The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Las Vegas GP Race Review

Episode Date: November 23, 2025

Whew! Las Vegas certainly delivered a thriller, both before and long after the chequered flag. The LB boys break down all the action from the Turn 1 chaos to Antonelli’s bold strategy, plus of course, the double disqualification that has reshaped the title fight… buckle up! NOTE: As mentioned at the top of the episode, the main race review was recorded before the news of the double DSQ broke. We kick things off by catching you up on all of that, but please keep this in mind later in the episode. Thanks for bearing with us! Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Give the 'gift' of Late Braking this holiday period with a Patreon gift subscription,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and your favourite F1 fan can enjoy anywhere from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Think you can beat us? Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and prove it! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 Podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast, by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. I feel like I've said that already today, you know. I feel like I've said that already because we are coming to you from the late breaking future.

McLaren, double disqualification at the Las Vegas GP. We do have a full episode coming up for you, but most of that was recorded before that news was announced. But Lando Norris, who initially finished second place in this Grand Prix, out, disqualified. Oscar Piastri, initially fourth, out, disqualified. And here we are with a double Mercedes podium and Max Verstappen, a very happy boy. Yeah, I cannot believe it.

Vestappen is on equal points with Piastri, only 24 points back from championship leading Norris. With two races ago, Angus Spring, the championship is actually back on. He can win this championship now. Sure. I mean, it looked like we were in a position where Vastappen was going to need a lot. of luck. And instead, he'll still need a better help to get there. No doubt about that, but he is in a much stronger position than he was a few hours ago. If you are catching up with the news, the issue, as it always is, it's the plank. It's always the plank. It's the plank. The same thing

that Ferrari came across earlier this season, not the first time we've seen this, but the minimum thickness of nine millimeters specified under the technical regulations was exceeded from both cars. So it was measured, then re-measureed by the FIA. McLaren did argue that mitigating circumstances existed in that there was additional and unexpected porpoising at the event. They also cited the weather on day one and not getting enough practice time in, but the FIA argued back to say that there was no provision in the regulations to give anything but a double disqualification.

in this instance. So essentially what's happened to Piastri has also happened to Lando Norris. We know they struggled here last year, Sam, and we also know they would have been thinking, how can we possibly resolve this for 2025? They should have thought of how to resolve it legally first, is what I'm going with. Look, if you're trying to make the car more competitive at a track that you struggled at, which they have famously struggled at Vegas before, barely having a top five between them over the last two years, the best way to do it isn't to copy the notes of a team that broke the rules trying to improve their car early wrong in the year. Don't do that. Illegal. Still illegal. And of course, when it comes to McLaren, all things have to be fair.

So it means that when one car got investigated, sure the other one had to be investigated, right then? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Papaya rules, if you go into the bylaws of that, they did have to. Massive blunder from McLaren here, though. I know the Constructors' Championship is all sewn up, so they're not fighting for anything in that regard. But a real blunder, given the circumstances, that it's affected both drivers. I was having a look back at some of the previous disqualifications for this very reason. I already cited the one earlier this year that was Lewis Hamilton in China. We also had a race that we were there for back in Austin was the last time in 2023,

when Hamilton again was disqualified for it when he was at Mercedes, and then LeCleur was disqualified for it in the same Grand Prix at Ferrari. I was thinking what connects all these weekends? Well, those two, the Chinese GP and the US GP, both sprint weekends. So you've got limited practice time to uncover these sorts of issues. Here we had more practice time. But as McLaren suggested, not any time dedicated to long runs because of the weather on Friday. I'm not saying McLaren were that they should have been let off for this.

But it's interesting the reasoning they've gone down, it does seem like the more, I don't know, the limited practice time that you get can mean these issues aren't as easily solved. No, and they've had some problems previously at this track. We've discussed this. I think they thought they'd overcome those problems. They didn't have to deal with the tire wear problem that a lot of other teams are getting through. Temperature isn't affecting them.

So when you've managed to actually come through that problem, you think, hang on, we're not winging the race here. The staffing, of course, we find out it's rather dominant. And we think there was maybe a fuel problem at the end of the Grand Prix. That means Norat has to back off. Okay, they pick up a second and a four. And when you're the Constructors champion, when Landon Norris, the championship leader is able to extend, realistically, his lead here, you think, okay, fine, we'll take that. But it all comes crashing down around them.

And it means that actually, Bastapen, George Russell, and Kimmy Antingelli, of course, who starts P-16, ain't up on the podium here. They're going to be very, very happy. Mercedes walk away with a big haul of points which they need going up against Red Bull and Ferrari, of course, a piece of the championship. Yeah, obviously this hurts both McLaren drivers, stating the obvious, but it hurts Lando, Norris a little bit more, having lost 18 points for what would have been second place. Oscar Piastri, not quite as hurt for what would have been a fourth place. But so Piastri may be okay with this. He's closer to Norris now, weirdly, than he was at the beginning of this weekend.

But now level with Max Verstappen, it puts him in a very difficult position, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. And I'm sure you've all been on social media and you might have seen this shot, which came out while this discussion was going on while they were being investigated. there's a shot of Oscar Piastri leaving the McLaren Team Peng with Mark Weber behind him and they've both got the biggest grin on their face and you kind of think this is a bit weird

you're being investigating for disqualification and I think the rumour is going around if realised that due to this result taking place they've actually been benefited they are now closer to landing Norris than they were if the result was to stand so this benefits both the staff and massively and actually weirdly Oscar Piastri

Norris is the biggest loser of the three on the track of course, we wouldn't say that socially And it means actually we come down to a 24 point gap between three cars with a sprint and two races to go. It does still sit in Norris's court. It can still be won easily by him, but it closes things right up. I guess the big question coming out of this race, we've got two races to go now, one of which is a sprint weekend, some more points available. After Brazil, we might have been writing off Max Verstappen. He was still mathematically in the fight, but he needed a lot of things to go his way.

one of those things. So now looking at that 24 point advantage that Lando Norris has over Vestappen, can Vestappen be world champion for a fifth year in a row? I think we're about to unlock Monster Max. I think when Max has got the bit between his teeth, when he's got the objective to fight for, he is scary. He is scary fast, arguing the best driver in the world right now. And I think McLaren, a little bit shaky, a little bit nervy, you know, Landon Norris, he's a little comfy, but when you've got Max Verstappen coming for you at a racetrack that, you know, he did pretty well at previously, and it's a sprint race, he's got more sprint wins than anyone else. He's not the kind of guy you're going to go up against when you know that he's got a title

on his hand. So, yeah, I think this could be all in Max Verstappen's court if he could deliver the goods. Yeah, Lando Norris is the one guy that doesn't need reminding how this race went last year. He was asked in the media pen after the Grand Prix. Do you feel better about Qatar than you do about Vegas. Going into this weekend, we were obviously unsure about how McLaren were going to perform. And he just straight out said, do you remember who won Qatar last year? And that man was Max Verstappen. So we are going to a track where 12 months ago, it was Vastappen who took victory. Abu Dhabi, Vastappen has won there a few times, all of which in non-controversial circumstances. So you've got two races there. There's plenty of points still to play for. And this DNF sort of gap that Norris had before,

where he could afford one big error or one big mechanical DNF. That's gone now. He is very much in the cross-hairs of Vastappen. We've got a very tasty two weeks on our hands. Just want to jump in on the advantage here that I think Max also has on his hands because while McLaren are still technically going up against each other, Max has three allies on the racetrack, right? He has, whilst Yuki-Snow was regularly not involved, he's on the racetrack,

he could play a problem if something goes on there. You've also got R.B. And maybe we rename RB as racing ballistics. You send them in. earn one, no breaking. It's just causing absolute chaos for everyone around and Max hopefully picks his way through. But surely, you know, sitting as a side, you've got to use that second team of Barnes. You've seen them do it before, the likes of Gassley getting out the way when he was in Alpha Tauri previously. Is there a way that they can feed that second team and actually

get Max a head somehow? Racing ballistics might be the last thing that they have been called. They've been called everything else under the sun, so they might as well take that turn as well. They love a new name. They do love a new name. Do you know what I love? What's that, mate? Harry Ead. He's going to be here after the break because we have had to record this a little bit later in the day.

Harry Eid will be here and our full review of the rest of the Las Vegas GP will be here as well. Thanks so much for bearing with us today, folks. It's been a fun one. Thank you very much, the FIA, for making your decision so promptly.

Yeah, I mean, you'll hear that we make a few, maybe a few slight errors now in the May show due to how these results have changed. I go off like a little bit of a point that Haast have let themselves down there, be double point scorers. Look, you could go into the past and laugh at us. So we're going to take that short break and we will head to the past now.

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Just to check, because not everyone could detect sarcasm. There has been a race, not one from poll, since that year. It's fine. Sam, I don't know about you, but that post race has absolutely exhausted me more than the 90 minutes of F1 did. Well, fortunately, for all those who are big fangs of the post race, there will be a separate review show, which will be as long

as the actual race review show, because of course that was as long as the actual race. But it's just Harry. It's just Harry because he famously loves Vegas post-race. Harry, isn't that true? Aren't you the biggest fag of Post-race Vegas? I love post-race Vegas. My favourite

part of the entire season. Mickey Mouse and a stupid fountain go on the background um anyway it was apart for that it was enjoyable enjoyable enough race i'm so happy to be it i'm really glad to hear that mate uh well we've got plenty coming up moment of the race uh everything that happened in the midfield kimmy antonelli going all the way to fifth place even with a five second penalty after being knocked out in q1 yesterday oscar piastri losing further ground in the championship to both of his rivals and let's start

with both of those rivals. Max Verstappen, starting second in this race. We thought, we speculated Sam that he might try something up the inside of turn one on that first lap. And indeed, he got a pretty good start. Lando Norris was very aware of it, moved across on Max Verstappen as soon as he could, goes deep into that first corner, not only loses a position to Max Verstappen, but also loses a position to George Russell. Start with Verstappen and his outright performance, because as soon as he got the lead, he wasn't all that challenged, apart from very early on from Russell. No, his overall race pace was really impressive, and I think better than he's qualifying pace, which I think is the right way to set your car up. If you're going to be Max

were stabbing. You want to score your points like a Sunday. Famously, that's how it goes in Formula One. I was really impressed with the way he managed this Grand Prix. It felt like at any point he could kick on and just drive off down the road if you wanted to. But we saw, with Norris at the end, that fuel became an issue. We saw that whilst the tyres weren't dying off, there was definitely a lack of pace, especially on the medium. And I think he balances Grand Prix really, really well. Had the early threat from George Russell, of course, came under some steering issues. And then Norris eventually also tries to apply the pressure.

It never really seems to materialize. The gap never seems to properly come down to the point where you think, uh-oh, this could change hands. And actually, the mistake made at the start is about to be rectified and Norris can come back through. Max see what Max does. He just managed brilliantly. And then when the issue started to appear for the other drivers,

behind him, he just kicked on. And the way he was delivering purple sectors on that final lap shows you just how much pace that man was keeping in hand. I thought it was a really impressive grand prix from Max. Harry, we've spoken about how Vastappen, with his position in the championship just needs to do on every weekend what he can do with the car that's available to him. And he kind of referenced this in his post-raise interview that that's what the car had available to it today. And that's exactly what he did. Yeah, exactly that. I think, And Vestappen extracted the maximum from the Red Bull this weekend. And it was kind of a, it was all a done deal at turn one.

I think he sort of forced Norris into that error. Obviously, he was always going to go for it at the start. I think that was inevitable, whether he had a gap or not. He didn't have a gap because Norris closed it off so quickly. But obviously then a result of that was that Norris went wide into term one. And from there, Vestappen didn't really look back. I think the telling sign for Vastappan's pace was when they came over the radio to Norris and said to go and get Vestappen.

And then GP told Vastappen this. And Vastappen was like, no, son, not today. Which was kind of like 2023 vibe rebel Vastappen. So you knew that he had it in hand under control. So, yeah, very impressive. Yeah, there's no much more he can do. Obviously, Norris finished his second. He'd want him further back or, you know, ideally out of the points.

But as you said, from Verstappen's point of view, not a lot more he could do. Fastest lap race win. A good afternoon in Vegas for, or afternoon night, I don't know, whatever time was there. It's always night time in Vegas, isn't it? Yeah, it's always night time in Vegas, isn't it? Yeah, it's constantly dark there. So a good time in Vegas for the Stappen. yeah he was he was superb uh from the off and it's not a even though we were talking about

the opportunity he might have into term one at this race it is not a very long run down to term one so it required a good start from him to even threaten something into term one and obviously it was enough to uh to put norris off his game but even from from there yeah he just seemed to have this completely in hand i was going to make the same point about how as soon as lando norris was clear of George Russell and could theoretically make a charge towards Vestappen if he had the pace, that's when Vestappen decided, okay, whatever he's doing per lap, I'm just going to do the same thing because that gap kind of stabilized very quickly at that 5.5 seconds or so. But yeah, he was superb. And I always think the truest sign that someone has maybe got a little bit more

in the locker than what they showed is when they go purple, purple on the final lap of the race, on what should, in theory, be very used tires that have well past their best, and maybe that's a separate conversation. But, yeah, Max Verstappen, he always had this in hand. And we don't know whether it'll be enough as we get to Qatar and to Abu Dhabi, but he can say, at least on this Grand Prix, very specifically, he's done everything he could possibly do. What about that first lap, Sam?

So Lano Norris, defending from Vastappen from the off, goes deep. We know that on 50% of the times where Lando Norris has started from pole, he's ultimately not held that. What did you make of that moment? Yeah, 16 polls, eight victories for Landon Norris. It's not the best hit rate when it comes to converting into a wing. He did have a big of a reputation before this season of bottling it off the start. And he rectified that for the most part. But here today, and this season especially, leading from the start when there's seven pole to wing in a row,

We're matching a record there eight times we're broken it, of course, today. It feels very silly that you do something so, so aggressive off the line. Because actually, I think the preferred line to turn one is to go around the outside anyway, it turns into the inside, really hard to stick it around the outside of turn two. While chinks and butter was heaping praise upon being so aggressive off the lights, and we like a bit of aggression, we like a bit of wheel to will. I do think he over-eged it. And I think he basically looks at Max Verstappen's notes from a couple of years ago.

And Max went, yeah, you can copy it, but you've got to change it a bit. And I know Norris did change it a bit by going off the track into turn one. And I just think when it's such a long race, when we know with hindsight that this Vegas Grand Prix is actually a little bit harder to get overtakes done with and to follow through, even with the massive 1.3 miles straight, being in front pays off. Being in front pays dividends. And he threw that away in the first 10 seconds of the Grand Prix by screwing up his breaking zone into a very short term one. So, yeah, I think it's cost him. I think it's cost him the wing. I do think that if he held the Lee on that one,

there's every chance he holds off the pace from Max behind, maybe causes him to overuse his tires, maybe changes the strategy that's being applied. You know, the whole race might unravel a little bit differently. And because he had to play catch-up, it meant he gets stuck behind Russell for a while. Verstappar gets away. He burns too much fuel.

It all goes backwards from there. So he's lucky he's in a really fortunate place of the championship. But I think it's all on here, and I think it cost him. What did you make of Lando Norris, and Vostappen into term one, Harry? Yeah, like I said earlier on, I think Vastappen forced me to that. I think I've seen this on Twitter or X. Dave Kulthard in the F-1 TV comm saying that Llan always tried to sort of play Vastappen

at his own game there, but forgot who made the rules of that game. And it smacks Vastappen. um i like you say some we'd we'd sit here and criticize him if he he had not defended it at the start um but it was clear that mcleran had had pace today and potentially had the pace to win the race obviously this happen had a lot in hand i think uh all day but the mistake into term one obviously cost him not only the lead but then he got bumped down to p3 with uh with russell getting in front of him too and i think that harm He harmed his afternoon,

whatever, harmed his race, more than just losing the lead would have done. So, look, in terms of the championship, it doesn't matter that much. For today's race only,

obviously, it was not ideal. And, yeah, I think he could have got on to win it, had he not made that error. But overall, it's not a disaster. He's still finished P2.

It's still a net gain on his teammate. So, yeah, I think he's not going to lose much sleep over this one. No, I don't think so. And I think the evidence of that was, again, post-race, he seemed pretty relaxed to the point where he's just dropping F-bombs. He don't care. He don't care.

In turn one, I thought that I was quite happy with the intent from Lando Norris, because it's not something we've seen a great deal from him, is him getting his elbows out, particularly when it relates to Max Verstappen and it felt it was a real aggressive move over to the left-hand side, almost very Schumacher and Hackanan-esque, I always think. Like, that's, whenever I see an aggressive move

like off the start, those are the two I immediately think of when they were jousting. The problem was the execution, not the intent. He goes way too deep into that first corner and it's a good job he was so quick in qualifying because he wasn't the only person to miss their breaking point

going into term one. The others have pretty much all come away worse because they found a car directly in front of them and I'm sure we'll get on to a couple of those moments a bit later on. But of course, with Lando Norris getting pole position, he had a bit more road to run with. Like he could go a little bit wide

and even if he did drop a position, he wasn't going to drop the car into another car. I think maybe we were, I don't want to say we would cost an opportunity because that's maybe not the right way to phrase it, but if Lando Norris at least keeps P2 off that start and Russell stays behind, it would have been, I think, a very interesting race

between Norris and Vestapp. And I feel like whoever led out of the first couple of corners probably had the advantage, in which case, Vestappen still takes the win. But having to navigate George Russell in that first, in I think cost Lando Norris an opportunity to fight for this win. But hey, the position he is in the championship. doesn't cost him all that much.

Big pet peeve about these street circuits is, if that's so many other races, if that's Melbourne, just straight off into a gravel trap or a grass trap. And there's massive consequences for throwing that race away. I bet Oscar Piastri's eyes lit up when he saw just in front of him, one McLaren going wide,

veering over to the inside, George Russell coming through. And if that was many other tracks, that could be day over for a McLaren. I just, I miss consequences for running wide. Yes. We need to bring that back. Come on, Vegas. Just put some random grass in there. Just put some chips, poker chips all over the floor over there. Oh, don't. They'll do that.

Hey, what for stabbing in Vegas? No. God, way too early for that. Let's complete the podium with George Russell. Of course, not able to replicate what he did here last year and take victory. But still, another podium for his record this year. year, tried, I think, Harry, to stay with Verstappen as much as he could in both stints, potentially to his detriment, having to manage those tyres quite a lot in the final stint in particular with Kimmy Antonelli on much older tyres able to catch up to him quite rapidly.

Is he going to be slightly disappointed? He couldn't be more in the mix here? Yeah, I mean, I think he will be he wanted, as they all do, he wanted to go for the win. but I think he got everything out of that Mercedes today and I know obviously as you said Antonelli was closing in quite rapidly in that final stint but that's only because Russell was really having to push hard

just to try and stay in the mix with Norris and Vostappan Mercedes whilst it had good pace it just didn't have quite as good pace as the McLaren and the Red Bull or at least as good pace as Vastappen and Norris so yeah I think think he'll be

I think he'll be disappointed to not be to not have been able to challenge a bit more but I'm not sure he can be disappointed in himself in terms of I think he had he gave everything, he left everything out there and I got the most out of that car so yeah it was a it was a solid race for

solid race for Russell not quite able to emulate what he did here last year but you know I haven't been able to emulate a lot of things for Sadie so I don't think he'd be too mad about it Sam, what do you think? How does he reflect on this race? I think he would have been very happy had Landon Norris not had the fuel issue at the end of the Grand Prix.

You think you look at that McLaren, it's way faster. We know that that McLaren outpaces and Mercedes at the moment. And you look at Max Verstappen. It's Max Verstappen. And when the Red Bull is switched on firing all cylinders, the man is basically uncatchable, hence the dominant win we ended up with today. But I do think if the racist rang smoothly and he finished, you know, seven, eight, nine seconds behind Landon and Norris, he'd think, I've got myself a podium. I started in third.

I beat, you know, the likes of those around me. I managed to stay clear of my teammate, despite him having probably a better strategy in the end of it, solid. I'll pick up another podium. But because of the fuel issue, I know what George Russell's like. We've got to know him now over the years it's being an F-1. He'll look at that and go, if I didn't have that steering problem, or if I just held on for a couple of laps longer to keep him behind me,

that's three and a half second gap that the race ends off at, I could have got him again because he wouldn't have able to defend going into the heavy braking zones where he was on Lyko to save fuel. I think Russell would have wanted him to attack him. So I don't think he'll beat himself up over it. But I think there'll be a little part of him that goes, ah, P2 was on the car today. I'll probably just let that go.

But he did well to be opportunistic, dealt with the turn one incident really well to get in front of Landon Norris. I thought, held it around the outside. He ran a really good race. I don't think there's too much more that could be asked of him. They should definitely ask Shell about Lando Norris's lifting coast

for those last couple of laps. That was crazy, right, Shell? It's like, well, that's, I do that every lap. This is how you always drive Formula One car. You're telling me people don't drive this way normally? Like, okay. Yeah, I think George Russell will be, I think he'll be a tad disappointed just based on where he is in the championship,

in that he's not really fighting for anything. He's clear of the Ferraris, he's clear of his teammate. He's not going to compete with the top three now. So I think he's just looking at every one of these last few races with the same sort of view of, can I just go out and try and get a win, you know, add to the couple that he's already got this year. He'd have absolutely circled this one on the calendar earlier on in the season to say, this might be one where I can contend.

I think it's something that we thought that Mercedes would be a bit stronger here than where they normally are. And it was fine. And I can understand why they attacked Verstapp and the way that they did early in those stints, just to see if they could get something. And as soon as that was apparent, he drops back. I think that does cost him a bit later on in this race. But yeah, I don't blame Mercedes for going for this.

I don't blame Russell for the position he's in going for this, but still a solid result nonetheless. Shall we take our first break on this episode? On the other side, we're going to be chatting about Russell's teammate, Kimmy Antonelli, and also Oscar Piastri. Welcome back, everyone to the second part of today's episode. Let's get into Kimmy Antonelli's race. Finish P4 on track, ultimately demoted to P5 as a result of that five second penalty he got for the false start that you...

Sorry. Is it in the nation? of America. Has anyone seen the false start in the state of Nevada? Because, suddenly I know American geography, by the way, if you listen to the qualifying report. No idea where that is. Did you see him move? Did you see him move? You need to be in slow motion for that, I think. Great. I didn't see anything more. Anyway, yes, he's finished P4 on track. P5 overall. Of course, started all the way down in the bottom five as a result of that Q1 knockout. Harry, should he be pretty content with the way he recovered it?

Yeah, I think so. Just on that point, by the way, I like the F1 TV direction, which we've spoken about already, decided that they would show the risk for the penalty and made it no clearer. No, no clearer at all while there was penalties. I have a lot of caffeine.

Just don't bother. Yeah, I think Anthony was super impressive today, but whether a jumpstart or not, yeah, especially in that, final stint. He did the whole race, didn't he? Basically, it wasn't a final stint on those, on the hard tires. So, yeah, I think he'd be super content. And to be that close to Russell, again, I know Russell was falling back because he'd been pushing hard to try and stay in the lead battle. But even so, to be that close to Russell

towards the end of the race, I think was really impressive. And to hold off Piastri and Nicola, who, I mean, certainly Piastri, I think, had more pace. you know, there was one, one opportunity where Piastri looked like he was going to get the move done and Antonelli held him off into that, you know, that last chican. And then there was, that was it. The sort of challenge failed from there from the McLaren. So I was very impressed by Antenelli today.

I think just this final third of the season from him has, he's sort of really come on strong. So, yeah, obviously the qualifying wasn't great. And it would have been interesting to see where he would have ended up, had he'd actually been in the top 10 to start with, but purely based on the, based on today, it was, it was really impressive. What did you make of Ansonnelli's race, Sam? I thought this was superb. I thought this was absolutely fantastic. Now, it wasn't quite the win that I had predicted. So come on, Jimmy, you have let me down a little bit there, son.

But after what was a really tricky qualifying, the way he's come back through the field, the way he's managed those ties. Ties is another conversation we need to have, by the way, because that is a big issue right now. But the way he's managed that pace, the way he's defending from Piastri, and that one time he spoke of Harry was true, the way in the chican, it looked like Piastrian might get on run on him, positioning his car so perfectly,

which meant it threw off the momentum that Piastri had, exiting the corner. Could you get the move done? Actually, it put Piastri in a more vulnerable place against Lecler at that point. So I thought defended brilliantly. And then to, even with that five second penalty, which I don't think is fair, extended the gap to Lecler at the end of the Grand Prix,

which meant that he only falls back one place behind Oscar Piastri. The damage limitation is absolutely fantastic. I think two or three more laps. There's a chance he's fighting with Russell and with an ailing Lando Norris. I really think he was that much quicker on that better strategy. The hard tire was the best tire by far to be on. He made it work. When he got through the field was fantastic.

Even the fight with the likes of Estabang Okon, I know his tyres were dying, but the way that Lewis Hamilton couldn't ever get past Okon until basically, you know, he was really, really struggling. Antigali rocks out within three laps. got the move done. It just shows you the confidence he's driving with. I was so impressed with him. The last three Grand Prix had been really brilliant for him. This is great to see. This is what we wanted from Kimi Anting Annie. I was very impressed with what he was able to do. And sure,

he was recovering from a situation he kind of put himself in anyway, but he still needed to get that job done. And we spoke Sam on the qualifying review yesterday that there are opportunities to make progress in Vegas until the end of the weekend. If you're not, knocked out in Q1 and we were speculating he could get back into the lower ends of the points and he's exceeded that with a P5. You know, the way in which the hard tires, sure, they were the best tire. We knew that from the start. It's not like anyone did this strategy last year. Like if going into this race, we knew that 12 months ago, a car from the midfield had done a stint of 45 laps or whatever on these hard tires, we know it's doable. Someone like,

Antonelli might do the same thing. I'm sure it was in the back of their minds, but they don't have this evidence to work off of. I think last year, the max was like 33 laps or something along those lines. So it was, it was bold of Mercedes to consider this. It was bold of them to attempt this, but it required Antonelli's excellent management of his tires. First time in Vegas, on those tires, around a street circuit, it's not easy, but he's done an excellent job. And like you say with that whole discussion about the five second time penalty late on, it was a question of, you know, was he going to be able to get that five second gap to Carlos Sines? And then all of a sudden, he turns on the motors and says, okay, I'm off now. I can actually get that five seconds to LeClaire as

well, albeit by a tenth or two tenths as it was in the end. And I don't know, a couple more laps like you say, maybe he is competing with the cars in front rather than defending against a couple behind. But good for Mercedes. On a day where, you know, constructors-wise, I know Vestappen's one, but he's the only Red Bull scoring. Ferrari's not had an easy day either. Having two cars in that fight could well pay dividends for the last couple of races in the season in that P2 championship battle. Oscar Piastri, should we discuss him? Harry, was this more of the same of what we've seen recently? Yeah, I think so.

It just, just no, no pace compared to his teammate, and obviously qualifying, where he qualified, it wasn't a disaster, but it was certainly going to be more difficult for him already.

Obviously, it was a bit of a messy, messy turn one for him, but I just, given, given what, Norris was able to unlock from that car today and Piastri couldn't get past Antonelli who was as we've already said

doing a superb job on those hard tyres but even so had been on those tires for an eternity and Piastri couldn't get past him I think it's just it's disappointing and and even a reference obviously when Antony

defended well well from from piastri that that in itself is uncharacteristic of what we've become used to with piastri where he's normally just rocked up to a car and overtook them straight away we didn't used to we're not used to him just being stuck behind a car for lap after lap after lap and i don't know whether that's conferencing it's something with not jane with him in the car but it's just unusual for that for that to be playing out like it like it is at the moment so yeah i would say his his head has the camera was following him as he got out the car after the race sort of walking away from the car

and it was just body language was everything and he just looks a bit defeated so yeah he's going to need a miracle to get back into this one I think Sam we've got something of a narrative at this point that Piastri struggles a bit more when it's low grip these low grip tracks

does this reinforce that? Quite possibly firstly he got absolutely clattered by Liam Lawson in the first corner the fact that they initially looked like they're investigating piastri for this maybe we're to actually hurl my TV out into the street outside fortunately that wasn't the case although it wasn't even a race against him but this definitely threw him off right he ended up getting behind the likes of Hajar he had to battle through a couple of cars in front of him to even become remotely competitive

again and then it was just never easy for him it was never clean air it was never getting ahead of it's hard to call them traffic when they were there legitimately, but the likes of science, the likes of Hajjar, the clerk nipping at his hills, trying to get past him all the time. They end up behind Antingelli. I don't think at any point he had clear total air in front of him where he could just outright push. But nonetheless, when you are going up against a Mercedes where the car is faster, we saw this with Norris and Russell, and you've got younger tires, the same tires, but younger, it is frustrating that someone like Pistri, who was thriving so much throughout the season,

just can't even get the move done on a rookie. It's in his rookie season. He's on tires at all like, what, 40 laps old at this point. And he can't get the move done. It's really, if you ever said this about the Piastri, 10 races ago, I wouldn't have believed you. I wouldn't have said that that isn't going to happen. Because this is a real change in mentality.

I think this is a changing his head space. His shoulders have dropped. His head has gone. I do think, realistically, his championship done because his mindset isn't right anymore. more. And I do think this is costing invaluable points. On the other day, earlier in the season, if you were saying Norris second, Piastri 4th, this wouldn't have been the end of the world. But at the, you know, the crux of the championship, at this pinnacle point, every point

counts. And he needs that cutthroat nature that he had from the likes of the earlier Grand Prix that he was picking up wings and wings and moving like Spain. The way he delivered that performance in Spain, where's that Piastri gone? Someone needs to give him a shake. Someone needs to give him a talking to her. Just say, remember how good you are. Because it does feel like, Like he's dropped his head. I do think that's costing him more than his ability to drive quickly. So, yeah, paying for one. Championship's likely gone for him.

Tough turnaround for him. I think in years to come, we'll look back at this season. And we don't know how it's going to end, obviously. But you could look at maybe just the Wikipedia results of this season. And you'll just go, what happened there? Because it just doesn't make sense with everything else that's come before, let's say, Zambor. Like, it is a tale of two halves, even if they're not completely split 50-50. I think Piastri is probably scratching his head as much as everyone else's.

Sure, he didn't qualify on poll like Lano Norris did, so he had more work to do in the race than maybe he wanted to. But the fact that Norris could kind of rock up to George Russell and get past him with relative ease, and then you've got Piastri who loses that spot to Charles LeClaire as a result of trying to get by, was it Carlos Sines at the time, that Lecler was able to, was it, Hatcher. But yeah, he gave a spot to Leclair. He got it back as a thanks to the undercut

that McLaren pulled on Ferrari. So Ferrari strategists, yet again, winning the day. Sorry, sorry, John. My bad. It was the drivers. But, yeah, I don't know. I think Piastri, as I say, he's probably just scratching his head thinking,

what more can I do? Like we're going to a track in Qatar where he does have some previous success. It was where he took his first Sprint win, if I remember correctly. So he'll remember that quite fondly. But it seems at the moment, it doesn't matter where we go, you know, what continent it is, what type of track it is. He seems to have that deficit to Norris in a more consistent way than we've seen in a very long time. I think the positive thing for Piastri is I think he's won the sprint both times at Qatar that we've been

the last two years. And then I think he hasn't converting it to an actual race win. That's the proper problem. So if he could kickstart his weekend well and then win the main Grand Prix, maybe there's a glimmer of hope. Well, last year, the McLaren's gave each other the sprint wind, didn't they? So Norris would have won Qatar, but Piastri would have won Brazil. I remember how much I hated that now.

Harry loved it. I remember that very much. You're right, though. The form changes crazy. Between Australia and all we're through to Singapore. at that point, only off the podium twice if you don't count, I mean, the retirement out of Beijing as well.

So, you know, Night for Australia, fourth in Canada, everything else is the first or third. The way he's now being fifth, it will be a fourth, fifth in a row hanging up with that penalty for Anting Ellie. It's a crazy changing form. Shola Clare tried, didn't he, Harry? I gave him a go.

He's an accent. Yeah. Look, I think it was always going to be tough because he had a slightly higher high down for a setup on on that Ferrari which in the end didn't really work out and qualify either but yeah it was

he tried I'm not sure you can credit him with anything else other than he really tried but I don't think that Ferrari was getting much further forward today it seemed in the first thing he had some relatively good pace but then yeah it got stuck got stuck towards the

towards the end behind behind Piestri and Antonelli, who obviously pulled a big enough gap, but his penalty didn't matter and still finish in front of Leclair. So not quite the competitive showing. I was perhaps thinking Ferrari might have this weekend, but that could be applied to literally any race. So how well. Yeah, they just didn't have much, did they?

Bless them. I know because Leclair had a bit of work to do to get up to where he, was with some overtakes that he needed to make. And he made them pretty well early on. And you're thinking, all right, if now, nobody's clear of this lot. Maybe, maybe he's got something. Maybe Ferrari have got something. And then for me, it was the moment of realization when everyone else had pitt and it was just him and Vastappan. And it was 20, 21 seconds separating the two of them. And at this point, not even half the race had unfolded. And you're like, oh, okay, that's, that's Ferrari. That's where they are. They are a pit stop behind whoever's quick that weekend.

It's a shame. But he tried that Lecler. The fact that he couldn't beat Antonelli with that five second penalty, that's another one that's a real. It's got to hurt quite a bit. Sam, Leclair. The commentary really liked to hype them up for a moment. God, Ferrari, they said they've got race place and here they go. And it's like Hamilton gained, what, sixth place on the start because of this almighty ink sing in turn one and they overtook about two cards for the rest of the Grand Prix. The clerk beat what Asalba, a racing ball and Carlos

science, no disrespect to those guys, but you're in a Ferrari, you should be fighting at the front. These are cars you should be beating. So the fact that he finishes six, he moves up three places in total. One of the cars he loses two, starting in 16th place and has a five second time penalty, and is the team

they're fighting for second in the championship, not the team that's won the Constructors championship. It just tells you how far behind they are. But, as Mr. John Elking has said, they do have a brilliant car, and it is simply the driver's not making the difference. So, sorry, LeClaire, you've just not done enough today. Yeah, I wouldn't want to be LeCler when it comes to power rankings tomorrow, because we've actually got a special guest. And that special guest is John Elkin, and he's already told me he's getting a zero out of ten for that race.

Well, Joy Elkin gets a 10. And you know what? John Elkin has got tens for every race this season. Oh, I love John Elkin. Yeah, we really love John Elkin. Shall we review our bold predictions? Because that went well. Sam, your bold prediction that we've known for about three months at this point, but it was Antonelli. Three months.

It might be exaggerating. Antonelli was going to win this race. And I think you might have known your fate after Saturday. Yes. Although I was still impressed. So whilst wrong, at least I was wrong valiantly. So thank you, Kimmy for that. Harry, what was your bold prediction?

I said the Ferrari were going to win. How am I still closer than you? Uh, uh, they didn't. So, was that? Uh, so that's not right. My bowl prediction was that there would be four different teams inside the top four, which if you look at the top three, that's pretty good. And there was a point in this race when LeClaire got the overtake done on Piastri,

where I was like, hang on. a minute. This might actually come true. And then Ferrari did Ferrari things and that quickly became not true. Also, top four different teams in the top four, it happened in qualify. Well done. Well, thank you. Another hits the post moment. You got two more. You got two more. You can do it. No, I'll get those wrong in the stupidest ways as well. I don't know. Now, you're saying all your upgrades for Abu Dhabi, mate. Yeah, I am like Ferrari.

I have got my Abu Dhabi upgrade planned. Shall we take our second break on this episode? On the other side, we'll get into the midfield. We've still got our driver of the day, worst driver at the day, and Big Brain Stratto Award. At Vandal Casino, you get even more ways to play. dive into new and exciting games and all of your favorite casino classics

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welcome back let's get into the midfield fights let's start with let's talk about carlos signed sam shall we because he's he's led the way in that midfield some valuable points for the williams team even if we think that p5 is wrapped up in the constructors championship it's good for his points tally as well and what is a very close midfield at the moment. Great qualifying effort, as we suspected, couldn't quite hold on to some of those front runners, but has done enough to beat the rest of the midfield. Yeah, I think there'll be a little part of him. It was a bit gutted when he came around the first corner in the pit phase and just saw the McLaren and the Ferrari drive off in front of him. I bet he thought,

damn it. See you later, guys. It's a shame because I think Carlos Sides was pace. Raw pace as a driver was brilliant this weekend. He was really on it. One of his most consistent. through a better weekends that we've seen since he's being at Williams. The car's just not there to deliver what it needs to do. And maybe it will be next season. If he can continue this form into the end of the season and take it into 2026 and they can give him a car that's good enough to fight amongst these top guys, you know, in a dream world for you Williams fans, I'm sure that's what you're hoping for.

He's looking very, very good. He did a great job to stay in front of the likes of Hajar, not troubled by Hulk, by the harsh guys at all, by Hamilton. So this is as good as it was going to get without anything. going massively wrong for cars. In fact, I think he'll come away happy. Harry, we saw that Carlos Seines didn't necessarily have the best start to the year

at Williams, new team, new environment. But is it races like this, this sort of performance that vindicates James Vowell's decision to bring him here? And he's got to be quite happy moving forward, right? Yeah, I think it's not just races. I think it's weekends like he's delivered. I think the race combined with the qualified,

are exactly the reasons why James Viles, you know, went after Carlos Sines so harsh last year. Yeah, this is what we were, what we were expecting from science. I think what Williams were expecting from science. I think when there are opportunities, you know, within the car to deliver these performances, science is delivered.

And similar to Bacu, I guess, in that regard. I think when the car was there, science was there. so yeah another strong weekend obviously it was always going to be difficult to stay where he'd qualified i think it was it wasn't quite the same scenario as backer in that in that sense but even so i think he did i think he did a super job in that way just to bring him some bring him some more solid points and cement their position in the championship yeah i thought he was excellent as well and obviously he praise on what he did yesterday in qualifying but here in the race

equally as impressive, to be honest. He, I like to go back to the first race of this season. Sorry, not quite the first race of this season, but Bahrain earlier on this year where he was in a, in somewhat of a fight with, I can't remember it was the Ferraris or the Mercedes, but in a car that isn't capable of what those cars are capable of, he was trying his best to fight with those front runners, and it cost him that day. He went through his tires far too quickly, and he said, at the end of that race, I remember that it was a lesson learned that he's back in the

midfield, at least temporarily. Sometimes you have to work with what you're given. I think this race was kind of evidence that he has learned because he didn't spend too much time trying to see if he could keep pace with George Russell, Orlando Norris. He realized his fight was against Hajar and Holkenberg and the Haas drivers. And he did everything he needed to do to beat those drivers. And he did it very comfortably in the end with the way, I'm sure he didn't know the way in which Antonelli's race was going to unfold. So that was potentially another opportunity to see if he could pick off that spot. But I think it became clear late on that he and LeCler just didn't have the pace to compete with what Antonelli had. So I think he's claimed the absolute

maximum from this race. He'll be maybe slightly gutted. There wasn't some random DNF in front of him, some weird Vegas low-grip sort of incident that might have got him a P-4 or a P-5 but I'm sure he'll be pretty happy

with this one. Hadjar leads the way for racing balls Sam. We know that he didn't have the best of it in qualifying versus his teammate

but with the way that first lap unfolded it went his way. Again, Liam, Liam, I shout your praises in qualifying and you just

barrel into turn one and cost yourself because, again, I feel like the pace was going to be close between them, but Hajjad does what Hadja does so well. He converted a strong qualifying into a solid race result, four points in a racing ball, keeps that fight in their championship alive for

him. He bests his teammate once again, because Lawson's dealing with broken front wing driving around at the back. It's really solid again. It's that Hadja just shows that he can, how many times can pronounce this game differently in one sentence, I wonder. It just shows that he's able to stay out of trouble, get the job done. He was fighting with cars

around him to a degree, pulls away from the likes of Holgerberg, never travelled by the likes of Hamilton. This is solid, really, really solid. Just kept his head down, in his own race. And points also for Nico Holkenberg, Harry. Again, he seems to have been found.

Well, yeah, it lost for quite some time, but we have located Niko Hulkenberg, and he's back in the, back where he belongs in that car. Yeah, I think that was like just a classic Nika Hulkenberg race, right? you just, if you look at what Nikke Holkimer does that, he does that. Yeah, made that strategy work really well.

And had, you know, he had Hamilton behind him. It was putting away from him in that salvo, which is, I guess, a repeat somewhat of his actual, of his podium at Silverstone. But yeah, he made the strategy work, work well for him, and picked up a couple of points. So a good day of the office for Holgerberg, who seems to be. finishing the season stronger than, I guess, the mid-part of it was for him.

Yeah, there's probably some connection to where beef is sold or something random that someone on Twitter would be able to say, oh, look at the pattern. We don't care. Yeah, I thought he was pretty good. I'm surprised that no one in front of him

because he started 11th. I was surprised no one in front of him did the same strategy where they started on the hard tires because I think it was pretty effective. That hard tire was the better of the two. And I think if you could just manage it for as long as Holkenberg did

with the effectiveness that he did, that would then allow you to, on the, in theory, weaker tire, kind of be clear, like he overcut a couple of cars on those hard tires and then manage the medium tires very well. That's something he's really improved

on these last few years and the experience is counting is tire management. Like he is up there as one of the, best on the grid right now. And he didn't really ever look to be phased by the cars behind. As you say, Hamilton was more focused with Esteban Ockon behind him than he was Hulkenberg in front.

So couldn't quite make inroads on Hadjar in front of him or signs in front of him, but a couple more solid points for the Hulk. Not as good of a day for Hass, Sam. Let's just touch on those because they've had some very good days. recently. Not like they were completely out of the fight, but maybe competitiveness here was lower than what we've seen recently. Yeah, it's an odd one, because I actually feel like the medium onto hard was the better of the two strategies if you knew how to work it. And they just kept Okong out

out again for so long. Why are they not bringing my man into the pit lane? Get him on the better tire. You know, we've seen so many drivers excelling on that hard tire. You saw Kimmy Antigli stop walk right at the start of the Grand Prix, catch up, pass your driver, drive off down the road, finish the race, he's done. O'Connor is still on lap 24, wherever it is on medium tires, and you're dragging him around that racetrack, bring my man in. And I think that costs them. I really think they had a chance to maybe nick a point.

They were close enough to Hamilton for quite a while. Towards the end of the Grand Prix, the gap was started to close up again. I just think if they'd done it earlier, there's a real chance that maybe they'd have scraped one, maybe two points, because the medium was ropy. and I feel like whilst Hulkemberg was able to keep Hamilton quite comfortably at bay, if there was a fast, moving, hard tire user behind, that might have been a bit of a different question. So whilst the car wasn't perfect, I do think they've cost themselves a point.

Yeah, I think Berman did pretty well in that first in, but was clearly struggling to hold on to the positions that he'd gained at the start when everything just opened up for him. I think with Esteban Ockon, at first I wasn't too sure on the strategy, before saying anything else, actually, he'll look at Antonelli's race and say, that's my strategy. You put me on that every single time when it doesn't work. And now it does work and you don't even consider it.

Come on. I initially wasn't sure about the strategy either. I think they actually, I think they did make the right play by going a little bit longer on the mediums. I know it's counterintuitive because the hard tire was definitely stronger. But I think the only chance he had of getting by Hamilton and then maybe Holkenberg was with that delta. And I think if he'd stopped five laps earlier, he'd have been closer to them, I think,

and he wouldn't have needed to make up as much ground, but I think he would have had tires that were too similar to the cars in front to make a move. I think they were pretty much locked into where they were. I think that's maybe just where the pace was. They set the car up to be very good in a straight line, because Charlerclair was like a rocket. He was on like 346 kilometres an hour, about 10 o'clock. as fast than anyone else. But it felt like Ockon was really tough to get past,

even with his ailing tires on that first stink. So I don't know if they were fast in the straits for a reason. It seemed to work for a while. Yeah, a little bit of difference in the setups that we had. Any thoughts on Aston Martin, Harry? Tafwan. Sure. I just thought on Twitter, by the way, that Alonzer after the race was like,

I had a Lance do and I like, she retired on that one, mate. Or not even as I would fault that one. He retired 90 minutes ago. Oh, yeah. How did that guy do? Well, that speaks volumes because they're never near each other on the track. So Alonso is probably like, oh, he must be in it somewhere. For the back.

Yeah, a tough phrase, but after what, yeah, it was like quite promising in wet quality. I think obviously their car suits conditions where downforce is key. so yeah i tough to say obviously alonzo also got damage on that one as well uh so yeah i think from there he he struggled they obviously they went for the earlier stop as well for him but it didn't it wasn't much they could do but uh it didn't just didn't work out so a tough day especially when yeah you look at it and alonzo's gone from was it seventh or thirteenth or something like that it's quite quite a drop down the order so uh i didn't think this weekend was going to be particularly good for them, but I have maybe qualifying sort of over-exaggerated

where they were going to finish, maybe 13th is about where that cut was anyway. Yeah, I think so. Based on the high-speed nature of this track, I don't think any of us were particularly optimistic about their chances. It was after the pit stop where I was like, oh, okay, because they got the undercut done on Bairman, so good work from Astor Martin in that regard, and then they were just slow. And it's, okay, and Behrman comes past, and then Ockon comes past. Okay, this isn't going anywhere for Astor Martin today.

But it might be stronger when we get to the last two races. Sam, before we go on to a driver of the day, just with that lap one, obviously we've talked about it from the front of the grid's perspective, and we've kind of touched on it from Liam Lawson's perspective as well. Has Bortoletto stopped braking yet? My man is just going, like stroll is a break. He is my pedal now. use him as appropriate.

And he used him as appropriate because good Lord, Bortoletto, do you want actually try and make the corner? Did he bother to break? He also ended up collecting about eight members of the field with that incident. Poor, poor Pierre. It was going so well.

The sausage limbsog, but it was a struggle. Yeah, Alping, unfortunately, got hit with that as well. Lance Stroll wiped out. It's fully on Gabby. I don't know what went wrong there, but he just overshot this corner, but overshot it by like 200 meters. It felt like he was

never making it. Nothing went wrong. He just was getting revenge for Brazil. Ah. Ah. All right. Well, tip for tap. Yeah. I want to see a photo of them just like shaking hands like,

eh, fair. All right. Shall we give out our driver of the day? The verdict is in. You're the driver of The days, you're the driver of the days, you're good at driving. Sam, for the second race in a row, Max Verstappen claimed the people's vote, not quite as convincingly

as he did in Brazil. Is he getting your vote as well? He's right up there. He's right up there. Fantastic performance. I do think that the fuel issue has made that win look a little bit more lovely than it probably was at the actual point where the fuel kicked in. But no, I'm going to Kimmy Antigelli. I don't think that. the penalty was deserved. I understand why he was so far back. I don't think it was 100% on him for being out in Q1. Rookie performance in qualifying appings,

but the comeback was sensational, great management, brilliant defence. And the five second penalty, I think, is a little bit farcical. So for me, Brian with a day. Harry? Antanani's a side shout. I've gone for Vastappan.

I think it was quintessential Vastappen win this one. Yeah, he looked so untroubled from term one onwards. But, yeah, I think Adenali is a fair show as well. I've gone with Verstappen, and I take your point, Sam, that I think the wind margin looks more inflated than what it deserves. And maybe it should have been around that six second margin, if not for those fuel issues later on for Lano Norris. But even so, he had this in hand and probably could have won this race

by a little bit bigger of a margin if he needed to. It doesn't matter in the end. Very dominant display. So, yeah, he's my driver in the day. worst driver of the day. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, bin, bin, worse driver of the day. You suck at driving.

What have you got, Harry? Bortenato. I mean, this might be quite an easy one. But again, still not started to break for 10-1. We're waiting for it. I, yeah, I'll keep it short. mine's Bortoletto. Maybe, because I know he's a big fan of the podcast

and he is actually a Patreon subscriber, is Bortoletto, lives in Patreon City. Hi, Gabby. Maybe just take a week off from Power Rankings. That doesn't give an excuse for the rest of you. I expect the rest of you will all be there, but Bortoletto maybe just take a week. Sam?

Yeah, Bortoletto, but just to give credit where credit's due, there are a few stinkers drop today. Yuki-Sigoda doesn't be fan. Alonso who I think had damage at one point as well. I really beats Pierre Gassley by five seconds as well. Also, the album was pretty smelly. Did you have a good day either. So, Bortoletto, you're getting it.

But there's a couple of lucky little munchlings out there who get away with it. Some lucky munchkins. Wow. It sounds like a good serial that. It does sound like it should be a cereal. Big brain strap. Ah, Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What?

It's not even raining now. What are you talking about? Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance, let your teammate pass you. What? He crashed out. He's not even in the race. Sam, what have you got? It's a tricky one, miss, because they all kind of follow one or two of the obvious strats.

So I just think getting Kimmy Anting Ali off those soft tires early, put them on the hard, playing out perfectly. Nothing silly. It's really solid. And he made it work. Harry? This one relates to that strategy, but again, I've seen this on social media afterwards.

It's Hamilton and his race engineer, he love each other, discussing after that he's, Hamilton's like, why are the Mercedes? Anthony ended up in front of us, and he's like, well, they pit really early and just went along.

He's like, right, okay. I'm just like, Ferrari in general. not thinking outside the box at all. Sorry. I'm talking too much. Yes. Thank you for correcting yourself there. That's appreciated. My big brain strat has to be. And it's a continuation from qualifying, actually, because we spoke about how Landstrol was the only driver to go on to intermediate tyres in Q2, which kind of backfired. But we didn't know how much it was going to backfire because that put him in the warpath of Gabrielle Bortoletto. And, Hey, if they strategize that better and he starts two positions ahead of where he does,

he might have a great race. I just, I know it's a qualifying one that's bled over into the race, but just that's where you get Aston Martin. That's what you get for that silly call. You get taken out by Bortoleto. I think that's going to do it for this section of the podcast. Let's do Moment of the Race on the other side. Welcome back, everyone

Before we get to Discord submissions, let's give out our moment of the race and let's start with Harry. Mentions, we've already said, the message to Norris saying that he's going to go and get Verstappen and then

Verstappen probably just sodding it off. I really enjoyed that one. I have gone for though, which is quite sky specific so apologies for those you don't have that coverage. Bernie Collins professional former

F1 strategist having to try to explain to Crofti why having new softs would be better than old charts. Oh, it is difficult sometimes, is like it? she has got the patience of a saint a wonderful woman she is lovely lovely woman

and she like do you know when you do you know when someone's being stupid she was like explaining it again but louder louder and slower it was so she was like you softs

this stupid man we Steinberg in this podcast we do stand Bernie on this podcast your moment of the race Sam um 69 wings i knew that that's good i knew that was coming to some point yeah nice nice that was an easy one it's great you know what it's great to throw back to the old number okay give it the respect it deserves and this new rubbish with the number two before it back to the ogy that's what we'd like to hear nostalgia

yeah my moment of the race i can't believe we're going to have two moments of the race that weren't in the race because I'm also going with something that happened afterwards, um, outside of the absolute cringe fest that was, uh, that post race. You don't like Mickey Mouse conducting a fountain. You know what? That wasn't even the bit that hurt me the most. Like it was maybe not for me, but I could let that slide.

Um, it was the, the interview. I don't remember the chap's name. It's whenever it's like, I've got a celebrity here to help me with the interviews. Oh, something that just makes my skin crawl about it. But that's actually not my moment of the race. My moment of the race was the incredibly British moment of when that drive was over from old Terry Cruz, George Russell getting out the car.

Thanks, Terry. And then, I got you, I got you, man. I got you, baby. I got you, baby. I just... Moments away from saying what time you're on till. Yeah, it's like he had to. Like, it was in his British DM.

that he had to thank the drive like cheers drive cheers terry cheers tell uh what moments of the race do we have from our discord uh yeah we've got plenty so thank everyone for your submissions i know it's early late in the world when we've been doing this but uh first up we've got mike bridgeford what's up late breakers meet man mike here from southern california my moment of the race came before the race even started so they put up that graphic to show the attendance was it 200,000, was it 305,000, was it 400,000, sold out. Nice. That famous number sold out. Hmm. Yeah.

X out. That's just rubbish. I hate that. I hate, I would love to know who decided, like, what that meeting looked like to decide what they should put on that graphic. Do we put? I think they chose it regardless of ticket sales. I think before they, before they, before they sold a ticket I should just say it somewhere anyway

yeah I'm interested to see because they will have to really I wouldn't have to

but I think they will release the attendance figures so it'll be interesting to

see what they're like versus last year in the year before because if

they're down in any way why if they reduced capacity did you

see the it was first practice I think and there was Ted Kravitz in the

pit lane and they pan to the main straight there's no one there

which is which is weird for F-1 these days. Anyway, next up is stocks and al-Bonds. My moment of the racist. I can't even say without laughing. Episode nine, I think, of, oh, God,

when can Esteban O'Conn ever come into the pits? Why do they hate him so much? Yeah, I guess so everyone can see him. If they truly hated him, they'd have done what they've done. They would have pit him on lap 49. Well, if he's still on the hearts, maybe he'll won the race.

who knows yeah fair Norm from Texas is next oh hello my like breaking friends from across lay big wet it is I Norm from Texas and I'm here to get my moment

of the race and my moment of the race is the absolutely filthy Fernando Alonzo overtake against Yuki Sinoda anyway keep breaking late yeah that was tasty that was a good shout

yes yeah not that great shout thank you for that norm next up we have DJ Spin to Win if I can find his submission

This guy roosts me in Discord every day by the way Every time I talk He just roasts me It's great All the time Yeah Immediate automatic

Every time Here is DJ Spin to win What's popping everybody It is DJ Spin to win My moment of the race From the Las Vegas Grand Prix Was watching Give me

Give me Have an incredible run manage his tires so well. Even though Max is a goat, Kimmy put in a great performance. Keep breaking late. I'll let you off for that. That's fantastic.

No, it's me. Give me, Antonelli. Gives me, Aber. It's a shock. Why producer Kirsty chose that one. Yeah, she's a fee. He's got to turn him. Right, okay.

Next up is Kay Jax, who I believe is actually in Las Vegas. Carissa coming at you from the Las Vegas Grand Prix. and my moment of the race was Landau's race engineer telling him to just do more which was really funny also shout out to Max

for a dominant win and also for Lewis for last to 10th I might start employing that strategy at my job when I manage people just do more just please that's how Nike do all of their meetings

just do more it's a new slogan yeah that's a good job I'd forgotten about that one and well done for getting a ticket on what was sold-up weekend. Oh, that's been stuff.

Yeah. Next up is Cargo. Hey, this is Cargo from Florida. My moment of the race is race control investigating Alvin for even more incidentals and stacking his penalties. And there is forced pit stop. Stop, stop.

He's already dead. Oh, yeah, just don't drive into the back of a at the car, my guy. Yeah. Not a deal, was it, from that one? I mean, ironically, it was to Hamilton who literally did the same thing last race, but just stop driving

into people, guys. Easy. They say the kicks like up to me, and they do the same thing against race. Rapscallion Stallions is next. What was that post-race interview? Who is this Schmo that is just

kind of acting like he knows talking about 69. Right now I'm watching Mickey Mouse act like he's conducting water. What is this sport? I'm going to carry on.

There's a Reddit thread. Reddit page that's called Perfectly Cut Off Moments. That is great. Great way to do you're recording. Thank you for that. Pogo Stick Dog is next. What's up, like break is.

My moment of the race is definitely George's Immaculate Post Face Hair. I have no idea how the second he takes his helmet off he makes it look so good it's honestly phenomenal I have no words wow yeah well a handsome man fair point yeah

and I respect that you like that and appreciate it rather than hate it and are jealous of it like probably just another way that he's better I guess I get it next and last but not least is baby bear shampoo hey it's baby bear shampoo here

My moment of the race Gabby Bore Torpedo Oof I don't you come up with a name like that Baby Bear Shampoo I thought you were going to say that one I get

Yeah yeah Let us know Baby Bear Shampo I want to know Also this is going to be my moment of the race I've already just seeing it on social media It's an interaction between Lewis Sagadami

Atami says Pace is good Lewis says Pace is clearly not good I'm falling further behind Adami there replies with try to speak it up if you can 34.7 target lap time

great great pace is good no it's not okay make pace good bloody team I think you just do it

wide halter up at this point it's just like I'm really ate him just whined him up it should be annoying Ricky's got his headset on And he's actually got Adam deck in his ear, like, say this next.

Oh, sorry, Lewis. Well, thank you very much for all of your submissions. Good news is you don't have to wait very long for the next set of submissions. We'll, of course, have under pressure for our midweek episode as we head to the Qatar GP, which means we're done with the Las Vegas GP, right, Sam? Apart from, we're not quite done yet. No, no. Hold your horses. Hold your stallions because we've got a little bit of power rankings to dabbling. Yeah, Monday night. That's Power Ranking sign. It's a great old sign for everyone in Power Ranking. Power Ranking City. It's a new city that I've created, apparently. It's a suburb. A little hamlet. It's a new build made by Wang Homes probably off the side.

Master Wayne Homes. I'm sure. No, good. Join Patreon. It helps the show. Thanks for listening. Join Discord with you from Michigan. Follow us on social media and late breaking F1.

We'll see you midweek. Thanks for listening. In the meantime, I've been telling you, Sage. I've been Ben Hawking. And I've been Harriet. And remember, keep breaking late. Network. Hey Ontario.

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