The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Monaco GP Race Review

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

Ben and Sam break down the divisive Monaco GP, debating whether the mandatory 2-stop rule was a game-changer, an overcomplication, or a mask for deeper issues. They unpack the key strategies, unexpected incidents, and clever rule-bending that shaped the race, reviewing who made the most of Monaco's tight confines, and who came up short... FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUPPORT our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for bonus episodes JOIN our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ community JOIN our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! TIDE: Save more, earn more—up to 4.22% AER (variable). Interest rates are tiered, with the top rate for balances over £1M. Each tiered rate applies to the portion within that range. New Tide members get these rates free for 6 months; after that, your Tide plan’s rates apply. For full offer T&Cs visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tide.co/savings⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 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. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, in the same location. We are together and we've decided to let Harry E be free because with what's about to come on this show, we thought we couldn't put him through it.

Mr. Monaco lover, we couldn't let him sit through what's about to occur. You mean Harry Freed. Harry Freed. The new character. Yes, Harry is gone. He's off enjoying himself. He didn't miss the Grand Prix. He's got a catch up on it, which would be interesting.

Lights out as his ceremony is starting, he's at a wedding. But we have freed him from the turmoil that's about to ensue across this podcast, folks. Yeah, this could be an interesting one, everyone. Coming up, all the classics driver of the day, worst driver of the day, moment of the race. Some thoughts on Mercedes, not securing any points. whatsoever at this Grand Prix. Williams double points, but only just. And of course, everything out front,

including the top three, Norris from Lecler, and then Piastri on the podium. It's pretty rare, but we're actually not going to start today with the very front of the field, which means you know something's gone down because it's very rare for us not to start with the top three on a race review. Because it feels like coming out of this race,

what everyone, or nearly everyone is talking about, is this two-stop mandatory strategy that was implemented for this race only. We've never had it before at this Grand Prix. And it led to some very interesting results. I've seen some split opinion. I guess first very broad question, what did you make of it?

Yeah, I mean, we know famously that Monaco, with the current regulations that Formula One has with these cars, it's in trouble. It's not producing exciting racing. The qualifying is by far the most exciting thing about this race track. And the Sunday is failing to deliver on a regular, regular, regular occurrence. So Formula One have tried to create something very new, this two-stop mandatory strategy. We've not seen something really like it before in Formula One. And the idea is that you had to run,

of course, two different sets of compounds, but you had to run three different tires, three different sets of tyres, two different compounds. Coming into this, I hoped we would see tactical masterclass. We've seen something a bit different. We'd see drivers coming into it and going, right, I'm actually going to stop really early or really, really late, chance of safety car, catch up to the key, whatever it might be. We did see some tactical play happen, but not the way I wanted to see it happen. It ended up being silly games. It ending up being a little bit embarrassing where some cars were going seven, eight seconds a laps slower. I think at one point Norris up front was doing maybe a 116. And the Williams cars who were backing up and Lawson who was doing some backing up were doing

120s, 121. So five, six seconds a lap there difference is bizarre. I mean, you get it in Monaco quite regularly where they're trying to save ties and do a one stop in previous races. But here, it was so intentional that it almost became laughable, a little bit embarrassing. And I never want to come to a Formula One Grand Prix where the aim for some drivers is how slow can I go in order to make this strategy work for someone else? I didn't enjoy it. There was a lot of gamesmanship going on here that I wasn't a fan of. James Vowles very much saying it over the radio where he said, you know, I don't want to have

to do this, but it's the only way I can get anything out of this Grand Prix. that's not the kind of racing I turn up to Formula One to see. I don't think it's worked. Talk about you, Ben. So I was not a fan in the slightest. I hated it. Why? Tell us why. I don't mind.

You know what? I'm not going to say don't mind. I love strategy when it comes to races. There are some that don't think that it should be a really important part of what we do. I disagree with that. I think strategy can. really enhance a Grand Prix. But it needs to be a complementary factor. It needs to be a contributing factor. It can't be the only reason you go racing. And that's what we saw. We had teams playing

games very intentionally. And again, you can't blame them for doing that because they were taking advantage of the rules in front of them. But I think James Vowell said it best when he said, I don't want to go racing this way. And that's a real problem when you have got someone being very honest, team boss of one of your 10 teams saying, I don't want to be doing this because he knows it's bad entertainment. Ultimately, I guess in hindsight, it wasn't going to improve the racing because we added pit stops, but we didn't, you know, that's not going to help the on track battling. Correct. And like you said, when you've got Liam Lawson going at a one minute 20, one minute 21, allowing Isaac Hadjohn.

to make two pit stops before half the field had even done one. It's just crazy. Like, we are watching Formula One primarily to watch fast cars go around a circuit. And when a driver is intentionally going, like, what, 10, 11 seconds slower than the fastest guy did in qualifying on the Saturday, that's not okay. Like, that's not good. I love this sport. obviously the sport is our job.

Like, I'm obviously going to keep watching. You know, if it wasn't, would I have switched off? I wouldn't have been far off. Like, it was that bad. Yeah, it's interesting that you phrase it like that. I was watching it with my mum and dad. And my mum and dad have been lifelong Formula Wong Fangs. And they are in the same mindset of me that the Monaco Grand Prix year on year is the worst

grand prix of the year. They find it boring. They think the result is done within a couple of laps. So you can very quickly switch your brain off. go, it's on in the background, but I know what's going to happen. And those kind of fans are the people that, if you get it wrong too many times, we'll go, I'm just a bit bored. You and me will keep watching.

We'll keep watching the most boring one over and over again, because we absolutely adore it and we get to do this. But people like that, people like you, perhaps, who maybe have picked it up this season, will watch something and go, I'm talking about this race. I'm talking about my friends, maybe, or my family, but are you talking about the Monaco Grand Prix for the right reasons? I want to talk about it for a daring move up the inside of Raskas.

I want to talk about it for that move into San DeVoe or where someone does perform a brilliant strategy move that gets them out in front and it may be wins on the race in the last moment. What I don't want is farcical conversations of fake sharp braking into breaking zones because they're driving so slowly that they're holding up 11 of 17 cars on the racetrack and people are two lapsed down because they're so much slower than the leaders that silly games needs to be played to gain any kind of advantage. And it sucks the natural competitiveness out of the sport. and once again, has it addressed the actual issue at Monaco or is it like putting lipstick on a donkey. The donkey is still a donkey at the end of the day. It's now just got lipstick on it.

It hasn't really changed anything. You can't go wheel to wheel at Monaco. The racing was not any better than it normally is. Yeah, and it's not like this is a brand new topic of conversation that Monaco doesn't provide great racing. And, you know, we've complimented Monaco many times for what it provides on a Saturday and what it provides in qualifying. But when it comes to race day, like this isn't abnormal. It just added, I don't even think chaos is the right word, but it just added, you know, games that didn't enhance the experience and didn't help with any of the bits that really need help.

I think this is, this whole weekend was another advert for, you know, the way that I would want to go racing at Monaco, which is, we don't. Yeah, well, we don't. We have like a time trial setting on a Saturday that gives points, and then we have some sort of charity race or some sort of heritage weekend. I don't know what it is exactly, but I wouldn't keep what we have right now. I think today was an advert for that, sadly.

Yeah, Monaco has come and gone. Again, I said this to you then before we started recording, you've seen Formula E come here. We've seen Formula 2 come here. Racing can be good at Monaco. Historically, we have had good races at Monaco, where passes have been made and fights have happened. to wheel action has occurred. But when you're driving, you know, a car that's the length,

almost of a double-decker bus in London, you can't go wheel to wheel. It's just not feasible. And unfortunately, it's tracks like Monaco that pay the price because the way that model formula is set up does not work at a street track like Monaco. So we even need to change the cars, or unfortunately, we need to change the way the track is working on what the formula works at this track. Yes, sadly, I very much agree with. that and you know we'll get into some of the games that were played from the likes of v carb and williams and and mercedes a bit later on in this episode but um yeah it's it's unfortunate that if formula one is still gaining momentum like as as a sport it's doing very well viewership wise in

the united states this year even compared to uh the last couple of years like there is a real opportunity for f1 globally i i pick out the united States very specifically, but F1 does very well in sort of the 18 to 49 demographic, which is a key indicator for future success. And then we still maintain that this race is needed because of the heritage, because of, I don't know, how incredible it looks in Monaco. Yeah, yeah. But when you've got Indy 500 later on in a day, right? Indy 500 is on today. As we record this, it's, you know, they're doing the warm up. They're doing all the chit chat. It's getting ready to go.

Is Monaco the worst part of the Triple Crown right now? I think so. I think Lamong is a sensation. It's a spectacle to go to a festival. The Indy 500 is drawing fans from all over the world. You don't even pay attention to IndyCar, but they'll watch the Indy 500. If you tuned in only to watch Monaco, are you coming away impressed? Are you really going to go, wow, what a feast of racing for the eyes that I've just consumed?

Or will you go, this is a bit confusing because everyone's got two stops here. I don't really know where it's meant to be going. I'm kind of bored. I think like when it comes to tire management as well, because we've often seen in previous years that no matter how soft the tires you bring to Monaco, it just leads to more and more management rather than more pit stops and more interesting races.

And I think that was proven on the very last lap of this Grand Prix where, you know, Lando Norris, who had been on the hard tires for, you know, 25, 30 laps at that point, he was still able to set the fastest lap of the Grand Prix for no gain. It's not like we give out the fastest lap point anymore. He decides to set the fastest lap on the very last lap of the race, which just shows how much more he could have delivered if he needed to.

And I'm sure that lap that he delivered wasn't at him at 100%. Because why would he be at 100%? And the size have gone a bit, but the fact he's still able to extract that much out of 30 lap old tyres, it's just laughable. Monaco just becomes laughable. And it's the opposite of what we want racing to be in Formula 1. I want cars flat out, wheel to wheel,

fighting in every way possible to reach the top. You can't do that in Monaco. I was fine with the experiment as well. I was fine with them trying something different because I'd much rather they tried it and we decided no, that isn't going to work than nothing at all. But there is a growing thing with Monaco, which is just, like you kind of said,

it doesn't matter how many rules you try and change to manufacture drama and entertainment. You can't take away from the very fundamentalist, which is the race circuit. Like you can add, I was going to ask, you know, could we tweak this next year? Could we try something a little bit different? Like Martin-Bronnell suggested,

of one of those pit stops has to happen in the first half of the race. To me, it feels like... You're over-engineering something, man. If you have to over-engineer something to that point, it's fundamentally not good enough. Yeah. Would you like to see them try something? What I...

Well, now I'm getting into farcical territory here. I'm getting into fantasy world. But, you know, the shape of the racetrack, when you get down to the start of the tunnel section, you obviously have that right turn where we saw Gabby Bortoletto hit the barrier. And then all the way you carry on through the race track and you get to Raskas.

Imagine if you built a temporary structure that went across the harbour and it was just a flat out straight line section where Anthony Noges became the final corner and that was a breaking zone. You at least get some wheel to wheel action. You at least get a braking zone and a DRS section to overtaking.

I think they have to change Monaco as its fabric. They need to alter the fabric of what is Monaco right now. It doesn't work or we need a completely different set of car regulations to make it work. I can't remember the contract extension that Monaco got quite recently. Quite a few years. I think it was at least five.

Yeah. They're not going anywhere. So it's going to be, you know, even if I advocate for not having it on the calendar anymore or significantly changing the weekend, they're going to have to work within the confines of the contract that they have. And we're going to have to think about ways in which, It can be improved whilst it's here. I think even defenders of Monaco would probably accept that for as exciting as Saturday's qualifying is,

we still need to make an effort to make Sundays more exciting than whatever the hell that was. Yeah, at the end of the race, finishes the top four that ended this race and it didn't change. And that tells you everything you need to know that even with this two-stop, a different strategy calls and whatever, the result was the same. Yeah. I mentioned to you before we started,

it's going to be very difficult to review all of these drivers on our Power Rankings episode on Patreon tomorrow because so many of them were just stuck in a queue with kind of nothing to do until pit stops came about

and you close up the gap to be on the end of the train. It's going to be very challenging. It will. Link in the description, tune into that one. Maybe you can help us muddle through it and work out

who actually did a good job and who we think, do you think? It's hard to tell. Should we focus a little bit on one of the particular games that happened because we're talking about teammates working with one another to secure a better result for the team. We saw that with Williams, but before we saw it with Williams, we saw it against Williams with the Racing Bulls team. We did. So Isaac Hadjar, a better qualifying position than Liam Lawson, although both of them

inside the top 10. Hadjar essentially able to work with a gap that Liam Lawson intentionally left him, with everyone behind Lawson in 9th, kind of stuck behind him, allowed Hadjar to pit twice. First for the soft compound tie, which we didn't see a lot of today. And then secondly, for a hard compound, which he went a long way into the race with

and ultimately saw Estabanoch on to finish P6. How impressed were you with what they were able to do with the conditions that they had? When it first kind of became obvious that this is what the plan was, initially I thought, wow, strategy masterclass from racing balls here. I thought they thought of something that no one else has thought of.

And like going through the journey of the race, thought really clever. This means that Hajjah is going to get the jump on Alonso on Bermann. It keeps him in contact with Hamilton. You know, there's a real chance here that he's going to be able to get into the top five, potentially with how this race is going unfold. Brilliant job. And then over time, it started to dawn on me that is this the type of strategy I want,

want to see it helped to get positions down the line. We are driving, as we've already mentioned, six, seven seconds a lap slower to make sure this happens. And what was crazy, you saw it specifically with Albaugh getting away from science, was that within about three laps, they have the pit stop gap. And then they come, they do the pit stop. And within about 10 laps, they've done. It didn't take long.

No, that's the thing. Usually you think, all right, this might take half the race to get that gap to really build out. You know, it's going to be a real touch and going moment. That's how slow they were going. And so that's why I've come to the conclusion. conclusion is what, whilst I think they were brilliant to bend the rules, you know, to how they wish to use them. And that is what Formula One is all about. You see a set of rules and you go,

how do I maximise this for my team, for my drivers? How do I score the most without breaking the rules, but bending them to that absolute end that they can go to. And Racey Bulls did that first, and they did a brilliant job of it, both cars finishing well inside the point. I think they've moved into sixth place in the championship for it. But overall, because of the way the rules were set out, Again, it just led to poor racing. It was frustrating. But fair play to racing balls were being the first could do it. They executed it brilliantly.

And it was really successful for both their drivers. And Hager, I think, had an absolutely blinding race. His pace was electric the whole way through. Did great on that soft tire to mitigate that middle stink. And then he did a good job at just holding off the pressure from the cars behind for the rest of the Grand Prix. Unfortunately, that Hamilton, for them, did such a great job when he got released into free air and they did let a position go. But overall, I don't think there's much more that they as a team could have got out of this Grand Prix. No, I thought they did a phenomenal job. And really, I've, I've, I've criticized racing balls quite a bit, not only this year, but last year, because I feel like they are often on the back foot when it comes to strategy. And I think it's cost them a lot more than it's helped them to get points finishes. But here, you know, they were, they were the best team in pulling off that strategy. They clearly fought that one up overnight when they saw the qualifying positions and saw what they were able to do with Liam Lawson, almost.

sacrificing himself to an extent. I mean, he's still finishing the points as well, but you're essentially taking away his chances of finishing any higher than what he did. I mean, it's interesting because they said at the beginning that he was on the soft tire that he wasn't in the end. Yeah, the computer got wrong, didn't it? I figured that he might go on the soft tire if he was trying that strategy. But, you know, it was really, really effective.

And like you said, when there's five second delta or so between a, car properly pushing and a car that's just, you know, trying to back everyone else up, five seconds, you can in 10 laps pretty much make two pit stops. Yeah, yeah. And that's obscene. 10 out of 78 laps. Yeah. It's not a lot of the race at all.

And then that two-stop strategy that they wanted to employ to make the race interesting is none of void. Yeah. It's completely removed. But I, you know, even though I don't like what happened, I've got to respect them for doing it. They were, like you said, the first team that really started playing these. games and they're the one that has pretty much gained the most from it. They really lock down those two positions inside the top 10. And for a team like Racing Bulls, securing 12 points today,

yeah, that is, that's a lot of points. That's a lot of points. Back to McGFort team. That's a great hall, especially at a track like Monaco. Indeed. Let's take a quick break on this episode. On the other side, we'll get into what happened at the front of this race. Welcome back, everyone. As you mentioned in the first segment, the top four all finished where they started, with Lando Norris taking victory ahead of Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri in third, and then Max Verstappen in fourth. Let's start with the top three

because Lando Norris, well, it didn't start particularly well, even though he held the lead. There was a big old flat spot going into T1. Anywhere else on that calendar, I think you paid the price, I think for Carr in second place will have gone straight up the inside in this place.

Of course, it's LeCler. I think in fact, we've been done at Monza, in fact, it would have been done at Barre, anywhere else like that, you've got multiple lines that you can take to get a switchback or whatever you want it to be, the attack is on. You'd be under pressure big time because it's Monaco.

You get away with it. The other thing, of course, is he has ruined that set of tires immediately. He'll be feeling some vibrations. He'll be running through flat spots. But because it's Monaco, you can just tie a save. He didn't tie save as much as I thought he would. You can kind of mitigate it. You can run through it.

So he did make a mistake, but that was pretty much his only mistake of the entire Grand Prix. And it didn't come back to buy him. So he got to get out nice and early. Yeah. And, you know, the start was always going to be very important for Lando Norris. It's not like term one's a massive opportunity. We very rarely see the leader beaten into term one here. But with Monaco, relative to the rest of the race, it can be a massive opportunity.

So LeClaug got a great start, I thought. And Norris actually got a pretty good start as well. Yeah. And then obviously, yeah, the flat spot into term one. but I think he did very well. And if he'd got the same start as Oscar Piastri got, I don't know if he is keeping turn one. Piusi was lucky, man.

He was lucky it's Monaco. Yeah, because, I mean, Vastafin was on his out. And Hajar was right there with him. Yeah, so, you know, it was still important for him to get a good start. And that's exactly what he did. For the rest of the race, a foot he controlled things as well as he could have done. So, you know, he comes in for his first stop. on lap 19, very safe.

Second pit stop. Comes a little bit later than some of his rivals, but again, it built up a gap that it was never really going to be an issue. So it's difficult to, it sounds very nonchalant and he held on to the lead. It's still highly impressive what he was able to do. For me, what impressed me the most about landing or not yesterday. It was a really impressive performance was the way he mitigated the traffic. Yeah, yeah.

Blue flags were, it felt like a bit of a pretty, premium around here today. It felt like cars were having a real moment before being told to get out the way. And we saw it in free practice. We saw it in qualifying and impeding how quickly you can go from being behind the car, needing them to move out the way and contact happens. Or, you know, they block you off so much that you touch a wall and it's damage. It can happen in a split second, especially at Monaco. And that's one of the brunencies of Monaco is the risk factor that you get. So at any moment, a road car changing line or not. getting the message properly could have cost him the whole race. So he got through that traffic so well. He didn't lose too much time where it put him at risk through a rogue overtake. And you saw, Ollie Behrman, I think is a good example. He was trying to play the game of when the car in front of me that's lapping goes past.

I think it was strolled in front of him. I'm going to try and follow him through to get a move done. Even something like that could have tripped him up and it didn't. So well done to Landon Norris, really well executed. Not much more he really can have done. He got through every problem really well. And in terms of the driver's championship, because he finished ahead of Piastri last week as well, he's essentially gained 13 points on Piastri over the last two races, the first two races of this triple header.

It leaves him in a position where he could retake the championship lead going after Spain, right? We have a real fight on our hands, three points between them, which is really exciting. The McLaren boys have done a good job at keeping this championship alive for us viewers. Thank you. And this is what we wanted to see. Landon Norris has come back into this triple header. He let his head drop a little bit coming out of that. We had that gap going into Miami.

And actually, he got beat by Piastri in Miami and he's turned it around. This is really promising, really reassuring that actually he's able to take the fight back to Oscar who looked like all the cards are in his hand. And he was able to kind of control the situation. Pistri is going to need a good performance in Spain. He's going to need to bounce back because I think this whole weekend he didn't have the ability of what Landon Norris was able to deliver. I think you're absolutely right. He had a really scrappy weekend. He said after qualifying that he'd never hit as many walls in a race weekend in his career.

He never seemed at one with the car. The rear of the car was all over the place at various points this weekend. He's finished third. He has. And that's the mark of someone who's very good at this. How many times do we say about Lewis Hamilton, years gone by, missing consistent. You're not winning, you've got to be second or third.

If you'd, I think, read out to Oscar Pastery, how much, I think he struggled this weekend and then told him what position would you say you finished and then you told him third, he'd go, I'll take it. All right. I could have been going on a wall. I mean, one centimetre more on a few of those overstores and he's losing her.

Including today. I mean, that San DeVoe, when he overstayed in the back wheel, clip the outside wall, I thought that could be game over. That's a suspension snap immediately. But he's killing it, so 15 points for him. You minimise the damage on the weekends where you're not at your best. Yeah. This might have been his worst weekend of the season.

I mean, even Australia, where he had the mistake. He was better there and made a mistake, I think. I still think the mistake of a lot of the time is just he was a bit unlucky with how it affected him with the rainfall. And it didn't affect anyone else. Yeah, this was his worst weekend so far this season. And he walks away still, championship leader. Yeah, can't complain. Not too bad at all.

What about the driver that finished in between them? Because Chau Lecler and Ferrari haven't had a lot of success so far this season. Charlerler has had one podium going into this weekend. This is their best result so far. And this is the best result so far. But a second place rather than a win that Lecler was obviously looking to emulate from last year. Because I believe he won last year. Yeah, he did win last year.

I think the grand stangs rose around him. So he watched them as he grew up. Yes. Insert hairdresser quote. He got a haircut before this race, I'm sure. Yeah. What did you make of Charles Leclair and what Ferrari were able to do or I guess not do with him starting in second?

I felt quite sorry for Charlotte Claire because if Ferrari were on it, which is a rarity here, Hamilton was already put down the order due to this impeding on Max for Staffing, of course, during qualifying. And if he wasn't, I very much think that they could have played a bit of a,

you know, driver A, driver B scenario of Hamilton holding everyone up as much as possible immediately drop Leclair into there and I think they're on their A game then. I think they were willing to do that kind of strategy. But because he didn't get a part, passing me in the first corner, Lecler and Norris, that is. He was stuck behind him.

He was playing second figure the whole time. And the gaps never emerged in the right way that LeCleur was able to then go, I'm going to undercutting, I'm going to go for it. It just never played out the right way for him. I do think any other racetrack, LeCler had the pace. If you put Monaco on a track where it was a bit wider, Lecler had the pace to get past Norris again. I think there were lots of times where he was faster than Landon Norris.

But unfortunately, time passes, tires go off. And Landon Norris was able to, of course, absorb the pressure. and did so brilliantly. And that meant that he could then pull away from Lecler once the free air became his again. So I felt a bit sorry for him, pretty much check everything he could. And apart from some strange daring strategy

from Ferrari, which might have risked it even more so for them, I don't know if there's much more than they could have done as a team. And that last point is kind of where I was thinking, because could they have done something a lot riskier? Yes. Was there much point in terms of risk reward? No, there wasn't.

If it was a one-on-one fight between LeCleur and Norris, I would have been disappointed that they didn't try something a little bit different because that's essentially what they did. They matched the strategy of the McLaren's, but it wasn't a one-on-one fight. Piastri was within touching distance, and so was for Stappan. So with the very small chance that you can do something a bit silly and get first place, it was far more likely they try that and lose second and maybe lose third as well.

Given that Ferrari haven't had a lot of podium so far this year and they are still very much in a fight with Red Bull and with Mercedes, it absolutely made sense for them to play it somewhat safe and just pick up the 18 points on a weekend where they've been more competitive than at any point so far. This year makes no sense whatsoever. But especially on a weekend where Mercedes really struggled, but also not just because qualifying went horribly,

wrong. Like, they're on a bit of a downturn right now, Mercedes and we'll get into them a little bit later on. And Red Bulls still only have one car in that championship fight. Ferrari are probably looking at today's result and today's performance and saying, you know, we can't really afford to try something overly risky because both of those teams in front of us, they are catchable. So I don't blame them for not trying something. No, 28 points out of this hall from them is really really good. And I actually think the strategy that they employed with Lewis Hamilton was brilliant. It got him in front of that little bit of traffic that he got put back behind due to his penalty. And I think fifth today, it wasn't the maximum he could achieve. And we'll get on to that.

But he did a really good job of getting past Alonso and Hadjar are getting away from Ocon as well. So they were safe. They were sensible. And they put just enough risk, enough proactiveness into their strategy to gain as much as I think was feasible rather than outright possible. Yes. Oh, you know, I should probably have the jingles. What great idea that would be. Harry Ead, please come back for Just Jingles.

Also, the soundboard is kind of like slanted, as Sam will be able to see. So I'm having to like work sideways. You're at 90 degree angle here to the sound board, folks. And we're not going to be able to hear it either. We're not. So we're going to pretend that we're going to dance to it. It's time for 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. You're good. Yeah. Driver of the day, who've you got? I'm going to have to go to Lending, Harris. Monaco, man.

It's a tough one really to distinguish about who did a good job. Monaco, baby. Monaco, baby. He should have been disqualified for that. I'm sorry. Disqualify. Straight away. Even when Jensen did it, it wasn't great.

But it's Jekson button. You kind of get away with it. You stole it, man. Charles Clair on the win. Yeah, well done, my guy. Well done, mate. Sorry, Land. Incredible.

Piafriks. things. No, okay. Norris is he a great job. For all the reasons I stated above in the episode, soaked up the pressure, delivered on the strategy, maintained the league where he is too. He, apart from on that one turn one, he didn't got put a wheel wrong. Yeah, I'll go with Lando Norris as well, just to shout out a couple more names.

Hadjar did a great job to finish here in P6 and gain eight more points. I have to say with him as well, not just about this race, but for the full season. He is, we've complimented his pace quite a lot, and rightly so. He's actually, he's really switched on. Like, he's, he is quite good at that, isn't he? He doesn't give off rookie. No. Antonelli, as good as he is, and Bearman as good as he is, I can still, they're still

rookies and you can tell. Yeah. Hatchat does a very good job of staying out of trouble. He's just, he's a consummate professional. Yeah. He's calm, gets the job done. If you were to stick him in one of the big teams right now, maybe not with Red Bulls'

weird second seat situation, but a normal big team where both seats are equal. I think he fit in really quickly. I think he deliver a job and I've been so impressed with him this season. He's really the rookie that's took out to me above and beyond.

Every race we go to, he gets better in my eyes. I'm so impressed. Yeah, so he was a consideration. I'll also go for the two that finished below him as well, Ocon and Lawson. So I'm not sure how O'Conn scored points,

but he has. So congratulations to him. And Liam Lawson, he's done a great job. Well done, Liam Lawson. He's actually there. He qualified well. First points of the season. First points of the season.

He really helped the team out. Again, we've stated we don't like it, but there are rules to play by. And he certainly played those rules. And he was the first to do it and he did it brilliantly. The fact he's still ending up only a couple of places behind his team, mate. We've given Lawson a lot of stick. And I think it's time to give him a little bit of praise. That was a really, really well-delivered performance from Liam Lawson.

Now according to my soundboard, we are going to go to Wadotte. Oh. Also known as worst driver of the day. Okay. Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. And bin, bin, worst driver of the day. You suck at driving.

Thank you for that. You suck at driving indeed. But who are we giving it to, Seth? There are a couple of themes that really fumbled the bag on this one. And when the strategy was so, poor. It's hard got to go for a team that was struggling with that. But I'm going to go Georgie Russ. On a season where

he's being the most consistent and the guy that has been burgling all day long, to quote Harry Ede and the guy who has just been popping up out and over where he almost shouldn't be, it wasn't great to start with, obviously. I know the car conced out, it wasn't his fault that he was down there. But I thought out of all people

being really vocal, really pulling the strings, he will try something different. He would throw a risk out. He would try and do something that Nong thought of and they just sat there and sat there and sat there and sat there and then when he quite clearly intentionally cut the chican outside the tunnel than a little chicaning

I have to put all the blame on him to then get a drive-through penalty and then the fact that he got anti-ali got sacrificed for him to finish 11th place I just think it's a bit of a joke just thinks of it silly and it's not what I'm here to see

so sorry George love you normally but this was not your finest I finding worst driver of the day very difficult because I look at Russell and Beerman and Colopinto, Bortoleto, Holcomberg, like they were just all waiting. And we can't really get a true indication of what any of their pace was. Sonoda is in that group as well. And Sennelli, of course, was sacrificed. So it's really tricky to say who was out and out the worst driver of the day. I've kind of narrowed it down to two. Landstrol is one, because he might have been the only person a part of the train that

managed to not become a part of the train because he couldn't keep up with the car ahead. Boy, he's slow. A car that clearly worked as well. I long so was having a good time. But then the other guy, and I'm a bit hesitant without giving it another watch, but Pierre Gazley looked like it was his fault. I need to really sit down and watch this. He blames Sengoda for moving under braking. We see one of these every few years where a car goes straight into the back of another car going into that breaking zone. I think it looked good as the attacking car. Yeah, and he was all over Yuki Sanoda at that point.

And I think he saw an opportunity to be at the head of that strategy. And honestly, I don't know if it would have worked out because with Yuki Sanoda, it didn't work out. So it probably wouldn't have done. But I'll go Gassley tentatively. Big brain strap. A box for wets. What? It's not even raining out.

What are you talking about? Okay, I think we're done. Not yet. Not as easy to sing along to that one, is it, Kirstie? Big brain strat. What have you got for this one? Well, I can either be serious with it or I can be not serious with it. Serious one is racing balls.

So the first time they get played, the rules, they get paid off absolutely brilliant, and that's who I'm going to give the reward to. The not serious one is George Russell cutting the corner and having a drive-through penalty. That was audacious and stupid. Funny, though. It was funny.

I had a good or not a bad one. My good one was the same as you. Yep. V-Cab and what they were able to do. The bad one, it's Monaco. And we've introduced the mandatory two-stop strategy. Hold on, Ben. Who was it that didn't do the mandatory two-stop strategy?

Toledo pit three times. How do you three-stop at Monaco? You must have. When he had that incident, he must have shrugged those tires and they just couldn't get kept alive. I think it was the case where they hadn't, they didn't have enough tires to to get it done because they had to use the soft compound before. I'm not sure if they put, re-put on the hard tires that he was on before the soft tires.

That would have made sense. But everyone else was able to. Yeah. And you know what's really funny? He three-stop and was involved in a first lap incident that cost him a hell of a lot of time. He has been four cars on track and two retirees. This race was bonkers. I also plenty of loved his move around the outside of Antonelli.

Or on that a little bit later on. We'll take our second break at this point on the other side. For Stappen and Hamilton's races. Okay, let's go. Welcome back, everyone. Max for Stappan finished in fourth, starting in fourth as well. Try to make something of this, but ultimately pissing on the penultimate lap for the second time

and, you know, goal-hanging for a safety car didn't quite work out for him. No, it didn't. And you know what? He tried something different. And actually, I got flashbacks of Hamilton versus Rossburg at Abu Dhabi, where Hamilton was driving as slow as humanly possible to get Rosberg to get overtaken by Vettel. I'm trying to win a world championship man.

And it didn't work then, and it hasn't worked now. Unfortunately, love the idea that they were trying to, want to go to trip over themselves or cause a yellow flag or something. You try to think outside the box. but just didn't go his way. And sometimes that happens. And Monaco, waiting for a safety car, is somewhat of a viable strategy. It can work and we've seen it work, but this time not so much.

Other than that, he was kind of stuck in No Man's Land, with where he should go with it. The three cars in front of him were always going to be tough to beat. He kind of had the gap behind. Fourth place is fourth place, really. I can't fault him too much for it. Yeah, and he was in a bit of a corner strategically because he didn't have what McLaren had, which was too.

sets of the hard compound tire. And they were essentially in a position where they had to use the soft tire at some point in this race. And fortunately for them, the race went a certain way that they could only, they only needed to use that on what was the last lap of the Grand Prix, starting on the hard tire, which was different from the top three, which I think was a good idea. They might as well. Yeah, was it him alongside Hamilton all started on that strategy.

Yeah, absolutely. So he went, he went a little bit longer on the first stint and obviously they're much, much longer on that second stint. And I think it was worth a gamble, particularly late on, because when he's in a position where Norris and Lecler and somewhat Biashtri are directly behind, his best chance of beating any of them at that point is them tripping over each other, them causing an incident to one another, something like that. Even a safety car at that point isn't really going to help him because the benefit of new

tires, he's still going to come out behind them. He needs a red flag, doesn't he? Yeah. Exactly. So a VSC and a safety car wouldn't have even helped him then. So playing a game where, you know, Norris and LeCler might be battling for positions behind him. Could one of them make an error? It made sense. The worst case scenario, he gets overtaken by one of them, which is going to happen anyway when he comes into the pits.

So I don't think there was anything to lose. I think Red Bull would write to try something different. And it's not like it worked or didn't work. I think he may be kind of being slightly more aggressive with the two-stop earlier on in the race and maybe hoped that he caught back up to them and they still need to make a second stop. Yeah, but that would have come from, I think, their strategy early doors.

So, again, because he only had that hard tire to use once, them using that on the first in, made going early on the pit stops quite difficult. The other way, I guess, they probably considered it. The other way to go about it would have been starting on the soft tire and then almost committing to stopping, very early in this race. But at that point, he might just get trapped in that massive long queue.

Yeah, it's definitely like a game of chance. You can't guarantee these things. Yeah, I could understand why, probably knowing as well what the V-carp strategy was going to be, knowing that Lawson was probably going to try and back up half the field, he would have then been right to go longer on the first instance. Yeah, I think they weren't expecting Hamilton to get such a jump on those guys as well and get in front of Hajjar, who would have been his next stop, of course, being part of the baseball family.

Speaking of Hamilton, not on the pace of LeCler as we were going throughout qualifying and then hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in qualifying, made up a couple of spots to eventually finish fifth. Is that all it had? I think he had a really good recovery. I think the fact that he managed to get past those he was put behind in qualifying to a degree, obviously not for Stappen, was good. I think that was good.

Ferrari were really proactive. They read the situation really well with the way that Hajjar, Alonso, and Ocon were running with the way Lawson was back in that pack up. And like Alonso, they could have very easily been caught in the trap of, oh no, we're getting undercut, we get to pit as soon as possible. And Alonso did exactly that. Ashton Martin did exactly that to Alonso, put him straight back into where he was trying to get out of. And you could hear his frustration, poor Alonso.

He was fuming. He is in a really bad spot right now in Fernando. Even his message at Imola, like, he maintained a certain level of Alonzo about it. This was like a different tone to anything I'd heard of. He's finally snapped. He's finally snapped. I genuinely think he might have done.

Yeah, he's so angry. But the same thing could have been done to Hamilton. And Ferrari didn't fall into that trap. And Hamilton executed the strategy brilliantly in terms of unleashing the pace on those hard ties the moment he got into the clean air. And once he dig his first pit stop, they weren't competition for him anymore. He had come and gone.

What frustrating me about Lewis Hamilton's race, I think he could be it Max was happening today. I think the way Max stayed out as long as he did, the way he was backing up, Norris, LeClauer, Piastri, he was clearly driving much slower. I was surprised to see Hamilton on those medium ties continually fall further and further and further and further away

from Piastri, the back of Piastri. At one point, the gap, I think when he came out of the pit lane was under 10 seconds. And it so quickly turned into, oh, I've got some traffic, and then the gap's grown, and then the gap's grown. And then he was like 43. 44 seconds away from them. I just thought, where's your pace gone, man? Because I think he could have got the jump on Bustappan. Well, they had the same compound attire on after Hamilton made his second

stop, which was the medium compound. But Vastappen Pitt, I think on lap 28, Hamilton pit for the second time on lap 57. So at least for a certain amount of time, Hamilton had essentially 30 lap fresh tyres. And 20 laps to use them. Yeah. So I understand that, that they weren't able to, you know, in some disappointment that he wasn't able to at least challenge for Stapp and for fourth. I thought the recovery was fine. I still think it's a touch worrying that he does seem to be quite consistently behind Leclair. This isn't the first weekend that we've seen LeCleur have a couple attempts advantage. It's not always been the case.

We have had a few races where it's been fairly close, but around here, Leclair had the advantage from the off. and I still think Hamilton is searching for answers. Yeah, I think it's the car. I think it's Hamilton's got to be happy in Formula One since the start of 2022, where we have this wholly set of regulations. And I think it's the same with the future. I think Ricardo fell foul to it.

Because Ricardo doesn't have the status or the success that Lewis Hamilton has, they weren't willing to sit with him. They weren't willing to be patient with him. Whereas Hamilton, who's still doing okay. He's still fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's nothing disappointing, really. He's just not on the level of Lecler right now.

But I think the current spec of cars as they sit, these big, cumbersome ground force focus cars, they just don't suit the cars. He learned to drive as a Formula One driver. Who knows if that comes back in 2026. But right now, I think Hamilton's potential, we see glimpses of it. You know, Abidably last year, China sprint race this year. There are glimmers of it. If the cars are suited, you'll get that back next year.

But for the rest of this season, I can't foresee him fighting with the club. on a regular basis. Mercedes, let's move on to them. You've already somewhat discussed George Russell and the strategy that they tried to play. We've complimented them quite consistently this season for how consistent they have been in terms of point scoring. Absolutely nothing here today.

George Russell finishes in 11th place despite a drive-through penalty. And Kimmy Antonelli was the last classified finisher down in 18th. Oh, boy. I can't remember a Grand Prix for Mercedes this bad where they both finished the race. Yeah, it's, they were, they were just stuff from the... They were, they were stuff from the start. Ancing Eli out, of course, in qualifying in Q1,

get through, but can't settle up again, obviously because of the damage. And then Russell's car kicks off and it just doesn't want to get going. And so he's out of qualifying. And at Monaco, there is no worse place that can happen than Monaco. But they've got pace in that country. car. I'm not saying it's good pace in terms of what they were used to. They weren't on the same level as Ferrari or as McClough. And I think the Stappen was better than both of them. But they had some pace in that car. And I was really shocked that they didn't go for an all or nothing

approach of our two drivers are right next to each other. Let's just split it and go for something completely different, rogue, random and try something out. And it felt like, I think this was confirmed over the Skycoms anyway, that their strategy was, let's wait and see what unfolds around us and then act on that, which in Monaco is so the opposite of what you should do. It's not proactive. You're not taking the matter into your own hands. And they started with no points. And because they didn't want to do anything different, they ended with no points. I guess was really disappointing. We've seen it previously with how poor they've been at calling strategy.

It's come out here again today. They were a real victim of their own non-action. I think they were doomed regardless. I don't think there's a version of that race where they score points. Because the alternative is they do what Sonoda did. And it's true. It got nowhere. But I would rather they had tried. Well, I think they did try.

They just tried the opposite. I think what they probably should have done is one of them did what they actually ended up doing and one of them did what Sonoda did. But they went for the same strategy. They both started on the hard tires. But they were just, as soon as Lawson decided to play that game, everyone below Lawson was screwed. Like there was no way that any of them were going.

going to score points or apart from the Williams that were already there or would have been there once a month. And picked up. Yeah. Yeah. But I just don't think there's a version of events where, and I honestly think that would have been true for absolutely anyone that qualified where they did. I think if Norris qualifies 14th or LeCler qualifies 15th, they don't score points today

because of the way of which that race unfolded with Lawson. Yeah. He was the lynchpin real, wasn't he? He was the barrier. You pit early. you just go to the back of that queue. You pit late, you're stuck behind the others, the V-Cubs and the Williams playing strategy games.

You just kind of damned if you do or don't. So really, the issue with Mercedes this weekend was Mercedes themselves for not giving George Russell a working car in qualifying and Kimmy Antonelli for crashing his car on qualifying. But yeah, I mean, we discussed it on the qualifying review. I'm not sure he was getting out of Q2. I agree, yeah, yeah. And that is a bigger problem for Mercedes

is I don't think they did have brilliant pace this weekend. Yeah, I'm a little bit worried for Mercedes right now. They started this season really well from the same standards at the moment over the last couple of years. They've done a really good job

at syllogifying themselves as kind of that, you know, the next best thing, misal consistent, always kind of picking up points where they can. And the last couple of races, especially here at Monaco, the pace has really started to drop off.

But good things on the horizon, Mercedes fans. If you were falling out of a plane, what would you want to see on the ground? Look at the Casillania. Sure. but in the shape of mattresses so you don't hurt yourself.

That turn one smooth. It'll cushion you nicely. You'll roll down it. For Mercedes, circuit to Catalonia exactly bang. It is their home away from home. They never have a bag of time and then when they do there.

If the car's going to work somewhere, they're going to turn it on in Spain. So, yeah, fingers crossed for them that we get a bit of a fight. We get that fourth team back in the mix and it's Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes and we don't get another straggler. indeed um williams quick mention for them 9th and 10th here obviously playing games after the the racing balls games so

Alex alban took his turn to or sorry Carlos signs took his turn to to back up the field allowing Alex alban to do his two stops they switch positions Alex album backs up the field Carlos signs there's his two stops and then they switch the cars back around to um to essentially work together to finish 9th and 10th Yeah, brilliant. Team work. Good communication. I really like the way that they actually swap the positions on track and it allowed signs to get off down the road

and make his pit stops. And Albon had to deal with a bit more fath from Russell and Mercedes. He had to kind of have some issues that went his way. But at the end of the day, it worked out for them. They ended up finishing both in the points. And yet I still think they'll be disappointed. I think James Vowis is obviously frustrated by the way that the race played out with the way the rules works.

But I think Williams had the pace, they had the car, they had the drivers. And if qualifying went better for them, I think they easily could have made me finish where Hadjar and Ocon were. You know, I really think more points from the cards for them. Oh, yeah, yeah, 100%. Sixth, sixth, sixth. That was easy to do this weekend. Albin, as we kind of mentioned in the qualifying review,

if he just matches his Q2 time, he qualifies sixth. And then he's probably been in the same spot as Hadjar. and Williams might have just done the same strategy that Vick did. Carlos Sines might have been the one backing up the field. Or Carlos Sines does a better job in Q2 and you've got two drivers out near the front. I think they were quicker than Mercedes were this weekend. With them out the way, really they only had to contend with McLaren, Ferrari and Vastappen.

Once you've got those five cars out the way, it's understandable to lose those five around here. You've got sixth and seventh. That's 14 points and instead they've come away with three. So a good strategic play in, you know, in the situation they were in 100%, but still some disappointment. Yeah, they maximised the very little they could get their hands on after a poor Saturday. It was a good strategy on the call, I thought. Yeah.

A couple of smaller incidents, Bortoletto and Antonelli on the first lap. How did you see that one? Yeah, let's break that down. Initially, I want to give some praise to the absolute filth of Gabby Bortoletta, go around the outside of the lois happen. Honestly, the whole of Monaco needs some rain after that. all need to wash because that was naughty. And I loved it. I thought it was so brave. That's what I want to see. That's the kind of rookie move that I want to go, wow, they've

got their guts in. They want to make a good impression. And fair play. Then we have part two. Now that ending up being no investigation needed. And I think that's because of the new racing rules that we've got here. Because Anthony only launched it back down the inside. Gabby Waterloo left the door open a little bit, but so did everyone else going to

that call. They all took the same line. because you could be first to the apex, you get the corner. And that meant that Gabby had nowhere to go. Bortoleto puts it into the war with Lucky, he's still in the Grand Prix. And that's it. That's all she wrote. If I were to make the rules of Formula One, I think Antigelli is at fault for causing an instant there.

But that's not the case and the rules are the rules. And therefore, Antigelli was more than enough alongside. And Gabby Bortoletto is the car on the outside. And therefore, he is right to the corner and he'll go straight back. I'll confess that I haven't rewatched a particular incident before I say this. So apologies if this is wrong or there is something very different between these two scenarios. What was different about this year's Portoletto versus Antonelli compared to Ocon versus Gassley? I'll let you know.

It's contact between the two cars. That's the difference. Because, and to be, that was on Ocon and I thought rightly so because he was diving up the inside and there was contact, and I think Ockham was to blame. I don't see that incident as any different from this one. If Bortoletto turns in as a normal line and as contact, we'd all be blaming Antingelli for having a risky move, a silly move. And he had to go very late on the brakes in order to get that done,

to the point where Bortoletto was already breaking when Antonelli was not alongside. And this is that whole dive bombing the apex to show that you're there first, right? I don't care if I'm making the corner, if you're making the corner, If I, my wheels hit that apex ahead of yours, I've claimed the corner. It's my corner. That's what the rules feel like they're saying at this point. Yeah, I think that move is on Antonelli.

I personally think that's on Antonelli. Equally at the same time, we're Bortoleto with the rules of racing that they are right now. I think he should have done a better job of backing out. Be more firm, though. But like, he should have gone, I need to just for one corner, make sure I've claimed this properly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He should have been more, he was proactive enough to get the move done into the low-tapping. think the next step ahead.

You know, he's going to be like, right, I want to get that place back. He's going to be aggressive. Shut it down. He made a great move. He should not then immediately be throwing it away because he's been too passive going into the next corner. Yeah. I'm with you on that one.

Shall we review our bold predictions? Okay. Unfortunately, this relies on me remembering what Harry's was. Harris was that both Askin Martins would score points. Oh, yeah, good job, Harry. One of them should. One of them should have done. after you cursed Alonzo yesterday, of course, that was never going to happen.

When the angel rang up, I did think about that life. I told you, you can't say that. I won't say it for Spain. We'll see. It's his home race. He's no way he's scoring points of his own race. So, Harry was very wrong. What was yours, Ben?

I'm so annoyed by mine. Mine was already over yesterday, so going into today, it wasn't up in the air. But I said that Esteban Ockon was going to qualify inside the top six. going into qualifying, I thought I had absolutely zero chance because that has was not as quick as I was hoping it might be here. But he makes it through Q1. And then he makes it through Q2. Thank you very much to Mercedes and Sonoda for making that happen.

And then in Q3, he sets a belter of a... He's very good around here, Rock on. He sets a belter of a lap. And he finishes 8th, and he is 0.019 behind 6th place. I swear, how many times do I hit the post on these bombings? Yeah, yeah, if there was a woodwork challenge, you'd be like 10-0-0. Oh, boy. And I think yours wasn't far off.

I was really disappointed. I said that Isaac Hagell will finish in the top four. I should have said top six, because even that will have still been punchy. But when Hamilton got that penalty and he's like fifth, I thought this takes one driver to go into Sandovo too fast in front of him, and he's got it. I mean, it just didn't happen. They were bulletproof up front. He ends up six,

and a great race. So, yeah, I just miss out as well by a really close margin. So it stays the same. Sadly so. But more bold predictions coming in our preview episode for Spain midweek.

Let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, it's time for Moment of the Race. Welcome back, everyone. It's time for Moment of the Race. Thank you for all of your submissions. Very much appreciated.

and remember if you don't get played today or if you've submitted before and you don't get play, keep trying because there are plenty of opportunities with moments of the race and also under pressure that we do on our preview episodes. So who have we got first?

Come out first. Thank you again, as everyone got their submissions is nice and quick. We haven't done our own. Oh yeah, good point. Did you have a moment of the race? I don't know if I did, mate.

That says a lot, doesn't it? That does say a lot. Morsaletto's move around the outside of Anting, Ellie. I thought that was brilliant. I actually genuinely did have something written down. Which one shall I go for? Oh, you know what? It was really late, but great.

I was worried we weren't going to get a golden piece of Ferrari team radio, but how far am I behind? Charles is on mediums. What? I've asked a question, you've not really answered there, okay, but thanks. Yeah, how many seconds am I behind? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So Charlotte closed on mediums.

Just answer the damn question, man. Cool. All right. Not relevant. How many seconds is that then? Mediums and time. What does that mean? Yeah, I went with that.

There were a few other contenders for me, but I will wait to see if they come up via the submissions. Right, here we go. First up, it's our old friend, Hazer. All right, boys, my moment of the race was, well, it was Monaco. Always said it's a track that doesn't produce drama. Well, that last lap, overtake for the lead.

Don't get that on every track. Pure box office. Norris overtaking for Staffen. Don't see it every race. Cheers, boys. He's not wrong. He's got a great point. I didn't see that come in.

Why did Vastaf and Pitt twice, man? What a fool? What is he doing? Oh, silly man. Good stuff. Coming up next, we've got Banners, the Bungalorian. It's the McLarence. C-E-O- Yeah.

And Harry Ead's stunt double. My moment of the race is Mercedes throwing their toys out of the pram and deciding not to pit until the last second. Fernando is the unluckiest driver ever. Yeah. Bynance, why couldn't you have gone to the wedding and then Harry could be here? I don't think I really want to be here for this.

You'd cry, wouldn't he? They would. You'd have a really bad time. It's Outback Blaze. What's up, Blade Breakers? It's Outback Blaze coming at you from another race that finishes at 1 a.m. local time. My moment of the race is Maxis step

and well being at over 200 Kios an hour. Still being able to crack jokes saying that his gear ships feel like the 1972 Montagos, Brie. Insane. Keep breaking like Gus. Let's a nice little tweet from yourself. Hey, what do you mean? That was a genuine photo. I can't believe you had time to, like, fake Photoshop. You couldn't believe that that masterpiece was really good. That took a lot of work, yeah.

Well, sure, yeah. Turn around time on that, man. Good stuff. Okay, up next is Lant. in brackets, Bag of Nstrol. Better than stroll here for my moment of the race. Moment of the race has to be the broadcast showing lap 50 where Russell cut the corner

to get ahead of Albon or signs, and they show the overlay for the F1 overtake of the day when that was happening. I mean, I just feel like that's pure comedy. Yeah, because go Formula One. Yeah, well done, F1. Good bit of banter from you. It's nice to see.

Up next is Tracy Leasel. My moment of the race is her serene highness, Princess Charlene, trying to give the second place trophy to Oscar. That's a new one. Keep breaking late, guys. Join Patreon. What you make of that? McLaren conspiracy.

Charlene's in on it. The MIA, McLaring International Assistance. I'm trying to take over from Ferrari. Big up, Charlie. Big up, Charlene. Good to have you here. Oh, it's nice to have her here as well. She was at the Grand Prix.

Landos' mom's like a submission. No way. Here she is. Hello, Landos' mom. Hi, it's Lando's mom. First time, long time. My moment of the race was definitely George deciding that he was going to take the penalty

because he thought Alex was driving erratically and then it didn't even affect where he was in the standings. That was crazy. No, I just take the penalty, mate. I'm sorry, your son won the Grand Prix and that's not your moments of the race. Also, I don't realize you were American.

Also, that was a very moment. really quiet space you found Monaco. So well done. Incredible. They must have some great rooms just for the very privilege. Lucy 2002. If you're born in 2002, don't play. Don't be. Don't play it. If you're born in the 2000s, get out of it.

Sorry, Lucy, I'm joking. Get older. Thank you also for your submission. My moment of the race was when it ended. Yep. These youngans. These youngs were there banter? They haven't got the patience for Monaco. Can't deal with the trauma that we've had.

I have to complain about it in the last hour. Have you stuck through the podcast? Thanks, Lizzie. Finally, we've got a lovely submission here from English Duck. Quack, quack, quack, late breaking English duck here. My moment of the race is Pierre Gassley driving a tricycle. It's a bold move cotton. Let's see how it pays out for him.

Quack. Duck out. Tick to stay out for a while. Penalty incoming? I think so. part that bad boy up. Yeah, I think he might be in trouble. Yeah, I mean, I guess it was trying to do the right thing.

Wasn't he about getting the car off the racetracks and the race can carry on, but it's just dangerous. Well, that's going to do it for a Monaco review. That was always going to be an interesting one, but it's not the end of our Monaco content, because... Go to jail. Sorry. I really tried not to.

We've got power rankings coming up tomorrow, and it's going to be incredibly difficult to rank some of these. So that's going to be worth the price of admission by itself. Patriots thing is cheap, folks. So you get to hear that content as well. Let us know your thoughts on the two-stop situation. Let's know what you've thought of the race. You could do that on Spotify, as comments.

YouTube is a comment section. You can tweet us, late breaking F1, follow us on Instagram and, you know, drop us a message if you want. We appreciate all that support. We want to hear your feedback on what went on with this Monaco Grand Prix. Was it a zero out of ten? Was it controversial? Did you love it?

You might have thought we're completely wrong. A lot of people do. Thanks for listening. Thanks for following along. Join us on Patreon tomorrow for the power rankings and we will see you midweek for the Spain preview. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking.

And remember, keep breaking late. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.