a point for his troubles. I mean, in a racing bulls, pit lane to 10th. It's a really solid Grand Prix. And once again, he's out there's teammate, Liam Lawson, who I think a guy had solid pace, but gets himself into the wars for absolutely no reason.

You can play F1 bingo at this point, drink every time. Lawson doesn't have contact with a car at a Grand Prix. You might be very sober coming in the season. But, yeah, a fantastic race from Hajar. I think he'll be happy with picking up a point after what felt like a really tough Saturday for him and the team. Let's cover off some of these stewards' decisions, or in some instances,

non-decisions. Let's start with the Carlos Sines reprimand. I'll kick off because I think you've probably both indicated where you're at with this one, and I am right there with you. What are we doing here? Martin Brundle, a fair play to Martin Brundle, he has, at least for UK sky commentary,

he has outlined this perfectly, which is why on earth, if you aren't the other 19 drivers, don't you do exactly the same thing? Because if you can get away with it once and you can make up at least the second's worth of time, you've got to go for it. How on earth has he avoided a penalty? I do not know. What's the point of having that rule? I don't know. Who knows? Quite literally, I don't know. That's the problem. I don't know how he's avoiding a penalty. It doesn't make any sense throughout the rule book as to how he hasn't been giving a penalty for this. Great. So I think we're unanimous on that one.

The other one with Carlos Sines was his contact with Olly Behrman, where Bearman receives a 10-second time penalty. Both of them spun, and point raised in the debrief in the call-down room afterwards, is that it didn't lead to a safety car, but it would have been very interesting if it did. Both cars got going ultimately, but Bearman with that 10-second penalty, Harry, did you agree with it? No. Look, I know you two are really mad about this.

But I honestly, I don't know where, where are the rules? What are the rules anymore? I don't understand how these drivers are supposed to or allowed to go racing anymore. Carlos signs fairly, gone for the move around the outside here. It's doable. We saw last year with Piastri and Norris. it works. It's tight. It's a bit squeaky, but you can get

through their side by side. So fair enough, it's a fair move. And he's got, it's got the high ground somewhat in terms of that he's managed to break a bit later. But then just decides, but then just decides that Berman doesn't exist anymore and just

turns in. And somehow that's that's Berman's fault. But this rule, I know we talked about this last week, but this rule about, you know, whoever's at the apex first, blah, blah, blah, all that is just absolute nonsense because you get faster called decisions like these where you can just turn in on a driver and cause an accident and yet you're, you get away with it.

How does that work? I don't know. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the stewarding room as they make these decisions to hear what they're actually saying because I don't understand. understand it. Now, I'm going to end that there because Ben was really, really mad about this before we start recording. And I want to hear what I has to say. I was so mad at this. Like, I was trying to remember the last time I was as mad at this as, as in an F1 race. And I have to go back to 2021 Saudi Arabia for the last time. I was as annoyed in a race as this, because this is absolute

garbage. What are we doing? What are we actually? I cannot repeat what my reaction was when that penalty came through, but it was said rather loudly, and it started with an F. Good news that I've had a chance to reflect in the hour since that incident. Good news, there is a positive to this. And that is, I'm going to clip this incident. And at any point, there is accusation of British bias from stewards, I will show them this clip because how have you come to the conclusion that Oliver Berman gets a 10 second penalty? They put their reasoning up. They might as well have just put he existed as the reason for the penalty because that's all he did. He existed. And as a result of that 10 seconds, he's well outside the points. Berman had a pretty good race I fought to that

point. This is supposed to be the elite of like motor racing. And we don't have a grid that for reasons like relating to regulations or the drivers themselves, they cannot race side by side. Why can't we have that? It's so simple. If you are side by side into a corner, you get racing room. Whether you are on the inside or the outside, it does not matter. Side by side equals you get the chance to race.

That's it. why would if you're Carlos Sines why wouldn't you keep doing this there's no reason not to it gets spun it faces the wrong way sure but if Bairman's in that spot again

he knows he's going to get a penalty so he just backs out of a move and we get no fighting into a corner that's the problem isn't it science is the one making the overtake the move is never done the movie's never complete he is what a wheel in front of Berman's wheel

when they go into the corner F1 luck give a F1 like take of I suppose because he gets that 10 second penalty in Zandvort against Lawson we all probably agree that that was more for racing where both of them were realistically at fault here but science is fully at fault for this one the fact that you

can't run even close to another car from a corner through risk of just existing and guessing a penalty because you exist is a joke, it's silly, it's unfair and it's ruining what could be really exciting. That can be a fantastic wheel to wheel battle and in future when that happens

happens again, Ben, and whoever it might be, is going to have to just slam on the brakes and go, you come through, please be my guess, because I don't want to, one, get taken out and be blaming for it, or pick up a penalty for doing what, trying to get through the corner at any reasonable speed in a competitive manner. It's a joke, and we can't have Will Tool Racing in Formula One. You're allowed it. You've been naughty this year, children, and we're taking it away. And you just swap drivers around via teams now, so racing is dead, is what we're saying here. It's barter. You know, I'd like to come through.

please. Yes, yes, I'll go through next race. Let's quickly run through a couple more incidents that happened at the same corner. Ockon got a five-second penalty for he was judged to have squeezed stroll onto the grass. Sam, did you agree with that one? Yeah, I think so. I'm trying to record it. I'm not going on line. There's a lot that went on. Yeah, sure. Sorry, Ockon, naughty boy, penalty. That might just be how the stewards make up their mind in real life, to be honest.

Are you the steward? Yes. No, I've got actually that stupid. Yeah, five second penalty. Why not? Why not? Hey, that's a steward talking if I've ever heard one. We're getting in the mood.

Harry, any thoughts on this one? I probably wouldn't have gone for a penalty on this one. Ocon marginally moves over, to which point, straw does end up on the grass, but straw's coming in pretty hot as well down the outside. not entirely sure I would have given a pen on this one. If he was fully off, but he just nudged the grass. But yeah, like Sam says, why not at this point?

Just hand him out? I don't know. What as well. I thought it was incredibly marginal to the point where this was the one incident where I wouldn't have had to go at the stewards up either way. If they decide, it was like a 50-50 challenge. Like maybe you give it sometimes, maybe you don't, but it's close. So I didn't mind this one.

And the last one was Lawson versus Sonoda. Now, they gave the position, Lawson gave the position straight back to Sonoda, so there was no need for the stewards to get involved. But as you've already said, Sam, more contact involving Lawson in a Grand Prix race. Yeah, it's just clumsy again, isn't it? It's making decisions so rash where you've got more of a race to think about. Snow was having a stinker. Lawson was actually doing OK on older tyres because he pitted so much early than everyone else

to try and get the undercut of all undercuts. And I think Sengoga probably squeezes Lawson, but I think Lorson also six is gazing a little bit too late into the move. So I do pretty think this was a racing instinct, but it's more on the overall driver thought process of why are you risking this much to try and get in front this far back in the Grand Prix? You need to get a move that's clear cut

and you need to be more ruthless with it and do it properly. It's not this half-assed, half-moment, type of move, which is you're going on risk chopping your front wing off, and they almost did the gang. So sloppy, silly, poor racecraft. As a snapshot of Red Bull's current situation today, that as an incident, and Max for Step and Winning is like perfect summary

of where they are right now. They've got the Stappenwere winning the race, sonoda their current second driver, and the one other second driver they got rid of after two races tripping over each other for absolutely no reason, for nothing, for no points. Yeah, it's a summary of Red Bull right now.

It was so clumsy. I think it's, it's, It's stupid. Like, again, Lawson should, I think, be given room based on where he was. He wasn't by Sonoda. He's the one who has to get let Sonoda back by. What are we doing? That's enough of that.

Let's review some bold predictions, because that will make us feel much better about us. That's got the right way to go. Sam, what was your bold prediction? I said that Hamilton would get a podium. He did not. No. If he kept up the rate of overtakes from the first five laps, you were on to a winner, but it slowed a bit from there.

Harry, your bowl prediction? Both Ferraris would be on the podium, which, as Sam's just alluded to, not even one was on. So nope. Big old nope. Big old nope. But good news,

I did say that there would be an overtake for the lead of the driver's championship in the last five laps. And I believe Norris and Piastri, there was a switch. So I'll take the win. I might have said that there would be

an overtake for the race win. I might have specified that, which didn't happen. Cheers, Max. So, not out of three on bold predictions. Let's take our last break on this episode. On the other side, it's Moment of the Race. Welcome back, everyone, to the final part of today's review of the Italian GP at Monza. And it's time, of course, for Moment of the Race. We've got some Discord submissions in just a moment's time. But before that, Sam, what was your moment of the race? Well, as much as it caused me outrage and has led to hopefully quite a click-based moment for all of you out there and listening, I am going to give it to that McLaren battle because it was content. Yes, content. It's a content farm. Thanks, F1 for the clicks.

But also, I think it just shows you what state that team are in. They're so good in the car and the drivers are so brilliant. Sort it out. Sourced it out. But yeah, that was another race because it produced such an illicit reaction from me. moment of the race. A couple of shoutouts. One, we already discussed about Lecler being told to, we'll discuss it later because

Ferrari don't have any idea. Piastries move around the outside of Lecler around the first Lesmo, saucy. Sensational. Some of them can race still, which is a real shame when we get stupid other just incidents that we don't want to see. But the one I'm going for, and I apologise to those who don't hear this commentary, but it's Sky F1 specific. Christian Horner texting Martin Brundle

in the middle of the broadcast about their downforce. You don't work there anymore, son. Stop it. What are you talking about? Go outside, Christian. Like, it was a real, like, like he was just trying to get back in like, yeah, yeah, that's all me.

That's winning right there. I'm still relevant. I did that. Let me go. My moment of the race, as just alluded to, Lecler versus Piastri. good racing.

Yeah, great move running outside. Yeah, I thought that was the highlight, but the entire battle I thought was good while it lasted and then Ferrari reverted back to a tractor and that was the end of that. Vestappen's move to get back in front of Norris as well was actually pretty tasty into term one. That was good.

Indeed. All right, what have we got from some of our Discord submitters, Harry? We've got plenty to go through. So thank you, everyone, for your submissions. First up, we have Marmalade. My moment of the race is Max laughing at the McLaren switcheroo. Max would never do that in a million years. The McLaren drivers just do not have the killer instinct.

Thanks, y'all. Keep breaking late. That was funny. Also, GP's having no risk. Well, don't say that because he's just going to come back. His reaction, no risk, full push. Like, no, Max, that's got how that works. You might as well say to Max,

I bet you can't set the fastest lap. You might as well just say that at that point. Yeah. Thank you for that, Marmalade. Next up is last lap send. The drivers haven't got back to Park Fermat yet, but my preemptive moment of the race is Mark Webber, knocking out Zach Brown.

Hey, come here, a little weeper, skipper. Who did you take the fight? I'm taking Weber. You're taking Weber? Yeah, Webb. Artie as well, yeah. Be happy. Yeah.

Next up is DJ Spin to Win. What's popping, everybody? It is DJ Spin to Win. My moment of the race for the Italian Grand Prix was watching on the clean sweep, fastest lap, sitting on pole for Saturday, and getting the win,

including the best radio comms between him and GP. Keep breaking late, guys. Good stuff. Thank you for the musical interlude. I've got to hear it on the podium as well. well we did. Yeah. Um, one shade of ginger is next. One shade of ginger here. Moment of the race for me was the F1 Discord chat after the McLaren switch. Absolute cinema. You guys are the best. Sure's boys keep breaking like. Absolute cinema. It was pop up in there. So if you

will be a part of it, link in the description. Get involved. Next up is A dog. A. Dukue, a K.A. Kronenberg, my moment of the race, which has got to be Charles fighting for his life to be on the podium in his opening laps. He was going podium or bus. Unfortunately, we didn't get that all race, and it was extremely boring.

Shortest race of the year, thank God. Also, Max sitting lap, Fassas and Fausus lap, quite impressive, showing his true scale, really quite good of the F1A. All right, keep breaking late. You know what, though?

The youth think I love this, because they need shorter races. Oh, no. Not today. Not today. Not doing it. No. Doing it. Shut up.

Pulled a pin there. Like a rip-court. That one. Like a bay blade. Oh, not today. We've really seen an increase of people watching highlights. Yeah, because of the race, you moron. Quakers and cheese.

words crackers and cheese off tonight. It's hilarious. So sorry. Quackers and cheese is next. Hey everyone, quackers and cheese here. Other than that Lando favoritism, my moment of the race is Max, meth him with the pit bullpull. No risk. Bull Bush. Love it. Those Italian fans too, my goodness. Anyways, cheers. Oh, sorry, sorry, quack. Get the quacks in. For many quacks. The guys think of the anthem. What a boy. I bet. Entreated this.

He was never going to do anything else in his life other than sing. He was born with that. In a factory with that he might. He is going to sing the national anthem one. That makes me patriotic to be Italian. I consider myself Italian at this point. Correct. Fair enough.

Here for the beer is next. My moment of the race. McLaren left. on tire changer. Dude, you have one job. That's it. It's that simple. The shot of the other guy

who stood next to the tire change and be like, it's not working. Batchett. Yeah. Come on, mate. You job. I think he did it intentionally to see what would happen between Piastrian Norris. I think he wants a title fight that left front guy. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't blame him. Georgia, from Georgia, is next. Hey y'all, it's Georgia from Georgia, and my mom of the race is tied between Hedjar, pit lane to points, Albun, who just with that mega drive overtook a Mercedes and the driver's championship points. And Ferrari, you know, they did finish a race without, you know, immediately having to put their two drivers on suicide watch. So, you know, yay them. Well, I'm glad. I wasn't sure which Georgia she was going to be from, Georgia in the United States or Georgia to the country.

Unfortunately, the accent gave it away. Georgia the country. Good. Just a final shout out. This isn't actually audio base, but Charlecue La Barbecue, who is at Monza for their honeymoon. And it's their first ever grown week. So congratulations, Charlekew of La Barbecue.

That's a great time. That's incredible. Great job, guys. Love that. I think that is going to do it for this Italian GP review. Good news. Sam, because we've got through a lot of the drivers, a lot of the teams, but we're going to be reviewing absolutely all of them in Power Rankings tomorrow on Patreon. Yeah, if you want to hear us break down every drive, every performance and give our

personal ratings for each of those performances, then you need to join this list into Power Rankings. That goes live every Monday after a Grand Prix weekend on our Patreon. It's a Patreon exclusive and there's loads of other content on there as well, things like Bill and Breaking, classic F1 reviews, extra episodes, birthday shout-outs, which you'll hear occasionally. That's all for our Patreon members. Get involved. You can always cancel it after a month if you got interesting. And the full backlog is available to listen to as well. There's so much there for your money. Thank you to everyone that does support us. If you're interested, that's fine. We'll see you in midweek. We'll be back for more F1 action,

plenty of discuss and maybe some sensitive topics that really get the blood pressure rising, which you may just have a brief window into. Thanks for listening. We have, I think, just about matched the shortest race in history and length there. And I thought how it was reaching for the soundboard for something Ben's time mugged me off. Turn it off so it's shorter. Thanks for listening, folks. In the meantime, I'll be Sam your sake. I've been Ben Hocking.

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